"Don Don" Ferguson college commitment

Donald Ferguson III, better known at We Are United as “Don Don,” has committed to the University of Central Missouri.

6’2 Don Don Ferguson is a well-rounded guard out of Osseo, Minnesota. He has been standing out this season for Rob Yanders’ We Are United prep team and has garnered plenty of interest. Recently, he announced his commitment to play for the University of Central Missouri.

“I loved the coaching staff, first off,” Ferguson says on what helped his decision. “(The coaches) seem big on the individuals and really care about their players off the court. That stuck out to me. They care about your life past basketball.”

Don Don considers his strengths to be shooting, handling, floor spacing, his ability to read defenses, jump the passing lanes, being a team player, and having a high basketball IQ.

Currently focusing on his shooting and finishing, he elaborated on what the Mules can expect from him:

“A killer,” Ferguson says. “I am a guy that can score the ball but am also a great teammate. I pick my teammates up.”

Now that college ball is a reality, Don Don can reflect on how his time with Coach Yanders prepared him for the next level. “It has prepared me mentally,” he says. “I have learned about hard work, being locked in, and how success means no days off.”

“(Yanders) can push you to limits you didn’t know you had. It is all about mental and physical toughness - being a dawg. Hard work-wise, there won’t be much new to me when it comes to college.”

For players considering coming to We Are United, Ferguson says you will become mentally tougher, but you also have to come in with a tough mindset from the get.

“Come here, and you WILL get better,” Ferguson says. “You will play real basketball down here. Go from a boy to a man down here. You have to be serious about basketball.  There is no turning back, no fifty-fifty. It has to be 100 percent what you want, and then you will see those results.”

Yanders and the We Are United prep family are proud of any player that can put in the necessary work here and make their dream a reality. We are excited for the next chapter in Don Don’s journey and have little doubt about the impact he will have on his new team.

Good luck, Don Don!

NCAA: Year-end update

As 2020 comes to a close, The Basketball Movement gives a quick rundown of the state of NCAA hoops.

College basketball is in full swing, despite a year of uncertainty amidst the national COVID-19 pandemic. Conferences and teams set out on the paths they deemed best and, for the most part, things have been sailing fairly smoothly to this point.

Top teams around the country have started testing their mettle against one another, so we are able to draw some early conclusions. Meaningful games mean standings and rankings are popping up. Below is the AP rankings for men’s hoops as of December 8th:

1. Gonzaga
2. Baylor
3. Kansas
4. Villanova
5. Houston
6. Wisconsin
7. Tennessee
8. Texas
9. West Virginia
10. Iowa
11. Creighton
12. Missouri
13. Texas Tech
14. Rutgers
15. Illinois
16. Michigan
17. Michigan State
18. Florida State
19. Northwestern
20. Duke
21. Oregon
22. Minnesota
23. Virginia
24. Virginia Tech
25. Ohio State

Gonzaga is the runaway leader so far. Baylor is the only team other than the Bulldogs to have garnered any first-place votes from the Associated Press. It is early, but to have such a clear standout at any point in the NCAA season is a bit unusual. They have easily handled some great squads so far this season and will remain an interesting team to watch for the remainder.

The Big 10 boasts nine teams in the top 25, which is wild as well. While that number is staggering, the Big 12’s five teams on the poll may represent the most impressive collection of talent with Baylor, Kansas, Texas, West Virginia, and Texas Tech all in the top 13.

Missouri is not going anywhere, hanging just outside the top ten while their SEC rival, Tennessee sits at seven. Duke is currently number 20, while North Carolina has been removed following a loss to NC State.

NCAAW

In women’s college hoops, the top headline recently was Duke canceling their season. These are strange times and it will be interesting to see if any other schools follow suit.

The top five teams early are Stanford, Louisville, NC State, UCONN, and South Carolina. So, no real surprises early. Several conferences have yet to begin interconference play, so expect full rankings soon. The Pac-12 has started and is looking strong with Arizona and Oregon joining Stanford in the top 10, with UCLA knocking on the door.

The Missouri State Lady Bears are currently ranked number 24 and will start their conference play early in 2021.

That is as brief as we can keep an update about a nation’s worth of college hoops! Keep checking back for updates on the NCAA, professional ball, local stuff, and all the basketball movement around the world.

NCAA: Significant change on the horizon for players

With athletes pursuing alternatives to NCAA basketball, the association is finally supporting avenues for players to receive compensation.

At the NCAA’s April meeting, the group reported that they are backing a proposal that would allow players receive payment for the use of their name/likeness, endorsement deals, and social media. There is still much work to be done in establishing the groundwork for this decision, though officials are hopeful that there can be movement by 2021.

Per ESPN’s report on the release: “The NCAA's news release said athletes will be allowed to appear in advertisements and can reference their sport and school, but they would not be able to use school logos or branding in those advertisements.”

Several states, spearheaded by California, have already paved the way for player options such as these. The NCAA is expected to seek the support of Congress to ensure that their decisions supersede state laws as to not have preferential conditions from state to state. This is where the plan could take a while (especially with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic), but hopefully, we will see action soon.

Another important piece will be placing “guardrails” for boosters, to make sure they are not given too much power or the ability to use workarounds through endorsements to bribe athletes to attend certain programs.

This decision by the NCAA comes on the heels of top prospect, Jalen Green announcing that he will be going straight to the G-League instead of pursuing college ball. The G-League is going to establish a new team in LA with Green as the centerpiece, sweetening his deal and becoming a more attractive option for other top prospects going forward.

It is a shame that it took the nation’s top players playing semi-pro or overseas to create action from the NCAA; an action that is arguably 30 years slower than it should be. Either way, it is refreshing to hear that college athletes are nearing a state in which they can be compensated for their substantial amount of labor. The top athletes generate plenty of income, and they are finally going to be able to get a piece of their own pie.

We will continue to monitor this situation and relay any big moves here in as digestible a form as possible. It is exciting that young athletes may be getting a chance to receive compensation for thousands of hours of hard work. Keep checking back for updates!

NCAA: Men's and women's update 11-2019

Several undefeated teams are left standing early in the 2019-20 NCAA hoops season.

Few teams are more than seven games into their 2019-20 NCAA regular seasons, but we still have some teams separating themselves from the field and/or remaining undefeated. For the most part, any pre-season power rankings are holding mostly true, though several top teams have faced “lesser” opponents to this point.

On the men’s side of things, Michigan State was lauded as a popular number one pick. So far so good for the Spartans, who have looked good despite dropping their first game to Kentucky. The Wildcats are 5-1, largely thanks to Ashton Hagans, whose two-way prowess is putting him on the radar as a quality NBA guard.

Duke boasts a 6-0 record, having kicked off their season with a nice win against Kansas. The Jayhawks have picked it up since, winning their next three and playing at an elite level.

Some other noteworthy undefeated teams are Louisville, Oregon, Gonzaga, North Carolina, Ohio State, Maryland, Texas Tech, Arizona, Tennessee, and reigning NCAA champs, Virginia. The Utah State Aggies have been a pleasant surprise, going 7-0 themselves, including a nice win over LSU in the Jamaica classic. The VCU Rams and Auburn Tigers are 5-0 to start the season as well.

Locally, the Missouri State Bears are 3-4, though they have had some tough calls and very close games. They dropped those four games by a combined nine points.

NCAA women’s update

Like things on the men’s side, many of the pre-season speculations is holding true in the early going for the women. Oregon is the team to beat, with Baylor looking strong as they have for the last several years. Stanford, South Carolina, and of course UCONN are off to brilliant starts as well.

Plenty of talent returned from deep tourney runs for the five teams mentioned above. Multiple undefeated teams remain, including six from the ACC - Florida State, Louisville, NC State, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina. The Big 12 is sporting six undefeated squads as well: Kansas, Oklahoma State, TCU, West Virginia, Texas Tech, and the aforementioned Baylor Bears.

The Missouri State Lady Bears are 5-1, with their lone loss coming at the hands of seventh-ranked Oregon State. They will battle major conference opponents for rankings all year long. We’ll be rooting for them!

Stick with us for more NCAA updates, local hoops stuff, and our Around the NBA segment as we track as much basketball movement as possible!

NCAA Rankings - College basketball is nearly back

With NCAA college basketball just over a week away, we dig into the men’s preseason rankings.

We always point out the triviality of preseason rankings, but that doesn’t mean we can’t discuss leading up to the tipoff of NCAA basketball! The first games of the season begin Tuesday, November 5th. No team has been quite as hyped this season as we saw Duke last year with their star freshman that have since departed for the NBA.

However, there is still plenty of buzz as always ahead of another exciting hoops season. It seems to be anyone’s race, at least for now. Vegas odds-makers like Gonzaga, while the AP and others see Michigan State as the favorite, having retained much of the roster that took them to the Final Four a season ago.

The season starts soon, but we are still a long way from March Madness. In the meantime, here are the AP top-25 rankings before seeing these squads in action:

1 - Michigan State

2 - Kentucky

3 - Kansas

4 - Duke

5 - Louisville

6 - Florida

7 - Maryland

8 - Gonzaga

9 - North Carolina

10 - Villanova

11 - Virginia

12 - Seton Hall

13 - Texas Tech

14 - Memphis

15 - Oregon

16 - Baylor

17 - Utah State

18 - Ohio State

19 - Xavier

20 - Saint Mary's (Cal)

21 - Arizona

22 - LSU

23 - Purdue

24 - Auburn

25 - VCU

Again, there is plenty to look forward to this season, and it begins early. The top four above teams will be meeting each other to open things up. November 6th, Michigan St. plays Kentucky and Duke plays Kansas in back-to-back games of the Champions Classic. The games will be played at Madison Square Garden and will be sure to start the season off with a bang.

Reigning champ Virginia is at number 11, having lost multiple starters. Memphis (number 14) will be an exciting team to keep an eye on if you are looking for the next big squad of talented young players.

Are any of the above teams ranked too high? Too low? Let us know here or start the discussion over on our social media pages as we all get pumped for the return of college hoops!