Throwdown Thursday: Huggins to West Virginia!!!

The 2007 Florida basketball championship DVD is now available for pre-order at Amazon for $14 (eligible for free shipping with orders over $25). It will be in 1.33:1 format, from Harp Sharp Video, with a release date of May 13... Or you can get it for free if you have 285 Coke Rewards points at mycokerewards.com... Check at the bottom of today's post for more Florida gear.


NBA Draft 2007 Early Entries

As we get closer to the draft declaration deadline (late April), we will be seeing more and more players declare or announce their non-declaration.

Spencer Hawes declares for the NBA draft, but won't sign with an agent. His injuries this season certainly slowed him down, and will probably hurt his stock, but his stock may be high enough for him to go anyways... Or perhaps he is using this as a "practice interview" for next year where he will be gone for sure.

It was no big surprise (although as basketball fans would romantically like to see a chance at a threepeat), that the four Floridians are declaring for the NBA as a team. Jeff Goodman at FoxSports. The announcement is expected at 1pmPT/4pmET, so if you are near a TV, check the ESPN News channel! All four will sign with agents (Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Al Horford)... The press conference was rather emotional with Al Horford breaking down in tears... But they are gone to the NBA, no turning back. And who can blame them? Two back to back championships and 16-0 in the post-season!

M-Will (Arizona's Marcus Williams) is expected to announce today as well. FoxSports story by Goodman. If the Kevin O'Neill rumors are correct, M-Will probably has to leave since he is probably the softest and moodiest of the returning players (I guess I should pre-apologize to Arizona fans for this comment). He will sign with an agent, so it's say goodnight for college hoops.



Coaching Carousel

The number of incoming 2007-2008 recruits affected by the coaching carousel so far is growing longer and longer. A list of the most high profile ones at Recruiting Wars, including Michael Beasley, Alex Legion, Dom Sutton, etc.

Throwdown Thursday, as Bob Huggins shocks everyone by going to West Virgina!!!. This was according to sources, just posted at FoxSports by Jeff Goodman. The recruiting implications of this at Recruiting Wars... This will also add a new twist to the a recruiting of Patrick Patterson

Very unhappy are the people at Kansas State (espn story). That story includes a heated discussion among basketball fans with 180+ comments... Kansas State says they won't give players releases until the next coach is hired, so at least he has a chance to re-recruit them. Good luck keeping them since they went there for Huggins... Lon Kruger's name has come up once again, but if indeed he goes back to Kansas State, then Reggie Theus can use the "Roy Williams/Bob Huggins going back home" exception and bolt for UNLV.

More places are now reporting this, including local newspaper The Intellligencer (I did not make up that name!), and AOL's NCAA Fan House. Huggie's buyout was set at just $100,000... This will make the Cincinatti vs West Virginia Big East matchups very interesting. Look for them on ESPN, and look for them to schedule two of them next year :)

Thanks to blog reader WMH for the link! Santa Clara hires experienced and deserving UCLA assistant Kerry Keading as their next head basketball coach... With so many jobs open in California (WCC/BigWest), Keading was able to pick and chose... It's clear that SCU was looking for the next "Mark Few", so they went after a young, talented and experienced assistant, with success at a winning program. As you may recall they "encouraged" Dick Davey to "retire" after 30 years (15+15) at Santa Clara.

Bob Huggins bolts Kansas State after one year but he has a good reason: He is going home to West Virginia.

Billy the Kid meets with AD Jeremy Foley and says he is staying put.

The Godfather gets another assistant a head coaching job (sources say at espn.com). Godfather being Rick Pitino, the assistant being Kevin Willard (son of Ralph Willard)

Butler keeps it in the family. The dominos stop here! Assistant Stevens will take over for Iowa-bound Todd LickLiter

Andy Katz reports in this Daily Blog on Bob Huggins and West Virginia. The first two paragraphs are free, the rest of the story requires an Insider account.

Travis Ford a candidate at West Virginia? UMass student paper story. Also FoxSports story.

A recap of the Coaching Carousel including top available candidates, coaching vacancies, etc.


Kentucky Coaching Search Repor(t)

Andy Katz on Sportscenter: Rick Barnes is the leading candidate (he may say no)... Tom Crean would go to Kentucky if offered...

ESPN.com story on Kentucky's Plan B. Mitch Barnhart [allegedly] received permission to talk to Billy the Kid late last night, but earlier today Billy the Kid decides to drink the Florida Orange Juice instead (which he advertises on his coaches show)... Both Patrick Patterson and snotty brat Jai Lucas have said they will wait for the next Kentucky coach before making a decision.

Coverage of the search at various Kentucky basketball sites below:

A Sea of Blue looks back at the hiring of Rick Pitino and reminds fans that he was choice #3, after Lute Olson, and Larry PJ Sprewell-Carlissimo.

Wild Cats Thunder talks about the Power of Blue.

Six new stories from today at Aaron's UK

More stories at John Clay


Misleading Headlines!!!

ESPN headline: "New Mexico St. coach Theus visits Pope in hospital". What? The Pope was hospitalized? What? Did he watch last night's South Park episode and got sick? Well, it turns out that they are talking about basketball recruit Herb Pope who is recovering from gunshot wounds in Pittsburgh.

Transferology

Omar Wilkes, a wing at California (and former Cal transfer) will not return to the team next year. It's unclear whether he will try to go to another university for his last remaining year of eligibility or remain at Cal but just not play hoops. He is on target to graduate this year. In a statement Braun said he is going to "pursue post-graduate studies". CBS Sportsline has the story

As you may recall the NCAA is going to restrict the 2005-54 rule (aka the Kevin Kruger rule) that allowed student athletes to transfer to a graduate program of another institution and play immediately assuming they had remaining eligibility and earned their undergraduate degree. Under the new proposed legislation the NCAA is going to review each case individually, in order to prevent other coaches from poaching graduates from other universities.



Random Notes

I wanna be one of Pat Summitt's assistants... On a totally unrelated note, Pat Summit is buying Mercedes Benz convertibles for all her assistants.

The date has been set for the next Jim Rome Smack-Off. Mark your calendars Clones, it's May 4, 2007. Past winners including sports talk radio personality JT The Brick... It was funny to hear Van Smack advertise Van Heusen and JC Penney...

Joe Lunardi takes a critical look at his 12+ years of Bracketology misses. (ESPN Insider account required)

You can dream big, especially on April Fools Day. This Pacific fan posted this April Fools Day story: the most highly sought after recruit, Patrick Patterson has committed to the University of the Pacific (Pacific is in the Big West). He managed to tie in the story with the Billy Donovan to Kentucky rumors. This is my favorite April Fools story of this year! Well done!


The Trouble Repor(t)

Sidney Lowe had a great first season on the court, but off-court the troubles are piling up. First his son got in serious trouble with the law, now assistant Larry Harris resists arrest after a speeding violation. He has been at NC State for 11 years, and was allegedly involved with the Princeton-offense that Herb Sendek was running. So why the need for speed? :-)

Two Arkansas players test positive for a certain herb that some people have declared war on. It's just a herb people, grow up :-) First they lose the coach they just hired, now two of their players 420. What a headache for an AD who is about to retire! Privacy laws were cited in keeping the names private.

Billy Packer uses dictionary.com to explain "fagged out" but does not apologize or shows any sign of "maybe I shouldn't have said that"... On the other hand CBS thinks he should not have used that word... A number of Packer haters (check the web, there is a long list) are taking this opportunity to point out that there is a need for a new top NCAA analyst at CBS.

Sad news for Rice and the college hoops world in general, as Jonathan Bailey was stabbed to death after a bar-related fight at College Station. His twin brother (a recent A&M student) is in fair condition.


Florida Gators Gear!

Select Florida Gators items on Amazon that might be of interest to sports fans! Pictures are links to Amazon product pages. The 2007 Florida basketball championship DVD is now available for pre-order at Amazon for $14 (eligible for free shipping with orders over $25).