LSU adds an impact transfer who looks awfully familiar ...
New coach Matt McMahon now has three players he coached last year at Murray State. Plus, could the NCAA curtail flopping?
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Happy Friday! Unless you live east of the Mississippi and are hoping to avoid rainouts for youth baseball games. But hey, at least Mother’s Day looks promising! (You did remember a gift for mom, right?)
THE TRANSFER PORTAL
Murray State, but in Baton Rouge
New LSU coach Matt McMahon went 31-3 at Murray State last season. We’ll see how that talent fares in the SEC now that a third Racer will play in Baton Rouge next season.
Williams joins guards Justice Hill and Trae Hannibal — arguably Murray State’s three best players from 2021-22 — as the core of LSU’s incoming roster. The Tigers could use additional frontcourt depth, and there are a couple of Murray State players available still …
Other portal moves from the last few days:
New (old?) Murray State coach Steve Prohm landed Stetson guard Rob Perry, who could lead them in scoring.
Butler is going to be BIG next season. Georgia State transfer Jalen Thomas — all 6-10 of him — will pair with 6-11 transfer Manny Bates.
Freshman guard Frankie Collins is off to Arizona State. He didn’t see the court much at Michigan, but is now closer to home.
Florida transfer Tyree Appleby is headed to Wake Forest. He’ll be one of their top outside shooters next season.
San Diego State — a Top 25 contender — added depth with Micah-Immanuel Parrish, a 6-6 wing who was an All-Horizon League player with Oakland.
Jermaine Couisnard is switching coasts. The South Carolina guard will play in Oregon next season. He explains why.
Buffalo snagged a D-II scorer in Armoni Foster. He put up 18.3 ppg last season for Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
PROPOSED RULE CHANGE
Down with flopping!
Questionable offensive fouls aren’t anything new. We’ll never see agreement on blocks and charges. But flopping — that blatantly obvious attempt to induce a call on the offensive player with a head bob or similar tactic — that’s gotta go.
The NCAA will review a proposed rule change1 on June 9 that could help. If a player is called for flopping, the opposing team would shoot one free throw. (Technically, it would be a Class B technical foul without a warning.)
“We didn't feel like we were getting the results that we wanted with the warnings,” says Bob Huggins, committee chair and head coach at West Virginia. “Our goal is to continue to try to get flopping out of the game. The committee believes giving the officials the ability to call a Class B technical foul the first time they see a player faking being fouled, it will be more of a deterrent.”
The current rule allows officials to give a warning. A second flop results in a foul shot.
Will we see less flopping? Probably? But maybe we’ll see an influx of players taking acting classes too…
CYNTHIA COOPER-DYKE ALLEGATIONS
More than decade of abusive behavior
The Athletic published quite the story Thursday about Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, a college star at USC, driving force behind the WNBA’s first dynasty, and a coach at multiple programs, most recently at Texas Southern.
Looks like that’ll be her last stop.
Cooper-Dyke reportedly verbally abused players at UNC-Wilmington, Texas Southern and US, repeatedly making inappropriate, demeaning and degrading comments about players. The lengthy, well-reported story from Chantel Jennings and Dana O’Neil includes graphic details from more than 25 sources who say that since at least 2010, Cooper-Dyke was quite horrid to her players.
Players left those teams, and Cooper-Dyke skirted any kind of punishment when news of her behavior arose. She resigned at USC rather than face termination, left UNC-Wilmington for Texas Southern and retired in March from Texas Southern just as an investigation was starting. Texas Southern later called it off.
Read the whole article.
The Fast Break
Links while you wait in line to see Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Evansville fired coach Todd Lickliter and his staff on Thursday. It’s brutal timing for players and the coaches who might want to head elsewhere.
Leonard Miller, a Class of 2022 prospect, is eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft. The 6-11 forward has options — he’s being recruited by Arizona and Kentucky and could sign with the G League Ignite.
Gabe Kalscheur is returning to Iowa State, meaning the Cyclones will have at least two of their starters back from a Sweet 16 team.
Pittsburgh got two of the best remaining 2022 prospects in Jorge in Guillermo Diaz.
What does incoming transfer Mark Sears mean for the Alabama offense? Here’s an assessment. (Hint: It involves 3-pointers.)
HD Intelligence is an analytics company that provides customized reports to teas looking for insights on players in the transfer portal. No surprise their business is flourishing right now.
Wichita State didn’t have an NIL collective last season, which officials say hurt them in recruiting. Now they’re scrambling to keep up.
How brutal was Oregon State’s season after that run to the Elite Eight in 2021? There’s no historical comparison.
Jay Wright, Dawn Staley and Phil Martelli are all speaking at commencements this month. Staley returns to Temple, where she coached, while Martelli is speaking at Delaware. You get one guess where Wright is speaking…
It’s Kentucky Derby weekend (enjoy those mint julips and fedora parties!), which means you can take 7 minutes and enjoy this Tim Layden story about Epicenter. It involves donuts.
Lastly, about Doctor Strange: If you happen to be in Times Square, you have a few options on showtimes. (Yes, they’re all the same show. No, we don’t actually live in the multiverse because that would mean somewhere Kansas didn’t win the title this year.)
There are two other rule changes being discussed: one that would allow teams to view live video and pre-loaded video on their bench if their conference submits a waiver request (this will be allowed in 2023 NIT); and adding a fifth media timeout that can be used in dead-ball situations (media timeouts). That seems dumb.