I will be live blogging from the Final Four in Detroit this weekend. I will also be filing daily updates on my travel page.
Hopefully, things go a little more smoothly than last year. At least this time, I'm driving.
Showing posts with label basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label basketball. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Live Blog: Purdue @ Illinois
I will be in Champaign on Sunday, Feb. 8 at Noon CT to live blog the Purdue-Illinois game. You can follow along on the live blog page.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Live Blog: Georgetown @ Marquette
I'll be doing another live blog on Saturday, January 31st. This one is from Milwaukee, where Georgetown takes on Marquette at 1 PM CT.
Click here for the live blog page.
Click here for the live blog page.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Move live blogging - Wooden Tradition
Blogging from the Duke-Purdue game was so much fun, that I'm taking the Ernie Banks attitude and playing two. Or blogging two, as it were.
I'll be at the Wooden Tradition on Saturday, December 20th blogging the double header that starts at 3 PM CT. The first game is Davidson and Purdue, followed by Southern Illinois and St. Mary's.
Click here for the live blog page.
I'll be at the Wooden Tradition on Saturday, December 20th blogging the double header that starts at 3 PM CT. The first game is Davidson and Purdue, followed by Southern Illinois and St. Mary's.
Click here for the live blog page.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Live Blog from Duke @ Purdue
I will be live blogging from the Duke-Purdue ACC-Big Ten Challenge game at Mackey Arena on Tuesday night, December 2nd. The game starts at 8:00 PM CT, but I'll be on a little before then.
Click here for the blog page. You can go there before the game and set an e-mail reminder for yourself if you like.
The blogging program I use allows for things like reader input and polls, so we'll try to have fun with it. If it goes well, I may do some more games later in the season.
Click here for the blog page. You can go there before the game and set an e-mail reminder for yourself if you like.
The blogging program I use allows for things like reader input and polls, so we'll try to have fun with it. If it goes well, I may do some more games later in the season.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Billy packs it in
Billy Packer is gone from the airwaves of college basketball. CBS and Packer mutually agreed to end their relationship, and Packer will not broadcast ACC games on Raycom either. Packer says he is working on other college basketball projects.
Presumably, that will not involve learning about the tournament selection process. For a guy who was supposedly intelligent, that was a subject upon which he was woefully ignorant. I suspect that was by choice. I used to dread the part of the selection show where he would get to interview the selection committee chair because he would usually beat the drum for some completely irrelevant cause. My favorite was a couple of years ago when he whined ad nausem about the selection of several non-major at-large teams instead of middle-of-the-road ACC teams because the ACC had a better tournament history. As if that had ever mattered.
I have to say, I never really enjoyed listening to him call games either, mostly because he didn't seem to enjoy it. He seemed to be knowledgeable on the air, but there was no joy in his work.
Fortunately, I didn't watch him much because I have been to the last several Final Fours in person.
You may have noticed that I said he seemed knowledgeable "on the air." Off the air was different, and I say that from personal experience.
I met him when I was working at Michael Jordan's charity golf tournament in Chicago the summer before Glenn Robinson was to start playing for Purdue. I asked him if he thought the addition of Robinson would make Purdue a contender in the Big Ten and he said, and I quote, "I don't know. I never watch Purdue." He was a bit surly about it too.
I was floored. He has a reputation for being unpleasant off-camera, and he did not disappoint in that regard, so that's not why I was surprised. I could not believe a major national basketball analyst like him would admit to knowing nothing about Purdue.
I suppose he could have just been blowing me off, but it's not like I asked him about Prairie View A&M. You know, as annoying as Dick Vitale can be at times, he could tell you something about Prairie View. He has a passion for the college game. I just never got that from Packer - on air or off.
He'll be replaced by Clark Kellogg, who will be an improvement. Kellogg has always been one of my favorite analysts and it will be great to have him back courtside. Not that he was bad in the studio, but he should be doing games.
Presumably, that will not involve learning about the tournament selection process. For a guy who was supposedly intelligent, that was a subject upon which he was woefully ignorant. I suspect that was by choice. I used to dread the part of the selection show where he would get to interview the selection committee chair because he would usually beat the drum for some completely irrelevant cause. My favorite was a couple of years ago when he whined ad nausem about the selection of several non-major at-large teams instead of middle-of-the-road ACC teams because the ACC had a better tournament history. As if that had ever mattered.
I have to say, I never really enjoyed listening to him call games either, mostly because he didn't seem to enjoy it. He seemed to be knowledgeable on the air, but there was no joy in his work.
Fortunately, I didn't watch him much because I have been to the last several Final Fours in person.
You may have noticed that I said he seemed knowledgeable "on the air." Off the air was different, and I say that from personal experience.
I met him when I was working at Michael Jordan's charity golf tournament in Chicago the summer before Glenn Robinson was to start playing for Purdue. I asked him if he thought the addition of Robinson would make Purdue a contender in the Big Ten and he said, and I quote, "I don't know. I never watch Purdue." He was a bit surly about it too.
I was floored. He has a reputation for being unpleasant off-camera, and he did not disappoint in that regard, so that's not why I was surprised. I could not believe a major national basketball analyst like him would admit to knowing nothing about Purdue.
I suppose he could have just been blowing me off, but it's not like I asked him about Prairie View A&M. You know, as annoying as Dick Vitale can be at times, he could tell you something about Prairie View. He has a passion for the college game. I just never got that from Packer - on air or off.
He'll be replaced by Clark Kellogg, who will be an improvement. Kellogg has always been one of my favorite analysts and it will be great to have him back courtside. Not that he was bad in the studio, but he should be doing games.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Stretching the truth
It's not unusual for teams to fudge a little when listing the height of a player, especially in basketball. Guys who are really 6'1" show up as 6'2" or sometimes even 6'3" in the media guide. Since I cover basketball and get close to players, I can usually tell which ones are a little inflated and which ones aren't. That's especially true of guards, who are closer to my own height (6'1").
On rare occasion, you'll find a guy who looks taller than his listed height. Stephen Curry of Davidson is one of those guys. He's still growing, so when I saw him in Detroit, he looked a little taller than his listed 6'2".
The Bulls lucked into the #1 pick in the NBA draft, which means they'll choose between 6'3" Memphis G (and Chicago native) Derrick Rose and 6'10" F Michael Beasley of Kansas St. Beasley was in for a workout yesterday, and the big news out of that workout is that he only measured 6'7". A three-inch difference between listed height and actual is pretty remarkable.
Rose comes in later this week. Maybe we'll find out he's only 5'6".
On rare occasion, you'll find a guy who looks taller than his listed height. Stephen Curry of Davidson is one of those guys. He's still growing, so when I saw him in Detroit, he looked a little taller than his listed 6'2".
The Bulls lucked into the #1 pick in the NBA draft, which means they'll choose between 6'3" Memphis G (and Chicago native) Derrick Rose and 6'10" F Michael Beasley of Kansas St. Beasley was in for a workout yesterday, and the big news out of that workout is that he only measured 6'7". A three-inch difference between listed height and actual is pretty remarkable.
Rose comes in later this week. Maybe we'll find out he's only 5'6".
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Stuck in San Antonio
I came to San Antonio to cover the Final Four for CSTV.com, but like so many folks, I'm stuck here due to American Airlines being grounded. Actually, it's only their Super 80 planes that are grounded, but that's all they fly out of here.
The airport was very full yesterday with people trying to leave, but at 3:30, AA announced it was canceling all of its flights. All they were willing to do for me was was rebook on another of their flights the next day, but not only were many of those full, but they were on the same type of plane.
Some people waited hours (yes, plural) at the AA counter in the hopes of getting rebooked and perhaps a hotel room for the night. I wasn't going to wait hours, only to have to do the same thing again today. I did manage to get my flight refunded over the phone though.
So, my brother-in-law worked the internet at home (I had no access myself at SAT) and got me a reservation on Southwest and a hotel room here, so if everything goes well, I'll get home sometime tonight.
Meanwhile, here in San Antonio, internet access has been difficult to find. My hotel is near the airport, but in a light industrial area, so even finding food meant a long walk.
Today, while making that walk, I went about a mile and a half before finding a Denny's (as if I didn't have enough of that this week - our hotel was right next to a Denny's). I had no luck finding places with internet access.
After giving up, I started the long walk back to my hotel thinking one of my favorite phrases, "could be worse, could be raining," when - you probably guessed - it started raining.
Fortunately, there was a car dealer nearby, with a rental car company inside. It turned out to be relatively cheap to rent a car for a few hours and drop it at the airport, so I did. Now, I could check out of my hotel and search for internet access.
I drove a little ways before finally coming upon a McDonald's. That's perfect for me because I can access the internet there for free. However, it didn't like my id and password, so it took a half hour on tech support before we could figure it out and get me online.
So, to review, rating the degree of difficulty of some of the things I did this month while covering the tournament from easiest to hardest:
Getting into Canada without proper documentation
Getting my credential to get into the Final Four
Getting out of San Antonio (although this has not actually happened yet, so it could fall down the list)
Finding internet access in San Antonio
If you would like to read some of my other coverage from the NCAA tournament trail, you can go to CSTV.com's Hangtime blog for my off-day adventures, and the Posting Up blog for my in-game coverage.
The airport was very full yesterday with people trying to leave, but at 3:30, AA announced it was canceling all of its flights. All they were willing to do for me was was rebook on another of their flights the next day, but not only were many of those full, but they were on the same type of plane.
Some people waited hours (yes, plural) at the AA counter in the hopes of getting rebooked and perhaps a hotel room for the night. I wasn't going to wait hours, only to have to do the same thing again today. I did manage to get my flight refunded over the phone though.
So, my brother-in-law worked the internet at home (I had no access myself at SAT) and got me a reservation on Southwest and a hotel room here, so if everything goes well, I'll get home sometime tonight.
Meanwhile, here in San Antonio, internet access has been difficult to find. My hotel is near the airport, but in a light industrial area, so even finding food meant a long walk.
Today, while making that walk, I went about a mile and a half before finding a Denny's (as if I didn't have enough of that this week - our hotel was right next to a Denny's). I had no luck finding places with internet access.
After giving up, I started the long walk back to my hotel thinking one of my favorite phrases, "could be worse, could be raining," when - you probably guessed - it started raining.
Fortunately, there was a car dealer nearby, with a rental car company inside. It turned out to be relatively cheap to rent a car for a few hours and drop it at the airport, so I did. Now, I could check out of my hotel and search for internet access.
I drove a little ways before finally coming upon a McDonald's. That's perfect for me because I can access the internet there for free. However, it didn't like my id and password, so it took a half hour on tech support before we could figure it out and get me online.
So, to review, rating the degree of difficulty of some of the things I did this month while covering the tournament from easiest to hardest:
If you would like to read some of my other coverage from the NCAA tournament trail, you can go to CSTV.com's Hangtime blog for my off-day adventures, and the Posting Up blog for my in-game coverage.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Normally, I write one of those Christmas letters and send them in the mail. This year, like a lot of things in my life, I didn't have time to do it. Honestly, there wasn't much to write about, and I'd just as soon forget the whole thing.
It wasn't all bad though. Here are some of the highlights.
* Mathew (10) is still being homeschooled and working about two years ahead in most things. He played soccer in the spring, and that's his only sport now. He is pretty involved in church activities, including children's chimes and choir. He's also an acolyte. His highlight of the year though was his first communion this fall. He had been looking forward to that for at least two years. He had a great deal of enthusiasm for his church activities. He is also in the last year of Cub Scouts. We'll see if he goes on to Boy Scouts.
* Erik (8) is the family athlete, by Palm standards, anyway. He plays soccer, football and basketball. After being one of the smallest kids on his football team last year, he got taller (if not wider) and played left offensive tackle this year. I think soccer is his best sport, but he has also played that the most. He is one of the best defensive players in his age group. I think he likes basketball the best, but that is also the current sport. He is also taking an interest in watching college and pro sports. Sometimes, he'll get up in the morning and instead of turning on cartoons, he'll turn on the Big Ten Network.
He is also working ahead of grade level at homes going reasonably well. He is at the Bear level of Cub Scouts and joins Mathew in the children's chimes group at church.
* #3 son, Karsten (4) is starting to do some pre-school work at home. He's reached the age where he wants to do everything his big brothers are doing, which includes schoolwork. He knows all the letters and can write most of them. He is now constantly asking us how to spell things. He also started Sunday School this year, which he just loves.
* The last but not least Palm child, Annika, will be 2 in March. She's adorable, of course, though I may not be the most objective observer. She's also wants to do everything the older kids do, but we haven't armed her with a pencil yet. Right now, she's into learning parts of the face, so whenever we hold her, she's poking our eyes, sticking her fingers in our ears, etc, wanting us to tell her what part that is while we also try to stop the bleeding.
She is also trying to talk and has a few words, mostly names for all of us. Mommy and Daddy she has down pretty well, although sometimes it's "mommies" and "daddies." I know I'm big, but I didn't think I was big enough to be plural. Mathew is "Momo," Erik is "Ay-yah" and Karsten, who was the first one to get a name from her, is "da-DEE", where the last syllable is kind of like a squeal.
This is such a cute age.
* The newest thing in my work is that I have been covering games instead of just writing about ratings. That actually started last fall, with Notre Dame football. I didn't cover them as much this year. :)
I also covered a lot of basketball games, including the Missouri Valley, Big East and NCAA Tournaments. All this game coverage is for CSTV.com, which is where I do most of my freelance writing.
* Cheri has been trying to keep the household from falling apart, and despite all our best efforts to thwart that, she succeeds. None of us function without her.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! I started writing this before 5 AM, so naturally, Mathew and Erik are already up. We never see them this early the rest of the year.
It wasn't all bad though. Here are some of the highlights.
* Mathew (10) is still being homeschooled and working about two years ahead in most things. He played soccer in the spring, and that's his only sport now. He is pretty involved in church activities, including children's chimes and choir. He's also an acolyte. His highlight of the year though was his first communion this fall. He had been looking forward to that for at least two years. He had a great deal of enthusiasm for his church activities. He is also in the last year of Cub Scouts. We'll see if he goes on to Boy Scouts.
* Erik (8) is the family athlete, by Palm standards, anyway. He plays soccer, football and basketball. After being one of the smallest kids on his football team last year, he got taller (if not wider) and played left offensive tackle this year. I think soccer is his best sport, but he has also played that the most. He is one of the best defensive players in his age group. I think he likes basketball the best, but that is also the current sport. He is also taking an interest in watching college and pro sports. Sometimes, he'll get up in the morning and instead of turning on cartoons, he'll turn on the Big Ten Network.
He is also working ahead of grade level at homes going reasonably well. He is at the Bear level of Cub Scouts and joins Mathew in the children's chimes group at church.
* #3 son, Karsten (4) is starting to do some pre-school work at home. He's reached the age where he wants to do everything his big brothers are doing, which includes schoolwork. He knows all the letters and can write most of them. He is now constantly asking us how to spell things. He also started Sunday School this year, which he just loves.
* The last but not least Palm child, Annika, will be 2 in March. She's adorable, of course, though I may not be the most objective observer. She's also wants to do everything the older kids do, but we haven't armed her with a pencil yet. Right now, she's into learning parts of the face, so whenever we hold her, she's poking our eyes, sticking her fingers in our ears, etc, wanting us to tell her what part that is while we also try to stop the bleeding.
She is also trying to talk and has a few words, mostly names for all of us. Mommy and Daddy she has down pretty well, although sometimes it's "mommies" and "daddies." I know I'm big, but I didn't think I was big enough to be plural. Mathew is "Momo," Erik is "Ay-yah" and Karsten, who was the first one to get a name from her, is "da-DEE", where the last syllable is kind of like a squeal.
This is such a cute age.
* The newest thing in my work is that I have been covering games instead of just writing about ratings. That actually started last fall, with Notre Dame football. I didn't cover them as much this year. :)
I also covered a lot of basketball games, including the Missouri Valley, Big East and NCAA Tournaments. All this game coverage is for CSTV.com, which is where I do most of my freelance writing.
* Cheri has been trying to keep the household from falling apart, and despite all our best efforts to thwart that, she succeeds. None of us function without her.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! I started writing this before 5 AM, so naturally, Mathew and Erik are already up. We never see them this early the rest of the year.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Random Thoughts
In fact, I'm covering the Chicago Challenge for CSTV.com. Follow the action on the Posting Up blog at CSTV.com.
Enough of the shameless plugs.
But when I did play, I had the Midas touch. In fantasy football though, it's the Minus touch. Everybody I draft underperforms, gets hurt, gets arrested, etc. Drew Brees struggles this year? My fault. Travis Henry's drug problems? My fault. Robbie Gould's comedown year? My fault. For the record though, Rex Grossman's problems are his own. I'm not stupid enough to draft him for a fantasy team.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Diary from Atlanta
I'm in Atlanta covering the Final Four (TM) for CSTV.com. You can follow it all on the Hangtime Blog at CSTV.com.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
It's been a while
I've been overwhelmingly busy this basketball season, so I haven't been able to write for quite a while. For example, it's time to congratulate the Colts on their Super Bowl win over the Bears. It was a much deserved win and I'm happy for my second favorite city, Indianapolis.
I've been very busy not just doing my own site, but doing a lot of writing for CSTV.com. You can see my coverage from the Big East and Missouri Valley tournaments, as well as from the NCAAs in Chicago this weekend, St. Louis and Atlanta coming up, on the Hangtime Blog at CSTV.com.
Hopefully, I can write more when hoops season ends.
I've been very busy not just doing my own site, but doing a lot of writing for CSTV.com. You can see my coverage from the Big East and Missouri Valley tournaments, as well as from the NCAAs in Chicago this weekend, St. Louis and Atlanta coming up, on the Hangtime Blog at CSTV.com.
Hopefully, I can write more when hoops season ends.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Queen + Paul Rodgers comes to the US
Queen + Paul Rodgers announced a US/Canadian tour for 2006. They'll be in Chicago on March 23, which is a Thursday, which means regional semifinals for the NCAA tournament will be going on. Guess where I'll be?
Friday, November 04, 2005
I'm in USA Today
Sorry it's been so long since I've written. This is the time of year when hoops and football collide, leaving me little time to blog. I still have the White Sox on my mind, and I'll get to that eventually. Meantime, I was featured in USA Today today.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Rita impact on sports schedule
Loiusiana has been hit by another hurricane and it has had an impact on the sports schedule. Mostly college football has been impacted since Rita missed the major metropolitan area of Houston.
College football games impacted (that I know of):
Texas St @ Texas A&M (played on Thursday, two days early)
Southern Miss @ Houston (rescheduled to weekend of Nov 12)
SMU @ Houston (originally Nov 12, now Nov 19)
Navy @ Rice (rescheduled to Oct 22)
Tennessee @ LSU (rescheduled to Monday)
Missouri St @ Sam Houston (cancelled)
NW Oklahoma St @ McNeese St (cancelled)
Western Carolina @ Nicholls St (cancelled)
Albany St @ Southern (cancelled)
Texas Southern @ Northwestern St (cancelled)
This is the second cancellation each for Nicholls St, McNeese St and Southern. For McNeese, it's the second time their home opener has been cancelled. McNeese is in Lake Charles, LA, which is very near the area where Rita made landfall.
The Tennessee-LSU game in Baton Rouge has to be considered in doubt even for Monday. Baton Rouge has already received over 7" of rain from Rita with more expected over the weekend as the hurricane moves very slowly up the Texas-Louisiana border area.
There is one more leftover piece of sports info from Katrina. The New Orleans Hornets of the NBA will play most of its season in Oklahoma City at the Ford Center. They did schedule six regular season games for Baton Rouge.
College football games impacted (that I know of):
Texas St @ Texas A&M (played on Thursday, two days early)
Southern Miss @ Houston (rescheduled to weekend of Nov 12)
SMU @ Houston (originally Nov 12, now Nov 19)
Navy @ Rice (rescheduled to Oct 22)
Tennessee @ LSU (rescheduled to Monday)
Missouri St @ Sam Houston (cancelled)
NW Oklahoma St @ McNeese St (cancelled)
Western Carolina @ Nicholls St (cancelled)
Albany St @ Southern (cancelled)
Texas Southern @ Northwestern St (cancelled)
This is the second cancellation each for Nicholls St, McNeese St and Southern. For McNeese, it's the second time their home opener has been cancelled. McNeese is in Lake Charles, LA, which is very near the area where Rita made landfall.
The Tennessee-LSU game in Baton Rouge has to be considered in doubt even for Monday. Baton Rouge has already received over 7" of rain from Rita with more expected over the weekend as the hurricane moves very slowly up the Texas-Louisiana border area.
There is one more leftover piece of sports info from Katrina. The New Orleans Hornets of the NBA will play most of its season in Oklahoma City at the Ford Center. They did schedule six regular season games for Baton Rouge.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Latest Katrina sports update
No word yet on the rest of the home schedule, but the Saints have expressed a preference to play in Baton Rouge. However, there's no certainty that Tiger Stadium will be able to host LSU this season, let alone another team.
The football team will enroll and play home games at Louisiana Tech in Ruston.
The men's basketball, women's swimming and diving, volleyball and soccer teams will enroll and play at Texas A&M.
Baseball and women's basketball will enroll and play at Texas Tech.
Rice will take in the men's and women's tennis teams.
SMU will host the men's and women's golf teams.
The Tulane cross country teams will not run this season.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Update on sports impacted by Katrina
The Saints have moved their home opener against the Giants to Giants stadium. The game is schedule for Sunday, Sept 18, but will not be played that day because the Jets have the stadium that day. The Saints and Giants will play either the day before or the day after.
Oklahoma City has offered the Ford Center to the New Orleans Hornets for the upcoming NBA season. No word yet on whether that offer will be accepted. The Hornets will begin training camp in October in Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy.
Tulane announced today that it will not have a fall semester for its students. However, its athletic teams will compete. Where its home games will be played at this point is unknown, and may be announced as they come up.
The Green Wave is currently being hosted by SMU in Dallas and preparing for a September 17th "home" game with Mississippi St.
Tulane updates can be found at the athletic department website and at the school emergency website.
LSU is back at practice for a home game next weekend with Arizona St, but that game may not be played at home. The LSU campus is housing many hurricane evacuees, as is the rest of the city of Baton Rouge, and the idea of bringing in another 90,000 people to the city, even if just for a few hours, may not fly. Expect an announcement on that early next week.
Nicholls St, which cancelled its game this week at Utah St, has cancelled all athletic events until further notice. The school website only mentions the events scheduled for this weekend as being cancelled for sure, so we can assume that cancellations will be announced as the events arise. The Colonels' football team is scheduled to play at Indiana next week.
The Sun Belt Conference was affected as well. They are headquartered in New Orleans, but had to evacuate. They are currently set up temporarily at UL-Lafayette.
Oklahoma City has offered the Ford Center to the New Orleans Hornets for the upcoming NBA season. No word yet on whether that offer will be accepted. The Hornets will begin training camp in October in Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy.
Tulane announced today that it will not have a fall semester for its students. However, its athletic teams will compete. Where its home games will be played at this point is unknown, and may be announced as they come up.
The Green Wave is currently being hosted by SMU in Dallas and preparing for a September 17th "home" game with Mississippi St.
Tulane updates can be found at the athletic department website and at the school emergency website.
LSU is back at practice for a home game next weekend with Arizona St, but that game may not be played at home. The LSU campus is housing many hurricane evacuees, as is the rest of the city of Baton Rouge, and the idea of bringing in another 90,000 people to the city, even if just for a few hours, may not fly. Expect an announcement on that early next week.
Nicholls St, which cancelled its game this week at Utah St, has cancelled all athletic events until further notice. The school website only mentions the events scheduled for this weekend as being cancelled for sure, so we can assume that cancellations will be announced as the events arise. The Colonels' football team is scheduled to play at Indiana next week.
The Sun Belt Conference was affected as well. They are headquartered in New Orleans, but had to evacuate. They are currently set up temporarily at UL-Lafayette.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
NBA Draft
The NBA Draft is tonight, where we get another lesson on just how different the professional game is than the college game.
The college player of the year, Andrew Bogut of Utah, is a likely first round pick. He’s a 7-footer with a polished game and those guys are pretty rare coming into the draft.
The second pick is likely to be Marvin Williams of North Carolina. Williams is a 6-9 forward with three point range, the ability to handle the ball well enough to create his own shot, and a nose for it around the rim, but never started a game in his one year at UNC. I can’t think of anyone who was strictly a reserve in college getting drafted, let alone drafted this high. However, he’s got great potential and is considered a can’t-miss prospect. He often gets compared to Tracy McGrady.
After that, it’s HS kids, college point guards, and foreigners.
The point guards are Deron Williams of Illinois, Chris Paul of Wake Forest and Raymond Felton of North Carolina. Felton and Paul are better athletes, but Williams is the best at taking care of the ball and running an offense. Paul is probably the best shooter but also the sloppiest with the ball.
Another college big man that will probably go early is Arizona’s Channing Frye. The 6-11 Frye has pretty good skills around the basket, but will need to get stronger to be successful in the NBA.
Whenever a player jumps levels, he often finds himself changing positions as well. Often, guys who are centers in high school are forwards in college, for example. The same kind of jump happens often happens from college to the NBA also. Guys like Sean May, who was a center in college at 6-8, will probably be a power forward in the NBA. Sometimes guys like May see their draft position suffer a little because of the position switch.
As with any draft, there are steals and busts. For me, the guy who is most likely to be a bust is Connecticut’s Charlie Villanueva. Villanueva is a 6-10 power forward who is capable of dominating college games, but too often doesn’t show up. His disappearing act was a primary cause of UConn’s early ouster in the NCAA tournament this year. The old adage is that you can’t teach size, but among the things you can teach, the toughest is work ethic, and Villanueva is sorely lacking there.
I think one of the biggest steals will be Luther Head of Illinois. He’s going to drop in the draft some because he’s a little small for a shooting guard, and he’s not really a pure point guard either. He has some point guard skills, but he didn’t play the position at Illinois. If he finds a home at one position or the other in the NBA, he has a chance to have a pretty good career in the league.
One thing kind of unique to the NBA draft is that a lot of guys come out of college early, and some go into the draft right out of high school. Invariably, some of those players made a mistake. Among the college players likely to get his feelings hurt tonight is Brandon Bass of LSU. Bass has Sean May’s body, but isn’t as developed. Also, there are a lot of guys like him in this draft. Another year or two of college ball would have really suited him well. Bass is likely to end up at the end of someone’s bench or overseas.
This will also be the last draft where HS players can be picked. The new collective bargaining agreement beginning next year will set an age limit of 19 and players also have to be at least one year beyond their HS graduation. That means the Greg Odens of the world were born one year too late.
Oden will go to Ohio St, a place he doesn’t want to be, because the NBA says he can’t play there. He’ll stay for one year and move on. Ohio St hopes that one year is enough to bring them some glory. There are many who complain that the college game has suffered for not having all the high school stars that never played, but if all we’re going to get is one year of from these guys, I fail to see how that makes the college game better.
If the college game suffers from players leaving early, it’s from those leaving early (or never coming at all) that are clearly not ready for the NBA. Still, the player suffers more than the game does.
The college player of the year, Andrew Bogut of Utah, is a likely first round pick. He’s a 7-footer with a polished game and those guys are pretty rare coming into the draft.
The second pick is likely to be Marvin Williams of North Carolina. Williams is a 6-9 forward with three point range, the ability to handle the ball well enough to create his own shot, and a nose for it around the rim, but never started a game in his one year at UNC. I can’t think of anyone who was strictly a reserve in college getting drafted, let alone drafted this high. However, he’s got great potential and is considered a can’t-miss prospect. He often gets compared to Tracy McGrady.
After that, it’s HS kids, college point guards, and foreigners.
The point guards are Deron Williams of Illinois, Chris Paul of Wake Forest and Raymond Felton of North Carolina. Felton and Paul are better athletes, but Williams is the best at taking care of the ball and running an offense. Paul is probably the best shooter but also the sloppiest with the ball.
Another college big man that will probably go early is Arizona’s Channing Frye. The 6-11 Frye has pretty good skills around the basket, but will need to get stronger to be successful in the NBA.
Whenever a player jumps levels, he often finds himself changing positions as well. Often, guys who are centers in high school are forwards in college, for example. The same kind of jump happens often happens from college to the NBA also. Guys like Sean May, who was a center in college at 6-8, will probably be a power forward in the NBA. Sometimes guys like May see their draft position suffer a little because of the position switch.
As with any draft, there are steals and busts. For me, the guy who is most likely to be a bust is Connecticut’s Charlie Villanueva. Villanueva is a 6-10 power forward who is capable of dominating college games, but too often doesn’t show up. His disappearing act was a primary cause of UConn’s early ouster in the NCAA tournament this year. The old adage is that you can’t teach size, but among the things you can teach, the toughest is work ethic, and Villanueva is sorely lacking there.
I think one of the biggest steals will be Luther Head of Illinois. He’s going to drop in the draft some because he’s a little small for a shooting guard, and he’s not really a pure point guard either. He has some point guard skills, but he didn’t play the position at Illinois. If he finds a home at one position or the other in the NBA, he has a chance to have a pretty good career in the league.
One thing kind of unique to the NBA draft is that a lot of guys come out of college early, and some go into the draft right out of high school. Invariably, some of those players made a mistake. Among the college players likely to get his feelings hurt tonight is Brandon Bass of LSU. Bass has Sean May’s body, but isn’t as developed. Also, there are a lot of guys like him in this draft. Another year or two of college ball would have really suited him well. Bass is likely to end up at the end of someone’s bench or overseas.
This will also be the last draft where HS players can be picked. The new collective bargaining agreement beginning next year will set an age limit of 19 and players also have to be at least one year beyond their HS graduation. That means the Greg Odens of the world were born one year too late.
Oden will go to Ohio St, a place he doesn’t want to be, because the NBA says he can’t play there. He’ll stay for one year and move on. Ohio St hopes that one year is enough to bring them some glory. There are many who complain that the college game has suffered for not having all the high school stars that never played, but if all we’re going to get is one year of from these guys, I fail to see how that makes the college game better.
If the college game suffers from players leaving early, it’s from those leaving early (or never coming at all) that are clearly not ready for the NBA. Still, the player suffers more than the game does.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Kenny Harris comes home
A miracle has occurred, and Valparaiso F Kenny Harris returned home last week after nearly dying during a workout at the school in April. The Times of NW Indiana reports the details.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
It's just a game
A man is being held without bond in the shooting death of another man at a pickup basketball game. The victim's offense? He was a ball hog.
Here's the CBS 2 Chicago story.
Here's the CBS 2 Chicago story.
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