John Calipari Gives Conditioning Advice for Quarantine

March 30, 2020 By Leave a Comment

The new normal for sports media consists of Zoom, Cisco WebEx and teleconferences. Gone are press conferences and locker room access. For athletes doing strength training, the new normal consists of bench press pressing tires, pulling/pushing motor vehicles and jumping on to garbage cans.

They’ve had to say goodbye to the weight room and any kind of training in groups. Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari, while on Zoom teleconference with the media, pointed out the challenges basketball players have right now to stay in shape and keep their skills fresh.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Kentucky Wildcats, NBA, NBA Draft

John Calipari Gives Updates on Draft Process, Recruiting, More

March 26, 2020 By Leave a Comment

Zoom, WebEx, Skype- this is our lives as sports reporters for the foreseeable future. It’s an adjustment to be sure, but it’s still a bit weird. It’s what we all have to do though, as every single one of us must mobilize for the greater good. We all miss March Madness of course, but there is absolutely no way the games could have been played under current conditions.

In a year with no clear favorite, Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari had a team that could have definitely won it all. Betting on UK in the NCAA Tournament has a been a profitable endeavor over the years, as this accumulator calculator can show you. With eight NCAA Tournament championships and 17 Final Fours in their history, a lot of people have won green betting on big blue.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Kentucky Wildcats, NBA, NBA Draft

Ayo Dosunmu: Future of Illini PG More Uncertain than Ever

March 16, 2020 By Leave a Comment

With all of college sports shut down now for the time being, a lot of questions persist. When will they restart? How does this effect recruiting and NBA Draft early entry? What will happen with the NBA Draft exploratory process? The Combine?

Will there even be a combine or a draft? Illinois sophomore point guard Ayo Dosunmu is someone for whom all these questions definitely apply. He had an opportunity to potentially pursue the next level last off-season, and he will, at least in theory or on paper, have another chance this off-season. The Morgan Park high school graduate has very high NBA Draft stock, but his hometown of Chicago, which hosts the combine every year, might not. After all, the combine is in early May, and the way things are right now, that seems pretty soon in terms of returning to normalcy.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Illinois Fighting Illini, NBA Draft

DePaul Forward Paul Reed Has First Round NBA Draft Stock

December 22, 2019 By Leave a Comment

DePaul is off to a 12-1 start, and junior forward Paul Reed is one of the leading reasons why. Averaging close to 16  points per game and shooting 56 percent from the field for the season, he’s truly upped his game this season. His three years in Chicago have been productive as a whole too as he entered the season among the program’s all time in field goal percentage and blocked shots.

The 6-9, 200 Orlando native has a significant amount of NBA Draft stock too. The Paul Reed mocksourcing looks as follows:  NBA Draft.net #28,   Tankathon #23   Yahoo! #25. He had an off-shooting night in DePaul’s dramatic 83-78 come from behind win over Northwestern, but changed the game in several other ways.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, NBA, NBA Draft

Evaluating Early Favorites to Become the NBA Draft #1 Overall Pick

December 12, 2019 By Leave a Comment

NBA-mock-Draft-sacramento kings

At this point of the season, winning actually lies in losing for many NBA teams. True victory comes from tanking, getting the most lottery balls for the draft, and hoping that they can nab the top selection come May and then take whichever prospect is considered the most franchise impactful comes that Thursday night in June. As it stands right now, the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers are the three teams tied for the best chance (14%) of landing the #1 overall pick.

The Warriors have fallen from grace in a hurry, and it’s worth noting that they have a 48% chance of landing the fifth pick in the draft. Their rapid free-fall wasn’t anticipated by many who make free NBA predictions against the spread as their dynasty is still in fresh in all our minds. Of course, the Cavaliers win the NBA Draft lottery ping pong balls game unlike any franchise in league history.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, NBA, NBA Draft

John Calipari Pupils Have Earned Over $2.2 Billion in the NBA

October 31, 2019 By Leave a Comment

john calipari

John Calipari has succeeded, at an extremely high level, in the National Basketball Association. What an odd sentence to describe a coach whose record in the NBA was an only 72-112, right? Well, it’s not what Calipari did while leading the New Jersey Nets (1996-1999) or his stint as a Philadelphia 76ers assistant (2000) that matters in this context.

It’s the fact that Calipari-coached players who year after year are the top college basketball picks in the draft have been signed to more than $2.2 billion in NBA contracts. That’s billion with a B and $1.9 billion of that came from the University of Kentucky alone. That’s more than the GDP of the nation of Belize. In fact, Kentucky led the nation with 29 former players present on NBA opening day rosters.

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Filed Under: Business, College Basketball, Kentucky Wildcats, NBA, NBA Draft

Big Ten Scoring Champ Carsen Edwards: NBA Draft Stock Update

June 19, 2019 By 2 Comments

carsen edwards

(Editor’s note: this Carsen Edwards NBA Draft stock article from the end of the regular season is now being re-posted with the NBA Draft tomorrow night)

It won’t be official until tomorrow, but Purdue junior combo guard Carsen Edwards (23.4 points per game entering the regular season finale) will win the Big Ten scoring title. It will make him the third Boilermaker in the last nine years to lead the Big Ten in scoring (JaJuan Johnson in 2011 (20.7) and Caleb Swanigan in 2017 (18.9).

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Filed Under: College Basketball, NBA, NBA Draft, Purdue Boilermakers Tagged With: , , , ,

Ayo Dosunmu Has High NBA Draft Stock, but it’s Just Not Reflected in Mock Drafts

February 12, 2019 By 1 Comment

ayo dosunmu

Illini basketball in the Brad Underwood era has finally shown signs of a pulse in the past month as the team picked up two very high quality wins over teams ranked in the top 15 at the time. Illinois has now won four of their last five, and played their way above the Wednesday night projection in the Big Ten tournament.

If the Illini can close out the season 4-3 or better, they will avoid breaking the school record for single season losses. A primary reason for the Illini surge has been the stellar play of freshman point guard Ayo Dosunmu. His rapid development has coincided with the drastic Illini improvement.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Illinois Fighting Illini, NBA, NBA Draft Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Indiana Hoosiers Star Romeo Langford Still Has Lottery Stock Despite Recent Slump

January 28, 2019 By Leave a Comment

romeo langford

Despite a recent mini-slump, Indiana Hoosiers guard Romeo Langford is measure for measure the Big Ten’s best pro prospect, and by a very wide margin. His performances and productivity have slipped a bit lately, but Romeo is probably the least of IU’s problems right now. Hoosiers coach Archie Miller believes the criticism surround Romeo is much ado about nothing. 

“He’s got to continue to work, find different ways, step back behind that three point line a little bit, hopefully make a couple more, but Romeo’s not the problem,” Miller said last night after his team lost 73-66 at Northwestern.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, NBA, NBA Draft Tagged With: , , , , , ,

2018 NBA Mock Draft 6-21-18 Final Edition

June 20, 2018 By 7 Comments

NBA-mock-Draft-sacramento kings

Welcome to our fourth version of our 2018 NBA Mock Draft. It’s the first edition post lottery. For more on a given prospect, click his name where hyper-linked, and that will take you to an in-depth feature piece on said player. Team needs were sometimes, but not always taken into account, and the order was derived from Tankathon, who we linked here.

You may not agree with the picks in this 2018 NBA mock draft, and yes, somebody will get left out, but you can air your grievances in the comments section. Just keep it all above board.

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Filed Under: Chicago Bulls, College Basketball, Duke Blue Devils, Kentucky Wildcats, Lakers, Michigan State Spartans, NBA, NBA Draft, Purdue Boilermakers

John Calipari on Kentucky Wildcats NBA Draft Prospectus (Audio)

June 18, 2018 By Leave a Comment

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For Kentucky Wildcats Coach John Calipari, the NBA Draft is like his Christmas and five graduation parties rolled into one. Like every draft during the Coach Cal era, the Kentucky Wildcats will have a very significant presence. Five Kentucky Wildcats are eligible for this NBA Draft: Hamidou Diallo, Wenyen Gabriel, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kevin Knox and Jarred Vanderbilt.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Kentucky Wildcats, NBA, NBA Draft

Kendall Gill on the Chicago Bulls NBA Draft, Illini Hoops (EXCLUSIVE)

June 16, 2018 By Leave a Comment

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Fighting Illini legend and former Chicago Bull Kendall Gill just turned 50 a couple weeks ago, but he’s in as phenomenal physical shape as he’s ever been. Boxing is a big reason why, and Gill was going to box the day after we caught up to him- at the second annual Illini Athletics Hall of Fame gala. If you’re into boxing, and need a new heavy bag, see more about them at this product review site. Boxing is one of the best cardio activities that one can partake in. 

 “It’s one of my main workouts, it keeps me in good shape,” Gill told The Sports Bank during our exclusive interview, conducted at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

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Filed Under: Chicago Bulls, Illinois Fighting Illini, NBA, NBA Draft, The Fight Games
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