Big East Linkage: May 9

Big East Linkage is a news roundup feature on BECB. Feel free to send us any relevant links, stories or posts you think might be interesting to readers at bigeastcoastbias at gmail dot com.

To start off the new week, I think we'll first look back at how Maryland's coaching search went over the weekend...

The Cold Shoulder: Notre Dame's Mike Brey declined to meet with Maryland officials about the men's basketball head coaching job. Brey's response to the speculation: "No meetings. Go Irish!"

Villanova's Jay Wright said he wasn't a candidate and Pitt's Jamie Dixon also said no thanks.

NBA Draft, Who's In, Who's Out?: Pitt's Ashton Gibbs is returning to school (although it was very close).

Even though Mike Brey will be back to coach the Irish, he won't have Carleton Scott who has decided that he will remain in the NBA Draft.

Georgetown's Hollis Thompson did workout for NBA teams but will be in a Hoyas uniform again for his Junior year.

West Virginia's Kevin Jones will be back for his Senior season. That's very good news for the Mountaineers as Jones will be the top returning player in scoring and rebounding from last season.

Delays, Part I: South Florida will have to play some of their Big East conference basketball games off-campus this season. The reason is that "procedural" delays have thwarted the $35 million renovation on the thirty-year-old Sun Dome. The project is now supposed to begin in June. The Bulls will be trying to get the conference games played at the St. Pete Times Forum.

More after the jump...

Delays, Part II: The Big East Conference itself is in a "holding pattern" over the Villanova football decision. The Nova Blog is disappointed by the fact that none of us will hear anything about Villanova joining the Big East in football until the summer (and then, be tabled even longer). Basically the football schools are saying: there's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going.

Big East Speed!: South Florida receiver Derrick Hopkins took home the men's 100m at the outdoor Big East Track & Field Championships with a time of 10.44. The Bulls finished second in the men's 4x100m relay to UConn's time of 40.69 (school record). UConn wide receiver Kashif Moore was part of the winning relay team.

Canadian Dream Deferred: The CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats selected UConn center Moe Petrus 10th overall in the 2011 CFL Draft. Petrus is not out of eligibility and is returning to school to play football instead of turning pro in his home country. Mel Kiper, Jr. has the former Freshman All-American listed as the fifth best center in the 2012 NFL Draft.