Morning Five: 12.22.10 Edition

Posted by rtmsf on December 22nd, 2010

  1. After Josh Selby’s impressive performance last Saturday against USC, KUSports.com took the time to size up his competition for national FrOY.  From what we’ve seen so far (and excluding Duke’s Kyrie Irving from the argument), the list of the top freshmen in the country looks like this: 1) Jared Sullinger, Ohio State; 2) Terrence Jones, Kentucky; 3) Perry Jones, Baylor; 4) Harrison Barnes, UNC; 5) Brandon Knight, Kentucky.
  2. Marquette’s Buzz Williams and USC’s Kevin O’Neill have agreed to play a game in Milwaukee next season, with the obvious storyline being the return of O’Neill to the school where he got his first head coaching job in the late 80s.  The only catch is that it won’t actually count —  affixing onto the trend of some schools to play scrimmages closed to the public and media before the season begins, the two teams will hook up next fall at the Al McGuire Center in lieu of an exhibition game.
  3. Semester break always means mid-year transfers.  A couple of notables came out of the Northeast yesterday, as Seton Hall sophomore forward Ferrakohn Hall announced he was leaving the program, effective Tuesday.  The Memphis native averaged 5/3 in ten games so far this season, but it was clear to insiders that he was having trouble fitting into new coach Kevin Willard’s system.  Across the Hudson River, sophomore guard Quincy Roberts announced he is leaving St. John’s after seeing his playing time dwindle this season, the first under new head coach Steve Lavin.  Roberts missed the entire 2009-10 season with migraines, so we hope that he’s managed that difficult medical condition and will land somewhere else with a fresh start.
  4. Over the weekend, Kent State’s second-best scorer Carlton Guyton (12.7 PPG) was suspended indefinitely for felony theft where he allegedly took a woman’s car without her permission.  The woman is also alleging some kind of sexual assault against Guyton, but police have not yet charged the player with a crime to that effect.  The Golden Flashes are 9-3 after defeating Youngstown State on Tuesday night, but let’s hope for the sake of everyone involved that this is some kind of a misunderstanding between friends and lives aren’t ruined here.
  5. This is a fascinating article from the Omaha World-Herald about Nebraska’s difficulties as a football-dominant school in attracting fans to come out to its basketball games.  The Huskers are now 10-2 but home games so far this season are only playing at 41% of capacity at the Devaney Center.  Not much was expected from Doc Sadler’s team that went 2-14 in the Big 12 race last season, but learning that a major conference school with 23,500 students has fewer than a thousand student season ticket-holders (935 to be exact) is borderline criminal.  The chance to see Kansas, Texas, K-State and Mizzou passing through Lincoln this season should be enough for many students to justify the paltry $2 per game cost for season tickets.
Share this story

Morning Five: 12.17.09 Edition

Posted by rtmsf on December 17th, 2009

morning5

  1. St. John’s will hold out star forward Anthony Mason, Jr., for at least three more weeks as he continues to heal from a preseason hamstring injury.  The Johnnies have gotten off to an 8-1 start that includes solid wins against Siena and Temple.  SJU should be ok for another two weeks without him, but away games loom against Georgetown and Louisville right around the new year.  In other news, reserve Quincy Roberts will also take a medical redshirt due to recurring migraine headaches.
  2. Remember Josh Nochimson, the former UConn equipment manager who was tangled up in the investigation involving illegal contact with Nate Miles, the one-time next-big-thing for the Huskies?  His attorney says that Nochimson has never even been contacted by NCAA investigators.  They must be too busy with that Memphis strict liability standard, right?
  3. Duquesne’s Sam Ashaolufeel-good story of the year.  You go ahead, young man!
  4. Seth Davis gives us his best and worst of the decade of the 2000s, and there’s an awful lot of good stuff here.
  5. Coach K gave his opinion on the whole Expansion 96 idea, which we’ve summarily ripped apart on this site.  His essential take is that folding the NIT into the NCAA Tournament will allow more teams from mid-majors to get in because of the regular season auto-bid the NIT uses (he cites the Patriot League).  True, but as Mike DeCourcy (per usual) points out, it renders the regular season in the BCS conferences meaningless.  Our previous example of 70% of BCS teams getting a bid is not something anybody except coaches and those leagues want here.
Share this story