Okay, Milwaukee is on the clock in a weak draft. Now the lists of players and where they rank should really start rolling.

Over at ESPN.com, they still have Chris Taft in the #8 spot (Insider Subs.) being picked by the New York Knicks in their mock 1st round draft. Others from the Big East in the 1st round include Hakim Warrick at #15 to the New Jersey Nets and Charlie Villanueva at #23. When I saw Villanueva going to the Kings, I immediately thought he was the perfect choice to replace Chris Webber. They thought the same thing:

Villanueva has the skills of a lottery pick and the heart of an NBDL all-star. He has all the skills to be a perfect replacement for Chris Webber on the Kings front line. But will Rick Adelman, or whoever is coaching the Kings, ever be able to trust him? For all of his skills, Villanueva has always be a “me first” player. Then again, maybe that’s what makes him the perfect replacement for Webber.

I guess it was too easy.

ESPN.com also has a list of Top-10 players (and then a bunch more) by each position (Insider Subs.).

Chris Taft is listed as the #1 Power Forward prospect. In the “Best of the Rest” category, WVU’s Kevin Pittsnogle is #10, ND’s Torin Francis is #11, and Chevon Troutman is # 13. They ranked Francis higher than Troutman? I realize Troutman is a marginal free agent possibility, but Francis?

At the Point Guard position, Carl Krauser comes in at #6 in the “Best of the Rest” group (or #16 overall for PGs).

At the risk of putting the jinx on the Baseball Team, I have to point out that Pitt is letting everyone listen to the radio broadcasts on the net for free.

The first game is on Thursday at 3:30 pm against St. John’s.

Depending on the outcome, Pitt will play again on Friday at either noon or 3:30.

Let’s go Pitt!

Not pre-season prognostications really, just starting to look at what will be out there it seems. Dennis Dodd at Sportsline profiles Louisville and the overhaul of college football:

The neighbors aren’t exactly next door, mind you. The new Big East extends from Connecticut to Tampa to Louisville, the westernmost outpost of the new league. Eight teams in eight states. Might as well call it the Big Let’s Do Whatever We Can To Keep This Thing Together In Order to Keep Our BCS Berth.

No shame there, especially since such shuffling is the reality of college football these days. The Big East’s situation is tied directly to the ACC starting the latest realignment tsunami two years ago. The fallout: Eighteen teams (15 percent of I-A) have found new homes since the end of 2004.

And I keep coming back to the question: What was in it for the MAC to take Temple? Kind of hurts their credibility, don’t you think?

Dodd also does a brief schedule scan to highlight the best games of each week:

Notre Dame at Pittsburgh: Weis vs. Wanny in each coach’s first college game as a head man. Great — OK, really good — quarterback matchup: (Tom) Brady Quinn vs. Tyler Palko. Given each team’s knee-jerk fans, the heat begins right away for the loser.
…
Pittsburgh at Nebraska: On a hot September afternoon last year, Palko came of age in the second half against Nebraska. This will be tougher. Bill Callahan has had a year to work out the kinks, and the Panthers have to go on the road to Lincoln.
…
Pittsburgh at Louisville: Welcome to the Big East’s newest rivalry. Both programs should arrive at this date the top two teams in the reconfigured conference. Figure on a combined 80 points and a couple of 300-yard passing games by Palko and Brian Brohm.

Don’t you want Pitt to beat Nebraska, just to see Mark May rub it in Trev Alberts face? I know I do.

Speaking of looking ahead, it seems someone down in West Virginia is a little concerned about how Coach Wannstedt could set back the ‘Eers.

But his biggest impact on the WVU program might not be on the football field — at least not initially. According to published reports out of Pennsylvania, Wannstedt is hitting the state’s high schools hard in attempts to keep quality recruits home.

If he’s successful, a deep pool of talent might be a little shallower for the Mountaineers. A list of past standouts — former linebackers Grant Wiley and Adam Lehnortt come immediately to mind — is evidence of how important recruiting in Pennsylvania has been for WVU over the years. If Wannstedt is able to keep just two or three players home, it could have an effect on West Virginia football going forward.

Just an alarmist or seeing a real probability?

Yes we are talking basketball and I can hear the collective groan from everyone at the prospect of me complaining about the non-con yet again.

So here’s the potential good news:

Pitt, which has needed a little more beef on its schedule, could be adding Wisconsin for the coming season. The Panthers ranked No. 264 in nonconference schedule strength last season.

All indications should be that Pitt might want to beef up it’s non-con match-ups if it wants to come close to the TV exposure it has received in the last couple of years.

The Big East is all about pleasing the TV executives (Insider subs.) and if Krauser doesn’t come back to Pitt, those of us out of the Pittsburgh media market will be on a forced diet or springing for the ESPN Full Court.

Kevin Pittsnogle, Carl Krauser and Torin Francis could have an effect on the entire television schedule for the Big East.

How? According to Tom Odjakjian, the Big East associate commissioner, the league won’t finalize its television schedule until it knows whether these three players are staying in the NBA draft.

Odjakjian told ESPN.com prior to this week’s Big East meetings in Florida that the league is waiting to determine how good West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame figure to be before pushing for select television games.

And television dictates the 16-game league schedule for the inaugural 16-team 2005-06 season. Each Big East team will play 13 of the other 15 teams and will play three of those teams twice. Any team that is missed next season will definitely be on the schedule for 2006-07. Home and road sites won’t be determined until the opponents are set.
…
Pittsburgh clearly needs Krauser back to be considered an elite Big East team next season. The Panthers already are losing Chris Taft and Chevy Troutman inside.

If you’ll excuse me, I have to start plotting how to slip a $200 charge onto the cable bill next fall.