renardo sidney

3 Pointers: Renardo Sidney's still-young career floundering

Sporting News' Mike DeCourcy examines three stories making the rounds in college basketball:
Renardo Sidney had just finished the ninth grade when he was invited to the ABCD Camp in New Jersey. He did not look like a high school freshman, of course. He looked like he’d been an NBA power forward for years.
Mississippi State basketball players Renardo Sidney and Elgin Bailey got in a fight in the stands just before a game between Hawaii and Utah. The fight in one in a long list of snags and mistakes by Sidney. (AP photo)

Big Ticket

That seemed a blessing at the time, but was it?
Since the basketball talent machine latched onto him, his career has been a mess. He was a promising young player with prodigious talent as a high schooler in Mississippi, but then his father moved the family to Southern California and eventually began a summer basketball program of which Renardo was the focus.
As a high school senior, Sidney wanted to commit to UCLA, but the Bruins chose not to take him. He committed to USC, but the school dropped him. He wound up at Mississippi State, where the NCAA declined to let him play last year and suspended him for nine games this season. Since his suspension ended, he has played two games. In between the two games, he was suspended because of conduct detrimental to the team. After the second, he became engaged in a fight with a teammate Thursday night in Hawaii.
The disintegration of Sidney’s career is the kind of outcome that can occur when teenagers are turned into meal tickets before their first proms.
Perhaps you’ve heard of Lindsay Lohan?

Like a Bulldog

Where are all the folks who were writing off Butler’s NCAA at-large chances around Thanksgiving?
Butler has won three consecutive games against major opponents—Stanford, Utah, Florida State—entering its Christmas night showdown against Washington State in the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic.
The difference between the early Bulldogs and the team surging now: Matt Howard is avoiding foul trouble, playing big minutes and performing like a star; Ronald Nored is healthy and doing what he does. Howard is averaging 23.8 points over the past four games. Nored again is at the forefront of the BU defense. WSU will present a heck of a challenge, but Butler is showing it’s still a serious team.

Volunteer Effort

Four straight disappointing performances, including three defeats, is leading us to wonder if Tennessee’s brilliance against Pitt and Villanova were exceptions, and the real Vols essentially are average.
It’s apparent theVols’ perimeter defense is not something they consistently embrace, not with USC hitting 9-of-21 3’s and Oakland going 7-of-18. Center Brian Williams lately is neither active nor effective (only 14 shots in the past three games). And wing Scotty Hopson’s motivational issues might never abate.
Tennessee played some fine teams in that stretch: Oakland and Belmont are strong mid-majors, and USC also has beaten Texas. But the Volunteers who played earlier this month in Pittsburgh were a Final Four threat. Where did they go?