(You never know what senior writer Gregg Doyel will have to say about the college basketball season. Check here every 18 minutes, if not sooner, for the latest.)
Is this New Year's or April Fools?
Dec. 31, 9:25 a.m. ET
Hard to believe we're coming up on a holiday, and it's not April Fools' Day.
Did you see what happened last night in college basketball? Unbelievable stuff, ridiculous stuff. The kind of stuff that makes us think Billy Packer is going to pop out from behind a door and scream, "April Fools!"
A giddy guy, that Billy Packer.
About last night ...
- No. 23 Missouri loses to Belmont in what might have been the biggest upset, talent-wise, since Chaminade beat Virginia and Ralph Sampson.
- No. 21 Purdue loses to Colorado State after the Rams' Micheal Morris hits a pair of 3-pointers in the final seventh-tenths of a second. Morris' flurry came six seconds after Purdue's Gene Keady, one of the best coaches in the business, bone-headedly incurred a lane violation by pulling Ivan Kartelo away from the free-throw area after an official had given Brandon McKnight the ball.
- Undefeated Louisiana State loses to Houston.
- No. 4 Arizona needs Andre Iguodala's 3-pointer with nine seconds left to win its holiday tournament against (yeesh) Louisiana-Lafayette.
- At 7-1, Kansas State takes its best start in seven seasons into its game with Missouri-Kansas City. Kansas State had never lost to UMKC. Kansas State loses last night -- by 41 points. It was 93-52, the most shocking score on a shocking night for college basketball.
Kick up your Heels for this one
Dec. 30, 10:09 a.m.
Seems like someone not so long ago wrote something about a "doomsday scenario" at North Carolina.
Oh, yeah. That was me. Blush.
One-half of that scenario -- and the ugliest half, at that -- could be on display Tuesday night when the Tar Heels play Coastal Carolina without either of their top two big men, Sean May (ankle) and Jawad Williams (concussion). UNC coach Roy Williams says Jawad Williams definitely won't play and May is all but certain to stay on the bench as well.
That would leave the Tar Heels with these three players for their top two interior positions: David Noel, a very good player and a super athlete, but only 6-foot-6; Justin Bohlander, a 6-7 freshman walk-on; and Byron Sanders, a skinny, 6-9 sophomore whose talent level is better suited to Coastal Carolina than North Carolina.
For the No. 9 Tar Heels, the good news is they probably -- surely -- wouldn't need May or Williams to defeat Coastal Carolina, a 5-5 team from the Big South Conference.
The bad news is a game looms Saturday at No. 8 Kentucky. There's a decent chance North Carolina would need May and Williams to win that game. So heal quickly, fellows.
Bigger picture, Tuesday night's game will give North Carolina a look at one potential future should May and Jawad Williams (and 6-9 recruit Marvin Williams, no relation) enter the 2004 NBA Draft.
And UNC fans, settle down. The Dribbler has no rooting interest in such a doomsday scenario at North Carolina -- but the possibility does exist. Screaming about it won't change a thing.
ACL injury doesn't slow courageous Snowden
Dec. 29, 1:54 p.m.
Not too many years ago, a torn anterior cruciate ligament definitely would have ended your season, and probably would have ended your career.
These days, a torn ACL doesn't even have to end your semester. On Sunday, Villanova's Derrick Snowden proved that.
Four months after undergoing Aug. 27 surgery on his torn ACL, Snowden returned against UNC-Greensboro, playing 10 minutes in the Wildcats' 84-63 victory.
Snowden, a senior, is on schedule to graduate and didn't want to redshirt, so he set what might have been a record for fastest recovery from the still-dreaded ACL injury. He probably won't match his 2002-03 averages of 8.6 points and 3.5 assists, but with a formidable three-guard rotation already in place, the Wildcats don't need that from him.
What Villanova needs is a morale boost, what with the early season suspensions of several players and the chronic knee pain of sophomore center Jason Fraser, who is contemplating a medical redshirt.
Snowden's return ought to provide that boost to Villanova -- and hope to anyone who tears an ACL in the future.
Good teams lose good players
Dec. 28, 8:40 p.m.
Bad news came in bunches this weekend, with a handful of NCAA Tournament contenders weakened by injury or academics -- and we're not talking about role players or seventh men. We're talking about stars going down.
The affected: North Carolina, Memphis, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh and Purdue.
No. 9 North Carolina saw its most indispensable player, center Sean May, leave the UNC-Wilmington game Sunday with what looked like a sprained left ankle. A sprain would beat the alternative. May suffered a broken left foot last season, and a reaggravation of that injury would be devastating to the Tar Heels' national aspirations.
Memphis' leading scorer, Rodney Carney, broke a bone near his eye against Missouri on Saturday. Carney was hurt when inadvertently struck by teammate Ivan Lopez and, according to the school, could miss two games.
No. 19 Wisconsin's rising star, sophomore forward Alando Tucker, may have reinjured his once-broken right foot Saturday against Ohio. Tucker left the arena in a walking boot, though coach Bo Ryan wouldn't discuss his condition.
No. 16 Pittsburgh defeated New Hampshire on Saturday without point guard Carl Krauser, its leading scorer and one of the country's bigger individual surprises. Krauser (groin) might not be available Tuesday against Georgia.
No. 22 Purdue, meanwhile, has lost its most effective and experienced big man, Chris Booker, to an academic issue. Boilermakers coach Gene Keady isn't discussing the specifics but said he doesn't expect Booker to play in either of the team's final two Big Ten tuneups, non-conference trips to Colorado State and Baylor.
Henson, John good for each other
Dec. 26, 10:25 a.m.
Lou Henson is a prominent piece of college basketball's past. Duane John is a peculiar piece of its present. On Monday, the two should combine for a victory that will further cement Henson's legacy for the future.
Henson is the coach at New Mexico State, and John is one of his star players. On Monday, when John helps the Aggies put their expected whipping on Texas-San Antonio, Henson will move past Henry Iba into sole possession of seventh place on the all-time coaching wins list. Currently Henson and Iba are tied at 767.
Henson will be remembered as one of the most consistent winners of college basketball, a 40-year coach who has taken two schools to the Final Four: New Mexico State, in his first run with the Aggies in 1970, and Illinois in 1989.
John's legacy has yet to be written, but he is off to an interesting start. He is a transfer from Missouri, where he was kicked off the team following an arrest for marijuana possession. After spending New Mexico State's 2002-03 season on the sideline as a transfer, John had to sit out the first three games of this season because of NCAA violations committed while at Missouri -- where he and another teammate used a phone in the basketball office to make $452 worth of long-distance calls.
A change in location has done wonders for John. After scoring 19 points all season as a Missouri freshman, the 6-foot-6 guard is averaging 19.7 points for the Aggies, including 16-for-32 shooting on 3-pointers.
After moving past Iba, Henson will make a run at the No. 6 coach on the NCAA wins list. If the fates of college basketball are awake that night, the hopefully reformed John will have a huge game when Henson gets his 779th victory to move past ... Jerry Tarkanian.
Good 'ol Cowboy
Dec. 23, 3:25 p.m.
Whether or not he leads Oklahoma State to a conference or national title, Ivan McFarlin is a winner.
McFarlin could have been used by the system, another cog in the college basketball machinery, before drifting off -- without a degree -- toward an uncertain post-college future.
Instead the 6-foot-8 McFarlin used the system right back. The former partial academic qualifier received his degree last week, meaning he has earned the right to play next season. McFarlin currently is listed as a senior, even though this is only his third season to play in games, but next season he will be a senior again if he so chooses.
Next season, McFarlin would take graduate classes. With his track record on the court and off, he almost certainly would get a master's.
McFarlin's basketball career shows a guy who is a metronome of consistency. Two years ago he averaged 10.8 points and 7.7 rebounds. Last season it was 10.7 points and 7.8 rebounds. This season, he's at 11.7 points and 7.4 rebounds.
By graduating last week, McFarlin showed the NCAA's academic standards for freshman eligibility are by no means a failsafe predictor of classroom success.
In case it isn't obvious, here you go: McFarlin not only graduated ... he graduated in 3 1/2 years.
Love those Trojans
Dec. 23, 11:14 a.m. ET
Confession time.
The Dribbler has a perverse interest in Southern California basketball, and it is perverse because it is probably similar to the average person's "interest" in car accidents. We look, even though we know we shouldn't.
USC is fascinating in a cringing kind of way. Which player will be suspended next for bringing a cell phone to a team meeting? Which will skip a class or a study hall? Which twin will be benched next, one of the Stewarts or one of the Cravens? And whom will pop off to the press?
Already, USC coach Henry Bibby has banned Lodrick and Rodrick Stewart from speaking with the media for fear of what will come out of their mouths next. That left Lodrick Stewart unable to talk about his confrontation Saturday with teammate Jeff McMillan, who took issue with Stewart's shot selection by shoving him in the chest and telling the freshman, "Pass the ball," the Los Angeles Times reported.
Southern Cal went on to defeat Fresno State 65-62. The Trojans don't have to win to pique our interest, though. Just be yourself, Southern Cal, and we'll be watching.
Cringe.
And to prove the ACC bias ...
Dec. 22, 5:12 p.m.
What if the ACC took all four spots in the Final Four? Would they just move the thing from San Antonio to Greensboro?
Four ACC teams are ranked in the Top 10 in the Associated Press poll released Monday, and if anything, some of those ACC teams look underrated.
This is a strange, sloppy season that has had more surprises than masterpieces -- but No. 3 Duke is responsible for two of those masterpieces, brutal beatings of Michigan State and Texas. No. 4 Georgia Tech has another, a wipeout of Connecticut. No. 8 Wake Forest and No. 9 North Carolina combined for the season's latest work of art, a 119-114 game that went the Deacons' way on Saturday.
No league has ever swept the Final Four, though the Big East came close in 1985 -- advancing Villanova, Georgetown and St. John's to the semifinals. Memphis won the Midwest Region but defeated Boston College by only two points in the Sweet 16.
Twice before, in 1981 and '93, the ACC has had four teams ranked in the Top 10 at the same time. Never has it had more than two teams in the Final Four.
Maybe it happens this season, maybe not. But if you're wondering which league is dominating the national landscape in 2003-04, wonder no more. Four ACC teams are ranked, and that doesn't even include the league's most recent national champion, 2002 winner Maryland.
Nothing's 'free' ... just ask Howland
Dec. 22, 8:35 a.m. ET
This statistic is presented as fact and not commentary, because there is serious historical evidence to back it up -- and frankly, negative comments are beneath the Dribbler. Here it goes:
Ben Howland's teams can't shoot free throws.
Why? Don't know. Maybe Howland's teams are forever destined to be jinxed at the line. Maybe it's the law of averages, his teams' underachievement at the line balancing out their overachievement everywhere else.
Under Howland, Pittsburgh's inability to shoot free throws was a running joke, though it was funny only because it didn't stop Pittsburgh from winning. In Howland's four seasons, the Panthers shot 64 percent, 60.5 percent, 61.7 percent and 62.3 percent from the line. And in those four seasons the Panthers went 89-40, twice winning the Big East regular-season title.
At UCLA, it might not be as funny. The Bruins have little margin for error, and at 60.4 percent from the line, that margin for error shrinks farther still. So far, though, UCLA (4-2) hasn't lost a game because of poor foul-shooting, and the Bruins defeated Michigan State on Saturday despite going 16-for-34 (47.1 percent) from the line.
If there is a correlation between the free-throw woes at Pittsburgh and UCLA, it is the inability of Howland's primary ball-handler to convert foul shots. As a junior and senior, Pittsburgh's Brandin Knight was one of the better players in the country everywhere but at the line, where his 50.2 percentage dragged down the team's overall numbers. At UCLA, junior point guard Cedric Bozeman is shooting 45.2 percent from the line after going 1-for-9 against the Spartans.
Last season under Steve Lavin, Bozeman shot a meager 51.4 percent from the line -- so it's not just Howland.
Then again, last season under Lavin, UCLA shot 69.7 percent as a team.
Don't shoot the messenger, people. And leave my dog alone, too.
Haynes puts the 'Golden' in Flashes
Dec. 19, 8:43 a.m. ET
Kent State plays Boston College on Saturday, which means DeAndre Haynes gets his biggest stage yet to do something spectacular.
Haynes is a sophomore guard and the reason Kent State is 5-1 and not 3-3. Against Southwest Missouri State, he hit two free throws with 10.7 seconds left for a 64-63 victory, but that was nothing compared to what he did four days earlier against Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne.
The Golden Flashes trailed IPFW by two points with 3.3 seconds left. Haynes threw the inbounds pass to Matt Jakeway -- who also was out of bounds -- and then sprinted up the court, where he took in a baseball pass from Jakeway and launched a 35-foot swish with 1.1 second left for the 67-66 victory.
Haynes can play pretty good in the game's first 39 minutes, too. He had 18 points, six assists and five steals against Eastern Michigan, and 11 points and nine assists against Cleveland State.
Both were victories, catapulting Kent State toward a sixth consecutive 20-win season, which would be a Mid-American Conference record.
Wallace plan lacking muscle
Dec. 18, 8:45 a.m. ET
The plan was sound. The goal, good: Go to Duke's home game Wednesday night against Princeton and come home with a story about Judson Wallace, who at 19.8 points per game was on pace for one of the better post-Bill Bradley seasons in Princeton history.
During pregame warm-ups, you could see why Wallace was a relatively unique Princeton player: 6-foot-10 and the best-looking 3-point shooter on the team.
During the game, you saw other things. Wallace, a junior from Atlanta, has good feet but not great. He is clever around the rim, but not strong. For such a big player he has solid ball skills, but not excessively so.
In other words, for Princeton he will be a very good player this season, perhaps a 20-point scorer in the Ivy League.
But Duke isn't the Ivy League. Duke big men Shelden Williams and Shavlik Randolph were too big, too strong and too quick for Wallace, whose first-half foul trouble and second-half ineffectiveness limited him to 17 minutes and seven points. Duke won 69-51.
Put another 20 pounds of muscle on the 230-pound Wallace and get him to play stronger, then he has a professional future if he wants it. As for the Dribbler's plan, the story on Wallace has no future. Maybe next year.
Indiana stops by the lost and found
Dec. 17, 8:40 a.m. ET
Losing George Leach hurts Indiana, but it would have hurt the Hoosiers more had they never found Donald Perry.
The two are related.
Leach, the Hoosiers' top interior presence, hasn't played since injuring his knee Nov. 29. He is expected to return next month. In its first game without Leach, Indiana played its worst game of the Mike Davis era, a 100-67 loss to Wake Forest on Dec. 2.
After that game, which saw the Hoosiers produce twice as many turnovers (22) as assists (11), Davis attached a rudder to his offense: Perry, a 6-foot-2 junior point guard.
Perry has started the Hoosiers' past three games, and it is no coincidence those have been the Hoosiers' best three games of the season. They lost 63-58 to then-No. 4 Missouri, and defeated Notre Dame and Butler.
In four games with Perry coming off the bench, the Hoosiers were minus-24 (41 to 65) in assists and turnovers. In the three games with Perry as a starter, Indiana is plus-2 (38 to 36).
The addition of Perry has been especially beneficial to backcourt mates Bracey Wright and Marshall Strickland. In the Hoosiers' first four games, they were minus-11 in assists and turnovers. With Perry alongside them, Wright and Strickland have been plus-8.
The return of Leach will make Indiana even better -- unless it means the return of Perry to the bench.
What's next, 10-day contracts?
Dec. 16, 12:08 p.m.
The difference between college and professional sports, college coaches tell us all the time, is free agency. When a player gets hurt in the NBA or NFL, that team can sign another guy to take his place. No such luck in college.
Or so we've been told.
Arizona coach Lute Olson apparently will make a wives tale of that long-held belief in the form of 6-foot-9, 230-pound import Ivan Radenovic.
Short-handed on the front line with recruit Ndudi Ebi's unexpected decision to enter the 2003 NBA Draft and last month's injury to Isaiah Fox, Olson could add Radenovic in time for the No. 7 Wildcats' Dec. 22 game against San Diego State. With Fox out, Olson has been forced to use 6-6 Andre Iguodala and 6-4 Hassan Adams as his top post reserves.
According to a source close to the situation, Arizona had been recruiting Radenovic since June. A competing Division I coach told SportsLine.com that Arizona did nothing wrong.
"I know darn well if a (foreign) kid became eligible to us, we needed him and we had a scholarship available, we'd do it," the coach said.
There is the question of eligibility, since Radenovic has been linked to a team in the Yugoslavian YUBA league, but surely the Wildcats wouldn't be going through all the paperwork and red tape to add Radenovic if they thought he wasn't eligible.
If the addition of Radenovic works out, expect other schools to copy Arizona in the future.
St. John's and Cremins two of a kind
Dec. 15, 8:45 a.m. ET
Behind the scenes, St. John's fans of influence are checking into the availability of potential replacements for embattled coach Mike Jarvis -- and one of their targets has been Bobby Cremins.
Cremins, who played at South Carolina and coached at Georgia Tech, has lived at Hilton Head, S.C., since retiring from Georgia Tech in 2000. But he's no southerner.
Cremins is a New Yorker through and through, and at Georgia Tech he showed he could recruit the city by landing Kenny Anderson and Stephon Marbury. While his last few years at Georgia Tech were down, Cremins was 354-237 in 19 years, and had a 15-11 record in NCAA Tournament games.
Why would Cremins be interested? He still has that basketball jones, mainly. He conducts occasional clinics for the Boys & Girls Club and is a regional television commentator, as was the case Sunday for North Carolina's home game against Akron. Two years ago, Cremins was linked to the opening at South Carolina, before the Gamecocks hired Dave Odom.
Cremins and St. John's have always seemed to have a magnetic pull, like other famous New York City twosomes: Steinbrenner and Reggie ... Messier and Sather ... Ross and Rachel.
Now here's a word from our sponsor
Dec. 12, 8:05 a.m. ET
The biggest crowd in basketball history is anticipated for Kentucky's visit Saturday to Ford Field in Detroit, where Michigan State will be waiting.
That's fine.
Two of the most demanding coaches in the game will be on the sidelines, Tubby Smith with his withering words and Tom Izzo with his bulging eyes.
That's neat.
Two potential Final Four candidates will be on display. No. 8 Kentucky clearly can get there, and the feeling here is that No. 21 Michigan State, once freshman point guard Brandon Cotton heals and sophomore big man Paul Davis takes over, isn't out of the picture.
That's splendid.
But you know what's the best part about the 4 p.m. ET game on Saturday? Whether we're in the expected crowd of 75,000-plus or not, we can all watch it together. The game is on television.
Not sure which network. Let me look ... ah, here it is:
CBS.
The preceding has been a paid advertisement for the Dribbler, who would like a raise.
Wacky world we live in
Dec. 11, 9:09 a.m. ET
Someone with more time on their hands can look this up, but until then, I'm saying it: Never, in the history of the world, has a college basketball team been ranked as strangely as Kentucky in this week's polls.
And that's a great thing. It shows how wacky this season is, and will still become.
The AP media poll has Kentucky at No. 8, while the coaches' poll has the Wildcats at No. 2. There's no telling which poll is closer to having it right.
Already this season, three consensus No. 1-type teams have lost to an unranked opponent, either at home or on a neutral court: Connecticut to Georgia Tech at Madison Square Garden, Florida to Maryland in Gainesville, and Duke to Purdue in Alaska.
No, Duke wasn't No. 1 -- but it was poised to claim that spot until losing to the Boilermakers. So we're counting it. Get your own blog.
Next on the coaches' No. 1 list will be Kentucky, assuming the Wildcats can get past Michigan State on Saturday in Detroit. No safe assumption.
In the media poll, No. 2 Connecticut is poised to reclaim the top spot, though undefeated and No. 3 Missouri could -- and probably should -- jump to No. 1 if it wins Saturday at Gonzaga.
It's a nutty season and it's only December, and we've got a theme song in mind: Take this No. 1 ranking and shove it -- nobody wants it anymore.
Doomed to repeat history
Dec. 10, 11:45 a.m. ET
Quin Snyder, Dave Bliss and Jan van Breda Kolff have been in the headlines this week for the wrong reasons, but don't for a minute start pining for the good ol' days of college basketball.
Tuesday's death of Norm Sloan reminds us the good ol' days weren't always good.
Sloan, who guided N.C. State to the 1974 national championship, saw two of his programs run astray of NCAA guidelines. The NCAA found his Wolfpack guilty of major infractions in 1972, and the NCAA put his University of Florida program on probation in 1990.
Bad news is old news in college basketball, though the bad news has been overwhelming this week, hasn't it?
On Monday, notorious former Baylor coach Dave Bliss resigned from his voluntary coaching position at a Colorado high school because of the negative publicity aimed that way.
On Tuesday, St. Bonaventure's president told the Associated Press that the NCAA is pursuing a charge of unethical conduct against van Breda Kolff, the Bonnies' former coach whose program suffered a player eligibility scandal last season. St. Bonaventure has admitted to some mistakes, though van Breda Kolff has denied involvement in the scandal.
Wednesday, the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune is reporting that former Missouri star Ricky Clemons has accused two Missouri assistant coaches of giving cash to him and teammates.
It is important to note that, in the cases of Baylor and Missouri, these are only allegations being investigated by the NCAA.
It is also important to remember this quote from former British prime minister Winston Churchill: "Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it."
College basketball isn't any worse today than it was yesterday. The question is, when will it learn from its history? When will it be better tomorrow?
Aren't we done living with Bliss?
Dec. 9, 3:38 a.m. ET
Maybe now, finally -- thankfully -- Dave Bliss will go away.
Bliss is the ex-Baylor coach who lost his job Aug. 8 after trying to hide alleged NCAA violations by asking players to miscast murdered teammate Patrick Dennehy as a drug dealer.
Within three weeks of his forced resignation, Bliss applied to be a volunteer coach at a nearby juvenile correctional facility. The leaders of that facility, knowing a bad influence when they saw one, declined.
Bliss didn't get the hint.
He moved to Colorado, where his wife has family, and asked to become a volunteer assistant coach at Green Mountain High. That's sad. The people at Green Mountain accepted. That's stupid.
In the team's season-opener last week, television crews were on hand -- not for the players, but for Bliss. On Monday, according to the Denver Post, Bliss quit his volunteer position.
Bliss has the right to get on with his life. He has a right to forgiveness.
But it's too soon -- way, way too soon -- for him to seek a place in the game he betrayed.
So go away, Dave Bliss. We'll let you know when you can come back. Right now, it's not close.
College hoops in a class by itself
Dec. 9, 9:15 a.m.
By leaving No. 1 Southern California out of its national championship game, the Bowl Championship Series again opens the door to criticism. The NCAA Tournament then slams that door shut, right on the BCS' nose.
BCS proponents cite student-athlete welfare as the No. 1 reason not to abandon the bowl system. A college football playoff, they say, is unacceptable because it would take players out of school -- as if anyone in college sports truly cares about that.
March Madness lasts every bit as long as a proposed football playoff, and lies smack dab in the middle of the spring semester. March Madness involves 65 teams compared to eight or 16 for a football playoff. March Madness isn't limited to the Friday-Sunday schedule of a football playoff. And finally, March Madness has the greater potential for disrupting schoolwork back home, among non-athletes in the student body, because of its week-day games and round-the-clock television appeal.
Yet, March Madness is universally loved -- and with good reason. It is the greatest drama in sports.
The BCS is the comic relief.
It's season's greetings for the temporarily ineligible
Dec. 8, 9:54 a.m.
'Tis the season to be eligible ...
Tra-la-la-la-laaa ... at the same time.
In the last few days, Missouri's Randy Pulley, Connecticut's Charlie Villanueva and Louisville's Nouha Diakite have received clearance from their schools, which means their schools have received clearance from the NCAA. Villanueva and Diakite played this weekend. Pulley will debut in two weeks along with transfer Jason Conley.
Funny how all these guys got the word at the same time, ain't it? On the surface it seems fair -- no school coming before another, no player before another, all getting eligible at the same time.
On the other hand, it underscores the NCAA's tendency to view the world in black and white, when these three situations are different shades of gray.
Villanueva considered entering the 2003 NBA Draft, being linked to an agent as he gallivanted around parts of the country. Pulley transferred from junior college, with ensuing credit questions. Diakite had a number of issues, ranging from his involvement in a French summer league to his days at a Kansas junior college -- the same junior college attended by Pulley, come to think of it.
Three very different situations, three almost identical outcomes.
Fair? Not really. Socialist is more like it.
Come on pollsters: UConn do it
Dec. 7, 10:05
Always eager to help, the Dribbler has more advice for this week's pollsters:
Connecticut deserves No. 1 consideration again.
From here, Georgia Tech has done more than anyone to deserve that top ranking, but the Huskies are back in play now that freshman Charlie Villanueva is on the court. Six games into the Huskies' season, the NCAA announced late last week that Villanueva deserved a six-game suspension for his actions while considering entering the 2003 NBA Draft. Counting the time served, the NCAA unleashed Villanueva on Army.
The Connecticut team that was unimpressive against Yale and Nevada before losing to Georgia Tech by 16 points is not the same Connecticut team with Villanueva. With him, the Huskies might just be unbeatable.
Yeah, it's only one game, but snap judgments are the Dribbler's specialty. Besides, it doesn't take a basketball savant to see Villanueva is special, and then to understand that adding a special player to already special Connecticut makes the Huskies ... doubly special.
In his first game of college basketball, with pent-up frustration and the usual nerves and unusual pressure to perform, Villanueva had 16 points, five rebounds, three blocks and two assists against Army. Thoroughly sparked, the Huskies led 39-15 by halftime and cruised 74-46.
After top-ranked Kansas' loss Saturday to Stanford, No. 2 Florida isn't a terrible choice to rise to No. 1. But if voters wanted to go for Connecticut, well, they will be relieved to know they have the Dribbler's blessing.
Who thought first, the Dribbler or ...?
Dec. 5, 1:59 p.m.
Lute Olson owes the Dribbler a thank you -- or an apology.
Here's the deal: Tuesday, on a media conference call with Arizona's basketball coach, the Dribbler asked Olson if he had any plans of raiding the football team for a big body to help with practice after the season-ending knee surgery of reserve big man Isaiah Fox.
No, Olson said.
"We're OK," he said.
Two days later, the Arizona basketball team announced football player Ryan O'Hara, a 6-foot-6 quarterback, "was added to the roster in the wake of Isaiah Fox's knee surgery Tuesday."
Great idea. Why didn't I think of that?
Either Olson knew about O'Hara on Tuesday but avoided the Dribbler's question ... or the Dribbler's question got him thinking about finding a football player.
I know what you're thinking, and you're right. These are about 35 seconds you'll never be able to get back.
Let's do the Time Warp again
Dec. 4, 8:25 a.m.
Just once, wouldn't you like to turn on your television set and see a well-known coach -- pick one -- sporting a new look?
Almost everyone changes their appearance on occasion, but not coaches. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski exchanged a real hip for a fake one and then did it again, but on the outside he doesn't look much different than he did 20 years ago. Same body. Same hair.
Gene Keady at Purdue looks like he always has. Pete Gillen at Virginia. Rick Majerus at Utah. Dean Smith, when he was at North Carolina. Maybe it's something about basketball coaches in general. Remember Pat Riley's gel look from the 1980s? He's still got it.
This isn't a serious issue, and yet it is. All people -- well, most people -- go through change. We evolve. We grow goatees and shave them. We part our hair on this side, then that one. We grow it out, then buzz it off, then grow it out again. We go bald.
Not coaches. They pick a look, and stay with it. It's admirable, and irritating. Just once, wouldn't you like to see Kentucky's Tubby Smith with a Fu Manchu? Or Michigan State's Tom Izzo with scalp stubble?
Just asking.
Bibby the disciplinarian
Dec. 3, 12:14 p.m.
Southern California freshman guard Quinton Day was suspended for the Trojans' victory Sunday against Cal State Northridge because his cell phone had rung during a team meeting.
That makes Day the fifth -- as far as we know -- Trojan to serve some sort of playing-time punishment for a transgression some people might view as minor.
Already this season, twin guards Derrick and Errick Craven lost their starting jobs after reporting 20 minutes late to a 6 a.m. practice. About a week later, twins Lodrick and Rodrick Stewart gave those starting jobs back by reporting at 8:32 a.m. to an 8:30 a.m. team breakfast.
In the preseason, without playing time as an incentive, USC coach Henry Bibby punished a similar misdeed by the Stewarts, and two teammates, by making them run early morning laps around the track.
If the Trojans -- who are talented -- come together and win 20-odd games and reach the NCAA Tournament, Bibby's old-school discipline will be applauded. If the Trojans finish under .500 for a second straight season, Bibby will be viewed as heavy-handed, out of touch with today's athlete.
Whatever happens, from here it's obvious: Bibby is the kind of coach who can turn boys into men.
Illini to 'repay' Williams for loss of Self
Dec. 2, 8:55 a.m.
Bruce Weber is at Illinois because Roy Williams is at North Carolina, and tonight the twain shall meet.
College basketball has funky stories like this all the time, whether it's Duke's Mike Krzyzewski facing his former boss at Indiana, Bobby Knight, in the NCAA Tournament or tonight's bizarro meeting between Weber and the man who helped get him the Illinois job.
Follow the dominoes: Matt Doherty resigns at North Carolina. Roy Williams leaves Kansas for North Carolina. Bill Self leaves Illinois for Kansas. Bruce Weber leaves Southern Illinois for Illinois.
Adding another layer to the Illinois-North Carolina game tonight in Greensboro, N.C., is the player perspective. Scholarship athletes generally feel jilted when the coach who recruited them leaves, as was the case at Illinois, when Self left for Kansas. Because of NCAA rules, though, players have little say in the matter; transferring is difficult without losing a year of eligibility.
Tonight, the Illinois players can have their say. While they should learn to love the grounded Weber -- maybe they do already -- it's OK for them to mourn the loss of Self.
The Illini can do so by paying their respects tonight to Roy Williams, one of the guys who made it possible.
Villanueva decision? Maybe in next lifetime
Dec. 1, 3:40 p.m.
Connecticut's season is five games old, soon to be six, and still the NCAA has not determined what to do with Huskies freshman Charlie Villanueva.
No rush, NCAA. Villanueva has three more years of eligibility, right?
Either Villanueva did or he didn't receive illegal aid from an agent, a friend or the bogeyman. Either he's eligible, or he isn't.
Either way, this is getting ridiculous.
It has been roughly six months since Villanueva traveled the country to try out for NBA teams. It has been more than three months since he enrolled at UConn. It has been two weeks since the Huskies opened the season uncertain of Villanueva's status.
Part of the NCAA's delay has been attributed to the Thanksgiving holiday. That's nice. Meanwhile Villanueva has been unfairly put on hold, while his team has been unfairly weakened both physically and mentally, as this murky situation unfolds. Or rather, doesn't unfold.
Let's just hope the NCAA can determine Villanueva's fate soon. Christmas break is coming, then New Year's, then Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
What we learned on our Thanksgiving vacation
Dec. 1, 8:18 a.m.
Here's a proposal: If the Dribbler agrees to buy Dick Vitale's book, will he agree to stop promoting the damn thing during broadcasts?
Anyone who spent the Thanksgiving holiday watching college hoops knows the deal. For anyone else, there were other painfully obvious things to be learned:
- Christian Drejer should be Florida's point guard. Anthony Roberson already is Florida's ball hog. Drejer hasn't seen a teammate he can't make better. Roberson hasn't seen a teammate. Period.
- Arizona's Hassan Adams doesn't look to be 6-foot-4, but does it really matter? Whatever his size, he rebounds like a center.
- Freshman Luol Deng is Duke's best player by such a wide margin that no else in the starting lineup -- preseason All-ACC candidates J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams, Daniel Ewing and Chris Duhon -- should even be considered No. 2. That's how wide the gap is between Deng and his teammates.
- Those games in Alaska started too late. What's the point of a midnight tipoff? Raise your hand if you watched Purdue defeat Duke. Yeah, right.
- Steve Lavin is gone, Ben Howland is here, but UCLA fans still don't get it. As the Bruins went into halftime trailing Vermont, UCLA fans booed them. Welcome to SoCal, Ben. Maybe you should rent for awhile.
- Connecticut looked brutal against Yale and Georgia Tech, but the Huskies looked like a national champion against Utah.
- Bobby Knight can coach a little.
