College Basketball Thread 2018

I cannot see how it gets any better than having one of the top-three programs in the ACC, with pretty much 0 alumni pressure, is not one of the top jobs in basketball.

 

But Kansas and Duke will skate for pretty much the exact same thing.
LSU is the new Cleveland State.

 

Thing is, that's all because of Tony Bennett. No one called Virginia a top job in years ... last time was when Terry Holland got some guy named Ralph to commit to Charlottesville.

Just can't see why Bennett would want that job at UCLA. That place has been chasing a ghost for 50 years ... when will it end?

Jim Harrick won a national title and he was chased.
Ben Howland got the program to three consecutive Final Fours and he was chased.

At some point, accept that another run like John Wooden's is not happening and move on.

 

FIFY

 

Outing alert: Micropolitan guy is World Wide Wes.

 

I didn’t realize Bennett is close to 50. I thought he was closer to 40. That said, he could coach another 20 years at UVA, tack another 500 wins onto his 300 wins and walk away with 800 wins, probably a couple final fours and maybe a title if the ball bounces the right way at the right time.

That’s a hell of a career.

 

He’s a different dude. Maybe that means he sticks around UVA and turns down better offers. Maybe it means he goes off in search of a new challenge at some point. I just hope he can raise a banner before he’s done.

 

As much as it pains everyone, there's no direct evidence against Duke out there at this time. Kansas has enough plausible deniability based on one vague statement by an assistant.

Everybody's "dirty." Wade is dirty and an idiot, a combination that's tough to ignore.

 

It certainly was nice of Zion to put aside his well-publicized financial demands to play for Duke for free!

 

It's just irksome because it's Kansas. LSU has gotten tangled up with them before on this sort of thing -- the Lester Earl case in the 1990s -- and came out on the wrong end then, too. Earl later said the NCAA pressured him to spill the beans, even though there might not have been any to spill, about getting paid to play at LSU. The NCAA then dropped the hammer on LSU and sent them to jail for a few years.
Meanwhile, in the middle of all this, Earl was spotted during a nationally televised game sitting behind the Kansas bench while still on scholarship at LSU. Dick Vitale pointed him out. I'm sure it was just a coincidence and Kansas did nothing to influence Earl's transfer there.
Of course, the Kansas coach at the time was Roy Williams, which probably explains a lot.

NCAA: Lester Earl Was Paid at LSU

Ex-LSU player Earl issues apology

 

The plausible deniability issue is at play with Mark Gottfried and Orlando Early when they were head coach and assistant coach at N.C. State.

The story was - originally - that Early paid Dennis Smith Jr. thanks to adidas. Now Gottfried is getting drug into this. Debbie Yow, NCSU's AD, is still saying neither she nor the school knew anything about this.

Hope enough of this is resolved before the stinking mess is dropped on the desk of new AD Boo Corrigan. (Yes, the Triangle has ADs named Boo and Bubba. Welcome to North Carolina.)

 

Yeah, KU's the victim here, didn't everyone hear?