Gopher Basketball
The Golden Gophers
* Unable to view this past week’s game (honestly, with the poor television coverage and the lackluster start to the season, have the on-court Gophers ever had less of the state’s spotlight?), my thoughts on the Gophers are pretty limited-but I do have a couple things to offer. The first is tied into a well laid out post by RPI Guy earlier this week, which posited that Idaho was fully preparing for Dan Monson’s arrival in Moscow following this season. For those who did not read it or have not heard the theory, here it is-Idaho, coming off a 3-25 season, hired an assistant coach to a one-year contract for 2006-07. As RPI astutely pointed out, programs do not rebuild from an unsuccessful run by hiring assistant coaches from that period. Connecting the dots is not hard here. . .Monson’s alma mater, one year contract for assistant coach from 3-25 team, the tenuous situation of Monson at Minnesota. It should surprise no one if/when Monson steps into the position of head coach for the Vandals.
This all being said, I find it irritating that such a scenario might well have been in place going back to last spring, with the full knowledge of Monson and AD Joel Maturi. It speaks to an understanding that Monson should be planning for life beyond Minnesota, and very soon. If this was the case, was there an implicit agreement between Monson and Maturi that he could not be fired at the time because of concern over votes for the football stadium? Did Monson meet with the Idaho athletic director and assure him that he would soon be available? Did Maturi understand these conversations were ensuing between Monson and Idaho? If any of this was occurring, it serves notice that Maturi was willing to sell this season down the river for the men’s basketball team. He likely did not anticipate the apathy that would fully surround this team by letting Monson stay, which would be another incomphrensible decision by our athletic director. For those of us who have worked in environments where someone is soon to leave (whether by retirement, buyout, whatever), the vibe given off by that employee is different than when they were fully vested in the job-it’s natural to ease off, spend a little less time stressing over the details of the job, because why bother? The intensity is gone, and if Monson fully was expecting his departure at the end of this year for the green pastures of Moscow, Idaho, I would guess that Monson’s attention to his current job might lag. Perhaps that’s why Maturi made the move when he did-from watching the Gophers performance in Orlando, you certainly did not see a team playing with a purpose. Perhaps this is all silly speculation, but the connection seems very likely-and if so, it’s pretty disgusting from my point of view. You would think one of the local media piranhas would dig a bit into this story and find out what they can behind the scenes. One thinks there might be a story to be found.
* The other Gopher related item comes from the mailbag that I proposed last week, as I was overwhelmed by questions-okay, there were two, but two good questions. Here’s the first one:
Dr. Coolhand,
You no doubt have seen and heard all the coaching speculation, now I want the real poop. Give me your top 3-5 candidates for the Gopher coaching job. One caveat. … they must be guys you think would be interested in taking the job. If possible, can you also tell us why you like these guys? Thanks.
Tired of “Lategamemeltdowns”
Alright, here’s a stab at my top five:
1. Flip Saunders-I think he’s the perfect candidate. Minnesota alum with close ties to the “U”, success at the NBA level, and experience at cobbling together rosters in the CBA and junior college level. If he is willing to forego the big $ and big pressure of the NBA, I think we’d be set for years.
2. Chris Lowery-As I’ve alluded to previously, I’m in favor of a program builder at the “U”, not just a recognizable name who may inject some initial interest but cannot sustain momentum. Among the mid-major coaches out there who may look to move up, I think Lowery brings the best credentials-Midwest guy, a proponent of lockdown defense, young, and he’s from Southern Illinois which has some great Big Ten karma (Bruce Webber and Matt Painter).
Rick Majerus-I’m acceding to the “big splash” mentality with Majerus here, as he definitely has name recognition and a media presence which will bring a lot of attention to the “U”. The only question is would that attention be for what occurs on the court, or because Majerus is unsure if he really wants to be a head coach again or not. His health would also be a concern. But he’s a dynamite college basketball coach who could be here for years if he wants.
Jeff Bzdelik-Honestly, is there a coach doing a better job on the national scene that what Bzdelik is accomplishing out at Air Force? They have moved past being just a nice mid-major program to being able to thump major programs. Bzdelik also brings NBA experience to the college game and graduated from Illinois-Chicago, so he has some Midwest ties.
Bob Knight-The soon to be all-time winningest college basketball coach is a viable candidate for the job, with proponents among some of the big money alums. He’s obviously a polarizing figure, but my reservations do not come from the distinct potential that he would embarrass the “U” with his behavior-it’s from the fact that he is 67 years old and very well could retire before his first recruiting class are seniors. So we then go through this search all over again, in just a couple years ago? Not too appealing to me.
Matt Doherty-Doherty’s my bonus/sleeper candidate. He’s a top-notch recruiter who is slowly working his way back up the ladder of D-1 ball after the fiasco that UNC turned into. I’m pretty confident that when Doherty’s chance at a major conference comes around again, he’ll do alright.
The Big Ten
* Last week, I mentioned that Purdue might give Wisconsin and Ohio State some headaches this season at the top of the Big Ten-please stricken that statement from the record, and it has nothing to do with Purdue’s loss to Butler yesterday (Butler is good and Purdue still has the look of a NCAA qualifier to me). It has more to do with the talent level that has Bucky and the Buckeyes head and shoulders above the rest of the league. The game at Kohl Arena on January 9th between the two squads should be a heavyweight battle-but when they meet again in Columbus on February 25th, I expect Ohio State to dominate.
* Of the freshman recruits that Thad Matta brought in, David Lighty probably has received the least attention, but in the two games I have watched the Buckeyes play this season (yesterday against Cinncy and earlier against UNC), he has done some very nice, understated things on the basketball court. He’s going to be a real good player for the Buckeyes for the next few years.
* Last year, I spoke of Jamar Butler being a key component for the Buckeyes meshing their freshman into Big Ten and national contenders (smart thought, but it would have been even smarter if I had mentioned Ron Lewis too); next year, I think Purdue’s freshman guard Chris Kramer will be a great conduit to Matt Painter’s heralded group coming into West Lafayette. Kramer looks to be a heady, tough guard who will surely frustrate the rest of the Big Ten for the next four years.
* Even though Steve Alford inked an extension in the off-season, one wonders if the Iowa faithful will be pushing for his ouster sooner rather than later. The Hawkeyes are off to a tough start, including a double-digit loss at Drake yesterday (the other D-1 team to lose to my alma mater, the Winona State Warriors this preseason). While it was assumed this season would be a rebuilding year with the losses of Jeff Horner and Greg Brunner, I don’t think the faithful expected this much of a struggle, especially with Adam Haluska returning and highly regarded freshman Tyler Smith coming to campus. It seems that there’s always been an uneasy alliance between Alford and the Hawkeye fanbase and it doesn’t appear this will be the season where he converts more fans to his side.
* Time for question #2 from the EZ inbox:
Coolhand,
2 questions in 1. …
Let’s assume for the moment that the Big 10 will get 5 bids to the NCAA Tournament. At this point in time, who would you project those 5 teams to be? And if the Big 10 were to only get 4, which one of your 5 would be sweating it out the most?
Doldrums in Dinkytown
Obviously Wisconsin and Ohio State take the first two spots for the Big Ten. Unless Purdue completely melts down, I’d say they have a solid enough non-conference resume to make the tourney as long as they play solid ball in the Big Ten. Past these three teams, I see three others vying for spots #4 & 5-Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan State, in that order. I have faith that once Illinois is healthy, they will be a very solid team worthy of an at-large berth in the tourney. Indiana looks like they might be coming around, if they can just find some offense they will be very competitive. I think the NCAA’s might be a pipe dream for Sparty this year, especially with the injury bug visiting Raymer Morgan and Curtis Joseph recently. As for Michigan, they are sitting there with a 11-1 record, but Mr. Whipple of Charmin fame is giving them a tongue lashing for their soft soft non-conference schedule. Unless they pull an upset against Ohio State, Wisconsin, or UCLA, they might be this year’s Florida State, a gaudy record built upon a bunch of creampuffs.
The National Scene
* Since it was a limited week for games, I’ll take the time to give a general overview of the college basketball scene thus far this season and what I see for the rest of the year. Frankly, without hyperbole, I think this is the finest college basketball season that we will see since the late ’80’s/early ’90s. It seems that a perfect storm has conspired to give us an incredible amount of talent on the court this year-the NBA law which requires high school players to wait a year before declaring for the draft has given us sublime talent such as Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, Brandan Wright, and Thaddeus Young who otherwise likely would have headed directly to the association; the return to campus of several players who likely could be playing in the NBA right now (the Florida crew, Tyler Hansborough, Aaron Gray, to name a few); the emergence of good programs outside of the major conferences; and the balance of good programs from coast to coast.
While the NCAA’s will never return to the days of teams featuring four year starters at the elite schools, I do think they are operating at the best level of all the major sports. During the preseason, we are treated to an excellent slate of contests because teams are rewarded, not punished for facing elite competition. Major conference teams can no longer load up on gimmees in the non-conference slate and aim for .500 in conference to make the tourney; the message is clear, play tough competition or you won’t be playing in the big tournament come March. Conference play brings all the great rivalries in claustrophobic gyms that oozed intensity through the television screen. And just as spring is breaking, the best three weeks that any sport can lay claim to begins.
The new rule basically requiring elite high school preps to play one season of college ball seems to benefit everyone except freshman English professors still holding onto a shred of ethics. For the NBA, these players get some national attention before sliding onto the end of benches in Memphis and Portland. For the NCAA, elite freshman once again are on campus-and it just so happens that this year’s class is widely deemed to be the best in over a decade. I think another segment that will benefit greatly from this rule is the teams in the MVC and Horizon and Colonial leagues and the like, because the trickling down of good talent will continue as the major college programs vye for that elite talent that will spend a short time on campus.
Where do we go from here? I think we’ll see an incredible March Madness as teams like UCLA, Ohio State, North Carolina, Florida, and Kansas make their moves to conjure up comparisions to great NCAA champions from the past; meanwhile, the likes of Wichita State, Butler, Gonzaga, Winthrop and others move past the status of mid-major, having already proved they can play with any team on a neutral court in the nation. And, as always, teams that are not expected to challenge the elite squads will make themselves known, but they will hardly be Cinderellas-if you advance to the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, or Final Four this year, it won’t be a fluke.
The only drawback to this great season of basketball? I am afraid that the major conference contigent will beg, cajole, and threaten to expand the field of 65. When the Missouri Valley places 4 or 5 teams in the tournament again, that will steal a spot from someone in the Big East, ACC, or Big Ten and those conferences will pout. As the quality of college basketball once again flows strongly, I will not fret about what the powers that be might hatch to mess it up-I’ll just enjoy.
* The Bob Huggins era seems to really be underway now that phenom Bill Walker is eligible for the Wildcats. He debuted this afternoon, scoring 15 points and exciting the home crowd, according to the AP write-up. One hopes that Kansas State will find its way onto national television a few times this season because I’m guessing Walker’s time in the other Manhattan will be short.
* Georgia served notice that they will figure prominently in the SEC this season with a convincing and entertaining win against Gonzaga yesterday in Athens. Georgia had been gobbling up its non-conference competition, but besides Wake Forest their wins did not excite anyone, until yesterday. A balanced attack lead the Bulldogs, but the highlight was delivered by highly regarded sophomore Mike Mercer, who threw down a reverse alley-oop dunk. SEC play just got a little more interesting this season with the emergence of the Dawgs and flashbacks to Gonzaga’s recent difficulties against very athletic teams emerged again yesterday (the Zags had big trouble on the defensive end).
* Can someone tell me how UConn is rated #8 in the coaches poll? They have played NO ONE, and while they may be getting by on reputation, it’s merely the name on the front of their jerseys-no one knows what this team is all about with Rudy Gay, Marcus Williams, Hilton Armstrong, Josh Boone, Denham Brown, and Rashad Anderson all gone from campus. Thank goodness that polls mean nothing in college basketball though.
* Although the product wasn’t too entertaining, it was pretty cool to see Ohio State face Cincinnatti yesterday. These two programs with such strong traditions had last faced each other since 1962, when they faced off in the national championship game. Columbus and Cincinnatti are 100 miles from each other, I hope they can get a series renewed between these two formidable programs.
* Time to give some props out to another columnist, one with a little more prominent position than me :). On Fridays, over on cbssportsline.com Gary Parrish gives a preview of all the weekend games to watch and what to look for. Very interesting and informative info is passed along by Parrish and it gives one a good idea what games to key on for the weekend. He’s a vast improvement over the snide Gregg Doyle who used to have the college basketball gig for cbs sportsline.
Odds and Sods
* There was a late entry in the mailbag! Here it is:
What do you think will happen with Ari & the crew from Entourage?
Ope from Mayberry
First, I have to say that I find it quite shocking that Andy and Aunt Bea would allow HBO into their home, much less let Ope watch this show. Of course, when they allowed Ope to have his own rock band, you knew it was a downhill slide from there.
Onto the question. . .it was an interesting twist to the end of the season, but I hope in season 4 too much time isn’t spent on Ari trying to ingratiate himself back into Vince’s good graces. We all know that Ari will continue to be a major aspect of the show, so I hope the show doesn’t get bogged down in this storyline for the whole season. I anticipate that before long, Ari will be back where he belongs, representing Vince.
The real question for me this season is, what will they do with Turtle and Drama? The storyline of Saigon and Turtle was a vast disappointment for me-Turtle finally has a chance to do something besides procure weed, drive the boys around, and pursue Vince’s leftovers and the storyline just drops. Very disappointing. I hope the same fate does not strike Drama’s resurgent acting career.
* I hate fantasy football playoffs. I positioned myself for a solid post-season run and over the past couple weeks my best laid plans have been torn apart by the likes of Devin Hester, Michael Vick, and Edgerrin James. I especially hate defense in fantasy football. &*@#$%&!!!! Alright, now I can move on.
* If you want to divert your attention away from the pinball game between the Bengals and Colts tomorrow night, I recommend flipping over to the USA Network, where Monday Night Raw will be staging a 30 man battle royal. I have always loved the battle royals and can never get enough of them-if there was a battle royal cable channel, I would order it up. I’m pulling for Carlito, the Caribbean grappler currently squiring the ultra hot Torrie Wilson and the wrestler who “spits in the face of people who don’t want to be cool”.
* Not only are battle royals my favorite pro wrestling event, but it is also my favorite short story of all time and its the first chapter of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. It is an account of the valedictorian of a segregated school being invited to read his essay to the town’s Chamber of Commerce, but is instead forced into a brawl with other black youth for the entertainment of the town elite. An incredible story I first read back in junior high that still resonates and sparked an interest in the civil rights movement and subsequent study of race relations in the U.S. for me. There’s few things I can recommend as highly as that story.
* Alright, time to wrap it up. . .the Ramble will take a break next Sunday, as I think coal would arrive in my stocking if I hijacked the family activities on Christmas Eve to hammer out the Ramble. Happy Holidays to you all, and here’s wishing our little community a blessed, safe, and peaceful holiday season.