Sunday, February 17, 2008

Hitting the Local College Basketball Scene

Sorry about forgetting to blof Friday. I was on the road with brown basketball at Penn in Philadelphia and didn't get a chance to do it. My bad! I also can't seem to shake this damn cold. It's been about 3 weeks and it's still with me. Found out today it's a sinus infection so hopefully the antibiotics knock it out of me.

Now that I've shared with you probably more than I should have, I'd like to give you my take on the status of our 3 local Div. 1 men's basketball programs.

BROWN: The Bears made history over the weekend sweeping Penn and Princeton on the road in the same weekend for the first time in school history. The 5 point win at Penn really wasn't as close as the final score indicated as the Bears were always in control. Saturday night, however, the bears stole one from the Princeton Tigers. Down 10 with just over 7 minutes left, the Bears managed to force overtime where they grinded out the win. It really showed the character of this team which is outstanding and it also served as another demonstration of how good the head coach is.
I'll be the first to admit that I thought it would be impossible for Brown to find a replacement for Glenn Miller that was anywhere near as good as him. Well, they did! In fact, I think that Craig Robinson may be even better! I can tell you that he has gotten more out of the same talent Miller coached at Brown. That's no disrespect intended to Glenn, just a big time compliment to Robinson.
Right now the Bears are 14-8 and 6-2 in the Ivy League. They are 7-5 on the road with their 5 road losses coming at Michigan, Providence, Notre Dame, Baylor and Yale in OT.
With an RPI of 122, if the Bears finish strong and don't overtake Cornell (8-0) for the Ivy title, a postseason berth may still be awaiting them. When Brown went to the NIT in 2003, they had an RPI in the 140's. Even if it's not the NIT, the newly created CBI tournament which consists of 16 teams after the NCAA's field of 65 and the NIT's 32 could be a logical landing spot. The tournament is run by the Gazelle Group based out of Princeton, NJ and it's president Rick Giles happens to be Craig Robinson's agent. Not that I am suggesting any type of favoritism to Robinson and the Bears. If they continue to win, they will be deserving of strong consideration and with Giles calling the shots, they should get it.

URI: To the dismay of the Rams and their fans, life in the A-10 has proven to be alot more difficult than expected. The league is full of teams capable of knocking off anyone on any given night which has caused some minor angst down in Kingston. At 14-1 after non-league play, we all had the Rams pegged for somewhere around 12-4 at worst in the league. Well, for that to happen, Rhody would have to run the table heading into the A-10 tournament which appears unlikely.
Rhode Island has 3 tough home games coming up in succession with Xavier, UMass and St. Joe's back-to-back-to-back. he good news is they're 11-0 at home this season. If they win all 3, they will have stamped their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Even 2 out of 3 would be solid.
The only thing that haunts the Rams right now is that their n on-conference marquee wins aren't as solid as they could be with Providence floundering and Syracuse looking like a bubble-trouble team. If the Orange can win a few more games against ranked teams in the Big East and get into the tourney that will help Rhody's resume' alot. They also almost got a huge boost from UAB who almost pulled off the upset of Memphis in Coference USA.

PROVIDENCE: Sadly, the beat goes on for the Friars who look like a beaten team and program right now. After hanging tough with Louisville for 30 minutes Saturday, the Friars couldn't pull off the upset at the Dunk and lost another Big East game. This was a team with NCAA tournament aspirations coming into the season and now they probably won't even qualify for the Big East tournament or the NIT.
The loss of Sharaud Curry was devistating. He was their leading returning scorer and their QB. he made the offense go. However, better recruiting could have lessened the blow of his absence with a half descent back-up point guard.
I've certainly given my own opinion on Tim Welsh's future on my show and have read all of the articles from the likes of Billy Reynold's, Kevin McNamara and Jim Donaldson. And while we all have brought up good points on this issue, the bottom line is that the time has come for change at the top.
Tim Welsh is not a bad coach. He's actually a good one. However, this program needs someone bordering on greatness. With all of the challenges that come along with making PC basketball competetive in the rediculously tough Big East conference, you need a great coach who can not only recruit very well, but also coach the hell out of his players. Anything less than that and PC is doomed to remain at the bottom of the Big East.
My preliminary thoughts say that there are a few guys who AD Bob Driscoll should at least consider talking to. Jim O'Brien, Jim Baron, Carl Hobbs, Travis Ford, Craig Robinson and Glenn Miller. Let's look at the one at a time.
O'Brien just got cleared by the NCAA to return to coaching after winning his lawsuit against Ohio State for getting fired over recruiting violations. While I am not excusing what happened with that European recruit, I will say that I find O'Brien to be a solid human being and a good man as well as an excellent coach. He did well at both Ohio State and BC which tells you that he can compete with the big boys in the Big East.
Jim Baron is going nowhere! He likes it at URI and would NEVER leave to take another job while Jimmy Jr. is still playing. Still, Baron is the type of coach PC needs to find. He is a great man and a terriffic coach who gets the most out of his players and whose teams play tough which is needed in the Big East.
Carl Hobbs and GW are having a down year but that should not dissuade PC from talking to him. He can recruit and he can coach. He is also from the Jim Calhoun coaching tree having played for and coached with him at UConn so he knows what it takes to win in the Big East.
Travis Ford is from the Rick Pitino coaching tree which Providence, for obvious reasons, might find attractive. He's done a pretty good job at UMass and his team gets after it. Effort is not something you question about Travis Ford's teams.
Craig Robinson has only been a head coach for 2 years but if you've paid attention to Brown, you can see just how good the man really is. Yes, he runs the Princeton offense but much more liberally than his coach Pete Carrill did. In fact, if you look at what John Thompson III is doing at Georgetown, that's what Robinson might be able to do at PC. He can flat out coach! It would simply be a matter of recruiting the talent to PC which I think he would be able to do as well.
The same can be said about Glenn Miller at Penn. He can flat out coach up his talent. The big question would be, could he bring in good enough talent to compete in the upper half of the Big East? I'd want to be sure of that before pulling the trigger on bringing him on board.

1 comment:

TheSandman042 said...

Scott, I have great respect for you, but please go easy on your lobbying for Brown guys to coach the Friars. Jim Baron was a sub .500 coach coming into this season and had never brought URI to the NCAA as of this year. Spare me Jim Baron, Ill stick with Tim if thats the case. As for Robinson, I think he has done a great job with Brown, but the only person who cares about Brown is you. Brown is not a job that prepares you to compete in the Big East, Id like to see him work at a A 10 school or something of the like and see the success he has there. That being said Robinson could be a rising star in coaching, but you just dont get your feet wet in the Big East. Travis Ford is very attractive for the Friars and if they want to go for a 2nd consecutive long term guy he might be the choice. Having been at Umass and coming from Pitino tutelage, Ford may stick around if he gets the job for PC, but he is an SEC guy and LSU wants him. Jim Obrien seems to be the best fit. Experience and success and a guy who can recruit. This team is ready to win next year and also gives a coach a chance to rebuild this porgram in his image with 5 scholarships available for 09-10 season. I think the Friars will go with Obrien because ultimately he will stay 4 season, have success reminiscent of Rick Barnes and leave just in time for the Friars to get the guy they have wanted since he was 5 years old, Richard Pitino JR. , who in 4 years or say may be ready to begin his head coaching career. Not to say Pitino Jr is the right choice, the obsession with 87 and recapturing the fire still burns in the Friars minds.