List of UIC Basketball Coaching Candidates

• Ernie Kent - Former Oregon coach would bring a high profile and national recruiting reach.
• Jerrance Howard or Jay Price - Illinois assistants already know the local recruiting waters.
• Vince Taylor - Minnesota assistant was widely mentioned for other job openings this spring.
• Howard Moore - Wisconsin assistant could thrive in the Horizon League.
• Tracy Webster - Local HS coaches wanted interim Webster at DePaul. Perhaps they'll get him at UIC instead.
• Tavaras Hardy - Northwestern asst. is a Chicago guy through-and-through.
• Matthew Graves - Butler assistant could spread the mojo to Horizon rival.

Rudy Fernandez Coming to the Bulls?

The Bulls have signed Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer during the offseason and Friday they came to an agreement with Keith Bogans. Even though the Bulls have three shooting guards, Sam Smith of Bulls.com reports this does not preclude them from pursuing Rudy Fernandez.

Smith writes: "Leagues sources say the Bulls remain very much alive in the potential discussions for Fernandez if the Trailblazers decide to trade him. To this point, sources say Portland is holding back on any trade of Fernandez. But with cap room remaining the Bulls are in play in other trade scenarios for a wing player or big man."

According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein, Chicago has offered to trade a future first-round pick for Fernandez.

One deal the Bulls won't do is send Taj Gibson to the Blazers for Fernandez.

The Bulls Sign Keith Bogans

The Bulls and Keith Bogans agreed to a two-year, $2.5 million deal on Friday. The first year is fully guaranteed, while the second year is not, reports Sam Smith of Bulls.com

Bogans will back up Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver and shooting guard and Luol Deng at small forward.

Bogans started 50 games for San Antonio last season, averaging 4.4 points per game.

Bobby Jenks with Little Job Security

It's been a yo-yo type of season for Chicago White Sox closer Bobby Jenks. He struggled early on, and so did the club, putting the right-hander's name in the trade rumor mill. Then the club got hot, Jenks was pitching well enough to keep his ninth-inning gig and all was well on the South Side. But after a blown save in Seattle last month, Jenks' job security is out the window, thanks to his struggles since the All-Star break. The team is still playing well and winning regularly, but manager Ozzie Guillen told reporters after that game that he was "open now" to other options, and that remains the case.

Matt Thornton and J.J. Putz have both been throwing the ball extremely well, and Putz has closing experience from his time with the Mariners.

If Jenks is an arm you are relying on in fantasy baseball, it might be time to look elsewhere, just in case. Especially since that's what Ozzie may be doing shortly.

If he can't do his job," Guillen said, "then we're going to find someone else to do it. It's not because I want to punish him. It's because if he can't see what I see, well, then he better open his eyes."

Johnny Knox Now the Bears #1 Receiver Under Martz?

Although coaches will always caution not to read too much into what we see in training camp regarding which guys are seeing the most action, it's what we have to go on at this point. And looking at the work being done by the Chicago Bears through the first week of camp, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune thinks that QB Jay Cutler -- or offensive coordinator Mike Martz -- has an early favorite target: Johnny Knox.

Per Biggs, Knox has been targeted 55 times during 11-on-11 and seven-on-seven drills, 16 times more than Devin Hester or Greg Olsen. Biggs does allow that Knox is working on the weak side, and there is a hole in the Bears' Tampa-2 between the weakside LB and the corner on that side; thus, it could just be that Knox is getting open more because of the formation.

A final interesting takeaway from all of this is that Olsen -- who some thought would be relegated to blocking under Martz -- is being targeted so often (more than Devin Aromashodu, a 2009 Cutler favorite). Perhaps this means that Martz will find a big role for him, after all.

Will the Bears Blitz More or Less This Season?

When Brian Urlacher talked to Chicago Bears reporter Vaughan McClure of the Chicago Tribune recently, he noted that the defense wouldn't need to commit extra rushers because of the ability of the front four to get pressure on their own. But that doesn't mean they'll abandon the blitz altogether.

Bears coach Lovie Smith made comments a week ago that the team may actually blitz more this season, even with the addition of Julius Peppers. As Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times explains, it's because now the blitz will be a luxury, and committing a man from the back seven to blitz will mean that Peppers or DT Tommie Harris may face a single blocker instead of a double team. There's also the element of surprise.

Blitz or no blitz, QB pressure will be vital to the defense's success this season, as there are question marks in the secondary.

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Mannywood Coming to the White Sox Still?

We at Rumor Central love a good conspiracy theory, so it was hard to overlook the Dodgers' decision to remove the "Mannywood" sign that adorned the short fence in the left-field corner of Dodger Stadium.

A club spokesman explained that the sign was gone because an insurance company purchased signage in each corner for the final two months of the season. It was the only space available on the outfield fence.

OK, sounds reasonable, but with all the rumors swirling this past weekend that the White Sox made a run at Ramirez, it only leads to speculation that an August deal involving Manny is realistic. Ramirez had a setback in his rehabilitation for an injured calf and probably won't hit the waiver wire until the second half of August.

With the money Ramirez is due -- just less than $7 million for the rest of the season -- there is a chance he could slip through waivers far enough for a club such as the White Sox to put in a claim. At that point the Dodgers could decide to try to work out a deal with the claiming club or pull Ramirez off waivers and keep him the rest of the season.

ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney sees a market for Manny if the Dodgers play themselves out of the NL West race: "In all likelihood, Ramirez will pass through waivers unclaimed, and Dodgers GM Ned Colletti would have the opportunity to market him to the White Sox, Rays and other contenders in the way that the Astros moved Lance Berkman -- eating some money while getting some useful prospects in return."

Garrett Wolfe Needs to Earn Spot as Bears #3 Running Back

The Chicago Tribune's Brad Biggs and Dan Pompei report that third-year running back Garrett Wolfe is facing a tough challenge this offseason with the Chicago Bears, and he might not make the team's final roster.

The Bears are set at the top two running back spots with Matt Forte and Chester Taylor. After them, the fight to win the third tailback spot is between Wolfe, Kahlil Bell and rookie Harvey Unga, whom the team recently acquired in the NFL supplemental draft. Unga is currently recovering from a hamstring injury, and if he doesn't return to practices soon he might be eliminated from the competition. However, both Unga and Bell are very talented, which means that Wolfe will have to be impressive in training camp in order to keep his spot.

Caleb Hanie of the Bears Looks to be #2 QB

Jay Cutler didn't exactly set the world on fire last season in his first year as the Chicago Bears' starting quarterback, and there have been more than a few calls this offseason for the team to bring in a veteran passer to back Cutler up.

However, the organization has seemingly decided not to make such a move, instead sticking with rookie Dan LeFevour as the team's third-stringer and relative unknown Caleb Hanie as Cutler's backup. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune writes that Hanie is progressing well, and has been impressive during training camp.

Hanie's job isn't completely safe yet, as general manager Jerry Angelo says that the team will continue to look at other options. But unless the Bears want to dip into the free agent market for the likes of JaMarcus Russell, or pull of a trade for a Troy Smith or a Sage Rosenfels, Hanie will be Chicago's No. 2 guy for its season opener.

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Manny Ramirez Coming to the White Sox in August?

Rumors swirled Friday and Saturday that the Chicago White Sox made a run at Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Manny Ramirez as their talks with the Washington Nationals for Adam Dunn went by the wayside. Could an August move involving Ramirez be realistic?

With the money Ramirez is due -- just under $7 million the rest of the season -- there is a chance he could slip through waivers far enough for a club such as the White Sox to put in a claim. At that point the Dodgers could decide to try and work out a deal with the claiming club or to pull Ramirez off waivers and keep him the rest of the season.

Should the Dodgers struggle this month, such a transaction isn't out of the question, and perhaps more clubs outside the Pale Hose might be interested, including the New York Yankees.

ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney wrote Sunday that the Dodgers and White Sox discussions were preliminary at most. "Dodgers executives chuckled at the suggestions that the Manny Ramireztalks with the White Sox ever went past the no-thank-you stage, but what all that did show was there will be a Manny market in August if L.A. is taken down by its brutal schedule, with the White Sox and Rays perhaps looking to make a deal if Ramirez clears waivers."

Stud Power Forward Prospect Anthony Davis Heading to DePaul?

We've not written a lot recently about power forward prospect Anthony Davis, who has shot up recruiting rankings this year. He had settled on a final three schools of Kentucky, Ohio State and Syracuse. But now, the Chicago native says that he is also considering a local option: DePaul.

According to Scott Powers of ESPNChicago.com, Davis said: "DePaul's very intriguing. It's really nice. They're local. My family could see every game. The Big East is a tough conference. It's really exciting. Coach [Oliver] Purnell seems like a nice guy."

The fact that Davis is even considering the Blue Demons is a coup for new coach Purnell, but actually landing Davis would go a long way toward turning the program around and making DePaul competitive in the Big East. The 6-foot-10, 200-pounder is tremendously skilled and athletic for his size (he grew eight inches last year), and will almost certainly end up as one of the nation's highest-ranked recruits (he's already No. 12).

It would still seem to be a long shot for the Blue Demons to land Davis, but it's a situation that certainly bears keeping an eye on going forward.

Were the White Sox Trade Deadline Losers?

They set out to deal for a marquee bat -- and wound up with Edwin Jackson, a fellow who has a 7.24 ERA since his no-hitter. Meanwhile, they struck out swinging in three straight at-bats on the old Bat Hunt trail -- getting rejected by Berkman, losing out on Dunn and whiffing on a home run hack at Manny Ramirez. We're still not exactly sure how the White Sox and Nationals came to misunderstand each other so badly on what it was going to take to get Dunn. But that scene didn't end pretty.

Oh, there's still time for the White Sox to find a bopper in August -- and maybe it will be one of the boppers they missed out on over the last 72 hours. But for now, for a team that lives to make the big deal this time of year, this was a clear Mission Not Accomplished.

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