College basketball might be the only sport that produces snobs. They too often present themselves as experts, talent evaluators, pseudo coaching search firms, and non- conference schedulers. They also love using the term “cupcakes” in what they think or perceive as an inferior slate of early season basketball games.
The local mainstream media over the years also used the cupcake reference, especially on HBCU teams that the Minnesota Golden Gophers annually schedule. The hoops snobs too often looks down their long noses in disrespect.
The Gophers men this season scheduled Bethune- Cookman (December 1) and Morgan State (December 29th), two Black schools from the SWAC and MEAC respectively.
“It’s better than practice,” said B-C Wildcats Coach Reggie Theus after his club’s 79-62 defeat Sunday at Minnesota. Both teams benefit from playing each other regardless of the final score, he pointed out. “Before they go into conference, you rather play against someone who doesn’t know your offense, who doesn’t know how you play.”
The Gophers hold a 13-0 record all-time against SWAC teams, including 6-0 against Bethune- Cookman after Sunday’s contest. The Wildcats was the only SWAC team Minnesota faces this season. Minnesota last year went 2-0 against SWAC teams after wins over Bethune-Cookman and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
“These are very important games,” said Theus in defense of the Gophers’ non-conference schedule. He also chastised the hoops snobs, including those so-called experts that call his club and other HBCUs cupcakes.
“Somebody who wrote that doesn’t know basketball. They don’t know basketball,” surmised the coach.
SWAC announces football postseason individual awards
Jackson State’s T.C. Taylor was named Coach of the Year. Irv Mulligan (Jackson State) was named Offensive Player of the Year. Southern’s Ckelby Givens and Andrew Jones of Grambling State were named Co-Defensive Player of the Year. Florida A&M’s Daniel Richardson was selected Newcomer of the Year, and Jackson State’s Travis Terrell Jr. was named Freshman of the Year.
In only his second season as head coach at Jackson State, Taylor led his team to a 10-2 record and a perfect 8-0 regular season record in league play.
Mulligan has helped Jackson State to a 9-1 record during a 10-game stretch after he was inserted into the starting lineup, and helped lead the Tigers to the SWAC East Division title. The league’s leading rusher has tallied 100-plus yards five times and leads the conference as the only rusher with 1,000 yards on the season.
Givens leads the nation and the league in tackles for loss (26.5) for the Southern Jaguars team that claimed the 2024 SWAC West Division title with a 7-1 conference record. He ranks eighth in the nation in sacks, and second in the league in that category.
Jones led the league in total tackles with 122 during the season. He was one of two players in the conference to tally over 100 stops this season, ninth in the country in tackles and fourth in tackles for loss this season.
Richardson stepped into the role of starting quarterback for the Florida A&M Rattlers and passed for a league leading 2,662 yards (14th in the nation) while throwing a league leading 23 touchdown passes that ranked 16th in the country.
Terrell is among the nation’s leaders in several categories, including leading the nation in kickoff return touchdowns with two. He also ranks fourth in kickoff returns (30.4), third in punt returns (17.3), fourth in combined kick returns (792) and 19th in all-purpose yards (116.6).
The individual honors, announced by the league on Monday, were voted on by the SWAC head coaches and sports information directors.
In memoriam
Lou Carnesecca, 1992 Hall of Fame inductee died November 30th at age 99. He twice coached at St. John’s (1965-1970 and 1973-1992). It was his second stint that Carnesecca was part of the beginning heyday of the Big East, which featured several top coaches such as John Thompson and Rick Pitino. He also coached in the ABA (New York Nets, 1970-73).
“When you think about Lou,” said Reggie Theus, “you think about all that he accomplished as a coach, what he meant to the game and his players, the father figure, the mentor, what he brought to the table, old school basketball, understanding how these things work. You just want those memories never to go away because these young guys don’t appreciate where the game has come from.”
Retired Minneapolis Public Schools coach, educator and athletic administrator Al Frost passed away last week at age 79.
“I didn’t see him play, but his athletic accomplishments are well chronicled,” says WCCO Radio’s Henry Lake.
Frost lettered in both basketball and football at Hamline University, a three-time all-MIAC, and later became a local youth coach, educator, and Roosevelt High School athletic director.
He was honored by Hamline in 2018 when he became the 12th member of the Pipers Row of Honor.