Coach Lorenzo Romar spoke to the media about how the early practices have been going and expressed some positivity in regards to his team.

“It was good to see guys pick things up. Our guys played together. It was good."

The Dawgs did three serious practices at Evergreen State College in Olympia over the past weekend and over the past week have been going at it full steam down at Hec-Ed. Romar met with some of the media on Tuesday before practice and spoke about line-ups, competition, the health status of the team and other issues in a Youtube video clip.

Lorenzo mentioned on Tuesday that he believes that this years team is a better shooting team than he has seen at UW in a while. He also implied that added team length and athleticism, would enhance a somewhat known ability to defend.

What I feel he is saying is that adding Aziz N'Diaye in the middle to a team which has menacing defenders like Justin Holiday, Venoy Overton, Isaiah Thomas (who really stepped up his defensive presence last season) and others on the perimeter is going to make the Dawgs much stronger.

Last season, when big teams like Georgetown, USC and West Virginia were able to work the ball inside, they made UW pay. The Dawgs first line of defense was to disrupt on the outside, but if that wasn't successful and teams were able to get the ball to big guys in close, Washington was adequate, but not a scary team there.

This year with Aziz, Halloween may last as long as the greediest kid on the block's candy sack, if his parents only allow one piece a day. Teams that UW's bigs last year could handle, may be in even greater trouble as well. My concern is that N'Diaye is going to look so good in purple this year that the NBA may be all over him.

On offense, adding shooters like C.J. Wilcox and Terrence Ross to a group of guys that are continuing to improve from distance in Thomas, Holiday, Abdul Gaddy, Darnell Gant and Scott Suggs is also going to open things up for easy looks for Aziz and Matthew Bryan-Amaning.

Romar also mentioned on Tuesday that freshman forward Desmond Simmons is also ahead of schedule to return and would see action this week, but that Venoy Overton would have to slow down to partial participation for a couple more weeks to allow his hamstring to heal.

Romar didn't feel as if Venoy's injury was that serious and stated, "He's fine", when asked if it could affect his senior season. With 11 players on the roster, all of which should be able to contribute, most of what Romar has to deal with is how best to manage all of that talent and versatility.

"We could go with a bigger lineup, we could go with a smaller line-up, we could go with shooters, we could go with penetrators. We’ve just got to see what’s best. There are some other factors: Who are going to be the guys who are going to generate turnovers for us? Who are going to make life hard for the opponent’s offense? That’s a big factor in how we play. I think in the past, we had guys who could defend but maybe not score as well, and vice-versa. I think some of our good defenders are guys now who can score also. That helps."

UW could benefit by playing Thomas at the point guard at times. Isaiah started there as a freshman and having him occupy that spot could open a spot for one of the excellent shooters/scorers in Ross, Wilcox or Suggs. If one of those three shows an ability to excel on defense, we may see both Venoy and Gaddy coming off the bench this, which is really a team luxury.

Romar alluded to putting guys on the floor who can help the team score, while also staying with the defense first philosophy.

"You always look at who has an impact on the score. Who has the most impact on the score, and who as a result of them being out there on the floor, who lifts that team up to where they are just a little better because they are out there. And those are the guys that get to play the most."

Romar also spoke to Dave "The Groz" Grosby on 710-ESPN Radio about the coming season last Thursday and Romar talked more about the team from the 10-minute mark in the podcast, up to the 20-minute mark.

Romar spoke positively about Gaddy's progress in his quickness and weight training. Whether Gaddy holds on to his starting spot, he should have an improved effort this year, which is saying something. To start on a Sweet-16 team as a 17 year old is nothing to scoff at.

ESPN and the national media seem to have chosen the Dawgs as their team to watch from the Pac-10 this season, which is dangerous to dwell on, with the strength of an improved Pac-10. ESPN chose UW as one of it's 20 "Final-Four Contenders".

The ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll came out and the Dawgs were ranked #17. The Zags were ranked #12, but no other Pac-10 teams made the list. UCLA, Cal (??) and Arizona were listed in the "Others receiving votes".

How Cal, which lost everyone and their kid brother from last years Pac-10 Champ, is being even considered shows just how irrelevant these polls are. UW can not afford to get dragged into thinking about anything but the fact that their leading scorer and rebounder and the by far the best guy to give the ball to when the chips are down is gone in Quincy Pondexter.

Balling is a Habit picked UW at #23, but interestingly enough projected Ross as the starter along with Thomas, Overton, "MBA" and Aziz.

While it doesn't sound likely that Romar would roll out with anyone but Holiday for the opening tip, I could definitely see that line-up being a good one at times. What UW lost in Pondexter is a guy that can take the ball from the top of the key or from the wing and either score or get fouled with his athleticism, shooting and ball skills.

In my estimation Ross does that the best right now than anyone on the team not named Thomas, though Scott Suggs is much improved and more mature to boot, which could mean that he is the better choice at the moment. Either way, finding a way to get those three guys into the game is going to be necessary for the UW staff.

Darnell Gant did an outstanding job for us on "Talkin' Hoops" this past Monday, right at the beginning of the show.

Darnell talked about how hard he worked over the summer with Justin and his brother Jrue Holiday, literally living with them and working out constantly. He also spoke at length about this year's team in a very upbeat interview and also touched his emerging 3-point shot, which he also discussed at length with the Seattle Times Percy Allen on Monday.

Gant also mentioned to Allen that Gaddy, Wilcox and Ross have surprised him the most. While Matt and Aziz have been the subject of most of the talk, as far as the UW bigs go, Gant aspires to be the team's "X-Factor", according to the 2nd half of his interview with Allen in the Times.

Gant explained in the interview that being the "X-Factor" means essentially helping out with all the intangibles. He cited Simmons tendency to go at the offensive glass as one of those.

"Desmond goes in for offensive rebounds. He's always active and that's what I feel like I need to be. I feel like I need to be a more active player. That should my role (goal). I'll say that. To be more active."

Simmons has been slowed by a knee problem that is reportedly gotten better, according to Desmond who says so in a Youtube interview produced by the UW Athletic Department.

Dez should be in the mix this coming week in practices, if he is not already.

N'Diaye defined his role a bit better to the Seattle P-I's Todd Dybas and asserted that he has some skills on the offensive end.

"I'm not really bad at offense. I'm just trying to know my role on the team. Just trying to help my teammates by getting rebounds and stuff. The system we play, I'm going to get touches and I am going to be able to finish around the rim. So, I'm not worried about that."

Romar clarified that though Aziz is effective playing within himself on offense, his main contribution will be on defense.

"Aziz can finish around the rim off penetration. At this point, he's working on becoming a guy you can throw it to on the low block and scores on a consistent basis. I think what he brings to the table is the guy in the middle defensively that rebounds, intimidates and enforces down there. He's a guy that when the ball is in his hands, doesn't make very many mistakes with it. His main contribution right now is providing a defensive presence in the middle for us."

Aziz is a player that has impressed many on his way from Senegal, through the prep school ranks and finally at the JC level. In August 2008, Aziz grabbed 18 boards and helped keep Senegal close to Team USA 1 at the Nike Global Challenge, according to the Oregonian. In that game he faced Demarcus Cousins, who led the Americans with only 5 boards.

N'Diaye did an interview with Percy Allen of the Seattle Times on Saturday.

Aziz gave a good interview and confirmed that his knee is "100%" which was quite newsworthy.

Rivals always seems to under rate UW or even worse not rank them at all, when talking about the nations best teams, coaches, etc., but they chose UW as the #10 back court in a top-12 that they ranked on Wednesday.

WSU was listed as one "3 back courts to watch". As they normally do, however, Rivals showed their lack of knowledge on west coast hoops, not even mentioning Justin Holiday or C.J. Wilcox as members of the back court and quoting Scott Suggs' 3-point numbers incorrectly.

For the Cougs, they also did not mention Andre Winston, who is really doing well in fall camp and will likely see long back-up minutes behind Reggie Moore at the point guard spot.

Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline picked his preseason All-American teams and Isaiah was chosen as one of 30 "Players to Watch" under his 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams. Elias Harris of Gonzaga was chosen on the 3rd team. No Pac-10 player was on one of the teams, but Derrick Williams of Arizona was also chosen on the list of 30 below that.

Isaiah will be much higher than that barring injury in my opinion and clearly be one of the top three favorites to win the Pac-10 Player of the Year award. Doug Brodess of Bleacher Report picked Isaiah as one of "6 Pac-10 Players to Watch: 2010-11 Preseason Wooden Award Candidates".

Williams, USC's Nikola Vucevic, WSU's Klay Thompson, UCLA's Tyler Honeycutt and ASU's Ty Abbott were also listed, but Thomas is the best player on the best team. If he and Washington play the way they should be able to, he should be right at or near the top of that list at the end of the season.

When asked in a chat for ESPN who the nation's best 6th man is, ESPN Blogger Diamond Leung chose Venoy.

"Venoy Overton at Washington would be a candidate, if Abdul Gaddy starts over him. Lorenzo Romar loves going to Overton for his hard-nosed defense."

If Gaddy starts, Overton does have the potential to earn that distinction and with the success that he had finishing games for UW, I would imagine that Venoy would probably serve the team better once again in that role, unless the fact that he is a senior leads Lorenzo to give him the nod. Either way Gaddy will play a lot though.

Walk-on freshman Antoine Hosley is a selfless team member that comes every day to practice and works hard. He could have played a much larger role for a number of schools, but chose to find a way to help a Pac-10 favorite and a budding national power in Washington.

An interview with the UW Athletic Department is on Youtube and reveals Hosley to be a team 1st guy that is really enjoying his role with the team.

Virginia's Sammy Zeglinski will not likely be on the court against UW in the 1st round game of the Maui Classic. There is a chance that he could see time, but according to ESPN on Sunday, Sammy had surgery on Tuesday.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Thursday, "Virginia coach Tony Bennett said that Tuesday's surgery on Sammy Zeglinski's left knee was successful, and that he'd be able to return to action in about eight weeks". If that holds true he will miss the game, but stranger things have been known to happen.

Jamaal Williams played at UW in 2004-2006 on two straight Sweet-16 teams. He was a marvelous low post scorer that raised his game tremendously by developing a mid-range game and improving his defense over the course of his UW career.

Many analysts have shared the opinion that if he were three inches taller he would have been a lottery pick with his amazing touch around the basket. The Seattle Times reported that he now has embarked on a coaching career at the UW.

"Williams has expressed a desire to become a coach, however, he joins the team's office staff, which means he can't coach players on the court. He attends practices and one of his duties includes breaking down video."

Perhaps once he does well enough in that capacity, perhaps he will be able to teach aspiring post players some of his moves. The guy was pure magic within 8-feet of the cup.

Another former Dawg who gave pro hoops in Germany a try but decided too stick to training players for a living in the USA is Ryan Appleby. Ryan has produced a Youtube highlight reel on ball handing that is really impressive. Ryan was my co-host on "Talkin' Hoops", is a long time friend and I wish him well.

This is not the last you will likely hear from Ryan, as he may choose to get into coaching, play more or continue to train, but few if any love the game like Appleby and he will not be far from it whatever he chooses to do.

Hec-Ed is looking for a new corporate sponsor, according to the Seattle Times. The Bank of America 10-year deal is expiring.

Husky Recruiting Corner

2011 UW commit Tony Wroten admitted that he has been a hard lean to UW as far back as he can remember. Tony also talked about helping UW recruit players, including 2011 posts Angelo Chol and Norvel Pelle.

Tone even mentioned 2011 guard Quinn Cook, who most analysts feel will go to Duke, but is also considering UCLA and Villanova.

Tone and his Garfield Bulldogs will participate in the 10th annual Spalding Hoophall Classic in Springfield MA from January 14-17, according to prephoopsassist.com. The event will also feature Findlay College Prep in Henderson NV and Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas NV who also feature players on UW's radar.

I'm not certain how this may affect Garfield's ability to participate in the King Holiday Hoopfest in Seattle this coming January.

2011 ASU commit and former UW recruit Jahii Carson is not going to sign with the Sun Devils in November according to tweets from ESPN's Jason Jordan

"My man Jahii Carson tells me he's waiting to sign with ASU in the spring bc he wants to see if they can get other talented recruits to join him. "If not I may want to explore other options." Went on to say he's "90 percent committed to ASU...Carson told me that he still keeps in touch with Arizona and Washington."

Doug Haller of AZCentral.com reported that the fact that Corey Hawkins will wear #1 is also a deterrence It sounds more like smoke to me and that Carson just wants to see what other offers come his way and how teams perform, specifically ASU and UCLA whose Head Coaches Herb Sendek and Ben Howland have promised players that they will open things up more.

When asked by Coast2coastrecruiting.com who he would like to see Sendek go after, Carson mentioned 2011 UW forward prospect DeAndre Daniels.

Haller reported on Saturday that Carson has decided to sign in the spring with ASU after a conversation with Coach Herb Sendek. I guess that in itself is a lesson. A lot of these kids just crave the attention that being in a recruiting controversy creates.

According to reports Daniels is wide open, though some have speculated that Florida is in the drivers seat now. Daniels is at IMG Academy in Florida this year.

Another player who may be back in play for Washington is 2011 forward Kyle Wiltjer, who mysteriously committed to Kentucky after hardly mentioning them up until the last few weeks of his recruitment.

Husky Digest reported on Thursday that, according to numerous sources Wiltjer either seriously considered decommitting or is a soft commit to the Wildcats and is still looking around. According to various reports Kentucky is looking an other 2011 forward named Adjehi Baru and may have offered.

A tweet from Rick Lewis, who is reportedly close to the situation with Baru stated that the offer had been made.

"Kentucky just offered 6'9 Adjehi Baru. Baru will take an official visit to UK in the near future. UK will replace USC as the 5th official"

Evan Daniel, the new head man of Scout's recruiting coverage and a Kentucky recruiting insider who always seems to know the inside dope on all of Calipari's horses denied the report, but confirmed solid interest.

"Kentucky is definitely heavily interested in Adjehi Baru, but despite rumors has not stepped up with an offer yet. They'll see him soon"

I tweeted on Thursday that the Wiltjer commit was soft, according to numerous sources, but that was met with a solid wall of denial by those supposedly in the know in UK recruiting. Wiltjer himself tweeted on Saturday that it was untrue, which did not surprise me.

"Everyone I don't know where your getting these rumors but they aren't true. Just had a great visit last week. Can't wait to sign to UK!"

That's great for Kyle and I hope everything works out well for him, but Tone Wroten tweeted that he had heard about it and ESPN Insider reported that they had heard rumblings as well.

Oregon has also been mentioned by Husky Digest sources, as well as UW as being of interest to Wiltjer and I will definitely follow this story to its conclusion, which in my opinion has not yet been reached.

2011 UW post recruit Norvel Pelle has yet to schedule any official visits, according to Zagsblog on Tuesday.

When asked about the quickest players in the class of 2011, Rivals' Eric Bossi actually pointed to the center Pelle.

"I'm going to look at this as a case of quickness being relative to position. So, while there are surely players in the country who are quicker than Norvel Pelle, nobody has as high a level of quickness (for his position) as Pelle does. How quickly he gets off the floor for first, second and third jumps is borderline absurd. Plus, he can run the court and shows super lateral quickness."

Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog tweeted on Saturday that, "Pelle may wait until the spring to sign, a source with knowledge says".

2011 forward Ronnie Stevens' dad mentioned that UW recently called in a recruiting update in Rivals.

"That's how it is now but new teams have popped up lately. Washington and UNLV came and looked at him last week. That threw a little wrinkle in the plans but the plan is to commit early."

There is another 2011 big man that Rivals lists as having UW interest in six-foot-nine Shaquille Wilson, but when speaking to Wilson on Friday, he seemed to not be sure how much UW was interested. He did say that Sal Garcia, his AAU coach, knew more about that for comment and I spoke to Sal on Saturday.

Garcia said that Gonzaga, ASU and Utah State were the most interested, but neither had offered as Wilson was waiting on test scores. Sal said that Shaquille is six-foot-nine and 225 lbs. with seven foot-three wing span. According to Garcia Shaq can dribble, block shots, handles the ball like a guard and that his recruiting will blow up once his test scores come in.

It doesn't sound like UW is that after Wilson, as Garcia said that the last time he spoke to Romar about Shaw was 4 months ago, but Sal insisted that when his test scores come in everyone is going to be calling back.

One thing seems certain, as far as the class of 2011 for UW and that is that Kevin Davis of Tacoma CC is in the picture. I spoke to Davis on Wednesday and watched him practice with the Titans, coached by Carl Howell and assistant R.J. Barsh.

Howell said that Davis is doing well in the classroom and is on pace to get his Associate degree in time to enroll at Washington next fall, though it all depends on Kevin keeping up his current pace. Carl said that Romar was pleased when he saw Davis' classwork and marks thus far and that Lorenzo remarked, "He's home" with a smile when looking them over.

Barsh and Howell told me that Davis feels more comfortable back home in the NW and that his trip to Twin Falls ID, was not a good fit academically. Howell is a straight shooter, self-admittedly similar to Bob Huggins of West Virginia. Both Carl and R.J. were excited to have Davis on their team, which has been a perennial contender in their league.

Demetrius Smith, formerly of Wilson High, was sitting on the sidelines when I watched the Titans run through drills. Smith is out with an injury and will possibly miss the season, but is thought of by the coaches to be one of their top guys at point guard. Smith told me that one of Davis best attributes is his passing.

I saw Davis in the drills and was amazed by his ability to get open for entry passes on the low block. He has very quick feet and good hands and is already by his man by the time the ball gets there. The level of competition may be CC level, but it was obvious to me that Davis has some unique skills.

He also looked good shooting the ball and looked as if he was able to rebound at a much higher level than he showed against the guys guarding him who all were around 3-4 inches shorter and with a lot less length. The one thing about his game in the limited time I saw him were his handles, which he admitted is something that he is working on.

According to Barsh he has improved his free throw shooting percentage by over 10%. Davis said that he currently makes 75% of his free throws, is six-foot-nine and 215 lbs. and has a target weight for next fall of 230-235 lbs. He will sign after he gets his AA degree next summer and enroll at UW if all goes well.

Davis will not sign a letter of intent in November as we were originally told by Howell, but Kevin also told me that he will not "take any calls" from other schools than UW. He has developed a great relationship with Romar over the the last 2 years and wants to stay close to his 2 year old daughter Kaylanie.

About his academics he stated confidently, "I'll make it, I'm focused and these guys (Howell and Barsh) stay on top of me".

One thing that really impressed me about Davis was his ability to run. He beat the whole team in running exercises by a full court length and has a long stride that gives him a definite edge.

Davis told me that he chose Washington a long time ago, but also received interest from Gonzaga, WSU and others at the time.

2012 UW wing recruit Langston Walker-Hughes spoke to me the other day and talked about his recruiting at length.

I asked him to describe his game.

"I play inside out. Meaning that I try and give my bigs the ball in the paint as much as possible. I play up-tempo with passion and play above the rim. Defense comes first."

It is still early in his recruiting, but Langston is starting to some idea of where he might end up.

"I don't have a top 5 but I like Stanford, UC Davis, Cal, Washington and Arizona State (in no particular order)."

He already has one Pac-12 offer.

"I have offers from UC Davis, USF, Cal Poly, Utah and Riverside."

According to Langston he plays the 2 and the 3 weighs 205 lbs. and is six-foot-five. He wants to study physical therapy/sports medicine. He plays AAU ball with Oakland Soldiers 17U. Langston said that some have compared his style to Rudy Gay.

2012 UW commit Andrew Andrews will participate in the Clash of the classes for the Oregon squad, according to ihigh.com. The Washington squad will feature fellow UW Commits Tone Wroten and 2011 guard Hikeem Stewart. Wiltjer will also play for the Oregon squad.

Ihigh.com is also streaming the game.

2012 UW recruits Maika Ostling, Jordan Tebbutt and Anrio Adams will also be there.

2012 UW recruit Danny Powell has been gaining momentum and praise for his play this fall. According to Rivals Powell is now six-foot-six and 230 lbs. and looks good.

"(Danny) Plays with a lot of intensity. He displayed a nice inside-out game, showing that he has the ability to play on the perimeter as well."

While Powell is an under the radar guy that appears to be rising, 2012 forward Anthony Bennett is a highly coveted recruit on a national level that is currently mentioning Washington According to Rivals, Bennett (who is originally from Canada) has "offers from Arizona, Boston College, Texas and Washington'.

According to Rivals, 2013 UW forward recruit Jabari Parker has Washington high on his list.

""My top five is Washington, Michigan State, Illinois, Kansas, and Georgetown in no specific order."

2014 guard Ahmaad Rorie is wowing onlookers down in the South Sound. A Youtube highlight reel shows him to be a player that could be one of the better players in the Tacoma area as a freshman.

Pac-12 Round Up

The Schedule was the biggest question when it came to hoops and the new Pac-12 came clean with the goods on Thursday. As many had speculated, the schedule will pair each school with their traditional rivals, for instance UW and WSU, for a home and home every year, as has always been the case.

After that there are six other team that UW will face every year in home and homes, but they will rotate every year, while the other four league members will be played only in home or away settings.

According to league commissioner Larry Scott in the Seattle Times, "The schedule will rotate on a 10-year cycle, which means Washington will play Washington State 20 times and every other school 16 times during the cycle".

The teams will be divided as they always have for traditional rivalries, except for Utah and Colorado, who will be considered as such from now on. each team will visit LA every year, a known recruiting concern, as each team will visit one traditional rival and host the other in pairs for each of the 4 teams that they will not visit and host, per ESPN.

Doug Haller started a column for the hoops season called "Checking Around the Pac-10, which did a very concise job of reviewing the news tidbits around the league.

He stole my thunder, as I have decided to do something similar, with my Pac-10 Round Up segment, once the season started. Doug really does a great job, but I don't mean to copy him. Suffice to say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

UCLA's Josh Smith of Kent WA has lost a lot of weight, but still may be the biggest player in the Pac-10 this season. according to a tweet from TheRecruitScoop, "UCLA Freshman Center Josh Smith has lost 45 pounds and is down to 320 pounds, according to a source. 'He is the strength of the team.'"

According to the LA Times, junior guard Jerime Anderson and JC transfer guard Lazeric "Zeke" Jones are in a battle for the starting point guard spot for the Bruins.

According to an observer who saw both play a lot this past summer, "Zeke" is the better player, but Anderson may have an advantage because he has been in the system for two years. Regardless, UCLA is in a much better position than they were last season when that spot appeared to be the team's Achilles heel.

Ben Howland seems to believe that his team is much improved. He told ESPN blogger Diamond Leung that the once feared Bruin man-to-man is back, at least a little.

"We want to limit our time (in zone) and get back to playing man-to-man. That's where our program needs to be to move forward. We're a man-to-man program. Kids want to play at the next level. You don't get ready by playing zone."

According to Scout, 'Zona freshman guard Daniel Bejarano is really making an impact in practices for a rookie and has been praised by Sean Miller for his ability to shoot and rebound.

Oregon was picked last by Montlake Madness, who did a solid preview of the Ducks as the 1st of a series of previews of Pac-10 teams.

The piece points out that the Ducks depth is very poor and their starting line-up is not much better. Oregon will struggle Mightily this year, despite their new arena and all of the luster from their amazing football team.

It will be hard to watch for Duck fans at Oregon and even with a bunch of big time frosh, should they continue to rein them in, they will continue to struggle for a good bit.

Cal was next up on the Madness list at #9. I basically agree with this pick, though I feel that Cal could step up and surprise some people along the way. I don't think that Oregon is going to be capable of near as much and the Bears may be able to overtake Stanford, which Madness chose at the #8 spot.

Stanford has veterans back and a money man in Jeremy Green, but defense and coaching wins games and I like Cal a little better in both regards. Though many Stanford fans are optimistic about this season, the guys Cal does have back in Jorge Gutierrez, Harper Kamp and Markhuri Sanders-Frison are better on points to me than their Cardinal counterparts.

Either way, this will be rebuilding year for both Mike Montgomery and Johnny Dawkins, who is also a great coach and could prove me wrong. Stanford is taking this lull in the program to build student participation by letting them in free. Kids will be admitted free on a 1st come 1st serve basis to a designated student section, according to Rivals.

The Colorado Buffs last year in the Big-12 may not be that great of a farewell. CU has been picked 9th by the league’s head coaches, according to Big12sports.com, the conference's official site.

NW Round Up

I had a great visit down at Seattle U this past week and am preparing a full preview of the Redhawks for my next blog post. Longtime Seattle U fans received very bad news this past week as Keith Harrell, who was one of the best players in Seattle in the 80's, past away.

According to the school's official site, Harrell "passed away Monday after battling spinal cancer".

I saw Harrell play many times back in the day, at Garfield High School, Seattle U and even at pick-up games at Greenlake where I may have been stupid enough to try to shoot over him. Harrell belongs on a short list of noted Seattle players of that era including Roosevelt's James Edwards, Cleveland's Juwan Oldham, Ballard's Kim Stewart and O'Dea's Clint Richardson.

Mike Neill of Richland WA and Clarence Ramsey of Tacoma are the only players from the state, outside of Seattle that belong on this elite list in my opinion.

Seattle U will be offering the public an opportunity to choose their own seats, according to the schools official site.

"The Seattle University Department of Athletics will host a Select-A-Seat on Sunday, October 31. This will take place before the men's basketball exhibition game set for later that day. All sports fans are welcome to Key Arena starting at 1:00 p.m. to take a look at the best seats available for the 2010-2011 Seattle University men's basketball season."

The exhibition opponent will be PLU of Tacoma.

ESPN blogger Diamond Leung predicted the Big Sky conference.

Former Franklin Quaker Peyton Siva is all that Louisville has left, after mass exodus, according to ESPN's Dana O'Neill.

"There’s an old Bugs Bunny episode where Bugs single-handedly handles the Gashouse Gorillas. Bugs meet Peyton Siva, who may have to pass the ball to himself, rebound his miss and go up for the putback for the Cardinals in the early going. Instead of a who’s who, Louisville has a who’s not."

This statement by Dana may be a bit extreme, as Louisville has some real talent left on that roster, but in the Big East this season it may not seem too far off the mark. I hope that Peyton can keep his chin up and take advantage of plenty of minutes to develop his game. Siva is a great player and I feel he has a great future if he stays on track.

NCAA Corruption

According to the AP, Kansas' former AD has been found guilty of violating state ethics standards.

"Former Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins faces a state ethics complaint. He is accused of accepting exercise equipment from a now-defunct company and receiving physical therapy from the university's sports medicine department in 2005."

This is a relatively small problem, compared to what I believe is going on there in relation to boosters.

UConn's Jim Calhoun denied that he is a cheater, according to the AP.

“I may be a lot of things, profane, but that word I’m not. I’m a lot of things. You can like or dislike me, but that I’m not."

I beg to differ Jimbo. You are not stupid, that is obvious by your incredible ability to coach basketball, recruit and run an elite hoops factory for decades. To say that you were not aware of what has gone on around your program is something that you anemically attempted to fix or were not aware of should insult any able bodied adult's intelligence.

The NCAA "Conference Commissioners Association voted 31-0 at its fall meeting last month in Chicago to recommend eliminating July men's basketball recruiting beginning in 2012 to the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, sources with direct knowledge of the meeting told ESPN.com".

ESPN's Dave Telep offered a compromise after railing on the idea.

"Our suggestion: Snip 10 days off the July period, give the coaches two weekends to watch traveling team ball in the spring and let's see what happens."

Coaches have beencomplaining that limiting their ability to evaluate kids is contributing to the alarming transfer rate. according to a blog post on Yahoo.

My thought is that the problem is not coaches having access to kids, either the kids already on their teams or the kids that they may make scholarship offers to. The problem is bad coaches. The NCAA has increased it staff to battle corruption in college hoops from 3 to 6. My hope is that they increase that effort and allow coaches reasonable access.

Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl is working without a contract, according to the AP on Wednesday.

Pearl was given notice that his contract was terminated on September 7th by the school. WBIR.com released a copy of the termination notice.

Pearl may accept new terms of a new agreement that takes into account penalties for his conduct or choose to walk, though it appears that for now he will stay coaching the Vols. He could also be let go by the school, when they feel they want to drop the hammer.

If that's not enough, Pearl informed the kids at his infamous "Barbeque" that he knew it was an NCAA violation. according to ESPN.

According to the AP, "Baylor coach Scott Drew declined comment Thursday on a report that the NCAA is investigating his program’s recruitment of a high school player from South America." Baylor was caught red-handed intimidating this kid with threats of deportation. If the NCAA is not investigating, the non-profit should itself be investigated.

Baylor is proceeding as if nothing is wrong, grabbing two of the more elite level recruits in the class of 2011 in Quincy Miller and Deuce Bello. I believe that fans should not just Watch for, but expect those recruits and others committed to schools being actively pursued by the NCAA to be back among the uncommitted when the big spring feeding frenzy starts.

According to the hoopsreport.com, there was a strong relationship between one of the Clifton Brothers, known as John Wall's "handlers" according to numerous reports. Dwon Clifton was hired by Baylor, but let go after Wall ended up at Kentucky and according to thehoopsreport.com the Clifton's still have a strong relationship with Baylor and Head Coach Scott Drew.

They theorize that this relationship plays into Miller and Bello committing this past week.

The NCAA should be all over the Cliftons and agent Dan Fegan, who they appear to be doing business with, in my opinion.

From many personal accounts that I have heard around the hoops world, Baylor and Drew are sorely in need of an NCAA investigation. I hope that this incident with the Columbian recruit is enough for them to dig a lot deeper.