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.