Pac-10 shuffling begins
April 1st, 2008, 12:54 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Mark Heller
Final Four week is when the shaking and baking begins, as the college basketball world flocks to San Antonio for much more than the games (although with the four No. 1 seeds there for the first time in history, that should be good enough).
Coaches, athletic directors, job mongers and the like will all be there, hob-knobbing and job-talking for the next six days.
The Pac-10, however, didn’t wait to get started.
Lute Olson is back at Arizona after his season-long sabbatical to deal with his divorce. What happens with Kevin O’Neill, who’s suddenly no longer in line to be Olson’s eventual replacement after being named as such last fall?
At Olson’s press conference today in Tucscon, he said O’Neill – who has another year in his contract — is out as his top assistant, which ended a brief tenure of confusion, muddled answers, and, thus, even more confusion.
Lute said he’d like to coach until at least 2011, when his contract expires, and can’t hire another top assistant until O’Neill (who’s on vacation) officially leaves his post.
A tanned, rested and relaxed Lute Olson went through a mixed bag of questions in Tucson on Tuesday. More questions about his staff and roster won’t be answered for at least a few more weeks. (Xavier Gallegos/Tucson Citizen)
Even though the Wildcats had a “down” year by their standards (19-15 overall, 8-10 Pac-10), injuries and contrasting styles between O’Neill and Olson make it difficult for other schools to evaluate O’Neill and his abilities based on this season.
But those gray areas alone will make it tough for O’Neill to land a major conference head coaching job (forget about the Pac-10) or go back to being an NBA assistant.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats bring in All-American high schooler Brandon Jennings to a team that could return up to four starters.
Emphasis on “could.”
Chase Budinger would be foolish to leave school for the NBA.
Jerryd Bayless? Not so much. He’s already projected to be an NBA lottery pick, which could be more tempting than Olson’s fast-paced style and ‘Cats roster continuity.
His decision is the big one, and may not come until after he gets more input on his projected place in the NBA world.
About 1,500 miles north, Washington State coach Tony Bennett briefly flirted with Indiana about its marquee opening before Pullman pulled him back in with a sweetened deal for him, his assistants and the facilities.
It’s impressive for Wazzu, considering Bennett’s coaching ability and the lure of places larger than Pullman. Still, it’s probably a good (non)-move for Bennett, since Indiana will lose D.J. White, freshman Eric Gordon is likely gone to the pros, and interim coach Dan Dakich booted two other starters off the team for missing meetings.
If Indiana had to shed its squeaky-clean image in the name of hiring Kelvin Sampson, the Hoosiers aren’t the salivating draw they once were.
Or so we thought. Marquette coach Tom Crean is set to become Indiana’s new coach, a huge loss for the perennial NCAA tournament school from Milwaukee, and major injection of interest toward the sagging Big Ten (Crean was an assistant under Tom Izzo at Michigan State).
There’s a juicy opening at California with Ben Braun fired after 12 seasons. He’s had a few underachieving teams (including this year’s 17-16, 6-12 squad which had plenty of talent), but he’s also had multiple years implode because of injuries.
Having dealt with him multiple times when I covered the Mid-American Conference, Braun, already entrenched at Cal by then, was always accessible and gave thoughtful answers.
California gave coach Ben Braun a thumbs down last week. Classy and thoughtful he was, but it wasn’t enough to offset his underachieving Bears in recent years.
It might have been his downfall in this case. Braun was very much a “players” coach, but the Bears were awful defensively and often struggled down the stretch in games when physical and mental toughness are needed.
The Bears made only one NCAA tournament appearance in the past five years, and it wasn’t because they lacked quality players.
Former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery doesn’t appear to want the job. Neither did Tony Bennett.
St. Mary’s coach Randy Bennett might, and should be a top choice given the way he’s turned around the Gaels in five years.
Oregon State might turn up the heat to persuade Bennett to be the next up-and-comer to try and resurrect Corvallis.
Then there’s the wonderment of whether O.J. Mayo and Davon Jefferson will return to USC, and what that might mean for coach Tim Floyd, who has the Louisiana State job vacancy swirling around him because of his family ties to the Bayou.
Rumors are flowing, which is also what the Final Four is for.
