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Niemo’s Notes | 08.29.11

Posted on29 August 2011. Tags:

Couple of things…

  1. I forgot to mention this last week, but Gene Swindle is reviving his college basketball career.  The former arm curl victim transferred to jmu and should be eligible to play this season.  VT believed his right knee injury a few years ago was career ending, so he was allowed to stay on scholarship without it counting against Tech’s 13.  Had they reinstated him within the program, the NCAA likely would have taken away an additional scholarship (the NCAA does this to keep schools from taking guys out of their scholarship allotment temporarily and then bringing them back if they need to).  So the Hokies decided not to bring him back into the fold, and so he’s transferring – Swindle to jmu per Roanoke Times
  2. Javaris Crittenton, who played at georgia tech for one season in 2006-07 before bolting to the NBA as a First Round pick, is a fugitive wanted for murder in Atlanta – AJC.com Article

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- who has written 1106 posts on Tech Hoops.

Niemo is a member of the VT Class of '98. Attended every home basketball game during his 4 years at VT after missing the first home game. Has attended 122 straight VT football home games (every game since '94), eclipsing the 100 mark in September of '09. During the final home basketball game of his senior year, he was brought onto the court and was awarded 2 passes to the Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament in Philly during a timeout. The Hokie Bird made the award on behalf of Athletic Director Jim Weaver. Niemo was known to be in the front row of every home game with his familiar red afro hairdo. Niemo currently lives in DC and speaks the Hokie gospel as often as possible. He watches over 50% of all ACC games, making him one of the most knowledgeable experts on ACC basketball.

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  • King

    The FBI nabbed Crittendon at John Wayne Airport in the O.C. earlier tonight, attempting to board a flight back to Atlanta.

  • http://www.heyhokie.com Goodraisin

    1) Really happy for Gene. By all accounts, he is a good kid. JMU should be a good fit for him and give him a chance at some quality playing time.

    2) @King, he’s returning to the city in which he’s a wanted man? This is not a smart guy.

    • Niemo

      I think Crittenton was turning himself in. Did he really think he’d make it through the airport and just fly back? The odd thing is so they arrest him, charge him out there with fleeing, then have to fly him back later this week. Should have just let him fly back. The good news for Javaris is his lawyer said he’s ‘not guilty’. So I guess we can close the book on this case. Time to find the real killer.

  • chuck

    It’s hard to believe a guy who has made hundreds of thousands of $$ would resort to this type of retaliation in order to avenge a robbery…

    Wouldn’t a sensible owner of jewelry have it insured, and simply file a police report and have the exact same piece replaced? And then use a cell phone if he sighted the thieves walking on the street in order to have the thieves arrested within minutes?

    Motive is a relative thing…the richer you are, the less the property should mean, which lessens the motive to strike back in such a violent fashion.

    I also leave open the possibility that the guys who were the intended targets were potentially regular thieves who had multiple enemies due to their career choice. Since they probably robbed lots of people, they could have been targeted by any of their victims. Also, if they are the key witnesses, they are also criminals, so can their word be trusted?

    These are seeds of doubt that would immediately spring to mind if i were trying to convince a jury of innocence.

    However, the VZ Center gun episode, his well documented split with his long time mentor due to his entourage becoming too gangster, these are not good character references…

    I’d be surprised if he was guilty, not shocked, but surprised.

    • Niemo

      Chuck – based on rumors I’ve heard of pro athletes and their “money management”, I’d bet you most of what he did make was long gone, therefore making the robbery more meaningful. Kid thought he was going to be in the NBA for years but is already a year removed from the league just 4 years after getting drafted.

  • chuck

    Well, per basketball reference.com, he had earned $4.1MM thru 2010.

    We all know that he probably netted $1.8MM to $2.1MM….and with the cash flowing in as recently as a year ago, it’s unlikely it’s all gone…and what would murdering do in terms of retrieving his property?

    By all reports he has 3 residences in 3 different cities, so he is writing off some of the interest there at least, and has homes he could sell/rent for other income.

    He sounds like he comes from a cadre of overprotective women who most likely would have influenced him to protect an expensive, easily stolen item like a 30K necklace, et al…this along with the lessons provided at the Rookie Symposium, and by any decent agent would have made sure the items were insured.

    While i don’t dispute the likelihood that he has spent a large portion of his earnings by now, the above information just lessens the motive that he would resort to firing into a crowd haphazardly with nothing in mind but retribution….he sounds smarter than that.

    My thinking: He’s hanging with his new (the wrong) crew, sitting in the backseat of the car, they see the guy they think did it, and then one of his boys takes it on himself to unilaterally “represent”, a situation spiraling out of control in front of him…

    That or one of the people who robbed him jumped to a conclusion and named him as a potential assailant, and the SUV the shots came from are from a car that is associated with Crittenton or one of his associates.

    I just don’t think he pulled the trigger…he still had a playing career and an opportunity to earn his way back into the good graces of the NBA…he was avg 25ppg overseas, and running a competent PG in the D League…

    • Niemo

      This whole story reminds me of the plot to Boyz in Da Hood only in reverse.

  • LuvzAznChix

    Hey Capt. Niemo!

    Don’t you think it’s time you addressed the latest conference changeups considering we added 2 premier hoops programs from the little lEAST???

    • Niemo

      Hmm. Maybe I’ll wait until everyone that’s going to be in is in. I keep waiting for two more.

      Anyway, I never liked pitt in football because Walt Harris literally spend the entire offseason preparing for us (I know because our friend was a Grad Asst there). They’d beat us, then lose to a sub-500 team the next week.

      cuse, well, we could never win there in football either except 2000 (and that was pretty lucky).

      So, as you can see, I don’t have much of an opinion on them in basketball. Mostly because when we were playing them before, we were being coached by ricky “program bomb” stokes except for our last year in the league. Maybe they’ll make this more than a 2-trick pony, which the ACC is right now.

  • LuvzAznChix

    I was just talking about it from a hoops perspective. ‘Cuse obviously will be a dormat for us in football whether at home or on the road. Two more games and we will be leading the all-time series against them. Pitt will pose a little more of a challenge, but Walt Harris ain’t there no more. I think we should be able to handle them, plus we already lead the series well in hand against them.

    No, I meant from a purely hoops perspective having the orange and panthers in the ACC. I mean, do we have a better chance against them this go around?

    • Niemo

      We can play with anyone in the country now. Seth has implemented a style that keeps games close – good defense. While I do wish we ran more, and every year you hear we will (including this year), by the fifth game we’ve either lost depth to the point where we only have 7 guys who can play and therefore can’t press/run, or we simply only have 7 guys who are good enough to play. But, I digress. I firmly believe we can compete with any team on any night. I think the days of our 35 point losses followed by spirited wins are over. We will be competitive each night, and occasionally pull out some of these games. So yes, I think we can compete with cuse and pitt, though undoubtedly they’ll win more than we will.


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