One of the best weeks of the entire baseball season are the days leading up to the trade deadline.
Speculation abounds fans overreact, and once in a while a team gets better.
College basketball doesn’t have a trade deadline. That’s basically impossible, but it’s at this time of the season where you can really formulate a list of team strengths and weaknesses.
Unfortunately for coaches, they must live and adapt to reality. It cannot be altered.
Call ‘em half baked ideas. Call ‘em conversation starters. Call ‘em whatever you want. Here are are five hypothetical trade proposals I would consider if I ran the following teams.
Any money swaps will have to be conducted under the table.
Arizona trades Kyle Fogg to North Carolina for James McAdoo
The season-ending ACL injury suffered by Dexter Strickland has sent panic down Franklin Street. And while the jury is still out if the reliable shooting guard’s absence will prevent the Tar Heels from reaching the lofty pre-season expectations placed upon them, a potential solution currently lies in the desert.
With Arizona unlikely to receive an at-large bid (Jimmy Dykes probably would disagree), Sean Miller could swap his current starting shooting guard for the Heel’s McAdoo and help bolster his young but incredibly talented frontcourt for next season.
Highly touted out of high school McAdoo hasn’t really gotten into a grove this season, unable to get consistent minutes playing behind John Henson and Tyler Zeller. Allegedly he’s pretty good, though, and it could benefit him to spend the next six weeks assimilating to life in Tucson and preparing for the 2012-2013 season.
UConn trades Shabazz Napier to Boston College for Ryan Anderson
By replacing Napier in the starting line-up with freshman Ryan Boatright, Jim Calhoun is desperate to awaken a team that currently appears to be in disarray.
Perhaps he could take the shake-up a step further by sending Napier home to Boston to play for the Eagles.
You know Shabazz isn’t going to be happy in his new back-up position, and after last night’s 0-9 performance against Georgetown there’s a chance the move could create more dissension than motivation.
Anderson, you may not even know who he is, has been a pleasant surprise in The Heights to date, so much so that BC Interruption’s Brian Favat told me he wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to bring in a potentially “toxic” player like Napier and disrupt what Steve Donahue is trying to build.
If Calhoun were to land Anderson the freshman would immediately become the Huskies second leading rebounder and add depth to an awfully inconsistent frontcourt.
Xavier trades Tu Holloway to Duke for Tyler Thornton and likely Duke commit Tony Parker
OK first off, we have to assume that the Blue Devils will land the highly coveted big man they are aggressively pursuing. If they do, why not flip his rights to the Musketeers for one of the country’s most talented point guards currently on an underachieving team?
The Musketeers would never admit their season is proverbially over, but I’m sure Chris Mack would embrace a blue-chip recruit to replace senior Kenny Frease. He also would receive a defensive stopper that could develop into a starter in Thornton.
For Coach K, he now gets a true point guard, which allows Austin Rivers to play off the ball and drive to the hoop from the wing.
Both teams win, and Duke may just be in position to capture the program’s fifth National Championship this season.
Illinois trades Sam Maniscalco and a top 100 recruit to be named later to Oakland for Reggie Hamilton
As a fifth year transfer senior, I suspect Illini fans could easily get over losing Maniscalco, who started the season out with nice but has since dipped in production while dealing with a nagging ankle injury.
If this actually was professional sports, The Daily Illini would be begging the school’s athletic department to import some scoring for this team, but then complain there were no young pieces to trade off.
What I mean is that the Fighting Illini should try to win now and worry about the next few seasons later, but they’re current 2012 freshman class is bare and the only current 2013 commit is the rail thin 6-5 shooting guard Malcolm Hill.
Oakland is an average team in a below average conference. But they have Hamilton, the nation’s second leading scorer with just six weeks of college eligibility remaining. Perhaps Greg Kampe would like to build around a TBD top 100 recruit and look to get back to the NCAA Tournament in a few seasons, while Illinois improves on its offense ranked ninth in the Big Ten.
And for a true half baked trade proposal…
Louisville trades Rick Pitino to Northwestern for John Shurna, hires Ralph Willard as head coach
Alright I know this is preposterous, even when following the previous trade proposals, but hear me out:
Northwestern, despite another nice try, is not going to earn the school’s first ever NCAA Tournament berth this season. Boasting the ninth largest university endowment in the United States, surely some of that money could be shifted over to finance an unprecedented contract that lures in such a big name like Pitino. If they can’t earn an NCAA Tournament berth, they could at least buy one.
After starting 2-4 in the Big East, there were rumblings that Louisville player simply didn’t enjoy Pitino anymore. Willard, a former Pittsburgh and Holy Cross head coach, served as an assistant for the Cardinals from 2009-2011 before stepping down on his own terms. At the age of 66 he said he’s not officially retired, so maybe the opportunity to rescue a team seeking an identity would pique his interest.
Additionally the Cardinals seem to lack any sort of consistent scorers, while Shurna currently leads his conference in scoring and has reached double figures in all but one game this season. Plus, he sort of deserves a chance to play in some meaningful games in the month of March.
Nick Fasulo is the manager of Searching for Billy Edelin. He does not take drugs. Follow him on Twitter @billyedelinSBN.