Archive for March, 2009
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Kentucky courts Calipari
Memphis men’s basketball coach John Calipari is reportedly considering a lucrative offer to assume the same position at Kentucky. All this talk about Calipari has reminded me of an analogy of his I’ve heard in a couple different radio interviews. The analogy is in reference to how little it takes to taint a team or group and goes a little something like this:
Let’s say you have a bucket of ice cream and a bucket of poop. You can add all the ice cream you want to that bucket of poop and it’s not going to change it one bit. But if you add so much as one pinch of poop to that ice cream it’ll never be the same.
“I’ll tell a guy,” Calipari said, “‘You, my man, are the poop in our ice cream.’”
I think Calipari would be foolish to take the Kentucky job. He has a tremendous thing going at Memphis, has two of the top four recruits locked up and another top 10 recruit reportedly has the Tigers at the top of his list. He’s guided Memphis to a runner-up finish, two Elite Eights, and a Sweet 16 in the past four seasons. Meanwhile, Kentucky has become a shadow of the winningest school in college basketball history it is and has fired a good coach after just two seasons.
Kentucky is a fantastic job, but I’m not sure it’s the kind of toxic environment Calipari can thrive in. To me it seems it’s similar to the New Jersey Nets job Cal bolted Massachusetts for. That coaching stint was disaterous at best.
Friday, March 27th, 2009
A state title contender in March?
At this point in the season, you can never tell what will or won’t happen. So much can change in the span of two months to a team at any level. This seems especially true with high school because the kids are so young and still learning. Now with that caveat out of the way, Steve Carroll has a pretty talented group of boys over at Cheyenne East. Led by forwards Landon Dawson and Alex Breckenridge – and don’t forget midfielder Ben Borin – the Thunderbirds will contend for a state title in May. Ask Carroll this and he’ll dodge it quicker than a politician. But this team is experienced, talented and smart. It knows how to play the game and it knows it strengths – and it plays off those strengths. Watching the first game of the season, you can tell this group is primed for a successful season. Obviously, a lot can change in two months time. Injuries can strike at any time. But this team could also be better than it is now. Time will tell, but come May the East boys soccer team will contend for a state title.
Friday, March 27th, 2009
What have you done for me lately?
The time college coaches get to turn programs around is decreasing annualy. Most recently coaches were getting three years, but what’s going on with Kentucky men’s basketball coach Billy Gillispie shows the trend going in the other direction.
Gillispie has been the coach in Lexington for two seasons after three consecutive 21-plus-win seasons at Texas A&M. He also won 24 games during the 2003-04 season at Texas-El Paso.
However, his two seasons at Kentucky have been sub-par by Kentucky’s lofty standards. The Wildcats won 18 games last season and were bounced in the first round of the NCAA tourney. They won 22 this year, but their 14 losses were the second-most in school history and resulted in Kentucky missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1991.
This situation is eerily reminiscent of what Nebraska did when it fired football coach Frank Solich after leading the Cornhuskers to a 9-3 mark in 2003. Solich got the boot from athletics director Steve Pederson who said he made the move because he feared Nebraska was — and I’m paraphrasing here — gravitating toward mediocrity.
Nebraska went 27-22 over the next four seasons. Now that’s mediocrity. The same sort of mediocrity Kentucky could be staring down if it cans Gillispie.
What quality coach is going to take the Kentucky job after Gillispie after a mere two seasons? Florida coach Billy Donovan’s name is being thrown around just as it was when Kentucky hired Gillispie after showing Tubby Smith the door.
The new coach is going to say the same things Gillispie has about getting his own guys in place. Meanwhile, the Wildcats may win 20 games, but it won’t be enough. The heat’s going to be put on the new guy and the cycle might repeat itself all over again.
Two years isn’t enough to resurrect a once-pround program — even in a sport with a small roster like basketball. Two years is enough to show some progress, but it’s not enough time to pass judgement. Even at some place with the tradition and history of Kentucky. Especially not with five years and $10 million left on Gillispie’s contract.
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
Resignations
In the past few weeks Cheyenne East has had three coaches resign. For girls basketball coach Jon Will and boys swimming coach Don Brinkman the reason was career-related. Will is in the midst of gaining admission to pharmacy school and Brinkman is taking another position within LCSD1. Volleyball coach Scott Flack cited family reasons for his resignation.
I have the pleasure of working with several outstanding coaches, but these three stood among the best. They were always pleasant, called in their results in a timely fashion and never gave off the vibe that they expected or didn’t genuinely appreciate the coverage we gave their athletes. I couldn’t ask for much more as a sports reporter.
The trio will be truly missed by all they’ve come in contact with in their roles as coaches – myself included. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
There have been better days
The Syracuse-Connecticut men’s basketball game that’s on my hotel room TV is everything three of the state tournament games I witnessed today were not — back-and-forth. For those that haven’t watched tonight’s game, they’re headed into their SIXTH overtime session as I write this. That’s only after UConn tied it late in regulation and Syracuse had a 3-pointer waived off at the buzzer.
But that’s neither here nor there. Instead, here are some random thoughts on the first day of the Class 4A state basketball tournament. Let’s just say it wasn’t a good day for Capital City teams. East and Central combined to go 0-for-4.
The most exciting state tournament game for Cheyenne teams was the Central girls’ 47-44 loss to Casper Kelly Walsh. The Indians trailed by 11 in the fourth, but fought back and had chances to knot the score.
The Cheyenne East girls game had exciting moments. Namely when East went on a 10-0 run and narrowed Rock Springs’ lead to 14-13. The Lady Thunderbirds played darned good basketball during that stretch. They finished shots and held Rock Springs scoreless on six straight possessions. That stretch included five straight turnovers.
But East — by coach Jon Will’s admission — came out flat. But atleast it showed signs of life. The same can’t be said for the East and Central boys.
Both of those teams trailed by identical 26-5 scores at the half. East fell to Casper Natrona County 65-23 and Central lost to Green River 57-30. They were games where almost anything that could go wrong did.
Natrona’s boys have been the top-ranked team in the state for most of the season and looked every bit the part Thursday. The Mustangs face Green River — the only team to beat them this season — in today’s semifinals. That could be a pretty darned good game.
Friday, March 6th, 2009
Basketball blowouts
While updating the Mountain West Conference women’s basketball standings Wednesday, I noticed all four games were decided by three points or less. I was really surprised the games were all so close.
I was floored by the completely opposite thing happening in high-school girls games around the Cowboy State on Thursday. Try these scores on for size:
Class 3A East: Glenrock 48, Newcastle 15; Buffalo 40, Rawlins 12
Class 3A West: Jackson 63, Pinedale 15.
Class 1A State: Southeast 50, Farson-Eden 14
By no means do I think the winning coaches in each of those games are guilty of “running up the score.” I’ve seen games like those where coaches went deep into their benches early and often and the score still got way out of hand.
Those scores do, however, take me back to a thought I had after covering a Cheyenne East girls game earlier this season: Are there any mediocre girls teams in the Wyoming prep ranks?
It seems to me teams are either really to pretty good or really, REALLY bad. There are no teams in the middle capable of jumping up and beating one of the upper echelon teams or being taken down by a lower tier squad. To top it off, the bad teams also seem incapable of so much as playing the good teams close.
There is some good girls basketball being played in the Cowboy State. Wyoming natives populate the rosters of many area Div. I schools.
East’s Megan McGuffey, Central’s Hillary Carlson and Lovell’s Kristen Scheffler are starters for the University of Wyoming. Laramie’s Aubrey Vandiver is an All-Mountain West type performer for the Cowgirls, but is redshirting this season after a long battle with mononucleosis. If that wasn’t enough Encampment’s Alysha Craft played for UW before leaving the team to focus on school and Lander’s Tahnee Robinson left UW and is now tearing up the JUCO ranks at Sheridan College. Robinson will more than likely be back in a Div. I uniform next winter.
East’s Lara Merritt is has started 22 of 29 games at Northern Colorado. Douglas’ native Jamie Schroeder started 14 games for UNC and has played in 19 despite tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in one of her knees. Guernsey-Sunrise’s Sarah Conner is playing at Weber State and Lyman’s Tayler Anderson has signed with Southern Utah.
That’s not including Riverton’s Kristen Newlin who started at Stanford and Saratoga’s Tori Runner and Gillette’s Kelsey Wicks who played at Drake and Notre Dame, respectively.
That’s a pretty darned impressive list especially for the nation’s least populated state. But I think we’re currently seeing a state of haves and have nots. High school sports is cyclical and we may see lopsided scores for a while to come.
Monday, March 2nd, 2009
4A West girls pairings
CLASS 4A WEST
at Casper Natrona County
GIRLS
Thursday
Game 1: (3) Rock Springs vs. (6) Star Valley, 4 p.m., loser out
Game 2: (4) Evanston vs. (5) Green River, 7:30 p.m., loser out
Friday
Game 3: (2) Casper Kelly Walsh vs. Game 1 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 4: (1) Casper Natrona County vs. Game 2 winner, 5:30 p.m.
Saturday
Third place: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 10 a.m.
Championship: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 1:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Class 4A Regional Hoops Pairings
The brackets haven’t been officially updated yet, but I’m pretty confident these are going to be the regional tournament pairings for the Class 4A East boys and girls and the Class 4A West boys. The Class 4A West girls is going to take some crazy tie-breaking as Casper Kelly Walsh, Rock Springs and Casper Natrona County all went 8-2 in league play. To make matters worse each team went 2-2 against the others with no team owning a sweep over another.
Anyway, here are the 4A East boys and girls and 4A East boys pairings. I’m about to hit the road to head on home to Cheyenne. Hopefully, they have the headache of the 4A West girls figured out once I get there.
PREP BASKETBALL
REGIONAL TOURNAMENTS
Seed in parentheses.
CLASS 4A EAST
at Riverton
GIRLS
Thursday
Game 1: (3) Sheridan vs. (6) Riverton, 3:30 p.m., loser out
Game 2: (4) Cheyenne Central vs. (5) Laramie, 7:15 p.m., loser out
Friday
Game 3: (2) Cheyenne East vs. Game 1 winner, 3:30 p.m.
Game 4: (1) Gillette vs. Game 2 winner, 7:15 p.m.
Saturday
Third place: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 10 a.m.
Championship: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 1:45 p.m.
BOYS
Thursday
Game 1: (3) CheyenneCentral vs. (6) Riverton, 5:15 p.m., loser out
Game 2: (4) Sheridan vs. (5) Laramie, 9 p.m., loser out
Friday
Game 3: (2) Cheyenne East vs. Game 1 winner, 5:15 p.m.
Game 4: (1) Gillette vs. Game 2 winner, 9 p.m.
Saturday
Third place: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 11:45 a.m.
Championship: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 3:30 p.m.
CLASS 4A WEST
BOYS
Thursday
Game 1: (3) Casper Kelly Walsh vs. (6) Rock Springs, 5:30 p.m., loser out
Game 2: (4) Evanston vs. (5) Star Valley, 9 p.m., loser out
Friday
Game 3: (2) Green River vs. Game 1 winner, 7:30 p.m.
Game 4: (1) Casper Natrona County vs. Game 2 winner, 9 p.m.
Saturday
Third place: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 11:30 a.m.
Championship: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 3 p.m.
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Time to take a breath
I’m sitting in my hotel room in Casper breathing a GIGANTIC sigh of relief that I was able to get my two state wrestling stories in under deadline. This is the sixth year I’ve had the pleasure of covering the state tournament and it never disappoints.
I always marvel at the organized chaos that envelopes the Casper Events Center during the last Friday and Saturday in February each year. For those who have never been to state wrestling, let me paint you a picture: Nine mats, 46 teams, 46 teams worth of supporters and 42 weight classes worth of bouts being wrestled. The Events Center is packed to the rafters for the finals and the atmosphere is electric.
But there are other things I enjoy about covering state wrestling:
1.) Seeing all the new singlets that come out during the finals. Pretty much every team — right down to the smallest schools — has two sets of singlets. There’s the set that gets used during duals and in every round of tournaments leading up to the medal rounds. Then there’s the set that gets worn during the medal rounds. Heck, some teams only let the athletes in championship matches wear the spiffy duds.
Just when you think you can identify which school a wrestler hails from just by looking at the singlet, they switch it up on you.
One of my favorite trends is when guys break out the old-school threads for the finals. I’m pretty sure it was Class 2A 130-pound champ Brodey Serres of Lingle-Fort Laramie that was rocking a singlet that had probably been moth-balled in the early 1990s. It was a classy red number with a horizontal powder blue strip running across the chest with a white “LFL” in the middle.
2.) Most of the coaches look like they could still get out there and put on a pretty entertaining bout themselves. These cats are in shape, even some of the … How can I phrase this politely? … veteran coaches. I know many of them have kept the LBs off by working with their kids in the wrestling room, but not many of them appear too far removed from the weight classes they competed in during their heydays.
3.) Not only do the athletes themselves bring out new gear for the finals, the coaches do too. Many of those guys don’t cut corners either. They go from the team color polo shirts and sneakers to suits and ties.
State wrestling truly is a spectacle in the best possible ways.