12-31-2019, 07:41 AM
Before the 2013-14 NCAA season began, CBSSports.com listed Syracuse point guard and Toronto native Tyler Ennis at 69 on its "Top 100 Players in college hoops." Michigan guard and fellow Canadian Nik Stauskas was one ahead at 68. With 42 days before the NBA Draft in New York City, two of three analysts of the same website have Ennis getting selected in the top 10, while all three have Stauskas going in the 10-14 range. "Ive played against some of the best players in the world and Ive played against some of the best players in my class," Ennis said at the NBA Combine, which began Thursday. "I just have the confidence and I know how hard I work and I know my abilities." Played is the operative word in that sentence. For as much as the 19-year-old Ennis and 20-year-old Stauskas did to get noticed on the court, they both understand to fulfill their NBA dreams theyll have to impress potential employers off the court just as much. "People know how I play and I think the main thing for teams is to get to know me and know if they are going to draft me, what theyre going to deal with," Ennis said. "They want to see, as a nineteen-year-old coming out of college, if youre able to lead grown men in the NBA and I think they are able to get a feel for that in the interviews." The process is something all players have to go through and Stauskas is doing his best to combat the expected nerves. "The main thing for me is to just try to be myself and let teams know what kind of person I am and how I grew up and how I got to this situation right here," the Mississauga native said. Stauskass upbringing could serve him well when talking to NBA clubs. His family originally hails from the basketball-mad Lithuania. "Im a good person, really hard-working, and I come from a great family. I think thats important for people to know and I just want them to know that Im not doing this because I want money or anything like that," he said. "Obviously, the moneys great, but Im really doing this just because I love the game of basketball. This is whats made me happy since I was seven or eight-years-old. I feel like if teams really get that vibe from me, theyre going like that." Both Stauskas and Ennis sat out the first day of the combine. Each player was officially measured - height, weight and wingspan - but neither participated in any of the on-court drills. "Before the combine started, knowing what the drills were going to be, I felt a lot of it was just jump-shooting," Stauskas said. "Obviously, thats the strongest part of my game and I feel that teams already know I can shoot the ball, so coming in, I felt that even if I had a great day shooting the ball, it wasnt really going to do much for me because teams already know thats my strength." Both Canadians, however, will participate in physical testing and the aforementioned team meetings. And although the footage of their abilities is likely endless at this point, both players say there will be a few surprises awaiting any and all who will be watching. "Im not the one dunking all the time but Im able to jump pretty high and Im a lot faster than people think," Ennis said. "Going through the combine I think my numbers will show that its more surprising than people expect. "I dont think people realize I can jump the way I do or run the way I do," Stauskas echoed, "so Im really looking forward to tomorrow, getting in there and working." Emmitt Thomas Jersey . -- The Chicago Bears say they have agreed to a one-year contract with centre Roberto Garza. 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Only after he got up-and-down to save par and looked at the replay on three televisions did he see the slighest movement that came with a stiff penalty Saturday in The Players Championship. The two-shot penalty turned his 71 into a 73. Instead of being five shots behind Jordan Spieth and Martin Kaymer, he was seven shots back. "That was a bitter pill to swallow at the end of a battling day," Rose said. "In some ways, its my own fault for trying to be my own rules official." Rose missed the 18th green to the right and set up over the ball to play a delicate chip. Suddenly, he backed away when there appeared to be movement right after he lightly grounded his club. He called over Sergio Garcia. They watched the replay on a video board. "We both clearly look at the evidence and look at the replay and say, No, absolutely the ball didnt move," Rose said. "But under 50 times magnification in the truck, maybe the ball moved a quarter of a dimple toward the toe of the club. Obviously, if the ball moved, it moved. And I get assessed an extra stroke penalty." Rose was penalized under Rule 18-2b for causing the ball to move at address (one shot), and then an additional shot for not replacing it. He might have been able to save himself one shot by calling for an official to go through the incident. Rose said the grass was soft and uneven, which he thought might have given the appearance that the ball moved. "Ive gone from trying to chip in to make 3 to walking off with a 6," he said of his double bogey. "Disappointing. But in the same way, Im glad now that at least the right decisionn has been made.dddddddddddd The ball moved. Obviously, I made a mistake." Rose was not spared by an addition to the "Decisions on the Rules of Golf" this year (18/4) that would waive the penalty if a ball movement was not "reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time" and required enhanced technology. The fact he quickly backed away from the shot was evidence that it was discernible. Even so, this took what Rose called "four trucks and different technology" to sort out. Before signing his scorecard, he looked at a replay on NBC Sports and it looked fine. European Tour rules official David Probyn weighed in with some concerns to make sure it was right, and Rose said he went to a second and a third trailer to see different television views "where they really zoomed in." "The movement ... was virtually not visible," he said. It was reminiscent of the BMW Championship last year in Chicago, where Tiger Woods was penalized two shots when video showed his ball moved ever so slightly as Woods was removing loose twigs around it. Woods was adamant that the ball only oscillated, even after video evidence. He was penalized two shots. In both cases, no advantage was gained. But the Rules of Golf require the ball to be "played as it lies." "It has to be the right result," Rose said. "Because if the ball moves — whether it moves an inch, if the ball moves a hair — the ball moved. And Im happy now. My conscience is clear. Ill sleep better tonight knowing that, eventually, the right decision was made." But he wasnt entirely happy. "No advantage gained, and obviously now a big disadvantage, unfortunately," he said about the two-shot penalty. ' ' '