NFL Week 12 power rankings

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Previous weeks’ rankings in parentheses, Week 1 to present.

TOP TIER

1 Houston (2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-1)

2 Atlanta (7-3-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-3)

3 New England (3-1-7-9-4-4-7-7-7-7-5)

4 Green Bay (1-5-4-4-8-11-4-4-4-4-4)

5 San Francisco (10-4-1-5-3-3-6-6-6-6-6)

6 Chicago (8-7-9-7-6-5-3-3-3-3-2)

7 New York Giants (5-9-5-3-7-7-5-5-5-5-7)

8 Baltimore (6-6-6-6-5-6-8-8-8-8-8)

9 Denver (21-12-14-17-15-18-10-9-9-9-9)

SECOND TIER

10 Seattle (11-17-17-13-17-15-9-10-11-11-10)

11 Pittsburgh (9-10-8-11-13-9-12-11-10-10-11)

12 Indianapolis (24-26-25-29-27-20-25-21-13-12-12)

13 Tampa Bay (26-23-19-23-25-25-23-27-18-14-13)

THIRD TIER

14 New Orleans (19-19-23-30-30-27-27-24-27-26-15)

15 Minnesota (30-28-29-22-14-8-11-12-14-16-14)

16 Dallas (16-8-12-10-16-17-21-17-20-20-16)

17 San Diego (12-15-11-14-12-14-18-16-17-15-17)

18 Cincinnati (18-21-20-15-11-13-24-25-25-24-20)

19 Tennessee (13-16-22-18-24-30-26-18-21-27-21)

20 New York Jets (20-13-15-16-19-22-17-20-24-23-24)

21 Washington (29-20-21-25-18-21-16-19-22-22-25)

22 Detroit (17-14-18-20-22-23-22-26-19-17-19)

23 Miami (27-30-28-31-29-19-13-13-12-13-18)

24 Buffalo (14-24-24-19-20-24-19-23-23-21-26)

25 St. Louis (28-27-26-27-21-16-20-22-26-25-22)

26 Arizona (23-22-16-8-9-10-14-15-16-19-27)

27 Philadelphia (4-11-10-12-10-12-15-14-15-18-23)

FOURTH TIER

28 Carolina (15-18-13-21-23-29-29-29-29-28-28)

29 Oakland (25-29-31-26-28-28-28-28-28-29-29)

30 Cleveland (32-32-32-32-32-32-31-31-30-30-30)

31 Jacksonville (31-31-30-28-31-31-32-32-32-32-32)

32 Kansas City (22-25-27-24-26-26-30-30-31-31-31)

BIGGEST RISERS: New York Jets and Washington (4 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Miami (5 spots), Chicago and Philadelphia (4 spots), Detroit and St. Louis (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST

1 NFC North 47

2 NFC South 57

3 AFC South 63

4 NFC West 66

5 AFC North 67

6 AFC East 70

7 NFC East 71

8 AFC West 87

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 NFC 241

2 AFC 287

Jack Taylor’s record performance (138 against Faith Baptist) misses the point

By Steve Kallas (posted by Rick Morris)

Yes, it’s hard to fathom.  Yes, it’s amazing.  Yes, it’s the all-time college scoring record for points in a game.  But the feat of Grinnell’s Jack Taylor, scoring 138 points in a D III college game, also raises a number of questions.

HOW COULD IT HAPPEN?

Arguably the most interesting question.  How can a player shoot 108 times in a 40- minute game?  Better yet, how can a player shoot 108 times in 36 minutes, since Taylor did not play the whole game (what? He needed a rest?)?

By now you know the numbers: 27 for 71 from three-point land, 25 for 37 from two-point land, 7 for 10 from the foul line.  No assists (what did you expect?).

To this writer, the best question is:  What was the other coach thinking/doing?  From the 15 or so baskets that this writer has seen video of, Faith Baptist Bible (which dropped to 0-5) played man-to-man defense (well, if you can call it defense) the entire game.  Of those 15 or so baskets, Taylor was double-teamed ONCE – and that double team came very late.

The answer, of course, as to what the Faith Baptist coach should have done is two-fold:  if a guy, at any level, scores 58 by half-time, you don’t know what you’re doing if you don’t come out in a box-and-one for the second half.  Maybe the Faith Baptist coach is a die-hard man-to-man guy like Bob Knight.  But those plans have to be re-examined if your man-to-man has given up 58 by the half.

In fact, one can debate whether you are actually playing man-to-man DEFENSE if a team goes for 179 against you. 

The second part of the equation is equally simple.  If you are playing a team that likes a run and gun tempo (Grinnell, according to published reports, has led the nation in scoring 17 of the last 19 seasons), you have to consider taking the air out of the ball.  Your opponent can’t, by mathematical definition, score 179 or take 136 shots (as a team) if you keep possession of the ball for 30-35 seconds per your possessions.

Not that Faith Baptist Bible was complicit in this ”achievement,” but a rec league coach could have found a few ways to slow this train down.

Grinnell, again according to published reports, likes to press, shoot 3s and hoist them up quickly.  An open question has to be did Grinnell press and, if yes, for how long.  You often run into these things in high school or travel ball slaughters.  If you are up 39 at the half, you might want to think about calling off the dogs.  Again, an open question.

WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, GRIFFIN LENTSCH?

Who? Well, if you are a college basketball junkie, you might know that Lentsch, a Grinnell player, last year broke the all-time D III scoring record by scoring 89 in a game against Principia College.  Lentsch also led the nation in three-point field goals per game with 4.43 per game.

So, where was Griffin Lentsch this year?  Why, he was playing in last night’s record-breaking game, of course.  Lentsch’s stats last night?  Two for three from the floor (including one for two from three-point land) and 2-2 from the free-throw line for seven points.

Yikes!

DID DAVID LARSON HAVE A BETTER GAME THAN JACK TAYLOR?

Well, that could certainly be open to debate.  Larson, the high scorer for Faith Baptist Bible, had 70 points on 34-44 shooting (it did take him all 40 minutes, however).  While Jack Taylor was quoted by the AP as saying, “it felt like anything I tossed up was going in,” the reality is that he shot 48% (52-108) from the field while the rest of his team shot 57% (16-28) from the field.

Maybe Jack should have set up his teammates a bit more.  Larson, meanwhile, shot a staggering 77% (34-44) from the field, a truly amazing number, especially for so many attempts.

So, who had the better game?  I think many college coaches would pick Larson’s game.

CONCLUSION

Well, you still have to give credit for an amazing performance by Jack Taylor.  Nobody thought that Rio Grande’s Bevo Francis’s 1954 record of 113 points (against Hillsdale) would ever be broken.

But that record has been shattered by 25 points.

Having said that, as usual, a performance like this often raises more questions than it answers.

Draw your own conclusions. 

Dilemma 2012 election night broadcast

By Rick Morris

In The 21^st Century Media Alliance, we have a tremendous amount of great talent and the ability to pursue projects similar to our own on a regular basis.  On Election Night 2012, DOU Productions, helmed by our great friend Platinum Smalls, presented Dilemma 2012 election night coverage.  Yours truly was invited on to provide analysis and, oh yes, bitter commentary (not as a partisan Republican, mind you, but as someone who cried out for a better alternative to Mittens from the very beginning).  We put forth a couple of hours of conversation in real time as the results were being released.  Enjoy!

Get your own valid XHTML YouTube embed code

Get your own valid XHTML YouTube embed code

Get your own valid XHTML YouTube embed code

Get your own valid XHTML YouTube embed code

Get your own valid XHTML YouTube embed code

Get your own valid XHTML YouTube embed code

2012-13 FDH college hoops rankings

By Rick Morris

NOTE: The number in the “Rank” category is the team’s average in a composite of major poll rankings.

	First Tier	Rank
1	Indiana	1
2	Louisville	2
3	Kentucky	3
4	Ohio State	5
5	Michigan	4
6	North Carolina State	6
	Second Tier	Rank
7	Kansas	8
8	Duke	7
9	Syracuse	9
10	Florida	12
11	North Carolina	10
12	Arizona	14
13	UCLA	11
14	Michigan State	15
15	Missouri	17
16	Creighton	13
17	Memphis	16
	Third Tier	Rank
18	UNLV	19
19	Baylor	21T
20	San Diego State	18
21	Gonzaga	21T
22	Notre Dame	24T
23	Wisconsin	23
24	Cincinnati	27
25	Florida State	24T
	Fourth Tier	Rank
26	Texas	26
27	St. Louis	20
28	Murray State	28
29	VCU
30	Butler
31	Stanford
32	Pittsburgh
33	Miami
34	Minnesota
35	Tennessee
36	Georgetown
37	South Carolina
38	St. Joseph's
39	Marquette
40	Kansas State