Who’s Got Next? is a weekly column by Chad Lykins, the RTC recruiting guru. Once a week he will bring you an overview of what’s going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to discussing the recruitments of the top uncommitted players in the country. We also encourage you to check out his contributions dedicated solely to Duke Basketball at Duke Hoop Blog. You can also follow Chad at his Twitter account @CLykinsBlog for up-to-date breaking news from the high school and college hoops scene. If you have any suggestions as to areas we are missing or different things you would like to see, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Note: ESPN Recruiting used for all player rankings

Indiana Adds Noah Vonleh To Loaded Class

As Saturday night concluded, the Indiana Hoosiers landed a significant piece to its 2013 recruiting class that quickly vaulted them up the class rankings to join the likes of Kentucky and Memphis. Five-star forward Noah Vonleh, who reclassified back into his original class of 2013 in September, ended his college recruitment quicker than expected by giving the Hoosiers a verbal pledge after his official visit during Indiana’s season opener. Vonleh, the No. 8 ranked prospect in the class of 2013, was also considering Connecticut, Georgetown, North Carolina, Ohio State and Syracuse.

While visiting, 2013 No. 8 prospect Noah Vonleh chose the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday night

“From Day One, Indiana has been recruiting me the hardest,” Vonleh told Adam Finkelstein of ESPN.com. “They were just letting me know how they could develop me into the player I want to be at the next level. Their academics are good, they’re the No. 1 team in the country and they’ve got another great class coming in next year.” With the addition of Vonleh, head coach Tom Crean has landed his highest-ranked prospect since taking the Indiana job in 2008. At 6’9″ and 220 lbs., the Massachusetts native is best described as a freak athlete. He uses his great length especially well rebounding the basketball on both ends of the floor, as he is arguably one of the best rebounders in the class, and altering shots with his shot-blocking. For a combo forward, he also has excellent ball-handling ability with an ever-improving jump shot. As his body continues to mature, with added strength to his 6’9″ frame he will be more efficient from the low post with his endless potential.

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Tonight’s Lede. The 24 Hours of Hoops Marathon Returns. If the college hoops calendar consists of a series of holidays, ESPN’s annual Tip-Off marathon measures up with the sport’s best celebratory events. It doesn’t quite provide the suspense of March Madness, or the do-or-die desperation of conference championship week, but the 24 hour-long dose of nonstop hoops action that tipped off at Midnight ET with West Virginia visiting Gonzaga captures the essence of fandom in a way no other sporting event can. This is when the true diehards put their mental fortitude – and their ability to resist somnolent desires – to the test. Even if you can’t make it through the night without sneaking in a few Zs between games, don’t worry. For most, the marathon goes down sweeter in pieces; fortunately this year’s slate offers no shortage of highlights. So if you’ve already hit your saturation point on college hoops viewing, or are still gearing up for tonight’s headliners, enjoy the round-the-clock drama. It is the apex of college basketball’s scheduling ingenuity.

Your Watercooler Moment. Gonzaga Destroys West Virginia Again.

Beard Or No Beard on Kilicli, This is Becoming a Trend ( AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

In a rematch of last year’s Second Round NCAA Tournament game between the Zags and Mountaineers, tonight’s result was surprisingly similar to the game played last March — the only major difference was the setting. Last season, after traveling cross-country to face WVU in their backyard (Pittsburgh), the Zags ran out to a quick 27-10 lead and never looked back in a dominating 77-54 win. Tonight, after West Virginia repaid the favor in traveling cross-country to Spokane, the Zags ran out to a 34-12 lead en route to a dominating 84-50 win. It’s actually quite eerie to view the two box scores side by side, given how similarly both games played out. Over the past two games, Gonzaga has outscored the Mountaineers by a ridiculous 57 points, and the vaunted WVU defense has given up better than 50% shooting from both the field and beyond the arc in these two games. After last season’s loss, Bob Huggins said that he’d “never gotten beat like that” — clearly Mark Few’s team has provided the road map for the Big 12 in beating the Mountaineers, because it just happened again.

Tonight’s Quick Hits…

• Hoosiers Keep On Rolling. Gleaning meaningful analysis from early season cupcake draws is never easy, so it’s hard to make too much of Indiana’s blistering 2-0 start, which includes a combined 69-point victory margin over Bryant and North Dakota State. But the Hoosiers have done little to shake their preseason perception, which is another way of saying Indiana looks like a #1 team. Cody Zeller finished with 22 points and nine rebounds and sophomore guard Remy Abell added 14 of his own against the Bison, who are expected to challenge the Nate Wolters-led South Dakota Jackrabbits for the Summit League crown.
• Hawkeyes Freshman Continues to Impress. The name most every big Ten fan mentions in Iowa-related hoops discussions is freshman center Adam Woodbury, and for good reason: the Iowa native spurned offers from North Carolina, Ohio State and Wisconsin before deciding to stay in his home state. Woodbury will come around eventually — he’s a legitimate seven-feet, armed with above-average athleticism and a refined offensive game. After two games, though, fellow freshman Mike Gessell looks the more well-rounded product. Gessell notched five points and five assists in the Hawkeyes’ 73-61 victory over Central Michigan Monday night. With a few more performances like that, Gessell, not Woodbury, can assert himself as the Hawkeyes’ best freshman asset.
• Balance Key For Memphis in Season-Opening Win. The notion that Memphis coach Josh Pastner is a better recruiter than coach is a popular one, and at this point in his tenure, probably a fair one. His early recruiting successes could finally pay dividends this season, just in time for the Tigers’ move to the Big East in 2012-13. The Tigers removed the curtain on their immensely-talented roster Monday night with a comfortable 81-66 defeat of North Florida. Forward Tarik Black led all scorers with 18 points, while point guard Joe Jackson added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. Memphis gets one more tuneup Saturday with Samford before the Battle 4 Atlantis, far and away the best compilation of top-to-bottom talent of any non-conference tournament on this year’s slate.
• No Rust For New-Look Michigan. There were few teams who polarized the college hoops punditry this preseason as much as Michigan. Various rankings pegged the Wolverines anywhere from outside the Top 25 to a Final Four contender. There’s good reason for this wide difference of opinion. Michigan is replacing a host of capable shooters (Zack Novak, Stu Douglass) with a frontcourt-heavy freshmen class. That kind of personnel turnover and roster dynamic is not, on its face, amenable to John Beilein’s guard-oriented attack. Early season results – the latest a 91-54 rout over IUPUI Monday night – indicate otherwise. Much-hyped freshman Glenn Robinson III submitted 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. As Michigan prepares for its ACC-Big Ten Challenge matchup with NC State (November 27), the new pieces are firing on all cylinders.
• Florida State is Going To Be Ok, After All. The most disappointing result of opening weekend was Florida State’s 76-71 home loss to South Alabama. Esteemed guard Michael Snaer finished 2-of-11 from the field, the stingy defense we’ve come to know from Leonard Hamilton’s teams of recent vintage was inexplicably AWOL, and you couldn’t help but walk away thinking the Seminoles didn’t enter the season in a sound mental state. Florida State rebounded from that harsh reality check against Buffalo, with Snaer contributing 19 points and forward Okaro White adding 13. More importantly, the Seminoles brought the defensive intensity that made them such a dangerous team last season. Buffalo turned it over 25 times and hit just six of 17 three-point shots. A note: Lead guard Javon McCrea, the reigning MAC freshman of the year, scored a team-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

And Misses…

• Youngstown State Not Rewarded For Upsetting Georgia. Thanks to predetermined rules that set in stone the semifinal teams of the Legends Classic, Youngstown State cannot advance to the Brooklyn-based semifinal despite knocking off Georgia 68-56 in a game that saw the Bulldogs score just 14 points by halftime and shoot just over 32 percent from the field. The only reason Georgia kept the deficit within a respectable margin was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who finished 10-of-18 from the field for 27 points and six rebounds. The Penguins are steadily improving under head coach Jerry Slocum and are more than capable of competing at the top half of the Horizon League in 2012-13. That said, even for a team as flawed and preponderantly-reliant on one player as Georgia is Caldwell-Pope, this counts as a bad loss, and a major stain on the early non-conference ledger. The Bulldogs clearly have some work to do before they get into SEC play.
• Early Struggles Continue for LIU. Last month brought a very promising development for LIU’s hopes at winning a third consecutive Northeast Conference title. That’s when the Blackbirds learned the fates of four of their best players (including reigning NEC player of the year Julian Boyd and All-NEC forward Jamal Olaswere), all of whom were awaiting word on their status following an on-campus altercation that led to arrests and third-degree assault charges. The players would have to miss two NEC conference games, they learned, and take anger management courses and file community service work… and that’s about it. Their availability apparently has not helped LIU’s early season fortunes. The Blackbirds fell to 0-2 Monday night, the latest loss coming against projected middle-of-the-pack Patriot League member Lafayette. In two games, LIU has scored a combined 168 points, which leads one to believe defense ranks highly on the Blackbirds’ early season checklist. For the most part, An 0-1 start is forgivable. Lose your first two against inferior competition, and there are serious questions to be had about LIU’s mindset and focus level following a tumultuous offseason.
• What’s Wrong with North Texas? People were legitimately peeved about the lack of television arrangements for Friday night’s Creighton-North Texas game. This was two of the nation’s best mid-major teams, or so we thought, featuring two of the nation’s best players in Doug McDermott and Tony Mitchell. What transpired was a disappointment; the Mean Green were outclassed in Omaha as McDermott legitimated his NPOY hype with a sterling 21-point, 11-rebound effort. That wasn’t a huge surprise. Monday night’s Preseason NIT defeat to Division II Alabama-Huntsville in Manhattan, Kansas, merits an entirely different analytical tone. The win by Alabama-Huntsville represents not only the first appearance by a D-II team in the PNIT, but now also the first victory.

Monday’s All-Americans.

• Jackie Carmichael, Illinois State. The Redbirds’ star blew up for 27/10/3 assts in only 24 minutes of action as his team destroyed UC Santa Barbara in its season opener.
• Anthony Bennett, UNLV (NPOY). Quite a debut Monday night for the precocious Bennett, who dropped 22/7/2 blks in a mere 20 minutes of action as UNLV routed Northern Arizona.
• Garrick Sherman, Notre Dame. The reserve big man for the Irish went for 22/9 including six offensive boards in Notre Dame’s crushing win over Monmouth.
• Glenn Robinson III, Michigan. So far, so good for the Big Puppy, as Robinson has only missed three shots in two games this season after his 21/6 night on 8-9 shooting in a win over IUPUI.
• Kadeem Batts, Providence. A 27-point, nine-rebound night for the junior big man looking to break out in a big way this season for Ed Cooley’s Friars.

Dunkdafied. This was from late last week, but it’s worth showing here. Detroit’s Doug Anderson looked a little like Scottie Pippen on this swoop to the hoop…

Brian Otskey is a contributor for Rush the Court. Let him know what you think at @botskey on Twitter.

The final part of our countdown is the best of the best. Here are your top 17 games of the 2012-13 college basketball season. Check out the previous editions of 68 Must-See Games here: #68-52, #51-35, and #34-18. (h/t to Zach Hayes for his assistance in building this list.)

17. November 27: North Carolina at Indiana (9:30 PM, ESPN) – An ACC/Big Ten Challenge tilt is the nightcap to game #18 on our list from Part Three of the countdown. Indiana’s non-conference schedule is incredibly weak for the top-ranked team in the nation but this game gives us an opportunity to see the Hoosiers against quality competition. James Michael McAdoo is the player mentioned by many observers to be the man at UNC this year. Going up against Christian Watford and Cody Zeller will give him a big time test early in the season.

Cody Zeller Gets a Shot at His Brother’s Old Team (Photo Credit: Reuters).

16. February 24: Michigan State at Ohio State (TBA) – There’s a lot of Big Ten flavor to our list and the reason is simple: It should be the best conference in college basketball this year. These two teams meet twice this season but this game in late February is in the middle of a brutal closing stretch for Michigan State. The Spartans have games against Michigan (twice), Indiana and Wisconsin sandwiched around this meeting in Columbus. It’s no picnic for Ohio State around that time either so a win here would be massive for either team.

They also meet: January 19 in East Lansing.

15. December 15: Louisville at Memphis (2:30 PM, FSN) – This former Conference USA rivalry will be transitioning back to a conference battle in the Big East next season (as long as Louisville sticks around, never a given in today’s climate) but they will still meet in Memphis this season. Little has been said about Memphis but the Tigers will be very good. Joe Jackson can match Peyton Siva while Memphis’ frontcourt of Adonis Thomas and Tarik Black is talented and good enough to play with Louisville’s loaded front line. This game could be higher on the list because of all the great individual match-ups involved.

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While Big East basketball is always a spectacle, this conference season has even more added juice with the impending departures of Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and (eventually) Notre Dame.  However, before we get to conference games, the Big East is involved in some really intriguing non-conference games this season. Big East teams will be playing all over the United States, Germany, and on a few aircraft carriers. Let’s take a look at the best that the Big East has to offer in the non-conference slate this season.

Syracuse and San Diego State tip off the season on the deck of the USS Midway this Sunday (AP)

25. Pittsburgh v. Oakland, November 17, 7 PM

The Panthers have a rather light non-conference slate this season, but don’t expect them to look past the Golden Grizzlies. Oakland has a history of playing tough schedules, and won’t be intimidated by the Zoo. Oakland is coming off of a bit of a down year in 2011-12 when they finished 20-16 (11-7), but made the NCAA Tournament in both 2009-10, when they were knocked out in the first round by Pittsburgh, and 2010-11.

24. DePaul @ Auburn, November 30, 9 PM

Look for DePaul to try to do the conference proud when they head down to take on the Auburn Tigers as part of the SEC-Big East Challenge. This DePaul squad should be better than it has been in years past, returning dynamic forward Cleveland Melvin and dangerous guard Brandon Young.  Auburn is coming off of a poor 15-16 season, and could be ripe for a big non-conference road win for the Blue Demons.

23. Rutgers v. Iona, Madison Square Garden, December 8, 9:30 PM

One of these New York metropolitan-area teams is coming off of a great season that ended in a heartbreaking NCAA tournament loss to BYU. The other is continually striving to build its program, and aspires to have such success.  It almost seems backwards that Iona is the more accomplished team at the moment, but isn’t that what makes college basketball so great? A big performance by the Scarlet Knights at the Garden could go a long way in setting the tone for a run at a tournament berth in the Big East.

22. St. John’s v. Detroit, November 13, 2 PM

The Johnnies tip off their season against a very dangerous Detroit squad led by superstar Ray McCallum. St. John’s has a number of impressive young players themselves, and head coach Steve Lavin will return to the sideline after battling cancer last season. While many look forward to what should be a fun match-up between McCallum and D’Angelo Harrison, the St. John’s star was recently benched in the team’s final exhibition for disciplinary reasons. If Lavin continues to have issues with his top guard, it could prove very problematic for the Red Storm next week.

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Who’s Got Next? is a weekly column by Chad Lykins, the RTC recruiting guru. Once a week he will bring you an overview of what’s going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to discussing the recruitments of the top uncommitted players in the country. We also encourage you to check out his contributions dedicated solely to Duke Basketball at Duke Hoop Blog. You can also follow Chad at his Twitter account @CLykinsBlog for up-to-date breaking news from the high school and college hoops scene. If you have any suggestions as to areas we are missing or different things you would like to see, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Note: ESPN Recruiting used for all player rankings

Austin Nichols Stays Local, Picks Memphis

There’s no place like home. At least according to 6’8″ Briarcrest Christian (Tennessee) power forward Austin Nichols, who ended his college recruitment on Monday by committing to the hometown Memphis Tigers. The No. 12 ranked player in the class of 2013, Nichols will join an already loaded recruiting class that includes fellow ESPN 100 prospects small forward Kuran Iverson, small forward Nick King and point guard Rashawn Powell as well as three-star shooting guard Markel Crawford. He chose the Tigers over Auburn, Duke, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Virginia.

2013 No. 12 ranked prospect Austin Nichols completes a stellar recruiting class for Memphis

“At the end of the day, Austin wanted to stay at home and play with some talented guys who he knew very well,” said his father, Mark Nichols. Once back home after completing his last official visit to Auburn, Memphis head coach Josh Pastner showed up at the Nichols residence for one final recruiting pitch. Rumored by many to be fading down the stretch to the likes of Duke and long-time favorite Tennessee, Pastner never wilted and kept pushing to land what he considers a “future Memphis basketball icon.”

With his recruitment shut down for a week once Pastner made his last attempt, the Nichols family spent Sunday night pondering the important decision. Mark Nichols then presented Austin with a 58-page report from KenPom.com to review advanced statistics of each of the six teams he was considering. The innovative approach factored into Nichols selecting the Tigers, which was decided as the perfect place for his future. The allure of playing in the area he grew up and in front of family and friends at the collegiate level proved to be all he could have ever wished for. “I’m just honored, I can’t even explain it,” Nichols said. He intends on signing his national letter of intent during the early signing period, which runs from November 14-21.

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Brian Otskey is a contributor for Rush the Court. Let him know what you think at @botskey on Twitter.

Our countdown rolls along with Part Two today. Check out the previous editions of 68 Must-See Games here: #68-52. (h/t to Zach Hayes for his assistance in building this list.)

51. December 1: Baylor at Kentucky (12:30 PM, CBS) – Kentucky has never lost a game at Rupp Arena under John Calipari. Could this be the one? Maybe, but it’s a tall order even for the highly talented Baylor Bears. Scott Drew’s non-conference schedule is lackluster for a team expected to contend in the Big 12, so making the trek to Lexington and coming out with a win would render all talk about a weak schedule meaningless. Two top freshmen big men will go head to head in this one with UK’s Nerlens Noel battling Baylor’s Isaiah Austin in the paint.

Is This the Game Where Cal’s Home Record Gets a Blemish?

50. December 1: San Diego State vs. UCLA at Honda Center in Anaheim, CA (10:00 PM, ESPNU) – The John R. Wooden Classic pits two of the best in the state of California (and the entire west for that matter) against each other in an early season Saturday night showdown. While UCLA has all the hype and uncertainty surrounding its freshmen class, don’t take San Diego State for granted. The Aztecs return four starters from a team that was supposed to be “rebuilding” but wound up winning 26 games in 2011-12.

49. March 3: Florida State at North Carolina (2:00 PM, CBS) – Considering the date it will be played, this game could have a significant impact on the ACC title race. The conference is up for grabs this season and both of these teams should be in the mix. North Carolina went 0-2 against Florida State last season, including the 90-57 blowout in Tallahassee that forced many observers to take notice of the Tar Heels’ flaws. Don’t expect that kind of effort from UNC this time around.

They also meet: January 12 in Tallahassee.

48. February 19: VCU at Saint Louis (9:00 PM, CBS Sports Network) – Two of the better point guards most casual fans don’t know about go head to head in this late-season Atlantic 10 battle. Senior floor general Kwamain Mitchell returns for Saint Louis while VCU’s Darius Theus will look to lead the Rams to a solid finish in their first Atlantic 10 season. This would have been a good BracketBusters game last year but now that these teams are in the same league, everybody wins.

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1. Yahoo! Sports: When Miami dropped an exhibition game against Division II St. Leo on Friday night, it was fairly surprising. The Hurricanes return a veteran cast of players and many have pegged them to compete for one of the top few spots in the conference, making a loss in one of these “gimme” games reasonably shocking. For his part, Jim Larranaga doesn’t seem too worried about the tough loss, and history seems to be on his side. Recent losses by highly rated teams in the preseason have rarely foreshadowed disappointing seasons, though Arizona’s loss to Seattle Pacific a year ago did expose a Wildcats team that easily under-performed versus preseason expectations — that situation may be the exception that proves the rule.
2. Tallahassee Democrat: The Seminoles plan to be prepared for their opponents, and a part of Leonard Hamilton‘s success machine is teaching his players how to effectively analyze their own play in film sessions.  Florida State adds a bunch of new players this season and acclimating these players to the winning ways of Hamilton’s program is a key step to bolstering and reinforcing what has become one of the strongest team cultures in the conference. Watching footage from their first scrimmage, the Seminoles prepared for their second scrimmage against none other than the Hurricane slayers of St. Leo. The film sessions appear to have paid off as FSU was able to handily defeat the Lions on Monday night.
3. WSPA: Clemson also squared off against an exhibition opponent last night, taking on Lander. The Tigers did so, however, without the services of senior Devin Booker, who was suspended by Brad Brownell for a violation of team rules. Freshman Josh Smith was also suspended, though both he and Booker will be able to play for the proper season opener. Still, this little cloud has a silver lining in Landry Nnoko, the freshman forward who scored  a team-high 14 points in the exhibition. If Nnoko can contribute like that in the regular season, it will make the Tigers all the more formidable.
4. Raleigh News & Observer: Seth Curry isn’t at 100% and that’s not so great news for Duke‘s perimeter offense which figured to count on the guard for some serious scoring punch. Curry, however, is dealing with a somewhat mysterious leg injury that is a source of pain and swelling and has kept him off the court for nearly two months before last Thursday’s exhibition. When Curry took the court, he didn’t look like himself, shooting a miserable 1-for-9 in 17 minutes of action. While Curry and his team are optimistic about his chances of playing at near full health this year, the availability of the perimeter sniper is still in doubt. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Curry used sparingly in the early parts of the season with Mike Krzyzewski giving him some more time to rest his leg.
5. Memphis Commercial Appeal: In more disappointing news for Duke, Austin Nichols, a talented forward who had the Blue Devils on his list, has chosen to play for Memphis in the coming year. Nichols’ reputation has increased after a year of rapidly improving play. Though Tennessee seemed to have the inside track on his services, official visits to Duke and Virginia seemed to hint that the ACC schools had a legitimate shot at the power forward. Still, the appeal of the Tigers and the allure of a Penny Hardaway-esque place in the pantheon of city greats held too strong an allure.

BONUS: It’s Election Day and while much is uncertain, one thing remains clear: President Barack Obama will be playing basketball. It’s one election superstition that’s easy for fans to get behind. So, exercise your civic duty and go vote. Then, maybe take a cue from the President, shoot some hoops and get excited for college basketball and the exercise of your political agency!

1. The season is just a few days away, but that doesn’t mean teams can’t still receive bad news. In Marquette‘s case, it was an announcement that sophomore guard Todd Mayo is academically ineligible. Mayo, who averaged 7.9 minutes and 2.7 rebounds per game last season, was expected to have a greatly expanded role with the graduation of the team’s top two players. We aren’t sure how long Mayo will be out for, but we would guess he couldn’t come back until Christmas break at the earliest based on Marquette’s academic calendar. On the other hand, Arkansas will only be without sophomore guard B.J. Young for two games (an exhibition game last night and the season opener on Friday against Sam Houston State) after he violated some undisclosed team rules. We doubt that Young’s suspension will have a long-term effect on the Razorbacks, but Mayo’s absence may for a team that is already losing a lot from last season.
2. While it was a relatively quiet day for current college basketball players, the next crop of incoming players were making quite a bit of news. Yesterday Dakari Johnson became the fourth five-star prospect previously in the class of 2014 to reclassify to the class of 2013. Johnson, who was the #4 overall recruit in the his old class, joins Andrew Wiggins, Noah Vonleh, and Wayne Selden in a group of talented players who have decided to leave high school a year early. We have no idea why so many highly rated players are choosing to leave the class of 2014 (we can always hope that there rumors that the NBA’s two-year rule is coming), but it promises to make the class of 2013 a very solid one although it should raise questions as to what the class of 2014 will look like when this is all finished.
3. As for players making decisions on where to play college basketball, five-star power forward Chris McCullough made the biggest announcement of the day when he committed to Syracuse. McCullough may actually be part of a package deal that could bring four-star shooting guard Isaiah Whitehead to an already-impressive class. While the Monday commitment of Austin Nichols to Memphis isn’t as big as that of McCullough to Syracuse, CBSSports.com‘s Jeff Borzello points out that it was a big coup for the Tigers as Nichols was considered a Tennessee lean before using his 58-page binder on schools to pick Memphis.
4. Many of you probably remember the story of Austin Hatch, a 2014 Michigan commitment who was involved in a plane crash that killed his father and stepmother and left him in a medically-induced coma. After 18 months of recovery, he has now been cleared to begin conditionally practicing again with his high school team. Hatch, who was in the plane crash shortly after committing to play for the Wolverines in 2011, was given a fifth year of prep eligibility by the Indiana High School Athletic Association and reportedly still has an offer on the table to become a member of the Wolverines’ class of 2014. Before we get ahead of ourselves it is worth pointing out that the Hatch family is still not sure if Austin will play for his team this season. Regardless of whether he plays for Canterbury High School, Michigan, or any other team, we are sure that basketball fans across the country will be pulling for him.
5. As you hopefully have noticed today is Election Day. Here at RTC we try to stay above the political fray for a variety of reasons (not the least of which is that not every member of our staff has the same political beliefs), but we feel like we should express our one and only wish for this election. We aren’t going to proselytize about how you have to vote as a good American (that’s your choice), but we do hope that however the outcome of this election turns out that members from both sides of the aisle can come together after the election to do what they honestly think is best for the long term interests of the country rather than continuing the same antagonistic and destructive tactics that we have witnessed for years.

Ryan Peters is the RTC correspondent for Conference USA. You can find him on Twitter @pioneer_pride and read his musings online at Big Apple Buckets and Pioneer Pride.

Top Storylines

• A Conference in Considerable Flux – Before Memphis, Houston, UCF, and SMU defect to the Big East – which officially makes a geographic mockery of the Big East’s name – C-USA will have one final season together as a full-fledged “upper-level” Division I conference. With only six NCAA Tournament teams and zero NCAA tournament victories in the past three seasons, however, can C-USA muster together a respectable showing for the 2012-13 campaign that doesn’t rival most mid-major conferences? Memphis is the only virtual lock to go dancing, yet several other programs (see Marshall, UTEP, and Tulane) are on the rise and could conceivably end up on the right side of the tournament bubble come March. Still, it may be overly optimistic to think C-USA will break the two-team NCAA bid barrier that has eluded the conference since 2005.
• A Run Towards Perfection – In his fourth season as Memphis’ head coach, Josh Pastner has an opportunity to do something his predecessor, John Calipari, did with apparent ease for three straight seasons prior – have his Tigers run the table in C-USA. With the conference slightly weaker heading into this season (according to Ken Pomeroy), Memphis has a real opportunity to put up a perfect 16-0 regular season mark against their conference foes. It will still prove to be difficult, especially when facing UCF and Marshall twice as part of their unbalanced schedule, yet Memphis returns four starters and is sitting on a potential NBA lottery pick in Adonis Thomas if the 6’7” small forward can stay healthy for much of the season.

Josh Pastner leads a talented home-grown roster in Memphis’ final season in C-USA.

• Welcoming Back a Legend – Anytime you can hire a head coach with a resume such as the 71-year old Larry Brown, I guess you have to do it, given SMU’s desperation to hire a big name. After all, you’re talking about a guy with an NCAA championship and an NBA championship on his resume. The problem is – aside from his age and inability to coach through the initial contract at his last three destinations – Brown has been away from the college game for nearly 25 years, when he won the 1988 NCAA championship coaching Danny Manning (who, interestingly, is a new C-USA coach himself) and the Kansas Jayhawks. How much can the Mustangs reasonably expect from Brown under these conditions? The cupboard is bare with the graduation of leading scorer and most efficient player, Robert Nyakundi, and the removal of four players including starting point guard Jeremiah Samarrippas, so you have to wonder if Brown will have the patience to stick around long enough to fully rebuild a SMU program that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1993. One benefit from Brown’s hiring is that he has assembled an impressive coaching staff, which includes the Mustangs possible head-coach-in-waiting in Tim Jankovich.
• New Coaching Blood – Including Brown, there are four C-USA programs that hired new coaches this offseason, which makes up a whopping one third of the entire league. The most notable new hires are Brown and the aforementioned Danny Manning, who left his assistant post at Kansas in an attempt to push Tulsa out of complacency. Donnie Tyndall (Southern Miss) and Jerod Haase (UAB) complete the list of coaches. It will be an uphill battle in season one; research has shown head coaches typically struggle in their first season at their newest destination. Perhaps these men can buck the trend and adapt quickly, although the more likely scenario has some of the league taking advantage and pushing ahead of these rebuilding programs for the time being. Well, maybe except for Rice (more on that later)…

Reader’s Take I

1. Memphis (14-2)
2. Marshall (12-4)
3. UTEP (11-5)
4. UCF (10-6)
5. UAB (9-7)
6. Southern Mississippi (8-8)
7. Tulane (7-9)
8. East Carolina (7-9)
9. Houston (6-10)
10. Tulsa (5-11)
11. SMU (5-11)
12. Rice (2-14)

Seven Sweet Scoops is the newest and hottest column by Chad Lykins, the RTC recruiting analyst. Every Friday he will talk about the seven top stories from the week in the wide world of recruiting, involving offers, which prospect visited where, recent updates regarding school lists and more chatter from the recruiting scene. You can also check out more of his work at RTC with his weekly column “Who’s Got Next?”, as well as his work dedicated solely to Duke Basketball at Duke Hoop Blog. You can also follow Chad at his Twitter account @CLykinsBlog for up-to-date breaking news from the high school and college hoops scene.

Note: ESPN Recruiting used for all player rankings.

1. Duke “Welcomes Home” Jabari Parker

This past weekend the Duke Blue Devils hosted their longtime top recruiting target in the class of 2013, No. 2 ranked Jabari Parker. The 6’8″ small forward out of Simeon Career Academy (Illinois) was greeted graciously by the Duke faithful upon arriving to campus for his second official visit. Parker, who also lists BYU, Florida, Michigan State and Stanford, took in Duke’s first exhibition game of the 2012-13 season. Since the summer, it has been perceived that Duke and Michigan State share the role as the favorite for his services. However, apparent updates coming off of Parker’s visit to Durham over the weekend may have very well shifted the tide in Duke’s favor, according to Michael O’Brien of the Chicago Sun-Times. As he has already taken his first official to visit to Michigan State, the Blue Devils are in an even more comfortable position going forward. Parker will now take his third official to Florida this weekend and will round out his schedule with visits to Stanford and BYU on the following weekends. Once he completes his scheduled visits, it has been rumored that a December decision is likely with Parker making it official during the spring signing period which runs from April 17 to May 15.

Jabari Parker, the No. 2 prospect in the class of 2013, took his second official visit to Duke over the weekend

2. Austin Nichols Finishes Official Visits, Approaching Decision

For the No. 12 ranked player in the Class of 2013, the visits are all finished. Power forward Austin Nichols from Briarcrest High School (Tennessee) wrapped up his schedule of official visits this past weekend, completing his final visit to Auburn. Also listing Duke, Memphis, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Virginia, Nichols and his family will now sit down with all of the information they have gathered from his list of schools and will begin the stages of making a final decision. Throughout the process, rumors have ran rampant about where Nichols is leaning. The one school that seems to be consistently at the forefront though, has been Tennessee. After visiting Knoxville two weeks ago, it seemed to be clear that the Volunteers had done enough to seal the deal for the home state native. Though no timetable for a decision has been set, the original plan all along has been for a November commitment during the early signing period.

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