News and Notes: Wednesday Edition

Below, news and notes...

• Jeff Foote (Cornell '10) was under consideration for Player of the Month in the NBA D-League.  Ridiculous Upside ranks Foote as the No. 5 center prospect in the D-League.

• On Steve Donahue, Naples News writes, "Donahue reportedly made $1,001,551 during the 2012-13 season. Donahue’s base salary started at $687,010 in 2010."

• Virginian-Pilot writes:

Darryl Smith and Austin Colbert recently finished their freshmen seasons in Division I college basketball.
Both players began their high school careers at Norfolk Collegiate before transferring.
Smith, who transferred to Blue Ridge, had a very good season at Cornell.
Smith, a 6-2 guard, averaged 19.5 minutes a game this season and played in all 28 games.
He averaged 5.0 points and 2.3 rebounds. He also had 22 assists and 16 steals.
He earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors in January after he scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds with two assists in his Ivy League debut against Columbia.
He also had 14 points, four rebounds, an assist, a block and steal against Ivy League champion Harvard.
And he had a career-high 15 points in his first start against Penn.

• Jeff Goodman of ESPN ranks Nolan Cressler as the 9th overall best transfer on the market and notes:

He put up 16.8 points per game this past season for Bill Courtney in the Ivy League and will sit and have two seasons left to play. Cressler is a big, strong guard who is attracting attention from the likes of Vanderbilt, Northwestern and Pittsburgh.

• Vandy Sports analyzes Nolan Cressler and writes:

After a season where he averaged 16.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game - Cornell sophomore Nolan Cressler decided it was time for a change and on March 20th, he was granted his release from the Ivy League School allowing him to transfer to another program. The Big Red is coming off a 2-26 season, their fourth straight losing season and a far cry from their 2010 Sweet Sixteen run. For Cressler, the decision to transfer was due in part to both basketball and academics.
Enter Vanderbilt. Who wasted little time in offering the All-Ivy League Honorable Mention guard a scholarship on March 24th. Pittsburgh, William & Mary, and Creighton are other schools in pursuit of Cressler's services.
A product of Plum High School in Pennsylvania, Cressler averaged 25.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game during his senior season where he became the school's all-time leading scorer and was named the Pittsburgh Post Gazette's Player of the Year and AAAA Player of the Year as well.
I caught up with Plum head basketball coach Ron Richards to get his take on Cressler's situation and what his new team should expect from the shooting guard.
His skillset:
"Nolan is a big guard, 6-foot-4, who can really score in many different ways. He is only 19 years old and I believe his best basketball is ahead of him."
Being under-the-radar out of high school:
"He was under-recruited coming out of high school, because western Pennsylvania is more of a football area. He is (currently) being recruited by several schools from all major conferences."
What his new team should expect:
"Wherever he ends up, someone is going to get a really good basketball player, who is an even better person. I have no doubt that he will not only play at the highest level, but will be a very good player at the highest level."
Out of high school, Cressler chose Cornell over offers from Yale and Boston University. He made an instant impact for the Big Red during his freshman campaign, averaging 9.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while burying 54 three-pointers at a 40.3% clip.
Stay tuned in to VandySports.com as this story develops.