Calipari already working magic

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Calipari already working magic

Monday, May 22, 2000

It didn't take John Calipari long to make some waves in recruiting as the new basketball coach at Memphis.

Two weeks ago, Calipari, a former Pitt assistant who grew up in Moon, hired former Louisville star Milt Wagner as coordinator of basketball operations at Memphis. It is a job that will have no on-court coaching responsibilities.

Then this past week, Wagner's son, Dajuan Wagner, said he would attend Memphis after his senior year at Camden High School in New Jersey.

Dajuan Wagner is considered one of the five best juniors in the country. A 6-foot-3 guard, he scored 80 points in a game last season.

What a coincidence.

"It just happens that I have a son who is considered one of the best players in the country," Milt Wagner told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "That's not going to affect his decision on where he wants to go."

Dajuan Wagner had said he would like to go to the same school as his best friend, Arthur Barclay. Calipari and Memphis signed Barclay, a talented forward, a little more than a month ago.

"Arthur has already signed here, so [Dajuan's] decisions is already finalized. It wasn't about me," Milt Wagner said.

On top of that, Calipari signed 6-foot-9 Modibo Diarra, a 6-foot-9 forward from Fitchburg, Mass. Nationally known scout Bob Gibbons rates Diarra the No. 12 senior in the country.

Courting Fuss-Cheatham

Calipari also has joined the recruiting battle for Blackhawk point guard Brandon Fuss-Cheatham, the Post-Gazette's Player of the Year.

Fuss-Cheatham, a 6-foot-0 junior, will consider Memphis but said he is still wide open. One school he liked was Notre Dame, and the Fighting Irish were recruiting him hard. But the two have parted ways because Notre Dame recently got a verbal commitment from Chris Thomas, a 6-foot-3 point guard from Pike High in Indiana.

Duke and Stanford are two other schools that have started to show more interest in Fuss-Cheatham.

Big swingers

South Fayette's baseball team led the WPIAL in home runs this season with 31, an average of two a game. Critics claim one of the main reasons for the home-run barrage is short fences at the Lions' home field. But, South Fayette hit more home runs in road games.

Of the 31 home runs, 17 were hit in nine road games. Senior catcher Brian Smocynski leads the team with 13 homers and Dave DiDonato has six.

South Fayette (15-0) averages eight runs a game and has a .410 team batting average and was the only team in the WPIAL to finish the season undefeated.

Baby Bair runs, too

Sam Bair Jr. is only a freshman at Shaler Area, but he won the WPIAL Class AAA championship in the 800 meters Thursday. It is highly unusual for a freshman to win a running championship, but should anyone be surprised, considering Bair's genes?

Bair's father, Sam Sr., is a local running legend and once was one of the fastest milers in the world. Sam Sr., 53, is a volunteer assistant on Shaler's team.

From TV to Prep

Some sports journalists are known as frustrated jocks. Some are known as downright geeks. But Erie Cathedral Prep thought enough of one TV sports reporter to make him the school's new athletic director.

Bill Flanagan, a sports anchor and reporter at WSEE-TV in Erie, will leave his job in mid-June to become athletic director at Erie Cathedral Prep. Flanagan has been in sports broadcasting for eight years.