Roundball Chatter
Every Friday I will give my thoughts on the game I love, basketball.
• John Calipari will face his recent assistant and his former employer this season. That's right, new Massachusetts coach Derek Kellogg will take his Minutemen south to face national finalist Memphis on Nov. 17 at the FedEx Forum. That game will be the first time UMass has played against Calipari since he left Amherst after leading the Minutemen to the 1996 Final Four.
• One key factor in the gold medal performance of USA basketball was the presence of assistant coach Jim Boeheim. The pride and joy of Syracuse helped lead this team to victory. He has been part of a national champion and a gold medal winner!/p>
• Due to a potential Hurricane, St. John's had to cancel its exhibition trip to Cancun, Mexico. The Red Storm was granted 10 days of team practice in advance of its foreign travel, as per the NCAA, but had to cancel the remaining sessions once this trip was postponed.
• It has been a wild and wacky off-season at Indiana. New coach Tom Crean received some bad news when one of the few veterans remaining of the squad, fifth-year senior Kyle Taber, suffered a knee injury that required surgery. The 6-7 Taber is expected to be sidelined for the next two months and in a positive scenario could return for the start of the season.
• Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self didn't take long to find a replacement for Ronnie Chalmers. Brett Ballard was promoted to director of basketball operations. Ballard is entering his sixth season with the Kansas men's basketball program. He is also the director for the Bill Self Basketball Camps. Ballard also lettered for two seasons at Kansas in 2000-01 and 2001-02.
• Phil Martelli's St. Joe's team will play 14 home games this season, but none on campus. All of the Hawks' home games this year will be played at the historic Palestra, due to the renovation and expansion project of Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse. Fans in Big Five country will enjoy the action in that great old building while St. Joe's true home court is renovated.
• Notre Dame completed an impressive six-game sweep on its recent tour of Ireland. That included a first-place showing in the inaugural Emerald Hoops International Basketball Series at the National Basketball Arena in Dublin. Guard Kyle McAlarney was named Tournament MVP as he averaged 26.3 points in the three games.
