Wednesday, March 28, 2007

INTEGRITY: The Difference Between Alford and McDermott

When McDermott decided to leave UNI, he called up his recruits and told that he was going to leave UNI for ISU. In the same conversations, he told his recruits that they committed to UNI, and that they should honor their commitments.

Fast forward to this year... Alford stands at his presser in New Mexico and says that he has not contacted his recruits in regards to coming with him. Now we find out that Alford has, in fact, talked to his recruit(s) about coming down to New Mexico after LOIs were signed.

Integrity, some people have it, others do not. Unbelievable.

Did Alford/Neal break NCAA rules? We shall see...

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Kruger Turns Down Iowa Job; U of I Knew Alford was Leaving

Through a few deductions of a recent article in the LV Review-Journal, I believe that Lon Kruger has already turned down the Iowa job and that Iowa knew that Alford was gone early last week.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2007/Mar-21-Wed-2007/news/13304441.html

KRUGER PURSUED

UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger already has turned down a big-school offer, said Dave Cokin, who made the comment Tuesday on KBAD-AM, 920 (ESPN), during his sports-talk show with John Hanson.

Cokin said he could not identify the school because Kruger swore him to secrecy. The school has not yet announced that it is letting its coach go, Cokin said. Kruger has two years remaining on his UNLV deal.


Of course, I could be way off base, but it's not that hard of a conclusion to reach. On March 20th, Iowa still had Alford as their coach. Perhaps Barta already knew that Alford was gone, and he offered the job to Kruger, who turned it down. It's very feasible. Sure, there could be other schools ready to dismiss their coach, but this all happened right around the Alford time-period. Coincidence? I think not.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

FREE BRUCE PEARL

Gary Barta needs to go out and get Bruce Pearl. It's as simple as that. Open up the checkbook, promise and deliver on whatever he needs.... just get him back to Iowa City.

Free Bruce Pearl

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Alford to New Mexico might really happen

The past few weeks, banter across the Internet tied Steve Alford to the vacant men's basketball coach position at New Mexico. I had brushed it off, just as I brushed off the Indiana and Missouri "stories" last year. Well, now it looks like this little rumor has legs. Several media outlets are now stating Alford has agreed to coach the Lobos and it's just a matter of getting the contract finalized. If that is the case - who does Iowa replace Alford with? Here's my list.


On my list (disclaimer - not sure if some of these are even possible)
Bruce Pearl - #1 on my list
Billy Gillispie
John Beilein
Jay Wright (loves Nova, won't leave)
Tom Crean (has a HUGE contract w/ Marquette though)
Dana Altman
Tim Floyd
Andy Kennedy (untested though)

Neutral
Chris Lowery
Craig Neal
Tony Bennett

Not on my list
Lon Kruger - doesn't stay at one place long enough, wining % is actually lower than Alford's
Rick Majerus - too big of a health liability
Quinn Snyder - don't like his style
Steve Lavin - don't think he can coach

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Final Look at My Bubble Teams - NCAA Tourney Field Predictions for 2007

Updated Look at Bubble Teams for 2007 and Projecting the NCAA Tourney Field

EDIT: I picked 63/65, with one of my locks (Syracuse) snubbed.

Last two years' predictions -
2006: 63/65 teams
2005: 65/65 teams

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE LOCKS/AUTOBIDS (parenthesis contain total number of bids for the conference; the first number is the locks and the second number is the total bids the conference will get as of right now)

Am East(1/1) - ALBANY
ACC(6/7) - UNC, VaTech, Virginia, BC, Duke, Maryland
A. Sun(1/1) - BELMONT
A-10(2/2) - GEORGE WASHINGTON, Xavier
Big East(6/7) - GEORGETOWN, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette, Syracuse
Big Sky(1/1) - WEBER STATE
Big South(1/1) - WINTHROP
Big Ten(4/6) - OHIO STATE, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan State
Big 12(3/4) - KANSAS, Texas, Texas A&M
Big West(1/1) - LONG BEACH STATE
CAA(1/1) - VCU
CUSA(1/1) - MEMPHIS
Horizon(2/2) - WRIGHT STATE, Butler
Ivy(1/1) - PENN
MAAC(1/1) - NIAGARA
MAC(1/1) - MIAMI (OH)
MCC(1/1) - ORU
MEAC(1/1) - FAMU
MVC(2/3) - CREIGHTON, S. Illinois
MWC(1/2) - UNLV
NEC(1/1) - CCST
OVC(1/1) - E. KENTUCKY
Patriot(1/1) - HOLY CROSS
Pac-10(5/5) - UCLA, Washington St., Arizona, USC, OREGON
SEC(4/5) - FLORIDA, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee
Southern(1/1) - DAVIDSON
Southland(1/1) - TEXAS A&M - CC
SWAC(1/1) - JACKSON STATE
Sun Belt(1/1) - NORTH TEXAS
WCC(1/1) - GONZAGA
WAC(2/2) - NEW MEXICO STATE, Nevada

BOLD TEAMS WON THEIR CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE ON THE BUBBLE
So here's who I have on the Bubble... 8 spots are up for grabs

Those teams IN are noted with an asterisk (*).
Georgia Tech *
Florida State
Clemson
UMass
Rhode Island
Villanova *
W. Virginia
DePaul
Illinois *
Purdue *
Michigan
Kansas State
Texas Tech *
Oklahoma State
Old Dominion
Drexel
Bradley
Missouri State *
BYU *
Air Force
San Diego St
Stanford
Georgia
Alabama
Arkansas *
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Davidson

NUMBER ONE SEEDS: OHIO STATE, NORTH CAROLINA, FLORIDA, KANSAS

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Revisiting my Big Ten Pre-Season Predictions

Back in November, I predicted the Big Ten standings. Let's revisit my predictions and compare them to the actual standings. Parenthesis after teams indicate +/- their actual finish in the Big Ten.

STORMINSPANK'S 2006-07 BIG TEN PREDICTIONS

1. Wisconsin (-1)
2. Ohio State (+1)
3. Indiana (-)
4. Illinois (-2)
5. Iowa (+1)
6. Michigan (-2)
7. Michigan State (-)
8. Purdue (+3)
9. Penn State (-2)
10. Minnesota (+1)
11. NW (+1)

Overall, I really didn't miss badly on the entire conference. Purdue was my biggest miss, though (then again I did admit that I would be underestimating them in my prediction when I said, "I am clearly underestimating Purdue").

My Tiers, however, were dead on (not that it took a whiz to figure those out).

TOP TIER:
Wisconsin
Ohio State

MIDDLE TIER:
Indiana
Illinois
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Purdue

BOTTOM TIER:
Penn State
Minnesota
Northwestern

Updated Look at 2007 Bubble Teams

Updated Look at Bubble Teams for 2007

Last two years' predictions -
2006: 63/65 teams
2005: 65/65 teams

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE LOCKS/AUTOBIDS (parenthesis contain total number of bids for the conference; the first number is the locks and the second number is the total bids the conference will get as of right now)

Am East(1/1) - Vermont
ACC(6/7) - UNC, VaTech, Virginia, BC, Duke, Maryland
A. Sun(1/1) - BELMONT
A-10(1/1) - Xavier
Big East(6/7) - Georgetown, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette, Syracuse
Big Sky(1/1) - Weber State
Big South(1/1) - WINTHROP
Big Ten(4/6) - tOSU, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan State
Big 12(3/4) - Texas, Kansas, Texas A&M
Big West(1/1) - Long Beach State
CAA(1/2) - Virginia Commonwealth
CUSA(1/1) - Memphis
Horizon(1/1) - Butler
Ivy(1/1) - PENN
MAAC(1/1) - Marist
MAC(1/1) - Toledo
MCC(1/1) - ORU
MEAC(1/1) - Delaware State
MVC(1/3) - S. Illinois
MWC(1/3) - BYU
NEC(1/1) - Monmouth
OVC(1/1) - Central Conn
Patriot(1/1) - Holy Cross
Pac-10(5/6) - UCLA, Washington St., Arizona, USC, Oregon
SEC(4/5) - Florida, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee
Southern(1/1) - Appalachian State
Southland(1/1) - Sam Houston State
SWAC(1/1) - Jackson State
Sun Belt(1/1) - Western Kentucky
WCC(1/1) - Gonzaga
WAC(1/1) - Nevada

BOLD TEAMS WON THEIR CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE ON THE BUBBLE

So here's who I have on the Bubble... 12 spots are up for grabs
Those teams IN are noted with an asterisk (*).

Georgia Tech *
Florida State
Clemson
UMass
Rhode Island
Villanova *
W. Virginia
DePaul
Illinois *
Purdue *
Michigan
Kansas State
Texas Tech *
Oklahoma State
Old Dominion
Drexel *
Bradley
Creighton *
Missouri State *
UNLV *
Air Force *
San Diego St
Stanford *
Georgia
Alabama *
Arkansas
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Davidson

NOTES:
- If Memphis loses in the CUSA Tourney, that league will get two bids.
- If Nevada loses in the WAC TOurney, that league will get two bids.
- If Butler loses in the Horizon Tourney, that league will get two bids.
- If Xavier loses in the A-10 Tourney, the league will probably get two bids.
- It looks as if the Colonial might get 2 bids, it would help Iowa if they only got one.
- If the locks in mid-majors take care of business in their conference tournaments, there might be room for Iowa looking at the current bubble teams.

This will be updated periodically, esp. when the conference tournaments are played.