Contributors

WITH HIGH SCHOOL CAREER COMPLETE, ANTHONY BENNETT WILL TURN ATTENTION TO RECRUITING

The trend of high-end prospects in college basketball recruiting is to make their college decisions later and later in recent years. The Class of 2012 is taking that trend to new heights, so to speak, with as many as four of the top 10 players n the country still undecided as we move into April. One such prospect is Findlay Prep’s Anthony Bennett, a 6-foot-8 power forward and native of Brampton, Ontario.

Bennett, who ran on the summer AAU circuit with CIA Bounce, is an imposing force on the basketball court. He violently attacks the rim with strong finishes and his athletic ability is impressive for a player his size and strength. He has also shown the ability to hit from three-point range and his potential almost seems limitless at the power forward position at the college level. He continues to improve his skill level making him an even more dangerous offensive player.

This past weekend Bennett helped his Findlay Prep Pilots win the National High School Invitational in Bethesda, Md. with a thrilling 86-83 overtime win against Montverde. The Pilots trailed by as many as 18 points in the second half before rallying. Bennett, the tournament’s MVP, chipped in with 13 points and eight rebounds in the championship contest.
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FINDLAY PREP RALLIES PAST MONTVERDE FOR NHSI CHAMPIONSHIP

Pilots rally from as many as 16 down late to win in overtime

By Matt Whitfield

In a match-up of titans Montverde Academy squared off versus Findlay Prep in the National High School Invitational in Bethesda, Md. Montverde was looking to repeat as NHSI Champions as Findlay Prep was looking for their third title in four years.

Kasey Hill was on early for Montverde hitting several layups and netting a three point shot to help put Montverde up 14-4. Early on Anthony Bennett was fairly non existent, playing against an almost equally athletic and taller Landry Nnoko and seemed a little tired from all his travels and games in the previous days before. A give and go from Amedeo Della Valle to Winston Shepard gave Findlay life as it was 19-11 Montverde near the end of the quarter. Then Nigel Williams-Goss was fouled on his made shot in the paint and hit the bonus to end the quarter as Montverde lead 21-14.

Michael Enanga started the 2nd quarter with an errant dunk attempt for Montverde. However Patrick Garino’s, bucket near the three point line made it a 23-14 Montverde game. Anthony Bennett awoke finally and dunked on Landry Nnoko. Bennett, however had a couple choice words for Landry Nnoko and a technical was assessed as Montverde lead 25-18. Then Kasey Hill’s two point shot made it 27-18. Then a three ball from Miguel Cartagena gave them a 30-19 lead. Montverde seemed more focused and energized as they continued this trend and walked into the lockers at the half up 38-28. Montervede had held at least a seven point lead for the overwhelming majority of the game up to this point.

Both teams tightened up on defense in the third quarter. However, four three point baskets, two of which came from Michael Fraizer led to a seemingly insurmountable 54-39 lead going into the fourth quarter as Montverde looked to be closing in on becoming repeat NHSI Champions.

Brandon Ashley seem poised to trim the Montverde lead, but Patrick Garino’s, dunk off a steal from Kasey Hill seemed to end the game near the five minute mark as Montverde lead 65-49. However, Findlay Prep would not go away and would go on a run from here as they cut the Montverde lead to shreds as they employed a full court press. Montverde had trouble on the inbounds pass and several times turned the ball over to Findlay, which resulted in key Findlay points. Brandon Ashley’s two free throws tied the game with less than thirty seconds left. Kasey Hill had a chance to win the game as the fourth quarter expired, but his three point shot was off.

While much of the first four quarters had seen the game go in Montverde’s favor overtime was neck and neck. Anthony Bennent’s dunk put Findlay up 82-80 with just over a minute left. They seemed poised to capitalize off this especially after an awful three point attempt. However, the shot went off Brandon Ashley and out of bounds. Brendan Boyle then hit a nothing but net three point shot. Nigel Williams-Goss responded, however with a floater to put Findlay up 84-83. After a pair of made free throws for Findlay, Brendan Boyle had a chance to tie the game at the end on a thee point shot off an in-bounds pass with 1.2 seconds left, but his shot feel short. Miguel Cartagena kicked the ball off the court in disgust as Findlay had done the unthinkable as they won the game by a final of 86-83.

After the game Kevin Boyle was understandably dejected, “Without question [this has to be one of my toughest losses]. With the magnitude of a game, you’re playing Findley, it’s obviously a bitter defeat. You’re up 15/16 with five minutes left. It’s a game you should be able to come out make shots, handle the ball. We had 4 guards on the court, but like I said we played a little cautious.”

DUQUESNE SHOULD PURSUE PROVEN WINNER

By Ray Mernagh

Duquesne fired head basketball coach Ron Everhart Friday. While the move surprised many, you could see it coming if you’d been paying attention to the program on the Bluff over the last few years. Player turnover was a definite problem. If Everhart, a great guy and a good coach, had been axed on a Friday in March of say 2013, or 2014, it would’ve been understandable. That kind of timing would’ve allowed for his latest class, featuring two really talented kids, to have a season under their belt and possibly get the Dukes back to an A-10 final like the memorable run Aaron Jackson had led them on back in 2009.

Duquesne’s AD Greg Amodio came to the campus in Uptown with great fanfare due to his time at A-10 power Xavier. In his first signature move he hired Everhart.

It was a great hire.

Duquesne wasn’t in the basement of D-1 basketball, it was in the bomb shelter attached to the basement by the long tunnel through the sewage. And no matter how much Dukes fans wanted it to be true, neither Norm Nixon or Sihugo Green were walking through the doors of the Palumbo.
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KIRSCHMAN & MERNAGH: 2012 NCAA TOURNAMENT MANIFESTO

March 13, 8:28 PM:
Gracious sakes alive in the name of John Wooden.

I can understand your dislike for this event I mean, dang, it’s not like some team from the CAA will get in unexpectedly, get routinely bashed by everyone from Joe Lunardi to Jay Bilas and, in-spite of all the negativity, still win five games to get to the final four….oh wait.

Iona vs BYU
Machado vs Carlino — two great guards with really good support. This could be a great game and the winner has a chance to win 1-2 “real” games afterwards.

Vermont vs Lamar
My hope for this one of Lamar’s seniors to hit a deep three from the corner to win it at the buzzer, dig a blunt out of his sock, light it up and blow the smoke in Pat Knight’s face. Would that change your un-American view of the First Four?
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Need tickets for 2012 NCAA Tournament?

Our partnership with TicketNetwork.com allows you to pick the seats you want from their tremendous inventory at great prices. See below for 2012 NCAA Tournament Sites and tickets available:

The First Four (Round One) – University of Dayton Arena
-Mississippi Valley State vs. Western Kentucky
-Lamar vs. Vermont
-BYU vs. Iona
-California vs. South Florida

ROUNDS 2 & 3 (Various Sites):
PITTSBURGH – Consol Energy Center — Thurs/Sat
–Syracuse vs. UNC-Asheville
–Kansas State vs. Southern Miss

–Gonzaga vs. West Virginia
–Ohio State vs. Loyola (MD)

LOUISVILLE – KFC Yum! Center — Thurs/Sat
–Kentucky vs. Miss. Valley St/WKU winner
–Iowa State vs. Connecticut

–Murray State vs. Colorado State
–Marquette vs.BYU/Iona winner

Columbus – Nationwide Arena — Fri/Sun
–Michigan State vs. LIU-Brooklyn
–Memphis vs. St. Louis

–San Diego State vs. NC State
–Georgetown vs. Belmont

Greensboro – Greensboro Coliseum — Fri/Sun
–Notre Dame vs. Xavier
–Duke vs. Lehigh

–North Carolina vs. Lamar/Vermont winner
–Creighton vs. Alabama

Portland – Rose Garden — Thurs/Sat
–Wichita State vs. VCU
–Indiana vs. New Mexico State

–New Mexico vs. Long Beach State
–Louisville vs. Davidson

Nashville – Bridgestone Arena — Fri/Sun
–Cincinnati vs. Texas
–Florida State vs. St. Bonaventure

–Temple vs. California/South Florida winner
–Michigan vs. Ohio

Omaha – Century Link Center — Fri/Sun
–Florida vs. Virginia
–Missouri vs. Norfolk State

–St. Mary’s vs. Purdue
–Kansas vs. Detroit

Albuquerque – The Pit — Thurs/Sat
–UNLV vs. Colorado
–Baylor vs. South Dakota State

–Vanderbilt vs. Harvard
–Wisconsin vs. Montana

REGIONAL FINALS (Sweet 16 & Elite 8):
Boston – TD Garden

Atlanta – Georgia Dome

Phoenix – US Airways Center

St. Louis – Edward Jones Dome

2012 NCAA FINAL FOUR – New Orleans Mercedes-Benz Superdome

CLASS OF 2014 GUARD JA’QUAN NEWTON RECEIVING HEAVY INTEREST

By Matt Whitfield

John Mosco, the Assistant Coach at Philadelphia’s Neumann-Goretti High School has seen his share of high major Division-One players come through the Saints program; Scoop Jardine, Tony Chenault, and others. Ja’Quan Newton, an active combo guard is likely the next to follow in this trend. Newton is only a sophomore, but he has certainly has impressed this season as Neumann-Goretti is currently in the Pennsylvania State playoffs.

‘He has a chance to be one of the better ones [to come out of Neumann Goretti] because he just flat out scores and gets to the hole at will,” said Mosco.

Newton currently already has several high major offers.

“He has Wake Forest, Virginia, Boston College, Rutgers, Villanova, Temple and St. Joe’s,” said Mosco.

Local schools Rutgers, Villanova and Temple are all on hot on Newton’s trail too, but Mosco thinks Newton can play wherever.

“I think he could go anywhere to be honest. He doesn’t have to stay in [Philadelphia]. It’s not just staying locally [as a main factor in his recruitment]. He would like to have his mom and dad watch him play, but I don’t think he’s stuck on staying home.”

However, at this stage Mosco feels Newton needs to work on his jump shot to ensure that he is that high major player that he is expected to be.

“He needs to work on his jump shot to really be that high major player. If he could shoot it a little better it would really help him…but his athleticism is still really coming along. He’s still only a sophomore.”

Mosco added, “Carl [Arrigale], our Head Coach, thinks he can be a great two-way player defending the ball. He’s got long arms and he can play both sides of the floor.”

NBE will certainly see Ja’Quan Newton a lot this summer as he will be playing for Team Final. We expect to see many college coaches also checking out his development on the road and we will report back often on his developing recruitment.

Search By Artist or Event Name BUY TICKETS TODAY NCAA Tournament NCAA at Consol Energy Center Pittsburgh NCAA at KFC Yum! Center Louisville NCAA at Rose Garden Portland And Many More …

MAC TITLE THOUGHTS, COACHING SCUTTLEBUTT & MORE

By Ray Mernagh

MAC Daddy Dandy

The hoops world saw last night why the MAC is so freaking awesome even with all its warts. What a game! Ohio and Akron put on a championship battle that was better than 98% of all the conference title games played s far. Ohio got the dub 64-63 behind some great play by point guard DJ Cooper, clutch shooting from Ivo Baltic, and as always is the case in title games, some good fortune. What a game, what a crowd, and what a couple of blueprints to follow in building programs for any AD or dreaming coach to follow in Akron and Ohio. Keith Dambrot’s team was making their sixth straight Saturday night appearance while john Groce was winning his second in four years at the helm in Athens. I would love to see Dambrot get a bigger job, and in a fairer world he would, but he’s been fantastic and will continue to be as long as he’s at Akron. Groce now turns into a candidate of serious AD’s everywhere. We’ll see what happens but came across the column below while browsing this AM and it’s quite interesting regarding one of the dominoes –Nebraska — that’s certain to fall here soon.
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SETON HALL, VILLANOVA COMPLETE SERIES OF 1ST ROUND BLOWOUTS IN BIG EAST TOURNAMENT

By Lauren Kirschman

After the opening session of the 2012 BIG EAST Tournament saw a pair of 14-point wins registered by Connecticut and Pittsburgh (Big East Tournament 1st Session Recap), the evening session produced even less suspense as Seton Hall and Villanova scored resounding wins to close the first day of action at Madison Square Garden. Here is a look at last night’s results, the schedule for the rest of the BIG EAST Tournament and your links to secure tickets to the remaining games…

No 10 Seton Hall 79, No. 15 Providence 47

Seton Hall is one of several Big East teams trying to earn their way off the bubble and into the NCAA Tournament this week. The Pirates started on the right track, defeating Providence 79-47 on Tuesday night.
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UCONN, PITT EARN OPENING ROUND BIG EAST TOURNAMENT WINS

By Lauren Kirschman

Big East Tournament Day One

No. 9 Connecticut 81, No. 16 DePaul 67

Last season, Kemba Walker carried the Connecticut Huskies to five wins in five days and a Big East tournament championship. Whether or not the Huskies can move through the gauntlet to earn another title remains to be seen. But if they do win five consecutive contests again, it’ll likely be thanks to Jeremy Lamb.

Lamb led Connecticut with 25 points, four assists and five rebounds in the Huskies’ 81-67 win over DePaul in the first round of the Big East tournament on Tuesday afternoon. Connecticut, the No. 9 seed, started 7-7 from beyond the arc and didn’t miss a 3-point shot until Roscoe Smith was off the mark with 4:40 left in the first half.

The Blue Demons consistently left Connecticut players open on the perimeter, seeming willing to chance the Huskies beating them from the outside. Connecticut took advantage and, after letting DePaul hang around early, closed the half on a 6-0 run that gave the Huskies a 46-33 advantage
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Mernagh: View from the Horizon/Semi’s Set

Detroit Ices Penguins
A lot of folks thought Detroit would be the team to beat in the Horizon League coming into this season. Injuries, coaching, and depth have, at times, stopped the Motown ballers from living up to their potential in the regular campaign but hey, it’s all about the post-season baybay — I changed the spelling because I want you to pronounce it that way, it’s kind of a play on words and a kind of non-shoutout to that announcer that used to coach the Titans — and this group may have righted the ship just in time. 20-13 ain’t too shabby, just not good enough for the talent on this team in this writer’s opinion, of course when you have a beast like Eli Holman and refuse to play through him, well….that’s all for another time I guess.

Detroit made shots in this one and it’s really that simple. The Titans shot 60% and then made a lot of noise postgame about sending a message to Cleveland State with their performance, especially Ray McCallum Jr. The Vikings were watching the game and they will face the Titans today in one semifinal. Like I said, the Titans are talented and maybe they’ve turned it around. They beat Jerry Slocum’s team 93-76. We’ll see how they fare against Gary Waters and Crew.

Butler Pounds Milwaukee

71-49 was the score as, guess who, Butler is back in the semifinals hoping to upset league champ Valpo on the Crusaders floor later Saturday. Khyle Marshall had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Butler lost 71-59 last week to Valpo and Brad Stevens was channeling his inner-Jim Calhoun by addressing the fact that Valpo is a very physical team. “Nobody talks about this, but they’re really physical,” Stevens said. “They grab you, they get you, they hit you. They’re tough.” Bryce Drew has to love that!

Should be a great pair of games this evening.

Mernagh: Valley Recap Plus Some A-10 Stuff

Creighton and McDermott Get Tested by Drake

Doug McDermott hit two big three pointers in the middle of the second half and it looked like the Valley’s Player of the Year and his teammates were ready to pull away from Drake. The young Bulldogs had other plans though, cutting a 13-point lead with a little over 4 minutes remaining to 3 –63-60 – on a Rayvonte Rice bucket with 1:24 left on the clock. Creighton was able to salt things away by hitting 5-6 from the stripe in the final minute and winning 68-61.

McDermott was brilliant in the second half and finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds for the game. Greg Echenique contested multiple shots in the last 3 minutes, blocking one by Drake’s Ben Simons that was huge down inside a minute left. Drake looks to have a bright future heading into next season while Creighton rolls into this afternoon’s semifinals in St. Louis where they will play Evansville. The Missouri Valley Tournament is a great event and anyone with a sports package on their TV can find it up in the Fox Sports Missouri/Midwest channels. Today’s games are usually the best. Tomorrow’s final will be on CBS I’m sure where it’s expected Creighton and Wichita State will slug it out (the greatest thing about this event is the expected rarely happens).

Evansville beat Missouri State 72-64 in the late game as Kenny Harris had 20 and Colt Ryan 19 to lead Marty Simmons’ crew. Evansville now plays #25 Creighton in what, judging by their two earlier games, should be a battle. The Purple Aces beat the Bluejays in Evansville and lost the game in Omaha in overtime.

Shockers Roll
The other semifinal features Wichita State going against Illinois State. The Shockers pounded a tired Indiana State club 72-48 in the Quarters while the Redbirds outlasted Northern Iowa. #14 Wichita State is 27-4 and led by a bevy of veteran players. The Shocks have had three different winning streaks of 8 or more this year and have an NCAA best record of 19-3 on the road since last season. The defending NIT champs are looking to make a deep run here in a few weeks (and with players like 7-footer Garret Stutz, Toure Murry and Joe Ragland, that’s a distinct probability).

Lowery Fired
Southern Illinois did the inevitable when, facing multiple consecutive losing seasons (including this year’s school record 23 loss campaign) they fired head coach and former Saluki player Chris Lowery. Lowery was the hottest name in the coaching business just four short years ago. He turned down more than one big six league job as SIU stepped up and rewarded him with a fat contract. That contract still had 2 years left on it – the buyout is $1.5 million – and in all likelihood was the only thing that kept SIU from pulling the trigger on Lowery last year. Lowery enjoyed great success, but is the latest example of how quickly things can turn on a coach when they lose players to transfer and miss on recruits. Hindsight is 20/20, but I’m guessing that Michigan job Lowery once turned down is looking pretty good right now.

A-10 Action at Noon
Rick – “I’m not a big Gay guy” – Majerus and his Billikens are coming to town to play Duquesne at noon. St. Louis is having a great year at 23-6 (11-4 in the league). I look forward to watching them play the always game at home Dukes at noon today.

LEFT COAST LAYUPS WITH RAPHIELLE JOHNSON — WCC POISED TO SEND MULTIPLE TEAMS TO NCAA TOURNEY?

Three, maybe four bids for WCC?

By Raphielle Johnson

The West Coast Conference tournament tips off on Wednesday night with the title game to be played on Monday, and while three teams have the look of NCAA tournament squads there’s always the possibility that the WCC could end up with a fourth bid. Regular season champion Saint Mary’s and runner-up Gonzaga, who both receive byes to the semifinals, are in good shape at this point based on their records and computer numbers.

Mark Few’s Bulldogs, who made short work of Longwood in a non-conference game on Monday night, entered this week with an RPI of 18 and a strength of schedule of 78, with their non-conference SOS coming in at 20th. With a 24-5 overall record the Bulldogs are essentially playing for seeding at this point. A tournament title could put them in line to receive a higher seed than Saint Mary’s due in large part to those non-conference numbers. Both Joe Lunardi (ESPN) and Jerry Palm (CBS Sports) have the two teams on the seven “line” in their most recent projections.

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MERNAGH’S MONDAY QUICK HITTERS

Is everyone so busy calling Missouri/Kansas an instant classic that they failed to notice the referee’s decision down the stretch that I thought really effected the last offensive possession for Mizzou? I’m talking about how the official bailed out Tyshawn Taylor on his drive with what looked like, at best, very minimal contact from Phil Pressey — contact that resulted in Pressey fouling out of the game and not being available on the next possession when Michael Dixon struggled to find anyone before the buzzer. We never saw a replay from a different angle on the foul call. I just thought it was a really tough call and effected the game in a huge way. I also felt that Missouri didn’t get the benefit of any whistles when they attacked the rim late.
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Buzz Williams and Marquette got a huge character win at West Virginia. Williams apologized after the game for doing his little two-step to John Denver’s hit on his way to the postgame interview. I thought it was awesome and wish more coaches would have fun the way Williams did on Saturday. Marquette is in great shape for a good seed and a deep run in March. More importantly, they’re playing really well at the perfect time.
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Syracuse has been dominant all season in Big East play. The Orange are a sure-fire #1 seed and could be Kentucky’s biggest challenger should those two teams meet in the National Championship game (please let this happen).
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Michigan State is another squad rolling at the right time. Izzo clinched his 7th Big Ten title after Ohio State faltered against Wisconsin yesterday in Columbus. Draymond Green is a leader in the Mateen Cleaves mold for Izzo.
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For more on the latest happenings around college basketball, be sure to check out the latest NBE Basketball ‘The Experience’ Podcast.

LEFT COAST LAYUPS WITH RAPHIELLE JOHNSON – LOBOS GRAB CONTROL OF MOUNTAIN WEST

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By Raphielle Johnson

With New Mexico playing both San Diego State and UNLV last week, they had a great opportunity to not only grab control of the Mountain West race but also make a statement nationally. Thanks in large part to the play of forward Drew Gordon that’s exactly what happened, as the Lobos picked up wins at SDSU and over UNLV at The Pit to open up a two-game lead. Gordon was named Mountain West Player of the Week for his efforts and Steve Alford’s team made its first appearance in the Top 25, as they’re ranked 18th in the AP and 21st in the USA Today poll.

After dropping the first matchups with the Aztecs and Runnin’ Rebels, New Mexico has won seven straight due in part to their effort on the defensive end. Just two opponents have shot 40% or better from the field during UNM’s streak, and four have shot 31% or worse. Outside of Anthony Marshall on Saturday UNLV was unable to get anything done offensively in the second half, as the other Rebels shot 2-for-13 from the field in what would eventually become a 65-45 loss.

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JENKINS, BRITT HAVE GONZAGA POISED FOR WCAC PLAYOFF RUN

By Matt Whitfield

Gonzaga Head Coach Steve Turner feels good about his team with the playoffs in the WCAC set to begin this week.

“I think we’re having a tremendous season. I’m excited where we are. I think what a lot of people don’t understand is we’re sitting at 24-4 and in 28 games I haven’t played one game with my whole arsenal.”

Nate Britt, Gonzaga’s star Class of 2013 point guard who is verbally committed to North Carolina is one of the players who has sat out some games due to an injury this season, however when he has played he has often been lights out.
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MERNAGH: HUGGS IS RIGHT – - BACKYARD BRAWL HOOPS EDITION PREVIEW

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By Ray Mernagh

Bob Huggins is always refreshing to listen to for the following simple reason — he always speaks honestly to the media in a world where people in his position might cause a polygraph machine to explode if they were attached to one during press conferences. One memorable quote, which threw the opposing fanbase into a tizzy a few years ago, came after West Virginia had lost a multi-overtime game at Pittsburgh after being in a position where they had the game in hand but played stupidly down the stretch, allowed it to go into overtime, and eventually lost to their archrival.

Huggins told reporters afterwards that the Mountaineers had given the game away, that they never should’ve allowed it to go into overtime. He was right. He was being honest. And that’s why I prefer his brand of media relations to most of his peers. On the way into work today I heard a Huggins clip on the radio that included a simple answer to a question that others involved in the WVU/Pitt rivalry have either been passing on, or expressing doubt when it’s posed to them.
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LEFT COAST LAYUPS WITH RAPHIELLE JOHNSON: ANALYZING POTENTIAL NCAA BIDS FROM MUCH-MALIGNED PAC 12

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By Raphielle Johnson

Much has been made about the struggles of the Pac-12 this season and rightfully so, as the conference didn’t do much of anything in the non-conference portion of its schedule and league play is just now providing some separation. The question now, with less than a month to go until Selection Sunday, is just how many bids is the league in line for. Without the non-conference wins Pac-12 teams haven’t been able to boost their profiles much, which in turn limits the number of quality wins available within the conference (Arizona State, USC and Utah are all 229 or worse in the RPI).

Some of the leading bracketologists have had a tough time finding many spots for Pac-12 teams in their brackets, and here’s what they’ve come up with:

Joe Lunardi (ESPN): Arizona and Cal in; Washington (first four out) and Oregon (next four out).

Jerry Palm (CBS Sports): Cal only.

Also of note, Andy Glockner (SI.com) had no teams from the league that “should be in” but six are still “in the mix”.

Those are just three of the many floating around but the theme is consistent: the Pac-12 hasn’t done enough to merit consideration for the number of bids one would expect a BCS AQ conference to be in line for. Thanks to the NCAA’s weekly release of their “nitty gritty” report and team sheets, it’s easier to break down resumes based on the actual numbers that the selection committee will use to help with their decisions. There’s still time for the Pac-12 to have teams make a move, but how much that may matter was probably decided back in November and December. (numbers courtesy of the NCAA)
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MERNAGH — BEAST MODE

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By Ray Mernagh

For the rest of the season I’ll check in every week, usually around this time (Thursday evening) with Beast Mode.

Here’s the first installment.

Hope it’s worth the read and views of the occasional videos I’ll post. Enjoy.

Name: Austin Rivers.

Class:Freshman

Team:Duke

Position: Shot Maker/Playmaker/Knock Your Ass Out With A Deep Haymaker

Please allow Doc’s young prodigy to introduce himself.
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2012 NATIONAL PREP SCHOOL INVITATIONAL — TOP PERFORMERS

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By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst

Now that the National Prep School Invitational has come to close and I’ve had a few days to process all the basketball I watched it’s time to rank the performances from the weekend. Below are player rankings by class based on this past weekend’s performance only. These are not an overall opinion on these players but rather a snapshot based on how they played at Rhode Island College over the weekend. The top spot in 2012 came down to the nation’s two best big men and is a decision I agonized over before finalizing it.

Be sure to check out our daily coverage from a great weekend of hoops at the 2012 National Prep School Invitational:
’12 NPSI – Day Four Report
’12 NPSI – Day Three Report
’12 NPSI – Day Two Report
’12 NPSI – Day One Report

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2012 NATIONAL PREP SCHOOL INVITATIONAL — DAY FOUR

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By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst

The first three days of the National Prep School Invitational were dominated by Steven Adams and his Notre Dame Prep squad. The 2012 big man from New Zealand erased any concerns after his foul-plagued showing at the Hoop Hall Classic and cemented his status as one of 2012’s top players. On Sunday it was time for another 2012 big man to steal the show and make his case for the #1 overall ranking in the senior class. With the gym buzzing and filled to a capacity that it saw at no other time all weekend the Tilton School and REDA (Ontario) took the floor at 1:30 PM. Nerlens Noel jumped center for the Tilton School sporting his trademark bright pink Nikes and his high top fade and put on the best show of the weekend.

Top Performance of the Day:

Nerlens Noel (Tilton 2012) – This was Noel’s first national appearance since announcing his intentions to graduate this year as a member of the 2012 class early Thursday morning. Providence fans packed the gym to see him as they made the cut of his seven final schools along with Kentucky, Syracuse, Connecticut, Florida, Georgetown and North Carolina. Dominance doesn’t even begin to describe the defensive effort put forth by Noel as he tallied 10 blocks to go along with countless more altered shots. It reached a point where REDA coaches could be heard screaming at their players who even attempted to challenge the big man as a shot in the lane against Noel was basically a turnover. Perhaps the most telling statistic of his dominance was on the scoreboard. Noel played the majority of the game’s first 29 minutes at which point REDA had only scored 19 points. At that time Nerlens went to the bench in a blowout victory and in the remaining 11 minutes REDA was able to put up 29 points. His defensive prowess is certainly nothing new but Sunday’s was a particularly stunning performance even by his high standards. Offensively Noel looked better than ever and as crazy as it sounds was literally playing point guard for his Tilton team during the 2nd half. He brought the ball up the floor every time and got his team into their offense sometimes breaking his man down off the dribble and other times running a play for someone else. I’m not suggesting that Noel is making a drastic position change but it was an indicator of how far along his ball handling and passing skills have come in the last year. Once only a defensive standout, Noel’s offense is catching up seemingly by the day.
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2012 NATIONAL PREP SCHOOL INVITATIONAL — DAY THREE

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By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst

With most college programs having games of their own on Saturday fewer coaches were on hand at Rhode Island College to take in the action but that didn’t stop the players from putting on a show. The best game of the day and arguably the weekend thus far was between New Hampton Prep and Canarias Basketball Academy. Canarias got out to a lead using their incredible size and strength but New Hampton came storming back to force overtime. New Hampton had lost stud sophomore Noah Vonleh to five fouls towards the end of regulation and it caught up with them in the extra session as Canarias prevailed 82-77. Despite coming up five points short on the scoreboard New Hampton had the top individual performance of the day from a somewhat unlikely source.

Top Performer of the Day:

Olivier Hanlon (New Hampton 2012) – committed to Boston College – Of the 10-12 times I’ve seen Hanlon play both with New Hampton and on the summer circuit with Albany City Rocks today clearly stands out as his best overall performance. The 6’2” physical point guard carried his team on his back for the entire 2nd half and overtime session by scoring and creating for others. Hanlon is at his best in screen and roll sets where he turns the corner aggressively and attacks the lane. In those situations he scored with the floater, got all the way to the rim, drew fouls on Canarias’ bigs, and found open teammates on the perimeter. New Hampton ran the same high ball screen seemingly every time down in the 2nd half and Canarias never found an answer for Hanlon’s fearlessness turning the corner. He also showed off his 3 point stroke as he played off the ball at times and knocked them down in catch and shoot situations. Just as impressive as his offense is Hanlon’s intensity and ball pressure on the defensive end. He never takes a possession off on that end and got multiple steals with his quick footwork and great hands. Boston College fans should look forward to a bulldog at the point guard for the next four years.
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