NCAA hoops are upon us…so here’s a great shot of UK SG Rex Chapman’s and his classic 80’s mullet…and then a pick of him throwing down big-time, so we don’t forget how good he was…

That slithery weaselly whining sound you hear is Terrell Owens apologizing now that he’s realized his $5 million roster bonus for next year will be gone after his suspension ends this year and the Eagles cut him…

Yikes…no Tracy McGrady (back spasms) for the next three weeks doesn’t look good considering the 76-74 loss to the Magic last night…simply put, they cannot score…who’s going to pick up the missing 25 ppg? Derek Anderson, Jon Barry and David Wesley all suck…and blockbuster free agent acquisition Stromile Swift is as much of a dumb ass as advertised…in fact he's backing up Juwan Howard, which is not good…also, Ryan Bowen, who has a career 3 ppg scoring average, is starting in McGrady's spot, which is also not good…

On fire…Baron Davis had 20 points and 15 assists and the Golden State Warriors went 13-of-27 from 3-point range in a 110-103 victory over the Bucks last night…

NCAA Note: Seton Hall coach Louis Orr is raving about his three freshmen -- forwards John Garcia, David Palmer and guard Paul Gause…Orr is not given to tossing out superlatives about his players, so they must be good…

Last night was the battle of the worst Una-bomber beards in the NBA - Paul Gasol vs. Nick Collison…

Now that I’ve read the ESPN the Magazine article…Note to Sheryl Swoopes: You’re in love with a woman, which is great. But when you say it’s the person and not the gender you’ve fallen in love with, well that makes you bi-sexual, not gay…which because you’re Sheryl swoopes, is still kinda hot…

Trade rumour: Nuggets trade PG Earl Watson to the Knicks for PF Maurice Taylor…

Wow…When the Detroit Pistons were introduced before last night's game in Sacramento, the Arco Arena scoreboard flashed images of abandoned buildings, burned-out cars -- nearly every outdated, offensive stereotype of Detroit you could think of…"To do something like that, it's embarrassing," said Detroit coach Flip Saunders, who saw the video. "It's not called for. There's no excuse for that. Whoever did that owes us an apology. ... I know the Maloofs pretty well, and they've always been nothing but classy. I'm sure they didn't have anything to do with that." John Thomas, the president of Maloof Sports and Entertainment, claimed he didn't know who was responsible for the video, but promised immediate discipline. "It was a terrible mistake," Thomas said. "That's not how we do things. We apologize to the great Detroit organization and to the city of Detroit. ... There's no explanation. It was a mistake, and it won't happen again." Didn’t bug the Pistons that much anyway as Tayshaun Prince scored 25 points while making 10 straight shots, and the Pistons emphatically snapped an eight-game losing streak in Sacramento with a 102-88 victory.

Ouch…Indiana forward D.J. White is expected to miss six weeks with a broken left foot. White was hurt during the Hoosiers' exhibition victory over St. Joseph's, Ind., on Friday, but coaches aren't sure how he was injured. White scored 13 points in the first half but sat on the bench in street clothes during the second half. The loss of the 6-foot-9 White is a major blow to No. 23 Indiana. White averaged 13.3 points and shot 57.2 percent from the field last year, earning the Big Ten's freshman of the year award and was expected to be a key to the Hoosiers' revamped front line. The six-week timetable would keep White out of the Hoosiers' two biggest early season games -- against No. 1 Duke and No. 9 Kentucky.

1) John Hollinger of ESPN.com finds the Hawks wanting in all areas:

It hasn't been hard for Atlanta Hawks observers to find bad news in recent times, and Tuesday night was no exception. After a moving tribute to fallen teammate Jason Collier, the Hawks stayed winless by losing their "home" debut in front of a mostly pro-Laker crowd, blowing a double-digit lead by giving up "at least 20 layups" in the estimation of coach Mike Woodson. The 103-97 final score was pure window dressing -- L.A. went up by 16 in the fourth before the Zen Master called off the dogs. Plus, adding insult to injury, the scoreboard stopped working early in the second quarter and the P.A. announcer spent most of the night calling out the time left on the shot clock. Want more? I've got plenty. No. 2 overall pick Marvin Williams looks so lost he's been named an honorary passenger on Oceanic Airways flight 815, and needed a post-game pep talk from Roy Williams. Second-year forwards Josh Childress and Josh Smith both seem to have taken a step back from promising rookie seasons -- they combined for five field goals and six turnovers. And with the death of Collier and an injury to Tony Delk, the club is stretched so thin that Al Harrington had to play center in the first half when Zaza Pachulia encountered early foul trouble ... and then guard Kobe Bryant in the second half while Joe Johnson and Childress grabbed a breather. But we knew this team had problems from the get-go -- it didn't lose 69 games last year for nothing. So instead, let's focus on the one piece of good news -- the play of Joe Johnson. Now that Woodson has mothballed the idea of playing Johnson at the point, Atlanta is finally getting some return on its $70 million investment. On Tuesday, Johnson delivered his best game as a Hawk, scoring a season-high 26 points on 11-of-20 shooting. It was a far cry from the preseason and the first two regular-season games, when Johnson labored to get the ball across halfcourt against quicker point guards. Matched up against players his own size, Johnson looked much more comfortable. "The two gives me more freelance opportunities," said Johnson. "I can make more plays not just for my teammates, but for myself too." He should get plenty more opportunities to do so. With the struggles of the two Joshes and Williams, the Hawks' need at off guard is much greater than it is at the point. Thus, for the few Hawks fans in the Philips Arena crowd, Johnson's play at the shooting guard spot was the one silver lining in an otherwise dreary home opener.

2) SI.com’s Kelly Dwyer agrees with me, TNT rocks:

Differences of opinion - TNT's fun NBA coverage a respite from ESPN's anger

In Mark Cuban's blog last week, the Dallas Mavericks owner called out TNT's postgame studio crew -- specifically Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley -- for their criticism of the Mavs' blown pick-and-roll coverages during their opening night win over the Suns. The Mavericks (like most successful teams) keep detailed statistics on how each play and the resulting defensive coverage turns out, and then shifts their defense accordingly. But both Barkley and Smith found the Mavericks defense lacking and panned it on national TV. Showcasing his usual deft touch with words (and punctuation, for that matter), Cuban called both Barkley and Smith "idiots," wondered aloud about their respective basketball IQs and insinuated (nay, insisted) that neither Barkley nor Smith had the work ethic necessary to take a head coaching job. It was a fascinating read. On some levels, Cuban's frustration is understandable, especially if he sees Barkley and Smith as the NBA equivalent of dyed-in-the-wool types like Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver -- ex-jocks turned baseball talking heads. But, unlike Morgan and McCarver, Barkley and Smith don't take themselves a fraction as seriously. What point is to be made by attacking people who, for all of their bluster, truly seem to enjoy the game? Better that Cuban turn his attention for the kind of unsmiling "analysis" that deserves it. Like, for instance, ESPN's depressing crew of studio analysts. It took a few quick minutes of last Wednesday night's ESPN presentation to remind me of just how lousy their studio coverage can be. Greg Anthony is at once dour and dismissive, a joyless on-air presence. Tim Legler continually goes to great pains to distance himself from the "aw shucks, I just shoot the ball" persona he created as a player and Stephen A. Smith needs no introduction. With TNT's analytical, yet good-natured approach as an example (the Ernie Johnson/Smith/Barkley combo was on air for two full seasons before ESPN established their studio crew), how could the Worldwide Leader have whiffed so badly? Does anyone find this crew insightful, entertaining or redeeming in any way? Who wants to tune into an NBA pregame show, expecting a verbal version of a lay-up line, only to see it devolve into a spirited game of "who's the bigger badass?" Intelligent political discourse was chased off the airwaves long ago in favor of pointed, and often pointless, bluster. It pains one to watch ESPN try to emulate these black-or-white, either/or arguments. Levity and perspective is in short supply on the ESPN set, falling to the Blue State/Red State arguments that have moved from cable news networks into the televised toy department. t's not so much that the ESPN talking heads don't appreciate the opinions of their co-workers; it's that they go to great lengths to inform the viewing public that "the nonsense spewing from the mouth of the guy to my left is wrong. His opinions are wrong, and I'm going to use up my allotted 45 seconds to tell you why," all the while deftly avoiding any attempts at compromise. At the apex of their debut last week, Smith (of all people) could be seen yelling -- yelling! -- at Legler and Anthony, demanding they "CALM DOWN!" No doubt this was so Mr. (A.) Smith could engage in a blusterous monologue of his own. Thankfully, a commercial respite cut him off. Mind-numbing as it all is, even worse is the presentation: obviously scripted, designed to inflame, awash in hyperbole and posturing. About basketball, lest we forget. It should be noted that ESPN's play-by-play personalities, though, are as good as they get. The game's finest announcing duo remains Jim Durham and Steve Jones; it's good to see the Snapper return strong from an injury-plagued 2004-05 season. Jones' occasional replacement, the inimitable Bill Walton, is an acquired taste that I've learned to relish, and deserves to be heard with an open mind. Durham is a knowledgeable, measured and entertaining listen. Fellow play-by-play stud Mike Breen is just as insightful, while showcasing a sometimes-biting tone that is easy to appreciate. Cuban's criticism aside, TNT's studio group, now entering its sixth season, appears as if it remain the gold standard if last week's opening salvo is any indication. New addition Reggie Miller, taking over for the up-and-down Magic Johnson, should thrive on the Turner set. Like Magic, Reggie used to host his own poorly-conceived (and barely-watched) TV show. Unlike the Lakers Hall of Famer, he's an engaging on-air listen. Hardly tentative in his TNT debut, he wouldn't even allow throwaway lines from Messrs. Barkley and Smith to go unchallenged. And yet, you never got the feeling that it was contention for contention's sake, or that he was under direction to create interesting TV. To be sure, I'm well aware of how unseemly my praising of TNT (the network is owned by Time Warner, which also owns SI.Com) may look, but my disgust at the bile and bitterness that emanates from the ESPN set has existed for a long time. As it stands, I don't think this review is as transparent as Rolling Stone's 2001 review of a Mick Jagger album, one that saw the mag hand five stars to a mediocre set of songs in order to ensure that Sir Mick always be at publisher Jann S. Wenner's beck and call. Though Ernie Johnson would probably have issues warbling "No Expectations" on Turner's karaoke night, his ratings hardly need the help of media wonks like yours, truly. The biggest issue facing the TNT Thursday night double-header is the sheer length of their proceedings. Usually starting at 8 p.m. EST, an overtime game or foul-happy slugfest usually leaves the postgame crew wrapping up their work at 2 a.m. For some of us, that means a long day on Friday. Of course, there are other factors that may go into this, but that's for another time. Either way, this is a situation that needs to be addressed this summer. There is no reason that TV this good is wrapping up around the same time most basic cable outlets are switching over to infomercials, as the late nights will turn off both fair-weather fans and NBA junkies alike. Perhaps the league can get G. Gordon Liddy to break back into Lawrence O'Brien's old office, if only to see how the former Commish would handle it. At the games, TNT's play-by-play crews are just as strong as ESPN's, but not without fault. The pairing of Marv Albert and Steve Kerr entertains, but Albert always seems at his best working in a three-man setup. Whether it's with Walton and Snapper Jones, Mike Fratello and Jeff Van Gundy or with Mike Fratello and Kerr; Marv's ability to create three-way interplay has always been underrated. When heading a three-man booth, Marv is able to initiate a dry and entertaining back-and-forth that was straight out of the Christopher Guest School of straight-faced comedy -- a tone that isn't as easy to adapt with two announcers bouncing one-liners off each other. Still, this is mere nitpicking for a brilliant duo. All in all, the TNT presentation is strong enough to overcome whatever statistical shortcomings Mr. Cuban may perceive. And the light-hearted postgame show is nearly above reproach, even if you spend the entire hour disagreeing with the analysis. Meanwhile, when ESPN's NBA Shootaround finally caps the shouting, I'm left wondering why these guys in suits are so angry at each other. It doesn't have to be like this. With ESPN's resources, they have no excuse for putting on such an inferior show.

3) Ed Graney of The San Diego Union-Tribune looks at the coaches from college who went pro and then went back:

Ex-NBA coaches enjoying return to college

2.3 years. That's the average time an NBA head coach lasts with a franchise these days. Jeff Bzdelik knows this by heart. He was 2.3 not so long ago. It helped shape his current career choice. It made his decision to embrace the Air Force job this season and hold on like he was controlling an F-14 Tomcat at warp speed easy. 2.3 will do that to a guy. "I'm staying at the academy," said Bzdelik, "until they boot me out." First, the obvious: The circumstances some NBA coaches inherit might be cruel, but the money they're paid to try to turn bad teams into good ones (to, in essence, spin straw into gold) isn't. You can become famously wealthy despite notoriously dreadful results. Being paid millions to produce a below-average performance on a ridiculously consistent basis? It's like being Freddie Prinze Jr. without the benefit of waking up to Buffy every morning. Yet it shouldn't surprise anyone when a coach whose NBA stint ends with a swift kick to the sidewalk -- probably one where a stretch limousine awaits -- often looks first to the college landscape rather than within other professional circles. Makes sense. For the most part, other than the number of zeroes on a paycheck, coaching college is a better and more secure gig. After a stint in Denver, Bzdelik's happy to be in Colorado Springs. Three of the bigger programs out West -- in addition to Bzdelik, there's Lon Kruger at UNLV and Tim Floyd at USC -- will be directed this season by coaches who have left the NBA and returned to the life of grade checks and recruiting trips. Returned to a place where control of a roster falls on the coach rather than the general manager and owner. Where you never (well, almost) have to contact a player through his agent. Where how much your team succeeds is based more on comprehensive execution than contract negotiations. Where there is actually some semblance of hope for teams that have otherwise stunk up the gym. "Winning feeds off itself so much more in the NBA than in college," said Kruger, entering his second season at UNLV after -- hey, what do you know? -- almost 2.3 seasons coaching the Atlanta Hawks. "The differences between winning and losing franchises are huge, and you just don't have the chance to cross over very often. When you're winning in the NBA, a guy's injury lasts two days instead of two weeks. Guys on winning teams want to get back and enjoy that success. It is reinforced in everything you do. Guys on losing teams don't want to get back. They don't want to be blamed for the losing. "The two levels are starkly different, and yet some of the things basketball-wise are exactly the same. But NBA players have different priorities, different lifestyles. In college, a coach has a better chance to affect a player in terms of attitude and work ethic. In the NBA, you have what you have and you're not going to change them much, especially the veterans." Translation: It's all about control. And there's a lot more of it in college. Kruger went 69-122 with the Hawks and lasted 27 games into his third season. Bzdelik went 73-119 with the Nuggets and lasted 28 games into his third. Floyd went 93-255 with the Bulls and Hornets over four seasons. It's not a surprise that each at times struggled convincing pros to buy into his message. But it's not just that. Practice time in college might be regulated by the NCAA, but at least you are afforded a substantial amount during the season. Time to observe. Time to instruct. Time to improve. Once an NBA preseason ends, a coach's life essentially becomes preparing for a game, playing it and being handed tape on the next night's opponent. It's a whirlwind existence with little to no time for detail. Try riding Space Mountain for six straight months with no breaks to check for mechanical problems. "In the NBA, you're maybe practicing two of every 12 days and the rest of the time is game preparation," said Floyd. "I'm looking forward to the [practicing] phase of the college game. "I'm glad to be back. I noticed the first week of practice here that when I told a player, 'Pick up your darn feet and get back on defense,' that I reflected back to the NBA when I would say, 'Pick up your darn feet and get back on defense, please, sir.' There is obviously a vast difference in how you approach a team in college than the NBA. I enjoyed the NBA. I'm glad I did it. It helped me in coming back to college now in a lot of different areas. I grew as a coach. "I guess I just didn't want to have any regrets, to look back at 70 and say I didn't coach [in the NBA]." Bzdelik tells the story of when he was an assistant for seven years in Miami under Pat Riley. He tells about the character of those teams, about players like P.J. Brown and Dan Majerle and Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway and Bruce Bowen and Terry Porter. About men who approached the game as if study hall was as much part of their day as working out, as if they still played at the collegiate level, as if they truly loved the game more than the riches. "Each situation is unique and different and always comes down to the type of men you have," said Bzdelik, who last coached Division I at Maryland-Baltimore County in 1988. "You have guys in the NBA who will always work hard and guys who -- what happens when someone wins the lottery? -- quit on their jobs. To win in the NBA, you need great internal leadership. It's the same way in college. You need that strong character base to be as good as you're going to be. And if there is some talent to mix in, you have a chance to be really good. "I had six or so opportunities to stay in the league [following Denver]. But I also have a daughter who's a freshman in high school. My wife and I didn't want to pack up the boxes, move to another city, not let my daughter finish the same school and stay somewhere else for another 2.3 years." There's that number again. No wonder they're glad to be back.

4) Andy Katz of ESPN.com reports that Matt Doherty is recovering nicely from his ouster from UNC a few years ago:

Former UNC coach settling in at FAU

As Hurricane Wilma bore down on South Florida last week, Matt Doherty entered his first crisis management test at seldom-heard-from Florida Atlantic University, less than two months into his first semester on the job. He didn't flinch. Doherty, fresh off a two-year hiatus from coaching after being forced out at his alma mater, North Carolina, was ready for the storm. During his forced time off, he attended two leadership courses at the famed Wharton School at Penn and the Darden School at Virginia; visited NBA and college practices; and did television work for ESPN regional and CSTV. Even though FAU hasn't played a game yet under Doherty, the Owls are already seeing his refined leadership skills in full bloom. Because assistant Mike Balado is from Miami and has experience dealing with major storms, Doherty assigned him to be crisis manager for hurricanes. Player meetings were held twice a day last weekend, prior to the storm's hitting, so the players were aware of possible alternative plans. Balado and assistant James Stafford were assigned to call each player's parents to explain what they were going to do. Malcolm Farmer, the director of basketball operations, was in charge of food. When the players and staff were told to evacuate the area because the campus was without power and downed trees had to be cleared on the Boca Raton campus, Doherty ensured every player was within a three-hour radius so when the team regrouped later in the week, everyone could get to Orlando quickly. The wife of associate head coach Rex Walters, a former player under then-assistant coach Doherty at Kansas in the early '90s, had a line on timeshare condos in Orlando, where FAU had to worry about paying only for maid service. A friend of Doherty's at Disney knew of a basketball practice facility the team could use. "We did it very quickly," Doherty said Friday afternoon. The Owls will stay in Orlando Monday and Tuesday before returning to Boca Raton. FAU will reopen for classes Wednesday, but damage to the gym's roof has forced the team to look for an alternative practice site in the Boca Raton area. "I'm a better leader, better manager and hopefully, more calm handling everything," Doherty, 43, said. "It's called experience. I'm big on turning negatives into positives. My experience at North Carolina ended in a negative and I learned how I could better myself.'' Two weeks into practice, Doherty has turned what could have been a major disruption from Wilma (the Owls missed three days of practice earlier last week) into a pseudo training camp, running two-a-days. Players traveled and ate together, and many watched NBA games in Doherty's room Thursday night. This is the new Doherty, a Doherty who is as competitive as he ever was at North Carolina but one who is more polished and secure about his environment. Sure, he was once the Associated Press national coach of the year at UNC (26-7 in his first season in 2000-01), but he also had some personality conflicts and his teams were left out of NCAA Tournament for an unheard-of two straight years (going 8-20 in 2001-02 and 19-16 in 2002-03). The Tar Heels returned to the NCAA Tournament the year after his departure, and last April, with a roster stocked with his recruits and freshman sixth-man Marvin Williams, won the national title under his former mentor Roy Williams. The Tar Heels lost seven players from that team, six of them Doherty recruits. There are still a few Doherty recruits left, such as David Noel, Byron Sanders and Reyshawn Terry, but there clearly is a clean break between the Doherty and Williams eras, allowing both parties to move on without any more comparisons to Doherty's tenure in Chapel Hill. Doherty said he has worked hard to have a good relationship with North Carolina, receiving a letter from Dean Smith and talking to Roy Williams when the two were on the road recruiting in July. "Most of my players are gone now,'' Doherty said. "It's good and I needed to coach again and it feels good to coach again. I'm excited about it.'' But how did he get to FAU of all places? Doherty said he gave himself a window of two years to find a job, and he had geographic restrictions. He wasn't going West. He had moved five times in eight years and most recently relocated to Charlotte, near his wife's family. Two years ago, he interviewed at St. John's on his native Long Island and talked to James Madison. Last spring, he talked to Tulsa and UMass. "This past year, I thought a lot of jobs would open up but it was very limited,'' Doherty said. "I didn't think about FAU.'' Doherty said he called FAU to recommend Walters, who was then an assistant at Valparaiso. But he found out that the Owls wanted a head coach. Doherty consulted with Walters and asked whether he would be OK with his pursuing the position, on the condition that Walters would agree to come with him if he got the gig. "Everyone kept saying it was a diamond in the rough,'' Doherty said. FAU went for a big-name in football in hiring Howard Schnellenberger. Clearly, that was the agenda in luring Doherty. The school is moving from the low-major Atlantic Sun to the well-respected and highly competitive mid-major Sun Belt for the 2006-07 season. The Owls went to the NCAA Tournament once under Sidney Green (in 2002) but this commuter school in tiny Boca Raton had to rebuild its basketball program. Doherty said he had to put together a high-major staff. He said Walters' unselfishness in taking less money enabled him to hire Balado, Stafford and Farmer. "They have invested in the physical resources with a new floor and roof, although it was damaged in the hurricane,'' Doherty said. "We're getting new locker rooms next year and there is strong talk of a domed stadium -- 40,000 like the Carrier Dome [in Syracuse] for football and men's and women's basketball. There's a 90 percent chance that happens and that would change the dynamics of this place." Doherty and his staff brought in seven newcomers, selling them on being competitive now and building an NCAA Tournament program. "We have an awful lot to offer, with palm trees, blue skies and every other girl that looks like J. Lo," Walters said. "How many coaches have been the AP coach of the year? ... We're dumb enough to believe [we can make this big]. What was Gonzaga like 15 years ago? The Sun Belt is a good conference and we want to be in the Sweet 16. We need to recruit a better athlete, stronger player and a player with strong character, and coach Doherty can open up a lot of doors. We've got selective basketball and AAU people calling us, trying to help us.'' Still, the players were a bit stunned that Doherty would want to be at FAU. Sure, Doherty said when he arrived there is always buyer's remorse, but that happened to him at each of his stops, wondering whether he should have left Kansas for Notre Dame, South Bend for Chapel Hill. But FAU? It took the players to play for him a bit before they saw he was serious about settling down. "I didn't know why he would want to come,'' said senior guard Quinton Young, who averaged a dozen points last season under Green. "It's a small school and I figured that he would want a big-time school. I didn't think a coach like that would want to come to Florida Atlantic.'' Young said he believes Doherty is sincere because he continues to talk about how much he loves the community, the president and how promising he sees the future. "I was surprised,'' said junior guard Brent Crews, a transfer from Chipola College in Fla., near his native Chipley. "He had always gone to winning programs but this had been a losing program that won only 10 games last season (10-10 in the Atlantic Sun, 10-17 overall). "But I believe he wants to build his own program and a system from the ground up,'' Crews said. "I heard that he teaches more than just running you.'' Young said last season's practices were intense but the previous staff didn't stress the little things, like setting screens or a good cut to the ball or basket. Doherty has always showed attention to detail, whether in recruiting or coaching, but he has changed his approach. During Friday's practice, Doherty spent the first 30 minutes sitting on the sidelines watching Walters run the players through full-court layup and shooting drills. When it came time to handle putting in their "dummy" offense and side out-of-bounds plays, Doherty was on the court, instructing (not yelling) his players into position. "I learned from watching coaches like Jerry Sloan [of the Utah Jazz] and Eddie Sutton and Bob Knight and Tom Izzo to delegate,'' Doherty said. "Sometimes players get tired of the same voice.'' In the early part of practice, it was Walters' voice that resonated in the gym, imploring his players to be more vocal and to have vision on the court. He said the players should get used to raising their voices because they would have more fans at games. It seems as though they will. Prime courtside seats are sold and, according to Walters, Doherty has been a hit around Boca in what Walters terms the "sixth borough," because of its abundance of New York ex-pats. "The stress level is the same, but I can handle it better since I'm better at delegating,'' said Doherty. "It's not as stressful a job but I still want to win and still go after recruiting as passionately as I did at North Carolina. It's OK to delegate but you've got to work smarter.'' The two-year sabbatical, as Doherty calls it, allowed him to live the life of skiing with the kids, getting up late, wearing sweats all day and ignoring the razor if he felt like it for a few days. But the formal leadership training -- something he says should be required of young coaches -- put him in a position to be successful again. Finding the right spot was the tough part. "It was hard because, like everyone, you get an inflated opinion of yourself" Doherty said. "I thought I could get Illinois when Bill Self left or get Virginia when Pete Gillen left. But it's hard to get Division I coaching jobs. I wanted to coach. If I do a good job here, we'll grow this thing. People say I'll only be here a few years but I've been to the top of the mountain and the view isn't always better from there.'' Walters added that the staff could build this program without feeling the heat of winning 20 games a year. The FAU administration is allowing him to be successful in scheduling, too. Doherty isn't being forced to sell himself on the road for nine games. He said he has to play only two guaranteed games a season, an incredibly low number at this level. The beauty of this job is that mid-major schools are willing to go home-and-home to get a Florida trip, especially schools in the Northeast with alumni living in the area. That's why Marist agreed to a four-year home-and-home. The Owls open up at Colgate and at Northwestern -- two road games that were on the schedule when Doherty took the job. But in-state games against North Florida, Jacksonville, Central Florida and South Florida are all logical games. Playing in Louisville's tournament is the up-game (College of Charleston in the first round, Louisville or Middle Tennessee State in the second) and then Marist rounds out the schedule. The Atlantic Sun plays 18 league games. "I feel like I've found my rhythm,'' Doherty said. "Once we had everybody come together in late August and started workouts and my kids, my children, got comfortable in the schools and we came together as a team and program, it felt good to be on the court again.'' Doherty is at peace now in his career. He was never certain where he would land after being dumped at Carolina, but he always knew what he would be doing. He knew he would be back in coaching. "It's basketball, whether it's at North Carolina or FAU, it's basketball and it's teaching the game of basketball,'' Doherty said. "You're finding a way to put this team in a position to be successful.'' Still, at the end of practice, you knew you weren't in Chapel Hill anymore. One of the FAU players counted to make sure there were 11 balls to put in the bag and he carried them out to the car. There weren't managers hustling to gather all of their equipment. The players had to do it themselves. As they scampered about, you could tell there were defined chores, delegated by Doherty through his staff -- a sign that his leadership was already working quite well.