Kansas Jayhawks
It's almost over, my first boot camp is almost over, happen so fast. Just a couple of days left then the real countdown begins #latenight
https://twitter.com/Humb1e_Hungry23/status/253488709738065920
S/O to my #KUCMB Brother @LandenLucas33 it's his Birthday Y'all!!
https://twitter.com/Ntharpe1/status/253496645575127043
10/2/12, 12:16 PM
My preseason Top 5: 1. Louisville; 2. Indiana; 3. Kentucky; 4. Kansas; 5. Michigan
https://twitter.com/jaybilas
1. Indiana
2. Louisville
3. Ohio State
4. Kentucky
5. Michigan
6. Duke
7. Syracuse
8. Arizona
9. NC State
10. Misery
11. UCLA
12. Kansas
13. North Carolina
14. Creighton
15. Memphis
16. Florida
17. Wisconsin
18. Cincinnati
19. San Diego State
20. UNLV
21. Gonzaga
22. Michigan State
23. Murray State
24. Notre Dame
25. VCU
TSN Preseason Top 25
Toughest team to predict: Michigan State
Since correctly picking the Spartans to win the 2000 NCAA title behind Mateen Cleaves, we’ve had a devil of a time getting anywhere close to calling Michigan State’s seasons correctly. Twice when they were coming off Final Fours with rosters fairly intact, in 2005-06 and 2010-11, we made the Spartans our No. 1 team. Those teams hold the distinction of being the only SN preseason No. 1s over the past 15 years to fail to win an NCAA game. Although the Spartans have three starters back and most of their rotation, the strength of the Big Ten and the importance of former star Draymond Green led us to pick them No. 22. Watch them go and win it all.
Most likely to make us look silly: Kansas
One of our competitors not only placed the Jayhawks at No. 4, they’re also more or less mocking us for putting KU at No. 12. Given that KU has won the Big 12 regular season eight times in a row and given that everyone else of quality in the league seems to be either moving out (Missouri) or muddling along, it’s a fair bet the Jayhawks will rampage to another conference title. It’s just hard to see the players who remain winning the biggest games.
TSN
Coming of its 2012 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance, the Kansas women's basketball team held its first official practice of the 2012-13 season Tuesday.
Head coach Bonnie Henrickson returns nine letterwinners, including four starters, from last season's squad which finished 21-13 overall. The Jayhawks have three seniors on the 2012-13 roster in Carolyn Davis, Monica Engelman and Angel Goodrich. Davis and Goodrich are two of the 25 NCAA Division I women's basketball student-athletes to be named to the 2012-13 State Farm® Wade Trophy Watch List, which is presented annually to the NCAA Division I Player of the Year by the National Association of Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS) and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).
The Jayhawks open the 2012-13 season with a pair of exhibition games, including the opener against Washburn on October 28, at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas will open the regular-season on Sunday, Novemeber 11, when the Jayhawks host Idaho State.
KUAD
After the drawn-out drama that was all of last season, the Magic organization decided to start anew from almost top to bottom. But they are refusing to call this a “rebuilding season.” Instead, Vaughn referred to it as a “process he is looking forward to.”
Vaughn spoke of how at ease he felt going into Day One of practice.
“It’s the same chair,” Vaughn said, referring to the front seat he will be taking as head coach. “The only difference is now I have to talk to the media.”
Although Vaughn has never been a head coach, he has played for some of the best in basketball: Roy Williams at the University of Kansas, Jerry Sloan with the Utah Jazz, Doc Rivers with the Orlando Magic and Greg Popovich for the San Antonio Spurs.
Vaughn has gleaned specific characteristics from each coach’s personal style. From Williams he was able to take his practice efficiency, an ability he feels will be vital this season in order to learn quickly without burning players out.
He knows he will have to be a great manager of the balance between practice and rest, feeling as though he can’t afford to waste a second as the Magic are about to embark on a strenuous NBA season.
From all his former coaches, Vaughn said he learned one key thing: “They all have an amazing ability to get the best out of their players. That is how we have to start, by putting players in a position for them to be the most successful.”
FS Florida
Kansas 2012-13 Schedule
Big 12/College News
Draft Express: Top NBA picks in the Big XII part four
After months of construction, Kansas State will dedicate its new $18 million Basketball Training Facility on Friday.
The invitation-only event for donors and project contributors will feature University President Kirk Schultz, athletic director John Currie, lead contributors Rand and Patti Berney and Jim and Laura Johnson, as well as head coaches Deb Patterson and Bruce Weber.
Guests will be able to tour the facility prior to the dedication ceremony, which will be held at approximately 5:45 p.m. in the men's practice gym.
Manhattan Mercury
Ed O'Bannon's potentially billion dollar class action lawsuit against the NCAA took another major step forward on Monday night. According to documents obtained by SI.com, U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello has ordered ESPN to provide O'Bannon with its television and licensing contracts for Division I men's basketball and football since 2005. The order sets the table for O'Bannon to gain a much better understanding of how much the NCAA profits from current and former players' names, likenesses and images. The order also highlights how the O'Bannon case threatens not only the NCAA and its member institutions, but also companies that have profited from Division I men's basketball and football through contracts with the NCAA and members.
To be clear, ESPN is not a party to O'Bannon's litigation, which O'Bannon hopes to expand to include current Division I men's basketball and football players and which is currently in the pretrial discovery stage. In a motion to compel a non-party, O'Bannon argued that ESPN's broadcasting and licensing contracts are central to O'Bannon's core claim: that the NCAA, the Collegiate Licensing Company (the NCAA's licensing partner) and the NCAA's member intuitions have conspired to deny former college players compensation for the commercial use of their names, likenesses and images.
SI
ESPN Tip-Off Marathon schedule
2012-13 Early Season Events List
Recruiting
Three weeks ago during his in-home visits, Julius Randle received what he called “some of the best advice” he’s gotten since his recruiting process started.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams told Randle, a forward at Prestonwood Christian (Plano, Texas), “to be upfront with the schools” that he’s not considering as strongly “so they can move on.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Randle, the top-ranked player in the Rivals150, took that advice and named his top six schools: Kentucky, N.C. State, Florida, Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.
…The list was leaked via the Prestonwood Christian athletics Twitter account.
Duke, Oklahoma State, North Carolina and Baylor didn’t make the cut.
“This isn’t the way that Julius wanted to put the list out,” Randle's mother Carolyn Kyles said. “He wanted to do it himself, but this is his new list. It’s true.”
Kyles said Randle heeded Williams’ advice about “not stringing schools along.”
“Julius just wanted to go ahead and cut it down,” Kyles said. “Some people may be surprised about the list, but it’s 100 percent his decision and I support him. He’s given it a lot of thought, and we’re happy with his list.”
USA Today
Julius Randle narrows to 6: Kentucky, NC State, Florida, Texas, Kansas, OU.
https://twitter.com/PCAAthletics/status/253216536817446912 (Leaked? Then why did Randle retweet this? Hmmm?)
“@CeezTX: Everybody's anticipating where @J30_RANDLE is commiting but the squad is gonna know before everybody lol” lol you already know
https://twitter.com/J30_RANDLE/status/253260806991532032
A year ago, Roddy was entering his junior year at Suitland High School with a decent shot at playing college hoops. Then he erupted, averaging 23 points per game and lighting up the AAU circuit on his first run through the country's elite. Ranked outside the top 100 before the summer, he's now No. 43 in the nation. He's not a one-and-done, program-altering talent. He's more of a culture changer, representing what might be the first domino to fall in an evolving recruiting landscape that is every bit as political as Capitol Hill.
…TWO YEARS AGO, Peters didn't even think he'd go to college. He'd been rejected by the private schools in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC), perhaps the best high school basketball league in the country, and spent a miserable freshman year at Westlake High School in Waldorf, Md., where Jamena had moved the family. He missed Suitland, and the family moved back for his sophomore year. On the court, he was better known for being the son of Roddy Peters Sr., who led the school to the 1985 state title, than for his own exploits. He was more interested in chilling on the school's steps and clowning with his friends than dedicating himself within its walls.
That changed when Jamena called in "Uncle" Charlie. Charles Harley is Roddy's cousin and the football coach at nearby Forestville High, where he's sent nearly two dozen players to D1 schools.
..."I showed him his transcript and talked about the NCAA process and what he had to do to get qualified," Harley says. "And I told him he had a chance to be great."
Peters listened. With help from what has turned into Team Roddy -- relatives, teachers, coaches and school administrators -- his focus improved in the classroom. And he elevated his play to a level he'd never imagined. His games, as Harley says, became a circus. Reps from the DMV's two most powerful AAU programs, DC Assault and Team Takeover, started showing up to every game and called repeatedly to secure his services. Before long, college coaches were filling the stands too.
That kind of dual recruitment is more complicated, and more rare, than you'd think. No one -- not high school coaches, AAU insiders or recruiting fanatics -- can remember the last time Maryland and Georgetown chased the same kid so deep into the process.
…As a rare public school standout, his late emergence has spared him the scrutiny of peers who have been overexposed since eighth grade; Peters has been on the periphery for so long, the old rules didn't apply. Yet the attention is still withering. Though Peters enjoyed the spotlight, his scoring took a dip as he struggled to pick an AAU program. He chose Assault in March, not quite knowing the decision making had just begun.
In June, his Assault connections earned him an invitation to the NBPA Top 100 camp, where he was one of the lowest-rated players in attendance. By the end of the week, though, everyone knew his name. He scored 16 points in the championship game while running the team with aplomb. He peeled off a pick-and-roll, keeping his dribble alive while two defenders collapsed on him. He deftly threaded a pass between them, hitting the screener in full stride for a dunk. "It just got me a lot more comfortable," Peters says of his performance. "I would hear all the big-name players and just think, How am I going to play on the same court? But when you're out there with them, they're just a number next to a name."
…When Turgeon took the Maryland job last year, one of his first orders of business was to hire Dalonte Hill as an assistant. The former DC Assault coach is a DMV specialist. His relationships reach across the proverbial aisle: Hill is tight with both DC Assault and Team Takeover, is comfortable cozying up to the powerful WCAC coaches and navigates the Beltway's public schools with ease.
To counter, Georgetown created a "special assistant" position last season for its own DMV insider, Kevin Broadus, after the former Hoyas assistant coach resigned from the top job at Binghamton. Broadus grew up in the DMV, played high school and college ball there and has coached at five local colleges. Not surprisingly, Hill and Broadus are the lead recruiters in the hunt for Peters. "They're so close, and they can come anytime and see me play," Peters says. "They talk to me the way I'm thinking in my head. They'll call and say, 'Stay out of the hallway, stay out of the street, make sure you're in class.' They understand." And they make similar pitches: We need you; we're close to home; you'll be joining a family. And though the schools don't rip each another, Peters says that after his unofficial visits at each campus, "I'd get a text from the other one saying, 'Don't commit.' "
The schools need not worry; Peters is still weighing his options. He has an upcoming trip to Westwood and was impressed by his official visits to Xavier and Rutgers. Kansas recently joined the party as well.
ESPN The Magazine
Texas AM, Louisville and Kansas made a trip to Rockwall HS today. @AustinGstaff1 @EliCTMDThomas15 @trevorblum11 #TEAMTEXAS
https://twitter.com/NikeTeamTexas
Rivals: The Workout: Big names in it for Embiid
Rivals: The Workout: Sunday recap
Aaron Harrison Sr., a no-nonsense former military man, knows the pitfalls of recruiting process, so he exhibits total control over his sons, Aaron and Andrew, twin brothers who national recruiting analysts say represent the best package deal in recent memory.
Harrison Sr., said that until September even the college coaches courting his sons had to go through dad first. One exception: Chris Hightower, in charge of basketball marketing at Under Armour.
"He is my saving grace that there are some upright, straight, humane people in the basketball business," Harrison Sr. said. "He is the one guy who can call Aaron and Andrew.
"They text him, 'Hey, Chris, appreciate what you sent us, thanks a lot. Hey, Chris, do you have a black hoodie? Does Under Armour make this or that?' He will text them, 'Great game I saw on TV.' "
Under Armour sponsors Maryland's basketball team as well as the AAU team for which Harrison coaches and his sons play. And if the connection between Hightower and Maryland was not clear enough, Hightower uses an image of the Under Armour-designed Maryland football uniforms for his Twitter picture.
Messages left for Hightower were not immediately returned. "Chris Hightower is a member of the team of Under Armour employees who service and support the University of Maryland all-sports apparel contract," the Maryland athletics department said in a statement.
The Harrisons will announce their college choice Thursday on ESPNU (5 p.m., ET).
…Sonny Vaccaro, the former shoe company czar who helped create the modern recruiting game more than three decades ago, applauded Under Armour for its penetration into the summer basketball in recent years. And he said the fact that the Harrison twins are even involved with Maryland at this point "shows the power" of brand loyalty.
"There is no logical reason for someone to think Maryland competing with Kentucky for two of the best players in this class," Vaccaro said. "It is illogical. Maryland has not won a game since 1919, since Gary (Williams) won the championship (in 2002). They have had problems. And you are talking about Kentucky — Kentucky. They choose who they want."
…Harrison Sr. grew up in Baltimore and has family members who still reside in the area. He called coach Mark Turgeon, a hard-working recruiter throughout his career, the "most upright citizen I have met in basketball." And he has a strong relationship with assistant Bino Ranson, another Baltimore native.
From the time Baylor first dangled a scholarship in front of the twins as seventh-graders, the basketball world has provided an eye-opening experience for Harrison Sr.
"Me being in the used-car business, and I will let you know this, the basketball business, is 25 times worse than the used-car business," he said. "It is not even close. It blows my mind what people try to do or that people think it's OK and they'll tell you things and you fall for.
"I'll be frank with you, there are college coaches who are just as involved in this thing as any AAU guy. I am more of a father than an AAU guy. I am not a handler. I don't own any kids. . . . At some point they will become their own men."
USA Today
Chicago Simeon Career Academy forward Jabari Parker, the nation's No. 1-ranked senior, will make official visits to Duke and Michigan State and will soon add three other schools to his top-5 list before making a commitment in November, his father said on Tuesday.
Parker's father, Sonny Parker, said his son would visit Duke at the end of October and was unsure of the date of the Michigan State visit. Parker is also expected to decide this week on three other schools to visit.
Parker will conclude his in-home visits with North Carolina coach Roy Williams on Tuesday. Williams rescheduled his original visit because he had surgery. Florida coach Billy Donovan is also expected to visit Parker at Simeon on Tuesday.
"From there, we'll probably sit down and evaluate all his home visits and decide which will be his official visits," Sonny said. "It's a process. He's had quite a few home visits. He's going to start taking his visits. It's the month of October already. It's going to take time."
ESPN Chicago
My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos, Late Night in the Phog, and more now on YouTube
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