thisgivensunday theoutsidecorner crossoverchronicles puckdrunklove crystalballrun runthefloor

Evaluating Lasan Kromah to UConn

Written by Michael Rogner on .

The latest move on the transfer market is George Washington's Lasan Kromah heading to Connecticut. The 6-6 Kromah plays guard, but his size gives UConn a bit of versatility, considering they're fairly loaded in the back court already.

Kromah got off to a great start at George Washington and made the A10 All Rookie team. That year he was 9th in the nation at forcing steals - generating one every 4.7% of opponent possessions.

Heading into his sophomore year things began to go sideways when he suffered a lisfranc injury in a preseason scrimmage with NC State and missed the entire season.

no comments

Why is Kevin Stallings blocking Sheldon Jeter's transfer to Pitt?

Written by Michael Rogner on .

Sheldon Jeter played his freshman season at Vanderbilt this year, and when it was over he indicated that he wanted to transfer somewhere closer to home (which is Beaver Falls, PA, about 45 minutes north of Pittsburgh).

no comments

Inside the John Calipari Basketball Fantasy promotional video

Written by Michael Rogner on .

0:07: We have our first do-rag sighting, and nothing says straight baller like a 48-year-old, bald, gastroenterologist in a do-rag and mid-thigh gym shorts.

0:13: Kyle Wiltjer is reviewing something. Perhaps a roster. On that roster are the names of a bunch of rich guys paying between $7,500 and $12,500 for a full day of the John Calipari Basketball Fantasy Experience, so that they can pretend to be Kyle Wiltjer. The whole camps clears around $700,000, which I'm sure absolutely thrills the Kentucky basketball players, considering that all of that money is being made because of them, but they don't actually get any of it. So instead of rolling out of bed and checking the mail to see if their latest royalty check has arrived for allowing Kentucky and the NCAA to market their image, they get to spend their saturday pretending that they like a bunch of old guys who keep picking up their dribble. Basically, in the US, if you are attending any sort of 'fantasy' experience it means that you're paying someone to pretend that they like you. Whether it's the 20-year-old hottie at the strip club, or the ex-college jock - you give them your money and they smile (or grind) while secretly hating you.

no comments

Anatomy of a roster: Missouri Tigers

Written by Michael Rogner on .

Seniors

Tony Criswell, 6-9: Criswell enrolled at UAB in 2009 and redshirted. After his redshirt freshman year (3.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg) he transferred to Independence CC for a year before enrolling at Mizzou.

Ernest Ross, 6-5: Ross began his career at Auburn, where he played for two seasons. He sat out the 2011-12 season after transferring to Missouri.

no comments

Evaluating Darion Clark to USC

Written by Michael Rogner on .

When Andy Enfield took over Florida Gulf Coast he immediately turned to the transfer market in order to upgrade the talent on the roster. So it's no surprise that he's doing the same thing at USC.

And just like at FGCU, Enfield isn't necessarily looking for the quick fix. While his team was earning the name 'Dunk City' in last year's tournament, two of his most talented players were sitting out the year on the bench after transferring. He had 6-6 Jamail Jones from Marquette and 6-10 Nate Hicks from Georgia Tech. And this was after his first recruit - Eric McKnight from Iowa State - sat out the previous year. And now Clark will be in the same boat.

no comments

Evaluating Terry Whisnant to ECU

Written by Michael Rogner on .

FSU head Coach Leonard Hamilton doesn't look it, but he's 64 years old. Long ago he was a star high school basketball player in Gastonia, North Carolina, and he began his college career at the local community college. But once he left for Tennessee-Martin he was out of North Carolina for good.

But throughout his career he has maintained his ties to his home state. He's cultivated relationships with high school and AAU coaches. And he goes there and wins recruiting battles. FSU currently has four players from the state.

Terry Whisnant II (6-3, 185) grew up in Cherryville, just down the road from Gastonia. His family was rooted there, and Whisnant stayed home instead of transferring to a big high school, largely because of his family. That, and he got to break all his father's scoring records. He was Mr. Basketball as a senior - the only 1A public school player to ever win the award. And he scored. A lot. He averaged over 32 points a game.

no comments

Kentucky's 2013-14 Championship odds slightly better than last year's

Written by Michael Rogner on .

Now that Andrew Wiggins has made his college choice (you're not really expecting me to put a link on that, are you?) the Vegas sports books have begun releasing their odds for the 2013-14 college basketball national title. Bovada and Vegas Insider both dropped today, and they both have Kentucky as the favorite with 5/1 odds (bet $1 to win $5).

This is better than last year's favorite -  Indiana - which had 7/1 odds. Right behind Indiana was Kentucky, with 15/2 odds. And pretty much every expert in the nation had Kentucky in their top 3 to start the season. Of course, they ended in the NIT, while the Hoosiers fell in the Sweet 16. The champion last season (Louisville) began with 8/1 odds, while the runner up (Michigan) was at 20/1.

Eight teams begin this season with odds as good as Michigan's were or better.

no comments

Even without Andrew Wiggins, SEC dominating recruiting

Written by Michael Rogner on .

No one had any idea where Andrew Wiggins was going to play his one year of college basketball. He chose Kansas, which will obviously give the Jayhawks class a huge boost. But this is the time of year when I like to begin looking at recruiting by conference.

To begin, I focus on the consensus top 100 recruits, rather than any one service. RSCI hoops is the best site for this but they won't update their rankings until everyone's final lists come out. In the interim I make my own. I take every player's ranking from several recruiting services, and then apply some formulas, and boom, there's the top 100 list. It's the crowd sourcing approach to recruiting, rather than trying to pick your favorite person out of that crowd.

The immediate impact of Wiggins was on the upper end of that scale - the can't miss, 5*, top 25 kids. And looking at just those top 25, the SEC is killing everybody. Imagine if Kentucky would have gotten Wiggins.

The initial reaction is that of course the SEC is killing everybody because of Kentucky. But even if you remove all of Kentucky's recruits from the equation, the SEC still has more top 25 recruits than any other conference.

no comments

Douchebags of Twitter vs Andrew Wiggins

Written by Michael Rogner on .

 

 

no comments

Your RTF Guide to the Andrew Wiggins Announcement

Written by Michael Rogner on .

1. When is he announcing his college choice?

Students will be assembling at 12:15 Tuesday for the ceremony. Expect an announcement between 12:16 and 12:30, with a potential for lingering until dinner.

2. Where will he be announcing?

From St. Joseph's Central Catholic High School, in West Virginia.

3. But he goes to Huntington Prep.

True. But Huntington Prep is not a high school. It's an all-star basketball team that practices at Marshall University. The players attend classes at St. Joe's. That's how stuff works these days.

no comments