Following Big Ten Wonk's advice

Big Ten Traitorous Bastard Wonk (full credit for the nouveau nom de plume goes to the iconic m go blog) had this to say about judging coaches on their March records:

3. Look at the three-point shooting of your candidate's team: if it was really good in March, discount that as a factor in your hiring. Example: for all I know, Ernie Kent will turn out to be the next John Wooden. But if he's hired based on what Oregon did this month, he'll show his true greatness in spite of his team's precociously hot outside shooting and not because of it. (Actually the same could be said, kind of, for Pearl. Tennessee left the building having shot 49 percent on their threes in the tournament.)

Well, well, well. Is the Wonk suggesting that we judge new coaches on their team's ability to convert a 2-point shot in their own offense? Is he suggesting that someone research the offensive efficiency of all the potential coaches? And are you suggesting that I'm going to let this notion go without a post and another mention for my 4th favorite tag, "math is hard"?

See you with facts this weekend, Hawkeye fans.

"So much love, and also so much information."

More bad news today. The Hair Gel's favorite college basketball blogger, Big Ten Wonk, is hanging up the Chuck Taylors after this season. Sort of. Not really. Says the Wonk:

I've decided that this will be the last season of "Big Ten Wonk."

Next season I'll continue to write on a regular basis on college basketball. I just don't know where, exactly. Watch this space for a referral.

Regular readers know that this past season I spent less time on, say, Northwestern than on North Carolina, Florida, UCLA, Kansas, Georgetown, and Butler. I know this shift befuddled a few of you and, given this blog's title, any befuddlement was entirely reasonable. So now I want to end that confusion: I want to write about college basketball. The whole thing.

Tearful and despondent, I was moved to rip off poetry. With a doff of the cap to Jack Byrnes...

You gave me tempo-free,
You gave me PPWS,
You gave me Oden.
Your name was Wonk,
A wonk from the Big Ten.
But you were also a wonk of the rest of basketball,
And it needed you, too.
I selfishly tried to hold on to you,
While other conferences ate away at your heart,
Like an unstoppable rebel force.
And now we'll meet in Heaven,
And I shall see you
Probably next year, probably next year, (sniff) probably next year.