Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody!

Reverse-recruiting: An early look at the 2008 Draft!

If you found the 2007 draft post interesting, you may like this one too!

Speculation is fun and free, so here's what two of the major draft sites have in their mock drafts for 2008:

NBADraft.net 2008 Mock draft

DraftExpress 2008 Mock Draft

The recruits from class of 2007 will be eligible for the 2008 draft, assuming they meet the age requirement and they have graduated as set forth by the new CBA. Here is a combined list of who is projected to be a first rounders from that group, with their college preferences listed:

OJ Mayo, USC

Kevin Love, UCLA

Derrick Rose, Memphis

Eric Gordon, Indiana over Illinois

Michael Beasley, Cincinatti, OOPS!, Kansas State :-)

Jarryd Bayless, Arizona

Donte Greene

ESPN Full Court one week FREE preview

Details at NCAAHoops Today

Day 2 of the T-Mobile Invitational

Maya Moore once again had a brilliant game, this time scoring 48 (yes fourty-eight) points, 13 rebounds and 7 steals and winning the tourney for her team. Her college choice is UConn and Geno Auriema. (The rich get richer!)

On the men's side, once again, the tall guards/wings of O'Dea bothered and disrupted the shorter guards of Solon. That along with Dallas Lauderdale's frustrations from the foul-line, gave the team-oriented O'Dea team the win and a 3rd place finish. Josh Scott did a good job trying to defend the bigger and stronger Lauderdale. Chris Banchero was the main offense for O'Dea. For whatever reason, Solon once again did not use 6'5" guard Akeem Owens as mucn and instead went with the shorter guys who got disrupted by the taller players of the opponent.

The battle for the trophy was between LeFlore of Alabama and Fairfax of Los Angeles. The all-around play of Ja'shon Hampton and the scoring of Chace Stanback helped Fairfax get the win. Touted Marquette-bound Nick Anderson had a quiet night.

And that concludes the first T-Mobile Invitational. According to the T-Mobile representative interviewed, they will continue this tourney next year and beyond...

Recap of Day 1 of the T-Mobile Invitational

Maya Moore had a very impressive game in the first of the women's games

In Game 1, thanks to fastbreak points and three-pointers, LeFlore of Alabama defeated Solon of Ohio. Dallas Lauderdale of Solon was impressive inside when his guards were able to get him the ball. Twice he blocked a shot on defense and ran straight to the hoop for an easy basket. Wings Derrick Young and Christopher Warren of LeFlore bothered the shorter Solon guards and forced a lot of turnovers that let to fastbreak scores. Chris Warren may be flying under the radar recruiting-wise on a national level because he doesn't participate in many summer/AAU/all-star events. Marquette-bound Nick Williams had a good game as well coming off the bench

In Game 2, the Sons of the NBA faced Fairfax. The Sons of the NBA is another name for O'Dea, three of their starters are sons of former NBA stars Nate McMillan, James Edwards (the 7-footer) and Harold Pressley (of Villanova '85 fame). The son of James Edwards however is much smaller and lighter, more of a guard/wing. Jamelle McMillan and forward Josh Scott had some good moments for O'Dea but the team was almost outscored by UCLA-bound Chace Stanback of Fairfax. Stanback was shooting (and scoring) early and often. Being 6-8 allowed him to shoot over everyone from the perimeter. You can bet he won't be shooting as much under Ben Howland. Apart from Stanback, Ja'shon Hampton had a good game, and fire-hydrant point guard Rod Singleton was under control. Class of 2009 6'5" Solomon Hill came off the bench and contributed.

Craig Elho was the basketball analyst as the games are played at the "Hec" - the Bank of America arena in Seattle, home of the Washington Huskies.

The tourney concludes tomorrow with four more games, two men, two women. O'Dea will face Dallas Lauderdale and Solon in the 3rd place game, while Fairfax will compete with LeFlore for the 1st place. Both place will air on VERSUS (formerly OLN). Check local listings for airtimes...

The T-Mobile Invitational starts today!

*** all times PACIFIC; add +3 for Eastern time ***

The T-Mobile Invitational on VERSUS

230pm: LeFlore of Alabama vs Solon of Ohio on Versus (formerly OLN)

530pm: Faifax of Los Angeles vs O'Dea of Washington on Versus (formerly OLN)

There's also two women's games in between, so the actual start times are not exact!

*** Among the Top 100 players participating are Dallas Lauderdale (Ohio State), Nate McMillan's son Jamelle (Arizona State), Chace Stanback (UCLA), touted junior Nick Williams, and a few more.

If you find these listings useful, you can encourage this blog to continue posting them by making your Amazon.com purchases via the affiliate link here or the Amazon logos in the blog.



*** all times PACIFIC; add +3 for Eastern time ***

Prep Hoops On TV Today (more on Wedn/Thur)

PREP HOOPS

If you find these listings useful, you can encourage this blog to continue posting them by making your Amazon.com purchases via the affiliate link here or the Amazon logos in the blog.

3PM, 7PM, Preview of the T-Mobile Invitation on Versus. Details on this tourney in an earlier post. Games will be played on Wednesday and Thursday, four games each day, two womens and two mens.

7pm: Wisconsin hoops: Wisconsin Dells vs La Crosse Aquinas on FCS and regional FSNs. Not sure if there are any high major D1 prospects. Will update if I find out.

Reverse Recruiting: A look at the 2007 NBA Draft

College basketball fans will shed many tears when the 2007 NBA Draft comes around. A lot of talented freshmen and underclassmen are projected to be picked in the draft. That of course doesn't necessarily mean they will come out, but usually a lottery pick or even a first round pick is hard to say no to. Strategically some players may pass on the 2007 draft because it will be so loaded with talent. The 2007 class has some talent (OJ Mayo, Kevin Love, Derrick Rose) but the talent is not as overwhelming as this year (Oden, Durant, Florida Juniors, 2006 McDonalds team)

These are early projections in mock drafts! They are by no means guarantees...


Here are two preliminary mock drafts:

Draft Express

NBADraft.net

Freshmen projected in the first round
* Greg Oden
* Kevin Durant
* Brandan Wright
* Spencer Hawes
* Hasheem shot-blocking Thabeet (one of the coolest names in NCAA hoops this year)
* Daequan Cook
* Thaddeus Young
* Darrell Arthur


Sophomores projected in the first round
* Julian Wright and Brandon Rush
* Josh McRoberts (overrated Dookie imho but that's just me :-)
* Dominic James
* Tyler Hansbro (oops Hansborough)
* M-Will (Marcus Williams)
* Rodney Stuckey of Eastern Washington. Make sure you watch him this season!
* Luc Richard Mbah a Moute


Juniors projected in the first round
* Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer and Al Horford
* Jason Smith, one of the least known talented 7-footers. Make sure you watch Colorado State this year at least once (if you can find them on TV, which may not be easy)
* Ron Steele (although the injuries may raise durability questions)
* JR Giddens (Hello Bill Self!)
* Sean Williams (can't argue with his shot-blocking)
* Big Baby Glen Davis
* Nick Young
* Jeff Green
* Richard Roby
* DeVon Hardin (although his injury may delay his NBA entry)

This is no surprise to those following Arizona

Once-touted guard JP Prince has been "under the weather" since the start of the season. He is also transfering out of Arizona.

He played high school in Tennessee, so some of the obvious candidates by proximity are Memphis (already has one player sitting out - Shawn Taggart), and Tennessee.

Reported by CSTV and other sources....

Meanwhile the transfer parade continues, this time Justin Cerasoli transfers once again, Roderick Ollie has incompabilities with Mike Davis, and Sead Odzic finds a new home near his HS...

Preps Basketball on TV!

*** all times pacific *** *** all times pacific ***

High School Hoops - today, Thursday December 21, 2006

6pm, 1230am Colorado Tournament of Champions Final on Fox College Sports.


Next week, the T-Mobile Invitational on Versus (formerly OLN)
*** preliminary TV schedule, all times pacific
*** Tuesday December 26
* 3pm and 7pm, T-Mobile Invitational preview
*** Wednesday December 27
* 230pm: LeFlore (Alabama) vs Solon (Ohio)
* 530pm: Faifax (California) vs O'Dea (Washington)
*** Thursday December 28
* 230pm: 3rd place game
* 530pm: 1st place game


*** start times are approximate; each day there will be one men's game followed by a women's game. If a game lasts longer than estimated, the schedule will be shifted down...

*** all times pacific *** *** all times pacific ***

Latest updates from CSTV

Latest from CSTV:
* Congratulations on Jamal Boykin for sealing his escape from Coach AMEX-land. He will play at Cal Berkeley.
* One flies away from the Texas Tech nest, a seven footer flies from St Bonaventure to Cornell, one flies away from Idaho, and a former Georgetown guard ends up at Towson.
* Dave Odom finally gets Chad Gray eligible after a mini-soap
* New Mexico and New Mexico State get a new commitment each.

Two games on TV today: Tournament of Champions in Colorado

*** all times are PACIFIC ***

high school hoops
* As of right now I do not know if any major Division 1 prospects are playing in this Tournament of Champions in Colorado
* On Fox College Sports and regional FSNs

530pm: Grandview vs Denver Christian on FCS (repeats at 1am)
730pm: Mullen vs Thomas Jefferson on FCS (repeats at 930am)

The Final will be shown on Fox College Sports on Thursday December 21, at 6pm, with a repeat at 1230am.

I will update the post if i find out more about this...
*** all times are PACIFIC ***

Prep and High School Hoops TV schedule

*** This post will be continually updated with new listings ***

Saturday December 16, Appleton East at Fond du Lac, on Fox College Sports and regional FSNs.

Tuesday December 19, Tournament of Champions Invitational on Fox College Sports and regional FSNs. Two games, which repeat on Wednesday December 20:
* Grandview at Denver Christian
* Mullen at Thomas Jefferson

Thursday December 21, the Final of the above Tournament of Champions Invitational on Fox College Sports and regional FSNs. Repeats on early Friday.

T-Mobile Invitational on Versus (formerly OLN, owned by Comcast) in late December

more coming soon...

more coming soon...

more coming soon...

Transfer week continues

A big man transfers from USC to Nebraska according to CSTV. But USC fans must surely be happy with the way their team came back and won teh game after a horrible first half (scored just 16 points) against George Washington in the Wooden Classic in Anaheim.

Kevin Love feature on this week's Sports Stars of Tomorrow

UCLA-bound Oregonian super talent Kevin Love of the class of 2007 was featured in this week's Sports Stars of Tomorrow.

During that segment you will learn that his uncle is actually a member of the world famous music super group the Beach Boys! I kid you not!


Check local listings for air times or visit their website

Smart move by Jamal Boykin!

As I have said a few times before, the smart move for Jamal Boykin would have been to escape the Duke Smug-Cloud. And he did. CSTV/Bill Hodges reports that Jamal Boykin is transfering out of Duke. Smart move! The Fairfax standout was misled by the typical BS that Coach AMEX uses to fill up the heads of potential recruits and they think Duke is some kind of paraside that will get them a max contract in the NBA. Then they show up on campus, reality hts, and he drains the life force out of them. I kid you not, a classic example was Sean Dockery! Just look into the player's eyes. The life force is drained out by Coach AMEX! Sorry Dookies, the truth hurts :-)

And now begins the re-recruitment of Jamal Boykin, presumably by West Coast teams, with the SoCals probably having first dibs, but don't discount the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Gonzaga) or Arizona or New Mexico State. As you may recall Jamal Boykin was one of the top 100 players of the 2005 class but rarely got off the bench at Duke. His move to the west coast will allow him to recover from the "Duke experience" and return to the floor and showcase his talents that got him the top 100 ranking. His year by year player profiles can be found at Scout.com.

I would like to congratulate Jamal Boykin for this move and his brave escape from K-Ville!

I am no Nostradamus, but I predicted this almost a year ago!

Meanwhile tons of games this weekend on TV. Check the comprehensive tv listings for this weekend at NCAA Hoops Today

Recap of Norcross (GA) vs Oak Hill Academy

A competitive and entertaining game, with segments of offensive explosion.

The Norcross Blue Devils won the frontcourt battle with Gani Lawal and Al Farouq Aminu dominating the Oak Hill front court. Lawal and Aminu looked like the prototypical Georgia Tech forwards, and with good reason: Lawal has committed to Georgia Tech, while junior Aminu's older brother is currently at Georgia Tech.

Oak Hill's backcourt dominated the Norcross frontcourt with Brandon Jennings reaching 10 assists (and that was below his average) and playing faster than the cameras, while Duke-bound Nolan Smith was an efficient scoring machine. Jennings had some impressive passes, a few of which were simply too fast or caught his teammates by surprise.

The seniors are mostly committed, but some of the juniors will be involved in highly contested recruiting battles, such as Aminu and Trey Thompkins.

The other seniors involved in this game: Alex Legion (Michigan), Julian Vaughn (Florida State), Trey Neysmith (Oklahoma), and Jordan DeMercy (Florida State)

Terrance Boyd was the most touted sophomore (2009 class), but Tariq Muhammad of Norcross got more playing time as a starter.

I previously mentioned Michael Beasley who was on Oak Hill's team last year, but this year he is at Notre Dame Prep. His Scout.com profile.

The play by play guy sounded like a radio play-by-play guy :-)

The game was on ESPN2, but they did not send the High Definition cameras. The expert analysts were Fran Frachilla and Stephen Bardo.

The ESPN cameras caught the following coaches in attendance: Roy Williams, Paul Hewitt (the host, as the game was played at Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coloseum), Jeff Capel and the Georgia coach (which may remind some of the recurring coach on MadTV).

During the game Fran Frachilla revealed his Top 5 of the Class of 2007: 1) OJ Mayo, 2) Eric Gordon 3) Kevin Love 4) Kyle Dookie Singler 5) Derrick Rose

Gift Ideas: College Hoops movies on DVDs

Glory Road, Widescreen

Glory Road, Fullscreen

Coach Carter, Widescreen

Coach Carter, Fullscreen

Hoosiers

Hoosiers, 2-disc Collector's edition

Through the Fire, the Sebastian Telfair story.

Through the Fire, Director's Cut Extended and Uncut.

Basketball Diaries

Hoop Dreams, the Criterion Collection

A Season on the Brink, the Bob Knight story, an ESPN Original Movie.









Some of the movies are available in both Full Screen and Wide Screen. If you are not familiar between the differences between Full Screen vs Wide Screen, the website WideScreen.org does a good job of explaining this with nice examples from movies such as LOTR.

Latest USA Today Polls

The USA Today Super 25 updated 11/28/2006, and a regional breakdown (Top 40, 4 regions of 10 teams)

Prep High School Hoops TV schedule on ESPN by USA Today

USA Today has published the TV schedule of preps and high school basketball to be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks this year. USA Today ESPN schedule

ESPNU features six games, ESPN2 features three, while ESPN has the highlight game of Derrick Rose's Simeon against (you guessed it) Oak Hill Academy. Other teams featured: DeMatha, Huntington (OJ Mayo, Patrick Patterson), St. Patrick, two Oregon games (presumably Kevin Love and/or dookie Kyle Singler), and Michael Jordan's two sons. More details by USA Today.

The action begins tonight with a double-header. First Wheeler plays on ESPNU. Then Norcross of Georgia plays Oak Hill Academy (aka Basketball Factory) of Mouth of Wilson of Virginia on ESPN2.

Apart from ESPN, a number of other networks will be showcasing prep/high school games:

CSTV will have a triple header around the Martin Luther King weekend in mid-January

Versus (formerly OLN) will feature a two day event with four teams around Christmas

Comcast Sports Net sometimes picks up local or regional games

Fox College Sports (FCS) also picks up local and regional games, and they may be featuring Lincoln (not sure which one though) in a couple of weeks. More details as they become available.

If you don't have ESPNU, contact your cable/satellite provider and demand ESPNU now! Comcast is notorious for refusing to add ESPNU, yet they just added a Tennis Channel.

Transfer Week continues

A guard from Georgia is transferring to UAB! Mike Davis is working on having the best all-transfer team for 2007-2008 :-)

Coming Soon: The RecruitingWars Top 10 for 2007

Coming Soon: The RecruitingWars Top 10 for 2007...

Tonight: The Jimmy V Classic at MSG!

Details here and at the Jimmy V Foundation website

Transfer week continues

Latest from CSTV:

Players transfer out of Washington, James Madison and Delaware

Bargain Gift Ideas: Lord of the Rings DVD for $6

The second Lord of the Rings movie, the Two Towers, widescreen, the theatrical version, just $6 on Amazon.

The Spring Recruits: Ramon Harris

In what is now becoming more popular (see Billy Walker at Kansas State), spring-eligible players are increasing. Kentucky is getting a versatile Alaskan, 6'6" Ramon Harris. Tubby Smith gave Kentucky fans (and opponents) a quick scouting report on Ramon Harris during the debut of the Tubby Smith show (available nationally on Fox College Sports). In a nutshell (according to Tubby): Ramon Harris can play either the wing or the power forward, both on defense and on offense...

Duke vs North Carolina Part 2

As I wrote a few months ago, the Duke vs North Carolina recruiting battle is entering a new phase. The Roy Williams style of play is more exciting than Dookie-ball, and this will register with recruits. It already has. Take the ACC-Big10 challenge games. If you are an up-and-coming Top 100 player, would you like to play in an exciting game like Ohio State vs North Carolina or would you like to play in a grinding slugfest like Indiana vs Duke? I have not conducted an official poll, but my guess is that the majority of players would prefer to play the fun and exciting up and down game...

This has shown in this year's recruiting class: Roy Williams got the top three players at their respective positions (Lawson, Ellington, Brandan Wright). His next two players are probably good enough to start on most other teams. And the 6th man, a top 100 player, is redshirting. Contrast that with Duke with late signee Lance Thomas along with JJ Redick-wannabe Jon Scheyer, seven-footer Brian Zoubek and touted Gerald Henderson. A very good class for any other year, but with a superloaded class like 2006, Duke has underachieved as they usually get top level talent.

Running for the exits

Transfer week it seems! CSTV recruiting. The exodus from SoCal: two players transfer out of Pepperdine and one out of USC (redshirting shooter Sead Odzic). Tulane is losing one as well. Check the CSTV website for details.

Slow news day so far

Details at http://interact.cstv.com/recruiting/

* Virginia gets a former Temple commit
* Toledo loads up
* Georgia loses a guard as he transfers out.

You can't stop the Matta express!

The Thad Matta Express is unstoppable. This time, according to CSTV/Bill Hodges they picked up a highly rated Flintstone for 2008.

If there was a recruiting hall of fame, Thad Matta would be an early-entry candidate for sure :-)

Kevin Love feature: Next week on Sports Stars of Tomorrow

Next week the weekly tv newsmagazine Sports Stars of Tomorrow will have a feature on the UCLA-bound Oregonian Kevin Love, one of the top five members of the 2007 class. Check local listings for next week's episode or check their website...

Nick Calathes feature on Sports Stars of Tomorrow

Weekly TV sports newsmagazine Sports Stars of Tomorrow has a feature on Florida commit Nick Calathes, one of the top rated players of the 2007 class and Florida's Mr Basketball as a junior. Check local listings or look for it on their website, Sports Stars of tomorrow

Norcross (GA) vs Oak Hill on ESPN2 (Dec 7)

Thursday December 7, 2006, at 6pm PST (9pm EST) ESPN2 will be broadcasting their first high-school basketball of the season featuring powerhouse Oak Hill Academy and Norcross (GA).

Some high profiles recruits will play in this game:
* Michael Beasley (Huggins State, aka Kansas State)
* Brandon Jennings (2008 class) (USC)
* Nolan Smith (Puke)
* Alex Legion (Meeecheeeegan)
* Julian Vaughn
* Howard Thompkins (2008)
* Terrence Boyd (2009)
* Gani Lawal (Georgia Tech)
* Jordan DeMercy (FSU)
* Tony Neysmith (Oklahoma)
* Al-farouq Aminu (2008)

As of the current standings, this is NUMBER ONE -vs- NUMBER TWO, according to the USA Today poll

Tim Floyd is very thankful this Thanksgiving

Latest news at: http://interact.cstv.com/recruiting/

Big news this Thanksgiving weekend. Tim Floyd of USC is very thanksful as he receives a verbal from Socal super-guard and OakHill-this-season Brandon Jennings. This dude is of the 2008 class, which means he will not play with OJ Mayo since he is very likely to be one and done in 2007-2008. UCLA fans won't like this, but once again Ben Howland, coming off an NCAA Final Four season, loses another high profile SoCal recruit, and this time not to the blue bloods (UNC, Duke) but to LA rival USC which hasn't even made the NCAAs.

Also big news for Bruce Webber, although this may not stick because it is soooo early: 2010 Jereme Richmond (currently 6'6") verballed to Illinois, but 2010 is four years away. I guess that makes losing Eric Gordon a bit less painful perhaps for the Illini fans.

The magic of the Final Four run wasn't enough to keep sophomore Sammy Hernandez at George Mason. He is transferring out and the earliest he would be eligible to play to whereever he transfers is the Spring 2008 semester (late december 2007).

Great holiday gift: Amazon Gift Certificates!

You can select any amount, from $5 to $5000, and it can sent by regular mail, by e-mail, or even as a holiday e-card. Visit Amazon Gift Certificates! for details...




Why is this even remotelly related to college basketball? Because this helps this blog, which unlike Andy Katz and ESPN Insider, it is totally free :-)

Amazon Gift Certificates!

Latest recruiting news

While the OJ Mayo signing (of the LOI) and the Derrick Rose to Memphis continue to be the big stories of the week, CSTV has a few more updates:
* NC State continues to load up on talent as they pick up a 2008 recruit.
* GW has some diplomatic issues with Oregon
* Bigoted U gets a 7-footer
* visit the CSTV Bill Hodges column for the details

Latest updates from CSTV

CSTV reports the latest recruiting news. Visit their site for all the details. Here's a teaser:

2008 commitments for Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun and Ben Howland

2007 recruits for Cincy, Southern Mississssippppi, Indiana, Iowa State, Marshall, USF, etc

A former Clemson guard ends up at New Orleans via a JuCo.

But of course the biggest news of this week was Derrick Rose at Memphis, and OJ Mayo actually signing a letter of intent...

Derrick Rose will play in an NBA arena next year...

Derrick Rose will play in an NBA arena next year, but not for an NBA team. He will be playing at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, an arena shared by the Memphis Tigers of the NCAA and the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA.

The Memphis Tigers are playing Rose Ball next year. No, not a typo, they are not going to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. They are getting 2007 super-guard Derrick Rose. Calipari surprised a lot of people by getting Rose, who was expected to chose between Illinois (in-state) and Indiana (friend Eric Gordon is there). Perhaps he didn't want to find himself in a similar situation so he decided to go elsewhere...

Reported on the national TV sports magazine show "Sports Star of Tomorrow". That same episode had a feature on DeMatha and one of their IvyLeague-bound basketball players...

Preps: USA Today Top 25 for 2006-2007

USAToday's preseason Top 25 has been published and updated as of November 15, 2006.

No shocker, Oak Hill is the preseason #1.

OJ Mayo propels Patrick Patterson's Huntington of West Virginia to #5

Derrick Rose propels Simeon to #7. You can see them as they compete in the T-Mobile Invitational on December 26-27 on VERSUS. See previous post for details...

Lance Stepheson could become the next OJ Mayo as he leads #18 Lincoln of Brooklyn, coached by HoopScoopOnline associate and radio-show sidekick Ron Neclario.

Mississippi transfer Renaldo Sidney propels Artesia to #10, despite the fact that they lost their head coach to Herb Sendek and Arizona State.

A lot of the usual suspect are in the top 25, including the usual Saints (Anthony, Patrick, Benedict), the SoCals (Fairfax, Mater Dei, Westchester, Artesia), Montrose Christian (sans Kevin Durant) MtVernon, Christ the King, Wheeler (they have a December 7 game on ESPNU), Arlington County Day, Norcross and of course DeMatha. The biggest surprise is Archbishop Mitty of San Jose. Who would have thought that a Silicon Valley team would be a top 25 basketball power? That's because of talent: Drew Gordon (6'9") and Collin Chiverton (6'6").

New High School Basketball Tourney on Versus

Versus, formerly known as the Outdoor channel, usually found on standard cable (towards the end of the dial, channel number in the 70s/80s). Comcast owns this channel and they are trying to turn it into an ESPN/FSN competitor, pairing with the other Comcast sports channels such as Comcast Sports Net. Their main sports packages are the NHL and Mountain West basketball, as well as picking up many basketball games from ESPN+ (ESPN PLUS).

They are launching a brand new high school basketball tourney between December 27 through December 28, sponsored by T-Mobile, and aptly named the T-Mobile Invitational. They will feature some of the top teams in men and women's basketball. The games will take place at the UW campus in Seattle (University of Washington).

On the men's side, four teams competing in the tourney, including Fairfax and local O'Dea. All teams are selected from the USA Today preseason Top 25 ranking.

The official website for the event: http://www.tmobileinvitational.net/

Corporate T-Mobile coverage

OJ Mayo signs with USC and many more!

CSTV and Bill Hodges report the latest, among others...

OJ Mayo the highly touted 2007 prospect signs with USC. What does this mean? It simply means that if he plays NCAA Division 1 hoops he will play with USC. But will he? No one really knows at this moment. But if he does, he will play for USC (unless something dramatic happens at USC that warrants his release from his signed sealed and delivered letter of intent). This was covered by ESPN's Cold Pizza and CSTV's One College Sports Show among many other TV outlets.

USC also got a G/F from Louisianna.

The biggest surprise was Herb Pope who selected a ...TV coach instead of the expected BCS powers. This was a shocker!

Calipari got two twins, who are expected to play for him during the 2008-2009 season.

Kelvin Sampson, unable to make 500 excessive phone calls was probably text-bombing his targetted recruits, and that seems to have worked as he got two more!

Ben Howland got a top 100 in the 2008 class, as he desperately tries to load up on UCLA-level talent. As you may recall Ben Howland was desperate for big men this season, but both SoCal preps Alex Stepheson and Deon Thompson chose to go to North Carolina and be #3 and #4 behind Tyler Hansbro and Brandan Wright. They would have been almost guaranteed to start at UCLA, whose big men are certainly not Wooden-UCLA-level. Howland couldn't even get one of those two. UCLA fans may point at the signing of Kevin Love, but so far that looks more like an exception than the rule...

Is Bill Self officially on the hot seat? Well take that Jayhawk fans who turned sour on Roy Williams! Two first-round exits with Self's guys... And at least one home loss to a mid-major every year... Well despite all that he managed to get a top 100 player for 2007.

Others getting commitments: Utah State (via Japan!), Joe Pa State (oops! Penn State), Virginia, tragic Dusquene, Nebraska, Iowa State, San Franscisco, UCF, Marshall, and a few more...

Jai Lucas has postponed his commitment to the spring signing period. Hopefully he will not be a sniveling whining dwarf like the Oklahoma State Lucas. (Ouch!!!)

Details at the CSTV and Bill Hodges report

Commitments are flying in...

CSTV reports a handful of new commitments:. Visit their website to get the details :)

Herb Pope is down to five teams, four BCS teams and one non-BCS team with a ...TV coach!

Top 100 forward at NC State

LaTech gets a 7-footer JuCo

Also adding new players: Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Marshall, Idaho, etc...

Cincy gets a top 100 in the 2008

Iowa State gets a 2010 recruit

Last but not least, Embryo #1794004434988503 commits to Duke's 2024 class

Post-Election Recruiting

It seems like Recruiting has become almost as dirty and complicated as politics with mudslinging, negative recruiting, funding and financing "issues", etc, etc. But with the elections in the rearviewmirror (not the Pearl Jam song), we find ourselves in the middle of the Fall Signing Period (November 8 thru 15).

Teams are issues press releases (as if) to announce their signings to their world. And by signings we really mean signings. The players are signing the binding LOI (letter of intent) which binds them to the team, and they have to jump through hoops (no pun intended) to break free of their signed commitment.

As always at this time some major commitments are made/announced. Bill Hodges and CSTV have the details. Here is a teaser:

Eric Wallace commits - he was once headed to Virgina, but now he is heading to a very trendy coach/place

Kentucky borrows a page, not from the Congress but from the Bob Huggins playbook and signs a player eligible to play mid-season (2nd semester) this season

Charles Bronson - not the movie star - commits

Charlotte gets a five-year player

Sutton Jr gets a top 100 forward

Lorenzo Romar "steals" one from the SoCals; This has become an interesting recruiting war with teams from the Pacific Northwest "stealing" SoCal recruits and teams from SoCal "stealing" Pacific Northwest recruits. By "stealing" I mean taking them away from the home team; I do not mean that they are using any dirty tricks - as far as I know anyways.

Herb Sendek continues his international pipeline grabbing one of out the ...Air in Florida

Gonzaga gets a JuCo (what?)

An OJ Mayo and Billy Walker teammate commits to Mike Davis and UAB. The 2007-2008 UAB team on paper looks like a top 25 team already with Vaden and the other local transfer sitting out already

Drew Viney changes his mind but remains in the Pac-10

Others getting new commitments: Marquette, USC, Wisc-GB, Sun Diego, Utah State, Ole Miss, Stanford, Temple sans John Chaney, South Carolina (re-signings), Alabama (re-signing), SUNJ (aka Rutgers), DePaul, Brown (a 7-footer), Richmond, bigoted Liberty, Albany, Auburn, Wisconsin.

All the details can be found at Bill Hodges's Recruiting page on CSTV.com

Latest updates

CSTV and Bill Hodges continue to update us fans with the latest news, which includes another commitment for Ohio State (2008), Herb Sendek uses his Pennsylvania roots to get a new verbal, UTEP gets a big man, and UNI has a decommit.

For those wondering, according to CSTV, the upcoming signing period for basketball is:

Basketball Early Signing period: November 8 to 15, 2006

Basketball Late Signing period: April 11 to May 16, 2007

A verbal commitment can come in any time of the year, but it is not binding. However when a recruit signs a letter of intent (LOI), such as during the two signing periods, the signed commitment is binding and a player cannot backout without losing eligibility and having to sit out - unless the university lets the player out, which usually happens when there is a coaching change or a major scandal.

And in case there are any football fans reading this, according to CSTV and Bill Hodges, the football signing period is:

Early Football Signing period: December 20 2006 thru January 15, 2007

Late football singing perdiod: Ffebruary 7 thru April 1, 2007

The difference obviously has to do with the different time frame of the football and basketball signing periods and the number of players that make up a football and basketball team - among other reasons... I am just pointing the obvious here, I am by no means a soccer analyst. (oooops! football analyst) :-)

Decommits and Recommits

The theme of the last few days has been decommits and recommits. All the details in CSTV Bill Hodges column

Two classes later 7-footer Clarence Holloway verbals to Rick Pitino for 2007. Will it stick this time? This is the 2nd 7-footer Pitino has signed for 2007.

How about the decommits? LSU, California, Clemson and Alabama.

New verbals for: LSU, SMU.

Transfers out: Cincy

All the details in CSTV Bill Hodges column

Big News!

Many sources including ESPN report that Billy Walker, a highly touted super-athlete of the 2007 class has been admitted to Huggins State (Kansas State), but had not enrolled. He won't be eligible to play in the Fall semester, but it's not crystal clear whether he would be eligible to play in the Spring semester (if he could, it would be HUGE for Huggins). Billy Walker is very developed physically and an extraordinary athlete, and he alone could send Huggins State to the NCAA.

Meanwhile Kyle Singler, the touted Oregonian recruit will not wait for Mike Montgomerry to take over the Oregon Ducks in the spring of 2007. Instead he is about to announce his commitment between Puke, Arizona and Kansas, with UCLA, NC and Washington. Sadly Puke is the likely recipient of his verbal. A duo of Kyle Singler and Taylor King on the wing... Interesting. Apparently Coach K is not satisfied with having Taylor Queen throwing up 3s from the perimeter and wants another forward ;-)

More updates from CSTV and Bill Hodges: Visit their site for the details

Huggins gets a wing that once considered Wake and Arizona

New promising verbals for the new coaches at Oklahoma State, NC State and Iowa State

Others getting verbals: Vandy, UNLV (former Tom Penders commit), more Notre Dame, Hofstra, and various mid-majors and low-majors

A guard transfers out of Georgetown

Latest updates

The latest from CSTV/Bill Hodges:

Two decommits in the South, including a Top 100 player. Ouch for Alabama and Clemson

One top 100 verbal for Rick Stansbury beating some of the regional powers for a KY prospect

Notre Dame gets a Nash, but sadly for them, not Steve ;-)

Temple and Eastern Illinois get centers

Iona and St. Peters split a couple of teammates

find out more in Bill Hodges's daily column at CSTV

A very early verbal is as solid as ...water!

More and more coaches are finding out (the hard way) that an early verbal is a almost a guarantee that you are not going to get the player. Just ask Bobby Lutz (Michael Beasley), Ben Howland (Taylor Queen), Bruce Weber (Eric Gordon)...

Last week USC got a verbal from 6'6" rising freshman (2010 class) Dwayne Polee. And a few weeks/months ago DePaul and UConn got some very early verbals. As Tom Konchalski stated before, at that age they are not even sure what they are going to have for lunch, let alone where they want to go to college...

CSTV/FansOnly currently list seven (7) verbals from the Class of 2009 (2009-2010) season. How many of those will stick? :-)

At the moment they only list one 2010 verbal, USC's Dwayne Polee Jr.

If you are reading this story in the future, the numbers and names above will change for sure :-)

Latest updates

The latest updates from Bill Hodges and CSTV have a few more commitments but not the big names we got last week. The most high profile verbal is former DePaul commit Manuel Cass. Find out where he is heading in 2007-2008 on the Bill Hodges/CSTV site... Other teams getting verbals: Georgia, SDSU (Fisher is catching his 2nd wind it seems), Knight Tech, GW, AF, Cincy, etc...

Thanks to MSNBC "Beyond the Arc"

Thanks to MSNBC's Beyond the Arc blog for the link. Beyond the Arc is a college basketball blog at MSNBC by their college basketball editor Mike Miller, covering stories from all over the country, with links to various stories on local/regional websites/newspapers.

ESPN OTL First report: J-Mychal Reese feature

Today, Thursday October 19, at 2:30pm EST on ESPN, Outside the Lines First Report. Details and the story here.


QUOTE from the ESPN OTL-FR daily email:

Centerpiece - Diaper Dandies
According to the scouting service Hoop Scoop, J-Mychal Reese is the top rated basketball player in his age group. Reese is a superb ball handler, drives strong to the basket, and has a feathery touch from the outside. So it's no surprise that sneaker companies have been showering him with gifts, and Reese has been contacted by several colleges, including Arizona. What might be surprising is that J-Mychal Reese had just finished the sixth grade. Outside the Lines' Tom Farrey reports on the ranking and recruiting of elementary school players, followed by a discussion on the merits and social implications of such judgments

For more on this story, click http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/ivp/splash?id=2520487

End of QUOTE


I am still waiting for someone to post a Top 25 embryos ranking ;-)

Mid-week update

FireTubby.com has a story on AJ Stewart verballing at Kentucky. As you may recall, AJ Stewart is/was part of the Arlington Day County team that included Huggins' 7-footer Jason Bennett, Josue Soto and George Mason's Sammy Hernandez.

InsideHoops covers recruiting AJ Stewart at Kentucky, the quest for Patrick Patterson's verbal (a very hot recruit), LSU getting a 7'2/300+ center, and the triangle of Eric Gordon, IU and Bruce Webber.

CSTV and Bill Hodges report on the latest verbals including Georgetown (two of them, including a touted 2008), Ole Miss, Pitt (a JuCo!), Florida (a decommit), a 7-footer at Northern Illinois, Baylor, BC, Oklahoma State (another discipline situation), Kentucky, and LSU getting a big 7'2" 300+ center. Visit CSTV for the details.

Kelvin Sampson gets his first major victory at Midnight Madness, with Eric Gordon back in-state. More...

Contact via email

Please feel free to email comments, suggestions, stories, etc, etc...

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Text Messaging Madness in Recruiting

Yesterday's Taking Issue with Brian Curtis on CSTV featured the topic of text messaging and recruiting. A handful of football coaches, Bill Self and three football players chimed in on the topic.

As with other things with college coaches, they will use it and abuse it until it hurts (or until the NCAA punishes them). Some of them are bombarding recruits with messages throughout the day to show their interest and "outwork" the fingers of the other assistant coaches hammering away as well.

This madness has a financial side effect on recruits: the phone bill sky-rockets, unless they have an unlimited text message plan. Brian Curtis went as far as to compare text messaging plans among different providers (T-Mobile $15/mo unlimited, Verizon, Sprint/Nextel, etc). That was so funny though - Brian Curtis was playing "Consumer Reports" or TechTV or perhaps EnGadget.com or Gizmodo.com ;-)

Top 50 JuCos for 2006-07 and 2007-08

This year's edition of the Sporting News College Basketball Yearbook preview magazine includes the Top 50 incoming JuCos and also the Top 50 upcoming Jucos for the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 seasons respectively. The report was produced by BallStars.net. Details on their recruiting coverage and a review of their preseason magazine can be found here

Eric Gordon to Indiana!

CSTV and Bill Hodges report that the Chicago Tribune reported that Eric Gordon will sign with Indiana. Since verbal commitments are non-binding, Eric Gordon can change his mind as many times as he wants until he signs on the dotted line. Early signing period is sometime in November I think. Until then, who knows...

But this make sense. A new coach at Indiana, and the pressure from the in-state crowd (Eric Gordon played high school basketball in Indiana) may have tilted the scales. If it wasn't for Mike Davis, Eric Gordon would have probably signed at Indiana anyways?

[Another possibility is that after 10,000 phone calls from Kelvin Sampson, Eric Gordon wanted to make them stop and the only way to do that was to go to IU (just kidding!!!)].

The Yugoslavian 10 (aka the Pac-10)

Apparently the Pac-10 coaches have discovered a new source of talent, or at least it became trendy among them. Players from the former Yugoslavia are now available in many rosters:

Ivan Radenovic (Arizona)

Marco Spica (UCLA) - but did not qualify

Nikola Dragovic (UCLA) - not 100% on this one

Sasa Cuic (Oregon State)

nikola knezevic (Cal)

Sead Odzic (USC)

Vojin Silvar (Oregon State)

Ilia Milutonovic (2007) (Oregon State)

Another big recruit verbals!

Win some, lose some for NC State. Andrew Brackman decided to sit out this basketball season so he can focus on baseball. But the new NC State coach got some great news when he beat Bruce Pearl and Tenneessee for the services of a highly touted recruit. CSTV and Bill Hodges reveals the name! Other teams with verbals: George Mason, Washington State. Meanwhile one of USC's verbals has changed his mind and may help re-establish the SoCal-to-BostonCollege pipeline (new assistants you see).

Chris Wright verbals

CSTV/Bill Hodges report that once-NC-State-bound DC touted guard Chris Wright has decided to stay in-state and commit to John Thompson III.

Breaking News: Anthony Randolph commits!

According to CSTV and Bill Hodges the Final Four Tigers (LSU) has received a verbal from this highly touted forward, Anthony Randolph. (Not to be confused with Puke's flake Shavlik Randolph).

Good news for the Big East as well as Pitt picks up DeJuan Blair and the Johnnies pick up Chris Mullin (ooops, center Ayodele Coker)

Weekend update

Jeff Goodman at FoxSports.com has a new story on the recruiting battles over Anthony Randolph (LSU, Texas), JJ Hickson (Tennessee, NC State), Eric Gordon (Illinois, Indiana)

Hal Pastner takes advantage of Adidas and Nike withdrawing from the early July all-star shoe circuit, and starts his own tourney. Reported by Andy Katz in his ESPN Insider blog.

Verbals come the way of Pitt, Minnessota, Nevada, Charlotte, UMass, Nebraska, Tulane, Wichita State, Oregon, SDSU, TCU and Creighton among many others according to CSTV/Bill Hodges. Also reported are problems in the Oklahoma State ...garden (!)

As always, InsideHoops has the latest from a local newspaper perspective. Among other things covered are a new group of academically ineligible players (7'3" Thabeet @ UConn, Washington @ Arkansas (again)). Commitment stories: Keegan Bell to Vandy, Whitehurst to Charlotte. Visits and updates on prospects: Andrew Ogilvy, Jonathan Edwards. University of Georgia president addresses graduation rates, recruiting and competitiveness. An SF Chronicle story on the new NBA Draft rule, highlighting Greg Oden and Spencer Hawes. Stories on Patrick Hazel and his verbal to Marquette. Doc Sandler's latest signees.

Gary Parrish blogs again, this time on Sonny Vaccaro refusing to back down. Afraid perhaps of the Godfather, the NCAA continues to leave him in the dark when it comes to arranging meetings with all parties involved.

Mid-week update

Gary Parrish of CBS sportsline has new blog thoughts on Sonny Vaccaro's latest outburst against everyone else meeting without him present. Also covered are Marquette (Patrick Hazel commitment), and LaSalle beating the odds and getting both Williams twins.

Three college basketball preseason preview magazines have been reviewed so far at the NcaaHoopsToday blog. The latest one being the Street and Smith which beats Lindy's and Athlon in recruiting coverage. It includes top 5 teams by metro areas, and expanded list of top recruits for 2007 and beyond.

A semi-related topic is Hazing, recently covered by CSTV's Taking Issue with Brian Curtis.

Also semi-related, the premier of NBC's Friday Night Lights had some recruiting references, including a recruiter from Notre Dame pressing on the parent to agree on a visit.

Meanwhile CSTV and Bill Hodges have a few more updates: Commitments for Georgia, Oregon, SDSU, Creighton and Nebraska. Visit their site to find out who... Noteworthy: Jack Sikma's son recently committed to Portland.

News: Adidas out of summer camp business

A story by Andy Katz at ESPN.com. This is a free story! This came after a meeting of the minds in Indianapolis among all parties involved. Nike may follow suit, leaving Sonny Vaccaro the last one to make a decision. Nothing is set in stone yet, but all sorts of ideas are coming up, such as a national basketball academy. A very interesting story on this topic, and more will for sure come up in the next few days as there is a wind of change, quite possibly triggered by the performance of Team USA in the last few years, which pinpointed at some problems rooted at the grass roots level...

Weekend update

CSTV and Bill Hodges continue their regular recruiting updates with verbals of two seven footers (FSU,KY), and two California recruits committing (LSU, Washington). Other teams involved in recruiting activity: Virginia, St Joe's (Martelli), Albany, LaSalle, Huggins, Nebraska, Drake, Winthrop, USC, Wyoming, Oregon State (not an ex-Yugoslavian this time) and Colorado among many others. To find out who verballed where, please visit their website :-)

Clark Francis and his one single huge page format has some updates in the freebie Visitor section. He talks about his work-in-progress for the class of 2007 rankings, and the controversy he stirred when talking about UCLA recruiting SoCal phenom PG Brandon Jennings (allegedly one and done). There seems to be more to this story since Kevin Love might also be a one and done player given his improvement year over year. As I have mentioned many times in the past, I am not convinced that Ben Howland's is able to recruit consistently at the top-level UCLA alums aspire to be. And this is after a dream run to the NCAA Final. Kevin Love was the exception, not the rule given how many other top talented SoCals have slipped away despite UCLA needing them badly (eg Deon Thompson and Alex Stevenson to UNC). This may sound harsh but look at the facts: 1) UCLA roster 2) UCLA needs 3) number of talented SoCals that UCLA needed right away 4) look at who committed where. Last but not least Clark has posted his Top 500 sophoromores (class of 2009). The list of Top 10 Embryos is still in progress ;-)

InsideHoops covers recruiting news from a local perspective, including Jacob Pullen at Kansas State over Dayton et al, Blake Hoffarber at Minnessoooottta, Omari Johnson at Oregon State, Justin Holiday at UW, and an update on Charles Bronson (not the movie star)

Andy Katz reports on the story that Adidas is pulling out of the summer sneaker camp business. The question remains as to what Nike and Reebok are going to do.

Luke Winn of CNNSI looks into the topic of Activism and recruiting at Illinois, as part of the ongoing mascot debate...

Monday Night Recruits

Mater Dei Dookie Taylor King was featured yesterday on ABC Sports special one-hour show "Who got game" hosted by James Worthy and Paul Sunderland (or Sutherland?). No, he did not change his mind, he is still going to Duke. He acknowledged that he is no longer the #1 of his class (duh!), but he continues to improve. Also featured on that show was the UCLA team, Adam Morrisson's summer in Charlotte, and a 2-minute preview of the NCAA season by James Worthy, highlighting Florida, NC, Ohio State, UConn (!) and others. The cohost mentioned the names of Kansas and Pitt and Arizona.

CSTV and Bill Hodges have the latest updates on new verbals at Washington, Oregon State, Minnessoooota, Colorada, DePaul (this time beating Pitino and Pearl) - watch out for DePaul, it's starting to become the powerhouse that tempted Richard Digger Phelps to come out of retirement a few years ago. But the biggest news is the committment of the one and only Korie Lucious of 2008. Did the Wisconsin star stay in-state or in-conference or went elsewhere? Visit the CSTV page to find out :-)

Coverage of some of the latest recuriting commitment from a local newspaper perspective are provided at InsideHoops. Included are Washington, DePaul, Wake, VaTech, and LSU's next "Big Baby".

Couch Coach and Master Recruiter

You know who you are. You think you know it all. You think you know better than the coaches. You think you can design a better play. Well now you can do it from the comfort of your own couch with these:

Weekend update

Another day at the office for CSTV and Bill Hodges with updates on DePaul (again), Kansas State, LSU (Final Four but still going after JuCos), VCU (no Capel), Dayton and more. And the Idrissi situation has reached a conclusion: he is transfering to Iona.

Dave Telep updates his recruiting buzz at FoxSports with a story on Jai Lucas. If the name sounds familiar, it's because he is the brother of the Oklahoma State PG and son of the former NBA great. At 5-9 he is considered a Top 50 prospect. He has four teams he is mostly considering. Read all about it at Foxsports.com. Mike Sullivan covers the rumor of a Rice HS sophomore commiting to Rick Pitino and stories on a couple of east coast recruits. Greg Hicks has three updates from the West Coast.

TV wise, there is a wisconsin HS basketball all star game scheduled to broadcast on Fox College Sports tomorrow. I have no clue if it is a rerun or a new broadcast. I am assuming there will be some Division 1 signees or prospects, but I don't have any further details.

Midweek update

Bill Hodges reports new commitments for LSU, Vandy, BC, DePaul (over other midwestern powerhouses), East Carolina, St Bonaventure, Larry Bird's college, Colorado, E.Washington and more.

Clark Francis updates the freebie section of HoopScooponline with a preview of his Top 500 Sophomores list (Class of 2009). I kid you not. Clark thinks very highly of the class of 2009. Read more about it at HoopScoopOnline.com. Maybe the list of the Top 100 Embryos will be posted next week ;-)

Super Tuesday

Bill Hodges and CSTV report on a trio of new signings by the General, Robert Montgomery Knight, FSU, GW, Fairfield, LaTech, Rice and Pacific

Jeff Goldman of FoxSports reports that Bridgton Acamedy has been taken off the list of alleged "diploma mills" under investigation. The complete list can be found in Jeff's story. It includes some high profile prep schools, such as MtZion, NDPrep, StTHomasMore, Patterson (if they played in the NCAA they would probably make the Sweet 16 given their roster), and once-mighty Laurinburg.

Andy Katz reports on Sonny Vaccaro's vision for basketball academies (ESPN Insider required to read the whole story)

Reading is fun-damental!

Recruiting Coverage in 2006-2007 College Basketball Preview Magazines

There is a nice amount of recruiting coverage in the new college basketball season preview magazines that have started becoming available. NCAA Hoops are just around the corner basketball fans! I have already picked up two of them and reviewed them in my college basketball blog:

Lindy's Sports: click here

Athlon's Sports: click here

Some of the recruiting coverage included in those magazines:
* Top 100, and Top 300 of the 2006 class
* Top 100 of the 2007 class
* Top 25 of 2008 class
* Top 10 of 2009 class
* Team ranking of recruiting class
* Stories on the effect of the new NBA rule creating "one and done" superstars.

Weekend update

Possible BIG NEWS: Bob Huggins may be able to add super-touted 2007 recruit Billy Walker to this year's squad. Walker is not eligible to play at his high-school (exhausted eligibility), and is looking at his options for the 2006-2007. This would be HUGE for Bob Huggins! Topeka Capital Journal rumor. - requires free registration, or you can always try BugMeNot.com :-)

Dave Telep reports on Billy Walker's plans for the 2006-2007 season. Also included are reports from Greg Hicks, Ron Naclerio, and Mike Sullivan. Teams covered: Kansas State, Oregon, Florida, UCLA, Oregon, Read all about it at FoxSports.com!

Rob Thomas and StJohns: an update from FoxSports

Arizona is gearing up for its next group of recruits. CSTV carries the latest news from the on-campus fish-wrap: Official visits from Kyle Singer and Solomon Alabi. Arizona has no scholarships available as of right now, but as the story points out, Brillmaier is on a year-to-year understanding and M-Will (Marcus Williams) will be a NBA Draft 1st rounder barring anything unforeseen.

Gary Parrish and CBS SportsLine cover the story of Myles Brand -vs- the Diploma Mills

CSTV and Bill Hodges report the latest recruiting updates: Wisconsin defeats a lot of midwestern and national programs for the services of a top 100 forward, Reggie Theus gets a trio of recruits, while Nate Minnoy goes JuCO for this year and he can play D1 again in 2007-2008. Other teams getting new talent: UAB, Rice, New Mexico, Turnaround Tom's Houston, BYU, Wisc-Milwaukee, Tulane, Central Michigan, and a handful of mid-majors. Meanwhile former Cal wing player Marquise Kately resurfaces for this season at a smaller school. Read all about it by visiting their site.

Huggins-Watch: Cincinatti (OOPS! Kansas State) added former juco/Johnies guard Jermaine Maybank. Huggie-Bear is a JuCo magnet!

Fascinating how a team adds a recruit while it just happens that at the same time a current scholarship player decides to transfer out, or "focus on academics", or changes sports. Coincidence? I think not :-) I won't name names but you can figure it out by looking at the latest recruiting news!

InsideHoops has local newspaper reports the big signing at Wisconsin (five different stories on this), the Weber State signing, a New Yorked signing up at BYU, a Nigerian pipeline for Turnaround Tom, Bob Huggins getting Jermaine Maybank for this season.





Reading Material

Kyle Singler please don't go to Duke!

CSTV U-Wire is spreading a story by the Dookies on Kyle Singler. Singler is wearing #33 to honor Larry Hick they say. Other than Duke, in the hunt for Singler are: Kansas, U-W (Washington), UCLA and Arizona. Telep is quoted as saying that the pendulum is swinging towards Puke. Coach K was planning at-home visits this week with Kyle Singler as well as W-Va rising star Patrick Patterson. Both will make official Dookie visits later on. Hopefully neither one will sign with Duke :-)

Super Tuesday

Primaries today, although not Super Tuesday. But that's for a different blog :-)

CSTV and Bill Hodges report updates on mid-majors, including a couple of transfer-outs from trendy mid-majors. Meanwhile tough Bucknell gets another verbal, BYU loses one and it looks like Daniel Hackett is good to go for 2006-07 for USC (graduated high-school in three years by taking extra classes)

Weekend rewind

CSTV Recruiting reports that Bob Knight beat out Huggie-Bear and Matt Drama of SMU for the services of a touted 2007 Texan. Others getting new verbals: Charlotte, New Mexico State, Temple and new coach Fran D, Tulane, UCLA (2008 recruit) and UNLV. Meanwhile Oregon State is trying to become Serbia-West with two more Serbian recruits :-) For all the details visit the Bill Hodges daily report at CSTV

Gary Parrish of CBS Sports is becoming another good source of recruiting information. His latest post has a paragraph on the new Charlotte 49ers committment. Also talks about Billy Donovan trying to impress super-forward Patrick Patterson by inviting him to watch the Gators receive their national basketball championship rings in front of 90,000 people. Patterson is considering Florida, Wake Forest, Duke, Kentucky, Virginia and instate power West Virginia. Anything but Duke please!!! And journeyman prepster Roburt Sallie trying to become eligible (now at Nebraska)

Daily Recruits

Big story at CBS Sports! Gary Parrish delves into the glamorous world of sneaker camps. The Godfather hates the Pumps. As Reebok and Adidas merged, they will eventually merge their grassroots branches, and that can be trouble as the Godfather and the Pumps have to co-exist under the same umbrella.

InsideHoops has a couple of updates on Kyle Singler, expected to visit Kansas, Duke and Arizona in the next few days. I have this bad feeling Duke is going to grab this player, despite them having signed Taylor Queen. More stories linked there: Oregon State's comings and goings, Paul Hewitt's pipeline from Memphis (the city).

CSTV Recruiting reports a series of transfers/dismissals, some may be surprising such as Nate Minnoy. Others affected by such moves: Iowa State, Tennessee, and USC.

The New York Post has a story on former Carzodo star Theo Davis ending up at Gonzaga. Will he be there by next April? :-)

Sports Magazines!

A great way to catch-up with sports while away from the TV and the Internet, while at the same time supporting this blog:

Sports Magazines

Hoops Magazines