Royce White, Iowa State's GOAT? More likely than you think?

One of the columns that has been making the rounds on the blogs this week comes from Marc Hansen of the Des Moines Register. In that column, Hansen tells a story of how a long-time Iowa State fan is convinced that Minnesota transfer Royce White will -- "Not could. Not might. Will." -- become the greatest Cyclone of all-time.

Now, the point of Hansen's column wasn't to say that White will be the best Iowa State player of all-time. His point is that with the infusion of talent this season -- with transfers Chris Allen (Michigan State), Chris Babb (Penn State) and Anthony Booker (Southern Illinois) joining White in becoming eligible -- and with the performances that White has had this summer -- he averaged a freakin' triple-double in a summer league, which is summer league but still insane -- that there is a hype surrounding the Cyclones that they haven't experienced in a while.


To his credit, White, who wasn't known for his levelheadedness in his time with the Gophers, answered the question about as well as you can ask him too.

"I'm happy somebody would think of me in that way," he told Hansen, "and it gives me motivation to try to achieve that on the court and off. It's an objective term and probably a little extreme, considering all the great players who’ve been here, but I’d like to be on the list someday. I think it’s achievable. Not for what I do individually as much as for what we do as a team. Hopefully, I can make a dent in Iowa State history that way."

Confident, but not cocky. Respectful yet motivated.

But let me ask you a question -- why not? Why can't White be the greatest player in the history of the Cyclone program? We're not exactly talking about North Carolina here.

There have been some quality players and quality teams in Iowa State's history. Jamaal Tinsley and Marcus Fizer teamed up to lead the Cyclones to within a few possessions of the Final Four. Craig Brackins averaged 20 and 10 playing on last place teams. Jeff Hornacek and Fred Hoiberg (also known as The Mayor and who is currently the head coach of Iowa State) both turned excellent college careers into long NBA careers. Jeff Grayer -- who, for my money, currently holds the throne -- was an all-american and an Olympian.

With all due respect to those six players, that's a fairly reachable ceiling for White.

Granted, his talent on the court will never fully be on display unless he can tackle his issues off the court. And the two years he has spent watching basketball from the sidelines will make it difficult to shake off some of the rust. Saying he will, definitely, be the greatest Cyclone of all time is premature.

But so is saying he won't.
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Wednesday Morning Dump

Have No fear. Your days of reading Rob Dauster-centric Morning Dumps are no more. I've been released from laptop purgatory and can now resume duties as Grand Poobah of the Morning Dump. I apologize in advance if this dump gets sloppy, but I'm still adjusting to this freakishly-small MacBook keyboard (What is this, a laptop for ants?)

- Gregg Doyel tackles the recent trend of head coaches banning the use of Twitter. Steve Lavin, Steve Alford and even Steve Spurrier banned olayers from using the uber-addictive social networking tool

Doug Gottlieb provides us with the 12 changes he would make to college basketball if he was in charge (Insiders Only)

- Cal Tech lost so many games (207 in a row, to be exact) that Disney wants to make a heart-warming movie about it (SPOILER ALERT: They finally win)

- Jeff Goodman provides a thorough list of all the preseason trips being taken by D-I programs

- Speaking of pre-season trips, Mike DeCourcy explains why these trips are a huge benfit for quality programs

- I'm not going to waste much time detailing what former-Illinois forward Jeremy Richmond did. Why? Because somebody like him isn't worth my time. But if you're intrigued, by all means, click the link


- NCAA President Mark Emmert had a lot to discuss at the recent NCAA rules and regulations retreat. Emmert stated that he will never allow pay-for-play" but some current NCAA rules need to be changed

- Part 2 of Swoosh Nation's list of the best arenas in college hoops

- Louisville has given head coach Rick Pitino a $3.9 million raise

- An interesting list of the top-10 best fantasy players in the Big East

- Northwestern got a big committment from highly-touted 2012 forward Kale Abrahamson

- Incoming Duke freshman Quinn Cook will sit out until September in order to rest his ailing knee

- The Arena Pulse provides a suscinct recruiting recap for the past week or so

- A nice breakdown of UNC-Wilmington's non-conference scedule



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POSTERIZED: Wait, that guy can dunk?

Before I write anything, watch the dunk:



Nasty, right?

Now take a look at the head shot of the dude that threw it down:


What in the blue blazes?

His name is Justin Graham and he just graduated from San Jose State where he averaged 14.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.6 apg, and 2.3 spg. He can ball. That said, the dude does not look like he should be dunking, let alone dunking on two people in the finals of a very good Pro-Am out in San Francisco.

Forget the fact that he's white, because regardless of what Woody Harrellson thinks, there are white folks out there that can dunk. Its the flowing blonde locks. When I first saw the picture I thought that Bodhi had stopped surfing and robbing banks and started looking for that rush of adrenaline from passing the ball to Adrian Oliver. This guy is the epitome of the lax bro.

Hell, Troy's first reaction to watching the dunk was "Wait, was that a girl?"

Now, I hesitate to say anything too harsh about him or his hair because there is a reason for its length. Graham suffers from vitiligo, a skin depigmentation condition that leads to a higher risk of skin cancer, on his scalp. But he seems to enjoy the playful nagging he gets from fans -- "They put Bieber's hair on me, and it was like we were brothers," Graham said in the article linked above -- especially since the shoulder length hair is much more than what's necessary for him to protect his scalp.

There also was this juicy nugget: "[A]s Graham said this, his skateboard was tucked under one arm."

Ok, then.

Bodhi it is.

(It will pain #TeamPOSTERIZED to say this, but h/t to #TeamDunkage for the video)
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Jereme Richmond arrested for assault, threatening with a gun

In one fell swoop, Jereme Richmond may have made himself completely undesirable to any professional basketball team as well as every potential girlfriend he may have.

The former Illinois forward was charged with three felonies stemming from a series of incidents the past two days -- aggravated battery, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated assault, as well as misdemeanor charges of domestic battery, battery, and two counts of disorderly conduct.


The specifics are unclear as of now -- ESPN Chicago, the Daily Herald, and the Chicago Sun-Times have slight differences in their reports -- but essentially what happened is that Richmond had a confrontation with a 17 year old girl he had been dating at her house, in front of her parents. From the ESPN report:

According to [Waukegan police commander Gabe] Guzman, Richmond, 19, was involved in a confrontation with a woman on the 3000 block of Golfmoor in Waukegan on Monday. When a Waukegan police car arrived on the scene, Richmond was in the resident's yard.

According to the police report, Richmond made a statement to the resident, "You looking for me? I'm here now. I'll shoot your [expletive]."

Three of Richmond's friends were found in a car outside the resident's home. A loaded .40 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun was discovered in the car, and all three passengers were taken into custody.

There's more.

The Daily Herald is reporting that on Sunday, the woman drove to Richmond's house to get her cell phone and the two had a confrontation that ended with Richmond shoving the girl into her car.

This isn't the first time that Richmond has been in trouble, either. He missed a game against Wisconsin during Big Ten after skipping two days of practice to return home for unspecified personal reasons. He was suspended for the Illini's two NCAA Tournament games after a reported fight with a teammate following their loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament.

Its a sad ending that should serve as a cautionary tale for every elite recruit in the country.

There is no question that Richmond is an immensely talented basketball player. A 6'8" small forward, he has a versatile skill set that should have allowed him to be a weapon at both the college level and potentially the NBA. But Richmond, who committed to Illinois when he was a freshman and went on to make the McDonald's all-american team, bought into the hype. He believed -- more than likely due to the influence of his family -- that the NBA was a foregone conclusion, not a goal that he had to work to achieve.

And now, not only did he lose his collegiate eligibility by foolishly entering the NBA Draft after one year in college, he is now facing as much as 14 years in prison.

Destiny is a fickle bitch, ain't she.
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Doron Lamb, the best player on Kentucky?

Love him or hate him, the one thing you have to admit about John Calipari is that he has this college basketball coaching gig figured out.

Be it the way he recruits players to Lexington, his effort to get his recruits to the NBA as quickly as possible, the pro days that he hosted on campus, the UK Legends game, or the fact that he is bringing back former players and current NBA stars as student assistants during the lockout, he always seems to be two steps ahead of the rest of his coaching brethren.

The other thing about Coach Cal is that everything he says -- even if he is taking a shot at Coach K -- is intentional and for a purpose, which is why his comments about Doron Lamb piqued my interest:

"He's our best basketball player."

[...]

"Terrence has used this time to get stronger and I'm hoping Darius will use this experience overseas to help him. But Doron is a better player, in better shape and he can take the pressure off those freshmen so they don't have to be anyone else but themselves."

[...]

"In my opinion, he's going to be one of the top-15 players in the country. He was a freshman last season and it's hard for those guys to be consistent. The same thing occurred for Terrence Jones. [Lamb] has a great feel for the game. He was here for most of the summer and is now home for three weeks in New York before school starts. These are a big three weeks for him."

Hold fast.

Doron Lamb as Kentucky's best player? This is the same team that has two potential all-americans and lottery picks in Anthony Davis and Terrence Jones, two more top ten incoming recruits in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague, and a second five that would finish in the top half of the Pac-12.

And Lamb is the best player, a guy Coach Cal expects to be a top 15 player in the country? Isn't there a chance that Lamb doesn't even start next season?

"Best" is a tricky term. On last year's Final Four team, there's a legitimate argument to be made that Josh Harrellson was their most valuable player. He provided something -- size, toughness inside, rebounding -- that the Wildcats were unable to get from anyone else. Lamb will find himself in a similar role this season. For all the talent and the potential on the Kentucky roster, they don't have all that much perimeter shooting, especially when you consider that Jon Hood is out with a torn acl.

I'm not criticizing Lamb here. He averaged 12.3 ppg and shot 48.6% from three despite being known for his mid-range game. And while he had your typical, freshman ups-and-downs, he did have some big games -- 32 points on 11-12 shooting (7-8 from deep) against Winthrop and 24 points at North Carolina.

If Lamb is more consistent -- and more assertive offensively -- next season while showing improvement as a ball-handler and a distributor, he'll be one of the best off-guards in the SEC.

The best player on Kentucky? One of the top 15 players in the country?

If that's true, it either means that Davis, Jones and company didn't live up to their expectations or that Lamb has become really, really good.

Kentucky fans will be hoping for the latter.
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Brandon Davies sighting?

BYU's basketball will be in rebuilding mode next season.

Let's ignore, for a second, the fact that they are losing Jimmer Fredette, a once in a generation talent and lottery pick. Jackson Emery, Fredette's back court side kick, graduated while Kyle Collinsworth, a promising freshman small forward, is going on his Mormon mission next year. Meanwhile Kyle's older brother Chris is coming off of season-ending knee surgery while reserve big men Logan Magnusson and James Anderson have left the program. All told, the Cougars stand to lose at least three of their top six players with a key post presence dealing with knee problems.

I say "at least three" because the key to the Cougar's season in 2011-2012 comes in the 6'9" form of Brandon Davies.

Davies, if you remember, was suspended in early March last season for violating BYU's Honor Code by having premarital sex with his girlfriend. Its no secret that the Cougars will be in trouble without Davies, but BYU beat writer Jay Drew made a promising observation yesterday:

Davies practiced "against" the team today in the Marriott Center, wearing a green jersey along with former players Lee Cummard, Trent Plaisted, Lamont Morgan and Logan Magnusson and going hard against BYU regulars in an early-practice 5 on 5 scrimmage.

BYU is going to play in Greece and Davies won't be going on the trip. There is also no new information yet as to whether or not Davies will be allowed back into school next year.

But the fact that he is scrimmaging with and against the current Cougars is a good sign.
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Mark Gottfried linked to the Donnan Ponzi Scheme

The Ponzi Scheme that has captured out attention this summer is the one involving David Salinas because, frankly, we aren't as interested in coaches investing their money poorly as we are coaches investing with an AAU coach to potentially land recruits.

But its not the only investigation currently going on in the world of sports.

Former Georgia head football coach and ex-ESPN analyst Jim Donnan is currently being investigated for a Ponzi Scheme that conned investors out of millions of dollars. One of the names involved with Donnan was also involved with Salinas. Billy Gillispie, who lost more than $2 million to Salinas, was also scammed out of as much as $3 million by Donnan.

According to JP Giglio, Mark Gottfried, the new NC State head coach, also invested with Donnan. Court documents indicate that Gottfried had as much as $250,000 invested.

If you are an investment adviser and you aren't a criminal, I'm sure there are plenty of college coaches looking for someone legitimate.
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Tuesday Morning Dump

- Umm, sorry Coach Cal. I'm going to have to disagree with you here. Hopefully I'll be able to get to it in a post later today.

- Hey, while I'm here -- Eamonn Brennan, Kentucky Wildcats, Summer Buzz.

- And since everything is Kentucky today, read this from The Postgame on former Wildcat Richie Farmer.

- Ignacio Marquez of the Knoxville News put together a good read on Cuonzo Martin, who sounds like a coach that players are going to want to play for. More support for Cuonzo Martin from his current players.

- Mark Story of the Lexington Herald-Leader wrote a good column on John Pelphrey, who is headed back to Florida to rejoin Billy Donovan's staff after losing his job as the head coach from Arkansas this spring.

- The Philadelphia Inquirer published a very long profile of Philadelphia University coaching legend Herb McGee on Saturday. Its worth the read if you have 15 minutes to spare.

- Charges against Thomas Robinson have been dropped. They stemmed from this incident.

- You want to get caught up on some hoops for next season? How about Jeff Goodman's Big East recap and Brian Goodman's recap of the Big Ten. I wonder if those two are related?

- Bruce Pearl went on the radio with Clay Travis yesterday and had some interesting things to say. Speaking of Pearl, D-League?

- I thought this column from Mike DeCourcy on Andre Drummond was well done. Drummond is reportedly making a decision tomorrow, although nothing that's been written about him has been confirmed this summer. So we'll see.

- Other recruiting news: Javan Felix has committed to Texas, Torian Graham has decommitted from NC State.

- This seems to be a bit of an overstatement. Then again, who is the best Iowa State Cyclone of all-time?

- Jamie Dixon is cleaning up when it comes to recruiting big men. Malcolm Gilbert, Khem Birch, Dante Taylor. Jeff Goodman is enamored with the guy is may not have heard of yet -- Steven Adams.

- After being suspended last season, Moses Ayegba may miss next season after tearing the acl in his knee.

- Times have now been announced for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

- Old, I know, but come on Gottlieb, this is a stretch.

- Interesting read from Adam Zagoria on a Harlem hooper looking for a second chance.

- This doesn't sound good.

Hoyas in China. This video made me laugh even though its pretty corny:


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Proposed changes in recruiting are a hopeful start

The NCAA is finally making some progress when it comes to regulating men's basketball recruiting.

On Friday, the NCAA announced that the Division I Leadership Council "reached consensus on some aspects of a new men's basketball recruiting model", which included the following:

• A start date for official visits beginning after the men’s basketball championship in April of the junior year.
• Deregulating the type of communication between coaches and prospects (including text messaging and other forms of electronic communication).
• Allowing unlimited communication after Aug. 1 before the junior year in high school.
• Permitting evaluations at certified nonscholastic events on two weekends in April, with some restrictions.
• Permitting some contact at a prospect’s educational institution in conjunction with an evaluation, with some restrictions and requirements.

Of the five bullet points on which the council was able to reach a consensus, the two most important are the changes proposed for allowing unlimited communication and bringing back two evaluation weekends in April.

Regulations against texting and calling are outdated in the day and age of the smart phone. Emails, twitter direct messages, and facebook messages are all accessible on a typical smartphone. DMing a recruit and sending him a text both end up with the same result -- the recruit checking the message on his phone -- so why is one regulated and one not? Everyone has an unlimited texting plan and every kid is keenly aware of how to and perfectly capable of ignoring a phone call or text from someone he doesn't want to talk to. Parents, how often does your 16 year old happen to "lose service" when he is breaking curfew?

Bringing back a few weekends in April is also important because it will allow coaches to evaluate players over a longer period of time. Allowing college coaches ample opportunity to get a feel for how a player is developing is the best way to ensure correct talent evaluations. Part of the reason that we are seeing so many players transfer these days is that coaches are unable to properly evaluate players. They end up at the wrong level and transfer, either to a place they can play or to a school with better competition.

The one aspect of recruiting that I have the most issue with, however, wasn't addressed -- the July recruiting period:

"While the Council agreed that changes need to be made to the summer recruiting period, the group said it wants feedback from the membership before making a legislative recommendation on the actual number of days in July that should be used."

The way July is currently scheduled is that coaches get two ten-day periods on the road where they are allowed to evaluate players. That's too much, for the coaches and for the players. (If you want to read me waxing poetic on this topic, click here.) That needs to get cut down. If I had my druthers, there would be five four-day evaluations periods -- two in April, three in July -- stretching from Thursday-Sunday where coaches would be able to get on the road and evaluate.

(Ed. Note: Thanks to John Infante of the ByLaw Blog for tipping me off to this. The Council is considering two options for July -- two seven-day periods or three four-day periods. The April evaluation period will be two weekends -- 6:00 pm Friday through 4:00 pm Sunday -- that don't happen to coincide with an SAT test.)

With all that is currently wrong with the NCAA, these changes are relatively minute. AAU coaches are still going to wield too much power, players are still going to end up with the highest-bidder, stars are still not going to be able to earn their market value and the "student" in student-athlete will still be a controversial term.

But its a start. Its a step in the right direction. And its a sign that the NCAA is hearing the calls for reform.

That's a good sign.
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UPDATE: The latest on Andre Drummond: Report saying he will go to St. Thomas More disputed

UPDATE: NBADraft.net is reporting that Drummond will make his college decision on August 10th.

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

There is no story in high school basketball this month more intriguing than the saga of Andre Drummond.

If you don't know who that is, you will soon enough. A 6'11", 285 lb center, Drummond is the best big man in a class loaded with big men, currently sitting behind only Shabazz Muhammad in our 2012 Consensus Recruiting Rankings.

But what makes Drummond so intriguing is that he doesn't necessarily have to be a member of the Class of 2012. He finished his high school requirements at St. Thomas More HS in CT, meaning that he would be eligible to enroll in college and play basketball this fall. There isn't a school in the country that would turn Drummond away.


Adam Zagoria caught up with Drummond by phone at the Adidas Nations event out in Los Angeles. According to Drummond, "the plan" is to return to St. Thomas More in the fall and that he "most likely" will not be in college in the fall.

Seems clearcut, doesn't it?

Well, maybe not.

The most connected man in college hoops -- Jeff Goodman -- disagreed with it, tweeting "I'm still not buying into the the report that Andre Drummond will return to St. Thomas More" and following that up an hour later with "In fact, I know I'm definitely NOT buying the report that Andre Drummond is headed back to St. Thomas More. Not happening."

Goodman's protoge, Jeff Borzello, chimed in later, saying "I've heard two things lately: that [Drummond will] go to Wilbraham & Monson, or that he'll pay his way to UConn and play this fall."

If Borzello and Goodman are both currently in the dark as to Drummond's plans, then I think its safe to say that everyone is.

Or that Drummond has yet to make up his mind, which may, in fact, be the most likely scenario. If he doesn't know what he's going to do in the fall, then how can a reporter know? Its no secret how difficult it is for an 18 year old to make a decision.

Either way, its extremely unlikely that Drummond's name won't be called by David Stern in the 2012 draft, which means that if Drummond makes the decision to return to the prep school ranks, we probably won't ever see him on a college campus.



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Billy Kennedy with a good start to his Texas A&M tenure

Billy Kennedy has taken the route less traveled in his coaching career.

Before taking the Texas A&M job vacated by Mark Turgeon's move to Maryland this spring, he worked 12 different collegiate jobs. His wasn't until his eighth season as an assistant coach that he spent two consecutive years on the same staff. (Ironically, one of those stops was as a member of the Aggie staff in 1990-1991.)

Now that he has become the latest Murray State head coach -- following Mark Gottfried and Mick Cronin -- to get a high-major job, Kennedy is hoping to stay there. And over the weekend, Kennedy took major steps towards ensuring that his tenure would be a successful one.

It started on Friday when J-Mychal Reese, a sharp-shooting lefty combo-guard out of Bryan, TX, committed to the Aggies. He currently ranks 46th in our 2012 Consensus Recruiting Rankings.

Reese made headlines a few months back when it was discovered that his father -- who also happens to be the head coach at Bryan HS -- was being offered assistant coaching positions at the schools that were recruiting "J-Mike". Brent Zwerneman broke the news that the elder Reese was resigning his position at Bryan HS and will be offered a spot on Kennedy's staff.

(The NCAA has instituted legislation preventing package deals, making a rule that there must be a two-year window between the hiring on a non-assistant staff member and the signing of a recruit that he was associated with in high school. Momo Jones couldn't transfer to St. John's because Moe Hicks, who coached him in high school, in the Director of Basketball Operations with the Johnnies. But John Reese will be hired as an assistant coach, making this package deal acceptable.)

Reese's brother also happens to be a student-manager for the Aggies, which surely played a role in his decision to head to college station.

Reese wasn't the only get for Kennedy. Kendrick Nunn, a top 50 scoring guard from the class of 2013 and a Chicago native, committed to play for Texas A&M on Sunday. Nunn's recruitment didn't have the intrigue that Reese's did, but according to Jeff Borzello of CBSSports.com, Nunn's "play in the spring and summer cemented his spot amongst the top guards in the country".

Kennedy still has a long way to go filling out the 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes, but the weekend's commitments are a good start.

With Khris Middleton and David Loubeau headlining a talented crop of returnees for the 2011-2012 season, Kennedy will have every chance in the world to continue the success Turgeon and Billy Gillispie had in the program.


Some video of J-Mychal Reese:



And Kendrick Nunn:


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Monday Morning Dump

Your fearless leader has officially returned to BIAH headquarters. Unfortunately, that has coincided with the death of Troy's laptop (RIP), which means that I will be taking over the Morning Dump while Mr. Machir shops. I'll do well, I promise.

- Dave Solomon, a columnist for my hometown paper -- the New Haven Register -- and a writer I grew up reading, passed away on Saturday night in a car accident driving home from a UConn football practice. Here are a few worthwhile words to read on him -- from Sean Barker, Jeff Jacobs, and John Altavila

- It was published on Friday, which means you've probably read it by now, but I must emphasize the fact that you all HAVE to read Luke Winn's work studying the transfer habits of top 100 recruits. Fascinating stuff. I'll also link you the two corresponding slideshows -- the most painful decommitments and the earliest commitments.

- This is a good read on Billy Gillispie. The man has his demons, but he certainly can coach. There is little doubt in my mind he'll succeed at Texas Tech.

- Robbie Hummel is back, baby!

- Do we finally have some closure on Andre Drummond and where he will play next season?

- So is Jayvaughn Pinkston, who isn't back as much as he is finally here.

- An interesting look at Sean Woods, the head coach of Mississippi Valley State.

- Good stuff from Ed Isaacson here on the foundation that Nolan and Sydney Smith established to help kids that lost their fathers at a young age.

- If you enjoy reading about the NCAA and potential reform, I strongly suggest taking a gander at these two articles.

- Here's Jay Bilas weighing in on Coaching Clinics.

- Here's something you might not expect to see -- a post arguing that Jared Sullinger doesn't have a great back-to-the-basket game.

- Former Memphis star Sean Banks was arrested after a car he was riding in ran from police and was found with $20k worth of stolen jewelry. This is the same guy that burned a gang insignia on a 15 year old girl with a cigarette.

- Some commitment stuff: Memphis native Martavious Newby is headed to Ole Miss, former LSU big man Garrett Green has transferred to San Diego State over Indiana, Chicago's finest prep baller Steve Taylor is headed Marquette, and Kendrick Nunn is headed to Texas A&M.

- I thoroughly enjoyed these stories from Jeff Eisenberg on the two unlikely members of the USA's World University Games team -- Orlando Johnson and Greg Mangano.

- Jason Gardner, who was a star at Arizona a decade ago, is taking an assistant coaching position with Loyola-Chicago.

- New Mexico State walk-on guard Makhtar Diop was stabbed over the weekend.

- Sad story from South Bend as big man recruit Eric Katenda has suffered an eye injury that is career threatening.

Ball is Life's Best of July mixtape:


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Swiperboy is retiring

Tennessee senior forward Renaldo Woolridge has developed a cult following under his alter-ego, rapper Swiperboy".

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if more people knew about his ability to spit a verse than get buckets. He has over 10,000 followers on twitter (as @Swiperboy) and has upwards of 100,000 views on a number of his 107 videos uploaded to youtube, which is quite a feat for a player that's never averaged more than 13.0 mpg and 3.4 ppg in three seasons, playing just eight injury plagued games in 2010-2011.

It makes his decision to quit rapping, which he announced on his blog today, all the more surprising:

After this release, there will be no more mixtapes from me. Now I know what you all are thinking, "Wow..did SB just give up on a dream and quit??"...No, thats not the reason. In all honesty I feel extremely under appreciated when it comes to the talent I was given for music. There are a lot of artists in mainstream america who are TERRIBLE, but have more shine than the sun reflected off a mirror in the middle of July has.... MEANING, if I have to stoop down and be "wack" to "make it", then I don't want that.

Now, if he was making this decision to focus on basketball, that would be one thing. Watch his videos. Its obvious he puts a tremendous amount of time and effort into his music. As an athletic and versatile 6'8" forward, he has the potential to be a very effective player in college.

But what is his ceiling as a basketball player?

He doesn't currently have NBA personnel fawning over him -- they don't pay attention to big men that average 3.4 ppg unless you play for John Calipari -- and playing on a Tennessee team that will be off the national radar this season is not a good way to up his exposure.

Making it in the NBA, or as a professional basketball player overseas, is incredibly difficult.

But making it in the music industry is even harder. You need a blend of talent, timing, successful promotion, and sheer luck to make it past being a youtube rapper.

Now, I listen to a lot of hip-hop, and while I wouldn't consider myself a leading scholar on the subject, I know more about rap that 99% of the population. Swiperboy is good. He is clever, he has a good flow and timing, and he uses clever punch lines. He also has a national profile as athlete at a major college and the corresponding following from a devoted and passionate fan base. Big breaks have been made out of less.

He's also a college student-athlete, with time commitments that -- hopefully -- force his music to take a back seat at times. And he's still been able to accomplish some impressive things.

The one thing I think we all can agree on is that there are some truly horrific "musicians" out there making a helluva lot of money releasing trash.

That doesn't mean that any aspiring musician should give up on their dreams. Here's to hoping Swiperboy doesn't give up on his.
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The Separation Between Church and Sports

To many, sports, the act of participating or viewing, is a religion. It is a sanctum, a place where you retreat to find everlasting peace and divinity.

You don't have to look far to find religious references in sports (i.e "Touchdown Jesus", "The Hail Mary"), yet discussing the role of religion in sports is often thought of being taboo.

The rise of political correctness in America has caused sensitive subjects, like personal religious beliefs and political affiliation, to be stricken from the record. We live in a country where retail employees are no longer allowed to bid customers farewell with "Have a Merry Christmas". It would be more likely to learn the salary of a co-worker (Once thought to be taboo) than their opinion on stem-cell research.

In the late Spring of 2011, college basketball met religion head-on.

Brandon Davies, a power forward for Brigham Young University (A school affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), was suspended from the team for violating rules that adhere with the school's religious beliefs, despite not being a Mormon believer himself. This issue turned into a topic of public agenda, with people like Amare Stoudamire weighing in with his opinion.

Now, why do I bring up the topic of religion, seemingly out of left-field?

I will tell you why, after the jump

Dick Vitale, the voice of college basketball on ESPN, has been vacationing in Europe over the past couple of days, and recently had a chance to visit with Pope Benedict XVII in Italy. Vitale, a devout Catholic, tweeted about the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity he was given, and shared pictures with his followers.

In the age of social media we live in, where news broadcasts are headlined by twitpics of what athletes had for dinner, it would be somewhat reasonable to think that "Dickie-V meeting the Pope" would get get some face-time on SportsCenter (Or at a minimum, a reference on the bottom line).

But according to Deadspin, ESPN executives released a inter-office memo notifying employees not to air any audio, video or text involving Vitale's visit with the Pope.

Clearly, there is a reasonable explanation to this. the World Wide Leader does not want to to appear as though they, or any public figure associated with them, has a certain religious beliefs. After all, most fans don't care who a player worships, as long as that player limits turnovers, cleans up the glass and can convert his foul shots.

But ESPN's decision to not allow any news to circulate on their Family of Networks represents one of the many problems with the media today.

Didn't ESPN invest some quality airtime into the somewhat-religious remarks made by the Steelers' Rashard Mendenhall?

We enabled people to provide updates on their everyday lives, then our news outlets started to report about these updates. Now, our news updaters have become news updates themselves.

Dick Vitale isn't just an ESPN employee. He's a college basketball fixture. You can love his passion, you can hate his questionable allegiance to traditional powerhouses, but he has become more than just an employee. He has become a story. 


Yet the largest sports media outlet in the world doesn't want to cover it.

Religion will always be a sticky subject, and even college hoops cannot avoid debating it's presence from time-to-time. 


Before the Brandon Davies situation, there was Tamir Goodman, aka "Jewish Jordan". Back in 1999, Goodman, a devote follower of Orthodox Judaism, averaged 38-ppg as a junior at Talmudical Academy in Rockville, Maryland. He became an overnight celebrity, and was recruited to play at Maryland. But Goodman never suited up for the Terps, because his religious beliefs restricted him from participating in athletic events on Saturday, the most important day of the week on the college basketball schedule.

But like every front-page news story, it came and went.

The problem is that at least the story was there. Even for a couple months, people talked about Goodman. For weeks, people referenced Stoudemire's quote and Mendenhall's tweets. Yes it's true, their shelf-life was no more than a week long, but at least they were given time on the shelf.

Is ESPN afraid of having to answer questions about religion? Hard to say, but in the world we live in, the anchors and talking heads don't just give us the news. They are the news.

And technically, doesn't "Dickie-V meeting the Pope" qualify as news?


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Friday Morning Dump

No this isn't a mirage. The Morning Dump is back. The reason there was no Morning Dump the past two days is because I spent that time in heated contract negotiations, and was not allowed to copy, paste, or hyperlink any text until a new B.I.A.H C.B.A was signed.

OK, that's complete B.S.

I got lazy. It happens. Just enjoy what I give you.

- Today we lead off with some Grade-A hoops-gossip: Dick Vitale got a chance to meet Pope Benedict XVI this week, but execs did not want people to find out via the ESPN family of networks

- Chris Dobbertean of Blogging The Bracket provides what-I-believe-to-be the only full-scale breakdown of all the pre-season tournament games that were announced yesterday. The first round of the Maui Invitational will feature Tennessee/Duke, Kansas/Georgetown, Memphis/Michigan and UCLA/Chaminade (#SilverSwordsFTW). More pre-season tournament brackets: Old Spice Classic Old Spice Classic, Charleston Classic, 2K Sports Classic, The 76 Classic, CBE Classic

- North Carolina and Michigan State aren't the only teams that will play a game in front of troops this season. West Virginia and Illinois will meet in an exhibition game at Aviano Air Force Base in Italy on August 17

- John Calipari was on a radio show in Kentucky yesterday and may or may not have taken a jab at Mike Krzyzewski and his potential recruiting violation. I say "may or may not have" because he tried to deny ever saying it. Rush The Court wants to know if it was a pot-shot or not? Speaking of Calipari, did you know that he doesn't even own a computer? (That's one way to stop yourself from committing recruiting violations)

- The U.S. roster for the World University Games was selected, and it features a little bit of mid-major love. Overall, the roster has a lot of depth and features a handful of guys who can play multiple positions. it's certainly not the most star-studded roster that could be assembled, but it

- The NCAA held it's leadership council this week, and changes to the recruiting process was one of the many topics discussed

- Jeff Goodman put together a great feature on Michigan State forward Delvon Roe, his career-path and his potential acting career

- DePaul freshman Shane Larkin, the son of former-Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, announced that he is leaving the program. Word on the street is that he will end up at Miami or Central Florida

- Former-Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has received yet another offer from a NBA D-League team

- Andy Katz recently had sit-down interviews with a bunch of the top coaches in college hoops: Clemson's Brad Brownell, Fairfield's Sydney Johnson, Georgia Tech's Brian Gregory, Michigan's John Beilein, Notre Dame's Mike Brey, Purdue's Matt Painter, Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg

- The stress fracture is having it's way in the CAA

- New Maryland coach Mark Turgeon is down to just eight scholarship players in 2011-2012. So it would make sense that he opens up the doors at the Comcast Center to some of the Terps' gridiron stars

- Diamond Lung reminds us that the NCAA got one right in allowing Toledo-transfer Hayden Humes immediate eligibility at Illinois-Chicago

= ESPN The Magazine continues it's summer preview series with a look at Ohio State

- A pretty stellar breakdown of the top coaches in the Big Sky Conference

- The Big-XII released it's full conference schedule for 2011-2012

- Really? Marketing and publicity paid a factor in deciding to make a purple basketball court at Northwestern? You don't say?

- Four of Duke's most famous basketball alums will be joining the team on their trip to China

- Take a gander at Minnesota's non-conference schedule (I love how they have one game schedule as "North or South Dakota")

- UNC guard Leslie McDonald had successful surgery on his torn ACL

- Your Tweet of the Day comes courtesy of Mike Miller, well, and Andy Glockner. It pertains to Long Beach State' brutal non-conference schedule. Seriously, check it out: at Pitt, at SDSU, at Kansas, and at North Carolina (#NoSickDays)

- If that's not your Tweet of the Day, this should be. (Now that's what I call a 401-K)


Jorts took his talents to the Amusement Park







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POSTERIZED: DJO has hops like that?

If this week has proven anything, its the extreme uselessness of BIAH's second in command.

The Trizzle took over the blog for a week, and by day number two he was already too lazy to finish the dump. What has this world come to?

I'm taking a break out of my busy schedule of eating too much, drinking even more, and sitting my ass on the beach to try and provide you, our all-important readership, something with which to pass the time. And trust me, you'll enjoy this.

You wanna know what Darius Johnson-Odom looks like windmilling an alley-oop from Austin Rivers?:



I knew you did.
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Tuesday Morning Dump

Sorry for the lack of sizzle in today's dump. This whole "being in-charge" thing is a lot more difficult than I though....OK, no it's not, I'm just lazy.

So sue me.

We begin with more debate about the Duke recruiting violation. Dana O'Neil believes the rule Coach-Kviolated is asinine. Take out Coach-K and insert Coach Cal(houn/ipari). Would the media still react the same?

- Speaking of the NCAA, John Gasaway provides a stone-cold-lead-pipe-lock must-read in which he offers no less than 10 ways the NCAA can be fixed

- A lawsuit being filed by the U.S. District Court in Houston is targeting a money manager for college basketball coaches who was involved with the David Salinas ponzi scheme. (Any word on when this case hits Law & Order's "Ripped from the headlines"?)

- Old Dominion forward Kent Bazemore may be out 8-12 weeks with a stress fracture in his left foot

- The Saint Louis Billikens will hold their first open practices of the season without coach Rick Majerus, who is recovering from heart surgery

- Fan-favorite Haukur "The Hawk" Palsson is leaving Maryland in order to pursue a career in Europe. The Icelandic combo-forward became a spark-plug off the bench and was likely to see an increase in playing time this season

- I've heard mid-major, high-major, and low-major, but mid-major elite?

- The Arena Pulse previews the top-5 rebounders for this upcoming season

- Brandon Bender is back in the news (that's never a good thing)

- Highly-touted recruit Kaleb Tarczewski is set to make is college decision in the next 24 hours

- Eric Walton is one of the top point guard recruits in the class of 2013. On Monday he announced his intentions on attending Michigan, becoming the fourth member of the Wolverines 2013 recruiting class

- Sharpshooting ex-Razorback Rotnei Clarke has decided to transfer to Butler

- I don't think I'll ever understand the notion of "Jim Boeheim Fantasy Camp"

- According to the Big Sky Basketball Blog, Weber State is going to be loaded with a solid stable of sharpshooters

- UConn's non-conference schedule was released, and everybody agrees it's pretty "cupcake-heavy". Mike DeCourcy believes it's not that big of a deal

- Have a quick-look at Michigan's 2011-2012 non-conference schedule

- An off-season report on the new Pac-12

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Butler Likely to see increase in FG% with addition of Arkansas transfer

The Butler Bulldogs shot a combined 34-122 (27%) from the field in the past two National Championship games. If the Bulldogs happen to make it back to the title game in 2013, it's safe to say that they wouldn't be able to shoot that poorly if they tried.

Why?

Because they will have the services of Rotnei Clarke, one of the deadliest assassins in the college hoops game.

Clarke spent the past three seasons as the starting shooting guard at Arkansas,but decided to transfer after the school fired coach John Pelphrey in March and hired former Missouri coach Mike Anderson.

Initially, Clarke was not granted a release of his scholarship by the new head coach, but after a week of posturing, he was allowed to chose a new program.

Clarke was thought to be headed to Oklahoma, the state in which he set the all-time scoring record in while in high school. But with a NCAA investigation looming over the school, Clarke decided the better fit was with a program not typically known for high-octane scoring.

Clarke led the Razorbacks in scoring with 15.2-ppg and made a team-high 43.8 percent of his 3-pointers this past season. He has a career-high of 51-points, which he scored on 13-17 shooting from beyond the arc against Alcorn State in 2009. Clarke is known as being somewhat of a high-volume shooter, which is likely to give Brad Stevens a migraine or two.

But shooting 17% from the field in the National Championship game is likely to give a head coach a migraine too.


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UCLA's Anderson to host "college athlete party" just weeks after arrest

(UPDATE: Anderson has decided against hosting or even attending the event on August 5th. According to this ESPN LA article, his name has been removed from the promotional materials and weill no longer be involved in the event whatsoever.)

UCLA guard Jerime Anderson was poised to have a breakout season in 2011-2012, but a recent lack of decision-making skills may have put that quest on hold.

Last Tuesday, Anderson was stopped by University police after a report of a stolen laptop, and arrested the rising-senior on suspicion of grand theft. A tracking device within the computer led police to Anderson, who was released from jail on $20,000 bail. According to the press release, Anderson was suspended indefinitely, will not participate in team activities, and his future with the program will be evaluated as the legal process continues.

Anderson's attorney, Jon Artz, has asked for a fair trial and proper use of the justice system:

"It should be equal justice under the law. I would hope my client receives fair-handed justice from the [district attorney's] office, and I'm sure he will."

Now, Anderson has no priors, and seems like he just made an error in judgement, which all college students make during matriculation. But now that Anderson finds himself in not only Ben Howland's doghouse, but the school's and the DA's office's as well, you would think he would want to keep a low profile until, say, the beginning of the season?

Well, laying low does not seem to be listed on Anderson's schedule of events, especially not on August 5th.

According to a blog post from the LA Weekly, Anderson is supposed to host a "I LOVE COLLEGE!!! ATHLETES PARTY" on August, 5th at The Proud Bird, a bar/restaurant near Los Angeles International Airport. The party is being co-hosted by a bunch of Los Angeles' top "student-athletes", such as Edgar Garibay, a forward for Loyola-Marymount, who the Bruins will face in the season-opener, a game in which Anderson has already been suspended for. But Garibay is sure that Anderson still plans on hosting:

"Jerime will still be there. I talked to him yesterday, and there's some bullshit going on, but he'll be all right."

Now, there is nothing that says he cannot go to this party. It's not against the law for him to host a social event, but is this really what he should be doing now?



Anderson has admitted in the past that he had a problem with partying too much, especially after his freshman season. So now, at what might be the darkest time in his young life, he is going to revert back to old habits?

John Wooden is famous for saying "Adversity does not necessarily build character but reveals it".

After August 5th, it should be revealed what type of character Anderson has.

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Monday Morning Dump

(Programming Alert: Our fearless leader is off the reservation for the next seven days. This means that a) the room temperature at B.I.A.H. Headquarters is now set at a comfortable 68-degrees, b) the stench of gym socks, sushi and missed jump-shots has subsided and c) "Trizzle's Takeover" is back in effect. Not sure what that means? Me neither, but it sure sounds like fun.)

- Why would Jim Larranaga leave the program he built at George Mason for a ACC also-ran like Miami? Answer: The Challenge

- More on the possible Duke recruiting violation: Apparently Coach-K contacted the recruit, 6-foot-7 forward Alex Poythress, when he was in between recruiting events. Regardless of the details, this is a secondary violation at best. But don't expect anything more than "a slap on the wrists". Not because it's Duke and because they get away with everything, but because this incident is a non-event. It's just not that big of a deal. Violations like these happen on the reg. It's just not that often that a recruit calls out the head coach. But the real talking points will be about the grey area that Coach-K operated in. But then again, it is the late summer. News comes through the feeds at a glacial pace. So every story, every report and every quote gets over-examined and over-analyzed. However, rules are rules
. (Only somebody like, say, Jeff Borzello could start a mess like this. Oh wait, that's right, he did)

- I know it's already Monday, but Gary Parrish's Five for Friday is must-read stuff

- USA Basketball has announced the 14 finalists for the 2011 World University Games team. Notable snubs include Missouri's Kim English, Texas A&M's Khris Middleton and Northwestern's John Shurna. Villanova By The Numbers provides more details on the guys who made the team

- Jason King opens up the reader mailbag, dishes on the Pac-12 and tries to explain why nobody ever writes about the "good guys"

- Seth Davis sizes up the summer performances from the top rising-senior recruits in the country

- Hartnell Community College (CA) forward Preston Dee Anderson went missing on Saturday, July 24th and has not been found yet. Matt Norlander provides further details

- Jeff Goodman provides a rundown of Doug McDermott's hectic summer schedule. No hoops player in the country has seen their stock rise quicker than the Creighton sophomore, who had an excellent showing at the FIBA U19 World Championships

- "Two Scoops" (Because when you get one scoop, Goodman will have already gotten two scoops) also provides an off season report on the Big-XII conference

- A great retrospective look-back at the 2010-2011 CAA season

- A Sea of Blue offers more insight on "Pay-for-Play". I don't want to read more about this topic, but if I have to, Glenn Logan's stuff is what I am going to read

- Want a better shot at grabbing an at-large bid? Schedule a strong non-conference schedule

- Chris Burrows of ChicagoNow.com provides some great detail on StatSmack, a web-tool that generates smack talk about opposing college basketball teams (#Goodfind)

- With Michigan State and North Carolina gearing up to play a game on an aircraft carrier, Swoosh Nation compiled a list of other venues that should host a game

- Speaking of the Tar Heels, Roy Williams released his statement regarding the firing of UNC football coach Butch Davis

- Ed Isaacson provides a solid scouting report on one of the members of Duke's Plumlee Trio (It's actually about Mason, but since they all look and play exactly the same, it counts 3x.). Isaacson also details his list of impact juniors for 2011-2012

- Doug Haller drops some knowledge on California's hardworking-forward Harper Camp. (I saw Cal play 4-5 times last year, and I'm positive that Camp took an elbow to the face at least once every game)

- Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar has been linked to many head coaching jobs in the NBA, but his passion for making a difference in a young person's life is why he stays in school

- UCLA has done a tremendous job on the recruiting trails this summer, pulling in a fresh crop of stand-out players. But the Bruins will need to rely heavily on the talent that is already established

- Is Steve Lavin every going to stop reeling in recruits? His 2011 class is loaded and the 2012 class adds a new edition seemingly every week. Ricardo Gathers, the 12th-ranked forward in the Class of 2012, verbally committed to the Johnnies over the weekend

- Michigan landed it's third recruit in the Class of 2013 over the weekend in the form of 6-foot-6 wing forward Zac Irvin

- Did somebody really compare Nerlens Noel to Bill Russell?

- What's this? Somebody spent time in the late-summer writing about Boise State BASKETBALL? Then again, we are already familiar with their football team, so probably should get to know the MWC-bound Broncos hoops squad

- What are the chances that "The Butler Way" includes a third consecutive trip to the National Championship?

- The Saint Mary's Gaels have high expectations for the upcoming season despite being left out of the Big Dance last March

- Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine believes that big things are on the horizon for the Orange

- You all need to bookmark the following site: Big Apple Buckets. John Templon really puts together some Great Stuff. Especially this piece about Detroit's Ray McCallum and Creighton's Doug McDermott (But would it kill Templon to make the site RSS-accessible? I never check my bookmarks)

- Speaking of Detroit, they released their home non-conference schedule for 2011-2012

- The Kennel is going to be rocking for a handful of high-profile non conference home games

- La Salle also announced their non-conference schedule for 2011-2012. The Explorers will likely struggle without the production of Aaric Murray, who transferred to West Virginia

- A quick-look at the non-conference schedule of the Siena Saints

- Hey, don't forget that Nebraska's basketball team is joining the Big-Ten too

- Texas has gained quit a reputation for flaming out late in the season and failing to meet expectations. Are the fans to blame for setting such high expectations of Rick Barnes and his crew?

- A quick look at Marist's incoming recruiting class (#Greatread)

- A graph comparing the recruiting efforts of Kentucky and Louisville

- Get to know North Dakota's five-member class of 2014

- Dime Magazine put together a solid feature on former-Montana star Anthony Johnson and his wife Shaunte Vance, who are becoming a one of basketball's power couples

- This article is geared more towards college football but still is worth your time: Colleges want to increase efforts to track THE sales of autographs and game-worn uniforms (+100 for the picture. "Of course I'll sign your chihuahua!")

- Recently-arrested UCLA guard Jerime Anderson is hosting a "I love college" Party?

- Former-Louisville star Samaki Walker was arrested for possession of marijuana and liquid steroids. Walker explained that the steroids were legal in Syria, where he plays basketball. Unfortunately, they are not legal in America, where he was residing. Ten grams of marijuana were taken from Walker, but it would have been more, if he had not attempted to eat eight grams of if during the arrest (#InsertSuperTroopersquotehere)

- WHAT!? Lingerie basketball? (Women's basketball can't be saved. L]After all, lingerie or no lingerie, nobody should be forced to watch that many airballs)


Worst.Dunk Contest.Ever



(H/T The Big Lead)



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