SEMO men's coach to be named Thursday

Well so far give credit to Shafer. A new coach will be named Thursday and no one has a clue as to who it is. There were no committees, forums or any of the other hoopla.

The Sikeston paper charges an outrageous amount for web access. I guess their articles are too valuable.

Excuse the bitterness. I used to peruse their on-line paper several times a week; I even patronized some of their advertisers because you could see the ads on-line.

Sure miss it, especially the excellent photography...

This almost certainly means that we have hired either (1) someone who did not coach this season or (2) a current assistant or head coach whose team has already finished the season.

That leaves out most of the current "major" or "BCS" conference team assistant coaches because those teams have conference tourneys coming up. Perhaps there are some conference tourneys that don't include all teams (like the OVC), but I know that the SEC and Big 12 tournaments feature all league teams. That probably eliminates Matt White of Ole Miss and Paul Lusk at Purdue. Division II head coaches whose teams are in the D-II playoffs are probably also out (like Kim Anderson at Central MO State or the Southwest Bapt head coach, both of whom have been mentioned on Marty's blog).

Who is NOT eliminated, based on this theory/thinking? Well, the Suttons, Spoonhour, Soderberg, Henson, Gottfried, Dennis Felton, Barnes, Roman. I am sure that I am missing some others that have been discussed.

Prediction: Barnes, Spoonhour, or Gottfried. maybe Felton.

The entire Sikeston and Dexter semifinal game articles from the Standard Democrat are online.

Guys....Nutt was mentioned on here last week and NO ONE bothered to comment.

Jim Harrick is the new coach!!!

Spoon has some experience dealing with sanctions and helping rebuild a program. He was very popular at UNLV, and this might be a stretch---BUT SOMETHING TELLS ME THAT UNLV IS A LITTLE MORE PRESTIGIOUS THAN SEMO. The players responded to his coaching style and nearly made the tournament.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "At the end of three years, we were able to get UNLV through the (NCAA) sanctions and the probation. I know 20 wins isn't great by UNLV standards, but given the circumstances, the program's at a point now where Lon Kruger is interested. That's good." -- Interim UNLV head coach Jay Spoonhour after the Rebels lost to Boise State, 84-69, in the first round of the NIT to finish 18-13.

The Charlie Spoonhour Era of UNLV basketball ended about a month earlier than expected when the popular head coach stepped down on Feb. 17 on doctor's orders after failing a stress test earlier that morning.

Considering the type of season the Runnin' Rebels (18-13) had, it's easy to see why Spoonhour might have been stressed out.

Just a week earlier, following a tough loss at Utah, star forward Odartey Blankson went on a verbal tirade, ripping his teammates and coaches. The Rebels followed that up with one of the worst losses in school history, a nationally-televised 94-60 thrashing at Missouri.

Spoonhour's son, Jay, took over on an interim basis after that and did an outstanding job of rallying his team down the stretch. Using a more popular up-tempo style, UNLV won five of its next seven games before losing another heartbreaker to Utah, 73-70, in the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship game.

The demoralized Rebels, who had found out two days earlier that Lon Kruger had been hired to replace the popular Jay Spoonhour as head coach, predictably ended their season with another NIT flop, this time an 84-69 setback at Boise State.

LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- Dickey Nutt is stepping down as Arkansas State's basketball coach.

Nutt announced his departure Tuesday night at a news conference in Jonesboro. This was his 13th season as the Indians' coach.

Arkansas State (9-17, 4-11 Sun Belt Conference) has lost seven consecutive games.

"Our record doesn't indicate the fight that this team has in it," Nutt said. "But after conferring with (athletic director Dean) Lee this morning, I've agreed to step down and resign."

ARE YOU SERIOUS??? They want to hire a guy who quits with 3 games left, who has gone 9-17 this season, and is only 2 games over .500 for his tenure there? IF THIS IS REALLY WHO THEY HIRE, MAYBE A PREREQUISITE FOR ANY FUTURE HIRES SHOULD BE NOTHING MORE THAN A .500 RECORD, AND WE PREFER SOMEONE WHO IS ON THE DECLINE...