NCAA basketball notebook: Manhattan retains coach with strings attached

Steve Masiello will be reinstated as the men's head coach at Manhattan College as soon as he receives his degree from the University of Kentucky.

The school announced Monday that Masiello, the Jaspers coach the past three seasons, will be on unpaid leave until he gets the degree. In his absence, associate head coach Matt Grady will be in charge.

Masiello, 61-39 at Manhattan, led the Jaspers to a 28-5 record this season and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament title. The Jaspers lost, 71-64, to Louisville in the NCAA tournament.

Within four days of the loss to his former college coach and boss, Rick Pitino, Masiello agreed to become coach at South Florida. Then, it came to light Masiello didn't get a degree from Kentucky, and the job offer was rescinded.

Manhattan waited almost a week before revealing the decision to allow Masiello to return to his job.

Oklahoma State

Guard Marcus Smart declared for the NBA draft. Smart told The Daily Oklahoman he has hired an agent, making official what already was a foregone conclusion. He averaged 18 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game as a sophomore this season.

Minnesota

Minnesota hired Marlene Stollings from VCU as the replacement for women's coach Pam Borton. Stollings has four seasons as a head coach on her resume, the last two at VCU. After the Rams went 11-19 her first year, they improved to 22-10 with a spot in the WNIT. She guided a turnaround at Winthrop in 2011-12, too.

Arizona State

Associate head coach Eric Musselman is leaving the Arizona State program to pursue other opportunities. A former NBA head coach, Musselman spent the past two seasons on Herb Sendek's staff to learn the college game. The son of longtime NBA coach Bill Musselman wants to become a head coach again and has been mentioned as a candidate for a few jobs in recent weeks.

Florida Atlantic

Michael Curry has led a team into the NBA playoffs, served as president of the NBA players association and spent 11 years playing in the NBA. Florida Atlantic lured him back to college. He was introduced in Boca Raton, Fla., as the Owls' new coach, replacing Mike Jarvis, whose six-year tenure at the school ended at the conclusion of this season. Curry was the NBA Detroit Pistons coach when they made the playoffs in 2008-09.

Elsewhere

Former Baylor star and current WNBA standout Brittney Griner has been signing copies of her book at the Women's Final Four in Nashville, Tenn. "In My Skin" chronicles her struggles with bullying, sexuality and family acceptance. Her motivation was to "help other people in need, especially youth, who didn't have anybody to look up to," she recently said. "I get a lot of kids writing to me -- some adults, too -- telling me what they're going through, asking me for advice."