More on the game

Men's basketball

Tom Gaffney's lead made me laugh this morning:

"Western Michigan had plenty of uncontested shots Saturday afternoon against the University of Akron -- in warmups."

I really haven't seen defense like that at any level of basketball. Keith Dambrot is a magician for brewing such a tidal wave of pressure without many shut-down, on-the-ball defenders.

It all started with six blocks in the first half. WMU coach Steve Hawkins said the interior defense scared his players into a passive mindset.

• Jeremiah Wood had 17 rebounds yesterday. I think Wood's injury has forced him to become a smarter rebounder since he can't always outleap everyone. Terry Pluto wrote a feature about Wood that discusses some things you may not know.


• Nick Goddard has officially become a caricature of himself. He jacks up 3s from the logos in pregame. He hardly allows a blink pass before he launches the ball the first time he touches it after entering the game.


• Speaking of the reserves, they showed great energy in the last few minutes. That's terrific. Just cut down on the fast breaks and show-off 3s (Goddard). It truly looked like Akron was trying to run up the score. Seeing how WMU is a potential matchup in Cleveland, giving them extra motivation is unnecessary.

Football

Andy Alleman was sitting with some buddies watching a college basketball game on ESPN.

Then the Bottom Line presented him with a nice surprise: He had broken into Mel Kiper's top-five guards in the NFL Draft.

The former Zips guard is training in Connecticut for the NFL Combine in late February. He has packed on nine pounds, while dropping his body-fat percentage significantly.

He signed an endorsement deal with Reebok that basically consists of Alleman getting a ton of free apparel.

By looking at the draft Web sites, it's safe to say he's a consensus top-five guard, and his stock is rising. That should make him a first-day pick.