His station is Louisville abruptly pulled the plug from their all-sports format
last month and Renshaw - who I listened to back in my college days when he was
a national guy - should land on his feet soon.
By the way, I forgot to admit that both my wife and daughter knocked me out in
Wii boxing before I left on this trip. Humiliating? Yes.
But I've always been a lover, not a fighter. OK, that's a lie, too.
PANTHERS PROVE POINT
My bad.
Now I'm sold on The Big Bad Pittsburgh Panthers.
Sometimes it's difficult to get a true read on teams in the preseason when they
aren't going up against other Top 25 clubs - as Jamie Dixon's team failed to
do.
I knew Pittsburgh once again had toughness with three guys - Levance
Fields, DeJuan Blair and Sam Young - that are about as blue-collar as it gets.
They also added Jermaine Dixon, a lock-down defender.
But it was difficult to tell where they stacked up against the upper-tier teams
because, well, the Panthers had yet to measure themselves against any of them.
Their best victory was at Florida State - a team that will likely be on the bubble come
March.
But Dixon made a valid point.
``They're all in our league," he laughed. "It's hard to play ranked teams when
one-third of them are in the Big East."
In Dixon's defense, Pittsburgh did have an open date for a game against a BCS team at Madison Square Garden. However, no one stepped up, so the Panthers instead
grabbed a non-conference home game against Siena.
It wasn't that I didn't feel as though the Panthers were capable of taking the
mantle (for now) as The Team Behind North
Carolina. However, they hadn't been battled-tested by a legitimate Final Four
contender.
Dixon's team absolutely ran away from a Georgetown club that drilled former No. 2 UConn in Hartford.
What does this, along with St. John's
win against Notre Dame, about the Big East?
It'll be filled with unpredictability.
Pittsburgh controlled the glass against a Hoyas team that needs
to find a way to get more out of their bench - especially either Julian Vaughn
or Henry Sims. Georgetown's reserves scored a total of two points and the
quartet of Vaughn, Sims and guards Jason Clark and Omar Wattad logged 25 total
minutes in the loss.
The Panthers also managed to win fairly easily despite being ineffective from
long distance (3-of-19 from beyond the arc).
``I feel good about this team," Dixon said while out recruiting in New Jersey after the game. ``This team is getting better. They
do the right thing and execute."
The Panthers, and in particular Levance Fields, are doing a nice job taking
care of the ball. Dixon said that he's seen improvement with Fields, who
missed a good chunk of last season and all of the preseason with a foot injury.
``We kept trying to see if he wanted to come out today, but he played 36
minutes and played the entire second half without coming off the floor," Dixon
said. "It's almost like playing him into shape."
VOLS BATTLE TESTED
One guy you can't ever question as far as a non-conference slate is concerned
is Tennessee's Bruce Pearl.
After losing at Kansas, Pearl's
team still has to play Gonzaga and Memphis prior to SEC play.
``I'm OK with where we're at right now," he said.
Pearl was obviously disappointed with his players lack of a
sense of urgency - especially early in the game - and their overall lack of
toughness.
While he praised Bobby Maze and admitted that there is no way the Vols are a
Top 25 team without him, he also said the junior college point guard needs to
take more pride in his defense.
``He's had a couple of pretty good defensive efforts," Pearl said. "But this wasn't one of them."
The Vols look like a team you'd hate to meet up with in a dark alley in layup
lines, but just don't play with the physical toughness.
``People forget that we lost five guys from last year and this is supposed to
be a rebuilding year," Pearl said.
True, but with success comes expectations.
RANDOM NOTES: Here's how smart Bill
Self is: When he walked out of the tunnel just minutes prior to the start of
Kansas' game against Tennessee, he shook one person's hand: Elite junior
Harrison Barnes, who was sitting in the front row behind the Jayhawks bench on
an unofficial visit. Self really is one of those guys who just "gets it". While
many coaches appear uncomfortable mixing with fans, Self is basically a fan at
heart - other than the fact that his bank account is much larger than most
these days. ... If I'm a low or mid-major athletic director in the Midwest, I'm all over bringing former Missouri State coach Barry Hinson aboard. The guy is a proven coach
and is what college basketball is all about. ... There's a perception that former
NBA guys aren't cut out to be college assistant coaches because they don't have
the work ethic. Well, Kansas assistant Danny Manning was the last one to leave the
office about 4