Random College Basketball Preview Bits

My goodness. My beloved Indians are out of the baseball playoffs, I don't care about any NFL team, and both of the college football teams I mildly root for (MSU and GT) are floundering. But wait, it's only 1 week until November, which could only mean... yes you guessed it, a college basketball preview.

Not that this will be a top 10 teams list or conference previews (which will come when the season is actually about to start), but more of a random factoid/observations list for the upcoming season.

Kelvin Sampson losing his good image.
I don't know why, but college basketball coaches just get certain stigmas attached to them very early on that are completely unfounded. Most of them are correct and the coaches live up to their images which provides the justification for future judgments of other coaches. For example, Billy Donovan being a douchebag turned out to be quite true. And of course, Tom Izzo being the ultimate class guy has also been true. But sometimes we just hate or like a coach for no reason. Bo Ryan of Wisconsin just looks like a rat and a sneaky classless coach, but he turned out to be a very effective, classy (somewhat), and even funny guy. I used to hate that guy for no reason but now I respect him. And why does everyone like Jim Boeheim when he's just a mild-mannered talent wasting coach who's stuck in his old and ineffective ways? I mean, the Syracuse Zone? How far has that gotten you in the tournament lately (sans the freak Carmelo year)?
Well now it's Kelvin Sampson's turn. A coach from the Jud Heathcote recruiting tree who was all about mental toughness, playing physical and hard, and was classy in interviews obviously would get the good guy image attached to him. But in the matter of a year, he's abandoned his program that he helped build (Oklahoma) at the drop of a hat, did some VERY sneaky back-alley recruiting to steal top prospect Eric Gordon from Illinois, was punished for illegal phone calling for recruiting, and then recently was caught AGAIN for illegal phone calling. Suddenly, I'm putting this guy with the Jim Calhouns and the John Caliparis of the coaching world. Sampson is tarnishing the image of Big 10 college basketball. Oh well, it seems to make sense that the Big 10 was due for some bad news with its coaches. After all, we were on a roll with landing Tubby Smith and getting rid of Steve Alford and Tommy Amaker so something bad had to happen to recreate a sense of balance.

Brook Lopez gets suspended.
I know you're going to Stanford buddy, but I just can't understand how people seem to always get in trouble for academics. The schedule for college athletes (big time college athletes, anyway) is personally designed so that all you have to do is show up and you pass. It's seriously that easy. Actually, you probably don't have to show up all the time either, you just have to make it to a few important tests and you're golden. Studying probably isn't that important either with the level of ease of these classes. Just think of it as an investment of your future earning. Learn from Maurice Clarett, people. Make the grades (or at least the class).

Freshman Guards.
Derrick Rose! OJ Mayo! Eric Gordon! Oh my! These 3 already lottery pick guards are all coming in at the same time to college basketball and frankly... I don't really care yet. Some people have picked these 3 to the ALL-AMERICAN teams in the preseason without them having played a SINGLE MINUTE OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL. Are you serious? I don't care how many AAU clips you've seen, do not pick them as an all-american yet. Maybe an all-freshman team or top newcomer, but all-American? Let's wait and see what they can do first. Speaking of these guys, I have a feeling Eric Gordon will be pretty solid in the Big 10 but I just have a sense of unease about Derrick Rose and OJ Mayo, off-court wise. They are going to Memphis and USC respectively and are most definitely using these schools as a 1 year stepping stone to the NBA. Memphis just happens to be getting all these huge name recruits and USC for Mayo? Seriously? Something just seems off about it all, especially with OJ.

Cornell???
I know i'm being biased in talking about my alma mater but Cornell is widely considered the preseason pick of the Ivy League in basketball this year. Not really a big deal to the general basketball world, but if they accomplish this, they will be the first team that is not Princeton or Penn to win the Ivies in about 20 years. The last team to win the Ivies other than those two "powerhouses"? You guessed it, the Big Red. Their schedule includes playing Syracuse and Duke, so that should be quite interesting to watch. One of their players also includes Ryan Wittman, son of phenom coach Randy Wittman. Oh boy, i'm just jumping for joy at the possible basketball connections in my life.

Gus Johnson no longer allowed to scream.
It appears that they are toning down Gus Johnson by reducing how many games he gets to call in the NCAA tournament. This is a big shame. Why? Because:



Sampson: 'We had some issues' [IndyStar.com]
Floyd told Mayo didn't punch Hackett [SGV Tribune]