All American Chris Douglas-Roberts is leaving Memphis for the NBA.
April 18, 2008
Memphis All-American guard Chris Douglas-Roberts will enter the NBA Draft, joining teammate Derrick Rose as an early entry to the pros, the school announced Friday.
Douglas-Roberts led the Tigers with 18.1 points a game as a junior and helped them set a Division I record with 38 victories. He was picked for the NCAA all-tournament team after Memphis lost the championship game to Kansas 75-68 in overtime.
“The ride that we all took together this year is what dreams are made of, and now I feel it is time to pursue my ultimate dream of playing in the NBA,” he said in a statement.
The 6-foot-7 Douglas-Roberts features a dazzling array of shots and hit a team-best 41.3 percent on 3-pointers. He was voted Conference USA Player of the Year.
Earlier this week, Rose declared for the NBA Draft. The freshman guard was a third-team All-American.
Douglas-Roberts and Rose almost went out as NCAA champions. They combined to make just 1-of-5 free throws in the final 1:12 of regulation in the loss to Kansas.
Douglas-Roberts was often overshadowed by Rose, the flashy star who electrified crowds with his perpetual motion and acrobatic moves.
But it was Douglas-Roberts whom Memphis coach John Calipari often turned to when the team needed a critical basket.
“Like in years past, I have said that during the season, it is about the team, and that after the season, it’s about the individual players. Chris did just that this year,” Calipari said. “Chris — along with every player on the team — gave his all for the team this season, and we are grateful for what he did for this program.”
Besides Douglas-Roberts and Rose, the Tigers will lose two seniors, starting center Joey Dorsey and reserve guard Andre Allen.
Memphis landed one of the country’s last undecided prep stars earlier this week in Tyreke Evans, the most valuable player of the McDonald’s All-American game last month.
The Tigers already have a signed letter-of-intent from another top recruit, 6-foot-11 forward Angel Garcia, and are expecting to get one from 6-foot-8 forward Matt Simpkins, who gave a verbal commitment in January.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
UCLA freshman Love declares for the 2008 NBA Draft.
April 18, 2008
UCLA’s Kevin Love is NBA-bound.
Less than two weeks after leading the Bruins to the Final Four, the All-American freshman announced Thursday that he’ll skip his final three college seasons and enter the NBA draft.
“I feel like I’m in the right spot to take my game to the next level,” Love said Thursday. “Since I was 5 years old this has been a dream of mine.”
Love made his announcement at a news conference while sitting between his father, former NBA player Stan Love, and UCLA coach Ben Howland.
The 6-foot-10 Love said he did not immediately plan to hire an agent, which would temporarily allow him to keep playing for UCLA.
“I want to maintain my eligibility in case something happens,” Love said. He later added that it’s “definitely a possibility” that something could prompt him to change his mind.
Love led the Bruins in scoring (17.5 points) and rebounds (10.6) on the way to a 35-win season and a trip to national semifinals, where UCLA lost to Memphis.
Love impressed many with his strength — in practice, he made full-court shots with two-handed chest passes. He was known for his sharp outlet passes, court smarts and leadership qualities.
Scouts have projected Love to be a top-10 pick in the June 26 draft, Howland said.
“We fully expect that he’ll be a very high draft pick,” Howland said. “We’re behind his decision 100 percent.”
Love said he spent the two weeks since the Final Four getting advice from Howland, former UCLA coach John Wooden and teammates in a similar spot.
Last week, Love returned home to Oregon to mull over his choices with his family. The nephew of Beach Boys member Mike Love called his year at UCLA was “the best of my life” both on the court and around campus, but said the NBA was too much to resist.
“If you have a chance, you have to take it,” he said.
Love’s teammate, sophomore guard Russell Westbrook, also said Thursday that he’s headed to the NBA, as had been expected.
“Russell Westbrook has worked very, very hard to put himself in a position where he could be a first-round draft pick,” Howland said. “I haven’t had a player who improved more in one year, ever, than Russell.”
Westbrook said that if it looks as though he’ll go lower than about the 20th pick in the draft, he’ll likely return to school. Players who don’t hire agents can back out of the draft as late as June 16.
Howland said he’s facing more uncertainty than he ever has in an offseason, but called the presence of so many potential NBA players “a good problem to have.” He said he was lucky to get Love for even a season because in previous years he could well have gone straight the NBA.
Darren Collison, the team’s junior point guard, has yet to decide whether he’ll stay or go. The deadline for underclassmen to declare is April 27.
“He’s not in any hurry,” Howland said of Collison.
Love said his performance and his team’s healthy run through the Pac-10 season and the postseason tournaments pushed him toward leaving.
“The second half of the season really decided it for me,” he said.
Love said he will be happy whoever drafts him, but if he had his druthers he’d like to stay home - or one of his homes anyway.
“Obviously, I’d like to go to Portland, it’s my hometown,” he said with a grin. “Or I’d like to stay here in Los Angeles, and have one of these teams take me.”
Love said he had prepared a written statement but instead spoke off the cuff, loudly and with a smile, as he did most of a season when his production and infectious personality made him a local - then a national — celebrity.
He also drew constant comparisons to former UCLA big men Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton. Love said Thursday he plans to use those two, along with UCLA alum Jackie Robinson, as his model for how to stay involved with the school after he leaves.
“I’m looking to leave a legacy at UCLA,” he said.
Love’s father sat looking considerably shaggier than his short-haired, suit-and-tied son.
“I’m trying to get this guy to dress better,” Kevin Love said.
“It’s his coat,” Stan Love replied.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Memphis lands top prospect to replace NBA bound Rose.
April 16, 2008
Tyreke Evans announced Wednesday that he will sign a national letter with Memphis in a development that should ensure John Calipari’s Tigers remain among the elite teams in America even after the departure of freshman star Derrick Rose.
“I just decided that Memphis was the better offense for me,” Evans said at a nationally televised press conference. “I would like to play for Coach Cal because of the offense he runs.”
A 6-foot-6 combo guard, Evans was rated as the fourth-best prospect in the nation by Scout.com following a senior season at American Christian (Pa.) in which he averaged 29 points, eight rebounds and six assists per game. The McDonald’s All-American also seriously considered Texas and Villanova but ultimately chose Memphis, where he will likely serve as the Tigers’ primary scorer under the assumption that Chris Douglas-Roberts makes himself available for the NBA Draft.
Hookscenter.com wire report (Parrish).
Kansas State’s Michael Beasley declares for NBA Draft.
April 15, 2008
After putting together one of the best freshman seasons ever, Michael Beasley is headed to the NBA.
Kansas State’s All-American freshman announced Monday that he will skip his final three seasons to enter the June 26 NBA Draft, where he could be the No. 1 overall pick.
“It’s time to take my game to the next level,” Beasley said as his family and several teammates looked on. “I think I proved myself over the course of the season. I just think it’s time for new challenges.”
Beasley dominated his lone college season, averaging 26.2 points and becoming just the third freshman in NCAA history to lead the nation in rebounds at 12.4 per game. He had the second-most rebounds and third-most points by a freshman in NCAA history, helping Kansas State to its first NCAA tournament victory in 20 years.
Beasley also was a consensus All American, was named Big 12 Player of the Year and finished second to North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough for numerous player of the year awards.
“Mike’s as good as I’ve seen,” said Kansas State coach Frank Martin, seated next to Beasley in front of dozens of reporters.
NBA scouts and general managers like him, too.
An agile, 6-foot-10 power forward, Beasley is exceptionally versatile, able to power his way inside or step out to the perimeter, shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc.
NBA officials came out in droves to watch him play at nearly every game and some general managers spent three to four days at a time in Manhattan, leading to speculation that Beasley would be the No. 1 overall draft pick if he left school early.
Millions of dollars awaits Beasley in the NBA, but it still wasn’t an easy decision to leave school.
He spent the weekend debating whether he should stay or go, talking with family, friends and coaches about the NBA. It wasn’t until Monday morning, just hours before his self-imposed deadline, that Beasley made his final decision.
“I kind of made my mind up, then went back to being undecided, made my mind up, then went back to being undecided,” said Beasley, who signed with agent Joe Bell. “Today was when my decision stuck.”
Beasley leaned heavily on his mother, Fatima Smith, and Martin in making his decision.
Smith has been Beasley’s main supporter, helping him as he bounced from once high school to another after his pranks wore thin, moving her family to tiny Manhattan once he decided to attend Kansas State. She was there again when the time came for ‘Lil Mike, as she calls him, to make a decision about the NBA.
“The best thing I could have done was let him breathe, come to some decisions on his own, let him come to me with some questions,” Smith said. “And once he came to me with some questions, I kind of guided him and turned the questions around: ‘what would you do or how do you think this would happen?’ It was still a battle up until last night, until this morning.”
Martin didn’t hesitate in offering his opinion.
Certainly, he would have loved for Beasley to stay. What coach wouldn’t want a player like him for four years, dominating games, drawing national attention to the school? But as someone who scratched and clawed his way out of a poor neighborhood to make a name for himself, Martin knew what going to the NBA would mean for Beasley and his family.
“I’m of the opinion if someone has the opportunity to be worth $100 million, they go take advantage when that opportunity presents itself because that window isn’t always open,” Martin said.
Beasley said at the start of the season that he wanted to play at Kansas State for four years, that he had made a commitment and wanted to earn a degree. He started hinting that he might not stick around early in the season and ultimately decided the money was just too much to pass up.
“I just think it’s the right decision for my family financially,” Beasley said. “I feel that by me going to the NBA, I can take care of my family, make sure our lives are better.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Bill Self stays at Kansas after signing long term extension.
April 11, 2008
Three days after winning the NCAA championship, Kansas coach Bill Self said no thanks to Oklahoma State, his alma mater, and agreed to a lucrative contract extension that could keep him at Kansas for the rest of his career.”Home called,” Self said. “And we love home. But this is home now.”
The 45-year-old Self, an Oklahoma native who played for the Cowboys and was an assistant coach there at the beginning of his career, met with Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder Wednesday night for about two hours.
After conferring with Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins for several hours on Thursday, Self called Holder and told him of his decision.
“There was never serious interest on our part in leaving the University of Kansas,” said Self, who has won 142 games, four Big 12 titles and a national championship in five highly successful seasons with the Jayhawks.
“But there was serious interest in listening and helping Oklahoma State in a way that would put their basketball program in the position they want it to be in. We visited and slept on it and came to the conclusion that I felt all along that the time is right for my family to be in Lawrence, Kan., and lead this program, hopefully, to bigger and better things in the future.”
Perkins, at a news conference with Self and chancellor Robert Hemenway, declined to give details of the deal. But it will include raises for assistant coaches and an extensive upgrading of the school’s aging facilities.
There had been reports that Oklahoma State booster T. Boone Pickens, who has given the Cowboys $165 million, was prepared to throw a megabucks offer at Self. But Self said no dollar figure was mentioned in his conversation with Holder.
“Bill is going to be compensated at the highest level,” Perkins said. “Bill and I have agreed in principle that he will be our coach for many years to come. The details and money and length and other things will be finalized over the next few weeks. We will give it to you as soon as we have it complete.
“The good news for us is Bill’s staying and we’re glad to have him.”
Self has three years left on a contract that pays him $1.375 million annually.
“I don’t know what the big deal is, to be honest,” Self said in the typically self-effacing manner that has endeared him to Kansas’ rabid basketball fans.
“These last three weeks, four weeks, have been an absolute whirlwind. I don’t know if a guy deserves to have as much fun as I’ve had.”
Self’s Jayhawks won a school-record 37 games and beat Memphis for the national title, coming back from a nine-point deficit in the final two minutes in dramatic fashion.
Self’s new deal is likely to make him one of college basketball’s highest-paid coaches. Florida coach Billy Donovan is believed to be the highest-paid among coaches at public universities, after he signed a six-year contract worth $3.5 million per year in 2007. Texas’ Rick Barnes is the highest-paid coach in the Big 12 at $2 million a year.
But Self had made it clear all along that he wanted to upgrade the facilities to keep up with what he called “the arms race” in big-time collegiate athletics. The Jayhawks are completing a $31 million project renovating and modernizing their football facilities.
“We need a practice facility, improved locker rooms, videos and cardio rooms,” Self said. “We need a place to eat meals. We need a place for (the media) to do your job, a work room. We need extra locker rooms. We need the Hall of Fame to extend. That’s just all part of it. We’re working on housing.”
Self said he now has no thoughts of ever leaving Kansas.
“The way I feel today and the way my family feels today, absolutely,” he said. “I don’t know how long my career’s going to last. I don’t see the finish line at all, but I see the finishing line being here.”
He said the fact that Kansas will probably lose many key players off this championship team to graduation and the NBA Draft did not factor into his decision one way or another.
“There is going to be turnover. But I can promise you we’re still going to be good,” he said. “We don’t even know who we’re going to have yet. But we’ll figure it out. We’ll get some guys. We’ll still be good. I think if I was going to leave, it would be a lot easier leaving having won Monday.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Memphis’ John Calapari named Naismith Coach of the Year.
April 10, 2008
John Calipari was named Naismith National Coach of the Year by The Atlanta Tipoff Club on Wednesday.The Memphis coach led the Tigers to the NCAA title game where they lost 75-68 in overtime to Kansas.
It’s the second Naismith award for Calipari, who won in 1996 after leading Massachusetts to the Final Four.
Memphis won 38 games and was ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the AP poll for a school-record 16 straight weeks.
Calipari is one of five coaches in NCAA Division I history to lead two different programs to a No. 1 national ranking. The others were Frank McGuire, Ralph Miller, Roy Williams and Eddie Sutton.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Kansas beats Memphis in OT for 2008 NCAA Title.
April 8, 2008
Memphis kept missing. Mario Chalmers wasn’t about to.
Chalmers’ 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in regulation put the game in overtime, and Kansas pulled away to a 75-68 victory on Monday night for its first national championship since Danny and the Miracles 20 years ago.
Mario and the Miracles? That has a good ring to it, too.
Chalmers’ game-saving 3 came after Memphis missed four of five free throws that would have put the game and the title out of reach. It completed a comeback from nine points down with 2:12 left.
“It’ll probably be the biggest shot ever made in Kansas history,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.
The ending made a mockery of Memphis coach John Calipari’s theory that his players, one of the country’s worst with 59 percent free-throw shooting, didn’t have to be good because they would always come through when the stakes were highest.
“It will probably hit me like a ton of bricks tomorrow, that we had it in our grasp,” Calipari said.
All those bricks meant something in a game where every point counted. So did Derrick Rose’s two-point shot off glass initially ruled a 3 — and correctly overturned — with 4:15 left.
Nothing about Chalmers’ 3-pointer was in doubt.
“I had a good look at it,” he said. “When it left my hands it felt like it was good, and it just went in.”
Although Chalmers will go down in history, the most memorable overall performance came from Rose, the Memphis freshman, who completely took over the game in the second half, scoring 14 of his team’s 16 points during one stretch to lift the Tigers to a 60-51 lead with 2:12 left.
But Kansas (37-3) used the strategy any smart opponent of Memphis’ would — fouling the heck out of one of the country’s worst free-throw-shooting teams — and when Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts made only one of five over the last 1:12, it left the door open for KU.
“Ten seconds to go, we’re thinking we’re national champs, all of a sudden a kid makes a shot, and we’re not,” Calipari said.
Hustling the ball down the court with 10.8 seconds left, no timeouts and trailing by three, Sherron Collins handed off to Chalmers at the top of the 3-point line, and Chalmers took the shot. It hit nothing but net and tied the score at 63.
Robert Dozier missed a desperation heave at the buzzer, and Rose went limping to the bench, favoring his right leg. Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson scored the first six points of overtime to put Kansas ahead 69-63.
Memphis, clearly exhausted, didn’t pull any closer than three the rest of the way. Rose played all 45 minutes in what could very well be his last college game.
“Overtime, they kind of beat us down,” Calipari said. “I didn’t sub a whole lot, because I was trying to win the game at the end.”
Arthur was dominant inside, finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds, lots on dunks and easy layups off lob passes. Chalmers finished with 18 points. Rush had 12 and Collins had 11 points, six assists and did a wonderful job shutting Rose for the first 28 minutes.
Rose wound up with 18 points in a game that showed how ready he is for the NBA. He was 3-for-4 from the line, however, and that one miss with 10.8 seconds left is what almost certainly would have sealed the game and given the Tigers (38-2) their first title.
“It wasn’t really the free throws,” Rose said. “If we’d done things before the free throws, we would’ve been in good shape.”
Instead, the title goes back to Lawrence for the third time in the fabled program’s history.
The inventor of the game, James Naismith, was the first Jayhawks coach. It’s the school that made household names of Wilt Chamberlain, Manning — and yes, even North Carolina’s Roy Williams, the coach who famously left the Jayhawks, lost to them in the semifinals, but was, indeed, in the Kansas cheering section Monday wearing a Jayhawks sticker on his shirt.
After the game, Self didn’t exactly end speculation that he might also bail for his alma mater, Oklahoma State.
“I’m not going to say that couldn’t potentially happen because I guess it potentially can,” Self said.
This game was not about coaches or side stories, though. It was about the game, and what a dandy it was — a well-needed reprieve from a more-or-less blah tournament in which 42 of 63 games were decided by double digits.
This was the first overtime in the title game since 1997, when Arizona beat Kentucky 84-79.
“Being up seven, being down nine, being up two, down five, going to overtime,” Kansas center Cole Aldrich said. “We fought it out, and it’s surreal. It’s nuts.”
Rose went crazy during Memphis’ second-half run. A 3-pointer here, a scooping layup for a three-point play next. Then, the capper, an off-balance, 18-foot shot off glass with the shot-clock buzzer sounding. Officials at first credited Rose with a 3, but went to the replay monitor and saw he was clearly inside the line.
Even with the point deducted, Memphis has a 56-49 lead and all the momentum. Most teams would have been demoralized.
Clearly, Kansas is not most teams.
In fact, the Jayhawks are a team that has come together in tragedy over the last several months. The deaths of friends and family of Jackson, Sasha Kaun and Rodrick Stewart all cast a bit of a pall over this team, making Jackson wonder at times if staying at Kansas was even worth it.
Just when the Jayhawks looked to be moving past their bad times, Stewart fractured his kneecap, a freak accident during Kansas’ practice Friday at the Alamodome.
But it was another injury that might have been most responsible for blending this championship formula. Rush tore up his knee during a pickup game last May, and his NBA plans were put on hiatus.
He worked his way back into shape this season and is playing his best right now. He didn’t have the most impressive stat line of the night, but it hasn’t all been about stats for him in this, his junior season. His defense was stellar, as usual, and surely his experience and resolve played into Kansas’ refusal to go away.
He set the table.
Chalmers got the glory.
“That has to be one of the biggest shots in basketball history,” Stewart said.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
2008 Final Four Preview - North Carolina vs Kansas.
April 5, 2008
If the choice had to be made between talent and experience, Roy Williams knows what he’d pick.”I think everyone would take experienced talent over anything else,” he said.
He is one of the few coaches who has that commodity - rarer by the day in college basketball - at his disposal this season.
Which is why Williams is coaching North Carolina in the Final Four.
“At this level, with the four teams that are in, what you have is you have basically experienced talent on every team,” he said.
But the Tar Heels and Kansas, their opponent in Saturday’s second semifinal, have that combination in a particularly special way.
Tyler Hansbrough vs. Brandon Rush, though they may never find themselves paired up one-on-one in this game, is the kind of junior-vs.-junior matchup that has become all too rare in the college game.
Hansbrough had the stats to leave after last season - 18 points, eight rebounds per game - but he likes college and comes from a family that didn’t need money. No rush to head to the NBA, he stayed and some say he might stay again when this season’s over.
Meanwhile, Rush was supposed to be out the door after last year, but a knee injury that forced him into ligament surgery limited his choices, brought him back to KU, and now, he’s two wins away from a reward that money can’t buy - the national title.
And that’s not all.
“It’s possible I could be a better draft pick than I was last year,” Rush said in interview last month. “Just because of the type of team we have. How far we go in the postseason will help me out a lot, too. Everything is better.”
In a season in which the NCAA selection committee seemed to get everything right - no big controversies when the bracket came out, all four No. 1 seeds making it to the Final Four for the first time - even the semifinal pairings had a certain perfectness about them.
The UCLA-Memphis game, in addition to being a rematch of their classic 1973 final dominated by Bill Walton, pits the two remaining top freshmen in the country, Derrick Rose and Kevin Love. And Kansas-Carolina not only gives us Williams going against his old school but also lends a rare view at two upperclassmen stars leading their teams.
The experience factor on these teams doesn’t stop at Hansbrough and Rush.
You have to go nine players down the Kansas scoring list before you find your first freshman. All but one of the starters, Darrell Arthur, are upperclassmen. Russell Robinson, Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun: Real college basketball fans know these names not necessarily because they’re tearing it up every day, but because they’re true college players. They’ve been around a while.
Carolina is basically the same story. The Heels have only one active freshman on the roster, Will Graves, and he barely plays. The rest of the lineup includes sophomores Ty Lawson, Deon Thompson and Wayne Ellington and junior Marcus Ginyard.
Those who argue that a team must have a superstar, the kind of guy with such great talent that he almost has to go pro after one year, can easily point to Carmelo Anthony, who led Syracuse to the national title in 2003 then left, as expected, for the NBA.
Just as solid an argument, however, could be made for the Florida Gators, who won two in a row with Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Al Horford and the rest. They won their first title as sophomores, their second as juniors, and coach Billy Donovan argued they should be considered one of the best teams of all time considering the ‘dynasty’ they established in an era that dictates against them.
“Not as the most talented, and not on style points,” Donovan argued after last year’s win, “but because they encompassed what the word ‘team’ means.”
Maybe the best test of which model works best will come in the final Monday, when one team led by a junior will face another led by a freshman.
Meanwhile, NCAA president Myles Brand clearly appreciates players like Hansbrough and Rush - the increasingly rare stars who stick around.
He called the age limitation rule, which currently forces U.S. players to be 19 and a year out of high school before they are eligible for the draft, “entirely, entirely, a management-labor issue within the NBA” over which he has no control.
“I’m always saying I want to go longer,” Brand said.
It’d be hard for him to find a college coach who would disagree.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
2008 Final Four Preview - Memphis vs UCLA.
April 5, 2008
Kevin Love kept backing up, and a hush fell over the crowd at the Alamodome. They knew what was coming next: The only true long shot at this Final Four.From full court, the UCLA freshman started launching two-handed heaves at practice Friday.
On his 12th try, bingo! Love banked it home, drew a big ovation and took a full bow.
Come Saturday, UCLA figures to leave the trick shots to Derrick Rose, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Memphis.
“If I’m a fan, I’d want to watch Memphis play,” Love said. “They dunk the ball a lot, they’re flashy.”
The first NCAA semifinal shapes up as classic offense vs. defense matchup. Will the Tigers’ “dribble drive motion” system get them to the basket against the taller Bruins?
Memphis likes to leave the lane open, put the ball in the hands of its many playmakers and head to the hoop, hoping something good will happen.
Most of the time it works.
The Tigers (37-1) overwhelmed Michigan State and Texas in the South Regional in their bid to win the first men’s basketball championship in school history.
While the city of Memphis has embraced them - Graceland is lit up in Tigers blue this week - the college basketball world hasn’t exactly backed a team that doesn’t start a single player from Tennessee.
Many top analysts predicted Memphis would become the first No. 1 seed to lose in the tournament. All four made it this far, with North Carolina and Kansas meeting in the second semifinal.
UCLA (35-3) is making its third straight Final Four appearance while Memphis comes in with an edge, sounding an us-against-the-world theme.
“We are not the prestigious program like North Carolina, Kansas and UCLA. We are Memphis from Conference USA. That is how everyone views us, so we all have a chip and are out to prove them wrong,” said Douglas-Roberts, an All-America guard. “Those are the royalty programs. We’re not one of those. But we believe we belong here.”
Coach John Calipari insists the Tigers didn’t get that from him. Well, whatever.
“Now, the other programs are more highly thought of than Memphis, and they should be. Between UCLA and Memphis, we’ve won 11 national titles,” he said. “That’s a good number.”
Calipari, however, did bring in former UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian to talk to the Tigers on Thursday. They’re similar, in a way, both mavericks who turned non-BCS schools into elite powers.
UCLA has taken a more conventional path, built on the tradition of John Wooden, Bill Walton and Lew Alcindor. The Bruins also have done it the last few years with Ben Howland’s rugged defense.
“As a coach, I understand that’s what wins. And it’s true in any sport,” he said. “It’s really clear defense is a constant you have the most control over as a team, because it’s effort and preparation every day.”
That’s fine with junior Darren Collison, who likely will start out guarding the acrobatic Rose.
“I mean, it’s the reason why we’re here, because of his defensive philosophy,” Collison said. “You know, he really does talk about offense in practice, and practice is nothing like the games. It’s real physical. Guys are hurt every day. Nicks and nags every day.”
Memphis prefers to play at an up-tempo pace, grabbing rebounds and rushing the ball upcourt. The Tigers scored 90 points eight times this season and topped 100 in three games. UCLA has not reached 100 points in a game since December 2002; the Bruins never even scored 90 this season.
Then again, UCLA held little Mississippi Valley State to 29 points last month, the fewest in the NCAA tournament since 1946.
Rose could hit that all by himself.
Extremely athletic, the third-team All-America guard might well play his final college game in the next few days. The freshman, however, is glad he didn’t jump straight from high school to the pros.
“I am not ready for the NBA right now,” he said. “I need to improve on my ballhandling, basketball IQ, being a more vocal leader.”
One thing he does not need to work on his acrobatic shots. Be it a rim-rattling dunk or something more improvised, he’s got quite an array.
That said, he will leave the really long-distance gunning to Love. They’ve played with and against each other since seventh grade, and Rose will concede that his longtime pal might take him in a H-O-R-S-E competition.
“I mean, that’s full court, almost the whole court,” Rose said. “Got to be much, much harder to do that.”
Love, by the way, finished 1-for-28 on those heaves.
“I’ve been working with him on that half-court and full-court shot all year,” Howland said, “and it’s starting to pay dividends.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Kevin O’Neill won’t be back on bench for Arizona hoops.
April 2, 2008
Lute Olson said he’s “really excited” to be back as Arizona’s basketball coach.
He sure didn’t seem that way Tuesday.
In his first news conference since returning from a season-long leave of absence, a testy Olson sparred with reporters and provided few specifics for the leave, which was the subject of endless rumors and speculation in this basketball-obsessed city.
Olson, 73, also said assistant coach Kevin O’Neill, who served as interim coach last season and was even named Olson’s eventual permanent successor, will not remain on his staff.
“Frankly, even though I realize I’m a public figure, I don’t think I need to go into every nuance of my private life,” Olson said at a televised 48-minute news conference at McKale Center. “There were things going on in my life that did create some health issues that I needed time to address. But it was not a health scare.”
Olson’s situation has been shrouded in mystery since Nov. 4, when he announced he was taking a leave of absence. He said then that he wanted to “reassure everyone that this isn’t a health scare, but rather a personal matter that needs my undivided attention.” Last month, he said he needed the leave to deal with “a medical condition that was not life-threatening.”
During his leave, Olson filed for divorce from his wife, Christine.
On Tuesday, Olson declined to discuss his health, aside from a joking reference to his blood pressure and heart rate.
“I hope you can see that I feel great,” said Olson, who wore a black-and-white checked blazer over a white, button-down shirt. “This issue, though, has raised my blood pressure all the way up to 113 over 65, and my resting heart rate has gone from 60 to 62. So I’m concerned about my health.”
Olson turned steely when asked if he had been able to provide a guarantee to university officials that his condition has been resolved. “Do I look like I have a condition?” he replied.
Olson said he had assured athletic director Jim Livengood he was fit to return to the rigors of big-time coaching.
“Mr. Livengood said, ‘Are you sure that you’re ready to face this job and this stress?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely,’” Olson said.
O’Neill’s status with the program has also been cloudy in recent weeks.
“When he said he’s coming back, or that he’s going to fulfill the terms of his contract, he won’t be on the staff,” Olson said.
O’Neill stressed defense last season. Olson said he had assured players that they would return to an up-tempo style.
“I apologize for what they had to go through this year in terms of the change,” Olson said. “They came here to play a wide-open game, and they didn’t. That’s no one’s fault, because that’s not coach O’Neill’s belief on the offensive end. It was his team once I left. But I said we’re going to play Arizona basketball and we’re going to have fun doing it.”
Olson built a powerhouse in the desert after arriving from Iowa in 1983. But Arizona is no longer among the national elite.
Arizona went 19-15 last season and drew its 24th straight NCAA tournament appearance, extending the nation’s longest active streak. The Wildcats were eliminated by West Virginia in the first round.
The Wildcats finished seventh in the Pac-10 — their worst showing since 1982-83, the year before Olson arrived from Iowa — and were swept by Arizona State for the first time since 1995.
“You know what, maybe the fans needed to realize that this program doesn’t just operate — we don’t go into the gas station and fill the kids up with fuel and turn the key on,” Olson said.
Recruiting has been the lifeblood of Olson’s success, and he said he had been looking for prospects since he returned to work last week.
Olson was asked if recruiters from other schools would try to take advantage of the leave of absence. He noted that rivals have used his age against him for years.
“Well, they’re all gone and I’m still here,” he said.
Hookscenter.com wire report.