S John Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 On 3/28/2021 at 9:50 PM, Tywin et al. said: I know Bama is a 2 seed, but I thought their program would be even better than this by now overall given how much they generate in athletic revenues. Another strange outcome in a strange year overall. It’s surprisingly rare for a school to be elite in both basketball and football. There are always a handful of schools that immediately come to mind when you think ‘blue blood’ for football or basketball but rarely do the two overlap. There are several programs that are strong in both sports but I’m hard pressed to think of any that are undisputed blue blood status in both. Usually a school that is close to achieving it is elite in only one and merely ‘usually pretty good, sometimes awesome’ in the other. Florida comes to mind, maybe Ohio State and Oklahoma too. I’m thinking tonight’s elite 8 participants might be good examples of schools who are very close - Michigan and UCLA. I don’t think Michigan’s basketball history is quite blue blood level, though it is very good. UCLA maybe had something close to blue blood status in both a couple decades ago but they’ve somehow faded in both major sports over the years, this years tournament run notwithstanding. On that note it is surprising to me that USC and UCLA aren’t more dominant in both sports. Especially today with social media. Anyone who has followed recruiting even a tiny bit knows that egos and antics are out on full display like never before. I guess it surprises me a little that the pitch of ‘come and play football in Hollywood, California’ isn’t decisively beating out ‘come play football in Tuscaloosa, Alabama’ when it comes to the young egos and libidos of the cream of the crop high school recruit. And I think I just talked myself into the ‘Nick Saban has obviously sold his soul to Satan’ camp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 23 minutes ago, S John said: And I think I just talked myself into the ‘Nick Saban has obviously sold his soul to Satan’ camp. Lol. Your points are valid. To debate any would be just to do so for the fun of it. There aren't many universities that are consistently great at football and basketball. I just think Alabama is a bit unique because it's the best modern football program ever, which just on its own should attract prospects before you even think about the facilities. And the state doesn't have a pro team, so in-state prospects should be easy to keep. Also, damn cookies. There's a $48 Saban coach being advertised to me right now on Prime as I type this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 Campbell vs Smith has to be the best hair matchup of the entire tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 I do like pretending that these games matter. There's been about a 0.00001% chance of anything other than a Gonzaga-Baylor championship game since December, even Rhom's second favorite coach (Scotty Drew for the uninitiated) would have a hell of a time screwing up that badly this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 When was the last time all four of the final teams were from west of the Mississippi? Has that ever happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted March 31, 2021 Author Share Posted March 31, 2021 9 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said: When was the last time all four of the final teams were from west of the Mississippi? Has that ever happened? Heard on the radio that it is the first time in history this has happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted March 31, 2021 Author Share Posted March 31, 2021 16 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said: When was the last time all four of the final teams were from west of the Mississippi? Has that ever happened? Here was an interesting point from a Kentucky message board that I hadn't thought of: Quote Though back when I was a kid the regionals were actually regional, so at least one and usually two teams from the east were guaranteed. Not until they started expanding the field significantly in the early 80s did they start distributing teams outside their geographic regions. Certainly added variety to the proceedings; back in the olden days UK often played some combination of the Big 10 champ, Marquette, and/or Notre Dame in the Mideast Regional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted April 1, 2021 Author Share Posted April 1, 2021 Yeah, its April Fool's Day. And yes, this a fantastic parody account. But ESPN is reporting it and Carolina has sent out an official statement. The first of the Major Blue Blood jobs has opened. Where do they go? Hubert Davis with no head coaching experience? They did it once with Guthridge and Carolina is notorious about getting someone from the family. @RedEyedGhost got any strong feelings on the guy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matrim Fox Cauthon Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 Sadly, all things must pass. Roy became the head coach at UNC the first year that I was there as a student, and he helped us win a 2005 championship while I was there. Plus we had two further championships after I graduated, both in 2009 and 2017. I'll call that an amazing coaching career regardless of what @RedEyedGhost feels about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted April 1, 2021 Author Share Posted April 1, 2021 1 hour ago, Matrim Fox Cauthon said: Sadly, all things must pass. Roy became the head coach at UNC the first year that I was there as a student, and he helped us win a 2005 championship while I was there. Plus we had two further championships after I graduated, both in 2009 and 2017. I'll call that an amazing coaching career regardless of what @RedEyedGhost feels about him. He’s one of the greats for sure. And as I mentioned recently, I don’t know where the next generation of great coaches are coming from. Also, Beard is going to Texas. So that takes him off the carousel for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maithanet Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 6 minutes ago, Rhom said: He’s one of the greats for sure. And as I mentioned recently, I don’t know where the next generation of great coaches are coming from. Also, Beard is going to Texas. So that takes him off the carousel for a while. Is Mark Few in this conversation? Gonzaga is a good school, and they'll probably win the championship this year, but it's no UNC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted April 1, 2021 Author Share Posted April 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, Maithanet said: Is Mark Few in this conversation? Gonzaga is a good school, and they'll probably win the championship this year, but it's no UNC. I just think he stays. He has a commitment from a top 3 PG next year. If he wanted to leave, he could have long ago. I just don’t know that he wants to go anywhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maithanet Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 7 minutes ago, Rhom said: I just think he stays. He has a commitment from a top 3 PG next year. If he wanted to leave, he could have long ago. I just don’t know that he wants to go anywhere else. I get that he is happy where he is, but this isn't Texas or Indiana calling, this is UNC, you have to wonder. But I agree that if he wins this year, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 College basketball is definitely worse without Roy. I'm not too surprised by this news, the last couple of years seem to have aged him quite significantly. I am surprised that it wasn't announced at the beginning of the season, so that he could do a victory lap. Do not like Chris Beard at Texas. He was doing well enough at Tech, and recruiting at UT will be much easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 Oh, and I can't imagine Few leaving Gonzaga. He's the guy there. At UNC he would just be another coach. I do wonder if UNC will still try to keep it in the family, now that the "Carolina Way" has been exposed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted April 2, 2021 Author Share Posted April 2, 2021 For those who don’t follow the Calipari sisters on Twitter, Erin is a professor at Vanderbilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted April 2, 2021 Author Share Posted April 2, 2021 Guess Kansas didn't want history to repeat itself! I had seen some speculation online about Self to Carolina yesterday, but I just thought it was just idle talk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maithanet Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 Are those contracts fully guaranteed, even if the coach has been fired/retired? Because if so, that is a fantastic deal for Self. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted April 2, 2021 Author Share Posted April 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Maithanet said: Are those contracts fully guaranteed, even if the coach has been fired/retired? Because if so, that is a fantastic deal for Self. Calipari's is basically a sweetheart deal for him. I don't remember what the buyout is if they fire him, something like $12m or something... but he has no buyout if he were to leave for another job. And if he coaches another 5 years or some such, he qualifies for $1m/year for life. He can thank UCLA for that one... much like Self can thank UNC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Lifetime contract for a state's highest paid public employee. But we can't pay the players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.