Unverified Voracity Is So Over Chris Lowery

Door #2! Though he's old and hasn't ever recruited a kid with so much as four stars next to his name, West Virginia's John Beilein is hard to overlook when articles like this fawning Adrian Wojnarowski piece seem more the norm than the exception:

"A lot of guys can sit down at a table and X and O, talk all about it, but most can't touch John in his ability to teach it on the floor and get guys to do it," Thorn said. "What he's done with this year's team is especially remarkable. They lost all their players, and he's got guys who didn't play last year, or weren’t big recruits – and it's just amazing how they still carve people up.

"He's an amazing teacher of the game."

Though West Virginia's status as an NIT team the year before he (hypothetically) becomes Michigan's coach is a disturbing parallel with Amaker, there's a difference between this WVU team which lost Pitsnogle, Gansey, and the rest of the crew that took the 'Eers on their remarkable two-year tourney run and the Seton Hall team that brought in the nation's top recruiting class, returned most of its contributors, and totally imploded. (How on God's green earth did Amaker recruit notorious malcontent and car-masturbator Eddie Griffin, by the way? Griffin's one of the few NBA players who actually warrants the excessively-applied term "thug," and Friendly Mr. Coachy reeled him in? Strange times.)

Beilein is a virtually no-fail candidate. He's worked his way up from coaching community colleges to his first D-I job at Cansisus, where he was a success, leading the Whatevers to an NCAA tourney and two NITs. He was then hired by Richmond, where he replicated his performance at Cansisus. Then West Virginia and their resurrection. We should expect a similar performance at Michigan even if Beilein's recruiting doesn't improve, though it should via simple proximity to talent.

Uh... what? Eric Lacey throws out a ridiculous name in his latest Free Press article:

. What about Michigan State assistant Jim Boylen?

A . That would be something if he were hired, wouldn't it? He is a Michigan guy with tons of NBA experience and is well aware of the rivalry. And Boylen appears to be interested in the job.

My only question is whether Michigan truly is interested in him. If officials wanted to make a splash and rock the entire state, then this could be an option. Boylen could potentially steal a lot of recruits from the Spartans.

It's still unclear, though, -- at least to me -- where he stands compared to the rest of the field. If U-M wants Boylen, it might have to act fast, since he's scheduled to interview with Utah this week.

Q: Is Jim Boylen more or less ridiculous as a candidate than Tom Crean?

A: It's hard to say. They have equal Izzo-related loathsomeness. Boylen is obviously making a lot less than Crean and would presumably be less of a ripoff if this goofy suggestion ever came to pass, but he has vastly less experience. In fact, he has less experience than... uh... everyone, having never been a head coach on any level. Plucking current assistants is a strictly small-time move and unless Michigan is suddenly demoted to the Mid-Continent Conference it won't happen, especially after ten years of getting burned.

If you made me choose I'd probably go with "less," but only because Crean is literally the most implausible name in the country.

Ouch. Yeah, Joey didn't like Tommy Amaker:

If success in college basketball were determined by things like trying hard intermittently, occasionally playing well enough to blow a game late, getting embarrassed on a regular basis, being well-intentioned, and dressing like you had always come from Sunday brunch in 1992, Tommy Amaker would be running the best college basketball program in the country. He or his team excelled at all of those things.

Positives are discussed, too. Promise. (They are just of the "clean up the program, thanks, please shut the door on your way out," though.)

Numbers: Stolen in whole from Varsity Blue:

Number changes:
Stevie Brown #3
Kevin Grady #24
Doug Dutch #35
James McKinney #44

New guys:
Ryan Mallett #15
Vince Helmuth #32
Artis Chambers #38
Austin Panter #54

(I'm pretty sure McKinney was already #44.) I hate it when guys change midstream. Now whenever I see a running back wearing #24 I'm going to be all "Jerome Jackson has been hitting the Krispy Kremes too hard."

Come on, now. Simmons has been banging on the Big Ten ever since he started paying more attention to college basketball because the Celtics were busy punching him in the face over and over, and while he's right that the league plays slow, unattractive basketball it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad at it:

6. The Big Ten: Did I tell you or did I tell you? If that foul was called on Oden, there would have been ZERO Big Ten teams in the Sweet 16. I love being right. It happens so rarely. Anyway, don't fret, Big Ten fans -- you can still get your fix of defense and fundamentals by watching the women's tournament.

Wisconsin was a disappointment, but they were missing Brian Butch. All other Big Ten teams have acquitted themselves well: Indiana, Purdue, and Michigan State all won first round games as 8-9s before running into 1-2 seed buzzsaws -- and Purdue gave Florida everything they wanted. Illinois was one late, athletic-director-imploding collapse away from upsetting Virginia Tech. As of right now the conference is 6-5. Does Big Ten bashing have to continue nonstop no matter the situation? Did someone attach some sort of rider to the port security bill when I wasn't looking? If so someone should let me know and I'll stop bothering with it.

Etc.: OJ Mayo is kind of weird; this guy analyzes NFL draft history and concludes "don't draft Michigan skill guys."