Running to Stand Still

So I was planning to get away from it all today and the weekend, but I read Gregg Doyel this morning with my coffee and must provide insight. Okay, commentary.

(Insert the “you bring your laptop and check things out when on vacation? Freaking geek” jokes right about………………………..now.)

***

First let me say that Gary Neal is the leading returning scorer in the country? Impressive.

Now, as for the rule…

Though I agree with Doyel in that it is a stupid rule, the really stupid part is that, once again, the NCAA has altered its landscape in a vaccuum. It is a rule that flies in the face of other rules. And that should be disturbing to people.

It is precisely the lack of consistency from the NCAA in the manner in which it manages its member schools that is galling. Coaches can make only a certain number of phone calls (unless you are Kelvin Sampson) but can text message their life away. On the other side of this rule, the NCAA revoked the ability for a D1-A football player to immediately transfer to a 1-AA school without having to sit out.

The NCAA has long maintained that the basketball tournament was just fine with 64 teams. Well, no, 65. It doesn’t need to be any larger. Oh wait, Jim Boeheim, you think there should be up to five more teams in? Well, let’s study this issue. We’ll get back to you right after we ban William & Mary’s two-feathered logo for being offensive to Native Americans. That will be next Thursday, because Florida State needs time to conjure up our defense on how parading around a white guy on a horse every Satruday and having a screaming Indian logo is okay.

I could go far deeper on the amazing number of conflicting rules set forth by the NCAA, but it would be a waste of time. The list is long. The part that bothers me is that they are so wildly inconsistent. The glaring part of the bothering part is that the NCAA seems to continually make tunnel vision decisions based solely on the hot topic of the day. The lack of consistency is most borne out in the relationship of one decision to another, building a manageable framework of rules that member institutions can live by.

It’s no wonder schools now have a new position(s) in their athletic adminsitration for “compliance officers.” Imagine this: you have to have someone whose full time job is to try to interpret the varying and logic-less rules set up. That alone should signal something, right?

Perhaps it’s just me.

Keep an eye on this spin: the NCAA and defenders of the rule talking ad nauseum about how much this helps the student-athlete and how much they care about their futures. Then think of the hypocrisy of it all.

Huggy Bear

Hola, amigos. Been a long time since I rapped at ya. (Apologies to Jim Anchower.)

Quick update is that the book is off to the publisher and I’m taking a few days of R&R. Yes, life is good.

You have to love the Oregon Hill Funk All Stars to get that song.

***

I see Calvin Baker is taking his act up I-64 to play for the ‘Hoos. Quick question: is is better to play 35 minutes for a middling CAA team and get every shot you want, or is it better to walk on for a middling ACC team and hope to get some mop up duty?

I know Baker posted some hefty numbers, but he Iversoned those stats. Everything, and I mean everything, went through the kid. I’m not breaking on him, because neither you nor I know his personal situation. But basketball-wise, he didn’t make a good decision.

***

From the Stories That Never Die department: Brad Brownell vaguely referred to “trust issues being broken” at The Dub in a recent interview. I have a question: can we just admit the reality that every now and again two people just cannot work together because of a mutual dislike, and move on?

***

I’m amazed that I still pick up new readers, and one guy sent me an email about some of the terminology that I use. So for the new guys, here are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. Then, I’m off to the golf course. (Yes, it is a half-effort, but give me some credit for checking in. I worry about you guys. I really do.)

The Dub: UNCW
Nor’Easter: Northeastern
The Human Second Helping: GMUs Jai Lewis
The Fightin’ Nanas: Delaware
Frankenstein: Loren Stokes
Rockets: Antoine Agudio

***

Towson gets to Lawrence, KS to play Rock Chalk on 11/19. Hey, Pat Kennedy has got to pay for that new Fieldhouse somehow, right?

***

I’m out. For now. This freaking conference just never seems to let up. And that’s a good thing.

Moody’s Mood for Love

Ah, sunny, crisp Friday mornings in the spring time. It’s the kind of day that reeks of benevolence…

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This guy has the latest and greatest CAA web site. It’s the perfect time to begin for him–he can work out the kinks over the summer and be ready to roll come October.

***

The following is NOT an actual call to the OnStar hotline…

Boss: “Mick, how’s the contract negotiation with our coach coming along?”
Mick: “He kicked on two years.”
Boss: “Well keep in mind that five of our top seven donors don’t like him.”
Mick: “He won the conference championship and was voted coach of the year.”
Boss: “Well keep in mind that five of our top seven donors don’t like him.”
Mick: “True, and he passed over me for a coaching slot.”
Boss: “If these five donors bail, our development efforts are in the crapper. That doesn’t look good for me.”
Mick: “Yes.”
Boss: “And it really doesn’t look good for you.”
Mick: “I see.”
Boss: “How’s the real estate market in North Dakota?”
Mick: “Okay, I guess, but how is that relevant?”
Boss: “I would hate to have to make a decision to shut down one of our sports because we don’t have the revenue or funding.”
Mick: “Ah, that’s how it relates.”
Boss: “So how is that contract negotiation working out?”
Mick: “He left town three days ago. Didn’t you see the news conference?”
Boss: “I was at the beach.”
Mick: “We need a new coach. I know exactly where to find him.”
Boss: “Good for you. Who is it?”
Mick: “I’ll let you know after I make five phone calls.”

***

George Mason is apparently going to play Duke.

If you didn’t immediately think (1) Wow, what an opportunity!; and (2) Holy crap, Duke beats teams by 40 early in the season; you are lying. Yes you are.

Use your best Coach K Whiny Nasal Voice here: “Drexel finished eighth in that conference last year. Those guys beat those $%&*#@ from Chapel Hill. What are you going to do about it? Oh, and use your American Express.”

***

I’m off: a final edit may end today. It may end tomorrow. But I’m putting this bird down by Monday.

The Very Thought of You

Coupla Thursday afternoon nuggets…

My man Jay Bilas is smart. Before you click, it is an ESPN Insider article. And for the newer folks, Jay Bilas is my man because he wrote the Foreword for the book.

I’ve never met Erik Brady, but he seems smart, too. This is a well written article surrounding “what next?” for GMU. Okay, Erik could be really stupid but a great writer. I don’t know him. I do know the letters in his name can be respelled to read: Err Bid Yak, which sounds like something eBay oughta investigate.

Don’t lose sight of this: George Mason and the CAA got two articles written about them in major media outlets…in middle May. Let that sink in for a few minutes.

But I once again digress…

***

Poor Tony Shaver. The guy can’t catch a break. First, he loses Calvin Baker, the kind of guard that could carry the Tribe out of the play-in games. Now William & Mary is being forced by the NCAA to give up its nickname.

Okay, let me be accurate, because amidst the horrific and unfunny jokes I do try to being you news about this conference. The NCAA actually said:

“William & Mary will be allowed to keep its “Tribe” nickname, but can’t use it in NCAA championship competitions and also is barred from holding NCAA events…”

Apparently the two feathers in their logo also must go. Now, Florida State gets to keep that bald Indian guy screaming as its logo. You know the caliber of student that William & Mary accepts. Now compare that to the student athletes you read about from Tallahassee. [Insert your money joke right..........here.]

The ruling certainly was not surprising, but I make note for the one reason this gets my panties in a bunch: doesn’t the NCAA have ANYTHING more worthy to spend its time on?

Yes. Off the top of my head (because I need to start thinking about dinner): A new TV deal (it expires in 2011), “prep” schools that really prep these kids on ways to circumvent rules, Kelvin Sampson’s phone bills (think the new Hoosier boss is paying a little more attention to this “cell phone company giving its calls to the federal government” than you and I?), transfer rules, title IX, shoe company money, the Pump Brothers, a new marketing campaign.

***

Shawn James. Calvin Baker. Ray Barbosa. Cavell Johnson. Janko Mrskic. Coach Jeff Capel. Coach Brad Brownell. Coach Ron Everhart.

That’s a pretty darn good basketball team that just transferred out of the CAA. Good coaches, too. Add Dr. Richard Sander (VCU) and Dr. Wayne Edwards (Towson) and you’ve got a solid administration.

I’m not sure what’s interesting about that, but it interests me.

Side note: I’m sure I can find someone better than ol’ Janko. He should be at Pfeiffer or Hampden Sydney scoring 12 points and grabbing six rebounds a game. I just like the big guy.

If the Phone Doesn’t Ring, It’s Me

Come Monday, it won’t be allright…

Shawn James is taking his sinewy frame and shot blocking ability to Duquesne–you know, where his head coach at Northeastern Ron Everhart also moved. Now I could be very wrong about this, but all of Denmark is rotting.

You just don’t leave a program on the rise, on the cusp of an NIT berth, for a (1-15, 3-24) program. You don’t. Northeastern nearly beat Cal, went to the CAA semifinals, and made national news. Duquesne lost to Arkansas Pine Bluff. At home. Really.

You don’t need my commentary. Gregg Doyel said it all about a month ago.

Shawn James, meet Harding Nana.

Unreal. Yet, real.

***

I need to clarify Friday’s comment about UNCW getting its NIT game because of Mason. (I never realized college basketball fans are soooo sensitive until I started writing this blog. The email is hysterical. Note to therapists: I’ve got your next booming segment.)

Yes, Dub fans, you got the nod because you guys are the conference champions. It absolutely had something to do with on-court success. But the NIT initially picked up the phone and called the CAA offices, wondering if the CAA had a team that could fill an opening. You think Ron Bertovich is going to run Delaware at them? You think the NIT is calling for a CAA team (over, say, Iowa State) if Mason doesn’t get to the Final Four?

***

I will also keep my promise of tourney highlights from behind the scenes (and The Dub commentary). Just give me this week. Personal update: I’m finishing the book this week and sending it to the publisher. The goal is to be completed by Thursday evening and on the golf course Friday by 10:00am.

There will be Happy Hour(s). Everyone is welcomed to join me.

Desolation Row

Gotta get a little Dylan working, especially with Elliot Yamin in town tonight…no jokes needed there, folks.

I see The Dub is playing in the Preseason NI, er, the Season Opening NIT Tourney. If you don’t think this invite is a direct result of George Mason’s Final Four, you are wrong.

Everybody wins.

Me? Time to rush…

Let’s Go

Sorry for the delay. I played golf early in the week and my lips got sunburned. Thankfully, I had some Chapstick to soothe and soften my burned skin. That stuff is GOLD !!!

***

I love fans. I really do. Right now George Mason fans are abolutely OFFENDED when any conversation having to do with college basketball does not involve them. (”But enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What do you think about me?)

After vehemently defending Alex Loughton, saying he is better than his stats, ODU fans now won’t miss Loughton that much. Using up your eligibility has a way of impacting your value.

VCU fans feel they are in great hands with Anthony Grant. Better than Capel. But how do they know, really? I met Grant the other day for the first time, and the best thing I can say is that he’s looking for a house on my side of town. It is true, though, that he has never lost a game as head coach.

UNCW fans are so very happy their mess is straightened out and Mike Capaccio now leads coaches in daily kum-bah-yah singalongs. It’s funny, I was getting on Capaccio for not hiring me to replace Brad Brownell. I was misguided all along. It’s Capaccio’s job I should have…right, Wilmington?

WARNING !!!! LEGIT NEWS: Ray Barbosa and Cavell Johnson are transferring to UMBC. END OF LEGIT NEWS…I don’t get Ray Barbosa. What does he get out of that? Did he think suddenly Dave Leitao was going to call? Lute Olsen? The market has a way of determining value all on its own, and in this case a short guard who has regressed in his career ended up where he should be.

Hey, I spent a couple of hours with Da’ Commish this morning. Methinks we will all enjoy next season. But here’s the rub, and every single one of us needs to get this, and get it good: ya gotta keep winning. Don’t and this baby becomes a one-year wonder.

St. Joe’s was undefeated and #1 in the nation three years ago, and what do you think of them? Of the A10? Kent State went to the Great Eight in 2002 and what do you think of them? Of the MAC?

Side note: I watched, in person, Hofstra go to St. Joe’s and win. Hofstra was CLEARLY a better team. Just plain more talented, and, I will venture, better coached.

***

On a truly serious note…
I’m stretching it out, folks. Trying to figure out what direction to take the blog this summer and next fall. So you’ll get my tourney memories over the next week or so.

Oh, I’ll be back, wasting your time as I always have. Without the book project and getting to three games a week, I jut don’t how how to do this well. And if I begin to stink more than ever, well, I’ll have to do something rash. Like shut my mouth.

So there.

Feelin’ It

This is Post #182 covering a tumultuous CAA season. If you Blinked, you missed out…just don’t allow your faith to fall short.

I also must say that Advil is the best cure for a, uh, head malady caused by over-aggressive partaking in beverage-related activity while sitting by the Yeocomico River.

I am nothing if not loyal to my friends.

***

Give me time, my friends. Pouring through Jim Larranaga quotes is much like having a great bartender: every time you think you’re done, he gives you another gem. And hte next thing you know, you have a headache. And then it’s back to the Advil. (See how that works?)

I also spent a couple of hours with Blaine Taylor last Friday. That guy is just plain smart.

Once all that is together, we’ll get back to our little stroll down memory lane.

***

Yoni Cohen, still running the best blog if you want to know what’s going on, made a minor entry that Gregg Doyel (another favorite of mine) may be moving on from his gig as college basketball writer at CBS Sportsline.

I know someone who’d be perfect to replace Gregg. So do you. (Hint: it isn’t Yoni. And if it is Yoni, someone will need to replace Yoni at Fox. Same guy. Yes, I love college hoops enough to thinly (hahaha) veil my desire for a national writing gig. Then again, I will have a book on newsstands…)

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Sometimes–like, oh, right now–I make myself sick. Advil?

I Want a New Drug

Note: To the folks at Merck or Pfizer or Ray’s Drug Emporium and Spa–whomever it is that makes Aleve–I love you. And I mean that.

***

Horrid case of writer’s block. Call it postseason overload. I have one chapter to finish, which revolves around the post season. Now, you have on-court excitement. You have stories surrounding the games. You have what those games mean to the specific teams. You have ODU in NY and GMU in Indy. You have people and personalities and stories. You have fans. You have an entire conference. You have a dumptruck-sized cash bonanza (which should be used to purchase Aleve).

How the fat do you organize that into the final chapter?

Here’s a toast to this blog sorting those organizational issues out, as we thrust ourselves deeply into…

March Madness
At the postseason banquet to celebrate the season (my, how THAT was premature…), JJ Barea is named conference POY. Sitting next to the Media Table, I glance to the covey of beat writers who voted on the award, every single one of which were trying to figure out the quick route to the desert table. I still need someone to explain to me how Loren Stokes didn’t win this award. But I digress…

In one of the better harbingers in a long time, the CAA tournament gets underway with a team fouls snafu in Game #1. In a move you hope deosn’t repeat itself with our government and Iran, despite three guys having the correct number of Drexel team fouls (9), the guy with his hand on the button says (10) and gives the Nanas two shots. After a timeout, a realization, and a Mount St. Flint eruption that reached only 5.2 on the Knight Scale, Brian Kersey gets it right. Bruiser remains displeased but Drexel’s season ends.

Nor’Easter, led by the conference POY JJ Barea, scores 26 points in the first 12 seconds of the second half to roll JMU. Johnny Napp writes the lyrics to his new #1 hit “My Purple and Gold Give Me the Blues.” The media misses the second half of the game as rumor hits press row that the conference has put out Gardettos snacks in the media room.

Yours truly begins his radio color commentary career by calling the VCU/Tribe game. I have no joke here. My putrid work stands on its own merit. What fans are left listening to the radio at the end of the game miss the call of the Jeff Capel/Dee Vick skirmish because, well, I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t actually comment.

A full 45 minutes before UNCWs opener the crowd begins to whip itself up. I’m amazed to see a guy painted blue and wearing a toga. He is not a student. Dave Henderson waves to the Delaware crowd. Neither of them wave back. This would be Henderson’s last game as coach.

The Dub crusies and Nor’Easter, behind you-know-who, upsets ODU. In an oddly ironic statistic, the Monarchs performance from the foul line is exactly the same as Dave Henderson’s record. Neither are back on Sunday. The beat writers miss this tidbit as they riot, knocking over soda machines to get at the goodies. It seems the oxygen line to their free Pepsi needed repair and there was nothing else to wash down the Fritos except bottled water.

Georgia State takes George Mason to overtime. Imagine where we’d all be, had the Panthers held on? On second thought, don’t.

Antoine Agudio scores 256 points in the first half against VCU. Hofstra holds off a late rally against the home team.

Semis are set with GMU/HU and Dub/NE

After I see The Dub beat Nor’Easter in roughly the same manner, I decide that the Dub could save everyone a ton of trouble and time and just mail in a final score. They win most games the same way and risk getting their stars hurt. The media is beginning to rub off on me.

Well, you know the story of the end of the GMU/HU game.

The Dub restores my faith in watching them play an actual basketball game. The Hawks win the CAA championship in a very UnDub manner: getting and blowing a big lead to Hofstra.

***

Okay, I had a bit too much fun with the CAA tourney…more tomorrow…

Sympathy for the Devil

Today: work (Epilogue, where I tried to put into context the season and the coaching carousel.)

Tomorrow: charity golf event and softball

Wednesday: a boatload of pain killers and a tourney review.

***

Hey, I saw where Gregg Doyel called Mike Capaccio an imbecile. That word looks so good in print. Funny thing about those kinds of situations, you know, the one Capaccio seemingly botched. I have a different take I’ll share in the next week or so.

Until then, here’s something to bandy: if you can give your successful baseball coach a raise to get him over the Mendoza Line of collegiate baseball coaching salaries, plus not rack off the handful of alums that, for the most part, subsidize your basketball program (and in the same process making them smile and feel all warm and fuzzy as if they have any real control so now they give just a bit more to further subsidize a struggling budget), would you allow your popular (but not baby-kissing) coach to bolt town?

Remember two things: think big picture, and that every decision you make in life you are trading something…