I know I always use Gonzaga's free ride when talking about the Oregon men's coaching situation because people always throw out the name Mark Few. I like Few. Seems like a heck of a guy. But one more time, the WCC is a one horse race and it was front & center last night as the Zags ripped apart St. Mary's. There is talk of this maybe being Gonzaga's shot at the Final 4. Yeah Rite! They play a weak schedule, ranked 114th in the nation. What happens is they take on these pretty decent out of league teams in November or December. Then the tournament comes around and they've beaten up a bunch of patsies while most of the field puts their guts on the line night in and night out in a killer conference. Remember, the Zags have been given great seeds, overvalued in my opinion, and always fall on their face. In 2004 they were a #2 and got to play in the Seattle regional at Key Arena. Got toasted in round two by Nevada. The next year the committee gave them a gift #3 seed, beat Winthrop before Bobby Knight's Texas Tech team bounced them in round 2. Oregon on the other hand for those of you Ernie Kent bashers, has been given two favorable seeds. #2 in 2002 and a #3 in 2007, grabbed the bull by the horn and rolled to the Elite 8, somthing that's never happened with Mark Few running the show.
Sorry, I'm not giving in. Coach Kent absolutely deserves a shot at working with the guys he's brought in, including the exciting new kid from Racine, Jamil Wilson.
Lot of baseball today with a focus on the Red Sox, Twins, and Angels. Plus a wrap of the Madness that's already taking place this month & your thoughts on the logic of the NCAA taking away wins from Florida State football in the wake of some academic missteps. I think it makes no sense. See what's on your mind.
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Regarding the talk by those suggesting the outster of Coach Ernie Kent: No way. Over 12 seasons as head coach of the Ducks, Coach Kent has won a respectable 60% of his games, including that great run to the Elite Eight mentioned so aptly by Steve Tannen. However, if Coach Kent or any other Pac-10 coach ever slicks down his hair in a manner similar to that of ex-UCLA coach Steve Lavin (remember that slicked back hair dripping with three pounds of high-gloss greasy hair tonic?), that coach should be immediately terminated. Such greasy, distasteful antics should not be tolerated by schools of integrity.
What do Jerry Tarkanian, John Wooden, Bobby Knight and Dean Smith have in common? Apparently some Duck "fans" believe they're all unemployed and waiting for Pat Kilkenny to call them home to Oregon.
Morons!
Steve's done an excellent job breaking down Mark Few's shortcomings, so I won't. He's also done a fair job running over Ernie's strengths, but let me point out one thing that seems to get overlooked: He runs a clean program, where the student/athletes are actual students.
So what are reasonable expectations for Oregon basketball? I think top half of the finishing in the top half of the Pac-10 9 out of 10 years is doable. Doing that means NCAA's at least 8 times a decade. In that 10 years we should be able to win a conference title or two, and go to the sweet 16 twice.
Is that too much?
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