According to an ESPN.com report by Andy Katz, Jodie Meeks is still going to forgo his senior year in favor of entering the NBA Draft. Meeks had joined the early entrant list to the NBA Draft prior to the hiring of John Calipari as the Wildcats' head basketball coach. Once Calipari was brought on board, there was some thought amongst the general public Calipari's presence would somehow convince Meeks to change his decision, but that isn't the case.
Meeks was arguably the best player in the SEC last season. The 6-foot-4 junior averaged 23.7 points per game, and put together a brilliant 54-point outburst against Tennessee mid-January, which was a school record. He shot brilliantly for the season, hitting 41 percent of his threes and 90 percent of his free throws.
* At the Chicago combine, players submit to interviews by team personnel. Lots of interviews. On Thursday, Chase Budinger was asked if he has any "friends with benefits" and Ty Lawson learned about an uncle he didn't know he had. The Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick has those stories and more.
* Amick also passes along the new sentiment that Oklahoma City wants USC prospect DeMar DeRozan at No. 3, leaving Ricky Rubio to the Kings at No. 4.
* According to DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony, James Hardencanceled interviews with teams outside the top five picks. He will reportedly not work out for the Wolves, who pick No. 6, because Harden's crew believes he will land in OKC at No. 3 or Washington at No. 5. In other news, someone in Harden's crew is a lunatic in thinking it's impossible for the kid to fall to Minnesota or further.
BOSTON -- Tubby Smith is much too dignified to laugh out loud, or LOL in the text-message age. But for all the abuse he took at Kentucky during a decade that was absolutely dreadful -- a national championship, a 263-83 record, an NCAA tournament appearance every season, just horrendous stuff -- who could blame him if he wanted to giggle to himself Friday?
Seems the bluegrass has turned to fertilizer in Lexington.
There was a time when February belonged to college basketball and the intricate puzzle of creating a 65-team bracket from a list of 340-some-odd candidates.
Then we got Rick-rolled by the steroid investigation.
So to get things where they should be here's a steroids tip that doesn't involve digging through someone's garbage:
Headlining: It's obvious, right? Duke tops both polls for the first time since the end of the 2005-06 regular season and we're all depressed ecstatic! I want to say that it's hard to like this Blue Devil team, but when is it easy to like Duke? (Answer: When you're a Duke fan. Or when the Blue Devils are playing Carolina.) That being said, the 2008-09 incarnation isn't nearly as hate-able as previous teams.
Jodie Meeks is a baller. He was AJC Player of the Year. He averaged 23-plus points as a senior in high school. In college, he made the 2007 All-SEC Freshman Team and All-America Freshman Team. And he's only 21. But Tuesday he reached a new level, as scored the most points in a single game by a player in the University of Kentucky history. (Meeks also broke the record for most 3-pointers made in a game, with 10.)
This is no joke, folks. Kentucky, as you may or may not know, is kind of a decent basketball school. They had this guy named Adolph Rupp. He did okay. And Rick Pitino (who can't even hold a candle to Rupp) still managed to become a college basketball legacy in the Bluegrass State.