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Butler, VCU to Atlantic 10 sets up potential for excellent rivalry

2012-05-15T01:55:13Z

In 20 years from now, if both their programs have continued to move up in the pecking order of college basketball, we'll know how chapter one of the storied rivalry began.

Two mid-majors, in separate conferences, shocking the world with a combined three trips to the Final Four over the course of two seasons, then joining the same league in 2013 to guarantee two, maybe three games between one another each season.

That presumptive statement may be a bit misguided, but you probably get the idea.

With today's report that VCU will join Butler as the two newest members of the Atlantic 10 conference in 2013, the seeds for an conference match-up that could develop into one of the premier rivalries in all of college basketball have been set.

Sure it also means needed competition for perennial favorite Xavier now that Temple has moved on to the Big East, and gives needed quality to a conference that seems to focus a bit too much on quantity (do we really need Fordham, La Salle, et al toiling away in this league?), but the real takeaway from this latest conference reshuffling is the coup the Atlantic 10 scored in attracting eyes to the regular season game(s) the Bulldogs and Rams will play against each other.

There are plenty of angles to market this and generate buzz for these two teams as they assimilate to life in a league that is more often than not receives more than one NCAA Tournament bid per season.

It also gives VCU a chance to play their intra-city rival, Richmond, every year.

While conference reshuffling has done a pretty good job of dismantling a few of our favorite rivalries, VCU and Butler moving into the Atlantic 10 actually gives us something to look forward to.

Something new to help usher us into a new era in college athletics.

Because there are a lot more televisions in Philadelphia and Charlotte (the 49ers bolted for Conference-USA) than Indianapolis and Richmond, the Atlantic 10 losing those media markets will initially hurt from a pure ratings standpoint. But there's plenty of room to grow with adding Butler and VCU, and capitalize on the impending great games these two will likely produce for us going forward.

It's two teams with a great backstory, and great young coaches who seem to be most interested in growing the program they currently coach, rather than use it as a stepping stone for a school with a larger budget and recruiting reach.

That right there lays the foundation for a special match-up.

Here's Anthony Davis losing a fight with a hot wing

2012-05-13T16:26:54Z

A few years ago, I unknowingly ate some flower pepper from the Sichuan Region of China. It was buried in an order of rice from a neighborhood restaurant.

I blacked out for about seven minutes, drank a quart of milk, and dunked my head in a kitchen sink filled with cold water.

Anthony Davis had no such options for relief this week after downing a "Blazin Wing" at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Florence, Kentucky, the spicest wing sauce at the chain restaurant.

There was also a man with a video camera to capture it all, as the the best player in college basketball for the 2011-2012 fell victim to some spicy food, despite a ~~herculean~~ wussy* effort.

Watch the video and you'll see Davis struggle to recover and chug water at a blistering pace, which we all know isn't the best remedy for something like this.

After the NBA Draft, Davis will be able to hire a man to carry around a gallon of milk in the event he's presented with extremely hot food. It's all part of the growing up process.

*COME AT ME, KENTUCKY FANS!!!

hat tip to collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com

Pittsburgh files suit against Big East, caps off horrible week for conference

2012-05-12T15:01:03Z

John Marinatto stepped down as conference commissioner.

The ACC signed a shiny new TV and new media rights deal with the Worldwide Leader.

Pittsburgh is suing the conference as a means to get out of dodge a year early.

Oh, and Boise State isn't 100 percent committed to joining the conference as a football school next year.

That all happened this week in the world of the Big East. Nothing but bad news.

The Panthers athletics department has filed a suit against the conference claiming that the Big East has waived its right to a 27-month withdrawal notice, and that the school has done everything its needed, such as paying the first half of the exit fee, to ensure a drama-less exit from the league.

Despite the self proclaimed diligence on Pittsburgh's part, the school claims that the Big East is not responding to calls and emails from to move the process along, leading the school to believe that the conference is not interested in quickly finalizing this transition.

Pittsburgh is looking to join the ACC in all sports for the 2013-2014 school year.

Basically, it's like trying to break up with your significant other, but the person getting dumped can't face the music and won't give you the chance to break the news that it's officially over.

Yesterday CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy confirmed that multiple sources are confident that both Pittsburgh and Syracuse will indeed join the ACC in 2013, but apparently school administrators aren't as bullish on that occurring without taking swift legal action.

It's difficult to see Pittsburgh sticking around in a league they don't want to be a part of any longer than they have to be. It would be a toxic and awkward situation for everyone involved.

The Big East just needs to sever ties with these schools and focus on staying afloat as a major, BCS Conference with schools that value their affiliation.

Yes, there's been little good news to report out of Providence lately, but you're just taking on more water by opening yourself up to a lawsuit from a disgruntled former member.

SB Nation Boston; Nerlens Noel, Kentucky Recruit And Mass Native, Subject Of NCAA Inquiry

2012-05-09T23:20:34Z

SB Nation Boston; Nerlens Noel, Kentucky Recruit And Mass Native, Subject Of NCAA Inquiry

The New York Times' Pete Thamel broke it, and SB Nation has created a story stream on the matter.

What does that mean?

It means this story is by no means "at a resolution". There is at least another layer or two to this.

Dorian Finney-Smith keeps the transfer train moving

2012-05-09T01:27:02Z

We're into May, and the college basketball transfer news continues to pour in.

The latest casualty is Dorian Finney-Smith, now formerly of Virginia Tech, who sources say intends to transfer from Blacksburg and leave the Hokies without what many have called the program's top recruit since Dell Curry.

Finney-Smith, a local product who was a consensus top 30 player coming out of high school but struggled at times during his freshman season, reportedly had been seriously considering transferring since January. A lack of comfort with the school coupled with a dislike with the program's basketball philosophy means he'll look to take his talents elsewhere after sitting out next season.

That has to make fans feel great.

The move is a huge blow to Virginia Tech, and if they tell you otherwise, they're not looking at the potential of this kid.

With fans already fretting over potentially losing top 100 recruit Montrezl Harrell from the class of 2012, it's natural for many to question the firing of Seth Greenberg, along with replacing him with his assistant James Johnson. Greenberg, while not exactly a people person, was a sound Xs and Os coach, and had recruited for next season to make Virginia Tech a contender in the ACC.

With Duke looking like a fringe top 15 team at best, North Carolina needing role players to turn in to go-to guys, Florida State going through significant roster turnover, Maryland losing Terrell Stoglin and NC State being forced to "prove it" as favorites, 2012-2013 would be an excellent opportunity for Virgiina Tech to, well, make the NCAA Tournament and finish in the top four in the league.

But it's probably all for naught.

Under a new coach with limited weapons, what could have been an optimistic pre-season has now quickly shifted back to talk of rebuilding.

So what's next for Finney-Smith?

Because Florida was one of three finalists before he chose Virginia Tech, it's likely Gainesville is the most intriguing (but currently not necessarily likely) destination.

Wherever he goes, Finney-Smith adds to the growing trend of more and more young basketball players giving up on their first college choice and assuming greener pastures await.

Former Xavier Guard Mark Lyons An Ideal Fit For Wildcats, Sean Miller

2012-05-07T19:22:20Z

Looking to adjust his reputation after taking part in the brutal Xavier-Cincinnati brawl back in December of last year, 6-foot-1 guard Mark Lyons is ready for a fresh start after saying goodbye to his former school. Thankfully for him, he appears to have landed in the most ideal location imaginable.

On Sunday Lyons broke the news himself, making it known to all of his Twitter followers that he would be spending the 2012-13 campaign in an Arizona Wildcats uniform. Guard-heavy schools like Kentucky and Kansas were also in the mix for Lyons' services, but in the end did not offer enough in the way of guaranteed playing time to seriously perk his interest. For Lyons, the selection process was more about going through the motions than anything else. As he told the Arizona Daily Star, other schools never stood a chance.

"I knew I wanted to be at Arizona, but I had to make sure I gave it a fair shot," Lyons said. "That was the great thing about me coming out here. … It was a great, great place. They showed me everything and I know what I'm getting in the coaches and the program. I'm going to come there and just try to win."

The obvious connection here is how current Wildcats coach Sean Miller targeted and eventually signed Lyons back when he manned the sideline for the Musketeers, and how much of the same staff Lyons got to know back then is happily in place in the desert as we speak. It's worth noting that the freshman guard was handed a redshirt and therefore did not see the court in Miller's final year with Xavier. Even so, Lyons did get to see exactly how the promising young coach prepared and practiced on a daily basis, and clearly felt a strong enough connection with him as a person to warrant this reunion tour.

It's expected that Lyons will get his degree from Xavier at the end of May and will then promptly enroll as a grad student at Arizona, effectively bypassing the NCAA's mandatory one-year sit-out rule in the process. Joining him on his quest through a decidedly-stacked Pac-12 will be the No. 3 incoming freshman class in the country according to both Rivals and Scout, despite being completely devoid of a point guard. With 2011 five-star recruit Josiah Turner already gone to SMU on a transfer, it's only logical then that Arizona will need Lyons to play on the ball quite a bit next season.

The degree of his playing time, it seems, will be tied to whether he can run the offense efficiently. Lyons should know this better than anyone too, since his NBA and overseas chances should hinge completely on whether he can play point guard on a full-time basis in the pros or not. Not that he needs to instantly make local fans forget about Steve Nash with his passing acumen, but a half-dozen assists on a semi-regular basis needs to be the norm if he wants to keep future basketball on his radar.

Lyons tallied 3.1 assists per game as a secondary distributor in 2010-11, and then 2.8 over a full season in essentially the same role as a junior last year. As a man who has been humbled by this process and appears willing to reinvent himself with a pass-first mindset, Lyons certainly has the makeup of a player who can post 7-8 assists every game or so. Whether Miller and the Wildcats will actually need him to do this is a different question entirely.

One minor area of concern, however, will be protecting the ball. Lyons lowered his assist-to-turnover ratios from his sophomore to junior seasons, but finished 2011-12 with a relatively-high 16.2% turnover rate, which was the best mark of his career by a wide margin. Even in Lyons' sophomore campaign, the time when he was utilized at point more than any year of his career, he was still basically a 1-to-1 assist-to-turnover player. Even if he is actively looking to set up teammates more now than ever, Lyons will need to be much more judicial with the ball against steal-happy Pac-12 defenses.

Lost in the shuffle behind his reputation and position is the fact that Lyons can flat-out score as well as any guard in the country. It couldn't have been easy to borrow the spotlight from a go-to clutch shooter like Tu Holloway at Xavier, but Lyons routinely did this over the last two seasons. Even if he is an utter flop at point guard in Miller's rotation (hard to imagine, but still), Lyons remains a nightly double-digit scorer who also happens to be a 39.2% three-point threat. No sane basketball coach in America would turn a kid like that down.

For a program that has its sights firmly locked on an Elite Eight or Final Four trip next spring, Lyons' arrival is an absolute blessing. Duquesne transfer T.J. McConnell will be available to lead the offense by this time next year, but for now, this could be Lyons' backcourt to run. And with his head in the right place and finally playing for the coach he wanted to play for all along, we might just be talking about one of the Pac-12's biggest difference-makers in 2012-13.

Hubert Davis Hired As UNC Assistant Coach - SBNation.com

2012-05-02T23:53:05Z

Hubert Davis Hired As UNC Assistant Coach - SBNation.com

So Hubert Davis is going to be a coach? This immediately makes the Heels the favorites to lead the country in laughing next season.

Stoglin, Parker leaving stunts Maryland's growth

2012-05-02T00:47:08Z

If you can't play with 'em, leave.

That's what now former Maryland Terrapins Terrell Stoglin and Mychal Parker did yesterday, leaving in their wake a number of questions as to the direction of a program that initially had a lot of upside heading into next season.

Stoglin, whose off-court issues and on-court behavior has been well documented, decided to leave College Park for good instead of deal with a one-year drug related suspension. The ACC's leading scorer from last season could have had a memorable junior season. Instead, with limited options, Stoglin quit the college game and has decided to go pro.

Parker, also facing a university-imposed suspension, will now transfer to another school willing to give the "light-hitting" sophomore who was a top 100 recruit for Gary Williams another shot.

Given 24 hours to digest the news, SB Nation's Testudo Times put it best: we move from "Well, that sucks," to "Okay, now what?"

Stoglin, in his defense didn't have much of a choice but to enter his name into the NBA Draft. And just because he's entered his name doesn't mean he's planning on playing basketball in the United States next season. Europe is a much more realistic destination for the guard. He's simply not talented enough to make an NBA roster right now and brings plenty of baggage with him to keep general managers and scouts at a safe distance.

In short, we may never hear from Stoglin again.

Given the likelihood of a thin ACC next season coupled with key returning players for the Terrapins, Maryland was already generating buzz in college basketball circles as a team to watch next season. With Stoglin leaving and Parker transferring, the program loses a go-to guy and potential important role player to help developing players Nick Faust and Alex Len, and must find a way for a handful of promising but unproven youngsters to pick up the scoring slack.

I've always been firm on the idea that college basketball is better when Maryland is a top team. After getting just a few off-season weeks to marinate on their chances for next season, it could unfortunately be another season of mediocrity at the Comcast Center.

Just like that, the high hopes are dashed.