The Morning Dish – Thursday, July 17th
Dennehy Update: Two stories came out yesterday that may have already provided investigators with more information regarding the disappearance of Baylor forward Patrick Dennehy.
In the first revelation, roommate and teammate Carlton Dotson was reportedly driving Dennehy’s SUV when Dotson visited his estranged wife, Melissa Kethley, in Sulphur Springs, Texas, on June 12th. According to Ryan Ruthart, who knew both Dotson and his wife, Kethley told him that Dotson picked her up for lunch in Dennehy’s SUV and appeared “visibly shaken”. Ruthart also stated that he was interviewed last week by Texas rangers regarding an incident in which Dotson had threatened Dennehy with a pair of scissors, which Ruthart indicated was “way out of character” for Dotson. By all accounts, Dennehy was last seen on June 12th attending a class, and was last heard from on June 14th, when he spoke to a high school friend over the phone.
Dennehy’s girlfriend in New Mexico, Jessica De La Rosa, told the Dallas Morning News that Dennehy’s cell phone bill showed two calls three days after he was last seen. The first was to a New York limousine driver, and De La Rosa would not discuss the nature of the second call, though she shared information with the Waco police. When questioned, the driver, whose name was not released, said she did not recall getting a phone call, was unaware of the Dennehy case, and had not been contacted by any authorities. We’ve seen enough NYPD Blue and Law and Order in our lives to know that this shouldn’t be news, and that the Waco police should have had this information tracked down a month ago, rather than doing their investigations through the press.
New Grand Poo-bah: It’s not Mr. C, but Iowa AD Bob Bowlsby has been named as the next chair of the NCAA D-I men’s basketball committee, which gets its limelight in March during selection Sunday. Bowlsby succeeds Arizona AD Jim Livengood on September 1st, and will start a two-year term. Bowlsby, whose responsibilities on the committee as a member were limited to overseeing affairs for a few conferences, now has the whole ball of wax. Bowlsby was previously chair of the NCAA wrestling committee.
Redbird Pleads Innocent: Two days after being dismissed from the Louisville squad for being arrested on charges that he was trying to cash two stolen checks, Bryant Northern pleaded innocent yesterday. However, Northern has admitted to police that he stole the checks from a house he was visiting and that hid did try to cash them. His attorney refused to comment on the police statement. Hmmm, nice setup. Northern played in 31 games last season as a junior, averaging 3.2 points and 1.1 rebounds.
Aztec Problems: While reviewing an audit of their athletic department, San Diego State has uncovered some potentially serious infractions. This comes on the heels of a May report that alleged numerous irregularities within the athletic department and led to the resignation of athletic director Rick Bay and the firing of two other athletic department officials. Those allegations became two-years of probation for the football team for illegal offseason workouts. The audit, which was ordered by university president Stephen Weber after Bay’s resignation, fills “10-milk crates” and involves several categories of violations, from mismanagement of department funds, abuse of admissions and registration policies, misuse of state-owned property, and unprofessional and unethical conduct by athletic department staff and coaches. A spokesperson indicated that some of the allegations were old news and had already been addressed, but were in the audit for due-diligence purposes. The background materials for the report are to be released later this week.
Husky Penalties: The NCAA will be discussing its findings on the University of Washington’s Cameron Dollar recruiting violations case in a conference call later today. In October, Dollar was suspended without pay for one month for multiple recruiting violations, most of which were for illegally contacting recruits outside of the formal recruiting window. Dollar was later banned from off-campus recruiting for this past season, and his pay was cut by twenty percent.
First Loss a Doozy: The US Junior basketball squad lost their first contest of the World Junior Basketball Championships in Greece yesterday, losing to Australia 106-85. With the loss, the US finished third in their group behind the Aussies and Lithuania with a 2-1 record, and the best they can finish now is fifth place. Michigan State forward Paul Davis led the squad with 28 points, while Oklahoma forward De’Angelo Alexander notched 15, Illinois guard Daniel Brown scored 14, and UCLA center Ryan Hollins contributed nine points. The finals of the under-19 tournament begin tomorrow.
Hollywood Hoops: A new basketball movie is starting production next month. “The Rucker” will look at Harlem’s famous Rucker League, following the story of a Midwestern college player who goes undrafted, and gets mad skills as a street ballah playing in the Rucker. Or something. The director is Malcolm Lee, Spike Lee’s cousin, and former Florida guard Brett Nelson has been viewed as one of the leads. The script is pretty similar to Nelson’s career track at this point, who recently signed a contract to play professionally in Sweden, after having a dismal senior season for the Gators. An open-casting call last month had more than 200 playaz showing up for tryouts for the film.
Reversal: A week after announcing he was leaving the Georgetown basketball program, sophomore forward Brandon Bowman has reversed course and decided to stay a Hoya, according to the Washington Post. Bowman, who played in every game last season as a freshman, averaged 7.6 points and 4.5 rebounds last season. It looks like he initially got some bad advice, and was homesick, as he resides in Santa Monica, California.
