Per Seth Davis, Herb Sendek tried to land the Virginia job

How dangerous is it to try to report on the coaching carousel while it's still spinning? Well, I spent much of Monday on the phone chasing down rumors about who was going to get the vacant Virginia job. Most people "in the know" told me it was down to Tubby Smith or Sean Miller, and two reputable sources told me that Arizona State coach Herb Sendek was trying to get into the mix.

SI.com article, with a H/T to Joe Ovies at 850 for bringing it to my attention.

Wow. I figured Herb might get a look as a potential candidate, but it's interesting that Herb was the one to put out feelers to the UVa folks. Had Sendek been hired by UVa, there's no telling what sort of storylines would've been written for years to come each time State and Virginia tipped off.

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That Craig Littlepage passed on Herb -- while opting for a lesser-known coach that runs an even SLOWER offense than does Herb -- is somewhat telling. Perhaps Herb's asking price was too much for Littlepage's tastes, or maybe it's further confirmation of something I think we all know but that the media and coaching community refuse to acknowledge: Herb, as a coach, has a limited and well defined ceiling for success.

When faced with two options -- Herb, or recently hired Tony Bennett from Washington State -- they opted for the relatively unknown commodity rather than the proven one. Herb's a good coach; there's no doubt about it. He can bring a program quickly up to a competitive level, just as he did at State in the 90s. But his ceiling falls short of the level all ADs and fans ultimately strive for.

This is, again, not to denigrate Herb as a person or coach -- he's a good coach and an even better person. But after years of articles from the media about how foolish State fans were to let him go, it's worth noting that when two major coaching vacancies presented themselves this offseason he didn't get a look at one where he was employed previously as an assistant (Kentucky) and couldn't even interject himself into the running for another (Virginia).

The interest level the actively hiring ADs have of him as a coach is a small measure of validation that Herb's departure from State was ultimately the right thing for both parties.

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ESPN posts K.K. Challenge video, story

Pretty cool stuff.

If you'll recall, way back when the race was run, there was talk that ESPN would be sending one of their correspondents to run the race. Greg Garber was your man, a contributor with a background in competing in running and triathlons. He was the natural fit for the job.

If you ran the race or stopped by the Krispy Kreme to observe (as I did with the kids that day), you probably saw Gerber running with a film crew chasing in a golf cart.

But after the race, things were pretty quiet on the ESPN front...no mention of it on their site for several days, nor any sign of the report on any of the weekend SportsCenters.

No worry, though. Gerber posted his story today, along with the above video. And all indications are that ESPN will be running additional coverage of it on Sunday morning's SportsCenter.

Gerber finished the event in just over 1 hour and 10 minutes -- not too shabby given he was running the event for the first time, in a suit, being filmed and chased by two dudes on a golf cart in heavy foot traffic.

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Costner, Ferguson leaving the program; Josh Davis commits

Brandon Costner and Trevor Ferguson are leaving the basketball team.

Well, we kind of all saw this coming, I think. At least the Costner decision.

Both players -- who are on track to earn their degrees this spring or summer -- had diminishing incentive to return after graduating. With the graduation of Ben McCauley, Costner figured to be placed back at the four instead of his more preferred position out on the wing. Ferguson saw his playing time go to essentially zero (save filling in for Courtney Fells following his late-season injury) during the back-half of the year.

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Costner will spend the spring prepping himself for the NBA draft. At this point if he's drafted, he'll most likely be picked in the latter part of the second round. As of this evening, NBAdraft.net did not have Costner on their mock 2009 draft board, though the news of Costner entering the draft is still fresh. It's worth noting that their mock 2010 board does have him going to Minnesota with the 35th pick, so when they update their 2009 board he stands a good chance of making the list.

For Ferguson, his playing career is likely over at this point. I'll miss getting to say "Turd Ferguson" on a regular basis and post pictures of Norm MacDonald in a funny hat, but more importantly the Pack will miss his hustle and willingness to play defense. In Fells' absence, Ferguson held Jack McClinton to 3 of 15 shooting -- no small feat -- in State's loss to Miami in the final regular season game of the year.

Within the hour of both of these players declaring their exit from the program, State received the verbal commitment of a local small forward from Athens Drive High School, Josh Davis. Davis, at 6-5 and 180, averaged good numbers this past season, 25 points and 10 boards, but is a project at the next level. He had offers from some smaller schools -- Gardner Webb, High Point and Charleston Southern -- prior to getting an offer to play at State.

The good news on Davis is that he plays with a lot of heart and hustle -- think of an undersized Simon Harris, perhaps. Someone that can come in off the bench and spark the team with some big boards, diving for loose balls, etc.

Since Davis isn't a blue chipper and hasn't spent a lot of time on the AAU circuit, there's not much out there on him. As such, take this writeup on him from a poster on the PackPride boards with a grain of salt given they're an average joe from the stands, but he/she claims to have seen Davis over the last four years:

I've watched him play the last four years, and this is what I can tell you about him:

He's definitely a late bloomer via late growth spurt. He went from 5'10" sophomore year to 6'4" junior year, and played his senior year around 6'6", and is still growing. This past weekend he participated in the NC/SC All-Star game with the likes of Earnest Ross, Garrius Adams, etc. and took home MVP honors. Also, right after the game Seton Hall and UNCW had already extended an offer. About his game: The problem with him is that he has a wing man's body but a forwards game. He has the potential to play on the perimeter but he has made his living in the pain the last two years. He is a high caliber ACC rebounder right now, really gets after loose balls and has great instincts, and he has the same mentality with shot blocking which he also excels in. He can handle the ball really well for a big man, probably due to the growth spur effect. He can drive and finish with ease, and has shown that he is extremely athletic around the rim. Basically, he knows how to get the ball in the basket, as shown by being top 3 in the state in points. His big weakness right now is his jumpshot. He turned from deep threat to shaky shooter during said growth spurt, however his ineffective shot can most likely be attributed to poor coaching in that he tried to fix it himself. He has shown that he can consistently hit about a 15 footer with relative ease, however. Defensively, he is a deceptively good defender. Watching him guard players such as Ross and Adams really reminded me of watching Hansbrough guard the perimeter, in that he looks to be off balance and easily broken down, yet still effectively shuts his man down most of the time. He is a tireless worker and constantly hones his game. Overall, he is an under the radar kid most likely due to being a late bloomer, but he could develop into a solid ACC talent.

So the Pack loses two and gains one. Did the Pack come out ahead in the transaction? Some would argue addition through subtraction on the oft-sulking Costner's part. I'm not so sure...as thin as State looks to be already up front for 2009-2010, losing a 6-8 big body that happens to be your team's leading scorer seems problematic to a degree. We'll have to see.

One thing's for certain now: there's no longer anyone left to blame from the previous regime*. No more fingerpointing at Costner as one of Herb's guys dragging the team down. That argument no longer holds any water. It's 100% on Sidney now.

*Dennis Horner was recruited by Herb, but never played for or was coached by him.

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Ok, this is just getting ridiculous...a diving national title AND a gymanstics conference title!?!

Davies Wins National Championship in Platform Diving

Gymnastics Wins 2009 EAGL Championship

Wow...the non revenue sports are kicking ass this weekend.

Kristin Davies captures the first ever women's platform National Championship with a 339.51 and the women's gymnastics team captures their fourth EAGL title with a 195.700.

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What's that you say? A national title!?!?

And not one of those fake Helms Foundation ones?

Darrion Caldwell stuns Iowa's Brent Metcalf to win 149-pound title.

The consensus heading into the championship round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships was that Iowa’s Brent Metcalf was just plain unbeatable, that no one could stop him in his quest to repeat as champion at 149 pounds.

NC State’s Darrion Caldwell apparently didn’t get the memo.

Caldwell took the defending national champion down twice in the first period and was in control of the match throughout, defeating Metcalf 11-6 to become NC State’s fifth national wrestling champion and its first since Sylvester Terkay in 1993. And the final score does not indicate just how one-sided the match was. Caldwell, who improved to 38-1 with the decision, took Metcalf down just seconds into the match to take a 2-0 lead.

Start the banner maker...it's probably got a good bit of rust since the last one we cranked out, so bring some WD-40. Nevertheless, a tremendous win for Caldwell and the Pack.

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Time for a short sabbatical...

My wife brought into the world baby #3 on Friday, so I'm going to take a few days off for obvious reasons.

Conveniently, State decided it wasn't in the mood to play anymore basketball this season and the NIT, CBI and Whateverthehellthatothertournamentis decided to oblige in ending State's season.

So I'll be back soon...ready to talk Spring Football and Wolfpack Baseball.

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State 69, Maryland 74

NCAA Basketball Stats

NCAA Basketball Stats

I'll post a recap once I sober up and cool down.

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