On the radio yesterday, I encouraged people to come out to the Finch Center to watch some up-and-coming high school players from Memphis. I should have kept my mouth shut. The Memphis Magic team, which features Joe Jackson, Sampson Carter, Tim Peete, Mardracus Wade and Christian Watford (who is from Birmingham), was absolutely awful in their semifinal loss to a team from Louisiana. Even worse, I couldn’t pick out one legitimate Div. 1 player on the team they lost to.

This, of course, comes one day after I heard one of the local radio clowns talk about how the Tigers could contend for national championships just with players from Memphis. Please. I won’t name names (OK, he’s on from 3 to 6), but the next time I see this particular guy at a high school or AAU game will be the first.

Though the Memphis team was clearly out of gas - which is common when you’re playing two or three games a day for several days in a row - I was hoping to see more, not just yesterday but throughout the tournament. I was particularly disappointed in their performance on Monday when they lost to a team from Jackson, Miss., which was a year younger across the board.

This was my first time to see Christian Watford in person. He’s a big part of the recruiting picture for this year, but the Tigers will have to really fight it out with Louisville to get him. Watford is 6-7, long and skilled. I like the way he puts it on the floor and makes strong moves to the basket with both the left and right hand. I don’t like his body language, which is quite simply awful, and his jump shot needs a major overhaul. With some good coaching, he can be a big-time player at the college level

I’ve seen Joe Jackson play several times before this week, so I know what he’s capable of. He was just off yesterday and maybe hurting a little bit. The biggest problem with Joe’s game is that he tries to get away with too much defensively and gets in foul trouble. That’s a coaching issue more than anything, because Joe is not a lazy kid. At this point, he’s a much better scorer than distributor. I want to see more refined passing skills as the summer goes on.

I would not be surprised to see guard Mardracus Wade get ranked in the top 100 for the class of 2010 sometime soon. There’s a lot to like about his game. He’s a really active and enthusastic defender and shoots the ball well enough from 3-point range. He wants to play for Memphis pretty badly, and he will definitely be a guy to keep up with this summer. There has been a lot of talk about Ridgeway power forward Tarik Black. He’s a good athlete, but his basketball skills aren’t there yet. The Memphis staff is definitely looking at him hard, but my sense is that he’s got a ways to go. Sampson Carter — better known as Shyrone Chatman’s brother — will be a big-time player at UMass, if that’s where he ends up (likely). I’ve always liked Sampson’s game, and he competes hard. At times, he really carried that team yesterday.

The best player I saw during the tournament was LaQuinton Ross. He’s a 6-7 kid from Jackson, Miss., who is just a rising sophomore. He can do pretty much whatever he wants right now, and it’s plain scary. I wouldn’t dispute anyone ranking him the No. 1 sophomore in the country, though some people think Michael Gilchrist is even better. If true - and I haven’t yet seen Gilchrist play in person - that’s good news to Tiger fans since Gilchrist is practically a lock to come to Memphis (assuming John Calipari is still coaching here in 2011-12).

Just got back from watching several games at the “Battle at the Bluff” AAU tournament. I also watched a couple games last night.

Several Tiger players were there, including Antonio Anderson, Roburt Sallie, Tyreke Evans, Pierre Niles, Jeff Robinson, Robert Dozier and Willie Kemp. Among the colleges coaches spotted: Andy Kennedy, Kevin Stallings, Larry Eustachy, John Pelphrey, Bruce Weber and Chris Lowry and Tony Barbee. There were several assistants as well, including John Robic from Memphis and Jeremy Cox from Kentucky.

I’ll post more thoughts later about the players I saw, but I would encourage folks to come to the Finch Center tomorrow if they’re interested in seeing some up-and-coming high school players.

UPDATE: Nolan Dennis, the top-50 shooting guard from Dallas, has indeed committed to the Tigers. I am hoping to speak directly with Nolan tonight. Apparently, they were trying to keep this under wraps until the LeBron James Skills Academy this weekend, but it’s hard to keep a secret in this business.

According to a Rivals.com reporter today, shooting guard Nolan Dennis is likely headed to Memphis.

I would agree with that report 100%. However, Dennis has not given a verbal commitment as of Thursday afternoon. One could be forthcoming at any time, and the Memphis coaches would be happy to take it, according to my sources.

Dennis, from what I hear, was so impressed with John Calipari’s elite camp that he was all but committed as soon as it ended. Ranked No. 44 by Rivals.com for the Class of 2009, Dennis would be a solid pickup to kick off the summer recruiting period. Because the 3-point line is moving back a foot, Memphis is focusing on backcourt players who can shoot the rock — and rightly so. Dennis has a ways to go physically, but he can shoot for sure.

If he commits, it will have no negative impact at all on the pursuit of Xavier Henry, from what I’m told. Henry is also considered a shooting guard, but he can play several positions at 6-6 or 6-7 and is such a transcendent talent that you can put him anywhere on the court and he can dominate the game.

…and ready to blog.

For me, the 2007-08 basketball season didn’t officially end until last Thursday night at the NBA Draft. And what a long season it was. I started writing about the Tigers on pretty much a daily basis beginning in mid-September of last year through the Final Four. Obviously, I didn’t write nearly as much from mid-April to late June but it was an incredibly busy period. A year ago at this time, the Tigers had no players in the NBA Draft, no coaching staff changes, no late recruits. Things were relatively quiet. This offseason has been anything but quiet, so it was nice to take a few days off and recharge the batteries for the July recruiting period.

– The NBA Draft is one of the more bizarre scenes I’ve ever encountered in sports. On TV, it’s funny when Knick fans boo their draft picks. In person, it’s incredibly awkward. I also wonder how and why one would initiate a “JEFF-VAN-GUN-DY” chant. But by far the most interesting part of the experience is how close the fans get to the players. Once a player gets his name called, he walks up from stage left, shakes David Stern’s hand, then goes to a TV interview on the right of the stage. Then, the player goes to a radio interview, which is set up pretty much right in the middle of the theater. Then, the player has to walk back to the interview room, which is a pretty long way from the theater. Listening to what the fans yell at the players as they’re making that walk is brutal and hilarious. Even Joey Dorsey had to laugh when one fan got in his face and yell “Gonna have to make your free throws, Dorsey!”

– Interesting to learn today that Doneal Mack is transferring to New Orleans. I can assure you that ending up at a Sun Belt program was not in the plans when he left Memphis. I had heard LSU, initially, but from what I understand an academic issue may have prevented him from enrolling there. It’s unfortunate for the kid because it looks like a big career mistake at this point.

– This month is all about recruiting. I’ll kick off our coverage on Sunday with a primer for the July recruiting period. No surprise here, but the big name to keep an eye on is Xavier Henry, the 6-6 guard from Oklahoma City (though he’s listed at 6-6, I believe he’s 6-7) who has been compared to a left-handed Dell Curry. I have always written and said that Memphis, based on my informed speculation, has a slight lead over Kansas. I have no reason at this point to change that point of view.

– Tyreke Evans will be a counselor at the upcoming LeBron James Skills Academy in Akron. I won’t be going there to cover the camp, but a number of national reporters will, and it will be interesting to hear how he fares in the counselor pickup games against established college players.

– The Memphis-Kansas national championship game was nominated for an ESPY — and rightly so — as the best game of the year. It actually might win, too, though the Giants’ Super Bowl win will probably take the award.

– Most Memphis fans I know haven’t been able to bring themselves to watch the game, but I highly recommend watching the second half, at least until the last two minutes. The Derrick Rose performance is even more mind-blowing in retrospect than it was in person.

– Speaking of Rose, I guess he likes to drive fast. Nothing like starting your career with some bad press.
– I’d love to give Chris Douglas-Roberts and agent Leon Rose a shot of sodium pentathol and find out why they chose not to work out for several teams at the bottom of the first round. Rose is one of the best agents in the business, but did he mess this one up? Or did Rose feel like he was protecting CDR, the thinking being that he knew CDR wasn’t a good workout guy, so why over-expose him?

– Just flipped the TV over to Fox News for a second. Were Dick Morris and Bob Huggins separated at birth?

As always, the Fourth of July Holiday weekend is likely to be one of the busiest boating weekends of the year in Tennessee, and officials from several state agencies are urging boaters to use caution on crowded waterways.

There have been 70 boating accidents in Tennessee already this year, resulting in 28 injuries and 11 fatalities. Conservation officers from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency have also issued 59 citations for Boating Under the Influence (BUI) in 2008.

It’s important to remember that alcohol and water don’t mix, especially if you’re the one driving the boat. Operating a boat with a blood-alcohol content of .08 or higher is illegal in Tennessee – and it’s easier to reach that level than you might think.

When you’re out in the sun and the heat with the boat rocking underneath you, the effects of one beer can sometimes be equivalent to drinking three beers in a normal, dry-land situation.

I once did an experiment in Columbus, Ga., to see how many beers it took to get me “legally drunk” on the water.

Under the supervision of a Georgia conservation officer and a designated driver, I drank six beers and blew a .09 on the breathalyzer. If I had actually been operating the boat, it would have been a ticket straight to the drunk tank, in handcuffs.

From what I hear, judges don’t view BUI any differently than DUI. So the misery won’t end when the handcuffs come off.

Don’t let alcohol ruin your three-day weekend. Don’t take a chance of hurting yourself or someone else. Don’t allow yourself to become one of those statistics I mentioned above.

When I write about you on the outdoors page, I’d rather you be listed under “High Fives” instead of “Facts & Figures.”