Breakfast buffet: Wake Forest AD defends Bzdelik hire
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.
• After receiving a torrent of criticism for replacing Dino Gaudio with a coach who went 36-58 at his previous stop, Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman finally had the chance to defend his decision at Jeff Bzdelik's introductory news conference. "You have to dig deeper than the numbers," Wellman said. "You look at where Colorado was three years ago ... He really had to start over. Their situation was very challenging, so you can't take a three-year snippet and compare it to other programs."
• At least one Colorado columnist is happy to see Bzdelik leaving his home state for good. David Ramsey of the Colorado Springs Gazette bashes Bzdelik's unwillingness to use his bench, his tendency to let his assistants shoulder the entire recruiting burden and his constant NBA ambitions during every offseason.
• Here's a complete list of the transfers so far this offseason from FoxSports.com's Jeff Goodman. One new but not unexpected name to add to that list is Rutgers leading scorer Mike Rosario, who finally received his conditional release on Wednesday and will begin his search for a new school by visiting Florida. Rosario reportedly is interested in USC as well.
• Speaking of USC, the Trojans may have sent Tim Floyd packing but they're still using one of his favorite recruiting tricks. USC coach Kevin O'Neill recently hired Antelope Valley College coach Dieter Horton as an assistant. Now the Trojans have suddenly signed DeWayne Dedmon, a 7-foot center from, you guessed it, Antelope Valley College. Coincidence? Oh, of course.
• Kansas State returned to basketball prominence with its Elite Eight run last season, so its first-year athletic director is already considering ways to capitalize on that success. Among his goals: Secure funds for a planned basketball practice facility, explore ways to add seating to Bramlage Coliseum and, sorry fans, increase ticket prices.
• Washington coach Lorenzo Romar still has hopes of landing coveted forward Terrence Jones in the late signing period, but for now he's excited about the 7-foot junior college prospect the Huskies signed Wednesday. Aziz N'Diaye, a center from College of Southern Idaho with three year of eligibility remaining, could contribute right away, according to Romar, because "his ability to really run the floor, defend, rebound and be a presence in the middle (gives Washington) something that we haven't had in awhile."
