Is The Big East As Good As Advertised?

Conventional wisdom has it that the Big East Basketball Conference is the most formidable in the country and has been at least for several years. But the Big East has also underachieved in the Big Dance and the conventional explanation for this is that the conference members beat each other up during the regular season and end up running on empty as they enter March Madness.

On opening day, 2011 Madness continued this trend. Louisville, an elite team in the conference, was knocked out by a low seed. And St. John's, coming off a cinderella renaissance season, was thrashed by Gonzaga. West Virginia and Pittsburgh beat teams they were supposed to beat.

But it's time to reconsider the theory that the Big East devours itself during the regular season. It may have more quality teams than any other conference, but there are at least a dozen teams around the country that are at least as good as the best the Big East has to offer.

Fire the Trainers

One of the more classless actions of the Phillies' organization in recent years was the firing of Milt Thompson as hitting coach in mid-season. The notion that the team's extended hitting slump could be attributed to one man is absurd. And to throw a coach overboard in the middle of the summer for anything but the most egregious of actions (say, stealing the Philly Phanatic's costume) is particularly insulting. If a change needs to be made, it is more appropriately done in the quiet of the off season.

But if you must find a scapegoat, how about the Phillies' training staff. With Jimmy Rollins and Brad Lidge down again, and the innumerable other injuries this year throughout the roster, one has to question the overall conditioning of this team.

Phillies Should Forget the Swagger and Try Hustling

Two years ago, Jimmy Rollins was benched by Charlie Manuel for not running out a fly ball. Earlier this year, Shane Victorino was benched for failing to run all out after a third strike passed ball. These incidents were supposed to show that Manuel, for all his player's manager reputation, was not afraid to come down with the hammer when needed. This fit in nicely with the media-perpetuated myth that Manuel had this mystical ability to press all the right buttons at the right time.

But the Philly hitters fail to run out grounders and pop-ups all the time. In the week before the All-Star Game, on at least two occasions, Rollins failed to run out ground balls to first base. In each instance, they were slowly hit balls where the pitcher had to cover first. In these situations, there's always the chance of a bad exchange and the pressure of Rollins' speed should increase the odds of a fielding miscue. But in each case, J-Roll broke into a trot halfway down the first base line.

Rollins' defenders might counter that he is gun shy about re-injuring his leg. One response to that is that if he is that tentative, maybe he shouldn't be in the lineup at all. Another is that he has been doing this for years.

Jimmy Rollins hit .250 last season and is currently barely above .230. You might think that he would want to run out every ball as if his life depended on it. He is not the only culprit on the team but he is supposed to be their leader and spokesman.

This issue of course is hardly unique to this squad. But that shouldn't make it acceptable. We are repeatedly told that Philadelphia fans hold their teams and players to a higher standard. Right now, too many Phillies are playing like spoiled millionaires who think that if they just show up, great things will happen. The reality is that this team is posing a serious challenge to the title the Sixers currently hold - The Most Boring Team in South Philly.

Hiring Doug Collins Is No Reason to Break Out the Champagne

There are not many lines of work where someone fired three times in 8 years is considered a hot commodity. But such is the case with Doug Collins. In his brief coaching career, he was let go by the Bulls, Pistons and Wizards before he went into broadcasting. He also has the distinction of being the only NBA coach to fail to win a championship with Michael Jordan. Now we're told he has a brilliant basketball mind and is the man best suited to lead the Sixer franchise back to the glory days.

For a while, it seemed that it was the beautiful and complicated mind of Larry Brown the Sixers coveted, but perhaps because of Brown's age and assorted personal baggage, the Philly franchise opted for a younger version of their former coach. Like Brown, Collins is also described as a consummate teacher. And while Collins is a fast and glib talker, he, again like Brown, has been to known to antagonize quite a few people along the way. Ironically, it is this latter trait which is supposed to have led to the foreshortening of Jim O'Brien's tenure in South Philly.

At his first press conference at the Wachovia Center, Collins singled out defense as priority one. Whether that was an indication of brilliance I'm not sure. Anyone who saw the Sixers for more than 5 minutes in the last couple of seasons should have been able to identify the team's defense as porous at best.

But the question is what do you do about it. This is not plugging an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. This is convincing highly paid young athletes to contest the other team's jump shooters. In other words, running at a shooter with your arms in the air. Very sophisticated stuff.

Why these players should pay more attention to Doug Collins than Randy Ayers, O'Brien, Mo Cheeks, Tony DiLeo or Eddie Jordan is not immediately obvious and we should not be surprised if down the road Collins becomes another ex-coach still on the team's payroll. Larry Brown may end up running this club after all.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of all of this is that Ed Stefanski still has a job with the franchise. Harry Houdini would be impressed.

Ryan Madson Owes Us A Refund

Back in the 1940's, Ted Williams insisted on taking a salary cut of more than 25% after having what he considered a subpar season. Of course, what Williams considered subpar was Hall of Fame-worthy for most everyone else.

While the great Red Sox left fielder's temper was legendary, we are not aware of any instance where he inflicted injury to himself during one of his frequent tantrums. Certainly not enough to lose playing time. But if he had, there can be little doubt that because of his integrity and high standards, he would have refunded any salary to management for time lost.

Which leads of course to Ryan Madson. Madson saw fit to kick a metal folding chair after a blown save. Unfortunately, he was more accurate with his foot than he was earlier in the evening with his fastball. A broken toe and subsequent surgery have now left Madson unavailable to the Phillies for at least two months. And this is with a bullpen which was already leaking oil.

Madson issued a public apology (which really made my day) to Delaware Valley fans but presumably he continues to collect his $4 million a year salary without interruption. At the risk of generating apoplexy at the players' union, Madson should return his pay checks until he returns to active duty. Or, at the very least, donate them to a Philadelphia-based charity. If it was good enough for one of the greatest icons of American sports, it should be good enough for Ryan Madson.

Lidge Is Not Yet Money in the Bank

Brad Lidge had two encouraging one-inning stints against the Cardinals but questions remain. A rejuvenated Lidge would be huge for the Phillies but there is still that uneasy feeling that his margin for error is razor thin.

While his slider looked tight and continues to be the go-to pitch, it is the right-hander's fastball that is of concern. Against the Cards, one Lidge fastball was clocked at 95 mph, but it was 2 feet out of the strike zone. Otherwise, it measured in the low 90's and was without much movement nor was Lidge able to spot it. Big league hitters have little trouble with that kind of pitch.

Brad Lidge needs his fastball to set up his slider, but if it's 92-93 mph in the middle of the plate, he won't get a chance to use his money pitch. Lidge's fastball may well improve as his arm strength progresses with more appearances, but this is far from a forgone conclusion. The psychological damage from the reliever's 2009 nightmare season will be difficult to undo.

The Indispensable Larry Brown

The word on the street is that Larry Brown's return to the Sixers in one capacity or another is a foregone conclusion now that his Hornets have been summarily eliminated from the playoffs.

The conventional wisdom seems to be that Brown is the pre-eminent turnaround artist. He is the man who knows exactly what buttons to press to turn a loser into a winner. Perhaps.

Over his 35 year career, coach Brown has certainly achieved noteworthy successes including an NCAA championship at Kansas and NBA championship at Detroit. But he has also left at least three franchises in shambles - New Jersey, Indiana and New York - two more if you count Philadelphia and Detroit. He also seriously underachieved with the U.S. basketball squad at the 2004 Olympics. And he certainly didn't perform any magic with the Charlotte Hornets - making the playoffs in the mediocre Eastern Conference and getting swept in the first round are not going to inspire a remake of "Hoosiers".

Moreover, Brown has a history of unreliability, having left teams with seemingly no warning and inadequate explanation. We are now told that the coach really loves Charlotte and Michael Jordan but he would really like to be with his family in the Delaware Valley. Would Jordan have gone out of his way to recruit Brown if he knew this was in the back of the coach's mind all along?

Larry Brown had one tour of duty in Philadelphia and that was enough. It's time for the Sixers to start fresh with a relatively young crew in the front office and on the bench and start building a team brick by brick. But the indispensable one, coach Brown, wants to be closer to his family so naturally he will be returning to Philly, until he is struck by another whim - like coaching the Ukrainian national team.