Pat Forde was busy today. First, he hosted a chat and answered some questions. Villanova got some play.
Bennett (Reading PA): Is the big east better than the big ten even though Lunardi has more from the big ten?
Pat Forde: Bennett: I would say the Big East is approximately 7,000 times better than the Big Ten. Maybe 8,000. Not to say the Big Ten is terrible, but there’s no way it’s as good as the Big East. I see one Final Four caliber team in the Ten (Michigan State) and four in the East (Pitt, UL, UConn and Nova).
So Forde likes ‘Nova as a potential Final Four team, eh? I’m on board with that. I’ll wait to get too excited. I want to see a draw first. Let’s just say the last Bracketology I saw had us with North Carolina and Oklahoma, and that kind of freaked me out.
Forde later released his weekly Forde Minutes column. In the column, he picked Jay Wright for his BIG EAST Coach of the Year.
“COY: Jay Wright, Villanova (17). The Minutes loved what Buzz Williams did in his first year in charge at Marquette, but Wright gets the nod for bringing his team on strong at the end and earning a top-four seed for the tournament.”
Forde also picks Terrence Williams as the POY (seriously Pat?), and Devin Ebanks as the FOY (underrated, but Mike Rosario deserved it). He thinks Pittsburgh will win the BET.
I actually enjoy Forde’s opinions on basketball. His football columns are another story.
March 11, 2009
Forde’s nod to Williams is not strange given his Kentucky roots. I thought Sam-Sam deserved the FOY, but wouldn’t argue with Ebanks (but I would with Rosario — see the blog roll over at East Coast Bias). Not going to argue with Coach Wright’s COY (thought it would go to Keno Davis…), in fact I am very happy he won, along with Cunningham, Reynolds and Fisher. Those guys put in a heck of a season.
I like Forde’s writing style, but was very non-plused with his rationalization of Tubby Smith’s treatment and subsequent “flight” from Lexington. Tubby may have been reserved, but that does not qualify as a fatal character flaw. And the notion that Kentucky fans have a “right” to be unrealistically demanding on their basketball coaches because they are…well, Kentucky is petty. The last 4 coaches have either fled the jurisdiction, walked away from basketball altogether or cheated like there was no tomorrow (and go caught) because they could think of no other way to meet expectations. Faced with those outcomes (none particularly good) I would think Forde would wake up and realize Kentucky is not every D1 coaches dream job. And the conduct/expectations of the Blue Grass fans has a lot to do with that. Donovan and Self would not even take an interview in the last go ’round.