Catching up with the latest recruiting news

All apologies for falling behind in our updates, unfortunately there are only 24 hours in a day. Here are the latest updates from CSTV's Hodge Report.

From all those commitments, here is what has caught our cyber eye:

Georgetown gets a big recruiting W as they get a top forward from SoCal, beating some of the top national and regional powers for his services

Willie Warren, the talented, but also at time troubled guard finds a new home, and he is going to be coached by a former Dookie! Oy! Van Coleman opines.

Kevin Love is Ben Howland's pied piper as UCLA adds a 2010 top 30 guard from the area

A tough cookie Gouchos guard commits to Drexel

Touted Chris Singleton picks a school, and he's gonna be having orange juice and sunshine at his new college

Mike Mercer transfers to a college coached by a former SEC coach (no, not Tubby Smith)

John Pemprhey (sp?) at Arkansas continues to pile up the recruits during his first season there

Leonard Hamilton ...cooks something in the ...kitchen

In my estimation the big winner of November was Leonard Hamilton and Florida State as he added a number of talented players. Not bad for a coach who may be a potential Hot Seat nominee. But I think FSU is on the verge of a major breakout on the court. Don't be surprised if we see a Sweet 16 or even an Elite 8 run from FSU this year.

For a list of player destinations, player profiles, and team databases, all free of charge, along with expert commentary from Van Coleman, check CSTV's Hodge Repor(t).

The One And Out Super Recruit is a gift that keeps on giving

As we have seen, the majority of coaches would rather take a one-and-out superstar, than not take him. This was the case even before the new 19 year old NBA rule was in place. But with the NBA rule in place, it makes this even more predictable because you know that the players who would have gone straight to the NBA, are very likely to be one and out.

So why are they going after them? Is it just because of a shot at the national championship? Or is more than just that? Because for every Carmelo Anthony, Mike Conley and Greg Oden, there is a Kevin Durant, Spencer Hawes and DJ Wagner.

Of course there is more to it. Just ask Ben Howland. Before he got Kevin Love, he had to find diamonds in the rough and scrap to get touted players even though he was a Final Four coach at UCLA. But once the big star of Kevin Love signed on the dotted line, a number of players from 2008+ converged on UCLA, Drew Gordon, Holiday, Lee, etc.

Look at Syracuse's talented freshman class of 2007. You think the signing of Carmelo did not have an impact on them going there as well? Or the players committing to USC and Tim Floyd after he got OJ Mayo, starting with Devon Jefferson perhaps and continuing with the 2008+ players.

Each one of the big signings creates a sonic boom, and the upcoming recruits in the pipeline pay close attention and are influenced by where the players they were looking up to went to. So getting one of them can get you tax-free recruiting dividends for years to come!

And speaking of superstars, after seeing the positive impact Pitino had on Derrick Caracter, there's a what-if Sebastian Telfair might be asking himself when he wakes up in the middle of the night. What if he played at PitinoVille for a year and got himself sorted out and disciplined? That one year could have resulted in a much better NBA career for him.

But only a handful of coaches are able to do that. When the coaches star is brighter than the players star, then the coach has a lot more flexibility in dealing with a super star recruit. The likes of Pitino, Coach K, Roy Williams, Lute Olson can point to their rings, final fours, number of wins and success and can discipline the players. But when a superstar goes to a place where he is the biggest star (OJ Mayo at USC, Michael Beasley at Kansas State) the coach does not have as much flexibility. If you are Frank Martin you can't just bench Michael Beasley for a month because he doesn't go to class. The boosters and the runners will eat you alive. But if you are Pitino or Coach K, you can certainly do it.

Breaking news from Kentucky Ink on Leonard Washington

Breaking news from Kentucky Ink on Leonard Washington! Just posted on their website is a detailed account of the Leonard Washington story. It involves the NCAA Clearing House, and the side-effects of NCAA's long-winded red tape. For the details, check the Kentucky Ink story!

Erik Murphy reveals his final seven!

According to Jeff Goodman's blog at FoxSports.com, touted forward Erik Murphy has "trimmed" his list down to just seven teams. While seven teams are a lot, when you consider that there are over 300 division one schools, and even more in D2, D3, NAIA and Jucos, then you can see why it is a trim :-)

I won't reveal his final seven schools, but Jeff Goodman does!.

PS> If you missed CSTV's two hour special on signing day, be sure to check your local listings or CSTV.com for a repeat. It features Seth Davis, Van Coleman, Steve Lappas, the Godfather Sonny Vaccaro, Tom Konchalski, and lots more!

Jonathan Baldwin featured on Future Phenoms

Two-sport star (football, basketball) Jonathan Baldwin was featured in this week's edition of Future Phenoms. Future Phenoms is a 30 minute news-magazine show looking at upcoming athletes, and narrated by the legendary Pat Summerall. The show is produced out of Texas.

Next week they will feature a basketball player from the Northeast who has committed to Ole Roy and North Carolina. Future Phenoms is broadcast nationally on Fox College Sports.

This show is also produced under the name of "Sports Stars of Tomorrow", with the same content but slightly different graphics. Check your local listings for airtimes and availability.

Breaking news from Kentucky Ink on a potential 2007-2008 player

Kentucky Ink has the scoop on a potential recruit that has been cleared (or will soon be) by the NCAA to play for this season if he choses to do so. This player had previously reclassified for the 2008-2009.

I don't want to steal their thunder, so to get the juicy details, please visit Kentucky Ink.

Fall Signing period two hour recruiting show on CSTV today!

Seth Davis and his recruiting expert friends will be presenting a two hour college basketball recruiting special on CSTV tonight, Wednesday November 14, 2007. The show will debut at 6pm pacific on CSTV. It will repeat at 10pm pacific and 2am pacific, with more repeats later in the week. As always check with your local listings for the channel number and air times.

More TV scheduling at NHT, with the latest college basketball games, documentaries and preview shows are listed. This includes ESPN, ESPN2, FSN, Fox College Sports, CSTV, Versus, ESPN Classic, and CBS and ABC when they start broadcasting games in December. Not listed are ESPN Full Court and ESPNU.

Tyreke Evans reveals his Final Five and other stories

Dick Hoops Weiss has the final five for Tyreke Evans, and despite his valient efforts Gonzo (Bobby Gonzalez of Seton Hall) is not in the final five. So who are the final five? Read Dick Hoops Weiss's post for the reveal. I don't want to spoil the "surprise" :) A great post by Weiss's colleague Ebenezer Samuel.

More from Weiss, on Indiana Jones, yes the name sound so cool, it has to happen, if nothing else so we can play with words. "Indiana Jones" is of course hot prospect Kevin Jones looking at the University of Indiana as potential destination. But calling this "Indiana Jones" is just more fun :)

And more from Weiss, as he discusses the commitment of Tyler Zeller to Ole Roy.

Meanwhile our other favorite NY/NJ recruiting writer Zagoria of the Zags blog reveals that Kevin Jones will reveal on Wednesday, perhaps going for a dramatic announcement on CSTV's Signing Day special? (this part is pure speculation on our part). If he doesn't commit to Indiana, we have just five days to milk the "Indiana Jones" name!

Zags blog also reveals that Duke is set to offer a big man from Jersey. Who? Read on to find out!

Zags blog also talks about the Four Punks. How is that related to basketball? Read on his story to find out!

College Hoops Heaven has an update on seven footer Charles Okwandu. Okwandu is already 19, and he is recruited by BCS teams. To find out who is chasing after him, and more details about this potentially upsideous recruit, check the CHH. ("upsideous" is a word I made up just for the purposes of this post to mean that "he has upside").

Meanwhile Jeff Goodman talks about Wichita State grabbing a big forward by beating some bigger names. And this may come as a surprise but we have a transfer already! Who did Jim Calhoun drive crazy this time? Goodman has the answer.

And one more, did you know that every single 2007 NCAA college basketball tournament game is available on DVD?

November 14, 2007: CSTV will have a Signing Day special

Mark your calendars basketball fans, on Wednesday November 17, 2007, CSTV will have a special College Basketball Signing Day show. If you miss the original fear not, it will repeat a few more times. For specific airtimes and channel numbers please check with your local cable or satellite provider. CSTV is usually available not available on standard cable, but on digital cable or special cable packages, such as Comcast's Sports Tier.

CSTV's basketball recruiting team usually includes a combination of Seth Davis, Tom Konchalski, Vance Coleman, and Dave Telep.

Speaking of TV, the last two episodes of "Future Phenoms", narrated by legendary Pat Summerall featured the Morris twins going to Kansas, Drew Gordon going to UCLA, and Oklahoman Xavier Henry being one of the most coveted recruits of the 2009 class.

Also on TV, ESPN2 will be having a 90 minute edition of the Boost Elite 24 classic on Tuesday November 17, 2007. This will be after a live game, so expect some turbulance.

For all the college basketball and recruiting related TV listings, visit and bookmark the tv listings at NCAA Hoops Today.

Thanks Sportsblog.org!

Thanks to the SportsBlog.org directory for adding Recruiting Wars to their directory listings. If you have any sports blogs or websites, you may want to submit them to SportsBlogs.org. There you can also discover new (to you) websites and blogs.

And they have a really cool logo:

Ole Roy strikes back!

With Ole Roy "under fire" for not getting every available recruit out there, the announcement of Tyler Zeller on Monday took on extra importance in the ephemeral world of "making too much of things". Ole Roy was once again parachuting into a distant state and trying to steal one of their very best.

The three Indiana schools were poised to put up a fight, all three of them on the uptick, despite the PhoneGate scandal by Kelvin Sampson and a Duke emissary running Notre Dame after the UNC emissary bolted after a year and headed into career self-destruct.

But just like Ole Roy "stole" Tyler Hansbro out of Mizzoura (Missouri), he managed to "steal" Tyler Zeller out of Indiana, even though his younger brother played for a Dookie, Mike Brie (oops Brey) and the Notre Dame Hunchbacks. Zeller's profile at CSTV's Hodge Report.

Here's Ole Roy's secret: It's the name. If your name is Tyler, just go ahead and commit to North Carolina, it's inevitable ;-)

Catching up with recruiting news - part II

Thanks to MSNBC's Beyond the Arc for including our top 10 of 2007 in their article on the incoming freshmen of the class of 2007.

College Hoops Heaven talks Morris twins. The Philly duo recently committed again.

More good stuff from College Hoops Heaven as they recap the Eddie Griffin challenge which includes updates on the Morris Twins, Malik Wayns, and lots more.

Big visits this weekend according to Zags blog, including Tyreke Evans and Dexter Strickland.

TV reminder! On November 14, 2007, CSTV will be having a college basketball signing day special!. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

Jeff Goodman talks about Puke recruiting, the Morris twins, and Lance Stephenson visiting SoCal.

Dick Hoops Weiss reports on Rutgers getting a ninth grader, which should put him in the class of 2011. He also has an honest one-sentence critique of Duke's recruiting (Thank you Dick Hoops Weiss!).

Weiss also reports on the Morris twins finding a new destination, at least for now I add :) And he chimes in on the Indiana PhoneGate scandal.

An update on Kemba Walker from the Zags blog.

Catching up with a week's worth of new commits!

We fell behind in our updates and now we pay the price with all the new waves of commitments and de-commitments!

We start with CSTV's excellent Hodge Report which features free player profiles and databases of commitments by college or conference and a lot more for the sweet price of FREE :)

On the anxiously waiting front, top 20 forward Tyler Zeller is down to four schools and he will announce on Monday. Who will it be? Who will it be? Will Ole Roy get yelled at if he doesn't steal him out of the state of Indiana?

John Brady continues to bring on talented players at LSU, this time he gets a top 100 center from Texas.

The Morris Twins saga is over, at least for now, the Stewart twins Morris Twins have selected a new destination, one of the top ten college basketball programs in the country. Click on the Hodge Report story for the reveal. I don't want to spoil the surprise like an ugly bird ;-)


Other teams getting new players

Duke grabs a guard from TN, will he transfer to Bruce Pearl or John Calipari in 2009? :)

Despite the phone scandals, Kelvin "500 calls" Sampson grabs another wing

Jerry Tark Kruger gets a wing from the East Coast to "play" in Vegas and beats Turn Around "Juco" Tom for a JuCo.

Leonard Hamilton who looked great on paper for the Florida State job but has been unable to break out has picked up a top 50 big mean, beating out an in-state school and Thuggins

Some good news for one of our favorite coaches, Seth Greenberg and Virginia Tech as they manage to get a 2009 recruit, as they continue to recover from the tragic shootings.

A player from Durham, North Carolina (no relation to Duke) likes to get yelled at non-stop. Why? He chose ...Texas Tech.

Tubby Smith gets a high profile fro the Timbergophers by signing the son of a former Virgina super-star.

Tom Crean continues to stock pile talent, this time with a St Anthony's guard

The Oregon schools continue to go to the mid-west, this time Oregon State grabs a top 100 guard. Maybe Ernie Kent and Jay John should consider getting new coaching jobs in the mid-west? :)

The Godfather's tree continues to grow, as Travis Ford picks up a 2010 at UMass and Sendek picks up a top 100 2009 guard.

Hey, it's Tommy Amaker again! Free from the tyrants of Ann Arbor (presumably his side of the story), Amaker is loading up with new talent as a new player finds a ...nest at Harvard (yes, we specialize in obnoxiously silly puns).

James Madison is looking at perhaps the next JP Batista from the JuCo ranks?

Tiki Mayben resurfaces near Syracuse, at a mid-major.


More teams gaining new talent: Pacific, Ball "coaching scandal" State, South Florida, South Alabama, Penn, Tulsa with Izzo Jr, the rebooted East Carolina, Oral "scandalous" Roberts, and many more!


I didn't really commit!

Baylor loses one to a change of mind.


Downgrading (going from D1 to D2, D3, or NAIA)
Teams losing players to downgrades (a lot of these "encouraged" by the coaching staff who are obviously just "teachers" and "care" about each player and want them to stay, "keep their scholarship", and graduate, even if they can't play): Tubby Smith's TimberGophers, Pepperdine's AASAA, St Peters, Idaho State and more.


For all the details, player profiles, team and conference current, future and historic database, visit CSTV's excellent Hodge Report .

Shopping: Russell sweatshirt and t-shirt, together for $19

The daily deal at Amazon (in their Gold Box - they must have seen the Pirates of the Caribbean one too many times) is a combo of one t-shirt and one sweatshirt made by Russell Athletic with the blessings of the NCAA.

A total of 37 NCAA colleges are available. The price is $19 for both, and good today only (Thursday). Free shipping is with orders $25 or more. You can get some mp3s or email an e-gift certificate to yourself (or someone else) to jump over the $25 mark if you like the free S&H.