Not WAC-related but...

Came across this stat in the latest issue of SLAM: "Len Bias died 25 years ago ... Bias' lottery class included substance abuse casualties William Bedford, Roy Tarpley and Chris Washburn."

Wow.

This is reminiscent of the days of drafting using a copy of Street & Smith. Astute judging of talent includes a holistic look at the individual, or should. It's true this isn't a science but we're talking millions of dollars going off the ledger and up the nose with a faulty selection.

Recounting the adidas 64 and the Fab 48

It was enjoyable to go off the grid if such an expression is appropriate in talking about visiting Las Vegas. The latter is where artificial is a way of being and a town that features so much female and (yes) male cleavage that we fully expected to come across a bra and bro shop side by side on The Strip.

So here's a three dot version of sorts recounting what was witnessed and experienced (and remembered). For the provincial, there's not a lot of WAC material below as we spent time at the Jam On It tourney located at The Hilton. It featured the Seaside Select 16 squad led by one Matthew McCarthy, among others. Utah State fans may wish to only partake of the Utah Pump-N-Run writeup at the conclusion of this piece.

The coaches were out and about as usual. John Calipari, Billy Donovan, Ben Howland, Eric Reveno and their many brethren were seen adorned in their various school logos. Roy Williams crossed our path, along with his entourage, coming out of the Hilton one early evening. He was sporting a pink polo shirt and yes, we do have to question his ability to recognize talent when it passes by. Ahem.

Seeking a respite from the Bishop Gorman High gyms that resembled a rush hour Tokyo subway car, we located a frozen yogurt establishment that appeared as if an oasis. Five minutes later, Isaiah Thomas and his Florida International staff came in to do the same. No, we cannot report on what flavors and topping he ordered thereby losing any chance of ever working for TMZ.

One quick comparison: adidas 64 was headquartered at Rancho High and the main gym contests featured a PA announcer, three referees (all the Adidas games had a trio of refs) pulled out bleachers for the fans, plus music during lulls in the action.

But a boo to the Adidas folks for pulling out of the pre-tourney Tip Off Challenge where the matchups were loaded. For example,  Dream Vision had been scheduled to play the Oakland Soldiers and that was but one example.

Loved the Team Loaded squad as well as Hoopaholics but unfortunately they never were matched up with each other.

Former Fresno State assistant Senque Carey was coaching the Bay Area Hoyas.

Team Future featured  Jalil (Berkeley High) Eppenger and Sterling (Chico High) Smith and both are listed as being at Stoneridge Prep in southern California.

Andre (Deer Valley) McPhail played on Team Superstar 17 and is listed as being at Westwind Prep in Arizona -- ditto for Quincy Smith.

Our focus was on a number of national players on teams located out of our viewing area. Here are one game snapshots (the objects described in the following may be better or worse than witnessed):

Dream Vision (a pair of viewings)

Robert Upshaw - has lost a lot of weight and still had no physical matchup, he'll go Pac-12 and reminded us of Sean Rooks (the former Arizona big).

Shabazz Muhammed - he was close to gangbusters one game but disappeared the next (a ligament problem in his foot and then an ankle sprain slowed him)

Winston Shephard - wasn't sure if he had a dribble-driver component after one game but showed that plus three-point range and explosion in the paint during game two

Joe Rahon - definitely can shoot, even on the move and can run an offense if a coach is not looking for a dribble-drive creator at the point

Team 94

McKenzie Moore 2011 - which Pac-12 team will offer him a scholarship? Or is Providence going to nab another Bay Area soon-to-be star?

Mac Irvin Fire (Chicago)

Jabari Parker 2013 - he shot 5-12 overall, 7-8 from the foul line in the one game we saw, highlights included catching a pass, eluding two defenders near the top of the key and dunking plus tipping a pass, followed by a couple of dribbles and another dunk -- he wasn't dominant, just very productive

Worldwide Renegades  (Georgia)

Micheal Hall 6-foot-10 2012 and Charles Mitchell 6-foot-8 2013 will never get out of SEC territory

Philly's Finest

Amile Jefferson 6-foot-8 2012 is thin but strong and can ballhandle and kick plus shoot -- whoever lands him gets a very talented and versatile player -- he led Philly's Finest to a 68-66 win over Kyle Anderson and the Playaz

Playaz Basketball Club

Kyle Anderson 6-foot-8 2012 is old skewl, he passes well from his high perch viewpoint but would have great vision as a six-footer, he displays a hesitation with shot on dribble-drives and releases on his fadeaway as the defender is returning to earth -- at the end of game, he missed a free throw, later missed an in-key turnaround jumper with seven seconds left, then rebounded a missed free throw with 6.3 seconds but lost ball coming down the court -- still, he was fun to watch and in command on the court

CBC

Andre Drummond 6-foot-10 is a prototype big -- long arms, agile, quick, unselfish, great vision, can rebound outside of his area, did try to dribble too much bringing the ball up the court, can dunk when you think he is too far away from the basket -- he's a one and done if he even plays college ball. Heading into Vegas, Shabazz was the fave of my nephew Matty but it was all Drummond as we departed

Compton Magic

Aaric Armstead  6-foot-8 260 - a bruiser who likes to lower his shoulder and bulldoze to the basket but he also displays a faceup jumper, will be play basketball?

Gabe York 6-foot-2 - nailed a verrrrry long 3, grabbed two lob passes he turned into dunks and also buried some floaters, loved his game and wondered why he isn't featured more in the offense?

Utah Pump-N-Run

Jordan Loveridge 6-foot-7 - could play PF in the WAC and the West Coast Conference but possibly not the Mountain West Conference and probably not the Pac-12, showed dribble-drive skills, was a good distance shooter and played very unselfishly --it's hard for PTW to believe that Loveridge will go the USU route because he will have some bigtime suitors after him

Marcel Davis 6-foot-2  (Utah State) - he didn't appear as a creator and didn't really show his shot but he looked comfortable running the offense and getting the ball to the right people at the right time

David Collette 6-foot-11 (Utah State) - he blocked some shots and even hit a trey but obviously needs to add a great deal of strength and weight, he could be something down the line if he changes his body

The Sunday morning WAC basketball file

Josh Wright offers a full-length update on former Idaho backcourter Mac Hopson, who is way south of many borders.

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USU athletics has released the 2011 Aggie basketball summer prospectus.

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San Jose State University started practice yesterday in preparation of its August trip to Italy.

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Speaking of sojourns, Dayton Morinaga informs readers about injuries possibly reducing the Rainbow Warrior roster as UH readies for the journey to Asia. Plus, Dayton has a special offer.

Saturday's WAC-aroo

The USUStats folks continue the Jordan Loveridge coverage.

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Non Conference SOS is not a distress signal issued when facing some quality out-of-league opponents. The WAC members should read this piece very closely if serious about nabbing a Big Dance extra bid.

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One of the latest tweets from Josh Gerson:

"Dave Rose and an assistant, Arizona State, Utah State and Richmond watching 2013 Utah guard Nick Emery"

PTW repeats: do follow him.

A very lean Friday WAC hoops report

Dayton Morinaga reports on the doings of some of the UH players participating in summer league hoops.

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Not WAC-related (at least at this moment), but remember the name Zeke Horton. If not basketball, he appears to have quite the future in advertising or business. The young man went out-of-the-box and received national publicity for doing so.

Another offer extended by Fresno State

Caught this recent Josh Gershon tweet:

"Fresno State, Portland and Tulane are the newest offers for 2013 New Mexico guard Cullen Neal"

Gershon tweets about West Coast prospects quite often so he should be someone on your follow list.

As for the 6-foot-3 Cullen Neal, here is an ESPN evaluation on the 2013 prospect. Here is a Rivals article that apparently is free -- it turns out that Neal's father is the associate head coach on the New Mexico staff and a former pro player.

Fresno State checking out an Arizona big

Anthony Ray reports (a Rivals sub is required) on Coach Rodney Terry (as well as many others) looking at 6-foot-11 Lucas O'Brian, a 2012 Arizona prospect.

Mention of a Nevada offer

From Alex Schwartz comes this Nevada mention:

Three of the more well-known players at the Reebok Breakout Challenge were Tevin Glass, Travis Hammonds and Treshawn Bolden. Northstar Basketball had the opportunity to speak with each of them about the status of their recruitment.

Tevin Glass, a 6'8 class of 2012 combo forward, is transferring from Meadowcreek (GA) to Milton (GA) for his senior year of high school. He said he holds offers from Auburn, Mississippi State, Nevada, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Murray State, and Tennessee State, but is "not really" considering the five schools outside the BCS conferences.

Recruiting classes

We (usually) all get worked up over this class or that class of recruits signed by our favorite team. Getting caught up in the moment is understandable.

The flip side in this is portrayed in one of the latest posts at the must-visit-daily-even-in-the-off-season Rush The Court site:

We’re quite certain that if UCLA head coach Ben Howland could get a do-over on his 2008 recruiting class that was rated #1 in the nation, he’d take it in a heartbeat. Jrue Holiday had one lackluster season before he was 1-and-done; Drew Gordon fell out with Howland and eventually transferred to New Mexico; J’mison Morgan never produced and landed at Baylor; Malcolm Lee played three semi-effective seasons before bailing to the NBA Draft without a guarantee. That left Jerime Anderson as the lone survivor going into his senior season in Westwood. A role player in the backcourt who similarly never lived up to his prep on-court hype, he was recently arrested on campus for stealing another student’s Macbook Pro. A tracking device within the computer led police to Anderson, who was immediately suspended from the team and will miss at least the Bruins’ opener against Loyola Marymount on November 11. If this allegation turns out to be true, we wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the final nail in the coffin of the illustrious UCLA Class of 2008. Wow.

Also, Gonzaga recently had another transfer that erased its entire 2008 recruiting class. Coach Mark Few has endured seven transfers in the past two seasons.

More Loveridge

Caught this on Rivals about Utah State target Jordan Loveridge:  

"At 6 feet 6, Loveridge is a bully of an offensive player with a versatile skill set. He uses his big frame and craftiness with the ball to punish defenders in the midrange. When the defense backs off, Loveridge has confidence in his three-point shot. On a given possession, he might beat the press with his ball handling and then give it up and post up for a score. In short, he is an offensive threat everywhere on the court."

We'll get to our evaluation of Loveridge this weekend -- PTW caught him in one game in Las Vegas.

It looks like Marvin Menzies landed a good one

Anthony Ray at his ArizonaPreps site posted a feature on Joe Boyd, the 2013 post prospect who just gave a verbal to New Mexico State (a sub is required).

A snippet: "...Boyd's commitment comes as a major surprise, since his college recruitment was just beginning to take off. As one of the elite overall prospects in Arizona's 2013 class, Boyd had looked to receive very serious high major division-I recruitment - but [Coach BJ] Letcher advised me that Boyd found the right fit for himself.

Boyd is a very talented post prospect and is the most skilled post player in Arizona's 2013 class."

This 'pact' won't stop the competition from trying.

Thursday and the world of WAC basketball

Here's more on the Jordan Loveridge lovefest. Plus yet another article on various state of Utah prospects.

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Josh Gershon tweeted this some time back:

"Jonathan Milligan picked up offers from St. Mary's and Fresno State. He has a favorite but won't say who."

Milligan is a 6-foot-2 2012 point out of Arizona. Here is tape on the young man.

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At the SCOUT Warriors Sports Network MB, craighoops posted this on the fourth page of this string (a partial cut-n-paste): "...Norvell Arnold posted on his Facebook Wall today (Wed.) that it didn't work out with HAWAII unfortunately, and that he remains focused on finding a School to play at in 2011 to work to Redeem himself..." while nychoopsguy later added this: "Norvell is my brother they just dropped the charges down monday as of august 8 there will be no felony charges yeah he made a mistake with the weed but the domestic charge with false that's why it was dropped down there's no need to call my brother a punk hawaii never contacted me or norvell someone told us hawaii might have some intrest in norv utah st jumped the gun they thought the charges would not get dropped down I can tell you this if norv gets a offer from hawaii he would take it just to stick it to utah st and win the wac in hawaii's last year and he can play right away with 2 years left"

nychoopsguy also posted another message later on in the string.

Jason Groves in NMSU's 2013 recruiting

Jason Groves is all over a pair of down-the-road talents who have given a verbal to Coach Marvin Menzies.

Nolan Shulman on the interest in Isaiah Watkins

New Mexico State receives a mention in this Nolan Shulman feature on 2013 Canadian forward Isaiah Watkins.

Grant Verhoeven down to three

JOVICHERN tweeted this, to the consternation of Fresno State fans:

"Grant Verhoeven (6'8 2012) Central Valley Christian HS (Fresno, CA) Is Down To His Final 3 Colleges Stanford, St Marys & Cal"

Our unsolicited advice: go with the Gaels.