Early Quick Hitters
Quick hitters as the first day of non-tournament regular season games (Friday) approaches:
- Concord (MA) Middlesex School coach Jamie Gallagher scheduled one more open gym this past Sunday for college coaches to see junior star Rod Odom. Only two head coaches, Georgetown’s John Thompson III and Boston College’s Al Skinner, were present among the more than half dozen coaches there. The Eagles, who had just played an exhibition game, were well-represented as Skinner brought two assistants. Odom didn’t knock anyone’s socks off in the workout, but he’s not one who typically does that. He had the fade-away jumper going and generally looked good.
- On Tuesday night, Reebok invited former Boston Celtic Dee Brown to its headquarters in Canton, Mass., where he led the Preseason Tune-up, a workout of 17 high school players in the area. Brown put the players through a series of drills, including a nice defensive drill that challenged players to defend for 30 seconds, as well as strength and conditioning work. You could see that the players were getting tested, but they all deserve credit for sticking to it and putting in two good hours of work with a former pro. There’s no reason to think they won’t be all the better for it, and can probably use some of what they did in the future.
- We’ll have more on Bryant University soon, as they get ready to start their first season in Division I. But despite their loss to St. Francis Xavier in their second exhibition game, head coach Tim O’Shea felt the team improved from the first to the second exhibition game. The Bulldogs open their first Division I season at home against Albany next Wednesday.
- The report of the suspension of Binghamton guard Malik Alvin is a story that will not be forgotten. Not only was he caught stealing 36 condoms, but he knocked over a 66-year-old customer, who sustained a concussion, in the process. One can only imagine the taunts that visiting fans will come up with for this one, especially those in the America East Conference.
- We often mention health issues in this space, and in recent years we have had a few coaches diagnosed with some form of cancer or another debilitating illness. Related to that, Friday is World Diabetes Day, an official United Nations World Health Day led by the International Diabetes Federation. The significance of this should not be lost on college basketball fans, and not just because there are surely plenty of fans who are affected by it. Recent college stars Adam Morrison (Gonzaga) and Gary Forbes (UMass) are diabetic, and a current player I know to be diabetic is Albany senior forward Brian Connelly. But surely there are more that either aren’t publicly known and/or that are and I am simply not aware of. After all, there are nearly a quarter of a billion people worldwide that are affected by it, and each year an estimated 7 million people develop it. For more information, visit the event’s Web site.
