Alex Rochestie // Current TV

Pac 10 Player of the Week (Jan. 15/17, 2009): Taylor Rochestie

In a great weekend of Pac 10 hoops I must give out my pick for the Pac 10 POTW, Taylor Rochestie.

Taylor led the Cougs to back to back road wins agains Oregon State University (in Overtime) and Oregon in his last visit to "Mack" Court. In these two games Rochestie tallied 44 points and 15 assists (both weekend high's for the Pac) while playing a pac 10 high 84 minutes of solid point guard play. He tied a WSU single game record for free-throws going 16 for 16 from the stripe against Oregon and reached a career milestone while in Corvallis where he eclipsed the 1,000 point mark. Surely his performance should be rewarded with the Player of the Week honor. So, if there is any justice in the world, the powers that be will AT LEAST honor him with an honorable mention for Player of the Week.

The only other player that is worth mentioning would be

USC's Dwight Lewis who led the Trojans to two wins over the Arizona teams. He did have 39 points and 6 assists (along with 5 turnovers in his 73 minutes of play) and Arizona/Arizona St. are definitely tougher teams than those Rochestie and WSU encountered, even at home in the Galen Center. So I won't be suprised if USC/Lewis gets the nod this on Monday but hope that the honor goes to Rochestie.

Going by straight statistics nobody had a better week than Rochestie. Going past the box-score, for those of us who know anything about WSU's style of play, 44 points is a huge number for anyone playing for Tony Bennet & Co.

In both games Rochestie was THE difference maker in the outcome vs. Oregon hitting big three's and every free throw needed in the second half. Against OSU, Rochestie made a three pointer and found Daven Harmeling for another trey, giving WSU it's last 6 points in regulation. He had 8 assists in the overtime win against the Beavers and hit his 1,000th point as an NCAA player. All of this while being targeted by opposing coaches as the primary player to "shut down." While the Cougs have other options (Thompson, Baynes, etc.) Rochestie was indespensible while the same is not likely true of Lewis who had plenty of help from the likes of Gibson, Hackett, DeRozan, etc.

Hopefully the news on Monday is reasonable but considering the fact that WSU hasn't had a Player of the Week since... it's been a while. Did I miss anything? Wanna plead the case for Lewis or someone else? Go for it.In a great weekend of Pac 10 hoops I must give out my pick for the Pac 10 POTW, Taylor... more

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Greedy, Why Wait? Why High School Ballers Are Over College

In basketball today, the almighty dollar rules the world. Take young Brandon Jennings for example. One of the top high school players in the country has recently decided to skip college and go straight to the pros. Maybe your saying "Wait a second AROC, I thought high schoolers had to go to at least one year of college before going to the pros." Well you are correct my friend but only in the case of the NBA. This is not the case when it comes to playing professionally in places over seas where no such rules apply. "Ah yes AROC I think I know where you are going with this."

Over the past decade symptoms of foreign interest and involvement in the game of basketball have been growing. Before the year 2000 if I said "international basketball" you'd probably think "Tony Kucoc or Detlef Schremph?". The US has dominated the sport since its inception but now things are changing quickly. Yao Ming, Tony Parker, and Steve Nash are but a few of the foreigners that are among the best players in the league. The fact that the USA basketball team is even being questioned as the consensus pick to win the Olympics should be evidence enough to convince us all that the game is changing.

Back to Brandon Jennings. The NBA's policy is such that a player is not allowed to enter the NBA Draft straight out of high school. At first this seems like a great idea. Better players in the NCAA, more mature players in the NBA and happy fans across the boards. Besides the 1/1000 players that have a career changing injury in that one year of college everybody wins. Right? Problem is that the kids want or in a few cases need the money and don't want to wait it out. In this years NBA draft many players from overseas were questioning whether or not it was worth it to join a team that may not even garauntee them a spot on the roster. Rookie contracts in the NBA are also becoming a factor as non-NBA contracts continue to grow with the popularity of the sport. Some players might be able to find a more lucrative contracts abroad whereas the NBA limits the amount of money a rookie can make.

In the case of high schoolers like Jennings, possibly the best h.s. player in his class, the difference is very significant. A free year of schooling and college hoops at Arizona or hundreds of thousands of dollars and pro basketball overseas. Well Brandon Jennings has made his decision and will become the first player to give up his scholarship. Dorm rooms and textbooks? No Sir. He will likely play ball in Europe for a year, make a bundle of cash (hopefuly Euros for his sake) and watch college hoops from his apartment in Italy.

This will undoubtedly set the precedent for the future and could even lead to others following suit this year. The whole thing wreaks of Maurice Clarett but it does make sense and will probably work out better for the Jennings. The jig is up everyone. If it wasn't going to be Jennings then it was going to be somebody else. What remains to be seen/heard is the reaction from the NBA and NCAA chieftons who'd be smart to start figuring out a way to stop this from happening. If not, there could be two drafts next year and and a bunch of 6'9 kids signing up for Latin. In basketball today, the almighty dollar rules the world. Take young Brandon Jennings... more