The Van Buren Boys


The Blogosphere's best source for the latest analysis and
commentary from the world of Georgetown Hoyas basketball.


Friday, July 27, 2007

Better Luck With The Hoyas?

All it took was two games. Yesterday Team USA was bounced from medal competition in the Pan American Games with a 67-75 loss to Panama (more coverage). This was the second of Team USA's games. The first was a loss to Uruguay by a score of 81-72.

Roy's play seems to have been a bit inconsistent. In game one Big Roy had nine points, shooting four for five from the field He had had two rebounds, but zero blocked shots. He only played 14 minutes. I'm guessing that fouls plaed a role in Hibbert's less than stellar performance, since he fouled out of the game. I hope that is not a sign of things to come.































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He seemed to play better in game two, leading team USA with 19 points and nine rebounds. Without having seen the game, the difference seems to have been the fouls. This should not be surprising to anyone that watched Hibbert play for the Hoyas last season. A propensity for dumb, quick fouls has always been a problem for Roy and his development on this front will be very important in determining his effectiveness both this year at Georgetown and in the NBA.































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Regardless of Roy's individual play, one has to ask...Uruguay?...Panama? Team USA sure has falled far.

Monday, July 23, 2007

The Future: Clark and Braswell Lighting It Up

Courtesy of ESPN.com here is Scout.com's report on the AAU Reebok Summer Championships in Las Vegas. It reads, in pertinent part:

The second semifinal saw Triple Threat defeat Belmont Shores, 82-71. Belmont Shores had just six players due to injuries. Triple Threat was led by the Georgetown-bound duo, PF Chris Braswell (Hyattsville, Md.) and Jason Clark. Braswell dominated with 24 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. Clark delivered another brilliant performance with 22 points and 15 rebounds to go along with five assists. . . . Jeff Withey, despite playing on tired legs and being physically manhandled by Braswell, still managed to score 13 points and grab six rebounds.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/news/story?id=2946438

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Top 10 Players in the Big East

ProFantasySports.com has published a projection of the top 10 players in the Big East for next year. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this guy is not a Hoyas fan. Grantedly, Georgetown is the only team with two players in the top 10 but the fact that he leaves out Jon Wallace and DaJaun Summers shows that he doesn't watch a lot of Hoyas action.

1. C Roy Hibbert, Georgetown Hoyas
Hibbert’s inclusion at the top of the heap provides a nice sense of symmetry. The number ten player was a Hoya and as mentioned in the Gransberry paragraph, Hibbert was number one last year in my preseason report. While he was quite good, he didn’t really bear that ranking out because of the excellence of other players, such as his teammate Green, Gransberry, and Villanova F Curtis Sumpter. Yet, here I am again, giving Hibbert perhaps undue props. In the Big East, he is just a unique player – big, agile, and skilled. His 2006-07 numbers were solid (12.6 ppg on 67.1% from the field, 6.9 rpg, and 2.4 bpg), but like Reynolds he finished the season on an upswing with five double-doubles in the Big East championship game and first four rounds of the NCAA tournament. The dub-dub streak eventually ended against Greg Oden, but Hibbert should be second to no center in 2007-08.
. . . .
10. G Austin Freeman*, Georgetown Hoyas
Hoya fans may weep at the departure of do-everything forward Jeff Green to the NBA, but the team is stocked with talent (as shown by the Elite Eight run) and has an excellent incoming freshman class. Freeman is the lead star of the class and should get plenty of minutes at the shooting guard position. The graduate of famed DeMatha high school in near Baltimore will keep defenses from packing the free throw line by hitting three-pointers. He should fit into the Hoya defensive schemes as well and should be able to use his strength to deter opposing penetrators. It may take some time for Freeman to get adjusted to the Princeton-style offense of caoch John Thompson III, but once he gets his feet wet, the sky is the limit for the 6-4 guard.

http://www.profantasysports.com/easycite/collegebasketball.php?PID=7080&spid=6

By the way, what Elite Eight run is he talking about?!?! The run to the Elite Eight was largely Jeff Green fueled--Wallace and Summers deserve a lot of the credit for the win over UNC to reach the FINAL FOUR. Also, DeMatha is a lot closer to D.C. than Baltimore. Finally, he does not adjust Hibbert's numbers for the pace of the game. He should have included at least his remarkable shooting percentage.

Jeff's Impact on Hoya Recruiting

It has been widely reported that coaches going up against JTIII in recruiting battles have been talking smack about the Princeton offense. I think that the recent success of Jeff Green will not only lay to rest those criticisms but can be used effectively in selling GU's system -- particularly to big men. Somebody get this article to Greg Monroe!

Shining in the shadows

[A]fter a 32-point, 13-rebound effort in Seattle’s final Vegas summer game Sunday against Portland, Green is no longer an afterthought. Green’s versatility was one of the main reasons Sonics general manager Sam Presti was willing to trade franchise player Ray Allen on draft day for the opportunity to get Green with Boston’s No. 5 pick. “Our staff felt like Jeff would be a tremendous complement to Kevin,” Presti said. “He’s a player that doesn’t need the ball to be effective. He’s a tremendous facilitator and passer. He’s got a great acumen for the game. “When he was at Georgetown, playing in that system really helped make him better. He’s played in situations and he’s played in parameters that really helped him develop as an all-around basketball player.”

For somebody known for his willingness to pass first, Green piled up the accolades while at Georgetown. During his junior season he led the Hoyas’ resurgence to national prominence, earning Big East Conference player of the year honors and leading Georgetown to its first Final Four since 1985. “He is an extremely smart player in terms of being able to see things and adjust and adapt,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “He is comfortable in every situation on the court. He can make plays. But at the end of the day, not only can he get his own, but he makes his teammates better.” Green, who turns 21 on Aug. 28, also was selected the most outstanding player of the Big East tournament and the NCAA tournament’s East Regional. He averaged 14.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists a game last season.

Green said Georgetown’s regimented, Princeton-style offense helped develop his game for the NBA. “Playing at Georgetown allowed me to work on every aspect of my game – dribbling, shooting and playing different positions,” Green said. “So I feel like Georgetown helped me out a lot trying to make this transition to the NBA.”

Yet Another Roy Hibbert Post

Any Hoya that has read the press coverage of Roy Hibbert's try outs for the US's Pan American Games team can't help but feel proud. We talked a lot last season at the image that the Hoyas portray under JTIII. The team always looked and acted professionally. In doing so they reflected extremely well on University. I mean, look at the way Jeff Green conducted himself in the days leading up to the NBA draft. He was the only player who regularly wore a suit and tie to meetings with the various teams. And The VBB weren't the only ones that noticed. Both the mainstream media and NBA execs noted this. This is definitely different than the image that Georgetown basketball put forth during its hey day in the 1980s.

Then there is Roy. Roy has gone above and beyond. Not only does he act professionally, but he has shown that a big time player in a big time program can actually love college! It's sad that this seems so shocking, but it is. We live in a day and age where college sports are little more than a minor league for future professional athletes. You almost never hear student-athletes talk about the "student" side of their title--especially not as it pertains to academics. You definitely don't expect them to cite their love of being a student as a reason for delaying a lucrative pro career. But that is exactly what Roy Hibbert has said.

Andy Katz of ESPN.com is the latest to write on this subject. His comments reflect my own sentiments exactly.

"I like school," said Hibbert before making the final Pan Am roster. "I'm a government major and have a lot of fun classes. It's easy to go to school, and it would be different if I didn't like school. But it's real fun." . . .

I'm sure there are plenty of cynics out there wondering why that would be newsy, but highly ranked prospects don't usually cite their enthusiasm for education among the reasons they wanted to return to college. That's just a fact gleaned from talking to college players for nearly two decades.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=2940572&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

It's these types of comments that make Roy's decision so much different than the decision that the Florida players made last year. Their decision was all about basketball. They wanted to show that they could win it all again. Don't get me wrong, I think they also liked the college experience. Anyone who heard Noah's incoherent ramble after winning this year's national championship could tell that the kid has been having a good time in Gainesville. But I don't think it was the academics that he like the best. I don't remember hearing any of those guys talk about how much they liked class.

Now, let's not be naive about Roy's motivations. I know that he wants to try to win a national championship (though he had to know that his chances of making that happen are much lower now that Jeff Green is a Supersonic). I also know that he wants to improve his draft stock. Still, it is clear that his decision was about more than making himself into a top 5 pick.

And I couldn't be prouder because of it.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Recruiting Update

The recruiting sites have been lighting up with info on two of the Hoyas' primary targets for '08: Michael Dunigan and Greg Monroe.

It looks like Dunigan is officially off the table, as he has committed to Oregon along with his friend Matthew Humphrey. As JTIII never went in for the package deal, it is not surprising that he picked the Ducks. A hat tip to Coach Kent......

On the other hand, the Hoyas are clearly coming on strong for Monroe. Greg has listed the Hoyas first in his list of schools of some time now and scout.com had this from Greg's AAU coach:

Theus did say that he believed Monroe was no longer interested in Georgia Tech, Mississippi State or Baylor, but even then, Theus points out, that doesn’t mean there won’t be renewed interest later. Duke, Kansas and LSU remain very high on his list and Georgetown is one school that he identified as coming on strong. “I really don’t believe that you can really say any schools would be classified as leaders right now,” Theus said, “but Georgetown has certainly gotten his attention of late.”


One interesting point on Monroe: In the past he had said that he was not going to commit too early because of the possibility that the coach to whom he committed would be elsewhere by the time he arrived. This is a wise position in the crazy world of the college coaching carousel. One wonders though if it has anything to do with the JTIII contract situation. To that end, CBS's Gary Parish continues to bang the contract extension drum:

I bumped into John Thompson III at the LeBron James Skills Academy last week. He was careful with his words because he's a smart man, but just trust me when I tell you I never got the impression he thought my column about how he hasn't received a raise despite going to a Sweet 16 and Final Four in the past two seasons was silly.

And:

Negotiations in college athletics -- private or otherwise -- simply do not take this long if everything is fine. They just don't. That's a fact, a fact just like the fact that there's not a coach in the country more significantly underpaid than John Thompson III, and there is no question he is frustrated by it. I've had multiple people tell me as much, none of whom were students. The student I quoted wasn't a source as much as he was a voice to convey the feeling on campus, which is that Georgetown students fear the administration is souring a perfect situation. And trust me, they are.

I think Parish may be being a bit hyperbolic but it is good to have someone out in the MSM keeping DeGioia's feet to the fire. At the end of the day, GU is going to have to pay up--either now, or later, after the alumni run DeGioia out of town on a rail, and the university has to pony-up for a big name coach without any loyalty to Georgetown. I think he's got about 5 or 6 weeks until the students start heading back to campus. At that point, the pressure is going to build significantly. I think DeGioia has done a fine job as president so far but failure on this front will skunk his entire presidency and quite possible end it prematurely. Of course, if the obstacle is the Board, we the alumni have little recourse beyond storming one of their meetings. If I remember correctly, at one point some students did this with success.....

Monday, July 16, 2007

More on Roy

Another great piece on Roy from Yahoo! Sports. This article discusses Hibbert's exceptionalism--staying in school when almost all others would have taken the money and run. In that vein, I'll ask the obvious rhetorical question: How many D1 athletes spend their personal funds to attend political speeches?!


Show him the study hall

Around Roy Hibbert, he was surrounded with college kids who wouldn't have wasted a moment with the debate that consumed him for months. Stay in school, when you could've been a lottery pick? Sure, sure. They would've been nowhere near these USA Basketball Pan-Am Games tryouts, where sweating through two-a-days for nothing but the glory of the red, white and blue would've been a foolery in the face of a first-round NBA draft guarantee. "People look at me dumbfounded, almost perplexed," Georgetown's 7-foot-2 center said. "They ask me, 'What are you doing? Are you dumb? I would've gone and took the money.' " He wasn't talking of his Pan-Am trials teammates, as much as those who have come into contact with him since Hibbert passed on the draft to return for his senior year. For now, he's turned himself into a throwback four-year Georgetown player, honoring the tradition of Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning before him.

Here's the thing to remember, too: Long before he became a good basketball player, Hibbert was a good student. And so, he chose the rarest of prisms with which to see his future: the long lense. "Yeah, it's OK to get drafted to make the quick money, but I'm looking for the long term, for maybe getting a second contract," he said. "I don't want to just play in the NBA. I want to have a career." After coming out of nowhere in his junior season for the Hoyas, working with fifth overall pick Jeff Green to win Georgetown the Big East and a trip to the Final Four, Hibbert would've been selected anywhere from sixth to the late lottery in last month's draft, according to league executives. His return invites a different level of examination for his senior season, when there promises to be much more dissection of his weaknesses, as opposed to his uniqueness as an old-school, back-to-the-basket, shot-blocking center. Yes, he'll get his game picked apart, which he's already combating with a sleeker body borne out of a dedication to diet and workout.

"After the Final Four, I said I wanted to go," he said. "Then I thought about it some more and because it was a big draft with a lot of big guys, I think the next draft will bring me a better opportunity to go higher. But if I don't go higher, I'll just keep working hard. I'm a guy who nobody even knew about coming out of high school. I've always had to prove myself." What's more, Hibbert never needed to run away from school. He loves it. And that's an important reason why he'll be a rare four-year player in the lottery next June. A Government major, he has twice paid to hear presidential candidate Barack Obama speak at Washington, D.C., dinners. If Hibbert didn't have such a busy summer, which will include the Pan-Am Games later this month in Brazil and August camps, he would've assuredly been preparing for his senior year with a Beltway internship.

At the trials, most pro scouts agreed that he was the best pro prospect participating, even if most believed that Indiana's D.J. White has been the best player there. While John Thompson III's souped-up Princeton offense has gone a long way to develop Hibbert's complete game, most scouts at the Pan-Am workouts found it useful to watch him anchored around the basket, where he'll be hunkered in the NBA. "He handles the ball on the perimeter a lot in college, so it's good see him in the post all the time," one NBA scout said. "He needs to get stronger, but he still scores most of the time (when) he gets the ball inside. He definitely rebounds pretty well, and he's got that great jump hook with his right hand and a nice touch. To see him play against a strong guy like (Memphis' Joey) Dorsey and totally overpower him was a pretty good sign." For Hibbert, the tryouts were a reaffirmation of his pro possibilities, but executives and scouts found the weekend camp to be cluttered with promising prospects. After polling several league evaluators in attendance, here's a look at several intriguing prospects who made the Pan-Am trials cut to 14 players on the way to a 12-man roster, and thoughts of NBA personnel about them.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news?slug=aw-hibbert071607&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Kenner League Report

As we did last year, the IPB and I took in the epic Tombs vs. Clyde's match-up at McDonough this weekend. The Tombs featured Jon Wallace, Chris Wright, Vernon Macklin and Nikita Mescheriakov. Clyde's had Austin Freeman, Pat Ewing Jr., Omar Wattad, and Jeremiah Rivers. The IPB will weigh in with his thoughts but here are my preliminary assessments.

Wallace -- He was the best player on the court. His shot continues to improve and he makes great decisions, but we know what to expect from JW.

Wright -- Wright is incredibly quick and had some jaw-dropping plays. That said, he also had some sloppiness and his shot was clearly off. He will play significant minutes this year and actually complements Wallace well because of his ability to get to the hoop. As noted here earlier, he is built and can take a lot of contact and still finish.

Macklin -- Macklin was okay, but not spectacular. People who saw him play on Sunday said he was in a class by himself. This was not the case on Saturday. He was timid and just didn't assert himself all that much. He took another blow to his broken nose--ouch!

Nikita -- Nikita wowed us in warmups with his outside shot. He has great form and a beautiful rotation. I could see him getting some PT this year when teams are crowding Roy in the paint. He had a nifty bounce-pass out of a double-team and showed some ability to finish around the hoop. He won't get many minutes this year but I could see him having a significant impact as a junior or senior.

Austin -- He is efficient and deadly from deep. Austin can also finish strong around the hoop. He was quiet for most of the game but seemed to score at will when he woke up. There is no doubt that the sky is the limit for this kid.

Pat Jr. -- Pat, in contrast with the first time I saw him this summer, did not have a good game. One notable thing though is that his three-point shot is vastly improved. He will be a serious threat from beyond the arc. I suspect he will start in the Jeff Green spot this year.

Omar -- Wattad didn't show me much. He has a fine handle and is pretty physical, but his shot did not look good. He hit one three but with incredibly odd rotation on the ball. His recruitment has some scratching their heads and unlike Nikita I'm not sure he has dispelled those questions.

Rivers -- I thought Rivers played well. He game Wallace a good deal of trouble on D and was aggressive the whole game. The only gap in the game, as was the case last year, is his 3-pt show, which did not go down once in this game. That said, I like the increased aggressiveness and his ability to penetrate. He'll get some PT this year, although Chris will undoubtedly cut into it.

That's all I've got for now. The IPB will fill in more details.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Luke Winn on Big Roy

I should note that Jester traveled with Roy on the train up to Philly for the Pan Am tryouts at Haverford, where Winn conducted his interview with Roy.

Last dance
Hibbert defies reason to return to Hoyas for final year

He had cut weight from his 7-foot-2 frame, which is now a leaner 275 pounds. He attributed this to part running-and-lifting regimen, part decreased intake of General Mills snack food. "I have a thing for Chex Mix," Hibbert laments. "I've been cutting down on it."
. . . .

"I'd rather have seen [Hibbert] go pro -- because we have to play Georgetown twice next year," says Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who's also the chair of USA Basketball's collegiate committee and was watching from the sidelines in Haverford. "But I've never thought it hurts really good players, like Roy, to stay in college. It didn't hurt Patrick Ewing. It didn't hurt Derrick Coleman. It didn't hurt Tim Duncan or Alonzo Mourning, and they stayed all four years." Hibbert is likely to improve on his 12.9-points, 6.9-rebounds per game averages from last season, and the Hoyas -- who gain much-needed backcourt depth with freshmen Chris Wright and Austin Freeman -- should remain in the top-10 picture for '07-08. Which is a nice situation to be in, but with Hibbert and Jeff Green, the East Region's Most Outstanding Player, Georgetown would have been a consensus No. 1 in the preseason polls.

On NBA Draft night two weeks ago, the remaining Hoyas gathered in the basketball office on campus to watch Green get selected No. 5 by the Celtics. Hibbert even put his junk-food-free diet on hiatus for the occasion, which was catered with pizza and hot wings. Big Roy found, however, that he could only bear to watch the first five picks: "I left right after Jeff got drafted," he says. "It got to me ... I was just like, that could have been me up there. But I have no regrets, and I'm working for another attempt at a national championship." The emotions Hibbert felt during the draft subsided quickly, in part because he had a jam-packed summer ahead (he left the next morning at 5:45 for the Amare Stoudemire Skills Academy in Phoenix, has this potential USA Basketball trip to Brazil for the Pan Am games, as well as Michael Jordan's Flight School in Santa Barbara, Calif.), and more because he relishes college life and wants to finish his degree in government. Hibbert said the decision he made, on May 23, to remain at Georgetown was easy; "If school wasn't fun for me, if the atmosphere at Georgetown wasn't fun for me," he says, "it might have been different."

Fellow Pan Am Trials invitee Richard Hendrix, of Alabama, has been joking with Hibbert -- an admirer of Barack Obama who intended to intern at the Department of Education this summer, before basketball got in the way -- about when he'll run for governor of Maryland. Hibbert says he'll only entertain a career in politics after a long run in the NBA, so his campaign at present is to begin solidifying his status as a top-five pick in the '08 draft.
. . . .

Hibbert has been keeping tabs on Green's progress with the Sonics -- as much as someone who has neither cable nor Internet in the townhouse he shares with Georgetown teammates can keep tabs on glorified scrimmages in Vegas. "You have pay like 30 bucks a month, per person [for cable and Internet]," says Hibbert. "I don't have that type of money." Eight days earlier, Green had signed a contract that will earn him $2.548 million in his rookie season with the Sonics. Hibbert doesn't have $30 to get ESPN and NBATV in his room. Still, there is no clear answer as to whose life is better. Green is rich, Hibbert is broke. But at this same time next year, Big Roy will likely be a Lottery Pick with a degree -- and no lingering uncertainty about what kind of tourney run he could've had as a college senior. His vow of poverty is only temporary, and entirely justifiable.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/luke_winn/07/13/roy.panam/

Conference Matchups Released

The conference matchups for the Hoyas this year will be fantastic. This is the best schedule I could have possibly imagined. As all readers know, there will be 18 games for each Big East team this year. That means that all 16 teams play each other once with three repeat matchups. The way I think this should work is for each team to play a couple traditional rivals in the repeat games and maybe mix in a big matchup of two contenders, like last year when the Hoyas played Pitt twice.

That's just what they've done for the Hoyas this year! We get a home-and-home with Louisville who will be our main competition for the Big East title, and we have home-and-homes against traditional rivals St. John's and Cuse. But here is the great part. We have home games against UConn, Nova, and Notre Dame. The others will be Seton Hall, South Florida, and Cincinatti. It might have been nice to get Pitt or Marquette again at home but this is a great schedule as far as I'm concerned. It balances traditional rivalries and will let our home fans see Nova, UConn and Notre Dame again. Fantastic. Go Big East!

Now, let's get ready to give Pitino a well-deserved D.C. welcome.....

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Ronny Thompson Resigns

This is a truly bizarre turn of events for former Hoyas point guard and Assistant Coach Ronny Thompson. Two days after the vocal support of his athletic director, he resigns. The issues (at least publicly) are two self-reported rules violations that certainly qualify as fairly minor and the racist notes left in his office. Does any of that rise to the level of something worth resigning over? Strange.

Thompson resigns two days after AD said no change was coming

Throughout the first weekend of the July evaluation recruiting period, Thompson's job status was the source of intense speculation by colleagues. Rumors swirled at various coaches camps, and in the Muncie, Ind., area, that Thompson would resign after his staff was caught committing offseason workout violations for the second time in as many years. Late last month racist letters were slipped under Thompson's door. According to the Muncie Star-Press, racial slurs, along with words "cheaters" and "liars," were written on notes left in the basketball offices in a "break-in" on June 24. Ball State University police officer Gene Burton told ESPN.com Wednesday that the case should be resolved next week. The suspense intensified when Thompson went on vacation the first weekend of the July evaluation period while the majority of coaches were on the road. Thompson and his staff were cited for the second year in a row for violating NCAA rules by being present at voluntary offseason workouts. It has been reported by the Star-Press that the staff lied about the violations, too.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Update on Recruits

DraftExpress.com has a few short write-ups on the high schoolers participating in the LeBron James Skills Academy. Two of interest to Hoyas fans are commit Henry Sims and recruit Greg Monroe, the consensus #1 recruit in the class of 2008.

The report on Sims was great. He sounds like he can play in the post or face-up. He thus sounds like the prototypical JTIII big man, who can do it all. Here's the report:

"Sims was surprisingly productive throughout the first two days of camp, finishes everything inside and making his presence felt on both ends of the floor. The long, athletic big man really did some damage on the offensive glass, exhibited great hands, and seemed to be a guards dream with his ability to convert their drop-off passes inside for assists. Henry has a motor that does not stop running at all, and with continued development on the low blocks should be able to receive a considerable amount of playing time as a freshman for the Hoyas."

Monroe's write-up I found even more intriguing. Evidently, JTIII is trying to sell him on being the next Jeff Green. Damn if this doesn't sound like Jeff, for good and for ill:

"Monroe is an amazing talent, but has been unable to utilize his skills to their maximum potential throughout the first three days of camp. He showed dazzling footwork on the low blocks, finishing with both his right and left hands equally well. Monroe was money from 18 feet and in, and converted everything in transition. Still with all of these skills, he failed to take over the game we watched and was extremely passive. Greg is unselfish to a fault and while he is surely is the most talented player here at camp, by no means has he been the most dominant."

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=2170

Thursday, July 05, 2007

An Offer You Can't Refuse?

I have a quick question for all of the alumni who find their way to this blog. Imagine that you are still a student on the Hilltop. If someone offerred you $5 million to leave Georgetown and go do something else you loved, would you take them up on the offer even if it meant delaying your graduation? I think it would be pretty hard to turn down such a proposal.

With that in mind, I guess Jeff Green made a good decision. The Sonics signed him to a contract this weekend. ESPN reports that Green will make $2.548 million his rookie season, and $2.739 million his second year. Seattle will have a one-year optoin on Jeff for his third and fourth years.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2926089

Monday, July 02, 2007

Spann To Marshall

I don't know if this will be news to the other Van Buren Boys, but it was certainly news to me. It turns out that Tay Spann is transferring to Marshall. In the process he will be joining his older brother, who plays for The Thundering Herd's football team.

Who knows why Tay decided to leave GU and head to West Virginia. Maybe his decision to attend Marshall was based upon Georgetown's use of the "We Are Georgetown" cheer?

To read more, click here.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Kenner League Report

I attended the first two Kenner League games of summer 2007 today. I watched the second half of Meyers & Alterman versus the Colonials, and the first half of Clyde's against Eltro Lite.

The Meyers & Alterman team was without DaJaun Summers, but for some reason the Colonials featured Tyler Crawford (instead of Electo Lite, as published). The star of this game was Sean Singletary from UVA. He's quick as heck and showed a nice handle--but I'd expect that from a rising All-ACC senior. In any event, the game also had Gus Gilgrist who pulled out of his commitment at VATech after the shooting. He's prepping for this year and GU has been mentioned as a possible destination. I wasn't blown away. He's fine and did show some nice moves but he may not be worth any the baggage that could come along with snapping up a recruit who backed out of a commitment under dubious circumstances. Tyler was his usual self--unshelfish and always hustling. He got a bunch of garbage buckets but didn't shoot the ball too much.

The second game had Patrick Ewing Jr. and Austin Freeman. Jeremiah Rivers and Omar Wattad were nowhere to be seen. PE Jr. was far and away the best player on the court. He hit some beautiful jumpers, finished and passed well, and had some nasty blocked shots. He may be ready to assert himself in the Jeff Green role. Freeman's shot looked a bit off, but he finihed beautifully in traffic. The kid is built like a tank and very well could start as a small forward. He has great instincts too. Austin will be a lot of fun to watch. Another paritipant on Clyde's was Biggie McLain--with whom the Hoyas flirted for years. He's heading to Cincinatti. I wasn't blown away but he would probably get some PT. While not incredibly skilled, he is quite coordinated for a 7'1 freshman.

Also seen at the game were Jeff Green and John Thompson Jr., who were both spectators. At one point, Chris Wright walked through the gym. He is jacked--probably more defined than Austin. Both have Big East-ready bodies. That's all I've got for now. I was hoping to see a 2007 Final Four banner in McDonough but they haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe they are waiting until the 2008 national championship....