1. Bill Self was one of a few coaches to comment on the new emphasis that will be placed on hand-checking by on-ball defenders this season. According to a report from ESPN‘s Jeff Goodman, NCAA officials contend that the spirit of the rule change is to increase scoring and make games flow more smoothly, but opinions among head coaches regarding the impact are mixed. Some, like Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, carry an attitude of guarded optimism, but Self is concerned that the new rules will lead to an excessive number of trips to the foul line rather than better shots in the flow of a given team’s offense. There will inevitably be an adjustment period for all teams (and officials), just as there was when the charge circle was added two seasons ago, and we’ll definitely keep an eye on how teams adapt from November through March.
2. Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith was mentioned among College Basketball Talk‘s Rob Dauster’s list of losers in last year’s coaching carousel. Simply not being Billy Gillispie will put Smith in good graces among some Red Raider fans for a short time, but the challenges of the job — a relative lack of winning tradition and the absence of success in the NBA Draft, just to name two — give us pause as to whether Texas Tech can rise from the ashes under its seasoned leader. This was a perplexing hire from day one, as we expected the Red Raiders to go with someone who was more of an up-and-comer rather than an established coaching veteran. Either way, it will be a tough row to hoe in Lubbock for the foreseeable future.
3. CBSSports.com‘s crack team of college hoops contributors released its annual list of the nation’s top 100 players, and how the Big 12 fared depends on where you put the most stock. For instance, Andrew Wiggins and Marcus Smart top the list, but you have to look 22 spots down from them to find the next Big 12 player, Baylor center Isaiah Austin. Overall, the Big 12 landed 10 players on the top 100, but we see some potential big-time risers in Joel Embiid (#28), Markel Brown (#52), and Melvin Ejim (#72).
4. A thorough piece from Bleacher Report‘s Jared Zwerling reports that once Andrew Wiggins turns pro next spring, he could fetch a shoe deal valued as high as $180 million. After reading the story, there are plenty of angles worth examining: what the speculative value of Andrew Wiggins to a shoe company at this very moment says about the one-and-done rule and the concept of amateurism; how Wiggins can possibly handle all of the attention and pressure to succeed; and what head coach Bill Self  needs to do to keep he and his teammates focused as the Jayhawks aim for a 10th consecutive league title.
5. Oklahoma State held its annual media day festivities on Monday, and it will definitely be interesting to see how the Cowboys hold up to league championship aspirations for the first time in 10 years. The aforementioned link is chock full of quotes from several players as well as head coach Travis Ford, and while nothing was said that was too far out of the ordinary, you do get the sense that the team’s chemistry could be off the charts all season long. If the Cowboys are used to playing with one another in January while Kansas is still trying to figure out how to make its pieces fit, that could be just the edge OSU needs to unseat the nine-time defending Big 12 champions.

Bennet Hayes is an RTC columnist. He can be reached @HoopsTraveler. Periodically throughout the preseason, RTC will take an in-depth look at the schedules of some of the more prominent teams in college basketball.

Sean Miller’s fifth season in Tuscon could easily turn out to be his best. Despite the graduation of key seniors Solomon Hill (a first round pick in the 2013 NBA Draft), Mark Lyons, and Kevin Parrom – in addition to the surprising departure of freshman Grant Jerrett to the professional ranks, Miller has assembled the most talented roster that Arizona has seen in quite some time. A solid Pac-12 conference and challenging non-conference schedule will challenge the Cats’, but a nice blend of returnees and newcomers should give the man at the helm ample leeway to steer this storied program deep into March.

Nick Johnson will be asked to do more — both on and off the court — for this young but talented Wildcat team

• Team Outlook: This will be a new-look Arizona team, as last year’s squad was built around departed seniors Lyons and Hill. Some familiar faces will be back and poised to fill leadership roles this time around, with junior Nick Johnson (11.5 PPG, 3.2 APG, 1.9 SPG) most prominent among them. The athletic two-guard shot the ball better from three-point range as a sophomore (39% after 32% as a freshman), and should also serve as the Cats’ best perimeter defender in 2013-14. Sophomores Kaleb Tarczewski (6.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 22.2 MPG) and Brandon Ashley (7.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 20.5 MPG) return to anchor the frontcourt, with each likely seeing a slight minutes increase, despite the arrival of a duo of freshman studs in the same frontcourt. Both Aaron Gordon and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson were McDonald’s All-Americans last spring, and immense immediate contributions from both freshmen would surprise no one. Gordon especially shapes up as a good candidate for a jump to the NBA after a season of stardom in Tuscon, as he is currently projected as a Top-20 pick in the 2014 draft on NBADraft.net. Gordon’s production will be one of the keys to this Wildcat season, but he may not be Sean Miller’s most important player. Duquesne transfer T.J. McConnell (11.4 PPG, 5.5 APG, 2.8 SPG in 2011-12) will be filling Lyons’ shoes and running the show in Tucson this season. McConnell was an efficient lead guard in the Atlantic-10 and should quickly acclimate to the Pac-12, but the absence of proven ball-handlers elsewhere on the roster means his transition has to be a smooth one for Arizona to be successful. He will be a welcomed change-of-pace for teammates used to the shoot-first Lyons dominating the ball, and his steal % of 4.7 (12^th best in the nation in 2012) is ample indication of a dedication to both ends. The talented youngsters around him will keep expectations low for McConnell individually, but don’t be shocked if he emerges as the leader of this club. Read the rest of this entry »

Bennet Hayes is an RTC columnist. He can be reached @HoopsTraveler. Periodically throughout the preseason, RTC will take an in-depth look at the schedules of some of the more prominent teams in college basketball.

We have seen rapid and successful overhauls in Lawrence before, but perhaps never on this scale. Kansas is short five starters from a year ago, and in their wake arrives a decorated freshman class headed by a once-in-a-generation talent. Commitments from top-50 recruits Joel Embiid, Wayne Selden, and Conner Francamp had Jayhawk fans believing a quick rebuild was possible, but it was the May signing of Andrew Wiggins, the top player in the high school class of 2013, that has turned hope into belief. Another Big 12 championship and a return to the Sweet 16 would no longer constitute a brilliant coaching job by Bill Self, a man who has crafted many of them. Wiggins’ presence on campus has not only turned those achievements into mere expectations, but also transports hope to Lawrence that the ultimate prize – a National Title – is again a realistic possibility.

Could Perry Ellis Emerge As The Most Valuable Jayhawk Not Named Andrew Wiggins This Season?

• Team Outlook: Wiggins’ talent and projected impact has been well-documented, but even if he becomes the star he is expected to be, the Jayhawks will still need to develop the supporting cast around him. Perry Ellis (5.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG) is the one returnee that will almost definitely be a key part of that equation, but Nadiir Tharpe (5.5 PPG, 3.1 APG) and Jamari Traylor (2.1 PPG, 2.1 RPG) should also see minutes. We have seen Jayhawk role players emerge into key contributors after an offseason before, but no matter what happens with that trio, Bill Self will surely be relying on newcomers not named Wiggins to carry the load. Prime among them are freshmen Wayne Selden and Joel Embiid, who are expected to take over starting duties at shooting guard and center, respectively. Like Wiggins, both are projected as top-ten picks in next year’s NBA draft, so it’s a distinct possibility that this could be their lone rodeo in Lawrence. That being said, both need to add significant polish to their games, and despite the top-ten ranking recruiting gurus bestowed upon him, Embiid even drags the “project” title with him to Kansas. Freshmen guards Conner Frankamp and Brannen Greene are also consensus Top-100 recruits, and both will have the opportunity to compete with Tharpe and Selden for minutes in the Kansas backcourt. Rounding out the frontcourt rotation is Memphis transfer Tarik Black (8.1 PPG, 4.8 RPG) and redshirt freshman Landen Lucas. Black’s addition was another significant coup for Self this offseason, as he provides the Jayhawks with a player who has actually been through it all before at the college level. Black, like nearly every Jayhawk outside of Wiggins, could end up as a thirty-minute a game starter, a marginalized bit player, or nearly anything in between. There is tons of talent in Lawrence and a superstar to headline the show, but much of the onus for the destination of this Jayhawk campaign rests on Bill Self and how he fits all the pieces together – something Jayhawk fans should feel pretty good about. Read the rest of this entry »

As the season winds down and Big 12 teams continue to find themselves eliminated from the post-season, we’re taking a look back on a team-by-team basis at the 2012-13 season. Next up: the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Final Record: 11-20 (3-15)

The Expectations: Normally, the only time a college basketball team makes news in August is if it secures a top commitment from a recruit. What was being reported by CBS Sports last summer was far from normal. Head coach Billy Gillispie was in a heap of trouble, violating NCAA rules by exceeding the allowable amount of practice time (four hours/day; 20 hours/week) to as many as eight hours in a day. One player, later identified as Kader Tapsoba, was so worn down by the practices that he developed multiple stress fractures. And yet Gillispie still made him practice. It wasn’t just excessive practice that led to Gillispie’s downfall, though. He promised ex-Indiana player Tom Coverdale a job as an assistant but later changed his mind. Secretaries, trainers, graduate assistants and others also left in the early stages of Gillispie’s tenure. It was already well-documented that Texas Tech was going to have a vastly different roster compared to the year before with 15 players transferring out of Lubbock in the 18 months that he had been head coach there. Associate head coach Chris Walker was later tabbed as the interim coach for the 2012-13 season, but Texas Tech basketball was starting over. The only thing you could expect from this team was to play hard, game in and game out.

Interim head coach Chris Walker was left to pick up the pieces in Lubbock (TexasTech.com)

The Actual Result: The Red Raiders pressed their way to a 4-0 start to the season, albeit against inferior opponents Prairie View A&M, Nebraska-Omaha, Jackson State and Grambling State. Then came some tougher opponents in Arizona, Alabama and Arizona State, all of which soundly beat Tech in Lubbock. (Aside: everyone is no doubt jealous at how Tech was able to get all of their non-conference games at home.) Conference play began and that went just as well as you would have expected. The Red Raiders lost 15 games in the Big 12 including nine in a row at one stretch. Their best home win came against Iowa State in which both teams combined to score 107 points. Jordan Tolbert, perhaps the best player on last year’s team, told ESPN.com he’d transfer if Gillispie wasn’t fired. Tolbert returned but the 11.5 PPG scorer from last season struggled to find his offensive game, probably because Tolbert’s father and biggest motivator, James Tolbert, passed away in October. That and the fact that the freshman starting point guard, Josh Gray, was going through a baptism-by-fire against the likes of Marcus Smart, Pierre Jackson and Angel Rodriguez. It shouldn’t go unmentioned that Jaye Crockett had been a former starter for the Red Raiders and still made an impact. Chris Walker made the decision to bring him off the bench this season, and Crockett quickly became one of the better sixth men in America (11.9 PPG, 6.5 RPG).

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1. The coaching carousel has been as busy as ever this offseason, and ESPN‘s Jason King takes a deeper look into the resulting coaching changes. Texas Tech made headlines recently when it hired former Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith to replace interim head coach Chris Walker. I had advocated for keeping Walker on past this season, but when you have a chance to hire a coach like Smith, you have to do it. The ex-Gophers coach won a national title at Kentucky in 1998, and he instantly gives the Red Raiders one of the five best coaching staffs in the Big 12.
2. Here is another way-too-early 2013-14 preseason Top 25, this time from Seth Davis at Sports Illustrated. Not surprisingly, only Kansas makes the list right now. The Jayhawks come in at #13 on Davis’ ballot and here is a big reason for it: “I put them here because of the names on the front of the jersey, not the ones on the back.” The Jayhawks have the roster of a Top 25 team, no question, but Davis is right that his ranking has more to do with Bill Self’s reputation of taking teams with obvious issues and turning them into #1 seeds. You will also notice that there are no other Big 12 teams on the list. If (when) the Jayhawks win their 10th consecutive Big 12 championship next season, they could send thank you cards to the other nine schools in the conference. I’m not saying that next year’s Kansas team couldn’t win a more competitive Big 12, but they won’t have to wonder if they could because the conference on paper appears down.
3. Another Kansas State player has decided to transfer. Sophomore forward Adrian Diaz follows freshman guard Michael Orris on the way out of Manhattan after both players saw spot minutes last season. While neither player’s career started the way they probably imagined, there seems to be plenty of opportunities next season for Kansas State. The team’s best player, Rodney McGruder, is gone, as are Martavious Irving and Jordan Henriquez-Roberts. But as Joel Wagler points out, the losses of Diaz and Orris won’t have much of an effect on next year’s team.
4. It’s always nice to hear an NBA scout mirror what you’ve been saying about a player for the last few months, because it doesn’t happen very often (if ever). “McLemore is a better version of Ray Allen,” an anonymous NBA scout told the Lawrence Journal-World‘s Gary Bedore, obviously speaking of Kansas freshman guard Ben McLemore. “He will play shooting guard the way it is supposed to be played.” McLemore can definitely be timid at times, which isn’t a great characteristic in a league filled with assassins like Lebron and Kobe. But I would bet it’s easier to change a quiet demeanor than to give someone McLemore’s outstanding athleticism and shooting ability.
5. Because news is slow this time of year and most news in Big 12 country has already turned to spring football anyway, I leave you with this: Baylor women’s star Brittney Griner should head to the WNBA and skip any publicity stunts associated with joining an NBA team. We don’t need to waste any time discussing the obvious reasons, like how Griner couldn’t survive in the men’s college game much less an NBA practice. But getting embarrassed by someone like Bernard James on the first day of a Mavericks training camp would only hurt Griner’s and the WNBA’s overall image, not help it. And if the WNBA has any hope of surviving and becoming profitable in the long term, having its best prospect ever looking silly against fringe NBA players in a glorified scrimmage is not the best plan.

1. Kansas center Jeff Withey has been named the co-defensive Player of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches announced on Sunday. Indiana’s Victor Oladipo shares the award with the graduating Jayhawk. Withey leaves Kansas with a number of records and awards. Last season his 31 blocked shots set a single NCAA Tournament record. This season he broke school and conference records with 146 blocks, breaking his own record of 140 which he set last season. In addition to his defensive awards, Withey also earned Second-Team All-America honors.
2. While Michigan and Louisville prepare to win a national championship tonight, Iowa State waits to hear its fate after reporting NCAA violations stemming from impermissible phone calls and text messages between 2008 and 2011. Bobby La Gesse of The Ames Tribune thinks the Cyclones should look at Baylor, who faced a similar situation last year. As Le Gesse notes, the Bears were placed on three years probation and lost one scholarship for two seasons. With the NCAA involved, it’s anyone’s guess if Iowa State will face a similar punishment. At this point, predicting how the NCAA will react is a losing game. On a different note, for any readers dreaming of a career in collegiate coaching, check out the fine print in the column. The NCAA reviewed 900,000 phone calls made by Baylor coaches. That’s a lot of time on the phone with teenagers.
3. Kansas freshman guard Anrio Adams announced that he was transferring last week. Then he announced he was staying. Now we don’t know what will happen. He was officially released last week but told The Lawrence-Journal World that is going to talk to Bill Self today when Self returns from the annual coaches convention at the Final Four. It’s hard to imagine Self telling Adams he doesn’t have a spot next season. But it’s hard to imagine him welcoming Adams back with open arms a week after he wanted to leave the program. But with only two point guards on the roster -one of which is a true freshman- Self may need Adams in the back court next season.
4. As was previously discussed by Danny last week, Tubby Smith is now the head man at Texas Tech. The Big 12 now has six coaches who have been to a Final Four. And as Berry Tramel points out, there are now five coaches in the Big 12 with at least 500 wins: Bill Self, Tubby Smith, Bob Huggins, Lon Kruger, and Rick Barnes. It’s one of the best collection of coaches in the country and will look even better if Smith can resurrect the Texas Tech program. The league was decidedly average this season, but if Huggins and Barnes can rebound from sub-par seasons (which they should) and Bruce Weber can recruit to Kansas State (still up in the air) the league is set up to be great for the next half decade or more.
5. Is there still a chance prized recruit Andrew Wiggins ends up at Kansas? The #1 recruit in the country is down to the Jayhawks, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Florida State, and is likely to announce his decision this month. His brother, a junior at Wichita State, told NBC Sports that he doesn’t think Kentucky is the best fit for his brother’s services. His parents attended Florida State and Kansas and North Carolina offer the obvious benefits of a blue blood. Good luck trying to dissect Wiggins’ recruitment any deeper though.

Tubby Smith never finished above .500 in the Big Ten during his six seasons at Minnesota. That got him fired. His previous employer, Kentucky, essentially pushed him out after he couldn’t live up to the program’s sky-high expectations. He hasn’t reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in a decade, he’s 61 years old and his name is now more synonymous with the word “failure” than anything else. The haters might call him washed up. If you’re looking for a more friendly term, perhaps you’d say he’s simply past his prime.

Tubby Smith Has a New Job

So Tubby Smith’s not the hottest coaching name right now. Fine. But after Texas Tech announced Monday it had agreed to terms with Smith, it’s hard to imagine the school could have landed a better candidate for this position. The Red Raiders have a knack for reclamation projects. In 2001, it hired Bob Knight, who rebuilt the program entirely and had six fairly successful seasons in Lubbock. That risk worked, but the Billy Gillispie project went up in flames after allegations of improper conduct. All in all, Texas Tech is batting .500 in the Comeback Coaches category.

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1. The very best in high school basketball came together for the McDonald’s All-American Game in Chicago last night. Sure the West beat the East 110-99 but fans were watching to see how their favorite school’s recruits did individually. Here’s the sad part — out of the 26 players on the floor, only one was committed to a Big 12 school. Kansas commitment Wayne Selden Jr. had himself an efficient night of basketball: 13 points on 5-of-7 from the floor (2-of-4 from three), five rebounds, three assists and a steal in 18 minutes. The nation’s top uncommitted recruit, Andrew Wiggins, is also considering the Jayhawks along with Kentucky, Florida State and North Carolina. Wiggins led the East team with 19 points in the loss.
2. Speaking of which, Kansas freshman guard Anrio “Rio” Adams announced his plans to transfer closer to his home in Seattle. In a statement released by the university, Adams said, “I feel like going home and playing closer is better for me and my family. This was definitely a family decision and it was a decision I wanted to do that would be best for my situation.” In a now-deleted tweet from his account, Adams announced his list of potential landing spots as Oregon, Washington, Arizona and UCLA. We don’t know how much this news affects KU’s recruitment of Wiggins seeing how they already a scholarship open but it’s an interesting development nonetheless.
3. Crimson and Cream Machine scored an exclusive interview with Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger a few days ago. Kruger, the only coach to take five schools to the NCAA Tournament, offers his overall impression of his second season in Norman as well as a mini-preview of what is to come next year. (An aside: big ups to OU Athletic Department and Lon Kruger for making time for an interview with a fine blog like C&CM. We bloggers strive for legitimacy and little things like this can go a long way.)
4. Anyone else suffering from college hoops withdrawal? Well grab yourself a happy helping of Baylor-Iowa coming up tonight for the NIT championship. As much as people knock on Scott Drew’s coaching abilities, the fact is he’s pretty darn good in postseason tournament formats: three NCAA tournament bids, two of them Elite Eights, and now two appearances in the NIT title game). There’s also some history at stake too. The NIT has been around one year longer than the NCAA Tournament and a Baylor win would mean the first ever NIT title for a Big 12 school. I could try to give you another selling point to watch the game except that my skull would spontaneously combust if I did.
5. What’s in a contract anyway? Thanks to RedRaiderSports.com, we now know all about Tubby Smith’s deal with Texas Tech. First off, the contract will go for six years with a starting salary at $1.67 million in 2013-14. The deal will increase by $100,000 every after that. Now we’ll do a quick run through the incentives. If Tubby takes a team to the NCAA Tournament, he’ll earn $50,000 and there are more incentives for going deeper in the tournament. For example, If Tubby is able to make a Final Four on his last year of the deal (2018-19), Smith would make somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.47 million. And, if he’s able to keep the team GPA at the 3.0 level, you can add an extra $20,000 for a grand total of $2.49 million in 2019. Clearly, I have too much time on my hands to be doing this sort of thing.

In a move that everyone seems to agree probably should have happened back in December, Rutgers finally fired basketball coach Mike Rice for everything from demeaning his players with gay slurs to winging basketballs at their heads. The school’s announcement bases the decision on recently revealed information, which is really just PR-speak for “that damning video we have already seen that has finally been broadcast to a national audience,” and after watching the video multiple times, it is hard to believe that the Rutgers athletic department had previously let Rice off with a short suspension and fine in December.

No One Will Be Sad To See Mike Rice Go

When the suspension was announced in December and athletic director Tim Pernetti explained that it was because of a pattern of abusive behavior from Rice, it shouldn’t have surprised many who have observed him patrolling the sidelines. The Pittsburgh native and former Robert Morris head coach quickly developed a reputation based on his fiery coaching style and general hotheadedness but those traits were usually cleverly disguised as “energy,” “passion,” and “competitiveness.” Just look at what some of the sport’s most recognizable names had to say about Rice after Rutgers hired him away from Robert Morris (Bill Raftery’s remarks about Rice understanding “what the kids need after the game and during the week” are especially unfortunate in light of recent events). There were definitely some raised eyebrows when the stories of Rice’s abusive behavior and basketball-throwing tendencies started to leak, but it wasn’t until people actually saw the video that the outrage became a dull roar.

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