File This under “the sleeper must awake” category. Rutgers hired Villanova assistant Fred Hill to be the top assistant coach. Fred Hill is considered one of the best recruiters out there — especially in the NY/NJ area. He widely credited with landing Randy Foye, Mike Nardi, Allan Ray and Curtis Sumpter for ‘Nova. Before that, he was an assistant with Seton Hall under Tommy Amaker and recruited the class of Eddie Griffin, Andre Barrett and Marcus Toney-El. Naturally, Rutgers fans are happy. Could Rutgers actually start approaching competitiveness in the BE?
Yesterday I said I thought Troutman was making a mistake by not going to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT). Turns out, I’m not the only one (ESPN Insider).
I know that the NCAA insists on calling its basketball players student athletes, but let’s get real. Some of the college seniors skipping the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament this week might want to take one more math class before leaving school.
Every year the biggest story in Portsmouth is about who’s not here instead of who is.
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Others like Daniel Ewing, Eddie Basden, Will Bynum, Barry (B.J.) Elder, Luke Schenscher, Roger Powell Jr., Ellis Myles, Larry O’Bannon, Chevon Troutman, Sharrod Ford and Rawle Marshall accepted their invitations but withdrew at the last minute.
The article focuses only on how many 1st round spots are available to the seniors after declared underclassmen, high schoolers and foreign players enter the draft.
That leaves 11 spots for college seniors. A few more defections from the college ranks and it could be lower.
To review: There are 11 probable first-round slots remaining, and there are 24 seniors who for various reasons are not here to improve their draft stock. Ouch.
“Every year it astounds me how many kids listen to bad advice and don’t play here,” one NBA scout told me.
“It just doesn’t make any sense. This year especially. There are a lot of seniors who are trying to project to a new position in the pros or who are trying to distance themselves from other guys who play the same position. And they bolt. Some of the kids who skipped this year won’t even get into Chicago. They’re blowing it.”
The agents of the players say that their clients just aren’t ready to go because it was too close to the end of the season and they want to focus on getting ready for Chicago. Sounds familiar?
Then there is a column noting the “rough patch” for Pitt basketball. Smizik traces the starting point to the announcement of the Quest for Excellence funding drive.
And then, with no particular warning, the Quest For Excellence turned into Search For Disaster. The gods of misfortune have poured down adversity on the Panthers the past two months. It began almost to the day Pitt announced this new fund-raising plan, which was met with angry protests and charges of extortion from longtime season-ticket holders.
It does come off a bit like a karmic ass-biting.
