Since 1995, only five other players have averaged 20 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists and shot better than 50 percent from the field. They include Dwyane Wade (Marquette), Roy (Washington), Reggie Williams (Virginia Military Institute), Ricky Minard (Morehead State) and George Hill (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis). Wade, Hill and Roy were first-round picks, and Harden will surely follow their lead.
Harden?s 20.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 50.2-percent shooting all are more impressive considering that Sendek?s offense is notorious for limiting possession.
?The thing that really stands out to me is that you look at his stats and he?s efficient,? Hopkins said. ?Then you find out their opponents have the least amount of possessions against them in the country.?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/sports/ncaabasketball/20harden.html?ref=ncaabasketballHe is a maestro of subtlety. He has an effective jab step, uses his shoulders to clear space and has a lethal pull-up jumper. His most impressive statistic may be that he attempted 253 free throws this season, an average of 7.7 per game. One of his defining traits is his ability to lean into defenders to draw fouls.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/blog/59525/index.html?eref=fromSIDavidson's Stephen Curry joined the show to discuss his future:
-- Curry said he's 53 percent leaning toward staying at Davidson and 47 percent toward going to the NBA. He had said "50-50" in a previous interview.
He said that Davidson is trying to get the Southern Conferene tourney moved to Charlotte, and that helps.
-- Curry also said the more he watches NCAA Tournament games, the more he wants to be part of that. Not making the Tourney makes him more likely to return.
-- Dan asked Curry, who's a better shooter -- him, his father Dell or Michael Jordan? Stephen said that he is the best of those three.
-- Curry said he has Louisville-Syracuse in his bracket.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=4032725The beauty in The Beast is the problem. He kids. He dances. He hugs. And this is in the first half. He laughs. He tells jokes. He does his Dick Vitale impression. During warmups. He is the least of beasts, actually.
But UConn's 7'3'' junior center Hasheem (The Beast) Thabeet can't help it. He is terminally cheerful. He knows what NBA scouts have said about him: Not nearly mean and nasty enough ? most (NBA) guys will go right through him. Which is undeniably true. You can see for yourself this Final Four, as 'Sheem the Beam and the Huskies roll into Detroit. He gets the rebound and tiny people slap his wrists until he lets it go. Runts push him off the blocks like cops with nightsticks. His dunk would hardly dent a marshmallow.
"I do not know how to control this," grins Thabeet (thaa-BEET). "Maybe I'll be mean enough someday."
Unlikely.
Example: You ask The Beast if you can speak to his mom. He gives you his own cell number and says, "I will translate!" So, later, you call it, sure you've got a fake, and his voicemail answers. So you leave a message like you've left a thousand others with athletes, knowing you will not get a call back. Except in less than an hour he's calling you back. "I wanted to be sure to return your call right away!" he says.
Dude. I'm going to need to see some ID.
On most any day at UConn, Ucan see The Beast in the Student Union quad, eating lunch, surrounded by 12 to 15 students, all of them giggling. He absorbs everything, a kind of SpongeBob Tall Pants. In Tanzania, he was a model, a TV crewmember, and a security guard at concerts. And that was before his 15th birthday. "They thought I was much older," he laughs. "People would let me do anything!"
Really? You? A bouncer? "Oh, no, I was terrible. The fights would start and I would run away!"
You begin to see the problem.
One day, his father lent him his best atlas to take to fifth grade show and tell. He promptly lost it. Hasheem feared his father's whipping stick so much that he was too scared to come home. His mother found him that night on the streets, crying.
"He's a very sensitive kid," says UConn trainer James Doran. "When he first got here, any little thing would send him into a panic. He's much better now."
Although, in UConn's Elite Eight win over Missouri last weekend, Thabeet hurt his ring finger going after a loose ball. The way he flailed around, you'd have thought he lost an eyeball.
"Well, if you let him," says Doran. "He'll roll clear to the other bucket."
So you can imagine how Thabeet took it after his Oxford-educated architect father died of diabetes complications when 'Sheem was just 14. The boy was so distraught he quit school. He began taking odd jobs, believing he needed to provide for his mother and two siblings.
"I was so worried about him," says his dressmaker mother, Rukia. "I only wanted him to go back to school."
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He finally did. A year later, a coach in 'Sheem's hometown of Dar es Salaam talked him into trying hoops. But the guys playing it were all so ? so ? mean! "I was scared. So I lied. I told him I didn't have any gears [sic]. But then he gave me gears [sic]. So I had no choice but to play."
Seven years later, the hoops world is about to discover his best gears -- sending shots back to their makers. Mean or not, he and his Boeing wingspan are second in the nation in blocks this season. At one point this year, he swatted away a three and the opposing coach looked up at him and said, "Thabeet, can't you just let one go?"
When UConn bested Missouri Saturday and the last-second rebound fell into Thabeet's arms, he celebrated like he'd just taken the Bastille. He skipped, pogo-ed, and screamed. He ran 30 rows up into the stands and held his mom. "Thank you for raising me," he gushed, and they both cried. He waved the Tanzanian flag. He grabbed the trophy and struck a Heisman pose.
If UConn wins it all, it would be the first hoops team greeted in the White House by Barack Obama, the first president with African roots. That makes The Beast's eyes a little misty. "I only wish my father could be here to share this with me," he says, still hugging the ball.
So many players in this Final Four, in this draft, in this game, live their lives for a nearly unreachable thing: starring in the NBA. Most of them won't star; most won't even get there. It can be crushing. But Thabeet is one kid I don't worry about. His light you can't put out. He is more resilient than a Slinky. And it's nice to know that whatever happens, Thabeet goes on.
http://www.theknicksblog.com/2009/04/01/tyreke-evans-entering-draft/Just a couple of draft tidbits here. Freshman guards Memphis? Tyreke Evans and UCLA?s Jrue Holiday are putting their names into the draft pool for this year. I have also read that Oklahoma freshman guard Willie Warren plans on returning to school next year.
With Coach Calipari leaving for Kentucky and most other players set to graduate or transfer, Memphis? team looks to be completely different next year. ?If he?s leaving, I?m not staying,? Evans told FoxSports.com in reference to Calipari leaving for Memphis.
Holiday can definitely use more time in college. I would not be shocked to see him declare, but not hire an agent. Holiday will likely not crack the top ten, and he is likely bound for the bottom half of the first round. He showed glimpses of what an NBA team would want, but he is not yet ready.
As for Warren, with the Griffins set to leave, Warren will have his time to shine. Blake decided last year to stick around for his sophomore campaign, and look what he did with the opportunity. Warren will have a chance to prove that he is capable of leading a team to success. Good move by him.
I like Monroe. 6'11", good passer, good shooter and is a decent shot-blocker. He could be a very good fit at Center in D'Antoni's system.
What bothers me about Monroe is it seems like he takes plays off and is unmotivated. Very talented, but could be lazy. That's why he's dropped in draft position. We've had too many lazy Centers in the last few years, so he worries me. But if he falls to us (9th pick?) I still think we should take him.
Any chance in Cole Aldrich entering the draft this year? Most sites I see say no, and then he should stay another year to develop better offensive skill. In this draft though he would be the #2 center behind Thabeet and easily be a top 10 pick.
If there are no worthy centers to take at the pick which is either Aldrich or Monroe, then I'm hoping they pick Gerald Henderson.
I love his defense and his ability to get to the free throw line. At #8, #9 he'll still be there.
As I type this I wonder where James Harden will go..and what do you think the chances are of his draft stock falling after his sub par performance in the tournament?
Looking at the bottom 7 teams, none of them really sound like a good fit for him. Sacramento, Clippers, Memphis, Minnesota, Golden State, Oklahoma don't really need a SG.