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This was one I think a lot of us saw coming. Well maybe we didn't see it coming but we certainly weren't suprised today when UNC announced that rising junior forward Alex Stepheson was transferring.

The listed reason given for Stepheson's departure is that he wants to go to school closer to home in California because of "several health concerns" in his family. The press release doesn't mention what those concerns are, but Stepheson missed two games this season when he went back to California to be with his father, who was ill.

If that's the only reason - and that's the only reason given in UNC's press release - that Stepheson is leaving, he may be able to claim hardship and be eligible to play next season.

Maybe that is the primary reason Stepheson's leaving. But his future playing time situation at UNC certainly didn't make his decision any more difficult. The two big men who started ahead of him last season - Tyler Hansbrough and Deon Thompson, were returning. Two more post players - Tyler Zeller and Ed Davis - were coming in as freshmen in the fall. If anything Stepheson was looking at less minutes as a junior than he got as a sophomore.

So you can see why - even without the health concerns - it's hardly stunning news that Stepheson is leaving.

Which brings me to this point: transfers are just a way of life in big-time basketball.

For some reason though, we always want to attach some dark tag to it. Either the player is a malcontent or the coach has broken promises. After Taylor King transferred at Duke a Blue Devils fans wondered aloud to me why K always drives players out of the program.

Maybe I'm wearing rose-colored lenses, but I don't see it that way. Actually, I probably take a more grim view of the process. It's an expected part of the process, the natural law of selection in college basketball at its highest level. It would be nice if every kid that signed on with a big-time program got his time to shine on the court. Nice, but not very effective.

The most talented players get the minutes, the less talented players either accept their reduced roles or they go somewhere else where they think they can get more playing time. Rarely do players opt to stick around as backups. There aren't many Quentin Thomases at the top of Division I basketball.

Now I'll grant you, transfers do seem to be a pretty common occurrence in Durham (King, Jamal Boykin, Michael Thompson and Andre Sweet all left in recent years). Maybe that means K is just Bobby Knight with a better sense of sideline fashion. Or maybe it means that K collects a lot of talent, plays a relatively small rotation and doesn't worry too much about whether that combination might lead to players going elsewhere to find playing time.

That sort of thing happens less with Roy, which UNC fans will probably tell you is because their coach is such a great guy. But he's also a great guy who prefers to throw in waves of substitutes, insuring that minutes are spread around much wider than over at Duke. The equation is pretty simple. More minutes = less transfers.

So in a way, UNC fans should see the loss of Stepheson as a good thing. I know, it's never a good thing to lose a 245-pound wall of muscle with good shot-blocking instincts. But it could be an indication that Roy has so much talent on his bench that not even his method of spreading out the minutes can keep everyone happy.

.... okay, it's not a medal stand in .. say, Beijing, but still, it's pretty impressive.

First, a quick reintroduction. Lind is a Greensboro native who took up rowing while at prep school and has progressed to the point where she's a solid favorite to be on the women's eight crew for the U.S. at the Olympics.

Last weekend, though, Lind tried at her hand at the women's pair. And it went pretty darned well.

Lind and her partner, Elle Logan picked up a bronze medal. Pretty impressive, huh? Even more impressive when you consider that Lind and Logan had NEVER rowed in an international competition before. Really, really impressive when you consider that this was Logan's FIRST elite international competition.

(I added the all caps for emphasis. If you want to imagine me yelling this, go right ahead).

Does this mean Lind might have a shot at a second event in Beijing? I don't know right now, but don't worry, I'm looking into it. My hunch though, is that this was more of a very, very advanced training session for her.

Check that, a very, very impressive training session.

UPDATE: 5:18
Actually, never trust my hunches. According to the folks at Stanford, where Logan went to school, Lind and Logan are hoping to qualify for the Olympics at an upcoming World Cup race in Lucerne.

Now, does this mean Lind is no longer in the picture for the women's eight? I'm not going to hazard a guess on that. I'll just let you know as soon as I find out.

I'll be honest, I'd kind of lost track of the major league career of former UNCG Spartan Brian Moehler. Pitching long relief for the Houston Astros will do that to a guy.

Apparently, according to the Houston Chronicle, the Dodgers weren't keeping up either. They put his name on the scoreboards as "Brad" Moehler.

Brad, Brian, whatever, Moehler was pretty darned good in his return to the bigs, pitching five scoreless innings while striking out five to win a 7-1 decision.

What's he been doing lately you ask? Well, even if you didn't ask, I'm going to tell you. That's the perks of having a blog.

Friday's start for Moehler was the first one since Sep. 29, 2006, when he was with the Marlins. It was Moehler's first win as a starter since June 17, 2006 when he beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-2. He lost his last six starts that season. (A major tip of the hat to the folks at Baseball Reference for those tidbits)

Is this the start of something new for Moehler? Probably not - he should get at least one more start before the guy he replaced in the rotation, Wandy Rodriguez returns from the dreaded groin strain. Either way, Moehler, who's 36 (man, time flies) sounds like he's in a pretty good place right now in his career.

"I'm at a point in my career where I really just want to go to the playoffs. And whatever role there is, whether it's reliever or starter or both, it doesn't matter to me. I enjoy either role," Moehler said. "Am I capable of starting? Yeah, but I'm probably not capable of giving them 32-35 starts anymore."

Right now the playoffs are looking like a very real possibility for Moehler and the Astros. They're 4-0 on their current road trip and have won nine of their last 10. Houston is currently 22-17, just 1.5 games out of first in the NL Central.

Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to posting this information. Maybe it's because it's not great news. A week ago I wrote this story about former Page High School wide receiver Brandon Copeland. It was a feel-good story about a guy who went from Page to Division III Bridgewater to getting an NFL tryout with the Cleveland Browns.

Unfortunately, it looks like Copeland wasn't able to win the hearts and minds of the Browns' coaches, as this list of tryout signees shows.

Remember, Copeland didn't got to Cleveland's camp with a contract in hand. He merely earned the right to tryout and hopefully beat out another signee for a spot on the 80-man roster. Unfortunately, it looks like that didn't happen.

When I last spoke with Copeland he was very realistic about his slim chances but also adamant that he would keep his pro footballd dream alive regardless of the results from the Brown's minicamp. I'll try to track him down to see what might be next.

I knew it was coming, but even when it happened, I had to grit my teeth to keep from saying something.

A few minutes into Nate James' introductory press conference, someone asked whether James would be Duke's new big man coach.

Look, I get that, at 6-6, James is now the tallest guy on the staff. But really, there's an unspoken subtext to this question: "You're going to be the big man coach, right? Because there's no way 5-10 Steve Wojciechowski should still be doing that job."

Nate came up with a smooth, thoughtful reply, which bodes well for his future dealing with us media types.

"Seeing (Chris Collins and Wojciechowski) do the jobs that they do, it doesn’t matter if they’re 7 feet tall or 5-11 or however tall they are, they do a tremendous job," James said.

You can take issue with whether Wojciechowski does a tremendous job with Duke's big men. And it's certainly possible that Wojo will take over coaching the point guards now that Johnny Dawkins is gone and that James will indeed coach the big men.

Just please, please don't assume it's because James is eight inches taller than Wojo.

First, think back to when James played at Duke. He was a gritty, tough player, but he was a swingman. When did you ever see James post up on the low blocks? So he has as much playing experience in the paint as Wojo.

Second, take a look at other coaching staffs around the ACC, and around the country for that matter? See many 6-9 guys on the bench? Didn't think so. So just about every college has a guy who's not a big man coaching its big men. I'm not exactly sure why that is but, as Sidney Lowe would say "It is what it is." I've never stood really close to UNC big man coach Joe Holladay - that would probably creep him out - but I don't think he's a towering figure. Yet I'm pretty sure the Tar Heels are solid on the inside.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox for a moment and admit I'm part of the problem. Back in the day when I was full-time on the Duke beat and I was always looking for some story, any story about the Blue Devils, I did the "Hey, isn't it neat that a former Duke point guard is coaching big men?" I'm not proud of it. But ost of the story ended up being about how you don't have to be a big man to coach them. Would it help? I'm sure it always helps to have personal experience at the position when you're teaching it. But it's not a requirement.

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So Nate James will have his introductory press conference in less than an hour and I'm feeling old. I mean, what does it say about me that I guy I used to know only as "Nate Dogg" is now an assistant coach at Duke? (And will I slip up and call him Nate Dogg while addressing him today?)

Not that K consulted with me on this, but I think the James hire makes a lot of sense - particularly if James takes a major role in recruiting, which we'll find out more about later today.

Given K's recent hiring practices and the realities of college basketball, it wasn't hard to narrow down the list of candidates for the job. It was pretty obvious that the new assistant would be a) a former Duke player and b) African-American.

Don't get all PC on me about the second part of this. It's a reality of college basketball, and quite frankly a good one, I'd say - that every staff have at least one African-American coach on its bench. This isn't about quotas or affirmative action. It's just common sense. Think about it from this direction: how weird would it look, in a sport in which most teams have a majority of African-American players to have a coaching staff that is all white? And, given how much Duke fights a reputation as being a lilly-white elitist institution, how much flack would the Blue Devils take for having an all-white staff?

But really, I digress. This wasn't meant to be a discussion about race, but rather what many felt Duke needed for its staff. And, despite the sterling reputations of each of its assistant coaches, there were many Duke fans and observers who felt K's bench needed some new blood. Certainly Nate James brings that. And a strong reputation as one of the toughest, most unselfish players K has ever had. It's a lot easier to teach those values to your players when you've walked the walk so to speak. You'd have to assume that James will be out on the road recruiting quite a bit more than the man he essentially replaces, Dawkins.

Speaking of recruiting, while the late commitment of Miles Plumlee certainly was a coup for the Blue Devils, it also raises a troubling question - why wasn't Duke interested in him in the first place? Plumlee's high school coach admitted that Plumlee had drawn zero attention from Duke before he initially signed with Stanford. Clearly, the Blue Devils eventually decided Plumlee was a player worth having. Why didn't they know that back, say, last summer.

The answer, I'd think, comes in the laser-like focus Duke has applied to its recruiting in recent seasons. The Blue Devils cast a very narrow net for prospects, which allows them to spend a great deal of time and energy on the recruits they go after. That's great when you're getting pretty much everyone you go after, which Duke had pretty much done until recently. But in the area of of big men, it's been widely publicized that the Blue Devils have swung and missed on their primary targets several times in recent years.

This last season the target was Greg Monroe, who committed to Georgetown without ever even taking his official visit to Duke. With other schools there would have been a backup plan. Heck, even Roy Williams uses them - Ed Davis didn't come along until after the Tar Heels lost out on guys like Samardo Samuels and Drew Gordon. If Duke had been operating a little differently, Miles Plumlee would probably have been on the Blue Devils' B list.

The good news for Duke though, is that it did eventually get Plumlee anyway. And the early indications are that the Blue Devils are changing recruiting tactics now, going after more prospects and putting a greater emphasis on finding athletes.

And now, the Blue Devils will have Nate Dogg, err, Nate James, helping out in that area.

Unless, of course, we get a groundswell of support for a post discussing how the United States could build a missile defense system using the same materials Mel Kiper Jr. uses to turn his hair into an impenetrable wall .

As we mentioned before in this post (Man, do I love self-linking) when William Hayes was picked in the fourth round by the Tennessee Titans, plenty of people voiced/typed skepticism.

Add this site to the list.

I provided this link not to pile on Hayes. Hey I'm hoping he proves all the skeptics wrong, goes on to a Hall of Fame career and hires me to ghost write his autobiography, then complains that he was "misquoted" a la Charles Barkley, driving up sales to the point where I can purchase my own minor league baseball team and hold promotions like "David Carridine Appreciation Night."

Where was I?

Oh yes, the link to yet another "Why did we draft William Hayes in the fourth round?" blog posting. This one was worth mentioning in this blog because it closes with this:

"Here is a philosophical draft question: There is a really good chance that the Titans could have gotten Hayes in the 4th round without trading up. Let’s say Hayes turns out to be a 4 time Pro Bowler. Does that make it worth giving up the picks to move up and get him, or is this a dumb pick even if he turns out to be really good (obviously not as dumb, but still dumb none the less)?"

So even if Hayes turns out to be a steal, were the Titans still morons for trading up to get him when they could have gotten him in the fifth round?

One of the posters provides the correct answer, I think, and highlights the inherent flaw in grading drafts and criticizing GMs for "reaching." The Titans clearly thought some other team in the NFL was going to grab Hayes early in the fourth round. That's why they traded a fifth round pick so they could move up in that round to get him. If the Titans' hunch was correct - and we have no way to verify this either way - then drafting Hayes in the fourth round wasn't a reach, because he would have been gone by the fifth round.

Or maybe the Titans misread the tea leaves, panicked and made an unnecessary trade to move up to a spot to pick Hayes when no one else was planning to pick him at that point. That seems to be the prevailing thought of those who say Tennessee could have waited a round, or two, or three before pulling the trigger on Hayes.

Again, unless you were in the Titans war room (Can we call a moratorium on war room? This is a draft, not the Pacific Theater) you don't know which scenario is true. Which means you don't know if Tennessee reached or not.

Which means most of these draft grades are pointless. But you already knew that, didn't you?

That's all we'll have on the draft until next spring, we promise. If anything exciting happens to our locals in rookie camps this weekend, we'll let you know. Then it's on to discussing the injury plague that's spreading through my fantasy baseball roster like a wildfire on performance enhancers.

And who exactly is "they"? Primarily NFL analysts, wonks, fantasy geeks and Cincy fans.

This would-be GM "redrafted" for the Bengals, i.e. letting us know who he would have picked based on who was available at the time of each Cincy pick. Let's just say he wasn't pleased with the Simpson pick:

Second round, 15th pick, 46 overall. Cincy picked Jerome Simpson, a wide receiver out of the Carolina School of the Beach. I would have picked ANYONE ELSE. AAAAAAAAHHHHH. As my brother-in-law said, every year the Bengals just have a head-scratcher. This is it. Hope I’m wrong. At this point, I really wanted Quentin Groves, DE/rush linebacker from Auburn. Calais Campbell from the U would have been a pick here as well. If you needed to draft a wideout, Limas Sweed or Malcolm Kelly were on the board.

Allrighty then. Moving on ...

The fantasy guys feel pretty good about Simpson. They like the fact he's going to a team that has already lost one of its top three receivers (Chris Henry) and probably will part ways with another (guy by the name of Chad Johnson). Here's the take from the Sporting News.

16. Jerome Simpson, WR, Bengals. You might have heard something about Chad Johnson being unhappy and possibly holding out of Cincy. Whatever happens, Cincy seems ready to move on without him. Simpson is part of the moving on. The Bengals also grabbed another wideout, Andre Caldwell, later in the draft, but this Coastal Carolina product has a real good shot for extensive playing time, either as a No. 3 to replace Chris Henry, or a No. 2 pressed into duty if the team remains without Johnson.

This Cincy Enquirer article is pretty much down the middle, giving the Bengals brass plenty of room to explain why they went with Simpson. But check on the headling and the graphic at the bottom. Looks like the guys on the copy desk aren't happy with the pick. Yes, readers, we writers rarely, if ever, write the headlines. If I had a dime every time I got yelled at by someone who didn't like a headline on my story that I had no role in ... but I digress.

The Enquirer also had a draft analysis that was pretty harsh on Simpson. In, part writer Mark Carnutte didn't like Simpson because the Bengals needed so much defense. That's a fair argument. But Carnutte also took issue with Cincy's decision to pick Simpson before other receivers with more name recognition.

But the Bengals ignored defense again in the second round, giving in to the temptation to add a wide receiver from a small school who played against sub-par competition and doesn't even return kicks. Still, the team crowed over Coastal Carolina wide receiver Jerome Simpson, who was a projected fifth- or sixth-round pick by Pro Football Weekly and other draft publications.

Then there was this:

NFLDraftScout.com said the pro player Simpson most resembles is T.J. Houshmandzadeh. But it took Houshmandzadeh, a seventh-round pick, until his fourth season to produce at a high level.

Okay, I think it's time for me to step in with my own opinion here. After all, this is my blog. It's my right. Call me a homer if you want, but I've got a few bones to pick with this analysis.

Is Simpson's competition an issue? Sure. But the way this was written makes it sound like I-AA guys should never be picked, just on principal. Goodbye Steve McNair, Jerry Rice and Walter Payton, I guess.

It would be nice if Simpson returned kicks, I guess. But how many NFL teams use a starting wideout - which is what the Bengals want Simpson to become - as a returner? Not many. So that seems like nitpicking.

As for the comment that most draft publications had Simpson rated as a fifth or sixth-round pick, I'd have to ask - when where those publications published? Because after Simpson's East-West performance and his numbers at the combine, his stock rose steadily. Heck the other article in the same paper mentioned that Simpson thought he'd be a late second-round or third-round pick. What do you go with - what the player's been hearing directly from NFL teams, or a magazine? I'll take the former. And that echoes what I'd been hearing as well. I thought Simpson would go in the third round based on what I'd been told. So yeah, the second round was a surprise, but certainly not a shock.

Then there's the final comment about how Simpson's been compared to T.J. Houshmandzadeh. That would seem like a good thing given T.J.'s all-pro stature. But to Carnutte this is a problem, because it took Housh four years to get to that level.

I've got some bad news then for Carnutte. That's not unusual for wideouts. Guys like Anquan Boldin, who come in and make an immediate impact at wideout as rookies are very, very rare. To use a local example, check out what Steve Smith did his first season with the Panthers.

If Carnutte's ticked because he doesn't think Simpson will immediately fill a void left by Henry and/or Johnson, I get that. But more than likiely none of the other receivers taken in the second round would be immediate NFL gamebreakers either. In this case, Carnutte should be taking the Bengals to task for not signing a veteran free agent who can step in immediately.

Hey, if Cincy got another Houshmandzadeh in Simpson in the second round, I'd call that a steal, not a reach.

Following in the footsteps of yesterday's check-in on William Hayes, here's a look at what's being said about DeMario Pressley after the Saints picked him in the fifth round.

And if you guessed that we'll have a "buzz about Jerome Simpson" tomorrow, well then you sir are quite astute!

Here's what a writer with www.houmatoday.com - the paper of record in Terrebonne Parish (don't you love those Louisiana locales?) had to say.

Fifth-round draft choice, defensive tackle DeMario Pressley, is also an interesting selection. As a prep star, Pressley was regarded by two of the top recruiting services in the country as the best defensive tackle in the nation. In his first two seasons at North Carolina State, Pressley flashed those type skills, but injuries and a semi-warm motor dipped his draft stock.

Pressley is strong, has excellent athletic ability and can run the field well from side to side. But he seemed to lack the intensity he flashed as an underclassmen when injuries started to take their toll in 2006 and 2007.

On this site 80 percent of the voters were happy with the selection of D-Mo.

Charles Robinson over at Yahoo! Sports liked the pick:

Pressley could be a steal in the fifth round if he stays healthy and improves his lower body strength.

Another site referring to Pressley as a steal in the fifth round.

And the Times-Picayune (don't you love the names of Louisiana newspapers?) weighs in.

WHAT WE'RE THINKING: The Saints obviously didn't need another defensive tackle after drafting Sedrick Ellis in Round 1, but they liked Pressley's potential enough to move up two spots in the draft to get him. He might need a year or two to develop in the NFL, but he's an athletic prospect who has a chance to add even more bulk to his big frame. Pressley wasn't an elite pass rusher in college, but he projects as a three-technique tackle in the NFL with his speed and athleticism.

Didn't need another defensive tackle? I don't know, it seemed to me that by picking Pressley the Saints were sort of sending a signal that they had a dire need at tackle and that was why they picked up both Sedrick Ellis and Pressley.

Whatever the case, the word on Pressley appears mixed. Some look at his athleticism and see potential and claim the Saints got a steal in the fifth round. Others look at that athleticism and wonder why Pressley wasn't more productive and label him an underachiever.

Who's right? Really, only Pressley can settle that debate.

As Rob Daniels noted in his article in this morning's paper the selection of former Andrews standout William Hayes in the fourth round of the NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans raised quite a few eyebrows on Sunday.

Hayes has said he used his small school status to motivate him. Now, should he choose to add another chip to put on his shoulder, he'll have one based on the reactions from Tennessee fans.

Let's just say those in the blogosphoer are not pleased. It's one of those weird things about the draft. No one in Nashville knows William Hayes from Elvin Hayes, but because William wasn't "projected" to go in the fourth round of the draft, Titans fans are up in arms.

Here's a sample of what they're saying.

This blogger seized upon the fact that Hayes was the first player not invited to the combine to get drafted. That, he said was "not a recommendation.

"From what I've read, I haven't seen anything that makes me thing Hayes shouldn't have been taken where guys who aren't invited to the Combine are normally taken: in the 6th or 7th round or not at all. Fisher claimed in an interview with NFL Network that several teams said they would have taken him shortly after the Titans did. You're free to believe that, if you want."

This blogger had a similar reaction.

3. William Hayes DE Winston Salem St. to Tennessee Titans

Who? William Hayes? Who is that? I can honestly tell you I don’t have a clue and congrats to Mel Kiper Jr. for having him in his top fifty DE’s. Hayes could have been taken at least a round or two later and the Titans could have taken another receiver to give Vince some tools to work with.

Chris Steuber of Scout.com dubbed the selection of Hayes "a questionable pick."

The Titans needed a pass rusher, but they also have depth issues at DT. There were two very good DTs, Dre Moore and Joseph Bryant, on the board at the time of the Hayes selection, and that makes the pick even more puzzling.

Oh, and Mel Kiper, who at least knew who William Hayes when he was drafted, still said Hayes was a "reach" for the fourth round.

All of this led Titans coach Jeff Fisher to sarcastically tell The Tennessean:

"Obviously people outside probably did a better job identifying our needs than we did."
And yeah, it's already turning into fuel for Hayes's inner fire.

"I am ready to come down there and get to work and prove everybody, Mel Kiper and everybody else that had something negative to say, wrong," Hayes told the Tennessean