bierce

Compare ISU press release about Otzelberger's extension in April, 2023. Instant disclosure of details. https://cyclones.com/news/2023/4/10/mens-basketball-otzelberger-receives-contract-extension.aspx

Other sites (like SI) reported Otzelberger's extension was signed. Curiously, though, Matt Campbell also signed an extension in December. Details of that also have yet to be disclosed. Of course these days in the coaching world, an on paper contract is only worth the stone tablet it's chiseled on.

Do you have any idea how many coaches have managed to win more NCAA tournament games than we have in our entire school history?

Daiquiris. People laugh until I explain that a basic daiquiri is simply rum, lime juice, and a little sugar. But I rarely say no to a shot of straight rye, and it's much easier to get one of those, preferably a double, in a club with loud music. I was always amused by the places with weird rules requiring the bartenders to put at least one piece of ice in the drink.

Ok, I guess I can get that part of it.

Since when are we a blue blood in basketball? We have never gone beyond the Final Four, we made the Final Four only once since the NCAA tournament became more important than the NIT, we won only one NIT title before the NCAA tournament expanded to 68 teams, and our only "National Championship" is the title the Premo-Porretta archive duo retroactively awarded us in 1995 for the 1933 season.

I always thought Crean got shafted at IU. He inherited absolutely nothing after the program's implosion due to Sampson making a lot of phone calls. This is the non-portal era, so it was like Drew having to rebuild Baylor from the ground up. Crean got IU to the NCAA in his fourth year and made the tournament 4 times in five years, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen 3 times. Then future long time NBA star OG Anunoby blew out a knee in January, 2017. IU went 4-10 the rest of the way, missed the tournament, and Crean was canned, but not before the Indiana AD decided IU would not host an NIT game because it would "devalue" Assembly Hall. Well, you've had two tournament appearances and one tournament win since then, so maybe Assembly Hall's value is another historical relic.

Indiana basketball is like Nebraska football. Decades removed from a legendary coach. Decades removed from any big success. Fanbase still thinks it is royalty in the sport. Grabbing a new coach every 4 years or so.

I wonder if Rutgers will have much patience with Pikiell if Rutgers finishes sub .500 overall and Harper and Bailey wind up in the top 5 in the NBA draft? That'll be tough on a coach with two NCAA appearances and 1 tournament win and two winning seasons in conference in 9 seasons.

https://www.nba.com/bulls/news/billy-donovan-on-bulls-future-plans-i-want-to-be-part-of-building-something https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/05/chicago-bulls-billy-donovan-rebuild/ https://www.chicitysports.com/billy-donavan-rebuild-chicago-bulls-nba-news It could all be pr-ish coach-speak.

Hurley has never won an NCAA tournament game and never had a team finish higher than 49th in Pomeroy while at Arizona State. This is his 10th season there. ASU missed the tournament in 3 of the last 4 seasons. ASU has lost its last 5 home games. "Fire Bobby Hurley" chants broke out during the last game. And there was all the crap that happened at the end of ASU's recent home loss to Arizona. ASU player head-butted Caleb Love, and it was in a dead ball situation. Just walk up and smash foreheads. Love stepped back, raised his hands, and was restrained by a teammate before he could even touch Freeman. Refs t'd Love for something he said. Refs reviewed it and ejected both players. Hurley later told his bench to go the locker room with 0.5 seconds left on the clock and a dead ball. He then waved his team off the court to skip the handshake line. He then blamed it all on UA players for winning with no class and promised he would not vote for Caleb Love for all Big 12 team. Complete dickishness. Lloyd says he understands ASU skipping the handshake line, but still . . .

I wasn't suggesting McCaffery as a target to hire. I was suggesting Iowa might be getting ready to move on. Nor was I suggesting McCollum as a target for us. This thread is about schools maybe looking at making changes. I dared to introduce the topic of coaches that might prove of interest to someone. Doesn't mean I'm putting square peg A into star shaped hole 1. Except when it comes to McCollum and Iowa. That kind of makes sense to me.

I'm guessing if McCollum does make a jump to a P5 school, it will be in the Midwest where he can claim to have at least some kind of recruiting network in place. His entire roster hails from Missouri or Illinois, save the 10th man who plays only a smattering of minutes. He's from Wisconsin. So McCollum is probably an easier sell for someone like Iowa. I always liked McCaffery. He has a lot of fun, high-powered offenses. I loved his bit in the commercial with Hoiberg and Dixon. Iowa has a lot of patience with coaches having middling success. (Ferentz, anyone?) But McCaffery has 4 NCAA tournament wins going into this 15th season in Iowa City, is about to miss the tournament for the second straight year, and he turns 66 in May 65. I won't be surprised if Iowa moves on soon, even if not this year, and if McCollum repeats this year's success at Drake next year, then maybe there's their guy.

Is why I said "gamble."

Donovan also stated in the last couple of days that he is interested in being part of a rebuilding program, something he ran away from in OKC. Of course, it might remain an open question about whether that rebuilding program needs to be in the NBA. But there aren't many guys who had successful NBA coaching careers that went back to college coaching. Pitino, Calipari, Kruger, et al., pretty much crapped out in the NBA.

McCollum is only 43, btw. If he gets hired and makes it, then the school hiring him could be set for nearly 30 years.

My only concern there is whether UVa might want to get away from slow it down style and might fear him being another slow it down coach. Some of his DII teams lit up the scoreboard, but his last title team never scored more than 70 in the entire tournament, and Drake is playing slower than any other team in the country this year. Small sample size and credit to a coach for fitting playing style to the players, but I suspect UVa wants a lot of wins but also wants to avoid another decade of games in the 50s. I'd accept the latter if it will gain me the former, and maybe McCollum won't play that way with P5 talent, but it's something to consider.

I get that part of it. But for Vinson to not get a single minute after we took a 30 point lead over LSU with 3 minutes to go? When he has already played a smattering of minutes early in the year? Odd.

I'm wondering if a P5 school will take a gamble on Ben McCollum. Might be a bit too early, because bringing your entire DII championship roster with you and using them to win the MVC (and beat Vandy and Kansas State along the way) might prove coaching chops, but it doesn't say anything about ability to recruit at a high level.

At what point do we start mentioning guys likely to move up or just want to leave their current digs? Cronin to Miami was mentioned as a possibility. I guess if you want to escape So Cal fires and cross country trips, then I guess it makes sense to go to a place at risk of hurricanes and with a threatened water supply and flights to places in close proximity like Boston, Syracuse, Berkeley, Palo Alto, and Dallas. 1) Richard Pitino. He's only 42. He didn't have a lot of success at Minnesota, but neither did several predecessors, and when he finally got a decent practice facility, he made the tournament, had the next year cancelled by Covid, and had the one after that ruined by losing two starters for the season in February. New Mexico could run away with the MWC regular season if it keeps it up (5-0 against other teams with winning record in conference, 17.6 average margin of victory). There are coaches who didn't do well in their first chance coaching in a power conference but who later went on to strong careers at other schools. Leonard Hamilton and Greg McDermott come to mind. Shaka Smart may join that group. 2) Will Wade. Also only 42. He of the "strong-ass offer." Show cause order expires in June. Show cause carried a 10 game suspension (already served), restrictions concerning recruiting. Hey, you guys really changed the rules about paying players since then. That show you enough cause? I suspect a lot of schools will show interest. Louisville will probably throw a lot of money at Pat Kelsey to keep him. Missouri already has thrown it at Dennis Gates.

Shedrick: 131 minutes, 53 points on 18/26 fg (2/3 3pt), 15/23 ft, 37 rebounds, 5/7 1/t, 6 blocks, 5 steals. That translates to 16.2 points, 11.3 rebounds per 40 minutes, with an effective fg% of 73.1%. Kent: 66 minutes, 17 points on 8/19 fg (0/2 3pt), 1/2 ft, 8 rebounds, 2/4 a/t, 1 block, 3 steals Onyema: 63 minutes, 11 points on 5/13 fg (0/0 3pt), 15 rebounds, 3/5 a/5, 3 blocks, 1 steal. Shedrick has put in some really good minutes recently. The others? Not so much. Onyema gets some rebounds, but that's about it. So once again I am left wondering why we never, ever see Vinson enter a game.

Maryland (15) @ tOSU (26) You'd think tOSU would be pretty safe at this point, but it not well loved by bracketistas. Ten seed and even left off a pair of brackets updated since the weekend. Well, there's no accounting for taste. This isn't exactly a must win for tOSU, but it is getting near the point of needing another big win at some point, or to avoid any more q2 losses. It will host Michigan and go to UCLA, so it has a couple of more chances for a win against conference top 4 after tonight. Maryland is on a roll since the Willard-Evans spat. Four straight wins, including a 21 point beatdown of Illinois in Champaign and coming back from down 5 with under 3 to go at Indiana, and someone just chucked $10 million at the basketball program.

Oregon came close, but it couldn't stop the bleeding. 80-76 Michigan. Cincy won 93-83. Mitchell had 19. Pity he can't make a ft. TCU beat WVU 65-60. Hard to believe a team with wins over Kansas, ISU, Arizona, and Gonzaga could miss the tournament, but that is beginning to look likely. SMU 81 Va Tech 75. Still not a believer Georgia 81 LSU 62 New Mexico 87 Colorado State 65. Pitino marches on. CSU is still in third in the MWC, but it doesn't have any good OOC wins. Nebraska won 86-72, needing a huge second half to win it. Wake 79 Stanford 73.

And there was the shhh, get very quiet now, very quiet. Get so quiet that you have to put your lips right next to the next person's ears to be heard by him and him alone. The input from Ro Russell. Uh. I need to scrub myself now.

Kelly denies having cut off contact. I guess he has been sitting at Brooks's bedside with Lennay Kekua