Yamene Coleman to play final year at Troy (St)

I was hoping someone could talk him into returning to the team. We really could've used him this season to clog the middle.

Yamene Coleman, who left the Alabama basketball team after graduating this spring, will play his final year of eligibility for Troy this year, head coach Don Maestri said Sunday.

The 6-foot-9, 240-pound center graduated from Alabama, but will enroll in August at Troy in the master’s program in sport/fitness management. He’s already been accepted into Troy and just recently, the NCAA approved Coleman eligible for Troy.

Alabama hired a new coach this year, Anthony Grant, and Coleman chose to look elsewhere for his final season. The former Wilcox Central standout had been at Alabama for four seasons, but redshirted his first year. Coleman played in all 32 games for the Crimson Tide last season, averaging 3.7 points and 3.8 rebounds as a reserve.

Yamene to Troy

Ron Steele to test his skills overseas

He holds no grudges it seems. Good for him and good luck to him overseas.

"But do you know that Ron Steele will not speak negative about Mark Gottfried? And Mark Gottfried will not speak negative about Ron Steele?

That's the truth."

Steele may have left the Alabama team midway through his injury-riddled senior season, but he didn't leave the Alabama program behind. Last month, he spent time visiting with new coach Anthony Grant and working at his camp.

Side note- was this article really 6 pages? It was like a paragraph per page.

Link

One less Bama basketball reporter- Rapaport leaves for NE Patriots

This broke yesterday, but I wanted some verification. From the horse's mouth.

I know he's gotten a lot of heat for calling CNS Nick in press conferences (still not sure what's the big deal about that), but outside of Cecil Hurt IMO he was the only other one in the state media that actually did some research on Bama hoops.

Good luck to him... it's definitely a step up. As much as I hate all sports teams in Boston I wouldn't mind living there.

Buh bye he said

Shawn Kemp to enroll at Hargrave

He needs to get his ACT score up. Tis a shame as we really could've used him this season.
Link

Tentative UGA 09-10 Basketball schedule

Here

4 quality non-conference games. Make that 3 as St John's isn't worth a crap, but they're still a name (for now).

Richard Hendrix makes Orlando Magic Summer team roster

Read more at this Magic Blog. I agree that Hendrix could be a good fit there, they could use another big man and he should be able to get some boards for them. It's nice to see him going to a good team, hopefully he can stick.

Alonzo Gee Makes Spurs Summer League Roster

According to NBA.com, Alonzo Gee has made the San Antonio Spurs summer league team. The Link.

Here's the roster:

NO	PLAYER	POS.	HT.	WT.	DOB	COLLEGE/COUNTRY	NBA EXP.
1	Malik Hairston	G	6-6	215	2/23/87	Oregon	1
3	George Hill	G	6-2	190	5/4/86	IUPUI	1
10	James Gist	F	6-9	235	10/26/86	Maryland	R
13	Nando De Colo	G	6-5	200	6/23/87	France	R
14	Donnell Taylor	G	6-5	193	7/26/82	Alabama-Birmingham	2
16	Carldell "Squeaky" Johnson	G	5-10	180	1/28/83	Alabama-Birmingham	R
17	Antonio Anderson	G	6-6	215	6/5/85	Memphis	R
18	Eric Dawson	F/C	6-9	235	7/7/84	Midwestern State	R
19	Marcus Vinicius	F	6-9	235	5/31/84	Brazil	2
23	Romel Beck	G/F	6-7	185	5/29/82	UNLV	R
28	Ian Mahinmi	C	6-11	250	11/5/86	France	1
33	Jack McClinton	G	6-1	185	1/19/85	Miami	R
35	Alonzo Gee	G	6-6	219	5/29/87	Alabama	R
45	DeJuan Blair	F	6-7	265	4/22/89	Pittsburgh	R

This is exciting news for Alonzo and I wish him the best. It's a long shot, but at the very least he'll have a chance to play in the D-League. The cool thing for me is I only live 90 miles from San Antonio, and should Alonzo be relegated to their D-league team, it's right here in Austin, giving me yet another reason to attend Toros games (that and Quin Snyder's hair, of course). Give 'em hell, Alonzo!

Grant is Batman?

Ian Rapoport has good interview with Coach Grant here

Late to the party- SEC shut out of NBA 1st round

Not surprinsing to anyone as we can agree the talent in the SEC has been on a downward spirial for the last 4 years. We are the WAC of college hoops right now.

From Al.com.

On a side note- The Braves might've sold more tickets this past week than they will the rest of the season with the Cubs, Yankees, and Red Sux all visiting Turner Field.

Recruiting News

It's my first post as a contributor [thanks Bobby]. Hey, Ma, top of the world!

Anyway, enough about me. Ian Rapoport on his blog at AL.com had some potentially bad news regarding 4-star touted center, Shawn Kemp, Jr. He has not reported to campus yet because - drum roll - he's not yet eligible.

From AL.com:

Roger Kvam, Kemp's coach at Cherokee High, said, "He has one class in summer school, a Math class, he needs to finish to graduate. He's actually on his last week. That's the last of his high school requirements he's got."

I asked Kvam if he expects Kemp, the 6-foot-9 son of the NBA great by the same name, to be cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse after that. "Yes," he said.

Does Ray George ring a bell? Anyone? Anyone?

If Kemp doesn't become eligible, with Yamene Coleman leaving the team, Bama's frontcourt depth is going to take a real hit. Hopefully he gets the grade and joins the team this summer. It just wouldn't be Alabama basketball without a little drama.

And, in case anyone cares, the other game in the Coors Classic is South Alabama vs UAB, which I think could be a very entertaining game in its own right.

Purdue to visit Alabama Dec 12

I got this in my email today and thought I'd pass this along (thanks Mitchell).
Purdue should be pretty good, so with the addition of KSU (below in DJC's post) and the Old Spice Classic (I keep wanting to call it the Red Lobster Classic) we should have a decent non conference slate.

Tide to return to Coors Classic in Mobile

Alabama will play Kansas State in Mobile on Saturday, December 19th, at the Mitchell Center on Univ. of South Alabama's campus. Kansas State released their non conference schedule today. I watched us beat Southern Miss down there a couple of years ago, and am looking forward to going back.

Latest NBA Mock Drafts

NBAdraft.net
MYNBAdraft.com
Draftexpress
Hoopshype
Insidehoops

As for Alonzo Gee and Ronald Steele... I saw Gee listed at 92 somewhere and didn't find Steele's name anywhere. Supposedly this year's draft is rich in PGs, which doesn't bode well for RS.

Hopefully they both get nice contracts overseas, save up, and set themselves up financially for the rest of their lives. Both of them IMO would've been potential 1st round picks if they had decent coaching.

Who's in, who's out- Underclassmen in the NBA draft

Patrick Beverley, G, Ukraine
Beverley was a pretty interesting 2-guard at Arkansas from 2006-08. But at 6-1, he didn't have much chance of playing that position in the NBA. So he left Arkansas after his sophomore season and went to the Ukraine to work on his point guard skills. The results have been impressive.

Nick Calathes, G, Florida
Calathes signed a professional contract in Greece, so he's definitely not coming back to Florida. A few teams like the Mavs and Kings also have interest in the first round, and even if he slips into the second, that might not be a bad thing. He'd be released from the rookie salary scale, and a team could pay him more to lure him back from Europe if he excels there.

Jodie Meeks, SG, Jr., Kentucky
Meeks was a scoring machine at Kentucky this season. His speed and shooting ability really stood out. So did that 54-point performance against Tennessee. However, his lack of great size or explosive athleticism hurts his stock a bit.

Calathes as reported earlier in the year signed with a team in Greece. Still, NBA teams might take a chance on him by letting him delevop overseas.

As for Ronald Steele... I haven't seen him projected anywhere in the top 90. I'll put up some mock draft links tomorrow.

Read the list here