Some quick hitters as we head toward the weekend:
- The national championship game on Monday night is certainly up there with the best ones I’ve seen. Throughout the game, you never felt like either team was going to run away with it, even though at times Duke looked like they could be one play away from breaking it open.
- Here’s an interesting nugget that CAA blogger Michael Litos pointed out: had Butler pulled off the victory on Monday night, all four postseason tournaments would have a mid-major as their champion. Dayton won the NIT, VCU won the CBI and Missouri State won the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
- Connecticut got a commitment last week from Shabazz Napier for next season, provided he gets through the NCAA Clearinghouse. This is significant in two ways. For one, Napier was originally slated for the class of 2011, so they get a player who wasn’t expected to be in college next season although that was always a remote possibility. Also, the Huskies get an elite point guard to run the show, one who went on a big run of improvement over 10 months. Since last May, he has gone from being a gunner to a floor leader, and with that began to show his full potential. He took it to another level during the school season, leading Lawrence Academy to a perfect record en route to a NEPSAC Class C title.
- On a related note, this weekend will start our coverage of travel team basketball with the Boo Williams Nike Invitational in Hampton, Virginia. This year, things are a little different: it’s one of three events Nike is running as part of its Elite Youth Basketball to determine the teams that will play in the Peach Jam in July. It isn’t a tournament, so there is no champion unlike past years. More details and player evaluations will come early next week.
- There is always something striking about the coaching changes, and what leaps out this time around is that there are quite a few even with the season over. Oftentimes, most vacancies have been filled by now simply because of the ability of athletic directors and coaches to meet at the Final Four, but as of now three (soon to be four, according to reports) high-major openings exist, and each could set some dominoes in motion when the new coach is hired. Vacancies at places like Charlotte and Marshall could do that as well.
- Brad Stevens’ new 12-year contract at Butler is not only well-deserved, but a great move because he’s the perfect fit there. He’s an understated guy who loves where he is and at a program that knows what it is and has had a great run of success even before this season.
- UNC Wilmington probably didn’t have in mind what has transpired when they let Benny Moss go during the season. The search has dragged on, and after having over a week to decide former Citadel head coach Ed Conroy opted to take the head coaching job at Tulane instead. It’s anyone’s guess where they go from here, but this hasn’t been the school’s finest hour from a PR standpoint.
- Gene DeFilippo said he wanted the next Boston College head coach to be one who will go out and sell the program to get more people in the seats. While he got a fine head coach in Steve Donahue, I’m not sure he’s getting quite what he wants otherwise. Donahue is a humble and very likeable man, but he’s not a charismatic, rah-rah guy who will go to the ends of the earth to put fans in the stands. One can’t blame Al Skinner for attendance there being spotty considering that Boston belongs to the Red Sox and Patriots first and foremost, with the Celtics a distant third and the Bruins an even more distant fourth before we get to college sports.
