Word on the Court: 5/14

- A pair of excellent articles from former Philly writer Dana O'Neill on the five year anniversary of the Dave Bliss debacle at Baylor, including an interview with the man himself (Dana O'Neil ESPN.com with Bliss, with former assistant coach Abar Rouse, who now works in a factory making airplane parts

- Everyone is still buzzing about OJ Mayo (as you can see here, here, and here), but the most interesting subplot may be the future of mega-recruit Demar DeRozan, who may look to get out of his SC commitment with the upcoming sanctions. (Signal to Noise)

- Duquesne's Kojo Mensah takes home the much sought after 2008 title of "Least Heralded Player to Already Sign With An Agent"

- Tough break for BYU as Chad Ford and Andy Katz are reporting that Trent Plaisted will hire an agent and stay in the draft

- Just when you thought that Billy Gillespie has had enough 9th grade recruiting for one season, he appears to be on his way to getting another (Go Vols Extra)

- Bob Huggins faceplants after tripping over a plastic cone in the Charlotte airport. Amazingly, alcohol was not involved. (Dean's List, SI)


- A few big preseason tournaments that have been announced over the past month that we really haven't had the time to post on......

ACC-Big Ten Challenge (Duke-Purdue, Miami-Ohio State, North Carolina-Michigan State..... )
Old Spice Classic (Gonzaga, Michigan State, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, Siena, Wichita State, Maryland, Georgetown)
Coaches vs Cancer (Duke, Pitt, UCLA, Michigan)
CBE (Syracuse, Florida, Kansas, Washington)
Las Vegas Shootout (West Virgina, Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas State)
Paradise Jam (Wisconsin, UConn, Miami, San Diego, Southern Miss, La Salle, Valpo, Iona)

(Much thanks to Andy Katz and his blog for reporting the CVC and CBE match-ups)

STF Summer School Is Now In Session

That's right, this is what you get for slacking off during the actual college basketball season....you have to read a vast array of link dumps and previews of a season that is still five months away.

With finals out of the way along with other things I held off until the end of college basketball season (moving into a new apartment among them) STF can finally return to a somewhat normal posting schedule. Not like there is whole lot of non-Mayo college basketball news out there, but we'll at least be back to at least once-a-day posting. The definite summer schedule won't be hammered out for another week, but here is what is down pat so far...

Word on the Court Link Dump: Wednesdays

STF Summer Outlook: Bi-weekly

College Hoops Q&A: Monthly

(New Feature) Blog Roundtable: Bi-Weekly

More features likely to follow, but that's what we have for now. And when he's not busy with the outstanding minor league baseball blog Bus Leagues, expect to see lots of Extra P around here as well. Hell, if we are lucky, maybe even a Dark Secrets to really uncover the truth about OJ Mayo and his promoter.

OJ Mayo Finally Lives Up to His Reputation

Because I had to attend two graduations separated by 300 miles in three days, I'm way behind on the OJ Mayo story. As everyone knows by now, Mayo is in a bit of hot water as he has been accused of receiving thousands of dollars in cash and other gifts from promoter/agent Rodney Guillory over the past four years. The story was broke on ESPN's E:60 by a former Mayo associate, who provided receipts to back up his claims.

Can't exactly say shock was the emotion I felt when the accusations first broke. Mayo came to USC with red flags the size of a Times Square billboard, which explains why he's been investigated since 2006.

The bigger surprise is that Mayo's major distraction to the college basketball world came so long after the season. The majority of college basketball fans were probably pleasantly surprised at how smoothly things went for Mayo in his one and only season at USC, as he always said the right thing and never seemed to cause a problem (except when, you know, he punched a teammate or something). But this appears to be when the other shoe has finally dropped.

The blame is going to be spread all around for this: USC, Mayo, his shady promoter, the NBA age limit, blogs, Tim Floyd, USC's compliance department and so on. This site isn't in any kind of position to blame anyone, STF can only offer this advice to all athletes: stay far, far away from any reporter even remotely associated with E:60. That show is quickly on it's way to becoming the To Catch a Predator for shady athletes.

More on this story as it will surely develop.

Peking at the Future of College Basketball

These upcoming summer olympics have spawned a sort of China-mania in the sports media. I have no doubt that a search for China-related storylines led to the story I just read in the Sacramento Bee.

Seems the next big thing in college basketball is the Chinese center. We've been seeing the likes of Yi Jianlian climbing up NBA draft boards, and slick college coaches have decided to get in on that action. And when I say slick, I mean John Calipari. He believes he can get Chinese players to come to Memphis:

It's one of the reasons Calipari started a five-year coaching exchange program with China's government and the Chinese Basketball Association.

This past season, 15 Chinese coaches visited the Memphis campus to watch the first 10 days of Calipari's practice. One coach was selected to stay as a season-long intern.

Calipari will take his team to China to play three exhibition games this summer against the Chinese Olympic team. The university also has signed an agreement for a Chinese student-exchange program.

The five-year exchange program benefits China because the country wants to strengthen its national basketball program and needs a new generation of coaches with modern coaching and training methods.

Calipari and Memphis provide that training.

Daniel Lyght, the author of the article, could only find evidence of three current Chinese players in the college ranks. Shang Ping is a 6'10" Forward at Nebraska. Max Zhang (pictured above) will play his first year at Cal when he takes off his redshirt next season. Ji Xiang is another six-ten forward who has landed at Hawaii.

Hard to say when or if this asian fascination will pay dividends in the U.S. The article cites many difficulties, including high travel expenses, standardized test scores (talk about a cultural bias), and the ever-present langauge barrier. One thing's for sure - with athletic departments investing this much time and effort in the process, they'll be expecting results within the next few years.

It's a small world, after all.

[Sacramento Bee]

STF Summer Outlook - The NBA Draft Early Entries

The second part of STF’ s Summer Outlook series takes a look at this year's very deep and very talented crop of NBA Draft Early Entries. We here at STF claim to know absolutely nothing about how certain college player will perform in the NBA (I had high hopes for Adam Morrison) , but since early entries will have such a dramatic impact on the 08-09 season, we need to cover it. A staggering 69 collegiate players have entered their names so far, a number that is clearly inflated thanks to the new rules that allows players to return back to school if they don't sign with an agent. Expect this list to be cut in half or even two-thirds by the time the June 14th deadline rolls around.

The Early Entry List

Rock Solid Lottery Picks

Jerryd Bayless, Arizona
Michael Beasley, Kansas State
Eric Gordon, Indiana
DeAndre Jordan, Texas A&M
Brook Lopez, Stanford
Robin Lopez, Stanford
Kevin Love*, UCLA
O.J. Mayo, USC
Anthony Randolph, LSU
Derrick Rose, Memphis

Chris Douglas-Roberts^, Memphis


Likely First Round Picks, Staying for the Cash

Kosta Koufos, Ohio State
Darrell Arthur*, Kansas
D.J. Augustin, Texas
Chase Budinger*, Arizona
Mario Chalmers*, Kansas
JaVale McGee, Nevada
Brandon Rush, Kansas
Bill Walker*, Kansas State
Russell Westbrook*, UCLA

The Battle for the Three Year Guarantee (Late First, Early Second Round)

Joe Alexander*, West Virginia
A.J. Abrams*, Texas
Jamont Gordon*, Mississippi State
Richard Hendrix*, Alabama
J.J. Hickson*, N.C. State
George Hill*, IUPUI
Davon Jefferson*USC
Ty Lawson*North Carolina
Jerel McNeal* Marquette
Trent Plaisted*BYU
Marreese Speights*Florida
Danny Green* North Carolina

Donte Green, *^ Syracsue

One-Dimensional Stars, Stay in School In Hopes of Becoming Multi-Dimensional

Josh Carter* Texas A&M (shooting)
Lee Cummard*BYU (shooting)
Wayne Ellington*North Carolina (shooting)
Lester Hudson*Tennessee-Martin (scoring)
Stefon Jackson*UTEP (scoring)
Shawn James Duquesne (shot blocking)
Jeremy Pargo*Gonzaga (passing/ball-handling)
Josh Shipp*UCLA (shooting)
Ronald Steele*Alabama (getting injured)
Robert Vaden*UAB (shooting)

Tremendous Athletes, But Need Isiah to be Re-Hired if They Want to be Drafted

Josh Akognon*Cal State Fullerton
Antonio Anderson*Memphis
Derrick Caracter, Louisville
Robert Dozier*Memphis
Michael Podobinski# Penn State
Alonzo Gee* Alabama
C.J. Giles Oregon State
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute*UCLA

Never a Good Sign If I Need to Look You Up to See If You Are Real

DeMarre Carroll*Missouri
Reggie Huffman*UAB
Leo Lyons*Missouri
Kalen Grimes* Missouri
Kojo Mensah*Dubuque
Courtney Pigram* East Tennessee State
Lorrenzo Wade*San Diego State
Gordon WattHouston Baptist
Eric Angevine# Old Dominion
Walter Sharpe*UAB

* - did not hire an agent
# - not a real college basketball player

^ - Player lost in the shuffle of tranfering this list from a word doc while at work

*Just wanted to make an observation that somehow, Missouri coach Mike Anderson has an influence on six(!) players making terrible decision to possibly enter the draft. Three from current Missouri team and three from his former team UAB. It should also be noted that neither team made the NCAA Tournament last season.

Random, gut feeling on boarderline players.....

Staying

Abrams

Gordon

Hill

McNeal

Going

Green

Alexander

Hickson

Jefferson

Chris Lofton Played 2008 Season While Battling Cancer

I don't think I'm alone in feeling like an absolute ass this morning for my in season criticisms of Chris Lofton's play after leaning last night via the excellent article by ESPN's Chris Low that the Tennessee guard played the entire season recovering from testicular cancer. Lofton's play all season always seemed a bit off, particularly late in games when he always looked fatigued and was prone to costly turnovers and bad shots. Now with this news, it all makes sense.

Truly must read article from Low about Lofton's fight to get back on the court. What amazes me almost as much Lofton's quick recovery was that no one knew about it until now.

"It was a very tight circle of people who knew. That circle included Lofton's parents, the Tennessee coaches and medical staff and a handful of others.The only teammate Lofton told was fellow senior guard Jordan Howell, and that was late in the season. Lofton and Howell roomed together on the road. Even Lofton's other family members -- aunts, uncles and cousins -- didn't know."

I'm curious to know how many college hoops writers or reporters knew about this and just kept it under wraps for Loftons' sake. Either way, simply amazing in this day and age that this story wasn't leaked until one month after the season. Stay healthy Chris, we are all rooting for you

Going Pro in Something Else, With NCAA Money

Here at STF, we are plugged in to college basketball year round. The various conferences send news updates into our email box whenever there's something to report. Last night, we got one that actually gave us new information on an aspect of the NCAA that we were previously unaware of. Apparently the NCAA really does help student-athletes go pro in something else, as their public service announcements proclaim.

The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship is awarded to 87 men and 87 women who have completed their collegiate eligibility while demonstrating academic excellence. The awards are given to athletes in any NCAA sport, and are spread from Division III up to Division I based on merit. The $7500 scholarships can be used at any accredited graduate school, domestic or foreign.

This year's sole DI men's basketball winner is Jack Leasure of Coastal Carolina, who made several academic all-america teams while averaging 16.8 ppg. Last year, two-time NCAA champion Florida Gator Lee Humphrey took home the cash. Some guys have all the luck, talent, brains, and hard work, eh?

In this case, I'm inclined to give the NCAA some credit for putting money where their mouths are. Yes, most of the time they muddy the student-athlete waters more than they clarify them, but this is a good thing. I'll be looking into this story further - I'd love to find out what some of these athletes have done with the money. Who knows? Your doctor could be a former NCAA hoops star.

[NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Program]