Big Ten Conference 2004 Offseason News Recap
by John Sahly
The Big 10 had an relatively quiet offseason when compared to the rest of the NCAA. Only one scandal, no adding or subtracting teams, no breaking television deals. Instead, the Big 10 put together a team for a foreign tour to Europe. That team won its first 2 games before dropping the last two. The team showcased the future of the Big 10, as seven of the 12 players had completed two or fewer years of college basketball. The conference is also preparing for the celebration of its 100th season of conference play. The Big 10 saw three standout players go in the NBA Draft this year, Wisconsin’s Devin Harris, Minnesota’s Kris Humphries, both first-round selections, and Michigan’s Bernard Robinson, Jr., a second-round selection
Illinois Fighting Illini
In a surprise move, senior forward Roger Powell declared for the NBA Draft after averaging only 11.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He also did so without telling coach Bruce Weber. Fortunately for the Fighting Illini, Powell woke up and withdrew his name from the draft list. Sophomore forward Warren Carter represented Illinois on the Big 10 Foreign Tour Team, and averaged 9.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
Freshman forward Aaron Spears announced his decision to transfer Highland Community College in Freeport, Ill., and was released from his scholarship. Spears scored 21 points in 20 games last season. Junior guards Deron Williams and Daniel Brown were named to the Wooden Award pre-season watch list.
Weber also hired Tracy Webster as an assistant coach on the Fighting Illini basketball staff. A native of Harvey, Ill., Webster comes to Illinois after serving this past season as an assistant at Purdue. Prior to coaching in the Big Ten Conference, Webster spent three seasons as an assistant at Ball State from 2001-03. While in Muncie, Ind., he helped Ball State to the school’s first outright Mid-American Conference West Division Championships and the Elite Eight in the 2002 NIT.
Illinois State junior forward Marcus Arnold transferred to Illinois. The 6-8, 240 pound forward was second on the Redbirds squad last year in scoring at 12.3 ppg, made the Missouri Valley Conference Most Improved Team and was a conference honorable mention. Arnold will sit out the upcoming season but will have two years of eligibility as a member of the Fighting Illini.
Indiana Hoosiers
The Hoosiers named a new assistant coach in the offseason, Donnie Marsh brings 25 years of experience to the Hoosiers and his tenure has included stops at: Florida State, Virginia Tech and most recently as the head coach of Florida International. He replaces Ben McDonald, who resigned in May.
Kerry Rupp, who stepped in for former Utah coach Rick Majerus when he resigned in January, will work with Indiana coach Mike Davis to return the Hoosiers to national prestige. Davis hired Rupp, adding a quality coach who led the Utes to the Mountain West Conference tournament championship. Despite his success at Utah, the school did not interview him as a candidate for the permanent job to replace Majerus. Rupp replaces former assistant John Treloar, who took a similar position at LSU.
When Auburn forward Marco Killingsworth withdrew from the NBA Draft, he also withdrew from Auburn in search of a new home. He has found one in Indiana where Killingsworth will play for coach Mike Davis and the Hoosiers after sitting out a year, as mandated for all transfers by the NCAA. Killingsworth led the Tigers last season with 13.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Killingsworth should help lift Indiana from the middle of the Big Ten pack toward the top of the conference standings.
Junior guard Marshall Strickland played on the foreign team and averaged 10.4 points per game. Incoming freshman center Robert Rothbart opted to forego his remaining years of eligibility to pursue playing in a professional league overseas. Rothbart is a native of Yugoslavia and played his high school ball in California. With a scholarship available from Rothbart, Davis recruited Lucas Steijn, an 18-year old incoming freshmen, who was cited for underage drinking in September. Steijn, one of seven people to be cited in an SUV driven by Hoosier walk-on Kyle Taber, had only been on campus two days when the incident occurred. The Notre Dame Academy (Middleburg, VA) alum averaged 12 points and 8 boards last season, and previously was a member of the Dutch national team.
Iowa Hawkeyes
Iowa director of basketball operations Sam Alford will retire Aug. 1, ending a 40-year career and leaving the school with only one Alford on the staff. Alford’s son, Steve Alford, is the Hawkeyes’ coach and said he has learned much from his father. Sam Alford coached his son in high school and served as an assistant to Steve for four seasons at Southwest Missouri State. Sam Alford is a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame for his years of success as a high school coach.
To replace Alford, Iowa officials looked to the NBA to fill their open assistant coach position. Craig Neal, a former assistant coach and scout for the Toronto Raptors, will replace Sam Alford.
Southern Miss and Iowa have already started to battle, long before their scheduled meeting in the Gazette-Hawkeye Challenge this season. According to Iowa officials, Southern Miss copied Iowa’s logo by introducing a redesigned Golden Eagle in January 2003. They claim that the stylish Golden Eagle bears too close of a resemblance to Iowa’s Tigerhawk, which has been the team’s logo since 1979. Iowa officials have asked Southern Miss to change the logo. In response, Richard Giannini, Southern Miss’ athletics director, said “the only thing in common is the bird head and our colors. Ours is more stylistic and realistic. Theirs looks like a stencil.” Maybe the schools should raise the stakes for the upcoming game this year – winner takes the rights to the logo.
Iowa will return to the Maui Invitational in November, facing a first round opponent in Louisville. Iowa won the tournament in 1987. The Hawkeyes announced its neutral site-neutral site deal with Texas Tech will end with the two teams going at it in the United Center in Chicago. Sophomore Adam Haluska played on the foreign team and scored in double figures in three straight games.
Iowa basketball radio broadcaster Bobby Hansen was arrested early Friday morning for public intoxication. Hansen, who was in Burlington, Iowa for a charity golf tournament, became belligerent outside a bar when getting into a cab, including punching the cab’s windows. The driver returned him to the bar, where Hasen wandered off and was arrested several blocks away, after failing a field sobriety test. Hansen played for Iowa in the early 80’s, helping them to a Final Four appearance in 1980, and played in the NBA for Utah, Sacramento, and Chicago, where he won a championship for the 1991-92 season. Hansen was released after posting $325 bond, and is scheduled to appear in court September 27th. Hansen pled guilty to public intoxication and was fined $50.
Michigan Wolverines
The reigning NIT champions saw Bernard Robinson Jr. selected by the expansion Charlotte Bobcats in the 2nd round of this year’s NBA Draft. For the second straight year, junior guard Daniel Horton was named to the Preseason Top 50 listing for the John R. Wooden Award All-American Team. Michigan also announced former Wolverines star Glen Rice will have his No. 41 jersey retired Feb. 20 against Indiana. Keeping it in the NIT, Michigan will host Binghamton on November 15th to open the Pre-Season NIT Tournament.
Wolverine fans got a scare in July when it was rumored that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was headed to LA for the Lakers job. Head coach Tommy Amaker, who started coaching under Krzyzewski, was on the short list to replace him, as well as Quin Snyder and Johnny Dawkins.
Michigan’s junior guard Daniel Horton was named to the Wooden Award pre-season watch list.
Former Wolverine and current NBA guard Jalen Rose gave $240,000 to Michigan to start a scholarship for incoming freshmen, particularly those from inner cities. The scholarship will be awarded annually to one incoming freshman and will provide $10,000 to cover the student’s tuition and other expenses. Students can reapply for the scholarship in subsequent years if they meet specific requirements.
When former head coach Steve Fisher last had Mark Hughes on his team, the Michigan Wolverines won the 1989 national championship. Now, Fisher hopes Hughes can produce similar magic at San Diego State as an assistant coach. Hughes was co-captain of the Wolverines championship team with Glen Rice. He spent several years bouncing around the NBA, Continental Basketball Association and European leagues. Hughes has assistant coaching experience under Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers when Rivers coached the Orlando Magic.
Michigan will be retiring the No. 41 jersey of Glen Rice. Rice, an All-American who led the Wolverines to the 1989 NCAA championship, will be the fourth Wolverine to have his jersey retired, joining the aforementioned Cazzie Russell, Rudy Tomjanovich, and Phil Hubbard. Michigan’s all-time leading scorer, Rice set an NCAA Tournament record with 184 points in six games, and was named tournament MVP. Rice was the No. 4 overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat, and played a total of 15 seasons with six teams. Rice is the Heat’s all-time leading scorer, and won an NBA championship with the 2000 Los Angeles Lakers. The ceremony will take place during halftime of Michigan’s February 20th game against Indiana.
Michigan State Spartans
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has officially declared that he is staying with the Spartans for the long haul. Despite semi-aggressive overtures from the Toronto Raptors to fill their head coaching vacancy, Izzo told two Lansing radio stations that he is committed to the MSU hoops program, according to the Detroit Free Press. If Izzo were interested in the Toronto job, the coach would have been reunited with former Spartan Morris Peterson, with whom he won an NCAA championship in 2000.
Michigan State has announced the promotion of Doug Wojcik to associate head coach on Tom Izzo’s staff. Wojcik, who joined the Spartans last season, had served as an assistant at North Carolina, Notre Dame, and Navy, his alma mater. Wojcik, known as a recruiter and an assistant on the rise, recruited current UNC stars Sean May, Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants, and Notre Dame’s Chris Thomas. The Spartans also named Kevin Pauga video coordinator. Pauga, a four-year student manager, replaces Paul Rivers, now the video coordinator with the San Antonio Spurs. Doug Herner, a teacher and coach at Lansing Sexton High School, was named assistant video coordinator.
Sophomore forward Delco Rowley played on the foreign team and finished as the team’s leading rebounder, averaging 5.6 boards per game. Junior center Paul Davis was named to the Wooden Award Pre-season watch list.
Minnesota Golden Gophers
First, the Gophers saw freshman standout Kris Humphries leave for the NBA. The Utah Jazz with the 14th pick selected Humprhies. Then, Maurice Hargrow, a senior guard who transferred from Minnesota to the University of Arkansas in January, decided to come back to Minnesota. Hargrow petitioned to the NCAA to play in the upcoming season but his request was denied. This forces Hargrow to redshirt this season and he will have one remaining year of eligibility for the 2005-2006 season.
Minnesota point guard Adam Boone could miss the entire season rehabilitating from surgery to repair a torn biceps. The former North Carolina transfer will be missed by the Gophers especially with the loss of Humphries and Hargrow.
Coaching veteran Jim Molinari has joined the Minnesota men’s basketball program as an assistant coach. He will replace Mike Petersen, who exits for the women’s head basketball coaching job at Wake Forest. After a ten year with DePaul, Molinari was named head coach of Northern Illinois, where he posted an impressive record of 42-17. In 1991, Molinari joined the Bradley program as head coach, spending 11 years in Peoria and leading the Bears to an NCAA berth in 1996. Molinari was an NBA scout for the Raptors and Heat the past two seasons.
Northwestern Wildcats
Head coach Bill Carmody welcomes two outstanding transfers. Former Kentucky forward Bernard Cote will be transferring to Northwestern. Cote, who was a reserve for two seasons for Tubby Smith’s Wildcats, averaged 1.4 points in 6 minutes of play per game last season, seeing action in 27 games. Cote will sit out this upcoming season due to NCAA transfer rules, and will form a formidable frontcourt with fellow Northwestern-bound transfer Michael Thompson, a 6-10 forward from Duke that transferred in June. Cote was recruited by NU head coach Bill Carmody, and will be reunited with high school teammate from Champlain-St. Lambert High School (Quebec) – guard Mohamed Hachad.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State fired coach Jim O’Brien for NCAA violations that occurred during his tenure. The violations include a payment of $6,000 to Alex Radojevic five years ago. Radojevic was a Buckeye recruit from Serbia and Montenegro who never made it to Ohio State because he was ruled ineligible for receiving money to play in Europe. O’Brien’s career at Ohio State ends with a 133-88 record that includes a Final Four trip in 1999.
The investigation of improper behavior by coaches at Ohio State now contains an allegation of grade-fixing. Kathleen Salyers, who housed and assisted former Buckeye Boban Savovic, said she contacted a couple of his professors and asked them to change Savovic’s grades. She said former Buckeye assistant coach and current Wright State coach Paul Biancardi called her and informed her that Savovic would be thrown in jail and abused if he had to go back to his home, Yugoslavia. Savovic had earned a failing grade, but Salyers convinced the professor to change it to a D by telling the same dramatic story that Biancardi told her. Salyers believes the professors changed Savovic’s grades to preserve his eligibility as a student at Ohio State and not as a basketball player.
The Dayton Daily News has uncovered that over 600 telephone calls were made from a phone account for former Ohio State assistant Paul Biancardi to a New York sports agency. While it’s not against NCAA rules for coaches to contact agents, they are not allowed to use agents to help recruit student athletes. Buckeye head coach Jim O’Brien was fired last month for allegedly giving cash to a recruit in 1999, and an NCAA investigation is likely.
Former Ohio State player Boban Savovic issued a statement claiming that Kathleen Salyers’ lawsuit is riddled with inaccuracies. Salyers is suing two Ohio State boosters for not paying her money that she claims they promised her for taking care of Savovic. She said that she housed Savovic and provided him with $24,000. In response, Savovic said that he did not live with her and accepted mere pocket change on occasion, which he believed was within the rules of the NCAA. Savovic likely misunderstood the rules, however, because NCAA players cannot receive cash gifts from people outside of their family. He added that he spent several weeks at Salyers’ home during one summer because he needed a place to stay before moving into an Ohio State dormitory at the beginning of the year
Finally, Xavier head coach Thad Matta accepted the job after interviewing with Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger, president Karen Holbrook and members of the search committee. Matta, who was 78-26 in three seasons at Xavier after a 24-8 record in one season at Butler, was interviewed on campus along with Rice’s Willis Wilson and Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings. Interim head coach Rick Boyages was scheduled to interview, but apparently did not. Matta had a contract at Xavier running through the 2012-2013 season.
Cincinnati assistant Dan Peters left the school to accept an assistant position at Ohio State under new coach Thad Matta. Peters was Cincinnati’s interim coach during the suspension of Bob Huggins, who was on paid leave after a drunk driving conviction. Peters has head coaching experience at Walsh College, St. Joseph’s and Youngstown State.
Junior guard Ron Lewis transferred from Bowling Green to Ohio State. After sitting out a season, per NCAA rules, Lewis will have two years of eligibility for Matta and the Buckeyes. Lewis averaged 4.7 points and three assists per game last season at Bowling Green.
Junior guard J.J. Sullinger, who was arrested for drunken driving Labor Day weekend, has been disciplined and that there are no plans to suspend him. Sullinger, 22, had a blood-alcohol level of .099, above Ohio’s .08 limit, when he was arrested by Columbus police. Sullinger averaged 10 points in 30 games last season, one year after transferring to the Buckeyes from Arkansas.
Penn State Nittany Lions
The Nittany Lions announced they would play in the BCA Classic with Marquette and Mississippi starting Nov. 14.
Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis did not make the trip to Europe as part of the Big Ten Foreign Tour as expected, as he underwent successful surgery on his bladder on August 7th. DeChellis was admitted to Mount Nittany Medical Center with discomfort, and had the surgery the next day. In a statement, Penn State announced that DeChellis recovered satisfactorily, and the recovery would preclude him from traveling for two weeks. Penn State assistant and former Drake head coach Kurt Kanaskie will led the team for five exhibition games in France and Italy.
Kevin Reynolds was hired as director of basketball operations on head coach Ed DeChellis’ staff. Reynolds was most recently an assistant at Drake for six seasons under Kurt Kanaskie, who is now a Penn State assistant. Reynolds, from Bethlehem, PA, served last season as Director of International Sports Marketing for And 1 clothing manufacturer. He is a Bloomsburg (Pa.) graduate, and earned an MBA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduate assistant for two seasons. Reynolds replaces Brian Allen, who left in March to pursue a position in the private sector.
Junior guard Brandon Cameron has transferred to IUPUI. The 6-foot, 190 pound guard played in five games last season for the Nittany Lions, averaging 3.2 points and 2.6 rebounds. As a freshman, Cameron appeared in all 28 games, averaging 1.7 points and 1.3 assists per contest. Additionally, the Nittany Lions lost Robert Summers, a 6-foot-11 center from Columbus, Ohio, who transferred to West Virginia.
Purdue Boilermakers
The Boilermakers hired what appears to be the likely successor to Head coach Gene Keady in former Southern Illinois coach Matt Painter. Keady begins his 25th season at the helm and Painter, a former Boilermaker himself, was hired specifically to take over after Keady leaves following this season. Painter led the Salukis to the NCAA Tournament with a 25-5 record. Assistant coach Tracy Webster also left the Salukis with Painter.
Purdue also hired Paul Lusk as an assistant coach and announced that assistant Todd Foster has been reassigned. The 31-year old Lusk served under Painter in his lone season at Southern Illinois.
Senior guard Brandon McKnight was one of the leaders of the foreign team and averaged 9.0 points per game, along with 4.4 rebounds per game. Purdue swingman Melvin Buckley has transferred to South Florida, where he will sit out next season and have two years of eligibility. The 6-foot-7, 205-pound Buckley obtained his release from Purdue, where he averaged 5.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in 27 games last season, with one start.
Wisconsin Badgers
Maurice “Boo” Wade was arrested just after the season ended on the misdemeanor charge of bail jumping. This coming two months after an arrest on the felony charge of substantial battery to a 19-year old woman. Wade pleaded no contest to both charges as a part of a plea and had to enter the First Offender’s Program. Wade left the team in October for personal reasons.
The Badgers lost Big Ten Player of the Year in point guard Devin Harris, when we skipped his senior year to go to the NBA draft. Harris was drafted by the Washington Wizards with its No. 5 pick, but then was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Badgers also made a personnel change by promoting assistant coach Rob Jeter to the position of associate head coach. Jeter was also Head coach Bo Ryan’s top assistant when the two were at UW-Milwaukee.
