| | By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
The season's over, but that doesn't mean the Word's Answer Man is taking any time off. If you want to send a question to the Word, click here and check back each week to see if your question was answered.
Why hasn't Schea Cotton declared for the NBA draft yet? He left
school at Alabama and moved back to California but hasn't made a decision. I assume that his options are to transfer or declare? What do you think
he will do and is he a first round pick?
I spoke with Cotton's family and they told me last week that he still hasn't
made up his mind. If he declares, he's a marginal second-round pick at best.
He'll end up in one of those minor leagues. He'll have trouble transferring
at this point because he left school during the semester. If he does leave, he may
only end up with a year and a half.
More a comment than a question about Luke Recker. In your April 13 column, you wrote that the NCAA may
have established a precedent by allowing Recker to play after sitting out only one semester at Iowa. But Recker was in the middle of sitting out one
year at Arizona when he decided to transfer to Iowa. By the time he is allowed to play, Recker will have sat out one full academic year, just like
any Division I basketball player who transferred (albeit only once in most cases). I would expect that the NCAA will continue to require Division I
basketball transfers to sit out a full academic year before competing again.
-- Tommie Jones, Los Angeles
Here's why it is a precedent: Recker is a double transfer and under normal circumstances he would have to sit out three semesters. He deserved and
received the exemption to play in the first semester.
Do you think that Steve Alford will end up at Indiana after Knight
resigns or is fired?
--Nathan Hurley, Cedar Falls, Iowa
Whenever Knight retires, resigns or is fired, Alford probably won't be on
the list. He likely took himself out of consideration when he went to rival
Iowa. Indiana may try and steer clear of any Knight offspring as his
replacement, regardless of their demeanor.
With Clyde Drexler leaving Houston, what's the status of Alton Ford?
-- Don Wightman, Baltimore
New coach Ray McCallum has his hands full trying to re-recruit Ford. The
Cougars need Ford to start to move up in Conference USA. Ford needs Houston,
too. He's not ready for the NBA and would be a second-round pick at best if
he declared for the draft.
With Mark Karcher leaving for the NBA what do you think of the
Temple Owls for next year?
--Matthew McKenrick, Philadelphia
Temple still has decent nucleus returning but will slide back to the pack in
the Atlantic 10 and will struggle to get into the top 25. Redshirt Ronald
Blackshear is the heir apparent to Karcher's spot. He'll probably start next
to Lynn Greer and Quincy Wadley, in what should be a guard-oriented lineup.
The Owls need to find a replacement for Lamont Barnes up front. That means
Kevin Lyde has to be more effective. Greer has to replace Pepe Sanchez at
the point. He'll push the tempo more and won't be as methodical as Sanchez.
But that means the Owls could actually score more points. Their defense may
not be as stingy, though.
How long will it take you to realize Tulsa is for real? You wrote
that they are a questionable team for next year because of their loss of
Kurtz, Coley, and Heard, but people said the same thing about them when they
lost Michael Ruffin to the Bulls. I guarentee that Tulsa is equally
impressive next year. To pick Tulsa as questionable simply shows the lack of respect this program
gets. (Oh yeah, Tulsa will win at North Carolina early next season.)
You took the point too literally. I'm not questioning Tulsa's team, but
rather saying they have holes to fill. Tulsa has been one of the top
programs in the nation throughout the '90s. They deserved a better seed in
the tournament and were within a few minutes of beating North Carolina and
getting to the Final Four. Tulsa is still the favorite to win the WAC, along
with SMU, Fresno State, TCU and Hawaii. The Hurricane will probably win the
conference tournament at Reynolds Coliseum. But the season opener is against
Arizona State, not North Carolina. Tulsa will play Carolina again if it gets
past the Sun Devils.
Andy, why doesn't someone speak to the AAU governing body about
the summer abuses? Kids from one state playing for AAU programs in different
states.
-- Tommy Conrad, Summerville, S.C.
You're right, but the AAU governing body doesn't have power. Recruiting for
the summer teams is as cut throat as it is for college teams. The problem
with not allowing players to move from state to state comes in when there
are elite players from small states (Mike Miller in South Dakota, Brett
Nelson in West Virginia, Matt Bonner in New Hampshire, Carlos Boozer in
Alaska) that don't have the same type of competition. These players have to
get out and play against players who are at their same level.
I've read the reports and listened to Khalid El almin explain why
he is turning pro, but it still doesn't make much sense to me. What are
Khalid's prospects in the draft and beside being drafted what do you think
his shelf life as a NBA player will be?
-- Roger Whitham, Hartford, Conn.
El-Amin is a player who really won't get much better by staying another year
in the eyes of the NBA. He could get into better shape but teams either love
him or hate him. He's a middle to late first-round (or early second-round
pick) this season and probably would be next season. His shelf life in the
NBA is hard to determine. He'll stick it out as long as he stays in shape.
He's a competitor and a winner. Remember, John Bagley (who had a similar
body) stuck around for a while in the NBA.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college basketball runs Thursdays throughout the off season.
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