The College Basketball Post

[shuges]

 

[allen3xis]

they lost their swagger that game
what does this mean?

 

[JND1]

[h2]Wall: A king in search of a court[/h2] [h3]Brian Clifton, director of Wall's summer team, insists he doesn't control Wall. But Clifton and Word of God coach Levi Beckwith have strong ideas about where he would fit best for a year before turning pro.[/h3]

By Roger van der Horst, Staff Writer Comment on this story
RALEIGH - Another game night in Word of God Christian Academy's tiny gym, and the king of the court produces yet another move that spectators never thought they'd see.
John Wall, the homecoming king, dressed in a suit and fumbling with his sash, actually appears uncomfortable.

Less than an hour earlier, the senior was, as usual, imposing his will on the basketball court. In his lean, 6-foot-4 frame is packed the ability to dribble a ball at a sprinter's speed before delivering a perfect pass, to throw down a one-handed jam from eye level with the rim, to weave through opposing players to get to the basket.

He's a YouTube hit, featured in videos with titles like "Sickest Player in the Country" and "Monster Dunk" that have drawn more than 900,000 combined views.

Finishing a spectacular play, he will often smile, the game a means of expressing himself with absolute clarity and self-assurance.

Off the court, life hasn't worked so simply. Wall has had to cope with the death of his father almost 10 years ago, a tendency to act out of anger and the journey to figure out where he belongs. After two years at Garner High and a brief stint at Broughton, which cut him from the team, he is in his fifth year at his third high school, having repeated his sophomore year.

This fall, of course, he will go someplace else. His abundant skills have merged with his status as the nation's top undecided player to create a crescendo of expectation regarding where he will attend college. Around him, Wall hears both the pitches of college coaches eager to land him and the suggestions of mentors eager to nudge him to the place they feel most suits him. And John Wall, a valuable 18-year-old commodity, is eager to please everyone.

"He doesn't want to disappoint people," Word of God coach Levi Beckwith said in a recent interview. "He's going to have a tough decision because of that."

Wall insists that he alone will make it.

"Yeah, it's all my decision," said the player, who's expected to announce his intentions sometime after his season, likely in April.

Wall and those closest to him epitomize today's realities in the pursuit of the best young talent. These include: the involvement of summer-league and high school coaches as de facto agents, their insistence on knowing how their players will be used, the way that perceived differences in playing and coaching styles can sway prospects, and the hiring by colleges -- coincidental or not -- of coaches with ties to recruits.

The fuss is all about what the point guard could do. He could turn a rising program at Baylor into a national power. Or satiate a starved N.C. State fan base and help Sidney Lowe turn the program around. Or give Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski his most explosive playmaker since Jason Williams. Or make Miami games a happening. Or again stamp Kansas as an NCAA title favorite. Or follow Derrick Rose at Memphis to the NCAA final and the No. 1 spot in the NBA Draft.

He could accomplish any of these in less than a year.

But John Wall doesn't come without conditions. Like Rose, he will be "one-and-done," playing college ball as a freshman before jumping to the pros, he and his closest advisers say. At times, his attitude needs no adjective -- it suffices to say he has one -- so he needs a nurturing, thick-skinned coach, not a my-way-or-the-highway absolutist, say Beckwith and Brian Clifton, the director of D-One Sports, Wall's Greensboro- based summer-league team. He will thrive in a fast-paced system that encourages rather than squashes individual creativity, they say.

More than anyone else, Wall said, he trusts Clifton and Beckwith to help him make the choice.

The case for Baylor

To any college coach who'd rather not deal with the two dominant male figures in Wall's life, the message is clear: No hard feelings, but that coach would be advised to look elsewhere.

Clifton, 34, now living in Raleigh to "make sure we keep things calm around John," hides nothing about what he believes would be best for Wall.

"I think he should go to Baylor," Clifton said.

There, he said, Wall would benefit from the team's fast, wide-open style of play and the "unassuming" nature of a head coach, Scott Drew, who wouldn't put his ego ahead of Wall's.

It also happens that Clifton's younger brother and former D-One coach, Dwon, was hired last summer as Baylor's director of player development, and one of Wall's best friends, former Garner High and D-One teammate Tyrone "T.Y." Williams, has enrolled at nearby McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, as a scholarship player. He is being redshirted this year.

Upon hearing that Baylor had hired Dwon Clifton, "I just wondered when John Wall was going to go," said Darryl Robinson, the coach at Hillside High in Durham and a former AAU coach who knows the Cliftons.

While acknowledging that the presence of his brother and Wall's former teammate make Baylor more attractive, Brian Clifton denies that he steered either one to Waco as a so-called package deal intended to entice Wall to follow. Ultimately, Clifton said, Wall can go where he pleases; his brother Dwon was well qualified for the newly created Baylor job that he took long before Wall will commit to a college; and McLennan gave Williams a college option that no other school was offering. Dwon Clifton, 28, also has another tie to Baylor: assistant coach Matt Driscoll coached him at Clemson.

"We made efforts to explain [Dwon's hiring] to people early on, but they're all knowing, it's a done deal, John's been sold down the river, he's got to go to Baylor," Brian Clifton said. "John didn't commit to Baylor then. Maybe he'll go to Baylor. Maybe he won't. Maybe he'll go to Duke, N.C. State ... he may go anywhere."

Clifton, who said his summer team is a full-time vocation, has been watching Wall play since he was 12, and said Wall first joined D-One when he was about 15. Clearly, Clifton is offended by the assumption that colleges and fans who don't know the player at all belong on a higher moral plain than he does.

"If John Wall right now stopped playing basketball, and he was no longer the prospect that people thought, there would be no concern whatsoever over where he went to college or if he went to college," Clifton said. "... But then you have people around him like my brother and myself and his high school coach, who do care about him, who are concerned about whether he is successful in life or not, and just because other people recognize and notice him now, you're supposed to relinquish any types of thoughts and hopes and dreams that you have for this kid and step back and listen to somebody who knows nothing about him? That's absurd."

Hirings and recruits

Wall himself hardly comes across as naive about the recruiting game. Yes, Baylor showed interest in him before hiring Dwon Clifton, and "Dwon never told me he was going there," he said.

So, the hiring wasn't done to lure him to Baylor?

"Oh, I think it was," Wall said. "You know, whichever AAU coach gets a job in college is hoping that he gets the point guard or the best player from that organization with him."

Baylor would not make Dwon Clifton available for an interview. Nor would head coach Scott Drew agree to one.

"Dwon's done a great job for us," said Chris Yandle, an assistant director of media relations for the university. "... We don't have to say or justify why the position was created or why we hire certain people."

During a weekly Big 12 teleconference, Baylor's Drew was asked to describe Clifton's duties: "As far as schools all have ops guys, and those positions are all very important, especially in today's basketball when there's so much outside pressure as far as speaking engagements and different things to meet the players' needs. They're essential for a head coach nowadays."

Although the NCAA prohibits the hiring of a high school or prep school coach with the intent of enrolling an athlete, intent is difficult to prove, and in fact, college head coaches routinely hire assistants with ties to recruits. The staff of Arizona State's Herb Sendek, formerly head coach at N.C. State, includes Scott Pera, who coached star player James Harden in high school. Drake head coach Mark Phelps, a longtime Sendek assistant at NCSU and Arizona State, joined the Wolfpack staff in 1996 as director of basketball operations after coaching future State players Damon Thornton and Kenny Inge in high school.

Ronnie Chalmers, a former high school head coach, served as Kansas' director of basketball operations while his son, Mario, played for the Jayhawks. After they won the 2008 national championship, his son departed for the NBA, and Ronnie Chalmers resigned in August.

The NCAA is concerned enough about the practice that it formed a special basketball focus group last spring to study that and other issues.

"Kids are trying to choose schools based on someone else's motives," said N.C. Central assistant LeVelle Moton, who runs a summer camp that Wall has attended.

Wall said he and Tyrone Williams exchange calls and text messages daily, and that Williams has told him not to choose Baylor out of loyalty. "That's not going to mess up my friendship if I don't go where he's at," Wall said.

Tiffany Williams said her son, one of four players on McLennan's 15-man roster from outside Texas, found out about the school "through John and his D-One coach." Longtime Garner High basketball coach Eddie Gray, whose backcourt once included Wall and Williams, questioned why his former player wound up at a junior college in Texas.

"That's silly, to use a kid like that [to entice another player]," Gray said, "and I hope somebody's going to intervene in that, if that's going on."

Questions for Duke

What concerns Clifton and Beckwith more than others' interpretation of their motives is the prospect of their protege winding up somewhere they feel he might not fit.

To put it another way: They're worried about him going to Duke.

In Wall, they see a young man who has matured but with a history of challenging authority, who wants to leave college after one year, who wants to play in a less structured, fast-breaking offense.

"It would behoove him to be in a situation that he would be able to play for a coach who has a more free-flowing offense, who is going to afford him the opportunity to be expressive and to do the things that he needs to do [to prepare for the NBA]," Clifton said.

If not for the recent rule that prevents players from jumping straight from high school to the NBA, Clifton said, Wall would have considered skipping college. One draft site, nbadraft.net, projects him as the No. 1 pick in 2010.

Anticipating an eventual meeting with Krzyzewski, Beckwith was already voicing his questions.

"I'm going to say, 'Look, this is what John's going to do. Now, what are you going to do when he does that?' " Beckwith said. "When you're playing Carolina and things aren't going well, when you take him out of the game and he mumbles, 'I shoulda gone to Carolina,' which to you is disrespectful and it's not the right thing to say ... how long are you going to sit him out? If he's going to be done for the year, then don't take him."

The Word of God coach has a tip for Wall as well: "If you're really serious about going to Duke, all this flashy stuff, stop it. And let's see how you like it."

Duke point guard Nolan Smith, a sophomore, was asked what he would tell a prospect used to creating individually in high school.

"The main thing I'd tell him is, 'Get ready to play team basketball, but keep your style of play. Yet, play your style of play within the Duke style of play.' It's something you have to learn while you're here. You can't really tell somebody how it is until they get here."

Duke assistant coach Chris Collins said that when he's developing a relationship with a recruit, he prefers to deal with his perceptions of the program head-on.

"If there are preconceived notions about what it is, what it's like, style of play, playing for Coach K, going to school at Duke, all those things, we just try to be up front about who we are, what we have, what we're looking for in our players," Collins said, "and usually, because of that, you whittle it down to the guys who really fit what you're looking for."

Coaches can't discuss specific potential recruits, but Collins pointed out that Krzyzewski has always adjusted to his personnel.

"If we have J.J. Redick, we're going to look to get him the ball, get him shots," Collins said. "If we've got Jason Williams, we're going to [let him create]. We've always been a program that has pushed the ball and scored a lot of points and played pressure 'D'."

Beckwith said he likes Memphis, Baylor and N.C. State as good fits for Wall, who noted that his mother, Frances Pulley, has been a State fan "since she was born." Clifton described Sidney Lowe as "one of my favorite coaches," and insisted that the fact that the Wolfpack players wear Adidas shoes -- Nike sponsors D-One -- is "not an issue at all." In Clifton's mind, though, the talent level is.

"At N.C. State, I think they've got to get a little bit better. I don't see any way around that," he said. "The personnel they have now, I can't see them [running] baseline to baseline. They just can't do it with the guys that they have."

If all this raises the question of whether spring and summer ball people have gained too much clout, recruiting analyst Dave Telep of scout.com said it's unrealistic for the best players to avoid them. "A conscious decision now to not play the spring AAU [and] summer camp scene? That model does not exist at the elite high school level anymore," Telep said.

As long as summer directors and coaches are involved with players, he went on to say, they will be involved with college coaches.

"Recruiting is about relationships -- having a relationship with John, having a relationship with his high school coach, with his AAU coach," Telep said, "and if any part of that relationship breaks down, when you're recruiting a guy of John Wall's caliber, your chances of landing him aren't as good as the next guy's."

For example, Clifton said North Carolina was interested in Wall but tersely noted that D-One has no relationship with UNC. When he brought a previous prospect to Chapel Hill, he said, "the feedback I got was, 'Roy [Williams] doesn't want to deal with you because he doesn't deal with AAU guys.' "

Again, Williams is not permitted to discuss current prospects, and he also wouldn't talk about specific summer coaches, but he said he certainly does deal with some of them.

"It varies [with] each player," Williams said during an ACC teleconference. "Some summer coaches we've had a great deal of contact with, and others we don't do as much. I've always felt my first point of concern is going to be the families ... and then it depends on who's important to the kid."

Williams said summer coaches in general have gotten a "bad rap."

Growing up

His first basketball memory, Wall said, is of shooting a ball at a Fisher Price goal when he was about 2 years old. He first began to realize how good he was while playing for the Garner Road YMCA team at age 10.

"Everybody said I was cheatin', that I was too old to play against 'em," he recalled.

As his confidence grew, so did his volatility. Wall admits he had an attitude problem. His coaches, however, recognized a likable side between the outbursts.

"I just figure he was crying out for attention," said N.C. Central's Moton, who said he twice suspended Wall from his camp.

When Wall got to Garner, Gray said, he "was just hyper. He played with this reckless abandon."

"He never really had a male figure in his life, so if he'd go off on one of these tangents, instead of yelling at him, I'd just sit him down and say, 'John, just watch us for a while,' " Gray said.

After Wall's sophomore season, his mother moved out of the Garner school district. Wall said Clifton and another youth coach pushed him to transfer to Word of God, but he wanted to stay in a public school and went to Broughton.

Broughton coach Jeff Ferrell declined to discuss why he cut Wall. Brock Young, a guard on the team and now at East Carolina, said it was a behavior issue, adding that he and other players felt Wall should not have been cut.

At Clifton's urging, Wall's mother enrolled him at Word of God, a private school of about 250 students, where he could play for Beckwith, a former D-One coach. Wall also could repeat his sophomore year there and still be eligible to play as a senior.

Wall's mother did not agree to be interviewed. She is recovering from a recent aneurysm. She said last month that she was still suffering from headaches and was out of work. She has attended some of her son's games.

Wall, who lives with his mother in a townhome near downtown Raleigh, said his mother is pretty much leaving the college decision to him. Clifton said he regularly chats with her and accompanies Wall on his college visits.

Wall said he's looking mainly for a team that runs and a coach with whom he can get along.

"If you go to a school where you don't get along with the coaches, y'all are having a lot of arguments, you're not going to play, you might take more years than you expect to go to the next level," he said. "I need a coach to push me to make sure I get to the next level as soon as possible."

roger.vanderhorst@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4558

 

[mez 0ne]

Thabeet casts a shadow on Michigan's upset bid as Huskies win 11th straight

 

[craftsy21]

Originally Posted by allen3xis

they lost their swagger that game

what does this mean?
Hard to explain, but I definitely agree with this statement... they have not been the same team since overtime of that game they had wrapped up. It's like they lost their confidence and have forgotten how to play against top teams in big moments. Up until that point they were playing some GREATball this season, and ever since they've looked very beatable overall. Hell, we were talking about their final four prospects back during that Uconngame... now that's a pipe dream, and it's the same team.

hasheem thabeet is the single most influential player to any one game in college basketball right now.
It's amazing what a true shot blocker can for a team. There are so few of them nowadays that when you get one, he really does become thecenterpiece of your defense, allowing everyone else to take so many chances and overplay the hell out of teams.

I would take a great shotblocker on my team before I took a decent offensive center like Gody, everyday of the week.. i don't care if he ever scored apoint.

 

[true 3 blue]

Louisville is about to kill us.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

I was supposed to go to the game today but my dad got stuck at work. It's prob better to watch this romping from my house.

 

[true 3 blue]

 

[jamesonnt]

Illinois vs Purdue on CBS too ..

 

[ThaxbyChamblis]

Questions for Duke

What concerns Clifton and Beckwith more than others' interpretation of their motives is the prospect of their protege winding up somewhere they feel he might not fit.

To put it another way: They're worried about him going to Duke.

In Wall, they see a young man who has matured but with a history of challenging authority, who wants to leave college after one year, who wants to play in a less structured, fast-breaking offense.

"It would behoove him to be in a situation that he would be able to play for a coach who has a more free-flowing offense, who is going to afford him the opportunity to be expressive and to do the things that he needs to do [to prepare for the NBA]," Clifton said.

If not for the recent rule that prevents players from jumping straight from high school to the NBA, Clifton said, Wall would have considered skipping college. One draft site, nbadraft.net, projects him as the No. 1 pick in 2010.

Anticipating an eventual meeting with Krzyzewski, Beckwith was already voicing his questions.

"I'm going to say, 'Look, this is what John's going to do. Now, what are you going to do when he does that?' " Beckwith said. "When you're playing Carolina and things aren't going well, when you take him out of the game and he mumbles, 'I shoulda gone to Carolina,' which to you is disrespectful and it's not the right thing to say ... how long are you going to sit him out? If he's going to be done for the year, then don't take him."

The Word of God coach has a tip for Wall as well: "If you're really serious about going to Duke, all this flashy stuff, stop it. And let's see how you like it."

Duke point guard Nolan Smith, a sophomore, was asked what he would tell a prospect used to creating individually in high school.

"The main thing I'd tell him is, 'Get ready to play team basketball, but keep your style of play. Yet, play your style of play within the Duke style of play.' It's something you have to learn while you're here. You can't really tell somebody how it is until they get here."

Duke assistant coach Chris Collins said that when he's developing a relationship with a recruit, he prefers to deal with his perceptions of the program head-on.

"If there are preconceived notions about what it is, what it's like, style of play, playing for Coach K, going to school at Duke, all those things, we just try to be up front about who we are, what we have, what we're looking for in our players," Collins said, "and usually, because of that, you whittle it down to the guys who really fit what you're looking for."

Coaches can't discuss specific potential recruits, but Collins pointed out that Krzyzewski has always adjusted to his personnel.

"If we have J.J. Redick, we're going to look to get him the ball, get him shots," Collins said. "If we've got Jason Williams, we're going to [let him create]. We've always been a program that has pushed the ball and scored a lot of points and played pressure 'D'."

Is he serious w/ this %$!@?

 

[blazinjkid]

Probably won't make SC, but Chris Wright just BANGED on us

 

[johnnyredstorm]

These announcers are pathetic. St. John's has less than 6 wins against ranked opponents under Norm's tenure. But somehow they know how to play againstranked opponents? I'm gonna be kinda tight if we win this game because I'm not there

 

[true 3 blue]

I swear, other than Knick games these rims are extra stiff. It seems that if you're not LOCKED ON, there's next to no chance these rims will give you.Nothing but long rebounds.

And Evans has been blocked at least 4 times already.

 

[kiddin like jason]

I completely agree about Pargo. What had stood out to me most is just the way he's playing.

Before UCONN game (10 games) - 7.2 assists per/2.5 turnovers per
After UCONN game (12 games) - 3.8 assists per/3.1 turnovers per

Aside from that, he's trying to score more than he did early in the season, and that isn't necessarily a good thing. He's reverting back to 2007-08Pargo.

 

[true 3 blue]

I hate Sean Evans.

 

[true 3 blue]

I take that back, all hustle.

It was ugly, but it was all hustle

 

[johnnyredstorm]

I'll take a 3 point lead to end the half. I don't see the 2nd half to be pretty though. Louisville is gonna come out strong and Norm doesn'tknow what adjustments means.

 

[clutchshooter]

by the sounds of it, wall is looking for a place where he can do or act however he wants.

that's not going to happen at duke or ku.

calipari might let him have the slack he wants, otherwise the programs that are currently less successful like nc state, miami, or baylor have the nod.

 

[freddypee]

smh...st johns

 

[hodog16]

I know I speak for most NC State fans when I say that I hope Wall goes to NCSU, but Lowe is not going to sell out the program just for one recruit, if you meana place where he can "do or act" however he wants. We may not be good right now, but we ain't desparate or shady that's for sure.

We have a pretty good incoming class already in the top 15. If we can get one of Wall or Cousins to be the fourth commit we'd be top 5, if we can get both,we'd have the number 1 recruiting class in the country, hands down.

 

[true 3 blue]

The offense is just pathetic. Same thing every game, full court trap is Norm Roberts nightmare. Son has NEVER made an attempt to adjust to that.

Still time left, and down 7.

 

[jamesonnt]

st. john's had it close for a while.

Samardo Samuels caught an elbow and headed to the hospital. Gotta see what happens with him ..

 

[timcity2000]

It's become increasingly apparent to me that LSU is the class of the SEC this year.

I still think the league will eek out at least 4 bids... 5 depending on the SECT.

 

[kiddin like jason]

Louisville first round exit.

St John's: 31%, 17%, 64%
Louisville: 39%, 18%, 77%

 

[N41D]

Originally Posted by dreClark

Questions for Duke

"It would behoove him to be in a situation that he would be able to play for a coach who has a more free-flowing offense, who is going to afford him the opportunity to be expressive and to do the things that he needs to do [to prepare for the NBA]," Clifton said.

If not for the recent rule that prevents players from jumping straight from high school to the NBA, Clifton said, Wall would have considered skipping college. One draft site, nbadraft.net, projects him as the No. 1 pick in 2010.

Anticipating an eventual meeting with Krzyzewski, Beckwith was already voicing his questions.

"I'm going to say, 'Look, this is what John's going to do. Now, what are you going to do when he does that?' " Beckwith said. "When you're playing Carolina and things aren't going well, when you take him out of the game and he mumbles, 'I shoulda gone to Carolina,' which to you is disrespectful and it's not the right thing to say ... how long are you going to sit him out? If he's going to be done for the year, then don't take him."

Is he serious w/ this %$!@?

Bro, if I was a coach and a kid said that walking towards the bench after I pulled him, I'd tell him to kick rocks... You wish you'd gone to Carolina?Go on ahead and go. Go put your stuff in the locker room and don't come back...

I don't care how good a kid is... You disrespect the program and expect it to be OK because of who you are? Nah, get the +%%# out...