It's Gotta Be The Shoes

Adidas has chosen not to continue their relationship with the University of Central Florida because one of their players wears Jordan shoes. Who might that be? Marcus Jordan, Michael's son, wore a pair of J's in an exhibition game Wed. night. Jordan's son says the shoes hold special meaning to his family, and he will not give up wearing them. Marcus Jordan is a freshman guard at the UCF, and already calling the shots. The other sports programs at Central Florida must be pretty upset with him because this did not just affect the basketball team. Ridiculous or not? Michael has yet to comment on the issue.

Redemption Season

Samardo Samuels, the sophomore center for the Louisville Cardinals, never really lived up to expectations last season. He finished the season averaging 12 points and 5 rebounds a game. For a first team Parade All-American these stats do not stick out at you. I know expectations of freshman have shot way up over the years, but the fact is Samuels came in as a prized recruit for Rick Pitino. Samuels could never really stay out of foul trouble, and could never really put the scoring and the rebounding together. He had a season high of 24 points against South Alabama, but only 4 rebounds. Then his season high in rebounds was 13 against Ole Miss, but Samardo only scored 9 points. Now I do not want you to think at all that I am criticizing Samardo Samuels, I mean he was only a freshman, and if people forgot these kids are only 18 to 19 years old. I believe this is Samardo's year, he will prove a lot of people wrong about his not being NBA ready. If Samuels can learn how to stay out of foul trouble, his numbers should increase significantly. Let's just wait and see.

Syracuse Upset

Most of you know by now that Syracuse lost to the D2 school Le Moyne yesterday. I could take this blog a couple ways. Now obviously, most D1 schools would beat D2 schools. But I think the gap between both is getting closer. Some D2 schools are scheduling D1 schools for their first games, and beating them. We only hear about when the big time D1 schools lose or schools that are in the top 25. Do you think D2 schools are starting to contend with the average D1 schools?

Video of the Day: Kenny Dobbs

Kenny Dobbs aka the Dunk Inventor is a new streetball dunker on the rise. Check em' out!!

White Magic - Luke Babbitt

Its one in the morning, and I am searching online for my next topic to write about. I haven't showed many white boys any love on my page so I am deciding to tell you about a guy you may or may not know about. I am going to do pieces on those white boys who still rep on the hardwood, called "White Magic." Luke Babbitt is a sophomore, forward at the University of Nevada. Babbitt, originally from Reno, was a highly sought out recruit coming out of high school but choose to stay close to his Nevada roots. He led the Wolf Pack in scoring last year as a freshman averaging 17 points and 7 rebounds per contest. His game is closely compared to Chris Mullin, Babbitt has that sweet lefty stroke. At 6'8, 220 lbs., Babbitt is ready made for success at the next level. Already predicted to be at top 20 pick come June by NBAdraft.net. Look for Babbitt to continue his scoring ways, and become more of a household name as this highly anticipated college basketball season gets underway.

Preseason All-Americans

The Associated Press released their preseason All-Americans for this upcoming 2009-2010 college basketball season..

- Luke Harangody 6'8 senior Notre Dame

- Cole Aldrich 6'11 junior Kansas

- Sherron Collins 5'11 junior Kansas

- Patrick Patterson 6'9 junior Kentucky

- Kyle Singler 6'8 junior Duke

I would say Harangody is the front runner for POY thus far, but he must lead his team to the tournament at least to be the winner. Bill Self has already declared Cole Aldrich as having the potential to be the best big man in Kansas history besides Wilt the Stilt. Collins is deserving. I am not convinced that Singler will put up All-American stats, and while I do think Patterson is worthy, his stats may go down with all those weapons in that Kentucky offense this season. Who else should the AP have considered?

Remembering Len Bias

Tonight at 8pm ESPN will air their new piece about the life and career of the late, great Len Bias. It is called "Without Bias", covering the life of arguably the greatest college basketball player in the 1980s and one of the greatest of all time. Bias averaged 23 ppg and 7 rpg his senior year at Maryland in 1985-86 while shooting 54% from the field. He was selected 2nd overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 draft, and everybody wonders what if? He would have been apart of the defending championship Celtics, who made a genius trade for the 2nd overall pick in 1984 with the Seattle Supersonics. Bias later died of a cocaine overdose. Lenny Bias will forever be remember (1963-1986).

Don't Mess with Texas

The Texas Longhorns have been ranked in the top 5 in just about every college basketball poll that has been released thus far. The Longhorns are simply loaded. Yes, the return of senior Damion James is a key, but Rick Barnes went along and got a top 5 recruit to add to his top 5 team. His name, Avery Bradley. Bradley is a do-everything guard, who was considered as the best defender in the class of 2009. He even reached the #1 ranking on ESPN.com's recruiting list. Bradley is not the shooter that AJ Abrams was but he is more of a complete player. He is definitely Texas's best guard on the roster for this upcoming season. Here are some highlights from Bradley's high school days..

Already A.I.?

He is back. Allen Iverson made his Memphis Grizzlies debut last night playing 18 minutes and scoring 11 points. He was the first one to come off the bench, and this is a problem for him. A.I. released a statement yesterday after the game: “Go look at my resume and that will show you that I’m not a sixth man,” Iverson said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with me being selfish. It’s just who I am. I don’t want to change what gave me all the success that I’ve had since I’ve been in this league.” Listen Allen, you are not going to get more time than OJ Mayo, it's just not going to happen. You should have probably been aware of that when you signed. If you wanted to start, you should have signed elsewhere.

Video of the Day: Keion Bell

A sophomore at Pepperdine University, and preseason 1st Team All-American for his conference.