ESPN Men's Basketball

Though he hasn't conceded to agreeing with them, Rodney Purvis had been getting the John Wall comparisons for a long, long time. While years separated them, 6-foot-4 blue-chip guards that come out of Raleigh have a way of getting remembered.

But Purvis, ESPNU's No. 16-ranked player in the 2012 recruiting class, has chosen his own path by giving a verbal commitment to hometown school North Carolina State and new coach Mark Gottfried last week.

"I think Rodney being a Raleigh kid and wearing the Red is a tremendous statement for NCSU athletics," [former NC State star Julius] Hodge said. "The magnitude of it, you ask? Imagine if John Wall would have committed to NC State over Kentucky, UNC and Duke?"

Yes, imagine that. In fact, even after Wall was done with his fabulous freshman season at Kentucky that resulted in him being drafted with the first overall pick, one Raleigh web site was obsessive enough to publish an April Fools' Day hoax of a story about him transferring to NC State.

So Wolfpack fans are right to fawn over Purvis, who brings a real ability to get to the rim and a sense of credibility to a new regime that has now locked up the hometown star.

According to ESPNHS, some of those closest to Purvis didn't mind him following in Wall's footsteps as a player despite the inherent pressure that comes with that.

"John is where Rodney wants to be," says Purvis' stepfather, Tony Edwards. "So I tell him to embrace the comparison. Why not? John's a great player and if there's a blueprint on how to work to get there, definitely follow it."

But as it turned out, when it came down to picking a school, Purvis stayed home and even got advice from Wall himself about the decision-making process, according to The News & Observer.

In support of Isiah Thomas, the Miami Heat's Big Three are coming to the Florida International campus to play.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will host the South Florida All-Star Classic, with proceeds going to the foundation in honor of the FIU coach's late mother.

"This will be a great event for FIU and the South Florida community," Thomas said in a statement. "We are thrilled that some of the world's greatest basketball players will put on an entertaining show here at FIU. It's also fulfilling to know that this is being done for a good cause. I can't thank LeBron, Dwyane and Chris enough for helping put this together."

Also expected to play in the exhibition, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel?

The game, organized by Miami Heat forward LeBron James, is scheduled to also include teammates Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Mario Chalmers. Also scheduled to attend are NBA rivals Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Rajon Rondo, Amare Stoudemire, Russell Westbrook, Jamal Crawford, John Wall, Rudy Gay, Jonny Flynn, Eric Bledsoe, Lou Williams, Wesley Matthews and free-agent center Eddy Curry, as well as former Heat players Dorell Wright and Caron Butler.

Last offseason, Thomas was left in an awkward position when he was forced to backtrack on accepting a consulting position with the New York Knicks that was to have allowed him to coach at FIU as well. The attempted move raised questions about the commitment Thomas was showing the college game.

But at least with this star-studded affair put together for Thomas, it's a reminder of how the NBA connections that Thomas has can be used to shine a light on FIU, which last season finished with an 11-19 record.

"It is exciting to be able to bring an event like this to South Florida," FIU executive director for sports and entertainment Pete Garcia said in a statement. "It is also great to see all of these NBA superstars come together for a great cause here at FIU."

Long Beach State has reached the championship game of the Big West tournament for the past two seasons. They lost both times and fell short of the NCAA tournament. Still, Casper Ware isn't looking back.

"I can't cry about it or be sad about it," said Ware, who will get one final shot at reaching the NCAA tournament as a senior. "I just have to use it as motivation.

"It's a whole new season. Our goal is to get to that final game and win it."

So the reigning Big West player of the year set out this summer and showed off his game after a season in which he averaged 17.2 points. That has resulted in another MVP award at the Drew League, where he consistently put up 30-point games.

Summer league basketball is just that, as coach Dan Monson cautioned. It's also a good sign that Ware has done it alongside some top NBA players and gotten their attention, according to Gazette Newspapers.

He dropped 43 points on a team that featured NBA ballers DeMar DeRozan, Ron Artest and Steve Blake. He scored 33 points while playing on a team with LeBron James, impressing James so much that the NBA MVP asked Ware to teach at his camp the next weekend. He played against or alongside Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Austin Daye, and more, consistently flummoxing top-tier talents and drawing praise from Twitter feeds to asphalt arguments.

Two weeks ago, the respect he's garnered took an interesting form, when he brought DeRozan, the Thunder's James Harden, and 2010 number one draft pick John Wall into the Pyramid to play hoop during an Open Gym session. Ware said it was good for him and his teammates to get a look at how the best in the world play, and didn't mind hearing that video of All-Stars in the Pyramid may one day help the school's recruiting cause.

That's certainly some pretty good company, and if it gives Ware confidence going into the season, it's great for a Long Beach State team looking to get over the hump.

John Calipari is coaching the Dominican National team and has arranged an exhibition game on Aug. 15 in which they'll go up against a team of former Kentucky players including Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, Tayshaun Prince, Rajon Rondo and John Wall.

Calipari wanted the team of pros to be coached by former Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall and former Wildcat Sam Bowie, leaving the 82-year-old Hall thrilled to be making a nostalgic return to the Rupp Arena sideline.

But after it became unclear whether NCAA rules would allow Hall to coach the team, Calipari was forced to backtrack and have his predecessor join him on the Dominican sideline instead. The whole thing has left Hall confused, according to John Clay of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"It’s a little bit embarrassing," said Hall. "To have Coach Calipari ask me to coach the All-Star was an honor. I was happy to do it. He's so thoughtful and been so good to me. He’s always been very respectful and supportive, including me in everything he does. I'm happy to help him out with coaching the Dominican Republic team in any way I can."

Hall said that he thinks that he and Bowie were "unfairly singled out. We didn't do anything. I don't understand how the former players can play in the game, but we can't coach. That makes no sense to me. I’m no danger to anybody. I would just be sitting on the bench. We're not doing any real coaching. No one ever told me that I couldn’t be a part of it until I saw it on television and read it in the paper. No one talked to me to tell me why.

Hall's frustrations are understandable considering it appears that the NCAA rulebook is getting in the way of Calipari's gesture.

Kentucky somehow isn't supposed to be officially affiliated with this game even though Calipari is coaching a Dominican team that includes forward Eloy Vargas against a team of ex-Wildcat pros in Rupp Arena, so apparently Hall can't coach the Kentucky pros, according to The Courier-Journal.

DeWayne Peevy, the UK Associate Athletic Director of Media Relations, is acting as a spokesman for ProCamps Worldwide, which is putting on the event.

He said UK can’t have former players or coaches involved in the production of the event, and it’s unclear whether NCAA rules would allow a former coach such as Hall to coach the team.

“(The NCAA) has worked with us from the start of this event,” Peevy said. “This is the first of its kind so there are no actual exceptions or rules for this type of event.”

PHILADELPHIA -- Jonathan Severe is a rising prospect, a small forward ESPN calls, “one of the top young swingmen in the New York City area in the class of 2013.’’

And no matter how hard he tried, Severe could not beat the guy in the other layup line.

When Severe had the ball, the other kid swatted it away. When the other kid was on offense, Severe -- considered a pretty good defender -- simply could not keep up. Which normally would make for a pretty lousy day at the Reebok Breakout Challenge.

Only no one in the stands was holding it against Severe.

He was trying to handle John Wall.

The Breakout Challenge has a special place in Wall’s heart. It was there, on the Philadelphia University courts in 2007, that he blossomed, going from just another kid from North Carolina to a future All-American at Kentucky and the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

And so when Reebok brought their camp back to Philadelphia after a brief hiatus, Wall wanted to do more than attend.

He wanted to inspire.

“When I came here, I wasn’t anything special,’’ Wall said. “And I want these guys to know about that. If they come here and they work hard, you never know what could happen.’’

But Wall is doing more than talking a good game. He’s playing one, too. From 10 a.m. until mid-afternoon, Wall took his place in the layup line, participating in the drills during the training sessions like one of the campers.

With little kids using their phones to record videos from the stands, Wall did some dribble work through a pair of chairs, worked on his pull-up jumper and fought just as hard as the high schoolers for the ball during one drill.

And he wasn’t taking it easy. Far from it. Wall went at the campers hard and they came back at him equally tough, though none got the best of him.

“I showed them a few things,’’ he said with a grin.

Wall plans to stay in Philly all week and has every intention of working out with the players while he’s there.

“It wasn’t that long ago that I was one of them,’’ he said. “Hard to believe.’’

Sure, Wall is a Reebok endorser so he was technically only doing his job by showing up. And of course, with a lockout on, the practices give him a nice workout.

But Wall went above and beyond. There wasn’t an ounce of diva in the gym (if Wall gets dunked on before week’s end, I’m pretty sure no one will be confiscating the tape).

He acted like one of the guys, high-fiving and patting guys on the back after good plays, and listening as intently to the instructors as the campers.

And now a handful of guys will go home with great stories about how they went one-on-one with John Wall.

Da plane, da plane: New Penn State coach Patrick Chambers drove the three hours from State College to Philadelphia but from there, he was flying to Indianapolis, Cleveland, Boston, Augusta and Newark.

On a private plane. Which in the typical world of big-time college basketball isn’t a very big deal.

But Penn State basketball isn’t typically part of that world.

The administration pledged that, with Chambers’ hire, it was going to make more of a commitment to the men’s basketball program, so long Happy Valley’s ugly stepchild.

Giving their new coach a plane during the recruiting period is definitely a step in that direction.

Basketball is about keeping up with your peers as much as it is beating your peers and in order to compete in the Big Ten, Penn State needs a Big Ten commitment from its administration.

Tip-ins: There weren’t a lot of high-profile head coaches on hand Wednesday. I spied Chambers, Cuonzo Martin (Tennessee), Fran Dunphy (Temple) and Fran O’Hanlon (Lafayette) in the stands. … Villanova missed a good photo op. At one point, former assistants Chambers, Fred Hill (now an assistant at Northwestern), Andrew Francis (now at Siena) and Doug West (back at Villanova after a one-year break) all stood atop the bleachers on Court 1, watching the action on Court 2.

Imagine a scenario next season in which the NBA lockout sidelines the players, and former John Calipari players such as John Wall and Derrick Rose head to Kentucky to get in their workouts. They'd be doing the John Wall dance in the streets of Lexington again, right?

That's what Calipari has in mind. He told the Washington Post that he told Wall -- the top draft pick in the 2010 NBA draft, who played one season with Kentucky -- that he would be welcomed back to campus to work out, go to summer school, and maybe even practice with the team or serve as a student assistant.

Calipari added that if Wall were to re-enroll at Kentucky -- which one of Wall's representatives, Dwon Clifton, said on Thursday was unlikely but "still a possibility" -- he could practice with the Wildcats as well to stay in basketball shape.

"He can be on the court with us. He can be a student assistant going back to school, you can put him on the court. I'm going to invite all of our guys, John, [Bulls guard and District native Keith] Bogans," he said after watching Rose score 25 points and dish out 10 assists to lead the Bulls to an 86-73 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal. "I even said to Derrick, you didn’t go there, but if you want, you can come down. But hopefully, there isn’t a long stoppage, but if there is, I want to make sure our guys know they can come back with us."

Unlikely? Maybe, but just the thought of having Wall and maybe even the NBA MVP Rose on campus working out at Kentucky would add to the glitz and glamor of the program that Calipari has created.

It's all another example of how Calipari is always thinking ahead. Earlier in the week, he was able to arrange the Kentucky Combine to showcase his players to NBA scouts and help them make better decisions since the NCAA's deadline for early entrants to make their decisions is May 8.

So whether or not Wall helping out Kentucky happens, score another one for Calipari.

Monday, April 18 greeted you with some rather exciting news -- and no, not just that Kanye West's amazing 98-minute Coachella performance was easily searchable and viewable on these here Interwebs, meaning it was OK for you to close the YouTube stream and go to bed before the man got through "Lost In The World" at about 3:30 a.m. EST. (Seriously, what a show.)

No, for the college hoops fan, Monday morning's news is arguably much more exciting.

North Carolina's Harrison Barnes, one of the best players in the college game in 2011, is indeed returning for his sophomore season.

This isn't exciting just to UNC fans, although they're no doubt beside themselves today. After all, Barnes' return mirrors those of forwards John Henson and Tyler Zeller, and as such the Tar Heels are practically a lock to be the preseason No. 1 when the first polls are released this fall. They're going to be very, very good.

But it's not just UNC fans that should be thrilled. In fact, Barnes's decision counts as good news for the college game in general. Frankly, it marks a shift -- perhaps temporary, maybe permanent -- in college basketball's relationship with the NBA, its relevance to the casual sports fan, and the quality of play at the very highest levels of the sport. And it seems we have the looming NBA lockout to thank.

Barnes isn't the first marquee freshman to turn down NBA riches and return to college hoops this April. In fact, Ohio State's Jared Sullinger and Baylor's Perry Jones -- two fellow top-flight NBA prospects and likely top-five picks in June's NBA draft -- have already chosen to come back for their sophomore seasons at their respective schools. And Barnes' choice hasn't been a universal one; Duke freshman Kyrie Irving and Arizona sophomore Derrick Williams both decided to enter the draft and take their shots at a No. 1 overall selection all the same.

But the decisions of Barnes, Sullinger and Jones do mean something larger than the sum of their parts. Each player's reasons for staying are different, but it's not hard to see the threat of an NBA work stoppage as a factor in each. By turning pro, each player would risk getting drafted to a team in uncertain financial straights. By turning pro, each player would take a chance of not playing for much, if not all, of their would-be rookie seasons in the NBA. By turning pro, each player would roll the dice on a league that wants to change a variety of things about the way players -- including rookies -- are paid. They'd be taking those brave chances at the very moment the league would be implementing huge structural changes to the professional game.

The usual risks associated with a return to school are injury and/or a decline in draft stock. For once, those risks seem significantly outweighed by the ones associated with a jump to the NBA draft.

The alternative is far more attractive. Barnes, Sullinger and Jones, among others, will get a chance to work on their games full-time, and at full speed, for the next 12 months. They'll get to pick up things they didn't learn as freshmen. They'll get to hang out with their college buddies for another two semesters. And they'll get to make runs at league titles and national championships, something all three seem uncannily aware of.

More than anything, though, these decisions mark a sea change in the sport. Last year, No. 1 overall pick John Wall's thoughts of staying for his sophomore year were laughed off by his coach, and rightly so. When you're that good, you belong in the NBA. But what if the NBA isn't there?

That's the issue in 2011. With the NBA draft situation in flux, top prospects have a legitimate reason to return to the college game. (And no, this isn't always the case. Despite what some stalwarts claim, players can develop in the NBA, too.) As such, the game stands to benefit. The talk of the one-and-done hurting the experience level at top programs no longer applies; both Ohio State and North Carolina will return hugely talented, NBA-ready sophomores. What's more, casual fans will know Barnes and Sullinger as marquee names on elite teams; the usual complaints of annual personnel turnover are relatively moot.

And here's where things really get interesting: If NBA owners do lock their players out, and the NFL follows suit -- which appears to be the most likely scenario at this point -- the sport with the most to gain is college basketball. College football is already hugely popular for much of the year, but college hoops lacks a large casual following in October, November, December and even January, when most sports fans are too busy managing their fantasy football teams and watching the NFL playoffs to notice. And when die-hard NBA fans find themselves starved for basketball next season ... well, here you go, guys. College hoops isn't locked out -- being an arguably unfair free labor market has its perks, after all -- and it has some awfully good players for you to watch. Dig in.

In short, everything seems to be turning up college hoops. Two of the nation's biggest professional leagues are teetering on the abyss, and one of them happens to be the league that has gobbled up much of the nation's best talent for five years under the one-and-done. In 2011-12, the college game's best young players will be playing for some of its best and most popular teams, and there's a good chance it'll be the only hoops game in town.

Eventually, NBA owners will settle with players. Eventually, the pro game will return. How it returns is the story of the offseason, because a new NBA collective bargaining agreement could either get rid of the one-and-done entirely (favored by the NBA Players Association) or replace with a two-year rule (favored by the owners). If it's the latter, next season could give us a sneak preview at the new-look nature of the college game, a place where freshmen are compelled to commit to college for longer than eight months.

Whether that's fair or not -- you can argue it's incredibly unfair; frankly, some players should be allowed to start earning their millions as soon as possible -- it would be a major boon for college hoops, for college hoops fans, and for anyone who likes watching the best basketball players play in front of some of the best crowds in all of sports.

Depending on the lockout's outcome, next season will either be a sneak peek at every college hoops fan's selfish dream, a harbinger of what's to come, or a tantalizing taste of a forever bygone hoops era when top freshmen didn't scoff at another year in the unpaid college ranks.

Either way, to paraphrase the aforementioned Mr. West, Barnes's presence is a present. Same goes for Sullinger. Same goes for Jones.

We might not know what's going to happen in the NBA this summer, but thanks to that uncertainty, we do know at least one thing: In 2011-12, the college game is going to have a defining year. Come on: How exciting is that?

All in all, being an NBA player is pretty great. You get to play basketball for a living, and by "living" I mean "a wildly lavish lifestyle beyond the ambitions of 99 percent of Americans." You get to see the nation's greatest cities. You don't have to be good-looking to attract members of the opposite sex. You get to wear those Dr. Dre headphones for free.

But don't think there aren't perils to possessing otherworldly individual basketball talent. Some players are so good they're compelled, whether they much like it or not, to enter the NBA draft after one season of college basketball. Case in point: John Wall.

During his brilliant freshman season at Kentucky, Wall semi-jokingly mentioned his desire to remain to Lexington, Ky., for another year, which was greeted with a big fat "you're the No. 1 pick, don't even think about it" from his coach, John Calipari. Wall said he had "no choice" but to turn pro, and while he may have been joking, you sort of got the impression that maybe, just maybe, the idea of staying in school for another year was somewhat tempting. Sure, being in the NBA is great. But being an awesome college athlete -- heck, just being in college -- is pretty great, too.

In the end, after Kentucky's Elite Eight loss to West Virginia last season, Wall left. His teammate, DeMarcus Cousins, followed suit. Both were selected in the top five of the 2010 NBA draft, and both are now wealthier than I can even fathom. But by leaving, both missed a chance to be part of this year's Kentucky team, which is having itself the college hoops experience of a lifetime at the Final Four.

So ... do Wall and Cousins wish they'd stayed? Not so much. But that doesn't mean they don't seem to miss going to the Final Four. From the Associated Press:

"Yes, I wish I was still there," Cousins said. "College life was fun."

[...] More than a thousand fans showed up at Blue Grass Airport to welcome the team back late Sunday night after knocking off North Carolina in the East Regional final, the same kind of celebration that was supposed to happen last year.

"I wanted to be there for that," Cousins said.

"I'm feeding off it," Wall said. "I'm happy for my Kentucky teammates. They did something we couldn't do last year. ... Hopefully they can win it all."

Being rich and famous and young and cool and the kind of person greeted with stunned murmurs when they walk into swanky upscale lounges has to be pretty tremendous. But being a part of a Final Four team during your college years isn't so bad, either. Wall and Cousins -- especially Cousins -- seem to realize as much.

Even Patrick Patterson, who told the AP he had "no regrets at all," still admitted he thought "about it all the time how much I miss it." Does that mean he, Wall and Cousins should have stayed for another season of college hoops? No. When you're going to get paid like those three, especially the two freshman, were about to get paid ... well, you go get paid. The college is awesome argument doesn't rank very high in the "should I take my millions now?" discussion. Nor should it.

Still, it's worth noting. These quasi-lamentations do make decisions like Jared Sullinger's -- who is turning down a likely top-five spot in this summer's NBA draft to return to school -- easier to understand.

Most of us don't have millions of dollars waiting for us after college is over, but if you went to college, well, you know the deal. Once you're there, you don't want to leave. And if you think you do, it doesn't take more than a few weeks in the office to know just how wrong you were.

In case you missed it, the new John Wall Dance is now the "Dougie." In case you haven't already heard, the former Kentucky star has done the dance during pre-game introductions with the Wizards.

Last week, Wall popped up for the Howard game at Burr Arena and also did the "Dougie" for the crowd.

Here's video from the HU Reaction (go to the 5:10 mark):



Howard ended up losing in its regular-season finale to Hampton, and the 6-23 Bison are the last-place team in the MEAC heading into Wednesday's first-round MEAC tournament game against Norfolk State.

But if nothing else, the fans seemed to get entertainment out of watching Wall dance.

(Hat tip: D.C. Sports Bog)

The Washington Wizards put on a Midnight Madness-style event in order to usher in the John Wall era with a nod to college basketball-style excitement, and it was a success.

More than 4,000 fans showed up on a weeknight to the Patriot Center on the campus of George Mason to see the extravaganza start to training camp and Wall take center stage.

Wall greeted Kentucky fans last year with dance moves and seemed to enjoy the Wizards event as well.

From the Washington Post:

When asked to compare the crowd to the one at Kentucky, Wall said, "In college, all of this would've been filled, probably moreso. but it was a good crowd that came out to support us."

He also mentioned that his Midnight Madness at Kentucky was around 7 p.m. He had no problem with [Flip] Saunders's plans to have a late first practice for training camp. "I was happy. It reminded me of college, so it was great," Wall said. "For students to come out this late and they have school tomorrow, it means a lot."

Tom Izzo enjoyed himself as well. A friend of Wizards coach Flip Saunders', the Michigan State coach is hoping to learn by watching the Wizards in practices and team meetings, according to The Post.

"This was a phenomenal crowd, it really was," he said after the event. "Nobody in the NBA has done this event before Flip. He's probably started a trend, and next year you'll probably have 20 teams doing it."

Kentucky fans eager to score free tickets and prime seating locations to next month's Midnight Madness event have been asked to please not begin lining up outside the ticket windows until three days before the ticket distribution actually begins.

Citing the request of campus public safety officials and with coach John Calipari spreading the word, the school is requesting fans not to start lining up until Sept. 29 at 7 a.m. when the ticket window doesn't open for another 72 hours.

The athletic department is providing portable restroom facilities for those in line, and you have to wonder if Kentucky fans are crazy enough to camp out in advance of the actual campout for free tickets?

Because the Big Blue Madness event at Kentucky -- the birthplace of the John Wall dance that went viral -- is expected to be quite the event.

You knew that already. But it only helps Rivers' case to see him do things like this.

Of what do I speak? Via The Dagger comes this video of Rivers taking on John Wallat the Boost Mobile Elite 24 camp in Venice, Calif., Wall squares up to defend Rivers at the top of the key, just before Rivers makes a little half-step crossover and leaves Wall flailing in his wake. Just as impressive was the finish.

On the other end, Wall tries to repay the crossover favor, but Rivers strips the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft and starts his team on a fast break that ends with a dunk. Wall would have to wait until later for his repayment, in the form of this ridiculous alley-oop finish of a somewhat silly Brandon Jennings pass.

Anyway, it doesn't mean Austin Rivers is better than John Wall -- he might be, but that's kind of doubtful, based on watching Rivers in other competitions -- but it does mean he's insanely talented, and whichever team eventually lands him (Rivers is considering Duke, Florida, North Carolina, Kansas and others) is going to have a serious star on its hands.

If you watched college basketball in 2009-10, you saw the John Wall Dance. As Wall's national profile soared in his first year at Kentucky, his quirky little hip-hop dance -- arms up and flexed, head bobbing -- became something of a national phenomenon. ESPN examined the dance in February, when Wall wouldn't take credit for creating the dance, as he adapted it from a Louisville rapper.

That Louisville rapper's name was Kenzo, whose 2009 single "Do The Shizz" took local man Lawshawn "Sugar Shizz" Talbert's patented dance and put it to song. On Saturday, Talbert was fatally shot in Louisville, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. He was pronounced dead three days after his arrival at University Hospital.

Strangely enough, the John Wall Dance originated in rather casual fashion. From the CJ:

[Rapper Kensey "Kenzo" Rankin] told The Courier-Journal last November that he first noticed Sugar Shizz doing the dance -- chest out, arms up, head bobbing -- at a club in 2008. And it seemed to draw a crowd.

“I saw him doing it and my buddy told me, ‘You ought to do a song about Shizz.' I was like, ‘What do you mean, do a song about him?' He said, ‘You know that dance he does, do a song about it. I'm telling you everybody loves it.'”

Kentucky coach John Calipari scheduled this month’s trip to Canada and the 10 practices preceding the sojourn to get his heralded newcomer class adapted to his dribble-drive motion offense, increase the roles of his returning players and have the team bond.

Two days into practice down in advance of the three-day trip Aug. 15-17 to Windsor, Ontario, and Calipari can claim that at least two of the three goals will likely occur.

The one in doubt is how many of the newcomers will be able to play in Canada due to injuries and eligibility issues.

Calipari said freshman forward Terrence Jones is out with an ankle injury and might not be able to play in Canada. Jones would still go on the trip. The 6-9 Jones was a huge get for Calipari after Jones initially committed to Washington out of Jefferson High in Oregon. Jones will likely be one of the top producers from the wing.

Enes Kanter, a heralded 6-9 center out of Turkey, was “more skilled than I thought,’’ Calipari said. Kanter is academically eligible, according to Calipari, but is still going through his amateurism clearance. Calipari doesn’t expect a hiccup for the season but Kanter might not be cleared to play prior to the trip.

The good news for Kentucky is that the other likely contributing newcomers -- freshmen point guard Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb, Stacey Poole and JC transfer Eloy Vargas -- are all good to go.

Calipari said Poole, like Kanter, was more skilled with the ball than he had projected. He said Knight was a better athlete than he had predicted and Lamb had a great feel for playing how fast the Wildcats want to play this season.

“But it’s been just two days so I’m throwing a lot of stuff at them,’’ Calipari said.

Calipari singled out his returnees in rising junior wing Darius Miller (6.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 33.6 3s), junior wing DeAndre Liggins (3.8 ppg, 31.8 on 3s), sophomore forward Jon Hood (1.2 ppg, 0.7 rpg) and senior forward Josh Harrellson (1.3 ppg, 1.2 rpg), who have all improved over the summer. They’ll have to contribute quite a bit after the Wildcats lost five players early to the NBA draft following an SEC title, 35 wins and an Elite Eight appearance.

Calipari announced on his website Sunday night that rising sophomore Darnell Dodson wouldn’t return this season. That shouldn’t come as a shock since Calipari was non-committal on Dodson in the spring. Dodson was the sixth-leading scorer at six points a game and shot 34.7 on 3s, making a team-high 50 last season. The Wildcats were only 33.3 percent on 3s last season.

Calipari said Knight, Miller and Liggins are making 3s in practice while Lamb is hitting runners. It’s early, way early, but Calipari doesn’t seem too fazed with the departure of the 3-point shooting Dodson. He has replacements, albeit inexperienced ones on the wing.

“Teaching the dribble drive goes against everything these guys have learned,’’ said Calipari, who didn’t run it as much last season with the quick-footed John Wall pushing the offense from one end to another. “When they’re driving they have to look at a few things. It’s not just beating your man. That’s a given. What am I doing? Am I scoring and if not where are they coming from and how is the shifting defense going to affect me?’’

Calipari said he’s also putting in a fair amount of his defensive approach to get ahead in the fall.

“As much as anything I want to see them compete and come together,’’ Calipari said of the practices and the trip. “I want them to respect each other and see the veterans take on leadership.’’

The Wildcats will be down nine players from last season now that Dodson is gone. Kentucky will play the University of Windsor on Aug. 15 at 7 p.m. at the St. Denis Centre in Windsor, followed up by a 7 p.m. game against the Western Mustangs on Aug. 16 with the trip concluding against Windsor again at 11 a.m. on Aug. 17.

Jeremy Lin was a feel-good story during his career at Harvard. And as if being an Asian-American college basketball star out of the Ivy League wasn't intriguing enough, on Wednesday the Bay Area native signed a contract with the Golden State Warriors, his hometown NBA team.

Lin went undrafted, but after strong NBA summer league performances and after holding his own against top-pick John Wall, the 6-foot-3 guard is on the verge of becoming the first Harvard player to appear in an NBA game since Ed Smith played in 11 games during the 1953-54 season.

In an interview today with Warriors broadcaster Tim Roye, Lin spoke of how his memorable 30-point game against UConn gave him the confidence it took to make it to the NBA.

"Just to realize I can play at this level and I can hang with some of these guys they're projecting to be in the first round, second round.

"Coach [Jim] Calhoun had some really nice words for me after the game, and I was blown away by that. When I read that, I was in shock for a while. I couldn’t believe he said some of the things he said.

"Obviously, coach [Tommy] Amaker and coach [Kenny] Blakeney, they believed in me for a very long time. They’ve been saying those things for a while."

The story gets even better for Lin. Being underappreciated and not getting drafted in June actually helped create a market for him. A fact that wasn't lost on former Cornell player and Ivy League foe Jon Jaques.

According to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, that meant getting more than half of his first-year salary guaranteed when some second-round picks aren't guaranteed anything.

So when Lin suits up during the exhibition season in front of a Bay Area crowd -- as he did earlier this year against Santa Clara -- and soaks in the cheers, remember the long odds it takes college basketball players to reach that level.

Every once in awhile, someone with even longer odds gets there and makes a believer out of you all over again.

"I feel like an Asian from Harvard… if you think about that, you're not going to think, 'Oh, a player in the NBA.' I understand that. That's just the way it is," Lin told reporters.

"There haven't been that many Asian-Americans. There haven't been that many Ivy Leaguers. So… I understand that. But I'm hoping I'm breaking the stereotypes."