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College basketball news raises more questions

The Florida Gators are the 2007 Men’s NCAA Basketball Champions. To many of us that is the final memory of College basketball this year, but even though the college basketball season is over the news in college basketball has gotten even bigger since the season ended. During the Florida Gators’ repeat run of becoming the National Champions, Head Coach Billy Donovan was being highly touted by the University of Kentucky to become their next head coach (after former coach Tubby Smith re-signed to become the next Head Coach of the University of Minnesota). Donovan was an assistant coach under former UK coaching great Rick Pitino. Though Billy Donovan decided to stay at Florida rather than coach the Wildcats, his five top players–juniors Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Taurean Green, Corey Brewer, and senior Lee Humphrey–will not be returning to school but instead are entering the NBA draft.

With Donovan not available, the Wildcats received their second choice in former Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie. Even though the UK basketball head coaching job is one of the best in the nation, if he does not bring them a National Championship in the next three to four years he will be under serious scrutiny, as was Tubby Smith.

Another coach who recently changed schools was former UC Coach Bob Huggins, who accepted the University of West Virginia head coaching job after resigning from Kansas State only one year after accepting the job. Rather than build Kansas State into a national college basketball contender with incoming superstar freshman Michael Beasley and returning sophomore Bill Walker, Huggins decided to go back to his hometown.

Bob Huggins rejected West Virginia’s offer once to become their head coach when he was the Bearcats’ head coach but decided the second time around that he would accept the position.

This much change already has me yearning for next March. So many questions and not enough answers. Will Greg Oden go pro? How will our UC Bearcats do next season? Who will be the next Kevin Durant?

I guess we have to wait and find out all these answers next season. So long, college basketball, until next season.