What's In A Number?

What's in a number. If you ever go to Jeff Sagarin on a search engine such as google, you would be surprised.
I was watching UCLA play Villanova the a few weeks back and again I was blown away. Unfortunately it wasn't because they were the awesome team UCLA fans expect. They just looked way below average to be wearing the blue and gold. Their number is 141. Yes, UCLA is calculated at the 141st best basketball team in America. That sort of has me puzzled. How a good player from anywhere could walk away from that campus and not be awestruck is beyond comprehension. It is a gorgeous school with everything a young man could desire including incredible weather. Now when you look at all the players in the pros from Ben Howlands first UCLA teams, you almost have to wonder why they didn't win it all. I used to look at those teams and wonder why he pulled the reigns so hard on the race horses that played for him.
While we're talking about the Bruins here is another number...61. That's where the football Bruins rank. Oregon out recruits the Bruins by leaps and bounds. I guess the Nike money talks. One last crazy football number...24. Arizona State is ranked as the 24th best football team in the country. They went 6-6 and are not eligible for a bowl because one of the wins was against a Division IAA. Okay, one final thought...the number one....The Pac 10 Conference is number one by a hair over the SEC, followed closely by the Big 12. Then there is a dropoff to the Big 10. These numbers are subject to change after the bowl games. Who'd of thunk it?
On the basketball side here's another crazy number most people won't recognize...the number 2 as in BYU. BYU is the number 2 power rated team in the country behind Duke. And on the West Coast, Steve Fisher has San Diego State at number 7. Would you have guessed those numbers? BYU's long range number is 6, as in 6th best in the whole nation. I'm betting outside of Utah that's a pretty well kept secret.
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Some teams have it and some teams don't. I've been watching the Boston Celtics and the NBA for over 50 years. The Knicks Celtics game a couple nights ago was typical. The Celtics hit one at the buzzer to win it. They have mostly been hitting that same shot for the last 50 years. Some franchises seem blessed.
Speaking of the Knicks, they are a great team to watch. Raymond Felton has been reborn when the Bobcats traded him. What were they thinking replacing him with DJ Augustin? Larry Brown has this throng of admirerers. I would never say he is not a great coach. I believe there are a number of them better in the NBA. Jackson, Pop, Riley when he coaches, McMillan, Addleman, Karl,Rivers and maybe even D'Antoni to name a few. A point guard has to be just right for coach Brown or he will nag him to death. Also, he couldn't deal with youth on the one Olympic team he coached and it was not a pretty result, even with a younger Tim Duncan. In fact, that team prompted the advent of the Olympic basketball team as we now know it....organized and winners.