No pain, big gains

Mike DeCourcy

He points to the area where the pain would sear through his body each time exercise pushed him toward fatigue. His index finger starts just below the Left side of his rib cage, tracing down to a spot near the middle of his thigh. Then he does the same on his right side. That is how it feels to have a double sports hernia.

Though it didn't do him or his Louisville teammates much good, Taquan Dean played regularly through that agony from late January until mid-March. He missed two games and never was the same after returning. Neither were the Cardinals, who went from a 16-game winning streak to a 4-9 finish.

"It was very depressing," Dean says. "I was so fatigued, I couldn't get up a shot. If you're giving it all you've got and you're still losing, it feels like there's nothing you can do."

Louisville has seen what kind of team it has when Dean isn't healthy and does not wish to look back. The Cardinals did not enjoy the happiest offseason, losing recruits Sebastian Telfair and Donta Smith to the NBA draft and now freshman power forward Brian Johnson for the season because of pending knee surgery. But Louisville still figures to be better, and Dean's return to health--after surgery in June and an extended rehabilitation--is the most significant reason.

Dean was recruited as a shooting guard but gradually moved to the point. He is not exceptionally creative but guides the offense with confidence and ranks with the best shooters and defenders at the position. Dean's return to controlling the offense is the biggest reason Louisville will stick around the top 20, for a change.

These are a couple of others:

* A reborn post game. The return of 6-7, 245-pound senior Ellis Myles from an injury redshirt and the arrival of 68, 245-pound freshman Juan Palacios give the Cardinals two more inside scorers. With Johnson, it would have been three, but this still is an improvement. Myles, who averaged 7.8 points and 7.9 rebounds as a junior in 2002-03, can be enough of a force on the block to occasionally draw a double-team.

Palacios is highly skilled, an excellent ballhandler and passer who can hit midrange shots. He is remarkably powerful for someone who's 19.

* Francisco Garcia's imminent stardom. A 6-7 wing, Garcia already is an All-Conference USA player. Compared by Louisville coach Rick Pitino to the Pistons' Richard Hamilton, Garcia will be an All-American as a junior.

When Dean was injured and there was little inside game to occupy defenses, Garcia was expected to deliver too large of a portion of the scoring and had to generate too much on his own. Garcia's field-goal, 3-point and free throw percentages all fell significantly. With Dean's presence leading to better shots and more help coming from the big men, Garcia should average between 18 and 21 points.

Louisville is not as deep as Pitino would prefer. To get to 10 players in the rotation, he has to use walk-ons Perrin Johnson and Brad Gianiny. That places a governor on Pitino's preference for fullcourt pressure, though he is considering using a "red team" of reserves--recoloring the "blue team" concept introduced by former North Carolina coach Dean Smith--to periodically enter as an entire unit and turn up the pace of the game.

After his injury, the impact on Dean's offensive production was obvious. What hurt nearly as much was the absence of his leadership. Dean still played but was preoccupied with physical challenges.

"He didn't play with the same intensity; he couldn't," Garcia says. "It's great that he's better. He brings a lot of energy. He's a leader."

Dean is not completely recovered. He estimates his fitness at 95 percent. There is no pain, though. And the Cardinals' first big game is Monday at the Maui Invitational. That can't hurt, either.

speed reads

Did Ohio State really think it was going to fire Jim O'Brien without paying him some money? Do the Buckeyes really need to fight a lawsuit, with all the public-relations fires burning through the football program? O'Brien's contract should have been settled when he was dismissed. The bungling never seems to end in Columbus.

Maybe Illinois forward Brian Randle needs to watch more baseball. Then he would have known Yankees pitcher Kevin Brown ruined his 2004 season by losing a fight with a wall. Randle, who would have helped the Illini, did the same thing and had surgery to repair a broken hand. He will miss six weeks minimum but could redshirt. The wall never loses these confrontations.

Boston College has four starters back from a team that was four points away from the Sweet 16. Forward Craig Smith is a star, and though the guards aren't great, they were good enough to help the Eagles win 24 games last year. You want a sleeper, this is it.

INSIDE DISH

North Carolina coaches are trying to make certain backup PG Quentin Thomas isn't overwhelmed by the spectacle of opening his college career in his hometown of Oakland--especially now that starting PG Raymond Felton is suspended for playing in an unsanctioned summer game. The Tar Heels play in Oakland against Santa Clara on Friday in the Pete Newell Challenge, and Thomas will have his Oakland Tech jersey retired at halftime. He will miss the ceremony, though; Thomas will be in the locker room listening to coach Roy Williams. * The second half of the Challenge features a matchup of coaching debuts, Trent Johnson's at Stanford and Jessie Evans' at San Francisco. * Oregon coach Ernie Kent is plenty excited about freshman SF Mallk Hairston, but Kent also can't stop talking about what sophomore PG Aaron Brooks will do this season. Brooks is as fast as any Division I point guard, plays unselfishly and could be a dangerous 3-point shooter. What separates him from many fast guards is his ability to look upcourt during the break and find teammates with passes. Brooks has not gotten a lot of preseason recognition because of the broken hand that interrupted his freshman season and the logjam of gifted point guards around the nation. * Vermont coach Tom Brennan has confirmed that he will retire after this season. He thinks an announcement now might put associate head coach Jesse Agel in position to succeed him, and rumors about Brennan's status were hurting recruiting. Brennan hopes to go out with a third consecutive America East championship, and the Catamounts have two of the league's best players in F Taylor Coppenrath and G T.J. Sorrentine. "I've still got a lot of things I want to do:' Brennan says. "And one of them is nothing." * Iowa State needs more frontcourt size, but not the kind freshman C Aaron Agnew provided upon arriving in Ames. Agnew, who is 6-9, weighed in the neighborhood of 400 pounds. He since has cut that back to 365, although a muscle pull has limited his preseason practice time. The Cyclones might need to play undersized much of the time, emphasizing speed and athleticism. They have an elite backcourt with sophomores Curtis Stinson and Will Blalock, and 6-6 freshman Rahshon Clark has great potential. Iowa State coach Wayne Morgan believes New Orleans Hornets rookie J.R. Smith was the only member of the 2004 prep class with better athleticism than Clark. * With four freshmen likely in the rotation, Kentucky is taking time putting in its multiple defensive sets. The past two seasons, the Wildcats relied on experience and intelligence more than size or speed. It will take time for this team to have as big of a playbook. * Not good news for Mississippi State: At least one NBA scout stopped by the Lanier High gym in Jackson, Miss., to look at 6-4 PG Monta Ellis. His play in the Reebok Big Time Tournament sparked the possibility that he will enter the draft rather than fulfill his commitment to the Bulldogs.

* Marquette PG Travis Diener still looks like everyone's little brother--but he also looks like the brother who can beat you up. Diener added nearly 20 pounds of muscle during the offseason, and he is better able to finish plays in the lane and handle being bumped as he makes cuts. In two exhibition games, he averaged 30.5 points and 10.0 assists. Diener shot 9-of-11 from inside the 3-point line, proof he's becoming better in traffic. "He's better coming off a screen," says assistant Jeff Strohm. "If he gets blitzed, he isn't taken out of the play." The added strength also helps Diener as a defender.

Great players, but ...

One hazard of compiling a list of the top 30 players in college basketball (TSN, November 8) is you can find room for only 30 names-out of more than 3,500 players. My e-mail box yielded 14 deserving players whom readers contended I wrongly excluded. Some were cited multiple times. Following the squeaky-wheel theory, I'll address why those mentioned most just missed the cut.

Raymond Felton, PG, North Carolina. He was the last player removed, and it hurt to do it. Felton easily could play his way to All-American level. But be averaged 11.5 points and shot 42.0 percent in an offense that was designed for him to do more.

Nate Robinson, G, Washington. Robinson is the most athletic guard in Division I, but he is trying to prove himself as a playmaker when he might fit better as a scorer. If this gets straightened out, he will rank with the best.

Kelenna Azubuike, SF, Kentucky. He's athletic, a solid ballhandler and a terrific shooter. He'll get the chance to do more as a junior. But how much more? Will Azubuike become an 18-point scorer?. I think he'll shoot handsome percentages and score in the midteens. That will leave him short of the small forwards included, such as Arizona's Hassan Adams and Alabama's Kennedy Winston.--M.D.

decourcy@sportingnews.com

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