NCAA

notebookheader NCAA - The Draft Review

If there is anything that stands out this year in college basketball, it's the small school players who will have an impact on the 2010 NBA draft. Overall, this year's draft class does not appear to be that deep or that talented, and judging from the mocks draft around web, including NBAdraft.net and yours truly here at TDR, it seems this year's class has at least five to ten players projected who wouldn't see the light of day in a normal, stronger year.

Or is this year's small school class exceptional? Afterall, we're not just talking about one standout, like a Lester Hudson, but at least five thus far who have been visited by NBA scouts.

Top Small School Prospects

  1. Keith Benson - Oakland - C
  2. Charles Garcia - Seattle -SF/PF
  3. Artsiom Parakhouski - Radford - C
  4. Edwin Ubiles - Siena - SG
  5. Kevin Palmer - Texas A&M Corpus Christi - SG

duosmallcenter NCAA - The Draft Review
Parahouski (left) & Benson (right) NBA prospects look bright.
There's no doubt this surge in small school prospects has much to do with the fact that two of the five happen to fill one of the hardest spots in the league, the Center position. Benson and Parakhouski both have their share of fans among scouts. In particular, Benson clearly has a nice upside and a still developing frame with a good grasp on fundamentals. On the other hand, Parakhouski is a virtual opposite with his big frame and less fluidity than Benson, the much more finished product.

Gauging these players from a historical draft perspective, Benson has the potential to go as high as another small school product, Jeff Foster, who was drafted 21st overall out of Southwest Texas State (now known as Texas State) in the 1999 NBA draft. As for Parakhouski, I feel Dan McClintock, drafted 53rd overall out of Northern Iowa in the 2000 NBA draft, is a good representation. In the case of Parakhouski I wouldn't be shocked if he goes in the early part of the draft.

Rounding out the remaining Top 5 are perimeter players, with the exception of Charles Garcia who is at the college level a combo forward. To put it mildly Garcia is enjoying the newly reintroduced Division I program. University of Seattle has a very rich basketball history and is no stranger to the NBA draft, boasting six former players drafted in the first and second rounds. Yet the hype on Garcia has been tremendous and, in my opinion, bit too exuberant.

It's not to say this hype is faithless. There is definitely some girth to the press Garcia has received, but a top twenty draft pick? I don't know about that. From a historical perspective Garcia reminds me of Jerome Beasley, who was drafted 33rd overall out of North Dakota in the 2003 NBA draft.

Rounding out the bottom are Edwin Ubiles of Siena and Kevin Palmer of Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Both players must continue to build on their senior seasons and have a good showing at the Portsmouth Invitational tournament, but this is not a knock on either player. More than ever, draft night of 2010 will be greatly impacted by what goes on at the pre-draft camps.

Submitted by Ben Chew, TDR Fan Blog

Alright everyone, here is a pop quiz for all of you. There are currently two teams that are ranked in the top 25 who have 12-0 records. Who are the two?

For all you Big East fans, I give you that Pittsburgh is 12-0. Then who is the other team? Most people would probably figure that it's someone from the ACC and that's right. Is it North Carolina? Wake Forest? Duke?

Nope, it's the Clemson Tigers. Albeit, many of you are probably saying that they haven't beat anyone and that might be rightfully so. However, they did beat Miami by a large margin and Illinois in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge if that matters to anyone.

I'm not saying that Clemson is a world-beater by any stretch of the imagination but looking at their line-up it's not hard to be impressed. They have one of the best shooters in all of college basketball with Terrence Oglesby and do all starter KC Rivers. This success shouldn't come as a surprise since this Clemson team was the runner up in the ACC tournament to North Carolina.

This could arguably be the best team that Clemson has had since the 1979-80 season when the team was lead under head coach Bill Foster. That team was lead by Larry Nance and reached the elite eight in the NCAA tournament. Don't be surprised if the success from this year's team matches or surpasses the team of 1980. Just start paying attention to them.

Submitted by Ben Chew, TDR Fan Blog

When most college coaches were scouting Stephen Curry, the major knock on him as a player was his size and inability to score near the basket. After a whirlwind season last year where Curry lead his team to an elite eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and earned himself an Associated Press Second Team All-American, those concerns seem to be wavering. The season that Stephen Curry has put up so far this year has only proven that his success last year wasn't a fluke.

The real question is how did Stephen Curry not get recruited by any major program?

By Matthew Maurer

Thank God some ballers don't take their nicknames literally. "Apollo 33" Jamario Moon isn't risking flight with NASA, Andrei Kirilenko never brandished an AK-47 assault riffle, and Andrew "Boston Strangler" Toney...well, you get the idea. So here we have Glen "Big Baby" Davis getting all watery-eyed on national TV in last week's game against Portland. Davis obviously doesn't know one of basketball's biggest unwritten rules - never cry when your future rests on your persona as an enforcer. Davis proclaimed post-game to have no for regrets for the emotional meltdown, but if you ask me he just flushed his reputation down the toilet. He's always been a fun-loving player, but when you're 6-foot-9 and weigh 289 pounds, crying just isn't an option on the court. Man up, big baby.

Okay, I'm very pissed off at EA sports and have been for a while now. These jerks bought an exclusive deal with the NCAA (just like they did with the NFL) to be the only licensed developer to make games featuring college basketball teams. The outcome is NCAA Basketball 09, which is so bad I honestly have too little time to spell out everything that's wrong with it. My beloved College Basketball 2K series has been shelved, not because the series was bad, but because it was too good. Instead of embracing the spirit of competition and improving their product, those EA chumps took the corporate way and flashed some green to secure themselves as the only provider. WHY? Because they can't beat 2K Sports! EA doesn't understand that people like me have no problem updating the rosters with the new recruits and removing graduates. It's all about 2K9, baby! Screw EA Sports. To all my fellow gamers - don't settle for hamburgers when you can have steak. In the next few weeks I'll post my rosters here on the TDR site as well as in the 2kShare system.

Now I know some will question this, but mark my words. The foreign reign of 13 consecutive years of an overseas player drafted in the first round is in jeopardy. That is unless someone comes out of nowhere, or some team owes an agent a favor or just really feels like reaching. The international flavor is a bitter drink to swallow this year. This is the result of years of NBA teams taking near high school-aged players out of Europe. Now the pickings are super slim. Only Brandon Jennings stands a chance, but he doesn't really count because he's American. And have you checked out his game lately? Jennings isn't exactly killing it overseas right now. Add to the fact that Victor Claver is injured and signs that point to Ricky Rubio staying one more season, and it all adds up to a lukewarm international draft class. I'm sure some publication will put together a fluff piece in the near future about an overseas player that's purported to be shoe-in. And I'm sure some team will be high on that player, as another team, alleged by some oblivious source, will proclaim their plan to draft him in the first if he's available. But please hold the hype. This year's draft class isn't that strong and the prospects are not mind blowing overseas. The Euro dollar may be strong but it'll be American muscle flexing on draft night.

As Jimmy V was celebrated once more this past week for his courageous fight against the cancer that took his life, I also celebrate every other person with cancer who battled just has hard or is presently continuing their battle when no one is looking.

By Matthew Maurer

All of a sudden Hasheem Thabeet is ranked a top 10 pick by virtually every mock draft service and no one disagrees. But what was up when these mock draft providers proclaimed that Thabeet was virtually garbage after he contemplated coming out for the draft both as a freshmen and sophomore? The short term memory these so called experts amazes me. What changed guys? Either you're a poor judge of real talent or you just missed the boat. I think it's a little bit of both. Now these so-called experts should do themselves a favor - delete your past Thabeet bashing articles before you proclaim to have any further knowledge of his game.

 

A week and a half ago Loyola (MD) coach Jimmy Patsos decided to do something no real coach would. He abandoned attempts to win a game and instead focused on freezing Davidson's NBA bound player, Stephen Curry. It obviously wasn't a plan to simply limit Curry since Patsos kept two players on him the entire game regardless of how open his teammates were. And although Curry didn't score a point as he watched his wide-open teammates destroy the poorly coached team Loyola by 30 points, Patsos still felt the urge to gloat in the post game interview about how he kept Curry under wraps. What a bum. This guy doesn't deserve to coach anywhere in Division I, II, III or NAIA. Let's face it, he knew they wouldn't win so he went for the win within the loss. The University of Loyola needs to can this joker. Patsos may have the prized coaching pedigree but he lacks major leadership, integrity, intelligence, and the courage to compete. Patos was a sore loser before the game even started.

After losing big-time recruit Kenny Boynton, Duke has chosen to try its hand at the nation's top prospect, John Wall. Duke's recruitment of Wall has left some Blue Devils fans scratching their heads, especially with the somewhat negative perception that Wall is not the best of students. Regardless of what Mike Kryzewski proclaims, I can read the real story between the lines. Duke is falling short athletically compared to their rival 8 miles down the road in Chapel Hill. A Duke staff member is quoted as saying they "were pleasantly surprised by his transcripts". Translation? "Man, we thought he was dumb but he's not". In my eyes Duke is slowly starting to shed its recruiting morals to keep up with its intense UNC rival who has reloaded once again with the nation's number one recruiting class.

Lastly, say a prayer of hope and recovery for former Wake Forest star and NBA veteran Rodney Rogers. Rogers was involved in a terrible ATV accident several days ago while riding in the woods. His unfortunate fall from the ATV led to his current state of paralysis from the shoulders down. The 12-year former pro was transferred to Sheppard Center in Atlanta for rehabilitation on his spinal injury.