Top College Basketball Storylines to Watch Before Practices Begin
It seems like this should be an easy transition into NCAA basketball season.
We finish up March (and into April) Madness, get through recruiting, transfer and coaching-change season. Then summer comes and we're dealing with suspensions and retributions.
As the semester begins, we get focused on football but figure everything will be ready to go come the start of October.
If only it were that easy.
Especially right now, as several items across the country look unresolved as we get closer to teams practicing.
This is a list of issues—ailments, academic concerns, NCAA violations (we're looking at you, Larry)—that are up in the air heading into the true start of a new college basketball season.
The Return of Cincinnati's Leader
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We can only hope Mick Cronin is ready to go, invigorated after being MIA from the sidelines last year while dealing with a ticking-time-bomb blood vessel in the back of his brain.
Cronin, who turned 44 over the summer, didn't attend games or practices per doctor's orders after a December health scan. University of Cincinnati officials have referred to it a "non-life threatening vascular condition known as arterial dissection."
The Bearcats became a feel-good story as Cronin helped out from home last season.
Associate head coach Larry Davis went 16-9. The Bearcats finished 23-11 overall for a fifth consecutive NCAA tournament bid.
It took Kentucky's might—64-51 in the third round on March 21— to finally begin a new season for Cronin.
"Obviously, I'm excited to be coaching again, but most importantly, I'm grateful to be 100 percent healthy," Cronin said March 30 when he was cleared to begin full-time work again.
Cronin is not expected to have any restrictions, per multiple reports.
But every season comes with a different dynamic. UC returns basically its whole significant lineup. Octavius Ellis, Troy Caupain, Farad Cobb, Gary Clark, Kevin Johnson and Shaq Thomas represented nearly 90 percent of the team's scoring last season and are all back this year.
UC struggled in some close games last year, losing six that were decided by six points or less. Having Cronin back should presumably help. But re-establishing the sideline dynamic could take a little time. And it'll have to happen fast, as UC has some important early-season games with Butler, VCU, Xavier and Iowa State.
San Diego State's Infractions
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Dark clouds rarely hover over San Diego.
The SDSU campus, as it pertains to basketball, is a little different situation right now.
The NCAA is looking into allegations of rules violations by the Aztecs. This could turn into a full-blown investigation, or it this may be more "morning mist" than a major storm brewing.
As Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union-Tribune typed September 19 about the foggy details:
"The first thing to understand is that the San Diego State men’s basketball program is not under formal investigation by the NCAA. It might be one day. It might be one day soon. Or it might never be."
CBS Sports has reported that SDSU is “under investigation by the NCAA for potential rules violations (that) include possible improper benefits to prospects.”
Coach Steve Fisher's been down this path before, at Michigan about a quarter-century ago.
Lots of questions still here, however, for a program that is surfing along right now—including six consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.
Mississippi State's Health and Well Being
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The road to resurrection for Ben Howland and his new Mississippi State program won't come without some major bumps in the road.
Health is a major concern.
In mid-September, highly touted freshman Aric Holman underwent knee surgery, which threatens his freshman season before it starts.
"Microfracture" is a tough word. Think Greg Oden. The Clarion-Ledger reported Holman will miss three to four months.
The 6'10'' forward was expected to do big things with Malik Newman, a McDonald's All-American who chose to stay close to home for college.
The Clarion-Ledger's Michael Bonner noted this has been a surgically repaired offseason for the Bulldogs:
"Holman is the fifth Bulldog to have surgery this year. Craig Sword had a second back surgery in the spring. Travis Daniels had surgery in May for a sports hernia. Fallou Ndoye should return by October after surgery on his wrist. Earlier this month, Xavian Stapleton underwent surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament."
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The Back of Michigan Wolverine Forward Zak Irvin
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Anyone who's ever had an injured back knows it's the worst.
The Michigan Wolverines hope it's far from the worst-case scenario for Zak Irvin, who underwent surgery for a bad back in early September. He's expected to be out six to eight weeks.
Irvin expressed thumbs-up optimism after the operation.
The Wolverines had awful luck last year when it came to injuries.
Derrick Walton Jr. had his season cut short in January with a bum foot, and Caris LeVert broke his foot again.
Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press also noted "Spike Albrecht played the whole year with two bad hips, requiring offseason surgery, which he is still rehabbing from."
Irvin averaged 14.3 points as he shared team MVP honors with Albrecht at a mid-April team banquet. The 6'6'' junior led the Wolverines in minutes and was a standout defender who grew threefold in rebounding, averaging 4.8 per game as a sophomore in 2014-15 compared to just 1.3 as a freshman.
The Eligibility of Kansas Jayhwaks Forward Cheick Diallo
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It's a tough situation when you're expecting an answer in about a month, yet still nothing is resolved by that deadline.
That's where Kansas still finds itself—without potentially high-impact freshman Cheick Diallo, a forward who has the makings to either help the Jayhawks get to the Final Four or be a missing piece (kind of like Joel Embiid a few years ago) who limits their ceiling come March.
On Aug. 22 the Topeka Capital-Journal reported Diallo, from high school days in New York, "has yet to be cleared to play by the NCAA Eligibility Center, but coach Bill Self remains hopeful a resolution is coming in the near future."
Diallo, who is from Mali, attended Our Savior New American, a Long Island school that has been red-flagged a few times recently.
According to a statement released by the University of Alabama, incoming recruit Kobie Eubanks, who also attended New American, was ruled ineligible for this season. He did not enroll in Tuscaloosa.
Meanwhile, there's a flip side to this coin: Pittsburgh freshman Damon Wilson was academically cleared Sept. 10. Wilson spent two years at OSNA.
Kansas coach Bill Self had nothing new to say in a Sept. 30 piece from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.
But having the 6'9'' Diallo, who's known for his ability to get up and down the floor, would be a boon for the Jayhawks as they try to achieve much more than "just" a 12th consecutive Big 12 title.
The Mess Just Revealed at SMU
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It's a pretty easy transition from talking about Kansas to talking about Larry Brown.
Of course, the coaching vagabond was the leader of the 1988 Jayhawks national title team. It bears noting that KU couldn't defend that title because of NCAA violations that occurred during Brown's tenure.
Brown's back at it, though to what degree remains to be unveiled at SMU.
The charges include academic fraud and unethical conduct, and the punishment includes no postseason this year. That means a highly talented and experienced AAC front-runner will instead be forced to just try and navigate this season. Older players simply don't have a chance to transfer because it's so close to the beginning of the season.
There will be no surprise if Brown leaves SMU (there never is, right?). And he'll miss nine games as part of the NCAA penalty.
Looking back to Brown's hire, SMU is a fascinating topic.
Yahoo! columnist Pat Forde ridiculed the hire in 2012 of a 70-something Brown. He was far from the only one.
But Brown was clicking in Dallas lately with program that has virtually no history of basketball success. His first team went 15-17 but he escalated to a pair of 27-win seasons with only 17 combined losses and last year's NCAA tournament bid.
'Tis better to have some glory days, or is it far worse to have them stripped away so unceremoniously?
It's going to be a very dramatic season at SMU, regardless of its expected March unavailability.
Texas Getting a New AD
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We can debate until we're burnt orange in the face about just how plum a program Texas is. The Longhorns last went to an Elite Eight in 2008 and haven't seen a Final Four since 2003.
And surely it surprised some that Shaka Smart would leave a cushy job at VCU for Texas, even though he's obviously getting a larger salary and better recruiting tools.
But now, he'll also presumably have to help UT find a new boss after the tumultuous reign of Steve Patterson, which lasted less than two years.
Smart is friends with Texas football coach Charlie Strong (the two worked simultaneously at Florida briefly as assistants). But Strong's not exactly reliving the Louisville days in Austin right now. Hoops has been, and presumably always will be, a distinct No. 2 to football at Texas.
So where's that have Smart fitting in? It remains to be seen how much buyer's remorse he will have (or should have).
But we're curious if he's going to wreak Havoc, or if all of the athletic department turmoil is going to be too much chaos and make him long for those VCU days.
Replacing a Legend at Florida
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And speaking of new coaches...
Smart has nothing on Mike White, who has to step in for Billy Donovan at Florida, in terms of filling shoes.
White was last season's Conference USA coach of the year. He won three consecutive conference championships at Louisiana Tech and went 101-40 in four years.
All Donovan did at Florida in nearly two decades, as Sports Illustrated pointed out this summer, "was (win) two national championships and took the Gators to more NCAA tournament appearances (14) than all other coaches in program history combined."
White's La. Tech teams produced three NIT bids. Of course, that won't cut it in Gainesville—the Florida-born White knows that.
At least White should go in with reasonable outside expectations. The Gators wound up stinking last year, 16-17, only Donovan's third losing season (after his initial two) in 19 years.
While keeping most of the incoming recruiting class intact, Florida also lost three strong contributors: Michael Frazier II, Eli Carter and Jon Horford. Chris Walker also bolted for the NBA draft.
The Status of Dayton's Dyshawn Pierre
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Dayton's leading returning scorer, and rebounder, isn't even in school right now.
Dyshawn Pierre is suspended for the fall semester amid a sexual-assault allegation from the spring.
It's quite a contrast from the opinion of a Dayton Daily News' David Jablonski, who calls Pierre "one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet."
Pierre has reportedly hired an attorney and is fighting the entire suspension. It's been reported by ESPN that he could be back for the Dec. 22 game against Miami (Ohio).
Pierre is a 6'6'' senior. He made an across-the-board impact, most notably on the glass. The graduation of Jordan Sibert also will affect a Flyers team that was supposed to have Pierre as one of its co-captains.
LSU Tigers' NBA Future
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You're going to hear about Ben Simmons a lot this year.
That's actually going to start in mid-October. ESPN's Andy Katz reported recently the Tigers will host an NBA pro day Oct. 13-14. A lot of the hype will stem from having a talented incoming recruiting class, and arguably the No. 1 draft pick in Simmons.
The showcase will come right after Kentucky has its own pro day for the second consecutive year.
The two SEC schools combined have about a dozen players who could be considered draft picks next summer.
That's something to think about well down the road. But at least the pro day is a good preseason story to have, unlike many others on this list.
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