But the second chapter began this weekend when New Mexico faced St. John's in the CoSIDA Classic at the Pit in Albuquerque, N.M. Most had projected the two teams to meet in the final, but in this upside-down season, the matchup came in the consolation game.

The exempted tournament was scheduled long before Dave Bliss left for Baylor and Fraschilla was plucked off his radio gig. The purpose was to get a top 20 team in the Pit. St. John's drew Samford (originally Oklahoma State) while New Mexico got Dayton on Friday.

	Fran Fraschilla has found a home at New Mexico.

The interest in the tournament soared when Fraschilla got the job. He recruited nearly the entire St. John's roster. But it was Mike Jarvis who coached the Red Storm to within a few possessions of a Final Four berth last March.

"We've spent 98 percent worrying about Dayton and if we play St. John's in the final, I'll be ecstatic because it's a top 20 team at home," Fraschilla said. "I'm long past what happened at St. John's. I took the high road from the beginning. Ten years from now it will be a good book."

When Fraschilla flirted with the opening at Arizona State, that led to a personality conflict with the St. John's administration. He was fired in April of 1998.

"I'm a New Yorker and I have a lot of friends in New York who would stand up for me," Fraschilla said. "I don't need to dwell on who was right and who was wrong. The simple fact is I coached in New York for six years without one negative article. The only thing was that I was energetic and intense. I laugh, because I was told, when I was hired, that it wasn't about winning games but instilling discipline in the program. I did both on and off the court. We took a program that was dead in the water and resurrected it. Mike has taken it to new heights."

Fraschilla has found a home in Albuquerque where he doesn't have to wave his hands to get the fans cheering.

"I'm in a college town in a great environment," Fraschilla said. "It's working out for everybody in the long run. I don't have any bitterness whatsoever. I moved beyond St. John's quickly and kept myself busy and landed in a great spot."

Lavor Postell, who was signed by former St. John's coach Brian Mahoney, is the only player who Fraschilla didn't recruit for the Red Storm.The rest of the nucleus was signed by Fraschilla: Erick Barkley, Bootsy Thornton, Reggie Jessie and Anthony Glover.

"Most kids don't care who's coaching them as long as they're playing," Fraschilla said. "Ron Artest couldn't care if it were Mike Jarvis, Fran Fraschilla or John Wooden as long as they get to the NBA. No one should waste their time on this."

Fraschilla's fresh start comes with a reworked New Mexico lineup. The Lobos will start freshman Marlon Parmer at the point instead of sophomore John Robinson II. Fraschilla will stick with Kevin Henry and Lamont Long on the wings and Damion Walker and Brian Smith inside.

Meanwhile, Jarvis doesn't have to hear about Fraschilla's players anymore. He and his staff, led by associate head coach Kevin Clark, landed one of the top five recruiting classes with the signing 6-9 Darius Miles (Lincoln Senior High/East St. Louis, Ill.). Miles, who plans on attending St. John's instead of opting for the NBA draft if he becomes eligible, chose the Red Storm over DePaul and Minnesota. Gophers assistant Derek Thomas might have been able to keep him home had he stayed with Saint Louis coach Lorenzo Romar (Thomas was recruiting him while he was under Charlie Spoonhour last year).

The Red Storm are expected to add 6-1 Omar Cook (Christ the King High/Middle Village, N.Y.) to a class of 6-11 Mohammed Diakite (Montrose Christian HS/Rockville, Md.), 6-9 Kyle Cuffe (Rice HS/ Manhattan, N.Y.) and 6-5 Willie Shaw (Kennedy HS/Bronx, N.Y.).

Memphis fallout
Tic Price's meteoric rise as a head coach was marred by tragedy, around him and now because of him.

Price was at Auburn under the late Tommy Joe Eagles. He followed him to New Orleans five years ago when Tim Floyd left for Iowa State. But Eagles tragically died soon after the coaching pair got to Louisiana. Price took over and led a team made up mostly of Floyd recruits for three years before landing the Memphis job.

Two years later, Price (30-27 at Memphis) is gone. He essentially fired himself after an alleged affair and alleged assault, which is being reported by the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Price wasn't able to make the recruiting inroads that even former coach Larry Finch had during his reign in Memphis.

Don't expect interim coach Johnny Jones to, either. Jones, who was cleared of his role in the Lester Earl scandal when both were at LSU, is strictly interim. Memphis athletics director R.C. Johnson, who just received a five-year contract extension, won't be able to sell Jones on a full-time basis. Price was Johnson's hire and he'll be under heat to put a higher moral image on the program.

ESPN.com has learned that Colorado State's Ritchie McKay and Colorado's Ricardo Patton will be high on a Memphis list when Johnson begins the hiring process. McKay is a native of the West but prides himself on his strong Christian background. Patton, a native of Tennessee, would be the more natural choice if recruiting were an issue. During a survey of recent hirings, Memphis and Houston were the only two schools that followed the firing of an African-American coach with the hiring of another African-American coach. Expect Memphis to continue reaching out to minority candidates.

Meanwhile, Price's poor choices lost at least one recruit. Malcolm Battles, a 6-9 forward from Okaloosa-Walton (Fla.) College, changed his mind and signed with New Mexico instead of Memphis. Battles originally committed to New Mexico but had apparently opted for Memphis at the last minute. He signed a letter of intent, but his mother, who lives in Troy, Alabama, didn't sign. Battles' guardian had to sign the letter because he's under 21. Scooter McFadden, a 6-3 guard from Memphis, decided to stay with Memphis, even after Price's essentially forced resignation.

Nigerian nightmare
ESPN.com has learned the NCAA is inquiring into whether Ben Eze and/or Muhamed Lasege were paid to play in Russia. But a source told the Word that the Louisville signees never were paid. The pair went through Russia to get out of Nigeria because of strained U.S.-Nigerian relations.

Meanwhile, the 6-11 Lesage is also waiting for the NCAA Clearinghouse to approve his transcript. The 6-8 Eze, who is back in the Toronto area, is waiting for results from a standardized test. He's technically a recruitable athlete.

Lasege is frustrated about sitting out but hasn't indicated that he wants to leave. Louisville doesn't know what Lasege can do but the Cardinals need his size. Louisville will go with 6-8 Tony Williams, 6-6 Nate Johnson and 6-9 Dion Edward with 6-9 Tobia Hopper the first off the bench inside at Virginia Commonwealth on Friday. Denny Crum is expected to start a newcomer at the point (either freshman Reece Gaines or junior college transfer Rashad Brooks) with junior Marques Maybin and sophomore Caleb Gervin (a Prop 48 last season) at wing.

The Cardinals will look to run more often this season with the fresh legs on the perimeter. Get into a halfcourt game and they'll likely be exploited. Georgia Tech and Kansas could pose a frontcourt matchup problem next week at the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage.

Meanwhile, the other two Nigerians who were signed -- Uche Okafor (Miami, Fla.) and Ominiyi Makun (UCLA) -- without going to a junior college or high school first aren't eligible, either.

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