Don't I Know You From Somewhere?

Is there a school in the country that has a higher-profile coaching staff than San Diego State University?

The baseball coach is Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.

The basketball coach is Steve Fisher, who as the original "Michigan Man", won an NCAA title in 1989.

Football coach Brady Hoke (himself a former Michigan staffer) replaced Chuck Long, who is member of the College Football Hall of Fame, and a former Sports Illustrated cover-boy.

Re-Shuffling the Minor Tourneys

Richmond and Oregon State both won last night in the CBI, and remain on a collision course -- but thanks to the haphazard nature of small tourneys, that confrontation will be put off for one more round.

The CBI, which is 'broadcast' on the low-distribution HDNet, apparently reshuffled its brackets yesterday, to lighten the travel load for the four remaining schools.

Oregon State will play (at home) against Pac-10 rival Stanford for the fourth time this year. Richmond will host UTEP.

Both games are on Thursday night, with the finals to take place early next week in a best 2-of-3 format.

Meanwhile, in the NIT, a confrontation of two of the best guards in the country was won by St. Mary's over Davidson. Stephen Curry had 26; Patty Mills, 23, with 10 assists.

Next interesting NIT matchup: Notre Dame hosting Kentucky, in a game that neither coach wants to lose. At all.

Minor Tourney Updates

Richmond and Oregon State remain on a collision course in the CBI. Both play at home on Monday.

Meanwhile, Northwestern's season ended in Tulsa, the Wildcats running out of time. The Hurricanes remain in the hunt to defend their CBI title.

Jumping the Shark with Stephen Curry

A year ago, Stephen Curry was an after-thought to most the casual fans of the NCAAs. Davidson was a #10-seed (facing perennial crowd-favorite Gonzaga) and seemingly destined for a second-round exit (at best) against mighty Georgetown.

Two weeks later, Davidson was stopped only by eventual champ Kansas (in a game that, quietly, may have been the most important in Bill Self's career), and Curry was a national star. Many projected NBA drafts (Curry is currenly a junior) have him taken in the first round.

But while Curry is a great player -- and story -- he is not infallible.

And yesterday, in a first-round NIT game against South Carolina, analysis of Curry (by Hubert Davis) may have jumped the shark.

Normally, when a player puts together a second half that includes 6 turnovers, albeit in the course of scoring 32 overall, he is accused -- as Eric Devendorf was in the Big East tourney -- of "keeping both teams in the game."

But not to Davis. Instead, each turnover, it seemed, was the fault of a Davidson's player not moving to where Curry expected him to. Even the balls thrown straight out of bounds.

While it may be true, as Davis claims, that NBA players will be able to corral those errant passes, it's also true that NBA points guards who log 7 turnovers in 35 minutes won't be playing in "The League" for very long.

No matter what Hubert Davis says.

Other Post-Season Hoops

Although the main March Madness draw is the NCAA tourney, a few notes for the lesser brackets:

* In the NIT, Northwestern makes its fourth all-time appearance in post-season play tomorrow night at Tulsa. This should be a good game, as the teams are evenly matched, but the Cats will have to overcome a home crowd at the Reynolds Center.

* A year ago, Tulsa won the inaugural CBI (College Basketball Invitational) with a 2-1 series win over Bradley. This year's CBI field includes both Oregon State and Richmond. For OSU (13-17), it's the first trip to the post-season since 2004-05; for Richmond (18-15), the CBI is bit of a consolation prize after the NIT (seemingly) passed.

* OSU and Richmond will meet if both win two games in the CBI.

* No word on whether a TV at 1600 Pennsylvania will be tuned to HDNet for the OSU/Houston opening round game. 10:00pm ET start will mean a late night for interested observers.

Say Goodbye to Coach Ford?

The UMass Minutemen of the A-10 fell last night to The Ohio State University in the NIT Final. OSU of course, was a NCAA Final Four participant a year ago (albeit witht a few key players now gone.)

But the good post-season performance may be bittersweet for UMass fans, as it appears likely that Coach Travis Ford -- who played under Rick Pitino at Kentucky -- seems likely to be an attractive candidate for a major school with a coaching vacancy (LSU seems to be the leading contender). The up-tempo, attacking style that UMass played this year (led by mercury-quick PG Chris Lowe) will be popular with recruits, fans, and players. And it will presumably get more effective with better, "BCS-sized" players.

(The only quibble with Coach Ford's offense? It needs a catchy nickname that can be trademarked. Like this. Or this.)

This morning Ford claimed that he hasn't talked to anyone yet. And perhaps he hasn't. But at $200,000 per year (plus unspecified bonuses), Ford is well below market.

When the phone rings with a BCS school calling, Ford will be answering. And listening.