February 16, 2002

Lute Olson and the University of Arizona

What a weekend for the Wildcats.  Arizona played probably as well as it possibly could and still lost two super close games at UCLA Thursday and at USC this afternoon.

I first met Lute when he was the Head Basketball Coach at Long Beach City College in 1969.  Lute has been eminently successful where ever he has coached.

He is one of two prominent major college basketball coaches that have come out of North Dakota.  The other was my good friend dale brown, who coached LSU for over 25 years.  Coincidently, Dale called this week and he is doing quite well.  he shares an office in Baton Rouge with Joe Dean, the former LSU Athletic Director, and travels the world giving motivational speeches and basketball clinics.  Just back from Europe, he is leaving in a week for China.

Both Lute and Dale Brown grew up in North Dakota and played against each other in high school.  Dale was from Minot, North Dakota, and I am not certain exactly where Lute grew up.  However, they both coached high school basketball in California.  Lute was the Head Coach at Marina H.S. in Orange County, in suburban Los Angeles and Dale was the Head Coach at Palm Springs H.S.

After solid years at Marina, Lute became the Head Coach at Long Beach City College and Dale joined Ladell Anderson's staff at Utah State where he was an assistant for 12 years.  Lute took over at Long Beach State University when Jerry Tarkanian left.  Dale left Utah State when Ladell left to take the Utah Stars coaching job in the original ABA and Dale moved to Washington State where he stayed one year before getting the head job at LSU.

Lute inherited a super team at CSULB.  Tarkanian had turned them into one of the best teams in the USA and Lute led the 49ers to a 27-1 season and a #1 ranking, but they were ineligible for the NCAA tournament, as I recall, on account of some transgressions of his predecessor.

Long Beach State was not a well funded nor particularly high salaried program.  Lute became a very hot item on the coaching market where he has remained for the last 20 years.  Iowa put together what was considered at that time, the best coaching contract in the USA, and they lured Lute to Iowa City.  There he spent the next four years or so, and rebuilt the Hawkeyes into a national power, when he upped and left for the opportunity to rebuild the Arizona Wildcats. 

George Raveling, then coming off a wonderful year at Washington State, parlayed that into a mega contract at Iowa, and he replaced Lute, where George remained until he left to come back to the West Coast and rebuild USC. Though he retired from college coaching, George is now head of the Nike Camp and overall high school basketball operations and still lives in Los Angeles.

The key to any college coach's success is recruiting.  In college basketball, recruiting is 80% of the game and Lute Olson is a masterful recruiter.  Coming from North Dakota, you would expect him to be earthy, down home, good neighbor type, not the highly polished, urbane, gentleman that is the picture of class.  You would think Lute was from Chicago, New York, San Francisco or maybe Atlanta.  He is just dynamite, on the recruiting trail.

Secondly, he is a very sound, solid basketball coach, who has won at every level he has coached.  At Arizona, he turned the program around overnight.  He has had many great teams.  At UCLA, I have had season tickets on the floor since 1981.  I only bother to go to the "high profile" games.  I try never to miss an Arizona-UCLA game at Pauley.  Every year, as long as I can remember, the game has always come down to the last shot.  Sure enough, Jason Gardner, hit an enormous 3 pointer with about 25 seconds to go to put the Wildcats up by 2, but the Bruins came back and Billy Knight hit a 3 pointer with 17 seconds on the clock to put UCLA up by one.

After a timeout, Lute diagramed a play to get the ball inside to Luc Walton, to penetrate and use his great vision and passing skill to create a shot for his teammates.  Sure enough, they got the ball inside to Luc.  He wheeled to the middle, got double teamed and punched it off to a wide open teammate who took an easy 5 footer and banked.  it appeared to drop in but spun out and allowed Steve Lavin to pull another miracle win out of the hat.  What a finish.

For many years, Lute's teams had great regular seasons, but faltered badly in the NCAA tournament.  Too often they would be upset in the first or second round by teams like Santa Clara, that were good teams, but nowhere near the caliber of Arizona.  People said he could not win the big ones.  However, with BWBA grad Miles Simon leading the way as College Basketball Player of the Year, with Mike Bibby and Jason terry sharing the load, the Wildcats won the NCAA Championship and no one ever has questioned anything about his coaching since.

Last year was a particularly difficult year for Lute as he lost his wife Bobbi to cancer.  She was a very integral part of Lute's life and was very close to the players as well.  Not only that, but all of his starters either graduated or left school early for the NBA draft and he was left to totally rebuild the team around Jason Gardner.  This could be as fine a job of coaching as he has ever done.

he has had a tough weekend in LA.  Its not easy to play UCLA and USC, back to back on the road, especially when USC is a top 15 team.  They will be back.  Its not over.  This year, there will be a post season Pac 10 tournament and then there will be March madness.  Look for the Wildcats to make some serious noise before its over.

February 10, 2002

Rick Majerus and the University of Utah

Had a chance to watch Utah play San Diego State yesterday.  Unfortunately SDSU Head Coach Steve Fischer could not be at the game as he was back in Illinois at his mom's bedside, as she is very ill.  However, Utah just put on a coaching clinic at both ends of the floor.

Their defense was absolutely flawless.  San Diego State, which is a very talented, much improved team, simply could not run any of its structure, and most every shot, in the first half was forced.  Utah, on the other hand, played with exceptional discipline and execution, and got a high percentage, most every trip down the floor.  To its credit, San Diego State fought back the second half and closed to within 10 points, before falling back to 20 at the finish.

I have known Rick Majerus since he was the second assistant on Al McGuire's staff during my 5 years as the Head Basketball Coach at University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in the 70's.  In those days, Marquette was one of the top 5 programs in the USA, year in year out.  Al McGuire was an incredible personality.  Though somewhat quiet, reserved, almost shy off the court, he was the master showman, once they turned the lights on.

Al was a dynamic recruiter.  He dominated New York City recruiting, where he was from, and to a certain extent Chicago, as well.  Every year, he would designate the player or two he wanted, and he would get him.  Usually it was the #1 player in NYC, or even the #1 player in the USA, as Bo Ellis 6'9" from Chicago was.  Bo is now the Head Coach of Chicago State.  Al would come into the home, go into the kitchen with the mother to visit, and would emerge with the mother telling her son he was going to Marquette.  When he turned on his "Irish Charm", it was all over.  

Rick Majerus was almost an apprentice coach initially.  His dad was the most powerful labor union leader in Wisconsin and a super guy.  Rick had been a walk on at Marquette and did not play much in his 4 years, but Al saw something special in him and invited Rick to join his staff.  Hank Raymonds was his long time assistant and Associate Head Coach, in fact, if not in name or title.  

Al was one of a kind.  He was dumb like a fox.  A better way to put it was he had exceptional street smarts.  He could always cut to the chase.  Al never liked to be bothered with practice, so Hank ran practice.  The year they won the NCAA Championship in 1978, he only attended 17 practices.  matter of fact, the day before they left for Atlanta and the Final Four, Al did not attend the practice.  I know that for certain, as I ran into him on the same plane, flying to Atlanta.

Game time, was another matter.  Then it was the Al McGuire show.  Nattily dressed in a dark suit and exquisite tie, he would come out after the team to a sellout crowd at the Milwaukee Arena, that had come to see Al, as much as it came to see the Warriors.   At one time, they played to 84 consecutive sellouts.

Rick Majerus was the dutiful, loyal, hard working young assistant.  Everyone in Milwaukee knew Rick, especially at the high school level.  Marquette did not recruit the City of Milwaukee very much, as the players simply were not good enough, or those that were, seemed to not have grades and have to go to junior college.

Rick, however, organized workouts for college coaches to come into Milwaukee and watch all the top players.  This was of invaluable assistance in helping any number of very good players get scholarships to schools all over the country.

What Al retired after winning the NCAA Championship, Hank Raymonds took over and Rick Majerus moved over into the #1 Assistant's Coach's chair.  The program continued to enjoy solid success, but it was not the same.  Marquette was Al McGuire.  It was a wonderful Jesuit school with superior Law and Medical Schools, but no different then Creighton in Omaha, Loyola Marymount in LA, or DePaul in Chicago.  What made it different was Al McGuire.  His personality, his charm, his wit.  

Make no mistake, Marquette was very well coached.  Hank and Rick Majerus ran the practices, but Al was a master game coach.  They zone pressed full court, played very good defense, beat you to death on the boards, and were simple, conservative, but talented and disciplined on offense.

Though they recruited well after Al, they no longer could get the "best".  Certainly not with the regularity that Al did.  As a result, they continued to win, but slowly returned to normalcy, much as DePaul has once Ray Meyer retired.  Eventually Hank retired and Rick Majerus took over.  Rick did a credible job, but ran into problems with the media, as many young coaches are prone to do.

Rick was close with Don nelson, then the long time successful Head Coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.  Rick joined the Buck's staff as an assistant for a couple of years.  When he was ready, he returned to college and started on his ascent to becoming one of the very best coaches in the entire country.

He had tremendous success at Ball State, almost over night and that proved to be the spring board to landing the Utah job, which has proved to be ideal for Rick.  At Utah he has established one of the top 10 or 15 programs in the country over the last 15 years.  He recruits very good players, rather than great McDonald's All American types, but they coach the hell out of them.  He and his staff are great teachers and his players improve greatly.

Andre Miller, his outstanding point guard when they went to the Final Four, was not a particularly highly recruited player.  When he left Utah, it was as an NBA 1st Round Draft Choice.  Mike Doleac was just 16 years old and hardly any D1 schools recruited him.  However, Rick saw some potential in him that others did not and he left Utah a first Round NBA Draft Choice.  Keith Van Horn hardly had many D1 scholarship offers and he left Utah as an NBA 1st. round NBA Draft Choice.  All are millionaires, thanks to Rick Majerus.

Chris Burgess, the 6'10" high school All American, who had lost his confidence and played sparingly at Duke, has come back this year to lead Utah in rebounding and scoring, before suffering a foot injury that may sideline him the rest of the year.

Visiting Rick after the game yesterday, he told me that Chris was his best player.  Chris is a 5th year senior having sat out his transfer year at Utah.  Last year, he hurt his back and missed over half the season.  Chris wants to leave school and pursue his NBA dream after the season.  Rick however feels they have a good chance to get a sixth year with an appeal to the NCAA, because of his injuries, and if he will come back for another year, and do every thing that Rick tells him to do, he will guarantee him that he will get him into the NBA.

My gut feel is that Chris needs that extra year to totally recoup his skills and dominance and would be wise to return to Utah.  It could be the difference between being drafted in the 1st round and getting a 3 year no cut contract for $3 million, or not being drafted at all, or being drafted in the 2nd round and having to sign a make good contract for the minimum.  Even if he can come back for the final few games, he is not likely to be at full strength and be able to show what he can really do.

If Chris at 6'10" comes back, and with NBA suspect Britton Johnson at 6'11" also comes back, mixed in with a superb recruiting trio of outstanding freshman, Utah could challenge for the NCAA Championship, though they would have to do it with a freshman point guard.  That ain't easy.  Ask Steve Lavin as they struggle with highly regarded freshman Cedric Bozeman at the point.

January 26, 2002

University of Kansas

Got a chance to see the Jayhawks in person against UCLA, several weeks ago.  Even though they lost, they played well and fought back from 15 down, deep into the second half, on the road, in a nationally televised game, to close within a whisker of winning the game in the last minute.

Roy Williams Has been the Head Coach at Kansas for about ten years now, and he has done a remarkable job.  Kansas has been one of the great programs in the country, over the last fifty years, going back to when the legendary Coach Phog Allen directed the program for about 25 years.

Ralph Miller, the great Oregon State, Iowa and Wichita State coach who recently passed away, played at Kansas.  However, he was better known as a great Quarterback on the football team, circa 1940 or so.  he actually still holds several KU passing records.  He scored 7 touchdowns in a game for Kansas, which is still a record.

His basketball coach at KU in 1939 was Phog Allen, but his physical Education instructor was James Naismith, the founder and creator of the game of basketball, when he was teaching at Springfield College in Massachusetts.

Ted Owens coached at Kansas in the sixties and seventies with considerable success and Larry Brown won the NCAA Championship at KU with Danny Manning as his college superstar.

However it was left to a young unknown assistant from North Carolina named Roy Williams, to restor Kansas to a position of top 5 programs in the country, year in, year out.  Roy was recommended by Dean Smith.  Dean had played at Kansas under Phog Allen, although he was pretty much last man on the team and played sparingly.

Roy has combined consistently outstanding recruiting, with very solid coaching, to put the Jayhawks back on top.  he has done everything but win a National Championship.  This may well be his best shot, as he not only has excellent overall talent at all positions, but it is primarily a veteran team, that has the necessary experience, to go a long way in the NCAA Tournament.

The one flaw that I still see is they are still prone to way too many turnovers.  They had 16 in the first half against UCLA.  They have great shooting guards in SR Jeff Boshee form North Dakota and Jr Kurt Heinrich from Iowa.  Heinrich is much improved.  he looks quicker and stronger and showed exceptional range as he draianed a number of long threes against the Bruins.  Myles is the well regarded freshman from Portland.  I never felt that I got a true read on his overall talent and game and will need to see him again.  

However all 3 guards are combos to a greater or lesser extent, rather than any of them being what I would call true point guards.  Where it is evident is when they try to make the creative pass.  They end up in turnovers way too often.  For Kansas to have a shot at the NCAA Championship, this problem must be overcome and eliminated.

Drew Gooden keeps getting better each year.  The 6'9" forward from Oakland will be an NBA 1st round draft choice and may leave after his junior year this spring.  I had the pleasure of coaching him in two games, one weekend in the LA College Summer League called the Say No Classic, which Rod Smith runs so well.  Drew was not only obviously gifted, but a real super kid, who was a pleasure to coach.  He is averaging 20 ppg and 10 rebounds but he too is prone to turnovers which need to be cut out.  

Their other starting big man Callison is a Jr, but a 3 year starter, and he averages close to 15 ppg and is a very good all around post at 6'8".  Freshman 6'8 Wayne Simeon form Kansas City, is a first rate freshman, and he plays significantly off the bench.

I have not seen Oklahoma this year.  However Kansas beat Oklahoma recently 74-67 two weeks ago, but it was in Lawrence, Kansas.  I think Oklahoma only plays them once a year as does Oklahoma State.  My feeling at this point is that KU has the best overall talent and experience and they will win the Big 12 and earn a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

I remember Arizona had some super teams that got upset early in the tournament, and people said Lute Olson could not win the big one.  Next thing you know, they went all the way and won the whole thing.  You never hear that again.  All it takes is winning the big one once, and they never again will question a coach.  Couls this be the year Kansas and Roy Williams get the brass ring.  Who knows, but I will be there watching at the Final Four.

I have missed just one Final Four since 1968.

January 12, 2002

UCLA upsets Kansas the #1 ranked team in the USA

Wow, what a performance.  After a disappointing loss to arch rival USC on Thursday, UCLA led virtually from start to finish in a nearly flawless performance at sold out Pauley Pavilion.  As poorly as Dan Gadzuric played against USC, he was magnificent vs. Kansas.  

Until he got in serious foul trouble in the 2nd half, he was the dominant player on the floor.  He was just too strong and explosive for either Callison or Drew Gooden to guard.  Every thing he threw up went in.  The truth is he is tremendously improved.  He just cannot seem to play consistently from night to night and he still is way too prone to foolish fouls.

T.J. Cummings is another who looked awful against USC, but played super vs. Kansas.  His inside defense was tremendous and he blocked out and rebounded his tail off.   His all around game was exemplary.  His lack of consistency is understandable as he is just a sophomore.

Barnes however, has carried UCLA on his back offensively for the 2nd game in a row.  He might be the most improved player in the country, from his freshman and sophomore years, to now.  He is playing his way into a possible 1st. round NBA draft pick and no cut contract as a #3 man at the small forward position.  For someone who hardly ever took a 3 pointer last year, his hard work has paid off.  these last two games he has literally shot the lights out from beyond the arc.

Jason Kapono was solid, good as gold.  he took very few shots, and they will need a greater scoring contribution from.  The big difference, however was the emergence of Cedric Bozeman.  I am not certain if Steve Lavin reads this column (I doubt it), but after the USC game, when Cedric played 5 minutes in the first half only, I wrote that the key to the season is Cedric Bozeman.  

For UCLA to play to its potential and do some damage on the national scene and the NCAA Tournament, Cedric has to emerge at the point guard position.  Rico Hines has played well.  He does not contribute statistically, but he does not hurt them with inappropriate shots or turnovers.  Furthermore, Jason Kapono was solid at the point.  However, they need someone to make the creative passes and get some easy shots and points for the wings and inside people that only a true point guard can do.  That true point guard is Cedric Bozeman.

As long as he was in the game, and they did not have too many freshman and sophs on the court at once, UCLA was in total control of the game.  I also thought they got a nice contribution from their other two highly regarded freshmen, Djon Thompson and Andre Paterson.  One of the problems is that freshmen will play much better at home than on the road because of the warmth and positive emotional support of the home crowd.

Billy Knight was also magnificent.  His outside shooting and scoring are crucial and he also lit it up from 3 point range.  He has a tendency to over handle the ball vs full and half court defense and have some untimely turnovers.  He hurt the Bruins badly in the last few minutes of the USC game, and again against Kansas, he lost the ball a couple of key times in the last 5 minutes that allowed Kansas to comeback and almost pull it out.

We are particularly proud of Billy as he played for BWBA on the AAU circuit and when no one recruited him in November, I went to UCLA and implored the coaches to take a hard look at him.  Billy always shot well for us.  Its the improvement in his defense that has earned him the starting position and major playing time, these past two years.  

David Bluthenthal also was a BWBA mainstay and he too was magnificent vs UCLA Thursday night.  The final stats indicated he went for 16 point and 18 rebounds.  That's a whole lotta boards.  He is one of the best rebounders I have ever coached.

Its also time to say that Steve Lavin is a hell of a coach.  He keeps growing as a coach every year.  Today, was the best I have ever seen a Steve Lavin team execute its half court offense vs quality defense.  They played a flawless game offensively shooting over 50% from the field and plaaying with tremendous defensive intensity.  They fronted the post, blocked out and rebounded with authority.

One top AAU personality who features himself a"good friend" of Lavin, said on the way out of the building, "did you see Billy Knight dribbling the ball allover the place and losing it?  Are they the worst coached team or what?"  I said, "you must be kidding.  What game were you watching?  They played magnificent basketball and were a beautifully coached team?  Yes Billy was over handling the ball, but that should not detract from the big picture.  The truth is that Steve Lavin is becoming one of the best young coaches in America, and the program is in excellent shape"

Say goodnight Gracie.

January 10, 2002

UCLA vs USC  part I at the Forum

Just came back from another epic cross town struggle between the Trojans and the Bruins.  Like most in state rivalries, or in this case, inner city rivalries, these are fought for bragging rights, year round.  Most of the players on both teams have played against each other in high school or the AAU circuit.

When I was the Head Coach at Jacksonville, our big rival was Florida State.  As an assistant at Kansas State, it was The University of Kansas.  As an assistant at Oregon State, it was Oregon, and as a father watching Oklahoma State, it was Oklahoma, in what is known throughout the state as "The Bedlam Series".

They are all back yard brawls that are super exciting, with great electricity in the air.  You can cut the tension with a knife.  The crowd usually arrives early, and there is a buzz and excitement in the air, that is not there for most any other game on the schedule.  The players are up, the students will have signs up everywhere and trash talking a part of the scene.

I have never been to one of these affairs, that it was not one of the best games of the year.  Usually, records mean very little.  The underdogs will come in sky high and the favorites will be a tad less driven, and that makes for a very even, hard fought game, that will normally come down to the last minute of play, and many times to the last shot.

Tonight, USC won 81-77 in a very evenly matched game, between two excellent teams, that both deserved to be ranked nationally.  USC has come a long way, under Henry Bibby.  They have recruited well, have a nucleus of 4 year starters in 6'8" forward David Bluthenthal, 6'8" Sam Clancy, and 5'9" point guard Brandon Grandville.

Though they lost 6'9" All Conference Brian Scalabrini to the NBA, Bluthenthal and Clancy are perhaps the best rebounding duo in college basketball.  Tonight David Bluthenthal repeatedly hurt the Bruins on the offensive boards.  David is a rugged, powerful combo forward, who also is an excellent 3 pt. shooter.  David is a strong NBA suspect, if he can show the NBA scouts that he can defend a small forward at their level.  He will be drafted, especially if he finishes strong.  Both he and Clancy have gotten off to slow starts, but since league play has started, they both have returned to form.

Sam Clancy appears to be a sure fire 1st round NBA draft choice.  He is a powerful #4 man who can step out an hit a 15 ft. shot, but he is a load around the basket, both as a scorer and rebounder.  His dad played in the NFL.  Brandon Grandville had a superb game.  He is a true point guard and when he plays well, the Trojans are really tough.  he is not only a first rate penetrator, but an excellent perimeter shooter.  In the past, he has fallen apart against zone presses and hurt USC.  

I was quite surprised, that his backup Hutchinson, only played a minute in the first half, but with the game on the line, Hutchinson came in and ran the Trojans the entire last 5 minutes, even though Grandville had played a nearly flawless game.  This would indicate that Henry Bibby has not been pleased with Grandville's decision making in close games, and prefers to have Hutchinson in there at crunch time.

Freshman Derrick Cravens was spectacular at times.  He is as good a finsher off slashing drives to the rim, as there is in the USA.  he had about 4 "wow" finishes, and though he is considered a mediocre shooter, he hit the big three pointer from the corner to put USC in the lead for good at the 2 minute mark.  It sort of broke UCLA's back, just after the Bruins had fought back from an 8 point deficit to tie the game and appeared to have grabbed the momentum at just the right time.

USC got solid contribution from its two headed center tandem of 7'0" Charisse, junior from Greece, and &'1" frosh Rory O'Neil from Ridgecrest Burroughs.  When both got in foul trouble, they went small and brought Desmond farmer into the game, and went the rest of the game with the 3 guard lineup.  Highly regarded juco transfer Dupree did not get into the game.  Bluthenthal and Clancy went the entire 40 minutes and did not appear tired at all.  This is a tribute to their conditioning and was a major factor in their spurting to a 10 point lead, late in the first half.

UCLA played well in my opinion.  They are a very good basketball team, though not a great one.  They obviously miss not having a true point guard.  Jason Kapono does a terrific job at the point.  He is sound and knows how to keep a team in rhythm and makes very few mistakes.  However, he is so concerned with running the team that he was not really the factor offensively as he needs to be, for this team to have a chance to go a long way in March.

The only other player in the program who can handle the point is well regarded freshman Cedric Bozeman.  Though he struggled early, and is just coming off arthroscopic knee surgery, he looked very good, in the 5-7 minutes he played in the first half.  Rico Hines has plugged the hole and gives the Bruins an athletic senior, who is not a scoring threat at all, but who knows his role and limitations, plays solid defense and makes very few mistakes.

Though the Bruins had won 9 in a row since he was inserted into the starting lineup, they need a greater contribution from this spot.  I was very disappointed in how Terry Cummings son played.  David Bluthenthal just manhandled him on the boards.  He was not strong enough to keep David off the boards, and is not a good rebounder for his size.  He also missed a number of easy makeable shots.  In general, he did not have a good game.  On the other hand, he has had some big games recently, but tonight, he looked inexperienced.  UCLA 's other two freshmen, Dijon Thompson and Andre Patterson, both considered quality prospects, also looked not quite ready for the magnitude of this game.

Dan Gadzuric also did not have what I would consider to have had a good game.  He plays hard, has incredible heart and is a first class rebounder and shot blocker.  However, he is a foreigner and has only played basketball for about 5 years and does not have good basketball savvy, in terms of playing within himself offensively, and in his passing skills and judgment.

I have seen him play some extraordinary games the last two years, against USC, Arizona and some other top teams.  However, he is still not consistent offensively.  When he plays well, UCLA is one of the best teams in the country.

On the other hand, it appears to me, that the key to how far this team will go, is Cedic Bozeman.  He is a legitimate 6'5" point guard/combo guard.  He only needs experience and confidence.  He looked physically fit tonight.  Steve Lavin is bringing him along slowly, but they may still start Rico Hines, they need Cedric Bozeman to make a significant contribution at the point.  This would also free up Jason Kapono to return to the wing, where his shooting and scoring are also badly needed.

Coach Lavin has the Bruins playing well again.  For some reason, they have started slowly in December, each of the past two years.  The Bruins seemed to have a hard time getting up for very good local teams from the Big West, Big Sky and WCAC Conferences.  

However each year, they have risen to the occasion once conference play starts, and played just great basketball down the stretch last year.  Again this year, they had won 9 in a row before tonight, including a resounding win over a well regarded Georgetown team.

Peopl forget how young Steve Lavin was when he was thrust into the Head Coaching position at the most storied basketball program in the USA.  He had never been a head coach at any level and was only a couple of years removed from being a grad assistant at UCLA.

When you take that into consideration, he has done a remarkable job.  For example, last year, they beat a hghly ranked Stanford team on the road, Arizona twice, and USC twice.  That ain't half bad.  He has consistently recruited well and is very well liked by his players.  He is growing as a coach every year.  When I think back to how little I really knew about coaching at his age, he has done a remarkable job.

He has good players.  He does not have great players.  Dan Gadzuric may make the NBA, but he will never be a starter and he will never be a go to offensive stud.  Kapono is outstanding.  Those who say his players do not improve ought to take a long look at Matt Barnes.   How about Billy Knght.  he might be the most improved player in the conference.

Matt Barnes is a 6'8" forward who has improved greatly each and every year.  He has become a first rate 3 point shooter, which he was not last year, a first rate rebounder, and a very effective slasher as well.  best of all, he is a big game player.  He had a career high 34 points tonight.  Billy Knight played so little his first few years at UCLA, he almost transferred to Long Beach State.  He might well be as good a shooter as there is in the conference and his improvement defensively has been most impressive.

As an aside, both David Bluthenthal and Billy Knight are former BWBA AAU stars.  Both are not only outstanding players, but first rate people and among my all time favorite kids to coach.

All in al, it was a delightful night a the Forum, the old home of the Lakers.  they now play in the state of the art Staples Center, which is as nice an arena as there is anywhere in the USA.  Both the Lakers, the Clippers play there, as do the NHL Los Angels Kings.

January 9, 2002

The Kevin Augustine Story

Once the best juniors in the state of California, highly recruited at the major college level, Kevin Augustine is finishing up his career in relative anonymously at Biola University, in suburban Los Angeles.  Biola is a very fine university, and a high caliber NAIA basketball program, but that still is a far cry from having Duke, Stanford, Virginia and USC vying for your services.

In December of his senior year, Kevin was an absolutely dominant high school scoring point guard.  He was strong and fast and explosive offensively, and a pretty good medium range shooter to boot.  He lit up the big Las vegas Xmas Tournament which normally attracted an outstanding field of teams from all over the USA.

He scored 39 pts in the finals, was MVP and Mater Dei won the Championship.  he was readily considered the #1 player in California, at that time.  However somewhere near the end of the season, he hurt his shoulder.  he laid off all spring to rest and allow his shoulder to heal  he did not pay any AAU ball in the spring, but in July, he was ready, or so he thought.

Though he was healthy, he had not played competitively since the end of the season in late March.  He arrived at Nike Camp in Indianapolis, ready to show everyone, he was the point guard of their future.  Trying to show how good he was, with his timing somewhat off, he did play well and many of the big time hi majors, like Duke, UCLA and Stanford got off him.

A number of schools still pursued him at somewhat of a slightly lower level, and he signed at USC.  At the time, Henry Bibby and his staff considered it a major coup, and they were delirious.  Kevin started at the point guard position for the Trojans as a freshman, and had a good solid year, overall.

However, Coach Bibby decided to recruit a second outstanding point guard, in Brandon Grandville.  Brandon had just finished leading Westchester H.S. to a California State Championship.  Both he and star forward David Bluthenthal, also of Westchester H.S., signed with USC that spring.

Bibby opened the point guard position to competition between Kevin and Grandville.  All reports are that Brandon totally outplayed Kevin in Practice and Bibby handed him the job.  When the exhibition games started, Brandon Grandville started and played most of the games and Kevin played less than 10 minutes in each exhibition.

Kevin had never been faced with such a competitive situation as he had always been a star, ever since 6th grade, on any team he had played on.  Sympathy and understanding from Henry Bibby he was not going to get.  Rightly or  wrongly, Kevin quit the team and left USC at the end of the semester.

The following year he enrolled at Fullerton J.C., not to play, but just to go to school.  If he did not play, but got his Associates Degree from Fullerton, he could transfer to a 4 year NCAA D1 school and be eligible the following fall, with 2 years of eligibility.

Two things went wrong.  Firstly, he did not work at improving his basketball skills.  Its very easy to just relax and wait till he was recruited again, and then worry about getting in shape.  However, laying off serious basketball for 2 consecutive years, can leave an athlete with a lot of rust.

Secondly, come mid December of his year at Fullerton, not one NCAA D1 school offered him a scholarship, as no one knew what had happened to Kevin Augustine, or where he was.  Enter Bob Gottlieb.  Kevin is blessed with very loving supportive parents.  They had just moved into a beautiful new home in Riverside, as both parents were now retired.  Sitting down with the family, they decided to retain me.

As I expected, Kevin was the easiest athlete I ever represented, to get recruited.  From the beginning, everyone that needed a point guard, at the mid to hi major college level, was seriously interested in Kevin Augustine.  They all remembered how outstanding he was in high school.  Notre Dame was very interested.  So was Hawaii and Miami of Florida.  So was San Diego State and many others.

We sent film packages of his play at USC to all of them and they all were very interested and wanted to fly in to watch him work out.  However, Kevin had not been working at his game, and was reluctant to work out untill he had gotten back into decent shape.  By the time he was ready to be seen, many of the teams had become frustrated and backed off.  His ultimate decision came down to San Diego State and Nebraska, under new Coach Barry Collier.

Nebraska need a point guard badly, and when Kevin visited campus, he fell in love with the facilities and atmosphere and he soon committed to the Cornhuskers.  However, when the season rolled around, Kevin's long layoff became evident.  His play was very inconsistent.  he also had trouble with several injuries which set him back.  As a result, his playing time was inconsistent.  However, Nebraska thought his superior defense was crucial, and he led them to several key wins in league play.

Somewhere during the season, his mom was diagnosed with cancer, and that certainly became a factor.  After the season, in a major surprise to the Coach collier, Kevin informed them that he was going to transfer closer to home and forego his senior year at Nebraska.  Barry Collier told me he was very disappointed to lose Kevin.  he not only thought Kevin would have an excellent senior year, but he was their only point guard returning, and because of the 5 and 8 scholarship rule, and because they already had two commitments form outstanding juniors in the state, they could not recruit another point guard that spring.

Kevin originally announced he was giving up basketball, but changed his mind at some point, once he returned home to California.  He is starting for Biola and has some outstanding games including 25 points last night in their big win over arch rival Azusa Pacific.  Its not USC nor Nebraska.  They are not on National TV or playing in front of 15,000 fans.  It  is quality college basketball and Kevin is enjoying himself and doing well and we wish him nothing but the best  I have known Kevin and watched him play since 6th grade and he has always been a classy young man.  Hopefully he has found some inner peace.  

P.S.  His mom has been doing quite well.  She is a very special, wonderful lady.  His dad Lucky Augustine, has always been a friend.  As a fellow parent, I can certainly empathize with Lucky, and have known first hand some of the emotions he must have been feeling, throughout Kevin's career.  Here a New Year's wish for Kevin to finish his career on the highest of personal notes and to his mom, for her continued recovery.

January 4, 2002

Cal State Fullerton

Got a chance to see CSF play last night against arch rival UCI at the Bren Center in Irvine.  It was a hard fought physical game that could have gone either way, but with the game on the line, UCI showed how it has matured as a team and program.  It reached done to shut down CSF almost totally from a defensive point of view, and still was able to excecute its half court offense to consistently get a high quality shot.

CSf, under 2nd year Head Coach Donnie Daniels, is much improved however.  They have become extremely athletic.  They gave UCI lots of problems with its full court man to man pressure.  They have improved their rebounding and shot blocking immeasurably and have good overall abilty.  However, their half court defense, especially defending UCI's pick and roll action, left a great deal to be desired and their point guard play was atrocious.

Donnie Daniels is one of the best liked people in the business.  He is an ideal coach for CSF.  Recruiting there has not been easy.  If I am not mistaken, Donnie played at CSF, and formerly was an assistant there, before spending over 10 years as a vital member of Rick Majerus' staff at Utah.

Recruiting at CSF, takes a great deal of resourcefulness.  It is a wonderful university, sibling to CSULB and San Diego State.  However, whereas they have beautiful new basketball facilities which are enormously helpful in recruiting, CSF still plays in its old on campus facility.  Though it is functional, it certainly is not what an NCAA D1 program should have.

When Donny inherited the program, the talent level was atrocious, for an NCAA D1 program.  Furthermore, thye were on NCAA probation and were prohibited from recruiting junior college players. That is now changed and newcomer Papa Sow, African sophomore from Chaffey J.C. has made quite an impact.

Donnie's staff is a very resourceful staff of recruiters.  Rob Orellano and  excellent African contacts which two years ago brought CSF 6'9" Bubara Camara, a rangy athletic youngster with lots of potential, but very inexperienced.  Rob was able to corral 6'9" Papa Sow form Chaffey J.C., who is also athletic, but a much much mature shot blocker, rebounder and decent scorer.  Josh Fischer 6'10" from Orange County has shed his "soft" label and is playing tough defense and is rebounding his tail off.  

Jason Levy brings a wealth of recruiting experience.  Jason started out as an assistant to Rudy Washington at Drake, was at UCI for a year and then at Portland for 3 years, before joing Donnie Daniels at CSF.  Jason is a tireless recruiter who is everywhere.  He also is a very good judge of talent.  At the low major level, this is crucial.

The talent level and overall athleticism of their starting five has improved immeasurably.  However the season has been defined thus far by the inexperience at the point guard position.  Derrick Andrews is a talented athletic guard, but his numerous turnovers trying to feed the post in their inside oriented offense has really hurt in the numerous close losses.  I would not be surprised to see the staff recruit a quality true point guard and move Derrick to the off guard.

I really enjoyed watching them play.  They are athletic, have talent, play above the rim and play with great intensity and enthusiasm.  CSF is in good hands, and they are on the right path, and the road back.

Brandon Campbell 6'5" #3 man, who was out hurt last year, is a very athletic 6'5" slasher who is a quality wing starter.  Richardson, the 6'4" wing from San Bernadino has really come on.  He was a find of thiie other fine recruiter jason Levy.  Jason brought him to Portland originally as a Prop 48, but he left Portland.  When Jason was hired at CSF, he recommended him to Coach Daniels.  Last year  he played well at times, but this year, his defensive intensity has picked up greatly, and he has become a quality Big Two of his starters aare African kids in the 6'8" and 6'9" range.

January 3, 2002

The ABA 2000 opens its 2nd season

Background:

Last year when the ABA 2000 was formed, Bob Gottlieb was hired by the Hampton Roads team to be its 1st. Head Coach and Director of Basketball Operations.  I spent months studying films, talking to agents, and preparing for the ABA draft and list of protected players.  I represented the team and the owner at the initial press conference held at the Forum in LA to announce the formation of the new league.  All the owners were introduced as well as the coaches.  

I was in very glamorous company.  Paul Westhead, who coached the Lakers to the NBA Championship, would coach the Los Angels entry.  George Gervin, voted one of the top 50 players in NBA history, was introduced as Head Coach of Detroit.  Gene Bartow, former UCLA Head Coach and highly successful Coach and Athletic Director at UAB would be the Director of Basketball Operations of the Memphis team.  Joey Meyer of DePaul fame, would coach Chicago and Bob Gottlieb was introduced as Head Coach and Director of Basketball Operations of the Hampton Roads entry.  Unfortunately, our owner was unable to come up with the necessary funds and the league opened up with no Hampton Roads team, and no Bob Gottlieb.  It would have been great fun.

Anaheim vs. Kentucky Opening night

Last week, I attended the opening game of the Anaheim Surf team in the ABA 2000.  The game marked the beginning of the league's 2nd season and Steve Chase, who had presided over the Los Angeles Stars the previous year, was now the President and CEO of the Surf.  Games were to be played at the Anaheim Convention Center.  

It was an ideal choice in that it is centrally located in Orange County, an area home to 3 million people without an NBA team.  Though the Clippers have played 6 games at the Anaheim Pond, averaging close to 18,000 fans per game, Clippers owner Donald Sterling features himself an LA guy, and has refused to move the Clippers to Orange County.

So there is a market of professional basketball fans that have been starved for basketball at the professional level.  Anaheim was opening against Kentucky, coached by Ralph Underhill, formerly of Wright State, and led by 6'6" David Shelton, one of the mainstays of Bill Self's Cinderella Tulsa team that almost went to the Final Four 2 years ago.

Anaheim was coached by rookie Head Coach Scottie Brooks.  Scottie had been a sensational college player at UCI in Orange County, and had recently completed a 10 year career in the NBA.  The Surf was led by an outstanding backcourt of Joe Crispin and Curtis Staples, both sensational long range shooters.  

Crispin actually played with the LA Lakers the first 10 games of the NBA season this year, after a banner career at Penn State.  His brother, who started with him in the backcourt as a freshman last year with Joe, transferred to UCLA, where he is red shirting this year.

Curtis Staples, a 6'1" sniper form the University of Virginia, and originally from well regarded Oak Hill Academy, can light it up from anywhere.  he went for 40 the first night.  Crispin came back with 45 himself the next night.  Not a bad backcourt.

The caliber of basketball was excellent.  It was tough, physical, up tempo basketball and the fans thoroughly enjoyed it.  Both teams utilized the full court zone press effectively.  Anaheim was had much better size and depth in the front court, but Kentucky was loaded with hard nosed tough street fighting undersized posts, epitomized by David Shelton, who went for 35 points.  Anaheim jumped to a big early lead dominating the offensive boards, but Kentucky came out if a full court press, and before you knew it, they went from 10 down to 10 up at halftime.

Scottie Brooks made some excellent adjustments at halftime against the press, and though Kentucky continued to press, it never again bothered the Surf.  As a matter of fact, Staples just lit up the press with open 3 pointers all over the pace, as the Surfs broke the press and found Staples open all over the place.

On the other hand, The Surfs began to zone press Kentucky, and they fell apart and allowed Anaheim to regain the lead.  However, they showed great heart, and continued to hand around, fighting and scratching, and almost won the game, in the end.

It was very entertaining basketball and very much a family crowd.  Tickets were highly affordable and I highly recommend you take in a game. I invited Dennis Murphy as my guest and was he dapper.  Dennis is the founder of the original ABA in the 1960's.  He has not been well the last year, but has recovered nicely from both a stroke and subsequent hernia which required 4 hours of surgery.

Dennis got us tickets through his old friend Ed Litwak, one of the minority owners of the Anaheim team.  I picked Dennis up in my wife's Honda limo and felt very proud to be escorting a man that has been nominated to both the NBSA and NHL Hockey Hall of Fame.  Dennis also was the driving force behind the formation of the WHA in Hockey which ultimately merged with the NHL.  Wayne Gretxky and many other NHL super stars started out originally in the WHA.

At halftime, Ed Litwak made certain that Dennis was introduced to the crowd.  Dennis shuffled out to center court with that impish Irish smile, and gave the crowd a big wave.  He was very well received by the fanas.

January 2, 2002

The Doug Gottlieb Recruiting Story

Coming out of high school, Doug was the #1 point guard in the Western USA.  Every top program in the country that need a point guard, except Duke, offered Doug a scholarship.  That included UCLA, Stanford, Michigan State, UCONN, Virginia, Florida and Notre Dame.  Doug had had a spectacular ABCD Camp for the second year in a row, and also played extremely well at the Adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas.  I not only coached him at the AAU level ffrom 6th grade through his senior year in high school, but also coached him on the teams he played on at ABCD Camp, both years.  I not only coached the teams but organized them at ABCD Camp, so it allowed me to build the team around Doug , surround him with superb complimentary outstanding players, and enable him to showcase his talents in the best light.

His first year, we had J.R. Henderson and Chris Johnson who had outstanding careers at UCLA, Ricky Price, who starred at Duke, Tony Gonzalez, now the best tight end in the NFL and Jaelani Gardner of Cal and Pepperdine.  We we lost in the finals of the Camp Tournament to Michigan by 2 points, and played the entire game without J.R. and Jaelani who wer both hurt.  The next year we had Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics and Arthur Lee, the outstanding Stanford guard. and were undefeated throughout the camp and were upset by a point in the playoffs.  Even back then it was obvious that paul Pierce was very special.

Doug turned down UCLA because they were already committed to an outstanding 6'5' junior point guard Olujima Mann a year behind Doug.  Jim Harrick and Mark Gottfried, then the assistant at UCLA and now the eminently successful Head Coach at Alabama, both recruited Doug hard.  However, they would not make a commitment to not recruit another point guard for one year if Doug signed.  Olujima Mann did commit to UCLA the next year, but did not qualify academically, and he never played any where and now just hangs out.

Doug signed with John Macleod at Notre Dame.  They had just been admitted to the Big East and they badly need a point guard to step in and start and so Doug signed with the Irish.  In many ways, it was a great experience, both for Doug as a youngster, and for us as his parents.  What a great school[.  What great spirit of family Notre Dame engenders.  We made a point to attend one of their home football games and it was an incredible experience.  The fans sat in narrow seats and it had that European look you see at their soccer games on TV.  The stands were build close to the field.  With the narrow seats and the stands being so close to the field, it became a very intimate experience.  Of course there was Touchdown Jesus at the far end looking over things.  The concessions were built underneath the stands and it seemed all 65,00 people were all there.  There was simply no room to move any which way with in space probably designed for half that many people.  The stadium has since been renovated and expanded so I am sure they have modernized things.

Doug started every game after the 4th game of the season and had a good year individually.  However, Notre Dame was simply not truly competitive with the Big East.  Pat Garity and Ryan Hoover were terrific, however the rest of the team were made up of athletes who truly should have been playing at a much lower level.  They were 4-14 in the Big East that year, and they did not recruit particularly well that fall.  Doug ran into some mischief problems that he deeply regrets, and it was just a good mutual decision for him to transfer.

John Macleod was an excellent coach and top of the line person.  Every one in basketball likes and respects John Macleod.  He was the Head Coach of the Phoenix Suns for 18 years and took them to the NBA Finals.  However college basketball is first and foremost about recruiting.  He and his superb assistant Fran McCafferty worked very hard at it, but for whatever the reason, they had a hard time signing the kind of players that could make a difference.

Notre Dame should have been an easy place to recruit to.  Its a super school academically, with a beautiful on campus arena, a nationally powerful alumni, unlimited resources, centrally located about 90 minutes from Chicago and they had a well known Head Coach who was as classy a person as there was in coaching.  for whatever the reason, with the exception of Troy Murphy, they were unable to lure their share of the top flight highly recruited players.  Pat Garrity was developed by the staff and Coach Macleod, but he was not a highly recruited high school athlete.  Fran McCaferty is now the Head Coach of North Carolina Greensboro and doing exceptionally well.  He and Doug were very close.

Anyway, when Doug left Notre Dame, we decided to put him at Golden West J.C. with his original high school coach at Tustin H.S., Tom McCluskey.  Tom did it as a favor because we asked that Doug be allowed to practice with the team, but not play in any games, to preserve the year of eligibility.  Tom was a superb coach and a terrific person, and we knew Doug would get a lot out of his practices.  On the other hand, we also knew, that the pool pool of coaches interested in Doug would be enhanced greatly if he had 3 years of eligibility left, instead of just two.

That is the way it worked out.  Doug not only practiced with Golden West regularly, but also worked out under me at BWBA on Sundays.  All coaches who wanted to come in and see him live were encouraged to come on Sunday to BWBA, where we could organize the practice in such a way as to really be a showcase of his talents.

We decided to wait till the spring for Doug to sign.  This would better enable us to determine who definitely needed a point guard to step in and start.  It would also enable us to evaluate the teams and styles of play and which coach might be fired or leave for a better job.  Just as before, most every major school that need a point guard and had not signed one in the fall signing period, all recruited Doug.  Utah was the early leader.  Rick Majerus flew in on a Sunday to watch Doug work out at BWBA and he was very impressed.  Two weeks later his Chief Recruiter and now Head Coach at Cal State Fullerton,came to see Doug workout and later on the other full time assistant also came in.  They all liked Doug and Rick offered a scholarship and Doug was definitely leaning that way.  

We decided to wait till the spring for Doug to sign.  This would better enable us to determine who definitely needed a point guard to step in and start.  It would also enable us to evaluate the teams and styles of play and which coach might be fired or leave for a better job.  Just as before, most every major school that need a point guard and had not signed one in the fall signing period, all recruited Doug.  Utah was the early leader.  Rick Majerus flew in on a Sunday to watch Doug work out at BWBA and he was very impressed.  Two weeks later his Chief Recruiter and now Head Coach at Cal State Fullerton,came to see Doug workout and later on the other full time assistant also came in.  They all liked Doug and Rick offered a scholarship and Doug was definitely leaning that way.  

However, in early February, the NCAA changed its rules in regard to Prop 48 non qualifiers.  If they were on schedule to graduate in 4 years, they would be now be given the 4th year of eligibility back.  As freshman non qualifiers, they could attend school, but not practice and not play the entire year.

This meant that their super point guard Andre Miller would regain that additional year and so if Doug transferred to Utah, he would have to play behind Andre for two years instead of one.  So Utah was out.  Tennessee showed significant interest.  They were recruiting in state super point guard Tony Harris, but it was no sure thing they would get him.  Kevin O'Neill recruited Doug aggressively, but they did get Tony Harris, and they cancelled Doug's scheduled official visit.

Alabama recruited Doug hard and Doug did make an official visit in the fall and liked everything about the program, but their coach was on the hot seat and the overall instability of things bothered him.  Seth Greenberg also recruited Doug hard but he had just gotten the job and he inherited a very weak team, and so that was not a viable option.  The one both Doug and I agreed was the ideal one was Georgia Tech, under Bobby Cremins.  They badly needed a point guard to step in and start and Bobby normally played just 5 guys and he gave his point guard great leeway to both run a team and score.

Bobby came out and watched Doug at BWBA, made a home visit that same weekend and we crossed our fingers and hoped he would offer.  Would you believe he took a kid instead from a Southern prep school who was not any where as good as Doug, had some drug problems in high school and was questionable for Georgia Tech academically.  He lasted a year, before they got rid of him.  The kid transferred to Iowa State where he was thrown out of school for some transgressions, went to a junior college in Utah, had a good year, and then transferred to Utah, where he was a so so player.  

Georgia Tech continued to struggle and ultimately it cost the very well liked and very well respected Bobby Cremins, his job.  He had been there 18 years with a great deal of success, but his point guard play just killed him his last few years at Tech.  At the NCAA convention, I asked Bobby what made him pass on Doug to take the other kid.  He shared with me that his athletic director at Georgia Tech had received a phone call from someone at Notre Dame saying that you do not want Doug, that he was a bad kid.    Bobby Cremins said it was one of the biggest mistakes of his coaching career, not taking Doug Gottlieb.  

Doug is now one of the most popular athletes to have ever played at OSU, and had his own 4 hour radio sports talk show right up until the day he left for Israel.  Not only that, but he his show has been so well received, that he has a standing offer from the station, which is the largest in the state, to again have his own show, whenever he returns from Israel.  

Doug did make a significant error of judgment while at Notre Dame, but he always was a good kid, who was well liked and respected by the fans, his teammates, and his coaches.  I have heard him asked about it by callers to his radio show in Oklahoma City.  He talks freely and honestly about his days in South Bend and the reasons he left.

As an aside, after his second year at Oklahoma State, Doug was chosen as the Athlete Citizen of the Year for his contributions to the community outside of the athletic program.  Doug was chosen from the pool of all athletes in all sports at OSU, to represent OSU in competition with other athletes in the Big 12 Conference, nominated by their school.  

When all the smoke cleared, Doug's decision to sign came down to Marquette and Oklahoma State.  He transferred from Notre Dame to  Golden West College for a year.  Tom McCluskey, Doug's original high school coach at Tustin High School, was the Head Coach there and he agreed to allow Doug to practice, but not play in games, to save his year of eligibility.  This meant Doug would have 3 years eligibility left at the 4 year level, and if he got his Junior College degree the following June, he would be eligible immediately, wherever he signed.

Mike Dean came very close to recruiting our son Doug.  I had been the Head Coach at UWM during its super glory years, and knew of the overall excellence of both the University academically, and the basketball program.  I made sure to spend a weekend in Milwaukee, not only visiting friends, but attending a Mike Dean coached Marquette game.  I was very impressed and passed on my impressions to Doug.  

Mike and Doug began to bond extremely strongly during the recruiting process.  Mike went out of his way to make Doug feel that not only could he help Marquette win, but that Mike would do everything in his power to help Doug realize his dreams as a player.  It was a very difficult decision for Doug and it went down to the wire between Marquette and Oklahoma State.  

Mike Dean came out to not only watch Doug at BWBA, but came into our home for an official visit.  On his way home he wrote a beautiful 6 page hand written letter that touched not only Doug but both Jane and I.  Doug made an official visit to Marquette and liked it a great deal.  It became a very difficult decision and right up until the day Doug signed, I could not have told which way he would go.

Eddie Sutton invited Doug for an official visit to Stillwater and Doug loved everything he saw there.  I had been an assistant to Eddie at Creighton some years back.  He knew the respect I had for Eddie Sutton as a coach and his credentials speak for themselves.  

It became a very difficult decision and we left it up to Doug.  Doug felt Marquette had an excellent program and he really felt close to Mike Dean.   However, OSU had several super freshman in Desmond Mason and Joe Atkins and a big time soph in Adrian Peterson and they would be there with Doug.  Doug knew they had no real point guard in the entire program.  Together, he thought they had a real chance for national honors.  

In the end, he opted for OSU and in most ways, it was an excellent choice.  Mike Dean and Marquette would have been an equally excellent choice.  Mike Dean is a special kind of guy.   He is genuinely a terrific person, a man's man kind of guy..  To this day, we are friends.  Even though Doug committed to OSU, he still considered our other son Greg for a position on his staff, which not very many coaches would have done.  He was one of the first to schedule BWBA for an exhibition game and we have had a wonderful competition and experience playing Lamar, each of the last two years.  We have played them tough, but have not beaten Mike yet.  After the game we always join him for dinner at his favorite Italian Restaurant in Beaumont, and Mike picks up the tab for everyone. his whole staff included.  I was real pleased when one of the best athletes I was representing two years ago, Ben Jacobson, a 6'7' forward from Omaha,  chose to sign with Mike Dean at Lamar.

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Last Updated: Thursday, August 8, 2002 10:20 AM