Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Clearing out the notebook…

Just a few quick hitters here before I head over to this afternoon’s half-scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium:

First, our sister paper in Lynchburg, Va., is reporting that Auburn men’s basketball assistant John Cooper is interviewing for the vacant head coaching job at Liberty University. That’s high praise for Jeff Lebo’s program and for Coop, who’s a very good recruiter and in-game strategist.

Cooper, whose official title is “associate head coach,“ has had some primo assistant jobs since he finished his playing career at Wichita State in 1991. He started with two years at Fayetteville (N.C.) State, a Division II school. He worked under head coahc Rick Duckett, now an assistant at South Carolina. The reason I mention this is because Duckett is also reportedly in the running for the Liberty job…I guess it’s a small world.

Cooper next spent six years at South Carolina under Eddie Fogler (who coached him at Wichita State). Jeff Lebo was also an assistant on that staff for three years. His last assistant job before joining Jeff at AU was at Oregon, where he was a part of the Ducks’ 2003 NCAA Tournament team.

So he’s got quite a resume. If he lands the Liberty job—and word out of Lynchburg is he’s one of about a half-dozen candidates—the Flames will have landed a good one.

In other basketball news, I’m writing a story on Auburn’s women’s hoops team for Thursday’s paper. The Tigers are heading to Blacksburg, Va., to play Virginia Tech in the quarterfinals of the WNIT. In her teleconference yesterday, Nell Fortner mentioned freshman guard Reneisha Hobbs will undergo surgery for compartment syndrome, a painful ailment that apparently feels like very bad shin splints. You can’t tell, but I’m wincing just writing that.

For some reason, the AU women have been plagued by compartment syndrome over the last couple years. Hobbs already had surgery on one of her legs last summer…it cost her the first 12 or so games of this season. That surgery seemed to work; now she’s going for the other leg.

But surgery’s no guarantee: Guard Chantelle Blakely has had at least two surgeries for her compartment syndrome, and she hasn’t played in a year. It’s a sad story.

I’m not sure what it is that makes these women so prone to this syndrome…any medical professionals out there with any ideas?