Cinci has a new basketball coach. The corpse was barely cold following the NIT loss to South Carolina when Mick Cronin, formerly the head guy at Murray State, was named new coach.

Andy Kennedy, though, landed right on his feet as he was almost as quickly named the new head coach at Ole Miss.

And of course, the same day that Bob Huggins appeared back in Kansas State. By the way, read this Jim Litke article and assume that K-State is putting some good lawyers with experience with the NCAA on retainer.

Maybe it was just an unfortunate coincidence.

First, there was the story of O.J. Mayo, a junior at Cincinnati North College Hill High School and two-time Ohio Mr. Basketball. Mayo sat out the state high school semifinals Thursday night – on orders from his principal, who wouldn’t disclose the reason – and has no idea yet whether he’ll play in the championship game Saturday.

But Mayo has known for awhile now where he and teammate Bill Walker, another very talented junior, wanted to go to college: Whichever school Huggins wound up at.

“At the same time,” Mayo said recently, “we have to see where he ends up, what the school’s fan base is like, see what the fans think about him and make sure everything is great.”

Everything is not great, though, with the program Huggins left behind. Hours before its NIT quarterfinal loss to South Carolina on Thursday night, the University of Cincinnati suspended two starters, leading scorer James White and 3-point specialist Jihad Muhammad, for violating undisclosed NCAA eligibility rules.

Just a coincidence, I’m sure.