Sunday's WAC brunch (we get spicy at the end)

Thanks to warriorbow at the Scout Hawaii site basketball message board for posting this: a feature on UH backcourter Hiram Thompson. Here is one from April on Jared Quayle.

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Matt James provides an interesting piece of the seemingly greater player loyalty to Bulldog football vis-a-vis Fresno State basketball. It is true that Pat Hill's roster (as opposed to Steve Cleveland's) contains more player geographically 'connected' to the Fresno area and maybe that 'pull' gets these young men to stay longer but another critical variable to consider is the period of time needed for a college football player (as opposed to a college basketballer looking at the NBA) to have a body ready for the NFL. It generally is three years for those on the gridiron but can be as minimal as one for hoopsters.

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Jared Eborn checks in on the departures of Modou Niang and Tyrone White from the USU basketball program, plus a whole bunch of other player personnel information.

The impression given in the article (hopefully we are reading it correctly) is that Utah State made the decision to drop Niang. Granted, players know that an athletic scholarship is a year-to-year proposition and plenty of players decide on their own to migrate to a new college because of a sense it will be a 'better' home but coaches also don't enter the living rooms of players and their families during recruiting visits and stress that you may be dumped if you don't work out as expected and we find someone better.

This is one aspect of college sports that has always bothered us.

Compounding this is the fact that Niang has encountered no brushes with the law nor academic failings that are known to the public. He just didn't develop at an expected or acceptable rate.of progress.

Anthony DiLoreto certainly has a familiarity with the former, twice to be exact. His inital escapade should have meant the affixing to him of a two-strikes-and-you're-out tag. Yet he remains on the Aggie roster  -- ostensibly because he is seven feet tall and talented in basketball.

There is much to admire about Stew Morrill -- even opposing fans, if truly honest, must admit this fact. But not the latest personnel moves.