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INDIANAPOLIS -- College basketball news and notes around the Nike All-America Camp this week.
Denmark's Christjen Drejer is still undecided among Gonzaga, Florida, Benetton Treviso, Florida State and Connecticut. The 6-foot-6 guard (that's what he's being called now) didn't take a visit to Connecticut after he originally told the Huskies' staff he would. But he did honor a visit to Florida over the weekend and the Gators are anxiously awaiting to see if he'll choose them over the Bulldogs or playing professionally in Europe. Coaches who have seen Drejer play on tape agree with NBA scouts that he is an instant contributor and could play any one of three positions -- point, shooting guard and wing/big guard. Drejer is expected to be NCAA eligible next season, but would still have to go through the process of being cleared because he plays on a Danish club team. Under the current NCAA rules, he could face a maximum eight-game NCAA penalty if he had played with pros or was on a team that is considered professional. According to those recruiting Drejer, the Danish national team is the sponsor of his club team.
West Virginia coach John Beilein doesn't expect to get any NCAA sanctions from the Jonathan Hargett case. Hargett allegedly accepted money from a runner of an agent prior to getting to West Virginia, which would make him ineligible, but not hurt the school. Hargett was dumped by the school last month but is still in Morgantown. The best thing for both sides would be if Hargett left town, allowing the once-hyped point guard and program to move forward apart. The Mountaineers lose Hargett's 13.8 points and 4.6 assists a game, but the freshman phenom was apparently more trouble then he was worth for team chemistry, according to a source within the program. If that's the case, Beilein's program will be better through attrition.
Duke could pull off a major scheduling coup, even without a favorable exempted tournament ruling in an ongoing federal court case against the NCAA. Duke could play in the 16-team Guardians Classic if a federal judge rules in favor of exempted tournaments and dumps the 2-and-4 rule (two appearances in an exempted event every four seasons). Duke can't play in the event if the 2-and-4 rule is honored for next season because it has already used their two exemptions. But the Blue Devils do have a foreign tour exemption and could take one during the fall break in October. Duke could go for five to seven days to either England or Canada and play games as well as get in a week of practice before practice can officially begin on Oct. 18. If that's the case, the Blue Devils will get even more practice minutes for the summer's rising star -- Daniel Ewing. The staff is thrilled with his progress as he becomes even more aggressive offensively. Ewing is expected to start at shooting guard next to Chris Duhon in the Devils' backcourt.
Hawaii coach Riley Wallace is beginning to interview assistant coaches at the Nike camp as he searches for a replacement for Scott Rigot. Rigot left to replace Mike Sutton (Tennessee Tech) on Tubby Smith's Kentucky staff.
Georgetown isn't worried about point guard Ashanti Cook getting eligible after he was released from his national letter of intent from New Mexico and committed to the Hoyas. The NLI committe hasn't rejected one appeal this offseason after Andre Igoudala (Arkansas to Arizona) and Kennedy Winston (California to Alabama) led the charge of players getting out of signed letters. The penalty for breaking an NLI could be as harsh as missing two seasons of eligibility and sitting out one season of playing without a release. With a release from the original school, the penalty could be missing one season of eligibility and sitting one season. But the NLI has been more lenient of late.
Temple is finally expected to hire an assistant coach to replace Dean Demopoulos after he left two seasons ago for Missouri-Kansas City and then the Sonics last season. The Owls have been short-staffed, and down to two assistants to John Chaney. Temple was even down to one assistant at one point last season when Nate Blackwell took some personal time to deal with family issues.
Pittsburgh's Julius Page will replace co-Big East MVP Brandin Knight on the NIT all-star tour of Canada later this summer. Knight had knee surgery last week and needs to rest for the remainder of July. He's expected to be back without a hitch for practice in the fall.
The once-proud eight-team Hawaii-Hilo tournament could be down to four teams next season as the exempted tourneys struggle to fill their fields.
Oregon's Ernie Kent will get what most USA Basketball coaches receive when they coach high school players in the summer -- a recruiting advantage. Kent will have two of the players the Ducks are recruiting -- Reno, Nev., 7-foot center David Padgett and Seattle 6-foot point Aaron Brooks -- among the 15 players trying to get the 12 spots on the U.S. national qualifying team for the Young Men's World Championships. The team will be in Miami from July 14-22 before heading to Venezuela for the competition. Kent will miss the second 10 days of the recruiting calendar this month. Past USA Basketball coaches say coaching prospects goes on every summer and is almost like a reward for the coach who is taking the team for the summer -- and being taken away from his recruiting duties as a college coach.
Wyoming picked up another guard -- for the 2002-03 season -- when the Cowboys got former South Carolina signee and JUCO wing Tim Pickett of Indian River CC. The 6-4 Pickett could be in the Pokes rotation next season after the Gamecocks couldn't get around an SEC rule that says the player needs to finish his final three semesters of junior college in the same place. The Mountain West Conference doesn't have the same rule.
Coaches aren't just moving along the traditional summer recruiting trail this month. Instead of simply going to Nike and adidas events, a number of coaches will also head to Germany this weekend for the 18-under European Championships and then later in the month trave to Lithuania for the 20-under European Championships (Hawaii's Riley Wallace will be in attendance). College coaches probably would have been at the Global Games in Dallas last weekend if it were a live recruiting period. That's where they could have seen 17-year-old Yugoslavian Darko Milicic. He's being billed as a top five pick in 2003.
California desperately needs a fourth team for its Golden Bear Classic (Dec. 20-22). The tourney already has Detroit and Louisiana-Lafayette, the new home of Florida guard Orien Greene.
Looks like Pittsburgh will try and play Georgia (Dec. 31) during the day to try get the game on national television.
SMU picked up a recruiting coup prior to the start of the evaluation period when head coach Mike Dement hired former Florida State assistant Coleman Crawford to replace Dallas-area recruiting legend Jimmy Tubbs, who went to Oklahoma.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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