Mailbag: Young and restless

Nearly two weeks into the 2009-10 college basketball season and the talk isn’t about the teams that are playing well.

It’s about the ones who aren’t.

That leads us into the first few questions in this week’s mailbag, which will run every Friday throughout the season. Keep those emails coming.

I just read your article about the Memphis-Kansas game. I do not understand your comment at all about Kansas appearing “arrogant.” I watched every minute of that game and saw a KU team pushed hard by Memphis. KU played a relatively poor game. But arrogant? I surely didn’t see that. That kind of comment doesn’t have a place in an otherwise good story about how well Josh Pastner has done at Memphis. Bill Self took the high road. I think you should’ve taken a similar high road.

Patrick Kelly
Albany, N.Y.

Good email, Patrick. Maybe “overconfident” would’ve been a better word than arrogant. As much credit as Memphis deserves for a well-played game, Kansas did not show up ready to play Tuesday. The Jayhawks – not all of them, but some of them – lacked energy the whole game and their body language was terrible at times. They thought they had the game won the minute they entered the Scottrade Center, and that’s fine. Those things happen when you spend the entire offseason listening to people tell you how good you’re going to be and seeing your name in every preseason poll. What happened Tuesday was a blessing for Kansas. They got a desperately-needed wake-up call early in the season, and they still won.

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I don’t see why you think North Carolina is going to be so good. I don’t get it, considering their total lack of experience and lack of outside scoring. Duke loses much less, yet you make a huge deal out of them losing Elliot Williams, who was, like, a five-point a game guy. And losing Gerald Henderson doesn’t compare to losing Hansbrough, Ellington or Lawson. Please explain.

Jarred
Christiansburg, Va.

I think the biggest difference is that North Carolina was much deeper than Duke last season, so when Hansbrough and Co. graduated, the Tar Heels had players such as Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller and Larry Drew waiting in the wings. They also saw the return of Marcus Ginyard and Will Graves and the signing of future NBA lottery pick John Henson. Duke, meanwhile, lost some good players and didn’t really add many pieces who are going to make the Blue Devils that much better, at least not this season. The main reason I like North Carolina, though, is because of its coach. Roy Williams is the best in the game. Williams’ team may start off slow this season – the Tar Heels haven’t been all that impressive thus far – but he’ll have them peaking when it counts.

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You are right. Things couldn’t be worse at Iowa. Do you think coach Todd Lickliter can turn it around? I highly doubt it, because he simply refuses to recruit Chicago. His incoming class is a complete joke and doesn’t have a single Big Ten-type player. Watching them play is like a slow, painful death. Iowa’s athletic director needs to step up and realize he’s not the guy and hire a young coach who can recruit players. I look forward to your response.

Pat
San Diego

You hate to see bad things happen to good people – and make no mistake, Lickliter is a good man – but I don’t see how he can survive another season at Iowa. Less than two weeks into the season, and the Hawkeyes have already lost home games to Texas-San Antonio and Duquesne, and there are still tough nonconference games ahead with Texas, Virginia Tech, Iowa State and Drake. The Big Ten is tougher than it’s been in a long time. Iowa may not win a game. The Hawkeyes’ job is a good one. I agree that, when the time comes, the administration should pursue someone with strong Chicago recruiting ties.

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Thank you so much for the wonderful article on Josh Pastner. Earlier in the year John Wooden gave his blessings to Josh. We believe we have the Prodigy. One other thought dawned on me: Along with recruiting the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at Memphis this year, Josh also helped recruit the nation’s No. 1 class last year (although most of them ended up at Kentucky). God bless.

Jimmy Staten
Memphis, Tenn.

Good point, Jimmy. Pastner was definitely involved in the recruitment of John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Xavier Henry – all of whom would’ve been in a Memphis uniform this season had John Calipari not bolted for Kentucky. I knew Pastner was known as a strong recruiter, but in the past he’s always recruited to a big-name school (Arizona) or for a big-name coach (Lute Olson, Calipari). That he could pull off this feat on his own – in his first year, no less – is amazing. I guess the biggest question now is: Can the guy coach? I think he did a lot to answer that question Tuesday against Kansas.

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Dayton is ranked in many preseason polls. You might want to give a little ink to the Flyers’ opener against Creighton. This has the makings of a great early season contest that should propel the winner onward to greater heights. Dayton and Creighton have a budding rivalry going here. It’s dangerous to overlook a team like Creighton, even if game No. 2 is against Georgia Tech in lovely Puerto Rico.

Jim
St. Petersburg

Jim – Apparently the Flyers took your advice. Five days after defeating Creighton 90-80 in its season opener, Dayton beat No. 21 Georgia Tech. Chris Johnson had 18 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute. Looks like this team is for real.

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Just wanted to say that I thought your article on Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson was great. I watched Patrick grow up playing basketball at the YMCA and refereed many of his games in the buddy league along with O.J. Mayo. To see someone such as Patrick do something so good and to have someone write the article you wrote is uplifting. It makes me proud to know that he came from a community that I still live and work in. I look forward to the day that he comes back here and does something great for kids in this area, so you’ll have another article to write.

Brad Ferguson
Huntington, W.Va.

I’m glad you enjoyed the article, Brad. I had a lot of positive feedback from that piece. I can’t imagine there’s a better ambassador for college basketball than Patterson.

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Does anybody in the Big 12 have frontlines that can match up with the ones at Texas and Kansas?

Jeff Dyer
Dallas

In the Big 12? Heck no. No one even comes close. I’d venture to say that the big guys in Austin (Dexter Pittman, Damion James and Gary Johnson) and Lawrence (Cole Aldrich, the Morris Twins and Thomas Robinson) are as good as any units in the nation. Talent-wise, I still think Kentucky’s duo of Patrick Patterson and DeMarcus Cousins is the best. With those guys, you’re talking about two top-20 draft picks. No other team has that. And the Tar Heels have great depth with Ed Davis, Deon Thompson and Tyler Zeller. Some people include 6-foot-10 freshman John Henson in that group, but Roy Williams is trying to develop him into more of a perimeter player. Regardless, it’s a good group.