Happy Luke Harangody Day

Remember the date: March 13, 2008. That's when Luke Harangody officially became a household name.

Sports Illustrated's Luke Winn wrote a couple good pieces on the big man. Here's his magazine article. Also, a blog post online with more tidbits on what it is like to be a Harangody.

Adding to this year's awards, Harangody picked up an honorable mention slot in ESPN's All-American team. That makes him one of the ten best players in the nation.

What's that? Yes, even more. This time from ESPN's Adam Rittenberg on Kyle McAlarney's return to the team after last season.

Bamm-Bamm Picks Up First All-American Honors

Open your Sports Illustrated to page 36 and find the All-American teams for men's and women's basketball.

There are two Big East players honored, one male and one female. The woman is freshman forward Maya Moore, a second teamer.

Also on the second team, Luke Harangody joins Eric Gordon, Stephen Curry (Davidson), Jerryd Bayless, and D.J. White. 7 of the ten players honored are underclassmen. Assuming that players such as Michael Beasley, Kevin Love, and Gordon will go pro after only one year, there is still plenty of room for Luke to move up the ranks next season.

Around the Country

This week's Sports Illustrated (with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the cover) has a pretty good article on Memphis' dribble-drive motion offense. John Calipari borrowed it from a guy named Vance Walberg and has used it to great success since 2003. His two 33-4 seasons in '06 and '07 have led to an unbeaten run at #1 this year. It's a fun offense to watch and I would love to see Notre Dame adopt some of its techniques, but clearly Memphis has a much different roster than the Irish. You need a lot of penetrators, while ND boasts only one starter (Tory Jackson) with a great first step. Still a fun read if you're interested in the X's and O's of college hoops.

Last night, Brian Butch ended Indiana's terrible day with a game winning three for Wisconsin over the Hoosiers. #13 Xavier barely survived a scare at Charlotte and Pat Knight picked up his first win as unranked Texas Tech upset #22 Kansas State. The #15 Drake Bulldogs dropped a road contest to Southern Illinois, snapping a 21 game winning streak. It will be interesting to see how that team performs in the tournament. They have steamrolled most of their schedule, but have only played three top 50 opponents in 22 games.

Only Rutgers and West Virginia on the Big East slate tonight. #24 Pitt at #25 Marquette tomorrow. We will see how the Panthers fare in their final game before coming to the Joyce next Thursday.

Published in Sports Illustrated

Those of you who read this blog regularly (let's face it, who doesn't?) know that a few weeks ago I wrote a letter to Sports Illustrated regarding an article by Selena Roberts on the states of the football programs at Notre Dame and SMU, two religious schools with big-name (and well-paid) football coaches. My response was posted here.

The most recent issue of Sport Illustrated (with the post-Super Bowl cover) publishes my letter along with two others responding to the article. Take a peek if you're interested...

Letter to the Editor

When you have nothing better to do with your time, you write letters to Sports Illustrated regarding articles that paint your favorite university in a negative light. So I did.

Selena Roberts's article "Losing Their Religion" can be found on the back page of this week's SI (where the dearly-missed Rick Reilly article used to be). It is about church-affiliated schools who compete for a "sinner's jackpot." Guess what private institution was first to be mentioned?

My response:

"Perhaps Selena Roberts was too busy casting stones to do some serious investigating for her Point After article. While reproaching church-affiliated schools such as Notre Dame and SMU for the expensive contracts given to Charlie Weis and June Jones, respectively, Roberts failed to mention the strong academic traditions at schools where "bleachers function as corrugated church pews." The most recent graduation rate statistics for student athletes (http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/instAggr2007/1_0.pdf) lists the national average at 63% and football at 56%. The University of Notre Dame, frequently mentioned when writers decide to attack private institutions with successful sporting programs, graduates 89% of its student athletes and 79% of all football players. SMU also had very positive numbers (76% and 73%). When bashing these two programs, Ms. Roberts neglected to mention one thing that the two schools also have in common: giving football players and all student athletes a positive education. Plenty of other schools (such as Florida, which graduates only 35% of football players) could learn a positive lesson from these two."