Oregon has finally ended their coaching search

The longest running joke in college basketball may finally be over.

Almost two months after news first broke that Oregon was going to fire Ernie Kent, the Ducks have finally found a willing replacement.

According to Jeff Goodman, Oregon reached a deal with Creighton head coach Dana Altman (assuming he doesn't pull another Arkansas). Altman has been with the Bluejays for 16 seasons and led them to seven NCAA Tournaments between 1999 and 2007. Prior to this year's 18-16 campaign, he had a string of 11 consecutive seasons of 20 plus wins.

Dana Altman is headed to Oregon.
(photo credit: BlueXU)

This is a solid hire for the Ducks. Its not the big name that they had been searching for, but Oregon isn't a good enough job to pull a big name coach away from a good job. And by all accounts, Altman is one of the better coaches around. You aren't going to find many basketball minds that understand the "x's and o's" better than Altman.

But coaching isn't what Altman is going to need to worry about.

At a school like Creighton, you can win games and league titles with coaching. At a power conference school like Oregon, success lies in recruiting.

Altman's success in Eugene is going to be determined by how well he can recruit.

At Creighton, Altman was able to land kids from Chicago and Detroit that flew under the national radar. And at Creighton, that is all you need. The Missouri Valley isn't exactly known for putting out NBA caliber players.

But in the Pac-10, a league that had 21 players taken in the 2008 and 2009 NBA Drafts, Altman is going to need to start landing some blue-chippers. He can start by making a last ditch effort to bring in Portland natives Terrence Ross and Terrence Jones. It may be too little too late -- Ross alluded to the fact that he would be committing to Washington on an upcoming visit on his facebook page, and Jones heads to Kansas today (Sunday) for a visit at Kansas.

Oregon has already had three players announce their intention to transfer out due to the coaching change, but the news isn't all bad for Altman as Dwayne Polee, an athletic 6'7" small forward that was considering St. John's and Georgia (among others), has decided to hold off on a commitment until after he makes a visit to Oregon.

Oregon's coaching search took 37 days. They embarrassed themselves with the pursuit of coaches that had no interest in Phil Knight's Nike cash.

But the Ducks ended up with a pretty good hire in Dana Altman.

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Weekend Dump

After weeks and weeks of ragging on Oregon and Phil Knight, they finally got option #9 their guy. Below is two-days-worth of Oregon-related links

- Who will Oregon try to hire next?; Gary Parrish thinks it could be Dana Altman; Oregon's nightmare might soon be over; UPDATE - Oregon hires Creighton's Dana Altman; Recruit delays decision

- The perfect tool to help you sort out early entries

- Top point guard recruit Corey Joseph chooses Texas

- Washington's Isiah Thomas has toe surgery

- Virginia Tech forward Allan Chaney collapsed after a workout

- Florida State's Solomon Alabi is going pro

- Temple's Lavoy Allen will test draft waters

- Iowa's Aaron Fuller is transfering to USC

- Kentucky's Patrick Patterson declares for the draft

- Your "head-scratching decision" of the weekend: Northern Arizona's Cameron Jones delcares for the draft

- Former UCF head coach hired as assistant at Iowa

- Virginia Tech assistant Bill Courtney is named new Cornell head coach

- Iowa State career scoring leading is hired as assistant coach at alma mater

- Jeff Bzdelik is off to a fast start at Wake Forest

- Michigan State unveils new jerseys

- People in North Carolina still don't like J.J. Redick

- A full recap of the McDonalds AA game

- A scouting report from the Nike Hoops Summit

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The only post you ever need to read about tournament expansion

Yesterday, the NCAA Tournament expanded to 68 teams, not the 96 team format we all expected and predicted. As you might imagine, there was quite a bit of shock regarding the decision.

We read way too much about college basketball, and just about everyone in the business had something to say regarding the expansion. Here is a semi-comprehensive list of all you need to read about the new 68 team tournament.

Dana O'Neil, ESPN.com: But 'for now' is better than 'for never' and 68 is a whole lot better than 96. So while the NCAA is riding the good-decision train, might we pose that the people in Indianapolis pay the goodwill forward even further by making the bubble teams play the real bubble games? Shaheen said that who plays in the additional games and how those teams will be selected won't be determined until the NCAA goes through the rest of its procedural channels. A likely announcement won't be made until this summer. Here's a solution: Let the last eight in play the first four games.

Rush the Court: While everybody is familiar with CBS’s work on the NCAA Tournament since they have broadcast every NCAA championship game since 1982, which involved a freshman named Michael Jordan hitting the game-winning shot, Turner’s association with college basketball is a little less well-known. When I say “less well-known” I mean that I am unaware of any prior association between Turner and college basketball.

Jeff Goodman, FOXSports: There were questions asked to the networks and NCAA about how the revenue is split. No one cares. The bottom line here is that the integrity of the NCAA tournament hasn't been compromised, fans will get an opportunity to see all the games and the regular season will still have some meaning. The new format hasn't been determined but will be discussed at a couple of future meetings and decided sometime this summer. There could be four play-in games instead of just one. Maybe it would be eight bubble teams battling it out for a shot at a 12-seed. Whatever they opt to implement, it can't be any worse than having to see a No. 24 seed in the Big Dance.

Luke Winn, SI.com: No matter how glorious this past NCAA tournament was -- the thrilling opening day, Butler's inspiring run to a hometown Final Four, and a title game that was good to the last shot -- it was difficult to leave Indianapolis without the feeling that something horrible was on the horizon. (By that, I don't mean back-to-back titles for Duke.) Gordon Hayward's missed half-courter was going to mark the end of the era of the 64/65-team tournament, as it gave way to a bloated bracket of 96. It was depressing to think that the most perfect postseason format in all of sports would be ruined for the sake of TV money, as the NCAA was opting out of its 11-year, $6 billion deal with CBS, in hopes of a bigger deal with a CBS/Turner conglomerate or ESPN -- and only a 96-team format would lure in the cash needed to support the NCAA's other 87 championships.

Gary Parrish, CBSSports: It was clear at the NCAA's Final Four press conference that the preferred expansion number was 96, if possible. And though it might've been impossible to implement in time for next season in terms of getting arenas or domes lined up, nobody's going to convince me that the overwhelming sentiment against a 96-team field didn't play a role in the decision to only move to 68. And that's not a shot at the NCAA. That's a compliment, because too often in sports people don't listen. We want our World Series games to start earlier so kids can actually watch them, and we want our college football champion to be decided with a playoff so every school has a shot, even if it's a long shot, at eternal greatness. But baseball doesn't care what we want because it can make more money doing it the way it does it, and the BCS doesn't care what we want because the people who run the BCS are short-sighted idiots. But the NCAA? The NCAA got this right.

Mike DeCourcy, The Sporting News: The news conference that felt like it should have been conducted in 3-minute rounds had been over a while, and NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen was on his way out of Lucas Oil Stadium. As he walked through the wide hallway toward the elevator, he came upon a group of journalists working hard to avoid sitting down to write. Though he'd just been through the verbal equivalent of a Manny Pacquiao TKO, as media covering the Final Four had pounded him over proposed NCAA Tournament expansion, Shaheen somehow was able to retain the wry sense of humor he'd carried into the afternoon. He called himself "the most hated man in college sports" with some sense of irony—and though everybody in the group chuckled, nobody corrected him. Now, he is college basketball's hero. It might have been Duke's Kyle Singler on April 5, but the rest of the offseason will belong to Shaheen, interim NCAA president Jim Isch and the other staff members who secured a $10.8 billion broadcast contract with CBS and Turner Sports for the NCAA Tournament without perverting the nature of the event.

John Gasaway, Basketball Prospectus: But the larger problem with yelling Greed! and Stupidity! at the NCAA was that it was entirely beside the point. The tournament could have been expanded by wholly selfless and highly intelligent people–and it still would have been a terrible and needless mistake. Not because we know for a fact that a 96-team field really would be such an unwatchable mess but because there is no earthly reason to jeopardize what an amazing number of people already agree is a nearly perfect thing. In their haste to hit the trusty and well-worn ”LOL NCAA” button, many writers lost sight of this story’s central truth. The tournament is the thing. BONUS fodder for conspiracy theorists! But wait! Does having 68 teams in 2011 really mean the tournament is safe? After all, the NCAA noted today that it can revisit the issue of expansion anytime they wish, and there’s already speculation that “they’ll jam [96 teams] down our throats eventually.” Of course if they do the irony will be just too delicious. The TV deal has been signed and the dollars are locked in for 14 years. Expanding now to 96 teams won’t change those dollars, meaning the NCAA would be acting to placate coaches, give more teams a shot, whatever. If they do so I will of course be enraged and you’ll find me back in my tree outside NCAA headquarters with my trusty bullhorn. Just don’t call it “a greed grab,” please.

Jeff Eisenberg, The Dagger: Instead of creating three more play-in games to decide which four No. 16 seeds get ritually sacrificed to the four the No. 1s, what if the NCAA uses the impending expansion to 68 teams as an excuse to get creative with the tournament's structure? What if the four play-in games each became matchups between bubble teams to decide the final four at-large bids in the field?

Pat Forde, ESPN.com: It's always perilous to predict what the mysterious NCAA hierarchy is thinking, but let's live dangerously for a minute. The leadership has done one of two things: 1. It purposefully overplayed the likelihood of a 96-team NCAA tournament field to make the expansion to 68 teams seem wonderfully palatable in comparison. 2. It actually listened to the severe and sincere backlash to the idea of a 96-team field and opted for safer ground. Whatever the case, I'll give the NCAA credit. It either was more savvy or more receptive than I had given the institution credit for previously. Either the NCAA played us perfectly to get what it wanted all along, or it retained an open mind and listened when every non-coach with a voice screamed in reaction to the specter of 96 teams, "Don't do it!"

Matt Norlander, The Dagger: It sort of felt like that moment when you cringe, cover year eyes and brace for the worse. And then nothing happens. You slowly loosen your muscles, peek between your fingers, and that doomed circumstance that seemed to be barreling upon you simply ceased to be. That's what happened when the news broke late this morning about our 2011 (and beyond?) 68-team field. Few could believe it, and after the realization seeped into our brains, many rejoiced.

Eamonn Brennan, ESPN.com: Today brought some fantastic news: Contrary to popular belief, the NCAA tournament isn't expanding to 96 teams. I know, right? Deep breaths. Sigh of relief. All that and more. Considering the widespread consensus that the NCAA's decision to opt out of its current contract with CBS and pursue a richer deal was pursuant on its new network having more NCAA tournament games to show, this news wasn't just pleasant. It was also surprising. In this case, who doesn't love a good surprise?

Matt Norlander, College Hoops Journal (must read): Now, we don’t know if it will be 68 teams for one year or 100. I think it’s safe to say we’ll have this model for at least a half-decade, though. Why? Because CBS and Turner (specifically, TBS) will flip-flop years for broadcast rights beginning in 2015. We may see a change to 96 come then. But let’s deal with that down the road. Many were all too certain that 96 teams were coming. In fact, the only writer who was consistently against that notion was Mike DeCourcy. So I applaud him for standing strong and proving to be right … at least for now.

Matt Norlander, The Dagger: We've had a joyous day, now let us return to cynicism. There's no telling how long we'll have a 68-team tournament, after all. The press release only states that the 2011 NCAA tournament will abide by the new rules. Come 2012, we could see the field in the form we fear the most: 96 teams. What are the chances of this? Can we deduce how the NCAA and its Board of Directors will act? No, but for those who may worry this slightly inflated field may not last long — or could be a stop-gap — I think there is a good chance we see the tournament stay as is for at least a half-decade.

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Friday Morning Dump

- Marquis Teague will play for Kentucky next season. We weighed in on this on Wednesday, and still feel the same about Louisville -- Rick Pitino may be in trouble in Louisville.

- Despite not knowing who his head coach will be, recruit Gilvydas Biruta will stay at Rutgers

- LSU assistant coach Keith Richard will take head coaching gig Louisiana-Monroe

- CJ Leslie to visit UConn

- How do players feel about 68 teams?

- Alec Burks is returning to Colorado

- What does the future hold for Club Trillion

- Gardner-Webb hires the guy that game-planned Ohio's upset of Georgetown. Louisiana-Monroe and Cornell also find their coaches.

- The NBA isn't the only way to make money post-college

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So who plays in the play-in games?

That seems to be the biggest question most have about the new 68 team tournament.

And when it comes down to it, there are really only two options.


1. Add three more of the current play-in games: The new fields have 17 seed lines instead of 16, and the 16 seeds and the 17 seeds play for the right to take on the 1 seeds in their respective regions. Essentially, this would mean that the small conference tournament winners -- the teams that were 15 and 16 seeds this year -- would be forced to participate in the play-in games.

The problem most people have with this set up is that teams that won their conference tournaments get a raw deal. Four teams that were, by definition, conference champions would not be able to play a "real" tournament game. Part of what makes winning your conference tournament so special is that some of these smaller schools get a shot a knocking off one of the big boys. If they lose, no big deal. Every one expects the Duke's and Kansas's of the world to smack a SWAC or a Big Sky champ. But if they win as a 15 or 16 seed, that team goes down in history. Will anyone ever forget this?

But along those same lines, it also provides a team that otherwise wouldn't have a shot an opportunity to win a game in the NCAA Tournament. It could also mean that we one day see a 1 seed lose their first round game. Part of the reason that a 16 has never beaten a 1 is that the 16 seeds tend to be the teams that were in the middle-of-the-pack of a low-major league during the regular season before catching fire during their conference tournament. When you get to the 15 seeds, you tend to see more teams that dominated league play in a conference that simply did not have the talent to merit a higher seed. A good argument could be made that, over the course of the 64/65 team tournament era, the biggest talent gap between two seeds was between the 15's and the 16's.

Maybe a play-in game will weed out the lesser teams and provide a 1 seed with an opponent that will do more than simply keep it interesting.


2. Force bubble teams to play their way in: The last eight bubble teams have a one-game playoff (I doubt it would still be called a play-in games in this situation) for the right to be slotted in at the last four bubble spots. The way this would most likely happen is that they play for the right to be the 13 seeds.

And while this sounds excellent on paper, actually implementing it could be a bit more problematic.

In the current format, the play-in game is played on the Tuesday before the NCAA Tournament is to begin. If the play-in games earn a team an automatic 12 seed, which is generally believed to be the cut-off for at-large bids most years, it may create a bigger problem. Doesn't it then become better to be a five seed than a four seed? You get to play a team that has had to travel to play a game just two or three days prior, as opposed to playing a well-rested 13 seed that has had a full three or four days to prepare.

If it was this season, would you rather play a 13 seed like Murray State or Siena who had plenty of time to scout and game plan, or the winner of a UTEP-Virginia Tech game played at a neutral site (currently, the play-in game is hosted by Dayton, but if this format was instituted, the play-in game may end up being hosted by whatever venue is hosting the 5-12 match-up) in a game that ended as recently as 36 hours prior?

While this format would be rewarding the 15 and 16 seeds -- which have won a combined four games since the 64/65 team tournament was put into place -- it could end up having some unintended side effects for teams that actually factor into a championship picture.


My personal preference is for the first option. A 15 seed may have won their conference tournament, but if your conference isn't worth a damn, does it matter?

Whatever the NCAA decides to do, I think the one thing we can all agree on is that four play-in games is infinitely better than 32.

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ESPN lost their bid to air the NCAA Tournament, but they still won today

I doubt that I was the only one that believed that the Worldwide Leader was destined to land the NCAA Tournament's broadcasting rights.

It only made sense. They have so many channels -- ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN U, ESPN Classic, ESPNNews, ESPN FullCourt -- they are able to stream the games online with ESPN 3, and they spend more airtime covering the sport than any other broadcasting company.

ESPN had a chance to completely take over college basketball coverage by landing the NCAA Tournament.

But they didn't. CBS teamed with Turner Broadcasting to win the rights.

Here is ESPN's release:

We made an aggressive bid and believe our combination of TV distribution, digital capabilities, season-long coverage and year-round marketing would have served the interests of the NCAA and college fans very well. We remain committed to our unparalleled coverage of more than 1,200 men's and women's college basketball games each season.

But the WWL wasn't a loser today.

In fact, the announcement of a 68 team tournament may have saved their coverage of the sport.

College basketball's regular season is a bit of an afterthought as it is. Any team with a shot at winning a title, and, with very few exceptions, any team capable of making the Final Four, will know that they are in the tournament by December. The most meaningful January and February games are usually played between teams like Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, or Florida and Mississippi State. Teams that are not generally on the national radar, fighting for the last few 11 and 12 seeds.

With a 96 team tournament, those meaningful games would have been between teams in the bottom of the power conferences, or middling teams in mid-major leagues. How many people are really going to care about potential bubble battles between the 90th and 100th best teams in the country?

When the NCAA announced that they were going to expand to just 68 teams, they made sure that games played in November and December were still meaningful. They made sure that teams still needed to play a difficult non-conference schedule -- which sets up some of the best early season, non-conference match-ups -- if they want to secure a bid to the tournament. They ensured that there would still be fans interested in watching those games.

Those early season games are the ones that ESPN broadcasts.

A 68 team tournament also means that the conference tournaments and championship week are still as important as ever. Again, those are games that ESPN owns the rights too.

So while ESPN lost out on their bid for the NCAA Tournament, they still won today because the college basketball games that they do air still matter. There will still be great early season match-ups. Championship week will be just as important as ever.

And there will still be eyes on the television sets when there are games on ESPN.

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The NCAA Tournament expanded, but not the way we all thought

Earlier today, news was leaked that the NCAA had reached an agreement with CBS and Turner Broadcasting on a 14 year deal worth $10.8 billion to televise the NCAA tournament.

The news had most of us accepting our fate: that the NCAA Tournament would officially be expanding to 96 teams today.

Well, that lasted until the NCAA put out its official release:

Late Wednesday, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee unanimously passed a recommendation to the Division I Board of Directors to increase tournament field size to 68 teams beginning with the 2011 Championship.

All that talk about 96 teams? All that worrying? All those doomsday scenarios? The watered down NCAA Tournament? The end of a meaningful regular season in college basketball?

It all gets pushed to the back burner for at least a year, as the 2011 NCAA Tournament -- and hopefully possibly more tournaments in the future -- will be played with just three additional teams.

Is this what the new tournament will look like?

The basics:

• CBS opted out of the remaining three years of their current deal -- valued at $545 million a year -- for a 14 year deal worth right around $770 million per year. For the first time ever, every tournament game will be aired live on TV. CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV will share duties, and all four stations will use the same CBS television graphics and music we have become accustomed to. The only difference is that the CBS logo will be a TBS/TNT/TruTV logo.
  
• March Madness On Demand, which airs every game on a live-stream over the internet, will still be available. The only difference is that it appears that instead of the MMOD online studio hosts, each network's studio will be used.


• There will be four play-in games in the 68 team field. The question is who will be involved in the play-in games (more on that in a later post).


• The Final Four will be aired on CBS until 2016, when CBS and TBS will alternate years until the end of the deal in 2024.
  


• "For now." "Everything is on the table." Those are the quotes to remember, which came form the lips of NCAA president Jim Isch. There is no guarantee that a 68 team field will last more than one season. From Dana O'Neil:

  Sean McManus, president of CBS News and CBS Sports, added that, "We have flexibility in our deal to accommodate expansion if that happens," and Shaheen said that the new television agreement left field size totally at the discretion of the NCAA.

  So don't think that 96 is out of the question.

There are still a number of issues to be ironed out.

Who will be playing in the play-in games? Where will the play-in games be played? Does anyone know what "TruTV" is, and is it in HD? Can we ink Gus Johnson for a 14 year contract as well? Hell, this decision isn't even official yet. It is a proposal that the NCAA Board of Officials still has to approve on April 29th.

That doesn't matter.

What matters is that the NCAA is not pushing for a 96 team tournament just yet, which means that, for at least the short term, our beloved tournament is still recognizable.

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Craig Robinson was on the Colbert Report last night

And yes, there is video of it:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Craig Robinson
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

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Oklahoma's collapse: Is Capel to blame?

It wasn't that long ago that Jeff Capel was considered one of, if not the best, up and coming young coach in the business.

While that still may be true, he is going to have his work cut out for him trying to prove it.

The 2008-09 season saw Capel, with the help of a guy by the name of Blake Griffin, lead Oklahoma to a 30-6 season and a trip to the Elite 8. After getting a stroke of luck with Willie Warren's decision to return for his sophomore season and landing a recruiting class that featured, among others, two McDonald's all-americans in Tommy Mason-Griffin and Tiny Gallon, the future looked bright in Norman.

My, that seems like a long time ago, doesn't it?

Jeff Capel certainly didn't have the season he was hoping for.
(photo credit: Zimbio)

This year was nothing short of a disaster for the Sooners. Warren was in and out of the line-up as he battled leadership issues, a bum ankle, and a bout of mono. Gallon never really lived up to his hype coming out of high school. Mason-Griffin seemed to thrive only when the other two players were out of the line-up and he was allowed free reign to shoot as much as he liked.

Oklahoma ended the year a disappointing 13-18. No one was predicting a national title for the Sooners this year, but a trip to the tournament -- and a winning record -- were expected.

Things only got worse after the season ended.

Mason-Griffin, Gallon, and Warren have all entered their names into the draft and have, or will shortly, signed with an agent. Gallon is being investigated for a TMZ Sports report that he may have received $3,000 from a financial adviser in Florida. Assistant coach and lead recruiter Oronde Taliaferro has resigned over speculation that he may have been involved in funneling money to Gallon. Orlando Allen and Ray Willis have both decided to transfer out of Oklahoma.

Combine that with the graduation of Ryan Wright and Tony Crocker, and Capel is left with just four scholarship players.

And while his recruiting class would be solid most years -- 6'6" small forward Cameron Clark headlines a trio that also includes top 100 point guard TJ Taylor and the recently signed Tyler Neal -- it only leaves Capel with seven players. And with Gallon gone, there isn't much size left to speak of.

To his credit, Capel is in seemingly good spirits.

"In order to get better, sometimes you have to cleanse," Capel said in a news conference last week. "Sometimes you have to lose some things. Sometimes things have to fall apart in order for them to fall back together. With some of guys that we've had that have left, I'm not really surprised. It's something that's going on around the country, not just here in our program."

The question I find myself asking is whether or not Capel is at fault for the collapse of the Oklahoma program.

My answer: maybe?

The last four years, he has brought in quite a bit of talent. Griffin, Warren, Mason-Griffin, Gallon, and Clark were all highly-touted recruits. Put out a starting line-up of those five players, and on paper you have yourself a team that can compete for a national title.

The problem is that three of those five kids turned out to be much more of a headache off the court than an asset on it. Reading through some recent quotes from Capel, and it is not difficult to infer that Warren, Mason-Griffin, and Gallon never really wanted to be in school this year, especially once the Sooners started losing.

Is that Capel's fault?

Yes and no. Yes, he brought in these talented kids. That is what coaches are supposed to do. No, he wasn't able to get them to buy into his system, something else coaches are supposed to do.

And while he was not able to build up any kind of team chemistry, can you blame him for trying? Don't you want your coach to believe that he can get a kid -- any kid, regardless of attitude or personality -- to buy into his system?

Capel took on a chance on a couple of youngsters, and it blew up in his face. But I guarantee there isn't one Sooner fan out there complaining the next time he signs a McDonald's all-american.

But like any coach worth his million dollar contract salt, Capel was able to spin it in a good light.

"For a lot of people, it may look doom and gloom," Capel said. "But for me, it's exciting. It's certainly a challenge, but it's something I think we're all up for."

I hope you're up for it, Jeff. Like you said, it will certainly be a challenge.
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Big Ten expansion hasn't been accelerated, but it is inevitable, and college basketball won't matter

During the college hoops season, there was a little bit of talk about the expansion of the Big Ten and the Pac 10, and the resulting trickle down effect to some of the smaller conferences.

This week, that talk has exploded, as the Chicago Tribune reported that the expansion could happen as early as June. Around the country, writers and fan bases waited patiently to hear from Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany to speak at today's BCS meetings, hoping for some hint as too what schools could be added and when it could happen.

And what did Delany say?

A whole lotta nothin'.

"There are no announcements here and there are no notifications here," he said.
...
Delany said the expansion process remains in an early phase. He said it's too early to tell whether the 11-team conference would add one or as many as five teams. He said his thinking wasn't being heavily influenced by a desire to hold a conference championship game in December. He also said he doesn't know how quickly an expanded league could be put together.

He would not deny, however, that programs are being evaluated for their potential fit in the Big Ten.

"I didn't say we weren't at that phase," Delany said. "I said we are not at the phase of any need to provide notice to an institution, that we were in formal discussions with an institution."

USA Today was able to land an interview with Delany:

"We have not accelerated anything," Delany said, refuting a Chicago Tribune report late last week that the league had alteredstepped up its timetable. In revealing it would ponder adding topanding beyond its current 11 members, the Big Ten said in December that Delany would take 12-18 months to draw up recommendations to its council of school presidents and chancellors.

He met with those officers in conjunction with semiannual meetings of the Association of American Universities in Washington, D.C., earlier this week, but described the discussions as routine. While "I'm not saying it didn't come up," Delany said of expansion, he insisted it merely was one of several league issues addressed.
...
"We'll work with our athletic directors and our presidents. If there's a need to have formal discussions about expansion with another institution, we'll reach out," Delany said. "But we're still in the process of analyzing and gathering information, and we're not anywhere near what I would describe as formal expansion discussions with any member. We haven't changed anything, neither the timetable nor the process that was described."

The good news is that it seems as if the original timetable -- 12 to 18 months -- is still in effect. The bad news is that it seems as if expansion is a virtual certainty.

The frustrating part of this for hoopheads is that the effect this conference realignment will have on college basketball has all but been ignored. Instead, the Big Ten, which has its own TV network and thus much higher payouts to its member universities, is more concerned about adding valuable television markets and ratings-drawing football programs.

If Syracuse goes to the Big Ten, what does that mean for the rivalry between the Cuse and Georgetown? If Missouri switches leagues, will the Border War still exist?

It is a frustrating thing to think about, and not just because it is likely that this will happen.

It is frustrating because the effects that realignment will have on college basketball are about as relevant to the decision making process as the accessibility of a Starbucks should the commissioner decide to attend a game at one of the newly added schools.

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Thursday Morning Dump

- Oliver Purnell finishes assembling his new DePaul staff

- Gardner-Webb hires Ohio Assistant

- Assistant coaches at South Carolina are not all making the same ammount of money

- Washington Freshman Clarence Trent is transferring to Seattle. It seems like everyone in the Pac-10 is transferring

- Eniel Polynice of Ole Miss is entering the draft

- Florida gets another committment


- Luke Winn being Luke Winn

- Jeremy Hazell, Herb Pope, and Jeff Robinson all may return to Seton Hall

- Paterson Catholic high school is closing

- Enes Kanter

- Seemingly every coach in the NY/NJ/CT area has been replaced this offseason

- Why Rutgers should not hire Jim O'Brien
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Marquis Teague to announce tomorrow

Marquis Teague, a consensus top five talent in the class of 2011 and the younger brother of former Wake Forest star and current Atlanta Hawk guard Jeff Teague, will be announcing his college decision tomorrow (Thursday) at 1:30 pm.

And it is a safe bet that the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky will be eagerly awaiting Teague's decision.

Where is Marquis Teague headed?
(photo credit: IndyHoops)

The general consensus is that Teague will be choosing between Louisville and Kentucky tomorrow. He was long considered a virtual certainty to suit up for Rick Pitino. He father played for Pitino at Boston University. Pitino hired Shabaka Lands, a former assistant at Pike High School (where Teague plays) last summer. Hell, Pitino even scheduled a trip to Butler in December of 2011, meaning that Teague would be headed back to Indianapolis for what could very well be his first road game at Louisville.

But then Coach Cal got involved. And as he is known to do, Cal made enough of an impression that no one has any clue where Teague is headed.

If Pitino lose Teague to Kentucky, it could be a very bad sign for Louisville, particularly since it would be coming on the heels of five-star center Michael Chandler's decision to re-open his recruitment. And don't forget that last summer, Pitino lost Fab Melo -- a kid most believed was headed to Louisville -- to Syracuse.

Pitino has built his class around Teague, pursuing hard since day one. He has connections to the kid's family. What kind of signal would it send if he lost Teague to his school's biggest rival and the coach he has a personal rivalry against?

"Rick Pitino and his staff need [Teague]," Scout.com's Evan Daniels told the Lexington Herald. "In fact, Teague is one of the most important prospects he's recruited since he's been at Louisville. Teague's father and uncle played for him, he's spent over two years recruiting him, and his blockbuster class in 2011 was built around Teague."

If Teague commits to Louisville, the Cardinals -- who struggled this past season and may have just lost Samardo Samuels to the NBA -- would return to the top of college basketball.

If Teague joins Big Blue Nation, I think it is safe to say that John Calipari has taken over the Bluegrass State.




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Jeff Bzdelik keep Wake Forest's recruiting class intact

When Jeff Bzdelik was hired at Wake Forest last week, there was a some backlash over the fact that he would not be bringing his coaching staff from Colorado with him, instead choosing to keep Rusty LaRue and Jeff Battle on as assistants.

Maybe now we know why.

With Ishmael Smith and Chas McFarland graduating and Al-Farouq Aminu off to the NBA Draft, the key to immediate success for Bzdelik was going to be retaining as much of the Demon Deacon's talented 2010 freshman class as possible. Wake Forest returns just five scholarship players -- as well as adding Georgetown transfer Nikita Meshcharakou (whose last named was spelled Mescheriakov at Georgetown).

A week into his tenure, Jeff Bzdelik has gotten an A+ for his job at Wake.
(photo credit: Blog.Taragana)

Over the weekend, Bzdelik and his staff met with all five of the Wake Forest recruits in the span of 36 hours, and all five decided to honor their commitments to the Winston-Salem school. It was an impressive bit of recruiting by Bzdelik, and no doubt was aided by LaRue and Bennett remaining on the staff.

Wake Forest may end up being a sleeper team in the ACC next season despite losing three first round draft picks the last two seasons.

Ari Stewart and CJ Harris were both pleasant surprises as freshman, and will now become the focal point of the Demon Deacon offense. Big men Tony Woods, who showed flashes of promise while playing behind a talented front line the last two years, and Ty Walker, a top 20 recruit with loads of potential, both return for their junior years as well. Senior Gary Clark, who averaged 7.6 ppg as a sophomore before seeing his minutes dwindle last year, also returns.

Now add to the mix a top ten recruiting class -- SF Travis McKie, C Carson Desrosiers, PF Melvin Tabb, and SG JT Terrell are all four-star, top 100 recruits, while PG Tony Chenault is a three-star recruit -- and what you are left with is a team with a lot of pieces looking to be put together.

Now, Wake won't have a lot of experience on this roster. But with a new head coach that runs a much different system than Dino Gaudio -- Bzdelik runs a Princeton-style offense -- maybe its better to have a fresh canvas, so to speak.

And seeing as no one on this roster is a potential early entrant, the future is looking bright for Wake Forest.

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Wednesday Morning Dump

- This is awesome.

- Jeff Bzdelik will inherit all five signees of Wake's 2010 recruiting class

- Northern Colorado promotes B.J. Hill to head coach

- IPFW head coach Dane Fife turns down assistant head coach job at Michigan

- It's a two-team race for the number-1 spot

- I'm confused: Is Gary Parrish actually defending Worldwide Wes?

- Mike DeCourcy explains why the new NBA draft withdrawl date will hrut the players

- Jeff Goodman provides an adequate roundup of coaching changes involving BCS schools

- Eamonn Brennan plays the "what if" game

- Luke Winn details the plethora of point guard prospects hailing from "America's hat"

- Adam Zagoria interviewed Tennessee-bound Tobias Harris at the Jordan Brand Classic

- Kentucky-bound Enes Kanter is well-polished conisdering his age

- Villanova-bound Markus Kennedy will take a extra Post-grad year at The Winchendon School (MA) (Unrelated Sidenote: Six years ago I attended an ice hockey game featuring Winchendon in which a fight broke out on the ice and spilled into the stands. That same year I watched future-NBA'ers Andrey Blatche and Dorell Wright (South Kent Prep) lose to Winchendon in overtime on an in-bounds trick-play)

- Louisville's Samardo Samuels will test draft waters

- Nevada's Luke Babbitt is entering the draft

- Kyle Singler is heading back to Duke, and feels good about the decision

- Jerome Randle thinks knows he is ready

- The ultimate NBA mock draft

- A great-read about the new Kentucky equipment manager

- Kansas Jayhawks '10-'11 prediction

- The Cornell Big Red '09-'10 highlight video

- A nice little peice on Harcum Junior College in Philadelphia

- Should Syracuse join the ACC?

- Your one womens-hoops-related-article-of-the-week: A great-read about the Albany womens coach and her husband, a former NBA referee

- This totally makes sense now. I knew Brad Stevens starred in Disney's "Rookie of the Year"

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POSTERIZED: Best for '09-'10

We posted one in yesterday's dump, but here is another pretty solid compilation of dunks from the 2009-2010 season:



Thanks to RTC via YouGotDunkedOn
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Am I the only one sick of all this expansion?

All the talk thus far during the off-season has been about expansion.

First, it was the tournament to 96 teams, a fact that every writer, blogger, and college hoops has lamented. Now the expansion talk is centering around the Big Ten and the Pac 10. Will the Big Ten raid the Big East for its football teams? Will the Big East be able to function as a conference with what may amount to mid-major football? Who is the Pac-10 going to add? Is it really possible that we may be looking at an NCAA with four super-conferences of 14 or 16 (or more?) teams?

Exact answers depend on what you have been reading.

Long story short, the Big Ten is looking at a number of schools -- Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas -- that they would like to add if they cannot get Notre Dame to join the league. The general consensus seems to be that if the Irish choose to remain independent (in football), that the conference will add three, or even five, teams.

I don't need to explain that this, like the expansion of the NCAA Tournament, is all about the money, do I? Big Ten teams earn $20 million in football payouts annually, while the Big East only pays their members $7 million. In order for the Big Ten to have a conference championship game -- a game that brings in huge amounts of TV revenue -- they need at least 12 teams. That's not it. Pete Thamel explains:

That would increase the Big Ten to the 12 teams necessary to have a postseason championship game and increase the league’s national profile. What it would not do is significantly increase the Big Ten’s television footprint for its successful new network, which is really the driving force behind its proposed expansion. That is why the Big Ten is toying with the idea of a 16-team league that could include colleges like Missouri, Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Connecticut. If that happens, Crouthamel predicted other conferences would catch up by adding teams. The counterintuitive aspect of the Big Ten expansion talk is that it is not always the quality of the program, but the television market that it would deliver, that is the most important factor. Though probably not pining to watch Rutgers or Syracuse football, Big Ten officials like all the television sets in New Jersey and upstate New York.

Yup. All about the money.

So keep this in mind every time you feel the need to complain about an athlete -- be it a one-and-done college basketball player, or a college football player that skips out on his final season, or a high school baseball player that enters the draft with spending a day on a college campus -- giving up their education for a big payday.

The NCAA and their member institutions are willing to ruin college basketball and football for the extra money brought in by an expanded tournament and expanded conferences. The way the NCAA makes their money is through exploiting the athletes that play these sports.

Is it really that wrong for these athletes to want to get paid themselves for their on-field exploits?

Put yourself in their situation. What if you weren't allowed access to the salary that you make at your job, and instead your compensation was that your office would give you a free education in a field completely different from the one you are working in. Instead of your salary going into your bank account, it went towards funding the rest of the country's workers, people in a much less-profitable line of work.

That's exactly what is happening with these college athletes.

So don't question them when they decide its time to start making some real money.

They are only doing what the NCAA taught them to.

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Guess who's back, back again...

All it took was one SCOOP from the SCOOPmaster himself to send the Duke Blue Devils flying to the top of every preseason college basketball poll that will come out in the next seven months.

According to FOXSports.com's Jeff Goodman (who else) and later confirmed in a press release by Duke, Final Four MOP Kyle Singler will be returning to Durham for his senior year.

He's back.
(photo credit: Getty Images)

Without Singler, the Devils were going to be good. They return Nolan Smith -- who is going to be on a lot of all-american teams -- along with both Plumlees and Andre Dawkins, will finally get Liberty transfer Seth Curry onto the court, and add freshmen Kyrie Irving, arguably the best PG in the class of 2010 not named Brandon Knight, and Joshua Hairston to mix as well.

But Singler is such a valuable piece. He is capable of playing all-ACC caliber basketball at the three -- which would allow Duke to play two post players -- or the four -- allowing Coach K to use the trio of Curry, Smith, and Irving together. We all saw the Final Four. You know how good Singler is.

With Singler, it is going to be very difficult to argue that Duke isn't the favorite to win a second straight title. That no doubt played a major part in Singler's decision to return. The last time a team won back-to-back titles was the 1991-1992 Duke teams led by Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, and Grant Hill 2006-2007 Florida teams. Who wouldn't want to be associated with a run like that?

That was likely far from the only factor in his decision, however.

You see, everyone and their brother has been declaring for the draft this season with a possible NBA lockout on the horizon. As a result, there is quite a logjam in the 20-45 range. In other words, there are a lot of guys that, in a normal year, would be fighting for a spot at the end of the first round that will drop to the bottom half of the second round. As we all know, the only way to guarantee yourself a hefty contract by leaving early is to be one of the 30 players taken in the first round.

And while Kyle Singler is projected by most to go somewhere in the late first round, he is far from a lock to get that guaranteed contract.

With the number of players that are currently eligible for this year's NBA Draft, its possible that Singler could shoot up to the late lottery next season.

So Singler will return to school, taking a chance on winning a second straight national title and playing his way into the lottery.

Seems like he may have made the right decision.

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Tuesday Morning Dump

- Yesterday was a crazy day in hoops

- Jay Bilas on underclassmen declaring for the draft

- New Louisville arena to be named after Colonel Sanders

- A great-read on what we could see next year with 96 teams

- Fred Hill resigns as head coach at Rutgers. His replacement?

- Colorado will name Northern Colorado's Tad Boyle new head coach; His legacy will be left at Northern Colorado

- Indiana hires Colorado assistant Steve McClain; Big-12 Freshman of the Year Alec Burks is not happy

- Last week, Jeff Goodman detailed Appalachian State's coaching vacancy and relatively-easy coaching search. I do not remember seeing Jason Capel's name anywhere

- Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar will remain in the great northwest until 2020

- Dino Gaudio to Virginia Tech? Yay or Nay?

- Atlantic-10 Player of the Year Kevin Anderson will leave Richmond for the NBA

- 6-foot-11 Will "Air" Yeguete commits to Florida

- Mike Rosario will transfer to Florida, and fit in rather well

- Syracuse's Brandon Triche says "his time will come"

- Former Southern Miss player does his best Kermit Washington impression...

- Adam Zagoria interviewed Duke-bound Kyrie Irving; Zagoria also believes Bobby Mo head coach would be a good fit at Rutgers

- Chicago State head coach Benji Taylor got fired

- Former Tulane head coach will join Buckeye staff

- St. Johns hires Golden State Warriors assistant Rico Hines

- A look at the big men of Georgetown's 2011 recruiting class

- A recap of the 2010 Jordan Brand Classic

- John Beilein is making some changes to his staff

- Malcolm Delaney's '09-'10 highlight video

- What should the Washington Wizards do with their three draft picks? Continue reading...

Monday Morning Dump

- Sad: Two Frostburg State players shot, one of whom died, defending a girl that was assaulted at a party

- Official measurements from the Portsmouth Invitational released

- Arkansas's Courtney Fortson going pro, not signing an agent

- "He's Worldwide Wes, not Commonwealth of Kentucky Wes". Oh Parrish, you slay me.

- Ugh. More expansion. Who's not excited about this? (We'll be writing on this later today)

- RTC fills you in on sickle cell testing

- Terrence Jones visiting Kansas

- Recap of the Jordan Brand Classic

- UNC-Wilmington hires Buzz Peterson away from Appalachian State

- Arizona went in front on the NCAA Infractions Committee

- Ronald Moore of Siena got pulled over for a possible DUI

Pretty good mixtape of dunks from 2010



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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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