CHARLOTTE - My phone never stopped ringing today - and that's a clear sign that the coaching carousel is starting to heat up.

Three coaching moves went down today. It began when I got off the plane in Charlotte this morning and I got word that Missouri State was set to announce Purdue assistant Cuonzo Martin as its next head coach.

Then a couple hours later Florida Atlantic coach Rex Walters turned down Mercer and the next thing I knew NBDL head coach Bob Hoffman, the ex-Texas Pan American head coach, was offered and accepted the gig.

Then the big news came at about 3:30 p.m. ET when Cal's Ben Baun was fired.

The names that could be in play to replace Braun are former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery, Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett and maybe even Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon.

Let's take a look at some NCAA tournament info - and then we'll get back to the coaching carousel:

- Washington State sure sounds like a group that's happy to be here. Never a good sign.

- Ty Lawson told me he's about 95 percent. He said the one area he's still lacking is his vertical explosiveness. ``I don't think I can dunk," Lawson said. ... Teammate Wayne Ellington laughed. ``He can't dunk anyway," Ellington joked.

- The entire Louisville staff is gushing about the recent performance of talented sophomore Earl Clark. ``The kid never talked before," assistant Steve Masiello said. ... Former NBA player Walter McCarty, now on the staff, said "the biggest difference is that he goes hard all practice." ... Rick Pitino agreed. ``He never knew how to work hard," he said.

- Tennessee's J.P. Price played one rotation at point guard against Kentucky, but Vols assistant coach Steve Forbes said that the staff didn't make a decision to start him at point guard until after the selection show on Sunday. Prince has started the two tournament games at the point and has been more productive than Ramar Smith and/or Jordan Howell.

Here are a few more coaching items:

- Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli called me and said there has been no contact either way between he and Providence. ``I haven't talked to them and they haven't spoken to me," Martelli said. "No one's reached out to me." ... We're still hearing that, along with George Mason's Jim Larranaga, Martelli sits near the top of the Friars list of candidates.

- Loyola Marymount has tried to get Mike Montgomery, but according to sources, he's looking for a high-major job. Don't be surprised if former UNLV coach Bill Bayno is in the mix. Another name we've heard is NBA assistant and former Metro State coach Mike Dunlap.

- Alabama coach Mark Gottfried appears to be fine and he'll have a chance to silence his critics next season with the return of point guard Ron Steele and the addition of freshman big man JaMychal Green. However, the key will be whether junior big man Richard Hendrix returns to school. Hendrix announced he'll be testing the waters.

- Braun may not be out of work all that long. Word is he'll have a shot at going to Toledo.

RANDOM NOTES: Indiana signee Devin Ebanks received his release on Wednesday afternoon and he has four schools on his final list - Texas, Memphis, Rutgers and West Virginia. According to sources, the first two are in the best shape. ... The other Indiana signee that was let out of his letter, point guard Terrell Holloway, is looking at Marquette, Virginia and Ohio State. ... Look for Gardner-Webb coach Rick Scruggs (he of the win against Kentucky earlier this season) to receive a contract extension in the coming weeks through the 2012 or 2013 campaign.