Summer League Action #6

Here's a very quick recap from the few games I got to see last night. This is the last of the summer recaps as I'm out of town the rest of the week. I'll post my overall thoughts later.

Kyle Randall and Ben Stywall each had over a dozen points last night. Most of Randall's scoring came in crunch time when the game was close. There was also a nice drive and dish play from Randall to Stywall that basically sealed the win for their team. Elhanan Bone's monster shot block was the highlight of the night.

I watched just a few minutes of the late game in the lower gym. Brandon Evans and Kendall Toney were matching each other point for point until Evans got fouled hard. Both players scored in double figures, though.

Hines Back to Italy

According to his Twitter page, Kyle Hines has signed on to play another season in Italy.

It is official new contract signed this morning headed back to Italy Great situation great money I'm happy.

The Shady Side of Recruiting

Since we're in the AAU/high school circuit this month, I thought I'd post a link to a NY Times article talking about the fleecing that tournament promoters and organizers are doing to college coaches. With every basketball program getting squeezed by its administrators, the NCAA needs to get involved with this situation.

Here are a few selected passages for the article.

Tournament organizers and summer basketball coaches have long charged significant fees for packets of information about potential Division I recruits — player rosters, phone numbers and e-mail addresses — that are the lifeblood of the billion-dollar college basketball business.

Antonio Curro, the tournament director, defended his prices, saying that he provided food for the tournament coaches and that he needed to feed his family. Curro also cited the costs of gym rental, employees and referees. He said that three coaches sneaked into the gym to avoid paying the $250 and that he made them purchase the packet because bootlegs were so prevalent.

“Everything we did was legitimate by the N.C.A.A.,” he said. “There is no rule for anyone setting the price.”

At the other end of the spectrum, Texas-Pan American Coach Ryan Marks, whose recruiting budget is $25,000, needs the packets to identify and reach out to undiscovered players. “We could spend a fifth of our recruiting budget on packets in July alone,” he said.

While the packets usually cost hundreds of dollars, they rarely have pertinent information, like players’ jersey numbers.

Summer League Action #5

Last night was a rough night for several of the teams with Spartan players at the Traid Pro-am. Farm Bureau (Ben Stywall, Elhanan Bone & Kyle Randall) and the Champion team (Mike Hardiman, Darius Sellers & Korey VanDussen) both took bad losses. Farm Bureau was previously undefeated in the league. Champion played a team with several pro players (Chris Paul & James Johnson) on the floor. Coach Dement was in attendance last night.

I saw parts of a lot of games, but not enough to give full game recaps. It was a bit of a lethargic night for most Spartan players. While everybody did some good things, there wasn't a whole lot that really stood out to me. The highlight of the night was Pete Brown's dunk over top of incoming freshman Brian Cole. It was the first time during this league that I had a chance to see Pete play for an extended period of time, and he looked a lot like the same player that finished up last season strong.

Unfortunately, that's all I've got for today. Monday will be my last day updating the summer league action as I'll be in Vegas for the rest of the week.

Summer League Action #4

I made it over the FCD early last night and watched 12 Spartans (or future Spartans) in action. I did leave without watching Chris Paul play in the final game of the night. Oh well, I didn't mind avoiding the crowds that were in the main gym to see him play. Plus, I had already seen 2 very good games. I kept up with the scoring of all of the Spartan players, but may have missed a basket or 2 along the way while text messaging.

The early game featured Ben Stywall, incoming UNCG freshman Kyle Randall & Elhanan Bone taking on a team with Sean Spooner, future Spartan Taylor Hoffer & Brandon Evans. It was a great game that saw Stywall's team make a last second shot to win. This was following Spooner's 2 made free throws that put his team up by 1 with 5 seconds remaining. Evans was star of the game, scoring 28 points. Hoffer (8 points) and Spooner (12 points) also played well. Stywall helped his team with 19 points. Bone dropped in 12 and Randall scored 5, but had several nice assists. There was also the added bonus of getting to see Randall and Spooner battle each other up and down the court.

After reading Coach Dement's Twitter page last week, I really wanted to see incoming freshman Brian Cole play. I got that opportunity in the second game of the night. Cole, Kendall Toney & Montel Smith's team lost a close game as Wake's Gary Clark made the go-ahead basket with less than 25 seconds remaining. Clark is teammates with UNCG players Darius Sellers, Mike Hardiman and incoming freshman Korey VanDussen. Even though his game tying 3 point attempt came up short, Toney finished the game with 12 points. Smith had 2 points, but spent most of his time distributing the ball. Cole had the tough task of guarding Wake Forest big man Tony Woods. However, still managed to scored 16 points with some nice moves around the basket. On the other side, Hardiman made a couple of early 3's and finished with 8 points. Sellers scored 2, but collected quite a few rebounds. VanDussen dropped in 10 points.

So, that's all for this week. Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it over this Thursday. Next Monday, I'm going to try to see Pete Brown and Brandon Davis play.

*** EDIT: I am going to make it over on Thursday after all. Woo-hoo.

Brian Cole and Scheduling Problems for Mid-Majors

Since I was at my niece's birthday party last night, I will just have to re-post from Mike Dement's Twitter page.

Got calls with news from the summer league that Brian Cole had 35 and 10. Told Brian we could use those no's vs the sched I just read about

Also, here is an article from the News & Record about the UNCG schedule that was released yesterday.

"It's definitely challenging," UNCG coach Mike Dement said. "... We're trying to make this move (to the coliseum) and make it a big move.

"We're looking at it as helping us in three ways. No. 1, playing that kind of schedule will prepare us for our Southern Conference games in every way possible. No. 2, we hope it will enhance our recruiting. Kids who want to play that kind of schedule, particularly kids from the state of North Carolina, will find us attractive. And No. 3, our present players will raise the level of their off season commitment to improving their strength and conditioning and skills."

Finally, here is an article by Rivals about issues that face mid-major programs when it comes to scheduling. Sienna, coached by former UNCG coach Fran McCaffery, is the main focus of the article. Apparently, winning games in each of the last 2 NCAA tournaments makes finding competition a little more difficult.

Chaskin has contacted plenty of schools that haven’t completed their schedules; some are even looking to fill games on the same dates Siena has available. Whenever he calls those schools, Chaskin typically get the same response: “Yes, we need a game and we know you need a game also. We’re also talking to other teams. Frankly, we’re hoping to hear from those other teams because we don’t particularly want to play you. But if we have to play you, that’s what we’ll do.”

Luckily, UNCG has already completed it's schedule. That schedule however, is the most difficult one that i can remember ever seeing. It's reminiscent of the one Chattanooga played last year. Let's hope that the end of year result will be the same for the Spartans this season.

2009-2010 Schedule Released

UNCG released it 2009-2010 men's basketball schedule this afternoon.

November
11/7 Blue/Gold Game*
11/13 @ Duke
11/18 @ Virginia Tech
11/20 Clemson 7 pm
11/24 @ USC-Upstate
11/28 East Carolina 4 pm

December
12/5 @ Samford 2 pm
12/7 College of Charleston 7 pm
12/13 Princeton 1 pm
12/18 @ Akron
12/21 @ Richmond
12/28 Wake Forest 7 pm
12/31 NC State 6 pm

January
1/3 Maryland 2 pm
1/7 Wofford 7 pm
1/9 Furman 4 pm
1/11 @ Chattanooga
1/14 @ Western Carolina
1/16 @ Appalachain State
1/21 Chattanooga 7 pm
1/23 Samford 4 pm
1/28 Elon 7 pm

February
2/4 @ Furman
2/6 @ Wofford
2/8 Appalachain State 7 pm
2/15 Westerm Carolina 7 pm
2/18 @ Elon
2/20 @ The Citadel
2/25 @ Davidson

March
3/1 Georgia Southern 7 pm
3/5-3/8 Southern Conference Tournament^

* Fleming Gym
^ Charlotte, NC (Bojangles Arena 3/5 & 3/6, TWC Arena 3/7 & 3/8)