How Bobby Gonzalez Is on the Hot Seat

During the buildup to the 2009-2010 college hoops season, I saw Seton Hall mentioned in several places as a "team to watch." It wasn't unwarranted: The Pirates are a bit of a wild card in a wide-open Big East, where slots No. 4 through 12 could be filled by any combination of teams.

Just look at the roster and, if you follow college hoops recruiting in any way, shape or form, you'll recognize a lot of guys on it: Keon Lawrence, Herb Pope, Eugene Harvey, Jeff Robinson. And though they weren't necessarily big-time recruits out of high school, Jeremy Hazell, John Garcia and Robert Mitchell have made an impact on the Big East (in the cases of Hazell and Mitchell, more than just an impact). Plus, Jordan Theodore is expected to take on a bigger role after a solid freshman season.

And yet, without the Pirates playing a game, Bobby Gonzalez is on the hot seat already, even with his brand-new contract extension. (I've said it before, I'll say it again, extensions rarely mean much in college sports. They are props to use for recruits.)

He came to Seton Hall with a reputation as a fiery coach, one who could recruit with the big boys and turn the sagging SHU program around. But he's had three consecutive mediocre seasons with medicore talent, and he hasn't snagged a single big-name recruit from Seton Hall's backyard. If Seton Hall's previous methods of handling coaches (see Orr, Louis) is any indication, Bobby doesn't have much more time to turn things around.

All that said, if there's a season where Bobby can produce a really competitive Seton Hall, it's this year. This is the first season that I haven't looked at Seton Hall and automatically marked a W on the schedule for any of the good Big East teams. Because of all that talent.

But with the talent that Gonzalez has acquired for the upcoming campaign comes great responsibility. You see, Bobby, who gets himself into trouble from time to time with his own mouth, brought in Herb "I'm just tired, officer" Pope, who will spend all season trying to exorcise the demons of his checkered past, to use a cliche. Unfortunately for Pope, his name immediately raises eyebrows. That's just the reputation he has. And Gonzalez, especially if his team struggles at all this year, would bear the brunt of the problem if Pope gets in any form of trouble this year.

Which is exactly why Keon Lawrence, who recently registered a DWI while driving in the wrong direction on the Garden State Parkway, has really put Bobby in a bind. Suddenly, Seton Hall has made national news for all the wrong reasons.

It's certainly not fair to Pope to say that something will go wrong this year, but you can't say it's entirely unfounded to be prepared for it. So, the fact that someone other than Pope has gotten in a lot of trouble is not good.

Now, not only does Gonzalez have to do a lot better than he has in first three seasons, he has to smooth over a rough patch to start the season.

As my mother used to say, everyone needs to be on their best behavior now. Bobby, no complaining about the refs or any other verbal implosions that draw the ire of administration officials. Herb, stick to your word about improving your rep. Keon, just ... stay out of any more trouble.

Otherwise, four consecutive seasons of middling finishes in the Big East plus way too many headaches for one program will probably not be good for Bobby's future at Seton Hall. Let's hope one of the most entertaining coaches in hoops can get his team focused on the season and, like I said before, smooth over this rocky start. If he doesn't, I have a hard time seeing Bobby patrolling the sidelines for Seton Hall past 2010.

The SEC West's Best

Scary, isn't he? That's John Pelphrey, coach of Arkansas. His team is scary, too.

Last night, for the second time in a week, the Razorbacks gored a top-10 Big 12 team. That's right -- Arkansas. Ya know, the team picked by SEC media to finish last in the atrocious SEC West. It made sense at the time -- Arkansas only had three players with any college basketball experience. But this is a top-2o recruiting class working its tail off for Pelphrey.

And these are the results.

Arkansas is 12-1, with wins over the two best teams in the Big 12. The Razorbacks' only loss came at Missouri State, a 62-57 travesty that saw Pelphrey's cagers turn the ball over 17 times. But we're all entitled to an embarrassing loss, right? Especially if you can rebound with a 10-game winning streak and a pair of monumental upsets.

So, Arkansas, join the ranks of Boston College in the college hoops parthenon. You are deserving. Oklahoma and Texas are good. Both teams have a legitimate shot at stealing a 1 seed in March. And you have wins against both of 'em. Both!

Get used to the names Michael Washington and Courtney Fortson. Washington, a junior, has emerged as the BMOC at Arkansas, averaging 18 and 10. The freshman point guard Fortson is a nigthly triple-double threat, posting 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds a night. That's an inside-outside combo, my friends.

The SEC West has a new frontrunner. And the Top 25 won't be the best 25 teams in the nation if Arkansas isn't on there next week.

Elsewhere
-- Clemson is good. The Tigers are 15-0 after a win against Alabama. Why does Clemson start so hot every year?

-- So, remember last night when I said there were two ranked teams playing each other every night in the Big East? Well, this is what reminded me of it. A huge win for UConn at West Virginia. And Villanova does itself well, too, with a win against Seton Hall.

-- And, oh yeah, Purdue is 0-2 to start Big Ten play. Yikes. Really, though, you lost to Penn State. Doesn't that automatically disqualify you from the NCAA Tournament?

-- You know what? College football is stupid. There, I said it. This is why I'm a hoops guy. One game in the regular season doesn't determine your fate if you are a good enough team to rebound. And you decide your national champion with a grueling three-week tournament that, by the end of March, weeds out most, if not all, of the riff-raff. Oh, yeah, and the tournament actually decides on a champion. Why wouldn't someone want to see USC, Utah, Texas and the winner of Oklahoma-Florida in a playoff? Why can't we separate them into an eight-team playoff and add three other teams? God, even the overtimes are stupid. [/rant]

-- If I could, I'd like to recommend Seth Davis. He's always a good read. Also, check out his book, When March Went Mad. Not sure when it comes out officially, but I'm rolling through an advance copy now. Very good if you like sports. And SI.com's Luke Winn is good, too, even if he is stealing my blog post from months ago.

-- Movies you should see: Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Wrestler and Bond. Make it happen, people.

The Beast Rears Its Ugly Head

The Big East is responsible for eight teams in both the AP and Coaches polls today. Only one other Big East team received any votes -- West Virginia got one AP vote.

So, how hard will it be for the teams that line up behind the Big 8?

Well, last year, the first year the conference went to 18-game schedule, 9-9 was the worst record that a Tournament team had in the Big East. This year, 8-10 might be acceptable, given the challenging nature of conference play.

This year, the five teams destined for Nos. 9 through 13 in the Big East are all doing reasonably well:

-- Seton Hall is 8-1, with wins against USC and Virginia Tech. Those should hold a lot of weight if the Pirates don't lose any bad games before conference play, which would leave them at 11-1 before Big East games start. SHU should finish at least 7-11 in conference, so stealing one or two games against the top 8 would go a long way. Eighteen wins might not be good enough unless SHU gets a good win against a top-15 team.

-- St. John's is also 8-1, albeit against a cupcake schedule. But still, hosting Miami (FL) and Duke at MSG gives the Red Storm two more opportunities to snag a marquee nonconference win. I just don't see St. John's getting more than seven conference wins, and without the marquee wins like Seton Hall, that's not good enough.

-- West Virginia is 7-2, with losses to Davidson (in New York) and Kentucky. Good wins came at Ole Miss and in Las Vegas against Iowa. Games against Miami (OH) and Ohio State (on the road) give the 'Eers a chance to get two more good nonconference wins. My initial count says WVU goes just 6-12 in the Big East, but knowing its track record at home, I'm willing to adjust to 8-10 or even 9-9. If WVU does that, and wins the rest of its nonconference sked aside from the one at Ohio State, it will finish 19-12. That's good enough, I'd say.

-- Cincinnati is 6-2, with losses against Florida State in Las Vegas and at home against No. 7 Xavier. Two nice wins against UNLV and UAB will help Mick Cronin's squad if its on the bubble in March. A matchup with Mississippi State this week and Memphis in two weeks gives the Bearcats two chances to grab another quality win. I only see Cincy getting 7 wins, which is too few, but a stolen win to get to 8 conference wins, plus a 10-3 nonconference record means 18 wins is possible.

-- Providence was the chic pick to steal one of the top 8 spots in the Big East this year, but the Friars struggled immediately, losing their first game to Northeastern ... at home. Now, PC is quietly 6-3, with a good win against Rhode Island. PC still plays at Boston College, but other than that, there really aren't any other spots for good nonconference wins. This enigmatic bunch looks primed for about a 6-12 or 7-11 finish in the Big East. Steal a win or two, and the Friars could have 17 or 18 wins to their ledger, which still might not be enough.

So, what do these teams do?
Well, that's easy to answer: win. Beating a ranked team or two on your home floor helps. Beating one on the road helps even more. Making sure you win games you should win and beating teams in similar situations as you (these five teams play each other plenty of times) can help overcome the ridiculously tough conference slate.

If I had to pick right now, I'd say Seton Hall and West Virginia are the two teams best positioned to sneak into the Tournament. Marquette and Villanova have some vulnerabilities that leave me thinking those two could struggle, potentially leaving space for one of these next-tier teams to sneak into the Big East's top 8. Keep an eye on Syracuse, too. It'll be interesting to see how the Orange deal with Eric Devendorf's almost certain season-long suspension.

Do any of these teams have the talent to match up with the Big 8? Out of this bunch, I'd say WVU and Providence do; the rest don't. But WVU has had injury issues, and Providence goes cold, can't play defense and is about as predictable as an M. Night Shyamalan movie.