The Manhattan job has been a springboard for coaches. Andy Katz concurs with earlier reports as to the early favorite (Insider Subs.).
Manhattan will call on Fraschilla but don’t expect him to go. Louisville assistant Steve Masiello will get a look to replace his former boss Bobby Gonzalez; Masiello was an assistant at Manhattan before going to Louisville. Plenty of Northeast assistants like Providence’s Steve DeMeo will be all over this gig, though.
Masiello seems to be the most likely possibility.
Via Big East Basketball Blog, I saw this piece on K-State expectations to land Herb Pope now that Huggins is in charge.
“Everyone is in on him and asking about him,” Aliquippa coach Marvin Emerson said Tuesday. “He can play anywhere.”
But Bob Huggins isn’t just anywhere. Huggins is now at Kansas State, and according to Emerson, that may make all the difference.
In fact, when asked if he would be surprised to see his standout forward wind up somewhere other than K-State, Emerson said simply, “Yeah, it would surprise me.”
Why? Because Emerson says Pope is “pretty close” to Pittsburgh AAU coach J.O. Stright, and Stright just happens to be pretty close to — you guessed it — Huggins. Pope’s ties to Stright are believed to be behind his recent decision to rescind an earlier commitment to Pitt.
While that may be great news to Wildcat fans, it is a bit disconcerting to Emerson, who is worried that Stright may convince Pope to leave Aliquippa and play for a private school next season.
“We’re hearing that he’s leaving and going to another school, and we’re not too comfortable with that because we’ve put in this hard work with this kid,” Emerson said, adding that he is unsure what will happen. “All of a sudden, someone else comes in and sweeps him off his feet and they reap the benefits.”
It’s something to wonder about. Stright’s relationship with high school coaches. It’s one thing to steer the kids to one college. But to essentially snatch them from their high schools as well could lead to a different backlash. While Stright may have the lockdown on AAU teams in the region, if he’s so willing to direct them away from high schools, who’s to say the high school coaches don’t start directing/advising the kids of AAU teams elsewhere in Ohio or around Philly?
Think Jeanette’s high school b-ball coach liked reading that Stright wants to send Terrelle Pryor to a prep school and Pryor seems amenable? If there is going to be any pushback against Stright and his AAU control, it can’t/won’t come from Pitt. It will have to come from the area high school coaches and interested parties.
Chad Ford at ESPN.com (Insider Subs.) looks at several players who will at least declare for the draft. This includes Aaron Gray:
From all indications, Gray is set to enter the draft. There is a dearth of big men in the draft, and despite a mediocre performance in the tournament, he has a shot at the first round because of his size.
It’s a question of whether he wants to be a lottery pick or a late 1st-rounder. If he tests the waters, pulls out, maybe goes to a big-man camp and has a solid season for Pitt — with the requisite deep play in the NCAA Tournament to boost visibility — he becomes a lottery pick. DraftExpress doesn’t even have him on the board right now, and seem to think the scouts are down on him.
DraftExpress has been reporting all year that Gray is likely to enter, but a disappointing end to his season being outplayed by Patrick O’Bryant in the NCAA tournament may have left a sour taste in the mouths of NBA scouts.
Of course, everyone up to the moment of the draft still had Chris Taft in the 1st round. Unlike the NFL, the NBA draft seems to be a little more unpredictable.
While linking to DraftExpress, it’s worth noting that they are covering the Portsmouth Invitational and had an evaluation of how Krauser did. It may seem very familiar to most Pitt fans. You can follow activity at the Portsmouth Invitational at their site.
