Like many of the businesses, big and small, around our great city of Austin, Keep Austin Well CBD is temporarily closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but it is taking and delivering online orders. I encourage all of you to please support your local businesses and restaurants if you can. Please. Maybe that means ordering delivery or pick-up and leaving a big tip; maybe that means buying some gift cards from your favorite local spots to use once this all dies down; maybe that means getting merchandise from your favorite players to wear and help with some free advertising in the process.
Whatever you can do, big or small, our friends in the community need it.
Alright, the writing…
1) Working from home…
Yeah, batting leadoff in this week’s column is a non-sports topic because we’re in the middle of an extremely unusual, surreal time period. For many of you, the process of self-quarantine is very uncommon, hard to get used to, and at this point, is likely raising anxiety and stress levels. I get it. Let me try to help.
I’ve never had an office job. Well, when I worked as a radio producer in my early years at Orangebloods.com, I did have to go to the radio station Monday through Friday and sometimes on the weekends for extra, McDonald’s wage bucks. Pro tip: the radio life might seem fun because it is… until you see the paychecks. Besides those couple years in radio, I’ve always worked from home, which means I’ve been doing this for, basically, 11 years.
It takes some getting used to. During January, February, March and a lesser extent April through June and October through December, my weeks usually include at least two to seven games, a couple press conferences, and scheduled work events that require me to leave the house. However, once baseball ends, there might be weeks in a row I never have to leave the house for a work-related event. Yeah, spending most of, if not all, of your days inside the house with very limited human interaction can mess with even the most sane person.
So, here are some tips, in no specific order, that help me:
--- Start your mornings with something. For example, my dog and I usually walk to a nearby coffee shop to get our days started. Yes, this is a little more difficult to do right now given the restrictions, but many coffee shops remain open with curbside or to-go services. Normally, it’s a good opportunity to get the blood flowing, have some human interaction, and it’s become such a routine for me that my day feels odd if it’s not started that way. Maybe for you it’s walking around the block, snagging a local breakfast taco, or sitting in the backyard and reading the day’s early news. Just get out of the house for some reason.
Over time, I’ve found getting out of the house in the morning allows me to feel more productive when I return to it because it, in some ways, feels like "commuting" to an office.
--- Designate certain areas of your house for work. Obviously, an office is important, and can make this process easy. When we moved to our new house in late July, I began using the kitchen table as a workspace during the days because I enjoyed the sunlight and the windows in the kitchen. Over time, the room didn’t work for me. So, we converted part of our guest room into an office with a desk near the window, added an extra screen, and it made a world of difference. Now, that area feels like a work area and not a home area.
If you don’t have an office, no problem. Make one. The important part is the mental exercise of designating and consistently using some specific area for trying to get work done. This helps prevent me from wondering over to the game room to turn on a video game.
--- Create weekly events to look forward to. During more normal times, Wednesday and Thursday nights are special for me. If I don’t have a game to cover on Wednesday, I go to Pluckers and play trivia with a group of friends. We’ve been doing it for many years, and it truly does feel like a hump in the week I get over. On Thursday, my wife and I, until our son arrives, go to eat at our favorite, local Tex-Mex spot.
It might seem a tad silly or insignificant but having set events outside of the house to look forward to does make the early part of the week much easier to handle. When my wife and I began living together, she’d come home on Fridays worn out from the work week and often ready to relax around the house. Meanwhile, I was practically trying to grab her and sprint out of the house to dinner or something that wasn’t at home. Now that she’s been working from home the last couple weeks as well, she gets it. Getting out of the house for anything can make all the difference.
Don’t be afraid to acknowledge those feelings because they’re normal, especially if you just went from years in an office to being at home for the first time. Heck, I still feel this way often and I’ve been doing it my entire professional life.
--- Reward yourself and create certain times during long workdays to take a break. My method for writing this column usually includes outlining it on Tuesday and writing a couple key sections ahead of time, and then getting myself into a mode of writing from around 8:30 a.m. to whenever I complete it. After coffee with Willie, of course. Once I complete the column, I usually take a break for lunch to clear my head, and unless it’s something urgent, I don’t pay any attention to anything besides what I'm watching until I’m done eating. Just make sure there isn’t a Law and Order marathon on, or your productivity might be arrested and thrown away.
Set aside some time for something other than work. Maybe it’s a quick episode of television; one game on PS4 or XBOX; a phone call to a friend; reading a news story; a quick walk or home exercise; funny YouTube videos. Break up the monotonous nature of working from home with short breaks, and by setting those times in your head, you have something to look forward to. A few friends have tossed around the idea of using Zoom or Discord, watching a specific movie or sports event at the same time, and talking about it and anything as we all watch.
--- Create some sound. Some people can work while listening to podcasts. For me, it’s music. The days go quicker – strangely, I’ve found playing entire records on my record player makes the day FLY by - if you’re listening to something, and while it’s not actual face-to-face communication, hearing a human voice constantly can help avoid a stir-crazy feeling.
--- Even though you’re stuck inside for work, you can still communicate with others. Call. Text. Video chat. Social media. Visit with neighbors while also practicing social distancing. This time reminded me how much I enjoy just sitting in the backyard in a comfortable chair and having a beer, throwing the ball to the dog, or having a conversation with our neighbors.
If your job isn’t currently practicing this, suggest some video chats. My wife’s office is doing a great job of creating those types of meetings and events so everyone can see each other, talk a little bit, and get some work done. For us at Orangebloods, it’s nice to have our Thursday podcast and Slack channel because we always feel connected with each other.
I could go on, but this column is approaching 3,000 words and I haven’t even written all the sections. Hope my suggestions helped. If you have any questions or want to talk more, don’t hesitate to PM or e-mail me. Again, these are very unusual times, and many are probably feeling trapped inside, which can create anxiety and stress. Reach out. After all, you're a part of this community, and in times like these, lean on others.
2) An unintended recruiting result from COVID-19?
Over recent years, we’ve seen a shift in national football recruiting. Yes, there have always been established powerhouses able to, occasional, leave their region and recruit nationally with great success. The best recent example, besides this current era, was Pete Carroll at USC. He’d pluck the elite from SoCal, and then go get elite talent from across the country, like Joe McKnight (RIP; Louisiana), Brian Cushing (New Jersey), Ronald Johnson (Michigan), Dominque Byrd (Minnesota), John David Booty (Louisiana), Keith Rivers (Florida), Dwayne Jarrett (New Jersey), and the list goes on.
The amount of success Carroll and USC had and ability to go anywhere and get a five-star prospect was truly rate for its time. Sure, there have been other examples in the past, like Florida State and Miami in the 90’s and then into the early 2000’s and Urban Meyer at Florida. But there weren’t many programs able and willing to consistently leave their region every cycle, go to bat for elite talent in someone else’s region, and win that talent. Until now.
This past recruiting cycle, Alabama and Clemson signed nine five-star prospects combined; Alabama signed four from four different states and Clemson signed five from five different states. Sure, South Carolina and Alabama don’t produce elite talent as often as places like Florida, California and Texas. But the states do produce the occasional five-star or three. Perhaps the best way to illustrate my point: both Clemson and Alabama went to California and pulled a five-star quarterbacks with a No. 3 overall ranking or better.
Now, probably more so than ever, recruiting is national for the top programs, and not just regional.
Look at the war zone the state of Texas has become in recent years. The following programs signed at least one five-star from Texas since 2015: Ohio State, Florida State, Stanford, UCLA, LSU, Ole Miss, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, and Houston. California, often a state and region not recruited enough nationally, is seeing a sudden change in where the top players are going, and this is its list since 2015: UCLA, USC, Tennessee, Stanford, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, Oregon, Florida, Clemson, Texas (does Bru McCoy count?), and Georgia.
In the 2020 cycle, California produced four five-star prospects. None of them signed with a California school, and three went all the way to the other coast, basically. It was the second-straight recruiting cycle all of California’s five-stars left the state, which never happened from 2001-2018.
There are a lot of factors that go into recruiting results and success for programs, and where they get their players from; some cycles require different needs than others with different connections to different players. Plus, colleges now have better and more access to film than ever. Sure, part of the movement of top prospects from their home states and/or region is lack of success of top programs in those states. USC is down. UCLA is a disaster. Texas and Texas A&M have gone through their respective issues. But even when top programs were down in the past, they’d still pull some big names.
Over time, I think recruiting has become more national because we’re more connected as a society. Remember the days of limited choices when it came to watching college football? Now, almost every game is televised for the major programs. It’s not as difficult to fly anywhere in the country as it used to be. Well, right now isn’t the best time for flying, but you get my point. High school players can use social media to get an inside view of the programs they’re interested in, including their facilities, practices, interviews, etc. The days of recruiting letters died a long time ago. Top recruits develop relationships with each other at the various regional and national camps and All-American games.
Plus, take a state like Texas for example, and probably the best example: think of all the people moving to Texas. Drive around in Houston, Dallas, heck, even Austin and see the different college flags, t-shits, bumper stickers, etc. all over the city for different programs. While a trip around Alabama or Louisiana would probably include a very small number of college representation, a trip to California, Florida, and Texas would be much different.
What will the COVID-19 pandemic do to recruiting?
I wonder, especially given the uncertainty of all sports seasons right now, if this global pandemic leads to, at least temporarily, a return to a much more regional style of recruiting. Top prospects might be more inclined to stay local given the likely inability to travel much this summer, uncertainty of setting up visits, and possibility of being close to family becoming a bigger factor than originally realized. I imagine there will be some kids that are like some of y’all and want to get far, far away from family once this quarantine ends. But there are probably plenty who will eventually fly across the country back to campus, and spend some time wondering what the status is of everyone back home.
For Texas, a shift could be especially relevant because of how awesomely loaded the 2021 class is in the Lone Star State. Of course, this theory could be wrong, but this is what happens when I’m locked inside with too much coffee.
3) Please do more of this, Mike Yurcich
You’ve probably seen this already. So, SIAP. But I thought it was really cool of Mike Yurcich to give a glimpse into what goes into calling and designing a play, and why some plays and calls are better designed to beat certain coverages than others. Plus, the technology used was pretty cool too.
We could use more of these, coach. Signed, a country without sports.
4) Luke Yaklich moves on…
Luke Yaklich wasn’t even in Austin for 12 months. Monday, Stadium’s Jeff Goodman broke the news - I'm not quite sure why UIC hasn't officially announced the hire, but it's expected to be announced soon - Yaklich is expected to be UIC’s next head coach, a week after I wrote about the interest from UIC and Western Michigan. Things moved quick, although a week in Coronavirus time feels more like a month.
For Yaklich, the move makes sense. He was on the fast track to becoming a head coach, and he has deep ties to the state of Illinois. UIC hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2004. So, even just one ticket to the Big Dance could propel Yaklich to another step up the head coaching ladder. Illinois Chicago just played for in the tournament championship for the Horizon League, coming up short against former Texas assistant Darrin Horn. Yaklich replaced Horn. Time is a flat circle. Or something like that.
Statistically, Yaklich’s successful impact can be found in a few areas. Although college basketball produced more elite defenses than years prior, or perhaps offense is just worse now, Texas finished with its best adjusted defensive efficiency numbers overall and in league play since 2010-11. Opposing teams scored just 23.2% of their points from beyond the arc, good for No. 343 nationally (higher the ranking the better here), and Texas finished No. 6 in three-point rate and No. 48 in assist rate.
It wasn’t all good, though. Texas finished 330th in defensive rebounding percentage, and 246th in free throw rate on defense. Both key emphasis points by Yaklich, Texas started slow never improved. The defensive rebounding percentage wasn’t that surprising, but the free throw rate was. Texas finished 88th, 26th, and 57th the prior three seasons, respectively. Obviously, Texas lost a ton of points at the free throw line this season given how terrible it was on offense at getting to the charity stripe.
What will Shaka Smart do to fill the void? Well, he’s become very familiar with this process, and based on the way he handled the timeline to hire both Yaklich and Neill Berry, we can expect the Texas head coach to take his time. Smart is a defensive-minded coach, and my educated guess is he looks that route again, although it was his offense that struggled significantly more than his defense last season.
We’re past the point of time when it would benefit Smart to maximize his roster’s depth and athleticism by forcing – not just talking about – a more uptempo offense, which would include the usage of full-court defense. So, I wouldn’t get your hopes up about that right now.
5) A problem I have with ESPN’s Greatest of All-Time college basketball bracket…
ESPN put together a 64-player “Greatest of All-Time” college basketball bracket with both men and women. The usual suspects made the list like Kevin Durant, Patrick Ewing, Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, Ralph Sampson, and Christian Laettner. Missing from the list was T.J. Ford. I get it. The history of college basketball has included so many elite players, and many stayed in college longer than Ford. Well, I understood it until I got to Trae Young.
I covered Young. He’s a great young man. His skill level is incredible, and he’s one of the best shooters I’ve ever seen. He’s going to have a good or better NBA career. Statistically, his freshman season was record-breaking awesome and better than Ford’s.
However, Oklahoma finished 18-14 during Young’s lone season in Norman, and 8-10 in the Big 12 with a one-and-done NCAA Tournament appearance. At one point during the Big 12 slate, the Sooners lost six-straight games. They finished seventh in the league.
Point guards are judged by many things, but most important is winning. It reminded me a quote Shaka Smart said earlier this year about Matt Coleman, and it went something like this: “He and I are judged by the same thing – winning.”
Ford didn’t just take Texas back to the Final Four in 2003 for the first time since 19 freaking 47. He made it cool for the best of the best to go to Texas and hoop. He started a movement still being felt today. A legend in Houston, Ford paved the way for the long line of five-star prospects who followed. Oh, and he won. A lot.
He won when the Big 12 was a Royal Rumble at the top. He swept the 2003 season series, including at OU on Senior Night, against rival Oklahoma and senior point guard Hollis Price, who was also an All-American. In 2003, Texas finished 13-3 in the league, a league that produced two No. 1 seeds, a No. 2 seed, three Elite Eight teams, two Final Four teams, and three of the five finalists for the Wooden Award. Ford won that award. He won the Naismith too.
Sure, if you go back and look at individual stats, Ford isn’t necessarily your guy because he wasn’t an elite, efficient scorer, although he finished No. 2 nationally in assist percentage. However, there are many, many reasons why he beat out the likes of Dwyane Wade for the Wooden and Naismith, and many, many reasons why Ford influenced a high level of winning, a level Texas hasn't reached since.
Put on the tape, as I recently did, and watch Ford in the 2002-03 regional final against Michigan State. The pace he moved the ball with was incredible, and so was his ability to impact the game on both ends and elevate his teammates.
Put others on the list over Ford? Fine. Just make sure if they’re point guards, they actually did the most important thing a point guard can do – win.
6) Texas Baseball…
If summer baseball is a thing, the amount of players Texas has in the Cape Cod League could be the most, maybe by far, in a long, long time. What’s the significance? The Cape Cod League is basically invitation only, and normally reserved for some of the best draft prospects in the country. Personally, I think the league is a little overcooked. Many of the field conditions suck. The experience for players varies between awesome and miserable depending on the coaching placement. However, it is the top summer league for talent. There’s no disputing that.
I don’t know the official placements, but I think you could see Trey Faltine, Pete Hansen, Coy Cobb, Ty Madden, Kolby Kubichek, Eric Kennedy, Mason Bryant, and Dawson Merryman all end up in the Cape Cod League, and perhaps more.
7) Scanning the rest of the sports globe…
--- One of the most frustrating, yet unsurprising, aspects of COVID-19 and the sports world is seeing some billionaire sports owners fail to take care of their employees while the millionaire athletes show no hesitation in doing so. While reading about Joel Embiid’s contribution and part of the 76ers’ ownership completely failing, I began to wonder if we might see a few NBA players vocalize their anger with owners.
Players have more power in the NBA than any other professional sport. They’re also probably the most active when it comes to issues beyond sports. The longer they’re away from the game and reading and thinking, I wonder if some owners will be unable to avoid repercussions from showing a disgusting lack of empathy towards their regular employees, especially as players are feeling the very negative effects of this pandemic.
--- A random stat I came across while angrily researching pitchers as a result of a bad Tom Verducci story: of the top 30 fWAR starting pitcher finishes last season, 25 of the players were selected in the MLB Draft. And of those 25 players, 20 were selected in the first round. Yes, investing significant draft capital and free agent money in starting pitchers is always going to be a risk because, well, our bodies aren’t designed to throw baseballs 100 MPH. Luis Severino, Noah Syndergaard and Chris Sale were going to be three of the best pitchers in baseball this season, and all three will miss the year and some of next because of Tommy John surgery. That sucks.
But it doesn’t change what history tells us about acquiring elite starting pitching and its importance.
8) Anything and everything…
--- At this rate, I’m going to become a juggernaut at MLB The Show 20. Earlier this week, I hit back-to-back-to-back homers in online play, and my opponent rage quit in the top of the first inning. Yes, this will be the most impressive thing I do this week.
--- My wife hit the 38-week pregnant mark yesterday. I’m officially at the point where I go to bed each night and excitedly wonder if this is the night. I’m also at the point where my anxiety level about being let into the hospital and avoiding COVID-19 is sometimes tough to shake.
--- Being in self-quarantine has led to an increased consumption of beer. Don't worry. It's also led to an increased amount of time spent on my Peloton.
Recently, I tried Austin Beerworks’ hazy IPA “Invisible Hand,” and I’m a fan. If your thing is the very hazy appearance, this one comes up a tad short, at least my pour did, in this area. But that’s not a big deal for me. I’m all about the taste, and it’s a smooth yet complex taste with fruit and hops notes present but far from overwhelming.
---
--- My backyard beer-drinking buddy is fully recovered from his dental surgery, and enjoying all the attention he gets at home. He'd sit outside all day and just take in the scenery if I let him.
--- Recently listened to Gorillaz’s Demon Days album for the first time start to finish, and it’s truly outstanding. As my good friend put it, the record is kind of like a rock opera. Highly recommend it.
--- Shout out to HEB for an excellent job implanting social distancing practices with stickers positioned inside and outside the store, and employees barring anyone from entering who doesn’t use hand sanitizer at the front of the line before entering and grabbing a sanitized cart from an already prepared line of carts.
9) The best thing I read this week… is from Bloomberg Businessweek: Famous AIDS Researcher is Racing to Find Coronavirus Treatment
Originally, I had an article picked out about living in Italy during the lockdown. I read it. It punched me in the gut. Hard. So, we’re going with the more positive, optimistic piece because we could all use a little more hope and positivity right now.
Whatever you can do, big or small, our friends in the community need it.
Alright, the writing…
1) Working from home…
Yeah, batting leadoff in this week’s column is a non-sports topic because we’re in the middle of an extremely unusual, surreal time period. For many of you, the process of self-quarantine is very uncommon, hard to get used to, and at this point, is likely raising anxiety and stress levels. I get it. Let me try to help.
I’ve never had an office job. Well, when I worked as a radio producer in my early years at Orangebloods.com, I did have to go to the radio station Monday through Friday and sometimes on the weekends for extra, McDonald’s wage bucks. Pro tip: the radio life might seem fun because it is… until you see the paychecks. Besides those couple years in radio, I’ve always worked from home, which means I’ve been doing this for, basically, 11 years.
It takes some getting used to. During January, February, March and a lesser extent April through June and October through December, my weeks usually include at least two to seven games, a couple press conferences, and scheduled work events that require me to leave the house. However, once baseball ends, there might be weeks in a row I never have to leave the house for a work-related event. Yeah, spending most of, if not all, of your days inside the house with very limited human interaction can mess with even the most sane person.
So, here are some tips, in no specific order, that help me:
--- Start your mornings with something. For example, my dog and I usually walk to a nearby coffee shop to get our days started. Yes, this is a little more difficult to do right now given the restrictions, but many coffee shops remain open with curbside or to-go services. Normally, it’s a good opportunity to get the blood flowing, have some human interaction, and it’s become such a routine for me that my day feels odd if it’s not started that way. Maybe for you it’s walking around the block, snagging a local breakfast taco, or sitting in the backyard and reading the day’s early news. Just get out of the house for some reason.
Over time, I’ve found getting out of the house in the morning allows me to feel more productive when I return to it because it, in some ways, feels like "commuting" to an office.
--- Designate certain areas of your house for work. Obviously, an office is important, and can make this process easy. When we moved to our new house in late July, I began using the kitchen table as a workspace during the days because I enjoyed the sunlight and the windows in the kitchen. Over time, the room didn’t work for me. So, we converted part of our guest room into an office with a desk near the window, added an extra screen, and it made a world of difference. Now, that area feels like a work area and not a home area.
If you don’t have an office, no problem. Make one. The important part is the mental exercise of designating and consistently using some specific area for trying to get work done. This helps prevent me from wondering over to the game room to turn on a video game.
--- Create weekly events to look forward to. During more normal times, Wednesday and Thursday nights are special for me. If I don’t have a game to cover on Wednesday, I go to Pluckers and play trivia with a group of friends. We’ve been doing it for many years, and it truly does feel like a hump in the week I get over. On Thursday, my wife and I, until our son arrives, go to eat at our favorite, local Tex-Mex spot.
It might seem a tad silly or insignificant but having set events outside of the house to look forward to does make the early part of the week much easier to handle. When my wife and I began living together, she’d come home on Fridays worn out from the work week and often ready to relax around the house. Meanwhile, I was practically trying to grab her and sprint out of the house to dinner or something that wasn’t at home. Now that she’s been working from home the last couple weeks as well, she gets it. Getting out of the house for anything can make all the difference.
Don’t be afraid to acknowledge those feelings because they’re normal, especially if you just went from years in an office to being at home for the first time. Heck, I still feel this way often and I’ve been doing it my entire professional life.
--- Reward yourself and create certain times during long workdays to take a break. My method for writing this column usually includes outlining it on Tuesday and writing a couple key sections ahead of time, and then getting myself into a mode of writing from around 8:30 a.m. to whenever I complete it. After coffee with Willie, of course. Once I complete the column, I usually take a break for lunch to clear my head, and unless it’s something urgent, I don’t pay any attention to anything besides what I'm watching until I’m done eating. Just make sure there isn’t a Law and Order marathon on, or your productivity might be arrested and thrown away.
Set aside some time for something other than work. Maybe it’s a quick episode of television; one game on PS4 or XBOX; a phone call to a friend; reading a news story; a quick walk or home exercise; funny YouTube videos. Break up the monotonous nature of working from home with short breaks, and by setting those times in your head, you have something to look forward to. A few friends have tossed around the idea of using Zoom or Discord, watching a specific movie or sports event at the same time, and talking about it and anything as we all watch.
--- Create some sound. Some people can work while listening to podcasts. For me, it’s music. The days go quicker – strangely, I’ve found playing entire records on my record player makes the day FLY by - if you’re listening to something, and while it’s not actual face-to-face communication, hearing a human voice constantly can help avoid a stir-crazy feeling.
--- Even though you’re stuck inside for work, you can still communicate with others. Call. Text. Video chat. Social media. Visit with neighbors while also practicing social distancing. This time reminded me how much I enjoy just sitting in the backyard in a comfortable chair and having a beer, throwing the ball to the dog, or having a conversation with our neighbors.
If your job isn’t currently practicing this, suggest some video chats. My wife’s office is doing a great job of creating those types of meetings and events so everyone can see each other, talk a little bit, and get some work done. For us at Orangebloods, it’s nice to have our Thursday podcast and Slack channel because we always feel connected with each other.
I could go on, but this column is approaching 3,000 words and I haven’t even written all the sections. Hope my suggestions helped. If you have any questions or want to talk more, don’t hesitate to PM or e-mail me. Again, these are very unusual times, and many are probably feeling trapped inside, which can create anxiety and stress. Reach out. After all, you're a part of this community, and in times like these, lean on others.
2) An unintended recruiting result from COVID-19?
Over recent years, we’ve seen a shift in national football recruiting. Yes, there have always been established powerhouses able to, occasional, leave their region and recruit nationally with great success. The best recent example, besides this current era, was Pete Carroll at USC. He’d pluck the elite from SoCal, and then go get elite talent from across the country, like Joe McKnight (RIP; Louisiana), Brian Cushing (New Jersey), Ronald Johnson (Michigan), Dominque Byrd (Minnesota), John David Booty (Louisiana), Keith Rivers (Florida), Dwayne Jarrett (New Jersey), and the list goes on.
The amount of success Carroll and USC had and ability to go anywhere and get a five-star prospect was truly rate for its time. Sure, there have been other examples in the past, like Florida State and Miami in the 90’s and then into the early 2000’s and Urban Meyer at Florida. But there weren’t many programs able and willing to consistently leave their region every cycle, go to bat for elite talent in someone else’s region, and win that talent. Until now.
This past recruiting cycle, Alabama and Clemson signed nine five-star prospects combined; Alabama signed four from four different states and Clemson signed five from five different states. Sure, South Carolina and Alabama don’t produce elite talent as often as places like Florida, California and Texas. But the states do produce the occasional five-star or three. Perhaps the best way to illustrate my point: both Clemson and Alabama went to California and pulled a five-star quarterbacks with a No. 3 overall ranking or better.
Now, probably more so than ever, recruiting is national for the top programs, and not just regional.
Look at the war zone the state of Texas has become in recent years. The following programs signed at least one five-star from Texas since 2015: Ohio State, Florida State, Stanford, UCLA, LSU, Ole Miss, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, and Houston. California, often a state and region not recruited enough nationally, is seeing a sudden change in where the top players are going, and this is its list since 2015: UCLA, USC, Tennessee, Stanford, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, Oregon, Florida, Clemson, Texas (does Bru McCoy count?), and Georgia.
In the 2020 cycle, California produced four five-star prospects. None of them signed with a California school, and three went all the way to the other coast, basically. It was the second-straight recruiting cycle all of California’s five-stars left the state, which never happened from 2001-2018.
There are a lot of factors that go into recruiting results and success for programs, and where they get their players from; some cycles require different needs than others with different connections to different players. Plus, colleges now have better and more access to film than ever. Sure, part of the movement of top prospects from their home states and/or region is lack of success of top programs in those states. USC is down. UCLA is a disaster. Texas and Texas A&M have gone through their respective issues. But even when top programs were down in the past, they’d still pull some big names.
Over time, I think recruiting has become more national because we’re more connected as a society. Remember the days of limited choices when it came to watching college football? Now, almost every game is televised for the major programs. It’s not as difficult to fly anywhere in the country as it used to be. Well, right now isn’t the best time for flying, but you get my point. High school players can use social media to get an inside view of the programs they’re interested in, including their facilities, practices, interviews, etc. The days of recruiting letters died a long time ago. Top recruits develop relationships with each other at the various regional and national camps and All-American games.
Plus, take a state like Texas for example, and probably the best example: think of all the people moving to Texas. Drive around in Houston, Dallas, heck, even Austin and see the different college flags, t-shits, bumper stickers, etc. all over the city for different programs. While a trip around Alabama or Louisiana would probably include a very small number of college representation, a trip to California, Florida, and Texas would be much different.
What will the COVID-19 pandemic do to recruiting?
I wonder, especially given the uncertainty of all sports seasons right now, if this global pandemic leads to, at least temporarily, a return to a much more regional style of recruiting. Top prospects might be more inclined to stay local given the likely inability to travel much this summer, uncertainty of setting up visits, and possibility of being close to family becoming a bigger factor than originally realized. I imagine there will be some kids that are like some of y’all and want to get far, far away from family once this quarantine ends. But there are probably plenty who will eventually fly across the country back to campus, and spend some time wondering what the status is of everyone back home.
For Texas, a shift could be especially relevant because of how awesomely loaded the 2021 class is in the Lone Star State. Of course, this theory could be wrong, but this is what happens when I’m locked inside with too much coffee.
3) Please do more of this, Mike Yurcich
You’ve probably seen this already. So, SIAP. But I thought it was really cool of Mike Yurcich to give a glimpse into what goes into calling and designing a play, and why some plays and calls are better designed to beat certain coverages than others. Plus, the technology used was pretty cool too.
We could use more of these, coach. Signed, a country without sports.
4) Luke Yaklich moves on…
Luke Yaklich wasn’t even in Austin for 12 months. Monday, Stadium’s Jeff Goodman broke the news - I'm not quite sure why UIC hasn't officially announced the hire, but it's expected to be announced soon - Yaklich is expected to be UIC’s next head coach, a week after I wrote about the interest from UIC and Western Michigan. Things moved quick, although a week in Coronavirus time feels more like a month.
For Yaklich, the move makes sense. He was on the fast track to becoming a head coach, and he has deep ties to the state of Illinois. UIC hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2004. So, even just one ticket to the Big Dance could propel Yaklich to another step up the head coaching ladder. Illinois Chicago just played for in the tournament championship for the Horizon League, coming up short against former Texas assistant Darrin Horn. Yaklich replaced Horn. Time is a flat circle. Or something like that.
Statistically, Yaklich’s successful impact can be found in a few areas. Although college basketball produced more elite defenses than years prior, or perhaps offense is just worse now, Texas finished with its best adjusted defensive efficiency numbers overall and in league play since 2010-11. Opposing teams scored just 23.2% of their points from beyond the arc, good for No. 343 nationally (higher the ranking the better here), and Texas finished No. 6 in three-point rate and No. 48 in assist rate.
It wasn’t all good, though. Texas finished 330th in defensive rebounding percentage, and 246th in free throw rate on defense. Both key emphasis points by Yaklich, Texas started slow never improved. The defensive rebounding percentage wasn’t that surprising, but the free throw rate was. Texas finished 88th, 26th, and 57th the prior three seasons, respectively. Obviously, Texas lost a ton of points at the free throw line this season given how terrible it was on offense at getting to the charity stripe.
What will Shaka Smart do to fill the void? Well, he’s become very familiar with this process, and based on the way he handled the timeline to hire both Yaklich and Neill Berry, we can expect the Texas head coach to take his time. Smart is a defensive-minded coach, and my educated guess is he looks that route again, although it was his offense that struggled significantly more than his defense last season.
We’re past the point of time when it would benefit Smart to maximize his roster’s depth and athleticism by forcing – not just talking about – a more uptempo offense, which would include the usage of full-court defense. So, I wouldn’t get your hopes up about that right now.
5) A problem I have with ESPN’s Greatest of All-Time college basketball bracket…
ESPN put together a 64-player “Greatest of All-Time” college basketball bracket with both men and women. The usual suspects made the list like Kevin Durant, Patrick Ewing, Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, Ralph Sampson, and Christian Laettner. Missing from the list was T.J. Ford. I get it. The history of college basketball has included so many elite players, and many stayed in college longer than Ford. Well, I understood it until I got to Trae Young.
I covered Young. He’s a great young man. His skill level is incredible, and he’s one of the best shooters I’ve ever seen. He’s going to have a good or better NBA career. Statistically, his freshman season was record-breaking awesome and better than Ford’s.
However, Oklahoma finished 18-14 during Young’s lone season in Norman, and 8-10 in the Big 12 with a one-and-done NCAA Tournament appearance. At one point during the Big 12 slate, the Sooners lost six-straight games. They finished seventh in the league.
Point guards are judged by many things, but most important is winning. It reminded me a quote Shaka Smart said earlier this year about Matt Coleman, and it went something like this: “He and I are judged by the same thing – winning.”
Ford didn’t just take Texas back to the Final Four in 2003 for the first time since 19 freaking 47. He made it cool for the best of the best to go to Texas and hoop. He started a movement still being felt today. A legend in Houston, Ford paved the way for the long line of five-star prospects who followed. Oh, and he won. A lot.
He won when the Big 12 was a Royal Rumble at the top. He swept the 2003 season series, including at OU on Senior Night, against rival Oklahoma and senior point guard Hollis Price, who was also an All-American. In 2003, Texas finished 13-3 in the league, a league that produced two No. 1 seeds, a No. 2 seed, three Elite Eight teams, two Final Four teams, and three of the five finalists for the Wooden Award. Ford won that award. He won the Naismith too.
Sure, if you go back and look at individual stats, Ford isn’t necessarily your guy because he wasn’t an elite, efficient scorer, although he finished No. 2 nationally in assist percentage. However, there are many, many reasons why he beat out the likes of Dwyane Wade for the Wooden and Naismith, and many, many reasons why Ford influenced a high level of winning, a level Texas hasn't reached since.
Put on the tape, as I recently did, and watch Ford in the 2002-03 regional final against Michigan State. The pace he moved the ball with was incredible, and so was his ability to impact the game on both ends and elevate his teammates.
Put others on the list over Ford? Fine. Just make sure if they’re point guards, they actually did the most important thing a point guard can do – win.
6) Texas Baseball…
If summer baseball is a thing, the amount of players Texas has in the Cape Cod League could be the most, maybe by far, in a long, long time. What’s the significance? The Cape Cod League is basically invitation only, and normally reserved for some of the best draft prospects in the country. Personally, I think the league is a little overcooked. Many of the field conditions suck. The experience for players varies between awesome and miserable depending on the coaching placement. However, it is the top summer league for talent. There’s no disputing that.
I don’t know the official placements, but I think you could see Trey Faltine, Pete Hansen, Coy Cobb, Ty Madden, Kolby Kubichek, Eric Kennedy, Mason Bryant, and Dawson Merryman all end up in the Cape Cod League, and perhaps more.
7) Scanning the rest of the sports globe…
--- One of the most frustrating, yet unsurprising, aspects of COVID-19 and the sports world is seeing some billionaire sports owners fail to take care of their employees while the millionaire athletes show no hesitation in doing so. While reading about Joel Embiid’s contribution and part of the 76ers’ ownership completely failing, I began to wonder if we might see a few NBA players vocalize their anger with owners.
Players have more power in the NBA than any other professional sport. They’re also probably the most active when it comes to issues beyond sports. The longer they’re away from the game and reading and thinking, I wonder if some owners will be unable to avoid repercussions from showing a disgusting lack of empathy towards their regular employees, especially as players are feeling the very negative effects of this pandemic.
--- A random stat I came across while angrily researching pitchers as a result of a bad Tom Verducci story: of the top 30 fWAR starting pitcher finishes last season, 25 of the players were selected in the MLB Draft. And of those 25 players, 20 were selected in the first round. Yes, investing significant draft capital and free agent money in starting pitchers is always going to be a risk because, well, our bodies aren’t designed to throw baseballs 100 MPH. Luis Severino, Noah Syndergaard and Chris Sale were going to be three of the best pitchers in baseball this season, and all three will miss the year and some of next because of Tommy John surgery. That sucks.
But it doesn’t change what history tells us about acquiring elite starting pitching and its importance.
8) Anything and everything…
--- At this rate, I’m going to become a juggernaut at MLB The Show 20. Earlier this week, I hit back-to-back-to-back homers in online play, and my opponent rage quit in the top of the first inning. Yes, this will be the most impressive thing I do this week.
--- My wife hit the 38-week pregnant mark yesterday. I’m officially at the point where I go to bed each night and excitedly wonder if this is the night. I’m also at the point where my anxiety level about being let into the hospital and avoiding COVID-19 is sometimes tough to shake.
--- Being in self-quarantine has led to an increased consumption of beer. Don't worry. It's also led to an increased amount of time spent on my Peloton.
Recently, I tried Austin Beerworks’ hazy IPA “Invisible Hand,” and I’m a fan. If your thing is the very hazy appearance, this one comes up a tad short, at least my pour did, in this area. But that’s not a big deal for me. I’m all about the taste, and it’s a smooth yet complex taste with fruit and hops notes present but far from overwhelming.
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--- My backyard beer-drinking buddy is fully recovered from his dental surgery, and enjoying all the attention he gets at home. He'd sit outside all day and just take in the scenery if I let him.
--- Recently listened to Gorillaz’s Demon Days album for the first time start to finish, and it’s truly outstanding. As my good friend put it, the record is kind of like a rock opera. Highly recommend it.
--- Shout out to HEB for an excellent job implanting social distancing practices with stickers positioned inside and outside the store, and employees barring anyone from entering who doesn’t use hand sanitizer at the front of the line before entering and grabbing a sanitized cart from an already prepared line of carts.
9) The best thing I read this week… is from Bloomberg Businessweek: Famous AIDS Researcher is Racing to Find Coronavirus Treatment
Originally, I had an article picked out about living in Italy during the lockdown. I read it. It punched me in the gut. Hard. So, we’re going with the more positive, optimistic piece because we could all use a little more hope and positivity right now.
