letabrotherspeak

This tournament has lost a lot of its luster. Six of the eight teams in the tourney are local teams and the two that are from out of the area are not exactly contenders in their respective regions. I would think schools would like to spend their time in holiday tournaments playing against outside competition. This is one ugly field which should see Cooper and CCH playing for the title.

I got a PDF attachment of last year's fiscal year, but for whatever reason I can't attach the PDF. UL stands to lose the most if the Arena deal is somehow reworked. I can't see the city, county or state or whoever is all involved continue to go down the road it is going. UL is making money but everywhere else it is bleeding and showing no signs of stopping.

Is the kid from Owensboro Catholic playing for Monty?

This has to be one of the shockers of the night from the Raceland Tourney.

Russell was minus three subs and one was there 6th man. Wish I could have seen this game, because the Skaggs kid is sure fun to watch.

Harrison County has a solid basketball team and it starts at the point guard position which is the head coach's son. The Breds are a strong team physically and they were aggressive in their full court and half court defense primarily in the first half. With Clark County way down, the 10th Region will be interesting to watch, but Brossart and Scott should be the top two teams in that region but Harrison will be one to watch. Holmes in the games that I have seen has not really been full court run and jump for 32 minutes, but they have been relying more on their have halfcourt man defense. They will pick up full court but will not trap first dribble or first pass as consistently as they have done in the past. They will jump a speed dribble here and there if the other team has a good point guard or depth in shooters. This is likely Coach Booher's best team in regards to playing half court defense because they can defend all positions in the half court as well as switching. As good as the Rice kid was last year, he was not the best defender and was far from physical. I have not seen much zone defense at all with this Holmes team. Holmes also has some depth at the guard spot. Glover is a good shooter off the bench and the Herndon kid is a really good on ball defender. The Pouncy kid off the bench will play solidly as well. Once Coston rounds into shape they may be one of the deepest teams at the guard spot.

If their were a perspective NBA franchise looking to move to Louisville, the biggest opponent would be UL. The current structure of the deal with the Yum Center and UL makes Mike Brown's deal with Hamilton County look fair. UL gets first rights to arena the day before, during and after a game, which greatly inhibits the availability of the arena. The Arena simply isn't bringing in money to the surrounding businesses and it is bleeding money. UL on other hand makes the profit. A NBA franchise probably would cost UL 11 million in revenue through suites and such. I mentioned that UL was like 200 million in debt but it is more like around 85 million. I dont think that Jurich wants to compete for the corporate dollar that would swing the NBA teams way. I think eventually they are going to have to rework that arena deal with UL. I would definitely go to a few games. The NBA game is so much better than the college game to watch. Its rules/officiating is way better and on down the line.

Do you think the people would support a NBA franchise? Interesting read. Why Louisville Should Top The List For An NBA Franchise - Forbes

The red on those helmets really pops. Very nice looking. Not real big on the cat scratches but the C on that red is sharp.

Sounds like there may be a civil suit in the works or in progress. Weird to see that Tuberville's wife was not cited for the incident. What was interesting to see while I googled the incident was that there is a lawsuit for fraud against Tommy Tuberville and one of his former partners. Is that case still active?

Isn't Gran up for the Arkansas State job?

Heard there were members of the new UK football staff in attendance to see Barker. Did he play?

I think this style is in Max Smith's wheelhouse, plus it will be fun to watch the Cats operate out of some pistol action.

It's a good safe hire for UC. It may look like an opportunity for some stability and if that is the case then that is good for the program. As for UK, I think they were just looking for someone younger and who brought some energy and life to the program. Petrino's name is surfacing at WKU.

Tuberville's wife ran a red light last year, in Lubbock, and crashed into an elderly couple resulting in injuries to the driver and the passenger. The elderly man died a few days later. I am not sure if that ever went to trial or if they were sued or whatnot but I would imagine the Tuberville's won't miss Lubbock. Tuberville tried to get involved with the UK job. This kind of flips with Jones. Concerns about Jones heading south and Tuberville heading north. Safe hire for UC.

The public debt is what is killing the arena. It simply isn't producing the tax revenue that some had forecasted for the surrounding area. UL may profit but the city is getting fleeced.

Top ten job is laughable but pandering to the masses. Great for Strong to get his. They have hopped from one dying conference to another one that is showing cracks and is in the 5th best position of all the conferences. Tennessee is the one that botched this deal, they should have pitted Strong against another candidate and forced his hand. Then Strong would have had to make a move without upping his demands/money. Tennessee was never getting Gruden. Gruden already nets about 4 million from ESPN for his gig. Gundy was a long shot... In essence the Vols AD didn't play his cards right and lost Strong in my opinion, but not operating from a point of strength. I have heard that UL is roughly 250 million in the red. Any truth to this? I don't think it will be much longer until the state/city reexamines the Yum Center contract.

If he is around 4 million which some are reporting that is just crazy. The guy hasn't beaten a top 25 team in his time at UL, I don't think. If they are in the Big East next year, they won't play for a national title and pretty doubtful he will challenge for one in the ACC. Massive overpay.

If he is getting paid in excess of over 4 million a year, that is crazy and UL has overpaid big time. Thamel and Forde are tight with Jurich and coaches.

Montgomery getting a kid from Owensboro Catholic, mid year?

The Holmes and Newport game was a knife fight in the post. Physical as heck, I thought. They need to watch for three things to clean the game up in my opinion. 1. Handchecking, especially on drives. 2. Off ball physicality. Including the bumping and grabbing of cutters and screening. 3. Hand use in the post. Guy playing post defense should not be allowed to put his hands in the back of the offensive post player. Allow the arm bar, but don't allow hands which can allow a kid to be steered in the post.

UK took a shot at a fellow from Valdosta State. How did that turn out? GT, do you think Jones is totally out of the running at UK? Are his sights set on something bigger?

UL should have beaten UConn, but if you look at UL's body of work their only real win was beating UC in OT. This is a team that very easily could be 6-5. I think the gaudy record tended to inflate their actual ability. They squeaked out wins against UNC, FIU, USF and Southern Miss and got crushed by Syracuse. To their credit, they won those games with the exception of Syracuse, but in general I think they are not as good as their record indicates.

I keep hearing Butch Jones is a real possibility.

I would think Vandy's James Franklin will be a big target for NC State.