Pac-12 Basketball

Virginia Cavaliers basketball coach Tony Bennett reportedly hasn't ruled out the possibility of becoming the next coach at UCLA. 

Adam Zagoria cited a source who said the Bruins "are going hard after Tony Bennett, and he has not said no yet."

This comes after Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel reported on Feb. 7 the Pac-12 school "covets" the Virginia coach, although he suggested it is a long shot and pointed out, "he's already turned down plenty of more established programs in favor of the elite program he's established in Charlottesville. Also, Bennett enjoys attention as much as J.D. Salinger, which wouldn't make the bright lights of L.A. very appealing."

Zagoria noted one UCLA source said the "only issue with Bennett is the grinding pace" he prefers.

According to Ken Pomeroy's pace-adjusted rankings, the Cavaliers are last (353rd) in the country in tempo this season. While that slow style of play may frustrate some, it is difficult to argue with the results.

Bennett is in his 10th season with Virginia and sports a 240-88 record. He has three regular-season ACC titles, two conference tournament titles and six NCAA tournament appearances, although he has left fans wanting in March at times. Despite the regular-season success, the Cavaliers haven't reached the Final Four during his tenure.

They also became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season.

Still, Virginia's success would be a significant improvement over UCLA of late. The Bruins are just 13-12 this season and appear nowhere near NCAA tournament contention after they fired Steve Alford in December. The historically dominant program also hasn't been to the Final Four since 2008.

UCLA's spot near the top of the college basketball hierarchy with a record 11 national championships can't be debated, but Virginia has been more competitive on a national stage during Bennett's tenure.

Zagoria noted former Chicago Bulls and Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg, Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin, Texas Tech coach Chris Beard, Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski and Houston's Kelvin Sampson are also being considered.

As they look for a permanent replacement for Steve Alford, the UCLA Bruins have Tony Bennett near the top of their wish list.

Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel reported UCLA "covets" the Virginia Cavaliers head coach but that hiring Bennett would be anything but a sure thing for the Bruins.

Thamel wrote that Bennett has "already turned down plenty of more established programs" and "enjoys attention as much as J.D. Salinger, which wouldn't make the bright lights of LA very appealing."

Thamel went on to throw out Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton and former Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg as possibilities. He expressed skepticism about Walton, positing Walton may instead want to go to the Arizona Wildcats, where Sean Miller appears to be on shaky ground. Hoiberg, on the other hand, might be the "safest bet" of the top contenders for the Bruins' vacancy.

Bennett doesn't really have a compelling reason to leave Virginia, even for a school as prestigious as UCLA.

The Cavaliers have yet to advance past the Elite Eight under his watch, but that's a combination of bad luck and the unpredictable nature of the NCAA tournament. Bennett has Virginia at a place where it can challenge for an ACC title on an annual basis.

At the same time, the fanbase won't be in an uproar if the team falls short in March. Stadium's Jeff Goodman highlighted that point as a reason why UCLA may struggle to poach a star-level head coach:

UCLA will have a tough time getting a coach like Mike Brey, Tony Bennett, Chris Holtmann, etc. for several reasons:

1) Salary and cost of living in LA
2) Lack of charter flights
3) Unrealistic expectations with the program

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) December 31, 2018

With Alford at the helm, the Bruins reached three Sweet 16s in five seasons before the team fired him midway through this year. A number of UCLA fans never truly warmed to Alford, and that impacted the general atmosphere around the program.

That's something that may not have gone unnoticed by Bennett in the event UCLA ever made a formal approach.

Arizona Wildcats assistant coach Mark Phelps has been placed on administrative leave.

Alabama attorney Donald Maurice Jackson announced the news on Facebook on Wednesday:

"University of Arizona Assistant Men's Basketball Coach Mark Phelps was placed on administrative leave on February 5, 2019 based upon an unresolved NCAA matter. Coach Phelps has performed his duties in strict compliance with NCAA and University policies. In correspondence dated January 22, 2019, Counsel for Coach Phelps was advised of the following by the NCAA Director of Enforcement: 'At this point, the enforcement staff has made no determinations regarding potential violations involving Coach Phelps as we are still in the process of collecting information and conducting interviews.' Although Coach Phelps is disappointed with the decision to place him on leave, he will continue to fully cooperate with both University investigators and NCAA staff. He is confident that he will be fully exonerated and allowed to resume his coaching career."

The university issued a statement on the matter, via ESPN's Jeff Borzello, saying that it has "initiated the process" to terminate Phelps:

Arizona releases statement regarding the suspension of assistant coach Mark Phelps. pic.twitter.com/zW1aBfwntz

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) February 7, 2019

According to Borzello, Phelps is being accused of a violation in regard to the transcripts of Shareef O'Neal, the son of Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal, who was rated a 4-star recruit in the class of 2018 by 247Sports, initially committed to Arizona before signing with UCLA amid an FBI investigation into the Wildcats.

Jackson denied any wrongdoing by Phelps.

"Mark Phelps has done absolutely nothing in violation of NCAA rules," Jackson said, per Borzello. "He has been fully cooperative with the NCAA. He has been in daily contact with the compliance staff. This is a direct response to a published story [about alleged NCAA rules violations at Arizona], and they're trying to entrap a coach in something he had no involvement in."

A source told Borzello that this is just a "circular attempt to go after [head coach] Sean Miller."

Phelps is in his fourth season in Tucson after joining Sean Miller's coaching staff in 2015. He has previously spent time as an assistant at NC State, Arizona State, Missouri and Marquette.

He also went 77-86 as the head coach at Drake from 2008 to 2013, making two appearances in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

Miller's future with the program has come into question, as the Wildcats are one of the teams being investigated by the NCAA, according to Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde, Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel. WildcatAuthority.com's Jason Scheer writes that Phelps' suspension is not related to the FBI investigation.

Miller and Phelps' relationship dates back to their days on the NC State coaching staff, where they were together from 1996 to 2001.

Arizona Wildcats men's basketball head coach Sean Miller is reportedly facing a cloudy future.

According to a report from Pat Forde, Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, Arizona is one of the schools under formal NCAA inquiry following the FBI's investigation into college basketball corruption. The report noted there is "a confluence of complications that cast a shroud over Miller's future" as a result.

Among those complications is the upcoming trial of Christian Dawkins—a former runner for agent Andy Miller—as well as "potential NCAA fallout from the recent felony plea in federal court by former Arizona assistant coach Emanuel 'Book' Richardson, which amplifies the question of how the NCAA will handle Miller's responsibility for the actions in his program."

In October 2018, Dawkins, James Gatto and Merl Code were found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Gatto and Code previously worked for Adidas, and all were accused of providing recruits benefits against NCAA rules in an effort to steer them toward Adidas programs.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com reported in February 2018 that FBI wiretaps caught Miller discussing a $100,000 payment to then recruit Deandre Ayton with Dawkins. Ayton went on to be the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA draft after playing at Arizona.

It should be noted the Yahoo report called ESPN's report on the subject "controversial" and pointed out Miller denied paying prospects after it came out.

Forde, Thamel and Wetzel noted Dawkins' next trial is scheduled for April, and his lawyer, Steve Haney, said they do not plan on entering a plea deal. That means Miller could be subpoenaed as the defense puts forth an effort to show Dawkins wasn't bribing coaches.

The Yahoo report cited sources who said Miller, Richardson and former Arizona assistant Joe Pasternack communicated with Dawkins on a regular basis. Dawkins even said he went to so many practices it was "like I'm on the team."

As a result of the FBI's probe, Arizona hired outside legal help to investigate Miller, per Yahoo. The report explained the school may have to proactively move on from Miller before anything particularly incriminating against the program comes out during the trial.

That is especially the case with NCAA rule 11.1.1.1 serving as a backdrop, which states "a head coach is presumed to be responsible for the actions of all staff members who report, directly or indirectly, to the head coach. The head coach will be held accountable for violations in the program unless he or she can rebut the presumption of responsibility."

Forde, Thamel and Wetzel even pointed to current Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton as a potential replacement for Miller should Arizona fire him in the wake of the FBI's investigation.

As for Richardson, he pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge after working for Miller. Previous federal court testimony also included reports of Pasternack offering $50,000 for recruit Brian Bowen to play for Arizona, as well as connections to former players Rawle Alkins and Ayton and former commit Jahvon Quinerly.

On the court, the Wildcats have struggled with inconsistency on the way to a 14-8 record this season. However, the decision on Miller's future could be complicated by an impressive 2019 recruiting class, which 247Sports' composite rankings lists as the best in the country.

Center Isaiah Stewart is going to add size to Washington's 2019 freshman class after committing to the university Sunday.

Lauren Kirschman of the News Tribune reported Stewart's decision to play for the Huskies over Duke, Michigan State, Syracuse and Kentucky.

One of the top prospects in this year's class, the big man fits the prototype of what a modern-day center looks like at 6'9" and 245 pounds. 

Currently attending La Lumiere School in New York, Stewart is a 5-star prospect who is ranked as the No. 3 center and No. 6 player overall, per 247Sports. 

ESPN's scouting report for Stewart highlights his unique length and wingspan as a key reason he has the potential to develop into a superstar:

"Stewart has an incredible combination of length and power with a measured 7-foot-4 wingspan and a massive upper body. He has broad shoulders, big hands, and a high motor to match. While he may already be built like a man, he's actually young for his grade, and so there is plenty of upside left to discover. Stewart is already an outstanding rebounder, and truly elite on the offensive glass."

The biggest weakness in Stewart's game at this point is his shooting touch away from the basket, but his size and length give him rare potential. Developing that final part of his game will make him one of the best players in college basketball. 

After head coach Mike Hopkins' successful debut with 21 wins in 2017-18, he parlayed that into landing a premier recruit to keep the Huskies moving in the right direction.

Washington hasn't been immune to getting top-notch talent. Markelle Fultz was also a 5-star prospect and top-ranked combo guard in the 2016 recruiting class. His arrival didn't lead a turnaround, as the team went 9-22 during the 2016-17 season. 

The combination of Hopkins' coaching and Stewart's athleticism gives Washington an opportunity to compete with the Pac-12's elite programs like Arizona, UCLA and Utah. 

Another noteworthy UCLA Bruins alumnus threw his support behind Earl Watson replacing Steve Alford as the team's head coach.

Speaking with TMZ Sports, Baron Davis said he'd be willing to join Watson's staff and work for free if the school brought Watson aboard.

UCLA announced on Dec. 31 it had fired Alford, with Murry Bartow serving as the interim head coach.

The Bruins have yet to hire a permanent coach, and Watson would be a logical choice to take over. He played four years at UCLA and had a lengthy playing career before transitioning to coaching. Watson spent a total of 118 games as the Phoenix Suns' head coach.

Los Angeles Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball, who starred for a season at UCLA, echoed Davis' endorsement, telling reporters earlier this month he'd "like to see [Watson] get the job."

Davis' comments are unlikely to impact the result of UCLA's coaching search, but Watson's candidacy may start gaining more steam in the days and weeks ahead.

USC guard Kevin Porter Jr. has been suspended indefinitely by the program for his off-court behavior and could be kicked off the team, according to Brady McCollough of the Los Angeles Times.

"He was suspended for conduct issues," head coach Andy Enfield said Monday. "We'll re-evaluate his future with the program this week."

Porter had initially been suspended for just Monday's game against Oregon for an incident that happened between the team's previous game Thursday and Sunday morning, per McCollough.

The freshman scored just five points in 25 minutes during the 79-74 overtime loss to Oregon State on Thursday. The Trojans struggled much more without him on Sunday, losing 81-60 to Oregon.

Jeff Goodman of Stadium had a blunt assessment of the year to this point:

USC getting pounded at Oregon without Kevin Porter Jr. - who was suspended for “conduct” issues. This season has been a complete train wreck for the Trojans.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) January 14, 2019

Porter was a 5-star recruit out of Washington and considered the No. 28 overall player in the 2018 class by 247Sports' composite rankings. However, he hasn't had much of a chance to show what he can do at USC.

He has only appeared in seven games while dealing with a thigh injury, averaging a modest 10.7 points per game when on the court. He also only topped 25 minutes in a game once despite the Trojans lacking depth in the rotation.

Meanwhile, this continues a trend of off-court problems affecting the team, as Jordan Usher was suspended earlier in the year before transferring.

"We've had a lot of distractions this season for a variety of reasons," Enfield said, per Kyle Bonagura of ESPN.com. "The last thing you need is a team that's trying to put together some wins in the Pac-12 to have more distractions."

The team is now just 9-8 after Monday's loss, including a 2-2 record in the Pac-12.

Pac-12 men's basketball is an unmitigated disaster.

If you've paid any attention to the sport this season, you've no doubt seen some version of that statement on a near-daily basis. With the exception of noted "Conference of Champions" homer Bill Walton, it seems everyone in the national media has chimed in on the (increasingly probable) potential for the league to send just one team to the 2019 NCAA tournament.

To prove that point, Matt Norlander of CBS Sports dug into some of the putrid numbers on Jan. 2, the most damning of which was that the entire conference was 4-31 against Quadrant 1 opponents at that time.*

*Quadrant 1 games are defined as home games against teams in the NET top 30, neutral-court games against teams in the NET top 50 or road games against teams in the NET top 75.

As of Jan. 5, every other major conference had at least twice that many Q1 wins, and both the MAC (4-20) and Conference USA (4-22) had better winning percentages in Q1 games. That 4-31 record screams, "Mid-major conference!"

Not only is the league awful in Q1 games, but 10 of the 12 teams have already suffered at least one Q3 or Q4 loss. Every Pac-12 team has at least four losses, and half of the league has six or more. No one in the conference is even close to the AP Top 25.

UCLA has already fired Steve Alford, and you can take it to the bank he won't be the last head coach canned.

Unless you're in a serious state of denial, we can all agree the Pac-12 is the worst of the six major conferences this season.

https://twitter.com/Sam_Vecenie/status/1081638410312245248

But this league isn't just bad by current standards.

It might be the worst season by a major conference in the modern era of college basketball.

It's certainly the worst of the KenPom.com era, which dates back to 2001-02.

The tempo-free, predictive-analytics website ranks conferences every year by averaging the adjusted offensive efficiency and adjusted defensive efficiency of all the teams in the league. Generally speaking, the top conference has a rating around 15 or 16, but all six major conferences have a double-digit rating in most years.

The Pac-12 presently has a rating of 7.47, which would be just the third time in the site's 18-year history that a major conference finished at 8.4 or lower. And that number was actually 7.59 over the weekend, so it's still getting worse even though they're only playing games against each other now.

One of the other instances was the Pac-12 in 2011-12, which had a rating of 8.14 and sent just two teams to the NCAA tournament: No. 11 seed Colorado and No. 12 seed California. Regular-season league champion Washington didn't even make the cut. But half of that conference finished in the KenPom top 60, whereas the current Pac-12 only has three such teams. The real reason the 2011-12 iteration ranked so poorly was that USC, Utah and Arizona State were downright terrible, each ranking 220th or worse and dragging the whole league down with them.

The other was the Pac-10 in 2003-04, which had a horrendous rating of 6.66. However, that conference produced three single-digit seeds in the tournament, including Stanford, which went 29-1 and earned a No. 1 seed. The bottom 60 percent of that league was rather awful, and its three tournament representatives went a combined 1-3 in the Big Dance. At least it had one title contender, though, which is a far cry from its current state of affairs.

I’m not sure the Pac-12 should get an automatic bid this year.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) January 5, 2019

But even without KenPom data, we can go back further than 2002 to show that this is trending toward being the worst major conference in at least three decades.

Since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, the ACC and the Big Ten have each sent a minimum of three teams to every tourney and finished every season with at least two representatives in the final AP poll. The Big East, SEC and Big 12/Big Eight have also sent at least three teams to each of those 34 tournaments and have finished each season with at least one ranked team.

It would be next to impossible to argue that any of those leagues have ever had a season this awful.

It's really just a question of whether the Pac-12/Pac-10 has ever been worse than this.

In 1985-86, the Pac-10 put just two teams in the NCAA tournament—No. 9 seed Arizona and No. 12 seed Washington—each of which lost in the first round. And at no point in that season did it have a single team in the AP Top 20. That appears to be the baseline for major-conference futility.

The Pac-10/Pac-12 was also a two-bid league in 1987, 1988, 2010 and 2012, but there's little question 1986 was its low point. Sports Reference has a "Simple Rating System" for conferences, which follows the same basic logic as the KenPom conference rankings, just with a different formula. And the Pac-10's 4.92 SRS score in 1986 is 1.56 points lower than any year since.

This year's Pac-12 is sitting at 7.39, which is quite bad compared to the typical score for a major conference—the other five major conferences entered Wednesday with an average SRS of 13.91—but not (yet) nearly as awful as it was 33 years ago. And considering it has placed four different teams in the AP Top 25 this season, it would be tough to argue that this conference is worse than it was in 1986.

However, if the league does send just one team to the 2019 NCAA tournament, it would be the first major conference to do so since the Big Eight in 1979—when the field only consisted of 40 teams. That would make for a strong case that this is the worst major conference ever.

Regardless, the Pac-12 is in dire straits.

Some team—most likely Arizona or Washington—may eventually emerge from this dumpster fire with a 14-4 league record and a single-digit number in the overall loss column on Selection Sunday. That team might even be deemed worthy of an at-large bid, should one become necessary.

Don't be fooled, though. From top to bottom, this is easily one of the five worst seasons by a major conference since the mid-1980s.

At any rate, you won't hear as many complaints as usual from those of us with cable/satellite providers that don't offer the Pac-12 Network.

That's a blessing in disguise this year.

        

Advanced stats courtesy of KenPom.com and Sports Reference.

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.

Former Arizona assistant basketball coach Emanuel "Book" Richardson pled guilty to one count of federal funds bribery Monday in connection to the college basketball fraud scandal, according to Pat Forde, Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports. 

Richardson originally faced up to 60 years in prison for his charges, but will now face a sentence of 18-24 months. 

"Book Richardson has positively affected the lives of young men and encouraged them to reach their potential for 25 years," attorney Craig Mordoch said. "While he will be judged for his actions in this case, this is something he did. It is not who he is."

The former coach was accused of taking $20,000 in bribes from Christian Dawkins to help steer players toward his agency when they left for the NBA.

Dawkins was found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in October, along with Adidas executives Jim Gatto and Merl Code. All three of them facing sentencing in March.

Meanwhile, former USC assistant Tony Bland pled guilty to bribery earlier this month and will reportedly now face probation instead of prison time. He admitted to taking $4,100 in bribes.

Former Oklahoma State assistant Lamont Evans and former Auburn assistant Chuck Person are also facing trials in 2019 and have not yet agreed to a plea deal.

This entire situation centers around the FBI's investigation into corruption in college basketball, including "pay-for-play" tactics to get recruits to commit to specific schools.

If UCLA boosters get their way, Rick Pitino will be the next head coach for the Bruins basketball team. 

Per Forbes' Adam Zagoria, multiple "influential" UCLA boosters are targeting the Basketball Hall of Famer to take over the program. 

Casey Wasserman, whom Zagoria noted had a hand in the hiring of Chip Kelly as football coach, is among the boosters pushing for Pitino to be hired. 

UCLA is in the market for a new head coach after firing Steve Alford on Monday after a four-game losing streak dropped the team's record to 7-6. 

Pitino hasn't coached in the United States since being fired by Louisville in October 2017. The 66-year-old lost his job after being implicated in a pay-for-play investigation conducted by the FBI that resulted in four assistant coaches at four different schools and an Adidas executive being arrested. 

Panathinaikos B.C. of the EuroLeague hired Pitino as its head coach in December. He won his first game with the team on Dec. 28.