"The Stack" 2-20-17
DeMarcus "Boogie" Cousins is a New Orleans Pelican. The deal announced after the all-star game sends Cousins to New Orleans for three players and two draft picks in this year's draft. Cousins is now paired alongside another Wildcat...Anthony Davis. This could be a potent one-two combo.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
South Dakota State's Mike Daum (pictured) scored an NCAA season high 51 points as the Jackrabbits beat Fort Wayne (not pictured as this picture was against Wichita State) 87-89. Daum also grabbed 15 rebounds. It was an amazing performance rarely seen in college basketball.
Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
The Stack is back on this Monday after a nice few days off on vacation, but we are back with a few headlines to discuss. Darrelle Revis is facing four felony charges so that’s interesting, but the case is far from a slam dunk. What else do we have in store? Let’s get right to “the stack” for today, Monday, February 20th:
DeMarcus Cousins traded to New Orleans
There was a lot of basketball related news and activities going on in New Orleans this weekend (more on the all-star game shortly). Big news broke after the all-star game that the New Orleans Pelicans acquired DeMarcus (Boogie) Cousins from the Sacramento Kings for Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway and both a first and second round pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. That may sound like a steep price, but Cousins is a huge presence and pairing him with Anthony Davis is such an interesting combo. They routinely get double-doubles. You wonder if having both of them though will help the other shooters on the court. The Kings really don’t have a whole lot now. Evans is a good player when healthy, but Cousins was the reason why this franchise was even remotely relevant and that may be putting it kindly. What are fans going out to see now? The Kings had said Cousins was off the trade market a couple of weeks ago and now this happens? It’s an interesting move. I am curious to see if it will truly work for the Pelicans. It just seems like with these two players that the Pelicans can be dominant, but will this help the rest of the team or will these guys be responsible for doing everything to help the team get to the playoffs? I have some reservations on this trade, but will let others with better NBA minds than me tell me if this is a good trade or not for both teams.
NBA All-Star festivities
The NBA All-Star weekend took place in New Orleans and from the celebrity game to the future’s game to the skills competition to the overall all-star game, it was a good weekend. The dunk contest Saturday night left much to be desired and only affirmed many people’s minds that Zach Lavine from the Minnesota Timberwolves needs to be back next year to participate (only if his ACL allows) and if LeBron James wants to give it a try that that would certainly help things as well. Glenn Robinson III from the Indiana Pacers won the event. New York Knicks big man Kristaps Porzingis, the only good thing the Knicks have going for them as of late, won the skills competition over Gordon Hayward of the Utah Jazz and Eric Gordon won the three-point competition. Then we got to the actual all-star game Sunday night and once again defense was absent in this meaningless and painful exhibition game. The Western Conference took down the Eastern Conference 192-182 and hometown hero Anthony Davis took home MPV honors with 52 points. Quite ridiculous. The NBA will resume play later this week. The all-star game is a joke, but at least Saturday’s events were okay.
College basketball weekend thoughts
I have a lot of reservations on Baylor and some reservations on Kansas come NCAA Tournament time, but there is no denying that that was some game on Saturday between the two teams. Baylor had a double-digit first half lead only to see Kansas roar back in the second half and come back to win the game on a couple of free throws with eleven seconds left. Frank Mason III led the way with 23 points. He may be the player of the year at this point in college basketball. Kansas was trailing on Monday against West Virginia and came back and won. That’s a dangerous way to live come March and the tournament, but for now Kansas should be considered among the handful of teams that can win it all. Baylor showed me a lot on Saturday, but I still need them to win these games if I plan on taking them deep in the tournament.
#9 West Virginia got by Texas Tech 83-74 in double overtime despite not making a field goal in the first overtime. There is something going on with West Virginia and it isn’t good. If their press defense isn’t working this is a team that will be bounced early.
#15 Florida scored 114 points against Auburn earlier in the week. They scored exactly half that many points against Mississippi State on Saturday yet still hung on to win 57-52. Florida has been very good offensively lately. Hopefully Saturday is just a mirage.
#12 Duke survived to beat Wake Forest 99-94. That’s twice now this season it looked like Wake Forest was going to beat Duke only to come up empty on both opportunities. Georgia should feel the same way that Wake Forest does after losing 82-77 to #13 Kentucky. That’s twice now that they should have beat Kentucky and they won neither of their meetings.
#14 Florida State is really sliding lately. They lost to Pittsburgh 80-66. They were looking like a #2 seed for much of the season, but now they may be lucky to get a #4 seed and may even drop to a #5 or #6 seed if they don’t figure out how to turn things around here quickly.
#10 UNC put together a statement win over struggling #14 Virginia with a 65-41 win. Justin Jackson has been superb all season long. Virginia is trending downward over the last couple of weeks. #1 Gonzaga also won easily 82-61 over Pacific to remain undefeated.
Finally, the best performance of the weekend took place in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where South Dakota State’s Mike Daum scored 51 points, an NCAA high this season in the Jackrabbits’ 87-89 victory over Fort Wayne and the Mastadons. Daum is an incredible player who may end up being the best player in Jackrabbit history surpassing the great Nate Wolters who once scored 53 points in a game at Fort Wayne against the Dons. Daum’s 51 points and 15 rebound stat line is very rare. Only one other time has this happened in the last seven years. Daum is a player to watch for potentially at the next level.
Coming up later this week: Reaction to top stories in sports
