Running 2010-11 BKC thread

Yeah, they won't be putting that game on his highlight reel when he graduates. Although part of the blame falls on K for leaving him in after he picked up his third foul in the first couple of minutes of the second half.

 

Yeah, the Big 10 has proven to be top-heavy. Wins over the likes of Minnesota, Michigan State and Illinois have lost luster over time, although I do think at least one of those 50/50 Big 10 teams will get in. Minnesota probably makes it a four-deep conference had Nolen not been lost for the season. They've lost seven of eight. With him, they are probably 4-4 in that same stretch, above .500 in league and a pretty good bet to be in.

 

How about coaches on the hot seat, and guys ready to move up to the next level?
I'm thinking Providence may well be back on the market after yesterday's phoner at Marquette. No seniors next year, AND no Marshon Brooks.

 

Mason checks in at No. 25 in the coaches poll. Haven't seen the AP poll yet.

/giddy

 

I've voted for Mason going on two weeks now.

Could Andy Kennedy be in trouble at Ole Miss? Obviously Bruce Pearl has issues. Trent Johnson probably gets another year to get things going at LSU. Pelphrey's in trouble at Arkansas.

That's the league I know best.

 

Thing is, he was clutch in the Chapel Hill game along with Nolan Smith. He was probably too keyed up for the matchup in Blacksburg as that was probably the one he had circled with a bright red marker on his calendar.

Mike Krzyzewski can't be blamed for leaving him in for a while longer earlier in the game. He wasn't playing well and any attempt for him to feel a part of the game before the foul trouble got deeper might have helped both his confidence and the team's offense later in the second half. Don't see any coaching blunder there.

 

Sounds about right. But beware of Trent Johnson in Baton Rouge ... I can tell you from experience that Joe Alleva isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. If something happens there, don't be surprised in the least.

In the ACC, looks like Paul Hewitt is in big trouble in Atlanta, the contract buyout being the primary reason he has hung on this long.

I can't see NCSU hanging onto Sidney Lowe for much longer. But how would the underclassmen in Raleigh react to a new coach? N.C. State is more talented than its record would indicate, but does that simply give Debbie Yow more ammunition to make a change?

 

One thing Trent has going for him is nobody in BR cares enough to pressure Alleva. Without pressure, I think Alleva will stick with the original plan, which is a 4-5 year blueprint. LSU has no seniors this year and I expect them to be profoundly better next year.

With both Hewitt and Lowe, who are your candidates? I've always thought that if you make a change, you better have somebody in mind who's better.

One guy I'm curious about in SEC/ACC territory: How about Horn at South Carolina? I thought his team overachieved early in the SEC (though they've slipped back to earth). But to me they underachieved a bit last year, and that had everything to do with player turnover (Holmes in particular). Keeping productive players in the program is part of a coach's responsibility.

But I also don't know if anybody cares in South Carolina.

 

Couldn't begin to name names in either Atlanta or Raleigh. Can't speak for Atlanta on this one, but the big, big problem in Raleigh is what has been done to make this job any more attractive than it was five years ago when Herb Sendek had taken enough from the Wolfpack Club and bolted for Tempe?

Nothing. The ESA is still a nice arena, but NCSU basketball can't fill it and a hockey team now gets the more rowdy crowds (never would have thought that a dozen years ago). The big-name candidates weren't interested the last time - or simply leveraged the interest into lucrative extensions at their current stops - and there are two other schools within 30 miles who are winning national titles, never mind the Atlantic Coast Conference.

As for Darrin Horn ... he did overachieve a little bit, but while South Carolina rarely looks bad, it always seems to plateau right at that bubble NCAA/good NIT candidate spot. Dave Odom made a living in Columbia for a while like this and, while the fans claim they want some success in basketball, they would NEVER trade it for football glory. Different story in Raleigh.

 

It wasn't the first time that he had played at Virginia Tech with his father in the stands. Obviously, the stage was much bigger on Saturday, but Curry played there in '08 as a freshman at Liberty.

 

The one thing that has changed in N.C. State's favor is that Lee Fowler won't be in charge of the search this time. Fowler did some great things for the athletic department, but was completely inept at running a coaching search. I was in a group of reporters waiting for him at RDU after he and a big booster flew to Memphis to talk to Calipari. He was shocked (and pissed off) that we had been able to track the plane he was flying on, which was an old trick by that point. When Calipari said no, and everyone knew Calipari had said no, he made a desperation move and brought back one of the heroes of the Valvano era, even though his resume wasn't that of an ACC coach.

Maybe Yow can keep things close to the vest and not have everybody in red thinking they are going to get a huge home-run hire only to have everybody know the school settled for the 10th or 11th choice. That said, somebody will float a rumor that Rick Barnes is finally ready to come back to the ACC and the N.C. State fanbase will be pissed off when they don't get him.

 

Be interested to see if Memphis gets an itchy trigger finger.