Big Night For Cem Dinc as Marshalltown Edges Iowa Lakes
(Bloomington, Ind.). Former Hoosier Cem Dinc, who was told to "go rock JUCO" by Indiana Coach Kelvin Sampson, is doing just that. The 6-10, 250 pound center racked up his second double-double in only his third game back playing college ball as the Marshalltown Tigers eeked out an 82-77 road win over the Iowa Lakes Lakers Wednesday night. Dinc poured in 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the win. He blocked two shots as well.
Dinc, facing double teams for the second game in a row and sometimes triple teams, scored at will. Coach Bryn Brynjarrsson installed some new sets after the winter break to get the ball into the post and Dinc proved them worthwhile. "It was an important win for our team," Dinc said, "it evened our league record and gave Coach his first conference win as head coach at Marshalltown. We were really happy to get it for him." Dinc wound up 11-15 from the field and 3-4 from the line. He's now averaging 15.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per contest.
Dinc was already on some big-time college coaches' radar screens after leaving Indiana. His numbers thus far show he's more than a blip. Although Dinc declines to name a favorite among the teams offering him a scholarship next season, he's recently gotten calls from Miami (Fla.) and Boston College from the ACC and Notre Dame from the Big East. He also drawing intense interest from Iowa State Cyclone Coach Greg McDermott who is looking to add size and strength to his roster next year. "We're good buddies," says Dinc, "and, who knows, I might wind up there, but I really want to make sure wherever I go it's a good fit for the team and me."
I can think of at least one other team off the top of my head that could use a strong, athletic kid with good grades, three years of college eligibility and a willingness to #### bodies on the boards. Take a guess, I bet you do, too.
Bruce Almighty, the Prophet Sampson and the Verbally Committed One
(Bloomington, Ind.) Bruce Almighty, the Sacred One from the Land Where No National Championship Banners Hang, hath condemned the Prophet Sampson. The Verbally Committed One hath approach the Prophet to proclaimeth his desire to hoopeth in the Land Where Five National Championship Banners Hang.
The Prophet Sampson sayeth unto the Verbally Committed One, "Come, let me showeth thou the path to righteousness," but Bruce Almighty commands, “Recruiteth him not for I decree the Verbally Committed One shall never be tempted again!”
The Prophet Sampson ignoreth the Sacred One’s mandate. He pursueth the Verbally Committed One from afar and sendeth the Apostle Jeff, who coacheth the Father of the Verbally Committed One, and the Apostle Ray to pay tribute. The Apostles Jeff and Ray deliver unto the Verbally Committed One the Prophet Sampson’s invitation to visit the Land Where Five National Championship Banners Hang. Honored, the Verbally Committed One accepteth.
The Verbally Committed One's visit to the Land Where Five National Championship Banners Hang goeth pretty damn good. He breaketh bread with the Prophet Sampson, hangeth with DJ, Rat, Earl and Rod and hoopeth at Assembly Hall. Word spreads near and afar that the Verbally Committed One shall become Gordon again and playeth in the Land Where Five National Championship Banners Hang.
Bruce Almighty is filled with a great and furious anger. He scorneth the Prophet Sampson and declareth him a heretic. He screameth at Gordon, “Thou shall be cast from my flock if thou continueth thy ####! Why hath thou shamed me so?”
The Sacred One’s flock, incensed, gather to take up their enfeebled shepherd’s lament. Scriveners from the Land Where No Championship Banners Hang dip quills in ink to crucify the Prophet Sampson for recruiting the Verbally Committed One. A Painter voweth never to put his brush to canvas again so he can decry the affront and comfort Bruce Almighty. Kneeling together, they weep silently.
Far to the North, in the Land Where Two National Championship Banners Hang, the Grand Izzo rises to the Alter and publicly denounceth the offense. He proclaimeth unto the Prophet Sampson, “Covet not the Verbally Committed One and stayeth the Hell away from my recruits while you’re at it!.”
From the South, a Tennessean Volunteers a Pearl of wisdom: Recruiteth unto others as you would have them recruiteth unto you!” On an Oklahoma prairie, a drunken Cowboy named Eddie swerveth across yet another yellow line, crasheth and mumbles incoherently.
The ill words spoken of the Prophet Sampson are heard loudly in the Land Where Five National Championship Banners Hang. The Village ####, who long ago denounceth the Hoosiers, now mocketh the Prophet Sampson by declaring him ill fit to coacheth a fifth-grade girl’s basketball team. A few misbegotten Hoosiers question their faith. Shaken due to the chant of “Cheater!” from the nonbelievers, they heareth not the truth: The Prophet Sampson doeth not one damn thing wrong in recruiting the Verbally Committed One.
The Prophet Sampson showeth the light to the Verbally Committed One and maketh him a Believer. He annointeth him "Gordon." The Faithful, of which there are many across the land, standeth firmly and proudly behind the Prophet Sampson as he leadeth the flock back from our journey to depths of darkness. His way is our way for the Hoosiers to reemergeth and become the Land Where Six National Championship Banners Hang.
(Bloomington, Ind.) Former Indiana Hoosier Cem Dinc, playing his first college basketball game since December 31, 2005, registered a double-double in leading the Marshalltown Community College Tigers to a 74-65 overtime win over the Iowa Community College Tritons Wednesday night in Marshalltown, Iowa. Dinc, a 6’10” 250 pound center scored 16 points, yanked down 13 rebounds and blocked 5 shots in helping the Tigers improve their record to 12-5 on the season. The Tigers, playing before a packed house, outscored the Tritons 18-9 in the extra period.
Dinc was the key to Marshalltown’s victory. The Tigers started out playing their characteristic run and gun brand of basketball, but, after a long holiday break, their perimeter shooting was as cold as the chilly January air. At the end of the first half, Marshalltown had managed only 24 points, far off the pace of their 113 points per game average. In the second half, Marshalltown Coach Brynjar Brynjarsson opted to slow the pace and run more half court sets to get higher percentage shots. That decision paid dividends. Dinc, instead of trailing the break as he did in the first stanza, set up in the post and the Tigers rewarded his hard work in getting open by feeding him for several inside baskets, including two monstrous dunks that left the stanchion shaking. Dinc also also scored six of the Tigers’ 18 overtime points.
For Dinc it was a breakout performance, but one he took in stride. “It felt good to be on the court again and I’m just happy we won,” he said. “Our team is improving day by day and we’re ready for conference play. We want to give Coach Brynjarsson his first conference win Saturday.” If the Tigers are to do so, they'll have to do it on the road against the powerful Iowa Western Community College Reivers. The Reviers are 17-3 on the season and edging their way into the national rankings.
(Bloomington, Ind.) Marie Ishida, the executive director of the California Interscholastic Federation, has delayed until tomorrow her decision on whether to reinstate Richmond High School prep star and '07 Indiana recruit Eli Holman. She had indicated last week she would issue a ruling today after considering corrected information submitted by Richmond Principal Orlando Ramos on stipulations Holman was to have satisfied prior to seeking reinstatement.
Holman, who has neither practiced nor played for Richmond since being suspended four games into his junior season for pushing an official, had hoped for a favorable ruling that would allow him to play tonight. Instead, Ishida plans to travel to Richmond tomorrow to meet with Holman and Ramos at the school. The delay means the earliest Holman would be eligible to resume his high school basketball career would be Thursday, which is when Richmond plays next.
(Bloomington, Ind.) Cem Dinc's much anticipated return to college basketball has been delayed. The winter storm that has gripped the northern part of the midwest and moved on to the northeast plastered the plains with ice, sleet and snow, preventing the Hamilton Aliens from making the journey to Marshalltown.
The Marshalltown Tigers will take the court Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m. local time for a game against Iowa Central Community College.
(Bloomington, Ind.). The relatively warm weather we’ve experienced this winter here in south-central Indiana has me hoping for an early spring. The Indiana Hoosiers have helped keep the cold away this week with a fiery brand of basketball that brings warmth to Hoosier Nation. Coach Kelvin Sampson’s radio show was informative and funny as usual, but most enjoyable for me was watching this team’s transformation as it gets closer to what Sampson wants to see come March.
It’s exciting to think how hot the Hoosiers will be when the flowers begin blooming and the birds start chirping. Every single, impassioned, sweat-filled change that gets them there ratchets the temperature up a degree. Watching Indiana out-hustle, outfight and out-compete Michigan State between the baselines Sunday revealed the ferocity and single-mindedness these Hoosiers have towards winning. The “thumping” they gave the Boilermakers last night was overdue (it had been a few months) and well deserved given Matt Painter’s chiding comments last summer over Sampson’s recruitment of Eric Gordon, Jr., and his post-game remarks last night.
Did you know Matt had actually calmed down by the time he faced the media after the Hoosiers left his team in tatters on Branch McCracken court? I don’t know if he followed Sampson in line for the post-game interviews, but, without any scrapes, bruises or floor burns to worry about in the Boilermakers' locker room, he had ample time to dry his eyes and have his nappy changed. From the sound of things, when he left the pressroom, it needed to be done again.
Matt, speaking from the heart of Indiana basketball fans for just a second, the Hoosiers are going to show your Boilermakers something special at Mackey Arena on Valentine’s Day. Now, don’t misinterpret that. We don’t like you or the yapping you do while standing in Bruce Almighty’s shadow, and we damn sure don’t like your team. We just love kicking your butts. We love it so much we can hardly wait to do it again so all the fans (yours and ours) that didn’t see the game last night can share in the experience.
For everyone else, here’s an interesting way to look at the Big Ten up to this point in the still early stages of conference play. Wisconsin and Ohio State are the top choices among experts and laymen alike for picking the champion. I don’t share that view and you should also start questioning the notion (if you haven't already) because, among the rest of the Big Ten and, more specifically, the first several teams that get mentioned (i.e., Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State and the Boilermakers). Indiana is the only one that hasn’t been demolished in a Big Ten game and the Hoosiers, by administering butt-whippings to two of the three other frontrunners in the “Everybody Else” category and playing Ohio State, who shellacked the third, to the wire on the road, have made a case for being mentioned in the same breath with the Badgers and Buckeyes as favorites.
Right now, the Boilermakers have better than two months to get their act together up there in West-Lafayette. Part of me wants to see them do so because beating them when they’re playing well makes for more of an exciting game than the floor-mopping that took place last night.
But who am I kidding, right? When it comes right down to it, I really don’t care. I’ll be just as happy watching Indiana humiliate the Boilermakers yet again if Matt can’t get his players to add more to the rivalry than what they brought last night. I expect the Boilermakers to play better at Mackey, though, if only because they might have time to run home to look for the toughness, scrappiness and tenacity they forgot to bring to Bloomington. Either way, the Hoosier will win.
Our Laughter Gets Louder as the Hoosiers' Fortunes Soar
(Bloomington, Ind). I’m just here for entertainment—yours and mine. If I can get you to laugh and you can do the same for me, then we're one-third of the way to what Jim Valvano, his body succumbing to cancer, called a "full day." Jimmy V said a full day should be one in which you laugh, cry and think.
Jimmy V was a great guy. Some of you younger folks might not have too good of a recollection of him, if one at all, but he was a tremendously funny New Yorker who wore his emotions on his sleeve. He was also a great basketball coach. Competing against his bigger brothers on Tobacco Road, his teams held their own in the ACC and, of course, his 1983 Wolfpack squad won a national championship.
What's my point? Life's short, you guys. It really looks like a blur when you look back. So, lighten up and have some fun and always give as good as you get. And, while that's all I'm trying to do here, there's more to follow, but it gets a little tricky so stick with me.
My feet first hit ground at Bloomington Hospital the day my father was awarded a degree in education from Indiana University so I'm nothing if not a Hoosier. My dad, in a feat not often seen, earned his degree with a wife, two kids, another (me) on the way and two part-time jobs. He was 6'5" and, at that time, probably weighed about 180-190 pounds. He lettered in 4 sports (basketball, baseball, football and track) in high school and, before coming to IU, served in the Air Force during the Korean War.
When my dad first got to IU, the family sans me lived in one of the old Quonset huts that lined the field along 17th Street. The huts were government surplus and IU acquired them to handle the expected influx of veterans following World War II. While living there and taking the requisite recreational courses at the old Fieldhouse, which many of you are more accustomed to calling Wildermuth or the HPER, Branch McCracken spotted him and asked if he wanted to try out for the team. Of course he did! But he couldn't. There just weren’t enough hours in the day for him to fit basketball (or much of anything else) into his life at that point.
So, here's where I'm going. There's just one degree of separation between Branch McCracken and me and only two to Everett Dean. I know, I know, a lot of you can make the same claim or, even better, one-up it. And that’s’ great, isn’t it? Does it floor you as much as it does me to have such close ties to two of the principal architects who laid the foundation for Indiana's basketball legacy? So, lets have some fun and enjoy our elite basketball heritage while we can.
I hope my idea of fun and your idea of fun stem from the same chemcial synapses. I also hope you share my view of giving as good as you get. You know why? It's time for both and you know what’s fun for me right now? I’m having fun laughing at Illinois, Michigan State and everybody else who laughed at us these past several years. If you’re like me, you heard a lot of laughter from a lot of places. It’s our turn now and I want us to laugh as loud at them as they laughed at us.
I'm particularly laughing at the way the Illini are shooting arrows at Chief Big Geko. Their intra-tribal warfare tickles me because they laughed heartily when the Hoosiers had their own intra-family squabble. One of the more amusing things is the disjointed thinking borne from “Illini agony” as they slide down the Big 10 totem pole towards the gophers and other critters at the bottom.
Take, for instance, this bit of insightfulness, grammatically uncorrected here, about Illinois from CWorld27, who said, "this team is very similar to 03-04 illini who went through huge growing pains before winning the big ten and going to the elite 8. Not saying they are going to do that, we don't have the same talent, but I expect them to be very tough by the end of the year."
Huh? Talk about talking out of your headdress! Where are you going with that thought, CWorld? Drawing a parallel between this year's Illini team and the team that won the Big Ten title and made it to the Elite Eight in ’04 by characterizing them as "very similar" only to then turn around and warn everyone not to expect the same accomplishments because the talent level is different leaves only two things those teams have in common: Building a gaudy pre-conference record by dragging teams with directional names (East this, West that) to Champaign and beating the snot out of them and then losing in the Big 10. That's where the similarities end because that’s all the Illini have done this year.
That’s not all. After navigating through this phalanx of fallacy, CWorld brings us full circle to his ultimate conclusion that the Illini will be "very tough" by year's end. Given that twisting, turning reasoning, CWorld, even if you can laugh through all the tears you’ll be shedding this season over the Illini, I think even Jimmy V would say you’re still only two-thirds of the way towards a full day.
Writing is like painting or music. It's an art. If you've got a knack for it, it demands you devotion. Ignore it and it will haunt you. Most writers are poor and hungry. Not me--I'm not the guy on the corner with the sign that states "Will Write for Food." Why? I get paid to write. You see, I'm a legal ####. Pay me to take your point of view and, lying or not, I'll make it the gospel. I hate it, but not for that reason. I hate it because its b-o-o-o-ring. It stifles creativity. Reading and writing briefs, decisions, statutes and regulations got me to where I couldn't create gas after a chili supper. I've gotten beyond that to some extent and now I'd much rather be paid to write what I want. I've yet to find someone who can afford me, though. I hate that most of all.
