March Madness

It shouldn't be a surprise that Alabama and LSU got upset yesterday. SEC basketball has become similar to SEC football -- incredible athletes who play like they are poorly coached. Because recruiting is the lifeblood of college sports, the SEC schools put a tremendous emphasis on recruiting ability when hiring coaches. And the SEC generally is the most athletic conference in the nation. But smart, heads-up, fundamentally sound play is incredibly rare from SEC teams in either football or basketball. Major college basketball programs have a head coach and 4 assistants to handle recruiting and coach around 15 players. Perhaps they should hire at least one coach who can teach teamwork and fundamentals.

This past season I was amazed at how often one particular team squandered last minute opportunities. Needing a basket to tie or win with 15 seconds left in the game, they'd call timeout. After the timeout the "play" they would run looked exactly like something you would see in a pickup game at the rec center. One player would dribble around trying to create a shot for himself while the other four stood and watched. Eventually the clock would run down and he would have to throw up a prayer with 2 defenders in his face. Hard to believe that is the best coaching you can get for well over a million bucks a year.