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10/31 ..i've been
spending the past few weeks discussing how players in the class of
2002 have fared after high school.. today's focus is on small
forwards, a position where the rankings perhaps have strayed
farthest from reality.. according to rivals.com, the rankings were
as follows: #1 carmelo anthony, #2 lenny cooke, #3 antoine wright,
#4 rashad mccants, #5 kennedy winston, #6 curtis sumpter, #7 evan
burns, #8 brandon roy, #9 francisco garcia, #10 derrick byars..
the name which of course jumps off this list in a positive way is
carmelo anthony who is the clear class of this bunch, an ncaa
champion, and an nba star.. on the other end, lenny cooke is of
course the bust of all busts.. in fact, just today he signed with
the rockford lightning of the cba.. after cooke, the next three
guys all met expectations somewhat in that wright, mccants, and
winston were all nba draft picks.. wright particularly stands out
in that he's a guy who you never heard anything about playing at
a&m.. on the other end, guys like burns and byars never matched
their hype.. burns was the highest rated recruit in the history of
san diego state but struggled with academics and premature nba
dreams.. byars spent two decent years at virginia but will suit up
for vanderbilt.. if he leads vandy into the big dance, perhaps
byars could finally match his expectations.. the small forward
class in 2002 was deep and some guys outside of the top 10 have
been surprises.. #13 andre iguodala will most likely be the best
nba player of the bunch outside of anthony.. #17 dan grunfeld has
emerged as a big-time scorer for stanford.. and #18 matt walsh had
some quality years down in florida.. while cooke is the more
storied bust, another huge bust has to be #15 cortez davis.. davis
signed with rutgers after almost attending maryland, and left
rutgers after playing 10 meaningless games his freshman year..
10/29 ..it's cute
how aj price has been suspended for the season while marcus
williams will be able to return in december.. i know uconn needs a
point guard to win, but they could have at least made a show of
not bending justice to fit their team needs.. i think what bothers
me most is that the laptops these two idiots (and yes, they are
idiots, i will blunt about that) were stolen from fellow student's
rooms.. coach calhoun said he is not "in the business of
abandoning young men who have made a mistake".. these are not
young men, not little kids in middle school, not little kids
walking the streets looking to make ends meet.. these are grown
men being paid over 100 grand to play basketball.. grown men with
jobs, which is what being a scholarship athlete is, have no
business being coddled for acting like idiots.. on a more positive
note, rutgers football team won their 6th game today making them
bowl eligible.. rutgers' success is a great example of how a coach
can remake a program simply through recruiting.. anyone who has
watched rutgers blow close games (such as at illinois earlier this
year) knows that schiano isn't really a great or even good game
coach but he can recruit the heck out of the east coast.. in some
ways schiano reminds of being the jay wright of college football..
wright has brought in a stream of big-time recruiting class to
villanova but his on the court success has been less than
stellar.. this year was supposed to be nova's breakout year, but
sumpter's injury will stall things once again.. another guy who
seems to have the magic recruiting touch is new umass head coach
travis ford, though it remains to be seen how he'll manage games
at a high level program..
10/27 ..besides
our continual coverage of college basketball, chn also spends a
lot of time discussing the nba draft.. on
that note, i want to take a break from my look back at the class
of 2002, and discuss how nba rookies are faring this preseason..
of course it's only preseason, but certain player performances are
worth noting.. one thing seems to be clear as of right now,
there's really no front-runner for rookie of the year, and it
doesn't look like any rookie will be a blockbuster breakout star
of any sort this year.. top pick andrew bogut's rookie of the year
campaign has already taken a major blow as the bucks picked
magloire to play major minutes up front.. as it was, bogut was
averaging just 8 ppg despite playing the 2nd most minutes per game
of any rookie.. the leader in mpg this preseason is the surprising
charlie villanueva whose been a revelation for toronto, averaging
a rookie leading 16 ppg.. besides villanueva, some other solid
preseason performances include indiana's danny granger putting up
11 ppg and a rookie leading 7.4 rpg thus far.. his teammate
sarunas jasikevicius scoring 10 ppg on a smoking 54% from the
floor, 44% from three, and 89% from the line.. and nate robinson
averaging 10 ppg.. disappointments have to include atlanta's
marvin williams, averaging just 7 ppg on just 36% shooting.. as
well as the celtics' gerald green, nets' antoine wright, and
golden state's chris taft who have struggled to see any playing
time thus far.. the two main frontrunners for rookie of the year
have to be chris paul and deron williams.. paul has been highly
inconsistent on the offensive end, but he is averaging a solid 7
apg and should have a chance to get more minutes than any other
rookie this year.. williams on the other hand has been much more
efficient in less time, but won't have as big a chance to make an
impact as paul will..
10/23 ..
i apologize for the lack
of updates on the site in recent days.. we're dealing with some
computer issues that should be resolved any day, but the site
might be a little stale because of it in the coming week as
well.. my last daily dribble focused on how class of '02 point
guards have fared in college.. today i will discuss shooting
guards.. not one 2 guard from the '02 class is of nba all-star
caliber, but the talent level was very deep.. solid college
scorers like justin gray, robert hite, and vincent grier were
all ranked under 10th at their position.. yet the top 10 ranked
players according to rivals.com have performed well.. the top 10
are #1 bracey wright, #2 rashad anderson, #3 hassan adams, #4
allan ray, #5 deangelo alexander, #6 jj redick, #7 daniel horton,
#8 chris rodgers, #9 marcelus kemp, and #10 adam haluska..
easily the player who has accomplished the least is marcelus
kemp.. kemp red-shirted his first year at nevada, played limited
minutes in 03-04 and missed all of last year with a torn acl..
it will be interesting how much of a role kemp could play on
what could be a very solid wolfpack squad.. #8 chris rodgers has
had an underwhelming career for arizona, being overshadowed by
#3 hassan adams.. and now rodger has to deal with a knee injury
that has him sidelined.. a player that many have forgotten about
is deangelo alexander, who has transfered from oklahoma to
charlotte.. alexander always showed signs of being a big-timer
for the sooners and could be a major player in the a10.. the
rest of the players with the exception of maybe daniel horton
and rashad anderson have all played to expectation.. horton has
been plagued by injury and inconsistency but could be primed for
a breakout year.. #6 jj redick has blossomed into the best pure
shooter of the bunch, while adams could be a surprise all-american
if all goes according plan for arizona..
10/20
..best news story of the
day is that a guy was sentenced for 30 years for shooting with
intent to kill and robbery.. but he asked for 3 extra years so
that his sentence would match the #33 jersey worn by larry bird..
luckily he wasn't a fan of wayne gretzky.. i've decided to take
the next few daily dribbles and devote them to looking back at how
the top prospects of the class of 2002, our current seniors, have
fared in college.. i've spent some time looking at the rivals.com
ranking and will break down each position.. one thing you realize
quickly is that although there are some occasional surprise
players, rivals and the other scouts out there really do a fine
job of predicting future ncaa and nba success in their rankings..
today i will start with point guards from this class.. the top 10
prospects were #1 ray felton, #2 dee brown, #3 anthony roberson,
#4 marshall strickland, #5 bryan hopkins, #6 elijah ingram, #7
gerry mcnamara, #8 deron williams, #9 sean dockery, and #10
jarrett jack.. not a bad list.. two players to me particularly
stick out for underperformance.. marshall strickland has gotten
major minutes for indiana the past two seasons, averaging 33
minutes in each.. but he's never developed an offensive game to
speak of (never shot over 39%).. and at best he's been just a
complimentary player on underperforming teams.. ingram also has to
be considered a disappointment, though perhaps his best days are
ahead of him.. forgetting his expulsion from saint john's
following the whole situation there, his on the court production
was disappointing.. he showed he could score (over 13 ppg in the
19 college games he's played), but his actual point guard skills
we're lacking.. perhaps he was simply a victim of overly high
expectations, and he will find the situation at new mexico state
more to his liking.. perhaps the most unfamiliar name on the list
is #5 bryan hopkins playing at smu.. hopkins has had a fine career
thus far, averaging 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists each of
the last two seasons.. hopkins came in as more of a scoring guard
and has stayed that course, disappointing somewhat in his decision
making skills over the years.. he's averaged just about a turnover
for every assist over his three seasons.. though he's clearly the
best player on his team.. just about everyone else on that list
has made an impact on the college level.. felton and williams are
expected to be major nba rookies.. jack should be assured of a
roster spot on the blazers though his future margin for success is
limited.. brown and mcnamara are two of the top senior pg's
in the country.. lastly you have sean dockery and anthony roberson
whose careers have only been half impressive.. dockery's legacy
will depend on how big a role he plays on duke this year and
whether they win it all.. if he sits the bench behind paulus, then
you have to also consider his career a disappointment.. lastly
roberson is fighting for a roster spot on the grizzlies, though he
never seems like anything but a fringe nba player at best..
10/17
..important recruiting
news today regarding the committment of
brandan
wright to north carolina.. the news
was somewhat surprising, particularly to the schools that lost out
on wright's services.. the contenders were kentucky, vanderbilt,
and duke.. vandy had the most at stake, as it would have been a
momentous steal if kevin stallings could have kept the local
product in nashville..
kentucky fans used the news to enflame their usual bickering
over tubby smith's lack of recruiting prowess.. one would think a
class of morris, rondo, crawford, etc could have quieted the
critics for at least a year or two.. down in duke, the worry is of
course the monster class roy williams is putting together down in
chapel hill.. besides wright, considered by many to be the
nation's top power forward (and
chn's #3 ranked prospect
overall), unc already has arguably the nation's top point guard
prospect in tywon lawson and the #1 small forward in wayne
ellington.. those three only make up half of the heel's 2006
class.. while duke clearly had this year's best class through the
combo of mcroberts and paulus, unc has already nailed down the
best recruiting class for 2006.. with the new nba draft rules in
effect, tar heel fans have the extra added bonus of not having to
worry about guys like wright or ellington bolting for the nba..
10/15
..i'm writing this as usc is about to take the field against notre
dame.. and to be honest, i'm pumped about the game.. i'm not a usc
fan, and i'm not a notre dame fan either.. but a top 10 ranked
notre dame playing at home against a top 10 ranked usc team on
national television is what college football is all about.. i
bring this up as a way to discuss the role of television in
college basketball.. notre dame is college football.. when notre
dame matters, college football matters.. and its not just the
winning tradition or the fan base.. its the television contract..
after quite a few years of mediocre football, what has continued
to make notre dame matter is nothing but their exposure on nbc
every saturday.. often times college basketball fans complain
about the acc or duke-centric view of the world taken by espn..
but as frustrating as this can be, college basketball needs iconic
teams as much as college football does.. espn knows this.. that's
why they continually throw duke down our throats.. and rightfully
so.. i want every single person in the country to know who coach k
is.. and by february, i want every sports fan to know the names jj
redick and shelden williams and josch mcroberts.. but the average
fan will never get to know these names unless you shove them down
the public's throat.. by trying to build duke into the nation's
premier program through the media, you create story lines and
interest in the average fan that otherwise could just not exist..
sports is simply a narrative like you read in books and watch on
television.. the coaches, the players, the mascots, nothing but
characters in this narrative.. the better the characters are, the
better the stories are.. college basketball though, as its is
players and coaches come and go, its teams moving from conference
to conference, needs iconic characters.. it needs its heroes..
like a good band, it needs a front-man.. this is the role that
duke needs to fill.. duke needs to be that goodie-two-shoes hero
that every team wants to bring down..
10/12
..coach k was announced
as the next olympics head coach.. not terribly surprising, but it
should be terribly interesting.. of course coach k was considering
the lakers job, and it will be interesting to see how he's able to
deal with coaching the pros.. this is not the first time he will
be in such a setting, as he was an assistant to chuck daly on the
92 dream team.. but having the responsibility that comes with
being the head coach, and at a time of such struggle for americans
in international competitions, makes this a very different task
than in 92.. when you think of coach k, you think of a coach with
a near impeccable background who brings in players to his program
that usually manage to avoid the disgraceful antics that plagues
the public image of basketball.. but on the olympic team, coach k
does not really get to bring his own cast of characters, and will
be pressured to bring the guys who the nba wants to promote.. who
this will be in 2008 is not necessarily apparent now, but we will
get a taste in the world championships in 2006.. its hard to
imagine the big names such as kobe, shaq or t-mac will be there..
but the us does not necessarily need those guys to win.. the real
key to the future of team usa basketball, similar to the fate of
the nba, lies in the hands of lebron james.. james of course was a
non-factor in the 2004 olympics, scoring just 5 points per game
and not even averaging 2 assists or rebounds.. perhaps this was
due to a lack of enthusiasm, perhaps it was because marbury and
odom really are better ballplayers (this was not serious), or
perhaps its because larry brown has an aversion to doing what
needs to be done for the future.. ie, playing darko for the
pistons or playing lebron and amare in the olmpics.. but coach k's
success as team usa coach will almost undoubtedly be tied in to
lebron's participation and impact..
10/10
..nothing particularly
noteworthy in the world of college basketball to discuss today..
but what is noteworthy about today is that it's my birthday.. on
this special occasion, i felt it would be worthwhile to simply let
out any thoughts about ball i have in my head out.. what ever
happened to tulsa?.. this
program was once a star on the rise like
gonzaga.. in case you wondering, a million dollars gives you
name recognition of the strength and conditioning complex at
saint louis' in progress
new arena.. for 10 grand, you can have your name on a women's
locker.. not the locker room, just one locker.. mark me down for
one of those.. why is the new jersey institute of technology going
to field a d1 basketball team?.. is there ever going to be a limit
on d1 basketball teams.. there's soon going to be enough to field
six 64 team tournaments come season end.. i cant wait till devry
and itt tech put together teams.. maybe phoenix online university
will field a virtual team.. why do i read discussions of dick
vitale's predictions on various message boards.. you might as well
be discussing the predictions of neighbor's three year old.. i
hear she's quite the fan.. completely off topic, how genius is it
that espn is televising a boxing event featuring the competitors
on the nbc show contender.. perhaps this show will be a lesson to
the sport of boxing to get their act together.. if boxing was
presented as a legit organized sport, in which there was good
public relations and human interest stories, it would still be
able to be a major player in the sports and entertainment world..
it will be interesting to see what happens when the day comes that
college teams seek to do dna testing on high school recruits in
order to determine their susceptibility to injury and their
potential future height.. the curry situation in chicago no doubt
shows this day is coming..
10/07
..today's interview
subject on chn is
arizona's hassan adams.. this gives me an excuse to discuss
arizona's underrated greatness.. lute olson's program has arguably
been the best in the nation over the past 20 years, and he
deserves more credit than he often gets.. perhaps its the east
coast bias, but coach k, pitino, calhoun, and boeheim often get
the most coaching pub.. the acc and the big east get the team
pub.. but lute olson and arizona have as much a claim to the
nation's best program as anyone else.. a few weeks back, i wrote
about the few programs that have reached national prominence
despite not being in basketball-rich states or cities.. arizona is
obviously the best example of this.. but the rest of today's
dribble will simply be about numbers.. of course, if you're
looking purely at national championships or finals game
appearances, then uofa has no claim to being the best.. their lone
national championship came in 1997, and their lone finals loss
came in 2001 to duke.. but if you want to look at consistent,
continued greatness, then no program can match arizona.. over the
past 18 years, arizona has the nation's highest winning percentage
at .802.. in each of these seasons the team has won 20 games.. the
longest such streak in the nation.. arizona has reached the ncaa
tournament for 20 consecutive years, also the longest current
streak, and the 2nd longest of all time.. only unc with 27 in a
row has had a better run.. over the past 21 years, arizona has
finished 3rd or better in the pac10 21 times.. and oddly enough,
the lone year they finished 5th with an 11-7 record was the long
year the team won the national championship.. more so than
arizona's greatness is olson's underrated greatness taking into
account his previous coaching jobs.. in 32 years, olson only has 3
season with a sub .600 record on the season.. those seasons are
his 1st at iowa, his 4th at iowa, and his 1st at arizona.. with
the lone exception of that 1st year in tucson, olson has made 26
of 27 ncaa tournaments in a row going back to the 78-79 season
with iowa.. lastly, it's important to note that unlike a unc or
kentucky, olson's greatness is not part of a long-term record of
ncaa dominance.. in fact, arizona has only been to 4 ncaa
tournaments that lute olson was not a part of..
10/05
..i'm back after taking
a few days off for the jewish holidays.. not surprising this time
of year that not much has changed in the college basketball world
over the last few days.. there was however some recruiting news of
note.. spencer hawes, the
8th ranked player in the
CHN10, signed with washington..
hawes had been considering unc, but the tar heels ended up signing
big man deon thompson.. hawes, all 7 feet of him, is definitely
the better prospect because of his great size, but thompson is
highly intriguing.. a late bloomer of sorts, thompson has exploded
up the rankings in recent months.. he's 6-8 250 lbs.. and this
weight comes after he lost a few inches from his waist in the past
year.. as some of the weight came off, and as his body matured,
his explosiveness down low really increased.. some consider him to
be a lesser version of sean may.. lorenzo romar hopes that hawes,
who could use some of the pounds that thompson lost, will one day
team with washington's current stud recruit, jon brockman, in a
very imposing front-line.. now that hawes and thompson have
signed, looked for the action to really pick up between the major
players over brandan wright and thaddeus young..
10/01
..what if you could have any five
players in all of college basketball to assemble the ultimate
starting five.. here's how my five would look.. because im most
unsure about point guard, ill start with the bigs.. the team,
we'll call the siegel five, will be big up front.. at center,
duke's shelden williams will lead the
way.. now, im going to be honest here, im really not a big fan of
shelden's game.. stylistically and otherwise.. but the guy is the
most effective pure post player in the country.. he had a very
solid performance in this summer's world university games.. and
while he's not the tallest guy out there (6-9), williams is as
good a rebounder as there is in the country.. at power forward, i
was conflicted between wake forest's
eric williams who has shown great improvement each year.. and
charlotte's curtis withers..
im going to go with withers who finished last season on a tear..
withers really decided to make it a point to get to the foul line
on a more consistent basis.. and he's got a more developed overall
offensive game than williams does, allowing my squad to spread the
floor a bit and giving shelden some more room to roam down low..
at the small forward position, we'll have one of the most dynamic
scorers in the country, gonzaga's
adam morrison.. on this team, morrison wont have to do quite
as much, but he's the ultimate insurance policy on offense.. if
the clock is winding down, just give the ball to adam and let him
do his thing.. with bigs like williams and withers down low, we
also can hide some of morrison's weakness rebounding and playing
d.. at the two guard, i have to go with shelden's teammate, jj
redick.. this is a no-brainer, as redick took his game to a whole
new level last year.. plus with such great offensive players
surrounding him, redick will have a much easier time than ever
getting open threes.. as a i noted earlier, the point guard
position is up for grabs.. i have a lot of players in mind.. i
imagine gerry mcnamara hitting clutch threes in big games.. i
picture the defensive prowess of kentucky rajon rondo rounding out
the squad.. i see memphis' darius washington running the floor and
beating guys off the dribble with ease.. i would love the overall
game of texas' daniel gibson.. but on this team, i'd go with
illinois senior dee brown.. we already have enough scoring and
size.. we have three point bombers.. but what the siegel five
needs is senior leadership, quality decision-making, a player who
knows his role, who can push the ball and be assertive when needed
but defer in the half-court.. this team would never lose..
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