With the season about halfway finished, think of this as a rest stop on the road to Indianapolis, site of this year’s Final Four.
Presenting half awards for half a season:
PLAYER OF THE HALF-SEASON
THE NOMINEES:
More Top Picks Best Lighted Reading Glasses
Tim Duncan, senior center, Wake Forest: ACC coaches are counting the moments until Duncan’s graduation ceremony.
Danny Fortson, junior center, Cincinnati: Conference USA coaches are counting moments until ceremony announcing Fortson’s early departure to NBA.
Derek Anderson, senior guard, Kentucky: Until mid-January knee injury ended his college career, Anderson had Wildcats thinking back-to-back national championships.
Brevin Knight, senior guard, Stanford: If he played east of the Pacific, Knight wouldn’t need an introduction.
Adonal Foyle, junior center, Colgate: Entering Wednesday night’s game against Lafayette, Foyle needed 11 rebounds to become fifth player in NCAA history to score 1,500 points, collect 1,000 rebounds and block 400 shots.
And the winner is . . .
Anderson–The most complete player in the country. Anderson averaged 18.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 3.7 assists. (Runner-up: Duncan.)
COACH OF THE HALF-SEASON
The nominees:
Gary Williams, Maryland: Terrapins off to best start in school history, despite only one returning starter (Keith Booth) from last season’s NCAA Tournament team.
Roy Williams, Kansas: Williams has had to deal with injuries to Jacque Vaughn and Scot Pollard, pressures of No. 1 ranking and killer schedule.
Ricardo Patton, Colorado: Joe Harrington, who?
Steve Lavin, UCLA: If Bruins reach NCAA Tournament, Lavin deserves interim to be removed from coaching title.
Lon Kruger, Illinois: Undermanned and undersized Illini keep sneaking in and out of Top 25.
And the winner is . . .
Gary Williams–Williams has overcome staff changes, a so-so recruiting class, rumors of unrest and preseason polls that had the Terrapins finishing in bottom half of ACC. (Runners-up: Lavin, Roy Williams.)
QUOTE OF THE HALF-SEASON
The nominees:
Wake Forest’s Sean Allen, when asked by teammate Tim Duncan whether Duncan should declare early for the NBA or return for his senior season: “I’d be gone.”
A Jim Harrick friend (who requested anonymity) on UCLA’s decision to fire the Bruins coach for cheating on an expense report: “I think for a long time he really felt, `OK, so I did that. So?’ I don’t think he had the foggiest idea that he would get fired for it. He’s just a good ‘ol boy. He’s always been a good ‘ol boy.”
Jean Lenti-Ponsetto, DePaul senior associate athletic director, on the perception of unrest between coach Joey Meyer and Athletic Director Bill Bradshaw: “People on the outside look at our program and they’ve got to be laughing their butts off.”
Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese on agents: “We’ve got scumbags that are making a living off our kids in our sport. So I have a personal detestment for the NBA.”
And the winner is . . .
Lenti-Ponsetto.
CONFERENCE OF THE HALF-SEASON
The nominees:
The Atlantic Coast Conference: Three teams in the Associated Press top 7, four in the top 12, five in the top 19. We’d take Duncan, Booth, North Carolina’s Antawn Jamison, Georgia Tech’s Matt Harpring and Florida State’s Kerry Thompson against any other conference’s all-star five.
The Big 12 Conference: No. 1 Kansas is joined in top 25 by Iowa State, Colorado and former Southwest Conference members Texas Tech and Texas.
And the winner is . . .
You have to ask? If it were an election, the ACC would be Nixon, the Big 12 would be McGovern.
WORST DECISION OF THE HALF-SEASON
The nominees:
Harrick: For telling the waiter, “Just put that on my bill.”
BYU: For firing Roger Reid. Cougars were 1-7 with him, 0-8 without him. Dumped him mostly because of falling attendance.
The Basketball Hall of Fame voters: Only applies if they don’t elect Texas-El Paso coach Don Haskins to Hall.
More Top Picks Best Apple Peelers
NCAA members: For allowing players to work during school year. Good intentions, but will be impossible to monitor.
Geno Carlisle: When the going gets tough, Geno gets going to Cal.
And the winner is . . .
Harrick. Those white lies add up, especially when you’re dealing with an athletic director who has an itchy pink slip finger.
BEST DECISION OF THE HALF-SEASON
The nominees:
The Big Ten chancellors, presidents and CEOs: For approving a postseason tournament.
An Iowa State athletic department committee: For overruling coach Tim Floyd’s suspension of forward Kenny Pratt, who has since pleaded not guilty to five charges stemming from a Dec. 28 auto accident. Think Floyd would favor due process if it was his reputation on the line?
LSU’s Dale Brown: For retiring at season’s end. Twenty-five years sounds just about right.
And the winner is . . .
The Big Ten decisionmakers. About time.
COACH ON THE HALF-SEASON HOT SEAT
Northwestern’s Ricky Byrdsong: Mum’s the word with Athletic Director Rick Taylor.
Ohio State’s Randy Ayers: Headed for fourth consecutive losing season, fifth consecutive losing Big Ten season. Fair or not, Buckeyes’ bean counters can’t afford new 19,500-seat Schottenstein Center, which opens in 1998, to have empty spaces.
Florida State’s Pat Kennedy: Supposedly doomed if Seminoles don’t reach NCAA Tournament.
Memphis’ Larry Finch: Finch’s future rests with progress of Arkansas transfer Sunday Adebayo.
DePaul’s Joey Meyer: Patience, DePaul. Patience.
And the winner is (sort of) . . .
Ayers. It is never a good sign when your athletic director offers a scathing postgame public criticism.
MOST FEARLESS PREDICTION FOR SECOND HALF OF SEASON
Kansas will enter NCAA Tournament undefeated: Jayhawks have chance to challenge 1976 Indiana team for perfection.
Big Ten will be lucky to get five teams in NCAA Tournament: The likely choices: Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and maybe Illinois.
Temple’s John Chaney resigns: . . . Nothing but an absolute, out-of-left-field hunch that Chaney says enough is enough. Suffered through all sorts of personal tragedy this season, and is sick of battling the NCAA.
Jimmy Collins’ first season at UIC will end with a Midwestern Collegiate Conference title: Why not dream big?
And the winner is . . .
Big Ten settles for five NCAA slots–tops.
Around the country: Unhappy with his team’s recent ACC play, Wake Forest coach Dave Odom bumped senior forward Sean Allen from the starting lineup in favor of 7-1 Loren Woods. But at least one coach of a Top 25 program, whose team already has faced the Demon Deacons, says Wake’s weak spot is guard Tony Rutland, who is still recovering from an early season knee injury. “I really like that Rutland kid–tough kid–but you can tell there’s something still wrong with him,” said the coach. Said Odom: “I would say (Rutland is) approaching 90 percent, 92 percent. He’s much better than he was three weeks ago.” . . . How much will Derek Anderson’s loss affect Kentucky? “This is like the (Orlando) Magic losing Penny Hardaway,” said Wildcats coach Rick Pitino. . . . Fresno State guard Dominick Young is wearing a black armband with a handwritten J on it. Young, who is shooting a skimpy 32 percent from the field and 31 percent from the three-point line, says the J is in memory of his jump shot. . . . The surprising Miami Hurricanes (12-5, 6-3) sit atop the Big East division standings. Better yet, the city is noticing. Said coach Leonard Hamilton after a Miami Arena crowd of 10,419 (third-largest in UM history) watched the Hurricanes beat Georgetown: “I hope people treat us like a potato chip: Have one bite and maybe can’t stop.” Last year, Miami didn’t get its 12th win until Feb. 20. . . . UTEP’s Haskins is supposed to learn early next week whether he made it into the Basketball Hall of Fame. His inclusion is long overdue, considering his record (686-321) and his work to integrate the game when integration was a dirty word. Utah plays UTEP Thursday night, and Runnin’ Utes coach Rick Majerus said if one victory will make a difference, he’ll do his part. “If I knew that was the criteria of (Haskins) getting in, I’d drop the game,” Majerus said. . . . If Cincinnati’s Danny Fortson scores 25 points against Louisville Thursday night, he will pass former Chicago high school legend and Bearcat star Lloyd Batts on the all-time points list. Batts, who played for UC from 1972-74, scored 1,585 points, which is good enough for seventh place. Fortson has 1,561 and should end the year as the school’s No. 2 all-time scorer, behind Oscar Robertson.