- After Josh Selby’s impressive performance last Saturday against USC, KUSports.com took the time to size up his competition for national FrOY. From what we’ve seen so far (and excluding Duke’s Kyrie Irving from the argument), the list of the top freshmen in the country looks like this: 1) Jared Sullinger, Ohio State; 2) Terrence Jones, Kentucky; 3) Perry Jones, Baylor; 4) Harrison Barnes, UNC; 5) Brandon Knight, Kentucky.
- Marquette’s Buzz Williams and USC’s Kevin O’Neill have agreed to play a game in Milwaukee next season, with the obvious storyline being the return of O’Neill to the school where he got his first head coaching job in the late 80s. The only catch is that it won’t actually count — affixing onto the trend of some schools to play scrimmages closed to the public and media before the season begins, the two teams will hook up next fall at the Al McGuire Center in lieu of an exhibition game.
- Semester break always means mid-year transfers. A couple of notables came out of the Northeast yesterday, as Seton Hall sophomore forward Ferrakohn Hall announced he was leaving the program, effective Tuesday. The Memphis native averaged 5/3 in ten games so far this season, but it was clear to insiders that he was having trouble fitting into new coach Kevin Willard’s system. Across the Hudson River, sophomore guard Quincy Roberts announced he is leaving St. John’s after seeing his playing time dwindle this season, the first under new head coach Steve Lavin. Roberts missed the entire 2009-10 season with migraines, so we hope that he’s managed that difficult medical condition and will land somewhere else with a fresh start.
- Over the weekend, Kent State’s second-best scorer Carlton Guyton (12.7 PPG) was suspended indefinitely for felony theft where he allegedly took a woman’s car without her permission. The woman is also alleging some kind of sexual assault against Guyton, but police have not yet charged the player with a crime to that effect. The Golden Flashes are 9-3 after defeating Youngstown State on Tuesday night, but let’s hope for the sake of everyone involved that this is some kind of a misunderstanding between friends and lives aren’t ruined here.
- This is a fascinating article from the Omaha World-Herald about Nebraska’s difficulties as a football-dominant school in attracting fans to come out to its basketball games. The Huskers are now 10-2 but home games so far this season are only playing at 41% of capacity at the Devaney Center. Not much was expected from Doc Sadler’s team that went 2-14 in the Big 12 race last season, but learning that a major conference school with 23,500 students has fewer than a thousand student season ticket-holders (935 to be exact) is borderline criminal. The chance to see Kansas, Texas, K-State and Mizzou passing through Lincoln this season should be enough for many students to justify the paltry $2 per game cost for season tickets.
View Comments (5)
How is Harrison Barnes, he of the 36% from the floor, on the list at all? Tobias Harris, Will Barton, Tristan Thompson, Joe Jackson, Josh Smith... Selby has contributed more in one game in net than Barnes... I think I'd put a few redshirts above Barnes on the list. He's been a net negative for Roy Williams.
Mike, you make a fair point, but I have seen flashes that make me believe he'll turn this around eventually. Tristan Thompson definitely deserves to be on there after tonight.
Just a random note to say that I love the morning fives. I work full-time, and I'm also a full-time graduate student, and I don't have TV, so no Sportscenter and not much time to read about college basketball. This site is my only regular source of college basketball info--especially the morning five and the Pac-10 check-in. Thanks. That's all.
Appreciate the kind words, Mark.
Oh he has all the potential in the world, I'll agree with that. The ACC is definitely weak this year so I can imagine Barnes will start putting up some points. I guess I wonder what the criteria is for your list? Is it best freshman performance thus far or the freshman you'd most like to have on your squad. If the former I can't imagine Barnes in the top 5. And if it's the later I'd have both Selby and Thompson above Knight, Barnes and Jones.