The Super 64 AAU Tournament was played out in Las Vegas last week, which attracted all of the big time college basketball coaches, as well as many of the big name college hoops writers.

Joe Jackson, a top 15 recruit in the class of '10, led the Memphis Magic to the title on Sunday. But that was far from the biggest news story coming out of the Sin City.

In case you missed it last week, Josh Selby, another top 15 point guard in the class of '10, decommitted from Tennessee while Bruce Pearl was coaching the US in the Maccabiah Games. There is a bit more of a back story here. Selby decommitted after the LeBron Skills Acadamy, where his mom reportedly spoke with William Wesley aka "Worldwide Wes". For those that don't know who he is, Wesley is a basketball power broker with strong ties to Nike and, among other, John Calipari.

Kentucky is a Nike school. Tennessee is Adidas.

Now, this does not necessarily mean that Selby is a lock to replace John Wall next year. If you were to take a look into the stands at anyone of Selby's games in Vegas, you would get a glimpse of a who's-who of the coaching fraternity - Gary Williams, Jim Calhoun, Josh Pastner, John Calipari. Word travels fast through the coaching ranks when it is assumed a kid is destined for a certain school (coaches have stopped recruiting Jackson because it is widely felt he is not leaving Memphis), so the fact that they are still involved means the coaches believe they have a shot at landing him.

That isn't to say, however, that any rumor involving the Wildcats and Coach Cal is unsubstantiated. Take a look at this quote from Selby's mom:

Anybody with a basketball brain and knows what John Calipari has done - you have to consider Kentucky. It doesn't mean its a done deal, but you have to consider Kentucky.

Dana O'Neil wrote a column on ESPN taking a look at players who back out of commitments to schools. Personally, I don't have much of a problem with a recruit backing out of a verbal commitment - it isn't binding, basically all the kid has done is say he wants to play for that specific school. Now I can't speak for anyone else, but I am 24 years old and still have trouble settling on a team to be in Madden or Fifa.

You expect a 16 or 17 year old kid to decide where he wants to spend the next 1-4 years of his life? With so much riding on their decision, should you not expect the kid to waver?

And do I even need to mention that coaches have no problem taking commitments from players only to bounce to a higher-paying job?

The real trouble arises the players decision is influenced by an outside source based on something other than basketball or academics. Now, I don't want to make any assumptions as to why Selby is backing out on his commitment. It is just as likely that Selby was concerned about only seeing two schools (which is what he and his mother have been saying all along) as it is that Wesley has influenced the decision (Selby's mother has said that her only conversation with Wesley was receiving a recommendation that he work with a track coach to prevent leg injuries, but an Andy Katz source said that his mother is the one that approached Wesley).

Hopefully, it is not the latter, and Selby truly was just concerned with his decision. But knowing how college basketball recruiting works, it would not surprise me if Wesley had a hand in this decision.

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Monday Morning Dump

- Adam Zagoria sits down with Bill Self.

- Great read on a former White Sox pitcher that took HGH.

- College coaches must pat "admission fees" at these tournaments.

- Derrick Rose's brother lost it at the Vegas AAU Tournament.

- Memphis Magic win Super 64.

- Paparazzi ask LeBron about covering up the dunk.

- Tragic way to end a bachelor party at a baseball game.

- Who could be on the 2012 Olympic team?

- Lamar Odom to the Heat?

- Another great read on a homeless man from DC pushing for a College Football playoff.

- The title of this article is worth the click.

- Craziest hole in one I've ever seen.



- Remember this guy? He's back.


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SI ARTICLE ON DUNK VIDEOS: First of all, did you ever think you would see a page full of youtube videos on SI.com? I didn't.

Second of all, if you are going to post (and I'm quoting here) "some of the top dunks in college hoops history", you should at least make sure that you actually put up "some of the top dunks in college hoops history."

Seriously, they should have consulted me before posting this nonsense. I think I've established myself unequivocally as the intraweb's leader in dunk vids.

I have all sorts of issues with this list, and it is more than just the fact that they called Bambale Osby "Barnable". My biggest problem is the Russell Westbrook dunk they chose to use. They didn't choose this one or this one, they chose this?

Really? One of the best of all time?

The same could be said for this Dwayne Collins dunk on Greg Paulus. Paulus getting dunked on does not an"all-time great" make.

Looking at that list, I think that whoever made it simply typed "NCAA basketball dunk" into youtube and chose all the videos that showed up on the first page of results.

You really want to see the best dunks of all-time? Go here. Its our list (albeit a year old). Continue reading...

Friday Morning Dump

- Another Dana O'Neil story. She's swell.

- Adam Zagoria catches up with Gregory Echenique.

- Jim Calhoun is a tough guy.

- D-Will has been popping into some of the AAU games in Vegas.

- Murry Bartow gets an extension at ETSU.

- More on the Josh Selby decommitment.

- Gotta love New Jersey.

- The white cop that broke into a black Harvard professor's home to arrest him tries to prove he isn't a racist by telling the story of how he performed CPR on a dying Reggie Lewis.

- I'm not really sure what this mascot is trying to do:


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Dickie V's All-Rolls Royce Teams released

And it begins...

Last week, we wrote a piece about who we would want to build a team around, referencing articles from FOXSports and Rivals regarding, in some way, who the best player in the country is.

And today we get Dickie V's all-american teams (all seven of them ... seriously). Overall, there aren't really a ton of surprises. His first team is pretty standard; Cole Aldrich, Kyle Singler, Luke Harangody, Sherron Collins, and Kalin Lucas.

To be honest, there really aren't all that many changes I would make. I probably would slide Patrick Patterson up onto the 1st team in place of Kyle Singler. I also would drop Damion James while moving both Evan Turner and Craig Brackins (who will both be top 10 picks next year, watch) up one spot each.

One player that Vitale whiffed on (which is surprising given his affinity for this team and this conference) is UNC sophomore center Ed Davis, who made his sixth team. Davis is being mentioned as a possible top 5 (maybe even #1) pick in the 2010 Draft. He is long, tall, athletic, and is tough at both ends. With all the Heels lost, there should be plenty of shots (and minutes) available for Davis. Expect a year similar to Aldrich's breakout '08-'09 season - 15, 10, and 3 blocks.

Another player to watch next year is Raymar Morgan, who Vitale listed as an honorable mention. Morgan was a beast as a sophomore, but battled through injuries and illness last season. Expect him to return to form.
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Randy Culpepper can fly

For the casual college hoops fan, the name Randy Culpepper is probably an unfamiliar one. Culpepper is a 6'0" PG for UTEP that averaged 17.5 ppg as a junior. For the avid Sportscenter watchers, you may actually recognize him for this piece of aerial artistry that reached #1 on SC's top 10.

This will probably not be the last time you see Culpepper on Sportscenter. Not when he can do things like this:



Look at where he takes off from. That is absurd. He actually looks like he is flying.

Assuming Derrick Caracter can get into shape, UTEP will have themselves a nice little inside-outside combo. With all that has happened at Memphis, including losing their top recruit to pro ball overseas, could UTEP be the team that unseats the Tigers atop Conference USA?
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Thursday Morning Dump

- Ebaumnation has a better video of LeBron getting dunked on.

- St. John's Anthony Mason Jr. gets an extra year of eligibility.

- The St. Paul Pioneer Press is reporting that Ames, Iowa product Harrison Barnes is leaning towards Duke or UNC.

- Kevin O'Neil lands his first recruit at USC.

- The Charlotte Observer takes a look at Coach K's decision to return to Team USA.

- WCC tourney staying in Vegas.

- Josh Selby's first game since decommiting from Tennessee drew some big names: Calipari, Calhoun, Self, Donovan, Stansbury, Pastner.

- Wooden Classic participants announced.

- Freedom Hall or Rupp Arena?

- Michigan State, Rutgers, Florida, and UMass will be hosts for the Legends Classic.

- In depth piece from Sports Business Journal on the decline of beat writers.

- ESPN cuts ties with NY Post over the Erin Andrews pictures they ran Tuesday.

- Not sure how I feel about this mash-up...:


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Jordan Crawford's dunk on LeBron

TMZ has the video of it. To be honest, not that impressed. Its a grainy video from the other side of the gym, and the dunk wasn't even that nice. LeBron was late rotating after Crawford beat his man on the perimeter before giving a half-hearted attempt at blocking the dunk.

For all the hoopla surrounding this video, I'm sure everyone is going to come away just as disappointed. They should have just left this video underground and allowed the dunk's legend to continue to grow.

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DERRICK CARACTER INTERVIEW: Everybody remembers Caracter.

He was the first 14 year old ever invited to the Nike Camp back in 2002. He was supposed to be the next great big man.

The problem is he stopped growing in 8th grade, and eventually everyone caught up to his size and athleticism. Caracter never learned how to work hard (because he never needed to, he was always just bigger and better growing up). He went to Louisville, but ended up getting run out of town by Rick Pitino for a myriad of reasons - from his behavior to being out of shape.

Well, Caracter is back on the map again. He will be suiting up for UTEP this season. The blog for IMG Academies, where Caracter has been working out, posted an interview with him last week. Based on the pictures (see below) and some of Caracter's quotes, it seems like he has turned himself around.



Caracter is a talented player. We wish him the best as a Miner.

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Maybe if Coach K wasn't heading to the 2012 Olympics...

JP Giglio covers the ACC for the Raleigh News & Observer, and also runs their ACC blog ACCNow. They are currently running a Summer Hoops preview over there, and while reading it over, I stumbled upon this little diddy: Giglio's pick to win the ACC this year is Duke.

Huh?

His argument is basically this - Duke's experience will make up for a relative lack of talent, and the fact that the Blue Devils currently have just two guards (three when Andre Dawkins is officially accepted) on their roster is mitigated by the ACC's lack of perimeter star power.

Again, huh?

Can Duke win the ACC?
(photo credit: You got dunked on)

I don't want to come off like a Duke hater - because I'm not - but this is a bit crazy. Duke the ACC champs? I really don't see it happening. There are just too many question marks on this team.

Who is going to run the point?: Nolan Smith may be a junior, but he has yet to prove himself as anything close to an elite lead guard. Scheyer excelled when he ran the point last year, but that is not an option this season due to Duke's lack of perimeter depth.

Do they have a go-to scorer?: Last season, Gerald Henderson emerged as the guy that Duke turned to when they needed a bucket. Who will it be this year? Jon Scheyer struggled to score consistently when he was guarded by bigger, more athletic two-guards last season. Kyle Singler is by far their best player, but can he handle being "the man"? He seems to me to be more of a complimentary player (albeit a great one).

Is their size any good?: Duke's post rotation will consist of Brian Zoubek, Lance Thomas, the Plumlee brothers, and Ryan Kelly. What will happen when they go up against frontlines like UNC (Ed Davis, Deon Thompson, Tyler Zeller), Georgia Tech (Gani Lawal, Derrick Favors), Clemson (Trevor Booker), or Florida State (Solomon Alabi, Uche Echefu, Ryan Reid, Chris Singleton)? Isn't their advantage supposed to be on the inside?

Sorry Duke fans. I see this Blue Devil squad being very similar to your 2007 team, the one that went 22-11 (8-8 in the ACC) and lost to Eric Maynor and VCU in the 1st round of the dance.

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Ed O'Bannon suing the NCAA

Last summer, we did a Where Are They Now? piece on Ed O'Bannon, the former UCLA standout turned Las Vegas car salesman.

I don't think anyone is going to be asking that question again anytime soon.

Yesterday, Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports broke the story that Ed O'Bannon will be the lead plaintiff (on behalf of all current and former DI football and men's basketball players) in a class action lawsuit against the NCAA. The case centers around the fact that the NCAA can cash in on the likenesses, the accomplishments, and the memorabilia sales of former players (be it via video games, commercials, jersey sales, etc.) in perpetuity without those players seeing a dime.

Apparently, they have a case (for those better versed in legalese than I go read what Michael McMann has to say about the case at SI - he breaks everything down for you). I'm no lawyer, but I can tell you that when you are represented by a firm that won reparations for Holocaust survivors, price fixing cartels, and benefactors of slave labor, there is a good chance a large amount of money can be made.

Ed O'Bannon is the lead plaintiff in a case against the NCAA
involving their use of a players likeness after graduation.
(photo credit: lowposts.com)

Do I need even need to mention how big of a deal this case is?

Seriously, think about what this covers - ESPN Classic replays; a Carmelo Anthony Syracuse jersey; those Pontiac game changing performance commercials; any copy of NCAA video games.

In fact, the video game is where the entire case originated. From the Wetzel article:

Last winter, Ed O'Bannon discovered that a couple of kids down the street didn't just know the star of the 1995 UCLA national championship team as a friend of their dad, a really tall neighbor or even as a guy who shows up on ESPN Classic every once in a while. They knew O’Bannon – his tendencies, his number 31, even the mechanics of his lefty jump shot – from playing a video game that featured classic college teams. "They literally played me on a video game," O'Bannon told Yahoo! Sports on Saturday. "You could play the '95 Bruins. It didn't have my name, but it had my number, left-handed, it looked like me. It was everything but the name. My friend kind of looked at me and said, 'you know what’s sad about this whole thing? You're not getting paid for it.' I was just like, 'wow, you're right.' It just kind of weighed on me."

An interesting side note to this case is that they are not pushing for athletes currently on scholarship to get paid; only that they players see a cut of the profits from collegiate licensed merchandise once they move on from the NCAA.

According to Wetzel, collegiate licensed merchandise is an estimated $4 billion industry. These are rough economic times for the NCAA and its member institutions, and if O'Bannon happens to prevail, the NCAA may be forced to fork over hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

Don't cry for the NCAA. They make money hand over fist off of these kids while they are in school. OK, I get it, the NCAA is technically a non-profit organization and these kids are technically amateur athletes. While I may not completely agree with the current structure, I can tolerate it simply because I love the ideal of a "student-athlete" representing his school.

But why shouldn't former players like O'Bannon get a taste once their collegiate careers come to an end?

The guys over at RTC say it best:

Frankly, it’s about effin’ time. As Dan Wetzel poignantly notes in his article breaking the story today, the players are painted into a (legally unrepresented) corner at 17 or 18 years old when all they’re really worried about is getting their eligibility to play college sports. We understand why the NCAA doesn’t want its current players profiting off of their likenesses while an amateur, but why does the NCAA retain 100% of those rights for the rest of those players’ lives? Why does Texas Western profit off of 1966 jerseys of #14 Bobby Joe Hill, but not the player (or the estate in Hill’s case) some 40+ years later? Same thing with Jerry Rice’s MVSU #88 jersey? Or, as O’Bannon stated in his complaint, why doesn’t he see a dime for an EA Sports video game licensed by the NCAA that clearly shows his silky smooth left-handed collegiate “self” running around making shots and ripping down rebounds as a 1995 UCLA Bruin? It’s absolutely ludicrous, and we’d really like to see the NCAA take it on the chin this time around.

One last note - O'Bannon explains his rationale for becoming the lead plaintiff over at Lost Letterman.

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Wednesday Morning Dump

- According to an adviser, money was a major factor in the decision of Latavious Williams to go abroad.

- CoachCal.com - coming soon.

- Randy Hill with a surprisingly good take on the one-and-done rule. the best part:

Well, based on NCAA workout restrictions and most coaches game-planning themselves to death during the season to survive in a brutally fluid job market, players have less school-year time than you could imagine to eliminate individual weaknesses. In college, you're an investment in a coach's ability to win games. That's just fine; it shouldn't be his job to prepare you for an NBA career. Doing so within the context of winning games can make recruiting a lot easier for the college coach, but he has more than your bank account to worry about. Yeah, with an 82-game schedule, NBA coaches have very little time to teach and refine team concepts, but actual time spent on improving skill work — especially for young players — can be relatively enormous. You are an investment for the pro team; it's their business to make sure you can make plays.

- Good read on Lance Stephenson from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

- The CBS College Sports channel is re-airing the 2009 NCAA Tournament.

- Coach K to lead Team USA again in 2012. Is his commitment hurting Duke? They are just 5-4 in the tournament since he took that job.

- MWC commissioner gets his contract extended through 2012.

- The SEC to launch a syndicated network with ESPN.

- Seth Davis takes a look at Hoop Dreams, 15 years later.

- Centenary to move from DI to DIII.

- Effing hilarious.

- What your favorite athlete's twittering says about their sexuality.

- Boy drinks gasoline to become a Transformer.

- Formula One driver killed by a loose tire:


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Who would you pick to build a team around?

During the last couple of days, two of the biggest media outlets have weighed in (albeit from slightly different angles) on the debate over who will be the best player in college basketball next season.

Over at Rivals, they pose the question "Which player in the best to build a team around?" Both writers went with centers - one picking Cole Aldrich and the other Ed Davis. Josh Herwitt from FOXSports made a list of the top 10 returning players, which was capped off by Luke Harangody.

Look, you may not like him, but it is very tough to argue with Herwitt's decision to name Harangody the best returner in college hoops. The guy is coming off of his second consecutive 20 and 10 season (averaging 23.3 ppg and 11.8 rpg in last year's brutal Big East). 'Gody worked his tail off while testing the waters of the NBA Draft and is now checking in at a svelte 245 lb. From what I've read about his pre-draft workouts, Harangody is getting off the floor much better than he was early in his career and has improved his jumper to the point that he can consistently hit NBA three's (watch this video).

Harangody tops the list of preseason Player of the Year candidates.
(photo credit: Daylife)

Combine that with his ability to nimbly score in the post, and Harangody is near unstoppable at the college level. With the graduation of Kyle McAlarney, the Irish are going to rely even more on Harangody at the offensive end. Would it surprise you if he finished the season averaging 26 and 12?

It shouldn't.

And if averaging 26 and 12 wouldn't surprise you, than that player has to be in the conversation as the best player. Its that simple.

But just because an argument can be made for Harangody as the best player in the country doesn't mean he is the guy that I would want to build a team around.

Think about it. Last season, Harangody was the focal point of an experienced team with two wings that could go for 25 on any given night (McAlarney and Ryan Ayers) and one of the most underrated point guards in the Big East (Tory Jackson), and the Irish had an incredibly disappointing season, missing the NCAA Tournament.

The way I see it, there are two schools of thought here. You either A) pick a talented and experienced point guard or B) choose a center that can dominate a game offensively and defensively. Lucky for Kansas, regardless of which theory I follow, I'm picking a Jayhawk - Sherron Collins or Cole Aldrich.

Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich will lead Kansas to their pursuit of a second title in three years.
(photo credit: ESPN)

Cole Aldrich is the total package at center. While he is not quite at the level of a Jarvis Varnado or Hasheem Thabeet, Aldrich is able to dominate the paint on the defensive end of the floor, blocking and changing shots while controlling the defensive glass. Offensively, he averaged 14.9 ppg as a sophomore, but most of those points came off of face-up jumpers or dunks. With his height, length, and strength, Aldrich has the potential to become a go-to scorer in the paint with an off-season of hard work.

Collins was very impressive as a junior in his first season as a go-to guy for the Jayhawks. His numbers were fantastic (18.9 ppg and 5.0 apg), but Collins brings much more than stats to the table. Whenever Kansas needed a big play, Collins was the guy that stepped up. And it wasn't just hitting big shots (which he did quite often), it was making the smart play in the big moments. He wasn't afraid to dump the ball off the Aldrich or hit one of the Jayhawk wings spotting up if he was covered. A leader and big-time scorer that makes the right plays and has championship experience - what more can you ask for?

With Collins and Aldrich leading a talented group of freshman and sophomore role players, and a star in the making in freshman Xavier Henry on the wing, is it any wonder Kansas tops most pre-season top 25's?

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Latavious Williams headed to ... China?

That's what Rivals is reporting.

The jewel of the 2009 Memphis recruiting class, and Josh Pastner's first signee as the head coach of the Tigers, is opting to head overseas. Williams, a top 20 recruit nationally, was quoted as saying that it is a "done deal" and that he is "trying to work something out in China".

Memphis commit Latavious Williams seems to be headed to China.
(photo credit: College Basketball 365)

This is a devastating loss for the Tigers. With all they lost to graduation last year and Shawn Taggart's decision to skip his final year of eligibility, the Tigers will now head into the season with some serious question marks across their front line - can Pierre Henderson-Niles stay in shape? How good is JuCo transfer Will Coleman? Can the unproved Angel Garcia contribute?

Williams, an athletic 6'7" combo forward with a similar skill set to Robert Dozier, would have provided some versatility to the Tiger's frontline as he is mobile enough to play some on the perimeter.

Tigers fans better hope Elliot Williams, a two-guard who transferred from Duke, is granted eligibility this season. Without him, this is what the Memphis starting five looks like:

• F - Pierre Henderson-Niles
• F - Will Coleman/Angel Garcia
• F - Wesley Witherspoon
• G - Roburt Sallie/Doneal Mack
• G - Willie Kemp
  

Does that look like a top 25 team to you?

UPDATE: Gary Parrish is reporting that it was unlikely that Latavious Williams' transcript would have been cleared by the NCAA.
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ATER MAJOK TO STAY AT UCONN: After sitting out last year, testing the NBA Draft waters this past spring, and flirting with the idea of playing professionally overseas, Majok has finally settled on UConn as his destination for the upcoming season.

Majok will be a welcome addition to a UConn front court that will be severely depleted with the loss of Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet.

Majok will become eligible after the first semester, joining a front line that will include seniors Gavin Edwards and Stanley Robinson and freshman Alex Oriahki.

How good Majok will end up being is debatable. While testing the waters, the word was that he looked fantastic in individual workouts, but in live-action (both 3-on-3 and 5-on-5) he seemed a bit out of place. His skill set is impressive. He's a long and athletic, albeit slender, 6'10" with a nice touch on his jumper, but it may take him awhile to adapt to play in the Big East.

Personally, I think Majok has Ajou Ajou Deng written all over him. Deng, who was also a Sudanese refugee, had tons of hype coming into Storrs (during the 1999 Final Four, when UConn won their first title and before Deng was eligible, Khaled El-Amin called Deng the "best player on the team"), but turned out to be a monumental bust before transferring to Fairfield.

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Tuesday Morning Dump

- Gary Parrish gives us four reasons to love summer basketball. And you thought reading these stories about Renardo Sidney and Josh Selby were bad.

- Arizona State loses a commitment from Josiah Turner, a top 100 recruit from the class of '11. Andrew Nicholas, a wing from the class of '11, has signed with Rutgers.

- Andy Katz catches up with Ole Miss guard Terrico White, who had a great U19 tournament after winning SEC Freshman of the Year. I remember him for this dunk.

- Jio Fontan has decided to return to Fordham.

- 2004 Conference USA Player of the Year Antonio Burks is in critical condition after being shot.

- The Dodgers Matt Kemp played high school ball with Shelden Williams at Oklahoma powerhouse Midwest City.

- Top 10 recruits in July.

- Due to the success of ESPNChicago, the WWL is launching local sites in NYC, LA, and Dallas. Also, the WWL looks ot single-handedly destroy print journalism.

- By now you had to have heard about Larry King's interview last night with Joe Jackson. Creepy:


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Renardo Sidney: Still ineligible

Last week, the LA Times reported that Renardo Sidney (you remember him, don't you?) still had his amateur status under review by the NCAA. Apparently, the current issue is that Sidney's family had yet to turn over information regarding the collateral used to acquire one of (at least) two loans the family received.

NCAA rules strictly forbid "reputation or skill or pay-back potential as a professional athlete" to be used in order for an amateur athlete to receive a loan.

Renardo Sidney may never set foot on a college basketball court.
(photo credit: LA Times)

In the article, the LA Times cited a Mississippi State official as saying that the loan "could be an issue" and that it was "50-50" that Sidney would ever play for Rick Stansbury's Bulldogs.

But this news is a week old, which is like 50 in blog years. Why do I (and, more importantly, why should you) care?

There has been a bit of grumbling about whether or not Stansbury made a good decision when he signed Sidney. Personally, I believe he did.

With Sidney in their line-up, the Bulldogs would immediately become not only the huge favorite to win the SEC West, but would probably start creeping up onto the list of Final Four contenders. This is a team that returns their top five scorers from last season, which includes a young, talented, and deep back court. Combining Sidney, a big man known for his ability to score in a variety of ways, with defensive stalwart Jarvis Varnado gives Stansbury a coach's dream tandem up front.

That is a huge reward for what seems to be a situation with very little risk to Stansbury and his program.

Mississippi State began recruiting Sidney very late in the process, and really only became a serious contender to land the Mickey D's all-american after USC became the second of the two SoCal schools to pass on him. That means that they probably were not involved with him while he racked up a slew of possible NCAA violations, jeopardizing his eligibility.

So the worst case scenario is that Sidney is found ineligible and never suits up for the Bulldogs. That leaves them exactly where they would have been if Sidney hadn't signed. Best case? Sidney is granted eligibility and helps lead the Bulldogs to their first Final Four since the Dontae' Jones era.

Yes, there is an argument to be made about the type of teammate Sidney will be, the distractions that could be caused by Sidney's eligibility remaining in question, and the fact that Sidney is clearly a one-and-done guy (are those ever good for a program?). But this is how the world of college basketball operates under the current rules. For the basketball schools not named Kentucky or North Carolina or Michigan State, going out and renting (which is essentially what happens) an all-world talent for a year is an easy way to .

Like it or not, this will probably be the best team Stansbury will ever field in Starksville.
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Bruce Pearl has spent the majority of July in Israel coaching Team USA in the Maccabiah games. The gig is not as prestigious as Coach K leading the Olympians, Jamie Dixon coaching the U19 squad, or Bo Ryan's effort at the World University Games (the US beat Mexico 112-13).

But Pearl is Jewish, is coaching his son Steven, and the Games have given him an opportunity to bring his parents to Israel for the first time.

While this a great opportunity for Pearl's life outside of basketball - as a religious man and as a family man - the consequences of this trip on him as a coach could be huge. You see, the NCAA did away with April's AAU evaluation period, which means that the two evaluation periods in July have become that much more significant.

And Pearl was in Israel from July 6th-15th, the first July session. The second session begins July 22nd. The Maccabiah finals take place on the 21st, and Pearl will be flying straight from Israel to a tournament in Las Vegas.

How much of an effect this will have on Tennessee's recruiting is debatable. UT's assistants are still out on the road, Pearl will be around for the entirety of the second July session, and the kids the Vols are interested in have been told about Pearl's trip. But while Pearl is off on his Israeli vacation, "coaching" his team to 99 point wins, his assistants are in the stands recruiting against the likes of John Calipari, Josh Pastner, Rick Pitino, etc.

And it may have already burned him.

Josh Selby, a top 10 recruit in the class of 2010, has decommited from Tennessee. There are all kinds of theories out there as to why Selby made this decision. His mother has been quoted as saying that he made his decision too quickly (he commited in September) and wanted to reopen his recruitment to more schools.

But it seems as if there is more to the story. Selby and his family have a relationship with William "Worldwide Wes" Wesley, a notorious college basketball power broker who has strong ties not only to John Calipari, the University of Memphis, and the University of Oregon, but he is closely affiliated with Nike (he is the guy that introduced LeBron James to Michael Jordan when James was a high schooler, an effort to get the young phenom to sign with Nike).

Kentucky, Memphis, and Oregon are all Nike schools. Tennessee is with Adidas.

Then there is the issue of Selby's cousins - Will and Antonio Barton - both signed with Memphis last month (although, this may not be a factor - they are related through Selby's father and Selby was raised by his mother).

It doesn't matter why Selby decommited. What matters is that a top 10 recruit decommited while Pearl was in Israel. Maybe Selby was gone regardless, but one thing that is for sure is that Pearl would have had a lot more influence on the decision had he been stateside.

This is not meant to criticize Pearl as a coach. This trip to Israel seems like a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and is most likely in a quite fulfilling trip. But such is the life of a coach of a big time program.
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Monday Morning Dump

- Craig Robinson is writing a book.

- A little more detail on Andre Dawkins heading to Duke.

- Top 10 returning players.

- Dave Bliss returns to Texas to give a speech.

- Stanford lands PG Aaron Bright.

- Michael Jordan's son is fitting in at Central Florida.

- SI catches up with Robbie Hummel.

- Sonny Vaccaro to be honored in Vegas.

- "Ex-marine fights lion with chainsaw".

- From prostitute to nun?

- All you could ever want to know about Pacman's weekend in Vegas.

- The Hurt Locker looks amazing.

- Jonny Flynn's summer league windmill:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhd4jW_FOvQ&feature=player_embedded
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Friday Morning Dump

- Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik had a "casual conversation" with the T-Wolves about a coaching position.

- Carroll College coach hires twin brother.

- Andy Katz talks with Jarvis Varnado.

- Oliver Purnell's fundraiser for the CvC.

- Big Monday's Big XII match-ups announced.

- Former Georgia Tech standout Anthony Morrow scored a record 47 points in a NBA Summer Leage game yesterday. Nice story about Steph Curry from after the game:

At the conclusion of the Warriors/Hornets game, a crowd of kids gathers to try and get an autograph from Morrow. Morrow finishes with media and throws his jersey into the throng of kids, only to have them lunge at it and break the security barricade fighting for it. A younger fan desperately clutches the jersey while another fan struggles to rip it away from him.

While this scene is unfolding, I am interviewing Steph Curry and the two of us stop to watch what's going on. We are both a little unsure of what to do to comfort the boy who is about to cry. Curry then stops the interview, goes over and gives the boy who lost out on the jersey his game-worn shoe.

- A blob in Alaska.

- College athletes and their problems with insurance coverage.

- Remember this guy? He's still whacked out:


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