To know list: 7 items to ponder while the Red Sox teach us how to 'cowboy down'

Sporting News, The, July 12, 2004

(1) REMEMBER THE NAME

The buzz is starting: Greg Oden has all the right stuff

The most gifted basketball player who won't be paid to play next season will not suit up for Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State or Connecticut. He won't be preparing for his high school graduation. He won't enter the NBA draft. Greg Oden still is two months from starting his junior year at Lawrence North High School in Indiana.

Oden, 16, is 7-0, 240 pounds. This is what I wrote about him last summer: "Oden is the most polished prep 7-footer since--no kidding--Lew Alcindor." Since then, he has improved.

The NCAA's summer evaluation period sent coaches and scouts from college and NBA teams on the road earlier this week to elite talent camps sponsored by Nike, Adidas and Reebok. Wherever Oden plays, he'll be the best player in the gym, and the buzz about him is about to get very loud.

He was the MVP of the Indiana state tournament, where Lawrence North won the Class 4A tide. He was MVP of the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions during Memorial Day weekend, when his Spiece Indy Heat team claimed the title. He was named the most outstanding prospect at the NBA Players Association Camp in June. Oden's acclaim has been earned, not manufactured.

Recruiting analyst Dave Telep says Oden is "a go-to move away from being completely dominant." Oden still wonders whether he's any good. He is humble and committed to improving.

Oden has quick feet, handles the ball well and understands how to use his body to score. He is even more advanced as a defensive player. Analyst Van Coleman of Hoopmasters.com saw Oden block five shots in one 30-second sequence at the Nike Peach ]am tournament last summer, but that's not what impressed Coleman most.

"This is something not everybody is going to get excited about, but Greg Oden is a great student of playing the game;' Coleman says. "At the NBA players camp, he worked all week to look like Tim Duncan: dropping off passes immediately on double-teams for layups or dunks, trying to use his footwork.

"He's not content to be the most athletic big man in the gym. He's becoming a player."--Mike DeCourcy

(2) KRZYZEWSKI WATCH

Duke still would matter

Whether Mike Krzyzewski or someone whose name you actually can spell is coaching Duke next season you won't be able to write off the Blue Devils.

Among the crackpot theories regarding Krzyzewski's flirtation with the Lakers was this: With freshman Luol Deng and recruit Shann Livingston leaving to become lottery picks, it was better for Krzyzewski to get out now before the losing starts.

The thing is, Duke might have a better rotation than L.A. Next season, the Devils will feature four McDonald's All-Americans: forward Shavlik Randolph, wings J.J. Redick and Daniel Ewing and point guard Sean Dockery. Add center Shelden Williams, and Duke will have one of the best starting fives in the nation.

Those close to the situation expect that a new coach would be a "family" hire-assistant Johnny Dawkins, Notre Dame's Mike Brey or Michigan's Tommy Amaker. The new coach would take over a great program--and a potentially great team.--M.D.

(3) ONLY IN AMERICA

Their first words: 'Da-da-DA! Da-da-DA!'

You don't find "ESPN" in books on baby names. Nevertheless, at least three kids in the United States will (eventually, anyway) answer to that.

Leading off. Espen Blondeel, born January 26, 2000, fathered by a sports junkie in Newaygo, Mich. "it just hit me watching SportsCenter and seeing the initials: What a cool name!" Chad Blondeel says. The other choices for his firstborn son were Jalen (as in Rose) and Kobe, so Espen's mother agreed, but she softened it with the extra "e" (as in Espen Knutsen of the Blue Jackets). Chad: "Otherwise, you know, other kids might've made fun of him."

Later, a Corpus Christi, Texas, couple welcomed Espn Curiel into the world, and in Pampa, Texas, a new mom and dad christened ESPN McCall. All will appear in ESPN25 programming this summer.

No siblings have been named ESPN2 or Classic ... yet.--Fritz Quindt

(4) BRITISH OPEN--JULY 15-18

If you're long, don't be wrong

The visual similarity between three of the four venues for this year's major championships reflects a definite requirement for victory. The British Open at Scotland's Royal Troon will be played on a true links course; last month's U.S. Open at Long Island's Shinnecock Hills and the PGA Championship at Wisconsin's Whistling Straits in August are close imitators.

Though detractors might claim Retief Goosen's performance for the ages in brutal conditions at Shinnecock defies logical explanation, there is little question that accurate ball-strikers with creative short games and solid putting are rewarded. Staying out of trouble and knowing where to miss a shot are key. The organizers of the British Open are unlikely to suffer from the same course-setup aneurysm that crippled the USGA on Sunday at Shinnecock, but "long and wrong" will be penalized at Troon.

Don't be surprised to see the same cast of characters in the hunt at this year's third major. The odds are not all that long that a lefthander will win--and not necessarily the one or two you're thinking of.