Running 2011-12 College Basketball thread

Paul Hewitt once pulled off 52 seconds in Raleigh (after he was pulled back off the bus)

 

The hiring of Dwon Clifton several years ago kind of got Baylor on the radar, if I remember correctly.

Here's a Grantland link to a more recent story:
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/12325/why-baylor-is-the-most-interesting-undefeated-team-in-college-basketball

 

I know he's been landing players who have been initial eligibility miracles (LaceDarius Dunn was one for sure). Baylor's far from the only school to do this, but it's definitely playing with fire and not just because of the risk that they might again become ineligible.

 

I'm with you. I think Drew is cheating like crazy.

 

Rough year for the Pac-12 men's BBall teams in the Northwest. All of them are pretty bad, WSU and OSU in particular. I miss me some Bennett Ball.

 

I didn't mean to accuse him of cheating, although I guess that's a potential explanation. (Then again, it would be pretty ballsy for Baylor to cheat, given what happened under the last coach.) I was just wondering if someone who followed Baylor (or college basketball in Texas or the Big XII) more closely than me could explain what's happening there.

I haven't read the Grantland piece yet, but looking at the roster, I see two kids who came from Westchester Country Day School, which is apparently a private high school in North Carolina. (One of them, Quincy Miller, is from Chicago but played at three high schools in North Carolina. I thought the school might be a diploma mill, but according to Miller's bio, he's double-majoring in pre-business and pre-med, and wants to become an anesthesiologist, which suggests it isn't.) I also see four kids who transferred from other colleges (Cal, Boston College, Centenary and UCLA), and another kid who came from a JUCO (Southern Idaho).

 

This is pulled from a Seth Davis SI.com column:

"To be sure, Drew's restoration of Baylor basketball has not been completely smooth. In 2007, he irked his colleagues in the Big 12 by using negative recruiting tactics against Bob Knight and Billy Gillispie, who were then coaching at Texas Tech and Texas A&M, respectively. Drew ruffled more feathers in 2009 when he hired John Wall's former summer coach to be his director of basketball operations. (Drew didn't get Wall, but Miller and Bello came from the same AAU program.) A year ago, Baylor self-reported NCAA violations committed by an assistant coach, who sent a recruit an excessive number of text messages. (The assistant resigned over the summer.) Then came Perry Jones's suspension last February right before the Big 12 tournament, which decimated the Bears' chances of playing their way into the NCAAs."


At the very least, I'd say Drew is operating on the edge of the rules. Again, my guess is he's cheating.


BTW, as I recall, Jones' suspension had to do with improper benefits provided by an AAU coach while Jones was still in high school.


Oh, yeah, the assistant who resigned? "Excessive number of texts" was just the beginning. Among them were threatening texts to a hot prospect from Colombia that said Baylor could have him deported if he went elsewhere:

Morefield also sent a text to LaLumiere coach Alan Huss, which was obtained by FOXSports.com, saying that if Perea didn’t go to Baylor, he wouldn’t be back in the United States.

"I guarantee u if he does [commit to another school] he will be in Colombia for the spring and summer and next year. Don’t forget it,” the text said.


Stay classy, Bears!

 

It doesn't. Roy thought that by talking with Leonard Hamilton, it was understood that he was pulling everyone connected to the program off the floor with 14 seconds to play to let the Florida State fans storm the floor and to keep the Chapel Hill faithful out of it.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/01/17/2933343/5-heels-left-behind-in-confusion.html

Confusion? Miscommunication? So it's fine for the same coach who will leave starters on the floor in a blowout win with 30 seconds to play stop a game with 14 seconds to go because his team is getting blown out?

Stay classy, Roy.

 

You can take the coach out of Kansas, but you can't take the chickenhawk out of the coach.

 

I know most of my fellow KU folks were really pissed at the way Roy left, but damn if the whole thing didn't work out perfectly for the Jayhawks. They have a better, younger coach who didn't have to deal with most of the replacing-a-legend bullshit because people suddenly hated Roy. An added bonus: no more teary speeches or this kind of crap.

 

I'm glad to see the Catamounts finally eased up in the end. If the margin of victory had gotten to 110, now THAT would've just been unnecessary.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/western-carolina-has-9-players-in-double-figures-in-141-39-romp-over-toccoa-falls/2012/01/17/gIQASJ8r6P_story.html

 

And I thought the Notre Dame women's 120-44 victory over Pitt was bad.