No Cause for Concern

Tipoff

Overtime Elite (OTE) had entered the fray as a new competitor to lure top high school players to the ranks of professional basketball. The team, coached by former UConn head coach Kevin Ollie, includes high-profile board members such as Carmello Anthony and Jay Williams. They aim to create a new path for the most elite high school basketball prospects to prepare for the NBA, all while offering a six-figure salary and other perks. At first, the announcement earlier this year of a new competitor to the NBA’s G-League Ignite team must have elicited memories and a smirk or two over the failed league created by LaVar Ball, outspoken father of Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo. OTE demonstrated they were more than hyperbolic speech when they announced the signing of a pair of promising brothers in recent days, including rising seniors Auser and Amen Thompson and rising juniors Matt and Ryan Bewley. The Bewley and Thompson brothers are the first major additions to the league (they must be in the market for twins) and have brought with them a typical but misplaced concern over the future of college basketball.

There have been players that have not wanted to play college basketball for a long time, including Moses Malone. The NBA Hall of Famer skipped college for the ABA back in 1974. More recently, high school stars like LeBron James skipped college altogether until the NBA created the “one-and-done” rule. College basketball has been thriving throughout the decades and different eras. Even before one-and-done was put in place, only a handful of the top high school players bypassed college. The 2005 NBA Draft, the final one before the one-and-done rule forced the most talented high schoolers to spend at least one year in college or head overseas, featured 5 former college players selected before Martell Webster, the first prep player selected. Only 7 other prep players were selected in that draft in total. Even at its height, the overwhelming majority of the top 100 players in high school chose to go to college. There are only 60 NBA Draft selections each year, after all, and a growing international scene is taking up more of those spots.

College is not the right environment for everyone, which was true for Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and Moses Malone. Some perspective is due when OTE and the G-League sign a couple of the elite of the elite high school players. These professional avenues dilute the talent pool in college just a little, but not nearly enough to cause major panic. When the Field of 68 is announced this next March, hardly anyone will notice that a few of the best high school players are left out of the madness.

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.

• EMERGENCY! The world of college basketball was shocked last week when former Louisville assistant Dino Gaudio was charged by the FBI for extortion against his close friend, Chris Mack and his former employer. Gaudio threatened to expose the egregious acts of the program, such as allowing a graduate assistant to practice with the team unless he was paid for an additional 17 months of work. Wait, is that a big deal? Jeff Goodman joined Jeff Greer of Floyd Street’s Finest to break it all down. Check out my interview with Greer below for more of his thoughts on the shocking development.

• On the latest installment of Candid Conversations, Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster connected with experts on name, image, and likeness (NIL) legislation, including Jim Cavale of INFLCR and a host of assistant coaches, including Nolan Smith of Duke, Roger Powell of Gonzaga, Saddi Washington of Michigan, and others. The group discussed the nuts and bolts of NIL and what it means for college basketball programs. In brief, NIL will allow individual athletes to control and earn money off their own social media, giving college athletes an avenue to own their intellectual property. What does this mean for college programs that are trying to compete with Overtime Elite, the G-League, and other professional routes?

• New Illini center Omar Payne, formerly of Florida, joins Deon Thomas on the Champaign on Ice podcast to talk about transferring to Urbana-Champaign. Payne is known as a tough defensive player that might be best remembered for one bad moment, an elbow to the head of Tennessee’s John Fulkerson during the SEC Tournament this past March. Thomas and Payne talk about that play and how it shouldn’t define his entire career as well as what Illini fans should expect from their newest addition.

• Former Georgia point guard Sahvir Wheeler led his team in scoring and the SEC in assists for Tom Crean last year. He entered the transfer portal before joining Jeff Goodman to broadcast his next destination. And the winner of the Wheeler sweepstakes? The Kentucky Wildcats are his next destination. Wheeler discussed his path to college and why he chose UK from among his finalists. Even though TyTy Washington, another lead guard, just committed to Coach Cal, Wheeler saw that as an advantage based on the history of successful guard pairings in Lexington.

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 Jeff Greer, an award-winning journalist covering Louisville basketball on the Floyd Street’s Finest podcast (available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts).

1. You’ve been covering Louisville men’s basketball for 7 years, which covers, how shall we put this, an eventful period of time for the program. From the last years of Rick Pitino through the shocking arrest of Dino Gaudio, there have been a lot of scandals in a brief period of time. On a scale of 1 to 10, how shocking were the events of last week?

• In the context of the last 15 years, to the original extortion case with Rick Pitino, I would put this, believe it or not, at a 3. It is obviously a headline. It is obviously news. In the grand scheme of Louisville in the last 15 years, it feels more like an individual doing something stupid that happened to be attached to Louisville. It wasn’t something that was inside the program, if that makes sense.

2. Let’s get to the product on the court. Last season with Carlik Jones and David Johnson was a bit of a transition year for UofL and coach Chris Mack. The team was beset by injuries and youth. The Cardinals lost 6 of their last 10 games and then found themselves just outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble - literally the first team left out. With a new set of transfers, including former Florida guard Noah Locke, former Marshall guard Jarrod West, former JUCO standout El Ellis, and former Miami forward Matt Cross, how do you see the roster shaping up for next year?

• I think Louisville still needs another playmaking guard. El Ellis has high expectations, both on him and for himself, to be “drink-stirring guards.” That is a guy that creates for themselves and others. They don’t have another player like that on the roster. There are other guards that are good players, good shooters, like Jarrod West, that is 5’10” or thereabout. He’s not an explosive athlete. He can be a solid bench piece, but Louisville needs another shot creator. If Louisville had made the NCAA Tournament this past March, they would have had the second worst effective field goal percentage in the field, which includes the 16-seeds. They desperately needed to add shooting. In bringing in Locke, West, and Cross, they have done that. They have good depth at both the forward spots. There is a big question at center. Malik Williams has spent the last two seasons battling injuries, and he is penciled in as a starter. Some of their second-year players, Samuel Williamson included, are good players. Right now, I think the roster is good enough to be an NCAA Tournament team. I don’t think Chris Mack is on the hot seat, but he needs to have not just a tournament team but a good tournament team.

3. We’re entering year 4 for head coach Chris Mack. What grade are you giving him based on his first 3 years and what do you write on the report card for fans to read?

• If I could give an incomplete, I would. I would say a B- or a C+. To his credit, to be fair, Year 2 was a 24-7 record and a couple minutes of the regular season away from a first place finish in the ACC. Then, they didn’t get to play in the NCAA Tournament because of COVID. Mack’s endings have not been good enough. People act like they lost in the first round in 2020, but they didn’t play. The first season exceeded expectations but they lost early in the NCAA Tournament. This past season was a huge disappointment, obviously. Everything here is compared to Kentucky and vice-versa. Kentucky had their worst season in a century. Indiana had a difficult season as well. With Louisville having a team good enough to get into the NCAA Tournament, not making it was a huge disappointment for the fans. There is a growing frustration with Coach Mack. I’ll say a B- overall with an A- and B+ in years 1 and 2 and then a C- last season balancing it out. There is no question - and Mack knows this - that there is huge pressure on him to get something going for the program.

And one!

4. Louisville is known for many things in the world of sports, including being the home of Muhammad Ali, the Kentucky Derby, and the Louisville Slugger bat company, among others. It’s also home to great bourbon. The great thing about this newsletter is that I get to ask questions for which I want to know the answers. If you had to recommend a bottle of Kentucky’s finest to someone from outside the area, what would you say?

• My favorite bourbon is Johnny Drum Private Stock, a product of Willett Distillery. I think it is just delicious. I moved here 7 ½ years ago and have had a lot of bourbon while covering this basketball program. I really like Johnny Drum and others from Willetts. I like to recommend some of the smaller batch stuff because the other ones are so well known now. Willetts put a lot of care into their product and I like to give people that visit a glass of that so they can try it out.

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes of Floyd Street’s Finest. Louisville head coach Chris Mack is going to come back on the podcast soon. The podcast will also host new assistant coach Ross McMains, formerly of the New Zealand National Team, in the next couple of weeks.

Stock Report: ACC 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: Duke

• Isn’t it wonderful to see a small private school compete with the big state schools? Everyone loves Duke, after all. Some love to watch them win while others love to watch them lose. After suffering their worst season in a quarter century, the fans that love to hate-watch the Blue Devils should have a tough time next season. Coach K is bringing in a top recruiting class headlined by Paolo Banchero, a do-it-all 6’11” forward from Seattle that ESPN projects to be the #1 pick in the NBA Draft in 2022. Banchero is part of a recruiting class that will be joining a trio of returning McDonald’s All-Americans, headlined by 7’0” sophomore center Mark Williams. The tall and long post player ended last season with a 23 point/19 rebound dominating performance against Louisville in the ACC Tournament. That frontcourt of Banchero and Williams could be the best in the country next season. They will be joined by a group of athletic wings, including junior Wendell Moore and freshmen AJ Griffin and Trevor Keels as well as sophomore point guard Jeremy Roach. The roster is talented enough to compete with the best in the ACC.

Holding Steady: Florida State

• Head coach Leonard Hamilton’s Wikipedia page says that he is 72 years old, but you could hardly tell by looking at him. What’s his secret? Anyway, the Seminoles are losing a considerable amount of talent, including ACC Freshman and 6th Man of the Year, Scottie Barnes, and starters M.J. Walker, RaiQuan Gray, and 7’0” center Balsa Koprivica. So why is FSU not falling? Hamilton has been here before. He runs a deep rotation and features a number of experienced, big, and athletic players. Next year should be no exception. Up front will be breakout candidate and 7’1” center Tanor Ngom. In the backcourt, Houston transfer guard Caleb Mills will be asked to carry the scoring and playmaking load along with highly-touted freshman Matthew Cleveland. They are joined by Kentucky transfer Cam’Ron Fletcher on the wings, an athletic presence that never quite fit in at Kentucky. After 3 consecutive trips to the Sweet 16, expect FSU to remain a fixture atop the ACC.

Falling: Virginia

• Speaking of fixtures atop the ACC, Virginia under Tony Bennettt has been feasting on the ACC so much that the league office is considering naming the regular season record trophy after him. That might not be true. I’ve asked Jeff Goodman to look into it. What is true is that the Cavaliers are looking to replace their starting frontcourt, which led the team in basically everything this past season. Jay Huff and Sam Hauser are gone and it looks like Trey Murphy may be off to the NBA as well. In the backcourt, Casey Morsell transferred to NC State while Tomas Woldetensae is heading back overseas from whence he came. Reserve big man Justin McKoy is now a Tar Heel. That’s potentially 6 of the 8 leading scorers and the top 4 rebounders out the door from last year’s team. UVA is adding Indiana’s Armaan Franklin and former East Carolina standout forward Jayden Gardner to offset the losses. Franklin can really shoot the ball while Gardner is a productive forward that can score and rebound. Still, the offense is a big question mark with a roster that appears less talented overall and more offensively challenged than some of the better Cavalier squads we have seen in recent years. This could be a transition year for the Wahoos.

Rising: Notre Dame

• The past couple of seasons for the Fighting Irish have been rough by head coach Mike Brey’s standards. Back-to-back Elite 8 appearances in 2015 and 2016 are a distant memory. Fans even booed the team late in the season this past March. The ND faithful should be more hopeful for the upcoming season. While almost 1 in 4 players in college basketball have entered the transfer portal, the Irish have kept most of their roster intact. It is an experienced and skilled group of players, too, including standout guard Prentiss Hubb and forward Nate Laszewski, the latter of whom led the ACC and was 3rd in the NCAA in true shooting percentage last season. They will be joined by former Yalie and Ivy League Player of the Year Paul Atkinson. The big man is an efficient scorer down low and out to 15 feet, which should give the Irish a more balanced offensive attack. The team will miss the shot-blocking presence of big man Juwan Durham. However, the Irish eyes should be smiling to watch a team that can score as well as anyone. 

Holding Steady: Virginia Tech

• Holding steady should not be considered a bad thing when you are already one of the top teams. Year 2 for head coach Mike Young was an unexpected success for the Hokies. Keve Aluma looked like a completely different player than the one that played for two years under Young at Wofford and was an easy choice for All-ACC honors season. Another former Terrier, point guard Storm Murphy, joins the Hokies as a grad transfer for next year. Murphy has “Steph Curry range” and made 40% of his 3-point shots on 7 attempts per game last year. He should help with spacing and find open looks for the experienced Virginia Tech roster. Expect this team to be a fixture in the top 25 all season.

Falling: Pitt

• The Panther fans were thrilled to rid themselves of Kevin Stallings. Three years under former Duke assistant Jeff Capel, however, have not produced a winning record. More concerning, a roster that featured All-ACC player Justin Champagnie and talented young guards was hollowed out after transfers at the end of the season. Starters Xavier Johnson, Au’Diese Toney, and Karim Coulibaly have all left for greener grass. Capel had a reputation as a premier recruiter at Duke and when he was head coach at Oklahoma, where he landed Blake Griffin. At one point a few weeks ago, the coaching staff believed they had landed talented freshman center Efton Reid, only to find out that he had committed to LSU at the last minute. Will Wade made another strong-ass offer. Capel and his staff have tried to patch up the roster with JUCO players and the well-traveled Jamarius Burton, formerly of Wichita State and Texas Tech. The roster for next season could be the least talented under Capel. Will it be his last?