The Blue Zone

Good stuff from Adam Lucas here ... has my man, new Miss. State coach Rick Ray, talking about UNC big men Joel James and Brice Johnson. Heels face Mississippi State at 6 p.m.

I covered Clemson during said recruitments, and it was a dagger both times the Tar Heels entered the picture.

****

Recruiting tales: Ray spent time as an assistant coach at Clemson, which put him in the same recruiting territory as the Tar Heels on several players on the current roster. Ray recruited both Brice Johnson and Joel James fairly intensely, and also had an interest in Marcus Paige.

The progress of James, especially, has impressed Ray. "When I saw him on film this year, he was a totally different person than what I saw when we recruited him," Ray said. "He has lost so much weight and looks totally different."

James, of course, has lost 50 pounds since high school. But even when he tipped the scales at over 300 pounds, Ray still thought he would be a player.

"With big guys, half the battle is whether they play hard," Ray said. "If you get big guys who play hard and compete, they will end up being a good player. That's what I saw with Joel, and you could tell he had a work ethic."

James is averaging 6.7 points and 7.0 rebounds (good for second on the team) through his first three college games.