In the wake of the Gators NCAA tourney win there’s been a lot of chatter about how they’re one of the best teams of all-time…OK…I guess that makes me think, are they better than any of these teams? Well, let’s just assume they are NOT better than any of John Wooden’s teams at UCLA which featured Gail Goodrich, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, all three of which are Hall of Famers and which won 10 of 12 NCAA titles from 1964 to 1975…so, sticking to teams from 1980 onwards (approximately when I became basketball aware) are they better than the last team to repeat, that being the Duke team than won the 1991 and 1992 championship? Nope…Laettner, Hurley, Grant and Thomas Hill, Brian Davis, Antonio Lang, Billy McCaffrey are better than the Gators…are they better than the 1990 UNLV championship team? Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Anderson Hunt, Greg Anthony, David Butler, Moses Scurry are better than the Gators, and this team destroyed the same Duke team (minus freshman Grant Hill) in the final…are they better than the 1989 NCAA Champ Michigan Wolverines? Glen Rice, Rumeal Robinson, Terry Mills, Sean Higgins, Loy Vaught are better than the Gators…are they better than the 1984 Georgetown Hoyas? Patrick Ewing, David Wingate, Reggie Williams, Michael Graham, Michael Jackson are about even, or slightly less talented…so there you go, I’ve picked out at least 3 teams in the last 27 years that are better than these current Gators…so settle down folks, they’re good, but not all-time good…

While were in college, with Billy Gillespie taking the Kentucky job, I cannot understand that everyone seems to think Tubby Smith underachieved at Kentucky…In the 10 years Tubby Smith was coach of the Wildcats here’s what they accomplished:

Record: 263-83
1998 national championship
five SEC titles and five SEC tournament titles.
Average of 26 wins per season
10 straight NCAA Tournament appearances
three Elite Eights and three more Sweet 16s

You can’t help thinking that if Tubby was a white guy he’d be coaching there the rest of his life…

Speaking of college coaches, here’s the couching carousel…

School Out Years Record In
Kansas State Bob Huggins 1 23 Frank Martin
Texas A&M Billy Gillispie 3 70-26 Mark Turgeon
Utah Ray Giacoletti 3 54-39 Jim Boylen
Georgia State Michael Perry 4 62-75 Rod Barnes
Illinois State Porter Moser 4 51-67 Tim Jankovich
Marshall Ron Jirsa 4 43-74 Donnie Jones
South Florida Robert McCullum 4 40-76 Stan Heath
St. Bona. Anthony Solomon 4 24-88 Mark Schmidt
Arkansas Stan Heath 5 82-71 John Pelphrey
Evansville Steve Merfeld 5 54-91 Marty Simmons
Liberty Randy Dunton 5 66-85 Ritchie McKay
Long Beach St. Larry Reynolds 5 63-83 Dan Monson
New Mexico Ritchie McKay 5 82-69 Steve Alford
Radford Byron Samuels 5 58-87 Brad Greenberg
West Virginia John Beilein 5 104-60 Bob Huggins
Butler Todd Lickliter 6 131-61 Brad Stevens
Denver Terry Carroll 6 79-99 Joe Scott
Drake Tom Davis 6 54-66 Keno Davis
Michigan Tommy Amaker 6 109-83 John Beilein
North Dak.St. Tim Miles 6 99-71 Saul Phillips
N. Illinois Rob Judson 6 74-101 Ricardo Patton
Binghamton Al Walker 7 92-108 Kevin Broadus
Colorado State Dale Layer 7 103-106Tim Miles
Iowa Steve Alford 8 152-106Todd Lickliter
Minnesota Dan Monson 8 118-106Tubby Smith
Iona Jeff Ruland 9 139-135Kevin Willard
Wyoming Steve McClain 9 157-115Heath Schroyer
Bowling Green Dan Dakich 10 156-140Louis Orr
Indiana State Royce Waltman 10 134-164Kevin McKenna
Kentucky Tubby Smith 10 263-83 Billy Gillispie
Colorado Ricardo Patton 11 184-160Jeff Bzdelik
Quinnipiac Joe DeSantis 11 118-188Tom Moore
San Diego Brad Holland 13 200-176Bill Grier
Southern Utah Bill Evans 15 209-223Roger Reid

I know there’s a lot of hand wringing about how the Eastern conference is inferior, but the Raptors record of 45-33, which is good for 3rd in the East, would be good for 6th in the West behind Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston and Utah…before this season started, if I told you that the Raptors would have a record good enough to be 6th in the West, you would have thought me delusional…

Great quote from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, on the precipitous decline of Lakers centre Andrew Bynum: “I don't know. I didn't have that problem…This is probably his fourth or fifth year in competitive basketball. My fifth year of competitive basketball was the eighth grade. He's got to learn a lot on the fly and that's tough. I don't envy him. I think Andrew wants everything to work and unless it works, he's not going to try, so he's become very tentative." In other words, Bynum needs to get his ass to work…

Quick link here about Anthony Parker’s great season with the Raps…

http://cbs.sportsline.com/nba/story/10119588
Good article on the international draft prospects for this year’s draft…

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/chris_ekstrand/04/02/international.prospects/index.html