NCAA Basketball Big 12 Basketball

Missouri likes to play a press defense. Coach Mike Anderson is a Nolan Richardson disciple and has sought to bring "40 minutes of hell" to the Tiger defense. To play that way, though, you need to rotate players and experience in the backcourt to put the pressure on the opponent when bringing up the ball.

Missouri's backcourt experience took a big hit with guard Keon Lawrence asking for and receiving his release from his scholarship. Ostensibly, it was because the New Jersey native wanted to be closer to his family, but maybe not.

"It's not my teammates, and it's not the fans. That should tell you something," Lawrence said of his reasons for leaving.

He backed away from that statement later to the "need to be closer to home" chestnut. He is likely focusing on Big East schools.

The Big 12's gain is the loss for a lot of college sports fans.

"After 36 years, 23 Final Fours, all 10 Bowl Championship Series title games and a half-dozen laptops, I'm done," he writes.

"I will begin working as a writer/blogger for the Big 12 Conference web site (so I'll need laptop No. 7). The Big 12 wants its web site to convey information about its schools in both video and story form. I'll be somewhat involved with the former and heavily involved with the latter. It's a great opportunity that I'm lucky to have considering the death spiral of major newspapers."

Barnhouse had been the national college football and basketball writer/columnist for the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. Barnhouse's national reach, reputation and popularity grew as the internet allowed more readers access. His columns were considered required reading by many college sports fans. Barnhouse was also one of the few national college sports writers at a newspaper. Not at a national paper, magazine or TV/internet operation.

The Star-Telegram benefited from his reputation, but the actual value to the paper was low. The national following added little to their subscription base. This led the paper to decide to eliminate the national college beat. Offering Barnhouse the choice of a buyout or assuming role of Texas A&M beat writer. As Barnhouse wrote, "Nothing against the Aggies, but it was clearly time to bail out."

Specifically the court system. Here's a free tip. If you receive an envelope stamped by the clerk of courts naming you in a lawsuit, it's a good idea to get a lawyer and respond. Regardless of whether it is criminal or civil.

Kansas point guard Sherron Collins now has a $75,000 default judgment entered against him from a civil suit.

Jessica Brown, 35, accused Collins of exposing himself and rubbing against her on May 18, 2007, in an elevator at Jayhawker Towers, where she worked.

Collins had 20 days to respond to the lawsuit, filed May 14, 2008, but he did not.

The criminal investigation is still an open one. Apparently the Kansas Bureau of Investigation is still waiting for test results from potential evidence. There is something of a backlog. There was an initial test last June, but the results were incomplete.

Collins has maintained his innocence, so without any witnesses or any evidence it is unlikely charges could be successfully brought against Collins.

Even without any criminal charges, Ms. Brown has the right and did file a civil suit for "humiliation, mental anguish and severe emotional pain." Collins claimed he didn't understand the legal responsibility for responding and the outcome of ignoring it.

It's very likely that Collins will be able to get the default judgment vacated and reset for trial. Still, the whole issue (and potential stain on the old credit report) could have been avoided.

The Big 12 and Pac-10 go into their second year of their cross-conference competition, and have announced this year's slate of games. Most of the games take place in the first weekend of December. Since there is an imbalance in the number of teams in each conference, to allow all of the Big 12 teams to play a Pac-10 opponent, Arizona and Stanford are doubling up and 3 games will be played outside of the series window.

BIG 12/PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES

Thursday, December 4, 2008
Oklahoma State at Washington
UCLA at Texas
USC at Oklahoma

Friday, December 5, 2008
Arizona at Texas A&M

Saturday, December 6, 2008
Baylor at Washington State
Oregon State at Iowa State

Sunday, December 7, 2008
Kansas State at Oregon
Nebraska at Arizona State
California at Missouri

Outside the four-day series window
Colorado at Stanford (Sat., Nov. 29, 2008)
Kansas at Arizona (Tue., Dec. 23, 2008)
Texas Tech at Stanford (Sun., Dec. 28, 2008)

The big games are clearly UCLA-Texas and Kansas-Arizona. The latter being a rematch from last season when Kansas pulled off the win in overtime (to say nothing of the 2003 NCAA Tournament meeting to put Kansas in the Final Four).The Baylor-Washington State game looks like a very underrated match-up featuring two of the best young coaches. Oregon State-Iowa State, however, could be painful on the eyes.

You thought that 13 freshmen in the NBA Draft was a lot, compared to 8 last year? Wrong. The big leap came from the number of sophomores who have had their fill of college. Last year, only 5 sophomores turned pro. Not this year. Like the freshmen, the lucky 13 are not going back to their school.

1. D.J. Augustin, Texas
2. JaVale McGee, Nevada
3. Brook Lopez, Stanford
4. Robin Lopez, Stanford
5. Russell Westbrook, UCLA
6. Marreese Speights, Florida
7. Ryan Anderson, Cal
8. Darrell Arthur, Kansas
9. Derrick Caracter, Louisville
10. Walter Sharpe, UAB
11. *Jason Bennett, Tallahassee Community College
12. *Keith Brumbaugh, Hillsborough Community College
13. *Kiwan Smith, Redlands Community College

Even if you don't count the 3 players who got through community college, that's still a 100% increase over last year. Most of the players nearly came out after last season.

It seems that in year two of the one-and-done restriction, the freshmen and sophomores are beginning to charge back into the draft. Makes those columns from last year talking about how upperclassmen were making a comeback in the NBA draft look a little dated.

UPDATE: According to the official list by the NBA on the Draft, Caracter, Bennett and Smith all pulled their names before the deadline. That drops the number to 10 sophomores. Still a significant jump, but a little lower.

Now that the dust has settled and the final withdrawal deadline for the NBA Draft has passed, there are still 13 freshmen who have decided to remain in the 2008 NBA Draft.

1. Michael Beasley, Kansas State
2. Derrick Rose, Memphis
3. O.J. Mayo, USC
4. Eric Gordon, Indiana
5. DeAndre Jordan, Texas A&M
6. Jerryd Bayless, Arizona
7. Kevin Love, UCLA
8. Davon Jefferson, USC
9. Anthony Randolph, LSU
10. Donte Greene, Syracuse
11. J.J. Hickson, NC State
12. Bill Walker, Kansas State
13. Kosta Koufos, Ohio State

Last year, only 8 freshmen declared and stayed in the NBA Draft. All 8 went in the first 21 picks. That won't happen with this group, though, it is likely that at least 10 of the 13 will go in the first round.

A.J. Abrams is heading back to Texas by taking his name out of the NBA Draft. If there was anyone out there that I was hoping would stay in the draft, it was him.

I'm not saying that to slight Longhorn fans. In fact, even if he stayed in the draft, he may have still played for Texas next season anyways. Ya see, an underclassman can enter the NBA Draft and still play college ball.

If Abrams, as was kind of projected, went undrafted and still didn't sign with an agent ... he would have 30 days after the draft was held to go back to school. He would -- in the NBA's eyes -- be a undrafted free agent and able to sign with whomever he wanted whenever he wanted.

You may remember that Kentucky's Randolph Morris did this a couple years ago. Morris entered the draft but didn't sign with an agent. He kept his eligibilty requirements (which were heavily scrutinized by the NCAA) and when he went undrafted ... he came back to Kentucky for his sophomore season. Due to the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, since he entered the draft and no one selected him, he wouldn't be able to enter any future NBA drafts and was, in their eyes, a free agent.

Once the Wildcats' season ended, he signed a two-year deal with the NBA's New York Knicks and was immediately available to the team. If the Knicks (or any other NBA team) came with him with an offer at any time during Kentucky's season, he still would have been able to sign it and play for the team. Of course, that would immediately end his college eligibility and he couldn't play at Kentucky anymore.

Today's the day. No more maintaining eligibility and torturing angst-ridden college basketball fans. Today's the drop dead date for either pulling out of the NBA Draft or staying and committing.

So, since last night three more names have unsurprisingly decided to stay in the NBA Draft.

West Virginia's Joe Alexander finally made it official. This was no shock, as Alexander's draft stock soared to the point where the junior is expected to go anywhere from 8th to 13th in the draft. It's unlikely he would move that much further up the draft board if he stayed for his final season. He's only the second Mountaineer player to declare early for the draft. The unforgettable Gordon Malone was the first.

J.J. Hickson from NC State is staying in the draft. He gets to add his name to the list of one-and-dones. Not a surprise, but a bit of a comedown for Hickson. He came to the Wolfpack expecting to win and then go in the first round. He didn't win at NC State and is a likely pick in the second round (end of the first, at best).

Mario Chalmers becomes the 3d Jayhawk to stay in the NBA Draft. There is a chance that all 3 players could go in the first round. The only mystery surrounding whether Chalmers would stay was because his father is Director of Basketball Operations at Kansas.

We are less than 24 hours away from the deadline for the NBA Draft early entrants to take their name out. It should be quite a tension filled day from Chapel Hill to Tuscon.

Well, smack dab in the middle is Manhattan, Kansas where Bill Walker must make the decision whether to stay in the draft or head back to Kansas State. The decision is tougher now that he injured his knee in a workout today:

Representatives for Kansas State redshirt freshman Bill Walker were scrambling to secure a commitment from a team drafting late in the first round after Walker injured his right knee during a workout in California this weekend.

Multiple sources close to Walker, and at least one who attended the workout in the Bay Area, said Sunday night that Walker would undergo another MRI on his knee Monday. Walker was one of 24 players at the Golden State Warriors' facility to work out in front of representatives from 21 NBA teams. The players in attendance were projected as being between the 20th and 45th picks.

This is huge for Walker. He is right on the fence of being a first round pick. Of course, one of the scary things about him is this knee injury and the fact that he previously has had multiple knee injuries. That isn't the kind of thing a team picking late in the first round is looking for.

A Kansas State assistant coach has made some interesting comments about O.J. Mayo wanting to be a Wildcat, but then head coach Bob Huggins wouldn't take him.

Brad Underwood told the Konza Rotary Club this morning that Mayo was on the phone with Huggins, "begging to come here" around the time of national letter-of-intent signing day a year ago. Huggins told him no, Underwood said, because he thought Mayo would get in trouble because of money funneled to him and a friend prior to enrolling in college.
...
Mayo, originally from Huntington, W.Va., was among the top recruits in the nation at the time. Huggins, also originally from West Virginia, had been recruiting him for years and appeared to have a good shot at bringing him to K-State. Publicly, Mayo said he chose USC over K-State.

But Underwood today indicated that Mayo was saying up to the last minute that he wanted to come to K-State to be with Huggins because of their long ties. Huggins, though, said, "We're not going to take you. You'll never pass," in reference to NCAA amateur clearinghouse rules.

Who knows if this is true or not. The odds are Huggins won't admit one way or the other. Mayo will likely deny, just as he's denied everything else. Kind of hard to believe Huggins or any coach would turn down O.J. Mayo last year.