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4/26 ..i'm on a
mini-vacation right now until may 6th.. i'll still be making daily
dribble updates, but not daily again until that weekend.. i never
wrote about former portland state head coach heath schroyer
deciding to resign in order to become associate head coach to
steve cleveland at fresno state.. not every day you see a
successful coach step down in order
to take a
lower position somewhere else.. portland state won 19 games last
year, its most ever in d1, but schroyer wanted to help his friend
cleveland, who he was an assistant under at brigham young and
fresno city college.. that's loyalty.. psu then went and grabbed
washington assistant ken bone to fill the vacancy.. no big
surprise that monta ellis has made it clear that he's ready to
sign with an agent any day now.. the fact is, ellis' stock has
dropped, and it appears very unlikely he will be picked within the
top 20.. he just better hope he can hang on and get guaranteed
money in the first round.. teams are much more willing to take a
flier on a big 6-10 kid who can at least fill space in practice
and give some serviceable minutes off the end of the bench.. ellis
is a 6-3 kid who can't play the point, but is too small to be a
shooting guard at this point.. his best hope is that everyone
ahead of him decides not to go pro, or he could be in for a few
years of minor league ball.. after linas kleiza's decision to
enter the draft, missouri got some good news yesterday in the
signing of chicago-area center deandre thomas.. in terms of kleiza,
don't forget that he only played two years of college ball and was
born in 1985.. making him raw in the eyes of nba scouts, and is a
possible candidate to make a run at the end of the first round
with some good workouts..
4/23 ..so where
does this leave north carolina?.. well, they have quentin thomas..
and wes miller? ouch.. tyler hansbrough is the man, but whose
going to get him the ball down low.. it would be hilarious if
hansbrough went pro as well.. with all the movement in the acc, it
looks like duke is the clear favorite as of right now.. the nba
apparently wants to have its all-star game in las vegas for the
2007 season.. this is a smart move, as it should create a good
buzz for the game, and it fits right in with the star celebrity
image the nba loves to promote.. in some for nba news, the nba
held a coin-
flip to determine
if charlotte or new orleans will get the 2nd most amount of balls
in the lottery.. charlotte lost giving them the 3rd spot as well
as the 6 ping-ping balls that will come from cleveland's 13th
position.. houston made a smart move extending tom penders'
contract through the 2010 season.. penders' reenergized the
program and led the cougars to an 18 win seas.. his team will lose
andre owens, who is now an nba draft hopeful.. owens worked out
with the rockets this past week along with will conroy and aaron
miles.. apparently brandon rush prefers illinois if he decided to
play college ball at this point.. this is exactly the type of
player bruce weber needs to keep his success growing.. his 2005
class is simply dismal at this point for a program that just went
to the finals.. lon kruger should finally make his impact felt on
the strip next year, as he brings in by far the best class in the
mvc.. pg jovan adams is a stud..
4/20 ..i've been
touching up a new feature on chn, a daily blog of the day post..
today's post is a look back at clarence "big house" gaines, the
former winston-salem state coach who passed away yesterday..
gaines is 5th all-time in ncaa wins, and was 2nd to adolph rupp
when he retired in 1993.. gaines coached earl "the pearl" monroe,
who led his squad to a division ii crown back in 1967.. no
surprise in deron williams entering the draft last night, but now
illini fans have to wait on word from dee brown.. brown is a 2nd
round pick at best, but he may feel this is his best time to go
following this year's near championship.. louisville's lorenzo
wade is transfering, and the seattle times said he is considering
washington and nevada as his final destinations.. wade, who
averaged about 4 ppg as a freshman last year, cites personal
reasons for leaving.. you had to figure with garcia leaving for
the pros, wade would have had to get major playing time for pitino
in his sophomore year..as the days go bye, washington fans have to
be increasingly worried about martell webster leaving early.. as
things have gone, it looks like he may be considered by scouts to
be the 2nd best high
school
prospect this year behind gerald green.. former georgia tech
assistant cliff warren has been named the next head coach at
jacksonville university.. warren has been an assistant under paul
hewitt for 8 seasons now, including a few seasons when they were
together at siena.. now's a good time to remember that
jacksonville actually made the final four back in 1970 behind
future nba-star artis gilmore.. ju remains the smallest school in
terms of enrollment to have ever made the final four..
4/18 ..talk about
a quiet day of college basketball.. USA Today named their All-USA
high school basketball team yesterday.. it's amazing that two out
of the five players were not seniors.. the two are junior greg
oden and sophomore oj mayo.. we can bicker about the nba age-limit
all we want, but this year, it doesnt really effect that much..
however, losing talent like oden and mayo in the future will be
real blows to college basketball.. there's really no reason for
mayo to even ever be brought up on a college basketball site like
chn, because he simply will never come close to ever playing
college basketball.. as many of you know, i am not shy about being
a fan of the new jersey nets.. with the cavs loss yesterday, the
nets moved into a tie for the 8th seed, and should most likely
make the playoffs.. the nets nenad krstic is a great example of
why you should be willing to give no-name nba guys a chance if
they're drafted by your favorite team.. the nets ended up with a
gem in this 22 year old power forward, who is averaging 10 and 5
per game.. the real guy to look out for in the future is the
warriors' andris biedrins.. this kid is barely 19, but he will
make chris mullin and rod higgins look very good for taking a
chance on him.. it's expected that brandon rush will decide to
enter the nba draft any day now.. about a year ago, i wrote
"Rush will be the most
devastating scorer to come out of the 2005 class".. despite a
quiet year, I still definitely feel this is true, and I would
draft him higher than other potential high schoolers like louis
williams or monta ellis..
4/17 ..i find it
hard to believe that depaul could seriously be considering rick
majerus to replace dave leitao.. i havent touched on bracey
wright's decision to leave indiana yet, but i actually think its
not a bad decision.. let's be honest, wright's stock had continued
to fall since his freshman season, and with an improved roster
around him, his stats would probably have fallen next year..
wright's 3-point shooting percentage has dropped each of his 3
seasons.. and there's little reason to think he can turn that
around.. the fact is, he's a late 2nd round pick at best whose
primed for a career in the minor leagues, and that's not going to
change anytime soon.. the guy indiana will really need to step it
up next season is robert vaden.. this kid had some solid games
mixed in with long disappearing acts.. on to the nba for a second,
it's looking more and more like new jersey will replace cleveland
for the 8th seed.. a lebron james/shaq series would have been
golden for the nba.. but the heat blowing out the nets doesn't do
much for the fans.. in this weekend's jordan classic played at msg,
rutgers recruit jr inman put on a good show.. gary waters need
inman to be a star, because he's about one more disappointing
season away from being another in a long list of forgotten rutgers
coaches..
4/15 ..bad news
for huskies fans, as reports say martell webster is planning on
entering the nba draft.. an article from the seattle times quoted
webster as saying he's got a pretty good chance of going in the
top 10.. well, sorry martell, but you have no chance of going in
the top 10.. no doubt webster's stock has grown exponentially in
the recent post-season all-star games, passing guys like monta
ellis.. but he should max out as the 25th pick at best.. speaking
of webster, it's a good time to say how impressed ive been with
another uw recruit, jon brockman.. lorenzo romar certainly has
been doing his homework, and brockman will be a stud for the
huskies.. he's got a great body to bang down low, but he also has
surprisingly good hops.. both brockman and webster are playing in
tonight's jordan classic from msg, although brockman may be
questionable because of a broken nose.. the game is being
televised on espu.. another player who may try and go pro is
memphis recruit shawne williams.. williams does not project to be
a 1st round pick at this point.. has anyone else been hit harder
than john calipari by players leaving early for the draft..?
4/14 ..it looks
like virginia will hire depaul's dave leitao.. this is a steal for
uva, but is it a good career move for leitao?.. i personally dont
think so, even though the acc is the acc.. depaul's moving into
the big east, depaul has more talent then uva does right now,
depaul is the premier team right now in chicago, and moving to the
big east only gives leitao a better chance of dominating
recruiting in that area, he has former big east ties after having
been an assistant at uconn.. where does this leave depaul?.. not
too much is out there, i personally would go after matt doherty, a
coach who has proven he can recruit with the best of them and has
experienced success in the big east.. some stories in florida
papers attached doherty's name to the fau job, but i dont know if
they can offer him the salary he wants.. fau was also interested
in former tennessee coach buzz peterson, but peterson ended up
taking the coastal carolina job yesterday.. the nba rules
are such that basically anyone whose ever played a game of college
basketball has little incentive not to declare for the nba draft..
just because you see guys like matt walsh and anthony roberson
throw their names in the hat, does not mean florida fans should
think their program is coming to its demise.. for the majority of
these players who don't sign agents, its simply a good way to get
their names out there, see what people think of them, and learn
what it takes and what they have to do to improve their draft
stock in the future.. of course, for every ryan gomes who decides
to return, there will be players who in poor judgment end up
signing with an agent and forgoing their eligibility; see uk's
azubuike.. headlines today say chris paul will leave wake forest..
no shocker there, at least wake forest still has williams and gray
returning to off-set the losses of paul, downey, danelius, and
levy..
4/12 ..with chris
taft already gone, the pitt panthers received more bad news today
with the departure of carl krauser to the nba draft.. while the
junior point guard hasn't signed with an agent, my guess is he
would be more willing to get drafted lower than other players..
carl is one-month shy of turning 24, and he's not about to blossom
physically, so now seems like a good a time as any for him to go
pro.. tennessee tech head coach mike sutton has developed a rare
viral infection which has put him in a virginia hospital.. sutton
was in portsmouth, va attending the invitational camp in support
of willie jenkins, his star player.. for all the talk about the
lack of names at the pit.. it wasn't as bad a group as people make
it out to be.. while there's no first round talent on hand, you do
have some guys who could be 2nd round steals like depaul's quemont
greer, cincinnati's jason maxiell, or even utep's omar thomas.. in
fact, this year's camp may end up featuring more eventual nba
players than any pit in recent memory.. ut-chattanooga's mindaugas
katelynas continued a solid month of ball, making the all
tournament team a few weeks after winning the mountain dew slam
dunk championship.. at 6-10, and with great hops, katelynas may
play himself into contention for a very late 2nd round pick..
4/11 ..i'm back
after a much needed break from college basketball.. you know I
love the game as much as the next guy.. but running an all-out
college basketball machine 12 months of the year eventually wears
you down.. interesting news today of byu hiring assistant dave
rose to take over from the departure of steve cleveland..
following an absolute dud of a season (only 7 wins against d1
competiton), cleveland jumped ship and returned to his lifelong
home of fresno to coach the bulldogs.. in comes rose, who has
never been a head coach at the d1 level to try and be successful
at a high-major level while having no one back next year who
averaged over 10 ppg.. should be an interesting time in provo.. a
lot of news on the nba draft front this past week, but perhaps the
most interesting player to enter the draft is kentucky's kelenna
azubuike.. the last uk players to declare early for the draft were
bogans and prince back in 2001, but neither of them ending up
staying in the draft.. azubuike on the other hand has signed with
an agent.. interesting move for a player who is certainly not a
lock for the first round.. we'll be updating the mock draft at chn
any day now, and it will be interesting to see how things stand
with all the recent player decisions..
4/06 ..as the dust
settles from an amazing final four, college basketball comes out
the overall winner.. the rating for the finals was up 36% from
last year, and the tournament's overall rating was the highest
since 1998.. the next question for the big time players is whether
or not to enter the nba draft.. it seems like a given that mccants
will leave.. but the return of sean may is still up in the air..
he's played himself into a much higher draft position with his
monster ncaa tournament, and teams could be looking at may to put
up carlos boozer type numbers in the pros.. for deron williams,
while nothing is official, you have to figure he will leave as
well.. williams stock rose throughout the season, and he appears
to be a top 10 pick as of now.. there's little left to prove if he
came back to college, and a national championship for the illini
is out of the question for next year.. depending on who goes pro,
some early favorites for next season include duke, texas, and
uconn.. for some quality reading on CHN and yours truly, check out
this
great
article on CHN in a STL paper..
4/04 ..this is how
it should be.. the best two teams in the country going at it for
the national championship.. back in february, we did did a poll on
chn ask what your dream finals would be.. 39% picked unc-illinois,
almost three times more
than any other option.. we all got what we
wanted.. my heart says that i need to predict illinois to win it
all, because ive been behind them since the beginning.. however my
brain, especially the part that i would follow if i was a betting
man, says that unc is the best team in the country.. give st louis
credit thus far for hosting a great final four weekend.. the
crowds were simply amazing, and everything is run like clockwork..
of course, the fact illinois is in the finals, and all the illini
fans simply need to cross the mississippi to get here makes things
easy, but i think stl should be in line for a future final four..
certainly the chamber of commerce would not mind.. beginning
tomorrow, we get into nba draft mode on chn.. i dare claim that no
other website offers better nba draft coverage than we do, with
great profiles, interviews with prospects and agents, the draft
mailbag, and a quality mock draft.. no surprise that chris taft
entered the draft today.. he should still go top 15.. but i admit
i've been disappointed with his play.. i thought he'd develop the
explosiveness that a guy like chris wilcox had with maryland, but
taft never really seemed to improve that much since getting to
pitt..
4/02 ..final
four.. enough said.. i've been thinking a lot this morning about
something to write about or say that hasn't been said already..
and to be honest, there's really not that much to add.. it should
be an absolutely rocking crowd at the edward jones dome today..
yesterday's open practice and friday festivities drew what some of
the largest crowds in the history of the final four, and a lot of
credit goes to illinois fans for packing the lou.. freshman
forward alex galindo is going to transfer from kansas..
speculation is that galindo might end up at miami.. although some
other big east teams may be in the running as well.. siena picked
a new head coach in fran mccaffery.. mccaffery just finished a
six-year stint at unc-greensboro.. the hall of fame announces its
selections this monday, and word is that uconn coach jim calhoun
has been inducted.. kind of hard to argue with his induction..
most people forget calhoun coached for a full 14 seasons at
northeastern before moving southwest to uconn.. northeastern made
the ncaa's in 5 of his last 6 years there, including 3 trips to
the second round.. oh, and of course my predictions for today..
illinois wins the day's best game by 4 points, featuring a
particularly strong game from james augustine.. north carolina
wins with relative ease compared to their recent results against
michigan state and advances to the title game that everyone's been
hoping for all year long..
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