FanHouse Ncaa Basketball Coaches

Anyone following the Henry-Kansas basketball drama this week has been thoroughly entertained.

Kansas coach Bill Self has to be scratching his head now wondering, "What just happened here?" Self and his staff had successfully lured Xavier and C.J. Henry, the offspring of former 1980s KU basketball standouts Carl and Barbara Henry, into the Jayhawks' fold after breaking their previous commitment to Memphis in April.

All was right in the slimy world of big-time college recruiting.

According to a report on ESPN, Kevin O'Neill has been hired as the new head basketball coach at the University of Southern California. USC had been without a head coach since Tim Floyd resigned under fire a few weeks ago. Allegedly, Floyd paid someone $1,000 to convince highly-touted recruit O.J. Mayo to attend USC.

In the wake of Floyd's departure, there is a bit of a mess to be cleaned up for Trojan basketball, and that's the task at hand for new coach O'Neill. Much of the roster who inexplicably made a Sweet 16 run last season is gone, as are three solid recruits Floyd had previously signed. O'Neill will try to pick up the pieces with Dwight Lewis and Leonard Washington as the leaders of his team -- assuming he can convince them to stay aboard.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun was hospitalized Saturday after he collapsed following a 50-mile charity bicycle ride during which he fell and broke five ribs.

Calhoun, 67, was taken to the UConn Health Center in Farmington, where he was listed in good condition. He was to be held overnight for observation and released Sunday, said Maureen McGuire, a hospital spokeswoman.

"Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. " John Milton, Paradise Lost.

Ralph Willard turned that quote on its head in every way. The head coach of the Holy Cross Crusaders has apparently decided that he would rather give up his successful reign as head coach of his alma mater to return to being an assistant to Rick Pitino at Louisville.

While there is no word on Willard's Web site yet, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv is reporting that Willard has decided to accept Pitino's offer to be his assistant coach. It is doubtful that Willard will take much of a paycut. It is more likely that he will get more money from Louisville to be Pitino's assistant.

Update: USC has confirmed Tim Floyd's resignation. "I accept Tim's decision and wish him well," USC athletic director Mike Garrett said in a statement.

University of Southern California men's basketball coach Tim Floyd has reportedly resigned in the wake of an accusation that he gave $1,000 to a man who helped convince O.J. Mayo to enroll at USC.

The Clarion Ledger newspaper in Floyd's home state of Mississippi reports that Floyd sent USC athletic director Mike Garrett this letter:

Memphis officials, Kentucky coach John Calipari and the NCAA had their little four-hour pow-wow Saturday concerning that whole SAT scandal. The verdict? No verdict for six weeks or so, reports the Associated Press. As Clay Travis discussed Friday, Calipari is hiding chilling in China and had to phone in to the assuredly awkward hearing. (Note that he had to phone in. The NCAA demanded he participate, even if he's on the other side of the planet.)

Six weeks (or more) leaves a lot of time for Tigers fans to sweat the impending doom of (gasp!) NCAA sanctions. But even more, it provides the opportunity for more allegations to come out against the program. Since the Derrick Rose story came to light, reports have placed the SAT scores of Robert Dozier in question. Another month-and-a-half leaves plenty of time for more shady recruiting stories to pop out.

Saturday, Memphis appears before the NCAA Infractions Committee to discuss the Derrick Rose -- excuse us, name redacted -- imbroglio. Kentucky coach John Calipari will not be physically present. Why not? Because he has a previously scheduled trip to China. Boy, is that convenient. Coach Cal has known since mid-January that Memphis would be appearing before the infractions committee on June 5-7, 2009 (the letter preceding the notice of allegations informed Memphis of this date), and he just happens to schedule a trip to China during that time?

What a coincidence!

Calipari informed the NCAA via letter that he'd love to attend the hearing, but would be in China. The NCAA replied that they wanted him there anyway, by phone if necessary, foiling Calipari's ultimate rejoinder. "The NCAA hearing? I don't know anything about that. I was in China when they had the infractions hearing!"

Sean Miller views what's left of his inherited roster at the University of Arizona and realizes he will be his seniors' fourth coach in four years. He is preceded by Kevin O'Neill, Russ Pennell and of course Lute Olson, who retired because of health reasons. Pennell led the Wildcats to the Sweet 16 in March but was told there was no chance he would retain the job.

So Miller takes over after a successful tenure at Xavier, but with only residue of a team in Tucson. Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill declared for the NBA draft and have hired agents while point guard Nic Wise is still pondering his draft options. Miller seeks to bring the tradition back to Arizona but the process will take time, especially considering the recent coaching upheaval.

In an effort to talk about something college basketball-related other than scandals in the summer, let's talk best current coaches. We'll attempt to order the top 25 current coaches in the nation. This is about the present and the future, not the distant past. What a guy did in the mid-90s doesn't matter near as much as the direction his program is currently headed. Past pedigree also matters, to an extent. For the perfect mix of past accomplishments with present achievement and a paved road for future success, look no further than the man atop the list.

What a bombshell from the University of Memphis. It has exhaustively determined that it has found nothing to suggest Derrick Rose did not take his own SAT test. Just for good measure it has also concluded that even if -- somehow -- it did turn out that someone other than Derrick Rose took the SAT there was no way the school could have known. Therefore, in Memphis' humble opinion, there should be no punishment of Memphis.

The main thrust of the document (PDF) seems to be to make it clear that Memphis knew nothing. This should not be surprising since it will be a document that Memphis plans to submit to the NCAA as part of its defense.