The season's over, but there's still plenty going on.
Roy Williams goes to the Hall of Fame:
“I do feel at home at North Carolina,” the Asheville, N.C., native said. “I’ve probably got thinner skin than most people, but when they make an announcement about North Carolina’s score at Allen Fieldhouse and people cheer, I get that information quickly. That bothers me a great deal. It will bother me the rest of my life."
I'm not a Roy hater by any means, but it will bother me the rest of my life if he keeps complaining about how KU fans treat him. He left three years after saying he'd never leave. And he clearly went home when the cupboard was full. So not only did he leave us, he went from being a special guy to just another coach. We had unrealistic expectations of Roy - as a man as much as a coach. But he fostered that.
He can't be hugely popular at both UNC and KANSAS, and if he can't deal with that, he shouldn't have left. However, congrats on getting into the Hall - he's certainly deserving.
And I'll admit to being pleased that he didn't make the Final Four this year as that would have only increased the chatter about Self not being a good enough coach, etc. UNC was plenty stacked, so there's no reason to assume Roy would have pushed our lineup into the Fial Four.
Dana Altman goes to Arkansas - why didn't he end up at Iowa? Altman had turned down Tennessee, Georgia, and maybe Illinois in '03. I thought I read somewhere that the only job he'd leave Creighton for was Iowa. Maybe not. Iowa gets Todd Lickliter from Butler, Michigan gets West Virginia coach John Beilein.
When this many big time schools make hires, and the biggest name is Dana Altman . . .
Creighton may hire Scott Sutton - Eddie's other son - from ORU. Eddie Sutton coached Creighton before heading to Arkansas in 1974.
So if we want to see a star coach switch we'll have to rely on Kentucky, and see what dominoes drop. I'm betting Billy Donovan, Billy Gillespie, or Tom Izzo takes it.
Slate.com has an interesting theory about why Donovan will bolt to Kentucky:
"And while Florida and Ohio State have a stranglehold on big-time athletics right now, don't count on either to maintain megaprogram status. The Gators won two titles in a row because a perfectly balanced and unselfish team won it all as underclassmen then returned for another helping of glory. That won't happen again. Florida reminds me of Michigan State circa 2001. A championship and multiple Final Fours seemingly heralded untrammeled dominance in East Lansing. Instead, the Spartans have regressed to the mean—they're now just a great basketball team, not the greatest in the land. Florida will continue to be a Sweet 16 presence, but they won't pass UCLA in championship banners any time this millennium. Kansas and North Carolina will remain perennial powerhouses. Florida will return to the usual cycle of solid-but-not-transcendent programs."
What if Kentucky somehow got Bill Self? Who would we want at Kansas?
Kevin Stallings?
Mark Turgeon?
John Calipari?
