Calipari on Jim Rome

Media-savvy and ESPN-friendly John Calipari is making the rounds again. This time he was an in-studio guest on "Jim Rome is Burning" on Thursday on ESPN.

There were no shocking revelations during the interview, but Cal did talk about last season and the horrible game against UCLA, as well as the temptations of the NC-State job opening (going head to head with Coach K and Ole Roy every night).

Thanks to CollegeHoopsFromEurope

Thanks to CollegeHoopsFromEurope for adding links to this blog. CollegeHoopsFromEurope is a brand new college basketball blog from across the pond. It has some interesting posts already...

Katz profiles Thad Matta and the Buckeyes

Thad Matta's major claim to fame is signing Greg Oden and an impressive class in 2006. He is also working on a great 2007 class. But he should also be given credit for his 04-05 and 05-06 seasons. He clearly exceeded expectations, especially with the 04-05 team dealing with the Jim O'Brien drama as well as personnel issues.

On the topic of Greg Oden's return, Matta said "there is no timetable".

Katz also reveals that the ESPN Sizzling Summer Top 50 is coming out later in August and that Ohio State will be ranked slightly below #6. After all, we don't even know when/if Greg Oden will play...

The Coaching Carousel - the ESPN story

ESPN has a series of stories dealing with this year's biggest coaching carousel spin, the Kelvin Sampson to IU move. After jamming the phone lines in Oklahoma with three billion phone calls to potential recruits, Kelvin Sampson decided to escape his NCAA mess in the basketball-crazed state of Indiana. But you knew that already :)

Andy Katz looks at the assistants coaches who get left behind when the carousel spins. He also looks at the domino effect of filling up assistant-coach openings. And he profiles Jeff Capel as he takes over OU at 31 and tries to clean up Sampson's mess.

The Andy Katz semi-free blog

The Andy Katz blog now has once again become part of ESPN Insider, but they do post a couple of teaser paragraphs every day to lure the readers in. The Andy Katz blog.

In today's edition he compares and contrasts Nebraska and Creighton.

Speaking of ESPN, this week's ESPNU Summer Session covers the Patriot League and spotlights Bucknell.

The UConn Thuggies are at it again

From assistants getting in trouble with the law, to players stealing laptops, to Calhoun bullying everyone around, UConn can easily be a successful reality drama on TV. LaFleur goes HBO because they wouldn't register his child in a recreation program

The Daily Grind - Thursday

The 2006 Maui brackets have been announced! One more step closer to the new season basketball friends :) UCLA gets the overall #1 seed as they face Chaminade, and then the winner of Kentucky-DePaul. DePaul may be a big surprise this season :) The other side features Memphis-Oklahoma (Memphis lost two early to the NBA, while the Sooners lost three super-recruits because of Kelvin Sampson). The winner of that faces Purdue-GeorgiaTech. This will be an exciting Georgia Tech team with Dwight Howard's HS point-guard Javaris Critterton and Thaddeus Young joining the current group of athletic players. I am guessing a UCLA-Kentucky semifinal is what ESPN wanted :) And for those planning ahead, the 2007 Maui Invitational field includes Duke, Arizona State, Illinois, LSU, Marquette, Oklahoma State, Princeton and Chaminade. I am sure the organizers will place Herb Sendek in the same bracket as Duke for obvious reasons :)

The Iowa State troubles continue. Euro-center Jiri Hubulek will sit out the first 6 games because he received improper benefits. He received food (Majerus was not involved), a pair of pants (was it Walmart-generic or Armani?) and the use of a car (Yugo or Escalade?)

The Jim O'Brien vs Ohio State drama continues as a judge awards him with over $2 million. Ohio State plans to appeal. It even made the rotation of news on ESPN News (TV channel) yesterday. But Ohio State fans are probably more worried about the injury of Greg Oden.

If you must read only one college basketball website daily in the summer, InsiderHoops is my favorite. They have good coverage of the daily happenings. In today's edition, you will learn about Gonzo getting his 7th commit since taking over at Seton Hall (Gonzo has been wanting that big NY/NJ gig for years, so he better make the most of it), Spencer Hawes and the all-of-a-sudden big frontline at Washington, the Croatian invasion continues at Northwestern, lots of pub on the new coach at Nebraska, and a new diet craze sweeping the Kansas State basketball program.

Today's 2006-07 preview at CHN is Kent State, which becomes even more relevant as their coach (Jim Christian) is frequently mentioned as a candidate for the Nebraska opening.

Daily News at InsideHoops.com

InsideHoops.com has daily news coverage of college basketball in their traditional style. http://www.insidehoops.com/ncaa/. Today's stories include Damien Harris transfering out of Bruce Pearl's Purple Madness, Pitt hopes for recruiting breakthroughs with new hire which could escalate into a war between Dixon and Huggins over Michael Beasly and Herb Pope, while Vandy will visit Puerto Rico, and Eddie Sutton's name has resurfaced as potential HC candidate! More details at http://www.insidehoops.com/ncaa/

The Daily Grind: Tuesday

Jeff Goodman of FoxSports reports two new developments in the Louisville program: Brian Johnson is transferring out and considering GW or FSU, while Chad Milard has chosen Creighton. Millard also considered Vandy (something about Princeton offense and big men who like to shoot from the perimeter (aka small-forward-wannabes :)) and Northeastern. The MVC teams are receiving dividends from their 05-06 NCAA campaign :)

Meanwhile the coaching carousel may take an August spin, with troubled Nebraska coach Barry Collier ejecting to take over the AD job at Butler. Perhaps he will use the Isiah Thomas method there to become their new basketball head coach next year: Get the basketball coach fired and then take over :-) Who will replace Collier? Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com mentions the names of Mark Fox, Christian (of Kent State), McClain (Wyoming), Majerus (!) - an interesting pairing, Dana Altman and a number of assistant coaches. Randy Ayers was also mentioned in another report.

McNeese State fired its coach as well but I doubt that is going to cause a major spin of the coaching carousel :)

Meanwhile the post-season NIT is going back to 32 teams (currently at 40 teams). 32 teams creates a nicely balanced schedule. 40 teams required an opening around which made the brackets rather ugly ;-) Despite the reduction, the regular season conference champions receive an automatic NIT bid if they don't get an NCAA bid. Seven of those were handed out in 2006 post-season NIT.

Fast-forward to the beginning of this season and the Guardians Classic will be no more. It will be renamed. The new name chose is FUNNY and SILLY! The College Basketball Experience. Will Jimmy Hendrix and the Experience perform? :-) The format remains the same, four regional sites Nov 12-15 with the final four Nov 20-21 in Kansas City with coverage on the ESPN family of networks.

And a fresh game on TV! The Texas high school coaches basketball all-star game was played on Monday night and it is being rebroadcast on various regional FSN and Fox CollegeSports stations. It features players who will play in the 2006-07 NCAA basketball season, highlighted by the battle of the big big big men, Josh Lomers of Baylor vs Dexter Pitman of Texas. 600+lbs!

144 days 144 previews at CHN is ON!

The good people at CHN (collegehoopsnet.com) have been working hard already at their famous "144 days" season previews. Believe it or not they are already at number 102. They posted 40+ previews already. The 2006-07 basketball season is getting closer :-)

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/preview/index.htm

144 days, 144 previews!

Also don't miss their 2006-07 Preseason Top 40 posted right after the NBA Draft. I'll let you guess who they predict as their preseason #1 :-)

2006-07 and beyond Transfers List

Mr Goodman of FoxSports has a big table tracking down all the transfers eligible for the 2006-07 season and beyond. http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/5491136

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