No. 1 seed UCLA managed to survive a tough onslaught from No. 9 Texas A&M tonight in Anaheim, holding on to win 53-49 in by far the toughest challenge a 1 seed has had so far in this year's NCAA Tournament.
Most of the UCLA players turned in lousy performances, but Kevin Love and Darren Collison carried the Bruins on their backs, making two crucial shots apiece down the stretch. Collison and Love combined for 40 points on 14-of-25 shooting; their teammates combined for 13 points on 6-of-20 shooting, including a dunk by Russell Westbrook at the buzzer that looked, to these eyes, like it was actually after the buzzer.
"We made big plays by big-time players down the stretch," UCLA coach Ben Howland said of Love and Collison.
This week, FanHouse is taking a way too early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. It's a time-honored filler for the off-season, and who are we to buck tradition? Today we look at teams 20 through 16.
Perhaps nobody lost more this offseason than the Texas A&M Aggies. Not only did the possible best player in school history (Acie Law IV) graduate, their superstar young coach (Billy Gillispie) took off for "bluer" pastures in Kentucky. As if Law and Gillispie weren't big enough losses, key contributors Antanas Kavaliauskas and Marlon Pompey graduated as well. So what on earth are the Aggies doing at #19 in our premature blogpoll? Gillispie left a lot in the cupboard for new coach Mark Turgeon, a quite capable coach in his own right. Turgeon is coming off an impressive run at Wichita State - that's why they're here.
Turgeon's biggest victory in his first year in College Station may have already happened - he convinced uberstud DeAndre Jordan to keep his commitment to the Aggies. Jordan is one of the elite players in next year's freshman class, a 7 foot beast who should provide an immediate impact in the post for A&M.
Alongside bruising forward Joseph Jones and fellow freshman Denzel Bowles, the Aggies could have one of the best frontlines in the entire country. Josh Carter and Dominique Kirk will provide the experience in the backcourt, and incoming freshman PG B.J Holmes will be looked upon to contribute as well. There's plenty of talent here for A&M to a contender in the Big XII yet again.
The deadline for underclassmen who have not hired an agent to pull their name from the NBA draft and return to school is June 18. With less than a week to go to decide, this is when the separation for those who are merely "testing the process" from the deluded and/or determined players really begins.
"I feel like I was not getting the response from the NBA people in the spot I wanted to be in, which is the first round or something guaranteed," Jones said in an interview with Houston station KRIV.
The (polite) response from NBA he was getting was something along the lines of, "you won't be drafted."
When he initially declared, he said he would only stay if he was assured of being a top-15 lottery pick. Seems his standards dropped to the point where he would have taken assurances that he would get selected in the second round. Jones wasn't even in the discussion on variousmockdraftsfor thesecondround.
This is still good news for Texas A&M and new coach Mark Turgeon. Jones was the leading rebounder and second in scoring for the Aggies. Despite the graduations of Acie Law IV and Antanas Kavaliauskas the Aggies have a top recruiting class and should be pre-season top-25 with Jones inside.
Mark Turgeon will be introduced as the new Head Basketball Coach at Texas A&M today. He has, effectively an eight year contract with A&M. It's five-years with an automatic three year roll over and will be paying $1.2 million per year. At Wichita State, Turgeon was making around $750,000 so this was a 60% salary jump with a long term commitment. That's hard to resist.
Monday night, Turgeon and WSU athletic director Jim Schaus met with players in the Koch Arena locker room. Three players -- Phil Thomasson, Sean Ogirri and Matt Braeuer -- confirmed that Turgeon told them he was headed to A&M.
"We're happy for him," said Thomasson, a senior next season. "We're going to stick together and we're going to get a real good coach in here.
"Jim talked to us. He's going to work hard for us. I'm sure it will go quick."
It's a little thing, but these days with coaches and hirings, it's become a rare thing. Turgeon made the respectable and classier decision to go back to his old team to say good bye first -- before the press conference, cheers and smiles at the new school. Yeah, everyone already knew he had the offer and the reports said he was going, but he still went and told them directly. And yeah, kind of sad that it seems worth pointing out that a coach at least chose to say goodbye to the school and players that helped put him in the position to say hello to the bigger school and pay day. Previously at Fanhouse: The Intrigue at College Station Maybe Mark Turgeon for Texas A&M
That's only part of the story, though. John Lopez, a Houston Chronicle sportswriter lays the blame on Gillispie's departure from A&M completely at the feet of A&M Athletic Director (AD) Bill Byrnes. While he opens as if Byrnes' moves could be brilliant, there is no doubt he sees Byrnes as an ego run wild.
There's a good mix of background history, and clearly Lopez is on the side of Gillispie on this one, but it isn't hard to turn it around and say that Byrnes had good reasons for a lot of what happened and that Gillispie's handling forced Byrnes' hand.
The story is that an intermediary/friend of Gillispie was being contacted by Arkansas as early as February. Gillispie wanted to maintain plausible deniability and focus on winning basketball games. He never encouraged or discouraged the contact, and he never told him of the circumventing contact. Byrnes found out anyways.
It may have been a busy behind-the-scenes weekend on the coaching carousel after all. Mark Turgeon, the Wichita State Shockers Head Coach, is now the reported target for the Texas A&M job. Apparently, it is still in the working out the details before even making a formal offer phase.
Turgeon still needs to agree to the terms of the contract before accepting the position. He is expected to meet with Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne Monday with a possible news conference Tuesday in College Station.
Turgeon is something of a surprise because A&M was reportedly looking to find a coach with "ties" to Texas. Granted, those ties seemed somewhat tenuous in names like Pitt Coach Jamie Dixon (played at TCU, but from California). Turgeon, though, recruits very well in Texas for the Shockers. Also Turgeon has seemed to be one of those coaches in the MVC that seemed to be in a comfortable spot and wouldn't leave unless it was a much bigger job.
Of course the job done by Billy Gillispie at Texas A&M has made it a much more attractive destination.
Well, the wild end to a week in coaching changes before Easter Weekend gave way to a very quiet weekend. Nothing happened. Nothing. No solid rumors or reported meetings.
The quiet from Arkansas and Texas A&M was almost disquieting. Still, there is some nervousness in Nebraska where Doc Sadler's name is now the popular rumor to fill either job.
Sadler, though, has denied any interest in jobs and the Nebraska Athletic Department has maintained that they have not been contacted by either school about interviewing him. Of course, Arkansas, has hired a search firm to help. That means the search firm can go back channels to gage interest by Sadler before Arkansas actually contacts Nebraska.
Don't worry, come Monday there should be plenty of new intrigue and rumors.
With the news that Billy Donovan will stay at Florida, where will the Kentucky administration turn next in its basketball coaching search? Most likely, they'll turn to the state of Texas. The early favorites are Texas coach Rick Barnes and Texas A&M coach Billy Gillespie.
Gillespie's lack of actions -- specifically, declining to sign a contract extension -- strongly suggests that he'd like to look elsewhere. Gillespie is coming off a great season at Texas A&M, but can that greatness be sustained? I doubt it. This season was fueled by one Acie Law clutch shot after another. Law is done, and I can't imagine the Aggies being nearly as good without him.
Barnes seems somewhat less intent on leaving, but he, like Gillespie, is facing a 2007-08 season that will almost certainly be significantly less successful than this season was. (Unless you actually think Kevin Durant will be back next year.)
Most indications are that Barnes is Kentucky's first choice and Gillespie is No. 2. But Gillespie seems a little more eager to go than Barnes does. It's not clear what the next step will be, but all eyes are on the Lone Star State.
My fellow Fanhouser Ryan Ferguson is convinced that no Billies are going to Kentucky. He is convinced Texas A&M Coach Billy Gillispie is staying put. Ryan is also certain(ly hoping) that Billy Donovan is staying at Florida. I'm less certain about both.
Suffice to say, that this is a friendly disagreement. While Ryan takes Gillispie at his words, my gimlet eye views Gillispie by his lack of actions.
Gillipsie said he wouldn't sign until he returned from Final Four activities. Meanwhile, all of those major jobs -- Kentucky, Arkansas, Michigan and Iowa -- remain open.
Now, why would he do that? No doubt the Texas A&M Athletic Director is in Atlanta at this point. It seems like it would have been an easy thing to bring along the document for signing. Waiting to sign leaves the door open very conveniently open for escape.
It's all about the Big Blue. I don't dispute the lack of interest in the Arkansas job, and I don't believe Iowa or Michigan would offer enough. Kentucky, though, is the school on which he is waiting. The outcome with Donovan will decide his domino. Just about everyone knows that Donovan is the first choice and that Gillispie is the second.
Even if Florida gets to the Championship game on Monday and Donovan didn't reach a decision until Wednesday or Thursday, it would be very easy for Gillispie to put off signing the contract. The most convenient excuse would be a couple extra days on the recruiting trail before returning to College Station. Paying some visits and just doing more to help A&M basketball before getting home.
All the while, the contract remains unsigned. Waiting for Donovan's decision and maybe a phone call and a bigger offer from Kentucky.
How false? Per Katz, Broyles didn't even have Gillispie's phone number. A couple of days ago at FanHouse, Nathan Fowler wrote,
unless Arkansas is run by incompetents (which some who have followed the sordid Houston Nutt soap opera might argue isn't far from the truth) you'd have to think that they wouldn't have let go a coach who just went to the NCAA Tournament without at least some assurance that their #1 candidate would listen to them.
The conclusion I draw from Katz's TV report -- that Broyles based his decision to fire one coach on his confidence in landing another, and that he didn't even know how to get in touch with his desired replacement -- is that "incompetent" is the only word to use to describe Broyles.
No. 1 seed UCLA managed to survive a tough onslaught from No. 9 Texas A&M tonight in Anaheim, holding on to win 53-49 in by far the toughest challenge a 1 seed has had so far in this year's NCAA Tournament. 
The deadline for underclassmen who have not hired an agent to pull their name from the NBA draft and return to school is June 18. With less than a week to go to decide, this is when the separation for those who are merely "testing the process" from the deluded and/or determined players really begins. 
Mark
It's looking like Mark 
It may have been a busy behind-the-scenes weekend on the coaching carousel after all. Mark Turgeon, the Wichita State Shockers Head Coach, is now 
Well, the wild end to a week in coaching changes before Easter Weekend gave way to a very quiet weekend. Nothing happened. Nothing. No solid rumors or reported meetings. 
With the news that 
My fellow Fanhouser Ryan Ferguson is convinced that no Billies are going to Kentucky. He is convinced Texas A&M Coach Billy 
During a brief TV appearance, ESPN basketball reporter Andy Katz this morning passed along some very bizarre news. Katz said the reports that Arkansas athletic director 
