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Friday, May 4
Updated: May 10, 5:11 PM ET
Allen's return an inspiration to ASU
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
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TEMPE, Ariz. – Tommy Smith was posting up, leaning on Justin Allen during an Arizona State practice Wednesday.
But it wasn't hard enough. Allen wanted to be pushed, literally by his teammate.
Allen got mad. And got in Smith's face.
"We got into it on the court," said Smith, a sophomore forward and Allen classmate. "He told me not to take it easy on (him). But he's gained a lot of weight. It's hard to get around him. I wasn't taking it easy on him. But he said not too. He raised his voice when he said it. He wanted a big chuck in the back."
Allen wanted to be treated like everyone else, instead of being handled like a frail patient recovering from Hodgkins disease.
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I want to keep everything as normal as possible and not have anyone treat me any differently. I'm still the same person. ” |
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— Justin Allen,
Arizona State sophomore forward |
Allen remarkably returned to the court, despite having five radiation treatments remaining this summer in an effort to shrink a mass in his stomach. The 6-foot-7, sharp-shooting forward is actually getting ready for next week's Sun Devils' trip to Australia.
It seemed like an unreachable goal last September when he was diagnosed with the disease, when doctors did exploratory surgery and found the mass. The goal was only obtainable through chemotherapy and radiation. And it'll be reached only when the three centimeters of the mass that still remains this week is gone -- hopefully by week's end.
Allen is getting a rare early chance to prepare for next season. Instead of dealing with the pressure of October's practices and November's first games, Allen will be able to ease into his recovery in obscurity. The Sun Devils are going on a scheduled spring trip to Australia. The trip will benefit a team that could be this year's Providence, a surprise team that contends for an NCAA Tournament berth after bottoming out the previous season.
But this trip isn't just about getting more shots for Donnell Knight, Smith or Awvee Story. It's more about Allen running up and down the court in a game, making one of his newly arched jumpers and hammering some poor mate underneath the boards.
"I get to start that much earlier and don't have to wait until Oct. 13," said Allen, who looks thicker but not disheveled despite his ongoing draining treatments. "I didn't want to get back on the court without even practicing for over a year. This will help out a lot to get back in the swing of things earlier than expected."
Allen tired, getting down to near exhaustion during the treatments, but he never got sick. He didn't lose his hair (even though his teammates shaved their heads for the opener against Tulsa in November) and he never lost his spirit.
"Most don't handle it as well as I have," Allen said. "This is a big plus for me to be playing already. When I first got diagnosed, most people thought my goal to play in Australia wasn't realistic. But that's what I had my mindset on and that's what I wanted to do."
"He can quietly get back on the court without any media attention," fellow sophomore Kyle Dodd said. "It's going to be good for all of us."
Smith isn't the only one who has been pushed by Allen. He has given the Sun Devils more intensity in May practices than they had at times throughout all of last season. Storey got hammered in a fight for a rebound. Nothing is sacred underneath, and once Smith gets his endurance back, he'll be one of the Sun Devils' top threats on the perimeter.
Cleared by his doctor to go on the trip, Allen made sure he told his coaches and his teammates to treat him like everyone else. That means push him, yell at him, tease him and play him if he earns the time.
"He has brought intensity to practice," ASU assistant Russ Pennell said. "When Awvee went for a dunk, he hammered him and threw him down. He can make shots and defend in the post. He's a poor man's Bill Laimbeer. He's much better facing up than posting up. He'll hit you inside and work for position but we can run the pick and pop, not role with him, but he fits our style of play."
ASU head coach Rob Evans said he would only be guarded on playing Allen in Australia if he doesn't have the endurance.
"This is huge for him and the guys around him," Evans said. "He has matured a lot and it'll be great for the guys to be around him. If someone starts complaining, he can say, 'What are you bitching about, basketball was almost taken away from me.' The biggest thing he told them and us is don't treat me differently."
Allen is actually a better basketball player than two seasons ago when he said his shot was flat and he played only 8.3 minutes and averaged 2.9 points a game as a freshman. The year off allowed him to observe the nuances of the game, not to mention to get more arc on his shot.
"This will actually help me sitting out," said Allen, who can take hits in the stomach but not any rays from the sun in this Phoenix heat."I want to keep everything as normal as possible and not have anyone treat me any differently.
"I'm still the same person. I'm just trying to get up and down the court right now. I want to be able to cut as hard as I can, because I took some of those things for granted. Some of the things that come natural to most my body won't let me do some times."
But it's getting better each day of practice. He goes for nearly the entire two-hour sessions, taking only a few more breaks than the rest of his teammates. But the support continues to be even more uplifting for him. The Sun Devils and the coaching staff, and even the NCAA, have rallied around Allen.
This team was in pain when it found out about his illness. The staff agonized over the unknown, even though Allen said he was only at a loss the first day he found out about the cancer.
The staff, notably assistant Dan O'Dowd, convinced his family to keep him in Tempe rather than take him home to secluded rural Malta, Ill. Having him around practice, on campus and with his teammates at night helped him find normalcy. O'Dowd even set up a meeting with Mario Lemieux when the Pittsburgh star and Hodgkins survivor was in town to play the Phoenix Coyotes. And, in a break from the norm, the NCAA allowed donations.
"He didn't want to be treated like he was in a bubble," O'Dowd said. "His mom, who is a nurse and has been here a lot, wanted to take him back home. But it would have been cold, a small town, and he would have been away from his friends. When she saw the support the first day, she told us she couldn't take him away. He came to practice and was still a part of the team. If he were at home, he couldn't do all that."
Allen said he was told he had a 90-percent chance of recovery. He said he never thought about the other 10.
"I want to be further along on the court than last year before I got sick," Allen said. "I don't want this past year to be a step back. I see myself coming in, playing hard defense, hitting open shots and getting more minutes as I keep playing. I'll be off radiation next week before we go on the trip. The doctors cleared me to go and they said just go have fun."
But he's heading to Australia to do more than that. He's there to get his game back, just like he planned.
|  | | Jerry Dunn guided Penn State to an upset of UNC to reach the Sweet 16. |
Almost a Dunn deal at Penn State
Penn State coach Jerry Dunn is expected to sign a five-year extension next week, despite contract negotiations that have been hung up for weeks and are still in the sticky stages.
Dunn, who coached the Nittany Lions to a Sweet 16 appearance, has had a few hurdles in the offseason. He lost seniors Joe Crispin, Titus Ivory and Gyasi Cline-Heard, and then Crispin's brother, Jon, announced he was transferring. Thursday, Dunn got word that assistant Chuck Swenson is going to Michigan to work for Tommy Amaker. Swenson worked at Duke in the early '90s before getting the head job at William & Mary.
The deal at Michigan was too lucrative for Swenson to turn down. Swenson would join former Seton Hall and Northwestern third assistant Billy Schmidt and Kirsten Green, who was Amaker's director of basketball operations at Seton Hall. Amaker is bringing in Cal assistant Charles Ramsey next week. Cal coach Ben Braun won't be surprised if he loses Ramsey, an Eastern Michigan alumnus, to the Wolverines because of his ties to the state.
Penn State had waffled on a strong commitment for Dunn, who was in trouble during the season. But the Nittany Lions appear to be finally coming through with a decent extension.
Dunn could have been a leading candidate for the George Washington opening. But the word out of D.C. is the Colonials aren't willing to go longer than a four-year contract. The Colonials are faced with a major rebuilding situation that could take five to seven years.
Jon Crispin, meanwhile, isn't finding it easy to transfer. His brother Joe talked to Stanford and they're interested. Iowa State called. Florida is still in the picture, but Duke is out. Crispin said Penn State fans are ticked off and he's been hearing it around campus, not to mention in the form of emails. He said he's finishing the semester and probably won't know where he'll land until later this month once everyone knows who is in the NBA draft and whether or not schools have roster spots.
|  | | Bob Knight |
Knight exploring Texas territory
Texas Tech is trying to get into Dallas and Houston every season by scheduling home-and-home series with TCU, SMU, Rice and Houston -- all former Southwest Conference rivals. Tech coach Bob Knight wants to get into the top two markets for recruiting.
TCU was already on the schedule for a game in Lubbock. SMU is expected to host the Red Raiders in what could be their first road game. SMU coach Mike Dement said the school has already fielded tons of calls from Red Raider alumni in Dallas looking for tickets.
"He's stirred up quite a bit of interest in Texas," Dement said.
Rice coach Willis Wilson said the Owls couldn't get the Red Raiders on the schedule next season but probably will in 2002-03. Houston could add the Red Raiders next season.
One too many for Cavs?
The controversial 5/8 scholarship limitation rule was put in place to discourage transferring (after Kentucky lost Michael Bradley and Ryan Hogan a few seasons ago) and to prevent coaches from running off players. But it's not working at Virginia where the Cavaliers are gladly taking transfers.
The Cavaliers added Rutgers guard Todd Billett and Cal center Nick Van Der Laan. Both will have two seasons of eligibility. But they do count as part of the Cavs' five signees, bringing Virginia's total to six after signing four others earlier -- Elton Brown, Jason Clark, Keith Jenifer and Jermaine Harper.
Brown isn't expected to make it academically, bringing the Cavs down to five. If he doesn't make it, he'll go to prep school. If he does make it, however, either Billett or Van Der Lann might have to pay for his own scholarship.
Meanwhile, injured point Majestic Mapp is on target for a full recovery. He'll play in at least one summer league. He sat out the season with a knee injury.
Weekly chatter
The Preseason NIT is set, sort of.
Rhode Island is the representative out of the Atlantic 10. But St. Joseph's and the A-10 are talking about switching the Rams out and putting the Hawks in the field. The A-10 would have a better chance of making a splash in the field with the conference favorite and Rams' new coach Jim Baron probably wouldn't mind getting out of a likely road loss to open the season.
The problem is this: St. Joe's is committed to the BCA Classic in Berkeley and would have to get out of the exempted event to play in the Preseason NIT. If they can, it makes sense to play in the higher profile and televised tournament.
So far, everything is going fine at Seton Hall after Louis Orr took over for Tommy Amaker.
Monday, point guard Andre Barrett told Orr that he wouldn't transfer and assistant Billy Garrett said Samuel Dalembert isn't showing signs that he will declare for the NBA draft. Garrett said Dalembert is still going to class and he might just test the draft process. The glut of big men could sway him from putting his name in the draft. Meanwhile, top signee -- John Allen -- told Orr he will still come and won't try to pursue a release from his letter.
"Now we've got to work on putting a good product on the floor," Garrett said. "We haven't seen any of the stress of last year."
That means Barrett, Ty Shine and everyone else getting along swimmingly. The only major loss -- and statistically it hurts -- is freshman Eddie Griffin.
Ever wonder if players follow coaching searches? Well, a number of Wake Forest players didn't.
"I wasn't totally tuned in," Wake Forest's Darius Songaila said. "I did care, but I didn't know anything."
Teammate Ervin Murray said he didn't read newspapers or log onto the internet. "I didn't want to hear about it," Murray said.
When Skip Prosser arrived, the first thing he did with the players was talk to them and ask for any questions. He'll have to adjust more to them than they will during the first year.
"He's not going to throw a lot of stuff at us and make this a dictatorship," Murray said. "It was a very open discussion."
The Pac-10 concluded its meetings this weekend and the biggest discussion point was the new schedule for 2002-03. The Pac-10 tournament will force the league to cut the schedule from 18 to 16. The conference is staying at 18 this season and will play two games in December, but the coaches don't want to continue the practice, which means teams will lose one game each season against two teams.
For example, Arizona State will not get UCLA at home and won't have to go to Oregon in 2002-03. The one rivalry game which will be lost is Stanford at UCLA. There is still one sticking point. The new proposal needs to be approved by the Pac-10 Board of Directors.
On to another subject: Pac-10 officiating. After interviewing coaches from all 10 schools about a Los Angeles Times story quoting unnamed coaches on Pac-10 officiating, the league told the coaches they weren't going to do anything. The coaches said that's because the investigation didn't turn anything up on the coaches. It probably was a waste of time. But the Pac-10 will have the coaches meet with officials the day after media day in late October to hack out their grievances.
Two unique sightings in Tempe at the Draft camp: Michael Jordan, who was at three consecutive sessions, and former Lakers GM Jerry West. Jordan spent only one session at the draft camp last year in his first season as the Washington Wizards top executive. West was still taking notes on players despite announcing his retirement.
Danny Nee's hire of assistant Charles Cunningham paid off immediately at Duquesne. The former UNLV assistant was signed 6-10 Simplice Njoya (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) for the Runnin' Rebels. UNLV released him after the coaching change, but Cunningham stayed on Njoya. Nee was hired after one year at nearby Robert Morris.
Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said he's through going to two-game, non-exempted tournaments on the road. He said he can't get a return game, even though the Bulldogs beat Arizona in a tournament in Tucson last season.
Michigan and Duke considered suspending their home-and-home series because Tommy Amaker played for Mike Krzyzewski and he doesn't like to schedule series against former players. But the rivalry, or lack thereof in recent seasons, will apparently continue.
Former Wake Forest assistant Ernie Nestor, who was unable to get the Wake Forest job, rejoined Dave Odom at South Carolina this week.
Look for Ohio State assistant Paul Biancardi to compete with Arizona assistant Jay John and players' favorite -- Butler assistant Todd Lickliter -- for the Butler head coaching job.
The WAC is expected to announce either Tulsa or Fresno as the host of the 2002 conference tournament. The board of directors has to ratify a recommendation done at a lower level last week in Monterrey. There is a chance the WAC could alternate the tournament over the next two seasons like they did in Fresno in 2000 and Tulsa in 2001.
Indiana coach Mike Davis is discussing a home-and-home series with his alma mater Alabama Crimson Tide. But it wouldn't begin until 2002-03. Meanwhile, outgoing freshman guard Andre Owens is pursuing a transfer to Houston.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college basketball is updated Thursdays/Fridays throughout the year.
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