Rion Brown's Dad

Played at Emmanuel Bible College, then at Georgia Tech.

Went on to star in the CBA.

Anyone remember him?

Tico Brown.

Rion Brown

Young man from Liberty County is starting to get more recognition. Seems to square up pretty well, and has enough leaping ability. Fox and staff ought to check him out.

Some video from Myspace.

U.S. Edges Croatia

Our young cats almost lost this one. Final score was 81 to 77, but Croatia played out of their minds in the third quarter. U.S. was actually down by two going into the final stanza.

Howard Thompkins scored 8 points with 9 boards.

USA Beats Canada

Final score: 93 to 73.

Howard Thompkins bounced back from an off-game to score 12 points for the U.S. team. Thompkins went 4 of 5 from the field, and 4 of 6 from the line.

For the tournament, Thompkins is shooting 58% from the field and 74% from the line. He is scoring right at 12 points with 5 rebounds in 16 minutes per contest.

Bad Camera Work, Great Hops

Jason Morris can leap, that's for sure.

Morris is the kind of 2 guard that Georgia needs. Very athletic. Great feel for the game. Probably needs to attack the rim more, get to the line, and make things easier for himself. He's still very young, so if you combine the physical skills with another year of learning, some college team is going to get an elite recruit.

Morris is originally from the Augusta area, so you have to figure that Georgia has at least a shot with him. Morris attended a camp held by previous coach, Dennis Felton. A lot has happened since then, and from what I understand, colleges in the northeast are pursuing Morris. In any case, I think that Mark Fox should be able to get on the radar screen for Morris.

Dunk

Trae Golden Likes Kentucky

Hard to say if Calipari will like Golden. Since Golden has slipped down in the rankings pretty significantly, UK fans will probably insist that Calipari use his roster spots for higher-rated players.

Lexington-bound, perhaps?

Win or Else!

Mid-season firings. Coaches are decidely against it.

But the personnel decisions and the timing thereof are just a symptom. The real issue is the "professionalization" (my word) of the game. More money at stake. More pressure for athletic directors. You have to win. As a coach, your job is riding on it.

Less concern for the health and well-being of the student-athletes... Taking more chances on players with suspect backgrounds, but beautiful jump-shots. Merry-go-round rosters.

We are losing something beautiful about college basketball.

Are we really saying that the end justifies the means?

Native American Ballers

As the event gets more exposure, I think we will see more hoopsters of Native American descent get scholarship offers to good schools. I think it's great.

NABI

Have no fear, Underdog is Here!

Will miracles never cease.

Andruw Jones has a three-homer night. The guy goes from superman his first year, to something like the Pillsbury Doughboy later on. I wasn't expecting much from Jones, since he hadn't shown the discipline to get his weight down or to lay off the curve balls thrown just off the plate.

But the guy is quietly resurrecting his career down in Texas. Hitting .250. That's enough if you have power to hit home runs. Now I don't know why a catcher would call a first-pitch fast ball against Jones, but that's another matter. If Jones shows opposing pitchers he can still hit the long ball, he has more of a chance to stay ahead in the count and wait on a good pitch to hit.

Looks like Jones, the underdog, is back.

Gaines Gets Love

Alright, it is a New York Pro Am League, and maybe there's a strong home court bias, but Sean Couch, writing for Bounce Magazine, believes that some NBA team ought to give Sundiata Gaines a look.

I agree, but I'm going to put the burden on Gaines. Hire a shooting coach. Mark Price comes to mind. Get to 80 percent from the free throw line. Don't make it a question of whether you get in, and don't make a scout have to overlook an obvious weakness to your game. Break the door down.

Gaines.

Replacement Link for Pelphrey Post

I couldn't get the link to work in the Pelphrey post either, so thanks to Anonymous for bringing the issue to my attention.

Anyway, the attached article is a bit longer, and though it has a slightly different tone, hopefully it gets the same general point across.

Pelphrey

Thompkins Does It Again

Howard Thompkins had another super game in international play. He scored 14 points with 9 rebounds in the U.S. team's 82 to 61 victory over Puerto Rico.

Thompkins shot 6 of 12 from the floor. He also had a steal and a blocked shot.

Thompkins is leading the U.S. team in scoring average (12.5), rebounding (5.6) and in shooting (61%).

Pelphrey Facing Issues

Sounds familiar.

Arkansas Basketball.

Thompkins Scores Big

Howard Thompkins scored 22 points to lead the U.S. Under-19 team to a victory over Greece. The final score was 85 to 69.

Thompkins shot 10 of 14 from the field, and 2 of 2 from the line. He scored his 22 points in just 17 minutes.

The AJC interview explains that Thompkins started out the game with determination. Georgiadogs.com has a similar interview with a picture.

Thompkins has raised his scoring average in the international tournament to right at 13 points, and he pulls down 5 rebounds per game as well.