- Yesterday, recently dismissed Louisville forward Chane Behanan announced that he would be transferring to Colorado State. Behanan, who was dismissed from Louisville for repeated rules violations, is expected to be eligible to play for the Rams at the end of next season’s fall semester. Outside of all the jokes about marijuana being legal in Colorado (there are rumors swirling that it was the reason for Behanan’s dismissal), Colorado State would appear to be an ideal situation for Behanan given Larry Eustachy’s own public battles with substance abuse (alcohol–you may remember his infamous photos with coeds), which may help him guide Behanan. Given Behanan’s talent and productivity while at Louisville this could be a big addition for Colorado State if he can get his act together.
- We have heard plenty of fans complaining about the new rules and how they have led to more fouls (although the talk has started to get quieter), but we have not seen an analysis as thorough as Dan Hanner’s on which coaches have been most affected by the rule changes. As Hanner notes, the trends do not necessarily correlate with the coaches that have traditionally had more aggressive defenses, but there are some prominent coaches who have seen the number of free throws attempted by their opponents increase significantly. Given those increases we are a bit surprised that we have not heard these coaches be more outspoken in their disapproval of the new rules.
- The news that Southern Methodist prized freshman recruit Keith Frazier may have had a failing grade changed to a passing one so he could graduate high school generated quite a bit of attention yesterday. So much so that Southern Methodist quickly issued a statement regarding the “misinformation” that had been circulating. Essentially the investigation uncovered that Frazier had at least one failing grade changed to a passing one in a physics class by a teaching assistant who subsequently left the school. According to investigators the SMU staff and the high school coaches had been inquiring about Frazier’s grades repeatedly because he was on the verge of not graduating/qualifying. Given what has been made publicly available it is going to be very hard to prove that the SMU staff had anything to do with changing the grades so they should be off the hook. We doubt that the NCAA has the time/resources available really look into this so unless the Dallas school district is going to really look into this we doubt that much more will come of this.
- If you were hoping to see the Final Four in a new location, you are probably out of luck as based on the NCAA’s release of the finalists for the 2017-2020 Final Fours. The eight finalists–Atlanta, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New Orleans, North Texas, Phoenix/Glendale, San Antonio, and St. Louis–have already hosted 24 Finals Fours and are scheduled to host the next two. Only the Phoenix/Glendale location would be a new site for the Final Four. As we mentioned on Twitter yesterday, we would like to see these played on the coasts a little more often although we understand the appeal of the Midwest (being in the center of the country so theoretically close to everybody). The other limiting factor is the NCAA’s requirement that venues hold at least 60,000 fans and have at least 10,000 hotel rooms in the area. The hotel rooms would not be an issue for most major cities, but the venue size might unless the cities have NFL teams that play indoors.
- A month after getting kicked off the Florida basketball team, Damontre Harris is back on the team. Well, sort of. Harris is practicing with the scout team, but will not play for the team or even be on the bench. While Billy Donovan will not let Harris play for the team this season because it “would completely devalue our core values” it appears that playing for the team next season would not. In any event it is a significant addition for the Gators going forward (assuming Harris can manage to stay on the team) given Harris’ productivity as a sophomore at South Carolina when he averaged 6.8 points (on 55% shooting from the field), 5.5 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game despite playing just 25.9 minutes per game.