The Morning Dish – Tuesday, June 17th:
Thomas Staying: Notre Dame star Chris Thomas has decided to remove his name from the list of NBA Draft eligible players, returning to South Bend for his junior year. Thomas averaged 18.7 points and 7 assists per game last season. Thomas, who received feedback that he wouldn’t necessarily be a first-round pick, had not hired an agent, thus enabling his return to campus. The deadline to withdraw from the draft list is this Thursday.
Humphries Choice: It’s confirmed. Former Duke recruit Kris Humphries has decided to attend hometown Minnesota, to fill the void left by Rich Rickert’s departure to the NBA Draft. Humphries, a two-time Minnesota high school player of the year, averaged 25 points and 14 boards per contest this past season.
Mid-Con Commish: Ron Bertovich is the new commissioner of the Mid-Continent Conference, replacing Jon Steinbrecher, who jumped to the Ohio Valley Conference in March. Bertovich previously was a Vice President for the Buffalo Sabres and Empire Sports Network, and has experience as the commissioner of the Atlantic-10 Conference, after serving as SID at Iona, and A-10 Director of Communications. A graduate of St. Francis (PA), is the conference’s fourth commissioner.
New Hires I: High Point University has announced that Josh Schertz and Sean Woods have been named to head coach Bart Lundy’s basketball staff. Schertz had previously served under Lundy at D-II Queens University in Charlotte, and also was an assistant at Florida Atlantic, his alma mater. Woods, who played for Kentucky in the early 90s, hit the game-leading bucket with 3 seconds left against Duke in the 1992 NCAAs – just prior to Christian Laettner’s miracle shot. He previously was coach of North Broward (Fla.) Prep, and ran a successful basketball camp.
New Hires II: Manhattan has also announced the hiring of two assistants, naming David Cason and Kevin Murphy to Bobby Gonzalez’s staff. Cason, who was director of basketball operations at North Carolina the previous three seasons, came to Chapel Hill from Notre Dame with Matt Doherty. He also has experience as an assistant for Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, and played at Southern Idaho. Murphy has spent the past three seasons as a special assistant to Tubby Smith at Kentucky, his alma mater. Cason and Murphy replace Mike Bramucci, who went to Columbia as an assistant, and Travis Lyons, who is now an assistant at Fordham. Steve Masiello remains as the top assistant to Gonzalez.
