Interesting

Well it is not long before we will have a new President in office who promises change and a better America. The pressure he will face will be like playing against the old Georgetown Teams coached by John Thompson Sr. for 10 straight games with no timeouts allowed lol. If only it was that simple. But one thing for sure, we will have a very visible President at basketball events.

I wonder if he will start a White House AAU team and coach it like Codey does in the state of NJ? Maybe he will just get involved with the DC Assault program? Wonder if he will get season tickets to Georgetown games? Most likely he will do nothing I have mentioned. But what he will most likely do is have an indoor court installed at The White House. Talk about celebrity games? It will be a whose who in politics, entertainment, business, and education. I wonder what will happen if the President gets an accidental elbow?

I just hope folks are patient with him but I also hope he starts right away on Universal Health Care and Health Care Reform!

Jerid Famous

I am sorry about the New Mexico/New Mexico State mix-up. But honestly I feel the same way regardless although I do understand the tradition and atmosphere at New Mexico is great!

I continue to talk about a few subjects and some get it and others do not. Is anyone really watching what is happening with Mr. Famous? Has anyone else ever watched kids being recruited and the Dad enjoys the attention more than the son or daughter? When is the last time certain schools actually beat out a school that has more tradition, more wins, better facilities, and willing to go all out to get a kid despite knowing the kid will have less of a role on their team than the other schools recruiting him or her? I see it all the time. And the odd thing is no one takes the time to tell the recruited player what the differences could be. Has no one else watched the Curry Boy's at Davidson and Liberty? Bigger does not always mean best!

What difference does it make if a school draws 15,000 every game and you are playing 3 minutes a game? What difference does it make that the weather is great and the atmosphere is even better but no one is attending games? What difference does it make that the team is in the top 20 each year if you will be a minor (3 min) role player for your entire time at the school? I say time because real ballers want to play, thus the large number of transfers each year. And when you are a JC player you have little room for error. I have seen way more JC stars fail on the high major level than actually star and go on to the NBA. And if anyone offers a kid anything extra, the kid better understand what little that could be in comparison to a great college experience playing college basketball and attending school. Lots of folks who recieved great basketball perks are now working as Messengers and long forgotten. But at a young age they were just dollar signs to some folks and when it does not work out, they are just EX PLAYERS!

To those folks who get caught out there pushing kids to schools based on their ego, you are messing with kids futures. Look at rosters, look at depth charts, look at available playing time, look at player development,look at academic support, but most of all look at what basketball graduates of the schools recruiting your kids majored in and what they are doing 10 years down the road. By the way I wrote something on a local BE team's graduates some time ago and it was not pretty unfortunately. But I think they now have it together.

Recruiting of HS Stars is very difficult. I guess if it was an easy job everyone would do it well. But one thing coaches need to do is recognize who they are really in their with and who they really have no chance at. Just because you are a Big East or ACC team does not mean you will be in there with every great HS player. This is why Al Skinner has been successful over the years. He does not get caught up in the PR portion of recruitment. He just gets players who can play in his eyes. Coaches spend hours upon hours chasing kids they will not get. It is like Rider writing a letter to Lance Stephenson or Dexter Strickland. Both would be better off writing a letter to both players Dad's offering them jobs on the basketball staff's. And even than it would be a long shot. Folks need to really wake up in regards to HS recruitment. Very few HS kids who are RELLY IN DEMAND by UCONN, UNC, DUKE, Kentucky, Syracuse, and others will turn them down if there is a hint of playing time.

Back to local kids. Jerid Famous and many more local kids should really see the real picture. You only get 1 real shot at this. In 4 years you could be paying to attend games because it did not work out. And if anyone's Dad really want to get solid info on all of this, I urge them to go by Harlem Square Garden which is really IS 201 in Harlem, the school with no windows. They have an over 40 league and it is full of ex NBA stars as well as folks who made poor decisions and just playing ball to play. The conversations are on point and the life experiences of many of these guys are exceptional. Go where you are REALLY LOVED and will get playing time.

Funny story I heard the other day. Kid told me he received a letter from NJIT. Said he threw it in garbage because they are losers. How wrong he is. I again say NJIT is a GREAT school with a terrible basketball team. But guess what? The kids on that team could one day have kids from BE and ACC teams working for them. That degree carries some weight!

This brings me again to another question I continue to have. Why does some local low major teams even have basketball if they are not going to support it. 700 fans? No facilities? No marketing? What's the point? Why not just become a D3 programs? Old uniforms, no training facilities? Where is the revenue coming from? Not the concession stands because no one is there to buy anything.

I look at a place like FDU. Great, Great, Coach in Tom Green. But that school has never given him the marketing support he needs. The gym is good, his staff is excellent, they are 11 miles from New York City, and they get very little from the school it seems to me. Every kid in Bergen County, Essex County, and Passaic County should know who they are via PR, and the news media. As I always say, that program is a sleeping mid major giant just as Monmouth is.

Lincoln HS lost a game as did St. Anthony's. Wow! I do know that in NYC the new power team is Thomas Jefferson from Brooklyn NY. Coached by Lawrence Pollard, Seldon Jefferson and others, this is the "Now" program according to my friends in NYC. Great young talent, great uniforms, great direction, and kids wanting to attend school there. They really have not been good for a long time. Last time I heard about them they had a kid named Sellers on the team. I know this is a true inner city school with usual inner city problems. Great to see the young guys getting it done at TJ. Both Phil Sellers and Tony Jackson should be proud.