Once again, I’ve been a bit busy and haven’t posted on several interesting things from the past week. So, instead of being completely negligent, I’ll just drop a few quickie thoughts into one post. How’s that for ya?
An Even Dozen
You probably saw the news. Last week, on July 1st to be exact, Boston College officially became a member of the ACC, pounding the final nail … er … completing expansion.
The friendly chaps over at StateFans Nation, compiled a nice little list of links to all things Boston College for those of you who want to bone up on the Eagles.
I can’t wait to see what our friends from Beantown can add to our little conference.
NBA Draft
Perhaps you missed the stories, but apparently, a few ACC players were selected in last week’s NBA Draft, including four Tar Heels in the top 14. There’s not too much to say about most of the picks that hasn’t been said a zillion times elsewhere, so I won’t try. Mostly.
I did find it amusing to read what Minnesotans thought about their pick of Rashad McCants with the fourteenth selection. Cliff’s notes version – the phrase “with my head in my hands” comes up in the article.
I was more than a little surprised to see that Von Wafer had actually been drafted. I guess it’s a good thing that FSU doesn’t get on TV too often. Or maybe the Lakers just felt that they could use another athletic, moody, inconsistent, no-defense shooting guard. Who couldn’t?
The one undrafted player that got the most attention was Shavlik Randolph, even though no sane person thought his name would get called. My article on him putting his name into the CBA draft received nearly 1,000 hits in the past week from people searching his name. I haven’t had a topic get that hot since I wrote about those hot, young, naked, Mexican, midget cheerleaders.
In the comments on that article, one anonymous poster made some nice remarks about how Randolph was right to leave Duke and that he had done well in his individual workouts with NBA teams. While I believe that to be true – after all, Randolph is widely known to be a guy who likes to work out on his own and eschews pickup ball – I doubt too many GMs outside of New York would fall for that ruse. First off, Duke is on TV so much that any basketball guy is bound to have come across their games and will have seen Randolph in real action. While those guys love players who show skill in those individual workouts, they will eventually discover that the guy scored about 6 points per game in his three years at Duke.
Like I said before, he seems like a good kid and I hope he finally gets his game together and realizes his potential. But that ain’t going to happen in the NBA, and frankly probably not anywhere on this continent.
Nice Transfer
Florida State landed transfer Toney Douglas from Auburn. Very nice pickup for Leonard Hamilton, who’s making quite a habit of taking players from other programs.
Evidently, Douglas clashed with Tiger coach Jeff Lebo over becoming a point guard. Douglas is a very talented shooting guard, but clearly he thinks his only shot at the NBA is as a point guard. I’ll trust Lebo’s opinion in the matter, but it’s a good gamble for Hamilton to take that he can keep Douglas happy. The kid can flat out score. He hit for 38 in just his third college game, against Nicholls State, and he put up 33 against Virginia in a narrow loss. He reminded me a bit of LSU great Chris Jackson in that UVA game, although he obviously tailed off a bit later in the year.
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