Change is Coming, Right?

Tipoff

Let’s get the simple stuff out of the way here. I am not a lawyer and do not have a full and complete understanding of the implications of the Supreme Court ruling against the NCAA from this past Monday. That being said, doesn’t it feel like the writing is on the wall, that the status quo was thrown out the window when the Supreme Court announced it unanimously ruled against the NCAA? It sure felt like it to me.

The NCAA has been taking a bunch of losses in recent years, financial, legal, and philosophical. 

There was the decision to create a rainy day fund more than 15 years ago, just in case the NCAA men’s basketball tournament--the single largest source of revenue for the organization--should ever be cancelled. Of course, the fund was raided a few years before COVID. 

There was the Commission on College Basketball, formed by the NCAA in the wake of the FBI corruption trial against Christian Dawkins and other agents. The commission was headed by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and stacked with high profile names in the world of basketball. The committee made sweeping recommendations that made a splash in the news but were largely ignored. 

Then the FBI trials themselves ruffled a number of feathers and even led to an explosive documentary on HBO. Even that splashy affair never really changed the situation. On Tuesday, Creighton University received a $5,000 fine (yes, just 4 digits and $1,000 less than what former assistant coach Preston Murphy was accused of pocketing) and 2 years of probation as a direct result of that trial, one of the only instances of punishments doled out by the NCAA as a result of the FBI trial. 

None of these major headwinds have done much to fundamentally change the situation or the way the NCAA treats amateurism. The approach to name, image, and likeness legislation has been marred by aborted attempts to pass rules that prevent a patchwork of state laws scheduled to go into effect in July (next week) from creating an uneven playing field across the country. Then came the Supreme Court.

While the Alston case focused on the narrow topic of academic benefits, things like laptops and other aides that have a direct classroom benefit to scholarship athletes, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh opened the door wide open to future legal challenges that get right to the heart of the NCAA’s stance on amateurism:

“...traditions alone cannot justify the NCAA's decision to build a massive money-raising enterprise on the backs of student athletes who are not fairly compensated. Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. And under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different. The NCAA is not above the law.”

For the first time since the shocking announcement of the FBI case against corruption in college basketball more than 4 years ago, it feels like real change is on the horizon.

The Mixtape 

The Field of 68 team puts out lots of great content each week. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

• The star power doesn’t get much brighter than this. Christy Winters-Scott sat down with the legend and Hall of Famer, Tamika Catchings, on the latest episode of Christy’s Court. From her time growing up, winning a National Championship for Pat Summit at Tennessee to her many accolades in the WNBA and U.S. Olympic Team, including 4 Gold Medals, Catchings has done it all. She talked about falling in love with basketball, her career highlights, overcoming adversity, and more. It’s a must-watch for anyone that calls themselves a hooper.

• In the latest edition of Candid Conversations, Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster fields a deep discussion on one of the biggest topics of the offseason, the competition posed by professional options for elite high school recruits, including G-League Ignite and Overtime Elite. Just how much competition is going to go pro and what will that mean for recruiting among the college teams? The G-League, at least according to Adam Silver, is only going to target 5-10 guys, but Overtime Elite says they want to sign 30 players a year. Should college coaches be worried? The panel has the answers. Hear from Syracuse’s Adrian Autry, Duke’s Chris Carrawell, Auburn’s Steve Pearl, Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated, and others.

• The NBA Draft Lottery was held last night and Detroit was the big winner of the Cade Cunningham sweepstakes. The state of Michigan has a lot to watch throughout the draft. To help set the stage, Stu Douglass sat down with former Michigan forward and current draft prospect Franz Wagner for the Go Blue with Stu podcast. Franz took time out from preparing for the draft while in LA to talk to Stu about his evolution while at Michigan, life overseas and unfortunate experiences at McDonald’s.

• The world of college basketball is losing a lot after this season when Coach K retires, including a major antagonist. Like I say, everyone loves Duke. Some just love to hate them. Without Coach K on the sidelines, who is going to be the villain of college basketball? Rob Dauster, Da’Sean Butler, and John Fanta discuss their picks for the next most hated man in the sport. Is Mick Cronin the man for the job? John and Rob think he has the right temperament for the role. Or maybe it’s Bill Self? Personally, I think Nate Oates has the right stuff. 

Four Point Play 

Each newsletter throughout the summer, we’ll check in with one of our podcast hosts and see what they’re up to in addition to producing compelling content for us at The Field of 68.

This week, we check in with John Fanta, play-by-play caller for the Big East and member of the Dauster, Da’Sean, and Fanta show (Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you access podcasts).

1. You follow Big East basketball closely as host of the Big East Shootaround on Fox and as a play-by-play caller for games on FS1 and FS2 for men’s and women’s basketball, including the Big East women’s basketball tournament. Few people get as close to the action as you. How is the Big East looking next season?

• I think it is clear that Villanova is at the top of the conference and then there’s everyone else. The Wildcats will be a top 3 team in the country. When you bring Colin Gillespie back, a top point guard that was in the locker room for the 2018 National Championship team, you have a National Championship contender. They lose Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, and he’s a big loss averaging 16 points per game. But they have Justin Moore, Jermaine Samuels, and Gillespie coming back. I expect Justin Moore to be a superstar this year. If I ask 10 people about the second best team in the Big East, you might get 10 answers.

2. What has it meant to have UConn back in the fold? The old Big East has a sort of mythic quality about it that won’t even return thanks to conference realignment. Does regaining UConn do anything to help it return to something close to the Big East of the early 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s? 

• It’s huge for the brand. You have a larger-than-life personality on the sideline in Dan Hurley. He’s almost a cartoon character, small in stature but a massive personality. His teams play old-school Big East basketball. When you think of the Big East, you think of championship-level success. After Villanova, the team that poses the biggest threat of winning a National Title in the future - not this season, but sometime soon - is UConn. I don’t think there’s going to be a better atmosphere in college basketball next season than in Storrs, Connecticut. The conference opener at Gampel Pavilion for the Big East opener, for the first time since 2013 with fans, is going to be electric. It’s huge for UConn and it’s big for the Big East brand. In women’s basketball, you are going to have a Final Four team every year. With Paige Bueckers and incoming freshman Azzi Fudd, the women will win a National Championship in the next few years. It has been a draught of a few years, by UConn standards. Bueckers is going to be exceptional and Fudd is a very talented player. UConn equals success in college basketball. UConn and the Big East are good for one another.

3. You are fairly young (from my perspective), having graduated from Seton Hall in 2017. In less than 4 years, you are calling games and featured on national broadcasts. Your resume shows that you were broadcasting games in high school and college. Do you think that helped you reach your position in such a short period of time or do you attribute that to other factors? 

• Relationships mean so much. I am grateful to so many people for giving me a chance. I grew up on the east side of Cleveland. There, you eat, breathe, and dream about the Browns, Indians, and Cavaliers. My childhood as a basketball fan, I had LeBron James. When he was drafted in 2003, I was 8 years old. As long as I can remember, I’ve been watching LeBron James as a basketball fan. So I grew up loving sports. I used to turn the volume down on broadcasts and call games. My dad suggested that I try to call games at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland. I used to call games for all kinds of sports, including basketball, baseball, lacrosse, you name it. That’s how I started to build up my voice. When I was at Seton Hall University, they had a broadcasting network for all their games. They didn’t have a consistent voice and I tried to be that for them. Pat Lyons, former athletic director at Seton Hall, gave me a chance and so did his athletic department to call games, report on the field, and interview people. My first year at Seton Hall was the first year of the reconfigured Big East Conference. While all these reporters were talking about the old Big East, I was an ignorant 18 year-old kid from Cleveland. I was covering the new Big East and saying “this is great.” The new Big East, it was like a restaurant that closed, changed everything including the menu, but kept the name. The people that worked for the conference changed. They had to start a digital network. Rick Gentile, who oversees broadcasting for the conference, emailed me and said he wanted to talk about a role covering the conference. So it is all about relationships. I had met him at the women’s basketball tournament once. Because the Big East had a contract with Fox Sports, Pat Lyons had a connection with Fox which allowed me to intern with Fox Sports. I am confident saying I don’t have the relationship with Fox Sports without that internship. I lived in a hostel in Los Angeles for a summer to make that work out. Through the relationships I garnered through the internship, I was able to connect with those folks after I graduated college. For the Field of 68, I had interacted with Rob Dauster at the Final Four a few years ago. When he came to me to talk about the Field of 68, it was a no-brainer.

And one!

4. There’s a lot of East Coast bias in sports media. Just look at the Field of 68, with Rob Dauster (New Jersey), you (New Jersey), Jeff Goodman (Boston), and me (New York). What’s so great about the East Coast when it comes to college basketball?

• There’s just a grit and a toughness to it. There’s an energy around it. There’s an atmosphere, rivalries. I think of Providence-University of Rhode Island or Syracuse-Georgetown. There is an energy about those games, those rivalries. You get that pride for an institution. That pride, that vibe tells you this is going to be a nip-and-tuck game, a real war. When people go to a Providence game and see Ed Cooley on the sideline, they get excited. When they go to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse and see Jim Boeheim, they get excited. Basketball and the northeast go hand-in-hand. Let’s face it, football is king everywhere. But when it’s  negative 10 degrees, nobody wants to be outside. You can always play a basketball game in January. There’s a success level for programs in the Northeast. You have to put your hard hat on to play here. I sense that and I see that here.

Stay tuned to the Field of 68 with Dauster, Da’Sean, and Fanta podcast. You can also check out John Fanta’s twitter feed, @John_Fanta, for updates on the Big East. This fall, John will begin his 4th season calling games for what should be a great season.

Stock Report: Big East Edition

Now that the transfer portal and recruitment for the high school Class of 2021 has settled down, we take a deeper look into a conference. Which teams are rising, which are holding steady, and which might be taking a step back heading into the season?

Rising: Xavier

• Head coach Travis Steele might not be on the hot seat quite yet. However, it is getting warm in Cincinnati. The Musketeers began the 2020-21 season with 8 wins but then ended with a 5-8 record down the stretch and on the outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble. Steele is looking for his first tournament appearance as the top man for Xavier after Chris Mack left for Louisville. This season, he will rely on an experienced roster. Former Hampton wing Ben Stanely only played in 4 games last year after averaging 22 points and 7 rebounds per game before transferring. Returning senior guards Paul Scruggs and Nate Johnson will welcome the backcourt assistance. Meanwhile, rising junior forward Zach Freemantle, who led Xavier in scoring and rebounding in 2021, will be glad to share the frontcourt with versatile 6’11” Iowa transfer Jack Nunge. The pieces are there for Xavier to be an NCAA Tournament or maybe even top 25 team next season if the X-men can finish the season strong.

Holding Steady: Villanova

• When you are at the top, rising is not an option. Villanova has been at the top of the Big East for most of the past decade, winning or sharing the conference regular season title in 7 of the past 8 seasons. The one year Nova did not win the title during that stretch, 2018, they won the conference tournament and went on to win the National Title. I debated listing Villanova as “falling” in the stock report due to the loss of leading scorer Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. Replacing the talented big man’s production is going to be a work in progress. Sophomores Eric Dixon and Trey Patterson will both have opportunities to show they can hold down the frontcourt. A healthy season from senior Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree will help, at least on defense. What keeps Villanova as the unquestioned top team in the conference is that backcourt, which features point guard Collin Gillespie and wings Justin Moore and Jermaine Samuels. A potential X-factor for Nova is rising junior Bryan Antoine. The former 5-star prospect in high school has dealt with an absurd amount of injuries that have limited his play in college. He has NBA talent if he can ever get on the court.

Falling: Creighton

• The Bluejays accomplished something in 2021 they hadn’t in almost 50 years, reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time since Eddie Sutton was head coach in Omaha. At the conclusion of the season, standouts Marcus Zegarowski, Denzel Mahoney, Damian Jefferson, and Mitchell Ballock all decided to move on from college basketball while forward Christian Bishop transferred to Texas. Don’t shed a tear for Greg McDermott, though, as he has had a better offseason than almost any coach in the country. One of the most immediate impact newcomers is 6’7” forward Ryan Hawkins, a First Team All-American for Division II Northwest Missouri State. Most of the other newcomers are freshmen, including Rati Andronikashvili, a guard from Georgia (the country) who took a redshirt season last year. True freshmen Ryan Nembhard, Mason Miller, and Arhtur Kaluma will be key players on the team. All those new faces will appreciate the presence of 7’0” sophomore center Ryan Kalkbrenner. The big man is poised for a big season. While Creigthon lost a ton of experience, the new roster holds promise and should have the Bluejays back in contention for another run to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament soon. Just don’t expect that to happen right away.

Rising: Butler

• Head coach LaVall Jordan has had an up-and-down record in Indianapolis, ending the 2020 season ranked 23rd in the final AP poll followed by a 2021 season that resulted in a 10-15 record. That tough season might be worth it if the Bulldogs can learn from the experience. Almost everyone is back for Butler in 2021-22, one of the few teams in the country that can make that claim. Butler had 5 players average double-digits last season, although none scored more than 13 points per game. Can the Bulldogs find a star player? That’s the big question. Guards Jair Bolden and Chuck Harris struggled to score efficiently. The sharp-shooting Harris will be a sophomore next season after leading the team in scoring as a true freshman. He might be the top candidate to take a big leap forward. Harris will be surrounded by an experienced roster, including Bolden, senior point guard Aaron Thompson, and senior forwards Bryce Nza and Bryce Golden. While the roster may not have the talent of other Big East teams, the experience and continuity should foster a more competitive team.

Holding Steady: Providence

• The 2021 season was not all about breakout junior guard David Duke, Jr., but it did seem that way at times. Duke is now off to the NBA (wait, are we talking about the Blue Devils here?). Senior center Nate Watson scored more points and grabbed more rebounds - barely - than did Duke. Watson will be a super-senior next year and will join an experienced roster with a few new faces. In place of Duke, former Indiana standout Aljami “Al” Durham (a lot of Blue Devils vibes with this section, huh) joins the Friars and senior A.J. Reeves, South Carolina transfer Justin Minaya, and stretch-4 Noah Horchler. Head coach Ed Cooley rode a 5-year NCAA Tournament streak that ended after the 2018 season. Those teams were known for their stout defense that would sometimes struggle to score. The 2021-22 version of the Friars looks to return to that model of tough-nosed old-school Big East basketball.

Falling: St. John’s

• The Red Storm were a bit of a surprise 4th place finisher in the Big East in 2021, Mike Anderson’s second season as the head coach in Queens. Sophomore forward Julian Champagnie was the star of the show, putting up big numbers across the board. Julian and his twin brother, former Pitt standout Justin, both put their names in for the NBA Draft. As of this writing, Julian has not announced his decision to return to college. The Red Storm’s prospects for next season are dependent upon that decision. Should Champagnie run it back, the Johnnies could be a surprise NCAA Tournament team. Mike Anderson knows how to coach and has three NCAA tournament appearances at each of his previous stops, including UAB, Missouri, and Arkansas. A young-ish roster will be tested without Champagnie. Freshman guard Posh Alexander - great name, by the way - will have to take a big step up should Champagnie stay in the NBA Draft.