Connecticut News, Connecticut Recruiting, Louisville News, Rutgers Recruiting, Villanova Recruiting, West Virginia News, West Virginia Recruiting

BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (10/23/2009)

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It is another Friday as we complete a busy week that saw the annual Big East media gathering at Madison Square Garden take place on Wednesday morning. There are so many articles on the league from the media session, we links many below as we tried to sift through the many stories on the ‘net. NBE will have a lot of our own articles from the gethering in the coming days and weeks.

Elsewhere around the league, Louisville held a Red/White scrimmage yesterday as part of their own media day session. There are some important holes to fill from last year’s team and some players are establishing themselves int he race to fill those spots. West Virginia is awaiting word from the NCAA on a recruiting compliance issue. In the meantime, they are hoping a JUCO addition adds the final piece to what they hope is a championship season. Cory Joseph also talks about his UConn visit, which fell on the weekend of a tragic incident on campus that might be leaving some current players uneasy about campus safety. Joseph also talks about his upcoming Big East visit. ‘Nova got a commitment from the class of 2011 and Rutgers sees their annual (it seems) chase of Marvell Waithe come up empty, again. Elsewhere, the NCAA is looking into limiting the role of third party influence in recruiting.

All of that, and more, can be found below in today’s links. While your reading, keep in mind, NBE will be covering the IS8 playoffs this weekend in NYC on Saturday and Sunday as well as the Eddie Griffin Challenge and the Metro Classic on Sunday. There will be plenty of updates throughout the weekend…so, keep your eye right here over the next several days!!!

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Louisville combined their media day on Thursday with a high scoring Red-White scrimmage, won by the ‘Red’ team 103-94.

“Offensively we’re way ahead of schedule,” UL head coach Rick Pitino told the Courier-Journal. “And defensively we’re way behind schedule.”

Having to replace Terrence Williams and Earl Clark will require the Cards to play a different style in 2009-2010 as the offense ran through the talented forward duo much of last season. In order to help each other along, the Cards are Talking more to Learn their Lines (Louisville Courier-Journal) on the court.

The current candidates to replace Williams at small forward are senior Reginald Delk and sophomore Kyle Kuric, neither playing more than five minutes a game last year. At power forward, since Pitino Wont Pair Terrence Jennings and Samardo Samuels together (Courier-Journal), the leading candidate is Jared Swopshire with freshman Rakeem Buckles gaining ground. Another frosh, Stephen Van Treese, will provide depth with a concentration on rebounding, setting screens and running the floor.

In the Red-White scrimmage, Swopshire led the winners with 28 points and Samuels added 26 points and 14 rebounds. Preston Knowles led the ‘White’ team with a game-high 32 points.

Freshman Mike Marra had his stroke from beyond the arc working, connected on seven of 14 three-point attempts and finished with 25 points. He connected on all seven of his mad treys in the first-half, scoring 23 of his 25 before intermission for the ‘Red’ team.

Kuric scored 18 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for the ‘White’ team.

Jennings came off the bench for the ‘White’ team. Jennings was recently arrested following an altercation with police working security at a club two weeks ago. Jerry Smith, also arrested in the incident, did not participate in the scrimmage. He left following media day activities to be with his girlfriend awaiting the birth of their first child (additional reporting on the scrimmage courtesy of the Western Kentucky Star).
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West Virginia and the Big East conference are working in a cooperative effort to review events from last week’s Mountaineer Madness basketball event where recruit Adreian Payne was greeted by a sea of signs and fans wearing ‘House of Payne’ shirts while on an official visit.

“We have done our review and, per procedure, submitted everything to the Big East,” said Chad Wall, WVU’s director of compliance, in the Daily Mail. “They will relay that to the NCAA and they are going to render a decision based on what we have provided.”

The NCAA Decision on WVU is Forthcoming (Daily Mail) and a decision whether WVU committed secondary violations based on its own report of the incident may be reached as early as today.

At issue is NCAA bylaw 13.10.5 regarding a “prospective student-athlete’s visit” and the rule states a school “shall not publicize (or arrange for publicity of) a prospective student-athlete’s visit to the institution’s campus. Further, a prospective student-athlete may not participate in team activities that would make the public or media aware of the prospective student-athlete’s visit to the institution (e.g., running out of the tunnel with team, celebratory walks to or around the stadium/arena, on-field pregame celebrations).”

According to the Daily Mail, penalties for secondary violations are not severe andsimilar cases have seen the NCAA has ord coaches, players and students take a rules awareness class. Limits can also be placed on recruiting, either in general or of a specific player.

As enforced by their pre-season placement of #2 in the Big East coaches poll, a href=”http://w3.nbebasketball.com/big-east-team-pages/west-virginia/”>West Virginia has high expectations this season. One reason for the optimism, despite the loss of Alex Ruoff, easily their best perimeter threat, is because of the addition of Casey Mitchell. Last season at Chipola (FL) College, Mitchell as named JUCO Player of the Year. The Charleston Gazette set out to learn the Truth on WVU’s New Shooting Star, who is 6-foot-4, 225 lbs and currently dealing with a sore knee.
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The Las Vegas Cun caught up with Findlay Prep’s Cory Joseph this week after the Local Hoops Player Visited UConn When Athlete was Slain on campus. Joseph, the highly touted point guard, was on an official visit to Connecticut last weekend at the time Husky defensive back Jasper Howard was fatally stabbed on campus outside a dance.

“It’s unbelievable,” Joseph told the Sun before practice Thursday night at the Henderson International School, with which Findlay is affiliated. “Crazy. An unbelievable loss and tragedy. It must hurt.”

Joseph left for Philadelphia after Thursday’s practice to visit Villanova. He has previously made an official visit to Texas, will visit Minnesota (where older brother Devoe is a guard for the Gophers) next weekend and will choose between Mississippi State, UNLV and Florida for his final official visit.

Joseph gave the UConn trip high marks and is looking forward to seeing ‘Nova agian, when quoted by the LV Sun.

“It was a great trip,” Joseph said. “I got to meet the guys and I talked with (Calhoun). The guys are cool. It had a cool vibe to it. I went to Midnight Madness and it was a good atmosphere. Fans painted their bodies and were cheering. It was crazy.”

“Coach Jay Wright is a down-to-earth guy,” Joseph said. “And I like that staff. It should be good. I’ll get guys’ opinions on how it is. I’ll relax and chill with them and see what the real Villanova is like.”

In light of the tragedy on campus, the NY Post headlines a brief article that the Huskies Dont Feel Very Safe on campus. While the article is more geared as an attention getter, UConn senior Stanley Robinson described the situation on campus as more shock than fear.

“I was shocked,” Robinson told The Post Wednesday.

“I was shocked that it even happened on campus. I eat at that place, at the union.”

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While Villanova hopes to put their best foot forward this weekend when Joseph visits for their ‘Hoops Mania’ festivities and gain a commitment from the 2010 point guard, a 2011 guard scheduled to visit for the festivities opted to get the commitment out of the way early. Less than a week after Achraf Yacoubou visited Kentucky, LI Lutheran’s Yacoubou Accepts Villanova Scholarship Offer (Newsday) and becomes Jay Wright’s first 2011 commitment.

Yacoubou, who made the announcement live on MSG Varsity’s “A Quick 60″ TV show, is a 6-foot-5, 205-pound combo guard who helped the Crusaders win the state Federation Class A title last season and was regarded as their best defensive player.
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I have pretty much lost count, but for the third or fourth time in as many years, Rutgers losses out on 6-foot-8, 200-pound Canadian forward Marvel Waithe as Waithe Commits to Arkansas (ZagsBlog.com) and will play in the SEC after finishing his sophomore season at Tallahassee CC.
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Here is a general college basketball recruiting article as the NCAA is Considering New Recruiting Restrictions for Men’s Basketball (Washington Post) aimed at limiting the third party influence in student-athlete recruiting. As Jim Boeheim said…’Good luck.’
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Still, many articles to wade through from Wednesday’s Big East Media Day. Here are some of the articles that offer more than just a rundown of the coaches polls:

- Around the Horn with Big East Coaches (ZagsBlog.com)
- The Big East’s Quality Seniors (and other notes from media day) (Syracuse Post-Standard)
- Jim Calhoun on his Team (Hartford Courant)
- Big East Media Day (Version 3.0) (HoopsHaven)
- Big East Wont Match Last Year, But Should be Fine (Newsday)
- Seton Hall Gambles on Checkered pasts (NorthJersey.com)
- UConn Has a Lot More than a Wings and a Prayer (New Haven Register)
- Pick Young Poison in Big East Basketball This Season (Philadelphia Daily News)
- Big East Shapes up as Battle Royal (Courier-Journal)
- West Virginia Evidence of Shift in League Power (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
- Louisville’s Rick Pitino Says Rutgers’ Facilities Need to ‘Get Upgraded to the Rest of Us’ (Star-Ledger)
- Louisville Basketball Coach Putting Focus on Season (Chicago Tribune)
- New Jersey Teams Want to Outperform Poll (Asbury Park Press)
- DePaul Has Much to Prove After Awful Season (Chicago Tribune)
- Big East Media Day News & Notes (Star-Ledger)
- Arinze Onuaku Looks to Soothe that Long-Ailing Knee, Plus Other BE Media Day Notes (Syracuse Post-Standard)
- West Virginia Has Local Plavor (SNY.tv)
- Jasper Howard on Big East’s Mind (Hartford Courant)
- Pitino Passes First Test, But Road Ahead Likely to be Rough (Courier-Journal)
- Pope Follows Path of Pain and Hope to Seton Hall (NY Post)
- Johnston (RI) Native Joe Mazzulla, Healthy Again, is Back with Mountaineers (Providence Journal)
- Huggins’ Heroes Not Run of the Mill Team (NY Post)
- Dyson Recovered, Ready to Produce (Connecticut Post)
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