The Editor's Inbox: Blue Grass Joys of the Spring Signing Season

Being a braketologist has its duties. Even though we are still 148 days to Midnight Madness, there is still work to be done. Specifically following the last of the 2006 graduating class and see where they end up. My beloved UMass Minutemen are working on prying a super recruit from UConn (TheyCon)'s grasp, which would make for a brilliant steal.

However, since UMass head coach (The Human Deliberator of Western Mass) Travis Ford is a Kentucky Grad, I seem to have met many a UK alum who naturally love the blue hoops and all things Ashley Judd. I have become a UK fan once-removed which means I meet the UK Alumni Group of NYC for the Saturday game of the week (and some weeknights too) drink beer from buckets and eat nothing but bbq'ed fat sandwiches. Oh my f'n lord!

The side effect is, other than cholesterol filled beer gut, is that I get many updates in my inbox regarding UK hoops. As many know, this was a not-so-perfect season for the Boys in Blue, going 19-10 and getting bounced by TheyCon in the second round of the dance. Players graduated, declared for the draft and transferred, leaving head coach Tubby Smith with a sparse bench for the future. However, one fan wanted us to know that, like the Phoenix, his Cats will rise again. And, as the immortal Chumbawamba said so eloquently, "I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down." And that said, here is his email about the bright blue future of UK basketball.

Many thanks to Alfi and Martha for the info.

From: Alfi
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 7:17 PM
Subject: Good morning Cats fans

As is often the case this time of year (the Morris and Azubuike recruitments come immediately to mind), the master of the spring signing period, Tubby, appears to be hard at work.

After the season, we lost Rondo to the draft, Sparks, LeMaster and Stockton to graduation, as well as Sims and Williams (who both are transferring), but we add a very exciting mix of new recruits. Derrick Jasper, a 6'5" true point guard (!) from California will be joining the team next year. He was one of the top PG's in the country last year, and with his size will create all kinds of matchup problems at the college level.

Along with Jasper is, of course, Jodie Meeks, a 6'4" SG from Georgia with as much athleticism as anyone. In addition to being one of the top SG's in the country last year, Jodie also went out for the track team this year. After doing the long jump for all of 3 weeks, he jumped a preposterous 24 feet to become regional champion. He went on to become all-state, and anchored his team's 4x100 meter relay team. He's an absolute beast, folks. Think Azubuike with attitude. Oh and he's an 85% free throw shooter! (There is a God).

Joining these 4-star recruits is another 4-star player in 6'10" PF Perry Stevenson. Stevenson is the exact type of player that was the missing ingredient to last year's squad. He *averaged* a triple double in Louisiana this year, guys. That's right. This Cajun jumping jack blocked a preposterous 11+ shots a game in his senior campaign, finishing his career with over 1000 blocked shots. The national record is 1100-something. In other words, he's one of the greatest shot blockers in the history of high school basketball. He can jump out of the gym, and is also an all-state 400 m runner (reminds me of former 800m star Walter McCarty in that regard). He's rail thin but can finish with authority. Think Jules Camara with more offense and greater finishing ability.

Joining these blue-chippers is Michael Porter, a 6'3" PG from....MODESTO, California! That's right. He attended Chuck Hayes' alma mater. He's an outstanding shooter (thank you, Lord) and literally is as tough as they come. He's a former football star that was recruited by USC for football (yeah, *THE* USC) before concentrating only on basketball this year. He doesn't have the accolades as the other recruits, but that's because he was playing football instead of AAU ball. He's a coaches son that had a brilliant senior campaign, capped off with an MVP performance in a California all-star game that featured 8 future Div. 1 ballers and other future college players. Oh and he's a coach's son!

UK is also about to name a new strength and conditioning coach, which was an obvious weakness in the past few years. This coach is the S&C coach for Marquette and was handpicked by the legendary Rock Oliver. This guy will get the Cats in top shape (finally), and will hopefully add some muscle to Stevenson's light frame.

Okay, so is Tubby satisfied with this top-10 class and new S&C coach? Ha! The recent coaching departures of Herb Sendek at NC State and Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma has made spring recruiting very exciting this year. NC State released a 6'7" SF from his national letter of intent (LOI) named Dan Werner. Werner is a 4-star recruit that was recently named New Jersey's Mr. Basketball, over the likes of 2 dUKe-bound Mcdonald's All-Americans and 1 Ga. Tech-bound Mckie D's All American. He's a great shooter but also has enough muscle to bang inside. He also seems to be a very heady player (I saw a pic of him with a shirt that said "Basketball Math" and had a guy dunking the ball = 2pts and a guy shooting it from the outside = 3 pts). He and his family(!) are visiting UK later this week. Reports are that he's very high on UK.

Oklahoma released 6'8" SF Damion James from his LOI. James is a 5-star (!) recruit ranked in the top-20 overall. He's an instant impact player. A do-everything swingman with strength, hops, ball-handling...the whole 9. Word is he's visiting UK as I write this email!

Signing these 2 guys would clearly make this Tubby's finest class, including the vaunted 2004 class. So where does that leave us? Tubby, in a recent interview, indicated that he's likely to move Crawford to his natural position, SG. So, at point we have Bradley, who gives us a true outside shooting threat as opposed to Rondo, who allowed the defenses to completely sag and pack the lane. Backing him up will be 6'5" Jasper (I think I may always refer to him as 6'5" Jasper instead of merely Jasper. The thought of a 6'5" PG tickles me to death). At the 2, we have Crawford in his natural position (finally!), where he won't be overpowered as he was from time-to-time at the 3 last year. Backing him up will be Jodie Meeks. At the 3, we have Bobby Perry, whose star began to shine in postseason play last year. He will also play his natural position, as opposed to the 4, where he was repeatedly overpowered. *Hopefully* we can sign Werner and/or James, which would, at the very least, give Perry a solid backup, and at most, assuming we sign James, give us an impact player at the wing, something that Kelenna's departure last year resulted in a glaring weakness. At the 4 we have Sheray, as well as a ridiculous defensive stopper/rebounder/finisher in Stevenson (again, finally!). At the 5 we have Mr. Morris, who will be one of the top big men in the college game next year.

Also, word is that Jared Carter is improving by leaps and bounds as we speak. Tubby has always been very high on him, which I think is warranted considering the fact that Roy Williams wanted him badly too. Big men improve the most the summer after their freshmen seasons. It's *possible* that if Jared continues to improve at this rate, he could start at the 5, and we'd be able to shift Morris to the PF position. At the least, we should have a solid backup to Morris next year, something that unfortunately wasn't the case last year.

We'll be back next year guys. There's not a doubt in my mind.

Me neither, Alfi.

-mjr

Uncle Cliffy, What's That in Your Hand?

While some writers and columnists like to point at the Richard Jefferson/ Vince “Vinsanity” Carter similarities as the reason the Nets are down 3 games to 1 to the geriatric Miami Heat, or to the fact that the greeziest coach in the NBA is outthinking the Lawrence Frank the boy wonder, I would like to point at Uncle Cliffy Robinson and his purported love for the doobie as the downfall of the New Jersey Nets' playoffs. It looked so good this year, rattling off 14 wins in a row, integrating Vince Carter and learning to run again, the emergence of Nenad Krstic...

RJ and VC can play together. Despite Vinsanity jacking up shots with 20 seconds left on the shot clock, and despite an 0 for 7 from behind the three point line performance, they are not incompatible. They are a double threat. But Vince, here’s something we know from college: the three point line gives you hope, but it is the inside score that brings you victory (mjr: That sentence will be a part of my entry in the “Bible” which will be discussed in this blog at a later date). The Nets need RJ to bring the victory. And though he needs to demand the ball, his passivity is not an indication that this pairing cannot work.

If anything, the issue is that neither Vinsanity nor Jason Kidd is a very good defender. The team can’t get stops. The backup point, Jacque Vaughn, is a speed bump. A very short, weak speed bump. I’d whip out Zoran Planinic’s long arms and chaotic drives to the basket myself, but I can’t seem to get Lawrence to hear me yelling at the television.

Lawrence’s rotation yesterday had John Thomas at the forward spot; his name, Dor informs me, was a name used by Kyle Machlachlan for his male member in Sex and the City. The JohnThomas rebounded and hustled… and refused to put up shots, even at point blank range. Good for a guy to know his role, but damn, do something. Anything. The JohnThomas looks like starting PF Jason Collins out there, with an offensive arsenal taken from a monk’s playbook—no scoring! And 4 on 5 basketball just doesn’t work so well. Coach Lawrence also played Lamond Murray (who looked passable on defense but did little offensively). Meanwhile, the Heat scored 47 from the forward positions, to the Nets’ 29 (with 17 from Richard Jefferson).

Note Jacque Vaughn and The JohnThomas’ +/- stats from 82games.

And yes, while RJ needs to do more, and sho’ nuff, Lawrence needs to find a bench player who has experience playing competitive basketball, the issue is Cliff Robinson. Uncle Cliffy, who has apparently run afoul of the doobie before, happens to be 6-10 and possessed of muscle and desire. Meaning—he would be put on Shaq, Haslem, Antoine Walker, et cetera. He might actually put a hand up. He might rebound. He might muscle those guys out of the box. He definitely would shoot a few threes, taking Haslem/ Walker away from near the basket, and opening slashing lanes for RJ.

Instead, he is watching on television, banned for five games. And Nets fans will soon find their basketball at a physical and emotional distance, thinking through the summer months about J-Kidd triple doubles and RJ dunks, wondering what might have been.

Mizzou Men's Basketball

Here's a little note on the new Missouri coach from March. I don't believe Missouri will win a championship anytime soon; they're still in the shadow of much more talented Illinois and Kansas teams, the Big 12's ugly basketball stepsister, and no amount of tough fast-break basketball is going to help.

But they'll never play that ridiculous three-point offense or that terrible overplaying defense, meant to get into the passing lanes for steals. That defense left them open to backdoor cuts and open short jumpers.

And the Mizzou players will never have to be embarrassed with this:



All you young aspiring coaches out there-- if you're going to clown yourself by singing offkey,

1. think of a song your players were alive to hear when it came on the radio, and

2. Learn. The. Words.

But How Do You Really Feel, Billy?

Oh, Snap. Billy fastball just pulled out the Emo-Card!

Wagner said he became "everyone's least favorite Phillie in the clubhouse" after he called his teammates on the carpet for their spiritless play in an interview that appeared July 1 in The Inquirer.

In response to Wagner's critical comments, former teammate Kenny Lofton called a team meeting in the weight room. Wagner described the meeting as "24 against one," and added that Pat Burrell called him a "rat" during the meeting....

"Me and Placido Polanco used to talk about it all the time last year," Wagner said. "Something needed to be said. I was trying to be a leader. I wasn't trying to say, 'You stink.' I was trying to say, 'We need to get going.' I wanted to win....

"After I called them out, they were waiting for me to fall flat," Wagner said. "In my mind, when I went out to the mound, they were waiting for me to go in the tank. I could be wrong, but that's the feeling I got."

Brett Myers isn't too happy about that. And Pat Burrell apparently called the new Met closer a "rat." I'm hoping for a brawl, as the Mets sweep the Pheel-deez and remind them what kind of gray and pink sore losers they are.