John Clay's Sidelines

Former UK women’s basketball coach Debbie Yow, now the athletics director at North Carolina State, accused Gary Williams, basketball coach when Yow was AD at Maryland, of trying to sabotage her search for a new basketball coach at N.C. State. Yow ended up hiring ex-Alabama coach Mark Gottfried.

Robbi Pickeral of the Raleigh News and Observer reports on the Yow-Williams feud.

College hoops links for Friday:

• ESPN.com’s Pat Forde writes on Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio. Forde: ” Between flaps, Prosser is probably telling everyone that he knew Gaudio could do this. He knew Gaudio could coach at the highest level of college basketball, if he finally got a chance at a place where winning isn’t impossible. The tragedy is that Skip Prosser had to die for his friend to get that chance. The healing postscript is what Dino Gaudio is doing with that opportunity.”

• At FoxSports.com, Ian O’Connor tells Bob to call it a Knight. O’Connor: “Knight isn’t just a dinosaur; he’s an angry dinosaur. Any college administrator who wants to scare off America’s blue-chip recruits by hiring Knight would gain rock-star popularity in the homes of rival coaches, athletic directors and chancellors desperately seeking a competitive edge.”

• In USA Today, Sal Ruibal writes that Gary Williams has hit rough waters at Maryland. Ruibal: “But now, with his team’s mediocre 14-8 record after Tuesday night’s 108-91 loss at North Carolina, “Garyland” is not a happy place. The Terps are in danger of missing the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in the past five years and the “halo effect” of his championship season is fading. Williams is not the first coach with championship credentials to face hard times, just the most recent.”

• In the Cincinnati Enqurier, Shannon Russell reports on Xavier’s continuing roll. Russell: “Raymond’s stellar defense and perimeter fireworks were major forces behind No. 9 Xavier’s 21st straight home-court win over an A-10 foe. The Musketeers’ depth and intensity on both ends of the court paved the way for an 83-74 victory over Temple Thursday at Cintas Center. Raymond scored 24 points and made five 3-pointers. Derrick Brown chipped in 13 points and a team-best eight rebounds, Jason Love added 13 points and seven rebounds, and Brad Redford contributed 12 points for the Musketeers (20-2, 8-0 A-10).”

• At SportingNews.com, Daniel Blocks looks at the national over and underachievers. Blank: “Tennessee and Arkansas squared off for this designation Wednesday, and the Razorbacks (13-7, 1-6) get the nod after losing in Fayetteville. While the Vols aren’t playing at the level expected of them in the preseason, they’re at least starting to hoard league wins. Not much was expected of the Hogs until they beat Texas and Oklahoma (still the only team to do so) in the span of a week. In early January, Arkansas was considered a contender for the league crown. But the young Razorbacks have collapsed in league play, with their only win coming against Alabama following Mark Gottfried’s departure. The only way Arkansas gets into the tournament now is with four wins in Tampa.”

Continue reading ‘HL: Dino, Knight the dinosaur, and underachievers’

Hoops Links for Monday:

• At FoxSports.com, Jeff Goodman writes on Louisville’s Terrence Williams. Goodman: “Williams said the season turned around prior to the last-second victory at home against Kentucky a few weeks back in which Edgar Sosa hit the game-winner. “We knew something had to change,” he said.

• Courier-Journal columnist Eric Crawford writes from U of L’s win at Syracuse. Crawford: “And this big start should re-focus College Basketball Nation on U of L, if it hadn’t drawn that focus already. In running to a 6-0 Big East start, the Cards have beaten four ranked teams in their past five games, including back-to-back wins over top-10 teams. Duke is playing well right now and will probably be No. 1 today. Connecticut is fantastic and should be No. 1. U of L is playing as well or better than both. And the Cardinals may have more room for improvement than both.”

• Bud Poliquin of the Syracuse Post Standard writes that Orange got stuck in the Big East grinder. Poliquin: ” Let the record show that the 57 points represented the lowest amount scored in any one outing by Syracuse this season; meanwhile, Louisville has come up short of 67 four times thus far in this campaign . . . and, instructively, has lost on three of those occasions. As such, this exercise that pitted two Top 10 outfits coached by two guys (Boeheim and Rick Pitino) packing 1,324 career triumphs between them was to scoring what liverwurst is to dining, what corns are to toe rings, what a washboard is to the symphony.”

• In his Weekly Watch column, ESPN’s Andy Katz throws some love at Oregon State. Katz: “(Craig) Robinson had had no idea the Beavers would be one of the hottest teams in the Pac-10 after an improbable road sweep of Cal and Stanford. He’d had no clue the Beavers would have three Pac-10 victories, including a home win over USC. That’s one more conference win than Arizona, three more than winless rival Oregon, and as many as Stanford and Washington State.”

• In the Cincinnati Enquirer, Shannon Russell writes that Xavier took care of business last week. Russell: “In beating LSU, the Muskies dispatched a second Southeastern Conference opponent this season. They defeated Auburn 81-74 on Dec. 3 at Cintas Center. There were plenty of positives to take away from the road victory, which snapped LSU’s 17-game home winning streak. The Tigers were held without a field goal during a nine-minute second-half stretch and never regained their composure.”

Continue reading ‘HL: Williams flies as Louisville grinds’