It's supposed to be the dead period for college basketball.
A few odds and ends players for the class of 2008 are still out there, as are junior college players; the coaches soldier on. There ain't no news yet, so here's a link dump - the lazy refuge of the dedicated daily(-ish) blogger.
* Rivals gives grades for (the more high-profile) recent men's basketball head coaching hires. The short version: Montgomery (CAL) A+, Crean (IND) A-, Johnson (LSU) B-, Buzz Williams (MARQ) D, Ford (OKST) B, Craig Robinson (ORST) C+ , Davis (PROV) C+, Horn (SoCAR) C+, Dawkins (STAN) C.
My take on those:
- Mike Montgomery (CAL) B+ (some underachiveing teams in his record, and how often did he get to the final 4? Let's not blow him up too high),
- Tom Crean (IND) A (he built a pretty good program though he couldn't get good bigs to the smaller school; he'll be killing it at Indiana),
- Trent Johnson (LSU) B+ (kept a solid Stanford tradition going in a tough conference),
- Buzz Williams (MARQ) C- (no good track record here...),
- Travis Ford (OKST) B+ (I think he has a very good basketball mind, but he needs to actually get to the tournament),
- Craig Robinson (ORST) C+ (tough job out there. But he is Barack Obama's brother in law. So benefit of the doubt.),
- Keno Davis (PROV) C+ (good year, but no east coast recruiting ties to a tough school to recruit to),
- Darrin Horn (SoCAR) B+ (he's a pretty dang good coach),
- Johnny Dawkins (STAN) D (another Duke assistant? A rookie coach? In the PAC 10? Montgomery is going to have him for lunch.)
* Feet in the Paint calls out the NBA's Good Ol' Boy network. Doug Collins over Avery Johnson or... a bunch of other people who didn't show themselves to be a mediocre coach while with the Wizards? Really?
* Kentrell Gransberry, formerly of the U of South Florida, tries to up his draft stock at the pre-draft camp. He impressed a little bit it seems .
* Fans shouldn't boo Tatis for wearing #17, they should cheer him. If the Mets retire his number it's one thing, but come on!
* Look at all these (baseball) rumors from Jayson Stark. Minaya is feeling a trade coming on... maybe it's time to unload Heilman.
Unsports related:
* Kevin from the first Real World is running for Congress in Brooklyn.
*And my new favorite George W Bush quotable, which echoes Rod Steiger's general character in Mars Attacks (.wav file):
"Kick ass! If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can’t send that message. It’s an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal.
"There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"