Whoever figured out the whole calendar thing lo those many centuries ago was obviously a college basketball fan. How else to explain that February is the year's shortest month? True hoopheads like us, of course, are thinking basketball all year long, but now that the greatest month of all is upon us, here are a few nuggets to ponder before the blessed Madness begins.
For folks like me who grew up in Maryland rooting for the Terps, March begins with a deep sigh. That's because Maryland is playing its final game in venerable Cole Field House on Sunday when it hosts Virginia. (As if it wasn't bad enough that the Washington Redskins moved out of RFK Stadium into what is now FedEx Field.) Besides being home to more than four decades of Maryland basketball, Cole was also the site of two of the most significant contests in hoops history: a 1965 high school game when local fave DeMatha ended Lew Alcindor-led Power Memorial's 71-game win streak, and the 1966 NCAA championship game in which Don Haskins' Texas Western, featuring an all-black starting five, upset [Adolph] Rupp's Runts of Kentucky. Next season Maryland will play in a new arena called the Comcast Center, which at least is still on campus.
Dick Vitale's statement that the Bob Huggins-to-West Virginia rumors are "nonsense" is itself nonsense. I'm not saying Huggs will definitely take the job vacated by the, ahem, retiring Gale Catlett, but the possibility is very real -- if not downright likely. Huggins played and coached briefly at West Virginia and has a soft spot in his heart for his alma mater. He also has lots of buddies from the state and spends part of his offseason in a hunting cabin there. What's more, the school is preparing to make a real run at him and may pay him more than he's making now at Cincinnati. In the past, Huggins has been reluctant to listen to other offers because he has an annuity coming due at the end of this season that's worth nearly $2 million. Once that money is in Huggins' pocket, all bets are off. If Cincy truly is intent on keeping him, it had better not treat West Virginia's overture as mere nonsense.
It's been a long time since I've seen a team melt down the way the Virginia has. The Cavaliers' only hope of making the NCAAs is by winning the ACC tournament. Remember, this team was ranked in the top 10 for much of the season. I can't put my finger on the exact reason why Virginia went south, but I can tell you what one ACC assistant told me last week: "They have some low-character kids."
Speaking of Maryland, no player has shot up the NBA scouts' charts more quickly than sophomore forward Chris Wilcox. If Wilcox enters the NBA draft -- as most people in the know believe he will-- he'll be a late lottery pick at worst.
You can also add Tennessee junior forward Marcus Haislip to the list of non-seniors who will probably enter the draft.
He won't win the award, but you could make a strong case for Alabama's Erwin Dudley as SEC Player of the Year.
The word out of Lexington is that Keith Bogans is so unhappy that he will leave Kentucky at the end of this season regardless of where he stands in the minds of NBA execs. One SEC coach predicted that Bogans would depart even if it meant playing in the NBDL. Of course, that may be only wishful thinking.
Doesn't it seem like every coach thinks he's getting gypped by the refs? Even when you talk to them off the record, coaches are always complaining about calls being one-sided. Here's the thing, though. If the reffing is one-sided, then someone must be benefitting. Yet I've never heard a coach whisper to me in a locker room, "Don't print this, but the guys in stripes were really trying to help us out tonight."
Filled out my U.S. Basketball Writers Association All-America ballot this week thusly. First team: Jason Williams, Duke; Mike Dunleavy, Duke; Drew Gooden, Kansas; Steve Logan, Cincinnati; Jared Jeffries, Indiana. Second team: Juan Dixon, Maryland; Kirk Hinrich, Kansas; David West, Xavier; Dan Dickau, Gonzaga; Sam Clancy, USC. Player of the year: Jason Williams. Coach of the year: Ben Howland, Pittsburgh. Freshman of the year: Dwyane Wade, Marquette. (Note: Wade technically is a sophomore, but since he was a partial qualifier and didn't play last season, he's eligible for various "newcomer" awards. If the USBWA only accepts true freshman, I'm going with Notre Dame's Chris Thomas.)
An NBA scout I recently talked to made an interesting point about Wake Forest's Josh Howard calling a timeout his team didn't have in the waning seconds of the Deacons' loss to Maryland: "Players call timeout way too much. They call it when they're falling out of bounds, when they're caught in a double team, when they can't inbound the ball. It's become so much of a habit, it's no wonder Howard called one, when all he did was get a rebound."
Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.
