Yesterday afternoon's 4:37 p.m. start between the Red Sox and Rays was a beautiful thing. I got home by 10:30. However, tonight's isn't until 8:07 (I think) and while the good news is that fast-working Tim Wakefield is on the mound for Boston, but that could also be the negative - since you never know what you're going to get with Wakefield.

Also, happy 98th birthday to legendary coach John Wooden.

CHANGING TIDE

Alabama coach Mark Gottfried is in a good mood these days and who can really blame him?

Two years ago, his star point guard, Ron Steele, first informed him of the knee problems that basically ruined his entire season. Then a year ago in the preseason, Steele told his coach that he wanted to sit out the year in hopes of giving his surgically repaired knee more time to fully heal.

Now Steele is back and is a fifth-year senior. Richard Hendrix may be gone, but the Crimson Tide still have a nucleus that includes senior wing Alonzo Gee (14.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and returning starting forward Demetrius Jemison (5.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg).

Gottfried loved Hendrix, but admitted that the somewhat-plodding big man slowed the team down.

``He was our best player, but getting up and down the floor over and over was not his strength," Gottfried said. "We had to wait for him on one end - and we should wait."

Eventually, maybe not to begin the season, freshman JaMychal Green will end up starting in the middle. For the beginning of the season, if Green doesn't earn the spot, it'll be skilled 6-foot-9 sophomore Justin Knox.

Whatever the case, Gottfried will have a three-man inside rotation of Green, Jemison and Knox splitting up 80 minutes.

Gee will play on one wing and look for ultra-athletic sophomore Senario Hillman to be on the other wing.

``Senario is so athletic it's ridiculous," Gottfried said. "He's a 6-foot-1 Gerald Wallace, a human highlight film."

``We're a lot more athletic," he added. ``We need to score in the 80s."

Gottfried said he doesn't expect Steele to be back to true form until somewhere around mid-December.

"To me, Steele looks exceptionally well," Gottfried said. "But the popcorn hasn't started popping yet and the lights haven't come on. He needs to get back in the saddle and ride for a while and I don't think you can do that until you actually play some games."

 

LARRANAGA TAKES ADVANTAGE OF SUCCESS

In the past, George Mason would stick to a formula: Recruit Washington D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia.

Now the Patriots, after their Final Four run a couple years ago, have been able to expand.

``We'll still look to the local talent first and see if they can help us," George Mason coach Jim Larranaga said. "But the timing was perfect for us with the Final Four. The talent around here didn't meet what we were looking for and we had to travel outside the area. We were better received because of the Final Four and even since we've been on television so much since the Final Four."

George Mason went out and brought in four freshmen from out of the area - point guard Andre Cornelius out of North Carolina, Ryan Pearson, a 6-foot-6 New Yorker and a pair of forwards from Florida - Michael Morrison and Kevin Foster.

The frosh should get a shot to make an immediate impact since the Patriots lost their two final critical links to their magical run. Both Will Thomas and Folarin Campell, who combined to average nearly 32 points per game last season, are gone.

``We look wildly good and wildly bad at times," Larranaga said of preseason workouts. "But we've got a lot of talent."

Fifth-year senior guard John Vaughan (12.3 ppg) is the team's leading returning scorer and the Patriots have three other seniors - guard Dre Smith (8.4 ppg), role player Chris Fleming and Darryl Monroe - who missed all of last season after toe surgery in October. Larranaga also has junior forward Louis Birdsong, who started 28 games last season.

The key may be how quickly sophomore guard Cam Long can accelerate his growth. Long started four games and averaged 4.1 points per game last season and has the unenviable task of trying to replace Campbell.

``He's got big shoes to fill," Larranaga said of Long. "Folarin did a lot of everything for us. He scored, passed, rebounded and defended. He was also our big shot-taker and made key free throws for us."

BIG 12 PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE TEAM

No surprise with Oklahoma sophomore Blake Griffin being named the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year.

Griffin was joined by guards Curtis Jerrells (Baylor), Sherron Collins (Kansas), A.J. Abrams (Texas) and Damion James (Texas).

I can't imagine anyone other than Griffin or James winning this award at the end of the season. One guy I think will make his way onto the all-league team is Oklahoma State sophomore wing James Anderson.

WAC POLL

Nevada was the clear pick to win the WAC by both the coaches and the media. Utah State and New Mexico State were next in both polls.

The Preseason All-WAC team had New Mexico State's Jonathan Gibson, Louisiana Tech's Kyle Gibson, Nevada's Armon Johnson, San Jose State's C.J. Webster and Utah State's Gary Wilkinson.

Wilkinson was chosen as the Preseason Player of the Year by the media while Johnson was tabbed by the coaches in the league.

My pick is Wolf Pack forward Luke Babbitt - even though he's just a freshman.

SUN BELT POLL

Middle Tennessee was the easy preseason pick by the coaches to win the east division of the Sun Belt while Arkansas-Little Rock and North Texas tied with 76 votes apiece and Louisiana-Lafayette received 75 in the west.

Middle Tennessee returns Desmond Yates, who was chosen as the Preseason Player of the Year by the coaches in the league. He's joined by Florida Atlantic's Carlos Monroe, Florida International's Russell Hicks, North Texas' Josh White and South Alabama's Brandon Davis on the preseason all-league squad.

RANDOM NOTES: Gottfried said that 27 out of 28 seniors have graduated, with the one who hasn't being Jermareo Davidson. ... Jed Tai broke the news that Fresno State received a commitment from wing Garrett Johnson out of Diamond Ranch High in Calif.. ... Dave Teleps reports that Dominic Cheek, one of the top uncommitted players in the senior class, is headed to Kansas this weekend. He will then go to nearby Villanova on Oct. 24 and possibly take trips to Pittsburgh, Indiana and Memphis. Seton Hall and Rutgers are both still on the list, but are long-shots. ... Scout.com reported that LSU coach Trent Johnson got a pledge from in-state senior forward Eddie Ludwig, who chose the Tigers over Davidson. ... UMass is on a roll with the recent commitment of senior wing Javon Farrell out of Riverdale Baptist (Md.).