Texas Tech will decide sometime before the start of the season when Esmir Rizvic will use the extra half season of eligibility granted to him by an NCAA ruling Monday. Rizvic broke a bone in his face when Oklahoma's Longar Longar elbowed him in the conference opener Jan. 5.
Texas Tech head coach designate Pat Knight said Tuesday from his vacation in Cabo San Lucas that the Red Raiders believe they have options for when Rizvic can use his half season. Rizvic might play the full 2007-08 season and the Big 12 portion in 2009, or just the Big 12 portion in 2008 and the full 2008-09 season. Knight said the Red Raiders won't play Rizvic for just the nonconference portion of the either season.
But, in an Associated Press story Monday, NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said Rizvic only would be allowed to play the second half of the 2008-09 season.
Knight said the Red Raiders have to let the NCAA know what they are going to do with Rizvic prior to the start of this season. Knight said how much Rizvic progresses in practice will be a determining factor. He also said Rizvic might want to play the full year this season and then only the Big 12 next season. If he does it that way, he will leave open the possibility of getting a European contract in 2008-09. By leaving the extra half season for 2009, Rizvic won't be losing that much if he just bolts for Europe.
Knight said his father, Bob, "worked his [butt] off for this. He really felt this was the fair thing. But I told him not to get his hopes up too much. So, when it happened, we were really surprised."
The 7-foot-2 Rizvic didn't average much (3.8 points) last season, but he knows Knight's system well and fits in quite comfortably with the Red Raiders.
Meanwhile, Knight said he can't wait for this season with a newcomer class that he said is the best of his father's tenure. The Red Raiders are getting D'walyn Roberts, Mike Singletary, John Roberson, A.J. Hardeman and Darryl Ashford -- all players the Red Raiders wanted first.
The Red Raiders already have received a verbal commitment for 2008 from top choice Ricardo De Bern, a 6-10 center out of Scottsbluff, Neb.
Final nuggets
• Georgia and Western Kentucky have put off the next game of their four-year series until 2008-09 after they could not agree on a date.
The series was part of Dennis Felton's exit clause in his contract when he left the Hilltoppers for the Bulldogs. Felton has gone 1-2 against Western Kentucky since leaving Bowling Green.
Western Kentucky coach Darrin Horn said the game is supposed to be played the first week of the season, but Georgia couldn't do it on that date this year. Georgia offered up Dec. 1, but Western Kentucky has to go to Northern Arizona in a Bracket Buster return game from two years ago, and if the Hilltoppers don't show, it's a $100,000 penalty. So Georgia offered up Dec. 5, but Western Kentucky is hosting Nebraska. That was the last date Georgia had available.
Western Kentucky also is playing at Southern Illinois and Tennessee in Nashville, in addition to hosting Nebraska and the Great Alaska Shootout. The Hilltoppers still need one more game.
Georgia coach Dennis Felton said he still is honoring the contract and will just put it off a year.
He said Georgia won't play anyone in Western Kentucky's place and might just go with one less game next season. Georgia is in the Rainbow Classic in December in Honolulu and is traveling to Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash., and Wisconsin. The Bulldogs also are hosting Georgia Tech and Wake Forest for its marquee games. Georgia is about to open a new $30 million practice facility Aug. 31 that Felton said is "absolutely beautiful." Felton, a former Rick Barnes assistant at Providence, said the facility is even better than Barnes' digs at Texas. Well, if that's the case -- since I've seen that one often -- then Athens might be much more of a destination. Felton said other schools now will have to "keep up with us" in the facilities battle.
• The Puerto Rico Tip-Off finally filled its field with Marist. Marist joins Arkansas, College of Charleston, Houston, Miami, Providence, Temple and VCU for games Nov. 15-16 and 18.
• Eastern Washington replaced Liberty to finish up the Great Alaska Shootout field, joining Gonzaga, Texas Tech, Michigan, Virginia Tech, Butler, Western Kentucky and Alaska-Anchorage for Thanksgiving week.
• The de-commitment rage has spilled over into the Pac-10 and ACC with Washington and Miami. Washington coach Lorenzo Romar called up Miami coach Frank Haith to make sure there were no hard feelings after the Huskies got the commitment of high school senior Tyreese Breshers (6-7) out of Los Angeles. Breshers previously had committed to Miami. It's another example of commitments not meaning much. If Breshers changed his mind once from Miami to Washington, then there's no reason to believe he won't or couldn't change it again.
• OK, the schedule story last week was just a snippet of what was publicly available as of that date. That by no means was a reflection of all the quality nonconference schedules. Of course, I got hit hard by a number of schools complaining they didn't get their due. For example, Kentucky, which was maligned for backing out of the UMass game in Boston, did deserve credit for keeping up the road game at Houston (a natural Billy Gillispie recruiting area) and bringing Mike Davis back to Louisville with UAB. Freedom Hall was the site of Davis' famous on-court sprint while coaching Indiana against Kentucky when he was upset over a call. Arizona once again will have one of the toughest nonconference schedules with games at Memphis, at Kansas, Illinois in Chicago, Texas A&M, San Diego State and at Houston.
• The Arizona teams do stay together and at times can produce quite a lineup of groomsmen. Jason Gardner got married over the weekend in Indianapolis, and assistant coach Josh Pastner reports the former Arizona point guard had former teammates and notable NBA players Gilbert Arenas, Richard Jefferson and Luke Walton lined up on his side.
• Former Cal assistant and current New Orleans coach Joe Pasternack is moving fast with commitments for this season, with Israeli wing Sean Daniel and 6-7 Jarislav Tyrna out of the Czech Republic. Pasternack already is locking up a player for 2008 with the commitment of point guard Jeremy Johnson out of New Orleans. The Privateers have another season to play at the Human Performance Center before Lakefront Arena opens in the spring of 2008 (still going through post-Katrina repairs).
Andy Katz
