As I study and analyze college basketball in early February, I look to see which teams have made improvements. Here are a few teams that have impressed me after slow starts.
Early in the season, when Maryland lost to the likes of American and Ohio University at home, you thought it would be a long campaign for Gary Williams and company. Stop the presses; anybody who knows Williams understands that when his team struggles, he is not going to sleep on the season. Instead, he goes to work and rolls up his sleeves.
The Terps coach gets the most out of his people. He will train them and work with them until he gets the maximum. Maryland was 6-6 after the loss to American, but Williams did not give up. The Terps have gone 8-2 in their last 10 games, including a shocker at North Carolina, handing the Tar Heels their first loss. The two setbacks during that stretch were a one-point defeat at Virginia Tech and a loss to a top-five Duke squad. Maryland certainly challenged Mike Krzyzewski's team in that contest.
James Gist on the inside and Greivis Vasquez outside have helped as this team has improved.
Another team that has gotten better and better as the season progressed is Kentucky. The Wildcats lost to the likes of Gardner-Webb and San Diego at Rupp Arena en route to a 5-6 start. I know they were without players like Derrick Jasper and Jodie Meeks, but there is no way Kentucky should be losing to teams like that on their own floor. Billy Gillispie did not go to the locker room to pout and sulk.
Kentucky has played with a great sense of pride and bounced back. The Wildcats got big wins over Tennessee and previously-unbeaten Vanderbilt. In the SEC, Kentucky will become more of a factor. Riding a three-game win streak, Gillispie's team is back over the .500 mark overall.
This is not necessarily a vintage year in the SEC, so I believe the fans in Lexington will have a lot to cheer about in February and March.
Speaking of the SEC, Arkansas struggled a little bit early, with setbacks to Providence and Appalachian State among the three losses prior to January. The Razorbacks showed a lot last week, blowing out Mississippi State and Florida. Rick Stansbury's team was undefeated in league play prior to the Arkansas triumph. John Pelphrey has done a solid job and his team dominated against his idol, Billy Donovan.
Behind Sonny Weems, Patrick Beverley and Gary Ervin, the Razorbacks were just too much for the Gators.
I believe that coaching is a factor in all three of these teams coming through lately. There is an old saying, "A winner never quits and a quitter never wins." How true it is in every walk of life, especially in coaching.
Dick Vitale coached the Pistons and the University of Detroit before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in December 1979. Send him a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.
