Dayton Daily News

The Dayton Daily news is reporting that Brian Gregory is the #1 candidate for the Marquette job. Chick Ludwig penned this story and I love Chick. Any guy who can make that name seem cool has to be an alright guy. What is 'Chick' short for anyway? He is the beat writer the Enquirer should have for the Bengals. Chick is a very astute individual and he noticed at the coaches convention Thursday BG was the only one not wearing his school logo. Very, very interesting. The Journal Sentinel out of Milwaukee doesn't have BG on their radar and they said Miller and Tony Bennett would be 'home run' hires but both are very comfortable in their current roles and not likely to make a change. Considering their beat writer called Bobo to tell him Sean was in Milwaukee when he was actually sitting across the table from Mike ought to give us a little insight on their investigative reporting. This could actually work in UD's favor if they could land Anthony Grant. AG would be at the top of my list for any potential replacement for Sean but he is a UD grad so that essentially eliminates him. For the record I would also put Fran McCaffery from Siena and Chris Lowery from Southern Illinois in my top 3, but hey I don't think we're going to have to worry at this juncture. But anyway back to Chick he seems to think the Tom Izzo connection is what would make BG attractive to Marquette. This is all hearsay and you will not hear any announcements this coming weekend because the powers to be want nothing to pull away the 'shine' from the final four teams which is cool. However giving some of the abuse BG took from the Flyer faithful this year it could make his decision that much easier if offered. Selfishly I want him to take that job if offered because 'mini me' has stacked the coffers for UD for '09 and '10. Juwan Staten will probably end up being a top 5 point guard in his class if he keeps developing. It may take a new guy a couple of recruiting cycles to take hold with the Ohio kids.

Mike Montgomery has filled the California position and LSU is leaning towards Travis Ford. Ford's style of play (he is the most like Pitino in that regard out of all Rick's disciples) makes him very attractive. UMASS conspiracy theorists are actually saying TF only wanted to come to the Northeast to develop recruiting contacts there which really isn't a bad idea. Also Fran Fraschilla all but begged Providence to give him a call during the NIT championship game to return to coaching. They were turned down by one of their own alumnus (Jim Larranagga) who decided the grass was greener at George Mason. Billy Grier at San Diego turned down Oregon State. So that leaves only the Oklahoma State job as one you would even think Sean might like over Xavier and then not really. T. Boone Pickens donates millions and millions to the Cowboys each year but when you have a booster like that paying for the coaches that puts some pressure on a coach. I mean if your working at OK State and Boone wants you to go to his grandson's birthday party, your going.

Ah the offseason is almost officially upon us. I'll stick with my guns and say North Carolina will win it all this weekend. Hopefully the games live up to the hype because the talent on the floor will be awesome.