RM on state of college hoops

[Run49er]

Read this on the Atlantic City newspaper website...

PressofAtlanticCity.com: After loss, Rick Majerus rips on the state of college basketball

[satrap]

Thanks for the link. RM is an absolute buffoon. From his nonsense about the Billikens as his "sons" to this complaining about too many games while at the same time admitting he "worked them too hard at times," he is utterly a relic. Ugh.

[slu72]

In Red Sox Nation, they have a saying "Manny being Manny". In Billiken Nation, we have a saying "Rickma being Rickma". The comment at the end about the boat leaving the dock, uncalled for. Did RM say he's had it? Didn't he say on Slaten how good we'd be eventually under his reign? No doubt, RM's a volatile guy. But again, "Rickma being Rickma".

[Majerus Magic]

In Red Sox Nation, they have a saying "Manny being Manny". In Billiken Nation, we have a saying "Rickma being Rickma". The comment at the end about the boat leaving the dock, uncalled for. Did RM say he's had it? Didn't he say on Slaten how good we'd be eventually under his reign? No doubt, RM's a volatile guy. But again, "Rickma being Rickma".

I guess I don't see where he was completely out of line. Everyone says the refs of the A-10 are terrible and he does have a point about school. It's mid term's week here at SLU and the kids haven't been in class since at all this week. I thought they were in school to go to class not play basketball? Secondly, he is dead on with the AAU circuit thing. That's another thing that people have been b*tching about for years. That AAU ball has corrupted college basketball and everyone takes recruiting way more serious than before.

[SShoe]

And he's not entirely alone in his distaste for conference tournaments. I've heard multiple coaches gripe about them. In fact, everybody's favorite coach, Bob Knight, was on ESPN last night knocking conference tourneys.

[billiken_roy]

totally agree with rickma's statements in this interview. especially the aau and shoe notes. need more coaches to say it as well. maybe then the ncaa would have the guts to take a stand.

[Pistol]

totally agree with rickma's statements in this interview. especially the aau and shoe notes. need more coaches to say it as well. maybe then the ncaa would have the guts to take a stand.

He's right on pretty much all fronts. I don't think it's fair to call him a "relic" because he possesses so much awareness of what's going on in the game. He doesn't agree with all of it or think it's right, but he realizes what roles everyone plays. I also don't think it's fair to call him a "buffoon" or liken him to Manny Ramirez, who actually is a completely self-centered buffoon. Rick isn't all about himself. He also acknowledges the good with the bad.

My hope is that a voice like his means something to the league, and things like scheduling, TV, and officiating will be improved because he has the guts to speak up.

[MB73]

Thanks for the link. RM is an absolute buffoon. From his nonsense about the Billikens as his "sons" to this complaining about too many games while at the same time admitting he "worked them too hard at times," he is utterly a relic. Ugh.

Are you serious? What do you disagree with in the article?

I agree with RM completely.

I also heard his interview with Slaten and am pleasantly surprised with his assessment in both interviews.

[slu72]

He's right on pretty much all fronts. I don't think it's fair to call him a "relic" because he possesses so much awareness of what's going on in the game. He doesn't agree with all of it or think it's right, but he realizes what roles everyone plays. I also don't think it's fair to call him a "buffoon" or liken him to Manny Ramirez, who actually is a completely self-centered buffoon. Rick isn't all about himself. He also acknowledges the good with the bad.

My hope is that a voice like his means something to the league, and things like scheduling, TV, and officiating will be improved because he has the guts to speak up.

Pistol, I wasn't comparing Manny's IQ to Rickma's. Simply, RM's going to say and do things in his own unique way, ergo "Rickma being Rickma". But since you bought up Manny. I certainly hope RM produces the same kind of results Manny's helped produce over the last 3-4 years for my Sox. That said, attacking the way recruiting is being conducted these days took some cojones on his part. I agree the NCAA should step in and ban the shoe companies from participating in AAU ball. That's become nothing more than an NFL like combine for college coaches. In fact, it's worse, since colleges don't have drafts. It's a collection of slimey street agents who tend to drag well meaning AC's and HC's right down to their level. It's nothing more than a frigging meat market that brings out the worst in just about everyone whose involved.

[billiken_roy]

the whole summer aau thing is sickening if you ask me. i question what is being learned. just a beauty pagent for the coaches and too many "just wrong" people have too much influence with the individual organizations. not all are bad, but i would bet more are set up for all the wrong reasons than the other direction.

summers should be as much about improving their basketball basics and working on academics to get ready for college. instead you got 16 year old kids jetting around the country for 3 months being treated like rock stars. i cant see how this can possibly be in the youth's best interest developmentwise.

yet the continued results of each summer forces the kids to jump on the bandwagon and the college coaches to continue to feed the system.

and no matter how much rickma dislikes it, he is forced to comply or be left behind. just wrong.

[DoctorB]

I hardly ever get into these arguments on here anymore, but I agree with the last few posts -- what did Majerus say that was inaccurate?? He's a Buffoon??? Get a grip.

Majerus and Knight are right -- the tournaments wreck the long conference season, and its implications. Knight said that a long time ago, when the Big Ten was one of the last hold-outs. Guess what? there is terrific revenue from these tournaments. and yes hope springs eternal. But then the San Diegos bump out teams who were consistently MUCH better all year.

As for the grimy and bleak realities of recruiting -- give me a break. If readers on here are unenlightened about this hell-hole reality of coaching it is truly time to wake up and brew some very strong coffee. What a disastrous joke so much of that has become.

I love sports and I do love college hoops but those old days are simply vanished. In many ways, these skeletons in the closet of "amateur" athletics have caused me to drift away from the levels of my enthusiasms in the past. I follow it all, but with nowhere near the passion I had previously. I think it is largely due to this sense of misgiving and underlying corruption that is widespread and systemic at this point.

I think I root for the Drakes of the world simply due to my (possibly) romantic belief that there is still something true and innocent and pure about that program. I may be seriously deluded about that, however.

Welcome to the Borg, the Matrix: resistance is futile!

[brianstl]

the whole summer aau thing is sickening if you ask me. i question what is being learned. just a beauty pagent for the coaches and too many "just wrong" people have too much influence with the individual organizations. not all are bad, but i would bet more are set up for all the wrong reasons than the other direction.

summers should be as much about improving their basketball basics and working on academics to get ready for college. instead you got 16 year old kids jetting around the country for 3 months being treated like rock stars. i cant see how this can possibly be in the youth's best interest developmentwise.

yet the continued results of each summer forces the kids to jump on the bandwagon and the college coaches to continue to feed the system.

and no matter how much rickma dislikes it, he is forced to comply or be left behind. just wrong.

If the NCAA wanted to cut back on the influece of AAU programs they could easily do it. They would just need a rule that coaches couldn't watch any games during the AAU season. It would eliminate most of the influence of AAU programs over night.

[Pistol]

Pistol, I wasn't comparing Manny's IQ to Rickma's. Simply, RM's going to say and do things in his own unique way, ergo "Rickma being Rickma". But since you bought up Manny. I certainly hope RM produces the same kind of results Manny's helped produce over the last 3-4 years for my Sox. That said, attacking the way recruiting is being conducted these days took some cojones on his part. I agree the NCAA should step in and ban the shoe companies from participating in AAU ball. That's become nothing more than an NFL like combine for college coaches. In fact, it's worse, since colleges don't have drafts. It's a collection of slimey street agents who tend to drag well meaning AC's and HC's right down to their level. It's nothing more than a frigging meat market that brings out the worst in just about everyone whose involved.

Fair enough. I just can't stand the Sox, largely because of players like Manny, whose enormous ego and childish antics wouldn't be tolerated by any other organization in that sport or in any other industry, but for some reason seem to be embraced by the team and its fans. Don't mean to insult your team, it's just the way I see it.

I completely agree with you on the whole shoe company-AAU thing. I'm curious to see if the NCAA does anything before the relationships between shoe companies, AAU teams, and high school players and coaches become more powerful. I don't know if they could directly ban shoe company participation in AAU ball, but I'm sure they can slow down this practice indirectly with something like Brian suggests above.

[billiken_roy]

the problem is that the college coaches of the controlling schools in division one that have established pipelines and "relationships" that dont want the aau/shoe influence to go away. they dont want to have to drive to a pinckneyville after practice on a thursday nite to catch a high school game and talk to a recruit. or drive to vienna, illinois on a saturday afternoon to catch a saturday nite game to see one player.

they like the idea of flying to vegas, renting a lincoln at the airport, checking into the bellagio and then spending the afternoon on coaching row at the complex watching ALL the kids at one time and "networking" with all their aau buds and shoe contacts.

the ncaa talks about ethics and cleaning things up but the reality is that they create their own sampson's and tark the shark's. adn even a rickma that tells it like it is, will be sitting there with the other shark's in june at vegas or orlando or dallas every weekend because if he doesnt, he gets left behind.

[Parks 68]

the problem is that the college coaches of the controlling schools in division one that have established pipelines and "relationships" that dont want the aau/shoe influence to go away. they dont want to have to drive to a pinckneyville after practice on a thursday nite to catch a high school game and talk to a recruit. or drive to vienna, illinois on a saturday afternoon to catch a saturday nite game to see one player.

they like the idea of flying to vegas, renting a lincoln at the airport, checking into the bellagio and then spending the afternoon on coaching row at the complex watching ALL the kids at one time and "networking" with all their aau buds and shoe contacts.

the ncaa talks about ethics and cleaning things up but the reality is that they create their own sampson's and tark the shark's. adn even a rickma that tells it like it is, will be sitting there with the other shark's in june at vegas or orlando or dallas every weekend because if he doesnt, he gets left behind.

Roy and all,

The NCAA will do what it does best. Stick it's nose into things that don't really concern it and let the genuine issues go.

Don't you realize that the important issues on the NCAA agenda are subjects like the mascots of the U of I and who they might offend!

Focusing on athlete's success as students, that is someone elses rice bowl.

[jjray]

We'll here's the rub to Rickma's distaste for the money driven aspect to conference tournaments, et alia: the Rickma's and the Calipari's and the Knight's of the world demand seven figures + to coach a D-1 team. They also demand huge budgets for other elements of athletic department. In fact, those were the ground rules establishes between Majerus and Biondi before our boy Rick agreed to take the job. Rick is right yet Rick is part of the problem. Yes, money rules college basketball. Yes, it degrades the true nature of the game. Yet, MONEY is what Majerus and Calipari and Knight demand as part of the package to run a high level D-1 team.

Everybody lift up their head and see the big picture. It's all about money in the long run and it's past hypocritical of a Rick Majerus to decry the influence of money in the game. It is what it is. Rick is and has been a beneficiary of the system for a long, long time.

It's over the top but I'll say it anyway. Didn't Eliot Spitzer prosecute a prostitution ring? Is Rickma going to be a crusader against money driven NCAA policies? Please. What built the Fetz? Money, plain and simple. And that money demand wins. What does it take to win? More money dumped into the program. It's a vicious cycle. Get off the high horse please.

[isotope]

I agree with what Rick had to say in the interview. It is difficult for most non-athletic students to manage their time and studies before and during mid-term exam week. It is obviously much harder for the team members when they are gone so long during this period and focused on basketball rather than academics.

I also agree Rick's comments about the negative effect that a weak team winning a conference championship can have on the sport by bumping a better, more consistent team from the NCAA tournament. Although this x-factor makes conference tournaments exciting, it does diminish somewhat the importance of regular season games.

And I do not think it is hypocritical of Rick to be opposed to money-making conference tournaments since he is a beneficiary of the money rich sport system. Why should he not seek to be paid the market rate for good coaches even if he opposes the dynamics of the market? It would be similar to saying that anyone opposed to excessive deduction options on our federal tax system should not declare any deductions or credits on their own tax returns. I think there are too many tax deductions options, but I still declare all of the deductions for which I am eligible on my own returns.

[Clock_Tower]

the problem is that the college coaches of the controlling schools in division one that have established pipelines and "relationships" that dont want the aau/shoe influence to go away. they dont want to have to drive to a pinckneyville after practice on a thursday nite to catch a high school game and talk to a recruit. or drive to vienna, illinois on a saturday afternoon to catch a saturday nite game to see one player.

they like the idea of flying to vegas, renting a lincoln at the airport, checking into the bellagio and then spending the afternoon on coaching row at the complex watching ALL the kids at one time and "networking" with all their aau buds and shoe contacts.

the ncaa talks about ethics and cleaning things up but the reality is that they create their own sampson's and tark the shark's. adn even a rickma that tells it like it is, will be sitting there with the other shark's in june at vegas or orlando or dallas every weekend because if he doesnt, he gets left behind.

Roy. You are correct. In addition, though, another benefit of AAU is being able to watch a guys of more equal size and ability playing against each other. How many times does a coach get an inaccurate assessment (or require more evaluations) because the 6'10" guys keeps playing against against other high school centers who measure only 6'4" or the 6'5" guy projected to be a wing at college must play the center position for his high school team because he is the talest player. From what I understand, high school basketball is largely irrelevant when it comes to college recruiting.

Like anything, a balance would be nice. If the kids played only a little AAU to get some exposure, to learn how they stack up against their competition and to expose their weaknesses, then they could return the rest of the summer and work on their game. Guess that will not happen.

[brianstl]

Roy. You are correct. In addition, though, another benefit of AAU is being able to watch a guys of more equal size and ability playing against each other. How many times does a coach get an inaccurate assessment (or require more evaluations) because the 6'10" guys keeps playing against against other high school centers who measure only 6'4" or the 6'5" guy projected to be a wing at college must play the center position for his high school team because he is the talest player. From what I understand, high school basketball is largely irrelevant when it comes to college recruiting.

Like anything, a balance would be nice. If the kids played only a little AAU to get some exposure, to learn how they stack up against their competition and to expose their weaknesses, then they could return the rest of the summer and work on their game. Guess that will not happen.

Banning coaches from attending AAU games wouldn't stop coaches from seeing what these kids do in AAU, all you need to do is have one person with a video camera sent by the NCAA who would then distribute copies to all member programs. What it would do is really cut down on the influence AAU people have on the overall recruiting process. It my allow AAU to go back to what the letters stand for Amateur Athletic Union.

[NextYearBill]

We'll here's the rub to Rickma's distaste for the money driven aspect to conference tournaments, et alia: the Rickma's and the Calipari's and the Knight's of the world demand seven figures + to coach a D-1 team. They also demand huge budgets for other elements of athletic department. In fact, those were the ground rules establishes between Majerus and Biondi before our boy Rick agreed to take the job. Rick is right yet Rick is part of the problem. Yes, money rules college basketball. Yes, it degrades the true nature of the game. Yet, MONEY is what Majerus and Calipari and Knight demand as part of the package to run a high level D-1 team.

Everybody lift up their head and see the big picture. It's all about money in the long run and it's past hypocritical of a Rick Majerus to decry the influence of money in the game. It is what it is. Rick is and has been a beneficiary of the system for a long, long time.

It's over the top but I'll say it anyway. Didn't Eliot Spitzer prosecute a prostitution ring? Is Rickma going to be a crusader against money driven NCAA policies? Please. What built the Fetz? Money, plain and simple. And that money demand wins. What does it take to win? More money dumped into the program. It's a vicious cycle. Get off the high horse please.

totally agree

[Clock_Tower]

Banning coaches from attending AAU games wouldn't stop coaches from seeing what these kids do in AAU, all you need to do is have one person with a video camera sent by the NCAA who would then distribute copies to all member programs. What it would do is really cut down on the influence AAU people have on the overall recruiting process. It my allow AAU to go back to what the letters stand for Amateur Athletic Union.

Brian. Your idea could make things worse. If games are to be held and cameras allowed, then refusing to let the coach attend, in person, does not seem fair. Instead, he would then need to make recruiting decisions based upon a tape someone else sends him. I'd suggest that a coach learns, as much or more, from watching the kid enter the gym, warm-up, interact with others and then leave the gym, than he does when the whistle blows and the cameras role. If a coach is there to find a rebounder or weak-side defender, the camera instead may pick up more on the dribbler and shooter. I'd be against any rule that centralizes even more power with the NCAA and AAU to package info to coaches.

[billiken_roy]

Roy. You are correct. In addition, though, another benefit of AAU is being able to watch a guys of more equal size and ability playing against each other. How many times does a coach get an inaccurate assessment (or require more evaluations) because the 6'10" guys keeps playing against against other high school centers who measure only 6'4" or the 6'5" guy projected to be a wing at college must play the center position for his high school team because he is the talest player. From what I understand, high school basketball is largely irrelevant when it comes to college recruiting.

Like anything, a balance would be nice. If the kids played only a little AAU to get some exposure, to learn how they stack up against their competition and to expose their weaknesses, then they could return the rest of the summer and work on their game. Guess that will not happen.

they'd all be at the same "disadvantage".

that said, after a day of reflection, prohibiting coaches from attending summer sessions actually would only put middlemen and street agent aau coaches in an even more powerful situation. because then those college coaches would be even more reliant on dealing with the 3rd party sources.