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What's in Keady's fridge?
Posted: Wednesday October 27, 1999 12:23 PM
Sports Illustrated staff writer Grant Wahl will answer your questions every Tuesday during the college basketball season. Click here to send him a question. NEW YORK -- I'm finally home, but it was a long week on the road: Missouri to DePaul to Illinois to Purdue to Kansas to Texas. (It's always a trip, so to speak, trekking to a new college every day.) Here, based on what I saw, are the only pre-season awards worth talking about. BEST-STOCKED FRIDGE: Coach Gene Keady, Purdue. Who would devote an entire room to soda pop? Keady would. His refrigerator had at least 300 cans of Coke. Another 600 were stacked up outside. "Coach, you got enough pop in here?" I asked. Keady: "I don't know, Grant. It seems like everybody in the athletic department is always coming in here looking for more." BIGGEST BADASS: Coach Rick Barnes, Texas. Don't even think about parking in Barnes's spot beneath the UT football stadium. Somebody made that mistake last Friday, and Barnes wedged his Suburban right in there behind 'em. WORST JINX: That would be me. A couple of hours after I interviewed DePaul's Lance Williams, he broke his foot in practice. He's out 6-8 weeks. BEST INTERVIEW (PLAYER): Brian Cardinal, Purdue. Cardinal, the Boilermakers' fifth-year (10th year?) senior, supplies the following headline: CITIZEN PAIN NOT ON ROGAINE. The guy's starting to lose it up top, so I had to ask: Is he using any hair-growth products? "Nope," he shrugs. "I'm okay with [going bald]. My father's thinning. Both my grandfathers are thin. They're bald. You're bald. I go places and get harassed about it. The only problem is, once I start sweating it shows up on TV." Nice to know that's what Cardinal's actually thinking about the next time you see him shooting a free throw. BEST INTERVIEW (COACH): Keady Unplugged. Mike Robinson will start for the Boilers this year "as long as he doesn't f--- up." Later: "We got rid of some guys with attitudes that weren't conducive to the company." About his call-in show: "I hate that show! Everyone just calls in to take a shot at me. I wish we'd talk about stuff like auto racing. Now that would be fun." WORST MEAL: Waffle House, Olathe, Kans. There's always a tough crowd when you hit the House at 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday night, but this time was a doozy. Our waitress was on her first shift ever, and the cook was nowhere to be found. Another waitress was slinging hash instead, and when a customer took a completely raw pork chop to the counter, my buddy Paul and I took one look at our just-delivered, runny omelettes and got outta Dodge. BEST MEAL: University of Texas Club. Kudos to Barnes, the only coach all week who dared to have lunch with me. Shrimp, clam chowder, broiled chicken, followed by strawberries for dessert (I'm starting to sound like Peter King... ). Let's just say it was better than Waffle House. RUNNER-UP: Quinton's, Lawrence, Kans. The best chili in town, enjoyed with the Kansas sports information folks ( Dean, Janay and Mitch ), the friendliest around. BEST B.S.-er: Coach Pat Kennedy, DePaul. My back still hurts from being slapped so hard. When I told Kennedy I was headed to see his Illinois (and former Florida) recruiting rival Lon Kruger, he had this to say: "I love Lon." Later Kennedy's tune changed: "Why don't you ask Lon why he won't schedule us?" BEST STORY: Barnes, who pulled his son Nick, 15, out of school to go see the Ryder Cup with him last month. Barnes wrote a note saying Nick was "sick", which worked out fine until the following week's Sports Illustrated came out with a photo of Sergio Garcia ... and a very healthy Nick Barnes, his head sticking out from under the bush beside Garcia. Oh, sorry. I almost forgot about the mailbag. ... What are your thoughts on what this season holds for Duke basketball in the
wake of the tradition-breaking early exits of Brand, Avery and Maggette? (I
don't count the no-talent Burgess). They've got a lot of young players, but a
ton of talent as well.
With all the talk about the guys who left, few people seem to remember three things: 1) Duke still has Chris Carrawell and Shane Battier. While Carrawell is a fiery competitor, Battier is a defensive wonder who showed last year that he can if necessary. 2) The Blue Devils have the best recruiting class in the country, led by point guard Jason Williams, swingman Mike Dunleavy, Jr. and strongman Carlos Boozer . Williams, taking over for William Avery, will be the key, and I think he's ready. 3) Mike Krzyzewski is a pretty decent coach, remember? North Carolina is overhyped. It says here that the Blue Devils will win the ACC. With their surprise finish in last year's Big Ten tournament, and considering
no key member of that team graduated, what is the outlook for Illinois this year
-- and the next
few?
There's so much young talent at Illinois that Lon Kruger's only concern may be keeping everybody happy. The Illini welcome all their starters back from last year's Big Ten tournament finalist and -- here's what's scary -- three McDonald's All-American newcomers: freshman point guard Frank Williams, freshman forward Brian Cook (a 6'10" ballhandler) and tough forward Marcus Griffin, last year's Division II juco player of the year. Everyone's comparing Illinois to Ohio State, which went from last place in the Big Ten to the Final Four, which is probably unfair. But I could see the Illini finishing second or third in the conference and making a tournament run. A lot will depend on whether Williams is as good as advertised at the point, but this team is only going to get better. My question is about Kansas and its chances this season. Last year, as
evidenced in the Kentucky-Kansas tournament game, the coaches basically told
Jeff Boschee, "It's your team and your ball." Will the focus this year
be on him to distribute to everyone, or will the team center around Eric
Chenowith (no pun intended)? While I think they're definitely top 15, I'd also
consider them "one year
away."
When I asked Roy Williams last week if he considers the Jayhawks to be Boschee's team or Chenowith's team, his first response was, "Well, I guess it's my team." Even so, he followed up by saying that Kansas will try to feed the ball to the post a lot more this season after last year's team scored fewer points (72..1) and shot worse (44.8%) than any team in Williams' 11 years at KU. Kansas is probably a year away from being a national title contender, but that may come sooner than you think. Chenowith (a junior) and Boschee (a sophomore) are a dangerous inside-outside threat, Kenny Gregory has the talent (if healthy) to be a slippery slasher and Luke Axtell is a deadeye outside shooter. Meanwhile, Williams has so much confidence in his freshmen (forwards Drew Gooden and Nick Collison and guard Kirk Hinrich ) that he says he may play all three at once Look for Kansas to pull away in the Big 12. How they'll do in the tournament is (as always with this team) impossible to predict. Gonzaga made it to the Elite Eight, but there is barely any mention of it or
any of its players. Why is
that?
Not to worry, Johnnie, I'll give your Zags some love. If you ask me, former coach Dan Monson should have stayed in Spokane another year and nixed Minnesota. Something better would have come along, and he could have spent another year with a fun team that welcomes back Matt Santangelo, Richie Frahm and Casey Calvary. But Monson's loss is new skipper Mark Few 's gain, and the Zags obviously have tons of experience after last year's near-Final Four run. Are they a Top10 team? I'd put them there. My beloved Jayhawks play Princeton in December in Lawrence. Which team do you see winning that game? -- Helen Wahl, Green Valley, Ariz. Geez, Mom, this is embarrassing. Can't you just call me on the phone? (But in case you need to reach your bookie ahead of time, I'll go with Kansas by 15 in this alma mater vs. home-state team battle.) That's all, folks. See you next week.
Click here to send your college basketball question to Grant Wahl.
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