- Former Michigan State star and 1979 national champion Jay Vincent pleaded guilty to falsifying his tax return and mail fraud on Friday as part of an Internet scam that defrauded investors of over $2M from 2006-09. The ruse he and an associate pulled on people involved convincing their clients to become home inspectors, undoubtedly trying to cash in on people’s blind greed as a result of the national housing bubble during those years. For some reason, every time we hear one of these stories about former stars doing the wrong thing (and there are plenty of them), it makes us sad. It shouldn’t, but it still does.
- Wouldn’t it be great if Butler’s Brad Stevens ultimately decided to stay in Indianapolis for the next thirty-odd years and built Butler into a national powerhouse who competed with the likes of Duke, Kentucky, UNC and Kansas for the top recruits and slots in the Final Four every year? To say Stevens will never leave Butler for another job at a high(er)-major is unlikely — after all, never is a long time for a 33-year old — but according to this article by Seth Davis, it certainly appears that the coaching wunderkind is awfully comfortable with his office in Hinkle Fieldhouse, and we’re rooting for him to be in the old barn for a very long time.
- Nolan Smith is the Dookie who’s hard to hate, and this story by David Steele at Fanhouse helps to illustrate why. We all know that Nolan and his father, Derek, are one of the few father-son duos to have ever both won a national title. Can you name the other duos?
- Blue Ribbon has announced its first-team All-Americans for the 2010-11 season, and the list is heavy with Big 12 players… Baylor’s LaceDarius Dunn, Kansas’ Marcus Morris, Kansas State’s Jacob Pullen, Duke’s Kyle Singler and BYU’s Jimmer Fredette. You know what’s especially interesting about this list? Four seniors and one junior. Do you think that Jared Sullinger and Harrison Barnes might have something to say about that?
- We’re definitely late on this one, but we had to make mention of it. LSU walk-on Andrew Del Piero spent last year in the LSU band playing tuba; he’ll spend this year trying to harness the 7’2, 286-pounds of flesh and blood that he has been blessed with on a basketball court. Tigers coach Trent Johnson has his work cut out for him, but Del Piero at least has some basketball bloodlines of some sort — his pops played at Dartmouth a number of years ago. Here’s some footage of him playing in the LSU marching band last season — he’s fairly easy to spot near the end of the clip.
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If Brad Stevens had any desire to go to a high major in the near future, I suspect he would be at Wake Forest right now. It would be the perfect job for someone like him. Excellent facilities and good perception among recruits, but he wouldn't have to follow a NC winning coach and the expectations that creates, and he would get to pair off against two of the best at least once a season (no, not that Williams, the other one). If he leaves it's going to be for either Indiana or somewhere like Wake Forest, somewhere that has the tools but just hasn't put them all together (or hasn't for a very long time, ie: NC State).
When the Wake Forest job opened up during the offseason, that was really the only one that made me worry. Like you said, the school has excellent facilities, is a strong academic institution, has good national recognition, and is a member of what is arguably the most prestigious conference for college basketball.
Oregon was going through so many struggles and DePaul is such a terrible dead-end job that neither of those worried me much. Wake, though, seemed very plausible. I'm glad he stayed. :-)