Sunday, June 19, 2011

Harris Thrives; IU Makes Money; Calipari Win Total Drops

In case you’ve forgotten, Gary Harris is a basketball stud.

The latest example comes from the NPBA Top 100 Camp in Virginia. Going against the best players in America from the Class of 2012, Harris led his team to the championship by scoring the game winning basket in the final two seconds of the title game. Along the way he averaged 12.4 points, which was the eighth-best total at the camp.

The Hamilton Southeastern standout continues to be recruited by Indiana and Purdue, among others.

Harris was not the best player in Virginia -- at least in the minds of those who voted on it. Iowa’s Adam Woodbury was the camp MVP while Yogi Ferrell, who has committed to IU, was the Most Outstanding Playoff Performer by virtue of his passing and running the offensive show.

Another player the Hoosiers are looking at, Mitch McGary, averaged 12.3 points, the ninth-best total at the camp. He was active and aggressive, and is the poster child for the benefits of spending a year in prep school -- at least from an academic and athletic standpoint.

While IU coach Tom Crean could use Harris and McGary, he absolutely needs a true point guard to handle his attack-the-rim offense. The Hoosiers haven’t had one in Crean’s first three seasons, and likely won’t have one this coming season. However, that changes once Ferrell arrives in the fall of 2012. He didn’t have a great week during the Indiana Senior All-Stars against the Junior All-Stars, but his top-100 Camp performance showed what he can do, and that is a very good sign.

IU will need all of that, and a lot more, to return to national relevance.


*****


We know that universities across the country are losing money on athletics. Specifically, 206 NCAA Division I public schools lost money. We also know, courtesy of USA Today and the NCAA, that one of those universities is NOT Indiana.

IU is one of 22 public universities at the Division I level whose athletic departments made money.

The Hoosiers made a $1.1 million profit, which is a dramatic turnaround from where it was about six years ago. A LOT of this was due to the Big Ten Network, which continues to be a huge moneymaker.

Purdue also made money, at $3.3 million.

The Big Ten had more athletic departments make money than any other conference. Again, the Big Ten Network is the major reason. Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Iowa were among those 22 departments with surplusses.

The report only included athletic departments that didn’t get money from the school or government, and didn’t use student fees.

The biggest moneymaker was Oregon at $41.8 million (see what all those cool green and yellow color combinations can do). Alabama was second at $26.6 million. Texas had the most revenue ($143.5 million -- about twice what IU pulled in) and the most expenses ($130.4 million). It also is set to have its own TV network, so that revenue number is sure to rise.

*****

So how many college basketball coaching victories does John Calipari have?

For now, at least, it’s 467.

Even Kentucky, Calipari’s employer, has bought into the NCAA ruling that 42 of his victories from Memphis and Massachusetts were vacated because of NCAA violations. Calipari wasn’t found to be at fault for issues involving former players Marcus Camby and Derrick Rose, but the NCAA still vacated the wins in which those guys played.

The NCAA asked Kentucky to admit it publicly screwed up when it honored Calipari for his 500th victory when the Wildcats beat Florida last Feb. 26. After a disagreement, UK officials agreed to adjust their records to match that of the NCAA.

There is a time to fight the NCAA and a time to concede. This was concession time.

What isn’t vacated or conceded is Kentucky’s appearance in the Final Four last spring. That was the Wildcats’ first trip to the event since 1998.

A cynic could say that Calipari's other two Final Four appearances were wiped off the books because of those NCAA violations. A cynic could say that. We're just saying.

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