By now, most Memphis fans should be familiar with the name William Wesley, more commonly known as “Worldwide Wes,” whose connection to top basketball prospects and relationship with John Calipari has been well-chronicled. (If you’ve never heard of Wes, do yourself a favor and click the link.)

Is a man named Xia Song the Worldwide Wes of China? That certainly was the impression I got after talking to Song for a few minutes on Tuesday upon the Chinese delegation’s arrival in Memphis. Xia, who essentially speaks flawless English, was both the interpreter for the Chinese delegation and the man John Calipari called “my partner” in the Chinese coaches exchange program. Xia described his role as, “the coordinator, the organizer of the whole event for the (Chinese Basketball Association) and for Memphis.” But when I asked Xia who he worked for, his answer was, “I work for my own. I’m more like a consultant.”

When he said that, the Wes comparison immediately came to mind. And so it was no surprise that when I came home and plugged Xia Song into my trusty Google search engine, numerous articles came up in which Xia was described as “one of China’s top basketball agents,” an NBA analyst, proprieter of a Beijing sports company, scout, translator for the national team, and on and on and on. Essentially, if you do any search for information about Chinese basketball or Chinese players who have tried the NBA, Xia’s name pops up. Obviously, in a country of 1.4 billion people, this is the one guy who makes things happen when it comes to big time basketball.

So when the Tigers land their first Chinese player — and I’m predicting it’ll happen by 2010 — Xia Song will probably be the man to thank.

John Thompson, Ole Miss’ well-traveled defensive coordinator, felt the need to make a preemptive strike when he met with reporters yesterday. Thompson spent approximately one month working under Nick Saban in 1999 before Thompson left for Arkansas. With Saban arriving in Oxford this weekend as Alabama’s first-year (and extremely well-paid) coach, Thompson (right) acknowledged the various rumors that circulated about his departure and denied them all.

“I was around coach Saban for a month or so, and can I just say this? None of the rumors were true,” he said. “We got along. We absolutely got along. I have to say this every time we play them. None of that happened. I didn’t get out of the car, we didn’t get in a fight, it wasn’t anything. I’ve heard a lot of them. None of that was true. It was a great experience. I left to go to Arkansas. That’s where I was from.”
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Taking a closer look at how The CA’s Dandy Dozen teams fared in Week 6:

No. 1 White Station 44, Kirby 14: First, let’s give credit where credit is due: Kirby, a team that scored a combined 28 points all of last season, was up 7-0 for a short time in this one before eventually succumbing to the area’s top-ranked team. The Cougars, with former Melrose coach Chester Flowers Jr. now at the helm, are on their way up. White Station, on the other hand, just continues to roll. All together, the Spartans amassed 395 total yards and 18 first downs in this one.

No. 2 ECS 35, Fayette Academy 7: Why is Adam Currie not a more highly regarded college prospect? And don’t give me that same old tired answer about size (Currie is 6-0 at the least, a solid 200 pounds and has legs like tree trunks from playing catcher on the Eagle baseball team). All he’s done this season is complete 63-of-102 pass attempts for 1,154 yards, 13 TDs and ZERO interceptions). He’s rushed for another 427 yards and eight touchdowns. He should have more on the table than just one scholarship offer from Cornell.
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The Grizzlies finally came out of training camp hibernation and played their first preseason game – a meeting with Unicaja Malaga in Spain. To say that the players were antsy is an understatement. They were ready to play against someone other then themselves

The game featured two NBA officials (Luis Grillo and Jack Nies) on the three-man crew. A hybrid of NBA and European rules applied. Undoubtedly, the biggest adjustment for the Griz throughout the game will be touching the basketball ball in the cylinder. It’s not allowed in the NBA (goaltending) so the mindset won’t be there.

Grizzlies vs. Unicaja Malaga

First Quarter
Griz coach Marc Iavaroni delivered a twist with his starting lineup, beginning the game with Damon Stoudamire, Mike Miller, Rudy Gay, Stromile Swift and Pau Gasol. Swift got the nod instead of Darko Milicic, who played with the first group in every scrimmage. Gasol won the tip. Milicic, Mike Conley and Hakim Warrick were the first substitutions midway through the period. Juan Carlos Navarro checked in soon after. Generally, the Griz played good defense, and kept Malaga on the perimeter. They also controlled the boards and limited Malaga to one shot. Stoudamire and Conley sprinted down court and looked for early offense. One highlight involved Milicic and Gay. They played a two-man game as Milicic fed Gay with a nifty backdoor pass that led to a monster dunk. Marcus Haslip got Malaga going later in the period with drives to the basket. The Grizzlies’ defense broke down and their offensive execution was poor as their 10-point lead was just 21-18 at the end of the period.
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Is there something wrong with the word “state?” It seems as if a lot of schools have dropped the word. Middle Tennessee State is now Middle Tennessee. So are they MSU? Troy State is now just Troy. And everyone knows that state was dropped at Memphis long, long ago. But I will respect them and call them by their new names. This reminds of how upset I get when I hear someone refer to the Tigers as “Memphis State.” I’ll ask this question for those of you who feel the need to keep saying “Memphis State,” do you still call your female friends by their maiden names? Or have you accepted the name change?

The more I think about three headed monster that is the Memphis quarterback situation the more I like it. Hankins, Hudgens and Malouf are all different types of QB’s. Martin is a tactician, Will is gunslinger and Matt will beat a defense with his legs. That makes a DC’s job of defensive game planning very difficult. Personally, I’d like to see Matt a little more and let him toss it around some.
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It’s the question University of Memphis football coach Tommy West is fielding with regularity this week, before Saturday’s non-conference game against Middle Tennessee.

(And, yes, that’s Middle Tennessee and not Middle Tennessee State.)

Two-year starter Martin Hankins (right) suffered a hip pointer two weeks ago against Arkansas State and was forced to miss last week’s 24-21 Conference USA win over Marshall. In his absence, backup Will Hudgens, the 6-4 junior from Memphis, impressed a national television audience, a Liberty Bowl Stadium crowd and several former college coaches in the press box with his performance.

Hudgens, making his first start in two years, completed 30-of-45 passes for 346 yards and two touchdowns and had another potential TD catch dropped in the end zone. Stronger armed than Hankins, Hudgens throws a better deep ball and has more zip on his deep outs.

Hankins has the experience and a better grasp of the spread offense.

It’s obvious West will use Hudgens (left) more than he may have in the past. He has hedged that he’ll play the QB who gives the team the best opportunity to win against MT (and not MTSU as the Blue Raiders used to be called).

During the past week, West has said he’s comfortable with either Hankins or Hudgens taking snaps. With neither quarterback being particularly mobile — a plus in a spread offense — it makes sense for West to give the stronger-armed Hudgens additional playing time.

THE BIG STORY

Kentucky, which plays No. 1 LSU on Saturday in Lexington, went down to Baton Rouge last year and got drilled 49-0.

The Tigers dominated so thoroughly that many thought it was the beginning of the end for Wildcats’ coach Rich Brooks (right).

“It was a one-of-a-kind butt-whoopin’ we got down there,” senior center Eric Scott told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “It was just one of those games where we couldn’t get anything going.”

“I remember looking at the scoreboard and it was 42-0,” said senior wide receiver Keenan Burton. “I thought it was the fourth quarter and the game was almost over, but it was only the third quarter.” Then the metamorphosis began.

UK had a bye week after the LSU debacle, and has been a different team ever since. They won five of their last six games, including a Music City Bowl win over Clemson. And they’ve gotten off to a rousing start in 2007, going 5-1 and earning a No. 17 national ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 poll.

A look at the league: Read the rest of this entry »