Each Friday I will write about the sport I love, college basketball…

• Congratulations to former Clemson, Auburn and South Alabama head coach Cliff Ellis. He still had that itch to be back on the college basketball sidelines, just like Bobby Cremins. Ellis is the new coach at Coastal Carolina, replacing Buzz Peterson, who left to join the Charlotte Bobcats organization. Ellis has over 500 career wins and he'll get a chance to join a select circle of coaches that have taken four different schools to the NCAA tourney if he can get the job done with Coastal Carolina. Among the coaches to take four different schools – Lon Kruger, Lefty Driesell, Jim Harrick, Rick Pitino and Eddie Sutton. Others that have taken three and could take a fourth now include John Beilein (Michigan), Tom Penders (Houston), Tubby Smith (Minnesota).

• Rick Pitino made a solid decision reuniting with one of his former players. Former Kentucky Wildcats star Walter McCarty has joined Pitino's staff at Louisville following the departure of Marvin Menzies (new head coach at New Mexico State). McCarty, who played on Kentucky's 1996 national championship team, will be able to help big men like David Padgett and Derrick Caracter inside.

• New Mexico State had to be happy with the hiring of Menzies as the replacement for Reggie Theus. Menzies is known as an outstanding recruiter with solid experience as an assistant at Louisville, UNLV, San Diego State, Sacramento State and USC. An interesting provision in his contract with the Aggies: it will automatically be extended one year if he meets one of three set goals in his first season with the school. Those goals include a top three regular season finish in the WAC, an appearance in the 2008 WAC Tournament Championship game or an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. New Mexico State is scheduled for road games at Duke (Nov. 12) and Louisville (Dec. 22). With Justin Hawkins and Fred Peete returning, the cupboard is not bare.

• Syracuse fans have to be thrilled with diaper dandies Jonny Flynn and Donte' Greene. How talented are these two guys? They made the US under-19 team coached by DePaul's Jerry Wainwright. This squad has a lot of veteran college talent on it, including Patrick Beverley (Arkansas), Raymar Morgan (Michigan State), Tajuan Porter (Oregon), Darrell Arthur (Kansas) and Stephen Curry (Davidson). My friends, that should tell you something about Flynn and Greene making that squad!

• A lot was made of Florida having three players drafted in the top 10 (Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Joakim Noah). The other team from the national championship game, Ohio State, also had three go in the first round – Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook. That was the first time the Buckeyes had three players picked in round one.

• For those wondering, the ACC was the big winner in round one of the NBA draft, with six players chosen. That group featured Brandan Wright (North Carolina), Thaddeus Young and Javaris Crittenton (Georgia Tech), Jared Dudley and Sean Williams (Boston College), and Al Thornton (Florida State). The Pac-10 and Big Ten were next with four apiece.

• Following the draft, a number of quality college players were not chosen in the two rounds. So they are off to compete in summer leagues, trying to catch on. Some of the noteworthy names trying to make it include Florida's Lee Humphrey (Wizards), Arizona's Mustafa Shakur (Kings) and Ivan Radenovic (Clippers), UNLV's Kevin Kruger and Hofstra's Loren Stokes (Magic) and Xavier's Justin Doellman (Bobcats).

• A couple of familiar college names were trying out to make the Harlem Globetrotters. Former Georgia Tech player Mario West and ex-Michigan leaper Brett Pettway were attempting to make the world's most famous traveling squad.

• Florida added another big man when 6-10 Kenny Kadji from IMG academy gave a verbal commitment to play for Billy Donovan and the Gators. Kadji is highly-regarded by several scouting services. On the flip side, the Gators lost Brandon Powell, who decided to transfer. Powell had some off-court issues and the change of scenery should prove helpful.

• Murray State got a solid addition when ex-Creighton guard Isacc Miles decided to transfer there. Miles reportedly considered several schools, including Missouri. Miles knew Racers coach Billy Kennedy and that helped in his decision-making process.