Saturday, November 23, 2013

Brandon Jennings says he has no confidence in his shot

As a NBA player you have to exhibit confidence. If you don't the game will eat you up.

Detroit Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings has always been a confident player but has struggled with the game recently. It's to the point where Jennings says he has no confidence in his shot.

“I’m just going to tell it like it is,” Jennings said. “I think that’s why my shot isn’t where it is right now,” he said. “I don’t have any confidence in my shot right now. That’s the reason I’m missing, because there’s just no confidence there.”

Jennings went 4-16 in Friday night's loss to the Atlanta Hawks. He missed four three pointers and committed four turnovers in the fourth quarter.

“I feel like I’m just shooting when people are telling me it’s time for me to shoot,” he said. “I gotta want to shoot. I’m so into passing that I kind of forget I can score sometimes.

“My confidence level isn’t high.”

Here's a solution for Jennings. Help the team in other areas of the game, like on defense. The Pistons could definitely use an improved effort.

It's still early in the season and at some point Jennings will get his groove back. He never was the best shooter in the game so it doesn't surprise me when he has moments of being an inefficient chucker.

He needs to get his head back in the game because the Pistons really need him to put forth his best effort.

Report: Jhonny Peralta to sign with Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are keeping busy in the offseason. After trading third baseman David Freese to the Los Angeles Angels for outfielder Peter Bourjos, the Cardinals are reportedly making a slight splash in free agency.

According to reports the Cardinals are closing in on a deal with former Detroit Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta.

The team is looking to upgrade from the tandem of Peter Kozma and Daniel Descalso. Peralta will do just that, but if he's signing in the neighborhood of the reported $50 million or more that he had on the table the Cards would be better served taking a pass.

Peralta ,31, served a 50 game susupension for his involvement Major League Baseball's Biogenesis scandal. He's a two time All-Star and .268 career hitter with 156 home runs in 11 seasons with the Cleveland Indians and Detroit. He came back from the suspension to help the Tigers reach the American League championship series and had a very solid playoff performance.

Due to the suspension I figured Peralta might come a little cheaper. Terms of the deal have not been announced.

Can Will Muschamp survive after loss to Georgia Southern?

No lower-division team had ever beaten the Florida Gators, who won their previous seven games against Football Championship Subdivision teams by an average of 45 points.

That was until today when Georgia Southern marched into the swamp and shocked the Gators 26-20 for arguably the school's worse loss in team history. Florida, which paid Georgia Southern $550,000 for this game to be a punching bag was the team left on the canvas.

Even though Florida was depleted by injury and came into the game with a losing record this still goes down as an upset. The Eagles, which won their third consecutive game despite playing without 19 of 65 scholarship athletes, so this loss doesn't make any sense for Florida fans.

The question after this loss is can Gators coach Will Muschamp survive after what's sure to be a 4-8 season after the finale against in state rival Florida State. The Gators have already lost to a revived Miami team and look in danger to falling to the third best program in the state. If Central Florida can keep heir momentum the Gators could fall to number four.

Athletic director Jeremy Foley and school president Bernie Machen said last week Muschamp was safe, but that was before the worst loss in school history and before there were thousands of no-shows in The Swamp.

Muschamp did lead the Gators to the Sugar Bowl last season but the offense has been fairly dismal during his tenure. In all fairness, despite the injuries Muschamp has kept the Gators competitive. That might not be enough in today's landscape.

Muschamp has gone 7-6, 11-2, and currently sports a 4-7 record that will end the nation's longest bowl streak. Not exactly the win totals of Steve Spurrier, Urban Meyer, or even the ghost of Charley Pell This is a program that is used to winning big. There might not be enough support for Muschamp to weather this storm.

Jeremy Foley has a tough decision on his hands because this is the same coach that led the Gators to an 11-2 season a year ago. A lot of things have gone wrong this season, some totally out of Muschamp’s control. Had Muschamp won this game, Foley probably could have given Muschamp a pass even with a bad loss to Florida State. But now, with this embarrassment, there might be nothing left to do but cut ties.