NBA Mid Majors Basketball

If you looked at the official release of who was in and out for the NBA Draft, you might have noticed a freshman named JaJuan Robinson from Lincoln (PA) University. Why would a freshman from a D-III program, that nobody knows anything about be in the NBA Draft? Is this another smart-assed kid just trying to have fun with the system?

Sadly, it is not. JaJuan Robinson is a 24-year old, 5-11 "freshman," who has taken a long time to get to this point. At one time he was a decent enough high school prospect. A 2-star recruit from Baltimore. A scrappy point guard who was known for hard play on both ends.

He was actually part of Big East school, Providence's 2004 recruiting class (after taking a 5th year of high school at prep school in South Carolina). Apparently he suffered a minor knee injury in an offseason practice and then left the school a month into the season for the always nebulous "personal reasons."

That's where he disappeared (or at least dropped off of any search engine).

ESPN gets a lot of flak around the web, some of it deserved and some of it not. The complaint that holds the most water with me is the one that centers around their predilection for having two (or more) people arguing points as loudly as possible without making any salient points. One such argument went down on First & 10 today between Rob Parker and Eric Kuselias.

For the record, Parker is against the term mid-major because all the teams are in Division 1. Fair enough, except that he kinda shoots himself in the foot by saying that no team that would be classified as a mid-major, including Xavier for these purposes, should be allowed into the NCAA Tournament. Kuselias has a real problem with political correctness and seems to like the term because it has insulting overtones toward the schools so labeled and because he can't be bothered to watch them play.

With Selection Sunday this Sunday, why waste time discussing whether or not the label causes deserving teams to lose out on bids? Or if the Atlantic 10, angry about being hung with the moniker, should or shouldn't be considered a mid-major conference? With all the people under contract at ESPN, would it kill them to find two who knew anything about college basketball?

New Mexico State head basketball coach Reggie Theus is on the verge of leaving to become head coach of the Sacramento Kings, ESPN's Andy Katz is reporting.

Theus took over a team that had gone 6-24 before he arrived two years ago and immediately turned it into a winner. He led New Mexico State to the NCAA tournament last season, its first appearance in the Big Dance since 1999. Before getting the New Mexico State job, he was an assistant to Rick Pitino at Louisville.

Katz is reporting that New Mexico State has offered Theus a raise from his current salary of $355,000 to $466,000, but that kind of bump is nothing compared to what the Kings will pay.

Theus has done good work at New Mexico State, but he has made no secret that he'd like to coach in the NBA, and few if any observers thought he'd stay at New Mexico State for the long haul. Still, it's a disappointment to Aggie fans, and late June isn't the best time to go coach shopping.

Brad Holland might not be the devil incarnate, but you would be hard pressed to find a Cal State Fullerton fan who isn't tickled that the malefactor was let go in San Diego. And a word of warning to those USD fans, keep an eye out for some NCAA sanctions. The last time Holland left a job (CSF), probation and a long clean-up followed.

Tyson commented on a previous post that word out of Sacramento indicates that Eric Musselman is heading to San Diego to take the job. Musselman is a USD alum and would be a great choice to lead the Toreros. The apologists on 1090 AM here in SoCal have been bemoaning the fact that Holland was a good guy (he's not) who did a lot of good for the program (he didn't).

USD had some limited success, but weren't a consistent winner. You can point to the tough academic standards, but conference-mate Gonzaga follows the same rules. There is no reason why a college hoops team in San Diego couldn't enjoy the same success as Gonzaga, if not more. Would you rather play in Spokane, Wash. or San Diego? Of course, the Toreros would lose out on the pot-head/shroom users, but they should be able to get enough players into the program.

This should be viewed as a negative for the rest of the conference because now that the incompetence of Holland is removed, this program could really make some noise.