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BWBA has a sensational Full Court Press Tournament showing This past weekend, at the only tournament in Southern California this fall (The Pump Fall Classic was cancelled), all the top athletes and AAU traveling teams in California gathered at The Brethren Christian Warrior Center in Cypress, CA. Redondo Beach Union H.S. gym and the Alpert Jewish Community Center in Long Beach, were also used as facilities, for the 32 team event, organized and run by Dino Trigonis. BWBA sponsored two excellent teams of a combination of 13 players form Southern California and 7 out of staters, including 6'11" Jr. Ray Schafer of Wasilla, AK, 6'4" Jr. Kevin Kloostra from Canada, just 60 miles north of Detroit, 6'1' Sr. point guard Tyler Weston from Denver Wheatridge H.S., 6'4" Jr. Arnold Gore from Baton Rouge, LA. and 6'2' Eric Webb form Minnesota. They all supplemented the three outstanding Torrey Pines H.S. (San Diego) starters, 6'6"Sr. J.J. Brull, 6'7" Jr. Josh Kramer and 6'2" Jr. Avi Fogel. Whitey Smith 6'7' Jr. of Brea H.S. rounded out what turned out to be a hell of a BWBA Orange Team. BWBA Orange: Josh Kramer was selected by Coach Bob Gottlieb as Team MVP. He had a tremendous performance. He played errorless ball, rebounded strongly, played excellent defense, especially on 6'9" nationally regarded DeAngelo Collins in the finals and shot the ball extremely well from 3 point range. Collins had scored 40 point in the semis, but he was never a factor in the finals, as Josh Kramer fronted him and boxed him off the boards, and got solid help form the perimeter when he did catch the ball in the post. With only one practice Friday morning, BWBA Orange just got better every game. They won 4 straight including an impressive 20 point win over ABC, which included the very talented Jr. point guard Shaun Davis, from Lincoln H.S.. (san Diego) The finals against Myles Gonzalez"s Sports Express, was a barn burner. BWBA Orange played its best game by far, and led the entire game, often by 12 points, until they wilted in the last 30 seconds, under the full court pressure of the Express's outstanding defensive guard play. Avi Fogel had a tremendous tournament. he not only shot and scored well, but he locked up Shaun Davis in the quarter finals, and Shawn had been penetrating the defense at will till we switched Avi onto him. Avi and Shaun have compete against each other since 6th grade, and it is not necessarily a friendly rivalry. Shaun is one of the top Jr. point guards in California, and Avi is also a well regarded top Jr. in the state. But on this day, Avi not only locked him up, but found time to drop a neat 25 points on ABC and Shaun, at the other end. J.J. Brull was terrific the first three games, but he was a tired puppy in the last two games. Arnold Gore 6'5" from White Castle H.S. in Baton Rouge, gave BWBA some badly needed athleticism. He not only played well, but everyone liked Arnold, and he was a pleasure to coach. He is one of the top juniors in Louisiana. Ray Schafer 6'11 from Wasilla, Alaska was much improved from the summer. He will be the most highly recruited BWBA star next summer. With normal maturity, he will be a high major conference recruit. Ray worked with trainer Marv Marinovich last summer prior to going to Las Vegas for the adidas Big Time Tournament. His dad filmed the exercises and apparatus, and went home and built the slant boards, balance discs and other apparatus, so that Ray can simulate the training techniques, while home in Alaska. When her last weekend, everywhere ray went, he carried his basketball. One morning, I went into his bedroom, at our house, where he was staying for the weekend, and found him still asleep, with his basketball next to his pillow. he is a committed young man, and one of the nicest young men, I have ever met, in my 38 years of coaching. 6'7" Jr Whitey Smith of Brea H.S. in Orange County, California, had a breakout game in the semi finals, hitting 4 big 3 pointers in the second half, to put the game out of reach. He shows signs of coming into his own as one of the better juniors in Orange County. He shows signs of being an NCAA D2 prospect for sure, and if he can convert to a small forward, he could possibly be D1. 6'1" Tyler Weston of Wheatridge H.S. in Denver, started slow, but every game, played better and better. In the finals, he came off the bench to hit 4 threes and score 14 big second half points. he was by far our best perimeter defender. 6'2" point guard Eric Webb, from Grand rapids, Minnesota showed enormous potential and talent. What a great shooter. Not only that, he showed a Jason Williams passing flair that at times was breathtaking, but at other times resulted in turnovers, that he will correct with experience. He will play D1 for certain, but what level, depends on getting stronger and cutting down on his turnovers. Enrico Tucker. 5'11" sophomore from University H.S. in San Diego, could only play on Sunday, because of football commitments. He is one of the top sophomores in the Western USA and should make a big contribution to BWBA next spring. Final score: Sports Express 68 BWBA Orange 64 BWBA Purple: Coached by Craig Falconer, long time head coach at the high school level. After many highly successful years at Calvery Chapel H.S. in Santa Ana, Craig is beginning his 3rd. year at la Habra, and has rebuilt a solid program, that will have consistent success, these next few years. BWBA Purple has a major 2 point win over the well respected Bay Area Ballers, from the San Francisco area. BWBA Purple was led by Justin Hynes, the 6'5" combo forward from Alta Loma H.S. He was chosen All Tournament. He has been a regular at the BWBA training sessions, every Sunday for the last 6 months, and his improvement has been tremendous. he now is an excellent 3 point shooter, and is an excellent perimeter slasher, as well as a very good low post scorer. He is also a tough, hard nosed rebounder. His high school teammate Maurice Newton 6'5", has recently joined the BWBA training sessions, and he played also. BWBA Purple also had two outstanding players from Colorado. 5'11" Kevin Wagstaff, from Ramparts H.S. in Colorado Springs, who led the State of Colorado in scoring last year as a junior, (26 ppg), played extremely well. He has a chance to possibly be recruited at the D1 level, or if not, certainly at the hi D2 level. he is wiry and athletic, and an excellent shooter, both at 3 point range, and off the dribble. He has superior quickness and is a first class defender. Kevin and 6'7" Josh Henry from Battle Mountain H.S. in Vail, CO, played for Colorado Select, this past summer. Whereas Kevin is a 3.8 student, Josh is over a 4.0 gpa, with an SAT score approaching 1300. Josh is a solid combo forward, who probably will be a well recruited D2 athlete, but could sneak into the D1 category at the Ivy League or Patriot League levels. Bob Gottlieb is representing both athletes in the recruiting process. Kevin has indicated a strong preference to go to college in California. Jay Rausch 6'0" Jr. from Upland was the other point guard, and he has matured into a very solid all around player. His teammate, 6'7" Todd Martin of Upland H.S., was still recovering from a broken wrist he hurt in a high school summer league game. Todd has come on like gangbusters, and is a genuinely committed kid. He has grown several inches since last year. Steve Keglevic 6'2" off guard from Agoura H.S. played solidly. He is also represented by Bob Gottlieb. he will be recruited by a number of D3 schools, with a possibility of sneaking into the D2 level. His talented teammate 6'6" Kevin Cantwell, was only available for one game. He is on the bubble between the D1 and D2 levels. Though playing inside in high schools, as most big do, he will be a #3 man at the college level. Shawn Stewart, 6'5" forward from Vancouver, returned to play again for BWBA and he had a very good weekend. Shawn shot the ball extremely well from the perimeter. He will be a strong D2 prospect as a small forward, but if he can improve his overall athleticism, he could become a D1 wing. Eric Engstrom 6'8" 235 lb power forward played extremely well. He is a rugged rebounder and an effective low post scorer. Cal Poly Pomona, Humbolt State and Cal State Dominquez Hills all seemed to like his play at the tournament. Eric has a 4.6 gpa and an SAT score not too far from 1400. BWBA Purple finished 2-1 in its pool, losing only by 10 points to eventual champion Sports Express. In the playoffs, they beat the Bay Area Ballers and then lost a heart breaker, by 4 points, in the quarterfinals. All in all, it was a very successful tournament. Tuesday, September 25 Doug Gottlieb on ESPN Radio Many of you have heard Doug on national radio in the past. His senior year in college, he was the College Basketball Correspondent for both Jim Rome on his sow, and for Todd Wright, host of ESPN radio Late Night. Doug now has his own 4 hour radio sports talk show on the largest radio station in Oklahoma. Its broadcasts out of Oklahoma City and he can be heard daily on live radio on the internet, 2-6 pm, Central Standard Time. It can live found by going to the station's website at www.thesportsanimal.com, and then following the prompts for live radio. However, this past Sunday and Monday night, ESPN flew Doug to Bristol, CT to take over the entire 4 hour Todd Wright ESPN Late Night Show, while Todd was taking a short vacation. It was on 1am to 5 am Central Time. Jane and I stayed up for an hour or two both nights, and he was sensational. The word sensational was a direct quote from his mother, and she was highly impartial. Doug indicated the key guy met with him today, before he left for Oklahoma, and indicated he would be invited back. Good friend and BWBA Associate Director Chuck Horvath, tried mightily to stay up and listen. he said he caught the first 15 minutes, and fell off to sleep. But his son Matt Horvath, on scholarship at Cal State Monterey Bay, but recovering from knee surgery, managed to stay up until 2:30 am Pacific Time. he not only caught most of the show, but caught the DeShaun Foster interview. DeShaun, the outstanding football player at UCLA, is not only the best running back in the country, but he is a graduate of Tustin H.S., the same school that both Doug and Matt went to, as did baseball stars Mark Grace and Shawn Green. Tuesday, September 18 Marv Marinovich - The Best in the Business Becoming a successful athlete involves a number of different attributes. Much of what is required are talents and a certain degree of athleticism that one is born with. However, much can be done to enhance significantly one's genetic gifts. An athlete in any sport has to spend hours developing his or her skills that are specific to their sport. Intelligence, self confidence, and mental and physical toughness are crucial, especially as you go up the ladder of the higher levels of competition. However, when all is said and done, one's general level of athleticism will determine if an athlete can play at the college level, and if so, at what level, be it NCAA D1, NCAA D2 or NCAA D3. Marv Marinovich is the best there is in assisting an athlete at improving his or her athleticism significantly. Marv was a starter and Captain of a USC Rose Bowl Championship team in his own heyday as a player. he later was the strength coach of the Oakland Raiders. For the last 15 years, he has devoted his life to working with athletes in all sports, at all levels, both male and female, to improving their speed, quickness and overall explosiveness as an athlete. His own son Todd, he personally developed into the #1 high school player in the USA as a Quarterback. Todd started as a Quarterback at USC as a freshman and later was the 1st. round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders and their starting QB for a number of years. Marv has his own training facility in Santa Margarita which is a part of the Family Honda Automobile Dealership and its athletic complex. All basketball players in Southern California hoping to become college level athletes need to consider training under Marv's guidance. My own son Doug trained under Marv and it certainly contributed to his being able to compete on the Big 12 level. Marv has been written up in ESPN The Magazine, and featured on television on 20/20. he and Edith Heus are collaborating on a book which will lay out his unique philosophy and approach to physical training for athletes. He does not believe in utilizing heavy weights. He is a believer in developing explosive reacting muscles. He accomplishes this by using lighter weights that the athletes can move with force and explosiveness through a distance. He believes the best athletes have bodies that are not only the strongest and the fastest, but the ones best in balance. therefore, he emphasizes a great many exercises to improve one's balance. He uses slant boards and balance discs to accomplish this end. He believes in maximizing exercises performed on unstable surfaces. Athletes will lie on round, plastic beach balls while performing various exercises, so the body is not just working the large muscle groups, but all the tiny muscles throughout the body, as the athlete is constantly moving and shifting his weight to maintain his balance while performing the exercise. This includes leather weighted balls with hand or foot grips, usually 6-10 lb. He also is heavily into Plyometrics and speed training. Marv is at the cutting edge of what is being done in the field of physical training. The athletes enjoy him personally as well as enjoy working under his tutelage. Marv can be reached by calling 949-766-5712. Monday, September 17 New York, New York Its obviously been a difficult week for every one, all throughout the country. For me, I am from New York, and though I have lived in Southern California for 20 years, I am still a New Yorker at heart, and I am very proud of that. For years I have had to listen to the slings and verbal arrows of people talking about New Yorkers as being cold and distant, rude and obnoxious. But everyone has seen what New Yorkers are really like, all throughout and since this incomprehensible tragedy, that struck not only New York, but the very essence of what America and our way of life has stood for. New Yorkers may not smile at every stranger when you pass them on the street. But New Yorkers know what it means to be a friend. Underneath the superficial aura, they have great warmth and compassion. Can you believe the incredible courage of the NYC firemen and police, who gave their lives, trying to save every one else. Can you believe how they have continued to work round the clock, often to the point of physical as well as emotional exhaustion. And Mayor Giulani, what incredible leadership. Under his stewardship, he reduced crime to such an extent, that NYC has become one of the safest big cities in the world, no less the USA. Unfortunately, he is about to finish his 2nd term and there is a two term limit on the NYC Major. do not be surprised to see him run successfully for President some day. I just pray that people will wise up to Hillary Clinton. What a disgrace they were as the first couple. What an example of immorality they set for the entire country. What about the scandals in Arkansas. What about Travelgate. What about serious drug kingpins buying their freedom through presidential pardons. I cannot believe, New Yorkers elected her a US Senator. She may be bright, and articulate and capable, but her lack of integrity and morals are appalling. What are New Yorkers really like. They are bright and very sharp business people. They love their professional sports teams, but also enjoy the theater. They love to eat out and could eat at a different restaurant every Saturday night the rest of their lives, and never get to all the good ones that an incredibly cosmopolitan city like New York offers. New Yorkers have a great sense of humor in general, but guys and gals from Brooklyn are absolutely hilarious. New Yorkers mean, the Irish, the Italians, the Jews and WASPS. New Yorkers means blacks, whites, Puerto Ricans and a myriad of other minorities such as Russians, Dominicans and on and on. Their are 15 million people living in New York City. Within a 50 mile radius of downtown NYC, which encompasses a good chunk of New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island, live approximately 25 million people. And it all works. Jane and I hope to get back home in early October for a week. In addition to seeing Jane's mom who is 95 yrs old, and her brother and my sister, we will dine at El Faro's in Greenwich Village, one of my favorite restaurants in the entire USA. It is a Spanish Restaurant (not Mexican), and I look forward to a pitcher of Sangria, a bowl of Galician soup, salad with their special house dressing, and Crab Meat in the green sauce for my entree. the salad dressing is so unique and sooo good, that I usually buy several bottles of it to take home to California, to last me another year. The next night we will dine at Sammy's Restaurant on Delancey Street. It is a Rumanian/Israeli Steak House where we will order brains, unborn chicken eggs and chopped chicken liver along with the Romanian Tenderloin steaks that are unique and delicious. They often have Israeli and Jewish music and will play requests from the customers. Often they have an old comedian walking from table to table stopping to kibitz and tell jokes. The next night its out to Long Island for the best raw clams in the world at Peters Clam Bar in Long Beach. Then its back to the city for lunch at the fish market on 96th St. and Broadway. You pick out the fish and they will cook it for you to lunch on right there. With mussels, clams, oysters as an appetizer, it makes for a wonderful "fun lunch". Jane's family lives in Connecticut. My sister lives upstate in Kingston, NY and home for me is on Hewlett, Long Island. I was born I the Bronx and lived there till I was 10 years old, and then we moved to the "suburbs" and it was Long Island from that point on. I love New York. I miss it, but I do love the weather in Southern California. I will probably never move back, but I love to visit back home. What happened is absolutely incomprehensible. Mans inhumanity to man. The most significant thing I took from my education at Ohio State was an understanding of the term ethnocentrisms. Its the central problem in mankind that is the underlying cause of all the numerous conflicts throughout the world. Ethnocentrisms means that everyone looks at everyone else in the world, that is slightly different from them, as being not quite as good as them. I supported Bush because I had little or no respect for Al Gore the man. I am not a Republican, nor a Democrat. I am an American. Its unfortunate that it takes a tragedy like this for our leaders in Washington to stop acting like Republicans and Democrats, and start acting like Americans. Thursday, September 5 Rick Pitino Ran into Rick Pitino at the Pump Coaching Retreat. The last time I visited with him was in his office in Lexington, when he was the eminently successsful Head Coach at Kentucky. I was travling through Lexington and stopped by to say hello. Years back, I was the Head Coach at Jacksonville University in Florida. This was when Jacksonville was an independent and was one of the lite programs in the country. We played a national schedule in 1973-74. We beat Cincinatti, Houston, Illinois, Auburn, Oklahoma among our 20 wins and earned a right to the NIT. At that time the NCAA tounament invited only 32 teams. Jacsonville had been to the NCAA Championship game only three years prior, under Joe Williams. Artis Gilmore, the 7'2" superstar led JU to the finals of the NCAA TOurnament where they lost to John Wooden and one of his great UCLA teams. I believe Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe were the UCLA stars at that time. Anyway, we were invited to the NIT tournament. In those days the entire NIT was played at Madison Square garden. For a kid growing up in New York, to lead a team into the Garden, to play in the NIT, was quite a thrill. In the first game, we played the University of Massachusetts. They were 21-3 and were a 3 point favorite. The game was played before 18,000 fans, 12,000 of them were from the Univ. of Massachusetts. Their leading scorer was Alvin Skinner, now the very successful Head Coach of Boston College. Their point guard and leader was Rick Pitino. He was a very good player. He was your typical smart, heady, eastern point guard that knew how to run a basketball team. We had our hands full. We ended up winning 64-62 inovertime. It was a hell of a game. Wednesday, September 4 David Schroeder from Salmon, Idaho signs a full scholarship at Idaho State David surprised both his family and many others by accepting a scholarship to Idaho State where he will red shirt as a freshman and then have 4 full years of eligibility. David is a 6'3" wing guard with excellent to superior athleticism. he is also a first rate shooter. In high school, from the small town of Salmon, David was a 3 sport star as is often the case at small schools. He is the 2 time Idaho State Champion 110 yd. high hurdler and was ranked 5th in the USA in the event. he also high jumped 6'4" at the State track meet. He also had been offered a scholarship in football at Idaho State, but had decided he wanted to play basketball in college. His parents retained Bob Gottlieb in February 2001. Looking at his high school films, there was no question, he was a first rate shooter who was a true wing, but perhaps not a true off guard type yet. It was evident that he loved the pressure of competition, and consistently would take over games one way or another. Under my direction, his mother Jo Ann Wolters, put together the film package that all college coaches would get and we began to make calls on his behalf. All conversations with coaches are noted in our computer data base, so by February, we have a good idea where to begin. A number of schools liked him, especially the Ivy Leagues as he had a 3.9 gpa, but David wanted to play closer to home, and felt he could play at a higher level of basketball. David played in two tournaments in the spring for BWBA, in front of college coaches. Donnie Daniels, Head Coach t Cal State Fullerton, was the first to recognize his talent. being from a small school, in a state like Idaho, kids often come to a big AAU tournament in a big city like Los Angeles, and are a little hesitant to assert themselves. Sure enough, it seemed like in each tourney David played, he seemed reluctant, but each time, by the third or 4th game, he would come on and light it up, so to speak. It was my suggestion to the Schroeders that Dave was not far away. It was my feeling that with some personal training, the things holding Dave back were teachable and correctable and that he was not far away from being an NCAA D1 player. David is highly athletic and an outstanding shooter with good range and a very good on the ball defender. However, he needed to improve his passing skills, his ability to move effectively without the ball and his off the ball defense. We decided he would live and train the month of June in Southern California. he would work with Bob Gottlieb on his basketball skills and under marv Marinovich on his overall quickness and explosiveness, and then play for BWBA at the Adidas Big Time and the Double Pump Best of the Summer. I was sure he would be offered a D1 scholarship from there. David came down to LA and worked hard and then played with BWBA. Though he started slowly the first day, he exploded for 33 points including 5 threes against Team Carolina with hundreds of coaches watching. Sure enough SMU and Utah liked him. Air Force and Furman offered scholarships for the following year if he gray shirted. Idaho State offered him a scholarship for this fall. At first David rejected it and they were somewhat insulted. They called me, and I knew the family was not happy at how their staff handled the rejection. I suggested they not burn their bridges. I said it was still his home school and if they handled it right, they still might have a solid shot when all was said and done next spring. I also suggested to the family they not rule it out totally. The staff took my advice and invited the family to come down for a visit and invited David to work out withy their players during the visit. David not only enjoyed the visit, but he bonded well with a number of their players, and the family saw the staff in a different light, and lo and behold, David decided to accept a scholarship to Idaho State. His plan is to red shirt this first year, as this is the first time, David will not be playing 3 sports and he can concentrate on seeing how much he can improve his basketball skills. David is happy. Idaho State is happy and all is well that ends well. Tuesday, September 3 Update on athletes Bob Gottlieb has gotten D1 scholarships for: Mike Stowell Utah State 6'4" 190 wing guard Capistrano Valley H.S. in Orange County, California Mike was my very first client. He was an All County 1st Team player. There are 3 million people in Orange County. He is a strong, fearless, slashing wing who also is a solid perimeter shooter. His dad Scott is a highly successful businessman who owns his own business. Mike had no scholarship offers when his dad retained me. The family is Mormon and Mike ha decided he was going to go on his mission out of high school. Getting films from his high school coach, we put together an excellent film package and began to call coaches throughout the West and see who was looking for an off guard. This was in January of Mike's senior year. Washington, Pepperdine and Utah State all needed an off guard. Each was then sent the film package we had put together on Mike and all liked him a great deal. Each was told of Mike's intent on going on his mission, initially out of high school. BYU took a long look but decided they had too many similar players already in their program. Utah State invited Mike on campus for an official visit. His dad also flew out at his own expense, as schools can only pay for the recruit himself. They loved the school, the campus and the program. Mike was offered a scholarship and accepted. It was a great fit as Utah State, as are BYU and Utah, all Mormon oriented schools, in terms of the makeup of the student body. Mike went on his mission, but for whatever the reason, came back a year early and enrolled the fall of 2000 at Utah State as a freshmen, on full athletic scholarship. Last year, he red shirted and spent the year practicing against their outstanding varsity. By the end of the season , he was playing so well, that he was told that he would have a great chance to start this fall as a red shirt freshman, as they thought they would go with a 3 guard offense. I talked to Stu Morill this week, and he indicated that he was not real pleased with how Mike has looked so far in their individual workouts. he feels he probably laid around too much this summer and has not come back to school in real good shape. Mike is a great kid with excellent talent and superior physical toughness. He should have an excellent career at Utah State these next 4 years. The Return of Bobby Knight Bob Gottlieb has known Bobby Knight since they were freshman together at Ohio State in 1958, during the Golden Era of OSU basketball. Fred Taylor was in his first year as the new Head Coach of the Buckeyes. He had moved up from being the assistant to Floyd Stahl, and formerly played both basketball and baseball for OSU and had played professional baseball in the Washington Senators chain, for a number of years. Jerry Lucas was the #1 high school player in the USA then. Jerry was on the cover of Sport Magazine. He had averaged 35 ppg in high school and only had lost 1 game in 4 years at Middletown H.S. in Middletown, Ohio. Fred Jerry Lucas not only went on to lead the Buckeyes to the NCAA Championship in 1960, but also was recently voted one of the top 50 NBA players of all time. Fred Taylor not only convinced Jerry to stay home and play for Ohio State, but he signed 9 other 1st Team All Staters to play for Ohio State, including John Havlichek, another NBA Top 50 of all time, and Bobby Knight. Bobby was a 6'4" small forward from Orrville, Ohio. Bobby was an excellent shooter, but a good step and 1/2 slow, not a good jumper and not a particularly good defender. But boy could he shoot. He shot a line drive jumper that he almost threw from behind his head. Fred Taylor named it the Blue Dart. He would spend hours on the weekend shooting by himself. Despite having been suspended from his high school team at one point, because of his attitude, Fred saw enough potential in him that he was awarded a full scholarship, and though we had 10 freshman on full scholarship, Bobby was one of the starting forwards on the freshmen team. John Havlichek was the other. In those days, freshmen were not eligible for varsity competition, and the Big ten had a rule prohibiting play against outside competition for freshmen, so we played the preliminary game against the OSU JV, prior to every Buckeye home game. I was a walk on. I had been to Bob Cousy's Basketball Camp the summer before I enrolled and played well and Bob Cousy wrote a letter of recommendation to Fred Taylor for me. That may have been the first basketball camp of its kind, and it was held in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Bob Gottlieb was one of 75 athletes that tried out for the freshmen basketball team, and one of the two athletes they ultimately kept. We had the #1 freshmen team in the country, hands down. Lucas, Havlichek and Mel Nowell, a superb 6'2" point guard from Columbus East H.S., who had averaged 30 PPG in high school and later also played briefly in the NBA and the ABA, all started as sophomores on the varsity and led OSU to the NCAA Championship in 1960. We were such an outstanding team that the stands were packed by the time the freshmen game started, and often times, many left aft the freshmen game was often Bobby knight was a solid player for the frosh, and Bob Gottlieb, as well as the entire 2nd team, played the last 5 minutes of the 1st half and the last 5 minutes of the 2nd half. I got several standing ovations for scoring the 100th point, usually with about 20 seconds on the clock. Frank Truitt was the Head Coach of the Freshmen Team. He was a very likeable, super knowledgeable former great high school coach at Columbus North. He engineered the big upset of Jerry Lucas and Middletown H.S. In the State Semifinals. He later went on to be the Head Coach at both LSU and Kent State. He served as Head Coach at Kent State, when the students were protesting the Vietnam War. You may remember the National Guard was called and several students were shot dead. It was a very difficult time at Kent State. Our sophomore year at Ohio State began what is known as the "Golden Era of Ohio State Basketball". Three sophomores started, including Jerry Lucas, John Havlichek and Mel Nowell, and combined with 6'4" guard Larry Siegfried and 6'6" leaper Joe Roberts, led OSU to the NCAA National Championship beating California by almost 30 points in the finals. All five starters went on to play in the NBA. Lucas and Havlichek were voted recently to the Top 50 players to ever play in the NBA. Siegfried had a long career in the NBA and played on several Celtic Championship teams. He averaged 39 PPG in high school. At OSU, he subjugated his scoring and was an important cog in the OSU machine. Joe Roberts played 5 years in the NBA and Mel Nowell, who was a wonderful complete all around point guard, had a cup of coffee in both the NBA and the ABA. Bobby Knight was not in the rotation at all that year, but with Joe Roberts graduated, he and Richie Hoyt had an all out war to start at the small forward. Hoyt won out and started, but Knight did play off the bench. OSU was ranked the #1 in the country the entire year and plans to make a movie about what many termed the best college team of all time was being heavily talked about. However, Cincinnati, led by Ron Bonham, Tony Yates and Paul Hogue, upset the Buckeyes in the NCAA Finals, in overtime. His senior year, with a strong sophomore class becoming eligible, led the Gary Bradds, 6'9" who as a senior become College Player of the Year, and Doug McDonald, 6'5" small forward, as well as Jumping Jim Doughty, 6'4" athletic small forward regaining his eligibility, the Buckeyes again were ranked #1 in the USA the entire year. Don Devoe, now the Head Coach at Navy, formerly the Head Coach at Wyoming, Virginia Tech and Tennessee, was another fine 6'5" sophomore forward that year. He played on the OSU JV that played the OSU Frosh before the varsity home games. DeVoe became a starter on an OSU Big Ten Championship team, his senior year. After graduation, he joined Bobby Knight at West Point on his initial staff. The Buckeyes had another splendid year and firmly held onto the #1 ranking the entire year. However, Lucas hurt his knee in the semi finals and though he tried to play in the finals, he was a shell of himself, and Cincinnati again upset the Buckeyes in the Finals. Bob Knight played seldom, his senior year. Bob was a good player, that at a lower level of play, probably would have had a fine career. He certainly was a first rate shooter. Bobby was always one of the guys, despite the fact that he did not play much. He was and remains to this day a good friend of both Lucas and Havlichek. He always had a dry biting sense of humor, and he was in and out of Fred Taylor's dog house, throughout his career, not for anything serious, just normal adolescent tomfoolery. Fred sort of got a kick out of Bobby and when he graduated, he got him his first coaching job as an assistant to Harold Andreas at Cuyahoga Falls H.S., outside of Cleveland. Years later at Indiana, Bobby hired Andreas as an assistant as they had been close, but within a short time, they fell out and hardly talked for many months and the at the end of the season, he quietly resigned. After just a year as an assistant at Cuyahoga Falls H.S., Fred got Bobby the assistant job at West Point, under Tates Locke. The next year, Tates left to take the Head job at Miami (Ohio), and Bobby Knight was promoted and became the Head Coach at West Point at 24 years old. Bobby was and is a very bright guy. He was smart enough to hire a superb staff. His first assistant was Al Le Balbo, a crusty, tough older coach who was a superb defensive whiz. Bobby's teams at West Point were clearly the best defensive team in the country, year in, year out. Al Le Balbo was a big factor in that. He later went on to be the Head Coach at Farleigh Dickinson University with moderate success, and the an assistant at St. Johns, under Lou Carnesecca. Don DeVoe and Dave Bliss, now Head Coach at Baylor filled out the staff. Bobby was also smart enough to befriend several legendary retired coaches. They became his mentors and he borrowed liberally from both Clair Bee, once the #1 coach in the USA in the 40's at LIU, until the scandals hit in 1950, and Pete Newell, whom some consider the best coach in college basketball in the 50's. In later years, he also befriended Hank Iba, the fabulously successful Oklahoma State coach, whom people in Big 12 country would tell you, he was the best ever, and they might be right. When Bobby coached the USA Olympic Basketball Team to the Gold Medal, in a wonderful gesture, he made Hank Iba, an honorary assistant coach. Bobby also became extremely close with Fred Taylor, as he matured as a coach, and also included Fred Taylor, on many of his international teams he coached for the USA. At West Point, Bobby borrowed Pete Newell's California Reverse Action offenses that Pete Newell had developed and used to win the National Championship at Cal. At West Point, under Bob Knight, they ran it to perfection. With good but not great payers, West Point became the epitome of a well coached offensive team as well. He did have a superb center in 6'8" Mike Silliman and a superb backcourt led by Mike Krzyzewski, the incredibly successful Duke coach. Whereas Bobby got Mike both the Head job at both West Point and Duke, they have since grown far apart and really do not speak. Soon Bobby's offense became the most copied half court man to man offense throughout the East. Bobby opened up his practices to all interested high school coaches and their players once a year on a Saturday, in November, prior to the start of the season. For $6, a coach could not only watch both a morning and afternoon West Point basketball practice, which was a clinic/practice combination, and get a box lunch to the bargain. Knight explained his philosophy, and had his team demonstrate all the breakdown drills they used to teach both his half court defense, and the California reverse Action Man to Man Offense. I attended these clinic/practices for many years and took copious notes, and in all honesty, began to become a first rate coach, using most all of his breakdown drills to teach team defense, and even had a terrific season as the Head Freshmen Coach at Quinnipiac College in 1968, using California Reverse Action. I later attended these Bobby Knight one day clinics as an assistant at both Creighton and Kansas State, and even as a Head Coach at UWM in Milwaukee, attended the similar one he ran for coaches at Indiana. There I was most interested in how he taught his motion half court offense. At Indiana, Knight felt that a structured offense was to easy to scout and defend, so he spent a week with Dean Smith and his staff, learning the nuances of the Motion Offense. At Indiana, Bobby took the Motion and perfected it to a degree it had never achieved before, in my opinion. Now able to recruit some of the best players in America, and soon with his tremendous success at Indiana with the Motion Offense, it became the most popular offense in America and he became the most in demand clinician, lecturing all over the USA. One thing about Bob Knight, he was always open about his coaching X's and O's. Attending his clinics were always helpful, and I am sure I speak for many coaches in that regard, all over the country. However, with all his success, there was the under current of problems. He displayed a terrible temper at West Point, and the New York Post took to calling him Bobby T (for the many technical fouls he was picking up) and "the Madman", for his combination of boy genius and terrible temper. It is probably little known, but when he was hired at Indiana, he had been forced to resign at West Point, but they kept it quiet, to assist him in getting another Head job. I was told by one of his former players at West Point, that one of the parents went to West Point officials and charged him with hitting their son, and it was not with any parts of his own anatomy. An internal investigation ensued and he was asked to step down. His success and problems at Indiana have been well documented. After 3 NCAA National Championships, he became in many people's mind, the best college basketball coach of all time. Unfortunately power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. He has a terrible problem of anger management and physical and verbal abuse. Those interested in an inside look at Indiana and Bobby Knight should read "Season On The Brink" by John Feinstein. John is probably the leading writer today in the USA of non biographical non fiction sports books. He was given complete access to Coach Knight and the Indiana program for an entire season. There was another incredible article in Playboy of an interview Bobby Knight gave the writer who rode with him for 3 days while Bobby traveled throughout the Midwest and the author continuously interviewed him. Both enumerate a brilliant coach, but one beset with not just anger management issues, but an abusive and intimidating prescience whose mind games put everyone around him under incredible dad to day pressures. His teams won 3 National Championships at Indiana and was one of the elite programs in America till his last years. His teams in the 90's lost 7 consecutive first round NCAA Tournament games. In most cases, Indiana was by far, the higher seed. Some of his former players say that was not a coincidence. By the end of the season, they were so worn out by the incredible mental pressure of dealing with him from Oct. 15 till the end of March, that they just wanted the season to end. At Texas Tech, he will get another chance with slate wiped clean, working under a long time friend, Gerald Myers. Myers was a highly successful basketball coach at Texas Tech for over 20 years and has been the Athletic Director ever since. Bobby respects him and the Tech athletic family and supporters are solidly behind Bobby Knight. Nobody is all good or all bad. Bobby Knight has a lot of good in him. Woody Hayes was not only a great coach, but a great man. He also had a serious problem in anger management, and it cost him his career. Bobby Knight has been more than an outstanding college basketball coach. He has become an American Icon. There is a lot of good in Bobby Knight. Let's hope that in the past year, he has had time to look within himself and reflect. Let's hope that he has begun to understand that you can coach a team that plays and executes with discipline, without having to be physically and verbally abusive. Let's hope he has begun to understand that he needs to coach and act with a sense of self discipline. Dean Smith, Ralph Miller, Tex Winter all did as do many other fine coaches. Look at his former pupils Mike Krzyzewski and Steve Alford. Look at Lute Olson, Eddie Sutton, Lonnie Kruger and many other highly successful college coaches all over the country. Being a little bit scared of the Head Coach is not really a bad thing. That is not the issue. Let's hope Bobby finishes his career, on the highest of notes. He has a chance to become the leading winner of college basketball coaches of all time. He should be a sure fire Hall of Famer. All he has to do is begin to treat others the way he would want himself to be treated, whether he be a player or other members of the Texas Tech family. Martin Iti returns Surprise of all surprises. Martin Iti turned up playing for the Pump N Run Team at the Adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas and at the Beast of the Summer that the Pumps run at Loyola Marymount. Not only was Martin there but his "Uncle" Courtney Rosegreen and his wife also flew in and that probably had to cost $5000. Dana swears he did not pay for them, but I doubt Courtney has that kind of money. You can take it to the bank somebody did. How did Martin look? For starters, when Dana first told me Martin was coming, I knew it would probably hurt Pump and Run as much as it would help them. Martin is an illusion. I knew he would command significant playing time, but his skills just are not very good at this point and he does not have a very good feel for the game. This means, he lacks overall offensive savvy. He badly needs playing experience at the highest high school levels and quality individualized coaching, all of which he did not get this past year, as he never played nor practiced with the team at Villa Park H.S. , because of the legitimate questions about his eligibility. Martin looks like he has grown into a full fledged 7'0" and has put on weight and looks considerably more mature physically. However, it does not look like its particularly good weight, and it does not appear that he has learned how to take advantage of his size and potential. He is a very good shot blocker and is an above average defensive rebounder, but a poor overall offensive player, who cannot do much more than dunk. He does have a soft shooting touch, but has no idea how to play without the ball and had little effective offense with the ball. The Pump N Run Team was loaded as usual, but under achieved as usual. They got knocked out by H Squad in Las Vegas in the first round of the tournament bracket at the adidas Big Time Tournament, and got beat in their own tournament as well. Every minute Martin was on the floor, meant minutes that some of their other highly regarded front court players was on the bench. Sometimes you can have too many quality players or too many big men. It does not matter in the games against the weaker teams, but when they get up against the top athletic teams, it is counter productive. In recent months, I have come to know a good many people in Colorado, that have expanded on Martin Iti's experience in Colorado, quite a bit beyond what I have already reported in an earlier column. Apparently, Courtney and Martin were promised quite a few things, if they settled in Denver. I have no idea what that might be, but there is no question Courtney had his hand out, all over the place. When they moved to Denver, a lot of people bent over backwards to help them. They got living quarters and people donated furniture. Martin enrolled at Denver East and attended school there for 2 weeks, and then mysteriously disappeared. Apparently Courtney felt that promises were made and not kept, but there was also dissatisfaction with the living arrangements in Denver. Some say it was not a very nice place to live, and that he slept on a cot that was way too small for his 6'11" frame. So, according to his Courtney's main benefactor in Denver, Courtney came to him and showed him that Martin's visa was about to run out and that he had to go back to Australia immediately. So he bought them both round trip tickets to Australia, and they left and he never heard a word from them again. Some in Denver say he was "kidnapped" by a Colorado AAU coach, but regardless, he soon reappeared in Ft. Collins, Colorado and was enrolled in Webber JHS, where 9th graders were eligible to play varsity sports at nearby Rocky Mountain H.S. In Ft. Collins, Martin moved into the home of an extremely wealthy benefactor, Tim Gilmour and Martin began attending school and was truly happy. The family loved him. He had his own beautiful room. They idolized him. He even had a girl friend. Martin was truly happy and initially, Courtney supposedly stayed in Denver, unbeknownst to his previous benefactor and he approved of the situation. Soon however, Courtney became unhappy as the money did not come through In addition, after reviewing Iti's records, however, Commissioner Bob Ottewill of the Colorado High School Activities Association, ruled that Iti was ineligible because he was not a foreign exchange student and his parents had not moved with him. Though Martin was extremely happy there, he called Martin's mom and together with Martin, told her things were not going well and that they were planning to move. Courtney has a "Svengali like control" over Martin and got him to lie to his mom that he was not happy and that they need to move again. Courtney began contacting high school coaches throughout New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona and in essence put Martin on the auction block, asking for $50,000. One high school coach from New Mexico, who was approached, called a buddy in Colorado, also a high school coach, and asked if this kid was worth $50,000. Courtney could not find any takers out West, but apparently the people at Cardinal Gibbons in Ft.Lauderdale, Florida were able to satisfy Courtney, in some way, and they left the Gilmours, whose family had been a wonderful host, and moved to Florida, and Martin enrolled in school there. Was any money promised or involved. I have no idea. There are such rumors in Denver, but who knows. My sources indicated that several months later, an NCAA investigator came to Colorado and asked him detailed questions about Iti's travels and his relationship with Courtney Rosegreen. The current plan appears to be to put Martin in Prep School this year. Because of his size and potential, he will still be a high major recruit, but he easily could go to a top program and sit on the bench for 4 years, if he does not get the coaching and experience to improve his overall offensive skills and feel for the game. Matin Iti returns (part 2) (Submitted: Wednesday June 13) Martin Iti sighting: A major college assistant coach reported that he tracked Martin Iti down, and that he is now living in Hobart, Australia. The big question is whether or not he has gotten rid of Courtney Rosegreen, who posed as his Uncle to all coaches here in the USA, when in reality, he was nothing more than an opportunist, who saw this young 7'0" kid with a great deal of potential as his meal ticket. Courtney was able to convince Martin's mother what he could do for Martin's future, in regard to him being eventually in the NBA. She agreed to have Courtney made Martin's legal guardian. The basic idea had some merit, except that Courtney was not content to oversee Martin's development and ultimately get a piece of Martin's NBA contract. Instead, Courtney constantly had his hand out and wanted a payday from all high school and AAU coaches he dealt with if they wanted a talented big kid in their program. Courtney contacted me on the Internet and when we met in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, when I was down there visiting my mom, who lives in nearby Hollywood, he personally offered me 10% of Martin's future if I would support him and the family, which I flat turned down. What I did tell him was that if he wanted Martin Iti to train under me and play for BWBA to enhance his development, I would get him a job, that would enable him to support Martin and his family, which I did. Courtney left a trail of getting people to help him and then showing his appreciation by mysteriously disappearing and showing up in someone else's program, as soon as he thought there was something more in it for him. He originally moved Martin and his wife to Denver in the summer before Martin was to begin high school at Denver East. Pete Dadiotis, whose son Jimmy was an excellent player already on the team, agreed to support them. He paid for both Martin and Courtney to go to Las Vegas for a summer basketball tournament. All told, Pete told me he figured he gave or spent over $5000 on their behalf. One day Courtney came to him in August and told Pete that martin's Vias was about to expire and they had to go back to Australia where he was from to get it extended. So Pete bought them round trip tickets to Australia and that was the last he saw of them. No word. Nothing. Next thing he heard that they were in New Mexico and that Martin was going to enroll in high school in Albuquerque. Somehow, they settled in Ft. Lauderdale, and Martin enrolled in Bishop Gibbons, a first rate academic and top flight basketball program in South Florida. Martin played there his entire freshman year, and it was in the summer between his freshman and sophomore year that Courtney contacted Bob Gottlieb by E Mail. His high school coach knew me from when Keyon Dooling had attended there some years back. He was a good coach and a good man and at one point, when he heard Courtney had gotten me involved, he called me and was quite concerned. I told him, it appeared that Courtney was the key. He out of work and needed a job to support his wife and Martin. I suggested he use his contacts and get Courtney a job. He said he had in the past, but that Courtney really did not want to work. He said all Courtney was looking was for money, not a job. He was not about to recommend him to one of his friends. The entire family moved out here and I found Courtney a job. Courtney found an apartment in Anaheim, and Martin began working out every Sunday under Bob Gottlieb's tutelage at BWBA. Having worked with and having played significant roles in the development of most of the top big men to come out of Orange County in the last 15 years, Bob Gottlieb brought great experience at helping develop a big talented but very raw talent, like Martin Iti. Previously, Adam Keefe (NBA/Utah), Cherokee Parks (NBA/LA Clippers), Eric Chenowith (Kansas), Chris Burgess (Utah) and Mike Vukovich (UCSB) all worked under Bob Gottlieb for significant periods of time. Martin was a wonderful kid to work with. He was a great natural shot blocker, a decent rebounder, a nice shooting touch with good hands, but he had no idea how to play offensively. He just lacked experience and savvy as to how to get position and to use his body to take advantage of his size and talent. He was always pleasant and always worked hard, and the shame of the whole scenario is that Martin is really a good kid and if Courtney had just left things alone and had not always thought the grass was always greener elsewhere, everything would have worked out for Martin. The rest is history. Martin played for a year at Servite and then Courtney decided to have him transfer to Villa Park. However, Villa Park was not about to declare Martin eligible without thoroughly researching his background comprehensively. Low and behold, they discovered that Courtney and martin were untruthful as to what grade Martin should have been in when he began high school here in the USA. That had to be Courtney's doing. Why they needed to lie about his proper grade was ridiculous. Martin was already 6'11" and going to be a high major recruit with normal development. At one point, while at Villa park, Martin's mother became disenchanted with Courtney having her son in three schools in three years, and so she revoked Courtney's guardianship and granted it to a woman from Maryland who showed up at the high school with the new guardianship papers and proceed to take Martin to the airport to move to Maryland and live with her and attend a Prep School there. However, when they got to the airport, Courtney and his lawyer came running with a court order prohibiting her form taking Martin, until this custody dispute could be adjudicated in a court of law. Then it got even crazier. Martin's attorney, turned around and took Courtney to court, and charged him with being an unfit parent, trying to get Martin away from him. It was a mess. By this time, Villa Park wanted Martin to just go away. There was no way the school was going to rule him eligible. Soon Martin got the message, and one day he just up and left the country and went home, and apparently has been recently sighted in Hobart, Australia, by a major college coach who still hopes to recruit him. Courtney, who had told everyone for years that he was Martin's Uncle, was indeed the Legal Guardian, but not a blood relative. He had simply heard of Martin and met his mother and convinced her that if she would make him Martin's legal guardian, he could take Martin to the USA and then to the NBA, and they would all be rich. Again, the shame is that Martin is a wonderful young man, but in the wrong hands. I really liked Martin and enjoyed working with him and wish him nothing but the best. Will he ever play in the NBA. Possibly, but certainly not a sure thing. |
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Last Updated: Thursday, August 8, 2002 10:26 AM |