Friday Morning Dump

No this isn't a mirage. The Morning Dump is back. The reason there was no Morning Dump the past two days is because I spent that time in heated contract negotiations, and was not allowed to copy, paste, or hyperlink any text until a new B.I.A.H C.B.A was signed.

OK, that's complete B.S.

I got lazy. It happens. Just enjoy what I give you.

- Today we lead off with some Grade-A hoops-gossip: Dick Vitale got a chance to meet Pope Benedict XVI this week, but execs did not want people to find out via the ESPN family of networks

- Chris Dobbertean of Blogging The Bracket provides what-I-believe-to-be the only full-scale breakdown of all the pre-season tournament games that were announced yesterday. The first round of the Maui Invitational will feature Tennessee/Duke, Kansas/Georgetown, Memphis/Michigan and UCLA/Chaminade (#SilverSwordsFTW). More pre-season tournament brackets: Old Spice Classic Old Spice Classic, Charleston Classic, 2K Sports Classic, The 76 Classic, CBE Classic

- North Carolina and Michigan State aren't the only teams that will play a game in front of troops this season. West Virginia and Illinois will meet in an exhibition game at Aviano Air Force Base in Italy on August 17

- John Calipari was on a radio show in Kentucky yesterday and may or may not have taken a jab at Mike Krzyzewski and his potential recruiting violation. I say "may or may not have" because he tried to deny ever saying it. Rush The Court wants to know if it was a pot-shot or not? Speaking of Calipari, did you know that he doesn't even own a computer? (That's one way to stop yourself from committing recruiting violations)

- The U.S. roster for the World University Games was selected, and it features a little bit of mid-major love. Overall, the roster has a lot of depth and features a handful of guys who can play multiple positions. it's certainly not the most star-studded roster that could be assembled, but it

- The NCAA held it's leadership council this week, and changes to the recruiting process was one of the many topics discussed

- Jeff Goodman put together a great feature on Michigan State forward Delvon Roe, his career-path and his potential acting career

- DePaul freshman Shane Larkin, the son of former-Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, announced that he is leaving the program. Word on the street is that he will end up at Miami or Central Florida

- Former-Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has received yet another offer from a NBA D-League team

- Andy Katz recently had sit-down interviews with a bunch of the top coaches in college hoops: Clemson's Brad Brownell, Fairfield's Sydney Johnson, Georgia Tech's Brian Gregory, Michigan's John Beilein, Notre Dame's Mike Brey, Purdue's Matt Painter, Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg

- The stress fracture is having it's way in the CAA

- New Maryland coach Mark Turgeon is down to just eight scholarship players in 2011-2012. So it would make sense that he opens up the doors at the Comcast Center to some of the Terps' gridiron stars

- Diamond Lung reminds us that the NCAA got one right in allowing Toledo-transfer Hayden Humes immediate eligibility at Illinois-Chicago

= ESPN The Magazine continues it's summer preview series with a look at Ohio State

- A pretty stellar breakdown of the top coaches in the Big Sky Conference

- The Big-XII released it's full conference schedule for 2011-2012

- Really? Marketing and publicity paid a factor in deciding to make a purple basketball court at Northwestern? You don't say?

- Four of Duke's most famous basketball alums will be joining the team on their trip to China

- Take a gander at Minnesota's non-conference schedule (I love how they have one game schedule as "North or South Dakota")

- UNC guard Leslie McDonald had successful surgery on his torn ACL

- Your Tweet of the Day comes courtesy of Mike Miller, well, and Andy Glockner. It pertains to Long Beach State' brutal non-conference schedule. Seriously, check it out: at Pitt, at SDSU, at Kansas, and at North Carolina (#NoSickDays)

- If that's not your Tweet of the Day, this should be. (Now that's what I call a 401-K)


Jorts took his talents to the Amusement Park