By now it's fact that Mark Fox of Nevada has withdrawn his name from consideration for the head job of Nebraska Basketball. While I'm disappointed, I'm not surprised. Fox is going to be worth a lot more next April, what with five starters back for a tournament team including All-America candidate Nick Fazekas.

The search, I think, still starts and ends with Karl Hobbs of George Washington. GW went undefeated in the A-10 last season and lost to Duke in the second round of the NCAAs. If it happens, this won't be a long term hire -- probably 3-5 years tops. He will be the leading candidate at UConn when Jim Calhoun retires, and was a former player for the Huskies.

John Pelphrey and Doc Sadler, it appears, remain top candidates. Sadler seems to be comfortable leaving UTEP, but the word yesterday was that Pelphrey was luke warm, but Pederson and Boehm have been granted permission to speak with him.

Another name popping up now is St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett. Bennett inherited a program that was 2-27 the year before he was hired and they earned an at-large bid from the Gonzaga dominated West Coast Conference in 2005. Last season, they finished 17-12 and played Gonzaga very tough in the league final in Spokane.

This seems to be moving along quite nicely for the head men in Lincoln. I would think an announcement before school starts is very likely. It appears that Pederson and Boehm and looking strictly at head coaches, but that if they had to go with an assistant that UCLA's Kerry Keating and former Husker assistant Scott Spinelli would be at the top of the list.