Are you looking to be coached by John Calipari, the man who helped develop #1 picks Derrick Rose, John Wall, and Anthony Davis? If you have $7,500, you may be in luck because that is the price that to attend Calipari’s fantasy basketball camp. Of course, if you have a Citi credit card, it is “only” $6,000 thanks to a $1,500 discount. The camp (or “Experience”) is held at Rupp Arena from September 13-16 and is limited to 80 individuals. There are also a couple of variations including one that gives you more access to Calipari and his staff as well as another option where you get to act as an assistant coach. As some people have noted, this is a relative bargain compared to the $10,000 it costs to attend a similar camp with Mike Krzyzewski.
There are always a lot of names thrown around when coaching jobs open up, but one name that we have never heard mentioned and is intriguing at least for the name recognition it would bring a program is Christian Laettner. The former Duke star, who last we heard was dealing with ongoing legal issues, worked last season as an assistant coach for an NBDL, but is looking to move to the NBA or potentially the right Division I program. With Laettner’s name and pedigree it would not be surprising to see him on a college sideline, but it is interesting that they did not include a single quote from a former player or coach talking about his ability to coach. This could just be an oversight by the writer or it could be something more.
Yesterday, we brought you Drew Cannon’s attempt to re-rank the top 100 recruits in the class of 2011. He followed that up by looking outside of the top 100 recruits to see which players made very big moves as freshmen last year. Most of you probably are not that familiar with some of the guys on this list as even though they outperformed what was expected of them coming into the season the expectations were pretty low so they may not have even registered on your radar. Like we said yesterday, have fun with these recruiting rankings, but remember that a lot can change in a year particularly with the change in environment as many of these guys move away from home for the first time.
If you are trying to transfer to a new school it is generally a good idea to avoid generating any controversy in order to avoid scaring off other teams. Apparently this was not a lesson that Donte Morales while he was at UNC-Wilmington. The rising junior, who is attempting to transfer, was arrested on felony drug charges yesterday morning. Morales averaged 7.2 points per game last year and can probably contribute somewhere, but charges like one for intent to sell marijuana will not have coaches beating down his door to get him to come to their campus. The details on the case are still sparse, but there is a decent chance that Morales may be sitting out at least part of his one year waiting period in prison.
Father-son combinations are not unusual in college basketball as you saw in the recent transfer case of Central Michigan, but they usually involve two highly accomplished individuals. The latest situation, which may occur at Kansas, appears to be a little more lopsided as Tyler Self, the son of head coach Bill Self, has decided to walk-on at Kansas to play for his father. Tyler, who averaged 3.9 points and 1.3 rebounds per game for his 7-14 high school team last season, recently told his parents of his plan and although the article does not come out and say it explicitly we would expect to see him on the roster next season unless Bill wants to sleep on the couch.
Michael Litos is the RTC correspondent for the CAA. You can also find his musings online at caahoops.com or on Twitter @caahoops.
Reader’s Take
The Week That Was
Welcome Back, Kotter: Several players who will see significant playing time are now eligible—their dreams are their ticket in. Of note, Devon Moore is back running Matt Brady’s Bunch. The star point guard and preseason second team All-CAA pick made an immediate impact in his 33-minute opening act. Old Dominion has received much-needed help and solid play from both Clemson transfer Donte Hill and freshman Richard Ross. The duo has Blaine Taylor pondering a smaller lineup. And last night George Mason welcomed back Andre Cornelius from suspension. Cornelius is one of the best defenders in the conference and a lights-out (but streaky) shooter.
The Dukes of Hazzard: They’re just two good ol’ boys who don’t mean harm, and were not selected as one of the CAAs top ten players in preseason voting. But James Madison’s Humpty Hitchens and Delaware’s Jamelle Hagins have been the best two players in the Association this year. Hagins has dominated the lane. He is eighth in the CAA in scoring (14.6 PPG), first in rebounding (11.5 RPG), second in field goal percentage (60.9%), 10th in free throw percentage (76.7%), and second in blocked shots (2.5 BPG). Meanwhile, Hitchens has been an inspiring player in Moore’s absence. The numbers are impressive, too–17.0 points per contest, a conference leading five helpers, he ranks fifth in steals, second in three-pointers made and percentage and is second in assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Facts of Life: VCU senior Bradford Burgess and James Madison senior Julius Wells have each taken the good and taken the bad, and in their fourth seasons carry impressive streaks.Burgesshas made 121 consecutive starts, the longest active streak in Division I basketball and tied for the most all-time at VCU. Wells hasn’t had a bad career himself. He’s started 108 straight games, second on the Dukes’ career list.
Andre Cornelius' Return Couldn't Come At A Better Time
Power Rankings
VCU (8-3): The Rams are simply devastating opponents with their defense. In the past three games, VCU has outscored opponents 92-21 in points off turnovers. After a 14-steal night in their Tuesday win over UAB, the Rams now lead the country in opponent’s turnover rate at 29.1% and are second in steal percentage (16.0%).
George Mason (7-4): One up, one down. On the night the Patriots got hyper-quick point guard Andre Cornelius back from suspension, they announced reserve big man Paris Bennett was being suspended for two games. You can bet Paul Hewitt is ready for the start of conference season. The Duquesne game represented the end of an 11-day layoff for Mason, and it didn’t go well. Old problems surfaced even with Cornelius’s 11 points. They didn’t defend on inbounds plays and in open court, and were outplayed by Duquesne in an 11-point home loss. It broke an 18-game home winning streak. Read the rest of this entry »
