We’ll have a more detailed analysis of this later today, but the 2011-12 Wooden Award list was released on Monday, and there were more than a few interesting trends with this preseason’s offering. Keeping in mind that freshmen and transfers are not eligible for the opening list, the 50 players broke out in the following ways. The Big East has ten players on the list; there were nine from the Big Ten; the SEC merited seven. The Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC represented with only four players each, and all four of the ACCers came from the nation’s consensus #1 team, North Carolina. That left 12 players from the non-power conferences, with the Atlantic 10, Conference USA, and Big West each earning two spots. There are 26 seniors on the list, nine juniors and 16 sophomores, while positions were split between 23 guards, 23 forwards and only four centers. Stay tuned later today as we’ll present a more thoughtful analysis of the preseason Wooden Award selections.
The Big 12 Monday appeared to take a significant step toward self-preservation for at least the next several years by announcing that its conference board of directors unanimously approved a measure that will equally share all Tier I and Tier II broadcasting revenue from its football and basketball telecasts. It would not include Tier III broadcasts such as those planned for Texas’ Longhorn Network, which of course is largely the reason the conference ended up in this situation in the first place. League interim commissioner Chuck Neinas was careful to say that such an arrangement was by no means a done deal, and that each school would still have to go through its own internal processes to approve such an agreement. Missouri, still said to be interested in leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, will have its Board of Curators meeting tomorrow where this will certainly be on the agenda. Assuming Mizzou does not receive its coveted invitation from the SEC, you would have to presume that this revenue sharing agreement will shore up the conference for at least a… season or two. That is, until Texas figures out some way to leverage the LHN into even greater riches, at which time the conference will once again threaten to implode from within.
We mentioned in this space yesterday that the Big East came out of its Sunday meetings in Washington, DC, with a greater resolve to keep its remaining core together and to do whatever it takes (“by any means necessary?”) to find solid replacements for the soon-departed Syracuse and Pittsburgh. Mike DeCourcy makes the case suggesting that, despite what appears to be a race to the bottom of a new conference for those moving around, the best athletic deal for those existing members is to stand pat. His key point — that the Big East represents the easiest route to a BCS bowl and multiple NCAA Tournament trips — is a salient one, but we’re not sure that citing Boston College and Miami (FL)’s departures as ‘disasters’ captures the overarching reasons for their subsequent failings. Miami football, for example, has certainly fallen considerably from its national relevance while a member of the Big East — but did that drop-off have more to do with coaching (Larry Coker to Randy Shannon) or conference affiliation? With Hurricane basketball, is the U’s mediocrity as an ACC member more attributable to its conference affiliation or Frank Haith (who began there in 2004 simultaneous with Miami’s jump)? We think it’s rather tough to make that case, especially when there are so many other confounding factors at play in situations like these.
Class of 2012 power forward and overall top five prospect Mitch McGaryhas reportedly narrowed his college choices to Duke, North Carolina and Michigan. The 6’10” star originally from the northern Indiana town of Chesterton, announced on his personal blog (via ESPN) that he has taken three visits to those schools and he has no plans to go anywhere else. If you read the tea leaves, he’s considered a Michigan lean among folks who follow this stuff for a living, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise us to see him in either shade of blue down on Tobacco Road either. For what it’s worth, #1 Shabazz Muhammad and #3 McGary represent the remaining two uncommitted jewels of this year’s class, according to Rivals’ rankings.
Quick, what’s the capital city of Kentucky — Lexington or Louisville? Or so goes the joke among those who live there, because, as far as we know, the actual seat of government in the Bluegrass State hasn’t yet moved from its central Kentucky town of Frankfort. UK head coach John Calipari may be in need of a geography lesson himself, as the quotable top Cat took a tongue-in-cheek shot at his biggest state rival in an interview on KSTV recently. In answering a question as to what makes his program special, he made a comparison to other states that have multiple powerhouse basketball programs: “There’s no other state, none, that’s as connected to their basketball program as this one. Because those other states have other programs. Michigan has Michigan State, California has UCLA, North Carolina has Duke. It’s Kentucky throughout this whole state, and that’s what makes us unique.” Queue Rick Pitino’s acerbic passive-aggressive response in 3… 2… 1…
