Will be so nice next season not wondering who the next head coach at Colorado will be. Instead, we'll be wondering if athletic director Mike Bohn made the right choice. Never happy...
Scott Wilke shared he is an Alvin Gentry kind-of-guy, Neill Woelk of the Daily Camera is mighty impressed by what Jim Calhoun has done at Connecticut and wonders if there is another like him, and me -- well, you know I want what I can't have in Mark Turgeon or Mark Few or maybe even a Chris Lowery. So how about some more names to think about? The BGT will dish some today and hold on to some and save them for down the road.
Todd Lickliter, Butler, is lookin' good, don't you think? Darin Horn, Western Kentucky? Here's a nobody who might become somebody -- Matt Brady, Marist. Check them out.
BGT Big-12 Penthouse...Texas A & M, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas.
BGT Big-12 Outhouse...Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa State.
BGT Questions...is Billy Gillispie's team better than Bill Self's boys, is Texas Tech really that dangerous or a pretender all dressed up as a contender, and will Kansas State make the NCAA's in Bob Huggins' first season in Manhattan?
BGT's favorite players to this point...Kevin Durant (UT), Mario Boggan (OSU), and Wesley Johnson (ISU) in the frontcourt, and D.J. Augustin (UT) and JamesOnCurry (OSU) as your guards.
BGT second-team...Acie Law (TAM) and Stefhon Hannah (Missouri) in the backcourt and Joseph Jones (TAM), Alexs Maric (UNL) and Julian Wright (KU) up front.
Buffs to watch this winter...Richard Roby (leadership challenge) and Xavier Silas (the next star Patton wants to promote and be remembered for recruiting).
Quotable, from KU coach Self on freshman point guard, Sherron Collins' breakout game..."Tonight there was no thinking going on with Sherron," Self said. "He was just out there ballin'."
Currently, the BGT-national top 4 includes...Florida, North Carolina, Texas A & M and Ohio State.
Loved now, crying later: Texas A & M still scares me, as in they aren't as good as they appear. KU looks pretty but you can also see the warts (chemistry not quite there, lack of mental toughness, inconsistency) and see those blemishes too often. Pitt might a game or two in March but more is expected, same as Wisconsin. The big one -- UCLA. Ben Howland can coach and they play defense are the Bruins a Final-4 team?
Look out in March: Arizona (three solid scorers, Hall-of-Fame coach), Oregon (balanced scoring, tough, winning), Oklahoma State (two stars, a solid third scorer, good coaching).
From a Seth Davis column on CNNSI.com, coming from his inside source, on player's evaluations regarding the pro game.
"On Nick Fazekas, Nevada senior forward: "I'm not a big fan of his, but he'll probably play in the NBA because he's long and he can shoot it. But talk about a bad body."
"On Julian Wright, Kansas sophomore forward: "Some people think Wright is the truth. I'm OK on him. His shooting scares me, but he is very skilled and very active. The guy I like on that team is Sherron Collins. I tell you what, he's like Quinn Buckner reborn. Stocky, though, makes plays, defends. I was pretty impressed with him."
"On Brandon Rush, Kansas sophomore forward: "I'm not as big on Rush as some people may be. There's just something about his game I really don't like. I'm worried about his left arm, which was broken when he was young. He's a pretty good athlete, but I'm not sure how good a scorer he can be at our level."
Everyone loves Durant, especially the BGT, but let's not get carried away, Davis' insider says, when it comes NBA draft day and the choice of Ohio State freshman center Greg Oden and the Texas scoring machine.
"Not a chance. I'm not drafting small forwards in front of centers. Oden can dominate the game for the next 15 years. Durant is a star, but unless a team already has a young, great center, I don't see it."
SI's Kevin Armstrong's article on hyped-2007 recruit Michael Beasley, a forward headed to Kansas State next season.
"He's going to do for Kansas State what [Greg] Oden has done for Ohio State," says Five Star Camp director Howard Garfinkel.
Colorado Preps
Colorado prep Devon Manning of Pueblo Central, a junior, already has eyes from around the country on his game.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound point guard is already a wanted man at the mid-major level, according to Jerry Meyer of Rivals.com.
The question that has to be asked is -- is Manning another talent that isn't Big-12 quality in the eyes of CU -- until he goes and stars elsewhere?
Recruiting Stories, Part 1
When the BGT spoke to Bruce Feldman of ESPN.com recently he shared some interesting recruiting stories. How 'bout I bust out one or two for you today and then down the road, you know, we do this again?
Did you hear about the one where the kid comes to a summer football camp, plays hard but leaves the coaches unimpressed? Yeah, tough on a player with a dream, you gotta think. So this kid can't take the idea of being labeled a "mid-major" kind of talent so he continues busting his tail to show coaches he is better than that, then gets caught up in what Feldman calls a "steroid ring." Now, we're not just talking taking the juice, which is just plain stupid is as stupid does but he gets caught up in a big group taking the toxic cheater's junk.
Or see if you know this one -- Feldman seeing that Ed Reed, that All-Pro, one-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year for the Baltimore Ravens, was recruited by two schools -- Tulane and Miami.
Or that ferocious former Hurricanes' linebacker and top-shelf draft pick (New York Jets) Jonathon Vilma was a two-star guy.
On Reed, former Denver Bronco and future Hall-of-Famer Shannon Sharpe once said the safety rocked his boat.
"He's probably the most complete safety that I saw in my 14 years in the league," Sharpe said in a Kalani Takase article on NFLHS.com article.
Recruiting (2002) --Colt Brennan, Hawaii's record-setting quarterback, was a two-star guy on Rivals, as was Carson Palmer's little brother, Jordan. Both might play pro one day.
Other two-star QBs that year were Omar Jacobs of Bowling Green, who had such a productive career that he was drafted by Pittsburgh, and Shawn Bell of Baylor and Bryan Cupito of Minnesota are other lightly-regarded guys who might get the NFL call. John Stocco of Wisconsin was a three-star. All have been solid, productive, quality players.
The three 5-stars? Ben Olson, Trent Edwards and Andy Goodenough. Not quite Montana, Elway and Marino.
Olson went on a Mormon mission, transferred, just started to play last season and got hurt. Edwards has been servicable and Goodenough, well, a bust.
A player that didn't merit one star? Jared Zabransky of Boise State.
Of course, that year, all-purpose guys like Vince Young, Tyler Palko and Troy Smith were all wanted by everyone, for good reason.
The Zook Secret
Follow recruiting? Then you know of Illinois' shocking success harvesting talent this season, especially considering the program is putrid.
Coach Ron Zook, who brought much of Florida's talent to Gainesville, the talent that just won the national championship, is now getting five-star talents to Champaign. We've mentioned his great enthusiasm as selling, as well as his rapport with high schoolers.
He's more of an explanation, from Dennis Dodd's article on CBSSportsline.com.
"He has sort of a bull-in-a-china-shop-type style that is very attractive to kids," CSTV recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said. "He's a bona fide big-time recruiter. He's aggressive, relentless."
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