Good
news for those who treat summer basketball recruiting with the same enthusiasm
women awaited the debut of the men-in-skimpy-attire movie, “Magic Mike.”
Basketball
recruiting is back in a revamped July evaluation format. The first of three
periods this month begins on Wednesday at a bunch of sites, including
Indianapolis’s Adidas Invitational that will showcase some of the nation’s top
prep talent at nine different locations, including North Central and Park Tudor
high schools, plus the Fisher’s Fieldhouse.
IMPORTANT
SIDE NOTE: We interviewed several women who saw “Magic Mike,” which is
basically about male strippers and based on the early life of actor Channing
Tatum, who apparently looks good in a thong, although we'll have to take others' word on that. The women said, and we are not making this up, that the movie was, “stupid
and silly and full of bad acting.” Like acting was a reason to see it! That
would be like watching a porn movie and griping about the music.
By
the way, what was up with the sound track for “Debbie Does Dallas?”
Anyway,
basketball recruiting drama has surfaced even before the action starts. Consider
the NCAA’s move to ban four travel teams and their administrators from
participating in NCAA certified events because of prohibited ties to well-known
agent Andy Miller. NCAA rules prevent any association with agents. Miller, the
founder of ASM Sports Agency, has been involved with 15 NBA first-round picks
since 1995.
The
ban, which involves administrators Desmond Eastman of World Wide Renegades, TJ
Gasnola of New England Playaz, and Matt Ramker of Florida Rams, plus coach Tony
Edwards of the SEBL All-Stars, means those teams have to reform under new
direction, and reform fast, or their players are out of luck, unless they can
quickly join other teams.
The
NCAA went to work after reportedly getting access to an email from Miller
telling Eastman, Gasnola, Ramker and Edwards to more effectively recruit top
draft picks to ASM Sports. Let’s just say that’s a big no-no. Stopping such
activies is a priority for the NCAA, which has recently changed its approach to
target major recruiting violations rather than minor ones such as phone calls
and texts.
That
won’t affect the quality of the Adidas Invitational. State of Indiana teams
include the Eric Gordon All-Stars, a bunch of Indiana Elite squads, Indiana
Fire, Indiana Ice, a bunch of Spiece Indy teams, and more.
Action
begins Wednesday at 5 p.m. and concludes Sunday afternoon.
******
Eric
Gordon is already rich, and he’s set to become richer as a restricted NBA free
agent. The former Indiana All-American guard has a four-year, $58 million offer
from Phoenix. His current team, the New Orleans Hornets can keep him by
matching that offer, although reports suggest Gordon would prefer the Hornets
let him go.
Gordon
only played nine games last season for New Orleans because of surgery on his
right knee. Still, he averaged a team-leading 20.6 points. That’s no surprise.
He could always score.
Gordon
is one of 15 finalists for the Team USA 12-player roster. Yes, that’s the
Olympic team. That group will be finalized on Saturday. Workouts are going on
now in Las Vegas.
Speculation
is that it will come down to Gordon and Oklahoma City guard James Harden. Yes,
that’s the guy with the most impressive beard in all of sports.
*****
Of
course you know Indiana is a preseason basketball No. 1 pick with a
high-powered attack (great 3-point shooting and overall shooting) that should
run most opponents into the ground. But in the end, the deciding factor in
whether the Hoosiers win a national title almost certainly will come down to
defense.
Last
season IU ranked No. 64 in the nation in points allowed per possession.
Opponents shot nearly 43 percent against the Hoosiers. That’s not nearly good
enough, a message Crean has hammered to his players this off-season.
As
Crean told Louisville’s Rick Bozich, one of the nation’s top sports writers, who
is now at Louisville’s WDRB.com (a HUGE loss for his former employer, the
Louisville Courier-Journal), the Hoosiers have to create more shots from
steals, deflections, offensive rebounds and, in general, more offensive
possessions.
Crean
is trying to gain extra insight by watching videos from Louisville’s 1980 and
’86 national title teams that thrived on switching defense thanks to versatile
depth. Crean has recruited long, long-armed and versatile players who can play
multiple positions and thrive at multiple approaches.
He’s
trying to maximize the advantage of the new NCAA rule that allows coaches to
work with their players for two hours a week in the off-season.
It
helps to have Cody Zeller, who will be a strong contender for national player
of the year honors. He will try to duplicate what Kentucky’s Anthony Davis did
this past season: be national player of the year, be on a national-title winning
team, be the No. 1 player in the NBA draft.
If
Zeller does those first two things, he almost certainly will skip his final two
seasons to enter the draft. Even if he doesn’t, he more than likely will enter
the draft. The only way that he likely stays is if there’s an injury, he has a
lousy season (VERY unlikely) or IU has such a disappointing finish that he
doesn’t want to end his college career that way.
Yes,
we know. That’s wishful thinking.
Oh.
For the record, we never saw “Debbie Does Dallas.”
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