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(03-26-2022 09:03 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(03-26-2022 07:16 AM)OKIcat Wrote:  

(03-25-2022 07:23 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(03-25-2022 04:08 PM)Cat-Man Wrote:  From the snip-its I've heard on the radio today from Sean Miller's press conference, it sounds as if he was taking credit for this year's Arizona team. Was saying something along the lines of he built that roster 3 years ago.

Surprised he's not taking credit for X's run in the NIT.

He hadn't thought of that yet, but now that you mentioned it I'll be listening for him to share that one too.

I just heard a replay on the early morning news of Channel 9 sports anchor Caleb Noe interviewing Miller and he didn't hesitate to ask about the AZ situation. Miller isn't particularly articulate to begin with and he pretty much glossed over that. What can he say, really? The situation got so bad that he was fired and as I understand it, a final ruling by the NCAA still hasn't been determined.

Some here continue to vilify Kelvin Sampson and I don't defend his rules violations. But what got him fired at Indiana was relatively inconsequential compared to the goings on at Arizona. X will now have to live under the shadow of a coach who will forever be labeled a cheater. They chose that path and will battle the perception, just as Houston does, as long as Miller is there.

I agree about your assessment of Kelvin Sampson. To be frank, I don't particularly like the University of Houston and so, if I jab at Sampson's history it would be purely out of animus for UH as opposed to Sampson's actual character.

Now I admit, I really despise Xavier...and Sean Miller. And part of my animus towards both of them is how Huggins and the Bearcats were tarred with the "Thuggins" tag and treated as a bunch of "gangsters" and criminals purely because of their race, the places they came from, and the fact that UC is an "urban college" while Xavier truly has recruited "gangsters" (Tu Halloway) and "goons" (Kenny Freaze) but because they play at a lilly-white, private, "Catholic," school in a suburb (as if somehow Norwood was an "exclusive" neighborhood) they get a literal pass. If UC were in the tournament, we would still have a negative perception while if Xavier were in the tournament they would be the sweetheart "Cinderella" story.

Sadly, I think the reality is this: Sean Miller's "history" will not follow him to Xavier; it will be erased (by the Xavier faithful) and forgotten...IF HE WINS. This is the reality of our current cultural situation: "My guy" can do absolutely no wrong, "Your guy" can do absolutely no right. So long as Xavier is winning with Miller at the helm, he will be painted as being an innocent little lamb and as pure as the driven snow. It won't even matter if he is caught doing something...untoward...as long as it doesn't cost the University money at least.

But if Miller's teams don't perform? Well, in three years you'll have the same X diehards digging up dirt in a quest to get rid of him and calling for Chris Mack to be brought back.

I've never understood this mentality of putting every Catholic school on some academic pedestal as if they were Georgetown. There are a lot of decidedly mediocre Catholic universities, yet I hear the announcers during Gonzaga games acting like they're...well...Georgetown when, in reality, Gonzaga has an average SAT score a hundred points lower than their in-state public flagship UW and couldn't begin to dream of matching UW as a graduate and research university. And if X made some miraculous Final Four run, I'd expect to hear the same nonsense.