Blogging with the Devils

Lee Cummard was the co-Mountain West Player of the Year with 15.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game last season. He was the only player in the MWC to rank in the top 10 in eight different categories, but the Cougars’ season to remember was halted during March Madness by Texas A&M. 

It’s hard to get into a lather about college basketball when college football season has arrived, but I just had a good conversation with Lee Cummard, the former Mesa High hoops star who’s entering his senior season at Brigham Young.

Cummard is back in town, as he is for a chunk of every summer, and taped some media spots on Wednesday for the Stadium Shootout tournament in December, featuring Arizona State vs. BYU and Louisville vs. Minnesota at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The 2004 high school player of the year in Arizona eclipsed 1,000 points for his college career last season. He declared for the NBA draft and worked out for a few NBA teams, but wisely pulled out of the draft and will return for his senior season.

A few weeks after the draft, he and his wife, Sarah, had their first child: Lee Casey Cummard Jr., or Casey, to keep everyone straight.

He’s done his own workouts this summer, and will return to BYU this weekend for school and team workouts. The Cougars went 27-8 and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament, feats he says can be topped this season.

He grew up with dreams of playing at ASU (and former coach Rob Evans recruited him) but chose BYU over four Pac-10 schools – ASU, UCLA, Oregon and Oregon State — and sounded like a man with no reason to look back and wonder.

Now if he could just get enough tickets for Glendale …

“I’m going to need much more than a few dozen,” he said. “My first game in Provo, there were 85 people, mostly family. I don’t know who’s going to come out of the woodwork.”

More than 100?

“I’d say so,” he said. “The phone will be turned off that week.”

The cornerstones of Arizona State’s basketball team — Jeff Pendergraph and James Harden — are back, and, supposedly, better than ever. (Lisa Olson/Tribune)

Answer:  Not very much.

Fall semester at Arizona State is a shade over two weeks away, and senior Jeff Pendergraph has spent his summer solstice eating (a lot), playing with his two snakes, visiting with his family, and five to seven hours per day doing various workouts and dominating open gyms.

He’s up to 242 pounds, and would like to be between 245 and 250 during basketball season.

In mid-June, he was one of 14 college players who took part in Amare Stoudemire’s Nike camp in Phoenix. Among his peers were former ASU teammate Christian Polk, who’s now at Texas-El Paso, and Arizona big man Jordan Hill.

Pendergraph went nuts on the Wildcats in Tucson in February to complete a season sweep, but the two are friends.

“We talked about it a little bit,” Pendergraph said. “He was like, ‘We didn’t have an answer for you.’ I was just ‘on.’ We joke about it.”

As for the Sun Devils, he’s been impressed with the development of sophomore-to-be big man Kraidon Woods, who barely played last season while gaining strength and adjusting to college.

Pendergraph fantasized about a front line of himself, Woods and Eric Boateng, meaning no player shorter than 6-foot-8. 

“It’d be a mismatch everywhere. Boateng is too big, Kraidon is an athletic (power forward). If I was the (small forward), it’d be ridiculous. We’d be so big, it’d be the total opposite of last year. We’d go from biggest team to smallest team.”

Then there’s that James Harden guy, who’s lost nearly 10 pounds, worked on his jump shot, and spent time at the Paul Pierce camp in his native Los Angeles.

“I’m pretty impressed with how he’s done this summer,” Pendergraph said of Harden. ”I wondered if he’d rest on that. He’s got a mid-range jumper, he’s got a right hand, all the supposed weaknesses he was told to improve. It’ll make him so much better.” 

No subject got him going quite like the prospect of graduating in December — which remains on schedule for — and only worrying about basketball for the rest of winter.

While trying to position himself as a mid-first-round NBA draft choice in 2009, he’ll have to find something to fill the time.

There’s only so much you can do with pet snakes.

“I have no idea,” he said of plans for the spring semester. “I’m not worried about it. Somebody will figure out something.”

The misery doesn’t seem to end for Sidney Lowe, and North Carolina State fans are rueing the days they yelled and screamed for Herb Sendek to hit the road. 

A sad day for North Carolina State coach Sidney Lowe, whose son, Sidney Lowe II, was sentenced on Tuesday to 15 months in a prison farm and five years probation for crimes which included robbery and kidnapping.

The elder Sidney Lowe was reportedly emotional in court while pleading for leniency, which is the last thing he wanted in an already tumultuous summer.

Lowe’s mother suffered a heart attack in late February.

The Wolfpack alumnus has been under fire from the moment he replaced Arizona State coach Herb Sendek. A 35-32 record (9-23 in the ACC) in two seasons will do that. 

After stints in Europe and New Zealand, Shawn Redhage has found a home and a couple of MVP awards in Australia, and now a spot on the Aussie Olympic Team for this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing.

Congratulations to former Arizona State forward Shawn Redhage, who made the Australian Olympic team and will compete in Beijing this summer.

The 6-foot-8 forward from Nebraska has made a nice career for himself overseas since he last helped the Sun Devils to the 2003 NCAA tournament. After a couple of stops in Europe, he’s been playing in Australia the past few years and finished his degree last year in construction science, one of the more difficult academic pursuits at ASU.

Brandon Jennings, 18, is going to Europe instead of Arizona, and that guarantees him absolutely nothing when it comes to the ultimate goal of the NBA. Not everyone should go to college, but not everyone is buying he’s the basketball version of Curt Flood.

It’s every cold-blooded American’s right to make money, 18-year-old former Arizona basketball recruit Brandon Jennings included.

He’s going to play in Europe next year, then try to be an NBA lottery pick in 2009. Since college is no longer an option, he’s wise to give it a whirl, and gutsy for at least attempting such a long and foreign move, even if it’s one year.

Where this circus needs to end abruptly, is the notion he’s “trail blazing” for future high-school phenoms who can’t go straight to the NBA because of the age-19 minimum requirement.

The rule is ridiculous and better be burned to cinders, but it can’t be touched until after the 2010-11 NBA season, when the league’s collective bargaining agreement expires. And rest assured, it will be a huge sticking point between the players’ union and the league.

Jennings is right when it comes to the rancorous rule, but he’s hardly the only one. Nonetheless, he’s being pedastaled as paving the way for those who don’t want to waste time going from the preps to pros, as if Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett come along more than once per decade.

“Trail blazers” don’t commit to a school, fail to qualify, and decide to look around in the interim for a better option.

However jaded the rules are, had he qualified at UA and played in the Pac-10, going to Europe instead of Tucson would have been nothing short of idiotic.

But he didn’t make it, so why is he a hero? Because he has a flaky entourage and a money monger (read: Sonny Vaccaro of sneaker fame) in his ear?

He’s not yet on a team, hasn’t gone through a practice, played a minute, or meaningful game on a foreign land with foreign culture and language. He’s 18 years old and 170 pounds going against 25-year-olds at 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds. All of whom have more experience.

He’ll make money, likely on endorsements or a sneaker deal by a corporation drooling at the thought of being on Jennings’ ground floor. Vaccaro can make that happen in a Madrid minute.

But he can’t make Europe like Jennings, who irked people with his attitude in high school and at McDonald’s All-American showcases. He can’t make Jennings, gutsy though he is for trying, tolerate foreign culture and European life.

He can’t make Jennings continue to do whatever he wants to his heart’s content, and he can’t make Jennings an NBA lottery pick.

If it works, the kid can laugh last. If not, he’ll have no one to blame but himself.

The 6-foot-3 Brandon Jennings was rated as the No. 1 guard in the country, but the Arizona recruit has hired a lawyer to explore overseas options if test scores prevent him from going to Tucson.  

Some actual news going on in the college basketball world in late June.

The 2008 Anaheim Classic field has been locked up. Arizona State knew it was a part of this back in April, and the Sun Devils will be joined by the likes of Baylor and St. Mary’s (NCAA tournament teams), Cal State Fullerton, Providence, Charlotte and Wake Forest.

Matchups haven’t been determined yet for the three-day tournament, but it’s a solid non-conference tournament. The schedule will be followed by matchups against San Diego State (No. 82 in final RPI), Pepperdine (No. 204 in a down year), BYU (No. 25) and Nebraska (No. 96), plus a few also-rans.

Remember, though, the Maui Invitational last year had a group featuring Duke and Marquette, but ASU wound up with Illinois and Louisiana State, which didn’t do the Sun Devils favors in strength of schedule.

But the big tidbit for the moment comes from Tucson, where Andy Katz of ESPN.com says Brandon Jennings is looking at playing overseas if Arizona doesn’t pan out. Jennings is the All-American prized recruit of the Wildcats, and while he plans to play at UA and is qualified, red flags went up after he took two standardized tests with widely varied results, so he’ll take a third test and learn its results next week.

Jennings also said he’d likely have gone pro if not for the NBA requirement of either playing one year in college or being 19 years old within the draft’s calendar year.

He’s likely to be this year’s Jerryd Bayless anyway, especially since Chase Budinger will also likely go pro next summer. Still, Arizona believes he’ll qualify and everything will be fine, and though it could set an interesting benchmark of American kids going from high school to Europe to the NBA, my money says he’ll be a Wildcat this fall.

Speaking of age requirements, the National Association of College Basketball Coaches wants to put the collective foot down when it comes to recruiting. USC coach Tim Floyd has been a key figure in this (though hardly the only one), since he’s offered scholarships to at least two 15-year-olds in the past three years. One, Ryan Boatright, chose USC before he knew what high school he’d attend.

This all makes sense for obvious maturation, development and academic reasons. The question is whether coaches will ultimately heed their own preaching.

Kevin O’Neill has found a new home under former Suns assistant Marc Iavaroni in Memphis. Nice to see he found a job (though that wasn’t going to be too tough and he’s always wanted to return to the pros), we’ll see how well he holds up in NBA purgatory.

Russ Pennell is part of Lute Olson’s overhauled staff in Tucson, which meant giving up his Arizona Premier Basketball Academy business and radio gig alongside Tim Healey at ASU. 

Reports of Tucson’s demise have been overexaggerated.

So says Russ Pennell, as I caught up with the affable Arizona assistant and former Arizona State assistant and radio analyst.

He sold his home in Gilbert within 24 hours of putting it on the market, found a place to live in northwest Tucson three days later, and is still working with his children on adjusting to this new phase of life. 

“My daughter says she can’t root for Arizona, that she’s a Sun Devil,” he said. “I told her she’s going to have to learn to change that, because they’re signing dad’s paycheck.”

Contrary to his previous hopes and sentiments, he will be hitting the recruiting roads hard for most of July. His experience and connections through his former business (the Arizona Premier Basketball Academy, now run by his father) shouldn’t go to waste.

“That was wishful thinking,” he said of staying home.

The bridging of trust continues between Lute Olson, his new assistants and his players, as longtime assistant Jim Rosborough, Josh Pastner and Miles Simon have been replaced by former Nuggets assistant Mike Dunlap, Pennell and Reggie Geary.

The coaching staff fully expects McDonald’s All-American Brandon Jennings to qualify academically, and in doing so, would give Arizona one of the best starting lineups in the Pac-10, with Chase Budinger, Nic Wise and Jordan Hill returning.

He’s seen the Sun Devils’ Ty Abbott and Jeff Pendergraph a couple times this summer, and remains close friends with ASU assistant Dedrique Taylor, so while he’s now engaged on the other side of this bitter feud, he hopes it’s only on the court.

“My relationship with those guys will never change,” Pennell said. “Doesn’t mean we can’t compete against them and try to win, but as people and friends, that will continue.”

Monday was the deadline for college basketball underclassmen who hadn’t signed with an agent to withdraw from the NBA draft and return to school.

As expected, the Pac-10 was hit hard. Such is the price to be paid when you’re a top-three conference in the country with a handful of phenomenal freshmen.

Four of the five first-teamers from last season’s All Pac-10 crew are gone: O.J. Mayo (Southern California), Kevin Love (UCLA), Brook Lopez (Stanford) and Ryan Anderson (California).

The oddball college kid left? Arizona State’s James Harden.

Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless could have been on the first team as well, and he’s gone, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Russell Westbrook left UCLA early.

Chase Budinger stayed a Wildcat. Projected as a late first-round pick with UA coach Lute Olson in his other ear every other day recruiting him to come back, Budinger probably made the right decision. He has a little toughness and consistency to prove in the college game, and the Wildcats have a quality starting lineup returning with Budinger, a healthy point guard Nic Wise, incoming high school All-American guard Brandon Jennings and junior-to-be Jordan Hill in the middle.

After those four … ouch.

Among those who pulled out of the NBA draft and will return to school is Brigham Young guard and and co-Mountain West Conference player of the year Lee Cummard.

Lee Cummard withdrew from the NBA draft last weekend, which means the BYU senior and Mesa native gets a homecoming (sort of) on Dec. 20, when the Cougars and Sun Devils square off at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The former Mesa High star led the Cougars in setting a school-record 27 regular-season wins and a MWC-record 14 league victories.

Lee, a senior-to-be, was the only player in the conference to rank in the top 10 in nine different statistical categories.

He led the Jackrabbits to a state championship in 2004.

As part of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series, the Sun Devils’ rematch with Nebraska will be Dec. 7 at Wells Fargo Arena. The tip-off time won’t be determined until late fall.

The basketball team posted a 3.13 grade-point average for the spring semester. Derek Glasser (3.67), Rihards Kuksiks (3.25), Jeff Pendergraph (3.0) and Harden (3.0) led the way.

Former ASU star Eddie House went from forgotten to front-page fodder after Thursday night. This Associated Press photo became a popular choice among Internet sites and sports section covers across the country Friday morning.

Did you turn the channel after the first hour (heck, even 30 minutes) of Thursday night’s Game 4 of the NBA Finals?

Hope you turned it back.

The Boston Celtics pulled off an unbelievable 21-point comeback against the Los Angeles Lakers to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history since the organization starting keeping the NBA’s statistics in 1970.

In the middle of it all was Arizona State product and NBA journeyman Eddie House.

It’s been an unremarkable postseason for House. He barely played in the early series against Atlanta and Cleveland, mostly because of Sam Cassell.

That changed Thursday night with 11 points, including a couple of crucial jumpers in the fourth quarter, on a night when the rest of the Celtics launched duds from outside.

House nudged his way back into the picture, and his Thursday exploits became an instant topic during the lull between Games 4 and 5.

Despite the five “DNP — coach’s decision” designations this postseason, 19 total minutes in five games against Detroit in the Eastern Conference finals, and a pair of zeros in the first two games of the NBA Finals, House bided his time, in-part because he’d been there before.

In his 1999-2000 senior season at ASU, House shot 0-for-16 against Brigham Young, and the Sun Devils lost, 78-67.

Following an 11-day holiday break, House scored 37 points in the first half against San Diego State (he finished with 48 points).

Three weeks later came the 61-point night against California in double overtime, part of a stretch in which he averaged 36 points per game for seven games.

A week after the Cal game, he was “held” to 25 points against Washington State. He scored 12 points in the first three minutes before the Cougars used a triangle-and-two defense, in which the “and two” jobs were to guard House.

I’d bet the House he’ll see more playing time on Father’s Day for Game 5. An NBA championship makes for a great gift, one not even his three children can offer.

It’s sounding more and more like it.

The Tucson Citizen covered the gamut in a Q&A with Arizona coach Lute Olson on Thursday. Plenty more, uh, interesting things came out of the most important mouth from down south.

To summarize, he threw former commitments to the wolves and blamed the administration for most of his staff upheavel this spring (since someone of Lute’s clout at the university would have no say in personnel matters. Yeah, right).

His honesty — outside of cutting down current and former coworkers and his boss — is almost refreshing in this generation of cliches and sensitivity to the point of being paranoid.  

Then again, good luck finding a coach who isn’t.

Is he a breath of fresh air? Or losing his grip on reality and accountability?

Doesn’t matter when the inmate runs the asylum. 

Derek Glasser update: The ASU junior-to-be point guard underwent knee surgery last month in an attempt to repair what’s been misaligned since last fall. His father, Michael, said everything is on the up-and-up during this six- to eight-week recovery, and Derek hopes to be off crutches this weekend.

With Josh returning to UCLA for his senior season, the brothers Shipp will meet two more times next season. Jerren (right) is an 0-fer against his older brother, but that could change next winter.

Josh Shipp (older brother of ASU’s Jerren Shipp) will return for his senior season at UCLA. Shipp gives the Bruins three upcoming seniors from the Final Four teams (Shipp, point guard Darren Collison and center Alfred Aboya).

With hip surgeries a regular occurance after each season, Shipp was wise to stay another season. He was a dangerous scorer and adequate defender, but disappeared from the Bruins too long and too often (Kevin Love’s presence was an obvious factor). His NBA stock wasn’t going to get yield much money.