basketball

Clemson Basketball Season Review

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:46:00 +0000

With Clemson’s basketball season being over it’s time to evaluate how the team performed. I’ll look at the high points and low points, individual player performances, whether or not the team met expectations, and what expectations should be for next season. We'd like to hear your thoughts on the season.

I did not expect too much out of this team at the beginning of the season. We lost our best player (Trevor Booker) to the NBA and were breaking in a new head coach. The roster didn’t appear to be stocked full of talent either. The heralded 2009 recruiting class did nothing during their freshman campaigns to instill confidence in the fanbase. After watching the rest of the ACC lay eggs in their early out of conference contests, I held out hope of a top 6 finish in the ACC. We lost Donte Hill before the season began. Then Noel Johnson (and his father) decided that Clemson’s offense didn’t fit Johnson’s talents just a few games into the season. Playing shorthanded and learning a new style of basketball, Clemson lost to ODU, Michigan, and Sakerlina. Most folks gave up on any Tourney appearance. Some thought we made a bad hire. Even so, I felt we were better than a handful of ACC teams and were only going to get better as the team adjusted to Coach Brownell’s new style. You could see the improvement in fundamentals.

After a close loss at FSU in which Clemson let the game slip away down the stretch, Clemson was able to pick up their best out of conference win of the season at College of Charleston After watching the FSU and CofC games, I was no longer hopeful that we could finish in the top 6. I expected it.

ACC play had its ups and downs. Clemson was 2-3 after dropping a close road contest at Maryland. In the following game against NC State, Clemson came out flat and looked as if they were going to be blown out of the gym. All the sudden something clicked. Clemson turned it on and over the next 3 halves (2nd half of NC State and the entire FSU game) and we completely dominated our opponents. Excitement and expectations were on the rise, so naturally Clemson followed with a stinker at UVA Things went as expected after that, with the possible exception of the loss at NC State, and we were faced with a must-win matchup against Virginia Tech. Clemson played well enough to halt a determined VT squad and placed themselves on the right side of the bubble.

After blowing out BC in the 1st round of the ACC tournament, Clemson lost a heartbreaker in the 2nd round against UNC. Clemson had this game firmly in their grasp and coughed it up. Should Brownell have called the timeout on the final play? Still, with UNC being a top 10 team, morale stayed high after proving we could play with one of the best teams in the country on a "neutral" court.

After receiving the shaft by the NCAA selection committee, Clemson headed to Dayton for a "play-in" game. Clemson started extremely hot and blew the doors off of the UAB Blazers. UAB was able to get as close as 8 at one point, but the lead was quickly extended and they never posed much of a threat. There was no time for celebrating Clemson’s first NCAA tournament victory since 1997 because of some God-awful scheduling by the NCAA. Instead, Clemson took an overnight flight to Tampa, got a little sleep, participated in media sessions, had a short walkthrough to actually prep for WVU, and then headed to bed in order to be ready for the 1st game of the day on Thursday. All the while, WVU was able to travel to Tampa on their own terms, conduct normal practices and film sessions, prepare for the winner of Clemson/UAB, and get a good night’s sleep. If that doesn’t sound fair it’s because it isn’t. Sometimes you have to play the cards you are dealt, but I’d be shocked if the NCAA doesn’t change their scheduling next year.

Here is DrB’s recap for that game. Clemson started out fast and looked to be in control. But a terrible stretch to close out the 1st half set the tone, and, unfortunately it carried over to the 2nd half, where Clemson wasn’t able to fully recover. Clemson cut the lead down to 3 with just over a minute left, but a blown call by the official gave WVU two points at the free throw line. Down 5, Clemson was baffled by WVU’s 1-3-1 defense and committed nearly identical turnovers on 3 straight possessions. That was the nail in the coffin.

It was a disappointing way to end the season. But if someone told me at the beginning of the season that Clemson would pick up an NCAA tournament victory I’d have told them they were crazy. I was impressed with Coach Brownell’s ability to get the most out of the talent he was given. Now I’m looking for him to improve the talent level. In order to compete at the highest level you need to recruit top tier talent. If he can do that, while continuing to develop his players and getting guys to play for each other rather than for themselves, than he can really do some good things here at Clemson.

Your 2010-2011 Louisville Basketball Awards Ceremony

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:04:00 +0000

Moving on or "letting the past be the past" isn't really my thing. I tend not to appreciate something until it's taken away or has grown so tired of my (accurately) perceived indifference and steady stream of sarcasm that it decides a Burger King parking lot is as good a place as any to pull the plug. It's only when I no longer have these things at my disposal that I can't stop thinking about them.

This season, as many have acknowledged, has been especially difficult to part with, due mostly to the combination of love for the team and the horrifically unsatisfying way it ended. Still, here we are, painfully but undeniably stuck in the dead period. The good news is that the worst days of basketball withdrawal (think Trainspotting) are completely or nearly behind us, and the transition to our summer selves (read: normal human beings) has at least started.

For those who still haven't acknowledged that the grass is again green and your shoulders (or at least mine) are again severely, severely burnt, I think it's important that you achieve closure immediately. And I think it's equally important that you do so in the form of a fake awards show.

Cody Zeller wins Mr. Basketball

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:43:00 +0000

David Snodgress | Herald-Times
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Washington’s Cody Zeller is the Indianapolis Star’s Mr. Basketball for 2011.
The Indiana signee gathered 198 of the 283 votes cast by coaches and media. Warsaw’s Nic Moore was second with 21 votes, followed by Pike’s Marquis Teague and Bloomington South’s Dee Davis with 16.
Zeller, who averaged 24.1 points and 13.4 rebounds this season, is the third member of his family to win the award, joining brothers Luke (2005) and Tyler (2008). Cody won three state championships, one with Tyler in 2008 as a reserve and the last two seasons as the centerpiece player.
Zeller, a 6-foot-11 center, had 20 points and 18 rebounds to lead Washington past Culver Academies 61-46 in the this year’s Class 3A final.
“He’s the total package,” Washington coach Gene Miiller said. “He does everything well. If you were trying to pick a guy to coach, he would be the example.”
Most nights, Zeller was double- and triple-teamed, roughed up and pounded on.
That was nothing compared to the recruiting process. Cody was also considering Butler and North Carolina. Because Luke had gone to Notre Dame and Tyler to North Carolina, there was outside pressure in Hoosier-crazy Southern Indiana to pick Indiana. Cody heard it on a daily basis.
“Of the three boys, it was by far the toughest choice,” said his father, Steve.
Zeller said — and those close to him agreed – that he never felt any pressure to please anyone outside his tight inner circle.
Some Indiana fans expect him to come in and be the piece to rejuvenate a program that has won just eight Big Ten games the last three seasons.
Zeller realizes he alone can’t return the Hoosiers to national prominence.
“I don’t plan on coming in and turning the program around on my own,” he said. “I don’t really feel any pressure to do that. I have a good support system with my family and friends. Those are the people I listen to and they aren’t putting any extra pressure on me.”
Indiana coach Tom Crean agrees.
“Like most great competitors, Cody has enough internal pressure on himself to get better,” Crean said. “The coaching staff certainly isn’t going to put any extra pressure on him. Now, we are going to have to challenge ourselves to raise the level and make him a better player. He has such good footwork and fundamentals already. We’re going to have to be ready to challenge him.”

Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Tryin' To Reason With The End Of The Season

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 19:16:00 +0000

One of the most poignant and penetrating observations that John Calipari has ever made came almost unnoticed in his post-game interview following the Kentucky Wildcats loss to the Connecticut Huskies in the National Semifinals:

It just ends. It's done.

Don't you hate things that "just end?" I know I do. You spend six months building up to something, and just like that, it's over and there is nothing more to do but get back to life. There is something about the jarring abruptness, the irrevocable finality, that is a shock to the system. Even now, three days removed from the event, many Kentucky fans are still in a kind of mourning for the season that "just end[ed]." It sometimes feels like we are sorting through the wreckage of a violent collision or natural disaster, trying to make sense of it all.

None of this is to say that the season was a disappointment -- it wasn't. Yes, it was disappointing to fall short of the goal of a national championship, but this is the closest Kentucky has been in a long while, and that in and of itself is quite satisfying. It is also quite satisfying to have defeated one of our major rivals along the way, and see so many of the others fall far short of their expectations. Schadenfreude still lives here, at least once in a while.

It seems that many of us just aren't quite ready to move on yet, and it seems reasonable to linger awhile in the season that was. Right now that's particularly easy to do while the team takes stock of itself and begins work on deciding who will return and who will move on to the next level -- except, of course, Josh Harrellson who is a senior and must move on, as well as the NCAA-ineligible Enes Kanter.

In a way, this highlights both the beauty and the curse of college basketball, one of the things that makes it so interesting. In The Sillamarillion, J.R.R. Tolkein's anthropological prelude to his Lord of the Rings fantasy world, it is written that Eru Ilúvatar (God or the Creator of the Universe) gave man the "gift of mortality," where the Elves were immortal. College basketball is like that. The teams are "mortal" in the sense that their lives are very short, much shorter now in the era of "one and done" than in the decades before where players hung around for three or more years, and unlike NBA teams who can have very long lives built around superstar players.

It gift of mortality of a college team's life and it's annual renewal with new members that add a great deal of spice to the college game. True, it would probably be still better if we could extend those lives back out to three years or so, but I don't hold out too much hope for that happening, although it could eventually. There has never been much love for the "one and done" rule anywhere but in the NBA Players Association, and until they agree to change it, it will remain as it is.

The threat of an NBA lockout will affect how many coaches advise their players on their next move, just as UCLA's Ben Howland suggests. No doubt it will affect Calipari's advice to his charges in some form or other, although that does not mean that they will not leap ahead and do it anyway. Still, there are other motivations. Brandon Knight could quite possibly go to summer school, come back next year and graduate in the spring or summer, completing a four-year college degree in just two years. Doron Lamb is not currently found on either the Draft Express or NBADraft.net mock drafts, and neither is DeAndre Liggins or Darius Miller, although Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones and Enes Kanter all figure prominently in or near the draft lottery.

In addition, there will be recruiting. Calipari is not likely quite finished with the 2011 class, as good as it is, if anyone other than Harrellson and Kanter are leaving the team. Even if they are, I'd be surprised if he doesn't try to add at least one more player, and several names have surfaced as well as others who have been recruited by Kentucky but have not yet pledged to a school.

So we do have things to look forward to, as well as the new players arriving in the summer and beginning informal workouts, from which there will no doubt be much news and plenty of time for discussion. But right now, at this moment, many of us are still gathering our thoughts from the sudden demise of the 2011 season. The impact with reality still stings, still shocks the system, and like getting back from a long vacation, it takes a while before you get back to full speed.

But we'll get there.

Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Tryin 'To Reason Mit dem Ende des The Season

Eines der ergreifendsten und durchdringend Beobachtungen, dass John Calipari je gemacht hat kam fast unbemerkt in seinem Post-Spiel Interview nach dem Kentucky Wildcats Verlust für die Connecticut Huskies in der National Halbfinale:

Es ist einfach endet. Es ist vollbracht.

Nicht hassen Sie Dinge, die "nur enden?" Ich weiß, ich weiß. Sie verbringen sechs Monate Gebäude bis zu etwas, und einfach so, es ist vorbei und es gibt nichts mehr zu tun, sondern wieder zum Leben. Es ist etwas über die Erschütterungen Plötzlichkeit, die unwiderrufliche Endgültigkeit, das ist ein Schock für das System. Selbst jetzt, drei Tage nach der Veranstaltung entfernt, sind viele Fans noch Kentucky in einer Art der Trauer für die Saison, dass "nur am Ende [Hrsg.]." Es fühlt sich manchmal wie wir durch die Trümmer eines heftigen Zusammenstoßes oder Naturkatastrophe Sortierung und versuchte, Sinn des Ganzen zu machen.

All dies ist zu sagen, dass die Saison eine Enttäuschung war - war es nicht. Ja, es war enttäuschend, verfehlen das Ziel einer nationalen Meisterschaft, aber dieses ist das nächstgelegene Kentucky in eine lange Zeit gewesen ist, und dass an und für sich ist recht befriedigend. Es ist auch sehr befriedigend, besiegte eines unserer größten Rivalen auf dem Weg, und so viele von den anderen weit hinter ihren Erwartungen. Schadenfreude immer noch hier lebt, mindestens einmal in eine Weile.

Es scheint, dass viele von uns sind einfach nicht bereit, auf noch bewegen, und es scheint angemessen zum Verweilen in der Saison das war. Gerade jetzt, das ist besonders leicht zu machen, während das Team zieht Bilanz über sich selbst und beginnt die Arbeit an die Entscheidung, wer wird zurückkehren und wer gehen Sie zum nächsten Level - außer natürlich, Josh Harrellson, die ein Senior ist und müssen noch weiter kommen, als sowie die NCAA-förderfähig Enes Kanter.

In gewisser Weise unterstreicht dies sowohl die Schönheit und der Fluch des College-Basketball, eines der Dinge, dass es so interessant macht. In The Sillamarillion, J.R.R. Tolkiens anthropologischen Auftakt zu seiner Herr der Ringe Fantasy-Welt, steht geschrieben, dass Eru Ilúvatar (Gott oder der Schöpfer des Universums) Mann gab das "Geschenk der Sterblichkeit", wo die Elben unsterblich waren. College Basketball ist so. Die Teams sind "sterblich" in dem Sinne, dass ihr Leben sehr kurz, viel kürzer jetzt in der Ära des "one and done" als in den Jahrzehnten vor dem Spieler hingen herum für drei oder mehr Jahre alt sind, und im Gegensatz zu NBA-Teams, die können sehr lange lebt rund um Superstar Spieler gebaut.

Es Geschenk der Sterblichkeit von einem College-Team das Leben und es ist die jährliche Erneuerung mit neuen Mitgliedern, die viel hinzuzufügen Gewürz zum College-Spiel. Es stimmt, wäre es wahrscheinlich noch besser, wenn wir könnten diese Leben wieder heraus zu drei Jahren oder so zu erweitern, aber ich weiß nicht durchhalten zu viel Hoffnung, dass geschieht, obwohl es könnte schließlich. Es hat nie viel Liebe zum worden "one and done" Regel überall, aber in der NBA Players Association, und bis sie es ändern zustimmen, es bleibt wie es ist.

Die Gefahr einer NBA Aussperrung beeinflusst, wie viele Trainer beraten ihre Spieler auf ihren nächsten Schritt, so wie der UCLA Ben Howland suggeriert. Kein Zweifel, es wird Calipari Rat an seine Schützlinge in irgendeiner Form beeinflussen, obwohl das bedeutet nicht, dass sie nicht vor Sprung und tun es trotzdem. Doch es gibt auch andere Motivationen. Brandon Knight könnte womöglich den Sommer Schule gehen, kommen nächstes Jahr wieder und Absolventen im Frühjahr oder Sommer, Abschluss einer vierjährigen College-Abschluss in nur zwei Jahren. Doron Lamb ist derzeit nicht auf den Entwurf entweder Express oder NBADraft.net Mock Entwürfe gefunden, und weder DeAndre Liggins oder Darius Miller, obwohl Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones und Enes Kanter alle an prominenter Stelle in oder nahe der Draft Lottery.

Darüber hinaus wird es Rekrutierung werden. Calipari wahrscheinlich nicht ganz mit der 2011-Klasse, so gut wie es ist, fertig, wenn jemand anderes als Harrellson und Kanter sind das Team verlassen. Auch wenn sie, würde ich überrascht, wenn er nicht versuchen, mindestens einen weiteren Spieler hinzu, und mehrere Namen haben wie andere, die von Kentucky eingestellt wurden, aber noch nicht zu einer Schule zugesagt aufgetaucht.

Also wir haben Dinge zu freuen, als auch die neuen Spieler der Ankunft im Sommer und Anfang informellen Workouts, aus denen es keinen Zweifel geben viel Neues und viel Zeit für Diskussion. Aber gerade jetzt, in diesem Moment, sind viele von uns noch sammeln unsere Gedanken von dem plötzlichen Ableben von der Saison 2011. Die Auswirkungen der Realität noch sticht, noch Erschütterungen des Systems, und wie immer wieder von einem langen Urlaub, dauert es eine Weile, bevor Sie wieder in vollem Umfang erhalten.

Aber wir werden es bekommen.

Kentucky Wildcats Basket: Tryin 'di ragionare con la fine della stagione

Una delle osservazioni più toccante e penetrante che John Calipari ha mai fatto è venuto quasi inosservato nella sua intervista post-partita in seguito alla perdita Kentucky Wildcats al Connecticut Huskies nelle semifinali nazionali:

Finisce solo. E 'fatto.

Non ti odio le cose che "solo fine?" So di fare. È passare sei mesi a costruire qualcosa, e proprio così, è finita e non c'è più niente da fare se non tornare alla vita. C'è qualcosa circa la repentinità stridente, la finalità irrevocabile, che è uno shock al sistema. Anche adesso, a tre giorni rimosso dalla manifestazione, molti appassionati di Kentucky sono ancora in una sorta di lutto per la stagione che "solo fine [ndr]." Ci si sente a volte come siamo cernita tra i rottami di un urto violento o calamità naturali, cercando di dare un senso a tutto.

Niente di tutto questo è per dire che la stagione è stata una delusione - non è stato. Sì, è stato deludente non raggiungono l'obiettivo di un campionato nazionale, ma questo è il più vicino Kentucky è stato da molto tempo, e che in sé e per sé è abbastanza soddisfacente. E 'anche abbastanza soddisfacente aver sconfitto uno dei nostri principali rivali, lungo la strada, e vedere così tanti altri sono del tutto insufficienti le loro aspettative. Schadenfreude vive ancora qui, almeno una volta ogni tanto.

Sembra che molti di noi non sono ancora pronti ad andare avanti ancora, e sembra ragionevole ad attardarsi nella stagione che fu. Proprio ora che è particolarmente facile da fare, mentre il team fa il bilancio della stessa e inizia a lavorare per decidere chi tornerà e chi dovrà passare al livello successivo - tranne, naturalmente, Josh Harrellson che è un senior e deve andare avanti, come nonché la NCAA-inammissibili Enes Kanter.

In un certo senso, questo mette in evidenza sia la bellezza e la maledizione di college basket, una delle cose che lo rende così interessante. In The Sillamarillion, J.R.R. preludio antropologico Tolkien per il suo Signore degli Anelli mondo fantasy, è scritto che Eru Ilúvatar (Dio o il Creatore dell'Universo) ha dato all'uomo il "dono della mortalità", dove gli Elfi erano immortali. college basket è così. Le squadre sono "mortali", nel senso che la loro vita è molto breve, molto più breve ora in epoca di "uno e fatto" che nei decenni precedenti in cui i giocatori appesi in giro per tre o più anni, a differenza di squadre NBA che possono avere vive molto a lungo attorno giocatori superstar.

E 'dono di mortalità della vita di una squadra di college ed è il rinnovo annuale con i nuovi soci che aggiungono una grande quantità di spezie per il gioco college. Vero, probabilmente sarebbe ancora meglio se si potesse estendere quelle vite indietro a tre anni o giù di lì, ma io non resistere troppo sperare che ciò accada, anche se potrebbe alla fine. Non c'è mai stato grande amore per "l'unico e fatto" regola ovunque, ma nella NBA Players Association, e finché non decidono di cambiare, rimarrà così com'è.

La minaccia di un blocco NBA interesserà quanti allenatori consigliano i loro giocatori sulla loro prossima mossa, proprio come UCLA Ben Howland suggerisce. Senza dubbio influenzerà consiglio di Calipari per le sue accuse in un modo o nell'altro, anche se ciò non significa che non saranno balzo in avanti e farlo lo stesso. Eppure, ci sono altre motivazioni. Brandon Knight potrebbe molto probabilmente andare a scuola d'estate, torna l'anno prossimo e laureato in primavera o in estate, il completamento di un diploma di laurea quadriennale in soli due anni. Doron Lamb non è al momento a entrambi il progetto Express o bozze NBADraft.net finta, e nessuno dei due è DeAndre Liggins o Darius Miller, anche se Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones e Enes Kanter, figurano tutti in o vicino alla draft lottery.

Inoltre, ci sarà di reclutamento. Calipari non è probabilmente ancora finito con la classe 2011, buono come lo è, se qualcuno diverso Harrellson e Kanter stanno lasciando la squadra. Anche se sono, sarei sorpreso se non si tenta di aggiungere almeno un altro giocatore, e diversi nomi sono emerse così come altri che sono stati reclutati da Kentucky ma non sono ancora impegnati a una scuola.

Quindi noi abbiamo cose da guardare avanti a, così come i giocatori nuovi che arrivano in estate e inizio gli allenamenti informali, da cui non sarà senza dubbio molte notizie e tanto tempo per la discussione. Ma adesso, in questo momento, molti di noi sono ancora in grado di raccogliere i nostri pensieri dalla morte improvvisa della stagione 2011. L'impatto con la realtà punge ancora, ancora shock al sistema, e come tornare da una vacanza lunga, ci vuole un po 'prima di tornare a piena velocità.

Ma ci arriveremo.

Evelyn Lozada Doubles Salary on ‘Basketball Wives

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 02:38:00 +0000

Sources close to the production tell TMZ, Evelyn didn't get the $20k per episode she demanded ... but we're told she's "very happy" with the counter-offer.

But Evelyn didn't just get a pay bump -- we're told Producers also APOLOGIZED to Lozada for the way she was portrayed in the Season 2 finale ... a huge reason why Evelyn was hesitant to re-sign with the network.

We're told Lozada -- who threatened to leave the show after she felt the producers backstabbed her -- is happy with the new deal ... and shooting is already underway.

Evelyn Lozada Dobler Lønn på 'Basketball Wives

Kilder nær produksjonen forteller TMZ, fikk Evelyn ikke får $ 20k per episode hun krevde ... men vi blir fortalt at hun er "svært fornøyd" med counter-tilbudet.

Men Evelyn ikke bare få en betal brak - vi blir fortalt Produsenter også om unnskyldning til Lozada for måten hun ble fremstilt i Sesong 2 finalen ... en stor grunn til at Evelyn nølte med å re-signere med nettverket.

Vi blir fortalt Lozada - som truet med å forlate serien etter at hun følte at produsentene backstabbed henne - er fornøyd med den nye avtalen ... og skyting er allerede i gang.

Evelyn Lozada dobles sueldos de Esposas de Baloncesto

Fuentes cercanas a la producción dicen TMZ, Evelyn no recibió los $ 20 mil por episodio exigió ... pero se nos dice que está "muy feliz" con la contra-oferta.

Pero Evelyn no acaba de conseguir un golpe pagar - se nos dice productores también pidió disculpas a Lozada por la forma en que fue retratado en la final de la temporada 2 ... una gran razón por Evelyn dudó en volver a firmar con la red.

Se nos dice Lozada - que amenazó con abandonar el programa después de sentir los productores Backstabbed ella - está contento con el nuevo acuerdo ... y los disparos ya está en marcha.

Kentucky Basketball: A Season's Worth of Obversations From the Peanut Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:21:00 +0000

tRUE hERO SpORTS

IT is always difficult to say goodbye to a Kentucky basketball season, especially when the goodbye is said on Saturday night of the Final Four. That, though, is what we are left with. So it's now time to reflect on the season as a whole, remembering how far this team traveled, from the summer trip to Canada -- where we first saw glimpses of what was to come -- to the almost unbelievable in-season turnaround this team executed, putting themselves in a position to bring Kentucky its first Final Four in what seems like decades. The thirst was quenched, and quenched quite nicely.

So follow me after the jump for some stream-of-consciousness thoughts on the 2010-2011 season that was:

Josh Harrellson and DeAndre Liggins -- Simply put, both players became unrecognizable. The transformation both players committed to is a testament to their collective ability to recognize they weren't giving their all (something most folks have a hard time admitting). With their renewal -- Harrellson because of his never-ending glass cleaning and vastly improved offensive game, and Ligs because of his defense, his newly found ability to consistently make shots, and dedication to giving himself floor burns -- they both gave themselves a chance to make some serious dinero at the next level, whether that be in Europe or the NBA, while at the same time delighting Kentucky basketball fans with their heart and hustle; two tenets Big Blue backers rightfully demand of each player wearing "Kentucky" across their chest. So sirs, I salute you both! You've made Kentucky fans proud, your coach proud, and you've represented your families with class and dignity. (I know Ligs is contemplating testing the NBA Draft waters, but let me begin the chant here: One more year Ligs, one more year!).

Doron Lamb -- Not much to say about Lamb, except, WHAT A SUPER SWEET SHOOTING STROKE that young man has. More, give me more!

Beating Louisville -- That never gets old, no matter how many times Kentucky does it. The 'Cats have now bested the 'Cards in two straight (by a cumulative score of 149-125), five of seven, and since the rivalry became a yearly (torrid) affair, UK holds a sizable 19-11 advantage. And with next season's contest in Lex, I like UK's odds of widening the series gap. On a related note (to Card fans): If Louisville is going to keep up with the pacesetter (you know who that is, right?) it's gonna take more than Chane Behanan and Wayne Blackshear -- both good players, no doubt, but not good enough to elevate the vile Cards to the summit currently occupied by the Big Blue party bus.

Sweeping the Vols -- Beating UT always brings about a special kind of satisfaction. Maybe it's because of the Vols' domination of the football series with Kentucky, or maybe it's because I was born infused with an anti-Vol chromosome ... whatever the reason, I do love it when the round-ball 'Cats put Tennessee in their place (which is somewhere, way, way below UK in the college basketball pecking order). Even sweeter, the Wildcats have won six of seven from Tennessee ,and since 2000, UK holds a 17-4 advantage -- That's gotta hurt Vol fan, especially considering UT just ended the best six-year stretch in school history -- Perhaps UT needs to change their persuasion of orange to the burnt variety. Oh, I almost forgot -- see ya, wouldn't want to be ya Ms. Pearl, and good luck to Cuonzo Martin, maybe he will bring a modicum of respectability to the UT athletic department. A possibility which begs the question: Can the head basketball coach fire the athletic director?

Terrence Jones -- The only 'Cat to slightly regress (at least in the scoring column) during the course of the season, Jones is as gifted as any UK small forward in recent memory. Although I feel the chances are very good Jones will be paid to play next season, if the NCAA Tournament told him anything, it's that he's not ready for the NBA. Of course that won't matter, though, the Association drafts on potential, and Jones' ceiling is clearly Himalayan high.

Beating Florida, twice -- Even though the Gators won the SEC regular season title this year, Kentucky beat Billy Donovan's club twice, the final win being for the SEC Tournament championship (which in my mind makes up for coming in behind the Gators in the final standings). Suffice it to say, there is no end to the amount of joy UK beating the Gators brings me. Since the consecutive national titles Donovan caught in a bottle, the 'Cats have continued the great and long-standing tradition of beating-down their SEC brethren, winning six of the last eight contests. Bringing even greater elation is the fact that defensive guru (and Florida assistant) Larry Shyatt has left UF to take over as head Cowboy at the University of Wyoming. I guess it's back to 24-25 win seasons, and first weekend NCAA tournament exits for the Gators. But hey, nobody in the Sunshine State seems to notice, which is exactly how Billy D. likes it.

Brandon Knight -- Although the Kentucky point guard had a less-than-stellar performance against UConn in the Final Four, overall his season was phenomenal. Point guard is the hardest position to learn and master, but by mid-season Knight was making strong decisions, getting his teammates involved, and scoring when scoring was needed. The poise he developed so quickly is indeed impressive, for it's not often a freshman grabs the game by the horns and says, "I'm winning this game, right now," but that is precisely what Knight did on more than one occasion this season. If he stays with the 'Cats for another go-round, great, if not, I wish him all the best in the NBA; I'm sure he will thrive. One last thing, Knight is to be admired and appreciated for the way he handled himself, both on and off the court. He's a class act for certain. One more last thing, as most know Knight is a serious student and is on target to be a junior scholastically by the end of this semester. That's right, a junior! Amazing, simply amazing.

Darius Miller -- The once over-deferential 'Cat became the take-charge 'Cat about 25-games into the season, and like his teammates, Harrellson and Liggins, the transformation was well-timed and a sight to behold. One of only three upperclassmen on the team, Miller saw the need for leadership and helped fill the vacuum, to his great credit. Although his NCAA Tournament wasn't filled with high-scoring games, he continued to defend with a passion (Miller's defense has come light-years from his freshman year), rebound, and get the ball to his mates in a position to score, helping the team in ways not illustrated in the box score.

Beating Ohio State -- There is absolutely nothing better than the 'Cats beating a team they weren't expected to beat, and for me, outside of beating Louisville and Tennessee, beating Ohio State was the high point of a season full of mountain tops and valleys. In fact, the OSU win might be my favorite UK "moment" of the last few years. The experience was simply unadulterated elation and joy! What more can anyone ask of a basketball team but to provide their fans with a reason to be proud ... something Kentucky's win over the Buckeyes provided in spades.

Losing to UConn -- Does it shock me UK lost to the Huskies? No, but the manner in which they lost does surprise, at least me. Shooting 33% across the board -- from the field, long-range, and most shocking, the free throw line -- the 'Cats went a long way in sealing their own fate. It seemed to me the enormity of the stage had something to do with UK's sub-par effort, plus, the team seemed amped-up in a major way at the beginning of the game, using up whatever reserve they had, leaving their tank near empty the last five or six minutes. Missed shots, forced shots in the lane (when a kick-out was called for), and missed free throws, all point to a team that allowed the bright lights to get inside their heads a bit. With their tremendous defense in the second stanza, though, they gave themselves a chance to win, and for that they deserve kudos.

John Calipari -- Perhaps pulling off his most outstanding coaching job, Calipari tore down the building erected on sand, and remade the structure with a strong foundation, able to do battle with all that would tear it down. From a team that couldn't close the deal, to a team that thrived in close game situations (save the last one), Cal meshed and managed his 'Cats to 29 victories, an SEC Tournament championship, and a Final Four appearance. Along the way avoiding the pitfalls associated with a short bench and even shorter experience. Now, more than ever, I feel Cal is the right man for the job (Cal's record at UK is 64-12 .824). He "gets" the Big Blue Nation, he gets the talent, and he'll eventually get Kentucky its eighth national title (and maybe more).

Short Basketball Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:42:00 +0000

Like As SUperHerO

I will admit, I had a lot of questions when TDP hired Coach Brownell last year and was not entirely confident in the decision. We've got to give credit where credit is due and, so far, Coach Brownell has been an asset to our athletics program. Our basketball team now plays actual basketball as opposed to the street ball style that Oliver Purnell employed in his time at CU. Clemson's offense executes out of half-court sets and does not totally rely on transition points to create offense. The Clemson team lost its best player from a year ago (Booker) and had a December transfer in Noel Johnson. Despite those losses, the Tigers were able to make it to the Big Dance after a respectable regular season and ACC Tourney.

While all of the above are positives, we continue to expect continuous improvement. We won't be unrealistic (it will be difficult with the losses of Stitt and Grant next season) but will be watching to see better fundamentals and decision making in '11-'12. Brownell will also have to prove to us that he can recruit well enough to start competing and defeating the Duke's/North Carolina's of the ACC and eventually get deeper in the NCAA Tourney. As of today, Brad gets our vote of confidence and we hope that the administration will reward him and his staff for a good effort over the past year.

On the Tournament: You can argue all you want on whether or not we got hosed and were better than some teams that did not play a play-in game. The fact is that we could have taken care of business and not put ourselves in such a situation. We lost to South Carolina. Virginia, NC State, Michigan and ODU. The ACC losses are inexcusable. On top of that, we blew a game to UNC in the ACC tourney. Win a couple of those and you are golden. A win over UM and/or a win over UNC gets you more credibility. The other losses are just bad losses, period. We got what we deserved for the entire season of work

One-And-Done Rule ‘Watering Down’ Basketball

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 06:57:00 +0000

College basketball has changed quite a bit over the last 20 years. With more players than ever jumping to the NBA after one season in college, it’s clear that great talent will get you farther than great experience.
“Let’s be honest, all these teams left, they have NBA guys,” Tim Doyle, of the Big Ten Network and CBS’ Mayhem Live, said on the Danny Mac Show when talking about the Sweet 16 teams. “All the teams that are gone, don’t have NBA guys. Even a guy like [Kenneth] Faried, out of Morehead State, he’s an NBA player and he got Morehead State to win a game just because he was more talented than the guys on Louisville.”

"dilución" regra dun-e-Feito Baloncesto

Ten Network e CBS 'Mayhem Live, dixo en Mac Danny Show ao falar sobre o Sweet 16 equipos. "Todos os equipos que xa se foron, non teñen caras da NBA. Mesmo unha cara como o [Kenneth] Faried, fóra de Morehead State, el é un xogador da NBA e conseguiu Morehead State para gañar un partido só porque era máis talentoso do que os rapaces en Louisville. "

'น้ำลง'กฎข้อที่หนึ่งและแบบสุกบาสเกตบอล

บาสเก็ตวิทยาลัยมีการเปลี่ยนแปลงไม่น้อยกว่าช่วง 20 ปีที่ กับผู้เล่นมากขึ้นกว่าที่เคยกระโดดไปเอ็นบีเอฤดูกาลหลังหนึ่งในวิทยาลัยก็เป็นที่ชัดเจนว่าความสามารถที่ดีจะช่วยให้คุณได้ไกลกว่าประสบการณ์ที่ยอดเยี่ยม
"Let 's ซื่อสัตย์ซ้ายทีมทั้งหมดเหล่านี้พวกเขาได้พวก NBA,"Tim Doyle, ของบิ๊กเท็นเครือข่ายและ CBS'Live Mayhem กล่าวว่าเมื่อ Danny Mac แสดงเมื่อพูดถึง Sweet 16 ทีม "ทุกทีมที่ได้รับไปแล้วไม่ได้มีพวกเอ็นบีเอ แม้กระทั่งคนที่แต่งตัวประหลาดเช่น [Kenneth] Faried ออกจาก Morehead State, เขาเป็นผู้เล่นเอ็นบีเอและเขาได้ Morehead State ให้ชนะเกมเพียงเพราะเขามีความสามารถมากกว่าผู้ชายใน Louisville."

Hva om NCAA Basketball Tournament Lagene ble trent av Development økonomer?

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:35:00 +0000

årlige NCAA turneringen som startet med 64 college basketball lag, nå redusert til "Sweet Sixteen".

Det er ikke allment kjent at noen lavere seedet lag i turneringen, som måtte spille mye bedre lag, desperat råd fra ledende Development økonomer.

En Columbia Professor sa at vi allerede vet det vellykkede ingredienser for et mesterskap, bare få masse støtte for innspill til en seier. Hver av hans spillere fikk en beautfiul ny basketball, men hadde ingen insentiv til å passere den, eller skyte den.

En Oxford Professor distribuert "fredsbevarende utstyr" til laget sitt, sa at det var avgjørende for hans Good Team støttet av FNs sikkerhetsråd og G-7 for å vinne. Det andre laget flyktet i panikk, men ble erklært som vinner som standard av turneringen tjenestemenn.

En NYU Professor sa en lavere seedet hadde aldri vunnet turneringen, og han så ingen grunn til at det ville være mulig nå. Han og hans team igjen for en ferie i Cancún.

Andre Professorene som Duflo, Banerjee, og Karlan satt opp randomiserte studier som spiller arbeid. Behandlinger inkludert 3-punkts skudd, kjøring layups, plukke og roll, og videre til den åpne spilleren, sammenlignet med en kontrollgruppe holder ballen fortsatt. Resultatene var av betydelig interesse, men spillerne ble veldig forvirret prøver å huske hvilke fag å sitere og bruke i hver trykk-pakket øyeblikk av spillet. De gjorde ikke gjør Sweet Sixteen.

Hernando de Soto sa det eneste som betydde noe var eiendomsrett. Han ringte for sikker titler til hans lag land. Dette teamet forsvarte sin egen banehalvdel-domstolen vellykket, men de var tvunget til å anerkjenne andre lagets rettigheter også. Det var ikke mye scoring.

Mohammed Yunus sa det handler om mikrokreditt. Han foreslo styrke sin lagets spillere med mikrolån. Dette var en stor suksess, som spillerne forlot alle retten til å starte små bedrifter som selger øl og saltstenger på tribunen.

Til slutt fikk laget spør råd fra George Mason professor i økonomi Peter Boettke en Askepott kjørt inn i Sweet Sixteen. Hva var hans strålende økonomi råd? Vel, valgte han ikke å gi noen, men han hadde faktisk spilt og trent basketball i high school og college.

Var det over karakterisering unøyaktige? Alle kan delta i de vanlige tunge satser på denne turneringen - fyll ut dine egne parentes nedenfor for å avgjøre hvem som går videre til semifinalen og deretter finalen, og som den endelige vinneren vil bli.

What if NCAA Basketball Tournament Teams were coached by Development Economists?

annual NCAA tournament that started off with 64 college basketball teams, now reduced to the “Sweet Sixteen” .

It is not widely known that some lower seeded teams in the tournament, who had to play much better teams, desperately sought advice from leading Development Economists.

A Columbia Professor said we already know the successful ingredients for a championship, just get lots of funding for the inputs to a victory. Each of his players was given a beautfiul new basketball but had no incentive to pass it or shoot it.

An Oxford Professor distributed “peacekeeping equipment” to his team, saying it was critical for his Good Team backed by the UN Security Council and the G-7 to win. The other team fled in panic, but was declared the winner by default by tournament officials.

An NYU Professor said a lower seed had never won the tournament and he saw no reason why it would be possible now. He and his team left for a vacation in Cancún.

Other Professors such as Duflo, Banerjee, and Karlan set up randomized trials for which plays work. Treatments included 3-point shots, driving layups, pick and roll, and passing to the open player, compared to a control group holding the ball still. The results were of considerable interest, but players got very confused trying to remember which study to cite and apply in each pressure-packed moment of the game. They did not make the Sweet Sixteen.

Hernando de Soto said the only thing that mattered was property rights. He called for secure titles to his team’s land. This team defended its own half-court successfully, but they were forced to recognize the other team’s rights also. There was not a lot of scoring.

Mohammed Yunus said it’s all about microcredit. He suggested empowering his team’s players with micro loans. This was a great success, as players all left the court to start small businesses selling beer and pretzels in the stands.

Finally,the team asking advice from George Mason Professor of Economics Peter Boettke made a Cinderella run into the Sweet Sixteen. What was his brilliant economics advice? Well, he chose not to give any, but he had actually played and coached basketball in high school and college.

Were the above characterizations inaccurate? Everybody can participate in the usual heavy betting on this tournament — fill out your own brackets below to determine who will advance to the semifinals and then the finals, and who the final winner will be.

Jonathan Quick may, in fact, control pucks with his mind

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:38:00 +0000

There were 111 saves made by five different goaltenders in the NHL on Monday night. Jonathan Quick(notes) of the Los Angeles Kings made 27 of them in a shootout win against the Calgary Flames. One of them seems to have defied the laws of physics and the logic of hockey:

(For a slightly clearer YouTube clip, head here.)
Mike Hayes brought this highlight to the forefront Wednesday on Buzzfeed, and it's really a heck of a thing. In the first period and on a power play, Jarome Iginla(notes) blasts the puck from the left side. Quick makes the save, but it trickles through and appears headed towards the goal line … before suddenly making a right turn and leaving the crease.
Kings coach Terry Murray even referenced it in the postgame: "In the first period, I know (Jarome) Iginla had a one-timer that was as good a save that maybe I've seen all year long."

Back, and to the right. Back, and to the right. Back, and to the right. That is one magic loogie.
So what was it? An optical illusion? Check out the 38-second mark of the official game highlights that seems to indicate the puck may have gone off of Quick's stick, but it's not clear:

Weird spin on the puck? Rut in the ice? The ghost of Kadeem Hardison helping the Kings win the Cup as the Sixth Man on the penalty kill?
No, really, there's only one good explanation, which is that Jonathan Quick is a telepath who can control things with his mind. Please, give this man the Vezina Trophy before he makes your brain pop like in "Scanners."

โจนาธานอาจ Site ในความเป็นจริงกับ pucks การควบคุมความคิดของเขา

มี 111 บันทึกโดยห้า goaltenders ที่แตกต่างกันใน NHL ในวันจันทร์ที่ได้คืน โจนาธานเร็ว (หมายเหตุ) ของ Los Angeles คิงส์ทำ 27 ของพวกเขาในจุดโทษชนะกับคาลการีลุกไหม้ หนึ่งในพวกเขาดูเหมือนว่าจะได้ท้าทายกฎหมายของฟิสิกส์และตรรกะของฮอกกี้ :

(สำหรับที่ชัดเจนขึ้นเล็กน้อยคลิป YouTube หัว, ที่นี่.)
Mike Hayes มานี้เพื่อเน้น Forefront พุธที่ Buzzfeed และก็จริงๆ heck ของสิ่ง ในระยะแรกและเมื่อเล่นไฟ, Jarome Iginla blasts (หมายเหตุ) เด็กซนจากด้านซ้าย เว็บไซต์ที่ทำให้ประหยัด แต่ trickles ผ่านและปรากฏมุ่งหน้าไปเส้นเป้าหมาย ... ก่อนที่จะทำก็เลี้ยวขวาออกจากรอยพับ
โค้ชเทอร์รี่คิงส์ Murray แม้อ้างอิงใน postgame :"ในช่วงแรกที่ฉันรู้ (Jarome) จำกัด Iginla ของหนึ่งตั้งเวลานั่นคือเป็นบันทึกที่ดีตลอดทั้งปีอาจจะได้เห็นผมยาว."

กลับไปและไปทางขวา กลับไปและไปทางขวา กลับไปและไปทางขวา นั่นคือหนึ่ง loogie มายากล
ดังนั้นสิ่งที่มันได้หรือไม่ ยาแสง? ตรวจสอบเครื่องหมาย 38 วินาทีของเกมอย่างเป็นทางการที่ไฮไลท์ที่น่าจะระบุเด็กซนอาจได้ไปปิดการติดด่วนของ แต่ยังไม่ชัดเจน

แปลก ๆ สปินในเด็กซน? Ruth อยู่ในน้ำแข็ง? ผีของ Kadeem Hardison ช่วยคิงส์คัพชนะเป็นคนที่หกในการลงโทษฆ่า?
ไม่มีจริงๆก็มีเพียงหนึ่งคำอธิบายที่ดีสิ่งที่ถูกโจนาธานเป็น telepath ด่วนที่สามารถควบคุมสิ่งที่มีความคิดของเขาได้ โปรดให้คน Vezina Trophy ก่อนที่เขาจะทำให้สมองของคุณป๊อปชอบในนี้"สแกนเนอร์

Jonathan webwerf mag, in werklikheid, met sy gedagte beheer puks

Daar was 111 Slaat gemaak deur vyf verskillende goaltenders in die NHL op Maandag nag. Jonathan Quick (note) van die Los Angeles Kings gemaak 27 van hulle in 'n skietery oorwinning teen die Calgary Flames. Een van hulle lyk uitgedaag het die wette van fisika en die logika van rugby:

(Vir 'n duideliker Bietjie YouTube clip, kop hier.)
Mike Hayes het hierdie die voorhoede Woensdag tot hoogtepunt op Buzzfeed, en dit is regtig 'n klink van' n ding. In die eerste periode en op 'n mag speel, Jarome Iginla (notas) storms die kabouter vanaf die linkerkant. Webwerf maak die stoor, maar dit trickles deur en verskyn onder leiding Teen die doel lyn ... VOOR skielik maak 'n draai regs en Leaving die styging.
Konings afrigter Terry Murray selfs gekla dit in die postgame: "In die eerste periode, ek weet (Jarome) Iginla limiet van 'n een-timer Dit was so goed' n red wat dalk het ek gesien het die hele jaar lank."

Terug, en aan die regterkant. Terug, en aan die regterkant. Terug, en aan die regterkant. Dit is een magie loogie.
So, wat was dit? 'N optiese illusie? Check uit die 38-sekonde-merk van die amptelike wedstryd hoogtepunte Dit blyk aan te dui die kabouter kan gegaan het af van Quick se stok, maar dit is nie duidelik:

Weird spin op die kabouter? Ruth was in die ys te voorskyn? Die spook van Kadeem Hardison Helpende die Kings wen die Cup as die sesde Man op die boete dood te maak?
Nee, regtig, is daar net een goeie verduideliking wat Jonathan Quick is 'n telepaat wat nie kan beheer dinge met sy gees. Asseblief, gee hierdie man die Vezina Trophy voordat hy jou brein pop soos in "Scanners."

乔纳森网站可能，事实上，他的精神控制凸轮

有五个不同goaltenders在NHL在周一晚111扑救。乔纳森快速（笔记），洛杉矶国王队27日在枪战中击败他们的卡尔加里火焰。其中一个似乎已经违背了物理定律和曲棍球的逻辑：

（对于一个更清晰的轻微的YouTube片段，头在这里。）
迈克海斯把这个突出的Forefront上Buzzfeed周三，它真的是见鬼的事情。在第一期，一个权力游戏，Jarome Iginla（笔记）爆炸从左侧球。网站使保存，但它滴滴通过，似乎飞向球门线...在突然作出右转离开折痕。
国王队主教练特里穆雷在赛后甚至引用它：“在第一阶段，我知道（Jarome）Iginla的一个计时器限制，也是很好的保存，也许我见过常年了。”

回，并在右边。回，并在右边。回，并在右边。这是一个神奇的loogie。
因此，究竟是什么？一种错觉？检查出的官方游戏的38秒大关强调这似乎表明了冰球可能已经快速的棒了，但现在还不清楚：

奇怪的自旋对冰球？露丝在冰？哈迪森鬼的Kadeem帮助国王队取胜的罚款作为第六人杀死的世界杯？
不，真的，只有一个很好的解释，认为这是Jonathan Quick是泰合志恒谁可以控制他的思想的东西。请给这个人Vezina杯之前，他让你的大脑一样流行“扫描仪”。

Jonathan Sitio puede, de hecho, con sus duendes maliciosos de control mental

Hubo 111 Guarda hecho por cinco porteros diferentes en la NHL en la noche del lunes. Jonathan Quick (notas) de los Kings de Los Ángeles hicieron 27 de ellos en la tanda de ganar contra los Calgary Flames. Uno de ellos parece haber desafiado las leyes de la física y la lógica de hockey:

(Para un poco más claro clip de YouTube, la cabeza aquí.)
Mike Hayes interpuso el presente para resaltar el miércoles Forefront en Buzzfeed, y es realmente un heck de una cosa. En el primer período y en un juego de poder, Jarome Iginla (notas) explosiones el disco desde el lado derecho. Sitio hace el salve, pero se escurre a través y parece dirigirse hacia la línea de gol ... ANTES de repente haciendo un giro a la derecha y dejar el pliegue.
Entrenador de los Kings Terry Murray aún se hace referencia en la posterior al partido: "En el primer período, lo sé (Jarome) limitar Iginla de un temporizador que fue tan buena la salvedad de que tal vez yo he visto durante todo el año."

Atrás y hacia la derecha. Atrás y hacia la derecha. Atrás y hacia la derecha. Esa es una flema magia.
Entonces, ¿qué era? Una ilusión óptica? Echa un vistazo a la marca de 38 segundos del juego oficial pone de relieve que parece indicar que el disco puede haber salido de palo rápido, pero no está claro:

Extraño giro en el disco? Ruth estaba en el hielo? El fantasma de Kadeem Hardison Ayudar a los Reyes a ganar la Copa como el sexto hombre de la pena de muerte?
No, en realidad, sólo hay una buena explicación, que ¿Cuál es Jonathan Quick es un telépata que puede controlar las cosas con su mente. Por favor, a este hombre el Trofeo Vezina ANTES de que hace que su cerebro pop como en "Scanners".

USB Basketball Desktop Dunk Game

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:51:00 +0000

You may not be able to dunk a basketball on a real court, but you can with this USB Basketball Desktop Dunk Game. In the United States we are in the middle of March Madness, which is the NCAA (college) basketball championship tournament. Catch the March Madness spirit from the comfort of your own computer desk with this USB basketball game.

This USB Basketball Desktop Dunk Game is very similar to this Basketball Game we blogged about a long time ago, but that one doesn’t seem to be available any more. Some of the buttons and displays are moved around, and it appears to be lacking the color decals of the old model, but it appears the functionality remains the same. You toss the mini basketball into the little net, and it keeps track of the score and rewards you with sound effects.

The USB Basketball Desktop Dunk Game is available for $26.95 at Gadgets and Gear.

Agent Selection Scenarios: Duke Basketball

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 16:43:00 +0000

Duke is always a lock to make the NCAA Tournament and usually a good team to pick making the Final Four in your office pool. The school also churns out plenty of talented players who have long, successful careers in the NBA. Here are some names of Duke alumni who have played professionally, along with their agents of record.

Grant Hill – James Tanner (Williams & Connolly)
Christian Laettner – Lon Babby (Williams & Connolly). Babby is now the President of Basketball Operations for the Phoenix Suns.
Elton Brand – David Falk (FAME)
Shane Battier – James Tanner (Williams & Connolly)
Carlos Boozer – Rob Pelinka (Landmark Sports Agency)
Chris Duhon – Kevin Bradbury (BDA Sports)
Mike Dunleavy – Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Dahntay Jones – Aaron Mintz (Priority Sports)
Daniel Ewing – Thad Foucher (Wasserman Media Group)
J.J. Redick - Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Shelden Williams - Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Corey Maggette - Rob Pelinka (Landmark Sports Agency)
Luol Deng – Jason Levien (LSR). Levien became general counsel and assistant GM of the Sacramento Kings and it is likely that Deng has either hired a new agent or is still in the market for one.
Josh McRoberts - Bob Myers (Wasserman Media Group)
This year, the #1 overall pick in the NBA Draft could be coming out of Duke. Kyrie Irving is projected to be one of the top picks in the Draft. The talented freshman suffered a toe injury that has kept him out of much of this season. Other Blue Devils expected to be selected are seniors Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler. It is assumed that Smith will go ahead of Singler. If Mason Plumlee decides to leave early, he could be a first rounder.

Looking at the list of Duke players along with their agents, Wasserman Media Group stands out from the pack. Tellem, Myers, and Foucher do work! And they also have B.J. Armstrong to assist in recruiting. If you are not one of the big name agencies, it is doubtful that you have a shot securing a top Blue Devil. Good luck competing against WMG, BDA, Landmark, FAME, Priority Sports, and Williams & Connolly (who takes more of a “lawyer approach” and charges by the hour up to a certain percentage of the player’s contract).

紳士的選擇方案：杜克大學籃球

杜克始終是一個鎖，使NCAA錦標賽，通常一個好的團隊來接使四強在你的辦公室池。學校還批量地生產出大量的有天賦的球員誰長，在NBA成功的職業生涯。這裡有一些名字杜克校友誰發揮專業，以及他們的代理人的記錄。

希爾 - 詹姆斯坦納（威廉姆斯和康諾利）
基督教萊特納 - 巴比（威廉姆斯和康諾利）。雛鳥哩現在是籃球運營總裁的菲尼克斯太陽隊。
布蘭德 - 大衛福爾克（名譽）
巴蒂爾 - 詹姆斯坦納（威廉姆斯和康諾利）
卡洛斯布澤爾 - 羅布 Pelinka（地標體育局）
杜洪 - 凱文布拉德伯里（北京經濟技術開發區體育）
鄧利維 - 阿恩Tellem（Wasserman媒體集團）
Dahntay瓊斯 - 阿倫明茨（優先權體育）
丹尼爾尤因 - 薩德 Foucher（Wasserman媒體集團）
J.J.雷迪克 - 阿恩Tellem（Wasserman媒體集團）
謝爾爾登威廉姆斯 - 阿恩Tellem（Wasserman媒體集團）
馬蓋蒂 - 羅布 Pelinka（地標體育局）
羅爾鄧賈森 - 萊維恩（LSR的）。萊維恩成為總法律顧問兼總經理助理的薩克拉門托國王隊，這是鄧小平有可能要么聘請了一位新的代理或仍然在市場之一。
喬希麥克羅伯茨 - 鮑勃邁爾斯（Wasserman媒體集團）
今年，＃1順位選中，在NBA選秀可以走出公爵。主啊，歐文預計為首選之一，在該草案。天才大一遭受了腳趾受傷，他一直保持了本賽季的大部分。其他藍魔預計將所選的老人諾蘭史密斯和凱爾辛格勒。據推測，史密斯將提前辛格勒。如果梅森普拉姆利決定提前離開，他可能是第一個圓。

望著公爵的球員名單以及他們的代理人，Wasserman媒體集團脫穎而出的不二法門。 Tellem，邁爾斯和Foucher做的工作！而且他們也有北京阿姆斯特朗協助招聘。如果你是不是一個名字的大機構，這是令人懷疑你有一個鏡頭保護一頂藍色魔鬼。祝你好運同台競技渥達營銷集團，北京經濟技術開發區，置地廣場，名譽，優先體育，威廉姆斯和康諾利（誰需要更多的是“律師辦法”按小時收費達到一定比例的球員的合同）。
สถานการณ์การเลือก Gent : Duke บาสเกตบอล

Duke เสมอล็อคเพื่อให้ NCAA Tournament และมักจะเลือกทีมที่ดีที่จะทำให้ Final โฟร์ในสระว่ายน้ำที่ทำงานของคุณ โรงเรียนยัง churns ออกมากมายของผู้เล่นที่มีความสามารถที่มีความยาวอาชีพที่ประสบความสำเร็จในเอ็นบีเอ ที่นี่ชื่อบางส่วนของศิษย์เก่าที่มี Duke เล่นมืออาชีพพร้อมกับตัวแทนของการบันทึกเป็น

แกรนท์ฮิลล์ -- Tanner James (วิลเลียมส์และ Connolly)
Laettner คริสเตียน -- Babby Lon (วิลเลียมส์และ Connolly) Babby ขณะนี้กรรมการผู้จัดการใหญ่การดำเนินการของบาสเก็ตสำหรับซันฟินิคซ
ยี่ห้อเอลตัน -- Falk ดาวิด (เกียรติคุณ)
Shane Battier -- Tanner James (วิลเลียมส์และ Connolly)
Carlos Boozer -- Pelinka Rob (Landmark กีฬา Agency)
Duhon คริส -- Bradbury Kevin (กีฬา BDA)
'Ñ ¹ ÅÕÇÕ ไมค์ -- Tellem ยืม (Wasserman Media Group)
Jones Dahntay -- Mintz Aaron (กีฬาลำดับความสำคัญ)
Daniel Ewing -- Foucher ทัด (Wasserman Media Group)
เจ.เจ. Redick -- Tellem ยืม (Wasserman Media Group)
วิลเลียมส์ Shelden -- Tellem ยืม (Wasserman Media Group)
Maggette Corey -- Pelinka Rob (Landmark กีฬา Agency)
เติ้ง Luol -- Levien เจสัน (LSR) Levien กลายเป็นที่ปรึกษาทั่วไปและผู้ช่วย GM ของ Kings Sacramento และมีโอกาสที่เติ้งได้ว่าจ้างทั้งตัวแทนใหม่หรือยังอยู่ในตลาดสำหรับหนึ่ง
McRoberts Josh -- ไมเยอร์ Bob (Wasserman Media Group)
ปีนี้เลือก # 1 โดยรวมใน NBA Draft อาจจะออกมาจาก Duke คีรี่ย์ Irving คาดว่าจะเป็นหนึ่งในด้านบนเลือกโดยในร่าง น้องใหม่มีความสามารถรับความเดือดร้อนได้รับบาดเจ็บนิ้วเท้าที่มีการเก็บเขาออกของมากของฤดูกาลนี้ Blue Devils อื่น ๆ คาดว่าจะได้รับเลือกเป็นผู้สูงอายุและ Nolan Smith Kyle Singler นั้นสันนิษฐานว่าสมิ ธ จะไปข้างหน้าของ Singler หาก Mason Plumlee ตัดสินใจที่จะกลับก่อนเขาอาจจะกลมแรก

มองดูรายชื่อของผู้เล่น Duke พร้อมกับตัวแทนของพวกเขา, Wasserman Media Group ยืนออกจากแพ็ค Tellem, ไมเยอร์ส, และ Foucher ทำงาน! และพวกเขายังมี BJ Armstrong เพื่อช่วยในการรับสมัคร ถ้าคุณไม่ได้หนึ่งในหน่วยงานที่ชื่อใหญ่ก็เป็นหนี้สงสัยจะสูญที่คุณได้ถ่ายภาพการรักษาความปลอดภัยบน Blue Devil ขอให้โชคดีจากการแข่งขันกับ WMG, BDA, Landmark, ชื่อเสียงลำดับความสำคัญกีฬาและวิลเลียมส์และ Connolly (ซึ่งจะใช้เวลามากกว่าวิธีการ"ทนายความ"และค่าใช้จ่ายเป็นรายชั่วโมงได้ถึงอัตราร้อยละของการทำสัญญาของผู้เล่น
gent Keuse Scenarios: Duke Basketball

Duke is altyd 'n slot die NCAA Toernooi en gewoonlik' n goeie span te maak om af te haal om die laaste vier in jou kantoor swembad. Die skool churns ook uit baie van die talentvolle spelers wat lang, suksesvolle beroepe in die NBA het. Hier is 'n paar name van Duke alumni wat professioneel gespeel het, saam met hul agente van die rekord.

Grant Hill - James Tanner (Williams & Connolly)
Christian Laettner - Lon babby (Williams & Connolly). Babby is nou die voorsitter van Basketball bedrywighede vir die Phoenix Suns.
Elton Brand - David Falk (FAME)
Shane Battier - James Tanner (Williams & Connolly)
Carlos Boozer - Rob Pelinka (Landmark Sport Agency)
Chris Duhon - Kevin Bradbury (BDA Sport)
Mike Dunleavy - Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Dahntay Jones - Aaron Mintz (Prioriteit Sport)
Daniel Ewing - Thad Foucher (Wasserman Media Group)
J.J. Redick - Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Shelden Williams - Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Corey Maggette - Rob Pelinka (Landmark Sport Agency)
Luol Deng - Jason Levien (LSR). Levien het algemene raad en assistent GM van die Sacramento Kings en dit is waarskynlik dat Deng óf gehuur het 'n nuwe agent of is nog in die mark vir een.
Josh McRoberts - Bob Myers (Wasserman Media Group)
Hierdie jaar is, kan die # 1 algehele pluk in die NBA Ontwerp kom uit Duke. Kyrie Irving word geprojekteer om een van die top optel in die Konsep. Die talentvolle onbekende slagoffer van 'n toe besering wat hom uit gehou van baie van hierdie seisoen. Ander Blue Devils verwag om gekies te word is seniors Nolan Smith en Kyle enkelresidensiële. Daar word aanvaar dat Smith sal voor enkelresidensiële gaan. As Mason Plumlee besluit om vroeg die lokaal verlaat, kon hy 'n eerste rounder word.

Kyk na die lys van Duke spelers saam met hul agente, Wasserman Media Groep staan uit van die pakket. Tellem, Myers, en Foucher doen die werk! En hulle het ook BJ Armstrong te help in die werwing. As jy nie een van die groot naam agentskappe, is dit onwaarskynlik dat jy 'n skoot beveiliging van' n top Blue Devil. Sterkte meeding teen WMG, BDA, Landmark, roem, voorrang Sports, en Williams & Connolly (wat meer van 'n "prokureur benadering" en heffings neem deur die uur tot' n sekere persentasie van die speler se kontrak).
Gent Výběr Scénáře: Duke Basketbal

Duke je vždy zámek, aby se NCAA Tournament a obvykle dobrý tým vybrat dělat Final Four ve vaší kanceláři bazénu. Škola také víří ven spoustu talentovaných hráčů, kteří mají dlouhé, úspěšné kariéry v NBA. Zde jsou některá jména absolventů Duke, kteří hráli profesionálně, spolu s jejich agenty záznamu.

Grant Hill - James Tanner (Williams & Connolly)
Křesťanské Laettner - Lon Babby (Williams & Connolly). Babby je nyní prezident operací košíkové pro Phoenix Suns.
Elton Brand - David Falk (FAME)
Shane Battier - James Tanner (Williams & Connolly)
Carlos Boozer - Rob Pelinka (památka sportovní agentury)
Chris Duhon - Kevin Bradbury (BDA Sport)
Mike Dunleavy - Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Dahntay Jones - Aaron Mintz (prioritní sporty)
Daniel Ewing - Thad Foucher (Wasserman Media Group)
J.J. Redick - Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Shelden Williams - Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Corey Maggette - Rob Pelinka (památka sportovní agentury)
Luol Deng - Jason Levien (LSR). Levien se stal generální rada a asistent GM Sacramento Kings a je pravděpodobné, že Deng má buď najal nového agenta, nebo je stále na trhu jeden.
Josh McRoberts - Bob Myers (Wasserman Media Group)
V letošním roce by # 1 celkový výběr v NBA návrhu, že přichází z Duke. Kyrie Irving je projektován být jedním z nejlepších vybere v návrhu. Talentovaný nováček utrpěl zranění nohy, které drží ho z velké části této sezóny. Ostatní Blue Devils očekává, že budou vybrány, jsou senioři Nolan Smith a Kyle Singler. Předpokládá se, že Smith bude pokračovat v Singler. Pokud Mason Plumlee rozhodne odejít brzy, mohl by být první kulatější.

Při pohledu na seznam hráčů Duke spolu s jejich agenty, Wasserman Media Group vyčnívá z obalu. Tellem, Myers, a Foucher do práce! A oni také mají BJ Armstrong pomáhat při náboru. Pokud nejste jedním z velké jméno agentury, je sporné, zda máte šanci zajistit top Blue Devil. Hodně štěstí soutěžení proti WMG, BDA, Landmark, FAME, prioritní sporty, a Williams & Connolly (kdo má víc "právník přístup" a poplatky za hodinu až do určité procento smlouvy hráče).
Gent Scenarios Val: Duke Basketball

Duke er alltaf að læsa að gera NCAA Mót og yfirleitt gott lið til að velja að gera Final Four í sundlauginni skrifstofu. Skólinn churns líka út fullt af hæfileikaríku leikmenn sem hafa lengi, árangursrík störf í NBA. Hér eru nokkur nöfn af Duke Nemendur sem hafa spilað faglega, ásamt lyfjum þeirra met.

Grant Hill - James Tanner (Williams & Connolly)
Christian Laettner - Lon Babby (Williams & Connolly). Babby er nú forseti Aðgerðir Basketball fyrir Phoenix Suns.
Elton Brand - David Falk (FAME)
Shane Battier - James Tanner (Williams & Connolly)
Carlos Boozer - Rob Pelinka (Landmark Sports Agency)
Chris Duhon - Kevin Bradbury (BDA Sports)
Mike Dunleavy - Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Dahntay Jones - Aaron Mintz (Forgangur Sports)
Daniel Ewing - Thad Foucher (Wasserman Media Group)
J.J. Redick - Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Shelden Williams - Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Corey Maggette - Rob Pelinka (Landmark Sports Agency)
Luol Deng - Jason Levien (LSR). Levien varð lögfræðingur og aðstoðarmaður GM í Sacramento Kings og það er líklegt að Deng hefur annaðhvort ráðið nýja umboðsmanni eða er enn á markaðnum fyrir einn.
Josh McRoberts - Bob Myers (Wasserman Media Group)
Á þessu ári, á # 1 heild velja í NBA Draft gæti verið að koma út af Duke. Kyrie Irving er ráð fyrir að vera einn af the toppur leikir í Draft. Hæfileikaríkur freshman þola tá meiðslum sem hafa haldið honum út mikið af þessu tímabili. Aðrar Blue Devils gert ráð fyrir að valdir eldri Nolan Smith og Kyle Singler. Það er gert ráð fyrir að Smith mun fara á undan Singler. Ef Mason Plumlee ákveður að fara snemma, hann gæti verið fyrsta vaktmaður.

Ef litið er á lista yfir Duke leikmenn ásamt umboðsmönnum þeirra, Wasserman Media Group sker sig úr umbúðunum. Tellem, Myers og Foucher virka! Og þeir hafa einnig BJ Armstrong að aðstoða við að ráða. Ef þú ert ekki einn af stóru stofnunum nafn, það er vafasamt að þú sért með skot tryggja topp Blue Devil. Gangi þér vel að keppa á móti WMG, BDA, Landmark, FAME, Forgangur Íþróttir og Williams & Connolly (sem tekur meira um "lögfræðingur nálgun" og gjöld eftir klukkustund upp að tiltekið hlutfall af samningi leikmannsins).
Uchaguzi EASE Matukio: Duke Basketball

Duke daima ni lock kufanya mashindano ya NCAA na kawaida ya timu nzuri ya kuchukua maamuzi ya nne ya mwisho katika ofisi pool yako. Shule pia churns nje mengi ya wachezaji wenye vipaji ambao kwa muda mrefu, mafanikio ya kazi katika NBA. Hapa ni baadhi ya majina ya Mbegu Duke ambao alicheza kitaaluma, pamoja na mawakala wao wa kumbukumbu.

Ruzuku Hill - James Tanner (Williams & Connolly)
Christian Laettner - Babby asab (Williams & Connolly). Babby sasa ni Rais wa Uendeshaji kwa ajili ya mpira wa kikapu ya Phoenix Suns.
Elton Brand - Daudi Falk (Fame)
Shane Battier - James Tanner (Williams & Connolly)
Carlos Boozer - Rob Pelinka (Landmark Sports Agency)
Chris Duhon - Kevin Bradbury (BDA Sports)
Mike Dunleavy - ARN Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Dahntay Jones - Haruni Mintz (Kipaumbele Sports)
Daniel Ewing - Thad Foucher (Wasserman Media Group)
J.J. Redick - ARN Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Shelden Williams - ARN Tellem (Wasserman Media Group)
Corey Maggette - Rob Pelinka (Landmark Sports Agency)
Luol Deng - Jason Levien (LSR). Levien akawa shauri ujumla na GM msaidizi wa Sacramento Kings na kuna uwezekano kwamba Deng ina ama wafanyakazi wakala mpya au bado katika soko kwa moja.
Josh McRoberts - Myers Bob (Wasserman Media Group)
Mwaka huu, pick # 1 kwa ujumla katika NBA Draft inaweza kuja nje ya Duke. Irving Kyrie yanatarajiwa kuwa moja ya tar ya juu katika Draft. Ya Freshman vipaji mateso ya kuumia toe kwamba naendelea naye nje ya kiasi ya msimu huu. Nyingine Blue Devils inatarajiwa kuwa kuchaguliwa ni wazee Nolan Smith na Kyle Singler. Ni kudhani kuwa Smith kwenda mbele ya Singler. Kama Mason Plumlee anaamua kuondoka mapema, yeye anaweza kuwa rounder kwanza.

Kuangalia orodha ya wachezaji Duke pamoja na mawakala wao, Wasserman Media Group anasimama nje kutoka pakiti. Tellem, Myers, na Foucher kufanya kazi! Na wao pia wana BJ Armstrong kusaidia katika kuajiri. Kama wewe ni moja ya mashirika makubwa ya jina, ni mashaka kwamba wewe ni risasi ya juu kupata Blue Ibilisi.Bahati nzuri kushindana dhidi WMG, BDA, Landmark, Fame, kipaumbele Michezo, na Williams & Connolly (ambaye anachukua zaidi ya "mbinu mwanasheria" na mashtaka kwa saa moja hadi asilimia fulani ya mkataba na mchezaji wa).

Evelyn Lozada -- I'm QUITTING 'Basketball Wives

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:26:00 +0000

"Basketball Wives" star Evelyn Lozada claims she was stabbed in the back by producers and wants to leave the show for good ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to the reality star tell us ... Evelyn feels producers violated her trust by allegedly divulging sensitive information about an illicit relationship she had in the past.

We're told Evelyn believes producers leaked the information to a female cast member in an effort to incite a violent confrontation between the two women on the show.

We're told Evelyn feels completely betrayed and even fired off an email to producers last night ... saying she wants to leave the show for good.

So far, no official comment from Evelyn.

See also
'Basketball Wives' -- Chris Bosh Boxes Out Baby Mama
NBA Star's Baby Mama Tapped for 'Basketball Wives'
Bball 'Wife' Whistled for Boredom -- Getting Bounced?

Watch Pittsburgh vs Villanova live free NCAA Basketball on your internet TV 5th March 201

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:37:00 +0000

Enjoy the most competitive NCAA Basketball match between Pittsburgh vs Villanova live online on your PC. This is the best online sports coverage TV. You can watch all the matches of the season live by using this online sports TV 5th March 2011. You should not waste time by searching any other way.rugby, tennis, golf, etc.Hello Man Do not Miss the big game!Salara tv kina bath dila keno.aj na kinle bash debo bujesis salara!

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Wes Leonard Dies: High School Basketball Player Collapses After Game-Winning Shot

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 00:17:00 +0000

Idea FOr RigHt Coaching..

FENNVILLE, Mich. — One moment: a perfect shot to end a perfect season. The star player, just 16, lifted off the floor in celebration. Teenagers triumphant, crowds cheering, the district playoffs ahead, the future open wide.

The next: Wes Leonard on the gym floor, his enlarged heart failing, his life fading just a few moments after his victory layup. Packed bleachers suddenly stunned by an event that made basketball seem a distant, unimportant memory.

A day after Leonard died from an enlarged heart, this small town near Lake Michigan remembered an "all-American kid" whose athletic heroics had been local legend since middle school, when opposing coaches sometimes asked to see his birth certificate, not believing someone so young could be so skilled.

"He was a good kid, a good friend to have and a good person to hang around with," DeMarcus McGee, who played football and basketball with Leonard, said between sobs. "You never thought it could be him. He was so healthy. It shouldn't happen."

On Thursday evening, Leonard sent the ball through the hoop from close range with less than 30 seconds left in the game. The final shot gave Fennville High a 57-55 victory over Bridgman High and a 20-0 regular season.

After the teams exchanged handshakes, Fennville players celebrated. Some began scrambling to organize a team photo that would commemorate their undefeated record. That's when the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Leonard collapsed, with an estimated 1,400 fans watching.

"Thirty seconds earlier, he was laying in the winning bucket," said Ryan Klingler, basketball coach in Fennville, about 200 miles west of Detroit. "And then 10 seconds later ... everything's pulled out from under you, from out of nowhere."

Leonard was rushed to nearby Holland Hospital, where paramedics performed CPR before he was pronounced dead. An autopsy conducted Friday by the Ottawa County medical examiner showed Leonard died of cardiac arrest due to an enlarged heart.

"It shouldn't have been like this," teammate Adam Siegel said. "Too young."

Fantasy Basketball: Tarnished Tuesdays

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 09:49:00 +0000

Last week the big news in the NBA was the massive amount of trading going on throughout the league. This week the news is unfortunately related to injuries. The former Mr. Eva Longoria, Tony Parker, is out for the next 2-4 weeks after injuring his calf against the Grizzlies on Sunday Night. George Hill should take over the starting duties in the meantime and makes for an excellent pickup as a source of 3's, steals, points, rebounds (for a PG) and assists. He should be able to resemble at least a poor man's Tony Parker while the Spurs' star PG nurses his calf injury.

The Cavs' Antawn Jamison fractured his left pinkie finger on Sunday and is reportedly out for the season, per the Associated Press. Another devastating blow for both the embattled franchise and its fans. Neither of Jamison's replacements should do anything notable. Samardo Samuels is too raw to recommend as a viable replacement. If anything, I'd say the streaky JJ Hickson could be in line for more minutes.

More injury news after the jump...

The Milwaukee Bucks just got hit with the injury bug fairly hard as Ersan Ilyasova and Andrew Bogut are both out for Tuesday's game at least. Ilyasova suffered a bad concussion on Friday, so he's out indefinitely. Head issues are very tricky, and teams need to be careful with them. Bogut injured his ribs in Saturday's game against the Bulls, and it appears he's resting short-term. Keep an eye on the injury-prone Center as he has battled injuries his whole career. He should be back shortly. In the meantime, Larry Sanders and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute make intriguing plays tonight.

The Los Angeles Clippers also have some injury concerns. The injured Mo Williams played on Monday and actually banished Eric Bledsoe to the bench. Williams is the new starting PG in LA, but he re-injured his ankle last night. The ankle doesn't appear to be serious, but if it lingers, Bledsoe is a nice play. Excellent news awaits the Clippers: Eric Gordon is nearing a return. Bad news awaits Randy Foye: Eric Gordon is nearing a return. Foye has been a beast as the team's starting SG and may play heavily while Gordon is eased into the lineup, but it doesn't look good for Foye in the near future. Gordon should be back on Wednesday. Get him in all lineups!

The King's Tyreke Evans is currently in a walking boot and will remain in one for at least two weeks. When he should return is big question mark depending on the play of Jermaine Taylor and Marcus Thornton, both of whom are playing well in Evans' absence. Thornton, who I touted yesterday, blew up for 29 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and a block in a win over the Clippers Monday Night. Evans won't be rushed back as long as Thornton performs like this. If you're an Evans owner, make sure you have Thornton rostered.

Bad break (no pun intended) for the newly acquired Danillo Gallinari of the Denver Nuggets. The sharpshooter from Italy fractured his toe and is expected to miss the next 7-10 days. Wilson Chandler, his former teammate in New York, will assume Gallinari's minutes and is an excellent play in that timespan. People are down on Chandler since he left New York. Don't be one of them.

Deron Williams is nursing a wrist injury, but you wouldn't know that judging by the assist totals he's put up as a Net. He even put up a season-high 18 assists on Monday, but watch the injury report daily; the injury could flare up at anytime due to his constant usage of the wrist.

Watch the Atlanta Hawks this week. They could be without two starters early on, or they could be back to full-strength by tomorrow. Kirk Hinrich sat out Monday's game due to a wrist injury (caught me off-guard, otherwise I would've mentioned it in yesterday's column), and Josh Smith injured the sprained right MCL in his knee. Smith is currently day-to-day and even had his MRI cancelled (good news!!). It appears Smith will diagnose himself and determine if he's ready based on how his knee is feeling. In Hinrich's absence, promising PG Jeff Teague started, but he struggled putting up 7 points, 6 rebounds and a disappointed one assist. I wouldn't recommend Teague as Joe Johnson may even steal PG minutes from him with Jamal Crawford stepping in at SG.

Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Dear Dan Owens

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 09:47:00 +0000

Dear Mr. Owens:

As Captain James Tiberius Kirk said to Commander Kruge in Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock, "I have had enough of you."

Your latest attempt to rabble-rouse for the Kentucky Derby Festival Classic has crossed the line from advocacy into an intolerable display of bad manners and worse sportsmanship. I am not inclined to rebuke your every utterance, but will you kindly, for the love of the game and its sponsors, stop trying to set Kentucky fans against each other, and stop trying to frighten UK's recruiting class into thinking that the Bluegrass is full of madmen with nothing better to do than attack the quite rational decision of young men and their families?

Many Kentucky fans in Louisville, like myself who have lived here since 1988, have attended the Kentucky Derby Festival Classic game many times. I have personally had a relationship with the KDF Classic on other projects, a relationship I value and appreciate. I love the Kentucky Derby Festival, the basketball game, and the excitement it generates in the River City.

What I do not love is your continued unethical offensive on the University of Kentucky for not having players attend this year's game, at least so far. Your outright attacks on the University in general and Head Coach John Calipari in particular are reprehensible, over the top, and utterly odious. Every Kentucky fan in the city, including me, would rather have a Kentucky player on the KDF Classic roster. At this point, every one of us will be disappointed. But that doesn't mean we won't attend the game.

John Calipari has continually told you and anyone who would listen that he isn't interested in involving himself in the decisions of our 2011 recruits. Whether or not he ever did so before is utterly and completely irrelevant, and at minimum, decorum requires that you accept his decision whether or not you agree with it. You have previously made your disagreement publicly known. When is enough enough?

Mr. Owens, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported today that you referred to former NBA star Michael Jordan, presumably in connection with the Jordan Brand Classic, thus, in an email to the University of Kentucky:

Regarding Jordan, Owens wrote, “He plays golf, gambles and butchers the King's English.”

Whether or not this is true is irrelevant. It is offensive ... no, unconscionable ... for an official involved with a class affair like the KDF Classic to attack another event in this way. This is the sort of rhetoric I have come to associate with the worst kind of sports fans and political hacks.

This reference to John Calipari is also far beyond offensive:

Owens also referred to Calipari associate William Wesley, also known in basketball circles as “World Wide Wes,” and his relationship with Gilchrist and Gilchrist's mother. Owens later sent an e-mail that he said was “a retraction of any false or defamatory comments.”

Mr. Owens, the familial relationships of the Gilchrist family are none of your bloody business, sir. Retracting your comments does not remove them, especially when what is required is an abject, self-abasing apology for this execrable rhetoric.

I regret having to say this, Mr. Owens, but in your zeal, you have beclowned yourself, and embarrassed the Classic and the Kentucky Derby Festival, and arguably the city of Louisville and Commonwealth of Kentucky. At minimum, I call on you to make a sincere and public act of contrition for this insensitive, narcissistic and utterly bellicose behavior.

Worst to First: The Anatomy of Basketball Redemption

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:13:00 +0000

New coach Nate Thornhill (wearing hat) has guided the Harry Van Arsdale basketball team to a 12-2 record and a playoff berth a year after the Cardinals finished 4-10. (Evan MacDonald/The Brooklyn Ink)
By Evan MacDonald
This is the story of a team that used to stink.
Last year, the Harry Van Arsdale boys’ basketball team in Williamsburg finished a woeful 4-10, nowhere close to a playoff berth. They were a lousy 7-35 over the past three seasons.
Then things began to change.
This year, the Cardinals are 12-2 entering the postseason. Under a new coach and a new understanding of what it means to be part of a team, many of the same players from those losing teams have changed not only the way they play on the court, but also the way they conduct themselves off it. They’ve helped Van Arsdale qualify for the postseason for the first time in years.
This is the story of how it happened.
The Coach
Nathan Thornhill is 25 years old. He’s not quite 6 feet tall, and he’s slender. He wears glasses, and has a neatly trimmed beard. Thornhill looks youthful; he could pass for one of the Cardinals’ players if he wore a uniform. He graduated in 2007 from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, where he was a basketball player and track and field star. He studied abroad in Argentina during his junior year in 2006, where he played semi-pro basketball for Ciudad de Buenos Aires.
Upon graduating, he relocated to Brooklyn, where he became a Spanish teacher and an assistant boys’ varsity basketball coach at Van Arsdale High School. He got a chance to watch those mediocre teams, and he wasn’t impressed. The losses weren’t the worst part, he says; it was what he saw in the team that really bothered him. He saw a group of players who expected to lose.
“The last three years, we just weren’t very confident,” Thornhill says. “You could just see it in the way we played and in our energy. We just expected to lose.”
When the school year began last fall, Thornhill was preparing for another year as an assistant coach. But then he heard that the previous coach, Adam Lustig, was stepping down to pursue a graduate degree, which he couldn’t do while coaching the team. So Thornhill, who was already the coach of the school’s cross country and outdoor track teams, decided to apply for the job. After writing to the school’s athletic director to express a formal interest in the position, he was hired.
In October, Thornhill called a team meeting. He knew it wasn’t going to be just any team meeting. He was making changes, especially to the culture of the team.
“I had the pleasure of playing college basketball,” he says. “So I figured I would coach them like they were a college team.”
It was a dress-for-success approach, so to speak, but it meant things were going to be serious. His goal, he says, was to come off like a jerk and let the players know he meant business. He was stern throughout, and set forth a list of expectations. He strongly encouraged players to join the cross-country team and required them to run three miles each day in order to be in better shape for basketball season. He also let them know he wasn’t limiting his approach to the basketball court; he mandated that they attend study hall every day after school. And then he dropped the biggest bomb of all: He told them that none of the players who were on last year’s team were guaranteed spots on this year’s roster.
To the players, the meeting was a little jarring. Players who knew Thornhill from his time as an assistant said they knew he was stern, but didn’t expect rules like this. Leonel Familia, who had just transferred to the school from nearby Bishop Loughlin High School in Fort Greene, sums up the team’s reactions succinctly.
“We were scared,” he says.
Thornhill was telling his players that they needed to commit themselves to the team or risk being cut. But that meeting would set in motion the events that led to a transformative season.
The Turnaround Season in Sports
Van Arsdale’s task was a difficult one, but hardly unique. Many teams — high school, college, and professional — have experienced quick reversals of their fortunes.
The 1980 Boston Celtics, after drafting Larry Bird, finished 61-21, a 40-game improvement, and advanced to the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals. In 1991, the World Series featured the American League’s Minnesota Twins and National League’s Atlanta Braves, two teams that had finished last in their respective divisions the year before. The 1999 St. Louis Rams, after finishing last in football’s NFC West the previous season, rallied behind quarterback Kurt Warner en route to a 13-3 season and an improbable Super Bowl victory.
And the 1969 New York Mets, a perennial doormat in baseball’s National League since their inaugural season in 1962, finished 100-62, a 27-game improvement over their 1968 record, en route to the franchise’s first world championship with an upset victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. That turnaround was credited as much to their starting pitching as it was to their demanding second-year manager, Gil Hodges.
The Seeds of Change
From the moment that initial team meeting ended, Thornhill set about doing what many coaches aspire to do, but very few succeed in doing: He started to change the culture and attitude of Cardinals basketball. He knew it wouldn’t be easy. He wanted to instill order, discipline, and a sense of camaraderie. Not easy with a group of teenage boys.
As a player, Thornhill was a hard worker, and he knew the value of approaching basketball that way. He understood that you couldn’t get by on talent alone, and that the only way to be successful was to have that approach not just on the court, but also in school and in life. Always being in that frame of mind, he says, forces it to become a habit.
“I feel like the success of this team isn’t necessarily basketball-related. It isn’t because we’re talented, as much as we’d like to think that,” he says. “It’s about effort and hard work. Hard work on the basketball court is directly related to hard work in the classroom.”
Once practices began in December, Thornhill surprised the players once again by informing them that minutes would be allotted based on a player’s effort in practice. It didn’t matter if a player was the best scorer on the team, or the tallest player. If that player didn’t want to run and work hard, he simply wouldn’t play.
The relentless internal competition was difficult at first for the players. They now say everyone was practicing even harder to win minutes. Players often came close to blows, and regularly argued with each other.
“We’d be going so hard, pushing each other,” senior guard Joshua Manners says. “At the beginning of the season, people were so competitive that they wanted to fight.”
For the players, though, the transition worked because they were so hungry to play on a winning team. Last season, a player had quit the team, and the attitude was generally less serious. So although Thornhill’s new rules were surprising, there was no fighting back. Players were in such a malaise the past few seasons that they were willing to try anything to be successful.
Thornhill did have one advantage: His team had talent. Familia, a junior forward and one of the team’s captains, played in the post and had a nice shooting touch from the wing. And he could take charge.
“Leo is a very vocal leader,” Thornhill says. “He has the ability to analyze the game. He just sees the game of basketball very well.”
The other captain was point guard Jesus Pacheco, a senior. Thornhill says Pacheco is at his best leading the team through his sometimes-cocky attitude, which is evident in the way he plays and practices. He isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and never backs down from a challenge.
“Jesus is very, very confident,” Thornhill says. “Sometimes you even have to tell him to tone it down a little bit.”
Others, like Manners, Ayars, junior forward Raheim Lawson, senior guard Malik Clark, and senior guard Korede Griffith gave the team a solid group of scorers.
It did not take long after practices began for the players to sense an improvement. Still, the Cardinals couldn’t be sure they were really getting better. In practice, they were only playing against each other. Without competition they didn’t have a way to measure their progress. They didn’t have games to look to for concrete evidence of their skills.
They finally got the chance in their first two preseason scrimmages in December, the first against Bushwick and the second against traditional power Christ the King. The players were eager to see how much they had progressed, but even they were surprised by how things turned out. The Cardinals crushed Bushwick. Then they beat Christ the King.
“After those two,” Familia says, “we knew we were unstoppable.”
Buoyed by their early success, the team opened the season by running off six straight victories before finally falling to rival Grand Street High School on December 17. It was a loss that didn’t sit well with the Cardinals.
“We’d go home and read posts on Facebook about how we lost to them,” Familia says. “When we fell to 6-1, their crowd started chanting at us. But we beat ourselves that game. We shot 17-for-42 at the free throw line.”
But there were lessons in that loss, and the Cardinals didn’t let it become a major setback. They looked at the things they did wrong — the missed free throws, turnovers, and poor defensive rotations — and improved them in practice. The team became stronger. It was a theme that would define the Cardinals’ entire season.
The Psychology of the Turnaround
For the players, the most important thing about this season has been their relationships with each other. The players responded to Thornhill’s tough practices and stringent rules, and bonded together because of their shared experience. As often happens with teenage boys, fights and struggle brought them closer together.
“We have great team chemistry,” Clark says. “We know how each other plays, and the new kids fit right in.”
Thornhill was instrumental in creating that camaraderie. He took the team out for pizza after good games or scrimmages. He made them work together in the weight room, the cross-country team, and in the study halls. He even had them sleep over at his house before a tournament (with parent’s permission, of course).
One of the things that bonds his players together, he says, is their personalities. He jokingly refers to the team as a “bunch of clowns.”
“They’re always joking around,” he says with a laugh. “We’ll go out for pizza after a game, and you can’t get them to leave. They’re all sitting there ragging on each other, joking around.”
Familia said his team’s sense of humor is one of the things he likes best about being a Cardinal. “In the pizza shop, class, school, everywhere we go,” he says, “we’re always joking on each other.”
But how much does players liking one another actually bear on a team’s success? Basketball isn’t about personalities; it’s about scoring more points than the other team. It’s about execution. It’s about defense, passing, and shooting. How much would friendship really matter? According to one expert, quite a bit.
Dr. William Weiner is a clinical psychologist on New York’s Upper West Side who specializes in sports psychology. He’s been working with athletes for 15 years. He believes the most important factor in a team’s success is often chemistry.
“Chemistry is everything,” he says. “There are endless examples of teams that should be good on paper, but fail. But chemistry is essentially a function of the culture a coach instills.”
Thornhill, to that end, is serious, but he isn’t completely removed from the clowning around. While players shoot free throws at practice, he’s constantly blowing his whistle and hitting the buzzer on the scoreboard, creating loud distractions. And when a player misses, he chides them.
“Uh-oh…Spaghettios,” he says.
The players, in turn, speak of how much they enjoy playing for Thornhill. And, says Weiner, as much as players’ relationships with each other are important, their relationship with their coach can be just as crucial.
“The players need to come to believe there’s something in it for them,” he says. “There’s needs to be something in their interest, so they’re not just horses in the stable, being brought out to work.”
Thornhill has instilled a culture where players and coach care equally about each other, even more than wins and losses. The friendships are crucial. The victories are just a product of those friendships combined with hard work and a disdain for the losing seasons of the past.
“I actually feel like it’s a brotherhood,” Ayars says. “I would honestly fight for every single person on this team.”
The Rematch
After the Grand Street loss, the Cardinals reeled off wins in five of their next six games. By that point, the rest of the school had taken notice. While last year’s team only had a few fans come out to games, this year’s squad regularly plays in front of about 300 spectators in the packed Van Arsdale gymnasium. But the players don’t let it affect them.
“Nobody even takes notice,” Pacheco says of his teammates. “People from the school will come up to us and tell us, but we don’t care. We just try to stay modest.”
The players also succeeded in keeping their emotions in check, right up into the final regular-season game: a rematch against undefeated Grand Street. For the Cardinals, it was Senior Day, with posters bearing the seniors’ names adorning the Van Arsdale gymnasium. And more importantly, it was a chance for revenge.
The teams were close throughout the first half, but Grand Street took an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter. Still, the Cardinals weren’t done. They stormed back to tie the game, and eventually forced the contest into overtime. And through it all, the Cardinals players were as one.
“I was on the bench,” Ayars says. “We all had our arms locked together. We wanted to get that win.”
The Cardinals won that game behind huge shots from Griffith and Pacheco in the overtime. Familia ended it with a pair of free throws in the 60-56 victory.
When the final buzzer sounded, the noise didn’t stop. The Van Arsdale scorekeeper held the buzzer down for 10 seconds in celebration as fans swarmed the players on the court. Players took off their jerseys and swung them above their heads, relishing the moment.
On the Eve of the Playoffs
You can see the bond between the Cardinals when they practice. Practice isn’t just going through motions — Thornhill doesn’t allow slacking off. Every player works.
Throughout the drills — 3-on-2 fast breaks, full court sprints, and defensive formations — the players are lively and talkative. They let each other know when someone isn’t pulling his weight.
“Josh, you need to slide over and help,” Familia yells at Manners, his defensive partner during the 3-on-2 drill, after the two had surrendered another basket.
Thornhill is an active coach at practice. It isn’t enough to tell a player that he messed up. The only way to go about it, he says, is to tell the player how to correct his mistake.
“Yes, Josh should’ve helped, but you keep getting beat,” he tells Familia. “You need to slide down and take away the baseline.”
The approach, he explains, comes from a coach for whom he had played. That coach didn’t bother to try to correct mistakes. He simply sat his players on the bench until they improved. Thornhill is different.
“If a player doesn’t seem confident in himself, I or another coach will talk to him, but not to say that he sucks,” Thornhill said. “Just to let him know what he needs to do in order to get on the court.”
But no drill seems to get the players going more than their boxing-out drill. Thornhill places the ball at mid-court, and divides the players into two teams. The offensive team’s objective is to grab the ball within five seconds. The defensive team is supposed to stop them.
At the whistle, the offensive team’s players rush toward the ball, while the defensive team tries to box them out. Pushing and shoving is key. Plus, the players now know every trick. One offensive player, for instance, will stand behind another, creating confusion for the two defenders. Another player starts more than 15 feet away from the ball, making it easier to run by his defender.
“Let’s go, let’s go!” Pacheco shouts. “Who’s hungry?”
The losing team is forced to run sprints. But even when the Cardinals are divided, they are still together. While half of the players are running sprints, the other half of the team is on the sidelines, loudly cheering them on.
“Everybody is putting in the work,” Pacheco says. “Everybody is sweating bullets.”
The first step in the Cardinal’s transformation is complete. The team is a winner. But the playoffs begin Wednesday night and the players want to play on. They open against Staten Island’s Port Richmond Raiders, who finished 7-7 this season. The game will tip off at 5 p.m at Van Arsdale.
As he enters his first playoffs as a head coach, Thornhill has his sights set high.
“We want a banner,” he says. “There are no basketball banners on the walls here. We want to be the first.”

Fantasy Basketball: Make a Move Monday

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 11:28:00 +0000

Alan Diaz - APMore photos »
1 day ago: New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony (7) celebrates after teammate Chauncey Billups (4) scored against the Miami Heat in the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game in Miami, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011. The Knicks won 91-86. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
Anyone catch that Knicks-Heat game last night? It certainly felt like a playoff game. The atmosphere was unbelievable, and that game-saving block on LeBron James by Amare Stoudemire was pure gold for this Knicks fan. I'm sure fantasy owners were happy about that block as well. After all that's why you're here, for fantasy basketball news, right? Last week was a crazy week with regards to the trading deadline. I touched on a bunch of the trades last week, and we actually have more to discuss as some trades have strongly impacted starting rosters. This was definitely one of the craziest trade deadlines in recent memory. Big names like Gerald Wallace, Deron Williams and Carmelo Anthony found new homes. Every team in the NBA plays at least a three-game slate this week, so there should be plenty of fantasy goodness going on. Keep reading for moves to make this week...

Players affected positively from recent trades:

Marcus Thornton SG, Sacramento Kings - I mentioned the trade to the Kings when rumors were swirling on the internet. The trade did in fact take place, and Thornton is now the starting SG in Sacramento. He should post strong numbers in three-pointers and steals and should average 30 minutes or so. I'd recommend picking up Thornton and starting right away unless coach Paul Westphal (a favorite in fantasy circles) tinkers with his minutes.

Chase Budinger SF, Kyle Lowry PG & Chuck Hayes PF/C Houston Rockets - Budinger started to log more minutes even before Shane Battier was shipped out of town to Memphis. Budinger erupted for 30 and 27 points in a recent two-game stretch and will provide solid stats across the board as the starting SF. The Aaron Brooks for Goran Dragic trade with Phoenix cemented Lowry as the team's PG. Dragic may steal some minutes, but he's best-suited for a backup role as he learns the offense. Hayes, the team's starting Center, prospers with Lowry running the show. Brooks, as talented as he is, is more of a pure scorer. The big rebounder may end up averaging a double-double with a few blocks/game from this point forward. All make for great options going forward. These three plus Courtney Lee and Luis Scola should make for a formidable Rockets Team. I like all as fantasy factors.

Gerald Henderson SG, Charlotte Bobcats - The trade of Gerald Wallace for Joel Przybilla and draft picks (Really MJ, you needed a washed up aging Center??) freed up minutes for the aforementioned Henderson. Prior to February 27th against Orlando, Henderson was playing pretty well and often, even going for 22 points and 5 rebounds against a staunch Bulls defense on Feb. 15th. With Gerald Wallace out of town, Henderson has been anointed the starter, and the former Duke product makes for an intriguing pickup.

Mo Williams PG, Los Angeles Clippers - Williams becomes the Clippers' starting PG as he was dealt for the over-weight and injured Baron Davis. Williams was already averaging 7.1 assists per game for a terrible Cleveland team, and I would expect those numbers to go up from here. Williams is also an excellent three-point shooter and should hit at least 2 per game if healthy. 15.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 3.0 RPG, 1.0 SPG and 2.0 3PG seems like a reasonable expectation for the remainder of the season. I'd rank the guards involved in the trade as 1. Williams 2. Ramon Sessions 3. Baron Davis.

Chauncey Billups PG, New York Knicks - the "throw-in" to the Carmelo Anthony trade is off to a tremendous start helping the Knicks knock off the Heat in one of the season's most exciting games. Mr. Big Shot is a devastating 3-point shooter and is one of the best free-throw shooters in the league. He moves to an up-tempo offense that saw Raymond Felton previously put up a career season. I'd expect Billups to at least duplicate Felton's numbers in the short-term.

Serge Ibaka PF/C, Oklahoma City Thunder - The big man becomes the starting center as newly-acquired Kendrick Perkins is out with a strained MCL. Ibaka was already a complete monster in the blocks category. With additional minutes, he should supply even more blocks and double-digit rebounds in an Oklahoma City offense that loves to score.

Three Players negatively impacted by the recent trades:

Tony Allen SG, Memphis Grizzlies. I have been pimping Allen for weeks, and the moment he receives a starting nod, the Grizz go out and trade for fan-favorite Shane Battier. Coincidentally enough, Battier plays the same positions as Allen. Allen, Battier and Sam Young should all split minutes (it has already started - check out Saturday's game log: Spurs 95, Grizzlies 88). Expect the offense to revolve around Zach Randolph as the three SG/SF prototypes will negatively impact each other's stats.

Jeff Green SG/SF, Boston Celtics: Green becomes Paul Pierce's backup. Good for real-life, but not so good for fantasy. His minutes will be limited.

Aaron Brooks PG, Phoenix Suns: Brooks can't catch a break; he now is backing up one of the league's best point guards, Steve Nash. Until Nash leaves Phoenix, Brooks should see some minutes when Nash needs a breather. Brooks is shaping up to be a one-year wonder.

I'll touch on pickups in Wednesday's article, but if for any reason these players are free agents in your league, please pick them up immediately: Serge Ibaka, Greg Monroe, Marcin Gortat, D.J. Augustin, Kris Humphries, Mo Williams, Kirk Hinrich, Chase Budinger, Ramon Sessions.

Lastly, before you set your lineups tonight, please note that the Spurs' Tony Parker strained his calf in last night's game and will be out for the next 2-4 weeks. Other key injuries to note: SG Eric Gordon of the Clippers is NOT expected to play tonight; rather he will play in Wednesday's game. I'd roll the dice on him despite the injury. Marcus Camby returned to action for the Blazers as LaMarcus Aldridge was injured. I'd keep Aldridge active as the injury appears minor.

Best of luck this week.

Texas Basketball: How Much is in Your Glass?

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 06:28:00 +0000

RAPID gAmE...

Many of us witnessed a second straight meltdown on the hardwood earlier today. Texas has now dropped back to back road games, has wilted away its two game conference lead, and, for the time being, given up any hopes of landing on the No. 1 line in the NCAA tournament. The real question revolves around what to make of the losses to Nebraska and Colorado. Two teams with their backs against the wall who came up big or clear cracks in the Longhorn armor? Minor road blips on the road to the Final Four or a first and second draft blueprint of the ideal takedown of Texas?

From the open threads in each of the two conference losses, there are clearly fans who will vehemently argue each side of the issue. Some might call those who are commenting that the sky is falling, Chicken Littles or reactionaries or pessimists. Some might call those who are easily brushing off the defeats as Barnes defenders or blind or adorning burnt orange glasses.

For the purposes of this piece, let's identify the two sides as Glass Half Full and Glass Half Empty. Even if you already know on which side you are, I encourage you to read the full piece. Understand the other side and then defend yours in the comments. Remember to keep it civil and rationale. With the high emotion of a loss worn off at least some, there is no place for "On a good day, Texas could take down the Lakers" any more than there is room for "This ‘Horns teams is the worst in the history of the university." Neither comment is rationale nor productive.

Now with the ground rules set, let's take a look at both sides of the coin, starting with the negative after the jump.

Glass Half Empty

Defense of Guards: After Alec Burks' performance today, some might say that a pattern has developed. Ashton Gibbs (24 pts, on 8-of-14). Kemba Walker (22 pts on 8-of-27). LaceDarius Dunn (26 pts, on 11-of-26). And now Burks (33 pts, on 10-of-21). When Texas faces an elite guard, that guard goes off and usually affects the outcome of the game. Many believe that to win in March, you must have great guard play. Given that axiom, Texas will run into an opponent in the NCAA tournament with a great guard or two and that will be our exit ramp.

Free Throw Shooting: Before the Colorado game, Texas was shooting a horrific 64.4% as a team from the free throw line, good for 297th in the country (KenPomeroy). After a game stalling, 20-of-34 performance against the Buffaloes, that number will only get worse. Missing free throws is bad enough, but when that inability changes substitution patterns at the end of game, fans should be really worried. In the NCAA tournament, if Texas is holding a three or four point lead in the final minute, can Rick Barnes really afford to keep Dogus Balbay (58%) or Tristan Thompson (48%) on the court? On the offensive side, the strategy is clear-take them out and insert Alexis Wangmene and J'Covan Brown to knock down the free bees. But what about the other side? What if Barnes can't substitute as the ball change ends? How worried are you now about the Texas defense if the best perimeter and best post defender are watching from the sidelines? Free throw shooting has yet to truly cost the ‘Horns a game, but in March, it only takes one.

One-on-one offense: As we slaughtered the Sam Houston States and Coppin States of the college basketball world, the new Texas offense based on the Utah Jazz and UCLA principles looked pretty good. In fact that same offense looked solid as the Longhorns raced to early leads and cruised past Big 12 foes like Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Missouri, and Texas Tech. However, in the face of adversity, this year's Texas offense looks a whole lot more like the 2010-11 Texas offense than it does a true motion, screen, cut, and re-screen one.

Look no further than the last two Saturdays. As Texas yakked up double digit leads in Lincoln and Boulder, Texas was busy reverting to one-on-one basketball. Jordan Hamilton tried to create his own shot or simply stood still on the perimeter waiting for his chance to launch a contested 24 footer. J'Covan Brown took his role as instant offense to a new level with multiple no pass-first shot possessions. Even the calming influence of Cory Joseph looked to create off the dribble instead of run the more efficient inside-out attack through Tristan Thompson. With the talent margin getting smaller in smaller in each advancing round, the chance that Texas trails in a tournament game is near 100%. After what we've seen in the last two losses, Texas doesn't have the patience or trust in their offensive system to keep running their stuff and come from behind.

Inability to play the full 40 minutes: During the 11 game conference winning streak, there were whispers about this as an issue. Now that Texas has dropped two of its last three games, those whispers sound more like premonitions. The Longhorns jumped to double digit leads in so many conference games, particularly home ones, that Texas wasn't forced to focus and execute for a full two halves. Again, as opponents get tougher and tougher, very few games will be won in the first half. Most tournament games, beyond maybe those in the first round. will require two solid halves of basketball. Texas hasn't played a full 40 minutes in weeks, and there is no reason to suspect they get it together any better away from the Erwin Center.

Lack of Depth: Sure the timeouts are longer in the NCAA tournament, and if players aren't in shape by now, they never will be. However, Texas started the season with a slim roster after the move by Avery Bradley to the NBA and the decisions by Varez Ward and Shawn Williams to transfer. Couple those with the plan-for-next-season decision to red-shirt Clint Chapman and Texas was quickly down to just nine scholarship players. Given the limitations of Jai Lucas, some might argue that Barnes is only playing with eight. In Boulder, six players accounted for all the minutes but 13.

Is March going to be any different? Maybe. Alexis Wangmene will be back on Monday but Jai's skill set isn't going to change. Texas will field, at best, eight likely NCAA tournament players. Barnes has two frontcourt subs in Wangmene and Matt Hill and one backcourt sub in J'Covan Brown. That's it. Eight is probably enough on paper but foul trouble and limited abilities should scare Longhorn fans.

Glass Half Full

Tristan Thompson is a Longhorn: TT should be freshman of the year in the conference and first team all Big 12. He is a game changer on both ends. His low block skills create space for Hamilton, Joseph, and Brown on the perimeter for threes or driving angles and open mid-range looks for Johnson. His body control and first and second chance jumping abilities give the Longhorns a legitimate chance on the offensive glass and help mask a still developing offensive scheme.

All that said, his defense makes his an even more valuable ‘Horn. TT's timing and ability to block shots from the help side make the lane a dangerous place for opposing guards. His consistent last line defense also provides opportunities for the Texas guards to pressure the basketball. Pressure creates mistakes, extra possessions, and easy buckets. Pressure also makes feeding the post more difficult. With Thompson on the floor, Texas has a chance to beat anyone in the country.

Can score in a multitude of ways: As shown all season long, Texas can beat you in a number of ways-Hamilton or Joseph from deep, Thompson on the low block, Gary Johnson from the elbow, Dogus Balbay in transition, or even off screens and cuts not previously seen in Texas half court sets. Good teams have the ability to score in at least two ways; great teams can score from three spots.

With J'Covan and Cory, Texas can definitely score from the guard spots. With Hamilton, opponents must focus on taking away the wing too. And with Tristan on the low block, opposing coaches must decide whether or not they must double the post. When all three components show up, Texas is unlikely to lose. And even if just two components are present on a given night, Texas still defeats most opponents.

Lock Down Defense: Throw out the second halves of the Nebraska and Colorado games as anomalies. Texas has been simply outstanding on the defensive end of the floor this season. It starts with the ball pressure of Balbay and extends to the wing where Joseph roams and even into the improved defensive skills of Hamilton. Even if opposing offenses navigate past the perimeter defense, Thompson's long arms and impeccable timing are probably waiting. Those are just a few of the reasons why Texas has been ranked No. 1 in adjusted defensive efficiency for most of the year.

Unlike last year, Texas is communicated in helping on defense. Opponents rarely enjoy straight line drives to the basket or uncontested jumpers. Given this near constant, NCAA tournament foes better have career nights to move past the ‘Horns.

Ability to Win Away from Home: A lot of teams gaudy home records help mask an inability to win away from home-think Missouri. Texas doesn't have that problem. In fact, the Longhorns most impressive work has been accomplished away from the Erwin Center. Texas owns defeats of Illinois in New York City, North Carolina in Greensboro, Michigan State in East Lansing, Kansas in Lawrence, and Texas A&M in College Station. Few, if any, teams have that many quality wins, let alone quality road wins. Given their road success, winning on a neutral court in March should be cake.

Jordan Hamilton: Jordan is as big a match-up problem as any player in college basketball. Most college teams and future NCAA tournament opponents don't have a 6-6 or 6-7 three man that can stay with Hamilton. If coaches decide to play small, Jordan can easily shoot over defenders. If coaches decide to go big, Jordan has enough ball skills to take slower defenders to the hole, especially by attacking the baseline. While there are a few teams that have someone that can handle Jordan that list is very short and the chances of running into one of those teams and players are small. Therefore, from the opening tip, Texas will likely have an extreme advantage with its best offensive player.

Those are just a few of the arguments why Texas won't make it to the second week of the NCAA tournament and why the Longhorns are destined for an '08 or '03 like run in March.

College Basketball and the NBA Both Being Destroyed by the CBA

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 02:17:00 +0000

fantastic games...

The current CBA draft eligibility rules were put in place for the 2005-2006 season. The rule states; “All drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft.” Since this rule has been put into place, college basketball has lost it’s Old Spice swagger.
The number of players that are now playing one year of college basketball has not been the exciting adventure we had once thought it would be. Campuses see star players come and go without them even going to their classes, and why should they go to class? They’re going to be making millions in couple of months.
Perry Jones from Baylor is projected to be one of the first players picked in the upcoming draft. Since arriving at Baylor, he has shown very little interest on the court. He continually jogs back on defense as his opponent is fast breaking, as well as not going hard for a loose ball up to this point in the season.
Once again, why should he? He’s going to be taken high in this years draft, so why risk dislocating his elbow? He has no interest in playing there, and now Baylor is responsible to find a new prospect every season. There is a way to fix this problem.
Recently Tom Izzo of Michigan State has spoken out on the problems with the CBA. He introduced The Izzo Compromise earlier this week. The compromise gives players the choice of entering the NBA draft right out of high school or going to college where they will be required to stay for three seasons. This idea would give each league a huge boost in competitiveness.

It would be a really good step in the right direction for American basketball; however, I would like to see them get away from the compromise all together and require the players to stay for three seasons. If the players had to stay for three seasons, they would have to be prove themselves again.
Perry Jones wouldn’t be jogging up and down the court, for he’d have to prove to Scott Drew that he deserves playing time. As we all know, every player in college basketball would then be forced to work their asses off, and from doing so they’ll develop into a complete NBA player.
One problem with my non-compromise is the fact that some high school players will just decided to pack up and head over to Europe, but it’s really not a problem at all. These players won’t be able to declare for the draft until their 21 anyways, so they can head over to Europe make their money and still develop.
The three year rule is obviously good for college basketball, for it gives them players that want to be there, and it gives them a more consistent roster as well as better players going to mid-major schools. College Basketball is a league ran by great coaches. With this system in play, these great coaches will have more than one season to critique the players skills and develop them into physically and mentally.
Because of the great college coaches having the players for three seasons, the NBA will improve immensely. They league will no longer be forced to draft a player like Kosta Koufus or Byron Mullens. Because their scouts will have more time to do their job, they’ll know that some of these recent busts wouldn’t amount to anything, and who knows maybe two more years with Thad Matta would have made both of these players into NBA players.
American Basketball is currently becoming less and less relevant, but with a few changes it will regain it’s power.

College Basketball's 2011 All-America Team ... With No Early Entry

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 16:08:00 +0000

We've never stood against a man being able to make a living -- unless your somehow involved in the endless Bachelor series of shows -- at least until we started thinking about what the current All-American teams would look like without early entry.

Then we wept like Dick Vermeil watching an episode of Oprah.

Oh, what could have been for college basketball.

In our latest installment of the FanHouse teams, we take a look at what the All-American team might have looked like if there were no early entry in college basketball.

The Rules

We generally disregarded matriculation choices that might have been made differently by players due to scholarship limits or backlog -- for example, John Calipari has personally recruited enough players to fill out the Chicago Bears roster and have enough left over for a Cubs game -- but we did give some weight to how much playing time would be available for freshmen in a game that still included star seniors. It did not, however, keep us from naming back-to-back Calipari recruits Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans to our teams.

We also played the role of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions for two players -- one that made our first team and one that would have likely been a second-teamer. We granted Rose eligibility for his senior year despite the still murky entrance chicanery at Memphis while we ruled O.J. Mayo permanently ineligible.

Rose's issue was one of eligibility, which the NCAA typically deals with by forcing a player to sit out certain games, even if it's a matter of a year (And, presumably, qualify legally, depending on the still hazy details of his SAT score). Mayo, meanwhile, was an amatuerism issue, which remains sacrosanct to the NCAA. (Ask Enes Kanter.) Had Mayo remained in school or Tim Floyd remained coach, the NCAA likely would've looked deeper into the Mayo side of the case and come down with a "permanently ineligible" ruling.

We think. If we're wrong, you have 90 days to submit your appeal, and four to six weeks later we'll let you know we don't care.

Besides, it's our team. If the Field of Dreams guys could leave out Ty Cobb, we can leave out Mayo.

We also opted not to include Brandon Jennings, who on talent alone would be somewhere in the top two teams, but never actually played college basketball.

One final note, as with our usual setup of FanHouse teams, we tried to balance out the positions to form a working lineup, unlike the typical All-America teams. Our sincerest apologies to third-teamer John Wall and Sir not-appearing-on-this-list Jeff Teague, among others.

Comments are by FanHouse college hoops editor Ray Holloman and associate editor Matt Snyder, who had to be wrestled by three men and an ill-tempered bonobo to give up his campaign for Indiana's Jordan Hulls.

First Team

Derrick Rose, Sr., PG Memphis -- Rose played his lone year in college like a bowling ball on a billiards table, banging around, over and through anybody he darn well pleased. As a senior, Rose would likely be one of the best point guards college basketball has ever seen. The 2009 NBA rookie of the year is averaging 25 points and eight assists a game in the NBA this year and has developed a capable perimeter jumpshot, fixing one of his few weaknesses on the amateur level. Letting him play another three years of college basketball would be like letting Charlie Sheen run a fraternity's pledge week and equally unpleasant for everyone else involved. -- RH

Eric Gordon, Sr. SG, Indiana -- He averaged 20.9 points a game as a freshman for the Hoosiers, and this with an injured wrist for more than half the season. His numbers suffered, but still looked really impressive. The combination of deep range plus explosiveness to the hoop would make him a lethal offensive force. Considering he's averaging 24.1 points a game in the NBA, the guess here is he would have his way with the rest of the Big Ten this season, assuming he could stay healthy. -- Matt Snyder

Michael Beasley, Sr. SF, Kansas State -- One in a nice little line of freakish players from the Class of 2011, Beasley could do pretty much anything at the collegiate level. In his lone NCAA season, he averaged 26.2 points and 12.4 rebounds while helping to put Kansas State on the national map. Playing alongside our team's center in Minnesota, Beasley is putting up 20 points a game in the NBA. Who could stop him in the Big 12 right now? He'd go for 30 a night. -- MS

Blake Griffin, Sr. PF, Oklahoma -- The NBA's dunkomatic averaged 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds a game as a sophomore. He ended up missing his entire would-be-rookie season in the NBA due to injury. Upon return this season, he was so rusty he's averaging, uh, 22.8 points and 12.6 boards. The stats don't even tell the whole story. He's been a highlight reel. Imagine the poor kid from Northwest Pay-for-Play State that would wind up on the wrong end of a poster in an early-season patsy game. Heck, he would've played against Division III Chaminade this year, who are even worse than the Clippers. -- MS

Kevin Love, Sr. C, UCLA -- How stacked is this first team? Love has tied Moses Malone's ancient record with 44 consecutive double-doubles in the NBA. He goes for 21 and 15 a game. In this scenario, he would be playing in the Pac-10. He could be looking at Elgin Baylor (while at the University of Seattle) numbers. -- MS

Second Team

Tyreke Evans, Jr. PG Memphis -- Evans' game is more suited to the widely spaced, 1-on-1 game in the NBA, but that wouldn't keep the 2010 NBA Rookie of the Year from marching through college basketball like Patton through a game of RISK. Like Rose, Evans wasn't a great outside shooter in college, but was the perfect catalyst for Calipari's dribble-drive motion. Evans likely would've played the off-guard -- or gone elsewhere -- in light of Rose's commitment, but at 6-foot-6, 220 pounds and dynamic off the dribble, he would've been a star anywhere.

Evan Turner, Sr. SF, Ohio State -- Turner was the national player of the year as a junior and it's a good bet he'd thrive even more with big Jared Sullinger drawing attention on the block and savvy point guard Aaron Craft dishing the rock. The stat-sheet stuffer went for 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists last year. His numbers might look slightly different with the dynamic of the team being different, but that doesn't mean he'd be any worse a player. -- MS

Donte Greene, Sr. PF Syracuse -- "Power" forward might be stretching it for a player who's built more Olive Oyl than Popeye, but Greene's size, athleticism and touch on the perimeter made him a serious matchup problem for Orange opponents at either forward position. The 25th pick in the 2008 draft, Greene averaged 17.7 points per game in the Big East as a freshman, fourth in the toughest league in the country. Plus, Greene sticking around for four years would level some of the karmic imbalance for wearing the student-made "Don'te Leave" t-shirts before declaring for the NBA draft. -- RH

DeJuan Blair, Sr. PF Pitt -- The Panthers are already the nation's best offensive rebounding team among major conferences without adding in Blair, a man who treated rebounding as a holy calling. As a sophomore, Blair posted a 126.7 offensive efficiency rating and led the nation in offensive rebounding percentage. A Scottie Reynold's dash denied him a trip to the Final Four in his last season at Pitt, but that likely would've changed in the following two years. In 2010, Pittsburgh opponents would have to try and rebound against Blair and Gary McGhee in the frontcourt. Or, if they preferred something slightly easier, they could try a relay race against Usain Bolt and Zenyatta. -- RH

DeMarcus Cousins, So. C, Kentucky -- The big man went for 15.1 points, 9.8 boards and nearly two blocks a game in his only collegiate season. He's only putting up only slightly worse numbers in the NBA. If John Calipari could have convinced Cousins to stay in school one more year -- and keep those elbows to himself -- the Wildcats would have a national championship contender with his dominance in the paint. -- MS

Third Team

John Wall, So. PG, Kentucky -- As we wrote early in his Kentucky career, the Wildcat point guard made UK history more frequently than he had to shave, which was even more tribute to his splendid athleticism than his perma-peach fuzz. No one-and-done was as hard to say goodbye to as Wall, who, unlike most one-and-doners, took his sublime talents to a national championship contending team on one of college basketball's blue bloods and one sports' biggest stages. Wall averaged 16.5 points and 6.5 assists per game as a freshman and would, without a doubt, be the premiere playmaker in college basketball. He still likely wouldn't be shaving much. -- RH

Jrue Holiday, SG Jr. UCLA -- Holiday's freshman year in Westwood wasn't the sort of year you'd tell your kids about, but had he returned to play point guard after the graduation of Darren Collison, Holiday would've blossomed as a star on the college stage. Holiday has thrived with the 76ers since taking over as the starting point guard last year and shown much more offensive flair than his so-so freshman campaign at UCLA. Whether he would've thrived in Ben Howland's system is up for debate, but it certainly didn't keep Jordan Farmar, Darren Collison and Russell Westbrook from star turns. --RH

James Harden, SR. SG Arizona State -- Harden beat out USC's DeMar DeRozan for the last slot on the team purely on scoring prowess. Harden averaged 20.1 points per game on Herb Sendek's glacially paced 60 possessions-per-game Arizona State team. Making a college basketball fan want to watch a Sendek offense is in itself feat enough to win an Emmy, let alone make this team. --RH

Wesley Johnson, Sr. SF Syracuse -- Unfortunately, the last thing we college basketball fans remember about Johnson are his NBA draft night pants, a sartorial tribute to your parents' couch. The oldest player on this list, Johnson likely would've managed something in the neighborhood of 18 and 10 as a fifth-year senior, which likely would've gotten him a spot on the All-American team ahead of other contenders like Duke's Kyle Singler. If you prefer a more traditional power forward here, Georgia Tech's Derrick Favors and Ohio State's Derrick Favors are up next. -- RH

J.J. Hickson, Sr. PF N.C. State - So, the ACC's only representative played for N.C. State? Color us surprised as well. In real life, Hickson would almost certainly lose out Singler, as he did for the 2008 ACC Rookie of the Year Award, but we need soemone to play with his back to the basket. Hickson's professional career has been impressive -- he's a 16 and 10 guy even with a certain former teammate's talents now in Miami, and as a senior in the ACC, would be a consistent double-double player. Of course, even with Tracy Smith playing alongside him, N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe would likely still find a way to coach this team to irrelevancy, putting this last slot in the hands of Kansas' Cole Aldrich or Wake Forest's Al-Farouq Aminu.--RH

Closest Current Players

Jimmer Fredette, BYU: Fredette may be the most likely to emerge from current players, not because he's the best of the lot, but because his level of competition wouldn't be as wildly changed as a major conference. He'd still average 25 a game and still have an utterly cool first name that would distract voters from things like defense and non-ball-hoggery. But with all the stars still in college, it's difficult to project where BYU and Fredette would impact the national consciousness. Could he pull a Stephen Curry or would Fredette be more Norris Cole, a great scorer on a team with little mainstream attention?

Nolan Smith, G Duke: Duke's roster would remain unchanged, save for players the Blue Devils may not have recruited due to their short-timer billing, if any. Only a handful of players would return to the ACC, meaning Smith would probably still be the best player on the best team in the ACC and a 20-plus point player. (Of course, Wake Forest might argue -- returning Jeff Teague, James Johnson and Al-Farouq Aminu with an outside shooter like Gary Clark sounds like the perfect combination to beat the current Duke team). Kyle Singler would have a heck of an argument based on the same criterion.

Jared Sullinger, F Ohio State: Sullinger was the last of the current players we cut, which is likely fitting as college basketball's best talent is almost always its freshmen class. There are a few questions with Sullinger, primarily how he'd stack up against a college landscape that still had quality big men like Cole Aldrich and Patrick Patterson (among those not selected to our three teams) roaming the paint. There's also the question of playing time. While Ohio State's recruiting wouldn't have been quite what it was, Sullinger would have to find playing time among some combination of B.J. Mullens, Kosta Koufos and Greg Oden, who undoubtedly would still be around on a medical redshirt. Or in his case, a Medicare redshirt. That's without considering the number of shots Evan Turner would still be around to demand.

Basketball Economics

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:41:00 +0000

carier basketball

Kevin Clark has a fascinating piece in today’s Wall Street Journal comparing pro basketball in this country with pro soccer in England:

Carmelo Anthony’s trade to the New York Knicks Monday night is the latest sign that the NBA is drifting in one distinct direction. It’s becoming a league where a handful of glamour-puss teams are attracting all the marquee players and where, if recent events are any indication, they may vacuum up championships for years to come. In fact, as more stars like Anthony defect to these few teams, the league may quickly come to resemble (gasp!) English soccer.

In England’s Premier League, which is widely considered the world’s deepest pro league, only four teams—Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United — have managed to finish No. 3 or better in the final league standings over the past seven seasons. Not coincidentally, these teams have also been the prime destinations for mid-career superstars who’ve taken a change of scenery.
My question is whether this development is a new one.

Since 1980, five N.B.A. teams — the Bulls, Celtics, Lakers, Pistons and Spurs — have combined to win an incredible 27 of 31 championships. By comparison, the five most successful teams in pro football have won 17 Super Bowls since 1980. The five most successful Major League Baseball teams have won only 13 championships in that span.

Because only five basketball players are on the court at any one time and a team can give one of those players a disproportionate number of shot attempts, stars play an outsize role in basketball. One great player — Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan — can help a team win a handful of championships. It’s a good example of a winner-take-all industry.

Basketball stars do seem more likely today to join the same team deliberately. But it’s not yet clear if this trend will concentrate basketball championships any more than in the recent past.

Holy Family University basketball coach, John O'Connor, investigated for assaulting player

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 03:19:00 +0000

NeW Lates

A college basketball coach in Philadelphia is being investigated by the district attorney after one of his players said the coach attacked him during practice last month, the DA's office said Tuesday.

Holy Family University men's basketball coach John O'Connor, 51, was suspended last week after he was caught on video roughing up sophomore forward Matt Kravchuk during a heated rebound drill on Jan. 25.

In the tape, O'Connor can be seen charging Kravchuk, 19, and knocking him down with an elbow to the face after the player grabs a loose ball during a drill the coach called "combat rebound."

"It was totally out of line for my coach to do," Kravchuk told Philadelphia's WTXF-TV."We're just doing a drill, and the next thing I know I was on the floor."

As he lies dazed on the court, the coach kicks him in the butt, urging him to get up, the video shows.

After the sophomore limps to the back of the line with a bloody lip, the coach can be seen chewing him out – screaming, "Got a little [expletive] blood on ya? Good!" – before eventually booting the player from practice, shouting, "Get the [expletive] out of here!"

WATCH VIDEO BELOW

Kravchuk reported the incident to the athletic department the day it happened and was later told the coach had been reprimanded, his lawyer, Jack Cohen, said.

But the student complained to police on Feb. 11 because he felt the school hadn't gone far enough, Cohen said.

In the police report, Kravchuk said he suffered a bloody nose and scratches to his lip and forehead. Later, he complained of an injured wrist and has been wearing a brace, according to WTXF-TV.

Holy Family sophomore Matt Kravchuk, left, has not rejoined the team since the incident with Coach O'Connor, right. (Fox Philadelphia, Philadelphia Daily News)

He has not returned to the team since the incident.

Holy Family suspended the coach last Thursday.

O'Connor told the Philadelphia Daily News that he hadn't meant to hurt Kravchuck and that practice was especially intense that day because the team was coming off an embarrassing loss.

"I have always been very hands-on with my players," the coach said. "Normally, it's me that ends up getting hurt. I never had any intention of ever hurting one of my players."

In an unsigned statement, the Holy Family players said, ""In each of our hearts, we know Coach O'Connor realizes the mistake he made and accepts full responsibility for his actions," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

O'Connor was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech before coming to the small Division II school last year.

Tasha Jamerson, a spokesman for the district attorney, said investigators would decide whether to file formal charges in the next few weeks.

NCAA confirms half-truths, lies and violations in UT men's basketball

noreply@blogger.com (socrates al-hakim) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 03:11:00 +0000

RIGht basKetBall oBjecTive

The Notice of Allegations released Wednesday revealed the NCAA enforcement staff’s interpretation of half-truths, lies and violations committed within the Tennessee men’s basketball program.

Still to come are the consequences as determined by the NCAA, and how they might affect coach Bruce Pearl’s future.

UT has 90 days to respond in writing to the allegations — 10 basketball-related and nine major — that were detailed in the 26-page report.

UT will appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions on June 10-11 in Indianapolis. The committee would then make the conclusions on the violations.

The announcement of the NCAA’s sanctions on the program will follow, likely in late fall based on the time line in Connecticut’s recently concluded men’s basketball case.

Penalties in another similar NCAA case, involving the Chattanooga men’s basketball team, suggest the Vols will likely be placed on probation and lose scholarships at a minimum.

Hamilton said when UT received its letter of inquiry on Sept. 10 that there’s a possibility Pearl could be suspended from his coaching duties for a year.

Hamilton has since said that UT could retain Pearl even if the NCAA suspends Pearl for a year.

“It’s our intention to keep him,’’ Hamilton said on Feb. 16. “Unless there’s something (severe violation) out there we’re unaware of.’’

Hamilton released a statement Wednesday indicating there weren’t many surprises in the report.

“... most items noted in this document have already been reported broadly,’’ Hamilton’s statement said.

The one basketball-related violation in the Notice of Allegations that hadn’t been reported involves Pearl and UT associate head coach Tony Jones making an in-person, off-campus contact with prospect Jordan Adams at Oak Hill (Va.) Academy on Sept. 14, 2010.

The Notice of Allegations requests “a statement (from UT) indicating the reasons Pearl and Jones made an impermissible contact with Adams in light of NCAA legislation prohibiting such contacts.’’

Two sources in the UT athletic department who requested anonymity because of the NCAA case has not been completed, said Hamilton has been aware of the so-called “bump” violation, which refers to an unintentional impermissible contact. The sources said UT’s compliance department deemed it wasn’t a violation, and so it wasn’t self-reported.

The sources said Tennessee will likely appeal the violation in its response letter to the NCAA within the next 90 days.

Four of the other eight major violations are directly related to testimony from Pearl and his three assistant coaches — Jones, Steve Forbes and Jason Shay — involving a Sept. 20, 2008 cookout at Pearl’s home that three junior prospects on unofficial visits attended.

The prospects, all UT verbal commitments at the time, were Aaron Craft (now at Ohio State), Josh Selby (now at Kansas) and UT freshman Jordan McRae.

A photo of Pearl and Craft was taken at the cookout and surfaced as evidence of a violation, as off-campus contact is not allowed during an official visit.

When shown the black-and-white reproduced photo in an initial interview with NCAA investigators on June 14, 2010, Pearl and his assistants denied having absolute knowledge of where the photo was taken.

Pearl later requested a second interview with the NCAA, conducted Aug. 5, 2010, during which he admitted to knowing the photo was taken at his home.

That led to an unethical conduct charge being levied against Pearl for his false and misleading testimony in the original NCAA interview.

UT revealed on Sept. 10 a list of self-imposed severe and unprecedented sanctions as a result of Pearl’s tainted testimony.

Among the penalties has been a 25 percent reduction in all four coaches’ salaries, including Pearl’s $1.5 million loss to be taken out over the next five years, and off-campus recruiting bans of varying length for each of the coaches.

Beginning on Sept. 24, 2010, Pearl and Forbes were suspended for a year, Jones for nine months and Shay for three months.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive took further unprecedented action in November, issuing Pearl an eight-game league suspension that took place from Jan. 8 to Feb. 5. Jones assumed game-day head coaching duties in Pearl’s absence, posting a 5-3 SEC mark during that period.

Pearl, who has been working under a Letter of Appointment after his contract was terminated by UT as a result of the ongoing NCAA case, issued a statement on Wednesday.

“The penalties imposed on our program have been severe ...,’’ Pearl’s statement said. “I appreciate the opportunity to serve the University of Tennessee, and everyone in our basketball program is finding ways to improve every day.’’

UT and Pearl have been in negotiations to complete a new contract since October, but as time passed it became apparent a deal wouldn’t be concluded prior to the receipt of the Notice of Allegations.

The three assistant coaches have been charged with a “failure to furnish full and complete information relevant to the investigation.’’

While severe and perhaps even major in nature, the charge the assistants face is considerably lighter than a show cause penalty would have been.

Any school wanting to hire a coach served with an active show cause designation must appear before the NCAA infractions committee and potentially face new sanctions.