Posted By: Ultimate
Ute
Date: Monday, 25 March 2002, at 3:03 p.m.
The tail (D-I hoops and basketball) is wagging the dog (academic institutions). To me, it's high time professional football and basketball minor leagues are formulated and/or upgraded in order to help lessen the hypocrisy that pervades NCAA football and basketball.
As I sat in my living room watching the raucous and exciting NCAA tourney game between Indiana and Kent State, I reflected for a moment or two longer than normal on the UK (Univ. of Kentucky) logo in the center of the court, and something flashed through my mind. A mini epiphany of sorts. Something that I and many of you have no doubt have considered or heard at other times in the past, but at this particular place in time seemed to have more relevance and merit to me personally. That thought is/was, that the behemoth that is men’s basketball at the Univ. of Kentucky is basically a "professional" team/program. When I considered and fully accepted it as such, stepped outside the bounds of denial so to speak, it helped me see it more in it's true light, and understand, and be a little less envious of their success. And likewise this also helped me see the U basketball program in its true light, and although not on the scope and scale of Kentucky, it is also professional.
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While I talking denial, it takes a serious dose of it if you're going to claim that Majerus is a good judge of talent, after his relatively high proportion of recruiting "lemons"/rejects.
You are so naive and here is why what you propose will never happen...
Its this factor, because a major factor in fundraising for most Universities now is the success of their sports teams, if they are winning all fundraising goes up and if they are losing all fundraising goes down. I assisted with a U survery of alumni that the number one way alumni identify themselves in relation to the U community is as a fan of the athletic teams, thats above being a graduate or a graduate of a department. This isn't going to change.
Second I think you give Majerus too little credit. We're not the easiest place to recruit to and he takes some chances on some projects that might have the tools. Some will some won't. We've also had alot of talent thru this program so you can't diss him for one and not give credit for the other.
Before you judge Majerus on his ability to judge talent...
Keep in mind that what Majerus expects above all else is hard work. If you are a marginal player, but give 100% on and off of the floor, he won't have any problems with you (see Rydalch, Hansen, Caton as examples). If you have incredible talent, but won't give 100% on and off of the floor, you won't stay (see Kelly Walker, Antoine Davidson, Darrol Wright).
So the biggest predictor of whether or not a player sticks with Utah is what's inside his head and heart, not how well they drain the 3.
When you think about it in the bigger context of professional sports, this makes complete sense. What separates Montana, Rice, Young, Stockton, Malone, Jordan, Bird, Magic, Jeter, Ripkin, Clements, and Gretzky from the "regular" professional players is their work ethic. In all cases, these guys had amazing talent, but what separates them from their peers is what's inside their heads.
So, a lot of these kids may have the physical talent. That's easy to judge and I think Majerus is as good as they come in judging talent. It's a lot harder to peer inside the mind of a 17-year old and determine "that kid has the mental fortitude to make it work." That's why I'm (cautiously) high about Drisdom. The kid is *already* working hard on what Majerus told him to work on, and he's still a senior in high school. That bodes *extremely* well for his future as a Ute.
U-Ute
Do we know the Utah proportion is out of whack?
I don't know whether it is or is not. I'll agree our perception right now is that it is, but I'm a data talks sort of dude. I have no idea what the average turnover is at any other school. Does anyone know, or know where to find, numbers that prove it one way or the other? Quite frankly, I'll be surprised if it doesn't turn out that on average somewhere around two players per year don't return for some reason at many schools around the country. How else would Utah have gotten Chris Burgess, Tim Frost, Ben Caton, and Travis Spivey, to name a few? I'm really curious to see some hard data.
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