BigEastSportsBlog.com

The Louisville Courier-Journal is reporting that Lexington Catholic High School senior Vee Sanford has committed to Georgetown. No official word yet from the university, but the 6′3″ shooting guard was seen visiting campus this weekend.

ESPN has Sanford ranked as the 70th shooting guard in the class of 2009, and describes him as “a skilled, long athlete that has the ability to score in a variety of ways.”

Sanford might not qualify as a highly touted recruit, but a depleted Hoyas team will be happy to have him on its bench. With the transfer of Omar Wattad and DaJuan Summers heading to the NBA, only seven players from last year’s squad will be returning next season, plus freshman Hollis Thompson, who enrolled early this January and began practicing with the team.

University of Louisville head basketball coach released a statement today claiming that he has been threatened in a criminal scheme to extort money out of him.

The coach released a statement through the university and though he didn’t give any specific details on the actions he claims are being used against him, he said in the statement “I intend to vigorously defend my reputation and the character of my family against any criminal scheme to extort money.”

Here are some more highlights of the statement released by Pitino.

“My family and I were recently threatened as part of a criminal scheme to extort money. Upon receiving these threats, we reported this extortion attempt to the FBI. While I did not want to make this matter public, I recently learned that the individual behind this extortion attempt has already gone to the media with false, defamatory and outrageous allegations in an attempt to pressure me to cave in to this scheme.”

U of L President Jim Ramsey and athletic director Tom Jurich also released statements in support of coach Pitino.

“The University of Louisville supports Coach Pitino and his family,” Ramsey said. “We stand by his decision to report this matter to the authorities and will now leave this criminal investigation in the hands of the FBI.”

No further comments and details have been released as this is now an ongoing federal investigation.

The Rutgers football team joins the ranks of teams with two oppenents in Division 1-AA, adding Texas Southern as the 12th opponent of the regular season.

The game will be played Oct. 3 at Rutgers Stadium as the Knights will also host 1-AA opponent Howard Sept. 12.

The Scarlet Knights did not just add this game however as they also announced future home-and-home series with Penn State, starting in 2014, Miami, starting in 2018 and Tulane, starting next season.

“We have worked diligently for months to complete our 2009 schedule with a Football Bowl Subdivision team,” said Athletic Director Tim Pernetti in a statement. “We were unable to convince any of the institutions with openings to come to Rutgers, including numerous BCS conference opponents. It is vital to our growth, development, and fan experience that we have seven home games in each season.”

Georgetown may have lost a couple pieces from next year’s team in the past few weeks, but not everyone’s leaving the Hilltop. The Hoya is reporting that Big East Rookie of the Year Greg Monroe will hold off on the NBA and return to college next year.

Monroe is arguably Georgetown’s most important player and would have likely been a top 10 pick in this year’s draft, so it goes without saying that a reeling Georgetown team scored a major victory by keeping the big man around for another season. With the departure of leading scorer DaJuan Summers to the NBA, the rising sophomore should take on an even larger role in the Hoyas’ gameplan.

Even with Monroe returning, the Hoyas currently have just 8 players on their roster for next season. Unless John Thompson III can add a number of late signees, depth will once again be a major concern for Georgetown. But for a team that hasn’t had much go it’s way this year, the Hoyas will just be happy to have their star back next year.

University of Louisville forward Earl Clark has signed with an agent and will not return to school for his senior season. Clark led the Cards in both points (14.2) and rebounds (8.7) and is expected to be a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.

This comes to no surprise, as both he and head coach Rick Pitino have pretty much acknowledged that the 2008-09 season would be his last year as a Cardinal. Clark, a junior, was even among the U of L players who were honored during senior night earlier last month.

Sophomore Omar Wattad will not be playing basketball at Georgetown next year, announced head coach John Thompson III in a press release today. The 6′5″ guard from Tennessee will transfer to a currently unknown school.

“Omar will not return to Georgetown next year,” Coach Thompson said in the statement. “We wish Omar the best in his future.”

Rumors regarding Wattad’s transfer have been circulating for weeks now, so today’s announcement does not come as much of a surprise. Wattad played sparingly this season averaging 2.6 points while playing in 25 games.

In the beginning of the year it looked like Wattad would be an integral part of the team’s rotation, getting his only start in a game against Florida International and earning Thompson’s praise as the leader of his second unit. However, as the Hoyas limped to the end of their season, it appeared Wattad fell out of favor, playing fewer minutes and racking up a number of DNPs in the season’s final games.

UConn center Hasheem Thabeet has decided to forego his senior season and will enter the NBA draft.

The 7-foot-3 Tanzania native helped lead the Huskies to the Final Four this season by averaging a team-high 10.8 rebounds and 4.2 blocked shots per game.

The two-time Big East Conference defensive player of the year has all the intangibles to become a star in the National Basketball League, and will almost certainly be chosen within the top five picks of the draft.

Teams in need of a center that will have high lottery picks include Oklahoma City and Sacramento.

Coach Jim Calhoun expressed confidence in his former player.

“[He is] one of the most dominant defensive players in the history of college basketball,” said the legendaty coach. “I’m sure wherever he ends up in the NBA, he will be equally successful.”

After injuring his right leg in a Thursday practice, sophomore running back Jourdan Brooks may miss the spring, but will not require surgery according to Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano.

Brooks’ immediate status is unknown, but he is able to walk without help and has not practiced since his injury.

The Jermantown, Md. native led all Rutgers running backs last season with six rushing touchdowns and was second on the team behind Kordell Young with 516 rushing yards.

In her 38th season as a head coach and 14th at Rutgers, C. Vivian Stringer will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame according to a report in the Newark Star Ledger.

According to the report, a person familiar with the induction process said that Stringer will be selected Monday at the Final Four, just one week after reaching her fifth straight Sweet 16 at Rutgers.

“The Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame is one of those breathless, high emotional entities that speak to the best in the game,” Stringer said after learning of her nomination last month. “To love something as much as I love the game of basketball and to even be considered for this amazing honor, it is truly humbling. I want to appreciate this moment.”

Stringer’s induction ceremony will take place in Springfield, Mass. Sept. 10-12 as she may join other basketball legends such as Michael Jordan and David Robinson.

It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago many thought the Big East Conference was on the verge of mediocrity.

After the exodus of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College to the ACC, it seemed that the Big East would face hard times.

Although the conference’s reputation was tarnished after losing the programs, the 2008 – 2009 basketball season has proved without a shadow of a doubt that the best college ball is played in the Big East.

Need proof?

Three different Big East teams held the AP’s number 1 ranking eight of the regular season’s eighteen weeks. Six conference teams finished the regular season ranked in the top 25; more than any other conference in the country. Four conference teams will finish the season with over 30 wins, and 8 will finish with at least 20 wins. 

The Big East accounted for five teams in the Sweet Sixteen (a record amount from one conference), four in the Elite Eight, and now UConn and Villanova make up half of the Final Four.

Skeptics point to the bottom half of the Big East as weakening the conference, but the fact of the matter is that the bottom four teams (DePaul, Rutgers, USF and St. John’s) went 31 – 20 against non-conference opponents, and only USF had a non-conference record below .500.

Ultimately, history will remember the team that wins the tournament next week, but regardless of who takes home the title no one can argue that the Big East Conference is the closest you can get to the NBA in college basketball.

Read More