Unfortunately, there's no traditional MM tonight (I have a nasty case of the flu, so it's an early night for me, which inhibits my link-collecting ability. However, this was important enough for me to make a mini-MM about it:
JUSTIN. ANDERSON. SHIMMY.
See, it's right over there to the right. And also in the latest Justin Anderson (and Troy Williams, Boo's nephew), at 2:35:
With the exception of the Williams parts, the entire video is "gaaaaaaaaa" worthy. We already knew he could shoot, dunk, drive, and finish, so the first few clips are no real surprise. But plenty stands out. First off, his attitude is just fantastic. The part at the end where he's talking about how much he loves basketball was great to hear. That's the type of guy you want to root for, without a doubt. The same goes for his desire to improve. He's never satisfied, and he made that point clear. That work ethic and passion plus Gary Williams means he has quite the high ceiling.
Offensively, the most impressive thing was his ability to handle. Seriously, he was running point in some of these highlights. It's not a situation I expect him to be in at College Park, that's for sure, but it's good to know he can handle the ball on the perimeter. It opens up yet another dimension to his game. And for everything he'll bring offensively, he'll bring 10x that impact defensively. He went out of his way to mention how much he loves defense (again) and his ability to block/alter shots is pretty incredible for someone his size. We'll see quite a few LeBron-esque follow blocks in his four (or three?) years.
Oh, and did I mention the shimmy?
Two other news-y notes for you: first off, N.C. State's Joseph Uchebo is in the process of decommitting from the Wolfpack. He's a universal Top 100 guy and, more importantly, a 6-9 center. Presumably, he's trying to get his release because Lowe was fired and Gotts was hired, so I expect N.C. State will give it to him.
At the very least, this is a rather important departure for a conference foe. Perhaps even better, he might be a target for Maryland. The Terps have a massive hole in the post right now, and Uchebo would help to fill it up, even if he wouldn't fill it entirely. He committed all the way back in the fall of 2009, back when he was still a 2012 recruit (he has since reclassified), so I don't think Maryland's had much meaningful contact with him. They were hardly recruiting the 2011 class at that point, let alone the 2012 one (with the exception of Anderson, natch). Considering the aforementioned Gaping Hole in the PostⒸ, though, Gary & Co. would do well to take a look.
Potential downer: sometimes, when schools let commitments out of LOIs, they have special stipulations, such as banning a commitment to any team in the same conference. (Even otherwise, think of the Gus Gilchrist possibility.) That may not play out here, and hopefully wouldn't, but it's something to watch.
And finally, here's yet another reason Danny O'Brien is awesome. We need more inter-sport support from the stars of the teams. (Also, having a conversation with me about it helps, too. Definitely one of the most down-to-earth stars in College Park in recent memory.)