Griffster

Are you sure P-diddy? I asked Mizzou officials and he just has to play one year. That's what I was told by their NCAA compliance guy. Why do you think he has to play two years?

Hmmmm.. One word.. OLYMPICS!!! Your so called stars.. were destroyed. How soon we forget a team of stars.. somtimes can't compete against a TEAM!!! "The US has fallen behind as far as team play". And what else the &^$%% else is there? There can be no stars without the team. Which of those players were the stars in the olympics? That also equates to NO fundamentals. I really don't think "White" players are being replaced by foreign players either.. but US players. Sorry I'm not buying that one.

Send me some names in a PM? Cg can give you some SLU scoop too.

Amen to that brother!!! We should have a cold one sometime.. could probably cuss and discuss this in more detail.

I don't have a problem with a lot of what your saying, I agree. but..fact remains the present system plain stinks. At least the NCAA and the shoe companies are trying to do something different. I commend that. One of the only positives is that all these kids are in one spot for the coach's, yes they do like that. But this same reason is why some believe US players are falling behind the Europeans and others in skill developement too. Yes we have better athletes. But they are getting better skilled. I'm sure you have heard that argument before? Thanks for the compliment yes, Tyler does have good parents (at least one... his mom) and yes he has a very good HS coach. So maybe this change is a positive thing for those that don't have those luxeries? At least it is an attempt.

exactly.. Tyler does do reverse pivot's. Does them in games too. We work on it. I agree.. two a day is enough. As soon as the summer is over. Aug is the down month. Nothing... up to him what he does. Sept. and Oct.. just shooting. Cg

That's what I don't like about it. They play way to much. Those teams with Ranked players.. yes AAU coach's pocket money for bringing in the big recruits/ranked players. That's how it works. Other teams pay big bucks just to play. I don't like that aspect of it either. I'm not sure but even HS coach's pocket money for camps and teams camps. I believe that is how the system works? So people are pocketing money off a kid playing ball while he's in high school. hmm.. What's not to like about that? Then the kid blows his knee out becuase he's playing in a game that started after midnight, and he's got another game the next day.. at 9am. Trust any game after 9pm and they have them... is a blood bath..coach's don't want to be there.. players don't want to be there..and ref's don't want to be there..so they don't blow the whistle. Him.. then you simply have a rugby game. Have you been to Houston or to Vegas or Akron for any of these big big tourneys? Tiger72 they are the worst fundamental games ever played. Kids run and they throw the ball up and dunk it. Most of the time they miss the dunk, they miss the alley oop and etc.etc. You want bad ball go watch those summer games. No offense and very very little defense. Everyone goes one on on.. that's it. No such thing as a play. You want fundamentals and what we have created is a breeding ground of summer ball that takes away from fundamentals. Some tourney's you don't shoot free throws?? Duh.. no wonder kids can't shoot FT anymore. It's crazy. During July.. games are played 7 days a week. TG will be gone more then he is home in July. They play Friday Sat. Sunday in April and May during the school year. So the kids are missing school. Usually a couple Fridays during the end of the school year. I don't like that. Now as far as them telling me what I want to hear.. because I have something they want. You go ask. Please ask RM what he thinks of the whole Summer circuit Spring and Summer "AAU" season. Is it it necessary? Is it good for the kids? What would he do in place of that? Ask Bruce Weber... ask Mike Anderson, Rick Pitino, ask Matt Painter..Bill Self ask Hinson (sp)at SMS. Ask them one if they like it..and two if it is good for the kids? A quote from Hinson a while back.. he watches two things at a summer games.. the kid off the court..and his parents while he's playing. Never ever looks at the scoreboard. I have not asked RM yet. I will next time I see him... will compare his answers and see if it's different. Yes Mark and Mike coach in the Gateway program.. They do a very good job too. That's why TG plays with Mark too.

of course the kids love it..they are catered too.. but..it's not the best thing for them. That is for sure. Even the college coach's will tell you that.

He's in the Adidas Nations program. Paul Silas is his coach. Good stuff.

Times are a changing.. I think and hope for the better. Those camps were horrible. hoops camps stress fundamentals Luciana Chavez, Staff Writer Everything you know about shoe company summer basketball camps is about to change. Gone is the "touch it, shoot it" mentality of the elite basketball camps in Teaneck, N.J. (Reebok), Atlanta (Adidas) and Indianapolis (Nike). Replacing that is a "team first, skills first" approach to be played out most publicly in Philadelphia (Reebok), Redwood City, Calif., and Atlanta (Adidas) and Akron, Ohio, (Nike). "Throwing balls out and having a place to play, everyone's doing that now and we [the shoe companies] should be doing a lot more to enhance the game," Nike's Elite Youth Basketball director Jeff Rogers said. "These kids don't need another place to play five-on-five. We have to give them another option." Tournaments such as this weekend's Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions -- the unofficial summer hoops tipoff in the Triangle -- also attract the nation's top talent. Camps have long given players the best street cred and exposure. But two things have pushed the shoe companies to change how they run their camps. First, most of the nation's basketball community is worried that U.S. players are falling behind their skilled, fundamentally sound European foes. Also, summer basketball godfather Sonny Vaccaro recently decided to discontinue his successful summer basketball events, opening a void. In response, the parties independently came to the same conclusion that U.S. players need to receive more instruction to improve their skills. Each company is taking a slightly different path to get that done. Adidas is moving furthest away from the all-star camp structure, with Adidas Nations. Fifteen players on the class of 2008 team and 14 on the class of 2009 team met in Atlanta at the NCAA Final Four and earlier this month at the EA Sports complex in Redwood City, Calif., where former NBA coach Paul Silas drilled them on fundamentals and team play. On June 15, Adidas Nations teams will play each other in the Rose City Showcase in Portland, Ore. From Aug. 3-7, the two teams will travel to New Orleans to play teams from Latin America, Asia and Europe. "These kids, especially the top kids, a lot of times when they do get any instruction, they don't get enough," said Travis Gonzolez, Adidas' head of Global Basketball public relations. "Then, what they won't do is go back and implement it with their AAU teams and their high school teams. ... We felt [focusing on team play] would be much better for the game." Nike will replace its All-American Camp with four position academies led by the Phoenix Suns' Steve Nash (for point guards), New Jersey Nets' Vince Carter (for small forwards), Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant (for shooting guards) and Phoenix Suns All-Star Amare Stoudemire (for big men). Twenty players will attend each camp in June. That group of 80 will meet at the LeBron James Skills Academy in Akron, July 7-10. Nike has run a small skills development camp at its home base in Beaverton, Ore., for several years. The company liked how it worked and saw this summer as a way to improve on it. "The way I look at it, the camps were created at a time when there weren't a lot of places to play," Rogers said. "They can play in a tournament every weekend so where is the time to concentrate on your weaknesses and improve your strengths?" Reebok isn't changing the camp structure because "we don't really think anything is broken," Reebok grassroots director Chris Rivers said. "For the other 49 weeks of the year, these kids are playing for someone else. They rarely play in an organized fashion in front of college coaches. Part of our brand mission is to sell individuality." Reebok has renamed and decreased the size of its all-star camp, which will be called Rbk U and take place in Philadelphia from July 6-10. Instead of 200-plus players, 65 will be chosen by a national selection committee. Another 55 can earn their way in by playing at a Headliner Tryout camp in June. The 10 best players will travel to Italy for games against European teams June 7-17. Reebok is also staging an underclassmen camp in June and several Proving Ground combines in July for guys who haven't yet made a dent on the national scene. The shoe companies have done what they can to change but no one knows how it will affect the athletes. The company camps, at their height, brought in about 500 athletes. Now, for that critical NCAA evaluation period in early July, there are 300 fewer spots. Good players won't miss out, shoe company execs say. "There will be fewer elite spots in one place, but these kids will still have plenty of opportunity to play with their AAU teams," Rivers said. Will these newly structured grassroots basketball operations yield savvy, skilled and still athletic U.S. basketball players? It's too early to say just yet. "There's more to this game than the individual," Gonzolez said. "There's more to the game than bringing kids to Teaneck over the summer. This summer is a great opportunity for the sport and for a lot of kids." Staff writer Luciana Chavez can be reached at 829-4864 or [email protected].

Bad habbits already.. Carries the ball on every dribble.. lol

Mystery-man you are correct.. However you only get 5 official visits too, one recruit gets only 5 offical visits. Each school has to do some paperwork for each visit too. I think there is a limit on unofficial visists too.. but it is something like 7 in a calendar year too. - That's why a lot of recruits that live near a school just do unofficial visits. They use the official visits for schools that are a little harder to get to from where they live. Cg

Jimbofive... you ever stay at BRL.. Black River Lodge.. man every year for almost 20 family would spend a week there. What memories..?? Cg

Do you have a link to that article? I would like to read that. Thanks!! Cg

Nothing to report.. Gatway 17's are struggling a bit in big games... to put 2 halves together. Other than that small ft wayne tourney this weekend and then everyone breaks down for the high school june stuff. July is packed but only 4 weeks and eveyone starts getting ready for the high school season. Tyler's still got two extra trips. Portand OR and New Orleans for an International tourney, with teams from all over the world, Spain, Europe, South America etc. etc.. pretty cool stuff.

Tyler already had his meet and greet. .one night last week. No biggie thouugh. RM's got some great stories though. One of those guys like Spoon or Jack Buck.. you could sit and listen to for hours and hours. lol

I would think Dr. B would find this more interesting then others too. But of the 12 players that RM has in the league. All 12 played 4 years for him (I think)..but all 12 did get their degree too. Doleac has also passed the MCAT (sp) medicical entrance exam..and when ever he gets done with the NBA gig (9yr's already).. plans to continue his medical education.

Thanks.. dave.. I will take that as a compliment. It really has not been that bad. The NCAA does not do everything right.. but keeping these coach's off the kids, well let's just say they have gotten it right with that. June 15th...they can start calling. So talk to me after that? Maybe or hopefully, I will change my tune some. lol Pretty easy mindset too.. be prepared for what's ahead, and don't take anything for granted. Very simple really.

You say who and where.. I will keep saying if and when.. just part of the process..if your in my shoes.

Hopefully we'll need to have one in about 18 mo's? lol

the most famous "Game Time is On Time"!!! Anyone know the story.. I think it's Bob Costa's favorite??

I think I lost your e-mail. Cg

Nate Why do you say that? Just curious?

Cowboy ...you got that right!!!!!

ouch... Tyler is not going either. Ouch.. I will find out for sure about Booker later.