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Stefan Fatsis of THE ATLANTIC has a recent piece on New York high school basketball prospect Lance Stephenson. In the treatment, Fatsis explores the possibility of Stephenson going to play in Europe instead of heading to college - like Brandon Jennings.
(Already well-prepared for fundamentally-sound, team-oriented Euroleague!)
Buried in the piece though is a much more intriguing prospect I haven’t yet heard discussed. Read more…
It’s shocking that it took until 2009 for the NCAA to ban the recruiting of eighth graders. Aside from the obvious ethical quandaries inherent in objectifying middle schoolers the same way one would evaluate a head of cattle, it can’t be good for the students themselves. So a case study is perhaps in order. Remember Demetrius Walker? He managed to be washed up at 16, and make a comeback at 18.
What happens when you can dunk at 8 years old, and you receive your first recruiting letter at 11? There’s nowhere to go but down. And what happens when it turns out you just had your growth spurt early, and all of your classmates start catching up to you? Demetrius Walker’s freshman year in high school was a huge disappointment, and you’re not alone in thinking that a ninth-grader being called a disappointment is all sorts of wrong.
• DEADSPIN finds some Red Sox fan rolling along the dugout after Manny Ramirez’s 500th homer.
• USA TODAY’S GAME ON steps up to say high school b-ball phenom Lance Stephenson has narrowed his college choices to USC, UCLA & Kansas.
• AWFUL ANNOUNCING loses their appetite when Chip Caray & Mitch Williams spend some TBS air time chatting in an Applebee’s.
• CHECK MY TAG is relieved that the St. Louis Cardinals’ experiment with peanut-free seating has cracked the media’s attention.
