St. Bonaventure's Adegboye Featured with Snoop Dogg, Warren G in Olympics Ad

Courtesy of GoBonnies.com 

LONDON - In advance of the London 2012 Olympics, former St. Bonaventure men's basketball player Ogo Adegboye '11 is featured with rap stars Snoop Dogg and Warren G in an Adidas advertisement for the Games.

Adegboye (wearing No. 6 in blue), a two-year member of the Bonnies, was called up to the Great Brittain senior men's team last summer, where he earned a starting spot in helping GB qualify for this summer's Eurobasket Championships in Lithuania. He led the nation in minutes per game (39.0) in his final season at St. Bonaventure and averaged 11.2 points per game to help SBU to its first winning record and postseason appearance since 2001-02.

The advertisement features a 3-on-3 pickup game with members of the national team squaring off against the rap stars and reigning world-champion triple jumper Phillips Idowu.

Marketing Director for Adidas UK, Nick Craggs said: "To celebrate one year to go we wanted to give the consumers a glimpse of what to expect from adidas over the next 12 months and capture the imagination of those who are perhaps not yet engaged by the Olympics."

A-10 Commissioner McGlade Weighs In On Pay For Play

In a recent ESPN article, columnist Dana O'Neil discusses the ever-growing issue/debate/conundrum of whether paying collegiate student-athletes is a realistic possibility and the potential effects that would have on college athletics.

Commissioner McGlade spoke to O'Neil for the column and the excerpt is as follows:

On the football field a financial disadvantage may not make such a big difference. So what if someday Ohio State is able to offer a COA stipend and Ohio University doesn't? The two schools aren't recruiting the same athletes anyway.

But what about basketball, where the talent gap continues to shrink despite monstrous budgetary chasms?

"In the Atlantic 10, it's absolutely critical to be able to offer cost of attendance if the schools we're competing against do,'' said conference commissioner Bernadette McGlade. "We want to be able to continue to recruit the same student-athletes as those other schools.''

Thanks to the regular successes of Xavier, Temple and Richmond, the A-10 has positioned itself as a basketball conference to be reckoned with. The league annually bumps one of the top six conferences from among the ranks as the most competitive in college basketball. 

But it relies on basketball almost entirely for its revenue. There is no BCS football or any of the accompanying bells and whistles -- big television contracts, for example -- in the A-10. McGlade understandably doesn't want her conference being passed over by recruits who might someday base their college decisions on who does and does not offer that extra stipend.

But she also realizes that, however important such a commitment is, it will also require difficult choices.

"It's going to come down to an individual institutional decision,'' she said. "Schools already say that they're going to be nationally competitive in one sport and fund it accordingly and regionally competitive in another and fund that to a lesser degree. It will be up to the individual institutions to make those decisions and figure out how to make it work with Title IX.''

There is no magic remedy. For cash-strapped institutions, even for those that desperately want to keep up with the Joneses, where is the money supposed to come from?

 What are your thoughts on the issue?  How do you think it would affect college athletics and the A-10?  Leave your thoughts in the comments section of this post!

Click here for the ESPN Column in its entirety.

In Case You Missed It: 2011 NBA Draft

Check out the press conference welcoming Justin Harper to the Orlando Magic:

NEWARK, N.J. - For the second time in three years, two student-athletes from the Atlantic 10 Conference were selected in the NBA Draft. On Thursday night, Richmond's Justin Harper and Temple's Lavoy Allen were both drafted in the second round.

Harper was selected as the 32nd pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic traded for the 6-foot-10, 225-pound Richmond native later Thursday evening. Allen was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 50th pick.

Orlando only had one of the 60 picks in the 2011 NBA Draft and that selection was not coming until 53, but the Magic clearly made Harper there man by offering Cleveland two future picks for his rights.

"You don't do a trade unless the guy you like (is there)," President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Otis Smith said. "There were two guys we liked and the guy (Harper) happened to be the top of the two, so it's a good value pick."

Harper averaged 17.9 points and 6.9 rebounds as a senior in leading the Spiders to a school-record 29 wins, the Atlantic 10 Championship and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.

"This is probably the best feeling I've felt to this point, besides graduating from college," Harper said. "This is like your dream coming true right in front of your face."

Harper was the second highest player selected in school history, behind Johnny Newman who was the 29th pick in the 1986 NBA Draft. Newman played 17 seasons in the NBA.

Allen is the 32nd Temple player selected in the NBA Draft and the first since Mardy Collins was taken with the 29th pick (first round) of the 2006 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks.

"I am excited to be selected and it is even more special that it is by the 76ers, where my family and friends are able to support me," said Allen. "I can't wait to get started with my professional career."

"I am very happy for him," said Temple head coach Fran Dunphy. "He accomplished so much as a college basketball player. It is a great reward to be drafted and to go to the Sixers is icing on the cake."

Allen, the 2011 Philadelphia Big 5 Most Outstanding Player, ended his career as Temple's all-time rebound leader (1,147) and 24th on the all-time scoring list with 1,421 points. He also moved into third place on the all-time blocked shots list with 213 and his 98 career wins in a Cherry and White uniform place him eighth in program history.

A two-time first team All-Atlantic 10 selection and three-time all-defensive team honoree, the Morrisville, Pa. native (Pennsbury High) led Temple and ranked second in the A10 in rebounding (8.6 ppg.) while placing third on the team in scoring (11.6 ppg.). He also led the Owls in blocked shots with a career best 61 and compiled 41 career double-doubles, including eight in his last nine games.

The footage of Harper's name being called: (turn your volume up!)

Former Flyer To Bike 4,000 Miles Across the Country

Louis Suttman, a three-year manager of the Dayton Flyers women’s basketball team and 2009 UD graduate, has challenged himself to bicycle over 4,000 miles from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean in order to raise heart health awareness.

Suttman has been personally affected in many ways by various heart ailments within his close circle of family and friends.

In 1972 his grandfather and namesake, Louis “Frosty” Suttman (UD Class of 1951), was one of the first recipients of an artificial aorta valve due to a heart birth defect. As this was new technology at the time, the valve sadly only lasted six years and Frosty passed away in 1978.

During Suttman’s freshman year at the University of Dayton, the wear and tear of cancer treatment surfaced in his uncle Eric Suttman’s heart. The Dayton graduate - and current faculty member at the University -successfully underwent a quadruple bypass surgery while also receiving an artificial aorta valve.

During that same year, Louis Suttman became an official member of the University of Dayton women’s basketball team. It was then that he first met his mentor, Head Coach Jim Jabir. Suttman admired Coach Jabir’s intensity, dedication, and more importantly, the gigantic heart with which Coach ran his program. Suttman was shocked to find out halfway through his first year with the team that the same wonderful heart that he admired so much, had nearly taken Jabir’s life in 2004. It was then, while coaching his team, that Jabir was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia; a condition through which he has preserved and continues to coach with today.

“Throughout my time with the team, Coach Jabir and I grew especially close and developed a bond that will last a lifetime,” said Suttman.

Read the rest of Suttman's story on daytonflyers.com

Support his journey here on the BIKE ACROSS THE HEART OF AMERICA - LOUIS SUTTMAN WEB PAGE

Temple Softball Team Welcomes A New Member

The A-10 prides itself on student-athletes that do well on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The Temple Women’s Softball team is no exception with their recent “adoption” of six-year old Vanessa Moressi through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation.

The Lady Owls adopted Vanessa after they were inspired by the Temple women's lacrosse program who also participates in the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation with their second adoptee, Lily Adkins.

Along with Temple, five other A-10 schools participate in the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation: the Duquesne Dukes, La Salle Explorers, Saint Joseph’s Hawks, the Massachusetts Minutemen and the Richmond Spiders.

Click Here for Temple's Story

Gearing Up for A-10 Baseball Tourney

In honor of the last week of Atlantic 10 Baseball Conference play, and being a week out from the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship, we thought A-10 Nation would enjoy this video of the Atlantic 10's own Director of Communications, Jason Leturmy, throwing out the first pitch at the Rivershark's game at Campbell's field a week ago.

He claims it was a strike, what do you think?

Charlotte's Loftsson Sinks Hole-In-One At A-10 Tourney

Charlotte's Olafur Loftsson sunk the first hole-in-one of his career on arguably, the biggest stage: the 15th hole of the first day of the 2011 Atlantic 10 Golf Championship. 

Check out the amazing shot and Loftsson's reaction here:




Loftsson found the bottom of the cup with a pitching wedge from 146 yards out.  Never a dull moment at an A-10 Championship!

The 49ers went on to capture their league-record 6th A-10 title.