SB Nation - Tyler Hansbrough

Harrison Barnes - There's No Place Like Home

Evan Pfaff — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:28:32 -0000

I would like to branch out on a topic I read in Dan Shanoff's Wake Up Call (which if you don't read gives you a great daily snapshot on the day that is in sports).

Shanoff asked why Ames, IA product, and consensus #1 recruit, Harrison Barnes, would shy away from his hometown Iowa State Cyclones and learn towards playing basketball at Duke and North Carolina.

Shanoff asks "given that Barnes is obviously a one-and-done player, why not stay home, be The Guy and try to do something special in-state. At Duke or UNC, he's just another star recruit."

I LOVE THIS TRAIN OF THOUGHT!

Barnes is in an atypical situation, one in where he hails from a college-town that hosts a school in a top flight conference. One where the program hasn't had a winning conference record since Barnes was in 7^th grade.

Now having grown up in a college town myself, I can tell you that all everyone ever talks about in the city is the school. Mothers and grandmothers, who otherwise wouldn't care about sports know the names of the starting QB and PG at the school. Any day you walk the halls of any high school in a college town you will see 50% of the kids wearing gear from the school. The school is the city and the city is the school.

Barnes has the passion for his home school, even though he might not realize it yet. Regardless of where he goes he will come back to visit friends in the future and go to an ISU football or basketball game. In the very least he will follow them in the papers and talk about them in passing to casual acquaintances.

And forget about how he can help them in his one year, he can help the future of the program as well. He can take the school and put it on the mind of all the AAU and summer camp circuit players he interacts with. If he becomes what they think he might, he can be the greatest recruiting tool the school has ever seen.

Think Michael Beasley and how he put K State on the map. Barnes can do the same thing, but with more credibility because of his local upbringing.

If basketball doesn't pan out, because he will have grown up with everyone in Ames, he will be able to be the poster child for the school, instead of another in a line of "what ifs" If basketball does pan out, then all the more reason why he would want to be the face of a program and school.

And it isn't like he won't get national publicity by staying home. Sure, Dickie V might not scream his name as loud as if he were in the ACC, but Big Monday would pick up an inordinate amount of Cyclones games and he would get his national press when he starts performing.

Now just to clarify, I am not saying that every one and doner should go to a school that has been struggling. I am saying that in Barnes' situation, the clear minded, obvious choice is to remain at home... have some home cooking... hang out with friends for another year... then make the same tens of millions of dollars you would by going to Duke or Carolina.

I don't have any precise stats, but I can't imagine that going to either of the ACC powerhouses increases your draft chances. Last year the first Duke player (Gerald Henderson) went 12^th and the top Tar Heel (Tyler Hansbrough) went 13^th. This was after kids were drafted out of non-powerhouse schools like Arizona State and Davidson.

The year before nobody was drafted from either school and in 2007 a Tar Heel went #8, but Duke didn't have a name called until the 37^th pick... long after NBA commish David Stern had handed over his podium duties.

In that 2007 draft before Josh Roberts' name was called with that 37^th pick, players from school such as Washington, Texas A&M, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Eastern Washington, Colorado State, DePaul, Rice, Oregon, Wisconsin, Purdue, Nevada and Alabama were called.

If you are telling me that someone from Eastern Washington could be drafted ahead of the first Blue Devil, I am telling you that your choice of school has zero impact on your draft status.

If Barnes goal was to finish out his degree, that would also be a different story. Duke is one of the top educational institutions in the nation, and Carolina regularly ranks near the top of best public universities, so going to either of those for a degree would make sense. However, from all reports, he wont be there 4 years, and probably wont even make it to his second year, so the educational aspect should have no bearing on his decision.

So, with all that said, I see no reason that Harrison Barnes should attend any university outside of his hometown. Although having him outside of the Big 12 North may give my alma matter, Mizzou, a better chance at 2 more Ws.

Poll

If you were in Harrison Barnes' shoes would you:

Your obligatory ACC primer

SFBE.NF — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:19:13 -0000

So UNC cut down the nets last spring, lost 68 percent of their scoring, lost the nation's top point guard and the nation's blandest spokesman for AT&T, yet their still top dogs in the ACC. Sometimes, college basketball stinks. The Tar Heels return Ed Davis and one of the top recruiting classes in the country. It used to be that Duke would capitalize on such an opportunity, and once again be king of the ACC Castle. Not so fast. The biggest threat to the Heels this season is probably a balanced Georgia Tech team who may have the best center in the country in Derrick Favors. Maryland wants to mix it up too, with Greivis Vazquez and two frontcourt freshman in James Padgett and Jordan Williams.

From there the conference gets mediocre fairly quick. Clemson seems to get high praise, but when you look at their last six games from the previous two seasons, the Tigers were 4-8.

Our breakdown is after the jump

Tourney teams (in order of conference finish)

North Carolina
Georgia Tech
Duke
Maryland
Clemson
Wake Forest

All Conference Team

Greivis Vazquez, Maryland
Kyle Singler, Duke
Ed Davis, North Carolina
Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech
Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech

Most overrated - Duke's mystique. Paul Hewitt on the hot seat.

Most underrated - Gary Williams, Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen

Notable non-conference match-ups:

11/19 - 11/22 - Georgia Tech vs. Dayton and likely Villanova (in Puerto Rico)
12/2 - Illinois @ Clemson
12/5 - UNC @ Kentucky (as good as it gets)
12/6 - Maryland vs. Villanova (in D.C.)
12/19 - Duke vs. Gonzaga (@MSG)

Five story lines to keep tabs on:

Clemson. Can they have a complete season?
UNC. Do they become less irritating to all the cool people now that Tyler Hansbrough has moved on?
Michael Snaer. Is he the next Toney Douglas?
Blue Devil backcourt. Will Duke fans be subjected to Olek Czyz if a member of their backcourt suffers an injury?
Maryland fans. They are some of the most brutal in the nation (and we like that). Will they have reason to gloat while they hurl profanities at opponents visiting the Comcast Arena.

What makes a basketball powerhouse?

Sam @ WWAHT — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:00:30 -0000

Thad Matta reminding us that constipation is no laughing matter

Loss to Siena bedamned, Thad Matta has been pretty good to Ohio State. At a football school, he has made the tournament three out his five years, with a second-round exit by the Terrence Dials-led Buckeyes in 2005, and he followed that up by taking the Oden-Conley squad to the title game and, two years ater, dropping a shocker to Siena in what was arguably one of the top-5 exciting (if heartbreaking) finishes in last March's tournament. In 2004, his team was banned from postseason play, and in 2007, the Buckeyes rallied in the postseason to win the NIT. Suffice to say, things have been more good than bad in Columbus since his arrival, and things are looking up: Matta returns every important element of his team this year, and a mega-talented 2010 class - which by itself would probably make an NCAA tourney appearance as high school seniors - is looking to become the second "Thad Five" -in Matta's short time at Ohio State.

When Matta took the original Thad Five to the title game, Ohio State fans considered it emblematic of the program's arrival on the national scene. We had put the days of Jim O'Brien behind us, and before us lay green pastures, five-star recruits, and final four appearances. For the second year in a row, Matta brought in another talented big man in Kosta Koufos, and we hoped that - without a genuine point guard - we could make do. Well, we sorta did. We didn't make the tournament, but damn it, we won the NIT, and that counts for something, doesn't it, Jamar Butler?

``This is what happens when you put an NCAA tournament team in the NIT,'' Butler yelled, surrounded by his teammates after beating Massachusetts 92-85 in the title game Thursday night. ``Write that down and send that to the committee.''

Yeah! Take that, committee!

When Kosta Koufos defected to NBA, some were surprised, others were kinda resigned to it. Koufos had been, to put it kindly, ineffective in most of his games at Ohio State; he was hesitant to play any sort of defense, his shot-selection was iffy at best, and he got mauled against the better big men in the league. Having him back would have been nice, but to say he was anything more than a disappointment, you would probably have to be his own mother. Or a wacky NBA talent scout.

But with the loss of Butler, Othello Hunter and Matt Terwilliger, and eventually Eric Wallace to DePaul, Matta had another rebuilding effort to undergo in 2008, and he did fairly well in guiding the team to a deep run in the Big Ten tournament and the aforementioned unfortunate first-round exist. But it was in 2008 that Matta's philosophy finally garnered a fair bit of criticism. With another talented NBA-ready big man waiting in the post, Matta's teams still tended to live and die by the three; and suffer from a frustrating inability to defend it:

Rank 208	School Temple	Games played 34	Record 22-12	FGA 630	FGM 219	FG % 34.8
209	Jacksonville St.	28	11-17	443	154	34.8
210	St. Francis (NY)	30	10-20	509	177	34.8
211	UNI	34	23-11	690	240	34.8
212	Marquette	35	25-10	690	240	34.8
213	Duquesne	34	21-13	675	235	34.8
214	Ohio St.	33	22-11	738	257	34.8
215	Texas St.	30	14-16	531	185	34.8
216	Charleston So.	29	9-20	625	218	34.9
217	UC Riverside	30	17-13	590	206	34.9
218	Massachusetts	30	12-18	547	191	34.9
219	California	33	22-11	521	182	34.9
220	Arizona	35	21-14	833	291	34.9

Ohio State ranked a shocking 214th out of 330 Division 1 schools in 3-Pt Field Goal Defense, and whaddaya know, look how the season ended:

I like my heartbreak with a double order of ONIONS

Even as it happened, I texted my friend and said that at the very least, the season ended appropriately (only in text-speak, of course). But even with the struggles of the last two years (which would be seen as breakout seasons in the latter Jim O'Brien days), the Thad Matta pied piper act is still working, and working good:

G	16	Aaron Craft (Liberty-Benton HS) Findlay, OH	6-1/170/18.3	06/07/2009	Ohio State
PG	17	Lenzelle Smith (Zion-Benton Twnshp HS) Zion, IL	6-3/215	09/25/2008	Ohio State
SG	13	Jordan Sibert (Princeton HS) Cincinnati, OH	6-5/180	09/20/2008	Ohio State
PF	2	DeShaun Thomas (Bishop Luers HS) Fort Wayne, IN	6-6.5/210/29.0	07/06/2008	Ohio State
C	1	Jared Sullinger (Northland HS) Columbus, OH	6-8/265/16.0	05/10/2007	Ohio State

Mine eyes have seen the glory of a genuine point guard

So it seems Ohio State has carved out a bit of a niche in the college basketball world, which is an improvement over the latter Jim O'Brien era and enough reason alone to keep Matta around for a very long time. But are we a powerhouse? I think we recruit like one, undoubtedly. But what keeps us from becoming Kansas and North Carolina? Well, putting aside the fact that those are two of the most storied programs in all of college basketball, I think there are two big roadblocks:

1. Consistent tourney success

2. Retention of potential future NBA guys

The first is easily changeable and still up in the air; if Ohio State makes the sweet sixteen this year and positions itself for an even deeper run the following year, then we may see that first point fade away a little bit. So far, Ohio State makes the tourney, but outside of the Oden-Conley years, it hasn't made a huge splash.

The second point is a little different as it's a bit more abstract. What do I mean by an "potential future NBA guy"? They're the tweeners; the non-lottery picks without truly big names; Tyler Hansbrough is a good example, prior to his tourney performance that vaulted him into the first round of the NBA draft this past June. They're guys with NBA talent that might not be the biggest stars at the next level. Fortunately, this trend may be breaking. While, for whatever reason, BJ Mullens was a touted NBA prospect and let because of it, Turner was a guy who could have moved into the first round with some strong workouts. Instead, he opted to return to play for Ohio State. Perhaps the tide is turning in this area, ever so slightly. If and when it does, I think Ohio State will have arrived as a powerhouse - not just as a team consistently on the national scene as it is now. Of course, this may all go kaput if the NBA-ready guys in 2010 (Jared Sullinger, perhaps DeShaun Tomas) declare early and provide another blow to Ohio State's APR score, but we'll have to wait and see on them for now. Indeed, 2010 may be the year until which we'll have to hold off judgment on Ohio State's status as a basketball program - whether it is truely "elite" or merely "very good" (still nothing to be ashamed of at a football school). For now, I'm just happy with having something worth watching when football ends.

Roy Hibbert Wins Orlando Summer League MVP

CasualHoya — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:08:17 -0000

Sort of.

via msnbcmedia3.msn.com

Per NBA.com:
The former Georgetown standout, who guided the Indiana Pacers to a perfect 5-0 record, shot a blistering 63 percent from the field and, alongside fellow big man Tyler Hansbrough, was relentless in the paint as he was named the unofficial 2009 Summer League Scoop MVP.

Hibbert managed to get to the free throw line 32 times, burying 24 of them. He also played unremitting defense, denying many shot attempts.

Despite his outstanding effort, nevertheless, Hibbert realizes this is just one step closer to where he ultimately wants to be.

"I give myself a B-," he said. "I still have some things to work on."

Relentless. Unremitting. Outstanding.

Sounds like a deoderant ad.

In unrelated news, how was this monstrosity NOT a charge again?

Casually.

Kentucky Basketball: A few debts to settle next year

Truzenzuzex — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:45:06 -0000

More photos » by Gerry Broome - AP

Why is this man smiling? Because he owns a 5-game winning streak against UK, that's why.

Browse more photos »

Recent years here in the Bluegrass have been lean ones. It may be hard to believe, but UK basketball has never, since the AP started ranking college basketball teams in the late 1940's, suffered through four consecutive years unranked. UK basketball has also never in modern basketball history suffered through a four-year stretch with a lower winning percentage.

It's really hard to believe that for most of the years this blog has been in existence, Kentucky basketball has been suffering through one of its all-time lows. I know that many will point to the "death penalty" years and the "Kentucky's Shame" years as much more significant low points, but if you take a look at it honestly, you will see that despite punishment from the NCAA, lost scholarships, no post-season play and all that, UK basketball never sank to the depths that it has seen the last four years. After the season was cancelled in 1952-53, Kentucky came back to go undefeated in the next year. After NCAA punishment in 1990, Kentucky came back the very next year to go 22-6 and an AP ranking of 9th, and had an unbroken string of years ranked in the top 25 from then until 2005-06.

Just to get this fixed into perspective let's take a quick look at some charts and graphs. First, the last four years:

Season	Won	Lost	Winning %	Rank
2005-06	22	13	0.63	-
2006-07	22	12	0.65	-
2007-08	18	13	0.58	-
2008-09	22	14	0.61	-
Totals	84	52	0.62

Now, let's compare that to the previous ten years:

Season	Won	Lost	Winning %	Rank
1995-96	34	2	0.94	2nd by AP and 2nd by CNN/USA Today
1996-97	35	5	0.88	5th by AP and 2nd by CNN/USA Today
1997-98	35	4	0.9	5th by AP and 1st by USA Today/ESPN
1998-99	28	9	0.76	8th by AP and 5th by USA Today/ESPN
1999-00	23	10	0.7	19th by AP
2000-01	24	10	0.71	9th by AP
2001-02	22	10	0.69	16th by AP
2002-03	32	4	0.89	1st by AP and 4th by USA Today/ESPN
2003-04	27	5	0.84	2nd by AP and 8th by USA Today/ESPN
2004-05	28	6	0.82	7th by AP and 5th by USA Today/ESPN

All stats courtesy of Jon Scott's Big Blue History pages.

As a comparison, Kentucky's current winning percentage over 2,624 games played is .76. Never in modern history has UK undergone a four-year stretch with this many losses, or a winning percentage this low. No matter how you look at it, the last four years have got to be considered Kentucky's Long Night -- a time when civilization as we UK fans know it has collapsed, and the barbarians have run amok in our lands, pillaging and plundering the crown jewel of college basketball. Lesser rivals have risen to conquer the SEC, and the pride of Kentucky reduced to its lowest level in memory.

During this long and difficult interregnum, several teams from the SEC and elsewhere have risen up from the ranks to deal Kentucky some body-blows to it's proud tradition and fans. The purpose of bringing this to your attention, dear reader, is to remind you that we have a few unpaid debts lying around. I think most of you will remember the famous Duke game of 1992 where Christian Laettner put a dagger through our collective heart with his last-second shot that cost UK a trip to the Final Four. That debt (to my mind, anyway), was paid in full in the 1998 South Regional Finals in St. Petersburg, when UK send the Blue Devils home on the cusp of a Final Four. But during this historic downturn, there are several teams which have earned a bit of retribution, and now that Kentucky is strong again, it is something for fans to look forward to.

The big names living in infamy right now, at least for me, go like this:

North Carolina -- The Tarheels have beaten Kentucky in each of the last five seasons. Tyler Hansbrough never knew what it was like to lose to UK, and listening to Tarheel fans has been insufferable.
Louisville -- Louisville owns two back-to-back wins over the Wildcats, including a 14-point drubbing in 2008. If Tarheel fans have been insufferable, Louisville fans have been loathsome.
Kansas -- Kansas is the owner of three in a row over UK, including an embarrassing 73-46 thumping in 2006. Kentucky owns a 19-6 historical advantage over the Jayhawks, and three losses in a row is more than enough.
Florida -- The Gators own an impressive 8 wins in the last 10 games versus Kentucky. It's one thing when a traditional powerhouse like North Carolina owns you for five straight years, but quite another when a nuveau riche SEC team like Florida owns an 8-2 stretch against you. UK needs to set that aright.
Vanderbilt -- Similar to Florida, the Commodores have an impressive 6-2 record over the last 8 games against Kentucky, including a nasty 93-52 smack-down in 2008 that still hurts like bad case of the shingles.
Mississippi State -- the Bulldogs have defeated UK the last three encounters, starting with a heartbreaking three-point shot by Jamont Gordon in the 2007 SEC tournament.
South Carolina -- South Carolina defeated Kentucky in a thriller at Rupp Arena last year, then reprised that victory with a humiliating 77-59 drubbing in Columbia which still has this UK fan chafing.
Marquette -- Kentucky has beaten Marquette only twice in the last seven tries, and the Golden Eagles are one of the few teams that have enjoyed significant success against UK over the years. They currently have a 3-game winning streak over Kentucky.

Most, but not all of these streaks and indignities have been heaped upon UK in the last four years. This year, it's time to get some of these moving back in their historical direction, and put "Paid" to a few debts we owe for rough treatment at the hands of some of our foes. Obviously, we will still lose some games even with our much stronger team next year, but there are several games on the schedule which would have much more meaning than just an ordinary win or loss, starting with #1 on the list. We likely won't see Kansas or Marquette unless we play them in the NCAA tournament, but the rest we get every year.

Next year could be a very good year if we can show some of these schools why our nickname is the Wildcats.

Indiana Pacers Select Tyler Hansbrough at 13th; 1st Heel Drafted

T.H. — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:55:56 -0000

I'm not sure anyone expected Hansbrough to go this high, or even necessarily be the first Carolina player picked, but the Indiana Pacers obviously have confidence in him. The New York crowd at the draft site, not so much, chanted "Overrated." The post-draft interview points out that the Pacers run an up-tempo offense not unlike UNC's, and Stuart Scott tosses out a gratuitous Dudley Bradley reference.

Some Last Second Analysis

atthehive — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:18:51 -0000

Three guys I didn't talk much about- Tyler Hansbrough, Darren Collison, and James Johnson- are being linked with the Hornets, just hours before the draft.

Where do they fit on the spectrum I described a couple days ago?

Tyler Hansbrough

He's the Tim Duncan of college fist pumpers.

I mentioned briefly that his rebounding numbers were mediocre. That's still true. It's obviously a real flag for a guy that's known for grit. He doesn't block shots, and he has no wingspan, two more knocks against the hustle theory.

But what's he good at? There has to be some reason why so many people are high on him, right? Right. To me, while "grit" is the word everyone uses to describe him, a lot of teams think his scoring abilities could be for real. And though his floor percentages and his range are mediocre, this could very well be true. The reason is his ability to draw fouls. I can't believe I didn't see this until today, but here are his free throws attempted/possession in a four year college career: 52%, 55%, 54%, 53%. That's super consistent, and way, way better than any other prospects available to the Hornets (it's actually way better than most anybody in the draft, if you're wondering). Of course, as with Ty Lawson, you have to wonder how much the UNC system influenced this. The bottom line is I still wouldn't move him above the Blair/Lawson/Thornton/Maynor/(Daye?) range. But if he is our pick, getting that foul drawing ability at #21 wouldn't be a bad haul.

James Johnson

The reason I didn't talk about Johnson earlier was that most mocks had him in the 10-15 range. But he's been slipping as of late. This is more because other prospects are moving up, not due to any missteps by Johnson.

At first glance, he doesn't really fit a need. He's projected to be a SF/PF- which was what David West was projected to be- but he doesn't have West's bulk or even height. I'd be surprised if he is not entrenched at small forward a couple years down the line. His biggest attribute is that he's creative in terms of scoring. He has nice little flip shots with either hand from a good five to six feet, and this is evident in a 57% effective percentage. He doesn't really have range, but he has good ball skills overall. The downside is that he does not draw fouls effectively. At 24% last year, he posted a rate less than half of Hansbrough. He doesn't bring the rebounding ability that West did either. I can't imagine New Orleans is looking at Johnson seriously. He feels redundant and seemingly doesn't bring very many new skillsets.

Darren Collison

Collison was a guy I loved but didn't talk about since he seemed behind the Hornets' range. But I saw a post on HornetsReport today- "As for my friend in player personnel in NO, he is still very confident that Collison will be the pick but they are going back over the tape on Blair as they are starting to think he is a guy who might be there unexpectedly like Julian was." I don't know if it's true or not, but I guess it could be.

Collison played starting point guard at UCLA the last two years, but for the second year in a row, the guy who played alongside him will be drafted ahead of him, as a point guard (last year- Westbrook, this year- Holiday). He's got very strong fundamental skills. He was one of the top passers in college basketball at a nearly 40% assist rate, and though he had a high 20% turnover rate, I think assist:turnover ratio is a more important statistic in college basketball than turnovers alone. He shot a wild 52% from three last year, before dropping to 40%. He draws fouls at a substandard 30% rate, but he wasn't required to be much of a scorer in his offense. The added bonus is that he's an excellent defender. We've seen some terrific defenders come out of UCLA in recent years- Ariza and Mbah a Moute come to mind- and I think Collison could be great in the NBA.

Collison would be a reach at #21, for sure. If he is indeed the target, the Hornets were foolish not to get a deal done with Portland, who had too many picks for their own good. But Collison's stock may not be reflective of his value, and this would be a highly safe pick.

D-Day for DaJuan

CasualHoya — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:07:29 -0000

The 2009 NBA Draft day is here, and with all of the pre-Draft workouts and meetings now concluded, our main man DaJuan Summers has done all he can at this point to achieve his goal of being selected in the 1st Round.

In his latest Mock Draft, Chad Ford at espn.com has Summers falling out of the 1st round and heading to Detroit in the #35 slot:

35. Detroit Pistons (via Minnesota)

DaJuan Summers | F | Georgetown
Summers has buzz just about everywhere, but if he falls this far in the draft, I think the Pistons would have to take him. Summers ability to play the 3 and the 4 will really be attractive to Detroit.

Spanning a few other mock drafts across the interweb, DaJuan just sneaks into the 1st round here and here, but drops into the 2nd round here.

Our friends over at Slam really like DaJuan's potential in the land of false SAT scores as a piece of the the Memphis Grizzlies rebuilding effort:

I see DaJuan Summers being a Lamar Odom-type for our squad. We already have our understated orchestrator at point (Mike Conley), two dynamic swing man (O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay), a brawny, scoring power forward (Marc Gasol) and a rebounding, shot-blocking center (our No. 1 draft pick, Hasheem Thabeet). That’s our starting five.

What we get with Summers is a natural 3 that can shoot and handle, plus he’s got court vision. He’s 6-8, 241 pounds—that means he can spend some time at the 4 in spot-duty. Truth be told, he can sub sporadically at the 2-guard spot. He’s that versatile. He’s a bit raw, but we have time for him to develop.

In addition, NBA Analyst David Aldridge lists Summers as one of his Draft Sleepers:

I’ll give an example, DaJuan Summers had what most people would say kind of an average, below average year for Georgetown, but I think he’s going to wind up being a pretty good pro. He’s has a lot of physical skills and gifts and might wind up showing you more in the pros than he did in college

If Summers is indeed selected in the 1st round, he will join Jeff Green in 2007 and Roy Hibbert in 2008 and mark three consecutive years that a Hoya has accomplished that feat. This streak will reach a fourth consecutive year in 2010 with the likely departure of Greg Monroe, and naturally extend into 2011 with the graduation and immediate lottery selection of Nikita Mescheriakov, whose remarkable ability to hit the side of the backboard on threes from the corner is matched only by his spellbinding talent to dribble behind his back through traffic in the lane and hand the ball to the opposition.

Will DaJuan Summers be a serviceable pro in the NBA? Scouts range in their comparisons of Summers from the next Trevor Ariza to Tim Thomas to Donyell Marshall. If Summers can get his act together I can certainly see an Ariza-type ceiling for him, though unfortunately from what I saw out of him during the latter half of his junior year season on the Hilltop, that seems about as likely as Lucas Glover winning a U.S. Open.

Like so many of the other eligible draftees tonight, numerous questions surround Summers. Will he emerge in the NBA as he did when, as a freshman, he developed as a valuable scoring option and drew comparisons to being the next Jeff Green?

Will he perform as he did in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, helping the Hoyas with his gritty play both underneath the basket and behind the arc in the heart-stopping win over Vanderbilt in the Sweet Sixteen? When he scored 20 points (including the ferocious throwdown in OT on Tyler Hansbrough) in the remarkable Elite 8 win over North Carolina?

Will he rise to the occasion like he did as a sophomore, appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated and hitting the game-winning three-pointer to lift the Hoyas to a 55-52 win over Louisville and clinching the Big East regular season title?

Or will he, as Hoyas fans Witnessed all too often last season when, as a junior and the unquestioned team leader, displayed an unnerving tendency to vanish on the court when we needed him to show up the most?

Regardless of when he hears his name called tonight, it will finally close the book on the team that took Hoyas fans through that magical journey to the Final Four. For that alone, perhaps we should look back at DaJuan's career and embrace it for the wonderful memories it brought us, and at least for one night, forget about what could have been.

Casually.

2009 NBA Draft Q&A: Aran Smith of NBADraft.net (Part 2 of 3)

Atma Brother ONE — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:00:19 -0000

Here's the second installment in our interview with NBADraft.net's Aran Smith. Head on over to the first part for some broader thoughts on the 2009 NBA Draft.

Will they both be gone?

In this segment we look at whether Tyler Hansbrough will fare better than Brandan Wright in the NBA when it's all said and done. We also look at Marco Belinelli's NBA career thus far and the Jason Richardson - Brandan Wright swap almost 2 years after we first touched based with Aran.

Atma Brother #1 (Golden State of Mind): I keep telling my friends that when it's all said and done Tyler Hansbrough will have a better NBA career than his former UNC teammate and current Golden State Warrior Brandan Wright because he actually has a motor. My friends keep telling me I'm crazy for saying that. Who's talking that crazy talk?

Aran Smith (NBADraft.net): Hmm. At this point that's a pretty good argument. Hansbrough is going to be solid. He doesn't have Wright's potential, but we know he'll be pretty solid. Wright still has a ways to go before we can say that. Long term, the answer to that actually may come down to situation and opportunity.

Atma Brother #1 (Golden State of Mind): When we mic'ed you up almost 2 years ago you seemed pretty high on Marco Belinelli, calling him a "special talent" and saying the Warriors "got an absolute steal" in the 2007 draft. [See Q&A: Aran Smith of NBADraft.net on Marco Belinelli] After seeing him play for two seasons in the NBA, how high are you on him now as an NBA player? What do you project for his NBA career?

Aran Smith (NBADraft.net): I still like Belinelli. But it's probably time to temper the expectations for his career. He has not been able to get the playing time necessary to develop. Maybe he needs a change of scenery because it just doesn't appear Nellie believes in him. With guys like Az and Morrow in front of him now, it's hard to know if they'll have much use for him.

Atma Brother #1 (Golden State of Mind): You seemed reasonably high on Brandan Wright early in his rookie season and said you love the Jason Richardson trade that brought him here. How high are you on Wright now and his NBA future? Do you still like that trade? [See Q&A: Aran Smith of NBADraft.net on Brandan Wright]

Aran Smith (NBADraft.net): I still like Wright a lot. And I was frustrated with how often he would start out of the gates hot, only to have Nellie bench him for much of second half. Give this guy a chance! Lets see what he can do. The Warriors obviously could have used JRich in the 2007-08 season and would have made the playoffs, however moving forward you would rather stay young. He obviously has some work to do on his body and game, but I anticipate we'll see him make a big step forward this season.

**********

Keep it locked on GSoM for part 3 where we talk Dubs and 2009 NBA Draft.

Poll

Is it crazy to think that 2008 Wooden/ Naismith National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough will have a better NBA career than his former UNC teammate and current Golden State Warrior Brandan Wright?

YES: That's crazy talk. Wright will be better than Hansbrough.

360 votes

NO: That's not crazy at all. Hansbrough will be better than Wright.

164 votes

HMMM: They'll be about the same when it's all said and done.

233 votes

757 votes | Poll has closed

Tyler Hansbrough Monotonically Speaks!

T.H. — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:04:08 -0000

Tyler Hansbrough also came in for a workout with the Trailblazers last week, and Oregon Live has video and an interview, if you want to hear him say "banger" a lot:

Also a propos of the NBA draft, the fine drinking establishment I entered after work today was showing the NBA Draft on a couple of TVs, which threw me for a loop as the draft isn't scheduled to take place until Thursday. It wasn't until Joe Forte's face popped up as Boston's latest pick that I picked up on the fact I was watching the 2001 Draft, notable to UNC fans as the one that selected Forte, Brendan Haywood, and Shane Battier. I'm wondering, is it a particularly bad draft, or does the bottom third of the first round typically have such dismal results? Forte, whose own professional career was spectacularly poor, was followed in the draft order by Jeryl Sasser, Brandon Armstrong, and Raül López, none of whom I recognized at all. The remainder of the first round was Gerald Wallace, ignored by the team that drafted him but later a starter for the Bobcats, journeymen Samuel Dalembert and Jamaal Tinsley, and lastly, Tony Parker. (Gilbert Arenas went two picks later in the second round, permanently affixing a chip to his shoulder).

If 2001 is typical of your lesser talent drafts (as this year's is said to be), does this bode well for the four Tar Heels in the draft, all projected as late first rounders to second rounders? The success rate at those slots are low, but of 2001's five future All-Stars, three were selected at 28 or lower. (Compare that to one of the more talent-laden drafts, 2003, which had four All-Stars in the first five picks, but only three after that.) Are NBA teams less adept at spotting talent in down years? Or will none of this year's Carolina alums make much of a name for themselves in the pros?