Welcome to the latest edition of Talking Hoops With Ted Sarandis. As we start to get some indications that college athletics will go on in some form, we still have plenty of questions that need answers.
Before we get into that big picture, though, we start with Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing. The Hoya and NBA legend who is about to enter his fourth season at his alma mater has had a rough stretch, to say the least, as if the challenging season he made it through wasn’t enough. First, his home was broken into and his two Olympic gold medals along with his 1984 Georgetown national championship ring were stolen. Then he lost another key player as guard Mac McClung transferred. But all of that pales in comparison to news on Friday that he tested positive for the coronavirus. We certainly pray that he has a speedy and (more importantly) full recovery.
We segue from there right into the questions surrounding the future of college sports, namely the unclear picture at the moment. There is some reason for optimism as reports come out that voluntary activities will soon be allowed in many places, but there is no consistency. One-size-fits-all may not be ideal, but in this instance it is leaving unanswered questions. We have little clarity from the NCAA, but will need it, and as Mark Emmert has demonstrably not exactly been on top of his game as a leader in recent times, there isn’t a lot of reason for hope there at the moment.
From there we go on to some coaching news, as Green Bay surprisingly fired Linc Darner over a week ago. Darner was 92-80 in five years at the school, a record that included being 12 games over .500 in Horizon League play, took them to the NCAA Tournament and had a fine graduation rate and APR. His contract was to go to 2026, which means the school surely has to pay him a sum of money they are unlikely to be able to come up with even in “normal” times. This one is a head-scratcher, to say the least.
In related news, UCLA hired former Boston College athletic director Martin Jarmond to replace the retiring Dan Guerrero. This is notable since at The Heights, one must wonder if Jim Christian isn’t on some borrowed time now, as he’ll soon be working for his third athletic director. He’s done about as well as he can under the circumstances, but that isn’t often taken into consideration and especially when a new boss is in town.
We go on to talk about some player moves of late that will impact teams, notably Nate Hinton opting to stay in the NBA Draft (a hit to Houston, though the Cougars should still be good next year), Brendan Bailey leaving Marquette to turn pro (a blow to them as he figured to have a larger role with Markus Howard moving on) and Indiana recently losing starter Justin Smith as he decided to grad transfer.
Finally, we wrap up by talking about the retirement of Tom Konchalski and reminiscing a little about the earlier days of recruiting, when Konachalski and a few others stood alone as opposed to today, when the Internet is teeming with recruiting analysts both professional and amateur.
We hope you enjoy the podcast and share it with your fellow college basketball fans. Be sure to tune in again soon as we talk more about college basketball.
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