Quick hitters for Wednesday:
• Providence athletic director Bob Driscoll asked for permission to talk to George Mason coach Jim Larranaga, GMU athletic director Tom O'Connor confirmed to ESPN.com. Larranaga is a Providence College graduate. It's unclear whether or not Larranaga will meet with Driscoll. When discussing the possibility of Larranaga leaving George Mason, a school he took to the Final Four in 2006, O'Connor didn't seem too worried. Larranaga is heavily involved in the George Mason community and the Washington Speakers Bureau. Providence is expected to take its time in the search to replace Tim Welsh, with a number of other coaches supposedly on its list (Brown's Craig Robinson, Kent State's Jim Christian, Davidson's Bob McKillop, Siena's Fran McCaffrey and Ohio's Tim O'Shea). But the candidates may not be limited to this crew, either.
• Prior to the team's departure for Phoenix to play Western Kentucky in the Sweet 16, UCLA junior forward
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute practiced Tuesday without any issues. Mbah a Moute suffered a sprained ankle during Saturday's second-round win over Texas A&M. Swelling on Sunday concerned the Bruins, but an MRI was negative and Mbah a Moute proved Tuesday that he's good to go on Thursday. Meanwhile, a Tennessee spokesperson said Tuesday night that the foot injury to
Chris Lofton was blown out of proportion, and the Vols don't expect him to miss any time for Thursday's Sweet 16 game against Louisville in Charlotte.
• A source at Florida State said Tuesday that Leonard Hamilton will be the head coach of the Seminoles next season. There were a slew of wild rumors that Hamilton, who hasn't been to the NCAAs during his tenure at FSU, could be in trouble. But that wasn't accurate, according to the high-level source at the school. Details of an extension for Hamilton are still being negotiated.
• Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton is expected to meet with athletic director Mike Holder later this week. But don't read too much into it; Sutton isn't -- yet. Sutton has three years left on his contract and is expecting, and hoping, that he will get through his postseason meeting without any issues. He has a high-profile junior college recruit coming on campus this weekend. Sutton's job status has been a point of speculation throughout the season, but there wasn't any real threat for him to be nervous at this point. Meanwhile, Sean's brother, Scott, has interest in at least listening to TCU. The Oral Roberts coach is expected to be high on TCU's list.
• Every time I covered an NIT game during my beat writer years in New Mexico and Fresno State, I always found the crowds to be louder than they were during the season. That's largely because the NIT fans usually are folks who don't always get into the games during the regular season. If you watched some of the NIT games lately, that seems to be the case. Certainly the crowd at the Arizona State-Florida game Tuesday in Tempe fits that description. Meanwhile, Florida and Ohio State are in opposite brackets and if Ohio State advances to New York with a win over Dayton, then there is a good chance the two teams could meet in the NIT championship game next week. How bizarre would that be for the two national title teams from last season to meet in the NIT final the following year?
Andy Katz
