Stewart on Campus

The Enquirer reports that Ari Stewart will be on campus today (Friday) which also happens to coincide with XU student move in weekend. Lots of activity and the campus should show very well. We are against some heavy hitters to get this kid's services but we have been involved with him for a long time. I believe he is the staff's #1 target and it would be great to secure a committ from him before he leaves town.

On other news the book 'Xavier Tales' is a great read for anybody who is a Musketeer basketball fan. Michael Perry did a wonderful job with this piece and it gives you a behind the scenes look at the biggest moments in our basketball history.

One last thing: my counterpart (in typical UC fashion) is half assing this blog over the summer. He seems to think the release of the 'Cats nonconference schedule and the early committ from Benahan is not 'newsworthy' for us. Am I calling him out? Certainly.

Best of Luck AD

Adrion Graves will be transferring after all. Musketeerscoop.com has reported he will not be attending fall classes. My best guess of his eventual destination will be Bowling Green to be with Louis Orr and George Jackson but he may have other plans. I guess Andy Taylor will be on scholarship after all this season. AD wanted to play extended minutes and that was looking less and less likely with the depth on the perimeter. Best of luck Adrion and I hope wherever you land you find PT and happiness.

Random Thoughts 8/8/08

Just a few thoughts on happenings this past week in hoops:

- UC has also signed a network TV deal with FSN Ohio for 12 games. I would imagine there will be no conflicts with us schedule wise as BE plays weekly conference games on different days than the A10.

-Kyryl Natyazhko has appeared as a target for Sean Miller and staff for the '09 class. He is rated as the #132 prospect overall with interest also coming from Baylor and Miami (FL). They call him a 'physical post with touch from the outside'. He is attending IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL for this coming season.

- Speaking of Baylor they recently secured the commitment of Rivals number one rated player, John Wall, by hiring his AAU coach. Smooth move on their part and I am sure John thinks he will be one and done anyway.

- The only piece of the Olympics that interests me is the USA Basketball team. They looked damn good in the exhibition games. That and to see if any terrosist organizations are willing to screw around with China. I highly doubt it but lord have mercy if they do.

- I am hearing murmurs that Steven Toyloy will not be attending UC this year. Any Bearcat fans out there who can confirm or deny?



-

John Riek

Just wanted to say 'congrats' to the Bearcats on the pickup of 7'2" center John Riek. He was a top 5 player at the 2007 Lebron James Academy. He has a few hurdles to climb but hats off to Mick for leaving no stone unturned.

BIg East off season comings and goings

Hi all, 

Sorry for the posting drought. Its been a combo of personal stuff and just not much going on in BearcatLand. So I thought this weekend I would list all the changes so far in the Big East(all the ones I know about anyway). So here for your reading pleasure are the roster changes excluding incoming freshman and outgoing seniors. I will assume you know who graduated and I will be reviewing the incoming class in a future post. Also, I will go over the coaching changes in the near future.

Uconn - Curtis Kelly left for Kansas State and Doug Wiggins is headed to UMass

DePaul - Eric Wallace has transfered in from Ohio State

Gtown - 2 out 1 in - Vernon Macklin has left for Florida and Jeremiah Rivers is headed against the current(sorry horrible joke) and tranfering TO Indiana. On his way in is Julian Vaughn who will be eligible this season. 

Marquette - Scott Christopherson is headed to Iowa State

Notre Dame - Ben Hansbrough is coming to Southbend by way of Miss. St.

Pittsburgh - Cassin Diggs is leaving the program but has not announced where he's headed as of this post. 

Providence - Dwain Williams is headed to Oregon St. 

Rutgers - 1 in 2 out - Jonathan Mitchell in from Florida, Courtney Nelson and Justin Sofman out to William Patterson and Monmouth respectively

St. Johns is losing 2 players. Larry Wright to Oakland and Mike Cavataio to Holy Cross

Seton Hall - Keon Lawrence in from Mizzou. Larry Davis out to Loyola Marymount. Augustine Okosun is out but his destination is undetermined. 

South Florida - Augustus Gilchrist has transfered in from Maryland and 4 players(WOW) have left for for lesser programs Aaron Holmes to Santa Fe CC, Solomon Bozeman to Ark-Little Rock, Amu Saaka to Furman, and Orane Chin to San Fransisco

Villanova - Taylor King is coming from Duke. 

As of this post UC, Louisville, Syracuse, and West Virginia had no transfers to report. Of course I'm sure my much more thorough colleague Deck will add a few to the list including a few I should have known. Next up - the Big East Coaching Carousel!!!