Idaho gets a prepster

Jed Tai -- who knows more about basketball than most of us have forgotten -- reports today that Don Verlin has landed a 'big' and the kid is a higher schooler at that. We have no clue how Joe Kammerer will work out but landing a center prospect and a prepster is quite the two-fer as Verlin transitions Idaho's prospecting from JC transfers to a more even mix of recruits.

Jed Tai
OregonPreps.com Editor
September 25, 2008

It's been some kind of week for top senior basketball prospects in the state of Oregon. Over the weekend, Lake Oswego forward Max Jacobsen saw enough at Portland State to decide to stay at home for school and we've learned about Sisters newcomer Ross Erickson, who's heading to Hartford next fall. Now, you can add Joe Kammerer to the list of committed recruits as the solid 6-foot-9, 240-pound post from North Eugene determined on Thursday that his college path has been determined as well...

Go here for the remainder if you have a Rivals subscription.

Are we piling on?

Somehow we missed this before but Gary Parrish's blog had this snippet about the now departed Johnny Higgins:

NEW MEXICO STATE’S OFF-COURT TROUBLES CONTINUE

"...Now freshman guard Johnny Higgins, according to sources, has been kicked out of the program for his role in a pair of altercations..."

Two?

An ESPN scouting report describes Higgins thusly: "...an extremely powerful point guard who is able to out-muscle virtually any opposing lead guard..." and "...his best work comes at the defensive end of the floor where his size and quickness, along with his tough and aggressive nature..."

We obviously have no idea if the blowups happened on or off the court and understand that altercations do happen, especially nowadays and at that age. While we certainly don't wish to go after an 18-year-old there clearly are some anger management issues that he had better address before his basketball recruiting gets curtailed or even worse.

Jahmar Young's case finally concludes

With fervent hope, we truly wish this to be the very last entry -- at least for this season at the very minimum -- about a WAC basketball player's legal situation.

NMSU's Jahmar Young avoids jail in plea deal
Jose L. Medina
Las Cruces Sun-News
9/25/2008

LAS CRUCES — New Mexico State University basketball player Jahmar Young accepted a plea deal Wednesday, avoiding a one-day trial that was also scheduled yesterday.

Young, 21, pleaded no contest to one count each of petty misdemeanor battery and assault. A misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest was dismissed last month.

The charges arose from an on-campus incident in which Young was accused of exposing himself to a woman at an on-campus housing unit in August 2007.

The deal allows the Aggie guard to avoid jail time if he adheres to several conditions set by state District Judge Doug Driggers, who accepted Young's plea and issued a one-year deferred sentence — and unsupervised probation — shortly after the plea...

Go here for the remainder.

Higgins not at NMSU but is in New Mexico

Now Gary Parrish has gotten into the act and is reporting that New Mexico State freshman point Johnny Higgins is at a junior college in The Land of Enchantment.

Gary Parrish
September 24, 2008

Johnny Higgins is leaving New Mexico State before he ever played a game.

"He's going to transfer," Higgins' former AAU coach, Anthony Lewis, told CBSSports.com by phone. "He's transferring to New Mexico Junior College."

Though Lewis said he had no knowledge of an incident, a source told CBSSports.com that Higgins was involved in a physical altercation that precipitated this development. Reached by phone late Wednesday, New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies declined comment but said the school did plan to make a Thursday morning announcement about Higgins, a 6-2 point guard who played at Notre Dame Prep last season...

A quick question: This same thing took place last season with Troy Gillenwater, Hamidu Rahman and Robert Lumpkins each getting acclimated to post-high school life and school with enrollments into the New Mexico junior college ranks. For the record, they were not 'exiled' due to any behavioral issues. We have no idea how many units each was enrolled in but did wonder at the time about the affordability of out-of-state tuition for the trio. The same goes for Higgins who recently arrived in the state.

Let's hope Coach Menzies clears up the Higgins situation today with either a press conference or an official statement. To us, it appears Higgins has the possibility of earning his way back to the Aggies because there's no other reason for him to be at a junior college in New Mexico.

Oh my gawd

The apocalypse is upon us (sorry about that SI). ESPN is going to be supporting the nasty habits of college basketball junkies around the world with its latest plan for televising opening night games.

Shouldn't the United States Surgeon General step in here and at least issue a warning?

On the bright side, the WAC gets television time with Fresno State and Hawaii being presented, albeit at 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. respectively.

Hoops marathon includes Kentucky-North Carolina battle
ESPN.com
September 24, 2008

A marathon of 14 college basketball games on Nov. 18 -- spread over 23 consecutive hours -- will help kick off the 2008-09 college basketball season on ESPN.

The games open at midnight ET with national championship game runner-up Memphis hosting Massachusetts, where Tigers head coach John Calipari once coached. It wraps up with the two winningest programs in college hoops history -- Kentucky and North Carolina -- meeting in Chapel Hill at 9 p.m. ET...

Go here for the complete article.

College coaching, the business world and professorialship

Here's a few ruminations...

College coaching is a very unique position of employment, possibly a one-of-its-kind situation. It's remarkable how this profession has way many more similarities to the business world than it does to academia. This at an educational institution, a place dedicated to learning and scholarship.

By all that, we mean a coach's tenure is directly based upon winning. Translated to business, that means solid and growing sales, healthy profits, satisfied primary stockholders. The onus is to be victorious in far more games than ones lost because winning produces the required rock solid balance sheet.

Whereas in comparison, a professor in the university can gain tenure after a few years in the classroom independent of the outcome of his/her interactions with students Being in the classroom is a laissez faire situation, a show-up-if-you-want-to with the measure of learning totally up to the individual student. No positive end results are necessary or required.

Also, a college coach's staying power is solely based on the successful actions of 18-21 year olds, a demographic not generally known for stability (if any is). But to be fair, these student-athletes are hand-picked and not assigned to a coach by some other entity.

Additionally, in the WHAT ELSE IS NEW DEPARTMENT: some of the coaching brethren cheat, big time for some, around the edges for others. Some abstain from this practice altogether -- this despite doing so may add to the length of their contract if not caught.

Also, the wide disparity in basketball budgets (say SEC teams versus those in the Big West) already creates substantial degrees of difficulty for most mid and lower level most coaching staffs (smaller businesses) and going up against a big time coach (goliath corporations) who can spend profligately and who can also more generously view rules and regulations as a 'impediment' to be worked around.

Now some coaches simply work the angles, a commonplace tactic in the spheres of the business world. And make no mistake, college sports is a business, built around dollars and cents. But this isn't any sort of lawbreaking -- compare it to Microsoft 'leaning' on other companies for bundling Bill Gates' products in with theirs to the exclusion of Microsoft's competitors. It's the implied but unspoken admonition.

Within the profession, some coaches also will have no qualms about 'commitments' to his or her roster -- it's a produce or be gone implication much practiced in big business. We won't names names here -- the coaches are fairly well known to most fans. Many believe this is unsupportable behavior but keep this in mind: coaches get raises and extensions for winning, NOT for graduating players or necessarily doing the right thing. If you are inclined to challenge this supposition we ask you to provide the name of one coach who was let go based on the academics deficiencies of his players. Alternately, was there ever a college coach hired solely because his previous players graduated? We also inquire was there ever a history professor asked to depart because the history majors at a certain school were not graduating at an acceptable level?

Another peculiar aspect to the coaching profession is that some coaches will still recruit kids who have agreed to sign with another school/coach. Now some won't, they just congratulate a kid and move on to other recruiting targets but just recently we saw a note that so-and-so verbaled to school X although school Y and school Z were going to continue pursuing the kid. Again, it's a business world here-we-come similarity. Nabbing new and seasoned talent from competitors is nothing new to business.

Then there are the package deals in college athletics. These are situations where head coach A hires so-and-so as an assistant coach (however unqualified to be an assistant so-and-so may be or even if so-and-so lacks a college degree) because the newly minted assistant coach can 'deliver' a top player to the head coach. But what happens if that new assistant fails to deliver the top player or the top player leaves for the NBA after a season or two? Then, it's a case of the head coach asking the assistant what-have-you-done-for-me-lately? The assistant better have a new kid or kids to deliver. Label this business world redux. As DickieV might say, "It's all in the present and future, baby."

Plus, there is the scenario of a new school president or new athletic director taking over at a school. Professors typically have no worries when a new Dean comes aboard but coaches have to be concerned about leaving any opening (say a losing season) that could be parlayed into his or her departure. ADs typically and understandably desire to have their own selections in the highest level coaching positions (football and basketball). Consider that Washington's Ty Willingham is in the midst of another losing season and with a new AD (one who didn't hire him) in place, well, the ax is being sharpened. Call this one definitely much more similar to the world of business than academia.

And what about fate (for lack of a better term)? Sometimes, one play -- a fumble, an interception, a missed free throw or an untimely injury can 'ruin' a season -- did the coach drop the ball, throw the ball, miss an open shot or do anything to hurt his player? Of course not. But the responsibility is placed somewhere and that is usually with the head coach. In comparison, a billion dollar deal that inexplicably falls through because of unforseeable reasons -- that's going to take place in business and certainly not academia.

So should college coaches in the most prominent sports actually be titled CEOs instead? Isn't Coach K already dubbed that?

Do catch this Thursday night

Mark this one down.

"Second Chance Season", a documentary on current Washington Wizard Nick Young will be shown Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Young also attended USC and is from the southern California area.

It focuses on Young's life difficult life as a youngster and is being described as one of the better sports films to date by a number of sports reporters who have already seen it.

Johnny, we hardly knew ye

Again this is all based on message board posts as nothing 'official' has been released by the powers-that-be at New Mexico State but freshman Johnny Higgins appears to be back home and not in Las Cruces.

One poster at the NMSU Scout site basketball message board has him enrolled in a junior college in New York and another has a quote from Coach Marvin Menzies.

Our love/hate relationship with articles like this

*** Do note Perry Missner's comment regarding this article at the bottom --- his article's purpose was meant to be for fantasy league aficionados and not an actual listing of this coming season's top WAC players ***

There's the old adage that any publicity is better than no publicity and while that's not always correct there's a degree of truth in that. So we generally enjoy it when we come across any articles about Western Athletic Conference (WAC) basketball as such provides greater WAC public relations and the chance for us to learn more.

But with the 'net and easily available web and blog sites comes the opportunity for anyone to post anything, regardless of accuracy or quality. Now some of you are already thinking why is the Parsing The WAC guy describing himself here with that last aside but we'll ignore that and continue on. ;-)

Recently, we came across a listing of the Top 10 players in the 2008-2009 WAC and decide to bypass posting it after we read the article. We felt it was both incomplete and that the writer hadn't actually seen any of the players he detailing. Our sense is he was basing the names he selected solely on the previous season's stats (an assumption on our part which may or may not be accurate). Most importantly, there was no mention of any of last year's transfer redshirts anywhere to be found (as they had no stats for their inclusion to be based on).

But Chris Murray has an article about this Top 10 list today in the Gazette-Journal and that made us re-visit our decision and now think it worthwhile to have here.

Here's the beginning of the article that contains the list:

WAC Players to Watch
Perry Missner
ProFantasySports

I’ll let you in on a little inside project I have been working on. It has been my hope to reduce the number of comments made on teams referring to players that have moved on. Is there any other sport in which the offseason coverage seems to center on which the team no longer has more than college basketball? I realize that it is a nice way to connect Nevada to casual fans to mention past studs as Marcellus Kemp and Nick Fazekas, but those guys are gone. Why talk about them now? However, with this year’s WAC, things get a little dicey. Almost all of the rosters of the nine teams feature huge amounts of turnover. In fact, only one member of the team’s All-Conference first and second teams returns. And just in the past week another excellent prospect, New Mexico State F Herb Pope, also left. One might conclude that this will be a down year in the WAC. Not me. My guess is that some of these lesser known players will step up and help fantasy teams to championships...

Here's the players who were selected but go to this link to see the complete article.

10. G Brandon Fields, Nevada Wolf Pack

9. G Anthony Thomas, Boise State Broncos

8. G Jonathan Gibson, New Mexico State Aggies

7. F/C Chris Oakes, San Jose State Spartans

6. F Roderick Flemings, Hawaii Warriors

5. G Armon Johnson, Nevada Wolf Pack

4. F/C C.J. Webster, San Jose State Spartans

3. G Kyle Gibson, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs

2. F Luke Babbitt, Nevada Wolf Pack

1. F Gary Wilkinson, Utah State Aggies

So where is Louisiana Tech's Magnum Rolle (LSU)? Maybe Jamel White (Nebraska) or even Proposition 48-er Olu Ashaolu? How about Adrian Oliver (Washington) of San Jose State? NMSU fans sure are speaking highly of Prop. 48-er Troy Gillenwater? Fresno State's Sylvester Seay (Arizona State) will certainly have a ton of shot opportunities available with the current Bulldog roster and should be a leading scorer this season in the WAC.

Well, there you have it. Love the PR for the WAC but wish the piece was more complete.

Chris Murray rearranges the WAC

Circumstances sometimes makes things happen that wouldn't ordinarily take place or even be considered and high transportation costs just may force some sort of Western Athletic Conference (WAC) realignment.

Chris Murray offers some ideas on what the WAC could do.

Could the WAC use a 10th member?
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
9/19/2008

In Saturday's newspaper, we looked at the effect the rise in travel cost has had on universities in the Western Athletic Conference. The Nevada athletic department spent an estimated $2.1 million on travel last season. A story in the Sporting News found athletic programs across the country will face a 16 percent hike in travel costs this year. For Nevada, that translates to an extra $336,000 increase in costs in the spread-out WAC.

One of the possible solutions in making travel more efficient in the WAC would be to add a 10th member to the conference, which would create travel partners in basketball and decrease the number of costly one-game road trips. Nevada athletic director Cary Groth said the majority of the conference's ADs would support a 10th team, but that it would have to be the right team to make sense. Another big question is whether that school needs to have a football program. Here are five possible options for a 10th WAC school...

Go here for the remainder.

Here's another Murray-written article that contains this intriguing quote:

When the WAC athletic directors hold their fall meetings at the end of the month, one of the big issues on the agenda will be travel.

"My message as they come to that meeting is, 'Anything's on the table,'" WAC commissioner Karl Benson said during July's football media preview. "It may cause us to do some drastic measure that might have been unheard of or even unthought of two or three years ago."

A silly and unproductive USU dustup

Conflict is inevitable when we lead with our egos and that's exactly what is happening between the Utah State sports administration and an unofficial Aggie sports fan site.

There are multiple accounts of this battle all over the 'net but here's one.

USU Aggies blog
Come watch the Aggies, but leave your camera at home
Jared Eborn
DeseretNews.com blogger
September 19, 2008

Strange things are happening at Utah State.

In what looks like an effort to chase off the few remaining fans of the football team, USU is telling people they can not take high-quality pictures of the football team. The fear, apparently, is those pictures will eventually be posted on personal blogs, websites or message boards.

Aggie administrators have decided cameras with detachable lenses are against the rules unless the person using them has a media credential. That means the parents and friends of Aggie athletes are forbidden from bringing much more than a point-and-shoot camera into USU athletic facilities.

The new policy is this:

Utah State University is dedicated to providing an exciting and memorable guest experience, while ensuring their safety and security. The following policy sets forth certain photography rules for attending any USU event and applies to all guests....

Go here for the remainder.

Here's another link with all the history behind the squabble. Scroll down the KVNU site for numerous articles all about this and bookmark this one is you're looking for thorough Aggie coverage.

Here's another link to a Logan Herald Journal article worth reading.

May saner minds prevail.

Nevada, Utah State battling over a big?

Always keep in mind that college sports recruiting is as fluid as a politician's public pronouncements. That is, it's change du jour. Here's a kid being eyed by Nevada and Utah State as well as others.

From The Kennel Report, a site with excellent information and analysis on all things Gonzaga:

August 28, 2008
Interview with 2009 Recruit Devonte Elliott and Coach Mark McGarry

The 2009 recruiting season has been very past faced with a number of twists and turns. A player who has appeared on the Gonzaga radar relatively recently is Devonte Elliott. The athletic forward from California had a very impressive summer of AAU basketball and has elevated himself to a high-major prospect.

Our correspondent was able to catch up with Devonte and his coach Mark McGarry earlier today. Hope you enjoy.

The Kennel Report: Devonte, what schools have offered you thus far and how much interest have you been getting?

Devonte Elliott: Nevada, George Washington, Gonzaga, UTEP, and Utah State Lots of interest from a lot of schools...

Go here for the complete interview.

The Nevada interest may fade since the recent Steven Bjornstad commitment but possibly not. That may be dependent on how oft-injured Richie Phillips holds up this coming season and also how freshman Ahyaro Phillips develops.

Utah State could certainly use Elliott but we sense there's not a solid connection there. In another post, Elliott offers that Gonzaga, Nevada, George Washington and Alabama will be on his visit list with Utah State in the unsure category.

Why the 'mainstream media' is indispensable

Sure, a decent percentage of what turns into actual articles on newspaper and other sports media sites first appears on message boards and the like.

But the problem is the trustworthiness of message board postings as anonymity rules in that domain and it so hard to determine the veracity of both a poster and the message(s).

So yes, newspapers may be struggling to some degree -- although earnings sure seem to be fairly healthy -- but where would we bloggers be without the material provided by beat reporters and the like? It's a symbiotic relationship -- they report and we link.

Something becomes official under the masthead of a newspaper which is not the process for an item on a message board.

Take the situation with NMSU freshman Johnny Higgins.

His 'situation' first came to light on a message board and it was up in the air as to the validity. But now, Jason Groves of the Las Cruces Sun-News has posted something and now we can rest assured that Higgins indeed gotten himself in some proverbial hot water in Las Cruces,

On Thursday, Groves posted this about walk-on tryouts for men's basketball at NMSU:

"This is interesting

I don't know if this is to promote some interest in the team on campus or perhaps it's a common occurance all over the country, or is evidence that the Johnny Higgins was dismissed rumor to be true. My understanding is that his fate at NMSU is yet to be determined. Stay tuned."

More Steven Bjornstad

More and more it looks like Mark Fox has landed a 'big' who will really help the Wolf Pack -- sooner or later. The terrific record Nevada has compiled the last few years is such a tremendous asset in recruiting as winning 20+ games and getting into post-season play opens a lot of doors that might otherwise have remained closed. Here's Chris Murray with even more on Nevada's latest recruit:

Breaking down Bjornstad's game
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
9/18/2008

Now that Steven Bjornstad has verbally committed to the Wolf Pack basketball team, lets break down his strengths and areas for improvement. Here is the feel I get after talking with Bjornstad, his high school coach and consulting a few recruiting Web sites...

Go here for the remainder.

Is Johnny Higgins gone in Las Cruces?

This one was a really tough call. The genesis for this post is an email message on the New Mexico State Scout message board but with the general reliability of message board posts...

But the poster about freshman Johnny Higgins being dismissed for fighting has a rep for reliability so...

Higgins originally signed with Duquesne but the coaching staff there recruited over him when more talented prospects expressed interest and he was released from his letter-of-intent after a couple of those kids decided on the Dukes.