Continuing our UNC-themed week here at RTC, we came across this photo of presumptive Heel point guard doing his best Russell Hammond of Stillwater routine at a local house of fraternage. Also check Psycho-T’s stance immediately behind and to the left of Frasor (getting wrapped up by some TarPoon).

(h/t 850thebuzz)

Far be it from us to wax medical on the proper rehabilitation of an injury, but Frasor tore his ACL in late December and appears ready to take over the reins of point guard from Ty Lawson, who himself is testing the waters (shameless plagiarism, we know).

Update: Tyler Hansbrough got into the I’M ON DRUGS action as well…

(h/t DukeDevilsBB)

Just remember, folks, the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we’re uncool…

Yesterday we brought you a video showing Barack Obama playing ball with some yahoos at a gym in Illinois.  This is better. 

North Carolina’s primary is on May 6th, and what better way to pander to engage and interest Wal-Mart Nation the good people of the Tarheel state right before an election than to strap on some Air Jordans and play pickup ball with their beloved Heels.

Update:  moving pictures!! (h/t The Big Lead)

So is Obama’s gray shirt the hoops equivalent of the red jersey in football scrimmages?  How’d they know which team he was on??  Whatever you do, don’t hurt the guy in the gray shirt! 

Either Obama is asking Roy how he got down 40-12 to Kansas… or, they’re sharing fun tie stories. 

Yes, son [Ty Lawson], you will make more money than me next year.  Wanna contribute?

Even a skinny 46-yr old dude in too-tight sweats can find holes in the vaunted Carolina defense…  and yes, ACC refs, that was an offensive foul on Obama.  Hansbrough to the line for two. 

That’s more like it – I can play with these 12-year olds!

Um, what am I supposed to do with this? 

Uh oh – now we know Psycho-T’s problem with the NBA.  Smooth Sam is a legit 6’9 – so that makes Hansbrough, what, 6’7 + hair (even allowing for the slight tilt in the photo)? 

Final thoughts.  What must uber-Heel and former Democratic nominee John Edwards think of all this suckling at the teat of the Ram in Chapel Hill? 

Also, NC State fans are crying foul over this unsanctioned “practice.”  God love em. 

All photo credits:  Jeffrey A. Camarati 

It was a semi-busy weekend as the last few players thinking about declaring for the NBA Draft waited until the Sunday night deadline to make their decisions public…

• The biggest news is that UCLA guard and all-american Darren Collison will remain in Westwood for his senior year.  It will be an interesting six weeks at UCLA as Ben Howland will await word on which of the remainder of his starters will come back (among Josh Shipp, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute).  We predict Shipp and Mbah a Moute will return. 
• In a parallel situation across the country, UNC’s sixth man Danny Green became the third Tar Heel to declare his intentions to test the waters, joining teammates Tywon Lawson and Wayne Ellington.   In a related vein, STF posits that UNC ’09 will be must-watch tv next winter.  We would tend to agree, but only if we can make a deal with ESPN that Vitale/Patrick are nowhere near any of those games.  If not, all bets are off.      
• Other early entry news.  UConn’s Hasheem Thabeet is sticking around for his junior year, while USC freshman Davon Jefferson will sign with an agent and is leaving for good. 
• In case you were wondering, Big East POY and Pitt forward Sam Young will remain in school for his senior season.  Along these lines, Vegas Watch thinks that the Big East is in a position of strength (losing the least talent) going into next season.  Jeff Goodman backs that up by putting 8 teams in his post-early entry, pre-draft deadline Top 25. 
• Reviews are so far mixed on whether Stanford’s hire of Johnny Dawkins was a good one.  Here’s a good one a mediocre one, and a not-so-good one. 
• This is why using only stats to decide a champion is absurd.  No way in hell are 92 Duke and 96 Kentucky not 1-2 (either way). 

Sign this guy up!  Does he have any college eligibility left?

(h/t TrueHoop)

Seriously though, for a 46-year old, dude’s still got some game.  His three-ball was money and he even showed a little bit of funk in his game with the crossover jukes and dribble-drive.  Now if we could just figure out where he stands with respect to guns and religion in small-town America…  Oh. 

PS – love the hard tuck in the sweatpants look there, Barack.  LOVE.  IT. 

After Trent Johnson left Palo Alto for the Bayou, we wondered who the Stanford administration would target as their next head coach. It looks like we have our answer as the Cardinals appear to have reached an agreement with Johnny Dawkins.

Many of our younger fans know Dawkins as Coach K’s right-hand man for several years now and a potential candidate for several D-I head coaching positions, our older (and more well-read visitors) are also aware of his exploits on the basketball court. Here is a brief list of his accomplishments:

– 1986 Naismith College Player of the Year
– #2 on the all-time Duke scoring list (2,556 points)
– Named one of the 50 greatest ACC players of all-time
– 10th overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft by the San Antonio Spurs (9 years in the NBA)

While I think that Dawkins will become a very good head coach, it is a pretty big jump from being an assistant coach (even at arguably the most well-known program in college basketball) to a head coach at a major D-I school in what might have been the best conference in the country last year. Dawkins will probably have a tough time the next few years especially with the Lopez twins leaving, but I think if Stanford gives him enough time he should transform it into a perennial Pac-10 power. Now the interesting question is how this will affect the Coach K succession plan as Dawkins was widely considered to be the favorite if and when Coach K decides to step down from his throne.

We’re hearing confirmation from Chapel Hill this afternoon that the Great White Hope known as Tyler Hansbrough has elected to remain in school to further his assault on the ACC record books and opponents’ elbows. 

Somewhere in a bathroom in the Sarasota area Dickie V. is furthering his own brand of self-assault upon hearing this news. 

We already mentioned that Tywon Lawson is testing the waters, but apparently so will Wayne Ellington.  Carolina is going to be a top five team with Hansbrough returning, no matter what the other two do, but the real key is Lawson.  If he returns, the Heels are #1 with a bullet, probably as much of a preseason lock as Florida in 2006-07 or Duke in 2001-02.  Ellington, while very good, is expendable. 

ACC fans had better hope that Lawson blows up in the predraft camps; otherwise, UNC will once again blow through that league next year. 

Some news on early entries as the deadline (Sunday at midnight) looms and some other flotsam we’ve been holding on to for your Friday…

• UNC’s point guard Tywon Lawson will be testing the waters.  Reading the tea leaves, does this signal a pending domino effect for his teammates Wayne Ellington, Tyler Hansbrough and/or Danny Green? 
• Speaking of the Heels, in light of KU’s title, ol’ Roy’s face was consequently removed from a bathroom in a Lawrence, KS, barber shop. 
• Super Mario Chalmers will be testing the waters of the NBA Draft, joining teammates Brandon Rush and Darrell Arthur in the pool. 
• Memphis juniors Antonio Anderson and Robert Dozier joined Derrick Rose and CDR in declaring for the NBA Draft this week – both will test the waters.  With Joey Dorsey (ahem) graduating, Memphis could potentially lose its entire starting five.    
• The Texas backcourt of DJ Augustin and AJ Abrams have also decided to declare for the draft.  Abrams is probably only testing the waters. 
• Missouri’s DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons will be testing the waters this year as well. 
• A returner!!!  Tennessee’s Tyler Smith will return to Knoxville, where he’ll likely lead the Vols to another SEC regular season title (and not much else). 
• VCU’s Anthony Grant and UAB’s Mike Davis received contract extensions from their schools.
• You’ve probably heard that the itinerant Larry Brown stepped down from his job as Executive VP with the Sixers yesterday.  At least one report thinks he might be going to Stanford to take over Trent Johnson’s old job. 
• This is a neat article on which Tobacco Road players and coaches are supporting whom in the 2008 election.  Um, shouldn’t Grant Hill be supporting Billary, given that his mom roomed with her at Wellesley?  Or…  maybe that tells you all you need to know. 
• From the leftovers department, YABB did a quick and dirty analysis of the final conference standings of the NCAA Tournament.  Big 12… good.  ACC and SEC… bad. 
• This is something we found that shows the progression/regression of the top four programs in terms of total wins over the last ten years.  Carolina really took a hit during those Doherty years, didn’t they?
• Turning to the NBA Playoffs, this is a nice article on the positive effects that the late Skip Prosser had on his players now in the postseason – CP3, David West and J-Ho. 

Ok, this is not college hoops related, but it was too fall-off-the-couch funny not to post the vids…

First, the much-discussed viral Nike video of Kobe jumping over an Aston Martin convertible:

Kenny Smith then decided to re-enact it on Inside the NBA tonight:

This proves, once again, the Inside the NBA is the best sports show on television. Aaaaaand Kenny can’t get up quite as well as he used to…

We’re totally a rankings whore, and we love to cut/paste excel charts, so here’s the final list of the 2008 Rivals top 50 Seniors, which came out today.   

By our count, here are the big winners:

• UCLA – 4 players
• Arizona – 3
• Wake Forest – 3
• Alabama – 2
• Florida – 2
• Georgetown – 2
• Kansas – 2
• Kentucky – 2
• Louisville – 2
• Memphis – 2
• UNC – 2
• Ohio St. – 2

In other words, the usual suspects (minus Duke who only had one player, but loses virtually nobody off of this year’s team).

Before getting all giddy and making F4 reservations, keep in mind Bruin, Wildcat and Demon Deacon fans that more than one pundit has declared the Class of 2008 as one of the worst in recent memory.  There are no Greg Odens, Michael Beasleys, Kevin Durants, Derrick Roses or Kevin Loves in this year’s group – you’ll be lucky to get a Kyle Singler or two. 

Update:  we missed this previously, but here’s the Rivals Top 30 classes.

Happy Earth Day everyone. 

• Mississippi St.’s Jamont Gordon announced today that he will be testing the waters of the NBA Draft. 
• ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski has an opinion about the spate of 1-and-dones from the last two seasons – i.e., they suck!
• In the wake of Travis Ford’s departure to Oklahoma St., former Minuteman and current Memphis assistant coach Derek Kellogg will take over as the head man at UMass. 
• Draft Express used its contacts to get the lowdown on what several of the marquee names still on the fence about the draft.  For a more exhaustive list of all draft-eligibles, see Chad Ford’s.