AAC Basketball

Mercy Miller, son of rapper and producer Master P, announced on Instagram on Monday that he has committed to play basketball at the University of Houston.

Miller is heading into his sophomore season at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis. Though 247Sports doesn't yet have composite rankings for the class of 2024, Miller had already earned scholarship offers from Houston, Minnesota and Hampton.

Master P also discussed the commitment on Instagram:

My son [Mercy] has already won a High School State Championship as a Freshman. For the future, he's focused on winning a College Championship where all the great legends came from like Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. And that's why he decided to make an early commitment to the University of Houston.

The 6'4" combo guard took an unofficial visit to Houston last week, according to Brandon Jenkins of 247Sports.

Miller's father has high expectations for the emerging talent. 

"In the state championship game at only 15 years old he had 15 points in that game, and he’s the No. 1 player in Minnesota so he’s just getting better and better," he told 247Sports.

Last season, Miller played alongside Chet Holmgren, the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2021 class. Jalen Suggs, the No. 5 pick in the 2021 NBA draft, also went to Minnehaha before starring at Gonzaga.

Master P, who was born Percy Miller, played some NBA Summer League and has appeared in the All-Star Celebrity Game. Mercy's older brother Romeo spent two years at USC but left and started his own music career. 

Emoni Bates will be playing college basketball after all.

The highly regarded prospect committed to the Memphis Tigers on Wednesday, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

Bates is a 5-star prospect and the No. 4 overall player in the class of 2021, per 247Sports' composite rankings. He decided to reclassify to the 2021 class in August.

He initially committed to Michigan State but decommitted from the Spartans on April 30.

"I would like to thank Tom Izzo and the coaching staff at Michigan State, but I have decided to reopen my recruitment," he wrote on Instagram. "I'm not sure what my future holds, but I am keeping all of my options open, both college and pro."

His decommitment came slightly more than two months after Enoch Boakye, who was a 4-star prospect on 247Sports' composite rankings, decommitted from Michigan State in February. Boakye eventually joined the Arizona State Sun Devils after he reclassified to the 2021 class.

As for Bates, it was once widely expected he would go the professional route after he decommitted from the Spartans.

Jeff Borzello of ESPN noted Michigan State was the only program that seriously recruited him because many were "skeptical that Bates will actually attend college, thinking he would potentially prefer to go to the G League for a year before the NBA."

In the end, he chose to play for head coach Penny Hardaway instead of following in the footsteps of previous prospects such as Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Isaiah Todd and Daishen Nix.

Bates, who 247Sports' Brandon Jenkins compared to Paul George, has the skill set to lead his new team to the Final Four as soon as his freshman season.

His versatility on both ends of the floor sticks out, as he can shoot over smaller defenders, take bigger ones off the bounce, facilitate to teammates when he penetrates and draws double teams, and defend multiple positions thanks to his length at 6'8" and his overall athleticism.

If he lives up to expectations at Memphis, he will likely be a high NBA draft pick in the near future.

He can also propel the Tigers to the next step considering they have not made the NCAA men's tournament since the 2013-14 campaign. The program is looking to return to national prominence and the Final Four, which it last reached in 2008.

Landing players like Bates is exactly how it can do just that.

Former NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace is reportedly joining Penny Hardaway's coaching staff at the University of Memphis. 

Per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Wallace has agreed to a deal to become an assistant coach for the Tigers. 

Wallace was best known for his boisterous personality on the court as an NBA player. He was an integral part of the Detroit Pistons' run of success in the mid-2000s after being acquired in a February 2004 trade with the Portland Trail Blazers. 

The Pistons won the 2004 NBA title after adding Wallace to the roster. He averaged 13 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in 23 starts that postseason. He also helped the team reach the NBA Finals the following year and the Eastern Conference Finals every year from 2004-08. 

After retiring from the NBA following the 2012-13 season, Wallace was hired as an assistant by the Pistons on head coach Maurice Cheeks' staff. He remained with the team all season after Cheeks was fired midway through the year. 

More recently, Wallace has worked as a high school head coach at Charles E. Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina, in 2019-20. He was hired by N.C. Good Better Best Academy Eagles to coach the men's basketball team in June. 

Wallace will be reunited with former Pistons head coach Larry Brown at Memphis. Brown accepted an offer to be an assistant for the Tigers in July.

Hardaway is entering his fourth season as head coach at Memphis. The former Orlando Magic star has a 63-32 record at his alma mater, but they have yet to make the NCAA tournament.    

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Larry Brown revealed that he contracted the Delta variant of COVID-19 while attending the 2021 Nike EYBL Peach Jam Basketball Tournament in Augusta, South Carolina.

"Unfortunately I got sick, right after it was over, I got that delta variant, and I was kind of out for about 10 to 12 days, but I'm all good now and anxious to get back," Brown said on the Jason and John Show on 92.9 FM ESPN (h/t Claire Kuwana of the Memphis Commercial Appeal).

The 80-year-old Brown also said that he is vaccinated and made a full recovery.

Brown now works as an assistant coach under Penny Hardaway for the University of Memphis. The two men were at the tournament to watch Jalen Duren, a 5-star center from the class of 2021 who has committed to Memphis.

Brown's lengthy resume included an NCAA Division I men's championship with Kansas in 1988 and the 2004 NBA title with the Detroit Pistons. He notably coached seven different NBA teams from 1988-2010.

As a player, he won an Olympic gold medal for Team USA in the 1964 Summer Games.

Memphis Tigers head coach Penny Hardaway is trying to lure Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown back onto the sidelines, again. According to John Martin of The Athletic, Hardaway is hoping Brown will join him as an assistant coach after striking out on him three years ago.

CBS Sports' Gary Parrish reported in 2018 that then-Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen was "hesitant" to add Brown to Hardaway's staff after the former Kansas and NBA coach resigned at SMU in 2016 following an NCAA investigation into the program.

Brown was suspended for 30 percent of the Mustangs' season in 2015-16, and the program was banned from postseason play, after the NCAA cited Brown for failing to report academic fraud violations. He last coached with Auxilium Torino in 2018, but was fired from the Italian league following a 5-19 start to the season. 

Still the only head coach to win an NCAA title and NBA championship, the 80-year-old New Yorker hasn't served as a college assistant coach since working under Dean Smith at North Carolina from 1965-1967, though he's occasionally returned to KU—where he won the 1988 NCAA tournament—to unofficially sit in on practices.

Brown told Martin an offer from Memphis has been discussed for a while now, but nothing has been made official—even as Hardaway continued to pursue him. 

Brown briefly coached Hardaway from 2004-2006 when the two overlapped during stints with the New York Knicks. 

Hardaway, 49, led Memphis to an NIT title in 2021 but is just 63-32 in three seasons without an NCAA tournament appearance despite stellar recruiting classes. The program appeared on track for the 2020 tournament before it was canceled because of COVID-19 .

The head coach hopes the next time he takes the court, he has Brown by his side helping lead the charge to the Tigers' first Final Four since 2008. 

UConn head women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma spoke out against the transfer portal system in college sports Wednesday.

According to ESPN's Harry Lyles Jr., Auriemma said: "It was gonna be a mess from the beginning, and it's a mess now, and it's going to be a bigger mess each and every year. A lot of these kids are delusional. You know, they have so many voices in their ear."

Auriemma took issue with the fact that there are 1,000 college athletes in the transfer portal, 200 of which haven't been contacted by another school and won't be returning to their previous school.

The 11-time NCAA women's basketball tournament-winning coach also expressed his belief that there is a double standard, noting that it is OK for a player to transfer without a concrete reason, while coaches can't revoke a scholarship for poor performance.

Auriemma added:

"There's something wrong with the recruiting system, there's something wrong with the culture of college basketball today, there's something wrong with the entitlement that happens to exist today.

"And there's something wrong with this idea of, you know, student-athlete welfare, that everything should be done to accommodate the student athlete, with no regard whatsoever, to the coaches who work their ass off, to recruit these kids in the first place, work with them, help them get better, make them the player that they are. And then they up and leave with no consequences whatsoever."

Transferring is easier than ever in college sports, as the requirement to sit out a season before playing for a new school has been eliminated for first-time transfers.

That has led to the transfer portal being flooded with players in every major sport during every offseason, and that has been the case with women's basketball as well.

While Auriemma isn't against the elimination of having to sit out for a year, he feels significant issues have led to the influx of transfers:

"But 1,000 kids? One thousand, it's unbelievable. And now, it's, you know, with the one time transfer, not having to sit out. Don't get me wrong, I don't disagree. I think it's great. But there's got to be something wrong with the culture if it's this bad. On both ends—on the kids, and then the coaches—there's got to be something wrong."

Since UConn is among the top teams in women's college basketball on a yearly basis, it tends to attract many of the top recruits.

That can make it difficult for players on the lower part of the roster to get playing time, resulting in some transfers.

Per Lyles, sophomore guard Anna Makurat and freshman guard Autumn Chassion both entered the transfer portal following the 2020-21 season.

Auriemma also used the transfer portal to his advantage, though, landing forward Dorka Juhasz from Ohio State.

UConn has not won a national title since 2016, but it has reached the Final Four every year since then, and with reigning Player of the Year Paige Bueckers returning for the 2021-22 season, the Huskies will be among the top picks to win it all.

Former Cincinnati Bearcats head coach John Brannen filed a federal lawsuit against the university, athletic director John Cunningham and school president Neville Pinto, according to Justin Williams of The Athletic. 

Williams noted the move was expected following Brennan's ousting in April after just two seasons. 

The exact nature of the complaint was not immediately available.

Cunningham announced an internal investigation into the program following the entrance of six Bearcats players into the transfer portal at the end of the season. 

"The University has always put the welfare of its student-athletes first," Cunningham said in announcing the investigation. "We feel this is an essential step to ensure that all of our athletic programs meet the highest standards." 

When Cunningham announced Brannen's suspension April 3, he explained the athletic department spoke with "student-athletes, coaches and staff, as well as with Coach Brannen" before reaching a decision but would not go into any of the allegations, findings or details uncovered. 

Per Williams:

"Details of the allegations against Brannen, the scope of the external review and/or any prior internal investigations by the university remain unknown at this time, although sources saidthey believe the external review to be a multifaceted, layered examination encompassing Brannen’s two seasons as coach of the Bearcats."

The AD called the entire situation a "personnel matter." Brannen was eventually fired April 9.

Wes Miller was hired as Brannen's replacement on April 14.

Now, Brannen will have an opportunity to plead his case on the record in front of a federal judge. 

After Brannen was placed on suspension pending the outcome of the investigation, the coach retained attorney Tom Mars, who quickly cast doubt on Cunningham's ability to conduct a thorough examination of the program. 

“It’s been my experience that collegiate ADs are experts at mishandling internal investigations, and this case is no exception,” Mars told The Athletic in April. “I’m in possession of a document that John Cunningham hasn’t seen. I haven’t decided when to share it with UC’s outside lawyers. But whenever John Cunningham does see it, I expect he’ll have a change of heart about the direction he’s been going and his decision to place Coach Brannen on administrative leave."

The University of Connecticut announced Friday it signed women's head basketball coach Geno Auriemma to a five-year contract extension through the Huskies' 2024-25 season.

The new deal is retroactive to the 2020-21 campaign and includes an annual base salary of $600,000 plus of media, consulting and speaking appearances fees worth $2.2 million in the first season. Auriemma's base salary will increase by $100,000 each year of the deal and includes postseason incentives meaning it's worth "at least $15 million," per Alexa Philippou of the Hartford Courant.

Auriemma, 67, has led UConn to 21 Final Four appearances and 11 national championships since taking over the program in 1985. He owns a career record of 1,119-144 record (.886 winning percentage) in 36 seasons.

His new contract includes a variety of incentives based on the team's performance and the option to receive either a job within the Huskies' athletic department with a $500,000 annual salary or a one-time $1.5 million payment if he retires or resigns from coaching in good standing, per Philippou.

Last July, Auriemma joked COVID-19 quarantine requirements that forced him to stay in the same spot for an extended time pushed him even further away from retirement thoughts, though.

"This is the longest I've been in one place in my life. I've been in Connecticut since the middle of March," he told reporters. "If this is what retirement is like, I've got no time for this. I'm not ready for this. No way, no how. I can't do this."

Although UConn hasn't won a national title since 2016, when the Huskies won their fourth straight championship, the program has retained powerhouse status with at least 28 wins and no more than three losses over the past five years. It reached the 2021 Final Four where it fell to Arizona.

The current Huskies roster features Paige Bueckers, one of the most prized recruits in recent history, and they added the second-best group of 2021 prospects, per ESPN.

Auriemma, an Italy native who grew up in Pennsylvania, has solidified his status as one of the greatest coaches in history between his success at UConn and leading the U.S. national team to three Olympic gold medals in women's basketball.

The contract extension should end any further questions about his short-term status.

An attorney for former Cincinnati men's basketball coach John Brannen denied Brannen bribed players not to come forward about compliance issues within the program.

"Coach Brannen paid $135 of his own money so one of his players could see a mental health professional during the pandemic," Tom Mars wrote Tuesday. "UC Athletics has no psychologist on staff, instead opting to outsource those services to a Kentucky clinical psychologist whose advertisements say that he sees patients about infertility, gender identity, amnesia and infidelity."

The Cincinnati Enquirer's Keith Jenkins obtained the termination letter Cincinnati Director of Athletics sent to Brannen on April 9. Cunningham said Brannen "failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the men's basketball program with respect to rules, regulations and policies and have further jeopardized and/or disregarded the well-being, health and safety of student-athletes, despite written reprimand":

Moreover, you have made, attempted, arranged or otherwise made payment for special benefits for a student-athlete other than through approved channels; intimidated and/or attempted to intimidate students from raising proper compliance concerns; as you have previously been notified, running one or more practices without proper precautions for player health and safety and repeatedly violated time management plan policies; and not been forthcoming with the University regarding your actions.

Cincinnati moved on from Brannen on April 9 following an investigation during which administrators spoke with players, coaches and staffers. The school had placed him on administrative leave, a step that came after six Bearcats players entered the transfer portal.

According to Jenkins, Brannen was also reprimanded last November after staging a practice that wasn't pre-approved by the team's training staff. The workout reportedly was so intense that one player required help to leave the court.

In a statement to the Enquirer, Mars countered that Brannen's firing was the culmination of "a pre-determined plan" to oust him without being on the hook for his $5 million buyout.

Brannen spent two years in charge at Cincinnati, with the Bearcats going 32-21. The university hired Wes Miller as his replacement on April 14.

UConn announced star basketball player Paige Bueckers underwent surgery Friday to repair an osteochondral defect on her right ankle, per ESPN Women's Hoops.

She is expected to return by the start of preseason action in September.

Beuckers averaged 20.0 points, 5.8 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game last season on her way to becoming the Associated Press Women's Basketball Player of the Year—and the first freshman ever to win the award.

The guard was the clear go-to option for a team that reached the Final Four before losing to Arizona in the national semifinals.

Since 1995, every other winner has been a junior or senior except former UConn stars Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart, who both won as sophomores.

Bueckers' impressive performance in her first collegiate season wasn't enough to get the Huskies a title, but they will again go into next year with high expectations.

The team returns each of its top five scorers in Bueckers, Christyn Williams, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Evina Westbrook and Aaliyah Edwards. The squad also adds No. 1 prospect Azzi Fudd, a guard, as part of the second-best recruiting class in the country, per Shane Laflin and Jason Key of ESPN.

As long as Bueckers is healthy, UConn has the talent to bring home its first title since 2016.