Josh Selby, Doron Lamb, and Mike Rosario all choose their destinations

While you were out enjoying the weekend and not paying any attention to the hum-drum that is the college basketball off-season, three talented guards decided where their basketball futures would be continued.


Josh Selby: Selby certainly lived up to his nickname of "Showtime" during his recruitment. Originally a Tennessee commit, Selby backed out last summer, reopening his recruitment for a variety of reasons. On Saturday night, Selby ended the process, committing to Kansas during a timeout of the Jordan Brand All-American game.

Selby was a big get for Bill Self. He's a scoring point guard with quite a bit of athleticism. Selby is really aggressive attacking the basket -- especially in transition -- but he also is a capable shooter with range. Kansas does lose Cole Aldrich, Sherron Collins, and Xavier Henry all leaving, but they still return quite a bit of talent, much of which was buried on the bench last season. It will be interesting to see how Selby fits in with this team next season. Can he fill Collins ample shoes as the Jayhawk leader? I've seen a few people compare him to Willie Warren, both in ability and attitude.




Doron Lamb: Lamb is another guy who ended a long recruiting process during the Jordan game. Despite a late pitch from Steve Lavin at St. John's, the New York native committed to Kentucky.

Lamb should be a nice complement to Brandon Knight. Where Knight is a point guard, Lamb is much more of a score-first player. He can put the ball on the floor and create his own shot, excelling with his mid-range and pull-up jumper. Lamb can really put up points in a hurry (the youtube clip below is a highlight reel of the 49 points he put up in the Primetime Shootout in February). As good as Lamb is, most believe he is not a one-and-done type player.




Mike Rosario: We talked about Rosario last week, and after visiting Florida on Friday, the former-Rutgers standout will be heading to Gainesville to play for Billy Donovan.

Now, keep in mind that Rosario will have to sit out a season, but assuming that both Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton hang around until the 2011-12 season, the Gators will have a back court loaded with small guards with a shoot-first mentality. I'm not sure if this is really the best decision for Rosario. He said that the reason he left Rutgers was the opportunity to improve his chances at getting drafted, so he goes to a school where there are already two players at his position?

I like Rosario. He is a talented scorer that can put up points in a hurry, but are there going to be enough minutes -- and shots -- for those three to share the back court?

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Two transfers that will be impact players

There are usually two topics that dominate the college basketball news this time of year: the NBA Draft's early entries and the coaching carousel.

One of the aspects that tends to be overlooked are the transfers (Jeff Goodman always has a full list of transfers). Now, a lot of the time the guys that are transferring schools are going from a high-major school where they don't see any playing time to a low-major school where they will be able to see more minutes, which is why it gets overlooked. But if Wesley Johnson and Ekpe Udoh proved anything to us this year, a transfer can have a very large impact if he lands at the right school.

Jeff Eisenberg over at The Dagger did a good job detailing three transfers that could be impact players at a new school.

But he missed two guys.

Rakim Sanders, Boston College: Earlier today, Sanders announced that he would be transferring from Boston College to play his senior season elsewhere. Sanders reportedly sat down with new BC head coach Steve Donahue, and the two decided that it would be best for both sides if Sanders finished his collegiate career elsewhere.

Will Rakim Sanders end up at Fairfield?
(photo credit: Examiner)

Sanders is a player. He averaged over 12 ppg over his first two season before struggling through a tough junior season. He was suspended for the first two games before suffering a high ankle sprain in his first game and missing the next six. He ended the season averaging just 11.3 ppg in a 15-16 year for BC.

Sanders is reportedly interested in Providence and Rhode Island (he is from Rhode Island) but an Andy Katz report says that Fairfield is the most likely landing spot for Sanders where he would play under former BC assistant Ed Cooley. Depending on how hard Sanders works in the year he has off (there is no guarantee he, or anyone, will. Dropping down from an ACC school to a MAAC program probably ends any chance he had at making the NBA), he would be a monster for that team. MAAC teams are not generally capable of defending a 6'5" two guard that weighs in at 225lb.


Mike Rosario, Rutgers: Rosario has been all over the New York and New Jersey headlines in the last few weeks. There has been the speculation that head coach Fred Hill will lose his job, which came to a head when he blew up at a Rutgers-Pitt baseball game two weeks ago, but there is also the issue of tampering by USC in regards to Rosario's decision to transfer.

Mike Rosario may be the most sought after transfer.
(photo credit: ScarlettKnights.com)

There is no question that Rosario can score. He averaged over 16 ppg in both of his seasons with the Scarlett Knights. He is a bit of a gunner and played as more of a scoring guard than a pure point, but that may be a result of the amount of talent he had surrounding him at Rutgers.

As you would expect, when a talent like Rosario becomes available, quite a few schools become interested. He is taking a visit to Florida today (Friday), and has also been contacted by Tennessee, USC (where former high school teammate Jio Fontan transferred to from Fordham), and Kansas State, among others.

Wherever he ends up, Rosario is going to be factor.

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News and Notes: Oliver Purnell, Steve Donahue, and a couple guards on the move?

Quite a bit of non-Duke and non-Butler news has broken over the last 24 hours. while the college basketball season is over, keep in mind that now is prime time for early entry into the NBA Draft and that the coaching carousel is in full swing.

• There was quite a bit of speculation as to who was DePaul was going to get as a head coach. From Jamie Dixon to Ben Howland to Isiah Thomas to Craig Robinson to Chris Lowery (the list goes on), it seemed like every name that popped up was either out of DePaul's league or simply would not have been a good fit. Which makes it all the more surprising that late after Monday night's national title game DePaul announced that they had finally come to a decision, signing Clemson's Oliver Purnell to a seven-year, $15 million contract.
  
  Now this one leaves you scratching your head a little bit. Like the Steve Lavin hire at St. John's, Purnell doesn't have a whole lot of connections in Chicago. In fact, Mike Irvin, the CEO of the Mac Irvin Fire -- a Chicago-based AAU program that is one of the best in the country -- told ESPN.com that "I've never seen him. I've never seen a Clemson coach. That's bad, because in Chicago it's about the relationships, the ties. Chicago's a different animal, a different city." Combine that with the fact that DePaul had more Big East wins the last two seasons -- one -- than Purnell has career tournament wins, and you see why people are left scratching their head at this one.

• Al Skinner got the axe just over a week ago at Boston College, and while the Eagles coaching search focused on former assistants Ed Cooley and Bill Coen, as well as Richmond's Chris Mooney, word is that BC will announce the hiring of Cornell's Steve Donahue today.
  
  It makes perfect sense. Donahue built Cornell from an Ivy League cellar dweller into a Sweet 16 team this past season. But this Big Red team had nine seniors on it, including Louis Dale, Ryan Wittman, and Jeff Foote. If Donahue was ever going to have a chance to move up to a high-major conference, this was it.


• Texas freshman Avery Bradley will enter his name into the NBA Draft, but he will not be hiring an agent, according to Jeff Goodman. Many expected this, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Bradley is guaranteed to be a high draft pick. A very good defensive player, Bradley is a bit of a tweener. Is he big enough to play the two? Can he be an NBA point guard? Does he have the offensive skill set to be worthy of a first round pick? Draft Express currently has Bradley listed as the 28th pick in the draft, while NBADraft.net puts him at 25th.


• It appears Mike Rosario, the Rutgers sophomore who averaged 16.7 ppg this season, will be looking to transfer. According to Zagsblog, places he is considering include Florida, USC (where he would join high school teammate Jio Fontan), and Michigan State.
  

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