My brief vacation
begins today. First of all, here's the link to my Winners & Losers of the
NBA Draft process - http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/9687198/Winners-and-losers-in-this-year's-NBA-Draft
Remember when I said that Lance Stephenson would wind up overseas. Remember I kept
saying it.
Well, it looks like the collegiate options are slowly dwindling from the
Lincoln High (N.Y.) senior.
Arizona, as I mentioned months ago, wasn't going to take a chance on Stephenson
at he end of the day. Florida looked and then ultimately passed because the
risk outweighed the reward.
Now the Washington Post is reporting
that Maryland is no longer recruiting Stephenson.
I'm guessing that the recent off-the-court headlines from USC and Tim Floyd and
Memphis and more than one of its players with questionable test scores has
resulted in programs not willing to roll the dice on Stephenson.
Here's an idea: Maybe Stephenson should play with Renardo Sidney down at
Mississippi State.
BIG SOUTH OFFSEASON RUNDOWN
Here's a Big South rundown. Please e-mail me at jngoodman@aol.com with any additions or
corrections.
Charleston
Southern - Will open at Maryland and also play non-conference road games
against Auburn and Virginia Tech. Two players transferred out of the program:
Tovi Bailey (Lander) and Omar Carter (walk-on at Charlotte).
Coastal Carolina - Jamie Kachmarik (Appalachian State) and Scott Stapler
(Director of Basketball Academy) left and were replaced by associate head coach
Don Hogan (West Florida) and Gus Hauser (Louisiana-Monroe). Two players -
Anthony Breeze and Darius Steger (Shorter College) have transferred out.
Coastal will play in the Duke pod of the Preseason NIT.
Gardner Webb - Three kids left the program: Nate Blank (University of
Indianapolis), Dillon Boggs and Roy Hinson II (Landry University). Rick Scruggs'
team will play non-conference games against North Carolina, Texas, Penn State
and Charlotte.
High Point - New coach Scott Cherry hired Kevin Easley (UNCG), Mike Balado
(Miami) and Wes Miller (Elon). The Panthers will play non-conference games at
Wake Forest (11-18) and Auburn (11-25). Three players left the program: Jacob
Iati (Albany), Ibrahim Appiah and Rob Huntington.
Liberty - New coach Dale Layer, who spent last season as an assistant at
Marquette, has put together a staff of Jason Eaker, Myron Guillory, Brian Joyce
and Matt Olinger (DBO). The Flames will play in the Chicago Invitational and
will play Clemson in a non-conference game. Seth Curry left the program and
will transfer to Duke while Armon Jones left and is headed to D-2 Clayton
State.
Presbyterian - Assistant Mark Berger was replaced by Sean Dixon. The Blue Hose
will be in the Las Vegas tournament from Dec. 27-28 and will also play North
Carolina, Clemson, Ohio State, Illinois, Florida and Marquette in the
non-conference. Coach Gregg Nibert lost two players to transfer: Walt Allen
(Asbury College) and Steven Yien Gatkuoth (Southern Wesleyan).
Radford - Director of basketball operations Ross Condon left to become a
full-time assistant at Boston University and was replaced by former Hargrave
assistant Chad Myers. The Highlanders lost two players to transfer - Aaron
Austin (Indian Hills JC) and Chris McEachin. Non-conference games include at
Duke (11-21), at Kansas (12-9) and on the road against Louisville (12-27).
UNC Asheville - Donovan Jones has left and is headed to Cameron
University and non-conference games include Charlotte, Kentucky, Georgia and
Tennessee.
VMI - The Keydets were quiet with no staff changes and transfers, but they do
have a non-conference slate that includes George Mason, UNCW, Virginia Tech and
Richmond.
Winthrop - Two players are leaving the program: Marc David Vil (Lincoln
Memorial) and Byron Faison (USC Aiken). Randy Peele's team will play
non-conference games against N.C. State, Clemson and Cincinnati.
RANDOM NOTES: BC coach Al Skinner promoted Pat Duquette to associate head coach. ... Cincinnati signed Mick Cronin to a two-year extension. ... Duke sophomore Olek Czyz had surgery on his right knee that will keep him on the mend for 4-6 weeks. ... SMU coach Matt Doherty hired Reggie Brown (UT Arlington) and Reggie Geary (Arizona). ... NC Central has brought in UNCG's Landon Clement as a transfer and also hired former Duke player Robert Brickey on staff. ... Cal State Fullerton has picked up two transfers - Sean Williams from Syracuse and Andre Hardy from ORU. ... USC signee Derrick Williams is the latest to be released from the Trojans.