- According to yet another Yahoo! Sports report, Texas is going to appeal the NCAA’s season-long suspension leveled on sophomore guard Myck Kabongo. In an interesting turn of events, the NCAA can come back with a final verdict as soon as today. What you tend to see with players who have been caught taking impermissible benefits is that the NCAA will deem them ineligible from somewhere between three and 10 games. In Kabongo’s case, they waited until game #11 which might mean that they plan to stick with their harshest penalty: suspension for the entire season. One thing we will probably never understand is the timeline the NCAA has on declaring student-athlete’s eligibility.
- The 2013 Bob Cousy Awards Watch List was announced yesterday with the Big 12 represented with players from five of the 10 conference members. The league’s nominees are Baylor’s Pierre Jackson, Iowa State’s Korie Lucious, Kansas’ Elijah Johnson, TCU’s Kyan Anderson and Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart. I don’t have a problem with any of the names listed but will quibble about one left off the list. I think K-State’s Angel Rodriguez should have been there. He’s showed nothing but improvement as an offensive option plus he’s cutting down on turnovers he used to make as a true freshman starting at point guard. Oh well.
- Texas Tech found themselves down 20 early in the second half against Alabama, then they pulled off a comeback to cut the Crimson Tide lead to two with under 90 seconds in regulation. And then the Red Raiders never got any closer. Alabama improved to 7-3 while ending their three game losing streak. I’m curious to find out how Tech managed to get Alabama, Arizona and Arizona State (whom they will see on Saturday), plus every other non-conference game at home. Chris Walker may have attended the Jim Boeheim School of Scheduling.
- While this may be the winter break for most guys, top college prospects aren’t taking the time off to decide where they’ll be taking their talents next year. The big story Thursday was Jabari Parker’s announcement for Duke, but on Tuesday night, Baylor’s 2013 recruiting class just got sweeter (as if it isn’t already). JuCo guard Kenny-Fred Chery has committed to the Bears. He is a 6’1″ point guard from Canada who currently plays for State Fair Community College in Missouri. So far this season, Chery is averaging 14.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while shooting well from the field (44%) and behind the line (41%). Seems like an underrated get for Scott Drew.
- Why do we have AP and Coaches’ polls in college basketball? Is it for Gary Parrish’s entertainment? RockChalkTalk explains why we don’t need them, and quite well I might add. For weeks Indiana was pegged as the number one team in the country while we witnessed Duke beat a bunch of elite teams and yet barely make the top two in each poll because others had not yet lost. Though if the polls were in fact eliminated, I wouldn’t have my regular Poll Attacks!