COACHES BEHAVING BADLY

David Blumenthal is the brand new Field of 68 newsletter columnist/author/scribe/whatever. He is a freelance writer, researcher, and college basketball enthusiast based in New York City, although he still behaves like a Midwesterner. He can be reached at [email protected].

Tipoff

Coaches Behaving Badly

The most relieved man in the world of college basketball has got to be Vanderbilt Athletics Director Candice Lee. Duke’s Coach K stole the headlines over the weekend for his sharp reply to an innocent question from a student journalist following Duke’s third straight loss. The clip grabbed the attention of the world of college ball. Meanwhile, Turner must have been breathing a gale-force sigh of relief as Vandy’s head coach Jerry Stackhouse called out his team and wouldn’t stop and then proceeded to block anyone on twitter that dared cross him. Thanks for the cover, Mike!

These are merely the latest outbursts from head coaches this season. Kentucky’s John Calipari called out freshman Cam’Ron Fletcher earlier this season and publicly placed him on suspension until his attitude changed. Fletcher rejoined the team later after the shaming. Public tirades from college coaches are nothing new. The ones these days take place online and are recorded on Zoom, but they fail to reach the levels of rage and outright terror of the true tyrants of the sport.

Robert Montgomery Knight, formerly of Indiana University, might take the cake for his antics. Some were funny, such as the “game face” response. Others were disturbing. Bobby Knight would routinely fly off the handle, berate reporters, shout, and storm off during post-game press conferences. Deborah Hall of Indianapolis Monthly magazine recounted one particularly scary situation in which Knight pointed a starter’s gun (the kind used for track and field events) at a reporter that had crossed whatever line was in the IU coach’s head. Lecturing a young reporter may not be the worst way a coach can behave, after all.

Weekly Recap

What happened in college basketball last week? We recap who won big, who lost, who got injured, and how did the landscape of college basketball change over the week.

• It has been a minute. For the first time since 1982, (the year of my birth!), both Duke and North Carolina were unranked in the AP Poll. You have to go all the way back to 1961 to find a year in which Duke, Kentucky, and UNC were left out of the polls. None of the current players in college basketball were alive when this last occurred, and only a handful of coaches, too.

• Archie Miller had a rollercoaster ride. Archie Miller has never defeated Purdue and lost again the week before last. The Hoosier were less than pleased with their head coach before the team vented their frustrations on the road against National Player of the Year-frontrunner Luka Garza and the Iowa Hawkeyes in an impressive 81-69 effort. How did they cap off the big win? Losing at home to Rutgers, of course.

• Top teams tumbled. In addition to Iowa, other top-ranked teams Kansas and Tennessee took big stumbles. The Jayhawks lost on the road to Baylor - no shame there - and then again on the road to Oklahoma, causing concern in Lawrence. Meanwhile, Tennessee got absolutely blitzed by a depleted Florida team before losing at home to Missouri over the weekend. Even Baylor stubbed a toe, if just a little. The Bears faced a first-half deficit against an Oklahoma State team playing without freshman phenom Cade Cunningham before righting the ship behind a big second half performance from Jared Butler.

Tuesday Superlatives

Each week, we will shine a light on a team and an individual player that has captured the hearts of the world of college basketball.

• TEAM OF THE WEEK: AlabamaThe Crimson Tide had a big week and find themselves way ahead of the rest of the SEC at 8-0 in conference. In a 30-point blowout over LSU, Alabama made a conference-record 23 3-pointers. Rob Dauster is sold on Alabama as a top 10 team this year while Da’Sean Butler wonders if they are too reliant on the 3-pointer and will miss the presence of grad transfer Jordan Bruner. The former Yale big man is sidelined with a torn meniscus. The Tide have a matchup at home against Kentucky tonight and then a trip to Norman, Oklahoma on Saturday as part of the Big 12-SEC Challenge this weekend before closing out the conference schedule.

• PLAYER OF THE WEEK: The Number 3That’s right, we are breaking our own rules and highlighting a concept rather than a human being this week. I write this newsletter as a form of self-expression and outlet for an obsession that no one else in my household shares with me, after all. I’m allowed to play around with the format so long as Rob is not paying too much attention. The number 3 had a big week. Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky all had a 3-game losing streak within the last week. Kentucky got off the schneid by defeating LSU on Saturday while the other two blue bloods will look to regroup after returning home in the wake of a losing road trip.

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.

• Iowa’s Caitlin Clark is one of the best freshmen in women’s college hoops west of Storrs, Connecticut. Former NC State head coach Debbie Antonelli gave her reasons why Caitlin is so special: “I. Care. About. Offense.” In this wide-ranging interview, Coach Antonelli talks to Caitlin about recruitment, her development, and adjusting to an unusual college experience.

• Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman discuss the NBA potential of USC freshman center Evan Mobley. While the athletic post player is not a polished offensive player right now, Mobley brings a comprehensive set of skills that make him the ideal “Robin” in today’s NBA. Is that enough to be #1 in the draft?

• Da’Sean Butler and Rob Dauster discuss a pair of Final Four contenders in Texas and Wisconsin. Da’Sean is bought in on the Badgers thanks to D'Mitrik Trice and the big and experienced roster. Rob, meanwhile, shares his man-crush on Kamaka Hepa, a reserve big man from the northern-most city in North America who brings a ton of energy to the Texas bench.

• Gonzaga has pioneered the use of the transfer market to put together better and better squads. Geno Crandall talks with Dan Dickau on the Bulldog Broadcast about his experience as a grad transfer playing against the ‘Zags with North Dakota and then what it was like playing in front of the Kennel Club.