Huggins recruiting better without a job?

Judging from the list of possible signees, Bob Huggings seems to be doing a better job at recruiting without a job than he did when he had a job that last few years.

Look at the names being mentioned for 2007: OJ Mayo, Billy Walker, Herb Pope!

Another question is where and whether Huggins accepts (or is offered) a job in 2006. Would the blue chip recruits follow him to a mid-major school or a small-market school?

Some of the schools with coaches on the hot seat are still recovering from PR nightmares (Snyder and violations at Missouri, Bob Knight and Indiana), so they will probably not touch Huggins.

But some of the other schools may be more desperate, for example, Seton Hall, and Arizona State. Take Arizona State as an example. While Coach Evans is running a solid and clean program, he has not delivered the results on the court which makes some fans and boosters unhappy. Three years of Ike Diogu and only one NCAA win/appearance to show for. Arizona State plays in a major market (Phoenix) with the possibility of games at the America West Arena (Suns home court). This would also make it easier for big time recruits to follow Huggins there. But will the university be brave enough to pull the trigger? The "headaches" from the point-shaving scandal are almost forgotten by the general public, so would/could/should they "gamble" on Huggie-Bear? (Well, bear no more).

While the 2006-07 coaching carousel is not expected to be dramatic, it only takes one major move to start a major spin - remember 2003-04? Besides that, the NBA is always looking for new coaches...


CBS Sportsline and a local Cincinatti blog are discussing this very topic.

Bruce Webber finally gets one

After losing out on a number of top level local recruits, Bruce Webber managed to get one. Eric Gordon of 2007. Finally the magical 2004-05 run is paying top-level dividends. Will this lead to more big time signings for Bruce Webber or was this a one-hit wonder?

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/5118286

Kevin Love visiting UCLA

During the NMState-UCLA game ESPN analyst Fran Frachila mentioned that Oregonian super-big Kevin Love (class of 2007) was visiting UCLA. He would be a huge get for the Bruins who badly need big bigs. Ben Howland is stuck with the two Lavin 7-footers *cough* busts *cough*, which partially prevented other big bigs from signing with UCLA. Alfred Aboya of 2005 may be a good start, but he is dealing with an injury right now. Howland was chasing a lot of bigs but couldn't get them to sign. They have a good start in 2006 with James Keefe but they need more since the two 7-footers are graduating!

Latest news

Seton Hall gets a big big-man in 2007 Orlando Allen

Collegesports.com publishes their early 2006 class rankings. NC is at #1, Ohio State at #2. Oden is huge but NC got arguably the top three players at their respective position - a rare feat.

UTEP signs up a new frontcourt of unheralded players

Shane Clark will join Villanova in the Spring semester. This should help some if Sumpter is not able to make a comeback.

Tyrone Armstrong puts the "fall" in West-phal. His sole recruit who committed years ago now decommits! A couple of days later however he signed another player (Blake Wallace)

Texas A&M gets de-Flowered as their 2005 recruit (Gary Flowers) signs with Oklahoma State for 2006.

And OJ Mayo commits to .....

Signing Period!

The signing period has began! A new trend is emerging - signing up a whole team in the same class. First it was the Ohio State dream team headlined by Greg Oden. Then it was the North Carolina team headlined by Brandan Wright. Now it looks like Oklahoma, UConn and Texas have a 5+ man team, while Syracuse is one player away from completing a team with its 2007 (!) class.

The biggest news was the non-news of Greg Oden signing with Ohio State.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Arizona would get Jerryd Bayless since Texas got DJ Augustin just 48 hours before Bayless was set to announce.

While the ACC, Pac 10, Big 12 and Big East are getting the star recruits, the SEC and Big 11 are struggling. Don't get me wrong they have gotten some really good players, but where are the star recruits - given that a lot of them come from SEC cities/states? At this rate Bruce Pearl is gonna have the best recruiting class in the SEC and ironically most of them are from anywhere but SEC country.

Calhoun does it again!

Not shy about these things, Calhoun renegs on his offer to one recruit, while at the same time grabs a top 100 PG (Doug Wiggins) who had previously announced for St Johns. I'm sure this was done within the rules, but it also leaves a bad taste in some people's mouths. Can't blame the player for wanting to play PG minutes at one of the top programs in the country. Marcus Williams may be NBA bound by the end of the season, since the monster class of 2006 won't be NBA-eligible until 2007...