College basketball produces the best NFL Tight Ends?

The top two NFL tight ends are arguably Gonzalez and Antonio Gates. What do they have in common? They both played significant minutes of college basketball :-)

Composite Conference Schedules 2005-2006

Conference Composite schedules
ACC
Big East
Big 11 (aka Big 10) [PDF file]
Big 12
Pac 10
SEC

Conference TV schedules
ACC
Big East
Pac10
SEC [PDF file]


Basketball Media Days
Big East
Big 11 (aka Big 10)
Big 12
SEC


Please keep in mind the TV schedules are subject to change and new games are being added, especially on local and regional channels.

More coming soon...

Big East Media Day all day all networks!

Big East has a ...big media today. CSTV ran a two hour media blitz with Seth Davis interviewing players and coaches from each team and then sucking up to the commish.

But the Big East media blitz did not end there. Three Big East coaches played Big East Jeopardy on Cold Pizza, while five Big East coaches spent an hour with Stephen A Smith on "Quite Frankly". An observation: All the coaches featured on ESPN were from the old-school Big East. I guess they didn't want Rick Pitino to outshine the HoF duo of Calhoun and Boeheim :-)

More on the Big East Media Day at http://marquettebasketball.blogspot.com/2005/10/big-east-media-day-recaps.html

2005-06 TV Schedule

This post will grow organically as more information becomes available.

For this season, the following TV channels are going to be broadcasting college basketball games nationally:

ESPN

ESPN2

ESPN Classic (bring back the clock specials, and hbc specials)

Fox Sports

Fox College Sports (Atlantic, Pacific, Central)

CSTV

Comcast Sports Net

CBS

ABC

WGN (I believe they carry one of the Wooden tournaments)

INHD/INHD2

and last but not least:

ESPNU: Brand new for this year!, the preliminary ESPNU schedule looks very promising as they will be showing lots of games as well as repeats of games shown on ESPN/ESPN2.

Regional and local networks will be showing additional games, but it's impossible to keep track of all those for the whole country.

Athlon Sports posts their previews online for free!

A big thank to you Athlon Sports for making their preseason previews available online for free.

Tracking the Transfers

Basketball Times does a good job of keeping track of Transfers between the seasons. Their list shows not only the players eligible for 2005-06, but also the ones eligible for 2006-07.

And while we are on the topic of transfers, Collegehoopsnet lists their top transfers for the 2005-06 season.

And here is my list of the top transfers for the 2006-07 season (so far):

Justin Cerasoli @ Ole Miss (this is my pick for the biggest surprise once he becomes eligible)

Toney Douglas @ FSU

Churchill Odia @ Oregon

Mike Cook @ Pitt

Fred Peete @ NM State

Lorenzo Wade @ SDSU

Gary Fobes @ Umass

JR Giddens @ New Mexico

Aaron Johnson @ .........

Martin Iti @ NM State

Keith Bulter @ DePaul

Matchup zone seminars coming to a city near you

It was recently mentioned in the media that Jim Boeheim gave the San Antonio Spurs a seminar on his famous matchup zone. It was also mentioned that Alabama is going to have to play zone because they have run out of guards but have lots of long and athletic wings/forwards. So what they need is the MatchUp Zone Seminar by Jim Boeheim!!!

Dickie V on Mike and Mike

Dick Vitale was on the Mike and Mike ESPN Radio show this Monday morning. (The show is also simulcast on TV on ESPN News). Dickie V talked and talked and talked about sports from baseball to tennis, but not a single word on college basketball! Wow! But in typical Dickie V fashion, he managed to mention two members of his extended family by name, he did his italian surname routine, and mentioned his motivational speaker appreances :-)

PreSeason Coaches on the Hot Seat and more

I know, I know it's not even November, but here are some coaches on the hot seat:

Hot Seat

Snyder @ Missouri

Mike Davis @ Indiana

Herb Sendek @ NC State (by default)

Room temperature, seat may get hot later on

Rob Evans @ ASU

Louis Orr @ Seton Hall (didn't they beat Arizona two years ago in the NCAAs?)

Triangle offense @ Kansas State

Leonard Hamilton @ FSU


Coaches on the rise
This is the exact opposite of the hot seat, these coaches are so hot they may get offers they can't refuse:

Mike Anderson @ UAB

Mark Few @ Gonzaga

John Beliein @ West Virginia


Coaches on the ...Bench
Looking for a new coach but can't wait until the season ends? Want a big name? Want a coach with TV analyst experience? How about these:

Nolan Richardson

Rick Majerus

Bob Huggins

Mike Jarvis

Steve Lavin

Pete Gillen

Steve Lappas (it looked like a Fired Coached support group when the last two were providing expert analysis during CSTV's Midnight Madness show)

Fran Francilla

Gene Keady

Henry Bibby

Perry Clark

Companion blog: Recruiting Wars

Our companion blog, Recruiting Wars, successfully predicted that Georgia Tech would get Thaddeus Young, one of the top 5 players of the highly celebrated and anticipated 2006 recruiting class.

The Recruiting Wars blog will concentrate on recruiting, which some people find exciting because, just like the stock market, it's wide open with almost infinite possibilities.

The One Year Dream

Carmello was the first, Marvin Williams was the second. This may be the path (or dream) for future generations of elite players. Play one year in college, win the championship, and then swim to a Top 5 draft position. Not bad eh?

Greg Oden maybe heading in that direction, although he may be serious about being ...serious about staying in college until he graduates. He started a new trend: take some of your very talented friends along. OJ Mayo may follow suit in 2007 with Billy Walker and the forward from their team.

Time Travel: UAB-Washington

Can't wait for the new season to start?

Here is a great game to watch to get you even more pumped for the new season: 2004 NCAA 1st round UAB-Washington

Big East Media Days on Tuesday

CSTV will present its third edition of college basketball media days this Tuesday. This time they will feature the Big East. Expected to be similar to their MWC and C-USA presentations, Seth Davis will interview the coaches and players for a few minutes while the in-studio host opens the revolving door for the commercials in between interview segments. The Big East coverage along with the MWC and C-USA presentations will rebroadcast a few more times on CSTV before the season begins.

My Big East predictions? This actually looks like a sub-par year for the Big East considering some of the big names in the 16-team powerhouse. The three Big Apple schools are in recovery mode, South Florida is there for football, Providence will struggle, Marquette and Notre Dame are having a change of ...guard (literally), DePaul is having a new coach and system, Louisville is suffering from injuries and pre-season attrition (just like every year), Cincy has an old new (!) coach but the core of seniors is in tact so there is hope. The Pitt bubble may start bursting unless they find a way to win by scoring 40 points per game (Herb Pope doesn't arrive until 2007).

Who is gonna be solid then? UConn, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia, Louisville, Georgetown

Even in a transition year, the Big East looks strong but it is not the big monster everyone is hyping this season..

Marquette, Notre Dame and DePaul could potentially get it together before next season. They have the raw materials to get it done by March.

My bold prediction: DePaul's coach Jerry Wainwright is the next Thad Matta.

Post #100 - And we are back (for real this time)

This is post #100 - And we are back (for real this time).

Coming soon: lots of preseason commentary and previews and such.

Until then, check out the daily coverage at http://www.yocohoops.com/