SAN ANTONIO -- Quick hitters while traveling to San Antonio for the Final Four:
• As of Wednesday midday, Providence was still waiting for George Mason coach Jim Larranaga to make a decision on whether he will leave the school that gave him the chance to make a national name for himself. GMU athletic director Tom O'Connor had no word on what Larranaga was going to do yet. If Larranaga says no, then PC can get Brown's Craig Robinson, who is still a home run hire.
• San Diego coach Billy Grier was still deciding on the Oregon State job. Grier would make more money, be closer to his mother who has been ill and be in the Pac-10 versus the WCC. If Grier leaves after one year, it's safe to say that he gave the Toreros their money's worth by leading them to the second round of the NCAA tournament, which included a win over Connecticut. Portland State's Ken Bone appears to be the backup option for OSU.
• Cal was looking hard at Grier, Saint Mary's Randy Bennett, Nevada's Mark Fox and UNLV's Lon Kruger, as well as former Stanford and Golden State Warriors coach Mike Montgomery. Bennett would jump at the chance to go from Moraga to Berkeley. I'm still not sure on Montgomery's status with this job.
• One colleague of mine wondered aloud if Darrin Horn (from Western Kentucky to South Carolina) and Jim Christian (Kent State to TCU) jumped their posts too soon. Both would have likely been in play for Marquette.
• Washington State's Tony Bennett has no regrets about not pursuing the Indiana job, which was filled by Tom Crean. He said Wednesday that he had a blast working with
Derrick Low on his 3-point shooting for the 3-point contest at the Final Four and with
Robbie Cowgill, who will play in the NABC All-Star game this week in San Antonio. Bennett hasn't heard from LSU, hometown of his wife Laurel, but he's not actively pursuing that gig, either, right now. And, despite reports to the contrary, Bennett isn't going after Marquette to replace Crean. Nor, once again, is he pursuing Cal. Even though it's hard for some folks to understand, Bennett is happy in Pullman and his place right now. He knows it's never going to be easy to reach the NCAAs at Washington State on a regular basis.
• Is it odd that Crean has employed two former Kelvin Sampson assistants on his staff at Marquette (Jason Rabideaux and Bennie Seltzer), and now he's replacing Sampson at Indiana after Sampson resigned over violations? Nope. Crean and Sampson are good friends. Once again, Crean will be a home run hire at Indiana. Will this push Marquette junior
Dominic James to declare for the NBA draft? The deadline to declare is April 27.
• Southern Illinois' Chris Lowery will listen to Marquette or Oklahoma State if either school calls, according to a source close to Lowery. Lowery is very comfortable in Carbondale. The Oklahoma State list will likely go down to No. 3 with Bill Self (Kansas) and Billy Gillispie (Kentucky) likely staying put.
• A number of sources continue to say that LSU is waiting for UMass to finish its run in the NIT to talk to coach Travis Ford.
• Looks like VCU's Anthony Grant is staying put.
• West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said Tuesday that
Joe Alexander still hasn't decided if he's going to declare for the NBA draft -- despite rumors to the contrary. "He has no idea,'' Huggins said. "He's a wonderful kid. But he needs to do research before any decision. He hasn't agreed to work out for anyone." There were rumblings that a workout deal had already been struck for him with an agent in Los Angeles. Huggins had heard of this -- and scoffed at it, too. Alexander was sensational in the postseason. The junior forward scored 22 points against Providence and 34 against Connecticut in Big East tournament wins and added 22 in a win over Duke in the NCAAs. Huggins said he's putting the clamp down on runners contacting his players. "It's unbelievable,'' Huggins said. "There's a right way to do this, and they're not going to harass him or any of my players.''
Andy Katz
