Ahh, c'mon, he's not even close to Billy G's record yet, much less Eddie Sutton's fantastic string of DUI's swept under the rug :-):-).
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Hey, when you're right, you're right. But it seems it's in the Sutton genes, so there's that excuse. :-)
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By my latest count, about 50 of the "key underclassmen" in the NCAA have already declared for this year's NBA Draft. Some of these have not hired agents, so they can pull out if the interest in them does not materialize, but many already have found agents. There are still around 15 listed as "undecided", and only 7 or so who have stated definitively that they would stay in school.

In general, I am ambivalent about this whole situation. I think an education is important, and the student owes the school as much loyalty and support as the school owes him (Yeah, I realize this leaves one gaping hole, especially for those programs where the coach himself is a gaping 'hole, but there it is). On the other hand, it is unjust to deny an athlete the chance to earn a living and forge a career. But this disparity seems a bit extreme to me. If half the "key underclassmen" go, that's a shame. When 7 or 8 go for every 1 who stays, that's a crime.
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Well, speak of the devil. While I was writing the above, Butler forward Gordon Hayward announced he too will enter the draft.

Sheesh. When I was his age, kids were fighting to stay in school and avoid the draft at all cost! :-)
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So I thought I'd post this up for all you Tar Heel haters out there.

Robert Bower "Buzz" Peterson, former guard on Dean Smith's 1982 National Championship squad, has accepted the position of head basketball coach at UNC Wilmington after only one season in that same position at Appalacian State. Well, to be honest, it was only one season THIS time. See, he bagan his coaching career as an assistant there in 1987, before moving on to an assistant job at East Tennessee State. He was then an assistant at N.C. State, and then one at Vanderbilt. In 1996 he got his first head coaching job at App. State, where he stayed until 2000. At that point he finally moved out of the "State of Franklin" to accept the job heading Tulsa, where he led them to the NIT title. Next year he went back to Franklin to lead Tennessee, where he stayed for four season until taking over at Coastal Carolina in 2005. From there he was lured into the pro ranks by his old college roommate Michael Jordan, and he spent about two years as the director of player personnel for the Charlotte Bobcats. Last season he went back to the top job at ASU, and led them to a 24-13 season. He interviewed for the job at Marshall earlier this month, but a contract could not be agreed upon, and so he is now headed to UNC-W in an attempt to rerbuild their struggling program (16-47 over the last 2 years).

Hey, I guess he caught the Larry Brown disease when he was in Chapel Hill. :-)
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Rutgers sophomore guard Mike Rosario, their leading scorer the last two years, has decided to transfer to the Florida Gators, and will become eligible to play for them in the 2011-12 season. In his statement regarding his time in Piscataway, Rosario said that "The hard part was losing. Basketball is something I love to do and that comes first besides school."


Sounds like he'll fit into the SEC just fine. :-)
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Louisville has announced the name of its new downtown 22,000-seat arena, which will replace Freedom Hall in the coming season. Kentucky-based Yum Brands, who operate such fast-food giants as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, have agreed to pay $13.5 million/year for the next ten years for the naming rights, and will thus burden this new facility with the name "KFC Yum! Center".


Hey, maybe they can follow the lead of other schools by honoring a former coach, and call it the Crum Bucket. :-)
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Duke forward Kyle Singler has announced he will return to school for his senior year. Good for him. I wish him the best of success next season - except when he is playing my Heels - and I hope he remains healthy, and has a chance to compete on the next level if he so chooses once he does graduate.

For those of you keeping count, and with a few players still undecided with a few days left for them to declare, the count of "key underclassmen" who have declared for the draft now only outnumber those remaining in school by about 5 to 1. :-)
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Best news I've seen in awhile. The repeat is possible now. :-)
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No it's not. :-)
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C'mon Thomas. Whose left to compete? Kentucky wouuld have been the best until everyone bailed. Barnes will be good but UNC is gonna need more than that.

Gotta give us more credit than that.
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It's not a matter of who'll compete, or who does or doesn't deserve credit. It's just that it's not that easy to repeat.

Besides, you came within an inch of losing THIS one to Butler at the buzzer. Remember? :-)
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Well, I got news news, and good news, and bad news.

The NCAA has announced it is expanding its field of 65 for next year's tournament - to 68 whole teams. I can only assume at this point that this means there will now be 4 "play-in" games instead of just one, which makes more sense anyway. So that's the news.

They also announced that this expansion is part of a new TV contract with old-guard CBS and new kid Turner, and that this will mean each and every game will be available for viewing live, on either CBS, TBS, TNT, or truTV. Everything through the second round will be shown on one of those - which is either good or bad news, depending upon several points. If you don't have cable or satellite, you won't be able to see some games at all. And perhaps the game you ARE watching is one of those 102-44 snoozers, and you can't watch that buzzer-beater elsewhere. After the second round, CBS and Turner will split regional semis, with CBS retaining the regional finals, the Final Four, and the Championship game - through 2015. Beginning in 2016, the regional finals will be split between CBS and Turner, and the FF and C games will alternate between the two. This means you will either have to pay for it, or miss it altogether. And that, my friends, is just wrong. CBSSports.com will provide live streaming video of the games, but Turner "secured rights for any player it develops" . . . whatever the fark that's supposed to mean.

And what's the bottom line? Regardless of how you feel about the above, the bottom line is $10.8 billion over the next 14 years.
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After a few weeks of waffling on the question - perhaps channelling his career, or the round-robin coaching changes he's endured (recruited by Tubby Smith, played for Billy Gillispie and John Calipari in his three years), Kentucky forward Patrick Patterson has finally decided he will join the fourfold freshman exodus from Lexington and enter the NBA Draft. This may give UK 3 players selected in the first round, along with John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, and perhaps even 4 if Eric Bledsoe impresses somebody in the camps. It won't be 5: Daniel Orton isn't that ready, and not big enough to be a "first-round project." . . . especially when you consider all the others coming out.

Hey, you don't HAVE to play for Kentucky to be a bust in the NBA - ain't that right, Sam Bowie, Kenny "Sky" Walker, and Rex Chapman. :-)
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The early entry deadline for underclassmen to declare for the NBA Draft has passed, and the students have failed. By my count, fewer than 20 of the "key" players will remain in school, and by Rivals' count 67 have declared themselves available. Some of them have not hired agents, so can change their minds. But this beggers the point if they have minds to begin with. And why would I say this? Well, the NBA will draft 60 players. If you subtract from this number those slots which will be taken by either seniors or international players, how many of those 67 can one squeeze into the remaining space?

I guess math was not their best subject. :-)
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Although they have not yet confirmed the format, the NCAA has approved the expansion of the tournament field from its present 65 to 68 teams. It seems obvious that this will mean 4 "play-in" games as opposed to only 1, but the Committee is not yet ready to say so.

It is also not yet clear how they feel about that scene which aired on "Glee", when a character says "I hate Duke like I hate the Nazis." :-)
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Two items of marginal interest:

Newly-hired Hofstra coach Tim Welsh has resigned before his first practice, much less his first game. He was arrested last Friday in Levittown for DWI (The actual charge was "aggravated driving while intoxicated", which sounds like a scene from The Blues Brothers.), and though he's pleaded innocent he has quit a month after he signed a 5-year, $3 million deal. :-)


And speaking of :-) , the Lexington Herald-Leader has obtained the GPAs from 9 of the 12 SEC basketball programs, and of those 9 the University of Kentucky brings up the rear with an abysmal 2.025. Not only was this the lowest of the 9 reporting, but it was also the lowest of all the 20 athletic teams at UK. If this info surprises you, you know neither John Calipari nor Kentucky basketball.
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:-):-)
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:-)
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Haters....

:-):-)
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