2007-02-17 - 6:36 p.m.
So many thoughts to wander to that I have to start somewhere. Let me try something blinverted here and start at the beginning.
15 years ago this March, the Duke Blue Devils and the Kentucky Wildcats played in what many believe is the greatest NCAA tournament game ever. It was teh game that brought Kentucky back as a major player in college hoops after a hard three years of probation over recruiting violations.
People are talking about Duke being a bubble team this year. Pete Gillan, former coach at Providence and Virginia, has a great quote when it comes to Duke basketball:
"Duke is Duke. They're on TV more than Leave it to Beaver reruns."
The quote is a little dated since Duke has long since passed Leave it to Beaver reruns in sheer volume of exposure. What did June say to Ward? You were a little hard on the Beaver last night, Ward. Then Ward said that he knew as much (if you take the joke a step further)(there would be no punchline if you took it a step less).
I read the first issue of The Punisher 2099 and it again reminded me why Thomas Jane playing The Punisher was so disgusting. When Dolph Lundgren played Frank Castle, it worked because it was a gritty, vioent spectacle. The Punisher comic book is what hardcore is all about. He killed a woman who hunted cab drivers at one time and attacked the mob at a funeral at another time. The Punisher I know would never go scuba diving with his son.
The last topic goes back to college basketball. We have a coaching legend here in Tucson. The game has not passed Lute Olson by. The way to gauge that is that he still puts his playmakers in position to make plays. He recruits at a higher level than he did even five years ago. So the problems his teams have been having in recent years, since their collapse in the Elite 8 to Illinois two years ago, has been frustrating. On paper, the Arizona Wildcats have had upper-echelon talent. Injuries have caused issues with depth in the past two seasons.
Having a legend as coach makes this time of their career very difficult. Lute is not going to coach forever, he will never be fired and no one can tell him when to retire. As a fan of the Wildcats and Coach Olson, I do feel it is time for him to say when his last year will be. He is a man who deserves celebration and not people questioning if the game has not passed him by. He has been nothing but class for over two decades at the U of A and almost five decades of coaching over his Hall of Fame career. Bobby Knight would still be at Indiana if he was still going deep into the tournamanet but when he stopped getting to the Sweet 16's, Elite 8's and Final 4's suddenly his horrible behavior was not so easy to accept. Eddie Sutton taionted his Hall of Fame career by being the coach of Kentucky when they were put onto probation. He recovered at Oklahoma State until he got drunk and pissed in public.
With Lute Olson, we have a treasure here in Tucson. Sometimes I think the first ones to stop believeng that are the players he coaches. I have seen them work to lose a handful of games this year that I never saw the Wildcats lose until two years ago. I think that senior point guard Mustafa Shakur has never really recovered from that loss to Illinois. You can see evidence of those bad decisions in critical moments late in games when, as a senior floor leader at a university that has produced many NBA point guards, he makes horrible choices as to passes and shots.
Confidence is a shaky thing. Losing it can take but an instant, whereas gaining it back could take a lifetime.
