Cole Aldrich, a high school junior center who has committed to play for Coach Self, joined Team USA at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Mannheim, Germany.  Note, that means he chose not to play in the three major AAU tournaments: Boo Williams, Real Deal, and Kingwood.

Aldrich had a game-high 17 rebounds on Saturday.  Throughout the 16-team tournament, he averaged 5.2 ppg and 7.2 rpg while splitting time in the post with Rick Jackson (Philadelphia junior) and Sam Muldrow (Florence, SC junior).

Team USA finished 7th.

Andrew Skwara of rivals.com is now reporting that Darrell Arthur has given his verbal commitment to LSU and will make in official during a visit to the campus this weekend. 

Arthur has now been quoted in several publications to the effect that LSU is the heavy favorite.  Arthur says he eliminated Texas from consideration because he wanted to play with LeMarcus Aldridge who declared for the NBA draft and signed with an agent.  I haven’t heard of Arthur officially eliminating KU or explaining why he might have chosen LSU instead of the Jayhawks, but recruiting analysts all over the country universally say it’s playing time.

Arthur reportedly told the Baton Rouge Advocate that Oklahoma signee Scottie Reynolds, a point guard from Herndon, Va., might choose LSU if Arthur makes the commitment to the Tigers.  Reynolds asked this week to be released from his OU letter of intent following the departure of Coach Sampson. Arthur and Reynolds became friends playing for Team USA last year.

“I really want to play with somebody I know, and Scottie is one of my best friends,” Arthur told the Advocate. “We really want to find a situation where we can play together.”

Arthur, who told the paper Monday night he may announce a final decision before leaving Baton Rouge, said this of LSU: “They caught my eye when they got to the Final Four, and when their coaches called, I was definitely interested right away. They called me when they knew Tyrus (Thomas) might be leaving and told me they needed a four-man to come in and take his place. I watched how they play, and it looks like a very good fit to me.”

See this article in the LJW for additional information.

According to an AP release, guard Scottie Reynolds (a McDonald’s All American), forward Damion James and forward Jeremy Mayfield have each asked to be freed from the national letters of intent they signed with Oklahoma in November. 

Coach Capel has been hampered in his efforts to meet these recruits and talk to them about the future of the OU program.  OU’s self-imposed sanctions have limited the number of recruiting trips he uses to contact the signees.  These sanctions are, of course, related to more than 550 impermissible recruiting phone calls made by former coach Sampson and his staff.

Coach Capel said today that “They’re recruitable student athletes now . . . Obviously, some of the restrictions I’ve had, I haven’t been able to get out as much as I’d like to, as frequently, but I have been able to contact and meet in person all of those guys (signees). And we’ll see what happens.'’

I am embarrassed to even write this now that it’s been….so….long. But Dave has won the Phog Blog Pick’em and Phog Blog’s own Hoopinion has gotten second place. For their extra ordinary prognosticatory powers, they’ve won a $50 and a $25 gift certificate to Habitat Shoes, respectively.

Speaking of respect, I know that I’ve lost many a yours for failing to update this sooner. But do you remember that movie Perfect Storm where the ruggedly handsome George Clooney plays a down-on-his-luck NorEastern fisher-man whose livelihood depends on his catching a giant pile of willing fish that just happen to be happily swimming at the nexus of three huge storms?

That’s what my internet has been like.

Home internet:
Router One: Caput
Router Two: Inexplicably locked and won’t accept refresh commands
Router Three: As yet unpurchased

Work internet:
Router One: Succumbs to interference and basically worthless
Routher Two: Good, but for some reason blocks the much needed FTP traffic

So basically, I am a largish walking pile of a series of small but significant excuses. Indeed, I am typing this from a hotel room in North Austin on Earth Day, the day of my brother in law’s wedding. Do you still dare to question my committment?

Life has been hectic and I do apologize, but I also offer my heartfelt congratulations to Dave and Hoops. I will try to get the actual results uploaded, but this is the big problem I’ve been having - without internet or FTP, this is very hard to do.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the NCAA. I do not think we’ll see any more retribution from my favorite four capital-lettered friend.

Obsessed . . . I’m not obsessed . . . I’M NOT!

Here’s the latest from Dave Telep, the top recruiting analyst at Scout.com, writing for Foxsports.net:

Darrell Arthur (Scout.com No. 12) is the highest rated player still on the board in 2006. Kansas, Baylor, Texas and now LSU are hoping to snare him. LSU went into his high school last week and Oklahoma is making its pitch to him this week.

Tyrus Thomas, gone. Big Baby, not gone.

Darrell Arthur, represented by a guy called Jazzy.

What a trip it must have been to go from being the second fiddle to a young West Philadelphian who moved to Bel Air with his Uncle Phil to being an AAU coach in Daltex.

Does this mean Arthur to LSU? Some have speculated as much, but I say that Shady’s got until May 17th to pick a school.

You allow people to hunt on your campus.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will allow archers to hunt deer on campus in an effort to control what school officials say is a growing nuisance deer population.

The hunters will have to follow certain requirements, including shooting from stands at least 12 feet off the ground and remaining at least 100 yards from specific trails.

This is actually my favorite part of the article:

About 40 to 50 deer roam campus, about twice the preferred number, said Bob Howe, director of the school’s Cofrin Center for Biodiversity.

What do they have quotas? Is their deer-elk ratio getting a little out of hand?

He and Boone are testing the waters of the NBA Draft.

Gay will be the second underclassmen to leave early for the Huskies this year. Junior Josh Boone has entered himself in the draft but has not hired an agent, allowing him to return to school next season. Junior point guard Marcus Williams is expected to make his decision in the next several days.

I would be surprised if Willams doesn’t join them.

For those of you looking for a break from recruiting speculation, Shay Wildeboor has a pretty even-handed take on KU’s chances next season. I thought his analysis was, while not jaw-dropping, eye-opening. He also refrains from including the phrase “Darrell Arthur” in the body of his article, which earns him extra points.

Also interesting is his passing comment on incoming recruit Brady Morningstar:

“Sherron Collins, one of the top point guards in the class of 2006 and Brady Morningstar, a three-star prospect, are scheduled to arrive on campus in June. While nobody knows what to expect from Morningstar, the son of Roger Morningstar, the same cannot be said about Collins.”

Does anyone (besides Self’s coaching staff) have a good read on Morningstar at this point? I’m definitely curious.

A video interview with Kyle Singler, the #6 ranked player in the class of 2007, revealed some great news.  Kansas is one of four finalists.  KU is in there with Duke, UCLA, and Arizona.  During the interview, Kyle announced his intention to take an official visit to KU

Singler is a 6-8, 200 pound wing with GREAT skills.  He would be the PERFECT replacement for Brandon Rush after next year (when he’ll likely jump to the NBA).

Also, Singler has long been rumored to be a package deal with Kevin Love, the #3 ranked player in 2007.  Love is a 6-10, 250 pound PF.  No word on whether Love is also planning to visit Lawrence, but KU is on his list with Duke, North Carolina, UCLA and Arizona.

Cole Aldrich, the top ranked center in the 2007 class and the #8 ranked player overall, who has already committed to KU, would look pretty good playing with these two!  Wouldn’t it be great to watch these youngsters push that new 12PPG wildcat stick man around!

This should make for a lot of good, early season matchups. I’m excited about how the Guardian’s Classic will get bigger and bigger as it moves to the Sprint Center (pure speculation on my part, btw).

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Management Council has approved a proposal allowing men’s and women’s college basketball teams to compete in one exempt tournament per season, and another that would move up the start of the season.

Season can now start a week earlier.

Well, Huggins got his first recruit. He sounds like a perfect Huggins guy.

Jason Bennett, a 7-foot-3 center from Arlington Country Day High School in Jacksonville, Fla., signed a letter of intent to play for coach Bob Huggins’ Wildcats. He chose K-State over Auburn.

“It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make in my life, but I’ve always wanted to play for coach Huggins,” Bennett said. “I had to go with my heart and who I think will get me to the NBA.”

Bennett becomes the tallest player in K-State history. The Wildcats had two players 7-1: Nick Pino (1966-68) and Joe Leonard (1998-2001).

A year ago, when Huggins still coached Cincinnati, Bennett made an oral commitment to play for him there.

Bennett averaged 12.5 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocks in leading Country Day to back-to-back Class 2A state championships.