Tennessee Hires Cuonzo Martin

(Photo: University of Tennessee Dept. of Intercollegiate Athletics).


Last week, Tennessee fired embattled men's head basketball coach Bruce Pearl. And just as Virginia Commonwealth and Kentucky were punching their respective tickets to the 2011 Final Four on Sunday evening, Tennessee announced that Missouri State head coach Cuonzo Martin had been hired as its new men's basketball coach (more here).

Cuonzo Martin is a native of East St. Louis, IL. He played on two IHSA championship basketball teams at East St. Louis Lincoln High School. Following high school, Martin went on to Purdue, where he played for legendary coach Gene Keady from 1990-1994. In the 1994 Sweet Sixteen, Martin set a Purdue record for three point shots made in a game when he completed eight three pointers against Kansas. After playing professionally in Italy and in the old Continental Basketball Association (R.I.P.) for a short time -- with a seven-game sojourn in the NBA sprinkled in along the way -- Martin returned to the United States and successfully battled cancer. With his health improved, he joined Keady's Purdue coaching staff in 2000. After eight years as an assistant at Purdue, Cuonzo Martin accepted the vacant Missouri State coaching position in 2008.

With his move to Tennessee, Cuonzo Martin becomes the fifth active former Gene Keady assistant to helm a high major college basketball program. Other active products of the Keady/Purdue coaching tree at high majors include Kevin Stallings at Vanderbilt, Bruce Weber at Illinois, Matt Painter at Purdue and Steve Lavin at St. John's.

Cuonzo Martin is a good choice for Tennessee. He's a young, up-and-coming coach who has been successful at the helm of one of the better Mid Major programs in college basketball. Missouri State won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season race this season, but were left out of the NCAA Tournament when they failed to win the MVC tournament. It's worth mentioning that in Martin's three seasons at Missouri State, none of his teams made it to the NCAA Tournament. That's notable, since Martin replaced Barry Hinson, who was fired by Missouri State after his teams made four consecutive N.I.T. appearances, but failed to make the NCAA Tournament -- even after finishing with back-to-back 22 win seasons and top 40 RPI ratings. Hinson's failure to lead the Bears program to the NCAA Tournament was widely believed to have been the deciding factor behind his ouster. Drive and Dish thought Martin was a good choice for Missouri State when he was hired. And there's no doubt that he's done well in his brief stay at that school. But it's hard to see how his stewardship of the Missouri State basketball program has been a significant improvement over that of Coach Hinson. Aside from having the aforementioned young, up-and-coming coach aura working for him, his on-court results appear remarkably similar to those of the man he replaced.

Nevertheless, congratulations are in order for Cuonzo Martin and for Tennessee. Tennessee has replaced a severely ethically-challenged coach with a new coach who's widely thought of as a good dude. But Coach Martin has his work cut out for him. On the positive side, Tennessee has good facilities, a great arena and outstanding talent on its roster. But after scandals incurred by Pearl and former football coach Lane Kiffin, Tennessee athletics will presumably be under the microscope of the NCAA (or at least they should be). And one would expect (or perhaps more accurately, hope) that some level of sanctions will be placed on the Tennessee athletic department -- and on the basketball program specifically -- by the enforcement wing of the NCAA. If NCAA sanctions come to pass, Martin will face an uphill climb at Tennessee. It's also worth bearing in mind that, as is the case at all SEC schools not named "Kentucky", football is king at Tennessee. Despite the Volunteers' recent hardwood success, men's basketball will probably always take a back seat to football (and even to women's basketball) in Knoxville. Remember, early in his tenure at Tennessee, Bruce Pearl was so desperate eager to drum up support for men's basketball by endearing himself to Tennessee fans that he donned body paint and joined the student cheering section at a Lady Volunteers basketball game. Tennessee men's basketball eventually did become popular during Pearl's reign, but the Vols were usually ranked between 10-15 in the AP Top 25 during that time. Fan support for men's basketball is a relatively new phenomenon at Tennessee. It remains to be seen if it will survive Pearl's departure.

Along those lines, it's worth noting that in 1997, Kevin O'Neill resigned as basketball coach at Tennessee to take the same position at Northwestern. At the time, Northwestern was hardly an attractive job. But O'Neill was eager to bolt Tennessee for a Big Ten school -- apparently for ANY Big Ten school -- because men's basketball was little more than an afterthought at football-crazy Tennessee. The irascible O'Neill continually clashed with an athletic department that he characterized as disinclined to devote adequate resources to the men's basketball program. Tennessee replaced Kevin O'Neill with Jerry Green, who was replaced by Buzz Peterson, who was replaced by Bruce Pearl. Now Cuonzo Martin replaces Pearl.

Kevin O'Neill left Tennessee more than a decade ago, but it remains to be seen whether the difficulties he had getting adequate support for men's basketball from the Tennessee athletic department are entirely a thing of the past. Cuonzo Martin apparently thinks they are. He'll soon find out for sure.

Mike Anderson Leaves Mizzou for Arkansas

Update (3/27/11): Cuonzo Martin is out of the running for the head coaching position at Missouri, as he has accepted the position of head men's basketball coach at Tennessee.

Original Post:

In a move that was rumored for at least a week, Arkansas has hired Missouri head basketball coach Mike Anderson to take the reins of its once-proud men's basketball program. Anderson has proven himself to be a successful high-major head coach; between his five year tenure at Missouri and his previous four years at Alabama-Birmingham, he's compiled a 200-98 career record. The move to Arkansas amounts to something of a homecoming for Anderson, as he spent seventeen years there as an assistant on Nolan Richardson's coaching staff. And since Anderson implemented Nolan Richardson's notorious tip off-to-buzzer running, trapping, full-court pressing, "40 minutes of Hell" style of basketball at UAB and at Missouri, he promises to return the Arkansas basketball program to the style of basketball that made it famous all those years ago.

Anderson's move to the Fayetteville, AR, school appears to be the right fit. It makes all the sense in the world for both parties. After spending the greater part of the last decade in the college basketball wilderness, Arkansas now has a proven head coach who resurrected the basketball program at a historically good basketball school (Missouri) in a power conference (the Big 12), and who will provide a direct link to the Razorback basketball program's early-mid 1990s glory days (Anderson having been on Nolan Richardson's coaching staff when the "40 minutes of Hell" Razorbacks won the National Championship in 1994). Coach Anderson gets a big payday -- he goes from his $1.5 million per year salary at Missouri to $2.2 million a year at Arkansas -- and he gets to direct a history and tradition-rich basketball program that just happens to play in a less challenging conference than the conference in which his previous school played (Kentucky always dominates the SEC, but beyond UK and Florida, the league is often wide open). What's more, he gets to go home.

As for Anderson's former employer, rumors abound as to which coaches are on Missouri's wish list. There's been much speculation in the St. Louis and Kansas City media about Missouri's interest -- or purported interest -- in Purdue head coach Matt Painter, Memphis head coach Josh Pastner, Missouri State head coach Cuonzo Martin, Virginia Commonwealth head coach (and hot name du jour) Shaka Smart and Oral Roberts head coach Scott Sutton.

Drive and Dish doesn't traffic in rumors. But we note the coaches' names who have been "mentioned" with regard to the open men's head basketball coaching at Missouri for the reason of illustrating how the sports media reports on coaching searches. We know of an Athletic Director at a Division I institution who is currently involved in a search for a new men's basketball coach and who advised individuals closely tied to the coaching search and hiring process not to pay attention to media reports regarding their institution's coaching vacancy. He said that roughly between 75% - 90% of the information that would be reported by the media (and dissected ad nauseam on internet message boards devoted to men's college basketball) would be uninformed speculation, misinformation or complete fiction.

Newspapers are in business to sell papers, after all. And since nobody buys papers anymore, they're in business to garner as many hits on their websites as possible. Sports articles deliver hits, and gossipy articles about coaching searches in football and men's basketball at high profile universities deliver hits from the young, college-educated male demographic almost as reliably as gossipy articles about Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Lady Gaga or Brad and Angelina deliver hits from similarly situated young females. Whether or not the information contained in those types of articles happens to be true, or is based on solid information and concrete leads, is oftentimes largely beside the point. Sure, there are sports writers who have a pretty good handle on what's really going on. And yes, there are sports writers who take their craft seriously enough that they prefer not to throw various coaches' names around for the sake of, well, throwing names around. But there's always pressure on writers to start naming names.

Hardcore fans want names! Regular fans want names! Even casual fans want names! Really, just about everybody wants names!

So writers deliver names.

We won't speculatively throw names around for the sake of throwing names around, but we will talk about the nature of the Missouri men's basketball coaching position. Missouri is a very good job, but it may not a "destination" job for most coaches. Missouri has produced many good basketball teams over the years, but Kansas is the big dog in the Big 12 conference. Missouri is a solid basketball program, but the Tigers are perpetually among the cluster of Big 12 teams -- Oklahoma, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor and sometimes Iowa State -- that scrape and scrap to get a shot at 3rd place, behind powerhouse Kansas and upstart Texas (which has become something of an accidental basketball power in recent years).

Respectable though it may be, Missouri is simply not a glamor program. It's definitely good, but it's not top-tier. And while Columbia, MO, is a decent college town, it's relatively small, isolated and rural. The proprietors of Drive and Dish have spent a great deal of time in Columbia. We like Columbia. But we'd never confuse it with Ann Arbor, Austin, Gainseville, or Chapel Hill. As college towns go, Columbia can seem pretty button-down and folksy. From the perspective of a coaching candidate considering the suitability of a potential move to Missouri, Columbia would probably look like a good place to raise a family, but anyone looking for the bright lights and the city is likely to be disappointed. In other words, it's a safe bet that Rick Pitino, John Calipari and Steve Lavin aren't fighting each other over the chance to jump ship to Mizzou.

Norm Stewart was the head coach at Missouri for 32 years. Stewart was a folksy, plainspoken, no-frills native son of the Show Me State. His persona fit the Missouri basketball program and Columbia like a glove. In 1999, Stewart was pushed out the door in favor of then-Duke associate head coach Quin Snyder. Snyder's hiring was seen as a coup for Missouri. He was probably the most in-demand young assistant coach in college basketball at the time. And he was the stylistic yin to Stewart's staid yang: the dynamic, young, Hollywood-esque Snyder was the polar opposite of salt-of-the-Earth Norm Stewart. Snyder was articulate, smart (he earned a J.D. from Duke Law and an M.B.A. from Duke's Fuqua School of Business in 1995, and as an undergrad, he carried double majors in Philosophy & Political Science while starting at point guard for Coach Krzyzewski's Blue Devils) charismatic, and good looking -- with his tasseled hair and perma-pout, Snyder looked like he could have been the late River Pheonix and Joaquin Phoenix's older brother. And as the lead recruiter on Mike Krzyzewski's Duke coaching staff, Snyder had been widely hailed as the man who delivered top-flight recruits to Duke's Durham, NC, campus -- Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, Chris Burgess, William Avery, Casey Sanders and Shane Battier were among Snyder's Duke recruits. Prior to Snyder's recruiting efforts, Mike Krzyzewski had been known as a great coach who won with players who fit his system. After Snyder's recruiting hauls, Krzyzweski became known as a coach who prepared players for the NBA.

But Quin Snyder turned out to be a disaster for Missouri basketball. Recruiting improved exponentially (as expected), but the Snyder era of Missouri Tigers hoops was riddled by one scandal after another. Some of the scandals were related to recruiting. Others were related to players' off-court behavior. Still, others were related to Snyder's own off-court behavior.

With its basketball program in shambles, Missouri dumped Snyder and replaced him with then-UAB coach Mike Anderson. Anderson was an excellent hire for Missouri, and his tenure in Columbia was a success. But his fast-paced, frenetic style of basketball always seemed better suited for the SEC than for the Big 12. And he was never able to successfully recruit elite basketball players to Missouri, as Snyder had. So it's no surprise that Coach Anderson left Missouri for Arkansas. He built up his resume at Missouri, but it was a good time for him to move up.

So now Missouri is left to conduct yet another coaching search. If Tigers fans were restless after 32 years of Norm Stewart's "boring" old coaching style, perhaps they're nearing their fill of fast lane excitement after 12 years of Snyder and Anderson (Anderson's teams played basketball in the fast lane; Snyder and several of his players lived in the fast lane).

Ultimately, Missouri would probably be better suited by hiring a strong Xs & Os coach who has strong Midwestern ties and has a solid history of head coaching success at the Division I level of college basketball -- no matter button-down and staid he may be -- than by hiring a hot, young, up-and-coming, flavor of the day coach; a recruiting whiz; or a coach who runs a gimmicky system (no matter how exciting the product on the court may be). A coach like UNLV's Lon Kruger or Oregon's Dana Altman would be perfect for Missouri. They're both great basketball coaches who have low-key, salt-of-the-Earth Midwestern personal styles, but they run clean, perennially successful basketball programs. Unfortunately, neither Kruger nor Altman is likely to leave his current position. Purdue's Matt Painter would be a home run hire for Missouri (he fits our criteria for an ideal Missouri basketball coach to a tee), but it's difficult to understand why he would have interest in leaving Purdue for Mizzou. Painter is a Purdue alumnus who was the hand-picked successor of legendary Purdue coach Gene Keady. He's enjoyed a tremendous amount of on-court success in the relatively short time he's been at the helm of his alma matter's basketball program. Why would Painter make what would be, at best, a lateral move to Missouri when the future looks bright for Purdue basketball?

In our opinion, Missouri could be a great fit for a successful, highly-regarded Mid Major coach like Wichita State's Gregg Marshall or Richmond's Chris Mooney. Both coaches currently have great jobs -- Wichita State and Richmond are among the better Mid Major programs in college basketball -- but Missouri would constitute a big step up. Virginia Commonwealth's Shaka Smart is currently THE flavor of the month, and will be a likely target for Mizzou. But 2011 NCAA Tournament success aside, Smart hasn't been a successful head coach for very long, and his climb through the coaching apprenticeship occurred primarily at institutions in the Southeastern United States (Clemson & Florida, respectively). As such, Smart's coaching learning curve took place in the ACC and the SEC, and the majority of his professional and recruiting ties are, no doubt, in the Southeast. He will almost certainly be pursued heavily by ACC member institution Georgia Tech, and he may ultimately feel more comfortable coaching in that region than in Columbia, MO, or in the Big 12 in general.

Missouri is in an unenviable position. It's one thing to mount a coaching search when you fired the previous coach; it's an entirely different thing to undertake a coaching search when your previous coach walked out on you to take a perceived better coaching job. Schools fire coaches when things are heading south. Hence, there's always a great deal of excitement that accompanies a post-firing coaching search. After all, the new coach always promises to be better than the bum who just got shown the door. Fans are excited to start anew. Everybody's buzzed from the promise of hope and change.

It's a different story when a coach unexpectedly leaves a program. It's akin to getting dumped by a girlfriend. Athletic Directors often find themselves reeling as they scramble to fill their unexpected coaching vacancies on the rebound. Mid Major programs have practice at conducting such coaching searches. Athletic Directors at that level actually expect to lose their successful coaches. If a Mid Major coach is considered a hot coaching prospect for high major programs, he's likely to leave. It happens all the time. That's why a school like VCU can recover from losing a coach like Anthony Grant to Alabama by replacing him with someone like Shaka Smart. It's why Tulsa once recovered from losing Nolan Richardson by replacing him with Tubby Smith . . . and later recovered from losing Tubby Smith by replacing him with Bill Self.

Such coaching searches, however, are rare at BCS conference schools like Missouri. For Missouri, getting dumped by Coach Anderson in favor of a perceived "sexier" basketball program is nothing short of a shot to the body. Everyone associated with the Missouri basketball program -- from the administration, to alumni, to the players, to the fans -- has just been served with a blow to the ego. And everyone associated with the Missouri program will be on pins and needles until the program can move forward with its new coach.

Drive and Dish wishes Missouri and its fans all the best. But don't expect Brad Stevens, Matt Painter or Shaka Smart to swoop in to the rescue, and allow everyone in Columbia to forget about losing Mike Anderson.

Drive and Dish 2011 Bracket

Drive and Dish came into existence one week before the start of the 2007 NCAA Tournament. In 2008, we began publishing our handwritten NCAA brackets (more here, and here) on the eve of the Tournament's opening day. Thanks to the explosion in popularity that March Madness has enjoyed over the last 20-25 years, the opening day of the NCAA Tournament has become one of the traditionally least productive work days in America. And since the Tournament opens on St. Patrick's Day this year, the tradition of blowing off work and/or school is only likely to continue.

On this fine day, Americans from all walks of life -- ranging from those at the top of the totem pole to those at the bottom -- will turn their attention to college basketball and green beer at the expense of workplace productivity. We at Drive and Dish, of course, applaud this. Our attention is turned to basketball (college basketball in particular) all year . It's nice to see the rest of the country catch up with us for two or three weeks every March. Unfortunately, over the last two years, time constraints have prevented our writers/editors from holding up the Drive and Dish tradition of dishing out season-long college basketball commentary. But on the opening day of the 2011 NCAA Tournament, this blog is doing what it can to make up for lost time. Hence, in the spirit of upholding tradition, Drive and Dish hereby reveals our handwritten, St. Patrick's Day green, official 2011 Drive and Dish NCAA Tournament bracket (note: Drive and Dish co-founder and former Atlantic Coast Conference bureau chief Mark Buckets has also kept his post-2008 tradition of declining to submit his bracket):


Notes:

1.) As we've said over and over, we love Ohio State. The Buckeyes are strong at every position, have good senior leadership, and present potential matchup problems for their potential opponents. But despite the season-long superb play of super freshman Jared Sullinger and Aaron Craft, it's never a good thing to have freshmen starting at the key positions of point guard and center (as Craft and Sullinger do for OSU). Sullinger and Craft certainly play with more composure and savvy than typical freshmen. But at some point in the Tournament -- particularly as Ohio State advances into the Tournament's later rounds -- their youth and inexperience is likely to catch up with them at crucial moments (even if it's only for a play or two).

2.) Duke lost Jon Scheyer, Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas from its 2010 National Championship team to graduation (Scheyer was arguably the Blue Devils' most important player). But those losses are more or less offset by the presence of pre season All American seniors Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith. Scheyer was the steady senior leader who always made the right decision at the right time, and thus put his teammates in optimal position to succeed on every possession. He has been missed all season. That said, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee rewarded Duke with a fairly easy bracket. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski has guided Duke to four National Championships; there's no question that he knows how to win in the Tournament. And while it's fairly apparent that Duke's 2010 team was better than the 2011 team, we think the Blue Devils have all the pieces necessary to survive and advance all the way through the relatively weak 2011 NCAA Tournament field.

3.) West Virginia lost most of the key players who led them through their 2010 Final Four run. But fortunately, Bob Huggins and his Mountaineers still have senior point guard Joe Mazzulla -- the guy who's run the show for the last four years. Mazzulla is hardly a future NBA lottery pick- in-waiting. But he's an experienced, heady, athletic point guard. And paired with with his long and athletic teammates, Mazzulla and West Virginia is better than most people think. They'll be a tough out in the Tournament.

4.) Rick Barnes' Texas teams fall apart at the end of every season (excepting the Longhorns' 2003 Final Four team). This year, the Longhorns have even more talent usual, and that's saying something, since the Longhorn teams of recent years have been loaded with talent. Freshman big man Tristan Thompson is a potential NBA lottery draft pick. The Longhorns have a talented and experienced back court. We usually pick Texas' first or second round opponents in our brackets. This year, we have Texas advancing past Oakland in the first round, despite the fact that we think Oakland is more than capable of catching the Horns off guard and giving them a run for their money. Oakland is a very good team. We wouldn't be shocked if they upset Texas. We picked Texas because we think the Horns' superior size, athleticism and depth will win out in the end. But, as usual, we're skeptical of Texas.

5.) We wouldn't be surprised if Richmond upsets Vanderbilt. As we've said before, we love head coach Kevin Stallings' Vanderbilt teams. And after much back and forth, we reluctantly picked them to advance in our bracket. But we expect Richmond to give them big trouble. And we won't be the least bit surprised if Richmond knocks Stallings' Commodores out in round one. After all, a twelve seed beats a five seed every year. We may come to regret not picking coach Chris Mooney's Richmond Spiders; they could very well end up being one of those notoriously dangerous 12 seeds.

6.) We don't necessarily think that highly of Georgetown, but we think they'll survive Virginia Commonwealth and upset Purdue in the second round. If that happens, Georgetown will likely face Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen. Notre Dame has probably been our favorite team in college basketball over the last two years (since the Drive and Dish retirement of Duke superfan Mark Buckets, the Duke-partisan sensibilities of this blog have decreased exponentially, the past two years' brackets notwithstanding). But we think the Irish are more vulnerable than most people realize. That's why we picked Florida State to upset the Irish in the Tournament's second round . Our pick is a long shot, though. Notre Dame should win that game (and probably will if the two teams do, in fact, meet). And if Big East rivals Georgetown and Notre Dame face off in the NCAA Tournament, Notre Dame will probably win. But due to how the two teams match up, a Notre Dame vs. Georgetown could be a lot closer than most people will be inclined to think.

7.) Notre Dame's Ben Hansbrough and Pittsburgh's Brad Wanamaker have probably been our favorite players to watch in 2011 (Ohio State's equally tough Aaron Craft deserves mention too, despite being a mere freshman). Hansbrough and Wanamaker are highly skilled, tough-as-nails, high basketball IQ seniors who seem to play with ice water in their veins. They're both great college basketball players. College basketball doesn't have enough stars who stick around for their senior years. But both of these guys did. And both are exactly the kind of star who's capable of carrying his team deep into the Tournament. We're big fans of both Notre Dame and Pittsburgh. Although we didn't pick either team to advance to the Final Four, we actually hope both manage to do so.

8.) We debated for days, but we ended up selecting Butler over Old Dominion in the first round game between those two outstanding mid major teams. Both clubs are talented and superbly coached. What's more, Drive and Dish editors have seen both play in person several times over the last two or three years. It's too bad that they have to play each other in the first round, because we think both teams are more than capable of holding their own in a potential second bout with Pittsburgh.

To be sure, Butler isn't the same team as the 2010 Butler team that made the most improbable run to the National Title game in recent NCAA Tournament history. Last year's early entry of superstar point forward Gordon Hayward in the NBA draft left the Bulldogs without the player who was most responsible for getting them to the Final Four. We waited until the last minute to fill our bracket out because we couldn't decide whether to pick Old Dominion or Butler. We came ever so close to picking Old Dominion. In the end, we decided that Butler's size and NCAA Tournament savvy will probably be enough to get them past what we think promises to be a major scare from Blaine Taylor's tough Old Dominion Monarchs.

9.) We think Kansas is over-hyped this year (again). We think they're more vulnerable than most of the experts realize. But the Tournament Selection Committee rewarded KU with a favorable bracket. In theory, Notre Dame would appear to be a tough possible opponent for Bill Self's Jayhawks. But if Notre Dame survives long enough to face Kansas (which we're, regrettably, not predicting), we think Mike Brey's Fighting Irish will have trouble matching up at key positions (particularly under the basket).

10.) While still on the subject of match ups, we turn our attention to the first round game between UCLA and Michigan State. Our bracket shows Michigan State (a ten seed) making an out-of-nowhere run to the Final Four. We don't really think that's likely to happen. But we couldn't help but notice that the Spartans' bracket shapes up nicely for them if they can get past a very tough UCLA ballclub in the first round.

We went against our better judgment and kept filling Tom Izzo's Spartans in the winners' spaces because Michigan State has Final Four level talent and experience, and because they appear to match up well with most potential opponents in their bracket. There is, however, one big problem with that scenario: one team they don't appear to match up particularly well with is UCLA -- their first round opponent. Ben Howland's Bruins are a rarity for a Pac-10 team: not only are they long, athletic and highly-skilled, they're actually rugged and physical. So although Michigan State's big, tough front line should be able to give most teams in the Spartans' bracket trouble, UCLA's front line is, at the very least, equally big and tough.

UCLA vs. Michigan State could be one of the most interesting first round games to watch. Despite many experts' pre-season projections that had Michigan State playing for a Championship in 2011, the Spartans have played inexplicably poorly all season long. If they can finally pull themselves together in time for tonight's NCAA Tournament opening game (admittedly, a very big "if"), MSU has the talent, size and experience to play with anybody.

NCAA Tournament Field Set: Drive and Dish Delivers Quick Selection Sunday Night Thoughts

NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday is winding down, and Drive and Dish has been silent all day. We've been thinking on and off about this year's NCAA Tournament field since the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee released the official 2011 NCAA Tournament bracket earlier in the evening. Unfortunately, 2011 has been a profoundly uneventful year in college basketball, and unlike recent years in which we went against the conventional wisdom to correctly predict the eventual NCAA Tournament winner in or brackets, we cannot honestly report that we have any particular unique wisdom regarding this year's NCAA Tournament field. It's been a down year for college basketball, and the Tournament field is relatively weak from top to bottom. If you've followed college basketball at all this year, you already know as much. At this point, most peoples' dogs and cats probably know it too. So there's not much we can say that hasn't probably been said many times in other forums. Nevertheless, Drive and Dish editors are contractually obligated to write about college basketball. So in the waning hours of Selection Sunday, we offer a few thoughts about the NCAA Tournament:

1.) Ohio State was awarded with the top overall seed in the Tournament. And they're probably the best team in college basketball. They're strong in every aspect of the game. They have no clear weaknesses. They have great inside scoring, courtesy of freshman superstar big man Jared Sullinger. They have strong play on the perimeter from their guards and wings. Freshman point guard Aaron Craft takes care of the ball, runs the offense, picks apart defenses and controls the tempo of the game like a seasoned veteran. Senior David Lighty can break opponents down from the wing and get to the basket whenever he wants to. William Buford is an underrated guard who would probably be a star on most other teams. Jon Diebler may very well be the most automatic shooter in all of college basketball. And head coach Thad Matta has the luxury of being able to call on a talented bench.

Ohio State's high-powered offense may get most of the attention, but it's their hard-nosed defense that makes them go. Craft is one of the best on-the-ball defenders at the point in college basketball. David Lighty is a chiseled, fleet-footed athlete with great vision and quick hands. He's as adept at slipping into passing lanes, sliding over on the help side, trapping, and recovering on the perimeter as anybody in the college game. What's more, with his combination of size, strength and athleticism, he's capable of guarding multiple positions.

Craft and Lighty's perimeter defense clearly sets the tone, but the Buckeyes team defense has the ability to simply shut teams down.

Drive and Dish loves Ohio State and thinks they're probably the best team in college basketball. But we can't get the fact that experience wins in the NCAA Tournament out of our heads. As impressive as freshmen Jared Sullinger and Aaron Craft have been for Ohio State this year, we have to wonder if a team led by freshmen at the key positions of point guard and center can really win it all. Craft is so heady and plays with so much poise that we're tempted to make an exception to Drive and Dish's near-ironclad "never pick teams that have a freshman at point guard" rule. But as impressed as we've been all season with Craft, Sullinger and the Buckeyes, we're still not entirely sold. Check back to see our ultimate take on Ohio State when we release our filled-out bracket late on Tuesday night.

2.) Last Saturday, throngs of Duke fans were at wits' end following their season-ending road loss to arch-rival North Carolina. Drive and Dish editors even had to console former Drive and Dish ACC bureau chief (and rabid Duke fan) Mark Buckets after the game via several lengthy late night SMS texts. At an hour when most other people were sending and receiving booty calls, Drive and Dish staff were texting Mr. Buckets off the ledge. The crux of our argument was that ending the season by losing to a young, up-and-coming and surging team like North Carolina on the road was no big deal for a veteran team like Duke. Sure, the Blue Devils definitely miss the stalwart senior leadership that Jon Scheyer provided for last year's NCAA Championship team. Nevertheless, they return most of the other key players who helped to propel them to the 2010 Championship.

We instructed Mr. Buckets to reserve judgment on Duke's chances for defending their Championship until the conclusion of the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) tournament. We thought that if Duke's veteran team could turn on the jets in the ACC tournament, they could use that tournament to build ever-crucial momentum at just the right time. Our contention was that an ACC tournament trophy would wipe the North Carolina loss from memory and put the wind at the Blue Devils' sails just in time for the NCAA Tournament.

Succeeding in the NCAA Tournament is all about surging and going on runs. Successful veteran teams like Duke know how to surge at the right time. By beating North Carolina to win the ACC tournament, Duke has put itself in position to surge its way through the NCAA Tournament.

3.) As all the pundits say, the Big East is the best conference in college basketball. The 16-team mega-league has more good teams than any other conference. Eleven Big East teams are in the NCAA Tournament field. The league is stocked with big, physical, well coached teams feature outstanding perimeter players who handle the ball, shoot and slash to the basket like NBA guards. For people who truly love basketball, the Big East might just be the most fun league to watch. The ACC and the SEC play more of an uptempo, fast game than the often half court-oriented Big East. And that looks great on TV. But for those who truly love college basketball -- and know the Xs & Os of the game -- it's nearly impossible not to enjoy watching Big East games.

That said, the Big East is overrated.

It always is.

That's why we expect several of the eleven Big East teams to get upset in the Tournament's early rounds. It happens every year. It will happen again this year.

4.) The conventional wisdom seems to point to Kansas winning it all this year. That was the case last year too. Obviously, Duke surprised many people by holding on to the Championship in 2010. We thought Duke had a pretty obvious clear path through their bracket, but everybody else in the free world seemed to think Kansas was a shoe-in (until the Jayhawks got upset by Northern Iowa -- after that, most people who picked KU turned their allegiance to Kentucky). So it would be tempting to pick against Kansas for the simple reason that everybody else seems to be picking them. But we predict the outcomes of games by analyzing a number of factors, not the least of which is how each participant matches up against each other.

Kansas probably has the requisite pieces in place to win the NCAA Championship. Yet, Drive and Dish has serious reservations about Kansas' prospects anyway. The Jayhawks are vulnerable.

5.) Oakland (MI) might be the best team in the Tournament that nobody has heard of. As a 13 seed, they face 4 seed Texas on Friday in Tulsa, OK. Oakland should give coach Rick Barnes' ever-disappointing Longhorns a run for their money. In the end, Texas' superior size and depth will probably win out, but don't be shocked if Oakland pulls off the upset anyway.

6.) With everybody and their grandmother complaining about Virginia Commonwealth's surprising inclusion in the Tournament field, we expect VCU's players to come out with gargantuan chips on their shoulders. They face the Kevin O'Neill-coached USC Trojans in one of Wednesday's play in games in Dayton, OH. USC is big and talented, but VCU has something to prove. Drive and Dish likes VCU's chances to knock off USC en route to a Friday showdown with Georgetown in Chicago.

7.) Michigan is one of the hottest teams in the country. Fans of other schools love to hate on head coach John Beilein. But he's done quite a nice job in his time at Michigan. Beilein runs a fairly unorthodox system for college basketball. We love his system because it relies on highly skilled, fundamentally sound players with high basketball IQs, and because it emphasizes our favorite play -- the drive and dish (or drive and kick). It's much more of a wide-open offense than most college teams employ, but it requires cerebral players who can put the ball on the floor and shoot the lights out. This year, Beilein finally has a team full of players he recruited to fit into that system. And he's even moved away from his trademark 1-3-1 zone defense somewhat in favor of more man to man (and the occasional 2-3 zone).

John Beilein's teams would be fun to play for. We don't know coach Beilein personally, but coaches who do have told us that he's an outstanding human being in addition to being an outstanding coach. It's been nice to see his young 2010-11 team exceed the "experts'" expectations. We think Michigan is poised to knock off Tennessee and advance to play Duke. Michigan won't beat Duke, but we expect coach Beilein's young Wolverines to be a thorn in the Blue Devils' side for quite a while in that potential game.

8.) Penn State deserved to get into the Tournament. They're not a very well balanced team and they don't have a great deal of depth. But they're a gritty, scrapping team with a great backcourt. Senior guard Talor Battle is the all time leading scorer in the history of Penn St. basketball. Penn St. got a favorable 10 seed, and opens against 7 seed Temple on Thursday in Washington, D.C. If you like guard play, that should be a fun game to watch.

9.) Memphis is a long, athletic, but wildly undisciplined team. They play like garbage way too often, but can be truly dangerous on the occasions when they put it together. It's difficult to predict how they'll play in the NCAA Tournament, but if Memphis can somehow put together long stretches in which they're focused and play within themselves (big, big ifs), they could make some serious noise. They play a very beatable Arizona team in the first round.

Should Memphis advance past the first round, they would face the winner of the game between eminently beatable Texas and Oakland (MI) in the second round. It probably won't happen, but Memphis has the horses to get past the Tournament's first weekend.

10.) Georgia plays fast. They're a long, athletic SEC team that likes to push the ball at warp speed. They're well coached by second year head coach Mark Fox, but sometimes they play wild and undisciplined anyway. Somewhat like Memphis, Georgia has the potential to be dangerous, provided they can find a way to play within themselves. It wouldn't be a big shock if they upset Washington in the 7-10 game in Charlotte on Friday.

11.) Butler vs. Old Dominion: It's no secret that Brad Stevens has done a phenomenal job at Butler. But few people know are aware of what a great job Blaine Taylor has done at Old Dominion. Coach Taylor has made the Monarchs a fixture in the postseason. Last year, Drive and Dish picked ODU to make a Cinderella run to the Sweet Sixteen. And while that didn't quite happen, the Monarchs did upset Notre Dame in the first round. Nobody here at Drive and Dish knows coach Taylor personally, but friends and associates of ours who do know him tell us what a great coach he is. And having seen Old Dominion play in person a few times over the last two or three years, we've left the building impressed by them every time (that's why we picked them last year).

It's too bad that Butler and Old Dominion play each other in the first round. Both teams are capable of making noise in the Tournament, but only one will get to advance.

12.) Speaking of Old Dominion, it's worth noting that the NCAA Tournament field includes four mid major teams from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Lost amid the heavy attention given to the Tournament Selection Committee's controversial decision to burst Virginia Tech's "bubble" by leaving the Hokies out of the Tournament for the second straight year has been the ever-mounting body of evidence that the Commonwealth is quickly becoming the epicenter of mid major college basketball.

Virginia mid majors Old Dominion, George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth (all from the Colonial Athletic Association) and Richmond (from the Atlantic 10 Conference) all made it into the Tournament. And it's worth noting that none of those four programs are strangers to the Tournament, or merely caught "lightning in a bottle" this year. Each of the four has had recent success in the NCAA Tournament. Remember, in spite of the made-for-Hollywood, "Hoosiers"-esque storyline of Butler's 2010 Final Four run -- small, over-matched Indiana school makes improbable, "David vs. Goliath" surge to championship game against perennial basketball powerhouse -- it was George Mason that made history by being the first mid major Cinderella to break through to the Final Four in 2006. What's more, Richmond has been a frequent NCAA Tournament participant for the better part of the last 25 years. Virginia Commonwealth upset Duke in the first round of the Tournament in 2007. And, as mentioned, Old Dominion upset Notre Dame in the first round last year.

13.) Michigan State was one of the most disappointing teams in college basketball this year. Many college basketball analysts expected the Spartans to make a return trip to the Final Four. As it happens, Tom Izzo's team limped in to the Tournament as a bubble team.

But none of that matters now. The Spartans are dangerous. And they were awarded a very favorable seeding by the Selection Committee. If the Spartans can get past UCLA in the first round, a vulnerable, over-seeded Florida (2 seed) likely awaits. Should Michigan State get that far, the winners of St. John's vs. Gonzaga and BYU vs. Wofford await.

Michigan State is big and talented. Their front line can play with anybody in college basketball. But injuries and defections have taken a severe toll this year. As a result, the 2010-11 Spartans are not the kind of elite-level team that college basketball fans have come to expect from Michigan State in recent years. And unlike most Tom Izzo coached teams, this year's Spartans are not particularly deep. But since the 2011 Tournament field is so weak, Michigan State probably still has enough pieces in place to do some damage.

Senior point guard Kalin Lucas was an the Big Ten Player of the Year in 2009. But he suffered a ruptured achilles tendon in last year's NCAA Tournament during a second round game against Maryland. Achilles tendon ruptures are perhaps the most difficult injuries to recover from. A post-achilles surgery athlete will typically undergo nine months of rehabilitation before being cleared to resume athletic competition. But it's generally accepted that it takes athletes considerably longer -- one and a half to two years -- to round back into pre-achilles rupture form.

Kalin Lucas' return to the court in 2010-11 was full of ups and downs. Lucas had always been known as a "lightning quick" guard who loved to blow past perimeter defenders and loved to push the ball in transition. But on his return, he was visibly slower than he had been before. He no longer had the superior speed and quickness that he had relied on so heavily in years past. And he had trouble elevating on his jump shots. As a result, he struggled for much of the season. However, by February, Kalin Lucas was beginning to show flashes of his pre-injury self.

If Kalin Lucas can find his legs and play with quickness and bounce, Michigan State has the potential to go deep in the Tournament. But with the mid-season dismissal of Lucas' backcourt running mate Corey Lucious, the Spartans have little margin for error. Lucious picked up the slack and helped lead the Spartans to the Final Four when Lucas got injured last year. With Lucious in the backcourt, Michigan State could afford the occasional sluggish post-injury performance by Lucas. Without him, Michigan State will go only as far as Lucas can take them.

14.) Purdue has been great all year, but they're vulnerable. They run a nice 4 out 1 in motion offense, with JuJuan Johnson as their only big man around the basket. But though highly talented and tall, Johnson is too thin to handle teams that feature rugged, physical big men. What's more, although he's a good rebounder and shot-blocker, Johnson appears most comfortable in the high post. He's athletic and he's got a great jump shot for a big man, but he can't be counted on to mix it up under the basket with bruising big men night after night.

Guard E'Twaun Moore is what basketball people call a "scorer." He can shoot, create his own shot and get to the basket. It's not always pretty, but he manages to put the ball in the basket . . . a lot. And he gets to the free throw line all the time. Moore is tough and he exhibits a good amount of leadership for a non-primary ball handler.

Purdue is a very good team that has put together a great season. They play with a great deal of intensity, but they're not very big or very deep. Thanks to a favorable seeding (which they deserved), the Boilers open the Tournament in nearby Chicago. That's good for Purdue, because it should ensure that plenty of Purdue alumni and fans will be in the stands for their early Tournament games. That might give them something of a quasi-home court edge.

Purdue is a legitimate Sweet Sixteen contender. If they get that far, a potential in-state Sweet Sixteen match up with Notre Dame awaits in San Antonio (provided Notre Dame doesn't get upset by Akron, or the winner of Florida State vs. Texas A&M).

However, as much as Drive and Dish loves Purdue, we don't see the Boilermakers as a legitimate Final Four contender. Bigger, deeper and more physical teams will give them trouble as they advance through the Tournament.

15.) Kevin Stallings has done a great job at Vanderbilt. Since he's been coach, the Commodores have become a fixture in the NCAA Tournament. Historically, Vanderbilt has had quite a bit of basketball success in the SEC. But prior to Stallings' arrival at the selective Nashville school, the program hadn't found a way to sustain its success, or to be a consistent, year-in and year-out lock for the NCAA Tournament.

Stallings' Vanderbilt teams are perennial AP Top 25 ranked NCAA Tournament participants. And that's no surprise. In the 1990s, Stallings built Illinois State into a mini power in the Missouri Valley Conference. Like his Vanderbilt teams, Stallings' Redbird teams were fixtures in the NCAA Tournament. As a result of his success at Illinois State, Stallings had numerous opportunities to take head coaching jobs at higher profile institutions. Rumor has it that at one point, Stallings even turned down the opportunity to become head coach at Michigan (after the firing of Brian Ellerbe). Whether or not coach Stallings actually said no to Michigan, the Collinsville, IL, native and former Purdue point guard was clearly in no hurry to leave Illinois State for alleged greener pastures. He stayed at ISU until the right offer -- Vanderbilt -- came along.

Upon coach Stallings' departure for Vanderbilt, Illinois State fell off the college basketball map.

Vanderbilt has a rough path in the Tournament. They face a tough first round opponent in 12 seed Richmond. If they beat Richmond, they'll most likely have to play a very dangerous Louisville team. Louisville coach Rick Pitino has tough, talented guards (as usual), and has his Cardinals surging at just the right time (as usual).

Ohio State Finishes Regular Season Ranked Atop AP Top 25

The men's college basketball regular season concluded this weekend. The Final AP Top 25 rankings for the regular season were released today. Ohio State finished the regular season by retaking the No. 1 ranking. The Buckeyes now head into this week's Big Ten tournament with a figurative target on their backs. Somehow however, we don't expect that to be a problem for Coach Thad Matta's team. We'd be surprised if they don't take home the Big Ten tournament title.

Kansas is ranked No. 2. Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Duke round out the top five.

Drive and Dish doesn't expect to see many huge upsets involving top 10 teams in the conference tournaments this week, but we wouldn't be terribly surprised if a highly-seeded team or two gets upset in the Big East Tournament. Pitt and Notre Dame are the obvious favorites, but teams like Louisville, Connecticut, St. John's and West Virginia could be dangerous.

Ohio State is easily the class of the Big Ten. Purdue might be able to give them a scare in the Big Ten tournament, but OSU is the clear favorite.

Kansas is the obvious favorite in the Big 12 tournament. But Texas and Kansas State have the horses to deny Coach Bill Self's Jayhawks access to their presumed throne. It should be noted, however, that Drive and Dish always advises against picking Texas in the post season. We've said it again and again over the years, but Coach Rick Barnes' teams just aren't put together to win championships, despite their ever-impressive scores on the proverbial "eye test."

Finally, we expect North Carolina to beat Duke in the ACC tournament final. North Carolina is a young team that's surging at the right time. They enter the conference tournament with perhaps more momentum than any other team in the country. Although they struggled quite a bit early in the season, Coach Roy Williams' Tar Heels should be seen as a strong Final Four contender again this year.

AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Ohio State (52)	29-2	1,612
2	Kansas (13)	29-2	1,569
3	Pittsburgh	27-4	1,493
4	Notre Dame	25-5	1,416
5	Duke	27-4	1,265
6	North Carolina	24-6	1,209
7	San Diego State	29-2	1,197
8	Brigham Young	28-3	1,187
9	Purdue	25-6	1,108
10	Texas	25-6	1,081
11	Syracuse	25-6	984
12	Florida	24-6	931
13	Wisconsin	23-7	870
14	Louisville	23-8	794
15	Kentucky	22-8	639
16	Arizona	25-6	562
17	St. John's	20-10	462
18	Xavier	24-6	437
19	Kansas State	22-9	345
20	West Virginia	20-10	294
21	Connecticut	21-9	281
22	Georgetown	21-9	244
23	Utah State	28-3	234
24	Temple	24-6	209
25	Cincinnati	24-7	202

• Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 177, Vanderbilt 101, Villanova 64, UCLA 40, UNLV 29, Missouri 22, George Mason 12, Old Dominion 11, Alabama 10, Belmont 9, Butler 9, Gonzaga 6, Saint Mary's 4, Virginia Commonwealth 3, UAB 2, Harvard 1

• Dropped from rankings: Villanova 19, Vanderbilt 21, Missouri 22, Texas A&M 24

Caltech Ends Colossal 26-Year Conference Losing Streak

(Image: California Institute of Technology).


The California Institute of Technology is known as one of the world's elite universities: it's an extremely selective science and engineering-oriented institution which, despite having a tiny enrollment -- its undergraduate enrollment is approximately 950 and its graduate enrollment is approximately 1,200 -- has produced 31 Nobel Prize winners. Perhaps not surprisingly, Caltech (as it's commonly known) has a reputation for being the ultimate "geek" school (with apologies to M.I.T. and the University of Chicago). One thing that's certain, though, is that Caltech is definitely not known as a basketball school. The Caltech men's basketball team carried a 26-year, 310 game conference losing streak into Tuesday night's game against Occidental.

But Tuesday, Caltech beat Occidental 46-45. It was the Beavers' first win over a conference rival in the NCAA Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Association since their 48-47 win over the University of La Verne on January 23, 1985.

Congratulations to the Caltech men's basketball team and to Caltech Coach Oliver "Doc" Eslinger. Coach Eslinger is a what might be termed a "friend of the program" here at Drive and Dish. His fine blog, "Doc's Head Games" has been in our blog roll (which remains, somewhat regrettably, at the bottom of the site ... at least for now) for the last several years. Due to Coach Eslinger's highly demanding schedule, he doesn't have much time for blogging. As a result, "Doc's Head Games" often goes weeks (and sometimes months) without being updated. But Coach Eslinger's posts are always interesting and informative, regardless of the date on the last posting. "Doc's Head Games" is an outstanding basketball blog that offers first-rate analysis of any number of things pertinent to the coaching and execution of good basketball. But the blog's real focus is sports psychology. Drive and Dish recommends strongly that readers who have any kind of interest in the mental side of sports -- basketball in particular -- bookmark and subscribe to "Doc's Head Games."

Anyone who's ever endured a slump or losing streak in a sport, regardless of level, probably knows all too well how much of a burden a slump or losing streak can be for individual athletes and for teams. But it's difficult to imagine the psychological strain that carrying a 26-year conference losing streak into each game must have placed on Caltech's players. Ending that colossal losing streak gets the mother of all proverbial "monkeys" off Caltech's back. Coach Eslinger, with his background in sports psychology, may be more well-placed at Caltech than he would be elsewhere. Caltech's players are expected to lose nearly every time they take the court. That's a tremendous mental obstacle for any team to overcome, regardless of how bright its players are off the court. The mental side of athletic competition is a bigger factor in sports than most people realize. As such, there's a great deal of truth to the old cliche that winning begets more winning, and vice-versa. After Tuesday night's game, Coach Eslinger said, “I hope that everyone who has participated in Caltech men’s basketball is able to celebrate a little bit tonight.” Indeed.

Last Remaining Undefeated Team Falls: Wisconsin Upends Ohio State's Hopes For Perfect Season

(Reuters photo: Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor [Left] and Jon Leuer [Right] celebrate their win over No. 1 Ohio State).



No. 1 ranked Ohio State was undefeated when they entered the Kohl Center in Madison, WI, for their Saturday afternoon game against No. 13 Wisconsin. But the Buckeyes exited the Kohl Center with their hopes of an undefeated season dashed after they were upset by Wisconsin 71-67. Wisconsin junior point guard Jordan Taylor scored 21 of his 27 points and dished out 4 assists in the final 13 minutes of the game, as he and the Badgers overcome a 15 point Ohio State lead en route to victory.

Ohio State will drop from No. 1 when the new AP Top 25 is released on Monday. Current No. 2 Kansas will, undoubtedly, overtake the No. 1 position. But Ohio State will be just fine. No one really expected them to finish the season with an undefeated record. As Drive and Dish opined when the previously undefeated and No. 1 ranked Duke Blue Devils lost their first game of the season in January, nobody goes undefeated in college basketball today. Bob Knight's 1976 Indiana Hoosiers delivered the last undefeated season in men's college basketball. In the ensuing 35 years, nobody else has finished the season with an unblemished record. And it's extremely unlikely that anybody will do so anytime soon, if ever.

The loss will have no bearing on Ohio State's prospects for earning a trip to the 2011 Final Four and a shot at the 2011 National Championship. They still must be considered legitimate contenders for both honors. However, it bears mention that teams which rely heavily on freshmen rarely win Championships--especially teams that start a freshman at point guard. And despite the leadership of talented upperclassmen David Lighty, William Buford and Jon Diebler, coach Thad Matta's Buckeyes are led freshman superstar center Jared Sullinger and start freshman Aaron Craft at point guard.

Drive and Dish considers the 2011 Ohio State Buckeyes to be the most talented, best balanced team in college basketball. But they face an uphill battle in their quest to reach the Final Four, if for no other reason than their heavy reliance on freshmen at the key positions of center and point guard. Jared Sullinger might be the best player in the college game, but he's still a freshman (despite the fact that he doesn't play like one). At some point in the NCAA Tournament, his inexperience--as well as the inexperience of freshman point guard Craft--is likely to catch up with the Buckeyes.

So who do we expect to win the 2011 National Championship? It's still too early to answer that question, or to even identify a short-list of likely teams. It's been one of those rare seasons in college basketball in which no team has distinguished itself as a favorite. Defending National Champion Duke still probably has to be considered the team to beat, despite the fact that the Blue Devils have lost several key players from their 2010 Championship team. But there's lots of room for an upstart to take the college basketball world by storm. Can Ohio State be that team? Possibly, but Buckeye fans shouldn't hold their collective breath waiting for that to happen. No freshman has taken his team to an NCAA men's basketball title since Carmello Anthony directed Syracuse to the 2003 Championship. And Anthony was a noteworthy exception to an otherwise near-ironclad rule: prior to 2003, Louisville's Purvis Ellison had been the last freshman to lead his team to a National Championship (1986). Michael Jordan famously hit the game-winning shot as a freshman for North Carolina in the 1982 National Championship game, but the young Jordan was far from the leader of his team--upperclassmen James Worthy, Sam Perkins and Matt Daugherty led the '82 Tar Heels.

Ohio State is very talented and should be considered extremely dangerous with regard to their potential for making a run deep into the NCAA Tournament. But the odds are still against them cutting down the nets in April.

Illinois: On the Bubble Again

(Photo: Indiana players celebrate Thursday's upset win over No. 20 Illinois: Darron Cummings, Champaign [IL] News-Gazette)


It's become a familiar refrain here at Drive and Dish, but we gave serious consideration to using this blog to predict an Indiana upset over No. 20 Illinois yesterday. Unfortunately, yesterday's beginning-to-end, tightly-packed schedule didn't permit us the time required to write a coherent, quality blog post. But we thought that last night's game looked to be an obvious "trap game" for the always mercurial Fighting Illini: Illinois was coming off a hard-fought, nail-biting, nationally-televised home loss to to No. 1 Ohio State and was expected to make amends by rolling over an injury-riddled, last-place opponent on the road.

As long as the sun comes up in the east, Bruce Weber's Illini can be expected to follow up a heart-breaking loss in which they "choke" at the end of a nationally-televised "big game" against a highly ranked opponent (Illinois' usual "big game" result), with an unforeseen, almost laughable, quickie loss to a lower-regarded opponent. Such "let down" losses are usually the result of Illinois' players overlooking their supposedly "inferior" opponents, and accordingly, forgetting to "show up."

If you're a smart gambler, you always bet against Illinois.

And once again, it's too bad we didn't get the chance to make our prediction, because, true to form, No. 20 Illinois suffered a humiliating 52-49 road loss to struggling Indiana Thursday night in Bloomington, IN.

With the upset win, the Hoosiers notched their mere seventh Big Ten conference win -- and their first win over an opponent ranked in the AP Top 25 -- since Tom Crean became head coach of the once-great, but recently-moribund program three years ago. Making matters worse for Illinois was the fact that the depleted Hoosiers were without both of their starting guards, Verdell Jones and Maurice Creek.

Illinois' record now drops to 14-7 overall, and to an eye-opening 4-4 in Big Ten play. Indiana improved to a meager 11-10 overall, and 2-6 in the Big Ten. What makes Illinois' most recent letdown loss all the more galling for Illini fans is the fact that, once again, Illinois has failed to live up to lofty preseason expectations. Most analysts had expected the upperclassmen-laden Illini to compete for the 2011 Big Ten conference title and to be a major player in the NCAA Tournament in March. But now with the Big Ten title out of reach, Illinois finds itself in an all-too-familiar place -- sitting directly atop the NCAA Tournament bubble.

College basketball fans may remember that Illinois was widely expected to do big things last year. However, the 2009-2010 team spent the season with a figurative ball and chain affixed to an ankle after it sauntered its way into back-to-back embarrassing upset losses at the hands of Utah and Bradley in the 2009 Las Vegas Invitational Thanksgiving Tournament. Despite high preseason expectations, the 2010 Illini muddled their way through what turned out to be a challenging schedule, and limped into the final week of the season as one of the most high profile teams on the proverbial NCAA Tournament "bubble." Ultimately, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee left Illinois out of the Tournament field, and the Illini ended their disappointing 2010 season with an ugly home loss to Dayton in the N.I.T.

This season was supposed to be different. Heading into the inaugural 2010-2011 tip-off, Illinois looked good on paper. First, they had the distinction of being the tallest team in college basketball. Their roster had two players who stood at least seven feet tall, and they had a returning starting front line that went 7'1", 6'9" and 6'9," respectively. Second, Illinois featured a promising coterie of experienced upperclassman, talented sophomores and highly-touted freshmen from the much-hyped 2010 Illini recruiting class. But perhaps most importantly, Illinois entered the season with the ace-in the-hole of being led by a standout senior point guard, Demetri McCamey. And that seemed to bode extremely well for the Illini, since point guards are the lifeblood of college basketball. Want to look like a genius when filling out your NCAA Tournament bracket? Pick teams that are led by tough, experienced, standout point guards. Your brackets will thank you.

Unfortunately for Illinois, all their size, talent (or purported talent) and experience hasn't been enough to turn their fortunes around from last year. First team All Big Ten senior point guard Demetri McCamey, senior power forward Mike Davis, senior center Mike Tisdale and senior forward Bill Cole have loads of experience, but they have yet to exhibit consistent toughness, intensity, competitiveness and determination to win. That amounts to a lack of leadership. And it shows in the results, as the Illini are quickly spiraling their way out of being in legitimate NCAA Tournament contention.

This past Saturday, llinois gave undefeated, No. 1 Ohio State all it could handle in the friendly confines (for the Illini--not so friendly for visiting teams) of Assembly Hall in Champaign, IL. But predictably, Ohio State's much-vaunted inside game, led by super freshman Jared Sullinger, wore the Illini down late in the game. And ultimately, the Illini came up short of pulling off an upset win over the No. 1 team in college basketball. That wouldn't have been a problem for Illinois if the Illini had come out of Bloomington, IN, with a "W" last night (as they were supposed to do). Close losses to good teams don't hurt you in the eyes of the Tournament Selection Committee when you've got a good record, you have plenty of impressive wins over good teams, you have a string of road wins, and you win the games that you're supposed to win. But close losses to good teams won't help you get you into the NCAA Tournament when you're bogged down with multiple embarrassing losses to bad teams, when you don't win games on the road (Illinois is currently 1-3 on the road), and when you fall to teams that you're supposed to beat.

Illinois was supposed to be good this year. But once again, they've failed to live up to expectations. And once again, they're in big trouble with regard to their prospects for making it in to the NCAA Tournament.

Florida State Upsets No. 1 Duke

Yesterday, Drive and Dish returned to posting about basketball (sort of) when we explained why we didn't run a blog post predicting a Penn State upset win over No. 16 Illinois, despite the fact that we expected Penn State to win. It's become routine for Penn State to upset Illinois. It happens almost every year. Illinois may have been heavily favored to win Tuesday night's game, but Penn State has had Illinois' number over the years.

Similarly, the mighty Duke basketball program has been upended by unheralded Florida State several times in recent years. Just as Illinois always seems to struggle when they play at Penn State, Duke seems to struggle when they're ranked No. 1 and they play Florida State on the road in Tallahassee. Florida St. upset a top-ranked Duke team in 2002 and upset another top-ranked Duke team in 2006. We never, however, imagined that Duke would have trouble with Florida State this year. Given Duke's previously unblemished record, season-long No. 1 ranking (obviously, having a No. 1 ranking doesn't mean that a team is unbeatable; we cite Duke's No. 1 ranking only because Duke has been the clear No. 1 team this year), and seeming clear superiority over all other teams in college basketball this year, we figured that coach Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils would take the Seminoles out pretty easily this time.

We were wrong.

Florida State upset Duke 66-61.

The loss won't set Duke back much, if at all. In fact, it may not be a bad thing that Duke got the "undefeated" monkey off their backs in the second week of January. They won't have to slog through their ACC intra-conference schedule with the added pressure of trying to be the first team to go undefeated since Bob Knight's 1976 Indiana Hoosiers. They weren't going to go undefeated anyway. Nobody does that in today's game. Now they can stay entirely focused on winning the conference, winning the ACC Tournament, and winning the NCAA title.

(Photo -- Florida State fans rush the court after Florida upsets No. 1 Duke: AP Photo/Steve Cannon)

No. 16 Illinois "Upset" by Penn State

After nearly two years of alternating between semi-dormancy and full-on dormancy, Drive and Dish returned to semi-active status (or semi-dormancy for all you "glass half empty" types) with two posts apiece in November and December. But despite our new-found blogging second wind (or relative second wind), we've yet to weigh in on basketball since the 2010-2011 basketball season started -- and we're a blog that's devoted to discussing basketball.

That almost changed yesterday as yours truly gave momentary consideration to penning a quick blog post that would predict a Penn State upset win over No. 16 Illinois, in anticipation of last night's contest between the Nittany Lions and the visiting Fighting Illini. For the Illini, the game was widely expected to produce a routine mid-week win against a mediocre in-conference opponent. The "win" would boost coach Bruce Weber's surging Illini to 4-0 in Big Ten conference play, and coming off of consecutive impressive beat-downs of Wisconsin and Northwestern, set the stage for what promised to be an epic rematch with No. 20 Wisconsin on Saturday at the Kohl Center in Madison, WI. But since 2006, Illinois has struggled mightily in each of their matches with Penn St. And the buzz around the water cooler at the Drive and Dish corporate headquarters on Tuesday morning was that Illinois would likely come out flat against an opponent that they would characteristically overlook -- despite the fact that Penn State upset Michigan State on Saturday, and despite being, no doubt, implored repeatedly by Bruce Weber and staff not to overlook them -- and get knocked off by a hungrier, if less talented Penn St. team. Again.

But shortly after our editorial staff decided to get to work on an early morning post predicting a Penn State upset win over Illinois, the rapidly increasing daylight began to reveal the effects of a significant overnight snowfall. And that meant that we immediately had to scrap the idea for the blog post and get to work on a quickie round of snow-shoveling. Unfortunately, the rest of the day never yielded adequate time for us to return to work on our Penn State vs. Illinois post. So we didn't get to make our bold prediction.

Later in the day we got to thinking about it, and realized that since Penn State has pulled off an "upset" win over Illinois in something like every season since 2006, an Illinois road win over Penn State might actually be the bigger upset, regardless of what line the Las Vegas odds makers had set for the game. And when Illinois opened the game ... you guessed it ... flat, against the fired-up Nittany Lions, we were more or less glad that we hadn't posted our prediction. As of last night, Illinois has been "flat" against Penn State just about every time the two teams have faced each other for five years. Therefore, it can hardly be considered "going out on a limb" to predict an underwhelming showing by Illinois when they play coach Ed DeChellis' Nittany Lions.

As it happens, Penn State indeed upset No. 16 Illinois last night, 57-55. If we'd posted our prediction yesterday, we'd be able spend today gloating and telling everyone "told you so." But since we don't like gloating, or saying "told you so" (and don't like people who do), we wouldn't be cashing those chips in anyway. Besides, by now, there's really nothing all that bold about predicting a Penn State "upset" win over Illinois ... it's too predictable.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Drive and Dish. Due to massive staff layoffs over the last two and a half years at our palatial Drive and Dish corporate headquarters, we've been a bit shorthanded ( the mail room guys really got hit hard; everybody here feels bad for them), and haven't been able to keep the franchise running at full strength. As such, the volume of our posts has dropped off significantly since 2008. But as basketball season picks up in 2011, we'll be posting occasional commentary on college basketball, and to lesser degree, on the NBA.

Until then (or at least until our annual, "very special" New Year's post), we extend our sincere wishes of a very Merry Christmas to all our readers, and to their families and friends. And no, we're not political correctness enforcement-freaks who want to get rid of Christmas, or scared little wuss-boys who say "happy Hannuhkwanzaaramadan," "happy Winter solstice," or "happy holidays" because we're afraid to say "Merry Christmas." If you're offended by the Christmas precepts of peace on Earth and good will to men (regardless of your cultural background, religious faith, or lack thereof), it's probably time to take inventory of your life. It's almost certain that you're a miserable prick who should go forth and screweth thy self.
Really, religious issues aside, who could possibly be against peace and good will toward men!?! Merry Christmas!

(Picture: "Oh Christmas Tree," Jesse Barnes, 1992).

Christmas Eve Scouting Report on Santa, 2010 Edition

It has become a Drive and Dish tradition to write a scouting report on Santa Claus every Christmas Eve. Just as millions of people around the world spend Christmas Eve tending to time-honored practices like having dinner with family, watching "A Christmas Story," attending midnight Christmas services, and staying up late in hope of catching a glimpse of Santa coming down the chimney, Drive and Dish faithfully publishes our Santa scouting report every December 24th. Unfortunately, if this year and last are any indication, it's also becoming something of a Drive and Dish tradition to be too crunched for time to write out a fresh in-depth scouting report every year, and to instead offer a two or three paragraph long update before linking to our 2008 scouting report. But we can get away with it in the case of Santa Claus, because everybody already knows all about Santa's game. Think about it: Do coaches have to write new scouting reports on Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade every year? Did they have to write new scouting reports on Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird every year? Of course not! All-world superstars are pretty easy to scout -- when you're as great as all those guys, the whole world knows your game inside and out. More importantly, they know that you're the man, and that nobody is likely to stop you.

Scouting Santa isn't really much different. What's left to say that the whole world doesn't already know? Santa is old and fat, but he can still get off the ground with the best of them (thanks to his sleigh and reindeer). And since he's still able to traverse the entire globe in the course of a mere evening, it's safe to say that age and girth haven't cost him so much as a step of his much-hyped other-worldly quickness. His famous range is still there too -- from his North Pole home-base, he somehow manages to drop presents into homes on every continent. And the jolly old elf still dishes out more assists than anyone else ... if you need proof, just take a look at the goodies he dropped off under your Christmas tree, or in the stockings hanging on your mantle!

Like Grant Hill, Santa has been doing what he does for ages, but he just keeps on getting it done year after year. What Santa plans to do tonight is no great secret; he's been doing his thing for years, and he'll almost certainly be successful in doing it again this year. But those who crave more of our award-winning insight into Santa's game can read our in-depth scouting report on Santa here.

For those looking for a history of St. Nicholas, the above link (our 2008 scouting report) contains several links to historical information on St. Nick. Our 2007 scouting report took license with the history of St. Nicholas and developed a narrative that followed the man through his transformation from church father, saint and Bishop of Myra to "man-myth-legend" of European and American St. Nick/Father Christmas//Sinterklaas traditions. Finally, this 2009 book documents the historical St. Nicholas through his transformation from Bishop of Myra to Santa Claus.

Oh, and as Santa will, no doubt, say again tonight,

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

2010 Illinois High School Football Championships

Thanksgiving weekend is a big deal for high school students in Illinois: in addition to the traditional festivities associated with the holiday, Thanksgiving weekend is when the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) holds the state high school football championships. Drive and Dish doesn't usually cover high school football, but this year the IHSA football championships are worth mentioning because of the relatively limited success of Chicago-area Catholic schools, which have drawn significant ire over the years for "dominating" high school football in Illinois.

The results of Thanksgiving weekend's IHSA football championships are as follows:

8A: Maine South 28
Mount Carmel 7 [Chicago Tribune Photos]

7A: Wheaton Warrenville South 28
Lake Zurich 17 [Chicago Tribune Photos ]

6A: Rockford Boylan 48
Marmion 19 [Chicago Tribune Photos ]

5A: Montini 34
Chatham Glenwood 21 [Chicago Tribune Photos ]

4A: Rochester 24
Rock Island Alleman 7 [Chicago Tribune Photos ]

3A: Illini West 22
Stillman Valley 20

2A: Sterling Newman 48
Maroa-Forsyth 7

1A: Lena-Winslow 47
Tuscola 14

Frequently Heard Complaint: "Those damned Catholic schools have an unfair advantage!"

Historically, several Chicago-area Catholic high schools -- including quite a few members of the Chicago Catholic League (CCL) -- have fielded powerhouse football programs. Many of those programs have won multiple state championships. Longtime football power Joliet Catholic has won the most state championships of any school in Illinois: since the 1974 inception of the IHSA, the Hilltoppers have taken home an impressive thirteen state titles. Fellow longtime football power Chicago Mount Carmel has won ten. Providence Catholic emerged as a football power in the 1990's (it had previously been known as a basketball and baseball power), and has now won nine state football titles (all having come after 1987). And aside from the aforementioned "big three," many other Chicago-area Catholic football powers have won football championships over the last 20-30 years. Those schools include Chicago St. Rita, Chicago Brother Rice, Loyola Academy, Carmel (Mundelein), Gordon Tech, Bishop McNamara (Kankakee) and the now-defunct Driscoll Catholic (Addison).

Much of the animosity toward Chicago-area Catholic high schools comes from the fact that as private institutions, Catholic schools' enrollments are not limited by the boundaries of school districts (as public schools' enrollments are). Thus, since Catholic schools are able to attract students from several school districts, the perception exists that the Catholic schools have an unfair advantage because they have a larger pool from which to draw athletic talent. That argument is not entirely without merit, but it can't sufficiently account for for all the Catholic schools' football success. Plenty of public schools draw also students from multiple towns. And most of those public schools have significantly larger enrollments than any Catholic high school. As it happens, most Catholic schools have relatively small enrollments. So while they may be unconfined by the boundaries of school districts, they're not actually "stealing" that many students away from the public schools, if for no other reason than the fact that they don't enroll that many students in the first place. And while Catholic schools don't limit their enrollment to practicing Catholics, relatively few of their students come from non-Catholic families. Thus, with a few exceptions, the talent pool from which the Catholic schools draw tends to be more or less limited to Catholic students (this is especially the case in the suburbs: Mt. Carmel has historically attracted more non-Catholics than most of its Catholic League rivals).

Critics of the Catholic schools also overlook the fairly obvious fact that although Catholic schools with strong football traditions can be something of a draw for matriculating freshmen who intend to participate in high school football, that doesn't automatically equate to a scenario in which Catholic schools sweep up all the good football players. There's a lot of development that has to take place from ages 13 to 18 in order for an 8th grader to grow into a successful varsity high school football player. There's simply no guarantee that a kid who, as an 8th grader, looks like he could possibly become a good football player someday will actually become one in high school. And since nearly all Catholic schools have restrictive transfer policies, they're generally limited to students who matriculate from junior high schools and middle schools. In other words, the Catholic high schools are not poaching football players from other high schools' football programs (as is often implied by the Catholic schools' detractors). It's instructive to remember that if the Catholic schools have good football players -- which many of them obviously do -- those players have developed within the schools' football programs.

Just as the Catholic schools' detractors usually overlook the fact that Catholic schools aren't the only high schools that draw students from multiple municipalities, they also frequently overlook the fact that nearly as many public football powerhouses win multiple state championships (especially in suburban Chicago) as Catholic powerhouses which do the same. A few Catholic schools -- namely, Joliet Catholic, Mt. Carmel, Providence, St. Rita, Bishop McNamara and Montini -- are responsible for much of the perception that Catholic schools dominate IHSA football. But public schools like Wheaton Warrenville South (which won the 7A state title in 2009 and 2010), Maine South (which won 8A this year), Downers Grove North, Downers Grove South, Naperville Central, Naperville North, Lincoln Way East (Frankfort), Hinsdale Central, Homewood-Flossmoor and Oak Lawn Richards have won multiple state championships and field powerhouse football teams year after year.

Talent alone doesn't win championships. A number of elements need to be present in order for a school to have a successful football program, and the power programs all have them in place. Coaching plays an enormous role in the power programs' success. Not surprisingly, schools that have good coaches tend to have good teams. And good coaches who stay at their schools for a number of years tend to build winning football programs. Moreover, the athletic culture at schools that have sustained success for a number of years on the football field usually creates an environment that promotes more winning: athletic success tends to breed athletic success. Most of the traditional high school football powers -- whether public or private -- exhibit the kind of athletic culture that allows them to field class after class of self-starter student-athletes: athletes in state's most successful high school football programs expect to play for state championships, and they dedicate themselves to doing what it takes to achieve their goals.

Frequently Heard Complaint: "Those damned Chicago Catholic schools cheat win all their championships!"

The most ludicrous claim made by the Catholic school detractors is that the Catholic schools cheat by paying players and their families to get them to enroll. This allegation is especially persistent in downstate Illinois, where Chicago -- and just about everything associated with it -- is generally reviled. People actually think that Catholic schools in Chicagoland pay students from all over the country to play for them, just so that they can win IHSA football state championships. Seriously. This allegation was, at one time, especially popular on the football message board at the old Illini Board (now known as Scout.com's Inside Illini), although it's also occasionally been voiced by a prominent on-air personality at Chicago's top-rated sports talk radio station, the Score 670 AM (Chicagoan and Homewood-Flossmoor H.S. alum Laurence Holmes). The claim is that Mt. Carmel, Joliet Catholic and Providence have rosters that are stocked with players from football breeding grounds like Florida, Texas and California.

Aside from being preposterously absurd, this claim is (and has always been) abjectly false. Chicagoland Catholic schools do not pay students, or students' families, to play football, and they most certainly don't bring players in from out of the Chicago region, much less bring them in from Florida, Texas and California. To illustrate how ridiculous that claim is, consider the following: even if the Catholic schools were inclined to cheat in player procurement, there would be little reason for them to recruit players from outside of the Chicago area. Chicagoland, after all, is itself something of a hotbed for football talent. Why would Catholic schools, which are notorious for operating on VERY tight budgets, go to all the trouble and expense of bringing players in from sunbelt states when there are plenty of talented athletes in Chicagoland? What kinds of recruiting and travel budgets would the Catholic schools need to wield in order for them to scour southern and southwestern states for upcoming football talent? And what kinds of "sweeteners" would they have to offer in order to convince kids and their families to leave their lives in Florida, Texas and California and start over in Chicagoland?

The idea that Chicago Catholic schools travel to Florida, Texas and California to procure players -- or even could afford to if they wanted to -- is so ridiculous that it's almost not even worth bothering to refute. Yet the rumor persists. Thus, as long as people on internet message boards, in downstate, small town diners and on sports radio talk shows complain about the unfair advantage that those "cheating" Catholic schools have because they bring players in from all over the country, the rumor must be refuted. What's more, if downstaters who like to traffic in conspiracy theories about Chicago-area Catholic schools improperly recruiting players are truly sincere in their distaste for high school football programs that illegally recruit players, they might do well to turn their attention to their own back yard.

Anticipated Indignant Objection: "How can you say that Catholic schools didn't dominate this year when a bunch of them played for state championships!?!"

So you say, we're off-base with our argument that it was a relatively quiet year for Catholic schools in the IHSA playoffs because five Catholic schools played for state championships this past weekend in Champaign. How can we hold our position? The easy/quick answer is that nobody's complaining about Catholic school domination this year, so you know that Catholic schools didn't do that well. But that's probably a bit trite. It's true that several Catholic high schools did play for 2010 state championships, but aside from Montini Academy's (Lombard) championship in class 5A, no catholic school from Chicagoland won a state title. Chicago Mount Carmel -- one of the usual targets of anti-Chicago Catholic school ire, and the school that produced past and present NFL stars like Donovan McNabb, Matt Cushing, Simeon Rice and Greg McMurtry -- came up short against North Suburban (Park Ridge) public powerhouse Maine South (perhaps best known for producing U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) in 8A. Rockford Boylan hammered Marmion Academy to take home the 6A championship, but despite being Catholic, Boylan's Rockford location makes it immune to the argument that Chicago-area Catholic schools win all the state titles. Rockford is still decidedly not part of Chicagoland, no matter how far to the northwest the suburbs continue to sprawl.

The same applies to tiny Sterling Newman High School, which won the class 2A state title. Newman is a Catholic school, but rural Sterling is a long way from Chicago, both geographically and culturally.

Rock Island Alleman lost to Rochester in class 4A. Alleman is a small Catholic school on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities -- it sits atop a hill overlooking the Mississippi River Valley, right across the river from Davenport, Iowa. Alleman's Rock Island campus is slightly over 150 miles west of Chicago. The Quad Cities cannot go "toe-to-toe" with the Chicago area when it comes to producing IHSA champions, but that doesn't change the fact that the Quad Cities area has produced many good football teams over the years, as there's a strong high school football tradition in that part of the state. Rock Island, Moline and East Moline have traditionally field strong football programs, even though they rarely have the opportunity play for state championships. Alleman has also had some good teams through the years, but with the school's small enrollment, the football program is a long way off from being a dominant football power that can seriously challenge Chicago area Catholic schools on an annual basis.

So in the wake of Thanksgiving weekend 2010, the anti-Catholic school contingent is keeping a low profile, for Catholic schools from Chicagoland failed to dominate this year's addition of the IHSA football playoffs. Montini's state title in class 5A notwithstanding, Chicago-area Catholic schools were relatively quiet in '10. Sure, Mt. Carmel was the runner-up in 8A, and that's certainly nothing to disregard. But the old wives' tale that public schools don't have a fighting chance in the IHSA football playoffs because the unscrupulous, "cheating" Chicago-area Catholic schools dominate high school football in Illinois appears to have been put to rest over Thanksgiving weekend.

At least for this year.