Spring is often considered a fallow period in men’s college basketball,
but there are always a few stories that could impact teams' chances to win their conference next season or even affect their current odds
to make a run at a national title.
The
following is a look at this week’s most interesting news and notes from the
world of college basketball.
Butler moves up its plans to join the
Atlantic 10
The Butler
Bulldogs had already made up their minds to jump ship in the Horizon League for
a place in the Atlantic 10 to upgrade the profile of their men’s basketball
program, but they will now make the move for this upcoming season as opposed to
waiting a year. The primary reason for pushing up the move up was brought on by
the Horizon League’s decision to ban the Bulldogs from competing for the
regular season conference title and its conference championship in early March.
The problem
revolves around the fact that the conference does not have any existing by-laws
to prevent departing schools from competing for a title such as the ones that
exist in the Colonial Athletic Association, which is faced with the loss of VCU
and Old Dominion. VCU has already worked out a deal to also join the A-10
early, while ODU is appealing to the CAA to overturn its current laws for the
2012/2013 season before it departs for Conference USA the following year.
Hoiberg parlays a successful season
into a long-term deal
Fred Hoiberg
took the head coaching job at Iowa State in 2010 and proceeded to guide his
team to a very pedestrian 16-16 record overall and a dismal 3-13 showing in the
Big 12. Building a team out of a number of transfers, he was able to turn
things around last season with a 23-11 record and a trip to the third round of
the NCAA Tournament after beating Connecticut 77-64 in its first tournament
game since 2005 as the No.8-seed in the South Region.
He was
rewarded for his efforts this week with an eight-year deal worth an estimated
$1.5 million a season. Bovada has opened the Cyclones at 100/1 to win next
season’s national title, but after last season’s third-place finish in the Big
12 when it was picked to finish near the bottom of the conference, Iowa State
should definitely be on your watch list as a potential sleeper heading into the
regular season.
Key transfer cleared to play for
Pittsburgh this upcoming season
The
Pittsburgh Panthers started the 2011/2012 season with high expectations, but
crashed and burned in a mid-season eight game losing streak from which they
were never able to recover. The result was a 22-17 record overall and an
embarrassing 5-13 record in the Big East. The Panthers’ rebuilding process
received a huge boost this week when the NCAA declared Central Michigan
transfer Trey Zeigler eligible to play this upcoming season.
The 6-foot-5 guard is expected to replace the
departed Ashton Gibbs, who was the Panthers leading scorer last season with
15.5 points a game. Zeigler brings some impressive credentials in his own right
after averaging 15.6 points and 6.7 rebounds last season which earned him third-team
All Mid-American Conference honors. He will have two years of eligibility left.
Pittsburgh has been opened at 40/1 to win the national title with only
Louisville, Syracuse, and St. John’s having lower odds in the Big East.