John Clay's Sidelines

When it comes to conference expansion, Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi has some advice for Rick Pitino.

Sit down and shut up.

Excerpt:

Actually, let me answer my own question: Because Pitino epitomizes why the Big East is in the shape it’s in; because he is among the basketball coaches in the league who have way too much power and influence. The basketball boneheads have been making all of the decisions, and that’s why there has been a mass exodus of the league’s football schools over the years. Just think how enormous the Big East football TV deal would be if it had catered to the football schools from the beginning and kept programs like Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Pitt, West Virginia, etc. in the fold?

Bianchi has been advocating that the Big East take Central Florida as a member. Pitino has been publicly more interested in recruiting Temple and Memphis.

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Louisville announced tonight that heralded freshman Wayne Blackshear has been lost for the season with a shoulder injury. Here’s the release:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville freshman Wayne Blackshear will miss the 2011-12 season after suffering a shoulder injury in practice.

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test performed at Jewish Hospital in Louisville points to a torn labrum in his right shoulder, which will require surgery to repair. With an expected recovery time of at least four months, Blackshear will effectively miss the entire season.

A 6-5 McDonald’s High School All-American from Chicago, Blackshear had just been cleared by the NCAA initial eligibility center to participate as a freshman a week ago. He had suffered an injury to his left shoulder as he closed out his high school career, had surgery to repair it, and had spent the summer rehabilitating that shoulder. He averaged 32.6 points, 14.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 3.7 steals as a senior for Morgan Park High School last season.

(AP photo)

Minority leader and Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell is trying to block West Virginia’s move to the Big East, reports the New York Times.

Citing sources, the Times says McConnell is lobbying the Big 12 on behalf of Louisville, his hometown school. This is after reports Monday that the Big 12 was set to invite West Virginia to it membership in the likely event that Missouri would withdraw from the league to join the SEC.

The Charleston Daily Mail reports that the WVU move to the Big 12 has been put on hold.

In my book, Louisville is  a better candidate than West Virginia. U of L has a better overall sports program, etc. West Virginia has a slight edge in football at the moment, but Louisville has proven that it can produce a national contender in the sport.

There are some who believe that the Big 12 may compromise and add both, then add another school for 12 members. But the league has said previously it plans on staying at 10 for the time being.

So how did this happen? How did it happen that Louisville got left out in the conference re-alignment cold? How did the Cards go from proud Big East member, with major basketball bonafides and automatic BCS qualifier status, to clinging to flotsam and jetsam from its sunken ship as the better, luckier boats continue on down the revenue river?

West Virginia over Louisville for the Big 12? Really?

Where was Tom Jurich?

After all, Jurich is considered one of the nation’s better athletic directors. He’s among the highest-paid. Even the most loyal Kentucky fan must recognize the good work Jurich has done at U of L. (It’s the reason why most in the Big Blue Nation spit at the mere mention of the Jurich name.) Louisville has a top-shelf athletic program in men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s soccer and women’s volleyball. That’s just to name a few. And football, once a shining light under Jurich jurisdiction, is fighting for a comeback.

Continue reading ‘How did Tom Jurich and Louisville get left in the cold?’

(AP photo)

You knew that Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun would not take well to Rick Pitino’s comment that Connecticut’s attempt to join the ACC was “the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Calhoun delivered:

“The coach who said that has been talking to every conference in America.”

Calhoun later said the remark was just a joke.

But he did say that Connecticut was attempting to do the best thing for the school, which he was sure is Louisville’s intent, as well. He said that Pittsburgh and Syracuse’s decision to move to the ACC was done in their best interests, as well.

(AP photo)

Rick Pitino used his blog to to comment on the news today that Pittsburgh and Syracuse are officially leaving the Big East to join the ACC. In doing so, Pitino referenced the movie The Godfather.

So much tradition and success. The words of the Pitt chancellor ring out at the Newport, RI league meetings: we must stick together. There is a scene from the godfather where one of the capo’s of the Corleone family approached Michael at his dad’s funeral. He told Michael he could arrange a meeting to stop the bloodshed. The Godfather told Michael that the one who comes to set up the meeting will be the one who betrays the family. Robert Duval, as Tom Hagen the consigliere, thought it would be Clemenza who would be the one. Instead, it was good old Abe Pagoda as Salvatore Tessio. Michael Corleone’s response to Tom was the answer to why Pittsburgh and Syracuse would make the move. His response: it was the smart move.

Pitino goes on to say he thinks U of L, South Florida, West Virginia and Cincinnati will stick together. He hopes the Big East will recruit four football schools quickly and says he thinks Memphis should be in the mix, for its basketball tradition with promise of a football upgrade.

Some think West Virginia could end up in the SEC, but I still think Missouri is a better bet. The latter can deliver more TV households than the former, and that’s what this is all about.

Meanwhile, the Austin American-Statesman is reporting that Texas is close to joining a 16-team Pac-12 that will also include Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. The conference would be split into a quartet of four-team pods. That way Texas can continue to play its three former Big 12 members, without having to make numerous long-distance trips.

But back to Louisville. Where might the Cardinals end up? Not in the SEC. For all its basketball history and its recent football success, U of L can’t deliver the new market share that the SEC would want. If the Big East can’t make it, I could see Louisville trying to join forces with Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Memphis, etc., for a new league. But what sort of TV deal would a group like that be able to command?

To be honest, this current conference chaos only brings into the open what we have known for quite some time. College athletics is not college athletics. It is professional athletics at the college level, played not for the benefit of the so-called student athletes, or the fans, or even the schools. These days they are nothing but greedy, money-making machines willing to do most anything to assure their own survival.

In that regard, The Godfather is not a bad analogy.

Billy Minardi

The upcoming 10th anniversary of 9/11 has to be an emotional time for Rick Pitino, who lost his best friend and brother-in-law, Billy Minardi, to the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Rick has used his blog to talk about his memories.

An excerpt:

It’s now ten years later. I remember vividly the last weekend we spent with Billy Minardi. It was a Labor Day getaway to Pebble Beach Resort. Four man golfing teams would get together from coast-to-coast to compete and share stories. Our team was from Old Memorial out of Tampa, Fla. Tom Shannon, Hugh Connerty, Billy Minardi and myself. Three-day tournament, playing Spyglass, Spanish Bay, and Pebble Beach. Ten years ago, but it seemed like yesterday when on a beautiful day we sat outside the eighteenth green sharing a bottle of Far Niente Chardonnay. It was a spectacular four days.

We watched as pictures would be snapped as every foursome left the magnificent 18th. We traveled back home the next day. That was the last moment Billy, Stephanie, Joanne, and I shared together.

Continue reading ‘On 9/11 anniversary, Pitino remembers brother-in-law’

On his personal blog, Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino gives some individual workout news about his players.

But he also acknowledges that heralded freshman Kevin Ware has still not been cleared to play.

Ware is the 6-foot-4 guard from Georgia who originally signed with Tennessee but was released from the letter-of-intent when Vols’ head coach Bruce Pearl was fired. Ware subsuquently committed to Central Florida, but quickly de-committed after stories surfaced that alledging that Central Florida used street agents in his recruitment.

He then committed to Louisville in May after visiting Georgia.

Rivals ranked Ware as the 70th best player in the Class of 2012.

(h/t Card Chronicle)

On the occasion of Louisville approving a contract extension for Rick Pitino, I wrote that I wouldn’t count the Cardinals coach out.

This brought some pushback, of course. UK fandom has never nor will it ever forgive Pitino for taking over the Cardinals program.

And let’s not even get into the sordid personal stuff. For the sake of this discussion, I couldn’t care less.

Going by the black-and-white numbers, however, it is indisputable that the Louisville Rick has not duplicated the success of the Kentucky Rick. Not by a longshot.

Click the continue line to find two charts as illustration.

Continue reading ‘No doubt: Louisville Rick Pitino is no Kentucky Rick Pitino’

(AP photo)

C-J sports columnist Eric Crawford reports that U of L has approved the terms of Rick Pitino’s contract extension.

Excerpt:

Pitino’s base salary will remain at $3 million annually through the 2102-13 season, then rise to $3.9 million for the final four seasons of the contract. That $3.9 million amount matches what he will be making the next three seasons with his base salary and share of a retention bonus combined.

That retention bonus goes away after 2012-13 season, and Jurich said the new base amount is just designed to keep Pitino’s salary where it is.

Despite all the jokes, and notwithstanding the first-round NCAA loss to Morehead, Pitino did one of his better coaching jobs last season. He took a Louisville team picked to finish near the bottom of the Big East and ended up tied for third in arguably the nation’s best basketball conference. He did it without Jared Swopshire, who missed the season with injury. He also was without Rakeem Buckles for much of the season.

Louisville also beat both national champ UConn and national runner-up Butler last season.

Yes, John Calipari has seized the upper-hand as far as the in-state schools, but Pitino has done a better job recruiting at U of L than he had done previously. Plus, we know he can coach. I’m not about to write the guy off.