Today, May 20th, is the last day of college basketball's late signing period. Teams can still take verbal commitments for next fall beyond this date, but the players won't be bound to schools by a signed letter of intent.
This is important, because, it does not appear that one James Beatty will sign a letter of intent today. In this case, no news is, well, no news. He visited campus in March, and we've heard nary a peep out of him and his handlers since then. There was some speculation that, in the midst of all the turmoil at Memphis in April, that their new head coach would bring in Beatty's coach at Miami Dade CC as part of a package deal, but that never came to fruition.
As for Fred Hill and company, they're off to the Canary Islands, leaving a flurry of speculation behind in New Jersey. We know that the staff has been in contact with other point guards. Does the lack of news signify that Beatty or another point guard are coming? As difficult as it is to fathom, they might be, ahem, content with in-house alternatives. Or it could just be that they struck out on any available players who could realistically contribute at the position.
Even if you think that Jio Fontan is coming in 2010-2011 and will be the bee's knees, the Rutgers men's basketball team desperately needs an upgrade at the position if it wants any hope of making noise for this coming season. Believe it or not, Rutgers does have some talent, although I worry about their ability to develop under Hill if they're not already-finished products like Mike Rosario. Greg Echenique, Corey Chandler, Jonathan Mitchell, and Hamady N'Diaye aren't chopped liver, which has arguably made the last few seasons worser than if Rutgers basketball was a pure bottom dweller. We won't know though, unless the team lands at least a respectable ball distributor who can find open players, deliver them the ball, and faciliate everyone's success as a floor manager.