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Posts Tagged D.J. White

D.J. shines in first Pan Am game; SI discusses Samspon and cheating

by in Media | July 26th, 2007

americas.jpg+ Oh America, what to do with you. Continuing the trend of U.S. basketball squads faltering on the international scene, the American Pan Am team lost its opening round game to Uruguay 81-72 last night, despite leading at halftime. The good news? D.J. White led the squad with 14 points and nine boards.

+ Everything’s coming up cheating nowadays. From the ref scandal in the NBA to steroids in baseball, it’s a cheater’s world, we’re just living in it. Well, Sports Illustrated has been all over deception across sports lately and Luke Winn highlights Kelvin Sampson’s impermissible phone calls at Oklahoma in his latest piece. Essentially, Winn equates Samspon’s excessive phone calls to the ungodly amount of text messages coaches have sent players. (We told you earlier that text messages are now banned. Though that is true, the NCAA is reviewing the judgment on Aug. 9. There’s a chance it could be lifted or changed to limit the amount coaches can send.)

I would think the best thing here is to lift the ban and limit the amount coaches can send. Texting is an easy, quick and efficient way to get a hold of kids nowadays — so I don’t see why there should be an outright ban on that form of communication. It just doesn’t make sense. Bring txtin bck, NCAA.

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Monday roundup: D.J. adds a move, Mackey surfaces in Vegas

by in Media | July 23rd, 2007

D.J. White- The praise for D.J. White for his performances with the United States team leading up to the Pan American Games continues to come rolling in. Haverford, a blog that is following the team, has the latest on IU’s top returning scorer:

When the D stretched to account for Foster’s hot hand, White assaulted Jason Fraser with an array of hook shots and drop steps inside. D.J.’s hook is a throw-back to an earlier era with a contemporary influence. Both the traditional sky hook and White’s “power hook” are released with one hand with the off-arm pointed directly at the basket. The sky hook circa 1976 was a finesse shot, taken from a slight running start. But White doesn’t need the momentum or the leg kick often associated with the move to pour in his points. By dropping his beefy shoulder into his defender’s chest, he adds a powerful component to the high release point in order to hit this shot from the low post.

Sounds like D.J. is adding a nice hook shot to go along with his patented turnaround baseline jumper. If it continues to develop, he’ll be even more unstoppable on the low block.

- Bud Mackey, IU’s first commitment for the 2008 class, has landed with the Indiana Elite AAU team. Currently he’s participating in the Adidas Super 64 in Las Vegas, the biggest AAU tournament of the summer. This is Mackey’s first AAU action in quite a while due to a torn meniscus suffered at the end of last season.

Also playing on the Indiana Elite team are IU targets Tyler Zeller and Lewis Jackson. Through their first two contests of the event, Indiana Elite is 0-2. According to Jody Demling, coach Kelvin Sampson watched Indiana Elite yesterday along with UK coach Billy Gillispie, UNC coach Roy Williams and Illinois coach Bruce Weber.

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Is this D.J.’s last year at IU?

by in Media | July 19th, 2007

white.jpegD.J. White has the option to come back for a fifth year at IU if he so desires. But will he?

Well, Kelvin Sampson doesn’t seem to think so. From Andy Katz at the WWL:

Although listed as a senior, White could return to Indiana next season after receiving that medical redshirt year, but that’s an unlikely proposition, Sampson said.

“But if the year plays out the way it should, then that should be a moot point,” Sampson said of White likely declaring for the draft after this season. Indiana lists White as a senior on the Web site because it’s his fourth year in school.

D.J. White’s career has been slowed by injuries, which have contributed to his return to Indiana for a fourth year.

“It’s nice to know that if something happens, he can come back,” Sampson said. “But everyone anticipates he’ll have a great senior year.”

I’d have to think Sampson’s feelings are the general consensus here. It’s going to be harder for teams to double-down on White this year with Eric Gordon lurking around out on the perimeter, which means D.J. will get the opportunity to showcase his stuff more. And, regardless of Gordon or not, White is in position to make some real noise in the Big Ten and beyond. But can he play himself into a first-round lock? Or better yet, a lottery pick?

Eh, much too early to tell. But with White recently working his way onto the Pan Am team, I certainly wouldn’t rule it out either.

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D.J. White makes the cut for Pan American Team

by in Media | July 15th, 2007

D.J. WhiteUSA Basketball announced the 14 finalists for its 2007 Pan American Team earlier today and D.J. White was among those selected.

The roster is still not finalized, as there will be two more players cut before the Pan American Games begin on July 25th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Here’s what IU’s top returning player had to say after making the cut:

On his thoughts when he heard he made the cut from 30 players to 14:

“When I heard my name called, my first thought was just thank the Lord for this opportunity. I’m happy to have a chance to represent my country in an event we haven’t won since 1983, so I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

On what he can bring to the team:

“I think I can bring rebounding and defense to this team, I’m able to score on opponents on the low block, so I think I can bring that and defensive rebounding to the team.”

Congratulations are in order for Mr. White and it looks like a strong possibility that he’ll survive the final cut. This is not D.J.’s first experience with USA Basketball, as he previously competed in the 2004 Nike Hoop Summit and was on the 2003 Youth Development Festival South Team.

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FanHouse ranks IU No. 8 in its Premature BlogPoll

by in Media | July 13th, 2007

hoosiers.jpgBecause it’s never too early to start talking about rankings — or having some of your own for that matter — let me direct you over to FanHouse. Its college hoops bloggers have compiled a “Premature Hoops BlogPoll” for the upcoming men’s basketball season.

The poll ranked 26 teams. IU came in at No. 8 on the list.

How good will Eric Gordon be? Tell me that and I’ll tell you how good Indiana will be.

Gordon, one of the nation’s best incoming freshmen, verbally committed to Illinois before changing his mind and heading to Indiana, and that changed the balance of power in the Big Ten as well as assuring that things will get heated when the Hoosiers visit Champaign.

But Gordon isn’t all Indiana has. D.J. White, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound shot blocker and a very tough presence inside, is back, as is guard Armon Bassett, who showed a great deal of promise as a freshman last season. Although the Hoosiers will miss the departed Roderick Wilmont, this team should be significantly better than it was last year.

It’s a quick analysis for sure, but it gets the job done — save for a JaMarcus Ellis mention. (Which a commenter altered them to under the post.) As far as other Big Ten school are concerned, FanHouse ranked Michigan State at No. 9. Other than that, no other Big Ten schools made the cut.

I’d think that once the preseason AP poll drops, IU will be somewhere in the No. 7 to No. 14 range.

Thoughts anyone?

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