My daughter, Talia, graduated from pre-school this morning, so that's my excuse for not getting a blog up earlier. She's in-between school and camp next week, so the blog may not be up to par since I'm officially on vacation.

AMERICA LEAST

How about the fact that the America East athletic directors - in a cost-cutting move - voted that schools must do same-day travel in conference if the school is within 200 miles.

It's expected to be OK'd today by the league's presidents.

``It makes us look like Division 2 or 3," said one head coach.

Multiple coaches in the league are upset. 

Most schools obviously prefer to get to the site the previous night - and that's what most teams did in the past.

However, they will have no choice if the presidents sign off on the new rule.

The new rule will affect Albany, Hartford and Boston University - which all have at least three schools within 200 miles (Hartford and Albany have four). UMBC won't be affected at all since they don't have a single school in the league within 200 miles.

Here's an example. In the past, a team might play at Team A on Friday night and then at Team B for a Sunday afternoon game. Obviously, they would stay overnight on Friday and Saturday. Now they will have to return to campus and leave early Sunday morning.

``The level of play will be affected," one coach in the league said. ``And it's obviously not good for the perception of the league. It also gives an unfair advantage to teams like UMBC who can go to every game the night before."

America East also has a scheduling policy in place in which teams must play three games against BCS teams (although it also includes the A-10 and C-USA) and can't play more than four games against teams with an RPI of more than 250 (that's over the past two years).

``We're the only low or mid-major league that I know of with a scheduling policy," the coach said.

BIG EAST RUNDOWN

Here's a Big East rundown. Please e-mail me at jngoodman@aol.com with any additions or corrections.

Cincinnati - Mick Cronin hired George Jackson from Bowling Green, moved Chris Goggin to director of operations and Chris Shumate to player development. The Bearcats will be in the Maui Invitational. Alvin Mitchell transferred out to Mountain State.

Connecticut - The Huskies will host a pod for the Preseason NIT in which Hofstra, Yale and Colgate are expected to go to Storrs. UConn will also play Kentucky at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 9 in the SEC/Big East Challenge. Scottie Haralson left and will transfer to Tulsa.

DePaul - The entire staff turned over. Gary DeCesare, Scott Wainright and Ramon Williams have been replaced by Tracy Webster, Billy Garrett and David Booth. The Blue Demons will play in the Paradise Jam and also face Mississippi State in the Big East/SEC Challenge on Dec. 10 in Tampa and play at Vanderbilt on Dec. 5.

Georgetown - Georgetown will play at home against Duke and also face Butler in the Jimmy V Classic in December. The Hoyas also lost Omar Wattad - who transferred to Chattanooga.

Louisville -Rick Pitino has hired his good friend, Holy Cross head coach Ralph Willard, to take his son Richard's spot on the staff. The Cardinals will play Arkansas in a double-header on Nov. 17 in St. Louis. Key non-conference games include at UNLV and potentially Oklahoma State in Oklahoma City. The Cardinals have added Manhattan's Chris Smith as a walk-on.

Marquette - Dale Layer left to become the head coach at Liberty. The Golden Eagles will play in the Old Spice tournament and also have non-conference games at Wisconsin and at home against N.C. State. Pat Hazel has left and transferred to Boston University.

Notre Dame - The Irish will play in the Chicago Invitational along with Iowa State, Northwestern and St. Louis. Mike Brey's team will also face UCLA at home on Dec. 19.

Pittsburgh - The Panthers will play in the CBE and host a pod with Eastern Kentucky and Farleigh Dickinson. Jamie Dixon's team will also play at the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden in December.

Providence - The Friars host the World Vision tournament from Nov. 13-15 with Mercer, Bryant and Bucknell. Keno Davis' team will play Boston College at home on Nov. 28. Alex Kellogg left and transferred to Ohio University.

Rutgers - The Scarlet Knights will play at the nearby Legends Classic. Fred Hill's team recently came back from the Canary Islands. Rutgers also lost Earl Pettis, who transferred to La Salle.

Seton Hall - Roderick Rhodes has left his administrative spot to take a full-time spot at Texas-Pan American. Bobby Gonzalez' team will play Temple and UMass at home. The Pirates had big men Mike Davis and Brandon Walters transfer out. 

South Florida - The Bulls lost assistants Dan Hipsher (Alabama) and Byron Samuels. Towson's Eric Skeeters is expected to take one spot. South Florida will play in the Charleston Classic and will also face Virginia at home. Gaby Belardo (Canisius) and Eladio Espinosa (Marshall) left while Kansas State's Ron Anderson transferred into the program.

St. John's - The Red Storm will play in the Philly Classic and also travel to Cancun for Labor Day in a trip that was postponed due to the weather a year ago. Norm Roberts' team will play Georgia on Dec. 9 at Madison Square Garden in the SEC/Big East Challenge. Phil Wait and TyShwan Edmondson, are both leaving the program.

Syracuse - The Orange will host a pod of Albany and Robert Morris in the Coaches vs. Cancer. Syracuse will play Florida on Dec. 10 in Tampa.

Villanova - The Wildcats lost Pat Chambers (head coach at BU) and replaced him with Chris Walker. 'Nova will play in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and also against Maryland in the BB&T Classic.

West Virginia - The Mountaineers will play in the 76 Classic in Anaheim and also have non-conference games at Purdue and at home against Ohio State and Ole Miss. Junior big man Dee Proby is leaving the program.