I’m not going to argue that any of the Philly teams individually have anything resembling the tradition of Kansas, at least in terms of success. But I submit that until you’ve been to a Big Five game at the Palestra, you haven’t really experienced college basketball at its finest….and it has very little to do with the caliber of play.

All I can say in response to that is that you’ve never been to a game at Allen Fieldhouse (and I’m talking about any game, not just a big matchup). From the time 15,000 fans start doing the Rock Chalk chant to when they’re counting down the final minute, it is far and away the greatest place in the world to watch basketball.

And if the creator of the game of basketball was the first head basketball coach (and the only one with a losing record) in your team’s 100+ year history, I’d say you would probably be justified in feeling like your school were the center of the basketball universe :)

I do respect Philly, though…they’ve turned out some really great players, including Wilt Chamberlain (who ended up playing college ball at KU). And the teams (pro and college) in the Philadelphia area have a great tradition.

Actually, Ohio State is responsible for Bobby Knight (and, by extension, Coach K), not Army. Knight was a player and protege of OSU coach Fred Taylor. :) Chaney was very good, Massimino was one of the most overrated coaches in NCAA history, Martelli is solid, and as for Dr. Jack…well, he’s the man.

And just to be clear, I was the one who said that KU and Indiana weren’t responsible for all the top coaches (and cited examples). So rein in those Philly insecurities, sport :)

P.S. Full disclosure – my grandfather was a Temple alumnus (in fact, his first name was Temple) and my dad was born near Philly and grew up a rabid fan of all teams Philadelphia. Even he admits that KU is far superior to any of the Philly teams (in fact, he was at the Final Four this year).

And the constant, widespread ignorance of the remarkable basketball heritage that is the Philly Big Five never ceases to amaze me. Frankly, I’m not sure you can claim to understand anything about college basketball until you’ve watched a Big Five game at the Palestra. :) Tell me where you can find such a high concentration of either great or eccentric coaches than the Big Five (Chaney, Massimino, the walking, talking circus that is the Great Phil Martelli, Jack Ramsay, etc.).

If he’s a libertarian, he’s the best libertarian in the race…if he’s still a conservative, at least he’s a conservative I could live with for four years (which I can’t say about McCain).

I’m not so sure that all the major college coaches come from those two areas, but yes, KU and the state of Indiana seem to have turned out the lion’s share. :) Phog Allen did turn out Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith, and Ralph Miller, and Indiana gave us Branch McCracken, Gene Keady, Bobby Knight and John Wooden, but UNC’s tradition was started with Frank McGuire, who came out of St. John’s (an underrated program historically, I think). St. John’s also started the Al McGuire-Rick Majerus coaching tree which had no ties to either Kansas or Indiana aside from Majerus and McGuire’s son being on my dad’s city-league b-ball team in Milwaukee one year (dad went to Indiana). :)

For KU I’m not so high on our chances at a championship next season. I think we’ll be competitive, but it will definitely be a rebuilding year after losing Rush, Kaun, Chalmers, Arthur, Robinson, and Jackson. Our entire starting lineup is gone, plus a good portion of our bench…so it’s looking like it’ll be a team built around Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich and a lot of rookies. If Chalmers decides to come back, I’ll like our chances a lot more, but I think he’s probably staying in the draft because it’s unlikely his stock is going to rise much (if any) by coming back for one more year. Can’t really begrudge him that, especially since he hit quite possibly the biggest shot in KU history last season. I think UNC’s got to be considered the odds-on favorite for the title next year.

As UC says, he’s still far better than McCain or Obama. Whether that means he’d be an ideal Republican candidate, or fits better as a libertarian, I don’t know. But if it comes down to voting for Barr vs. McCain/Obama, I’d rather vote Libertarian than for either of those two.

In the end, it is all about character. I have to say with some pride, both our school’s programs possess it in spades.

I had the honor of playing for Dean Smith for a year and I will never forget the comment he made to us the first day: “Gentlemen, the least important thing I will teach you is how to win at Basketball. My most important job is to build on the good work that your parents have begun and teach you how to be the best men that you can be.” (He attributed that to his Kansas coach.) Need I say more about those programs?

Not sure Barr’s values measure up. Heard and seen too many things. (Sorry. Late hit but I had to take it, because I believe it.) Hope you’re right about next year and hope we get a rematch.

Yes, but you guys are going to have a really good team this season.

By the way, that was a class thing that Roy did by wearing the Jayhawk button and cheering for KU in the championship (same as he did for UNC when he was at KU). I know he took some heat for it back at Chapel Hill but honestly KU fans couldn’t have been more impressed and it reminded everyone why we loved the guy so much. It’s even got me cheering for UNC again like I did back in college. You guys seriously have a great coach.

Yes, your example is extreme, but I understand where you’re coming from. Here’s the thing…for all the criticisms of Barr, he really hasn’t changed all that much on his positions. Going from conservative to libertarian isn’t like going from Nazi to Zionist because there’s common ground between conservatism and libertarianism. When Barr was a conservative, he opposed the PATRIOT Act being ramroded through by the Bush administration. When he was a conservative he believed in fiscal responsibility and voted along those lines. When he was a conservative, he opposed military interventionism except in self-defense. He has always shown a willingness to recognize good economic arguments on the issues, and since libertarianism is a philosophy largely based on good economic arguments it’s not that much of a stretch for him to change his position on issues like the War on Drugs (since you can be personally opposed to the use of drugs, but realize that banning drugs creates more dire negative economic and social consequences) and he seems to have sincerely done that. While I have no doubt that Bob Barr remains personally conservative, that does not automatically exclude him from being politically libertarian, since it’s not a 180 degree change as going from anti-Semite to Zionist would be.

That’s why I don’t consider it a problem to vote for Bob Barr, because even if he is still very conservative, he’s moved enough on key issues to become a conservative I can live with…and I have faith in his ability to be an effective manager and work within the system to affect change (a faith I don’t have in any of the other LP candidates or Ron Paul).