CBSSports.com: Gary Parrish thinks this year’s North Carolina team is Roy Williams’ best ever. Parrish notes that in 2004-05 Williams had one second team All-American (Sean May) and one third team All-American (Raymond Felton); in 2008-09 he had one first team All-American (Tyler Hansbrough) and one second team All-American (Ty Lawson); this year Parrish projects Harrison Barnes as a first team All-American with John Henson and Kendall Marshall coming in on the second team. While all are valid points, Hansbrough may be the best college player of the last decade, and Lawson probably deserved to make the first team until the original toe-pocalypse. Barnes is a great player with far more upside than Hansbrough, but he hasn’t shown nearly the impact at the college level; and Lawson is like Marshall on rocket fuel. That said this is all just speculation until we see the 2011-12 Tar Heels take the court next month.
Whitey 365 – Charlottesville Daily Progress: Virginia beat reporter Whitey Read was reminded of the Cavaliers’ big time choke against Miami in the ACC Tournament earlier this year Sunday night while watching Tony Romo and the Cowboys cough up their game against the Detroit Lions. For those who may not remember, the Cavaliers managed to lose a ten point lead in only 42 seconds!
Atlanta Journal Constitution: Mike Krzyzewski has his nose to the grindstone recruiting Atlanta native Tony Parker, showing up to meet the senior after he returned from his official visit to UCLA. Parker is a 6’9″ power forward that Krzyzewski has been recruiting since the ninth grade. As to his relationship with Coach K, Parker said, “We just talk about life and things like that. We’ve developed a pretty good friendship.” That sounds like good news for the Blue Devils, who certainly could use some more bulk up front.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: While Pittsburgh isn’t officially a member of the ACC until 2014 (though I suspect the Panthers will work out a deal with the Big East to move that date up a year or two), the Post-Gazette‘s Ray Fittipaldo talked about the potential advantage Pitt and Syracuse should expect in Olympic sports like women’s soccer and baseball by talking with coaches at recent Big East emigrant Boston College.
Star News Online: More to come on this later today, but Brett Friedlander looks at the ACC players who made the preseason Wooden Award watch list, noting Duke freshman Austin Rivers, Maryland sophomore Terrell Stoglin, NC State sophomore CJ Leslie and Virginia senior Mike Scott as players who may play their way onto the list as the season progresses.
Some afternoons, we’re going to do our best to point you to the developing stories and thoughtful writing from all over the ACC that has turned up during the course of the day. So without further ado, here’s your Afternoon Delight.
Barnes And Three Teammates Set Wooden Award Record
Four players from North Carolina have been named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list. Harrison Barnes, John Henson, Kendall Marshall and Tyler Zeller all made the cut for consideration of the most prestigious individual award in college basketball. Four guys picked from one school is the record in the history of the list, which is impressive for UNC, but less impressive for the rest of the conference; outside of the Carolina four, not a single other ACC player was tabbed. Who do you think should have made the cut? Matt’s got some thoughts that he’d like to share with you tomorrow.
Jeff Borzello, of course, has the recruiting scoop for this weekend. While NC State had the big score landing Rodney Purvis, Wake Forest took an important step forward after last year’s disastrous season by landing 6’6″ small forward, Arnaud Adala-Moto. Likewise, North Carolina finally closed the deal on the big 6’10” Joel James. Both are nice gets, but Adala-Moto’s recruitment is an incredible sign for the Wake Forest faithful that Jeff Bzdelik might just be able to turn this thing around.
Zach Hayes is an editor, contributor and bracketologist for Rush the Court.
The most anticipated season in North Carolina basketball history is approaching.
More than those Frank McGuire-coached teams in the 1950s. More than any of the best from the storied Dean Smith era, including the unforgettable Jordan/Perkins/Worthy triumvirate. Even more than when Roy Williams couldn’t resist the call of his alma mater or when Tyler Hansbrough returned for another go-round with Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington.
When two lottery picks join forces with two other first-round picks, a foundation of complementary pieces and a typically loaded recruiting class, unadulterated glee in Chapel Hill seems rather appropriate.
Navigating an unimpressive ACC this season, a far cry from its heyday as the premiere basketball league in America, renders the trek significantly less treacherous. Although he couldn’t have foreseen Harrison Barnes remaining in college more than one season, Williams knew 2011-12 would be special and challenged his team adequately in the non-conference.
John Henson’s game has grown dramatically the last two seasons
Team Outlook: Last November, it was arch-rival Duke topping the preseason rankings with Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith as seniors. One year later, the Tar Heels take their turn. Carolina’s journey from NIT to Elite Eight was aided markedly by the freshman duo of Barnes/Kendall Marshall plus the development and maturation of John Henson and Tyler Zeller. Carolina returns their entire starting lineup of Marshall, Strickland, Barnes, Zeller and Henson, adds two potential impact rookies in James McAdoo and P.J. Hairston and features enviable depth off the bench. The lesson here: rebuilding projects at renowned power programs don’t last very long. A third national title for Williams next April doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
Non-Conference Schedule Rank: 8. Only five non-conference contests away from Chapel Hill, but three of the five will pose sizable challenges for the Tar Heels. The season-opening bash on an aircraft carrier in San Diego pits Carolina against a Michigan State team that, contrary to last season, we may be seriously underestimating. Tom Izzo will rely heavily on the versatile Draymond Green, rising star Keith Appling and Valparaiso transfer Brandon Wood. A Las Vegas tournament is also on the docket with a likely win vs. South Carolina preceding a possible final against UNLV in a true road game. The Rebels are pegged by most as the second-best team in the Mountain West under new coach Dave Rice behind their guard duo of Oscar Bellfield and Anthony Marshall. UNC draws rebuilding Texas and Jordan Taylor’s Wisconsin Badgers to the Dean Dome. We’d be surprised if Carolina stumbled once at home this season. Of course, the December 3 showdown with Kentucky in Lexington is the highlight of Carolina’s schedule and could be the most anticipated non-conference game in recent memory.
Cupcake City: Don’t think Williams skipped out on the buy games just because of their lofty status. Carolina faces off with UNC-Asheville, Mississippi Valley State and Tennessee State prior to their Las Vegas trip and are granted a long reprieve after the Wisconsin/Kentucky back-to-back with nine consecutive home games December 6 to January 10. Texas and two ACC duels with Boston College and Miami are mixed in with a number of cupcakes, including Nicholls State, Elon and Monmouth.
Toughest Early Season Test: Prepare yourself, North Carolina vs. Kentucky is going to receive an unprecedented amount of hype for a game in early December. That was made possible when Terrence Jones and Harrison Barnes simultaneously stunned the college basketball world and returned for their sophomore seasons. Other important cogs fell into place, and the recruiting-savvy coaching staffs securing loaded freshmen classes only exacerbated the potential. We just don’t envision a trap for either school that would deny fans a #1 vs. #2 showdown at Rupp Arena. As many as six first-round picks will lace up the sneakers in this one.
The SEC is hungry and continues to feed. Texas A&M is a nice meal but won’t suffice, and this is not a good thing, according to Sporting News’ Mike DeCourcy. He asks the important and logical next question: who’s next? Not only does he list the schools most likely to be willingly absorbed by the SEC, he explains why each school should resist the temptation to allow that to happen. And if you think this is all about money, think again. There’s something more sinister fueling the current thinking behind conference realignment.
We think he’s still mad at one of our editors who recently decided to root for Liverpool in the EPL, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t give credit to SI.com’s Andy Glockner and his article yesterday listing five teams that are due for a run of improved luck in the upcoming season. These squads weren’t randomly selected; each one finished in the bottom 50 in men’s D1 basketball in Ken Pomeroy’s luck statistic. A couple of Big Ten teams made the list, but the team that intrigued us the most was an Atlantic 10 side that hasn’t seen the NCAA Tournament in 11 years.
Most of the time when we mention stories on former college basketball players, it’s a star who’s recently graduated/left the game who has done something altruistic with part of their big new paycheck, or dunked on someone in a summer league, or tweeted something stupid, and so on. Take a few minutes out of your day like we did — assuming you didn’t do so yesterday — to read the story by ESPN’s Dana O’Neil about a former Alcorn State player who found himself in the middle of the civil war in Libya and the unfathomable ordeal that became his attempt to get out of there. We can’t imagine the frustration that must seethe within a man who, when his government tells him, “You should make for the local airport,” gets to say something to the effect of, “Oh, really? Yeah, it’s burned down,” as AK-47s clatter a few hundred feet away.
With a recent front office changes that had to please him and a top recruit suddenly on the way for the approaching season — plus, he had been running things from the office over the summer and has certainly been out recruiting — pardon our lack of surprise about the big news out of Connecticut yesterday confirming Jim Calhoun is indeed going to return to coach the Huskies. Nothing’s changing. Everything’s the same. Wait just a moment, this just in from the RTC overseas services wire…yes, sources are confirming to our man on the ground in Spain that Generalissimo Francisco Franco — say it with us, everyone — is still dead.
Because of recent examples that lend support to the theory, we hear so much talk these days about the negatives of college sports, so often reading phrases like “cesspool of corruption” and “miasma of deceit” (both real) to describe intercollegiate athletics in our time. It’s therefore nice to hear, even just once, an example of a college athlete openly defying the seduction of riches, thereby denying the doomsayers and Debbie Downers another headline. In that spirit, we give you North Carolina’s Kendall Marshall, via Twitter yesterday:
Andrew Murawa is the RTC Pac-12 and Mountain West correspondent and a frequent columnist.
It’s that time of year again. Off in the distance, it could be a mirage, or it could be the start of college basketball season. It’s probably a mirage, but the Great Sports Desert (you know, that time of year between the end of the NBA Finals and the start of college football when normal American males actually have time to get stuff done) ends Thursday, as college football kicks off its 142nd season. And given the offseason that college football has had, it couldn’t come any sooner. Unfortunately, given all the scandals and arrests and the like, according to my source at the NCAA, it appears that literally every college football player will be ineligible for the coming year (at least I assume that is true – it’s not a very good source). As a result, football programs across this great nation have been scrambling for some last minute replacements. And, since we here at RTC are nothing if not diligent, we’ve spent the last few weeks scouring college football camps across the country while other lesser outlets have been reporting on things like a little scuffle in Baton Rouge and something-or-other about Miami (I’ll admit, I never got through that whole article, but I think I got the gist of it – Miami is a nice place to go to school, right?). Anyway, since we’re the only ones who seem to be on top of this sea change in college football, we’ll let you all in on some of our wisdom as we preview college basketball’s richer, more-spoiled sibling, with RTC’s official 2011 College Football All-American team.
Offense
High School Star Aaron Craft Will Fill In Nicely for Terrelle Pryor at OSU
QB:Aaron Craft (6’2″, 190 lbs), Ohio State: In light of the Buckeye football program’s recent troubles, new head coach Luke Stickell turns the reins over to the sophomore Craft. He’s not the quickest or fleetest of foot, but he is accurate, he’s tough and he’s a leader. There has been plenty of talk about the Heisman Trophy campaign of North Carolina’s Kendall Marshall, but until he takes better care of the ball (last year, he turned the ball over on almost 30% of all possessions), we’ll give the nod to Craft, who at least has the advantage of having played QB for three years in high school.
RB:Jordan Taylor (6’1″, 195 lbs), Wisconsin: The newest Badger tailback may not have the size of former greats like Ron Dayne and John Clay, but Taylor is a tough and smart runner who excels at finding a crease and finishing through contact.
With the the NBA Draft concluded and the annual coaching and transfer carousels nearing their ends, RTC is rolling out a new series, RTC Summer Updates, to give you a crash course on each Division I conference during the summer months. The latest update comes courtesy of our ACC correspondent, Matt Patton.
Reader’s Take
Summer Storylines
New Faces: That’s right, the ACC will be totally different conference this season. Only five of the fifteen players selected as to the all-conference teams will be running the floor this season, namely four of North Carolina’s five starters (with Miami’s Malcolm Grant keeping the group from being only Tar Heels). Somewhat surprisingly, all of the ACC all-freshman squad will be back in action. Duke’s Kyrie Irving was a prominent frosh, but he didn’t play a single conference game before leaving school and UNC’s Harrison Barnes opted to return for his sophomore campaign. Keep an eye on Wake Forest’s Travis McKie and Maryland’s Terrell Stoglin especially. Both should be the stars on their respective teams.
However, the strength of the conference will rely heavily on the incoming players and coaches. Duke, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Florida State all bring in consensus top 25 classes according to ESPN, Rivals and Scout. To make a long story short, the rich get richer. Duke’s Austin Rivers (ranked 1st by Rivals, 2nd by Scout and ESPNU) will be expected to contribute immediately, while North Carolina’s James McAdoo (8th by Rivals, 4th by Scout and 5th by ESPNU) and PJ Hairston (13th by Rivals, 20th by Scout and 12th by ESPNU) should be given ample time to find roles on an already stacked team.
Arguably more important, at least in the long term, are the new coaches: NC State welcomes Mark Gottfried, Miami welcomes JimLarranaga, Maryland welcomes Mark Turgeon, and Georgia Tech welcomes Brian Gregory to the conference. The only coach I think is a surefire “upgrade” is Larranaga, who comes with some disadvantages (namely, age). While Gottfried experienced some success at Alabama, the Crimson Tide isn’t known as a basketball powerhouse and he didn’t leave the school on great terms. I also don’t think it’s a great sign that Ryan Harrow left for the bluer pastures of Kentucky. Gregory, though, sticks out as the strangest hire of the four. He had a fairly nondescript tenure at Dayton with many Flyer fans happy to see him leave. I know a tight budget hamstrung by Paul Hewitt’s hefty buyout deal probably kept the Yellow Jackets from going after the sexiest candidates, but the choice still surprised me. Gregory’s biggest disadvantage is his ugly, grind-it-out style of play that will eventually make it difficult to attract top recruits and could possibly alienate the entire GT fanbase (see: Herb Sendek).
North Carolina Navigates Investigation Waters: Finally, it may not be basketball-related, but it’s impossible to mention this offseason without discussing North Carolina’s impending date with the NCAA Committee of Infractions. The story has dominated ACC sports news. To briefly sum things up, the Tar Heels had an assistant coach, John Blake, on the payroll of an agent. If that wasn’t enough, the NCAA investigation unveiled thousands (I’m not kidding) of dollars in unpaid parking tickets and even several cases of academic fraud. The university has come out very firmly saying these infractions only involved the football team** but the scandal has gained national notoriety. (**Author’s note: the one connection with the basketball team is that Greg Little was one of UNC’s ineligible football players. Little was also a walk-on for the basketball team during the 2007-08 season, playing in ten games. North Carolina has said that his infractions occurred after his year with the basketball team, so no win vacations are in the basketball team’s future.)
Somehow, despite academic fraud, ineligible benefits and an agent runner on staff, the Tar Heels failed to get the NCAA’s most serious “lack of institutional control” violation for what appeared to be nothing less thana lack of institutional control. Again, this scandal is confined to football, but it’s one of the many recent scandals that have come to light in big time college athletics in the last couple of years (Connecticut, USC, Ohio State, Oregon, etc). These scandals could force the NCAA to augment its rules somewhat, and even though they may not directly relate to basketball, they may have a very real impact of college sports as we know it over the next few years.
Freshman phenom Austin Rivers is ready for Duke, but how quickly will 2011's top high school point guard perform on the big stage? (Orlando Sentinel)
North Carolina’s Leslie McDonaldtore his right ACL in a summer league game on Thursday night and there’s fear he might miss the entirety of the 2011-12 season. The rising junior was seventh in minutes for last season’s Tar Heels and fifth in scoring (7.0 PPG), but second in made threes (51) and three-point percentage (38.1%). Despite McDonald’s obvious increased confidence and improved play last year, minutes at the guard position would have been tough to come by in the upcoming, with Dexter Strickland, Reggie Bullock, and Kendall Marshall comprising a formidable corps and P.J. Hairston en route. It is, nevertheless, a significant hit to the Heels’ depth in terms of both outside shooting and experience, though we’re not sure how much it moves the needle back toward Kentucky in terms of the pre-season #1.
Anthony Hubbard spent four years in the hoosegow after a 2003 home robbery, then worked hard to get his life back on the right track by graduating from high school and then becoming a junior college basketball star in Maryland. With two seasons of eligibility left, he was slated to start at Iowa next year, but that’s not going to happen. Hubbard, a 6’5 guard, has decided he wants to try to find a school closer to his home in Virginia, so he’ll leave Iowa without having ever donned the Hawkeye uniform. Can’t blame either side, here. If Hubbard thinks this is the best thing for his life on and off the court, then he’s right to go before the relationship went any farther. Given the time, effort, and faith Fran McCaffrey and his staff put into bringing Hubbard to Iowa, though, you can’t blame Iowa AD Gary Barta for admitting his and his staff’s disappointment (as he does in the story) while still wishing Hubbard the best.
“Ladies and gentlemen, your Rutgers University Scarlet Knights!…aka Ned Stevens Gutter Cleaning!!” Please allow yourself time to check out how the (Newark) Star-Ledger’sBrendan Prunty (a favorite of ours, by the way) ties those two entities together, but suffice to say that some players on next season’s Rutgers squad are enjoying some very valuable time together playing in the Jersey Shore summer league. Hey, it might not be one of those team trips to Europe or China, but it’s still two extra months to work on team chemistry both as players and as gentlemen, and that never hurts.
People who like math major in mathematics. Students who play the cello can be cello majors. Should college athletes, then, be allowed to major in their sport if they want? Seems like that idea hasn’t ever really been taken seriously, but we hear someone make the case for it every so often; this time, Arizona State’s StatePress.com steps up and gives it a shot. In their proposed paradigm, obviously athletes would have to take basic requirements just like students with non-athletic majors, and the author notes how, even for those players who don’t end up playing professionally in their chosen sport, there may still be several career options for which such a major could prepare them. We add the following question: does the bachelor’s have to be the terminal degree? It would be pretty fantastic to be the first person with a “ChD” — a Doctorate of College Hoops.
The college basketball story of the summer may have (unfortunately, as it happens) arrived. On Sunday, 60-year old David Salinas was found dead in Houston, apparently of suicide. Salinas founded a summer basketball program for local kids when he wasn’t acting as an “investment adviser.” CBS’ Gary Parrish and Jeff Goodman have reported that the suicide appears to be a result of the feds’ investigation of Salinas’ allegedly fraudulent business practices. The college basketball angle is that many coaches — we’re talking some big names, as you’ll read in the linked article — entrusted quite a bit of their money to Salinas, and his summer program may have helped funnel some recruits to certain schools represented by those coaches. The link between the players and the money hasn’t been firmly established as of yet, but you know the NCAA is watching this very closely. So are we, and we’ll have more up here as events warrant.
In one of the more ridiculous controversies that we can remember the NCAA has apparently notified Kentucky that it was unhappy with the school’s decision to honor John Calipari for winning his 500th game on February 26th after beating Florida. Calling the ceremony “troubling”, “extremely troubling”, and “very troubling” the NCAA asserted that because Calipari’s 1996 NCAA Tournament run with UMass and the entire 2007-2008 Memphis season were vacated he actually has 42 less wins than the school claims he has. The entire debate is sort of boring on its face, but you can be sure that Wildcat fans will use it as ammunition for their claims that the NCAA is out to get their program.
The announcement by NCAA President Mark Emmert that he would be convening a retreat for around 50 college presidents to discuss the current state of the intercollegiate athletics might not generate a lot of buzz right now, but you should definitely keep an eye on it because there is a chance we could have some monumental decisions come out of that meeting. Normally I think these type of retreats are useless and essentially function as a big tax write-off, but in light of some recent proposals (particularly the discussion by the Big Ten to pay some student-athletes) and some major scandals (first at USC and now at Ohio State) the stage is certainly set for the NCAA and the universities to make a stand. Given their track record they probably won’t, but now would be a great time to start.
Dana O’Neil published a piece over the weekend about the lives of NCAA assistant coaches and the sacrifices that they have to make while trying to climb up the coaching ladder. While most of the news about basketball coaches is about the huge contracts or the NCAA violations in reality most of them are working very hard for a lot smaller sums than many would expect even if we wouldn’t claim that they are struggling to survive. It is an interesting look at their day-to-day lives and is definitely worth a read.
One of the reporters from Scout caught up with UNC point guard Kendall Marshall at Chris Paul’s CP3 Elite Guard Camp and got a pretty good interview with the rising sophomore. Outside of the usual stuff (how long it took to get over the UK loss, wanting to win a title, etc) the thing that caught our eye was that Marshall claims that Harrison Barnes has shown the most improvement of any of the UNC players over the offseason. If that is true and Barnes can come close to being as good as he was hyped as being, the Tar Heels could be even more ridiculous than we expect them to being coming into the season.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the field and game times for its 2011 Tip-Off Tournament that will feature Kentucky, South Florida, Penn State, Old Dominion, Vermont, Long Island, Marist, and Radford. The Tournament features a pretty odd format that is built around a set of games on the weekend of November 19th-20th, but also features games during the week preceding and following that weekend. It all seems very complicated, but let us simplify it for you: Kentucky should crush all of these teams.
Who’s Got Next? is a bi-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. Twice 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 in the lower levels of the sport. If you have any suggestions as to areas we’re missing, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.
Introduction
The DeAndre Daniels saga is finally over. After committing and then de-committing and then setting up different decision dates and not following through on them, Daniels let everyone know where he will play college basketball. Where, you may ask? Well, that may be the most surprising thing that’s happened is his whole recruitment. Class of 2012 shooting guard Rodney Purvis (#7) also spoke out on a couple of his recent visits and many other top prospects talked about their new lists. And speaking of Purvis, why will he be attending the same camp as North Carolina star Harrison Barnes this weekend? You can find out that and more in this edition of Who’s Got Next?
What They’re Saying
You Have to Think Calhoun Will Be Back Now
Senior DeAndre Daniels on why he committed to Connecticut: “I chose UConn because I thought it was the best fit for me, just their style of play, and just how they develop their wing guys. And just how he makes his guys better.” On head coach Jim Calhoun possibly returning: “[Calhoun said] I don’t have to worry about him not being there. He said he’ll be there.”
Junior Archie Goodwin (#19) on his list and when he will commit: “Kentucky, Baylor, Arkansas, Memphis, Tennessee, UConn, Missouri along with a lot of others including Louisville and Georgia. I’m definitely going to [sign] later.”
Junior Devonta Pollard (#40) on his offers and what he’s looking for: “Mississippi State, Georgetown, Ole Miss, North Carolina State, LSU, Alabama and Kentucky… a place where I can go and be comfortable, where I can play and be successful.”
Junior Perry Ellis (#10) on who he’s considering: “I still am considering all six teams (Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Memphis, Oklahoma, and Wichita State), as well as Duke now.”
Sophomore Malcolm Hill on his Indiana visit and the schools who are recruiting him: “They have a nice campus, it’s a good environment and I saw that they have good study habits. I really like the practice facility a lot. The other schools that are looking at me are Ohio State, Xavier, UCLA, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Providence and Tennessee.”
Sophomore standout Isaiah Lewis on what he’s looking for in a school: “The fan base… academics, that’s an important part. I want to see where coaches play me. I really want to go to college playing point guard.”
Freshman shooting guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes on his list: “Arizona, North Carolina State, Texas, Oregon and a couple of other schools.”
What Rodney Purvis is Saying
Rodney Purvis talked a lot about recent visits. (Credit: HighSchoolHoop)
If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.
General News
DeAndre Daniels commits to UConn: “DeAndre Daniels, a four-star power forward from Woodland Hills, California has committed to play at UConn this fall.” (The UConn Blog)
Daniels: Calhoun told me he’ll be back: The star recruit reportedly signed with the Huskies after Jim Calhoun told him that he would be there to coach him. (The UConn Blog)
Rick Pitino press conference highlights: A handful of interesting points from the recent press conference. (Card Chronicle)
St. John’s recruit Amir Garrett drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 22nd round: Garrett faces a difficult decision on which path to pursue. (Rumble in the Garden)
Jordan Williams Speaks on Decision to Enter NBA Draft: Some interesting quotes from the former Terrapin. (Testudo Times)
UCLA Basketball Hires New Assistant Coach: “UCLA Basketball Coach Ben Howland rounded out his coaching staff today with the hire of Korey McCray.” (Bruins Nation)
Scoop Jardine Headed To 2011 USA Basketball Men’s World University Games Tryouts: The rising senior guard will be attempting to make the team after being cut last season. (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician)
