Breakfast Buffet: NCAA investigates Cal for excessive phone calls
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.
• Cal coach Mike Montgomery has one of the cleanest reputations in the sport, so it was surprising to hear that someone on his staff made excessive phone calls to recruits soon after he was hired in 2008. Very little will come of this besides a slap on the wrist for the Bears, but it's further evidence that this sort of thing is probably going on at the majority of the programs in America.
• It's not like Wake Forest hasn't lost to a lesser program several times already this season (see Stetson), but new coach Jeff Bzdelik seemed to take Sunday's 81-69 thrashing at the hands of UNC Wilmington especially hard. "I'm embarrassed for my school, I'm embarrassed for our fans, I'm embarrassed for anyone who's ever worn the Wake Forest jersey," Bzdelik said.
• Southern Miss had squandered one chance to get a solid road win at Mississippi earlier this month, but Gary Flowers wouldn't let the Golden Eagles lose again on Sunday at Cal. The 6-foot-8 Flowers scored his team's final 12 points including the go-ahead 8-footer with three seconds remaining, giving Southern Miss a hard-fought 80-78 win.
• West Virginia's 7-2 record masks some of its problems, but a come-from-behind 64-61 win over Duquesne on Sunday showed that the Mountaineers aren't exactly in midseason form. Coach Bob Huggins told ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil that West Virginia really misses the leadership of Da'Sean Butler, who was the guy who ensured the Final Four-bound Mountaineers didn't have lapses in practices or games last year.
• Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor sat down with Jason King of Yahoo! Sports for a wide-ranging Q&A that dealt with everything from the junior's improvement this season, to his favorite pregame music to his thoughts on social media. Among the most interesting revelations: If he couldn't be coached by Bill Self, Taylor would like Marquette's Buzz Williams or Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt as his coaches.
• Freshman Matt Carlino couldn't get on the court for a UCLA team that only has nine other eligible players, so the 6-foot-1 guard announced his intent to transfer late last week. Carlino is looking for a school that will allow him to play point guard instead of shooting guard and this week will reportedly visit UNLV, a popular destination among UCLA transfers the past few years.
• It's easy to see most transfers coming because of a lack of playing time or problems getting along with a coach, but Angel Garcia's decision to leave Memphis appeared to take most everyone by surprise. The 6-foot-11 big man received a three-year contract with a Spanish pro team and feels that the chance to help his family financially was one he couldn't pass up.
• Villanova survived a rowdy road crowd, a late deficit and a scary fall by Corey Fisher to eke out an 84-81 Big Five victory over LaSalle on Sunday afternoon. The Explorers have fallen just short in a handful of marquee games so far this season, but nearly taking down Villanova with big man Aaric Murry limited to 12 minutes because of foul trouble bodes well for LaSalle in the Atlantic 10.
