Hoops Housekeeping: Jared Sullinger, Tray Woodall and a pair of suspensions

Jared Sullinger "put the team on his back, doe", leading the Buckeyes to a 22 point win over Duke with a team-high 21 points and eight boards.

It may have been to much, however, as Sullinger's back gave out. The big fella sat out OSU's 64-35 win over UT-Pan American with back problems. Apparently, he's aggravated a disc, an injury that anyone with back problems knows is painful and immobilizing.


"The muscle tightens around that area," head coach Thad Matta said of the disc, "and things just have to calm down, and we'll take a look at him Monday or Tuesday and just assess it. But he's feeling better every day and the muscle is relaxing more every day, so that's a great sign for us.

"I think once we get past this, it'll be over. I hope so. The big thing is, with therapy and stretching, you can really strengthen that area and make it a non-issue."

Ohio State plays their first true road test of the season on Saturday, when the Buckeyes travel to Lawrence, KS, to take on the Jayhawks in Phog Allen Fieldhouse. With Thomas Robinson playing like the all-american we all expected in the preseason, Ohio State is going to want their own all-american in the middle. And so will we; that matchup loses quite a bit of its intrigue if Sully isn't going blow-for-blow with T-Rob.


Tray Woodall's abs need work: Pitt will be without their second-leading scorer and best assist-man Tray Woodall for about a month as he deals with groin and abdominal injuries.

In his place on Saturday, Jamie Dixon started Cameron Wright and used John Johnson off the bench. Wright went scoreless with two assists in 25 minutes, while Johnson had eight points and three assists in 18 minutes off the bench. Johnson looks like he may end up being the man in the future.

"John Johnson was terrific," Dixon said. "He just keeps getting better and better. He has a real focus, a real determination that really impresses me. He's been doing a lot of learning, a lot of things he's never done before. He's going to be a very good player."


Sidiki Johnson transferring from Arizona: This was a long time coming.

Part of a highly touted freshmen class, Johnson already wasn't happy about his playing time, dealing with one suspension this season and playing in just three games. With Grant Jerrett, Kaleb Tarczewski and Brandon Ashley coming in next year, Johnson wasn't going to be getting any more playing time next season.

"Sidiki Johnson is someone from a physical perspective -- rebounding, giving us quality minutes, developing as our season grows -- who we were really counting on to complement the big guys that we already have," Miller said. "Him not being with us is not a positive."


A couple of suspensions: Cal was without Richard Solomon when they lost at San Diego State on Saturday afternoon. The Bear's leading rebounder was suspended for violating team rules.

"It's not the reason we lost," Bears guard Justin Cobbs said. "Richard's an important part of our team, but still, we should have done what we needed to win."

Cal coach Mike Montgomery didn't specify to cause of the suspension.

"We expect our student-athletes to adhere to a high standard of behavior," Montgomery said. "In this particular instance, that was not the case."

Marquette starting point guard Junior Cadougan was suspended for the Golden Eagles' date with Wisconsin on Saturday. Buzz Williams didn't specify what the violation of team rules was, but the suspension will only be for the one game.

"He made a mistake yesterday, and my decision was to suspend him from this game," Williams said. "That's the end of it. He made a mistake that was not intelligent in nature. It did not hurt anyone, but it was not how his mom raised him."


Was Dewayne Dedmon on Heroes?: Dedmon was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his foot, and it was supposed to keep him out of the lineup for as much as six week.

But on Saturday, Dedmon not only played as USC took on Minnesota, he played 26 minutes and started. Huh?

"He didn't look like he was in pain in any way," USC coach Kevin O'Neill said.

"I felt all right. I'm not 100% all the way," Dedmon added.


Vanderbilt takes another hit in the middle: With Festus Ezeli already out of the lineup with a knee injury, Kevin Stallings' front court just got thinner.

Freshman center Josh Henderson, a reserve that was averaging 3.0 ppg and 3.0 rpg, has a stress fracture in his foot. He'll be out for 8-12 weeks.


Maurice Sutton dislocates his thumb: He did it last week, and he will be out up to a month.

"Our staff and team is disappointed for Mo," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "He's been making a contribution to our team on a daily basis and we'll miss his presence, especially defensively. But the positive in this is that Mo can still maintain his conditioning while the thumb heals and we look forward to getting him back out there, possibly in time to start the Big East season."
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Hoops Housekeeping: Tim Abromaitis, Trevor Mbakwe with serious knee injuries

Tim Abromaitis has never had knee problems.

Every athlete goes through the typical aches and pains that come with being a college basketball player -- banged knees, twisted ankles, sore backs -- but Abro had never missed time because of knee problems. Which is why, when his right knee gave out has he came to a jump-stop in a 2-on-2 drill in practice on Friday morning, the severity of his injury was shocking. No one saw this coming. And now, one of the best kids is all of college basketball may finish his collegiate career on the bench in street clothes.

"Going on the court [at practice], it felt like one of those first four games where it's just waiting to get back out there," Abromaitis told the South Bend Tribune. "I kind of had to remind myself that it's done for the season.

"I'll eventually come to grips with it, I guess. I don't know if there's any technique to getting used to it."


The injury is a crushing blow for the Irish. Already in a rebuilding year, Notre Dame will now be forced to face the rigors of the Big East schedule without their leading scorer and best player. Abro's minutes will likely end up going to freshman Pat Connaughton, another 6'6" shooter that has played well in the first seven games of his career. Scott Martin and Jerian Grant are going to be expected to boost their scoring, while sophomore point guard Eric Atkins will continue his transition to becoming the star for this team.

If there is a silver lining to the suspension that Abro had to deal with earlier in the year, its that Notre Dame has had to play without Abro.

The question now becomes whether or not Abro will apply for a sixth-year of eligibility. This is his fifth-year in college. He redshirted his sophomore season, a decision that was actually the cause of his four-game suspension earlier this year as he played in two exhibitions games. If Abro, who already has two degrees from Notre Dame, does decide to return for a sixth-season -- which isn't a guarantee at this point -- there is no indication of whether or not the NCAA will actually clear him.

Its a shame to see a great kid and a good player have his college career ended this way. Abro deserved better. Life is just unfair sometimes.

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Trevor Mbakwe tears his acl: We knew this was bad as soon as it happened.

Mbakwe crumpled awkwardly to the ground during the second half of Minnesota's loss to Dayton in the Old Spice Classic finals. He had to be carried off the court and spent the remainder of the game in tears on the bench with his knee wrapped in ice. He even tweeted from the locker room "Lord please get me through this."

All of a sudden, all the depth that Minnesota had in their front court is gone. Colton Iverson transferred to Colorado State, Mo Walker is still battling a knee injury that ended his freshman season and Ralph Sampson is battling a sprained ankle. That leaves redshirt freshman Elliott Eliason up front. I would say that Minnesota will be forced to play at a faster pace now, but they are without a point guard this season thanks to a number of transfers.

One year ago this week, Minnesota was in the top ten after a dominating performance at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Tournament. My, how things have changed.


"My family and I would like to thank everyone for their support," said Mbakwe in a statement.

"Trevor's done everything we've asked him to do in his time here at the University of Minnesota. He's been through an awful lot," said Gopher head coach Tubby Smith. "That says a lot about his toughness to be able to recover from the things he has already endured. He had a knee surgery before (at Marquette) and for it to happen a second time, you hurt for him, but you know he's a guy that has the will power and has been through it before and can recover again."

Michael Eric reinjures his knee: Temple fans will be waiting with baited breath over the next week as the status of their team's starting center is reevaluated.

Eric injured his right patella in practice on Friday. Its the same knee in which Eric fractured his patella in February of last season, an injury that caused him to miss the final ten games of the season. Without Eric, the Owls have almost no interior presence. The 6'11" senior had been averaging 10.5 ppg, 11.3 rpg and 2.0 bpg while replacing Lavoy Allen up front.


Erik Murphy tears his meniscus: Florida's starting power forward suffered the injury last Thursday in practice and sat out the Gator's game against Stetson on Friday. Its unclear how much time he is going to miss, although Billy Donovan has speculated that it can be anywhere from a week or two to a couple of months.

Murphy is a major loss for Florida. His ability to shoot the ball from the four spot really spread the floor for the Gators and opened up the paint. It allowed them to use pick-and-pops in the half court and created space for penetration from Florida's talented back court. No Murphy will be a major blow heading into Friday's trip to Syracuse.


Harrison Barnes is fine: We all saw North Carolina's loss to UNLV in Vegas over the weekend, which means we also all saw the nasty fall that Barnes had in the second half. He rolled his ankle in the process and immediately headed for the bench, where he sat with his head down for the next couple of minutes. He left the arena on crutches, but that appears to have been a cautionary move, as he was off of the crutches when the team left the airport the next day.


Stephen Van Treese reinjures his knee; Rakeem Buckles returns to practice: After being healthy for just two weeks, Van Treese was injured in practice over the weekend. The timing was good, at least. Rakeem Buckles has been cleared to return to practice and should be back on the court within a week or two.


Travis Wear cuts foot while snorkeling: Exactly what it says. He needed five stitches.
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Hoops Housekeeping: DeQuan Jones, Ian Miller, David Foster out for extended periods

There was only one basketball player that was named in Yahoo's explosive report about Nevan Shapiro and the improper benefits that he provided University of Miami athletes.

DeQuan Jones.


If you've forgotten, Shapiro alleged that a member of Jones' family had asked an assistant coach for $10,000 to ensure that the player, a top 25 recruit in the Class of 2008, would follow through on his commitment. On Thursday, Miami announced that Jones, a 6'7" senior that has never lived up to the hype he had coming out of high school, will not play this season as the university continues their joint investigation into Yahoo's allegations.

This is another blow for a Hurricane team that was expected to contend for third place in the ACC this season. Over the summer, potential all-ACC center Reggie Johnson tore his meniscus and will be out until at least December recovering from surgery. Julian Gamble, the 'Canes next best big man, tore his ACL in September and will be out for the season. With Jones now out as well, Jim Larranaga is going to have to rely even more on his starting back court of Durand Scott and Malcolm Grant.


Ian Miller to miss the semester: According to Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports, Florida State sophomore point guard Ian Miller -- who sat out both of the Seminole's exhibition games -- will sit out the first semester of this season. He'll be eligible to return to the team in December. Losing Miller is a big blow to Florida State, a team that is completely devoid of offensive creativity and explosiveness this year. Miller came into the program with the reputation of being a capable creator, but he struggled to find a rhythm playing behind Derwin Kitchen last season. It will be interesting to see if he is able to work his way back into the lineup when he returns; he's an important piece for Leonard Hamilton's team.


Reeves Nelson has a bum ankle: Something to keep an eye on out west -- Reeves Nelson injured his ankle on Tuesday, but its not a sprain. According to Ben Howland, he changed his shoes and is having an issue with a part of his foot that he feels is giving out on him. He also said the injury "could be serious", which is not a good sign for Nelson. The good news? UCLA has enough front court depth that Howland can afford to sit Nelson against Loyola Marymount in the opener.


Roger Franklin cleared: North Texas already was considered one of the mid-major powers, but they just got even better. Roger Franklin, a transfer from Oklahoma State, was cleared to become immediately eligible to play for the Mean Green. He'll be teaming with Tony Mitchell, who was expected to be an impact freshman at Missouri and played on the USA's U-19 team this summer, and Justin Patton, an all-conference performer at Grambling, as UNT's impact newcomers.


Trey Burke to start: The biggest question mark for Michigan heading into this season is at the point guard spot. With Darius Morris entering the NBA Draft a year earlier than expected, the Wolverines were left with a freshman point guard and a senior off-guard to battle over the starting spot in the back court. It looks as if the freshman won out, as John Beilein announced that Trey Burke will be the starter and Stu Douglass will come off the bench. Burke played basketball with Jared Sullinger in high school.


Utah is in big, big trouble this season: The Utes lost eight players from the program after Larry Krystowiak was named the new head coach in the spring, which means that Utah will not only be heading into a new conference with a new head coach, but they'll be doing it with what nearly amounts to a new roster. Thing got worse last week. Not only did Utah lose to Adams State in an exhibition, they lost guard Chris Hines for 2-4 weeks with a rib injury and center David Foster -- a 7'3", shot-blocking machine that won the 2010 MWC defensive player of the year award -- to a foot injury that will require surgery. Its going to be a long year for the Utes.


JJ Moore suspended: Pitt's sophomore wing JJ Moore was suspended for the first game of the season against Albany. Moore participated in an unauthorized summer league (because, you know, we want to limit how much basketball a basketball player can play in the summer) which led to the suspension. It shouldn't affect his status with the team too much; Moore will still be battling Lamar Patterson for the right to replace Gilbert Brown as a Pitt's starter at the three.


Steven Pledger to miss a game: Pledger suffered the same fate as Moore, getting suspended for the first game of the season against Idaho State for playing in an unauthorized summer league. Pledger is the second-leading returning scorer for the Sooners. How did Pledger get caught? A compliance official saw a tweet from Pledger about playing in the game and self-reported the violation.


Chrishawn Hopkins is back: Hopkins has quite a bit of hype heading into the season, but he missed both of Butler's exhibitions has he battled a concussion. The good news? He's back on the court and should be ready to go in Butler's opener.


Quick hitters:

- Siena's Rakeem Brookins' will miss the season due to persistent back problems.

- Ken Holdman, a senior point guard and a defensive stopper for Oral Roberts, will miss the season after tearing his acl.
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Hoops Housekeeping: Oklahoma State, Houston, and North Texas add players

Regardless of what conference Oklahoma State winds up playing in come 2012-2013, Travis Ford is in the midst of asserting himself as a force on the recruiting trail.

Over the weekend, Ford landed a commitment from Marcus Smart -- the No. 10 recruit in our Consensus Recruiting Rankings -- and his high school and AAU teammate Phil Forte. Smart is a powerful and athletic 6'4" guard. He's known for his work ethic and competitive spirit -- he's more of a blue collar player than most top ten recruits -- but he's developed an all-around game to the point that he can play all three perimeter positions. Most importantly, he's a winner. Forte is just 5'11", but the PG is known as one of the best shooters in the class.

Smart and Forte join Kamari Murphy, a talented 6'8" forward out of IMG Academy by way of Brooklyn, and Adam Wing, a two-sport star from Kentucky, in OSU's 2012 recruiting class.

If Ford can keep LeBryan Nash around for more than one season, he'll combine with Smart to form one of the most physically imposing tandems in the country. It should be enough to compete at the top of whatever conference (or superconference) they end up being a part of.



Houston lands two top 100 players: Incredibly enough, a likely McDonald's all-american candidate picking a school was probably not the biggest recruiting news of the weekend.

Houston picked up commitments from two top 100 recruits on Sunday night. Danuel House, a 6'6" small forward and the No. 26 player in our Consensus Recruiting Rankings, blew up as a junior, going from a local talent to a kid that some had in the top 20 in the Class of 2012. Houston head coach James Dickey also earned a commitment from Chicken Knowles (his real name is Danrad, but there is no way we'll ever use Danrad when he has a nickname like Chicken), a skilled but skinny 6'9" face-up four.

The significance of this commitment cannot be overstated. First, the obvious -- Houston doesn't normally recruit at this level. Not since the days of Phi Slamma Jamma, at least. House and Knowles both more or less had their pick of schools in the midwest, and they chose Houston. That says something about Dickey's recruiting efforts.

More importantly, however, is that both Houston and Knowles hail from the Houston metro area. There is a ton of talent that comes from that area every year, and keeping those kids close to home is Dickey's first priority as coach.


North Texas adds more talent: Grambling star Justin Patton dominated the North Texas Mean Green a season ago, finishing with 26 points and 10 boards agaist UNT's solid front line.

This season, he'll be competing for minutes with them. After Grambling was given a one-year postseason penalty for a low APR score, Patton left the school and enrolled at UNT. He found out last week that he will be eligible to play this season.

"Justin will be a great addition to our basketball team and give us some much-needed depth,” UNT head coach Johnny Jones said. "He has the ability to play both ends of the floor and has a great knack for scoring and rebounding. That is a great combination for us."

UNT loses three longtime starters next season, and while they do add former top 25 recruit Tony Mitchell, he will not become eligible until December. Patton will be a nice way to tide Jones' club over before forming one of the better frontcourts in the midwest come Sun Belt play.


Ineligible freshmen?: Kevin Ware was ruled ineligible by the NCAA until at least December on Friday, joining Michael Chandler of UCF and Chris Jones of Tennessee as the top 100 recruits that won't be suiting up in October.

But there are also plenty of other big names that are awaiting clearance, including the three members the Kansas recruiting class (Ben McLemore, Jamari Taylor and Braeden Anderson), Amir Garrett and Norvel Pelle at St. John's, and Jahii Carson at Arizona State. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has been cleared academically, but he is awaiting to hear word about the issues he was involved in as an AAU player.
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Hoops Housekeeping: Fontan's acl, Armwood's transfer, Carlwell's eligibility denied

Kevin O'Neill's USC Trojans caught a terrible break on Thursday as the news became official that Jio Fontan, their leading returning scorer and distributor, will miss the season with a torn acl.

He suffered the injury on Tuesday in an exhibition game in Brazil. Fontan not only will miss the season, but he had his trip to Brazil cut short.

"When you lose your best player, who's also your best leader, who's also your glue guy, it changes your team, especially when you lost four other starters," O'Neill told the OC Register. "But the outlook for the season should be this: We're trying to win the Pac-12 title. We're trying to get in the NCAA Tournament."

"I can assure you this group of guys, after seeing them three games down here, they're going to play their hearts out every single game. We might not win every game, but no one's going to want to play us."

USC will be in full-on rebuilding mode next season. Without Fontan, the Trojans will have a completely different starting lineup than the one they used at the end of last season. Maurice Jones will be the only returning back court player that saw action in more than six games, but he was demoted to sixth-man for the last nine games as a freshman. As a sophomore, he will now be counted on as the Trojan's main source of offense.


Brian Carlwell's eligibility denied: The Aztec big man was denied an application for a sixth-year of eligibility by the NCAA on Thursday. He transferred SDSU from Illinois, red-shirting the 2008-2009 season.

"I was hurt when I found out I wasn't going to be able to come back," Carlwell said in a statement. "My time at San Diego State was amazing. I couldn't ask for a better three years of my life. I was a part of an amazing team. We made history at San Diego State and our legacy will forever live and that is something I am really proud of."

Carlwell averaged just 3.8 ppg and 2.7 rpg, but he was a valuable piece for the Aztecs due to the amount of talent they are losing along their frontline. Malcolm Thomas and Billy White graduated while Kawhi Leonard entered the NBA Draft. LSU transfer Garrett Green should help, but beyond that SDSU's front line is barren.

If Carlwell's name sounds familiar, it should. He was the passenger that was in the car when Jamar Smith drunkenly drove his car into a tree back in February of 2007.


Isaiah Armwood to transfer: After the junior forward was named captain and after returning from Villanova's team trip to Europe, Armwood sat down with Nova head coach Jay Wright and made the decision to part ways.

"He's the greatest kid in the world," Wright told Jeff Goodman. "He's our hardest-working guy, our captain. We started him every game on our trip. I love him to death."

"I just want to see him achieve his goals."

Armwood was expected to start, but with Mouphtau Yarou returning and Jayvaughn Pinkston and Markus Kennedy entering the program, the amount of minutes and effectiveness that Armwood was projected to have was limited.
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Hoops Housekeeping: Jordan Taylor won't play for Team USA

Jordan Taylor isn't a flashy point guard. He's isn't a guy that's going to throw gorgeous no look passes or beat two defenders off the dribble and dunk in traffic.

That said, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone that truly understands college hoops and tempo-free stats that would disagree with me when I said that Jordan Taylor is the most valuable -- if not the best -- point guard in the game.

Taylor, however, won't be joining Team USA at the World University Games. The rising-Wisconsin senior will be undergoing minor ankle surgery this week, which means that he had to withdraw from the tryouts.


"It's the appropriate decision," Taylor said in a statement. "While it's hard to pass up an opportunity to play for your country, I had to do what's best for my team, the Wisconsin Badgers. That's the reality of it."

"I really wanted to play for USA Basketball; there's no greater honor than that. It's definitely a bummer. But I have to get ready for our season and by having the surgery now it will give me a chance to get completely healthy. We have a lot of goals for our team this year. [...] My teammates are here at Wisconsin – these are my teammates for the entirety – it's my family. I definitely owe it to them to be healthy going into my final year."

Taylor should be healthy by the time the season starts.


Maurice Harkless will be eligible for St. John's: Its official. Incoming freshman More Harkless will be allowed to play for Steve Lavin and the Johnnies this season.

"We are pleased that late Thursday, the NCAA informed us they have concluded their review of incoming men's basketball student-athlete Maurice Harkless," read a statement released by St. John's. "Harkless will now be a part of the incoming 2011 class that will begin school in the fall semester. We have been working in collaboration with the Big East conference and the NCAA's basketball focus group throughout the review process."

There was concern over his eligibility because Moe Hicks, who is currently an assistant with the program, was an administrator for the NY Gauchos, a team that Harkless played a couple of AAU tournaments with.


Jared Sullinger ... yoked up: Remember how Jared Sullinger was losing weight?


Good luck to the rest of the Big Ten. (photo via Mike DeCourcy)


John Hart out three months: Purdue reserve guard John Hart may be out as long as 16 weeks as he recovers from surgery to repair a stress fracture in his right foot. Hart averaged 3.8 ppg for the Boilermakers last season.


Drake loses their center to shoulder surgery: Seth VanDeest, a center for Drake that averaged 8.8 ppg and 4.3 rpg last season, could miss the start of next season. VanDeest tore the labrum in his right shoulder and underwent surgery last week. Its expected to take six months to recover. Drake plays Mississippi State on November 18th in the Paradise Jam.
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Hoops Housekeeping: Former No. 1 player in the class of 2008 transfers

There was a point in time not too long ago that John Riek was a sure thing.

Back in 2008, Rivals had the 7'2" Sudanese center as the No. 1 recruit in the country, Chad Ford had Riek as a top 10 pick in the draft, and just about everyone believed that Riek had the potential to be the first pick in the draft one day. That all seems so long ago, as news became official that Riek is transferring out of Mississippi State.


Riek was never really able to find a comfort zone with the Bulldogs. He played in just 14 games as a sophomore, averaging a measly 1.2 ppg and 1.3 rpg.

Riek still has NBA potential and he will be an intriguing piece for whoever picks him up the summer, but he is going to need to learn how to be more than tall if he is ever going to fulfill that potential.


Andre Walker transfers to Xavier: Its official. Walker is headed to Cincinnati to join the Musketeers. The 6'7" forward, who spent the previous three seasons at Vanderbilt, will be eligible to play immediately after graduating in three years. He'll provide some depth and versatility to Chris Mack's frontline, but Walker is probably not going to be a star with Xavier. Last season, he averaged 3.0 ppg and 3.0 rpg while battling a severe ankle sprain and mono.


Reggie Johnson out for six months: Jim Larrananga's Miami team took a huge hit late last week as Reggie Johnson -- their 6'10", 300 lb double-double machine of a center -- underwent successful knee surgery. Johnson had torn his meniscus earlier in the week. He will be out for five to six months as he recuperates. If all goes according to schedule, Johnson will be cleared by early December, but there is no telling how long it will take him to get back into game shape.


Hofstra adds another transfer: Mo Cassara has landed another big-time transfer, as Taran Buie has joined Jamal Coombs-McDaniel in choosing the Pride. Buie, a former top 100 player coming out of high school, spent last year at Penn State. But Talor Battle's half brother was only on the team for the first semester, as multiple disciplinary issues resulted in Ed DeChellis giving the freshman the boot.


Nick Russell to SMU: Russell, who announced his intentions to transfer out of Kansas State back in May, has picked a school to play out his final two years of eligibility. The 6'4" guard is headed to SMU to play for head coach Matt Doherty. Russell averaged 4.2 ppg and 1.9 rpg last season.


Valpo makes a high-major pick-up: Bobby Capobianco, who left Indiana amid a loss of playing time and a scholarship crunch, had finally settled on a school. The 6'10" forward is headed to Valpo to play for Bryce Drew.
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Hoops Housekeeping: Kansas adds a front court player, Roe gets hurt again

Kansas added some much needed front court depth over the weekend.

Kevin Young, a 6'8" forward that averaged 10.9 ppg and 5.6 rpg as a sophomore at Loyola Marymount, has officially joined the Jayhawks after sitting out last season to focus completely on academics. He received an associate's degree from San Bernadino Community College while also working as a volunteer assistant at Barstow Community College.

"I thought we definitely needed a playmaker and we were able, at a late date, to fall into Kevin and we couldn't be happier," Bill Self said in a statement. "He's 6'8", thin and can play multiple positions. He reminds me a lot of Julian Wright – very bouncy, very athletic. He will most definitely be an impact player for us next season."


With the Morrii both opting to enter the NBA draft and Mario Little graduating, Young will help bolster a front line that will be thin and inexperienced. Thomas Robinson is an NBA prospect and will anchor the Kansas front court, but beyond him, the Jayhawks would have been left with a rotation that included seldom-used junior Jeff Withey and freshmen Braedon Anderson and Jamari Taylor.


Delvon Roe gets hurt again: The 6'10" Michigan State forward suffered a severe let ankle sprain playing pickup last week and will apparently be out of action for six weeks. Roe is no stranger to injuries. His knee problems have turned him from what was at one point a top five recruit in the country to a role playing forward. This is yet another setback for a Michigan State program that was crushed by injuries last summer. The lack of opportunity to play together during the offseason was one of the reasons that the Spartans struggled last season.


The Steele family deserve a string of good luck: First, it was Ron, Jr. The former Alabama point guard ended up leaving the Crimson Tide program midway through the 2008-2009 season after a string of knee injuries all-but derailed a promising career as a point guard. Now its his brother's turn. Andrew has given up playing basketball after a concussion he suffered in the SEC Tournament -- his fourth -- was still giving him problems this month. Oh, and his parents spent five weeks living in a hotel after the tornado that ripped through Tuscaloosa damaged their house.


Eastern Michigan adds two big men: Former Syracuse big man DaShonte Riley has followed former Syracuse assistant Rob Murphy to Eastern Michigan, where Murphy is now the head coach. Riley saw limited minutes has a freshman and had his sophomore season ended early when he broke his foot. Riley is also a native of Michigan and a product of Detroit Country Day School. It was no secret that he wanted to transfer closer to home.

Riley isn't the only big man that Murphy has brought in. Former Arkansas forward Glenn Bryant has also opted to transfer to EMU. Bryant averaged 6.1 ppg and 3.4 rpg as a sophomore with the Razorbacks, but he decided to leave the program after they hired Mike Anderson as their new head coach.


Brian Oliver to transfer: Brian Gregory has taken another hit at Georgia Tech as Brian Oliver, a starting forward that averaged 10.5 ppg and 4.5 rpg this past season, has opted to transfer out of the program. Oliver is reportedly looking at some Big East schools. This will be a name to follow, as Oliver as the ability to produce some very big games. He went for 32 points against Syracuse and 28 against Virginia Tech this season, both of whom are interested in landing the transfer.


Dan Jennings goes from the Big East to the Big West: We all remember when the feud boiled over. In a 56-46 win over South Florida, Dan Jennings up and left the West Virginia bench, which, as you might imagine, left Bob Huggins slightly miffed. Huggins referred to Jennings as a nonentity, and that was the end of the relationship between the two. Jennings is now headed out west, where he will join Long Beach State. The 49ers will lose seven seniors after the 2011-2012 season, which Jennings will have to sit out, making his addition all the more valuable.
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Hoops Housekeeping: Two players find a transfer locale, two players leave school

Jamal Coombs-McDaniel is headed to Hofstra: After wasting quite a few words yesterday on the potential for Missouri to land four impact transfers this offseason, Coombs-McDaniel opted to forgo his visit with the Tigers and committed to Hofstra. The 6'6" sophomore combo-forward followed in the footsteps of Pat Sellers, the assistant who recruited him to UConn, who is now an assistant with Hofstra.

"I had a great visit there a week ago and just felt it was the right fit for me," JCM told CBSSports.com. "I love the coaching staff, playing in New York and the success of Charles Jenkins were all important for me."

Coombs-McDaniel has also made headlines for other reasons. He is currently attending a drug-education class after he was arrested for possession of 5.6 grams of weed back in April. The cruel irony there? Connecticut recently passed a law that prevents an actual arrest for possession of less than a half an ounce of weed. JCM was well under that number.


From Oregon to Wichita State: The Shockers picked up a solid transfer in former Oregon Duck Malcolm Armstead. Armstead, who nearly transferred after his sophomore season, averaged 8.6 ppg and 4.3 apg for the Ducks last year. He will have one season of eligibility left and will be allowed to use it during the 2012-2013 season.


Troy Gillenwater pulls his name from the draft: New Mexico State's Troy Gillenwater, who averaged 18.9 ppg and 6.3 rpg last season for the Aggies, has pulled his name out of consideration for the NBA Draft. Don't celebrate yet, NMSU fans. Gillenwater's decision does not affect his status as a collegiate hooper; since he did not withdraw his name by the May 8th deadline, his eligibility was already gone. This decision simply affects whether or not he will be eligible for the 2012 draft, since it seems unlikely he will get picked.


Arkansas loses a point guard: Jeff Peterson started out at Iowa, averaging 10.6 ppg and 4.2 apg as a sophomore at Iowa before transferring to Arkansas. After sitting out a season and starting for the Razorbacks this past year, Peterson has again opted to transfer with Mike Anderson coming in. Peterson has graduated already, so he will immediately become a highly sought after recruit in the same was that Justin Knox and John Fields last year and Brandon Wood and Andre Walker have this year.

"I just felt it was best to explore a different opportunity,” Peterson told CBSSports.com on Wednesday afternoon. "I love the school and the fans, but I just felt as though it was the best decision for me.”

Peterson has a 3.4 GPA, but he has played at two schools at the bottom of their respective conferences. Apparently, Florida State is showing interest, but Peterson may be better off heading to a school like George Mason.
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Hoops Housekeeping: SDSU adds an athlete, VCU loses a big man, and two WCC stars headed to the midwest?

Dwayne Polee is headed back west.

The athletic, 6'7" freshmen that averaged 4.4 ppg and 2.5 rpg with St. John's this past season will return to his native Southern California, opting to transfer to San Diego State. If Polee had returned to St. John's, he would have been their most experienced player, as he started 27 games as a freshman.


Polee is a solid addition to the SDSU program. He's an athlete that excels in the open floor and should flourish playing in Steve Fisher's open court system. Landing Polee is important for Fisher as well. He is a product of the powerhouse Westchester High program in LA, the same high school that produced SDSU's all-time leading scorer Brandon Heath. Building a pipeline to the Westchester program wouldn't be a bad way to bring in some of SoCal's homegrown talent.

Per NCAA transfer rules, Polee will have to sit out for a year before becoming eligible for the 2012-2013 season. But SDSU will apply for a waiver that will allow Polee to become eligible immediately. Part of the reason that he decided to leave St. John's was that he wanted to be closer to home. His mother will be undergoing surgery for an undisclosed illness.


Toby Veal leaves VCU: In one of the more under-reported moves of the offseason, Toby Veal has decided to leave VCU to "pursue other opportunities". Veal, who began his career at Colorado before transferring to a Junior College, was expected to anchor a talented but inexperienced front court for the Rams. With Jamie Skeen graduating and Veal now gone, sophomores Juvonte Reddic, DJ Haley and David Hinton and freshman Jarred Guest will make up VCU's frontcourt.

"We're very appreciative of Toby's contribution to our program," VCU coach Shaka Smart said in a release. "He is a fine young man, and we wish him nothing but the best in the future."


Keion Bell looking to transfer to the Big 12: Keion Bell was an explosive scorer in the WCC the past three seasons, averaging 18.9 ppg this past season despite battling through injuries and a suspension that cost him the end of his junior year. He declared for the draft, but opted to withdraw his name when he didn't receive the kind of interest he was looking for. Bell just finished up a visit to Missouri, which apparently involved some intense games of pool, and is also involved with Texas A&M and Oregon, according to Jeff Goodman. Bell would have to sit out a year before playing his final season with the Tigers in 2012-2013.


Manny Arop is headed to the MVC: Indiana State has added a quality perimeter player in Gonzaga transfer Manny Arop. Arop, who was never quite able to make is mark in his two seasons with the Zags, is a tough perimeter defender that showed flashes of being a capable perimeter scorer. He should be able to thrive in the more defensive-minded MVC.


Kansas guard heads west: Royce Woolridge, the son of former NBA player Orlando Woolridge and the brother of Tennessee's Renaldo Woolridge has decided where he will be transferring too. After seeing action in just 16 games as a freshman at Kansas, Royce decided to leave the school back in April. Over the weekend, he committed to Washington State. The former Arizona state player of the year should be an impact player for the Cougars when he gets eligible in the 2012-2013 season.


Jamal Coombs-McDaniel down to two schools: Over the weekend, Coombs-McDaniel visited Hofstra and reportedly had a great trip. In the coming weeks, he will be headed to Missouri, where he will choose between the two schools. Coombs-McDaniel had a couple of big games with the Huskies this season, but struggled to find consistent minutes with the Huskies, averaging just 6.6 ppg this season. He was arrested during UConn's spring weekend for possession of marijuana. It should be noted that Hofstra recently hired Pat Sellers, the assistant that recruited Coombs-McDaniel to UConn.


Louisville redshirts?: The Cardinals, who already have enough players on their roster that two potential starters -- Chris Smith and Kyle Kuric -- will be walking on next season, may end up being forced to redshirt another potential starter. Rick Pitino told the Louisville Courier-Journal that Jared Swopshire and Rakeem Buckles, who both battled injuries last season, could end up being redshirted if they aren't 100% when the season starts.

"Maybe one of the two can be redshirted," Pitino said. "It's something we'll consider, depending on how they come back. We do have a young man who is very healthy in Chane Behanan, who is an impact freshman."

Swopshire missed the entire season -- without being redshirted -- due to a potentially career-threatening groin injury. Buckles broke his finger midway through the season, but was able to return only to tear his acl late in the year.
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Hoops Housekeeping: Ryan Harrow caps a busy day for transfers

Yesterday was another eventful day in college hoops. Here's a quick recap of what you missed.

Late on Wednesday night, Jerry Meyer broke the news that John Calipari had officially picked up his post-Teague point guard.

With the consensus being that Marquis Teague, the next in the Rose-Evans-Wall-Knight pipeline, will be off to the NBA after the 2011-2012 season, Kentucky was once again going to be in the market for a point guard recruit. With the 2012 class looking to be weak at that position, Coach Cal bit, landing NC State transfer Ryan Harrow.

"I just felt like they had everything that I needed as far as me getting better and me reaching my ultimate goals," Harrow, a top 50 recruit nationally in the class of 2010, told Evan Daniels of Scout.com. Harrow will have three years of eligibility remaining starting in 2012-2013 after averaging 9.3 ppg and 3.3 apg for the Wolfpack last season.


This is obviously a nice pick-up for the Wildcats, but an interesting point was made by the KSR folks on twitter last night -- there was significantly less hype surrounding this decision than you generally expect when it comes to a kid that Kentucky is recruiting.

And for good reason. Harrow is not of the ilk of his five predecessors. He's not going to be leaving for the NBA after one year in Lexington. Depending on what you consider Eric Bledsoe, Harrow will easily be the "worst" -- I put it in quotations because that is some elite company -- of the seven point guards that Coach Cal has brought over that six year period. His maturity and experience will likely be a benefit, but Harrow is not a program-changing recruit. Hell, he will likely be recruited over if a program-changing point guard emerges over the next year.

This is a good pick-up for the Cats, but keep it in perspective.


Earnest Ross leaves Auburn: Tony Barbee's rebuilding effort at Auburn just got even more difficult as Ross, his leading scorer and rebounder at 13.3 ppg and 6.6 rpg, has decided to leave the program to finish up his final year of eligibility. Barbee will have to bank on a modest three-man recruiting class or a significant impact from transfers Noel Johnson (Clemson) and Varez Ward (Texas) if he wants to avoid another season like the last, where the Tigers won four games and lost to the likes of Samford, Presbyterian, and Campbell.


Maurice Harkless ineligible at St. John's?: Its a legitimate concern. You see, Harkless played a couple of AAU tournaments with the NY Gauchos, an AAU program in which Moe Hicks, now a Johnnies assistant, served in an administrative role. A new rule disallows a recruit to follow a person that coached them in high school should that person get an NCAA coaching gig. Its why Arizona transfer Momo Jones won't be headed to St. John's. But since Harkless never was coached by Hicks, St. John's believes they will have the freshman available next season.

Isaiah Philmore headed to Xavier: Chris Mack is cleaning up the transfer market. Last off-season, he landed Travis Taylor from Monmouth. This year, its Philmore, a 6'7" forward from Towson that averaged 15.7 ppg and 7.0 rpg last year.


Daniel Bejarano is headed to Colorado State: Mack isn't the only coach feasting on transfers. Less than a month after securing Colton Iverson (Minnesota) and Cody Mann (Florida), Tim Miles landed a commitment from Arizona transfer Daniel Bejarano, a top 50 recruit in the class of 2010. Bejarano never was able to crack Arizona's rotation. With that much talent becoming eligible in 2012, watch out for the Rams.


Erik Williams to the Southland: Williams was a top-100 recruit coming out of high school, but he was never able to find a role with Marquette, playing in just 43 games. Now, the 6'7" sophomore is headed to Sam Houston State.


More bad news for Russell Byrd: For the third time in his short career, Byrd will undergo surgery on his broken left foot. He missed all of last season with the injury. A 6'7" sharpshooter, the Spartans could use his help as they try and rebuild a back court left sparten (sorry, couldn't help myself) thanks to graduation (Kalin Lucas, Durrell Summers) and behavior issues (Chris Allen, Korie Lucious).
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Hoops Housekeeping: Olu Ashaolu headlines a list of notable transfers

Its been a while since we have done one of these, but it has also been awhile since there was this big of a flurry in player movement. Throw in the fact that the lazy half of BIAH was cut off from the outside world for the past five days -- major props to Troy for holding the site down -- and we need this recap just as badly as you do.

(UPDATE: So maybe we know the real reason that Ashaolu transferred to Oregon. From Duck Territory:

When asked about his trip to Oregon and what stood out the most to him Ashaolu gave an interesting and un-expected pick.

"I actually really liked the breakfast we had one time there," said Ashaolu. "I think we went to this place called The Original House of Pancakes and it was the best food I've had in a long time."

I gotta try those pancakes.)

Oregon has made as much noise on the transfer market as anyone in college basketball over the past year.

After Dana Altman was anointed Ernie Kent's replacement last summer, Matt Humphrey, Josh Crittle, Drew Wiley, and Jamil Wilson all transferred out of the program. Malcolm Armstead nearly transferred out of Eugene last summer, getting convinced by Altman to return to school before finally opting to leave the school this summer. And who can forget about the Michael Dunigan mess from a season ago.


It hasn't just been players leaving Oregon. The Ducks added the journeyman Jay-R Strowbridge for last season. This year, they do the same with for Minnesota Golden Gopher Devoe Joseph, as well as adding a big time JuCo recruit in Carlos Emory. Perhaps the most significant addition was made this afternoon, as Altman secured the services of Louisiana Tech transfer Olu Ashaolu.

"We have pieces there and I feel like I’m the missing piece,” Ashaolu told Justin Young of the National Hoops Report (a blog that, if you aren't currently reading, you should be). "[Dana Altman] expressed that he likes my versatility and he that he likes the fact he can move me around and be a mismatch problem. He said he will run a four out and one in. He said he wants to move me all around the court."

Ashaolu is a supremely athletic, 6'7" forward that averaged 14.2 ppg and 9.4 rpg last season as a junior. Since he graduated from school, Ashaolu tested the NBA Draft waters before withdrawing his name. He'll be eligible to play immediately at Oregon next season, which is a huge boost to the Duck's front court. EJ Singler (Kyle's brother) returns for his sophomore campaign after averaging 11.7 ppg as a freshman, and the athletic Tyrone Nored is back for his senior season. But Ashaolu's addition will help to off set the loss of Joevan Catron to graduation.

While Strowbridge and Armstead are gone in the back court, rising sophomore Johnathon Loyd was impressive in his minutes last season. Garrett Sim is back as well, and the addition of Joseph and top-25 guard Jabari Brown will give Altman a number of weapons at his disposal. Oregon, coming off of a surprising (in a good way) seventh place finish in the Pac-10 a year ago, looks to be headed to a top five or six finish in the expanded Pac-12 this season.

Its also a great sign for the Ducks' recruiting efforts.

Everyone in the country wanted Brown. Ashaolu's decision -- which was affected by Joseph's addition, as the two were teammates on travel teams growing up in Canada -- came down to Texas and Oregon. Even Emory was pursued by the likes of Baylor and West Virginia.


Polee to leave St. John's: Dwayne Polee will be transferring out of St. John's to return to California to "get through a health issue" with his family. Polee started 27 games for the Red Storm, averaging 4.4 ppg and 2.5 rpg in 14.9 mpg. His departure will leave the Johnnies with just one returner next season in Malik Stith. Steve Lavin's team graduated nine rotation players.


Luke Hancock decides to leave George Mason, Anali Okoloji decides to join: We talked about what Hancock's decision means for Louisville right here this morning -- although we failed to mention the move may have been affected by Pitino's decision to hire Kerry Keatts, Hancock's former prep school coach at Hargrave Military Academy, as an assistant. For the Patriots, the transfer puts them in a hole. They have no real point guard. Andre Cornelius brings the ball up, but he's not a playmaker, he's a spot-up shooter. Vertrail Vaughns had 11 assists in 32 games last season. In fact, with Cam Long graduating and Hancock leaving, George Mason's returning leader in assists was Mike Morrison, their starting center, at 1.7 apg. Replacing that playmaking will be a key for the Patriots. Corey Edwards, an incoming freshman from Christ the King High School, may be thrown into the role.

In other Mason news, Paul Hewitt did land Anali Ojokoli, a Seton Hall transfer that averaged 1.9 ppg last season. He'll be eligible in 2012-2013.


UNLV lands another talented recruit from SoCal: Over the weekend, Ryan Greene scooped the news that Bryce Jones, who transferred out of USC this January, would be joining the UNLV basketball program. Jones, a 6'5" shooting guard that was a top 100 recruit in 2010, averaged 11.2 ppg over the Trojans from 10 games, but left after a couple of altercations. Jones, who will be eligible for the 2012-2013 season as a sophomore, joins Mike Moser and Chace Stanback, who transferred from UCLA, as SoCal sendoffs in the program. Oscar Bellfield and Justin Hawkins are also from the same area.


Ryan Harrow, Alex Johnson, and NC State: Ryan Harrow made headlines when he announced his decision to transfer out of the NC State program back in April. It now appears as if he will make his decision on where he will continue his college career this week, with Kentucky, Texas, Georgia, and Louisville as the final contenders. Harrow's transfer left the Wolfpack with a hole at the point. In his place, Mark Gottfried has brought in point guard Alex Johnson. Johnson is a 5'10" point guard that averaged 13.3 ppg at Cal St.-Bakersfield last year. Johnson has already graduated, which means that he will be eligible immediately as a senior for the Wolfpack. He will likely fill the void at the point guard position.


Momo Jones likely won't be headed to St. John's: When Jones announced his decision to transfer out of Arizona last week, the general consensus seemed to be that he would be headed back to St. John's in his native New York. But thanks to a rule that the NCAA instituted last summer, the Johnnies won't be an option for Jones. His high school coach, Moe Hicks, is on the St. John's staff and since he was hired last summer, the two-year period banning recruits from following coaches they had at the amateur level is still in effect.


Jordan Latham lands at Loyola MD: Xavier transfer Jordan Latham, who averaged just 4.8 mpg as a freshman, has decided to join the Greyhounds. He'll be eligible in 2012-2013.


Another hit for Utah: New Utah head coach Larry Krystowiak has granted Josh Sharp a conditional release from his scholarship. Sharp has spent the past two seasons on an LDS mission, and wants to be recruited again after Jim Boylen's firing. That's now seven layers who the other Coach K has released from their scholarship.
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Hoops Housekeeping: Jacob Pullen's wrist????

Jacob Pullen: Last night, the Kansas State all-american and the catalyst for their resurgence to national relevancy took a hard fall on a drive to the rim, landing awkwardly on his right hand and wrist. He came out of the game grimacing in pain, but was almost immediately sent back in.

"I'll be all right," Pullen said after the game, although most reports say he was still in pain. Jeff Goodman tweeted late last night that Pullen would be getting x-rays today to determine if the wrist is broken or just sore.

Let's hope for all involved that it is not serious. Talk about a tortuous way to end a career. You spark a resurgence and then break a wrist? That would just be cruel.


Cleveland Melvin: I won't blame you if you don't know who Cleveland Melvin is. (Quick refresher: DePaul freshman, leads the team with 14.3 ppg, originally committed to UConn.) Well, Melvin -- who had a shot at winning the Big East freshman of the year award -- is not done for the year after tearing a ligament in his thumb.
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Hoops Housekeeping: Chris Wright back for the tournament

Chris Wright: The Georgetown point guard had surgery on his left hand and has a chance to return for the NCAA Tournament. Right now, the best case estimate on how long he will be out of the lineup appears to be just over two weeks. The NCAA Tournament starts on March 17th.


Talib Zanna: Pitt's first big man off the bench suffered a broken thumb on Thursday afternoon after the Panther's pregame meal and before the tip of the Backyard Brawl. According to Jamie Dixon, he was messing around with teammates while getting into a car. Zanna is expected to have surgery on the thumb and could be out 3-6 weeks. In his stead, Lamar Patterson scored a career-high 11 points.


Jalen Steele: The news was confirmed yesterday -- Mississippi State freshman Jalen Steele tore the acl and the meniscus in his left knee and will be out for six months.

"I hate it for the kid's sake because Jalen had really come a long way and was just starting to get comfortable," MSU coach Rick Stansbury said. "He's come such a long way in so many areas and I just hate to see anybody have a setback like this. But it's part of the game and he'll fight through it."


Karon Abraham: Robert Morris will be without their leading scorer for the rest of the season after Abraham tore his achilles tendon last night. He's obviously done for the season.


Ray Penn: Travis Ford suspended point guard Ray Penn indefinitely on Thursday due to academic issues.

I’m suspending Ray indefinitely,” Ford said in a press release issued by the university’s sports information department. "He has some things he needs to work on outside of basketball, and this will give him time to focus and spend some quality time in the academic center.”
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Hoops Housekeeping: Chris Wright broke his hand

Chris Wright: Georgetown's star point guard broke his hand early in the second half last night against Cincinnati. He tried to return to play with it, but after catching one pass, he doubled over in pain and had to be taken out of the game. You could see tears in his eyes on the bench.

“He’s tough, he’s a tough kid,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “He could play with one hand if he had to. One trip up and down the court, you could see, he was in excruciating pain. For him to ask if he could come out, you could tell he was in excruciating pain, because he’s as tough as they come.”

There is no official word on his status yet, and I'd urge Hoya fans not to panic just yet. Christian Watford came back from a broken hand in just two weeks. That said, a Jeff Goodman source has some bad news: "He's most likely done for the season. Six weeks."

UPDATE: Per Adam Zagoria, it looks like Wright will miss two and a half weeks, possibly returning by the start of the NCAA Tournament.


Carleton Scott: The Notre Dame forward that has already missed four games this season due to a hamstring injury sat out the final minutes of the Irish's win over Providence after turning his ankle.

"Twisted ankle," Irish coach Mike Brey said after the game. "I think he came down on somebody's foot. We'll check it out, see how he is for Saturday. He was pretty sore, though."


Jalen Steele: The Mississippi State guard got injured midway through the second half of the Bulldog's loss to LSU last night, and while the official word on the injury is a sprained knee, Brad Locke wrote that "it looks to be both an ACL and an MCL."

"It's not good, whatever it was," Stansbury said.


Antonio Barton: Its official that dehydration was the cause for Antonio Barton's collapse -- physical, not metaphorical -- on Saturday against Houston. He was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon.

"They did all types of tests. They were very thorough just to make sure there were no issues. Everything came back negative in terms of the tests; everything was clean," Pastner said. "They released him with no restrictions."

Read the whole story. That's pretty scary.


Chandler Parsons: Parsons, who starts at small forward for Florida, looks like he will be back in the lineup for the Gators tonight. (Apologies for the premium link, but they are the only ones with the story as of this writing.) It does not appear as if Parsons will start, with Billy Donovan opting to use freshman Casey Prather in that role instead.


Alexis Wangmene: Well, at least we know why he was suspended. The Longhorn's back up big man got a DUI at 4:30 am on Sunday morning/Saturday night after a loss to Nebraska. The Austin American-Statesman has a mugshot.


Carl Richard: The Indiana State forward looks like he will ms Saturday's game against Illinois State with what is being called a "soft tissue" injury to his knee.


Jacob Holmen: A key reverse in the North Texas front court, Holmen broke his hand and will be out indefinitely.
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Hoops Housekeeping: Antonio Barton collapsed?

Antonio Barton: The Memphis freshman guard had a scary moment in last night's win over Houston. He collapsed during a huddle and, according the Jason Smith of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, "just kind of fell out in huddle". Apparently, Barton was fairly severely dehydrated. It appears that he will be just fine, but he was taken to the hospital after the game for precautionary measures. He played 31 minutes.


Alexis Wangmene: The Longhorn's junior forward did not suit up for the win over Iowa State last night. About 30 minutes prior to the game, Rick Barnes released this statement: "Alexis Wangmene has been suspended indefinitely due to a violation of team rules. He will not play in tonight's game against Iowa State."

No word yet on how long Wangmene will be sidelined. He's an important piece for Texas, as he is the first big guy off the bench behind Tristan Thompson and Gary Johnson. Wangmene was only averaging 2.4 ppg and 2.4 rpg, but now the only front court player on Barnes' bench is Matt Hill.


Pat Swilling: There have been all kinds of issue with the St. Joe's team this season. The latest? Swilling, a freshman guard from New Orleans, is no longer enrolled at the university. According to this blog post, he is back in his native New Orleans and is looking to transfer to either Central Florida or Louisiana Tech. Junior center Todd O'Brien has missed the last two games for disciplinary reasons.
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Hoops Housekeeping: Keaton Nankivil misses practice

Keaton Nankivil and Mike Bruesewitz: The two Wisconsin forwards were both held out of practice on Monday. Bruesewitz was given the day off as he has been battling the flu for about a week, but Nankivil's injury seems like it has the potential to influence Wednesday's game.

Nankivil rolled his ankle in the first half of the Badger's win over Penn State on Sunday and was in a walking boot on Monday. Nankivil is confident that he will be playing, however: "It's nothing serious," Nankivil said after practice Monday. "It will be good to go tomorrow probably."

"I think it was probably the right move. You always want to prepare for the next team, but we've also played a lot together so I'm not worried about us losing a feel in one day."


Jarell Eddie: Virginia Tech's freshman wing, who sat out the Hokie's loss to UVa on Saturday, will be available tonight against Wake Forest. He missed Saturday's game after being arrested misdemeanor possession of marijuana a week ago. Seth Greenberg declined to discuss Eddie's situation -- "You want to talk about Wake Forest and Duke, I'd be glad to talk to you," he said -- but Eddie wasn't the only player in Greenberg's doghouse on Saturday. Sophomore Manny Atkins played just five minutes while freshman Tyrone Garland managed less than a minute off the bench.


Mike Singletary: The Texas Tech forward has been out since Feb. 5th with a bruised calf and a strained mcl (which makes Baylor's loss to the Red Raiders all the more disappointing) and didn't make the trip to Waco on Saturday. But Singletary practiced on Monday and now expects to play on Wednesday when Tech plays Colorado.

"Today (Monday) was probably the first time in practice that I went as hard as I could and figured out that my knee’s pretty stable," Singletary said. "Tomorrow I'll probably shoot a little more after practice, figure out how it feels so come Wednesday I know what I’m capable of."

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Hoops Housekeeping: Gibbs loses the bow tie, CCU loses another starter

Corey Stokes: Villanova's sharpshooting senior injured his toe on January 29th against Georgetown, but he has been unable to get the toe healthy. As a result, the timeline for his return has fluctuated. (Sound familiar, Duke fans?) It was thought he would be able to play Monday against Syracuse, but it is looking more and more like that is not going to happpen.

"We're committed to doing whatever it takes to get him right," head coach Jay Wright said. "It's his senior year, and we don't want him playing the rest of his senior year hurt.

"We know that within two weeks at the most it should be completely healed. Two weeks from now, that would be the longest, so we’re committed to that."


Ashton Gibbs: Pitt's leading scorer will be back on Saturday as the Panthers head to the Garden. Pitt made it official yesterday.

"I feel good," Gibbs said. "It's not sore or anything. It feels normal. It's close to 100 percent. I can feel it a little bit, but it's nothing major at all. It's definitely close to 100 percent. I'll just keep taking it day by day, rest it, ice it and keep playing on it."

This is good news for Pitt, who will need Gibbs' shooting and ball handling against an aggressive St. John's team, but hurts college basketball fans everywhere. That bow tie was legendary:


Desmond Holloway: So much for Coastal Carolina's season. Having already lost Mike Holmes (kicked off the team for fighting) and Kierre Greenwood (torn acl), the Chanticleers will now be without leading scorer Desmond Holloway as he has been declared ineligible.

"There's an athletic eligibility issue involving Desmond, and we had to rule him ineligible," athletic director Hunter Yurachek said. "We have started the reinstatement process with the NCAA. In order to protect the integrity of that process, there's really not any comments I can make further until the entire issue has been resolved."

Losing three starters -- including your two best scorers -- in the span of a month is devastating for one of the best low-major programs in the country. So much for the possibility of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. Now, CCU is going to have to fight hard just to win their at-large bid.


Scott Suggs: Washington's best three point shooter had to leave their game against Arizona State on Thursday night just three minutes in after spraining his mcl. No word yet on the severity of the injury or the length of time he will be out.


Michael Eric: Temple's center fractured his right patella in an injury in practice on Tuesday. He will be out for the rest of the season.

"That's pretty devastating for a young guy," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "You don't worry about the team. The team has this resiliency about them. You worry about the kid."
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Hoops Housekeeping: CCU loses their point guard, Cal freshman may be out tonight

Kierre Greenwood: Coastal Carolina suffered a huge blow on Wednesday when it was announced that Greenwood, their starting point guard, would miss the rest of the season after tearing his acl late in the first half of a loss to Gardner-Webb. CCU already kicked Mike Holmes off the team after an altercation with him and a teammate.

"This team's had it's back to the wall before," said coach Cliff Ellis, "but certainly without Kierre, backs are further to the wall. You've just got to try to patch something together. I think our starting five will be pretty comfortable, but when we come off the bench, there's going to be some players that may have to play positions that they haven't normally played. It's kind of like telling a linebacker that you're going to be a halfback tomorrow."

The loss to Gardner-Webb was the first conference loss of the season for the Chanticleers, and it came at home to a team that was 3-11 previously. Sophomore Anthony Raffa is expected to start at the point for CCU.


Allen Crabbe: The leading freshman scorer in the Pac-10 at 12.0 ppg, Crabbe suffered a concussion at Washington last Thursday that was severe enough to keep him out of the lineup on Saturday at Washington State. His status for tonight is still uncertain.

"He had a setback and didn't practice today," coach Mike Montgomery said. "He was feeling better yesterday, not so good today. He didn't have a good day today."


Lakeem Jackson: South Carolina's sophomore forward, who is averaging 8.2 ppg and 5.8 rpg, sat out last night's loss to Tennessee with a foot injury. He is expected to miss the next two games as well.

"Lakeem has been battling this foot injury for several weeks and our medical staff feels that by having an extended period of time off, it will be in the best interest of Lakeem, which is our number one priority," South Carolina head coach Darrin Horn said.


Flenard Whitfield: The reigning MAC player of the week and a starter on a Western Michigan team still fighting for a shot at the conference regular season title, Whitfield sprained his ankle in Wednesday's win against Northern Illinois. He tried to return with the ankle heavily taped, but WMU was winning at that point.


Jamie Vanderbeken: Iowa State's 6'11" sharpshooter sprained his ankle against Kansas on Saturday. It was bad enough that he didn't even make the trip to College Station to play Texas A&M last night. There is no word yet on whether he will be available this weekend.


Troy Gillenwater: New Mexico State's leading scorer and rebounder is still questionable for this weekend's Bracket Buster's game against Northern Colorado. He injured his ankle last week and sat out against Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

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