Dane Pound

The better they say our recruits are the more I believe Hoopscoop:D 169 - Tim Ambrose 254 - Brett Gifford 376 - Howard Little 455 - Reid Anderson

I've been having trouble conecting to the AE message board. Does anyone if they've changed it? A story in the Maine paper about future conference tourney sites and the outlook for the future. League Looks for Bounce-Bangor Daily News

I like to go to Boston for the AE tourney. I don't much like going to Binghamton for the AE tourney although I did have a good time there last year. I'm thinking Slugger is spam. Sorry to say.

That's Tim Ambrose from a dunk competition in high school. Anybody have an idea how high those racks are that he's skying over?

2007 Recruits should also include PG Lance James from New Jersey. There's a thread about him from a week or so ago.

Brett Gifford has yet to play in his first UA game or score his first point but has already signed some autographs at UA camp including the sneakers of my family's biggest Jon Iati fan. My nephew reports that Giffords outside shooting makes him better than Zoellner at this point. Granted my nephew is in middle school but I trust his scouting as much or more than Hoopscoop and I hope he is right. The most impressive dunk so far has reportedly come from Jason Siggers as I would expect. According to legend he bounced a ball over Carl Ross, ran around him and did a windmill jam on the fly. Personally, I was hoping Ross was a little better defender than that.

Playing against some pretty good talent in his all-star game. Illinois, Butler recruits lead North to 102-91 victory in IBCA big-school game Sunday, June 25, 2006 BY LONNIE SCHWINDENHAMMER OF THE JOURNAL STAR BLOOMINGTON - The North had too much for the South in the Class AA boys Illinois Basketball Coaches Association all-star game on Saturday. The North used a 10-point run in the early going to break away, and held off a late comeback bid by the South in a 102-91 victory at Shirk Center on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University. Butler-bound guard Will Veasley of Freeport and Billy Rush of Dolton Thornridge each had breakaway dunks in the run that put the North up 17-8. Illinois recruit Brian Carlwell, a 6-foot-11, first-team all-state center from Maywood Proviso East got six of his 12 points during the first nine minutes. He got a workout from East Peoria's Zach Ott, a 6-7 post headed to Millikin. "He had about 100 pounds on me and he was complaining that I was leaning on him," Ott said. "I figured we would be matched up on one another. I wasn't going to back down." Metamora's Blake Mishler, headed to East Tennessee State, came off the South bench to score on two nifty moves to the basket and on a breakaway dunk that kept the South in the game at 28-18. Schaumburg product Jake Pancratz drained three 3-pointers during a four-minute stretch that was part of an 18-4 burst by the North. Veasley's driving basket capped a six-point run that put the North up 46-22. Mishler finished with five field goals and 10 points. "Their second group came out on fire," Mishler said. "We fought back, but they just had too much." A Carlwell dunk, off an assist from Martez Hawkins of Rockford Boylan gave the North a 26-point lead early in the second half. The South chipped away, and got as close as 92-82 on a basket by team MVP Howard Little of Olympia Fields Rich Central. Pancratz sank his sixth 3-pointer and Carlwell threw down his third dunk to keep the North in control. "I shot it pretty well tonight," Pancratz said. "We were just having fun." Pancratz and Cody Yelder of Oak Lawn Richards each scored 20 to lead the North. They shared team MVP honors. "They just had too much athleticism for us," Mishler said. The North finished with 10 3-pointers, and had five players with at least five rebounds to lead a 52-47 advantage. Tyler Wallenfang of Washington scored nine for the South. Lonnie Schwindenhammer can be reached at 686-3214 or lchwindenhammer@pjstar.com

I'm curious about the ranking for James. I suspect because he changed schools late in his high school career that some schools and recruiting services may have lost track of him. He certainly seems like a better player than that ranking. How often do you hear people talking about a guy 5'11 who plays above the rim? I liked this quote about him from his high school coach: "He's got the grades, he's humble and he's a great player. Let me put it this way, if my son turns out like Lance, then I'm doing okay."

That actually seems like a pretty knowledgable write up about them. I'm a little surprised they picked them that high but they are getting Haddix back. I'm very curious in Ubiles, they and others seem very high on him.

Still a nice schedule. -The first Atlantic 10 to play at the RACC. -The first CAA team to play in the RACC. - A Bucknell team that could be getting votes in the AP top 25 coming into the RACC. -Possibly another game or two we don't know about. - We go to the dance and my tickets didn't even go up from last year! I'll take it!

It's looking like a very nice home schedule this year. In a story today about Brown's salary they mention we'll have a game at the RACC against St. Bonaventure on December 16th. Brown is third in league in pay-TU With VCU, Bucknell and now the Bonnies at home that's a strong schedule upgrade from anything we've seen in the past.

On the Will Brown website he mentions the commitment from Chicago. He can't name who it is but is likely Little. Then he says we'll have two more scholarships available and that they're looking for a PG and a perimeter player who can score. Ambrose certainly sounds like he fits the bill for the perimieter player. I'm guessing the other scholarship might come from Bauman who is prepared to graduate as a junior.

Back in the 1900s when I was there I think the rule was you could have a case for every person over 21 in a suite. Something like that. I'm sure they've changed the rules since then.

It's pretty amazing how the fortunes of both these teams changed over the last couple of years. I don't think any of us were that excited about Bucknell coming to RACC a few years when they were just a decent Patriot League team. Last year I'm pretty sure they were ranked in the top 25 for a while.

Happy Birthday from me too. I didn't think you looked a day over 31 when I saw you.

I didn't realize that if he qualifies he could be eligable to play this year. That's an interesting prospect. I realize Ambrose is supposed to be an excellent player but to be described as the next Jamar Wilson. A lot of pressure but hopefully it's true.

As far as I know there were no issues with academics and Jamar. He considered prep school after Beeten left because he had already signed an LOI and was considering going to another school I think. I share B9's apprehension about academics. The best example I can think of this kind of situation working out well was Rashuan Freeman at UMass. As far as I know he's had no problems academically after sitting out for a year. Sometimes for players it might be the best thing and hopefully it is for Ambrose. I'm guessing the post-season success and the new contract has given the coaching staff some more liberty in looking at players who might not have gotten a look in the past few years for academic reasons.

I thought if you didn't give a player their release they can't accept a scholarship for the year they sit-out when they transfer. They can still go to another school academically but they can't get a basketball scholarship until the year is up.

I wouldn't blame them if they didn't give him a release to Duquesne. There's 320+ Divison I teams and Everhart seems to be pissing them off one by one. Maybe he should start recruiting high school players and those at JUCOs instead of other college rosters.

As printed in today's TU the readers poll on area topics including Best Local Sports Team. The results: BEST LOCAL SPORTS TEAM 1. The Albany River Rats (hockey) 2. University at Albany men's basketball team 3. Tri-City ValleyCats (baseball) I believe that's the first time the Danes have made the list and the first time Siena hasn't. TU Poll

As of last week there were only a few odd seats available in the chairback sections. I think there were something like five available seats in our section (not just our row) total. Also sounds like they are thinking about converting some of the bench seats into chairbacks a few rows or sections at a time. As had been mentioned here before they would lose some seating capacity. I think it's four seats per row.

MM is listed as 6'10 but you're right. It's all head. I doubt he could rebound because his hands probably wouldn' reach over that head. That and he only has four fingers for some reason.

Carl Ross may be an excellent player but I have concerns when any player chooses the number "00" Antione Johnson had three pretty good years wearing number 4 and then went to 0 his senior year and struggled. I'm not saying it's the number but why take a chance. If I were a coach I wouldn't even give it out.

If I'm not mistaken CBS will televise the events on Saturday. It's be great to see both guys make it to then. Albany had some good moments on CBS already this year.

Story in today's TU about the Wilson twins trip. Danes' Wilsons team up for event in Belgium