Welcome Back/Summer Happenings

Hey everyone and welcome back to The Field of 65. I've been off for a couple of months with the summer and the start of the school year, but I'm back ready to bring you everything that is college basketball.
This summer provided me with oppurtunities to cover some top notch basketball events thanks to my position with DraftExpress. For starters, I was a credentialed member of the media at the 2007 NBA Draft, conducting interviews for DraftExpress. Getting to talk to some of the players that were in the green room was a fantastic experience. Jeff Green, out of Georgetown and now of the Sonics, in particular struck me as a very personable guy. Draft night itself was great as I was back in the media room partaking in more interviews. I got the chance to chat briefly with Al Thornton of Florida State shortly after he had been drafted by the Clippers and he seemed very excited about playing with a team on the cusp of making the playoffs.
I also got the chance to cover some of the best high school basketball competition of the summer. In June I was in Queens scouting the semi-final and championship games of the Nike IS8 League. IS8 brings together some of the best players in the tri-state area every year. Some of the top players in action were Lance Stephenson (Rivals #4 class of '09), Kevin Jones (#79 class of '08), Erving Walker (#131 class of '08) and St. John's freshman Justin Burrell (#50 class of '07).
IS8 was just a warm up for the end of my summer, when DraftExpress asked me to cover the Boost Mobile Elite 24 at Rucker Park in Harlem. In just its second year of existence, the Elite 24 is the only outdoor high school All-American game in the country, and brings together the very best players in the entire country. Eight of the top ten players in the class of '08 were in action, including dynamic, Arizona-bound point guard Brandon Jennings (#8 class of '08), athletic big man B.J. Mullens (#4 class of '08) who has committed to Ohio State, and UCLA signee Jrue Holiday (#3 class of '08).
With such an exciting summer under my belt, I am only that much more excited to bring you as much college basketball opinion and news as I can this season.