Howard Moore Will Be UIC's Next Head Coach

According to a source cited by the Daily Herald's Lindsey Willhite, Howard Moore will be named the new head coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago as early as Monday. Previous UIC head coach Jimmy Collins announced his retirement last month, effective at the end of August. Some are already hoping the Flames pick up the swing offense.


Let the speculation on Moore's replacement begin. It should be quite a scramble, as Andy Katz speculated earlier this week. Teaching-wise, Bo needs to find someone capable of working with his post players.

Recruiting-wise, Illinois is thought to have a weak crop of 2012 ahead of a loaded (or at least top-heavy) 2013 class. Wisconsin's new assistant who inherits that turf from Moore would have the luxury of a full 2011 class and half of the 2012 class in tow. That means little urgency to land recruits at the start. There's plenty of time to worry about 2013.

Think Mike Finley has an interest in coaching?

Moore Among Six Finalists For UIC Job

The head coaching vacancy is still unfilled at the University of Illinois-Chicago, but the Chicago Tribune is reporting that Wisconsin assistant and Chitown native Howard Moore is one of six finalists for the position. (Ed. note: The Tribune has edited the linked story, stating Tony Barone is no longer a candidate.)

Moore appeared to be one of the top candidates for the position ever since Jimmy Collins announced his retirement last month, but there has been no word on an interview until now. Minnesota assistant Vince Taylor could be one of the front-runners after interviewing this weekend, but apparently all six candidates met with the UIC brass today.

The other four finalists are Mark Montgomery (Michigan State), Willis Wilson (Memphis), Joe Pasternak (New Orleans), and Tony Barone (Memphis Grizzlies' director of player personnel). I think Moore, Taylor and Montgomery are on the short list. Illinois' recruiting savant Jerrance Howard already expressed his desire to stay with the Illini.

Moore's qualifications look good. The natural connection to the loaded talent base is there. Besides the obviously exciting opportunity to get his first head coaching job, though, there are a few reasons why Moore might want to continue solidifying his coaching resume with Bo Ryan and wait for something else down the line.

For starters, it's now the middle of August and the interview process appears to have just kicked off. For comparison, when Rob Jeter left Bo's staff five years ago, he was hired by UW-Milwaukee in April, with plenty of time to build his staff, hit the recruiting path and develop the program's culture. Is it too late in the offseason for UIC's new head coach to be effective in year one?

Not to mention that Tracy Webster, one of the guys who might have been on the short list of replacements for Moore, took a job on the Nebraska bench earlier this month. Don't you think these two former Badger teammates might have discussed whether a position might open up at Wisconsin?

If Moore were to accept a job offer to lead the Flames, his replacement would probably need to possess several characteristics that he and Webster share. Webster and Moore are both 30-something African-American coaches with Chicago roots and a wide range of coaching experience. In addition to his interim head coaching experience at DePaul, Webster has had short stints at some major programs (Purdue, Illinois, Kentucky) after rising quickly from D-III through Ball State at the mid-major level. Moore has been on the grind right from the get-go in 1996, coaching at the high school, D-III, mid-major, and now power-conference levels.

On the Stove Top: 2/8/10

Unfortunately, I still have not seen the Wisconsin-Michigan game in it's entirety due to the Camp Randall Classic festivities. I caught glimpses of the second half and apparently I missed all the good parts. Because neither team wanted to score in the final 10 minutes. [box score]

There's no doubt that Jason Bohannon has hit his stride. J-Bo destroyed Michigan with 64% shooting, adding four rebounds and five assists. In the process of leading UW's long-distance barrage, Bohannon passed Devin Harris on Wisconsin's all-time 3-pt FG and 3-pt FG attempts lists.

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Illinois is a team I feared would give Wisconsin fits after Jon Leuer went down, due to their skilled big men. But the other reason was Demetri McCamey, one of the few point guards around who can overpower a Trevon Hughes or Jordan Taylor. While Wisconsin seems to have figured things out heading into Tuesday's game with the Illini, McCamey is on top of his game also. The junior shared Big Ten Player of the Week honors with high school teammate Evan Turner for this past week. McCamey scored 23 point and dropped 11 dimes in Illinois' win over Michigan State.

Meanwhile, Illinois' front court has not been all it was cracked up to be this season. Mike Davis lost his starting job four games ago. Center Mike Tisdale will be playing at less than 100% versus the Badgers after injuring a different knee in each of the past two games.

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Yesterday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Jeff Potrykus blogged about Jon Leuer's Sunday shootaround with coach Gary Close. Apparently Leuer's wrist has been healing well enough to impress onlookers with his accuracy. It's a great sign, but there's still no timetable for his return. It's a big step from shooting to colliding with another 6'10" dude for 40 minutes.

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Rob Wilson got a little media ink last Friday when the Journal-Sentinel did a nice summary of his recent improvement. Wilson continued to play well on the road against Michigan, playing 20 turnover-free minutes. His scoring was down (5 pts), but he chipped in three rebounds and got to the line.

"He is tough driving into the lane," Bo Ryan said of Wilson. "He's got that little floater that when he is on the scout team we have a hard time stopping."

At the risk of jumping to conclusions, I hinted after the Purdue game that Bo was starting to transition away from heavy use of Tim Jarmusz now that some of his younger players are stepping up. Even though Ryan Evans only played 25 minutes in the next two games, Wilson has played 44 minutes to TJ's 45 minutes since then.

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Howard Moore continues to recruit Chicago. Illinois Prep Bullseye reported that Moore was spotted a couple weeks ago at a Chicago De LaSalle game with his eyes on junior Mike Shaw and freshman Alex Foster:

"Among the coaches in the gym were University Of Illinois head coach Bruce Weber, Purdue University assistant coach Rick Ray and University Of Wisconsin assistant coach Howard Moore.

"Weber was also there to get yet another look at De LaSalle's talented underclass duo of 6'8 class of 2011 forward Mike Shaw and 6'7 class of 2013 forward Alex Foster. Ray's main focus was on Foster, who has already received a scholarship offer from Purdue (as well as Illinois), while Moore was also taking a close look at both Shaw and Foster."

Shaw has been ballyhooed for years and would seem like an odd player to recruit considering the AAU handlers that seemed to be involved in his recruitment. That leads me to believe Moore was particularly interested in Foster, one of three Class of 2013 youngsters being hailed as the collective second coming in Illinois.

George Marshall Plans His Next Step

Multiple sources are reporting tonight that Chicago Brooks Prep guard George Marshall, Jr. has verbally committed to Bo Ryan's Badgers.

Marshall told ChicagoHoops.com that he appreciated Wisconsin's academics and the exciting atmosphere, even calling UW "a basketball school." Interesting to hear. The 5'11" junior also stressed the good relationship he has built with Howard Moore, so score another one for the Duck.

The commitment is the second in Wisconsin's 2011 class, which has room for four players. Both Marshall and forward Devon Hodges hail from Coach Moore's old stomping grounds in the Chicago area. The Badgers absolutely had to have a true point guard in this group and Marshall fits the bill. He is known as a smart floor general-type with a respected jump shot. With the next lead guard in the fold, Wisconsin has outstanding offers to combo guards Traevon Jackson and Chasson Randle, as well as forward Markus Crider.

Interest from a number of big-time programs had been picking up lately, so Wisconsin may be gaining the services of a young player on the rise. Marshall missed a portion of the summer with an injury, which kept him a little under the radar. Check out Marshall's current scouting ranks on his Prospect Profile page.

Just yesterday, Marshall put home the go ahead lay-up with 20 seconds left to lead Brooks over Nicolet, 59-57, in a high school event in Glendale, Wis. Marshall is averaging around 16 ppg this season for the Eagles.

Thoughts On The Devon Hodges Commitment

Things are suddenly looking a bit brighter in the land of Badger basketball. On the heels of Wisconsin's 2-0 start in Big Ten play, Bo Ryan's program received their first pledge in the 2011 class from Romeoville, Illinois sophomore Devon Hodges.

From what I have read, Hodges does all of his damage from inside the three-point line. He played a little center for Romeoville last year as a freshman and at age 15, could still grow a few more inches. Hodges has 31 blocked shots this year in 10 games.

Corralling Hodges continues one of the recruiting trends of the Bo Ryan-era: pouncing on virtual unknowns quietly before their recruitment heats up. Many fans probably are hearing about Hodges for the first time today, or maybe last week when the scholarship offer was reported. The exact same thing happened with Ryan Evans late in the Class of 2008. While it is way too early to tell what kind of returns Evans and Ian Markolf will bring, Jon Leuer was another player that Bo's staff went after vigorously before most other major programs. Others that did not sign with Wisconsin include Florida's Chandler Parsons. The staff has a good track record for evaluating talent.

Wisconsin's Class of 2011 still has three scholarships unaccounted for to replace an outgoing class of Jon Leuer, Keaton Nankivil, Tim Jarmusz and J.P. Gavinski. Getting a player of Hodges' size and athleticism in this particular four-player class was a must. Finding a point guard in this class is also key. The state of Illinois is deep at this position in the current crop of high schoolers.

Hodges' verbal gives Howard Moore his second verbal commitment from the Land of Lincoln in the past 10 months (Diamond Taylor '09). Moore has obviously built up nice visibility and a good rapport with the Illinois Wolves AAU club that both Hodges and Taylor have played for. This signing bodes well for UW's chances with a couple of other Wolves to whom Wisconsin recently offered scholarships.

As One Era Begins, Another Era Closes

Wednesday officially signalled Ryan Evans' acceptance into the Wisconsin basketball family with a signed Letter of Intent, completing a diverse freshman class for next season. The Badgers will bring in five new players next fall without a single native Wisconsinite among them. Evans' uncle Dave, a former All-American wrestler at UW, might actually make Ryan the closest thing to home-grown talent that the staff has signed for 2008.

For the third year in a row, none of the incoming scholarship players will be from Milwaukee. How long will that continue now that the legendary Tom Diener has resigned from his post at Milwaukee Vincent?

If there is a scarcity of college-ready talent in the city, it is not Diener's fault. In his 15 years as head coach at Vincent, Diener sent a multitude of very skilled players off to various Division I college basketball programs. In fact, Wisconsin's last two scholarship players out of Milwaukee--Marcus Landry and Boo Wade--both played under Diener for powerhouse Vincent squads. Ray Nixon also started his career at Vincent. The coach was a pretty solid player himself at UW-Green Bay.

As Mark Miller notes, Diener's Vikings dominated the Milwaukee City Conference in recent years, not to mention winning the five state championships. Diener won more gold balls than any other Division 1 coach in WIAA history via a three-peat (1996-98) and additional back-to-back titles (2000-01), plus won two silver runner-up trophies (2005 & 2007).

Diener was impressive in molding the talent around him into winners through defensive intensity. In a lot of ways, Diener's top players were ideal Badgers, provided they could make the grades and stay out of trouble.

With scholarships accounted for in 2009 and offers already extended to other in 2010, it may be awhile before another Badger emerges from the state's largest city. It's too early to tell, but 2001 PG Larry Bradley from Vincent appears to be the only one out there. Perhaps the assistant who scours the Milwaukee area for Bo can take some much-needed vacation time.

We know conclusively that Howard Moore is hard at work all over the country. After Ryan Evans signed his LOI, Moore was finally able to comment on his third Badger recruiting success. Moore revealed some interesting comparisons, both physical and social, regarding Evans. Needless to say, Moore is excited about the Ryan Evans era.

I bet Evans appeared much different on Moore's highlight reel than he did on the game film I downloaded the other night. I felt pretty stupid that it took me almost the entire game to realize it was a game from Evans' junior season. That would seem to partially explain his slow defensive footwork and lack of aggression on the glass despite being one of the tallest players on the court. It is not surprising that it might take more than a year to adjust to growing six inches all of a sudden. In the clips I have seen elsewhere, Evans does look noticeably bigger nowadays.

I'm sure Diener would have loved coaching Evans this year. He could have gone out with another gold ball.

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Links:
- Brian Butch plays too soft for pro ball. Duh ... but hearing it from a French dude?! Ouch.
- Another duh: Bucks fire "the other" Coach K
- Marquette keeps Mbakwe and replaces a star recruit with another JUCO

A Diamond In The Rough

Wisconsin secures a second 2009 recruit in Taylor
Diamond Taylor, a 6'3" guard out of famed St. Joseph's High School in Chicago has verbally committed to Bo Ryan's Badgers.

True to form, this process was completed without flash and no fanfare (yet), as word leaked out on the Internet late at night in the middle of a pretty crazy week. The euphoria of clinching a share of the Big Ten title is still lingering and the state is now full swing into the WIAA boys state tournament as well.

Taylor will bring more athleticism and a bit of size to the Badger backcourt in about 17 months. He is known to be a good shooter, but sounds like he needs to hit the weights. Not a problem though; he's got another year of high school left. You cannot overlook the importance of coming from a quality program like St. Joe's as well, which has served as a launching pad for several current Big Ten players and the infamous Isaiah Thomas. The only downside of the deal is that UW fans will have to get used to having two different Taylors (Jordan and Diamond) on the roster starting in 2009.

I'm happy for Howard Moore, whose persistence really paid off finally (Wisconsin beat Illinois to the punch on offering a scholarship). Moore nabbed his first recruit from his home turf and the first recruit out of Illinois for Bucky since "the DeAaron Williams Experience." Taylor should fill a big need for Wisconsin in this class.

The commitment leaves the staff with one more scholarship to work with in the meantime. Wisconsin can use that on another player yet for 2008 or go full bore after the apple of their eye for the following season. A bigger wing or versatile forward would be ideal. I'm holding out hope that the urgency of snagging UW's final schollie might persuade Jamil Wilson to warm up to the Badgers more rapidly, but Wilson's recent decision to announce his college destination next March makes that seem unlikely. Add to this the academic troubles of some other talented power forward prospects and Royce White's continued difficulties, and you realize the final piece of Wisconsin's next recruiting class could just as easily be big man Kyle Rowley, shooter Jacob Jenkins or another unknown.

Unlike Mike Bruesewitz, Taylor was a well-known commodity and it is good to have him in the fold, albeit unofficially.

Taylor's Internet rankings among the Class of 2009:
Ranked #67 (4 Stars) nationally by Rivals.com
Ranked a 3-Star recruit by Scout
Ranked #3 in Illinois by Chicago Hoops blurb
Ranked #8 in Illinois by IllinoisHSbasketball.com