The forecast here called for rain/snow showers and the temperature fell into a brisk 22 degrees, signaling that winter has already taken hold of Toronto.
But there was a heat wave that blew in if only for a couple of hours.
And Juan Carlos Navarro provided the unusual burst of humidity.

No Grizzly is hotter than the Spanish guard, who could make his fifth start of the season tonight against the Toronto Raptors in Air Canada Centre. Good things usually happen when “La Bomba” is announced in the starting lineup.

He’s averaged 18.5 points on 54 percent shooting (25-of-46 FG), 5 rebounds and 4 assists and 35.1 minutes in four starts. Navarro’s connected on 42 percent of his 3-pointers during that stretch.
Clearly, Navarro prefers to start given he’s done so for at least a decade as a major star with FC Barcelona. Although Navarro’s had a few impressive performances off the bench, he’s averaged just 6.8 points in 10 games as a reserve. After shooting 25 percent (7 of 28) in his first five NBA regular-season games, Navarro’s shot 54 percent (43 of 80) over the past nine games.

“It’s different when you’re used to starting,” Navarro said. “You have more confidence knowing that if you miss one or two shots you can stay in the game. If you play minutes you can create more.”

Playing 30-plus minutes seems to agree with Navarro, who hasn’t been bother by the general size and strength of NBA guards. Watching Navarro makes one appreciate his skill set – a savvy shooter, who can create enough space to quickly launch 3-pointers, and a crafty ballhandler with uncanny court vision to set up teammates with nifty passes.
“When they’re stronger,” he said, “I try to be quicker and smarter.”

Proof is that Navarro’s performed well as a starter opposite proven NBA shooting guards such as Vince Carter, Michael Finley, DeShawn Stevenson and Jerry Stackhouse.

“We weren’t sure if Juan Carlos could matchup with some guys,” Griz head coach Marc Iavaroni said. “But we’ve realized that he’s a fighter. He’s not going to back down and we feel like that it could be a mismatch in our way. When we get out and run and he’s playing at the three-point line and making plays.”

Teammates are routinely impressed with Navarro’s adaptation to the speed of the NBA game.
“He’s starting to find himself, and he’s getting better in every aspect of the game,” backup point guard Kyle Lowry said. “He can shoot the ball with the best of them. He’s a confident player.”
The Griz may have to concede that Navarro isn’t as suited to do what Mike Miller did when he won the NBA’s 2005-06 Sixth Man of the Year. Navarro could challenge for the Rookie of the Year trophy, and it may take starter’s minutes to achieve that.
“He thinks like a starter,” Iavaroni said.

DARKO UPDATE: Inexplicably, the Griz are being quite coy regarding center Darko Milicic’s sprained left thumb. He’s missed the past six games, and isn’t expected to play before Saturday. One coach explained to me that keeping Milicic’s status as “day-to-day” keeps the opposition preparing for the Griz with their bruiser in mind.
Well, OK.
This much is true: The Griz are very concerned about the injury because it’s something that likely will bother Milicic all season.

DECEMBER DELIGHT: After playing eight of their first 15 games on the road, and five sets of back-to-backs, the Grizzlies are getting set for a friendlier December. They’ll play nine of 15 games at home next month, beginning Saturday when Minnesota visits to FedExForum.

Conference USA needs to look at how it conducts its post-season voting for all-league teams.

Its release earlier this week of the all-conference teams had several glaring omissions, including the absence of a player from either East Carolina or Memphis on the first team offense and defense. East Carolina and Memphis finished 6-2 in the East Division, tied for second behind division winner Central Florida.

To borrow a line from the FedEx/Paintball commercial, `How could that happen?’

Unfortunately, several who vote for the all-conference teams are not being responsible and thorough, which is a travesty for those players who are deserving. Memphis had an offensive lineman, Brandon Pearce, who earned first-team honors during the preseason, but was not on either the first or second teams.

While it had no player make first- or second-team defense, East Carolina wasn’t shut out. Kick-return specialist Chris Johnson earned first-team Special Teams recognition.

And the omission of Memphis quarterback Martin Hankins from the second-team offense seemed a mistake, too. Rice’s Chase Clements earned a spot on the second team. He had respectable numbers (3,377 yards, 29 touchdowns, 16 interceptions), but the Owls finished 3-9. Hankins basically matched Clements’ production (2,939 yards, 22 touchdowns, 12 interceptions) and did so in two fewer games, while being largely responsible for the U of M’s second-half march to a bowl game.

C-USA will attempt to correct the omissions with its second all-conference team, this one voted on by coaches. It will be released next week.

But why confuse the public with two teams. Mix the voting of willing, committed media members in league cities with the coaches’ input and announce one representative team. That would go a long way toward solving the problem and making sure deserving players aren’t overlooked.

THE BIG STORY

Two head coaches known for their high-powered offenses have emerged as potential candidates to replace Houston Nutt, who was criticized during his tenure at Arkansas for being too conservative with his playcalling.

A source familiar with the situation told the Northwest Arkansas Times on Tuesday that Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin could be a good fit for the Razorbacks. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Kiffin has wanted to coach at the college level.

Kiffin is in his first season with the Raiders, but there is talk that he might be unhappy with the situation. Oakland is 3-8 this season, and the team has had quarterback issues despite using its first overall pick last April to draft former LSU signal-caller JaMarcus Russell.

Kiffin is no stranger to Arkansas. His father, Monte Kiffin, served as a defensive coordinator on Lou Holtz’ staff from 1977-79.

In addition, Kiffin was the offensive coordinator at the University of Southern California when the Trojans routed the Hogs 70-17 in 2005 and then 50-14 in Reynolds Razorback Stadium a year ago.

Kiffin, whose job security with the Raiders has been questioned as recently as last week, signed a three-year contract with Oakland in January.

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, known for his record-breaking, pass-friendly offense, has also been mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Nutt.

Leach, a former Kentucky assistant coach, has also been rumored to be interested in taking over at UCLA if coach Karl Dorrell is fired.

Incoming Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long, who will officially assume control when Frank Broyles retires at the end of the year, is handling the national search to find Nutt’s replacement.

But Long has remained quiet since Nutt announced Monday night that he was resigning after 10 seasons at Arkansas because the intense scrutiny from fans was taking a toll on his family.

Nutt reportedly agreed to a contract late Monday night to be Ole Miss’ new coach, and he will be introduced at a news conference today in Oxford, Miss.

Long, meanwhile, attended Nutt’s farewell news conference, but he was not made available to the media. He didn’t speak with reporters Tuesday, either.

Though his last day on the job is not until Dec. 31, Broyles said he will not have a part in looking for Arkansas’ next coach.

“I don’t think that I will be asked. I don’t think that I’ll be included in anything,” Broyles said Tuesday. “I think that’s the proper way to do it.”

Broyles declined to comment when asked if he would like to be involved in the search to find Nutt’s replacement.

Jim Lindsey, a high-profile member of Arkansas’ Board of Trustees, said Tuesday that he also won’t be involved in the coaching search. In the past, Lindsey has had a say in other Arkansas athletic issues.

“I’m going to sit back, and if I’m asked at the highest level, I’ll give my opinion,” Linsey said. “I’m not just going to talk about it (with Long).”

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Though I wrote about Jeff Robinson in my game preview story today, the guy I’ll be watching closely tonight is Antonio Anderson. It has been a shockingly poor start to the season for Anderson, who really put in a lot of work over the summer to improve his game. And it’s not just Anderson’s shooting percentages — 28.6% from the field, 20.0% from the 3-point line and 50% on free throws. He’s constantly tried to make difficult plays, leading to turnovers. A typical stat line for Anderson last year was something around 10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 turnover. But so far this year, Anderson has a team-high 16 turnovers, and it’s almost been painful to watch him.

What’s the answer? If I were John Calipari, I’d strongly consider moving Anderson to the bench — not as a punishment, but for his own benefit. It might help Anderson to be able to watch the first 4-5 minutes of the game, see the flow, get a sense of the pace, see how the opposition is playing. I also think it would be beneficial to the Tigers to start Doneal Mack. If teams are going to play zone — and I can’t imagine Austin Peay doing anything but that tonight — I wouldn’t mess around. Put your best 3-point shooter out there immediately and let him bomb away, then bring Anderson off the bench and let him drive.

I’m sure that title put a couple of you on your ear. But I’ve heard that from quite a few non biased types. Me, I think they’re one of the best around but I’ve got some serious bias working.

The Tigers wide outs are lead by Duke Calhoun and Carlos Singleton. They both play the same position so you have never seen them on the field at the same time. The two of them combined for 105 receptions, 1,554 yards and 15 TD’s. It sure helps having them alternate so they stay fresh during the game and can beat DB’s late. The Tigers had 8 100-yard reception yardage games. Calhoun and Singleton had six of them. They also combined to be the first Tigers WR duo to both have 100 yards in a game in over 4 years when they went for 107 and 100 respectively. Duke and Carlos also made clutch catches. Duke caught the game winner against Tulane in the final 2 minutes and Carlos took a 52-yarder in for six to beat Southern Miss. Both completed come from behind victories.
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Just received this from Mike Checkett at Ducks Unlimited:

For Missouri:

The front that passed through last week did not appear to bring many new birds into Missouri from Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota.

Ted Shanks in northeastern Missouri was the only one to report a noticable increase in waterfowl on Nov. 14-15. Andy Raedeke flew aerial surveys over Mid-Missouri on Nov. 19 and didn’t notice much of a change in bird numbers from the survey two weeks before.

Some areas have experienced increased numbers that may be attributed to small groups trickling in over the week. However, Missouri is still waiting for a good push of waterfowl from the north.

The total number of waterfowl on state areas last week was around 610,827, which was far short of the 721,738 birds Missouri had this time last year.

These numbers could change overnight if cold fronts freeze wetlands to the north and push waterfowl south.

THE BIG STORY

Texas A&M appears to have bypassed Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville in its search for a new football coach.

Two Texas newspapers reported that Houston Texans assistant Mike Sherman was the leading candidate for the job and could be hired within days. Sherman declined to comment to reporters after his team’s loss to the Cleveland Browns Sunday.

Tuberville had been pegged as a top candidate for the job for almost a month, and his refusal to squelch the rumors until recently raised questions about his future at Auburn.

Tuberville, who coached Auburn to its school-record sixth consecutive Iron Bowl win on Saturday, told the Mobile Register he plans to meet with Auburn Athletic Director Jay Jacobs today to discuss a range of post-season issues.

“It’ll be talk about the season and, of course, the president will evaluate our performance,” Tuberville said. “I’ll make some recommendations and we’ll go from there.”

Tuberville declined to elaborate on what the “recommendations” might entail.

Jacobs said this week’s meeting would be a “normal, year-end” chat to discuss “where we are and where we think we’re going.”

The two parties might also discuss a contract extension for Tuberville, who signed a seven-year, $18 million deal after the 2004 season.

Tuberville will make an average of $3.1 million over the four remaining years of the contract, putting him among the best-compensated coaches in the nation, but still well below Alabama coach Nick Saban’s contract that is worth $4 million annually.

Tuberville may have lost leverage in his negotiations when the rumors linking him to the A&M job stopped abruptly. The Houston Chronicle and the Austin American Statesman reported Sunday that Sherman is the top candidate to replace Dennis Franchione, who resigned as head coach after the Aggies defeated Texas Friday.

The Chronicle said the hire could be made as early as today, and quoted an anonymous source as saying that Tuberville was never a serious candidate. Tuberville said Sunday he had not spoken with Texas A&M and had no plans to do so.

Jacobs said Saturday that he believes Tuberville put the issue to rest a week ago, when the coach said he would remain at Auburn “as long as they want me.”

“I think when it first started happening, he just said, ‘It seems like every year, I get caught in one of these things,’” said Jacobs, referring to the coaching rumors. “I think when it didn’t die down, he finally said, ‘You know what, I’m just going to come out and put an end to all this.’ That’s what he did last week, when he said, ‘I want to be here.’”

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