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Traded Bucks, Young Bucks, Low on Bucks, + Terrapins

Jason Taylor, once a robot, now a Redskin; Robot Jason Taylor in EnglandPeter King does a fine job breaking down the trade.

But we at the East Coast Bias are more about that college basketball, so:

ESPN on recruiting 8th graders and the commitments and decommitments that are rampant in college basketball:

For Weber, this wasn't the initial strategy. But after missing out on nearly every big-time recruit in his own backyard recently—guys like Sherron Collins, Jon Scheyer, Derrick Rose, Julian Wright—despite coaching Illinois to the NCAA championship game, he realized something had to change. So, it did. No longer were the Illini going to wait on players. They were going to go after them young and were going to go after them hard.

A coach has to have top players to get top results, and even then, late round NCAA runs aren't guaranteed. And a coach has to build those relationships with a player at 13, 14, when they start meeting other players and going to high level camps. If not, the sexiest, most stylish recruiting pitches won't mean a hot danged thing.

>>Mount Vernon (NY) high school players are doing their part and soliciting donations to save their sports programs. Kevin Devaney publishes the address if you wish to donate:

Mount Vernon Educational Foundation Inc.
P.O. Box 476
Fleetwood Station, Mt. Vernon, N.Y. 10552

(please write "sports" in the memo section of the check)

>>Maryland's basketball coach speaks to one of the school papers, the Diamondback, about the publicly tumultuous offseason. Greivis VasquezIn the article, Gary Williams sounds off on Gus Gilchrist's decommitment and Tyree Evans' commitment/ the critical response to said commitment/ and Evans' decommitment (h/t to the Baltimore Sun's Matt Bracken):

"Understand that people who are the most vocal, most visible are usually always against something," Williams said. "People that are satisfied or happy with the ways things are - they don't say much. It's the same with anything, politics or sports."

In the ESPN.com report, high school and AAU coaches discussed Williams' hunger when it comes to recruiting and if his job is on the hot seat....

Williams said he is still passionate about the program and is particularly excited about this year's team because the four-guard lineups he plans to use remind him of his days coaching at American and Boston College.

I still think the signing of Evans reeked of desperation, and he shouldn't have been pursued. And 4 guard lineups?

Better hope Terp recruit Sean Mosley is an excellent strong slasher (which his press clippings say he is) so you can take out some big men with foul trouble. Maryland doesn't have the shooters to make 4 guard lineups work like Villanova did in the Ray/ Foye/ Nardi/ Lowry days, and the guards on the roster are turnover prone.

And watching Greivis Vasquez turn over the ball as much as he did... Gary might not want to keep all of his guards on the floor at the same time without another ball handler.