Return of the Onions

What happens when you are on an airplane for four and half hours, need a break from doing your "real" job (thank you wifi on Southwest!), and start seeing some tweets about college basketball media day? You rededicate yourself to your college basketball blog, that's what you do!

And then you go and post this song to get it stuck in everyone's head - throwback to high school anyone?



By the way, did you know that the Return of the Mack official video has 8,996,280 views on youtube? I have no bearing on whether or not this is super high or average. As reference, This is How We Do It by Montell Jordan has just over 9 million views, while Thong Song has over 17 mllion views. And that ladies and gentlemen, is how you work The Thong Song into a college basketball blog post.

Now, onto more pertinent information regarding some college hoops. Here are a few stories we are following (not breaking).

Sunk my aircraft carrier? Our beloved Syracuse Orange were set to square off against San Diego State on November 9th on the retired USS Midway aircraft carrier flight deck, which is docked in San Diego. This would be the second straight year a basketball game was being played on a aircraft carrier (last year it was UNC and Michigan State).
As of this morning, it looks like this game is in limbo. Apparently the fan fest, concert, and other tomfoolery around the event are all being canceled because the inability to find a national sponsor. Interesting since the game is just over a month away. I'm sure Ron Burgundy and Champ Kind will have more details as this story breaks.
It would be ironic if the game does get canceled though. Syracuse, who gets a bad rap for not playing outside the state of NY until January most seasons, tries to not only go across the country to play again, but they aren't even playing the game on land. Maybe its just not meant to be. Stay at the Dome, Jimmy B.

SI.com

Jabari Parker: The top ranked player in high school hoops since LeBron James happens to reside and play in Daily Onions backyard on the south side of Chicago. The Simeon High School (same as Derrick Rose) senior has narrowed down his list to five schools. Unfortunately for those fans of in-state schools, DePaul and Illinois are nowhere to be found. According to ESPN recruiting folks, Simeon coach Robert Smith said DePaul was the toughest school for Jabari to leave off the list. Wonder if Oliver Purnell and company can use that in their recruiting pitch..."We were #6 on Jabari's list!!"

The top 5 for Jabari looks like this (in no particular order): Stanford, Michigan State, Duke, BYU and Florida (no Kentucky, thank goodness...Calipari did get the Harrison twin brothers yesterday though, both ranked in the top 5 of the class of 2013). Parker and his family are Mormons, so that explains BYU. From all accounts, Jabari is a great kid all around, (check out this article on him from Sports Illustrated) including the classroom, to go along with his basketball ability. Would be pretty cool to see him go to a BYU or Stanford. My early prediction that doesn't mean a damn thing, Michigan State. I'm basing this on Tom Izzo make a couple of extra trips to Chicago during the season last year, just to sit court side and make eye contact with Jabari.

Butler heading East: You didn't think we were going to get through our first post of 2012-13 without mentioning Onions favorite Butler and Brad Stevens did you? Well the Dawgs are on their way to the Atlantic 10 this season. Stevens and company were at the Jay-Z Center in Brooklyn today for the conference media day. Butler has some high expectations this season (despite being picked to finish 6th in the league), after missing the NCAA tournament last year. They bring everyone important back except Ronald Nored (graduation) and Chrishawn Hopkins (dismissed from team). They also add 6-6 freshman guard Kellen Dunham (2-time All-State player in Indiana), as well as senior Rotnei Clark, who transferred from Arkansas. Clark is said to be one of the best shooters in the country. As he'll soon find out, the measurements in Hinkle Fieldhouse are the same as his court back at home ("10 feet........15 feet").

Happy Birthday! Shout out to Daily Onions loyal reader, my dad. He's celebrating his birthday today (October 5th) poolside or green-side down in Florida. Appreciate all the support, whether it was while I was on the basketball court, on the blogosphere, or life in general. Enjoy!