Most of you don’t care, but an update on the Arizona State basketball coaching search. It’s back to square one a second time, as Rick Majerus is no longer an option.
Rick Majerus was eliminated Wednesday as a candidate for the job as Arizona State’s next basketball coach on a dwindling short list that still includes Randy Bennett of Saint Mary’s College and NBA assistant Lionel Hollins, according to multiple sources connected to ASU.
According to those sources, health concerns are a reason Majerus is no longer under consideration in ASU’s search for a successor to Rob Evans, who was told on March 10 that he would not be back.
Now it should be no shock, just to look at the guy, that health issues would be a serious stumbling block. Apparently ASU wanted a closer look at his recent medical tests and there was some balking at that.
What’s stunning is the sheer ineptness by ASU for this coaching search. None of the other possible candidates mentioned including Nevada’s Mike Fox and Montana’s Larry Krystkowiak, have even been contacted by ASU. The AD there apparently only calls the candidate she wants to interview next.
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Carl Krauser will be in Indianapolis this weekend.
West Virginia senior center Kevin Pittsnogle will participate in the 3-point competition at the 18th annual Dell College Basketball Slam Dunk and Three-Point Shooting Championships tonight at Butler University in Indianapolis. On Friday, Pitt senior guard Carl Krauser will participate in the seventh annual National Basketball Coaches’ Association All-Star Game at Canseco Fieldhouse, also in Indianapolis.
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Now, stop me if you’ve heard this before. A top HS Sophomore basketball player in the area gives a ridiculously early commit to Pitt. Now he’s reconsidering.
“I do want to go to Pitt,” he said, “but I want to see what type of recruiting class they bring in. Some of their freshmen did play this past season, but I’m looking to start in college.”
Pryor said that his coaches for the Pittsburgh JOTS AAU basketball club, J.O. Stright and Ken Oskey, are encouraging him to renege on his commitment.
“They want me to keep my options open,” said Pryor, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound swingman who averaged 21.5 points and 10.6 rebounds this season and is considered one of the top-10 nationwide prospects in the Class of 2008. “They said a lot of major-college coaches are calling them asking about me. I may want to look elsewhere.”
Pryor is the second WPIAL star — and JOTS player — to waver on a commitment to Pitt in the past year. Aliquippa forward Herb Pope, ranked among the nation’s top-10 juniors, committed to the Panthers last March before re-opening his recruitment over the summer.
Pope and Pryor are close friends who have discussed playing together in college.
“I told him, ‘Don’t make a decision based upon what everybody is telling you. Make it based on a personal thing,’ ” Pope said. “Since I re-opened mine, he’s not quite sure what he wants to do. … I’m not going to make my decision right away. I made it a little too early. You get caught up in the local thing.”
There’s more than 18 months before Pryor could even decide to sign an early letter of intent with Pitt. Way too early to worry right now.
RELATED TEASER ALERT!!
I exchanged e-mails with Chris Dokish, the writer of the Stright article from Pittsburgh Sports Report. He answered a slew of questions I had, and I will be posting them later in the day. I have some other things to do, and I have to clean the stuff up for posting.
