John Wall‘s recruitment just got a little more interesting as the nation’s #1 recruit was cited for misdemeanor breaking and entering in Raleigh, NC. According to police reports, Wall was seen leaving the residence (an unoccupied house) on April 27th, but the officers at the scene saw no signs of forced entry or of anything being taken from the residence.

Even though this will be on all the blogs and major message boards by the end of the day, the impact on his recruitment will probably be minimal in the end. If you don’t believe that, just look back a few years ago at Shelden Williams who was a suspect in a rape case, but still managed to get into Duke. Wall, who hasn’t committed yet (reportedly between Duke, North Carolina State, Memphis, Miami, Baylor, Kansas, Kentucky, and Liberty) has until May 20th to decide before the official signing period ends.

Update: According to reports out of North Carolina, Wall was apparently in the house for a house party. The house itself (below) appears to be bank-owned and in pretty rough shape.

We have mentioned Gary Williams and his struggles to keep his Maryland program relevant since Juan Dixon left College Park, Maryland, but it looks like he might he temporarily fixed one of the many problems with a commitment from Terrence Ross, a 2010 recruit from Montrose Christian (same high school as Kevin Durant) in Maryland. Ross is a 6’5″ SG who transferred to Montrose from Portland, OR before his junior year. Even though he only averaged 13.5 PPG this year (partly attributable to playing alongside Mouphtaou Yarou, a senior who is ranked 10th in Rivals Top 150), he is a 4-star recruit who is ranked 31st in his class by Rivals with some ridiculous athleticism (see below).

Keeping an in-state star might not seem like a big deal to most people (especially when you’re the only legit program in the state), but it is from Williams who has lost a bevy of stars (Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, and Ty Lawson) to out-of-state programs in recent years as well as the aforementioned Yarou, who signed with Villanova. While this might not necessarily mean that Williams has righted the Terrapin ship, it is certainly a very good start.

It looks like the rich are just getting richer. Just a little over a week after Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich announced that they were returning to Kansas next year, Xavier and C.J. Henry have announced that they will be joining a loaded Jayhawk team next season. After initially committing to Memphis before the whole Billy Gillispie/John Calipari circus, several media members (including yours truly) speculated that Kentucky might end up picking up an all-time great recruiting class if they added Calipari’s original commits from Memphis (the Henrys, DeMarcus Cousins, and potentially John Wall) to a class that already included Daniel Orton and Jon Hood.

While Cousins has signed with Kentucky, the loss of the Henrys and the rumors that Wall is looking elsewhere means that the Kentucky class might end up just being very, very good instead of being an all-time great class. Meanwhile Bill Self just earned himself the #1 spot in all the preseason polls. So the pressure is on now Jayhawk fans. It’s national title or bust for this Jayhawk squad.

The latest idiocy to come out of the NCAA rules tome involves the ubiquitous Facebook pages.  You know, the social networking site that every man, woman and child under the age of 35 already has as a must-visit every day of their lives?  Over the weekend it was reported that NC State had sent a cease-and-desist letter to one of its students, Taylor Moseley, for starting a Facebook page called “John Wall, PLEASE come to NC State,”  referring to the nation’s #1 point guard who is still unsigned.  Talk about a tactful approach!  The original page, which featured over 700 members, is now closed to the public with the forboding warning attached: The name of this group has been changed to comply with a request in regards to NCAA Regulations.

NC State was ostensibly acting upon the NCAA’s interpretation of its rules with respect to such social networking sites and how they may be used in the recruiting process.  The problem, of course, is that Moseley has no more proximate relationship with the NCSU athletic department than the janitor working in his dorm or the random fan with the red Wolfpack emblem on his car.  In the NCAA’s narrow-minded worldview, each of these people are potential “boosters.”  And if you’re a booster, you cannot make such open, outward displays of affection toward a potential recruit such as John Wall lest you put your favorite school in jeopardy of a violation.

Cue the hordes of Duke fans who just started John Wall groups for Carolina, and vice versa.  Or Xavier Henry to Kentucky groups created by Kansas fans.  Or Lance Stephenson… well, you get the picture.  Where does it end, and assuming the NCAA could figure it out (without subpoena power, good luck) how on earth is any of it enforceable?  There are already dozens of these kinds of pages on Facebook (see the UK example below), and anyone can start one on their own and regardless of school affiliation.  RTC can put up a page right now begging John Wall to attend our school of choice, and what can the NCAA do?  Punish the school – no way, we have no affiliation with the school.  Punish the player – for what?  He didn’t have anything to do with our endorsement.  Punish us – ennnnh, sure, except they already deny us to their credentialed events (i.e., nothing will change). 

The most amusing part of all of this is the NCAA’s response to the ever-changing spectre of technology.  From the WRAL report:

NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said the group considers its rules “technology neutral.” A Facebook page is simply a high-tech way to try to influence recruits.  The NCAA’s concern is “intrusions into a high school student’s life when they’re trying to decide where to go to college,” he said. He said the NCAA is keeping up with technology, noting new rules on text-messaging from coaches.

New rules on text messaging!  Wow, Eric, we’ve certainly moved right on up to 2002 with 2003 in our sights with that progressive legislation!  This means that by around 2014 the NCAA will have this Facebook thing figured completely out.  Kudos to them. 

When we first reported that John Calipari was leaving Memphis to take over at Kentucky, we speculated on the potential impact it could have for both programs recruiting in the near future. Going into the NCAA tournament, Memphis had the best class in the nation with the headliners being DeMarcus Cousins and Xavier Henry, but they were also viewed as the leader in the chase for John Wall. If they were able to land Wall, the Tigers could have brought in the top 3 recruits (according to many analysts), which is something that not even Michigan‘s famed “Fab Five” could claim.  However, we noted that the vaunted class could fall apart with Calipari’s departure.

According to Jeff Goodman at Fox Sports, the first piece just fell as Cousins has commited to Kentucky. As for Henry, he has decommited from Memphis, but has not officially announced his choice although Kansas appears to be the leader.

Lost in the news of his dad’s alma mater UNC winning the national title was another piece of  interesting news from the Jordan family. Yesterday, Marcus Jordan, the younger son of Michael Jordan, committed to play for UCF in Orlando, FL. According to recruiting services, the youngest Jordan isn’t quite the same caliber of player his father was (obviously), but is still a solid recruit (ESPN Insider/Scouts (Insider access required) rates him as an 87 while Rivals rates him as a 3-star recruit).

Credit: Suntimes.com

According to reports, Jordan was also considering Toledo, Iowa, and Davidson (imagine what the Wildcat fans would have been like with MJ and Dell Curry in the crowd if Stephen Curry decided to come back). In the end, he chose the Knights in part because he could play early and make an impact (unlike his brother Jeffrey Jordan who just got a scholarship from Illinois as a sophomore) along with the fact that his high school teammate A.J. Rompza had a very good freshman year (All-Freshman team in Conference USA) and likely had good things to say about the program.

As for impact this will have on UCF (17-14 overall and 7-9 in Conference USA), it certainly won’t have as big of an impact as John Calipari ditching Memphis and leaving them for dead, but he may give them some much needed depth (leading scorer Jermaine Taylor is a senior and averaged 26.2 PPG with the next highest scorer only averaging 9.8 PPG).

As it stands today, the #1 West seed UConn mens’ basketball team  is sitting in Glendale, Arizona, awaiting its Sweet Sixteen matchup against Purdue on Friday night, having obliterated its sub-regional opponents by roughly 1000 points in two blowout wins.  It’s still relatively early, but the Huskies appear to be the favorite going into the rest of the Tournament, with their scoring threats at every position and their game-changing defensive presence in the middle known as Hasheem Thabeet.  Scarily, UConn isn’t even at full strength, as two players who were on the roster at the beginning of the school year are no longer playing for the Huskies – we all know about Jerome Dyson’s injury, but what about the other guy… Nate Miles? 

You remember Miles, right?  Jim Calhoun brought the troubled-but-talented 6’7 wing player in from Toledo as a freshman, but he was expelled from UConn in early October for violating a restraining order based on an accusation that he assaulted a female student.   Sixteen minutes after the restraining order was issued, mind you.  He then re-surfaced at a JuCo in Idaho, where he dropped in 19 ppg this season.  So why is this all relevant now? 

A Yahoo Sports investigation led by Dan Wetzel and Adrian Wojnarowski issued a comprehensive report today outlining the sordid tale of how Miles was ‘delivered’ to UConn by a former team manager turned agent named Josh Nochimson, and how current and former UConn coaches (including Jim Calhoun) may have pulled a Kelvin Sampson and egregiously violated the recruiting contact provisions with Miles throughout 2006 and 2007.   From the report:

The University of Connecticut violated NCAA rules in the recruitment of former guard Nate Miles, a six-month investigation by Yahoo! Sports has found.  Miles was provided with lodging, transportation, restaurant meals and representation by Josh Nochimson – a professional sports agent and former UConn student manager – between 2006 and 2008, according to multiple sources. As a representative of UConn’s athletic interests, Nochimson was prohibited by NCAA rules from having contact with Miles and from providing him with anything of value.  The UConn basketball staff was in constant contact with Nochimson during a nearly two-year period up to and after Miles’ recruitment. Five different UConn coaches traded at least 1,565 phone and text communications with Nochimson, including 16 from head coach Jim Calhoun.  UConn may have committed major recruiting violations by exceeding NCAA limits on phone calls to Miles and those closest to him, records show. The NCAA allows a single phone call per month to a prospect or his family in a player’s junior year of high school. That limit was exceeded over several months from late 2006 into 2007.

This makes the Kelvin Sampson and Rob Senderoff thing at Indiana look tame by comparison. 

UConn released a statement that doesn’t really say much, but what they should be saying (at least privately) is THANK THE F#%&ING LORD!  Consider…  the Huskies may well be on their way to their third national title in the last eleven seasons.  At worst, they appear a strong contender for another F4 appearance.  If Miles was still on this team, suddenly the entire house of cards could have come crumbling down.  Even if UConn ultimately won the 2009 championship, there would be a strong likelihood that much of their season would be later vacated, Chris Webber-style. 

Ironically, Miles' Restraining Order May Have Saved UConn's Season (Unlike C-Webb's Michigan Teams)

Not now.  Now any punishment that UConn will take over this admittedly serious set of violations will be prospective, and it should not affect this year’s Husky team (unless the NCAA digs up some other violations impacting current players).  We don’t mean to be callous, but in a tradeoff, wouldn’t most UConn fans take that deal?  You can win the 2009 title, but you’ll have to face a 1-year postseason ban and scholarship reductions at some future point.  Yeah, thought so.   So congratulations, Connecticut fans, there is a silver lining in what was otherwise not your best day. 

Final thought here: it’s nice to see that Yahoo Sports took it upon itself to do the NCAA’s work here.  A simple FOIA request – that’s all it took?  You’d think that the NCAA’s army of investigators could figure out that one by themselves.  Easy, low-hanging fruit at these public universities.  Or, maybe not. 

You know that you’re coming to the end of the regular season when the McD’s Burger Boys are announced.  This annual rite of late winter signals that it’s time to hunker down and prepare for some warmer weather and a little thing called March Madness, and this game always gives us a peak of some of the next few years’ stars to watch.  Last year’s F4, for example, featured freshmen Kevin Love, Cole Aldrich and Derrick Rose – all three were Burger Boys in 2007, not to overlook Darrell Arthur, Sherron Collins, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and James Keefe from the 2006 game, and Tyler Hansbrough, Bobby Frasor, Danny Green and Super Mario Chalmers from the 2005 game.   In all, a total of twelve McDonald’s All-Americans played in last year’s Final Four, and you can expect a multitude most seasons.

Keep in mind that aside from the top ten or so consensus players (this year, guys like Boynton, Henry, Sidney, Cousins and Favors are on that list), there is a fair amount of political posturing that goes into these selections.  Don’t believe us?  Then check some of the names of the last ten McD’s games and their career stats (you’ll notice a lot of “rep” schools on this list:

• Rolando Howell – 2000 (South Carolina): 10/6 in 4 yrs
• Neil Fingleton – 2000 (UNC/Holy Cross): 3/2 in 3 yrs
• Michael Thompson – 2002 (Duke): 5/2 in 4 yrs
• Travis Garrison – 2002 (Maryland) – 8/5 in 4 yrs
• Ivan Harris – 2003 (Ohio St.): 6/2 in 4 yrs
• Jawan McClellan – 2004 (Arizona): 8/3 in 4 yrs
• Bobby Frasor – 2005 (UNC) – 4/3 in 4 yrs
• Eric Boateng – 2005 (Duke/Arizona St.) – 3/2 in 3 yrs
• Lance Thomas – 2006 (Duke): 5/3 in 3 yrs
• James Keefe – 2006 (UCLA): 2/3 in 3 yrs

Another thing to remember is that while the McDonald’s game annually has many of the best players, it’s not the end-all.  Here’s a list of this year’s collegiate stars who never sniffed the grease, special sauce and Ronald’s creepy smile while still a prep star, yet turned out ok.

• Hasheem Thabeet – 2005 (UConn) – ranked #64
• Terrence Williams – 2005 (Louisville) – ranked #44
• Jerel McNeal – 2005 (Marquette) – ranked #57
• Jack McClinton – 2005 (Miami) – unranked
• Sam Young – 2005 (Pittsburgh) – ranked #58
• Luke Harangody – 2006 (Notre Dame) – ranked #83
• DeJuan Blair – 2006 (Pittsburgh) – ranked #40
• Stephen Curry – 2006 (Davidson) – unranked
• Jodie Meeks – 2006 (Kentucky) – ranked #57
• E’Twaun Moore – 2007 (Purdue) – ranked #23
• James Johnson – 2007 (Wake Forest) – ranked #43
• Patty Mills – 2007 (St. Mary’s) – unranked
• Jeff Teague – 2007 (Wake Forest) – ranked #58
• Isaiah Thomas – 2008 (Washington) – ranked #85

This bit of news came across our wire earlier this week, and we’re still shaking off the shivers it initially gave us. 

Mike Broghammer, a 6-foot-8, 220 pound senior forward from Minnetonka (MN) Hopkins, has committed to Notre Dame during his official visit this weekend. Broghammer is the nephew through marriage of Christian Laettner. Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey had recruited Laettner when he was an assistant at Duke.

WHEW.  Nephew through marriage.  THANK.  GOD.  That means there’s no shared plasma between them, so maybe we have a fighting chance that this kid won’t be another arrogant prick of a bastard like his uncle (although the above smirk has us a little concerned).  In fact, if we had to endure that bozo through fifteen years of Thanksgivings and family get-togethers, he might hate the SOB as much as the rest of us does.

And, no, we’re not letting it go.     

Memphis coach John Calipari got some great news recently when former Kansas recruit and New York Yankee minor leaguer CJ Henry decided to return to college at Memphis this upcoming season to play basketball.  From the Sporting News: 

C.J. Henry said Tuesday he is enrolling in classes at Memphis and will join the Tigers for the 2008-09 season. His contract states the Yankees will pay for his college, so he will be a walk-on for coach John Calipari at Memphis. It will be Henry’s first competitive basketball season in more than three years. He is 6-3 and was a successful high school player with big-time college ambitions before turning pro in baseball.

So why is news about a walk-on important? 

Come on, Coach Cal… Get Excited!! 

Well, because Henry’s brother is superstud class of 2009 recruit Xavier Henry, a 6’6, 210-lb shooting guard with deep range and the ability to aggressively finish at the rim (Rivals ranks him #3 currently).  In other words, the type of 1-and-done player who could orchestrate another deep run by John Calipari in the 2010 NCAA Tournament.  Guess who his final two schools are…

Kansas and Memphis. 

Somewhere John Calipari is toasting himself with a snifter of brandy in one hand and a cigar in the other. 

Check the kid’s lefty game…