Colts are in control

College basketball season is underway.
The Los Angeles Lakers fired their coach after five games.
And the Indianapolis Colts are in playoff position.
Readers had questions about all three topics this month, as well as another about the NFL for good measure. I’ll start in the city of Angels.
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Was it a failure for the Lakers to bypass Phil Jackson for Mike D’Antoni?
—Josh Gibson, Portland

In a word, yes.
Phil Jackson is an 11-time NBA champion coach. He won five of those titles with the Lakers.
Mike D’Antoni has a reputation for leading teams that don’t play defense. He has never even been to the NBA Finals, let alone won a title.
The Zen Master may well have had some demands, such as not going on some road trips during the season. Whatever they were, the Lakers should have conceded.
Los Angeles brought in Steve Nash and Dwight Howard to help Kobe Bryant win another championship. Jackson would have been the best man to help them do so.
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What is the NFL record for the worst record to win a division? I think the NFC East may set a new one this year.
—Nathan Miller,
Indianapolis

You are over-reacting.
The Seattle Seahawks posted the worst record by a division winner just two seasons ago when they went 7-9 to win the then-dreadful NFC West. (They went on to upset New Orleans in the opening round of the playoffs before falling to the Bears in the divisional round.)
The NFC East will absolutely not break that record this year.
While it’s true that the New York Giants have struggled in the last couple of weeks, they already have six wins. In order to break the mark for worst record by a division winner they would have to lose all of their remaining games.
Their schedule is difficult, but the defending Super Bowl champions aren’t going to go into that type of slump.
Also, Dallas would need just three wins in its final seven games to get to 7-9 and match Seattle.
The dubious record is safe.
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Do you think that Brad Stevens will ever leave Butler to go to a bigger school?
—Aaron Loy, Portland
I predict Brad Stevens will coach at Butler as long as the Bulldogs want him to be there.
Stevens certainly could at some point decide it’s time to move on, but it wouldn’t make much sense. If he was going to go, he would have left already.
The Zionsville native could have had just about any job he wanted and written his own contract after he took Butler to the national championship game against Duke. He had even more bargaining power when the Bulldogs made a return trip to the title game the following year and lost to Connecticut.
He will never have as much leverage as he did at the end of the 2010-11 season.
Stevens grew up in Indiana. He went to college in Indiana.
He’s said, “First and foremost, I’m loyal to Butler.”
His actions back up that statement. Unless the IU job opens up, I’d be surprised if he went anywhere.
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What impact does Big Ben's injury have on the Colts’ playoff chances if he is indeed out a number of weeks?
—Joseph Vormohr,
Indianapolis

If the Pittsburgh Steelers struggle without Roethlisberger, it can only help Indianapolis in its quest to make the playoffs. But really, the Colts should be fine either way.
As the AFC stands now, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh are both 6-3 and would both make the playoffs as wild-card teams — the No. 5 and 6 seeds respectively. In order for the Colts to be knocked out, the Steelers and another team would need to pass them.
The candidates to do that are San Diego, Miami and Cincinnati, which are all 4-5 and two games behind the Colts and Steelers. The Chargers and Bengals play each other on Dec. 2 in a game that will likely eliminate the loser from playoff contention.
The reality here, and I can’t believe this is the case this year, is that Indianapolis is in complete control of its playoff fate.
If the Colts take care of business against the bad teams remaining on the schedule — Buffalo, Tennessee and Kansas City — they should have no problem making the postseason.[[In-content Ad]]