James not trying out for Pan Am games

[rocky_warrior]

Today I just switch the Yahoo! news feed above with the feed for Rosiak's blog.  Good timing, as he has a new blog today detailing how James is not going to participate in the Pan Am games in favor of catching up on some time at "home".

Also, this nugget:

Crean was excited about the release of the Big East portion of the Golden Eagles' schedule on Friday, but said there's still some work to be done on the non-conference portion.

One proposed made-for-TV matchup with an opponent Golden Eagles fans remember all too well was recently scuttled.

"We're trying to put the finishing touches on our schedule," he said. "We were hoping we'd get a home-and-home with Alabama, we were approached by ESPN and the Big East on that, but to my knowledge Alabama said no. We would have liked to have worked that out, too."

Full blog: http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2007/07/13/james-stays-home.aspx

[mu_hilltopper]

That's a head scratcher .. correct me if I'm wrong .. I thought DJ wasn't invited for Pan Am at first, as he was doing his NBA thing.  Once he withdrew from the draft, I never saw news he was invited (to PanAm) but did see he that he was going, if that makes any sense.  Now he's not going by choice. hmm

[ChicosBailBonds]

Gottfried of Alabama is a good friend of Crean's as well.  Another coach that doesn't care to play friends head to head if they can avoid it.

[herboturbo]

Too bad that couldn't work out, with Nick Williams coming aboard and us targeting guys in the next few classes from Alabama.  I can see why they wouldn't want to play.

[bma725]

Gottfried of Alabama is a good friend of Crean's as well.  Another coach that doesn't care to play friends head to head if they can avoid it.

They aren't just friends, Gottfried is Joani Crean's cousin. 

[mu_hilltopper]

Humpf.  As Paul Harvey would say ..

And now, for the rest of the story:

Andy Katz:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=2935141

Two players are abruptly out of the mix after Thursday's developments: point guards Dominic James of Marquette and Sean Singletary of Virginia. Both players declared for the NBA draft in June and waited until the final 48 hours to decide to return to college. But USA basketball had to submit a tryout roster to the Pan Am Games in Brazil prior to the withdrawal deadline. So earlier this week, James and Singletary were added to the tryouts.

But a technicality regarding the roster deadline meant that James and Singletary weren't on the official roster in Rio de Janeiro. So Boeheim, the chairman of the selection committee, had to inform the players that while they could try out for the team, there was no guarantee the Pan Am Games would allow them to be added to the final roster. Both players told USA Basketball on Thursday they would not attend the tryout.

[77ncaachamps]

What's not in the news is STILL news: no mention of McNeal or Matthews...=(

Injury rules Duke's Nelson out of Pan Am Games

By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

Updated: July 13, 2007, 11:48 PM ET

Duke senior guard DeMarcus Nelson injured his left hand during the U.S. Pan Am Trials Thursday night and will be sent back to Durham, N.C., Saturday for further evaluation, multiple USA Basketball officials told ESPN.com Friday night.

USA Basketball spokesman Craig Miller said he couldn't confirm the extent of the injury. Nelson was X-rayed Friday afternoon after trying to play in the morning practice. Whether or not Nelson broke his hand wasn't known as of Friday night. He didn't participate in the evening session and a determination was made that he would return to Duke for further testing and an official diagnosis.

Nelson's departure means there are now 29 players competing for 12 spots for the team that will play in Brazil later this month.

Nelson is the second Duke player to be injured in as many weeks. Duke center Brian Zoubek suffered a broken left foot while playing in a pickup game on Duke's campus last week and is expected to be out eight weeks.

Meanwhile, the selection committee and coaches have two more practices to cut the roster down from 29 to 16 for four days of practices before heading to Washington D.C. for two exhibitions next Thursday and Friday with a final roster of 12. The team will leave for Brazil next Saturday.

While it's still early to say who will make the squad, already there appears to be a little bit of separation at a few spots as Georgetown center Roy Hibbert and Indiana forward D.J. White are making it clear that they should be on the team. Vanderbilt's Shan Foster, Michigan State's Drew Neitzel, VCU's Eric Maynor, Villanova's Scottie Reynolds, North Carolina's Wayne Ellington, Washington's Jon Brockman and Washington State's tandem of Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver are also playing well enough through three practices to make a case for the team. Still, with two more practices, a lot could change as the three selection committee members -- Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, Temple's Fran Dunphy and Oregon's Ernie Kent -- confer with the three coaches, head coach Jay Wright of Villanova and assistants James Jones of Yale and Alabama's Mark Gottfried.

[DAtruth]

final pan am roster is at the bottom of this article
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070718/BLOG05/70718015

[muhoosier260]

I remember the first time I had heard of or seen Maynor play, in their conference championship (i think against george mason) and he was an absolute god. After seeing him score, steal, score, steal, score I figured I would take my shot at VCU taking down Dukie. Maynor could make a dent in the nba, a little small, but quick