A few random thoughts for this Friday the 13th.
A couple of coaches made headlines this week on opposite ends of the country.
Dutch Fork (S.C.) High School Coach Dave Clawson declared Louisville Coach Bobby Petrino would never be allowed to recruit his high school again after Petrino asked recruit Matt Colburn to grayshirt -- when a recruit pays his own way for a semester.
Colburn committed to the Cardinals last June and never wavered during a senior season when he rushed for 1,705 yards and 27 touchdowns.
The 5-8, 186-pounder was named Mr. Football of South Carolina. He was a three-star recruit who will now attend Wake Forest.
Dutch Fork High School has about 1,958 students and a state championship cheerleading team.
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A sidenote about Petrino: A Google search of his name will produce numerous links as well as five pictures. Four of them at his news conference after the motorcycle wreck.
Come on Google, that's ancient history, move on.
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The other head coach is in the news is Beau Baldwin of the Eastern Washington Eagles, who learned his starting quarterback Vernon Adams will graduate this spring with a year of eligibility remaining and is headed to Oregon to try and fill Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota's shoes.
Baldwin informed Adams he loves him, but for the next four months he cannot use the Eagles' football facilities or work out with the team.
Good thing he loves him; hate to think how he would have tried to hamper his future if he hated him.
Granted, Eastern Washington won the Big Sky Conference, which is in the FCS, a step below FBS, in which Oregon played for the National Championship last month.
Adams, 6-0, passed for 10,438 yards and 110 touchdowns in his 3 seasons with the Eagles. He is a two-time Big Sky Player of the Year.
It is easy to see why Baldwin would be disappointed for himself, and even his team, but Adams will graduate and will have a chance to play on college football's biggest stage.
Again, it is a good thing he loves -- or would that be loved -- the kid.
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A quick look at the top five ranked men's college basketball teams and how they've fared against top 25 opponents shows some interesting facts.
- Kentucky is 4-0 against top 25 opponents and has one ranked opponent remaining on its regular season schedule, No. 23 (rankings are of this week) Arkansas in Lexington, Ky., on Feb. 28.
- Virginia is 4-1, losing only to Duke, and closes the season at No. 9 Louisville on March 7.
- Gonzaga is 1-1 with a victory over SMU and loss to Arizona and has zero ranked opponents remaining.
- Duke is 5-1 with its only loss a 77-73 decision at Notre Dame and has two games left with No. 12 North Carolina, which almost always is a classic matchup.
- Wisconsin is 1-1 with a victory over Iowa and a loss to Duke. It still faces ranked teams Maryland and Ohio State.
It appears Kentucky, Virginia and Duke will be more ready for the NCAA Tournament because of a tougher schedule.
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Memphis seems to be slipping badly since jumping from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference.
The Tigers are currently in sixth place with a 6-5 conference record and 14-10 overall. They have lost six games at home and are 1-4 on the road.
Maybe Coach Josh Pastner, a nice guy, is realizing he made a mistake when he didn't get top assistant Glynn Cyprien a raise after their first year in Memphis. Cyp, as he is known in the coaching world and a former Arkansas Razorbacks assistant coach in Stan Heath's final season, did three years at Texas A&M and now is with the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA.
Sports on 02/13/2015