Checking In: The Winthrop Eagles

Checking In is a feature that looks back at the lesser-known teams from last year's NCAA tournament and checks in to see where they are now. This week's entry will try to catch up with the Winthrop Eagles, who have endured a real maelstrom of an off-season.

Attempting to write an article like this really points out my lack of perspective. As a hoops junkie, I've had Winthrop on my radar for the past few years. So when tournament fans looking for an edge named them as an "upset special", I was a bit befuddled. The Eagles have had a virtual lock on the Big South for most of the new millennium.

But so many things changed around Rock Hill, SC during this off-season, that is is only right for us all to get re-acquainted. First, and most obvious, coach Gregg Marshall finally got his chance to move up a few rungs in the college basketball hierarchy. His 29-5 (14-0) with a signature win over Notre Dame in the round of 65 put him in the lineup of dominoes that fell when Billy Gillespie went to Kentucky. Mark Turgeon took Gillespie's place at Texas A&M, and the Wichita State job belonged to Coach Marshall, at a reported three times his previous salary.

Just two months after the breakthrough win over the Fighting Irish, Winthrop guard DeAndre Adams was involved in a car crash that ultimately claimed his life. New head coach Randy Peele, who helped recruit Adams in his assistant coaching days, had to deal with the loss of a favorite player, and the team had to absorb the knowledge that their friend and spark plug would not be with them any more. They will dedicate this season to him.

On the court, the Eagles are still a good team, but not a consensus pick to win the Big South any more, and this is a one-bid conference. Three starters are gone, although top scorer Michael Jenkins will suit up as a Senior. Six freshmen fill out a roster devoid of Sophomores. No player is over 6'9". Coach Peele has been a key factor in the Eagles' success the past several years, so if anyone can keep the beat going, it's him.

Winthrop will be challenged this year by the helter-skelter style of Virginia Military Institute (VMI), who operate under the 100/50/30 rule - put up 100 shots per game, 50 of them treys, and force 30 turnovers per game. High Point is loaded for bear, returning most of their team. UNC-Asheville is filming My Giant II with 7'7" Kenny George. It should be an interesting year.

When I turn to ESPN during championship week a few months from now, you can bet my eyes will be on the Big South, and Winthrop.

Duke Crews Reinstated at UT - Well Isn't that Conveeeeen-ient?

Just a quick news flash: Our blog-buddies over at A Pudge is a Sandwich are reporting, via the Knoxville Daily Times, that suspended Volunteer big man Duke Crews will be reinstated this week.

No word yet on whether Crews’ 5 inch front-faced-rat-tail chin hair will be joining him in his return.

[A Pudge is a Sandwich]

The Vol-faithful writers at APIAS find it mighty convenient that Crews' transgressions have been deemed minor in the wake of concussion complications for forward Wayne Chism. But when you're playing the mighty California (Pa.) Vulcans, sometimes the win takes precedence over the conscience.

The STF Q&A;: Kyle Whelliston of ESPN and The Mid-Majority

Every other Friday, STF will run a Q & A with some people who know much, much more about college basketball than we do. Look for insight and analysis from some of the top professionals in the world of college basketball. Today, we have Kyle Whelliston, ESPN Columnist and founder of The Mid-Majority. Basically, he is the godfather of the mid-majors, and STF is damn proud to have him for an interview.



Q&A With Kyle Whelliston


STF: Where did your love of mid-major basketball come from and what made you start the outstanding Mid-Majority blog (which has a new design as of today)?

KW: I'm about as unlikely a mid-major fan as anyone could be. I went to school at the University of Oregon, where I spent mild winters at the Track Town Pizza buffet, listening to Grateful Dead tapes on my Walkman and secretly wishing I was like Terrell Brandon. When I moved back east in 1997, realizing that my life made no sense, I was looking at going to Temple or Nova but ended up at Drexel instead, a school I would have never heard of if it wasn't for Malik Rose and the win over Memphis the year before. I guess that's where it started.

I went to a lot of games at Drexel's lovable old Quonset hut, which is now named after a rich Greek dude, and learned the rhythms of the America East, such as they were. I was taught to hate schools like Stony Brook and Delaware and Boston University, without really knowing fully why. In November, schools with strange names, stranger even than "Drexel," would come through and play us. The questions that enter your mind during those nonconference tilts: "Who are those other guys on the floor? Where do they come from, what are they about?" That, right there, is the gateway to this world.

During the 2003-04 season I went to 82 games, mostly in the Philly and Tri-State areas, because I wanted to know the answers. I didn't have a girlfriend or anything, so it was easier to do. Then, one day, I was sitting in the stands at the Palestra, up near the radiator, and thought to myself, "You love college basketball so much, why don't you marry it? Or at least make a college basketball website." I chose the latter.

STF: I'm completely fascinated with of the 100 Games Project from a few season back. Not even just about the basketball, but the logistics of planning the entire trip. Can you please explain how that project came about, some of the highlight and lowlights so of being on the road for the entire season and what your travel plans for this season are?

KW: The 100 Games Project was a gimmick, pure and simple. I would go to 100 games, write something about each one, and put the reports on a site which was originally supposed to be a repository for mid-major schedule information that would help me find where the games were -- you talk about logistics, try finding a game in your area in the agate type of the sports section instead of a map. (The map site eventually grew up and became Basketball State, bbstate.com.)

Inexplicably, people started coming for my game reports instead of my cool database. I always got good grades in English, and I was at Oregon's J-school until the Gulf War I turned me off to the whole idea of journalism, so I guess I could write a little. And there was a turning point around Game 11 when I realized I was on to something that was affecting people on very deep levels, and that the quest may have even been quasi-spiritual. I had to finish it. With the limited resources I had, the travel, and the amount of unpaid effort the project took, I still have no idea how I made it through all that. I spent a lot of nights sleeping in truck stops on the road, a tradition I'll keep up even if I end up making millions from this. (Plus, the Wi-Fi always, always works there -- I dare anyone to try to piss off a trucker who's trying to check his MySpace messages.)

Of course, I use my magic maps now to construct massive coast-to-coast itineraries every year that take me from the WAC to the SWAC. Working with ESPN helps a lot too, I won't lie. I have 108 games on tap for this season, and that's with no games scheduled for December. I'm telling you, these new NCAA rules about scheduling and "Multi-Team Events" are perfect for me because they let me see huge numbers of games in November. It's like Myles Brand (my president back at the U of O) sent me an angel.

STF: How did you get hooked up writing about mid-majors for ESPN?

KW: After the 100 games thing, people from very recognizable corporate organizations started to e-mail me and find my phone number, which was a real shock at first. I got an offer to turn the 100 games into a book, another to spend the 2005-06 season on the road for a book. I also got a few sniffs from national media outlets as well. All but one of those, however, were drawn to me because they felt I could show how humorous, wacky and non-threatening life outside the Top 25 was, and the amount of pride these schools have made me feel that was inappropriate. ESPN was and is a good fit for me because they wanted me to tell stories.

STF: Teams like Gonzaga, George Mason and the entire Missouri Valley seemed to have gained tremendous amounts of credibility over the past seven or eight years, what influence do you think that writers and bloggers like yourself have had in the recent rise in mid-major love by the major media ?

KW: Anyone who really thinks the Valley only has a decade or so worth of credibility is invited to read Steve Richardson's "A Century of Sports" and just page through the pictures: four national titles, Bird, X-Man, Big O, Memphis and Louisville in the 1970's... I could go on for 100 years. And a decade ago, you didn't really even hear that much about Gonzaga during the regular season, and this was while they were messing up everybody's bracket every year. There's no doubt that the increased coverage of mid-majors is because of increased media -- in a landscape with unlimited news sources and more ESPN's than HBO's, there's just so far you can stretch the 40 or so elite programs before you start assigning dedicated reporters to cover the Duke assistant coaches 24/7. There's a lot more room now for these stories to germinate and grow in January and February, and it helps people know where these teams came from. Jumping on a mid-major bandwagon in March is like cutting the first hour out of "Hoosiers" -- the setup's the best part.

Blogs like ours offer such an incredible opportunity to offer readers around the world something that wasn't available when the Valley and Gonzaga played in the dark: the feeling of what it's like at and inside a real live college basketball game, instead of the detached "let's see what's going on in the ant farm" approach that the national media tends to specialize in. There are a few independent outlets now that stay away from recycling the same frontrunning hype as the traditional media, but I'm guessing that it's because they haven't been properly inspired. I love what you and Extra P. and the others do here, the writing on STF is charged with a lot of excitement and passion for the game experience. I'm not just saying that because you "friended" me on the Facebook.

As far as my own influence goes? I still have remarkably little outside my small and lethally rabid fan base, and I like it that way. it helps me keep my mid-major edge.

STF: Give us some of your favorite mid-major stops along your many roadtrips and some gymnasiums you wish had been left off of the travel plans?

KW: I won't lie, I've been to some pretty bizarre and/or horrible gyms the past few years... synthetic rubber courts, lighting so bad that you get migraines for days afterwards, and the place where the HVAC unit and the septic tank are too close together so you get a few wafts of fecal scent during games. I don't want to name names or anything, because these places are total embarrassments to otherwise fantastic institutions of higher learning. I like places where I go in and feel like home, where I could spend 16 winter nights at every year. The Palestra is where my heart will always live. High Point's place feels like a southern mansion. Boylan Gym at Monmouth has always been one of my favorites, it has a very low-slung roof and is always toasty. I'd go ahead and move in to any of those, but I'm married to someone who'd rather not sleep in a cot.

STF: This is pretty much a personal question, but how are my Bucknell Bison going to do this season? Mastropaolo is out, but I'm a big fan of Tyree and Vegotsky.

KW: I once had a very similar knee injury to Mastro's, so it personal for me too. I saw a lot of Bucknell last season, and Vegotsky stuck me as a smart player whose shooting discipline will naturally get better as he progresses. Tyree is very exciting, and I think the primary joy of this year for Bison fans will be watching him develop into, possibly, the type of sudden-threat combo that most NCAA-threat mids have. Bucknell could be right back up there in the national picture in 08-09, especially if Mastro does decide to take a redshirt and come back, instead of walking with his teammates. That's all a long way of saying I think they'll finish second, a few steps behind Holy Cross.

STF: What was your favorite mid-major team/story to follow since you have been involved with the Mid-Majority and ESPN?

KW: Without a doubt or a moment to think about it, George Mason 2006... Northwestern State 2006 is a close second, but that's only because they didn't make it as far. I was sitting down with one of my uberbosses in Bristol last month and he mentioned how lucky I've been to find all these great stories, but honestly, I go to so many games I'd have to be an idiot or a very poor planner not to run into them. My proudest moment as a real journalist so far was writing the first national puff piece on that Mason team -- this was January 3, 2006. Hardly anyone remembers just 22 months later, but all anyone was talking about in the CAA was Old Dominion, which had just come off an NCAA year and had a lot of returning starters.

STF: Before we let you go, give us your pick for the season's top mid-major team and a mid-major no one is talking about that can sneak up on everyone?

KW: You're going to be hearing a lot more about Davidson from myself and others this year, especially if they can knock off Duke, UCLA and/or UNC in neutral-court situations. I promise to try to keep the slingshot puns on the school name to a minimum. Very few people are talking about Western Michigan right now out of the MAC... this is a team that has been building to this year as a peak. The Broncos have a versatile big in Joe Reitz, and accomplished young guards with David Kool and Shawntes Gary. A good friend of mine is trying to arrange a trip to Kalamazoo on Nov. 21 for the Davidson-WMU game, saying the winner is good for a first-round NCAA upset. I agree.

STF Super Awesome Team Previews: #6 Tennessee Volunteers

#6 Tennessee Volunteers

Team: Tennessee Volunteers

Conference: SEC

Last Season Recap: 24-11. Lost to Ohio State in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

Key Players Returning: The top six scorers return from last year's team that was a second half collapse away from reaching the Elite Eight. The biggest return for the Vols, and possible the biggest returning player in all of college basketball, is senior Chris Lofton. Lofton is a preseason All-American with a sweet stroke and the Melo like ability to carry an entire team on his back. Also back in Knoxville are the Smiths.... G JaJaun Smith (15.2 ppg), PG Ramar Smith (10.7 ppg), and F Tyler Smith (big time transfer form Iowa). Wayne Chism is best interior player for the Vols (6 rpg), but may need some help with the loss of Duke Crews (thrown off team).

What's to Love: The greatest collection of returning talent outside of Memphis and Chapel Hill. Lofton has to be considered one of the preseason favorites for the Wooden and is one of my favorite players to watch in all of college basketball. If I can pick one player to make a shot to save my life (man that wouldn't be too fun), I'm going with Lofton. He possess fantastic leadership skills and has the ability to carry a team on his back. Also a big fan of Bruce Pearl's high energy defense and passion for the game......and his choice in women.

What's Not to Love: This team is going to miss the little things that Dane Bradshaw provided. He was the perfect glue guy whose value never showed up in the box score. With the loss Crews and an early season injury to Chism, this team is suddenly very vulnerable in the middle.

(Edit: Nothing like a concussion to your only big man to make you rethink that indefinent suspension...Duke Crews has been reinstated by the team. Big HT to A Pudge Is A Sandwich for this item).

Key Player: Lofton is going to get his points and garner all of the attention. If the Vols are going to do something special this season, it's going to come down to the play of Wayne Chism. Even in the Vols high octane, guard oriented offense, there needs to have some kind of inside presence. And with the loss of Crews for the season, this will all come down to Chism. He has nice stroke from beyond the arc to extend defenses, but he'll have to increase his points in the paint and make-up for the Crews loss in the rebounding department for the Vols to be a Final Four team.

Best Case: Lofton plays to his Player of the Year caliber all season, including a tournament performance to remember. JaJuan Smith continues to put up points like he did in February, Chism provides a solid offensive post presence and makes up for the loss of Dukes admirably, Pearl can stay out of any inter-office romances.

Worst Case: Teams gang up on Lofton and no one else can step up as team leader, teams force the Vols into a halfcourt game and attack the Vols weak interior, the bad luck at the start of season (Crews out, Chism injured) continues until March.

STF Prediction: Last season's major man-crush on Lofton goes into this season....he wins the Wooden.....SEC Champs, Elite Eight.

The Big Man Resurfaces

You may or may not know my obsession with Anthony Ivory, the former 375 plus center for Temple last season. A holdover from the Jon Chaney era (which included a defensive strategy of putting a guy the size of a ranch home in the middle of the zone), Big Ant didn’t exactly have the “speed” or “agility" to keep up with Fran Dunphy’s up-tempo, man-to-man style. So Big Ant has moved on….to Division II Bowie State. This is first picture of him since the transfer. So when you start seeing Bowie State updates on this blog, you’ll know why.

STF Super Awesome Team Previews: #7 Louisville Cardinals

Team: Louisville Cardinals

Conference: Big East

Last Season Recap: 24-10 (12-4). Lost to Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Key Players Returning: Starters only get about 25 minutes per game at Lou-vul, but the names in the box score will be Edgar Sosa at point, Jerry Smith shooting, stud SF Terrence Williams, injury-prone PF Juan Palacios, and even more injury-prone C David Padgett. Big dog Derrick Caracter has slimmed down (yes, I said slimmed down) to 278 for the upcoming season.

What's to Love: Rick Pitino showed his team Florida's statistics as a motivating factor for this season - he wanted them to see that the Gators shared the wealth between great players to make it happen. If that team-oriented approach catches on with this immensely talented bunch, it's going to be lights-out for the Cards.

What's Not to Love: Some persistent injury woes on the front line make fans nervous. Derrick Caracter has had some personal comportment issues, which makes headline writers, very, very happy. Fortunately, the recruiting train has stopped at Louisville often, so there are some backups who might be able to step in if either issue makes life difficult.

Key Player: Terrence Williams. The 6'6" Small Forward has been tabbed by Pitino as one of the best athletes he's ever coached. Ever. His weakness is shot selection - he bombs away without remorse, putting up shooting percentages of 36% overall and 26% behind the arc. Ugh. If he improves those ratios, this will be a very tough team to beat.

Best Case: Clearly, the best case is that all of the parts click and Pitino brings another championship to the state of Kentucky, ableit down the road from Lexington.

Worst Case: The worst case would be a re-emergence of injuries and/or bad behavior, leading to a relatively early exit in the NCAAs.

STF Prediction: Pitino has a marvelous team at Louisville, including three hot freshmen who are ready to learn on the job. The main thing standing in their way is Roy Hibbert and Georgetown, but even if the Cardinals have to settle for second place in the Big East, they will still be capable of making the Final Four. And that's where I see them headed.

Word On The Court - October 31, 2007

What to know what is buzzing in college hoops? Word on the Court will provide links to the biggest and most interesting stories in the world of college basketball.



Great preview of the A10's unique place in the college basketball world by the outstanding Basketball Prospectus (Basketball Prospectus)

Eric Mussleman's drunk ass thinks he can coach college basketball without any experience (AOL Fanhouse)

Texas gets ready for life without Durant (Yahoo!)

Remember St. Bonnie? Well, they are still struggling from 2003 player scandal (Andy Glockner, ESPN)

Of course, as soon as I pick Penn State as a sleeper, their best player gets injured (Daily Collegian)

Nice interview with SIU's Randal Falkner on MVC Media Day (Hang Time, CSTV)

Is the size of the Big East costing it tourney bids? (Joe Lunardi, ESPN)

An excellent question, is it worth purchasing the ESPN College Basketball Package? (Rush The Court)

The final of the "real" bracket is coming to a close this Friday (The Big Picture)

A vote for Ohio State as this year's Final Four sleeper (Making The Dance)


Got a story for STF? Let us hear it at stormingthefloor@gmail.com

STF Super Awesome Team Previews: #8 Washington State Cougars

#8 Washington State Cougars





Team: Washington State Cougars

Conference: Pac-10

Last Season Recap: 26-8, Lost in Second Round to Vanderbilt

Key Players Returning: Pretty much everyone returns form last year's squad that shocked the nation with it's 26-8 record, namely super guard Derrick Low, C Robbie Cowgill, and PG Kyle Weaver. Seriously, if you could have predicted that Wazzou, perennially one of the worst BCS basketball schools and picked to finish dead last by the coaches in the preseason, would have won that many games, you should be writting for this blog (and rich with that bet you made in Vegas)

What's To Love: The return of Low, Weaver and Cowgill from last season's team are the reason for such extreme optimism by Coach Tony Bennett and their fans. Despite the fact that if you saw this team walk on to the court without names on the jerseys, you would think that they look like a DIII school. Desptie this, the Cougars possess all of the key elements for a successful college hoops team: a terrific scoring and passing guard in Low, a versatile defensive point guard in Weaver and do-everything post player in Cowgill, a three point threat in G Harmling, a deep bench and a team first attitude.

What's Not To Love: If last year proved anything, it's the preseason rankings don't mean shit. Let's put it this way, it would be less surprising if this team finished 8th in the Pac-10 this season than last year's team finishing 26-8. The Cougars aren't going to sneak up on anyone this season, and some say could be primed for a letdown. Also, their will be no off nights for Cougars in extremely tough Pac-10

Key Player: Low and Weaver figure to continue their improvement into elite players, so we'll go with Robbie Cowgill as the key player for this time. We love his old-school, all-around game for a center (8.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.2 apg), but at 210 lbs, he'll continue to smaller than his lowpost counterparts in the Pac-10. If he can increase his scoring a bit and withstand an entire season under the basket, the Cougars should thrive.

Best Case: The Cougars prove to be no one year fluke by once again beating teams with their discipline, team defense, tempo control and hustle, Low and Weaver look as good as they did for Team USA this summer, Cowgill increases his points and survives the season, Baynes is a capable big body of the bench, Harmeling's treys takes the focus off Weaver and Low.

Worst Case: No more surprises, everyone has game-planned on how to beat the Cougars, this team struggles with bigger and more athletic teams in an up-and-down game, the Cougars are killed on the boards, the team suffers a collective letdown season.

STF Prediction: Too much for talent and experience returns for this team to have a major letdown. 2nd or 3rd in the Pac-10, Sweet 16.

Q & A by Association: Erin Andrews

It's times like these when Marco and I are so very proud to be members of the Awful Announcing Channel Four News Team.

Seems our esteemed colleague Brian at One More Dying Quail wanted to interview Erin Andrews. It seemed like a daunting task, but did Brian balk? Did he say "it will never happen?" No, he did not. He called ESPN's PR department, and asked. And, wonder of wonders, the answer was "yes".

I'll let you read the entire interview with America's Busiest Sideline Reporter over at OMDQ, but here's a tidbit to whet your appetite:

OMDQ: I’m the sort of person that gets nervous when I have a boss hanging over my shoulder watching me work, so I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be on TV and to be in front of millions of people and know that they’re judging you. I think a lot of it is the sense that they’re waiting for a mistake, waiting for a slip-up somewhere.

EA: Yeah, they are, and most people point it out, even sometimes your bosses point it out when you make a mistake more times than not. I’ve learned very quickly in this industry that you have to develop a very, very thick skin and if you don’t, you’re not gonna succeed. I remember one of the first times I ever saw something on the Internet that was written about me I ran out into my parents’ living room and I started to cry. Somebody had written about the size of my nose and that I needed a nose job. And my dad is in television, and I grew up in the industry, so I never found it weird to see my dad on the six o’clock news because that’s what he does, but when I came out crying - and this is when I first started - he just said, “Look, do you want to do this?” And I said, “Yeah.” And he’s like, “Suck it up, because this is what it’s about, and because you’re a female, people are gonna take notice more than anybody else,” so…it’s a fantastic job, it’s an amazing thing to be a part of, I have the best seats in the house, it’s what I want to do, so to me, those little things are worth it.

Head over and read the rest of the interview, where you'll learn why Erin has a special place in her heart for the NHL, how she got her start, and why she considers herself just a big nerd with a great job.

[One More Dying Quail interviews Erin Andrews]

Assistant Coach Out at IU Over Phone Calls

Wow, I'm really starting to regret the "Indiana, Final Four" pick that I made exactly one day ago. I really should have put into account "bad karma" and "coaching chaos" before making that pick, because the Kelvin Samspon phonegate saga seems to be turning into a circus.

Earlier today, Indiana assistant coach Rob Senderoff resigned because of his involvement in the phone related recruiting violations along with head coach Kelvin Sampson.

In a report that Indiana sent to the NCAA Committee on Infractions earlier this month, the university detailed more than 100 potential impermissible calls, including 35 which it determined to be "possible" NCAA secondary violations. The majority of those calls were made by Senderoff.

Looks like Senderoff became the sacrificial lamb for the university (The Meaningful Collateral brings up a great point, why on Earth would anyone ever want to be an assistant coach these days?). If I'm an IU fan right now, I'm requesting that they start ripping out the pay phone inside Assembly Hall and cancel all of Sampson's cell phone packages ASAP. Don't let Eric Gordon go to waste....

Majerus Already In Midseason Form

Ah Rick Majerus, the college basketball world has missed you. While you were covering college basketball for ESPN, you still amanged to provide us with some outstanding quotes about hotel room pornos, but it still wasn't the same without the big man patrolling the sidelines.

Majerus is back at Saint Louis this season and looking to make the Billikens an instant contender in the A10 this season. While we are not still not sure if Majerus has lost any of his coaching skills while he was gone, Friday's A10 Media Day proved that Majerus is still reliable for some awesome quotes.

On arriving at the Philly airport....

"The Philly airport is unbelievable. I just called my secretary to see if I can fly back from Baltimore. I'll drive down there.

On his health.......

"I enjoyed every one of my seven bypasses. I had fun with every Philly cheesesteak, every beer I drank, every ice-cream cone I ate."

On coaching at a Jesuit school....

""I've got a Jesuit education, so I understand that. I like the priest [Saint Louis University President Lawrence Biondi]. He's a bit like myself. Kind of a different breed of cat. I mean that affectionately. No one checks all the boxes, I don't care who it is. I was married once. You just sit there in the process, as you prioritize what's important, see if it fits and kind of go for it."

Welcome back, Rick

STF Preseason Primer: The Coaching Carousel

I love College Basketball above all other sports, and yet I still sometimes find myself lost in the coaching roundabout when a new season starts. I either forget a coach moved, or, if it's a smaller school, never heard about it in the first place. This primer should help us all keep track of who went where, and we're going to show you biblical-style, so you know how it really went down.

Dan Monson to Long Beach State (Resigned at Minnesota) begat
Tubby Smith to Minnesota (jumped before he was pushed) begat
Billy Gillespie to Kentucky begat
Mark Turgeon to Texas A&M begat
Gregg Marshall to Wichita State begat
Randy Peele to Winthrop.

Stan Heath to South Florida (involuntary) begat
John Pelphry to Arkansas begat
Ronnie Arrow to South Alabama begat
Perry Clark to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Ritchie McKay to Liberty (involuntary) begat
Steve Alford to New Mexico (jumped before he was pushed) begat
Todd Lickliter to Iowa begat
Brad Stevens to Butler.

Tommy Amaker to Harvard (involuntary) begat
John Beilein to Michigan begat
Bob Huggins to West Virginia begat
Frank Martin to Kansas State.

Rob Judson to Involuntary Retirement begat
Ricardo Patton to Northern Illinois (suspiciously timed retirement and sudden un-retirement) begat
Jeff Bzdelik to Colorado begat
Jeff Reynolds to Air Force.

Ronny Thompson to Involuntary Retirement begat
Billy Taylor to Ball State begat
Brett Reed to Lehigh.

Reggie Theus to the Sacramento Kings begat
Marvin Menzies to New Mexico State

Joe Scott to Denver begat
Sydney Johnson to Princeton.

Mark Schmidt to St. Bonaventure begat
Mike Rice to Robert Morris

Tim Miles to Colorado State begat Saul Phillips at North Dakota State

The Book of Resurrections

Rick Majerus - Saint Louis - formerly Utah
Louis Orr - Bowling Green - formerly Seton Hall
Cliff Ellis - Coastal Carolina - formerly South Alabama, Clemson, Auburn
Mack McCarthy - East Carolina - formerly UT-Chattanooga
Rod Barnes - Georgia State - formerly Ole Miss
Kerry Rupp - Louisiana Tech - formerly interim HC at Utah
Tim Carter - South Carolina State - formerly UT-San Antonio
Roger Reid - Southern Utah - formerly Brigham Young
Robert Moreland - Texas Southern - formerly Texas Southern
Jim Wooldridge - UC-Riverside - formerly Kansas State

The Book of Elevations

First time head DI coaches (of those not mentioned above) took the reins for the following programs:

Dino Gaudio - Wake Forest - Assistant at Wake Forest
Tom Moore - Quinnipiac - Assistant at UConn
Tim Jankovich - Illinois State - Assistant at Kansas
Kevin Broadus - Binghamton - Assistant at Georgetown
Benjy Taylor - Chicago State - Assistant at Tulane
Keno Davis - Drake - Assistant at Drake
Kirk Earlywine - Eastern Washington - Assistant at UNC-Wilmington
Marty Simmons - Evansville - Assistant at SIU-Edwardsville
Bob Nash - Hawaii - Assistant at Hawaii
Kevin McKenna - Indiana State - Assistant at Creighton
Gene Harris - Florida A&M - Assistant at Alabama
Kevin Willard - Iona - Assistant at Louisville
Donnie Jones - Marshall - Assistant at Florida
Joe Pasternack - New Orleans - Assistant at Cal
Brad Greenberg - Radford - Assistant at Virginia Tech
Bill Grier - San Diego - Assistant at Gonzaga
Kerry Keating - Santa Clara - Assistant at UCLA
Matt Brown - Missouri-Kansas City - Assistant at West Virginia
Jim Boylen - Utah - Assistant at Michigan State
Heath Schroyer - Wyoming - Assistant at Fresno State

STF Super Awesome Team Previews: #9 Indiana Hoosiers

#9 Indiana Hoosiers



Team: Indiana Hoosiers

Conference: Big Ten

Last Season Recap: 21-11, lost to UCLA in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Key Players Returning: After a few injury plagued seasons, this could be the year that we see a Player of the Year type season from DJ White. The moment that he decided to hold off on the NBA, the Hoosiers became a Final Four contender. He's a low post scoring threat (13.8) and a beast on the boards (7.3 rpg). Another encouraging sign for Hoosiers fans was White's performance for team USA at the Pan America Games, where he led the team in scoring and rebounding. Also returning for the Hoosiers is PG Armon Bassett, SG AJ Ratliff and F Lance Stabler.

What's To Love: There is more to love about the Hoosiers outside of White. Namely, a fantastic recruiting class led by shooting guard Eric Gordon. Gordon, who initially committed to Illinois, is the perfect outside scoring and athletic threat needed to compliment the inside attack of DJ White. Also coming to Bloomington with Gordon is JC Player of the Year G Jamarcus Ellis, 6'9 C ELi Horman and 6'7 Brandon McGee.

What's Not To Love: The key issue for this team may mixing the new with old. Six players are going to be new to this squad, which is quite unusual for a team ranked this high. Chemistry issues will be an important aspect for this team to make a run at the championship. Also, the Kelvin Sampson phone scandal may hang over the heads of this team be an issue for a team with so many new players.

Key Player: The key player for the Hoosier won't be Gordon or White, but PG Armon Bassett. Bassett will be filling in for the graduated Eric Calloway. The Hoosiers going to need consistent PG play to feed the ball to White and Gordon. If Bassett struggles the point, it could derail the Hoosiers trip to San Antonio.

Best Case: White has a Player of the Year type season, Gordon is type of athletic shooting guard that has been missing in Bloomington for some time, Bassett takes hold of the PG position and feeds the ball to White and Gordon, the Hoosiers are too athletic for everyone else in a weak Big Ten and cruise to a conference title.

Worst Case: The Verizon Network continues to follow Kelvin Sampson, White struggles offensively with constant double team, Bassett isn't the answer at point, chemistry issues hurt this team early in the season.

STF Prediction: Just a hunch, but I see a special season in Bloomington. Big Ten champions and Final Four.

Big Loss For Georgia

Those of you who were expecting the Georgia Bulldogs to finally breakthrough the Jim Harrick-teacher-of-the year-era (Extra P), you might be waiting for another four to five years. 6'8 Takais Brown, the Bulldogs leading scoring (14.2) and second leading rebounder (5.6) has been throw off the team by coach Dennis Felton.

Without Brown, who had already been suspended the first nine games, ala Brook Lopez, it's going to be difficult for the Bulldogs to produce any kind of inside offense. Any shot at the tournament will depend on the return of Mike Mercer from a knee injury and the play of jack-of-all-trades Sundiata Gaines. So yeah, have fun at the NIT.

STF Super Awesome Team Previews: #10 Michigan State Spartans

And so we crack the top ten with Tom Izzo's squad. There's something about Drew Neitzel that just looks appropriately Spartan, isn't there?

Team: Michigan State Spartans

Conference: Big Ten

Last Season Recap & Ending: 23-12 (8-8). The Spartans kind of relied on Drew Neitzel to do everything, and if you look at it that way, they overachieved last season. An up-and-down .500 season in the Big Ten was enough to get them into the NCAAs with a 9-seed, but they perished in the second round at the hands of Roy Williams and the Tar Heels.

Key Players Returning: All of the starting five are back. F Raymar Morgan, F Marquise Gray, C Drew Naymick, and G Travis Walton. Oh, and some bald-headed kid named Neitzel.

What's To Love: It's the same team as last year, but we add some super-talented Freshmen to the mix. Tom Izzo promises to speed up the pace, which is an overall benefit to the fan when watching the Big Ten.

What's Not To Love: Neitzel's still playing out of position - he's a natural point. That's all I have.

Key Player: If you've read my earlier previews, you know I hate being obvious and picking the team's best player as the key. Today is no different. PF Marquise Gray needs to play like the man we saw at the end of last season more often. The 6'8" Junior doesn't dominate any category, and disappeared for much of the conference run in 2006-07. If he shows up, the Spartans end up with a much better record and a higher seed.

Best Case: The talent performs up to expectations, and the Spartans go back to the Final Four. It helps a team to know that their star player can and will put the team on his back from time to time, but if those times come few and far between, so much the better.

Worst Case: If the frontcourt continues to struggle and none of the freshmen steps into the gap, there could be a repeat of last year, with a mid-level seed and an early exit. But I doubt it.

STF Prediction: 23-5 (12-4). Texas is the toughest pre-conference matchup, and the Big Ten will be challenging, but I see the Spartans being up to the test. They can win the conference if the breaks roll their way, and can get hot and make the Final Four.

Preseason Primer: The Best Preseason Tournaments

Preseason Primer is STF's guide to guide to some of most intriguing storylines heading into the 2007-2008 college basketball season. Today the primer checks out the best of the preseason tournaments.


BEST PRESEASON TOURNAMENTS



Seriously, who doesn't love preseason tournaments? Not only are you introduced to basketball hotbeds like Anchorage and South Padre Island, but you get to see some fantastic out-of-conference match-ups and can basically determine who is contender or a pretender before the start of conference play. So this the STF preview of the best of many, many preseason tournaments.

2K Sports College Hoops Classic
Site: Host Schools, New York
Date: November 5-9, 15-16
Key Teams: Kentucky, Memphis, Oklahoma, Connecticut

The tournament that kicks everything off. I'm calling this the "Show Me" tournament. For Memphis, show me that you are an elite team by disposing of some non-elite teams. For Kentucky and UConn, show me that last season was an aberration and that you will be relevant in 2007. For Oklahoma, give me a reason to pay attention this season.

Preseason NIT
Site:Host Schools, New York
Date: November 12-14, 21-23
Key Teams: Syracuse, St. Joe's, Ohio State, Washington, Texas A&M

The second, but much more famous, of the preseason tournaments at the Garden. Each of the four main teams is trying to prove that they can survive this season without a key contributor from last season (Syracuse:Nichols, Washington:Hawes, A&M: Law, Ohio State: everyone) Someone is going to feel much better than about the upcoming season than they may have in the summer. Watch out for a great St. Joe's-Syracuse match-up in the second round.

CBE Classic
Site: Host Teams, Kansas City
Date: November 10-14, 19-20
Key Teams: Maryland, Michigan State, Missouri, UCLA

Our first look at the great Kevin Love . A UCLA-Michigan State final might be the best tournament final from a loaded November.

Legends Classic
Site:Host Schools, Newark
Date: November 14-18, 23-24
Key Teams:Tennessee, Texas, New Mexico State, West Virginia

Chris Lofton and Vols should take this tournament, but don't be shocked if a streaky offensive team like New Mexico State of WVU gets hot and takes this early season tournament from the brand new Prudential Center.

Maui Invitational
Site: Maui, HI
Date: November 19-21
Key Teams: Duke, Marquette, Illinois

The current king of preseason tournaments is a little weaker than usual. A Duke- Marquette match-up could be the best collection of backcourt talent int he country, but Maui is lacking the Top 10 power that it's had in the past. But since it takes place right before Thanksgiving, you're still going to watch.

Great Alaskan Shootout
Site: Anchorage, AK
Date:November 20-24
Key Teams: Gonzaga, Butler, Western Kentucky, Texas Tech

I've got to admit, I've got a soft spot for the Great Alaskan Shootout. As a kid, I always loved any opportunity to watch basketball past midnight (anyone who knows me or is familiar with my blogging knows that I'm not a fan of sleep) While the quality of competition has slipped in recent years, this year's shootout has three of the best mid-majors in the county in Gonzaga, Butler and an under-the-radar Western Kentucky.

Las Vegas Invitational
Site: Las Vegas, NV
Date: November 23-24
Key Teams: North Carolina, Louisville

While it's technically a tournament, this is all set-up for a potential UNC-Louisville dandy in Sin City. If this game is half as good as Kansas-Florida from last season, we're in a for a treat.

Big 10-ACC Challenge
Date: November 26-28

While it's seems like every conference has now gotten into the act (Pac-10-Big12, Big East-SEC), the Big Ten-ACC match-up is still tops, highlighted by Georgia Tech at Indiana, Wisconsin at Duke, NC State at Michigan State and UNC at Ohio State.


Other Tournaments of Note: Old Spice Classic (NC State, Villanova, George Mason), Puerto Rico Classic (Arkansas, Providence, VCU), Anaheim Classic (Miss State, USC, Southern Illinois)

The Most Useless of the Preseason Tournaments: Gossner Food Classic (Utah St, Furman, Utah Valley State), Drake Invitational (Drake, North Carolina Central), College of Charleston Classic (College of Charleston, Mercer).