Hoops: Moving Out West

Well, the summer recruiting circuit moves westward to the city of lights and a thousand vices - Las Vegas - for the Reebok Big Time Event (another Sonny Vaccaro special). Also going on is the Adidas Super 64 and "The Main Event", the Nike version. Shoes anyone?.......... Javaris Crittenton has had a good tourney, knocking down a double/double the other day (pts/assists). Then he went head-to-head with Paul Harris, a Syracuse commit known for his tenacious defense. Well, he couldn't contain Javaris, who went off for another 19 points or so and a bevy of assists. Look for Crittenton to climb the ranking charts of all the major services in the next go-round. His ankle is back to 100% and he is showing his stuff. Rivals said they were going to put him in their top 10 (although I wasn't clear it was top 10 overall or top 10 PG's). Once again, a Paul Hewitt recruited guy climbs the charts after his commit. Look for Javaris to be a serious candidate for the McDonalds All-American team.............. Paul Hewitt is out there checking out the talent, along with a lot of other top coaches including Rick Barnes (I'm not a Clemson hick), Roy Williams (nice parting gifts), Coach K (having ref-abuse withdrawal symptoms), Bob Huggins (there was an open bar), Ben Howland (who?), Bruce Weber (hey why is everyone in love with Ohio State), John Calipari (Rick Pitino-light) and Lute Olsen (PG U-light)............. Our new assistant coach, Charlton Young, is already out and about on the recruiting trail as well. He has helped bring a new name into the mix - Zach Peacock, a 6'7" PF. He's come on strong of late and Young was already recruiting him at UTC........ Also, of note, the Wellington Smith thing could still happen, so stay tuned................ Meanwhile, Thaddeus Young's father visited Georgia Tech recently............


Meanwhile, a good article from the Washington Post about the hypocrisy of the APR and college athletics......... What else is the NCAA keeping an eye on? How about betting lines.............


In other news, Gonzaga fans are shocked and saddened for Ronny Turiaf's recent shocker from a physical with the Lakers - he has a heart condition that could end his career before it starts and will require open-heart surgery. Wow.......


In case you are interested, here are the different Vegas Camp websites:


REEBOK BIG TIME
ADIDAS SUPER 64
NIKE "THE MAIN EVENT"


Note to all aspiring NBA coaches (Coach Hewitt included). Life as an NBA coach can suck - and that's if you last, which is hard to do. How about this - only 2 of the last 7 coach of the year winners still have jobs. How about this - 6 of the last 7 NBA Champion head coaches have either left or been forced out of their jobs. And that's for the WINNERS!!! What kind of life is this? .............