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BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (4/5/2010)

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Its been a while, but here is a round of Big East News & Notes as the college basketball season comes to a close tonight in Indianapolis. On Saturday night West Virginia fell to Duke in the Final Four and it was a sad ending to the great career of Da’Sean Butler who suffered a serious knee injury midway through the second half. Duke had the game in hand at the time, but the sight of Butler grimacing in pain on the floor was tough for any fan to witness. Knowing the class act the young man has always been made it more difficult to see. We wish Butler a speedy recovery and hope to see him in the NBA some day soon!

It was a great season for Bob Huggins and WVU basketball and they should not forget that anytime soon.

Elsewhere UConn picks up a verbal commitment and Louisville, or Cincinnati, hope to hear Marquis Teague announce for their school this weekend when his long-awaited college choice is expected. Teague is a 2011 recruit and, despite being one player over the scholarship limit on paper for 2010-2011 right now, the Huskies continue to recruit as roster movement seems imminent.

Also today in the links below, an odd scene on the baseball diamond involving Fred Hill Jr recently, had to read it twice myself and still do not quite believe it, DePaul’s search for Jerry Wainwright’s replacement continues, big news for the Hurley family, father and son and Pitt’s head coach Jamie Dixon, who recently was given a contract extension at Pitt and awarded with a national coaching honor, has a unique perspective on the star Butler duo leading the Bulldogs into tonight’s national championship game against Duke. Steve Lavin has added his first staff member at St. John’s, too.

Read on below for all of the latest News & Notes around the Big East basketball conference. Sports fans should also visit StubHub.com - The Safe Way to Buy & Sell Tickets Online for tickets to any NCAA event or NBA, MLB, NHL game or UFC, WWE or concert tickets at an arena near you this spring.

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It was a sad ending to the West Virginia season Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium as the Mountaineers fell to Duke, 78-57, in one of the two National Semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. The sad ending was not limited to the result on the scoreboard as senior Da’Sean Butler went down with a knee injury midway through the second half. It was a sad scene to see the Lowes Senior CLASS award winner end his college career grimacing in pain on the floor of the Final Four court. Butler finished his WVU career with 2,095 points.

The All-American initially thought it was a sprained knee, but it turned out more serious after further tests revealed he suffered an ACL tear in his left knee.

Don’t Forget WVU’s Numerous Achievements This Season (Herald Register), which included the school’s first-ever Big East Tournament championship, the most wins in a season in school history (31) and the second trip to the Final Four in their long history as well.
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The college decision of Marquis Teague has seemed to be on the verge of happening any moment for more than a year now. It looks like the wait may finally be over for one of 2011’s prized point guard recruits as Indianapolis Pike’s Teague is Close to Deciding Where he will Commit (Louisville Courier-Journal) amd the announcement is expected this weekend. His father, Shawn, played for Louisville coach Rick Pitino at Boston University and has visited U of L multiple times, leaving the Cards as the perceived leader. In recent months, the University of Kentucky has reportedly made up ground Cincinnati looks to be in consideration as well.

Teague is expected to be playing with Spiece this weekend at the Nike Elite Youth AAU Basketball League at Boo Williams Sports Complex. NBE will be on hand for the action and will report on any news coming out of the event.
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Connecticut picked up a verbal commitment as the long holiday weekend kicked off as Shabazz Napier made a pledge to the Huskies’ program. The 5-foot-11 point guard plays out of Lawrence Academy in Groton (MA) and is a member of the BABC AAU program.

Listed as a junior at Lawrence and a 2011 recruit, Napier is in the process of being reclassifed, making him eligible to play at UConn next season.

With, according to sources, sophomore point guard Kemba Walker Returning and Napier Committing (Hartford Courant) it looks to remove the Huskies from the picture for highly touted 2010 targets Cory Joseph, Josh Selby and Brandon Knight.

The Huskies are now one player over the limit of 13 scholarship players for next season and, according to the Courant, expect up to two players to transfer. Recruiting efforts are ongoing as C.J. Leslie, a 6-7 power forward from Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh (NC) and Oak Hill Academy shooting guard Doron Lamb are still in the mix.

UConn’s incoming recruiting class includes Roscoe Smith of Oak Hill, a 6-7 wing; Jeremy Lamb, a 6-4 guard from Norcross (GA) High; Tyler Olander, a 6-9 power forward from local E.O. Smith High School and Michael Bradley, a 6-9 forward from Tyner Academy in Chattanooga (TN).
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A bizarre story in Jerry Carino’s Hoop du Jour involving Rutgers‘ head basketball coach Fred Hill jr which is appropriately filed under the subtitle ‘Out of Left Field’ in Carin’s notebook. In the bottom of the ninth in a Big East contest between RU and Pitt, Hill (whose father is RU’s longtime baseball coach) ran out onto the diamond in front of the Rutgers’ dugout and launched into a profanity-laced tirade in the direction of Pitt baskeball skipper Joe Jordano and the Pittsburgh coaches.

What!?!?!?
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The coaching search at DePaul continues, possibly aimlessly, along. members of the national media have referred to the process as the stargnest “search” they have monitored. Names bantied about have included the brother-in-law of the country’s Commander in Chief, Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon, UCLA coach Ben Howland and others, but none some realistic and Dixon and Robinson have signed contract extensions. Now the Chicago Tribune places Isiah Thomas’ name back into the mix and speculated that Recruits Might Follow Thomas to DePaul. We will see…
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St. John’s new head coach Steve Lavin has tabbed Drexel Assistant Coach Tony Chiles as Lavin’s first Hire (VPhoops.com) for his new staff. Chiles just completed his 6th season at Drexel under Bruiser Flint and has always had a strong reputation in New York City basketball circles, according to Vin Parise.
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Tonight’s national championship contest will cap the 2009-2010 college basketball season when Duke takes on the Butler Bulldogs at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (IN). Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon got to know twoof Butler’s players very well as Butler’s Players Won Gold with Pitt’s Dixon (SNY.tv). Sophomores Shelvin Mack and Gordon Hayward won the gold medal last summer at the FIBA Under-19 World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand with Dixon as the head coach.

Also, speaking of the Panther head coach, Pitt’s Dixon Earns a National Honor (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) as the Jim Phelan national coach of the year award. It’s the second national coach of the year award for Dixon in as many years as he won the Naismith award last year.
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Over the last several years Dan Hurley has rebuffed several offers from Big East schools to join their staff as an assistant coach. Maybe taking a first step to someday landing a head coaching job in the conference Wagner is set to Name Dan Hurley Head Coach (Staten Island Advance) of their men’s basketball team.

Hurley is the coach at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark (NJ) and previously was an assistant at Rutgers after a college career with Seton Hall in the Big East. Son of legendary Hall of Fame St. Anthony’s High School coach Bob Hurley, Dan played for his father before his college career at SHU.

Word circulating the lobbies of hotels in Indy this weekend was that it was a done deal. The story was probably held off a few days as the Hurley family was celebrating the news that St. Anthony’s Coach Bob Hurley Sr is to be Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame (Star-Ledger). A well-deserved honor a long time coming…
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