We are still close to four months away from the first tipoff of the 2012/2013 men’s college basketball season, but it is still important to keep on top of the news wire, as there are always some interesting behind-the-scenes stories going on.
Kansas’ 2011/2012 basketball team
implicated in recent drug bust
Last
Thursday in Wichita, nearly three dozen people were indicted as part of an
alleged $17 million drug ring that supplied the local area with “high-grade”
drugs, including marijuana to members of last season’s Kansas Jayhawks’
basketball team. The indictment of 35 suspected members of this local ring came
as a result of arrests made last month. At the head of the ring were two
Lawrence, Kansas residents, Los Rovell Dahda and Chad Eugene Bauman, who
allegedly “made millions” running the ring.
At this
point, it is still unclear which players or former players may have been
involved in the purchase of the illegal drugs. The university had declined to
comment on the case, but did state that its internal drug-testing policy
requires all incoming freshman athletes as well as any student transfers to
submit to a drug test “within a reasonable amount of time” after arriving on
campus.
Parker's list 10 schools as possible
landing spot for the 2013/2014 season
ESPN’s
overall No.1-ranked high school player in the country this season, Jabari
Parker, recently stated that there are still 10 schools on his list as far as
where he intends to play his college basketball for the 2013/2014 season. The
one surprising omission was the Illinois Fighting Illini in his home state of
Illinois. The 10 teams on the list include BYU, DePaul, Duke, Florida,
Georgetown, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, North Carolina, and Stanford.
Parker’s
father Sonny mentioned that the recent coaching change at Illinois after Bruce
Weber was fired at the end of last season was the primary reason the school was
left off the list. DePaul may actually have the inside track to landing the
high school phenom, as a result of the close relationship with Blue Demons’
head coach Billy Garrett that already exists. The senior will finish-up his
high school career at Chicago’s Simeon Career Academy and hopes to make his
final decision sometime in November after reducing the list to five this fall.
Top matchups announced for the start
of the 2012/2013 season
It has been
announced that the college basketball season will tip-off on November 13 with
one dozen back-to-back games on ESPN. Two of the premier matchups on the slate
pit Michigan State verse Kansas and Duke verse Kentucky in the State Farm
Champions Classic. The Spartans have been opened by Bovada at 25/1 to win this
season’s national title, while the Jayhawks are at 18/1 to win it all this
year. The Blue Devils are also listed at 18/1 and they will face the current
odds-on-favorite Wildcats, who have been opened at 13/2 to successfully defend
last season’s national title.
This marathon of games gets underway at midnight
(ET) on the 13
th with West Virginia taking-on
Gonzaga in a rematch
of last year’s East Region second-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament. Other
games include Davidson at New Mexico at 2 a.m. (ET), Temple at Kent State at
noon and Butler at Xavier at 4 p.m. (ET).