The 2012 NBA Draft is scheduled for Thursday, June 28, in New York City. As we have done for the last several years, RTC’s team of writers (including Andrew Murawa, Kevin Doyle, Evan Jacoby, Matt Patton, and Danny Spewak) will provide comprehensive breakdowns of each of the 35 collegians most likely to hear his name called by David Stern in the first round on draft night. We’ll work backwards, starting with players who are projected near the end of the first round before getting into the lottery as June progresses. As an added bonus, we’ll also bring you a scouting take from NBADraft.net’s Aran Smith at the bottom of each player evaluation.

Note: Click here for all published 2012 NBA Draft profiles.

Player Name: Kevin Jones

School: West Virginia

Height/Weight: 6’8” / 250 lbs.

NBA Position: Power Forward / Small Forward

Projected Draft Range: End First Round / Early Second Round

Kevin Jones is a Fiery Competitor That Had a Great Career at West Virginia (Getty Images/J. McIsaac)

Overview: Kevin Jones enjoyed a decorated four-year career at West Virginia that included a run to the Final Four as a sophomore and ended with a phenomenal senior season in terms of productivity. This past year, Jones led the Big East in scoring (19.9 PPG) and rebounding (10.9 RPG) while shooting over 50% from the field and committing just 1.3 turnovers per game. He was one of the most productive forwards in the country and helped his draft stock tremendously. Jones remains a bit of a ‘tweener’ without a set position and is limited athletically in terms of explosiveness, but he has a strong upper body and an impressive wingspan (7’4”) that allows him to get easy buckets in the paint. Combine that with a relentless motor for loose balls and you’ve got a player willing to do all the dirty work on offense. He’s also expanded his range all the way to the three-point line and has gained confidence in the outside shot. Jones still has much work to do defensively, where he averaged just 1.0 blocks and 0.7 steals in 38 minutes per game, but his length and work ethic should allow him to hold his own at the next level on that end. Jones is the typical senior with limited ‘upside’ that will get him overlooked by some teams, but his tremendous productivity last season certainly opened eyes to his potential to be a contributor in the NBA.

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Evan Jacoby is a regular contributor for RTC. You can find him @evanjacoby on Twitter.

Sports fans worldwide recognize The Michigan ‘Fab Five’ team from 1992 and 1993 as one of the most talented and fascinating teams in college hoops history, but 20 years later, the Ann Arbor university wants no part of the infamy. The Fab Five comprised a starting lineup of all freshmen (before it was in vogue) and became famous in equal parts for its revolutionary style, brashness and incomprehensible talent.  Those two, along with four other Wolverines teams in the 90s, were erased from the NCAA history books thanks to admissions of players accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from recruiting booster Ed Martin. In addition, Michigan received a 10-year penalty from the NCAA requiring disassociation from the guilty players and teams, leading to the removal of the ’92 and ’93 Final Four banners from the Crisler Center. That ban will end in 2013, but the news from over the weekend is that the university doesn’t plan on doing anything about it. Despite an upswell of support, there are currently no plans to re-hang the Final Four banners or recognize anything from the Fab Five era, a decision that’s clearly irked the former players but one that makes a lot of sense from a publicity standpoint. The stance taken by UM upholds the school’s integrity, and it knows that all sports fans will regardless still remember the Fab Five.

The Fab Five Will be Remembered Forever, Even if Michigan's Crisler Center Says Otherwise (Detroit Free Press photo)

No vacation of wins, removal of banners, or lack of contact with former players is going to cause college basketball fans to forget about the Fab Five era. Even Wolverine recruits who were not yet born when Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, and company changed the college game in the fall of 1991 are aware of the Fab Five and its legacy. This is something that UM administrators fully understand and can take advantage of when handling the issue of historical recognition. Continuing to withhold association with the Fab Five teams on campus in Ann Arbor sends a strong message, and yet it will never erase the great memories from those teams in the eyes of fans worldwide. “What happened was not good, and I don’t think they’ll ever go back up. I don’t,” said Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman in reference to the vacated banners. And why should she feel any differently?

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1. Yesterday, long-time Pacific coach Bob Thomason announced that he would retire following the upcoming season. Those on the East Coast may not be familiar with Thomason’s work, but he has compiled a remarkable record during his time at Pacific. During his quarter century at the school Thomason led the school to four NCAA Tournament appearances while picking up 414 wins, a record for the Big West Conference. His career probably peaked with opening round wins in the 2004 and 2005 NCAA Tournament against Providence and Pittsburgh, respectively. We doubt that this will get much coverage during the season outside of possibly a brief mention on SportsCenter after his last game, but if you are watching Big West basketball next season take a moment to check out Thomason and his Pacific team.
2. Those who are weary of the dominance of a certain Worldwide Leader in college basketball will be pleased to hear that some of the regular season games previously televised on ESPN’s family of networks will now be on CBS Sports starting this coming season. After reaching an agreement with ESPN, CBS Sports will have the right to broadcast games from the ACC, Big 12, and Pac-12 with a total of 20 games growing to 26 games during the following seasons as well as the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship and the Missouri Valley Championship Game for the duration of the agreement (the duration of the agreement was not disclosed). Although ESPN still is the leader in college basketball coverage with its near monopoly on regular season coverage, CBS Sports in conjunction with Turner Sports is making a strong push in adding to its exclusive coverage of the NCAA Tournament. With these moves it will be interesting to see if CBS Sports is able to poach some of ESPN’s top analysts with the promise of more high-profile games.
3. Georgetown picked up a big commitment yesterday when junior small forward Stephen Domingo committed to play for the school in the 2013-14 season. Domingo, a top-30 recruit in the class of 2013 and an all-state player in California, chose Georgetown over a long list of schools that included offers from Arizona, UCLA, Stanford, Harvard, and Louisville. In the end, Domingo decided that the Hoya system provided him with the best opportunity to showcase his versatility and “develop into an outstanding basketball player and an outstanding young man”. Hoya fans are probably celebrating the addition now, but we should point out that there is a lot of time left before Domingo or any other player in his class can sign and a lot can change during that time so we wouldn’t go Sharpie on this one just yet.
4. The sudden departure of Terrell Stoglin left Maryland with a big hole in its backcourt heading into the upcoming season, but they may have found a reasonable replacement in the form of Albany tranfer Logan Aronhalt, who averaged 13.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game last season. Aronhalt, who will be able to play immediately for the Terrapins after graduating with a degree in December, will have to answer questions about his athleticism after multiple knee injuries and chronic pain caused him to see limited playing time at the end of Albany’s season (26 minutes in its final seven games). However, he can provide them with veteran leadership and savvy as they try to navigate a difficult stretch to begin the season on a roster laden with younger players and an injured starting point guard (Pe’Shon Howard). At the very least, he should be able to provide the younger players with a role model and ease their transition into the college game.
5. Syracuse fans waiting to get a look at their next coach (whenever Jim Boeheim decides to retire) will get a chance when Mike Hopkins acts as a co-coach of the USA Basketball Select Team that will play the US Olympic Team in its training camp. Hopkins along with former Toronto Raptors coach Jay Triano will coach a team that includes Kyrie Irving, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and several other well-known younger players against whatever team the US assembles for its defense of the Olympic gold medal in London. While Hopkins will not get to coach any of the players he recruited or coached at Syracuse, he will have a very interested onlooker from the other sideline in Senior National Team assistant coach Jim Boeheim.

The NBA Draft is scheduled for Thursday, June 28, in New York City. As we have done for the last several years, RTC’s team of writers (including Andrew Murawa, Kevin Doyle, Evan Jacoby, Matt Patton, and Danny Spewak) will provide comprehensive breakdowns of each of the 35 collegians most likely to hear his name called by David Stern in the first round on draft night. We’ll generally work backwards, so for the next week or two we’ll present you with players who are projected near the end of the first round, and we’ll work our way up into the lottery as June progresses. As an added bonus, we’ll also bring you a scouting take from NBADraft.net’s Aran Smith at the bottom of each player evaluation.

Note: Click here for all published 2012 NBA Draft profiles.

Player Name: Darius Miller

School: Kentucky

Height/Weight: 6’8”/235 lbs.

NBA Position: Small Forward

Projected Draft Range: Second Round

The "Senior Citizen" of the Wildcats Was an Integral Part of the Championship

Overview: Miller is one of those increasingly rare breeds: an NBA Draft prospect who has just finished up his senior season in college. In his four years in Lexington, Miller never approached the level of a go-to player (the 18.8% of possessions he used in his senior season was the highest of his career), but that may be one of his biggest strengths. Playing alongside NBA-level talent for four straight seasons, his proven unselfishness is one of his most positive attributes. He understood well what role head coach John Calipari wanted him to play and did his best to excel within that framework — he defended on the perimeter, knocked down open shots and took care of business. And, perhaps more than anything else, he won. In four years, his teams went 124-28 (with half of those losses coming as a freshman under Billy Gillispie), went to two Final Fours and won a national title. While he’s certainly not the first guy you think of when you remember the 2012 UK national championship team, his ability to embrace his role not only was a key component of his team’s success, but it will suit him well as he makes the transition to the NBA. His future at the professional level may look much like his recent past, as he will likely never be better than the fourth or fifth option on the floor at any given time, but if he can knock down open looks and hold his own on defense, he’s got a chance to stick.

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1. Over the past few weeks we had mentioned players transferring to new schools, but thanks to the NCAA requiring most players to sit out a year before being eligible to play most of those individuals will not be able to don their new uniforms any time soon. If you are looking for the new transfers who will be in uniform next season, Andy Glockner takes a look at the ten biggest impact transfers for next season. Most of these names will be familiar to college basketball fans, but we suspect that many of you may have forgotten about one or two of the m during their season waiting to be eligible.
2. Details on the night club fight involving a Cincinnati basketball player (or more than one) are sparse right now, but we have our first punishment as the school dismissed Octavius Ellis from its basketball team. Fortunately for Ellis that appears to be the extent of his punishment as the school also stated that no formal charges will be filed. It appears the school dodged a bullet on this one as any arrests would have been a big blow for a program that has dealt with behavioral issues well before the events of this past season’s Crosstown Shootout. In the end, they will lose Ellis, a solid, but undistinguished high school recruit and his on-court production was marginal at best (25 minutes all year after injuring his hand). Given the fact that his biggest moment as a Bearcat was his involvement in the Crosstown Shootout brawl resulting in a six-game suspension we do not think they will miss him too much.
3. We are not exactly sure why a report from last year is getting noticed now, but on Saturday The New York Times ran a piece on the 2010 College Racial and Gender Report Card and it appears to have generated some discussion despite the original analysis being published on March 3, 2011. The basic parts of the report (college basketball has more minorities working as head coaches than other sports, but having a declining percentage) are not particularly noteworthy especially since we already know about them. The part that may be more interesting is the numbers of African-American coaches in the SEC (7) versus the rest of the BCS conferences combined (11). It is possible that this is just a transient phase, but given the stereotypes applied to that part of the country by other regions it is cause for some interesting quotes by well-known individuals.
4. Looking forward to seeing what mid-major powers Creighton and Murray State can do next season against the BCS powers? You may be out of luck as the two schools are having difficulty finding opponents willing to play them during the upcoming season. For teams from major conferences there is relatively little benefit in playing these schools as they can already rack up quality wins against teams within their own conference and without the potential “embarrassment” of losing to a mid-major even if it is one of the better teams in the country. Throw in the nightmare of having to contend with a preseason All-American and you have a match-up that almost no opponent wants.
5. Many of our readers will have no idea who Bob Boozer was (no, he was not the father of former Duke star Carlos), but historians of the game will remember the former Kansas State star who was the #1 pick of the 1959 NBA Draft, a two-time 1st team All-American, and a member of the famous 1960 US Olympic team. Boozer passed away on Saturday following a brain aneurysm. Although his season-high points per game average of 25.2 points per game was topped by Michael Beasley in Beasley’s only season there you could make a very strong case for Boozer as the greatest Kansas State player of all-time. Not only did he achieve the individual accomplishments we listed above, but he also led the team to the 1958 Final Four and in 1959 led them to the #1 ranking in the final regular season poll before losing in the Elite Eight to Cincinnati and some guy named Oscar Robertson. It may be of interesting to fans that Boozer’s coach at the time was Tex Winter, who refined his Triple-Post Offense (later known as the Triangle Offense) at Kansas State before eventually passing it on to Phil Jackson who utilized it with a pair of accomplished guards–Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

The NBA Draft is scheduled for Thursday, June 28, in New York City. As we have done for the last several years, RTC’s team of writers (including Andrew Murawa, Kevin Doyle, Evan Jacoby, Matt Patton, and Danny Spewak) will provide comprehensive breakdowns of each of the 35 collegians most likely to hear his name called by David Stern in the first round on draft night. We’ll generally work backwards, so for the next week or two we’ll present you with players who are projected near the end of the first round, and we’ll work our way up into the lottery as June progresses. As an added bonus, we’ll also bring you a scouting take from NBADraft.net’s Aran Smith at the bottom of each player evaluation.

Note: Click here for all published 2012 NBA Draft profiles.

Player Name: Tyshawn Taylor

School: Kansas

Height/Weight: 6’3”, 185 pounds

NBA Position: Point guard

Projected Draft Range: Late First Round/Early Second Round

Tyshawn Taylor Enjoyed a Redemptive Senior Season at KU

Overview: After three years of inconsistent play, off-the-court issues, and a general lack of maturity, Tyshawn Taylor finally grew up as a senior. Racking up All-America and All-Big 12 accolades in the process, Taylor emerged as the unquestioned veteran leader of Kansas last season and helped a team with little depth reach the Final Four in New Orleans. Prior to his senior season, though, Taylor defined the word “enigma” in college basketball. Nobody ever doubted his physical talent or his playmaking abilities, but his attitude seemed questionable. He made headlines as a sophomore for his role in a fight with the football team, and Bill Self suspended him as a junior for unspecified violations of team rules. But Taylor left all of that negative press behind him as a senior. By the time the Jayhawks faced off with Kentucky in the title game, Taylor had cemented himself as one of the top point guards in college basketball. Fans could laugh at his alarming turnover rate all they wanted, but there was no denying this guy had a gift for taking games over and finding ways to get Thomas Robinson and the rest of the crew involved. Taylor left Lawrence with four outright Big 12 titles, three trips to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend, and a Final Four appearance. Not bad for a guy who once dislocated his thumb punching players on the football team.

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1. ESPN released its most recent class recruiting rankings yesterday. The top three is about what you would except for the fact that it is shocking to see Kentucky and John Calipari ranked anything, but #1 in any recruiting rankings. If Big Blue Nation is looking for an explanation for this blasphemy, the guys at ESPN have offered up an explanation for you. Other than that nothing really jumps out at us other than Duke coming in at #11 with just two commits in this year’s recruiting class.
2. In the latest chapter of the ongoing conference realignment drama, Old Dominion announced that it was leaving the Colonial Athletic Association for Conference USA starting with the 2013-14 season. The article on the school’s site briefly mentions it, but the real issue here is football as the school was looking to make a move to the Division I level and moving to Conference USA was the easiest way. For the CAA this is a huge blow coming on the heels of Virginia Commonwealth‘s defection and they may be forced to poach some teams from another conference to remain viable. However, as is often the case in these situations, the conference also has a way to get back at the school with some punitive measures and can ban Old Dominion from participating in future CAA championship events (like the conference basketball tournament).
3. When Delvon Roe announced before the start of last season that he was retiring due to degenerative knee pain to pursue a career in acting we suspected that he would find a measure of success in that new field, but we did not expect it to come so quickly and to such a high degree. Roe’s feature film debut in “Love and Honor” was shown at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday. Now we are not exactly film connoisseurs, but getting your movie shown at Cannes even if it is not as the leading actor in the film seems like a pretty big role. At least that’s the way it seemed in Entourage.
4. In one of the more bizarre administrative moves we have seen in a while Southern Methodist fired Steve Orcini as its athletic director just weeks after made one of the biggest coaching moves of the offseason by hiring Larry Brown to be its next head coach. The decision was reportedly based on continuing disagreements between Orcini and the school’s president. We are not sure what finally led to the decision being made, but it is not a good sign for Brown or the basketball program even though we doubt it was related to Brown or his hiring. If the program is not stable enough to keep its athletic director through a transition period like this, you have to figure there are some issues within the athletic department and the university itself. Of course, there is also the issue of the three years remaining on Orsini’s contract so the school has some things it needs to work out before it gets to dealing with its 71 year-old coach.
5. If you thought that the media circus surrounding the attempts of several schools the block transfers of players to others schools would lead to a change in the transfer rules, you may be disappointed. While almost all of the individuals associated with the NCAA and schools that were willing to go on record seem to support the idea of letting student-athletes move more freely it seems like making that a reality will be difficult for a number of reasons. Our feeling are basically mirrored by this comments in this article and although it is unfortunate we do not expect to see any movement on this topic in the next few years.

The NBA Draft is scheduled for Thursday, June 28, in New York City. As we have done for the last several years, RTC’s team of writers (including Andrew Murawa, Kevin Doyle, Evan Jacoby, Matt Patton, and Danny Spewak) will provide comprehensive breakdowns of each of the 35 collegians most likely to hear his name called by David Stern in the first round on draft night. We’ll generally work backwards, so for the next week or two we’ll present you with players who are projected near the end of the first round, and we’ll work our way up into the lottery as June progresses. As an added bonus, we’ll also bring you a scouting take from NBADraft.net’s Aran Smith at the bottom of each player evaluation.

Player Name:  Scott Machado 

School:  Iona

Height/Weight: 6’1 “, 180 lbs. 

NBA Position: Point Guard 

Projected Draft Range: Early to Mid-Second Round

Machado Was One of the Best Mid-Major Players in America Last Season (AP)

Overview:  If Kevin Willard has one regret in leaving Iona to take the head coaching job at Seton Hall, it is that he only had the opportunity to coach Scott Machado for two years. While Willard set the foundation for success at Iona and for Machado, his successor Tim Cluess enabled him to run rampant in his up-tempo offensive system. Predicated on a heady point guard who sees the floor exceptionally well, Machado flourished. Everyone remembers the monumental collapse Iona suffered against BYU in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament, but lest we forget the 15 points and 10 assists Machado also had against the Cougars. In his first true game on the national stage, Machado comported himself wonderfully. (Tim Cluess’ defensive coaching abilities? Not so much.) As a junior, Machado averaged 7.6 APG — nearly doubling his total from his sophomore season — and then as a senior he led the nation in assists with 10 per game. For his first three seasons, Machado was seen primarily as a solid distributor with inconsistent scoring ability. Although he averaged 12.5 and 13.2 PPG in his sophomore and junior years, respectively, his shooting percentages hovered right around 40% from the floor and 30% from beyond the arc. The strides Machado made with his shot during his senior year — 50% from the field, 40% from three, and 81% from the stripe — will no doubt pay dividends come draft day. More than anything, Machado is seemingly always in total control on offense and when handling the basketball. Poor decisions and ill-advised shots are rare occurrences, and when judging a point guard, these are two of the best attributes one can possess. Machado will carry on the tradition of strong point guards to come out of New York City — Queens, specifically — and the first to hail from Iona since Steve Burtt, Sr.

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Who’s Got Next? is a weekly column by Josh Paunil, the RTC recruiting guru. We encourage you to check out his website dedicated solely to college basketball recruiting, National Recruiting Spotlight, for more detailed recruiting information. Once a week he will bring you an overview of what’s going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to who the hot prospects are at the lower levels of the sport. If you have any suggestions as to areas we are missing or different things you would like to see, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Lead Story: Amile Jefferson, Top Unsigned Prospect Left, Commits To Duke

Amile Jefferson Committed To Duke over Kentucky, Ohio State, N.C. State And Villanova. (ESPN)

Blue Devils Add A Second McDonald’s All-American. It has been a long time coming, but Class of 2012 power forward Amile Jefferson finally committed Tuesday when he chose Duke over Kentucky, Ohio State, NC State and Villanova. The Philadelphia native joins fellow McDonald’s All-American shooting guard Rasheed Sulaimon as the only two commits for Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski in the Class of 2012. The 6’9″, 197-pound big man has had a long, drawn-out recruitment and has had more timetables than Class of 2012 power forward Tony Parker had speakers at his hour-long commitment ceremony when he chose UCLA. However, you can’t completely blame the two-time Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year since Duke chased after him throughout his sophomore year then cooled down to recruit other big men and then decided on turning their attention back to Jefferson after missing out on higher-ranked targets during the early signing period. Now that he’s finally a Blue Devil, Jefferson is a huge get for two reasons. Not only is he a quality player who can give Duke solid minutes next year and then become a major contributor after that, but he was the best option to try to fill their need of a big man. Jefferson is a versatile forward who has a great combination of athleticism, length and quickness but he can also rebound well. He will definitely have to add strength once he gets to Durham but he’s a very good pick-up for Coach K this late in the process.

What They’re Saying

• Senior star Anthony Bennett on choosing UNLV: “I felt a great relationship with the coaches. I went to a lot of games at UNLV and it felt like a second home. The fans at UNLV came to a lot of my games. They’re very passionate about their Rebels and they’ve been very supportive to me.” Read the rest of this entry »

The 2013 NCAA Tournament will be a milestone, marking the 75^th all-time ‘Big Dance’ since Oregon won the first one in 1939. A lot has changed over the years, and it’s much harder to win the Tournament in its current 68-team format than it was for the Ducks in a total field of just eight schools then. In “a concerted effort to include cities with a rich history to help mark the milestone,” according to the new VP of NCAA Championships, Mark Lewis, the committee selected Washington, D.C. as the final host of the 2013 Regionals. The nation’s capital joins previously selected Los Angeles, Indianapolis, and Arlington, Texas, as the four regional locations, with Atlanta hosting next year’s Final Four. The Verizon Center in DC has played host to several classic tournament games in recent history, and the NCAA hopes to recreate that magic next year.

George Mason Provided Fireworks in Washington, D.C. in 2006 (Washington Post)

“In the end, we think celebrating 75 years of one of the country’s favorite sporting events in our nation’s capital and a great basketball city is fitting,” said Lewis, whose committee’s decision came down to Syracuse, Brooklyn, Madison Square Garden (Manhattan), and the District of Columbia. It would have seemed fitting for MSG, the “World’s Most Famous Arena,” to have won on this criteria of rich history, but the arena faced scheduling conflicts with its priority tenants, the Knicks (NBA) and Rangers (NHL). The Verizon Center, while not nearly as historic a venue, is a more frequently-used arena for college games, serving as the primary home court for Georgetown and hosting a number of other games such as the BB&T Classic. The Hoyas will be the official host of this site and as such will be unable to play in that venue during next season’s Tourney.

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