Monday Hoops

Majerus Watch

Rick, if you are reading this, please pull a "USC" and return to the TV analyst job! Much more comfortable and lots of food! Come on!

A BenMaller.com link posts a rumor that Saint Louis may be looking into a change of conference. And who can blame them? How close is Saint Louis (the gateway to the West!) to the Atlantic Ocean? Which makes one wonder, who were the brilliant people who decide to move to the A-10 in the first place and why haven't they been fired already? The city of Saint Louis features "Arch Madness", the Valley of Darkness (Missouri Valley) conference tourney every year. Saint Louis is in the middle of the MVC conference. And guess what? Majerus's style of play would be a good match for the defensive-minded grind and grind style of the MVC. It looks like a good match to me! And speaking of changes in the Atlantic-10 (14 teams) I think 2-4 teams really do not belong to the A-10 level. Look at their records and RPI/SOS in the last few years, and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Time for some good old fashioned "soccer relegation", where the bottom 2-4 teams get sent to the NEC or the MEAC :-) You can thank me later Atlantic-14!

Jeff Goodman thinks that the Majerus hire is not a good idea for Saint Louis.

The Majerus contract is believed to be in the $1 million ballpark per year, for six year with rollovers (no, not 401k rollovers).

Majerus will have seven scholarships to hand out in the next two years, although judging from his previous record at Utah expect a constant outflow of players because of "clash of personalities".

ESPN story on the Majerus hire

Did you know? Majerus was offered an assistant coach job in the NBA by George Karl of the Denver Nuggets last year.


Latest News Recap

One more national writer creates his own blog. This time Jeff Goodman at Fox Sports. Some of the stories there posted today: Billy Donovan trying to sign Jai Lucas, Lute Olson to officially rehire Kevin O'Neill to toughen up the team and especially their defense (the rumors were not unfounded), and the two front-runners for the assistant opening at Pitt are one of Hurley's sons (Danny of St Benedicts) and former A-10 and Charleston head coach Tom Herrion. Also Perry Clark (formerly of Miami) is involved in the Texas A&M Corpus Cristi. Once upon a time just a spring break destination, now perhaps becoming a basketball destination for in-state players .

And speaking of the Arizona move, remember the last time a team made such a move? They won two national championships shortly thereafter! I am talking about Florida hiring defensive-minded former Clemson head-coach Larry Shyatt. Without him, Billy the Kid would have still be struggling with 2nd round exits to Manhattan and Weber State and Vermont and (insert your favorite single-bid conference mid-major).


NBA Draft

The NBA Draft early entry deadline was on Sunday, so in the next few hours the last few early entrant names will trickle in. Two more juniors have declared but won't sign with an agent. Doing the "testing the waters" thing: Bo McCalebb of New Orleans, and Oklahoma State's James Off Curry

An assessment of the draft chances of the NBA draft early entries by Jeff Goodman at Fox Sports.


Waiting for the 2007-2008 season?

Catch up for the latest recruiting news and issues at Recruiting Wars

Can't wait for the next season to start? Neither can the fans at this Louisville board! A Sea of Blue has a link to a message board discussion at Rivals. The original poster thinks that the 2007-2008 Louisville Cardinals will be the best team 1 through 12 in the country, and it reminds him of the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats of Rick Pitino.

Jeff Goodman at FoxSports updates his Top 25+5 for the 2007-2008 season. For comparison purposes, here is his previous Top 25

Andy Katz of ESPN looks at the his Top 25 teams, surpring everyone with his #1 choice, the Memphis Tigers of John Calipari. The story has a long segment on the Memphis Tigers, and a short paragraph for each of the other top 25 teams. He called them "draft dodgers" because none of their players declare for the NBA draft (not that any of them were a surefire first rounder). Katz may have been smoking something, as the Zags are #11, Pitt #17, and Davidson #25. But then again, this is so early, just about anything goes, and everyone will forget it long before the new season starts.

If you missed the debut of the 2007 NCAA Final Four highlights on CSTV, you may not be alone. The softball game before it went into multiple overtimes (they call it "extra innings"), so the final four highlights started one hour later. But don't worry, it will repeat again, on Wednesday at 3pm PT/6pm ET on CSTV. But beware, there is a live softball game right before it!