College basketball: Unbeaten Tigers seeking respect
Published 12:00 am Friday, January 16, 2009
Associated Press
CLEMSON, S.C. ó It’s hard not to notice Clemson’s perfect start and top-10 ranking. Still, Tigers forward Trevor Booker thinks not enough people are paying attention.
“I feel like we’re still underrated,” he said. “I feel like people are still underestimating us.”
At 16-0, Clemson can garner plenty of attention this weekend in its ACC showdown with another undefeated team, No. 2 Wake Forest. Saturday’s game at Littlejohn Coliseum is sold-out.
“Everybody’s talking about how good Wake is,” Booker said. “They’re not talking about us.”
Clemson moved up to No. 10 in the country this week, its highest ranking in 11 seasons. Booker, a junior averaging 15.4 points and 9.1 rebounds, said he believes the Tigers should be among the top five.
ARREST
RALEIGH ó Former N.C. State basketball player Gavin Grant has been charged with credit card fraud in an incident at a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Raleigh.
Raleigh police spokesman Jim Sughrue said Grant, who currently plays for the NBDL’s Utah Flash, turned himself in Tuesday after police issued a warrant for his arrest.
Grant, 23, is charged with one count of obtaining property by false pretenses. The charge stems from a transaction at the upscale department store inside a Raleigh mall. A store employee also was charged.
Grant was a guard and forward for the Wolfpack from 2004 to 2008, averaging 13.1 points in his final season and 14.7 points his junior season. The 6-foot-8, Jamaican-born Grant averages 12 points and 3.6 rebounds per game for the Flash.
Sughrue declined to release details about the case, such as who owned the credit card and how it was obtained. He said the investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible.
The department store employee, Paige Shamone Gilliam, 25, of Raleigh, was charged with three counts of obtaining property through false pretenses, Sughrue said.
Gilliam was arrested Jan. 6. and released the same day on a $9,000 bail.
ALABAMA
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ó Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said point guard Ron Steele is out indefinitely with a heel injury.