If I am a college head football coach

The first player I recruit is the best punter I can get. The second is the best placekicker I can get. You get those two, and you are miles ahead from the get-go.

We need some leaders

Someone is going to have to step up and make this his team, preferably one of the seniors. Someone is going to have to fix his eye on the goal and let it be known to the team that no slackers will be tolerated. Teams tend to overachieve most frequently if they have strong upperclass leadership. Here's hoping.

Coastal Carolina - upset threat next season

They won 21 games last season, return all five starters, head the boards hard, play strong defense, and shoot the ball adequately. Might be an early "heads up" for some non-conference or tournament upsets for next year?

Minutes we can expect from Gus

Gus averaged 15.5 minutes/game last season, and that was playing behind Will and James. So he will get more minutes, presumably, this year. How many CAN he play, though. He is lugging a log of weight up and down the court, and will be where the banging is going on underneath. I think (hope) we can pencil him in for 20+ minutes/game, and if we can get that, we probably will be in fairly good shape underneath. For reference, Ben Dillard was 5th in total minutes last season, and he averaged 24/game. I expect we will have to spell Gus regularly, but if he can stay out of foul trouble, I think he can give the minutes.

Foreign players communication advantage

If you have a couple of foreign players who speak the same language, imagine the advantage they have on the court. They can talk openly to one another. A Serb can yell to his countryman, "Pavlov, when I yell, you cut for the basket, and I will throw the ball to such and such a place," and no one would know the difference.

Sometimes overtimes can start a trend

It is not unusual for team to win a couple of tough overtime games, discover that they can do it, gain a lot of confidence, and go on a run that makes the season.

However, the opposite can also be true. Butler started this past season 10-2, with the two losses being by 2 points. Then the started their conference season with four straight losses, three of them OT losses at home - and the rest of the season was a disaster. It can happen.

Georgia State and everyone else?

With the loss of Western Kentucky and Elfrid Payton at ULL, and Georgia State's pickup of Kevin Ware, it is looking like the Belt this year may be GSU and the battle for a distant second.

All-time marks we might see next season

These players have a chance to make the media  guide list in these categories:

CAREER 3PT MADE Ben started with 66.


CAREER 3PT% Ben started 67 OF 162

CAREER FT% Ben started 190 OF 230

CAREER ASSISTS Josh has 201

CAREER STEALS Josh has 74

CAREER BLOCKS James has 54

SEC hypocrisy

Along with the other money conferences. Consider this quote by the SEC commissioner:

“I consider this period of time one of the historic moments that all of us are witnesses to — an evolutionary change where we put the student-athletes first and we build our philosophies on the student-athlete rather than the so-called level playing field,” Slive said. “I don't know how this comes out, but I'm optimistic the evolution will continue.”

This has nothing to do with the student-athletes. It has to do with being able to distance themselves from those cumbersome smaller schools under the NCAA umbrella so that the money schools can make more money. With all due respect, Mr. Commissioner, I believe you are a liar, by implication, at least.

Jake Yancey's numbers

I think our fans would agree that Jake Yancey was a solid center for us during his three-year career. So, what kind of numbers did he put up? His final (junior) year, he averaged 6.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg, shot 55.4% from the field and had 18 blocks. Not at all eye-catching numbers,  but Jake did what he was called upon to do. From his freshman year under Coach Porter Moser, Jake's make job was to play solid post defense, get rebounds, and make shots when he got the opportunity. Which he did.

Now, will Gus Leeper have that sort of final season?

I hope we have a few money games this year

We need the money, and this is the kind of team with a little bit of offensive pop that might accidentally win one of them.

We used to have Burn the Horse; now we have . . .

"Just wait and find out." Back to the good old days, when we waited for precious little from the UALR information blackout. I would try to do it here, but I just do not have the time nor the connections to do it like BTH did.

The good news? Steve Shields is evidently still giving us at least monthly updates on his blog, which is tons better than we used to get.

One bad thing about basketball

Of the major sports, it is the hardest on the voice. Both for fans and coaches. I have to watch it at close Trojan games to keep from stripping my voice. And Steve Shields has pretty well destroyed his, from the sound of it.

Get open, or make the shot?

We talk about players whom we want taking shots at crunch time. Usually these are players who are good ballhandlers who can get open to take the shot. But not always. There is a different between the ability to get open to take the shot and the ability to hit the shot once you are open. A few special players can do both.

Pity the poor PA man at Kansas next season

They just signed Ukrainian star Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk. Say that ten times really fast.

Projecting Stetson's numbers

Let us assume for a moment that Stetson is the heir to the 3 spot next season (by no means a given, but he is the leading candidate at this point). Let us assume that he does not shoot better or take more shots. If we divide Leroy Isler's minutes/game (25.3) by Stetson's (9.5), we arrive at a factor of 2.663. Then, if we multiply that factor by Stetson's per game numbers from last season, we come up with 5.6 points/game and 6.3 rebounds/game. Now, the points are not impressive (although not that much below Leroy's 6.5/game), but the rebound number is VERY impressive for a small forward, since our leading rebounder last season (Will) had only 7.0/game. By comparison, James White averaged 6.0 rebounds/game last season. Pretty good board numbers for a small forward, if Stetson hits them.

Campus Confessions (1938)

This is a sports movie of a different twist from the ones we see today. Strictly lightweight, and not at all realistic, but enjoyable as a period piece. It starred Betty Grable.

From a sports standpoint the main interest is the role played by the great Hank Luisetti, who was a three-time All-American at Stanford and two-time Player of the Year. He is credited with the popularization of the running shot, as opposed to the standing set-shots and hook shots that had been used previously.

Don't go to OT with Pitt

This past season the Pitt Panthers were involved in four overtime games (one of them double overtimes). They won all four. Three of the four were on the road.

Just do it, NCAA. You know you want to.

Dear NCAA fathers,

You restricted defense last year in the name of "making the game more entertaining" (which is reportedly what "everybody" wants). This year you are toying with cutting the shot clock to 30 seconds and other tweaks to help the poor offense. Why don't you just have the guts to do what you really want to do? Just cut the shot clock to 10 seconds and legislate that ANY contact of whatever nature by the defenders is a foul. Just make it where offenses can score at will. That is what you really want, so just do it!

Scoring was not UCA's problem this year

They shot 36.7% from the arc, which is very good and had a stable full of good shooters. BUT, they could not make FTs, could not (or would not) rebound, and could not (or would not) play defense. So . . . they lost 21 games.