Coach Cal: Perfection vs. Perception

Outside the Lines (Sunday, 9 a.m., ESPN; 10 a.m., ESPN2)

Credit: ESPN/Producer Greg Amante

After coaching Kentucky to a perfect regular season, John Calipari is the toast of the men’s college basketball world. But some critics have made it clear: he’ll never completely shake the blemish of vacated Final Four runs at both UMass and Memphis, or the negative perception of the one-and-done concept, which he has mastered. Still, as Andy Katz reports, Calipari has weathered the storms and is unapologetic about his success.

“At the end of the day, 50 years from now when everybody’s dead and gone — me included — they’re gonna look back on what I’ve done at different universities — what we’ve done for our young people, how they’ve performed, and we’ll be evaluated. The number of wins I have will not be on my tombstone.”  — John Calipari

“It took us a few years because we have never tried to recruit THAT player. Then we found out we’re playing against them – and then some of those players who want to come to Duke, and that started us changing.” – Mike Krzyzewski, Duke head coach, on one-and-done players

On ESPN.com, Tommy Tomlinson writes for Outside the Lines that Calipari is not done yet and is turning college basketball on its head — LINK

SC Featured: 5 vs. 12

SportsCenter  (Sunday, 10 a.m., ESPN)

Preview

Every year on Selection Sunday, millions of brackets are flying off the printer. Every cubicle, dorm room and kitchen counter is skewering through the madness to uncover this year’s Cinderella – the dark horse that everyone glosses over to pick the chalk. So rather than shredding their bracket in the first week, fans might want to take a closer look at the 12 vs. 5 matchup, which will take them through a roller coaster of emotions. Dick Vitale reports.

“I call them near death experiences… where your season is about to come to an end and some miraculous way you end up having some good fortune and you move on.” – Billy Donovan, Florida head coach

“It’s a chicken and an egg thing, right!? Are we talking about 12/5 because it’s happened a lot? Or does it happen a lot because we’re talking about it all the time?” – Joe Lunardi, ESPN Bracketologist

“The more people started saying, ‘Hey, SFA can beat VCU,’ that helps instill that confidence and that swagger. I think the more our team and our players kept hearing it, they start to believe it.” – Brad Underwood, SFA head coach

What will Happen to Sweet Briar College and its Athletes?

espnW – LINK

Sweet Briar College made a stunning announcement last week: this summer, the women’s college in Virginia will close.  Among the people hurt the most: athletes and administrators from the six Vixens teams.  Hillary London reports.

The Sports Reporters (Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ESPN; 10:30 a.m., ESPN2)

This week’s Panel*

Jeremy Schaap, guest host

Manish Mehta, New York Daily News (first appearance)

William C. Rhoden, New York Times

Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com

* subject to change

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