College basketball notebook: St. John's finally lands a coach
After a 10-day search that included plenty of rejections, St. John's announced Friday the hiring of former Arkansas coach Mike Anderson to be its new head basketball coach.
Chris Mullin stepped down as the Red Storm's coach on April 9, and the school initially targeted Bobby Hurley. However, the Arizona State coach declined, and St. John's reportedly then was rebuffed by Loyola-Chicago's Porter Moser, UMBC's Ryan Odom and Iona's Tim Cluess.
According to numerous reports, the school interviewed three men for the role Thursday: Anderson, Yale coach James Jones and former Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt. Arkansas fired Anderson, 59, on March 26 after an 18-16 season, ending his eight-year tenure as head coach and his 25 years with the program.
Mullin exited with a 59-73 mark at his alma mater. St. John's finished 21-13 in the just-concluded season, losing to Arizona State in the First Four round of the NCAA Tournament.
--Arizona coach Sean Miller and LSU coach Will Wade will not have to testify next week in the next trial concerning corruption in college basketball, a New York federal court judge ruled.
U.S. District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos agreed with prosecutors that testimony from the coaches would be irrelevant. They had been subpoenaed by Steven Haney, an attorney for Christian Dawkins, an aspiring agent. Ramos said he reserved the right to change his mind as the trial progresses.
Dawkins, former Adidas consultant Merl Code and former Adidas executive James Gatto were found guilty of federal fraud and conspiracy charges in October. A second federal trial for Dawkins and Code is set to begin Monday. They are alleged to have funneled thousands of dollars in bribes to three former assistant basketball coaches -- Arizona's Emanuel "Book" Richardson, Southern Cal's Tony Bland and Oklahoma State's Lamont Evans -- all of whom agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of bribery.
--Five-star forward Matthew Hurt announced his commitment to Duke during a ceremony at his high school in Rochester, Minn. The 6-foot-9 Hurt chose the Blue Devils over college basketball's other bluebloods: Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina.
The 247Sports composite ranks Hurt as the nation's No. 2 power forward and the No. 8 player overall in the nation in the Class of 2019. He is known for his long-range shooting abilities.
With Hurt's commitment, Duke now has the nation's No. 1 Class of 2019. He will join fellow five-star recruits Vernon Carey Jr. and Wendell Moore, along with four-star guard Boogie Ellis, in Durham, N.C., this fall.
--Louisville announced the addition of St. Joseph's graduate transfer point guard Lamarr Kimble.
Kimble, who goes by the nickname "Fresh," averaged 15.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 23 games (18 starts) for the Hawks last season, playing 35.5 minutes per game.
Kimble has 84 games (43 starts) of experience and was a three-time captain at St. Joe's. He averaged career highs of 4.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds along with 15.5 points per game in 2016-17 before missing all but one game of 2017-18 with a foot injury.
--Iowa senior center Megan Gustafson was named the Honda Sports Award winner for basketball, the Collegiate Women Sports Awards have announced.
Gustafson, who averaged 27.8 points and 13.4 rebounds this season, won basketball honors over Louisville's Asia Durr, Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu and Mississippi State's Teaira McCowan.
Gustafson tied the NCAA record with 33 double-doubles this season while leading the Hawkeyes (29-7) to the Elite Eight for the first time in 26 years. She holds school career records of 2,804 points and 1,459 rebounds.
--Field Level Media
