B Kessel, let me first say that I generally favor filling and selling A Section seats, it was Bill Friend

John M, as for the best UI basketball team, I

Ron, it is a mystery to us as well. It seemed to make more sense, after three disappointing seasons, to wait at least another year or two to see where they are headed. At this juncture, they appear to be one of the three weakest teams in the Big Ten in 2010-11. Guenther evidently wants to give Jolette Law a longer leash to see if she can get the basketball program rolling. I don

Jason, the football team could go either way. The opener with Missouri and the first three Big Ten games against Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State could impact the remainder of the schedule, which is do-able. Who knows what the team will look like by the time they get to Indiana and Purdue. Last year IU and Purdue thumped them. As for Zook, if Guenther wasn

Festus, loved you on Gunsmoke. Are you related to Hawkins? The only goals I

Jam, I

Luke, all the players are closely monitored, from the day they arrive on campus as freshmen, by the weight training coach. Jim Price sets up weight programs for them, and he sees that they follow it religiously. Tisdale has been a hard worker throughout, both in terms of eating and training, and I don

Dave, I think we pretty much agree that, based on the three-year record, the contract extention didn't make sense. But maybe Guenther sees something in her that others don't. There are may examples, going all the way back to Wooden at UCLA, where coaches needed time to build their programs.

Chuck, I like Whitey. I think he is deserving, particularly for what he did at Kansas City, and then at St. Louis. He was a successful manager. He put together a style of play that was exciting.

AlumniSean, I don't know what Guenther's retirement timeline is. You're correct that he doesn't want to fire-hire any more coaches. But he didn't have to extend Law's contract. She still had two years to go. Now she has four. We should know more about Guenther soon. I don't think Hogan, the new president, will want to start over with a new athletic director. We'll see.

Drew, I'll leave it up to others to worry about filling the A Section seats or camera angles or sightlines to the scoreboard. I get involved at times because others ask me about them. My only concern is the games. I am always amazed at the issues people bring up. You haul me into these areas at times, but my real interest is the games.

Paul, this upcoming team has good depth. It is a positive but prepare yourself for the fact, as we saw with Legion and Jordan and Simpson and Keller, and to a lesser extent Semrau, everyone isn't going to be happy with his playing time, so the ones who get shorted will probably transfer. What I've seen thus far is that Richardson appears stronger, Tisdale has a lot of effective offensive moves that Leonard can't guard, Cole is much more aggressive and effective, and Bertrand fives the team a third playmaker along with McCamey and Richmond. Good depth, yes. And except for McCamey, the guards who play the best defense will get the most time.

Dennis, nobody is happy with the recent results in football...nobody, not Zook, not Guenther, not the president, not the fans, not anybody. The question is: where do you do from here. The outgoing president and chancellor, Ikenberry and Easter, are very high on Guenther, and I'm sure they'll recommend that Hogan, who is just arriving, extend the AD's contract. I didn't agree with Guenther's approach this last year but all we can do now is sit back for a season or two and see if it works. It is not a perfect situation. Fact is, I don't know how the 2012 season could look more gloomy. But that's a long time off and a great deal could change.

Braski, you say football is the engine, and I assume you're talking about the finances. Well, Guenther is one of the few Big Ten athletic directors keeping the program in the black. He has not been successful in hiring football coaches. That is a fact. This failure has been offset by incredible additions in facilities and a well-run operation. I don't think he'll leave until he wants to leave.

Dick, oh, wow ... I haven

We are hopeful to talk to Tisdale today. I asked a question of Jerry Colangelo Saturday morning about Tisdale's performance, and he really didn't answer it. Tisdale was probably in over his head, but I'd assume it was a good experience.

As you know, tickets are not my business, and when I tried to call my usual contacts, they are on vacation. So, I'm not aware of NU-UI tickets on sale without buying the Wildcat season package, although I heard that several people locally got tickets that they didn't expect. Maybe it's not the sellout Jim Phillips anticipates. We'll see. If I had more time, I could track down this ticket info but I only have 10 more minutes.

Alan, I can tell you with certainty that Blackman felt that way, but personally I think he was past his prime in terms of recruiting, and wouldn't have done a great deal better. He had one winning season during a time when Ohio State and Michigan were very good and nobody else was.

Tim, don't bring up redshirting. You know where I stand on that. Tisdale should definitely have been redshirted. That is too bad. If Carlwell had worked out, Tis would probably have the extra year.