Three reasons Missouri's Frank Haith deserves to win the national Coach of the Year award — other than the fact that the Tigers are 24-2 overall, 11-2 in the Big 12 conference and ranked third in the nation:
1. If any new coach had a rougher beginning than Haith at Mizzou, I can't remember him. The hiring was widely condemned by national and local pundits, left Missouri fans howling at the moon and had screaming meanies wondering if MU director of athletics Mike Alden had suffered some sort of traumatic head injury before offering Haith the gig. (And I did my share of caterwauling. I was hardly a fan of the hire.)
This harsh, hostile reception would have broken the spirit of a weak coach. But instead of being consumed with insecurity and paranoia and compiling enemies lists, Haith stayed calm and steady and focused on developing a bond with his players. Haith displayed remarkable grace during a time of insidious turmoil. Nothing could shake him.
Had Haith cracked under pressure, his players probably would have viewed him as a damaged and incapable leader. But because of Haith's obvious mental strength, the opposite happened: The Tigers came to respect Haith even more. And they happily followed his lead.
There isn't a coach in college basketball that had to endure what Haith had to go through when he signed on at MU. He turned a potential disaster into a plus.
2. Mike Anderson may have recruited all seven of the players in Missouri's rotation, but this is Haith's team. I get tired of hearing how Haith walked into a ready-made, foolproof, instant-win situation bequeathed by Anderson.
Really? These same players were largely unhappy and stewing under Anderson last season. The lack of cohesion was evident during Mizzou's droopy 1-5 finish to the season.
Anderson had the full services of Laurence Bowers, Mizzou's second-leading scorer and top rebounder in 2010-2011. Haith hasn't had one minute of play from Bowers, who tore a knee ligament before the season.
Instead of crying over the loss, Haith quickly pivoted, adapted, adjusted his plans and drew up a brand new map for the journey. He went with a furious, fine-tuned four-guard lineup that has bedeviled opponents all season.
Anderson wasn't down to seven scholarship players, as Haith is now. Anderson could have never operated his "Fastest 40 Minutes" system with only seven players. He needed 10.
Haith's team is composed instead of frantic. That could explain why the Tigers are 4-2 on the Big 12 road this season after going 1-7 in conference road games in 2010-2011.
Anderson didn't have a true point guard in his setup, and freshman guard Phil Pressey was adrift without a role. As a sophomore Pressey is running the offense this season and we've seen him grow. Haith was smart enough to realize that he had a natural-born point guard in Pressey.
Anderson never got the kind of effective, all-purpose, all-glue play we've seen from Kim English. And it was Haith who recognized that guard Michael Dixon could have more impact on the game by coming in as a super sixth man to jolt the offense.
Haith has done a superb job of recognizing what he has (and doesn't have) on his roster, and he's contoured his approach to fit the personnel. That's the essence of outstanding coaching.
3. Haith is a very good tactician. His game management is much better than most of us expected. Remember how he switched to zone defense to throw Texas off in the final seconds of MU's win at Austin on Jan. 30? That's just one example.
Haith's team runs an efficient offense. It's frequently a beautiful offense. These fast Tigers can run, go up tempo, and leave you gasping. Haith's small lineup often leaves opposing big men gassed by halftime. But when stopped in transition, Haith's group can also settle down and run a smooth, coherent half-court offense. We never saw much of that from an Anderson-coached team.
If the defense extends to deny the 3-point shooting, Mizzou's guards penetrate to attack the basket or flip to forward Ricardo Ratliffe for an easy score. And when defenses sag on Ratliffe, the Mizzou guards strafe them with 3-pointers and jumpers. It sounds simple, yes. But it's a plan. And it works. What was Anderson's plan beyond pressing, trapping and running?
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I don't understand the people who complain that St. Louis U. plays a boring style of basketball. Does everything have to be a video game, or an ESPN-stamped piece of hype? Is there no room in the modern game for tough, smart and disciplined defense that limits the number of effective shots taken by an opponent? SLU doesn't have an attractive offense. But the purpose of the game is to win and the Billikens do it on defense. I praise them for it. I guess I'm a dinosaur; I like to watch a team play tenacious defense.
Three positive things stand out about new Rams GM Les Snead: He's a real football guy, rather than an executive playing dress up and pretending to be a football man; of the last 42 players drafted by Atlanta during Snead's critical years with the Falcons, 29 are still with the team, including 19 of the last 21 picks; Snead not only survived four regime changes in Atlanta, he was promoted each time. That doesn't happen unless he has good people skills and can work well with others. Good hire.
The Blues' 25-3-4 home record computes to a winning percentage of .844, which would easily be the best home-ice winning percentage in franchise history. The 2000-2001 Blues have the best home winning percentage (.780). ... The Blues' nine shutouts on home ice are a single-season franchise record. ... It was good of ESPN to remember the late St. Louis soccer icon Harry Keough and offer some kind words at halftime during last Saturday's match between Manchester United and Liverpool.
I like the way Blues coach Ken Hitchcock is pushing his players to raise their game, even after victories. Hitchcock obviously elevated the Blues' play since becoming coach, but he doesn't want complacency to settle in. ... I don't like the idea of a first-round postseason matchup pitting the Blues against Nashville. Why? Because of Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne. He's 12-5-2 with a .937 save percentage against the Blues in his career. In the last 12 games vs. St. Louis, Rinne is 8-3-1 with a .948 save percentage.
The annual PECOTA projections are out at Baseball Prospectus. There are some interesting forecasts on the Cardinals. PECOTA projects Adam Wainwright to pitch only 174 innings and go 12-10 with a 3.48 ERA. For third baseman David Freese, a projection of 596 plate appearances, 16 homers, 68 RBIs. As for newcomer Carlos Beltran, the forecasting system projects 597 plate appearances, 20 homers, 76 RBIs, a .360 onbase percentage and a .460 slugging pct. PECOTA has Lance Berkman dropping to 22 homers, 71 RBIs and a .464 slugging pct.
Bluenotes IV: Jason Arnott could be the Blues' most underrated player. ... Nashville's acquisition of hulking Montreal defenseman Hal Gill figures to put a little more pressure on Blues GM Doug Armstrong to augment his roster before the NHL trade deadline. Gill should help Nashville's slumping penalty-killing unit.
