A few more days until Dallas…scrambling to make some final plans. I’ll be coming in Thursday evening and blowing out of there early Sunday. My dance card is filling up, but anyone who wants the DirtKing to make an appearance a their event MUST pay my fee (two Bud Lights per hour). Here are a few things that I’ve heard…

• Yesterday I said that Cuonzo Martin should “should stick his Sweet 16 trophy in his back pocket and head for the hills.” Apparently he doesn’t read HoopDirt. He released a statement today saying that he wants to stay at UT, and AD Dave Hart released a statement saying that they are working on making “modifications” to Martin’s current contract (http://www.utsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/040114aab.h…). Glad they’re showing him some love now!

• The new names making the rounds at Boston College are Ohio head coach Jim Christian and Florida Gulf Coast head coach Joe Dooley. It also sounds like St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt and Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins are no longer involved. There was a list of four guys circulation towards the end of last week (Schmidt, Hopkins, Towson’s Skerry, and Quinnipiac’s Moore) – in this weekends blog, I said that, “If I’m a betting man (and I am), the choice here could be someone who has not been mentioned.” Looks like we are headed to the “not mentioned” phase…

• From a great source…I’ve heard that Radford assistant JD Byers will be headed to Rice where he will join new head coach Mike Rhoades staff. Byers was an assistant to Rhoades from 2007-2009 at Randolph-Macon College. He just completed his third season at Radford, and has also been an assistant at St. Francis (PA).

• An interesting one making the rounds…with Kevin Keatts gone to UNC-Wilmington, the buzz is that Ralph Willard could return to Rick Pitino’s bench at Louisville. The former Holy Cross head coach spent time from 2009-11 on Pitino’s staff. He is now a scout for the Oklahoma City Thunder. I’ll keep you updated on this one.