Redrafting the Top 15

Tonight is the Lottery for the NBA Draft's 2014 edition and a lot of teams are salivating over earning the top spot, or at least a spot in the top 3.

Why the top 3? Because of 3 "can't miss" prospects in Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Joel Embiid.

In honor of that and the forthcoming Draft, I will have several blogs in the next few days where I break down and "redraft" the Top 15 in every NBA Draft since 1992, the last time that three "can't miss" prospects (Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning and Christian Laettner) took center stage.

The culmination of all of this will be my official 2014 NBA Mock Draft (of the first round), where I will probably be more wrong than right with so many strong prospects.

So tune in and enjoy. There isn't anything much better than draft season.

How Dana White saved the NBA

Why is Donald Sterling banned for life from the NBA?

Dana White, that's why.

Yes, that Dana White.

Yes, the Dana White that runs the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Through all of the news and the hoopla and the opinions and the comments yesterday, one thing stood out to me most. Adam Silver was there to make a point. No apologies, no care in the world, it was Adam Silver's moment. He has only been the commissioner of the NBA for two months, but the entire future of his reign as Commissioner hinged on what happened yesterday.

There are very few poignant moments in someone's career. Adam Silver had to make the best of his yesterday and he did.

David Stern would have never done what Silver did.

And for all the good that David Stern was for the NBA, we all know he would not have acted strongly.

While he was the NBA commissioner, David Stern was the best commissioner and all sports. But he was too laid-back, not assertive enough to make a decision like Adam Silver made.

Not only did Adam Silver make one of the most poignant and harsh statements in the history of professional sports, he did so with a face of disgust and a personal belief that Donald Sterling was so wrong that that was the only choice of recourse.

Cue Dana White.

Through David Stern, Gary Bettman, Roger Goodell and the swarm of others, we have gotten to see so many faces and so many ideals and so many ways how to go about running a professional sports league.

And then Dana White came around and changed the game.

Like Silver on Tuesday, White had his poignant early moment.

"Do you want to be a fucking fighter?," was all Dana White had to say. The Ultimate Fighter television show, the UFC a d the sport of MMA all went through the roof the second he uttered those words. Does every commissioner or person in authority in sports need to be as brash as Dana White? Of course not. But he set the tone that some of his lead needs to be followed.

Why? Because except for a handful of instances, Dana White commands respect. And he gets that respect. He gets respect from fighters, from media, from advertisers and other personalities from other sports.

From the moment he was able to open his mouth on national television, Dana White told the world here I am, this is what's happening and you better get in line do it. And of story. Not demanding, but very commanding.

Adam Silver, whether he knows it or not, followed that lead on Tuesday. His eyes were sharp, his words were hard and he delivered the same message Dana White delivers every time he talks.

The world has changed, respect is very rarely earned the way that it should be. But when you're in a position like Adam Silver or Dana White or any other major sports commissioner is in, you have to take that respect, command it.

Professional sports, whether we look at it or not, changed yesterday because the decision Adam Silver made. It was a huge moment in the history of the sporting industry, and kudos to Adam Silver for having the intestinal fortitude to make the decision and be strong with it.

But let us not forget the kudos to Dana White for stepping up and taking a commanding role first, so people like Adam Silver can do it after him.

Because of that command can fix so many of the wrongs that we see in professional sports today.

6 months away is never too early to think about all of the great basketball still in Fort Wayne

A tremendous year has come to a close in Fort Wayne for boys high school basketball, specifically in the Summit Athletic Conference.

While North Side flexed its muscles on the way to a second straight league title AND a Holiday Tournament crown, Snider and Bishop Dwenger played inspired basketball often and every other school showed signs of power while individual players flourished (Concordia’s DJ McCall is an Indiana All-Star and Wayne’s Justin Mitchell broke the school’s all-time scoring mark).

But the chance to see so many of the stars of the SAC’s recent years comes to an end officially Sunday (at least at a high school level anyway) with the Nancy Rehm Indiana/Ohio game, highlighted by a trio of those North Side stars (Tre Crews, Oosha Mitchell and Mike Davis), along with McCall, Mitchell (and his brother Levi), as well as South Side’s Nate Thomas, among others.

It leaves hardcore area prep fans wondering how we fill the gap next year. With so many power players graduating from every school, what will the SAC be like in 2014-2015 during its final year as an 8-team league (Carroll and Homestead join the following year)? But this has happened before and it will happen again. While it will be hard to reload at the same level of the SAC, with so much parity, of this past season, there is a lot of interest to peak the city when basketball rolls around again in about 6 months (I, for one, think it is too far away).

The biggest question will be with the back-to-back champs, who graduate 6 that include four starters and another all-area performer off the bench. But it also returns a strong core of JV post players to get tested and more importantly, a senior trio back court of Sean McGee, Terrell Crews and Marco Lee.

The game plan changes immediately with these three versus, say, Tre’Vion Crews as North now has three score-first guards. McGee is a solid shooter and a gritty kid who will fight for every inch. But, he will also have to shoulder a heavy scoring load and will probably need to average 20 points per game, especially early on as North feels out its new legs. Will the younger Crews develop into a significant scorer? There is no doubt that Terrell can play defense and was a nice energy guy off the bench but he will go from being “the little Crews” to “the Crews,” and I think he will fill those shoes adequately. Lee is the intangible with this group because of where he may or may not fit. In my opinion, he would be the first look to take over the point guard role, but does his game fit that? He is an explosive finisher when on his game, can he also slow the pace and run the team every possession like the elder Crews has done and coach Shabaz Khaliq has become accustom to?

Snider also looses a lot, but still has strong experience returning, especially with All-Area talent Devlyn Williams. His size and diversity in his game make him a tough match-up and added maturity will help him. Devlyn’s pull up game and athleticism will push him and the Panthers. His taller (little) brother Malik will also take more pressure off what Devlyn will be expected to do in the post. Good varsity experience as a freshman and hopefully a summer in the weight room will make Malik a tough draw for area posts. This is a kid I watched, before he ever played a high school game; embarrassingly dunk on Homestead’s Caleb Swanigan in an Always 100 league game. That speaks volumes about his ability that can be developed. As long as the guard play is decent at Snider, the Williams brothers will propel them far.

Bishop Dwenger, the other SAC power of this season, will be the same story: lose a lot, return a lot of intrigue. Kyle Hartman is back and he led the Saints well as a junior a lot of times. He got better getting to the basket throughout the year and his willingness to scrap will only be beneficial. He, and fellow Class of 2015 returner Ryan Christman are also prolific spot up shooters who you don’t want to get too hot. If brought along early, sophomore-to-be Campbell Donovan also has a soft touch and his corner threes could help free up Hartman for some added looks.

Their rival, Bishop Luers, will only get stronger as they get older. JJ Foster had a strong freshman campaign and will only get better as each year passes. This year, once again, he won’t have to shoulder the load because of the development and break out of Tyrell Johnson, who was the key guy for a lot of Luers’ push back this season against teams who were expected to beat the massively rebuilding Knights.

Youth also is the key at Concordia and Northrop. With a new coach on the horizon, things could change dramatically at Concordia. After all, the philosophy there hasn’t changed in a long time. Will it with a new head man? Either way, there are a pair of juniors in Reggie Tharp and Paxton Bergdoll that will be a great tandem. Tharp, on his game, is as dangerous as anyone in the conference this year. He is a shoot first, ask questions later talent, whose talent is catching up to his superior mentality. I expect him to put a great summer in on the AAU circuit and be ready to lead Concordia back into SAC contention next season. And with a healthy Bergdoll to mirror Tharp’s outside game down in the post, it could be tough for defenses to solve the Cadets’ puzzle.

At Northrop, there is some upper-class talent and the Bruins know it is still rebuilding time from the exit of the Scott twins in 2013, but there is a lot of younger talent I am excited about. Junior-to-be Jagger Surface is smooth when let loose. Like with Concordia, a good perimeter game between Surface and senior-to-be Aaron Thomas can only help their chances at Northrop. Anton Berry was super raw inside as a freshman, but there is no doubt coach Barak Coolman will get that polished a lot this summer. Add in hidden gem in sophomore-to-be Richard Robertson and the Bruins could be a team you never want to look past.

Wayne and South Side will need some break outs to be competitive, but with talent like Kye Black (Wayne) and Nick Thomas (South Side, younger brother of Nate), this is always a possibility. For South Side, can Nick lose his laid back style and become more aggressive? Mike Novell sure hopes so.

And let us not forget some names not mentioned. Fort Wayne Community Schools plus parochials always equal random transfers, so you never know where some people may end up. Some of those moves are already being gossiped about.

And if the SAC really isn’t your bag, you don’t have to look too far for some amazing basketball next year. Blackhawk Christian returns loads in Wes Davidson, Joey Morlan and Riley Reimschisel; Carroll is plugged in returns from Chandler White, Jeffrey and Jeremy Kalonji and Kyle Mallers and Garrett will be run well by Justin McCoy. And oh yeah, Homestead has this Division 1 prospect named Caleb Swanigan, and they don’t call him “biggie” for nothing.

Why Wojo? Why now?

Let me start this by saying that it is my opinion that Duke Head coach Mike Krzyzewski is the best coach in basketball today. He is one of the best ever. Best in college, best in basketball, best in sports. If you make a top 10 list of the greatest coaches ever, and he isn’t there, then you are lost.

And call me a homer for that if you want. It is the not the opinion as a Duke fan. It is the opinion as a coach and a student of the beautiful game of basketball.

But for a long time now, I have expected and hoped that Steve Wojciechowski would be the heir to Coach K’s glorious throne. And that, I have expected as a Duke fan.

Everything that I love about Duke basketball is rooted in who Wojo is and how Wojo does things. He is hard nosed, true grit, slapping the floor on defense and all out. I guess so you could say that everything Wojo is also is what makes some people hate Duke. After all, it was Wojo who made the floor slap a Blue Devil signature and that is what those less educated use as a basis for hate so many times.

But this isn’t about Duke love or Duke hate. This is about Wojo, the last remaining remnant of modern day Duke assistant coaches who have made history in the program both with titles and with recruiting. Now long gone is Johnny Dawkins (Stanford) and gone is Chris Collins (Northwestern), all riding that Duke pedigree to Division 1 major conference jobs. Wojo follows, now the head coach at Marquette, a program who has been essentially obscure since Tom Crean’s exit and nowhere near a legit title threat since the Dwayne Wade days.

But what Marquette gets is a man on a mission.

See, as much as I have been part of ‘Team Wojo,’ I have almost known better since the day Jeff Capel landed in town. VCU, Oklahoma….Jeff Capel has the head coaching experience that common theory suggests Duke will want in Coach K’s eventual replacement. Capel joined a long line of Coach K players turned Coach K assistants. Bilas, Amaker, Dawkins, Collins, Wojo. They’ve all done it. The latter four of those guys are all thriving or going to thrive. Amaker and Dawkins not only danced this March, but contributed to the Madness with “upset” wins.

But none of them had major experience before joining the Duke staff. Jeff Capel, as it sits today, is the man who is going to replace Coach K. Five years, ten years – it doesn’t matter. Today, he is the guy.

Tomorrow, if Wojo has his way, he won’t be.

Because what Marquette gets is a man on a mission. When he played, Wojo was the hardest working player on the court every second of every game. He was hardly the best. Seeing #12 in the NBA wasn’t a pipedream, it was a laughable side joke. He didn’t get where he did in college basketball on talent or size. He did it the hard way, the dirty way, the on the floor after a loose ball way.

And he will do the same thing as the head coach at Marquette. Because, he won’t be the best coach. He wasn’t the best coach on Duke’s sideline; he wasn’t even the best assistant in some ways. But he will outwork, and therefore out coach, a lot of guys in the coming years on behalf of the Golden Eagles. Because, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And that light says that Coach K isn’t retiring tomorrow. So Capel having that job in hand today doesn’t mean much if someone can snatch it away. And if Wojo wants to do that, now is the exact right time to move on, even if it is just for a little while.

So Wojo will work. It will benefit him and it will benefit Marquette. It is a golden opportunity for everyone.

But the most important part to me is that he will work for those kids, that school and that community – but, it will be with a different end goal in mind: to lead those crazies in Cameron. And when the day comes that Coach K walks away, while Amaker and Dawkins and Collins and Capel and maybe even Jon Scheyer reach for that golden rung, they shouldn’t get there in time.

Because with his new gig in front of him, Wojo is going to work harder than them all.

A technical situation

So over the weekend, I hit a coaching milestone. Not one to be particularly proud of I am sure, but a humorous one none the less. In the midst of a game coaching for Always 100 on Sunday afternoon, I was assessed my 10^th career technical foul as a coach.

What stood out to me afterwards was the interesting point in what a referee’s line is. Do they always have the same line? Does it vary day by day? Coach by coach? I’ve been hit with some justified technical fouls and also with some, as this weekend was, humorous ones. My quandary after the game about what justifies a technical met up nicely with Duke’s Mike Krszyweski getting one that same day for throwing his dry-erase marker at the ground during a timeout and then being t’d up by a referee standing half a court away who Coach K has his back turned to.

As for me on Sunday, I was given the old ‘T’ sign with the hands after expressing my opinion to the official that perhaps he could go over to one of the adjacent courts in the field house where volleyball was taking place.

He didn’t even let me explain it was because in that sport, it wasn’t required for an official to call fouls. He didn’t take the time to think maybe I was just concerned with expanding his horizons in his secondary job of choice.

He also didn’t want to hear anything about the call he missed where an opposing player literally grabbed one of my player’s ankles with his hands to trip him right in front of the referee.

Nope, just a whistle, a hand gesture, told I was “done” and forced to take a seat.

Which has led me to think, with 10 under my belt now, how many technicals were actually justified in the traditional sense? Is it right to give a coach a technical for sarcasm? Maybe. It all depends on what your definition of “attempting” to “show up” the “referee” is.

Technical #1 came in 2006, almost seven and a half years ago at Huntington North High School while I was coaching the Fort Wayne North Side freshmen. It was the one and only time vulgarity was the cause of a technical. Using the word bullshit in a high school basketball game, probably not the best idea. But was it justified use of the word on my end? Of course. But this isn’t about my morality. Bullshit was mild when you look at the phrases and racial slurs slung at my players that day in Huntington North High School, the heart of hate. Especially when it was in direct response to the referee (yes I remember you Tim Enyeart) refusing to acknowledge my constant pleas to end the hateful remarks. But again, their morality, not mine. I’d do it again, but was the technical justified? Sure was.

Technical #2 came 13 seconds later for standing up. It is a no-no once the first technical was received. But considering it came with 15 seconds left in the game and I stood up to get a better angle on a loose ball and immediately sat back down, it sure wasn’t justified. Never the less, I was able to make an early retreat to the locker room where I had to listen to a midget Athletic Director with a complex act like he was relevant for a couple minutes.

It wasn’t again until 2011, amidst my first season coaching in Vinton that I received Technical #3. Since that game, I grew all too use to the horrible officiating in Roanoke County, especially of these guys I could only assume buy their VHSL official patches from the Goodwill. But back then, it was all too new. We were playing the 76ers in an overly aggressive game fully of fouls and beatings. Were we innocent? Probably not. But were we the worst? Nope. So after watching two players tumble to the ground going after a rebound and then see my player shoved while on the ground by the 76er on the ground, only to be ignored by the referee who was looking at them, I was hot. On the next defensive possession, more over aggression led to a hard foul on a 76er and my immediate assertion that they needed to call the game on both ends of the floor as the foul total for the half was now at 7 for us and 1 for them. Then came the whistle. Then came me sitting down and letting the referee know that if this wasn’t fixed then I was pulling my team off the floor because the officials were not taking care of any of the kids on either team and I wouldn’t put up with the dangerous environment. And then game Technical #4. I’d love to give the official the first one, but his lack of warning (I hadn’t, believe it or not, been mouthy up to this point) makes it a no go. And the second? Well he was just not level headed at that point. Protecting kids is technical worthy? Ok then. But remember this isn’t high school you are working.

To end the following season, again with the Vinton Blue Devils, I continued my early exit streak of “if you get one, might as well get two,” with technicals in the final regular season game, a meeting with the Hidden Valley Heat. As usual, the referees were having mental lapses and I was on them most of the game. The final straw came close to the end of the game when our point guard was called for a charge when he collided with a defender 4 feet behind the three-point line while they were both in mid air (our player was trying to make a pass). It was ridiculous. I said as much, though the specific words (unbelievable? terrible? ludicrous?) escape me at the moment. Justified on Technical #5? Not so much, but I also knew what my tone was going to be, so I knew I was getting one. And moments later, in one of my better off the cuff moments, I let Mr. Referee know “that’s the best call you made all day.” Whistle, T, Ejection. Justified of Technical #6? Yup.

I kicked off the next regular season ready to knock out my technicals with Technical #7. Maybe it was the referee’s assertion during the pre-game coaches meeting that “we (the officials) are basically volunteers,” and that as a reason we shouldn’t be hard on them. I’m no mathlete, but $25 per game (aka per hour) doesn’t really seem too volunteer to me. Especially since these meeting came after a lot of incidents during football season. But anyway, I was not thrilled with Ben Minton from the get go. What followed up was the usual amount of no calls and half-ass paying attention from the officials. This culminated, down by 1 point with under a minute to play when we got on a 1-on-1 fast break. This ended with an errant block attempt from the other team that ended up (unintentionally in my opinion) with a punch to our player’s forehead. He went down in a heap and in tears (this was a 10 year old after all), with no whistle and Mr. Minton staring down at the kid as he jogged back up the court with the play. He refused to stop play so I could check on the kid for a good 20-30 seconds, all of which I was heated. As I went to check on him, I lashed out back in the ref’s direction “see, this is why coaches get mad at referees.” Whistle time. Justified? Are you kidding me?

Now that I got that single technical out of the way and actually didn’t get ejected, I tried my hardest to be on my best behavior for the remainder of the season. That was until the Vinton Redskins played the Vinton Thunder, Technicals #8 and #9. A rough game with rough officiating that saw the Thunder coach also T’d up, we trailed in the final seconds of overtime by 3 when I called a timeout with the ball at half court. I let them know to inbound the ball to our best player and instructed him to put up a shot as soon as he felt contact. I knew this other coach and I knew that he would try to foul as quickly as possible to not allow us to shoot a three and potentially tie the game. By us throwing up the shot, I was hoping we would at least get three free throws and try to foil their plan. He did what I thought, met with one of their players basically tackling our shooter. He fired the shot, the referee called the foul and the bucket swished through. Barely over 2-seconds left and we were tied with a chance to win. Then after discussion between the referees (the one near the shot called the foul, the one in front of me on the other side of the court didn’t even blow his whistle), the call was overturned. The basket was no good. I emphatically urged to the referee who called the foul that he “couldn’t do this” as he walked to the scorers table to wave off the shot. It was to no avail and I lost my mind. Call it a rage blackout or whatever you choose; I don’t remember what I said to him. I heard a whistle and saw his hands. The game ended, we “lost” and I proceeded to let him know how ridiculous it was immediately after hand shakes. He let the scorers table know to mark me down for a second technical at that point, which I followed up with “put me down for 5, the game is over. And everybody in this gym just saw what you did.”

First one totally justified. Second one, highly questionable.

He didn’t put me down for 5. But those technicals earned me a 2-game suspension. Those are the breaks I suppose.

It was my last technical before Sunday and the last time I really lost it on a ref (if we exclude baseball umpires who don’t know that a ball bouncing in the dirt is not a strike).

At the end of the day, it comes down to this…what crosses the line? I have done way more to get one than I did Sunday. In fact, I have said way more and not received one. So I don’t think referees have a “line,” I just think they have agendas. In game agendas, against the coach agendas, life agendas, plan for the day agendas.

I joked with a parent after the game Sunday that our ref (always in a Duke hoodie) was too worried about the Duke ACC title game on TV and he didn’t want to be there. I joked. And then moments later realized that after the game, he left all of his stuff at the court and raced over to the snack bar to watch that game.

That was his agenda. And if that is how he wants to make some extra cash, he might as well go ahead and referee volleyball instead.

Redskins have solidified themselves as the best ever

The last time I wrote about Fort Wayne North Side’s basketball team, it was the day of the Summit Athletic Conference Holiday Tournament finals. In that blog, I compared them to the last team to win said title, in the 2006-2007 season.

North Side beat Snider that night on a thrilling buzzer beater. Since that time, they have gone 13-1 and improved their record to a state best 21-1 for the regular season. Their lone loss? A tough road match up where their two brightest stars sat out the vast majority of the first half in foul trouble.

Tonight, that same North Side team plays Snider again. This time, it is the opening round of Sectional play. 21-1 is nice and all, but a loss for either team tonight ends their season. And it ends a lot of careers.

For North Side specifically, this is the final run for four starts and their 6^th man. Tonight and the remainder of their season will be all in for Tre’vion Crews, Mike Davis, Oosha Mitchell, Jeremy Jones and Myluv Sutton. But what stands out to me as we enter the postseason, no matter results tonight or down the line, is that this North Side Redskin team has every right to claim themselves as the best team to lace up their sneakers for the school since it opened in 1927.

Not just one of the best. They have the legitimate argument for THE BEST.

I am a North Side basketball purist. I may very well be one of the foremost authorities on the history of the program. I have loved to study the program since I was in school at North Side and carried over more strongly when I was a coach in the program between 2003 and 2008. And there have been some extremely talented teams: runs at state titles in ’33, ’55 and ‘65, the all-time winningest team in 1978, a state-ranked 1999 team that fizzled out too early and a trifecta of 15+ win teams from 2005-2007 at the peak of modern day local prep basketball.

What makes them possibly the best overall is hard to quantify outside of numbers. But those numbers do not lie. They will, no matter what, be the first team in school history to finish with less than 3 total losses. They will, no matter what, end with the best winning percentage in school history. 1978 be damned, North Side has already done almost everything better than that year, widely regarded as the best year ever.

When you look at “modern day” North Side, we can call it the post-By Hey era, there have been five really good years and two squads stand out the most before this group.

The 1999 team was ranked 7^th in the state heading into the post season but faltered after a Sectional win. However that team, led by still professionally playing Vernard Hollins, set a standard for modern day North Side. Run and gun benefited this team greatly. Getting out on the break with Hollins, Quincy Rutledge, Tyone Little and Wes Williams was practically impossible for most other schools. And if they could slow the Redskins down, the 6’10’’ junior center Ross McGregor wasn’t exactly easy to stop when he wanted a basket or a rebound. They boasted the 5^th best winning percentage in school history, complete with SAC regular season and Sectional titles. It was a blueprint, a foundation, as a high bar and stepping stone for other North Side teams in the post-By Hey Era.

Then from 2005-2007, North Side stepped all over it.

Never with a better record, but with one of the best three-year runs in school history, the Mike Novell coached squads (with a common denominator in Eshaunte “Bear” Jones) were the talk of the area at a time when the area was at its best. Every school had a strong piece or two at that point. South Side with Juston Hairston and Fred Ford, Snider with Marques Johnson and Ryan Sims, Concordia with Brandon Knox and Kyle Pressley, Harding with Evan White, DeAundre Muhammed and Pryce Underwood, Bishop Luers with Kevin Fogler, Bishop Luers with Cory Howard, Troy Amos, Lawrence Barnett and later Deshaun Thomas. Fort Wayne alone was the who’s who of prep basketball.

And North Side, win or lose, always stuck out. They overachieved into a Sectional crown in 2005, underachieved with only a conference regular season title 2006 and peaked early in 2006-2007 by winning the Holiday Tournament and never getting more than a sniff of any other crown from there on out.

All of these teams were good, but none do what this year’s team does: they quite frankly, are the epitome of consistency. You could break it down player by player as I have done in the past and this year’s team would win some and lose some. But as a team, as fun as those other teams were…could they handle this group?

Part of that is their maturity and part is how well they gel. North Side has the area’s best point guard (and in my humble opinion best player) in Tre Crews, the best inside presence in Mike Davis and a complimentary core of guys who would be the best player on any other team. And there are not egos. Well, I am sure there are egos, but they never show them. One guy may want the ball more than he gets it, but come game day, they show no cracks like that, no little nuisances that naturally inhabit high school teams. When it is game day, only one stat matters: that their side is lit up a little more brightly on the scoreboard, that their opponents cannot finish with more points.

The last time North Side played Snider, I thought they were playing to be the best in the program’s history to win that tournament crown. Tonight, they have nothing to prove. This North Side team is as good as it gets and they don’t have to prove that to themselves or anybody else.

The best part of that? I think they already know they don’t.

The next title fights the UFC should make

It has become a common theme on MMA websites that I frequent to try and play matchmaker. As if Joe Silva or Sean Shelby have it easy. And while those are all good and such, I found myself reading one today and having my own strong feelings on some fights that need to be made for UFC gold.

And no, I don't give a single care about the UFC's rankings when determining this, simply what would be best for business, what would draw interest based slightly on said ratings.

Women's Bantamweight
Who cares? And no that has nothing to do with the gender of the division. Nobody currently in the UFC is going to stop Ronda Rousey. Her next fight is already set and it will end, in my expert opinion, via arm bar. Like all of them. The only draw for a fight she really could have outside of Miesha Tate (and we all knew how that would end), is Cyborg. And that fight isn't happening. The weight classes are different, Dana White isn't risking a Ronda loss and as long as Cyborg has Tito Ortiz representing her, she won't sniff the UFC. What makes this even tougher? The only other fight I could care about is Julianna Pena. Being Tate's right hand woman, her and Rousey's displeasure for each other and her skill level made Pena a clear choice to challenge Ronda had she not torn her entire leg off it's bone (theoretically) and won her next fight.
Next Fight: Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano

Flyweight
I have no...and I mean no desire to see Demetrious Johnson fight a "super fight" in a division he was just part of not too long ago. He was better than almost everyone there, but not good enough to take the title from a guy who Renan Barao would "dominate" (see the pun?). The tough part for Mighty Mouse is that it doesn't take much to clear out this division. The top three contenders have fallen to Johnson and while I think another Dodson fight would be entertaining, I don't see it going any differently. So this is where I split off and say that someone needs to drop down from 135 to face him and the most logical person is someone I see to be between the biggest rock and hard place at said weight.
Next Fight: Demetrious Johnson vs. TJ Dillashaw

Men's Bantamweight
The way last night's fight ended leads to only one conclusion: give the guy ONE MORE SHOT. No one is clamoring to see Raphael Assuncao fight for the title. It would be worse than Ricardo Lamas' featherweight fight last night. And the dude barely (and by barely, I mean not really) beat Dillashaw. McDonald has lost 2 straight, Cruz is still out, Barao just beat Wineland. I see no interest in this division other than rematching what we barely saw last night (thanks Herb Dean).
Next Fight: Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber 3

Featherweight
So the kingpin has left for 155-ier pastures. Good. Now the next two guys in line without a fight booked can fight for the title right? Think about it, the next featherweight champion of the world is the winner of Chad Mendes and Cub Swanson! Not so fast....I mean, Mendes is ok and I have really grown to like Cub Swanson. But as champion, neither one of them has much more drawing power than stale grilled cheese. We have enough vanilla champions and contenders (see Weidman, Chris and Hendricks, Johny) that we don't need Mendes and I don't think Swanson is championship caliber or would win that fight. There is only one featherweight fight that I am excited about currently, it is already booked (date TBD), so let's make it for the crown. Why not? It may not be the right thing to do, but it will be the most exciting. And hell, at least one of them is ranked high in the division. Time to fill Aldo's impending vacancy.
Next Fight: Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn 3

Lightweight
We already know what the next fight is and it is by far the right one. I lend no credence to any thought that says we need Anthony Pettis/Benson Henderson 3....TJ Grant or Josh Thomson would just make me not care...and while Gilbert Melendez getting a shot is interesting (after all, when WEC and Strikeforce were there, one could make an argument that they had the best lightweights in Pettis and Gil), I think anyone who shays away from Pettis/Aldo is crazy. What is also crazy is that we are more than likely about to see that fight for Pettis' 155-pound title a year after we were supposed to see it for Aldo's 145-pound crown. And honestly, I'd like to see the winner be a duel champion. If Aldo wins, don't make his drop the belt at 145 or if Pettis wins, let him drop down to fight the winner of the vacancy. OR!!!! How about old school WWF title vs. title? Winner take all?
Next Fight: Anthony Pettis vs. Jose Aldo

Welterweight
Here is another division where we already know the next fight, again to fill a vacancy. So I again am just going to skip ahead and pretend that I know that Johny Hendricks is going to win the title. I don't think Dana White dares to not let him. Unless Robbie Lawler knocks him clean out cold, there is no way that Lawler leaves their contest with the belt. And even if he does, there is only one top contender because the rest of the division is just kind of eh. And either way, Hendricks or Lawler get beat down by the top contender in my mind.
Next Fight: Johny Hendricks vs. Carlos Condit

Middleweight
Where to begin. I think Chris Weidman is boring. I think he beat Anderson Silva by doing the thing we all knew would beat Anderson Silva, he caught him not being serious. Demian Maia could have beat Anderson Silva if he wasn't acting dumber. The only other way, which Weidman could also have easily done, is to wrestle Anderson Silva. Chael Sonnen could have beat Anderson Silva if he was paying attention at the end of their fight. And in the second fight, well yeah...fluke. Behind him, I care so little to see Vitor Belfort win the title, but at least he would be exciting. Behind them, nobody cares and Ronaldo Souza, Lyoto Machida shouldn't be ranked so high in a division he's never fought in. So if you are going to make Souza/Machida, then you'd have an ok contender. But you aren't. Souza is facing Francois Carmont, for some reason. And Machida is facing the ninth ranked 205-pounder because why not. So call it homer, call it confusion on the UFC's middleweight booking, but give the Michael Bisping/Tim Kennedy winner the next shot. Because at least their fight makes sense.
Next Fight: Vitor Belfort vs. Michael Bisping 2

Light Heavyweight
This is a stupid question.
Next Fight: Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 2

Heavyweight
This is a moot point for a while until the champion is healthy again. And even then, the UFC is currently in a funk that it will continue to be in for a while. That funk: Junior Dos Santos is better than everyone in the division not named Cain Velasquez. So what do you do with that. There are no heavyweight fights or contenders to clamor for. So we might as well get on the hype train.
Next Fight: Cain Velasquez vs. Travis Browne