Deuce Bello: Awesome Name, Even Better Dunk (Video)

A few weeks back I shared with you a sweet dunk by Errick McCollum, a small school college basketball player from Indiana. Today, I’m going even younger to show you an even more ridiculous dunk by a kid who is still in high school.

The kid in question is named Deuce Bello, which is the kind of smooth, rhythmic, catchy name that a guy named Jerod Morris can only dream about.

Bello, who attends Westchester Country Day High School in North Carolina, and is only a junior, threw down a ridiculous between-the-legs dunk during a game, the video evidence of which you can see below.

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Vols Under Investigation For Use Of “Recruiting Hostesses”

Lane Kiffin and the University of Tennessee football program are under investigation by the NCAA. This time it is not for a minor infraction, like the six Kiffin has already faced in his first season of coaching.

The Volunteers are now being investigated for the use of recruiting “hostesses” a common practice amongst major programs.

The hostesses under question are members of Orange Pride, a student ambassador program of the university. The hostesses are accused of recruiting prospects off of UT campus, which is a violation if the hostesses are considered official representatives of the university.

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Bruce Weber, Illini Rebound with Highly-Touted 2009 Recruiting Class

Despite coaching the Fighting Illini to the national championship game in St. Louis in his second season as the head basketball coach, the common feeling was that Bruce Weber did it with inherited players from former coach Bill Self.

Since that 2004-05 campaign, Illinois has progressively seen the wins get harder to come by. In the years since that 37-2 finish and heartbreaking loss to North Carolina in the title game, the Fighting Illini have gone 26-7, 23-12 and then 16-19 last season when the Illini failed to make the Big Dance or the National Invitational Tournament.

Now Weber is coming off what many think has been his best recruiting class as he begins his sixth season at Champaign.

Rivals.com ranked the Illinois’ early-signing period haul 10th in the nation. Scout.com rated Weber’s work 13^th nationally. ESPNU had other thoughts, instead ranking the group at No. 23.

The Illinois backcourt should have a different look in 2009-10 and recruits Brandon Paul, D.J. Richardson and Joseph Bertrand could play a part in it.

Paul, Richardson and Bertrand are all shooting guards and hail from the Land of Lincoln, giving proof that Weber can indeed get the state’s best to come to Champaign. They could stir memories of when Dee Brown, Deron Williams and Luther Head were running wild for the Illini during their 2004-05 run. Those three were wooed by Self, who would win the elusive title at Kansas last season.

Richardson, the marquee player of the class, toiled at Peoria Central before transferring to a Nevada prep school for his senior high school season. He has shown that he can take defenders to the rim while being able to connect from long distance if defenders lay off.

Weber said Paul, Richardson and Bertrand can play either point or the off-guard, giving him much flexibility with his lineup.

The Fighting Illini went across the Mississippi River into Missouri to get their lone big guy from this recruiting class. Tyler Griffey, a 6-foot-8 forward from Lafayette High in suburban St. Louis, is a player who can face up to the basket, hit mid-range jumpers and set picks for the new guards. The last time Illinois got a player from Lafayette, they nabbed Robert Archibald, who started at center under Bill Self, graduated in 2002, and was a second round pick in the NBA draft.

Bruce Weber might be able to fill one more slot for the 2009-10 class with a true point guard and it appears he has already gotten off to a rocking start for his 2010-11 recruiting class.

Weber has three verbal commitments for that group, including one from 6-5 Jereme Richmond from Waukegan. Richmond is considered one of the top juniors nationally. Crandall Head of Chicago Crane and the younger brother Luther Head, has also giving a verbal commitment.

Illinois will get a boost from the arrival of sophomore guard Alex Legion in January. Legion transferred from Kentucky to the Illini last season after the first semester and per NCAA rules, Legion has had to sit out. Legion came from the Oak Hill (Va.) Academy basketball factory and signed with Michigan, but backed out when Tommy Amaker was fired and went with Kentucky.

Indiana Beats Bemidji State 72-54 in Final Exhibition Game

The Indiana Hoosiers played their final tune-up game before the 2008-09 season officially tips off on Friday, November 15 against Northwestern State on the Big Ten Network.

Earlier tonight, reserve guard Malik Story sparked the Hoosiers off the bench with 15 points en route to a 72-54 victory over Division II Bemidji State. Malik Story was one of the three players in double figures, along with freshmen Nick Williams and Tom Pritchard, both of whom scored 12 points. Follow the link to view the box score from tonight’s game between Indiana and Bemidji State played at Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

Thanks to the Big Ten Network I was able to catch some of the 2nd half of tonight’s game online. The much maligned network has fallen into my extreme good graces so far this year. First, when I found out that the Big Ten Network was being carried on Verizon in Dallas; and second, when I learned that even when games are not on TV, they can be streamed live.

And guess who does the play-by-play for the live streaming games on the BigTenNetwork.com? That’s right, the incomparable Don Fischer and and his trust sidekick Todd Leary.

Leary made a couple of interesting points during the part of the game I was able to see. Vincennes transfer Devan Dumes and freshman Verdell Jones did not play a great deal in the 2nd half. According to Leary, both were making too many mistakes in the first half and Tom Crean was using the bench to send a message that they needed to bring more focus to the floor. Leary was also impressed with the rebounding of Nick Williams and Tom Pritchard, who grabbed and 9 and 7 boards a piece, respectively.

Obviously there is not a whole lot that can be ascertained this early in the season with such a young team in a game against competition that is not comparable to what the Hoosiers will face once the regular season starts; but, from what I saw there was one very noticeable positive and one very noticeable negative:

• Positive: Ball movement. I liked the ball movement on display during the period I watched. There was some interior passing that led to layups for Tom Pritchard and Kyle Taber, and Malik Story had one drive-and-dish in particular that was very nice. The Hoosiers only had 10 assists against 13 turnovers for the game, but I thought the pacing and movement on offense was solid for this early in the year.
• Negative: Shooting. At home, you always expect to shoot well. But the Hoosiers struggled from the field tonight, shooting just over 41%. More ominously, we only made 56.3% of our free throws. With such a young team, the home court advantage of being comfortable with your own gym probably has not had time to set in yet, so I’ll give the Hoosiers a pass on this one. Hopefully as the season goes along we will be able to make shots at home. Wins will be hard to come by this year and with our undersized lineup it will probably be hard for us to win games that we do not shoot well.

The main feeling I took from the 2nd half of tonight’s game against Bemidji State was just excitement that another season of Indiana basketball is right around the corner, and optimism at the energy and style of play under new coach Tom Crean. I have never tempered my expectations so much heading into a season, but as Mike Davis was famous for saying, “help is on the way.”

The other big Indiana basketball news from today is that November 12th marks the beginning of the early signing period for college basketball recruiting. Tom Crean has received verbal commitments for next season that have many people ranking Indiana’s incoming recruiting class for 2009 among the best in the country. All of the recruits who have verbally committed are expected to sign on the dotted line tomorrow (or today I guess, since it’s now past midnight.)

But that’s for next year. First, we have to get through this season. The games start counting for real on Friday and despite the tempered expectations of Hoosier fans everywhere, I know that I cannot wait for the first step of the Tom Crean era to begin.

[tags]indiana hoosiers, tom crean, college basketball[/tags]

Indiana Hoosiers: 2009 Recruiting Class Draws Rave Reviews

by Jerod Morris

For the first time in a while, news regarding Indiana basketball is starting to become consistently positive.  Crean and Crimson indeed.

According to the Indianapolis Star, Indiana and Tom Crean recently received a verbal commitment from Christian Watford, a 6-8 small forward out of Birmingham, Alabama.  Watford is ranked anywhere from No.12 to No.34 by various recruiting services.  According to recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons, the commitment of Christian Watford moves Indiana into a tie for the top 2009 recruiting with North Carolina.

All I have to say is…hell yes!

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NCAA Football 09: Manual Recruiting in Dynasty Mode

Hey sports nerds. I have gone through a couple of years in my dynasty with The Ohio State Buckeyes and I think I have a grasp on the new recruiting in EA Sports’ best effort to date. Recruiting is overly comprehensive and unless you want the computer AI to do everything for you, you should keep reading. By the way if you let the computer recruit for you it also means you will not get the best class possible. Note: This is a “strategery” that will work for a powerhouse, since I have time for one dynasty at this point. My examples will be based off of being tOSU out of Columbus, OHIO.

Setting up your success in the preseason:

In your preseason you have many tasks before week 1 of the college football season. One of them is filling your recruiting board (up to 35 slots) with players that you will want to recruit this year. Your team will have a few positions listed as immediate needs so make sure you get someone good (or someone) because placing a walk-on high in the depth chart is a recipe for failure.

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