Okay, folks, here's a nice little off-season trivia challenge for you. Will 7-foot-3 La Salle recruit Jameson Keefe be the tallest player ever in the Big 5 when he arrives at 20th and Olney?
Thus far, with some help from Daily News assistant managing editor Pat McLoone, I have him tied with Villanova's Tom Greis, and just edging out the late Robert Liburd of Temple at 7-foot-2 and 7-footers even Tom Piotrowski of La Salle and Conor Tolan of Penn.
If you know of anyone taller, let me know and I'll be glad to give you credit. In the meantime, a few national odds and ends...
ESPN.com's Andy Katz reports that Kentucky wants to get out of a game this coming season against UMass at the New Garden in Boston, and is willing to send a $50,000 check to Amherst to do so... make that did so already. UMass AD John McCutcheon. says in the press release that "it is very unprofessional to treat a fellow institution in this fashion."
Now, I'll grant that not-as-Big-as-it-used-to-be Blue has games next season against UNC and Louisville at home; plays in a Coaches vs. Cancer Classic that also includes UConn, Oklahoma and Memphis; and goes to Indiana and Houston, the latter of which will make new coach Billy Gillespie happy.
But UMass loses Rashaun Freeman, Stephane Lasme and James Life going into next year, and the school had already sold 7,000 tickets for the game. So whether or not Kentucky wants out of that game for fear of losing it -- a claim I am always happy to make on behalf of lesser schools who lose home games against bigger schools even if it isn't true -- it seems to me the Minutemen are right to complain.
Also, Cornell forward Geoff Reeves' passport was one of a few valuable objects stolen from the Cornell locker room on Saturday, just a few days before the team leaves for a 10-day trip to France on Wednesday. That's not good, whether you're an Ivy League team or not. If you know where it is, get that thing overnighted to Ithaca, N.Y., if you don't mind.
