Draft Tonight

Tonight at 7 PM ESPN will cover the NBA Draft and I will be watching. I think the best chance we have for a draftee is Josh Duncan and he would go in the latter half of the second round (48-60 range) IMO. I do not think Burrell will be drafted but will draw a nice salary in Europe. He is on record as stating he will not play in the D League. Lavender has already accepted an invitation to play on Cleveland's summer league team and he can thank his relationship with his old AAU buddy LeBron James for that. Lavender is most likely D League material. However these drafts can get screwy and that is why I will watch. I will also be checking in on other A10 players such as Gary Forbes (the best chance to get drafted), Will Daniels, Brian Roberts and Pat Calathes has also started to appear on some mock draft boards. So we shall see.

On the recruiting front Miller is on record as saying not to expect any commits until August. A hot rumor right now is that current sophomore guard Jordan Crawford from IU is looking for a place to transfer. X but him on the back burner in pursuit of Jeff Teague two summers ago and we lost that gamble. Another 6-4 wing type player in the mix would appear to create a log jam but I trust Miller has a plan in place. I think if you can get a proven commodity, sit them out a year to learn the system and concentrate on academics it is a huge win. Miller has seen great examples at X of this in CJ Anderson and Brian Thornton. D1 transfers are a fairly regular occurrence these days. Competition is what it is all about. I grow tired of people saying he is forcing somebody out though when this is all rumor and speculation. And isn't that really preparing these kids for the real world anyway? You better bust tail to save your spot because if you don't there will surely be somebody there to take it.

There is also a book coming out written by former XU beat writer called 'Xavier Tales' that reviews the history of our beloved program. Apparently everything I have seen has indicated Michael Perry has done a great job with this. I heard we can expect to see it on the shelves some time in August. He takes it all the way up to the current Miller regime so it should be a very interesting read indeed.