"Enjoy yo' self!!!"

I'll be off today handling more "bizness, patnah'." I'm sure you folks can take care of your selves for just one more day.

I will leave you with this:

Draft winners and losers

Another story about the attitude of Rashad McCants; and the story everyone knew was coming...

Devils will rule the roost in the ACC next year.

"Enjoy yo' self".....(any takers on where the quote came from.......)

The Daily Roundup: Wednesday

The Headlines:

Bobcats hit the jackpot and follow the advice of the Basketblog (yes, we take all of the credit) with the selection of Felton and May. Congratulations, Bob. You just sold out your building for the next 2 or 3 seasons!

Marvin Williams leads the way for the ACC with his #2 selection by the Atlanta Hawks. Caulton Tudor of the News and Observer gives his take on the mystery that is Marvin Williams.

Julius Hodge makes a liar out of the Basketblog and goes #20. I thought he'd go between 25-30. Good for Hodge and good for NC State Basketball. This guy will be in the league for a long time.

Tom Sorenson of the Charlotte Observer gives his view on the Bobcats draft night. As far as May and Felton are concerned, they are clicking their heels and happy to be "home".

Paul says that he will take his fire to the Hornets and turn that franchise around. Everybody put your cups on, that's Chris Paul coming, son!

McCants completes the Tar Heel lottery domination taking Sprewell's place with the Timberwolves at #14. Fitting, don't you think? Mark this down: Rashad McCants is going to be a star in the NBA. He's a jerk but he's not going to have any type of real off the court/legal issues. He gets to do what he likes to do: Go into his shell and think basketball, basketball, basketball.

Daniel Ewing is taken in the 2nd round and joins the rest of the Dookies on the west coast. I just don't understand how this guy slid so far. A great player, Daniel is going to bring extreme value to this franchise.

The Basketblog's Mock NBA Lottery

Don't forget the Daily Roundup

Here you go:

1. A. Bogut
2. M. Williams
3. M. Webster
4. C. Paul
5. R. Felton (a little ACC Bias)
6. D. Williams
7. C. Frye
8. G. Green
9. A. Bynum
10. H. Warrick (Perhaps Felton here if he dosen't go at 5)
11. J. Graham
12. R. McCants (Perhaps a little high)
13. S. May
14. F. Garcia

That's it......that's the list. Don't agree? Take it to the comments section.

The Daily Roundup- Tuesday

Check back with us about noon to see our NBA Draft Lottery predictions. Until then........

The Headlines:

Mock Draft by the Raleigh News and Observer. Come back and check out the Basketblog Lottery around Noon.

Will the Bobcats turn to Felton? People love Deron Williams and the 'Cats are among that crew. If he and Felton are sitting there, it would be hard to imagine them passing on Felton and taking Williams, all things considered. In the meanwhile, the 2nd year franchise still isn't sure which way to go in this years draft, unlike last year.

Marvin Williams wants to be number 1. Be careful what you ask for, Marvin, as great expectations come with that selection.

Charlotte should bring baseball to Uptown by building a stadium for the Knights. I've been saying that for years. Instead, it looks like they will build a Central Park style green space. Wonderful.....

The ACC's future draft prospects are not as certain as this years.

Four Heels should go in the first round of tonight's draft. Jawad Williams should be a first rounder as well as the Big 4, and he has set out to prove as much over the last few weeks.

A year before its age limit is instituted, the NBA appears to already be turning to players with a little more experience. Having said that, I still think you'll see 4 or 5 high schoolers go tonight.

Duke's David McClure will be out with a knee injury next season, but don't cry for the Devils: They are loaded and ready to make a run at the big trophy.

From the Raleigh News and Observer, this will most likely be the last year you see a number of kids make the jump from high school to the NBA (unless parents start holding their kids back a year so that they will meet the NBA minimum by the time they graduate).

More to come in the am......

What's up now, Partnah'!!! The Return......

We're back and ready to get it rolling with a little draft talk among other things. We want to hear your thoughts about were the ACC boys will land, if the Bobcats will take two Carolina players or the preferred Wake (Paul) Carolina (May) mix. Hit us up in the comments section.

The Headlines:

"The stars at night, shine big and bright (clap clap clap clap)......" Texas wins the CWS.

Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer gives us a look at his lottery. Not bad, except he has Charlie Villanueva going ahead of Sean May and the Bobcats not taking any of the available NC based ACC stars. Please.....

North Carolina's Marvin Williams seems to be taking a relaxed approach to the draft as he has stayed close to the Chapel Hill campus during this hectic time.

Former Duke star Danny Ferry has apparently been hired as the new GM of the Cleveland Cavs. Wow........

Another great read on Marvin Williams from the Washington Post. It seems that Marvin's time to take care of mom has been on his mind for some time

Williams hated to see his mother struggle and took a job bagging groceries to help support the family."He worries about me more than I worry about him," said Gittens, who has also needed back surgery for about five years. "He's taken the role of, 'I'm going to take care of you, Mom.' I've taken care of my boys all by myself all this time. I guess they've seen me struggle so long. I'd be crying when I'd get home because I couldn't pay this bill or that bill. He'd say, 'Don't worry, Mom, just give me a few more years.' "

Who, oh who, will the Bobcats take? Jeff Carlton of the Greensboro News and Record gives us his take.

North Carolina's David Noel is doing a little dreaming, and a little planning as he prepares to take on his new roll as leader, scorer, and defender.

Will the #3 contiune to be lucky for Wake Forest star, Chris Paul?

More to come.........

Think You're Tough

You ain't read nothin' 'bout tough 'til you read this story.

I mean... HOLY COW!!! That's tough.

That's Dick Butkus, Lyle Alzado, 'Mean' Joe Greene and Jack Lambert rolled into one. That makes the 'Bad Boys' look as sissified as Dennis Rodman in a wedding dress. That old dude is meaner than a Randy Johnson brush back pitch.

Seriously, you gotta read that story!!

Basketblog on Vacation....and a UVa Law Student Takes a Dip

That's right, we're taking a week off. Gotta handle some business, partna'! We'll be back around .......7:30 on Monday (no, I don't mean 7:30 a.m.) I know some of you will catch the movie reference. Please educate the masses in the comments section.

While you wait, please enjoy this true story of a UVa summer clerk who decided to take a bit of a swim.

Later on.....

The Daily Roundup: FreeThrowFriday

The Headlines:

In a shocker, '06 star Durant picks Texas over North Carolina. Wow......thought he was in the bag for the Heels and, apparently, the coaches did as well. Oh well.........

Tiger is in the hunt, but even he is having a tough time taming Pinehurst. He's even after day one of the Open.

UNC's Quentin Thomas knows that he has an opportunity to step up, and stand out in all of the right ways. He better get his game on the stick b/c it is clear that Coach Williams does not subscribe to the old Carolina way of not "recruiting over" players (see the 27 guards Roy has recruited since he's been with the program). If Quentin doesn't show this season, he won't be around for his junior year.

UNC Detroit Campus layeth the smack down on Tim Duncan and the Spurs. Folks, it appears that we have a series after all and, according to Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post, the home court means everything.

Dan Spainhour is hired to head basketball operations for Leonard Hamilton's Florida State Seminoles. Spainhour is a native of King, NC and former coach of Bishop McGuinnis in Winston Salem.

With Wyatt Sexton facing an uncertain future, FSU QB Xavier Lee is feeling the heat to step up and be ready to roll.

Fox says his Panthers looked good during their mini camp. Perphaps they are ready for another deep run in the playoffs?

John Bunting offers another mysterious player from Eastern North Carolina a scholarship. Good for the kid, Shaun Draughn. His only offer up to this point was ECU. Hmmmmmmmm.....I'm sure he's consumed by football and not scared to play in front of God and his country (the Bunting credo of success). I just hope he can actually play football. We shall see.

Darko Milicic doesn't play a lot (and he's not happy about it) but he understands that his life could be far, far worse

Though he came to the United States barely able to speak English, he said the transition was easy."It was not a big adjustment because where I come from life is not easy," he said. "I saw war without rules growing up. There were wars with Croatia, Albania, and a bunch of other places and inside our own country people were fighting."I remember one time when I was 13 playing on an outside court, planes were flying over my head and were dropping bombs. I don't get to play much here in the NBA, but I know that my life could be worse."

Former Virginia Tech Assistant Todd Grantham is moving on up and cramming for his new job as Brown's Defensive Coordinator.

The Daily Roundup: Thursday

The Headlines:

The US Open kicks off today, and I had to turn down a weekend pass b/c I'm spending the weekend with the in laws at a boat owners reunion in the backwoods of Tennessee. Sighhhhhhh

UNC running back Ronnie McGill is out for 4-5 months with a torn pec muscle. Ouch!!! At this way John Bunting won't have to stretch his nimble mind deciding who his featured back ought to be .

SuperPrep All American Chancellor Young leaves the Duke football program for "unspecified reasons". I'll give you the reason....they STINK, and will STINK for the foreseeable future. Until Duke allows their football program to recruit marginal student athletes to the same percentage it allows its basketball program, the football team will always suffer. Duke is the only school in the ACC playing this game with their football vs. basketball programs. Hypocrisy at the highest levels!

Apparently, FSU QB Wyatt Sexton had skipped the teams voluntary workouts NFL-Hurricanes style. From the tone of this article, his teammates had noticed. There is a bigger story brewing here, folks.

High Schooler Gerald Green completes the Bobcats individual workout and impresses the brass. I stand by what I said yesterday: The 'Cats need to stick at home with #5 and take Paul or Felton if they are available.

Carlton Dotson gets 35 years in the slaying of his teammate, Patrick Dennehy. That's it!

As Dotson was led off to prison, the stepfather of his murdered best friend held up a framed picture of his son and yelled: "Remember him! Remember his face!""You, Carlton Dotson, are a killer, a sinner of the worst degree, and may you never forget what you did," Brian Brabazon said during the sentencing, at times glaring and pointing at Dotson as his voice rose to a shout.

The Daily Roundup: Wednesday

The Headlines:

North and South Carolina seem to be inching closer to setting up a series of annual football games to be played in Charlotte. I like it (and boy would it do wonders for Bunting if he could knock off the 'Ol Ball Coach a couple of times). NC State, left out again. Poor Woolfies....better program and fans, yet still left at the alter.

Perhaps Larry Brown and the Pistons have a few more tricks left after all. That was a good show of heart and hustle last night. I still think the Spurs take it in 6.

What in the world is going on with former FSU QB Wyatt Sexton? I say former b/c not only was he hospitalized, he was kicked off the team. Apparently when asked his name, he told the cops he was God, and then changed it to the Son of God. Make up your mind, Wyatt!

Carolina picks up what they hope will be a menacing player in Davie County linebacker Logan Buchanan. Carolina was the first team to offer. Hmmmmmmmm

The ACC has named a new head of officiating for the conference. The lack of consistent officiating during course of some of last years conference games was shameful. This could turn out to be a very good move by the conference.

Seattle prep sensation Martel Webster is making all of the right moves and saying all of the right things. Apparently, he has the Bobcats attention. This kid is not Lebron, Kobe, or Garnett. All indications are that he is a very nice kid, but the 'Cats need to pass.

Phill back to the Lakers......wow.

Who says that child prodigies don't have staying power? Check out Tiger Woods.

Asafa Powell is FAST. Good golly, he had those chumps by 3 steps at the line.

More to come ...........

The Daily Roundup: Tuesday

The Headlines:
Updated at 9:10 am

The Smooth Criminal Beats It! Jackson goes free!

Ok, now that I'm back from Neverland, let's get down to business.....

Clemson bows out of the NCAA Super Regionals, ending the ACC's bid for a championship.

From the Seattle Times, a nice read on the transition to the NBA for Marvin Williams and Martell Webster.

With the return of Eric Williams, the Deacons will be very solid in the frontcourt. If Justin Gray can make the transition to full time point guard, these guys are going to be a difficult bunch to deal with.

The US Open means big, big green for North Carolina and, most specifically, Moore County

Organizers say the tournament will have an economic impact of $124 million. That will make it one of the most lucrative single sporting events in the state's history."It's hard to generate more impact than the Open will generate," said John Connaughton, an economics professor at UNC-Charlotte. "A lot of money gets spent in that region in a very short period of time."

UNC Assistant Football Coach Brad Lawing has found himself in the middle of a recruiting violation mess that may unjustly stain his name.

Lawing, who is currently UNC's recruiting coordinator, testified in federal court in February as a rebuttal witness for the prosecution. According to an Associated Press report, Lawing testified that when he worked at Michigan State, (high school coach)Lang asked for $200,000 to get Albert Means to sign with Michigan State in 2000, which stopped recruiting him.

Bill Cole of the Winston Salem Journal does a really nice piece today on the changes that are going on at Boston College as they gear up for their first year in the ACC.

Carolina loses another player to the pro's......but this time it's baseball as Kalkhof gives up his last year at UNC to test the professional waters.

More to come....

The Daily Roundup: Monday

The Headlines:

Another compelling story on John Gilchrist by David Steele of the Baltimore Sun. Can you say C.R.A.Z.Y.

Looks like the NASCAR boys are at it again in the name change game: Starting in 2007, we will be watching the SPRINT Cup Series instead of the Nextel Cup. It's all Winston Cup to me.

Sean May isn't flashy, but his fundamental way of playing the game is going to get him lots of attention in the NBA.

UVa picks up 3 football players over the weekend to add to their 2006 haul. One of the kids turned down an offer from BIG BLUE. Imagine that......

After doing his due diligence, Wake Forest Center Eric Williams has decided to return for his Senior season with the Deacs. Just like that Wake is among the contenders for the ACC crown again (should Duke slip....which isn't likely).

Marvin Williams has a lot more to his game than he displayed during his one year in Chapel Hill. People are going to have to understand that the kid did what he was told to do and deferred to the older players. The Basketblog can't wait to track his development.

Miami Coach Frank Haith does it again, keeping local star Dwayne Collins at home and convincing him to turn down offers from Wake, Kansas, Cincinnati, and Florida. If this guy can coach, Miami is going to be a force to be reckoned with in this league so long as he can lock up Dade and Broward every year. Athletes, athletes, and more athletes!!!

The Winston Salem Journal with a nice breakdown of the upcoming NBA draft.

Another athlete is awarded the Basketblog's new Fred G. Sanford "You Big Dummy" Award and joins the "Knckleheads are Us" fraternity of ACC Football players: Brendon Hall of Virginia Tech gets his probation EXTENDED through 2006 for testing positive for pot and not reporting to his probation officer. What an idiot.

After taking only six shots in game one, the Pistons are urging Rasheed Wallace to shoot more. They better do something b/c the Spurs took them apart again last night. Game three will tell the story but I believe the manuscript may already be to the printer: Spurs 2006 NBA Champs.
From The State, a football recruiting breakdown including a key pickup at DB for the Clemson Tigers.

With the US Open approaching, all eyes are on Tiger Woods to take his next step toward a calendar year Grand Slam. The "Tiger Slam" of 2000 was good enough for me.

Georgia Tech is routed by the Vols 13-3 and are eliminated from the Super Regional. Great season, Jackets.

Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post on Mike Tyson. I hope Mike doesn't fight again. For some reason I continue to play the "what if" game and to feel a sense of sadness over what this guy has done to himself. Perhaps Mike said it best after the fight on Saturday

When Rock Newman, the promoter for the event, told Tyson at the post-fight news conference that he was going to applaud the former champion for his career achievements and would encourage others to do so as well, the standing ovation was quickly stopped by Tyson himself, who screamed: "No, no, no, no. . . . Sit down. Sit down, please. People have given me enough applause in my life. When I hear B.S., I've got to call it.

Cheating

There's no cheating in tennis. (Read in best Tom Hanks voice.)

Or is there?

Of all the sports it would be easy to fix tennis would seem to be easiest. It's an international sport with huge purses for the winners but relatively little for those who lose in the second round. Naturally there is gambling around the big events. As every fan of Tark the Shark knows gamblers have been known to rig the system. Even the European gamblers according to the info at the link above.

On another note, it's not like Federer or Nadal is throwing a match. Those guys are going to win tourneys and a few thousand euros wouldn't make a big difference to them. But to some of the players it would be a big deal to pocket some easy money. Well, until InterPol or the casinos catch on to your li'l scheme. From there it's all down hill.

I don't think this will be a big problem. Casinos are pretty good at detecting this sort of thing and anybody implicated in such a scandal will doubtlessly be booted off the ATP Tour. But you hate to see this sort of thing creep into the sports.

You Gotta Read This!

This is a truly heartwarming story about a learning disabled high school kid who, through hard work and diligence, made his high school basketball team. I know I'm a bit late on this story but it's pretty cool.

Bring a tissue.

The Daily Roundup: FreeThrowFriday

The Headlines:

To those of you who think that Rashad McCants is a head case, just read this piece by Eric Prisbell of the Washington post on Maryland's John Gilchrist. This kid is absolutely crazy.

Manu and Timmy D humble UNC Detroit in game one of the NBA Finals. I know it's at 7 game series, but they really took the Pistons down piece by piece last night.

According to the NY Times, there is no way Marvin Williams will fall below #2 and will most likely go #1. This is a nice read but requires registration (sorry).

Georgia Tech looses point guard recruit to the New York Yankees Organization. That leaves them extremely thin at the point.

"I don't sign for white people." Wow......I don't quite know how to respond to that.

Alas, Linda Robertson of the Miami Herald speaks the hard truth about many ex Miami football players: They have a lot of growing up to do. Man, I love those guys and the energy and hunger they bring to the field, but the truth is the truth: some of those cats need to dial it back a bit.

ECU AD Terry Holland is making tough decisions down east with the hope of turning an ailing athletic program around.

Looks like Dee Brown may be set to return to the Illini after breaking his foot at the NBA Pre Draft camp. That may not be a bad move for him. I've just never been 1st round impressed with him.

TA Badger of the AP writes on the best center in the NBA, perhaps even the best all around player in the NBA, Mr. Tim Duncan. No glam, no nonsense, straight baller. Nice.

Cheating in the NFL.....Cheaters all: The wristband for quarterbacks has become more common across the board. Actually, this makes sense. Think about how much time it takes for an offensive coordinator to relay 10 part spoken plays to the sideline, and then the sideline to the QB and then the QB to the team. With the wristband, it's one number from OC to HC to QB and then the QB gives the whole play to the team. Brilliant!

Timmy D

Here are the point and rebound totals of TIMMY! in the first games of the Championship Series in which he's participated:

33 points 16 rebounds
32 points 20 rebounds
24 points 17 rebounds

What a slacker! He's fallen off dramatically against the Pistons!

What's that? Well, yeah. The Spurs did win by a bunch. And I guess those numbers are decent. But heck li'l tiny Manu Ginobli got 26 and 9 and he's a SG. What's the problem with TIMMY!?

For any of you UNC freaks who thought 'Sheed could handle Duncan: Get over it. Stuff a sock in it.

Nobody can stop Duncan except Father Time. And that fool takes his time gettin' around to folks.

NOTE: Congrats to Alex Rodrigues who went long ball for #400. Youngest ever to do so.

Manu

Here's a thought: Manu Ginobli is the biggest steal of the NBA Draft, ever. I mean heck, Mark Madsen was drafted 29^th in 2000. And Manu lasted all the way to 57^th, for goodness sake. It took four years to get him to the NBA but I'd say there are about 25-30 teams who wished they had the fortitude to wait for the goods. 'Cause Manu is bringin' the goods.

Second thought: The Spurs have traded away a couple of bums to escape salary cap problems, thus allowing them to sign Ginobli to a long-term deal. (See e.g. John Salmons (traded to the 76ers) and Felipe Lopez (traded to the Grizz), Dalibor Bagaric (picked by Bulls after trade),

Also, they were luck to get away from Leon Smith who had non-basketball-related problems. And I'm not sure they made the right call about Leandrinho Barbosa but they did get Beno Udrih the next year so maybe that's okay. Both seem like Barbosa and Udrih seem like solid NBA contributors.

But I'd like to know what the readers think. Was Ginobli the best draft pick ever? Things to consider:
1) Position taken.
2) Contributions to his team.
3) Cost toward the cap.

Off to the comments with you.

Dale Earnhardt's Law Suit

Still fighting the insurance company, it would seem.

The civil trial on a lawsuit pitting the owner of the racing team of the late Dale Earnhardt and the insurance company that refused to pay $3.7 million in benefits when he died has been postponed until next week.
Superior Court Judge Kimberly Taylor told jurors at the close of the day Tuesday that she needed a recess in the trial until Monday because of a scheduling conflict.

The insurance company seems to be fighting on what are normally termed "technical" issues. Those issues are important but I'm not sure the net savings (not paying the claim less lawyer's fees) will justify the negative press this suit is likely to generate. Omaha Life may never get my business...

The Daily Roundup: Thursday

The Headlines:

UPDATED 1:30 pm

UNC Football notebook from the Durham Herald Sun. Apparently, waver wire acquisition Barrington Edwards is torching the Heels in practice. I wonder if it will take Bunting half the season to figure out that Edwards is his man, ala Chad Scott. More on UNC Football and the uncertainty that surrounds this season by Frank Dascenzo, and a spotlight on QB Matt Baker by Guy Loranger, both of the Durham Herald Sun. If that isn't enough, this is another piece on Baker written today by Bill Cole of the Winston Salem Journal.

UVa Basketball notes from the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Nice read in the Philly paper today on future Carolina shooting guard Wayne Ellington. Man this blog is a little Carolina heavy today. Sorry about that folks.

UNC's Jackie Manuel breaks his foot at the NBA Draft camp and will miss the remainder of his workouts. That is too bad.

NASCAR has a pretty interesting proposal from the city of Charlotte for the Hall of Fame: The city will build it, initially support it and........pay NASCAR a annual royalty for the right to use the NASCAR name on the building. Why are they paying NASCAR anything if they are constructing and supporting the building? A Charlotte city council member had the same question

The draft bid says NASCAR would make money from the project in several ways, including guaranteed royalty payments, bonuses based on yearly attendance, licensing fees and contributions to racing charities. The draft doesn't say where that money would come from, but it would likely be taken out of ticket sales and other revenue. The amount of those payments is not included in the draft or the final proposal, and officials say they will likely be negotiated with NASCAR. But City Council member Warren Turner questioned why the city would have to pay NASCAR anything. "We're going to build it," the Democrat said. "Why do we have to pay them? Why should they get anything from it? You're hitting us twice. Nobody should profit from it more than the city."

Tim Duncan is the best center in the NBA, and could be ready to capture his 1st NBA Championship without David Robinson.

Tom Sorenson of the Charlotte Observer thinks that trading up in the NBA Draft is a good move for the Bobcats if that option nets the ACC's best point guard, Chris Paul. I would disagree with that on its face since there are 3 strong guards that will be available within the first 13 picks. Why give anything up when you know you have two strong options you can have if you stay put?

Former Duke guard Daniel Ewing was snubbed by the NBA draft camps, but that shouldn't matter. The most complete player in the Duke program will get a long look and have a long career in the NBA.

More insight on the Pistons v. Spurs from....., Rasheed Wallace. Dude is a nut.

GO BLUE!

Congratulations to the University of Michigan Softball team for defeating two time defending champion UCLA 2 games to 1 in the three game national championship series.

Tonight's game was tension filled. Michigan only got one run out of a bases loaded, no outs situation in the fifth. And then UCLA could not capitalize on a leadoff double in the eighth inning.

Finally, in the top of the 10th inning freshman first base"person" Samantha Findlay hit a three run homer to give Michigan a 4-1 lead. It was her 21^st home run of the season which tied her for the team lead.

Michigan finishes the season 65-7. They hit a national-best 102 homers on the season.

GO BLUE!

The Daily Roundup: Wednesday

The Headlines:

Former ECU standout and Pittsburgh Steeler Terry Long is dead at the age of 45. Could a history of steroid abuse be the culprit? More on Long and his recent troubles.

Brentson Buckner of the Carolina Panthers has lost the pounds and regained his fire to play, at least for one more year

"Football is going to get you tired no matter what," Buckner said. "But when you're not carrying that weight, your recovery is faster. I come in feeling just as good as the day before." With Jenkins back and the team hoping some young linemen emerge, Buckner isn't likely to play as much as he did last year when injuries forced him to stay on the field for more than 80 percent of the defensive snaps. A rotation of fresh legs should help Buckner as he heads into his 12th season.

John DeLong of the Winston Salem Journal agrees with the Basketblog: Area players could really boost the appeal of the Bobcats.

Former Duke star Jason Williams continues to work toward returning to the NBA. Apparently, he a Raymond Felton have become very tight friends. Blasphemy!

Caulton Tudor of the Raleigh News and Observer on the latest and, perhaps, greatest Vick, Marcus. I can't wait to see what this kid can do this season.

Top players continue to duck playing in the NBA Draft camps. Most of them, however, are guaranteed first round picks. So why are Julius Hodge and Jarrett Jack among those skipping the camps? I believe that both COULD BE (and probably should be) 1st round selections, but they aren't locks.

This is a nice read on the NBA Draft camp process from the Raleigh paper. However, an absolutely ridiculous event has occurred: Jackie Manuel is invited to participate at the Camp in Chicago but Daniel Ewing isn't? I'm a Carolina guy and everything, but come on. I understand very well what the scouts are looking at in Jackie: he's got great bounce, he's long and very athletic, he defends and has proven that he is a team player. My argument is not against Jackie being invited but more surprise that Ewing wasn't. In my opinion, Ewing has been the most complete (not the "best") player on that Duke squad for two years. Very interesting....

All is not well in Moore County as the US Open prepares to arrive in Pinehurst. This is a very interesting read on the plight of extremely poor minority settlements around Pinehurst and their fight for what they believe are basic services that have been intentionally denied them.

Darned Lightning

Lightning has knocked out the power in the apartment on three separate occasions today. That's why I didn't post anything substantive earlier. Perhaps I'll have an opportunity to get around to it later. We'll see.

The Daily Roundup

The Headlines:

UNC-Detroit campus over power the Heat and move on to the NBA Finals. Tim Duncan v. Rasheed Wallace .....just like old times. Mitch Albom says 'Bring on the Spurs'.

Georgia Tech downs the 'Cocks, moves on to the NCAA Baseball Super Regional.

Bobcats get down to testing and the verdict is in: Shav should hang it up and May should be a Charlotte Bobcat in '05....or at least he thinks so.

NC State picks up the #73 player in the class of '06 with a commitment from 6'3 guard Larry Davis. Good size, great high school program, 4 year player, solid pick up for the Pack.

Instead of picking at each other, this is the problem NC football programs in the ACC need to be focusing on...together: Keeping in state talent at home. Carl Johnson of Southern High School committed to Florida yesterday. Is it too much to ask the states five D1 programs (soon to be 8) put together a marketing campaign for the states high schools saying something to the effect of "We want you to play for the home team, ( but, preferably, our team.") The state just does not produce enough top talent to feed these programs and the rest of the southeast.

Rob Daniels of the Greensboro News and Record brings you "Deep Throat: Sports Style." Interesting....

Now that we know the identity of "Deep Throat" -- and wasn't that the most anticlimactic announcement since the revelation of the Loch Ness Monster hoax? -- sports fans deserve to see their favorite mysteries solved. We're familiar with the participants. We just want to know what they said behind closed doors or in hushed intonations in their moments of conspiracy or stupidity or whatever entrapped them. Take, for example, the final moments of the 1972 Olympic gold medal men's basketball game between the United States and the Soviet Union.

More from the Winston Salem Journal on the excellence and importance of Tim Duncan to the Spurs. Is their really a better overall player in the NBA? I think that NBA 50 greatest list needs to be refreshed!

More from Birkel later in the day.....

GO BLUE!

Michigan versus UCLA is underway on ESPN. It's a best of three series for the whole enchilada. Women's softball. Catch the fever!

ANSWER TO A COMMENT:
I remember getting a question about whether Congress could regulate the use of drugs, performance enhancing and otherwise, in professional sports. Quite clearly today's decision, Gonzalez v. Raich, makes it clear that the answer is yes.

Short story: The TrailBlazers cannot treat their glaucoma legally anymore. Read more about it over at SCOTUS Blog. Loads of links and discussion by blawgers and professor-types. Here's a link to the actual opinion.

Bloggy Stuff

GO BLUE! Michigan's softball team is on ESPN2 playing Tennessee after losing to the same Tennessee team last night in an extra innings game. UT got a 12th inning homer off Michigan starting pitcher (Jenny - sp?) Ritter. That sends Michigan to 62-6 on the year with UCLA waiting for the Michigan-UT winner in the best-of-three championship series. GO BLUE!
UPDATE: They've got a one run lead in the second inning.
UPDATE: Michigan just went long ball for a 3-0 lead in the 4th. GO BLUE!

Somebody is selling a Georgia Tech Final Four ring on EBay. That's sad.
And go to the GTSportsBlog for all your Yellow Jackets Beesball news. It's a great roundup plus, he criticizes a website for only posting the winning scores.
UPDATE: More bad EBay news from the SportsProf. This one may be worse.

StateFansNation notes that Maryland has another JUCO All-American guard transfer. The only request: Please, not Another Steve Francis!
Oddly enough, the reax from Maryland fans is somewhat different. Check the comments to this post to see what I mean.

Wake lost a top-tier college player but seems to have added depth to help replace a senior class that never won the big one.

Tark the Shark has written a tell-all book. That will be an interesting read to be sure. (It's the June 3rd entry.)

Did Rashad McCants punk out in a workout with The Jules? There's a word for that sort of thing that I can't type because this is a family site. But you know the one. Five letters. Like the Force M.D.'s said, only with a 'B'. (And yes, that's taking it old school.)

Here's a statement with which I can agree.

Tim Duncan is the rising tide that lifts all these boats.

That is very true. Read the rest of this great essay.

The Sports Prof uses the word "perspicacity" in a sports blog post. That's big time. The subject? Oh yeah, almost forgot, NFL waiver wire pick ups.

Finally, I have a bone to pick:

From the May 27 entry of Doyel's Dribbles:

Critical mass has not yet been reached, but a fight involving the media, college basketball, Nike and state government is brewing in Connecticut. The media, as you can imagine, is right. Everyone else is wrong.
Most wrong of all are the agents of UConn basketball coaches Jim Calhoun (men) and Geno Auriemma (women), who are starting to threaten that their clients might leave UConn if the state does away with outside compensation clauses like the ones afforded top college coaches by Nike, Adidas, etc.
In this case, Nike has deals with Calhoun and Auriemma that probably compensate the coaches better than their contracts with the school.
As a state government, Connecticut is in the midst of cleaning up its sullied ethical image by looking at every possible employee from every possible angle. Eventually that means a look at outside compensation contracts like the ones enjoyed by Calhoun and Auriemma, who are surely two of the highest-paid state employees.

Doyel goes on to say the newspaper is just doing its job by reporting on the two coaches' earnings. On that point I'll agree. But he closes with this

As for UConn fans ... lighten up. If you honestly feel your elected officials are about to pass laws that will encourage Calhoun and Auriemma to leave, to be replaced by sub-standard coaches willing to work without Nike's safety net, you're got some growing up to do.
And as for the agents of Calhoun and Auriemma?
Shut up.

I cannot agree. In fact, I think Doyel is betraying his prejudices by noting that the press is doing its job but denying that the exact same can be said about the agents of Calhoun and Auriemma. They're doing their best to represent the interests of their clients and they, in fact, have an ethical--as well as contractual--obligation to do just that. The clients would, I'm sure, like to retire from UConn someday and not from some other school. But in the meantime I'm sure they want to keep their lucrative contracts. Bully for them and their agents for letting their views be known.

And as for the fans--short for fanatic, duh--they shouldn't be told to lighten up. That's kryptonite to Superman, Doyel. Fans want their teams to perform on/in the field, court, pitch, mat or pool and couldn't care less about the reasons the Connecticut legislature is fooling with their teams' success. So take all that high and mighty "get over it" nonsense and give Mitch Albom a call about the press getting it right, okay?

The Daily Roundup: Monday

The Headlines:

The haul of top level basketball talent in May for ACC schools was pretty astounding. Carolina and Duke both may have 2 more burger kids each before it is all said and done. Wow...

Raymond Felton and Deron Williams put on a show for the Hornets over the weekend. According to those in "the know", Felton is a bit higher on GM "want" meters than has been reported. Could he really go in the top 10?

NBA.Com presents a Q&A with Carolina's Sean May. On being projected a bit down the first round ladder

"I have mixed feelings about that, but I know that the guys making those projections aren'’t the coaches and general managers so I don'’t hold a lot of stock in them. There have plenty of great college players who haven'’t found the same success in the NBA. I believe I will have a good NBA career so those mock drafts mean nothing. I'’m just looking forward to June 28 and in the meanwhile just impress as many teams as possible. If I go 1 through 10, great, but if go 10 to 20, it won'’t matter. The team that selects me is going to get a guy who knows how to play and who is ready to play."

Frank Dascenzo of the Durham Herald Sun says that Tim Duncan is making up for his collegiate post season flops with NBA Championships. I must admit, Timmy D is the man!

The NCAA allowing the 12th game in college football has proven to be both a lucrative opportunity as well as controversial. All I have to say is .....PLAYOFF!!!!

More in later.........

The Daily Roundup:FreeThrowFriday

The Headlines:

George Mikan, who tranformed the game of pro basketball, dies at 80.

Chuck the Chest readies for a new season as NC State tries to overcome the potholes that derailed the team in '04. A lot of those issues had to do with focus and individual preparation

And he said the least of his worries is at running back, where he has five potential stars ready to go. "I'll answer the way Lefty Driesell did [when he was named basketball coach at Maryland]," Amato said. "It's not my job to keep them happy. They have to keep me happy. (I dare any of them to] just come on out one day and not be ready to practice.
"But we've got to find a way to take advantage of all their skills. Maybe we'll line up in a wishbone."

Kris Jenkins let loose on Warren Sapp yesterday....wow. The funny thing is that Kris Jenkins knows who Warren Sapp is and I'm fairly sure that Warren has no idea who Kris Jenkins is. Pretty funny stuff either way.

The boys over at StateFansNation are at it again with "We're #50." Entertaining and informative as always. This pretty much sums it up

Our Athletics programs (it may be crazy for me to think that the Athletics Council would be focused on Athletics at NC State) are consistently amongst the worst in the ACC, while simultaneously the APR (new NCAA academic grading standards for programs) of our basketball program was one of the worst in the ACC and below NCAA minimums. Maybe more embarrassingly, the Athletics Department couldn't even calculate the correct APR for the football program and took a useless and inaccurate public relations beating by initially reporting failure for the Football APR when, in fact, the program bested NCAA minimums!!!! Great work, everyone!I'm just curious: is there a college athletics program in the country over the last 10 years that has enjoyed more broad and rabid fan support and delivered such comparably unsuccessful results on the field of athletic battle than NC State?

Get over there!

Another leader in the ACC knucklehead fraternity of idiot football players, NC State's Koren Robinson, is cut by the Seahawks. What more can be said about this joker.

My sister has a job again as the state court throws out the challenge against the builders of the NY Jets proposed stadium. You might recall I mentioned a few months back that she was one of the architects on the design team.

What on earth is going on at Nebraska. They lost their starting quarterback from '04 to Carolina last week. Now, they have lost their #2 QB to NC State. Does anyone get the feeling that these dudes really aren't that good and just weren't going to fit into what BC is trying to do in Husker land? We shall see.

Former Wake Forest glue player Downey wants his chance to shine in the NBA. In the right situation it could happen for this guy not b/c he is such a great player, but b/c of his combo of skill, exposure to top competition, and CHARACTER. I believe the League is beginning to understand that you can supplement strong character role players for undesireable would be stars. There are enough top flight great "character" All Star type players globally that the NBA can give guys like Downey, Duhon, Manuel etc. more than a passing look. Hard heads beware!Servicable collegiate 6th men are going to be taking your place in the League more and more.

Starting next season, Raleigh bids goodbye to the CIAA tournament and welcomes the MEAC . This is another conference comprised of historically black colleges and universities with extremely rich basketball history. Key schools: Hampton University, Howard University, South Carolina State University, and North Carolina A&T State University. More from the MEAC web site.

The Daily Roundup: Thursday

Guess who again sports one of the toughest schedules among Division 1 football programs? Is he just begging for punishment, or does John Bunting know something that we are still missing?

Our man Yoni Cohen tells you who should stay in school, who should stay in the Draft, and who should prepare to buy a plane ticket to Europe.

Tar Heel recruit Danny Green knows that his role with North Carolina just changed dramatically. He's a complete player, if not a great athlete. Definitely a 4 year type kid.

Julius Hodge continues to shine as he goes through workouts for NBA teams. I never really liked his game that much, but you can't argue with his numbers. He's a 10-15 year NBAer, without a doubt.

Way back in August of 2004, Dave Sez wrote a piece called "The Amazing Ronald Curry". Since we weren't blogging then, I didn't know about it. Now that I've seen it, you should too. This is a good read.

Bob Gibbons warns against drafting prep stars in this years NBA draft. I'd have to agree....the only kid who I think is remotely worthy is Gerald Green and Gibbons hates his game.

UNC merchandise is flying off the shelves of the nations retailers. Funny what a national championship can do for a school whose merchandise sales were down nearly 20% as late as March 1.

More to come from Birkel in the am......

Back Today!

We had some computer problems yesterday, but we're back! Check with us around noon for the today's headlines.

Ed and Birkle