Does loyalty still exist in college basketball? Certainly not under traditional standards.
John Calipari, after a modestly successful venture to the Sweet Sixteen with the Memphis Tigers (predicted by some to be the national champions of college basketball), unexpectedly bolted for Kentucky after Billy Gillispie failed to make the NCAA tournament with the Wildcats and was fired. Calipari received an eight-year, $31.65-million contract, replete with such perks as a country club membership, two cars, and about $1.5 million more per year in salary than Memphis was paying him.
The deal gets sweeter, however, when prized recruits Xavier Henry and DeMarcus Cousins – both top-3 prospects, according to Rivals.com, in the class of 2009 and heavy Memphis leans – announced plans to open up recruitment and include Kentucky into the fold. This says nothing about guard Tyreke Evans, who has declared his eligibility for the NBA draft and will likely hear his name called among the first 15 picks this June.
Of course, this works both ways. Consider the case of the Arizona Wildcats, who hired Xavier’s Sean Miller to be the fourth coach of the program in four years. It was a miracle that Russ Pennell, who served the role of interim head coach last season, had made it to the Sweet Sixteen this year with the squad he inherited; Arizona, since the retirement of Lute Olson, has become little more than an NBA launching pad, with players such as Jerryd Bayless and Marcus Williams making the leap early in their young careers.
Miller will have a difficult time building the Wildcats into a consistent contender. The Wildcats have lost out on young players Brandon Jennings (who will enter the draft after playing one season with Lottomatico Roma in the Italian League), Jeff Withey (transferred to Kansas after one year) and Abdul Gaddy (committed to Washington). They may also lose stars Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger to the NBA draft.
Many of Arizona’s players have understandably expressed little loyalty toward their school, and with good reason. These days, loyalty is tied to the college coach. Or even the AAU coach. Yahoo! Sports writers Josh Peter and Dan Wetzel wrote a piece that ran on March 11 called “Agents and AAU: Unrequited Love,” which centered around former UCLA and current Minnesota forward/center Kevin Love and his interactions with his old AAU coach, who was bought and paid for by a player agency and promised Love as a future client. Hiring the star recruit’s AAU coach to a position within the program is seemingly the newest, hottest recruiting trend in college basketball.
Then consider Oregon, where loyalty is certainly not directed toward the head coach of the program. Numerous reports came out during the NCAA tournament that Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny had offered the job of head basketball coach to, at the very least, Gonzaga head coach Mark Few while Ernie Kent was still well under contract. Few, an Oregon alumnus and Creswell native, declined Kilkenny’s offer.
What ultimately saved Kent in my eyes is the verbal commitment of Jamil Wilson, a 6-foot-7 small forward from Horlick High School in Racine, Wisc. The 93rd-ranked prospect by Rivals, Wilson is considered a long, athletic wing with a very high ceiling, and on paper he looks like an excellent complement to Oregon’s other commitments, South Medford forward E.J. Singler and junior college forward Jeremy Jacob.
Kent and assistant coach Kenny Payne are notorious for valuable connections in the recruiting world, and Wilson’s recruitment – rumor has it that notorious basketball power broker William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley may have presided over Oregon’s courtship – was the icing on the cake. Whether Kilkenny actually likes Kent, I can’t say, but he does understand where loyalty lies in college basketball and how to play the game to win. Credit Kilkenny for his shrewdness in light of a divisive situation.
The Emerald ran the headline “KENT’S BACK*” with the story of his remaining with the team and the hiring of former Arizona assistant Mike Dunlap as associate head coach. The asterisk, of course, implied that Ernie’s grip on the team was loosened in favor of the athletic department, should anything arise. However, in the wake of an unfortunate incident involving Josh Crittle, Michael Dunigan, Teondre Williams and the inexplicably poor decision to fire BB guns at waterfowl around midnight at Alton Baker Park, Kilkenny may have found his hands tied. These players must be punished for their actions, but Kilkenny could never risk a punishment in conjunction with Kent’s firing, as that would surely cause all three players to transfer.
Oregon’s bright basketball future is summarily dimmed, and fans and their spending money will flee Mac Court and Matt Court in droves. Therein lies the importance of loyalty.
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