#POSTERIZED: We take reccomendations

We here at Ballin' is a Habit have always been a voice of the people. The interaction with other college basketball fans is just one of the many things that makes this sport so special.

The gentleman who reside in the B.I.A.H NYC headquarters (aka 45 Wall) are some of the most passionate Vermont basketball fans in the history of creation. So when Vermont played UConn on Tuesday night, they had me on speed-dial just in case somebody threw down the nasty.

That person was Vermont's Clancy Rugg.



See, we try to cover all the best dunks in the college basketball world, but we only have so many sets of eyeballs. So we need your help. If you see a great dunk, something that might be #POSTERIZED-worthy, give us a shout on Twitter at @TroyMachir, @RobDauster or @Ballinisahabit. Feel free to use the #POSTERIZED hashtag.


After all, friends don't let friends miss out on somebody getting #POSTERIZED.
But was it as good as these?

Jamari Traylor - Kansas vs. Michigan State, 11/14
Doug Anderson - Detroit vs. St. John's, 11/13
Kris Brewer - Kent State vs. Temple, 11/13
Rakeem Christmas - Syracuse vs. San Diego State, 11/11
Deandre Daniels - UConn vs. Michigan State, 11/9
Ben McLemore - Kansas vs. Emporia State, 10/31
Keion Bell - Missouri vs. Northwest Missouri, 10/31

Continue reading...

#POSTERIZED: Deandre Daniels salutes the troops

UConn's Deandre Daniels figures to benefit mightily from the departures of Roscoe Smith, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Jeremy Lamb.

While known primarily as a long-range shooter, the sophomore wing proved to Michigan State that he's got an inside game as well.

Say hello to our first legitimate #POSTERIZED entry of the 2012-2013 season:






But was it as good as these? 

Ben McLemore - Kansas vs. Emporia State, 10/31 
Keion Bell - Missouri vs. Northwest Missouri, 10/31

Continue reading...

POSTERIZED: Andre 3000

UConn freshman Andre Drummond is a physical specimen. He's a future lottery pick with freak athleticism and uncanny agility for a guy his size.

He still has a lot to work on, but his dunking ability is not one of them.

Against Syracuse on Thursday, he caught a Shabazz Napier miss and threw it down with unnecessary force and power.



He's a freak, plain and simple. The TV angles don't do this dunk proper justice. This was one of the most ferocious tip-dunks I have ever seen.

Ever.

But was it as good as these?

C.J. Leslie, North Carolina State vs. Boston College, 3/8
Rondey Williams, Minnesota vs. Nebraska, 3/3
Isaiah Sykes, Central Florida vs. Memphis, 2/28
Brandon Mitchell, Arkansas vs. Ole Miss, 2/28
John Henson, North Carolina vs. Virginia, 2/25
C.J. Aiken, St. Joseph's vs. Temple, 2/25
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Anthony Davis, Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt, 2/25
Dion Waiters, Syracuse vs. UConn, 2/25
Weekend Recap, 2/18
Tony Wroten Jr./Aziz N'Diaye, Washington vs. Arizona, 2/18
Chris Czerapowicz, Davidson vs. Wichita State, 2/18
Darius Miller, Kentucky vs. Ole Miss, 2/18
Rodney Williams, Minnesota vs. Ohio State, 2/16
Darrion Pellom, Hampton vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore 2/15 (DotY Candidate)
Trency Jackson, Northwest Florida vs. Chipola, 2/15
Kwame Alexander, Cal St. San Bernadino, 2/12
Tahj Tate, Delaware State vs. Coppin State, 2/11
Weekend Recap, 2/10 - 2/12
Kyisean Reed, Utah State vs. Louisiana Tech, 2/9
Joshea Singleton, Bucknell vs. Colgate, 2/8
Kelsey Barlow, Purdue vs. Ohio State, 2/7
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Iowa State, 2/7
Roscoe Smith, UConn vs. Louisville, 2/7
Weekend Recap, 2/2 - 2/5
Jamaal Franklin, San Diego State vs. TCU, 2/4
Michael Carter-Williams, Syracuse vs. St. John's, 2/4
Kwame Alexander, Cal State-San Bernardino vs. Cal State-Dominguez Hills (D-II), 2/3
Bradley Beal, Florida vs. South Carolina, 2/2
Doug Anderson, Detroit vs. Valparaiso, 2/2
Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Oklahoma, 2/1
Markel Brown, Oklahoma state vs. Texas Tech, 1/31
Royce White, Iowa State vs. Kansas State, 1/31
Savalace Townsend, Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. Grambling State, 1/28 (DotY Candidate)
Weekend Recap, 1/25 - 1/29
Tony Wroten Jr., Washington vs. Arizona State, 1/26 (DotY Candidate)
Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Dayton, 1/25
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Missouri, 1/25 (DotY Candidate)
Larry Nance Jr., Wyoming vs. San Diego State, 1/24
Dion Dixon, Cincinnati vs. Syracuse, 1/23
Victor Rudd Jr., South Florida vs. St. John's, 1/17 (DotY Candidate)
C.J. Fair, Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh, 1/16
TrayVonn Wright, North Dakota State vs. South Dakota, 1/14
Bandja Sy, New Mexico State vs. Utah State, 1/12
Kenny Hall, Tennessee vs. Mississippi State, 1/12
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Duquesne, 1/11
Kadeem Batts, Providence vs. Louisville, 1/10
Karam Mashour, UNLV vs. CS-Bakersfield, 1/6
Tony Snell, New Mexico vs. Houston Baptist, 1/3
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Georgia Tech, 1/3
Trevis Simpson, UNC-Greensboro vs. Miami, 1/2
Orion Outerbridge, Rhode Island vs. Boston College, 1/2
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Indiana, 12/31
DeShon Minnis, Texas Tech vs. Southeastern Louisiana, 12/30
Keith Gabriel, VMI vs. Old Dominion, 12/22
Eric Etherly, Loyola (Md.) vs. Kentucky, 12/22
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. Texas-Arlington, 12/21
P.J. Hairston, North Carolina vs. Texas, 12/21
Robbie Hummel, Purdue vs. IPFW, 12/20
Robert Brown, Virginia Tech vs. North Florida, 12/19
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Kansas State, 12/17
Torye Pelham, Southern Mississippi vs. Ole Miss, 12/17
Quincy Diggs, Akron vs. Florida A&M, 12/17
Anthony Davis, Kentucky vs. Chattanooga, 12/17
Langston Galloway/C.J. Aiken/Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Villanova, 12/17
Terrence Ross, Washington vs. UC-Santa Barbara, 12/16
Jared Cunningham, Oregon State vs. Howard, 12/15
Raheem Appleby, Louisiana Tech vs. McNeese State, 12/14
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Detroit, 12/12
Vander Blue, Marquette vs. UW-Green Bay, 12/11
Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Creighton, 12/10
Dion Waiters, Syracuse vs. George Washington, 12/10 (DotY Candidate)
Victor Oladipo, Indiana vs. Kentucky, 12/10
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, 12/10
Vander Blue, Marquette vs. Washington, 12/6
Terrence Ross, Washington vs. Marquette, 12/6
Deville Smith, Mississippi State vs. West Virginia, 12/3
Terrence Jones, Kentucky vs. North Carolina, 12/3
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Georgetown, 12/1
Anthony Marshall, UNLV vs. UNC, 11/26
Michael Kidd-Glichrist, Kentucky vs. Portland, 11/26/11 (DotY Candidate)
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/25
Rodney Williams, Minnesota vs. DePaul, 11/24
Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Duke, 11/23
Stan Okoye, VMI vs. Ohio State, 11/23
Kyisean Reed, Utah State vs. Southern Utah, 11/19
Ra'Shad James, Iona vs. Western Michigan, 11/18
Alandise Harris, Houston vs. Arkansas, 11/18
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Jackson State, 11/18
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Wichita State, 11/18
Eric Griffin, Campbell vs. North Carolina A&T, 11/18 (DotY Candidate)
Olek Czyz, Nevada vs. Pacific, 11/17
Chris Watson, Pikeville vs. Mountain State, 11/16
Ray Willis, North Carolina Central vs. Wagner, 11/16
Mike James, Lamar vs. Ohio, 11/15 (DotY Candidate)
Quincy Acy, Baylor vs. San Diego State, 11/15
Deniz Kilicli, West Virginia vs. Kent State, 11/15
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. West Virginia, 11/15
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Oakland, 11/14
Isaiah Brown, East Tennessee State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/12
Michael Lyons, Air Force vs. Army, 11/11
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Morgan State, 11/11
Jeremy Lamb, UConn vs. Columbia, 11/11 (DotY Candidate)
Andre Drummond, UConn vs. CW Post, 11/4
Moe Harkless, St. John's vs. CW Post, 10/26

Continue reading...

Leadership by Comittee: Southerland's second half surge leads Syracuse

Should we have really counted out Syracuse?

Trailing by eight midway through the second half against a UConn team that hasn't lost a postseason game since 2010, Syracuse used it's staunch defense and well-balanced offense to defeat the Huskies, 58-55. This was the sixth time since the beginning of 2012 that the Orange have had to rally back from a second half deficit in order to earn the victory.

Part of the reason they are able to do this on a consistent basis is because they have so many different players who are capable of being the superstar for a night. Opponents cannot possibly lock down on seven different players. UConn had to ride on the coattails of Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier. Syracuse rode on the shoulders of whoever was hitting shots.

(Photo Source: AP)

And on Thursday afternoon, James Southerland was hitting his shots.

"That's the beauty of our team, we guys, if we're double-teamed, we don't have to think twice about passing", said point guard Brandon Triche, who finished with seven points and seven rebounds. "Guys like James, guys like C.J. can knock down shots. We have so many great players, the best one is who ever is open, and James was getting his today."

Southerland finished with only ten points, but the timeliness of the baskets increased his performance value. All ten of his points were scored in the final eight minutes, including a 3-pointer that gave Syracuse the lead for the first time since the first half.

"It felt really great out there," Said Southerland. "Especially being at home and all. It's good my teammates are here for me, they're not giving up on me just because I missed two shots, and it feels good.

But what happens when they get down by too much? Can you consistently rely on erasing second half deficits?

"No matter how much, eight points with 12 minutes to go. That's a lot of time. If we was playing well, we probably could have gone up 20," Said Triche. "Again, tonight it was James. Dion played great too. But anybody on this team can get buckets."

Once again, it's superstar-by-committee for the Syracuse Orange. "It was just a matter of going with the two guys that were playing better," said Jim Boeheim during the post-game press conference.

"Some games it's been those two (Dion and James), some games it's been Scoop and one of them. But today Scoop wasn't making shots, and I thought that the two best offensive players we had were those two guys," Boeheim continued. "I thought Michael Carter had a great first half. He made three great passes, and I thought Rakeem, we're using him coming in at center. He was huge in the first half."

We are enamored with the individual superstar. We want there to be one guy. One LeBron. One Kobe. One Jimmer. One Kemba.

But Syracuse has made a living this year off of finding a new player to lead the way every game.

Continue reading...

Joint leadership is propelling the Huskies to another postseason run

Maybe UConn doesn't need just one individual leading willing to shoulder the load during crunch time. Sure, it's a luxury to have a player who's willing and able to take a game over at any time, but not many teams are awarded with a player like that.

In the case of the 2012 UConn Huskies, they have bi-partisan leadership, and through two Big East Tournament games, it seems to be working.

(Photo Credit: AP)

A leader needs to be willing and able to take over a game when need be. before this week, Shabazz Napier seemed only willing, and Jeremy Lamb only able.

Shabazz Napier said he wanted to be the leader. "I try to tell the guys, I feel as if I’m their best leader. Sometimes they give me a chance, sometimes they don’t." That's what he said after a disappointing loss to Rutgers on January 9th.

He questioned his team's lack of heart, and voiced his desire to be anointed the leader. “I hate to say it — I gotta question a lot of these guys’ hearts,” he said following a 15-point loss to Marquette on February 15th,“…Simple stuff – just quitting. It doesn’t look like UConn basketball."

Napier might have relayed his message in an uncontroversial manner, but he's starting to get his point across, and he's doing with his actions instead of his words.

Before fouling out in overtime of UConn's 71-67 win over West Virginia in the second round of the Big East Tournament, the polarizing guard scored 26 points, distributed six assists, grabbed four rebounds, and had three steals and three blocks. When the Mountaineers stretched their second half lead to nine points, it was Napier who led the ferocious comeback with steals, 3-pointers and numerous displays of athleticism.

"I thought Shabazz was close to magnificent." Said Jim Calhoun in the post game press conference, "I thought Jeremy stepped up like the big time player that he is."

Jeremy Lamb followed up his 25-point performance in the first round of the Big East Tournament with 22 points and eight rebounds. But after scoring 12 of the Huskies 26 points in the first half, he want silent for much of the second half. Luckily for Lamb, Napier was there to pick up the slack. When Napier fouled fouled out in overtime, Lamb returned the favor by propelling the team to victory with a big 3-pointer.

"I knew we needed a score, and in the game yesterday, Coach told me to shoot, and I didn't take a shot. You know, Coach was just saying, I want you shooting the ball."

Lamb's 3-pointer was the last field goal of the game, and the eventual game-winner, but due to his unselfish nature, he needed to be willed into demanding the attention. "I told Jeremy, you've got to be willing to shoot now, you've got to be looking for hits," said Napier, "and when he came off that curve, there was no doubt in my mind it was going in because that's what he works on in practice, that's what we work on in practice".

So Jeremy is evolving as a scorer who demands the ball and Shabazz is learning to lead by example. The Huskies have two capable leaders, not one.

But despite this, the question will always be asked. "I'm going to tell you and Shabazz is going to tell you and coach is going to tell you, last year and this year, two completely different deals. This is not Kemba Walker. He's a totally different player. In the last week that I've been around Shabazz, he's a different player than he was three weeks ago. He's a different player." Coach Calhoun is right, Lamb and Napier are different players. Not just compared to last year, but also compared to last month.

But if it's not a question about comparison, it's a question about whether or not the Huskies can do it again. "I don't think it can happen again, but then again, I said it could never happen in the first place." Said Calhoun.

"Would we like to give it a shot? Would we like to take a stab at it? Everybody out there would. Everybody out there would. We're just going to try to play tomorrow's basketball game to take it where it may."

With Napier and Lamb leading this team, they seem to be headed in the right direction.

Continue reading...

Lamb's leadership shines in UConn victory

The press conference following UConn's 81-67 win over DePaul in the first round of the Big East Tournament didn't last more than 45 seconds before Kemba Walker's name was mentioned for the first time.

Roughly 365 days after Kemba Walker started one of the greatest postseason stretches in recent memory with a 91-77 first round win over DePaul, the Huskies were back in the familiar No.9-seed and against a familiar No.16-seed foe.

But replacing Kemba, who finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the 2011 first round game against the Blue Demons, was Jeremy Lamb, who finished with 25 points, five rebounds and four assists on Tuesday afternoon.

So maybe there was just reasoning for bringing up a former-player so quickly in the press conference.

(Source: AP Photo)

"I'm not trying to be Kemba." Lamb said during the post-game press conference. "Of course everybody wants to lead their team to championships, but I'm just trying to do what's best for this team. The whole team knows, we've got five great players, Boatright, Shabazz, Roscoe stepping up. We also got great big men, so it's a great team effort. "

Lamb did have a very "Kemba-esque" game though. He hit a bevy of 3-pointers, took his man off the dribble, and hit a number of tough shots each with a higher degree of difficulty than the last.

Ever since the beginning of the school year, Lamb had been anointed as "The Next Kemba", and while that may be unfair to both Lamb and Kemba, the biggest knock on the Huskies this year was there lack of leadership and energy, which was the calling card of Kemba's success.

But on Tuesday afternoon, this looked like a different UConn team. A team with energy. A team with a leader. Alex Oriakhi attacked the glass on every possession, and displayed a a level of energy he struggled to play with on a consistent basis this season.Shabazz Napier was looked to find open teammates instead of looking for open shots. He finished with only five points, but had six assists and zero turnovers.  Andre Drummond was a force on the low block, finishing with 12 points, five rebounds and four blocks.

But it was Lamb who led it all. He scored 15 of the Huskies first 30 points of the game. He did the big things and the little things. Just by watching the ebbs and flows of the game, you could tell that Lamb was the leader. He wasn't overly vocal or demonstrative, but he led by example, and his teammates followed.

Or maybe it was just  deja vu. Tuesday afternoon just seemed all too familiar.  Noon start time. Tuesday afternoon.  No.9 Huskies vs. No. 16 Blue Demons. "Yeah, it's a coincidence," Lamb said at the press conference. "But it's a whole new year."

Lamb is right, this was a brand new year, yet he was tagged as a new version of a former-player. This UConn team is different than last year. Sure they have a lot of the same parts, but some of those parts have different roles.

Napier has taken a full season to fully adjust to primary ball-handling responsibilities. Oriakhi had a difficult time adjusting to the addition of future-lottery pick Andre Drummond, and Lamb had to adjust from being the sidekick to the superhero. Even Jim Calhoun had to adjust to not having a full fledged "player-coach" on out the floor for 40-minutes a game.

But adjustments are made during the regular season,  if Tuesday afternoon is any indication, UConn has made those adjustments, and could be primed to replicate their postseason success.

Continue reading...

What to make of the UConn collapse

We all thought that UConn was on the verge of turning their season around.

After a disastrous performance against Georgetown in DC on Wednesday and the loss of their head coach to spinal stenosis of Friday, UConn came out and looked motivated against Seton Hall on Saturday. Some of their underlying issues were still evident -- Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier were still struggling to shoot the ball and UConn still didn't run any semblance of an offense -- but there was some effort and some fight that showed through. Between that performance and the way that they handled the press conference after the games, saying all the right things about team unity, and there was reason to be hopeful about the rest of the season.

So much for that.
Continue reading...

POSTERIZED: R-O-S-C-O-E Dunk

UConn suffered their worst defeat of the season. it was ugly, embarrassing, and borderline-disgraceful. Louisville beat them 80-59 and that score doesn't fully detail the smackdown that Louisville layeth.

The Huskies looked out-of-sync, incohesive, and disinterested. Frankly, it's kinda frustrating given their talent and given that nobody has shown any signs of leadership. Sure, none of them are going to become Kemba Walker over night, but I haven't seen any positive body language in over a month. But not was all bad.

If 99.5% of UConn's performance was bad, which it was, Roscoe Smith provided that 0.5%

It was an impressive 0.5%



But UConn's performance was so bad that ESPN did not even show a replay of the dunk. Why would why they? The Huskies didn't deserve to have anything emphasized other than their pathetic effort.

But in a vacuum, Roscoe Smith's dunk was nasty. Really nasty.



But was it as good as these?

Weekend Recap, 2/2 - 2/5
Jamaal Franklin, San Diego State vs. TCU, 2/4
Michael Carter-Williams, Syracuse vs. St. John's, 2/4
Kwame Alexander, Cal State-San Bernardino vs. Cal State-Dominguez Hills (D-II), 2/3 (DotY Candidate)
Bradley Beal, Florida vs. South Carolina, 2/2
Doug Anderson, Detroit vs. Valparaiso, 2/2
Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Oklahoma, 2/1
Markel Brown, Oklahoma state vs. Texas Tech, 1/31
Royce White, Iowa State vs. Kansas State, 1/31
Savalace Townsend, Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. Grambling State, 1/28 (DotY Candidate)
Weekend Recap, 1/25 - 1/29
Tony Wroten Jr., Washington vs. Arizona State, 1/26 (DotY Candidate)
Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Dayton, 1/25
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Missouri, 1/25 (DotY Candidate)
Larry Nance Jr., Wyoming vs. San Diego State, 1/24
Dion Dixon, Cincinnati vs. Syracuse, 1/23
Victor Rudd Jr., South Florida vs. St. John's, 1/17 (DotY Candidate)
C.J. Fair, Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh, 1/16
TrayVonn Wright, North Dakota State vs. South Dakota, 1/14
Bandja Sy, New Mexico State vs. Utah State, 1/12
Kenny Hall, Tennessee vs. Mississippi State, 1/12
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Duquesne, 1/11
Kadeem Batts, Providence vs. Louisville, 1/10
Karam Mashour, UNLV vs. CS-Bakersfield, 1/6
Tony Snell, New Mexico vs. Houston Baptist, 1/3
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Georgia Tech, 1/3
Trevis Simpson, UNC-Greensboro vs. Miami, 1/2
Orion Outerbridge, Rhode Island vs. Boston College, 1/2
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Indiana, 12/31
DeShon Minnis, Texas Tech vs. Southeastern Louisiana, 12/30
Keith Gabriel, VMI vs. Old Dominion, 12/22
Eric Etherly, Loyola (Md.) vs. Kentucky, 12/22
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. Texas-Arlington, 12/21
P.J. Hairston, North Carolina vs. Texas, 12/21
Robbie Hummel, Purdue vs. IPFW, 12/20
Robert Brown, Virginia Tech vs. North Florida, 12/19
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Kansas State, 12/17
Torye Pelham, Southern Mississippi vs. Ole Miss, 12/17
Quincy Diggs, Akron vs. Florida A&M, 12/17
Anthony Davis, Kentucky vs. Chattanooga, 12/17
Langston Galloway/C.J. Aiken/Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Villanova, 12/17
Terrence Ross, Washington vs. UC-Santa Barbara, 12/16
Jared Cunningham, Oregon State vs. Howard, 12/15
Raheem Appleby, Louisiana Tech vs. McNeese State, 12/14
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Detroit, 12/12
Vander Blue, Marquette vs. UW-Green Bay, 12/11
Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Creighton, 12/10
Dion Waiters, Syracuse vs. George Washington, 12/10 (DotY Candidate)
Victor Oladipo, Indiana vs. Kentucky, 12/10
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, 12/10
Vander Blue, Marquette vs. Washington, 12/6
Terrence Ross, Washington vs. Marquette, 12/6
Deville Smith, Mississippi State vs. West Virginia, 12/3
Terrence Jones, Kentucky vs. North Carolina, 12/3
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Georgetown, 12/1
Anthony Marshall, UNLV vs. UNC, 11/26
Michael Kidd-Glichrist, Kentucky vs. Portland, 11/26/11 (DotY Candidate)
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/25
Rodney Williams, Minnesota vs. DePaul, 11/24
Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Duke, 11/23
Stan Okoye, VMI vs. Ohio State, 11/23
Kyisean Reed, Utah State vs. Southern Utah, 11/19
Ra'Shad James, Iona vs. Western Michigan, 11/18
Alandise Harris, Houston vs. Arkansas, 11/18
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Jackson State, 11/18
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Wichita State, 11/18
Eric Griffin, Campbell vs. North Carolina A&T, 11/18 (DotY Candidate)
Olek Czyz, Nevada vs. Pacific, 11/17
Chris Watson, Pikeville vs. Mountain State, 11/16
Ray Willis, North Carolina Central vs. Wagner, 11/16
Mike James, Lamar vs. Ohio, 11/15 (DotY Candidate)
Quincy Acy, Baylor vs. San Diego State, 11/15
Deniz Kilicli, West Virginia vs. Kent State, 11/15
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. West Virginia, 11/15
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Oakland, 11/14
Isaiah Brown, East Tennessee State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/12
Michael Lyons, Air Force vs. Army, 11/11
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Morgan State, 11/11
Jeremy Lamb, UConn vs. Columbia, 11/11 (DotY Candidate)
Andre Drummond, UConn vs. CW Post, 11/4
Moe Harkless, St. John's vs. CW Post, 10/26 Continue reading...

Georgetown bounces back from a loss to Pitt by beating UConn

WASHINGTON - John Thompson III has unquestionably brought the Georgetown basketball program back to national relevancy, but if anything has defined his tenure as the head coach of the Hoyas, its late-season meltdowns.

The Hoyas won the Big East Tournament and made a run to the Final Four in 2007, but that March seemed to use up all of their postseason magic. In 2008, the Hoyas won the 2008 Big East regular season title and made the final of the tournament before losing to Davidson and Steph Curry in the second round of the Big Dance. The following year Georgetown didn't even make the NCAA Tournament, getting bounced in the first round of the NIT after finishing the regular season 16-14 and 7-11 in conference play despite a 10-1 start to the year. In 2010, the Hoyas started the year out with wins in 15 of their first 18 games, but went 8-8 down the stretch and got bounced in the first round of the Big Dance by Ohio. And last season, Chris Wright's broken hand facilitated four losses in their final five regular season games before first round exits in both the Big East and the NCAA Tournaments.
Continue reading...

Seton Hall cannot rest on their win over UConn

Andre Drummond didn't know who Herb Pope was prior to No. 8 UConn's trip to Seton Hall, but the name he most likely learned during the Pirate's 75-63 win on Tuesday was that of Jordan Theodore.

The Pirate point guard was sensational as Seton Hall won their first game against UConn in 3,958 days, finishing with 19 points, 11 assists, three steals and a number of big buckets in the second half to prevent the Huskies from building any kind of momentum.

The statement "big buckets" in the second half is kind of ironic, I know, as the Pirates flat out drilled UConn on this night. Think about this: UConn was hot early, hitting three threes in the first four minutes of the game as they jumped out to a 11-2 lead. Over the next 16 minutes? Seton Hall outscored the Huskies 31-11, which included a 16-3 run to close the first half. UConn was able to trim a 35-22 halftime deficit to 10, but they never made things interesting after the break.

The one, very basic, question that we are now forced to ask: is this Seton Hall team is 'for real'?
Continue reading...

Harvard's still good, but they needed to play nearly perfect to beat UConn

Harvard is a good team.

Nothing that they did in their 67-53 loss to UConn on Thursday night will dissuade me of that.

They hung with one of the most talented teams in the country for 40 minutes. They banged around in the paint and they knocked down a couple of threes and they had a counter every time UConn landed an "overhand right from Riddick". The Crimson did anything but embarrass themselves against the Huskies. This is a team good enough to play in the NCAA Tournament and put together a win or two.

But what this loss tells us is that Harvard has a ceiling.


Simply put, when the Crimson play an opponent that has this much of a size and athleticism advantage, they are going to have problems. Keith Wright was rendered largely ineffective for the majority of the game, finishing with just nine points and five boards on 3-10 shooting. He's not a leaper and he's not a footwork tactician; Wright is the kind of big man that barrels his way through a post defender, using his girth to create just enough space to get his shot off. Against length like Andre Drummond and Alex Oriakhi, that strength is nullified.

The other issue that Harvard has is on the perimeter. UConn's length bothered Harvard's shooters after the first couple of minutes. The Crimson looked like they weren't prepared for shots that they normally get off with plenty of time and space to be challenged. Because Harvard didn't necessarily run bad offense. They only turned the ball over 10 times against UConn's smothering defense, and except for a couple minutes early in the second half, Harvard generally moved the ball well and got good looks from the floor. They just missed them.

The question that you have to ask yourself is whether or not you think those misses were the result of UConn's length or if this team just had an off-night.

If this was just an off-night, then who knows, maybe this group can make a Stephen Curry-esque run in the tournament. But if it was the length of UConn that bothered Harvard's shooters, then their tournaments chances are going to be resting on the matchups that they draw.


What We Learned

Harvard:

- I loved the resiliency of this team. There were three or four times during the game where UConn looked like they were on the verge of turning this thing into a laugher, and Harvard never let that happen. They got a couple of big stops and they hit a couple of big shots on a night when they weren't hitting much of anything. I think that says as much about this group as anything.

- Harvard is a scrappy defensive team. They really buy into what Tommy Amaker wants them to do. The biggest reason they were down just 30-28 at the break is that they nullified the UConn pick-and-roll by having the guards jump high-side and forcing Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright to dribble baseline and into the help. They also got more loose balls than the Huskies did and managed to hold the nation's second-best offensive rebounding team to just nine offensive rebounds.

- Of Harvard's 10 turnovers, eight came on UConn steals, meaning that some of those miscues can simply be explained as UConn's defense making a great play.

- Brandyn Curry would be a solid point guard in any league in the country. I firmly believe that.


UConn:

- This is one of the softest UConn teams I can remember. They weren't diving on the floor for loose balls and they were getting pushed around going to the offensive glass. The guy that sets the tone for this team in that area is Alex Oriakhi, and he's in the midst of a mid-college crisis. The Huskies will be a different team when he becomes their junkyard dog again.

- The fact that Drummond and Oriakhi finished with 10 rebounds between the two of them is astonishing ... and a major problem.

- UConn's best team is when they have Ryan Boatright and Shabazz Napier sharing the back court and put Jeremy Lamb at the three. That gives them three serious weapons on their perimeter. At this point, they may even be better off using Tyler Olander or Roscoe Smith -- or even Deandre Daniels -- at the four instead of Drummond and Oriakhi being paired up. If UConn isn't going to be overpowering anyone, they might as well use the lineup that can get out and run or spread the floor.

- All that hubbub about where Deandre Daniels was going to go to college, and he's playing as many minutes as Niels Giffey right now.
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Central Florida upsets No. 4 UConn

For UConn, it certainly was "Black Friday".

Keith Clanton scored 20 points and UCF closed the game on 35-13 run as the Golden Knights knocked off No. 4 UConn 68-63 in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis. Marcus Jordan added 16 points, seven boards and seven assists for UCF.

Its a big win for the Knights, who have enough talent on their roster to compete for the Conference USA crown. The concern coming in was how this group was going to mesh. They started out last season with 14 straight wins, but collapsed during league play. There was some roster turnover, as head coach Donnie Jones also brought in a vaunted crop of transfers, but the memories of UCF's late-season collapse and the cloud cast over the program by the current NCAA investigation the trendy, overrated pick in their league.

One game is not enough to sway the doubters, but this is a win that should put the rest of the conference -- particularly Memphis, who just had a disastrous trip out to Maui -- on notice.

The biggest story here, however, was UConn's play.

With the score 50-33 and 16 minutes remaining, the Golden Knights switched to a zone and it completely flummoxed the Huskies. UConn managed just seven points over the next 13 minutes -- shooting 28.6% from the floor and turning the ball over eight times -- while allowing UCF to score on 16 of their next 22 possessions. Frankly, UConn was utterly clueless against the zone, and those offensive frustrations led to defensive apathy.

There are a number of issues at play here. For starters, Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb, who played like the best back court in the country for the first two weeks of the season, need to be more aggressive offensively. They combined to shoot 7-23 from the floor and 2-13 from beyond the arc while turning the ball over ten times, settling for far too many deep threes off the dribble. Jim Calhoun needs one of those to to step-up and be more aggressive when UConn is struggling, zone or no zone.

One of them has to want to be the guy that replaces Kemba Walker as the star of this team, not just as the leading scorer. UConn doesn't have the killer instinct yet. As Calhoun said after the game, in past games "we'd go up 20, but it didn't go to 30, it went to 10. A pattern. Today, got up 17 and it went to a loss."

Another issue is the Husky front court. While Alex Oriakhi and Andre Drummond finally played like the kind of front line we have expected them to be all season long -- they combined for 27 points, 19 boards (11 offensive) and nine blocks -- they also missed a number of point black shots and only got to the line nine times, which isn't enough considering how much time those two spend around the rim.

There is plenty of talent in Storrs, but UConn has a long way to go before they are truly an elite team.

Perhaps this loss is for the best. UConn may have needed a wake-up call. This was it. You think Jim Calhoun will get their attention during their next practice?
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POSTERIZED: Columbia Lion becomes a sacrificial (Jeremy) Lamb

You see how terrible the pun in the title of this post is?

That's the polar opposite of the nastiness of the dunk that Jeremy Lamb just threw down on some poor Columbia defender that tried to take a charge. I'll give the kid credit for sacrificing his body -- or at least trying to -- but I can guarantee that the entire Columbia team is going to enjoy that play on film review tomorrow:



But was it as good as these?

Andre Drummond, UConn vs. CW Post, 11/4
Moe Harkless, St. John's vs. CW Post, 10/26
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2011-2012 Top 50 Countdown: No. 3 UConn Huskies

Over the coming weeks, we will be counting down our Top 50 teams in the country. Teams 26-50 will be posted in groups of five, while we will count backwards from No. 25 to the No. 1 team in the country. You can find a complete schedule of our 2011-2012 Season Preview coverage here. To browse through the rest of the Top 50, click here.

Last Season: 32-9, 9-9 (9th Big East), won the national title

Head Coach: Jim Calhoun

Key Losses: Kemba Walker

Newcomers: Andre Drummond, DeAndre Daniels, Ryan Boatright

Projected Lineup:

- G: Shabazz Napier, So.
- G: Jeremy Lamb, So.
- F: DeAndre Daniels, Fr.
- F: Alex Oriakhi, Jr.
- C: Andre Drummond, Fr.
- Bench: Tyler Olander, So.; Roscoe Smith, So.; Ryan Boatright, Fr.; Niels Giffey, So.


Outlook: Everyone in the country knows what UConn was able to accomplish last season. Its not a secret. Riding the coattails of Kemba Walker, UConn shot out of the gates with a dominating performance in Maui, heading into Big East play undefeated. They struggled in conference, however, has teams started to figure out how to slow down the Huskies one-man show. But as Kemba's supporting cast of youngsters developed, so did the Huskies. They became a different team in March, winning five games in five days to take home the Big East Tournament title before riding the wave of momentum to a national title with a win over Butler.

The scary thing about UConn is that they are probably going to be better this season. Losing Kemba is going to hurt, but they bring in a loaded recruiting class and keep head coach Jim Calhoun for at least one more season.

The strength of this year's Husky team is going to be in the front court. It starts with the addition of Andre Drummond, who finally opted to enroll at UConn in late August is what was a bit of a controversial decision. Big man prospects don't get much more impressive that Drummond. He's 6'11", 275 lb and reportedly has a 41" vertical. He's got great hands and a soft touch around the basket. His post game is still developing, but he does have moves on the block. He's also capable of stepping out of the perimeter and knocking down a jump shot or putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim. To top it all off, he's an excellent passer and plays with a high IQ. What more can you ask for?

Joining Drummond up front will be Alex Oriakhi, who is a beast on the block in his own right. Oriakhi is a big, physical post presence. He doesn't have an overwhelming post game, but he started to show some solid back-to-the-basket moves as his sophomore season progressed. Where Oriakhi is the most effective is as a space-eater inside. He's one of the best rebounders in the country, particularly when he's going to the offensive glass, and he blocks more than his fair share of shots. His ruggedness will really set the tone for the Huskies. Tyler Olander, and to a lesser extent Enosch Wolf and Michael Bradley (when he gets healthy), will provide front court depth.

The other forward spot will be headlined by sophomore Roscoe Smith and freshman DeAndre Daniels. The two players have similar athletic profiles, but the way they play is slightly different. Daniels is a more perimeter oriented player, less of a power forward and closer to a true small forward. Daniels knows how to score, getting his buckets as a slasher, although he is capable of knocking down an outside shot. He'll also be very effective in transition. Smith is more of a face-up power forward. His perimeter skills are still developing, and while he is capable of spreading the floor and hitting an open three, he's most effective when he's getting to the glass and blocking shots.


The star of this UConn team will be Jeremy Lamb. After a relatively slow start to the season, Lamb came on strong late in the season. The biggest reason that UConn had so much success in March is that Lamb developed into a second go-to scorer. He punished teams for game-planning around stopping Kemba. That success will have to continue into next season, as the Huskies will once again be in need of a go-to scorer to emerge. Lamb's strength lies in his ability to slash and score in the mid-range -- for a player with his size, length and athleticism, Lamb has a sensational floater. Expect him to showcase a more complete game this season.

Joining Lamb in the back court will be Shabazz Napier, who may actually be the most important player on this UConn team. He didn't start last season, but he played huge minutes late in the season, and his ability to facilitate this team from the point guard spot allowed Kemba to work off the ball and focus on being a scorer. Napier is going to have to become a better creator off the dribble, a guy that can get into the lane and the multitude of athletes on this team for dunks. He'll also need to be a better decision maker -- he forced the issue too often when he put the ball on the floor last year. Along those same lines, Napier shot 32.6% from three, which is not representative of how well he can stroke the three as much as it is a sign of his poor shot selection. Simply put, UConn needs Napier to be a poor man's AJ Price. Ryan Boatright is a terrific athlete that will back up Napier at the point, while Niels Giffey will spell Lamb along side him.

This year's UConn team is going to look like the UConn teams from the early-to-mid 2000's. They are big, they are long and they are athletic. They are going to be a terror on the defensive end of the floor. Napier is a terrific on-ball defender, while Daniels and Lamb will be terrors in the passing lanes. The Huskies will also be able to gamble thanks to the myriad of shot blockers they will have sitting in the paint. This group should also thrive running the floor in transition.

There are question marks on this roster. No one knows how good Drummond or Daniels will actually be. Its unclear if Napier and Lamb will be ready for their expanded roles or capable of fulfilling the expectations currently placed on them. What isn't unclear, however, is just how much talent there is on this roster. Repeating as national champs is a very real possibility.
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UPDATED: Eligibility issues for Andre Drummond, multiple high school prospects

A number of top basketball players around the country may have to deal with some amateurism questions as Stack.com, the website for a magazine geared towards athletic training, posted a number of videos using the players to promote a new basketball shoe from ADIDAS.

The kids involved -- Providence commit Kris Dunn, Baylor commit Isaiah Austin, Texas commit Javan Felix, and Kentucky commit Archie Goodwin from the Class of 2012; Elijah Brown from the Class of 2013; and the teams from St. Xavier and Archbishop Moeller in Cincinnati. You can find all the videos here. (UPDATE: It looks like the videos have been taken down. If anyone has a link to the video, PLEASE send it our way. Contactbiah at gmail dot com.)

As you can imagine, this may be an issue for high school kids. They aren't supposed to be endorsing products. And while we can argue all day about whether or not its fair that these kids are unable to capitalize off of their notoriety and basketball ability, the fact of the matter is that the current rules strictly forbid it. It's essentially the opposite of amateurism. (So is the NCAA, but that's a different post for a different day.)

But the biggest issue deals with the biggest player involved -- UConn freshman Andre Drummond. One of the videos featured him and Dunn. The Norwich Bulletin pulled a couple of quotes before the videos were pulled:

In the video, Dunn, while holding a shoe, says, “I like to run up and down the court and with these shoes I’d probably run faster, make better decisions out there. If you get more speed, you can see things quicker.”

Drummond looks into the camera and says, “I want them.”

This is NCAA Bylaw 12.5.1.3 in full, which deals with a high school player who was involved in an advertisement or a promotion:

If an individual accepts remuneration for or permits the use of his or her name or picture to advertise or promote the sale or use of a commercial product or service prior to enrollment in a member institution, continued remuneration for the use of the individual's name or picture (under the same or similar circumstances) after enrollment is permitted without jeopardizing his or her eligibility to participate in intercollegiate athletics only if all of the following conditions apply:

(a) The individual's involvement in this type of activity was initiated prior to his or her enrollment in a member institution;

(b) The individual became involved in such activities for reasons independent of athletics ability;

(c) No reference is made in these activities to the individual's name or involvement in intercollegiate athletics;

(d) The individual does not endorse the commercial product; and

(e) The individual's remuneration under such circumstances is at a rate commensurate with the individual's skills and experience as a model or performer and is not based in any way upon the individual's athletics ability or reputation.

Not a single one of the player's listed above qualifies beyond the first condition. But for the kids still in high school, the fact that the videos have been scrubbed from the web should limit NCAA issues as long as they weren't paid.

Drummond will face more serious questions, however, since he is currently enrolled at UConn. Bylaw 12.5.2.1 specifically states that a player is immediately ineligible if he "Accepts any remuneration for or permits the use of his name or picture to advertise, recommend or promote directly the sale or use of a commercial product or service of any kind." According to the article from the Norwich Bulletin, it doesn't matter whether or not the video was posted prior to Drummond's enrollment at UConn. The fact that it was still in circulation when he finally did enroll means that he is ineligible and will have to apply for reinstatement.

Stay tuned. We'll update this as we get more information.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE: UConn has commented on the matter.

"UConn was made aware of the video in question late this afternoon and has reviewed it," the school said in a statement. "Our compliance staff is comfortable that the video was made in advance of Andre’s enrollment at UConn. Our next step is to simply follow up with the website on which it is posted and ask that it be removed, which we have already done."

Gavin Keefe of the New London Day spoke with UConn's SID Kyle Muncy about the video.

"Obviously, every case is treated on a case by case basis," Muncy told Keefe. "It wouldn't be exaggerating to say we dealt with this identical situation eight to 10 times last year and never had any athlete lose eligibility. ... We will inform the NCAA what the issue was and they’ll review it. We anticipate everything will be fine ... There's not any concern." Continue reading...

Mark Emmert: It ain't our fault, blame Calhoun

Mark Emmert's tenure as the president of the NCAA hasn't exactly gotten off to a smooth start.

From the overload of scandals we had this summer -- Miami's partying and Ohio State's tattoos to Cam Newton's payday and North Carolina's "tutors" -- to the shifting conference alignment that could one day make his job obsolete, there is no doubt that Emmert has had plenty on is mind this year.

But as much as he should be concerned about players getting paid and students skipping out on school work, you have to figure that he would be bothered by what has happened with UConn over the past year. I'm paraphrasing here (I suggest you go and read through this), but essentially, after being disciplined for poor APR numbers and a serious recruiting violation, UConn's punishment has involved winning a national title, having their head coach force out their AD, and landing the No. 1 recruit in the country despite scholarship reductions while forcing a less-talented player (and more legitimate student) that grew up in a group home to go off scholarship and on financial aid.


That does go against everything the NCAA is supposed to stand for, right? I can't be the only one that sees that, am I?

Jeff Jacobs, a columnist for the Hartford Courant that isn't afraid to sharpen the knives when writing about Calhoun, tried to get in touch with Emmert regarding Calhoun's actions. The response he got?

"We do not know the specific details of this situation, so we encourage you to contact the institution for that information."

That was it. No call back from Emmert. No comment on the situation. Just a sentence from the NCAA director of public and media relations.

Deflect, deflect, deflect.

And I had such high hopes for Emmert, the guy that so passionately and at such length about the need for change in college athletics. But like his predecessors, Emmert simply doesn't get it.

Every coach in the country would have done what Jim Calhoun did in order to get Andre Drummond, the best big man in the country, into school for a year. Every. Single. One. And as despicable as it seems from our point of view, remember what we are dealing with. Bradley is a kid that comes from a troubled background, having grown up in a group home in Tennessee. He's going to get a significant amount of financial aid. There's a chance that Bradley ends up going to school for free -- or close to it -- even if he isn't on scholarship.

Regardless of what happens with Bradley, the bottom line is that Calhoun and UConn -- for all intents and purposes -- did not receive a punishment from the NCAA. They didn't even use a loophole. They manipulated the system to their benefit, taking advantage of the NCAA.

And Emmert doesn't see anything wrong with this?

Frankly, the issue here isn't that Calhoun fudged the scholarship numbers, the issue is that he was allowed to do it by the NCAA. The problem is that what happened here isn't against NCAA rules. How do you fix it? Make scholarships be four or five-year contracts, not renewable every year. Or make a requirement that once a player receives a scholarship for a season, he'll always be a scholarship player. Or simply give the NCAA's president the power to veto a move, to say "Nice try, but we ain't dumb."

Because that's how Mark Emmert and his staff look right now.

Dumb.

He's trying to push the blame onto Calhoun. He's trying to deflect responsibility away from himself and his office. In his mind, college basketball coaches should be the beacon of moral responsibility. In reality, allowing them to choose between enrolling talent and keeping marginal players that need a free education on scholarship is about as smart as the detectives on Law & Order: SVU allowing a serial molester to coach their 11 year old's soccer team.
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Why Andre Drummond counts against UConn's scholarship total but Michael Bradley doesn't

Late last night, we posted a column on how the only person that has been -- or will be -- negatively effected by the NCAA's scholarship reductions at UConn is Michael Bradley.

Long story short, UConn is at their maximum allotment of scholarship players because, thanks to the Nate Miles sanctions and two scholarships lost due to their low APR, they are only allowed 10 this year. But Andre Drummond, who is going to be a lottery pick whenever he decides to head to the NBA Draft, wants to go to UConn, so in order for the Huskies to make room for him, they need a player currently on scholarship to no longer be on scholarship.

That player has to be Michael Bradley because, according to the NCAA rulebook, he wasn't technically a recruited player. Drummond was. So was everyone else on the UConn roster. And if you are technically a recruited player, than you count against the scholarship limit regardless of whether or not you are on scholarship. That's why Drummond can't simply pay his own way.

The question that I got asked, however, was what makes you technically a recruited player? And with a hat-tip to the ByLawBlog's John Infante, I give you Rule 15.02.8:

For purposes of Bylaw 15, a recruited student-athlete is a student-athlete who, as a prospective student-athlete: (Adopted: 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11)

(a) Was provided an official visit to the institution's campus;

(b) Had an arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with a member of the institution's coaching staff (including a coach's arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with the prospective student-athlete or the prospective student-athlete's parents, relatives or legal guardians); or

(c) Was issued a National Letter of Intent or a written offer of athletically related financial aid by the institution for a regular academic term.

This is where it gets tricky.

Drummond was recruited by UConn, meaning that he is going to count towards their scholarship limit regardless of whether or not he is actually on scholarship. Bradley, however, was also "recruited" to UConn. He took an official visit and actually signed a letter of intent.

But there is a way around that thanks to Rule 15.5.1.2.1, which states that "a student-athlete who was recruited ... and whose only source of institutional financial aid is academic aid based solely on the recipient's academic record at the certifying institution, awarded independently of athletics interests and in amounts consistent with the pattern of all such awards made by the institution, may compete without counting in the institution's financial aid team limits, provided he or she has completed at least one academic year of full-time enrollment at the certifying institution and has achieved a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.000 (on a 4.000 scale) at the certifying institution."

So there you go.

Since Bradley has complete one academic year at UConn, if he is carrying a GPA above a 3.0 he can get an exception that says that the financial aid he receives won't count against UConn's scholarship total. And given the fact that Bradley spent most of his teenage years in a group home, if he truly does have a 3.0, I don't think it will be difficult for UConn to find a way to get the cost of his education covered.

Jim Calhoun just took the NCAA's cookies.
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The only person hurt by the NCAA's sanction against UConn? Michael Bradley

(Ed. Note: While I was finishing up this column, Dan Wolken of The Daily decided to go off on the NCAA Managing Director of Digital Communications, Ronnie Ramos. Poor timing on our part, but I strongly urge you to go back and read through Wolken's tweets. It got ugly.)

For UConn fans, it will be tough to top what has happened in the last six months.

A surprise run to the Big East title. An even more surprising run to the national title. The emergence of Jeremy Lamb as a star-in-the-making. The late-addition of Deandre Daniels. The even-later addition of Andre Drummond. I'm not sure anyone should be happy about a man losing his job, but if Jeff Hathaway getting forced out ensures Jim Calhoun's return, well, then you can throw that one on the list as well.


For the players on the back-end of the UConn roster, the situation is quite a bit different.

You see, the way the NCAA works is that an athletic scholarship is good for a year. They are given out on July 1st, and once a player has received his scholarship, it cannot be taken away until July 1st of the next year. UConn currently has 10 players on scholarship, but since they were docked three scholarships for this season -- one for the violations committed when recruiting Nate Miles and two for their low APR -- the Huskies are currently at their maximum in terms of scholarship players.

In other words, the Huskies cannot add another scholarship player unless one of their players currently on scholarship "voluntarily" decides give up theirs and become a walk-on. Since Drummond was recruited by the Huskies, he cannot count as a walk-on player. Even if he were to pay his own way at the school, he will count against UConn's scholarship total. And given their current APR score, UConn also cannot afford to do what teams in this situation usually do and run off a player, forcing him to transfer. That will drop their APR even further.

The result is that UConn now finds themselves in the difficult position of having to "ask" either Niels Giffey or Enosch Wolf to give up their scholarship and return to Germany to play professionally or "asking" redshirt freshman Michael Bradley, a Tennessee native, to give up his scholarship, apply for loans and financial aid packages, and pay his own way for at least one season. According to NCAA bylaws, Bradley wasn't technically recruited by the Huskies, meaning that he will not count against their scholarship numbers should he pay his own way to school.

As of yesterday, no decision had yet been made.

(As an aside, its fitting that UConn AD Jeff Hathaway was forced to resign earlier this month. Could it be that he stood in the way of Calhoun's efforts to get Drummond into school? Is that why it took so long for Drummond to actually make the decision to attend UConn? He had to wait until Calhoun got the OK from his bosses that they could try and pull this scheme off?)

Personally, I don't have as big of a problem with running players off as others do. I've written about it extensively on two different occasions -- here and here -- so I won't elaborate too much in this space, but essentially what has happened is that whoever gives up their scholarship will have gotten cut. It sucks, I've been there. And I certainly don't envy being the player in that situation. But this is also big-time college basketball. As it is with every level of sport beyond your hometown's CYO leagues, if you aren't good enough to make the team, you get cut.

But the Bradley situation is slightly different. He's not being run-off the team. He's not being "asked" to transfer to a different school where he'll be put back on scholarship. He's being "asked" by the staff at UConn to either accept the fact that he no longer as a scholarship or be the person standing in the way of Andre Drummond joining the Huskies.

And all this is happening days before the start of the fall semester.

That is a terrible position for UConn to put a kid and that kid's family in.


Assuming that Bradley "volunteers" to give up his scholarship, there is one of two ways that this plays out. Either he is forced to pay some or all of the $42,594 it would cost a student from Tennessee to attend UConn, or the financial aid Bradley receives is going to force another student that needs that money to attend UConn to be forced to go to elsewhere. $42,594 is not a small amount of money, especially for a kid that spent the majority of his teenage years in a group home.

Nick Fasulo of Searching For Billy Edelin asks a very good question -- how is this acceptable? How is this allowed to happen?

Frankly, its because the NCAA is utterly toothless.

If Bradley is forced to go off scholarship, most of the anger is probably going to be directed at Calhoun, his staff and the UConn administration that allowed it to happen. And it should. I'm not trying to deflect that anger. If their staff doesn't find some way for Bradley to attend the school for free (and if you click the link above, he should theoretically qualify for complete financial aid), than I fail to see how Calhoun can go into a living room and tell a family that he has their son's best interests in mind and have them believe it.

And I fail to see how anyone in the state of Connecticut can support this move.

But think about this: the entire reason that UConn is in this situation is that they were caught redhanded using a certified agent to recruit a player to their school -- a player that lasted a month before he was kicked out for violating a restraining order in 16 minutes -- and because their program has an embarrassingly low APR score. But instead of actually being punished, UConn won the 2010 national title and landed one of the best recruits in the country.

And (I'm bolding this because the emphasis shouldn't be lost on you) the result of those scholarship reductions for poor academic performance is that a player that grew up in a group home, precisely the kind of kid that an athletic scholarship should be used on, is being taken off scholarship to make room for a one-and-done lottery pick.

That's fucking pathetic. Its pathetic that UConn would pull this stunt, but its even worse that the NCAA -- whose first concern is that these "student"-athletes get an education -- can and will allow it to happen.

The only person that the NCAA's sanctions against UConn actually negatively affected was the kid that truly needed the scholarship in the first place. That literally goes against everything that the NCAA stands for in the first place.

Think about that the next time the NCAA lauds amateurism and promotes their "student"-athletes while cashing eight and nine figure checks.

What makes this even more mind-blowing is that there is a good chance that Bradley will qualify for a very large chunk, if not complete, financial aid from the University. I mean, hell, we're talking about a kid that grew up in a group home! What more does the financial aid office need to see? And if that is the case, than Calhoun can kick his feet up and laugh. He can laugh at the fact that he was able to thumb his nose at the NCAA, keep a poor kid from paying anything while playing basketball at UConn and bringing in Drummond despite having no scholarships available.

One of these days, it will be nice to see the NCAA's enforcement staff actually be able to, you know, enforce stuff.
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Andre Drummond reverses course, heads to UConn

In one fell swoop, Andre Drummond was able to not only render our 2012 Consensus Recruiting Rankings obsolete just 10 hours into their existence, he also managed to force UConn into the conversation with Kentucky and North Carolina as the nation's favorite to win the 2012 national title.

Just two weeks after officially announcing that he would be heading to Wilbraham and Monson for another year of prep school, Drummond shocked everyone -- and I mean everyone -- when he sent the following tweet:


The sheer nature of the announcement is what made this such a big deal.

The saga was over. The story was dead. Drummond wasn't ever going to set foot on a college court. And out of the blue, at 7:30 pm on a Friday night that saw most of the eastern seaboard bracing for Hurricane Irene, Drummond is headed to play for Jim Calhoun. Why? One theory involves Kris Dunn, Drummond's AAU teammate. The plan was to attend Wilbraham and Monson together next season, but Dunn -- who committed to Providence yesterday -- opted to return to New London for his senior season.

Before I get into what this means for the Huskies, there are a couple of things to think about. For starters, it will be interesting to see when, exactly, Drummond is actually able to take the court. He has finished all the requirements to be able to enroll at UConn, but he still has to send the paperwork off to the NCAA's clearinghouse. That process could take a while.

The other issue has to do with UConn's scholarship situation -- they don't have any available. They are already dealing with a reduction of three scholarships thanks to the Nate Miles investigation, and Deandre Daniels took the last available spot earlier this summer. Most expect Drummond to have to walk-on.

With Drummond in the fold, UConn now looks like a legitimate threat to repeat as national champions. He'll be joined on the frontline by Alex Oriakhi, Roscoe Smith and Deandre Daniels with Shabazz Napier, Jeremy Lamb and Ryan Boatright holding down the back court. Where last year's club was Kemba-centric, the 2011-2012 Huskies will look quite a bit like the Jim Calhoun teams of the aughts -- a ton of size, even more length and athleticism, and enough perimeter shooting and playmaking to keep from being a one-dimensional basketball team.

(As an aside, has anyone in the country had a better six month stretch than Jim Calhoun? He shocked the world by winning eleven straight games to cut down the nets at both the Big East Tournament and the Final Four, he got Jeremy Lamb to return to school for his sophomore season, he forced out athletic director Jeff Hathaway and now he brings in Andre Drummond on the heels of signing Deandre Daniels. This was a program that had some [admittedly stupid] people questioning whether or not they could recover from the investigation into Nate Miles. Now they are the reigning champs and a favorite to repeat next season despite losing Kemba Walker. Unbelievable.)

At the end of the day, the bottom-line is that Drummond made the correct decision. Not solely to attend UConn, but to head to college in general.

The knock on Drummond is that he's not a competitor, that he gives inconsistent effort far too often. If there is anyone in the country that will run a lack of intensity and focus out of a player, its Jim Calhoun. If Drummond isn't giving his all, he'll be riding the bench.

And don't forget the added bonus of becoming a national name next season. With a loaded in 2012, Drummond is going to want to have a profile. Not only will it make him a more intriguing recruit -- NBA folks will get a chance to see him perform against the best competition in the country, and he'll be able to build a following that will increase the money he can demand from sponsors.

Clearly, Drummond reads B.I.A.H.


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Jim Calhoun responds; does he have a right to push for an AD change?

The latest headlines coming out of UConn aren't good for anyone involved.

For starters, there's AD Jeff Hathaway, who is on the verge of losing his job. Whether or not that is the result of a Jim Calhoun wanting Hathaway gone is up for you to decide, but before you do be sure to read this scathing column from Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant. In it, Jacobs more or less says that Calhoun is evil, that he is pushing Hathaway out the door because of a clause in his contract that cost him $175,000 due to poor APR numbers and the lack of a new basketball practice facility.

The biggest issue, however, was one simple statement that Hathaway gave the NCAA. Hathaway told investigators that he had never seen Calhoun as involved with a recruit as he was with Nate Miles, the kid whose recruitment cost two members of Calhoun's staff their jobs and resulted in Calhoun getting hit with a failure to monitor charge. According to Jacobs, Calhoun believes he is innocent of the accusations and still holds a grudge against Hathaway for, well, snitching.

Dana O'Neil, who is in Orlando for the AAU National Championships, asked Calhoun point-blank about the recent headlines:

But Calhoun insists that anyone who believes he is pulling Herbst’s puppet strings, hoping to get Hathaway ousted, is reading things all wrong.

"I do. I 100 percent do think that's unfair," the coach said before heading into the Milk House to watch recruits in Orlando. "I have nothing against anybody. Jeff and I, our relationship hasn't always been all that it should have been. When he came back [in 2003], he seemed to have changed somewhat and they say when you move over six inches to the head coach's chair, things change. But I don't want to see anybody lose a job."

Bullsh*t.

Jim Calhoun saying that he doesn't hold grudges is like Kim Kardashian saying she doesn't like athletes or Lindsay Lohan saying she doesn't like cocaine.

Calhoun is pissed because last season was marked with NCAA sanctions and controversy and columns like this. He's pissed because he was hit with a failure to monitor charge and will be suspended for three games come Big East play in 2011-2012. He's pissed because his most memorable season -- one where Kemba Walker threw a crop of freshmen on his shoulders and carried them from the bottom half of the Big East to a Big East Tournament and an NCAA Tournament title -- will forever be tarnished by those sanctions and those columns.

For UConn fans, regardless of how you feel about Jeff Hathaway as an AD -- and believe me, there are plenty that wanted him gone prior to Calhoun's push -- if you don't think that Calhoun has influenced this changing of the guard, you're naive.

But here's something to think about: does Calhoun deserve the right to request a change in AD's?

I think its fair to say that the athletic department is where it is today because of Calhoun. He built the men's basketball program from almost nothing into a three-time national champion and one of the most powerful programs in the country. The success of the basketball program facilitated the move of UConn football to the Big East, where it made a BCS bowl last season. I think its fair to say that Calhoun is the reason that UConn is on the same level, athletically, as schools like Pitt and Syracuse as opposed to UMass or Rhode Island.

Should that give him the right to decide who his boss is?
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