My Wish List

Here are a few things I would like to see in west coast college basketball sooner than later.

1. Oregon Ducks: Please make you center court line visible both in-arena and for tv/expanded media viewers. Yes I do get it, it is great to be edgy, to get all these mentions in the national media, but what is not great is to disrespect the great game of basketball as you have done with your center line. Honoring the game still means something to lots of folks and  the history of basketball has much to do with the center line. Heck, get a paint sponsor if it is for lack of money,

2. Someone please give Dan Belluomini a bigger role as an analyst. This guy has forgotten more about the game of basketball, than most people will ever know, his voice still sounds like it did 20 years past and he is as good as it gets when it comes to breaking down a game, knowing players and contributing just what a fan needs to know without talking too much. And I would have to say, he is the historian of college basketball on the west coast. ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION NETWORKS.

3. Give some wins to new coach Jim Hayford at Eastern Washington. It was a great selection, the fans at Eastern Washington have much passion for sports as shown by their national championship football team
and they deserve some basketball wins after some pretty lean years and to have some wonderful basketball come their way. The Big Sky always needs a shot in the arm and perhaps hiring a winner like Hayford will be just the ticket.

4. Dana Altman at Oregon did not get nearly the love he should have for the year he had with the Ducks.
I have to think that probably every team in the Pac-10 (yes I do know now that is the Pac-12), had better talent this past year than Altman had at Oregon, but way he got his team to play so hard and with such intensity showed all of us something. He now needs to carry that through to this year, where he has a really nice recruiting class coming in, highlighted by Jabari Brown, by all accounts and I have watched him play, a real "blue chipper", who could help any team in the country.

5. With all due respect to Fox, it probably will not happen, but sure am hoping the new Pac-12 TV deal goes to ESPN. I realize the deal covers all sports, but with this being a basketball blog, let's just call it like it is, ESPN covers and delivers college basketball better than anyone in the country, PERIOD.

6. Hoping for the best for the new Pauley Pavilion once it is completely remodeled. There is still something special about UCLA basketball and there is nothing better than a great arena to go along with great tradition. The Bruins will be back home come the 2012-13 season and a "new" Pauley can be nothing but a boon for west coast basketball.