The Memphis Tigers seem to be the only top NCAA basketball program that did not suffer a great loss or two by the NBA draft declaration deadline this past Sunday. The Tigers lost only one senior, guard Jeremy Hunt, who averaged roughly 14 points per game last season. The rest of the core group of players, who have been to back-to-back elite eight games, remains intact, and poised to be the early national title favorites.
Other programs, such as the Florida Gators and Ohio State Buckeyes, have been decimated by players who left to make themselves eligible for the NBA draft. Not Memphis. They will have Chris Douglas-Roberts, Joey Dorsey, Antonio Anderson, and Robert Dozier, among others returning, making the Tigers a clear favorite for the No. 1 poll position. The Tigers will also add two of the nations top high school recruits, Derrick Rose and Jeff Robertson.
If you would like to get Memphis Tigers tickets for the upcoming season of NCAA basketball, then there is plenty of time to do so at StubHub.com, your source getting tickets to see early leaders.
Michael Jordan’s son, Jefferey Jordan, is planning on attending the University of Illinois, where he will play basketball as a walk-on. Since NCAA rules dictate that schools cannot yet comment on players, even walk-ons who do not sign letters on intent, there is no official word from the U of I coaching staff.
Jeff Jordan, who had been considering playing ball at Valparaiso, decided to play for Illinois after touring the campus with his mother and working out with the team. The decision to play as a walk-on is slightly curious. Perhaps there is some agreement that, as his father is one of the few Americans nowadays that can put their children through a college education, the scholarship he would have recieved will go to another player.
It seems like everybody’s famous child is playing ball, from Master P to Daryl Strawberry to Michael Jordan. If you want to see “Heir Jordan” in action next year (did I just invent that phrase?) then you should get Illinois Fighting Illini tickets at StubHub.com.
Darren Collison and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, both sophomores at UCLA, announced yesterday that they will be cool and stay in school… for next year, at least. Collison and Mbah a Moute will return to the Bruins to take another shot at winning the NCAA Basketball Championship. Last season they were defeated in the Final Four, and the year before that they lost in the title game.
Arron Afflalo, regarded by most to have been the Bruins’ best player on last year’s squad, has already opted to declare himself eligible for the draft. With the loss of their star shooting guard, most NCAA hoops analysts believe that the Bruins will suffer next season.
However, for many of us who buy UCLA Bruins tickets at StubHub.com, we know that this team can still be elite despite losing key players. Jordan Farmar, who was probably UCLA’s star in their efforts in 2006, declared himself eligible for the draft after the Bruins lost to Florida int he title game. The next year they made it to the Final Four. Counting the Bruins out because of one missing player is a mistake.
The list of top NCAA basketball players declaring themselves eligible for the NBA draft continues to grow. One of the latest to leave college hoops for the NBA is UNC’s Brandan Wright, the 6-9 freshman forward who was one of the team’s most potent offensive threats. Wright averaged over 14 points a game last year for the Tar Heels, and is expected to be among the top 10 players selected in this year’s NBA draft.
According to Heels head coach Roy Williams, the decision by Wright was a financial one. The young talent wants to help his family overcome economic hardship, and he feels that entering the draft now will give himself a chance to do so with more expediency. Wright has stated that he intends to earn a degree at some later date.
Those who are checking out StubHub.com for UNC Tar Heels basketball tickets will be disappointed to hear the news about Wright, but glad to hear that both Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson will both be returning.
SEC Player of the Year Chris Lofton has decided that he will spend another year at the University of Tennessee. Unlike so many other top college players this year, Lofton has decided that his situation does not warrant entering the NBA draft.
According to most sources, Lofton’s projected draft position would put him well into the second round. The draft is already top-heavy, with plenty of great shooting guards already having declared themselves eligible. But it’s not all bad. Tennessee will have a great team next year. The SEC has been nearly gutted of talent after this season, so the Vols look like a good sleeper pick to win the NCAA Tournament next year, if you like taking bets really early, that is.
Said Lofton during a press conference yesterday, “I think I knew all along I was coming back anyway. It was just a little part of me in my mind of waiting to see how everything shakes out. I’m not surprised by this.”
So, if you want to see one of the best returning talents next year you should get Tennessee Volunteers tickets. Just like Lofton and the Jedi, you should return… to get those tickets at StubHub.com.
Rumor has it that the rapper known as Lil Romeo has declared that he is going to play basketball at USC, the Pac-10 school that surprised a few hoops critics with their performance in the 2007 NCAA Basketball Tournament. Lil Romeo, otherwise known as Romeo Miller, is in fact still a junior, and according to official sources with the Trojans, has not yet filed a letter of intent.
Miller actually prefers to go by simply Romeo now, dropping the “Lil” along with fellow rapper/actor Bow Wow, with whom he is said to have an ongoing music feud. According to Romeo’s Wikipedia page, Romeo is “a talented basktball player.” If fact, he was recently invited to a nationally renowned youth basketball camp called ABCD. He is 6′1” and plays point guard for Beverly Hills High School (90210). Romeo’s father, the music mogul Master P, tried out for two NBA teams in his younger days.
Who knows if this is true or not. I’ve never seen Romeo play basketball, but he is probably pretty good if he has already verbally committed to playing at USC his with a year to go in high school. Having a celebrity’s kid on your team can be great for sports commentators, who are likely to use such a fact as the basis for the entire length of the game, ala Strawberry’s boy from Maryland, and the Satan-Medussa offspring Noah from Florida.
If you like your college hoops with famous people’s sons, then get your NCAA basketball tickets at StubHub.com, your source for tickets to inherited celebrity.
Ohio State Buckeye center Greg Oden declared himself eligible for the draft yesterday, a decision that seems to have been made the day he came out of his mother’s womb at a solid 4′3,” 91 lbs baby boy, but yet has taken a little under two decades to finally make official.
Said Oden in a statement released Thursday, “This is a very tough decision for me. I love OSU and love being a Buckeye, but I also have a great opportunity to take my game to the next level and compete with the best players in the world. I’ve discussed this with family, friends and Coach [Thad] Matta, and I feel the time is right.”
Many reporters were troubled about the fact that the statement was written on a non-college ruled lined piece of binder paper. The words “OSU,” “Buckeye,” and “Matta” were underlined and obviously written in a different color of ink than the rest of the statement.
Kidding, of course. But Greg Oden is expected to be the number one or two pick overall in the next NBA draft. he has not yet signed an agent, however. So if you want to see Greg Oden play, you’re going to have to get NBA tickets at StubHub.com. You won’t find NCAA basketball tickets to any more games with G.O.
Current NCAA legislation contains no rule limiting or banning the sending of text messages through cell phones or other devises, though the NCAA management council has recommended that the Board of Directors update rules to insure that coaches cannot contact ineligible players through new cell phone technology.
Some coaches have argued that they merely want to keep up with the more popular ways that young people communicate with their friends and family- to promote a better player-coach relationship right off the bat.
Right.
If you’re like any college male these days, you know that the bulk of text messages are used for one of three purposes: 1) vaguely sexual flirtations with girls you’re too afraid to call, 2) important information that needs to be passed on while at a noisy bar, or 3) vaguely seductive banter with Danny Ainge (i.e. “u were great last nite oden,” “I know ur a longhorn @ hrt drrant but lets see how u look in celt$ green,” …etc).
Ainge should also be required to take down his Myspace account.
For those of us who buy NCAA basketball tickets, especially those purists who get them at StubHub.com, keeping the NBA away from the NCAA is something that needs to happen to keep college hoops from developing the worst traits of the pro leagues.
Though the Virginia Tech massacre a few days ago had nothing to do with college basketball pre se, it did happen on a college campus at a major athletics institution. The shootings have affected all parts of campus life at VT, including the sports teams. As of yesterday, spring football practice has been canceled for the remainder of the season. Baseball games were canceled until Friday.
As an NCAA basketball blog this article ought to focus on current events in the hoops world. Like it or not, when a prominent ACC school is involved in an international news event, it becomes sports news. Major sports media outlets like ESPN and CBS have all run stories about the effect of the tragedy on VT athletics, getting quotes from coaches and players who were, in one form or another, affected by the events early Monday morning.
NCAA basketball is over and done with this year. Virginia Tech Hokies tickets at StubHub.com aren’t a hot item anymore. The Hokies’ tournament dreams ended in the second round just a few weeks ago. Preseason play is months and months away.
It’s the “slow news day” part of the year for those of us who cover college hoops.
I actually miss the days when dumb Imus comments and their reactions made the headlines in the NCAA basketball blog.
In the wake of their repeat NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship run, the Florida Gators find themselves in a position they haven’t been in for what seems like decades: clearly and decisively out of the top 25 in the polls.
One of the most amazing things about the Florida Gators keeping their team together for two years was that they managed to stay so unabashedly obnoxious and annoyingly inarticulate after two years of “education” at a top university, as evidenced by their humble, heartwarming speeches after their two championship victories and any interview with them ever.
The other odd thing was that so many outstanding college basketball players decided not to enter the NBA draft after their first championship season.
However, the same will not be true this year. Al Hartford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, and Taurean Green all have signed with agents and declared themselves eligible for the NBA draft. Coach Billy Donovan actually stayed in Gainesville, though.
Unless they have another recruiting class like two years ago, the Gators are going to be rebuilding in a post-Saddam kind of way next year.
The bad news for those of you who buy Florida Gators tickets is that you’ll probably not be going back for a third helping of national champs. But that’s good news for the rest of us getting NCAA basketball tickets at StubHub.com.
