1. The beginning of the regular season is 11 days away, so that means exhibition season is starting to heat up. Oregon takes the court tonight against Concordia, a game that was originally scheduled for November 1 before the Pac-12 Media Day was announced for that day (all coaches have to attend Media Day, so the game was pushed up three days). While E.J. Singler will reportedly miss the game with tendinitis in his knees, the exhibition will be a good opportunity for Dana Altman and staff to see how the eight newcomers (or seven, with Arsalan Kazemi’s status for this season still up in the air as he hopes to be granted a hardship waiver) look in game action. The one most likely to make the biggest impact is Dominic Artis, a four-star recruit out of famed Findlay Prep. Although Jonathan Loyd is still on campus, Artis has the tools to be the next in line of dynamic smaller guards for the Ducks, following in the footsteps of Aaron Brooks and Tajuan Porter. In somewhat related exhibition news, Western Washington lost an exhibition at Duke by a score of 105-87. Remember, the defending Division II national champion Vikings made Washington sweat out an 88-78 decision in favor of the Huskies after the game was tied three times in the final 10 minutes. Not that the transitive property is ever accurate in sports, but if Washington won beat Western Washington by 10 and Duke won by 18… Also, the Blue Devils’ victory was much more of a rout, as the game was never closer than 11 points in the second half.
2. After supposedly being suspended for academic reasons for the 2012-13 season, former USC Trojan Maurice Jones declared his intentions to transfer. Well, the diminutive guard has made his decision, announcing that he will be taking his talents to Ames to play for Fred Hoiberg’s Iowa State Cyclones. According to the Ames Tribune, Jones will enroll at Iowa State for the spring semester and can suit up to play in a game for the Cyclones at the conclusion of the fall 2013 semester, which will be somewhere around mid-December, as a junior. Jones figures to be the second straight transfer to run point for the Cyclones, as former Michigan State Spartan Korie Lucious will quarterback the offense for his last year of eligibility in 2012-13. What is perhaps most interesting from the article, however, is that Jones claims he was not academically ineligible for the upcoming season, rather saying he was suspended from USC for a year for a matter unrelated to his grades. Since neither Jones nor the USC sports information department will comment on the real reason for his suspension at USC, it makes one wonder what actually happened there.
3. Late last week, the NCAA released its annual report of graduation rates for all sports (you’ll have to fill in the appropriate drop-down menus to see the report on Pac-12 men’s basketball), and Stanford led the Pac-12 with a graduation success rate (GSR) of 91 percent, followed by Oregon (85 percent) and the Washington schools (both at 78 percent). Bringing up the rear was USC, which checked in with a GSR of 43 percent. Nothing too shocking from this report, as Stanford usually finds itself at or near the top of the conference list in GSR, but it was a pleasant surprise to see Oregon tie the Cardinal for the best federal graduation rate (90 percent) in the Pac-12. On the glass-half-empty side of things, it’s disconcerting to see California, a school with a great academic reputation, not duplicating that educational success with its athletes. The Golden Bears are tied for 10th with Oregon State with a GSR of 50 percent. With the figures based on entering classes from 2002 through 2005, this academic mediocrity largely didn’t happen under Mike Montgomery’s watch, so there is certainly potential for that percentage to shoot up over the next couple of years.
4. Also a little bit of old news, but the preseason AP Top 25 Poll came out just after the Friday M5, and, like the USA Today Coaches Poll, it features two Pac-12 teams: Arizona at No. 12 (the Wildcats are ranked 11^th in the USA Today Coaches Poll) and UCLA at No. 13. The “others receiving votes” list was a little less kind to the Pac-12, as Stanford only received two points, down from seven in the USA Today poll. With the conference coming off such a down year, having two teams ranked in the middle of both top 25 polls is as good as it was going to get for the Pac-12, but Stanford, Cal, Colorado, USC, and maybe even Washington might have a legitimate shot to get into the rankings at some point this year. And, if everything goes according to planned and all NCAA hurdles are cleared, the Pac-12’s two ranked teams just might be making a push for Atlanta in the spring.
5. Lastly, UCLA unveiled its new statue of John Wooden in front of the new and improved Pauley Pavilion last Friday. The bronze statue of Wooden stands eight feet tall and weighs 400 pounds. As our Andrew Murawa wrote leading up to the statue unveiling, this should be a time to celebrate UCLA basketball with the renovation of Pauley Pavilion and a star-studded recruiting class coming to campus, even if two of the biggest pieces of that class still are not cleared by the NCAA. From a conference perspective, a strong and healthy UCLA only helps the Pac-12 and its perception around the country, making that Legends Classic in Brooklyn (where UCLA will face Georgetown and possibly preseason top-ranked Indiana) all the more important.

In what is starting to become a trend on Rush The Court, we have another response to a CBS Sports preseason list. Yesterday, CBS Sports released its ranking of the top 50 wings in the country, which revealed five guys from the Pac-12: Shabazz Muhammad as the top-ranked wing, Allen Crabbe at No. 16, Solomon Hill at No. 21 (personally, I’d flop Crabbe and Hill, but that’s neither here nor there; both are very good), J.T. Terrell at No. 31, and C.J. Wilcox at No. 46. This post isn’t to argue the credibility of their choices — they look pretty sound to me — but rather to state the case for why one Pac-12 wing in particular may be on a similar list next year; that player being Stanford’s Anthony Brown.

Anthony Brown has a chance to be a premier wing in the conference and garner some national attention. (credit: CSN Bay Area)

After a decent freshman season where he garnered Pac-10 All-Freshman Team honors, Brown experienced a slight production dip in a disappointing sophomore campaign of about a half of a point per game and two percentage points in field goal percentage. While there were some factors that led to these results — nagging injuries and struggling at times to find consistent minutes in a rotation that sometimes expanded to 11 men — the bottom line is that Brown didn’t progress at the rate that many thought the No. 41 overall recruit in the Class of 2010 would.

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Who’s Got Next? is a weekly column by Chad Lykins, the RTC recruiting guru. 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 discussing the recruitments of the top uncommitted players in the country. We also encourage you to check out his contributions dedicated solely to Duke Basketball at Duke Hoop Blog. You can also follow Chad at his Twitter account @CLykinsBlog for up-to-date breaking news from the high school and college hoops scene. 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.

Scott Drew Hauls in Wainright

After making an official visit to the Baylor campus for their “Midnight Madness” festivities nearly two weeks ago, small forward prospect Ishmail Wainright made it official last Thursday evening by verbally committing to the Bears. Wainright, the No. 26 ranked prospect in the ESPN 100, picked Baylor over Ohio State, St. John’s and Texas.

Scott Drew Continues to Pile Up the Top Recruits at Baylor

A Missouri native, the 6’6″ Wainright was formerly a Missouri commitment back in May 2011. At the conclusion of that summer, he decided to reopen his recruitment after a successful AAU campaign. As Wainright began the recruiting process all over again, over 30 of the top schools in the country reached out to the Missouri small forward. With his recent commitment to Baylor, Wainright will join power forward Jonathan Motley as the only two commitments for the Bears from the class of 2013.

When describing Wainright’s overall game, he is a tremendous athlete and one of the most physically imposing small forwards at the high school level. On the offensive end, Wainright does most of his damage scoring around the rim, either in transition or driving to the basket when creating for himself off the bounce. He is also a great passer with even better court vision. He has a knack for making the right play at the right time when creating opportunities for his teammates to make plays. A glaring weakness of his offensive game, however, has been his shooting. Prior to the summer, Wainright was not a good shooter. Most defenses took note of that fact by playing him loosely, forcing him into taking shots from the outside. As exhibited during the early recruiting period in the summer, though, Wainright showed an ever improving jump shot. To round out his game, Wainright needs to make it a point to continue working on his shooting touch before ending up on the Baylor campus. On the defensive end, Wainright is as good as they come. With great length, strength and athleticism, Wainright is arguably one of the best defenders from the class of 2013. He can guard multiple positions on the floor in part due to his great frame. He is a nightmare for the opposition and will continue to be well into his college career.

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1. We’re still three weeks out from actual basketball games taking place, but more and more it is starting to feel like this is just not going to be UCLA’s year. Aside from the NCAA investigations into recruits Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson, the cheap accusations of cheating by certain unnamed media outlets, and the legitimate questions about how some of these pieces fit together, the Bruins are also starting to see some injuries accrue. The newest Bruin laid up is junior forward David Wear, who sprained his right ankle in a practice yesterday, joining junior guard Tyler Lamb (arthroscopic knee surgery) in the infirmary. Of course, the glass-half-full view of this situation could be that it is much better to have these types of things happen now than in February or March. As it is, a simple sprained ankle could just mean a bit of a rest for Wear until the seasons kicks off on November 9.
2. It didn’t take long for the newest Cougar, Oregon-transfer Brett Kingma, to pick up on how things are done in the Washington State basketball program; early Saturday morning, the sophomore guard was arrested by Pullman police for marijuana possession and “minor exhibiting the effects of having consumed alcohol in a public place” – an oddly specific and yet still confusing charge. Now, we understand there isn’t always a whole lot to do in Pullman, but the marijuana busts for WSU’s basketball program are getting ridiculous. In recent years, off the top of my head, Klay Thompson, Reggie Moore and DeAngelo Casto have all been busted for pot. There are two ways for Cougar head coach Ken Bone to deal with this: (1) mostly ignore, offer an obligatory slap on the wrist and pray that Initiative 502 passes, or (2) make an example of Kingma by kicking him off the team. I’m certainly not saying the second option is necessarily the best approach, after all, really what is this arrest about – a college kid was walking home drunk after a Friday night partying and happened to have some dope on him. Stop the presses, right? But the fact of the matter is, this constantly happening in Bone’s program is becoming a black eye.
3. Arizona unveiled the 2012-13 version of its basketball team to its fans on Sunday afternoon with their annual Red-Blue game. Prior to an intrasquad scrimmage, the school honored its 1988 Final Four team and members of the current team got to meet and learn from previous Wildcat greats like Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr and Jud Buechler. The game itself was less of a no-defense All-Star game than a hard-fought scrimmage, but Nick Johnson (who our own Parker Baruh nominated as the Pac-12’s breakout player) got hot, hitting four threes and finishing with 20 points to lead all scorers while also chipping in four assists. New Wildcat point guard Mark Lyons also added four assists, while senior wing Kevin Parrom added four three-pointers of his own. Arizona Desert Swarm has some video highlights of the game and the surrounding festivities. But perhaps the biggest part of the day was UA hosting at least eight recruits, including Aaron Gordon, whom Sean Miller (and other coaches around the country) seriously covet. Given that the 2011 version of the Red-Blue game helped the ‘Cats land Kaleb Tarczewski, the game is becoming a way of tying the great history of the program to its bright future.
4. Arizona wasn’t the only school holding events for their fans this weekend. Stanford held its Friday Frenzy event on, when else, Friday evening, featuring its annual Cardinal-White scrimmage, a dunk contest, and various other events. Oddly enough, the winner of the dunk contest wasn’t even a member of the basketball team, as senior All-American high jumper Jules Sharpe took home the title, edging out junior forward Josh Huestis. As for the scrimmage, junior forward Dwight Powell (our Kevin Danna’s pick for the Pac-12 breakout player) led all scorers with 19 points, getting it done not only from the perimeter but also on the block. It was sophomore guard Chasson Randle, who had 16 points on seven-for-nine shooting, however, who had the last laugh, leading his Cardinal team to an eight-point win over Powell’s White squad.
5. Lastly, Arizona State’s Maroon-Gold scrimmage was Saturday afternoon, giving Sun Devil fans their first chance to see the long-awaited debut of freshman point guard Jahii Carson. Early reports are that, behind Carson, ASU looks like it may live up to Herb Sendek’s promises of a drastically increased tempo. Carson led all scorers with 18 points in the game, while newly eligible transfer Evan Gordon also impressed. The game featured three different 10-minute periods, with Carson splitting time on each team over the course of the scrimmage, but one good takeaway for how important he’ll be to ASU is the fact that whichever team he was on wound up winning each of the three different periods.

The Big Ten microsite will be analyzing the non-conference schedules for all of the Big Ten teams in the coming weeks. Today, we continue with the Northwestern Wildcats. Check out their full schedule here.

Where we left off: Last year, Northwestern coach Bill Carmody thought he had put together a solid non-conference schedule. There weren’t any marquee wins, but there were good wins against Seton Hall, Tulsa and LSU, respectable losses to Baylor and Creighton, and no bad losses. That didn’t turn out to be a winning formula, as the NCAA selection committee favored teams that had some marquee wins and forgave their bad losses. This year, there is a chance for several marquee wins — some even in Evanston — and NU must take advantage of those opportunities in order to finally make the NCAA Tournament.

Northwestern Wants to See More of These

Major tournaments: Last year, Northwestern won the Charleston Classic, which isn’t a huge tournament but a respected one nonetheless. This year, NU heads to the South Padre Island Invitational to face TCU, and then either UAB or Illinois State. That’s…um, well… a terrible schedule. Luckily for the Wildcats, they’ll have other chances pick up big wins, but that set of games certainly won’t be the most entertaining group we’ll see this season.

Toughest opponent: Last year, Northwestern was utterly embarrassed at home by Baylor, and this year, the Wildcats have to go to Waco for what will undoubtedly be their toughest non-conference game. Last year’s game was probably the biggest mismatch NU faced all year, as Baylor was dominant on the boards and has athleticism down low, while the Cats couldn’t do anything in the paint offensively or defensively. This NU team will be better inside and Baylor isn’t quite as talented as it was last season, so it shouldn’t be as much of a blowout but it will still be NU’s toughest non-league game by far, especially coming on the road.

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So maybe it’s a little late to still call it Midnight Madness, but season-kickoff events are still happening across the country. In the Pac-12, Stanford, Arizona State and Arizona introduce the 2012-13 versions of themselves to the fans with a trio of scrimmages over the weekend, along with slam dunk contests for the Cardinal and Wildcats. In light of what is happening in Palo Alto, Tempe and Tucson, here are three predictions for each of the three schools on what will happen.

Gabe York will put on quite the show at the Red-Blue Game this Sunday in Tucson.

Stanford’s Friday Frenzy Cardinal-White Scrimmage (October 19, 5:30 PM)

1. Dwight Powell will throw down the nastiest dunk: Last year, Powell threw down a dunk off a side-of-the-backboard pass from Aaron Bright (it’s at the 0:54 mark- you really won’t want to watch the first 30 seconds). It didn’t win the competition as Josh Huestis won last year’s dunk contest, but Powell will take home the crown this year.
2. Aaron Bright will make the biggest “wow” play of the night: Bright is the closest thing Stanford has to a showman, and he will be in all his glory later tonight. Behind-the-back passes, no-look passes, deep threes; Bright will put it all on display.
3. White will defeat Cardinal: Johnny Dawkins doesn’t put his projected starting five all on the same team for the scrimmage, so it’s not key players vs. reserves. Cardinal has won the last two years, so it’s time for white to take home some early-season bragging rights.

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1. A judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought forth by current Los Angeles Laker and former UCLA Bruin, Reeves Nelson, on Thursday. Nelson sued Sports Illustrated and writer George Dohrmann after the story, “Not The UCLA Way” ran last March. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mary Ann Murphy found that the lawsuit infringed on the right to free speech, not to mention Dohrmann had numerous sources to back up the claims made against Nelson. The story cited accounts from Bruins players and staff members who alleged Nelson urinated on players’ clothes and got into numerous fights with teammates, while also mistreating team managers and walk-ons. Nelson was kicked off the UCLA team last December, three months before the story ran.
2. With that out of the way, we’re going to designate this “Preview Friday” here at the Pac-12 wing of RTC. We start with a look at the league from CollegeBasketballTalk, who thinks the increased talent brought into the conference this season will lead to a better product and more respect nationally. To narrow down the important stuff, the story gives us 13 impact newcomers to watch, five breakout players, a player of the year, a coach under pressure, and an all-conference team. In the projected standings category, CBT throws us for a loop by slotting UCLA at third behind Arizona and Stanford. Colorado, California, and USC round out the upper half.
3. Each preseason there is usually a conference with more coaches on the hot seat than the rest of them, and it comes as no surprise after last year’s awful play that the Pac-12 trumps all of them in 2012-13. Johnny Dawkins. Craig Robinson. Herb Sendek. Even former California head man Ben Braun makes the list. What’s really interesting is that all three coaches have gotten on their hot seats through different circumstances. Not too long ago on The Farm, Stanford was a basketball powerhouse, and the fact that Dawkins hasn’t made an NCAA Tournament in his four seasons there doesn’t sit well with Cardinal fans. That NIT Championship last April? Just means you should take the next step this year. Craig Robinson’s Oregon State Beavers have been somewhat of a bust after winning the CBI in his first season. With four returning starters, Robinson needs to get the Beavs to the NIT this year. And in Tempe, Herb Sendek gave Arizona State fans a taste of victory by winning 20+ games in three consecutive seasons. But just 22 wins over the last two years has his seat scorching going into 2012-13.
4. CBSSports national preseason honors list features a pair of UCLA freshmen. Jeff Goodman and Gary Parrish named forward Shabazz Muhammad the National Freshman of the Year, a member of the All-First Team roster, and All-Freshman First Team roster. Bruin point guard Kyle Anderson comes in on the fourth team All-American roster and first team All-Freshmen list.
5. We end with a terrific Pac-12 Preview, straight from the Jon Rothstein files. Included are five burning questions facing the conference, preseason power rankings, a first team roster, and 10 breakout players, among other things. Be sure to check back throughout the day as we continue Preview Friday with an in-depth Oregon preview and our second burning question of the preseason.

1. The USA Today Preseason Poll came out yesterday, sign #217 that actual games are quickly approaching. As expected, both Arizona and UCLA were ranked in the Top 15, but the Wildcats ranked two spots ahead of the Bruins came as a surprise to most. It appears that more and more of the voters/national media are under the impression that Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson will miss significant time in 2012-13 due to the current NCAA investigation. Following Arizona and UCLA at #11 and #13, respectively, is Stanford, who comes in at #37 in the “Also Receiving Votes” category. The Cardinal certainly have the talent to be there, but seeing no California or Colorado along with those two was interesting. Be sure to check back later today as Kevin will break down the Pac-12’s involvement in the poll.
2. One of the top Class of 2013 power forwards will take an official visit Arizona this weekend. Aaron Gordon, out of Archbishop Mitty High School (CA), will attend the Washington-Arizona football game on Saturday before taking in the Red-Blue game Sunday afternoon. The younger brother of former UCLA and New Mexico star Drew Gordon, Aaron’s athleticism makes him the most sought after player on the west coast. He is most comfortable at the four, but can also score from the wing if needed. Gordon won’t announce his college decision until spring, but it looks as if he has narrowed down his choices to Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Kansas, and Kentucky. He will take an official visit to Lexington sometime later in the year.
3. Shabazz Muhammad. Kyle Anderson. Adria Gasol? The latter might not be as well-known as the rest of the Bruin freshmen class, but being the brother of Pau and Marc, he certainly draws interest. Gasol will walk on with UCLA this season, but it is unlikely that he sees any meaningful minutes in his first year with the program. The Dagger’s Jeff Eisenberg describes him as appearing “lost on the court” and “shows a serious lack of basketball fundamentals.” So, not exactly words that ooze Pac-12 basketball player, but he will be a fun story to follow throughout the winter.
4. Yesterday we told you power forward Marcus Lee would be choosing between California and Kentucky in the morning, and unfortunately for Pac-12 fans, the Deer Valley High School (CA) prospect is headed to the Bluegrass State. We knew things didn’t look good when Lee decided to forgo his visit to California this weekend after attending Big Blue Madness last Friday. Lee is the fifth member of John Calipari’s 2013 recruiting class, joining the likes of the number one point guard in the nation along with the top two shooting guards.
5. We’re back to the gridiron tonight with a sure to be entertaining Thursday night affair between Oregon and Arizona State, and that means it is time for Drew and I to renew our prognosticating battle. Drew has come all the way back to tie our competition up through seven weeks of play, so every game is even more important from here on out. Last week’s results leave both of us at 39-15. Below are this week’s picks, with our predicted scores for our game of the week in bold.
   

   Game	Connor’s Pick	Drew’s Pick
   Oregon at Arizona State	Oregon 49-21	Oregon 47-31
   Stanford at California	California	Stanford
   Colorado at USC	USC	USC
   Washington at Arizona	Arizona	Arizona
   Utah at Oregon State	Oregon State	Oregon State

The biggest news this week in Pac-12 recruiting was that Darin Johnson, a 6’4″ three-star shooting guard out of Sacramento, chose Washington over Oregon. That was a big get for Lorenzo Romar and really sets up his class nicely with Johnson and Nigel Williams-Goss, setting up a potentially lethal backcourt for the Huskies in the future.

Last week, we previewed half of the Pac-12’s recruiting hauls for the upcoming season and now here’s the other half…

Oregon Ducks

Commitments so far: 

Tyree Robinson- 3 stars, ranked 12oth nationally by Rivals. 6’3″ 190 lbs. Robinson is an explosive combo guard who can take players off the dribble and pull up in the lane with a floater. He can also score from beyond the arc. His mid-range game needs work, but he doesn’t have to use it often because of his ability to get to the basket. At times, his speed gets the best of him, but overall he is an elite guard in the 2013 class.

The Number of Twins in College Hoops is Getting Ridiculous

Tyrell Robinson– 3 stars by Rivals and 2 stars by ESPN. 6’3 190 lbs. Robinson is a better mid-range scorer than his brother Tyree, and is more of a passer as well. He can get into the lane with the same ease, but doesn’t have a great three-point shot. His defense is very sound as he can move well laterally and get right in the opponents’ body without fouling. Overall, he’s a lesser prospect than his brother, but brings better defense and passing.

Both recruits are planning on playing football for the Ducks but want to play basketball as well. It should be interesting to see how Dana Altman handles it. Although it’s clear Oregon is a football school, both of these kids have potential to be great future additions in the backcourt for the Ducks.

Recruits they want: Here’s where it gets interesting for the Ducks. They lost out big time on Darin Johnson and Jabari Bird committed to Cal too early in the process for them to try to change his mind. There’s a lot of ways this recruiting class could shape up for them. They’re still in the hunt for Aaron Gordon, but as mentioned, there’s no certainty with him. They’re also high on Torren Jones, but another good pickup for them would be Jordan Bell.

Jordan Bell- 4 stars by Rivals, 3 stars by ESPN. Ranked 67th nationally by Rivals. 6’7″ 205 lbs. Bell is an unreal shot-blocker and his leaping ability is unmatched. He is still a work in progress because his frame isn’t entirely filled out, but his rebounding and energy around the rim stand out. He’s a willing and good passer as well and can run the floor. He has no outside shot yet and looks uncomfortable when given the ball in the post because he doesn’t have a true post move. Ultimately, Bell is turning into a can’t-miss prospect, though, because of his defensive prowess and explosiveness around the basket.

Stanford 

Commitments so far: 

Marcus Allen- 3 stars, ranked 133rd nationally by Rivals. 6’2″ 175 lbs. Allen is a very athletic player who wants the ball in his hands when his team needs to score. He’s not a complete player yet and doesn’t have one set skill that is better than any others. He could use work on his on his shot and handle, but he’s still a good overall player.

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Probably to the dismay of many college basketball fans who are more than curious to find out which school he will attend next fall, reports came out yesterday that Jabari Parker has no plan to sign with one of his final five schools in the early signing period this November, instead likely making a decision in December. So now Duke, Michigan State, BYU, Florida and Stanford will most likely have to wait an extra month to find out where the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2013 will take his talents (though he can’t officially sign with a team until April), barring a sudden change of mind.

Top recruit Jabari Parker Will Wait to Make His Decision (AP)

While I’m sure a similar case could be made for every school still remaining on Parker’s list, this news could be especially good for Stanford. While the Cardinal have had some recent success in the last 10 years, the success Duke, Michigan State, Florida and BYU have had is much more immediate and in most cases, longer lasting. Stanford, by comparison, hasn’t made the Big Dance in the last four years; in that span, the other four schools have combined for a 15 of 16 possible NCAA Tournament appearances (only Florida didn’t make it all four years), three Final Fours (Michigan State twice, Duke once) and one national championship (Duke). Duke, Michigan State and Florida are established national powerhouses, while BYU is very much settled in to being one of those non-power conference schools that are regularly in the spotlight.

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