KUAD: Kansas vs OK State pregame notes
KUAD: Coach Self preps for OK State in weekly presser
OKStateAD: pregame notes
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected 15 outstanding players as finalists for its Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year Trophy and six standout freshmen as finalists for the Integris Wayman Tisdale Award. The USBWA has also named ten head coaches as candidates for the Henry Iba National Coach of the Year Award.
Members of the association's board of directors chose the finalists and the entire 975-member USBWA will vote on the awards as well as the annual All-America and All-District teams. The ballots will be distributed Sunday evening and USBWA members may still write in candidates for the three individual honors.
The Oscar Robertson Trophy recipient will be announced on Friday, April 4, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, at a press conference in conjunction with the NCAA Men's Final Four. Prior to that, on Mon., March 17, the Integris Wayman Tisdale Award winner will be announced and the following Monday, the winner of the Henry Iba National Coach of the Year Award will be revealed. All three award winners will be formally presented their awards at the Devon Energy College Basketball Awards on Mon., April 14, at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Following are the finalsts for the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year Trophy:
http://www.sportswriters.net/usbwa/news/2014/awards140227.html
The Atlanta Tipoff Club today announced the 10 national semifinalists for the 2014 Men’s Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T. The entire list can be found below.
From March 3-17 the voting academy will select four finalists from this group. Those finalists will be announced March 23.
Naismith Awards (Andrew Wiggins selected)
LJW image
Liars figure. Figures lie. Sheer numbers don’t tell the story in reaching the right conclusion as to Big 12 Player of the Year.
“With three games left, it’s starting to get down to it, but I do think everybody should refrain from drawing any conclusions on what they think until the season’s over,” Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self said Thursday. “There are still a lot of things that can happen between now and then that could tip the scales one way or another.”
Nah.
Even with 17 percent of the Big 12 season remaining it’s difficult to imagine anything happening that could prevent Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins from winning the honor.
Defensively, he routinely holds his man well under his scoring average. It’s not uncommon for him to ask onto the other team’s hot shooter in mid-game so that he can shut him down.
Offensively, if he looked to score as much when a game already has been won as he does when one is on the line, he would have no problem leading the Big 12 in scoring.
As it is, he’s the leading scorer on the team that has a three-game lead on the pack with three games remaining.
“He’s had the best year on our team to this point,” Self said. “He’s been the most consistent and best performer on our team. That’s pretty good when you really don’t have upperclassmen to teach you how to do it and you have all this expectation and hype. At least from the outside looking in, to me it looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders to start.”
LJW Keegan: Wiggins the right choice for Big 12 POY
“Jo and Andrew deserve the majority of the attention. I get that,” KU coach Bill Self said Thursday at his weekly news conference. “But it shouldn’t be lost, if we didn’t have those two, then obviously Wayne Selden would be used in a way where he could be strongly considered for Freshman of the Year in our league. There’s been a lot of years that there’s been a Freshman of the Year in our league that from a talent standpoint probably wasn’t superior to what we feel Wayne Selden is,” Self added.
A starter from his first day at KU, the 6-5 freshman from Roxbury, Mass., doesn’t feel slighted.
“In high school, I played with Nerlens Noel and Georges Niang, so I’m fine with the position I’m in,” said Selden, who at Tilton School was also used to being a complementary player.
…“Whether he’s making shots or not (46.4 percent), he’s figuring out a way to impact the game and he’s figuring out his role and the impact he can have and certainly taking a lot of pride on the defensive end,” Self said.
Of his own role, Selden said: “Play the game with intensity. Be able to defend the ball on the perimeter. Be strong help.”
…Self reiterated the Jayhawks would likely not be scheduling Wichita State anytime soon.
“I don’t want to say never, but we’re pretty locked in on what we’re trying to do from a scheduling standpoint and that’s not a knock to anybody, but without getting into it, I would say that’s probably not on the immediate horizon,” Self said.
“The scheduling deals come up way too much. There may be an opportunity for us to play them very soon, sooner than what even a regular season scheduled game would be played,” he added, referring to the 2014 NCAA Tournament. “But who knows if that’s the case, and I’m certainly not going to spend any time worrying about that.”
He was asked if KU-WSU would be a huge game for TV.
“Yes, it could be a huge TV game, and it could help us recruiting in that area. Could it help as much as if we played in L.A. or New York or Philly? There’s a lot of things that go into scheduling other than what is the immediate thought among fans,” Self said. “I’m going to do what’s best for Kansas, I’m not concerned with what’s best for anybody else or doing something because it would be nice.”
Self said undefeated Wichita State is worthy of a very high seed.
“I personally think they deserve the 1-line if they’re able to go ahead and take care of business. You hear the so-called pundits say, well, their schedule this or that. Well, it’s hard to win on the road, especially when you’re everybody’s Super Bowl game, and they’ve been able to do that, so you have to respect that,” Self said.
…Self credited assistants Kurtis Townsend, Norm Roberts and Jerrance Howard as well as director of basketball Fred Quartlebaum for the squad attaining at least a tie for a 10th straight Big 12 title heading into Saturday’s 8 p.m. game at Oklahoma State.
“We’ve kind of got a really nice blend (on staff) and we have for a while,” Self said.
He credited Quartlebaum for being “the most positive guy ever. He never has a bad day.” Of first-year assistant Howard he said; “He brings something totally different from an energy standpoint, from a fun standpoint, that I think is real important because none of us are getting any younger. Norm, although Norm is young, but Kurtis and I we are on the downside of everything,” Self kidded.
LJW
“They are going to come in and win (the Big 12) outright here,” Smart said. “We’re gonna try to stop them.”
The Cowboys (18-10, 6-9) have more than the Jayhawks to worry about. Thanks to a seven-game losing streak, OSU is fighting for its postseason life.
OSU is currently on the bubble to be invited to the NCAA tournament. The Cowboys need a signature win to boost their resume, and a win against Kansas could be what it takes for the tournament selection committee to call OSU’s name.
“It’s very important and it’s a great time to have it,” OSU guard Markel Brown said. “Big stage, (ESPN’s) College GameDay. If we get this win, we could possibly be locked into the tournament.”
Kansas touts two players who are in contention to be to be the No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA Draft, but only one showed out in the two team’s previous meeting.
The Cowboys had no answer for 7-footer Embiid in Lawrence, Kan. Embiid had 13 points, 11 points and eight blocks.
“He’s a special player,” OSU coach Travis Ford said. “They don’t come around very often like him. He just continues to get better, better and better.”
KU coach Bill Self used Embiid to expose OSU’s lack of size and depth in the post, and Brown said he expects Self to do the same on Saturday. OSU has devised a ‘Red’ defense designed to make Embiid uncomfortable and to try to minimize his effectiveness.
“Trying to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible, keeping him from around the rim, pushing him out four or five feet,” Brown said. “Not letting him be comfortable when he get the ball in the post. Just throw different things at him.”
OSU did a good job of limiting Wiggins in the first matchup, but he is not the same player he was in January. Perhaps the most hyped player to enter the college game in a long time, Wiggins has lived up to it. His 16 points and 6 rebounds a game is another concern for Ford.
“They have two guys that are going to be picked in the top three (of the NBA Draft) probably,” Ford said. “Embiid and Wiggins, they’re both going to be possibly Hall of Fame basketball players. I don’t say it lightly at all, I think they are that good.”
Daily O’Collegian
ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas will be part of the “College GameDay” crew in Stillwater and also call the Kansas-Oklahoma State game that night on the network. He discussed the teams and the Big 12 in a phone interview this week:
Do you think Kansas has a chance to make an NCAA Tournament run?
Kansas can beat anybody, but a lot of teams can beat them. That’s the thing about this year. I don’t think there is a great team. ... Kansas is good enough to win this thing, but their team is young in spots. When you’re young and you get in some spots you haven’t been in before, you don’t know how that youth is going to react. What Bill Self has done there is flat out remarkable. It goes with some of the great accomplishments in the game’s history. There are only five teams that have won 10 championships in a row in its league. That’s incredible.
The Oklahoman
Picture this: Both players are in separate elevators, only Wiggins' elevator reaches the roof, or floor 10, while Smart's tops out at floor 8. There's simply no arguing this—Wiggins' ceiling sits at a higher level than Smart's, and if both players maximize their potential, it's Wiggins who'll end up the more dangerous and valuable player.
But it's probably going to take Wiggins an extra few years in his elevator to reach that 10th floor, while Smart might be capable of reaching his ceiling at a much earlier stage in his career.
At 6'4", 220 pounds, Smart won't have any trouble matching up physically with NBA point guards, and given his size, strength and motor, he could probably even hold his own against plenty of 2-guards.
At 6'8", 200 pounds, Wiggins will be going head-to-head with some of the toughest defenders in the game—Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala and more. And at this point, some of these guys have a 20-pound strength advantage on Wiggins, who's almost a year younger than Smart.
However, while Wiggins' elevator ride might take longer, Smart's could be bumpier.
…We're at the point now where we've seen plenty of each top prospect, specifically Kansas' Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins and Duke's Jabari Parker. And there still doesn't seem to be a consensus No. 1.
One scout anonymously told me, "People are going to flip back and forth now but really they [are] going to draw more meaningful conclusions during the tournament and once we get combine measurements and results."
From here on out, it looks like all the top dogs are on an equal playing field. And a good or bad performance in the NCAA tournament could be the difference between going No. 1 or No. 3—especially for guys like Parker and Wiggins, who scouts will be expecting to lead their teams down the stretch.
BR
Some of the people (Norm) Stewart thinks about would be less obvious.
Like legendary Kansas coach Phog Allen. History largely has glossed over that Allen recruited Stewart out of Shelbyville, Mo., and that they became friends.
Stewart recalled sitting with Allen at one Final Four.
“We thought the chairs were hooked together, but the damned chair wasn’t hooked. And I looked up and all I saw (were Allen’s feet),” Stewart said. “It scared the hell out of me, because I knew he had a little age.”
But Allen laughed at himself and said he was fine, Stewart recalled.
With lament, Stewart said, “We used to all sit there together. Now … a lot of changes have been made.”
Among those changes was MU’s decision to join the Southeastern Conference, which ended its series with KU for the foreseeable future.
Missouri “burnt some bridges, and it will take a long time,” Stewart said. “You’ve got to understand (KU’s) position.”
Speaking of which, Stewart admires KU coach Bill Self and said he has “a tremendous following” among coaches.
Then Stewart said, “Hey, this is a hell of a story” and related a perhaps-tall tale about Self coming to his assistance.
It seems Stewart’s family had converged for a Shawnee Mission East football game. (Yep, Stewart’s son Lindsey and family live in Kansas, in the house where Virginia Stewart grew up).
After the game, his daughter’s cell phone went missing but was tracked via computer by her husband.
“Hell,” Stewart recalled seeing, “that thing is in Lawrence, Kansas.”
Then Stewart somehow assembled a posse in Lawrence, where it turns out he has friends: a car dealer, for one, and it sounded like he said something about the postmaster getting involved.
Anyway, his deputies went to the site where the phone seemed to be, and his son-in-law “set off a signal like a depth charge,” as Stewart put it.
Shazam, the phone was retrieved. Next thing you know, Lawrence police are asking Stewart who can pick it up.
Upon reviewing the options, the Lawrence police rep said, “I’ll take Coach Self.”
So Stewart calls Self. Then Self picks it up and calls Stewart back.
“Now, this is how good Self is,” Stewart said, laughing. “He has got the classic line: `You know what, for a guy who won’t spend a dime in Kansas, you sure as hell got a lot of people working for you here.’ “
KC Star
AP image
Like most NBA Draft selections, Tyshawn Taylor probably didn’t envision ending up in the NBA D-League.
But that is where Taylor, the 23-year-old former St. Anthony High School and Kansas University star, now finds himself.
Having been traded by the Brooklyn Nets and then released by the New Orleans Pelicans, the 6-foot-3 Taylor is playing for the Maine Red Claws in the D-League.
“It wasn’t a tough situation until I found out I got cut from the Pelicans,” Taylor told SNY.tv earlier this week. “My whole thing was to try to get somewhere where I can play. I gotta figure it out, where I can go next.”
Taylor is averaging 8.8 points and 2.7 assists in nine games with the Red Claws. In Thursday’s win over the Canton Charge, Taylor had 6 points and 4 assists in 13 minutes.
Former West Virginia star and Mount Vernon, N.Y., native Kevin Jones went for 26 points and 15 rebounds in the loss for Canton.
“I think this is more for my confidence and being able to play on a consistent basis,” Taylor said. “In the NBA, I only played one out of every 16 games.
He added of his D-League experience. “I’ve been playing alright. I’m transitioning to a new situation, new coaches and a new team. I played alright and I could play better.”
His ultimate goal, of course, is to get a call-up to the NBA.
“Of course,” he said. “That’s why I’m here, to try to get a call-up.”
As previously reported by SNY.tv, Taylor has signed with Atléticos de San Germán in Puerto Rico and will join that team after the D-League season ends in April.
Zags Blog
Vote for Wiggs for the Wooden Award
“Pay Heed. The game you love began here. Respect those who came before you. Make their legacy your own. Because destiny favors the dedicated. And rings don’t replace work. In this game you don’t get what you want. You get what you earn. We are Kansas. Together we rise. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Big 12 / College News
Swept by Arkansas. Wow. John Calipari's totally pulling an Incognito tonight & smashing his Ferrari with a baseball bat.
@LostLettermen
Power forward Julius Randle is an exceptional talent, but he’s not as comfortable on the perimeter against a genuine defense as might have been gleaned from his solid ballhandling ability and worthwhile shooting touch. In 2007-08, his one year at Kansas State, Michael Beasley connected on 36 3-pointers. Randle has made three.
…And then you have the Harrisons. Andrew was supposed to be the prize of the two, a 6-5 point guard whose consensus recruiting ranking in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) placed him ahead of Duke’s Jabari Parker. How this came to be is mystifying, because Parker arrived at Duke with a complete package of offensive skills — handle, pass, post and shoot, both off the catch and off the bounce — and Andrew is a point guard who is not an accomplished passer. On a team with three other double-figure scorers, he averages but 3.5 assists. Aaron Harrison, a shooting guard, was ranked directly behind Parker. Aaron is shooting only 30.8 percent from 3-point range.
TSN
The Terrapins are finishing their third straight disappointing season under Turgeon with no realistic chance of reaching the NCAA tournament -- barring a miraculous Atlantic Coast Conference tournament run -- and maybe not even an NIT appearance.
This is not acceptable.
Maybe Turgeon inherited a depleted roster when he arrived in 2011, but college basketball is a year-to-year sport, and everything after that first season is all on Turgeon. The current 15-13 team, 7-8 in the ACC, will probably finish 16-15 after traveling to Clemson March 2, and hosting Virginia Tech March 4 and Virginia March 9. With a first-round ACC tournament loss, Maryland would have a 16-16 season.
That's all on Turgeon. If he recruits players that don't execute plays as told, he picked the wrong players. If the Terps don't have a real point guard, that's on the coach.
The bottom line is winning. Turgeon is 57-41 overall at Maryland and 21-28 in the ACC. So far during his tenure, the Terps have finished eighth during the 2011-12 season and seventh during the 2012-13 season, and they are currently in a three-way tie for seventh in the conference.
Maryland is a basketball school. Anything football does is a bonus, despite university officials selling the school to the Big Ten for football TV revenues. Basketball has long dictated the pulse of College Park.
Link
Link to above video
New Mexico State suspended guard K.C. Ross-Miller on Friday morning, hours after he instigated a postgame brawl between the Aggies and Utah Valley.
Ross-Miller hurled the ball at Utah Valley's Holton Hunsaker as the final second expired in the Wolverines' 66-61 overtime victory at Orem, Utah, on Thursday night.
Ross-Miller picked up the ball at midcourt and fired it at Hunsaker -- the son of Utah Valley coach Dick Hunsaker -- from close range, hitting him in the leg.
ESPN
Specifics surrounding the health of West Virginia guard Terry Henderson remain scant, but the sophomore has been sick for almost three weeks now and might be out a bit longer as the Mountaineers push toward postseason play.
Randy Meador, WVU's coordinator of athletic training services who works primarily with the basketball team, told the Charleston Daily Mail on Thursday he and his staff have kept tabs on Henderson since the Feb. 8 loss to Kansas. Meador said Henderson hasn't been practicing or working out since a few days after the Texas game a week later and is only now showing signs of coming out of whatever's bothering him.
Meador declined to say what illness has kept Henderson, the team's third-leading scorer, out of the last two games, both losses in which WVU has shot below 40 percent.
Link
Texas will begin selling beer and wine at some athletic events, starting Friday at the Texas softball invitational tournament.
Texas has long banned alcohol sales at athletic events. New men's athletic director Steve Patterson said the school will sell beer and win at the final men's and women's basketball games, softball, baseball and the Texas Relays track event.
Alcohol sales could expand to football in the fall, although the April 19 spring scrimmage at Royal-Memorial Stadium will not be included.
Texas said the athletic department will consult with university police, state officials and the school's concessions contractor to evaluate safety and determine whether alcohol sales will be expanded.
AP
VIDEO: Greg Marshall is a 'pound puppy' not a papered breed like those other elitists
16:11 mark
Current Las Vegas odds put Florida as the favorite to win it all. If Donovan's team played out, and chalk prevailed, getting that third title would totally buttress -- and significantly boost -- the coach's legacy. He's already considered a top-10 coach in the game currently, but winning a third title would vault Donovan to top-five status, without question, and would also forever place him among the greats. You couldn't argue against him as a top-20 all-time coach, which I think you would get some pushback on right now.
More so, let's remember Donovan's age here. He's still only 48. Will Donovan live out his days in Gainesville? I don't know. He has flirted with the NBA before, even taking the Orlando Magic job before jumping back to UF, and maybe he'll want that challenge without hesitation some day in the future. But regardless, he has at least two decades of coaching left in him, if he so chooses. That he has accomplished this much before 50 speaks to his stature and formidable acumen.
His career record is 476-188, a .717 winning percentage. That also means he'll likely get to 500 wins next season, when he's 49 years old. He'll be one of only a few coaches ever to do that so soon. Last season, Bill Self became the youngest active coach (out of 22) to reach 500 when he did it at 50. Donovan will beat him by a year, in his 21st season.
What Donovan won't do is be among the fastest in getting to 500. The company atop that list is filled with names already attached to buildings and statues across college campuses. Adolph Rupp has a Cy Young-like unbreakable record in this regard -- no way anyone is going 500-83 in college basketball ever again. Here's the top 10:
1. Adolph Rupp (Kentucky) 583 2. Jerry Tarkanian (Long Beach State, UNLV) 604 3. Roy Williams (Kansas, North Carolina) 627 4. Herny Iba (Northeast Missouri State, Colorado, Oklahoma State) 633 5. Phog Allen (Baker U., Kansas) 646 6. John Calipari (UMass, Memphis, Kentucky) 652 6. John Wooden (Indiana State, UCLA) 652 8. Dean Smith (North Carolina) 653 9. John Chaney (Temple) 662 9. Bill Self (Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois, Kanas) 662
Donovan's likely to get to 500 somewhere between career game 690 and 695. Still superb.
But that's for next season. For now, this group has emerged as Donovan's clear-cut best since the 2006-07 team that defended the Gators' first title. That group (definitely better than this one) was the rare club that was able to win back-to-back titles. That alone makes Donovan's career something special. And in making three Final Fours and three more Elite Eights (the latter all in the past three seasons), it seems like Donovan's truly entering the prime of his coaching career.
CBS
Big XII composite schedule (includes results, highlights, stats)
ESPN College GameDay Schedule
2013-14 TV Schedule
New Mexico State suspended guard K.C. Ross-Miller on Friday morning, hours after he instigated a postgame brawl between the Aggies and Utah Valley.
Ross-Miller hurled the ball at Utah Valley's Holton Hunsaker as the final second expired in the Wolverines' 66-61 overtime victory at Orem, Utah, on Thursday night.
Ross-Miller picked up the ball at midcourt and fired it at Hunsaker -- the son of Utah Valley coach Dick Hunsaker -- from close range, hitting him in the leg.
ESPN
Specifics surrounding the health of West Virginia guard Terry Henderson remain scant, but the sophomore has been sick for almost three weeks now and might be out a bit longer as the Mountaineers push toward postseason play.
Randy Meador, WVU's coordinator of athletic training services who works primarily with the basketball team, told the Charleston Daily Mail on Thursday he and his staff have kept tabs on Henderson since the Feb. 8 loss to Kansas. Meador said Henderson hasn't been practicing or working out since a few days after the Texas game a week later and is only now showing signs of coming out of whatever's bothering him.
Meador declined to say what illness has kept Henderson, the team's third-leading scorer, out of the last two games, both losses in which WVU has shot below 40 percent.
Link
Texas will begin selling beer and wine at some athletic events, starting Friday at the Texas softball invitational tournament.
Texas has long banned alcohol sales at athletic events. New men's athletic director Steve Patterson said the school will sell beer and win at the final men's and women's basketball games, softball, baseball and the Texas Relays track event.
Alcohol sales could expand to football in the fall, although the April 19 spring scrimmage at Royal-Memorial Stadium will not be included.
Texas said the athletic department will consult with university police, state officials and the school's concessions contractor to evaluate safety and determine whether alcohol sales will be expanded.
AP
VIDEO: Greg Marshall is a 'pound puppy' not a papered breed like those other elitists
16:11 mark
Current Las Vegas odds put Florida as the favorite to win it all. If Donovan's team played out, and chalk prevailed, getting that third title would totally buttress -- and significantly boost -- the coach's legacy. He's already considered a top-10 coach in the game currently, but winning a third title would vault Donovan to top-five status, without question, and would also forever place him among the greats. You couldn't argue against him as a top-20 all-time coach, which I think you would get some pushback on right now.
More so, let's remember Donovan's age here. He's still only 48. Will Donovan live out his days in Gainesville? I don't know. He has flirted with the NBA before, even taking the Orlando Magic job before jumping back to UF, and maybe he'll want that challenge without hesitation some day in the future. But regardless, he has at least two decades of coaching left in him, if he so chooses. That he has accomplished this much before 50 speaks to his stature and formidable acumen.
His career record is 476-188, a .717 winning percentage. That also means he'll likely get to 500 wins next season, when he's 49 years old. He'll be one of only a few coaches ever to do that so soon. Last season, Bill Self became the youngest active coach (out of 22) to reach 500 when he did it at 50. Donovan will beat him by a year, in his 21st season.
What Donovan won't do is be among the fastest in getting to 500. The company atop that list is filled with names already attached to buildings and statues across college campuses. Adolph Rupp has a Cy Young-like unbreakable record in this regard -- no way anyone is going 500-83 in college basketball ever again. Here's the top 10:
1. Adolph Rupp (Kentucky) 583 2. Jerry Tarkanian (Long Beach State, UNLV) 604 3. Roy Williams (Kansas, North Carolina) 627 4. Herny Iba (Northeast Missouri State, Colorado, Oklahoma State) 633 5. Phog Allen (Baker U., Kansas) 646 6. John Calipari (UMass, Memphis, Kentucky) 652 6. John Wooden (Indiana State, UCLA) 652 8. Dean Smith (North Carolina) 653 9. John Chaney (Temple) 662 9. Bill Self (Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois, Kanas) 662
Donovan's likely to get to 500 somewhere between career game 690 and 695. Still superb.
But that's for next season. For now, this group has emerged as Donovan's clear-cut best since the 2006-07 team that defended the Gators' first title. That group (definitely better than this one) was the rare club that was able to win back-to-back titles. That alone makes Donovan's career something special. And in making three Final Fours and three more Elite Eights (the latter all in the past three seasons), it seems like Donovan's truly entering the prime of his coaching career.
CBS
Big XII composite schedule (includes results, highlights, stats)
ESPN College GameDay Schedule
2013-14 TV Schedule
Recruiting
All five sooners surround Embiid. He scores!
F Kelly Oubre Jr. (@K_Ctmd22): 23 PTS, 14 REB, 7 AST for Findlay Prep in a win over Planet Athlete @HoustonHoops17U d1circuit.com/roster_players…
@D1Circuit
He is 6-foot-11, 230 pounds and can play basketball anyplace he wants next season — Duke, Kansas, Ohio State and Texas have all offered. He just can’t play in the NBA. If the new NBA commissioner gets his way, there will never again be a straight-to-the-NBA path and the one-and-doners will become extinct as well.
Selfishly, it would be wonderful to see college basketball loaded with its best players staying for multiple seasons rather than the one-and-doners who have changed the game. Then you meet Turner and his father and you get it.
“You have to go get it while you can get it,” Turner said. “If I were blessed enough to be put in a lottery position, I would have to go to the NBA as well.”
You can’t blame him. In his sophomore season, he suffered a broken ankle. In that moment and during the hours of rehab the thoughts of having it all gone entered his mind.
“The difference is the broken ankle,” said David Turner, Myles’ father. “He knows how fast it can go away.”
It used to be “get an education to fall back on,” now it’s become “grab it while you can, and then get your education if you need it.”
With David Stern retiring after 30 years as commissioner, his successor, Adam Silver, almost immediately announced his intention to raise the NBA’s age limit to 20. That would likely mean college programs would have their soon-to-be NBA stars for two seasons rather than one.
The NBA requires its players to be 19, or one year removed from their senior year of high school, before they can enter the draft. The earliest Silver can address this divisive issue is after the 2016-17 season, when the league’s agreement with the players union can be reopened.
The rules began in 2006 and immediately put a stop to the scores of high school players skipping college in favor of the pros. One of the aims was to put a stop to sports agents and other “representatives” littering high school games, lobbying high school kids to represent them once they turned pro.
One Division I coach said, “There are more [agents] now than I can ever remember.”
Trinity coach Mark Villines said he received a call last summer from one coach, “And he asked me if Myles had an agent yet.”
And this from Turner’s dad: “People were spreading rumors that we had agents, and we were accepting money. I worked every day of my life. I’ve had the same job for 27 years. My wife works. So when I heard that, I was like, ‘Wow.’ ”
…Turner is not some dumb kid. He is bright and would attend college without basketball. Turner wants to be good. Both he, his dad, his mother and his coach all say he wants to earn a college degree.
“My goal is to go to the NBA,” Turner said. “A degree is important to me — that is all my family talked about.”
Turner is the highest-ranked remaining senior who has not signed. His finalists are Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Kansas, Ohio State and Duke. He also has visited SMU.
“It’s going to be a win-win wherever he goes,” David Turner said.
The program that signs Myles Turner knows he will go as fast as he can.
He is scheduled to visit Kansas on March 5 — Senior Night. Ironic since, if things go right, Turner will never celebrate a Senior Night at college.
FW Star Telegram
The No. 2 large school in the STLhighschoolsports.com rankings, Chaminade (23-2) got another outstanding performance from Tatum. The 6-foot-9 Tatum scored 27 points as he dazzled with step-back 3-pointers, drives to the rack and an alley-oop jam on the break.
St Louis PD: Chaminade holds off Jennings
The photographer from People magazine pointed his camera at Julian Newman. Stripped along one side of the basketball court by the gym's few rows of metal bleachers was yellow tape that said CAUTION.
"Big smile," the photographer said.
This kid over the last 14 or so months has been on local TV and national TV. He has been on ESPN and Conan O'Brien. He has been on the front of the sports section of the Sunday New York Times.
He plays on the varsity team at small Downey Christian School in Orlando even though he's 12 years old and in the sixth grade. He's 4 feet 9, weighs barely more than 90 pounds, and wears midshin, multicolored socks and size 6 Nikes.
So here was People, celebrity culture's ultimate arbiter. A smiling Julian dribbled furiously, between his legs and back and forth, the sounds of the bouncing ball mixing with rapid camera clicks and brief, blinding bursts of flash.
"Turn yourself in toward the light," the photographer said.
The next night, on the same court, Downey lost for the third time in four games. Julian hit one of his two free throws and one of his three 2-point shots and one of his six 3-point shots to finish with 6 points. It was a statistical output similar to that of the previous week's losses.
…Over the last month, I've watched him play two regulation games, an exhibition game, a pickup game, many games of one on one, and a workout run by his dad. If I still worked for Prep Stars, I wouldn't offer an evaluation. Julian's too young. Coaches from colleges wouldn't want it or need it. But if I had to evaluate him, right now, here's what I'd say: He's above average for his age. In drills, he shoots well, including from three-point range, although he releases from his chest because he's not strong enough to shoot with proper form from that distance. In games, his accuracy dips considerably. He's quick, but not quick enough to get around a capable, motivated high school varsity defender. His dribbling tends to be more eye-catching than effective.
My opinion is, of course, only that.
…It was time to have with Jamie the kind of conversation it seems he has never been asked to have.
He admitted he hadn't been recruited the way he suggested in his online bio, which days later would no longer be viewable. He said his high school stats were kept by the team's student managers.
When I read to him what the other coaches had told me about his son, Jamie didn't get angry. He got talkative.
He said they were "envious" of the "attention." He said Julian and Jaden are "the best players, pound for pound, on the planet, no doubt, no doubt, no doubt in my mind." He said he said this to his uncle, who's a pastor in Apopka, and that his uncle said, "Amen, amen, that's right, that's right, keep saying it, keep saying it, it's going to happen. As long as we keep saying it, it's going to happen." Jamie knows this, he said, because he hasn't seen any other videos on YouTube like the ones of his son, or his daughter. Somebody would post videos. Answers to his.
"They just would," Jamie said. "Everybody has a phone. Everybody has this nowadays. Everybody's trying to compete with everybody."
Tampa Bay Times
Recruiting Calendar
My Late Night in the Phog videos, KU Alumni games videos, 2011-12 Border War videos, Legends of the Phog videos, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/kcjcjhawk
@D1Circuit
He is 6-foot-11, 230 pounds and can play basketball anyplace he wants next season — Duke, Kansas, Ohio State and Texas have all offered. He just can’t play in the NBA. If the new NBA commissioner gets his way, there will never again be a straight-to-the-NBA path and the one-and-doners will become extinct as well.
Selfishly, it would be wonderful to see college basketball loaded with its best players staying for multiple seasons rather than the one-and-doners who have changed the game. Then you meet Turner and his father and you get it.
“You have to go get it while you can get it,” Turner said. “If I were blessed enough to be put in a lottery position, I would have to go to the NBA as well.”
You can’t blame him. In his sophomore season, he suffered a broken ankle. In that moment and during the hours of rehab the thoughts of having it all gone entered his mind.
“The difference is the broken ankle,” said David Turner, Myles’ father. “He knows how fast it can go away.”
It used to be “get an education to fall back on,” now it’s become “grab it while you can, and then get your education if you need it.”
With David Stern retiring after 30 years as commissioner, his successor, Adam Silver, almost immediately announced his intention to raise the NBA’s age limit to 20. That would likely mean college programs would have their soon-to-be NBA stars for two seasons rather than one.
The NBA requires its players to be 19, or one year removed from their senior year of high school, before they can enter the draft. The earliest Silver can address this divisive issue is after the 2016-17 season, when the league’s agreement with the players union can be reopened.
The rules began in 2006 and immediately put a stop to the scores of high school players skipping college in favor of the pros. One of the aims was to put a stop to sports agents and other “representatives” littering high school games, lobbying high school kids to represent them once they turned pro.
One Division I coach said, “There are more [agents] now than I can ever remember.”
Trinity coach Mark Villines said he received a call last summer from one coach, “And he asked me if Myles had an agent yet.”
And this from Turner’s dad: “People were spreading rumors that we had agents, and we were accepting money. I worked every day of my life. I’ve had the same job for 27 years. My wife works. So when I heard that, I was like, ‘Wow.’ ”
…Turner is not some dumb kid. He is bright and would attend college without basketball. Turner wants to be good. Both he, his dad, his mother and his coach all say he wants to earn a college degree.
“My goal is to go to the NBA,” Turner said. “A degree is important to me — that is all my family talked about.”
Turner is the highest-ranked remaining senior who has not signed. His finalists are Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Kansas, Ohio State and Duke. He also has visited SMU.
“It’s going to be a win-win wherever he goes,” David Turner said.
The program that signs Myles Turner knows he will go as fast as he can.
He is scheduled to visit Kansas on March 5 — Senior Night. Ironic since, if things go right, Turner will never celebrate a Senior Night at college.
FW Star Telegram
The No. 2 large school in the STLhighschoolsports.com rankings, Chaminade (23-2) got another outstanding performance from Tatum. The 6-foot-9 Tatum scored 27 points as he dazzled with step-back 3-pointers, drives to the rack and an alley-oop jam on the break.
St Louis PD: Chaminade holds off Jennings
The photographer from People magazine pointed his camera at Julian Newman. Stripped along one side of the basketball court by the gym's few rows of metal bleachers was yellow tape that said CAUTION.
"Big smile," the photographer said.
This kid over the last 14 or so months has been on local TV and national TV. He has been on ESPN and Conan O'Brien. He has been on the front of the sports section of the Sunday New York Times.
He plays on the varsity team at small Downey Christian School in Orlando even though he's 12 years old and in the sixth grade. He's 4 feet 9, weighs barely more than 90 pounds, and wears midshin, multicolored socks and size 6 Nikes.
So here was People, celebrity culture's ultimate arbiter. A smiling Julian dribbled furiously, between his legs and back and forth, the sounds of the bouncing ball mixing with rapid camera clicks and brief, blinding bursts of flash.
"Turn yourself in toward the light," the photographer said.
The next night, on the same court, Downey lost for the third time in four games. Julian hit one of his two free throws and one of his three 2-point shots and one of his six 3-point shots to finish with 6 points. It was a statistical output similar to that of the previous week's losses.
…Over the last month, I've watched him play two regulation games, an exhibition game, a pickup game, many games of one on one, and a workout run by his dad. If I still worked for Prep Stars, I wouldn't offer an evaluation. Julian's too young. Coaches from colleges wouldn't want it or need it. But if I had to evaluate him, right now, here's what I'd say: He's above average for his age. In drills, he shoots well, including from three-point range, although he releases from his chest because he's not strong enough to shoot with proper form from that distance. In games, his accuracy dips considerably. He's quick, but not quick enough to get around a capable, motivated high school varsity defender. His dribbling tends to be more eye-catching than effective.
My opinion is, of course, only that.
…It was time to have with Jamie the kind of conversation it seems he has never been asked to have.
He admitted he hadn't been recruited the way he suggested in his online bio, which days later would no longer be viewable. He said his high school stats were kept by the team's student managers.
When I read to him what the other coaches had told me about his son, Jamie didn't get angry. He got talkative.
He said they were "envious" of the "attention." He said Julian and Jaden are "the best players, pound for pound, on the planet, no doubt, no doubt, no doubt in my mind." He said he said this to his uncle, who's a pastor in Apopka, and that his uncle said, "Amen, amen, that's right, that's right, keep saying it, keep saying it, it's going to happen. As long as we keep saying it, it's going to happen." Jamie knows this, he said, because he hasn't seen any other videos on YouTube like the ones of his son, or his daughter. Somebody would post videos. Answers to his.
"They just would," Jamie said. "Everybody has a phone. Everybody has this nowadays. Everybody's trying to compete with everybody."
Tampa Bay Times
Recruiting Calendar
My Late Night in the Phog videos, KU Alumni games videos, 2011-12 Border War videos, Legends of the Phog videos, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos and more now on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/kcjcjhawk
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