BleacherCoaches.com

Fleaflicker:

Obviously if you are one of the Top 50 -100 players in the country and you can go anywhere, you go to the likes of Duke, NC, or Kentucky ,but what if you are not an All-American, but rather just a another DI prospect.

If you are concerned strictly about your future(making the NBA) why wouldn't Penn State be an option? You could go there and play, likely start, immediately. As compared to probably sitting on the bench for two or maybe even three years at a winning program as those HS All-Americans continue to be brought in every year.

At PSU you are not going to win any championships that is a given, but you can play in a conference that will showcase whether you can compete against some of the better players in the country, and put up some stats that will most likely catch the attention of scouts at the next level. Playing for a winning program has little and most times no effect on whether an individual player makes it to the NBA. There may be a higher number of players in the NBA from those winning programs, but it isn't because the players played at those schools it is because they were the best players.

If Mr. Johnson does end up at Arizona (and I doubt he will go there and start), I don't think he has improved his chance of going to the NBA. He will not put up stats at Arizona anywhere near the numbers he amassed at PSU. There appears to be some individual circumstances surrounding this situation, but IMO if Johnson stayed at PSU and put up the double/double stats he had in the past his chances of making the NBA are better than if he goes to AU and is their first or second post player off the bench.

He is the perfect example to my point. He didn't have a scholarship offer out of high school. He walked on at PSU and got playing time immediately, something that would almost definately not have occurred had he tried to walk on at Pitt or Nova. That playing opportunity has given him a slim chance to be an NBA prospect.

I'm guessing there had to be other reasons this guy left PSU besides basketball. If there aren't, he's completely delusional. The NBA is in a state now where it doesn't look at how good you are, but how good you can be. If you have size, speed, strength and can occasionally put the ball in the basket, the NBA will look at you. If you lack physical ability, but can play the game.... too bad, find another profession.

Chris Taft was a 3rd team BE player, yet ESPN was listing him as one of the top 15 NBA prospects. If he can't get himself up to play well in the NCAA tournament game, how is he going to do it for 82 NBA games? I don't get it.

Post-Gazette Wed May 18: Aaron Johnson has signed to play basketball at the University of New Mexico. The 6'9" forward will sit out the 2005-06 season and have 1 year of eligibility left. Last season, Johnson led the Big 10 in rebounds. Of course if PSU players had made MORE of their first shots........

So who will replace HoJo on PSU's team next year? Ed DeChellis has announced the signing of two European frontcourt players who will be freshmen at Penn State next season. One is Milos Bogetic, a 6'10" 255-pound post player from Podgorica, ****, who played in the youth leagues of Slovenia. The other is Joonas Suotamo from Espoo, Finland. He is a 6'9" 220-pound member of the Finnish National team. The only drawback with these two players might be overcoming a slight language barrier. When Milos was asked how he would like playing basketball in America, he replied, "No tank you please. I already eat".

OAR, you're right that NBA looks at potential, and to assess potential, they use the two things that can't be taught: size and speed. Strength can be improved upon, as well as accuracy, but size and speed can't be significantly improved. So if one's 6-11, 250, and plays with good speed, he's a first round NBA pick, even if shoots only about 30 percent.

We all know how tough those Slovenian youth leagues are.

Can you pronounce Manu Ginobili? How about Slobodan Milosevic.

What's wrong with a little mass extermination once in awhile?

I see that Dan Earl is now an assistant coach for Ed DeChellis at Penn State. Dan Earl...the only guy I know of who played basketball at Penn State for 6, yes six, seasons!!!!... By the way, Milos Bogetic from Podgorica, ****, has enrolled at PSU for the first summer session. When asked how he is adapting to life in the USA, he said, "When squirrel hide acorn under bark of tree, then water buffalo sit in swamp and wait for moon to shine down on lily-pad while pine tree saves bird nest from wind and foxes".

Someone started a topic about inbreeding amongst the Amish. Isn't that what Penn State's doing? Why do they keep hiring people with past connections to Penn State? DeChellis? Earl? When are they going to opt for some new blood and give their B-ball program a boost from a different perspective?