Arizona State coach Herb Sendek knew the James Harden era in Tempe would last a maximum of two years. Harden returned to school after a sparkling freshman season and exceeded that first year, leading the Sun Devils to their first NCAA tournament appearance in six years and earning first-team All America honors. Now Harden is gone along with gifted senior forward Jeff Pendergraph, leaving Sendek with a major challenge heading into next season.
A five-man recruiting class along with the return of improving point guard Derek Glasser should keep ASU competitive but remaining in the Pac-10's first division won't be easy.
Headlining: Pittsburgh took over first in the country after beating Connecticut two weeks ago. All it had to do was beat Providence and the Panthers would get to sit pretty at No. 1 overall, possibly cruising to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Yet, they somehow lost. It's a testament to this year's college basketball season, not only in terms of parity and a lack of elite teams, but general confusion as well. Don't bother telling me you saw that coming.
Headlining: It's obvious, right? Duke tops both polls for the first time since the end of the 2005-06 regular season and we're all depressed ecstatic! I want to say that it's hard to like this Blue Devil team, but when is it easy to like Duke? (Answer: When you're a Duke fan. Or when the Blue Devils are playing Carolina.) That being said, the 2008-09 incarnation isn't nearly as hate-able as previous teams.
With Keno Davis off to Providence after one wildly successful season as the Bulldogs head coach, Drake had to find someone to try and ensure it would be less than 37 years before their next NCAA Tournament appearance. They've settled on Mark Phelps, an assistant under Herb Sendek at Arizona State and North Carolina State for the last dozen seasons.
Phelps has never been a college head coach and has no ties to the Midwest but there are reasons to believe he'll succeed at Drake. He's been a top-flight recruiter domestically and abroad, the latter being a place Drake can exploit to get talented players who might not consider the school if they were from Chicago. In addition, two former Sendek assistants have done a fine job since leaving his bench. Thad Matta and Sean Miller have both won big so it's a decent bet on pedigree by the Bulldogs.
He's inheriting two solid players in Josh Young and Jonathan Cox and a program that's gained some name recognition thanks to their conference title. He should be able to recruit better players because of that and will need to since the Bulldogs are losing about half their scoring and assists from this season. The biggest loss is Adam Emmenecker, the MVC Player of the Year, who ran the point with aplomb last season. Replacing him will be quite tough and how well Phelps does it will help determine Drake's chances in the MVC and beyond in 2008-09.
In the college basketball coaching world, the ultimate goal for many is a head coaching job on Tobacco Road.
That is why former North Carolina State coach Herb Sendek shocked so many with his 2006 decision to leave NC State and the prestige of Tobacco Road for Arizona State, a school with a grand total of four NCAA Tournament bids since 1981.
As if the critics needed any more ammunition to fire Sendek's way, his first campaign in Tempe was a flaming disaster. The Sun Devils went 8-22 on the year and lost their first 14 Pac-10 conference games.
But in his second season in the desert, Sendek appears to have revived the once dormant Sun Devils hoops program much quicker than anyone could have imagined.
For a week that featured very little college basketball, it was a pretty good one for the mid majors. Binghamton and New Orleans pulled off nice upsets while the A-10 grew in stature thanks to wins from Xavier and Massachusetts. The weekend brings a bit more action although you wouldn't know it from tonight's slate. Eight games are on tap, but only two of them match D-I schools against each other. Hartford figures to be a sacrificial lambs at Villanova but Drake's got more than an outside chance in Iowa City. Their MVC cohorts from Bradley already beat the Hawkeyes at Carver Hawkeye Arena and so did Louisiana-Monroe.
The Bulldogs have another edge over the Hawkeyes. Their coach, Keno Davis, has probably seen more games at Iowa's home than their coach Todd Lickliter. Davis is the son of Dr. Tom Davis, and graduated from Iowa in 1995, so he should feel right at home this evening. If Josh Young and Leonard Houston continue to nail almost 50% of their three point tries, Drake has a good chance to make them Iowa's biggest winner. Until January 3rd anyway.
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Arizona State coach Herb Sendek knew the James Harden era in Tempe would last a maximum of two years. Harden returned to school after a sparkling freshman season and exceeded that first year, leading the Sun Devils to their first NCAA tournament appearance in six years and earning first-team All America honors. Now Harden is gone along with gifted senior forward Jeff Pendergraph, leaving Sendek with a major challenge heading into next season.
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In the college basketball coaching world, the ultimate goal for many is a head coaching job on Tobacco Road.
For a week that featured very little college basketball, it was a pretty good one for the mid majors. Binghamton and New Orleans pulled off nice upsets while the A-10 grew in stature thanks to wins from Xavier and Massachusetts. The weekend brings a bit more action although you wouldn't know it from tonight's slate. Eight games are on tap, but only two of them match D-I schools against each other. Hartford figures to be a sacrificial lambs at Villanova but Drake's got more than an outside chance in Iowa City. Their MVC cohorts from Bradley already beat the Hawkeyes at Carver Hawkeye Arena and so did Louisiana-Monroe. 
