More on Greg Graham

Dave Reynolds has more on Greg Graham hooking up with Bradley basketball. PTW didn't know that Graham was long considered the fave for the position.

Wednesday's WAC-itude

In a June 8 column on NBA happenings, Peter Vecsey included this:

"...In anticipation of a total coaching shakeup in Minnesota, assistant Reggie Theus is trying to line up a gig elsewhere, pro or college..."

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In Travis Hines' Times-Republican article on Marshalltown (Iowa) Community College basketball, Idaho receives a pair of mentions:

"...Chris Caird inked his National Letter of Intent with Santa Clara University on Tuesday, the MCC freshman confirmed to the Times-Republican in a text message.

The England native scored 12.4 points per game and shot 49 percent from the floor in his one and only season as a Tiger...

...Caird had interest from other schools earlier in the year, with Boston College and Idaho among other schools both taking notice."

and

"...Marcus Bell hasn't suited up for MCC yet, but he's already received his first scholarship offer.

Iowa State University extended him an offer Monday, Brynjarsson said.

Bell is a 6-foot-8, 230 pounder from California. He spent the 2009-10 season at Lower Columbia College where he was the Northwest Athletic Association of Community College's Western Division MVP...

...Oklahoma, Washington State and Idaho have all shown interest in Bell as well..."

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This is hopefully the last non-basketball-related item PTW will post about incoming USU recruit Norvell Arnold: he is 23, not quite a still-wet-behind-the-ears kid.

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Former Boise State head man Greg Graham has been hired as an assistant coach at Bradley. Not sure what, if any, connection he has with Geno Ford, the new coach at BU.

Greg Graham has interviewed for the UC Davis opening

Thanks to Frank Burlison, we know that former Boise State Coach Greg Graham is among the interviewees for the head coach opening at UC Davis.

The others:

* Jim Les (let go at Bradley a short while ago, overall losing record)
* Jay John (a Cal assistant and former Oregon State head coach)
* Donny Daniels (current Gonzaga assistant, former UCLA assistant, failed at Fullerton)
* Bob Cantu (current USC assistant)

PTW would say Graham has a very good chance at landing the position. Les is from the Midwest and hadn't been successful of late. His son, Tyler, is a sophomore-to-be basketballer at Davis.

John was let go after not succeeding in Corvallis and the same for Daniels and Fullerton.

Cantu is the unknown since he hasn't been a head coach.

Graham posted a 15-17 record in his last season, had a 142-112 overall record and took a team to the Big Dance in 2008.

Nick Jezierny tweeting about Greg Graham

Nick Jezierny just tweeted about a possible new coaching home for Greg Graham.

Sam Hicks leaving Boise State

According to Jeff Goodman, 6-foot-9 Sam Hicks, who redshirted last season and didn't play much in 2010-2011 (seven games for 14 minutes) is departing Boise State. He was a Greg Graham recruit. Hicks is athletically a freshman who will be entering his sophomore season but obviously won't have a season to burn as he sits out a year if he remains in D-1.

Your Tuesday p.m. snack

AW Prince reports that Nevada has a point guard recruit sealed if not yet signed and delivered. You Wolf Pack fans who don't have a Silver and Blue Sports subscription are missing out so show those true colors and sign up.

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Dan Hinxman is not happy with the reasoning surrounding the departure of Greg Graham.

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Jared Eborn promises more tomorrow but has some interesting quotes today from Stew Morrill about what other recruiters say about Logan.

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Will Leon Rice be donning a cheesehead (carryon luggage or check in?)prior to his trek to Wisconsin to see Ben Mills? PTW thinks Miils' hometown should really be spelled a more appropriate Heartland. Anyway, Nick Jezierny has the scoop.

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This is simply a question and not based on any tips or inside scoop: will J'mison Morgan be interested in Louisiana Tech now that Ben Howland has said 'see ya later' to the former Louisiana prepster?

Granted, LSU might be the most logical destination but Morgan bailed on a previous commitment to Baton Rouge and Trent Johnson and it's not like he's a proven positive commodity after two seasons of injuries and very little playing time at UCLA.

The status of Mason Sawyer?

Mason Sawyer is a 5-10 point out of Utah who 'signed' with Boise State last year before heading off on his LDS mission.

Being a Greg Graham recruit, does anyone know what his status will be with Leon Rice? Our calculations indicate that he has one year to go before his service is completed.

Here's a SCOUT article on Sawyer from January 25, 2009.

From the Boise State athletics site on 11/19/2009 comes this.

Here's a Deseret News photo of Sawyer.

Friday's WAC-aroni

How many gave Louisiana Tech a chance -- minus Kyle Gibson and Magnum Rolle -- in the CIT matchup with Southern Mississippi? Ethan Conley has the game report here and you will be pleasantly surprised. Granted, SoMiss's best player was also out but that doesn't detract from the WAC taking a win against Conference USA.

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Sam Wasson has a link-a-palooza up today at his Bleed Crimson site. Sam is in Spokane and offers up analysis with Aggie announcer Jack Nixon, press conferences with both teams, an interview with Aggie fan Bill Conroy and more. So shut the door and put out a 'do not disturb' sign, mute your phone and dive in.

Jason Groves is also in the hometown of John Stockton has a feature on the on-court Aggie leaders and a sort of verbal kerfluffle but an enjoyable one in this day of pre-packaged thoughts and comments. Say, how many of you were familiar with Kalin Lucas before this week? PTW knew of him but not his stats nor how his season has gone to date.

Jason also offers that no surprises remain in the arsenal of any coach at this point -- it's efficiency time.

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Brad Rock provides a look at Tyler Newbold and his playing with diabetes here.

Rod Turner talks with former Aggie mentor Rod Tueller.

Jeff Hunter provides some insight to last year's Utah State - Marquette matchup.

Here is Jeff with a Stew Morrill feature plus a photo of you-know-who that has to be seen to be believed. PTW's first thought: damn, isn't he the precursor to Tom Selleck, Magnum PI?

Tony Jones writes that Texas A&M likes to push opponents around so it seems that the game will be all-Olivia Newton-John.

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Greg Graham has applied for the Hawaii head coach opening as have 17 other new candidates as Dayton Morinaga tell us here.

Brian McInnis details the primary coaching candidates for the opening. Don't count out Steve McClain who compiled an impressive record at Wyoming. If you can recruit to Laramie, well... Plus, look up animated in the dictionary and Steve McClain's photo is there.

Nick Jezierny talks with Boise AD Gene Bleymaier

Nick Jezierny provides background to the letting go of Greg Graham:

Boise State athletic director talks about why he fired Greg Graham and looks ahead
Nick Jezierny
Idaho Statesman
3/13/10

Gene Bleymaier moved swiftly in firing men's basketball coach Greg Graham, and said he would like to find a successor within a month. The Idaho Statesman met with Bleymaier on Friday and talked with him about the decision - and what his expectations are for Graham's replacement and the program...

Go here for the remainder.

Nick offers the highs and lows of Greg Graham's tenure here and here.

Here's Nick Jezierny on the Graham move

Nick Jezierny has the best coverage on Greg Graham's departure:

Boise State fires basketball coach Greg Graham
Nick Jezierny
Idaho Statesman
3/12/10

Greg Graham got the Boise State men’s basketball team back in the NCAA Tournament and set a school record for wins in a season with 25 and became the second-winningest coach in program history.

He took the Broncos to two other postseason tournaments and had an excellent track record for graduating players in a sport that often has trouble with the student part of student-athlete.

Despite those successes, Graham couldn’t win with the fans. They stopped buying season tickets and going to games as attendance at Taco Bell Arena hit an all-time low this season at 3,061 fans per game. Boise State sold 3,675 season tickets this season, the lowest total that the school has on record...

Go here for the remainder.

We have a favor to ask of Bronco fans. Please do not type the name Reggie Theus in any posts from your respective keyboards. There is as much a chance of him heading to Boise as there is of Wild Bill Sproat earning a Mr. Universe title. Period. Case closed. Actually, case never opened.

Also, the hunting and fishing would be great as far as Bob Knight is concerned but, hey, it ends there. Why would anyone think Knight would have interest in basketball at a football school -- let alone why AD Gene Bleymaier would even consider bringing aboard a smouldering volcano sure to explode in the near future?

Greg Graham let go

Boise State AD Gene Bleymaier has moved quickly and fired Greg Graham as the BSU head basketball coach.

More, more, more

Hey, the regular season actually demonstrated something as each team at or near the top won yesterday.

Sam Wasson offers a WAC semifinals preview here.

Daniel Lyght covers the Paul George 'will he or won't he?' situation. Matt James comes real close to the 'lipstick on a pig' analogy here.

So how many Nevada fans are 'going Fields' in the barbershop today?

Nick Jezierny covers here Greg Graham stating his case for his program. One little cut-n-paste:

"Look at the program the last four years - we've been to the postseason twice and the NCAA Tournament," Graham said. "We've averaged 19 wins a season. We have good kids in the program. We're No. 1 in the conference in academics and No. 1 in the nation in APR this year at 100 percent.

Juan López of the Nevada Sagebrush covered the quarterfinals here. (thanks to Sam Wasson for alerting us to this one)

Scott Reyburn of the Spartan Daily has his SJSU - NMSU game report here, along with a 2+ minute photo slideshow (ditto to Sam)

Dayton Morinaga reports here that Roderick Flemings will smartly participate in the Portsmouth Invitational.

Jeff Portnoy reports on a 'stealth candidate' for the UH head coach position here.

Is Greg Graham to be or not to be?

Yes, we're back so soon (because we came across some excellent material). Call this the "how can I miss you if you won't go away" (a tip o' the hat to Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks) version of PTW.

Nick Jezierny and Mike Prater come down differently on the Greg Graham retention question, one that has no black-and-white answer. However, after reading and re-reading the pro and con, PTW believes Nick Jezierny makes a better case. Maybe that's a wuss out on our part but no coach's future (barring illegal activity or some extremely poor display of judgment) deserves to be decided until the season is complete and the full body of work available for inspection.

Should Boise State basketball coach Greg Graham go?
Commentary by Nick Jezierny and Mike Prater
Idaho Statesman
3/04/10

Greg Graham has led Boise State to the NCAA Tournament and the NIT.

Keep him: He's won before, and the school can't afford not to bring the coach back next season.

Dear Gene Bleymaier: With attendance at an all-time low and your men's basketball team fighting for its life just to qualify for the WAC Tournament, you probably are considering a coaching change.

No one can blame you, especially after I saw you turn a deep shade of red last month when Idaho humiliated the Broncos 79-55 at Taco Bell Arena. Two weeks later, you were staring into a sea of empty seats on a Saturday when UC Davis thumped your team in front of 1,906 fans.

Getting embarrassed at home by your rival and a lack of fan support are two good reasons to make a change. But Gene, you have about 362,500 reasons not to make a change and stick with coach Greg Graham for the final season of his three-year contract...

Go here for the remainder.

Boise State tops LA Tech

Hey, there's room on the Greg Graham bandwagon.

The Broncos ventured way south to Ruston, dragging a 2-10 conference record (1-5 on the road) as well as being losers of three in a row. Louisiana Tech, situated in third place at 8-4 in league action and a very solid 5-1 within the confines of the Thomas Assembly Center, certainly had notions of a victory, as did most if not all of us.

Try 72-59. In favor of BSU.

50% Boise State shooting, including 8-18 from long distance paved the way. Paul Noonan led with 14 and Ike Okoye added 12.

For the Bulldogs, Kyle Gibson scored just six points on 3-11 shooting, playing but 22 minutes. Magnum Rolle also was held to six markers. LT shot just 35% including 3-16 on trey attempts.

It was 37 apiece at the half but the Broncos owned the second 20 minutes 35-22.

Chris Murray slots BSU eighth

Some team has to go there so Chris Murray stuck his neck out and pointed his finger at BSU. The expectation: Backcourter Anthony Thomas will issue another guarantee.

If you wish to argue or debate, keep in mind light betters heat.

Boise State needs some step-up performances
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
10/8/2009

Editor's note: We are counting down the WAC basketball teams, in order from worst to first, in anticipation of the preseason WAC rankings being unveiled by the conference on Oct. 20. Today: No. 8 Boise State.

No. 8 Boise State

Coach: Greg Graham (eighth season; 127-95 at Boise State)

Last year’s record: 19-13 overall, 9-7 in the WAC (tied for third place)

Returning starters: Four (Anthony Thomas, Paul Noonan, Ike Okoye, Kurt Cunningham)

Key losses: Mark Sanchez, Jamar Greene, Aaron Garner...

Go here for the remainder. Who is coming in seventh?

Greg Graham to add a 2009-2010 player?

Ah, that Greg Graham is a sly one. BroncoCountry.com -- Kevin Hiatt is the proprietor -- has some very interesting details today about a freshman point out of southern California who may be heading north for the 2009-2010 season. A Scout sub is required.

Garrett Jackson with a Boise State mention

The Rivals Oregon Preps site has an article today that highlights how 6-foot-6, 195 Garrett Jackson is enjoying a much higher level of recruiting due to his improved showing over the summer.

Jackson is out of Westview High in Portland and a member of the I-5 club basketball squad.

Boise State is listed in the article as having offered -- along with quite a number of West Coast Conference schools and Rice.

Let's see how far his impressive play boosts his recruiting interest.

Boise State recruiting

How in the world does Greg Graham do it? Boise State men's basketball has been very competitive of late yet minus any 'heralded' recruits. That may sound like a backhanded compliment but it's not meant to be taken that way.

We don't see those even creeping towards blue-chip status consideration ever considering Boise, a situation that also applies to most of the WAC membership. The highly skilled who also display solid if not top level athleticism just aren't available. So what does Graham do?

He builds a team -- in all the positive senses. Graham typically nabs high IQ players, those willing to work hard and play unselfishly as a unit.

For example, consider the buzz -- or lack thereof -- when Kurt Cunningham signed? Did anyone forsee him leading the WAC in shooting? The same with Mark Sanchez? Where were the experts who noted he would achieve All-WAC Second Team status as a senior? Were the expectations that Ike Okoye and Anthony Thomas would earn berths on the WAC All-Defensive squad? Matt Nelson transferred in from Eastern Washington and became nearly unstoppable down low. Tyler Tiedeman's claim to fame was as a baseballer until he hurt his arm. Reggie Larry was known for his quickness and jumping but many -- if not most - simply considered him an undersized junior college power forward. Heck, Matt Baucher and Coby Karl were walk-ons.

Graham is a molder, one of the best compliments a coach can be given.

As for Graham's 2009 class, let's look at Mason Sawyer, Westley Perryman, Sam Hicks and Daequon Montreal. Sawyer is a 5-foot-9 point out of the Utah high school ranks who is heading out on his two-year LDS mission. Perryman is an athletic junior college transfer, signed with the expectations he will fill a role in the backcourt as a points producer. Hicks played against very little same-sized and not nearly as talented competition in league play at a northern California high school but exposure with a name club team got the 6-foot-9 freshman-to-be a WAC scholarship. He's a good athlete who will need to bulk up a bit. It was expected that the 6-foot-8 Montreal would head elsewhere after leaving powerhouse College of Southern Idaho -- Gonzaga was one school attached to him in recruiting circles, at least for a time.

Montreal is the most heralded of the quartet and he'll immediately move right on to the Bronco frontline as will Perryman in Boise's backcourt. Hicks will need time and the depth Graham has on the frontline will afford that.

The most curious signing was Sawyer. Anthony Thomas will be a senior in the 2009-2010 season, La'Shard Anderson a junior and both will have departed prior to Sawyer arriving.

So Graham needs to land a point in his 2010 recruiting class, one definitely ready to contribute after at most a season of adjustment. Will a high schooler be able to do so or does Graham go the junior college route?

Considering the current makeup of his roster, we view Graham's 2010 recruiting class as critical. He's going to need some talent that can step forward quickly as WAC-competitive. That may concern some in Boise but let's leave it right now with the fact that he has done it before.

An Arizona prepster with a Boise State mention

Here's an Arizona high schooler connected to Boise State recruiting among many others.

Anthony Ray
ArizonaPreps.com Recruiting Analyst
July 6, 2009

One of Arizona's top rated overall prospects in the state's very talented 2010 class is Gilbert High School's 6-foot-5 senior forward/wing Shawn King.

Gilbert HS 6-foot-5 senior Shawn King has suffered a summer-ending knee injury.
King is coming off a very good junior season and a strong spring performance on the aau/club circuit, but a recent injury will now keep him out the remainder of the summer...

Go here for the remainder and a Rivals sub is required.

Boise State scouting a Congo kid

Here's a fascinating story on a propsect from the Congo with a mention of Boise State as one of his suitors.

Jon Perryman
ArizonaVarsity.com
July 5, 2009

During the weekend of our celebration of 4th of July and of our independence, there is one player in this land that has overcome more hardship and turmoil than most others will ever see in a lifetime. A young man who cannot call himself an American.

Blondy Baruti, a 6-foot-11, 205-pound power forward from the Congo, has seen his share of personal strife. He watched in horror as his father was killed. He hid under his bed as bullets sprayed through his home. He endured weeks of starvation and the bloodshed that riddled his family that had previous ties to the leadership of the Congo.

And through it all he found his way to America, the Promised Land...

Go here for the remainder and a Rivals sub is required.