Idaho's roster moves

For those of you keeping track at home:

Being in Moscow, Idaho athletics don't receive as much coverage as other WAC programs (and no, it has nothing to do with the heavy hand of the Kremlin). Here's our best at keeping up with roster changes there:

Vandal basketball programs continue overhauls
Three leave women's squad, Kale departs from men's team
Aaron Wasser
Daily News
May 16, 2008

...First-year men's coach Don Verlin said Thursday that soon-to-be senior post Mike Kale will not return. Kale leaves with one season of eligibility remaining, but he will graduate this summer and has decided to try his hand with a professional career overseas despite Verlin's invitation to return for the 2008-09 campaign...

...Verlin was in Salt Lake City on Thursday and will make his way to Boise today before returning to Moscow on Monday. Upon his arrival, he'll get his first look at final grades that he said will help him determine who will stay and who will go.

With Kale's departure, the men's roster stands at 15 players, including the four Verlin signed to National Letters of Intent since being hired in April.

Programs are allowed a maximum of 13 scholarships and Verlin said the men's program will meet the NCAA compliance date of July 1, he's just not sure exactly how yet.

"We have a lot of things hanging out there," he said. "We will be in compliance by July 1, how exactly that will work remains to be seen, but we will be in compliance by then."

and

It was posted on the Rivals network and then a message board (yes, those paragons of truthiness) that 5-11 guard Kelvin Potts out of Chabot JC (up in Hayward) had signed with Idaho. He averaged 9.5 ppg, 5.2 apg, 3.1 turnovers a contest, 39% overall from the field, 38% from three-poi nt range and 77% from the foul line.

But then Potts disappeared from the list of Idaho's signees at Rivals so your guess is as good as ours.

Plus, Anthony Simpson (6-6, 210) signed on with Idaho when George Pfeiffer was still the head coach and now has been released from his letter-of-intent.

Finally this bizarre tale:

Ghazoul facing deportation
Amy Dalrymple
The Forum
5/13/2008

A North Dakota State College of Science basketball player who racked up thousands of dollars in international phone bills now faces deportation without the right to a hearing.

Touhami Ghazoul, 21, is being held in the Elk River, Minn., jail until he can be deported to his home country of Algeria, authorities said.

Ghazoul's deportation could occur in a few days to a few weeks before travel documents are in order and flight arrangements can be made, Counts said on Friday...

...Former NDSCS coach Steve Irwin gave Ghazoul a school calling card number so he could stay in touch with Ghazoul while the player was at a basketball camp in Oklahoma.

But Ghazoul continued using the number to make national and international calls after he returned home. Court records say he made 395 calls and NDSCS was charged an average of $9.80 per minute.

Ghazoul was suspended from playing basketball and the team was sanctioned by the National Junior College Athletic Association.

"He admits what he did was wrong," said Henderson, who advises NDSCS international students. "But he had no idea of the dollar amount, I'm sure."

Henderson said when he met Ghazoul on his first day at NDSCS, the player "had no grasp of the English language." Today, his reading and writing of English is probably at a fifth- or sixth-grade level, Henderson said.

But Ghazoul worked hard and had nearly completed most of his coursework at the time of his arrest, Henderson said.

Attorney Dan Krassin, who represented Ghazoul on the theft charge, said Ghazoul pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor because the University of Idaho was willing to recruit him as long as he wasn't convicted of a felony.

A letter of intent signed by Ghazoul and a University of Idaho athletic official from Nov. 14 confirms that he was a recruit for the basketball team...