Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, June 9, 2016
Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert was told by Tom Izzo to draft Draymond Green back in 2012. He didn?t heed the advice. Oops. There have been few better second-rounders.
"I still wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat that we didn't take him," Gilbert said. "I didn't listen to my gut."
Green went No. 35 overall. This is amazing: He revealed earlier in the playoffs that he can recite all 34 picks before him from memory.
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Kind of sad to see Beth Goetz leaving Minnesota for a job at UConn, where she will be C.O.O. She did a good job holding things together in Minnesota after the Norwood Teague disaster but didn?t get the full-time gig. Good luck!
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Bleacherreport.com has a slide show (I know, I hate them, too) on the best night game environments in the nation. Several Big Ten venues made the cut. I think you can guess which ones. If not, click here. Bleacherrport.com will love you for it.
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Which James Franklin recruit has the most to prove in 2016? This podcast from Pennlive.com takes a look at it. It has to be an offensive lineman, right? Thanks, Dustin Hokensmith!
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Oh, you didn?t think I wasn?t going to have a Jim Harbaugh link, did you? Here you go: You won?t believe how he responded to a Rutgers secret society prank.
Why doesn?t Harbaugh just have a reality show? ?Keeping up with Harbaugh.? BTN should get on this.
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Good update from the Washington Post on former Wisconsin LB Chris Borland, who stepped away from football.
The Post writes that Borland said he will never play football again, and he doesn?t see himself getting into coaching, unless it?s coaching a youth flag football team. He does envision himself remaining tied to the sport, however, through his work on matters related to football and brain injuries.
?I think I?m connected to this issue in some capacity, football and brain damage,? Borland said. ?So carving out a way to address it tactfully is important to me no matter what I go on to do. I?ve got a wide variety of interests. But I think I?ll be connected to this for a long time. But I hope to be, too, because I think there?s a lot of misinformation. I?d like to be a voice of reason.?
I applaud Borland for his bold move. I don?t think I could walk away from the fame and fortune of the NFL.
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Dan Duggan of NJ.com has a nice story on Greg Schiano returning to New Jersey to compete vs. Rutgers, as he was at a recent camp in the Garden State.
"11 years of my life poured into that, so I think there will always be a place here for Rutgers," Schiano said. "But when you're a coach, whatever that emblem is on your jacket, you better work hard or you're not going to have it long. So, I get it. It'll be fun to compete with Rutgers because Rutgers is a really strong program and Chris is going to do a great job there."
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Stories about Big Ten basketball attendance have been circulating. Here is an interesting one: Ohio State saw its lowest total in the Thad Matta era.
Cleveland.com says the Buckeyes had a total of 257,957 fans at its 21 home games during the 2015-16 season, for an average attendance of 12,283. The average home attendance number fell from 14,648 in 2014-15, for a drop in average attendance of 2,365 — the largest year-to-year drop in the history of Value City Arena. Ohio State's 21 home games were also the most they've played since moving to Value City Arena in 1998. The attendance numbers last season were the lowest since the 1997-98 season, Ohio State's last in St. John Arena. The Buckeyes averaged 9,970 fans that season.
The cure to the attendance woes is simple: Win more.
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Northwestern?s non-conference hoops schedule is out. And Ben Goren InsideNU.com says it?s flawed-again.
The schedule is not maximizing Northwestern's postseason potential. Northwestern was good enough to make the NIT last season. The team's biggest strikes against itself in the selection process was the lack of a marquee win (not a function of the schedule), a bad RPI (thanks to playing terrible teams in nonconference as well as Rutgers) and a bad nonconference schedule.
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