09.21.07 Fast Breaks

Posted by rtmsf on September 21st, 2007

21 days to Midnight Madness, folks.

  • Roy’s 05 studs may end up costing him a recruit. 
  • UK’s Joe Crawford got his knee scoped, but is expected to be ready for the season.
  • Arizona doesn’t plan on having McKale Madness this year.
  • Gonzaga plays hard teams.  Now you too can understand how they run their flex offense
  • Katz puts forth an informative article – he rates the top 10 teams’ nonconference schedules (not to be confused as the top 10 nonconference schedules)
  • Rivals projects how ten new coaches will fare this year.
  • Some folks think Florida’s Mareese Speights will become a beast. 
  • Hoopwise interviews the head coach of the Gonzaga of the East (S. Illinois), Chris Lowery
  • Coach Cal is looking for the next Yi Jianlian
  • Seth Davis points out that the recruiting world didn’t end with the text messaging ban in effect. 
  • What kind of sports blogger are we?  Thinking #9, #8, and #3 on this list.  Mmm… link whore. 
Share this story

07.03.07 Fast Breaks

Posted by rtmsf on July 3rd, 2007

Quite a bit of stuff we’ve missed over the past week or so… 

  • Iowa transfer and Tennessee native Tyler Smith will be eligible to play at UT next season, as his appeal was approved by the NCAA.  UT just moved into our Top 5 for 2007-08.   
  • Florida guard Brandon Powell‘s arrest for possession of a little ganja results in a transfer – expect to see him at Oklahoma St. or WVU next year.
  • Cliff Ellis resurfaces at Coastal Carolina – we guess there are worse places than Conway, South Carolina
  • Apparently the NCAA will revisit its recently-enacted text messaging ban after 34 schools asked for a review.   
  • Indiana will tear down Assembly Hall (the House that Knight built) and Auburn will tear down Beard-Eaves Coliseum (the House that…  um…  Barkley?  The Rifleman?  built?) in favor of new barns. 
  • New Mexico St. coach Reggie Theus alighted for the Sacto Queens and the golden opportunity to coach Spencer Hawes, opening the door for Louisville assistant coach Marvin Menzies to take over in Las Cruces.  Former UK & Celtic favorite and longtime crooner Walter McCarty will take the open position on Pitino’s staff.   
  • John Hollinger at espn.com (Insider, but if you look around you can find it copied/pasted elsewhere) has a tremendous article on evaluating college players before the draft. 
  • It’s never too early.  Chad Ford’s Top 10 for the 2008 Draft.  While we’re at it, here’s the projected mocks on NBADraft.net (2008 and 2009).     
  • Seth Davis has an interesting piece on the Under-19 USA team.  Looking at Sunday night’s box score – Stephen Curry continues to impress. 
  • UK has signed just about everyone lately, as Billy Gillispie has the Wildcat fans giddy over his recruiting prowess during his first three months on the job.  Oh, and he hasn’t found a place to live yet (has he looked?). 
  • Duke Dorks feigning comedy.  Jon Scheyer acting walking around campus with a camera nearby. 
Share this story

04.27.06 Fast Breaks

Posted by rtmsf on April 27th, 2007

  • As we approach the early entry deadline on Sunday, Kansas forward Brandon Rush and Marquette guard Dominic James both announced they are officially going pro, but neither will sign with an agent.
  • Put it on the Titanium AMEX: John Beilein agrees to pay WVU $1.5M buyout (where’d that extra mill go?) for leaving Morgantown before his contract term expired.
  • 7’3 center Hasheem Thabeet is returning to UConn for his sophomore season.
  • Someone buy Billy Gillispie an iPhone instead… NCAA formally bans text messaging of recruits.
  • Don’t the girls all get prettier at closing time? Luke Winn discusses how Patrick Patterson seems to enjoy the attention of being the last “top” player signed in the Class of 2007.
Share this story

sup r u playin 2nite? ttul8r

Posted by rtmsf on April 18th, 2007

In one of the its smarter moves in some time, the NCAA reported today that its management council is recommending a ban on text messaging between coaches and recruits.  Although nothing gets us quite as lathered up as the image of middle-aged men playing electronic footsie with teenagers, we feel that this is an overdue necessity for the sake of the kids, who are already bombarded with letters and phone calls from amorous coaches.  Consider the following story about uber-texter Billy Gillispie:

When describing how well Billy Gillispie fits what the University of Kentucky wanted in a basketball coach, athletics director Mitch Barnhart noted his new man has sent an average of 8,000 text messages a month to recruits.”  He’s got the fastest thumbs in America,” Barnhart quipped. 

Assuming a thirty day month and six hours of sleep per night (perhaps a high estimate for the workaholic Gillispie), this means that Gillispie averages FIFTEEN text messages per waking hour, or one every four minutes.  When does the man find time to do other things, like eat, or coach? 

For recruits who do not have unlimited texting capabilities with their cell phone plan, the barrage of text messages can also become expensive.  An Arizona football recruit named Delashaun Dean says that he racked up an $800 bill one month solely based on text messages from coaches.  No matter how you slice it, we can all agree that it’s just plain creepy to have the likes of the Great Pumpkin, er, Phil Fulmer routinely texting kids with “what’s up playmaker?!”  Ick.  Good call NCAA.   

Share this story