- West Virginia coach Bob Huggins received some great news on Sunday afternoon with 2013 big man Devin Williams‘ verbal commitment to the Mountaineers. Williams, a consensus 4-star forward according to Rivals, ESPN and Scout, chose WVU over offers from Ohio State and Memphis. The Cincinnati native joins a lethal recruiting class full of bigs: Elijah Macon (6’8″, 210 pounds), Nathan Adrian (6’7″, 200 pounds) and Brandon Watkins (6’9″, 225 pounds). If you thought West Virginia’s size this season with Deniz Kilicli and LaSalle transfer Aaric Murray was going to be trouble, then next year will be hell for the rest of the Big 12.
- Exhibition season is wrapping up and my new favorite coach Chris Walker won Texas Tech’s preseason opener 88-63 over Texas-Permian Basin on Thursday night. If you read my Texas Tech preview I picked Dusty Hannahs to be a sleeper on this year’s team and the freshman hit two threes on his way to 12 points. Transfer Dejan Kravic led all Red Raider scorers with 16 points and six boards. An interesting note from Thursday’s game is that Walker has implemented a full-court press, which helped force three steals on UTPB before they attempted a shot. Anxious to see how Tech plays when the games start to count.
- Kansas State closed out its preseason action with an 81-51 thumping of Emporia State Sunday. The Wildcats spread the wealth offensively with twelve players scoring, including four in double figures: freshman D.J Johnson (17 points), Thomas Gipson (12), Rodney McGruder (10), and Angel Rodriguez (10). Johnson also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds in just 18 minutes of play. I think it’s safe to keep an eye on the freshman forward, who wasn’t highly-regarded by national recruiting services. K-State and Bruce Weber tip off a new era this Friday against North Dakota.
- The supposedly much-improved Oklahoma Sooners struggled a bit with Washburn, only beating them 83-66 in exhibition play on Friday. OU shot it well from the perimeter (11-for-22) but had difficulty shooting from the field overall. They shot only 43.9% compared to Washburn’s 41.1%. The Sooners also turned the ball over 21 times, two fewer TOs than Washburn and out-rebounded the Ichabods by just four (40-36). But they also had a bright spot as Big 12 preseason newcomer of the year Amath M’Baye played well (14 points and a team-leading six rebounds) as did freshman Buddy Hield (16 points, five rebounds and three steals in 24 minutes). It’s not time to panic just yet because they still have an exhibition Wednesday for a better showing before their season opener Sunday versus Louisiana-Monroe.
- If there was one team who knew how to take care of an preseason opponent, it was Iowa State. The Cyclones were lights out all around in a 90-57 smashing of Minnesota State. Korie Lucious, this year’s newest transfer from Michigan State, hit 5-for-8 from outside to account for his 15 points and dished out five assists. In a starter’s role as opposed to last season, senior Tyrus McGee led the team with 16 points including four triples of his own. As a team, ISU shot 50.7% from the field and nailed 15 three-pointers out of 29 for 51.7%. They might not be who they were a year ago but at least they won’t be a boring team to watch.