1. The men’s basketball media day for the Big 12 begins this morning, but the women’s side produced some interesting comments yesterday. Baylor coach Kim Mulkey told reporters she would not schedule Texas A&M once it bolts for the SEC next year. She even likened the situation to a nasty divorce, saying “if it’s over, it’s over.” On the men’s side, Kansas coach Bill Self said a few weeks ago he would consider cutting Missouri from the schedule if it left the league, but he didn’t make any definitive comments like Mulkey. Although her decision to discontinue a series with A&M has no impact on Big 12 men’s hoops, it’s still an interesting thought to consider. Will Texas A&M’s Big 12 rivalries cease to exist? And if so, how soon will they become extinct?
2. Speaking of Big 12 basketball in Texas, new Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie called his program a “goldmine” today, an optimistic view on a team that consists almost exclusively of new faces this year. On one hand, he’s right — Tech has the ability to recruit the entire state of Texas, and it’s a school with a lot of resources and recent tradition under Bob Knight. However, it’s more of a challenge than Gillispie makes it sound. Tech has struggled to fill its arena at times, and it’s had a tough time competing with the top Texas programs for players on the recruiting trail. If there’s a man to get things done in Lubbock, though, it’s probably Gillispie. After all, nobody would have ever called Texas A&M a “goldmine” either, but he created a consistently solid program there — and we shouldn’t forget that he also did very good things at UTEP prior to that.
3. We introduced you to freshman Quincy Miller in our New Faces series earlier this week, and he’s certainly one of several stars for the Baylor Bears this season. However, it’s sometimes easy to overlook the impact of incoming point guard Pierre Jackson, who garnered his own column over at Big12Hoops.com. It’s essential for Scott Drew to get consistent point guard play, and Jackson’s one of the top junior college recruits for the Class of 2011 at that position. At 5’10” in stature, he’s not going to wow anybody physically, but he’s a game-changing point guard who dishes, dunks and scores. Look out for Jackson as one of the key pieces on this year’s squad.
4. Keeping with the blog theme, a Missouri blog broke down the program’s eight “awful” months of turmoil, dating all the way back to a collapse during Big 12 play at the end of last season. When you take the time to reflect on the Tigers’ struggles, it’s astonishing what they’ve been through. They tumbled to an 8-8 finish in the league after a promising Top 10 ranking during non-conference play, and then lost head coach Mike Anderson to Arkansas. After that, of course, Missouri made the unpopular Frank Haith hire, who in turn found himself at the center of a controversy dating back from his days at Miami. Did we forget anything? How about the Matt Painter miss? Or the Laurence Bowers injury? Boy, oh boy, it’s been a rough eight months in Columbia.
5. Haith can at least take solace in a new recruit, though. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported yesterday afternoon that center Ryan Rosburg committed to Missouri, giving the Tigers some much-needed bulk in the paint. He’s 6’10” and nearly 250 pounds, and he chose MU over Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia Tech and Missouri State. His older brother, Andy, has already walked on to the team, so that’s also an interesting storyline to keep an eye on. Rosburg isn’t considered an elite recruit, but he should provide the Tigers with a back-to-the-basket option in the paint in coming years. A true center in Columbia? Believe it. These aren’t Mike Anderson’s Tigers anymore.

1. In yesterday’s M5 we mentioned that a poll of media facilitated by the Syracuse Post-Standard found that Syracuse and Connecticut were essentially viewed as equals at the top of the Big East this year.  Wednesday’s survey of Big East coaches at Media Day came to the same ultimate conclusion.  The Huskies had more first-place votes (seven) than the Orange (five), but more coaches chose SU second or third than UConn, which accounts for the difference.  Louisville received three first-place votes (Rick Pitino took shots at the votes too), while Pittsburgh received one.  The Panthers’ Ashton Gibbs was chosen as the preseason Big East POY, with UConn’s Jeremy Lamb, Syracuse’s Kris Joseph, Marquette’s Darius Johnson-Odom, WVU’s Kevin Jones, and Notre Dame’s Tim Abromaitis rounding out the first team.
2. Down on Tobacco Road, the ACC was simultaneously holding its Media Day Operation Basketball, and the proceedings generally read like a Carolina love-fest.  UNC received 57 of the 59 first-place votes from the media, and the Heels’ Harrison Barnes was a unanimous selection on the preseason all-ACC first team along with teammates Tyler Zeller and John Henson (incidentally, Luke Winn breaks down Barnes’ 2010-11 progression here).  The last time that a single school had three selections on the preseason all-ACC team was a decade ago, when defending national champion Duke brought back Jason Williams, Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer.  In no surprise whatsoever, Duke was picked to finish second, with Florida State third.  The remaining all-ACC choices were Duke’s Seth Curry, Miami’s Malcolm Grant, and Virginia’s Mike Scott, with Duke’s Austin Rivers selected as the preseason ROY.  More on Operation Basketball later this morning on our ACC microsite.
3. We never contemplated a Wake Forest to USC pipeline developing, but if Jeff Bzdelik’s few talented players continue to get into trouble in Winston-Salem so that they ultimately transfer to Southern Cal, we’re sure that Kevin O’Neill will be happy to take them.  After Wake forward Ari Stewart transferred across the country in May to spend his final two years at USC, guard JT Terrell (whom Stewart hosted on his official visit to Troy) has also decided to re-surface as a Trojan.  Terrell is spending this season at a junior college in Washington, but the talented sophomore who averaged 11.1 PPG as a Demon Deacon frosh has announced that he will sign with O’Neill’s club during the early signing period in November.  Between Alex Stepheson (UNC to USC), Larry Drew II (UNC to UCLA), Travis and David Wear (UNC to UCLA), Stewart, and now Terrell, there’s something weird going on here.
4. Is Billy Gillispie ready to turn around the basketball fortunes at his third Texas destination in his somewhat short collegiate coaching career?  After very successful stints at UTEP and Texas A&M, followed by a disastrous one at Kentucky, Gillispie says that he’s sober and back on track at his new school, Texas Tech.  What was lost amidst all the chaos that surrounded Gillispie in his two years in Lexington is that he had completely rebuilt moribund programs in both El Paso and College Station very quickly, his teams employing a hard-nosed, defensive style that mimicked the coach’s somewhat infamous and notorious work ethic.  Texas Tech seems like a great fit for him not only because he’s back in his home state surrounded by his people, but the expectations and pressures at a school like TTU are incredibly tame in comparison with one of the nation’s flagship basketball schools.  Even during the Bob Knight experiment, getting to the Sweet Sixteen was cause for celebration.  It says here that Gillispie will do well in Lubbock.
5. We’ve already mentioned the heartbreaking story of Arizona’s Kevin Parrom in this space earlier this week.  Jeff Goodman caught up with him recently and the drive and fortitude that the Wildcat junior continues to show in the face of such adversity — losing his grandmother, his mother, and getting shot in the hand and leg in the span of several months — is nothing short of remarkable.  Rather than feeling sorry for himself, it’s clear in reading his quotes that he considers himself lucky to not only be alive, but also to have the opportunity to get an education on a basketball scholarship, something his mother made sure he put above all else.  And that, my friends, is what good parenting is all about.  Continued best of luck to Parrom as he works through these emotional and physical issues — we’re rooting for ya, kid.

1. Looks like Missouri‘s “inevitable” move to the SEC may not materialize after all. Just two days after an MU official told the New York Times the school would certainly apply for membership, chancellor Brady Deaton denied the report, saying the topic might not even be on the table during this week’s Board of Curators meetings in Kansas City. If there’s one thing we can take away from this, it’s that our brain hurts. One day, an official says MU’s gone; the next day, the top dog in charge says they’re not making a decision anytime soon. Within 48 hours, the tone has entirely changed, which begs the question: who is this anonymous official that spoke to the Times?
2. Realignment will probably be the heavy topic at Big 12 Media Days, which begins today and runs through Thursday. It’ll be interesting to hear how the coaches and players respond to all the talk, and perhaps we’ll even hear a few passionate sound bites about just how sick everybody is of the discussion. As far as basketball goes, though, expect a lot of questions fired at Kansas coach Bill Self about how to defend his Big 12 title after losing the bulk of his team. Scott Drew of Baylor could also hear the tough questions about how to avoid a collapse like last season. With four new coaches in the league, that angle should also get hit hard by the writers over the next few days.
3. A little news from a former Big 12 guy: shockingly, Bob Knight appears to have committed a recruiting violation by making illegal calls on behalf of his son Pat Knight at Lamar. This is independent of the Big 12 conference right now, of course, but the Knight family never had one ounce of accusations against them during their era at Texas Tech. Apparently, non-university officials cannot make contacts with recruits unless they’re listed as a special exemption, but Knight spoke to a few players “illegally.” If the Knight name weren’t attached to this story, it would have never hit print. But Pat and Bob Knight have star power, so they’ll have to deal with the minor but embarrassing consequences of this violation.
4. Oklahoma better have gotten its money’s worth. The Associated Press reported that an internal investigation cost $50,000, which marked the second investigation at the school during the last five years. The school was looking into the allegations about illegal payments surrounding former coach Jeff Capel‘s program, and the situation is murky because Kelvin Sampson had already put the school on probation. This investigation isn’t as pricey as Ohio State‘s once was — that one cost a bit shy of a million dollars — bit it could result in major NCAA violations. Oklahoma has offered to take away a scholarship, vacate wins and add probation, but that might not be enough for the NCAA. After all, it wants to vacate a 13-win season in 2009-10. The humanity!
5. Let’s give some well wishes to Oklahoma State freshman Cezar Guerrero. He suffered an injury in practice Monday, which landed him in the hospital. He’s out though, now, having been released Tuesday after a spinal cord scare. The Oklahoman says team officials would not disclose the injury at first, but it now looks like Guerrero suffered a pretty serious-looking injury. A helicopter was needed to transport him to the hospital, which is always a scary sign. The team expects him to make a full recovery, although nobody’s got any idea when he’ll see the basketball court again.

Today, we finish the uniform rankings of the Big 12, as we reveal #4, #3, #2, and #1. First, I want to touch on the most important feature of a college basketball uniform: uniqueness. The more unique the uniform is, the more it is that they will be talked about. However, introducing a unique uniform is high-risk and high-reward. UNC’s jersey is, in my mind, the best uniform in college basketball. It’s uniqueness with the argyle and phenomenal color scheme make it impossible to beat. On the contrary, teams like Oklahoma State or Marquette, whose attempts for uniqueness involve bright and obnoxious colors, are some of my least favorite jerseys. A strong uniform becomes an identity of your program, and a strong program should have a strong uniform.  So here goes… the top four.

#4. Missouri

Needs More Jersey Patches, I'd Say.

History: 7. Mizzou got new threads last year, but they simply modernized their jersey. No change was substantial, and their jerseys have remained true to their school colors of black and gold for decades.

Color Scheme: 9. Missouri’s black and gold has become one of the most recognizable color scheme in the world of college sports, up there with Texas, Kansas, North Carolina, and Notre Dame.

Script:4. Unfortunately, the script is the downfall of Missouri’s aesthetics. The text looks like a font from Cartoon Network, and does not induce fear or intimidation upon its opponents.

Final Score. 20

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1. The league released its annual preseason coaches poll Thursday afternoon, and in its final year as a Big 12 member, Texas A&M made history. For the first and last time ever, the coaches selected the Aggies to win the conference. They earned 73 points to share the honors with Kansas, who received the most first-place votes with five. Baylor and Missouri also received first-place votes, while Oklahoma and Texas Tech finished tied for last. The poll, of course, means absolutely nothing, but it’s decent fodder for us fans as we wait a few more hours for Midnight Madness to tip off.
2. It’s also decent fodder for coaches and players: coach Bill Self and guard Tyshawn Taylor both told ESPN.com they were “surprised” at the first-place selection. The Jayhawks’ tone during the pre season has been unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Self even expressed some public concerns this summer to CBS Sports about how his roster is shaping up, and he’s admitted that his team has more question marks in 2011-12 than any he’s ever coached. Still, with seven straight Big 12 titles to his name, you’ve got to think Self will figure something out with this team– especially since most of the “unproven” talent consists of former blue-chip recruits.
3. The day we’ve been waiting for since last April is finally here — the first day of practice. Unfortunately, less than half of the Big 12 teams are holding public Midnight Madness events. If you’re wondering who is having festivities, though, take a look at this CBS Sports schedule: it appears only Kansas, Texas A&M and Baylor will have public practices tonight (Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will have events later this month). Kudos to A&M, though, for being the only program to truly hold a practice at midnight.
4. Rick Barnes has sent numerous forwards to the NBA during his head coaching career, and Class of 2012 big man Prince Ibeh is hoping to become the next star in the Texas frontcourt. The 6’10” center verbally pledged to the Longhorns on Thursday, giving Barnes three forwards in this particular recruiting class. Considered one of the top recruits in the nation at his position, Ibeh checks in at #54 in the Rivals.com rankings. He’s primarily known for his shot-blocking ability, so watch out for this guy in the paint during the next four years.
5. Finally, your obligatory realignment news: Kansas City mayor Sly James wrote a letter to Missouri chancellor Brady Deaton, expressing his desire for the university to stay in the Big 12. James appears most worried about his city losing the Big 12 Tournament, and who can blame him? If MU bolts for another league, it’d be pretty difficult to keep the league tournament in a state where no team competes, despite the proximity of Kansas and Kansas State. James estimates the Big 12 tourney generates about $14 million a year for Kansas City.

Andrew Murawa is the RTC correspondent for the Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences and a frequent contributor.

For more than a year now, college sports fans have looked on with some mixture of fascination, excitement, disgust and horror as conferences and their member institutions have played a game of chicken with all-out conference-realignment Armageddon. Last June, following Nebraska’s announcement that it was leaving for the Big Ten, the Big 12 was on the verge of extinction when a quartet of teams led by Texas strongly considered a move west to form the first superconference, the Pac-16. However, after a weekend on the edge of the wire, they backed away and recommitted to the Big 12. But now, with Texas A&M’s slow-motion defection from the Big 12 to the SEC all but finished, the Big 12 is in another fight for its survival, with athletic directors and conference commissioners around the country considering their options should the Big 12 dissolve.

The Latest Domino Falls...

The first big domino here is obviously Texas A&M. They formally announced last week that they intend to leave the Big 12 Conference by July 2012, and the school is expected to announce later today that the SEC is their landing spot. Reportedly the 12 existing SEC schools voted 10-2 Tuesday night in favor of inviting the Aggies to its league, but a formal announcement could potentially hit a snag if any of the other nine remaining Big 12 schools chooses to not waive its right to litigate against the SEC for tortious interference with its conference affiliation.

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If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.

General News

• Bruce Pearl Expected to Receive “Show Cause” Penalty: Reports indicate that the former Tennessee coach will receive a multi-year show cause penalty. (A Sea of Blue)
• USA 86, Germany 83: “Team USA earned it’s sixth win of the World University Games tournament and secured fifth place with a three point win over Team Germany, 86-83.” (Villanova by the Numbers and The Daily Gopher)
• Billy Gillispie already causing problems at Texas Tech: Reports of multiple staff members leaving including at least one after an altercation with Gillispie. (Kentucky Sports Radio)
• Lakers’ Luke Walton to play assistant coach at Memphis during NBA lockout: “Walton was recommended by Memphis Tigers head coach Josh Pastner to become an assistant coach on his staff, a move that will go through barring any disapproval by the Tennessee Board of Regents or the school itself.” (Arizona Desert Swarm)
• Pittsburgh’s Non-Conference Schedule: A look at a fairly benign list of opponents. (Pitt Blather)

1. Although we focus primarily (OK, solely) on men’s basketball, we would be remiss if we did not talk about Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt, who disclosed yesterday that she was suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. In addition to announcing the news, Summitt also stated she intended to continue coaching her basketball team next season and for the foreseeable future. We are sure that many members of our audience have either had loved ones or interacted with individuals who suffered from this progressively debilitating condition. Like the rest of the college basketball community, we wish Summitt the best of luck in her battle with Alzheimer’s. Also if you are going to read just one column about Summitt today, we suggest this piece by Sally Jenkins in The Washington Post.
2. The day’s other big college basketball news also came out of Tennessee, but this time it came from the men’s program where it appears that recently-fired head coach Bruce Pearl will receive a three-year show cause penalty while three of his assistants will receive one-year show cause penalties. Outside of the penalties against these four coaches and the school’s previous self-imposed ones, the school got off with relatively little damage, including the football program and former coach Lane Kiffin. For new coach Cuonzo Martin this means that he has an opportunity to rebuild the program without having to deal with a significant amount of fallout from Pearl’s prior indiscretions. As for Pearl and his assistants, this means that they will have to be away from the game of basketball for a little while. Oh wait, the NBA…
3. It seems like the athletic department at Miami just can’t seem to catch a break. First there was Reggie Johnson‘s knee injury that will sideline him until at least the start of ACC play. Then there was the small matter of the ongoing Nevin Shapiro debacle. Now there is news that senior Julian Gamble may be lost for the season after tearing the ACL in his left knee. Gamble’s junior year numbers (3.8 PPG and 4.0 RPG) might not make this seem like a big loss, but in the context of losing Johnson’s huge inside presence, the injury to Gamble will make life even more difficult for new coach Jim Larranaga. The way things are going, Frank Martin must be feeling pretty good about being passed over for the Miami job.
4. If any coach in men’s college basketball is having a worse summer than Larranaga it may be new Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie. After being caught up in not one, but two high-profile Ponzi schemes, the former Kentucky coach finds himself in the news again after Sports by Brooks reported that he was already causing havoc within the basketball program in Lubbock. In addition to having several members of the staff leave the program, Gillispie was reportedly in “multiple, heated altercations” with an assistant, who eventually left. It is possible that Gillispie might just be the unluckiest guy in college basketball, but at this rate he may develop a reputation bad enough to make him untouchable, even with his stellar resume prior to his arrival in Lexington.
5. A number of big-time recruits in the class of 2012 announced that their “lists” had shrunk yesterday, but only one — Kris Dunn — is set to make a verbal commitment. According to Adam Zagoria, Dunn, one of the top point guards in this year’s senior class, is set to commit to Providence at a conference at 1 PM today. While this would be a huge pick-up for new coach Ed Cooley it is worth pointing out that the Friars also had a verbal commitment from Ricardo Ledo earlier this year, but he later backed out of the commitment, although Ledo is still considering the Friars in his new final five. The lesson here is that while you should be happy when a recruit commits to your school, don’t get too excited until he signs a letter or, even better, sets foot on campus.

Many of you remember the saga of Guerdwich Montimere, the 22-year old who was caught pretending to be a 16-year old while becoming a Texas high school basketball star last year. Earlier today Montimere, who had claimed to be an orphan from Haiti when he first moved to Texas, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault and three counts of tampering with government records and was sentenced to three years in prison (technically he received three years for each count to served concurrently, which basically means that he just serves three years for each count at the same time). Montimere’s case captured the nation’s attention last year as a bizarre mix of strange nostalgia (a former high school athlete trying to recapture his high school glory days) and seediness (dating and having sex with high school girls) with a little bit of Texas lore mixed in (Montimere was attending Odessa Permian High, the school that Friday Nights Lights is based on).

Not your average 16 year-old

Montimere made the move to Texas in 2009 with the help of a high school teammate and assumed the name Jerry Joseph before eventually moving in with his high school coach, who had been told that Montimere was an orphan from Haiti. Montimere immediately made an impact on the basketball team and was named the District 2-5A Newcomer of the Year. Unfortunately for Montimere, his success also meant that he was offered opportunities to play on a bigger stage. When he traveled with his AAU team to a tournament in Arkansas several of the coaches from Florida recognized him as Montimere, who had graduated from Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2009, which led to several anonymous tips to Permian officials. The first time Permian officials contacted immigration authorities Montimere was cleared, but a subsequent investigation revealed his true identity and Montimere confessed that he was, in fact, not Jerry Joseph.

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1. Sporting News‘ Mike DeCourcy posted a fine summary yesterday of 2012 prospect Myles Davis‘ decision to verbally commit to Xavier, and we also saw that Mr. DeCourcy later tweeted a confirmation that Myles Davis was indeed named after…Miles Davis. This automatically makes him the coolest player in the 2012 class. We hope someone someday challenges Davis about his shot selection in some post-game press conference, so he can reply with something to the effect of, “There are no bad shots, just shots in the wrong places.” If this happens, inasmuch as we can’t reward Davis, we pledge to mow Chris Mack’s lawn on an as-needed basis for the entire off-season next summer.
2. As MSNBC’s Mike Miller tweeted early yesterday, the fallout from this David Salinas possible Ponzi scheme story will come in the form of a “slow burn of incriminating details” over the rest of the summer. SI.com’s Pablo Torre has the latest on this fiasco, including names of coaches, amounts of money with which they entrusted Salinas, and a list of players who came through Salinas’ AAU program in Houston that, as the author says, “sparks potential questions.” Certainly true, especially when considering what (as the author notes in his article) former Houston coach Tom Penders told The Daily on Monday — that Salinas once offered him the chance to invest $100,000 with him, in the process making “a strong, strong implication” that the 100-large would grease the rails for Penders in terms of access to prospects at Salinas’ program. Yeesh. By the way, the biggest loss from Salinas’ business practices appears to have been $2.3 million (!!) that once belonged to new Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie.
3. Kentucky’s Jon Hood tore his right ACL during a pick-up game on Monday and will likely have to redshirt the 2011-12 season. Surgery has yet to be scheduled as they wait for inflammation around the knee to subside. You might look at Hood’s 0.8 PPG and 4.3 MPG from last season and write this off as an unfortunate incident for the young man and just a minor loss for the team, but beware; Hood is the only rising junior on the team, and Kentucky lost a potential senior when DeAndre Liggins left a year early for the NBA. They still have Darius Miller and Eloy Vargas as returning seniors, but when you’re as heavy on freshmen and sophomores as Kentucky, you’ll take any upperclassmen leadership you can get.
4. Any coach will tell you that when you take over for another coach at a struggling program, it’s not just about new offenses and new defenses and so on. It often involves a change of the very culture of the place, and sometimes even a re-commitment to basic matters of professionalism by everyone concerned, and the process can sometimes take a couple of years. Coach-turned-announcer-turned-coach Mark Gottfried has a long row to hoe at NC State, but he knows that his first job is to convince his players that success begins with things as elementary as daily off-court habits that have little or nothing to do with basketball.
5. If the latest “Hoop Thoughts” from Seth Davis doesn’t get your mid-July college basketball juices flowing, we wonder what will. In the latest edition, Davis takes the pulses of nine programs, each based on recent conversations he had with the coaches of those teams. We don’t want to give too much away, but Duke, Louisville, Michigan State, and Ohio State backers should take note. And he leads off with a proclamation of who will be the next official Cinderella in the vein of Gonzaga and Butler.