Around The Blogosphere: March 29, 2011
Posted by nvr1983 on March 29th, 2011
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Final Four Notes
- Kemba & The Improbables Do It Again: UConn is Final Four-bound: “Somehow, someway, this impossible season is going to continue. Behind Kemba Walker and superstar-in-training Jeremy Lamb, UConn has beaten Arizona, 65-63, to win the West Regional tonight in Anaheim. I really don’t know what to say. That game had too many momentum swings, too many death-defying moments, and two great looks in the final seconds to put the dagger to our collective dreams. I suggest we all sit back and enjoy this.” (The UConn Blog)
- UK Basketball: From the Outhouse, to the Penthouse, to (gasp!) the Final Four: “Where do I begin? How does one convey the emotions one feels when, at long-last, what it is one yearns for comes to fruition? For Kentucky Wildcat basketball fans the wait seemed eternal, but alas, it is now upon us. And depending on one’s point of view, either a year late, a year early, or 13 years too long (I fall into the latter category).” (A Sea of Blue)
- Calipari Gets A Bad Rap, While Calhoun Skates Free: “John Calipari and Jim Calhoun are two of the top coaches of my generation. That is hard to dispute. However, many people like to discredit coaches based on NCAA violations. And that’s fine. That said, some people need to more carefully review the facts before choosing who to throw under the bus.” (Obsessed with Sports
Other News/Analysis
- Tristan Thompson to the NBA?: “As you may have seen by now, NBADraft.net has reported that Texas forward Tristan Thompson will forego his remaining college eligibility and enter the NBA Draft. The report cites “sources close to the situation.” As many of us have noted, there is a University of North Texas senior named Tristan Thompson who recently signed with an agent, suggesting that the NBADraft.net report was based on a confusion of the two TTs.” (Burnt Orange Nation)
- Howland’s Answer to UCLA’s Point Guard Crisis: Bring in a Rapping Quitter from North Carolina: Thoughts on the surprising addition from a UCLA perspective. (Bruins Nation)
- Why Is UCLA Taking Larry Drew?: “Since leaving Carolina abruptly on February 4th, Larry Drew II has mostly laid low in his hometown of Los Angeles, surfacing only for his 21st birthday, and for the most part letting UNC fans direct their ire at his mom. But today UCLA announced that Drew enrolled at UCLA on Monday, the first day of the spring trimester. This has lead to numerous jokes about UCLA’s willingness to take in Chapel Hill émigrés, and the great Bruin Nation headline Howland’s Answer to UCLA’s Point Guard Crisis: Bring in a Rapping Quitter from North Carolina, but little else.” (Carolina March)
- It’s Official: Tyler Honeycutt Flees Ben Howland’s Program: “Whatever you say Tyler. Good luck to you. He becomes yet another player to flee Ben Howland’s program for the NBA earlier than he should have following the footsteps of Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar, Arron Afflalo, Luc Richard Mbah Moute and Jrue Holiday. All of those guys along with Honeycutt probably would have improved their NBA draft stock had they come back for another season, but they couldn’t find any reason to stick around to play for Ben Howland. Honeycutt’s departure is not a surprise for us. He was mentally checked out after his “Kansas game” which got him (and his agent) the needed “highlight reel” for shopping himself around for the NBA draft. He didn’t put much effort in for rest of the regular season until he showed up a bit on the national stage for the tourney game.” (Bruins Nation)
- Sounding Off On Painter/Zo/Burke/Mizzou: Comparing Matt Painter’s situation to other prominent coaches who considered leaving major programs before staying. (Boiled Sports)
- Mizzou Basketball Coaching Search: Where Do We Stand?: Reflecting on where the Tigers stand in their coaching search nearly a week after Mike Anderson left. (Rock M Nation)
- Questions To Answer For Kansas’ Coach Self: “I love Bill Self. I would not trade him for any coach in the country. Brad Stevens is making a pretty hard push, but even so, I like our chances with Bill. He’s the perfect fit for our program and he took us to the promised land. But he has two things to figure out.” (Rock Chalk Talk)
- Tennessee Basketball Players Warming To Cuonzo Martin, Too: Reaction from Tennessee players regarding the hiring of their new coach. (Rocky Top Talk)
- There’s Always Next Year: “The basketball season is officially over and it’s certainly been a tough last few days. As Chris mentioned in his post-game wrap-up on Friday, this one was particularly hard to swallow, as this team was so exciting to watch and one bad game allowed an inferior team to have one better night. I truly felt this was Ohio State’s year on the hardwood and this is definitely the hardest I’ve taken a loss in the last five years in either sport, going as far as vowing not to watch the rest of the tournament because of how devastating it is not to get to see this team reach it’s assumed destiny.” (Eleven Warriors)
- Louisville recruiting budget ranks among Top 10 nationally, #1 in Big East: “Not surprisingly, at $434,095 (publicly divulged, of course), Kentucky’s recruiting budget comes in at #1 overall amongst men’s basketball programs at public schools in BCS conferences. Our neighbors in Lexington spent nearly $180,000 more than Louisville (#6 overall; $263,391 budget), three times as much as their opponent tonight, the Ohio State Buckeyes (#26; $152,981), and nearly eight times more than Wisconsin (#53; $57,397), who lost to Butler last night in the Sweet 16. ” (Card Chronicle)
- Former Dayton Coach Brian Gregory Hired By Georgia Tech: “In 2009, just two years ago, Gregory agreed to a five-year contract extension with the University of Dayton. That contract would have taken him through the 2017-18 season. Showing the worthlessness of collegiate coaching contracts for non-powerhouse programs, Gregory has decided to take his services elsewhere.” (Obsessed with Sports)
