play some skinner

-- Salim Stoudamire, Channing Frye and the Arizona Wildcats notched an important road victory yesterday evening, taking it to the Oregon Ducks at McArthur Court. Stoudamire went for 27, yet, according to Greg Hansen of the Scripps-McClatchy Western Service, remains a less than sure shot for the NBA. The NCAA's leader in three-point shooting percentage (.562), Stoudamire hopes to follow in Steve Kerr's footsteps. But it won't be easy for the 6'1" Lute Olson protege.

A mere four of the NCAA's 25 season-leading three-point shooters - Arizona's Steve Kerr, Duke's Christian Laettner, East Tennessee State's Keith Jennings and Indiana's Jay Edwards - ever reached the NBA.

Edwards was out of the league after four games. Jennings played parts of four NBA seasons. As it turns out, Kerr has been the exception, a pure shooter who earned NBA employment for 15 seasons and earned more than $25 million.

-- Why is Al Skinner a college basketball coach? Because at age 29, he couldn't get a real job. Joe Gergen of Newsday pens today's must-read about the unassuming Boston College Eagle. Amazingly, Skinner has had a fair bit of success at BC without signing a single Top 50 recruit in the eight years he has led the program.

-- Gonzaga lost to San Francisco, suggesting Mark Few's club is only as good as the team against which it plays. Inconsistent perimeter defense again cost the 'Zags. But for my money, Morrison, Turiaf & Co. remain as potent a NCAA Tournament threat as before the uncharacteristic upset at hands of USF.

-- On Wednesday, Sports Illustrated's Luke "Pretty Boy" Winn wrote about coaches' private-school salaries. He finds nothing too surprising in available compensation data, but authors a solid piece nonetheless. The single salary that caught my eye? That of former Baylor coach Davis Bliss. You'd think that with $656,582 he could have done a better job covering up allegations against his old ballclub.