The Five Degrees of Separation Blog

One of the great things about college athletics is the endless web of relationships that extend across the country among coaches, administrators, athletes and ex-athletes. I'll expend a few electrons this week on some of the Idaho State and Pocatello connections that have popped up via the Internet recently: former Idaho State assistant basketball coach Louis Wilson (above) was recently named the head coach at Division II Adams State. Wilson, who was on Doug Oliver's staff at ISU for eight years, comes to Adams State from Cal-Northridge, where he was recently promoted to associate head coach. He inherits a team that finished 8-19 overall and 5-14 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Louis' son, Jacques, played at Century High School and recently completed his collegiate career at Eastern Oregon....

....Greg Byrne, son of former ISU student body president and current Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne, was recently named athletic director at Arizona. Byrne, 38, moves to Tucson from Mississippi State, where he was one of the youngest Division I ADs in the country when he was hired there two years ago. He's already had the experience of firing the football coach and replacing him at MSU. His dad, Bill, served as the long-time athletic director at Nebraska before departing for Texas A&M. He was fast friends with the late Dubby Holt going back to Byrne's days as student body president and Dubby's as ISU athletic director....

....This one is kind of a stretch, but new Hawaii basketball coach Gib Arnold has a loose connection to Pocatello. His father, former BYU coach Frank Arnold, started his coaching career at Pocatello High School. Arnold, who was hired by Hawaii from his latest position as an assistant at USC, has other Idaho roots -- his only head coaching experience was at College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, where he led CSI to the national junior college tournament in 2004 and 2005....

....Josh Fuller of Rexburg's Madison High School was recently named the outstanding player in the Upper Snake River Valley by the Idaho Falls Post Register. The 6-foot-7 forward, who signed with Utah in the fall, averaged 21 points and nearly eight rebounds a game for the Bobcats. He is the son of former Bengal forward David Fuller, who played for ISU from 1989 to 1991....

....Future Bengal point guard Sheryl Bitter of Shelley was also honored by the Post Register, named to their first-team all-area squad....

....Another future Bengal, Andre Hatchett, a 6-4 wing man from the Tucson area, was recently named to the Arizona Republic's second-team 4A all-state team. Hatchett led his Santa Rita team to the Arizona state title, along with teammate Terrell Stoglin, a Maryland signee. Hatchett scored 26 points in the championship contest....

....And finally, here's a gratuitous Kentucky link for my broadcasting partner and fervent UK supporter Mark Liptak. Kiel Turpin, a 7-foot-1 center who could barely walk and chew gum at the same time in high school, has come on with a rush, leading Lincoln College of Illinois to the Division II junior college national championship and earning MVP honors last week. Turpin is the son of former Kentucky and NBA center Mel Turpin. Oh, and there is an Idaho State connection here. John Hutchinson, former graduate school dean at ISU, is the outgoing president of Lincoln College. Hutchinson is retiring after five years at the school to become a higher education head hunter.....

Big Sky Basketball is Officially Over

Northern Colorado became the last Big Sky Conference school to hang up the foot wear this year, losing to Pacific 63-59 in the second round of the College Insider Tournament in Greeley Monday night. The Bears, who had a school record 25 wins just three years after being the lowest-rated Division I team in America, hosted two games in the CIT, which is geared toward so-called "mid-major programs." They beat Portland last week before losing to the Tigers. In order to get the host role, they had to put up $31,000 a game. Northern Colorado estimated they needed 2,400 fans in their 2,900-seat facility in order to break even on each game. They drew only 1,800 in their opener, but had almost 2,600 last night.

Weber President in a Powerful Position

Weber State University President Ann Millner may not know it, but she is one of the 18 most powerful people in college basketball right now. Dr. Millner is part of the 18-member NCAA Division I Board and Executive Committee. She and her 17 fellow presidents will make the ultimate decision on whether to expand the NCAA basketball tournament. The NCAA has until July 31 of this year to decide whether to continue its contract with CBS to televise the tournament, and a lot people are speculating the NCAA will expand the tournament to 96 teams in order to increase television revenue, whether it be from CBS or another entity. The NCAA gets 90 percent of its revenue from the tournament television contract.

--Brad Bugger