1. This is around the time of the year when the felonies start.  We guess that players get out of school, start feeling the summer heat and lose their minds.  Or something.  UNLV’s Tre’Von Willis, a first team all-MWC junior guard last season, was arrested Tuesday on felony charges of domestic battery by strangulation and grand larceny.  The person Willis allegedly strangled was his 28-year old girlfriend, which begs the question whether Willis may have been watching old Chapelle episodes before the incident.  There’s been no comment from UNLV head coach Lon Kruger yet, but obviously Willis is a big part of what he is expecting to put on the floor next season.  It’ll be interesting to see how he handles this one.
2. We figure that you’ve been on pins and needles all summer waiting for this decision, but the WAC announced yesterday that it will not expand in 2011.  What does this mean?  Well, with the loss of Boise State to the MWC after the 2010-11 season, the WAC will operate as an eight-team league for at least one year.  How quaint — an eight-team league.
3. What, no Craigslist?  This AP report examines the secondary market for tickets to NCAA events in light of the recent Kansas scandal.  Although we didn’t know that the NCAA had embraced Razorgator as its online ticket broker, it’s nice to see folks waking up as to how many people acquire ducats to these events.
4. So how much will Colorado have to pay for the privilege of leaving the Big 12 and moving to the Pac-10?  Probably about $10M more than they expected (had the Big 12 dissolved, as they undoubtedly thought would happen).
5. Coach K will talk one-on-one with Alabama football head coach Nick Saban on Wednesday night on Sirius XM radio, and we’re half tempted to listen to it just to see if the irresistible force/immovable object thing is really true.  Well, that and to see if the Russian spies show up.

Each day this week during the Final Four we’re asking some of our top correspondents to put together a collection of notes and interesting tidbits about each region.  If you know of something that we should include in tomorrow’s submission, hit us up at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Michigan State (Tom Hager)

• Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who was an assistant at Michigan State when MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo was also an assistant, insists that Izzo is a football coach who happens to coach basketball.  The statement should come as no surprise given the Spartans’ reputation for toughness and rebounding.
• Not only is guard Delvon Roe still injured, but apparently the knee injury is affecting him mentally as well.
• The one thing Izzo does not have to worry about is his team overlooking Butler.  Draymond Green says that being overconfident would be “completely dumb.”
• Although Joe Wilner says that there will be no top 10 picks from any team, and that this could be the least talented Final Four in years, it will also be one of the most wide-open Final Fours as well.
• According to Pat Forde, Draymond Green might not be just the smartest player among the remaining teams, he might be the smartest player in college basketball altogether.

West Virginia (Ryan Restivo of SienaSaintsBlog)

• Rebounding will be key in this game Saturday between West Virginia and Duke.
• Deniz Kilicli could be a factor in the game against Duke after coming off a 20-game suspension for violating the NCAA’s amateur rules.
• This is a rematch worth watching, maybe the Mountaineers will be able to repeat a similar feat to their six-point win over Duke two years ago in the NCAA Tournament.
• The fashion police weigh in on Bob Huggins’ attire.
• Truck Bryant shot with the team on Friday but isn’t expected to have an impact in Saturday’s game.

Read the rest of this entry »

Our first story of the day comes from Auburn, Alabama, situs of the university formerly known as East Alabama Male College. The natives there have apparently gotten a little restless, what with the gridiron sting of losing to a Tampa commuter school and insert-demeaning-moniker-of-choice-for-Mississippi State University in recent weeks. We haven’t even described how they feel about Nick Saban yet, but we’re getting off track here.

Even members of the hoops team are showing signs of distress:

Auburn senior basketball player Frank Tolbert was arrested Friday for third-degree criminal mischief stemming from an incident at a towing company lot. The Opelika-Auburn News reported the arrest Saturday. Tolbert allegedly jumped a fence at United Auto Collision in Auburn Thursday night to retrieve his SUV, which had been towed earlier in the week. Police said Tolbert damaged a metal fence when he drove through it to leave the lot. Tolbert averaged 11.8 points and 4.8 rebounds last year, starting in 28 of 32 games. He is one of three seniors on Auburn’s roster this year.

Now, we get just as PO’d as the next guy when our sled gets towed – legalized theft, it is. But it never occurred to us to simply hop the fence of the impound lot and ram our neon green Dodge Charger Daytona R/T through the gate. Maybe it had something to do with the open-air drug market going on outside the premises that spooked us. Nevertheless, given what we know about towing companies, we think Tolbert’s act of criminal mischief is about seventeen different kinds of awesome. Instead of Coach Jeff Lebo suspending him, he should give Tolbert a week off.