Author: Coach Z (Page 30 of 38)

Dick Vitale underwent successfull throat surgery today. ESPN announced that he will be sidelined until February. Like a true competitor Vitale tried to play through the pain, but in the end the surgery was the only option. Whether you like his style or not, he has been one of the biggest supporters of college basketball. He has helped the game explode over the past twenty years. Many do not know that he was a successfull college coach at the Univesity of Detroit. His team set standards that have still not been matched.

However, I remember him most for the lectures he gave at Five Star Basketball Camper. As a junior in high school I sat mesmerized for over an hour listening to him motivate and extol the finer points of the game. In fact, it was his enthusiasm and love for the game that inspired me to be a coach. For those of you who think he is all show, you need to think again. He has a bigger heart than he does mouth (no disrespect intended).

Our prayers and well wishes are with you Coach Vitale. I can’t wait to see you on the sideline again.

The Kansas Jayhawks are as good as advertised. I had an opportunity to catch them against a good Ohio University team yesterday at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. They manhandled Ohio from start to finish. And mind you this is an Ohio team that just handed Maryland a rare home loss a couple days prior. What is most impressive about the Jayhawks is their depth in the backcourt and their defensive execution.

Their rotation on ball screens was the best of any team I have seen in 25 years of coaching. The ability to pressure, rotate and recover was phenomenal. And their depth is unbelievable.

When you bring Brandon Rush (a lottery pick) and Sherron Collins (he might be their best player) off the bench it would give any coach nightmares. When Rush and Collins get fully healthy, one could only imagine the havoc they will wreak. Combine those two with Mario Chalmers (another future NBA’er) and steady Russell Robinson and you have the best quartet of guards in the country.

Coach Tim O’Shea played for Coach Gary Williams at Boston College and obviously learned his lessons well. On Wednesday his Ohio U. Bobcats handed Maryland only their fourth non-conference home loss since 1989. After dominating the game from the opening tip the Bobcats have shown why they could help the MAC become a multi bid league this year. Currently, there are 6-2 with their only losses coming on the road by two against Holy Cross and Temple.

With Jerome Tillman and Leon Williams Ohio has arguably the best 3 and 4 man in the league. They continue the road trip with a Saturday contest against Kansas and then head to Hawaii where they will face St. Johns in the first round of the Rainbow Classic.

Big wins over ACC opponents are not new to the Bobcats and Coach O’Shea. They have also beaten North Carolina and Virginia in his tenure. Coupled with a trip to the NCAA tournament a couple of years ago, it is easy to see why he was on the list for a number of openings last season. Another big run and he could be moving on.

The past couple of years the Missouri Valley Conference has gotten most of the publicity amongst the Mid Major Conferences. HOwever, this year two other leagues are making early season rumblings about becoming a multi-bid league. Watch out Jim Boeheim! Your Syracuse Orangemen might actually have to win a league title to get into the NCAA tournament this year.

The Atlantic 10 is off to a great start. Rhode Island is 10-1 with three wins over Big East schools. Xavier is 8-1 with a pair of wins over Big East opponents. Dayton is 7-1 with a win over Miami, Holy Cross and Louisville. All on the road. UMass and Charlotte are right behind with 6-2 records. Also, Charlotte has a win over S. Illinois.

The most surprising league is the Southland Conference. Sam Houston and Texas-Arlington are both 8-0. Stephen F. Austin is 7-1 while Central Arkansas is off to a 8-2 start. The conference has already beaten Texas Tech and Oklahoma on the road.

The significance of these two leagues performance has been that they have won big games on the road. Unlike the BCS leagues that play 80% of their non-conference games at home and the other 10% on neutral courts.

The list of unbeatens and winless teams shrunk this week as Delaware got off the snide and Butler dropped their first game. There are only 16 teams left without a blemish on their record. It is not surprising that teams like Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Texas are still undefeated, but who would have guessed that Sam Houston State and Texas Arlington would be rolling along at 8-0. The significance of this is that they don’t have the luxury of buying home wins. It is much tougher when you don’t have any built in wins in your schedule.

Also, it is a little surprising that Vanderbuilt and Ole Miss are the only undefeated teams in the SEC.

The list of teams stil looking for that first win has shrunk to 5. Ball State and Furman being the most notable. After giving head coach Tom Parotta a contract extension for garnering 7 wins last year, Canisius has started off 0-8 and will be hard pressed to match last year’s success.