Calipari, Kaminsky win AP awards in landslide votes
Kentucky’s John Calipari was voted Associated Press coach of the year Friday. He received 40 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. Tony Bennett of Virginia was runner-up with nine votes, and Notre Dame’s Mike Brey got five.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky was honored as the AP player of the year. The senior was rewarded with 58 first-place votes. Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor received five, and Willie Cauley-Stein of Kentucky and Jerian Grant of Notre Dame each received one.
Calipari’s Wildcats play Kaminsky and the Badgers in the NCAA semifinals Saturday in Indianapolis.
Texas: Shaka Smart finally received an offer he couldn’t resist.
Smart was introduced as the new basketball coach at Texas, leaving Virginia Commonwealth for the Longhorns after turning down several suitors, including UCLA, since taking VCU to the NCAA Final Four in 2011.
He also reportedly received offers from USC, North Carolina State, Maryland, Marquette, Illinois and Wake Forest over the years.
Smart, 37, said this job was different.
“To me, it was a nobrainer,” said Smart, wearing
a burnt orange tie to his first news conference at Texas. “I don’t want to take away from any other program, but there is only one University of Texas. There is unbelievable potential here.”
Texas men’s athletic director Steve Patterson said Smart received a sevenyear contract, the first six fully guaranteed, with average compensation of about $3 million.
Smart is the first Africanmen’s basketball coach at Texas. “I take that really seriously,” he said.
Anti-social media: Tom Izzo was asked a fairly innocuous question about whether he thinks social media is helpful or harmful to his players.
“I don’t think social media is helpful to any human
being on the planet,” the Michigan State coach said. OK then. It wasn’t the first time Izzo had made his distaste for Twitter clear. He says he doesn’t worry much about what his players tweet. He’s more concerned about what they might read.
“I challenge every human being in this room, if they start talking about your son, your daughter on the social media like they do players, there will be some fist fighting going on,” Izzo said. “If you can’t go eye to eye with somebody, tell them what your problems are, then you don’t belong talking to me or my players. So sorry, I’m not a fan.”
Big O fan: Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan had a chance tomeet one of his childhood idols. The Badgers’ 67-yearold leader said he got goose bumps sitting next to Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson. Ryan was at the presentation of the player of the year award named after Robertson, given by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Wisconsin’s Kaminsky won the award.
“When I was younger ... Oscar Robertson was always a guy who was in my 1-on-1 games,” Ryan said. “When nobody else was on the playground, it was Oscar against Jerry West, Oscar against somebody else.” Oh, Ryan kept score. “Oscar, you won more times than anybody else, just so you know,” he said.
Minnesota: Coach Richard Pitino said he’s “very happy” with his current position and “working extremely hard” to bring the state a great basketball program.
Pitino issued a statement through the university, prompted by speculation about Alabama’s interest in him for the vacancy created last month when Anthony Grant was fired. Pitino’s name also popped up as a potential candidate for openings at St. John’s and Tennessee.
Mid-major award: Sacramento State’s Brian Katz won the Hugh Durham Award as mid-major coach of the year.