Why is Kansas #1?

January 2, 2010June 15, 2012Danny Vinik Leave a comment

Photo Courtesy of UPI

As I look at the Top 25 College Basketball Standings, they seem to make a lot of sense. The remaining undefeated teams are all at the top followed by teams with 1-loss. Except I still cannot figure out why Kansas deserves to be number one. The Jayhawks are playing at Temple right now, the #19 team in the nation, but this is their first game against anyone in the Top 25. Meanwhile, Texas has beaten Iowa, Pittsburgh, USC, UNC, and Michigan State. Specifically the last two wins, which were both by double digits, are much more impressive than anything Kansas has done. Every one of Texas’s wins has been by double digits.

How about Kentucky? To be fair, I think Kentucky is way overrated and has gotten very lucky this season. Nevertheless, Kentucky has beaten Stanford, UNC, Connecticut, and Indiana.

Purdue proved themselves this week by overwhelming West Virginia, who was undefeated up until that point. Syracuse suffered its first defeat today, but still has wins over UNC, California, and Florida.

So what does Kansas have?

They have a two-point victory over Memphis that was technically a neutral site game, but it was effectively a home game since it was in St. Louis. The Jayhawks won at UCLA, but UCLA is 6-8 on the season including losses to Portland, Long Beach State, and Cal-State Fullerton. Portland defeated the Bruins by 24 points while Kansas won by just 12. Kansas also has an 11-point victory over Michigan, but like UCLA, this is a down year for the Wolverine program. Michigan is 6-6 and also has losses to Boston College and Utah. Continue reading “Why is Kansas #1?” →

Calipari Off To Kentucky

April 1, 2009June 15, 2012Danny Vinik Leave a comment

John Calipari is officially off to the bluegrass state where he will take over as head coach of Kentucky’s basketball team. Calipari accepted an 8 year, $31.65 million offer, making him the highest p calipari1 aid coach in college basketball. Was it the right move for him though? For Kentucky? And what about Memphis?

Calipari was at Memphis for 9 years and had a remarkably successful run there. His Memphis team lost in the National Championship last year and have won a remarkable 137 games over the past four seasons. Memphis has dominated their conference like John Calipari is officially off to the bluegrass state where he will take over as head coach of Kentucky’s basketball team. Calipari accepted an 8 year, $31.65 million offer, making him the highest paid coach in college basketball. Was it the right move for him though? For Kentucky? And what about Memphis.

That all sounds well and good, but Calipari is leaving behind the chance to create a new Kentucky. Memphis has quickly become a perennial championship contender, a team to be feared. With10 more years of this success, Memphis will have created a basketball program with the prestige necessary to gain status as one of the historic programs in the country. Of course, 20 years of success doesn’t equal the lifetimes of success for teams like Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, or Indiana, but its a start. Maybe 10 more years of success after that and a few national championships under his belt, Calipari would be considered the founder of one of the greatest college basketball programs of all-time. Maybe his name would be mentioned with the likes of Bobby Knight and John Wooden. He would leave behind a legacy at Memphis that no one could top. Continue reading “Calipari Off To Kentucky” →

Daily Sports Roundup 1/7/08

January 7, 2008June 15, 2012Danny Vinik Leave a comment

Big day in sports today as Clemens filed a lawsuit and the BCS National Championship game is tonight among others

Clemens Files Suit Against McNamee: The saga continues as Roger Clemens filed a defamation lawsuit against former trainer Brian McNamee. The suit alleges that at fifteen different points while speaking to George Mitchell, McNamee said things that were “untrue and defamatory”. McNamee has responded, through his lawyer of course, that he will file a counter-suit against Clemens, claiming that Clemens’s remarks in his “60 Minutes” interview are a “total lie”. Clemens also released a tape of the phone conversation between Clemens and McNamee. From my perspective, this is a great move by Clemens. Taping and releasing the conversation makes it seem as if the phone call was not to speak about the situation, but rather to catch McNamee in a lie. McNamee never admits to lying about Roger using steroids, but does say “Tell me what you want me to do. I’ll go to jail. I’ll do whatever you want”. Remind you of someone? Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds’ former trainer, has sat in jail cell for months for refusing to speak with federal investigators. This situation is different though, as McNamee would go to jail if he said that he lied to George Mitchell in his investigation. If McNamee takes the stand and says that he injected Clemens with steroids, he doesn’t go to jail.

After waiting a month to really take a stand, Clemens did it today and this story is not going to go away. The greatest pitcher of my generation is accused of using steroids. I have tried to stay as partial as possible while looking at the evidence. After originally believing that Clemens used steroids, my opinion is changing and I now believe that Clemens is innocent. Apparently there aren’t many people like me as in an ESPN SPORTSNATION Poll, more than 57% believe that Clemens used steroids, 25% believe Clemens is innocent, and the final 18% are undecided. The congressional hearings that will be held on January 16th will be extremely interesting in seeing if either person changes his position. After todays’ whirlwind of news, I doubt that either is going to adjust there stance. The one other question I am wondering is whether Chuck Knoblauch and Andy Pettitte, both asked to speak in front of congress, will risk going to jail. If Clemens used steroids, I believe that both of those players saw it. Steroids weren’t exactly being hidden in clubhouses. If both Knobluach and Pettitte take the stand and say Clemens is innocent, that is only going to increase my belief in Clemens. Continue reading “Daily Sports Roundup 1/7/08” →