Thabeet was injured during the first half of Tuesday night’s game when his jaw collided with teammate Zach Randolph’s head. The 22-year-old Thabeet had just entered the game a minute prior to the collision. The 7-foot-3 center out of UConn was the second overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft.

Image: Zuma Press

So far this young season, Thabeet has averaged 6.8 minutes per game and tallied six total blocks in six contests. Memphis was 1-6 entering Tuesday night’s game — last in the Southwest Division.  At this time, it’s not known how much time Thabeet will miss.  Some players have been able to come back from a broken jaw after a couple weeks, playing with their jaw wired shut.

Post from: EveryJoe

Rookie Thabeet Breaks Jaw

On Sunday, Thabeet signed his rookie contract with the Grizzlies. He’s expected to have signed a contract worth about $7.7 million over two years.

Last year at UConn, Thabeet averaged around thirteen and a half points, almost elevan rebounds and around four blocks per game. The now 22-year-old center was regarded as the best interior defender during his time in college.

Recently, Thabeet has been playing for the Grizzlies summer league team and helped the squad go undefeated at 5-0. In those five games, Thabeet averaged 8.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 25 minutes per game.

Scouts have been a bit underwhelmed with his performance in summer league but many think he’ll improve as the teammates around him improve.

Hasheem Thabeet - Memphis Grizzlies (Image: Zuma Press)

Post from: EveryJoe

Hasheem Thabeet Signs with the Grizzlies

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.

Photo provided by Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Who’s Testing The NBA Draft?

Best Story

Forget about Villanova’s impressive run to The Motor City—featuring a ‘why the heck did people pick this team to go to Detroit’ (when they were trailing American by double digits) and ‘this Scottie Reynolds is stinking up the joint’ comments from yours truly—Michigan State takes the cake here. Me hailing from Michigan, what a surprise, huh? Well, Tom Izzo and Co. deserve it. MSU is far from dominant, but they’re a fun team. Fun to watch interact with each other, fun to see plead with an irate Izzo, fun to watch on a fast break, fun to analyze which big man (there’s 5) Izzo will usher into the game, and extremely fun to witness pound a ‘powerful’ Big East team into the ground.  Jump on the MSU bandwagon now national media, yeah, own up.

Spartan Fever (Image:Newscom)

Player Most Instrumental To Team’s Success

Villanova- One guy has been playing way over his head. Senior guard/forward Dwayne Anderson. He’s scoring and rebounding over his season average. He does not want to play his last collegiate game.  Give me more Dwayne says.

North Carolina- Tywon Lawson is a top 5, top 10 draft pick?  Probably working himself into the former based on this three game tear where he’s shooting above 50% from inside and outside the long line, feeding and turning over the rock at a 10/1 ratio, and out potty mouthing Ari Gold. If I didn’t know any better I’d say Ty is healthy.

Connecticut- Lanky 6′9 Stanley Robinson sans the opening round game when he scored 24, has just been pretty good, nothing legendary, but he hasn’t needed to be. When Jerome Dyson went down with season ending injury, UConn needed someone to step up, play more minutes and be a threat to consistently score in double figures, and Craig Austrie sure wasn’t going to be that guy. Stanley Robinson is that X-factor guy.

Michigan State- The 6′10 Bosnian senior Goran Suton has been PUURRRE! the last two games, totaling 39 points (5-10 from deep), 19 rebounds, and 6 steals. Don’t know if he’ll be able to be so PUURRRE! against Mr. Thabeet, but if he is, MSU will be playing on Monday for the title.

Prediction For The Final Four

Ford Field will be a Green and White madplace for the Saturday 6:07 tip v. UConn and then for the Monday rematch with UNC.

Prepare.

Post from: EveryJoe

Round 3 & 4 Wrap

25 points, 20 boards, and 9 swats in Saturday’s win over Seton Hall. Though Connecticut could be in trouble further down the road (actually as soon as Monday vs. Pitt) with Jerome Dyson out for the season. A.J. Price and Craig Austrie (Dyson’s replacement) were a combined 4-20 from the field. If UConn is to stay on top, Thabeet, along with Jeff Adrien (14 points and 15 boards on Saturday), are going to need to be sensational in every way imaginable. Losing Dyson is bigger than pundits seem to be leading on.

6′10 sophomore Blake Griffin

In 31 minutes against Texas Tech on Saturday scored 40 (16-23 fg), grabbed 23 boards, and basically had a whole segment of Sportscenter all to himself. Is it just me or is he the next Amar’e Stoudemire?

6′4 junior Jodie Meeks

Against Arkansas on Saturday poured in 45 (17-24 fg), hauled in 7 boards, and swiped 3, all without the services of Patrick Patterson (sprained ankle). Averaging over 25 ppg while being the number one target on opponent’s scouting reports. Made a disgustingly difficult shot to beat Florida on Tuesday. Do you believe the hype?

6′5 junior Joseph Harris

In a 3 point win over VMI on Saturday, the Coastal Carolina forward notched 33, grabbed 22 boards, and chipped in with 6 feeds. The win propelled the Chanticleers to 5-9 in the Big South while dropping VMI to 2nd place at 11-3.

Post from: EveryJoe

Players to keep away from small children and animals

First off, Mr. Hunter states that UConn, if they can beat Louisville tonight, will stay in the #1 slot for at least a week considering they play “lousy” teams such as Michigan and Syracuse (#20) soon after tonight’s Louisville affair. I’ll give him a slight pass at the Michigan jab (because they’re tripping mightily right now and elbowing folks left and right as well) but not the one toward Syracuse. Since when did a top 25 team become lousy? Sure, Syracuse’s current 3 game skid has been pretty dreadful but they could just as easily rattle off 3 straight W’s and be looking pretty again right back in the top 10.

My second beef includes something Kevin said about Utah State (#25). At first glance the #25 ranking for the Aggies caught me by surprise as well, but hey, 21-1 is 21-1. It’s not like they play in the Big Sky or Big West conference, this is the WAC we are talking about. Kevin’s assertion that Utah State will end up as a 16th seed basically shows me either A) he got his WAC and SWAC conferences mixed up, B) he hasn’t yet figured out that teams with sick records do not get relegated to 16th seed duty, or C) he was just exaggerating (possible) and really just intended to say that Utah State will be a first round cupcake anyways.

I’ll be optimistic on this one and say Kevin was just being facetious. But remember now, he does live in California.

Update- UConn is beating Louisville by 12 with 17 minutes to go.

Update- UConn won at Louisville 68-51.

#’s of note…

UConn…
Hasheem Thabeet- 14 points, 11 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals, 39 minutes
Jeff Adrien- 18 points, 7 rebounds
20-24 free throws as a team

Louisville…
Earl Clark- 2-16 shooting
2-2 free throws as a team

Another Update- Just found this Utah State article on Storming the Floor.

Post from: EveryJoe

Head in the Sand

In no particular order and in no particular feeling of confidence either:

**** Scoff at it, just get mad at it UofA fans. Your team will lay an egg this year but totally get hot and win the NIT.

^ Addition by subtraction in Texas—ludicrous to say maybe, but D.J. and A.J. were beguiling wonders on the court that irrevocably held back the Longhorns from placing more impactful punches against stronger fighters.

$ The Spartans will further cement themselves as the college version of the 21st century Detroit Pistons. Each has won one championship, yet both fan bases are becoming impatient with the standstill success. So much talent yet so little to show for it.

#!#@ Calling Conference USA a power conference was a little wishful. That statement, although made while sober, still feels dirty, but it could end up alright. Just hoping Vaden or some other power conference guy can make a run at the scoring title.

? Calling Northwestern a NIT team was an undemonstrative springboard to tomfoolery, as this season I will probably be glued to all news NW basketball, akin to the energy I gave them during the Jitim Young and Tavaras Hardy days.

(Preview of Big Ten season)—Probably the most accurate prediction of the Big Ten season as you will find, minus the Michigan placement. No Big Ten quality pg will be available to suit up for the Wolvies until the second semester.—-

% Hasheem Thabeet is ready for a monster year and a long run into the tourney. It would not be surprising to see the Huskies stay in the top 5 for the entire season, especially if Thabeet can average 14.5ppg, 9 reb and more than 4 blk. Just think about the terror an offensively skilled Thabeet would be.

高人 Speaking of impact big men, one should keep an eye out for UNC-Asheville’s Kenny George. When fresh, he’s really not much different than your rudimentary 7 foot center, except for the fact George can regularly hit free throws and, while this might not seem feasible, still surprises many guards with his length. After awhile you’d think they would find new ways to attack a 7’7 dude, but often they make the same mistake over and over. However the time to attack George is when he’s sucking major air. Not exactly an original idea, yet, for huge guy, the opportunities present themselves much more frequently.

It’s almost as of George has decent enough foot speed to move laterally and react, but it’s the body that often takes awhile to catch up. If the coach can really substitute him frequently and wisely, UNC-Asheville will be the best in the Big South.

The next two are direct matchup predictions.

$$$ The Big Ten will once again fall to the superior ACC and it will, as it has always been, be because of the significant back of the conference weakness’s of the Big Ten. Need I go further?

\&/ The Fighting Irish will beat the Tar Heels in the finals of the Maui Invitational.

So with that out of the way,

#1

My pick to win the whole enchilada.

Discuss.

photo credit: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Ahhh Finally

After this last season ended in depressing fashion for the Huskies, Hasheem knew he wasn’t ready to contribute at the next level and knew he still eagerly wanted to conquer a NCAA championship, so instead of making a few million bucks while playing sparingly for an NBA team, he decided to hop on board the college scene once again.

UCONN is talented, well represented from a point source position, has a good mix of veterans and young-uns, and most importantly, is coached by Jim Calhoun.

Not only does the team boast good guard play, they also get offensive and defensive help from the bigs.

Thabeet can take care of the paint by himself, but he does have help.

Usually unheralded Jeff Adrien was the leading scorer for UCONN last year. And not only does Jeff know how to score, he rebounds and even blocks shots too.

An efficient complimentary talent to lessen the load off of Thabeet, don’t ya think?

The Stanley Robinson situation now needs to be resolved.

Will he return in December?

2nd semester?

Having a double digit scorer who can knock down a three, block shots (1.3blk) and rebound consistently (6.5reb) will dramatically help out Thabeet, not to mention the team’s efforts to advance deep into the tourney.

But, again, defense isn’t really a concern for UCONN.

The concern is more aimed at making Thabeet into a full-fledged star.

Thabeet’s game is highly flawed, but not so demented that he will be unable to vastly expand upon his sophomore year’s accomplishments.

He started to develop a jump hook toward the end of the season, but still lacks a comfortable and dependable go-to move in the paint. Finishing at the basket is at times awkward, yet so many times he seems totally unfazed as his long arms often receive no resistance from defenders.

An area I really could see him improving in would be the free throw line percentage. He made a giant leap from the first to second year, so why not a nice little jump to about a mid 70’s ft %?

Blocks will ultimately be his ticket to the big show, however in terms of raw stat meddling, the per game blocks will not increase much, if at all, this next season. The load will continue to be helped by Adrien and Robinson, along with any contribution coming from 6’10 Frosh Ater Majok.

We all know what Thabeet’s strengths are. He won’t lose his defensive presence or his classic rebounding habits just like that.

Thabeet will do a lot of this to opposing victims, yet he needs to do more on the other end of the court to separate himself from the others.

But hopefully he knows there’s more in it for him.

His maturity and ability, and maybe patience as well, to stay in school, could symbolize his desires to aspire to that next level and put the team on his back.

God knows he could do it.

So. 10.5ppg 69.8 ft% 7.9 reb 4.5 blk

Fr. 6.2ppg 51.3 ft% 6.4 reb 3.8 blk

Hasheem’s bare minimum averages in 08/09-

14.5ppg, 74 ft%, 9 reb and 4.2 blk ????

photo credit: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Could’ve been riding the pine in Toronto or Charlotte