May 23, 2008
Every Friday I will give my thoughts on the game I love, college basketball.
• Big news for fans of the West Virginia Mountaineers. Bob Huggins landed a big-time recruit in 6-9 Devin Ebanks from New York City. Ebanks was originally slated to attend Indiana but was let out of his commitment when Kelvin Sampson resigned. Huggins has to be thrilled winning this battle as a number of prominent schools, including Memphis and Texas, were reportedly interested in Ebanks' services.
• Speaking of the Hoosiers, Tom Crean landed guard Jordan Hulls from Bloomington South High School for the 2009-10 season. Hulls is highly regarded and he will be preparing for his senior season in high school next winter.
• Duke decided to keep it in the family when it promoted Chris Spatola to the position of Director of Basketball Operations. Spatola is a class act and he is also married to Mike Krzyzewski's daughter, Jamie. He takes over for Mike Schrage, who went with former Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins out to Stanford.
• The Big 12 coaches made a major decision, vetoing a plan that would have added two more league games, extending the schedule from 16 conference games to 18. Can you blame the coaches for not wanting to beat each other up two more times!
• It is a busy time for transfer news. Guard Tony Freeman, who was Iowa's top scoring threat last season, has decided to go to Southern Illinois. I am sure Chris Lowery is happy about that. Former Connecticut guard Doug Wiggins will move up the road to Massachusetts, playing for new coach Derek Kellogg. Both Freeman and Wiggins will sit out next season and be eligible in 2009-10.
• By the way, Kellogg will be honored by his hometown on May 27 with a proclamation in his name at city chambers on Court Street in downtown Springfield, Mass. That's a pretty good way to start your head coaching career by being honored months before your first game.
• Congratulations to the Big Ten. The league broke the two-million mark in men's college basketball attendance for the 16th straight season. Almost 13,000 fans per contest went to Big Ten games last season. That conference edged out the SEC for attendance.
• Again, I want to thank the basketball community for its support of the Dickie V gala, which raised over $1 million for the Jimmy V Foundation for research on pediatric cancer. It was a who's who, a night of champions as Sarasota was the basketball capital of the world. Think about these names from the coaching fraternity all being in the same room: Bob Knight, Pat Summitt, Bill Self, Roy Williams, Billy Donovan, John Calipari, Bruce Pearl, Tom Crean, Steve Alford, Rick Barnes, Mike Brey, Matt Doherty, Seth Greenberg, Stan Heath, Fred Hill, Gene Keady, Pat Knight, Eddie Sutton, Jay Wright, Larry Shyatt, Reggie Minton, Harry Perretta, Billie Moore, Gerald Myers and Jerry Dunn. Consider some of the stars from the pro basketball world: Pat Riley, John Havlicek, Chuck Daly, Mike Fratello, Richie Adubato, Bob Delaney, Ed Pinckney, Mike Woodson, Randy Wittman and Pat Williams. Thanks to each and every one of them for their support.
Dick Vitale coached the Pistons and the University of Detroit before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in December 1979. Send him a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.
