Alex Smith is no dummy

Okay by now we know that Alex Smith graduated in only two years and had a 3.74 grade point average. We know that he has a great reputation for breaking down game film and knowing his opponents. We know that he was able to grasp one of college football's most complex offenses and then take that understanding into battle in a near flawless display of decision making.

We also know that he broke the hearts of many Ute fans by declaring for the NFL draft. Not only did he break hearts, but to some he did the wrong thing. He made a quick, self-serving decision that was probably based on the euphoria of leading the Utes to a great season, more than it was on sound reasoning. Right? I mean c’mon, Alex is great but he isn’t going to go that early in the draft. Why did he leave early? Why not get better, stronger, and go pro later?

What? What's that? Well, then all of a sudden we heard what Alex already knew. He would be a first round draft pick. More than that, he'’d go in the top 10. Some fools even said, top 5 or even #1. No way are we getting caught up with that #1 overall non-sense, but wow, seriously first round? Alex must know something afterall.

Now of course, even we know that reality. Alex Smith could very well go number one in the entire draft, and if not, will almost certainly be number two. The 49ers who own the first pick have even been negotiating with Alex, although his unwillingness to sign for less than market value may drop him out of the number one spot. We also hear rumors about teams faking interest and maybe the 49ers are playing games to set themselves up to trade the pick.

Given all that we now know, perhaps its possible that Alex Smith could be the one playing some good cards in all this pre-draft smoke screening. Either he'’ll negotiate a great deal, one better than Eli Manning signed last year, or perhaps he'’ll cause San Francisco to let him drop to #2. Number two would mean he lands in Miami and would work with much heralded coach Nick Saban. Who knows, maybe Miami might be the better place for Alex afterall. Perhaps, Alex has this figured out as well and is on his way to making more of the right decisions.

Lastly, we’'ve heard repeatedly that there are no absolute ‘"must haves’" in this draft and its weaker than some recent drafts. That fact in itself could speak even more to Alex’'s strong decision making. Knowing that this would be a so-called weaker draft, meant this was the perfect time for Alex to come out. He went pro when he was at the peak of his college career, and enters the NFL draft at a time when there is lack of mega stars who would take the top draft positions away. Smart move. And to think, he won't even be 21 years old until two weeks after the draft. Hold the Champagne!

After the first few picks of Saturday’'s NFL draft, we’'ll know just how smart Alex is. Good luck Alex.

Majerus to become a Hoosier?

The latest on Rick Majerus: The Indiana University coaching rumor, his new Denver Nuggets Position, and a must read Majerus website.

Okay, first I think the rumor of Majerus going to Indiana may have been around for a while, however, I will be honest and say it was new to me as of this week.

( Photo/AP )

A local sports radio host for 1320AM KFAN, Steve Brown, on his morning show “Steve and the Booner” stated that he heard from some people close to the situation that Rick Majerus to Indiana was a possibility. Back when Rick signed with USC, the rumor was that Indiana told Majerus that Mike Davis wasn’t long for Hoosierland, and therefore in addition to the health concerns, that Rick was convinced it was in his best interests to bail on USC and wait. Wait for better health, wait for the right job in the Midwest, wait for the chance to go to a true basketball mecca, and wait for Indiana University. Any truth to that?

Well…I’d say maybe some. Was Indiana actually the reason that Rick backed out of the Trojans job? I would say no, but the idea of someone like Indiana coming along might have played a role. I’d venture a guess that Indiana University had no contact with Rick Majerus after he signed his contract with USC. However, I think Rick might have had second thoughts genuinely about his health and also in the back of his mind wondered how much longer it would be until one of the "Big jobs" in the Midwest opened up. “Big jobs” is a pretty short list and the members of which are only open to speculation, but perhaps anyone in the Big Ten qualifies, along with Marquette.

There have been recent rumors of Majerus going to Depaul. It was those rumors that brought the Indiana rumor to my attention. It doesn’t help that as nice of a guy as Mike Davis is, Indiana has struggled mightily under him and reports are that he will be working on a final season of “do it now or else” ultimatum. If Hoosier faithful could deal with Bobby Knight, they could certainly deal with Rick Majerus, who is strong willed, but hardly the volatile guy that Knight was. In terms of Depaul, if this was the program that Joey Meyer ran years ago, then I'd say maybe. However, I have a hard time seeing him going to Depaul to be the guy to bring long term stability and to resurrect a lost program. Not that there isn't some of that to do at Indiana, but the prestige, conference, talent, and appearance on the national radar all make it much more appealing.

There seems to be some negativity around Rick since he dropped USC. Understandable. The question remains, is this guy still good for college ball? Should a big school like IU take a chance on Big Rick? I think Indiana would do itself a great service by bringing in Majerus. He would instantly upgrade the type of players that come to Hoosierville, and he’d probably get them back to competing for the conference crown in a relatively short period. Majerus left Utah after a great run, but in truth, after 15 years in a hotel up on the hill above Salt Lake City, things had run their course. I still believe that college basketball would benefit by having Rick back involved, that's not to say that Mike Davis isn’t a terrific person who makes the world better in his own way. I’d vote for letting Davis finish the upcoming season, his last year under contract, all while letting Majerus take another year to improve his health. After the next season, allow the marriage to take place.

As long as we are talking about Majerus, lets look at his recent Mile High Adventure-
The latest news with Rick is that he took a 5-day term as the self described new “food and beverage director” of the Denver Nuggets last week. Eat, drink and be Majerus, as Aaron J. Lopez of the Rocky Mountain News said in his recent article. Majerus and Nuggets coach George Karl are great friends and have always been basketball confidants. What could be better for Majerus than spending a week with former Ute standout Andre Miller and his basketball buddy George Karl?

Finally, a Majerus must read is the “Completely Unauthorized Rick Majerus Site” complete with funny quotes and even a “Majerus Driving Tour of Milwaukee”.

Bogut is gone, now what?

Andrew Bogut has cleaned out his locker, and packed up all his prestigous awards and headed off into the sunset. Well, okay, he has headed off to train and prepare for the NBA draft and should in theory be back in town next fall when his future NBA team plays the Jazz. However, his void at the University of Utah will be felt. Unless, something crazy occurred, say...

....the NBA establishes an age limit of 21, just to spite Jermaine O'Neal and others who complained at the suggested limit of 20. The result is several college players will be forced to rescind their NBA intentions and return to school, including Andrew Bogut, Chris Paul, as well as the entire North Carolina Tarheel team. Okay, wiping the drool and waking up....

Bogut grabs the biggest individual prize, the John Wooden award (below) and looks forward to professional basketball.


(Photo by Reed Saxon, Associated Press)

So Bogut is gone, now what?

Well this week in addition to the open lockers left my Andrew Bogut and Marc Jackson, the Utes also announced that starting forward Justin Hawkins was leaving the team. No official statement as to the reason for the departure was given, however its being bantered around that there were a variety of internal conflicts and disagreements, including some rumors of involvement from Papa Hawkins. While it hasn't been said, one can only surmise that someone must have been unhappy about their role in the offense. If he was unhappy being a role player to Bogut and company during the season, to his credit he didn't say a peep to the press.



(Photo by August Miller,Deseret News)

Why would Hawk want to leave? Perhaps he was told to go home and work on free throws (only 58% this year), outside shooting (zero 3 pointers), and conditioning, as the Utes will feature more pressing and up-tempo style next season. There might have been something in there somewhere that he didn't like. Giving in to the urge to comment on rumored reasons of one's unhappiness, I have to say the loss of Hawkins will hurt most in the toughness category, but that his offensive numbers can be made up elsewhere. You can't bag on Hawk though, he brought effort every game and was a team player. Hopefully he lands on his feet somewhere and gets a chance to continue his development. My fear is that, he won't be as successful in the starring role, as he was operating as a role player receiving the help of Bogut and Jackson.

For good measure, and as long as the revolving doors were still spinning...Out went backup guard Jermaine Calvin and backup forward Jake Schmidt. While Calvin had quickness, his 5'9 size and lack of a reliable outside shot probably meant limited contributions from him in the near future. Schmidt was an easy decision, as didn't score in only 14 minutes of game time during his freshman year.

The combination of losing those three starters at once leaves a huge hole and would seem to signal that next season's Utes will be making a giant U-Turn from the good fortune and success they experienced this year. However, the conversation around the U is hardly one that would indicate the sky is falling. Instead, the Utes are announcing some strong incoming players and at least floating the words of "depth" and "potential" as coach Ray Giacolletti hopes to get the deep up-tempo team he desires.

We'll focus more on the newcomers later, but in a brief summary I offer some quick mumbles..

• - Misha Radojevic, a 6-10" low post player from Serbia, comes in with two years of eligibility and is described a "tough kid" by Ray Giacoletti.
• - Luke Nevill, a 7'0" redshirt freshman from Australia looks to continue the Aussie dominance of the center position for the Utes. Andrew Bogut even said that Nevill "has a lot more potential than I had at that age..".
• - Shaun Green, a 6'8" forward from Salt Lake City who is one of the top Utah recruits of the year.
• - Johnnie Bryant, a transfer point guard, and Ricky Johns, a shooting guard fill out the list of incoming players.

For now, Ute fans will keep their focus on the NBA draft. I recommend CollegeHoopsNet.com as a great resource on both college basketball as well as the upcoming draft. As of this moment, the good folks at CHN have Andrew Bogut and Chris Paul as their 5 STAR draft prospects. Check it out!

East Coast Bias, broken by AP

The AP has spoken, and as one would have guessed based on their All America team that was previously announced, Andrew Bogut is the AP Player of the year.

Credit the AP for recognizing a player that didn't play basketball in the Eastern part of the United States. Bogut is the first player in the west to win the award since Sean Elliott of Arizona was honored back in 1989. Not to perpetuate the East coast bias, but two players in 16 years is kind of hard to dispute.

Andrew Bogut is the first player from the University of Utah to ever win the award.

The Adolph Rupp Trophy for the nation's best player was also just announced and it went to Duke's J.J. Redick. It should be noted this award is given by the Commonwealth Athletic Club of Kentucky, who awarded their award to a Duke player for the 4th time in 7 years. Further evidence that the Commonwealth Club either needs cable TV or a later bedtime, is that their award except for Elliott in 1989, hasn't gone to a player from the west since 1977 (Marques Johnson - UCLA).

Final Voting Results for AP Player of the year

Player of year voting
Player	School	Votes
Andrew Bogut	Utah	31
J.J. Redick	Duke	15
Wayne Simien	Kansas	9
Dee Brown	Illinois	5
Hakim Warrick	Syracuse	4
Sean May	North Carolina	3
Chris Paul	Wake Forest	2
Francisco Garcia	Louisville	1
Luther Head	Illinois	1
Salim Stoudamire	Arizona	1