Brad Holland is in the Big West again, this time as a No. 1 assistant at UC Santa Barbara. (And as I said last month, watch your back Bob Williams.) This should be a real fun reunion when the former Fullerton coach comes back to Titan Gym this season. The students won't care, but the old-timers will be out in full force.

Now some Titans will likely talk about Holland's cheating and other underhandedness that occurred during his reign of error. Some will point out that Holland was only able to win with Coach Sneed's players (including a senior named Bruce Bowen), and how he failed to move the Titans program forward.

But I am above all of that. Instead, here is how I would like to remember Brad "The Devil" Holland.

The West Coast Conference could be saying good bye to ESPN's Big Monday lineup, according to the SpokesmanReview.com. The league is anxious to get back to a traditional Thursday/Saturday schedule, while leaving a troublesome late Monday night start behind.

The rational seems simple enough. The 9 p.m. start means that most East Coast viewers (who complain about the start times of their own games) have long gone to bed. Plus, Tuesday is kind of a lost day for the players, who likely will have trouble getting to bed following a high-energy game. Not to mention teams that have to travel.

So I can see the conference's point of view there. The WCC is made up of small private schools that actually value education. Besides, ESPN is still on the hook to show WCC games on Thursday. But as a fan, having a Big Monday game is a huge deal. Ask any Big West fan and they likely tell you that they miss playing games on Big Monday. No Big West fan ever complained about having to stay up late on a Monday to watch Larry Johnson and crew beat our teams. But heck, we were just state schools.

And that leads to an interesting question, who is going to fill that spot left open by the WCC? The Big West and WAC would likely be happy take that soon vacant spot. Hopefully the commissioners of those conferences are already wooing ESPN right now.

There are rumors going around that UC Santa Barbara is close to adding a former Division I head coach to its men's basketball staff. Further speculation has it that the former coach once coached in the Big West conference leading many to believe that the person in question is Brad Holland. The former Cal State Fullerton coach who bolted from the Titans program to go to the University of San Diego back in the 1990s.

And you might remember USD. They were the squad that went to the NCAA tournament under first-year coach Bill Grier after being mired in mediocrity for years under Holland.

This would be a curious move for the Gauchos. Coach Bob Williams certainly should be feeling some heat for his own constant underachieving, so why would he want to add some competition to the bench? Holland showed during his tenure at Fullerton that he was nothing more than a glory loving, status seeker. Holland took the USD job because he felt it would give him the best chance to eventually wind up at UCLA. Williams would be forced to coach while wearing body armor with Holland sitting next to him, lest he get a knife in the back.

Fullerton fans, of course, would welcome Holland back to Titan Gym each season to let them know how they still feel about him. Holland's departure was ages and an NCAA tournament ago, but the Titans logo is an elephant. And you know the kind of memory elephants have.

Assist: The scoundrels over at the UCSB board.

Cal State Fullerton's standout guard, Josh Akognon was interviewed prior to Tuesday night's Lakers game on CBS 2 in Los Angeles. This was your typical fluff interview with an inexperienced reporter asking some softball questions. Akgonon, however, did say that he was going to Texas to work out with some NBA guys, leading some to believe that he will be testing the league's interest.

But there is no need to panic, as fans on the team's message board are starting to do. Akognon is doing what any top-flight college player should do and test the waters. Former Fullerton guard Bobby Brown did the same thing following his junior season. This is what players do.

Odds are that Akognon will likely return to Cal State Fullerton for his senior season. Though, he does have the option of playing overseas, too. Akognon would be the odds-on favorite for Big West player of the year in 2009 and he would probably have a chance at All-America honors, too. Teammate Scott Cutley was an honorable mention All-America this season, and Akognon would have been too, but that would have made him a lock for a preseason All-America mention. And you know that the voters wouldn't give a school like CSF that honor so they opted by the senior Cutley instead. (That's not a knock on Cutley, but rather the truth.)

Akognon should continue to work with NBA players, improve his game and come back for a possible stellar senior season at Cal State Fullerton.

Assist: Titan Central

Rex Walters has been hired as the men's basketball coach at the University of San Francisco, trying to add some stability to the shaky program on the hill. Walters is the first Dons coach in three months.

The school fired Jessie Evans last month after he was forced to take a leave of absence in December. Evans has responded by suing the school. Evans was owed almost $600,000 for the final two remaining years on his contract and will be seeking that along with other damages.

The school hired Eddie Sutton on a pure publicity stunt, aimed at getting the coach career win 800 while sitting on the Dons bench. And that's about all he did as USF was a non-factor in the West Coast Conference this season.

Athletic Director Debra Gore-Mann seems to be skating on thin ice. And let's not forget about the facilities. USF is way behind conference leaders Gonzaga and San Diego in terms of an arena. Although St. Mary's proved that you can still win in dimly lit gyms.

Seems like a dream job, right? Walters should give some stability to the situation. Or so you would think.

Three players have bolted from New Mexico State, leaving the program reeling with even more instability. DeAngelo Jones and Jaydee Luster -- a pair of Reggie Theus recruits -- were granted their release last week. The bad situation turned even worse when talented freshman Wendell McKines also will transfer. McKines was recruited by coach Marvin Menzies and this has to come as a big surprise to the program.

New Mexico State started last season with high expectations with a loaded roster, but the season ended with a disappointing home loss to Boise State in the WAC conference finals, sandwiching a season that included NCAA tomfoolery, arrests and suspensions.

The University of San Francisco is close to landing its man with the leading candidates USD assistant Bill Carr and Cal State Fullerton coach Bob Burton according to San Francisco Chronicle. UCLA coach Ben Howland also is a candidate. Just kidding, but if Trent Johnson could leave Stanford for LSU, nothing would be surprising.

Carr played and was an assistant coach at the University of San Francisco, which would seemingly give him an advantage over the competition. Carr was an assistant for nine years at the school including the team's tournament squad in 1998. Carr also has been an assistant at Long Beach State and has head coaching experience at UCSD and Spring Hill College (NAIA).

Burton has become a hot candidate following his trip to the dance with Cal State Fullerton. The team's first since 1978. Burton was a long-time junior college coach in the Bay Area and is well respected in the coaching community. The Titans already lost assistant coach Jason Levy who joined Bill Bayno's staff at Loyola Marymount.

The Dons seem to be in good position no matter who they chose. Burton, however, might be the best choice here as he has already proven that he can take a bottom dweller and turn it into a tournament team. Taking a former player is tempting, but that's what Fullerton did when it hired Donny Daniels who was a failure on the court -- winning 20 games in three seasons -- and was ultimately replaced by Burton.

Hat Tip: Titan Central

Memphis coach John Calipari will likely be vilified for not fouling Mario Chalmers before he had an opportunity to become a folk-hero in Lawrence.

But believe it or not, Calipari actually made the correct decision.

Let's make no mistake. Fouling Kansas before they had a chance to shoot a three-pointer probably would have won the Tigers the national championship. (And you have to say probably because if Chris Douglas-Roberts likely would have been called upon to make a free throw.)

So fouling in that situation probably would have given Memphis the win, but at one cost?

The coaching picture has become a little bit clearer in the West Coast Conference as Bill Grier will stay with the University of San Diego and Bill Bayno will be the head coach at Loyola Marymount. This is good news for San Diego coming off a huge upset win over Connecticut in the NCAA tournament. For LMU, not so much.

Grier ultimately did the right thing by staying in San Diego. His position with the Toreros should be a lot more stable than it would be in Oregon State. USD is a tournament team and should be even better next season as Grier starts to bring in his own recruits. The ceiling is very high for the Toreros. The Oregon State job has to constantly deal with the big money player in Oregon, plus trying to get back on track in the toughest conference in the NCAA.

Of course, there was a certain part of me that was rooting for USD to be screwed, much like Cal State Fullerton was when the school stole Brad Holland, but that's just me being petty.

Former Duke forward Taylor King is leaving Duke and his father, Steve, has told the Los Angeles Times that his son would like to transfer to a high-profile program that would fit his skills.

Well, I hope that UC Irvine is high-profile enough for him. Because that's about where his skill level is.

King first committed to UCLA prior to his freshman season at Mater Dei, but had a change of heart. Although word on the street is that the Bruins coaching staff wasn't too heart-broken to see him go. I covered King on a number of occasions back in my prep coverage days and never got the feeling that he was going to be a big-time Division I player.

Watching him at Duke confirmed those thoughts.