Beyond the Arc

Kentucky musings, coaching moves and more

Mike Miller — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:12:00 GMT

The Friday links, for your clicking pleasure.

May as well start with Kentucky hoops.

First saw this on the Big Lead, then spent the rest of my morning searching the Web for other info on Wildcats fans taking issue with longtime Lexington Herald-Leader reporter Jerry Tipton and his story on Billy Gillispie getting a verbal commitment from an 8^th grader. Seriously, there was a lot of reading to do. A lot. (Off topic, I like A Sea of Blue’s redesign. Sharp.)

I kicked around a few ideas, wrote a few grafs, but decided I couldn’t settle on what I really wanted to say. Maybe I need more caffeine.

The gist: I like Tipton’s work. He’s a solid reporter (he and Gary Bedore at the Lawrence Journal-World may be the best all-hoops reporters covering teams with this kind of devout fan base) and covering a team like Kentucky isn’t easy. The hours are brutal and the payoff isn’t great, especially when a story angers the fan base.

But this is now just part of the game for reporters. Fans will say what fans want, whether it’s through online comments, calling radio shows or writing letters to newspapers. Whenever something’s written about the ‘Cats, UK fans find it and let you know what they think. It’s the good/bad part of his job. Every Kentucky fan reads his stuff, but they can be an instant critic.

For someone like Tipton, that can be a losing battle if the public perception is that he writes negative stories about Kentucky. How does one compete against that without losing all objectivity?

He can’t. But he can be objective and fair. Though it seems like he’s been that way all along.

Surfing during for Tipton links, I stumbled across this month-old story on sportswriting. Has it lost its edge? Seems like a crankypants story to me. “Back in my day!” Time always bolsters one’s memory of things, including how “good” sportswriting used to be.
Bob Huggins is out of the hospital after a fall on Thursday.
Now that Arizona has lost another coaching assistant, can the Wildcats recover from the Lute-less season?
Never would’ve expected Nate James to be the coaching type.
In case you missed, here's an APR rundown. And another, which highlights possible trouble for Memphis.
Finally, not sure how it took me so long to stumble across this, but I love it. (Says the rankings guy.) A breakdown of the top programs of the last 10 years, seeded out. Brilliant!

The greatest programs: No. 23, Temple

Mike Miller — Tue, 06 May 2008 23:45:00 GMT

Temple has all the makings of an elite hoops program.

One of Philadelphia’s legendary “Big Five,” the Owls have 26 NCAA tournament appearances, 16 conferences titles, claimed the first NIT trophy and produced their share of NBA players.

The most impressive number though? Temple’s 1,689 victories, sixth most among D-I schools. Yes, the program’s been around since 1895 (longer than any other school, though two seasons without a varsity team prevents the Owls from having the most overall seasons), but it’s won 64 percent of those games – the same percentage as Indiana and Arizona.

That kind of prolonged success is a big reason behind Temple’s position at No. 23 in the greatest college basketball programs of all time.

A lack of NCAA tournament success is what’s keeping the Owls from a loftier perch. Temple hasn’t won a title, it's been to just two Final Fours – in 1956 and ’58 – and is only 31-26 in the Big Dance. Recent struggles haven’t helped either.

Ever since a 24-13 season in 2001-02, the Owls have hovered around .500 and missed the NCAAs each season until returning this year. Give props to coach Fran Dunphy – a longtime coach at cross-town rival Penn – for guiding Temple back to prominence.

“There are signs that they are starting to come back,” says Jonathan Tannenwald, whose blog, Soft Pretzel Logic, keeps tabs on all things college sports in Philly. “For example, the Temple-St. Joe’s game at Temple. St. Joe’s has a dedicated fan base that will go to anything they can get into. In recent years there have been as many St. Joe’s fans, if not more at the game. But this year was the first it wasn’t that way in a long time.”

Fans were used to hoops success. When James Usilton coached the 1938 NIT title, it helped set the stage for legendary coaches like John Chaney and Harry Litwack to build on that legacy.

Litwack, a former Temple star in the 1920s, coached Temple’s great 1950s teams, which would vie with Philly schools La Salle and St. Joe’s for national prominence. And in 1950s Philadelphia, that was saying something. La Salle won the 1954 NCAA tournament, Jack Ramsey was turning the Hawks into a contender while Villanova and Penn were coming off NCAA tourney berths.

All of which points to the start of the Big Five.

Starting in 1955, the Big Five – Villanova, Temple, St. Joseph’s, Penn and La Salle – agreed to start playing each other annually in the Palestra, Philly’s famed hoops venue. The school’s proximity to each other and the hoops quality involved (they’ve all been among college hoops’ best at various times) make the Big Five one of the sport’s more interesting aspects. (For a great video archive of famed Big Five figures, click here.)

And Temple started off its Big Five history with perhaps the best team in school history. The 1955-56 squad featured the backcourt of senior Hal Lear and sophomore Guy Rodgers, finished 27-4 and beat SMU for third in the NCAA tournament. Lear averaged 24.0 ppg that season and torched the Mustangs for 48 points in that third-place game.

Yet it was Rodgers who made those Temple squads go. A future NBA star (often referred to as “the second Bob Cousy,” Rodgers was a fast, silky smooth point guard who couldn’t be stopped in the open floor.

Rodgers’ style endeared him to the Philly crowd and made him the playground idol for years to come. “Nobody ever played or ran the fast break like Guy Rodgers,” says longtime AP scribe Jack Scheuer. Rodgers guided Temple to another Final Four in 1958 (this time taking the Owls to a 27-3 mark) and pretty much made it impossible for any team or player to top Temple’s 1950s feats.

Though Chaney’s squads came close.

Taking over at Temple from Don Casey in 1983, Chaney took Temple from a good team to a school no one wanted to play because of their ridiculous defense and tough players. Teams couldn’t properly prepare for the Owls’ zone, which could make good teams look foolish. When things were clicking, Temple was tough. But it could never get over the hump.

"You don't even need to scout 'em anymore," UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian once said. "You're prepared to stop everything they do. Then they go ahead and do it anyway."

That 1988 season is a perfect example. The Owls finished 32-4 in 1986-87, but couldn’t advance out of the NCAA tournament’s second weekend. A year later, with precocious freshman Mark Macon carrying the scoring load alongside upperclassmen like Howard Evans and Tim Perry, Temple rose to No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time in school history and entered the Big Dance 29-1.

After landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated, streaked into East Regional final, but that’s when Macon’s shooting touch vanished. A loss to Duke ended Temple’s season at 32-2, the best record for any Chaney-coached Temple team.

He would sniff the Final Four four more times (reaching regional finals in ’91, ’93, ’99 and ’01), but earned a reputation as an eccentric disciplinarian and coach who would mold young men more than as a great coach. The role suited Chaney, who rose from hard times himself. His teams didn’t have prep All-Americans or guaranteed NBA stars, but they didn’t lack for talent, either.

Eddie Jones and Aaron McKie both played for Chaney, both of whom would thrive as defensive stars in the NBA. Others like Pepe Sanchez, Duane Causwell or Rick Brunson would emerge as good college players and serviceable pros.

By the end of his tenure, Chaney won fewer games and Temple dropped from the list of annual contenders. When the ‘goon’ scandal started in 2005, it signaled the end for Chaney and the start of a new era for the Owls, who won the A-10 tournament for the first time since 2001 this season under Dunphy.

“People knew that eventually Dunphy would get that team back to prominence. The fact that he did it in two years is pretty incredible,” Tannenwald says.

How long Dunphy has at Temple isn’t clear. He’ll turn 60 in October (though Chaney coached into his 70s).

What is clear is that Temple hoops appears to be back.

Next Tuesday, No. 22 on the list of greatest college basketball programs.

No. 24: Oklahoma.

No. 25: N.C. State.

Rankings post-NCAAs, pre-draft, mid-signing

Mike Miller — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:19:00 GMT

The post-Final Four, pre-NBA draft, mid-late-signing period 2008-09 preseason college basketball rankings can be tricky.

Thankfully, the Web is here to help.

SI.com’s Luke Winn updated his power rankings Monday. Boosted by Hasheem Thabeet’s return, he puts UConn No. 1. Smart move. The Huskies are coming off a 24-9 season, return all five starters and should have point guard A.J. Price healthy for the start of the season. (Even if he’s not ready for the opener, Price’s return would be the equivalent of Brandon Rush’s torn ACL for Kansas last year – it assured the team’s most indispensible player would be back in uniform, even if he was sluggish to start.)

The rest of his top 10 – UCLA, UNC, Duke, Purdue, Pitt, Louisville, Tennessee, Texas, Notre Dame – sounds about right, though I’d drop UCLA a couple spots. Darren Collison’s return gives the Bruins arguably the nation’s best backcourt, but where their frontcourt scoring will come from, I don’t know. Certainly not from Luc Richard Mbah a Moute or James Keefe.

It seems likely that both Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington will return to Chapel Hill. With Tyler Hansbrough already in pocket and more frontcourt recruits coming in, the Heels remain one of the teams to beat. (That doesn’t include Obama suiting up).

Oddly enough, Vegas has it even right now between UConn, Louisville, Pitt and Georgetown. I know Greg Monroe’s good, but he better be Beasleyesque to make up for the loss of Roy Hibbert and Vernon Macklin.

The one surprise omission from Winn’s group has to be Wake Forest.

The Deacons finished 17-13 last season, and if not for a 1-5 finish, a squad primarily of freshmen and sophomores would’ve been in the NCAA Tournament. Adding a top-flight recruiting class for 2008 should make Wake a top 15 team next season (think Purdue).

The remaining wild-cards for next year? Signing any remaining high schoolers, and seeing who stays in the draft and how those moves affect any transfers or incoming freshmen.

An example: this excellent piece from ESPN’s Dana O’Neil traces Scottie Reynolds’ arc from Oklahoma to Villanova in 2006. Reynolds committed to the Sooners, changed his mind once Kelvin Sampson took the Indiana job, and waited to see if ‘Nova’s Kyle Lowry would stay in the draft (he did) before settling on Jay Wright’s Wildcats.

The remaining prep stars have until May 21 to sign, while the last day for underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA draft is June 16. (List of early entrants can be found here.)

That leaves us with a post-Final Four, pre-NBA draft, post-late-signing period rankings, the post-draft, late summer rankings (this is getting complicated) and (finally) the preseason rankings to come.

Better do all those in pencil…

The greatest programs: No. 24, Oklahoma

Mike Miller — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:29:00 GMT

A handful of football schools made the list of the greatest basketball programs of all time. Couldn’t be helped. Even football schools produce good hoops teams, though it seems like more and more are emerging.

And at No. 24, the Oklahoma Sooners are the first football school on this list. (I swear, it’s a coincidence.)

It may seem strange that Oklahoma landed one spot ahead of N.C. State, one of the game’s historic powers, but give the Sooners their due. They’re worthy.

They score thanks to four Final Four appearances, 15 regular-season conference crowns and plenty of recent success. Oklahoma has 1,469 wins, 30^th most among D-I schools, right behind Villanova and more than schools like Connecticut, Oklahoma State and St. Joe’s all of whom are basketball schools. If not for struggling in the 50s and 60s when only football mattered in Norman, the Sooners might be higher on this list.

Consider:

Only Texas has more NCAA tournament wins without a title, while the ‘Horns, Notre Dame and Temple are the only schools with more tourney appearances without a crown.
They’ve had talented, players, too. Sooners have been named consensus first-team All-Americans eight times, tied for 10^th all time. That’s more than Arizona, Louisville, N.C. State and Georgetown. The individual talent has been there.
And Oklahoma has finished as runner-up in NCAA or NIT three times. Sooner or later, it’ll break through.

After all, Billy Tubbs’ 1988 squad nearly did just that.

Those Sooners streaked to the NCAA championship game, only to be stunned by Danny and the Miracles. But that team deserves a place alongside ’91 UNLV, ’05 Illinois, ’93 Michigan, ’99 Duke and this year’s Memphis team as the best single-year squads not to cut down the nets – and perhaps the most fun to watch.

Oklahoma finished 35-4 and topped the 100-point mark 20 times. It won 12 games by 30 or more points. With four future NBA draft picks – including three first-rounders in Stacey King, Mookie Blaylock and Harvey Grant – the Sooners ran, ran, ran.

"We played Dayton in Hawaii and I can remember seeing a headline in one of the papers, something like, 'Dayton scores 100, loses by 59,' " OU forward Dave Sieger told Rivals.com. "You don't see those kinds of headlines."

The squad had cultural impact, too. A Seattle band began calling itself Mookie Blalock, and became one of the ‘90s biggest icon. Seems the ex-Sooners point guard was a hero to some Pearl Jam band members.

The stage for the ’88 team was set by power forward Waymon Tisdale, the first Michael Beasley, who’s a huge reason for Oklahoma’s inclusion on this list.

A three-time consensus All-American, Tisdale averaged 24.5, 27.0 and 25.2 ppg in three seasons in Norman, played on the gold medal 1984 Olympic basketball team and just missed playing the 1985 Final Four, losing to Memphis in the Midwest Regional final. (Now an accomplished jazz guitarist, Tisdale was diagnosed with bone cancer last year, but now considers himself cancer free. What can’t the guy do?)

That Sooner team was one of Tubbs’ best, finishing 31-6 and setting the stage for 1988 and Kelvin Sampson’s impressive run in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Ye, through all that success, Oklahoma was, and remains a football school.

Tisdale’s team couldn’t compete with Barry Switzer’s 1985 squad. When Sampson led the Sooners to the 2002 Final Four, fans were still talking about Bob Stoops’ 2000 BCS title. Six years later, it’s the same thing for new coach Jeff Capel, who’s trying to ensure the program doesn’t get left behind by Big 12 powers Kansas and Texas.

Still, as long as the Sooners keep recruiting top-flight players, expect Oklahoma to maintain its spot as one of the greatest programs. It’ll have to claim a title to climb higher, though.

Next Tuesday: No. 23 on the list of greatest college basketball programs.

Still waiting on Collison, Thabeet

Mike Miller — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:08:00 GMT

What’s the deal with the other draft? You know, the one where college basketball prospects have to inform the NBA of their intentions by Sunday?

Click here to see who’s in. The last few days were especially busy.

Tyler Hansbrough’s headed back to North Carolina. Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington will put their names in the draft, but neither will sign with an agent. (An early guess? They’ll both be back, but it’s a coin flip with Lawson.)

Kansas’ Mario Chalmers, Texas guards D.J. Augustin and A.J. Abrams, Miss State’s Jamont Gordon and Memphis’ remaining two underclassmen starters, Antonio Anderson and Robert Dozier all put their names into the draft earlier this week. (Abrams, Anderson and Dozier are all going back, but the other three could stay in.)

Florida’s Nick Calathes is returning to Florida. Same with Tennessee’s Tyler Smith.

That leaves two notable prospects who still haven’t announced their NBA draft plans: UConn center Hasheem Thabeet and UCLA point guard Darren Collison.

At this point, it seems likely that both will be staying.

Thabeet told the Hartford Courant on Wednesday that he hoped to reach a decision soon. (Read: This weekend.) The 7-3 center, still a raw prospect who doesn’t have many offensive skills, is the kind of player teams will love – but don’t know what to expect.

Collison – who was reportedly declaring for the draft weeks ago – has also been mum while other teammates have put in their names. In another year without a glut of point guards (Augustin, Lawson, Derrick Rose, Jerryd Bayless and even O.J. Mayo and Eric Gordon, though both of them are really shooting guards), Collison could be a lottery pick. Now, he’s likely bound for the late teens or even the 20s.

If both return to school, they’d be on the shortlist for the various player of the year awards and could easily be lottery picks in 2009. Wouldn’t that be the smart play?

The greatest programs: No. 25, N.C. State

Mike Miller — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:12:00 GMT

N.C. State doesn’t lack for hoops history.

The Pack has multiple NCAA Tournament titles, more than 1,500 wins and their 36-game winning streak is among the best in NCAA history.

Prefer your history by years? Only Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky squads ~~won more games~~had a higher win percentage in the 1950s, the 1973-74 squad could be considered the greatest ever, while Jimmy V’s 1983 team pulled off perhaps the biggest upset the Big Dance has ever seen.

The topper? N.C. State started the tradition of cutting down the nets after winning a title. Move over Jim Burt.

In fact, if not for playing in the same conference with North Carolina and Duke, N.C. might rank higher than No. 25 on the list of the greatest college basketball programs. (Click here for the introductory post.) A lack of recent success also hurts the Wolfpack’s overall ranking.

This is a marvelous rundown of N.C. State’s hoops history, starting with the North Carolina A&M Farmers, transitioning to legendary coach Everett Case and continuing up through 2003. There are highs (titles) and lows (NCAA sanctions), but two years stand out: 1974 and 1983.

The legendary 1974 squad, led by Monte Towe, Tom Burleson and the incomparable David Thompson gets plenty of recognition for its dethroning of UCLA – which had won the previous titles – but deserves just as much for its game against Maryland in the ACC Championship.

The Wolfpack’s 103-100 overtime victory is widely credited as one of the main reasons the NCAA Tournament starting giving at-large bids to teams other than the conference tournament champ. The Terps finished the season fourth in AP poll, but couldn’t go to the Big Dance.

N.C. State had to win the game, though. The Wolfpack finished 27-0 the year before, but probation prevented it from taking a chance at the title. Think of a team that went 73-1 in two seasons not having a chance to play for the title. Today, they’d be a No. 1 seed regardless of how the conference tournament ended.

After a classic victory, Thompson and Co. beat Providence and Pitt, avenged an earlier loss to UCLA and ran past Marquette for an NCAA title.

It’s hard to overstate just how impressive that team was, especially Thompson. A high flyer who thrived when the rules didn’t allow the dunk, Thompson was the rare player who transcended produced “ooohs” and “ahhhhs” simply by being on the court. Watch his block of Bill Walton or see Michael Jordan fawn over Thompson’s ability. The guy was amazing.

Maybe more amazing was the 1983 NCAA title.

Valvano’s bunch wasn’t nearly as talented as the 1974 team – or even some of his later teams – and needed a run to the ACC tournament final to help secure an at-large berth. As a 20-10 six seed, the Wolfpack needed double overtime to top Pepperdine, escaped by 1 against third-seeded UNLV and ripped Utah before stunned No. 1 seed and regular season champion Virginia, replete with reigning player of the year Ralph Sampson. After beating Georgia in the Final Four, the Pack amazed every pundit and most fans by beating Houston’s Phi Slamma Jamma squad that featured Clyde Drexler and Akeem Olajuwon.

The famous ending – State tries to work around for the last shot, only to have guard Dereck Whittenburg heave from damn near half court, but Lorenzo Charles grabs the airball and slams it home for a 54-52 victory – is shown every March and rightly so for its dramatic finish and improbable result.

Even now, 25 years later (an excellent collection of video clips can be found here), the win still astounds me. Houston shouldn’t have lost. Virginia shouldn’t have lost. How did a team without any stars, which had lost to Chattanooga in the first round the year before and would miss the tourney the year after, pull off that kind of run? It’s another reason March Madness has grown into what it is today.

Valvano pieced together other capable teams, and reached two more regional finals, but never again captured that kind of magic as the Pack did in ’83. He was fired in 1990 amid allegations of player point shaving and poor player academic performance. The program hasn’t really recovered since.

Herb Sendek has some success in the mid-90s and early 2000s, but struggled to break 20 wins most years and rarely finished higher than third in the ACC. The Pack finished 15-16 last season, the first for new coach and ex-star Sidney Lowe. He has talent on the roster – the Pack still sends a respectable number of players to the NBA – but it won't be easy to return to its former heights.

Next Tuesday: No. 24 on the list of greatest college basketball programs.

Post Love, UCLA still has something Bruin'

Mike Miller — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:27:00 GMT

If there’s ever a time to feel sorry for UCLA – 11 NCAA titles? Share the wealth, Westwood! – this week was the time. For about 5 seconds.

Losing Kevin love and Russell Westbrook on the same day is par for the course in college hoops today. Star players bolt for the NBA. That’s the nature of today’s game. (Bruins fans should appreciate they even got to see Love.)

But having your starting power forward declare a day later just aggravates the wound. Waiting to see if your starting point guard is also leaving may mean some amputation.

Unless, of course, you’re UCLA. Ben Howland was prepared for this eventuality.

The Bruins may not reach their fourth straight Final Four next season, but they’re going to be in the hunt for the Pac-10 title and will be one to watch in the NCAA Tournament because of their incoming recruiting class and their top-flight coach. Forget anything you read about struggles in 2009. Won’t happen.

Ben Howland has put together perhaps the nation’s best recruiting class, and may have the nation’s best player in Jrue Holiday (think Derrick Rose and how crucial one player can be to March success). Also, the odds of Mbah a Moute staying in the NBA draft are as good as Coach K refraining from cussing. The odds of Darren Collison also playing next year are probably 50-50.

That means the Bruins will still have their sturdy frontcourt, just without Love’s skills and possibly an upgrade from Westbrook.

Sigh. At this point, please refrain from any thoughts about a localized earthquake on the Bruins campus. It won’t do any good. They’d just figure out a way to re-build and keep winning.

NBA stardom for Love or Arthur?

Mike Miller — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:14:00 GMT

So Kevin Love’s in the NBA draft. So are Brandon Rush and Darrell Arthur. So is Russell Westbrook. All of them except for Rush are likely lottery picks.

Just how will they be as pros? I wouldn’t project any of ‘em as future All-Pros, but there’ll be a few All-Star games involved.

Arthur averaged 12.8 ppg as a sophomore at Kansas this season. At 6-9, 215 pounds, he can play either small forward or power forward, though his game is more suited for the low post thanks. He’ll thrive in a one-on-one setting thanks to his mid-range jumper and turnaround moves. I’m sure some draft stories will say he’s too small to play against other power forwards or not quick enough to play against small forwards, but that’s hogwash. Arthur can dominate when he wants to.

I wish he’d go back to Kansas for another season, but that’s a Jayhawk fan talking. The NBA comparison is Antonio McDyess, but without the insane jumping ability McDyess had coming out of ‘Bama. Arthur’s athletic, but McDyess was a pogo stick. On the other hand, some think Arthur could stink it up like Josh Powell.

Simply put, Arthur has NBA moves. He’d be ideal for the Kings, who need a power forward like the Ravens need a QB.

Rush’s future is a little more cloudy. He’s the classic do-it-all player who doesn’t do any one thing exceedingly well. At 6-6, he’ll play shooting guard or small forward and can guard opponents at either position. Rush can stroke the 3, drive to the hole and doesn’t force much.

He won’t take over a game – often a criticism of him at Kansas – but he won’t detract from the offense, either. In that regard, it makes sense to compare Rush to Eddie Jones or Reggie Lewis.

I’d compare him to the Mavs’ Josh Howard – a defensive-oriented swingman who’s a nice compliment to an offensive team. He’s not as long as Howard or Tayshaun Prince, which is why he’s probably not a lottery pick (neither were Prince or Howard, but that’s my point: both of ‘em should’ve gone higher).

UCLA’s Westbrook is interesting. The Pac-10’s defensive player of the year is a 6-3 shooting guard (he’s listed at 6-4) with an unreliable outside shot. Yet … he’s touted as a lottery pick in a guard-heavy draft.

This is what happens when you can jump out of the gym.

Normally, Westbrook wouldn’t be an attractive prospect. He’s the classic tweener without much of a handle. But he’s incredibly explosive. Ask Jamal Boykin. Plus, he does play defense. Projecting him as Monta Ellis is pretty close.

Finally, there’s Love.

He says his time at UCLA “has truly been special” and the time’s right to go pro. Maybe. Few would disagree that Love would dominate the college game next season (since he came close to doing so this year) and won’t be dominant in the NBA. That seems like a pretty good reason to stick around, but it’s Love’s call.

There are two schools of thought on Love’s potential: His fundamentals and basketball I.Q. will make him a good-to-great player, a la Wes Unseld (the go-to comparison for earth-bound centers who can pass).

OR … his lack of quickness and underwhelming height for a center (6-9) will doom him to being a big guy who fights for rebounds and minutes, a la Sean May.

True, Love enters the NBA knowing his strengths and weaknesses, which gives him an advantage over other players trying to develop post skills (see: DeAndre Jordan). But does that understanding give him enough of an edge to compensate for that lack of quickness or jumping ability? After all, the NBA’s filled with guys like Joey Dorsey.

More likely, Love turns into another version of Carlos Boozer. Boozer’s been a force down low every since his rookie season in Cleveland. He’s the same size as Love, also has great footwork and is a great rebounder.

If Love’s lucky, he’ll land on a team that values exactly what he is: A team-first, capable big man in a league where centers continue to vanish.

The greatest college hoops programs (an intro)

Mike Miller — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:24:00 GMT

It’s easy to spot the best men’s college basketball programs. They have the most wins, NCAA Tournament victories and titles, have thrived recently and send more players to the NBA than any other schools.

You know ‘em: UCLA, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Indiana and Duke. Six schools who have rich basketball traditions, devout fan bases and high expectations every season.

The harder part is figuring out which teams come after the stellar six.

How does one compare teams like Temple or Princeton – both of which have fielded teams for more than 100 years and have been consistently good – to schools like UNLV or Memphis, which have dominated foes at times, but haven’t been as consistent or had basketball as long?

No, I didn’t make a bracket, though that would’ve been cool. But I did the next best thing.

Much like Street & Smith did a few years ago, I set up several categories and weighed teams against each other to see exactly how everyone stacked up. Historical success (overall wins and win percentage), NCAA Tournament results (titles, Final Fours, win percentages and appearances), conference titles, NBA players, NIT results and recent performance (dominant seasons and last NCAA tourney miss) were considered.

The results were typical for the top, but the rest was surprising at times. Who’s where? Well, settle in for the summer. I’ll detail the top 25, starting next week. Today, it’s the teams that just missed the top 25.

Marquette and Oklahoma State tied for 26^th. The Cowboys’ two NCAA titles and six Final Fours helped, but a poor showing of NBA players and a sub-par win percentage (.5879) hurt them. Going in, I figured they’d be a top 25 school.

The Golden Eagles probably would’ve been in the top 25, but they’ve spent a majority of their 91 seasons as an independent school and didn’t win their first conference title until Dwyane Wade led the way in 2003. Marquette was consistently middle of the pack in most categories.

Western Kentucky was 28^th. The Hilltoppers don’t have any NCAA titles, just 1 Final Four and their Big Dance appearances aren’t overwhelming (20), but they win like few others (67 percent of their games in 89 seasons, 7^th best) and have an impressive number of conference titles.

Memphis, boosted by its remarkable three-year run, came in at 29. The Tigers also don’t have an NCAA title and haven’t racked up enough wins to break into the top 25. But that recent success helps, and don’t expect John Calipari’s crew to stop winning Conference USA anytime soon.

At 30^th, we have Maryland. The Terps are a bit of a puzzle. Gary Williams’ crew was among the game’s best in the early 2000s, winning a title and producing a fair number of NBA players. But a lack of conference titles and just two Final Fours hurts.

After that, Florida (Billy Donovan has turned the Gators into a power), Wisconsin (same goes for Bo Ryan; Badgers just don’t enough NCAA tourney appearances, 14, to rack up numbers to match everyone else) and Penn and Princeton are close behind.

The two Ivy League schools are among the winningest programs around (both have more than 1,500 wins) and plenty of conference titles (Penn has 37, Princeton 28), but they just don’t win enough in the NCAA Tournament and the expected lack of NBA players hurts.

KU's big week, Bilas gets feisty and more

Mike Miller — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:51:00 GMT

A cavalcade of links, random thoughts and more from what’s been a fabulous college hoops week. Well, at least if you like Kansas...

The Jayhawks claim their first NCAA title in 20 years thanks to an amazing finish against Memphis. Mario Chalmers is now an immortal in Lawrence.

The big debate from the game: Did Kansas win or did Memphis choke? Depends on your perspective, but I’ll say this – it’s awfully hard to lose a nine-point lead in the final 2:12. But that’s what championship teams do. (As always, straddling the fence. What can I say?)

As for Memphis players, this was adding insult to injury.

Just days after the title, Kansas wins again: Bill Self passes on going home to stay at Kansas. He leads a charmed life. Kansas and athletic director Lew Perkins understand the price of success. Thankfully. Most of the nitty gritty contract details are here.

Now what for Oklahoma State? The Cowboys are re-grouping after Self’s decision. Uber-alum T. Boone Pickens won’t settle for an up-and-comer. “I buy big trees.”

Which brings me to this question: Best coaching job in college basketball?

Quick answer: It’s not Stanford.

The Cardinal probably need to look at mid-major coaches to replace Trent Johnson. Three names to consider are St. Mary’s Randy Bennett, San Diego’s Bill Grier and Nevada’s Mark Fox. (Just make it 2-for-2 with Wolf Pack coaches and hire Fox.)

Just throw Travis Ford’s name out there. It’s been everywhere else the last few weeks. He just said no to LSU and Providence.

So Roy Williams wore a Kansas sticker at the national title game. Big deal, he says.

Fun click of the day (audio required): Jay Bilas tells Dan Le Betard he’s an idiot (in so many words).

Ben Hansbrough could transfer to Missouri. Tyler’s little bro would be a welcome addition in Columbia.

Good piece from LZ Granderson on the good and bad in college hoops. (Quick version: Stay in school longer! Please!)

Off to the NBA: O.J. Mayo, Donte Greene, Earl Clark, Jerryd Bayless, Chase Budinger, Eric Gordon, Anthony Randolph and – reportedly – Kevin Love and Darren Collison. Michael Beasley will announce his intentions on Monday. If/when Derrick Rose enters the draft, he’s still my No. 1 pick, though.

Dickie V was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame this week. Mark Kreigel is not amused. I was pleased to see Danny Manning get in, though. I still maintain he’s the best college hoops player of the last 20 years.

Matt James sums up my thinking. Like I said, big week.

That takes care of hoops season. During the summer, I'll focus on two main topics in this space: The NBA draft (position rankings to begin in May) and a big summer project ranking the top 25 college basketball programs. That'll start Tuesday with the schools who just missed the top 25. After that, I'll focus on one school a week. No. 1 comes in October. Have any predictions?