- Everyone’s favorite cable provider, Comcast, announced yesterday that their third quarter earnings went straight into the toilet. If you’ve been forced to switch to a satellite provider due to Comcast’s reluctance to include the Big Ten Network on their basic package, you’re probably not feeling the least bit sorry for them. For those behind on the times, E had a nice take on the whole ordeal a couple months back. {Comcast Must Die}

- The Hoosiers held their open practice yesterday and as usual, the Hoosier Scoop was right on top of it. For those of you who went, I’m interested in hearing what you took away from watching line drills. {The Hoosier Scoop}

- Lance Stephenson, the uber-talented 2009 guard from Brooklyn, NY, is visiting Kansas this weekend. {The Topeka Capital-Journal}

- Speaking of Stephenson, those of you in the Southern Indiana area will have a chance to check him out December 7 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Stephenson and his Lincoln high teammates will play destroy Louisville St. Xavier in the All-American Shootout. {C-J Recruiting Blog}

- CBS Sports announced their schedule for the upcoming hoops season and IU will be featured six times. Kentucky and Ohio State lead the way with seven games each. {TV Week}

- And finally (a few days old, but better late than never, right?), the Big Ten Network has announced their studio hosts for hoops and our old friend Gene Keady is joining the fray. Is it possible that he’ll look worse than Lou Holtz in HD? {Big Ten Network}

Devin Ebanks, Derek Elston and Matt Roth, three players already committed to the Hoosiers, are slated to take in the festivities. Ebanks will be on his official visit while Elston and Roth will be on unofficial visits. Roth took his official visit alongside Tyler Zeller a couple of weeks ago. Zeller will be at Notre Dame this weekend and will finish his visits with a trip to Purdue next weekend.

Kevin Jones, from Mount Vernon (NY), will be on hand for his unofficial visit with his brother, Gerard. Jones is one of the final 2008 targets still on the board and is also considering Ohio State, West Virginia, UMass and Pittsburgh.

The 2009 class will also be well represented at Hoosier Hysteria. As I talked about a few weeks ago, Nolan Dennis, Lance Stephenson (pictured) and Dexter Strickland will all attend.

Lawrence North’s Stephan Van Treese, who recently visited Louisville and is being recruited by several other high major programs, will make the drive down from Indianapolis.

If you include Elston, five of the top 100 players in the 2009 class will be at Assembly Hall.

Other notable guests include Ray McCallum Jr., Jordan Prosser and Jacob Jenkins. Prosser, a 2009 forward from Goodfield (IL), has an IU offer and played with Indiana Elite and will attend per Midstatehoops. Jenkins, also a member of the 2009 class, is from Manual high school in Louisville and does not have an offer from IU. He was in the Rivals top 100 for 2009 but dropped out of the rankings after the summer.

Also, I’ve received a few e-mails asking about TV coverage of Hoosier Hysteria. The Big Ten Network is planning to have live reports from around the Big Ten beginning at 9:30 PM on Friday. Indiana will be one of the schools featured along with Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan State and Wisconsin.

Let’s face it, most of the 2008 talent has been spoken for and it’s most likely far too late to get in on the available talent still left on the board.

We’ve already told you that Dexter Strickland (pictured) and Lance Stephenson will attend Hoosier Hysteria next Friday night at Assembly Hall. Various reports now indicate that Nolan Dennis, another highly touted 2009 guard, will also attend the festivities.

Just to give you an idea of how well Strickland, Stephenson and Dennis are thought of, consider these rankings by Scout and Rivals:

- Strickland: Scout (No. 1 PG); Rivals No. 16
- Stephenson: Scout (NO. 1 SF); Rivals No. 4
- Dennis: Scout (No. 6 SG); Rivals No. 21

Landing any one of these guys could help ease the pain of the Mackey news. Landing two of them would greatly diminish the pain. All three and you’ll be saying, “Bud who?”

Also, for those of you who won’t be attending Hoosier Hysteria, the Big Ten Network is planning to have reports from the event throughout the Big Ten Tonight basketball tip-off special.

Lance Stephenson, from Lincoln High in Brooklyn, NY will Hoosier Hysteria on an unofficial visit. Lincoln is the same school that has produced Stephon Marbury and Sebastian Telfair.

Stephenson is regarded as one of the top five juniors in the 2009 class by nearly every recruiting publication. He’s 6′5″, 195 pounds and is regarded as an athletic freak with an NBA-ready body. NBAdraft.net compares his game to Gilbert Arenas.

I’ll definitely check out Stephenson in December as he’s scheduled to play in a game at Freedom Hall with his Lincoln teammates.

For now, I’ll leave you with an incredible putback dunk from Stephenson via YouTube.