John Clay’s Sidelines

I know it’s not John Calipari and it’s not Kentucky basketball, and therefore it’s not going to get a ton of page views, but some impressions from up in Cincinnati for the Reds’ opening day.

• For some reason, Xavier basketball news follows me here and none of it good. I was here at GABP last year when the news came that ex-Xavier coach Skip Prosser had died at Wake Forest of a heart attack after jogging. It was surreal being in the press box at that time, given that so many in the Cincinnati media were still friends with Prosser, or thought so highly of him form his Muskie days. Now, here I am again, and the news came early that Sean Miller, the coach at Xavier, had changed his mind and decided to take the Arizona job. Here’s a press box full of Cincinnati journalists, watching the city’s big even, and the coach of the best basketball team in town, is making news by reversing course and heading out West.

• Who might Xavier chase now that Miller is off to Tucson? Muskie assistant Chris Mack will reportedly be in the mix. But Shannon Russell of the Cincinnati Enquirer mentions Siena coach Fran McCaffrey, and he seems like a worthy choice. A friend told me that Louisville coach Rick Pitino is pushing Steve Masiello for the job, but the U of L assistant has no head coaching experince and the Muskies are loaded for next season. He’d be a longshot, at best.

Continue reading ‘Basketball news on baseball’s opening day’

My friend Shannon Russell of the Cincinnati Enquirer shoots down the message boards. Russell covers Xavier and reports that Xavier coach Sean Miller was not in Lexington, as rumored, last night. In fact, Miller sent Russell a text message saying nothing was up.

Also, commenting on Shannon’s post, former Xavier beat writer Dustin Dow, who knows his stuff, wrote this:

But the UK job is the sort that Miller isn’t likely to pursue. It certainly doesn’t fit his personality. That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t listen if Kentucky came calling. But there is no indication that that has happened or even will happen. In fact, there’s a strong indication from Miller that “nothing” is happening on that front. He’s made it quite clear that he likes his situation at Xavier. While I don’t think he’s going to retire on XU’s sidelines, I do think he’s sending strong signals that he has every intention of returning next season, if not beyond, to see how far he can take this program.
As for the UK, I think Mitch Barnhart really screwed up with hiring Billy Gillispie and should share more blame that Gillispie for the way things are in Lexington right now. I’ll have more to say on this matter in the next couple days, but the last think Barnhart needs to do is make a rushed decision on a coach who really doesn’t want to be in Lexington in the first place.

In case you missed it, a blog commenter passed along this link in which ESPN’s Andy Katz writes:

A source close to Xavier just told me that one school, either Arizona or Virginia, called XU athletic director Mike Bobinski, but head coach Sean Miller told Bobinski to say thanks but no thanks. He said he’s staying put.

Just for the sake of discussion, let’s say Xavier’s Sean Miller is a serious candidate for the position of UK basketball coach.

If so, how did Miller’s Xavier team compare to Billy Gillispie’s Kentucky team this past season?

A chart: