College basketball season starts -- P'Allen Stinnett plays his first game, and some interesting happenings...

NOW ............the followup I know everyone has been waiting for!!
The debut at the D-II level for P'Allen Stinnett...
as his Missouri Western Griffons clobbered a bunch of touring amateurs who called themseves "Livin the Dream"!! Score 103-66 in an exhibition game.

P'Allen started and went 7-15 but only 1-6 from 3-pt range, and ended with 15 pts, 4 rebs, 4 asst, 4 steals. (26 minutes)
not a bad stat line.......but...
Nobody really knows if he played any defense though, but the starting SG on the other team was their leading scorer with 18...
But overall, he ought to be a great player at this level and his final year should be fun for him -- and I wish him the best as do all the current BlueJay & Braves fans (probably).

...and according to the Play-by-play P'Allen was only 2-4 on dunks -- missing two of them!! So if you do the math -- then two of the only three non-3-pointers that P'Allen missed were his two missed dunks, as he was 6-9 from 2-pt range.
The Missouri Western subs (bench) outscored P'Allen and the other starters 65-38!!

Here's a picture of P'Allen from last night wearing his golden shoes...
http://www.gogriffons.com/images/gallery/MBB10%20vs.%20LTD11-5-10/DSC_0062.JPG


One time BU commit - Daniel West -- who we all wanted to see at BU but his academics were bad. Bruce Pearl regrettably took a chance and West wasted a year and a half at Tennessee and never played -- ultimately being booted when he was NOT qualilfied (Pearl should have known better!)
Finally, West logged his first college basketball game last night, after a decent 1-year juco career, as his Rhode Island team loses to Pitt 83-75.

Pitt is ranked as high as #4 and didn't look it as they couldn't put the Rhode Island Rams away -- the lead being as small as 2 pts with little over a minute to go..
Rhode Island even led deep into the 2nd half..

Daniel West came off the bench and had an awesome first game...
In just 20 minutes, he grabbed 3 steals, and handed out TEN assists!!
He also scored 4 pts but had 6 turnovers.
More proof if you needed it that Jim Les can definitely spot talent!


Bloomington's D'Mitri Riggs after 2 games at Wabash Valley (juco) is averaging 19.5 ppg, has made 15-18 from the floor, 6-6 on 3-pointers, 4 rpg, 2.5 apg.


Ex-BU recruit Ricardo Johnson, now at Ohio, in two exhibitions...
--vs. Wooster, Rico was 4-10, 11 pts, 4 rebs
--vs. Walsh, 1-1, 4 pts, 3 rebs


Poor Brian Carlwell -- after all that befell him at Illinois -- getting messed up with the Jamar Smith incident, the head injury -- transferring to San Diego State..
Now he's fully recovered but SDSU happens to be so good and so strong, that even though Carlwell is playing well, he's just a sub...
In SDSU's exhibition, Carlwell came off the bench and had 7 pts, 8 rebs -- but played only 20 min vs Point Loma

SDSU has two of the better forwards in the MWC - Kawhi Leonard & Malcolm Thomas...so Carlwell will remain a sub and perhaps not get a lot of playing time in his senior year..
http://goaztecs.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/carlwell_brian00.html


Ex-Brave Ryan Thornton from IVC is a senior at Illinois-Springfield..
http://www.uisprairiestars.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=140&path=mbball

UIS has lost both their exhibitions (to UIC & Iowa) both by big margins...and Ryan did not appear in either game -- so he must be injured or not playing for some other reason.
In one of the photos from the Iowa picture gallery, he does appear to be in street clothes.


One ex-BU recruit Darius Smith had his debut with College of Southern Idaho this week...
Darius Smith has not impressed thus far in his juco sophomore campaign..
In his first game..Darius Smith had 3 pts, and teammate Fabyon Harris 4 pts in CSI's win over Scottsdale

In his other game vs Phoenix Darius 2 pts, Fabyon 4 pts...

There were some players held out for disciplinary reasons -- so the trouble there is starting...

And -- As the Illini continue at times to struggle -- and Billy Cole is getting playing time but not scoring...



I won't pile onto Bruce Pearl since his Top 20 ranked team just got hammered by a D-II ---
no...his own fans are doing a good enough job of that, but I will offer this...
The calls to fire Pearl and start over are going to get rolling fast and furious....



Indiana also had a serious struggle last night and should have lost to their D-II opponent...
-- Indiana needed a lot of luck -- some really suspicious favorable calls down the stretch and then a really bizarre and disputable call on a basket at the buzzer in order to get to overtime to beat Ferris State..

But check this out...
here's the basket at the final buzzer that DID GO IN...and would have ended the game in regulation with a WIN for visiting D-II Ferris State..
http://www.hoosierhoopsta.com/2010-11-08_2129Shot_.png

Note that the ball is out of the shooter's hands and there is STILL 0.4 seconds remaining on the clock...

But, what is crazy and confusing, is that the light on the backboard is also on -- and that's what the refs saw and nullified the basket to go to overtime.

BUT -- clearly the refs made a very questionable call as the clock shown is the one run by the official timer and clock operator at the scorer's table.
So how could the refs make this call? Even the Hoosier fans are stumped..and there's one thread going saying they were embarrassed about the refs who called so many phantom calls against Ferris that helped IU get to OT.
http://indiana.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=726&tid=150026846&mid=150026846&sid=942&style=2

Some defend the call with this line..
"it's just an exhibition game anyway"...but don't you think it's still important to get it right? I can assure you this kind of controversy is gonna come up in a close Big Ten game and be a nightmare for them.



Here's a story that only marginally interests me - since it's ISU women's basketball --
ISU women's basketball got a transfer from Alabama last year near the end of January, Candace Sykes..
http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/women/article_5a8550b2-ebbe-11df-87e1-001cc4c002e0.html

Candace Sykes was from St. Anne, IL and went to Momence HS but was ranked #59 nationally -- and even redshirted in 2008-2009..then in 2009-2010,
she played in 8 games, and avg 4.5 ppg, 2 rpg..including a 16 pt game early on against Tenn Tech -- after about mid-Dec -- she never played again and was shooting poorly -- likely got into the coach's doghouse.

...and tho we will never know the reasons, NCAA has granted her a waiver to play right away..at ISU!!

This one puzzles me....since no comment was ever made about coming to ISU to be closer to family and there was virtually no reason she left Alabama except she didn't like it..and wasn't playing.

Here is the precise ruling in "SLR Waiver"

They grant the waiver if she fulfills these three criteria..
-if there's a valid reason for transfer
-if it appears to be for her "well-being"
-if it gives ISU no competetive or recruiting advantage..
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Sv1dyZczjNYJ:web1.ncaa.org/web_files/AMA/legislative_relief/Application%2520(updated%252011%25203%252009).pdf+%22slr+waiver%22&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjdP7_Y9kGK2vV9qX5rLZr21O9peJa1KnlrOsJ8BEDBiqG38-cFIpD6lcFoXDo_gl4RjiKmU4QOM_GeO06Mytbg-3bcu07tqRkTsdJkJi51_5Kn2VmqLQx7qGRQksVrFNCkDYl5&sig=AHIEtbRjkxppZCLGt2dFw-AHTiQOZlNRxA

So -- ISU doesn't gain an advantage to get a player who was ranked #59 in the nation?? So what gives? Seems like ISU and Sykes both caught big breaks from a very favorable and really quite unusual ruling...



Lastly -- this topic has nothing to do with basketball..but just a word of warning to people--
Choose your doctor carefully!!!

What this first article says is that an increasingly large number of doctors NOW work FOR hospitals...
considerbly MORE than half do...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703856504575600412716683130.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Why is this an issue?? Mainly because I would figure most people are like me -- that I would want my doctor to be working FOR ME ..and not beholding to some huge corporation that has to turn profits...
I would want my doctor to have an investment in this community --to be here because that's where he chose and where he's gonna be well into the future, and who has a qualified AMERICAN medical school background since who knows what they teach in the boondocks of other backwards and third world nations??
Well, simply put it is because such a fact may largely effect the quality of care you get. And for many reasons...

--first and foremost, hospitals are under the gun and economics is a real and major issue in every thing they do and every choice they make. And I can speak from a position of certainty that those doctors employed by hospitals MUST alter and conform their practices and their choices to meet hospital requirements that are largely based on economics and profit.
In simple terms -- the employed docs will get fired if they lose money -- simple as that -- so the care of patients is NOT decided FIRST on what is RIGHT and the best medical choice, it's decided on what's economically best for the practitioner!
Trust me, I have seen the proof of this first hand...read on..

--second..almost all the doctors hires by hospitals to do the work they want are hired with ONE main objective --
docs are hired based on who they (the employer) can get for the lowest pay scale...thus hospitals hire a huge and disproportionately large brigade of foreign trained doctors.
This in itself doesn't mean they are bad doctors, but why do hospitals do this? (and I will prove they do later).
They do it because doctors on visas have to find work (or else they risk deportment) so they are often willing to work for FAR less than American trained doctors...simple as that.
If interested -- just look at the "roster" of employed doctors at just about any hospital of your choosing.
As many as 75%, 85% and more are foreign doctors. You decide for yourself...
here is just an example...
Let's say you get sick and go to Methodist Hospital in Peoria.
Then you will be assigned a HOSPITALIST, a doctor to care for you while in the hospital.... this will be the guy making all your medical decisions - even life-and-death decisions!!

Well -- here's a page listing the current Methodist Hospitalists...and I say current since they change completely just about every few months as docs leave the area and are replaced. It is a simple fact that very few hospitalists stay in their job for more than a few months then move on -- it's a thankless job in which the practitioner has little say and NO ownership of his practice. he is forever just a scut-boy -- doing work for other people.
Well -- note that among the MMCI hospitalists, 10 out of 10 are foreign trained...
only one even did any medical school training in the US and most have difficulty with language as they are from the middle east and far east..
http://www.mymethodist.net/visitors/hospitalists.aspx

Check any other hospital and find the same -- almost anywhere. It is difficult to draw GOOD, well trained American medical school grads to Central Illinois, so the hospitals get what they can get.

So you decide -- buyer beware -- since many people I have talked to have no idea that this will happen to them and don't or won't understand why they can't have the doctor of their own choosing.
I suggest you ask the doctor of your choosing who will follow you if you are in the hospital. Will it be someone who knows you, who cares for you, who is loyal to you and not the hospital, and who might be beneficial because he is familiar with your history and background?

Or will you get some completely unknown commodity who you did not choose but who will be assigned to you whether you want or not...someone who might make little effort to try to learn or find your background - and who often makes no effort to find out from your doctor what your history is. Someone who is beholding to the hospital for his job and whose job performance will be reviewed by bean counters to make sure he doesn't lose money and if he does, he'll be a goner like a lot of the other hospitalists before him...
You decide.....