SEC basketball coaches check egos, need for attention at the door
Kentucky basketball basks in the sporting spotlight. But the long shadow of football falls across the Big Blue Nation right now. Besides UK’s New Year’s Eve victory over Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl, the basketball team is in the midst of a schedule that would be a death wish if the games were played on the gridiron.
Kentucky played Ohio State in Las Vegas four days before Christmas. UK plays Georgia and Alabama this coming Tuesday and Saturday, respectively.
So, let’s talk football.
A question about football being the dominant sport at their schools drew laughter from coaches on the Southeastern Conference’s basketball teleconference Thursday.
“I don’t mind it,” Alabama’s first-year basketball coach, Nate Oats, said after a chuckle. “I mean, shoot, the football program here is one of the best in the country. Over the past decade, it is the best.
“I don’t have a big ego or need all the attention on us.”
Alabama has won the most SEC football championships (27) and 15 national titles.
LSU Coach Will Wade used humor to suggest his school’s football team playing for the national championship against Clemson on Jan. 13 was an asset for his basketball program.
“Oh, it’s great for us,” Wade said. “Nobody’s worried that we’re 8-4. Hopefully, we’ll have a few conference wins by the time everybody gets back from the national championship game and they start worrying about basketball.”
Kentucky plays at LSU on Feb. 18.
As for Georgia, Tom Crean reminded reporters at the 2018 SEC Media Day that his wife, Joani, is the sister of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh and Baltimore Ravens Coach John Harbaugh.
So, Crean embraces football. “When you marry into the Harbaughs, you really have no choice,” Crean quipped.
Crean said that as an assistant coach at Michigan State earlier in his career he saw how football and basketball can form “a kind of synergy” on the same campus. Tom Izzo and Nick Saban made it work, he said.
Georgia, which is tied with Tennessee for the second-most SEC football championships (13 each), has had much more modest success in basketball. Georgia has not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2002, and did not play in an NCAA Tournament until 1983.
But, Crean is working on the problem. He’s known for tirelessly promoting basketball. He pointed out that Georgia had its highest average attendance for pre-conference games this season. The previous record came last season. He credited fan enthusiasm for helping the Bulldogs win a double-overtime game against SMU.
“The energy has been fantastic,” he said. “The passion of the fans has been really good. The interest is definitely there. The support is there. And the passion inside the arena is really building.”
Oats cited an SEC school that had shown how football and basketball can coexist and prosper side by side.
“Florida is a big football school,” the Alabama basketball coach said. “They won national championships in basketball. So, I think you can be really good at both.”
Ohio State has won national championships in basketball and football. But the Buckeyes’ basketball coach, Chris Holtmann, acknowledges which sport ranks first.
“We’ve chosen to embrace it,” he said of football’s dominance at Ohio State. “We recognize we’re at a school that is a football school, that celebrates football at the highest level of success.”
Of course, rival recruiters use Ohio State fans’ devotion to football against the basketball program, Holtmann said. “Recruiters use everything,” he said. “If they sense they can use it, they will.”
Holtmann, who grew up in Lexington and then Nicholasville, said he was familiar with the phenomenon of one sport overshadowing all others.
“As I’ve said a number of times, I’ve only been in an environment one other time where the fan base is equally rabid about a particular sport,” he said. “And that is Kentucky basketball.”
Wait and see
Kentucky is this. Kentucky is that. Kentucky needs this. Kentucky should drop that. Kentucky will do this. Kentucky won’t do that. Kentucky beats then-No. 1 Michigan State. Kentucky loses to Evansville. Kentucky beats then-No. 3 Louisville. Kentucky loses to unranked Utah.
The expect-the-unexpected first two months of this season should at least pause the constant speculation that is part of college basketball, and as it is with all sports, ad nauseam. But it hasn’t. This season’s replay of authentic roundball gibberish led SEC basketball consultant Mike Tranghese to recall advice he received from Dave Gavitt.
“He told me everybody jumps to conclusions,” Tranghese said. “Don’t make any judgments in December. Never.”
Gavitt knew basketball as a player (Dartmouth), coach (Providence), athletics director (Providence), executive (first commissioner of the Big East Conference) and big-picture thinker (he led the effort that resulted in the “Dream Team” of NBA stars representing the U.S. in the 1992 Olympics).
So Tranghese, who followed Gavitt as the Big East’s commissioner, listened. But it seems no one else follows Gavitt’s advice.
“Nobody has patience anymore,” Tranghese said. “We all want instant gratification.”
Tranghese recalled the talk he heard about St. John’s being stuck with Mark Jackson, who averaged 5.8 points and 5.1 points in his first two college seasons. Ultimately, Jackson would score 1,328 points in his college career and then play 1,296 games in the NBA.
“It’s all process,” Tranghese said. “And the timeline for players and teams is different. And that’s the idea. You’ve got to wait and see.”
Theory on parity
Six No. 1 teams before Christmas. Unranked mid-major opponents beating two No. 1 teams, Kentucky and Duke, on their homecourts.
Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl offered a theory on why there’s been so many examples of parity in college basketball this season.
“One of the things that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough is the quality of not only high school basketball but AAU basketball,” Pearl said. “And the depth and breadth of the talent pool.”
Elite programs recruit McDonald’s All-Americans and top 100 prospects, but there’s more talent than ever for other programs to add.
“There’s other kids training the last 10 years or so like they’ve never trained before,” Pearl said. “And so, as a result, a lot more good players are coming out of high school. So, there are more really good teams.”
Deep and dark December
North Carolina went into the Dec. 21 game against UCLA in Las Vegas on a four-game losing streak. The Tar Heels had not dropped four games in any December since losing to Michigan State, Cincinnati, Indiana and Louisville in 1999.
North Carolina beat UCLA. And by beating Yale 70-67 on Monday, UNC avoided losing five games in a December for the first time since 1950.
Happy birthday
To Randolph Morris. He turned 34 on Thursday. … To Irving Thomas. He turned 54 on Thursday. … To former UK president Charles Wethington. He turned 84 on Thursday. … To Steve Bruce. He turned 53 on Friday. … To Tyler Ulis. He turns 24 on Sunday (today). … To Isaac Humphries. He turns 22 on Sunday (today). … To Larry Stamper. He turns 70 on Monday. … To Bobby Perry. He turns 35 on Tuesday. … To Kirk Chiles. He turns 71 on Wednesday. … To former Ole Miss player and later coach Rod Barnes. He turns 54 on Wednesday. … To Kahlil Whitney. He turns 19 on Wednesday.
