Mid-majors
All mid-major talk (yes, the non-BCS schools).
On a night when college hoops’ top two teams escaped upsets, what’d we learn?
That Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins are the key to Kansas’ season? Or that Kalin Lucas is Michigan State’s go-to guy? We knew all that going in.
Try this: Don’t forget recent history because Gonzaga and Memphis are actually good. Again.
The old cliché still applies, I guess. The more things change – both teams lost four starters from last season – the more they stay the same.
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In case you didn’t know, or simply refused to live in reality, Butler’s one of the big boys in college hoops.
The Bulldogs have won 85 games the last three seasons, better than Duke, UConn or Michigan State. They’ve won the preseason NIT tournament, been to the Sweet 16 and figure to be entrenched in the Top 10 all season.
I mean, they’re the only non-BCS school previewed by the folks at BP! C’mon! What else do you need? What about … strength training? How does Butler stack up to those BCS powerhouses?
The Bulldogs are working on it.
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Memphis is doing its best to make a clean break from John Calipari.
It might sound odd, given that Calipari’s nine years at the school resulted in its most glorious seasons. The Tigers racked up wins like no other school in NCAA history, dominated Conference USA and came this close to an NCAA title in 2008.
But between the offseason double whammy of Calipari’s departure for Kentucky and the NCAA vacating 38 wins and that runner-up finish because of an eligibility mess, a clean break seems smart. And this is as clean as it gets.
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Just last spring Cameron Dollar was touted as one of the country’s top assistants.
So what’s he doing as the head coach of Seattle University? The Redhawks aren’t eligible for the NCAA tournament until 2013 and don’t belong to any conference. They’re still making the transition back to D-I status. Sounds like a thankless, under-the-radar job.
After all, it’s been a long time since Elgin Baylor tore it up at Seattle U. The guy averaged 30 and 20 in two seasons and took Seattle U to the 1958 NCAA tournament title game.
Dollar doesn’t see it that way. He spent the last seven years at Washington recruiting the area’s massive talent base.
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The hardest working man in college hoops is back.
OK, there are plenty of people out there logging long hours. Andy Katz, Jeff Goodman and Gary Parrish churn out enough copy to rival Proust. Beat guys like Gary Bedore and Jerry Tipton do the same on a local level.
The Bally Club members know who I’m talking about. Sunday marked the return of Kyle Whelliston and the Mid-Majority.
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Marcus Jordan’s pride in his dad may end up costing his school big bucks.
Jordan, a freshman guard at Central, Florida, is Michael Jordan’s son. Maybe you’ve heard of him, and his shoes. Well, as to be expected, Marcus is an Air Jordan guy, and only an Air Jordan guy.
Except … the school has a $3 million, six-year contract with adidas that requires coaches and athletes to wear its stuff, including the shoes. Therein lies the rub.
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Just when Binghamton’s hoops program tries to dig its way out of rock bottom, it finds another crevasse and falls on its face. Again.
Fresh off the recent dismissal of six players for various infractions, the school announced Tuesday it would try to bolster the depleted hoops roster by holding open tryouts. Any able-bodied student with a physical could come on down (seven scholarships are available!) and potentially play for a program coming off its first-ever NCAA tournament berth.
Or not.
Binghamton canceled Tuesday’s tryout because it could have been against NCAA rules.
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What happens when your imploding program dismisses six players just before the season starts? You hold tryouts.
Binghamton’s men’s basketball is having tryouts Tuesday and Wednesday for any available students (provided they can bring proof of having had a physical). Lots of schools have tryouts, but they’re usually for scout team spots and guys who will be at the end of the bench.
Anyone who impresses the Bearcat coaches at these things could be one of the first guys off the bench…
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The Binghamton basketball, contrary to conventional wisdom and most reasonable assessments, is not a zoo.
So say the folks from the actual Binghamton Zoo.
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What do Thad Matta, Rick Barnes, John Beilein and Bruce Pearl have in common? Is it:
A) They all won at least 20 games last season.
B) They all make more than $1.3 million per year.
C) They all work at football schools.
D) All of the above.
The observant reader and college hoops fan undoubtedly chose D. Yet oddly enough, C plays a big reason why the answer is all of the above.
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