Paper already has Bulls last in hoops picks

It's still more than three months until basketball season, and as Bulls fans learned this week, rosters are still very much in flux, but one newspaper has already seen enough to predict the Big East standings in men's hoops, with USF still at the very bottom in 16th place.

The Providence Journal -- not Flo-Jo or HoJo but Projo.com -- writes that "Seven new players headed by Gus Gilchrist, Teeng Akol and Mike Mercer combine with a solid backcourt, but Bulls remain buried in this league." They pick the hometown Friars to jump from a 6-12 mark last year to finish 10th in the league, with Georgetown dropping clear to seventh -- I don't see that happening -- and same for West Virginia finishing ninth.

-- Former USF cornerback Mike Jenkins has signed his rookie deal with the Dallas Cowboys, and according to the Dallas Morning News, it's a five-year deal worth $9.75-million, including a $3.1-million signing bonus as part of $6.75-million overall in guaranteed money. So before he's played a game, he has the third-biggest paycheck in USF football history, trailing Anthony Henry's $25-million deal with the Cowboys and the $17.5-million deal that Kawika Mitchell signed with the Bills this spring.

-- The Olympics are less than two weeks away, and this week's Sports Illustrated, the Olympic preview issue, has medal picks in every sport. SI picks former USF standout Damu Cherry to earn a bronze medal in the 100-meter hurdles. And the Naples News reports that former USF discus thrower Dayana Octavien, attempting to make the Olympic team for Haiti, was unable to post a qualifying mark and won't make it to Beijing.

-- Follow me? I'll get an official-looking link on the right sidebar before too long, but I've started up with Twitter.com as a companion to the blog -- follow it at Twitter.com/gregauman and get updates on new posts here. I'm new to Twitter, so it'll be a work in progress, but should be fun this fall. Hey, all the cool kids are doing it ...

Comments

[Reality]

Greg, do you have the Sptimes vote in the big east basketball preseason poll?

If so, you should go off the board and put your vote for the Bulls, St John's, Rutgers or Seton Hall to win the Big East. Then if it happens, which is VERY unlikely, you will look like the greatest preseason prognosticator ever.

[Ken]

I don't know, Greg. I like reading the Blog--what is the twitter thing going to do that will be even better than this?

[G.A.]

Ken, I'm not even sure just how I'll use it. Can tease to new blog posts, send out short bits of news, lots of different things. I won't put anything on the Twitter that won't be here on the blog soon after ...

[Dave W]

Well, some of their predictions may be off, but based on Rutgers' recruiting, we'll be fighting for 14th with the Johnnies and Seton Hall. WVU may have lost Alexander, but Ebanks will be a solid replacement.

[Reality]

Dave, you continually underrate Seton Hall. They are no where near as bad as USF or St John's.