Category: College Basketball (Page 97 of 153)

The suspense is over (lol). Michael Beasley of Kansas State announced today at a press conference that he is entering his name into the NBA Draft. This news could have been delivered with a press release, but you have to give Kansas State credit for holding a press conference to announce the obvious. I am surprised The Schwab wasn’t in attendance after his last podcast on the upcoming NBA draft.

The marketing department at Kansas State should be given big kudos for setting this announcement up. If it was Kansas it would not be more than a blip on the screen, but since it is the Wildcats it is huge news. Now the question is, can Frank Martin reel in another player as good as Beasley. My bet is no, but I do believe that Martin has the ability to stockpile more talent than any coach in recent memory at Kansas State.

The challenge now begins for the Wildcats to stay at the top of the league without the built in advantages that Texas and Kansas have at their disposal.

As far as Beasley, if there is anyone who questions his decision they need to have their head examined. I believe that a college education is a valuable thing, but if he wants, he can come back for his just as Jordan and Shaq did (just to name a few). As I have said before, college is about preparation for the rest of your life. If you are guaranteed millions then you need to go ahead and take it.

This announcement means Kevin Love and Derrick Rose will drop in the draft.

Moves from East Coast to West Coast continue with the hiring of Rex Walters (Florida Atlantic) at San Francisco. On the surface this hire looks as bizarre as the hiring of Craig Robinson at Oregon State. Walters, who is coming off a losing season at Florida Atlantic, is 31-33 as a head coach. That means that this AD forced out Jessie Evans for a guy with a losing record. Let me say that again. The AD at San Francisco fired a coach with an overall winning record to replace him with a guy with a losing record. Oh, and by the way, this same AD spent money on hiring a search firm to find this gem. When will she lose her job?

Marist Update: There are two left standing at Marist. Memphis assistant Chuckie Martin and Tom Herrion (Pitt) are the final two candidates. My money is on Martin.

Getting back to Florida Atlantic. This job is a sleeping giant. Not only have they boosted budgets, but they have spent millions on renovating the arena and locker rooms. More importantly, they have a power forward by the name of Carlos Monroe who has NBA potential.

Look for a slew of former coaches to be all over this job. Mike Jarvis (St. John’s), Eddie Sutton (OSU) and Jim O’Brien (Ohio State) will all be involved. Odds are the AD will try to make a splash like when he hired Matt Doherty a couple of years ago. Hiring Eddie Sutton would be a perfect match with football coach Howard Schnellenberger. Then they would have two of the oldest coahes in college sports today.

The search for a new coach at Providence continues. With Travis Ford (UMass) pulling out a couple of names have come to the forefront. Kevin Willard (Iona) and Larry Shyatt (Florida). Willard is a former Pitino assistant, but has not proven himself as a head coach yet. There are two better candidates in his own league. Both Jimmy Patsos, who took a dead in the water Loyola to 3 straight winning seasons. The first timke that has happened since the early 80’s. Also, Fran McCaffrey who led Siena to the NCAA tournament this year.

The stumbling block for these two candidates is their agent, Rob Ades. Ades was also Tim Welsh’s agent and from what I hear it didn’t end well. Seems like the Providence brass don’t want to deal with Ades again. That’s too bad for both Patsos and McCaffrey as they both would do a great job.

All that being said, look for Karl Hobbs to sneak in. The head man at George Washington has experience in the Big East at UConn and is from Boston. Write it down.

Brown Update:

The Ivy League school is looking hard at Tim O’Shea from Ohio U. The former Rhode Island and BC assistant would be a steal.

Bill Self said no to Oklahoma State and all of T Boone Pickens millions. The rumor on the deal wnet from a $6 million signing bonus to $40 million worth of hedge fund stock. He answered the question of winning over money. Forgetting for the moment that Kansas will soon make him the highest paid coach in the country (roughly $3.6 million), he knows that winning a title at OSU is next to impossible. At Kansas he can win one every year. That is how high the passion and interest is there.

Besides, if he wants to coach for pure money, he can always wait a year or two and then take the Oklahoma City NBA job. No doubt it will be his for the taking.

Now OSU turns it’s attention to Billy Gillespie of Kentucky. That’s not going to happen either. In the end they will end up with a new coach without the type of splash the AD hoped for when he fired Sean Sutton. A possible candidate is Chris Lowery of Southern Illinois. He would be a great choice.

Speaking of Sutton, what a great deal he got. A head coach for only 2 years and he walks away with a settlement of $400,000 plus $20,000 a month for the next ten years regardless if he takes another job or not. Unbelievable!! I guess it pays to be Eddie Sutton’s son!!!

At the other OSU (Oregon State University) AD Bob DeCarrolis hired Craig Robinson from Brown. Are you kidding me? First, the AD pays a search firm $75,000 to give him names. How about doing your own job Bob. Then Billy Grier turns it down, Randy Bennett pulls out and Ron Hunter (IUPUI) pulls out of negotiations after he is told he has to give an answer without seeing the campus.

With this type of incompetence, how can DeCarolis keep his job. Finally, they choose Robinson over Ken Bone (Portland State) and Dean Demopoulos (Portland Trailblazers). Makes perfect sense if you live on Mars. Robinson is finishing his second year at Brown and has never been to an NCAA tournament as a head coach, assistant or player. He has no connections to the West coast, but oh yeah, he is Barack Obama’s brother in law. Makes perfect sense!!!

Providence Update: Travis Ford has turned down the job to stay at UMass. Next in line is Fran McCaffrey (Siena) and Tim O’Shea (Ohio), but don’t be surpirsed if there is a wild card in the deck. Possibly, Fran Frachilla from ESPN and a former Friar assistant.

Western Illinois offered their opening to Ray Harper from Oklahoma City, but he turned it down to go to Western Kentucky as an assistant. Look for former Bradley coach Jim Molinari to land the job.