Okay, one last (and quite late) college basketball post. I need to go ahead and close out season properly.

Tournament

For the first time since I was a child - sometime in the 70’s probably - I saw exactly ZERO games of the Final Four. I’m almost certain I’ve never done that, at least not since I first recall watching the Final Four in 1978, when Arkansas made their first appearance there. Being at the conference, I obviously didn’t see Saturday’s games. After returning home Sunday, we were all wiped out and crashed for part of the day, and I just never got around to watching them. Then, Monday night, I still had so much to do after being gone all weekend, I didn’t watch the title game live. I had recorded all three games, but by the time I would have had a chance to watch them, it was over and I’d heard and read enough about the games that I just no longer had the will to watch them. They didn’t appear to have been as great as I’d hoped (from what I could tell), and so I just never watched them. I still can’t believe it, but it’s true.

The big story, of course, was the Florida repeat. Then, of course, came the conversation about “how great were they?” And, the obligatory comparisons to other teams, particularly the last team to repeat, the Duke 1992 teams. My (somewhat biased) opinion is that 15 years is a long time and it’s hard to compare teams from different eras. The game changes a lot over time.

That said, I think the Duke 92 teams matches up pretty well with Florida’s team. By position, there’s not an overwhelming advantage for either team at any given spot, although I would personally pick Duke if they were playing now (again, a biased opinion, no doubt.) The point some tried to make was that Duke would have difficulty guarding both Horford and Noah, but the obvious answer to that is that they did a fine job on Michigan’s Juwan Howard and Chris Webber. That Michigan team is pretty comparable to this Florida team in overall talent of their starting five (Florida was better shooting from outside, but Webber and Howard could both shoot, unlike Noah.) Duke beat Michigan by 20 points. But, of course, the “Fab Five” were freshmen, not juniors.

There’s also the factor that Duke’s competition was possibly stronger throughout their repeat seasons, as well as throughout their tournament play. I think the college game in general is not as strong as it was 15 years ago, and Florida was able to avoid some of the better teams for most of it’s 12 games. It’s not their fault, of course, but it’s a fact. Their two toughest games were, however, at the end, and they got it done. When you have the pressure of attempting to repeat and you have to play the games they did in this year’s Final Four, it says a lot when you win.

But, in the end, I’d take Duke. I’m trying to step back and look at it unbiased, but I’m sure there’s a little in there. :)

As for the rest of history, I heard people rating them in the top 5 and I think that’s a little too generous. I think it is largely because it just happened, and memories of past teams have faded somewhat. I’m not sure I could put them in the top 10, much less top 5, but that’s not necessarily a consensus opinion. Obviously, of past champions, I’ve already stated I’d take Duke 92 ahead of them, but a few others that come to mind immediately are Kentucky 96, UNLV 90 and UNC 82. Indiana’s undefeated 1976 team has to be there, too, and several of Wooden’s UCLA teams as well. There are even a few teams that didn’t win it all to consider - like Indiana 75, UNC 84, UNLV 91, and Duke 99.

I’m sure there are a few more as well, and so I’m not quite ready to label this Florida team as a top 5 or even top 10 team of all time, especially considering the era in which they played. However, those type of things are mostly driven by the media who seem to have the need to label every great accomplishment immediately, usually without taking any time to really consider what they’re saying. There’s no doubt this was a great team, and they’re only the seventh team ever to repeat. They accomplished something very special and very rare. I think that’s good enough for now.

Overall, the tournament was pretty decent. The first round was not as good as usual, and the regionals were better than usual, and my best guess is that the Final Four was somewhat average. The season as a whole was decent as well, with the opportunity to see some very good teams and players, including a handful of players in their lone college basketball season. Kevin Durant was particularly fun to watch, and I’d love to see him at Texas for another year.

The worst thing about any college basketball season is that it must end. And so it has. Now, I must look forward to November. But I’ll save any commentary on next season until the fall.

Coaching

As for all of the coaching hires, the SEC’s were the most entertaining. Kentucky, as everyone knew, had targeted Billy Donovan. As I stated after Smith left, I felt Donovan would stay at Florida, and he did. On Sunday after the Final Four, I was talking to my brother who mentioned that he thought Billy Gillespie was waiting to sign his new deal at A&M (which he had delayed) to wait out the Kentucky situation. He felt like Gillespie wanted to see if they called him next, assuming Donovan declined. That’s exactly what happened (although there were reports that Rick Barnes was actually second) and, of course, Gillespie fled A&M.

The other hire was at Arkansas, where they hired two coaches. First was Dana Altman, who I thought was probably a good hire, because I think he’s a good coach. However, he only lasted about 24 hours before he went Bobby Cremins on the Hogs. In the end, that was probably fortunate for both Altman and Arkansas. Arkansas officials stated later that it just wasn’t the right “fit” for either. Perhaps they made such a statement to make themselves look or feel better, but I’m inclined to agree with them.

The search was back on, and it ended with the hiring of John Pelphrey. It seemed most Arkansas fans were still under the impression that Arkansas is a national power, an elite program in basketball, and that if we offered the job to anyone, they’d come running. People like Gillespie, Bill Self and John Calipari were rumored to have been offered the job, and they all said no thanks. Arkansas fans lamented the fact that they did not hire a “big name” successful coach.

I listened to local talk radio where the fans who call in daily proved once again to be basketball illiterate. Of course, I’ve always assumed that most callers of any just about all talk radio shows are illiterate, period. Anyway, many of them had never heard of Pelphrey and had no idea of his background, which is actually very good. Pelphrey, of course, played at Kentucky for Eddie Sutton and Rick Pitino, and coached under Sutton at OSU and Billy Donovan at both Marshall and Florida. He has since done quite well at South Alabama, turning that program around, and has been hailed by Pitino as one of the next great coaches.

One other interesting note is that Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley called Arkansas AD Frank Broyles to recommend Pelphrey. However, he didn’t make that call until after Billy Donovan had committed to stay at Florida. That seems to indicate that Pelphrey may have been on Florida’s short list had Donovan left for Kentucky. That’s a pretty good endorsement as well.

Now, all of that doesn’t guarantee success anywhere, especially at a power conference school. However, Arkansas was not going to get a Pitino or a Donovan (or even a Gillespie). So, all things considered, I think they did pretty well.

While in Alabama, I worked with a UK grad and we always talked basketball (which was fun, since he hates Duke and I hate Kentucky.) We were pretty much the only ones in our department that talked basketball at all, considering most folks were either football fans or from other countries. I told him a few years ago I thought Pelphrey would be a very good coach someday and be coaching in a “BCS” program. Well, I guess we’ll find out now. I hope I was right.

Defections

I used to be totally against early entry to the NBA by college players. I thought it was stupid to give up playing college basketball in order to go to the NBA. Of course, my love of college basketball contributed to my bias, but I also felt that so many of the players went before they were really ready to play at the NBA level. And, so many of them never materialized into a decent NBA player, if they were even drafted at all.

However, I’ve gradually softened on that stance over the years. I still hate to see players skip out on school when it’s rather obvious that they will not be drafted. Sure, they’ll probably play somewhere else - NBDL, CBA, overseas, etc. - and do fine. But they could do that after they get a degree, and maybe they’ll be better prepared for when the dream of professional basketball is over.

However, for some guys, it’s obvious that they need to move on. As selfish as I am about college players, as much as I’d like to see the great players stay so that college basketball will be even better, you have to let some of them go.

Guys like Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, Al Horford and Brandan Wright fall into the “set them free” category. These guys will play at the next level for a long time. Sure, they’ve only played one year of college ball, and they could all probably improve their game a little with another year. However, they will eventually be NBA stars, most likely, and that’s what they are destined to do as a professional. They will be set for life from a financial standpoint immediately. They might as well go ahead and move on now.

Personally, I’m glad to see Wright go simply because he gave Duke such trouble last year. On the other hand, UNC may actually be better off. They have capable replacements, and with one less player competing for time, it may help the rotation issues they seemed to suffer from this past season. It’s kind of a no-win situation, honestly, but still, I’m happy to see him leaving.

These guys aren’t the only ones, either. There are a number of other players that aren’t projected in the top three that also are ready to go as well. I still hate to see the college game lose so many players that could still be playing next year, but I’ve come to the point where I not only accept it as a reality, but also - at least in some cases - as a good thing for the players themselves.

Family business

And, finally, one other college basketball-related story. While I certainly haven’t experienced it myself, I have to assume that growing up with a world famous parent presents it’s share of challenges. And I would imagine that it is particularly difficult when you follow the same career path as that parent and must live up to expectations that are potentially unrealistic.

So, when I came across this article about Jeffrey Jordan and those recruiting him, I had to think that for him it could be exponentially worse. I can’t possibly fathom going into the “family business” when you’re father is considered by most as the greatest of all time in that business. On top of that, he has a younger brother who is expected to be better than he will be. Such is the life, I suppose, of Jeffrey Jordan. He’s since decided to walk on at Illinois, and whatever success he has (or doesn’t have), I wish him the best. And, hopefully, others will realize that he is Jeffrey, not Michael.

So, that’s it for college basketball until probably sometime in October when the polls and season previews start appearing. Since I hate baseball, there’s not much left until fall. I’ve already begun to watch some of the NBA playoffs, and will do more so as the finals approach. And, being a tennis fan as well, I’ll tune in to some of the French Open and Wimbledon. But I now primarily look forward to college football season kicking off around the first of September.