Topp's Tips

With the madness of spring prep sports postseason upon us, my “story of the day” feature has been on break for the past week. I revive it today to bring you a story on St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Shelby Miller, whose strong opening month and a half has him looking like a National League Rookie of the Year.

Miller followed up Friday’s one-hitter by tossing 5 2/3 scoreless innings Wednesday. He is now 5-2 with a 1.40 ERA. The amazing thing is that Miller has put up those impressive numbers with just two pitches. The Wall Street Journal’s Jeff Sullivan reported Monday that entering Wednesday’s start, Miller had thrown either a fastball or a curveball 98.2 percent of the time. Only one starter relies on two pitches more, Sullivan writes. That’s Cleveland’s Justin Masterson.

The question becomes, will Miller need to add a changeup, splint-finger, etc., to his arsenal to remain effective as hitters adjust to him? Or, will his fastball and curveball be enough?

Poor ball handling was the major undoing for the Quincy University women’s basketball team during the 2012-13 season.

The Lady Hawks went 14-13 despite averaging 18.7 turnovers per game, the highest average in the 16-team Great Lakes Valley Conference. QU’s 0.6-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio was second-worst in the league.

To help remedy that, QU signed transfer point guard Carly Bettencourt last week. QU coach Jeni Garber said at the time that “there is a very good possibility” Bettencourt will be QU’s starting point guard next season.

But how much impact will she make? Well, if she can repeat the season averages she posted last year as the starting point guard for NJCAA Division I Butler (Kan.) Community College, Bettencourt’s presence could yield a major improvement in Quincy’s ball handling.

Bettencourt averaged 1.7 turnovers per game last season, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.7-to-1. Maggie Cunningham handled the majority of QU’s starting point guard duties last season as a freshman. She averaged 3.5 turnovers per game and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.8-to-1. Lucy Cramsey, who will be a senior next season, also spent some time running the offense. A prolific scorer and rebounder, Cramsey functions best at the two guard position. She averaged 3.9 turnovers per game, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.7-to-1.

The GLVC featured 47 guards who started in at least half of their team’s games last season. Of those, seven averaged 1.7 or fewer turnovers per game. Five of the 47 guards had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.7-to-1 or higher.

Here’s a look at the list:

Fewest turnovers per game among GLVC guards in 2012-13

1. Meredith Marti, Illinois-Springfield, Fr. — 0.6

2. Carly Lythjohan, Indianapolis, Soph. — 0.7

3. Taylor Stevenson, Southern Indiana, Soph. — 1.3

4. Lauren Goffinet, Kentucky Wesleyan, Sr. –1.3

5. Rachel Greenwell, Bellarmine, Sr. — 1.3

6. Jasmyne Reynolds, St. Joseph’s, Jr. — 1.5

7. Alexis Lawrence, Missouri-St. Louis, Soph. — 1.5

Best assist-to-turnover ratio among GLVC guards in 2012-13

1. Aerial Smith, William Jewell, Soph. — 2.1

2. Meredith Marti, Illinois-Springfield, Fr. — 1.9

3. Kristin Turner, Indianapolis, Sr. — 1.9

4. Bianca Barton, Kentucky Wesleyan, Sr. — 1.8

5. Kylie Brady, Bellarmine, Sr. — 1.8

UIS’s Marti was the only player to appear on both lists. Marti didn’t qualify for the GLVC’s official leaders in assists-to-turnover ratio because she had just 31 assists. However, she only had 16 turnovers and averaged 21.3 minutes per game.

If Bettencourt’s numbers remain constant as she steps up from NJCAA hoops to NCAA Division II, she would be considered an elite GLVC ball handler.

Former Drury coach takes over SJC women’s program: St. Joseph’s announced Tuesday it has hired Steve Harold to take over its women’s basketball program. Harold coached at Drury for six seasons before resigning after a tumultuous 2012-13 season.

Harold went 129-52 at Drury, including an 81-27 record in the GLVC. Drury was 14-13 last season. Harold’s Drury teams won two GLVC titles and claimed at least a share of the GLVC West title four times. Drury qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament in the first five seasons of the Harold era.

Prior to his tenure at Drury, Harold had a 262-107 record in 12 seasons at Glenville (W.Va.) State College, where he won two region titles.

Drury was picked to win the GLVC West last season in the league’s preseason coaches poll, but the Panthers underachieved. Harold was suspended for a game during the season after making some colorful postgame comments in an interview with the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader and the Quincy Herald-Whig.

Harold takes over an SJC program that went 1-25 last season, including an 0-18 league mark. He replaces Brandon Turner, who went 32-103 in five seasons.

Drury hires Division I assistant: Drury turned to the Division I ranks to find its replacement for Harold to guide its women’s program.

Steve Huber was hired late last month after spending the last seven seasons as the top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Division I Creighton’s women’s basketball team. He’s also been an assistant at Division I’s Louisville and San Diego State and Division II Central Missouri.

He was the head coach at NAIA Benedictine College from 1994-99, guiding the Ravens to a 108-55 record and three NAIA Tournament appearances.

SJC hires former assistant: St. Joseph’s has handed the reins of its men’s program to former assistant coach Tom Church.

Church, who was hired late last month, was an assistant coach at SJC from 2007-10 before spending three seasons as an assistant coach at fellow Division II Florida Southern College. Florida Southern went 70-25 during that time, making the Division II Tournament each season.

In Church’s three years with SJC, the Pumas went 53-37 with NCAA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2010.

He replaces Richard Davis, who went 94-102 in seven seasons as head coach. Davis previously spent two seasons as an assistant at SJC. In the three seasons since SJC reached the Elite Eight in 2010, the Pumas went 23-53.

Throughout the spring, on Mondays through Fridays, Herald-Whig Sports Writer Blake Toppmeyer will post the link to a sports story he finds particularly interesting, humorous or simply a good read. Here is today’s “story of the day”.

When he is not writing about Brett Favre, Tiger Woods or Tim Tebow, and when he’s not delivering TV monologues during major golf tournaments, Rick Reilly can still be a good journalist. The former back-page columnist for Sports Illustrated reminded us of that Tuesday, when his story about an amputee baseball player for Farmington (Ill.) High School was published on ESPN.com. Farmington is located about two and a half hours northeast of Quincy.

Reilly, a columnist for ESPN, writes that Farmington’s Josh Ruchotzke wanted to become a professional baseball player when a rare disease led to him having parts of each of his limbs amputated when he was 13. That hasn’t stopped him from playing for his high school baseball team. And, as Reilly notes, Ruchotzke doesn’t sit at the end of the bench. He’s a pretty good player.

Truly remarkable.

Throughout the spring, on Mondays through Fridays, Herald-Whig Sports Writer Blake Toppmeyer will post the link to a sports story he finds particularly interesting, humorous or simply a good read. Here is today’s “story of the day”.

A lot of people were outraged when they found out one sports writer’s vote was all that separated LeBron James from being the NBA’s first player to be selected unanimously as MVP. The general consensus seemed to be that it must have been a New York writer who cast his vote for the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony.

Yet, that’s not the case. The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn revealed Monday that he was the writer who voted Anthony over James. In his story, Washburn concedes that James is no question the best player in the game. However, he says he voted for the player who he felt was truly most valuable to his team. In Washburn’s opinion, which doesn’t seem so crazy after you read his line of thinking, that player was Anthony. As Washburn put it, the Knicks would be lousy without Anthony. Instead, they earned the No. 2 seed in the East. Without James, the Heat wouldn’t be nearly as dominant but would still be a playoff team, he writes.

Washburn’s argument seems logical. It also brings up the age-old debate of whether the term Most Valuable Player should be taken literally or whether writers should vote for the player who had the best season that year. Personally, I prefer writers to vote in the latter method. It’s less subjective. It rewards the best. But it’s hard to fault Washburn. His intent wasn’t to sabotage James. It was to reward a player who carried his team to its first division title in 19 years.

Plus, although the stats prove LBJ had a better season, it’s not as overwhelming as you might think.

James’ season stats: 26.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 7.3 apg, 56.5 FG%, 40.6 3-pt%

Anthony’s season stats: 28.7 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 2.6 apg, 44.9 FG%, 37.9 3-pt%

Every Monday, I join WGEM SportsCenter Host Josh Houchins to recap some of the highlights from the previous weekend in sports and take a look ahead to the upcoming week.

This week, Houchins and I look at the postseason road ahead for the Hannibal and Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer teams, discuss a Missouri track athlete who could win multiple state titles and, in light of the Kentucky Derby, talk about some national sports events that would be neat to attend.

You can listen to the weekly breakdown at 7:50 a.m. every Monday with Houchins and the rest of the SportsCenter crew at ESPN 1440 AM or wgem.com/sports.

Here’s this week’s breakdown (Click “Show Menu” in the lower left corner then click “On-demand streaming” and search for May 6 clips)

Throughout the spring, on Mondays through Fridays, Herald-Whig Sports Writer Blake Toppmeyer will post the link to a sports story he finds particularly interesting, humorous or simply a good read. Here is today’s “story of the day”.

As time goes by, we’ll remember the controversy surrounding Tiger Woods’ illegal drop during the 2013 Masters as much as we’ll remember Adam Scott beating Angel Cabrera in a playoff to win the event. Woods was assessed a two-shot penalty after an illegal drop during the second round. The penalty was not assessed until the next day. As you know, the rules committee initially reviewed the drop because a television viewer called in to report a possible infraction. The world learned at that time that, yes, it’s permissible for TV viewers to report rules infractions.

Now we’re learning that this television viewer was no Johnny Double Bogey. As Sports Illustrated’s Michael Bamberger reported Wednesday on Golf.com, the television viewer who reported the infraction was Champions Tour golfer David Eger. He’s considered an expert on rules. In his story, Bamberger details how the situation unfolded.

Throughout the spring, on Mondays through Fridays, Herald-Whig Sports Writer Blake Toppmeyer will post the link to a sports story he finds particularly interesting, humorous or simply a good read. Here is today’s “story of the day”.

It wasn’t that long ago that Major League Baseball featured a handful of 300-win pitchers. Guys like Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine and Randy Johnson were carving up opposing lineups. In the last few years, we’ve come to accept that the 300-win pitcher is probably almost a thing of the past. The game has changed, and pitchers don’t pile up 20- or 25-plus win seasons with regularity anymore.

However, I didn’t realize until reading Jay Jaffe’s column he wrote Wednesday for SI.com just how much 200-win pitchers are becoming an endangered species. Check out the list of active wins leaders Jaffe includes in his column. The Atlanta Braves’ Tim Hudson collected his 200th win Tuesday. As Jaffe points out, C.C. Sabathia and Mark Buehrle should reach the plateau in the not-too-distant future. After that, it’s possible we could go several years without any pitcher reaching 200.

The only thing more surprising than that is the fact that Freddy Garcia, who hasn’t been truly relevant since 2006, is ranked No. 9 on the active wins list.

Throughout the spring, on Mondays through Fridays, Herald-Whig Sports Writer Blake Toppmeyer will post the link to a sports story he finds particularly interesting, humorous or simply a good read. Here is today’s “story of the day”.

Quincy High School football fans remember the potential Mikale Wilbon showed as a freshman in 2010. He dominated freshman games and also debuted in varsity in the second half of the year, gaining 85 yards on 18 carries for the season.

It was a small sample size, but you could just tell Wilbon was destined for big things. And he was.

Wilbon moved from Quincy to the Chicagoland after that season. He’s now a junior at De La Salle. On Saturday, he verbally committed to play football for Vanderbilt, a member of the SEC. Wilbon had previously announced his top five, in order, as Vanderbilt, Arizona State, Iowa, Cincinnati and Missouri. Wilbon missed some time last fall with a knee injury but had a breakout season at De La Salle as a sophomore.

Here’s the story from the Chicago Sun-Times on Wilbon’s commitment.

Every Monday, I join WGEM SportsCenter Host Josh Houchins to recap some of the highlights from the previous weekend in sports and take a look ahead to the upcoming week.

This week, Houchins and I discuss the impact of the addition of transfer Tori Kuhn to the Quincy University women’s basketball team, talk about the player selections for the McDonald’s/Herald-Whig Classic and break down a few of the top athletes on the Missouri area track scene.

You can listen to the weekly breakdown at 7:50 a.m. every Monday with Houchins and the rest of the SportsCenter crew at ESPN 1440 AM or wgem.com/sports.

Also, leave it to Houchins to find a way to meld Halestorm, a little-known Scott Stapp song, lines from “Hot Shots,” “Top Gun,” and I think a QU radio broadcast featuring Broc Hampsmire and me into new bumper music for the Monday segment. Enjoy.

Here’s this week’s breakdown (Click “Show Menu” in the lower left corner then click “On-demand streaming” and search for April 29 clips)

Throughout the spring, on Mondays through Fridays, Herald-Whig Sports Writer Blake Toppmeyer will post the link to a sports story he finds particularly interesting, humorous or simply a good read. Here is today’s “story of the day”.

Good on ya, Doug McDermott.

Just when you start to think the world of NCAA Division I athletics is a dark, corrupt place, someone like McDermott reminds you that not all is lost, that there are still athletes with great character who care about representing their school well.

On Thursday, McDermott was supposed to declare his intentions to leave the Creighton men’s basketball program a year early and enter the NBA Draft. That’s what we all expected anyway. After all, what more could the consensus All-American achieve by returning for a senior season?

McDermott, however, pulled a fast one on us and made himself the ultimate hero in the eyes of Bluejay nation when he announced Thursday he will return for his senior season.

Will it help him improve his NBA Draft stock? Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn’t matter. That’s not the point.

As McDermott told the Omaha World-Herald, “You really can’t put a price tag on a senior year.” Those of us who have lived through a senior year of college know how true those words are.

Here’s the story from Steven Pivovar, Creighton beat writer for the Omaha World-Herald, on McDermott’s decision to return for his senior season.