Month: February 2008 (Page 21 of 30)

Quietly, Rick Pitino has labored at putting Louisville back together this season. After the miraculous recover of David Padgett and the return of Juan Palocious he has the Cards headed in the right direction. His constant disciplining of Derrick Character seems to be paying off as the big fella finally seems to be listening to the voice of reason.

Yesaterday’s win over Georgetown puts the Card squarely in contention for a high seed and a chance to win the Big East.

Speaking of the Big East, a couple of schools that could be looking for coaches as the end of the season are St. John’s and Providence. Although Tim Welsh has worked miracles there, the natives are restless. Norm Roberts was asked to come in and clean up the mess left by Mike Jarvis. Roberts has done a great job repairing the damage, but a longtime neglect by the administration leaves the Johnnies on the short end of the facility battle.

Basketball writer Hoop Weiss has a great article about Bob Knight and the end of an era. While some younger coaches are in it for the fame and glamour, there are a few still in it for the right reasons. A couple of them, Matt Painter (Purdue) and Sean Miller (Xavier) are in it for the right reasons and having great seasons.

In fact Xavier just got another big win today over St. Joe’s and looks to be a very high seed come tournament time.

The road is supposed to be a tough place to play in the Big Ten. Well, Purude went into Wisconsin and gave the Badgers only their third home loss since Bo Ryan’s arrival 7 years ago. Then today Indiana visited Ohio State and gave the Buckeyes a setback.

Matt Painter has the youngest team in the country, but you would have never known it if you watched how they handled themselves in Madison. Robbie Hummell scored 21 points and the Boilermakers became the first team in 35 games to shoot over 50% against the Badgers. Painter is quickly distinguishing himself as one of the best young coaches in the country.

Today Indiana was led by my Big Ten MVP, DJ White, who scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds enroute to a 59-53 win in Columbus. Eric Gordon scored 15 to aid White. Every time the Buckeys got close the Hoosiers got a big play from White, Gordon or freshman Jordan C rawford (who for my money is better than his over hyped brother at Kentucky). Crawford had 8 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists without a turnover.

The next three games will tell the tale of the tape for Indiana as they host Wisconsin, Michigan State and Purdue in their next three outings. I believe Kelvin Sampson will have his troops ready and loaded for bear.

A disturbing trend is happening in college basketball. John Brady, two years removed from the Final Four, was fired as the head coach of LSU. That brings my count to 6 of coaching changes in the middle of the season this year. Suddenly, it is becoming like the NBA. What is even more disappointing is that the AD fired him for losing too many games. That part of it is not disappointing. Actually, I respect the AD honesty on that comment. What is disappointing is that the AD is a former coach. I could see if he was an academic guy or business guy who had never coached, but he wasn’t.

With money getting so big it looks more like the NBA, so why not act like the NBA. Remember this AD’s the next time you hire and fire a coach in mid-season, you may be next.