halls of power

-- A reader had asked if ESPN had locked "Dream Job" winner Mike Hall in the network's basement. Guess not...The 22-year old Hall will become the signature anchor for ESPNU, the college sports network set for launch on 03.04.05. Onward and upward.

-- Don't look now, but St. Mary's has won 15 of 17 since losing to Rutgers. Ditto for Stanford, now 12-7 (6-3 in the Pac-10) after a 6-7 start.

-- Tom Luici of the New Jersey Star-Ledger wonders if Michigan's Tommy Amaker is on the hot seat. (The answer is no). He also hands out the Big East hardware. His all-league team includes Syracuse's Hakim Warrick, Boston College's Craig Smith and Jared Dudley, Connecticut's Josh Boone, and Villanova's Allan Ray. Not a bad lot. Warrick is Luici's Player of the Year. Again, a solid pick. (See the comments below). But the newspaper columnist unwisely awards Georgetown's John Thompson Coach of the Year honors over Boston College's Al Skinner. Does Skinner have the better team? Sure. Was less expected of JT3? Yes. But because those voting to award Big East honors are likely to punish Boston College for leaving the conference, I'll be among those praising the Eagles until season's end. At which point I'll pen an unbiased post dishing out the hardware.

-- Those who got off the Ben Howland bandwagon a couple of weeks ago should get back on after UCLA overcame an 18 point deficit to win at USC. The hard-nosed comeback provides further evidence that Howland is making progress with the Bruins.