Friday's Tidbits: July 3

This past week has been extremely busy in the world of sports. Let's get to the big stories, and ones that didn't make SportsCenter and even, Outside the Lines.....

1. College Football News and Notes.....

-Evan Berry, the younger brother of Tennessee defensive back and likely 2010 NFL first round pick, Eric Berry, verbally committed to Lane Kiffen and the Volunteer staff last week, after Evan received a scholarship offer from Kiffen. While this sounds like any old standard college committment, the younger Berry is just 13 years old. In other words, he will be a freshman in high school this coming fall.

Is it me, or is 13 years old extremely young for a kid to decide on which school he will attend in four years? It's mind boggling how these kids are committing to schools at such a young age, while not taking into consideration of how their bodies and outset on life will change during their teen years.

For all we know, Evan could eventually stand 6-1, 210 by his senior year, be ranked atop the 2013 class as a free safety, and even own a five-star rating on Rivals.com. But these results are not a guarantee, and the sad thing about college football recruiting is scholarships are not a guarantee either, until they are signed on the dotted line on Signing Day. Meaning, if Evan doesn't pan out like his brother Eric, Kiffen (if he is still around, mind you) can pull the offer at anytime.

Talk about false hope.

-Many top notch sports publications have recently come out with their 2009 NCAA college football preseason polls, and if you're like me, I get a little 'getty' this time of year. Despite getting wild up like a teenage girl, it's important to understand that preseason polls don't mean much, it just gives us an early look at who may be a factor this season. As you'll see in the polls below, Florida is the clear favorite to repeat as champion next season, led by last season Heisman trophy winner, Tim Tebow.

Here is a collection of preseason polls by the top publications:

ESPN
Bleacher Report
Phil Steele, Lindy's, Athlon, Sporting News (combined)


2. NBA Free Agency

-The bidding wars and smart money guys in NBA offices have been busy lately as the NBA free agent season has gotten off to a Usian Bolt-like start. At the moment, many players are still looking for a new home, including future Hall of Famer and notorious 'bad boy' Allen Iverson. We'll recap the players who have signed with new teams in a bit.

As for A.I., if or when he signs with his new team, he will have 13 years under his belt, which nowadays is considered a season veteran, or for someone in Iverson's case, someone who is past hit prime. I think he'd even admit he has lost a step.

But the question all week has been this regarding A.I.... will a team risk spending 10+ million and possible on court sagas for a still talented, but slower point guard with Hall of Fame accolades? Rumors suggest if Iverson doesn't receive around the 10+ million mark, he may retire at the age of 34. Pride may be an issue with him, since 5 million a year and coming of the bench may hurt his ego. I don't believe he will retire, but anything is possible with this guy.

**Side bit-Iverson made 20 million last year with Detroit.

Now, let's get to this list of major signings this past week...

Ben Gordon to Detroit (old team Chicago) 5 year, 50 million
Charlie Villanueva to Detroit (old team Milwaukee) 5 year, 35 million
Ron Artest to Los Angeles (old team Houston) 3 year, 18 million
Trevor Ariza to Houston (old team Los Angeles) 5 year, 33.5 million

Best of the rest who are still not signed and their possible future team...

Hedo Turkoglu (Portland)
Rasheed Wallace (Boston)
Jason Kidd (New York or Dallas)
Lamar Odom (Los Angeles)
Shawn Marion (Toronto, Chicago..?)

3. Notre Dame Football Recruiting

Past week committment recap.

LB- Blake Lueders, 6-5, 250 pounds (Four-star)
QB- Andrew Hendrix, 6-4, 220 pounds (Four-Star)
CB- Lo Wood, 5-10, 160 pounds (Three-Star)
S- Chris Badger, 6-0, 178 pounds (Three-Star)

(Star ratings according to Rivals.com)

Who's next?

-Tommy Rees, a three-star, pro-style quarterback out of Lake Forest, Illinois, recently earned a Notre Dame offer after a good showing at the Irish Summer High School Camp last weekend. He said he wants to make a decision before his senior season, and the Irish are in good position for his committment. He will pick from Notre Dame, Tennessee and Stanford.

-Highly regarded four-star linebacker and running back Anthony Barr out of Los Angeles, could pull the trigger at anytime, and the Irish sit well with the California prodigy. Notre Dame will compete with UCLA, USC, Cal and Florida, for his services. Barr has a strong Irish connection as he is the son of former Notre Dame running back Tony Brooks (1987-1991) and nephew of Irish standout Reggie Brooks (1989-1992).


4. Indiana Basketball Recruiting

-Indiana head coach Tom Crean says he loves recruiting, and as of late, that's all he has been doing. Over the past week, Crean has hosted a number of top recruits from around the Midwest and state of Indiana, most notably Cameron Wright (2010), Cody Zeller (2011), Branden Dawson (2011), Ron Patterson (2012) and Jeremy Hollowell (2012).

All of these prospects hold Indiana offers, with Hollowell picking up a Hoosier offer this past Tuesday.

-Indiana's prize recruit Kyrie Irving has been quiet as of late, except for putting on a 44 point, eight assist performance at the Red Storm Elite Camp.

5. Football recruiting from around the Big Ten

Michigan

-Rich Rodriguez and Michigan have signed 15 recruits this offseason that they hope will shape the future of their program. Two of these recruits stand out above the rest, as both could see playing time as freshmen.

1. Devin Gardner, a four-star, dual-threat quarterback, picked the Wolverines over offers from Notre Dame, Michigan State, and Oregon. Gardner will fit perfectly in Rodriguez's run-spread offense.

2. Christian Pace, the fifth ranked center according to Rivals.com, chose Michigan over Florida State, Iowa, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, South Carolina and Stanford. Pace could see playing time at guard his freshman season.

-Although Michigan has moved to a run-first offensive scheme, the Wolverines currently lead the nation in most signed receivers, with four.

Indiana

-Bill Lynch is a happy man this week, as four players have committed to the Hoosiers for the 2010 season. The four players include defensive end Jimbreel Black and Ryan Phillips, running back Matt Perez, and offensive guard Marlandez Harris.

-The Hoosiers have nine total commitments to date.

Purdue

New Boilermakers head coach Danny Hope has made up for lost time in impressive fashion by picking up four commitments since June 22. The top recruit thus far in this class is 6-3, 185 pound wide receiver Jeremy Cornelius. Despite not owning a star rating, Cornelius could have waited for more offers to pile in, instead he chose Purdue over offers from Iowa, Syracuse and Pittsburgh.

The three other commitments are tight end De'Ron Flood, defensive end Ryan Isaacs, and wide receiver Charlie Torwudzo.

6. Water cooler news and notes...

-Harding star running back Roderick Smith ended his college recruitment last night by verbally committing to Ohio State, according to Scout.com. Smith, who is on pace to set the SAC all-time rushing record, is the first running back committment to the Buckeyes this year, and he selected Ohio State over an impressive offer list that included Purdue, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State.

Rivals.com ranks the 6-3, 220 pound Smith as the fifth best high school senior running back in the nation.

-USA men's soccer almost won the FIFA Federation Cup last Sunday, but fell to Brazil 3-2. Unfortunately, the Yankees couldn't hold on to a 2-0 first half lead. The loss, in retrospect, was good for the United States soccer team, as is showed the Americans can play at the highest level and not back down from the big boys, such as Spain and Brazil. However, all of this won't matter unless they can put on a similar showing in next year's World Cup.

I have a feeling more teams will not look past the Red, White, and Blue.

-IU basketball fans mark your calendars for December 8, 2009. Indiana will travel to Madison Square Garden to take on Big East powerhouse Pittsburgh, as part of the Jimmy V Classic.

-Have a second to check out a few kid prodigies? For their ages, these kids are great at their respective sport. Not sure, though, about the seventh grade basketball player being the best in his age group. As a few friends tell me after spotting a good looking girl on the beach, I've seen better....

-Ball State legend and current sportscaster Brian Collins was once again featured on SI.com's front page.

Instant Classic.

-Jeff Samardzija has been recalled from Triple-A Iowa, and will move into the Chicago Cubs bullpen.

Off Topic:

I want to take a moment, and send my condolences to the family of Mark A. Brueggeman. Mark lost his life this morning, leaving behind a lot of friends in the Bishop Luers and Ball State communities, as well as a great Catholic family. You will be missed by many Mark, thank you for brightening people's day for the last 23 years.

Happy 4th of July everyone.