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FedEx May Have Botched the Delivery of a Point Guard to Memphis

Proving that even the smartest, wealthiest CEOs can lose their minds when it comes to college sports, please say hello to FedEx Express President and CEO Dave Bronczek. Mr. Bronczek is also a major booster of for the Memphis Tigers, an original "ambassador" level donor.

Oseye Gaddy is an 11-year employee of FedEx. She is a customer service rep based in Tacoma, Washington. Oh, and her son Abdul Gaddy is considered the 2d best point guard in the country for the 2009 class, and being recruited by schools such as Washington, Kansas, Arizona, UCLA and Memphis.

So Mr. Bronczek decided to place a call to one of his loyal employees just to congratulate her on her son's achievements. Just a short 10 minute conversation.
When the secretary notified Gaddy that Bronczek was on the phone, Gaddy said she "was a little nervous."

Recalling the conversation while watching her son play in a tournament in Las Vegas last week, Oseye Gaddy told FOXSports.com, "I was like, 'Why would he want to talk to me?' But the whole time he talked to me, he talked about my son.

"He was just talking to me a little bit about (John) Calipari and the program and then he was telling me about The FedEx Forum and how he goes to a lot of games and sits on the floor," she added. "How Calipari is a really nice guy."
That's a big no-no.

Mack May Be Back to Memphis

The decision by sophomore Doneal Mack to transfer from Memphis last month was a bit of a surprise. It was reported that he was unhappy with only averaging 12.5 minutes per game. The reserve guard was, however, poised to get more minutes with guards Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose going to the NBA. The once highly recruited guard didn't choose a SEC or ACC team as initially indicated. Instead, he ended up choosing the University of New Orleans at the beginning of July and began to take classes.

Apparently he's had another change of heart. Barely a week at New Orleans and he wants to return to the Memphis Tigers. While it appears that Coach John Calipari is willing to take back the flighty Mack, the NCAA is now involved. Mack registered and began taking classes at another school. While it is within an actual window of time to return (14 days) and he took part in no athletic activities, there is still a bureaucracy that needs to be followed before he can be fully reinstated.

All the same, if I'm running the Memphis Tigers website, I don't list his bio and name on the roster until the NCAA signs off on this.

Freshmen Overload in NBA Draft

Now that the dust has settled and the final withdrawal deadline for the NBA Draft has passed, there are still 13 freshmen who have decided to remain in the 2008 NBA Draft.
  1. Michael Beasley, Kansas State
  2. Derrick Rose, Memphis
  3. O.J. Mayo, USC
  4. Eric Gordon, Indiana
  5. DeAndre Jordan, Texas A&M
  6. Jerryd Bayless, Arizona
  7. Kevin Love, UCLA
  8. Davon Jefferson, USC
  9. Anthony Randolph, LSU
  10. Donte Greene, Syracuse
  11. J.J. Hickson, NC State
  12. Bill Walker, Kansas State
  13. Kosta Koufos, Ohio State
Last year, only 8 freshmen declared and stayed in the NBA Draft. All 8 went in the first 21 picks. That won't happen with this group, though, it is likely that at least 10 of the 13 will go in the first round.

Memphis Gains Dozier; Will Lose Mack

Well, Memphis will get back one player from last year's National Championship runner-up squad ... and lose another one.

Robert Dozier will take his name out of the NBA Draft and return to school. The junior will be the top returning scorer on the team (he trailed Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts last season) and should be a guy that John Calapari will lean on next season.

He joins Antonio Anderson as Tigers who declared for the draft but returned to school.

On the flip side, reserve guard Doneal Mack will leave Memphis and transfer. The Charlotte, NC native hinted that Clemson, LSU and Wake Forest are the schools he's looking at heading to.

Mack was fifth on the team in scoring last year (6.9 ppg), but played just 12 minutes in the Tigers' last four NCAA Tournament games (from the Sweet 16 on) and scored no points. During the season, Mack only saw extended amounts of playing time in blowout victories.

Memphis' Antonio Anderson Withdraws From Draft

Memphis guard Antonio Anderson withdrew his name from the NBA Draft. Because he didn't hire an agent and kept his college eligibility, he will return to Memphis for his senior season.
"I've decided to take my name out of the draft," Anderson told CSTV.com. "The feedback I received is that I would be taken in the second round, and I wasn't comfortable with that. I took my name out this morning and I'm coming back."


It isn't any shock that Anderson would've come back to school. He wasn't viewed as a strong prospect to be a first round pick.

As of now, Anderson will be the Tigers' top returning scorer (he was fourth on the team last year with an 8.6 ppg average). Teammate Derrick Rose will be one of the first players taken in the draft, while Chris Douglas-Roberts is projected to be a late first rounder. Robert Dozier has entered his name in the draft but hasn't hired an agent either.

The cupboard won't be bare, however, as Memphis brings in super recruits Tyreke Evans, Angel Garcia and Wesley Witherspoon.

Memphis A.D. Denies That He Is Talking With the Big East Conference

Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson is saying that the school is not discussing a move to the Big East conference ... hdespite reports saying that they are.
''No, absolutely not,'' Johnson said. ''I have had no meetings with the Big East.''

"We have no expansion plans and are speaking to no schools about expansion," Big East spokesman John) Paquette said.


However, that doesn't mean that he's not interested in leaving Conference USA. There are some rumblings that Memphis does want to move up into a BCS conference and believe they've set up their program to be an attractive addition somewhere.

The pros for staying in Conference USA is, well, domination in basketball and a shorter travel schedule. The cons are everything else (competition, mo' money, mo' exposure, etc). They'd also rejoin Louisville and Cincinnati as conference brethren.

The rumblings also have East Carolina also thinking about bolting C-USA for the Big East.

This Is Why Derrick Rose's Coaches Told Him To Keep His Hands Up on Defense


Derrick Rose has to be a pretty big man on the Memphis campus. Star of the basketball team about to make millions tends to have an intoxicating effect on the coeds.

Unless the coed has a boyfriend on the football team, that is. Playing second fiddle around school has to grate on the gridiron gang and when a guy like Rose comes sniffing around your girl, it's bound to raise your hackles. And, hackles raised, the football player is probably going to win if things escalate to a fight. Shame that it happened to Rose just before he was to go on camera and announce his move to the NBA.
Multiple sources close to the Memphis basketball and football programs have told CBSSports.com that Rose was recently involved in an altercation over a girl with Tiger football player Steven Black, an altercation that didn't go so well for Rose. Put another way, the possible No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft spent the early part of this week looking like a person who had just been in a scrap, making the way he announced his future plans -- through a release distributed by the Memphis Sports Information department -- convenient, if not necessary.
Black and Rose are both 6'3" but the footballer has about 30 pounds on him. A guy who dominates by pushing around smaller guards ain't gonna fare too well in that kind of fight. Even so, isn't Rose being a bit vain? As you can see above, we've seen him with a scrape or two before.

(H/T Sports by Brooks)

Finally, A Blue Chip Recruit Goes Smart

As noted, Tyreke Evans announced he would attend Memphis (for one year before the almost certain leap to the NBA). What he didn't do is sign a letter of intent (LOI) to attend Memphis.
So it's easy to understand why Evans, the fourth-rated high school basketball player in the country, announced Wednesday he was committing to play at Memphis -- and why he has yet to sign his national letter of intent.

Evans insisted there was nothing secretive about his decisions, explaining he had to head directly from the news conference held at his school, American Christian Academy, to New York and the Jordan Brand All-Star Classic, and that he would sign as soon as he returns Monday.
Sure, because there would be no time in his schedule to sign his name to anything and trust family or friends to fax the LOI.

Evans chose Memphis because of the coach. Not the school. He admitted what everyone knew. He also knows that Calipari's name is coming up for NBA jobs. Yes, Calipari and Memphis have agreed to a new contract that pays him $2.5 million. It isn't a signed contract yet. Plus, everyone knows that coaches contracts tend not to hold up real well when more money is offered.

So, why should Evans put his own name to a binding agreement?

Tyreke Evans Signs With Memphis

Ever since Memphis frittered away the NCAA Championship Game, there were rumors that John Calipari might be looking to make another try at the NBA. With Derrick Rose, Joey Dorsey and, potentially, Chris Douglas-Roberts heading to the league, the timing seemed right. Yesterday, though, just as Rose was announcing his departure, Coach Cal signed a contract extension to remain as the Tigers coach.

We found out why today. Tyreke Evans, McDonald's All-American and all-everything shooting guard, signed a letter of intent to play with the Tigers this afternoon. With all the openings in the starting five, Evans will be expected to shoulder a heavy load during what's widely believed to be his only collegiate season. Evans chose the Tigers over closer-to-home Villanova but it wasn't much of a surprise.

Evans is close to William Wesley, the Zelig of basketball in the United States. Wesley is close to just about everyone in the game but he's especially close to Calipari. The two men worked together to broker Memphis's deal with China and Wesley was close to Rose and it's believed he helped steer him to Memphis.

And then there's the unsavory business surrounding a murder committed by his cousin which Evans witnessed. It's believed to be gang-related and Evans might not mind getting out of Dodge for a while. As MJD points out at The Dagger, it's hard to argue with a recruiting pitch that includes the fact that "no one in Memphis wants to murder you."

Memphis' Derrick Rose Will Announce His Decision to Enter the NBA Draft

Another day, another high profile freshman announcing he's going pro. This time it is Memphis' Derrick Rose.

Sometime this week, Rose will announce that he's heading to the NBA:

The Commercial Appeal and WPTY-TV both cited sources close to the Memphis program in reporting that Rose, who averaged 14.9 points and 4.7 assists per game in the regular season and 20.8 points in six NCAA tournament games, would declare his intent to enter the draft. the Tigers finished national runners-up to Kansas.

WPTY and cable news channel CNBC also reported that Rose is close to signing with agent Arn Tellem. When asked about the possibility of signing Rose, Tellem's agency, Wasserman Media Group, declined to comment, according to WPTY's report.

This was a no-brainer, as it comes off of rumors that he's already looking for an agent. Rose saw his already high stock rise even greater as he lead his Memphis Tigers to the NCAA Championship game. He may be the one player who can knock Kansas State's Michael Beasley off the #1 spot.

With all the money he's about to make, he can buy a truckload of Gummi Bears!