EveryJoe » college basketball

Magic Kept Isiah Off The 92′ Olympic Team

Lyndsey D'Arcangelo — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:01:17 +0000

In the beginning of the NBA season, and before college basketball gets underway, I like digging around for the juicer kind of basketball stories. And this one is the juiciest of them all.

According to SI.com, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan purposely lobbied to keep Isiah Thomas off of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team for personal reasons.

Magic Johnson said that his relationship with Isiah Thomas is "cordial" at best.

The admission was made by Magic himself, in a book that he co-wrote with Larry Bird.

When The Game Was Ours features a section in which Magic accuses Isiah of spreading a rumor that he was gay. As a result, Magic played a key role in keeping Isiah from participating in the Olympics.

The book itself chronicles the parallel careers of Magic and Bird.

Image: Zuma Press

Post from: EveryJoe

Magic Kept Isiah Off The 92′ Olympic Team

Who’s Testing The NBA Draft?

Lyndsey D'Arcangelo — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:20:22 +0000

When it comes to underclassmen in the world of college basketball, some player are forgone conclusions as far as the NBA draft is concerned … others not-so-much.

There was hardly a blink of an eye when Hasheem Thabeet, Ty Lawson and Blake Griffin — for example — announced that they were entering the 2009 NBA Draft.

UCONN Center Hasheem Thabeet hired an agent as is more than ready for the NBA.

But players like Eric Devendorf and Roderick Flemings (Hawaii … I know …) make us scratch our heads and say, “Huh?”

The NBA Draft is a tricky thing. It’s like Forrest Gump and his box o’ chocolates — “You never know what you’re gonna get.”

The following is a list of underclassmen who have decided to “test” out the NBA Draft. Some have hired an agent, others have not.

Dominique Archie	Jr.	South Carolina
DeJuan Blair	Soph.	Pittsburgh	Yes
Derrick Brown	Jr.	Xavier
Chase Budinger	Jr.	Arizona	Yes
Nick Calathes	Soph.	Florida
Earl Clark	Jr.	Louisville
Dwayne Collins	Jr.	Miami
Brandon Costner	Jr.	N.C. State	Yes
Stephen Curry	Jr.	Davidson	Yes
DeMar DeRozan	Fr.	USC	Yes
Eric Devendorf	Jr.	Syracuse
Devan Downey	Jr.	South Carolina
Chinemelu Elonu	Jr.	Texas A&M
Wayne Ellington	Jr.	UNC	Yes
Tyreke Evans	Fr.	Memphis
Roderick Flemings	Jr.	Hawaii
Jonny Flynn	Soph.	Syracuse	Yes
Taj Gibson	Jr.	USC
Blake Griffin	Soph.	Oklahoma	Yes
Daniel Hackett	Jr.	USC	Yes
Luke Harangody	Jr.	Notre Dame
James Harden	Soph.	ASU	Yes
Paul Harris	Jr.	Syracuse
Gerald Henderson	Jr.	Duke
Jordan Hill	Jr.	Arizona	Yes
Jrue Holiday	Fr.	UCLA
Damion James	Jr.	Texas
James Johnson	Soph.	Wake Forest	Yes
Mac Koshwal	Soph.	DePaul
Gani Lawal	Soph.	Georgia Tech
Ty Lawson	Jr.	UNC	Yes
Jodie Meeks	Jr.	Kentucky
Tasmin Mitchell	Jr.	LSU
B.J. Mullens	Fr.	Ohio State	Yes
Patrick Patterson	Soph.	Kentucky
Scottie Reynolds	Jr.	Villanova
Donald Sloan	Jr.	Texas A&M
Tyler Smith	Jr.	Tennessee
DaJuan Summers	Jr.	Georgetown	Yes
Shawn Taggart	Jr.	Memphis
Jeff Teague	Soph.	Wake Forest
Hasheem Thabeet	Jr.	UConn	Yes
Dar Tucker	Soph.	DePaul	Yes
Greivis Vasquez	Jr.	Maryland
Jarvis Varnado	Jr.	Miss St
Michael Washington	Jr.	Arkansas
Jeremy Wise	Jr.	Southern Miss
Nic Wise	Jr.	Arizona

Photo provided by Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Who’s Testing The NBA Draft?

Greg Paulus Could Jump To The NFL

Lyndsey D'Arcangelo — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:03:37 +0000

It really isn’t a dramatic jump, considering the fact that Greg Paulus was a standout quarterback on his high school football team. While at Christian Brothers Academy, Paulus started for three seasons — passing for over 8,000 yds., breaking five state records and losing only three games throughout his career.

These stats were so impressive that Paulus was once considered the best quarterback in his age group, receiving 53 scholarship offers to play football at the Division I level in college.

Greg Paulus may be throwing a football instead of a basketball once again.

But Paulus’ first love had always been basketball. And when he was given the opportunity to play for one of the most storied and respected programs in college basketball history, he took it. Who can blame him? Some kids grow up dreaming of playing at Duke under the helm of Coach K. Sure, Paulus has gotten teased more than most over his four-year career. But I don’t think his football talent was wasted.

Apparently, the Green Bay Packers were intrigued enough to give Paulus a workout.

We all know that Paulus isn’t going to the NBA. But it looks as though the NFL could be a reasonable back-up plan.

Photo provided by Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Greg Paulus Could Jump To The NFL