Former Tennessee guard Chris Lofton had a less than spectacular senior campaign in 07/08. Much of the college basketball world was perplexed as to why Lofton was playing so poorly, why his shooting percentages and scoring averages had fallen drastically. Was it because of a lackadaisical training effort during the offseason, one which was void of enough work-on-your-game-all-day kind of days, or maybe it was because he wasn’t quite as good as everyone thought… maybe the 20.8 ppg junior season was just an aberration?
A few days after the 06/07 season, Lofton was diagnosed with testicular cancer. A secretive surgery was planned. Besides some family members, the Tennessee coaching and training staff and a few select others, nobody knew. Not a single teammate knew about his cancer until towards the end of the 07/08 season. Lofton wanted the season to be excuse free. He felt it was better for the team to be that way.
The often weak and energy-less Lofton still managed to go for 15.5ppg last year. However Chris and the coaching staff were continually hit with questions as to why he was struggling, why he was a little off.
But the few all knowing did their job.
Props to all of the people who respected Lofton’s wishes. Not an easy thing to do I assume, whether you’re the coach, the trainer or a family member.
Lofton is now cancer free and back on the road to regaining his basketball prowess he had prior to his senior year.
As for Lofton’s NBA aspirations…
Don’t count on Lofton’s name to be called on draft night.
The young basketball whiz from California, PG Brandon Jennings, might just decide to play overseas if he is found to be ineligible to play at Arizona next season due to insufficient SAT scores.
Brandon Jennings, who signed a letter of intent to play at Arizona, is looking at the unprecedented option of playing overseas next season to get ready for the 2009 NBA draft if he’s not eligible to play for the Wildcats next season.
Anyone with a pulse can get into the UofA. Why can’t Jennings? Who would want this moron leading their team?
Brandon might be all that and a bag of chips on the court, but no one would be unjust referring to him as not the sharpest tool in the shed off of it.
Maybe while he’s overseas polishing up his game some he’ll learn another language.
Don’t count on it.
Also don’t count on a high level Euro team, or any other high level foreign team for that matter, setting aside many minutes for a guy who will only stick around for one year. It just won’t happen. He’s kidding himself, those leagues are vastly more competitive and superior to the ones like, for example, the D-League.
If Jennings wants to play in some lower level leagues in Sweden or Poland, sure, he’ll get some good playing time, though the likelihood he’ll considerably improve is small.
Hold it right there.
Much of what is above is the opinion many folks have taken in terms of Jenning’s situation. They suddenly see the headline of this story on ESPN or FoxSports or any news media, read a couple of sentences, and then automatically jump to the conclusion that Jennings is an intellectual lightweight.
Then these people also say he wouldn’t get any interest from good overseas teams.
I’ve seen comments on the web like
“He’s dumb” and “He’s a moron, 3 SAT attempts and he’s still not in” and “What are they teaching at Oak Hill” and even “Will he be illiterate in two languages now?”
And even some bewildering statements about how much talent he actually has.
Many teams would love to sign this kid. An up and coming team looking to make a big push would gladly welcome an uber-athletic point guard to the mix. Even just for one year. He wasn’t named the 08 Player of the Year by numerous sources for nothing.
The guy would simply dominate the D-League. He’d be better off playing in a Euro League somewhere. It would give him a different perspective and hey, he would get paid more than he would in the D-League.
But he might be eligible to play for the Wildcats after all.
Back to the SAT dilemma
If you carefully read the article (and other articles from different sources about this), it specifically mentions Jennings did in fact pass his SAT in his second try, just that the NCAA wanted to make sure the jump from his first score to his second score was valid. So the NCAA basically told him to take the SAT over again and prove it.
Jennings said he will get his standardized test results back next Thursday. This is the third time he has taken a standardized test. Jennings said he was red-flagged for a jump in his score from the first to the second test. He said he didn’t know his scores.
But Jennings is slated to be in Tucson on Monday to start summer school. He has been admitted to the institution. It’s unclear what kind of affect having him on campus would have on Jennings’ decision — assuming he shows up.
A lot of this confusion and ignorance would be avoided if people would just have read the article in its entirety and, instead of expecting the worst, expect the best.
By Thursday we will know if Brandon will be playing in America at UofA, or in some foreign country.
He will be a top 5 pick in next year’s NBA draft either way.
Is like a week without sunshine and sky rocketing gas prices in California.
Try as I might, there was no news this week about my favorite potential illegal recruit from USC, who could single handedly bring down and entire college basketball program. I wonder what L.A. Times O.J. Mayo beat writer Ben Bolch did with all his free time this week?
But fear not faithful readers!
The NBA Draft is coming up and as Mayo prepares to make his way up to the podium to pose with NBA Commissioner David Stern wearing the cap of the team that drafted him, and as the NCAA, Pacific 10 Conference, the state of California, the FBI, the CIA, the United States Congress, Senate, and the Trilateral Commission continues to investigates possible misdeeds, rest assured Ben and I will be here to bring it all to you.
As we all know, NBA Commissioner David Stern ruled that he no longer wants high school players skipping college and flooding the NBA.
This is a good rule. It doesn’t go far enough in my opinion, but a great rule nonetheless.
But apparently that hasn’t stopped at least one player from looking at other ways to make money playing professional basketball.
Brandon Jennings is looking at the probability of skipping out of his letter of intent at the University of Arizona and playing in Europe.
Jennings’ mother Alice Knox has an attorney and is looking into the possibility of playing professionally in Europe while waiting to become eligible for the NBA Draft in 2009.
The 19-year-old Jennings, a 6-2, 170 pound point guard hails from Compton, CA and high school basketball power Dominguez High School in Compton, where he was named Freshman Player of the Year by the Long Beach Press-Telegram. He was most recently seen playing ball at ever popular Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, VA. He is rated as the top point guard in the nation in the class of 2008 by http://www.espn.com.
Jennings, who had originally committed to USC before changing his mind and signing with Arizona (kids change their minds a lot these days. Please see post below on College Recruiting Gone Mad), would be the first high United States high school basketball player who skip college and the NBA to play in Europe.
But according to www.espn.com, NBA executives said that teams in Europe aren’t designed to sign high school players and have a system for younger players to get to the primary club team. It was also reported that now that Jennings has an agent, European teams might be able to work something out.
If Jennings makes the jump to Europe, is successful, comes back and is drafted high in the NBA, rest assured you will see more high school players applying for visas in the coming years.
Apparently at least one Big Ten basketball coach doesn’t quite understand the nature of the internet, or he just doesn’t care.
At a Fighting Illini Comedy Tour Fighting Illini Meet and Greet Tour held in Peoria, Illinois on Thursday night, men’s basketball coach Bruce Weber had this opinion to offer on the upcoming Big Ten men’s basketball season, “The league should be wide open and we can be right in the middle of it. I do know one thing, though. I think Indiana will suck. Don’t put that on the Internet.”
Don’t worry Coach Weber, said statement will never, ever appear on the internet.
IU blog Cannot Falter thought Weber’s comments were “odd” and “bizarre”. I’m wondering why they didn’t just say Weber’s comments were a lame attempt at getting a few laughs. Everyone knows Indiana will not be a good team for a couple of years, it doesn’t take a great coach to figure that one out Bruce.
If new Indiana Coach Tom Crean didn’t already have enough material to motivate his players with, he certainly has some extra good stuff to throw his player’s way when his Hoosiers meet up with the Illini this year.
Maybe Coach Weber should start a school wide comedy tour and try to jab at other teams in the Big Ten? I mean, coming from a coach that led last year’s team to a 16-19 record, he sure the heck as a lot respectability beaming from his figure. Certainly the pinnacle of basketball success is a 16-19 record. Now if he had just lost one more game, then all bets would have been off. But as long as you keep that L column total under 20, you’re free to spout off about anything.
But Weber might have an uncanny knack at comedy, akin to his uncanny ability to recruit players who cannot score, because what else is funnier than comparing a dysfunctional shot chucker transfer from Kentucky to arguably the most complete basketball player on the planet, “The players have nicknamed him (Alex Legion) ‘Kobe.’ He has a ways to go, but I understand the comparison. He can score, but he doesn’t guard anybody and we just had to teach him a new word. Pass. When he gets his first assist, everybody should give him a standing ovation because that will be his first one.“
So the Alex Legion—Kobe comparisons have begun. Weber won’t have to worry about this statement gaining much support, something tells me that it’s the first and last of its kind.
As always any questions, comments, Wal-Mart references and beefs are appreciated.
What were most of you doing when you were in the eighth grade?
For some of us (especially me), it was an awkward time of trying to fit in with the cool kids or any kids for that matter who share some of your interests and awkwardness among other things. Dating was starting to become a reality as well as other things like facial and chest hair, change in voice and zits.
And if you were developing athletic skills of any kind, all you wanted to do was make it to high school, and playing anywhere beyond that was a dream at best no matter how talented you were.
Not so anymore today folks.
For some insane reason, some college basketball coaches are becoming so desperate that not only are they recruiting high school underclassmen, now they are hitting up the junior high and middle schools for commitments too.
Choosing a high school with a decent basketball program is difficult enough, now college basketball coaches want you to decide where you’re going to before you attend your first high school dance or beaten up by your first high school senior.
According to the Associated Press, Michael Avery, an eighth grader from Ascension Lutheran School in Thousand Oaks, CA has already committed to the University of Kentucky. He was recruited by Wildcats Coach Billy Gillispsie, who was scouting an AAU event Avery was playing in Akron, Ohio, making him the youngest player ever to be recruited by the Wildcats.
The 6-foot-4 Avery is likely to grow more and get even bigger. But who knows where his mental attitude will be by the time he gets to his senior year? And for that matter, who knows where Kentucky will? Kentucky has had problems with the NCAA before, and if it happens again or if they happen to stink up Rupp Arena by the time Avery is ready to enroll, rest assured he and his parents will do everything they can to get him out of that commitment and into another school.
On Thursday, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (that’s NABC for all you acronym junkies) said it is opposed to eighth graders committing without completing their sophomore year of high school and wants this to stop. NCAA rules stipulate that coaches aren’t even supposed to contact players before mid-June following their sophomore season.
According to the AP, the NABC board of directors said that the decision was made in part, because younger athletes had not yet “demonstrated sufficient academic credentials” to be admitted to school.
So you mean those eighth grade sewing or print shop classes don’t count towards enrollment into schools like Florida, Connecticut, North Carolina or Kansas?
To make matters worse, this isn’t the first time college coaches have made recruiting trips to middle schools. In 2006, USC Coach Tim Floyd got Ryan Boatright and Dwayne Poole Jr., both from the Southern California area to commit before entering high school.
But I digress. Even though the idea of recruiting kids before they hit high school may be a little silly (and a little weird), if I can get Floyd, Ben Howland at UCLA or Mike Krzyzewski at Duke to come and take a look at my kid and offer him an early scholarship that would be great.
My son is four years old and over three and a half feet tall. He as wicked ball handling skills and has been dunking on his Playskool basketball hoop since he was two and a half. My wife and I already have a college fund set up for him, but if he can get a college scholarship now, we can blow his college money on that trip to Europe we’ve always wanted to take, an HD television or on gas.
We’re paying well over $4.50 a gallon out here in Southern California!
Why would anyone not want to see their name shown on the big draft board on draft night?
Well, undrafted players will be able to pick and chose the most ideal situation. They get to decide which team they go to. Drafted players don’t get to decide.
Michigan State’s Drew Neitzel
Drew played both point and shooting guard during his career at MSU. He’s a small guy, only about 6’, not very athletic, but very basketball savvy. Can shoot it as well as anybody in the draft –off the dribble as well– plus he can handle the point sufficiently. If he goes undrafted, he can choose to latch onto a team that might need some guard help. I see Drew as an eventual NBA player, but just not this year. My prediction, undrafted.
Duquesne’s Shawn James
Shawn James was one of the best shot blockers in college last year. He’s about 6’10, probably more like 6’9. He very well could be drafted, but I wouldn’t put money on it. I see Shawn turning into a Justin Williams type of player in the league. I feel a little more confident in predicting that James will be on a NBA roster come the start of next season (without getting drafted) than I do about Neitzel. James will have to show teams that he can continue to add strength (225lbs) to his frame. My prediction, Drafted in 2nd round.
IUPUI’s George Hill
Guy is an undersized two guard who is best fitted to play point in the NBA. He did play the point at IUPUI, but I see him having more of a two guard mentality. I really thought he would return to schooland improve his point guard skills, but he obviously thinks he has a chance to be drafted. And he very well could, especially considering he played well at the Orlando Pre-Draft camp last month. His decision to come out early could be damaging to his future hopes of playing in the league, as James’ decision could be too. My prediction, undrafted.
Almost a month ago—I’m not a professional analyst, yet—I wrote Should I stay or should I go? and proclaimed Jamont Gordon and Bill Walker, among others, would stay in school.
Well, they didn’t.
Walker’s decision wasn’t a big surprise, but Gordon’s was. But even more surprising was the college departures of George Hill and Luc Richard Mbah A Moute and the withdrawing of Ty Lawson, Chase Budinger and the nearly 24 year old Lester Hudson.
The league will have an official list out later on Tuesday.
Below is a list of the guys who were undecided going into Monday, per ESPN.
Staying In Draft
Player School
Joe Alexander, Jr. WVU
Ryan Anderson, So. Cal
Mario Chalmers, Jr. Kansas
Jamont Gordon, Jr. Mississippi St.
Richard Hendrix, Jr. Alabama
J.J. Hickson, Fr. NC State
George Hill, Jr. IUPUI
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Jr. UCLA
Marreese Speights, So. Florida
Bill Walker, RS Fr. Kansas St.
Returning To School
Player School
A.J. Abrams, Jr. Texas
Josh Akognon, Jr. Cal St.-Fullerton
Chase Budinger, So. Arizona
Lee Cummard, Jr. BYU
Robert Dozier, Jr. Memphis
Wayne Ellington, So. UNC
Danny Green, Jr. UNC
Lester Hudson, Jr. Tennessee-Martin
Ty Lawson, So. UNC
Jeremy Pargo, Jr. Gonzaga
Ronald Steele, RS Sr. Alabama
Lester Hudson, a guard from Tennessee-Martin, could not ask for any better of a draft stock than he has now, yet he still withdrew from the draft. He more than likely didn’t feel confident in the feedback he received from the teams, so his decision is probably a wise one, except for the fact that by this time next year he will be almost 25 years old. A bit old for a rookie point guard? 1st round pick… no. But 2nd round pick… yes. I would have liked to see him go. How much more can you prove by dominating Ohio Valley Conference competition again?
One of the smartest decisions was made by Gonzaga guard Jeremy Pargo. The player has a future in the league, but just didn’t fit well in this year’s draft. He needs to improve his ball handling and decision making skills to really reap the benefits of coming back to a very dangerous Gonzaga team. I see him being a mid to late 1st round pick next year.
I don’t believe Hill will be drafted, nor do I believe Moute will be drafted. Unless of course, both have verbal 2nd round guarantees. Could be the case, but things change. Don’t count on anything in the NBA, well, except for questionable refereeing.
Questions, comments and beefs are always appreciated.
And please take a second to vote on the poll question seen on the right hand side of the page regarding who will be the best 08/09 freshman.
Ryan Anderson is going to be making quite a big decision by 5pm today. All signs point to Ryan signing an agent and entering the NBA draft, thus foregoing the rest of his college career at California.
I routinely get the feeling that a lot of the non west coasters don’t know much about Ryan. They recognize his name, but don’t really know his game.
He’s been called a tweener and unathletic, but many players have escaped that tag and gone on to be great, so there’s no point in putting any effort into those labels.
He averaged 21 ppg his sophomore year at Cal, good for best scoring average in the Pac 10, for what it’s worth.
Rod Benson, the Dakota Wizards star, has his own movement, the Boom Tho movement, and also blogs for Yahoo Sports as well.
The guy entertains his Boom Tho supporters (I’m one) by often posting amusing stories and videos about D-League life in North Dakota.
Benson has put up some quality numbers in the D-League in recent years but has yet to be signed by a NBA team. He compares himself to Kevin Garnett, except he says “I ain’t worth a dollar.”
This clip chronicles some of Ryan Anderson’s draft prep so far, Rod Benson style. Check it out.
Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times seems to be as enthralled with this O.J. Mayo thing as I am (it is the middle of June after all and what else is going on in college basketball?).
Now he reports that former Mayo lackey and whistle blower Louis Johnson met with the NCAA, the Pacific 10 conference and officials from USC to discuss some, if not all of the things Johnson told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” last month about Mayo receiving tons of money from a minion working for a Los Angeles sports agency.
Johnson, a former sports writer for the Long Beach Press-Telegram and the Orange County Register is reportedly writing a book on what he knows, what he saw and what he did during his time with Mayo. Quite naturally he has an attorney, David M. Murphy, who declined comment on what was said during the discussion.
The Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and the U.S attorney’s office is also probing into possible “misuse of charitable organization funds” my Mayo caregiver Rodney Guillory.
And so far USC continues to keep mum on the just what they let Guillory get away with while he was babysitting Mayo.
I guess we’ll just have to wait until Johnson’s book comes out.
Interested in sports? Then our sports editors have you covered. All the news, gossip, rivalries, scandals, and enjoyment of the sporting world - at your fingertips - all the time.
As we all know, NBA Commissioner David Stern ruled that he no longer wants high school players skipping college and flooding the NBA.
Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times seems to be as enthralled with this O.J. Mayo thing as I am (it is the middle of June after all and what else is going on in college basketball?).
Recent Comments