It seems that Coach K’s flirtation with the Lakers has made him an even bigger star in the basketball world. That the Lakers (and Kobe) wanted him gives him even more credibility among high school players. Not good news for the rest of the conference. If it’s possible, he may have an easier time getting…

Evidently, Julius Hodge has added twenty pounds to his bug-like frame this offseason. I don’t know; I’ll have to see it to believe it. It seems that he didn’t pick up any humility with his new pounds. Read it and you’ll see what I mean.

The early theory is that next year’s NBA draft would have fewer high schoolers, since this class isn’t as talented as last year’s. Think again. This trend isn’t going to reverse itself any time soon. The only way it will change is with a league mandate (dumb) or a realization that most of these guys…

This is a great read about the recent passing of Burgess McSwain, a longtime academic counselor for the UNC basketball team. I had never heard of her before this. She sounds like an incredible person and a great asset to the Tar Heel program.

And here’s the Saturday report.

Friday’s Nike Camp report from the DBR.

The US men’s soccer team just achieved its highest world ranking ever, seventh place. The US is ranked ahead of tradional powers England, Italy, Germany and Argentina. Props to nervesmiffs for finding this link and posting it in the Sports Shack.

Former NHL toughman and cheapshot artist Bob Probert had a little trouble in his first day on the job at a Florida beach club. Officers tried to arrest him while he attempted to buy drugs. Probert dropped his gloves and fought the officers until they Tasered him enough to drop him. The funniest and saddest…

Now that Bill Simmons has his own page on espn.com, I won’t be linking to him as much. He will be writing so much, that it would be redundant. When he writes a particularly good one though, I still will. This one is a good one. Simmons is at his best when he’s writing about…