Mavericks scout Travis, Joyce

Men's basketball

Although it's a long shot Romeo Travis or Dru Joyce will hear their names called next June, scouts are paying attention, possibly for a training camp invitation.

Adam Ferrise reports the Dallas Mavericks sent a scout to look at four of Nevada's starters, as well as Akron's two seniors. The Portland Trailblazers and Cleveland Cavaliers (Danny Ferry) also had representatives in attendance at Rhodes Arena on Saturday.

This is just my humble opinion, but these guys will get an invitation to camp. Their connection to LeBron James all but assures them of that.

• The ABJ's Michael Beaven previewed Akron's next game against Loyola Marymount. He talks about the Lions' size, even without the injured Matthew Knight, who is out for a month after spraining his knee last week.

I'll have more on the game tomorrow.

Football

Here's a breakdown of how other MAC teams are doing this recruiting season according to Rivals.com...

Three-star (or higher) recruits...

• 3 - Akron


• 1 - Miami, Temple, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Toledo, Ball State, Western Michigan


• 0 - Northern Illinois, Ohio, Kent, Central Michigan, Eastern Michgan

Total points...

• Akron - 116


• Miami - 81


• Ball State - 44


• Northern Illinois - 42


• Ohio - 41


• Western Michigan - 37


• Kent - 33


• Temple - 32


• Central Michigan - 30


• Eastern Michigan - 24


• Bowling Green, Buffalo, Toledo - 17

Of course, these are only preliminary numbers. Signing day isn't until February. We'll see then if anyone can catch up with Akron.

By the way, Scout.com has Miami in the lead. That site, however, is way behind in updating Akron's recruits. It only lists 10 of the 16 from Rivals.com. I'm not being biased; Rivals is just much better at analyzing this part of the country.