Here’s to a Big Ten team in the Final Four. Time to put aside our petty differences and rally around the conference banner to defend our Midwestern way of life.

On a talented Spartan team that stagnated way too much on offense, Lucas was the guy who pushed the tempo and created scoring opportunities late in the shot clock.

While two seasons of gaudy won-loss records and a single Sweet 16 berth may pass as irrefutable evidence of coaching genius in Hampton’s basketball universe, Hoopraker’s assessment is less forgiving.

With Loyola’s Bryan Tucker, H-F’s James McLaughlin, and former King coach Landon Cox as additional examples, loads of wins and even state championships (Cox) are far from proof of coaching prowess. As it is with Locke, loaded rosters forgive a multitude of sins.

Hoopraker’s firsthand observations of Locke have not been impressive. In addition to the loss cited above, we saw his team this year lose in the first round of the Proviso tournament to a well coached, but much less talented Morton team. Hoopraker was also there to see Rick Malnati’s Trevians beat Evanston on February 15th despite yet another significant talent deficit.

From a talent standpoint, teams like Morton and New Trier shouldn’t even be able to maintain contact with Evanston. That they do is a compliment to Martinucci and Malnati and reflects poorly on Locke.

Now if Locke can manage to get his team into the Super-Sectional where they would likely meet Whitney Young, we would get yet another accurate measure of his coaching abilities. Young’s Tyrone Slaughter is an example of a coach who has the complete package - he is a great coach who also has superb talent. To wit, Whitney Young beat Morton in last Friday’s Regional Final by a score of 90-63.

If the Wildkits beat Whitney Young, then we will have evidence that Locke is more than what we’ve observed . It will take some impressive coaching to accomplish this feat. If it happens, Hoopraker will gladly give credit where it is due.

WBL - Izzo isn’t getting the Spartans to play tough. That has to change if they’re going to make a charge in the Tournament. Suton is up and down and Morgan goes MIA in their losses. The silver lining is Raymar has enough work on his game to accomplish that he should be back in East Lansing next year with Delvon Roe.

You’re right that it’s too early to call this season a failure. A Big Ten tournament championship could bring redemption, as could a 3-4 game run in the Big Dance.

On the other side of the coin, Bo Ryan and the Wisconsin team deserve a lot of praise for keeping the Badgers in the Big Ten race (2nd/11) with “slightly above average players”. I actually thought they would drop to 5th this year with the graduation of Tucker and Taylor, 58% of last year’s scoring. But they have responded by playing good defense (2nd nationally in scoring defense) WITHOUT committing fouls. By using more positioning and block-outs and steals (Hughes leads the Big Ten) rather than “lazy reach ins” to defend. They have scored more free throws than the opposing teams have had attempts as well.

Kudos to the young Purdue team as well. In a down year it looks like Purdue and Wisconsin have the stamina and consistency to go further than the 1st round of the NCAA’s. But we will see what happens in the Big Ten Tournament to see who peaks at the right time.

It will be extremely interesting to see how IU decides to mitigate the damage of the Sampson mess. Will they keep themselves out of the post-season this year? Regarding your Ohio State comparison, remember OSU recused itself from the 2005 Tournament pending the outcome of the NCAA’s findings on the O’Brien matter even though no players on the team were involved in any wrongdoing. Presumably, OSU took such a decisive and drastic remedy to remove the ambiguity of NCAA penalties as they recruited the Oden/Conely class. Will IU look to the future or will they go for broke in 2008?

As an aside, IU has learned from the missteps of OSU in dealing with Jim O’Brien. The 7 day window is protection of percieved good faith/due diligence obligations implied within ay employment contract. While OSU should not be criticised from a moral position for its rapid termination of O’Brien, it made poor business sense and left them exposed to damages for breach of contract. IU’s response, including the 7 day “invsetigation” is rational and should be viewed by the NCAA to constitute as an immediate and definitive response timed to provide financial protection to an institution that has been betrayed by one of their own, their bad judgment in embracing him not withsanding.

You can read it here
http://fromthebarn.org/2007/12/17/the-hazards-of-highschool-hype-or-the-advantages-of-being-a-late-bloomer/

And, btw, Minnesota did handle Santa Clara rather easily, despite rebounding horrendously.

But I’m looking forward to your series on the topic. Maybe you’ll convince there’s still hope. I’m going to try to skate by without doing the outside reading, though.

Of course, there is no debate here as to whether the age of big-money has arrived in intercollegiate athletics. It was something set into motion decades ago with the invention of the cathode tube. And unless the culture can be convinced of the wax-lit charms of a Luddite revolution, it isn’t going away.

The question up for debate is how much further the big money ethos is going to be allowed to proceed and at what costs, financial, cultural, and otherwise, to the institutions. The challenge presented to universities is how best to reconcile and balance big money athletics with its higher purposes. The question is one of priorities and what kind of culture an institution wants to sustain.

Unless one is convinced university stewards are powerless slaves to the market, it isn’t unreasonable to suggest they are capable of making choices and providing leadership in the setting of such priorities.

And, happily, looking at the vast majority of Big Ten institutions, it appears the priorities being set are largely commendable. When and if the system at large crashes from its top heavy excesses, perhaps the Big Ten’s example will prove both prescient and inspirational of a return to a more reasonable mean.

Look for Hoopraker’s upcoming series on the theme of athletic budgeting and its intersection with an institution’s overall purposes. Until then, I invite you to read John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Affluent Society, screen Michael Moore’s Sicko, and write a short term paper on why these works are germane to the discussion above.