That makes sense considering Owens had to redshirt the 2009-10 season at Stanford because of an undisclosed medical condition.

“There was all types of possibilities,” the 6-foot-8, 235-pound Owens said of what could’ve happened as a result of his medical situation. “I wasn’t allowed to practice with the team. It definitely was one of the toughest experiences.”

The Kennesaw, Ga., native who finished up at Phillips Exeter Academy said he ultimately benefitted from the year away from hoops, even though it was difficult.

“I really grew as a person, mostly off the court,” he said.

Now two years removed from that difficult situation, Owens is putting everything into his senior year with the Cardinal.

He put on a show Wednesday night by scoring 13 of Stanford’s first 15 points, making his first nine field goals and finishing with 21 points and 5 rebounds in the Cardinal’s 79-57 rout of Oklahoma State at MSG.

Stanford (5-0) will face Syracuse or Virginia Tech in Friday’s title game.

“I feel great,” said Owens, who entered averaging 12.3 points and 4.3 rebounds. “Leaving nothing out there. It’s my senior year and I’m just trying to help my team along in the direction we want to go.”

Owens had never played at the Garden before and joked that when he’s at 34th Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan, it’s usually “to get to Penn Station to catch the train over to New Jersey.”

Yet the long, athletic Owens showed no hesitation in carving up the Oklahoma State defense as Stanford raced to a 13-7 lead.

Stanford was picked sixth in the Pac-12 preseason poll, but with preseason No. 1 UCLA having stumbled out of the gate (1-4) and preseason No. 3 Arizona having problems with its freshmen, the Cardinal feel they could surprise some people in the league.

“People can say whatever they want to about the league, but we’re focused on ourself,” Owens said.

And having gone through his own tough experience, Owens says he appreciates the game more than ever before.

“When something you love is taken away for that long a time, there’s an uncertainty,” he said. “You cherish every moment of it.”

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“I actually grew up liking Duke but not [any] more,” the 6-foot-8, 212-pound rising junior said by phone from the Kevin Durant Skills Academy in Chicago. “That’s what I liked growing up more.”

Now a member of the USA Developmental National Team and one of the top small forwards in the nation, Ellis has a slew of elite programs after him — but he isn’t counting Duke among them.

Ellis lists Kansas, Memphis, Kentucky, Kansas State, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Stanford, Oklahoma and Wichita State as college options.

“Nobody has a an edge. I’m just looking,” said Ellis, who carries a 4.0 GPA.

Ellis said he plans to visit some of those schools during the upcoming school year, but has no immediate plans.

As a freshman, Ellis was named the 2009 Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year, the first freshman in Kansas to ever receive the award.

“Being a young player and getting an opportunity to get that it’s a hard thing to do with all the seniors and everybody,” he said.

Ellis helped lead Wichita Heights High School to a 24-1 record, including a perfect 16-0 mark in the Greater Wichita Athletic League en route to the Kansas Class 6A State Tournament championship. Along the way, Ellis averaged 19.2 ppg. and 11.7 rpg., also being honored as a consensus all-state first team member. In the title game, he pulled down 20 rebounds and scored nine points, helping his school win its first championship since 1977.

Being from Kansas, it’s only natural that fans want him to play for the state university.

“Everybody’s bugging me, ‘Kansas, Kansas,’” he said.

Now he’s running with Durant and other elite forwards before playing at the LeBron James Skills Academy July 5-7 in Akron, Ohio.

“It’s going pretty good,” Ellis said. “[Durant] played with us all [Sunday] and [Monday]. It’s good to see how he works.”

Ellis says he wants to improve his “ballhandling” and “footwork” so he can try and follow in Durant’s footsteps.

Just don’t expect him to do it at Duke.

(USA Basketball contributed)

(Photo courtesy Rivals.com)

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UCONN

Some 9,000 fans turned out at Gampel Pavillion to support the Huskies on First Night.

6-8 Oak Hill (Va.) forward Roscoe Smith is considering Duke, UConn and Georgetown. He has already visited Georgetown and was at UConn on Friday.

“I’m a versatile-type player. I can do it all,” Smith told David Borges of The New Haven Register. “Anything the coach needs of me, I can do.”

Smith said he liked UConn and its history of producing talented big men.

“The main thing about UConn is coach Jim Calhoun. And also, the legacy of the players that played here, like Rudy Gay, Ben Gordon, etc.”

Also slated to be at UConn were Findlay (Nev.) Prep Cory Joseph (2010), Winchendon wing Angel Martinez of New York and Maurice Harkless of Queens, both Class of 2011.

Borges also reported that UConn shooting guard Jerome Dyson, who missed the last 12 games of last season after undergoing knee surgery, has been sitting out of practices and drills, but did compete in Friday night’s dunk contest.

“He wouldn’t miss the chance to show off,” said Calhoun. “Jerome has instant recuperative powers when there are 2,000-3,000 co-eds looking at him.”

KANSAS

The No. 1 team in the preseason polls returns all five starters, including, Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, as well as a banner recruiting class that includes Xavier and C.J. Henry.

During the freshmen skits for “Late Night in the Phog,” The Kansas City Star reported that Xavier had to wear an afro and super tight Kansas game shorts from the 1980s while dancing to rapper Lil’ Flip’s “The way we ball.”

“They made us do some goofy stuff tonight,” Xavier told the paper. “We stressed over it the whole week. We practiced earlier [Friday], made sure we got it down. It was good. I enjoyed it while we were out there.”

Markieff Morris was 6-of-7 from the field for 15 points and Travis Releford was 6-of-6 for 15  in the scrimmage at Allen Fieldhouse, according to the Topeka Capital Journal. Xavier scored eight points.

New Jersey guard Tyshawn Taylor, who suffered a dislocated right thumb that required surgery in the recent fight with members of the football team, played nine minutes. He did not score but dished five assists.

“I feel good,” Taylor told Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com. “My shot is like I never left. I don’t even think about it when I play.”

Several elite recruits were on hand, but neither Harrison Barnes of Ames, Iowa, nor Doron Lamb of Oak Hill (Va.) played, Goodman reported. Barnes, who still has to visit Duke and UCLA, was resting his body. Josh Selby took an unofficial and did run with the team.

KENTUCKY

John Calipari officially launched the 2009-10 campaign by addressing some 24,000 fans in the Bluegrass State.

Many expect the Wildcats to challenge for a Final Four run after the additions of freshmen John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins and Daniel Orton to a team that already included Patrick Patterson, Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins.

“I look at this team behind me and the passion in front of me and I see the foundation for my vision for our program,” Calipari said, according to reports. “It’s a vision where we are the gold standard not just for college basketball but for all college athletics.”

Kentucky hosted a slew of elite recruits, including the New York/New Jersey quartet of Tobias Harris, Kyrie Irving, Michael Gilchrist and Achraf Yacoubou.

Irving and Harris both Tweeted that they were “chillin” with each other.

UPCOMING MADNESS EVENTS:

Oct 22 – St. John’s

Oct. 23 – Villanova

Oct. 30 – Seton Hall 

POWELL TO STANFORD

Dwight Powell, a 6-9, 215-pound forward from Bradenton IMG Academy, verbally committed to Stanford over Harvard and Georgia Tech.

“It was a tough decision but the combination of world class academics and world class athletics confirmed in my mind Stanford was the place for me,” Powell wrote in a text message. “Coach [Johnny] Dawkins has a great vision for me and for the program, which is exciting.”

A five-star prospect, Powell is ranked No. 23 overall and No. 7 among forwards.

(Photos courtesy Rivals, Kansas City Star, US Presswire)

“I talked to his mom yesterday [Thursday],” said Herman Harried, head coach of Baltimore (Md.) Lake Clifton. “They say everything went very well.

“They are being considered as one of his top schools.”

Selby, the No. 2 point guard in the Class of 2010,  decommitted from Tennessee and is still considering other schools, including Kansas, Kentucky, Miami, Syracuse and Texas, Harried said.

“He’s still going to look at other schools,” he said. “They’re gonna get back home and sit down and plan some other visits.”

Long Island forward Rod Odom also visited UConn Thursday and Norcross (GA) High SG Jeremy Lamb is there Friday.

PINKSTON, COLLIER, WILLIAMS PLANNING VISITS

Bishop Loughlin forward Jayvaughn Pinkston visited Villanova and Tennessee last week and now has a series of other visits in the works.

Pinkston, a 6-6 forward who had a tremendous summer, will visit St. John’s, Seton Hall, Miami, Marquette and Arizona in coming weeks.

“We’re gonna visit St. John’s early next week and spend some time over there,” said New Heights AD Kimani Young, Pinkston’s adviser.

“We’re going to Marquette for their elite camp” at the end of August.

After Labor Day, Pinkston will also visit Seton Hall, Miami and Arizona.

“He’ll probably get over to Seton Hall like the first week in September, after Labor Day,” Young said. “We want to schedule a Miami visit in September also, and Arizona in early September.”

Pinkston wasn’t selected for next week’s Boost Mobile Elite 24 event and isn’t happy about it.

“He’s upset but he understands that with any all-star team selection there’s gonna be a lot of good players that are left out,” Young said. “He’s going to use it as motivation to get into the gym and keep working hard and have a good season his senior year.”

Young added that 6-8 St. Anthony forward Devon Collier will “take an unofficial to Providence pretty soon.”

Collier also lists Arizona, Villanova, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, UConn, Marquette, Virginia and West Virginia.

Derrick Williams, Collier’s 6-7 teammate at St. Anthony, plans to take unofficials to St. Bonaventure, Hofstra, Temple and St. Joe’s in September, he said.

He also has offers from Boston College, VCU, Drexel, Penn State, Northeastern and Providence.

TOBIAS HARRIS, CORY JOSEPH UPDATES

Torrel Harris, Tobias’ father, says the family will probably host a series of in-home visits before cutting its list down to five.

“We’re trying to figure it out,” he said. “It’s an extremely tough choice. We will probably do home visits first and then after the home visits cut the list down.”

Harris has a list of about a dozen schools, including Kentucky, which he visited before playing in the Nike Global Challenge in Oregon.

Cory Joseph, the Canadian point guard playing at Findlay (Nev.) Prep, still  has more than 15 schools on his list but will cut it at the end of August, according to Ro Russell of Grassroots Canada.

Dwight Powell, the Canadian power forward at Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy, has cut his list to Stanford, Harvard and Georgia Tech.

Check back next week for more updates on many of these guys from the Boost Mobile game.

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The next meeting on the schedule was an 11:30 a.m. with a certain “Professor Rice.”

Turned out it was Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state who is now teaching at the school.

Barnes, a 6-foot-7 wing from Ames (Iowa) Senior High who is ranked No. 1 among small forwards in the Class of 2010, had only known Rice from TV appearances in which she didn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor.

But when he finally met Rice in her office, she was laughing and joking and making him feel right at home.

Read the full story here.

I covered the Texas-bound Thompson during his stint at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, when he was listed at 6-foot-8, 215 pounds. He’s now 6-10, 240 with a game that screams NBA potential. His mother, Andrea, said Tristan’s great-grandfather grew to 7 feet.

Thompson just returned Tuesday morning from an 18-hour adventure home from the FIBA U19 World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. It was 13 hours from Auckland to Los Angeles and another five to his home in Toronto.

“I’m pretty tired,” Thompson said by phone. “I’ve been playing for the last four weeks non-stop so my body’s kind of tired. But I’ve been taking care of my body real well so I’ll probably need just two days to rest and I’ll be back in the gym working out.”

Thompson transferred to Findlay (Nev.) Prep from St. Ben’s after St. Ben’s coach Dan Hurley booted him off the team last February. Still, he says he and Hurley are now cool and text each other.

Thompson dropped 18 points and 8 rebounds on the U.S. — the eventual winner — in a quarterfinal loss at the World Championships.

He said it was great to see some of his former Jersey boys, including Kansas wing Tyshawn Taylor, named to the all-tournament team for the U.S., and Rutgers guard Mike Rosario and Fordham guard Jio Fontan, who played for Puerto Rico. All three of those guys played for Bob Hurley, Dan’s father, at St. Anthony in Jersey City.

“[Taylor] played awesome. I was rooting for him every game that we watched because I used to go to St. Benedict’s and that’s basically one of the brothers of the family,” Thompson said. “He played real well. Mike and Jio played real well. They really showed people that they have talent.”

Bob Hurley recently told me he would suggest that Rosario and possibly Taylor test the NBA draft waters after next season.

Could Thompson see that?

“I definitely could see that,” he said. “Mike and Tyshawn both showed NBA scouts and all the GMs that were there that they can play in the NBA and I think they have a chance to do it.”

And what about Thompson. How good can he be?

Ro Russell, Thompson’s AAU coach with Grassroots Canada, says the sky’s the limit for Thompson.

“He’s so versatile, he can face, he can slash, he can shoot it,” Russell said. “He has to work on his jump shot and his pull-up from mid-range. He’s improving himself. He’s shown that he can be the best player to come out of Canada ever. He has high expectations and he wants to be the best player to come out of Canada.”