• Kansas doesn't play or act like it feels the pressure of being the favorite. The Jayhawks are quite relaxed in their demeanor and handle road situations without pause. There really is no attitude around this crew, either. Kentucky has the Hollywood, star-attraction aura because of the intense interest from the fans and statewide media, which watch its every move. Within the commonwealth, Louisville has fans in its own city but not all that many beyond that. There just doesn't seem to be any first-class status with Kansas this season. Maybe that's coach Bill Self's approachable personality or the way the team is marketed by its handlers. I've covered countless elite, highly ranked teams in the past two decades, and I'm not sure I've come across a team that puts off as much of a pedestrian persona as this one.
• I was wrong about Texas. I thought the depth of talent would be a plus, not a negative. Clearly, losing Varez Ward to a freak quad injury in November hurt this team. Ward wasn't as much of an offensive liability as Dogus Balbay or Justin Mason, and his defense would have helped on the perimeter. You can tell how much Damion James wants to win, but he can't do it alone. Dexter Pittman has been a major disappointment in the Big 12 with his inability to produce in the post. The inconsistencies of freshmen J'Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton have stunted the growth of the team. And, as is almost always the case, when a player transfers there is a good reason. Jai Lucas was not a major hit at Florida and clearly hasn't found a way to be successful yet at Texas.
• Who had Marcus Morris as the key to the Jayhawks being a title team? Anyone? If you did, let's see your bracket in March.
• Cannot say enough about what a win Villanova had over West Virginia on Monday night in Morgantown. The Wildcats were ripe to be taken down a peg after getting blown out at Georgetown and then slugging through the snow to get to West Virginia to play a team that was amped to climb into the Big East title race with Syracuse. If there were doubts whether Nova could get to the Final Four -- and I had some -- that win erased them. Kansas at Texas was supposed to be the game of the season. The next game to earn that distinction is the one between Villanova and Syracuse on Feb. 27 at the Carrier Dome.
• Siena continued to roll through the MAAC with a win over an injury-riddled Fairfield on Monday. The Saints, with the nation's longest winning streak (15), have become like Butler in the Horizon and Gonzaga in the WCC -- a team that has crossed over into being a dominant presence in its particular league. The key for the Saints has been keeping Fran McCaffery in Loudonville like Gonzaga has with Mark Few and Butler has with Brad Stevens. If one of the Big East, New York-area jobs opens (St. John's? Rutgers?) and McCaffery is approached, what will he do? The Saints have been successful with previous coaches like Louis Orr and Paul Hewitt, but they're in a groove now that might be hard to duplicate without McCaffery.
• If one of those Big East jobs does open up, Rhode Island's Jim Baron has to be considered as well. He might not want to go now that he is finally about to eclipse the NCAA tourney hurdle with the Rams for the first time in a decade, but it's hard to find another rebuilder like Baron who loves being in the trenches.
• Fairfield coach Ed Cooley is in my top five friendliest coaches to everyone in the game. I've been to Boston College (where he once coached) and Connecticut games where he has appeared in the stands. He loves to be around the game, and everyone who sees him is pulled in by his infectious smile, gregarious personality and enthusiastic spirit.
• Oregon got crushed by Oregon State on Saturday, which begs a few questions. Oregon coach Ernie Kent has had nine lives with the Ducks, but the university should make a move only if it knows it can get someone it truly covets (i.e., the annual attempt to lure Few back home). If not, Kent's young squad should be much more of a force in the Pac-10 in 2010-11 when Oregon moves into new digs. The other question is, if Oregon State can finally play as well as it did against the Ducks, does that mean the Beavers could be a tough out in the second half of the Pac-10 season? Why not? The Beavers have the potential to be a Pac-10 tourney final team if they play up to their capabilities in moving the ball, passing from the top with precision and exhibiting patience.
• If you've never had a chance to catch a game in the sweatbox of Mac Court, you've missed a true hidden gem. The Ducks' home will be gone after this season, and it never got its due. The stands go straight up, the noise level can be deafening and, when there is precipitation outside, there is perspiration inside. I don't doubt that Oregon (with Nike's help) will put together a state-of-the-art facility for the Ducks, but in college basketball terms, Mac Court should go down as a historical site.
• I won't be surprised if the NCAA doesn't opt out of its current CBS contract, since a number of conference commissioners like the money they know is coming in the next three years. But a new television partner in 2014 is probable with some sort of expansion. I think you'll see it be incremental, say with 68 teams before a major change. Of course, I could be totally wrong, if the NCAA pushes through the idea that it already has 97 teams in the postseason (since it runs the 32-team NIT). The NIT television contract ends after this season, so that is still a curveball in these discussions. The NCAA could always do a bridge deal with the NIT and ESPN again to get it through the next round of negotiations for television partners in 2014 and beyond.
• My colleague Pat Forde made some compelling arguments for Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim to be named national coach of the year. The more the season plays out, the more it appears he should be the front-runner, with Kentucky's John Calipari on his tail. Wisconsin's Bo Ryan should win the honor in the Big Ten and Virginia's Tony Bennett in the ACC, providing there isn't a complete collapse. Texas A&M's Mark Turgeon is my front-runner in the Big 12 for keeping the Aggies in the top four of the conference without Derrick Roland (freakish broken leg in late December at Washington). New Mexico's Steve Alford has to be the leader in the MWC (although BYU's Dave Rose can't get enough awards for his courageous battle against pancreatic cancer). The most competitive race for the coach of the year honor in a conference will play out in two conferences -- the A-10 and the Pac-10. Baron, Charlotte's Bobby Lutz, Xavier's Chris Mack and Temple's Fran Dunphy should all be considered (I always thought Richmond and Dayton would be near the top). Meanwhile, the Pac-10 race for coach of the year is as muddled as the search for a champ. Arizona's Sean Miller, Arizona State's Herb Sendek, Washington State's Ken Bone and USC's Kevin O'Neill, who has kept the Trojans in the chase for the title despite a postseason ban, all have legitimate claims to be considered.
• Kentucky got much-needed praise for the "Hoops for Haiti" telethon that generated $1 million in relief aid. But Duke should be applauded as well for keeping Haiti's plight in the limelight and on television by wearing bright yellow patches on its uniforms.
• I still haven't found one NBA scout, general manager or player personnel director who will tell me they will take anyone other than Kentucky's John Wall No. 1 in the draft, assuming he declares. Ohio State's Evan Turner might win the national player of the year award, but he won't supplant Wall as the top pick. Even if a team like Utah, which has Deron Williams as its lead guard, were to get the top pick (it holds New York's unprotected pick), the Jazz would take Wall.
• I'm not sure I've seen Eddie or Sean Sutton look as well rested and relaxed as I did Monday night in Austin. The two Suttons were at ease mingling through the media room after the Kansas-Texas game. Eddie had a deep tan but was still formal in a sport coat and tie. Sean looked quite dapper in comfortable, stylish clothing. The former Oklahoma State coaches continue to be looked upon quite fondly in the Big 12. Nine years after 10 members of the Oklahoma State traveling party were killed returning from Colorado, Eddie still wears his "10" pin on his lapel. He will never forget.
Hogs persevere after slow start, distractions
But the vindication in Fayetteville hasn't dealt only with the winning streak and newfound standing in the SEC or even the need to check out game-changer Courtney Fortson.
Although Arkansas coach John Pelphrey didn't use the word "vindication" in a conversation Saturday night, he clearly is peeved that the Razorbacks were ripped for their character after an August rape allegation against three players. This past week, the special prosecutor of the case decided not to file charges against the three players in question -- Marcus Britt, Glenn Bryant and Nick Mason. DNA testing proved they didn't commit the act they were accused of doing. Britt, Bryant and Mason originally were suspended from the team at the beginning of the season for a violation of team rules.
Unrelated to the August incident, Fortson and Razorbacks starter Stefan Welsh also were suspended to start the season for violations of team rules. Walsh has played in 20 of the team's 23 games and averages 21.4 minutes a game (6.6 points). Fortson has been back for nine games, and the Hogs are 5-4 with him as their lead guard. He scored 35 points in a win over Mississippi State, 27 in a victory at Georgia and 24 in a win over Auburn.
The Hogs' current four-game win streak has "reaffirmed all along that I knew these were the hardest-working guys," Pelphrey said. "A lot of people were saying that they didn't have character. They were saying, 'What's going on at Arkansas?' I'm happy for them. They kept showing up for work."
Pelphrey had a rough go last season as the Hogs won just two SEC games after nonconference home wins over then-No. 4 Oklahoma and then-No. 7 Texas. And the offseason issues, suspension of Fortson and 8-11 start (1-3 in the SEC) after Kentucky blitzed the Hogs by 31 didn't help.
But the Hogs didn't wilt after that loss to Kentucky. They beat Mississippi State in their next game, sending a message that they could contend for the league title with the Bulldogs and Mississippi, which they beat in Oxford three days later.
Even though the rape charges were eventually dropped, there were other general issues.
"There were standards of being a Razorback that weren't met," Pelphrey said. "I have tremendous respect and honor being the head coach here. I couldn't be more happy for who I work for -- Chancellor [David] Gearhart and [athletic director] Jeff Long. I just really appreciate them."
Pelphrey said he was proud that he was the last coach longtime Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles hired and that Long had told him he wished he had hired him, too.
"I know who we've recruited, and I know how we're going about it and what we place a value on," Pelphrey said. "I understand the value of going to school and being a student-athlete and mastering those. We've got a great foundation to build on what the Razorbacks have done in the past."
Pelphrey said he never wavered no matter what was said about his program.
"I felt bad for the University of Arkansas, and it turns my stomach with some of things that were being said about our young guys," Pelphrey said. "There will be some days that you have to deal with [off-the-court issues], but this shouldn't have been one of them."
Pelphrey said he knew that shots were being taken at the program. But at no point, he said, was there any sense that things were out of control with the program. The support of Gearhart and Long never was in question, and both senior administrators were involved in the program-building process, he said.
"I don't let that other stuff affect me," Pelphrey said. "I was very fortunate at a young age to play at the University of Kentucky. There are [more than 4] million [people] in the state of Kentucky, and not one of them thought I should be on scholarship."
Pelphrey cited a story from early in his Kentucky career when late Kentucky play-by-play announcer Cawood Ledford called him over during warm-ups to tell him that a caller from Paducah, Ky., wanted to know whether he was still on the team.
"That's not the most flattering comment made about you," Pelphrey said. "I was at a young age, having to understand that people will pick at you and say things. But once I became a starter and all-league, then everyone raises the bar. I'm OK with that. We're going to recruit the players that fit what we want to do."
Pelphrey wasn't the first choice for the job. Arkansas flirted with plenty of big-name coaches before it settled on the former Kentucky player, Florida assistant and, more recently, South Alabama head coach.
Pelphrey said he doesn't wake up on a daily basis waiting for affirmation from a blog or a Web site to get him going.
"Seeing a young man improve, that's what I enjoy; working for who I work for is what I enjoy; and seeing how hard our guys play and then winning, that's pretty special and unique," Pelphrey said.
Pelphrey said that Fortson has taken pressure off Michael Washington, Marshawn Powell and Rotnei Clarke because he makes everyone around him better, play faster and move. The Hogs are suddenly a tough out, and with two games against LSU, one at Alabama and one at Auburn and home games against South Carolina, Vandy and Ole Miss, it's hard not to see Arkansas sticking around near the top of the SEC West in the coming weeks.
But what is certain from this point forward is that Pelphrey is hopeful he won't have to defend the character of his players or program for the foreseeable future.
As poor as UCLA has played at times this season, as awful as the losses against teams in the WCC and Big West look on the stat sheet, as subpar as a 10-11 overall record looks in early February, the Bruins still have a real shot to win the conference and get to the NCAA tournament.
UCLA (5-4 in the Pac-10) hosts Stanford and Cal this weekend before a critical three-game road swing to USC, Washington State and Washington. The Bruins are just one game out of first-place; Cal and Arizona are tied at 6-3. The Bruins are tied with Arizona State for second place, and are a game ahead of Washington, Washington State, Oregon, USC and Stanford -- all at 4-5. Oregon State brings up the rear but not that far behind at 3-6.
The mediocrity -- or the competitive balance -- the Pac-10 is experiencing has given life to teams that would normally be thinking about how to motivate in the final month without a chance for the postseason.
"Two years ago, if this was happening [to UCLA], we would have won two games, maybe three games, if we were playing with this current team, especially in 2008," UCLA coach Ben Howland said of the Pac-10 when it was rolling with NBA talent and a lock for multiple NCAA bids. "The league was that good, that talented."
Howland, like the rest of the Pac-10 coaches, is touting the youth of the league, rather than the demise.
"Our guys know what's going on," Howland said. "They read the paper. They're motivated. We start three seniors [Michael Roll, Nikola Dragovic and James Keefe] and they want to go out [in the NCAA]. They've all been a part of Final Four teams and want a good feeling on how they're going to leave here."
Howland said what will be critical for the Bruins, or any other team that has visions of winning the Pac-10 tournament in Los Angeles, is to avoid needing to play four games instead of three. The Pac-10 will still play an 8-9 game but won't have a 7-10 game because USC banned itself from the postseason.
"You've got to be one of the top six seeds so you only have to win three games," Howland said of the Pac-10 tournament, although with only nine teams eligible for the tournament, the seventh-place team will start in the quarterfinals.
The Bruins were a few possessions away from being 6-3 and tied for first, but instead lost in overtime at Oregon. Had that game gone for the Bruins, they would be entering the Stanford game on a four-game winning streak.
"If we had [beaten Oregon] we'd be tied for first right now," Howland said. "We've won some close games but we could have lost them too and been eighth or ninth. We are where we are but I think we're getting better."
The reason is that Howland finally committed to a zone defense to start the Pac-10 season. Howland said the Bruins didn't have the depth, the athleticism or the pressure ability to play man-to-man. But he was being stubborn and wouldn't budge on the subject in the nonconference, sticking to man-to-man. He waited to break out the zone until the first game of the Pac-10 against Arizona State, which ended up being a 72-70 UCLA win. Howland finally abandoned man in favor of what worked for the Bruins -- a zone. Starting the three seniors has helped push the Bruins to three wins in the past four games. While Malcolm Lee is still struggling from the perimeter (27.5 percent on 3s), he is doing a solid job at the point now. Tyler Honeycutt is the Bruins' top rebounder, and Reeves Nelson is the glue guy (boards, screens and hustle) whom the Bruins needed earlier in the season.
"I talked about it in November but unfortunately I didn't commit to it until January. It was poor coaching," Howland said. "Looking back at it, if I had committed to it in early December we might have won a few more games or had the potential to."
Hard to say whether a zone would have worked against Mississippi State or at Notre Dame. It wouldn't have mattered against top-ranked Kansas.
But the Bruins are hardly dead after that 0-for-3 in Anaheim at the 76 Classic, plus the losses to Kansas and Mississippi State that added up to a five-game slide. Normally, a team that is 10-11 at this juncture in the season would be toast. But this is not a traditional season in the Pac-10. Everyone, save USC, is in play.
The Bruins, who shed themselves of Drew Gordon earlier in the season after he decided to transfer, have had injuries to deal with, including Jerime Anderson, who missed three games against Washington, Washington State and Oregon. He returned against Oregon State from a hip flexor injury and was running the floor well in practice Wednesday. But Anderson's absence opened up the opportunity for former walk-on Mustafa Abdul-Hamid, who hit the game-winning shot against Washington. He played double-digit minutes against Washington, Washington State and at Oregon. He played eight minutes at Oregon State, and Howland said he'll get even more time moving forward.
"He hit the shot of the year against Washington," Howland said of Abdul-Hamid's buzzer-beater.
Howland said Anderson will play this weekend. And while there might be overall angst in Bruin nation, the reality is UCLA is still very much alive in the chase for Pac-10 regular-season and tournament titles. Who would have predicted that possibility after Anaheim in November? It was hard to predict that the Bruins could be an NCAA tournament team. Now, if they were to get in, we won't even begin to assume the seed since it would have to be double-digit. But at that point, who would care?
He had the toughest job of any new coach in the country.
Pastner took over the Memphis program after John Calipari led the Tigers to a national title game, blazed a trail in Conference USA with teams left in the dust behind them and collected NBA draft lottery point guards in successive seasons.
Oh, and the top recruiting class in the country followed Calipari to Kentucky.
Pastner had to make do with players who likely wouldn't have been starters had Calipari and the incoming recruits stayed in Memphis. Even if you assume that Duke's Elliot Williams still would have transferred home to Memphis regardless of who the coach was, that's just one player getting the initial nod from Pastner who would have possibly started for Calipari.
So for Pastner to be 15-6 and 5-2 in C-USA through Tuesday is quite an accomplishment. The Tigers don't have an NCAA-caliber profile yet. To get one, they might have to sweep this week's homestand against UAB on Wednesday and against Gonzaga on Saturday.
The Tigers are no longer the favorites in Conference USA, with UAB, UTEP and Tulsa all a game ahead of Memphis and sharing that tag in early February. Losses, whether they were in the final possession or not, to UMass in Boston and at SMU were indicative more of an NIT profile than of an NCAA one. Losing at home to UTEP was a symbol that the FedEx Forum is no longer impenetrable. Losing at Syracuse or earlier in the season to Kansas in St. Louis was expected.
But throughout this season, the youthful Pastner has not shown any sign of panic. He has always been like Doogie Howser or Alex P. Keaton, the fresh face thrust into a much more grown-up world.
Pastner always had the drive to succeed; he is constantly preaching optimism in an Anthony Robbins way, and yet, he understands the demands of the job.
"In April, after 21 games, if you'd say we were going to be 15-6, most would say you were crazy," Pastner said. "We lost an entire recruiting class -- four starters."
Willie Kemp, Doneal Mack, Roburt Sallie, Wesley Witherspoon and Pierre Henderson-Niles, who wouldn't have logged double-digit minutes had Calipari stayed and brought his recruiting class with him, are playing heavy minutes for Pastner.
"The most challenging thing has been constantly managing the personnel and the egos and mixing and matching to make sure everyone is on the same page," Pastner said. "It's easier said than done. Losing is no fun. And winning is very hard. But we can't sit and dwell on it. We've got limited numbers. I can't beat them down."
Pastner made a mature hire when he tabbed former Rice coach Willis Wilson to be an assistant. Wilson has seamlessly moved into the role as elder statesman on the bench, a necessary aide to Pastner.
Pastner's recruiting hasn't been an issue, as he rounded up Scouts Inc.'s No. 1 class in the country for 2010, led by shooting guard Will Barton. The talent, and just as important, the depth, is on the way next season.
This was the bridge year, to see whether Pastner could coach at a high level and keep the Tigers relevant. He has done well and has a shot to ensure the Tigers are on the bubble with an impressive homestand this week.
The Tigers' margin for error is incredibly thin. Williams, averaging 19.8 points a game, has to play well for the Tigers to win. Getting Angel Garcia back from a knee injury and seeing whether he can help the Tigers over the final month would do wonders inside. But counting on him is asking too much at this juncture.
The Tigers are perimeter-oriented, and if they don't make shots, they don't win.
The homestand will conclude with Central Florida on Feb. 10. The Tigers then have a brutal Conference USA finish with four of the final seven games on the road, including games at Tulsa, always crafty Houston and a return at UAB. Of course, of all the years for C-USA to move the tournament out of Memphis to Tulsa, it happens to be Pastner's inaugural season as a head coach.
If Memphis lands in the NIT instead of making a return to the NCAAs, no one should balk. Expectations had to be lower. Managing a postseason squad amid all the hurdles would be a significant accomplishment.
• Kentucky coach John Calipari scoffed at the "John Wall controversy" this week. Calipari said Wednesday that he had no idea there was even any chatter about Wall's postgame quotes from Saturday until Sunday when Wall wanted to talk to him.
He said Wall was contrite in discussing with him his play of late. Calipari said he just told Wall to settle down, not play to the hype that has engulfed him of late, and to enjoy himself. Clearly, Wall did in the win over Ole Miss on Tuesday night.
Calipari reiterated to Wall that the Wildcats had lost only one game and added that Wall better be having fun this year. If not, then what's wrong? Wall's quote was certainly inflammatory when taken alone. But sometimes we all have to take a step back and realize that comments in the heat of a loss, especially the first one, can be a bit too raw. If there is a controversy at Kentucky with Wall and Calipari, I'm not seeing it.
• The talk of the tournament imminently expanding to 96 teams needs to chill. There is no immediate movement on this subject.
The NCAA has a right to explore the marketplace within its CBS contract. The CBS deal has three years remaining on it, and the NCAA can opt out after this season. But it hasn't yet. This is far from done. What the NCAA did was ask potential television partners -- NBC/Comcast, Fox, CBS (possibly with Turner) and ESPN -- how, if at all, they would change the format if they got the tournament. There is no set number of additional teams. A television partner could propose 65, 68, 72, 96 or 128. Everything is on the table.
And even then, there is a process -- a long, exhaustive process like everything in the NCAA legislative structure, which usually moves at a glacial pace. The NCAA, led by vice president Greg Shaheen, has to get opinions from the NCAA tournament selection committee, the conference commissioners (notably the power six) and the board of directors. The conference commissioners are likely to lean toward the status quo, get the bloated back-end money from the CBS deal because it's a sure thing, and see whether the market changes in two years. The NCAA would like to get a long-term deal, but that's a gamble, too, since the price tag could be less now than it might be in two years if the market were to improve.
Still, I'm convinced through my various conversations with those who have direct knowledge of the subject that no deal has been struck with CBS-Turner or ESPN to change the tournament or its television partner. This is a process that will evolve in the spring and summer and isn't being decided in the dead of winter.
And for those who care, it is no coincidence that the NIT contract expires this season. It would make a clean break to get rid of the postseason NIT with a new contract. But if the timing isn't right, the postseason NIT can survive for another few years in a short deal until a final decision is made on the JV field.
Ranked Big Red have real shot to win in March
This might be a step out of the norm for your traditional rankings. It's a projection based on what could be in store for the bracket in March.
Sure, Cornell smoked Harvard by 36 in Ithaca on Saturday. Normally, beating Harvard, even by 30-plus, is hardly enough to push a team into the Top 25.
But this is a new era in Cambridge, and for Cornell, it's the appreciation of a team that has the look of a real first-round winner.
The Big Red did have higher major wins at Alabama, at UMass and at St. John's. But they also lost at home to Seton Hall and at Syracuse and pushed Kansas at Phog Allen Fieldhouse as much as Kansas State did in Manhattan last weekend.
The coaches recognized that Cornell didn't need to beat a big-time opponent to earn a ranking. They can clearly see that this team has something special going on with a veteran lineup led by Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale on the perimeter and a scoring big man in the post in Jeff Foote.
"That's a team capable of making a Davidson kind of run like two years ago," Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said, referring to the Wildcats' Elite Eight run led by Stephen Curry in 2008. "You could see them in the Sweet 16, and from there, anything is possible. They are very talented and have a lot of seniors. They've been in the tournament. They're legit. They pounded us. I voted for them in the Top 25 well before we played them."
Amaker said the balance the Big Red possess makes this Cornell team much different from previous Ivy League teams. That means Foote.
"He's the key to their team, and at the end of the day, if your shooters are cold, you can drop the ball inside and come away with something," Amaker said. "He can equalize things for you. He can block shots, he can score and make foul shots. I can see them being a force to be reckoned with."
The easy thing to do is to tear down Cornell as a possible NCAA first-round winner. Our ESPN research team provided some facts to try to dismiss Cornell's ranking and relevance -- the first time an Ivy League team other than Princeton or Penn was ranked since 1970.
Since Princeton won a first-round game as a five-seed in 1998, the Ivy League champ has bowed out in the first round 11 straight seasons. Only two of those games were decided by single digits.
Cornell, in the last two NCAAs, lost by 19 to Missouri and then by 24 to Stanford.
So of course we should just dump the Big Red and not consider them as a possible first-round winner, right?
First off, the seeds have mattered. Cornell got a 14-seed the last two seasons, while Penn received a 14, 15 and 13 and Princeton a 14 in 2004. Penn did have two 11s in a row in 2002 and '03, but Princeton had a 15 in 2001. The 2000 Penn team had a 13, and the '99 team had an 11. Cornell probably wouldn't be a lower number than 10, so the Big Red would be in a similar ballpark. A 15 is unlikely if the Big Red continue to win. A 14 is probably a stretch, too. So expect Cornell to fall in the 10- to 13-seed range.
But there are plenty of reasons to believe the losing streak won't continue in March.
"You have to judge those other teams by how they did in the preconference part of the season," Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. "Those other 11 teams hadn't fared as well or challenged for big wins. Our '94 team at Penn beat St. John's, Georgia and Michigan, so we were prepared to win in the NCAA."
A No. 11-seed Penn won a first-round game in 1994, beating No. 6 seed Nebraska before losing to No. 3 Florida in the second round.
"We're a much better team than last year," Donahue said. "We've add a player that started at Kentucky in [center] Mark Coury. [Guard] Max Groebe is healthy for us. Foote added 50 pounds. We've proven we're much more prepared for the NCAA tournament."
Donahue isn't getting ahead of himself and wants to reiterate that he's not thinking about the NCAA tournament. There is still plenty of work to do in the Ivy. Princeton has improved to 2-0 in the conference, and there is another date with Harvard in Cambridge on Feb. 19.
Donahue wants to embrace the ranking and prove the team is worthy by playing well over the next 10 games.
"We don't have a conference tournament, and every weekend for us is a mini-tournament," said Donahue, a former Penn assistant. "I've been trained to think like that for the last 20 years."
For the Ivy dream scenario (two league bids), there is really only one path: Cornell (34 in the RPI) would have to win out but lose at Harvard (67 RPI). The Crimson couldn't drop another game and would have to win in a neutral-site, late-game playoff with Cornell.
And even that wouldn't be a cinch for the Big Red.
The Crimson are led by Jeremy Lin but have a younger set around him. On Saturday, Amaker said it was the first time Harvard players got a sniff of what an intense atmosphere is like on the road in the league.
"We're still trying to find ourselves, we still have a lot of growth to have happen," Amaker said. "You can see [Cornell's] focus. They have seniors. They've won before."
And if Amaker is right, Cornell will win again -- in March.
After a few wayward years in the A-10, Charlotte has found its footing after being a bit flustered from being forced to make a move out of Conference USA during the reshuffling of 2005.
The 49ers are on the verge of their first NCAA tournament berth since 2005, when they were in C-USA. The A-10 years have been somewhat awkward, like a teenager in middle school trying to find the right crowd.
Charlotte had winning league records twice -- 11-5 in 2006, 9-7 in 2008 -- but wasn't really in tune for a title.
"I probably didn't handle the transition as well in recruiting," Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said. "It was just different."
Lutz said the 49ers had found a recruiting angle that worked in C-USA, notably getting junior college players from Texas.
"It was an adjustment," Lutz said. "Now we're comfortable as to who we are regardless of the league. Did we struggle with talent the last couple of years? Yes."
What Charlotte did, according to Lutz, was recruit the best players it could get and Lutz said he felt like the 49ers nabbed those who were targeted. But in the early years of the move to the A-10, Charlotte wasn't getting those same type of players, injuries hammered the program and the 49ers were a bit irrelevant.
That has changed dramatically this season with Charlotte off to a 16-5 start with a road win at Louisville (even with three guards out for the Cards) and a 6-1 mark in the A-10 coming off wins over Temple and UMass. The 49ers are in step with Xavier (7-1) and Temple (6-1) for first in the A-10 and a game ahead of Rhode Island (5-2) and Richmond (5-2), making up the five most-likely NCAA at-large candidates (sorry but Dayton just doesn't have the résumé at this juncture).
Charlotte's No. 44 RPI is buoyed by five games against the Top 25 (although only one win). The 49ers did play at Duke (loss), at Tennessee (loss) and against Georgia Tech (loss) out of conference.
Charlotte's role as a major player in the A-10 appears to be solid. Xavier and Dayton have the facilities. Temple has a quality place to play, the Philadelphia interest and the tradition. Charlotte should be right there with those programs on a regular basis, especially with the move to add football in 2013 to increase its profile.
But to make the 49ers relevant in their own market and certainly nationally again, Lutz must get the program into the NCAAs again. Lutz said he has four years left on his contract and hasn't felt any issues in terms of job security. He has been highly successful in Charlotte and continues to make this team competitive.
The A-10 has traditionally been the one league outside of the power six that has been able to get an at-large berth.
What might be missing for the Charlotte faithful are the mega personalities, the villains that Charlotte fans had in C-USA with Bob Huggins, John Calipari and Rick Pitino.
"Fran Dunphy is a great coach, a guy that's it's hard not to like," Lutz said. "But like it or not, there were personalities that brought interest. Fran Dunphy can coach with anybody in this league. He's one of the great coaches in the country. But none of the coaches in the league have that persona that make fans come and hate them. They're all classy coaches and great guys. That's a compliment to the league."
Lutz isn't and wasn't inferring that Huggins (whom he considers a good friend), Pitino and Calipari aren't in that classy group. But they were an attraction that the coaches in the A-10 aren't in terms of headline names.
Regardless of who is on the opposing bench, Charlotte had to have a winning product on the court for there to be interest.
Boston College transfer Shamari Spears has found his niche with the 49ers. He struggled to hold on to the ball in key situations for the Eagles but hasn't had an issue with the 49ers in leading them in scoring (16 ppg, 5.7 rpg). Derrio Green, a transfer guard who has two more seasons of eligibility remaining after this season, is a big-time scorer in the mold of previous Charlotte players under Lutz. He is averaging 13.8 overall, but went for 34 in a win at UMass, 26 in the win over Temple and 31 in the loss to Georgia Tech.
The core of this team will be back next season, giving Charlotte even more reason to gloat that it is no longer an afterthought in the league.
Charlotte still has nine more games, including going to Dayton, hosting Xavier and finishing with games at Rhode Island and against Richmond. There is still plenty of work to do to ensure a berth. But for now the 49ers are relevant once again.
"We've won every game we're supposed to win," said Lutz. "If the Old Dominion game is at home, we're probably favored. Yes, Louisville was down a few players but we beat them bad, it might have been the worst loss of Rick Pitino's tenure. We were still learning at the time. We were adding new scorers to our program."
The 49ers have made two NITs in the A-10 but the injuries and the defection of point guard Mike Gerrity to USC were a setback. The waters are calm now and Charlotte should be poised for a run to March.
"We've had two NITs in the last four years and in some places that's good enough, but not here," Lutz said. "I'm OK with that."
The numbers are likely to grow in the coming weeks before the end of the regular season.
We're going to have to accept that this is no longer abnormal. It's a trend that's not going away. Earlier in the week, ESPN's "Outside the Lines" held a roundtable discussion with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto, former coaches and current ESPN analysts Steve Lavin and Fran Fraschilla, and me. The purpose of the discussion was to look at the four previous head-coaching firings, three at lower-level schools -- Penn, Dartmouth and Fordham -- and one in a power-six job at DePaul. But there's a consistent theme at all levels. As Boeheim said toward the end of our session, "The bottom line is you've got to win." There are other factors that athletic directors have used before to explain coaching dismissals, like a disconnect with the players and fans, and a growing malaise around the program. But unless there were NCAA violations, or a legal or ethical issue, the reason for a move of this nature is almost always the win-loss record. I had never been a fan of removing a head coach in midseason or even a few weeks prior to the end of the season, as was the case in recent seasons with the likes of LSU's John Brady, Alabama's Mark Gottfried and Georgia's Dennis Felton. The concern, of course, is what kind of message would a firing send to the players. But to put our heads down and ignore the business side of this is naive. Let's call it what it is at all levels in Division I: The goal is to make the NCAA tournament, draw attention to the school and improve attendance, as well as bring more money into the athletic department. At some point, maybe, that could lead to more applications for admission. If the coach is going to ultimately be fired anyway, then it's no longer necessary to maintain the facade of what he may need to do to keep his job. If an athletic director and a president have made up their minds, then why put off the inevitable? Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley did that when he moved on Ron Zook in football. Foley told me that if you know you're going to get rid of a coach, then what's the point of waiting until March 10? You can still have the coach finish the season if he wants. But more importantly, the athletic director can pursue a new coach without having to be unethical. "You're not being dishonest," Foley said. "What's the point in waiting? What does that get you?"Foley said that if something isn't working, then you owe it to the institution to make a change.
Current Long Beach State coach Dan Monson, who was pushed out at Minnesota after a handful of games, said removing the coach during the season may not be the right thing for the players, but for the coach there is relief. "You can move on and start figuring out what you're going to do," said Monson, who landed the Long Beach State job without having to sit out a full season of coaching. "You can get an early jump on everything before being fired in April. Yes, it's hard on the players." Former Indiana coach Mike Davis said something similar. He said he made the decision in February 2006 to leave IU at the end of that season to dilute the negativity that was surrounding the program and suffocating the players. Indiana still made the NCAA tournament, and Davis was able to digest his situation and ultimately landed the UAB job once Mike Anderson made the move from the Blazers to Missouri. Davis is currently enjoying his best season as a coach. He's back home in his native state and enjoying his life. Meanwhile, Monson said he hasn't been this content since he was at Gonzaga in the late '90s. Tracy Webster, DePaul's interim coach, said the players weren't feeling the burden of whether Jerry Wainwright would be retained. Webster joined DePaul in the offseason after Wainwright had to gut his staff and add a much more Chicago-based crew of assistant coaches.Webster said the players were aware of the situation, but they wanted to win regardless of what was happening with Wainwright. He said the adjustment has been smooth and the support from Lenti Ponsetto unwavering.
"I'm sure the kids understand the dynamic of college coaching and college sports," Webster said. "But it was never addressed that we had to win [for Wainwright to stay]." When a coach's job security is in jeopardy, recruiting can be hindered by the uncertainty, just like it could be in a situation with an interim coach. Webster said he hasn't stopped recruiting. "We have to recruit like we're going to be here because anything can happen," said Webster, who is from Harvey, Ill., played at Wisconsin and coached at Illinois as an assistant. "Right now, we tell all the families that we hopefully will be here next year." Webster's charge is to make sure the Blue Demons are competitive and can get a breakthrough win or two. You could see the euphoria when DePaul snapped a nearly two-season-long Big East drought with a home win over Marquette last week. "Who wouldn't want a Big East job?" Webster said. "It was good here before; why can't it be good again? If you can get guys to come here, then others will follow. I truly believe you can win here. But you've got to be in the trenches. It's not a 9-to-5 situation." Webster might be a long shot for the job, but the expectations for the rest of this season are low -- like they were at the beginning of the season. Wainwright was probably not going to last the season unless the Blue Demons made a remarkable turnaround. So you could argue that Lenti Ponsetto could have made the move last spring when DePaul was 0-18 in the Big East regular season. The same could have been true with Fordham, since it was clear Dereck Whittenburg's team wasn't going to be a contender in the Atlantic 10.Similarly, Penn athletic director Steve Bilsky had given coach Glenn Miller something of an ultimatum to make things better, so when the Quakers were struggling early, Bilsky made the move to fire Miller during the school's holiday break. Dartmouth was another program that wasn't heading north, either. All of this makes the UNC Wilmington decision less unique.When it comes to job security in Division I, you have to win or else you're out. That shouldn't come as a shock, but in a country with less patience than ever, no one should be surprised by another dismissal. Will it come at Rutgers or somewhere else? It's still unknown. Some athletic directors don't want the disruption now but are probably still going behind someone's back to look at a replacement. As Foley said, being more transparent probably helps all who are involved.
Samford's Tillette gets 'new lease on life'
He stood there as the player took another. He even called a timeout. He talked to the players in the huddle. They later would tell him he seemed a bit odd.
Tillette doesn't remember a thing after the first free throw. The minutes that he was conscious to the outside world, but not retaining anything going around him, are lost from his memory. He was there for everyone to see and hear but was in the dark to himself, with no knowledge of what was occurring inside his head in the moments before he crumpled to the court.
All he remembers was waking up in an ambulance outside the UNC Greensboro arena Saturday.
"One of my assistants caught me, they saw that I was having a spasm, foam was coming out of my mouth and they laid me on the side," Tillette said of the seizure he suffered Saturday in the second half of Samford's 70-67 win over UNC Greensboro. "I'm lucky because so many people get hurt even more from how they fall from a seizure. The kids had to be taken from the floor and collect their thoughts. They prayed, came back and found enough to finish the game strong."
Tillette's seizure was caused by bleeding from a blood vessel on top of his right ear.
"I'm lucky it didn't enlarge," Tillette said, speaking by phone from Birmingham, Ala., after he was cleared to return to coaching duties beginning with a practice Sunday. "Now the blood has been absorbed. I've had two CAT scans, tests, and they've determined it is an isolated incident."
Tillette, on the verge of turning 60 in two months, is fit, a pistol of a man at 150 pounds. He said that he bikes an hour a day and lift weights twice a week and that he has no history of vascular problems.
Yet, this could have been fatal had the seizure occurred when he was alone. He said he was struck by how fortunate he was that it didn't occur while he was driving or by himself in his apartment in Birmingham. Tillette is divorced, and while he's engaged to a woman from Ann Arbor, Mich., he is currently living by himself.
"They told my fiancée and my son that had [the blood bubble] gotten bigger, I could have died from [its bursting]," Tillette said. "It stopped growing and just dissipated."
What transpired in the past week since his seizure has been easily the most surreal time in his life.
Tillette compared himself to Jimmy Stewart in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life." He said he has had a moment, a sense that he has crossed over and seen his funeral and come back to life.
"The outpouring of concern and love has been incredible," Tillette said. "I've been blessed, and I'm incredibly humbled by this experience."
One of the first people he saw in the hospital in Greensboro was the opposing coach, Mike Dement of UNC Greensboro. Dement called him repeatedly in the days that followed, checking on his progress.
But the call that has torn him apart came from Marge Griffin. To understand what Samford and Tillette are going through this week, one must recall the tragic night at the beginning of September. Marge's son, Jim Griffin, a senior on the Bulldogs and a beloved figure on the campus, died in his sleep in his dorm room -- the 23-year-old's heart stopped around 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 8.
"I remember the call came late Saturday night," said Tillette, who hours after the seizure could talk with his memory returned. "She was crying. She was so worried about me. I was crying. We're dealing with this in our own way, and to be completely honest, it has been a really hard thing."
Tillette said Marge's phone call was almost too overwhelming for him. He's had e-mails and phone calls and a full voice mail for days with friends and colleagues wishing him well. But it was Marge's phone call that shook him to his core. Marge and her daughter had come through Samford and spent three days with the team earlier in the season. He has maintained a strong relationship with her through their terrible tragedy.
So when he suffered his seizure and the call came from the mother of a player who had suddenly died earlier this season, it was almost too much. Until he realized that he has been given another chance.
"I feel now like I have a new lease on life," Tillette said. "I feel incredibly lucky."
Tillette was ordered to stay away from the team for Thursday night's game against Appalachian State and Saturday's against Western Carolina. He can coach next Thursday at the Citadel and the following Saturday at the College of Charleston. Associate head coach Paul Kelly will continue to coach the Bulldogs in the two home games this weekend after coaching them the past two in Tillette's absence (the rest of the win at Greensboro and a loss at Furman).
Tillette, who is in his 13th year with Samford and has coached the Bulldogs to a 204-171 record and two NCAA tournament appearances, isn't sure what he's going to do with his time over the next few days. He found himself Wednesday wandering around Birmingham Southern's campus looking at the art and dance department for his fiancée's son, who is looking at graduate school.
"It was then that I realized how much life has changed," Tillette said. "But I'm in awe of how my players have handled all of this. They continue to deal with obstacles and move forward.
"They've gone through with what happened to Jim, [and] seeing me on the floor, and regrouped for a win," Tillette said of Samford (9-11 overall, 3-5 in the Southern). "It speaks to their character."
Tillette said that he's on anti-seizure medication but that he was told this was a case of a vascular anomaly.
"Hopefully it will never be repeated," Tillette said. "I don't want to steal Lou Gehrig's line, but I do feel like I'm the luckiest man on earth right now."
He would have already had Jamarr Sanders and Aaron Johnson and would have been the pick to win Conference USA.
But he lost Cousins, Bledsoe and Mitchell to higher-profile programs. Cousins and Bledsoe followed John Calipari from a possible Memphis destination to Kentucky. Mitchell signed with West Virginia.
The obvious reaction would have been to expect UAB to lack the necessary talent to be a title contender this season.
Think again.
Just when it appeared Davis didn't have what he needed to outlast Tulsa, Memphis, UTEP and upstart Marshall, the Blazers are blazing a trail this season -- they have the league's best nonconference résumé and are looking at a possible at-large bid.
"We thought we were going to have this special year with those guys," Davis said Wednesday after Tuesday night's league win over Tulsa put the Blazers at 6-0 in the league, 18-2 overall. "But it all worked out."
Cousins and Bledsoe are integral parts of Kentucky's top-ranked team. Mitchell is a spot shooter for the Mountaineers. Millsap is a star for the Blazers, averaging 16.6 points and 9.6 rebounds. Sanders is a complementary scorer who chipped in with 12 points against the Golden Hurricane, and George Drake got to the line and made all 10 of his free throws.
The Blazers didn't shoot well on 3s (2-of-14) but forced 17 turnovers and kept Tulsa from shooting better than 40 percent or making more than three 3s.
It was yet another example of Davis' squad manufacturing a win.
UAB has had late-possession or comeback wins over Arkansas, SMU and Marshall on the road and over Cincinnati and Butler at home. The only blemishes were against Kent State and Virginia, both away from home and hardly regrettable.
"We've prepared for this," Davis said. "Our strength and conditioning guys worked really hard over the summer. We've spent so much time on defense, about 75 percent of our time. We've developed some toughness in our kids. We've got really tough kids."
Davis has had a high turnover rate in his tenure at UAB. There was plenty of hype when he resigned at Indiana. He was likely going to be forced out anyway, but landed at UAB, in his home state. But attempting to lure transfers and high-profile recruits didn't end up making the program a real challenger to Calipari and Memphis. The Blazers have been in two NITs, which is more normal than abnormal for UAB.
But Davis has the program on seemingly stable ground right now in a year that was supposed to be a transition.
"We don't panic, and we don't get rattled," Davis said. "We were one free throw away from beating Memphis two years ago, and we had six scholarship guys. We just ran out of gas."
Davis said dealing with the adversity early in his UAB tenure and having to handle a depleted roster made him a better coach.
He has grown quite a bit, too. His decision to resign at Indiana, he said, was in hindsight a mature move.
"The reason I did it was I wanted our guys to be able to have a good year," Davis said of his February decision to resign at the end of the season. "You may not know it from a fan standpoint, but all of the negative stuff has an effect on the players. I did it because I wanted everyone to know that I wouldn't be here next year. I knew we could finish strong and focus on the one goal to win games. I didn't want any of this 'win one for the coach.'"
Davis said a cloud lifted once it was clear he wasn't going to be there the following season.
"I felt like there was a weight off my shoulders," Davis said. "It was tougher on the coach and the players when you're in limbo."
Davis is hardly in jeopardy now. He has turned the Blazers into a consistent winner this season and the team to beat in C-USA in a year when the Blazers were pushed behind Tulsa, Memphis and UTEP.
"We've come from 24, from 14 [from behind]," Davis said. "We've become a tough team with a lot of tough people."
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Andy Katz
Andy Katz is a senior college basketball writer for ESPN.com. He started working for ESPN.com in 1998, eventually leaving a 10-year newspaper career in 1999 to join ESPN.com full-time. In addition to covering breaking news for the site and college basketball on a daily basis through his Daily Word, Katz is a reporter for studio and remote coverage of college basketball and the NBA draft on ESPN's family of networks. Katz is a regular on ESPNU's "Inside the Polls" show throughout the college basketball season.