LSU hires Trent Johnson

LSU has hired Trent Johnson from Stanford, who coached Cardinal to the Sweet 16, as its new basketball coach. This is a real coup for that SEC school and its new AD Joe Alleva. UMass coach Travis Ford was on the Providence campus today to speak with officials there about the Big East coaching vacancy. We think Ford, who just coached the Minutemen to the NIT finals, would be a good choice but we expect UMass to try to keep him with an $800,000 counter proposal. Taylor King, the 6-8 former McDonald’s All America who just received a release to transfer out of Duke following his freshman year, is considering three schools - Villanova, Gonzaga and USC. Add 6-8 freshman Donte Greene of Syracuse to the list of players declaring for the draft. [link]