Happy Presidents’ Day, everyone. Hope you’re getting to enjoy a nice extended weekend.
- Is Savannah State’s Horace Broadnax the best coaching value in college basketball? We’re still discussing its validity, but we certainly find interesting the analysis by Scott Britton and Darren Heitner at Sports Agent Blog regarding the achievements of the former Hoya as coach of SSU. You have to admit — all things considered, $25,131 per win isn’t a bad deal, at all, especially when you go from 0-28 in the ’04-’05 season to 15-13 four years later, and your basketball budget is the next-to-lowest in D1.
- There have been rumblings from Notre Dame all season, but Luke Harangody’s right knee bone bruise that he sustained in a loss against Seton Hall on Thursday isn’t helping the causes of the Irish or Mike Brey. ‘Gody is likely out for Wednesday’s game at Freedom Hall against a suddenly more intriguing Louisville squad fresh off their win at Syracuse. That he was bench-ridden in South Bend on Sunday night evidently gave St. John’s some chutzpah, as the Johnnies went into the Joyce and stole their first conference road win of the season with a 69-68 victory.
- John Calipari states, “There’s no such thing as a 50-50 ball with him. He’s as valuable to our team right now as anyone.” Is he talking about John Wall? DeMarcus Cousins? Patrick Patterson? Nope. Try DeAndre Liggins, the sophomore guard who didn’t play for the first nine games of the season as he spent time in Calipari’s doghouse, but now humbly realizes that floor burn scars on the knees from diving after loose balls + embracing defensive stopper role = increased minutes, and increased trust from his coach.
- On Friday, the Western Athletic Conference reprimanded Idaho head coach Don Verlin after he criticized officials after a 67-66 loss to Nevada on Wednesday. Verlin will be suspended for any further violations of this kind, according to conference brass. After the loss last week, Verlin voiced his displeasure with the officiating, and also added that WAC zebras should realize that Idaho is “…a contender, not a doormat.” We’ll have to check our rule book, Coach V, but we don’t recall anything about the rules changing based on where you are in the standings…
- Ever think that Penn/Cornell would be right up there with Rutgers/Georgetown and Louisville/Syracuse in the Monday morning water-cooler discussion of big weekend upsets in college hoops? Yeah, we didn’t either. We’ve been digging all of the Ivy League love this season, and it’s not slowing down yet. After the stunner on Friday, Cornell bounced back to hand Princeton their first conference loss of the year on Saturday, and in doing so regained the Ivy League lead. They’re not a shoe-in for the Big Dance, though; the three teams atop the standings still have a round of games against each other, starting this Friday with a very important Cornell road trip to Harvard.