1. Wisconsin’s Keaton Nankivil sat out yesterday’s practice due to the right ankle he injured during the Badgers’ win over Penn State on Sunday. We’ve heard nothing as far as a change in his availability for their game at Michigan tomorrow, so we’ll assume he’s a go. The Wolverines are as bubblified as it gets right now, so if Wisconsin wants to play spoiler they’ll need whatever minutes they can get from the talented senior forward who leads his team in field goal percentage (both overall and three-point) and blocks.
2. Recidivism! Not a pretty name, is it, T.T.? By now you’ve heard about Bill Self suspending junior guard Tyshawn Taylor for an undisclosed violation of team rules. This is by no means Taylor’s first infraction, as you likely recall, and in this season of “indefinite” suspensions that tend to last two games, we’ll see how long Taylor spends in the doghouse. Self doesn’t strike us as the kind of guy who compromises his sense of justice, even for a team-leading 4.7 assists per game.
3. Hofstra will retire senior guard Charles’ Jenkins‘ jersey this Saturday, making him only the fifth player to be so honored by the program. Jenkins is fifth in the nation in scoring, putting up 23.3 PPG for the Pride, and leads the CAA in a slew of other statistics as well. He’s currently projected as a second round pick in this summer’s NBA Draft; Sporting News‘ Mike DeCourcy has the full details on why Jenkins’ immortalization in Hofstra Arena is richly deserved.
4. Seattle University (10-16) is in its third year of Division I and, with five games left, is no longer playing for an NIT bid. They don’t have full NCAA privileges yet, and even if they did, they’re an Independent, so they don’t even have a conference tournament in which they could maybe get hot and steal in order to try to gain entry into The Dance. The Seattle Times’ Jerry Brewer asks what, as SU hosts Washington tonight, are they actually playing for? Sure, obvious things like pride, the completion of a task, and so on. When you read Brewer’s writeup, though, we bet you’ll come away impressed with the vision of head coach Cameron Dollar and senior forward Alex Jones.
5. Yes, New Yorkers, that’s the Wall Street Journal telling you to break out your Lou Carnasecca sweaters and fall in, because even with a certain NBA trade saga having finally been brought to a merciful close in NYC, the return of St. John’s basketball to national prominence is the true big story in the realm of New York City basketball. The WSJ‘s Jason Gay is downright enthusiastic about his Red Storm, and reminds New Yorkers that, when it comes to college hoops, it’s time “to party like it’s 1985.” Hmm…now where’d we put those Run-D.M.C. and Tears For Fears cassettes…

Past Imperfect is a new series focusing on the history of the game. Every Thursday, RTC contributor JL Weill (@AgonicaBoss) highlights some piece of historical arcana that may (or may not) be relevant to today’s college basketball landscape. This week: the sine-wave career arc of Doughnut Man.

It’s still one of the NCAA tournament’s most indelible moments: disheveled Princeton coach Pete Carril grinning in disbelief moments after his backdoor-cutting Tigers stunned defending national champion UCLA in the first round of the 1996 NCAA tournament. Replayed over and over through the years, the moment resonates because it captures the essence of what college basketball’s great March tradition is all about: little guy beats big guy, Cinderella at the dance, etc. But lost in all those good vibes for the white-haired coaching legend is that the other side in that game, the losing coach seen congratulating Carril on his career-defining victory, in its own way represents college basketball, too. In many ways, perhaps more so.

Pete Carril and Sydney Johnson celebrate the win over UCLA.

No one fathomed at the time that the upset loss would be Jim Harrick’s last as head coach of the UCLA Bruins. A year removed from the school’s first national title in two decades, flush with a contract extension, with a bevy of blue chip recruits on the verge of replenishing his team’s talent level for years to come, Harrick looked to have it all working. Then, in the course of a few months, it was all over. Harrick was out. Assistant Steve Lavin, with no head coaching experience at all, was in as interim coach.

How did it all go south so quickly? The answer is a tale of two coaches, of lies and deception, of risks taken and undying myths writ large. It’s an ugly story, without much grace and lacking humility. It is, in short, the story of college basketball at the highest levels.

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It is amusing now to go back and look at statements of outrage former coach Jim Harrick made about his abrupt dismissal by UCLA in 1996. At the time, Harrick was the man who’d brought UCLA back from the ether. The West Virginian had been all smiles hoisting the national championship trophy along with Ed O’Bannon, Tyus Edney and the victorious Bruins. And rightfully so. Harrick had taken a job a slew of previous coaches had tried to tame and done the only thing he’d been hired to do: win a national title again. Favorite sons Walt Hazzard, Gary Cunningham and Larry Farmer didn’t do it. Future coaching legends Gene Bartow and Larry Brown couldn’t do it, either. But the onetime UCLA assistant – the guy who never even played college basketball – did it. And he did it his own way, with style.

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