Tweety Blurbs From the Fan Cave: Hot Topics in College Basketball

April 4th, 2012 - 22:03

Many tweets convey more than we want to know such as when and how long you were in the bathroom enabling you to feel like you're entitled to a brand new wardrobe. On the other hand, concise capsules can quickly get to the heart of a subject.

Following is a regurgitation of pithy postings of up to 140 characters summarizing this season after they were designed to "tell it the way it is" and trigger some watercooler cussin' and discussin':

  • Jim Boeheim's money-motivated defense of 'Cuse Abuse sure isn't "fine" when considering "high" number of suspect students he recruited.

  • Need for eye exams may explain Syracuse's previous faulty free-throw shooting if players had inappropriate relations with ex-Orange aide wife.

  • Is accuser Bobby Davis lying about him being noticed in Bernie Fine's road hotel room or will SU Coach Boeheim have more backtracking to do?

  • Boeheim's 850-plus wins for alma mater is amazing when one considers Miami of Ohio's Charlie Coles was active runner-up with 250 before retiring.

  • Hugs Thugs mentality must still exist at Cincinnati for coach Mick Cronin, a former aide under Bob Huggins' parade of pestilent UC players.

  • UC Coach Mick Cronin's post-melee speech was Xcellent. But the problem is he recruited the UFC tryouts strutting their "Want Some?" stuff.

  • To a certain degree, the televised UC-Xavier fisticuffs were blown out of proportion. There was plenty of blood shed in pre-ESPN donnybrooks.

  • Dicky V's four-year stint at Detroit is vastly overblown. UD's court should be named after an A-A such as Dave DeBusschere or Spencer Haywood.

  • Is Dicky V finally off Pitt's bandwagon proclaiming the Panthers will overcome an 0-7 start in Big East play and reach the NCAA playoffs?

  • Whenever NFL analyst Mike Ditka shows some passion, one can't help but wonder how "hard" his picks were while playing basketball for Pitt.

  • ESPN's farming out of NBA analysts to college games during the pro lockout was a disaster. They resembled know-nothing, union-busting scabs.

  • Occasionally condescending Dookie Jay Bilas needs to refrain from infatuation with wingspan during his normally commendable commentary.

  • Jay Bilas is nation's premier hoop analyst but year late in his support of mid-major Wichita State. An apology to VCU is also still in order.

  • ESPN should give Joe Lunardi a shot as a game analyst rather than limiting him to racket as Walmart-like greeter citing first in/first out.

  • Whether they're female eye candy or not, most of the TV sideline reporters are virtually worthless in futile bids to offer incisive input.

  • Curing cancer is fantastic but ESPN should tone down its fawning over Jim Valvano, a PTP (Placed Twice on Probation) coach for Iona & NCSU.

  • Neither Carolina nor Indiana will be "all they can be" until the Zeller brothers hit the weight room and quit being stripped inside so often.

  • Illinois would be a lock for Big Ten first division if promising center Meyers Leonard was used properly by running offense through him down low.

  • Butler can bounce back next year if Arkansas transfer Rotnei Clarke is unleashed. Long-range bomber could become the Bulldogs' first A-A.

  • Kansas can't keep whining via caustic comments about scheduling Mizzou if the Jayhawks also won't extend similar welfare to Wichita State.

  • Is KU selfless or self-centered? It's disconcerting that the Jayhawks' freshman class was littered with marginal academic credentials.

  • UK might have still won NCAA title if Terrence Jones turned pro early. He clearly shouldn't have been selected as SEC preseason player of year.

  • Coach Cal will need to change his last name to Calicrapi if UK joins two previous outposts (UMass and Memphis) as schools vacating NCAA play.

  • Uneasy about Pitino's HOF nomination so soon after Slick Rick moonlighted as porn star satisfying his appetite in a restaurant. Did this go on at UK, too?

  • Cuonzo Martin inherited a "Rocky Top" mess from Bruce Pearl. Hope Martin doesn't get so upset he forgets what his home looks like inside.

  • A Temptations tune "Ball of Confusion" comes to mind each time Mississippi State's Renardo Sidney is tempted to get his grey matter in gear.

  • If some of brightest coaching minds were conned out of $50M by an AAU guru, then how do we expect immature teenagers to cope with such fraud?

  • The public can be fooled occasionally but UConn's conniving under Jim Calhoun claiming its roster has textbook student-athletes is laughable.

  • Frustrated fans complain about the chemistry among UConn's players but some observers wonder if any of them ever took a legit Chemistry course.

  • Andre Drummond's scoreless game for UConn vs. Columbia duplicated debut goose eggs by Tim Duncan (Alaska-Anchorage) and David Robinson (Yale).

  • Notre Dame deserves plaudits for success sans Tim Abromaitis but it stems more than anything from Big East being way down from a year ago.

  • Only three years removed from a Final Four, Villanova might be worst team this season among the six Philly universities (Big 5 plus Drexel).

  • Excluding Syracuse, the first division of the underrated Atlantic 10 Conference is as competent as the first division of the Big East.

  • Is it political correctness run amok to give Oregon State coach Craig Robinson a benefit of the doubt because he is POTUS's brother-in-law?

  • If ex-Weber State coach Ben Howland can guide UCLA to three straight Final Fours, why didn't NBA-crazed Utah lure Randy Rahe away from Weber?

  • Did you know ex-Arizona mentor Fred Snowden is only black coach to win at least 60% of 100 or more DI games decided by fewer than 6 points?

  • No way former A-A guards Mark Macon (Temple/Binghamton) & Isiah Thomas (IU/FIU) can be guardedly optimistic about their coaching prospects.

  • Eight best bets as this year's VCU are Wichita State, Saint Mary's, Creighton, Drexel, Gonzaga, Harvard, Long Beach State and Murray State.

  • Should the MEAC and SWAC de-emphasize to DII? Hampton is the only HBCU not to have at least one 20-loss season in the previous eight years.

  • OSU's Jared Sullinger is outstanding but how many millions of dollars did he cost himself by returning to college after A-A freshman year?

  • How can neither the NCAA nor elite DI conferences have guidelines in place for what penalty to enforce if a player is caught doing drugs?

  • It's difficult to follow in daddy's footsteps. There never has been a father/son combination earn All-American status for the same university.

  • Was Kevin Jones, the Big East's leading scorer and rebounder, denied conference MVP award because West Virginia is leaving for Big 12?

  • If voters knew impact of Flip Pressey, Mizzou playmaker and dad Paul would be 8th set of A-A father-son honorees rather than just All-Big 12 3rd-teamer.

  • ESPN should call its bracket prediction segment with POTUS "Audacity of Hype." Ditto for CBS interview with Clark Kellogg. Please focus on economy!

  • "Ohio," Neil Young's protest song in reaction to Kent State shootings, should be anthem for OSU/UC game as protest they don't play regularly.

  • Indiana's Branch McCracken is the only one of more than 30 All-Americans who became DI mentors to compile higher winning percentage as coach.

  • Stanford shouldn't be optimistic because no defending NIT champion advanced to an NCAA regional final since field expanded to 64 in 1985.

  • Overdosing on TV visual makes Frank Martin's glaring switch from K-State to South Carolina the most overrated coaching change in memory.

  • Never underestimate gall of boob tuber. ESPN's Doug Gottlieb thought he could assist K-State. How about starting craft at Kansas Wesleyan?

  • The grass is always greener elsewhere. An average of four coaches per year leave NCAA playoff teams since seeding was introduced in 1979.

  • Kentucky freshman phenom Anthony Davis shows there is more to game than scoring as he has lowest scoring average of any national POY in history.

  • Kentucky is only the fourth school in last 30 years atop AP poll at end of regular season to go ahead and capture the NCAA Tournament championship.

  • Despite UK's crown, California (30) moved ahead of Kentucky (29) as state with most men's national titles among all levels of four-year hoops.

  • Average of only two seniors among top seven scorers for NCAA Division I champions since field expanded to at least 64 schools in 1985.

  • Anyone implying in any way, shape or form that a college team can win a legitimate game against an NBA squad is in dire need of a brain scan.

  • Is there anything more ridiculous than national forecast for next year before recruiting is complete and undergrads finish declaring for NBA draft?