TerryVandrovec

The Combine crowd

There’s a saying about the NBA Draft Combine: “Everybody is there.” OK. But who is everybody? As of Thursday, I’m able to expound upon that for you.

First, the logistics: The event is open only to NBA folks and approved media - no fans and no agents. But once you get in the door, things are pretty loose - folks just standing around watching hoops action spread out over as many as three courts. Two rows of folding chairs are reserved for NBA personnel, but the main bleachers and everything else is up for grabs.

There are a lot of NBA executives that you’ve never seen or heard of or seen. Ditto for nameless media types (like myself). That’s a good chunk of the room.
But there are also execs (Flip Saunders, Rod Thorn and John Hollinger) and media members (Seth Davis, Andy Katz, Fran Fraschilla, Ryen Russillo) that you do know.  

There’s the young former pros crew - guys like Tim Hardaway, Rod Strickland, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

A few select guys represent the best of both worlds - former players and high-powered execs: Danny Ainge, Danny Ferry, Mitch Kupchak and Kiki Vandeweghe.

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle was hanging out - he really does look like Jim Carrey – along with Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni, who continues to walk with a pronounced limp from knee replacement surgery. Jerry Sloan’s presence isn’t doing much to kill reports that he’s looking to get back in the game. 

There are bunch of D-League coaches, too, some with jobs for next season and some without like Skyforce coach Joel Abelson and former Skyforce great Randy Livingston.   

Needless to say, it’s an accomplished and eclectic mix, and everybody seems to know everybody. No wonder so much information is leaked via anonymous sources.

I’ll be back in the mix Friday for the second and final round of workouts. Except copious tweeting. 

And now for the official combine measurements of South Dakota State’s Nate Wolters and Yankton’s Colton Iverson:
Wolters
Height without shoes: 6-3.5
Height with shoes: 6-4.75
Weight: 196.4
Wingspan: 6-3.75
Reach: 8-2
Body fat: 5.5 
Hand length: 8.25
Hand width: 8.75

Iverson
Height without shoes: 6-10.5
Height with shoes: 7-0
Weight: 262.8
Wingspan: 7-2
Reach: 9-2
Body fat: 9.6 
Hand length: 9.25
Hand width: 9.5

Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.

Live chat 5/16

Another live chat in the books - this one focusing on the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. 

Here’s a replay.

More coverage on Nate Wolters and Colton Iverson forthcoming. 

Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.

Making sense of the NBA Draft Combine

This much we know: It has nothing to do with farm equipment. Beyond that, the NBA Draft Combine is a mystery. Or it’s at least not nearly as familiar to sports fans at the NFL version.

Personally, I think I’ve only watched a couple minutes of it - pretty sure Kemba Walker was sprinting between orange cones. That will change today and Friday when I attend the event in person in Chicago to cover South Dakota State guard Nate Wolters and former Yankton High big Colton Iverson.

Here’s some general event info that I’ve pieced together:

Per Mike Perrelli of the NBA’s basketball communications department, the event began in 1983 and was called the NBA Pre-Draft Camp. Over the years, it has bounced around to several locations in the Chicagoland area and has changed formats, most notably adding league-organized interviews of players by teams and the elimination of 5-on-5 play.
Workouts are not open to the public. In fact, videotaping of workouts is prohibited and there are rules about where agents can and can’t be. 

The current location is the Harrison Street Athletics Venue (pictured above via Chad Ford of ESPN). You’re probably more familiar with its former name: Attack Athletics. That’s the state-of-the-art gym built by super trainer Tim Grover, the man behind Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade.
Reportedly, the facility (or the people behind it, more specifically) filed for bankruptcy in 2012. 

Wolters faced a surprisingly high number of combine invitees during his time at SDSU. Among them: Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr., (Michigan), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Georgia), Isaiah Canaan (Murray State), Robert Covington (Tennessee State), Pierre Jackson (Baylor), Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota), Tony Snell (New Mexico) and Iverson when he was at Minnesota.
It remains to be seen what players will or won’t do what activities. Some will opt to be measured and that’s it. 

How rare is it to have South Dakota prep or college players at the combine? That’s hard to say because there doesn’t seem to be a comprehensive list of participants. However, Mitchell’s Mike Miller attended in 2000 and was drafted fifth overall by the Orlando Magic out of Florida. In 2004, Jared Reiner of Iowa by way of Tripp attended. He was not drafted, but wound up playing parts of three seasons in the NBA.
Anybody aware of any others?

Finally, a programming note: Stop back here at 4 p.m. Thursday for a live chat on the first day of measurements and activities at the combine. 

Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.

Too Much TV: Colton Iverson

The Too Much TV podcast breaks a record this week as Yankton High grad and Colorado State center Colton Iverson becomes the tallest guest in program history. He’s 6-foot-10.5 without shoes, for the record. 

That’s one of the things we discuss in this precursor to the upcoming NBA Draft Combine. I’ll be in Chicago for the event on Thursday and Friday with plenty of updates on Iverson and South Dakota State star Nate Wolters.

Here’s the link to the podcast. And another.

Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.

Tuesday Tidbits

No more home sporting events for SDSU in 2012-13. I kind of like the quiet, summer version of Brookings:

Monster week on deck in Summit League baseball as all six teams play six league games in a matter of five days to end the regular season.
SDSU (29-17, 14-6) has a five-game lead in the race for the top seed in the conference tournament and (probably) tourney hosting rights for 2014. The Jacks are also just one game back of tournament-ineligible rookie Omaha (22-21, 15-5) for the regular-season conference pennant.
SDSU visits the Mavericks on Thursday for the start of a four-game set. But that’s complicated by a Tuesday doubleheader in Fargo against North Dakota State (19-24, 6-12). The preseason favorite in the league, the Bison are in a dogfight just to make the conference tourney.
How will the Jacks handle the midweek games in terms of pitching? Coach Dave Schrage said that reliever Chad Hodges was held out of a weekend sweep of Fort Wayne so that he could be fresh for NDSU. From there, it’s a matter of piecing things together.
“I think everyone’s going to be in the same boat,” Schrage said. “It could boil down to offense.”
SDSU and Omaha haven’t squared off in nine years, a prior doubleheader this season called due to rain. The Mavs start Lincoln High grad Alex Schultz in centerfield.

The field for the NCAA Division I preliminaries in track and field will be announced Thursday. As of Monday night, SDSU had four performers ranked in the top 48 in the West Region: senior Brooke Garner in the discus and hammer throw; senior Tera Potts in the 3,000-meter steeplechase; and sophomore Trent Lusignan in the 10,000.
That list could change depend on injuries and strategical decisions. 

Jacks All-American point guard Nate Wolters completed his first workout for an NBA team on Saturday for the Utah Jazz. His take: “It was just nice to get that first workout done. I thought it went all right. I just didn’t know what to expect.”
A reminder that I’ll be in Chicago on Thursday and Friday to cover Wolters - and Yankton High grad Colton Iverson - at the NBA Draft Combine.  

What did Jay Bubak do after resigning as co-defensive coordinator at SDSU? Hit the recruiting trail. The Jacks were able to use him as a temporary, two-week helper. Bubak went back to his primary territory of Nebraska and Kansas City in that time.

SDSU grad and former player Bob Sunvold has been named the men’s basketball coach at Missouri-St. Louis. A 30-year coaching vet, Sunvold spent 2012-13 as an assistant at Eastern Illinois. 

Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.

NCAA revenue report

USA Today recently published its annual list of revenues and expenses for all of the public schools at the NCAA Division I level (some 228), the latest data coming from the 2011-12 school year. Over the weekend, I waded through a chunk of it and pulled out some information that’s (hopefully) either interesting or relevant.

Keep in mind that schools know how to play the book-keeping game, and that numbers don’t provide full context:

• Only one school that ranks in the top 50 in terms of reported revenue is not a member of a power conference: No. 47 UNLV. The Runnin’ Rebels generated $58.8 million.
• The top-ranking school in the Football Championship Subdivision: No. 66 Old Dominion at $35.2 million. (And, yes, I’m aware that ODU is joining the Football Bowl Subdivision this fall - but these numbers were from its FCS days). 
• Tops in revenue among schools that shares a league with the South Dakota schools: No. 111 Southern Illinois (of the Missouri Valley Football Conference) at $20.6 million. In the Summit League, North Dakota State leads the way - and is No. 128 overall - at $16.8 million.
• The rest of the Dakota schools: No. 116 North Dakota $20.1 million; No. 142 SDSU $14.1 million; and No. 192 USD $10.1 million.
• Three Summit schools rank in the bottom 25: No. 203 Kansas City $9.3 million; No. 215 Fort Wayne $7.1 million; and No. 216 IUPUI $7.0 million. 
• The Summit League is all over the place in terms of ticket revenue, some of that related to whether or not a school sponsors football. For example, SDSU reported a school-record $1.3 million in ticket revenue. That’s compared to a combined total of $760,853 by Oakland, USD, Western Illinois, Kansas City, Fort Wayne and IUPUI. However, NDSU more than doubled the Jacks at $2.9 million.
• One of the points for USA Today doing this piece is to shed light on how much subsiding goes on in college athletics. In this case, that means student fees, school contributions, etc.
  The Bison led the Summit in terms of smallest subsidy, too, at 43.16 percent. SDSU was next at 55.84. Everybody else was at 65 percent or more. Kansas City (81.00) and IUPUI (87.77) used the most help.
• Only seven D-I schools reported using no subsidies: Texas, Ohio State, LSU, Penn State, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Purdue. Meanwhile, Montana was at 38.98 percent despite its considerable football attendance and place of state importance. 

Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.

Pentagon peek

Earlier this week, I got a tour of the Pentagon that’s being built at the Sanford Health Sports Complex. No pics or video allowed, but here’s some of the takeaway based on observations and a conversation with general manager Eric Larsen:

• The main entry will be at the point of the pentagon shape and modeled loosely after Ralph Engelstad Arena in having brick, wrought-iron gates and a store. Brick  is also prominent in the concourse.
• A mural of basketball’s evolution of the years - from LeBron James to George Mikan - will lead fans down the ramp into the primary gym. That’s in addition to an area in the concourse reserved for the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame.
• Each of the four primary lockerrooms will include a lounge area (with couches and a TV) plus a coaches room and a training room. Also, the doorways and shower heads are being set higher than normal. Meanwhile, there are roughly six extra/unoccupied meeting rooms throughout the building. Their use will be determined later.
• Each of the eight perimeter gyms will have seating for 96 plus second-floor viewing areas. Larsen described those as high-end high school floors. The primary floor will be parquet and of NBA quality.
• The pressbox is located above the suite level. Larsen said that Fox Sports North and Midco Sports Net were consulted in making the facility TV friendly.
• The new Sanford volleyball program and the TIBBS basketball academy will have permanent office space in the building in addition to holding workouts there. Meanwhile, Larsen said that basketball teams are already calling to book practice space and tournaments. The first official event is likely to be held in October.
• The job of director of basketball operations formerly held by Bill Walker will be absorbed, at least for now, according to Larsen. Walker left to take an assistant job at Drake.
• The facility covers 162,000 square feet yet feels relatively intimate even in an unfinished state. The configuration in the Heritage Court - where the Skyforce will play - seems more vertical than the Arena.

Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.

Now what?

Oakland University this week accepted an invitation to the Horizon League, making official its long purported departure from the Summit League. Boom. Done.

Now what for the NCAA Division I conference that houses three schools in the Dakotas and has made Sioux Falls the long-term home of its basketball tournament? It has to do something, if only add an affiliate member for baseball or convince an existing member to add the sport. Flirting with losing AQ status would be a death sentence.

Stop, for a second, and think about how you might solve the issue. And now quit it. Why? Because the process is flawed. 

In your mind, you thought of a specific school or schools and how it would or wouldn’t fit in terms of geography, status, strengths and weaknesses. You considered whether or not it sponsors football or baseball. You asked yourself if this school would pull the trigger on moving to the Summit or if it would pass on the opportunity. 

All valid thoughts. Except if the rash of conference realignment has proved anything it’s that common sense does not necessarily matter.

Every factor you considered in our little exercise was predicated on facts and information, the tools humans use to make sound, rational decisions. But that way of thinking doesn’t apply to what’s going on - at least not enough of the time and especially at the mid-major level. 

To be clear, I’m not referencing Oakland - the Golden Grizzlies do fit into the Horizon just as Southern Utah always belonged in the Big Sky Conference. Those seem like some of the exceptions rather than the rule. But too much of the movement either doesn’t make sense or seems like chasing.

What’s more, perception is an issue - maybe even a big one. People in the Dakotas know that NDSU, SDSU and USD are well-supported schools with reasonable resources. They’re not perfect, but they have some key advantages that other mid-majors don’t by being flagships. Toss in Denver and Western Illinois and that’s the core of a sustainable and adequate league. But that’s not enough, and the Summit League may be perceived as inferior in outside markets in part because so many schools have willingly left.

Meanwhile, people give the benefit of the doubt to a league like the WAC because of its history - even though the teams that built that history have since exited. Perceptions don’t change overnight.

The point is this: There’s no real way to predict what’s going to happen to the Summit going forward. None. Because the patterns are too erratic. The presidents council has the right idea in being judicious and trying to find a quality and long-term fit. It’s just that there aren’t many schools that fulfill the criteria, and it getting them to sign on may take some high-level convincing or back-room wheeling and dealing.  

Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.