Quick hitters for Wednesday:
• School starts on Aug. 18 at Oklahoma State. New coach Travis Ford said the Cowboys will be in the gym working on individual instruction on Aug. 18. Ford isn't going to waste time. He said he's got to change the thinking of this squad from a defensive-minded, half-court operation to an aggressive up-and-down mentality.
"It's going to be completely different than how they've been playing," Ford said of the past style under Sean and Eddie Sutton. "How quickly this team picks it up will be a big question."
Ford said he has no idea how good the Cowboys will be next season since he didn't have one day to work with the returning players by the time he got the job. He said he originally planned on trying to put in the system on Day 1 of school but has now decided to work on individual instruction for the first few weeks.
"Even though we need more team instruction and time to put in our system, I think spending time with them on individual [skills] will help us put in the system," Ford said.
Ford's UMass teams were about driving to the hoop, pushing the break and being a bit undisciplined. The biggest difference for Ford is that when he got to UMass, he had some big men in Rashaun Freeman and Stephane Lasme. But the Cowboys will be much more guard-oriented with only two returning players taller than 6 feet, 6 inches -- 6-11 Scott Warner and 6-11 Ibrahima Thomas. Freshman big man Martavius Adams transferred to Arkansas State. The Cowboys did pick up JC transfer Malcoln Kirkland (6-foot-8) of Arkansas-Fort Smith JC.
"We're small, very small and this was a team that got beat in the first round of the NIT the last two years, so we haven't proven how good we can be yet," Ford said. "Hopefully we can play uptempo."
The Cowboys return four scoring guards in James Anderson (13.3 ppg), Byron Eaton (11.5 ppg), Terrel Harris (10.5 ppg) and Obi Muonelo (9.8 ppg).
The Cowboys' first major test will be over Thanksgiving in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, playing like top 10 team Gonzaga in the first round, with either Michigan State or Maryland in the second game.
• Loyola Marymount picked up a commitment for this season from Kevin Young, who played in the Reebok Top 24 game in Philadelphia last month, according to multiple sources close to the LMU program. Young, a 6-6 forward from Perris, Calif., graduated in June. Young was originally going to prep school in New England but decided to go to school. A source close to LMU said the coaches compare Young to Shawn Marion, who new LMU coach Bill Bayno coached at UNLV. According to a source, Boston College, Missouri, Arkansas and Florida State were all looking into Young this summer.
Bayno is high on incoming freshman 6-7 forward Ashley Hamilton, who is playing for the U-20 England team. The Lions also have Larry Davis sitting out after transferring from Seton Hall. Oregon transfer Drew Viney is sitting out this season, too.
• Florida released its schedule Wednesday, and the Gators better be in position to win enough SEC games to put them in the NCAA tournament next March. The schedule may not provide enough nonconference power-rating pop to help their tournament résumé. The Gators' games that could help are in Kansas City in the CBE Classic with two games against Kansas, Syracuse or Washington in late November. All three of those teams could be in a similar situation to Florida come March, trying not to be on the bubble. The rest of the nonconference slate has the annual game against Florida State (in Tallahassee) and a home game against NC State. Both of those teams are projected in the bottom half of the ACC. The rest of the nonconference slate are considered "buy" games without a return, with the exception of "neutral" games in Florida against Central Florida (in Jacksonville), Winthrop (in Sunrise, Fla.), and UM-Kansas City (in Orlando).
• Michigan State dodged a huge blow when exploratory surgery on incoming freshman Delvon Roe proved the pain in his left knee was caused by loose cartilage, which was removed. Roe is still on target to return for the start of practice in October. Roe didn't play his senior season because of microfracture surgery on his right knee. The 6-8 Roe out of Lakewood, Ohio, is expected to form a tandem with Raymar Morgan and make the Spartans one of the favorite in the Big Ten. MSU coach Tom Izzo said in a statement that he couldn't be more ecstatic about the news and was confident Roe would return in time based on his "work ethic and dedication" to his rehab.
• Saint Mary's may not have Australian point guard Patty Mills past his sophomore season after Mills put up 13 points, making 5 of 11 shots and committing just one turnover in 21 minutes in the 11-point exhibition loss to the U.S. national team Tuesday in Shanghai. Mills, who averaged a team-high 14.8 ppg at St. Mary's, had a sensational freshman season for the Gaels. Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett said he's heading to Beijing to watch at least two of Mills' games. He might need to re-recruit Mills if the jet-quick point continues to play well. Getting a pro offer after the Olympics wouldn't be a farfetched thing.
• Memphis coach John Calipari said Marshall will be the sleeper team in Conference USA. He's convinced that coach Donnie Jones' transfers will come through after taken on Georgetown's Octavius Spann, Florida's Brandon Powell, Western Carolina's Camden Miller and Purdue's Chris Lutz.
• Calipari would like to see the National Association of Basketball Coaches do away with the July evaluation period. He said he'd like to see coaches go back to just recruiting during the academic year. Don't think that will ever happen with the power of the sneaker companies and the AAU network that provide the events for all NCAA coaches to evaluate.
• New Oregon State coach Craig Robinson said he wanted to get players from his native Chicago as well as become a familiar recruiter in Los Angeles. So far he has done both. Whether or not either a recruit becomes a good player is yet to be determined. But Robinson nabbed 2010 point guard Ahmad Starks out of Chicago's Whitney Young High, the same high school Robinson's sister, Michelle Obama, went to school. (Robinson went to Mt. Carmel High in the Chicago area.) Robinson's intent is to get at least one player a year or every other year out of Chicago.
Robinson also got a commitment for 2009 from Joe Burton out of Hemet (Calif.) West Valley High. Burton had looks from other western powers like Gonzaga. Burton is said to have great hands but needs to get a handle on his weight to be effective after he weighed more than 300 pounds.
Andy Katz
