Air Force Academy – There’s a word for anyone who doubts that the quirky style of basketball employed by Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik could work at Colorado or Michigan or any university that entertains big dreams of winning a national championship.
It’s not a word you often see written on the chalk board in a college locker room. It’s a word understood by every father who has ever changed a baby’s diaper. But mention of the word causes the face of Bzdelik to turn bright crimson. The coach’s only embarrassment with the word?
“I didn’t know how to spell it one time, and I spelled it ‘poppy.’ But I didn’t go to school at the academy,” said Bzdelik, cracking a joke at his own expense.
The man, destined to be one of the hottest coaching commodities in the country if Air Force ever finishes playing basketball, was in a jolly good mood on Monday night, after the Falcons won again in the National Invitation Tournament, with an 83-52 pounding of Georgia.
Winning for the 25th time, the Falcons set a school record for most victories in a season that saw this team laugh and cry together, but always hang together, even through the disappointment of being snubbed for the NCAA tourney.
“We have a saying in the locker room, and this is exactly what we say: ‘If you don’t give a poopy as to who gets the credit, great things will happen,”‘ Bzdelik said. “And that’s exactly how we say it, because we don’t use profanity.”
Because the constant, classic, cerebral motion of the Falcons’ offense was born within the ivy-covered walls of Princeton, it’s assumed to be an offense for eggheads that will shatter under the pressure of the athleticism displayed at the game’s highest levels.
So perhaps this is the time and place to note the Georgetown Hoyas are national title contenders under the direction of John Thompson III, a coaching disciple of Princeton’s Pete Carril.
“Have you watched Georgetown play? There’s your answer,” Bzdelik said. “How did they describe it? The Princeton offense on steroids. I think that’s a great description.”
With the defending national champ in Florida and two other teams from the Southeastern Conference still dancing in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tourney, Georgia coach Dennis Felton says it’s not bragging to declare his team belongs to the country’s best league.
The Bulldogs, however, never had a chance against Air Force from the moment Jacob Burtschi sailed over a shocked Georgia defender to slam home a basket that not only gave the Falcons an early 10-5 lead, but gave the senior forward what he insisted was the first poster dunk of his college career.
“I feel very strongly,” Felton said of the Falcons, “that they are one of the best 20 teams in the country.”
There has been a tissue box full of tears shed because this March Madness is lacking a Cinderella story. Blame the knuckleheads who selected the field of 65. Air Force belonged before either Stanford or Texas Tech, two teams from power conferences that received bids more on reputation than substance.
“We want to send a statement to the other team: You better bring it,” said Burtschi, whose Falcons will be heading for New York City for the NIT semifinals if they can defeat DePaul.
And who knows where Bzdelik is headed?
It is widely assumed that Colorado will hire him ASAP.
But, with each 3-pointer by Air Force that falls, the cost of doing business with Bzdelik rises.
Michigan, whose deep pockets have bought little except frustration in recent years, would be crazy not to consider Bzdelik.
Utah, a rival school in the Mountain West Conference, is willing to pay its next basketball coach at least $700,000 per year.
If the going rate for Bzdelik nears $1 million, can CU, which has long tried to do basketball on the cheap, afford him?
Any doubt about whether Bzdelik can enjoy success at a higher level was removed years ago, when he took an NBA team to the playoffs.
The real question now:
Are the Buffaloes good enough for Bzdelik?
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
