May 26-31 Blog
May 26, 2008 09:57 AM | General
NBA Pre-Draft Camp
Posted By John Antonik: May 28, 2008 (11:12 am)
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| Joe Alexander |
West Virginia’s Joe Alexander is one of 64 participants invited to the NBA’s pre-draft camp being held this week in Orlando, Fla. What is significant about Alexander’s inclusion was that he was also one of the 15 players picked for skills, strength, agility and medical testing.
This year the NBA has paired its physical-only list from 20 to 15, meaning the 15 players picked for medical testing are likely to be lottery picks.
According to ESPN’s Andy Katz, “Alexander and (Donte) Greene being voted into the top 15 means they can safely project they will be selected high enough to stay in the draft,” Katz wrote. “So far, neither has given up his amateur status by signing with an agent. But if Alexander and Greene are making their decisions based on this list, West Virginia and Syracuse can start planning on not having them next season.”
Games begin today and continue through Friday. Once the camp concludes underclassmen that have not signed with agents will have 16 days to decide if they are going to remain in the draft.
ESPN draft expert Chad Ford now has Alexander going to Portland with the 13th pick. CNNSI.com NBA writer Ian Thomsen has Alexander being selected 16th to the Philadelphia 76ers, while Jeff Reynolds of the Sports XChange has Alexander going as high as seventh to the Clippers.
West Virginia last had a player drafted in the first round in 1968 when guard Ron “Fritz” Williams was the ninth overall player taken by the San Francisco Warriors.
Alexander is the first Mountaineer player to participate in the pre-draft camp in Orlando. Two years ago in 2006, both Kevin Pittsnogle and Mike Gansey declined invitations under the advice of their agents.
The 2008 NBA draft will take place in New York City on June 26 and will be televised by ESPN.
Speed Merchants
Posted By John Antonik: May 28, 2008 (10:12 am)
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| Antonio Brown |
With hard news being hard to come by, summer is the time of year for lists and opinions. This week CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd revealed the first of his two-part series on the fastest players in college football. West Virginia’s Noel Devine was included among Dodd’s 10 fastest players in the game. Listed among Dodd’s next 10 fastest players was quarterback Pat White.
Devine is extremely fast but I’m not sure he’s as fast as White, especially on the football field. Line up Devine and White in a goal line-to-goal line race and I think White would overtake Devine at about the 20 or 15.
Come to think of it, White could have been a great 200 or 400-meter sprinter with his long, Jessie Owens-like strides.
The scuttlebutt over at the Puskar Center is that California recruit Mark Rodgers is also in their league in terms of speed. Rodgers had the fourth-fastest time in California as a high school senior in 2006.
The fastest football players in school history would have to include in no particular order: Pat White, Steve Slaton, Noel Devine, Rasheed Marshall, Chris Henry, Pacman Jones, Nate Terry, Antonio Brown, Robert Walker, James Jett, Grantis Bell, Reggie Rembert, Undra Johnson, Willie Drewery, Robert White, Garnett Edwards, Danny Buggs, Harry “Snake” Blake, Artie Owens, Kerry Marbury, Marshall Mills, Mark Burke, Tom Pridemore and John Mallory.
If you notice, some of them were more track guys than football players.
I remember Chuck Klausing telling me a story about Tom Pridemore once running the 100 hurdles at the West Virginia state high school meet. Pridemore blew away the entire field despite plowing through every hurdle. Klausing said Pridemore didn’t clear a single one.
Now that’s fast.
If it was up to me, I would have loved to have seen White, Slaton, Devine, Brown, Jett, Johnson, Edwards and Owens run the 100-meter dash. I take Jett by a nose over Edwards and Brown.
Jett was an Olympic gold medalist and Edwards was an All-American sprinter for the late Stan Romanoski. Brown was said to run a sub 4.3 forty.
In the 200, I would have to take White, Henry, Jett, Rembert, Edwards, Buggs, Blake and Burke in lanes one through eight. Again I give Jett the nod.
Old timers out there, am I missing anybody?
Sanni Cracks Shock Lineup
Posted By John Antonik: May 27, 2008 (11:57 am)
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| Olayinka Sanni |
There is nice feature story on Detroit Shock rookie center Olayinka Sanni on the Shock’s team web site at www.wnba.com.
The former Mountaineer has cracked Detroit’s starting lineup by proving to Shock head coach Bill Laimbeer that she’s a quick learner. “We’re very impressed with Sanni, Unexpectedly so,” said Laimbeer. “Her best trait is she finishes the shot with two hands, from around the basket, from 6-8 feet out.”
Detroit first got an inkling of what Sanni could do when assistant coach Rick Mahorn saw her play against the University of Oakland last December. In that game Sanni scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
That led to her being drafted in the second round. After Detroit’s third game, Sanni was inserted into the starting lineup against Indiana.
In five games Sanni shows modest averages of 3.6 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. In Detroit’s most recent victory over New York Sanni failed to score but did grab three rebounds. Detroit is ½ game behind Connecticut in the Eastern Conference standings with a 4-1 record.
Detroit’s next game is Saturday, May 31 when it travels to Indiana.
The first opportunity to watch Sanni on television is Saturday, June 14, when Detroit plays Phoenix at 3:30 pm on ABC.
Izzo-Brown's Coaching Tree Expands
Posted By John Antonik: May 26, 2008 (9:59 am)
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| Natalie Cocchi |
Nikki Izzo-Brown’s coaching tree just expanded by one. Former standout player Natalie Cocchi has been named assistant women’s soccer coach at Duquesne, the school announced last Friday.
Cocchi scored 15 goals and accounted for 35 points as a four-year starter on defense, helping West Virginia to a Big East title and an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearance in 2007. West Virginia advanced to NCAA Tournament play all four years Cocchi played at WVU.
West Virginia’s record was an impressive 59-21-8 during her stay.
Both members of Izzo-Brown’s staff at West Virginia are former players: Nikki (Garzon) Goodenow and Lisa Stoia. Marisa Kanela is also a member of the WVU staff.
Laura Kane was a former assistant coach at Purdue and Ashley Weimer has broken into the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant at Penn.
Katie Barnes had been coaching in the collegiate ranks at Alabama before taking a job as the head coach of her high school team in Cincinnati. Stacey (Sollmann) Cahill is a head coach at Sycamore High School in Cincinnati - last year's No. 1-ranked high school program in the country at one point.
That’s an impressive tree of coaches for a program that is just 13 years old.
