What's Wrong with Boston College?
by Chris Spatola
December 8, 2013

What seemed like everyone's in vogue "ACC sleeper" coming into the 2013-14 season, Boston College, up to this point, has fallen flat on its face.  With the ACC's worst record of 3-5, Boston College currently boasts one of the ACC's worst defenses (opponents are scoring 80 points per game and shooting 47.5% from the field), are being out-rebounded on the season, and have shown an inability to give any type of resistance in the paint.

So, what's wrong with Boston College?

SCHEDULE.  It starts with the way Steve Donahue scheduled.  Donahue created a non-conference slate for his team that is more reflective of a good mid-major looking to build a resume in its non-conference as compensation for a weak conference.  Clearly Donahue felt he had a team, comprised mostly of juniors and sophomores, that could face a stiff test of both home and road non-conference games.  Setting aside the 2K Sports Classic and the ACC-Big Ten Challenge as scheduled "obligations," events in which BC lost to UConn and Purdue, respectively, BC has played at Providence, played UMass on a neutral court, and still has left a trip to USC, VCU on a neutral court, and a trip to Harvard.  BC could lose all of these games, which would leave them with eight losses before they even jump headfirst into their conference schedule.  Scheduling is such a huge part of a coach's job.  Setting a team up to challenge itself, yet not come unmoored in the process, is a balance coaches have to create.  Steve Donahue did not do his team any favors and, as a result, has put BC well behind the curve.

INTERIOR PRESENCE.  The loss of 7-foot, junior center Dennis Clifford to injury certainly plays into the Eagles' lack of a paint presence.  With Clifford out, BC has received minimal production from 6'11 junior KC Caudill and 6'11freshman Will Magarity, which has left junior Ryan Anderson to do the heavy-lifiting not only on offense (18.6 ppg), but defensively as well.  While the Eagles have shooting in guys like Olivier Hanlan, Alex Dragicevich, and Patrick Heckmann, they have had zero presence in the interior.  It's tough to win with the schedule BC has had without someone anchoring the paint.

NO PRODUCTIVE DEPTH.  Combined, Olivier Hanlan (20.9 ppg) and Ryan Anderson are averaging nearly forty points a game.  You have to add up the combined averages of the next nine guys on BC's roster to equal that total.  As good as Hanlan and Anderson have been, BC is an easy team for which to prepare.  Make it hard for Hanlan and Anderson to catch the ball, make those two guys defend on the other end, take away threes, attack the paint and mash BC on the glass.  What confused folks who predicted that BC would be a sleeper team in a top-heavy ACC, is that with Hanlan, Anderson, and Joe Rahon you would think BC is in good shape.  With the exception of Hanlan and Eddie Odio, however, BC is not very athletic and has insignificant production from the bulk of their roster.

ACC NOTES:

Virginia.  While losses to VCU, Wisconsin, and Green Bay are not losses that should generate "world is ending" concern, what should be concerning for Tony Bennett is the start to the season Joe Harris and Akil Mitchell have had.  Harris especially, a pre-season all-ACC candidate, has put up underwhelming numbers.  After averaging 16 ppg last season, Harris is only putting up 11 ppg this season and is shooting a shocking 53% from the free throw line.  Mitchell, who averaged 13 ppg for the Cavaliers last season, is only putting up 6.3 ppg so far this season.  While guys like Malcolm Brogdon, Anthony Gill, and Mike Tobey have played well for Virginia, this team needs its two best players to play like.....well...its two best players.

T.J. Warren.  This guy may be the most talented, under-discussed scorer in the country.  Warren wakes up getting buckets...in bulk.  While he shoots in volume (has more than twice the number of field goal attempts as the next guy on the roster), and NC State needs him to shoot in volume, the number of ways Warren gets his points is impressive.  In the post, in transition, from the outside, off penetration, Warren has size and versatility, not to mention a green light, that makes him incredibly hard to stop.  In NC State's wins this year Warren is averaging 27 ppg, in losses he is averaging 13 ppg.  With a player like Warren, the decision to insert Anthony Barber as a starter in the place of Tyler Lewis, and the surprising production from Jordan Vandenberg, the Wolfpack may surprise some teams in the ACC.

North Carolina.  The Tarheels' win up in East Lansing last week is as impressive a win as you can have, on a number of fronts.  First, no one wins up in East Lansing.  It's as tough a place to play as any in the country (underrated, in some respects).  Secondly, Michigan State seems like a favorite to win the whole thing in March.  With their balance and experience, the Spartans seemed like the one sure thing....until the Tarheels came to town.  Thirdly, UNC essentially beat Michigan State at their own game.  The Tarheels, from the opening tip, out-worked, out-hustled, out-physicaled a program that prides itself on doing all of those things better than its opponents.  With six of its top seven producers being freshmen and sophomores, North Carolina is young and talented.  On some nights youth shows up (Belmont, UAB), and on some nights talent shows up (Louisville, Michigan State).

Rasheed Sulaimon.  There is perhaps no better motivator in all of sports than the bench.  This seems to be the tactic the Duke coaching staff is taking with a struggling Rasheed Sulaimon.  The problem for Sulaimon is that the guys playing in his place, Matt Jones and Andre Dawkins, can play.  Jones especially did a great job (along with Tyler Thornton) on Michigan's leading scorer Nik Stauskas, holding him to 4 points on 2 field goal attempts.  Jones plays hard, pressures the ball, and is an easy guy to play with.  When asked after Duke's game against Michigan how Sulaimon can earn more playing time, Coach K responded succinctly, "He has to play better than those guys who played tonight."  For Sulaimon, that process begins in practice. 

Maryland's Dalonte Hill - Three DUIs Ends It

by Chris Spatola
November 27, 2013

Turns out Maryland assistant coach Dalonte Hill had three lives, and almost a fourth, but ultimately "resigned" today following his third DUI arrest in five years.  That's right, since 2008 Hill has been arrested three times for DUI.  In most work environments, one DUI, maybe two, is the threshold for termination.  Apparently not in the case of Dalonte Hill, whose connections to the D.C. area, and its surrounding talent bases, have kept him lucratively employed, most recently by the likes of Kansas State and Maryland.

Kansas State was able to lure Hill to Manhattan offering a salary north of $400,000.  In return, Hill delivered talented recruits such as Michael Beasley, Rodney McGruder and Jamar Samuels.  In 2011, Turgeon hired Hill at Maryland. Hill's connections to D.C., and specifically the D.C. Assault AAU program, were a natural fit.  Once again, Hill delivered, drawing commitments form Damonte Dodd, Roddy Peters and Romeo Trimble, all of whom played for the Assault.

Much has been said and written about the salaries Hill has garnered.  The fact is, you make what the market feels you're worth. In this era of college basketball, the demand for a guy who can deliver the talent Hill has been able to deliver is very high.  More power to him.  Perhaps though, the demand for a guy like Hill should not be viewed through the prism of salary, but through the murky optic that Hill was so valuable for his ability to recruit, it took three DUIs for his employer to finally say enough is enough.

I get it, we live in a world of second chances.  Clearly, Hill has addiction issues and I would never advocate cutting someone loose who has those types of issues.  However, in a day-in-age when eliminating drunk driving and the needless death and injury it causes is a major focus, the decision to employ someone beyond two DUIs is questionable at best.  Which ultimately begs the question, and one I hope Maryland has to answer at some point - beyond his three-game suspension, what corrective steps were taken by Maryland after Hill's second DUI in 2012 to modify Hill's apparent issues with drinking and driving?

I'm not naive to the business that college athletics has become, I've coached in it and work in it.  I understand the money basketball brings in for the University of Maryland, money that is, in many ways, predicated upon winning.  To win you need talent, and that's where Dalonte Hill comes in, I get that.  Please tell me, though, that we have not lost complete sight of the fact that college athletics is about teaching young men the difference between right and wrong.  Please tell me that college athletics is still, at some level, meant to teach values and vision that will last a lifetime. If this is still the case, what message does an athletic department send to its athletes when it decides to keep a man who has two DUIs on his record?

The decision to let Dalonte Hill go, or I guess let him "resign," is hard to debate.  But, it simply does beg the question: what took so long?

When Dalonte Hill was at Charlotte, prior to being hired by Kansas State, Michael Beasley was committed to go Charlotte because of his relationship to Hill.  As soon as Hill was hired by Bob Huggins at Kansas State, Beasley changed his commitment to - where else? - Kansas State.  With the talent Hill has procured for Maryland in his short time there, it makes you wonder if Maryland chose not to let Hill go after that second DUI because of the recruiting implications his dismissal might have.  Or were they, as Mark Turgeon said following Hill's third DUI last month, "[supporting] him through the process?"

Hill will be hired again.  There's no question about that.  Hopefully, in the meantime, he gets some help with his issues.  

YOUTH MOVEMENT

by Chris Spatola
November 13, 2013

As good as the Champions Classic was in its first two years (New York and Atlanta) for college basketball, it is hard to believe ESPN and the event's organizers could have imagined a night like last night.  The packed United Center was treated to an evening that had it all - four blue-blood programs, four of the games best coaches, freshman phenoms....and oh by the way, two pretty good games.

The environment last night was as good as we'll see in college basketball until the Final Four.  It has been a long time since one night of college hoops was so hyped, and it was only November 12.  Some of my takeaways from the two games:

KENTUCKY vs MICHIGAN STATE

• The dribble-drive offense is just not made to play against Michigan State's defense.  The Spartans ability to shrink the floor, plug driving gaps, and limit dribble penetration was key to their stifling defense, especially in the first half.  The Spartans were willing to give up three-point looks (which helped get James Young off in the first half), but they were not going to allow Kentucky's guards to get to the rim.
• Kentucky will not win a national championship starting both Harrisons.  I would imagine at some point John Calipari will make the move to starting Alex Poythress.  Aaron Harrison especially was a liability last night (1-7 FG, 1 reb).  The two of them are too similar and don't complement each other very well at all.  Poythress on the other hand has great size, fills a stat sheet (7 pts, 12 reb, 3 blks), and is a tougher matchup.
• I was surprised Tom Izzo chose not to double Julius Randle in the post in the second half when Randle started to get it going.  Izzo after the game even admitted to CBS' Seth Davis, "We missed on doubling the post, my fault."  Randle's ability to move his feet was just too much for one defender, and when Randle got it going he either scored or was fouled on every possession, and ultimately led the charge for Kentucky in that second half.
• Of the Michigan State "trio" (Adreian Payne, Garry Harris, Keith Appling) Keith Appling is by far the least talked about.  Not after last night.  Appling was superb and finished the night with 22 points, 8 assists, and 8 rebounds, and was an incredibly steady hand for the Spartans.  Guard play, and point guard play in particular, wins in March and Appling may end up being one of the best in college.
• There's no question Kentucky was on their heels to start the game (started the game down 10-0) which is not all surprising considering Kentucky started four freshman.  For young players, regardless of how talented they are, a game like last night is unlike anything they have ever experienced.  Sure Michigan State had a lot to do with overwhelming Kentucky early, but don't discount the magnitude of last night's game, the attention it garnered, and the stage it was on, in leaving the young Wildcats wide-eyed to start.
• I had the chance to see Julius Randle play a few times in high school and always marveled at his size and skill set.  The thing that has impressed me the most about him so far this year, however, is his motor.  That is something I did not see when he was in high school.  He is relentless in his pursuit of the ball, has a competitive edge to him, and his body language is all about winning.  For such a talented and young player, his motor is Gilchrist-esque.
• I really love when Tom Izzo played Keith Appling and Brandon Trice together.  Gives Michigan State two experienced ball-handlers who don't turn it over, and defend their positions.  

DUKE vs KANSAS

• The comments by both Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins showed both are wise beyond their years and great teammates.  Both defused the questions about the other, and instead pointed to the fact that Duke played Kansas and a lot of guys made plays for both teams.  Impressive.
• Kansas' Perry Ellis is MUCH improved.  The talk this morning is of Wiggins, but the job Perry Ellis did in the post for Kanasas put pressure on Duke (specifically Jabari Parker and Amile Jefferson) all night.  His footwork and touch around the basket were terrific and will provide Bill Self with the low-post scorer he covets every year.
• Good teams win when their best players are their best players.  That said, Rodney Hood can not take only 8 shots in a game for Duke.  For Duke to be good, and to win a game like last night, Duke needs Hood to be much more aggressive.  Up to this point Hood has been Duke's most consistent player, but his 5 turnovers and only 3 rebounds were the mark of a guy who was not as engaged as Duke needs him to be.  That Hood and Amile Jefferson combined for 5 rebounds is not a good sign for a team that will remain small up front all year.
• The best way to guard a team's best player is to make him play defense on the other end and that's exactly what Bill Self intended to do last night to Jabari Parker.  Parker had 19 in the first half, but the cumulative effect of having to wrestle the likes of Perry Ellis and Joel Embiid in the post all game definitely had a cumulative effect, beside the fact that Parker fouled out.  Duke's lack of interior depth will force Parker to have to defend in the post for much of the year, a proposition that is sure to wear on him throughout the course of a game.  However, Parker was terrific in trying to front Kansas' post all night, especially considering the work he was putting in on the offensive end.
• He will go mostly unmentioned throughout the year, but every championship team needs a Wayne Selden.  Not only did he have 15 points and 6 rebounds, but his defense on Rodney Hood most of the night led to Hood being largely ineffective.  Selden, especially for a freshman, is so physically developed and it allows him to impose his will defensively.  His body language, poise, and mindset to do dirty work - I love it all.
• We heard all pre-season about how important Naadir Tharpe is to Kansas' ability to go far in March.  That may become a moot point after watching Tharpe's "back-up" Frank Mason.  Mason  was unafraid of the stage last night and was relentless in how he attacked the basket.  In what was a close game throughout, his 11-12 free throw shooting and 15 points were huge.  This is a kid who was originally committed to Towson, didn't qualify, and ultimately ended up at Kansas.
• Duke, at least in a game of last night's caliber, not is not as deep as we all might have thought.  Only six Blue Devils played 20+ minutes, while the other four guys who played combined to play 19 minutes.  

QUICK-HITTERS

• Was good to see Teddy Valentine live and in the flesh officiating the Michigan State/Kentucky game last night.  No one can captivate an audience quite like Teddy "Big game" Valentine.  Of course, officials aren't supposed to be part of the show, they're supposed to blend into the scenery.....but don't tell Teddy that....he's worth the price of admission.
• Worth saying again - how about the show all three marquee freshman put on last night?  After Randle's performance it seemed like their was no way the other two could top it...then Parker comes out and has 19 at the half.....then Wiggins puts an exclamation on the end of the game with his step back jumper and emphatic breakaway dunk.  They have all been hyped....but what a show by all three.
• In their two losses last night, Duke and Virginia were a combined 35-61 (57%) from the free throw line.  In games that are close that number loses most of the time.
• How good was VCU's Treveon Graham last night?  Forget the three he sank with three seconds left to put VCU ahead, Graham scored 13 points in the last seven minutes.  Tough.
• The most shocking score during the marathon of games had to be the BYU win over Stanford 112-103.  A huge win for the Cougars on the road over what is supposed to be a tournament worthy Stanford team.  BYU's guard tandem of Matt Carlino and Tyler Haws combined to score 57 points.  They also combined to shoot 25 free throws and were a prime example of the new foul rules liberating penetrating guards.
• Speaking of the new foul rules - the over-analysis of it all is becoming nauseating.  The "scoring is up, scoring is down", "games are too long", "a foul is a foul" - it's just too much already.  If the game needed to be cleaned up fine, emphasize calling more fouls.  To blame the drop in scoring average over the last several years on the game's physicality, however, misleading.  Sure fouling has contributed, but the decline in offense also has to do with....well the decline in offense.  Kids out of high school are not nearly as prepared to play offense as they were a decade ago.  And yes, I blame it on the AAU culture.  Internationally, scoring averages are high not simply because of fouls being called or the shot clock being 24 seconds, its because they are teaching offense better than we are.  
• With the likes of St. Louis, VCU, and Lasalle dominating the Atlantic-10 headlines, no team in that conference is off to a better start than UMass.  With two quality wins over Boston College and LSU, UMass has announced to the world it is for real.  UMass guard, and A-10 player of the year candidate Chazz Williams has been good (22 ppg in two wins), but the difference maker for UMass has been 6'10 post player Cady Lalanne.  In the two UMass wins, Lalanne has 43 points on 20 of 25 shooting.

Kentucky #1? ....Slow down

by: Chris Spatola
@chris_spatola

October, 17 2013

It is a mystery to me why Kentucky seems to be the consensus pre-season number one for most outlets.  The Kentucky recruiting haul of five top-10 prospects certainly puts them on paper in a pre-season top-5, but to say that this group of speculative talent will start the season as the best team in the land is a bit of a stretch.  While John Calipari’s group is far more talented than the first round NIT team he had last year, this group is not as good as the class Kentucky had in 2012.  Not one of the guys in the class this year (Andrew and Aaron Harrison, Julius Randle, Dakari Johnson, James Young) is as good as either Anthony Davis or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. 

Kentucky’s class this year stands out more for its depth than it does one transcendent guy in the group – one game-changer.  Julius Randle has probably the greatest upside, but he won’t have nearly the game-changing impact that Anthony Davis had.  In addition, the talent supplementing Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist was much better than the talent returning for this year’s Wildcats.  Guys like Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones and Darius Miller all averaged double-figures in 2012.  The two returning holdovers for Kentucky this year, Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein, were underwhelming (at best) in their freshman seasons.  Understated about Kentucky’s championship run from two years ago was the chemistry that team had by the end of the season.  Roles were defined.  Kidd-Gilchrist and Davis didn’t need the ball to affect the game.  They played hard and set a defensive tone. 

No one is better than John Calipari at getting young talent to play together; yet, he would even admit it’s a process.  Sharing the basketball, defending together, communicating – these things take time for veteran teams, let alone a group of highly talented, unknown personalities.

Kentucky returns this year 22.3 points per game (31% of its offense) from last year’s squad.  Contrast that with Louisville (54.4ppg/73%) and Michigan State (62.1ppg/91%), both veteran-laden teams entering 2013-14.  It’s hard to imagine, at the very least to start the season, Kentucky’s matching the production, leadership, and talent of either of these teams. 

“We’re chasing perfection.  We’re chasing greatness,” Calipari said in a May press conference of his 2013-14 Wildcats.  “We’re chasing things that have never been done in the history of our game.  I don’t mind a little pressure.  I’ve had it my whole career.”

Kentucky will be good, maybe even Final-Four good.  But while Calipari may be accustomed to pressure, it will take a month or two for his phenom class to become a team capable of winning big.  With the likes of Michigan State, North Carolina and Florida dotting Kentucky’s non-conference schedule the tests will come early enough.  The question is, will the Wildcats be ready as soon everyone seems to think they will be?

QUICK HITTERS

Ø The college basketball season opens camp this Friday, a full forty-two days before teams are allowed to play their first games.  Under the expanded practice window, teams will have the chance to conduct thirty practices in this 42-day period.  While the NCAA’s heart is in the right place, the result is not exactly what coaches were looking for.  Several coaches I’ve talked to are ambivalent, at best, about the additional practice days.   For one, coaches wanted more time to work with their players in the summer.  Many of them would trade the additional time in September for more time in the summer.  The college basketball season is long.  Adding an extra three weeks to the front end of it not only makes it that much longer, but also puts the onus on the coaches to pace their teams through these extra practice days.  Pacing is not something coaches are always good at.  It will be interesting to see how the extra practice time affects the quality of game-play in November.

Ø The ACC is absolutely loaded this year.  This is before adding Louisville to the mix, which happens next season.  With Syracuse, Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, and Virginia the ACC has five teams that could all be in the top-15 at some point this year.  With the exception of Carolina (P.J. Hairston’s status leaves their rotation in limbo), each of these teams can conceivably go 8-9 players deep.  The Big Ten is the next best conference, with Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan all returning talented rosters, but doesn’t boast the depth the ACC will this year. 

Ø I am extremely high on Oklahoma State.  With Marcus Smart back, this is a team that returns nearly 70 points per game from last year’s team, almost 93% of production.  The X-factor for the Cowboys is Le’Bryan Nash.  Nash possesses as much talent as any player in the Big-12, but has been all over the map in terms of his attention and production.  Oklahoma State needs Nash to turn his 14ppg from last year into 18-plus, as well as rebound and defend his position.  With Markel Brown, who had a terrific summer, and Phil Forte, another shooting guard, Oklahoma State has the pieces to have a big year. 

Ø While I think a pre-season poll is the most useless, irrelevant thing since the pet rock, it is still fun to speculate.  Here’s my top 15:

          1.  Michigan State                                9.    Michigan

                2.  Louisville                                        10. North Carolina

                3.  Arizona                                            11. Kansas

                4.  Kentucky                                         12. Florida

                5.  Duke                                                 13. Oregon

                6.  Ohio State                                        14. VCU

                7.  Syracuse                                          15. Wichita State

                8.  Oklahoma State

DUKE SCRIMMAGE OBSERVATIONS

By Chris Spatola

October 10, 2013

I had a chance to sit in on a Duke intra-squad scrimmage this week.  Coach Mike Krzyzewski brought in ACC officials to officiate three 8-minute scrimmages.  While all teams at this point in the year are still a work in progress, there are a few things that will define this Duke team: they’re athletic, very deep on the perimeter, and will have the ability to give a variety of defensive looks throughout the year.  They are thin inside (Amile Jefferson started for the white team at center) and the ability to protect the paint and rebound will be points of emphasis, but Duke’s ability to defend ninety-four feet and switch screens gives them a versatility that can be tough to play against.  A few other observations:

Tendency to watch Parker and Hood play.  It’s clear the emphasis for Duke offensively will be to play through Rodney Hood and Jabari Parker.  Both are very talented and have great size relative to their skill sets.  The problem Coach K saw during spurts in all three scrimmages was the tendency of the other three guys playing with Parker and Hood to stand and watch those two operate.  Once either Parker or Hood caught the ball, the rest of the offense stagnated.  A big word for Duke offensively this year as it relates to Parker and Hood is “complement”.  A primary way to complement those two guys is to cut and screen so that the defense doesn’t have the chance to load up and stack the help-side limiting Parker and Hood’s driving opportunities.

Fouling too much.  One thing players never get a true sense of in practice is what’s a foul and what’s not.  In all three scrimmages both teams flirted with putting the other team in the bonus, and these were only 8-minute scrimmages.  Players get away with clutching and grabbing in practice that are really fouls in a game.  Since most teams don’t focus on team fouls until games are actually played, it’s easy to lose sight of how much you’re fouling.  Conversely, there were a lot of missed layups on plays with contact.  Coach K pointed out that when you miss a layup in practice with contact you might just assume you were fouled.  The officials being there for the scrimmage gave the players a true sense of how important it is to finish through contact.

Shot selection.  One reason offense is usually behind defense at this point in the season is it takes teams time to figure out what a “good” shot is.  Duke this year will try to push the tempo and play a lot of possessions, but Mike Krzyzewski doesn’t want to run at the expense of taking good shots.  Several times in their scrimmages the Blue Devils fired up contested, early shots in an attempt to play at their desired tempo.  Coach K wants to play fast, but the primary goal of every offensive possession is to still take a great shot.

QUICK HITTERS:

Ø  Andrew Wiggins is a unique talent.  He’s an incredibly strong athlete with great size.  He will be the number one pick in next spring’s draft and will have a long, productive NBA career.  Beyond that, we all need to pump the breaks on labeling Wiggins as a generational talent.  He’s not even the best high school player since Lebron James. Sports Illustrated putting him on the cover and comparing Wiggins to Kansas legends Wilt Chamberlain and Danny Manning seems, at best, premature.  Wiggins needs go from being an off-the-charts athlete to being a basketball player.  And he will.  Let’s just not coronate him before the lights come on.

Ø  Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey in addressing the media this week struck one nostalgic note with respect to Notre Dame leaving the Big East and joining the ACC. Brey told reporters “The biggest withdrawal symptom I will have in not being in the Big East is not playing at Madison Square Garden in March.”  When asked if he’ll be able to bring knowledge from his time as a Duke assistant back in the early 90’s, Brey remarked that the only head coach left in the ACC from his time in the league is his former boss Mike Krzyzewski.

Ø  Another off-season passed in which Shaka Smart “shocked” convention and decided to stay home at VCU and not pursue employment elsewhere.  While Smart’s decision to remain at VCU has been dissected from all angles, perhaps the one most often overlooked is that Smart has a pretty good team returning this year – as in top 15 good.  It was no surprise this past week that VCU was picked to win the Atlantic 10 (favored over two other quality teams in St. Louis and LaSalle).  Inconsistent at times last year, this year’s VCU team returns four of five starters.  Traveon Graham (15.1 ppg), Juvonte Reddic (14.6 ppg), and Rob Brandenberg (10.1 ppg) all averaged double-figures last year, and Briante Webber ranked fifth in the country in steals (2.7 spg).  Shaka Smart’s team this year may just be more talented than the one who reached the Final Four in 2011.

AAU CULTURE: BREEDING GROUND FOR ABUSE

by Chris Spatola 

@chris_spatola

May 6, 2013

The news over the weekend that Ben McLemore’s AAU coach, Darius Cobb, took money from an agent…or runner…or financial advisor…or whatever he is… is not an incredibly startling revelation as it relates to AAU basketball.  The AAU system is broken on so many levels it’s a long list to itemize them all. 

Five-time NBA champion turned TNT analyst Steve Kerr said last year in reference to AAU basketball, “[today’s players] grow up in a basketball environment that can only be called counter-productive.  The process of becoming a team basketball player becomes completely lost in the AAU fabric.” 

Issues such as too many games, no teaching of fundamentals, players changing teams from tournament to tournament (or in some cases changing teams within the same tournament), have all contributed to the quality of basketball being played at all levels, and the increasing number of transfers from year to year in college.  Division I teams averaged only 67.5 points per game this season (the lowest since 1982), and shot 43.3% from the field (the lowest since 1964-65).  Scoring and shooting percentages have been dropping for decades, while the transfer rate in college basketball sits at 11%, the highest of any college sport.

Make no mistake, Darius Cobb is not representative of all AAU coaches.  There are many out there doing things the right way, trying to teach the game and influence young players positively.

Yet the Ben McLemore case highlights a business subculture which bubbles on the surface and earmarks the most concerning aspect of the AAU scene.  While the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) maintains itself as a “non-profit” endeavor, all outward appearances indicate that for many AAU programs the spring, summer, and fall circuit is anything but an amateur endeavor.  AAU for many its coaches has become a moneymaking venture.  For some, it becomes a pretty lucrative venture (i.e. Darius Cobb) if a coach is able to latch onto an elite prospect like a Ben McLemore.

The sponsorships, appearance fees, and revenue from hosting AAU events represent nice sums of money.  As such, while AAU started out as a vehicle to enhance youth basketball in this country, it has conversely deteriorated the game at the grassroots level while opening the door to an element of ethical corruption.  Darius Cobb was not the first AAU coach to leverage his relationship with a star player to make money, and he won’t be the last.  This McLemore case is not an outlier; it is only a glimpse of what goes on everyday in some corners of the AAU fabric.

The problem is that the AAU culture has become a breeding ground for these abuses.  Without a school board or meaningful governing body, men like Darius Cobb are allowed to use the AAU platform to establish and leverage relationships with young people without any real repercussions for morally questionable behavior.  Ultimately the cycle perpetuates as the money grows larger and larger and provides little incentive to modify behavior.

From what we’ve learned of the McLemore case thus far, neither he nor Kansas knew of Cobb’s dealings.  Cobb confirms as much.  How the NCAA interprets this and handles its investigation is anyone’s guess.  Frankly, Ben McLemore is a great kid.  But Darius Cobb and men like him are opportunists.  They use the AAU world as an incubator for relationships and a way to drive monetary ends.  Their behavior is affecting a lot more than scoring and field goal percentage.

WE’VE REACHED A NEW LOW IN FIRING

By Chris Spatola

@chris_spatola

March 26, 2013

It’s never easy to be the guy who follows the guy.  In the case of UCLA, it’s apparently not easy to be the guy, who followed the guy, who followed the guy, who followed….well you get it.  UCLA has had eight head coaches since John Wooden applied his wizardry in Westwood.  In his 27 years at UCLA, John Wooden went 620-147 and won ten national championships.  Since Wooden’s retirement, the eight men who followed him have combined to go 852-349 with one national championship (Jim Harrick).

In the case of Ben Howland’s 10-year tenure, his team’s won four regular season championships, went to seven NCAA tournaments, including three consecutive final fours, and had the longest coaching run at UCLA since Wooden’s retirement in 1975. 

And yet, as UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said via teleconference Sunday night, “Now was the appropriate time to make the change and get a fresh start.” 

In light of some of the turmoil in Ben Howland’s program, especially over the last couple years, a “fresh start” is not an outrageous reason for going in a different direction.  UCLA was 53-46 in the three seasons preceding this one.  At least eleven players have transferred out of the program over the last five seasons.  As well, an unflattering article in Sports Illustrated last season made the case that Howland had lost control of Reeves Nelson and subsequently the team.  While last year seemed like the year Howland would be fired, as most speculated, Guerrero decided to give Howland another year, perhaps in light of the top recruiting class Howland scored which included stand-outs Shabazz Muhammad, Kyle Anderson, and Jordan Adams.

Guerrero instead waited until this year to fire Howland, a year in which UCLA was the Pac-12 regular season and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament, playing without one of their marquee freshman Adams, who was hurt in the Pac-12 tournament. 

In firing Howland this year, as opposed to last year’s more tumultuous season, Guerrero perhaps showed his hand, and the growing mindset of many athletic directors in today’s college sports business - it’s not what you have, it’s what you can sell. 

Glossing over the relative success Howland had, a .685 winning percentage and three final fours, Guerrero instead emphasized the depleted interest and excitement surrounding the program.

“We need to generate as much fan support as possible and get people in the seats,” Guerrero said, acknowledging that his search would earmark coaches “who can play a fun brand of basketball, but also a quality brand of basketball.  We don’t want to bring in a coach who is going to average 50 points a game.”  Well ok, then. 

After much criticism, Howland changed his stlye of play this season to a more up-tempo pace and the Bruins scored 74 points per game.

Guerrero, a former baseball player at UCLA, continued, perhaps channeling his inner coach, “We pushed the ball a lot more [this year] and scored at a higher rate, and I know that our fans liked that.” 

Times they are a-changin’.  More and more we have heard athletic director’s pontificate about how coaches should change their style of play to better appeal to fan bases. 

Ben Howland played the game, has studied the game, and has been coaching the sport of basketball for over 32 years employing the very system that has won him nearly 400 games as a head coach – 233 of those wins coming at UCLA.  Yet, to keep his job, he’s forced to forego that background and employ a system that “will excite the fan base”?

Athletic directors have every right to fire a coach for any number of reasons, and do.  Dan Guerrero has every right to hold the UCLA basketball program to the highest of standards.  Firing Ben Howland last year because of the apparent dysfunction in his program made all the sense in the world.  Firing Howland this year, albeit a year late, is well within Guerrero’s purview if he feels the standard of UCLA basketball, which has faded but was set many, many years ago by John Wooden, is not being met then by all means fire your head coach.  But we are entering uncharted waters, embarking on a slippery slope – insert whatever clichéd metaphor you’d like – when athletic directors start counseling coaches on what systems should be run.

The firing of Ben Howland represents a new low for the coaching profession.  It used to be black and white – win enough games or your fired.  Run afoul of NCAA rules and you’re fired.  Be drunk at a frat party on campus and you’re fired. 

Based on the bulk of Guerrero’s press conference however, he was not firing Howland because he was 81-51 in the last four years, he was firing Howland because in those four years his teams only scored north of 70 points a game on average once.

The message is quite clear – it’s not that your program has had a transferring epidemic, or that two of the players in your top freshman class had to sit out the start of this year over NCAA issues.  It’s not even solely about you not making the sweet sixteen in five years.  And it’s definitely not about you being 25-8 this year and winning the Pac-12 regular season.  It’s not what you have – it’s how you sell it.