Random thoughts

[slu72]

See where Bennet may be resigning at Washington ST. Don't want to sound like chicken little here, but any possibility he could recommend his old assistant for the job? My spin on UB going elsewhere is that he's not built a solid enough track record to move up. Granted, he's a solid, hard-working, knowledgeable guy but wouldn't be the guy a big time school would look to for a quick turnaround. Who knows maybe Q finally get's to go home....doubt it seriously. Think Q's going to have to lay low for a while, he's gonna be saying mea culpas for a while. CNNSI and ESPN are consistent that A-10 is a one bid deal unless GW gets upset. Would have to agree. Even if we win out and go to the final and lose, our RPI ain't gonna make it over a whole slew of others. Can't fault UB for scheduling the cupcakes this year. He could have destroyed confidence had we been losing to teams in the 100-150's, and we all would have been screaming about losing to the Ark. States of the world also. What would have put us over the top would have been winning the Zaga game and reversing 2 of those 3 losses to Richmond, Dayton, and St.Joes. Had that happened we'd be a solid bubble team. The article on Hugs going to USF says boosters want him. AD's normally bow to Boosters, read Mike Alden. How big would that be for USF to be a power in Big East basketball next year, especially if Mayo and those others follow him? Instant gratification. Is it legal for Hugs to be talking to these kids now? Granted he's not governed by NCAA regs, but isn't he playing the quasi role of a street agent? Don't want to look past UD, but the LaSalle game is a little scary. A nice sweep of both would be a great boost going into the tourney....don't want our tail to be dragging going to Cincinnati. Been a very rewarding year no matter how it goes from here on out. The future looks bright. Just next year drop the Kennesaw's, EI's, etc from the schedule so we don't have to go through all this handwringing again.

[dewey33]

Tony Bennett is taking his dad's place....

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2347307

When they play Cal....will he "Leave his heart in San Francisco?"

[SShoe]

>See where Bennet may be resigning at Washington ST. Don't

>want to sound like chicken little here, but any possibility

>he could recommend his old assistant for the job? My spin on

>UB going elsewhere is that he's not built a solid enough

>track record to move up. Granted, he's a solid,

>hard-working, knowledgeable guy but wouldn't be the guy a

>big time school would look to for a quick turnaround.

I really don't believe Brad is going anywhere for a few reasons. The first, you touched on, who outside this state or even the Midwest knows anything about him. His record is not very good and it usually takes long Tourney runs to make names for yourself. Secondly, I don't really think Brad wants to go anywhere right now. He's a Midwest guy, with religious ties, and a son in a local high-school. I could only realisticaly see him leaving in the future for a Big Ten school, if his name grew and he became a hot commodity, which at the moment he just really isn't.

[Taj79]

Dewey noted that the younger Bennett is in at Washington State so the Brad deal is not an issue.

I owuld think that Q's buy-out is enough to keep him going until he decides to get the itch again. But he is tainted goods in my book .. first time out of the Duke-chute and this fiasco???? I think some school woudl be ahrd-pressed into selecting him for their next gig. And I don't see him doing a Matt Doherty right now and taking the animinity that is a Florida Atlantic and coming back up the ranks that way. Quinny still has to believe the Dukie lsuter is still there although I think he needs to go back to schooling under Master K ... if someone takes one of the next greatest off the Cameron bench .. like dawkins or Collins .. then I could see Quin quietly crawling back into that gig and ocvming out later supposedly older and wiser.

If we had beaten Gonzaga and reversed tow of the three losses ytou're talking about, we'd be locked in to the #2 in the A10 at 12 and 4 and the folks would be tlaking about us the way they are discussing Charlotte right now. Three more wins is 19 and 7 with win 20 on tap for tomorrow night. One or two wins in the tourney puts us then at that magical 22 and we are sweating out selection Sunday more profusely than we probably will be. Solid bubble? I'd even go much more solid than bubble if that were the case.

We cannot overlook tomorrow night. Things are lining up pretty good right now. If we take care of the home fires, and La Salle gets dumped at Fordham, the three is wrapped up. Then, if GeeDub takes out Charlotte on Saturday, our game is non-consequential from a final standings point as we wil have the tiebreak with Charlotte. In either case, we avoid GeeDub until the final if we get that far.

Not knowing how the other teams will line up is the only loose end as I've said before I would prefer not to paly an Ohio team in Ohio ... especially Xavier in Cincinnati.

Got behind the bench seats for the La Salle game. Yo, Marlo, you and Reggie going? I'll say hi this time. Please be nice and hold all negative face-slappings until my 15-year-old is out of sight. I'll have the white hat on with blue Billiken outline if you'r ewatching on TV.

[billiken_roy]

if he is resigning it is likely because he didnt get the job done at wash st. i.e. why would the administration bring in a protege of his?

regardless, i dont see coach soderberg as a west coast guy either.

[willie]

Worries about Brad going somewhere is a typical Billiken inferiority complex. I like Brad but come on. What has he done to get hired away? Don't get me wrong I think Brad is a good fit for our program but it's more about potential than results. Were not talking about Bruce Pearl numbers. Lets go to the dance a few years,then a trip to the sweet 16,then you might talk about him at higher profile jobs.

[OC]

Isn't in 10x more likely that Dick Bennett comes to assist Brad, than it is for Brad to go to the dearths of Pullman, WA?

I don't assume Bennett wants to assist, but what if ABeane would get hired at, say, SEMO...SLU could have an opening.

[Schasz]

This morning ESPN radio reported Dick Bennett was retiring...not resigning and that his son was going to get the WASU gig. That job has been a stepping stone in the past as Kelvin Sampson coached at WASU before he got the OU job, so that could be a good opportunity for the young Bennett.

It is always somewhat interesting looking back and doing the old What If's, but it is frankly counterproductive in the end. Our kids just were not ready to execute like they are right now earlier this season. I would much rather look ahead as it is right in front of us if we can win what I believe is a winnable A10 Tourney, especially if we keep playing as we have been.

[Bay Area Billiken]

Dick Bennett is retiring.

As noted above, he is being replaced by his son, Tony Bennett (not the one who left his heart in SF). Tony Bennett has been with Dick Bennett at Wazzu, and has served as recruiter.

Some Pac-10 fans are relieved that Dick Bennett will be gone, although his son may be expected to follow his methods. WSU's last 2 games at home yielded the following scores:

Cal 43 WSU 41;

Stanford 39 WSU 37.

The latter game drew complaints from the Stanford radio broadcasters.

[Bay Area Billiken]

Please don't bring Dick Bennett to SLU in any coaching capacity. Let's let him enjoy his retirement. His exporting of his Wisconsin stallball to the Land of the Palouse has not been well accepted in the rest of the Pac-10, certainly not here in the Bay Area. There might be more excitement in watching paint dry.

That being said, and in all fairness to Bennett, his WSU Cougars did beat Lorenzo Romar's Washington Huskies twice this year.

[billikenmetz]

I left my heart in Pullman, Washington.