Craig Neal gets the New Mexico job

After Steve Alford left for UCLA, the players left behind lobbied for top assistant Craig Neal to get the job. The coaching search didn't last long as Neal was given the job full time. Neal will sign a five-year contract worth $750,000 annually, plus incentives. The deal would make Neal one of the four highest paid coaches in the Mountain West Conference.


Neal was with Alford at Iowa and the past six seasons at New Mexico and was considered a co-architect of the Lobos' resurgence. Neal was a finalist with Brian Gregory a year ago for his alma mater, Georgia Tech.

This will be Neal's first head coaching job in Division I. The Lobos will have a loaded team coming back and will have a good shot to repeat in the Mountain West. The Lobos return key players Tony Snell, Alex Kirk and Mountain West Conference player of the year Kendall Williams. Neal has inherited a good situation now he'll have to keep the momentum trending upward.

"It Girl" of the week: Kim Lee

The "It Girl" of the week is Kim Lee.

Trey Zeigler to transfer from Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh shooting guard Trey Zeigler is once again on the move. Zeigler reportedly will be leaving Pittsburgh after one year.

Zeigler will received a waiver after transferring from Central Michigan and averaged 4.4 points and 2.0 rebounds in his one season for the Panthers. Hardly what anyone expected after a star studded high school career and averaging 15 points for the Chippewas.

“We will assist Trey in finding the best situation for him to reach his goals both academically and athletically,” Pitt head basketball coach Jamie Dixon said in a press release. “He’s a great kid, hard worker and good player. We thank Trey for his contribution to our program over the last year and wish him much success in the future.”

Zeigler's playing time and production took a dive as the year went on. He was brought in to be a scorer off the bench but didn't make an impact during an uneven year. Zeigler was expected to compete for the starting shooting guard position next season.

No word yet to where he will be transferring.

Ole Miss basketball player joins the football team

Martavious Newby, a 6-3, 215 guard on the Ole Miss basketball team, was spotted in shoulder pads and a helmet earlier this week at spring practice. Newby does not really have a basketball frame, and I'm sure Hugh Freeze will be excited to have him. Newby will play linebacker for the Rebels. He also brings SEC Championship experience, in basketball, for whatever that's worth.

“We got to get him acclimated and figure out how to line up,” Freeze said. “He hasn’t been in a single meeting. He wouldn’t know if it was Monday or Thursday if we put him out there right now. Hopefully this spring we can get him in some contact drills and some individual (drills) and see what we think about him, and go from there.”

Newby was offered a scholarship by Freeze when he was at Arkansas State.

“Thought he was really talented, and he is,” Freeze said. “He’s athletic. It’s been a while, so we’ll see how he adjusts to this speed of this league. But he looks the part. He’s built right.”

We'll have to see if he can handle the rigors of an SEC football schedule.

Pass first point guard vs. shoot first point guard

In the NBA today, we have a variety of different point guards. We have shoot first point guards (Derrick Rose), pass first point guards (Rajon Rondo), and a variety of both (Tony Parker).


Some say it is better to have a dominant more of a scoring type of point guard. They say it saves time to get up the court. They can go one on one and score in 10 seconds. However, some say it disrupts the concept of working the ball around. It doesn't seem to affect Rose or Westbrook (However, when Westbrook shoots poorly the Thunder usually play poorly).

Then theirs is the pass first point guards. These guys set up their stars and get players going. These point guards seem to have the most success. Think of all the championship teams in the past. Mario Chalmers, Jason Kidd, Derek Fisher, Rajon Rondo, Jason Williams, Avery Johnson, Steve Kerr, Kenny Smith, John Paxson, Magic Johnson, Maurice Cheeks, Tom Henderson, Lionel Hollins, Butch Beard, Larry Siegfried, Wali Jones, K.C. Jones, and Bob Cousy are the point guards who won championships (And are pass first point guards). That's about 65-70% of all championship teams had a pass first point guard.

Finally, there are the players who are neither pass first or shoot first point guards. These are players like Tony Parker, Chauncey Billups, Isiah Thomas, Gus Williams, Walt Frazier, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry West. That's 25-30% of all championship teams had a mix (not a pass first, but not a score first) point guard.

I cannot think of one team that had a shoot first point guard and won a championship. Jerry West was the point guard with the highest PPG average who won a championship. He averaged 25.8 PPG, but also led the league in assists. Therefore, you can't say West was a shoot first point guard in 1972.

Who would you rather have, a shoot first point guard, a pass first point guard, or a mix of both. First off, I can exclude shoot first point guards since they have yet to win a championship. In my opinion, I would rather have a pass first point guard. They have won 70% of all championships and you don't need a lot of money for most. You can go out and buy another superstar if you have an average pass first point guard (Derek Fisher).

A pass first point guard will be more valuable than any other point guard some of the time but I'd rather have a point guard that can distribute but know when to take a game over.

Rams' Rodger Saffold not answering Jeff Fisher's calls

Many thought it was a good signing when Jake Long decided to leave the Miami Dolphins for the St. Louis Rams. Current left tackle Rodger Saffold wasn't too pleased with the idea. With Long coming to St. Louis, that means Saffold probably moves to right tackle. Saffold wants to remain at left tackle.

Usually this means some kind of trade demand is coming. Saffold has went a step further by not returning coach Jeff Fisher's phone calls. Before anyone starts howling about if that was them they'd be fired from their job, remember this is the world of professional sports.

“Things are gonna work out,” Fisher said. “We’re confident they’ll get resolved.”

“We’ve been trying to reach Rodger, and he’s not returning calls right now,” Fisher said. “But we’ll get things settled, and Rodger’s a big part of our future and a big part of our plans on offense.”

Saffold hasn't responded in the most positive way. I'm sure Fisher would like to sell him on the idea of moving to right tackle or telling Saffold that there is an open competition.

That is very selfish if Rodger is crying like a baby over this. Jake Long has been to 4 pro bowls, Saffold how many have you and your agent been to, wait a second, zero, clear choice at left tackle, Long.The Rams are making an effort to win and Saffold needs to get on the bandwagon or go home. Or he comes to camp and outperforms Long and keeps the left tackle job.

Report: UCLA signs Steve Alford to become new head basketball coach

A report by ESPN's Andy Katz are saying that Steve Alford is leaving New Mexico to be UCLA's new basketball coach. The Bruins have come to an agreement with the New Mexico coach on a seven-year contract worth $2.6 million per year. This comes after firing Ben Howland after a second round ouster in the NCAA tournament.

The agreement with Alford comes less than two weeks after Alford had agreed to a new 10-year contract with New Mexico that reached into the $2-million-per-season range, including base salary, bonuses and incentives.

This is more of a surprise since many consider UCLA to be one of the top jobs in the country. The Bruins were spurned by Butler's Brad Stevens and VCU's Shaka Smart. It's obvious that many don't view it that way. Washington's Lorenzo Romar, Marquette's Buzz Williams, and NC State's Mark Gottfried were rumored to be candidates.

I don't know how this turns out, but  Alford is leaving a loaded Lobos team for whoever takes over. Alford will face a ton of pressure trying to coach up to the UCLA standard set long ago by JohnWooden.