Eli Holman dunking

Here's former Richmond High player Eli Holman doing something familiar -- Detroit was playing Michigan December 13 in Ann Arbor when this took place. All credit for this photo goes to the Associated Press. Here is a great gallery of AP college basketball photos.

The J-GLOVE

Becoming a better shooter takes hard work. One other thing you may want to consider in your quest is the J-GLOVE SHOOTING AID, which was released 4-months ago, and is currently be used by high profile college programs such as Louisville, Stanford, Boston College, Florida, Miami, LSU, as well as NBA teams such as the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.

The J-Glove shooting aid has a patented FINGER SPLINT DESIGN that prevents finger flexion at the base of your finger joints. As a result, the design eliminates premature side-to-side wrist action during follow through, which is a major biomechanical flaw for the majority of amateur shooters.

The J-Glove design also prevents the ball from every resting on the palm during shot set up, assuring the ball is perfectly balanced on each repetition.

We don't sell this product, don't benefit from its sale and are not related to its creator (Jeremy Russotti deserves that credit) but certainly will say give this product a try. It comes with a money back guarantee.

Go here to explore further.

A Greg Allen update

Eureka High's Greg Allen was unable to meet all the NCAA requirements in order to be at Creighton this season so he headed to Texas -- Navarro College specifically -- and is doing just fine

Allen is averaging a team-leading 14.5 points per game .

In 12 games to date, he is shooting 53% overall, 45% from three-point range and 85% from the foul line.

On November 24, Allen drilled five three-pointers on his way to 24 points. On December 5, he buried a corner trey as time expired to give Navarro a 55-52 win over Tyler Junior College.

There must be a Creighton - Navarro connection as another Runnin' Dawg, 6-foot-8 Keithrick Denson, has signed a letter-of-intent in November with the Blue Jays.

New Mexico is Drew Gordon's first visit

Scout has a report up today that UCLA transfer Drew Gordon is hitting Albuquerque as his first visit in determining his next college home. Here is the link and a Scout sub is required.

Robbie Lemons is making Stanford happy

Robbie Lemons, Sacramento Country Day High, is in 'you-can't-stop-him, let-alone-contain-him mode' so far this season. The Stanford-commit just produced a double-double of 43 points and 15 boards versus Dunsmuir -- on 20-23 shooting.

Against Redding Christian earlier, Lemons' line was 43 points (again), 15 boards and nine assists -- just missing a triple-double.

He also totaled 26 points in another contest.

Lemons has his own site -- go here to read the various features on him plus videos and his academic achievements. This is something other players should emulate, especially the 'contact' section of Lemons' site.

Cloverdale's Robby Rowland is unstoppable

Cloverdale High's Robby Rowland -- also a Bay Area Hoosier basketballer -- is off to a terrific start this basketball season.

The baseball commit to Oregon almost earned a double-double of 28 points/eight rebounds in a win over Justin-Sienna of Napa.

Unbelievably, he followed that with a monster line of 30 points and 26 rebounds versus Mesa Verde.

The next game he 'slacked off' -- a 'feeble' 39 points and 17 boards.

'En fuego' is adequate in describing him thus far.

Will Drew Gordon land at San Diego State

It's certainly nothing definitive but former Archbishop Mitty star could land at San Diego State (although we still think UVLV will be his next stop) per this article:

UCLA transfer has SDSU pedigree
Gordon’s father was Aztec in ’80s
Mark Zeigler
San Diego Union-Tribune
December 10, 2009

Ed Gordon — he went by Eddy then — was a 6-foot-6, 238-pound forward on San Diego State basketball teams of the early 1980s with Tony Gwynn and Michael Cage. Now a middle-school math teacher in San Jose, Gordon says he “would be thrilled” if his 19-year-old son followed in his footsteps at Montezuma Mesa.

Who’s his son?

Drew Gordon, a 6-9 post player who was rated among the top prep prospects in the nation out of San Jose’s Archbishop Mitty High and who recently announced his intention to transfer from UCLA.

“We’re still trying to formulate a short list of schools, and San Diego State is definitely on the short list,” Ed Gordon said by phone yesterday. “They definitely have the type of program we’re looking for.”

Gordon, a sophomore, would have up to 2 1/2 years of eligibility remaining because he is transferring at the semester break, meaning he could start playing as soon as mid-December 2010 and stay for the following two seasons. He would have only 1 1/2 years of eligibility if he went to another Pac-10 school, but that doesn’t appear to be an option.

Ed Gordon said Georgetown, Florida, Notre Dame, Nevada, New Mexico and Gonzaga are among the schools showing interest in his son...

Go here for the remainder.

The aura surrounding basketball IQ

This is an area that both mystifies and captivates us -- Darnell Mayberry takes a multiple-part look at this subject. Some time in the near future, we will explore this further.

What is Basketball IQ? It's hard to explain, and most say it's something that players just have
Darnell Mayberry
NewOK.com
November 29, 2009

It's one of the most mysterious terms in basketball, a pithy phrase regularly seen in scouting reports, supposedly to sum up a player's knowledge of the game.

Basketball IQ.

Defining it isn't so easy.

"It's a feel for the game," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. "Some guys have it. Some guys don't. You don't necessarily need to have it to be successful. But when you have it you understand the game. You can pick up things quickly. You have a great sense of the team concepts and what the team is trying to do..."

Go here for the remainder.

Mayberry offers further looks at basketball IQ here, here and here.

Drew Gordon speaks

For those of you just exiting a cave, Archbishop Mitty's Drew Gordon is leaving UCLA at the end of the quarter. Here is a YouTube video of Gordon talking about the events of late.

Jack Fertig nails it

Like in most aspects of life, "winning" in sports builds personal power and allows for episodes of despicable behavior to be generously discounted or overlooked. For these "successful" coaches, the hoi polloi are something to be used in any manner as personal playthings and then discarded when dis-interest sets in or their 'usefulness' has expired.

Jack Fertig nails it today (as he does most times) focusing on his past experiences with Nick Saban. Unfortunately, there are more users and abusers in the coaching ranks just like Saban, just as there are such bankrupt individuals throughout society. There are also those coaches who demonstrably live a commendable moral code -- some who win more contests than they lose plus others who aren't as W-L successful. These are the people who don't climb over the cast aside bodies on their way to the so-called top -- the ones who should be recognized for their positive roles in developing character within our young people.

Anyway, enough of our rambling and on to Jack Fertig:

The Two Sides of Nick Saban

Most people are lauding Alabama’s Nick Saban as a turnaround expert and a brilliant football coach. Both of those complimentary phrases are beyond argument. Saban is both and I defy anyone to challenge them.

As a person, there have been several other descriptions. Most of these are true as well. Here’s my first hand account of dealing with Nick Saban, man of many adjectives, each of them carefully designed by Nick himself (both the complimentary and not-so)...

Go here for the remainder.

Jack Fertig's blog can be found here. His web site here.

Kiwi Gardner en fuego

Manteca High's Kiwi Gardner hasn't missed a beat, translating his hugely successful summer performances with the Bay Area Hoosiers into some primo performances early this season, including one contest where he totaled 52 points.

Here is one article about a recent tourney with Manteca coming out on top:

Second To None Buffaloes blast Davis for Classic crown
Jagada Chambers
Manteca Bulletin
December 6, 2009

MODESTO – Davis High outscored Manteca in the second quarter closing the halftime deficit to a point, but a 21-6 run to open the second half provided the distance in the Buffaloes’ 77-60 Modesto City Classic championship win over the Spartans Saturday at Enochs High...

Go here for the remainder.

Of that 52 point performance, Jagada Chambers in another Manteca Bulletin article wrote:

"...Kiwi Gardner made sure that his most valiant effort of his career did not go to waste, leading the Buffaloes with eight points in the overtime period to push past the Pride and into the tournament championship. Gardner led all scorers with a 52-point effort, complete with nine 3-pointers and 36 points after the intermission..."

Robert Sandoval wins MVP

(photo courtesy of Dave Keefrer, California Preps)

Clovis East (CE) senior backcourter Robert Sandoval continued his winning ways as CE swept through the competition in the Simi Valley Tip-Off Classic over the weekend, winning four straight contests. Sandoval and his mates beat Valencia in the championship game. He garnered Most Valuable Player honors.

A Sammy Yeager update

Sammy Yeager experienced a meltdown at Modesto Junior College (MJC) last season after quite the career as a scorer at Modesto High (and we think Modesto Christian High as a senior).

Here's a snippet from a November 14, 2008 Modesto Bee article on Yeager after his prep days and when he joined MJC:

"...The 6-foot-4-inch, 190-pound guard bounced around four community colleges since high school graduation, not playing at any of them and lacking direction..."

Yeager didn't finish the season with the Pirates.

He originally committed to San Diego out of high school.

This season, he has popped up at Weatherford College.

It's difficult to find stats but Yeager scored 30 points in one game, this against a junior college's junior varsity squad.

We'll follow his sophomore season and post more as we locate it.

Damian Lillard shines against Utah

How did some of the local colleges ever let this guy get away?

This guy being Damian Lillard.

The sophomore from Oakland scored a career-high 28 points (9-17 from the floor, 9-9 at the foul line), passed for seven assists and garnered five rebounds to lead Weber State to an 83-76 victory over in-state rival Utah.

Lillard is averaging 20.8 points per game this season. He is shooting .446% overall and .906% at the foul line. Lillard is grabbing four rebounds a game and possesses a 19-12 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Checking in on The Brew-ery

Hey, The Brew-ery -- Will and Chris Brew -- is enjoying this season down at UC Santa Barbara.

Will has started all five games for the Gauchos and owns an 18-6 assist-to-turnover ratio along with eight steals. In the latest game, versus Santa Clara, Will played 19 minutes and garnered five points, four assists (no turnovers), three rebounds and a pair of steals.

Chris has seen action in two games, is shooting 5-5 on the season and averaging 6.0 points per game. Against the Broncos, he made those five shots, managing 12 points in 10 minutes of action.