There's a chance Duke point guard Kyrie Irving's pre-draft tour might consist of one stop.
"Our priority is Cleveland," agent Jeff Wechsler said from his office in Florida on Tuesday.
Irving, 19, might work out only for the Cavaliers. Don't expect him to work out with any other players.
"For my safety, I'm not going to work out with anyone else," he said at the NBA draft combine in Chicago on May 20.
June 2011 NCAA Wiretap
Kevin Ware, a former signee with Tennessee and commitment to Central Florida, picked U of L over Georgia and committed after making a visit this weekend.
“He always had an interest in Louisville but I think he just needed to take his visit so he could actually make a decision for himself,” Mack told The Courier-Journal on Monday night. “He got to Louisville, met the coaches and the players and had a real comfort level with them and he already knew Rick Pitino was a great coach. He just felt like Louisville was the best fit for him.”
The 6-foot-4 Ware, who played in the Kentucky Derby Festival Classic last month, is ranked as the No 70 prospect in the Class of 2011 by Rivals.com and checks in at No. 99 in the Scout.com rankings.
Kawhi Leonard is one of 30 potential draft prospects -- including Maryland sophomore Jordan Williams – training in Las Vegas with Joe Abunassar at Impact Basketball.
He has been working hard on improving his ballhandling and his jumper by finding the proper balance on his release and landing.
“I want to do a lot of things on the court. I just want to be a complete basketball player. Dribble, pass, shoot, be a leader, play defense, block shots, steals. I’m trying to do it all,” Leonard said. “I think my comparison would be like to one of the throwback type of players. James Worthy, versatile, could do a lot of stuff on the court.”
Forced to scramble to find a new head coach after Ed DeChellis abruptly left for Navy, Penn State reportedly called Larry Brown on Thursday.
According to the Patriot-News, Penn State athletic director Tim Curley reached out to Brown, but told him the school was looking for a candidate with more recent college coaching experience.
“I'd be interested (in Penn State),” Brown told the Patriot-News' David Jones. “But I don't really feel like there's much interest (from Curley) in me.”
Josh Pastner is hiring former NBA Rookie of the Year Damon Stoudamire as an assistant on the Memphis staff.
A formal announcement is expected soon.
Stoudamire, 37, played at Arizona like Pastner and has been an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies since 2009.
He spent 13 seasons as a player in the NBA and will join Jack Murphy on the Tigers staff.
Former Kansas University combo guard Josh Selby, who worked out for the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday and Indiana Pacers on Thursday, has taken a humble, low-key approach into a month’s worth of individual drills with NBA teams.
“The biggest thing I need to show is I deserve to be here like everyone else,” Selby told nba.com after Thursday’s workout with Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson, Villanova’s Corey Fisher, Richmond’s Justin Harper, Michigan’s Darius Morris and Georgetown’s Chris Wright in Indianapolis.
“People were questioning me because of what happened at Kansas. I need to show what happened at Kansas wasn’t the real me. I was going through things, of course the injury (to foot) and suspension (nine games to start season). I’m just trying to showcase my game.”
Selby, who averaged 7.9 points, 2.2 assists and 2.2 rebounds a game during his freshman season, is completely healthy now. He showed that by recording an amazing vertical leap of 42 inches at last week’s NBA combine.
Derrick Williams has a high opinion of his talents, and Kyrie Irving even said, “his transition to the NBA game will be easy.”
But Kansas forward Markieff Morris wasn’t completely sold on Williams, who had 27 points and seven rebounds in a loss to Kansas last season. “I didn’t think he was as good as advertised,” Morris said. “He got the benefit of the calls from the ref and we had to guard him different. He definitely had a good game against us, because we couldn’t guard him how we wanted to guard him, and that’s what happened.”
So when he hears that Williams is a lock to go in the top two, Morris said, “It’s still surprises me. What he did to Duke, he wouldn’t do that to me or my brother [Marcus]. I’m dead serious. He wouldn’t. At all. He’s good. But if we was to work out, I would go at him and I would be able to stop him more than people would expect, you know what I mean.”
Tristan Thompson will be represented by Leon Rose of Creative Artists Agency, whose clients include LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.
Thompson averaged 16.7 points and 10 rebounds per 40 minutes pace adjusted in his lone season at Texas.
He is projected as a lottery pick in this year's draft.
Baylor coach Scott Drew is anticipating Perry Jones could make a freshman-to-sophomore leap like Blake Griffin did at Oklahoma. If that occurs, who knows, maybe Jones will go even higher in the 2012 draft than he would've in 2011.
For what it's worth, Jones said he wants to go No. 1.
"All the potential is there,'' Drew said. "He has to work on being aggressive and consistent. Some people think he takes a back seat or coasts. He has to keep his motor at a high level. I know his perimeter game will keep improving like Derrick Williams' did [at Arizona]."
As for Jones, he will be in the gym most of the summer.
"Somebody tweeted me that I could be top eight in the draft,'' he said. "I tweeted back, 'I want to be No. 1.' That's where the hard work and dedication come in.''
The NCAA has approved adding an arc three feet from the basket, inside which a defender cannot take a charge.
The organization said Thursday its Playing Rules Oversight Panel had approved several recommended rules changes for college basketball during a conference call Monday.
The women’s 3-point line will move back a foot to 20 feet, 9 inches next season, the same distance the men have used since 2008-09. In both the men’s and women’s games, the terminology for fouls will be changed to match the NBA. Intentional fouls will now be called Flagrant 1 and flagrant fouls will be called Flagrant 2.