Didn't his Dad play at Florida State or something? I had no idea there were 2 different awards lol. I have only ever heard of the Naismith. Naismith Prep is different hey reserved for Prep school players only.
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Last edited by Stay Golden; 02-27-2013 at 06:46 PM.
Didn't his Dad play at Florida State or something?
I think both his parents went there. He has some connection there.
I think his brother plays at some small school in Kansas so he may go there to be close to his brother. (But not to the small school his brother plays at.)
I think both his parents went there. He has some connection there.
I think his brother plays at some small school in Kansas so he may go there to be close to his brother. (But not to the small school his brother plays at.)
Looks like Wichita State his brother plays for and His Mom was a 2x Silver Olympian in the 4x 400 meter.
His Dad was a former NBA player that spent most of his career in the CBA and such.
As you stated both parents went to Florida State. Weird he actually played for 3 Colleges
I think both his parents went there. He has some connection there.
I think his brother plays at some small school in Kansas so he may go there to be close to his brother. (But not to the small school his brother plays at.)
Some small school?
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
ACC freshman of the year Olivier Hanlan dropped 41 on Georgia Tech today for a ACC freshman record. Great for him to pick up some recognition now, as Boston College would need a miracle run in the ACC tournament to get into the NCAA tournament.
This is one of three freshmen of the year awards for Canadians, with Bennett and Bhullar picking up MWC and WAC honours, respectively. (And you have to figure Stauskas was in the running for Big Ten). Bennett's teammate and fellow Canadian Khem Birch picked up MWC defensive player of the year honours. Great to see for him, after transferring out of Pittsburgh and missing the first month of the season. Dwight Powell won PAC-12 most improved player, and Melvin Ejim of Iowa State won the Big 12's scholar-athlete award. And of course, Olynyk wins WCC player of the year, and is a finalist for the Wooden award.
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I'm really happy to see Sim Bhullar make the NCAA tournament. Especially because he's the only reason New Mexico State had a shot at winning their conference. In their championship game, he went for 16 pts, 15 rbs, 5 blks, 2 ass. And that comes a night after going 14 and 10 with 3 blocks. (Fellow Canadian Daniel Mullings also plays on the Aggies and had a major role in their strong second-half of the season.)
As I've mentioned before in this thread, the biggest question with Bhullar was whether he'd be able to get his 355 lb body up and down the court for any significant amount of time, but he's routinely a 30+ minutes a night player now. Putting up back-to-back-to-back 30 minute nights in the WAC tournament, with double-doubles in the last two games is beyond where I think even his most optimistic supporters thought he would be at.
The biggest question hole in his game now is free-throw shooting, which was below 50% this season.
A summer of improved conditioning and free-throw shooting would get him a little closer to being an NBA player. I'm rooting hard for him to make it some day, because it would be such a great story, both as a Canadian as well as the first Indian-heritage player with a shot at making it.
Here are some of the notable Canadians in the tournament this year:
Pangos and Olynyk, Gonzaga
Bennett and Birch, UNLV
Bhullar, Mullings, Watson, Dickson, NMSU
Stauskas, Michigan
Cadougan, Marquette
Ejim, Iowa State
Rivard, Harvard
Johnson, Bucknell
Cochrane, Davidson
Manigat, Creighton
Wiggins and Lufile, Witchita State
Glaze, St. Louis
Jones, Syracuse
Walker, Minnesota
Notable Canadians to miss the tournament: Heslip, Baylor; Hanlan, Boston College; Wiltjer, Kentucky; Kabongo, Texas; Powell, Stanford.
If anyone wants to get a look at wiggins (as well as the rest of this excellent HS class), the McDonald's all-American game is on TSN2 at 8 tonight. Good on them for picking it up.
NBA News:
Kris Joseph was on 10-day tryout with the Nets, and while he hasn't seen a lot of playing time, apparently everyone in the organization absolutely loves how hard he's worked since coming up, and today he was awarded a contract for the remainder of the season (four games plus playoffs). I definitely think he's NBA-calibre talent (although as a bench/rotation player).
If you haven't been following the Spurs, Cory Joseph has really stepped up during Parker's injuries. Definitely part of their plans for the future.
Thompson and Nicholson are both doing well, Thompson had a monster 29/17 game last week, while Nicholson hasn't been getting consistent minutes, but was averaging 11/5 over March when he was getting good minutes. Decent numbers for a rookie.
NCAA News:
Kabongo announced today that he's going to enter the draft. Hard to tell if that's the right decision or not. The stats he posted late-season after serving his suspension were great, and combined with his original hype, may be enough to make him a late first round pick. Might come down to his workouts, but my feeling right now is that he'll go late first. DraftExpress has him 41st overall, but I'd be shocked if he dropped that much.
Justin Edwards had a great sophomore season with the University of Maine (17 ppg), and has announced his intent to transfer, so we'll see where he ends up, but he'll definitely be in a more high-profile situation. I believe he'll need to sit out for one year after transferring.
Pretty mixed NCAA tournament for the Canadians, with Cadougan and Stauskas the only two to play a role in any significant runs. Olynyk seemed to get generally positive reviews despite Gonzaga's early exit and still looks like he's got a shot at a late lottery spot, or at least early 20s. Bennett was a disappointment in UCLA's early loss, though I thought Birch played extremely well that game. Birch is being projected as a late first round pick in 2014 in some mocks, which is nice to see after he completely disappeared off the radar after his transfer from Pitt. Rivard for Harvard and Ejim for Iowa State were a couple other guys who I thought played well in the tournament.
Heslip, who helped Baylor's elite 8 run last year, had a couple big games (and a couple invisible games) in helping Baylor to a NIT tournament title. Still almost exclusively a 3-point shooter though.
Keanau Post was named a Junior-College All-American. As I mentioned earlier, he'll play for Missouri next year (joining fellow Canadians Negus Webster-Chan and Stephan Jankovic). I believe he's made his academic qualifications that will allow him to play next year rather than sit out one year.
So it's shaping up right now to be two or three Canadians in the first round: Bennett, Olynyk, and Kabongo. Could be more if either Powell or Birch declare, but I think both will stay in college for next season.
High-school news:
High-school SF Marial Shayok made the ESPN top 60 for the class of 2014 (joining top PF prospect Trey Lyles). Also starting to get attention is Justin Jackson, who's class of 2016 (and not to be confused with the 2014 Texas prospect of the same name) and is an elite passer with SF size at 6'7".
6'4 PG Jamal Murray got an invite to the Jordan Brand Classic this weekend in Brooklyn, joining Wiggins and Ennis. He's class of 2016, and if he grows a bit more, he'll probably end up as an SG or combo guard. Chris Egi is another high school prospect to keep an eye on: PF who's listed by scouts.com as the 48th-best player in the 2015 class, though that far out the rankings really start to lose value. Still, add him to Montaque Gill-Caesar as players to watch in the 2015 class.
Tyler Ennis had some good news, in that Carter-Williams declared for the draft, opening up a lot of playing time for Ennis at Syracuse next year.
The Nike Elite Youth Basketball series begins next weekend, and runs through April and May. Most of these young Canadians will play together on the CIA Bounce team, which has been one of the top teams in each of the recent years.
Last edited by octothorp; 04-12-2013 at 01:40 PM.
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Still holding on to the slight hope that he shocks the world and signs with Wichita State to play with his brother.
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
Kansas always made the most sense if not FSU. Low key (or at least lower key than Carolina or UK), but still lots of big game chances. Plus he doesn't get the Calipari stain on him, which has to help.
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
Just glad it wasn't Kentucky. Nothing against Kentucky, I just think he needs a situation where he's going to clearly be the guy, where he'll get a lot of tough games, and will get defenses keying on him so he can show his ability to use his teammates as well as an understanding of when to take over a game.
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
Any idea on whether either of those guys will play for the national team at some point, or have they seemed to waiver on whether they want to?
Basketball could be so much more popular in Canada if they could get a good national team going. Wiggins could be a #1 overall pick next season. Hopefully these young stars play for the national team instead of being prima donnas.