The Big East released their basketball schedule.

Link.

Holy Cross went with the guy their ex-coach was pushing in hiring nine-year Notre Dame assistant Sean Kearney. Kearney got the job instead of a coach that was 81-40 in his previous stint at Charleston and who’s been Jamie Dixon’s top guy at Pitt for the last few years.

Tom Herrion will probably end up with a better job than Holy Cross in the future, but I still find the choice interesting particularly when one of the qualifications being looked for was a guy with head coaching experience.

I always find it odd — if in fact it happened this way — when AD’s are swayed to listen to people who’ve made a choice to leave their institution when considering that person’s replacement.

It’s a good day for Pitt basketball, not to mention Sean Kearney.

For Tom Herrion… a better day’s coming.

Michael Curry got one season to prove himself, and in the end, that one season of 39-43 wasn’t enough. On the eve of free agency Joe Dumars announced he was firing Curry as coach of the Detroit Pistons.

The announcement comes on the heels of the following statement, released about a week ago, from Dumars: “Never again would I allow us to deal with the issues (last season), with drama,” Dumars said. “I refuse to go down that road again.”

Seems funny to me that Dumars talks about not going down that road again when, in reality, he’s the one responsible for going down that road in the first place! He hired Curry, a guy without any head coaching experience, and in the middle of his first season, took away his one stable piece, not to mention his captain — Chauncey Billups — and replaced him with an aging, injured, and grouchy Allen Iverson.

Begs the question: When does Joe Dumars start worrying about his job? Or better yet — for those who don’t mind questioning the classiest player in franchise history — why does Joe Dumars still have a job? How many coaches can he go through and how many draft picks can he blow before some of the responsibility starts to fall on him?

Because I’m not sure about a lot but I’m damn sure of this: absolutely NONE of this is Michael Curry’s fault. He did the best he could with a tough situation and wasn’t even given a chance to start a second season.

Per Adam Zagoria.

Huge get for Mick Cronin.

Kevin Arnovitz had this great entry on TrueHoop about players falling in the draft, how often it turns out better for those guys in the long run. Some good stuff to consider for DeJuan Blair fans out there. Meanwhile over at Zags Blog, AZ has news about Born Ready (Brooklyn’s Lance Stephenson) visiting Cincinnati this weekend. I was wondering who would be the first program of a somewhat major note to jump back into the Lance recruiting fray. This could be a giant get for Mick Cronin if it happens. Stephenson is scheduled to appear in a Brooklyn court tomorrow on a charge that he and a classmate groped a female student last winter. If the charges are reduced/dropped, or a plea is worked out, maybe Cincinnati’s faith is rewarded down the line. Great scoop by Adam Zagoria. Here in Pittsburgh, Butler High School has hired just retired MLB pitcher Matt Clement as their basketball coach. I wrote about this a few weeks ago. Clement’s hire was front page news in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. His major qualification for the job seems to be the fact that he’s a wealthy athlete that never moved out of the area. And sometimes we wonder why basketball in Western PA is no longer taken very seriously compared with the glory days that lasted from the 50’s through the 70’s. I have nothing against Clement – although he might want to tone down the talk about his religious beliefs as he’s now a public school employee — other than the fact that he’s in no way qualified for the job he got. There are coaches out there who’ve worked for years at the lower levels of school basketball in the hope that they’ll get a shot at a varsity job one day. Clement did none of that work, but since he’s a Butler native, and stayed in Butler, he gets hired? Seems wrong to me, no I take that back, it is wrong. If this was the Butler baseball job I could understand it…Jeff Teague will turn out to be a really good pick for the Hawks.

Peace.

Was in an arena watching WMU’s elite camp for most of the first round. Got home to see from 23 on. Blair’s knee history killed him I guess (Gottlieb was right) but going to the Spurs is the perfect situation as they were #30 in offensive rebounding in the NBA. If Ginobili is healthy again Blair can play a huge role in that team’s last 2-3 title pushes of the Tim Duncan era. Biggest potential busts: Tyreke, Harden and Daye…Cole Darling from Holt (Mi) is a 6′7 forward with some wing skills out of the 2010 class, Chris Anderson from Muskegon looks about 6-6/6-7 and 2010 product showed an ability to attack the rim and rebound offensively, while also having a little one/two dribble pullup from about 15 feet, and especially Tyrone Allen – a point guard out of the 2010 class from Illinois, really got off against some of WMU’s incoming class. Going on Joe Bendel’s show in Pittsburgh to talk about Blair at 5pm or so and you can link to the show at fox970.com. Also, David Brown and Nate Hutchinson will be really good players at WMU. Brown showed a “killer instinct” last night that I haven’t seen from a Bronco in a few years, he’ll hunt his shot and score loads of buckets.

Peace.

Spoke to Akron’s Keith Dambrot on the phone Tuesday morning as I was driving to Kalamazoo, Michigan to visit my sisters. Dambrot was watching his son play soccer and told me how important the 2011 recruiting class would be for his program. He also said Akron was having an elite camp (their second of the summer) yesterday that would be attended by a lot of younger prospects…Watched an open gym last night at Western Michigan that included most of the WMU team and former Michigan State star Drew Neitzel. Demetrius Ward, Flenard Whitfield and Alex Wolf played really well. Of their incoming freshmen Nate Hutcheson really stood out — he’s a legit 6′7 and played with a lot of confidence and athleticism on the offensive end. Brandon Pokely, from Clarkston, can really shoot it and doesn’t hesitate at all, while Austin Harper and David Brown both showed some game as well. Whitfield has really toned his body up and looked comfortable checking Ward on the perimeter and shooting the ball out to 17 feet. Just a little nugget for Bronco fans. Also got to talk with Derek Drews, who looked good but didn’t play while I was there. Going to go back tonight and watch some prospects at WMU’s elite camp — at least 50 or so are coming in – then hit the road back to Pittsburgh and get ready to cover the July period for NBE Basketball Report. I’ll be at the ‘Bron James Skills Academy for two days and then the Nike event in Cleveland for a few as well, looking for that Big East scoop. Not sure if I’ll cover anything else later in the month yet but you’ll know when I know…Oh, Lenny’s Subs by Sams Club in Portage — had a really good Italian Sub there with my sister this afternoon. I was looking in the deli case after and I noticed why — all high quality cheese and meats. I ordered it without their special hot pepper relish. Maybe I’ll be brave next time because I’ll certainly go back next time I come for a visit! 

My wife has the DVR set to record the draft tonight — hoping to see Big Fella and Sam go to teams that they’ll help right away. Joe Starkey left a message on my cell saying the Spurs would be perfect for either guy and I agree. I think both are guys that can give good teams something right away in addition to giving them an infusion of youth.

Peace.

Jabari Brown a 6’4 guard out of California (2011 class) will transfer to Findlay for his final two seasons of high school basketball. This season as a sophomore Jabari helped lead Salesian High to a state championship averaging just under 20 points per game. In addition to his athletic talents, Jabari is an accomplished student in the classroom. In the club season, Jabari plays for the Drew Gooden Soldiers out of Oakland. As an all around guard, Jabari plays beyond his years and does everything it takes to win.

Findlay Coach Michael Peck said, “We’re excited for the opportunity to work with Jabari over the next two years. He’s an ideal fit for our program. We are confidant that he will have a big impact and help us sustain the level of success that we have reached. His skill, size, athleticism, and moreover his demeanor lend itself to thriving in our system.”

Jabari joins a Findlay squad that returns 2010 graduates Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph, and Godwin Okonji.

Elliot Williams brought stability to Duke down the stretch last season as their point guard but now he’s leaving for family/medical reasons. He’ll head back home to play for Memphis and according to numerous reports will seek to have the transfer year waived so he can play right away…Minnesota is making tons of moves and picking up draft picks left and right in anticipation for tomorrow night. My links tool is different today than in the past so I can’t link the articles. Saw both these on ESPN.com and the Williams story a little later on Zagsblog.com.

Hasheem Thabeet either has a hurt shoulder, is engaging in draft-week gamesmanship, or a combination of the two. Seems big dawg pulled out of a workout with Memphis (does anyone want to play there?). Rubio’s people say there’s no way he’s going there… At the complete other spectrum we have ‘Reke Evans, who during dinner with a team president the night before a scheduled individual workout, found out that five of the better point guards in the draft would be going at it in a group workout a few hours before his. Evans showed up at the morning workout and balled head-up with the other prospects.

That’s called making a positive impression people. While on that positive impression tip we understand that both Steph Curry and Jonny Flynn are making teams fall in love with them. Curry would like to go to the Knicks at 8 and Dantoni would love that, but Curry might not last that long. Hearing possibly Sacramento at 4 (Flynn too) or Washington at 5 could scoop Curry.

Blake Griffin is a lock at 1 so stop with the nonsense about the Clip-joint trading the pick. Memphis, and what they do at number 2 (hearing maybe Thabeet or Harden) will really set things off Thursday.

Can’t wait. I just wish they could give TNT the draft and let Hubie and Charles talk and tell old stories with Ernie Johnson in the middle. I miss TNT’s draft coverage.

Peace.

I was watching the worldwide leader the other day and saw Doug Gottlieb definitively say that DeJuan Blair has fallen to the mid or late 20’s in Wednesday nights draft due to the history of his knees.

David Thorpe who worked Blair out is saying there’s no way he sees his charge — who he called maybe his favorite student ever — falling lower than the #13 pick range. Draftexpress.com is by far the best draft site out there, not to mention the only one I put any credence in, and they have Blair slated to go at #13.

So is Gottlieb right? Or is Jonathan Givony, a man who travels the world year round and talks to more NBA folks than anyone not in the league and runs the aforementioned draftexpress; and Thorpe, a guy who every team calls to talk about Blair because of their relationship right?

Guess we’ll see Wednesday night.

My money is on Thorpe and the guy from draftexpress.com.

How about you?