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Tuesday, August 12

Plenty of moments to forget this summer

By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

Thus far, the offseason for college basketball has stunk.

There's no two ways about it. And the scary aspect for the sport is that there are still two more months until practice starts, leaving plenty of time for more issues.

Larry Eustachy
Larry Eustachy's attendance and behavior at parties came to light when a story and several photos ran in the Des Moines Register.

Check Tuesday's list of headlines -- like they have too often this summer, they're not fading from either the police blotter or the NCAA's penalty section. The latest: South Carolina center Rolando Howell being charged with domestic violence or TCU owning up to violations with an assistant.

There's no kind way to say how poor this spring and summer were for the sport.

Iowa State's Larry Eustachy got fired for his postgame behavior at a few Big 12 spots by hanging around with college students at Kansas State and Missouri the past two seasons.

The ACC-Big East mess was a football decision that will surely hurt basketball in the ACC -- adding Miami and Virginia Tech will water down the product, at least initially. The Big East could eventually be damaged, as well, but that could change if the league stays together and adds Louisville and Cincinnati.

There was the tragedy at Baylor. Patrick Dennehy's murder in June grabbed the biggest headlines of the offseason. The fallout will continue into the season and beyond, with repercussions felt not only at Baylor, but in every program nationwide. Coaches must know how their teammates get along.

The resignation of veteran coach Dave Bliss was a sad end to this first chapter. The postseason ban for 2004 is just the first step of possible penalties for major rules violations that included tuition payments for two non-scholarship athletes -- the late Dennehy and freshman Corey Herring. The coaching search is ongoing, but players like Wooden preseason all-American Lawrence Roberts could be headed elsewhere by next week.

Without the Baylor saga, the story of the summer would have been Missouri's potential troubles. If it's proved that anyone involved with the Missouri program helped Ricky Clemons get through Barton County (Kan.) Community College in the summer of 2002 after he went to the College of Southern Idaho during the 2001-02 season -- as has been alleged -- the Tigers could be facing major penalties.

The Kansas City Star reported Tuesday that the NCAA is talking to Jessica Bunge, Clemons' ex-girlfriend, about that issue. Clemons, who has been dismissed from the team, was allowed to play last season while the outcome of an assault case against Bunge was pending. He was ultimately found guilty of the charge and is in the Boone County Correctional Facility in Missouri.

But that wasn't the only issue for the Tigers. The coaching staff had to sit out the first week of the recruiting period because of a self-imposed penalty over excessive calling of VMI's Jason Conley, who later transferred to Missouri.

The Tigers are on the edge of either breaking through this season with a Final Four berth or imploding before they even get to the first game.

Utah was put on probation for Rick Majerus disregarding NCAA rules, even if they were mostly food related.

On the court, the two college-based USA basketball teams failed to medal in Greece and the Dominican Republic.

And then there's Fairfield. Yes, even Fairfield is now dealing with allegations of paying players and academic fraud.

Had enough?

There's more, although it's not all bad. A conference-by-conference look:

America East
Vermont's America East title chances took a blow when Matt Sheftic tore his ACL. The Catamounts needed Sheftic to be a brute inside but now they'll have to rely even more on T.J. Sorrentine and Taylor Coppenrath. Northeastern could end up being the big winner. Guard Jose Berea was a huge hit for the Puerto Rican team at the World Junior Championships in Greece. College coaches and NBA scouts raved about his ability to break teams off the dribble and score.

In the ACC
Duke could have had a better summer. Shavlik Randolph had surgery, J.J. Redick barely played for the World Junior Championship team because of a wrist injury and Shelden Williams and Daniel Ewing got cut at the U.S. trials.

North Carolina got good news that Sean May is ready to play and looked like he was nimble again at the Nike camp in Indianapolis.

North Carolina State may have a diamond in Turkish guard Engin Atsur (23.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg during the World Championships). College coaches and NBA scouts in Greece checked him out as a legitimate scorer in the ACC, even if he still needs to add some weight. Illian Evtimov is on track to return from an ACL injury and could be the team's leading scorer. These moves helped offset the loss of forward Josh Powell, who made a poor decision to enter the NBA draft and ultimately wasn't selected.

Atlantic 10
Saint Joseph's became a top 25 team and the favorite to win the league when point guard Jameer Nelson withdrew from the NBA draft and returned to the Hawks.

Big East
Boston College was a loser when Andrew Bryant was dismissed from the team. The Eagles also were left standing without an ACC invitation after originally being invited.

Connecticut was the winner when Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon chose not to enter the draft. But they weren't as successful with the Pan Am trials team. Neither was able to dominate and help the team medal as it leaned more on Kentucky's Chuck Hayes, Missouri's Ricky Paulding and Seton Hall's Andre Barrett. But the coup of the summer was getting Charlie Villanueva after he withdrew from the NBA draft. Now Villanueva just has to get eligible after answering questions about how he paid for everything during the draft process.

Georgetown lost Tony Bethel (N.C. State) and Drew Hall (Gonzaga), assistants Ronnie Thompson (Arkansas), Chip Simms (out of the business for a year) and Brandon Bowman asked to leave and then returned. Not a good summer, at all, for a once-proud program.

Notre Dame was a winner when Chris Thomas returned to the Irish to be their point guard for one more season instead of going in the NBA draft. Seton Hall could turn out to be better than expected after Barrett was a hit with the Pan Am team. Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg won by selling the ACC instead of the Big East once the Hokies were invited.

Big Ten
Illinois' Dee Brown and Deron Williams got to play in the same backcourt for the U.S. World Junior Championship team in Greece. Now, they are touring with new coach Bruce Weber in Scandinavia. All of that was good karma for the Illini.

Iowa picked up Iowa State transfer Adam Haluska, a coup for Steve Alford in a rather quiet summer. Alford needed some tranquil time after a tumultuous summer of 2002, when his job prospects dominated the headlines.

Michigan State should be much improved if Paul Davis brings back his scoring proficiency from the World Championships.

Indiana was a huge winner in the recruiting circles with a summer commitment from Josh Smith of the Atlanta Celtics summer league team. If Smith chooses the Hoosiers instead of the NBA then they've got a shot at the Big Ten title in 2005.

Minnesota is dealing with injuries to Maurice Hargrow and Michael Bauer that could take them out of preseason conditioning. But the Gophers did get a surprise when Kris Humphries, a one-time Duke signee, committed to Minnesota and received a waiver to play next season.

Big 12
Kansas coach Bill Self kept Roy Williams' recruiting class intact and found out that Wayne Simien is on target to play this season after sitting out the offseason following shoulder surgery.

Texas Tech can think about a possible postseason berth again after Andre Emmett decided to withdraw from the NBA draft.

Conference USA
Cincinnati has the talent to make a Final Four run but could be one of the losers of the summer because of off-court troubles with James White and Armein Kirkland that could lead to either NCAA suspensions (for White) or school-imposed penalties (for Kirkland).

Marquette's Scott Merritt should be fine after shoulder surgery but the Eagles were still burning that Travis Diener didn't get invited to the U.S. trials and Steve Novak got cut from the Pan Am team.

Memphis lost Kendrick Perkins to the NBA draft, meaning they'll still have some questions inside.

Tulane saved its program and its coach after Shawn Finney turned down Marshall and the athletic department decided to stay Division I in football.

Mountain West
San Diego State booted off Evan Burns for academic problems, meaning the Aztecs will slide further down in the league.

Pac-10
Arizona didn't get Ndudi Ebi after he chose the NBA. Arizona State was a winner once Ike Diogu got positive pub for the Pan Am team. UCLA was a winner and a loser once Ryan Hollins had a breakout trip with the World Junior team but he'll have even more responsibility inside now that T.J. Cummings is ineligible. Washington State has a chance now that Marcus Moore returned to play for Dick Bennett instead of taking his chances with the NBA.

SEC
Georgia was the loser when it lost four recruits, two within the SEC to East rivals Florida and Tennessee. That made both of those schools winners, even though the Volunteers had to deal with a nasty fight between Brandon Crump and Elgrace Wilborn during the offseason. Wilborn was dismissed. Kentucky was a winner once Chuck Hayes starred for the Pan Am team. Alabama, on a trip to the Bahamas this week, lost Mo Williams to the NBA draft.

And Mississippi State didn't expect to lose Travis Outlaw to the draft, meaning the Bulldogs are down another inside body.