This is a very interesting story. This one assistant coach, who is now at Kansas, has recruited five straight players from one high school. The interesting part is that he recruited them all to different schools and when he changed schools, so did they. Smells fishy.

The USADA formally notified Tim Montgomery (and others) that they are suspected of taking illegal drugs and may not be eligible for the Olympics. Marion Jones was not notified. I think this is the beginning of the end for Fast Tim.

Bill Simmons took a little break from sports to visit Italy. Thankfully, he’s back.

Ohio State abruptly fired basketball coach Jim O’Brien today. Apparently, he was involved in some sort of recuruiting violation. He and his lawyer imply that the violation was minor, but considering that they fired him straight away, that seems pretty unlikely. I’m guessing that there is much more to this story.

Bill Russell is an incredibly interesting guy. Turns out that he can write a little. Here, he praises the art of team defense.

In this article about yesterday’s baseball draft, it mentions how two top players dropped out of the top ten merely because their agent is the slimy Scott Boras. I think that’s great. What goes around comes around, kid.

Tony Kornheiser knows and likes both Phil Jackson and Larry Brown. He also says they are the two best coaches in the NBA. I’m not sure I agree with that – I have my doubts about Jackson.

There isn’t too much new here, but it’s notable because it’s Mike DeCourcy writing it. I like how he points out the assistants that Gillen has lost over the years. That’s one of my pet theories for Gillen’s decline as well. link

GoAZCats.com has a nice ranking of the top 20 backcourts in the country. The ACC dominates, with the top 3 and 5 of the top ten. And that’s from a pro-Arizona site.

Like my friend John said, you can’t make this stuff up.