**Washington Huskies bulldog Jon Brockman eats boards for breakfast.
“In what could be just one of many such designations this year, ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas has named Jon Brockman as the best rebounder in the country heading into the season.”

**Robert Vaden might score 30ppg this season if he finishes with “ease”.
“And as long as the Blazers have Robert Vaden on the floor, they will be in the mix. Vaden averaged an incredible 21.1 points per game and added 3.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists. The 6-5 wing is a great shooter and hit 4.3 three-point shots per game at a 40 percent clip. And Vaden does more than just shoot the ball; he will get to the basket effectively and finish with ease.”

**New Caltech head coach Oliver “Doc” Eslinger on the heck of a time he’s having right now.
“From a psychological standpoint, a newly tapped energy is injected into an athletics team when a new staff takes over. People — students, faculty, staff, administration — are pumped. Questions arise everyday as university community members want to know about the upcoming season, the philosophy of the team, the outlook for the future. It’s quite an experience — especially considering I’m walking around a campus that is home to an Einstein getaway and 16 Nobel Prize Winners in science and medicine!”

**All for naught.
“Miles lasted only 70 days at the school before getting expelled for alleged sexual abuse of a female student.”

**Don’t expect the Wolverines to be good again, ever.
“Only twice have the Wolverines and Spartans appeared in consecutive tournaments together, in 1985-86 and 1994-95. Their other shared appearances were in 1990, 1992 (which Michigan vacated after its payola scandal) and 1998 (a year after the payola scandal broke but before sanctions struck, U-M’s last tournament appearance, and the start of MSU’s current streak of 11 consecutive appearances).”

**Tommy Turtleneck will have Harvard underachieving in no time.
“Ivy: Cornell probably has this on lock-down already. But to pick someone to move up? We’ll go with Harvard, since Tommy Amaker has been cleared in the league-mandated investigation into his recruiting practices. The times, they are a-changin’ in the Ivy.”

**Huge ACC hoops preview
“Here’s how the powers-that-be make their cookie cutter ACC predictions:

-Pick unc or duke to win the conference (this year unc).

-Pick the one you didn’t pick to win to finish 2nd.

-Hype up one other team as a “serious contender” to win the conference, but don’t actually pick them ahead of unc or duke.  [Note: this year, the buzz seems to be around miami but wake is my darkhorse… whoops, I’m violating my own rule]

-Draw the other teams out of a hat and place them 4th through 12th.

-Tell everyone how smart you are, which isn’t tough to claim since duke or unc has won the regular season title 10 of the last 12 years and has won the ACC Tournament 11 of the last 12 years.

-Lather, rinse, repeat formula next year.”

From the VP debate on Thursday…

Hat tip: KSK

Don’t forget to vote in the new poll folks!

Post from: EveryJoe

Fast Breakin’

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

source

David Padgett Louisville

David Padgett put on a passing clinic, rebounding from two underwhelming performances to show NBA executives in attendance just what he can bring to the table as an extremely heady high-post center who makes everyone around him better. He finally played a bit more aggressively looking for ways to make his presence felt offensively, not just looking to pass the ball unselfishly on every possession like he did previously. He showed nice footwork in the post to go along with his crafty head-fakes and ability to finish with either hand. He often lacks the athleticism to finish many of the moves he creates for himself, but hopefully he will be able to improve on that as his body gets healthier. He’s a really interesting player who would be well served to develop a deadly jump-shot teams need to respect from 16 to 18 feet.

It’s too bad Padgett had such injury trouble in college because otherwise he would have been a likely first round pick. I wouldn’t be surprised if David eventually makes a roster, but it won’t be likely for a couple of years.

Othello Hunter Ohio St.

Othello Hunter again put his impressive physical tools in display, to the tune of 11 points and 14 rebounds (7 offensive) in 25 minutes. His length and athleticism allow him to make plays that other big men here aren’t capable of, and he’s made a strong case for himself to be drafted or get a long look in summer league/training camp. He still has a lot of upside to continue to improve.

Maybe he will prove me wrong and a team will draft him. He could just go on to have a 10+ year career in the NBA too. And maybe Kwame Brown will finally live up to all the hype?

Jeremy Pargo Gonzaga

Jeremy Pargo had a game-high 20 points (7-16 FG, 5-7 FT) to go along with 4 assists. Unfortunately, he also had 6 turnovers and missed three of his four 3-pointers. He pushed the ball up the floor extremely well, showed terrific explosiveness getting by his man and giving himself options in the half-court, and also flashed some glimpses of solid court-vision, but his poor decision making led to way too many turnovers, which has typically been his problem. Going back to school and improving his decision making skills looks like a very good option at this point.

Jeremy has shown up on a lot of draftexpress.com write ups. I hope he knows what his chances are. If not, look out D-League.

Robert Vaden UAB

Robert Vaden finished off the camp with another fairly solid performance, scoring 11 points in 21 minutes to go along with 3 assists and no turnovers. He’s really impressed with his ability to move off the ball, read screens and find open shots for himself, elevating sharply and creating separation from his defender and throwing the ball in the basket with machine like efficiency, despite his violent leg kicks. He’s really strong and has clearly worked on his body since the season ended, and did a much better job playing within the offense and setting up teammates than he did earlier in this camp. On the negative side, he’s not the most athletic or creative player you’ll find in terms of his ball-handling skills, favoring his right hand strongly and struggling to finish that at times around the rim. It appears that he’ll be returning to school, and it will be interesting to see what kind of year he has next season.

If Vaden were to stay in the draft, I would not be shocked. He’s already 23 and having already sat out a year because of a transfer, it would probably be wise just to throw his hat in the ring and if all else fails, just hope to get signed by some team’s summer league squad.

DraftExpress believed that Gary Forbes was the MVP of the camp. You would think his overall performance would catapult him into the first round, but apparently he will still be a 2nd round choice.

Regardless, he’s clearly the MVP of the pre-draft camp by a fairly large margin, and has helped his stock considerably from being projected as a late second round pick on our board. You would think that he’d have a chance to maybe get some looks in the late first based off what we’ve seen here at the pre-draft camp in years past, but most NBA people we spoke with did not agree with that. We will have to wait and see…

Hey, Gary sure made an impression on at least some of the teams. I’ll go out on a limb and say 1st round selection for Gary Forbes.

Post from: EveryJoe

Day 4 in Orlando