Bobby Gonzalez waiting today in Essex County Court (Jennifer Brown/Newark Star-Ledger)
You know the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words?”
Well, sometimes a picture is worth an infinite number of words. That is the case with this shot from the Newark Star-Ledger of former Seton Hall basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez waiting to be arraigned in Essex County Court today on a shoplifting charge.
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Posted by tbontemps1
An incident took place at St. Bonaventure University early Sunday morning. No facts have been officially reported, outside of some conjecture from unnamed witnesses. No chargers have been filed, and there was only a brief admittance to the hospital for some of the individuals involved, both of whom were quickly treated and released. All that anyone has reported with any certainty is that some of the players on St. Bonaventure’s basketball team were involved in some kind of incident with players from the basketball team from the local community college.
But that hasn’t stopped a significant population from within the university’s loyal and supportive community from doing what they always seem to do whenever anything negative happens that at all involves the basketball team: condemn the entire team, and call for the team to do one of two things: either shift the athletic department down to Division III, or drop the program all together.
I will never understand how people could ever come to the conclusion that either of these options, no matter what took place over the weekend, would be anything but incredibly damaging and harmful to the university’s long-term goals and reputation. This group has never been able to understand that St. Bonaventure’s men’s basketball team is the main reason that anyone has ever heard of the school.
1 Comment | College Basketball | Tagged: Andrew Nicholson, Eli Carter, Mark Schmidt, Michael Davenport, Robert Morris, St. Bonaventure | Permalink
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When North Carolina took the floor last night against their forever rivals at the Dean Dome, one of the greatest Tar Heels of all-time sat courtside to watch the festivities. It’s been a tough season for Tyler Hansbrough, his first in the NBA. After being drafted 11th overall by the Indiana Pacers, the power forward has dealt with a variety of injuries, including a bizarre inner ear infection that has forced them to sit out for most of the last two months.
But because of his injury troubles, Hansbrough was free to come back to Chapel Hill to have his No. 50 raised to the rafters, becoming the eighth player to have his number retired. Hansbrough was a first-team All-American each of his four years at North Carolina, and swept every national player of the year award his senior year.
Above all, though, Hansbrough played every game like it was his last. He hustled. He dove on the ground. He fought for loose balls. He grabbed every rebound that he could. Tyler Hansbrough clearly enjoyed playing basketball, and played the way we all wish everyone who had the ability to play at that level would.
No one wishes that more than Roy Williams does today, because after the Tar Heels lost again last night, 64-54, it’s become clear that the reason his team is winning isn’t because of a lack of coaching, or a lack of talent.
North Carolina is losing because of a lack of heart.
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So let me get this straight: Rick Pitino admits to having sex with a woman who isn’t his wife in the back of a restaurant. This results in the woman getting pregnant, which causes him to then pay her $3,000 for an abortion, and within months she is married to one of his employees. The woman later tries to blackmail Pitino, and is currently facing extortion charges.
Then, in a press conference to apologize for what happened (after originally denying it), he referenced how New Yorkers got through 9/11 was similar to how he and his family and friends dealt with this situation. After a couple more weeks pass, Pitino then holds another press conference to complain about how his family has had to go through “pure hell” in this situation. On top of that, he complains about how people should be focusing on things like the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy and the fact that we have a poor economy at the moment.
Really? Seriously? Honestly?
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John Calipari left behind NCAA sanctions at the UMass when he left the school to take over the New Jersey Nets. Is it really all that shocking that Calipari has done the same in leaving Memphis for Kentucky?
To be fair, Calipari wasn’t nailed with any personal wrongdoing with Marcus Camby’s troubles at UMass, and the NCAA has already said he won’t be blamed for what happened with Derrick Rose at Memphis. But what shouldn’t be shocking is that a program Calipari was running is finding itself on the wrong side of the law with the NCAA.
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When Roy Williams left Kansas to return to his beloved North Carolina Tar Heels in the spring of 2003, it would have been laughable to put him in the same conversation as coaches like Adolph Rupp, Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski. Instead, Williams was considered one of the more overrated coaches in college history – a man who never was able to win the big one, and who had squandered talented team after talented team.
Now, just a few years later, the conversation isn’t about whether he belongs with those coaches; instead, it is whether or not he will surpass them on the list of all-time greats in the coming years. Read the rest of this entry »
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Kentucky is one of the biggest programs in college basketball and thinks it should win the national championship every year, without fail. The problem for the Wildcats is that they’ve failed to do so since Tubby Smith’s first season in Lexington, back in 1998.
Despite plenty of success during Smith’s tenure, the Kentucky faithful screamed for a new coach year after year. When the school finally made a change two years ago, it immediately lusted after Billy Donovan, who was fresh off back-to-back national championships at Florida. But when Billy the Kid turned him down, athletic director Mitch Barnhart frantically searched for a Plan B, and landed on Texas A&M’s Billy Gillispie.
Across the past two years, we’ve seen just how well that shotgun marriage has worked out. Despite having a 40-27 record, Kentucky missed the postseason for the first time in 25 years (excluding for suspension following Eddie Sutton’s antics in the late ’80′s), and Gillispie failed to realize the scope of the position he found himself in. Being the head basketball coach at Kentucky is like coaching the Yankees or Notre Dame football. When you accept the job, you aren’t just accepting the coaching part; you also are accepting the outside-the-office responsibilities. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | College Basketball | Tagged: Billy Donovan, Billy Gillispie, Florida, John Calipari, Kentucky, Louisville, Memphis, Mitch Barnhart, Rick Pitino, Texas A&M, Tubby Smith | Permalink
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After three fairly dull games last night (and one thriller between Pitt and Xavier), it’s on to tonight’s four games in the NCAA Tournament to set the Elite Eight.
Like last night, tonight’s quartet of games have the potential to be highly entertaining. Here’s hoping they live up to that hype, whereas three of the four games last night were sleep-inducing rather than exciting. Read the rest of this entry »
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After chalk ruled the first weekend of this year’s NCAA Tournament, it left us with a Sweet 16 that should be highly entertaining. Seven remaining coaches have won national titles (including last year’s champion, Kansas), and there’s still five teams left from this year’s strongest conference, the Big East — with the possibility for an all-Big East Final Four still out there.
With that said, it’s time to make some picks on the four games taking place tonight — all of which have the potential to be highly entertaining. Read the rest of this entry »
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I was talking college hoops with a friend who attended a BCS-conference college over the weekend when the subject of the NIT came up. It didn’t take long to find his opinion of the tournament couldn’t be much lower.
“I wouldn’t see it as an accomplishment (to make the NIT),” he said.
And I’m not surprised he’d say that. For people in a BCS conference, making the NIT isn’t an accomplishment. It’s a satisfactory end to the season for many programs (though not the Kentuckys of the world), but nothing programs from those leagues would really embrace and celebrate.
As for myself, coming from a school that isn’t in one of the “blessed” conferences in college basketball, I have the exact opposite opinion of the tournament. Look at the at-large bids in this year’s NCAA Tournament – 30 out of 34 bids went to the six BCS conferences, and the A-10 snapped up two of the other four. That means two at-large bids were dispersed between the other 24 conferences in college basketball.
That leaves the NIT as the lone place for many of these teams to continue their season past their conference tournament. Look at a team like Niagara, for existence. The Purple Eagles had a great season, going 26-9 with an RPI higher than Maryland and Arizona, among other BCS conference schools to make the NCAAs. But because Niagara was from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, they really had no chance to make it to the tournament.
However, because the NIT exists, teams like Niagara get a chance to play on a big stage and potentially continue their season for a few weeks, culminating in the semifinals and finals taking place at Madison Square Garden. It’s a chance for schools to put themselves on the map that otherwise wouldn’t get a chance to do so.
That’s why I was so happy to watch Davidson-St. Mary’s last night. Because both teams failed to win their conference tournaments, players like Davidson’s Stephen Curry and St. Mary’s Patty Mills didn’t get a chance to shine on the biggest stage this March. But the NIT allowed them to match up against one another last night in Moraga, Calif., and the two put on a hell of a show.
Mills wound up with 23 points and 10 assists, while Curry had 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists in St. Mary’s 80-68 win. It was a great, entertaining game between two high-quality teams. Should these teams, particularly St. Mary’s, have been in the NCAA Tournament? In my opinion, without question. But because the NIT exists, Patty Mills gets to play for another month and prove how good he and the Gaels are.
For the elitists in the world of college basketball, the NIT may be a waste of time, and that’s fine. But for me, I’ll always look forward to watching it each March, and see the sport’s overlooked teams get a chance to shine on a stage they more than deserve.
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