Barstool College Hoops Notebook: Commitments Across the Country, Indiana Scheduling, Calipari Comments
Basketball is starting to become a year round thing at all levels. We are seeing late recruits, transfers and changes to the game during the summer leading into preseason. My goal is to keep everyone updated with what’s going on across the landscape of college hoops. Consider this a cheat sheet, because God knows we all used one at some point in college. If there’s something specific you want to see or change in these notebooks, let me know on Twitter @barstoolreags.
Marvin Bagley Update:
The guy who is the best prospect in all of basketball at any level right now is still mulling reclassifying to play college ball this year. My guess is nothing will be announced until his camp hears from the NCAA Clearinghouse if he’s able to be eligible or not. So with that said, he finished up a 3-day official trip to Duke and is now getting ready to visit Arizona and USC. He’ll be at USC tomorrow and the 27th before heading to Arizona in the first week of August. He still would like to visit UCLA, Kentucky and Kansas, though it’s unclear if he’ll be able to in time. Duke makes the most sense from a scheme fit as they are thin in the frontcourt and adding Bagley would immediately make them the No. 1 team in the country.
John Calipari on Dan Dakich Show Talking Indiana/Kentucky Series:
Calipari was on friend of PMT Dan Dakich’s show yesterday and talked about how he pitched a two-year series with Indiana. The plan was to play at Lucas Oil both years, negating the home-and-home that IU is pushing for and even an Indianapolis/Louisville location that we’ve heard before. Each team would get 25,000 tickets and would obviously sell out Lucas Oil. The premise is simple as Calipari explained. He pushes for neutral court games to help prepare for the NCAA Tournament as he doesn’t care what people think, he’s worried about his team. My guess is with Archie – a good friend of Calipari – will eventually agree to this set up. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this happening within three years as Archie does have a bonus for scheduling tougher games. Playing at Lucas Oil makes sense and more importantly gets this series back on the map.
Calipari Wants an August College Basketball Week:
While on the show he also mentioned another forward thinking idea, as we’ve heard him ramble on in the past. This one actually makes sense though. Using the NBA offseason dominating July as a backdrop, Calipari wants a week in August for college basketball. Personally, this week would be perfect for it. Calipari threw out the idea of broadcasting exhibition games against European teams or other colleges, something just to get people talking about the sport. That’s all fine, but really what it would do is help with early season play. Another week of playing together and playing in competitive environment games, should help clean up those early season games where we see how bad it can look. There’s nothing going on this week and you’re still before NFL training camps. Let’s say each team gets to schedule up to three games, can broadcast it on local networks/ESPN3, etc and it at least gives a starting point.
Indiana and Arizona Expected to Schedule a Series:
The Miller brothers are ready to finally play each other. With Archie now at one of the blueblood programs, there’s a three-year series in place between Arizona and Indiana. The plan is to play 2019-20 season in Arizona, the 2020-21 season in Bloomington and then the 2021-22 season at MSG. We don’t get to see the sibling matchup too often and the fact that both are top-20 coaches in the country helps as well. Good for both of them to schedule a 3 year series here.
Marquette Lands Top-50 Prospect
This seemed like a no-brainer for Marquette, but still news regardless. They were able to secure a commitment from Joey Hauser, the No. 43 recruit in the class of 2018. Why was it a no-brainer? Because Hauser’s brother, Sam, is a sophomore for the Eagles. Joey is a 6’8″ wing who can also play the stretch position, especially in Marquette’s system. Hauser is the second four-star recruit for Marquette in the class of 2018.
Mississippi State Lands Another Major Recruit:
Don’t look now, but Ben Howland is recruiting really well down at Starkville. Yes, he failed with Malik Newman, but right now he has two big recruits coming in the class of 2018. I told everyone about Reggie Perry last notebook, this time it’s DJ Stewart, a 6’5″ guard, who completely broke out during the EYBL season. He announced his commitment the only way Mississippi State can:
Princeton Gets One of the Biggest Recruits in its History:
Virginia Tech Loses a Key Member of Team:
Virginia Tech can’t seem to get a break with injuries the last couple of years as Buzz Williams has turned this thing around in Blacksburg. This time it’s Ty Outlaw, who tore the ACL in his right knee. Outlaw is a junior, in his second year with the Hokies after transferring from UNC-Greensboro. What he’s really known for though is his shooting as he shot almost 49% from the 3-point line last year. His breakout game was in February against Miami when he went 8-for-10 from the 3-point line for 24 points.
Auburn’s Austin Wiley Suffers a Stress Fracture:
Austin Wiley, one of the breakout guys from the FIBA U-19 team, will miss 4-6 weeks due to a stress fracture in his left leg. Wiley is expected to be an All-SEC player this year, especially with the added games in Egypt with Team USA and Auburn heading over to Italy – a trip he will now miss. There is no surgery needed – which is a plus for Wiley and Auburn. This will be his first full year with Auburn, as he enrolled halfway through the season last year, playing in the last 22 games of the season.
CBS Extends Deal with B1G:
CBS and the Big 10 will be together for six more years after a contract extension was agreed upon. The six year deal is through 2023, and includes at least 10 regular-season games, regular Sunday afternoon windows and the conference semifinals and championship games of the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament.