mike legg lacrosse wonderment

Sponsor note. Maybe you've got an idea for a small business. Maybe you've decided you can sell consultation services to LSU basketball coaches despite the fact you're a CPA and have no basketball knowledge deeper than "maybe close out sometimes?" Well, hell, that'll probably work!

What you need now is a lawyer to get your small business on firm footing and review any contracts you sign with LSU's athletic department. Richard Hoeg is that lawyer. He will tell you that, yes, you could improve LSU basketball. He will make it happen. Maybe the next Shaq can get a six seed.

Juwan Howard talks to the NBA on TNT. People even like it when he swears on TV!

I'm going to up my swearing to become more popular.

Howard mentions that part of his drive at Michigan is to clear the path for other black head coaches, and it's maybe not a coincidence that the Big Ten has deviated from the coach hiring script this offseason. Before Juwan Howard, the Big Ten had not hired a black men's basketball head coach since Tubby Smith in 2008. This offseason Penn State and Minnesota have given black assistants head coaching jobs.

On the search. Brendan Quinn on the events that led Howard to the head coaching job. Nobody had to cajole Howard into reaching out to Phil Martelli:

Howard had answers. In the days leading up to the interview, he had spoken to friends throughout basketball, gathering opinions. One of them was Kentucky coach John Calipari. “No one really knew it,” Calipari said, “but Juwan was out there doing his own research all along the way.”

That’s why on the Monday before the interview, Phil Martelli, recently dismissed from Saint Joseph’s and on vacation at Disney, got a text message from Calipari saying Howard was going to call. Martelli, fairly confused, said OK. Once the two connected, Howard first asked Martelli to paint a profile of what it takes to be a great head coach at the college level. They talked through it. Then, toward the end of the conversation, Howard gauged Martelli’s interest in serving as his No. 2. “Something like, ‘Would you be interested in taking this journey with me?'” Martelli remembers. Steve Fisher called next. Howard’s former coach at Michigan and the coach of the Wolverines’ 1989 national championship team wanted to double-check that Martelli was legitimately interested in coming aboard with Howard. “Are you serious about doing this?” Fisher asked Martelli. He was.

The article also contains a quote from Grant Hill that adds to the giant pile of Everybody Loves Juwan.

[After THE JUMP: the most famous, period] 

Sponsor note. If you're thinking about starting a small business, you're going to need legal advice. Contracts. A talking potato that whispers inventions into your ear. Richard Hoeg can cover two of those three items.

To be clear: he is a lawyer who is good with law-talking things and contracts. He does not have a talking potato. Do not berate him about giving you the talking potato. It does not exist, and even if it did he would not let you see it. But I want to be clear that it does not exist. The potato does not talk. This is not an acknowledgement of the existence of the potato. I am just saying that whatever potatoes Richard Hoeg has are regular, mute potatoes that do not have dozens of lucrative patents filed.

But he can totally do contracts.

Entrenched now. About that basketball class: it's #1 and as long as everyone shows up on campus it will definitely stick in the top five. Matt has fiddled with 24/7s class projector:

Michigan currently at 68.95 and likely to eclipse 69 w/Diabate/Bufkin due for a bump.

Duke would be at 70.17 assuming they add Baldwin AND Keels.

Kentucky will NOT eclipse 70 with addition of Jaden Hardy OR Hunter Sallis.

Florida State will NOT eclipse 70 with any one signing https://t.co/jDpi8KKoGb

— Endless Motor Sports (@endless_motor) November 9, 2020

As he mentioned, both Diabate and Bufkin have had standout performances recently that should see them improve their composite rankings once the sites issue updates.

Everyone is naturally nervous about the "as long as everyone shows up" clause in the sentence above. Diabate is the kind of obvious NBA unicorn who would be a natural target for this new G League initiative… if that initiative still exists after coronavirus severely dented NBA revenues. Also there were a ton of rumors around Isaiah Todd looking at professional routes. We don't have any such indications about Diabate.

Never say never, of course, but Diabate is French and could have stayed in Europe to play professionally if that was his inclination. Also the dual attractions of Omlette du Fromage guy and Marc-Gregor Campredon, our French photographer, will be powerful lures.

(Pronunciation note: Andrew Kahn says that Diabate's last name is pronounced with a G at the beginning. Think Makhtar N'Diaye.)

[After THE JUMP: sad confirmation of this site's Paye takes]

Michigan's most prominent coaches on the murder of George Floyd. Jim Harbaugh:

“Today I’ll tell you what, I’m really very upset about the George Floyd death,” Harbaugh said. “That’s got me preoccupied today. Horrendous. I’m just watching right now and looking forward to there being an investigation and waiting for charges. That’s completely outrageous.” …

Harbaugh told Eisen he and Kaepernick speak or text every few weeks.

“There was a graphic I saw that too -- this is why he knelt,” Harbaugh said. “If you didn’t know then, you know now. That spoke volumes I thought.”

Juwan Howard:

Witnessing murders of unarmed black men has been gut wrenching. Knowing my very own sons are at risk is a fear Jenine and I live with every day.

John Beilein, coach emeritus:

pic.twitter.com/6GbWoiFjHi

— John Beilein (@JohnBeilein) June 1, 2020

Concrete steps are always missing from these things. Here is a concrete step: Michigan congressman Justin Amash has introduced a bill to end qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that says cops can do damn near anything as long as no one in the same jurisdiction has previously been sued for it. This would be a good first step towards reforming what's obviously a badly broken institution.

The other concrete step is to vote in people who care about these issues. I assume the choice on the national level is obvious. If you're in Washtenaw County, you have an opportunity to vote for Eli Savit for prosecutor.

[After THE JUMP: stuff that doesn't matter at all]