GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – In men’s college basketball, an ongoing debate I love to talk about is what programs are considered blue bloods? Most people think Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Kansas fit that bill…You might add or subtract some yourself like maybe a UConn. Florida is not one of those, even though it is the defending national champion. But I absolutely love what Coach Todd Golden is doing to bring the gators to that point.
To keep the momentum going after winning the title, Golden has gone into the portal again to obtain talent, and he was fortunate some of his big men decided to come back to school for another year. That puts the Gators squarely in the conversation for another nice year and perhaps another run at a title. But if you want to be a national brand, if you want to be recognized as one of the top programs in the country, you have to play a national non-conference schedule, and the Gators are doing just that.
How about starting the season in November against Arizona, then playing either Providence, TCU or Wisconsin in a tournament and then in December, visiting Duke and then taking on u conn. That my friends gets you nationally noticed, that keeps you out there in the national spotlight as the defending champs. More to come on the schedule but you have to love what’s been done so far.
One basketball team that certainly seemed to have no clue as to what they were doing were my New York Knicks when they fired Coach Tom Thibodeau despite him leading the team to the conference finals for the first time in like 20 years. Normally, when you fire a coach, a team loses…Not the case with the knicks. Normally when you fire a coach, you have a list of candidates already selected to replace him, not so with my Knicks. Team after team repeatedly turned down New York’s request to speak to their coaches, and now the knickerbockers are left scrambling to find somebody to coach the team. Oh, and by the way, that coach will be hired knowing the previous coach got canned after going to the conference final so would you want to coach there knowing that? Last time they won a championship…1973…I was in college then.
The ink on the house settlement that will pay current and former athletes was barely dry when it was announced there were challenges to the agreement, specifically concerning title ix. Eight former female athletes filed the appeal, saying they would not receive their fair share of back pay from the 2.8 billion dollars allotted. The title ix appeal will not affect future revenue sharing plans, but it could delay the $2.8B back payment process for college athletes from 2016-2024 that opted into the settlement. But revenue sharing payments to current athletes are scheduled to begin on July 1st. Confused? You’re not the only one.
Finally, hope all you dads out there had a great Father’s Day…I know I did! I’m Steve Russell, that’s the Russell Report!
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