Thanksgiving in Maui – perfect.

THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT
Key Preseason Tournaments Announce Matchups

If the NFL preseason has taught us anything – unlikely at best, but roll with us for a minute – it is that “meaning” does not guarantee priority viewing. Preseaon NFL games may be both meaningless and poor in quality, but they’re still more entertaining to watch than Game #120 in the MLB season. (And, jeez, we actually like baseball.)

But that dirty secret is a double-edged sword, and it cuts football harshly around Thanksgiving. As anyone who has suffered through watching the Lions with a belly full of tryptophan should admit, the best sports on television during the Week of the Bird has nothing to do with a pigskin. Nay, it is the exempt preseason college hoops tournaments – they of the meaningless games and odd locales – that take the cake. And the pie. And whatever other deliciousness is left in the Thanksgiving cornucopia of metaphor.

The WWL released the schedules for three of this season’s premier exempt tourneys, and each features a few can’t miss early season matchups:

In Maui – Trendy pick Notre Dame faces off against Tom Crean’s Indiana(ish) squad, but undisputed preseason #1 North Carolina leads the field and will face host Chaminade in their first game. Given the air of infallibility surrounding this UNC team, pardon us if we cheer for the Silverswords to … ya know, pull a Chaminade.

In Anaheim – In its second year, tWWL’s own tournament might be labeled the Up-and-Coming Classic. Wake Forest, coming off a Top 10 recruiting class, will face the defending Big West champs and hosts Cal State Fullerton. The winner takes on a field consisting of former bottom-dwellers like Baylor and Arizona State, punched up with solid mid-majors like Saint Mary’s and Charlotte.

In Orlando – Also owned by tWWL but with two years of history, the Old Spice Classic pulls in an impressive field of solid teams from last year with major question marks. Tennessee post-Chris Lofton? Georgetown post-Roy Hibbert? Siena trying to become the new Gonzaga? Gonzaga trying to do better than … ya know, Gonzaga? This is literally anyone’s tournament. All we know is that Neil Patrick Harris better be there.

Three more headlines, including a lot more travel for teams and coaches, after the jump

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The mood music for this week’s final post, courtesy of Violent Femmes:

Sure, this might be a month old, but if Gary Williams lives by “better late than never”, then so shall we. While most teams are finalizing their recruiting Class of 2009 and getting started on 2010, Williams is still scrambling to find 12 guys to suit up for this season. Seems like he could just walk the streets of Baltimore with a pack of Cluck-U Chicken certificates, but what do we know?

Speaking of additions to the ACC, Raleigh jock-talk host Joe Ovies looked at the five-year results of the ACC’s expansion to 12 teams. Basketball? Meh. Profit? ¡Sí! Thanks to new football revenue, the nine pre-existing members of the conference can’t hear your complaints about the drop in basketball quality, what from all the money they are bathing in.

In a much more sad development, Jamar Smith has been kicked off of the Illinois basketball team after violating his probation. Eamonn reported Smith’s off-court woes with proper due diligence, but we’ll chime in to say that Smith appears to have a problem of some variety – might be booze, might be mental, might just be a case of incredibly immaturity. Whatever it is, we hope he gets help.

Meanwhile, his departure leaves the Illini in rebuilding mode for another year. Somewhere at New York’s offices, a emo-banged gentleman is crying in his drink.

Gin-and-tonic, or pure tears? Also, we actually believe he wears a tux to work now.

Wondering if a zebra is on the take? Our friends at A Sea of Blue point out that, with so many off-court relationships between refs and teams, you might be right – and the NCAA might be a-OK with the relationship. Nico Bellic doesn’t see what the big deal is.

Finally, Matt Smith at Bleacher Report believes he has found the evil among us, and it is a 17-year-old at a prep school in North Carolina. John Wall, previously known to college football fans as Mitch Mustain, is the number 1 point guard in the Class of 2009 – which makes his decision to attend Baylor make oh-so-much sense. Oh, wait, they hired his AAU coach as the “director of player development”? Must have been a coincidence.

Have a great weekend, folks, good to be back.

THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT

Sadly, the biggest – and, for the most part, only – story in college basketball today is actually a story about pro basketball:

How old school are we? 2006 old school, that’s how we do.

The draft is melancholy for us. On one hand, we will watch any draft of any sport because we are … how do you put this … addicts. There is something intensely interesting about watching the future unfold, not to mention that we, like Bill Simmons’ and his dad, roundly enjoy reviewing the suits each year. Plus, if you can’t enjoy watching Stephen A. Smith interview someone who doesn’t speak English – well, brother, we just don’t know what to tell you.

(Oddly, we now have a taste for cheez doodles. Which are delicious.)

On the other hand, however, the draft is where we bid a fond farewell to college players we enjoyed because … well, we just don’t give a damn about the NBA. We’ve tried, and we just can’t. It’s not because we think the quality of play is poor; we don’t think that’s true in the slightest (at least, not anymore). It’s not that we don’t find the games entertaining, or that we have a problem with the NBA “culture”. It’s that we have no blood on that field; we have no stake in what happens at that level.

We grew up as Cleveland Cavaliers fans, which was fun during the glory years with Mark Price and Brad Daugherty. (See, Carolina fans? We can let grudges go.) But then Daugherty got hurt and starting caring more about racing than playing. Price got traded. The Cavs acquired Shawn Kemp (and future negotiation rights with all 329 of his children), who promptly got fat and terrible. The team sucked. And then the 1998 lockout happened.

Even as college kids, there was only so much time we had to devote to following sports – there were things called “Goldeneye”, “beer” and “trim” to which we wanted to devote our attention. And at that time, with our team in shambles and the league thumbing its nose at its fans – well, we just couldn’t care anymore.

We’ve tried to go back to it – it’s not like we’re unaware that the Cavs have the best basketball player alive right now – but any devotion we may have had to our team is gone. As Simmons put it – like him or hate him, he sometimes finds a nut – when you cheer for a team these days, you are essentially cheering for laundry. And you know what? We just don’t care about that laundry anymore, because it’s so evident that those wearing it don’t care either. And without a rooting interest, frankly, just about any sport becomes difficult to follow with any sort of regularity.

Is it that much better at the college level? We’d like to think so – after all, a player chooses where to go to play his college ball, and part of us really wants to believe that players who choose to attend our alma maters share some of the same hopes and dreams we had when we first stepped on campus years ago. It can’t ALL be based on booster gifts, coaching personalities, and co-eds, right? (Though, in fairness, we had hopes and dreams for the same co-eds. We just had no chance.)

No one knows for sure, of course, and we’ll admit that our view is a rosy one, especially as it pertains to top level players. But we’d rather cast our lots with the guys who, at the margins, are playing for fun rather than the guys who are, at the margins, playing as a job.

So, we’ll be watching the Draft tonight – partly for fun, but partly to say goodbye to players that we won’t see or read much about again. It’s the cyclical nature of college sports, but it’s still kind of sad.

Is nice!

THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT
Late Recruits Give Ringing Endorsements

With the draft intrigue now long passed (well, unless Mbah a Moute doesn’t hire an agent, then goes undrafted, then returns to school … [sigh] … ), we return our attention to the players who actually want to play college basketball.

With the recruiting season all but finished, only a few big names from the juco ranks remained up for grabs – and boy, they all committed to their new schools with unbridled joy! Just look at these statements:

From Charles Garcia, Jr., the newest member of the Washington Huskies: “I just didn’t want to deal with the whole recruiting process,” he said. “I wanted to get it out of the way.” That’s the spirit! Go UW!

From Roburt Sallie, now a Memphis Tiger – which isn’t too bad considering that the only reason he was available now was because Nebraska – that’s right, NEBRASKA – was forced to boot him under Big XII rules due to an administrative error. “For some reason, God didn’t intend me to play for Nebraska. I was dedicated to them and I still wish today I’d have the opportunity to play for them because they’re great.” See? A Tony the Tiger reference! He’s gonna love Memphis! And it’s natural to be pining after your homely ex after you start dating the cheerleader!

Finally, Kentucky transfer Derrick Jasper finally determined where his new home would be – and it will be in the desert, playing for Lon Kruger’s squad in Vegas. His supporters say he wanted to be closer to his Cali home. UK fans think he might have been too soft for Lexington. We think, given the destination, the reason behind the transfer is more basic:

Four more headlines, including plenty of legal action for the week, after the jump.

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College basketball just stole back two very good guards from the NBA for another year: this hour, Texas’ A.J. Abrams and Alabama’s Ronald Steele both announced their withdrawal from the draft.

For the Longhorns, Abrams’ return means that Rick Barnes avoids a total loss of experience in his backcourt, as point guard D.J. Augustin will stay in the draft (and likely go in the first eight picks). Texas doesn’t have a great recruiting class coming in, so the decision by Abrams to return is a huge save for the program.

For the Tide, however, Steele’s reported decision to return means even more. Steele missed the entire 2007-2008 season on medical redshirt after knee surgery last offseason, and his absence at the point badly hurt a team needing a floor leader. With Richard Hendrix moving onto the pros, Steele’s return saves Bama’s chances of competing for an SEC West title.

Unfortunately, it also means more of this on national television:

It’s not Creamsicle orange, but that doesn’t mean it’s pretty.

UPDATE: Jeff Goodman – baller – reports via text message (to him, not from him to me) that Josh Akognon of Call State Fullerton became the third long range baller of the day to stay in college. Lists updated.

Updated tables:

Decision Unknown

Ryan Anderson, Cal (likely go)
Chase Budinger, Arizona (50-50)
Derrick Caracter, Louisville (50-50)
DeMarre Carroll, Missouri (50-50)
Paul Graham II, Florida Atlantic (likely stay)
Kalen Grimes, Missouri (50-50)
Lester Hudson, UT-Martin (50-50)
Reggie Huffman, UAB (50-50)
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, UCLA (50-50)
JaVale McGee, Nevada (likely go)
Courtney Pigram, ETSU (likely stay)
Walter Sharpe, UAB (likely stay)

Definitely Returning to School

A.J. Abrams, Texas
Josh Akognon, Cal State Fullerton
Antonio Anderson, Memphis
Josh Carter, Texas A&M
Darren Collison, UCLA (who, admittedly, withdrew before the declaration deadline)
Lee Cummard, BYU
Wayne Ellington, UNC
Alonzo Gee, Alabama
Danny Green, UNC
Stefon Jackson, UTEP
Ty Lawson, UNC
Leo Lyons, Missouri
Jerel McNeal, Marquette
Josh Shipp, UCLA
Ronald Steele, Alabama
Robert Vaden, UAB
Lorrenzo Wade, San Diego State

Second draft status update of the afternoon:

Clearly, the Profiles in Hubris leave their mark on players – first Danny Green softened his insistence that he would leave school, and now Gonzaga’s Jeremy Pargo has taken his name out of the draft. Pargo’s return means that for the first time in four years, the Zags will get their best player from the previous season back. Can’t hurt.

Joining Pargo back in the college ranks – Robert Dozier of Memphis. No surprise, as John Calipari said last week that he expected Dozier to return. But coupled with the return of Antonio Anderson, Dozier’s decision softens the blow from the loss of Derrick Rose and CDR.

Meanwhile, Richard Hendrix of Alabama announced he would stay in the draft without a first round guarantee. The All-SEC player who averaged a double-double last season has a good shot of making a team as a bench post player even from the second round, and even the most vociferous “stay in school advocates” can’t argue with a guy leaving who graduated in three years. Considering we needed every second of four years to get our undergraduate degree due to too much drankin’ the rigorous requirements, we simply say good on ya, Messr. Hendrix.

Also draftbound: Bill Walker of Kansas State is now formerly of Kansas State, as the redshirt freshman wing decided to stay in the draft despite a partial tear in his right meniscus that will prevent him from doing any more workouts before the draft. DraftExpress has him as the first pick in Round 2 right now, which isn’t too bad considering that earlier this year, insiders said he wasn’t ready for the draft at all ($).

The updated tables:

Decisions Unknown
A.J. Abrams, Texas (likely go)
Josh Akognon, Cal State Fullerton (likely go)
Ryan Anderson, Cal (likely go)
Chase Budinger, Arizona (50-50)
Derrick Caracter, Louisville (50-50)
DeMarre Carroll, Missouri (50-50)
Wayne Ellington, UNC (likely stay)
Paul Graham II, Florida Atlantic (likely stay)
Danny Green, UNC (likely stay)
Kalen Grimes, Missouri (50-50)
Lester Hudson, UT-Martin (50-50)
Reggie Huffman, UAB (50-50)
Ty Lawson, UNC (likely go)
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, UCLA (50-50)
JaVale McGee, Nevada (likely go)
Courtney Pigram, ETSU (likely stay)
Walter Sharpe, UAB (likely stay)
Ronald Steele, Alabama (50-50)

Definitely Returning to School

Antonio Anderson, Memphis
Josh Carter, Texas A&M
Darren Collison, UCLA (who, admittedly, withdrew before the declaration deadline)
Lee Cummard, BYU
Robert Dozier, Memphis
Alonzo Gee, Alabama
Stefon Jackson, UTEP
Leo Lyons, Missouri
Jerel McNeal, Marquette
Jeremy Pargo, Gonzaga
Josh Shipp, UCLA
Robert Vaden, UAB
Lorrenzo Wade, San Diego State

THE (LET’S FACE IT, ONLY) STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT
We’re Sorry, You’re Out – Auf Wiedersehen

With only two games of basketball left in the 2007-2008 season, hoops fans will turn their focus full-time to preparation for next season. (Except in LA, of course, where Simmons will be analyzing game tape from the last ten years looking for the Zapruder film showing Dick Bavetta as a dirty ref.)

As always, the first (and appropriate) focus of the off-season will be on the NBA Draft. Since this isn’t an NBA blog, we don’t terribly care who goes to what team – but we do care about is who decides to stay in college basketball (read: subject matter for at least another year!) and who goes pro. Today, June 16th, we’ll have the final version of both of those lists. This is today’s only major story, so as announcements come down, we’ll post updates.

Tick tock.

Already, BYU’s Lee Cummard surprised a few people by deciding to come back to Provo, while NC State’s J.J. Hickson, Kansas’ Mario Chalmers, and West Virginia’s Joe Alexander stayed in the draft as expected, as all are projected to be late first round or early secnod round picks.

But the big announcements haven’t come down the pike yet – no declaration yet from any of the big three from UNC, and Arizona’s Chase Budinger remains on the fence as well. Stay tuned.

Well, dammit. I knew it would come to this. I’ll smile for the cameras and say a few nice things about you in just a second, but I’ll be damned if I’ll be happy about it.

Don’t think I don’t know about y’all plains riders. We hear about you down in Crawford. Yeah, you … with your tallness and your skills and your stuff. I’m talking to you, Danny. You and your new group of Miracles think you can get away with this, but I promise we will take you down Ranger style. I got all these guys in black suits to help me. Texas is gonna rain some pain down on you, brother!

What’s that? You beat Texas three times? Boool-shit. No, really?

Well, dammit, I don’t even know what to think anymore. If my boys down in Austin can’t take care of a few loopers from the North, I’m not sure I want to say in the world we live in.

Wait – is that a ball? BALL!!!! YAY!!!!!!!

Bouncy!

Alright – the ball was a nice touch. Y’all might be OK. Maybe we can work something out.

Wait – y’all are from Can-saw? Man, Johnny is gonna have my ass. I hope this doesn’t mean that Obama kid from Kansas is gonna win in November. He doesn’t play with y’all, does he? No? Ah, right, them Carolina kids. Right.

Y’all can stay – just don’t mess with the flowers. Laura gets upset with me. And don’t mess with Texas.

[/rides into sunset]

You’ll see. You’ll all see.

THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT
Caution: Genius Recruiting at Work

Little of the news coming out of Lexington this offseason has made a lick of sense. We’ve already done some serious noggin’ scratching when Billy Gillispie inked a kid who hasn’t even started high school yet, but ol’ Billy Clyde may have one upped himself with his latest switcheroo:

First, UK loses its third player to transfer in six months, as guard Derrick Jasper confirmed his intent to transfer to a school that will let him play closer to his natural homes on the West Coast and at the point. UK now has to hope that incoming frosh DeAndre Liggins can qualify academically – he’s only been trying all year – or they kinda sorta don’t have a point guard for next year.

But don’t you fret, brave UK fan – Billy Clyde has a diabolical plan. Didn’t get all the way from El Paso to bluegrass in less than four years without cyborg-level genius that goes way beyond your level. And that genius tells him to sign up a transfer who couldn’t crack the starting lineup in the MEAC:

[Matt] Pilgrim is currently in Lexington on a visit. He is a talent, but was suspended this past season and one source close to the situation said Pilgrim is a “cancer”. Pilgrim started less than half of the 26 games he played and saw his numbers fall to 7.7 points and 5.2 rebounds.

“He was the most talented player in the league,” one source said. “But he’s a giant head case. I’m shocked Kentucky would take him.”

Oh, Mr. Anonymous Badmouth, of course you are shocked. How could you possibly comprehend the brilliant machinations of Billy Clyde? When the revolution comes and UK is the last left standing because of his moves, it will be he that has the last laugh – but true genius never boasts, friends, and that is why Billy sits in his office alone, plotting his next move while applying more Brylcreem than the entire cast of West Side Story.

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No horns here – promise!

THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT
On Getting Off Lawns and Turning Down Music

Levels of pain for coaches when recruits defect:

Bad: “I just want to be closer to home.” A lie, but a plausible lie that has nothing (publically) to do with the coach.
Worse: “I think I’ll be a better fit elsewhere.” Closer to the truth, with a mild jab at the coach and his system.
Worst: “I feel they’ve lied to me all along about the situation.” Dead-on honest, with a laser sight on the man in charge.

Such is life in Arizona, where Lute Olson continues to give the Bobby Bowden treatment to the program he brought to national prominence. Emmanuel Negedu, a forward from Nigeria and Top-40 recruit, asked out of his LOI to Arizona, citing the … well, the batshit-craziness of the program right now, even after receiving a person visit from Olson begging him to stay.

U of A’s AD will decide today whether or not to release Negedu from his commitment – which he should, unless he actually wants publicity for the family-friendly thriller he’s ghost writing, about the white man who forces a man in Africa to Arizona against his will for physical labor.

While his new assistants are singing out of the Good Graces songbook in an attempt to restore trust in the program, one has to wonder if U of A will have the same patience as Florida State with a coach who is past his sell-by date.

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