As would be expected, social media opinions are mixed, leaning heavily favorable. How did we ever survive without social media?
For those interested, the following is an excerpt from a Subscribers Only article in the Indy Star which describes the Matta hire and why they contacted Holtmann's agent:
Thanks Sid, that was a good explanation of the hiring at IU. Of course we won't know if Woodson will be successful at IU till he coaches a couple of seasons. He has no connection to College Basketball and Recruiting so that would be worrying to me, and I guess that is where having Thad Matta around will be helpful, but again it's been awhile since Matta was in the game so current HS stars probably have to look to their parents to find out who he is and his reputation.
No word on the Texas job, still the talk is all Chris Beard. Not sure what the hold up might be, I can't imagine that he'd rather be at Tech than UT his alma mater. Also there is talk that Mark Turgeon will be taking the OU job and leaving Maryland.
Chris Beard to Texas, should be a great hire....should be ...but of course we'll have to wait and see if it actually is a great hire. But Texas fans are pumped at him coming to Austin. Then we were pumped with the hire of Shaka Smart. So who knows. Shock of the day is the retirement of Roy Williams at North Carolina. I wonder who will fill his shoes.
I'm going to digress for one post about the Women's Final Four. Anna Wilson of Stanford is Russell Wilson's younger sister by 10 years. After being a McDonald's All American she's fought adversity - concussion and other injuries - to be a key 5th year player for Stanford. The article linked below explains what I think is a very nice story. I'm cheering for the Trees to win it all, and I've become a Russell Wilson fan. Stanford's Anna Wilson, buoyed by brother Russell's support, steps into national spotlight EDIT: Watched Stanford-So. Carolina. Nail biter. SC's winning bucket rolled around and out at the buzzer. Stanford to the championship game. EDIT #2: Watched AZ take down Uconn to put two Pac12 teams in the women's final. Both games were exciting for different reasons.
That Stanford game was a wild one at the end. If you remember the 1984 NC State/Houston Final it was the same except instead of missing the put pack the Wolfpacks Lorenzo Charles put the missed shot back with a dunk to win at the buzzer. The South Carolina player while being one of the best post players in womens basketball is not able to dunk the ball and missed the put back. I wonder when the last time the mens or womens final was between 2 teams from the same conference, if ever? Maybe when ND was in the Big East with UConn I'll have to look it up.
Turns out at least on the womens side it's happened 4 times, most recent was 2017 South Carolina/Miss State. Maryland/Duke in 2006 when Maryland was still in the ACC Tenn/Georgia in 1996 Tenn/Auburn in 1989 BTW Auburn lost 3 straight Finals 1988,89,90
I remember well the finish of the '83 NC State-Houston game with Valvano running around the court at the end. It was an unbelievable upset of a loaded Houston team. It was played at the Pit in Albuquerque. I was there several years ago with my college roommate, who lives in Santa Fe, when Steve Alford was coaching New Mexico. EDIT: I couldn't recall the nickname of that '83 Houston team, so I looked it up: Phi Slamma Jamma.
TOK, Three times in modern history re teams from the same conference playing for the men’s championship. Indiana beat Michigan in the NCAA finals in 1976. That Hoosier team has been the last team to go undefeated for the entire season. In 1988, Big 8 member Kansas beat Oklahoma for the NC led by Larry Brown as coach. In 1985, Big East conference member Villanova beat Georgetown.
Texas Tech also promoted from within, they hired Chris Beard's top assistant and Tech Alum, Mark Adams as their new Head Coach. Re: Hubert Davis, by all counts a really good person and one who loves the Univ of North Carolina is a graduate and former player, and has been their for the last nine years with Roy Williams. It seems like it will be a good hire, but of course we won't really know for a few years.
I wonder if the IU players from that '76 undefeated team are like the players from the '72 Miami Dolphins undefeated Super Bowl Champions who celebrate every year when the last unbeaten NFL squad loses a game.
On a lesser scale, my senior year our football team , The Carroll Patriots of Dayton, Ohio went undefeated. That was 1971. If they lose a game this year that will make 50 years. If so, we may drink a toast to one another.
My son's high school state championship team of 1990 is the last team from the school to go undefeated even though there have been 3-4 state champs since then. I don't believe they celebrate it. Maybe if they get to 50 years like George's team, they'll consider it. I won't know because I won't be here.
Minn has 8 guys enter the portal. IU had a bunch of guys go in the portal. Between the portal and guys leaving for the pro's (NBA or Europe), Texas Chris Beard is going to have a whole new bunch of kids. I think I have heard (ESPNU) that most staffs now include a guy who does nothing but monitor the portal. While I guess it's hard to be against kids getting to go where they want but it seems like with so many guys moving that it's not really going to be a case where they are going to get to a program and be the stars they think they should be and headed to the NBA. Just going to make watching college basketball harder because you don't have a group of players who you've watched grow into starters and contributors.
Re: the portal. I believe IU had 6 players enter the portal. Four have exited the portal in favor of staying at IU under the new coach. Two remain uncertain.
Sean Miller is out at Arizona. Not been a good month for the Miller boys. I'm sure they are both sitting on nice bank accounts and when the dust settles will be back on the bench coaching somewhere.