Santa Clara's Robert Garrett cuts weight ... to zip-line?

You ever heard of a college basketball player cutting weight?

I certainly haven't, but that's exactly what Santa Clara's Robert Garrett did on the team's trip to Vancouver. You see, Santa Clara had set up a couple of excursions that included things like zip-lining, but those activities had a weight limit. If you were over 250 lb, you had to sit them out. Garrett got to Vancouver at 255 lb.

So he did some sprints and changed his shoes and ... hell, I'll let him tell it:



That's a great story.

Can you imagine what those Canadian folks thought when they saw a 6'10" kid doing wind sprints and jumping jacks and pulling off his socks, all in an effort to sweat out those last two pounds?

(h/t NHR)
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The best story of the day

This is not a new video, and if you are an avid college hoops fan, you've likely already seen it.

But I don't care, because it is more than worth posting.

That right there is Eric Valentin. He's a 5'4" guard at Wisconsin-Green Bay. Heading into his senior year, he was a walk-on for three years. But coach Brian Wardle decided it was time for "EV" to be put on scholarship. And that's a helluva way to let him know. (Jeff Eisenberg caught up with Valentin here.)

The ironic part of all of this is that I have a sneaking suspicion that Valentin will make a difference at some point this season. You see, the he has an uncanny ability to knockdown half court shots. In fact, he's a world record holder when it comes to shooting from half-court. If life were a movie, Valentin would see his first action of the season in some criticial game, coming in with 1.2 seconds left on the clock and hitting the game-winning half-court bomb.

RU-DY! RUUUU-DY! RUUUU-DY!
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Santa Clara's Marc Trasolini tears acl

Santa Clara's Marc Trasolini, the team's second-leading scorer and top rebounder, suffered a season-ending acl tear on Tuesday.

Its a massive blow to the Broncs. Trasolini was due to team up with the high-scoring Kevin Foster and Evan Roquemore to form one of the best 1-2-3 punches in the WCC. The Broncs were thought by many to be a major sleeper in the league, capable of contending for the conference crown with Gonzaga, St. Mary's and BYU.

Without Trasolini, that's a much different story.


"Marc has done everything, and I mean everything right, to put himself into the position to have a great senior year and for this to happen, especially considering the circumstances, is disheartening and unfortunate," coach Kerry Keating said in a statement.

For Trasolini as an individual, the story gets even worse.

He's a senior, and to honor him, Keating had decided to take him team on a tour of Trasolini's native Vancouver. The injury occurred when he landed wrong two minutes into the first game of their trip. There were a couple hundred of his friends and family in the stands at the time. After receiving the news on Wednesday, the entire team had dinner at Trasolini's parent's house.

"Obviously I am really disappointed about what happened [Tuesday] night," Trasolini said in a statement. "But I am trying my best to stay positive, get back on track as soon as I can and do what it takes to help the team by being a leader and supporting them. All my teammates and coaches have been really supportive and I really appreciate that. I know they will be there for me and I will be there for them. It’s pretty bad it happened here on this trip, but it’s worse I can’t play this season. It hurts. It hurts a lot. But I will get better and be back next season."

That's a really tough way to have a season away.

The good news? Foster is a junior and Roquemore is a sophomore, so the Broncs will still have a shot to steal a league title next season.
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Thursday Morning Dump

What You May Have Missed: Rob Dauster, aka @Ballinisahabit had himself one-helluva Wednesday. He provided us with two fantastic articles that offer perspectives not commonly though of on a day-to-day basis. First up, why college hoops and BCS football need to go their separate ways. Second, Nolan Smith exemplifies why twitter isn't as bad as most coaches make it out to be

- Andy Katz plays the expansionocalypse "What If" game

- Wait, what?!? Christian Laettner's shot in 1992 ISN'T the biggest shot in Duke basketball history? I don't believe that for a second. Not only is it the biggest athletic play in the history of the enitre university, but it's arguably a top-5 all-time CBball moment

- Luke Winn continues his series of positional rankings for the efficiency era ('02-'12). Should there really be any surprise who the most efficient shooting guard in the past decade was?

- Dana O'Neil took a survey of current coaches to find out which arenas were considered the best, and which were on bucket lists. Other ESPN analysts dish on the toughest arenas they ever played in . Andy Katz and Eamonn Brennan discuss their favorite arenas

- You know what Eamonn Brennan? I've been pondering about this idea too. Will it ever happen? Of course not. But that doesn't mean it might not actually work, because I think it would.

- You won't find a better European site for American college hoops than Czwarta Kwarta. Sure, I have no clue what "Czwarta Kwarta" means, but if you have Google Chrome, you can translate it into English. Check out their great video analysis of the EuroBasket match-up between Jonas Valanciunas and Enes Kanter

- Washington's Abdul Gaddy has a pretty crazy goal he is trying to reach this off-season

- Loyola (Il) senior point guard Courtney Stanley tore his ACL and will be out for the entire season

- VUHoops wants to know who should be inducted into the VUHoops Hall of Fame this year

- Rush The Court continues their terrific series of schedule breakdowns by previewing the fixtures for the reigning National Champions

- A solid-read on the difference between a good rivalry and a bad rivalry

- Matt Norlander details Wright State's off-season trip to Italy

- Michigan's basketball arena isn't exactly "The Big House", but it's definitely getting better, thanks to a new face-lift that includes the addition of new seats

- Indiana's full schedule is out

- Michigan announced it's 2011-2012 schedule yesterday

- George Washington released it's new schedule and Colonial fans like it

- A great breakdown of Xavier's full schedule

- A lengthy-but-entertaining breakdown of the Hofstra Fightin' Charles Jenkins/Flying Dutchmen Pride's 2011-2012 schedule

- Albany's schedule for the upcoming season is out

- St. Louis has announced it's schedule as well

- A plethora of conference breakdowns from A Daly Dose of Hoops: America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South

- Searching for Billy Edelin is actually going to search for Billy Edelin (#Catch22)

I thought professors at places like Duke spent their summers doing studies and writing doctorials and other academic mumbo-jumbo like that.

Clearly I was wrong.


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Nolan Smith, twitter, and how building a brand helped build a charity

Nolan Smith's story is one that has been told over and over again.

Derek Smith, Nolan's father, was a great basketball player three decades ago. He won a national title in 1980 with Louisville, cutting down the nets in the same city that Nolan did thirty years later with Duke. But when Nolan was eight, his father tragically passed away at the age of 34 on a cruise with his family.

The younger Smith persevered. With the aid of a strong support system -- his family and father's teammates and friends -- Nolan persevered. Using a tattoo of his father on his right arm as motivation, Nolan managed to work his way from backing up Greg Paulus to becoming the 23rd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, ending up in Portland with the Trail Blazers.

But perhaps his greatest achievement will be his charity, the Sydney and Nolan Smith Foundation.


"Our foundation is for kids who lost a parent -- mother, father, guardian, any person who has been taking care of them their whole life," Smith said in a phone interview Monday night. "Its something that we can relate to, my sister and I. Its something that is very close to our hearts and its the reason why we started the foundation. We're very, very, very passionate about it, about changing kids lives who lost someone."

"We're going to be doing camps, dinners, all different things to just bring these kids together and let them get out their emotions. Let them see that there are other kids like them. And through myself and my sister, let them see that even without that loved one, you can still be successful and do positive things in your life."

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For quite possibly the first time since Renardo Sidney joined his program, I'm going to complement Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury.

In February of last season, Stansbury banned his his team from using twitter and suspended forward Ravern Johnson for a game after an outburst from Johnson on twitter. Following a loss in which he scored just 10 points in 40 minutes, Johnson referred to former teammates Twany Beckham and Elgin Bailey when he tweeted "Starting to see why people transfer you can play the minutes but not getting your talents shown because u watching someone else wit the ball the whole game shooters need to move not watch why other coaches get that do not make sense to me (sic)." Sidney retweeted what Johnson said, and it wasn't long before the blogosphere picked up on it and Johnson's tweets were all over every college hoops site on the internet.

Stansbury allowed his players back on twitter once the season ended, but that decision appears to have come back to bite him. Freshman guard DJ Gardner was kicked off the team after a string of profanity-laced tweets criticizing the Mississippi State coaching staff, in large part due to the fact that Gardner was upset for getting redshirted.

Stansbury, however, made the absolute correct decision in allowing his team back on twitter.

It wasn't the easy decision, mind you. If you are a coach of a college program, banning twitter is the simplest solution to what amounts to a complex problem. For a coach, the benefit received from allowing a group of college aged kids access to social media platforms is far outweighed by the risks involved. Whether its the Mississippi State players ripping their coaches, Scoop Jardine tweeting about basketball groupies, Tyshawn Taylor's facebook rant after fighting with the Kansas football team or Tyree Graham scooping the Rutgers Sports Information Department on his torn acl, its always going to be a point of concern for coaches when their players -- who are just as emotional and dramatic as you were in college -- have the ability to communicate with the world.

Living in the information age makes one slip-up -- one ill-advised moment of honesty, one tweet that was supposed to be a direct message, one frustrated tweet about playing time or number of shots or team success -- a topic on SportsCenter and a link on the front page of Yahoo!

Its so simple for a coaching staff to cut that issue off at the source, to restrict social media access for their players.

But banning an entire team because of the immaturity of a few is a mistake.


Following college athletes on twitter is fairly pointless. Generally speaking, they are tweeting about working out or playing ball, they are communicating with friends -- which is kind of what twitter was originally intended for -- and they are responding to fans, be it trash talk with rivals or retweets for their supporters. Every once in a while, to help support the notion that they truly are student-athletes, you'll see a tweet about a class that a player is enrolled in.

There are some truly terrific tweeters in the college basketball ranks, however, and they make being a fan of the program that much more fun.

Missouri senior Kim English is fairly well-known for his twitter prowess. Last summer, he made waves across the blogosphere when he translated the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling -- line by line and tweet by tweet -- into basketball terms. Just last week, English, who has been dribbling a tennis ball around campus to try and improve his handle, tweeted for students to try and steal the ball from him if they saw him.

Jared Sullinger, Ohio State's sophomore center and all-american, found a sign that a Minnesota student made to mock him funny. After failing to get the sign from the student after the game, Sullinger was able to connect with the kid over twitter. That sign is currently hanging in Sullinger's mother's house.

North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall has become the darling of the college hoops media in the last couple of days after tweeting out things like "Not a big fan of the expansion of the conferences in college sports. Feel like we're losing tradition." and "McDonalds tried to give me an extra BBQ sauce "on the house". I said no no, I wanna play this season."

Perhaps the best story of a college athlete on twitter comes from the Ivy League. Keith Wright is Harvard's center and currently the reigning Ivy Player of the Year. Throughout the season, he had been tweeting about a girl in his class that he had a crush on, the "section heroine". On the last day of classes, he live-tweeted the thought-process -- and nervousness -- of finally going up and asking her out. Unfortunately, she turned him down, but Wright survived. He's currently searching for "section heroine 2".

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Nolan Smith understands the pitfalls of social media. He knows the trouble that tweeting the wrong thing can get you into. Its something that Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski ingrained in his team from day one.

"Coach K trusted us to carry ourselves the right way," Smith said. "And if I was a college coach, that would be the first thing [I'd talk to my team about]. On the first day of team meetings, its something that you have to address. If you have facebook and twitter, be smart. Don't let people take pictures of you out at a party and put them on facebook. The same thing with twitter, don't go saying dumb stuff at three or four in the morning. They warned us about little stuff like that, and that one warning on the first day was all we needed."

College coaches should treat twitter as a privilege, because there are benefits to having their players accessible to fans. It allows the people outside the team -- the kids that wait in line for hours just to sit in the student section for a guarantee game or the boosters whose donations allow the coaches to travel in private jets to recruiting events -- a chance to really get to know the players they are cheering for. When used correctly, it helps build the program's brand.

"Twitter is who you are," Smith said. "If you don't want people to see you saying certain things, then leave it off of twitter."

"For college players, if they're on twitter and they're handling themselves the right way, they make [their school] look good. They make some fans say 'Duke has some really cool players, they connect with their fans.'"

That privilege can be taken away. There is nothing wrong with suspending a player's twitter usage or forcing them to open a new page, one that is private and only for use with friends and personal acquaintances. Anonymity is not difficult on the internet.

For the coaches that truly care about developing the kids in the program as people -- and not simply as basketball players -- than teaching the opportunities involved with building their own brand on twitter is just as important as engraining the principles of help-side defense in their heads.

Smith may never again reach the level of fame that he had as a national champion and player of the year candidate at Duke.

That's not a knock on him, either. When you're a star for the Blue Devils, you are one of the most recognizable faces in all of basketball. You play every game on national television, you have highlights on Sportscenter every morning and every 30 point outburst is going to get you talked about on by every college hoops scribe, be it on twitter or in an article. Even if he does becoming a starting point guard in the NBA -- which is certainly possible, assuming the NBA eventually ratifies a new CBA -- he'll never receive as much attention and publicity as he did the past two seasons at Duke.

The fact that he was one of the great stories in college basketball the last two years only magnified that fact.

Smith capitalized on his stardom in the collegiate ranks. He's friendly, funny and intelligent, on twitter and in person, and isn't shy about satiating the throng of fans he gets requesting retweets because its their birthday or because they love Duke or because their dogs have the same name, even if it comes at the cost of a clogged timeline or two. Its part of the reason that, as of this writing, he had over 51,000 twitter followers and a verified account.

That twitter presence allowed him a venue for announcing his foundation. With a couple of keystrokes and a click of his mouse, Smith instantly alerted his 51,000 followers to his newly established charity. That number only grows with you consider how many of those 51,000 followers retweeted his announcement.

"I think so," Smith said when I asked if his twitter following helped him launch his charity. "Ever since I've been on twitter, its helped me build my brand."

The Sydney and Nolan Smith Foundation is still in its infancy, and regardless of whether or not Nolan was on twitter, there is little doubt that the charity will be a successful one. But there is also little doubt that the exposure he received through social media at its launch will help to expedite that success.

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Twitter certainly is not for everyone.

As the saying goes, there are always a few bad apples that spoil the bunch. Whether its due to a lack of maturity on the player's part, a lack of understanding of the power of social media, or a lack of education on the downside of having a public profile, there are always going to be mistakes made on twitter.

Smith has some advice for college athletes that decide to get on twitter.

"Be smart. It shows the character and the class that you have, and if you don't have that, don't get on it. Twitter's not for you."
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Wednesday Morning Dump

- Luke Winn provides a detailed assessment of the top-10 guards from the efficiency era (aka 2002-2012)

- Jeff Eisenberg continues his preview of the Atlantic-10 with a look at five storylines to follow and projections for each team

- Some great reporting done on the ficticious West Virginia Prep Academy. Just read this and this. It's great stuff. You read about all the foreign players and domestic prospects who bounce from one illegitimate "school" to another, and each time the story is more depressing than before. The concept of "basketball factories" needs to be destroyed. Any program disguising itself as an accredited institution needs to vanish. This is a serious problem plaguing the American basketball landscape and it needs to be handled swiftly and vigorously. The fact that I've pulled articles from 2007 and earlier should tell you that not enough has been done to get rid of this problem. Sure, the NCAA banned 15 programs back in 2006, but the best way to fight a disease, which this is, is to prevent it from happening

- Sporting News released it's pre-season Top-25 poll

- Gonzaga, like many programs across the country, is struggling to keep players for all four seasons. Matt Norlander tries to figure out who's fault it is

- St. John's-bound Nurideen Lindsey tells us in his own words why he's fully committed to achieving success both on and off the court

- BREAKING NEWS: Two North Dakota players went catfish-noodling, otherwise known as hillbilly hand-fishing (OK, I lied, this isn't BREAKING NEWS at all)

- Rush The Court does an excellent job guiding us through North Carolina's 2011-2012 schedule

- Maryland got a commitment from 6-foot-8 forward Jake Layman. Nothing yet on what impact uniform selection had on his decision. But according to Dave Telep, the Massachusetts-native was blown away by the Comcast Center

- Eamonn Brennan explains why a No. 1 ranking on the recruiting circuit doesn't guarantee success on the hardwood

- What do Kiwi Gardner, Khris Dunn and Ricardo Ledo all have in common? They used the word "trust" when explaining why they chose Providence as their college destination. Providence now sits near the top of the recruiting class rankings

- Mike Lonergan is ready to make moves at George Washington

- Chris Dobbertean caught an error in the South Padre Invitational schedule. (BtB needs to be your go-to site for all pre-season and holiday tournament information)

- You want an off-season report on the Big West Conference? You got it

- Highly-touted recruit Mitch McGary was sighted at "The Big House" during Michigan's week 1 victory over Western Michigan

- Have a gander at the complete 2011-2012 schedule for the Charlotte 49ers

- Fine, I'll throw a link in here about conference expansion, but I don't have to like it.
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Here's to hoping college hoops can split away from college footballl

After taking a 15 month break, Texas A&M's decision to head to the SEC -- which will apparently (read: as of 8:30 am) become official today so long as Baylor doesn't sue the SEC and/or Mike Slive -- has thrown Expansionocalypse back into full-swing.

Theories abound about what the next step will be. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to the Pac-12? Virginia Tech, Missouri, and/or West Virginia to the SEC? Texas goes independent or perhaps kicks off a Texas-only league? The only thing I'm sure of is that the current NCAA landscape is sitting in a puddle of gasoline, just waiting for that spark to burn down some of the greatest rivalries in the history of college sports.

Let's assume, however, that after the Big 12 disintegrates, the Big East swoops in and brings Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri into the fold as the New York Post reported here. If no one in the Big East leaves and the conference doesn't split up between football and non-football schools, that gives the Big East a 20 team basketball conference, 14 of whom were in the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

Think about that. The Big East would have more NCAA Tournament teams than most conferences have teams, period. Throw in the fact that Providence and Rutgers -- and potentially Seton Hall -- are recruiting well enough under their new coaching regimes to have a shot at making an NCAA Tournament in the near future, and what you're left with is an unbelievably strong basketball league.

It also makes you wonder -- how long will it be before college basketball teams split from the conference affiliations of their football team?

College basketball can be a valuable television commodity. While games will never draw the ratings of a college football Saturday, four nights a week, there are quality college hoops game on TV. Saturdays and post-NFL Sundays are jam-packed with hoops action as well.

The key is making as many of those games as "must-see" as possible, and that would require saving as many of the nation's best rivalries as possible. For example, West Virginia has to play Pitt at least once a season, if not twice. If the Mountaineers headed to the SEC, there's no guarantee that the Backyard Brawl would continue. Georgetown-Syracuse and Kansas-Missouri should be played twice every season. Kentucky-Louisville should always be a primetime game moved out of bowl season.

Eventually, the hoops conferences should be able to work themselves out. Put Gonzaga and St. Mary's in amongst the Big Boys out west. Allow Butler to share a conference affiliation with fellow Hoosier State programs Purdue and Indiana. Get Marquette in the same league as Wisconsin, and put all of the Appalachia-state schools -- Tennessee, Memphis, Kentucky, Louisville, West Virginia, etc. -- together.

This kind of setup is not without precedence. In college hockey, Minnesota and Wisconsin are in the WCHA while Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State are all members of the CCHA.

College basketball doesn't have to be decimated by the greed of the football programs, and it can also remain a profitable venture for the schools.

Let's hope someone in charge can figure that out.
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Wake Forest's latest setback: JT Terrell leaves school

Its going to be a while before Wake Forest improves on their 8-24 record from last season.

Four times since Jeff Bzdelik took over for Dino Gaudio 18 months ago, a player has left the program or been suspended by the university. Only one of those decisions was optional. Tony Woods was booted off the team last April after assaulting his girlfriend. Ari Stewart announced his decision to transfer to USC back in April of this year. Melvin Tabb was suspended in July and eventually kicked out of the school in August stemming from a June incident that resulted in a number of charges, including breaking and entering and fraud. And then there is Ty Walker, who was suspended by the university indefinitely on July 11th and will not be eligible to play in games until Dec. 10th.

Throw in the alleged rape during the Demon Deacon's 2009 NCAA Tournament trip that a former Wake Forest student spoke about on the Today Show, and I think its safe to say there hasn't been any positive news about the Demon Deacons in Bzdelik's short tenure.


On Monday, it got worse.

JT Terrell, the team's second-leading scorer as a freshman last season, has decided to leave the university following a 3:00 am arrest on Saturday morning for DWI. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Terrell -- who is only 19 -- was found passed out behind the wheel of his car with the engine running. His BAC was 0.09, which is above the legal limit of 0.08 in North Carolina. Terrell also has a pending charge from a different county for being in possession of a malt beverage.

"At approximately 3:00 a.m. (Saturday) morning, J.T. Terrell was arrested by the Winston-Salem Police Department and charged with driving while impaired," said Terrell's attorney, Mike Grace, in a statement. "Due to circumstances surrounding his arrest, along with other recent indicators, it is obvious to J.T. and his family that J.T. suffers from a serious medical condition which requires immediate attention."

"He's just going through a difficult time,'' Grace said. "He's got to step back and get some personal issues addressed and get himself back into basketball and school a little later on. He's smart enough to know he's got to get it taken care of."

That's an impressive run of trouble-making, and it will make some folks question just how much control Bzdelik has over the program. I see it differently, however. It makes me wonder what, exactly, Dino Gaudio was fired for. Did he lose his job because of disappointing NCAA Tournament performances, or did he get fired -- after back-to-back tournament appearances, mind you -- because he allowed his players to run amok?

Before you rip Bzdelik, keep in mind that the players that have gotten in trouble on his watch have had stern consequences. They aren't with the program anymore. Also keep in mind that these aren't "his players"; its the group that he inherited from Gaudio.

Isn't it possible that Bzdelik is simply cleaning house, trying to get rid of the players that aren't taking basketball seriously and don't appreciate the opportunity given to them?
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Tuesday Morning Dump

- ESPN has released it's slate of televised Big East games for the upcomming season. Bobby Bancroft of The National Hoops Report provides some schedule analysis

- Both Dan Wolken and Mark Cuban came up with ideas for how to fix conference expansion. Neither one of them says that consolidating into superconferences is a good thing. And both of them are right. If you read anything today, read these two links.

- More realignment stuff -- Texas to the ACC? No Texas to the ACC?

- A great list detailing the most indispensable players in the CAA

- What the hell is going on at Wake Forest? Another player is leaving. This time, it's guard J.T. Terrell who is withdrawing from the university immediately following a DWI arrest. Plus it was announced that senior center Ty Walker won't be eligible until December 10th. Jeff Eisenberg provides a timeline of all the unfortunate events that have taken place at Wake Forest recently

- Swoosh Nation dishes it's five most-overrated teams in the preseason top-25

- Jason King dishes about the Pac-12 and conference expansion

- A good-read on the roster turnover we are likely to see consume Gonzaga this season. Sure they will still have Elias Harris, David Stockton and Kelly Olynyk, but after that, there is a lot of unknown commodities

- Five impact freshman to watch out for in the Big-Ten

- Jeff Goodman believes that it would be best for Providence if Ricardo Ledo never stepped foot on campus

- I really hope the NCAA changes this decision. This ruling isn't exactly fair.

- Jeff Eisenberg gets the scoop on just how good new Maryland recruit Olexiy Len is.

- How did Josh Smith and Herb Pope make their way onto this list?

- The departure of Chandler Parsons, Alex Tyus and Vernon Macklin will open up space for new gators to shine in the spotlight

- A fantastic-read on the lack of accountability on the part of the N.C.A.A

- Penn State picked up a commitment from 6-foot-7 power forward Brandon Taylor. The Trenton-native may chose to redshirt due to the fact that he is only 17-years old. Dana O'Neil wrote an excellent piece on Penn State head coach Pat Chambers highlighting the importance of getting kids from Philly. Taylor plays AAU ball for Team Philly.

- Tennessee hired former-Alabama A.D Dave Hart as the Volunteers new Athletic Director

- Jeff Eisenberg wrote a solid feature piece on Temple's Michael Eric. Senior big-man is the team leader and is poised for a breakout season

- Anthony Hubbard, the 26 year old that Fran McCaffery took a chance on at Iowa, has resurfaced at Morgan State.

- Missouri has started a digital sports network.

- Ed Isaacson talked with Nolan Smith about Duke's trip to Asia.

- Prepare for expansionocalypse in warp-speed. What? Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri may join the Big East? Then the Big 12 would be really screwed (As if they aren't already screwed)

- Sacramento State pulled off a huge upset on the gridiron this weekend, so why not learn a bit more about the Hornets athletic programs?

- Speaking of the Beavers, Oregon State picked up a commit from Georgia-native Jarmal Reid

- A solid preview of the 2011-2012 Maui Invitational, which features arguably the most loaded field ever

- Draft Express has started to do their countdowns for top prospects in each conference

- Speaking of the draft, NBA Draft Net provides a top-10 list of point guards available in next season's draft

- Click here to browse through all the team schedules for the Big Sky Conference

- Matt Norlander dropped some video of a radio interview between CBS's Tim Brando and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. In the interview, Coach-K is asked about Jim Calhoun. If you have time (Which I know you do) give it a listen
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Edgar Sosa suffers a gruesome broken leg

Former Louisville point guard Edgar Sosa, who is playing for the Dominican Republic's national team, broke his leg in horrifying fashion. I promise you, if you are squeamish, don't watch this video. Legs do dangle:



You have to feel for Sosa here. The injury occurred with less than 40 seconds left of a game his team was winning by 24 points. He's going to be out for at least a year. How bad was it? It took until the 10th comment on KSR for a Kentucky fan to make a joke. This isn't this first time we've seen an injury like this. Derrick Roland of Texas A&M suffered a similar injury back in 2009.

The good news? At least Sosa is smiling:


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Ricardo Ledo is a risk Ed Cooley has to take

Ed Cooley has already flexed his muscles on the New England prep school hoops scene.

Just two weeks after managing to convince Kris Dunn, a CT native and a kid many consider to be one of the top two or three point guards in the country, to commit to Providence, the Friars new head coach has now landed Ricardo Ledo. Ledo, a high-scoring 6'6" wing, currently sits at 14th in our Consensus Recruiting Rankings, giving Cooley two of the nation's top 20 recruits.

That, my friends, is how you make an entrance.


Think about it -- when was the last time every college hoops site in the country was talking about Providence? When was the last time you, as a fan, truly thought about Providence? Marshon Brooks put on a show a couple of times this past season, yes, but prior to that, the only time the Friars made national headlines was when their players were out getting in trouble. And that happened far too frequently under Keno Davis.

I'd go as far as to say that the 2012 recruiting class that Cooley is currently building has the potential to be as influential on the future of his program as Matt Painter bringing in Robbie Hummel, E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson. Its true. There are quite a few powerhouse prep schools in New England, an area that is currently booming when it comes to high school hoops talent. Get some local hype to surround your program, and who knows, maybe they actually have a shot at landing Boston native Nerlens Noel.

The key word in that last paragraph, however, is potential, as Jeff Goodman clearly lays out here.

You see, Ledo has all the telltale red flags that come with a high-risk, high-reward recruit. He's already been to four different high schools in four years and still does not have a high school diploma. This is also the second time that Ledo has been committed to the Friars, as he also gave a pledge to Keno Davis. Ledo has an attitude problem, he's generally not considered a good teammate and he lost 10 of his first 11 games on the AAU circuit this summer, something that simply shouldn't happen when you are a top level high school player.

Then there is also the fact that Ledo is a Providence native. While the key to recruiting at this level is keeping local kids local, the risk is that those players are not able to escape the bubble they grew up in. There are the pressures that old friends from "round the way" provide to miss class and put off doing work. There is the posse that shows up at every home game. There are the people that will be in Ledo's ear after every game, saying he isn't getting enough shots or that he's not getting the exposure he needs as a one-and-done prospect.

Just read this story from last season about the pressures Memphis native Joe Jackson faced as a star recruit for the Tigers.

And keep in mind, Jackson has his head screwed on considerably straighter that Ledo.

Cooley has to bring in Ledo. He can't allow a kid from his program's backyard to go elsewhere. Bringing him into the program -- assuming he eventually gets eligible to play -- is a risk, but its a risk that has to be taken.



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Monday Morning Dump

So what if it's Labor Day?

Here at B.I.A.H we prescirbe to the methods of the "Wale Folarin School of Hard Work", a.k.a. "No Days Off".

Plus, I'm currently in Madrid and they don't celebrate Labor Day, so I'm on my grind.

But also, I'm kinda already sick of college football.

- Former Morgan State PG TJ Mathis was shot and killed in New Haven, CT, over the weekend

- In honor of Labor Day, Jason King provides a detailed list of the hard workers on the college basketball hardwood

- A rematch between the "All-Stars" of the Drew and Goodman Leagues has been called off. Speaking of non-NBA basketball featuring NBA stars, say hello to "The Lockout League"

- Former-Iowa recruit (and ex-con) Anthony Hubbard has landed at Morgan State (There is a Todd Bozeman joke to be made somewhere in here)


- Missouri will become the latest school to launch a digital sports network (Does that mean we can expect a hour-long program devoted to Kim English a.k.a. @Esnglishcope24? I sure hope so)

- A solid-read (From Coach Calipari's personal website no-less!) on Stacey Poole's desire to see less of the pine in 2011-2012

- Duke's "Goodwill Trip" to China gave the young squad a chance to learn on the fly

- This is the only link you will find in here regarding conference realignment. Okay, fine, here is one more. But that's it.

- John Templon of Big Apple Buckets provides a breakdown of Long Island's full schedule

- College Fantasy Hoops Insider makes some bold predictions for the Big-Ten Conference

- Part one of Draft Express' entry on the top NBA prospects in the Big-Ten Conference

- Baylor got a big-time commitment from Class of 2012 point guard L.J Rose

- Oklahoma State landed a 7-footer from the Czech Republic named Marek Soucek

- Hoopville is entering it's tenth season and is looking for writers

- Sad news from the women's college basketball world: Florida A&M guard Shannon Washington was stabbed in the neck and killed early Sunday morning by her apparent girlfriend
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UPDATE: Wait, Baylor beating TCU blew up the Big 12?

(Ed. Note: Before I get into the meat of this post, I think we should all take a moment and think -- truly think -- about the absurdity of conference realignment.

Last night's game between Baylor and TCU is what college football is all about. A stadium packed with fans on a Friday night watched an underdog shred one of the best defenses in country before blowing a 24 point lead and then having the intestinal wherewithal to respond with a game-winning field goal and a game-ending interception. It was truly a magical game, one that should have every college football fan in the country buzzing -- both literally and figuratively -- for today, the first Saturday of the season.

Instead, all anyone can talk about is realignment. Can the Big 12 hold on to Texas and Oklahoma? Who does the SEC get as a 14th? Is the Pac-12 done expanding? Cougars and Hokies and Noles, oh my!

Not only are the power conferences and their rich, white middle men lining their pockets off of the product that a bunch of college kids put on the field -- and on your television -- every weekend, now we are ignoring that product to speculate how the next billion-dollar deal shakes out.

I need a shower. If you dare, read on.)


Basketball isn't the only sport played at the collegiate level that can get, well, crazy.

Take Baylor and TCU last night. If you missed it, I don't blame you (too much). It was the Friday of Labor Day Weekend and all. Baylor hit a three hit a 37 yard field goal to knock off No. 14 TCU 50-48 despite blowing a 24 point second half lead. It was wild, and I'm sure a perfect example of why all those college football zealots are so ... zealous? I'd be willing to bet that Baylor-TCU would post a similar score if the two were to play in hoops.

But the game itself isn't what truly mattered last night. It was the news that leaked out while the game was being played.

Let's start with the comments that Oklahoma president David Boren made yesterday. Read them in full here, but the money quote is right here: "I don’t think there’s any chance OU’s going to end up being a wallflower." That was the last thing Boren said, but when taken in context with the rest of his press conference -- again, I urge you to read it in its entirety -- its not hard to read between the lines.

It gets worse. Oh, so much worse. Chip Brown from Orangebloods.com -- who has been all over the conference realignment story dating back to last year -- paints a dreary picture for the Big 12. Not only does Brown report that Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe held a conference call for the program president's -- excluding Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M -- in which Beebe essentially asked the rest of the league to plead with Texas not to leave for the Pac-12, but he quotes one source as saying that there is a "50 to 60 percent" chance that UT bounces.

Poor Dan Beebe. He's either totally clueless or already accepted defeat and that he's out of a job.

Texas doesn't hold the power here. Oklahoma does. Another interesting tidbit from Brown's report is that a source tells him the Pac-12 would be willing to accept Oklahoma and their tag-along little brother, Oklahoma State, should they opt to leave the conference. With those two gone, the Big 12 will be nothing but a memory. I'm sure Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott is keenly aware that by landing Oklahoma and hitting the Big 12 with a crippling blow, he makes his conference look just that much more attractive to Texas.

So either Beebe doesn't realize that he needs to rest of the Big 12 to beg and plead with Oklahoma not to go anywhere, or he's resigned himself to the fact that the Sooners are westward bound and is doing what he can to hold the Big 12 scraps together by duct-taping the rest of the conference to Papa Texas.

Pick your poison, I guess.

So I hope the Bears enjoyed that win last night. Because fairly soon -- possibly as early as next week -- we could find out that it is TCU, and not Baylor, that has a BCS conference membership.

UPDATE: It didn't exactly need to be said, but according to Barry Tramel of The Oklahoman, OU's "sole focus" is heading west. Hello Pac-16, goodbye Big 12, and for the love of god, will the Big East scoop up Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri already?
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Apparently now Podcastin' is a Habit

Andy Bottoms from Midwest Sports Fans will be teaming up with us this year to do a (hopefully) weekly podcast.

Sometimes we'll have guests. Most of the time Troy will join us. It should be fun, and will definitely be worth a listen if you like hearing folks ramble on about college basketball.

Anyway, I bring this up because the first episode is now live. Click here to check it out.
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Philly vs. NYC in a college hoops tournament?

In theory, it sounds fantastic.

A tournament-style, head-to-head battle for college hoops supremacy between Philly and New York? Umm, yeah! We can call it the Battle for I-95. We can play the games at the Palestra and at Madison Square Garden. We can bring in advertisers and sponsors and put it on TV and make a boat load of money (amateurism, F*** YEAH!)

Like I said, it sounds awesome.

But the problem with Philadelphia businessman Tom Moldoon's idea -- "that Penn, Villanova, St. Joe's, Temple, and La Salle have tournament-style, head-to-head matches with Fordham, Columbia, Manhattan, Iona, and another New York City-area schools" -- is that the New York City-area schools he listed are, frankly, never going to win any kind of basketball competition against Philly's Big 5.

They just aren't.

If Moldoon is going to do this right, he's going to need to get the right schools involved. St. John's absolutely, 100% has to be a part of it. They are the most storied basketball program in the NYC metro region and a founding father of the Big East. If you can't get the Johnnies, you can't run this tournament. The other question is how you choose who you include from NYC. Are Fordham, Columbia, Manhattan, and Iona a foregone conclusion? What about programs like Hofstra or Long Island or St. Francis? Will they get a shot?

Do you pick teams based on their record from the year before? Do you pick the five who you think are going to be the best in the upcoming season? Will it always be the same five playing the Philly schools?

And what about the teams in the same conference? Will Fordham vs. St. Joe's count as one of their A-10 league games? Can St. John's even play Villanova on a day other than what the Big East schedule stipulates?

Like I said, this is a great idea on paper.

Getting it to come to fruition, however, may be quite a bit more difficult. But hey, that's why they are businessmen and all I do is write about their ideas, right?
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Frank Haith is off to a good start on the recruiting trail

The biggest concern that most folks, including myself, have in regards to Missouri's future under Frank Haith is how well Haith and his coaching staff are going to be able to recruit.

With seven players -- including key pieces like Kim English, Ricardo Ratliffe, Laurence Bowers and Marcus Denmon -- graduating after this season, for Haith to have sustained success with a program many believe can compete for this year's Big 12 title he's going to have to restock the cupboard.

Recruiting top talent to a school like Missouri is not necessarily an easy thing to do. Its certainly more difficult when, as a coach, you have potential NCAA sanctions hanging over your head -- if you've forgetten, Yahoo! Sports reported that Haith knew about a $10,000 payment paid to secure the services of DeQuan Jones at Miami. Negative recruiting is the practice of drilling the cons of a program competing with you for a recruit into that kid's head. How many times to you think Rodney Purvis has heard that Haith is going to be fired before he steps foot on a college campus?


The good news is that before any of the shrapnel from the Miami scandal struck Haith, he was able to land two key transfers in Earnest Ross, who led Auburn in scoring and rebounding last season, and Keion Bell, a high-scoring and high-flying guard from Pepperdine. Both players will become eligible in 2012-2013 -- Ross for two seasons, Bell for one -- and will provide some talent and experience to help hold the program over while some of the younger guys the Tigers bring in develop.

And there will be younger guys coming in. For all the negative recruiting and the smoke surrounding the program, Haith has steadily been landing commitments.

Yesterday, it was Travis Jorgenson, a 5'10" Missouri-native and three-star recruit according to Rivals, that committed to the Tigers, joining Tyrek Coger in the Class of 2013.

Last Saturday, it was Shawn Smith, a three-star off-guard from Florida, that committed to Missouri. He joins Quantel Denson, Aaron Scales and Simon Goines as Haith's Class of 2012 commits.

All told, that's six commitments Haith has already gotten for his next two recruiting classes. Hard to argue against that being a good start.

Its far from the end, however. None of those players have been mentioned in any of the top 100 lists that we use to make our Consensus Recruiting Rankings. The next step for Haith, and Tim Fuller, who is Haith's lead recruiter, is to land some of the top 25 and top 50 kids they are chasing -- Rodney Purvis and Marcus Smart and Chicken Knowles.

Landing local kids is easy. Convincing elite talent to take a risk by committing Missouri is a different story, but it will make the difference between competing for NCAA Tournament berths and Big 12 titles.
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Friday Morning Dump

- This kid is nuts.

- Best read of the day comes from Diamond Leung on Stanford's efforts to turn their program around

- Dickie-V provides his super-7 for the 2011-2012 season (I have absolutely no clue why he chose only seven teams)

- John Calipari's newest recruiting tool: a customized corn maze

- With Texas A&M leaving the Big XII, does that open the door for BYU? Regardless, Texas A&M apparently blew this one four years ago when they decided not to join with UT in a Texas Network.

- Rush the Court takes a look at the senior citizen coaches

- Dana O'Neil provides a solid look at St. Joe's moving their Big 5 games out of The Palestra

- Iowa sold it's sports marketing rights to a firm who will re-name the basketball court. For $114 million dollars. Seriously. $114 million. But no, college football and basketball players shouldn't get a couple of extra bucks.

- Draft Express evaluates the U-19 games.

- Good stuff here from Doug Gottlieb -- 15 tips for freshmen

- Some non-conference goodness -- the Big East's top 25 games and the ACC's top 15

- Jason King takes a look at the offseason's biggest storylines

- Surprise, surprise. DeQuan Jones is denying the allegations against him.

- Kelvin Amayo will not be playing college basketball next year. His appeal was denied by the NCAA, and he told Adam Zagoria that he'll be doing a prop-year instead of going to a JuCO.

- Juwan Howard's kid is leaving Western Michigan

- Stan Simpson is on campus at Memphis

- Frank Haith isn't letting his past get in the way of recruiting, as he hauled in yet another recruit

- Magic backs a former teammate facing many years behind bars
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Once again, Kentucky is loading up for Big Blue Madness

As of today, Kentucky does not have a single commitment for the Class of 2012.

For a program that's had the best recruiting class in the country three years running, that has been a bit of a concern. With John Calipari seemingly having the ability to get any and every recruit that he wants, why are they heading into the 2011-2012 school year without a single player committed to coming to Lexington?

It could be that Cal is still trying to figure out what roles he is going to need filled for 2012-2013. In other words, who is going to be headed for the NBA Draft? It could also be that the Class of 2012 is just simply late in making their commitments. With 20 of the top 25 players in the country still to make their college decision, maybe Cal isn't accepting commitments just yet.

Who knows?


What we do know, however, is that when the commitments start coming, don't be surprised to see Kentucky more than their share. Take a look at the list of players currently heading to Rupp Arena for Big Blue Madness:

2012
- F Shabazz Muhammad (No. 1 in our Consensus Recruiting Rankings)
- G Archie Goodwin (No. 9)
- C DaJuan Coleman (No. 15)
- F Alex Poythress (No. 19)
- F T.J. Warren (No. 23)
- C Willie Cauley (No. 38)

2013
- G Andrew Harrison (likely)
- G Aaron Harrison (likely)
- F Chris Walker

2014
- C Dakari Johnson

We haven't done consensus rankings for 2013 or 2014 just yet, but all four of the players that Calipari is bringing to Big Blue Madness from those classes are consensus top ten players.

"It's shaping up to be arguably the best list of Midnight Madness visitors that I've ever seen," Scout.com recruiting analyst Evan Daniels told the Louisville Courier-Journal. "Anybody that they're recruiting, it appears they're getting in for Midnight Madness."

And once Coach Cal gets these kids to Big Blue Madness, he can get a commitment from just about any player he wants. The place is sold out weeks in advance, Rupp Arena gets rocking, and Big Blue Madness becomes more than just a first practice; its an event that attracts celebrities like Drake and LeBron James.



You don't think that will catch a high school recruit's attention?

The craziest part is Daniels' last quote: "They're not done yet, either. There's a couple names that I'm not allowed to put out there yet, but I've talked to some AAU coaches for guys who want to be there."

Yuh. Ikes.
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Holy War moved out of the Palestra

Remember when St. Joseph's flirted with an undefeated season?

Me too. They had a back court made up of Jameer Nelson and a pre-crazy Delonte West, they didn't lose until their A-10 Tournament quarterfinal date with Xavier, and came within a John Lucas jumper of making the Final Four. That was a very, very good basketball team.

Its only been seven years since that memorable season, but I wouldn't hold it against you if you didn't recognize the Hawks in their current state. They've made just one NCAA Tournament and haven't finished better than fifth in the league since 2005. The last two seasons, the Hawks have lost 20 games. That's a long fall from the team that was named the best of the 00's by Sports Illustrated.


Head coach Phil Martelli is looking for a way to spark the program, and in an effort to do so, he's moving St. Joe's Big 5 home games from the Palestra to the on-campus Hagan Arena.

There's been a lot of discussion at the highest levels on campus about creating the buzz, getting the fervor and the fire back," Martelli told Dick Jerardi of the Philly Daily News. "How do you do it? The easy thing is to say win games. To get the building where it's kind of bursting at the seams again."

"It's a way to get people to sit up and pay attention again."

Its an interesting move for Martelli to make. He's been adamant in the past about his love for the Palestra -- a building with as much tradition as any in college hoops -- and his desire to keep the Big 5 games, particularly the Holy War game against Villanova, in the building. But his first priority has to be rebuilding his program, and he appears to be on the right track. St. Joe's finished last season strong, making a run to the A-10 Tournament semifinals. With a roster that is young, fairly talented and returning all but one player from last year's team -- none of who will be seniors -- it at least appears the Hawks are headed in the right direction.

As Martellie explains it, the point isn't to take away from the Big 5 or to ignore the history of the Palestra, but to wake a program that's hit the snooze button the past two seasons. To reignite the Holy War, one of college basketball's fiercest rivalries that has lain dormant for the past five seasons.

"I am loud and clear on my love of the Palestra," Martelli said. "I'm loud and clear on my love of the tradition, Philadelphia basketball. At this moment in time, if somebody wants to say that this is a selfish act or it's two-faced, at least they're talking about us."

Its working.

When was the last time we wrote about St. Joe's here on BIAH?
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Thursday Morning Dump

- Texas A&M is heading to the SEC. Its official now. The best take I've read on the potential domino effect from the move -- Missouri? Va Tech? Oklahoma? West Virginia? -- is from Mike DeCourcy. Eric Crawford of the Louisville Courier-Journal had a solid take as well. RTC takes a look at the effect it has on hoops. We did the same a few weeks back.

- Could BYU be headed to the Big 12? The Upset Blog says yes.

- The Big East schedule was released on Wednesday, and among the many things that we were waiting for with baited breath was to see the three games that Jim Calhoun will be suspended for. Calhoun, who is officially returning for next season, will miss games against South Florida, Seton Hall and St. John's. As Matt Norlander explains, this was always going to be the case.

- Oh, and it should be mentioned that the suspension only makes the "punishment" that UConn received look even weaker.

- Stop what you're doing and go read this. Now. Thank me later.

- Kentucky's Big Blue Madness will be loaded this year. Like, seriously, loaded.

- Familiarize yourself with this kid -- Alec Brown, a seven-footer currently toiling in the Horizon League. He'll be a name that rises up draft boards before his career is over.

- Jeff Hathaway looks like he will keep his current position as NCAA Tournament chair.

- John Beilein wants to finish his career with Michigan.

- The money line in this Q-and-A with Ish Smith comes in the last question.

- Seth Curry has a chance to become a leader for the Blue Devils this season.

- Ricardo Ledo was supposed to announce his college decision today. That's not happening.

- I disagree with this theory. I think its more of a sign of the depth of the Big East and how good some of the teams at the bottom of the conference are.

- Stan Simpson was late getting to the Memphis campus because of a money issue with the JuCo he was attending. He's on the way now. And he's never been on a train before.

- Your first glimpse at the new Kentucky Wildcats.

- The Holy War headed to Hagan?

- Memphis wants to start hosting the Conference USA Tournaments.

- The mother of Torian and Tyree Graham passed away last night. Keep their family in your prayers.
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