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

Miami Herald article- Alabama ready for revival under Grant

We have been getting a lot of good press about our hoops squad since the hire. It's a nice distraction from what has happenned with the NCAA ruling.

When he was 6 years old, Anthony Grant remembers seeing his mother, Victoria, studying early in the morning before she went off to work. He also recalls his father, Alexander, coming home exhausted after working as an auto mechanic.

''She put herself through nursing school,'' Grant said of his mother. ``She reached her goal and became a registered nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital.''

And Alexander ''only had a fourth-grade education,'' said Grant, a Miami native whose parents ``always emphasized school with us because they knew how tough life was without it. My brothers and sisters and I witnessed the value of education.''

Grant, 43, took what his parents instilled, and in March, the University of Alabama made him the first black head basketball coach in the school's history, signing him to a seven-year contract worth a reported $12.8 million. Grant now is an educator himself, charged with molding young men into a cohesive basketball team as well as solid representatives of the university.

Read the rest here.

Wimp Sanderson says Coach Grants needs to be accessible

A good read from Andy Katz at ESPN

As I watch the Yankees-Sox game on MLBTV... a few thoughts

1) Bob Costas is the best in the business nationally. MLB sorely missed him calling games. When NBC had the Saturday Game of the Week, he was the voice I listened to besides Phil Rizzuto growing up. If you want to learn some of the nuiances of the game and get a history lesson, you can't find a better commentator than Costas. Oh yeah, Jim Kaat is pretty good too. That's one heck of a duo MLBTV has calling games. Much better than Buck and McCarver, that's for sure.

2) I'm a diehard Yankees fan, but I absolutely loathe most of the roster. On the current 25 man roster there's exactly 7 players I feel good cheering for.

3) I look at the Red Sox and see what the Yankees use to be in the 90s. A good farm system with a sprinkling of key veterans and a couple big name players. That was the formula that led the Yankees to 4 WS in 5 years from 1996 to 2000. Quite a few Red Sox seem proud to be a member of the team, many of the Yankees are there solely for the overinflated check.

At some point this year I'll get a chance to see the New Yankee Stadium as well as CitiField. The reviews I've read about Yankee Stadium have been mixed... Citifield has been mostly reviewed well. I guess we'll see, but being totally honest seeing the Yankees play a home game in anything besides the "Old Yankee Stadium" is going to be disappointing for me.

Memphis under more scrutiny- Robert Dozier's SAT scores invalidated

Former University of Memphis forward Robert Dozier's initial SAT scores were invalidated by the company that scores the exam, and when he took the test a second time, he scored 540 points lower, ESPN.com has learned through an open records request.

In addition, a faculty member at his high school in suburban Atlanta wrote an anonymous letter to the NCAA Clearinghouse questioning his score on the admissions test, records obtained from the University of Georgia show

From espn

Kentucky fans, you sold your soul to the devil. Calapari operates on the fringe(being kind here) and your fate will be the same as Memphis and UMass before you. Gillispie was not the right guy for the job, but Calapari is only going to get you in trouble.

NHL and NBA playoffs- It's FAN-TASTIC!

Probably the best it's been in 10 years. Heck, I actually watched the NBA Playoffs for the first time since 1999.

Go Magic and Penguins. The Magic have a special place for me as I attended their first ever draft party in 1990 (?) when Nick Anderson was their first round pick.

The Penguins... from the brink of bankruptcy and possibly moving out of town it's a great story for that blue collar town. Not to mention they have 2 of the 3 best players in the NHL today.