Psycho-T was a busy little bee this offseason. When he wasn’t rehabbing his shin for his rookie NBA season or saving wayward puppies with Andy Katz’s clone, he was hawking Acuras for a local outfit in Chapel Hill. Fair Warning: they let him speak this time.
When Adam Zagoria, a writer for SNY.tv and ZagsBlog.com, broke the news last Tuesday night about super-recruit Kyrie Irving‘s committing to Duke (note: initial report did not have Irving’s denial and had Chris Collins named in place of “[a Duke assistant]”) reaction across the blogosphere varied from ecstatic to negative after Irving denied Zagoria’s reports. After Irving eventually officially committed to Duke on an orchestrated ESPNU ceremony less than 48 hours after his initial denials and told multiple media outlets that he had decided on Duke long before he went on ESPNU several media members (Seth Davis and Gary Parrish being the most prominent) felt that Irving owed Zagoria an apology. We were a little more measured and felt that the entire episode reflected more of the circus that is college basketball recruiting. Since that time, the issue of the interaction between Zagoria (the journalist) and Irving (the recruit) has grown increasingly contentious on message boards across the Internet so we decided to go to Mr. Zagoria and get his take on it.
Rush the Court: What kind of background do you have doing this type of stuff [covering recruiting]?
Adam Zagoria: I’ve been a sportswriter for about 15 years and I’ve been doing basketball recruiting for I guess about 5 years. I was at a newspaper, The Bergen Record and The Herald News, in New Jersey for 10 years and I’ve been at SNY for about 2 years.
RTC: I don’t know if you have been reading what they have been saying on the Duke message boards and other places like that. Have you been keeping up with that at all or do you try to avoid that stuff?
AZ: I’ve read some of it. I’m pretty busy with my other job duties, but I’m aware of it.
RTC: Ok. Could you talk a little bit about how you developed a relationship with Kyrie Irving and his family and how that came about happening?
AZ: I cover metropolitan-area basketball and I know the players and coaches at the local high schools–St. Anthony’s, St. Patrick’s, and St. Benedict’s–for a number of years so I met Kyrie going to his team’s games and going to different events.
RTC: So your relationship with him was no different than the typical star recruit in the area? Or was it a little closer than that?
AZ: I have a lot respect for Kyrie and his family. I think they’re great people and he’s a tremendous player and person. I wish him nothing, but the best going forward.
RTC: Could you tell us a little bit about what happened when you broke the story [about his commitment]?
It’s a good thing for the University of Missouri that Kelvin Sampson and Rob Senderoff haven’t been in their employ in recent years. Otherwise, the Big 12 school would undoubtedly be facing the death penalty with the goldmine of information about coach’s calls, text messages and general cell phone usage that Mizzou is practically giving away to people off the street (actual price: $7.60 per phone). Mike Bellman, a Columbia-area information specialist for the public school system, bought twenty-five of the old phones from the UM athletic department, and was surprised to find that the private information stored on them hadn’t been erased. From the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune:
Mike Bellman thought he was buying a box of old cellular phones he planned to resell as parts. Instead, he wound up with a collection of electronic information from the University of Missouri’s Athletics Department. Now, Bellman is auctioning former Athletics Department staff phones as collector’s items. He’s asking $3,000 for all 25 phones. One cell phone, a Sprint Treo, belonged to MU basketball Coach Mike Anderson, according to Bellman’s online inventory. Photos of the phone’s screen show text messages between Anderson and MU football Coach Gary Pinkel and Athletics Director Mike Alden. The messages appear to be well wishes for upcoming games and congratulations after victories. Other phones from assistant coaches and Athletics Department staff have hundreds of contact phone numbers, e-mail messages and text messages.
Somewhere in a dungeon on that campus, the intern responsible for this is getting flogged by the Ghost of Norm Stewart.
Bellman is insane if he thinks these phones will nab three-large, but he’s definitely onto something with respect to marketing the information to rival schools (especially those Jayhawks down the road a piece). All we know is that Missouri AD Mike Alden better be having a candid conversation with head coaches Mike Anderson and Gary Pinkel before they allow these phones into the wrong hands. “Hypothetically speaking, Coach, is there anything you’d not want people to know about what’s on those phones? Just in case, you know?” Of course, if there is some kind of illegal text messaging or evidence of foul play on those phones (and for the record, we have NO reason to believe that there is), would Bellman become the Steve Bartman of Missouri? That’s an interesting question. Let’s wait until tomorrow (the deadline Bellman has imposed for sale at $3000) to see what happens here.
We got a tip about this ad today and almost didn’t believe that it was true. Could the four-time all-american known as Psycho-T for his warriorlike demeanor on the court really be doing a lovable, snugglerific, nice-guy lost puppy ad? What are the odds that this is brought up oh about a million times during his training camp with the Pacers? Really, all that’s missing from this clip is Tebow. Then we’d have enough aw-shucks likeableness for everyone.
(ed. note: is that Andy Katz at the 0:11 mark??? or his son?)
This really is an exciting time of year, as the incomprehensible puzzle that becomes the broadcast schedule for the 09-10 season comes together. The Big East announced its half of the Big Monday slate for the upcoming season today to go along with the previously released Big 12 schedule. Let’s take a look:
Just looking at it briefly, there’s no question that the best night BY FAR is on Feb. 8 when the top two teams in the Big East meet up in Morgantown, followed next by two top five squads clashing in Austin. Must-see tv that night. Our second favorite night includes the rivalry games on Jan. 25, even though Syracuse and Missouri are facing a bit of a dropoff this year. The only dog of the schedule could be Jan. 18, where Syracuse visits Notre Dame and Texas goes to Kansas St. Nothing there really excites us.
What do you guys see with this schedule?
We received a tip today and felt compelled to believe it because it comes from a reliable source and it makes sense. ESPN will be kicking off* its 2009-10 season coverage with another marathon 24 Hours of Hoops session beginning at midnight EST on November 17. You remember last year: our very own John Stevens live-blogged the entire thing from start to finish, and probably cost himself a few months of life in the process (RTC is currently in negotiations to get John back for another go-round this year). As for the teams involved, all we know so far is that the primetime games are set – Louisville vs. Arkansas at 7:30 pm EST on ESPN2, and Kansas vs. Memphis at 10 pm EST on ESPN. Both of these games are part of the Hall of Fame Showcase, which is a little peculiar since the Basketball HOF in Springfield, Massachusetts, is 1100 miles away. Nevertheless, RTC will post the entire schedule as soon as it’s formally announced, and we’re certain that you’ll be right there with us slurping up the sights and sounds of every game during the marathon.
* not really true
By now you’ve probably seen the list published earlier this week by The Sporting News naming their Fifty Greatest Coaches of All Time, across all sports. And most likely you’ve at least seen that the legendary John Wooden tops that list, a selection about which this blogger has not heard one single detractor, not even one with a bad argument. What’s interesting to me is the names from the college basketball world that follow Wooden on that list. Here they are; I added two coaches at the end who did not make the TSN list (though one would think they might) just for the discussion:
The first thing that strikes me is where John Wooden ranks on the all-time Division 1 wins list. 21st??!? It’s always been obvious that in these lofty heights number of wins has never been a great indicator of coaching ability, since teams just didn’t play as many games until the 80s when that number really took off. That would seem to make winning percentage a more important statistic. But not on this list, it appears. If that statistic mattered here, you wouldn’t expect Dean Smith to be quite as high, and you’d expect Adolph Rupp to be higher; you would certainly expect Roy Williams to at least make the list. Final fours? Nope. Dean Smith would be appropriately stationed, but Mike Krzyzewski would be higher along with Rupp, and again you’d think Williams would get on. And so on. No single major statistic appears to have guided the thinking, here.
The question is, does this reduce the validity or credibility of the list? According to TSN, their panel consisted of “seven World Series-winning managers, four Super Bowl champion coaches, and the winningest coaches in the NBA, NHL, and college basketball.” I’m not saying they necessarily got anything wrong — who better to ask about coaches than players and other coaches? It is at least obvious that there’s only one thing the panel considered, at least in terms of how the best coaches in college basketball fell on the list — reputation.
No contest. (credit: scout.com)
The selection of Wooden at the top cannot be argued because he’s got the reputation, the aura, and too much of the overall look of the statistics on his side. After that it’s a crapshoot depending on what you think is the most important determiner of coaching greatness. To the TSN panel, it’s something akin to curb appeal that influenced them. Would Bob Knight not have been higher than 16th on an all-time coaches list were it not for his acerbic nature? Would Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith have been closer together were it not for Rupp’s reputation (whether you think he deserves it or not) as a bigot, and/or Smith having an image bordering on — dare I say it — holy? Is Roy Williams still being punished for his inability to win the big one while at Kansas? And what of Pat Summitt? She’s the only one who could even challenge Wooden in terms of college basketball coaches; her numbers are barely conceivable, and then you throw in her 1oo% graduation rate (yes, that’s right, every Tennessee player on her watch who has completed their eligibility there has also graduated). Should she be higher than 11th on the whole thing? And if you want to talk about the effect of reputation on this list, there probably isn’t a better example than the appearance of the late great Pete Newell. Only 357 games coached, a single title, only two Final Fours, and the lowest winning percentage on the coaches on the above list. But he goes and forms the Big Man Camp — and eventually what he would call the Tall Women’s Basketball Camp (I guess “Big Woman’s Camp” wasn’t an appealing name for such a place) — and finds a way to coach players in a way that didn’t directly show up as wins and losses, and here he is, on the overall list ahead of people like Joe Torre, Tom Osborne, Toe Blake, and Chuck Daly. In addition, if you ask any coach, they’ll tell you that, before he died, you’d have been hard-pressed to find a better coach and man than Mr. Newell. Does he belong on the list?
I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I do know one thing — the list generates great discussion (especially in the summer lull), so come on…let’s hear from the Duke fans who think Coach K got screwed, let’s hear from the UNC fans who think Smith-Williams should be 1-2. Let’s hear from the UK fans who think Rupp is too great to be even considered on such a list. Knowing the passion of college hoop fans and the readers of this site, it should be good.
Before I get started, I want to reiterate our stance against the scumbags who surreptitiously videotaped Erin Andrews in the clips that apparently came out almost 4 months ago and somehow remained unknown before exploding on the Internet one week ago. . .
As you may know by now the past week has been a particularly trying one for the sports media overlords in Bristol as they have been hit by the aforementioned peephole video scandal, which their own sister network claims might have been an inside job [Ed. Note: Can ESPN sue its parent company?], and the Ben Roethlisberger fiasco where they waited several days to announce the news that one of the most recognizable athletes in America had a sexual assault charge filed against him. Perhaps the most interesting story out of Bristol this week was that ESPN had decided to blacklist all New York Post staff members from appearing on any ESPN or any of their outlets after the Post ran screencaps of the infamous videos that left little to the imagination. On a basic visceral level, most people would agree to ESPN’s decision as they would be disgusted by the decision of the Post brain trust to run the screencaps.
The situation becomes a little more dicey when 2 other major media outlets (CBS and FOX News) decided to show the actual clips on their news broadcasts. If the front office people at ESPN actually had a policy or stance regarding the use of these illegally filmed clips, they should have taken a similar stance against CBS and FOX staff members. This raises an interesting question: Why did ESPN single out the New York Post? While some may argue that it was the way the Post utilized the images, we find that rather hard to believe. Although CBS and FOX were not as sensational in their presentation of the clips as the Post was they are in fact doing the same thing–using the illegal footage to try and further their story. For our money, there is a simple answer as to why ESPN singled out the Post staff members for their blacklist–because they can.
Here’s a friendly public service announcement from your friends at RTC…
If you’re jonesing for some college hoops during the long, hot, humid days of summer, CBS College Sports channel (CSTV on your channel guide) has your prescription. Games started yesterday, but the channel has plans to show the entirety of the 2009 NCAA Tournament over the next two weeks. A complete schedule of games is here, but here are the date/times for the best few. Set your Tivos now…
Hey, we love Erin Andrews as much as any other red-blooded American sports blogger, and we hold a particularly special place for Ms. Andrews considering she earned her national rep as an ESPN sideline reporter for college sports, most notably football and our beloved game. But the news that broke last night that some surly troglodyte filmed her getting dressed in a hotel room through a peephole in the door is reprehensible, unconscionable and utterly criminal. There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of behavior, and RTC hopes that if we ever have the chance to encounter Andrews in the future at any college basketball games or events, we’ll be able to personally tell her that not all blogs are equally willing to go down that road. Our hope is that the feds get involved and quickly nail whoever subjected Andrews to such a blatant and sick invasion of her privacy.
Overnight 5: February 16, 2023
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