The friendship between Jim Calhoun and Tom Izzo dates back a decade to when both men guided their teams to the Final Four for the first time in 1999.
Izzo’s Michigan State team lost to Duke in the national semifinals that year before Calhoun’s UConn club beat the Blue Devils 77-74 for its first national championship.
Ten years later, Calhoun and Izzo will square off again on Saturday in the Final Four at Detroit’s Ford Field.
**Speaking of UConn, the Huskies landed a commitment from 6-2 point guard Darius Smith of Chicago Marshall, the No. 19 point guard in the Class of 2009 according to Rivals. He chose the Huskies over Marquette, Arizona and Cincinnati. UConn returns Jerome Dyson and Kemba Walker so Smith gives them another guard. He is their fourth recruit following PF/C Alex Oriakhi and SF Jamal Coombs, teammates at Tilton, and Los Angeles G Jamaal Trice.
**Virginia hired former Washington State coach Tony Bennett to replace the fired Dave Leitao. Steve Landesberg, father of former Queens Holy Cross star Sylven Landesberg, the ACC Freshman of the Year, said his son would stay no matter who the coach was.
**Andy Katz says John Calipari is close to taking the Kentucky job. IT will be interesting to see if DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall follow him. Wall is reportedly down to Memphis and Kansas and one source told me he’d be surprised if it wasn’t Memphis. If Cal leaves for Kentucky, Wall could pick Kansas or potentially follow Cal to Kentucky. Imagine if Kansas lands both Wall and Lance Stephenson? Watch out for the Jayhawks if that happens.
Big Ben / March 31, 2009
Jeebus Adam, Isn’t Kansas already out of scholarships?
The Memphis boards claim that Xavier Henry will be asking out of his LOI as well, which means Kansas would have to be considered in the conversation for him as well. After Lance commits tomorrow didn’t you say they’re already over the scholarship limit? Wall+Stephenson+Xavier would put them at how many scholarships? Doubt it happens but you’re talking about adding those guys to a team that will already be preseason top 10.
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InfinityDividedByZero / March 31, 2009
http://bluedevilnation.net/?p=2039
It would appear that, at the very least, Duke is in the picture.
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