The Morning Mix

Anybody else a huge fan of not having to work on Mondays? I could really get comfortable with that.

Glad we’re all in agreement.

Let’s hit the links.

- In case you missed it, the NCAA is now investigating UCLA freshman Tony Parker and Kyle Anderson. The third member of the trio, Shabazz Muhammad is already under NCAA investigation. It appears that the most recent investigation focuses heavily on Anderson, and that Parker, a 6-9 forward from Georgia, has been cleared to play. Here is the statement issued by UCLA. You really ought to read Bruins Nation on a daily basis for all things UCLA

- But UCLA’s cross-town rivals USC would not let the Bruins get the upper-hand this weekend. According to The L.A Times, former-Trojan forward Davon Jefferson received $3,700 in illegal benefits during his one season at USC. Don’t worry, there’s more: Maurice Jones, the Trojan’s leading scorer from a year ago, must sit out the entire upcoming season because of academic issues

- But never to be outdone, Not by UCLA, not by USC, not by nobody, Texas Tech head coach Billy Clyde Gillispie had himself quite the weekend. On Friday it was reported that several Red Raiders players met with the school’s AD about alleged mistreatment from the head coach. No less than 24 hours later, it was reported that Gillispie had been admitted to a nearby hospital for undisclosed medical reasons. It turned out to be high blood pressure. I was under the impression that  BCG’s blood pressure was typically at an obscenely high level

- The fourth kinda-big news item of the extended weekend  has to do with dynamic ex-Xavier guard Dez Wells You should all know his story by know, so I’d rather type “You should all know his story by know” instead of explaining it to you.  A decision will be made sometime in the next two days, Maryland looks to be the favorite

- This is kinda interesting. San Diego State was being tracked by the FBI throughout the 2010-2011 season. As Matt Norlander points out, this is SDSU, and not San Diego, the school that was busted for fixing games in 2010

- The Preseason N.I.T. is still looking for one more participant. Anybody interested? Didn’t think so

- If there’s one reason why we all love the Summit League (Other than the outrageous mascots), it’s the acronyms: IUPUI, IPFW, UMKC, SDSU and NDSU. We cannot sit idly by and let them take this away from us

- UNC-Greensboro head coach Wes Miller is making all of us mid-to-late 20 year-olds look really really bad

- Rob Dauster, who has the most outdated head-shot this side of Jeff Borzello, provides a good-read on how Frank Haith and the new-look Missouri Tigers hope to replicate last season’s success

- Andy Glockner, whose head-shot is not as outdated as Rob’s but possibly more creepy, drops some preseason knowledge about the SEC

- While the common fan might not see any significance in a November 9th match-up between North Texas and Creighton, the true hoop-heads (and NBA scouts) are salivating in anticipation

- St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin has decided to hire former-UCLA guard Darrick Martin as the new Assistant Coach for the Red Storm. Martin replacing Mike Dunlap, who left to take over the head coaching position for the Charlotte Bobcats

- Arizona State has replaced its two recently departed assistants with former NBA coaches Eric Musselman and Larry Greer

- The guys inside the eyeball at CBS update us on some of the preseason road trips: Charlotte, Indiana State and Florida Gulf Coast in The Bahamas, South Alabama in Canada, Purdue in Italy

- despite losing talented head coach Dan Hurley to Rhode Island, Wagner landed themselves a huge commitment over the weekend in the form of the Michigan’s 2011 “Mr. Basketball” and former Michigan State Spartan Dwaun Anderson

- Preseason conditioning is the worst. But the guys at Hawaii seem to have gotten it right

- If legendary-Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp were with us today, he would have celebrated his 111th birthday this past weekend

- Former-Syracuse star Dion Waiters showed up to “Taco Night” at a fan’s house. Best.TacoTuesday.Ever.

- Parsing The WAC provides a quick-list of the top ten players in the conference. I’m voting Preston Medlin in ’12(and ’13)

- Your un-hoops related news of the day: Bernie “does the Bernie” at an Oakland A’s game. My life is complete

Remember, if you find an article that is worthy of being in The Morning Mix, be sure to use the #ReadoftheDay hashtag on Twitter. 

Troy Machir is the managing editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @TroyMachir.