Draft Sports

Potential changes in the economic climate of the NFL could result in as many as 40 college football underclassman applying for next April's draft. Leigh Steinberg, a sports attorney who has represented prominent athletes in negotiations with NFL teams, made that estimate Monday. Included in this group, according to Steinberg, are three highly regarded quarterbacks--Heisman Trophy-winner Andre Ware of Houston, Jeff George of Illinois and Scott Mitchell of Utah.

After a while, USC linebacker Rey Maualuga stopped watching the NFL draft. "Friends would text me and I'd feel the phone vibrate," Maualuga said in a phone interview Saturday from his home in Eureka, Calif. "I thought, 'It's cool, I'm getting picked.' Then I'd say, 'Dang.' " Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews and Maualuga were expected to become the first trio of players from the same unit to be picked in the first round.

Remember the NBA draft of 2009 . . . as in "What draft?" On the eve of the event, the ground trembled under the NBA amid reports from myriad sources that the Phoenix Suns are close to a deal with the Cavaliers, sending Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland. If the deal is done today, it will be remembered as the day the Clippers got Blake Griffin (that's nice) and the Cavaliers got Shaquille O'Neal (HOLY MT. OLYMPUS, SHAQ AND LEBRON JAMES TOGETHER!).

USC linebacker Rey Maualuga is a hitter not a hittee, so it's somewhat appropriate that the weight of this reality has not fully struck him: Life as he knows it is about to change. "I guess it really hasn't sunk in yet that tomorrow will be my last day as a college athlete," Maualuga said in a phone interview Thursday from his home in Eureka, Calif. "It's strange to think it's over." Over, and just beginning.

In a salute to the NCAA tournament, here's my annual NBA perspective, trying to project who's rising, who's falling, and set it up so whatever happens, I can say I was right. For every phenom the pros don't talk about because they're not expected to come out -- such as North Carolina's Ed Davis or Florida State's Solomon Alabi -- there are stalwarts like UNC's Tyler Hansbrough, who aren't on this creme de la creme list but may make the real first round.

The National Basketball Assn. will hold its annual college draft Tuesday, and a dozen of the young men hoping to be picked are leaving college before completing their eligibility. All, obviously, are convinced that they can play in the NBA. Norris Coleman's case, however, illustrates just how tough it is for those players who leave college early to survive in the big show.

Some people light up a room. Ryan Kalil rearranges one. The former USC center, among the fastest-rising players in the NFL draft, walks into a room the way he saunters to the line of scrimmage: surveying, assessing, critiquing. This picture would look better over here. The mirror should be hanging on the other wall. Wouldn't the couch look better in that corner? Yes, this interior lineman can appreciate the finer points of interior decorating, but it's more than that.

Mark Sanchez spoke to Carson Palmer. A phone call to Matt Leinart was on Sanchez's Tuesday night to-do list. And between tapping the brains of Heisman Trophy winners, the USC quarterback met separately with new offensive coordinator John Morton and with Coach Pete Carroll.

Their college careers complete, now USC's Brian Scalabrine and Jeff Trepagnier and UCLA's Earl Watson are anticipating one of the biggest events of their lives--Wednesday's NBA draft. But they and other area draft-eligible players also face one of their biggest challenges--making an impact in the NBA. UCLA has had 62 players and USC 26 who have spent at last one season in the NBA.

When, as a junior at Oklahoma State in 1989, Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders called the NFL's bluff and declared himself eligible for the draft, some predicted college football would collapse as wave after wave of young players streamed out of school in search of the fame, and, especially, the fortune of professional football. Reality has proved to be less catastrophic.

With today's NHL entry draft hours away, the Kings were holding on to the fifth pick, the Ducks' plans were on hold while Scott Niedermayer decided his future, and New York Islanders fans held on to hope their downtrodden team could rebuild around consensus No. 1 pick John Tavares. Tavares, a prolific center from the Ontario Hockey League, has long been projected as the top choice in this year's draft, which begins today in Montreal and continues Saturday with the second through seventh rounds.

Not that DeMar DeRozan is an expert on the city of Toronto, but a recent visit left him impressed. "I was up there about a day and a half, great town, ate, saw the city and it was beautiful," he said. "It reminded me of a mini-New York." Now he'll get a chance to know it a lot better.

Jimmy Fallon executed a neat spin move in the bustling hallway outside the various green rooms at his show at NBC and looked up at the future of a basketball franchise. "Oh my God, you're the tallest dude," Fallon said, craning his head to see Blake Griffin. That established, he moved on to another physical point. They compared the size of their hands, at Fallon's request.

The Lakers just won the NBA championship with a deep, young and talented team that could remain that way if they sign their three free agents. The Lakers also have three picks in today's NBA draft, but the players available are not likely to make their roster next season, so they'd rather make a deal to have the money available to sign Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown, who become unrestricted free agents next month.

Remember the NBA draft of 2009 . . . as in "What draft?" On the eve of the event, the ground trembled under the NBA amid reports from myriad sources that the Phoenix Suns are close to a deal with the Cavaliers, sending Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland. If the deal is done today, it will be remembered as the day the Clippers got Blake Griffin (that's nice) and the Cavaliers got Shaquille O'Neal (HOLY MT. OLYMPUS, SHAQ AND LEBRON JAMES TOGETHER!).

In the great circle of life known as the professional sports league calendar, we're about to follow up the crowning of the NBA champions with the ritual of the NBA draft.

Mike Dunleavy, the Clippers' general manager and coach, settled into his seat to watch a potential Clipper of the future. Good passer, he thought. Dunleavy also liked the way the player shot during the pre-game warmups. Then, Ricky Rubio got hurt. Twelve minutes in. Wait a minute. Isn't the Clippers curse supposed to hit players after they get drafted by the organization, not beforehand? And so much for Dunleavy's long scouting mission to Spain to check out 18-year-old Rubio.

It was an NFL draft of traders and Raiders. It was a weekend of easy street (first-round picks are projected to receive a guaranteed $400 million), Madison Avenue (has Mark Sanchez mentioned he loves New York?) and tackle Michael Oher, the road (grader) not taken. Actually, Oher was taken -- selected 23rd by the Baltimore Ravens -- but it was a lot later than he had hoped. Many people expected him to be a top-10 pick.

USC has not won a national title since 2004, but the Trojans finished No. 1 for the second consecutive year in terms of the NFL draft. With six players selected Sunday, USC upped its total to 11, more than any other program. "It was a great two days for the guys," Coach Pete Carroll said. "It's an awesome representation of how hard they work." In 2008, the Trojans had a national-best 10 players selected, four in the first round.

Memo to the half a dozen Jersey boys selected Saturday in the opening round of the NFL draft: Leave a light on for Mark Sanchez. The USC quarterback now will play his home games in East Rutherford, N.J. Whereas teams from all over the country snapped up six players born in the Garden State -- Eugene Monroe (Jacksonville), B.J.