The water outside Rupp Arena is (gasp!) red?
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, the water was supposed to be temporarily dyed pink. Whoops!
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Duke Basketball: 5 Best Blue Devil Lineups for the 2012-13 Season
Mike Krzyzewski will have lots of lineup combinations to choose from in the 2012-13 season.
Seth Curry, Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly and Andre Dawkins (Note: I anticipate that AD will play in ’12-13) will provide senior leadership for this next edition of Blue Devil basketball.
Two red-shirt freshman (Marshall Plumlee and Alex Murphy) will add talent and depth to Duke’s front line.
Two talented McDonald’s All-Americans (Rasheed Sulaimon and Amile Jefferson) will hit campus this summer and challenge for a place in the starting five.
Here’s a quick look at some possible potent lineup combinations for the upcoming season.
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College Basketball: The 15 Best Foreign Players in the Country for Next Season
While the NBA draft may typically be loaded with little-known prospects from foreign soil, many fans do not realize the amount of non-American stars playing college basketball in the United States.
Last year, SEC champion Vanderbilt showcased two foreign studs in Jeffery Taylor and Festus Ezeli. Both will be picked in the 2012 NBA draft.
Big East regular season champion Syracuse had Canadian forward Kris Joseph leading the Orange to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
On this list, Canada is the highest represented country with five list members. Also included are two incoming freshmen.
Here are the 15 best foreign players heading into the 2012-13 college basketball season.
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Maryland Basketball: Why Terps Will Beat out Temple, KU, Nova for Rysheed Jordan
When a highly-touted recruit from Philadelphia eliminates power programs such as Georgetown and Marquette from his list but keeps La Salle and Drexel, it only means one thing.
Location is a huge factor.
Rysheed Jordan, a 2013 point guard from Philly, has since cut both of those Philadelphia schools from his list. Nonetheless, their longevity as contenders for his services was a strong indication of his preference for staying close to home.
He attends Vaux Roberts High School in North Philadelphia, and plays for the AAU Philly Pride.
Temple has long been the favorite for Jordan’s destination. He seems to attend the majority of Temple’s home games and has strong ties to the Owls’ coaching staff.
He lives within a very small proximity of Temple’s campus and already carries the nickname, “Prince of North Philly.” It’s safe to say Jordan has plenty of reasons to take his talents to the newest members of the Big East.
Aside from Temple, Jordan currently lists three other schools, according to InsideMDSports.
Maryland is in second place for the Jordan sweepstakes. Villanova remains a legitimate potential landing spot. Kansas has also entered the race.
Rivals.com ranks the 6-foot-3 Jordan as the 12th best junior in high school basketball. He is also ranked as the third best point guard in his class.
Jordan had been aiming for a July deadline for his college decision to be made. Since Temple has not once fallen from the frontrunner title, all signs pointed toward the elite distributor selecting the Owls when he would have decided in under two months.
Now, Rysheed is thinking the whole process over.
According to InsideMDSports, a Maryland recruiting website, Jordan is not quite ready to make a decision yet.
“He was going to commit in July, but he’s really not ready for that yet,” said Kamal Yard, the director of the Philly Pride AAU team. “He doesn’t entirely know what he wants to do. Does he want to stay close to home or does he want to [get away]? He hasn’t really decided yet, so he’ll probably wait a while,”
“It’s still Maryland and Temple at the top, and then you’ve got Villanova. Kansas is in there, too. It’s the same as before, pretty much. He’s a Philly guy and he’s got a really close relationship with his mother. He’s willing to go a few hours, but probably not too far. But you never know if that could change. Kids are so fickle.”
Jordan most likely would have chosen Temple had he chosen in July. Now that he is waiting until his senior season, ample time exists for Maryland to jump ahead of Temple.
Any college recruit desires to enter a winning environment, something that has recently existed at Temple and not Maryland.
With Maryland’s outstanding recruiting class and development of current players, that’s about to change.
If Jordan were to come to Maryland, his presence would create a deep and talented backcourt foursome with Seth Allen, Pe’Shon Howard, and Sam Cassell Jr.
Evaluators have consistently praised Jordan for being unselfish. He loves to dish the ball and will be able to do that efficiently with Evan Smotrycz, Nick Faust, and Jake Layman on the wings.
In addition, the Terps will have Charles Mitchell, Shaquille Cleare and most importantly, Alex Len. All three are productive forwards who will love to receive dump-downs from Rysheed Jordan.
Maryland’s roster is built to succeed in 2013 when Jordan would be a freshman in college.
On the flip side, Temple’s roster is on the decline. By 2013, the Owls will have lost their four best players from 2011-12 in Khalif Wyatt, Ramone Moore, Juan Fernandez and Michael Eric.
Temple is joining a power conference and will most likely struggle with their adjustment into stiffer competition. The Atlantic-10 has been strong, but the Big East is considered one of the top leagues in the entire country.
While Temple will be rebuilding and struggling to reach the upper half of the Big East in 2013, Maryland will have returned to the ACC’s top tier.
Jordan is looking to succeed, and with the added decision-making time that he’s taking, Maryland now has the opportunity to show Jordan that the Terps can succeed.
Temple seemed to be close to a lock for Jordan’s services, but the circumstances have shifted.
Jordan has increased Maryland’s chances by extending his decision window, and he may not even know it just yet.
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Duke Basketball: Top 50 Blue Devils in School History
The Duke Blue Devils have had some of the best players in college basketball history, but these are 50 greatest players in school history.
One of the winningest schools in college basketball history, Duke has had no shortage of talented players. This school has had a steady run of success, during which they have become one of the most prestigious schools in college basketball.
Duke has won four national championships, made it to 10 championship games and 15 Final Fours, and has an NCAA-best .748 NCAA tournament winning percentage.
Duke is arguably the most well-known basketball program in the country, and the reason the Blue Devils have been so successful is because of these great players.
11 Duke players have been named the National Player of the Year, while 71 players have been selected in the NBA draft. The team has also had 36 All-Americans, being elected a total of 60 times.
Of all of the incredible players to play for Duke, these are the top 50 in school history.
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Amile Jefferson: Can He Change the Perception of the Duke Big Man?
Duke simply had to get Amile Jefferson (news via Associated Press) if they were to remain one of the elite programs in college basketball.
Not that they absolutely need him for success next season, but this changes things in the recruiting circles.
Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA and other top programs such as Arizona (they are on their way back) and North Carolina seem to be getting the lion’s share of McDonald’s All Americans. Even lowly North Carolina State seem to be doing well under Mark Gottfried.
Duke does enjoy success in recruiting wing players and guards (2010 recruit Kyrie Irving just won NBA rookie of the year) but has missed out on several forwards and centers.
Mitch McGary, ranked No. 2 in the 2012 recruiting class last summer, went on record saying (via ESPN) that Duke big men are only good for setting screens and rebounding, then subsequently picked Michigan. That was the most brutal statement made by a recruit, but obviously he was not alone in this way of thinking.
Nerlens Noel, the top player in the same class, simply said “no” to Duke. Perry Ellis chose Kansas after claiming via kentucky.com he used to be “a real Dukie.” The list goes on and on, as if Duke was the captain of the football team that could not get a date for his high school prom.
Tony Parker, a player who seemed like a dead ringer for Sheldon Williams and is affectionately known to the Duke fanbase as ‘The Landlord,’ chose to compete with a loaded UCLA frontcourt rather than commit to Duke.
According to Duke Basketball Report, Parker had cited in an online diary that Mason Plumlee was a “real monster” in high school and he had somehow regressed as a Blue Devil.
This was a myth the guys at Duke Basketball Report dismissed as rumor, since Parker was too young to play Plumlee in high school.
They argued that Mason Plumlee averaged 15.3 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.5 blocks as a senior at Christ the King High School, which played “in the greatly inferior North Carolina private school league.” They then compared those numbers to Plumlee’s junior year at Duke (11.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks) against tougher competition, to show the forward had actually grown.
This is why Jefferson’s commitment is so important to show that players, specifically post players, can grow in Durham. Since The Landlord graduated in 2006, Duke has not had a polished offensive post player. The fact that Coach Krzyzewski personally took over Amile’s recruiting showed how important the forward is to the program.
“Once Coach K started recruiting me, I did not talk to an assistant coach,” Jefferson said, via ESPN. “That definitely shows the coach wants you and every conversation I had with him seemed genuine. I felt like I can become a better person and player at Duke University.”
Both player and school must have a symbiotic relationship. Jefferson cannot sacrifice his offensive game just to play defense, rebound and set screens, he has to be rewarded with the ball on offense as well.
Not an easy task for a 6’8” power forward who weighs 190 lbs. His weight may be a red flag but not necessarily a great hindrance. Over the years, some players have shown that their athletic ability can triumph over lack of requisite weight in the ACC. Chris Bosh at Georgia Tech, John Henson at North Carolina and C J Leslie at North Carolina State are examples of this.
Jefferson, whose YouTube highlights show he is quite adept at finishing with either hands around the rim, should be a welcome addition for the coming season along with guard Rasheed Sulaimon.
It is doubtful that Jefferson will be a starter, but rising senior Ryan Kelly has proven in the past that he is just as effective coming off the bench as he is starting, so don’t be surprised if Amile does start.
If Jefferson can enjoy some success, as an offensive threat, this will go a long way to demystify the perception of Duke big men and should help greatly with future recruiting. More importantly, Duke will get players that will provide balance in scoring rather than rely too much on outside shooting.
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How Early Is Too Early to Start Looking at High School Basketball Prospects?
In today’s highly-competitive recruiting environment, college basketball coaches will go to great lengths to gain an advantage, and that includes scouting and evaluating players at an extremely young age.
It’s no longer abnormal for prospects to be identified in seventh, eighth or ninth grade, and some schools such as Southern California and Kentucky have made scholarship offers to middle-school athletes.
I don’t have a problem with coaches scouting young players, but so many coaches are highly-valuing these 13 and 14-year-olds and taking enormous stock in their talent.
Several of these kids are being told they’re the next Derrick Rose or Anthony Davis before they’ve played a single high school game. Schools such as Indiana, USC and Kentucky have all made scholarship offers to prospects who were in eighth grade or younger.
Back when he was 14, Connecticut Huskies guard Ryan Boatright committed to USC before he even chose which Chicago-area high school he would play for. In his case, it all worked out in the end, as he landed with a top-tier program superior to the one he initially committed to.
But for every Boatright or Rose there are 50 other “cant-miss” prospects who don’t pan out. And even Boatright’s case shows the flaws of early recruitment: he didn’t end up with the school he originally committed to, and his road to Connecticut included some rule-bending and receiving improper benefits.
There’s something wrong about declaring a junior high student as a future star. Coaching staffs and programs are not being fair to themselves or the athletes. It’s also irregular to put so much stock in a kid who may not develop into the elite prospect they were expected to be.
Most importantly, it’s not fair to the young prospect who faces a world of stardom at an extremely young age. These athletes become the centerpiece of a recruiting war between the best college hoops programs. They become wrapped up in the culture of AAU and other All-Star events when they should be learning how to be well-rounded young adults.
I’m not saying that dedication to basketball and playing in summer leagues is inherently bad, but the younger the recruit, the less likely it is that he’ll be able to handle the hoopla.
For the college program, it’s wise to steer clear of overvaluing prospects when they’re still in middle school.
Deeming a prospect worthy of a scholarship offer at 13 or 14 is much different than making the same assessment when he’s 16 or 17. When he’s a sophomore or a junior, he can be accurately assessed because he has a couple years of high school basketball under his belt, along with a few more years of off-the-court maturity.
Unfortunately, the eat-or-be-eaten mentality of modern recruiting has forced big-time programs to look hard at 12 and 13-year-olds. In 2009, the NCAA declared that seventh graders are officially classified as prospects.
NCAA coaches need to be careful. Middle school is not too early to keep an eye on potential stars, but too much attention and too much stock in these youngsters can hurt everyone involved.
Elementary school is certainly too early to even look at players, and middle school is too early to crown kids as the next big thing.
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Wyoming’s Washington sentenced for battery, criminal entry
Forward Leonard Washington, who was Wyoming’s leading scorer last season, has been sentenced on criminal entry and battery charges.
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Swofford: FSU situation not brought up at meetings (Yahoo! Sports)
Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford said Wednesday that the possibility of Florida State leaving the league was not brought up ”in any formal way” during this week’s meetings.
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The 10 Most Devastating Injuries of the College Basketball Season
One of the running themes of the 2011-12 basketball season was the number of games defined by the players who weren’t on the floor. Although suspensions—Syracuse’s Fab Melo, UConn’s Ryan Boatright—played a part into that narrative, key players being lost to injury made for some of the biggest story lines of the season.
Few injuries had such immediate (or obvious) effects as Duke’s loss of forward Ryan Kelly to a sprained foot. With the sharp-shooting forward sidelined, the Blue Devils lost their ACC Tournament semifinal against Florida State, then proceeded to implode in the NCAA Tournament as the sixth No. 2 seed in history to fall to a No. 15.
Herein, a further look at the painful end to Kelly’s season, along with nine more players whose injuries changed the fates of their teams last year.
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