Coaching Chain Update!
Donovan is staying put, so Kentucky chooses Billy Gillispie.
Tubby Smith to Minnesota
Billy Gillispie to Kentucky
? to Texas A&M
John Beilein to Michigan
Bob Huggins to West Virginia
? to Kansas St.
Steve Alford to New Mexico
Todd Lickliter to Iowa
? to Butler
Stan Heath to South Florida
? to Arkansas....
As if Arkansas wasn't having enough problems finding a coach, now two players failed a drug test. Maybe Dana Altman saw it in their eyes.
My coach ranking project is currently evaluating the recruiting classes, but it is going to take some weekend time. I hope to have an update Monday. In the meantime, two quick rants.
Rant 1
Bad: Why is anyone projecting next year's top 25 right now? Shouldn't we wait until we see who declares for the NBA draft? I'll only highlight two of the famous guilty parties. Here's Sports Illustrated and here is ESPN. The story before the ESPN link says, "The Jayhawks return nearly their entire roster. That's why Kansas is No. 1 on our very early look at next season's Top 25". C'mon folks, this is an impossible projection to make. Let's just wait until we hear who is heading to the NBA draft before we try to make these projections. A team like Ohio St. could be anywhere from preseason #1 to outside the top 25. What information would this story possibly provide? In fact, if you look back at my post from last week, you'll see that there are very few key Seniors on any of the Elite Eight teams, the teams are dominated by Juniors and Sophomores. If any of these teams avoids losing players to the NBA, they could easily be pre-season #1. Let's just wait a few weeks before we make any big pronouncements, OK.
Good: Better to write a story about who should stay or go. Here's a Sports Illustrated one. That's not so hard is it?
Rant 2
Friday Night in the NBA:
Indiana vs Charlotte, See who is more proficient at tanking!
Milwuakee vs Atlanta, Which team can take more bad shots and ensure a loss?
Minnesota vs New York, Hope no one on your team gets hot!
Yep, all these teams can improve their draft position with just a few more losses! Why compete for a playoff spot when you can get more lottery tickets for Durant and Oden?
Eight NBA teams have between 30 and 32 wins. Fans of these teams are all desparately hoping for an 8 game losing streak to ensure a high draft pick. This is ruining the NBA!
Here's a simple suggestion. Freeze the draft order in January. Then, even the bad teams will have an incentive to try and win at the end of the year to give their fans hope for next year. No one purposefully tanks early in the year, so the January standings might actually reflect who the real bad teams are. Let's make an incentive compatible system folks!