'Possession Arrow': Badgley<-Razook

From: Shawn Badgley
To: John Razook
Time: 11:47pm, Jan. 9

John:

How could I forget the crazy mofo known as Bob Huggins? He is now officially the most troubled and unfit mentor of young athletes in the Midwest since former Iowa State Cyclone coach Larry Eustachy blew through Columbia, Mo., kissing coeds while guzzling double-fisted Natty Lights.

After a road loss.

In a turtleneck.

Ah, but will Huggins ever have his own Marcus Pfizer or Curtis Stinson? Will his team ever become a regular-season force in a premier conference only to underachieve year after year in the NCAAs? Only time – and we know how painfully slow it must pass in Manhattan, Kan. – will tell. But you're right: It will be interesting to see what he does with that once-solid program. Those Wildcats of the Eighties and Nineties were perennial tournament teams, in spite of their exclusively purple hue.

Sorry to hear of your respiratory issues. I've emerged from my fluish agony and feel like a world-beater. Did I walk my dog tonight? Take a run? Go on a date? Build furniture? Of course not: I spent the past several hours in the prime of my life flipping back and forth between Ohio State-Wisconsin and LSU-Alabama. And it was well worth it. The Tide look really tough. Tapeworm host Glenn "Big Baby" Davis went off with, like, 24 and 17, but otherwise, 'Bama contained him and clamped down on D, which I love to see. Maybe it's finally their year. OSU did something their shitty pigskin counterparts couldn't: They got up off the mat after taking a shot to the mouth and managed a comeback, losing 72-69 after being down 16 in the second half at Madison. The Bunyanesque yet refreshingly aboriginal Greg Oden barely even touched the ball until the five-minute mark, and junior Jamar Butler missed a mildly contested three at the buzzer. Ohio State is too NBA for my taste: Thad Matta recruited studs who rely on going one-on-one, and they're defensively dependent on Oden's shot-blocking skills. They're dangerous, though, and have lost only three games now, all on the road: to Florida, North Carolina, and Bo Ryan's Badgers. Which basically makes them undefeated.

Speaking of which, Clemson beat N.C. State and is 17-0. I've yet to see them play, but Carolina is coming up on their schedule. Can't wait to watch that. Did I ever tell you Tyler Hansborough is from the lake town in which I spent several summertime stretches with my grandparents? Poplar Bluff, Mo. Place was a bit of a shithole, as I recall, but a hoops hotbed. Not really. More like a fishing hotbed. I also meant to tell you that I was interviewed on ABC/ESPN radio about Bobby Knight making contact with that kid's chin a couple of months ago. I have no idea why they called the Chronicle for comment, but they did, and I ended up talking for three five-minute increments to some overeducated intern from Jersey City or wherever who couldn't figure out his tape recorder. "Sorry, Mr. Badgley, but can we go over that again? Just say the exact same things." Well, the exact same things were essentially this: Anybody who's that competitive in an early-season game against Gardner-Webb – Gardner-Webb – probably has what it takes to win in this grand old game, wouldn't you say? This is not throwing a chair at cheerleaders or choking somebody – both excusable, anyway, if you ask me – it's getting a player's attention. Michael Prince and his parents said it was no big deal. And Lubbock loves the guy: He's actually tricking otherwise sensible and street-smart student-athletes into spending significant time there, isn't he? Not exactly a destination college town, is it? Above all, the man wears an auto-parts-store logo on his sweater. He's turned the campus into a company town or something. I love it.

Old news, but, yeah, that's what I said. I love Knight. He's a little unhinged, but he ushered the motion offense into the modern era. Come on! Of course, it was Henry Iba, another mean son of a bitch, who invented it. (This post's theme of asshole coaches is a happy accident, I can assure you.) One thing I'd like to do before I die is see a game at Gallagher-Iba in Stillwater. Get on some tickets for us, would you, John? Oklahoma State's injury woes notwithstanding, I still believe they'd be worth the price of admission. You're not going to find too many teams that go much deeper than seven. Certainly not when it comes to tournament time. One big exception? The loaded squad they square off against tomorrow just a few hours before your band proceeds to sonically alienate family, friends, and upward of a dozen tourists and other scattered passersby: Kansas.

Good luck with all of that, pal.

:sb

Updates: Host Kansas crushed Oklahoma State by 30, as the Pokes apparently neglected to implement the dunk defense into their playbook; as of tonight, both the Jayhawks and the Tar Heels of UNC, who dispatched of Virginia with cold powder-blue efficiency, look unstoppable; and Texas had no trouble with Mizzou at the Erwin Center. When the Tiger bench erupted with unbridled enthusiasm after cutting the Horns' edge to 15 with seven minutes to go, you could almost hear analyst and legendary coach "Stormin'" Norm Stewart's eyes roll.