Breakfast Buffet: Minnesota star Trevor Mbakwe arrested
Pull up a chair and sit down at the breakfast buffet, an assortment of all the freshest newsworthy college hoops stories on the net. To make a submission, contact me via email or Twitter.
• The off-the-court tumult that has engulfed Minnesota's program the past two seasons continued late Monday night with news that star big man Trevor Mbakwe has been arrested for harassment. Mbakwe allegedly posted a Facebook message to a St. Paul woman's page in violation of a restraining order she previously obtained.
• Eleven seasons without an NCAA tournament berth don't typically earn a coach a new contract, but Northwestern's Bill Carmody appears to be the exception. School officials rewarded Carmody with a multi-year extension on Monday, a polarizing decision among Wildcats fans who are divided on whether finishing above .500 and finally being competitive in the Big Ten is sufficient improvement or not.
• Get ready for Texas to fulfill its often-discussed plan to launch a TV network devoted solely to the Longhorns. The Austin American Statesman reports that ESPN and the university are "very close" to forming such a channel that would feature one or two Longhorn football games and up to eight or 10 men's basketball games per season.
• I cannot believe I'm still writing about Enes Kanter even after the NCAA has issued its final ruling on his eligibility. NCAA president Mark Emmert defended the decision here, CBSSports.com's Matt Jones called Emmert out on a hypocritical aspect of his comments here and John Calipari noted he's most concerned about Kanter's well-being.
• Count Ron Artest among the St. John's alums pleased with their alma mater's 3-1 Big East start and highly touted 2011 recruiting class. "It's been hard because everybody's always talking about their alma maters and I had to be quiet," Artest told Newsday. "But now I can actually say something and talk a little trash. Hopefully we can get to the tournament."
• Jason King's Monday Q&A with BYU's Jimmer Fredette had several good nuggets from the high-scoring shooting guard. Fredette explains why BYU is better this year than last year, updates us on his older brother's budding rap career and tells us that quality thin-crust pizza is one of the things he misses most about his home state of New York.
• Michigan State coach Tom Izzo had a stock answer ready when asked via conference call on Monday if he thought the struggling Spartans would be able to turn it on late in the season as they've done in the past. "If we think that we're going to win because we went to two straight Final Fours, that's not going to work," Izzo said.
• Losing to Arkansas at home would sting Bruce Pearl no matter what, but it was even more difficult for the Tennessee coach on Saturday since he had to watch from TV while serving the first game of his eight-game suspension. "It was harder because you felt pretty helpless during the game,'' Pearl told the Knoxville News-Sentinel. "I took notes the whole game.''
• Great point from SportingNews.com's Mike DeCourcy in the third item of his weekly 3-Pointers column. If Maryland big man Jordan Williams can shred Duke's interior for 23 points on 10-for-17 shooting on Sunday, couldn't that provide the blueprint for another team with a talented back-to-the-basket big man like, say, Ohio State?
