Here’s several sports items I thought I’d mention.

U.S. Open

The U.S. Open started today, and having the day off I managed to watch a little of it. Not much excitement on day one, but I will be watching shortly as Andre Agassi takes the court to begin his final U.S. Open. I thought Andre might walk away after nearly winning last year, but he’s back for one more. I would love nothing more than to see him, like Pete Sampras a few years ago, win the title in his last Open, but I think it will be even more difficult that it was for Sampras or than it was to reach the final last year. Regardless of where he finishes, I believe he’ll finish strong and tennis fans will mourn the fact that Andre will no longer be playing. I know I will.

Donovan: Don’t show me the money

At least not yet. I have to say, I’ve never really liked Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan. Primarily because, in the coaching family tree, Pitino begat Donovan, and, of course, I’ve never really liked Pitino in the past. However, I have to say I’m a little closer to liking Pitino since he’s been at Louisville. How can you not like a guy that not only leaves Kentucky, but then a few years later returns to coach at their biggest rival?

I saw this article this weekend about Donovan and part of me thought maybe he’s not as evil as I’d always assumed. Donovan is postponing a contract extension at Florida. Donovan and the Gators just won the national championship, and he’s now one of the biggest names in the game - I suppose the biggest of this past year. He could probably get whatever he wanted from Florida - or, if they refused, from most other big time programs in the country. But he’s postponing it for his players, many of whom could have left college for the NBA - and Joakim Noah could possibly been the #1 pick. They gave up a lot of money to return, so Donovan is doing likewise. He will not sign a contract extension right now. His players, he says, are making sacrifices to return next season. He won’t feel comfortable unless he does the same.  Granted, Donovan’s not giving up all of his salary.  Just more.  He’s doing alright without the extension.  But still, you won’t see something like that very often.

Even though I’ve I’ve never liked him, I have respected him and expected him to become a great coach at the college level. And I believe if he’s not already there, he’s at least very close. I think he’ll win another title someday, although I don’t know if they’ll be able to repeat, despite having all of their talent back. This kind of thing happened more regularly 10 or more years ago. In 1991, UNLV returned nearly all of their talent and after winning the title but could not repeat, falling short at the final four. A year later, Duke won their second in a row with the same talent for the first (and still only) time since the UCLA team of 1973. Three years later, Arkansas returned their talent but fell short in the title game.

A few other teams have had a lot of talent back, although not as much as Florida is returning. Kentucky’s team in 1997 was very good as well, but some of their talent was reloaded, I believe. They’d lost a few guys from the 96 team. Duke’s 2002 team had most of it’s talent back, but also was not as good as the previous year, because Shane Battier was the key player on the 2001 team, and he was gone. Most of the title teams have lost key players over the last 10 years or so, and that’s made it more difficult to repeat.

This year, Florida will have the best chance to repeat - based strictly on returning players - of anyone in the last 10 years. But, I think the road will be more difficult for them. It’s hard just to return to the final four these days, much less win it all again. But regardless of how their season goes, I’ll have to respect the Gator team - including their coach - a little bit more. They all could have said “show me the money”, but instead they’re just where they were last year. Well, maybe there’s one exception - this year everyone knows what they can do, and they’ll be a little more ready for them. Whether that will matter, we’ll see next April.

Williams to return to NBA?

Jay (formerly Jason) Williams, who played at Duke during those 2001 and 2002 season I just mentioned, is apparently considering an offer from the New Jersey Nets to attend their training camp and attempt to make it in the NBA again.

Williams was badly injured in a motorcycle accident in 2003 after his rookie season and has not played since. Duke players have had some tough luck in the NBA from time to time. Grant Hill continues to battle injuries and has never really been able to fully become the player everyone expected him to be. Bobby Hurley, like Williams, was badly injured in an auto accident during his rookie season and never was able to do much after that. And most recently, Williams’ accident took him out of the league.

I always thought Williams would be a very good player in the NBA. I thought he had the skills to play for a long time, but the accident has changed all of that. I don’t really know how he’s doing physically, having been out of touch with his progress the last couple of years. According to the article, he’s certainly lost something - as is to be expected - but it sounds like he may still have what it takes to play in the league. I hope to see him out there this season.