CBB Splinters | 9/15/10

By Paul Casey Gotham

The chill in the air means one thing: basketball season is near. Ah yes, snow on the ground in the northeast means heat in the gyms. It won’t be long. The grandfather clock will chime midnight, and the high tops will hit the hardwood. Here are a few topics to get us salivating.

Familiar faces in new places

When official team practices begin, a few coaches will wear new gear. For a complete list click here. Here are a few notables.

Central Arkansas will usher in a new era with Corliss Williamson at the helm. Yes, Williamson will hope to bring his own brand of “40 Minutes of Hell” to the Bears. Central Arkansas completed their four-year probationary period to make the jump from D2 to D1 and will begin play in the Southland Conference this season. Many will recognize Central Arkansas as the alma mater of NBA Hall-of-Famer, Scottie Pippen. Williamson led Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas Razorbacks to the 1994 NCAA title. He went on to a 12-year career in the Association before settling into assistant coaching gigs and now the Central Arkansas job. Last season, Sam Houston State represented the Southland in the NCAA Tournament. The Bearkats lost to Baylor, 68-59 in the first round.

After several years of studio and game analysis, Steve Lavin will trade the microphone for a whistle as he steps into the St. John’s job. Lavin coached UCLA for seven years between the late 90s and early 21st century. St. John’s returning to prominence would be a great thing for college basketball. Under Lou Carnesecca, the Redmen made 15 tournament appearances in 17 years reaching the Final Four in ’85 and the Elite Eight in ’79 and ’91.

Fran McCaffery takes the reins at Iowa. After leading the Siena Saints to three consecutive tournament showings (and two opening-round wins), McCaffery will try his hand in the Big 10 + 1(or is it 2? I lose track). The Saints pressed and pushed the ball in transition. It will be interesting to see if McCaffery incorporates that style with the Hawkeyes.

Tim Floyd is looking for redemption with UTEP in a conference of ne’er-do-well coaches. Floyd was embroiled in one of the many missteps of recent years by the USC athletic department. Now, he gets a shot with a Miners team that showed promise last season until they ran into Butler in the first round.  Former coaching pariahs – Matt Doherty and Larry Eustachy are putting their careers back on track in Conference USA. Eustachy leads Southern Miss while Doherty heads the SMU squad.

Greg McDermott made an interesting move. Or, maybe it’s just a smart move. McDermott left Iowa State of the Big 12 for Creighton of the Missouri Valley Conference. McDermott knows which campus loves the game of basketball.

Which brings on our next topic.

Eight majors?

Everyone accepts the Big East, Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 10, and the SEC as  major conferences. Not sure why considering that the SEC has done little since Florida won back-to-back titles in ’06 and ’07. Is it time to consider the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West as major conferences when it comes to hoops? The A10 consistently gets mutliple bids to “The Dance” and makes good on the invitations. The MWC will lose BYU and Utah after this season, but that just means other teams (UNLV, New Mexico, and San Diego St.) will take their spots.

Is this heaven?

No, it’s Dayton.

I’m not sure which saint intervened last spring (Lord knows I said novenas to plenty) when the NCAA committee met to consider tournament expansion. All I know is I am thankful the NCAA Tournament still consists of less than 70 teams. At least for now. The deal became sweeter when the NCAA announced that the four play-in games will take place at UD Arena. I have spoken before about my affection for the the city of Dayton and its basketball-crazy fans.  Aside from the Palestra in Philadelphia there is not a more-deserving venue for these games. The Cameron Crazies love the Blue Devils. Dayton loves basketball.

Rocky times in Rocky Top

It’s not looking good for Bruce Pearl at Tennessee. The Volunteer athletic department is bringing its own sanction on the school’s basketball program including taking away Pearl’s off-campus recruiting privileges for a year. The Vols are also hitting Pearl in the wallet taking over a million from his salary. First, Pearl misled the NCAA during an investigation and now there is a photo of Pearl at his home with a recruit.

All this for  a coach who spent more than decade on the outside looking in for throwing another program under the bus. While Pearl was an assistant at Iowa, he blew in Illinois for illegal practice. The Illini suffered a one-year ban from post-season play. Pearl went to D2 to find a job. He did not return to the D1 ranks for 14 years. Recent events make one wonder if Pearl’s exile had something to do with his wrongdoing in the past. Was it simply that Illinois beat him at his own some two decades ago? We will probably never know. This is difficult to comprehend considering Pearl’s response to team problems last season. When a trio of Vols were pulled over and arrests ensued, Pearl erred on the side of good judgment. He suspended the players until he found out the full story. Those sound like the actions of a straight-up guy. Unfortunately, it seems that isn’t always the case. One coach has his take on Pearl.

Back on campus

After a successful campaign through Turkey, hall-of-fame coaches, Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski have returned to their respective schools. The two led the USA team to a gold medal in the FIBA World Championships. Now, it is time to get back to their first priority. Boeheim, of course, leading the Syracuse Orange, and Krzyzewski heading the Duke Blue Devils. The two left their programs in trusting hands.

Mike Hopkins and Bernie Fine are almost as synonymous as Boeheim with SU hoops. The orange barely skipped a beat in Boeheim’s absence.

Chris Collins and Steve Wojciechowski kept the Blue Devils working.

Coming soon: the Pickin’ Splinters top 25 countdown. Be on the lookout for Casey’s pre-season teams.

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