The Good Guys Off to Good Starts

We are a little more than an eighth through the NBA season and about a quarter through the college basketball season, and I know it's really premature to say this, but both of my teams are playing at real high levels and I expect both of them to make good postseason runs.

I expected this from the Dallas Mavericks, who have recovered from an 0-4 start before I even got the chance to rant on them (sorry for the false link on my livejournal. I guess I would have said something like this:

"The Mavericks look like a team that hasn't recovered from this summer's choke job. Jason Terry is shooting like John Starks on a playground during a hurricane, and Dirk Nowitzki is playing more like David Hasselhoff. And as if it can't any worse, Josh Howard is out for a couple weeks. But, I think if Dallas can re-focus they can win nine straight games."

OK, everything except for that last part was accurate. Honestly though, while I didn't see them starting 0-4, they had some tough teams in those first four games. They had a hungry and healthy San Antonio, a healthy and improved Houston, a tough Golden State team, and at that point a better Los Angeles Clippers' team. That's a hell of a way to start the season.

And while I jokingly say I couldn't see them winning nine straight games, let's look at that part of the schedule, too. Phoenix was reeling at the time, Portland is Portland, Chicago is making me look like an idiot, Memphis lacks firepower early on, Charlotte is improved but a 26-56 team can only improve so much, the Wizards can't stop anybody (haha). Only New Orleans and San Antonio are playing what I would consider good basketball early in the season.

But, hey, you win the games you need to win. That's what being an elite team in the NBA is all about.

There are still some deficiencies with this team. The starters are playing well now, but so far I'm a tad dissapointed with Dallas' bench. I think that Anthony Johnson is better than 4.7 points per game, and while I've seen Austin Croshere play well when they've been on TV, his stats say he's a janitor's mop. The bench seems to have less firepower than it did last year, but then again they had Devin Harris and Jerry Stackhouse in the starting line-up now, so I expect the bench numbers to become inflated when Stack goes back to coming off the bench.

But, at least in the last nine games, they've looked like the class of the west. I'm sure they'll level off eventually (they surely can't win their last 78, can they!?), but they've renewed my hope for them winning 60 games.

The University of Maryland Terrapins (the other good guys in case you're slow) have really impressed me so far this year. Granted, I'm not as in to college basketball as I have been for the past few years, but Maryland has made me start paying attention again. I'm going to go out on the limb and say that this is Gary Williams' best team since Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter cut down the nets in 2002.

I've always thought that this team had talent, even the last two years when they were struggling. The one thing I thought they lacked the previous two stanzas was a genuine floor leader. In the 2004-2005 season, John Gilchrist played like an NBA talent, but honestly he seemed more interested in himself during his last season in Colege Park. And, last year, we all know D.J. Strawberry, as talented as he has proven to be this season, is not a pure point guard, not even close.

This year Maryland has two point guards who would rather get other players involved than get theirs. Eric Hayes is a steady ball handler who eerily reminds me of Steve Blake, while Greivis Vasquez provides tremendous versatility off the bench from either guard spot. The infusion of these two players into a talented but mis-guided group has made a big difference. OK, I realize that they haven't had any "tough" opponents yet outside of a young Michigan State squad, but that goes back to what I said about the Mavericks. Beat the teams that you're supposed to beat.

I haven't watched too much basketball this year like I said, but I have seen UNC, Duke, GTech, and portions of BC. I know I'm going to catch some flack for this comment, but I was most impressed by Maryland. Does this mean the Terps win the ACC? Like I said... it's only the end of the first quarter. There's too much basketball left.