Cites family illness, need to be closer to home.

“My family is dealing with some health challenges at this time and as a result I have made the decision to transfer to be closer to home,” says Stepheson. “The two years I have spent as a Tar Heel have been great. My teammates, Coach Williams and his staff and the whole Carolina family are the best. I wish to thank the UNC fans for all their support and encouragement. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be a Tar Heel and I wish the program the best in the future.”

Well, I hate that, mainly because going to college and managing a basketball career is tough enough.  The additional burden of a family illness makes it even more difficult.  Best wishes for Alex and I hope with the year off from playing basketball that is mandated by a transfer he can spend time with his family.

On the UNC side, obviously it hurts the depth and I for one thought Stepheson was coming along nicely.  I firmly believed he was becoming the defensive presence around the rim the Heels needed to make the defense in general better.  With the arrival of Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller, the interior depth should be fine. However, when you count this transfer, Mike Copeland’s knee problems and the possible NBA departure of three other players, UNC stands to possibly lose five players off the roster from the underclassmen ranks.  In Stepheson’s case I think this is a blow to the team, albeit one I think the Heels can adequately compensate for in the long run.  And that is not to say he was expendable but with the personnel coming in probably easier to cover losing that the perimeter positions.

Also: Roy Williams statement:

I am extremely, extremely disappointed but I feel so great about Alex that I understand his decision to transfer. He is doing this because of health concerns and by being closer to home he will be able to provide the necessary support and help his family needs at this time. He is a wonderful kid. I thoroughly enjoyed coaching him and know that he would have contributed so much more in the next two years. Nevertheless, I have tremendous respect for Alex and know that he will always be part of our Carolina Basketball family. I’ll miss him, but he will always be important to me

Two angles on the OJ Mayo gifts scandal.

Two days ago, Saturday morning host Bomani Jones, filling in for David Glenn, interviewed Sonny Vaccaro who is really the father of the modern AAU/basketball shoe camp movement.  Vaccaro also signed Michael Jordan to NIKE but is largely considered to be Satan’s cabana boy by most decent folks.  You can listen to the interview in full here.  I thought Jones did a great job with the interview but Vaccaro has made a living being a slippery fellow and this interview was no different.  Among the more annoying points were:

• Vaccaro trotting out the baseball rule as though he had invented it and was breaking new ground with the suggestion.  Fairly arrogant on his part.  For the record, I love the baseball rule as a solution because I think it will filter out the guys who do not want to be in college and anyone who makes that decision to attend school knows it is a three year deal. It does not solve all the problems but I think it is a win-win for both the NBA and NCAA.
• At one point Vaccaro attempts to minimize the damage done by the current culture in amatuer basketball by playing the moral equivalence card.  He called those who think the Mayo situation troubling “alarmists” and said college basketball had always had skeletons pointing to the point shaving scandals from earlier decades saying it was the same thing.  Sorry, Sonny, but it is not the same thing and I am not sure point shaving was as widespread an issue as this is today nor did in seep down to having eighth graders playing with high school guys under the watchful eyes of sleazy agents.

Caulton Tudor piled onto the issue this morning with some fairly salient points while casting NBA commissioner David Stern as the real villian in this sordid tale:

At the very worst, Mayo was guilty of accepting money and gifts. Among the most pious of us, who makes a habit of saying “no thanks” to money and expensive gifts? And as for Floyd, need we even guess about his fate should he make a habit of going 12-21 rather than 21-12?

But the NBA and Stern have no excuse for peddling poison. The age rule was adopted to keep talented young players off NBA benches but in the public spotlight as collegiate stars for a year or two. It’s that simple. On a good NBA team’s roster in 2007-08, Mayo would have been on television no more than a handful of minutes each game. At Southern California, he became a media fixture for a few months.

So who wins from such a twisted exposure strategy? Well, heck, the NBA obviously. Mayo has become a sports celebrity, possibly by his own design. Lots of people may even watch the league draft just to see which team welcomes him and his baggage aboard.

Southern California, on the other hand, is left to climb out of a snakepit.

The right thing to do here is the right thing to do for the sport, and not merely what’s best for the almighty NBA. Stern and the players association owe it to the game to either clone the baseball rules or go back to the days when all high school seniors were allowed to enter the draft.

By far, the baseball blueprint works best. There, all high school seniors either can sign pro contracts immediately or are forced to duck the draft for three years. It’s not as though the undrafted baseball players are exiled for that time, either. Most just have to go to college and deal with the required academic eligibility demands.

I slightly disagree with Mayo not being culpable here though as Tudor points out, Mayo was corrupt before he got to USC.  His amatuer status, had anyone bothered to take a hard look at it, was probably toast halfway through high school.  USC and Tim Floyd should be on the hook for no other reason than they were abjectly stupid in giving Mayo a spot on the team.  Granted it is Floyd’s job to win games but it is his job to do so and not violate half the NCAA rulebook in the process.

Tudor is ultimately correct that if this is ever going to change the NBA has to do it.  The NCAA cannot stop players from leaving school to enter the draft.  Roy Williams said last year that the whole system was set up to benefit the NBA and not college basketball.  The only reason we have a rule blocking high schoolers from entering the draft is some folks took up the cause that poor high school students were having their lives ruined by thinking they could make it in the NBA and they turned out to be wrong.  You also had an issue of NBA GMs being too overly anxious to draft on potential that they were taking these guys out of high school and they ended up being busts.

The bottom line is we have no qualms about sending 18 year old men off to fight in a war but we want to be sacrosanct about 18 year olds entering the NBA Draft?  Screw that.  The world always works better when more freedom is applied not less.  In this case, allow these kids to make a choice like every other 18 year old has to do when they graduate high school.  Many more make poor decisions about what to do with their life every year than the whole lot of high school NBA busts combined.  Afford them the choice, allow the ones who do not want any part of college the option of not attending but at the same time make sure those who choose college do so as a three year committment.  If you are talking about making these boys into men, working hard for three years and honoring a committment to a school will go a long ways towards making that happen.  It is better for the college game.  It is better for the NBA since you will get more Tim Duncans than Kwame Browns in the final equation with a sprinkling on LeBron and Kobe mixed in.

Freedom of choice and stablilty of college commitments will not fix all the issues but I am certain it will make it better.

ACC Now is proactive in their previews.

2007 record: 4-8, 3-5 ACC

Returning starters: Offense 10, Defense 8.

Quarterback?: Yes. T.J. Yates (14 TDs, 18 INTs)

Avoid in the ACC: Florida State, Wake, Clemson

Coaching situation: Butch Davis didn’t make a lot of friends in his first season by angling a raise out of a four-win season but he made a lot of money. Davis’ job is as far from danger as possible but there is pressure to prove he’s worth the $2 million-plus salary.

SCHEDULE Aug. 30 McNeese State Sept. 11 @ Rutgers Sept. 20 Va. Tech Sept. 27 @ Miami Oct. 4 UConn Oct. 11 Notre Dame Oct. 18 @ UVa Oct. 25 Boston College Nov. 8 Ga. Tech Nov. 15 @ Maryland Nov. 22 N.C. State Nov 29 @ Duke

Spring issues: Sophomore quarterback T.J. Yates missed the entire spring recovering from shoulder surgery. Given his relative inexperience in the sport, that’s valuable practice time.

Besides Yates, safety Trimane Goddard (wrist), tackle Kyle Jolly (foot) and linebacker Chase Rice (ankle) missed the spring sessions, which doesn’t exactly foster continuity, especially for a young team with so many players back.

The good news is those players will be ready for August and a year removed from the lame-duck finish with John Bunting, the Heels are the only Coastal Division program, besides Virginia Tech, not breaking in a new coach, new quarterback or both.

The Heels need better to play on defense and while they only lost three starters, two were big — DT Kentwan Balmer (first-round pick, San Francisco) and leading tackler Durell Mapp. Mapp made just about every play for a weak linebacking corps, that was often reduced to just two LBs in favor or nickel package. UNC needs Bruce Carter to offset Mapp’s absence.

On offense, the passing game will be strong as Yates becomes more consistent, and with the help of junior receiver Hakeem Nicks (74 catches), but the running game still has issues. Just because Greg Little, who played the first 10 games at receiver, rushed for 158 yards against Duke in the season-finale, it doesn’t mean the running game, which ranked 107th nationally, is fixed. Little has to hold up over a full season and sophomores Anthony Elzy and Ryan Houston also have to be more productive.

Fall outlook: It’s possible UNC could start 1-3 and still finish 8-4. That’s indicative of both how good the Heels’ could be in Butch Davis’ second season and just how bad the Coastal Division is.

After a I-AA opener, UNC goes to Rutgers, gets Virginia Tech at home and then goes to Miami. There’s no reason they couldn’t win at Miami — they beat the Canes at home last season — but until UNC proves it can win on the road, those coin-toss games have to be considered losses.

The Heels went 0-6 on the road in 2007 and have lost 13 of 14 road games overall and 20 straight outside the state of North Carolina. The Heels play Miami, Virginia, Maryland and Duke on the road in the ACC.

After Notre Dame, which also won four games in 2007, visits on Oct. 11, the Heels close with six ACC games they’ll have a chance to win, even at Virginia where they never win.

The Heels also avoid what could be the top three teams in the Atlantic Division so the schedule sets up for Davis to make a big improvement, at least to 7-5. If not, the Rams Club should ask for a refund.

Folks cannot really let that raise business go can they?  I understand the logic but at the same time everyone except for NC State message board people understand UNC did not change Davis’ salary package because he won four games but rather because his market value seemed to change.  And it is also forgotten that most of the money for that raise came from future retention bonuses which were being set aside anyway.

But I digress…

If there was one singular point made in this preview I would deem the difference between 5-7 and 7-5 it is whether UNC can win on the road or not.  Giglio makes the point that any coin toss game UNC plays versus a fellow I-A school, especially in the ACC, should be considered a loss until UNC proves they can win away from the state of North Carolina.  Hopefully this season will end the trend of road losses UNC has endured.  It helps that the Heels play only five games away from Chapel Hill.  One non-conference game at Rutgers and then the four obligatory ACC matchups at Miami, Virginia, Maryland and Duke.  We can go ahead and scratch UVa off as a loss since Charlottesville is to the football team what Atlanta is to the basketball team.

I commented last week that I thought UNC could end up 1-5 in the first six games based on the schedule.  I still think that is true, especially if someone has not figured out how to win close games.  I am really hoping the football team does the same thing the basketball team did this past season and figure out how to win the tight games since I think UNC will see it’s share of them. Of course UNC will also be breaking in a new FG kicker which might create issues if it comes down to a game winning kick.

Giglio hits all the key points: Yates needs to be consistent.  A running game must be found in Greg Little and the backup RBs.  The defense needs to find some guys to step up and play huge since most of the starters return but they also lost Kentwan Balmer and Durrell Mapp who often made their presence felt.

Fall practice will tell us more and playing Rutgers-VT-Miami with 2 of 3 on the road will make fore a really enlightening September.

I have nothing new or insightful to add right now so enjoy these highlights of the 1983-84 UNC basketball season.  Afterward someone please explain how that team did not win a national title.

• The baseball team moved to 42-9 over the weekend losing only a rain shortened game to UVa.  The Heels play their final scheduled “home” game of the season against Winthrop tonight in Cary.  This weekend it is off to Coral Gables for a huge three game set with Miami in a #1 vs #2 battle.  The Heels trail Miami by three games in the loss column for the Coastal Division title in the ACC and are ranked 2nd behind the Hurricanes in all three major polls.
• T.J. Yates made the most of his spring by improving his footwork and watching game film.  He stands to be ready for fall practice now that he is able to throw the football again.
• How can the ACC produce so many NFL Draft picks but not be competitive in the BCS?
• I do pay some attention to the NBA during the playoffs and what LeBron James did to Kevin Garnett here is just sick.

Sarcasm is a valid blogging technique.

ESPN reported over the weekend the results of an Outside the Lines investigation which showed that USC freshman OJ Mayo received a variety of goodies from an agent middleman called a “runner” during the course of his brief NCAA career in Los Angeles.  Mayo naturally has denied the allegations.  I am sure Tim Floyd will be along forthwith to give us the standard “I have no knowledge this was happening” meme coaches who play with fire in the form of players like Mayo are famous for.

ESPN columnist Pat Forde who, along with his OTL brethern, are probably breaking some kind of code by even reporting negative things about USC, says the NCAA should levy the death penalty on the Trojans:

In a just world, USC basketball would have something in common with SMU football in the near future.

The death penalty.

It’s not going to happen, because NCAA bylaws don’t work that way. And besides, they’re not likely to ever again disband a program for a year after the smoking crater it left at SMU.

But USC deserves it. The school has so far escaped facing NCAA prosecution for compelling allegations that star tailback Reggie Bush and his family were lavishly compensated by an aspiring agent while playing for the Trojans. Now comes a devastating, thoroughly documented “Outside The Lines” report that goes into stunning detail about the money and gifts star guard O.J. Mayo allegedly received before and during his one season at USC.

All directly beneath USC’s chronically blind eyes.

Some of Forde’s ire stems from the fact no one, paid a lick of attention to the “Reggie Bush was being paid” story broke after the RB left USC for the NFL.  The NCAA seemed extremely disinterested in launching anything close to a formal investigation into Bush’s activities, so it will be intriguing to see how they treat this situation.

The larger question I have about this kind of violation is how much of this kind of behavior will we continue to see with the NBA’s 19 year old age limit?  Players who know they are one year from the NBA and are simply playing college basketball until they can make the jump might be more inclined to do exactly what Mayo is accused of doing.  What the age limit has done, since it is only for one year, is created a class of players commonly referred to as the “one and doners.”  Many of these players would have gone to the NBA out of high school but since the rule has been enacted they head off for one year of college. And in most cases who can really blame them?  Brandan Wright was one such player and it was hard to argue with the lottery pick status he had when he declared.   And with most of these kids, they follow the rules at school and fulfill their obligations while they are on campus.  However, there are probably more than a few instances in which they do not.

These are the two glaring unitended consquences of the rule.  You have players who attend class long enough to be eligible for the basketball season.  And in the case of Mayo, you have players who decide to get a head start on living the NBA life despite what the NCAA says.  The issue is the level of motivation these players might have for respecting the rules and keeping their eligibility intact.  Remember, college is just a obstacle to clear before getting to the NBA because a stupid rule was put in place.  I am sure some players do not attend class after December and also start taking gifts because why should they really give a crap about what happens to the program they are serving time with until they turn 19?

Granted this is probably not a rampant issue and it is not a player only issue.  In some ways they are being lavished upon and that sort of thing is hard to turn down.  Probably a greater bulk of the responsibility falls on the coaches who run these programs in ensuring they do not mortgage integrity for the sake of one talented player for a single season.  And in USC’s case, if the allegations are proven true, it will hardly have been worth the price of having Mayo since they were bounced in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.[Side Note: Commenters at 850 pointed out the lack of consequences for the player who commits the violation.  This is a valid point and it was suggested that the players be charged with tax evasion since the money is income and they do not pay taxes on it.  In some ways the players are tempted but that might be curbed if they think they can be charged with a federal crime for taking it]

In my mind the solution is simple.  First of all the NBA needs to enact the baseball draft rule and allow these kids to either declare out of high school and if they decided to attend college make it three years before they are eligible again.  This will make recruiting for the college coaches more difficult but at the same time it will add significant stablility to college teams in general. At the same time, I think you would also get rid of the players whose sole goal is the NBA.  Any player who shows up on campus knows he is there for three years and will be committed to what the program is doing.

If these allegations prove true, the NCAA must act with brutal force and send a clear signal that if you want to take on a potential “one and doner” who comes in with questions you do so at the risk of you coaching career and the viability of your basketball program for years to come.

An article appeared on the website Hoopsworld last week detailing the impact of UNC players in the NBA.  By and large it was what you would expect highlighting some of the greats from UNC who have made waves at the next level.  However I was also struck by some serious omissions.

The author went through great pains to mention various players, including Lennie Rosenbluth who did not have much of an NBA career but fails to mention several players who had notable careers such as:

Brad Daughtery: Played eight seasons, averaged 19.0 ppg, 9.5 rpg.  Five-time All Star. 1st overall pick in 1986.

Kenny Smith: Played 10 seasons, averaged 12.8 ppg.  Once held record for most three pointers in an NBA Finals game.  Won the Slam Dunk Contest.  6th overall pick in 1987.  Lead studio analyst for TNT NBA coverage.

Walter Davis: Played 15 seasons, averaged 18.9 ppg.  Six-time All Star. 5th overall pick in 1977.

Charlie Scott: Played 10 seasons(NBA-8, ABA-2) Averaged 20.7 ppg. Five-time All Star.

Billy Cunningham: Played 11 seasons(NBA-9, ABA-2) Averaged 21.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg. Five-time All Star. ABA MVP in 1973.  Member of the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers. Named one of the 50th greatest players in NBA history in 1997. Won the 1983 NBA Championship as head coach of the Sixers.  Finished coaching career with 454 wins.

Bobby Jones: Played 11 seasons(NBA-9, ABA-2) Averaged 12.1 ppg. Five time All Star. Member of the 1983 NBA Champion Sixers. 1983 Sixth Man of the Year. 11 time All Defensive team.

Now in one respect I understand that if you are writing an article like this you cannot mention everyone but if you are going to include Sam Perkins as an “All-Time Great” then you have committed journalistic malpactice in not at least mentioning Billy Cunningham.  In fact excluding him in a discussion of UNC’s impact in the NBA is nearly criminal.

The Kangaroo Kid was one of the 50 Greatest players in the NBA history who won a title as a player and head coach. I would go as far as to say he might very well be the 2nd greatest Tar Heel in the NBA behind Michael Jordan given the full body of work as both player and coach.  It should be noted that Jones, Daughtery, Davis and Scott all had more notable careers both statistically and in terms of honors than Perkins did.  In short, Ms Jessica Camerato and member of the Professional Basketball Writers Association did not do her homework which is really a shame since this one site has all the information you need.

According to the Denver Post, he is on their radar:

Denver will not stand pat. With a draft choice late in the first round, it’s believed the Nuggets are eyeing North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson. The team also is known to have recently scouted young European center Marc Gasol, currently property of the Memphis Grizzlies and a prospect who might be ready to emerge from the shadow of his big brother with the Lakers.

Denver owns the 20th pick in the draft which would be enough to keep Lawson in the draft.  I also think that information like this is what Roy Williams gets when he talks to various teams meaning when these guys declare they are aware of interest from certain scouts.  Fans often assume that the mock drafts and ESPN analysis is all the players are using to decide.  In the case of Tar Heel players, Roy talks to a lot of people and probably gets assessments similar to this one.  And we can safely assume Denver was one of the 18 teams Roy spoke with since UNC alum George Karl is the head coach there.

Obviously this process has a ways to go but an interesting “nugget” nonetheless.

Via 850 the Buzz:

McNeese St, @Rutgers, VT, @Miami, UConn, Notre Dame to start the season for the Heels.  That is possibly a 1-5 start.  I am not kidding.

Junior reserve forward Mike Copeland has a partially torn ACL ligament in his knee which will require surgery to repair.  Copeland is expected to be out until the end of the year which would cut fairly deep into his senior season.  The knee was injured during a pickup game last week.

While he has not been a huge contributor, Roy often used Copeland in spurts to relieve the Tar Heel post players, an area UNC is about to get even deeper in with the arrival of Tyler Zeller and Ed Davis.  With that being the case you have to wonder if redshirting might be a better option for Copeland.  We will see how it shakes out.

Best wishes to Mike during his surgery and rehab.

Checking a couple of mock drafts to see how things stand.

Draft Express posted a new 2008 NBA Mock Draft on Tuesday.  Here is where the three Tar Heels with their names in the ring are positioned.

Ty Lawson: 1st round, 28th.

Wayne Ellington: 2nd round, 12th(42nd overall)

Danny Green: NOT LISTED.

Lawson is up one spot from the last mock draft by these guys and Ellington is down two spots.

NBADraft.net also had a new mock draft out this week with a totally different take where Lawson and Ellington are concerned.  Not Green, he still is not on the list.

Ty Lawson: 2nd round, 4th(35th overall)

Wayne Ellington: 1st round, 25th.

Danny Green: NOT LISTED

I am not sure what standard the latter is using but that seems to be completely opposite of what everyone else is saying.  The general talk seems to agree more with Draft Express than NBADraft.net when it comes to the positions for Lawson and Ellington.  The fact no one I have seen has Green listed makes his decision more peculiar by the minute and also worries me we will soon see an agent hired by his father to “help improve his draft position.”  As it stands right now I am not sure he will be going to Orlando and if he doesn’t then what is the point?

For those of you who don’t know APR stands for Academic Progress Rate and is a part of the NCAA’s efforts to make sure schools actually graduate athletes.  The report for UNC can be found here in PDF format.  The men’s basketball team scored a 995 based on a period from 2003 to 2007 which is fairly impressive when you consider there were five early entrants to the NBA Draft during that time.  Apparently those players are keeping their academic standing up.  Baseball also ranked highly with a 985 as did men’s tennis, women’s golf and fencing.  The latter two scored a 1000.  Among the sports at UNC scoring on the lower end were men’s golf, men’s track and women’s soccer.

On a personal note, my alma mater, UNC Greensboro was penalized for poor ratings in men’s basketball and baseball.  I am willing to bet AD Nelson Bobb is not a happy man since I cannot count the number of times the student in student-athlete was emphasized during my three years of running cross country there.