CRAWFACTS/Edition 3

CRAWFACTS is news, notes, items, just lots of tidbits that may or may not interest you. Enjoy.

Seattle U.---I have written lots about the Redhawks getting into the West Coast Conference. At least for awhile, that will not happen as the Redhawks have accepted admission into the Western Athletic Conference beginning in 2012-13. While it helps to belong to a conference, this is NOT the ideal move for  Seattle. The ideal move would have been to join the WCC, a league which does not play football and has schools which fit in mode of what Seattle U. does both academically and athletically.

You can't blame the Redhawks however, as in 2012-13 after sitting out the NCAA mandatory probation period for teams moving up from D-2 to D-1, they will be eligible in all sports for post season play, they had to land somewhere. For the life of me, I can never figure out why Gonzaga and the University of Portland lead the stonewalling of the Seattle joining the WCC. After all,  it would be HORRIBLE to have a school in your league which is located in one of the most beautiful cities in all the world, is in the 13 largest TV market in the United States, has an average home attendance for men's basketball that  exceeds every school in the WCC, except Gonzaga and has to take a backseat  to no one academically in the WCC. Good luck in the WAC and shame on you WCC.

Jim Les---Time will tell, but as I have written about,  the most successful coaching hire in D-1 basketball this past season was the hiring of Jim Les at UC Davis, of the Big West. In a weak league, Les will succeed and get the Aggies to the top. He is off to a great start in recruiting,  by landing Utah's Mr. Basketball, Tyrell Corbin. If the name rings a bell, Tyrell is the son of Utah Jazz head coach, Tyrone Corbin.

I have said for years that UC Davis is a sleeping giant in west coast basketball and now it is up to Jim Les to prove me right.

Mick Durham---Marvin Menzies, head coach at New Mexico State lost a key member of his staff this past week when, Mick Durham accepted the head coaching job at D-2 Alaska Fairbanks, a member of the GNAC conference. Durham has been at Menzies' side for the last three years and the program has had a nice run in the Western Athletic Conference. Durham is one of the really good guys in coaching and he will do a nice job, in a really strong basketball conference.

Chaminade--- The Silverswords usually only get on the map in college basketball, when they play the host role in what is the best college basketball tournament on TV, the Maui Invitational. Chaminade is a member of the D-2, Pac-West Conference, but at times over the years have played really competitive in the Maui Invitational against what is also always the best field of any of the preseason tourneys, last year they beat Oklahoma in the tourney.

But for now, the news coming out of Chaminade is related in the past month they now have had three head basketball coaches. Last year's coach Matt Mahar, in May took the head coaching position at Assumption College, he was replaced by Jerry Carrillo, who lasted on the job a whopping six days,  before changing his mind and deciding to stay at Cochise College.

This made the Silverswords go back to the drawing board hiring Joe Bovaird, who for the last seven years have been an assistant coach at West Liberty University. Last year West Liberty went 35-1, with their only loss coming in the D-2 championship semifinal game against BYU-Hawaii, the big rival of Chaminade.

What makes this interesting is that in the last two years, West Liberty has lead the NCAA in scoring and thrived on the 3-point shot. Prediction here, when Chaminade plays BYU-Hawaii this year, the teams will combine for over 300 points, what fun would that be to watch. Dan Hooper, the very capable assigner of referees for the Pac-West had better be thinking right now of putting three officials on that game who can run the floor and worry about making the calls later.

(In case your wondering, the most points ever scored by ONE team in a college basketball game was in 1992 by Troy State, now Troy University, when they put 258 points on the scoreboard. Yes 258. In the game they made 47 of 109,  3- point attempts.)

Schedules---I am always puzzled why it takes many teams so long to post their upcoming basketball schedules on their websites. In fairness, some of the "smaller" D-1 schools have trouble scheduling home games for many reasons, but what takes the larger schools so long to post a schedule. Granted, football has a lot fewer games, but many football schedules are set 5-7 years out.

To me there is no excuse for some schools, especially in the WCC, who don't get around to posting their schedules until the middle of September. It may seem like a small point, but for the many fans who are interested in the upcoming season like myself, it sometimes is hard to wait.

For the record, per my latest research the only schools who play in the west who have posted their 2011-12 basketball schedules are UCLA, Washington and Colorado. Interesting game right off the bat, UCLA hosts Loyola Marymount in their home opener, which will be played at their home away from home, the Honda Center, while the Bruins Pauley Pavilion is being remodeled. Look for the Lions to make a strong showing in this game as Ben Howland teams always start slow.

emails to crawscorner@gmail.com