| | The players might not be paying much attention in the classroom, but I tell you, being a college basketball fan is quite a learning experience.
Take the grouse, for example. Did anyone give what the dictionary describes as a "game bird with a round, plump body" much thought until Bob Knight mistook a hunting partner for one and peppered him with buckshot? The Audubon Society might disagree, but I say we owe The General a debt of thanks for educating us on this underrated fowl.
I had previously believed that the only grouse associated with Knight were Indiana fans tired of seeing the Hoosiers eliminated in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
So it is in the spirit of edification that I offer a list of other things we will learn this basketball season:
We will learn how creative Big Ten students are in lampooning The Grouse Hunter when the Hoosiers visit enemy arenas. (The prediction: Look for lots of ketchup-stained camo in the stands.)
|  | | Bobby Cremins needs to win at Georgia Tech or he might learn what it's like not to have a job. |
We will learn how much rookie head coaches Quin Snyder of Missouri, Matt Doherty of Notre Dame and Tom Crean of Marquette learned sitting next to Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams and Tom Izzo the past several years. (The prediction: This will be one of the great classes of rookie coaches ever to walk the sideline.)
We will learn whether officials have any interest in calling palming ever again. (The prediction: North Carolina point guard Ed Cota will work his armpit-high dribble all year without being whistled.)
We will learn how much the simple arts of dribbling and shooting from the point guard position can improve a team. (The prediction: Cincinnati will no longer be a round-of-32 knockout now that it has freshman point Kenny Satterfield, who can be a star if convinced to occasionally pass the ball.)
We will learn whether Georgia Tech's over-indulgent patience with Bobby Cremins has finally run out. (The prediction: It will by season's end, and former UMass coach John Calipari and Florida assistant John Pelphrey will be among the replacements mentioned.)
We will discover players we'd never heard of from obscure conferences. (The prediction: We'll will find out what the Mid-American Conference already knows about T.J. and J.R., and we're not referring to Thomas Jefferson and J.R. Ewing. For those scoring at home, that's T.J. Lux of Northern Illinois and JR VanHoose of Marshall, both double-doubles waiting to happen.)
We will learn how much Billy Donovan learned from Rick Pitino about keeping a roster full of hamburger All-Americans happy. (The prediction: The Gators won't leave the top 10 all season.)
We will learn that some players seem to never run out of eligibility. (The prediction: Purdue's Brian Cardinal, at long last a senior, will admit that he was indeed a little-used sub on the Boilermakers' 1980 Final Four team. And the 1969 Final Four team as well.)
We will learn whether a pair of polysyllabic stars of March from out West can duplicate last year's feats. (The prediction: Matt Santangelo of Gonzaga and Harold Arceneaux of Weber State will vie to be this year's Wally Szczerbiak.)
We will learn exactly how chilly the relationship has become between Knight and one of his former stars, new Iowa coach Steve Alford. (The prediction: Duck, Steve! Bob's got a gun!)
We will learn exactly how good the ACT tutoring is out West and how slow the NCAA clearinghouse is in getting the mysterious Nigerians eligible at Louisville and Miami, Fla. (The prediction: They won't be in uniform until next November.)
We will learn which of last year's surprise teams were legit. (The prediction: Auburn and St. John's will be good again, with the Tigers threatening to crash the Final Four again.)
|
We will learn exactly how chilly the relationship
has become between Knight and one of his former stars, new
Iowa coach Steve Alford. (The prediction: Duck, Steve! Bob's got
a gun!) |
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|
We will reacquaint ourselves with familiar faces in new places. (The prediction: Dan Monson and Alford will start slow but finish fast at Minnesota and Iowa, respectively, and Jim Harrick will wonder why everybody in Georgia cares more about football recruiting than watching his Bulldogs.)
We will learn how Coach Gut reacts to a Gut Check season. (The prediction: Bill Guthridge's Tar Heels are as talented as any team in the country and will be in the national title mix. Or else.)
We will learn that the best players in the game play the point. (The prediction: Khalid El-Amin, Scoonie Penn and -- once he becomes healthy -- Mateen Cleaves will have their teams pointed toward return trips to the Final Four.)
We will learn which programs are rising. (The prediction: Hello again, North Carolina State. Welcome back, Illinois. Good to see you again, Virginia.)
We will learn which programs are falling. (The prediction: Didn't you used to be Memphis? South Carolina? The Atlantic 10?)
We will learn why nobody wants to schedule Detroit and Murray State. (The prediction: Both will nibble at the fringe of the Top 25 all year.)
We will be amazed by some new faces. (The prediction: Watch Kentucky's Keith Bogans attack, Arizona's Jason Gardner penetrate and Florida's Donnell Harvey rebound -- in fact, watching Harvey and Auburn's Chris Porter go to war on the glass should be must-see TV on Feb. 27.)
We will be amazed by the improvement of some of last year's new faces. (The prediction: Temple's Mark Karcher, Kansas' Jeff Boschee, and UCLA's Jerome Moiso are primed to go off.)
We will learn how coaches handle a season on the chopping block. (The prediction: Eddie Fogler will find a way to become competitive at South Carolina; John Brady will flop at LSU.)
We will learn who makes it to Indy for the 2000 Final Four. (The prediction: Michigan State, Ohio State, Florida and Temple.)
We will learn who cuts down the nets that Monday night. (The prediction: Michigan State.)
And we will learn that although it won't be grouse season in the spring in Indiana, all visitors to the Hoosier state are reminded to be on the lookout for a portly man in a red sweater toting a shotgun.
Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. | |
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Projecting the field of 64
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