Stuhoo

  And I'll betcha that this IU team's offense, specifically as it applies to Noah Vonleh, gets inverted this weekend when the Hoosiers travel to West Layflat to take on the Boilers:   Purdue quite literally does not play zone defense. Ever. AJ Hammons better be ready to guard that three. AJ Hammons is gonna have a tough time protecting the rim from Yogi and Stan while he's out guarding that Vonleh three ball.

I'm usually a sunshine pusher, but threads like these tend to tick me off because they often neglect what could be considered the truly important factors:   He may want to stay in college, and not solely to develop as a basketball player:   He may want to stay in college to develop as a young man. A young man that matures on a personal level and works toward his college degree. A young (and he is very young) man who does not spend over 100 nights a year in out-of-town hotel rooms. A young man who can hang out with other teenagers, not a bunch of 25-35 year olds who have the kind of problems that he can only imagine, and is not required to be placed in the middle of. ____________________________________________________________________________   From the aforementioned DraftExpress, on April 12, 2012: "Indiana’s center Cody Zeller is considered a lock lottery pick — DraftExpress has him there — but he released a statement through the university Tuesday that he is staying for his sophomore year in college."   And the response, from Cody Zeller: "I grew up hoping that one day I would get the opportunity to play in the NBA, but at this point, I'm not ready for my college experience to be over," said Zeller. "Coach Crean and my family were very supportive and helpful as I made my decision. My college experience at IU this year has exceeded my expectations, on and off the court. I look forward to playing at Assembly Hall next year in front of the greatest fans in the country. Go Hoosiers!"   AND:  "My final decision was that I wasn't ready to grow up yet," Zeller said. "Everyone tells me that college will be the best years of my life. "I'm not ready to pay bills, buy a house, start paying rent and everything else. There was no reason for me to leave. We're going to have high goals this year. We'll see what happens."   I will close my quite long post/rant with this: The post in this thread that looks at college basketball purely as a means to NBA ascendancy reminds me WAY too much of UK/Rupp Rafters logic. 

Talent is common.   Talent plus extraordinary drive, focus and hard work is remarkable, uncommon, and special. Talent plus extraordinary drive, focus and hard work creates "good luck".   PS: Charles Barkley was wrong: Athletes aren't necessarily role models, unless of course, they are.

  I'm not sure we're always at our best when we run too much. For instance, Yogi is our only player that consistently has the ability to hit a three in transition. I know that CTC is a big proponent of getting out and running, but I'm pretty sure he is also a big proponent of "running smart".   NW is still not a racehorse team, but they aren't "Carmody slow" anymore.

  I understand why you feel that way (based on the results of our games against them this year), but I strongly disagree.   NW has played well at times including when they were at Assembly Hall, but they are not nearly as good a team as Michigan.

  We will win the next two and then pull of a road win while holding home court. Besides, NW has always been a semi-home game with all of the cream and crimson that attend.           This thread is "About to Turn the Corner". Want to discuss Vonleh leaving and starting over again in the middle? WRONG THREAD.

Doc Libby rocks.   Not just because she provides plenty of insight, but also because her perspective is (or at least, should be) a much needed reality check for those on boards that alternate between euphoria and "the sky is falling".   Great stuff.

  The Kentucky players might need to get their Mercedes' detailed; that can run a UK booster hundreds per car!   and...World Wide Wes might get his Gucci loafers dusty in that cornfield.

I LOVE it when a high-level recruit cites collegiate academic interests as one of his recruiting priorities.   You can bet that Daniel Giddens is a big plus as a teammate, not just a bball player.

Stevenson High School and Lincolnshire, Illinois are great places for academics and to raise kids. You can bet Mr. Brunson is a squared-away young man.

While I agree with Watshot that Minny will be plenty inspired for our game, nevertheless it was the best possible scenario for us:   Minny has a FAR better chance of nosing us out for an NCAA berth - Very much helps us vis-a-vis standings   Made the whole Minny team work really hard; probably necessitates less practice time before our game, and forced Hollins to play a lot of minutes on a bad ankle.    7 or 8 OTs would have been even better!

  Either that, or driving to the Kroger.

  Them's the wingys I'm thinking too. 

Connors State star Willie Atwood (6-8, 217). Atwood, who played his first three years of high school basketball Memphis Melrose and then finished up at West Memphis, has had a breakout season for the Cowboys this season and is averaging 21.6 points and 8.2 rebounds this season. “He has really had a great season for us and really come into his own,” Connors State head coach Bill Muse said. “He has scored inside and out for us, grabbed rebounds, passed the ball well and played great defense. That’s why so many schools have been here to see him.” Indeed Arkansas joins Oklahoma, Gonzaga, Iowa, Auburn, Wichita State and Murray State - the latter two who have offered - as teams that have been in to see the Memphis native play this season. Atwood – shooting 60 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free throw line this season for No. 25 Connors State (12-2) - has taken only one official visit has been to Marshall so he has four left to help him make his decision. “He obviously decided that he wasn’t going to sign early and just see how recruiting went for him during the season,” Muse said. “It’s looking like a very good decision for him.” He has had two monster games this season with a school-record 49-point effort in a loss to Independence Community College and 35 points in a win over Northern Oklahoma-Enid. Atwood was 33-of-37 from the free throw line in that 49-point outing and got to the foul line 19 times in the other. “He was just phenomenal when he scored 49 points,” Muse said. “He is a very aggressive, hard-nosed and tough player who doesn’t back down from anyone or any situation." He was named the National Junior College Player of the Week on Dec. 5 after averaging 25.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 blocks in a trio games that didn’t even include the school-record game. “He could have won it several times this season already,” Muse said. Atwood averaged 14 points and 9 rebounds for West Memphis his senior season and then 10.6 rebounds and 7 rebounds per game as a freshman for Connors State. During that time he went from being a 175-pound guard to a 217-pound combo forward. “He has really filled out since he got here, gotten stronger and developed into a very complete player,” Muse said. “He is just getting better every night and has a very bright future ahead of him. More people are calling about him every day.”

    Discuss ;)

  Does mean that my "just wanted a tasty sandwich" riff may be true after all?!?  lol

    Geez, I hope so!   Kidding aside, seems like Guerrero, Cimino, and Sharma shoot well, and Rozkas is a banger, not a shooter.

This is the payoff for running a clean, close second recruitment of LouRawls Nairn.   There is obviously a good relationship that has been built between our staff and the Sunrise staff, and you can betcha they fed Ruben's potential and film directly to us when they saw our need for a big.

"More notables from the Elite 14 Bel Aire (Kan.) Sunrise Christian is the high school basketball equivalent of the United Nations and has players from all over the globe. Leading the way was four-star point guard Lourawls Nairn from the Bahamas. The Michigan State pledge looked in tip top condition and was making plays all over the floor. We've written it before, but Spartan fans will love him for his toughness and playmaking. Also making some noise were shooting guard Vasilije Pusica and big men Ruben Guerrero and Moataz Hosney. A product of Serbia, Pusica is a deadly jump shooter with some savvy and toughness off the dribble who has offers from San Diego and Colorado State. A product of Spain, Guerrero is a pretty mobile big man who has a great looking jumper for a 6-foot-10 kid. Just arrived from Egypt, Hosney has long arms, good strength and was very active on the glass, scoring around the rim and as a shot blocking presence. - See more at: http://theoldcoach.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1570451#sthash.lkJCBhC0.dpuf"

  GMM never had a bad game at IU! ;)

A team video that has some clips of Ruben, especially toward the end of the video. He's #24.   He's very long. He's playing against a very high level of high school competition. From the video, his team does not appear to be completely guard oriented; the bigs come out to screen,roll, and post up. Things occur for a reason, and I am intrigued.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NF4aexMyDKo

    It's all a big misunderstanding.    At noon today Coach Crean was talking to Coach Kenny, and a few reporters were eavesdropping.   CTC: "Hey Kenny, next year this team is going to be starving for big men". Coach Johnson: "Hey Tom, what I'm really hungry for is a Ruben".   The reporters put two and two together, and ran with the story.

  My bad; it's 247. Here's a part of the 247 board list for him:       Bradley Warm true - Nov 9   Oklahoma Warm true Lew Hill Oct 4   Creighton Warm true - Sep 21   DePaul Warm true - -   South Carolina Warm true - -   Indiana Warm - - -   Iowa State Cool true - Oct 25   Northwestern Cool true - Aug 27   Minnesota Cool true  

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-12-26/sports/ct-spt-1227-prep-bkb-spotlight-20131226_1_kain-harris-morgan-park-nick-irvin

  Yes we are: I believe it is Rivals that has him as a 4 star and has about 1/2 of the B1G as having offered.