News-Record.com

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.

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.

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.

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.

.

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'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.

.... 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.

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.

Earlier today, John Isner knocked off Simone Vagnozzi, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round of the Hypo Group Tennis International tournament in Poertschach.

I know what you're wondering. Why is this a big win for Isner? Who is Simone Vagnozzi? Where, exactly, is Poertschach?

Let me answer those in reverse order. Poertschach is a resort town of about 2,600 people on the north shore of Lake Woerth, in Austria. (Right on the tip of your tongue, wasn't it?)

Simone Vagnozzi is a 25-year-old (okay, he'll be 25 on May 30, but really, who's counting?) Italian qualifier who came into the Hypo tournament ranked No. 288 in the world. He's obscure enough that they don't even have a picture of him up on his ATP page.

I know. You're still wondering why this win was a big deal for Isner.

Because it was on clay. It's Isner's first ATP win that surface, which usually functions as a sort of kryptonite for American players (just ask Pete Sampras).

It's a surface that's particularly bad for American players who games based around powerful serves (again, check with Pete). And it's a surface that really puts a premium on mobility. There's a reason why the quicksilver Rafael Nadal is the King of Clay.

So you can see why this would not be a good setting for the 6-9 Isner. But give him credit for even trying.

When I spoke to Isner earlier this season, I asked if he'd be playing the clay circuit that serves as the run-up to next week's French Open. I was half expecting (okay, more than half) him to say that he was going to hold off on tackling clay and would choose instead to stay on the hard courts for now. The tournaments wouldn't be as prestigious, but he'd have a chance to build up some ranking points while not taking his lumps on the slow stuff.

Isner didn't hesitate. Of course he'd be playing on clay, he said. Of course he planned to play in the French Open. He didn't seem insulted by more question but rather confused that I'd even asked it, as if he hadn't pondered ducking clay.

It's an admirable mindset to have, and one that bodes well for his future development. If he's not afraid to let his record, and maybe his ranking, take a hit, then he'll get valuable experience that will help him on clay and likely will be a benefit when Isner returns to harder, faster surfaces.

Isner's first tournament on clay, in Houston, ended with a first-round loss. He then dropped down a level back to the Challenger series, but still managed to reach just the second-round in Bermuda. Isner then won two rounds to reach the quarterfinals in Tunica. Progress, yes, but not on the ATP level.

Until now.

If Isner knocks off Nikolay Davydenko in the second round, it would be a colossal upset. But even if he loses, he'll still have taken another step in his career. It'll be a small one in the rankings - Isner should move into the 70's with the points he gets - but it could be a big one for his future.

As in insightful, witty, poignant and powerful piece in Sunday's News & Record pointed out, six teams from the state of North Carolina made the NCAA Tournament.
Let's put that in perspective. Baseball hotbed Florida had four teams in the field. Texas had eight. California had nine. Third out of 50 states is not too shabby.

In other words, North Carolina has a pretty legitimate claim to "hotbed" status when it comes to college baseball.

Of course that claim would carry a great deal more weight if North Carolina schools did well in the NCAA Tournament. So let's take a look at their draws, shall we?

UNC is seeded No. 2 nationally and will host a regional in Cary. Thanks to the NCAA's emphasis on geography, two other North Carolina schools - Elon and UNC-Wilmington - will join the Tar Heels in that regional, along with Mt. Saint Mary's in a sequel of the NCAA basketball tournament. The Mount had better pray (perhaps to Saint Mary?) that the baseball matchup goes better. It's a testament to UNC-Wilmington's strong regular season that it still held on to a No. 2 seed in the regional, despite going 1-2 in the CAA tournament. That's what a No. 22 ranking in the RPI will do for you. Elon seemed to get a bit shafted with a No. 3 seed after rolling through the SoCon, but geography didn't help the Phoenix. And apparently, as shown by the strange snubbing of College of Charleston, the selection committee doesn't think too much of the SoCon.

N.C. State also got to host a regional. The Wolfpack lost two of three in the ACC Tournament, but its strong finish in the conference regular season - and the still relatively new confines of Doak Field - helped its cause. Right away there's an obvious story line. South Carolina - coached by former Wolfpack head coach Ray Tanner - is the No. 2 seed. State fans had better start buying up tickets, because plenty of Garnett and Black will be coming over the border this weekend. Oh, and Charlotte - the team that knocked State out of last year's NCAA Tournament - is the No. 3 seed. So other than getting to play at home, the Wolfpack didn't get too many favors with this draw. Oh yeah, James Madison, the alma mater of Jason McIntyre, former News & Record intern and current co-creater of The Big Lead, is the No. 4 seed.

The sixth North Carolina team, East Carolina, was sent to the Conway, S.C. regional, hosted by Coastal Carolina. The Pirates did grab a No. 2 seed and will play No. 3 seed Alabama to start things off. It's been up and down for ECU this season, but a win over Rice, the No. 6 national seed, in the Conference USA tournament, had to help the Pirates' confidence.

Since we're not actually playing, we can also afford to look ahead. The winner of UNC's regional is bracketed to play the winner of Coastal Carolina's regional in the super-regional. The winner of N.C. State's regional is bracketed to play the winner of the Georgia regional regional in the super-regional.

UPDATE:

Thanks to readers for catching my error about ECU's regional assignment. I misread the bracket, which had ECU and Bama right below Coastal and right above Nebraska. Of course, I should have thought twice about how little sense it would make to send ECU and Bama out to Lincoln. Sorry about the mistake.

If you're a UNC fan you've likely already seen this interview and winced.

Something seemed a little strange when UNC issued a press release about Danny Green entering the NBA Draft, a day after it had already issued a release saying that Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington were entering the draft.

And, looking back on it now, you definitely could have read into Roy's statement in the Green release.

"Danny and his father contacted me in the last 24 hours and indicated they
wished to test the waters and enter Danny in the draft. We have done the
necessary paperwork to do that."

Now compare that to the lengthy quote Roy issued the day before for Tyler, Ty and Wayne.

"I am pleased and most supportive of the decisions made by all three young
people. I want what is best for each individual and each individual player is different and has different factors to consider. It was a very exhausting time of research spent talking to the
NBA people. I contacted more than half the teams in the NBA, speaking to various player personnel representatives including a number of general managers. In fact, I contacted more teams this year than I¹ve ever done before to provide them with the best information possible on their draft status. We gave that information over to Tyler, Ty, Wayne and their families
and allowed them to make the decision.

"We will continue to help Ty and Wayne with the draft process and give them
all the support they need in making any future decisions related to staying
in the draft or returning to Carolina."

Just a tad different, wouldn't you say?

Now though, we don't even have to read between the lines. Danny Green didn't sugarcoat it for Inside Carolina: Roy Williams didn't think it was a good idea for Green to enter the draft, but Green did it anyway.

"I called him and told him about doing it, but he didn’t think it was for my best interests… He gave me his advice, but I wanted to do it anyway."

And Green also claimed he was overlooked during the whole pre-draft process at UNC. Consider his response to the question - Had you talked with (Williams) about it?

“You’d have to talk to him. I mean, I called him and talked to him about it, but when it came down to it, it was the ‘Big Three.’ So they had their own meeting, and he thought I wasn’t thinking about doing it."

(You can see why Danny Green has always been a media favorite. He's pretty much incapable of guile. Ask him what he thinks and he tells you)

This is where things start to get interesting for UNC - as if they aren't already. Green said his goal is to get that guaranteed contract that goes along with being a first-round pick. If not, then returning to school would be an "option." Not a definite, mind you. It certainly seems as if Green would really, really like to turn pro but will return to Chapel Hill if things really go south for him in the next few days.

Returning may no longer be such a simple matter, either. It looks as if there will have to be at least some bridge-building between Green and Roy. Ignoring the coach's advice is one thing. Implying that coach overlooked you in favor of your teammates is another.

That's not to say that Danny Green can never go home again. Let's face it, if he doesn't stay in the draft, he'll need UNC. And UNC will need Green, particularly if Lawson and/or Ellington stay in the draft. Someone has to shoot some 3-pointers to keep Hansbrough from being triple-teamed. So Green and Roy will likely get back on the same page.

Still, it sheds some interesting light on the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on every year at college campuses in the spring. As much as fans - and writers - like to think that the players' primary goal is to get a national title ring and to give glory to the dear old school - it usually isn't. The goal is the NBA. And even though coaches usually publicly support their players when they declare for the draft, they know they don't get contract extensions based on how many former players are in the league. They get paid to win.

Those conflicting goals are always there, behind the scenes. Sometimes, when a blunt guy like Danny Green comes along, the rest of us are let in on the dispute.

In the comeback edition of Radio Free Sports, Jim Young and Rob Daniels talk about UNC forward Danny Green and the pros and cons of staying in the NBA Draft, even if you're not guaranteed to be a first-round pick. (11:47)