Just when we were starting to really contemplate the thought of LeBron James playing wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, the powers that be finally came to a suitable resolution and ended the 149-day NBA lockout. But not before
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LeBron, KD meet on a football field
Filed under News by on Dec 8th, 2011. Comment. 
On Tuesday, Kevin Durant did what any self-respecting NBA player would do in mid-November he was at a basketball game.
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Durant considering options in case NBA season is canceled
Filed under Basketball, News by on Nov 16th, 2011. Comment.
Banished from his real job as an NBA star, Kevin Durant found part-time work Tuesday at the Erwin Center.
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Texas surges past Rhode Island
Filed under News by on Nov 16th, 2011. Comment.
Every week, your humble college basketball hoops blogger (er, me) will respond to your questions, comments and nonsensical rants in this here Hoopsbag. To submit a query, visit this page by clicking the link under my name in the upper right-hand corner of the blog. You can also email me or send me your entries via Twitter . (Honestly, the best way to get me is Twitter.) Per the usual, we begin with video. @ Purdidit writes : Each year has one or two: Which preseason top 10 team is most likely to fail to live up to expectations? Eamonn Brennan : This one’s actually pretty easy. It’s Memphis. For much of the summer, I thought the Tigers’ preseason ranking was going to be too high; with all this young talent, it’s easy to forget that Memphis was basically a so-so C-USA team for much of the 2010-11 season. Sure, the Tigers finished strong, and there’s reason to expect scaled improvements from a team that features so many sophomores that played big minutes as freshmen. The addition of highly-touted recruit Adonis Thomas helps, too. But top 10? Didn’t that seem just a little optimistic? What was I missing? I put Memphis at No. 17 in my preseason top-25 ballot . I thought that seemed fair. Then Ken Pomeroy released his preseason rankings (Memphis is ranked No. 20) and ESPN Insider and Basketball Prospectus maven John Gasaway broke things down in this Monday piece for Insider , and I’m more convinced than ever that Memphis isn’t a top-10 team. As John wrote, that doesn’t mean they won’t be a top-10 team by the end of the season. It may even be earlier than that. But the team with the worst offense in Conference USA — the only team to score less than a point per possession in C-USA last season — can’t possibly be the ninth-best team in the country. It may happen at some point, but I’d be shocked if the Tigers didn’t struggle at times, especially early in the season. People will say they were overrated. But whose fault is that? (Speaking of Memphis, by the way: Josh Pastner just keeps snatching up elite recruits . The present was already bright, but jeez, that future! Look out.) @ LakeRosenberg writes : In honor of The Mid-Majority , what team from below The Red Line can go the furthest in the NCAA Tournament? Brennan : It’s a new season with (hopefully) new readers, so I won’t assume everyone knows what The Red Line is. You can get up to speed right here . The short version: The Mid-Majority’s Kyle Whelliston wanted to define what, exactly, a mid-major is. He cut through the usual nonsense about tournament bids and school enrollments (people used to come up with some really wacky mid-major arguments) and instead created an intuitive, simple mechanism: The Red Line. If your conference’s average athletics department spends more than X number of dollars, you’re a high-major league.
Filed under Basketball, Football, News by on Nov 9th, 2011. Comment.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Kevin Foster isn’t exactly trying to hide his secret to 3-point success. After all, the word “dedication” is tattooed on the right arm of the Santa Clara guard who has hoisted up more shots from long range and made more of them than anyone in the nation. “It’s after practice shooting rep after rep,” Foster said. “It’s all about repetition for me, just getting in the gym after and before practice and taking and making as many shots as I can because I know I’m taking a lot of shots in the game.” Twenty-five years after the NCAA established a universal 3-point line to forever change college basketball, Foster is defining his college career by making his living from beyond the arc. To put his numbers into context, compare them with those of recent NBA draft picks Jimmer Fredette, Klay Thompson and Andrew Goudelock, who were regarded as some of the top shooters in the nation last season. Thompson, whose picture-perfect form made him a star at Washington State, attempted 246 3-pointers. Goudelock, whose shoot-first mentality nearly carried Charleston to the NCAA tournament, attempted 322. Fredette, the national player of the year who hit daggers from all over the floor for BYU, attempted 313. Foster blew them all away by attempting a whopping 380 shots from way downtown, leading the nation with 140 makes.
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Santa Clara’s Foster shoots free from 3
Filed under Basketball by on Nov 3rd, 2011. Comment.
Braeden Anderson, a top-50 power forward who wasn’t able to attend Kansas as a partial qualifier , will go to Fresno State instead and look to become eligible next season, according to the Lawrence Journal-World . “I did not want to commit to two years at a junior college,” said Anderson, who would have needed a juco degree to qualify for a two-year career at KU. “Fresno is a really good fit for me. I really like the coaches there. I’m a West Coast kid at heart. I have a ton of family in California — a lot of cousins.” Of course, he’s depressed that he’s unable to play at his first choice, KU. “My ultimate goal is the NBA. Before that, my ultimate goal was to make a high-major Div. I school. In my mind, I made it there,” Anderson said of attaining an offer from Kansas. “Kansas is where I wanted to go. I would have picked Kansas over any school in the country. I love all the people there. My heart will always be in Kansas. I’ll always have a really soft spot for Lawrence and the people there.” The addition of Anderson for Fresno State would be a big shot in the arm, as coach Rodney Terry is getting off to a good start with rebuilding the program. The former Texas assistant made his name recruiting out of Canada, and the Alberta native Anderson gives the Bulldogs the 2011 Mr. Canada Basketball award winner. Fresno State will have to raise its talent level, because this is its final season in the WAC before leaving for the Mountain West. Rather than help replace the Morris twins at Kansas, the 6-foot-9 Anderson will now head to a program that could make him the face of a new era.
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Kansas signee commits to Fresno State
Filed under Basketball, News by on Oct 24th, 2011. Comment.
KANSAS CITY — A few days ago, Texas coach Rick Barnes turned to one of his assistants in practice and made a bold prediction about the 2011-12 season. Well, kind of. “We’re going to be good at something — at least one thing,” Barnes told him. “I’m just not sure what it is yet.” There are indeed plenty of questions surrounding a Longhorns team that had three players — Tristan Thompson, Jordan Hamilton and Cory Joseph — selected in the first round of last summer’s NBA draft. Six of the nine recruited scholarship players on Texas’ roster are freshmen, and there appears to be a serious lack of depth in the paint. Still, if Barnes is searching for a team strength, it may be a safe bet to look in the backcourt, where highly touted freshman point guard Myck Kabongo will team with junior J’Covan Brown , who is easily the team’s top returning player. Barnes said Kabongo has all the tools to become the next great point guard for a program that has produced standouts such as T.J. Ford and D.J. Augustin. “He’s somewhere in between those two,” Barnes said of Kabongo. “He’s extremely fast like T.J., but T.J. would pace his game. Myck is a more full throttle. Forget the cruise control. He’d be great this weekend at Talledega. He can beat everyone down the floor with the ball, but he’s going to learn to change his pace from time to time so our team can get into a flow.” As much as he needs him to excel with the ball in his hands, Barnes is also counting on Kabongo to assume a leaderhip role for a squad that also lost senior forward Gary Johnson along with the three draft picks. That’s fine with Kabongo, who played high school ball for hard-nosed coach Dan Hurley at St. Benedict’s Prep. “He got me ready, mentally,” Kabongo said of Hurley. “Some of these [freshmen] have never been at schools where coaches are going to get after them every day. That’s what Coach Barnes does. I just let the young guys know, ‘You can’t take it personal. It’s part of the game. You’ve got to be coachable.
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Mature Myck Kabongo will lead young Texas
Filed under Basketball by on Oct 21st, 2011. Comment.
KANSAS CITY — A few days ago, Texas coach Rick Barnes turned to one of his assistants in practice and made a bold prediction about the 2011-12 season. Well, kind of. “We’re going to be good at something — at least one thing,” Barnes told him. “I’m just not sure what it is yet.” There are indeed plenty of questions surrounding a Longhorns team that had three players — Tristan Thompson, Jordan Hamilton and Cory Joseph — selected in the first round of last summer’s NBA draft. Six of the nine recruited scholarship players on Texas’ roster are freshmen, and there appears to be a serious lack of depth in the paint. Still, if Barnes is searching for a team strength, it may be a safe bet to look in the backcourt, where highly touted freshman point guard Myck Kabongo will team with junior J’Covan Brown , who is easily the team’s top returning player. Barnes said Kabongo has all the tools to become the next great point guard for a program that has produced standouts such as T.J. Ford and D.J. Augustin. “He’s somewhere in between those two,” Barnes said of Kabongo. “He’s extremely fast like T.J., but T.J. would pace his game. Myck is a more full throttle. Forget the cruise control. He’d be great this weekend at Talledega. He can beat everyone down the floor with the ball, but he’s going to learn to change his pace from time to time so our team can get into a flow.” As much as he needs him to excel with the ball in his hands, Barnes is also counting on Kabongo to assume a leaderhip role for a squad that also lost senior forward Gary Johnson along with the three draft picks. That’s fine with Kabongo, who played high school ball for hard-nosed coach Dan Hurley at St. Benedict’s Prep. “He got me ready, mentally,” Kabongo said of Hurley. “Some of these [freshmen] have never been at schools where coaches are going to get after them every day. That’s what Coach Barnes does. I just let the young guys know, ‘You can’t take it personal. It’s part of the game. You’ve got to be coachable. You can’t let what he says on the court affect you off the court.’” Barnes couldn’t say enough good things about Kabongo’s attitude — “I’ve never seen him in a bad mood,” the coach doted — and work ethic. Apparently some of it has rubbed off on Brown, who has battled consistency issues since arriving at UT two years ago. Last season, for instance, Brown scored 23 points in a come-from-behind victory at Kansas, but only had three points in the Longhorns’ next game against Oklahoma State. “[Kabongo] is going to impact me big time and get my motor going,” said Brown, who averaged 9.8 points last season. “I’ve got to be consistent every night, no matter who we’re playing. “Sometimes, when we’re playing teams that aren’t as competitive, I’ll get lost in the shuffle. I’ll tell myself, ‘I just want to be a defender today and not a scorer.’ When it’s a big game, I tell my teammates, ‘If you need me, just let me know.’ I’ve got to have the mindset that it’s a big game no matter who we’re playing.” If Brown doesn’t, it could be a tough season for Texas, which has finished no worse than fourth in the Big 12 five of the last six years. The Horns placed second last season with a league record of 13-3.
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Mature Myck Kabongo will lead young Texas
Filed under Basketball by on Oct 21st, 2011. Comment.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Here are some observations after spending Thursday at Big 12 media day: 1. Texas freshman Myck Kabongo is going to be successful. How do I know without seeing him play a single college game? Just call it a hunch. Kabongo was introducing himself in such a polite and engaging manner Wednesday night and then again Thursday. He had such a presence about him, answered his questions and even avoided some about other players in the Big 12 without sounding disrespectful. He might be one of the most impressive freshmen I’ve seen at a media day in terms of the way he carried himself. Kabongo understands the importance of a first impression. 2. If Kansas wins the Big 12 yet again this season, it could go down as one of Bill Self’s most impressive coaching performances. The Jayhawks legitimately don’t have a star or a stud on this roster that you can guarantee will be a first-team all-league player or an NBA first-round pick. But Self is relishing this roster. This is a collection of players who are just like him, players who have to earn their keep and will need to win by ensuring they are one team with one agenda. 3. Kansas State’s media guide cover may go down as one of the best I’ve ever seen. You can’t watch Frank Martin on the sidelines and not be drawn to his facial expressions. So the KSU marketing department captured the many faces of Frank from the scowl, to the growl, to the shock, to the euphoria. K-State wrestled with what to do and whether or not to put a player on the cover. They ended up picking Martin and thankfully he went along with it. 4. Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie has had quite a run, from Self’s bench at Illinois to head-coaching gigs at UTEP and Texas A&M to the tumultuous time at Kentucky to some personal failings to dealing with the recent death of his mother. Gillispie can be quirky and hard to read. But he was genuinely in as good a mood Thursday as I’ve ever seen him at this point in the season. He does seem to be at peace with his position. We’ll see if that lasts. But he is embracing this latest second chance. 5. I’ve seen Missouri coach Frank Haith twice in the past week — once in New York and again in Kansas City — and he’s handled himself quite well dealing with the speculation of the Tigers’ conference affiliation, the Laurence Bowers ACL injury and of course the NCAA investigation into an allegation that he knew of a $10,000 payment to the family of Miami’s DeQuan Jones . Haith has lost weight, but no longer sounds as stressed as he did when the story first broke. He’s locked into making this season work. He was essentially popped by the Yahoo! Sports report and was staggered by the news flow from the story.
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10 observations from Big 12 Media Day
Filed under Basketball, Football, News by on Oct 21st, 2011. Comment.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Here are some observations after spending Thursday at Big 12 media day: 1. Texas freshman Myck Kabongo is going to be successful. How do I know without seeing him play a single college game? Just call it a hunch. Kabongo was introducing himself in such a polite and engaging manner Wednesday night and then again Thursday. He had such a presence about him, answered his questions and even avoided some about other players in the Big 12 without sounding disrespectful. He might be one of the most impressive freshmen I’ve seen at a media day in terms of the way he carried himself. Kabongo understands the importance of a first impression. 2. If Kansas wins the Big 12 yet again this season, it could go down as one of Bill Self’s most impressive coaching performances. The Jayhawks legitimately don’t have a star or a stud on this roster that you can guarantee will be a first-team all-league player or an NBA first-round pick. But Self is relishing this roster. This is a collection of players who are just like him, players who have to earn their keep and will need to win by ensuring they are one team with one agenda.
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10 observations from Big 12 Media Day
Filed under Basketball, Football, News by on Oct 21st, 2011. Comment.
