Just a few stories to get your weekend kicked off right...
Spartans making offseason gains | lansingstatejournal.com | Lansing State Journal
ON THE SCHEDULE: MSU's 2009-10 schedule will be released late in the summer. So far, the Spartans have set dates at North Carolina (Dec. 1) and at Texas (Dec.22), with a possible home game against Gonzaga, and a likely appearance in a preseason tournament in New Jersey that will also include Florida
This was the game that I wanted the most and if we can make it happen it would be tremendous. It looks like at this point that games with Duke and Michigan State are about to be finalized which probably means that the West Virginia game is officially dead. We posted an article a little awhile ago trying to figure out the schedule and now it is really starting to take shape. At this point, games with Illinois, Oklahoma have been established as well as the Maui Invitational. Toss in Duke and Michigan State and you've got one hell of a schedule. The only down side is that none of these games will be at the McCarthey Athletic Center. One day maybe...
Trail Blazers Center Court: KP Pre-Draft Quotes: June 5
"Micah had a good day today. I’ve seen him at Kansas, I’ve seen him at Gonzaga. He can shoot the ball. In a league that needs shooters and size, he’s fits the bill. He reminds me a little bit of (Vladimir) Radmanovic."
This is literally the only little piece of information I could scrape together about Micah's workout in Portland yesterday so thank you to this TBCC for the info. The quotation is from Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard who commented on all of the players yesterday. Pritchard makes a good point about Micah's combination of size and the ability to develop into a dead-eye shooter. Micah made a very smart decision by dedicating himself on the defensive end during his college years because the league is very friendly to tall, wiry athletes that can lock down their man and hit the occasional jump shot (Bowen, Battier). Not to say that Downs is at that level yet but I can definitely see him developing into that kind of player and it could be the difference come NBA Draft day.
DraftExpress: Josh Heytvelt: "I’m a much different person now"
DX: During the interview sessions in Chicago, did any of the teams bring up some of the off the court issues that you’ve dealt with in the past?JH: Yeah, I mean I talked about that stuff at every interview. I brought it up to most teams because I’m not trying to hide it, I talk about it and go through the whole process. I really put it out there that I’m a much different person now than I was back then.
DraftExpress continues to knock their NBA Draft coverage out of the park as they get a great interview with former Zag Josh Heytvelt. Josh expresses plenty of confidence in the interview and comes across very well. I was most intrigued by the question that I quoted above because I was curious about how much they asked him about the 'incident'. I'm glad they are bringing it up and even more happy that Josh is taking it all in stride and discussing it. A lot of people refuse to discuss mistakes in their past (see: baseball, steroids). JH is doing a great thing by coming clean with all the teams and laying it all out there. I'm also stunned by the number of workouts he has. I think he said he has 17 in total. I can't imagine your body taking all that travel well and when you combine that with grueling workouts, it can't be good. The interview is a great read though, I highly suggest checking it out.