Tuesday commits and more

According to the latest from CSTV's Hodge Report, a number of teams loaded up on JuCo transfers. While it's no surprise that a hatful of mid-majors got JC players, and it's no surprise Ole Miss got one as well, it may come as a surprise to see these two teams with a JuCo transfer: Syracuse got a euro-forward while Penn State almost got Skylar from Heroes (almost)... Check the Hodge Report for details and player profiles.

Don't forget to watch or record the "EA Sports All Americans show" on Sunday on ABC (check local listings for airtimes). It will feature some of the top prep basketball players (along with football, baseball, etc).

Also if you missed the King James Classic final, check your local FSN or Fox College Sports for repeat broadcasts.

FireBilly.com talks about Kentucky offering Tyler Zeller. (Yes, he is the younger brother of Domer Luke Zeller, and there's another Zeller in the pipeline, currently under 6'5")

The braintrust at Scout.com has an update on the recruiting landscape, with comments from Dave Telep, Greg Hicks (west coast) and Mike Sullivan (east coast)... Among the players mentioned are Al-Farouq Aminu, James Rahon, Jerime Anderson, Reeves Nelson, Andrew Gabriel and a few more. Read the Scout.com story for all the details!

Jeff Goodman's blog talks about UCLA surprising some people by beating three other Pac-10 schools for Drew Gordon...

Two back to back Final Fours (even without a chance of winning the title) seems to be finally turning the recruiting tide for Ben Howland - at least for now :-)

Big Decision Monday

Touted NoCal recruit Drew Gordon made the right choice: he did not chose Duke! He must be reading my blog! He instead decided to stay in-state and go to UCLA over Washington, Cal and Puke (oops Duke). Drew Gordon's CSTV profile

A Sea of Blue talks about Jai Lucas and his list now down to just three. Sorry Suttons, but it's really Kentucky vs Florida. Oklahoma State is included as a courtesy :)

Latest updates from the Hodge Report at CSTV

New players for Oklahoma, Seton Hall, San Diego, and a few mid-majors

A lot of transfering down in the last few days, going to lower rated conferences or lower NCAA divisions. Typically coaches "encourage" a good portion of those types of transfers.

Weekend update

Latest Hodge Report from CSTV

Lots of transfers, partially a side-effect of the coaching carousel. Teams with players transfering out (sounds like coaches's choice in some of these cases): Utah, Texas Tech, New Mexico, Minnessota, Albany

Arizona adds some ...lavender to its 2008 class

Check their website for details and player profiles

Unofficial Mid-major commitments day

Latest from the Hodge Report

Eastern Washington gets two from the same family

Other mid-majors gaining new players: Tulsa, UTEP, Manhattan, Fordham and a few more

A seven footer becomes available as he is released from his LoI (letter of Intent) at Northern Illinois.

Updates on some of the players of interest to Kentucky at A Sea of Blue, including a rumor that ties in with the HBO's hyped 24x7 fight of DeLaHoya v Mayweather.


Dictionary Segment - Proposed new word

Since the Cold War is long over, can we now reclaim the word "commies" and use it as a shortcut for "commitments" in college athletics (basketball, football, etc)?

Thursday Shooting Report

Strategy Session

Finally the NCAA makes a smart move! According ot this AP story at FoxSports.com, the NCAA Rules Committee (not Ways and Means Cmte?) passed a measure to move the three point line back one foot, to 20 and 9, from 19 and 9. The Oversight cmte has to approve this on May 25 before it moves on. The other option would be to move it to the international line (20 and 6), but that would just make too much sense :) The NBA three ranges from 22 to 23 and 9 depending on location, location, location... This would affect all three divisions of men's college hoops, but not women's hoops or prep hoops... If it passes, this would take effect in the 2008-2009 season.

Does this affect recruiting? You bet! Long range shooters will now be at a higher premium. Both coaching and recruiting strategies will have to change to accomodate this. Some coaches has been stockpiling shooters either as the 13th scholarship or as high profile walk-ons (eg Pitino), but if this passes, you will probably see more scholarships for pure shooters.

Rick Majerus gets his first recruit at Saint Utah (ooops Saint Louis). He got a 6'7" Juco (foxsports story), Barry Eberhardt of Coffeyville College (Kansas)

According to the Hodge Report at CSTV the following teams added new players: Wichita State, Louisiana Tech, Saint Louis (see above), VMI and a couple of other mid-majors.

Updates on one of the best available centers at A Sea of Blue, 7-footer Beas Hamga (former Iowa-Alford commit), and you might be surprised at how soon he may be able to play. Read all about it!... Also the in-state fallout from the (non)recruitment of Steffffpppphhhhon Pettigrew... Also a dairy poster says that Sanchez may be committing to Arkansas.


TV Schedule

Mark your calendars! Two college basketball rated one hour shows will air on Sunday May 13 on CBS and ABC. CBS will air the postponed "Greatest College Basketball Shooters" documentary, while ABC will air the "EA Sports All American Show" featuring the best high-school talent in football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf. Check local listings for airtimes as local affiliates may shift them around.

Also if you miss the 2nd annual King James Shooting Stars Classic final, you can catch the repeat on Fox College Sports on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. The game feature the Georgia All Stars versus the D1 Greyhounds. Super Scout Dave Telep is a guest analyst during the broadcast.

Also on Tuesdays at 430pm PT/730pm ET, Fox College Sports will be rerunning the six-part series "Pistol Pete Diaries", covering the life and career of Pistol Pete Maravich. The first four episodes are in studio with author Mark Kriegel of "Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich", while the last two feature black and white footage from Pistol Pete's games... More books and features on Pistol Pete Maravich can be found in an older post here

Mid-week update

Hodge Report updates at CSTV.com

New players for a number of mid-majors.

Incoming Transfers: Niagara gets two Big East guards (nice!), Houston gets an SEC transfer.

Incoming JuCos: Steve Alford gets a big man from a ...movie (!)

Outgoing Transfers: St Bonaventure (2). Memo to the Atlantic-10: The Bonies need to join the NEC/MEAC :)

Visit their website for details, player profiles, free, no registration


Freebies segment at HoopScoopOnline

Here are some of the items available at the "freebies" (visitors) segment of HoopScoopOnline:

Top 11 classes of 2007 (and the Big 12 has four of those!)... Did it take an extra 500 calls for the coach at #1 to assemble this class?

Top 10 player rankings of various classes, and broken down by sub-category (seniors vs post-graduates)

One freebie daily post per week. The daily posts are famous for tiny fonts and discretionary use of paragraph breaks.

Don't forget you can listen to Clark's weekly two hour recruiting radio show every Sunday night right from your computer. You can also listen to previous (archived) shows for free!

Tuesday Update

Latest from the Hodge Report on CSTV

A Kentucky prospect stays in-state but which school?

Others gaining new players: Washington State, Utah State and Southern


King James Shooting Star Classic Final 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 :) Dave Telep of Scout.com made a guest analyst appearance during the broadcast with updates and analysis on the latest news in the world of college basketball recruiting.

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!