This is a photo of a sign blog contributor Josh made before a game against Georgetown in Washington. It became something of a running joke in our crew: Wherever we were, that was Cuse Country. When it came time to name this little project of ours, it seemed a natural fit. Holy crap, the Internet is Cuse Country!

Now, the time has come to move to nicer real estate. And with football season looming like an orange cloud of noxious gas, we’re moving to a new address that doesn’t have “hoops” in the URL.

So come visit us at CuseCountry.com. Same great stuff, new great home.

Panionios is in the same league as Gerry’s Greek squad from last year, Olympiakos BC. Last season Panionos finished 4th in the league while Olympiakos was third. So there is definitely a good chance for some revenge games this fall. Panionios is also an ULEB team this year (and if you don’t know what that means, check the latter bits of this post). One of G’s teammates is Levon Kendall, formerly of Pittsburgh. (The rest are random Greek guys, plus one Lithuanian and one Australian.)

One other item: Panionios’ commercial sponsor in Greece is a company called “Forthnet”; maybe Gerry can get his old pal Craiggers a role in their ad campaign or something.

“I am blurry-eyed but you love to watch games,” Hopkins said. “It’s like going to a Roto draft; it’s a long day, but it’s fun.”

Here’s hoping Hop is drafting better than I did last March.

Within the last day or so, Otis signed a contract for next year to play for Ironi Nahariya. Here is the official news release from the team’s website. Nahariya finished in fifth place in the Israeli Basketball Super League last season, missing the playoffs. Otis is actually returning to Nahariya. He played for them in the 2005-06 season, a year in which they made the playoffs, so I expect that they are happy to have him back. They are not an ULEB team, though other members of their league are. So, Otis will not be facing off against Preston Shumpert this fall.

Jason Hart is now a Jazzman.

Or, whatever you call an individual member of the Utah Jazz. A Jazz? Jazzer? Jazzerciser? (PS. I think an individual member of the Heat should be called a Calorie, or perhaps a Therm.)

His deal is 2 years, $5 mil. The Jazz were the first to offer him a deal and Jason, having experienced several seasons on the fringes of NBA employment, grabbed it without hesitation. They expect him to be the primary backup to emerging star Deron Williams, although they also signed guard Ronnie Price, Hart’s former Kings benchmate. The Jazz have not settled on a starting shooting guard yet either so it’s highly possible that Jason gets some time at that position during the season — he shouldn’t start at the 2, but there may be extra minutes available off the bench in that role. Salt Lake Tribune writer Steve Luhm, at the end of this piece, suggests that Hart could be the next John Crotty. Which is actually praise in Utah.

= ??

In news from Europe, Preston Shumpert will not be playing in the Italian League next year. He has signed with Besitkas Cola Turka in Turkey. Here’s the report, dated July 27, from the team’s official website. (OK, fine, here’s one in English. Babies.) This is the first non-Italian team he’s played for since the 02-03 season (his first year after leaving Syracuse) when he played in France.

Besitkas finished last season in fifth place, and was swept out of the playoffs in the first round by the fourth-place team. They also play in the ULEB Cup league, the second-level trans-European competition (one step down from the elite Euroleague — in a way, the Euroleague is like the BCS of European basketball, while the ULEB is the rest of the bowl games: Euroleague gets the top 24 teams from the Continent, while the ULEB gets 54 of the next-best teams from the same nation-based leagues [= conferences in this steadily weakening football analogy]). You may remember the ULEB being previously mentioned in this space because the teams that Elvir Ovcina and Otis Hill played for last year were both part of it (and are again this coming year).

Speaking of which, Elvir has re-upped for another season with Telindus Oostende, to try to help them three-peat(TM)* as Belgian League champs. No word yet on Otis’s status for 07-08, nor that of any of the other former Orangemen whose exploits are chronicled herein. But I’ll keep checking the news wires and let you know where folks end up for the fall.

* – Please don’t sue us Pat Riley!

In addition to the official NBA Vegas Summer League, several teams host their own weeklong mini-leagues with a handful of other squads. Immediately after their stint in Vegas, Gerry McNamara and the 76ers went to Utah for the Jazz’s “Rocky Mountain Revue” along with five other teams. In the Sixers’ first game (July 13), Gerry scored 6 points in 19 minutes, but had 6 turnovers to one assist. It turns out that this was the last game he played with Philly in Utah — not because he got cut, but because his wedding was coming! (Scroll down that link for the news item.) Gerry and his high school sweetheart were married this past Saturday, July 21, in Scranton. Congratulations to the happy couple. No word on who from the SU organization was in attendance.

(UPDATE: TNIAAM had the wedding announcement link over the weekend, which I didn’t think to check before posting. Props to the fellas over there.)

Meanwhile, back in the basketball world, another team that hosted their own summer session was the Orlando Magic. They ran something called the “Pepsi Pro Summer Jam“, which took place simultaneously with the NBA’s Vegas league. I tell you this because Damone Brown is on the Magic’s summer roster. He had mixed results.

The games took place July 9-13. In the first game (vs. New Jersey) Damone did not do so well — he started but scored 6 points in 18 minutes, with no rebounds and just one assist. Against the Pacers in game two, he played only 11 minutes before fouling out, and scored just 4 points with 3 rebounds. But in game three, against Charlotte, he had 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in 24 minutes. In game four vs Chicago, in 28 minutes, he led the team with 16 points while adding 6 rebounds and 2 dimes. He did not play in the final game, which was the only one the Magic lost all session. Coincidence?

Probably.

As the summer keeps rolling, we’ll keep doling… out the news. Wow that sucked.

In that vein, Doc Freeney over in Indianapolis recently followed in Donovan’s shoes, and it’s worth a shout out. A few days ago he became the highest paid defensive player in NFL history. I’m not sure if Donnie still stands atop the overall board or not, but either way SU alums are proving their value at the highest echelons of the sport. Good on ya Dwight. Way to represent. Maybe you can top Carmelo’s $3 million gift for new facilities?

Demetris Nichols

D finished the week with two good games sandwiched around one poor one. On Thursday, he had 17 points, 2 rebounds, and 4 assists, shooting 3-4 from deep. Saturday he had 11 points on just 5-12 shooting, missed all four of his 3-pt attempts and had 4 turnovers. Sunday he finished off the camp with a 23-point effort (in 22 minutes of court time), 4 rebounds and 3 assists, and no turnovers. Overall he averaged 15.6ppg, 2.0rpg and 2.6 apg, scored in double figures in all five games, and demonstrated that he can be an immediate contributor to an NBA team. The tricky part for him will be to find a spot on the Knicks’ overcrowded roster — they have 17 players under contract for this coming season, and will either have to cut someone or make a trade to reduce the roster to the maximum of 15 players. D’s performance in Vegas may have increased his trade value; he could get packaged in a multi-player deal sometime this summer. You would expect that, having traded a future draft pick for Nichols, the Knicks wouldn’t just cut him and thereby get nothing in return. But his is the only non-guaranteed contract on the team, so he is the cheapest to cut. Luckily the Knicks have essentially unlimited money to spend, so won’t shy away from releasing a couple veterans with years left on their deals. As evidence, you need only look at the Knicks’ $45 million “luxury tax” for spending over the salary cap last year, which was $38 million more than the next team on the list.

Darryl Watkins

Mookie didn’t exactly wow anyone with his performance at the summer league, but it wasn’t a disaster by any stretch. His best game was Saturday, in which he scored 9 points on 4-4 fg, grabbed 3 rebounds and blocked two shots in 15 minutes of action. Sunday he went scoreless with two rebounds in 9 minutes; Thursday he had 3 points and 3 rebounds in 8 minutes. His overall numbers were 3.8ppg and 3.4rpg. It’s now highly doubtful that he’ll be on an NBA roster but still likely that he’ll be in someone’s preseason camp, and end up in the D-League one way or another.

Gerry McNamara

Gerry had a very poor showing at the camp, partly due to his pair of sprained ankles, but not entirely. He saw his final action Wednesday, scoring 2 points on a pair of free throws in 7 minutes of play, with 2 assists. (This was the 76ers’ last game of the session.) His overall averages were 1.7 ppg, 1.0 apg, and 0.7rpg. He may end up back in the D-League, or he might decide to give up on the NBA for the moment, as his prospects get bleaker, and look for a deal overseas where he can make a little money.

Not only that, but he’s playing impressively intense defense. I can’t say he looked like a lock-down player out there, but the fact that he’s holding his own is a pleasant surprise. I thought his man-to-man would be a liability in the Association, but he’s ratcheted up his desire, effort, and energy level on that end of the floor to make up for his lack of lateral speed. He was even getting back in transition when other Knicks were lagging. Granted, he wasn’t shutting anyone down, but the key at this stage is to not show any obvious weaknesses.

More importantly, on offense he was regularly pump-faking defenders at the three point line and taking it strong inside; then finishing and/or drawing fouls. Where did all this come from? I think his senior season was personally enlightening for him. It took him three and a half years to realize how good he can be, and unfortunately for SU, we ran out of time with him while he was still on the upswing.

Here’s a blurb from the game report:

While (Nate) Robinson received the equivalent to MVP honors for Summer League, it is Demetris Nichols who has turned the most heads, and the former Syracuse star did not disappoint in his final performance before training camp. Nichols finished the game with 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting to go along with four boards and three assists. He recorded his 23 points in just 21 minutes of game time, and with his long-range accuracy is a legit threat to crack the rotation come the fall.

I’m still not sure that Nichols will convince anyone to sign him to a long term guaranteed contract right off the bat or that he’ll definitely get meaningful minutes somewhere this year, but I think at this point we can put to rest any ideas that he’s not a legit NBA player. He’s going to have some kind of a job for a long time, and that’s a happy surprise all things considered. Lets keep our fingers crossed for him that he ends up closer to the beginning of the bench than the end.

*****

I’ve been out of the loop on SU news thanks to a few weeks out of the country, but I can’t help but notice that Jimmy gave a scholarship to a kid from Philly who just finished his freshman year. His name is Dion Waiters, and he’s never played a minute of high school basketball. Wow. What is this sport coming to? This kid isn’t allowed to officially sign with SU until 2009 (!!), so who knows what will happen between now and then. He could develop into the next LeBron James, he could grow 8 inches or none at all, he could devolve into a backup by 12th grade, or any other scenario you can imagine. His hot shit rep is based entirely on summer ball from the last couple of months. Lets hope this kid is the truth, or we’re going to look ridiculous later on.

Demetris Nichols was the Knicks’ leading scorer, with 14 points in only 16 minutes, in a win over China. D shot 4-7 from the floor (3-5 from deep) and 3-3 from the foul line. He also had three assists. No blocked shots this time though.

Darryl Watkins played 14 minutes for the Kings. He did not score (only attempting one shot) but had 4 rebounds and a block. He also had 4 fouls in that short time on the court.

Gerry McNamara played 5 minutes and did not score vs. the Lakers, missing both his attempts from the field (neither was a three-point try).