1. More impressive than Wisconsin’s victory over visiting Ohio State on Saturday afternoon is the rise of Badger point guard Jordan Taylor, and we don’t mean as an underrated player who suddenly finds himself enjoying accolades he probably should have been enjoying all along over the span of one season. SI’s Luke Winn recounts how Taylor went from being a high school kid lucky to even get a call from the school to being the most important player in Saturday’s win, not to mention one of the top floor leaders in the game. A must-read to start the week.
2. Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Jim Souhan minces no words when criticizing the Tubby Smith era at Minnesota, apologizing on behalf of all Gopher fans for thinking they had pulled one over on what he evidently considers a pretty backwards fanbase and state. We have to say, we’ve attended games over the length and breadth of Kentucky in this and previous seasons, and we’ve driven through all parts of it on our way to other games, and we’ve yet to see one Confederate flag. We’ve been treated incredibly well everywhere we’ve been in the Bluegrass State on our travels, so we wonder if Souhan’s actually made the trip. To our Kentucky readers: do you accept the apology Souhan includes in his article regarding the assessment of  Tubby Smith, and should there be one forthcoming because of Souhan’s apparent opinion of your state? Looks like he’s lumping you all into a way of thinking that’s represented by a mere few wingnuts.
3. Sporting News reporter Ryan Fagan took to the highways of South Carolina on Saturday to watch three games in the Palmetto State within about eight hours of each other. Two of the SC teams he watched lost. The one that won is a team with which you might want to familiarize yourself if you haven’t already. The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers have now won 22 straight games, are 15-0 in the Big South, have only four regular season tilts left, and three of them are at home. What’s more, after Wisconsin’s defeat of Ohio State, CCU now has the longest winning streak in the nation. Get to know them!
4. It looked like Seton Hall’s Keon Lawrence had straightened himself out after starting his career East Rutherford with the ignominious incident in which he was arrested for driving the wrong way on the New Jersey Turnpike back on November 9th, 2009. He had played in every game this year, averaging 24 minutes a contest. The turnaround evidently didn’t last. Kevin Willard dismissed Lawrence and fellow senior Jamel Jackson from the team on Saturday, just hours before the Pirates’ game at Rutgers.
5. Things may be tough at Kansas State right now, but you’ll never see Frank Martin give up, that’s for sure. The Kansas City Star has a comprehensive look at the issues that have confronted Martin and his K-State program this year, focusing specifically on the man and why he’s never going to change anything about the way he coaches just because things have hit a rough patch. We’re glad to hear it.

jstevrtc (547 Posts)

This entry was posted on Monday, February 14th, 2011 at 5:05 am by jstevrtc and is filed under morning 5, Regular Features. Tagged: coastal carolina, frank martin, jamel jackson, jordan taylor, kansas state, keon lawrence, minnesota, ohio state, seton hall, tubby smith, wisconsin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.