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A season in review
Posted: Tuesday February 27, 2001 5:10 PM
It's a great time of year, isn't it? The weather is turning warm, The Sopranos is about to start up again, and they finally voted that annoying Kimmi girl off the island. Before we kick off the greatest month on the American sporting calendar, here's a quick look back at the best and worst of the regular season. (For Sports Illustrated's official picks for player, coach and freshman of the year, check out next week's Inside College Basketball column.)
First-Team All-America: Shane Battier, Duke; Joseph Forte, North Carolina; Casey Jacobsen, Stanford; Troy Murphy, Notre Dame; Jason Williams, Duke
Second-Team All-America: Troy Bell, Boston College; Tayshaun Prince, Kentucky; Jason Richardson, Michigan State; Jamaal Tinsley, Iowa State; Frank Williams, Illinois
All-Underrated: Phil Cullen, Utah; Kantrail Horton, Iowa State; Steve Logan, Cincinnati; Brian Wardle, Marquette; Earl Watson, UCLA
All-Overrated: Carlos Boozer, Duke; Eddie Griffin, Seton Hall; Bobby Simmons, DePaul; Isiah Victor, Tennessee; Loren Woods, Arizona
Best Game: Missouri's 4-OT knee-knocker over Iowa State.
Best Achievement: Villanova's Gary Buchanan setting a new NCAA record for consecutive free throws (73).
Worst Executive: UCLA athletic director Peter Dalis, for undermining coach Steve Lavin and then showing up in the Bruins locker room to congratulate the team after it beat Arizona.
Lowest Display of Class: USC coach Henry Bibby for mistreating his walk-ons.
Worst Ref: The Pac-10's Rich Ballesteros, who made an incorrect, game-deciding goaltending call against Arizona's Woods during an early-season loss to Connecticut, then improperly ejected Bibby against Arizona State earlier this month.
OTHER HOOP THOUGHTS ...
Last week I picked Oklahoma as one of my sleeper teams. Now that J.R. Raymond is off the team, the Sooners are toast -- yet another reason to respect Kelvin Sampson.
Why hasn't Wisconsin made Brad Soderberg its permanent coach? I never hear anyone even speculating about other possibilities.
The rosters for this year's McDonald's High School All-American Game were announced this week. And while I grant that this game is an important and venerated tradition, we in the media have become way too eager to throw around the title like it's some kind of automatic decree of greatness. Besides, the game has become completely unwatchable. (I'd prefer to watch the teams practice with nobody in the stands, but the Mickey D's folks insist on holding it during Final Four week.)
Quin Snyder will have a delicate balancing act to pull off at Missouri when Kareem Rush comes back. Snyder already had to suspend Clarence Gilbert for having a bad attitude, and Gilbert hasn't been the same player since he came back. With Rush returning to the lineup (presumably this weekend), that will mean even fewer shots for Gilbert.
Write it down, if you haven't already: Rick Pitino will be coaching at UNLV next year. Think he can get me a tee time at Shadow Creek?
Two of the more interesting postseason-award tussles: Big East Player of the Year (between the two Troys, Murphy and Bell), and SEC Coach of the Year (I like Billy Donovan, but Rod Barnes, Jim Harrick and Tubby Smith deserve strong consideration.)
Rodney White, healthy again, has been playing like a monster at Charlotte. I hear he's strongly thinking about entering the draft.
Two players I could watch for hours on end: Virginia's Adam Hall and Joe Johnson of Arkansas. Especially Johnson.
Is it me, or is Villanova on the bubble every single year?
Georgetown coach Craig Esherick filed a missing-persons report on Lee Scruggs last week. If anyone has any leads, please let Craig know ASAP.
I never knew John Calipari did anything quietly, but he has done a marvelous job at Memphis this year without anyone paying much notice. The Tigers are in the hunt for an at-large bid, and Calipari should be the hands-down winner as coach of the year in Conference USA.
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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