OT: D1

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Re: OT: D1

I'm not sure "big jobs" outside of a small handful exist in college basketball anymore. The turnover there is so frequent that it's almost comical. I also don't think that you need to be at what is a perceived big program to be successful anymore. It really only takes one or two guys. And I'm not talking about a lottery pick. Recruit a legit big and a guard that can take over a game. Bingo.

Basketball is a short rebuild. Schools need a lot of cash to be successful in college football. They need cash, but a lot less of it, to win in basketball. For guys like Musselman and Oats, that's a step up from where they were considering that they are now coaching at a school in a high major conference. Both will shell out more money to them personally and to the program as a whole. And quite honestly, the SEC the last 2-3 years has really started to assert itself in basketball. It's no longer just Kentucky.

The schools each of them landed at, Arkansas and Alabama, offer the opportunity to make a lot more money coaching in a major conference where the expectations aren't massive. They both probably landed in much better situations than going to a place that's a perceived "big job." UCLA is a bad job right now. How many times has Indiana missed the tournament in the last decade? Those jobs have name and brand recognition, but the opportunity to win elsewhere is just as high if not higher.

If I'm a guy like a Kelvin Sampson or Johnny Dawkins, I think long and hard before making a move from where I'm at. Their situations at Houston and UCF are better than the situations most coaches have in major conferences. Again, in college basketball today, it doesn't take long. You can perceive big jobs, but you can also create those jobs in a rather short period of time.

Very well-stated. I have to agree 100%.

I was just trying to recall the elite college hoops coaching jobs while growing up in the 1970s and early 1980s. UCLA and Indiana were huge. Now they are not such plum positions. Louisville was really big. I guess Kentucky and North Carolina were pretty big and they still are elite programs. Duke really didn't get put on the map as a great program until the latter '80s. Houston and Virginia along with Georgetown were big in the early '80s. Well, the first two are big again. It is odd the ebb and flow of some of the elite programs while others seem to stay there on a consistent basis.

-

[IUP24]

Re: OT: D1

Nevada's Eric Musselman to Arkansas. I'm surprised by that one, too, to be honest. Nate Oats and Musselman were both red hot commodities and both ended up in lesser jobs than I envisioned them in though I'm sure those schools did open up the bank vault for them.

Rumors of Tennessee's Rick Barnes as a possibility for UCLA. It didn't seem all the long ago that coaching in Westwood was one of the marquee jobs in college basketball. Doesn't seem to be anymore.

-

I'm not sure "big jobs" outside of a small handful exist in college basketball anymore. The turnover there is so frequent that it's almost comical. I also don't think that you need to be at what is a perceived big program to be successful anymore. It really only takes one or two guys. And I'm not talking about a lottery pick. Recruit a legit big and a guard that can take over a game. Bingo.

Basketball is a short rebuild. Schools need a lot of cash to be successful in college football. They need cash, but a lot less of it, to win in basketball. For guys like Musselman and Oats, that's a step up from where they were considering that they are now coaching at a school in a high major conference. Both will shell out more money to them personally and to the program as a whole. And quite honestly, the SEC the last 2-3 years has really started to assert itself in basketball. It's no longer just Kentucky.

The schools each of them landed at, Arkansas and Alabama, offer the opportunity to make a lot more money coaching in a major conference where the expectations aren't massive. They both probably landed in much better situations than going to a place that's a perceived "big job." UCLA is a bad job right now. How many times has Indiana missed the tournament in the last decade? Those jobs have name and brand recognition, but the opportunity to win elsewhere is just as high if not higher.

If I'm a guy like a Kelvin Sampson or Johnny Dawkins, I think long and hard before making a move from where I'm at. Their situations at Houston and UCF are better than the situations most coaches have in major conferences. Again, in college basketball today, it doesn't take long. You can perceive big jobs, but you can also create those jobs in a rather short period of time.

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Re: OT: D1

I was shocked the one Texas Tech player was able to go after the way he landed on his ankle Saturday night. I doubt he could have even be 60 percent. Even so, they sure had their chances. I thought they had it there at the end of regulation.

Virginia was just stroking treys in that second half. They have some ice-in-the-veins shooters.

Kyle Guy at the charity stripe Saturday nite. Wow! Hunter with the big hit late last night.

You really have to give it up to the Cavs after last year's complete meltdown in the opening round. These guys were unreal!

-

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: OT: D1

I was shocked the one Texas Tech player was able to go after the way he landed on his ankle Saturday night. I doubt he could have even be 60 percent. Even so, they sure had their chances. I thought they had it there at the end of regulation.

Virginia was just stroking treys in that second half. They have some ice-in-the-veins shooters.

[IUPalum]

Re: OT: D1

Great game! Tough to the end...

[Golden89]

Re: OT: D1

This game looks like Mercyhurst playing Mercyhurst.

For the first ten minutes anyway. Then it looked more like a PSAC East affair.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: OT: D1

This game looks like Mercyhurst playing Mercyhurst.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: OT: D1

Nevada's Eric Musselman to Arkansas. I'm surprised by that one, too, to be honest. Nate Oats and Musselman were both red hot commodities and both ended up in lesser jobs than I envisioned them in though I'm sure those schools did open up the bank vault for them.

Rumors of Tennessee's Rick Barnes as a possibility for UCLA. It didn't seem all the long ago that coaching in Westwood was one of the marquee jobs in college basketball. Doesn't seem to be anymore.

-

Westwood is a path to failure it seems. Expectations massive.

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Re: OT: D1

Nevada's Eric Musselman to Arkansas. I'm surprised by that one, too, to be honest. Nate Oats and Musselman were both red hot commodities and both ended up in lesser jobs than I envisioned them in though I'm sure those schools did open up the bank vault for them.

Rumors of Tennessee's Rick Barnes as a possibility for UCLA. It didn't seem all the long ago that coaching in Westwood was one of the marquee jobs in college basketball. Doesn't seem to be anymore.

-

[Golden89]

Re: OT: D1

Who is going to win the last game of the season?

I hope Virginia wins, but I think that TTU will come away with the win. Everyone is predicting a Gannon / Mercy defensive struggle, but it will probably be higher scoring (in the 60s) than many predict.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: OT: D1

Who is going to win the last game of the season?

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Re: OT: D1

Assuming they have next year I plan to get the three game Pitt hoops package and head to the Pete to watch some D1 ball.

I'm thinking the same way. I'd probably try to hit the earlier season games rather than the more coveted ACC games. Stay tuned.

I would imagine that most of the early season games you can just go down and buy tickets at the door. The place doesn't get real filled up unless some heavy rolls into town.

-

[Golden89]

Re: OT: D1

Assuming they have next year I plan to get the three game Pitt hoops package and head to the Pete to watch some D1 ball.

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Re: OT: D1

Big news out of Oakland today as a new look for Pitt athletics was unveiled at a 4 PM presser. The changes are outstanding as Pitt goes back for good to their traditional blue and yellow. The crappy navy blue and gold are scrapped. Thank God for that. AD Heather Lyke and Nike did a pretty bang up job on this project. I was rather skeptical of the whole thing going in but it certainly is a change for the better.

The football team will be wearing yellow pants, blue jerseys with yellow numbers for home games and white jerseys with blue numbers for road games. Classic yellow helmet with Pitt script like we have seen the past few years in assorted games. Blue face mask and the stripe down the middle thankfully goes the whole way down the back of said helmet. They are going to look sharp!

Hoops unis look good too. Probably the road jersey and shorts are the most noticeable with a nice blue instead of the crappy navy blue look. Women's team uniforms look great with the yellow trim down on the shorts.

All in all a great day for Pitt!

-

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Re: OT: D1

Hold the phone on the Jamie Dixon thing as UCLA's next basketball coach. Looks like the deal is off as the wealthy UCLA alums would not pony up for the $8 million buyout clause in his TCU contract. Good call. They must know people from Pitt. LOL.

Time to bring back Jim Harrick or Ben Howland.

-