Monday Morning Dump

(Programming Alert: Our fearless leader is off the reservation for the next seven days. This means that a) the room temperature at B.I.A.H. Headquarters is now set at a comfortable 68-degrees, b) the stench of gym socks, sushi and missed jump-shots has subsided and c) "Trizzle's Takeover" is back in effect. Not sure what that means? Me neither, but it sure sounds like fun.)

- Why would Jim Larranaga leave the program he built at George Mason for a ACC also-ran like Miami? Answer: The Challenge

- More on the possible Duke recruiting violation: Apparently Coach-K contacted the recruit, 6-foot-7 forward Alex Poythress, when he was in between recruiting events. Regardless of the details, this is a secondary violation at best. But don't expect anything more than "a slap on the wrists". Not because it's Duke and because they get away with everything, but because this incident is a non-event. It's just not that big of a deal. Violations like these happen on the reg. It's just not that often that a recruit calls out the head coach. But the real talking points will be about the grey area that Coach-K operated in. But then again, it is the late summer. News comes through the feeds at a glacial pace. So every story, every report and every quote gets over-examined and over-analyzed. However, rules are rules
. (Only somebody like, say, Jeff Borzello could start a mess like this. Oh wait, that's right, he did)

- I know it's already Monday, but Gary Parrish's Five for Friday is must-read stuff

- USA Basketball has announced the 14 finalists for the 2011 World University Games team. Notable snubs include Missouri's Kim English, Texas A&M's Khris Middleton and Northwestern's John Shurna. Villanova By The Numbers provides more details on the guys who made the team

- Jason King opens up the reader mailbag, dishes on the Pac-12 and tries to explain why nobody ever writes about the "good guys"

- Seth Davis sizes up the summer performances from the top rising-senior recruits in the country

- Hartnell Community College (CA) forward Preston Dee Anderson went missing on Saturday, July 24th and has not been found yet. Matt Norlander provides further details

- Jeff Goodman provides a rundown of Doug McDermott's hectic summer schedule. No hoops player in the country has seen their stock rise quicker than the Creighton sophomore, who had an excellent showing at the FIBA U19 World Championships

- "Two Scoops" (Because when you get one scoop, Goodman will have already gotten two scoops) also provides an off season report on the Big-XII conference

- A great retrospective look-back at the 2010-2011 CAA season

- A Sea of Blue offers more insight on "Pay-for-Play". I don't want to read more about this topic, but if I have to, Glenn Logan's stuff is what I am going to read

- Want a better shot at grabbing an at-large bid? Schedule a strong non-conference schedule

- Chris Burrows of ChicagoNow.com provides some great detail on StatSmack, a web-tool that generates smack talk about opposing college basketball teams (#Goodfind)

- With Michigan State and North Carolina gearing up to play a game on an aircraft carrier, Swoosh Nation compiled a list of other venues that should host a game

- Speaking of the Tar Heels, Roy Williams released his statement regarding the firing of UNC football coach Butch Davis

- Ed Isaacson provides a solid scouting report on one of the members of Duke's Plumlee Trio (It's actually about Mason, but since they all look and play exactly the same, it counts 3x.). Isaacson also details his list of impact juniors for 2011-2012

- Doug Haller drops some knowledge on California's hardworking-forward Harper Camp. (I saw Cal play 4-5 times last year, and I'm positive that Camp took an elbow to the face at least once every game)

- Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar has been linked to many head coaching jobs in the NBA, but his passion for making a difference in a young person's life is why he stays in school

- UCLA has done a tremendous job on the recruiting trails this summer, pulling in a fresh crop of stand-out players. But the Bruins will need to rely heavily on the talent that is already established

- Is Steve Lavin every going to stop reeling in recruits? His 2011 class is loaded and the 2012 class adds a new edition seemingly every week. Ricardo Gathers, the 12th-ranked forward in the Class of 2012, verbally committed to the Johnnies over the weekend

- Michigan landed it's third recruit in the Class of 2013 over the weekend in the form of 6-foot-6 wing forward Zac Irvin

- Did somebody really compare Nerlens Noel to Bill Russell?

- What's this? Somebody spent time in the late-summer writing about Boise State BASKETBALL? Then again, we are already familiar with their football team, so probably should get to know the MWC-bound Broncos hoops squad

- What are the chances that "The Butler Way" includes a third consecutive trip to the National Championship?

- The Saint Mary's Gaels have high expectations for the upcoming season despite being left out of the Big Dance last March

- Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine believes that big things are on the horizon for the Orange

- You all need to bookmark the following site: Big Apple Buckets. John Templon really puts together some Great Stuff. Especially this piece about Detroit's Ray McCallum and Creighton's Doug McDermott (But would it kill Templon to make the site RSS-accessible? I never check my bookmarks)

- Speaking of Detroit, they released their home non-conference schedule for 2011-2012

- The Kennel is going to be rocking for a handful of high-profile non conference home games

- La Salle also announced their non-conference schedule for 2011-2012. The Explorers will likely struggle without the production of Aaric Murray, who transferred to West Virginia

- A quick-look at the non-conference schedule of the Siena Saints

- Hey, don't forget that Nebraska's basketball team is joining the Big-Ten too

- Texas has gained quit a reputation for flaming out late in the season and failing to meet expectations. Are the fans to blame for setting such high expectations of Rick Barnes and his crew?

- A quick look at Marist's incoming recruiting class (#Greatread)

- A graph comparing the recruiting efforts of Kentucky and Louisville

- Get to know North Dakota's five-member class of 2014

- Dime Magazine put together a solid feature on former-Montana star Anthony Johnson and his wife Shaunte Vance, who are becoming a one of basketball's power couples

- This article is geared more towards college football but still is worth your time: Colleges want to increase efforts to track THE sales of autographs and game-worn uniforms (+100 for the picture. "Of course I'll sign your chihuahua!")

- Recently-arrested UCLA guard Jerime Anderson is hosting a "I love college" Party?

- Former-Louisville star Samaki Walker was arrested for possession of marijuana and liquid steroids. Walker explained that the steroids were legal in Syria, where he plays basketball. Unfortunately, they are not legal in America, where he was residing. Ten grams of marijuana were taken from Walker, but it would have been more, if he had not attempted to eat eight grams of if during the arrest (#InsertSuperTroopersquotehere)

- WHAT!? Lingerie basketball? (Women's basketball can't be saved. L]After all, lingerie or no lingerie, nobody should be forced to watch that many airballs)


Worst.Dunk Contest.Ever



(H/T The Big Lead)