Andy Katz notes that there is a proliferation of tournaments for 2006 in light of the NCAA rule change.
The eradication of the 2-in-4 rule, limiting teams to two exempted events in a four-year period, has spawned all sorts of tournaments at various campus sites. Basketball Travelers is organizing a slew of them. Some, though, still are searching for teams.
Fresno State needs two teams to join it and UC Irvine; Old Dominion is hosting a four-team event but needs one more team to go along with Clemson and Monmouth; UNLV is hosting a four-team event and has Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Norfolk State but is looking for one more.
What if a team hosted a tournament and no one came? Well, BYU is hosting one of these four-team deals but doesn’t have anyone signed up yet.
No excuse for Pitt not to go to a non-con tournament this year.
Mike DeCourcy looks at the list of early entrants for the NBA draft and divides them into 4 categories: Studs, Realists, Fools and Dreamers.
Qualifications: Borderline first-round ability that could blossom with the right NBA team; curiosity about draft prospects and how to improve; wisdom to protect NCAA eligibility.
Examples: C Aaron Gray, Pittsburgh; PG Mustafa Shakur, Arizona; PG Jordan Farmar, UCLA; SG Shannon Brown, Michigan State.
Those who enter the draft as juniors — or, in Farmar’s case, as a sophomore likely to play only one more college season — are risking little to gain a lot. It’s possible one or two could surge into an advantageous first-round position. From the 2004 draft, Nevada’s Kirk Snyder and Saint Joseph’s Delonte West are excellent examples.
But most guys in this category are likely to wind up back in college in 2006-07, and they’ll probably be better for having tested their worth. The draft process can be educational — it demonstrates to players some flaws in their games and possibly ways to address them. It also can be humbling.
Carl Krauser was a better teammate and leader at Pittsburgh as a senior after a tough run through the draft entry process last spring. It could work that way for Shakur next season.
This was obvious the Realist category.
New NCAA Rules will go into effect for 2006-07. No tights or “compression leggings” will be permitted. A fashion trend that needed to be snuffed quickly.
Also going out of style, calling time out while in mid flight trying to keep a ball from going out of bounds.
ESPN Sportscenter’s “Sunday Conversation” for May 14 will be with Coach Jamie Dixon.
