Campus Watch

Bonnies highlights from SBU-TV

Johnson wants to expand his game

---Gus Johnson felt sad that CBS, his home for 16 years, had declined to match the offer he accepted from Fox; excited about the future; relieved that an unexpected turn under the microscope had ended.

“I’m tired of thinking. Weighing. Grappling with my thoughts. You’re giving up something to gain something,'' He said. "But you’re still giving up something. I’m leaving something that I love. And I love that thing. That was my thing. Sometimes, you’ve just got to walk away.”

---Rodney McKissic

(www.twitter.com/rodneyjmckissic)

Johnson, CBS part ways

 

---Gus Johnson officially parted ways with CBS  but at least he's taking his talents to Fox Sports and the Pac-12. Apparently some CBS execs were jealous of Johnson's rise to fame.

---Rodney McKissic

(www.twitter.com/rodneyjmckissic)

Gus Johnson leaving CBS?

---According to Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch, Gus Johnson and CBS Sports could not agree on a new contract now that Johnson's current contract has ended, and he could end up calling football games as part of the new FOX Pac-12 package.

---Rodney McKissic

(www.twitter.com/rodneyjmckissic)

A thing of beauty for UConn

 

---Jerry Sullivan writes that while UConn isn't a great team, it's a worthy champion.

---Butler's Matt Howard enjoyed quite a career.

---Butler could not buy a bucket last night and shot a record low 18 percent.

---Kemba Walker will be able to graduate after just three years at UConn. But that might not mean he's leaving for the NBA. Walker's halftime speech lifted the Huskies to the top.

---Will Jim Calhoun go out on top, or return to UConn and face his suspension?

---Nate Miles has apparently changed his mind about speaking to the NCAA.

---Here's 16 years worth of "One Shining Moments."

---Here's a preseason Top 25 list for 2011-12.

---Fairfield has hired Princeton's Sydney Johnson as its new coach, while Towson hired Pitt assistant Pat Skerry.

---Wichita State's Gregg Marshall has become one of the many coaches to turn down the North Carolina State job opening, including Cincinnati's Mic Cronin, who recieved an extension from the Bearcats to remain their head coach until the end of the 2016-17.

---Ohio State assistant coach Jeff Boals is the leading candidate for the Fresno State opening.

---Lon Kruger, the new coach at Oklahoma, does not believe his program needs to rebuild, and who will UNLV hire to replace him?

---North Carolina's Harrison Barnes and John Henson will decide on their futures in the next week or so.

---With a potential NBA lockout, many prospects are uncertain about their futures.

---Steve Kerr wants to see some changes with the First Four.

---Rodney McKissic

(www.twitter.com/rodneyjmckissic)

Longhorn Network unveiled

---The 24-hour TV network that ESPN and the University of Texas are set to launch in August will have a familiar ring: the Longhorn Network. The name and the network's logo were unveiled Sunday during Texas' spring football scrimmage in Austin.

A new website, GetLonghornNetwork.com, will enhance the network's reach online, providing an "initial resource to fans looking to learn more about where and how to get Longhorn Network," according to a news release.

---Rodney McKissic

(www.twitter.com/rodneyjmckissic)

One defining moment

---Tonight's national championship game between Butler and UConn may produce a shot for the ages like Keith Smart's or a gaffe that can never be forgotten like Chris Webber's, pictured left.

---Jerry Sullivan writes UConn's Jim Calhoun is an underdog in his own way. On the heels of a successful season, should Calhoun consider retirement? Dan Bickley says Calhoun Calhoun is a complicated genus.

---Rick Bozich writes how the Butler Way is the right way for college basketball. Mike Wise writes that the Bulldogs are on the verge of turning myth into reality. David Woods says a Butler victory would cap the greatest basketball story ever told.

---Barry Tramel writes how paying Lon Kruger $2 million to coach Oklahoma, doesn't make much cents.

---For CBS, the three-man booth works.

---Rodney McKissic

(www.twitter.com/rodneyjmckissic)

'We wanted to go back to Luther'

---A year after Jennifer Hudson's disasterous version of One Shining Moment, CBS is going back to using the Luther Vandross rendition of the song, which it used from 2003-09. Vandross' montage was the longest run of any singer since the tradition began following the 1987 NCAA tournament.

Hudson's version was universally panned by critics but in her defense, is nearly impossible to match the versions of Vandross, who died in 2005, and Teddy Pendergrass, who died last year.

"Both versions are great. She [Hudson] did a great job," said Harold Bryant, CBS Sports' vice president for production. "We just felt like we wanted to go back to Luther."

 

 

---Rodney McKissic

(www.twitter.com/rodneyjmckissic)

Wanna keep your coach? Pay up

---As the wins mount, money follows. But where the formula grows complicated for the administrations at schools like VCU and Butler is when they attempt to fend off power-conference schools from poaching their rising stars like VCU's Shaka Smart, pictured right.

---Andy Katz gives his take on who could end up replacing Jim Calhoun at UConn.

---A league just for elite mid-majors?

---The NBA is looking into Jay-Z's venture into the Kentucky locker room after they made the Final Four.

---Buzz Williams got a new deal to stay at Marquette.

---Boston College's Reggie Jackson has declared for the NBA Draft.

---Jonathon Givony over at Draft Express takes you through everything you need to know about the early entry draft process.

---Oregon tied up Creighton in the CBI series final.

--- Santa Clara won the CIT.

---Rodney McKissic

(www.twitter.com/rodneyjmckissic)

Receivers look to rebound

---While quarterbacks Jerry Davis and Alex Zordich struggled in the passing game for UB, neither received many favors from from a receiving corp that suffered through lapses of concentration and dropped passes. Terrell Jackson, pictured above, wants to help change that.

---If anything is clear after watching HBO, it's this: The NCAA enforcement staff is not finished with Auburn. Coach Gene Chizik called the report pathetic and pure garbage.

---Jim Tressel's character is on trial.

---ESPN filed a federal lawsuit against Conference USA alleging the league failed to fulfill its contractual obligations when it signed a new contract with Fox Sports Media Group.

---The college football business has blossomed.

---Rodney McKissic

(www.twitter.com/rodneyjmckissic)