Oh yes, The ZOsterman Weekend is back. For some of you, it's been too long coming. Others, not nearly long enough. But if you enjoy indulging in a bit of mirth mixed with a splash of news, then just like Arnold's Pizza Shop, you've come to the right place.
Top topic in today's installment: The tweeting times of Tom Crean.
For those of you who haven't yet caught onto the IU coach's tweeting (as it's called in the world of Twitter), Crean has pretty much put the tweet in Twitter since getting in on the fun just a few days ago.
Among the Weekend's favorite tweets thus far:
--"My wife hates when i am on the phone to much when driving. Almost side swiped a car today on the phone with a recruit." --"When you have to eat in a hurry but dont want fast food you can never go wrong with a authentic Mexican restraunt. A meal served in 5 minutes! HUGE!" --"Unless there is something i missed YOUNG JEEZY will b performing at the little 500 next week. Bloomington is HUGE"
Besides the fact that Crean is reppin' for the Weekend's fraternity concert -- no publicity is bad publicity -- it's clear that the second-year coach is up with the times when it comes to this micro-blogging sensation that has gripped the world. Expect to see more coaches following suit really quick.
So if you go to Twitter and get an "Over capacity" notice, it's probably because of Tom Crean. Or Shaq.
Extortion of Pitino confusing The Weekend really isn't sure what to make of this story out of Louisville that the estranged wife of Rick Pitino's equipment manager is under investigation for attempted extortion. All we know is the FBI is involved and a divorce is coming, so something must be ugly.
Making matters worse is the fact that there are relatively few facts actually made public about the case, which is fodder for rampant speculation from all corners.
While we avoid such postulation on things we know relatively little about here at the ZOsterman Weekend, we're pretty sure IU is happy with its decision not to bring Pitino to Bloomington.
His name had come up in some circles when both Sampson and Crean were hired, but the Weekend never heard anything concrete. We will now avoid saying something cliche here like "maybe now we know why," because well, we don't.
Extra scholly makes a world of difference
A salute goes out to our friends at the Ft. Wayne Journal-Gazette for this little tidbit, with Tom Crean talking about the scholarship situation post-Nick Williams, who decided to transfer last week.
The truth is that the Hoosiers were pretty tight in the scholarship situation before Williams' decision, with just two scholarships opening up next year and one the year after that. This gives them breathing room immediately to recruit a 2010 class they would reportedly like to include Cody Zeller and Kyrie Irving, among others.
Crean might still add to this year's class -- he's made no bones about the fact that he "never stops" recruiting. There are reports of some notable decommits floating out there, but nothing hard or firm at the moment.
According to his Twitter account, Crean spent most of the last week recruiting, including stops in Florida, at which point he got to take in some of Urban Meyer's work in Gainesville. All tweets suggest he enjoyed that thoroughly.
Either way, the Weekend has heard no hard evidence at this point to suggest that there will be any new faces to add to IU's 2009 class, but Yogi Berra would remind us all, it ain't over 'til it's over.
