sopranos sunday
how you doin'? not sure what's better hearing today, the cbs madness jingle or the opening of the sopranos new season... the only thing better than having both on the same day would be tony soprano giving us the bracket from the bar at bada-bing... great scene after x's win last night: will caudle's hand on brian thornton's elbow, helping the big man on crutches as he walked out to center court... also very nice that BT was the guy snipping the last 2 strands of net... truly a remarkable winter of hoop for x and uc, marked equally by disappointment, triumph and, ultimately, overcoming... which, w/o sounding overly dramatic, is a lot of what sports should be about... a few truisms to ponder before listening to nantz and packer: (1) it's better to be an 11 or 12 seed than an 8 or 9; (2) teams w/great guards do well, meaning villanova if allan ray is OK; (3) teams w/great guards and 1 terrific scorer do even better... guards get you to the last minute..great scorers win the game... has one four-day stretch ever changed the perception of a coach more than weds-sat. did for sean miller? before weds, miller was seen as a guy who'd lost the ability to motivate his players... now, the bright-young-coach halo fits him again... there is considerable unrest among heavy-hitting uc alums re the way mike thomas is handling the search for a new basketball coach, and it has nothing to do w/lingering anger over the huggins firing... you wonder if nancy zimpher understands that her legacy as UC prez will be established in great measure by who she hires... zim can overhaul academics and install all the new deans she wants, but if she and thomas blow the basketball hire, thats all most will remember...
posted by Paul Daugherty at 9:15 AM
2 Comments:
at 1:44 PM 
Anonymous said...
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at 7:29 PM 
Anonymous said...
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Post a Comment*Paul:
It seems obvious that there has been an overriding agenda from the current UC administration not just to eliminate all vestiges of Huggins UC accomplishments, but also to de-emphasize athletics at UC.
There is a growing divide between academics and alumni regarding the role of athletics in a university setting. Offhanded comments like "no more dumb jocks" and "we don't want our university represented by 'those' kind of kids" are frequently bandied about by tenured academic faculty.
If this continues, a schizm will develop between athletics and academics that may never heal. these 2 parts of the University experience need each other, as imperfect as both may be. Academics benefits from successful athletics whether they acknowledge it or not.
A drop-off in athletic success will negatively impact enrollment, donations, national perception, and, dare I say it...the local economy. Despite this administration's protestations to the contrary,their current agenda is more self-serving than it should be--this will ultimately damage the University for the long term.
It is for this reason that many feel that the BOT and university president should be elected, and not appointed postitions. In this way, the administration would have to be responsive to the University population as opposed to their own interests. Hopefully, this will become reality in the near future...
Hope this has been helpful..
Anonymous...
Basketball under Huggins was so successful we were on national TV between 10 and 20 times every season giving UC incredible national exposure.
That's all gone now and we will be lucky to get on TV 2-3 times each over the next 2-3 years. There's no way we can be successful with 3-4 scholarship athletes next year.
The next couple of years any freshmen and sophomores will be muscled out of the way by bigger, stronger, more experienced athletes.
I don't think UC will be looking to the jucos for immediate needs or short term fixes in depth like before.
I would like to see us recruit successfully as we did before under Huggins/Cronin and then provide tutoring or other interventions if a athlete does not live up to the expected standards. The serious universities do just that.
UC/21 should allow for athletics, it gives us national exposure.
We don't need any more sub-standard seasons like we had under Badger and Yates.
Huggins was one of the best 10 coaches available nationally. Maybe we might get someone acceptable, but the measuring stick will be 14 straight NCAA appearances.
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