9/23 - Some Link, Some News

-Kyle Whelliston of the Mid-Majority and ESPN, who is probably the world's leading authority on mid-major basketball, profiles three guys (and gives a full list) that transferred out of power conference schools and into mid-majors, and are going to be eligible this year.

One of those guys is Maurice Joseph (who is heading to Vermont despite averaging 5.9 ppg at Michigan State in 2006-07). So not only do the Catamounts return Marqus Blakely (America East Player of the Year at 19 ppg and 11 rpg despite being 6'5") and Mike Trimboli (17.4 ppg and 4.5 apg), they add the 6'4" Joseph (who conveniently used his year off to get shoulder surgery), giving UVM a very talented 1-2-3 punch. Expect UVM to regain their spot atop the America East.

-On Friday, Sept. 19th, some of the biggest names in basketball gathered at Manhattan College for a coaches clinic, which has been dubbed "the clinic to end all clinics". The five guys who spoke: Barry Rohrssen, Hubie Brown, John Calipari, Rick Pitino, and Bob Hurley Sr. Maybe I'm too much of a basketball junkie, but I think I could sit there and listen to those guys talk basketball for hours.

-Dan Dakich, the guy who was the interim coach for Indiana after the Kelvin Sampson debacle, spoke with Gary Parrish (more here) about what he will be doing next year (coaching his 8th grade son and 6th daughter's basketball teams) and about the state of the Indiana program. The most interesting part:

"Let me put it this way," Dakich said. "Sometimes being with Coach Knight you think 'Well, maybe our culture is wrong. Maybe we work too hard and demand too much.' But after seeing what I saw last year, you better have the right culture or else the thing can really blow up on you. And when you talk about everybody gone from the athletic director to the graduate managers, that thing blew up."

It's common knowledge that the players at IU last season weren't model student-athletes, evidence being how Dakich and his successor, Tom Crean, combined to dismiss pretty much everybody who didn't leave on their on accord. Out of respect for the individuals, Dakich declined to get specific. But he did acknowledge the group of players didn't "fit the Indiana basketball culture."

"I feel bad that D.J. White never got to experience Indiana basketball the way it's supposed to be," Dakich said. "And I'm really sad for the players that ended up getting kicked out of here because they will realize at some point in their lives what a colossal mistake they made by not taking advantage of Indiana."

-Good read on Steph Curry, who despite being a super star (he's boys with LeBron), has managed to stay grounded (apparently, he volunteered to help freshman move in at Davidson).

-Syracuse's Eric Devendorf has been granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA.

-Nothing to do with college basketball (although No. 9 was a cheerleader for the Arizona State basketball team), the top 10 cheerleader's gone bad.