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Season has had its casualties
Posted: Tuesday January 02, 2001 6:14 PM
Coaching major-college basketball has never been the most stable profession, but this is an unusually perilous time to be prowling the sidelines. The season isn't half over and we've already seen an inordinate number of casualties, from Bill Bayno's firing to Dick Bennett's sudden retirement to Rick Majerus' knee and heart problems. The saddest stroke of all came this week, when Lute Olson's wife, Bobbi, succumbed to ovarian cancer at the age of 65. Olson has taken an indefinite leave, and his team is already 0-2 without him this season.
In addition, it looks like we're headed for a very active hiring-and-firing cycle next spring. Rhode Island's Jerry DeGregorio, Michigan's Brian Ellerbe, Massachusetts' Bruiser Flint and Florida State's Steve Robinson are all hovering around the chopping block, and the chances that Mike Davis will be named permanent coach at Indiana are dwindling by the hour. Even an icon like Louisville's Denny Crum is in jeopardy, and there's always the chance that some big name ( Tubby Smith, perhaps?) will bolt for the pros. Whenever one of these jobs comes open, it leads to the inevitable falling of dominoes as schools across the country scramble for replacements.
Just something for Hoopheads to ponder, since we always have basketball on the brain.
It's only natural that Mike Davis would want to bring a different personal style to Indiana, but it's a little surprising that he would make such substantive changes from Bob Knight's system. Davis has for the most part eschewed the motion offense favored by Knight to run more pro-style sets. Problem is, he doesn't really have the personnel (especially at guard) to make it effective. An assistant coach who recently scouted IU told me that the Hoosiers' plays take a long time to develop and are thus easier to defend. At any rate, things aren't going to get much better for Davis in the Big Ten.
This is a big week for Wake Forest, which hosts Virginia Tuesday and plays at North Carolina on Saturday. Wake is a good, experienced team, but are the Deacons really the fourth-best team in the country? Doubt it. They have an embarrassment of riches on the perimeter, but their offense would be more effective if Rafael Vidauretta continues to heal and improve. That would create a much more effective inside-outside attack.
Speaking of North Carolina, we're two months into the season and Matt Doherty still doesn't know who his point guard is. Not a good sign.
If you can sit through that dental-surgery scene in Cast Away without squirming or looking away, then you're a better man than I am (even if you're a woman).
Word has it that Ousmane Cisse got the better of Tyson Chandler when the two big men played each other at a high school tournament in Delaware last week. The grapevine says that Cisse and DeSagana Diop, who plays for powerhouse Oak Hill Academy, are both leaning toward entering the NBA draft along with Chandler and Eddy Curry. And yet, one NBA scout who recently saw Florida signee Kwame Brown play thinks Brown is the best of the lot. The Georgia native, however, appears to be headed to school for at least a year. Darn nice of him, too.
Other possible early-entry candidates include: Carlos Boozer (Duke), Michael Bradley (Villanova), Joseph Forte (North Carolina), Drew Gooden (Kansas), Eddie Griffin (Seton Hall), Rod Grizzard (Alabama), Adam Harrington (Auburn), Casey Jacobsen (Stanford), Richard Jefferson (Arizona), Jason Kapono (UCLA), Troy Murphy (Notre Dame), Gerald Wallace (Alabama), Rodney White (Charlotte) and Jason Williams (Duke).
Penn has to be the best 0-8 team in history. The Quakers might not lose a game in the Ivy this year.
As well as Wisconsin has been playing, the Badgers just got better with the return of Maurice Linton and Travon Davis from eight-game suspensions relating to their involvement in Shoegate. Linton had eight points and four rebounds in 21 minutes in Wisconsin's overtime win over South Florida.
Sports Illustrated staff writer Seth Davis covers college basketball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Hoop Thoughts will appear each week throughout the college basketball season.
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