aboz56

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 06:29 PM) Hate him all you want, he'll be the best player in his class when it's all said and done. How closely do you follow recruiting? Have you seen any of this class play? I've been following Mayo since he was in 6th grade, when his uncle opened up ojmayo.org to promote him and the circus began. Physically, Mayo peaked in about 9th grade. He started playing in high school games at Rose Hill Christian in a small town in Kentucky in the 7th grade. He's been ranked the No. 1 player in the class for several years, but now after watching most of these guys play, I'm fairly confident in saying that he's not the best player in his class. He plays absolutely no defense at all, he's got an awful attitude and he hasn't really improved at all for a couple of years now and his body hasn't improved at all for about 3 years now. Whether or not he turns out to be the best player, who knows, but he's not on the right track from an off the court standpoint and he has horrible on the court habits that if not corrected, could make him the next Felipe Lopez. Out of the class as it currently sits, Singler, Beasley, Rose and Gordon are definitely better players at this point in time than Mayo and a good case can be made for Love as well.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 10:44 AM) You missed out big time if you watched something else other than the tourney on Saturday. I didn't miss out, I got to see the best High school player in the country.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Mar 18, 2007 -> 12:34 PM) Hey guys, be sure to check out Angel Garcia from East Chicago Central also if you go. He is on IU's radar for the 2008 class and has mentioned IU prominently. Also, if you catch the 3A game, let me know what you think of Evansville Bosse. They have two mid-level D-I prospects in Cardell McFarland and Matt Lander. I'm curious to know what you guys think. Thanks and enjoy! Spoke to a couple people in the know and Garcia wants to go to IU, but IU has other guys they are targeting ahead of him at this point. Phillip Jurick from Tennessee most notably who has IU and Tenn listed as co-leaders. I also spoke to someone who feels that Garcia is very raw and is slightly overrated by Rivals. Kyle Kuric, a junior from Evansville Memorial, is now getting major interest from IU. He's holding offers from Southern Illinois, Butler, Central Michigan, Evansville and Indiana State. IU and Purdue have yet to offer, but I've also heard that he is going to wait for an IU offer as long as he can because he really likes the Hoosiers. Both parents went to IU and word is Mom really wants him to go there.

Here's a video from the Regional, 9 mins long, hits some deep 3's.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Mar 18, 2007 -> 09:45 AM) I saw bits and pieces of that first half in-between tourney games. He was looking great. My buddy ended up going to the game, and he feels he exceeded all expectations of what he thought he was capable of. I'm excited for next year. A couple friends and I are talking of possibly going to the state game on Saturday night. I'll be there Saturday night for sure.

I finally got to see Eric Gordon play yesterday and all I can say is he's really good. No I mean, really really good. Like the kind of good that has you calling people on your cellphone after he makes another play that you just shake your head at. No really, in case I didn't make it clear yet, he's that good. In the first quarter of the game, he scored 21 points. He went to the basket, he hit 4 NBA range three's, he played great D. He finished the game with 39 points, his team marched on to the state championship game. He finished shooting 13 of 20 from the field and 8 of 8 from the foul line. If I had any doubt that this kid could just step in at IU and average 20 a game next season, it was erased yesterday. He can go right, he can go left, he can jab step and nail the three, he can do just about everything. He already has an NBA body and he already has an arsenal of moves that are just plain ridiculous. Here's a clip I uploaded this morning from the game. He was called for a charge on this, but it's still an amazing play. Anyhow, he came straight back and nailed a three afterwards.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 09:39 PM) You're kidding, right? big 10 got 6 including all their bubble teams on a down year. Maybe the Big East can feel disrespected for not getting a worthy cuse team in with the unbalanced schedule excuse or a mid-major like the caa for not getting a team with a pretty good resume like drexel in, but I just can't see how you keep saying the big 10 isn't getting enough respect... The talk I heard all week was that the Big 10 didn't deserve six teams and so far they are 5-1, so I'd say they are proving themselves.

No idea what ILL was doing but that was ugly

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 01:41 PM) UCLA will win by 15+ Most anti-IU guy I know, but that's alright, he's just uneducated.

21-2 so far and going strong, only lost one sweet 16 team so far (GA Tech)

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 01:28 AM) I was about 8 rows from that Mike Davis tantrum. It was a very sad site to see. I was there too, unfortunately.

QUOTE(whitesox61382 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 07:01 PM) A couple things(adding to Aboz’s points) to consider when comparing Illinois and Indiana’s incoming classes for next year(minus Gordon). 1)Rivals doesn’t put much emphasize on JC players. Ellis has only a 3 star rating on Rivals despite the fact that he is a consensus top 5 JC player(#1 overall in some rankings) and likely 1 of the top 50 players entering the college ranks next year(when considering all avenues – US high school, international, and JC). Scout does a much better job of incorporating JC players into their rankings. 2)Holman is probably rated lower than he should/could be. Holman missed most of his junior and parts of his senior year to a suspension, but when on the court he is one of the top big men in the country. He is an automatic triple double at the high school level and shot up the Rivals ranking shortly after being reinstated and playing only a handful of games. Unlike a lot of athletic high school big men, he also has a decent offensive game at this point as well. If he played his entire junior/senior seasons, than he would probably be a top 50 overall player as well. 3)In regards to Illinois class being more well-rounded, I have to question that as well. Indiana has two good combo guards in Crawford and Gordon. Neither are true PG, but both can be used as primary ball handlers(both have good size as well at 6’3 and 6’4 respectfully). At 6’5 with good athleticism, Ellis can play either the 2 or 3 and be a match-up problem. McGee is kind of a in between a 3 and a 4, but at 6’7 220lb he should have no problem playing the 4 in the Big Ten. Holman is 6’9, but with his reach and athleticism plays closer to 7’0 and will be a very good 5 in the Big Ten. So I would argue that Indiana does have a very well-rounded class coming in next year. I don’t think that Weber is a terrible recruiter, however, he needs to do a better job of locking down the Chicago area and closing with blue chip caliber recruits. Sampson doesn’t have a track record as a great recruiter either(minus his last class at OU), so it will be interesting to see if he can continue to land blue chip caliber recruits at IU and combine good X’s and O’s coaching with good recruiting. He understands the importance of keeping top Indiana players instate, and that is a key. It will be interesting to see if he opens up his coaching style a little(a little more offensive) if he is able to land blue chip recruits on a consistent basis. Agree with all of your points and this is one helluva discussion going on here. A breath of fresh air for the site IMO. We've actually got IU and U of I fans talking recruiting and there's no flaming going on, who woulda thunk it? Personally, speaking on what I know (which is a lot in this case given connections and what not), I really think that the Gordon situation was an anamoly and shouldn't be a reflection that Weber "can't close" with top flight recruits. I can't speak to the other situations (i.e. Scheyer, Collins, Wright), but to this one I can. Quite often in recruiting kids who give early verbals commitments end up somewhere else. This happens frequently in football recruiting and it does happen in basketball recruiting, but it is much more scrutinized in the case of basketball simply because it doesn't happen as often. In the case of Eric Gordon, you have a kid who simply did not want to be a part of the IU program as long as Mike Davis remained coached. The same can be said for Mike Conley Jr and others over the past few seasons that Davis was the coach at Indiana. Once Sampson took the IU job and put Meyer on his staff, the connection to the Gordon family became quite apparent. When Sampson was hired, he talked specifically about needing to recruit Indiana better and he got to work immediately on Eric Gordon. Admittedly he made a mistake in not contacting Bruce Weber, but we've been over all of this. I believe Bruce Weber is a fine coach and is also probably a man of high values and while I realize that the easy thing to do with the Gordon situation is to pile onto Weber, I think that's just wrong in this case. To say he couldn't close the deal is wrong, in this specific case. I think the same thing would have happened if Gordon would have been committed elsewhere. Weber will get the recruiting turned around at Illinois, he already has a nice start this year and even if he doesn't land 5-star recruits, he will still pick up solid recruits who fit well into the program and will make Illinois successful year in and year out.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Mar 12, 2007 -> 09:29 PM) I know somebody (Balta, was it?) posted a map that was able to tell you which NFL game you would get every Sunday. Is there something similar to that for the tourney games? Maybe I'm not clear enough. Is there some kind of pre-determined schedule as to which game you will get, and if that game will cut out early? I want to know whether or not I should make my way to a sports-bar-ish type place for this week(end). Your local CBS affiliate should have the games they will be showing listed on their website.

QUOTE(Felix @ Mar 12, 2007 -> 09:19 PM) Lets see... UNLV > Wisconsin in the second, Illinois > VT in the first (unlikely, but whatever), Gonzaga > Indiana in the first, TT > BC in the first, Texas > UNC, Stanford > Louisville, Creighton > Nevada. Still debating Texas Tech over Boston College, and will probably pick BC, but whatever. Stanford over Louisville seems unlikely given that the game is 70 miles from Louisville, will be heavily attended by Louisville fans and Stanford will be playing at roughly 8:40 am their time (when you figure in the time zones as well as the time change ahead this week).

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 11, 2007 -> 11:08 PM) I don't know where you see Indiana having such a more bright future than Illinois. Besides Gordon (who is only going to be in Bloomington for 1 year, so he better get his licks in quick), Indiana is recruiting the same mediocre 3 star/borderline low 4 stars that Bruce is, Kelvin has a history of geting recruits like that, he is a similiar coach to Bruce in that he isn't aware offense has been invented yet, and the teams looked awfully simliar this year. Jamarcus Ellis is a borderline/mediocre 3-star? Scout has him listed as a top 25 player this year (they include junior college players in their rankings) and another Juco site has him the #1 Juco in the land. I'm sure if Illinois had grabbed McGee, he wouldn't be classified as a mediocre 3-star by you. Holman should be a "very good" Big 10 player as well. I'd say the Crawford may be the only fringe guy in the group and even Scout has him as No. 100 and he's their "worst" recruit. Also, they already have two 4-stars committed for 2008. And one of them, Bud Mackey, could be a top 30 player (currently 48 on rivals after being unranked) after this summer. Also as far as Sampson's history for recruiting lower tier players, he had the No. 1 class coming to Oklahoma last year before it broke apart when he left. Class had Damien James and Scottie Reynolds among others, I believe. He might have had to settle for lower tier recruits at Oklahoma, but he picked it up towards the end and he won't have to settle for mediocre recruits at IU. Now in no way is this an attack on Illinois, I clearly didn't say a word about them in this post, but you need to give credit as far as recruiting goes, where credit is due.

I think he'll win the job and have a solid year. Just a hunch on my part.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Mar 11, 2007 -> 09:25 PM) Are you serious. What a bunch of bulls***. Alford sucks as a coach, that's reason enough to leave them out.

Stanford beat 5 solid tourney teams, I don't see why everyone is up in arms over them getting in.

No Syracuse? Wow.

Izzo vs Crean, teacher vs student, should be good.

I'll take a revenge game with Gonzaga.

I think Lunardi is wrong on Illinois, they're gonna be in. I just don't see leaving out a top 35 RPI, 20+ wins and a winning conference record in the Big 10.

Kansas wraps up a #1 seed with an impressive win over Texas. Great battle.

Kansas making it a game in the 2nd half.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 11, 2007 -> 02:59 PM) Here are a couple of mine... Broadway - Jon Garland Danks - Barry Zito Gonzalez - A poor, poor mans Johan Santana Fields - Scott Rolen Broadway is a poor man's Garland, at best.