Wednesday, April 11, 2007

April 11th News and Notes

According to the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets, UCLA junior guard Arron Afflalo has announced that he will enter the NBA Draft. "At this point in time, it's time for me to move on, do some different things," Afflalo said. "I hope everybody understands this is a well thought-out decision." He added, “The decision wasn't easy.” Since he tested the waters last season, Afflalo is ineligible to play for UCLA despite the fact he hasn't hired an agent. Coach Ben Howland backed Afflalo's decision. "Arron will end up being a first-round pick," Howland said. "I've done a lot of research...and there's a lot of people very excited about Arron. He will have a long and fruitful career." Afflalo is projected as a late first-round to second-round pick in most mock drafts. He averaged 16.9 points per game this past season.

SI.com’s Stewart Mandel ranks the top-10 active coaches in the country. He says that it is not a career-achievement list and that it is more based on recent achievement. Moreover, he says that only coaches that have been a head coach for at least three seasons were considered. Billy Donovan of Florida is #1.

Greg Hansen of the
Arizona Daily Star provides his Top Ten rankings for the 2007-2008 season. North Carolina is #1, and Hansen says that “Florida will not be among the 65 teams in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.”

Dick Harmon of the Deseret Morning News discusses the past season for BYU and also writes about next year’s prospects for the Cougars. In the story, coach Dave Rose says, “We accomplished many of the goals we set for our team at the beginning of the season and gave ourselves a good starting point for next year.” Harmon also discusses how the Cougars came together last season en route to an undefeated home record and the program’s first Top 25 ranking since 1993. BYU brings in two freshmen and several junior college players for next season.


Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch breaks down the coaching changes in the Big 12, and how they will benefit the Missouri Tigers. Gordon writes, “Moving up in the conference pecking order ought to be somewhat easier without Gillispie and Huggins around, regardless of who those schools hire as replacements.” He discusses the departure of Billy Gillespie and Bob Huggins from Texas A&M and Kansas State, respectively, and the addition of Jeff Bzdelik to Colorado.

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