BEVERLY HILLS (MI) — College basketball recruiting is a lot like dating. I will leave it to your collective imaginations to figure out all the varying parallels, but trust me, it just is. And given that, the month of July is most definitely “prom season.” Archie is in the process of figuring out who he wants to ask to the dance and in so doing, names have been dropped and added to his list. UD was in on players like Jared Nickens, Angel Delgado, Martin Geben, J.P. Macura, Carlton Bragg, Luke Kennard and Vic Law really early until they asploded and saw their respective recruitment soar. Even a kid like Ryan Luther who hails from Archie’s backyard in Western PA has gone from holding only mid-major offers to having the big boys like Iowa and Pitt knocking on his door.

So whattya do if you are Archie? You add more names to your list, that’s what!

Darrel Davis is a SG from Detroit Douglas HS:

http://verbalcommits.com/players/darrell-davis

Javis Howard is a PF from South Carolina:

http://phenomhoopreport.com/a-closer-look-at-javis-howard/

Peyton Aldridge is a 6’7″ SF from Labrae HS in Warren, OH with some really long-ass arms:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdAQqSRoPww

Raymond Spalding is a 2015 prospect from Louisville Trinty HS:

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/recruiting/2013/07/13/trinitys-raymond-spalding-has-dayton-offer-interest-for-indiana-and-many-others/

The ultimate goal, after all, is to make it to “The Big Dance” is it not?

Elsewhere in wide world of hoops:

— Archie talks about what he has seen so far at UD’s summer practices, courtesy of Fox 45:

http://fox45now.com/shared/sports/features/local/stories/wrgt_vid_2166.shtml

— In what is surely not a journalism first, The Toronto Star headline proclaims that CW has “The Wright Stuff” for the Raptors:

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/07/15/raptors-prospect-has-the-wright-stuff

— Dana O’Neil at ESPN.com says that college hoops conference realignment is not as bad as everybody thinks:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9458453/how-college-basketball-emerged-conference-realignment

— Speaking of conferences, here is a list of the A-10’s most underrated players, according to College Chalk Talk.

http://collegechalktalk.com/?p=7144

Anybody missing, eh?

— A-10 Commish Bernadette McGlade got herself a five year contract extension:

http://www.midmajormadness.com/2013/6/24/4461174/atlantic-10-commissioner-receives-five-year-contract-extension

— Ken Pomeroy provides us with a blog post examining the efficacy of a team going two-for-one at the end of a half or game:

http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/entry/how_much_are_two_for_ones_worth

— Interesting perspective: “College Basketball Transfers: The Anatomy of a Fake Epidemic” courtesy of Mark Isenberg at CoachGeorgeRaveling.com:

http://coachgeorgeraveling.com/college-basketball-transfers-the-anatomy-of-a-fake-epidemic/

— “The Cable Sports Bubble” is a ‘perfectly legal shell game’ according to Sports on Earth:

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/53498716/

— Watching this 56 year old film of a dominating Wilt Chamberlain at Kansas, you can’t help but think — he was almost a Flyer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S8JuK2dVky0#at=91

— For some reason, KFC has a problem with Hitler Chicken, a Thai restaurant that replaced the Colonel’s picture with one of the Fuhrer in their logo:

http://www.click2houston.com/news/kfc-threatens-lawsuit-over-hitler-chicken-restaurant/-/1735978/20875398/-/2clb8u/-/index.html

— The untold story of “The Pine Tar Game” according to The Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324867904578594154270594078.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

I never realized that the two teams ended up replaying the end of the game and the Royals actually won!

— Let’s hear it for “Moose and Squirrel!”

http://www.avclub.com/articles/lowrated-and-barely-animated-rocky-bullwinkle-beca,99761/

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at: [email protected]