Doyel's Dribbles
At the request of multiple readers (thanks Mom and Dad), Doyel's Dribbles is back. We're not promising it'll be back every day, at least not until practice starts in October, but maybe you should check just to make sure.
Texas recruit's stock dropping
Sept. 28, 9:58 a.m. ET
Once one of the most coveted inside players in the class of 2005, Dallas power forward Kevin Rogers' stock has plummeted over the past month.
A number of major basketball programs have dropped Rogers from their list of recruiting targets: Kansas, Arizona, Georgia Tech and Texas, to name four.
The 6-foot-8 Rogers now is considering B-list Texas basketball programs such as Baylor and Texas A&M -- not bad options, but a dropoff from the schools once in the hunt. His fall can be attributed to two things: One, the proposed package deal of Rogers and 6-6 wing C.J. Miles (a deal proposed mostly by Rogers) was ruled out by elite programs. Two, schools wonder if Rogers is mature enough to make the jump to a Top 25 program.
Another big-name prospect from the Class of 2005 also has taken a tumble, though for a different reason. Chris Douglas-Roberts, a 6-5 wing from Detroit, recently was forced out of Detroit's Cass Tech High because his grade-point average had slipped below that school's 2.5 minimum. He transferred to nearby Northwestern High, where his eligibility for the upcoming season has been debated.
In the meantime, Ohio State, Georgia Tech and Kansas have backed off. Still, Douglas-Roberts is being pursued by Arizona, Memphis and Miami.
While Rogers and Douglas-Roberts have fallen, Lithuanian shooting guard Martynas Pocius is rising at warp speed. The 6-4 senior has attracted coaches from Kansas, Duke, Arizona and Texas to Holderness School in New Hampshire.
Getting the Crean of the crop
Sept. 21, 10:06 a.m.
Marquette coach Tom Crean might have found his next point guard in the Middle East.
Israeli teen-ager Niv Berkowitz has committed to the Golden Eagles and could become eligible in December, according to a report in Tuesday's Jerusalem Post.
The 6-foot-3 Berkowitz averaged 14.4 points and made 53.3 percent of his 3-pointers this summer as Israel finished in eighth place at the European Under 18 Championships in Zaragoza, Spain.
He's the son of former Israeli star Mickey "Miki" Berkowitz, who sparked Israel's international basketball heyday of the 1970s and was named the country's No. 1 athlete of all time in a recent poll.
To become NCAA-eligible this season at Marquette, the younger Berkowitz reportedly must post the necessary standardized test score. If it happens, he would likely spend the second half of the 2004-05 season as senior Travis Diener's understudy.
That would give Berkowitz a leg up on 2005-06 freshmen Dominic James and Wes Matthews to replace Diener, though Crean likes to play point guards in tandem.
Welcome back Kotti
Sept. 20, 10:20 a.m.
To stay in the upper half of the Big East, Providence desperately needs longtime role player Tuukka Kotti to become comfortable in more of a headlining role.
Which is exactly what he has done for the Finnish national team.
Kotti, a 6-foot-9 senior forward, was Finland's most consistent player earlier this month during qualifying play for the 2005 European Championships. In five games he averaged 17.4 points, including back-to-back 22-point games against Macedonia and Luxembourg.
Macedonia and Luxembourg aren't exactly Connecticut and Pittsburgh, but for Kotti it's a start. He took a small step backward last season -- his production went from 7.7 points and 3.6 rebounds as a sophomore to 6.1 and 3.6 as a junior -- but Friars coach Tim Welsh will be able to give Kotti all the minutes he can handle this season.
With the graduation of center Marcus Douthit and the unexpected loss of forward Rob Sanders, Kotti almost surely will start alongside All-American candidate Ryan Gomes in the front court.
Back to Norm-al at St. John's?
Sept. 16, 9:33 a.m.
This is why Norm Roberts got the job, and if he survives, this is why he will keep the job.
St. John's hired the Kansas assistant in April because it felt Roberts, a Queens native, could repair the broken relationships between the Red Storm and city coaches. St. John's previous coach, Mike Jarvis, tried to win without involving the New York City basketball underground -- an approach that alienated his natural recruiting base, not to mention St. John's fans who wanted to see the city's best players go to the city's most storied program.
The fans are happy this week. Roberts picked up his first big-name city commitment when St. Raymond's guard Ricky Torres, a top-75 prospect according to recruiting analysts Bob Gibbons and Clark Francis, chose the Red Storm.
One recruit does not a program make, but getting Torres sends a signal to city coaches and players -- not to mention other Big East schools that had been feasting off city talent -- that St. John's is back in the game.
Kentucky guard will have a lot to handle
Sept. 14, 10:49 a.m.
The father of Kentucky guard Kelenna Azubuike is in serious trouble with the law, which could have ramifications for the Kentucky basketball team -- beyond the obvious distraction.
The father, Kenneth Azubuike, has been charged with multiple counts of fraud. He is accused of convincing friends to make nearly $700,000 in bad investments and of trying to obtain through fraudulent means roughly $500,000 in loans.
Taken together, the charges paint a picture of a man with serious financial issues.
And that, Kentucky fans, is why this case should matter to you.
The younger Azubuike -- by all accounts an upstanding young man -- will be a junior this season. With the loss of 2003-04 leading scorers Gerald Fitch and Eric Daniels, as well as point guard Cliff Hawkins, Kentucky clearly will ask Azubuike to increase his sophomore scoring average of 11.1 points per game.
With a muscular, 6-foot-5 frame and a 39.8-percent accuracy last season on 3-pointers, Azubuike is capable of averaging 15 points per game, maybe even 20.
If he does, and if his father's legal fees (and other issues) put a financial strain on the family, will Kelenna Azubuike be able to avoid entering the 2005 NBA Draft as a junior?
No, for any number of reasons it's not a pleasant topic. But it is a newsworthy topic.
Try to follow this family tree
Sept. 9, 8:44 p.m.
The recruitment of Ben McCauley was a family affair that ended in victory for the patriarch: Herb Sendek.
The N.C. State coach secured a commitment this week from McCauley, a 6-foot-8 power forward from Yough, Pa. Helping Sendek lock up this commitment was his newest staff addition, ex-Wolfpack guard Archie Miller, who like Sendek is a native Pennsylvanian.
Two of McCauley's other finalists were Xavier and Ohio State, coached by Sean Miller and Thad Matta.
Miller and Matta both worked for Sendek at Miami (Ohio). Miller also worked for Matta at Xavier.
Miller also is Archie Miller's older brother, which must have made it tough on McCauley's summer coach with the Pittsburgh Jots, John Miller -- Sean and Archie's father.
Kentucky OK with signing blind
Sept. 7, 11:20 a.m. ET
Kentucky coach Tubby Smith has made Georgia power forward Korvotney Barber his No. 1 recruiting target -- and has never seen him play.
Only a strange confluence of events would lead to such a thing, but a bizarre summer for both have put Kentucky and Korvotney Barber on a collision course.
First, Barber. He's a 6-foot-7, 220-pound muscleman who has drawn comparisons to Donnell Harvey -- but only in recent months. Until May, Barber was a mid-major recruit listing Georgia Southern and Georgia State as his top two schools.
Late that month, he played well at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions in Raleigh, N.C., and in late June, he played even better at the NBA Players Association Camp in Richmond, Va.
And then he suffered a broken hand. By the time college coaches were able to watch prospects in July, Barber was sidelined. Still, his play at Richmond had upgraded the schools in pursuit to Georgia, Georgia Tech, Auburn and Florida State.
Meanwhile, with Chuck Hayes the only senior on roster, power forward has been Kentucky's top recruiting priority from the class of 2005. And Kentucky was a finalist for the class' top two available forwards, Tyler Hansbrough and Tasmin Mitchell.
Key word: was.
By late July, the word was out that Hansbrough would commit to North Carolina and Mitchell to LSU. Both commitments happened in the past two weeks, but by then Kentucky had moved on to Plan B: Barber.
Does it matter that Smith hasn't seen him play? Probably not. Enough people have vouched for Barber -- people Smith trusts, namely other college coaches -- that Kentucky invited Barber to Lexington next month for Midnight Madness.
Smith has done this before, too. Five years ago, he zeroed in on Chris Duhon, only to finish second to Duke. That put Smith in scrambling mode for a point guard, and soon he offered a scholarship to Cliff Hawkins virtually without having seen him play.
That turned out pretty well.
Past month's Dribbles: August
