Monday, July 6, 2009

Monday Morning Dump

- US is 4-0 in the U19's, and Mike Rosario goes for 54 for Puerto Rico.

- Former Kentucky forward Matt Pilgrim will transfer to Oklahoma State.

- Kylie Irving and Michael Gilchrist like Kentucky?

- A story from the Charlotte Observer about eighth grader Rodney Purvis.

- Notre Dame promotes Ingelsby to assistant, the position vacated by Sean Kearney, the new Holy Cross head coach.

- Blog lands an interview with Dave Telep of Scout.com.

- This guy needs a life.

- 40 Real Men of Genius Commercials. Yes.

- A bit old, but HHR rips Jay Marriotti.

- The top 50 highest paid athletes. Look at #22.

- Gross:



- Congressman rips Michael Jackson:


Continue reading...

Thursday, July 2, 2009

The NCAA Selection Committee changes their last 12 games rule

There has been a lot of talk over the last day or so regarding the NCAA's decision to change their selection criteria regarding the last 12 games a team plays. Specifically, they will no longer factor it in. From the NCAA's website:

The Division I Men’s Basketball Committee has decided to no longer consider the results of a team’s last 12 games as one of the tools available in the selection criteria for the 2009-10 season.

While the basketball committee uses several variables when it comes to selecting the 34 at-large teams that are placed into the bracket each March, its members concluded that college basketball stakeholders were confused by the last 12 games being part of the process.

“As the committee continues to hone its message regarding how it views the season, parsing a particular segment of games and implying it had greater weight than others seemed misleading and inconsistent,” said committee chair and Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive. “The removal of this reference avoids confusion in the room and brings our reporting in line with our process.”
The Sporting Blog likes the change. Rush the Court doesn't. The Dagger does, or doesn't, depending on the day.

My reaction: is it even going to matter?

Both sides of this argument are correct when it comes down to it. When judging an entire season's body of work, every game should have the same value. Just because you beat North Carolina in November, or lost to Morgan State, shouldn't make that outcome any less pertinent.

The other side would argue college basketball teams are constantly changing. Freshman develop and gain confidence; opponents figure out how to stop a one-dimensional team; players get hurt; coaches figure out to most effectively use everyone on their roster. The name on the jersey may be the same, but it doesn't mean that it is the "same team" playing in March that took the floor in November. It makes sense to want the 65 best teams in March to go dancing.

As I said, both sides are right.

But think for a second about why teams have such a drastic change during the course of a season. 9 out of 10 times, it is for one of two reasons:
  1. A team from a major conference plays a fairly cupcake schedule, knocking off teams that cannot compete with them athletically, building up a gaudy early season record. But once they get into conference play, where the competition is much better, they have their flaws exposed and struggle down the stretch. Think Clemson from 2006-2008.
  2. A team from a mid-major conference plays a loaded non-conference schedule trying to land some notable early season victories, whiffing on every chance they get. But once they get back into conference lay, they roll through the competition. Think Davidson 2008.
It isn't that often that you see a situation like we had with Kentucky in '07-'08 (without some mitigating factor i.e. an injured star player returns), where the Wildcats struggled to a 6-7 start (including losses to Gardner-Webb and San Diego) before finishing the season 12-4 in the SEC to earn an #11 seed.

For the most part, I think that this is going to affect seeding much more than it will effect who actually gets into the tournament. If a team like Butler rolls through the non-conference wins a bunch of marquee games in November and December, clinches their conference early, and then loses a few games down the stretch and gets knocked off early in the Horizon League tourney, where do they get seeded? What about a team from a power conference that has a few embarrassing losses early in the season, but beats a couple ranked teams late in the season and make a run to their tourney finals?

More than the last 12 games, I think the bigger issue is how the committee factors in a middle-of-the-pack power conference team that makes a run in their conference tournament, picking up RPI boosting wins along the way.

Continue reading...

Recruiting Winners and Losers

Now that Lance Stephenson has finally decided on a school (Cincinnati) and Xavier Henry is "staying at Kansas and that's final", the class of '09 is finally set. But didn't it seem like so much of this year's recruiting was done after the '08-'09 season ended?

Here is a quick look at the winners and the losers from the 2009 postseason recruiting process:

WINNERS:

  • Kentucky
  • : this one should be obvious. The Wildcats hired John Calipari, who brought with him from Memphis a loaded recruiting class, headlined by DeMarcus Cousins and Darnell Dodson. Then, Cal added Eric Bledsoe, a top 25 recruit who will be backing up arguably the best player in the country PG John Wall. And does convinving Patrick Patterson to stay in school count?

    Kentucky went from a team that made the NIT and looked to be losing their two best players to a team with one of the best recruiting classes of all-time and a consensus top 5 preseason ranking. All that, and they missed out on top 5 recruit Xavier Henry. Twice.
  • Arizona
  • : Sean Miller found out quickly how easy it is to sell a player on the Arizona brand. Recruiting at a school that had just hired their fourth coach in four seasons and was losing their three best players, Miller was able to land five guys after being hired - Solomon Hill, Momo Jones, Derrick Williams, Kevin Parrom, and Kyryl Natyazhko. Add that to the fact that Nic Wise, a potential Pac-10 POY, returned for his senior season, and Arizona looks good to reach their 26th straight tournament.
  • Cincinnati
  • : The Bearcats landed one of the best recruits in the country, seemingly out of the blue. Lance Stephenson was rumored to be headed to many places - Memphis, Arizona, Maryland, St. John's, Europe - but no one really knew Cinci was even an option until this past weekend. Combining Stephenson and senior Deonta Vaughn will give Mick Cronin one of the best 1-2 punches in the country.
  • Memphis
  • : You would think after losing Coach Cal and all those recruits, the Tiger's would be considered losers. But Josh Pastner and his staff have been getting work in on the recruiting front. They landed a number of recruits in the last few months, headlined by top 25 '09 recruit Latavious Williams and top 10 '10 recruit Will Barton. But Pastner was also able to entice Elliot Williams, a Duke transfer and former McDonald's all-american, to come into the program. Williams could be eligible to play immediately due to an illness in his family.
LOSERS:
  • Cincinnati
  • : Lance Stephenson may be a program changing basketball talent, but he may also be a program changer in the OJ Mayo sense. This guy has as many issues surrounding his character and eligibility as any recruit I can remember. From grades, to a documentary he may or may not have made money from, to an overbearing father, to his legal issues regarding an alledged sexual assault, this kid can't seem to stay out of an internet rumor. Cinci should compete for a Big East title, but at what cost? Mississippi State and Renardo Sidney could probably be put into this same category.
  • Kansas
  • : Xavier Henry is coming to Lawrence, but just as Cinci will have issues with Stephenson, it is looking like Kansas may have some of the same problems. It is a range of issues - can Xavier get on board with Kansas's team-first ideal (Self has never had a one-and-done guy); will Carl Henry become too involved; what will Xavier bouncing after basically a semester (he isn't on campus now because he doesn't "like going to class") do to the Jayhawk program?; will he be willing to be led by potential first-team all-america Sherron Collins?
  • USC
  • : The Trojans lost everyone: four players to the pros, four recruits to other schools (three went to Arizona), and their head coach. Kevin O'Neil has his work cut out for him.


Continue reading...

Thursday Morning Dump

- Great read on Xavier Henry by Jason King. While we're at it, here is an excerpt from Grant Wahl's book on the David Beckham experiment in LA.

- US beats Iran in the FIBA U19 Worlds 106-55.

- The Jimmy V Classic - Butler vs. Georgetown and Indiana vs. Pitt.

- Coach K is not going to the Lakers.

- Luke Winn Q&A with Washington State's Klay Thompson.

- A timeline of the Lance Stephenson soap opera.

- Renardo Sidney to meet with the NCAA next week.

- Recapping the Paul Pierce Skills Academy.

- Seating in Pauley Pavilion will be complicated.

- Blog talks to Jay Bilas.

- The NBA Summer League rosters.

- Bruno gets a high school football team in trouble.

- Never try to rob a former boxer.

- Really sad story: python kills two-year old.

- NFL Rookies got talent.


Continue reading...

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Wednesday Morning Dump

- The Henry's need to take some PR classes.

- I told you about this weeks ago.

- Ohio State AD named head of D1 Men's Basketball Committee.

- ESPN cuts Tom Brennan. Too bad, I liked him.

- CHJ lands an interview with Sean McManus. Here and here.

- Girl's HS softball game ends up in batfight.

- Sad video about the guy that survived the Adenhart crash.

- JR Smith to get 30 days in jail.

- Disgusting.

- The best video of a manager losing it I have seen in a long time.

- Ex-high school football player suing over hazing.

- After a plane crash, girl survives in the water for 14 hours.

- Zach Galifianakis is fast becoming one of my favorite people ever.


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BRANDON JENNINGS NEEDS TO LEARN TO KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT: A few weeks after he decided to let the world know that Ricky Rubio is overrated, Brandon Jennings is running is mouth again.

This time, it is a phone conversation with rapper Joe Budden. Video very NSFW.



Jennings apparently didn't know he was being videotaped, and spouts off about the Knicks, Ricky Rubio, Chris Duhon, Jordan Hill, and Scott Skiles (am I missing anyone?).

The best line of the video comes at the 5:10 mark. After Jennings goes on a rant about how the Knicks left him hanging by not picking him and tells Joe Budden that "Duhon ain't gonna get it done", the rapper responds with "Yo, you talk too much, go score a point."

I feel like Jennings is going to end up regretting this video.

Continue reading...

BREAKING: Xavier Henry staying at Kansas

So says Jeff Goodman:

"I’m going to Kansas," Henry texted to FOXSports.com late Tuesday night. "That’s final."
Jayhawk fans can breath a sigh of relief, and Kentucky fans will have to console themselves with visions of John Wall throwing oops to Patrick Patterson and DeMarcus Cousins.

That text put an end to what was a roller coaster ride of a day. What started as an internet rumor based on a "fake" twitter account exploded Tuesday afternoon after Carl Henry, Xavier's father, did an interview with a Kansas radio show where he said that Xavier would have gone to Kentucky had it not been for his mother.

Many people, including myself and just about every Kentuckian on the intrawebs, probably believed it was a done deal that the Henry's would be a part of Big Blue Nation today. When rumors and reports like this spread across the blogs like an online wildfire, they tend to turnout the way people expect.

Not so this time, which is good news for Kansas. As I mentioned in the post yesterday, Henry provides a scoring punch on the wing that Kansas didn't have last year with Brandon Rush's departure.

The Jayhawks are will likely be the consensus preseason #1 team in the country, with the Henry-less Wildcats right on their tail.

Continue reading...

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Xavier Henry the latest top 10 recruit to have trouble deciding where to go to school

With Lance Stephenson landing at Cincinnati, you figured the recruiting drama involving the class of 2009 was over, didn't you?

Wrong.

It started with this post from a Kentucky sports blog about a month ago. Was Xavier Henry really considering backing out on his commitment to Bill Self and Kansas? Carl Henry immediately squashed those rumors, saying both his sons were committed to Kansas and would be wearing Jayhawk blue next year.

Then rumors started popping up that Xavier was considering following the Brandon Jennings route and spending his post high school year in Europe, but those, too, were squashed by Pops (apparently, Xavier had offers of $1 million for a season, but Carl didn't want him to go because he didn't know where he would be playing ... wait, what?).

This all seemed like an internet rumor gone crazy. You know, one of those things that makes people hate blogs.

But then Carl Henry decided to do an interview on the "Chris and Cowboy" show on 610 AM in Kansas City. Apparently, Xavier wanted to go to Kentucky all along:

If it wasn't for his momma saying that 'I would not go to Kentucky, I would not move down to Kentucky,' Xavier would have been at Kentucky. He would have been at Kentucky. So Xavier says, 'I'm going to go to Kansas.' Even though that's what he wanted to do is go to Kentucky, play under Coach Cal. That's what he wanted to do. I expressed this to (Kansas) coach (Bill) Self. I told him.
Now, it seems as if Momma doesn't want to be the deciding factor in where her two sons (Xavier and his older brother CJ) go to school:
So guess what? Kid might have a change of mind. That's what I tell coach Self. If he has a change of mind, so what? So be it. He had a change of mind.
Andy Katz picked up on it, and now it seems as if this "rumor" has been certified a "report". Bill Self and Danny Manning went to Oklahoma City to meet with the Henry's on Tuesday night, and many expect a decision to be made by Wednesday. Remember, since Xavier signed a LOI with Memphis (before being released when Coach Cal left for Kentucky), and since you can only sign one LOI, there is nothing keeping Xavier from having a "change of mind."

Needless to say, Kentuckians are going crazy over this (here are some posts: Strait Pinkie, A Sea of Blue, Kentucky Sports Radio, Kentucky Ink, AllKyHoops).

With Jodie Meeks staying in the draft, a lot of minutes have opened up as Kentucky does not really have a true two-guard on their roster. Kentucky also still has a scholarship available, and since CJ is getting his education paid for by the Yankees (who drafted him out of high school), both brothers could theorectically play.

A line-up of John Wall, Xavier Henry, Darnell Dodson, Patrick Patterson, and DeMarcus Cousins, with guys like Eric Bledsoe, Jon Hood, Daniel Orton, Perry Stevenson, and other coming off the bench sounds pretty damn imposing. There could be as many as six first round picks in that bunch.

Kansas would still be loaded. Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich, Tyshawn Taylor, and the Morris twins still make up a potential Big XII champ and Final Four contender. But Xavier would provide the Jayhawks with a potent scoring punch on the wing, something that they would not have on their roster should he head to Lexington.

Continue reading...

ITS OFFICIAL: LANCE STEPHENSON TO CINCINNATI: From Adam Zagoria at SNY.tv:

"They've decided. He's off to Cincinnati," said a source close to the family with direct knowledge of the decision. "It's a done deal. I am certain of this."

The 6-foot-5, 200-pound Stephenson and his family took an official visit to Cincinnati this past weekend, and by all accounts,it went well. He played pickup with the team and toured the campus.

Lincoln coach Dwayne "Tiny" Morton confirmed the commitment via text message. Asked if Stephenson was going to Cincinnati, Morton said, "Yes."
This is a huge signing for Cincinnati, as his gives them arguably the best backcourt in the league with Stephenson joining forces with Deonta Vaughn, Cashmere Wright, and Rashad Bishop.

You know that already though (because I told you yesterday).

An interesting subplot in this decision is that Cincinnati is willing to take on Stephenson, a guy who has a bit of baggage. I know Bob Huggins got a DUI, but wasn't part of the reason he was let go by the school because of his recruiting, specifically the quality of the characters he was bringing in? According to RTC, this may be because Cinci recently found themselves a new president. Continue reading...

Kelvin Sampson: Case Closed

You remember Kelvin Sampson, right?

The guy that was forced out left Oklahoma after making illegal phone calls to recruits?

The guy that was given a five year show cause order (aka the college coaches death penalty) for committing the same violations at Indiana?

Ring a bell?

For all the college basketball fans out there, don't fret if it doesn't, because he will not be relevant until at least 2013.

Earlier today, Sampson, who is currently an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks, had his appeal of the five year show cause order rejected by the NCAA infractions committee. According to an NCAA spokeswoman, this means that the case in now closed.

While I doubt that Sampson's career in the collegiate ranks is completely over (remember, Todd Bozeman, who had an eight year show cause order levied against him for vilations at Cal, is now the head coach at Morgan State), I don't see a big-time program hiring Sampson for a very long time.

So why would Sampson want to get this ruling overturned? He has to know that his transgressions have left him the coaching equivalent of Mark Sanford.

As Eamonn Brennan tells us, it is because the life of a head coach in college is much easier than making the rounds as an NBA assistant:

In college basketball, coaches are king. They're like little mini-dictators lording over their own worlds. They have immense power and influence, both within the locker room and out. Contrast that to an NBA coach, whose job is constantly in jeopardy and who is one highly-paid insubordinate player away from the bread line.
Seriously though, college coaches can get away with doing pretty much anything that they want too, so long as they are not caught holding the proverbial "envelope full of hundreds". It is why guys like John Calipari and Jim Calhoun, who both had their programs accused of major violations in the past three months, not only still have jobs, but are two of the best in the profession.

Continue reading...

"I'll leave you missin' like the f*ckin' O'Bannons"

For anyone that follows The Dagger, they posted their top 10 NCAA Riches to NBA Rags players. Tops on that list? Ed O'Bannon.

The guys at The Dagger weren't the only ones to notice O'Bannon's fall from stardom (although, to be fair, we wrote about this last summer. I'm just sayin').

Lil' Wayne did too.

On a track off of his Dedication 2 mixtape called "Cannon" (lyrics very NSFW), Lil' Wayne gets a shot in against the O'Bannon brothers.

Listen close, I got duct tape and rope, I'll leave you missing like the f-cking O'Bannons.
First things first, the line is pretty clever (for those that only know Wayne through his new music, this mixtape came out in 2006 when he was the best in the rap game and before he turned into a member of Fallout Boy). But it is a bit of a cheap shot.

The guys over at Jerseychaser.com caught up with the O'Bannons recently and asked them about the line:



Charles is still playing ball out in Japan (his reaction to the lyric was pretty funny: "Come see me on the court, lil' fella. I will dunk on you"), while Ed's plight as a car salesman in Las Vegas became widely publicized with this Washington Post article.

Continue reading...

AAU Basketball: About the money, not the kids

Last week, the Wall Street Journal ran a article criticizing AAU basketball. They pretty much got it right - the culture of AAU basketball centers around 1-on-1 play, emphasizes playing games over practicing skills, and rewards selfishness (i.e. scoring 40 on the guy ranked 10 spots above you is more important than winning the game).

But they missed the source of the problem.

AAU basketball has become a business. For many of the AAU coaches at the highest levels of the sport, this isn't just a fun way for them to spend their weekends or something they do because they love the game of basketball. Instead, it is a money-making venture, and for some it is probably their main source of income.

Think about it: between appearance fees for bringing high profile recruits to a tournament, the "sponsorship" these teams get from shoe companies, or the money that coaches make off of trips to elite camps, there is a pretty big chunk of change for these coaches to cash in on.

On paper, the idea of AAU is quite appealing. Essentially, these are traveling teams that play tournaments in and around their region, with the better teams playing around the country. Not only does it give you a chance to play competitive basketball during the spring and summer, the kids get a chance to get some exposure to college coaches and play against the best in your age group.

I played AAU basketball growing up, and while my team had a few kids play D1 (we sent players to two A-10 schools), it was not quite the elite level of AAU hoops. Nobody got paid when I visited Vassar College. But I loved it. We would have practices twice a week where we would scrimmage the entire two hours against the program's alumni playing college ball at the time. We also would travel to tournaments two or three weekends out of the month.

Skill work was done on your own time, as we only had a limited number of hours to use the gym. And that is exactly where the issue lies. Since we only travelled on the weekends, and I wasn't visiting every school in the country, I had plenty of time to work out on my own. If you are playing in a tournament in Vegas one weekend, one at Villanova the next weekend, one in Orlando the weekend after that, then visiting a bunch of campus's the following week, etc., where do you find the time to take 500 shots every day, to lift every day, to do something to improve your dribbling every day.

For these kids, it becomes a vicious circle. If you are working out on your own, you aren't playing games and getting exposure. If you aren't getting exposure, you aren't going to be ranked on recruiting websites. If you aren't ranked on recruiting websites, tournament organizers aren't going to pay to get you to come.

I could go on and on about the things wrong with youth basketball in this country (they start too young, ranking recruits on websites that charge for membership, shoe companies, agents, yada yada yada). But when it comes to AAU ball, the bottom line is this: its not the system that is flawed, it is the way that people abuse the system to make a buck that ruins what could be a fantastic program.

Continue reading...

Tuesday Morning Dump

- Xavier Henry almost went to Europe.

- Kentucky petitions to move the Gillispie case.

- Tim Hardaway Jr, a recruit in the class of '10, has committed to Michigan.

- SLAM caught up with the trick shot guy.

- Luke Winn catches up with Iowa State's Craig Brackins.

- The next one-and-done scandal?

- Story about the CFL player that saved a woman in a car accident.

- Christian Laettner and Brian Davis are getting sued.

- "The thrill of victory, and the agony of the foot." HS pitcher breaks leg celebrating a state title.

- Nice article by Jim Caple about Cameron Dollar's attempt to make Seattle University a D1 program.

- Sad story about a former boxer in New Jersey. Another one about Alex Smith.

- Two idiots ask a cop for a ride home after robbing a house. What did they steal?: "GPS units, cell phones, jewelry and a package of strawberry Pop Tarts"

- Jonny Flynn draft diary six. The most interesting comment comes around the 5:45 mark.

- More crazy bat tricks.

- E:60 piece on Tyreke Evans' from his high school days after the jump:







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Monday, June 29, 2009

Williams to Arizona, Williams to Memphis. Wait, what?

Derrick Williams, a 6'7" combo forward from California who originally committed to Tim Floyd at USC, has decided to remain in the Pac-10 to play for Arizona.

Williams becomes the third former Trojan recruit to decide to attend Arizona, following Solomon Hill and Lamont "Momo" Jones.

As we wrote last week, Williams had been considering Memphis, but evetually decided upon Arizona after visiting the school this past weekend.

This is just another addition to what has become an excellent first recruiting class for Sean Miller. In addition to getting Nic Wise back from the draft (to join returnees Kyle Fogg and Jamelle Horne), Miller now has five freshman - Williams, Hill, Jones, Kevin Parrom, and Kyryl Natyazhko - that can all contribute at this level.

The guy that must be hurting here is Kevin O'Neil. He was supposed to be the coach at Arizona now. But instead he was let go when Lute Olson thought he wanted to come back, eventually ending up with USC. Now, he is forced to coach a team that will struggle in the Pac-10 while Sean Miller will be coaching a roster full of freshman that O'Neil was supposed to coach at the school he was supposed to coach at.

But Derrick wasn't the only Williams in the news this weekend. Elliot, the two-guard and former McDonald's all-american that spent his freshman season at Duke, has decided to transfer to Memphis.

Everyone saw this coming. Williams is from Memphis, and transferred out of Duke to be closer to his sick mother.

It is a big signing for Josh Pastner, and helps to ease the sting of missing on Derrick Williams (who visited Memphis before Arizona). Williams can play both guard positions (although he is more of a two), is an excellent slasher and defender, and if he gets eligible for the season, has a chance to slide into a starting role.

Continue reading...

Lance Stephenson to Cincinnati?

That's what Adam Zagoria is reporting.

And Lance could sign as early as tomorrow. He has been adamant about not choosing a school until after his legal issues are cleared up (his court date is today).

If Stephenson does, in fact, head to Cincinnati (he was on campus for a visit this weekend), it will give the Bearcats arguably the best 1-2 scoring punch in the Big East between Stephenson and senior Deonta Vaughn. Combine those two with sophomore Yancy Gates, Oklahoma State transfer Ibrahima Thomas, and PG Cashmere Wright, who is coming off of a knee injury, and Cinci looks like a team that can compete for the Big East title.

There have been a couple other schools to join into the recruiting process of late, including Pitt, UNC-Charlotte, and Mizzou. Memphis and Arizona are also still possible destinations. Continue reading...

Monday Morning Dump

- Gary Parrish says it doesn't matter where you play, the NBA will find you.

- Ricky Rubio speculation: TrueHoop, Jay Mariotti, ZagsBlog.

- Great article by Eric Crawford of the Courier-Journal ripping the NCAA.

- Seton Hall forward Brandon Walters is headed to Siena.

- Blake Griffin needs a fake ID.

- A minor league baseball game final: 33-18.

- More information is coming out on the Iowa HS coach who was shot last week.

- All you could ever want to know about Michael Jackson.

- 10 reasons to hate hipsters. #1 should be because they're hipsters.

- Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and now Billy Maze?

- This is just insanity.


Continue reading...

Friday, June 26, 2009

Sherron Collins is out of shape ... again

Last season, Collins came to campus in August checking in at 220 lb and was publicly criticized by Bill Self for being out of shape.

According to the KC Star, Collins is now up to 229 lb:

This summer, Collins is putting on weight at a more alarming pace — Self said he is around 229 now — but Self is reserving judgment with months to go before KU’s annual boot camp workouts.

“He’s heavy right now, 20, 30 pounds overweight,” Self said. “He’s got some time to get some of it down. It’s going to be a very tough patch for him to get where he needs to be.”
Collins was able to get down to 205 by the time the season rolled around, but his weight fluctuation is a bit worrisome.

And not just for Bill Self.

Do you think an NBA team is going to want a guy that battles weight problems every off-season? Eventually, it is going to catch up with him.

Kansas has a chance to be very, very good next year. But a lot of that revolves around the leadership of Collins. If he is not in shape, will he be able to take this team to where they expect to go (i.e. another national title)?

Continue reading...

MO ACKER WILL NOT PLAY FOR MARQUETTE THIS YEAR: Marquette had a loaded backcourt last season with Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, and Wesley Matthews.

But with all three of those guys graduating, Buzz Williams was likely going to have to count on Mo Acker and David Cubillan for leadership and a lot of minutes this year.

But now it seems that Acker will not be playing for the Golden Eagles in '09-'10. Acker is on track to graduate in December, and will instead be focusing on his studies.

Acker never really seemed to fit with what Williams wanted to do. After transferring from Ball State, Acker had a successful sophomore campaign under Tom Crean, averaging 4.5 ppg and 1.8 apg backing up James. But under Williams, Acker's production declined significantly before James broke his foot.

Williams wanted guys that could play tough, pressuring defense on the perimeter, and the 5'7" Acker apparently wasn't one of them.

Marquette now has just two players (Cubillan and Lazar Hayward) from the Tom Crean era.

Marquette will now be forced to rely heavily on a group of freshman (Dwight Buycks, Junior Cadougan, and Darius Johnson-Odom) to help out Cubillan in their back court.

Continue reading...

Elliot Williams may only have one choice

ELLIOT WILLIAMS MAY ONLY HAVE ONE CHOICE: Apparently, Elliot Williams has cut his list to four schools: Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Memphis (all of which recruited him out of high school).

So where will he end up?

Well, if he wants to play right away, Gary Parrish tells up he really only has one choice.

Tyler Smith was the guy that made it trendy to appeal the NCAA's rule of sitting out one year for a transfer. Smith played his freshman season at Iowa, but transferred back to Tennessee to be closer to his ailing father. While Smith was from Tennessee, Knoxville is a good 250 miles from his Pulaski, TN home.

According to a D1 coach Parrish talked to, the NCAA has tightened its guidelines for granting the waiver.

"I know a player who transferred to a school 106 miles from his home, and the NCAA denied the waiver," the coach said. "They wanted to know that the player was going to have 'day-to-day responsibilities' with the family member before granting the waiver, and they said that you can't have 'day-to-day responsibilities' if you're 106 miles away."

Vanderbilt is 212 miles from Memphis. Tennessee is 391 and Kentucky is 423.

Which means that assuming the coach that Parrish spoke too is correct, the only place Williams will be able to play at next year is Memphis.

Continue reading...

Friday Morning Dump

Sorry for the late start today, internet issues.

- RIP Michael Jackson.



- Rumors are flying that Ricky Rubio doesn't want to stay in Minnesota, and this article from Spanish newspaper Marca is the reason why.

- John Wall got a qualifying test score.

- Chase Budinger was a big-time recruit coming out of high school, and considered a possible lottery pick this year. He fell to the second round. TrueHoop explains why.

- Steve Nash to the Knicks? Or maybe Rubio?

- Renardo Sidney's meeting with the NCAA has been pushed back.

- Former Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe joins the George Washington staff as an assistant.

- A second person has been charged in the Rick Pitino extortion plot.

- Former Xavier guard Stanley Burrell goes off on Xavier fans and Sean Miller via Twitter. Bill Simmons goes off on Mike Dunleavy via Twitter.

- Purdue signs a recruit.

- Tom Crean's busy summer.

- I'm not sure this is the best name for a company.

- This is funny.

- This kid has lost his mind. Over World of Warcraft. Yea, the internet's not addictive. My biggest question? WTF is he doing with the remote at 1:12?


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