Yet more mail

To Frank, one of my loyal readers.

The game is changing my friend. The time will come when centers as we once thought of them are completely a thing of the past and just about every team goes small or fast. Big men nowadays want to shoot, too. For every Duncan or Thabeet there are three Dirk's or Patrick Ewings now.

It's nice to have bigs, but guards and wings are where basketball seems to be heading. You just have to avoid getting killed on the boards. That's why I've been so adamant about the fact that Central doesn't need to necessarily recruit big, the 6-5 bangers can get the job done in today's game. The most dominant center in 20 years didn't win the title last year.

Now, if you're in the Big East or SEC where the wings are 6-8 and the bigs are 7 feet, that's a different story. The premise is the same that you need the athletes first in most case, but then you do need some more height.

As for your other theory about playing for non-conference games, I couldn't disagree more strongly. CCSU gets into the tourney by winning the NEC. That's its only way in, so that's the league it has to win. You can't plan your team around games in December. If CCSU wins every one of its non-conference games and doesn't win the NEC Tournament, it doesn't go to the NCAAs. That's why leagues like the NEC are called "one-bid." So in the grand scheme of things, those games aren't big deals. They're nice if you want to talk 15 seed vs. 16 seed, but they won't get you to the dance in the first place if you don't win 3 games in March.