Posted by jstevrtc on June 7th, 2011
- Amir Garrett has a wonderful decision to make. What would you do if you possessed the sort of basketball skills that allowed you to make recruiters’ top 100 lists and eventually play for a school like St. John’s…but basketball wasn’t even your best sport? Garrett also has a fastball that registers in the mid-to-high 90 MPH range despite playing at a prep school that doesn’t have a baseball team. And he’s a lefty. Which way’s he leaning? SI.com’s venerable (even though he’s young) Luke Winn has all the info you need.
- Speaking of tough decisions…Cole Finnegan is a 16-year old Golden, Colorado youngster who plays on his high school’s golf and basketball teams. On Friday he was playing in a tournament at a local course and hit a hole-in-one, which won him a new Subaru Legend, a car that carries a $23,000 price tag. Sounds like a dream for any American kid of driving age, eh? So why is the car still at the dealership? It seems Cole has dreams of a basketball scholarship, and if he takes the car, he might give up his amateur standing and be ruled ineligible by the NCAA. The Colorado High School Activities Association (analagous to the NCAA, as you likely surmised) says he can play high school sports because it considers his ace an act more representative of luck rather than skill. The Finnegans now await word from the NCAA.
- The World University Games will be held in Shenzhen, China in late August and Pittsburgh’s Ashton Gibbs has been invited to try out for the USA squad. This is not just notable because any team would do well to equip itself thusly, but it means Gibbs could find a mate for his first gold medal. He won that one two years ago on the USA U19 team that went 9-0 at the FIBA World Championships in New Zealand. Supposed to be a fun town, Shenzhen…right by Hong Kong…wonder who we have to call for credentials?
- Before we read Mike DeCourcy’s article about new Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers, we had no idea about what made the former Boston U. man decide to get into coaching full-time. Seriously? Someone ramming shards of glass into his neck? That would certainly make us take stock of our lives. Remember, Chambers took BU to a CBI and an NCAA appearance in his only two seasons there, so who knows? If he wins sooner than expected, he’ll put himself on the list of “next big thing” candidates which has maybe two members right now, and he’ll make AD Tim Curley look like a freakin’ genius.
- We’re certain Purdue fans everywhere saw this on Monday, but we’re going to post a copy of it here anyway. We are always glad to hear anything positive that happens in Robbie Hummel’s world. To the superstitious out there: if something bad happens — it just can’t, right? — we’re taking no calls…
| morning 5, Regular Features
| Tagged: amir garrett, ashton gibbs, cole finnegan, patrick chambers, penn state, pittsburgh, purdue, robbie hummel, st johns, world university games
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