Throughout the week we’ve been treated to a variety of viewpoints on the debate regarding whether or not working with USA Basketball gives college coaches an “unfair” advantage. It all began with a column Sunday evening asserting that the NBA shouldn’t allow its stars to play for the senior men’s national team because Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski is the one who benefits the most.
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, who’s also one of Krzyzewski’s assistants with USA Basketball, defended Krzyzewski while also noting that Kentucky head coach John Calipari voiced concerns about the arrangement in the past (Boeheim also made note of Calipari coaching the Dominican Republic team that included current UK freshman Karl-Anthony Towns). Thursday Calipari took to Twitter, stating that not only had he and Boeheim talked things out but also the fact that he has no issue with the situation.
Finally Thursday afternoon Krzyzewski himself chimed in, answering questions about the column during a press conference and disputing the assertion that USA Basketball was all about him. So it’s safe to say that this has dominated the basketball-related conversation of this week.
However Friday things reached a new low, with the Louisville Courier-Journal attaching a photo of Calipari as a whining infant to a column written by Tim Sullivan.
The column, which is linked above, focused on coaches looking for whatever edge they can find and also pointed out the fact that coaches who have led United States youth teams in recent years haven’t reeled in as many recruits as one would assume. So instead of simply debating the merits of the column, as Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports pointed out the illustration has placed the writer in a difficult position.
@PJordan_WBN Wasn't my illustration. Don't think it was consistent with column. Where it runs outside my authority.
— Tim Sullivan (@TimSullivan714) September 19, 2014
The column itself was well-reasoned, but because of an illustration that wasn’t inserted by the author the points made have been lost by many. If this entire situation has become frustrating or infuriating for you, take solace in the fact that college basketball practices begin two weeks from today.