secret

SoCalHoops News Report

SoCalHoops Is In Houston Doing Some
Really Super-Secret Stuff--(May 15, 1998)

Wondering why there was no "stuff" from yesterday and no other articles? Well, it's because we're doing some super-secret, undercover work looking at some talent in the Houston area. So what does this have to do with SoCal? We can't tell you. Really. We can't. We might if we could, but we can't.

But here's some stuff that we do know. Alief is in Texas. So is Sugarland. And Shahar Gordon (6'-11" Sr. C) from Israel, has signed with Cal and will use up the last scholarship now that Dirk Nowitzki has elected to put his name into the NBA lottery. We know that, and can tell you. But these are things you probably already knew.

And in answer to our last question posed at large to all of our readers, the answer to whether Lamar Odom is able to retain his elibibility is a resounding "probably not". Maybe Michael Miller at WestCoastHoops might not have read our article, but he attempted to answer the question anyway on his Fan Forum by saying that the rule is clear: Unless the player declaring is an NCAA "student-athlete" (as opposed to just a student), he forever loses his eligibility by declaring. And Clark Francis agrees with this suggestion as well, although several people leaving messages on both Hoop Scoop's and WestCoastHoops' message boards have pointed out that Lamar had already signed a letter of intent. But that was last year, and he never actually became a "student athlete" because he never gained eligibility. However Francis seemed to suggest that the loophole for a high school student might be to sign an LOI and then declare, thus preserving eligibility. Hmm. Now we're really confused.

In any event, for players like Ellis Richardson (for whom the NBA declaration seems to be more of a publicity stunt), the LOI option was not realistic. For a player like Odom, it also seems not to matter. For Harrington, Rashard Lewis, and now Dirk Nowitzki, it's too late. Look for them on one of your local NBA rosters next year--we'd be very surprised if Dirk, who's 20 years old and has the body of an NBA player already, didn't make it. Same thing for Lewis. We don't know about Harrington, and only time will tell. Chris Herren has come to his senses by returning to FSU; maybe Tremaine Fowlkes will and surely Kenny Brunner should.

What else do we know? That Fran Fraschilla, coach of St. John's got canned. That everybody and his mother is saying to high school, and to college players not to risk their eligibility and stay in school (just check out Vitale's, Jay Bilas' and Espn's "Wojnarowski: Vultures steal another one" today).

We also know that it's too damned humid, hot and smoggy (something about some Central American or Mexican fires blowing smoke all the way up the Gulf ) here in Houston. We also know that there's some pretty great hoop stuff here, and we don't just mean the Rockets who were knocked off last week in the playoffs by Utah. But we can't tell you about that stuff. Really. We can't. We just can't.