Each Sunday during the offseason, beat writer Paul Klee will take you around the world of college basketball:
WHAT THEY SAID
"I could see him being just as good as Deron (Williams) once he develops that swagger. If he continues to work and develop and get better and get that swagger that Deron has, he's going to be good. He's a good kid. I just hope nothing but the best for him. Coach (Bruce) Weber and Coach (Wayne) McClain, I think will help (make) him into a good player. He's just got to get that swagger."
Dee Brown, on current UI point guard Demetri McCamey
WHAT I'M THINKING
– I'm thinking you will see another scholarship open for Illinois after the 2009-10 season. It's the scholarship that belongs to Demetri McCamey.
– I don't think McCamey, the incumbent point guard who will be a sophomore next season, will play four seasons at Illinois. I think he's going to make a leap in the next two seasons and become an NBA prospect who enters the draft prior to his senior season.
– In the long run, I think we'll look back on the 2008 Big Ten tournament as the turning point for McCamey. He said last week that those four games, particularly a 26-point outburst against Purdue, was an eye-opening experience for him. "It did wonders for my confidence," said McCamey, who was named to the all-tournament team. The momentum seemed to carry over into spring workouts, when I thought the freshman was the team's most dynamic player.
– Here's one of the challenges for McCamey: He knows he's good enough to make the NBA leap before his senior season. But early entrants, like Deron Williams, used that as a carrot to get better. We'll see if McCamey takes that potential opportunity as a challenge. If he does, I think he'll be a three-year college player.
– On another note, I'm thinking international basketball notes will be a mainstay in Klee's Corner leading up to the Olympics. Here's one: ESPN's Fran Fraschilla, the network's international hoops guru, said in a phone interview the premier point guard overseas is actually an American product. "J.R. Holden, who played at Bucknell, is probably the best point guard in Europe right now," Fraschilla said.
– Holden provides one of the more intriguing storylines of the Beijing Games. Professionally he plays for the storied franchise CSKA Moscow, and Holden has actually gained Russian citizenship in order to play for the Russian national team in the Olympics.
WHAT I'M READING
IUPUI coach Ron Hunter and his players are going to Nigeria in July to deliver some of the nearly 200,000 pairs of shoes that were donated after he went barefoot during a basketball game to help poor children.
The Associated Press
A University of Akron basketball player is being held on charges of firing shots at Akron police officers after a traffic stop.
Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal
Tijan Jobe, a 7-foot junior college center, signed with IU and will join the Hoosiers this coming season. Bloomington South guard Jordan Hulls, heading into his senior year of high school, committed to IU.
Indianapolis Star
(Memphis) Tigers coach John Calipari was traveling Wednesday but called from an airplane to tell "'Waddle and Silvy" on WMVP-AM why the Bulls should choose (Derrick) Rose over Kansas State forward Michael Beasley with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.
Chicago Sun-Times
"Guys love playing with him because he's not about himself," Kansas State-bound forward Michael Beasley said of Derrick Rose. "He's just a humble guy. That's why guys like him so much."
The News-Gazette (April 1, 2007)
WHAT I'M HEARING
– Kentucky assistant Tracy Webster, an Illini assistant for four seasons, attended Calvin Brock and Shaun Pruitt's graduation ceremonies at Illinois last weekend. Webster was particularly close with and proud of Brock, who graduated in four years.
– Plans had UI junior Jamar Smith traveling on a foreign tour to Australia later this summer. But the Australia tour might not happen. If it doesn't, the Illini probably will search out another tour because they would like to see as many players compete on an overseas tour as possible.
– As a team, college programs are allowed a preseason foreign tour once every four years. Looking back, the Illinois staff laments taking a foreign tour to Canada before last season and wishes it had saved the opportunity for this season. "It probably would have helped us more," Bruce Weber said.
– Last year, the Illini had tentative plans for a competitive tour of Italy and Slovenia. But there was so much going on at the time – Smith's status, the late arrival of Mike Davis, potential redshirts for Davis and Mike Tisdale, etc. – that a trip to nearby Canada seemed more practical.
– Weber is a big proponent of overseas tours in the offseason – for his teams and for individual players. When he was an assistant at Purdue, the Boilers once took the mother of overseas tours, a 21-day extravaganza through Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. "We played the Tahitian national team – outside (on an outdoor court)," Weber recalled. "I think we beat them by 90."
– Though Illinois will stay home in August and September, a pair of nearby programs are traveling abroad in the late summer. SIU is going to Canada; Purdue is heading to Australia. "The Australia one is a great trip," Weber said.
– Look for Illinois to take a particular interest in recruiting efforts with Chasson Randle, a 6-foot-2 rising sophomore from Rock Island. Randle has drawn rave reviews from coach Mike Mullins of Illinois Wolves, an AAU pipeline for coaches with Illinois ties in the past.
– And since the Illini already have secured six commitments in the 2009 and 2010 classes, coaches will have more of an opportunity to focus on the state's highly regarded 2011 class during the July evaluation period.
WHAT'S HAPPENING?
– Simeon product and Illinois recruit Stan Simpson is expected to be on campus in early June.
– The Illini remain uncertain when junior college transfer Dominique Keller will be on campus. "He has some stuff to finish up," Bruce Weber said, referring to academics. "It could be July or it could be at the end of summer school (in early August)."
– Illinois football player C.J. Jackson has worked out at Ubben Basketball Complex with roommate and close friend Brian Randle during the spring, and several basketball teammates expressed optimism that Jackson might return to the hoops side of the equation.
– Jackson was on a football scholarship, but Illinois basketball has two scholarships available for next season. One of them will go to senior guard Trent Meacham.
– Weber said Jackson's plans probably won't be decided until later in the summer. "It just depends how football ends up, whether they want him back or not," Weber said, noting that Jackson continues to lift weights with the football team. "We'll see."
– If it's decided that Jackson will rejoin the basketball team, it would be a one-year deal. He's on track to graduate in the fall or next spring, Weber said.
– Illinois guard Alex Legion is on a weeklong tour of Poland with Athletes in Action. The tour was scheduled to play four to five games before helping with a local basketball camp.
– "It was easier for Mike (Davis) and Demetri (McCamey) because they knew people. For Alex, it's totally new," Weber said. "But I told him, it's a worldly experience and it's about meeting people. The basketball part is important, too, but the other parts are just as important. You can grow so much from these trips."
– Illinois ranked 11th nationally in attendance during the 2007-08 season, according to figures released by the NCAA. The report is slightly deceiving, however, as it accounts for tickets sold and not actual attendance. Indiana led the Big Ten at 16,876 fans per game, ahead of Illinois' 16,618.
– Shaun Pruitt's father, Steve Pruitt, said the Big Ten Network filmed one of the former Illini center's workout sessions last week in the Chicago area. The BTN also conducted an interview with Shaun, he said, but the family is uncertain when it will air.
– The prospect of Pruitt being drafted into the NBA remains a long shot, and the Illinois staff hasn't fielded any calls from pro scouts since the end of the season.
– As of Friday, Steve Pruitt said Shaun had not received an invitation to the Orlando predraft camp that begins Tuesday.
– Pruitt has signed with agent Mike Naiditch of Chicago-based Naiditch Entertainment. Steve Pruitt said Shaun is working out twice daily with noted Chicago-area trainer Tim Grover.
– Marty Blake, the NBA's longtime director of scouting services, said Pruitt helped his pro prospects – overseas or otherwise – with a notable showing in April at the Portsmouth Invitational.
– "He played a (heck) of a lot better at Portsmouth. He played very well at Portsmouth," Blake said. "He certainly can play overseas. I don't think there's any doubt about that. I certainly would consider bringing him into camp, if not drafting him."
– Blake made a loose comparison with Pruitt and former Purdue big man Carl Landry. "He could play forward or he could play center. He's a big guy," Blake said of Pruitt. "Those guys play differently when they get into a different environment like Portsmouth."
– Dee Brown said he kept tabs on the Illini during his first season in Turkey. The former Illini recognized the team had problems but believes it should be much improved next season.
– "The defense is always going to be there. That's something they'll always be good (with)," Brown said in a phone interview. "They've just got to figure a few things out and they'll be fine. Coach Weber really knows his X's and O's. He's a good coach. I've got full confidence in him. Things are going to look up for them. They'll be fine."
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Tuesday: NBA predraft camp begins in Orlando.
June 6-7, 7-8: Illinois parent-child camps. (www.fightingillini.com/camps).
June 8: Illinois team camp shootout at the Assembly Hall and Ubben Basketball Complex.
June 13-14: Illinois satellite team camp, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago.
June 16: NBA draft withdrawal deadline for college non-seniors.
June 26: NBA draft.
WHAT ABOUT CHINA?
– The Illinois contingent of the Reach USA tour – coach Jerrance Howard, Mike Davis and Demetri McCamey – departed Chicago for China on May 12. That was the same day an 8.0 magnitude earthquake devastated parts of southwest China.
– The helter-skelter nature of the tour meant family, friends and coaches back in the U.S. might have had a better handle on the situation than the team. "I don't think the lines of communication in China are the best," Bruce Weber said. "There was a little bit of a fear factor. I think I may have known more about what was going on, from watching CNN, than Jerrance and those guys knew from being over there."
– Though the tour avoided the areas hit hardest by the quake, residents in one city were sleeping outside, Howard said. The tour was cut short by two games after the government issued a three-day period of mourning for earthquake victims. "It's been crazy," Howard said by phone from Nan Chung. "Sometimes it's hard to know what's going on because you're on the move all the time."
– At one point the Chinese government issued a sort of earthquake warning, as if predicting a tremor.
– "Jerrance called to see if I had seen anything on CNN," Weber said. "The rumors had spread. He kept texting me and saying, 'Coach, there's another earthquake coming.' I said, 'I'm on CNN and there's not another earthquake.' I guess it was a big rumor or hoax or something."
– Rumors of another earthquake freaked out some of the players, Howard said, and it was decided the tour would return home Friday.
THE LIST
The 2008 NBA draft lottery took place last week. But we're all about looking ahead. Here are the leading candidates from the Big Ten – who are in college or will be freshmen next season – we think will find a place in upcoming NBA drafts:
PLAYER SCHOOL
1. B.J. Mullens Ohio State COMMENT: Frosh-to-be can follow Oden, Koufos as one-and-done OSU centers
2. Delvon Roe Michigan State COMMENT: Another 2008 recruit who will make an immediate impact in Big Ten
3. JaJuan Johnson Purdue COMMENT: At least one NBA scout already has taken notice of the Boilers' wiry big man
4. Jordan Crawford Indiana COMMENT: UI recruit Joseph Bertrand as college junior? I'd compare him to IU guard
5. E'Twaun Moore Purdue COMMENT: Balanced Boilers roster might not allow for big stats, but he's on NBA radar
6. Demetri McCamey Illinois COMMENT: Illini who will benefit most by additions of Jamar Smith, Alex Legion
7. Evan Turner Ohio State COMMENT: OSU staff has toyed with idea of moving McCamey's buddy to point guard
8. Manny Harris Michigan COMMENT: Another rising sophomore wired to score, could lead Big Ten next season
9. Raymar Morgan Michigan State COMMENT: With better sophomore season, he could have been in 2008 draft
10. Kalin Lucas Michigan State COMMENT: 2009 and 2010 drafts won't be as guard-stocked as 2008 edition
THE NUMBER
1 - Big Ten player, Ohio State recruit B.J. Mullens, listed on NBAdraft.net's 2009 mock draft, illustrating the league's apparent talent deficit. That's fewer than eight individual programs (Connecticut, 3; Gonzaga, 3; Alabama, 2; Arizona, 2; Arizona State, 2; Baylor, 2; Louisville, 2; USC, 2).
IlliniHQ.com: Your Illini Sports Headquarters
Contents of this site are © Copyright 2010 The News-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.