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In the world of college basketball, Wednesday was a pretty important day -- the first day of the open recruiting period that lasts for much of the rest of the month.
Across the country, college basketball coaches set out to watch high school players -- the future of the college game -- play at various camps, tournaments and informal open-gym situations. While most of the attention this month is on the elite national camps run by the three major shoe companies, the month is crucial for every Division I program.
The Delta Devils really should find a replacement for Stribling.
For every national event featuring recruits destined for high major programs, there are several state and regional events where lower-level Division I coaches can see many players at one place. What happens in July usually directly impacts the school that players sign with in the fall.
That's why the offseason in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, a league that has finished last in the Ratings Percentage Index two of the past three seasons, is so puzzling.
Two of the SWAC schools -- Mississippi Valley State and Prairie View A&M -- entered the July recruiting period without permanent head coaches. Alabama State didn't fill its opening until mid-June. Throw in Southern's messy dismissal of Michael Grant, terminated in large part because he tried to land the Youngstown State job, and it's been a busy offseason.
Longtime Mississippi Valley State coach Lafayette Stribling announced in late May that he was resigning to take the position at Tougaloo College, a NAIA school in Jackson, Miss. The move wasn't a surprise, something Mississippi Valley State athletic director Lonza Hardy acknowledged to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. Hardy told the newspaper then that "hopefully the search will take no longer than two to three weeks."
Stribling resigned more than 45 days ago, and a hiring still doesn't appear to be imminent.
Last week, Hardy told the Clarion-Ledger that the school had received 26 applications that meet the criteria for the job. He told the paper that the goal was to narrow the field to four or five candidates and begin the interview process.
Prairie View A&M coach Jerome Francis Jr., resigned on April 29 and that position hasn't officially been filled either. The Panthers currently are being led by interim coach Darrell Hawkins, who served as an assistant under Francis and was a member of the Arkansas team that played in the 1990 Final Four.
Prairie View recently hired a new women's coach, a potential indicator that the hiring of a men's coach could happen shortly.
While the decision to dismiss Grant raised eyebrows nationally, Southern did move quickly in finding a replacement. It picked off Rob Spivery from fellow SWAC member Alabama State. Spivery had done a good job at Alabama State and becomes Southern's fourth coach in six seasons.
Alabama State wasn't exactly speedy in its hiring process. Joe Proctor, whom the school named interim coach in early May, left to join Spivery at Southern on June 10. Six days later, assistant coach Lewis Jackson was named the permanent head coach. With Jackson's hiring, Alabama State now has the unusual combination of having basketball coaches who are husband and wife. Jackson's wife, Freda Freeman-Jackson, is the Alabama State women's basketball coach.
The series of events since the end of the 2004-05 campaign means that it's still pretty unclear what the SWAC is going to look like this season. After all, we still don't even know who two of the coaches in the 10-team league will be.
Summer indicators
Good sign: The drawn-out coaching carousel didn't impact Alabama A&M, last season's SWAC regular season and tournament champion. The Bulldogs will enter the 2005-06 season as the clear favorites. Alabama A&M returns three starters from last season, including guard Obie Trotter. Trotter, who averaged 15.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists as a junior, was named the SWAC's player of the year and defensive player of the year. Forward Joseph Martin (13.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg) returns after being named to the SWAC's second team. One of the two openings in the Bulldogs' starting lineup will likely go to Marcus Jones, last season's SWAC freshman of the year. The 5-foot-8 Jones averaged 7.7 points per game in about 20 minutes of action.
Red flag: Part of the rub of all the coaching changes in the SWAC is that only Prairie View A&M has been a league bottom-feeder. Alabama State, Mississippi Valley State and Southern all finished with winning league records a year ago and in the upper division. How will the returning players adjust to new coaches? How difficult will it be to implement new systems? How long will the adjustment period take?
Safe bet: Can any of the other schools that didn't change coaches make a move? Grambling seems like the most likely candidate after finishing in the SWAC's upper division a year ago. Grambling loses only one regular player from a year ago while returning first-team all league selection Brion Rush (17.6 ppg).
Bracketology
This season may look a lot like last season if resident Bracketologist Joe Lunardi is on target.
In his early (early, early) look at the 2006 NCAA Tournament field, Lunardi has Alabama A&M repeating as the league's auto bid winner ? and also repeating an appearance in the play-in game in Dayton.
2006 Bracketology
Standings/Stats
2004-05 Standings
Team League record Overall record
Alabama A&M* 12-6 18-14
Grambling 11-7 14-12
Alabama State 11-7 15-15
Miss. Valley St. 11-7 13-15
Southern 10-8 14-15
Jackson State 10-8 15-17
Texas Southern 9-9 11-15
Alcorn State 6-12 7-22
Ark.-Pine Bluff 5-13 7-21
Prairie View A&M 5-13 5-23
* ? NCAA Tournament play-in round
Expect more balance this season, as eight of the league's top nine scorers are expected to return, with five different teams each having one of the top five.
Leading returning scorers
Player (Team) 2004-05 PPG
Sean Walker (Texas So.) 17.8
Brion Rush (Grambling) 17.6
Obie Trotter (Alabama A&M) 15.3
Delvin Thompson (Alcorn St.) 14.9
Chris Alexander (Southern) 14.5
Jeff Shelman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (www.startribune.com) is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
In the world of college basketball, Wednesday was a pretty important day -- the first day of the open recruiting period that lasts for much of the rest of the month.
Across the country, college basketball coaches set out to watch high school players -- the future of the college game -- play at various camps, tournaments and informal open-gym situations. While most of the attention this month is on the elite national camps run by the three major shoe companies, the month is crucial for every Division I program.
The Delta Devils really should find a replacement for Stribling.
For every national event featuring recruits destined for high major programs, there are several state and regional events where lower-level Division I coaches can see many players at one place. What happens in July usually directly impacts the school that players sign with in the fall.
That's why the offseason in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, a league that has finished last in the Ratings Percentage Index two of the past three seasons, is so puzzling.
Two of the SWAC schools -- Mississippi Valley State and Prairie View A&M -- entered the July recruiting period without permanent head coaches. Alabama State didn't fill its opening until mid-June. Throw in Southern's messy dismissal of Michael Grant, terminated in large part because he tried to land the Youngstown State job, and it's been a busy offseason.
Longtime Mississippi Valley State coach Lafayette Stribling announced in late May that he was resigning to take the position at Tougaloo College, a NAIA school in Jackson, Miss. The move wasn't a surprise, something Mississippi Valley State athletic director Lonza Hardy acknowledged to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. Hardy told the newspaper then that "hopefully the search will take no longer than two to three weeks."
Stribling resigned more than 45 days ago, and a hiring still doesn't appear to be imminent.
Last week, Hardy told the Clarion-Ledger that the school had received 26 applications that meet the criteria for the job. He told the paper that the goal was to narrow the field to four or five candidates and begin the interview process.
Prairie View A&M coach Jerome Francis Jr., resigned on April 29 and that position hasn't officially been filled either. The Panthers currently are being led by interim coach Darrell Hawkins, who served as an assistant under Francis and was a member of the Arkansas team that played in the 1990 Final Four.
Prairie View recently hired a new women's coach, a potential indicator that the hiring of a men's coach could happen shortly.
While the decision to dismiss Grant raised eyebrows nationally, Southern did move quickly in finding a replacement. It picked off Rob Spivery from fellow SWAC member Alabama State. Spivery had done a good job at Alabama State and becomes Southern's fourth coach in six seasons.
Alabama State wasn't exactly speedy in its hiring process. Joe Proctor, whom the school named interim coach in early May, left to join Spivery at Southern on June 10. Six days later, assistant coach Lewis Jackson was named the permanent head coach. With Jackson's hiring, Alabama State now has the unusual combination of having basketball coaches who are husband and wife. Jackson's wife, Freda Freeman-Jackson, is the Alabama State women's basketball coach.
The series of events since the end of the 2004-05 campaign means that it's still pretty unclear what the SWAC is going to look like this season. After all, we still don't even know who two of the coaches in the 10-team league will be.
Summer indicators
Good sign: The drawn-out coaching carousel didn't impact Alabama A&M, last season's SWAC regular season and tournament champion. The Bulldogs will enter the 2005-06 season as the clear favorites. Alabama A&M returns three starters from last season, including guard Obie Trotter. Trotter, who averaged 15.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists as a junior, was named the SWAC's player of the year and defensive player of the year. Forward Joseph Martin (13.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg) returns after being named to the SWAC's second team. One of the two openings in the Bulldogs' starting lineup will likely go to Marcus Jones, last season's SWAC freshman of the year. The 5-foot-8 Jones averaged 7.7 points per game in about 20 minutes of action.
Red flag: Part of the rub of all the coaching changes in the SWAC is that only Prairie View A&M has been a league bottom-feeder. Alabama State, Mississippi Valley State and Southern all finished with winning league records a year ago and in the upper division. How will the returning players adjust to new coaches? How difficult will it be to implement new systems? How long will the adjustment period take?
Safe bet: Can any of the other schools that didn't change coaches make a move? Grambling seems like the most likely candidate after finishing in the SWAC's upper division a year ago. Grambling loses only one regular player from a year ago while returning first-team all league selection Brion Rush (17.6 ppg).
Bracketology
This season may look a lot like last season if resident Bracketologist Joe Lunardi is on target.
In his early (early, early) look at the 2006 NCAA Tournament field, Lunardi has Alabama A&M repeating as the league's auto bid winner ? and also repeating an appearance in the play-in game in Dayton.
2006 Bracketology
Standings/Stats
2004-05 Standings
Team League record Overall record
Alabama A&M* 12-6 18-14
Grambling 11-7 14-12
Alabama State 11-7 15-15
Miss. Valley St. 11-7 13-15
Southern 10-8 14-15
Jackson State 10-8 15-17
Texas Southern 9-9 11-15
Alcorn State 6-12 7-22
Ark.-Pine Bluff 5-13 7-21
Prairie View A&M 5-13 5-23
* ? NCAA Tournament play-in round
Expect more balance this season, as eight of the league's top nine scorers are expected to return, with five different teams each having one of the top five.
Leading returning scorers
Player (Team) 2004-05 PPG
Sean Walker (Texas So.) 17.8
Brion Rush (Grambling) 17.6
Obie Trotter (Alabama A&M) 15.3
Delvin Thompson (Alcorn St.) 14.9
Chris Alexander (Southern) 14.5
Jeff Shelman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (www.startribune.com) is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.