The College Basketball Post

aww man sam clancy
laugh.gif
dude was 6'4'' Center lmao
 
What he hit you for 30-40? Its cool he is a top 5 fresh of the country.


Nah he got 22 (back in HS thats considered "Shutting him down"
laugh.gif
) So he didn't "abuse" me. I got my letters ( as u can see in myavy) so I'm good. I got him when I go to college
pimp.gif
 
Lofton 3/9 FG, 3/9 3pters
laugh.gif


Dude refuses to shoot insde the 3pt line

And tenn having trouble with Chattanooga
 
Originally Posted by PACMAN301

What he hit you for 30-40? Its cool he is a top 5 fresh of the country.


Nah he got 22 (back in HS thats considered "Shutting him down"
laugh.gif
) So he didn't "abuse" me. I got my letters ( as u can see in my avy) so I'm good. I got him when I go to college
pimp.gif


Where you playing? Any decisions yet? (i assume you haven't graduated already)..
Dude refuses to shoot insde the 3pt line


Can't blame him - dude is just sick. Besides, you have to score 1.5 times as many two's as three's to get the same amount of points..
grin.gif
 
Bill Walker had a nice 2nd Half

As for the USC/Memphis game: I am glad to see OJ take the challenge and lock up on D. Rose

At first I was like, they don't even play like one another, but upon second thought they honestly have the same qualities in their game. Amazing athletic ability, bunnies like
eek.gif
, great slashing ability, the tendency to shoot jump shots when they should be taking advantage of their slashing abilities, and they both high yellow.
laugh.gif

laugh.gif
Word
 
I must say i was pretty wrong about OJ. He is playing within the system, taking good shots, and playing good defense.

I think he is adjusting better and this is a good game.

Now if Taj could stop getting stoned inside. Dorsey and Dozier are owning the boards.
 
I told y'all go back to my post about USC SCuse that's exactly what I said. And Dre what's goin on with your boi Taj???

I'm surprised my guy Pooh is having such difficulty I expected a lot from him and CDR tonight still a half left tho.

And for those that asked CDR ~ 2pts Pooh ~ 0

smh.gif
smh.gif
that's GREAT DEFENSE TO USC'S CREDIT... and Juice is ON #*#%
pimp.gif
 
^ Yeah i know you were right
indifferent.gif
at myself.

If USC could get Gibson going......
pimp.gif


I think USC will hold on though.
 
Originally Posted by SCuse7

^ Yeah i know you were right
indifferent.gif
at myself.

If USC could get Gibson going......
pimp.gif


I think USC will hold on though.

Gibby needs to stay outta foul trouble. The kid already has 3.
eyes.gif
 
WOW Jefferson
pimp.gif
pimp.gif
Is that twice Dorsey has been pooped on?
laugh.gif


CDR is picking it up.

That last and1 for Hackett was a strong drive, he pushed Dorsey back.
eek.gif
 
dreClark ... You Know I'm Talkin To You... Taj playin like ({})


Yeah, he playing like warm gushy (())

edit- Why he gotta be my boy though

[DMX in belly] That's ya man...That's ya man[/DMX in belly]
 
Can't blame him - dude is just sick.
Not so far this year. He's obviously gonna continue and try to shoot out of his slump but once again he shot poorly. For a guy who'ssupposed to be so great, he should be shooting a little better then 35%, don't you think?
 
Where you playing? Any decisions yet? (i assume you haven't graduated already)..


Idk, I'm leaning towards Georgetown. Only thing is, I wouldn't get that much PT
smh.gif
.
 
No 08. Exactly, I would be a walk on or whatever, it's weird. They keep sending me letters telling me they don't have anymore scholarships but arestill interested in me. Idk, still haven't made a decision yet. I need to focus on this season, been +#!%+$* up as of late
smh.gif
.
 
from personal experience...


go to a smaller school where u will play.

unless you jus want the perks of being at georgetown. but u have a gf...so nevermind..smh @ you
laugh.gif
but my boy was a walk on at depaul and now has overseasscouts checkin him out so i dunno. georgetown = crazy connections once college is over. good luck with your decision tho.
 
Originally Posted by PACMAN301

Where you playing? Any decisions yet? (i assume you haven't graduated already)..


Idk, I'm leaning towards Georgetown. Only thing is, I wouldn't get that much PT
smh.gif
.

�Come play at Penn State is you're any good... we could use some more talent up here.�
laugh.gif
� Nah seriously though, good luck with whatever you decide.. last NT'er thatwas a well known college bball player (who openly admitted they were somebody, i should clarify, that i can remember) was Luke Whitehead at Louisville, who ofcourse is famous for this disturbing image...

Anyone know if he's still around on NT?

Anyways - here's the insider andy katz wrote, dealing mostly with the UCLA/Texas game..
http://
[h1]Texas' Augustin might be POY[/h1]
posted: Tuesday, December 4, 2007��|��Print Entry


Quick hitters for Tuesday:

Nearly a month into the season, the national player of the year leader might just be Texas sophomore guard .J. Augustin, who's made key plays in two of the best wins of the season to date over Tennessee in Newark, N.J., and then at UCLA. "I told you this summer, I'm not putting that pressure on him and he doesn't care; just like Kevin Durant, it's the furthest thing from his mind," said Texas coach Rick Barnes. "[D.J.] is all about winning. He's so unselfish. He's become such a great leader."

• Barnes doesn't buy that the Longhorns are better without Durant. "That's just stupid," Barnes said. "Put Durant on this team, we've just added 25 points and 10 rebounds. This team is ahead of last year's at this point, but that doesn't mean we're better."

• Barnes continues to buck the system with perhaps more elite games for a top-10 team than any other squad. Texas played Tennessee and at UCLA, and still has Michigan State in Auburn Hills, Wisconsin and Saint Mary's to come prior to the Big 12 opener at Missouri on Jan. 12. "I could buy 10 games if I wanted to, but that's not what we're about," Barnes said. "We could just go ahead and book 25-30 wins, but what our players want to do is play a better schedule. I can't imagine at the end of the year if anyone will play a tougher schedule."

• Texas is always about player development, but the Longhorns might have done their best job getting Connor Atchley to be a player. When the 6-foot-10 junior arrived in Austin three years ago, he was a bean pole with little meat. Now, he's a strong 226 pounds and a major contributor. His confidence is at an all-time high; he made a huge 3-pointer to help the Longhorns beat the Bruins on Sunday night. Barnes said Atchley made the defensive play of the game when he was able to help deny Kevin Love the ball and force a turnover late in the game. He said Atchley used to be strictly a jump shooter but is no longer a limited player.

• UCLA coach Ben Howland said the Bruins dug too big a whole for themselves in the loss to Texas. He said Darren Collison still isn't 100 percent into the flow of the offense (4-of-14 against the Longhorns). He said the Bruins are still getting used to having Collison back at the point after playing with Russell Westbrook at the position through the first six games. Howland said Collison just got beat by Augustin on the final Texas possession. Howland added that the Bruins didn't switch correctly defensively and that was a problem on Atchley's 3-pointer. He also said we shouldn't read into Love not finishing the game, since Lorenzo Mata-Real had been in late situations against Michigan State, too.

• Howland said he could have played Michael Roll more, too, but Roll, who played five minutes, had practiced only twice prior to the game after suffering a ruptured plantar fascia. Roll, a perimeter threat, should get more run against Davidson on Saturday in the John Wooden Classic in Anaheim. Howland said James Keefe (offseason shoulder surgery) finally got cleared to practice for Tuesday, so that means for the first time this season all 11 scholarship players will be at practice. Howland also said that after dealing with so many injuries this season he's no longer going to fret the possibility of signing too many players. The Bruins are two below the NCAA maximum of 13.

• Baylor coach Scott Drew said LaceDarius Dunn tweaked his knee and is out for two to four weeks after suffering the injury in the final minutes against Washington State on Friday. Dunn (12.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and leading scorer Curtis Jerrells (12.4 ppg) couldn't finish the three-point loss to the Cougars. Drew didn't understand why Jerrells had severe leg cramps considering he was fine during a three-game grind in the Virgin Islands in mid-November.

• Drew said the Bears did miss an opportunity for power-rating points by losing to Washington State. Baylor, which had wins over Wichita State and Notre Dame in the Paradise Jam, still has a road game at South Carolina and a game against Arkansas in Dallas prior to Big 12 play. Baylor will need to pick up one or both to improve its stock in addition to finishing in the top six in the Big 12. "If Winthrop does what it did last year, then that will be a huge RPI win for us," Drew said. "There is greater value playing Wichita and Winthrop then some other teams. We have good RPI teams on our schedule."

• Craziest score of Monday night had to be Radford at Gardner-Webb. Radford won 100-97 in double overtime. There were 100 free throws in the game with GW going 29-of-51 and Radford 36-of-49. A total of six players, three on each team, fouled out. Radford's Amir Johnson was 10-of-10 at the line. G-Webb's Grayson Flittner was 12-of-15 as was Radford's Kenny Thomas. Radford lost to G-Webb 93-83 at home on Nov. 17.
 
that is what Luke Whitehead is up to.���
O.J.-Derrick show is great, but let's not get sappy

[table][tr][td]�[/td] [td] [table][tr][td]
10310.jpg
[/td] [td]Dec. 4, 2007
By Gary Parrish
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
Tell Gary your opinion!
[/td] [/tr][/table][/td] [/tr][/table]
NEW YORK -- Steaming Sunday morning, 20 miles off the Las Vegas strip at a high school close to dirt and not much more. That was the setting for the must-see event two summers ago, and roughly 3,000 people -- among them practically every major college coach in America -- packed a gym well before 10 a.m. and waited for tip-off.

The reason: Derrick Rose vs. O.J. Mayo. The result: Nothing short of fabulous.

It was electric," said Sonny Vaccaro, the man who ran the Big Time Tournament that produced the event. "It was a signature game for that level."

Rose was great. Mayo was better.

The game ended with the latter hitting a 3-pointer while being fouled by the former, and when Mayo sank the subsequent free throw he had completed a four-point play to give his team an 83-82 victory that many (myself included) have deemed the best summer basketball game they've ever witnessed.

"You think he really fouled him?" Memphis coach John Calipari asked afterward, still standing in the bleachers, still shaking his head.

Meantime, Southern California's Tim Floyd just smiled. He and Calipari sat together during the game, and in between jumpers they held a private discussion that at least partly led to this Tuesday night showdown between Calipari's Tigers (featuring Rose) and Floyd's Trojans (featuring Mayo) at Madison Square Garden.

It's going to be a splendid game. If you've got the time, you should watch.

But be sure to cover your ears to avoid the feel-good fiction.

That's my only advice heading in, my only objection to the whole thing. The announcers are going to focus on Rose and Mayo, highlight their stories and tell you all sorts of stuff about why they are playing at these two schools. They'll go over how Rose loved the atmosphere at Memphis and dreamed of the style of play.

They'll note how Mayo wanted to perform in the Los Angeles market and put USC on the proverbial map. And all those things are true to some extent, I guess.

But contrary to what you'll hear during the broadcast Calipari was not the key figure in Rose's recruitment nor was Floyd the key figure in Mayo's.

They were merely the beneficiaries. But that doesn't sound so pure, does it?

It's not quite as clean as Rose choosing Memphis because of a dribble-drive motion offense or Mayo selecting USC because of the media market it would provide. Thus, the peddling of the feel-good fiction has been going on all season, and it even appeared in Tuesday morning's New York Times, where an article explained how Mayo supposedly chose USC "because he wanted to help create a legacy, to be a pioneer."

Yep, that O.J. Mayo. He's a modern-day Daniel Boone.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting Mayo doesn't enjoy the L.A. market or even the idea of playing across town from UCLA's Kevin Love. Both those things must be appealing on some level.

But the real reason Mayo is at USC is a man named Rodney Guillory, an L.A-based event promoter whom the NCAA once deemed a "runner" for an agent. Guillory is a mentor to Mayo, and he guided Mayo to USC by walking into Floyd's office one day and asking Floyd if he'd like to coach the budding superstar. And yes, it was that easy. Guillory, who formed a bond with Mayo in recent years, lived in L.A., so Mayo was going to attend college in L.A., plain and simple.

If Guillory lived in Chicago, Mayo would likely be playing at DePaul. If Guillory lived in Milwaukee, Mayo would likely be playing at Marquette.

But because Guillory lives in Los Angeles, Mayo is playing at Southern California. End of story.

Meantime, Rose is starring at Memphis thanks to a similar connection, specifically the well-documented one between Calipari and William Wesley. If you aren't familiar with Wesley, I'm not sure where you've been the past year, because "Worldwide Wes" has been featured in GQ and routinely referenced among the most powerful men in basketball, as a fascinating character who seems to have a million high-placed friends and allies.

One of them is Michael Jordan.

Another is LeBron James.

Another is Calipari.

Another is Nike.

It is no secret in basketball circles that Wesley represents Nike in some form, even if it's in an unofficial capacity. He's flashing swooshes all the time, as were Rose and his older brother, Reggie, for the past couple of years because Nike outfitted Reggie Rose's high school team in Chicago and funded his AAU team.

Now, Reggie is a Nike employee (according to a recent article in the Commercial Appeal), and if you don't think Wesley facilitated some of this (if not all of this) then don't forget to leave your cookies and milk in front of the fireplace on Christmas Eve, because I'm assuming you still wait for Santa to come down that chimney every year.

Style of play and atmosphere? No doubt, Rose surely enjoys those things at Memphis. But the real reason he is a Tiger is because Wesley's good friend (Calipari) is the Tigers' coach.

And why is that story so difficult for everybody to accept? Why do we need the feel-good fiction? What's wrong with the truth?

That's the question worth asking as tip-off approaches for this Jimmy V Classic, as ESPN prepares to pound us with phrases like student-athlete and love of the game and diaper dandy and whatever.

My guess is the names Rodney Guillory and William Wesley never get mentioned on the air, and it's a solid guess given how Mayo and Rose have already been on ESPN multiple times and I've yet to hear either name come through my television.

Which makes sense, really. After all, their stories don't fit the script, don't sound as pristine as a kid choosing a school because of tradition and academics. So from one writer and broadcaster to the next, the fairy tale is spun and retold for the same reasons that we like Enchanted way more than Sicko.

Enchanted is sweet and endearing. Sicko will make you question the world.

But at least Sicko is an honest and realistic glimpse at a subject, depressing as it might be. Still, I'll take reality over fiction every day, and the reality with college basketball is that so-called mentors and shoe companies dictate much of what happens, so it's about time we stopped pretending otherwise and peddling untruths.

"If you don't have a mentor, uncle, friend, cousin or AAU coach of some kind working for you with an elite prospect, you are just wasting your time recruiting," one high-major assistant told me recently. "Without somebody working for you, you have no shot at that prospect. Absolutely none."

So Calipari had Wesley working for him, Floyd had Guillory working for him.

And do you know what that makes Calipari and Floyd?

It makes them two of the very best at what they do, two coaches who understand the current landscape. Is it cheating? No. It might be a form of legalized cheating, if you'll accept the phrase. But more than anything it's just creative and smart and the way things usually get done these days, which is why Kansas State hired Michael Beasley's former AAU coach, Texas A&M hired DeAndre Jordan's former AAU coach and Indiana hired Eric Gordon's former AAU coach.

"Recruiting is what it is," Vaccaro said. "Everything you can do above board and legally, you should do. That's the only way to exist in big-time athletics."

It's the only way to exist. It's the only way to thrive. It's the only way to land at The Garden on a Tuesday in December. And I suggest now is the perfect time to accept it and cease living in a world of make-believe, a world where people think most elite prospects genuinely care about things like atmosphere or the opportunity to be pioneers.
 
• Barnes continues to buck the system with perhaps more elite games for a top-10 team than any other squad. Texas played Tennessee and at UCLA, and still has Michigan State in Auburn Hills, Wisconsin and Saint Mary's to come prior to the Big 12 opener at Missouri on Jan. 12. "I could buy 10 games if I wanted to, but that's not what we're about," Barnes said. "We could just go ahead and book 25-30 wins, but what our players want to do is play a better schedule. I can't imagine at the end of the year if anyone will play a tougher schedule."
pimp.gif
Rick, forward this to Mack Brown, immediately. Texas needs to take this mindset onto the football field.
• Baylor coach Scott Drew said LaceDarius Dunn tweaked his knee and is out for two to four weeks after suffering the injury in the final minutes against Washington State on Friday. Dunn (12.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and leading scorer Curtis Jerrells (12.4 ppg) couldn't finish the three-point loss to the Cougars. Drew didn't understand why Jerrells had severe leg cramps considering he was fine during a three-game grind in the Virgin Islands in mid-November.
Those boys had that game...
smh.gif
Woulda been a great chance to put the program back on the map...But, they should make the tournament this year, andDrew will continue making progress down in Waco.
 
Back
Top Bottom