Not WAC-related but...

Not that the WAC teams, coaches and players have ever faced this situation (even Luke Babbitt played two years for Nevada) but below are two articles all about the one-and-done rule regarding entering the NBA.

PTW's take: it all about freedom of choice and there should be no artificial barriers limiting when a talent can declare for the NBA draft. Granted, there's always Europe and Asia but no United States in an infrigement on personal rights.

Roots of one-and-done rule run deep

The unknown future of one-and-done

Coaches gild the lilly...oh the shock, the horror

We actually love reading the articles about how this coach or that program is pulling a fast one via creative interpretation, even if no infractions are involved (or have yet to bubble up to the cess pool surface).

It's like viewing a car wreck as you go by on the highway -- the siren-like call to look over is close to irresistible.

This subject actually brings mixed feelings. After all, college basketball IS a business. Win or at least be victorious enough, and the AD/college president will return your calls. Be 'successful' and the platitudes of the television announcers will flow towards a coach as if he discovered a cure for cancer.

Lose too much and start packing. Be deemed a failure if your players graduate and none get into trouble with the law but there just aren't enough notches in the victory column to keep up the prerequisite level of attendance and the donor dollars flowing.

And all this at an institution of higher learning.

Oh well, there's no new ground that hasn't already been tilled here. College basketball is no different from everyday life. The coaches and the players are no different than those persons populating other business enterprises. Why should we ever be surprised by anything that takes place? Or concerned?


Gray scale: Recruiters struggle with perfectly legal yet ethically questionable
Dana O'Neil
ESPN.com
November 19, 2008

Nearly 20 years ago, Eddie Sutton resigned as Kentucky coach after a package sent from assistant Dwane Casey to the father of recruit Chris Mills opened in transit, spilling $1,000 for all to see.

Pardon some coaches if they wax nostalgic for the days gone by, when rule breaking was clear-cut and obvious..

Like the evolution from Chuck Taylors to Air Jordans, the art of cheating has been refined and streamlined.

Sure, rules still are being flat-out broken the old-fashioned way, but the new wave sweeping the game is rule circumvention, not rule breaking. Clever coaches are employing a strong grip on semantics to expose loopholes and reinterpret rules to their benefit.

It's not so much cheating as it's, well...

Go here for the remainder.

Saying goodby to Pete Newell

The basketball world is a little less today as one of its classiest individuals has died. Pete Newell Sr. passed on yesterday, someone who gave and gave and gave to the sport he loved. He was a person who apparently never engendered harsh feelings or words from anyone and also was one of the few beings on this earth that Bobby Knight listened to and respected.

We have our very own personal Pete Newell anecdote. Many years ago and being a teen-age Laker fan (who could resist the tandem of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor?), we sent a note to Newell who was then the general manager of the Lakers. Despite not knowing what we didn't know, we offered some suggestions to Newell on how to better his team. Rather than line his pet bird cage or litter box at home with our recommendations (well, maybe he actually did so), Newell wrote a note back and offered thanks. Try that nowadays and you'll be participating in a 2008 version of Waiting For Godot.

And to set the record straight, Newell the college coach was the original towel chewer.

Kudos to someone who left the world better by his presence.

Above is a Ray Barbour photo of Pete Newell Senior and Pete Newell Junior. The latter coached boys basketball at Santa Cruz High for a number of years before his retirement.

Oh my gawd

The apocalypse is upon us (sorry about that SI). ESPN is going to be supporting the nasty habits of college basketball junkies around the world with its latest plan for televising opening night games.

Shouldn't the United States Surgeon General step in here and at least issue a warning?

On the bright side, the WAC gets television time with Fresno State and Hawaii being presented, albeit at 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. respectively.

Hoops marathon includes Kentucky-North Carolina battle
ESPN.com
September 24, 2008

A marathon of 14 college basketball games on Nov. 18 -- spread over 23 consecutive hours -- will help kick off the 2008-09 college basketball season on ESPN.

The games open at midnight ET with national championship game runner-up Memphis hosting Massachusetts, where Tigers head coach John Calipari once coached. It wraps up with the two winningest programs in college hoops history -- Kentucky and North Carolina -- meeting in Chapel Hill at 9 p.m. ET...

Go here for the complete article.

Not to go all political on you...

This is by no means an endorsement -- trying our best to stay politically neutral -- but this is worthy of posting here:

"Barack Obama sidestepped picking a winner in last night’s NBA Finals game, but the basketball aficionado is ready to take a firm stand if he makes it to the White House.

“I hear there’s a bowling alley, and obviously that hasn’t gone too well,” Obama told comic Jimmy Kimmel in a satellite interview from Philadelphia yesterday. “So we’re getting rid of the bowling alley and replacing it with a basketball court in the White House.”

Yes, we are sure to alienate any keglers out there with this and probably those on the right of the political spectrum but this is way cool.