THE FINAL SAY
By Zach McCrite
The Local College Hoops Scene Is Bonkers
What an unusual college sports landscape we’ re in right now in Kentuckiana.
Sure, pro sports chatter is primarily about the athletes. But in major, revenue-producing college athletics, the primary subject of the ire for media and fans( save for very few exceptions) is the head coach.
And in our area, we’ re in a curious spot with all of the head coaches at the basketball programs.
THE CURIOUS CASE OF ARCHIE MILLER
Let’ s start with Indiana, probably the least curious of the three within a proverbial rock’ s throw from this publication’ s readership.
Archie Miller has been given plenty of leash to work out the kinks in a program that certainly needed it. And it’ s been a work in progress, to say the least.
In fact, there have been many fans that have – more or less – allowed the first-year head coach to take massive, embarrassing losses at the friendly confines of Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Multiple losses. To other in-state teams. By 20 or more points.
Sure, between implementing a brand-new style of play and doing it with the limited talent left to him on the current roster, getting Indiana back to the perennial Top 25 team they used to be once upon a time is, of course, not an overnight process.
But, even with those disparaging losses, Hoosier fans and media alike( myself included) have treated Miller with kid gloves, taking these losses in stride, for the most part.
Of course, it’ s safe to say there has been some improvement in the group as the season has gone on. Tip of the cap, Arch.
But, I feel like, even in his charter season, Archie would be feeling a little more heat from all of us in Hoosierland if not for this little protective bubble that’ s been placed around him.
That bubble goes by the name of Romeo Langford.
As sports fans, we traffic in hope. We thrive on it. It’ s our caffeine. That hope is what keeps us coming back for more, even when success isn’ t coming at a consistent rate. It’ s our current cup of coffee.
And that current cup of“ hope coffee” is Romeo, the top high school shooting guard in the Class of 2018, making posters out of poor opposing defenders with his addictive take-him-hometo-meet-your-momma demeanor.
The kind of local celeb where you can talk to other local strangers about him, refer to him only by his first name, and both of you know to whom the other is referring.
I don’ t know where Romeo is going for his college basketball career. Neither do you( unless, of course, he surprised us all with an announcement between the time of this writing and now). But Hoosier fans are hoping it’ s IU, obviously.
And it’ s a credit to Miller that IU is even in the hunt for Romeo, especially given the substandard state of the Indiana hoops program.
My educated guess? Romeo wouldn’ t have IU in his final list of potential schools to which he’ s contemplating going to school to play basketball had Tom Crean still been the coach in Bloomington.
But Romeo’ s interest in the Hoosiers has created a protective bubble of hope around Miller. Until Romeo decides to commit to a school not named Indiana, that protective hope bubble will not fade, providing what would be harsh criticism – the kind usually reserved for coaches who receive beatdowns from powerhouses like Indiana State and Fort Wayne – from really hitting the IU coach.
And if Romeo does decide to dawn the Crimson and Cream, that protective cocoon once conceived of hope where Miller currently resides will turn into one made out of real credit( and gratitude, too).
THE CURIOUS CASE OF JOHN CALIPARI I’ m literally shocked by the way Kentucky head coach John Calipari has been acting lately.
Sure, he’ s a master of using the media to get a message across to his team( and, at times, to his recruits as well). But, this time around, he’ s been as critical of a Kentucky team as he’ s ever been as the head coach of the Wildcats, especially given the new class of freshmen he brought to Lexington, a class worthy of a top-five preseason national ranking.
John Calipari’ s success at UK has been exemplary. Final Fours, once a fleeting luxury under Tubby Smith and an impossibility under Billy Gillispie, are now damn near expected
48 EXTOL SPORTS / FEBRUARY 2018