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Big 12 is best thus far Posted: Wednesday December 05, 2001 12:43 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl answers your college basketball questions every Wednesday. Click here to send him a question. It happened last Saturday, as I stood in the press room at the McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz. On the television, Texas was putting away No. 11 Stanford in Chicago, and a few minutes later Kansas would race past No. 4 Arizona in front of my own eyes -- on the Wildcats' home court. And that's when it hit me. The Big 12 is the best conference in the land. Oh, Jerry Palm's CollegeRPI.com may say that the SEC is No. 1, followed by the ACC and then the Big 12, but try and name me a better conference than one that features Texas, Kansas (which looked downright nasty in wins against Arizona and Wake Forest), 8-0 Missouri (which could blow up with wins against Iowa and Illinois this month), 8-0 Oklahoma State (which meets Arkansas and Ball State soon), 3-1 Oklahoma (which won at Arkansas) and 6-1 Texas Tech (which suddenly finds itself wondering about its chances for the NCAA tournament). All I'm saying is, if you picked the top five schools of every conference, I'd take the Big 12's quintet (Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Texas) over anybody else's right now. If you can give me a decent argument otherwise in 75 words or less, do it now. Onward ... Give me your top 10 coaches in the game today.
Fair enough. I'll give you my top 15. 1. Mike Krzyzewski, Duke.
2. Lute Olson, Arizona.
3. Rick Pitino, Louisville.
4. Tom Izzo, Michigan State.
5. Tubby Smith, Kentucky.
6. Roy Williams, Kansas.
7. Jim Calhoun, Connecticut.
8. Rick Majerus, Utah
9. Billy Donovan, Florida.
10. Quin Snyder, Missouri.
11. John Chaney, Temple.
12. Mike Montgomery, Stanford.
13. Larry Eustachy, Iowa State.
14. Bill Carmody, Northwestern.
15. Gary Williams, Maryland.
Raise your complaints here, and next week I'll explain why I left certain coaches off my list. How can you rate Butler the No. 4 team in Indiana? Everyone is back from a team that clearly was the best program in the state last season.
My bad. Butler deserved better, as it proved by winning at Purdue on Nov. 27. I'm bowled over by the similarities between Butler and Gonzaga. Their mid-major-viper vibes are similar. Their coaches ( Thad Motta/Todd Lickliter, Dan Monson/Mark Few ) are similar. Hell, Butler and Gonzaga even have the same freaking uniforms! (Did they get those out of the Nike bargain bin or what?) Looks like we may discover the best team in Indiana when Butler travels to Ball State on Dec. 19. Could you start giving Penn some respect?
Sure. The Quakers beat Georgia Tech and Iowa State, and they should have finished off Illinois when they had the chance. After jumping the gun a year ago, I can safely say that this year's Big Five is going to be tremendous. Penn-'Nova on Wednesday, Penn-St. Joseph's on Saturday! Great, great stuff. It's a fine time once again to be a Philly hoops fan. Here's one man's prediction of how it'll shake out: 1. St. Joseph's
What's with all the hoopla about Frank Williams? In basically every game I've seen him play, he's been ordinary at best.
Did you check out Illinois-Arizona Tuesday night? Williams finished with a career-high 30 points in the Illini's loss, but it was a typical Frank Williams game. He doesn't knock your socks off with his shooting, but he has so many "point-guard skills" it's scary. Then if he needs to, he can fill it up at the end of the game. Prediction: If Nike ever does a follow-up to its hip-hop hoops ad from last year, Frankie will be in it. This guy can do things with a basketball that will make you cry. Why is Notre Dame given so little respect? The Irish won 20 games a year ago and were ranked in the Top 25, yet this year they remain unranked despite a 6-0 record.
Well, Brett, Notre Dame took its first L on Tuesday in a one-point loss at Indiana. No shame in that, and I, for one, think it's possible that the Irish will get into the poll during Big East season. Ryan Humphrey is a double-double fool these days while freshman point guard Chris Thomas is putting up mad numbers, including a team-leading 24 big ones against the Hoosiers. I ran into coach Mike Brey in a security line at the Honolulu airport last week, and the guy didn't even recognize me at first (even after I spent time in South Bend for a Troy Murphy story last year). If Brey continues building his program the right way, though, we'll be seeing a lot more of each other in the years to come. With Bob Bender leading Washington to back-to-back 20-loss seasons, his job security can't be the greatest. The question everyone in Seattle wants to know (OK, it's probably just me) is, if he gets fired could you see Seattle-area native Quin Snyder leaving Missouri and taking the reins of a struggling Huskies program?
I don't see it happening for a couple reasons. First, Bender and the 5-1 Huskies quietly are off to an excellent start, having beaten UNLV and Bowling Green (which has W's over Ole Miss and Michigan). In fact, if Washington hadn't blown a double-digit lead against Butler in the final of the Top of the World Classic in Alaska, U-Dub would be undefeated. Don't expect the Huskies to win the Pac-10, but there's improvement all around. UConn transfer Doug Wrenn finally is letting his game do his talking and David Dixon is a rebounding machine now that he's lost about 180 pounds. Bender finally is landing the top Seattle preps, too, which means this program is heading in the right direction. Second, I don't think Snyder (a Mercer Island, Wash., native) would be interested in the UW job even if it came open. Bender is part of the Duke family, for one thing, and it would be too much of a lateral move for Snyder, who told me recently that he has a five-year plan in Columbia -- a plan that, unless some irresistible job comes along, I suspect he'll stick around to complete. One question, though: Why doesn't a living soul here in Seattle care about college hoops? Random thoughtso Is it just me? If the World Cup were the NCAA basketball tournament, wouldn't the U.S. be looked at as, say, the MEAC champ? The Europeans don't even consider us to be a "dangerous mid-major" yet, on the order of Mexico or Paraguay. We're South Carolina State, and that's depressing. o While watching three onside kicks in three college football games last Saturday, it hit me: Why don't we dispense with the rest of the game and just have 60 minutes of onside kicks? Fans love onside kicks. Let the winner be the team that recovers the most. The XFL would still be going if it had done this. Back to the questions What in the world is a scorpion kick?
The scorpion kick was the trademark of retired Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita. If a ball was coming at him, he'd go down on his hands (as if he were doing the Centipede on the dance floor), flip his legs up in the air behind him and kick the ball with his heels back in the direction it came from (like a scorpion!). For this reason Rene was one of late drug kingpin Pablo Escobar's favorite players (and mine, too). I miss him greatly. Why are you and Seth Davis already declaring North Carolina dead? First of all, UNC is the top college basketball program ever. If you look at the past 40 (!) years, no one can touch the Tar Heels. True, Duke has the edge the last five or so, but let's not forget about that mid-'90s team of Pete Godawful and Eric Meek.
Nobody's declaring UNC dead. In fact, during the win over Georgia Tech on Sunday, you could see my prediction coming true: This Carolina team will be remembered (and loved) by UNC fans for playing above its talent level. It won't win every game, and it may not finish in the top three of the ACC, but Heels fans will be proud of its effort. WATNLast week we asked you to help find "Goofy" Geert Hammink, the former LSU 7-footer from the Netherlands. You remember Geert -- after backing up Stanley Roberts and Shaquille O'Neal for three years, he went off in 1992-93, averaging 15.3 ppg and an SEC-leading 10.2 rpg for Dale Brown's Tigers. Amazingly, the Orlando Magic drafted Hammink in the first round (26th overall) in '93 ... just so he could back up Shaq again. The most amusing answer on Geert's whereabouts came from Pat in Louisville, Ky., who writes: "Geert Hammink is actually employed as a windmill back home, an ironic occupation given his inability to perform anything approximating a windmill dunk. Dale Brown occasionally rides by on a donkey and charges at his former center with a jousting spear in hand." Not far from the truth, Pat. In fact, I called Brown (a former WATN subject himself), who said he'd been in touch with Geert in the past year. "I've talked to 154 of my 164 players," says Brown, who keeps a black book with phone numbers of his old players, Bob Knight and presumably Sasquatch and the Yeti as well. "It's a quest I intend to complete." Alas, Dale's number for Geert was a year old, and the Ground-Bound Dutchman, 31, has moved on in his career, having joined the Greek club Aris Thessaloniki this season. Hammink is starting and averaging 8.3 ppg and 7.3 rpg playing alongside such Yanks as Brandon Wolfram, Torraye Braggs and Frankie King, but Aris is mired in 13th place with a 2-7 record. (And guess what I found: Also playing in the Greek league is Eric Meek, who remarkably is making his second appearance in this column.) Much thanks to the 'Bag's Eurofans, Robert Kimmels of Geneva and Pete Miller of Landshut, Switzerland, who provided Geert's 4-1-1. This week's WATN: Where in the world is Antoine Joubert? Morris Brown updateChecking in with D-I's newest member ... Overall record: 1-6. Current RPI: 237. Last week: 0-2. Yikes. The Wolverines, my favorite team in the country, took L's at Ole Miss (92-45) and Boston College (90-65) during MBC's roughest week of the season. Next up: at home (finally) against Denver and Alabama State. The Best (Blank) in (Blank) Where is the best grilled cheese in Princeton?
Oh, Jon, I'm sure you already know the answer to that one, but I'll give it to you anyway. Hoagie Haven, pal, site of far too many late-night visits during my college years. Grilled cheese just tastes better when it's made with white American cheese (as opposed to that orange stuff, which was all I ever knew during my sheltered childhood in the Midwest). Hoagie Haven bonus: George the Owner will talk your ear off about Princeton hoops. Before I forget, I got a good news tip on recruiting shenanigans not long ago through the 'Bag. Feel free to drop any similar scoops my way -- and thanks for your support. See you next week. Click here to send your college basketball question to Grant Wahl.
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