Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Lester Quinones wants you to know he’ll visit IU on April 24-26, and he wants you to turn him up

I don’t like hypists, and Lester Quinones appears to be a hypist.  The above tweet from Quinones represents a pre-college basketball player who’s quite fond of himself.

Services like 247 Sports and ESPN have Quinones ranked anywhere between 60th and 90th in the 2019 high school class.  He’s been offered by schools like Illinois, Xavier, Maryland, Memphis, and Ohio State.

Because of the graduations of Juwan Morgan and Evan Fitzner, the early NBA entry of Romeo Langford, and the transfers of Jake Forrester and Clifton Moore, Indiana has three scholarships to play with.

Quinones is supposed to be a very good shooter, and Indiana needs shooting.  He might fit exceptionally well.

I have a problem with self-important people trying to cash checks their talent has yet to demonstrate an ability to cover.  Doesn’t matter the business or age of the braggart.  Chest thumping bugs me, and Quinones seems a chest thumper.

Indiana hasn’t been consistently great for a quarter century, but it’s prouder than a program that needs a high school kid – no matter how good – to save it.

The image to the left is from his Twitter profile.  Two thoughts immediately come to mind.  I’m not sure Lester knows what “Effortles” might communicate, and the crown over his pic might be just a bit much.

I like confidence – quiet confidence.  The louder the confidence, the more likely it reps insecurity instead of true belief in one’s self.

I need to allow for the possibility that Quinones is a really good kid with a little idle time and a flair for driving traffic to his Twitter feed.  After all, here I am carping about a kid who projects as a good role player.  Maybe he’s just clever and mischievous, and I’m biting at the bait.

My advice to him would be to backpedal from he self-proclaimed status as a monster recruit.  Stay under the radar until your game is sharp enough to make it impossible.  Enjoy being a kid.  Don’t rush to fame because it can suck.

Knowing that IU fans will not hold a parade if you commit.  At Indiana, parades are for National Champions.  Just because 32 years have passed since the last one doesn’t mean Hoosiers have forgotten who they are.

Hang a banner, and then put a crown on top of the entire roster.

This is Indiana, you know.

Problem with Romeo Langford’s legacy at Indiana is we don’t know him – at all

Like most people who would rather listen than talk, Romeo Langford’s mouth is usually closed.

Romeo Langford is an enigma.  He’s inscrutable.  Mysterious.

On the basketball court, he has very clever hands around the basket, silky smooth movement, and he’s become an improved defender.  His shooting lacks consistency, but averaged 16 points per game.  We saw all of what Romeo with our own eyes.

What we never saw or heard was the who, so when rumors started to waft around Bloomington about Romeo hitting on a teammate’s girlfriend, getting punching by another teammate, sandbagging during the NIT because of a supposed back injury, and now having an injured thumb surgically repaired, we had no rational reason to doubt them.

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That’s the problem with shielding IU’s basketball team from the media.  No one gets a significant look at players to get a true look at their personalities.

Is Romeo capable of hitting on a teammate’s girlfriend?  We don’t know, but he sure wouldn’t be the first.  Nor would Romeo be the first guy punched by a teammate.  Maybe he got hit, and maybe he deserved it.  Maybe he didn’t get hit – or deserve it.  Maybe the girlfriend hit on Romeo?  Who knows?

As for the back injury – I believe it was real because I’ve watched him love playing the game since he was an eighth grader in New Albany.  I cannot imagine he would choose to sit rather than ball.  As for the thumb, IU has said that he had the surgery?

I spent an hour talking to Romeo when he was a junior at New Albany High School about the media and what we represent.  The conversation was a one-way lecture about how every microphone represents thousands of people, if not millions. Every microphone allows the person talking to brand himself.

I did all the talking because Romeo is a much better listener than talker.

He made constant eye contact, and when I asked him questions, he responded succinctly.  When I left New Albany that day, I had no greater understanding of who Romeo is than when I met him the first time.

My belief is that Romeo is a good guy.  Part of that belief is built on the stories from friends in New Albany who know him.  Part of it is hoping the young man’s greatest sin is his desire to share himself with a very tight circle of friends.

The lesson for Romeo and those who follow him into the Indiana Basketball fish bowl is that without an alternative, people will latch onto and believe rumors no matter how accurate they are – as long as they are interesting.

If famous people don’t take control of their brand and message, someone else will.

I should have spent more time talking to Romeo about that.

Indomitable and smiling – Indy’s Kyle Guy is a college basketball champion

Kyle Guy’s smile is a big reason Virginia won the National Championship.

Virginia won the National Championship last night, and so Kyle Guy is a champion.

Guy is a graduate of Lawrence Central in Indianapolis and alum of the Indiana Elite summer basketball program, so basketball fans in central Indiana have seen a lot of Guy over the years.

He’s the same kid as a junior, and a champion, at Virginia as he was in high school and during all those summers.  There is a joy to his game that is just different.

When Guy hits a shot, he smiles.  When a teammate hits a shot, he smiles.  There has always been a happiness to his play, and that isn’t easy.  At Lawrence Central he smiled as he took and hit big shots – same with Indiana Elite.  He missed some and made some, but he never stopped taking them.  He never allowed a miss to become a failure that might discourage him from taking the next shot.

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The grind of the relentless work can wear on a kid.  The early mornings and late nights lead to 14 hour days of school and basketball, and at some point a lot of kids lose that love of the game.

Guy has never taken himself too seriously, but he’s always taken basketball seriously.  Best known as a freshman for rocking the man-bun, now he known as the Most Outstanding Player for the champions.

Great teams need scorers, defenders, and rebounders, and Guy is good at all of those – he averaged 21 points per game over the final three games of Virginia’s run including 24 last night – but what separates the great from the good and mediocre is what Guy brings.

He is a constant communicator, always telling and showing teammates what, where, and how to do their jobs.  And he does it with enthusiasm.

During the grind of a season, a player who loves the game can get a team through some rough spots, and that’s the most important quality Guy brings to Virgina.

If you’re a parent with a kid playing basketball, think of Kyle Guy smiling while he plays.  If you do anything as a parent, nurture the love your child feels for whatever he or she does.  Treasure the smile.  Protect that smile.  That smile is the reason Guy is the player he is, and it’s a big reason Virginia is a champion this morning.

Caring around college basketball’s greed and corruption is a fool’s errand – just watch and enjoy!

Suspend your loathing for greed and corruption in college basketball tonight and enjoy the game.

College basketball is being tested by greed.

The NCAA is greedy. Coaches are greedy.  Players are greedy.  Everyone wants more.

Media money has flooded college basketball’s ecosystem, and what was once a quaint extracurricular activity among college students has exploded into a multi-billion dollar showcase of competition for coaches covetous of millions available for teaching young men basketball, and those young men who hope to get their tickets punched for the big time of the NBA.

At its best, college basketball is played at schools where NBA dreams are faint and coaches toil in near anonymity – where basketball greatness is a collective goal of brothers who toil, bleed, and sweat together for a chance to survive and advance in the NCAA Tournament.

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The worst is embodied by coaches jumping ship for another program where they can make more and more cash.  Coaches decry players getting paid because it would erode the reservoir of cash available to them.

They want control of movement – as in the likely elimination of the grad-eligible transfer rule – but they want the unfettered ability to chase cash and leave players they recruited behind.

It’s a game deeply rigged in favor of the coaches, and the players are told to enjoy their educations and shut up.

Speaking of that education, it’s curious to see the small number of student-athletes in revenue generating sports who are allowed to declare their major in a discipline that requires academic diligence.  That’s a story for another day, but check the majors of players at some of your favorite universities.  It’s not necessarily a reflection of their student-athlete’s classroom ability, but a restriction by a coach who is paid to win, not support a student’s academic ambition.

The corrective measure is long gone, so far in the deep history of college basketball (and football) that it can hardly be seen.  Coaches should always have been viewed as educators, and paid like them.

If restricting a student’s ability to earn was a great idea, why wasn’t that principle ever foisted upon coaches?  Why not give the coaches tenure and a modest professorial salary?

And if the NCAA would rather spend its time doing what it’s good at instead of forever expanding its enforcement staff, and forcing universities to add to their compliance departments, it should have told CBS, ESPN, Turner, Fox, and others to keep a significant portion of the rights fees they pay to broadcast “amateurs” throwing a synthetic leather ball through a hoop.

Sometimes, maintaining control over your product is more prudent than accepting a check with a bunch of zeroes that allows the network to exploit those you demand play for the love of the game.

The pigs are at the trough, and when pigs are invited into an ecosystem, the beauty and direction of any exploit are corrupted forever.

More is not always better, and in the case of college basketball, it’s worse – much worse.

Rick Barnes is either serious about conversations with UCLA about their job, or he’s trying to leverage his recent success at Tennessee into a payday that will leave his current players with a coach they didn’t commit to.

He might get rich coaching a bunch of different kids in Los Angeles, but who wins in that exchange other than Barnes and his heirs?

I hate to be a defeatist on the day of the National Championship game, but the players have left the locker room.  There is no unringing this bell.  The greedy will continue to get paid, players will generate wealth without proportionate compensation, and fans like us will continue to be thrilled by the games and horrified by almost everything else.

The time has come – not for action – but to throw up our hands, enjoy the games, and ignore the greed and corruption.  Getting this right is impossible.  Inertia demands unwise expansion and continued manic cash grabs.

Standing in the way of greed is like staring down a tsunami.  The water moves toward, over, and through you with indifference toward your defiance.

Time to stand down and let the greedy run wild.  If we don’t, the fun of a night like tonight will be ruined, and who wins then?

 

Of course, Romeo Langford declares for the NBA Draft – you would too #iubb

Romeo Langford is bouncing to the NBA – as he should.

Romeo Langford is opting to leave Indiana University, like all college students will at some point.

Some leave with degrees, some with masters and doctorates, others without degrees at all, but every student will leave eventually.

For Langford, that time is now because millions of dollars await him as a first round pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.

Sure, he could stick around for another year or two, refine his game, and take classes that might one day earn him a degree.  He would have a great time like most of us did at Indiana. He would also delay his acquisition of great wealth.

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If Langford is selected at the level where he is currently graded (11th overall), based upon what the 11th overall pick in the 2018 draft signed for, he will earn $3,375,360 as a rookie, and $3,952,920 in his second year.  That money is guaranteed.  The following two years, the team that drafts Langford will have an option to pay him a total of $9.6 million.

I loved my college years, and wouldn’t trade them for anything.  Well, except $7.3 million guaranteed.

Blaming Langford for agreeing to get immediately richer than hell for doing what he loves is ridiculous.  To say or tweet he would be better off if he waited another is insane.  If you would stay, you’re a better person than I.

Indiana University served Langford well as the institution where he got wiser and improved as a player, and Langford did what he could for IU despite a thumb that requires surgery and a back tweaked during the Big 10 Tournament game against Ohio State that kept him out of the NIT.

At a university that functions correctly, the student isn’t there for the school and the school isn’t there for the student.  They exist in harmony, and so it was with Langford and IU.

On both sides, the account is paid in full.

Good luck to a great kid as he becomes a very wealthy adult.

Indiana Basketball – Nothing against Jake Forrester and Clifton Moore, Hoosiers will be fine

If Forrester leaves Indiana, I wish him more moments like this.

Jake Forrester has entered the transfer portal, and IU Basketball fans are worried.

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about Indiana, but Forrester’s potential defection should not be among them.  This is equally true for Clifton Moore, a sophomore who is definitely transferring.

Nothing against Forrester or Moore, but players transfer – especially players who spent a lot of time watching games from the best seats in the house.  Of 7,100 available minutes last season, Forrester or Moore combined to spend 6,985 minutes on the bench.  Forrester and Moore won’t miss watching, and Indiana won’t miss them watching.

If Forrester rolls elsewhere, that opens another scholarship for Archie Miller to use.  Already committed are Trayce Jackson-Davis and Armaan Franklin – both Indianapolis prep stars.  That leaves three holes (assuming Romeo Langford will move on to the NBA) that can be filled by late commits or grad-eligible transfers, if Archie decides not to keep a ride or two in his pocket.

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There are also rumors that others may choose to bounce as well, but including walk-ons who have graduated or are transferring (Zach McRoberts, Quentin Taylor, and Vijay Blackmon) IU will say goodbye to at least eight players who were on the roster two weeks ago.

If you’re an Indiana fan, it’s not too early to try to project a rotation for next year.  Let’s assume former Butler Bulldog Joey Brunk pledges IU as a grad-eligible transfer.  He joins De’Ron Davis, Race Thompson, and Jackson-Davis in the front court.  Guards and wings – Rob Phinissee, Devonte Green, Justin Smith, Al Durham, and Franklin.

Maybe Damezi Anderson earns some minutes too.

That’s not too bad for a team with this level of churn, and churn is to be expected in college basketball.  There is not an Indiana recruit – or family of an Indiana recruit – who does not believe himself capable of playing in the NBA.  Patience evaporates quickly when there are only four years of eligibility to prove yourself worthy of a generous contract and lavish lifestyle.

Forrester and Moore either decided playing for someone else would be more productive or fun,  or it was communicated to them that they would not find their time in Bloomington fun or productive.  Who knows, and it doesn’t really matter.  Moore is gone with Forrester likely to follow.

That’s life in college basketball.  Players are impatient, and coaches are impatient.  Fans are impatient too – especially at IU.

My hope for IU is that Miller has pivoted toward recruiting toughness and work ethic over raw talent and length.  Indiana’s cultural identity has been lacking for a generation – and so have wins.

Not a coincidence.

Big day at Butler and Purdue as great leadership from Collier and Painter is rewarded

Butler and Barry are very fortunate to be smart enough to know they are perfect together.

Painter = Purdue just like Keady = Purdue. That continuity is why Purdue keeps rolling.

Media guys spend a lot of time ripping teams, programs, coaches, and players.  We love to laugh at failure.  It makes us feel smarter.

Not today.  Today we congratulate a couple of guys who do it right, and are being rewarded for it.

Butler AD Barry Collier has earned a five-year extension, and Purdue’s Matt Painter was named the NABC Coach of the Year.

Both announcements were made this morning and both were deserved.

Collier has built Butler into a solid Big East athletic department by adhering to the principles he used to nurture the basketball program he ran for a decade into a national power.

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Painter took a team that graduated four senior starters and began the season 6-5 to a Big 10 Championship and the Elite Eight.

Both are among the best at what they do, and it’s nice to see them rewarded in these very substantial ways.

The thing I like about both these guys is they are exactly the same privately as they are publicly.  Personal conversations with Collier and Painter go exactly the same way as interviews with them.

I went to West Lafayette to interview Painter for my radio show, and I kept him about twice as long as the amount of time I asked for.  With every answer, he prompted another two questions.  I could have talked to him for hours instead of 25 minutes.  I apologized for going long, and he said, “Hey, no problem.  Enjoyed it.  If it wasn’t with you, I’d be talking basketball with somebody else.”

No salesmanship with Painter – just good conversation about basketball.  His teams always seem to outperform its collective talent, and he is willing to make adjustments that allow them to reach their potential.  He’s a normal guy earning millions of dollars doing the thing he loves.

Collier understands coaching and leadership because as a coach he was a great leader.  He has a vision, communicates it clearly, and helps coaches make it reality.

My son was an annual participant at the Butler Basketball Camp at the end of Collier’s run as head coach.  As the camps concluded, Collier wrapped with a speech that included a promise to help any camper who ran into trouble.  He told them if they were ever put in an uncomfortable position by friends – a peer pressure situation where a bad decision was encouraged – they were to call him immediately.  He would get them out of that environment.

From someone else, that promise would have come off as hot air – an empty promise – but from Collier it was different.  There wasn’t a kid at Hinkle those afternoons that didn’t absolutely believe that Collier would be there for him if he got into a tough spot.  The moms and dads who were there even bought Collier’s sincerity.

The test of a leader is the way his lessons continue to flourish after he leaves.  Collier blew Butler for Nebraska in 2000.  The train kept rolling as though he had never left until he returned six years later to run the athletic department.

Butler is Collier and Collier is Butler.

The same can be said for Painter.  Both are great fits for their schools, and both schools are smart enough to know it.

John Calipari’s lifetime deal means Kentucky will be fun to hate for a long time

John Calipari has made Kentucky a lot of fun to hate, and for that we should all applaud the lifetime deal he will sign with Kentucky.

John Calipari secured a lifetime contract to coach basketball at Kentucky not long after UCLA offered him a pay cut to jump to the Bruins.

Already making $9.2 million per year to teach college students the game of basketball, Calipari will remain with the school for the rest of his career if both sides live up to the terms of the new deal.

Calipari claimed on his radio show the timing has nothing to do with the offer from UCLA, and that negotiations have been ongoing for awhile, “It has nothing to do with the other stuff … people call every year. They presented it to me, and I appreciate it.”

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There are four facts not in dispute about the UCLA offer and Kentucky’s desire to keep Calipari:

  • UCLA is either delusional – or operating as a negotiating arm of Team Cal.  Offering a coach like Calipari a pay cut ($48M over six years) to take over a dumpster fire like UCLA is a baffling negotiating strategy.  Given the institution’s track record of decision making, delusional is a good bet.
  • Cal is worth every penny to UK.  Unless you’ve been to Kentucky, it’s hard to appreciate the passion the state feels for the Wildcats.  The program dominates the state, and we have seen what happens when UK hires the wrong guy.  Without the branding Kentucky Basketball provides, application rates would drop significantly.  If anything, Calipari is underpaid compared to his value to the university and state.
  • The position fits Calipari better than any other.  In Los Angeles, Cal would be asked to share the spotlight with Magic, LeBron, the Rams, Dodgers, Angels, Kings, USC, and the Galaxy.  At UK, Calipari is the king of the state.  There are some rogue Louisvillians who loathe Kentucky in favor of Chris Mack’s Cardinals, but that only drives Cal’s popularity higher everywhere outside Jefferson County.  King Cal is more visible and popular than the governor – and probably more powerful (as long as he wins).
  • Cal being at Kentucky is also very good for college basketball.  Nobody is more loathed within the college basketball universe, and Kentucky is the program fans love to hate.  It’s a magical combination of hated elements that makes college hoops fun.  Fans watch teams they love and teams they hate, and no matter who you love, it’s damn likely you root with zeal against Kentucky.  Let’s face it, on Sunday afternoon, virtually no one was backing Auburn, but millions loved that they won.

So Kentuckians will continue to pack Rupp Arena to cheer for the Wildcats.  The rest of us will rage against Cal and UK.  For those convinced players should be paid, Kentucky will be an example of institutions willing to make a coach rich while compensating soon-to-be NBA players with a partial education.

Everyone who loves college hoops should be thrilled Cal will remain in Lexington.  Love him or hate him, that marriage is great for the game.

Is it time for K & Cal to move on? Should Romeo declare? Who’s transferring from IU? Where’s Brunk going?

Safe & Safe – as it should be.

Questions – lots of questions about college basketball – and for every question – an answer!

Should Mike Krzyzewski and John Calipari leave Duke and UK, change their recruiting priorities, or keep thrashing with the best talent available?

People tend to believe what they last saw, so basketball fans are losing their minds over Kentucky and Duke bowing out before the Final Four in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

Fans and media are yelling loudly about the one-and-done culture at both programs being dated and ineffective.  What we forget is both programs advanced to the Elite Eight, and have won three of the last nine championships

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Getting to the Final Four is tough.  Both games were coin flips – Duke losing 68-67 to Michigan State on a late free throw miss, and UK bowing to Auburn in overtime.  Both could have easily advanced to the Final Four, and we would be having an entirely different conversation today.

Discussions about John Calipari and Mike Krzyzewski being on some mythical hot seat at Kentucky and Duke are ludicrous.  I am no fan of Cal’s, but if I were the athletic director at Kentucky, his job would be safe – real safe.

Talk of Duke moving forward to whatever will come after Coach K is being crazy.  He’s one of the best coaches in college basketball history – if not the best.

We need to slow our hyper-judgmental roll.

When the biggest criticism of Calipari is that Kentucky hasn’t been to the Final Four since 2015 after going to four in five years.  That speaks more to his overall excellence than it decries his failings.  Coach K has been to only two Final Fours since 2004, but he won both those national championships.

There are coaches who have been fired and other who will be fired, but Calipari and Krzyzewski are on a short list of coaches who will leave their schools at the time of their choosing, unless there is a Pitino-esque scandal.

That list also includes Tom Izzo, Bill Self, John Beilein, Roy Williams, Tony Bennett, and Jay Wright.  It’s inviolate.

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How many Hoosiers are on their way out of Bloomington?

Clifton Moore and Vijay Blackmon are transferring from the Indiana Basketball program.  Moore’s scholarship will give Archie Miller some flexibility.  Blackmon was a walk-on, so no relief there.

There are rumors about Archie asking some players to leave as he accelerates the process of building a culture with a roster of guys he feels good about coaching.

I don’t like lending credence to rumors, so there are no specifics I’m willing to share.  When transfers are reported, we’ll talk about them.

Running guys off is something I don’t care for, but if players decide they are a better fit elsewhere, that’s fine by me.  They get four years of eligibility.  It’s up to them how they are invested.

We’ll know when we know.

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Should Romeo Langford return to Bloomington for his sophomore season?

Romeo Langford is dropping down mock draft boards, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be coveted when the end of June rolls around.

There is a good chance that Romeo would benefit from sticking around IU for another year, but it sets his clock for contract extensions back a year.  Whatever he might glean from another year at IU would be financially offset (and then some) by starting the clock a year later.

If Romeo’s back heals and he’s healthy for the combine, it would be a terrible business decision to play a sophomore season at IU.  If it’s about happiness, enjoying the moment, and understanding that money will be there down the road, staying in Bloomington makes sense.

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Is Joey Brunk leaving the Butler program a sign of trouble at Butler?

This is likely more about a kid who feels he would be a better fit elsewhere, and not evidence of a problem for LaVall Jordan.  Brunk leaving, coupled with Nate Fowler graduating, creates an immediate depth problem at center for the Bulldogs.

Where is Brunk going to play during his remaining two years of eligibility?  Reports are that IU and Ole Miss have come calling, and that others are interested.  Given IU’s immediate need at center, Brunk would appear to be a very solid fit there.

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Will Purdue fans ever get over Saturday night’s Elite Eight loss to Virginia?

They should be over it already.  The players will remember it like it happened yesterday for the rest of their lives.  Losses never fade for those responsible.  Fans should move on to whatever is next in their lives – a bowl of ice cream, going to a movie, or a good night’s sleep.

Does Tom Izzo yell too much?

Oh yeah.  And he’ll be yelling in Minneapolis this weekend.  People who are offended by Izzo have no idea what 18-22 year-old college students need to elevate their performance.  Accountability from an emotionally honest leader is a good thing.  It can come in a variety of forms.  Izzo’s obviously works.