Thanks for....Nothing

Oh, what could have been...

South Carolina dismisses Mike Jones

Posted by Mike Waters May 17, 2007 5:43PM

Categories: Breaking News

Mike Jones is now 0-for-2 for colleges.

Jones, the highly-touted recruit out of Lower Richland High School in Hopkins, S.C., left Syracuse University last December after just one semester. He played in 11 games for leaving the Orange in mid-season. Jones eventually transferred to the University of South Carolina.

Photo courtesy the University of South CarolinaThis is as close to a South Carolina uniform Mike Jones is going to get.

Today, The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., is reporting that South Carolina coach Dave Odom has dismissed Jones from the team for academic reasons.

Here's a quote from the story:

"He's tried two different college atmosphere, here at Syracuse and here at Carolina, and neither one of them has been right for him," Odom said. "That doesn't necessarily imply that there's something wrong with him. Nor does that imply there's something wrong with those situations. It just means the two haven't meshed."

It's a sad situation. I firmly believe Jones was going to contribute at Syracuse. Now, he's put his basketball future in serious jeopardy.

Mike Waters
mwaters@syracuse.com

Take this for what it's worth, because it's certainly newsworthy in my neck of the woods...


An "Outside the Lines" segment set for broadcast at 8:30 a.m. today, ESPN is reporting that seven Clemson student-athletes told the network they had abortions in recent years, due in part because of their fear of losing scholarships.

"We are aware of the story although we're not sure what it's going to say," Clemson assistant athletic director for sports information Tim Bourret said. "ESPN went behind our backs to interview these athletes so we're just going to have to see what the story is and go from there."

Clemson is unsure whether the report is regarding former or current athletes.

The ESPN story focuses on Memphis' Cassandra Harding, who said she and other members of the school's track team were required to sign a document acknowledging they could lose their scholarships if they became pregnant.

Memphis declined to renew Harding's scholarship in 2005 after she got pregnant.

-- Staff and wire reports

Disclaimer - I make mention of innumerable Maryland high schools and players in this column. But, I'm also not including some schools and players (including my old HS), because there's just TOO many to note. That should be a testament to this article's argument.

Maryland High School Basketball Represents

I watched the McDonald's All American game last night, as any dedicated college basketball fan would. I came into the pre-game competitions imagining I would see some of the studs I'd heard about from my native state, Maryland, but I didn't know I'd see that many.

Michael Beasley (Kansas State), Donte Green (Syracuse), Chris Wright (Georgetown), Austin Freeman (Georgetown), and Nolan Smith (Duke) all represented the state of Maryland in the all-star showdown.

Five out of 26 players in a state as small as Maryland? Not only did Beasley take home the game MVP, but Smith won the team-ball competition and Chris Wright hoisted the three-point championship. Wow, must be some decent basketball there, right? Wait, there's more.

There are six other players in the Rivals.com 2007 Top 150 from Maryland - Anthony McClain (UCONN, Florida, Cincinnati, Tenn.), Malcom Delaney (VaTech), Augustus Gilchrist (VaTech), Darnell Dodson (Pittsburgh), and John Flowers (West Virginia).

Don't think this is just an "up" year for the state that borders Washington, D.C., another basketball haven. Here are a couple of schools you might, or should have heard of if you're an avid hoops fan:

• Dematha Catholic High School - Sports Illustrated granted Dematha the acclaim it deserves in 2005 - the No. 2 high school athletic program in the United States. Who went there? Mike Brey (Notre Dame Head Coach), Sidney Lowe (N.C. State head coach), Dereck Whittenburg (former N.C. state player), Jordan Collins (former N.C. State player), Travis Garrison (former Maryland player) as well as Keith Bogans (Orlando Magic, U. of Kentucky) and Joe Forte (former UNC standout), who played together at Dematha.

The Stags' history also features possibly the best high school basketball coach - Morgan Wooten - who was immortalized when he was put into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Check the rest of the former college and NBA players from Dematha

• Montrose Christian High School - This school's most famous player is this guy named Kevin Durant...he hasn't been in the news much lately, has he? Maryland point guard Greivis Vasquez and many other former D1 players have emerged from old Montrose lineups.
  

If you'd like to see some Maryland players in action - check out Georgetown's team this weekend. Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert and DaJuan Summers are all from MD.

This is all to say that Maryland basketball is on the same level as California, New York, Illinois, and Florida (forgive me, I know I'm missing others). Just ask Carmelo Anthony, whose hometown of Baltimore I feel has boundless potential to separate Maryland from the middle of the pack.