rivers with a few nasty cross ups

8/25/2011 3:14:21 PM

i mean, any kid w/ an offer from arizona is probably pretty good... but a 6'9" center?

8/25/2011 3:59:20 PM

Par for the course in college ball

Dwight Howard's only 6'10"

8/25/2011 4:16:35 PM

i mean i guess so, but that doesn't seem like a big impact player is what i mean. that seems like a pretty pedestrian center. i guess four stars isn't game-changing talent.

^ dwight howard lists as 6'11".

[Edited on August 25, 2011 at 4:38 PM. Reason : .]

8/25/2011 4:37:20 PM

SHOES AND SOCKS MOTHERFUCKER DON'T EVER TEST ME AGAIN

8/25/2011 4:40:13 PM

motherfucker you don't think this kid's scout.com profile includes shoes and socks and an inch or two of gratuity?

8/25/2011 4:42:17 PM

I'm saying using height as the sole barometer of whether a player is a four star talent or not is misguided. True seven footers are rare in the college game. Lots of good teams have centers 6'9" or shorter. UNC and Kentucky are the exceptions, not the rule.

[Edited on August 25, 2011 at 4:48 PM. Reason : Also, 17 and 18 year olds can still grow]

8/25/2011 4:47:55 PM

elton brand was like 6'3

8/25/2011 7:26:39 PM

Tracy Smith was listed at 6'7" but he was probably more like 6'5". Same with DeJaun Blair

8/25/2011 7:59:11 PM

the Andre Drummond thing doesn't seem sketchy at all! regardless, he's gonna be really fucking good.

UConn's lineup looks really strong this year with Drummond

[Edited on August 26, 2011 at 8:29 PM. Reason : ]

8/26/2011 8:25:10 PM

you guys aren't telling me anything i don't already know, i was just expecting to see a big-game looking player when i clicked on the link, and saw a normal looking dude listed as a center, which when you're 6'9" and listed as a center, that means to me that you're not quick enough to be listed as a PF. but i you guys are right, there are plenty of undersized big men that have had great careers.

8/26/2011 9:09:50 PM

Quote :

"the Andre Drummond thing doesn't seem sketchy at all"

Yeah, a Connecticut kid who grew up a UConn fan committing to UConn is fucking nuts!

Though I hate that they have to basically cut a kid UNC football style to make room, but he was always going to the NBA or to UConn...\

*** Also, did anyone see this? Javaris Crittendon wanted for murder?

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/former-georgia-tech-star-1146197.html

[Edited on August 27, 2011 at 12:11 AM. Reason : X]

8/27/2011 12:01:18 AM

^talk about a downfall

8/27/2011 11:04:55 AM

^^
Calhoun has earned the right to have it considered sketchy, regardless if the shoe fits in this case.

8/27/2011 12:02:38 PM

Fair enough but it was the world's worst secret that he was either going to UConn or no college. Apparently Olander's mom has worked at UConn for decades so he can go for cheap if he is asked to give up his scholly. Still kinda effed up though.

[Edited on August 27, 2011 at 12:44 PM. Reason : anyway, it's UConn, UNC and Kentucky this year in no particular order]

8/27/2011 12:43:22 PM

What is going on up at Providence? Dunn and Ledo committed this week...

8/28/2011 9:28:40 PM

the ghost of god shammgod is upon them

8/28/2011 9:50:59 PM

http://www.statefansnation.com/index.php/archives/2011/09/09/bilas-davis-reynolds-was-toughest-place-to-play/

9/10/2011 2:17:38 PM

movie back to reynolds is something that SFN is just going to have to get over.

9/10/2011 2:45:37 PM

woah, there's nine five-star centers and zero five-star pointguards in the class of 2012, according to scout.com. what the fuck?

9/10/2011 2:47:16 PM

Wow, Andre Drummond is a physical freak. Never really seen him move but he's huge and smooth.

Also, Austin Rivers is a lot taller than I thought... but his shot looks flat as hell

[Edited on October 14, 2011 at 10:43 PM. Reason : x]

10/14/2011 10:34:51 PM

http://youtu.be/Gleyi68NCDs
sincerely hope this guy gets run over by a truck

10/19/2011 2:18:28 PM

just watched it

jesus.

10/19/2011 2:20:14 PM

Quote :

"WHO IS HOUSE?"

10/19/2011 2:33:48 PM

at least Zeller was really into it

10/19/2011 2:34:35 PM

^^^^ Yeah but it is sad that someone else had to giv up a scholly.

[Edited on October 19, 2011 at 2:36 PM. Reason : tg]

10/19/2011 2:36:21 PM

How old was that guy?

10/19/2011 2:47:50 PM

This guy may have a mental disorder...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Dag67afl8

10/19/2011 2:54:37 PM

2011-12 ACC Preseason Predictions
ACC Operation Basketball, Charlotte, N.C.
Team Finish:

1-North Carolina (57) 706
2-Duke (2) 649
3-Florida State 560
4-Virginia 463
5-Miami 455
6-Virginia Tech 411
7-Clemson 403
8-NC State 316
9-Maryland 264
10-Georgia Tech 176
11-Wake Forest 109
12-Boston College 90

10/20/2011 8:59:06 AM

can somebody with ESPN Insider post this article please? Thanks.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/preview2011/story?id=7148289&_slug_=dave-telep-state-game-insider-guide-dirty-recruiting&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2fpreview2011%2fstory%3fid%3d7148289%26_slug_%3ddave-telep-state-game-insider-guide-dirty-recruiting

10/26/2011 11:24:17 PM

Quote :

"The guide to dirty recruiting How programs skirt the rules in pursuit of elite talent To me, it was LeBron James who let the genie out of the recruiting bottle. It's a genie that has plagued college recruiting ever since. In 2002, James exposed high school basketball to the highest levels of media coverage and proved that the recruiting process could make a lot of people a lot of money. In turn, money followed him. During the summer before his senior season, a broken wrist kept James out of action. However, it didn't prevent him from being given superstar treatment by two shoe companies. LeBron attended the Nike All-American Camp as a spectator with a small entourage of friends and family members. After Nike rolled out the red carpet for a kid who couldn't even play, he then played the part of a shrewd businessman. Just a few days after arriving to sit courtside at Nike's camp, the teenager turned up the heat on the shoe companies by showing up at Nike's rival camp, adidas ABCD. It was at the 2002 ABCD Camp where the first "King James" T-shirt was created. Adidas made the T-shirt for LeBron and unveiled it during a news conference held for him. At this point, LeBron was officially a rock star. Most of the kids at the camps were worried about impressing college coaches; LeBron was on to the next phase of his career -- marketing. He was less than a year from signing a blockbuster deal with Nike worth a reported $90 million. Just as LeBron was a cut above his classmates on the court, he was a cut above them off the court as well. But his peers learned, and they learned fast. And to some degree they've been catching up. Obviously the rules have changed since 2002 with the NBA's mandate that players wait a season after high school before entering the draft. Although we may never again see the lavish displays I witnessed during the James "recruitment," it seems that money increasingly influences the recruiting game. Big money drives big-time college basketball at the highest levels. Today's recruits know this. Players -- or their handlers or family members -- are chasing that money that surrounds the recruiting process. Many programs are asking the same question: At what cost? Others are simply willing to pay it. And this is how they do it. I spend most of my year on the recruiting trail chatting with coaches, players and numerous others who spend time around the circuit. And since I began in 1997, I've heard myriad tales of how corruption has entered the process. What follows is a glimpse behind the curtain to show you how the dirty deeds are done. Money enters the recruiting game in different ways, so programs have many ways to flaunt the rules in pursuit of high-profile recruits. To be clear, it's my opinion that not everyone is cheating. And the evidence I've seen suggests that the unsavory parts of the modern recruiting process hover at the top with elite-level recruits. These elite-level recruits can be classified into three types of players: 1. A clean recruit: With these kids, the playing field is level. Outside of the traditional recruiting pitch and salesmanship of the program, everyone has the same chance to land him. 2. Agent/runner-influenced: In this type of recruitment, at some point it will become clear that someone behind the scenes is financially taking care of the player and his family. Although programs may not need to provide any of their money to sign him, they must decide whether pursuing him is worth the cost of NCAA sanctions should the agent/runner involvement ever come to light. 3. Recruits who seek an inducement: These are basically pay-for-play performers. As you might have guessed, it's types 2 and 3 that are concerning for the current health of college basketball, and they've changed the nature of high school player evaluation. In addition to scouting the player on the court, teams must evaluate the people on his periphery. They need to know who's in the kid's ear. If there seems to be any agent influence or a handler or family member looking for handouts, odds are you'll have to get your hands dirty to earn his commitment. At most levels of college basketball, recruits are clean. Low, mid-major and many high-major programs don't play the inducement game. The low and mid-major levels are where the best natural evaluating is done. At this level, coaches have the best chance of matching style of play with the ideals on which their program was founded. If you're a good coach with a keen eye in a decent league, you can win and use evaluation as a tool to get ahead. When the playing field is level and it's all about basketball, as it is with a clean recruit, a coach can feel good about his job. There's a reason that Brad Stevens is still at Butler and Shaka Smart remained at VCU; they don't have to play games when it comes to recruiting. Move up a level, and all bets are off. Broadly speaking, there are two primary ways that dirty programs will handle tainted players. Although the first one involves little more than moral compromise, the second is more involved."

continued below

10/26/2011 11:39:16 PM

Quote :

"Pay-for-play The value of education is a quaint theory that, at the highest levels of the game, has lost its academic and moral foothold. The best recruits in the country often are surrounded by people who see the player as a brand and see the NCAA and its basketball programs as a cash cow. They see the billions of dollars that the NCAA tournament generates as well as the hundreds of millions in conference TV rights deals. They look at amateur athletics and see Olympic swimming -- where Michael Phelps is allowed to sign big-money endorsement deals -- not college basketball. They think head coaches are CEOs and their players are employees, and they should be compensated in kind. At some point in this type of recruitment, likely very early, one of the parties will address the concept of paying the player. It usually starts with an off-the-cuff comment, then morphs into a concept. Sometimes it will be the high school or AAU coach who asks for some cash in exchange for access or a transcript. Or it could be as simple as a family member making a call to an assistant coach, and a number gets thrown out. If you're recruiting a player like this, the worst thing that can happen is you find out about this late in the process. There comes a point when you realize you're speaking an entirely different language and then you're faced with a decision. Do you walk away and let months of pursuit and hard work go to waste? Or do you swallow hard and ante up? Some programs choose the latter option, and they've prepared their assistant coaches to handle those arrangements accordingly. Let's say you make $200,000 a year as an assistant coach. There's incentive to remain in good standing with your employer and pressure to get players. The more you deliver, the better you likely will be compensated. Some are being hired away to be head coaches. With those kinds of incentives, many will dip into their own pockets to deliver recruits. During numerous conversations with college basketball coaches, I learned of at least one assistant who keeps a separate checking account in another part of the country to elude NCAA investigators. The purpose of the slush fund is to assist with unofficial visits and any extra expenses that players may incur while trying to qualify academically. For instance, if a player might need money for a summer school or an online course, the fund would spring into action. However, assistants won't always have to front the money, because there's an easier way: summer camp. At the end of the summer, an assistant coach may receive an exorbitant payment in return for working a camp. According to multiple conversations I've had with assistants on the recruiting trail, it's implied that money from those camps goes into a slush fund for unofficial visits. The art of the unofficial visit Cheating isn't rocket science, especially when straight cash is involved. The unofficial visit is the most powerful recruiting weapon in the arsenal of a major college. It is also the most abused recruiting practice in the game today, and it is extremely difficult to uncover wrongdoing because of a lack of evidence. One member of the NCAA focus group tasked with cleaning up college basketball acknowledged that unofficial visits are a major problem area for the NCAA, and it is aware of the corruption but can do little to address the problem, largely because of the untraceability of cash. It's important to note the distinction between a local unofficial visit, which means a player is likely to drive there, and an unofficial visit that requires an airplane, transportation, food and a hotel. It's the unofficial visits that begin with a plane ticket that leads to the greatest corruption. The U.S. continues to endure a prolonged financial downturn. For many, money is tight. But from my perspective, it would appear that despite those circumstances, recruits, often coming from low-income households, are enjoying the most frequent plane travel by underclassmen in the history of basketball recruiting. Players and/or family members and coaches -- AAU and even high school -- are visiting campuses and require airfare, transportation and hotel. These mini-vacations often are booked without much advance notice and with little regard for cost. How does it happen? Easily and often. One of the go-to moves by a college to get a player on campus is to have his coach, mentor, street agent or parent book a flight and hotel on his credit card. At this point, the player and his representatives already know they will get the money back. It's common for a school to reach out to someone close to the player and arrange repayment. If a college coach hands an AAU coach cash to pay for his player's trip, how can the NCAA trace that? The NCAA occasionally gets lucky, such as with the fiasco of Kentucky and recruit Chris Mills in 1988, when UK shipped Mills' father an envelope full of cash that broke in transit. But a discovery of that kind is the exception, not the rule, and this sort of behavior still happens today. Not every unofficial visit is crooked, but it is the most abused recruiting tool of the period. The significant problem with the team-funded unofficial visit is that it completely distorts the NCAA playing field. When one school is able to recruit with no regard for the rules of official visits, it sets the tone for a player's recruitment. If a recruit and his advisers are hosted like kings by another program, how can a clean program persuade them to pay their own way? The blind eye NCAA investigators will tell you that one of the biggest problems in recruiting is the influence of the agents and runners, who are essentially hangers-on financed by agents to hang out with recruits, get in their ear and, when the time comes, steer them toward signing with the agent. A recruit who is being financially taken care of by one of these entities can be recruited without cheating. Most agents don't try to influence the players' decisions on where to attend college. It's far more important to them that they are able to sign the player once he turns pro. There are whispers of certain agents who have relationships with college programs, but in my experience, that is overrated. It's far too dangerous to do business as an agent or program in this day and age when the schools and the agents are linked. Exactly how would an agent or one of his emissaries "take care of" a recruit? It's not as glamorous as one might think, and, to pull from the football world, the instance of Reggie Bush receiving housing for his family is extreme. Still, throughout my career reporting from the recruiting trail, my contacts have told me about instances of agents paying a player's bills, taking care of his cellphone payment and furnishing him with the latest fads and technologies. Beats By Dr. Dre aren't cheap; neither are clothes, gadgets and phones -- but you won't catch America's finest recruits with flip phones in 2011. When an agent or runner is taking care of a recruit, the school is complicit in the ordeal. The program might not have to do anything except live in a gray area with the player. To think that the head coach or at the very least his assistants don't know the circumstances would be too naive. Other coaches will point out these instances to me, and if those coaches know, and I know, then surely the coaches of the team pursuing the player know there's an outside influence. Still, they will pursue him. In the process, they'll want to try to establish plausible deniability to show they weren't part of the deal with the agent and didn't cheat to land the player. If you don't establish that deniability, you could get burned the way UConn recently was. The NCAA penalized the Huskies when their recruitment of Nate Miles became complicated by Josh Nochimson, a former team manager turned player agent who was pursuing Miles. Intentional or not, the violation cost UConn head coach Jim Calhoun a brief suspension, a three-season scholarship reduction and three years of probation. Again, despite the cautionary tale from Connecticut, the practice endures. Teams recruiting players involved with agents seek ignorance instead of answers and simply don't ask questions that might make them aware of the arrangement. Don't ask; deny the knowledge. It's a mantra that more schools are employing. What's the state of recruiting at the highest levels in 2011? It's pretty sad. Based on the frequent conversations I've had with those on the recruiting circuit, if you asked 10 coaches whether they feel good about the recruiting game in its current state, they'd be lying if they said yes. The other sad reality is, they'd also be hard-pressed to provide a solution for how to fix the problems. Dave Telep first hit the recruiting trails in 1997 and is currently the senior college basketball recruiting analyst for ESPN. You can follow him on Twitter here. Follow Dave Telep on Twitter: @DaveTelep"

10/26/2011 11:39:39 PM

thanks again.

10/27/2011 3:40:04 AM

lol UCONN

Quote :

"Changes in NCAA rules are expected to keep defending national champion Connecticut from participating in the 2013 NCAA men's basketball tournament."

from ESPN

10/27/2011 7:10:45 PM

LOL, bet my life that won't actually happen.

Still waiting on the NCAA to rule on Maggette...

10/27/2011 9:06:30 PM

Brad Stevens is a golden god

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/11/butler-loses-to-division-ii-opponent-in-exhibition-game/1

11/3/2011 1:04:10 PM

dang, they replaced 6 players this year.

11/3/2011 1:06:18 PM

^^ happens every single year during exhibition season

11/3/2011 1:08:05 PM

2011-12 season preview: Top 68 Things to Watch

Quote :

"17. The former Alabama coach at N.C. State: What Mark Gottfried lacked in press-conference-pop he has made up for in recruiting success. No, this wasn't the guy N.C. State fans were convinced they would get to replace Sidney Lowe; they wanted Jamie Dixon or Sean Miller or Phil Jackson or John Wooden. But they seem happy with how things are going under Gottfried, and they should be. -- G.P. "

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/16023946/season-preview-top-68-things-to-watch

11/8/2011 7:10:02 PM

Quote :

"34. Pro announcers doing college games: Another thing the NBA lockout will add to college basketball is NBA announcers doing NCAA contests. Jeff Van Gundy is coming to a campus near you. -- G.P. "

I hadn't even thought about this. Be prepared for lots of misinformation concerning the half circle under the basket .

EDIT: Or maybe not...

Quote :

"42. The charge circle: The addition of the charge circle represents a significant rule change. It makes the game safer, but which coaches will be smart enough to use it to their advantage early on? -- M.N. "

are they actually implementing the NBA rules this year?

[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 8:08 PM. Reason : .]

11/8/2011 8:05:36 PM

check out the first post in this thread

11/8/2011 8:14:25 PM

You realize you made that first post in fucking May, right?

Edit: And it has almost no information in it, like when the rule is supposed to go into effect. I was thinking it was next year, but I guess that's just for div II and III.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/713817-kim-clijsters-buster-posey-danica-patrick-and-thursdays-late-sports-news/entry/87818-ncaa-basketball-new-rules-outlaw-charges-close-to-the-basket

Quote :

"The rule will be implemented immediately for both men's and women's Division I hoops, and will be implemented in Divisions II and III for the 2012-2013 season."

[Edited on November 8, 2011 at 8:34 PM. Reason : .]

11/8/2011 8:27:26 PM

way to get pissy

11/8/2011 8:38:55 PM

much too early in the season to be this mad

11/8/2011 8:44:39 PM

here's to a tidal wave and/or Pearl Harbor type attack in San Diego this Friday

11/9/2011 10:04:16 AM

^another call for an attack on a US aircraft carrier, US military personell, and the US president? some of yall take sports a little too seriously.

11/9/2011 10:32:44 AM

Seth Davis is saying that it's supposed to rain, and if that is the case, the game will be moved to a hangar the hangar below the deck with room for less than 4,000.

[Edited on November 9, 2011 at 10:38 AM. Reason : -]

11/9/2011 10:36:18 AM

^^ didn't you watch roll tide/war eagle last night??? we need to ramp up the hatred around these parts...

11/9/2011 1:54:39 PM

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/38278/john-calipari-hints-at-negative-recruiting

LOL, this cracks me up. Caliparia is the one that allegedly told a recruit that Louie Carnesecca had cancer and was dying like 20 years ago.

Why didn't John Chaney just off this buffoon years ago.

11/9/2011 7:27:34 PM

Who's the more corrupt "Coach Cal" in major college basketball today? Leaning towards Kentucky's Cal.

11/9/2011 7:42:28 PM