BU hosting SIU, some player followups, Coach Corn from Yuba has a nice line, & other college and NBA news!!

BU hosts the Salukis tonight...we need good guard play and we need for our big guys to stay out of foul trouble.
SIU's only real inside force, Gene Teague is said to be sidelined by an ankle injury and likely won't play. Their only other big guys, Seck & Fay, like to be wing players and don't plant themselves much in the paint. Seck does get a lot of rebounds, though, because of how active he is. He's more like a 6-7 guard.
Right now, he's the player I would be most worried about, he's sorta their version of what Taylor Brown would have been for us.


One player followup -- Marcellus Sommerville's impressive team-leading stats (14 ppg, 9 rpg in Eurocup games & 12 ppg/8 rpg in league play) has helped his team, Paris Levallois, stay in the middle of the pack, but they need to get scoring from some of the other players.
A couple other American players have also been in the news in the French League...
Ben Woodside is averaging 17.4 ppg, 5.7 apg....
And Northern Iowa's Ben Jacobson has just been signed by Boulazac after averaging 13.4 ppg in the German League.

In Tunisia, Will Franklin's team, ES Sahel, is 16-1 and nearly dominant in the league. Here are some pictures of Will...
http://www.etoile-du-sahel.com/fr/index2.php?option=com_datsogallery&func=wmark&mid=3116
http://www.etoile-du-sahel.com/fr/images/stories/basket/willima-franklin_200.jpg


Here's a column I get a kick out of....
after all the times we've seen horrible reporting coming from the guys whose very job it is to report the news and the facts, and how often they get it all wrong...
Examples like the John Wilkins to Iowa State headlines, the life on other planets, cure for cancer, and alien organism headlines...total misunderstanding of what an offensive rebound even is....
Obviously the pros -- the guys who do reporting and information as a full time living - have enough trouble getting it right...
the last thing that they need to be dwelling on is what "everyone else" is saying...

But here they go again -- bashing just about anyone else but themselves who has a thought or has an opinion...
The ISU Redbirds beat writer Jim Benson writes a piece ripping into a reader who posted a comment....
NOW REMEMBER -- the newspaper asks for reader comments -- they solicit them and WANT TO HEAR what the readers have to say, then tear them apart!!

Now, mind you, almost NOBODY in the universe ever reads those "Reader Comments" at the end of newspaper stories, but somehow the writers really get incensed about some....as Phil Luciano has often gone of on a rant about...
Anyway -- here's Benson ripping some guy because he comments that he had heard ISU Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger might be a candidate for the Kansas AD job.
Benson rips the guy to pieces who left the comment -- as stupid and irresponsible, even though it turned out to be 100% TRUE!!!

So -- as it turned out, the guy was 100% correct and accurate -- as now the ISU AD has already accepted the Kansas job!!
In other words...the single thing that Benson can find most offensive of all the blather people post on the internet, was completely true, and thus totally demolishes Benson's point that the internet comments like this are always worthless!

This one is a real gem......you have to read it....
http://www.pantagraph.com/app/blogs/main/?p=5795


In the German Leagues, Dane Watts (Creighton '08) is the leading scorer & rebounder for Walter Tigers Tuebingen at 14.1 ppg, 7.7 rpg.
In Turkey -- it appears Osiris Eldridge has lost his starting spot and is coming off the bench now -- scoring only 4 pts/2 rebs Sunday in the win over Antalya.


Did you see this?? Butler got absolutely hammered by UW-M, and UW-M is not really a very good team! Final - 76-52 with Butler star Shelvin Mack scoring only 3 pts, and UW-M's starters scoring 67 points on 24-42 (57%).
Butler head coach Brad Stevens even got a technical!!!


Ex-BU recruit Leon Powell had a monster game last night for SEMO in their win over Tenn-Martin..
36 points on 11-13, and 8 rebs, 4 blocks.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201101030509


On the Big Ten network last night visiting Michigan State came on late to win at Northwestern 65-62, while John Shurna looks to be playing injured as he hit only 1-11, and 1-5 from 3-pt. As I had said earlier -- Northwestern needs Shurna healthy or they are a bottom dweller in the Big Ten...
They are already 0-2 in league play.


Here's a nice premium article on a kid Bradley has been mentioned with many times...
http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/1036398.html

"Showalter Beginning to Emerge

Zak Showalter
So far his junior year is off to an excellent start on the floor, and that has Zak Showalter attracting more and more attention on the recruiting trail.

“Zak is really turning himself into a combo guard,” .. averaging over 20 points per game as well as doing a good job of dishing out assists and attacking the glass.

“North Dakota State and South Dakota State have both offered,” said Litscher. “I spoke to his dad recently and about 25 schools have expressed interest and been around for open gyms, practices, and games. Indiana State, Creighton, and Miami-Ohio have all been real interested as have Drake, Bradley, and Ivy League schools.”
As a 3.8 GPA student, Showalter is no doubt focused on academics.."


Here's an interesting comment about the refereeing they got in the Yuba College game...
Yuba head coach Doug Cornelius says this after a recent loss....

"An 11-point halftime lead became an infuriating defeat for the Yuba College men's basketball team ... an outcome that had 49ers coach Doug Cornelius fuming.
"We got screwed," he said. "We were up 11 at the half and in complete control of the game and things started turning the other way.
"There were quite a few calls that went against us that were questionable."
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/49ers-102295-rosa-santa.html


Arizona State is not very good -- they're just 8-5, losing to mid-majors, and as a team only hitting 32% on 3-pointers.
But guess who their TWO BEST three pointers are...even though they hardly get a chance to play....?
Brandon Dunson is hitting on 42% of his 3-pointers, and Corey Hawkins is hitting on 43% of his....and the next best guys on the entire team are all starters but hitting only 38%, 36%, and 31% respectively!!
Seems Brandon and Corey could help if they play a little!


Just some NBA news....the Bulls play Toronto tonight, as now hit a relatively easy part of their schedule, playing only three teams between now and the end of January, who are above .500, and only six all the way to the end of February, after nearly half of their opponents up 'til now have been the tougher teams in the NBA -- Boston, Knicks, Lakers, San Antonio, Dallas, etc..
If the Bulls play up to their potential, they could be looking at the possibility of reaching 40 wins before they get their 15th loss..then they get their starting center, Joakim Noah back and get even stronger.

Also -- the Knicks, one of the other top teams in the east, has just lost one of their key players, Danilo Gallinari, for at least 2-3 weeks with a knee sprain.


Lastly -- the good, old American way...
if your kid doesn't make it on the high school basketball team, then get a lawyer and SUE!!!! No wonder the whole generation is so screwed up and thinks they deserve everything!
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110103/NEWS02/301030060/Parents%2Bof%2Bformer%2BIndiana%2Bbasketball%2Bplayer%2Bmake%2Bfederal%2Bcase%2Bof%2Bhaircut%2Bpolicy