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Yet another obstacle for Arizona
Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl answers your college basketball questions every Wednesday. Click here to send him a question. SEATTLE -- You don't have to be an Arizona supporter to hope that, for the Wildcats' sake, they're able to simply play basketball for the rest of the season. I spent most of last week in Tucson, and from talking to the players and coaches, the past month has been excruciating. "It has been a lot tougher than people on the outside even realize," says Wildcats assistant Jay John. The loss of coach Lute Olson's wife, Bobbi, to ovarian cancer was tragic enough. But unknown to most people, the players were thrown just as badly by a shock they received a couple of days earlier, when doctors discovered that Monica Armenta, one of the Arizona basketball secretaries, has a brain tumor. "Monica's only 29 years old," says Richard Jefferson, who scrawled Armenta's name next to MRS. O on his shoes. "I knew her from the academic office before she transferred to become our secretary. She's real cool, and she hangs out with us, so when that happened it was like, 'Are you serious? What else can go wrong?'" More, it turns out. Basketball-wise, Arizona is in shambles right now. Eugene Edgerson won't travel to Washington this week because he's angry about his lack of playing time, while Loren Woods had an ugly meltdown last week when he got thrown out of the Cal game for going after ref Charlie Range. Ponder this: Edgerson and Woods were both elected captains last week. Add those troubles to Woods' and Jefferson's NCAA-mandated suspensions earlier in the season, to say nothing of Olson's absence from the sidelines, and Arizona's campaign couldn't have been any more of a nightmare. Here's hoping Armenta recovers, and that the Wildcats avoid any more off-the-court hardships. It's tough enough just to play ball. On to the 'Bag ... Which five coaches get the most out of their talent, and which five get the least?
COACHES WHO GET THE MOST OUT OF THEIR TALENT 1. Bill Carmody, Northwestern. Full disclosure: I'm a Princeton alum. But Northwestern has absolutely nothing this year, yet somehow the Wildcats upset USC. Think of what Carmody might do when he can play his own recruits. 2. Larry Eustachy, Iowa State. Fine, Marcus Fizer and Jamal Tinsley are big-time talents. But this is the second straight year Eustachy is getting huge (and unexpected) production from the rest of the Cyclones, too. 3. Kelvin Sampson, Oklahoma. Takes no-names and juco transfers to the NCAAs every year. 4. Tom Izzo, Michigan State. Sure, he's landing the best preps in Michigan these days. But the sum of his players is always greater than the parts. 5. Bill Self, Illinois. Remarkable work at Tulsa, and somehow he's exceeding expectations with a talented roster at Illinois. COACHES WHO GET THE LEAST OUT OF THEIR TALENT 1. Pat Kennedy, DePaul. It's a broken record: The Blue Demons get ranked in the preseason, then fail to make the NCAAs. 2. Jerry Green, Tennessee. Everyone who points out that the Vols have improved their NCAA tourney performance each of the last three years fails to realize that they have underperformed each year as well. 3. Gary Williams, Maryland. So much talent, so little success. 4. Steve Lavin, UCLA. He can land the top recruits; he just hasn't ever turned them into a team. 5. Denny Crum, Louisville. I already used my Weekend at Bernie's joke, so let's just say the Cards are underachieving mightily. What do you think the chances are that Casey Jacobsen will decide to go pro after this year (or even after next)?
Well, Tolu, I have a story in this week's Sports Illustrated about Jacobsen, and one thing we talked about (that I didn't include in my article) was his plan for the future. Will he become the first Stanford hoopster ever to leave school early? When I asked him straight up, he said, "I'm leaving that door open right now. It's my dream to play in the NBA, but if I have any doubts at all, I'm not going to do it. One thing I do know: I will graduate." You can never be sure about these things, but if I had to guess, I'd say Jacobsen (a sophomore) will stick around for next year. He's ready right now as far as his shooting is concerned, but he could learn to post up better, perhaps. Defensively, Jacobsen could also use a little work, though he did put the whammy on Gilbert Arenas (3-for-14 shooting) last Saturday. In any case, there are enough tiny doubts about Jacobsen's readiness that I suspect he'll be in Cardinal red for one more season. SEVERAL READERS HAD questions about the Big East. Kelly Diez of Arlington, Va., wonders, "Do you think Boston College will be one of those 'turnaround' teams that goes on to lose nine of 12 or something like that? I can't imagine the Eagles have the raw talent to keep winning once teams pay attention to them." In my mind, B.C. could be a lot like last year's Syracuse team, which went undefeated until January, then turned into a decent (but not outstanding) NCAA tournament team. Like those Orangemen, B.C. has certainly exceeded expectations so far by beating Vanderbilt and UConn. But the Big East is a balanced conference, and while I don't see the Eagles dropping nine of 12, I could see them going into a 6-6 swoon. Meanwhile, Brian Domerstad of Denville, N.J., asks, "Is the Big East actually better than expected, or is the conference the beneficiary of soft non-conference scheduling?" I'd say the Big East as a whole is better than expected, but it's worth pointing out that I don't think any of its teams are serious national title contenders (though Seton Hall will be a year from now). B.C. and Georgetown are still undefeated, but that's due mainly to cupcake scheduling. Right now there's a ton of balance, mainly because the preseason favorites (UConn, Notre Dame, Seton Hall) aren't quite as good as everyone expected, while some sleepers (B.C., Georgetown, Villanova) are better than everyone thought they'd be. If that continues, I bet we'll see five Big East teams in the NCAAs, and not six. At least I'd prefer to see a 23-win team from a smaller conference get an at-large bid over the sixth-place team from the Big East. GOT PLENTY OF LETTERS about last week's Magic Eight, the eight teams from which I guarantee the national champ will emerge. The biggest surprise, of course, was Oklahoma, which promptly went out and flopped big at Iowa State. I'm sticking to my guns, though, even when somebody like David Harris of Austin, Texas, writes: "Wow, Grant. Oklahoma in the Magic Eight because Kelvin Sampson is a 'proven tournament coach'? You do know that Kelvin Sampson-coached teams have only won ONE tournament game in his illustrious coaching career, right?" No, I didn't know that, mainly because you're wrong. Sampson has won three tournament games, all of them in the past two seasons. Every year he gets more out of his teams than anybody expects, and the Sooners have reached the past six NCAA tournaments. Granted, OU went out in the first round the first four of those years, so perhaps the better description would have been "a solid tournament coach who's getting better." I'm sticking with these Sooners, though. Besides Aaron McGhee and Hollis Price, Nolan Johnson is starting to come around and could be a force come March. While it is hard to dispute your assertion that this year's national champion will come out of your Magic Eight, as a lifelong Kansas fan I should point out that sometimes national champions do get pounded during the regular season. Look at Villanova in 1985, Louisville in 1986, Kansas in 1988 and Arizona in 1997.
Good point, Gavin, though that's why I put Oklahoma and Virginia in there. Still, if anyone has any theories about why the 1980s had so many more "Cinderella" national champions than the years since, I'd love to hear them. Part of me wonders if it has to do with fewer teams having cupcake non-conference schedules these days. Consider Michigan State last year. The Spartans lost seven games, but they were still a favorite for the national title. Of course, part of me thinks it was just dumb luck. AMINU TIMBERLAKE FOUND (SORT OF)! Though several people wrote me in response to the search for Aminu Timberlake, the former Kentucky player known best for getting stepped on by Christian Laettner, nobody knew where he was hanging out these days. Well, he's working in Chicago. That much we know. We even have a home phone for Aminu, thanks to the good folks at Southern Illinois, where he transferred from Kentucky and completed his college career. We just haven't reached Aminu yet. So, pal, pick up the phone! Return your messages! Look for an update with a full Timberlake interview in a couple of days. In the meantime, ponder this amusing response from Byers Watt of Lexington, Ky.: "While I don't know the whereabouts of the very lanky Aminu Timberlake, my friend Holly has a few theories: Playing the part of the praying mantis in the off-Broadway production of A Bug's Life? Live model for those trendy walking sticks? Standing in front of the gym in Philly, allowing people to step on his chest for $5 a pop ($3 if you bring your own camera?)" Well done, guys. In the meantime, where in the world is former Cleveland State star Ken (Mouse) McFadden? Have a good week, everybody.
Click here to send your college basketball question to Grant Wahl.
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