College Basketball TV Guide

Before you think I have gone crazy, I will admit that I have. But that does not change the fact that there is some college basketball programming on TV in the next few days! All tape-delayed or in-studio of course! Don't expect live games :)

Friday June 1, 1130am and 230am pacific on CSTV, Taking Issue with Brian Curtis on CSTV. A weekly magazine show covering college sports. Repeats on Tuesday AM before the new episode airs in the afternoon.

Saturday June 2, 10am pacific, from 1992, BYU vs UTEP in the WAC conference tournament championship on BYU-TV (religious channel, commercial free game)

Tuesday June 5, 10am and 9pm pacific, In My Own Words with Jamie Dixon, on Fox College Sports

Tuesday June 5, 530pm and 530am pacific, new episode of Taking Issue with Brian Curtis on CSTV. A weekly magazine show covering college sports.

Friday June 8, 10pm pacific, 530am pacific, and 1230pm on Saturday, the series Head Coach features Bruce Pearl. This is one hour long, on Fox College Sports.

Saturday June 9, 8pm pacific, Wisconsin Division 3, Aquinas vs StCatherines on Fox College Sports. Not sure if this is college or high school level

Monday June 10, 6am pacific, In My Own Words with Pat Summit, on Fox College Sports

Monday June 11, 12pm pacific, Florida 1A final high school level, between Pine Castle and The Rock (I kid you not on that name!), on Fox College Sports. Some of these players may be college basketball prospects for 2007, 2008 and beyond.

Tuesday June 12, 2pm pacific Under the Lights featuring Bruce Pearl on Fox College Sports.

Tuesday June 12, 430pm pacific, Pistol Pete diaries on Fox College Sports

15 games are scheduled to repeat on ESPNU in the next two weeks. I am boycotting ESPNU tv listings until Comcast and ESPN reach an agreement to carry the network and stop acting like divas!

Glory Road (the movie of the 1966 UTEP/Texas Western team) will repeat a few times on the Starz family of networks. A number of other basketball movies are scheduled to be shown

Updates

Thanks to the George Mason Basketball blog for the link to this blog! The George Mason blog, (you guessed it), covers George Mason basketball, including detailed coverage on their latest recruits.

A number of updates at A Sea of Blue

Goodman's blog covers the Under 19 team trials, coached by the next John Beilein (DePaul's Jerry Wainwright), and assisted by GW's Karl Hobbs. The list of players ranges from rising-sophomores in college to 2008 prospects (rising hs seniors). Goodman's blog is now overtaking Andy Katz as a reliable source of daily scoop, especially since now Andy Katz has significantly limited his readership by having his "Daily Word" requiring an ESPN Insider pass for the full story.

Speaking of Goodman, a big get for Bruce Pearl as he rebounds Tyler Smith's transfer. This is huge for Tennessee as they get a very talented player in practice this year, and an all-conference caliber player eligible to compete in 2008-2009.

Blashpemous rumors by BenMaller.com: Billy Donovan flirting with Orlando Magic, Majerus is pulling 16-hour workdays, Daequan Cook leaning towards remaining in the NBA draft, and a proposal for a playoff in college football.

More updates from the March Madness All Season blog at CollegeHoopsNet, including a coaching carousel update, as Eastern Washington fired their head coach (this is almost June!)

Mid week report

Bookmark this! An updated transfer list maintained by Goodman's blog. This is the most comprehensive list of tranfers I have seen on the net!

A round-up of news at the March Madness All Season blog.

Transfers are the theme of the day recruiting-wise.

A Sea of Blue has a round-up of news and a discussion on the APR, scholarships, academic eligibility and their impact on the game

Coaches Gone Wild! This Florida A&M coach has been placed on paid leave... At least when college students get in trouble, one can partially excuse them by saying "they are just kids".

Mike DeCourcy dishes, talking about Arizonan Joey Shaw going to Juco, the dynamic guard duo of 2008-2009 at Arizona, Andy Kennedy finding a new fan club, Phil Martelli gets something new, and a couple of Big East tidbits.

Mike Miller of MSNBC's Beyond the Arc blog has projections for the 2007-2008 season, after the announcement of a rush back to Lawnerence. He also takes a stab at the candidates for player of the year... Included in the story is a link to a story by Tom Keegan, of the critically acclaimed sports round-table tv show "The Drive" which airs nationally on Fox College Sports during the college football and basketball seasons.

Bob McClellan of Rivals has a story on Yahoo Sports on Stan Health and his future at South Florida, a job he took just a few weeks ago.

Repeats of some of the college basketball games of the 2006-2007 season are going to be available on ESPNU in the next few games. Check their website for details as I am boycotting ESPNU listings until Comcast and ESPN reach an agreement to carry ESPNU... If you want ESPNU and you have Comcast cable, contact both Comcast and ESPN and ask them to reach an agreement and carry it already :-)

Tuesday update

Thanks to the HoopsCoach blog at WordPress for their link to this blog. The HoopsCoach blog covers everything from A to Z on coaching. Visit their blog for more...

Recruiting News: Mr Rutgers delivers, Fresno State gets a center, and Colorado gets a transfer. Details at 11 (or at Recruiting Wars).

Apparently Rush did not rush to the NBA, not only because he loved his Jayhawks, but also because he needs surgery. His brother JaRon Rush (of UCLA) had a similar injury...

Goodman's blog discusses the Brandon Rush injury, and has a long list of the players participating in the Orland Pre-Draft Camp. He also has a list of the players who will be attending the camp only for physicals. (Physicals-only prospects usually don't want to risk their status by actually playing - as silly as that may sound, that's how it is).

A Sea of Blue has commentary and links on the Billy Donovan contract extension saga.

Fran Fraschilla's story at Operation Hardwood at ESPN. (ESPN Insider story).

Craig Neal cannot coach boating skills? Steve Alford's top assistant and two players had minor injuries on a boat during an (NCAA sanctioned) exhibition trip of the team to the Bahamas.

While digesting the multi-billion dollar payments from CBS and other sponsors, the NCAA tries to figure out how to improve academics in men's basketball... Now I'm by no means an expert on all-things NCAA, but I cannot understand why players are not given more credits for the time they spent learning about basketball. If perhaps the NCAA was more honest in the way they handled student-athletes, the athletic programs wouldn't have to resort to signing players for bogus classes just to keep them eligible. But what do I know?

Sad news: Former Villanova player Howard Porter has died a few days after being viciously attacked. Yahoo Sports story

Weekend update

Goodman's blog has great news for Kansas Jayhawks fans. Kansas fans, you better ...rush to his blog and read all about it!

Once upon a time Pitino (or someone else) said something along the lines of "you handle horses, but you deal with players". That is true, and you deal with players but you have to handle coaches, especially when they stalk women. Just because you got Florida A&M to the NCAA tourney last year it doesn't mean you have free reign!

Big Brother has offically approved the move of the three point line back one foot, to 20 feet and 9 inches, from 19 feet and 9 inches. The new 3-point line is three inches longer than the FIBA (international basketball) line. This takes effect in the 2008-2009 season. Next season (2007-2008) will not be affected... ESPN's Andy Glocker analyzes the potential impact of this change on the Xs and Os.

NBA draft coverage at ESPN, but a number of stories are for Insiders only. Booooooo! The subscription model for mass-market internet sites has never been successful! Wake up and smell the aroma of internet reality ESPN :-)

Greg Doyell 2.0 (Gary Parish) reveals his #2 forward-looking program at Sportsline.com

The Donovan contract signing soap continues. Is he delaying until the right NBA job is offered to him? If so, will Florida promote Larry Shyatt or go for another young trendy coach?

All you can eat Fridays!

One of the most touted recruits of the class of 2008 has decided to remain in-state. Details at 11 (or at Recruiting Wars

The Majerus Watch is a popular item on this blog. Dick "Hoops" Weiss has a story at FoxSports on this very topic, Can Majerus work that magic again?. Majerus hopes to be able to fill (no pun intended) the new 10,000 seat on-campus arena and turn it into a home court advantage.

Speaking of Dick "Hoops" Weiss, he has a number of updates on his blog, including a Big East roundup covering the two Georgetown players in the NBA Draft (Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert), Seton Hall's new home arena, an update on the Big East conference tournament format, Vitale raising over $1 million dollars in the fight against cancer with his event (including two $100,000 impromptu donations!), the status of former Villanova star Howard Porter, and some mid-major love for St Peter's. His blog is always a source of news and tidbits! Bookmark his blog!

A Sea of Blue has a write-up on Kentucky, 60 days after Tubby Smith left for the TimberGophers.

A number of updates on Goodman's blog, including a lead story on spoiled brat and cry-baby Greg Paula of Duke, Thad Matta steals one of Herb Sendek's assistants, Kelvin "500 calls" Sampson is able to phone-spam again, and a feature on a mid-major school which I'm sure will thrill mid-major fans since the big media usually concentrates on the BCS teams.

FoxSports sources claim that tall freshman point guard Javaris Crittenton will hire an agent. Sad news for Paul Hewitt and Georgia Tech as they just lost a touted 2008 recruit today as well.

It appears that talented Rodney Stuckey of Eastern Washington is also going to be hiring an agent. He is too talented for the Big Sky (no offense to Big Sky fans!)

On the trouble report, Illinois DUI guard Jamar Smith pleads guilty to DUI

More news and updates at MSNBC's Beyond the Arc blog. A good resource for college hoops fans!

Ole Roy starts reloading

One day after Arizona stole a touted 2008 guard from SoCal, Ole Roy and North Carolina do exactly the same thing by getting 2008 guard Larry Drew Jr (if the name sounds familiar, his dad played in the NBA (and has the same name)). More at Recruiting Wars

A comprehensive round-up of news at the major sport sites at March Madness All Season. Among other things mentioned there, you will find links to the schedule announcements of Arizona and Kansas for the 2007-2008 season, and a revealing interview of FoxSports's answer to Andy Katz, Jeff Goodman at BigLead.com.

The Billy Donovan contract renewal saga continues...

Gonzo (Seton Hall's basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez, a CSTV March analyst), will start coaching ...ice hockey?. Well not quite... And can they fill up this new big arena?

Magnum Rolle won't be the next Tyrus Thomas because he is transferring out of LSU

Mid-week report

Every 2007 NCAA College Basketball Tournament game on DVD!

Can't get enough new news and features? Try this: Shawn Siegel's blog at CollegeHoopsNet!. It includes NBA draft analysis, an early Top 50 projection for 2007-2008, and a projection of the top 15 freshmen of 2007-2008. Was one of the five high profile recruits left out of their Top 5? (The answer is yes, one of them was, and it may surprise you!).

A number of updates in Goodman's blog, including a look at Florida State for 2007-2008, and the Silver Fox "stealing" yet another one from the SoCals... More details on Brandon Jennings committing to Arizona at FoxSports

FoxSports looks at the rebuilding/reloading project at Florida. And no, they won't threepeat!

A look at the 2007 NBA Draft Lottery that took place last night in NBA Office Space Land... Oden's reaction

Jeff Goodman reports that Florida will hire a new assistant away from Virginia

Great news for Georgetown fans, and tears from the other 15 Big East teams. Roy Hibbert is coming back! according to a Washington Post story according to ESPN and FoxSports. Yes, despite being projected a high first round pick (eg lottery pick), it is possible both Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert return and make Georgetown an overwhelming Final Four favorite for 2007-2008. A joint press conference by those two players is expected sometime today... Goodman says that according to sources, Jeff Green may stay in the NBA draft, even though he was 70-30 on returning, while Hibbert was 50-50... Time will tell!

Every 2007 NCAA College Basketball Tournament game on DVD!

Super Tuesday

Do you think Coach K is the devil? You can get the t-shirt for $13!.

Latest recruiting updates and links at Recruiting Wars

Keep up with the latest news and rumors of the 2007 NBA Draft at HoopsHype.com

Sad news for Villanova fans as one of their former players was attacked and hospitalized

The politicians are putting on their GM hats in Hawaii as they grill the University of Hawaii AD.

Gary Parrish looks at Bobby Lutz flirting with other programs while still being the head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats (oooooops! 49ers)... The fashion police called, looking for Bobby Lutz, the H*tler moustache has to go!.

UNLV is back on the spotlight again, but it's not run and gun, it's slow and grind! Rivals story at Yahoo Sports

An AP story on the recruitment of Patrick Patterson to Billy Gillispie's edition of Kentucky

Season 2 of basketball-themed TV series White Shadow just $13.49 at Amazon (eligible for free shipping with orders $25+).

Season 1 available for $22




Over 1 million pre-orders have been placed on Amazon for the new Harry Potter book, book #7 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Current price is $18 and eligible for free shipping with orders over $25. Pre-orders include a low price-guarantee.

Monday Night Hoops

They are not Kings or Queens, but they have achieved royalty status among their fanbase. But one day they will retire, and a successor will need to be named. Syracuse just did that by naming long-time assistant Mike Hopkins as Boeheim's successor-designate... Who are the other coaches? They are the head coaches at UConn, Arizona and Duke according to Andy Katz... The Arizona AD says the job would be "wide open" and the hiring of Kevin O'Neill was just that, he was not hired as a successor... At Duke, Johnny Dawkins is seen as the front-runner by observers, but nothing is official... The situation at UConn is also wide open, with about half a dozen assistants-turned-head-coaches.

Goodman's blog has some interesting posts. First the unofficial list of the players participating in the NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando Florida. The list also includes the physical-only players and the ones who declined, who think they are in the lottery or think they can only drop in status if they participate in the games... In another post he talks about Kevin Durant, and Georgetown hiring two new assistant coaches

More from Goodman, and good news for New Orleans fans, guard Bo McCalebb is withdrawing from the NBA draft and returning to the Sun Belt conference.

A Sea of Blue has a commentary on the decision by Kentucky to buyout the return game to UMass for 2007-2008... As you may recall, when Billy Gillispie took over Texas A&M, he played one of the most cupcake schedules ever during the first couple of years. While I am a strong opponent of cupcake scheduling (Hello Boeheim-Hopkins-Fine), the Texas A&M situation was one that cupcakes were prescribed for year #1. The team was 0-16 in conference the year before. He had to establish a culture of winning... This is different at Kentucky, where the team has been winning 20+ games per season and hasn't missed the NCAA tourney in a while. Gillispie's year #1 at Texas A&M, and year #2. In 04-05 the top OOC opponents were Houston and Penn State, while in 05-06 it was Auburn, Pacific... In year #3 the schedule was upgraded to include UCLA, LSU, and Winthrop, in addition to the teams from previous years... ESPN story

Weekend Update

Latest recruiting updates at Recruiting Wars

The AOL Hell (old school term) Fanhouse has a number of stories, including Greg Oden's dream to become a dentist (seriously, is he the next "Mermaid"?), Bobby Brown's (of NOT Long Beach State, but of Cal State Fullerton [thanks Jeff for the correction!!!]) chances in the NBA draft, the female edition of the ACC/Big Eleven challenge starting up, ACC deciding to stick to 16 games per conference season (WHY!!! North Carolina __MUST__ play Maryland twice. Drop the Wake Forest game!), Santa Clara getting all uptight about a long-time announcer standing up for Dick Davey, stories on Ole Roy, Boeheim-Hopkins and Billy Glyde Gillespie (or Gillispie).

Blogger Rivalry! The Florida vs Kentucky online rivarly is (understandably) heating up. More on this at A Sea of Blue

MSNBC's Beyond the Arclooks at the college players in the NBA draft, and looks back at the 20-year anniversary of the magical 1987 Providence Friars run to the Final Four, a group that featured almost 4 NCAA championships (Pitino, Donovan).

March Madness All Season has a round-up of round-ups for the last week, a good way to catch up with the latest happenings in the ESPN-less world of off-season college hoops.

Are head-coaches also politicians and/or lawyers? Some of the patterns in their comments and behaviors certainly remind some of politicians and lawyers. For instance, John Pelphrey is adjusting expectations at Arkansas by elaborating on the "team out of shape" comment.

Shopping Segment!. Today only (Sunday), Amazon's daily deal item is the Bowflex Conquest Home Gym for the price of 130+ Ben and Jerry ice-cream pints (or $540). Currently they offer free shipping!

It's all you can eat Fridays again!

A Sea of Blue discusses a Yahoo Sports story that Tubby Smith is going to bring in to the Minnesota TimberGophers a super-recruiter as an assistant. Reasonable minds can ask this question: Why didn't he bring him to Kentucky when he was the head coach?

Lots of tranfers taking place, along with a wave of 7-footers commiting left and right. Details and links at Recruiting Wars. Usually massive transfers are a sign of a new head coach taking over a program. For example Hawaii had four new players coming in and two transfering out.

Latest news on the Goodman blog talk about a Nike-sponsored assistant coaches event in Nikor (Nike + Oregon, not to be confused with the camera company). Goodman also looks at next year's prospects (2007-2008) of Baylor, and Utah State, and Reggie Theus flirting with the NBA.

Mike Jones had a short-term tenure at South Carolina. The Syracuse transfer did "not meet ___ standards", a catch-all blanket explanation.

While Ole Roy got a four-year extension, Billy Donovan is still cooking. They are still "negotiating", while I could translate that to mean "waiting to see if an NBA job is offered"... Like father like son perhaps (in the basketball sense of course), Donovan may repeat the NBA mistake of Rick Pitino. Allegedly the reason the talks with the Memphis/Vancouver Grizzlies broke off was that he wanted full control of the franchise. Sounds familiar Celtics fans?

Not so good news for USC fans of 2007-2008. Gabe Pruitt will hire an agent

Andy Katz puts on his dollars and sense hat and looks at coaching salaries, extensions and bonuses

Extend my contract please!

Ole Roy, aka Roy Carolina the head coach of North Williams, got a 4-year extension. Yahoo Sports story, keeping him at UNC until 2014-2015. Ole Roy's salary is around $1.8 million per year plus performance-based incentives. He is a Hall of Fame (induction in September). His AD called him "the most complete coach in the country". Take that Dookie Coach Dirty Rat aka Dracula-K ;-)

Not to be outdone, Coach K announced that he has sold his soul to the Devil for $1.81 million per year plus a guaranteed Final Four appearance every four years ;-)

Goodman's blog looks at the future at Nova (is the four guard offense is coming back?), an update on the educational status of Michael Beasley, and MoJo (former Izzo State wing) down to two New England schools.

No one was surprised that Brandan Wright has hired an agent

Patrick Patterson related stories and the impact of his commitment to Kentucky at A Sea of Blue

FireBilly.com looks at the media wars, as they scrambled to be the first ones to break the news of Patrick Patterson's commitment.

Kentucky wins the Patrick Patterson sweepstakes!

Kentucky wins the Patrick Patterson sweepstakes! More on this at Recruiting Wars

Syracuse gets a new head coach, sort of, a head-coach-designate of sorts, 12-year assistant Mike Hopkins it is, Yoda says. No timetables, no benchmarks, no timelines. Jim Boeheim will continue to be the head coach as long as he wants to. Or something like that... ESPN story

Google Reader Questions: Is Reggie Theus a Mormon? Answer: I don't know, but Romney may know ;-) Speaking of Theus, despite the recent contract boost at New Mexico State, he will talk to the Sacramento Queens of the NBA.

Goodman's blog talks about Patrick Patterson's press conference, life in Texas after Durant, the possibility of an 18-game ACC schedule, and Majerus's first big commitment.

Super Tuesday

MidContinent gets a fancier name, changing its name to The Summit

A recap of the Jai Lucas to Florida and more stories/links at Recruiting Wars

What's happening to Kansas next year?. Goodman's blog also looks at the Pepperdine AASAA Waves and Vance Walberg, and a look at Renaldo Sidney at the best player in his class, currently looking at UCLA and Texas.

The LSU women's interim coach has been promoted to an associate head coach. He does not wish to become a head coach.

Monday Hoops!

Breaking News! Touted point guard (and son of NBAer dad) Jai Lucas picks Florida. Wall to wall coverage at Recruiting Wars

Drama in the ACC! The move to an 18-game season is getting the coaches upset stomaches. Why play two more conference games when you can play guaranteed home games vs Elon, and Winston Salem State? The AOL Sports Blog has wall to wall coverage on this. First The Dirty Rat (Coach Dracula-K) wants to split the ACC into two divisions. But he is not the only one objecting to an 18-game conference season. As the the blog writer "sportz assassin" points out, we may get two Carolina vs Maryland regular games per season (instead just one right now (how sad!)). Staying in the ACC, Dean Smith gets a UNC degree. Meanwhile Dookie Vitale sings the praises of his puppet master (ha!)

Goodman's blog today features Mark Fox and his two juniors in the NBA draft, Jai Lucas, Manhattan's hopes for next season and Joe Trapani's decision on where to transfer to.

Speaking of Jai Lucas, lots of recruitings links and stories at Recruiting Wars

Future Sundays!

The braintrust at ESPN has also looked at the 10 programs with the most promising futures ahead of them. The top 10 here. Unlike Sportsline who gave North Carolina the #4 spot, the ESPN braintrust voted Roy Carolina and North Williams as the program with the brightest future ahead. Back to back national championships got Florida the #2 spot, and back to back Final Fours (despite the horrible slugfest) got UCLA the #3 spot. Kentucky received one first place vote and finished at #4 as they enter the Billy Clyde Gillispie era. The Thad Matta express steamrolls to #5, while the vampire of Durham lands his sad circus at #6. Two coaches with lots of hype and high touted recruits but not enough final fours follow: Rick Barnes at Texas and Bill Self at Kansas. PitinoVille springs up at #9, and the 500-call Hoosiers round out the top 10... Just outside the top 10 were: The Calipari Experiment, Izzo State, the Calhoun Experience, and two rising programs, Georgetown and USC.

A Sea of Blue examines the possibility of the Pitino curse

All you can eat Friday!

Greg Oden and Mike Conley will be appearing today on the Hot List on ESPN News. The Hot List airs weekdays from 12pm-3pm PT/3pm-6pm ET... Speaking of news, here's a shocker! Ricky Williams tests positive for herbjuana. I could have never seen this coming! It caught me totally off guard!

TV Reminder!. On Sunday May 13, CBS will air the one hour documentary College Basketball's Greatest Shooters at 11am PT. This was pre-empted by a live tennis game in March... Same day at 3pm PT, ABC will air the EA Sports All American Show featuring basketball among the other sports... These are obviously not a live events, so I do not know what times they will air in other timezones. Check local listings!... But wait there's more! The BYU TV channel will air a classic college basketball from 1998 this Saturday, featuring BYU and New Mexico... Also ESPNU will be airing some of the men's basketball conference championship finals in the next few days. I am boycotting ESPNU tv listings until ESPN and Comcast reach a compromise agreement and carry ESPNU on their networks. ESPN wants ESPNU available to all digital cable subscribers, while Comcast wants to put it in the Sports Tier which costs $5/month more, and includes other sports channels such as NBATV, NFL, CSTV, etc.

Thanks to the CAA Hoops blog for the link and for catching the "Doyel 2.0" comment I made earlier!

Jealous of ESPN doing a big story on the Top 10 programs of the Last 10 years, Gary Parrish at CBS will be doing the Top 10 programs of the next five years! He will reveal his top four each Friday, starting with today. And at #4 is ... *drumroll* Roy Carolina and North Williams!

After flirting with NBA teams, TV coach Reggie Theus gets a new lucrative contract at New Mexico State, making him the highest paid coach in the league, with a salary close to half a million per year.

March Madness All Season has an extensive roundup of some of the latest news and notes!

Big Brother has a problem with email surveys when it comes to Title 9 compliance. SurveyMonkey.com will be disappointed!

Today's edition of Goodman's blog talks about Bob Huggins's assistants, and the progress of Luke Bonner at UMass.

Pat Forde at ESPN looks at the future of Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators. I won't spoil his conclusion, but here's a hint: "The future's so bright, I gotta wear ____". He also compares the other top programs/coaches. Among the names mentioned: Ben Howling Defense, Billy Clyde Gillispie, Coach Dirty Rat (aka Dracula-K), Bill Self, Rick Barnes, Thad Matta, Lute Olson, Jim Calhoun, Tom Izzo State, PitinoVille and the Calipari Experiment... A must read!

Shopping Segment. Today only, at Amazon, you can get your favorite MLB teams t-shirts (100% cotton) for just $10! The special price is only good for today (Friday) as it is the Amazon Deal of the Day.

Quiet Thursday

Beano Cook commented on the longer three point line during his weekly segment on ESPN News's "The Hot List". He said that he is not big on college hoops (Boooo!), he also mentioned "ain't broken, don't fix it", but he also said that the three-point line is too close, "too easy".

An interesting article on Kentucky, Tubby Smith, and the national media, specifically Greg Doyell 2.0 (aka Gary Parrish) at A Sea of Blue

Goodman's blog is becoming a required daily read as he provides daily updates with new news! Today's post includes news of a high-profile transfer out of Mississippppppppppi State - not V(ery) Good news for Starkville fans, an update on Ron Steele and Alabama, and a look at Herb Sendek's loaded recruiting class. Goodman's Blog

Under achievement Awards at ESPN as the other Andy (Glockner, not Katz), looks at the 10 most underachieving programs of the last ten years. You bet it's all 10 BCS teams. You bet Michigan is #1, but who else is there? You'll find the footprints and handprints and fingerprints of the likes of Pete Gillen, Mike Jarvis, Quin "Bad Hair Day Salon" Snyder, Jim Harrick, Bill Frieder, as well as the NIT Dynasty at #10.

Goodbye Continental, Hello Newark say the Seton Hall Pirates of New Jersey (not the Carribean)

Mid-week report

Keep it in the (coaching tree) family: Dick "Hoops" Wise says that Jonathan Huffman is transfering from PitinoVille to Kevin Willard's Iona (no Jeff Ruland there any more)... He also talks about Donovan's flirting with the Memphis/Vancouver Grizzlies and the soap opera that is Donovan's extension at Florida (now rumored at around $3m per year).

As you may recall Jonathan Huffman thought he was the next Kevin Garnett and wanted to play the "3" spot... And I want to dunk on the Moon!

Book Review!: TheCourtMaster.com reviews the book "Cinderella: Inside the Rise of Mid-Major College Basketball" by Michael Litos, chronicling the magic season of George Mason and the CAA in 2005-2006... More on the CAA at the "CAA Hoops blog. The Amazon page for said book here

The Calipari Experiment, a popular topic of most basketball writers is now getting some cyber-ink from Dick "Hoops" Weiss at FoxSports... But let's give Conference USA some more love: Gary Parrish at Sportsline looks at the new and improved UAB of 2007-2008. Remember he has three "BCS" transfers that will be eligible iin 2007-2008 after sitting out and practicing this season. (What is "this season" now anyways? This can get confusing...)

A Sea of Blue discusses the CNNSI's pre-season rankings

Goodman's blog has a story Brad Stevens taking over Butler, after Todd Lickliter left for nearby Iowa... Also a quick update on the likeliness of Patrick Patterson and Jai Lucas as a package deal... More on recruting at Recruiting Wars

Miami's AD resigns a year from now. I'm glad some universities are good at long term planning :-)

The Jim O'Brien story just won't go away. His "sentence" is now reduced to two years.

Pitino and Donovan reunion at Providence

Jay Bilas uses lawyer-speak to confuse us with the meaning of "underrated" and "overrated". (espn insider story)

Money burning in your pocket? Every 2007 Men's and Women's NCAA college basketball tournament game is available on DVD


Round up of Round ups

March Madness All Season

Beyond the Arc

CAA Hoops blog

Good News in College Sports

InsideHoops.com (last update in mid-April)

Tuesday Update

Syracuse and Penn State getting JuCos? Wow! Penn State almost gets ...Skylar from Heroes?? What? That doesn't even make sense! Recruiting Wars has the answers (sort of).

Blogger Yoni Cohen looks at the potential impact of an extended three point line... He thinks it is not necessary to make any changes. I disagree, I think the game will improve because now three point shots will be more valuable, and there will be more free space between the three point line and the paint. Players will not be hoisting up threes like crazy (or the coaches will pull them out). Defensive minded coaches who enjoy slugfests won't be able to pack it in and yet be able to defend the three. There will be a price to play, either a three or a mid-range one-on-one or mid-range shot... There are arguments to be made that the lane should be widened as well, but perhaps that's not a good idea. Have you seen any Euroleague/International games (NBA TV shows some as well)? A wider lane takes away post-play and we don't want _all_ college hoops games to look like Euroleague/international/Princeton-style games... This may be an interesting experiment to watch. After all, if it fails, they can always revert or adjust...

Goodman's blog talks about Xavier's schedule and outlook for next season, the bigs carving up the paint at Pitt next year (including Western Pa space-eater DeJuan Blair), and Drew Gordon surpring some people by choosing UCLA.

On the Drew Gordon front, perhaps the back-to-back final fours gave Ben Howland the edge? Well regardless, since he did not chose Duke, I have no problems :-)

Is Dick Vitale running for public office? In his weekly appearance on Monday's Mike and Mike (720am ET on Mondays) he declared war on locker room alcohol. He sounded like a politician on the campaign trail. He used to be a basketball analyst.

Speaking of the Dookies, we are surrounded!. Even the Euroleague Final Four was infested with Dookies. Alaa Abnelnaaby (sp?) was the game analyst on NBA TV, while Trajan Landgon played for one of the teams.

The argument of NCAA mascots and Native Americans did not escape the Daily Show on Comedy Central which recently featured a segment that topic with their usual twist. That episode is probably available on their website or iTunes. But if you are easily offended, you have been warned :-)

Reminder: They put baskets to score! They put scoreboards to score!. This is a variation on theme of a comment made earlier by the one and only Pete Gillen (not Gillan, Ian Gillan was/is a hard rock/heavy metal singer). And to add to that, a goalie is not allowed in basketball! You cannot cover up the net with your body, unlike soccer/football and hockey. That's because the intend is to score! Yes score! Score early and often. A 41-40 score should be the halftime score, not the final score. Are you listening Big 10, MVC, Rick Majerus and Ben Howland? :-)


Reading is Fundamental Xs and Os segment You may find this book of interest if you enjoy or want to learn more about the Xs and Os of the game. The book Blackboard Strategies: Over 200 Favorite Plays From Successful Coaches For Nearly Every Possible Situation has 128 pages, was published in 1999 and is a compilation of 13 years of plays from "Winning Hoops". For more details, check the links to the Amazon details page or look inside the book.

Monday Update

Goodman's blog takes a look at the assistant coaches carousel, something that gets nowhere near the same pub as the head coaching carousel... There are a few of high profile "assistantships" available! Apply now :)

Andy Katz at ESPN makes a case for Michigan State as the top program of the last ten years. But where would Michigan State rank in the last five years? Certainly not in the top five!... Perestroika at ESPN: Five of their analysts give their top 10s of the last 10 years (Bilas, Katz, Lunardi, Forde and Glockner). Two of them had Duke as #1 (no, not Bilas, he had UConn). Interesting choices they made. Then these top 10 lists were added up and averaged, and you guessed it, Duke was selected #1 by the panel. Some of them are drinking Boeheim-flavored Cool Aid, they are at #10!

Floridian Taurean Green will officially sign with an agent (foxsports), ruling out the possibility of a return (unless the Randolph Morris rule still applies?). This is seen as a positive for Florida as far as the Jai Lucas sweepstakes.

And speaking of Florida, ESPN News reported that the Billy Donovan and Memphis/Vancouver Grizzlies talks ended after the Grizzlies did not want to give Donovan complete control... This is a good move by Memphis but what was Donovan thinking??? Did he not learn from history? About ten years ago, a certain sharp-dressed college coach, an overtime short of two back-to-back NCAA championships, was given full control of the Boston Celtics. Does Donovan think he can do better than Pitino as a GM with no GM experience? Can we please learn from history? Is it that hard? :-)

Looking forward to the next season? Take a look at Katz's revised Top 25 for 2007-2008.

Weekend Update

Goodman's blog talks about Gregg Marshall's first few days as the new Wichita State head coach.

Neither Marshall nor Majerus have changed their mind so far! And the only reason I say this is because they backed out within days of their previous new job.

South Carolina State gets a new head coach

More later on...

Friday on my mind

I got it on eBay! (not me, that's the eBay jingle they are using in their ads). The eBay auction for a piece of the Memorial Coloseum floor continues! The eBay auction link, currently at $61 with 20 bids. More details at FireBilly.com

Latest recruiting happenings at Recruiting Wars

Pre-order your favorite 2007 Men's and Women's Final Four basketball games on DVD at Amazon. Details at 11 (or at this previous post)

Goodman's blog has an update on the new proposed rule to move back the three point line by one foot, starting in 2008-2009, including comments by Billy Donovan... Also Goodman has updates on two transfers from UCLA and Wake Forest, and Huggins getting a former head coach as an assistant (a popular trend these days, Lute Olson just got Kevin O'Neill!)

Don't steal our coach Mr Stern! Andy Katz has a story on Reggie Theus interviewing for NBA head coaching jobs. No wonder he wasn't interested in the college coaching carousel! Unlike most of the college coaches mentioned for NBA jobs, Theus played and scored a lot of points in the NBA. Some of the teams mentioned in the story are Charlotte, Indiana and Sacramento. The Charlotte Bobcats interviewed a number of candidates for their job opening, including Ron Jeremy (aka Stan Van Gundy).

On Thursday we practice three point shooting!

Not just March Madness Both Philip and Mr Armani were eliminated from the first round of the NBA playoffs during the last couple of days. I am talking about former Zen Master Phil Jackson (now he's just another angry coach), and Mr Armani Run and Gun Pat Reilly... So Bob Knight, Coach Dracula-K, and Lute Olson, don't feel bad because you got bounced out in the first round of the NCAA tourney. You are not alone!

NCAA Final TV ratings I forgot to check this out after the NCAA Final, so one month later, here I go! The NCAA final (Ohio State vs Florida) was watched by 20 million people (12.2 rating, 20% share). Compared to last year's final, it was up 9% in households, up 16% in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 segment (up 23% among men), up 39% in 18-34 men, up 25% in 18-34 overall. The rating in the 18-49 segment was a 7.2 (19%)... The 20-minute pregame show (Prelude to a champion) got 12 million viewers (4.5 (12%))... Overall, 40 million people tuned in the final game at some point (as opposed to watching it end to end), and 133 million watched at least some portion of the NCAA tournament games on CBS... The NCAA final was the 5th most watched tv program for that week.

New News

I got it on eBay!. FireBilly.com has a story on the auctioning of a piece of the old floor of the Memorial Coliseum (Kentucky) on eBay.. The auction is currently at $61 with 20 bids placed. The auction ends at 7:27pm PT/10:27pm ET on Saturday May 5, 2007.

"Hire the fatman" chanted the USC fans online before they hired Majerus! He has already delivered a recruit to Saint Louis, a 6'7" JuCo. And yes, Majerus has not changed his mind yet. Give him time, it's only day 4!

Extend me please! Pitino got extended through 2013, but also got a boost from $1.65m to $2.25m. One could ask: Does this have to do with Billy Gillispie's salary at Kentucky? They are also increasing his golden handcuffs (aka loyalty bonuses). The new downtown LVille arena is expected to open in 2010... Pitino said: "When the day comes where I can't do every individual instruction, can't do practice, can't break down the film, can't live on the road recruiting-wise, that's the time to retire and I'm a long way from that". Also: "I'm more energetic today than I was 20 years ago."... Meanwhile one of Dracula-K's basketball-sons, Mike Brey at Nostradamus (oops Notre Dame) got a two year extension, nowhere near as lucrative as Pitino's though, but he'll be there until 2013.

Another spin of the coaching carousel could start if the NBA teams with coaching vacancies dip into the college ranks. Jeff Goodman at FoxSports looks at 10 college coaches that could get a look from the NBA.

Finally the NCAA makes a smart move! According ot this AP story at FoxSports.com, the NCAA Rules Committee (not Ways and Means Cmte?) passed a measure to move the three point line back one foot, to 20 and 9, from 19 and 9. The Oversight cmte has to approve this on May 25 before it moves on. The other option would be to move it to the international line (20 and 6), but that would just make too much sense :) The NBA three ranges from 22 to 23 and 9 depending on location, location, location... This would affect all three divisions of men's college hoops, but not women's hoops or prep hoops... If it passes, this would take effect in the 2008-2009 season.


TV Schedule

Mark your calendars! Two college basketball rated one hour shows will air on Sunday May 13 on CBS and ABC. CBS will air the postponed "Greatest College Basketball Shooters" documentary, while ABC will air the "EA Sports All American Show" featuring the best high-school talent in football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf. Check local listings for airtimes as local affiliates may shift them around.

Also if you miss the 2nd annual King James Shooting Stars Classic final, you can catch the repeat on Fox College Sports on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. The game feature the Georgia All Stars versus the D1 Greyhounds. Super Scout Dave Telep is a guest analyst during the broadcast.

On Saturday May 12, BYU-TV (the Mormon Church tv channel, usually on digital cable/satelite), will show a replay of the 1998 game of BYU vs New Mexico. Commercial free!

Also on Tuesdays at 430pm PT/730pm ET, Fox College Sports will be rerunning the six-part series "Pistol Pete Diaries", covering the life and career of Pistol Pete Maravich. The first four episodes are in studio with author Mark Kriegel of "Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich", while the last two feature black and white footage from Pistol Pete's games... More books and features on Pistol Pete Maravich can be found in an older post here




Basketball Movies on TV

Airing in the next 14 days, check local listings for details

Hoosiers on AMC

Glory Road on Starz

Coach Carter on Showtime

Juwanna Mann on Comedy Central

Eddie on TNT

Rebound on HBO

Sunset Park on Starz

The Sixth man on Starz

Blue Chips on HBO

One on One on HBO

The Year of the Yao on Sundance

Hoops, a 30-minute short, on BYU-TV (Mormon Church channel)

Harvard Man on Showtime

Please note that HBO/Showtime/Starz refers to the whole family of their channels, not just their main channel. Check local listings for availability...

Mid-week report

TV Analyst Carousel

Shortly after Rick Majerus departed from ESPN for the Saint Louis basketball job, Perry Clar of FSN (and ACC Sunday Night Hoops) is leaving to take over Spring Break State (Texas A&M Corpus Cristi)


2008 Coaching Analyst Carousel

Has the 2007 coaching carousel slowed down? How about taking a sneak peek at next year's carousel at FoxSports.com by Jeff Goodman. Some of the names mentioned: a singer, a rookie, a fox, a tv star, and of course John Calipari. He also lists 10 assistants that may become head coaches next year.


Topics of Interest?

Kevin O'Neill officially becomes an assistant at Arizona and Lute wants him to become his Larry Shyatt. But are back to back championships realistic for Lute's swan song? He replaces Jim Rosborough who spent 27 years with Lute (that's a loooong time!). Rosbro was actually the one who replaced O'Neill when he left Arizona in 1989!

Remember what Jerry Tarkanian said? The NCAA is upset at Carolina so they take it out on Western Small State? They are pissed at UCLA so they take it out on Southeast by Southwest State? How about this?. But wait, Iowa State was below standards, yet they found a way out


Parting Shots

Have a drink Illinois guard Rich McBride - as long as it's not alcoholic ;-)

Tuesday Report

Latest on recruiting and tv schedule for reruns of the King James Shooting Star Classic final. Also a Kentucky player stays in-state, but where? More at Recruiting Wars.

Goodman's blog discusses new NCAA legislation that deals with GPA and education and may have adverse effects.

Latest headlines at FoxSports.

Latest headlines at ESPN.com

At the risk of sounding like a master of the obvious, there are no new news today!

A TV reminder: The best college basketball shooters documentary on CBS is scheduled to be shown on May 13. (It was supposed to be shown during March Madness but it was pre-empted by a tennis match that took forever to finish).

Looking for the perfect Mother's day gift for college basketball loving mothers? Every 2007 Men's and Women's NCAA game will be available on DVD. Not sure if they will ship before Mother's day though.