SAN DIEGO – I landed in San Diego last night for what I’m hoping will be a relaxing week of vacation with my wife and daughter. We’ll head to Sea World soon and then later tomorrow we’ll make the drive to Los Angeles where I’ll take in the Pumps Event (charity dinner on Thursday night and the Collegiate Business Conference on Friday) for the first time and then spend a few days at Disneyland.

I received rave reviews after the event from several coaches last year and I was asked to participate in a panel with other national writers and former college coaches on dealing with the media.

Anyway, that’s my excuse if this blog takes a significant hit in terms of updates over the next week or so.

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

After speaking to Providence point guard Sharaud Curry, I decided to come up with a list of some of the top players in the country who will be trying to make up for lost time this season:

Ron Steele – The Alabama Crimson Tide point guard took the entire season off to get his knees back to 100 percent.

A.J. Price – There’s no one whose injury means more to a team’s Final Four hopes than Price’s knee. He suffered a torn ACL in the first round of the NCAA tournament – a loss to San Diego.

Eric Devendorf & Andy Rautins – The Syracuse duo missed the entire season and it’s no surprise that the Orangemen didn’t make the Big Dance. The pair give Jim Boeheim perimeter scoring and also the depth the ‘Cuse was lacking a year ago.

Tasmin Mitchell – It was no coincidence that LSU went in the tank when Mitchell went down with an injury. His return will help new coach Trent Johnson look good right away in Baton Rouge.

Sharaud Curry – Providence’s starting point guard missed all but eight minutes last season with a broken foot. He’s the key to the Friars hopes of getting to the Big Dance.

Chris Wright – Dayton was sailing along and was one of the nation’s feel-good stories through the non-conference slate. Wright, a talented and athletic freshman forward, got hurt and the Flyers season went downhill quickly.

Dogus Balbay – There may not have been a huge need for the Turkish freshman point guard a year ago because of the presence of D.J. Augustin, but Augustin wore down because he logged excessive minutes and Balbay would have helped. He’s healthy and should start for the Longhorns.

Josh Heytvelt – The ‘Zags big man wasn’t the same last season after returning from a foot injury. If he can regain the explosiveness he once had, there’s no reason that Mark Few’s club can’t make a legitimate Final Four run.

Farnold Degand – N.C. State’s woes centered around the lack of a true point guard. Degand, an Iowa State transfer, had just started to come along when he was lost for the season with a knee injury early in the year.

Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson – Meeks wasn’t 100 percent all season and Patterson went down late in the year. Wildcats coach Billy Gillispie needs both to be healthy this season to compete for a postseason berth.

Others: Bobby Frasor (North Carolina), Solomon Alibi (Florida State), Mike Williams (Cincinnati), Chris Allen (Michigan State), Gary Johnson (Texas), Paul Delaney (UAB), Mike Roll (UCLA).

RANDOM NOTES: South Carolina leaves today for an eight-day tour to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. … Purdue is leaving on an 11-day trip to Australia. … UALR coach Steve Shields added Charles Cunningham to his staff.