Saturday news and notes cares about student attendance

This study from USA today tries to get at the heart of what needs to be done to "fix" student attendance at college basketball and football games. I'm not a student now, but when I was I attended a whole ton of basketball games. Of course, I went to school in a dry county whose population wouldn't sell out Cintas; there are only so many trips to Wal*Mart for entertainment that one can take.

In keeping with the men's trip to Brazil last summer, the women's team is headed to Quebec - the Brazil of the eastern provinces - and Ontario this August. The trip will include sightseeing and hooping, as these things do, and should allow a veteran squad to get a jump on the year.

Your friend and mine John Rothstein warns St. John's fans to temper their immediate expectations. He sees Chris Mullin as the man to lead the program going forward and believes he'll be able to land talent, but he rightly points out that Mullin is coming into a situation that gives him a depleted roster and an uphill climb.

Looking back six years for material to help him fill his quota of blog posts perspective on coaching changes that happened at that time, Jeff Goodman grades out the Mack hire. The content is behind the paywall, but the takeaway is that five tournaments and three Sweet 16s in six years means that it was probably a pretty good hire.

I don't want to generate a discussion about gun violence or officer-involved shootings, but our hearts and prayers here at Banners go out to the family and friends of slain Cincinnati Police Officer Sonny Kim, who was killed in the line of duty yesterday.