Soft Pretzel Logic

From Mitchell Rosenzweig (whose comments I quite like receiving, but... anyone else out there?)

Kentucky

Some early rumored names

Bill Gillespie TAMU
Tim Floyd USC
Mike Montgomery sitting at home collecting $$
Jay Wright Nova
John Pelphrey USA

Gillespie's name got bounced around for a while, but I can't quite see him leaving A&M. As well as he's done, there's something to be said for coaching basketball at a football school because there's less pressure on you.

I certainly can't see Floyd leaving L.A., with the media attention and the recruiting base.

Montgomery... maybe. But is he too nice to deal with the Kentucky hoops culture?

Pelphrey... maybe. Would be much more of a move up than any of the other names, but that's the first I've heard of it.

And as for Jay... here's the thing about that. I heard it too earlier. But I can't see him leaving Villanova. Not for this, and not for much of anything.

He's a Philly guy, coaching at the Big East's Philly school, getting on national TV all the time, surely making good money (but his tailor knows this already, as we all do), getting just about any players he wants in the Philly area and a good few from New York (at least those who don't go to Duke or Carolina).

He plays most of his games on campus and playing the big ones in an NBA arena. He doesn't have all that much pressure because he took his team to a No. 1 seed last year before losing to the national champions, then followed that up with another Tournament trip in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year.

Yes, Kentucky's a big deal, but I just can't see him taking it. And I'm not sure I can see Kentucky wanting a Northeast guy instead of a Midwest guy. Their fans much prefer local/regional players, from what I've seen.

Andy Katz has updated the original story with some potential names: Tom Izzo, Tom Crean, John Calipari, Mark Few and Mike Brey.

Calipari coaching Kentucky... ooh.

UPDATE: Katz has added Gillespie, Wright and Texas' Rick Barnes to his list.

I still don't think Wright goes. And for Kentucky's sake, I hope they don't hire Barnes. Two straight close calls to inferior teams in the NCAA Tournament should answer any questions as to whether Barnes is a good coach.