ESPN.com Rumor Central posted yesterday that transferring Texas A&M guard, Jamal Branch, was considering Marquette as a possible destination:

"Last week we wrote about the decision of Texas A&M freshman Jamal Branch to transfer, and now Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com reports that the freshman guard would like to join Marquette.

The only question is whether Buzz Williams and the Golden Eagles have a mutual interest in the 6-foot-3 point guard.

Branch averaged 4.2 points in 18.6 minutes per game during his short-lived 11-game career with the Aggies. Ranked the No. 51 recruit in the class of 2011 by ESPNU, one has to believe there will be plenty of interest in Branch, whether from Marquette or elsewhere"

Now, as this post points out, we don't know whether or not the interest is mutual. And I'm not exactly sure how this would work, since MU does not currently have a scholarship available for next season. But it is something to keep an eye on. Branch would obviously fit right in at Marquette, which is clearly the #1 destination in college basketball for dudes with a first name of Jam_l.

In recruiting news that I've been meaning to write about for about a week or so, espn.com's Paul Biancardi posted on Twitter last Friday that New Hampshire big man Zach Auguste has become a top target for Buzz Williams and Marquette.

Zach Auguste, a 6'9" 205lb power forward, is native of Marlorough, MA now playing at The New Hampton School in New Hampton, NH.  Word from the people that are into such things, is that Auguste has been rapidly gaining momentum over the course of the summer season.  After initially garnering attention from some mid-level, high major schools, Zach's strong summer has drawn the eyes of some of college basketball's upper tier programs.  At the end of August he trimmed his list down to his final four,  which featured Florida, West Virginia, and Georgia Tech, as well as Marquette.  In a report from  Adam Finkelstein on espn.com, Zach offered up his thoughts on each of his final four schools.  Regarding Marquette he said "Buzz Williams is a great coach and they get after it defensively," he said. "My strong suit is blocking shots so I think I'd fit in real well."

With that quote, you can probably guess that one of the better aspects of Zach's game is shot blocking.  He also draws high marks for his length and athleticism, along with his ability to run the floor and finish around the rack.  On the flip side, people did use the words "potential", "raw", even "lackadaisical" when describing his game.  To some those kind of words often signal the potential for disappointment in a recruit.  But the reality is pretty much every incoming college big man, that isn't just biding his time until next June's draft, has some of those words associated with him.  Word is that Zach will be taking (or has already taken) his official visit to Marquette this week.

In the event Coach Buzz and Co. are unable to land Auguste, Biancardi also points out that MU is in play for 6'10" PF Phillip Nolan and 7'0" C Blaise Mbargorba. 

Nolan is a Milwaukee native, and former Milwaukee Vincent standout, now playing at St. Benedict's Prep in New Jersey.  He is regarded as a versatile big man that could possibly play all 3 front court positions.  He currently holds offers from Baylor and Maryland, along with Marquette.  While Mbargorba, a true center from Highstown, NJ, is the only one of the 3 players currently ranked in the ESPNU Top 100.  Perhaps even more so than Auguste, the word "raw" is used when reading scouting reports Mbargorba.  But you can't teach 7 feet tall, so Blaise has gotten offers from Marquette, Vanderbilt, Iowa State, Clemson, Seton Hall and St. Joe's.

The one thing all three have in common is the need to "add strength" at the next level.  So whoever ends up being the next Golden Eagle can guarantee they'll be spending plenty of time with this man.  Stay tuned.

As our loyal reader(s) are aware, I'm an expansion junky and certified expansion worrier.  Marquette has a great gig in the Big East, but due to the Big East's football versus basketball membership split, MU is in a precarious long term membership situation.  This is not just about football, this is also about being the new kid in the block in the league and fielding the minimum required number of Division athletic teams (before lacrosse comes on board).

The new rounds of Texas A&M-to-the-SEC rumors have spawned various potential threatening situations for Marquette.  So, let's look at the convoluted possibilities after the jump.

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At some point yesterday, someone in College Station, TX, decided to turn on one of those new fangled Google machines and investigate how much money it was going to take to match and then outdo what Marquette is paying head coach Buzz Williams.  Based on the tweets from San Antonio Express-News reporter Brent Zwerneman, it appears to have come as a complete shock to everyone related to Texas A&M University that Buzz is being compensated to the tune of nearly $4 million a year.  I don't understand how this is possible, seeing as it has only been 42 days since Buzz and Marquette agreed to his brand new contract, not to mention that a school in their own conference, the University of Oklahoma, is largely responsible for that new contract existing.

The thing in the SAEN story that I'm actually most interested by is the part about who A&M would be hiring as an assistant coach.  The story claims that, after swiping Buzz from MU, A&M would hire a local high school coach who's currently coaching an ESPN top 50 2012 recruit.  Oh, and he also happens to be said recruit's father.  Am I insane or is both hiring a high school coach AND hiring a recruit's parent in order to land that recruit a massive NCAA violation?

Seeing as the A&M athletic department's PR skills are a complete joke (seriously, who lets out both "What? He's making HOW much?  Oh, we're NEVER paying that!" and "Hey, we're gonna hire that kid's dad so he comes here!" to reporters?), I am forced to believe the list of coaches in this Dallas Morning News article is completely legit.  So now A&M has gone from Buzz or Josh Pastner (who flat won't even consider talking to A&M, surprising NO ONE), to two guys who couldn't finish over .500 in the conference that A&M is in, the guy who replaced Mark Turgeon at Wichita State, and a 53 year old who hasn't coached in 9 years.  Smooth.

In the wake of the news that (now former) Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon has accepted Maryland's offer to replace the recently retired Gary Williams, there's been some mild to moderate concern expressed that Marquette coach Buzz Williams, a former assistant at A&M and Texas native, might be interested in the TAMU coaching job. Some of that concern, of course, is fueled by the predictable and incessant (and apparently sourceless) speculation of Badger Boy Andy Katz, who was quick to stoke the "Hey, Buzz at A&M would make a lot of sense" fires last night.

For m'self, and only m'self: I'm not convinced that I should be worried. At least not yet. Here's why:

The following is a list of the coaches that Texas A&M has employed since 1963:

• Shelby Metcalf (who coached there for 26 years until he was fired in 1990);
• John Thornton (who finished the year after Metcalf was dumped);
• Kermit Davis, Jr. who left Idaho to take over in College Station;
• Tony Barone, hired away from Creighton;
• Melvin Watkins, who came from Charlotte;
• Billy Gillispie, who jumped from UTEP;
• and Turgeon, who was lured away from Wichita State.

It could be a big week for Golden Eagle recruiting.  A couple of Marquette's top targets of the early recruiting period are set to announce decisions in the next few days.

Rodney Hood, a 6'8" forward from Meridian, MS, will likely announce a decision tomorrow.  Hood is seen as kind of a long shot for MU, but he did take an official visit earlier in the month.  Along with Marquette, Mississippi State, Alabama, Florida State and of course Louisville (who seems to be in on every 6'8" small forward) are all reportedly in the mix for Rodney's services. 

Nick Faust, a 6'5" guard from Baltimore, MD, is slated to announce his decision on ESPNU on Thursday.  For a good portion of the summer and fall Marquette and Maryland appeared to be front-runners for Nick.  Villanova and Florida State have been said to be in the mix as well.  Recently the rumor was that Faust had dropped MU from consideration and that Kansas and Memphis were now getting consideration.  Who knows what is or isn't true regarding all these rumors?  What I do know is that Faust is a talented player who can really "score the basketball," and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Lastly, Mike Shaw, a 6'8" power forward from Chicago (and Mr. McCarter's dream recruit), appears to have opted against waiting until spring to make a decision and will reportedly be making his decision this Thursday as well.  Shaw was on hand for Marquette Madness a couple weeks ago and was rumored to be one of the top priorities -- if not THE top priority -- for Buzz Williams and Co.  Word back then was that Shaw may not decide until the spring, but now it appears that is not the case.  Rumors trickling out from the Chicago Sun Times, and other sources, is that Shaw will choose Illinois over MU and DePaul.  Again, I will still be keeping my fingers crossed. 

As always, I acknowledge that all of this is purely speculation and rumor that is being floated out there on the interwebs, and that just because a player is rated in the top 50 by a recruiting service does not in any way guarantee future success.  But bringing in new talent is vital to a program's continued success.  And besides that, it's just plain fun to talk about.

The possibilities for punny headlines are almost limitless:

WE BARELY KNEW YOUS.

I WILL REMEMBER YOUS.

WHAT'S THE YOUS? MBAO GONE.

YOUS SAYS GOOD-BYE, GARDNER SAYS HELLO.

YOUS-LESS: MBAO MOVES ON.

Anyway ...

Just when I learned to spell his first name, Youssoupha Mbao has announced that he's transferring from Marquette.  His career stats:

Games played: 10
Total minutes: 60
Total points: 1
Total rebounds: 7
Total fouls: 13
Minutes at the point of that ridiculous 1-3-1 trap zone that Coach Buzz felt compelled to try: Too many
Number of exasperated, "What the hell is Yous doing?!?!" texts sent during the ten games in which he played: 25.  And those are just mine.

But the most important number, in my mind, is five: Yous Mbao is the fifth sixth player to transfer/quit/be forced off the team on Coach Buzz's watch, following Trevor Mbakwe, Pat Hazel, Brett Roseboro, and Mo Acker (who was cut last summer, then asked to rejoin the team after Roseboro quit).  [EDIT: somehow, I completely forgot about Jeronne Maymon.  On the bright side, that means that I've successfully obliterated any trace of TIMMAY! from my memory.  So I've got that going for me.]

Listen, I know that college sports is a business, and, more and more, it's becoming an ugly business. And, granted, not all five of the Mbakwe-Hazel-Roseboro-Acker-Yous group can be counted as cuts or forced transfers.  Mbakwe, from all appearances, is just a knucklehead who's given to listening to very, very bad advice, and Roseboro couldn't hack it after a week of scrimmaging.  Those things happen.

The Hazel, Acker, and Mbao cases, on the other hand, don't sit well with me.  Hazel, of course, was never going to be a high major player, but I've never heard that he was a malcontent or didn't practice hard or anything like that.  He simply wasn't good enough, so he was shown the door.  Acker's situation has always rubbed me the wrong way; the "he needs to focus on his academics" line that Coach Buzz used as the reason for Mo being kicked off the team was patent horsecrap.  If Mo wasn't considered a high-major player, or if there were other reasons why he was asked to leave, then Coach Buzz should've released a terse "Mo's not with our team anymore.  We wish him the best in the future" and left it at that.  He didn't have to tell us the reason Acker was being kicked off the team, but he didn't have to lie to us, either.

And now there's Mbao, a kid who Coach Buzz moved heaven and earth to land and to get cleared for play.  For a team bereft of height, Mbao looked like a godsend.  But as soon as he stepped on the court, it became woefully obvious that Yous wouldn't be able to contribute this year, and that it was going to take a ton of work to transform him into a ten- to fifteen-minute-per-game player next year.  He was too raw, too awkward, too thin, too unsure of what to do on a basketball court. 

Maybe those things could have been overcome, and maybe Yous would have developed into an Ousmane Barro-type in a couple of years.  But we'll never know, and I sure hope the reason isn't that somebody better -- in this case, Davante Gardner -- came along.

[Rubie sez: with the rumor mill running red hot, I thought it would be a good time to re-post Warrior Brad's excellent primer on the potential expansion of the Big 11, which originally ran on Quevedo at the Buffet in January.  As a native Husker and Big XII-er, Warrior Brad will have an updated post on why Missouri and Nebraska might be willing to jump ship and set sail with the S.S. Delany.]

First, the big question: Why does the Big 11 want to expand?

The answer is simple: money. It all comes back to cold, hard cash. Expanding, whether to 12, 14 or 16 teams would open up multiple revenue streams and/or improve current competitiveness.

Expand TV Markets

The Big Ten Network has been a boon to the conference, raking in a reported $9-10MM annually per school. As it stands, the BTN is a regional cable power. To ensure continued growth, the BTN needs to expand into other markets to get coveted standard tier cable inclusion and, as a result, more eyeballs. Forcing their way into virgin cable packages increases their revenue from both cable companies and advertisers.

Title Game

Adding a 12^th member would allow the Big 11 to stage a conference title game in football. Not only is a title game a revenue generator, but it helps the Big 11 to keep pace with the other major conferences: the SEC, Big XII, and to a lesser extent, ACC. The SEC netted "only" $15MM last year from their wildly successful title game, so it’s safe to say the title game is a secondary concern to the TV markets.

Marketing & Mindshare

As it stands, the Big 11 football season ends the weekend before Thanksgiving. The other conferences have two more weeks of football after that to generate money and interest. The Big 11 is completely off the national radar during that timeframe, which has a negative effect on recruiting and further diminishes the Big 11’s brand.

Recruiting

This feeds out of a couple points above, but merits a separate mention. Expanding into new, key areas could open up heretofore, uncharted recruiting territory for the Big 11. NYC would be a huge get for basketball and adding Missouri would open a closer, though indirect, link to the talent rich football areas of Oklahoma and Texas. This is a particularly timely mention because many of the Rust Belt’s best football prospects are fleeing south this year. Is that the start of a trend?

On-Field Disadvantage?

Many have hypothesized that the Big 11 season’s early conclusion creates a disadvantage to its teams by lengthening the layoff before the bowl games. This is hard to prove and likely just a flimsy excuse for the conference’s recent struggles, particularly in BCS games.

Other Considerations

Much will be made of the academic implications that need to be considered. Those associated with the Big 11 have mentioned that any new member must also be a member of the Association of American Universities, which is a group of the top 62 research universities. Some select quotes from a New York Times story really paint the picture the Big 11 would like the public to believe.

"It’s significant that we have institutions that meet the academic standing and reputation of institutions now in the Big Ten," Gee said. "I don’t want to coin a phrase here, but we are sort of the public equivalent of the Ivy League in our quality."

Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Syracuse would probably give serious consideration to joining the Big Ten to enhance their academic reputations, said Kyle V. Sweitzer, a data resource analyst at Michigan State who wrote about university ambitions and conference affiliations in the most recent issue of New Directions for Higher Education.

Still, Rutgers and others would be "foolish not to explore" a move to the Big Ten, Sweitzer said. "No question the Big Ten has the academic reputation to go along with athletics," he said. "I’m not sure the Big East does as a whole."

Ah, nothing likes the typical Big 11 academic elitist tripe. Regardless of what the talking heads may say, this decision is not about academics. Anyone that the Big 11 would consider on an athletic and market basis is already on the list of 62 schools, rendering their posturing a moot point.

COMING SOON: On the prospects of the other MU (that's Mizzou) and NU moving to the Big 11, and what this could all mean for your Marquette Golden Eagles.