Latest News!

Latest news from the Hodge Report on CSTV

New players for TCU, Murray State, Utah State, Winthrop, St Marys

Meanwhile in the class of 2008: Bo Ryan may get a guard on Wednesday, while Arizona has picked up a top 100 forward.

A former euro-forward at Indiana ends up at Idaho State


A Sea of Blue discusses the issue of how many in-state players should a state school have, and whether there should be a law enforcing a minimum. The article is written about Kentucky, but it could apply to a number of other high-profile state schools around the country. I agree with what they are saying, but you to read the story to find out what it is :)

King James Shooting Star Classic Reruns Tape delayed nation-wide TV Schedule The final game will air nationally tape-delayed on Fox College Sports in a two hour timeslot. The airtimes as of right now are the following. (Please keep in mind the Fox College Sports schedule can change without notice, so double-check if you are going to be taping it!). A recap of the final can be found at Rivals.com. This link contains spoilers as it reveals the winner of the game! You have been spoiler-warned :)

Tuesday May 1, 7am PT/10am ET, Fox College Sports

Saturday May 5, 10pm PT/1am ET, Fox College Sports

Sunday May 6, 11pm PT/2am ET, Fox College Sports

Monday May 7, 7pm PT/10pm ET, Fox College Sports

The games will also repeat on some regional FSNs. Check local listings for air times of those!

Weekend update

Don't forget the King James Shooting Stars Classic! Details in the previous posts right below. Also a preview of the players and teams participating at Rivals.com

Latest from the Hodge Report at CSTV (formerly fansonly.com)

No new news yet! Updates coming later in the weekend. But you can still catch up with what has happened so far in the signing period.

Visit their website for details, player profiles and a lot more

Bruce Weber gets lucky!

Goodbye Text Messaging, Hello Carrier Pigeons! The NCAA passed a ban of text messaging starting in August. The issue will be revisited in 2008. This was a great move as it is a pro-student-athlete move. Obviously the coaches are going to whine and bitch, but they are (obviously) biased in this issue.

Finally, after so many unlucky breaks, Bruce Weber gets lucky! He gets Michael Jordan's son to walk-on on his team. I don't think people understand how important this is, especially for a low-profile average-Joe type of coach like Bruce Weber. Getting the blessing of Air Judden is huge! (Would be still go there if Illinois beat North Carolina in the 2005 NCAA final?). But regardless of all that, this is a huge get for Bruce Weber, I cannot emphasize that enough! Remember, poor Bruce Weber lost the Helen of Troy (Eric Gordon) to Kelvin "500-calls" Sampson, and in-state player Jon Scheyer coached by his own brother went to play in the Cavern of Coach Dracula-K.

More details at the Hodge Report on CSTV

Win players: VMI, Santa Barbie, E.Michigan, more mid-majors

Lose players: No one!

Transfers: A bench player from the Tony Bennett show ends up peeling potatoes (not quite)

A Sea of Blue discusses a report that Billy Gillispie is offering another wing, has an update on highly-sought after Greg Monroe (2008 class). This is also discussed at a University of Spoiled Children blog (just kidding USC fans!)



King James Shooting Stars Classic TV update

Live TV Schedule

According to my very secret inside sources (TV listings LOL), the game will air live, on Sunday April 29, at 3pm PT/6pm ET from the JAR Arena in Akron, Ohio, on three regional FSNs: Ohio, New York, and FSN-Chowd (Jim Rome term for New England). There will also be a pre-game show 30 minutes beforehand starting at 230pm PT/530pm ET... The game will repeat on a handful of regional FSNs later in the week. Check local listings for all that.

Tape delayed nation-wide TV Schedule The final game will air nationally tape-delayed on Fox College Sports in a two hour timeslot. The airtimes as of right now are the following. (Please keep in mind the Fox College Sports schedule can change without notice, so double-check if you are going to be taping it!)

Tuesday May 1, 7am PT/10am ET, Fox College Sports

Saturday May 5, 10pm PT/1am ET, Fox College Sports

Sunday May 6, 11pm PT/2am ET, Fox College Sports

Monday May 7, 7pm PT/10pm ET, Fox College Sports

Since we were just talking about TV, the McDonalds and Jordan Classic games will repeat on ESPNU the next couple of weeks. I have banned TV listings of ESPNU (from my blogs) until ESPN and Comcast come to a common-sense agreement to carry the network. If you are not familiar with the situation, the silly big-wigs at Comcast want to carry it in the digital cable Sports Tier (additional $5 per month), while the silly big-wigs at ESPN want it to be in the entry-level digital tier. This silly dispute is keeping ESPNU from becoming available to millions of sports fans! I am not a big fan of "shaming", but shame on ESPN and Comcast for this silliness!

Every 2007 NCAA Tournament game on DVD!

The NCAA Tournament people have discovered DVDs! Every single 2007 NCAA Tournament game is available for pre-order on DVD on Amazon! They are currently available for pre-order, but no release date is given yet. The pre-order prices range from $22 to $25, but Amazon has a pre-order price guarantee as well as a 30-day price guarantee after the item ships (for items purchased from Amazon, not 3rd party sellers).

List of 2007 tournament DVDs (65 total). One game per DVD.

Detailed list of 2007 NCAA men's basketball games (2006-2007 season)

As a reminder of the 2007 NCAA brackets, here they are, at NCAA Sports and at TeamRankings.com (JPEG file)

Final Four - Atlanta

Florida Gators - Back 2 Back National Champions 2006 - 2007. This is the Florida fans version, with a season recap, it is not the official Final Four dvd. This one is either 60 or 90 minutes long. It is produced by Hart Sharp Video, while all the other DVDs mentioned in here are produced by NCAA On-Demand (NCAASports.com)

The Official 2007 NCAA Championship Final Four DVD is not listed at Amazon as of this time. It is listed elsewhere and about 240 minutes long. The 2006 edition had all three Final Four games on it, at full length.


Florida won this Regional - Midwest Regional in Saint Louis

Elite 8: Florida vs Oregon

Sweet 16: Butler vs Florida

Sweet 16: Oregon vs UNLV

2nd round: Purdue vs Florida

2nd round: Butler vs Maryland

2nd round: Winthrop vs Oregon

2nd round: UNLV vs Wisconsin

1st round: Jackson State vs Florida

1st round: Arizona vs Purdue

1st round: Old Dominion vs Butler

1st round: Maryland vs Davidson

1st round: Winthrop vs Notre Dame Digger Phelps's favorite cinderella faces his favorite team!

1st round: Miami of Ohio vs Oregon

1st round: Georgia Tech vs UNLV. Two super-froshs face Kruger ball

1st round: Texas A&M Corpus Cristi vs Wisconsin


Georgetown won this Regional - East Regional, E. Rutherford, New Jersey

Elite 8: North Carolina vs Georgetown

Sweet 16: USC vs North Carolina

Sweet 16:Georgetown vs Vandy

2nd round: Michigan State vs North Carolina

2nd round: USC vs Texas (Kevin Durant's last game in college!)

2nd round: Vandy vs Washington State

2nd round: Boston College vs Georgetown

1st round: Eastern Kentucky vs North Carolina

1st round: Marquette vs Michican State (the Jud Heathcote tree battle)

1st round: Arkansas vs USC (Stan Heath's swan song)

1st round: New Mexico State vs Texas (Kevin Durant!)

1st round: Vandy vs George Washington

1st round: Oral Roberts vs Washington State

1st round: Texas Tech vs Boston College

1st round: Belmont vs Georgetown


Ohio State won this Regional - South regional, in San Antonio

Elite 8: Memphis vs Ohio State

Sweet 16: Texas A&M vs Memphis(good game!)

Sweet 16: Ohio State vs Xavier

2nd round: Ohio State vs Tennessee

2nd round: Nevada vs Memphis

2nd round: Texas A&M vs Louisville. (future Kentucky coach faces former Kentucky coach)

2nd round: Virginia vs Tennessee

1st round: Central Connecticut State vs Ohio State (Greg Oden!)

1st round: BUY vs Xavier

1st round: Penn vs Texas A&M

1st round: Long Beach State vs Tennessee

1st round: North Texas vs Memphis (The Calipari Experiment)

1st round: Stanford vs Louisville Pitino returns to Rupp Arena

1st round: Albany vs Virginia

1st round: Creighton vs Nevada (a bracket buster spotlight game?)


UCLA won this Regional West Regional, San Jose

Elite 8: Kansas vs UCLA

Sweet 16: Pitt vs UCLA Two close friends duke it out.

Sweet 16: Southern Illinois vs Kansas (almost a win for the Salukis)

2nd round: Kansas vs Kentucky

2nd round: Indiana vs UCLA (total slugfest, no surprise really - look at who is coaching!)

2nd round: VCU vs Pitt

2nd round: Virginia Tech vs Illinois

1st round: UCLA vs Weber State

1st round: VCU vs Duke. MUST BUY THIS ONE!

1st round: Virginia Tech vs Southern Illinois (total slugfest)

1st round: Wright State vs Pitt

1st round: Holy Cross vs Southern Illinois

1st round: Villanova vs Kentucky

1st round: Gonzaga vs Indiana

1st round: Niagara vs Kansas


NCAA Division II Tournament DVDs

Final: The very dramatic final of Barton vs Winona State

Semifinal: Barton vs Cal State San Bernandino

Either national semifinal or Elite 8 game between Barton and Grand Valley State. Contact Amazon before purchasing this one!


Here are some examples of how the DVDs look, starting with my favorite game of the tourney pictured first! (This post would take forever to load and read if I put all 63 dvds in this format)




These two below are books, not DVDs.

Official 2007 NCAA Men's Final Four Records Book (Ncaa Final Four Tournament Records) (Paperback), $11.

Official Program of the 2007 Final Four, by Host Communications, currently at $10.00



But wait, there's more! The 2007 NCAA Women's tourney games on DVD are also available! 2007 NCAA Women DVDs (list of 60 DVDs total). Same price range and setup.

Thursday update

The latest news at the Hodge Report on CSTV

Gain recruits: Eustachy's Liquor Store (Southern Miss), Bruce Pearl, Jim Les(s) than stellar season, Bob "I love Myles Brand" Knight, Turnaround Tom (although so far it's mostly TurnSideways), Colorada State, Ohio, Idaho, Weber St,

Lose players/recruits: Bradley, Missoura

A number of recruiting tidbits at A Sea of Blue, including Patrick Patterson, Michael Sanchez, Steffphon Pettigrew, Tyler Zeller (any relation to the Domer Zeller?).

Latest commits and decommits

A Sea of Blue posts a clarification on Alex Legion and Kentucky. The player signed (non-binding) scholarship players but has not signed the (binding) letter of intent (LOI). More details at A Sea of Blue... Typically a letter of intent (LOI) is preferrable for a coach, while scholarship papers preferable for a player since they have more flexibility. This is perhaps a sign of Gillispie's understanding of the situation and being flexible enough to land the recruit as opposed to insisting on a LOI.


Latest from the Hodge Report at CSTV

Coaching Carousel Refugees: Arizona State gains a Ritchie McKay New Mexico signee

New signees for: Nebraska, UTEP, Marshall (3), West Virginia (Bob Huggins is doing it again!), North Florida .

Decommits: Clemson

Transfers: UT-Chatt gets a former Alabama freshman. And as reported yesterday by Pat Forde, Reginald Delk goes to play for Pitino at Louisville. I wouldn't be surprised if the other twin plays for a coach in the extended Pitino coaching tree.


Don't forget the King James Classic this weekend The 2nd annual game will be played in Ohio and carried by some local FSNs. It will be shown nationally tape-delayed on Fox College Sports on Tuesday at 7amPT/10amET. More details as the FSN/FCS schedule gets more solid.

Tuesday Commits!

Kentucky fans were expecting ...legions of new recruits from Billy Gillespie, and they got another one today, former Michigan-bound Top 100 wing, Alex Legion. Details at A Sea of Blue, and FireBilly.com. Not only is he a Top 100 player, but he also played at Oak Hill for Steve Smith (not the Philly/ESPN one), which may pave the way for more Oak Hill stars playing for Gillispie... A few days ago it was thought that UCLA was leading for Alex Legion, but perhaps Legion watched some tape of UCLA wrestling matches (oops! basketball games) and changed his mind.


More news from the Hodge Report at CSTV:

New players added to: Utah, George Washington, Vandy, UAB, Larry Eustachy's Liquor Store (just kidding Southern Miss fans!), Charlotte, Providence, SDSU, Bradley, Albany and more

Visit their webpage for details and player profiles (free, no registration)

Latest recruiting news

Updates on a number of recruits and the AAU Kingwood Classic super-event can be found at A Sea of Blue. Also news of Billy Gillespie getting a walk-on, and some details on what the Delk twins are planning to do next.


The latest news from the Hodge Report at CSTV

Georgia State picks two "BCS" bench-warming transfers

The Harvard of SoCal signs a JuCo (ha!)

The new Colorado State coach is clearing the bench! Four players are transfering out. NCAA are you paying attention? Is this an NBA team firing free agents or a college trying to educate students?

A few more mid-major transfers

For all the details, including player transfers, visit their website

Jordan Classic today on ESPN2!

Dont' forget the Jordan Classic, today at 6pm PT / 9pm ET, live from MSG in NYC, on ESPN2! More details on the game including rosters here

A frequent question on the Jordan Classic and the Roundball Classic is: Why isn't OJ Mayo or Kevin Love or Patrick Patterson playing in both games? That's because the Big Brother (NCAA) has decided that a player loses his eligibility if he plays in more than two all-star games. Since everyone goes to the McDonalds game, the players have to chose between the Roundball classic (of "Godfather" Sonny Vaccaro) or the Jordan Classic of #23 Michael Jordan.

But wait, I saw those players play in the Nike Hoop Summit. How about that??? Well, the Nike Hoop Summitt is under the umbrella of USA Basketball, so it doesn't count as an all-star game for NCAA purposes (even though it really is one).


Latest from the Hodge Report

A high profile freshman forward transfers out of Iowa (after the coaching change)

A freshman forward transfers out of Purdue

A 2007 JuCo wants out of Texas A&M (after the coaching change)

Latest news

Don't forget the Jordan Classic tomorrow (Saturday) at 6pmPT/9pmET on ESPN2 live from MSG in NYC! Details here


The latest CSTV's Hodge Report

Portland State is a popular transfer destination. After Phil Nelson, they are now getting a Hawaii transfer

TexasHoops.com contributes a handful of new commitments

Others gaining new talent: Oklahoma State, New Mexico (2), South Florida, Syracuse, Rhode (2), Colorado State (2), UCF (2),

Transfering out: New Mexico

Read the Hodge Report for all the details

New Commitments!

Jordan Classic All-Star game

Don't forget to tune in or tape the Jordan Classic all-star game on Saturday at 6pmPT/9pmET from MSG on ESPN2. Details here

Commited

The good people at the Hodge Report over at CSTV.com have more updates! Visit their site for all the details and player profiles, free of charge, and with no registration necessary.

Today is Center's day! Auburn gets a 7-footer from one of the prep schools investigated as "diploma mills", Cincinatti beats UConn and Georgetown for a Top 100 2007 center, and UCLA loses one to transfer (translation: Howland is about to get another recruit or a transfer).

Others adding new blood to their programs: Creighton, Dayton and Arkansas State

Uncommited

A Sea of Blue has stories on Alex Legion visiting Kentucky today, Michael Sanchez and a couple more. They also link to a story by the braintrust at Scout.com, their weekly recap with Dave Telep, Mike Sullivan and Greg Hicks looking at the best available recruits at the moment. And they also link to a story at USAToday.com by Rivals.com on Jai Lucas and his visit at Florida.

Head coach and Chief Spammer

College coaches are big-time spammers. They send recruits letters, often daily, sometimes using FedEx and UPS, they call players as often as they are allowed to (or if you are Kelvin Sampson, 500 times more than allowed), they text message all the time, they send emails, they use MySpace, FaceBook, Friendster, instant messaging, carrier pigeons, you name it. If it's not explicitly banned by the NCAA, it's fair game! (Remember when AAU coaches of potential recruits assembled impromptu "all-star teams" and got paid guarantee money for the exhibition games by the colleges recruiting their star players?)

So after so many years, how does the NCAA react? By digesting this topic in various committees. The latest AP story at ESPN.com says that they are considering banning all electronic communications except for email and fax which will be regulated. I told you before, INVEST IN CARRIER PIGEON FARMS!, coaches will buy them by the hundreds!

Other Recruiting News

Wall to wall Kentucky coverage on the post right below this one

Meanwhile the other Wildcats (of Arizona) reflect on their recruiting history ( Scout.com story), rating all their recruits since 1983. An interesting read!

Gonzaga loses two to transfer. One was a surprise to me: P-Mac (Pierre Marie Altidor Cespedes (did I win the spelling bee?). Burgess was no surprise even though he only played half a semester. Why? On a roster that lost Heytvelt, Burgess was barely able to get off the bench and play any semi-meaningful minutes.

The Hodge Report aT CSTV is updated with new news:

DeMatha guard Jeff Patterson picks a school (far from home)

Baylor gets a 2nd player from the 2010 (what are the chances either one will actually play at Baylor?)

2008 class verbals: Izzo State (Michigan State)

2007 JuCos: Oklahoma State (now that's a shocker), Illinois, Evansville, Idaho, others

2007 verbals: Temple, Mississippi State, some mid-majors

As reported by ESPN yesterday, three transfer out of Mississippi State, and one new comes in. Also the tragic death of a 2007 Wichita State (Mark Turgeon) recruit.

For all the details and player profiles visit The Hodge Report at CSTV (formerly fansonly.com)


Reading is Fundamental Segment
A couple of books on recruiting that might be of interest during the off-season:

"Net Prospect...", looking at women's college basketball recruiting by Lisa Liberty Becker.

Playing the Game: Inside Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League by Chris Lincoln

The Reliability of a Recruiting Checklist for Collegiate Men's Basketball Coaches.(Brief Article): An article from: Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport [HTML] (Digital). This is an HTML e-document (3 pages long), not a physical book..

The Patrick Patterson saga continues!

First of all, let me point out to all the fans finding this blog through the "Patrick Patterson to Pacific" Google search: Patrick Patterson (PP) did not commit to Pacific. It was a clever April Fool's day joke by the Pacific newspaper that managed to tie it in with the Billy Donovan/Kentucky rumors to make the story more believable. So again, Patrick Patterson did not commit to Pacific on April 1st, it was an April Fools day joke :-) So with that out of the way, here is wall to wall coverage on PP:

Lots of links at the Wildcat Maniacs board . And thanks for the link back here B2DB :-)

FireBilly.com looks at text messaging and recruiting, along with the available recruits that Kentucky is looking into such as Alex Legion, Jai Lucas, and more.

Wildcat Fan report shows that Billy Gillespie really has a plan for you (you = the recruit) and he can prove it! They also have updates on Alex Legion and Michael Sanchez.

A jam-packed article on Kentucky at Kentucky.com, including coverage of Big Brother pondering what to do with regards to text messaging and recruiting.

Jeff Goodman at Scout.com has a story on PP and his potential impact on the six programs that are recruiting him.

My opinion: PP, whatever you do, DO NOT GO TO DUKE!. The Dirty Rat will ruin your career, he will drain the life force out of you and steal 20 years out of your life expectancy, and turn you into another former Dookie zombie! Anywhere but Duke please!

Patrick Patterson in-studio on ESPN News

Patrick Patterson (PP) was featured in an in-studio interview on ESPN News's Hot List, as a preview of the upcoming Jordan Brand All-American Classic (this Saturday, 6pmPT/9pmET on ESPN2). His quotes are in "quotes".

Why the wait to make the decision? "I wanna be 100% sure".

The teams he is currently considering: "Duke, Florida, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky"

Factors in deciding: playing time, the players there, the rosters, relationship with the coaching staff and players.

He took "about 8 visits total", "3-4 phone calls every day".

"I don't know Bob Huggins that well, but we are starting to build a relationship", "he's gonna come to my house".

On the 19yo rule affecting a potential jump to NBA from high school he said "for me, no", but OJ Mayo and Michael Beasley in his opinion could have gone right away.

The ESPN host (Josh Elliott) encouraged him a couple of times to announce his college choice live on the air ("look at camera 2"), but PP declined each time...

On OJ Mayo: "I was shocked, I thought he was gonna go to Kansas State with Walker, Beasley and Huggins", "I don't know much" [about his decision to go to USC], "he is down to earth", and he defended OJ Mayo against "the haters".

On Eric Gordon: "phenomenal player"

Van Coleman on CSTV's Taking Issue

Van Coleman on CSTV's Taking Issue:

Beasley staying at Kansas State

DeAndre Jordan staying at Texas A&M

Indiana State player was released from LOI but was not allowed to sign up with another MVC college, so he signed with Iowa State

Tuesday (Day 2 of Spring Signing Period)

The latest commitments, transfers and decommitments are available for free and without registration at the Hodge Report on CSTV by Bill Hodges.

Follow the leader: Just as I mentioned yesterday that it is rare for a player to follow the coach to a new destiation, Dairese Gray follows Steve Alford from Iowa to New Mexico. (What do I know?)

Yesterday USC got a Trio, today Oral Roberts and newly extended coach Sean Sutton get a Trio of players.

Others getting new players: Oregon State (Juco), James Madison, Samford

Visit the Hodge Report for details and player profiles

Interesting recruiting news at A Sea of Blue. There you will find the latest on the most coveted remaining player in the class of 2007 (Patrick Patterson). A Sea of Blue also mentions that Kentucky is offering 6'8" forward Michael Sanchez, who lives just a few minutes away from the Arkansas campus. Gillespie was recruiting him when he was at A&M as well. Arkansas is obviously going to go after him as well being the home team.

2nd annual King James Shooting Stars Classic

Don't forget the 2nd annual King James Shooting Stars Classic. It will air on some local FSN stations and possibly on Fox College Sports on April 29. A couple of websites from Ohio have some information: NEObasketball.com, and City of Akron. More details as they become available.


New Commitments and Transfers

Day 1 of the Spring Signing period has been marred by the tragic shooting events at Virginia Tech.

The Hodge Report at CSTV follows all the commitments, decommitments and transfers. Visit their website for all the details. Here is my opinion on the two high profile happenings:

The biggest surprise was talented freshman forward Phil Nelson going to Portland State. He is a very promising and talented forward, and I am quite suprirsed he is going to a Big Sky school. He could have easily been a starter at a BCS school by the time he was eligible after the transfer (2008-2009 season). Unless of course there was another reason that caused the transfer back to the state of Oregon.

Alex Legion was released by Michigan after new head coach John Beilein was installed. According to CSTV the other teams that were interested in Legion before he committed to Michigan were: Arizona, Florida (they could use anyone they can get their hands on), Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State (with Huggins), Notre Dame and UCLA. ALex Legion profile at CSTV.com

Other transfers at: Vermont (another one), Michigan (another one), St bonaventure, and Idaho.

2008 class gains: Syracuse, Butler

Penn State gets a JuCo (yes, not a typo!)

For all the details visit the Hodge Report at CSTV .

Spring Signing Period Starts Today!

Thanks to A Sea of Blue for the link! A Sea of Blue is a Big Blue Nation website, but its coverage of college basketball is extensive and of interest to all hardcore college basketball fans.

The Spring Signing Period officially begins today! The Hodge Report at CSTV has the latest updates including LSU, Wyoming, Iowa State, the silver fox of the South (Bobby Cremins), Cincy, Baylor (a 2010 player, how crazy is that?)... Meanwhile Tim Floyd just got a Trio (no, not the german music group of the 80s famous for Da-Da-Da), all from SoCal and in the class of 2008.

Don't forget the Jordan Classic, live this Saturday from MSG on ESPN2 and ESPN2-HD (do not know if the broadcast will be in HD).

The switch to Blogger2 has been completed! I will be experimenting with labels (aka tags) and other new features in the next few days


Reverse Recruiting - A very unofficial definition: When a coach recruits a player back to the program, either from the NBA draft or after a coaching change.

A Sea of Blue has a story on DeAndre Jordan deciding to remain at Texas A&M and not follow Billy G to Kentucky.

Usually there is too much pressure on the player, parents and departing coach and new school not to take players with them, so it's very rare that we see a player follow a coach (for example Padgett wanted to go with Ole Roy to UNC but the pressure not to do that was such that Padgett went to Louisville.

Speaking of which, coverage of the NBA draft as it affects college basketball at NCAA Hoops Today

J Mychal Reese featured on Future Phenoms and Sports Stars of Tomorrow

J Mychal Reese is featured in this week's episode of Future Phenoms and Sports Stars of Tomorrow. They seem to be the same show but with a different name. Visit their website for details and for airtimes/stations as well as online basketball video features. Included is the ad he did with NBA MVP Steve Nash.

Don't forget the Jordan Classic all star game!

It usually takes place after the college basketball season is over, so sometimes it gets overlooked. The game will be played on Saturday April 21, 2007 at MSG (Madison Square Garden) and this time it will air live on ESPN2. (In the last couple of years it aired live on ESPNU, and then aired tape-delayed on ESPN2). So I'm glad ESPN came to their senses and put it on ESPN2!). Tip off is at 6pmPT/9pmET.

Coverage on the Jordan classic, including rosters and analysis at the following sites:

Official Site

Inside Hoops

scout.com

The Nike websites that used to cover the event seem to be down at the moment, but they came up with new pages for the event

Official Nike event website

hsbn.tv

more links coming later

Exodus continues

A very talented freshman is leaving Vermont for "not basketball stories". Joe Trapani will sit out 2007-2008 and have three years of eligibility remaining. ESPN story.

The Hodge Report at CSTV reports two more transfers (Clemson, Indiana State). On the incoming side of things, a talented guard picks Maryland, and two JuCos go to play for Mike Davis at UAB.

Exodus Day (Izzo loses his MoJo)

Everybody's leaving it seems, some surpres too. All the news at the Hodge Repor(t) on CSTV. The biggest surprise was freshman Phil Nelson at Washington. Across the state, Wazu loses two bench players. Meanwhile Tom Izzo loses his MoJo, and Skip Prosser loses a big man.

On the incoming side of things, a California guard goes to UConn, and more mid-majors get new players.

More commitments coming in

Be sure to bookmark The Hodge Report at CSTV with continuous updates on the latest commitments and decomittments (free website, no registration)... Anthony Grant uses his Florida connections to get a player at VCU, while lots of JC players are coming and going from various programs (partially thanks to the crazy coaching carousel)

The Kentucky fans are already excited with the recruiting moves of Billy Gillispie just a handful of hours after his introduction to the university. He has made "a million recruiting calls already" and has his first commitment in 2009 Texan point guard GJ Vilarino. For more details and in-depth discussions, check Sea of Blue, Aaron UK, John Clay, FireBilly. Some of the other players mentioned include Kentucky Mr Basketball Steffphon Pettigrew, Anthony McClain, DeAndre Jordan...

Latest commitments

Chris Hill has committed to Matt Painter and Purdue. As I wrote earlier in the season, during an interview with SSoT (Sports Stars of Tomorrow), Michael Beasley wanted to recruit his friends Chris Hill and Thomas Manzano to Kansas State and Bob Huggins. But since then things have changed, and Bob Huggins bolted out to West Virginia. This story is discussed at the Purdue Rivals.com forum (props to forum member BeeazleBub for the re-imagined Starbuck picture at the bottom of the page), the Illinois Scout.com message board, and the ESPN Purdue boards, and Lafayette-West Lafayette Journal and Courrier boards, and CSTV Purdue.

Pitino gets a local 2007 guard, 6'1" Preston Knowles. The story of his recruitment at CardChronicle.com (an unofficial Louisville Cardinals blog)... Jonathan Huffman recently announced his intent to transfer out. However, the CardChronicle mentions that he may actually stay put, perhaps taking a redshirt year in order to develop further more, while practicing every day against Caracter, Padgett, Farley, space-eater Holloway (assuming 3rd time is a charm for him), and JDT Palacios.

Latest news from CSTV and Bill Hodges: A certain highly-touted SoCal guard current at Oak Hill reopens his recruitment... the new Wyoming head coach makes a splash with a space-eater JuCo... A Champ leaves Oregon after feeling like a reality TV castout this season... A forward leaves Dayton... For the names and details, please visit the CSTV site.

Spring (aka Late) signing day starts April 11 and ends May 16, 2007. The end is really only relevant to players of the class of 2008 and beyond, since players in the class of 2007 can go to school at any point. You don't really need to sign a Letter of Intent, although the current system (geared for the benefit of universities and coaches) puts pressure on student athletes to do so.

If you missed the Roundball or the Nike Hoopsummit, they repeat today!

If you missed the Roundball or the Nike Hoopsummit, they repeat today! The Roundball classic on CSTV, and the Nike Hoop Summit on FSN and Fox College Sports. Check local listings for FSN, and for the others check my previous posts below!

Nike Hoop Summit and Roundball Classic on TV today!

The Nike Hoop Summit airs live today at 1pmPT/4pmET on regional FSNs and Fox College Sports. Details here, or you can just page down to the previous posts below for more. DraftExpress.com 's take on the rosters.

The Roundball classic debuts on CSTV at 6pmPT/9pmET. The game was played a couple of days ago, but this is the national TV debut of the game which airs a two-hour time slot. Details here or you can just page down to the previous posts below for more. Also preceeding this game CSTV will re-air a 90-minute repeat of Generation Next featuring the 2006 ABCD camp that aired last year on CSTV. East and West rosters here.

Incidentally the November 2006 issue of "Slam" magazine is a high-school basketball special issue with Kevin Love and Kyle Singler on the front cover. It's available on Amazon for $5, and eligible for free shipping with orders over $25. Also eligible for the 4-for-3 promotion.

Coaching Carousel Recruiting Side Effects!

Who said the 2006-2007 recruiting was over? Look at some of the top players that may be in play after another crazy round of the coaching carousel!!!! There's more of them, I am only including some of the most touted ones.

Updated 4/6 with Texas A&M/Kentucky

Updated 4/5 with West Virginia, Kansas State, Butler, LaTech

Updated: 3/30 with the Arkansas and Iowa coaching changes.

Updated: 3/22 with the Kentucky coaching change. Added South Florida recruits

This is a work in progress story... In many cases the student athletes decide to go elsewhere if the coach they signed up with is no longer there...

I will get deeper into this later on. For now, here are some of the top recruits who are affected by the coaching carousel. Typically universities want to give the next coach a shot at re-recruiting the signed recruits, before allowing them to go elsewhere if they don't want to stay... It doesn't mean all of the players will want to transfer, but a lot of them do in such cases. That's how Arizona got Andre Iguodala, Texas got Damion James, Villanova got Scottie Reynolds, UAB got Mayfield, etc, etc, etc...

Michael Beasley (Kansas State), 2007

Dominique Sutton (Kansas State), 2007

DeAndre Jordan, big seven footer, (Texas A&M), 2007

Alex Legion (Michigan), 2007

AJ Stewart (Kentucky), 2007

Matt Gatens (Iowa), 2008

Beas Hamga (Iowa), 2008, has already changed his mind.

Mike Williams, a big 7-footer,(Kentucky), 2007

Jamie Vanderbeken (sounds like he should be on Dawson's Creek), Iowa, 2008-JC, former Iowa commit, now at JuCo, recommited to Steve Alford's Iowa. Alford is now gone. Will he follow Alford to New Mexico?

Corperryale Harris (Michigan), 2007

Dairese Gray (Iowa), 2007

Jarryd Cole (Iowa), 2007

Jake Kelly (Iowa), 2007

Draymond Green (Kentucky), 2008, already decomitted (verbal)

John Flowers (West Virginia), 2007

Matt Howard (Butler), 2007

Nathan Walkup (Texas A&M), 2007

Derrek Lewis (Texas A&M), 2007

BJ Homes (Texas A&M), 2007

Al Nolen (Minnesota), 2007

Nate Rakestraw (Arkansas), 2007

Andrew Brommer (Minnesota), 2008

Jesse Woodward (Colorado State), 2007

Aaron Holmes, (South Florida), 2007

Adam Wadell, (Wyoming), 2007

Scott Thompson, (Santa Clara), 2007

Bobby Shannon (Marshall), 2007

Jacob Pullen, Fred Brown, Tyree Evans (JC), all three to Kansas State, 2007


Effect on high profile UNCOMMITTED players

Patrick Patterson was looking into Kentucky partially because he wanted to play for Tubby Smith... Huggins going to his home state of West Virginia may also be factor...


For more details on the Coaching Carousel itself check this post at NCAA Hoops Today

Shocking but Michael Beasley may become available!

While everyone was expecting news from the Billy Donovan and Florida frontier to surprise, it came out of left-field: Just posted at FoxSports.com by Jeff Goodman, Bob Huggins will accept the West Virginia job, leaving Kansas State behind after just one year!

This means that Michael Beasley who committed to Kansas State because of Bob Huggins will want out of his commitment! That means he is back in play! The Beasly sweepstakes are (re)starting!.

It will also be interesting to see what the other players do, since a lot of them committed to Kansas State because they wanted to play for Bob Huggins. This could turn out to be quite scandalous if they all want to follow him to Morgantown!

More on this, the coaching carousel, Kentucky and the five NBA Draft announcements coming today at NCAA Hoops Today


Committed to Huggins's Kansas State for 2007

Michael Beasley, top-tier forward

Dominique Sutton, high-flying wing player

Rotation guards: Jacob Pullen, Fred Brown, Tyree Evans (JC; committed to Huggins back when he was at Cincy)

No commitments for 2008.

For more details, check their player profiles at CSTV.com (free, no registration)


This may also further complicate Patrick Patterson's recruiting, as he is from West Virginia, and Huggins is from West Virginia. OJ Mayo's from there too, although it would be harder for him to back out since he is committed to the bright marketing lights of LA.


April Fools Day Recruiting Rumor of the Year

You can dream big, especially on April Fools Day. This Pacific fan posted this April Fools Day story: the most highly sought after recruit, Patrick Patterson has committed to the University of the Pacific (Pacific is in the Big West). He managed to tie in the story with the Billy Donovan to Kentucky rumors. This is my favorite April Fools story of this year! Well done!

2007 Nike Hoop Summit Details

The game will be played on Saturday April 7, 2007 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis at 3pm central time. USA Basketball fact sheet.

USA Team Roster. Of the ten players selected only one, highly coveted Patrick Patterson of WV has not committed yet to a college (and has found himself in the middle of the coaching carousel, but that's a different story).

World Team Roster

NCAA Eligibility: Because it is a national/international team event, the Nike Hoop Summit does not count towards the two all-star game limit that incoming freshman have in order to retain their NCAA eligibility. (Even though it is an all-star game, but I digress).

Tickets seem to be reasonably priced. For those going ot the game, there will be a bonus regional all-star game at 1230pm central (the Memphis All-Star Classic)

TV: The game will air live on some regional FSNs and on Fox College Sports. Some regional FSNs will show it tape-delayed. It will be repeated at least half a dozen times on Fox College Sports. Check my previous posts for airtimes.

You can download the 64-page Media Guide (PDF files) for free from USA Basketball. It contains player profiles, rosters, historical information (previous rosters, scores, records, etc).

Commitments and decommitments heat up!

The season is over, coaches and players are doing their formal/informal reviews. Players transfer for a number of reasons (typically playing time), and some coaches sometimes encourage players to transfer for a number of reasons (typically because they want to give their scholarship to somebody else). This, along with the start of the Spring aka Late Signing Period (April 11 through May 16) creates a lot of movement.

Check the April edition of the Hodge Report on CSTV (free, no signup) for the latest news on who committed where and when. Among other things reported there:

Two seven footers committed, one to Auburn (a big get for Lebo!), one to Skip Prosser.

New verbals for Richmond, Oral Roberts, Bobby Cremins, Rider, etc...

Jucos (JC players) committed to Niagara, SFA, etc...

Transfers out of Indiana, Purdue, NIU, Western Michigan

Visit the Hodge Report at CSTV for all the names, the details and the player profiles (all free of charge)

Google Alerts for this blog!

Google Alerts!
If you want, you can now create Google Alerts for this blog (or any website), so you will be notified by email when a topic of interest is posted. This is an example of a Google alert that will notify you when the word "committed" is posted. Simply change the "Search Terms" for a topic of your interest.

April Fools joke or for real?

*Gasp* a shoe company event that stresses fundamentals? How is that going to sell shoes???

Justin Young of Rivals.com has a story at Yahoo Sports (free) on the class of 2008 and 2009 and the Adidas Nations event that took place during the Final Four where 23 top players in the class of 2008 and 2009 took part in skill development workouts (!?!?!?!?). What? No dunkfests? No half a dozen meaningless games per day? This sounds too good to be true... Surely this must be an April Fools Day joke??? The article was posted late on March 31 after all...

Fortunately, it's no joke. There has been movement within USA Basketball, and the NBA and pressure on the shoe companies (from everyone) to stress basketball fundamentals, and decrease the emphasis on non-stop totally unstructured playground action with some coaches of questionable credentials. As you may recall even the Godfather (insert Sopranos reference instead if you prefer) Sonny Vaccaro decided to get out of the way...

The article also has a short breakdown on some of the top players of the 2008 and 2009 classes, so be sure to bookmark it!

Roundball Classic and Nike Hoop Summit air times!

According to the latest TV listings, here are the airtimes. Please note that these can change at any time, so make sure you check with your local listings. It's possible that I may have some typos/errors as well.

Roundball Classic on CSTV (I believe all of them are tape-delayed):

Saturday april 7 at 6pm PT/9pm ET, 10pmPT/1am ET.

Sunday april 8 at 2pm PT/5pm ET

Thursday April 12 at 6pm PT/9pm ET, 830pmPT/1130pm ET, 1230amPT/330amET.

Friday april 13, at 9amPT/noonET, 230pmPT/530pmET

Saturday april 14, 7pmPT/10pmET


Nike Hoop Summit on Fox College Sports

Saturday April 7 at 10pmPT/1am ET.

Sunday April 8 at 11am PT/2pm ET, on some regional FSNs

Wedn April 11 at 10amPT/1pm ET

Saturday april 14, 1030amPT/130pmET, 1amPT/4amET


McDonalds repeats

The All-star game, tonight (April 3) midnight PT/3am ET (Tuesday going to Wednesday), on ESPN

The Jamfest, Friday April 6, 1030amPT/130pmET, ESPN


State Championships on Fox College Sports this week (repeats)

Michigan A, B, C, D

California D1 (Fairfax vs McClymmonds), D2 (Mitty vs Mater Dei), as well as southern section 1-AA Artesia vs Mater Dei. A slew of touted college recruits such as Taylor King (Duke), Alex Jacobsen (Arizona), Drew Gordon (2008), Colin Chiverton, Chace Stanback (UCLA), the Wear twins (already at 6'10" and growing; think of Mike Dunleavy, not the Lopez twins in size), etc...

New York PSAL A

Colorado 5A


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.

Bobby Hurley Sr not (s)elected in the Basketball Hall of Fame

Bobby Hurley Sr of St Anthony's was not (s)elected in the Basketball Hall of Fame. More details, including the seven that got in, and the winner of the Bob Cousy award at NCAA Hoops Today.

The story of Bobby Hurley senior is chronicled in The Miracle of Saint Anthony. (this is a basketball book, not to be confused with books on religion with similar names). Also available as a $5.49 bargain hardcover (Bargain hardcover books are brand new - but with marks/stamps that they are overstocked books, not to be sold at full price).

Lance Stepheson featured on SSoT

Touted New Yorker of Lincoln (of Sebastian Telfair fame) Lance Stepheson (2009 class) was featured on Sports Stars of Tomorrow. For more details, visit their website. In that segment the teams mentioned by host Pat Summerall were Carolina, Kansas and Duke (please don't go to Duke!)... They also had a short feature on the two touted Oregonians, Kevin Love and Kyle Singler...


All Star games
Meanwhile the preliminary schedules show the following:

The Nike Hoop Summit will first air on Fox College Sports and some regional FSNs on Saturday April 7, 2007. It will repeat on other regional FSNs. It will also repeat at least half a dozen times on Fox College Sports.

The Roundball Classic will debut on CSTV on Sunday April 8, 2007. I am not sure if this will be a live game, or an edited two-hour event. It will also repeat at least half a dozen times.

More details later in the week

For rosters and such, please check my previous posts below...



Satire Segment
With all the all-star games happening, and UCLA's miserable performance, one can only wonder how on earth did the Mc Donalds selection cmte picked James Keefe for the 2006 team. Keefe was probably not good enough to play in a hypothetical all-white McDonalds game last year (the 2006 class was very deep), let alone play in the real-world McDonalds game. Memo to the McDonalds selection cmte: Please select the best 24 players, not select players because they commit to Duke/UCLA/etc, or because you think that you have to have a minimum of 2-3 white players. Please select the best players! This is common sense!