BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (4/3/2008)
The coaching carousel news is plentiful today as Marquette begins to form a candidate list to replace Tom Crean and Providence begins to take a look at their list of Plan B candidates. Could Okalhoma State throw some big money at a Big East coach?
The recruiting fallout from Tom Crean’s decision has been documented, now you wonder about the possibility of transfers, one big man looks to be leaving, although it is likely unrelated to the Tom Crean news.
The transfer and roster situation at UConn could come to a head shortly. A seldom-used Rutgers freshman decides to move on. West Virginia’s players have raised the bar for next season after their success this year.
As reported in other outlets and mentioned in previous posts, Tyshawn Taylor and Nick Williams are in the process of making formal requests with Marquette to allow them out of their letters of intent they signed last fall. Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has A Closer Look at the Taylor Case where his coach at St. Anthony, Bob Hurley, relates it to past experiences.
MU athletic director Steve Cottingham told Rosiak on Wednesday that he wasn’t yet prepared to grant any of the school’s four committed recruits releases.
“That’s really premature at this point,” he said. “We’ll get a new coach hired, and then they and the coach will have the opportunity to meet and understand each other.”
Rosiak also reports that freshman Trevor Mbakwe is leaning toward transferring following the end of the semester due to family concerns in his hometown of St. Paul, Minn. According to the update, this was a situation that has been in place, and coach Tom Crean’s departure will have little if anything to do with it. It does make the burning of a redshirt in mid-February more clear as Mbakwe would have to sit out and redshirt as a transfer anyway next season.
Now that Tom Crean has left the program, the Eagles Still Seek Answer to Crean Question (Indy Star), according to Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, of whether he was a better politician/salesman/self-promoter than a basketball coach. Had Marquette really approached something close to its glory years with Crean, or had Crean just made it seem that way with smoke, mirrors and a perpetual tan?
Now, the Marquette coaching search is definitely about to heat up. The last time major dominoes fell in the coaching ranks, Bruce Weber found himself headed from the Missouri Valley Conference to the Big 10. Could Weber Be Another Domino (Herald Review)? This time going from Illinois to the Big East? Weber is a graduate of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, so he has ties to the local area of Marquette.
Brian Gregory of Dayton and Tony Bennett, current coach at Washington State and son of former Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett also will get considerable consideration as well as Wright State head coach Brad Brownell, who the Dayton Daily News indicates could be a front runner to succeed Tom Crean.
The news that Jim Larranaga Won’t Be Providence’s Next coach (Providence Journal) and the Turndown by Former Star is Friars Latest Letdown (Pro-Jo) as PC moves further and further away from their storied tradition.
So, Who’s Next: A Scouting Report on PC Candidates is found at the Providence Journal. Here are the names mentioned:
Craig Robinson, Brown
Travis Ford, UMass
Kevin O’Neill, previously Arizona interim head coach
Bob McKillop, Davidson
Tim O’Shea, Ohio
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The answers to the questions at Connecticut should be forthcoming soon as UConn’s Calhoun Says Roster Decisions Expected Soon (Hartford Courant) as up to four players could decide not to be back next year.
Most of the speculation surrounds Curtis Kelly and Doug Wiggins as potential transfers and Hasheem Thabeet as a possible early-entrant to the NBA, a decision from him should come in the next three weeks.
As for Kelly, his high school coach talks as it is a foregone conclusion that he will be transferring at the end of the semester. There is nothing definitive from Wiggins, but with his desire for more playing time and AJ Price, Jerome Dyson and Craig Austrie returning and Kemba Walker entering, that might not be happening next season. Other players kicked about as potentially leaving include Donnell Beverly (buried on the depth chart) and message boards mention Stanley Robinson as a possibility, but that seems to be one that has no solid backing as a rumor to this point.
Currently, UConn has 12 players signed for next season. Current verbal commitments from Scott Haralson and Nate miles up that number to 14 and UConn is expecting a visit from 6’10 forward/center Ater Majok, from Sudan via Australia, on April 26. Chukwuma “Charles” Okwandu, a 7’1 center from Nigeria who is attending Harcum College in Pennsylvania, and 6’10 center Jamie Vanderbeken of Ottawa, Ontario, are expected to visit April 18.
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Maybe the West Virginia men’s basketball team exceeded all outside expectations in their first season with coach Bob Huggins, but they did not exceed their own. To them, the WVU Season Was Sweet, But Not Elite (State Journal). The bar is raised heading to next season for the players.
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Another case of roster attrition is taking place at Rutgers as freshman Justin Sofman is Leaving Rutgers (zagsblog) after playing in just 14 games this past season, averaging 2.1 PPG and 5.1 minutes a contest. According to Adam Zagoria, Sofman is considering approximately 10 schools, mostly in the America East, the MAAC, the Northeast Conference and the Patriot League and hopes to decide by the end of April.
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As reported, Boone Pickens is ready to open his very large wallet and make someone very rich as the next coach at Oklahoma State. The Oklahoman takes a look at the top 26, YES, 26 candidates, including Mike Brey, Jay Wright and Jamie Dixon from the Big East, and how much it might take to get them to Stillwater as Pickens’ checkbook May Decide Who Cowboys Get.