Our prayers go out to Austin Bowie Head Coach Celester Collier as he tends to his beloved mother who is 90 years old. She is in intensive care in Richmond, TX.
Last night kicked off the season for Division One basketball programs that chose to have Midnight Madness. My D1 Nation Showcase at Boerne Champion High School this morning kept me from making the trek to College Station for the Aggies Maroon Madness. In support of my daughter in law, Judy Jones (redshirt sophomore) I did however, go to Texas-San Antonio's Ruckus where the men's and ladies teams were introduced.
Look for redshirt soph Judy Jones to have a monster year for the Roadrunners. She had high point games of 26 and high rebound games of 13 as a true frosh. She sat out last season as a medical redshirt after the birth of Julian Ivany.
Julian (above)has been offered out of the womb by Big XII and Big East coaches. No word from the Southland yet as he's not Australian. (Inside joke there). As a related aside, soon San Antonio's Incarnate Word enters the D1 ranks and will have a veteran Coach in Lute Olson disciple Ken Burmeister who knows every San Antonio high school coach and will recruit the area hard. At the moment the area has been recruited hardest and most effectively by Tulsa and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
I missed it last night but did anyone see the dunk on ESPNU of former Texas D1 Ambassador and Harker Heights alum wowing the capacity crowd and the pros with his high flying dunk a la "The Goat". You youngsters will have to Google that to understand the significance as Stephens showed off his freakish 47" vertical to the country.
Stephens dunking on Tulane last season
Meanwhile down the road in College Station, former Texas D1 Ambassador and Dripping Springs star Redshirt Freshman Daniel Alexander showed his athleticism to the crowd.
The University of Texas received their third frontline commitment for the Class of 2012 yesterday. 6'10" Prince Ibeh of Garland Naaman Forest has committed to the Horns. Ibeh is a shotblocking specialist and a defensive space eater a la Dikembe Mutombo. He joins 2012 6'9" stretch four man, Connor Lammert of San Antonio Churchill and 2012 P 6'10" Cameron Ridley. But as Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast my friends". I have it from a highly placed source that Ridley may prep instead of going in with the Class of '12. I know that's not what Texas Coach Rick Barnes wants. Stay tuned until signing day in November.
Connor Lammert (below), Prince Ibeh and Cameron Ridley. What a potential Texas frontline!
With the NBA out, let the NCAA season begin!
