I spent much of last evening watching the storms knock over branches and pelt our windows, and lightning streak the sky, and knock out power. So I am using the quiet time to check out some blogs that are not (yet) on my feed reader, checking up on those other teams, and avoiding work. I mean checking out what others have to say.
- 2009 forward Jordan Williams has a sister at St. John's and friends at the school as well. And St. John's has been recruiting him for a while; I remember seeing his name on the Scout recruiting list and thinking, who is this under-the-radar dude? Another one? But now his name is blowing up. Here's an early interview from redmen.com, and an article from earlier this week from Rivals.
- In non-Big East news, I woke up this morning to see US Basketball's exhibition tune-up vs Australia (half of the game). and despite Kelly Dwyer's comment that Chris Paul is a better perimeter defender than anyone on the 2004 Olympic team, Patty Mills (the 20-year old St. Mary's sophomore guard) repeatedly smoked Paul, who I love to watch. I'm pretty sure there has to be a top level defender who can do better than that; Paul is quick enough that those kinds of scorched earth smokings can't be CP3 not being quick enough.
- Also in NBA News, Ratner's Nets stadium in Brooklyn seems to have an opening day that gets later and later. Also covered by Newsday (via True Hoop).
Prior to this weekend, UConn was one of several schools (including Memphis, Arizona and Louisville) that had already offered a scholarship to Scott. Over the past two days, Scott was one of a few select players (along with 6-10 center Daniel Orton and 6-5 guard Dominic Cheek) with whom the Huskies' staff sat down to reiterate their strong interest.The Huskies love the fact that Scott is a combo guard, able to play the one or the two.... Scott has been a shooting guard at Rice, but this season he'll take over the point guard duties vacated by Walker.
and also from the Norwich Bulletin:
"I say I’m strongest in carrying the team, being the leader," Scott said. "You can’t really call that a position but that’s a main role on the team. If you don’t have that, then the team can just break away. So you have to keep the team together, keep it rolling. Everybody sees me as a combo-guard or whatever. I can be the point, I can be the shooting guard, I can play small forward. You can put me at center and I’ll play as hard as I can. The position doesn’t matter. I’m just a basketball player."
Though he considers Walker a "brother," Scott also said Walker’s decision to come to UConn won’t affect his.
"That shouldn’t be a reason somebody goes to a school," Scott said. "You’re not playing his life, you’re playing with your life. I wouldn’t mind playing with him, but me coming here, the history that UConn has, maybe that’s the same reason he came here. I look at it from that perspective."
I don't quite know where Scott would fit on the U Conn offense, with Haralson and Miles and Coombs in 2009. In fact, I think Scott would be a much better fit at St. John's, taking over Anthony Mason's spot. Just saying. Seriously, that is the kind of talent and versatility that might make St. John's a much, much more formidable foe.
Similar to St. John's, Notre Dame is taking advantage of a trip abroad for extra practice and exhibition games. Fittingly, the Irish are going to Ireland. They will play the Irish, Polish, and Icelandic national teams.
Villanova by the Numbers analyzes the Big East's rising sophomores to watch and the 2008 All-Rookie team. A note: saying something positive about a St. John's player does not cause a Red Storm player to transfer. Saying something positive about a player who is more offensive-minded, now...
Way to note DJ Kennedy, a player I think has a strong chance to be an integral part of the offense. I'm looking for Rob Thomas to step it up, perhaps joined by Paris Horne.
Not Big East, but a link I saw on Black and Green Irish Report - Northwestern Wins. Check it out. Lots of position rankings and league roundups there.