New men’s basketball coach Eric Konkol says he’s wants to build on a standard of excellence that’s already growing at Louisiana Tech. Konkol takes over for Michael White, who won three straight league titles. Konkol, who has been an assistant at Miami for the last four seasons, says he’s heard nothing but great things about the Bulldog basketball program…

cut 16 (19) “to me”

Last year, Tech won 27 games and they were second in Conference USA in scoring.

LSU athletic director Joe Alleva tells the Baton Rouge Advocate that he doesn’t want the Tigers playing Texas A-and-M on Thanskgiving this year. It was played on Turkey day last year, but this year the game will be in Baton Rouge and Alleva says LSU will not play in Tiger Stadium on a Thursday as long as he’s with the school. The game could be played either on Friday or Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.

The start time for LSU Softball’s NCAA Super Regional game against Arizona Saturday at Tiger Park has been changed. Game one of the best of three series will now begin at 2PM. The change was made to lessen traffic issues for this weekend’s Bayou Country Superfest in Tiger Stadium. Sunday’s schedule for games is unchanged with game two starting at 4PM and game three, if necessary, beginning at 7PM.

LSU’s Paul Mainieri has been named the SEC Coach of the Year after leading the Tigers to a regular season league championship. LSU’s Alex Lange has been named Freshman of the Year after finishing second in the SEC with an ERA of 2.11.

Southeastern Louisiana sophomore outfielder Jacob Seward has been named Southland Conference player of the year. The Brother Martin grad is hitting .365 with 47 runs scored and 35 runs driven in.

It is reported that the Pelicans have received permission to interview Golden State assistant coach Alvin Gentry for their head coaching vacancy. Gentry’s name has popped up as one of the leading candidates for the position, along with Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau. It’s unclear when an interview with Gentry would take place as the Warriors begin the Western Conference finals tonight.