IU Job interview to Take Place in Indianapolis - Iowa and Ohio State.
There’s no need to rehash the basic facts of the past two days of Big Ten games. If you want to read about who won, shooting percentages, who scored how many points, turnovers, and what not, a plethora of news outlets fit that bill, including a few of the links to the right of this post. Take a gander and don't overlook the Ann Arbor News.
As Iowa progresses through the B10 Tourney, past Minnesota and then the Spartans on Saturday, Steve Alford should remember to send a thank you card to Jeff Horner. The senior from Mason City, Iowa has single-handedly kept Alford in the mix for the IU job, and for that, Alford is grateful. For Alford and the Hawkeyes, Brunner and Horner have been quite the security blanket, however, it's one which will be long gone next season. Thus, could the time may be right for Alford to pack his bags and call the movers. Indiana, beware...unless Steve’s dad is part of the deal, beware.
Well, as everyone in the universe now knows, the Ohio State men's basketball program will not be penalized with a post-season ban by the NCAA for violations committed during the tenure of former coach Jim O’Brien. While not unexpected, this decision almost clears up the uncertainty surrounding the future of the nation's top 2006 recruiting class. As is well known, Ohio State had agreed to let the high school players out of their commitment letters if Ohio State was given a post-season ban. What remains unclear, however, is, now that the Buskeyes do not face a post-season ban, (1) will Thad Matta stop hedging his bets, remove his name from consideration for the IU gig and publicy commit to Ohio State, and (2) if Matta does get an offer from IU and bolts, what will happen to that terrific recruiting class? Will Ohio State release them from their commitments? Not likely.
As to Matta’s purported interest in the IU job, unless he's pined for the job since Quinn Buckner and Scott May were chasing coeds around Bloomington, it doesn't compute. Not with the recruiting class; not with the enormous amount of money he makes; not with the wide latitude he has to run the program; and especially not with the hero worship Columbus would bestow upon him if he dropped to a knee and declared Columbus was his last stop. If he's dropping to a knee, Matta might as well put on a black baseball cap with a red Block O. That wouldn't hurt.
Here’s a question. On Friday Vincent Grier put in quite a performance but he just didn’t get the help from his teammates the Gophers needed to pull off an upset of Iowa. So, where was Spencer Tollackson? He contributed energy and passion in the victory against Michigan and the Gophers could’ve used some of that toughness against Iowa. There must be an underlying rationale for Monson to keep him on the bench. Or maybe Monson just forgot about him.
Tommy Amaker has to go. Could it be any more obvious? Whatever happens this afternoon with the NCCA Tourney selection, Michigan can no longer afford to be a passenger on this imminent train wreck. If Michigan was going to turn the corner, it was this season, with a talented senior class led by Daniel Horton. It hasn't happened. Next season, the picture is bleak in Ann Arbor: with Horton gone; with Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, among others, continuing to bury the Wolverines in recruiting battles; and with Michigan out-coached by every other team in the league, the University of Michigan has turned into a Big Ten footnote. And once Matt Painter gets the pipeline back up and running in West Lafayette (and he will), Michigan will be battling Northwestern for the bottom of the conference. That’s reality. Michigan should be battling Northwestern in the law school rankings, not for the cellar of the basketball standings. If Gene Keady ever had the players Amaker had this season, he’d contend for a National Title. Michigan AD, Bill Martin: take a cue from Missouri and get rid of the Coach K pretender now.
Finally, memo to Jim Delaney, Commissioner of the Big Ten. If you have any clout, throw it around and demand CBS send two announcers to the B10 Tourney who actually know something about (1) basketball (Jim Nance) and (2) Big Ten basketball in particular (Billy Packer). Packer is an ACC relic and Nance is more interested in his new Big Bertha driver than basketball. Commissioner Delaney, protect the integrity of the league and get rid of these two imposters. Through these two characters, CBS maligns the reputation and character of the Big Ten Conference to a national audience. As Commissioner, you can do better, much better.
There’s no need to rehash the basic facts of the past two days of Big Ten games. If you want to read about who won, shooting percentages, who scored how many points, turnovers, and what not, a plethora of news outlets fit that bill, including a few of the links to the right of this post. Take a gander and don't overlook the Ann Arbor News.
As Iowa progresses through the B10 Tourney, past Minnesota and then the Spartans on Saturday, Steve Alford should remember to send a thank you card to Jeff Horner. The senior from Mason City, Iowa has single-handedly kept Alford in the mix for the IU job, and for that, Alford is grateful. For Alford and the Hawkeyes, Brunner and Horner have been quite the security blanket, however, it's one which will be long gone next season. Thus, could the time may be right for Alford to pack his bags and call the movers. Indiana, beware...unless Steve’s dad is part of the deal, beware.
Well, as everyone in the universe now knows, the Ohio State men's basketball program will not be penalized with a post-season ban by the NCAA for violations committed during the tenure of former coach Jim O’Brien. While not unexpected, this decision almost clears up the uncertainty surrounding the future of the nation's top 2006 recruiting class. As is well known, Ohio State had agreed to let the high school players out of their commitment letters if Ohio State was given a post-season ban. What remains unclear, however, is, now that the Buskeyes do not face a post-season ban, (1) will Thad Matta stop hedging his bets, remove his name from consideration for the IU gig and publicy commit to Ohio State, and (2) if Matta does get an offer from IU and bolts, what will happen to that terrific recruiting class? Will Ohio State release them from their commitments? Not likely.
As to Matta’s purported interest in the IU job, unless he's pined for the job since Quinn Buckner and Scott May were chasing coeds around Bloomington, it doesn't compute. Not with the recruiting class; not with the enormous amount of money he makes; not with the wide latitude he has to run the program; and especially not with the hero worship Columbus would bestow upon him if he dropped to a knee and declared Columbus was his last stop. If he's dropping to a knee, Matta might as well put on a black baseball cap with a red Block O. That wouldn't hurt.
Here’s a question. On Friday Vincent Grier put in quite a performance but he just didn’t get the help from his teammates the Gophers needed to pull off an upset of Iowa. So, where was Spencer Tollackson? He contributed energy and passion in the victory against Michigan and the Gophers could’ve used some of that toughness against Iowa. There must be an underlying rationale for Monson to keep him on the bench. Or maybe Monson just forgot about him.
Tommy Amaker has to go. Could it be any more obvious? Whatever happens this afternoon with the NCCA Tourney selection, Michigan can no longer afford to be a passenger on this imminent train wreck. If Michigan was going to turn the corner, it was this season, with a talented senior class led by Daniel Horton. It hasn't happened. Next season, the picture is bleak in Ann Arbor: with Horton gone; with Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, among others, continuing to bury the Wolverines in recruiting battles; and with Michigan out-coached by every other team in the league, the University of Michigan has turned into a Big Ten footnote. And once Matt Painter gets the pipeline back up and running in West Lafayette (and he will), Michigan will be battling Northwestern for the bottom of the conference. That’s reality. Michigan should be battling Northwestern in the law school rankings, not for the cellar of the basketball standings. If Gene Keady ever had the players Amaker had this season, he’d contend for a National Title. Michigan AD, Bill Martin: take a cue from Missouri and get rid of the Coach K pretender now.
Finally, memo to Jim Delaney, Commissioner of the Big Ten. If you have any clout, throw it around and demand CBS send two announcers to the B10 Tourney who actually know something about (1) basketball (Jim Nance) and (2) Big Ten basketball in particular (Billy Packer). Packer is an ACC relic and Nance is more interested in his new Big Bertha driver than basketball. Commissioner Delaney, protect the integrity of the league and get rid of these two imposters. Through these two characters, CBS maligns the reputation and character of the Big Ten Conference to a national audience. As Commissioner, you can do better, much better.
posted by Hoopraker at 3/12/2006 09:42:00 AM
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