Notes, numbers, and a bunch of grumblings about college basketball in the middle of January, as we touch on some of the hot topics of late, plus players like Trae Young and Nate Grimes and teams like West Virginia, Temple and Pacific…
The transfer debate has flared up yet again, with various reports (such as this) that immediate eligibility for college football and basketball transfers is imminent in some form. While it’s a topic with reasonable positions on both sides, as usual way too much of the discussion is pointless because it’s flooded with false assumptions or flat-out incorrect information.
By far the most frustrating fable oft floated is the idea that coaches “always” leave their teams for better jobs, and therefore athletes deserve the right to do the same. As much as the coaching profession is an easy target due to its salaries and hasn’t cloaked itself in glory of late either (see: FBI), it’s a ridiculous charge with simply no shred of truth (that we’ve discussed before) and for us is pretty much a non-starter for any discussion of this.
Look at the full list of coaching changes after a season and the reason for them, and the data will consistently show: the vast majority of coaching changes in any given year-we’re talking 75-90%-come about because coaches are fired, resign under pressure, take another job because they know if they don’t they could be fired soon, or simply choose to retire. The average number of Division I head coaches leaving in a year for a better D-I job is usually in the 6-12 range-total. The past two offseasons were higher numbers than usual-about 12 jobs one could argue legitimately where a coach left a lesser job for a better one (and that’s if they believe longtime Atlantic 10 doormat Duquesne is a move up from MAC power Akron for Keith Dambrot). Even in this most recent higher-end case, though, that’s 3.4% of Division I coaching jobs turning over because of coaches leaving for better jobs.
College basketball’s current transfer rate from one four-year school to another is about three times even that generous number (around 13-14%), so if one is looking at this clearly it seems college basketball players are feeling plenty empowered to transfer under the current rules already, and there’s plenty of room to argue that they shouldn’t need any rules encouraging them to do it even more regularly.
If one doesn’t like the amount of turnover athletes are subjected to among coaches in the sport, that’s a perfectly respectable position. (There were 51 coaching changes each of the last two years, a ridiculous number if administrators care the least about student-athletes.) One’s anger, though, should be directed at administrators, boosters and yes, even fans pushing for coaching changes, far more than at coaches themselves…
The idea that players should transfer and ‘look to better themselves’ for solely athletic reasons whenever they like also is rooted in the assumption that college sports should be essentially a minor league, and the academic component of college sports has minimal to no importance. On this topic and others, we would suggest: if people aren’t on board with the collegiate sports model, then they probably should not be watching it or covering it.
There are many of us who believe that, while obviously imperfect and rife with more money than it ever should be, the college sports model also is very fair and beneficial to young adults who want to play high-level sports and are rewarded for their efforts with an education that can set them up for life after their playing careers. If one doesn’t like certain aspects of the current model that are not in student-athletes’ best interests, such as schools changing coaches too much, unnecessary and way too far flung conferences, or limiting the academic majors college athletes can choose from, then they should target those wrongs. For our money, though, there are way too many examples of great things college athletes have done or eventually do after their education (such as this and this) to be blinded by cynicism and ignore the academic aspect of college sports…
Another point of outrage of late (because we need more outrage apparently) has been voting in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, where one voter-Lindsay Schnell of USA Today-has given up her vote due in part to fear of being a target of the Poll Attacks column written each week by CBSSports.com’s Gary Parrish, which targets people who he believes are not voting appropriately. The column is presented as one that demands accountability from voters; in our opinion, no matter how it’s intended it comes across as borderline clickbait to stoke outrage, something internet entrepreneurs learned long ago that they can capitalize on.
Sorry, but just don’t understand getting all wound up worrying about people’s votes in a weekly poll intended to generate publicity from the thoughts of a representative cross-section of a entire sport. Votes are opinions. Some people take more time to form their opinions than others. Many people vote in political elections in this country with far-less informed votes than some sportswriter in a basketball poll. That’s life.
If there was a constitutional amendment declaring a minimum amount of time someone is supposed to take to form an opinion, then we might have a right to anger. Otherwise, folks need to chill on this and maybe find something a little more important to be mad about. An occasional person thinks Team X is better than Team Y, even if Team Y beat Team X. Big deal. Especially in college basketball, it’s generally settled on the court in March anyway.
We understand the idea of accountability is red meat for many, and we’re all for accountability. And for sure, polls are of some importance. Schools use them for publicity, and yes, we believe selection committee members notice them, too, even if they aren’t part of the official NCAA Tournament selection criteria. They’re not so important that they should have people wanting voters’ heads on a stick.
Also, let’s get real: it has been widely acknowledged for decades that coaches’ poll ballots are regularly filled out by college sports information directors. If people really want meaningful changes, and not just places to demand conformity, assert their moral superiority over others and…be outraged…shouldn’t they be more upset about that? Let’s be honest: the large majority are mad about rankings because they don’t reflect what they think they should, not because of the process used in determining them. Rather than be crabby, though, maybe we should all just not take too seriously weekly exercises that have comparatively limited importance, and also acknowledge that all polls-no, all opinions-have a margin of error to them. And human nature being what it is, nothing will ever change about that, no matter how much we want it to otherwise…
Back to basketball…as much fun as Oklahoma’s Trae Young has been to watch and as wild as his scoring and assist numbers are, we’re thinking the number of turnovers he commits also are more of a problem than many will acknowledge. Young is averaging 5.2 TO/game this year, which is a lot. OK, but he averages 29.5 points and darn near 10 assists per game, and he notably has the ball in his hands constantly on the offensive end. In Big 12 play, though, where the competition has picked up and the legend of his play has grown, leading to seemingly more and more daring plays, he is averaging 7.7 turnovers per game. The bottom line is, when he’s scoring 39 or 43 points (as he did in two games against TCU), those TOs may not be a problem, but when he’s scoring 20 and has 12 turnovers (as he did in the Sooners’ resounding loss at Kansas State), it definitely is a problem…
Princeton may be leery of its offense being called the Princeton offense, but that’s still exactly what it is. Somehow the offense has gotten a bad name with recruits (which is beyond ridiculous; it used to be run in the NBA, for goodness sakes, and any recruit interested in winning should be stoked to play in it) and there may be a few wrinkles, but what the Tigers do now still isn’t much different than what Petey Carril ran. And the sport is more interesting for it…
There seems to be a glut of overly serious TV analysts for college basketball (and some other sports) these days. If could give one request of many of today’s analysts, it would be to give us less lecture, more inkling that they actually enjoy what they do. It’s a sport; we’re not talking about advanced aeronautics here. One of the many beauties of Bill Raftery as an analyst is how one always feels-even when he’s teaching-like you’re watching the game with a buddy. A broadcast can be analytical and on point and still be good-natured and fun. On that note, we’d love to see a lot more of guys like Mark Adams, Dan Bonner and Daymeon Fishback than we do now…
To us, North Carolina has that feel of a team that is going to be just fine in March, no matter how many occasional losses or close calls it might have in the regular season. The Tar Heels still have a quality starting five, attack the glass with ferocity and have freshmen who are capable of growth this season yet. Cameron Johnson also is a wild card who could really elevate the team if he has more games like his 21-point performance in Carolina’s 87-79 win over Clemson on Tuesday…
West Virginia literally seems like it has 20 players on its roster, as many guys as Bob Huggins brings off the bench in a game and as often as he does it. (It’s actually stunning that just 12 players have participated in a game for WVU this season) So much for shortening a bench for a big game-WVU played 11 guys in its narrow loss at Texas Tech last week In all seriousness, we’ve always enjoyed watching coaches like Huggins, Gregg Marshall at Wichita State and Dana Altman when he was at Creighton who find ways to get many guys involved in the game…
It also feels like Kelan Martin and Kamar Baldwin have been at Butler for a decade, especially crazy as Baldwin is just a sophomore. Martin is finally a senior this year, and he’s having a heck of a year, every bit the leader as Butler is once again in solid competition for an NCAA bid. Also, Baldwin continues to progress-16 ppg, plus excellent defense like he played in the Bulldogs’ win over Marquette last week…
Temple played in front of what appeared on TV to be quite charitably listed attendance numbers claiming the Liacouras Center was half full for American Athletic Conference games against teams like Tulsa and Tulane. One can’t help but wonder if Owls fans wouldn’t prefer to watch their team play in a more regional conference against regional competition than the farflung opposition they have in the AAC now. Temple once was a member of the Atlantic 10, and from this opinion that league would be a far better basketball fit for the Owls now than the AAC…
About Temple on the court, it has to be said the Owls are right there with Northern Iowa and Texas-Arlington as the most puzzling teams of this season. A team that beat Old Dominion, Auburn and Clemson to start the season just looks ordinary since. It must be said that Temple is still young-three freshmen are seeing major minutes, and guys like Alani Moore and Quinton Rose are still sophomores. But we sure thought Obi Enechionyia would score more than 11.6 points per game by his senior year, and this is a bad rebounding team-minus-3.6 on the glass. From our view, the Owls settle way too much offensively, and the fact a team with guys like Rose and Enechionyia only makes 9.7 free throws per game is not good…
Florida Gulf Coast had some puzzling losses in its non-conference season, but we felt the Eagles still had the parts to get cranking after watching them play well for long stretches at Rhode Island and Wichita State. Indeed, FGCU has won six straight since losing to URI, including its first four Atlantic Sun games, three of those at home by an average of 23 points at home and then on Thursday on the road at perceived top challenger Lipscomb, when it fought back from an 18-point deficit. The Eagles have the best all-around player in the A-Sun in Brandon Goodwin, though their defense has run hot and cold at times this year, with 11 blocked shots at Wichita State but also allowing better than 50% shooting in losses to the likes of Florida International and Oral Roberts. FGCU has allowed opponents to shoot just 33.6% over its current streak, though…
Louisiana-Lafayette has emerged as the best team in the Sun Belt and is off to a very impressive 16-3 start, but sneaking up on the Ragin’ Cajuns is Texas State. Danny Kaspar and his great hair have the Bobcats winners of six straight and at 6-1 just one game behind the Cajuns. Texas State is one of those slow-paced treasures of college hoops that few appreciate, and they’re holding opponents to 62.5 points per game. Also, sophomore Nijal Pearson has continued his quick ascent to becoming one of the top players in the league, picking up the scoring load left by Kavin Gilder-Tilbury and also averaging six boards per game as TSU outrebounds opponents by more than six boards per contest…
Pacific has become a tough out early in the WCC season, currently 5-2 in league and already with a win over BYU. The Tigers are kind of a west coast version of Western Kentucky, a team limited in numbers (just eight scholarship players) but those eight players fit into their roles and know them well. Like Rick Stansbury at WKU, Damon Stoudemire has done a nice job getting his team to play at the tempo it wants and also generally avoid foul trouble with a thin lineup. The Tigers are a balanced team with six players averaging between 8.3 and 12.9 points per game, and don’t discount the impact of having two starters-Jahlil Tripp and Roberto Gallinat-who were teammates the last two years in junior college. Tripp in particular is a well-rounded, do-everything type, a playmaking 2, 3 or even 4 who has stepped up in WCC play and is among the conference leaders in rebounds, assists and steals…
Staying out west, the Big West has rebounded pretty well from a dismal season a year ago. Early on there appear to be at least five, maybe six or even seven teams capable of competing for the title. UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, Hawaii and Long Beach State all had their moments in non-conference play (so did last-place UC Riverside, which has victories over Air Force, California and Valparaiso even in a 5-14 season that has seen coach Dennis Cutts relieved of his duties a couple weeks ago). All four are very capable of winning the league, and defending champion UC Irvine won’t go quietly either. The current top team, though, is surprising Cal State Fullerton, which is 4-1 and has three capable scorers in Khalil Ahmad, Kyle Allman and Jackson Rowe, who has quickly become one of the best big men in the league…
Fresno State’s Nate Grimes is an intriguing player, and we thought that even before he had 15 points, 10 rebounds, four blocked shots and hit all seven of his shots in the Bulldogs’ 77-73 win at San Diego State on Wednesday. The 6-foot-8 sophomore averages nearly six rebounds per game in just over 12 minutes per contest, and is especially big on the offensive glass-2.6 offensive boards per contest in those limited minutes. He’s also one of the leading shotblockers in the Mountain West. Fresno State is 14-6 overall and not that far from having had a really good season-a bad second half cost the Bulldogs a 12-point lead at home against Oregon, and three other losses are by a combined 10 points.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
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