Coach Steve's Corner

Coach K has started using a 2-3 zone similar to Syracuse's to great success this season. Syracuse has been one of the surprise outfits of this year's NCAA Tournament. The Orange have won three low scoring games on their way to the Sweet 16. This is in spite of them being the last at-large team to make the tournament. As discussed in my previous post , the Orange have ridden Jim Boeheim's staple 2-3 zone to each victory; each time shutting down a team that averaged over 80 points per game. It's a defensive philosophy that Boeheim has followed to the Hall of Fame. However, this time around Syracuse has had to count on the 2-3 even more to overcome their own offensive shortcomings. In the Sweet 16, the Orange will face an opponent who won't be taken by surprise by Boeheim's zone: Duke. The Blue Devils and their own Hall of Fame coach, Mike Krzyzewski, are very familiar with the Syracuse's vaunted zone. The Blue Devils have faced it annually since the ...

" OVERRATED! " They often scream from all corners of the college basketball world. "Syracuse plays a soft non-conference schedule and never leaves New York," they say condescendingly. "The 2-3 zone is a gimmick. Real teams play man." "He's a crybaby!" "He's only won one National Tournament. He'd have won more if he was an all-time great," they point out. Jim Boeheim, despite his 925 wins (1,026 if you counted 101 wins vacated by the NCAA), is one of the most criticized coaches in the college basketball world. Fans across the country often point out the above-mentioned critiques, along with countless others. Meanwhile at the same time he is revered by Syracuse fans, like myself, as being one of the greatest coaches ever. How can you truly argue against over 1,000 wins and 31 NCAA tournament appearances in 42 years? I don't know but there are plenty who do. No matter what your opinion of Jim Boeheim, there...

As the Islanders continue to find ways to lose during their dismal eight game losing streak, the worry has truly begun to set in. No, I'm not speaking of the worry of missing the playoffs for a second straight season. That reality was reached already. I'm looking at the larger, more important picture than the current season, which has gone incredibly sour after false hopes were built upon a fairly sweet start. The big picture that could become very worry some, which I speak of is built around one man: John Tavares. Islanders fans are well aware that Tavares is set to become a free agent at the end of this season. The fan base has been looking at the beginning of the 2018 free agency period as a potential D-Day since the season began without Tavares penning an extension. The trade deadline has come and gone with the team remaining committed to it's decision to let its floundering season play out rather than attempt to move Tavares for a potential boatload of assets. This n...

I can't claim to be a lifelong Eagles fan having been born and raised in New York. In fact, I can pinpoint the exact day that I swore my allegiance to Philadelphia football. It was April 17, 1999, the day Philadelphia took Donovan McNabb with the second overall pick in the draft. Being a 12 year old without a true favorite team I decided to follow the best player to come out of my favorite college program, Syracuse, on his NFL journey. Shortly after the draft I harassed my mother into ordering me a forest green #5 jersey when it first appeared in an Eastbay catalog and my allegiance was complete. Donovan McNabb has come and gone after a fairly noteworthy career. Yet, I have remained steadfastly loyal through the last 19 seasons. Through the years I have stuck with the team through the ups and downs and learned what it means to suffer like a Philadelphian. My high school years were filled with some great seasons. However, they all ended in heartbreak. Three straight NFC title ga...

Greatness. Everyone wants it but few ever achieve it. Those on the outside looking in either admire or envy those who are able to achieve it. There is often little middle ground when it comes to the public opinion of greats. I find this to be especially true in sports. I grew up in an era of dynasties in the 1990's. The Chicago Bulls in the NBA. The Dallas Cowboys in the NFL. The New York Yankees in MLB. I despised the Michael Jordan led Bulls and Troy Aikman led Cowboys. To me they were the ultimate villains who stirred up loathing within my young heart. I rooted against them at every turn only to be disappointed every time they lifted another NBA Finals or Super Bowl trophy. Looking back, my youth along with my envy and loathing of these teams took away from appreciation of what they were actually accomplishing. On the flip side growing up a Yankees fan in New York during the late 90's was glorious. I fell more and more in love with my favorite sports franchise as my ...

I grew up spoiled. I'll admit it. I spent my adolescence watching the Yankees dominate baseball in the late 90's and continue to compete into the 2000's.  I've experienced many postseasons where the Yankees were expected to win.However, this was a year where nobody expected the Yankees to do much. Many preseason projections had them finishing below .500. My optimistic self hoped for a Wild Card push at the very least back in April. We've gotten that and so much more. And still it continues. The Yankees were able to make that Wild Card push. In fact they ran away with the Wild Card and even made a last gasp effort at the division title going into the last weekend of the season. The 2017 regular season was an unexpected, fun-filled ride with some ups and downs but mostly lot of ups. Ups that the Yankees were never expected to reach. Yet here we are on October 17 and the Yankees are still playing baseball. Correct me if I'm wrong but the Yankees weren't sup...

Going into last night’s game I felt very good about the Yankees chances of beating Minnesota. On paper they had the better lineup and for as good as Ervin Santana was all year for the Twins, the Yanks had the better starter going in the form of Luis Severino. Severino had been masterful all season and is likely to finish in the top 3 in American League Cy Young voting. The only thing that worried me going in was the potential unpredictability of a one game playoff. Baseball is often an unpredictable game and in one game the best team doesn’t always win. Last night the better team did win but they did it in a very unprecedented way. The Yankees used a formula that perhaps only their team is built for. The good feeling that Yankees fans had going into the game was quickly erased when Brian Dozier took Severino yard on a high fastball to lead off the game. However, my feeling was it’s just a solo homerun. Nothing to worry about. Then things got bad real quickly when after giving up a tw...

The international break is fast approaching as next week the nations of Europe will play their final World Cup qualifying group games. Thus most national teams have released their list of call ups for their two fixtures. As usual there were some surprising decisions made by managers, including some questionable exclusions. I'd like to focus on two of those exclusions, Radja Nainggolan by Belgium and Jorginho by Italy, as they have been two of the best midfielders in the early stages of the Italian Serie A season. I think both should've been called up and I'll explain why below. Radja Nainggolan Since, his arrival at AS Roma from Cagliari in January 2014 Radja Nainggolan has been one of the best midfielders in Serie A and arguably one of the best in Europe. He plays an all-around game and is a true box-to-box midfielder. Nainggolan's work rate is second to none and he routinely wins the ball back for Roma with his clean, hard tackling. Nainggolan is also good at hold...

Earlier today Bayern Munich relieved coach Carlo Ancelotti of his duties after he coached the team for a little over a season. Ancelotti led Bayern to the Bundesliga title last season but after getting overrun in Paris yesterday against PSG, 3-0, his time was up in Bavaria. Ancelotti is regarded by many in Europe as one of the best managers in the game and it's likely that he will be on the market for long if he makes himself available. The rumor mill has already begun to churn with his former club, Milan, along with others being mentioned. However, I'd like to see Ancelotti go in a direction that he hasn't before and that is coaching a national team; in particular, Italy. With the World Cup just around the corner it's unlikely that Italy would make a change but I'd like to explore the possibility. To begin, as mentioned earlier, Ancelotti is regarded around Europe as one of the best managers around. Oftentimes, whatever team Ancelotti has gotten his hands on has ...

Many of you may be wondering why I am making a reference to fairy tales when writing a sports blog. After all, March is many months away and we won't be talking about Cinderellas in the NCAA tournament until then. However, the fairy tale that I'm referring to has nothing at all to do with college basketball. In fact, this fairy tale could never play out in the United States with the way American professional sports are structured. This fairy tale was written and continues to be written in the northern Italian city of Ferrara, Ferrara is home to a professional football (soccer) club SPAL 2013 which stands for Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor. SPAL are plying their trade in the Italian first division Serie A this season but it is the way that they arrived there that makes this a fairy tale story. What is the Promotion/Relegation System? For those unfamiliar with the promotion/relegation system in European countries, like Italy, which have multiple divisions of soccer, I...

After a very underwhelming match day 1 from the Italian contingent in the 2017-18 Champions League; Juventus, Roma, and Napoli must step up with wins in match day 2 or their chances of advancing will take a big hit. Below I will take a look back on match day 1 and look forward to this week’s match day 2 for each team. Juventus  Juventus were faced with their toughest task of the group stage in match day 1 when they traveled to the Camp Nou to face heavyweight Barcelona. In my Champions League preview I said that a loss at the Camp Nou wouldn’t be anything to fret over because it was the one game that I felt Juve could afford to lose. However, the way that Juventus lost was a bit of a concern to Bianconeri fans. Juve lost big to Barcelona 3-0 in a game which they conceded 61% possession and were unable to thwart a potent Barca attack. It’s a result like this that will make you wonder how much Juve will miss Leo Bonucci leading their back line against opponents like Barca who hav...

I will admit that I haven't seen much of the Arizona Diamondbacks playing live this season. Living on the east coast I will occasionally catch a few innings on MLB Network before bed. However, often when I do I seem to come away a bit more impressed. The Diamondbacks have quietly amassed 88 wins this season while all along being overshadowed by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. Coming into play on Thursday they trail Los Angeles in the standings by 8 1/2 games but lead the NL Wild Card race over another NL West rival, the Colorado Rockies, by 5 1/2 games. In fact, their 88-65 record is even better than the defending World Series champion and current NL Central leading Cubs, who are 84-67. Winning the one game wild card is never a guarantee for the team with the better record since baseball can at times be so unpredictable. However, if they D-Backs can get past either the Rockies or Milwaukee Brewers in that one game playoff, I believe they can upset a contend...

As we enter the last two weeks weeks of the Major League Baseball regular season four of the six division titles are but clinched. The Dodgers, Astros, Nationals, and Indians all ran away with their respective divisions, leaving only the American League East and National League Central in play. Entering play tonight, the Yankees trail the Red Sox by 3 games and the Brewers trail the Cubs by 3 1/2 games. Both of those races are far from over with 12 days left in the season. As fans of any trailing team would hope, the Brewers will get one more crack at the Cubs when they open a four game set in Milwaukee starting on Thursday. This is a four game series that for all intents and purposes will determine the winner of the NL Central. It allows the Brewers a chance to win the division without relying on the help of other teams to trip up the Cubs. The AL East however won't have a meaningful head-to-head match up between the Yankees and Red Sox for the rest of the season. In fact, whe...

Ciro Immobile burst onto the scene as a 21 year old while playing for Italian second division side Pescara during the 2011-12 season. Immobile was there on loan from Juventus as he gained valuable playing time and experience under the tutelage of the ultra attack minded Czech Zednek Zeman. Immobile blossomed in Zeman's attacking system next to other budding Italian talents; Lorenzo Insigne and Marco Verratti. With the ultra talented trio leading the way, Pescara cruised to the Serie B title and Immobile became a household name in Italy after scoring 28 goals in 37 matches while winning the Serie B goal scoring title. You can check out all of his Pescara goals below. After his breakout season Immobile earned a move to Serie A side Genoa who owned half of his rights with Juventus as part of a co-ownership deal. The season on the Ligurian coast was not all that kind to Immobile as he only scored 5 goals in 33 matches for the Grifoni and was subsequently sold to Torino by Juventus...

Baseballs have been flying out of major league ballparks at a record clip this season and teams that hit a lot of home runs often seem like a good bet to win a lot of games. However, this isn't always the case. The most glaring example that power hitting isn't always enough to be a contender is the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles came into Sunday leading the league in home runs, yet they are barely staying afloat in a crowded American League Wild Card race. In fact, their playoff hopes are almost all but dead after they've fallen to 5 games back of the second wild card spot with 13 games to play and five teams ahead of them. How can a team that hits for so much power be so unlikely to make the playoffs? The answer can be expressed quite clearly by the old baseball adage "pitching wins ballgames." The Orioles starting pitching is quite simply awful. The other reason is not enough run production when not hitting home runs. Offensive Prowess? Lords of the Long B...