As the Husky Season Approaches, Coach, Players and Pundits Speak

Coach Lorenzo Romar gave an interview to the Seattle Times Percy Allen, which according to Allen was so long that he had to break it up. In Part One, Percy asked Romar about a number of topics including the state of the Pac-10, last season, the current team and recruiting.

The part I found most interesting was that Romar feels that the way he is recruiting he is getting looks from the blue chips now, where before he had to recruit below that level at UW.

“We’re not at a point where we can just close our eyes, point over there and the guy comes running. We’re not there. But we’re in a position now where people listen. People listen to what we have to say. They want to hear what we have to say. Doesn’t mean they’ll come. Doesn’t mean they’ll even take a visit, but they’ll hear what we have to say. Whereas in the past, they might say we’re not interested.”

ESPN Released it’s Class of 2011 Team Recruiting Rankings and Arizona was the only Pac-10 team mentioned at #3.

I would imagine if UW signs 4-5 guys in the fall, including both Tone Wroten and Jabari Brown, that UW will be listed somewhere. Hikeem Stewart is moving up the charts as well and depending on which big guys UW ends up with, they could be ranked highly.

What matters most in these evaluations is what happens in a few years and none of these rankings take that into account. The team and individual rankings and the star system are based on a criterion of supposed NBA interest, not what they may or may not do in college in my opinion.

The Huskies took their 2010-2011 team pictures on Friday.

The team looked good as a whole, but Terrence Ross notably looked taller in the photo. He has been in Portland for the past month or so. Could he have grown or was it the shoes, as Justin Holiday explained on “Talkin’ Hoops” on Monday night’

Brand new 2012 UW guard commit Andrew Andrews was also on the show giving his first direct quotes as to his choice of Washington and other interesting info for UW fans. We will have much more info om Andrews later in this column.

The UW team also took the time to visit the kids over at Seattle Children’s Hospital on Monday night according to a feel good feature on the UW official site by new staff writer Gregg Bell.

I feel that Bell does a great job, having read his dependable accounts for the AP over the years. I think it will be a huge asset for GoHuskies to have him on board.

UW and the Pac-10 were not that well represented in Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports’ “Top Games” feature, previewing some of the more interesting match-ups nationally this season.

Of the December 11th Washington at Texas A&M game Goodman mused, “The Huskies finished the season strong and while Lorenzo Romar is without Quincy Pondexter, he’ll still have most of his team back and should have a tough task in College Station against a well-coached Aggies club.”

I agree with Goodman, that this game will be a major challenge for the Dub. Though A+M lost the core of it’s team, the program is strong and Mark Turgeon seems to have players waiting their turn. It’s also a tough road game early for UW, which is definitely a potential loss.

Gonzaga on the other hand was far and away over represented, having 6 of their games mentioned. The Zags will as usual have a good team this season, but why mention them that much. The entire Pac-10 had 3 mentioned and none of them league games. I would like to hear the explanation as to why GU/SDSU is more important than any Pac-10 league game.

If that doesn’t bug UW and Pac-10 fans, how’s this? Yahoo’s Jason King in his “Ten holes to fill” feature stated that with the loss of Tyreese Breshers, “The top front court player now is 7-foot center Aziz N’Diaye, who arrives from junior college”.

Does King know that UW has two upper class men who have started many games in Darnell Gant and Matthew Bryan-Amaning? I hope that N’Diaye is that good, but if King knew much of anything about west coast hoops, if he was he would also be picking UW in his preseason Final-Four or at least top-10, neither of which he has done.

Jason also mentions Elston Turner. While it was a disappointment that Turner transferred, opening up minutes for Scott Suggs, not to mention C.J. Wilcox and Ross is actually positive all around. Turner wasn’t going to start over Justin Holiday or Isaiah Thomas and any dissatisfaction on his part would not have been helped the chemistry this year.

Neither statement by King regarding UW was well conceived, but he’s in the big seat on the national desk and I’m sitting here. He must be doing something right or at worst I’m jealous.

King tried to redeem himself on Monday with a brief look at all of the “Big-6” conferences and at least didn’t embarrass himself. He picked UW and ‘Zona to get in the dance with UCLA and ASU on the “bubble” out of the Pac-10. He also mentioned WSU as a possible contender, which was a fairly bright observation.

Of Washington he gave credit to the “little guys” in veteran duo and long time sparring partners Overton and Thomas.

“Clearly the worst Big Six conference in 2009-10, the Pac-10 will be better this season. But not much. One definite bright spot should be Washington, which lost Quincy Pondexter but returns every other key piece of last season’s Sweet 16 team. Isaiah Thomas is one of the top point guards in the country and Venoy Overton is one of the best defenders.”

Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic did a much more well informed Pac-10 preview. I will be doing one before the season starts and then another before Pac-10 play. Doug felt that the Dawgs would win it all this year.

Unlike the Pac-10 prospectus, Doug singled out C.J. and Ross as potentially large contributors.

“Top newcomers include freshman Terrence Ross, who should get immediate playing time, and sharp-shooter C.J. Wilcox, who red-shirted last season.”

Haller followed UW with UA, UCLA, ASU, USC, WSU, Stanford, Cal, OSU and Oregon in that order. That is pretty good, but I’m going to put a bit more faith behind the Beavers this year. I think that Roberto Nelson is the real deal and Jared Cunningham looks every bit to me to be a future star, in the mold of Jerryd Bayless.

I would probably leave his first three about the same, but put OSU in the mix along with ASU, WSU and USC for that proverbial “bubble”.

Bleacher Report’s Kevin Cacabelos did an All-Decade team for the Huskies that conversely was well put together.

The message here is that in the age of the internet and bloggers, the big national “experts” have stiff competition. Cacabelos listed the team as a starting team and a bench..

Starters: Bobby Jones, Jon Brockman, Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson and Will Conroy.

Bench: Justin Dentmon, Isaiah Thomas, Ryan Appleby, Quincy Pondexter and Spencer Hawes.

If I were actually building a team I would probably put Quincy in the starting line-up over Bobby, only because of his ability to rebound and score inside. Had Spencer stayed longer, he may have taken that spot as well, but I doubt Jon could have ever been moved out by either player.

I agree with the choice of Conroy. The team would need a leader and distributor like Will, but Isaiah Thomas will probably overtake him in that role, not to mention the scoring that he brings. Overall though 1-10 this is a list that I agree with, but after this season others may push for recognition on it. It hasn’t even been a full decade since Romar was hired.

One player that many UW fans felt would be mentioned on these types of lists was Abdul Gaddy. Conversely Draft Express was one of now many publications painting him as a disappointment. With a composite of stats from last season, on which he sits at the very top, they attempted to make that case.

The stats don’t lie, but the argument loses it impact when you read the 2nd and 3rd players on it. Abdul was followed by Marcus Johnson of USC (who literally muted Quincy Pondexter in LA) and Lance Thomas (arguably the glue guy on the national champ Duke team).

I believe that Gaddy will find a way to make solid improvements this season, then enter the discussion for the NBA draft in 2012.

As far as the 2011 draft, the site also discussed the top prospects in the Pac-10. Those players in order are Tyler Honeycutt of UCLA, Derrick Williams of ‘Zona, Malcolm Lee of UCLA, Klay Thompson of WSU and Washington’s Thomas.

Husky Digest is reporting, according to sources close to the UCLA program, that Honeycutt and Lee are fully intending if at all possible to entering the 2011 draft and that Lee may be considering leaving sooner.

The Official Pac-10 Prospectus came out recently and one thing jumped out at me in the Wasington preview.

“with a deep and experienced backcourt, playing time might be tough to come by for talented freshman guards C.J. Wilcox and Terrence Ross.”

Since these previews I would assume are written by someone in the respective program, does this mean that there is a good chance that Ross and Wilcox won’t play a huge role this season?

I doubt it, based on what I’ve seen, but with the emergence of Suggs, who really impressed local pro talent evaluators at a workout recently and of course the presence of returning starters Gaddy, Thomas and Holiday, plus virtual starter Venoy Overton you never know.

At one time the word around campus was that Suggs and Wilcox will play behind Holiday, depending on who had the hot hand and that Ross would play behind Thomas. This could be meaningless conjecture or very well informed information. I guess it won’t be long until UW fans can see for themselves as the 1st game of the year will be on November 6th versus St. Martin’s.

Husky Recruiting Corner

2011 UW guard recruit Tone Wroten visited UW unofficially, along with his close friend 2011 UW guard commit Hikeem Stewart, this past weekend.

According to the Seattle Times Percy Allen, who cited me as the source (thanks Percy, but I got it from Wroten’s tweet), “Garfield High senior Tony Wroten will announce his college choice Oct. 8 at his high school” adding “The Huskies have been down this road before”.

I doubt that UW fans will have to endure the agony provided by Terrence Jones, as Percy not so subtly implies may be in store for them. Husky Digest has reported that Washington will be his choice, based on many, many sources and nothing has happened for them to reverse that.

Nothing is of course final, until maybe when the ink is dry, when dealing with recruiting and teenagers in general.

Tone kind of let the cat out of the bag a little when making a twitter plea to UW fans to be there at his ceremony.

“I wanna see how many UW fans gone b at my school for my announcement”

Wroten originally set the event up on the 8th, then attempted to move it to the 7th, only to move it back to the 8th. His latest tweet on the subject has the conference on for the 7th, because school is out the next day.

“Just found out there isn’t any school on the 8th so Imma make my college anouncement on the 7th instead of the 8th. Let people no”

Tone is irrepressible. His bravado on the floor at Hec-Ed may become legendary, should all go as most feel and he chooses Washington. He tweeted that Franklin coach Jason Kerr is a “Sucka” in airing his frustration at Garfield not getting a shot at Kerr’s Franklin Quakers.

“Coach kerr from franklin is a sucka. He won’t accept to play us. I hope he sees this. Somebody tell him I said this. Smh”

While all this was happening Tone was also preparing for an in-home with “Slick” Rick Pitino, according to a tweet by AdamZagoria.

“Tony Wroten says he’ll have an in-home visit tonight with Louisville and is considering them along with UW, Nova, Kentucky, UConn & Seattle U”

Wouldn’t it be great if Tone picked the Redhawks? What a way to get the Key Arena jumping again, but I don’t think it’ll happen.

According to Kentucky based recruiting analyst Evan Daniel of Scout, Wroten’s choice is “Down to Louisville & Washington”.

According to Tone he “had a great visit wit coach patino” on Tuesday and “Can’t wait to come down there on Thursday”.

Coast2coastrecruiting.net feels that Tone will pick the ‘Ville. They did a visit report Tuesday that included quotes from Husky tight end legend Tony Wroten Sr.

“Pitino has been involved in the Seattle area having recruited Peyton Siva and Terrence Williams who both have talked to Tony about Louisville. Tony is great friends with Peyton Siva and is excited about the possibility of playing together.”

They may all be great friends, but I sincerely doubt that this trip will close Wroten.

Nate Robinson weighed in with a tepid tweet of “I hope he picks UW” after tweeting that he would guarantee Tone would go to Washington last month. Some would think that this is a sign that Tony’s position has changed somewhat, but I think that it is more likely Nate’s way of helping to set the stage for the 8th.

Rotary’s Darryl Hennings (Tone’s AAU coach) intimated to Rivals that Wroten’s recruiting was much more complicated.

“I’m assuming they raised their level of interest because they’re out here. Before it was all kinds of speculation and talk but for the most part from what I’ve heard there are only three or four players in the whole deal and they’re one of them. He’s definitely interested (in Louisville).”

Coast2coast also went as far as to state that sources had told them that Andrews commitment meant that Washington was going to take Tone or Jabari Brown and not both, but they flip-flopped when it was reported later that day by the Oregon ESPN site that Andrew would reclassify.

Andrews was a pleasant surprise for UW fans, as he committed to Washington on Sunday, according to an interview with me on “Talkin’ Hoops” on Monday night.

The story originally was broken by Coast2Coast Recruiting (to their credit) late Sunday night.

“Per family source Andrew Andrews of Jefferson HS in Portland has committed to UW and Romar tonight.”Also according to C2C, “UW, WSU, Boise State, Colorado, Colorado State, San Diego State, entire WCC had offered Andrews” and “Neb, OSU, UO came on late”.

Andrews is a strong prospect. A video highlight reel on Youtube shows him to be a splendid passer, ball handler and floor leader.

Another Youtube clip shows Andrew in another interview which is impressive in that he appears humble and focused on pursuing his education.

Andrews is six-foot-two and 185 lbs., according to further quotes in Husky Digest.

There was initially concern that Andrews commitment was a symptom that something had happened with either Wroten of Jabari Brown’s status with the Dawgs.

That was put to rest somewhat when the Oregon ESPN site reported that Andrew had reclassified to 2012.

Andrews told Rivals that he is reclassifying more because of hoops than grades.

“It will help to clear out some of the guards there because they’ve got a lot. By the time I get there some guys will be cleared out. I want to work on being stronger and quicker, my flexibility and playing better competition.”

Andrew confirmed that when we spoke to him on Monday night on “Talkin’ Hoops”. Everything about reclassifying made sense for him. The 2012 class is bog man heavy and he will provide balance to that class, while rehabbing, learning and growing while not having to burn a red-shirt year to do so.

Andrews also told Rivals that although he has some work to do, he brings a lot to the table.

“I’m pretty much a well rounded point guard who can score. My biggest weakness is my lateral quickness, being able to open up my hips because I had a torn hip flexor. My biggest strength is being able to distribute to teammates and still score.”

Brown visited Washington officially over the weekend, but did not commit. It appears that he will take more visits before deciding, but according to sources, Husky Digest has reported that UW is in good shape with Brown, based on numerous sources, but he has decided to take other visits before deciding.

That is not unreasonable. He wants to check and see how the others compare. In the end the Dawgs are in good shape based on his relationship with Simmons, Coach Lorenzo Romar, the team and even Wroten, but this is not as done as many sources told me.

UW is probably feeling pretty good about their chances though, in my opinion, but as we’ve seen a lot can happen on the recruiting trail.

Reggie Rankin or ESPNU tweeted that “Jabari Brown of the Drew Gooden Soldiers has a home visit with Arizona State today (Monday) and Georgia Tech tomorrow.”

AdamZagoria tweeted on Tuesday that, “Jabari Brown said this weekend’s official to Washington was ‘good'” and added “Uconn up next this weekend”. Husky Digest had reported that Brown was not intending to pursue UConn, but if that proves to be true, perhaps Jim Calhoun and Kevin Ollie were able to get him to reconsider during their in-home.

Brown confirmed to Rivals that he felt comfortable on his visit in Seattle.

“I pretty much saw what I expected to see. I went out there and they are good guys. Coach Romar and the coaching staff are close to the players. It was a real nice family atmosphere.”

Jabari didn’t voice concern over the Dawgs depth at guard, something he has done in the past, only to follow it up by countering his own objection, but Rivals Eric Bossi (who wrote a visit report on Tuesday) said that he sensed that on a message board post on Rivals Recruiting board.

“I think after speaking with Jabari that he’s a lot more open than we all may have thought. I think early PT will be really important here.”

The Oregon ESPN site tweeted on Wednesday that Brown, “Is getting an in-home visit from Oregon today”.

The New Haven Register also confirmed that Jabari will visit UConn this weekend.

I’ve sat and listened to Jabari voice the ‘Too many guards at UW’ objection and counter with the ‘you have to beat the best and practicing with them only makes you better’ response. Perhaps the open gym run may have opened his eyes as to what kind of competition he has in store at UW, but Romar and others should be able to continue to voice the latter convincingly.

This is not yet over with Brown and it could get interesting, but UW is in very good shape regardless. He is not closed, but I believe Wroten is.

2011 UW post recruit Angelo Chol has added UNC and ‘Zona to his list of finalists. Chol has visited Alabama, will visit Kansas officially in mid-October and has now scheduled two in-homes with ‘Zona on September 29th and Carolina on September 30th, according to Scout. His UW official is set for February 12th 2011.

2011 UW post recruit Norvel Pelle is still considering Washington, according to a report in Zagsblog on Thursday.

“In a phone interview Wednesday night, the 6-foot-10, 205-pound Pelle of Los Angeles Price said he was considering St. John’s, UTEP, UConn and ‘the whole PAC 10 except Arizona’. He specifically mentioned Oregon and Washington from the PAC 10. He said he wasn’t sure where he would take officials.”

2011 Seattle guard Brett Kingma has dropped UW, according to a tweet from the Seattle Times Mason Kelley.

“Jackson guard Brett Kingma narrows list to Oregon, BYU and Arizona State.”

Kingma said to the Everett Herald that he eliminated UW because of of other guards committing and wanting to be “happy”.

“I felt like I want to be happy in college and I felt like the other options would be good for me. I didn’t want to waste (Washington’s) time if I didn’t want to go there.”

Husky Digest reported that according to sources Kingma is a hard lean to Oregon and another source in the AAU community told me off the record that he doubted that Brett had a solid UW offer.

Kingma has stated many times that he did have a solid UW offer an in-home and an official visit date set, so someone is misinformed here.

One thing is for sure though, with the current state of Oregon basketball with players leaving right and left, possible NCAA sanctions and possible further loss of scholarships due to low APR (see below) it doesn’t sound like a great place to be “happy”, unless what Brett is looking for is a place to play early. ASU is in better shape, as is BYU.

According to an interview with him in the Seattle Times, 2011 UW football commit Austin Seferian-Jenkins has a spot waiting for him on the UW Hoops team’s roster.

“I plan on playing at the collegiate level. I have a roster spot, so I’m going to plan on playing there. It will keep me in great shape.”

I will believe it when I see it, but his continued insistence that he is playing hoops makes me wonder if this could actually happen. It certainly could set the stage for Zach Banner, a 2012 two-sport star that really is an elite post prospect. Austin has not made as much of an impression thus far on the court, though many feel that he has the potential.

His and Banner’s play this year is definitely worth watching.

2012 UW guard recruit Dominic Artis got a good mention via tweets from Reggie Rankin of ESPN.

“Class of 2012 PG Dominic Artis of the Drew Gooden Soldiers is an excellent shooter with deep range. Artis was the backup to Josiah Turner. Artis will impress with his shooting and playing making ability and is a player to keep a close eye on this HS and Travel season.”

Artis is a former team mate of both Simmons and Brown.

Another small player on UW’s radar has been 2011 recruit Kiwi Gardner, who is seeking to reclassify to 2012, according to Rivals.

Gardner is uber-interested in UW. Perhaps his reclassifying to 2012, may lead to a UW offer, though the recent commitment of Andrews may make mean that he and Artis may not both get one.

2012 UW post recruit Skylar Spencer is turning heads.

By the way that ESPN’s Joel Francisco described him on Tuesday, he sounds like an excellent fit for Washington.

“He has a terrific frame and his game has continued to evolve since his sophomore campaign. Spencer plays with great energy and possesses a blue-collar mentality despite having a wiry frame. His offensive game needs attention, both from a skill and fundamental standpoint, but he’s an intriguing talent because he runs hard and fills the lane, usually finishing with a dunk. Defensively, he is an elite shot-blocker and his ability to rebound in traffic is improving.”

A new name popped into the UW recruiting picture, as Rivals did an update on 2012 guard Kyiron Thomas,

“As the No. 6 ranked player in the NorCalPreps.com 2012 boys basketball rankings, Thomas is early in his recruiting but has been communicating with Arizona, Arizona State, California, Nevada, Notre Dame, Oregon, Oregon State, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, UC Davis, USC, USF, Washington, and Washington State. He has made unofficial visits to Cal and USC but has no favorites yet. He has no geographic restriction for his college.”

Kyi is a high school team mate of 2011 wing Darius Nelson, who got some looks from UW before committing to UTEP and former USC coach Tim Floyd.

Pac-10 Round Up

UCLA legend Ed O’Bannon is serious. He’s suing the NCAA for using his name and likeness. According to the AP, “O’Bannon’s lawsuit seeks a share of the money the NCAA earns from licensing former players’ images in commercials, DVDs, video games and elsewhere”.

I wish him well. I have no problem with funds being with held until after a student athletes amateur career is over, but it is not fair to exclude them from any compensation when their names and likenesses are used for commercial products or to promote an event.

‘Zona is gaining commits in high style with the announcements that Josiah Turner and Nick Johnson intend to sign in November. That’s all well and good, but where are these rides coming from in light on NCAA sanctions. ESPN blogger Diamond Leung in looking at the situation points out that the ‘Cats are now two over.

Even if Miller were to stand pat with those three, that would leave the Wildcats with two more players than scholarships for next season since they only have one senior on the roster.”

It appears that the situation could easily work itself out, just as long as one guy goes pro and one guy transfers, but the ‘Cats are still hard on the recruiting trail after the UW post prospect Chol and a number of others.

Chol will wait until spring to sign and perhaps that’s why they continue to recruit him, as ESPN reported that ‘Zona has told some high profile recruits that they must wait until after the season, based on lack of space. Leung feels that Arizona is being responsible. I feel they have little choice, currently on probation.

“It’s good public relations, really. The practice of oversigning by too much can be damaging if players on the current roster feel like they’re being forced to transfer if they don’t perform and players don’t turn pro as expected. Of course, jilted recruits can spoil recruiting relationships as well. It’s a tricky numbers game Arizona is dealing with here, and if nothing else, they’re being upfront about it.”

Oregon is falling into a huge hole. According to the Eugene Register-Guard, senior wing Lekendric Longmire has become an academic casualty. The loss is considerable.

“Over the past two seasons, Longmire has started 44 of the 56 games in which he has played. He has career averages of 7.1 points and 3.1 rebounds, He scored a career-high 18 points twice and, as a sophomore, had Oregon’s best three-point percentage at .426.”

A blog post by Rivals Jeff Eisenberg titled, “Oregon’s dreadful off-season might be college basketball’s worst” did a good job of reviewing the chain of events, from the horrific season that ended with the firing of Ernie Kent, through the endless coaching search and finally to the slow bleeding that has left the Ducks with 8 scholarship players.

The Ducks are in a hole that is going to be very difficult for Dana Altman or anyone really to dig out of. The only good news for Oregon fans is that the new arena is going to open mid-season and that they have plenty of spots open on the roster, just as long as players aren’t too concerned about very likely probation that could be right around the corner.

If the loss of Longmire wasn’t bad enough news, according to the Oregonian, the Ducks APR is likely to be below the level it must be to avoid loss of scholarships. With what the likely close look from the NCAA could yield in potential sanctions. The Oregon program could be in real trouble for a good while, as Altman attempts to rebuild against stiff odds.

Colorado fans who can’t wait to join the Pac-10 were the recipient of very good news as the Buffs struck a deal with the Big-12 to join the Pac-10 early this summer.

Now that both Utah and Colorado will be playing hoops in the league next fall, the next big news that Pac-10/12 fans will be looking for is finding out how the schedules will be set up? If the Pac-12 doesn’t divide into two divisions for hoops, will each team the whole league home and away? If they do the conference season will be 22 games instead of 18.

Buffs Head Coach Tad Boyle seems to relish moving Colorado’s recruiting base westward.

“We will still recruit nationally, but certainly California and the West Coast will be a prime target of ours.”

NW Hoops

NBA star Rodney Stuckey was and still is a legend on NW playgrounds. He participated in the Seattle Pro-Am League this summer and shows up regularly at open gyms at Tacoma CC, the Rainier Valley and around the area. Stuckey talked about playing in the Pro-Am league, which is sponsored by fellow local legend Jamal Crawford, in an interview with Dime Magazine.

NCAA Corruption

Bruce Pearl’s road of lies and double-talk was charted a bit better, as Dana O’Neill of ESPN reported that almost 100 improper phone calls were admitted to by Tennessee, during their own self-investigation. The general attitude on the part of the UT athletic Department is that Pearl is basically a good guy and that the violations were not intentional.

“In a memo to Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive, the university attributed the excessive phone calls to ‘poor record keeping or miscommunication,’ in regards to the majority of the phone calls, but admitted that some were the result of ‘carelessness (i.e., forgetting that they had already made a call that week)’.”

I don’t buy this story. The other side of this story is the one that is hard to document. That’s the one from people in the “biz”, who have in formed me of much great violations like paying AAU coaches for access to players, gifts and the like. Those anonymous reports have come consistently from people on the inside of the “biz” side of hoops.

I believe that Pearl and his program have not been anywhere near as clean as they are trying to sell it as now. Anything that the NCAA does will probably be less than they deserve, but something is of course better than nothing and it looks like something is going to happen.

If this stuff wasn’t getting heated enough, ESPN blogger Eamon Brennan cites ESPN’s Jay Bilas, CBS Sportsline’s Gary Parrish and Basketball Prospectus’ John Gasaway to argue the point that schools should decide their own eligibility requirements. Wasn’t Brennan’s comment about a coach who reported cheating being a “Rat” enough to paint him as sketchy?

This is crazy. What’s the point of college hoops if a school can make it’s own decisions as to who is eligible?

Brennan did bring up a worthwhile potential remedy to some of the problems of cheating in college hoops, as he transposed a Gary Williams radio interview in which the Maryland Coach stated that he felt players should be paid some pocket change.

“These guys don’t receive anything except room, board, books, tuition and fees, which doesn’t put any cash in their pockets. And some of these guys are pretty poor coming here, and a lot of college students have some money — you feel out of place, you don’t feel competitive academically sometimes, and I think it could do a lot of good. Plus, hopefully, it would keep away some of the unscrupulous people that do hang around the great athletes, where an athlete wouldn’t befriend a guy just because a guy gave him 100 bucks or something like that.”

Sonny Vaccaro continues to promote the idea that he is coming back to the AAU scene. Vaccaro did an extensive interview with Zagsblog about his getting back in the game.

I wish that Sonny would go away and stay away from the “Game” that he really helped to create. That game was a system that allowed agents, runners, boosters and crooked coaches greater access to kids.

Sonny, who I don’t believe ever left the “Game”, would like to make corruption easier and have fewer checks put on those that would seek to take kids away from college and even high school for no reason other than to make big money in my opinion.

I hope the NCAA ruins his big “comeback”, as they have for his buddies the Pumps and hopefully will for fellow wheeler dealer William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley.