It's the 1, not the 81

Mad Antics

The D-League will hold its annual national tryouts June 15 in New York. The one-day event will see 200 hopefuls in full-court games in front of team executives, coaches and scouts.Thursday

Howard, Smith work at Development League camp

Mad Ants guard Ron Howard and center Tommy Smith accepted invitations to the NBA Development League Elite Mini Camp, which started Monday and runs through Tuesday in Chicago.May 13, 2013

Record year for D-League

It wasn't only the Mad Ants that made 2012-13 their best season; the rest of the NBA Development League had a record-setting year, as well.May 1, 2013

There were a lot of dreamers at Concordia Seminary on Saturday, hoping to land a spot on the Mad Ants D-League team.

The last count was 81 souls, each one of whom was hoping that he'd be noticed by second-year coach Joey Meyer.

My guess is that he wasn't impressed with the vast majority.

The person present who was of interest, though, was point guard Walker Russell Jr., who averaged nearly 11 assists two years ago when he played with the Ants.

Russell is still chasing his own dream, which is to get into the NBA. His problem is that he's pushing 6-feet even and has trouble defending ultra-quick opponents. Other than that, he's a perfect D-League fit, and it will be interesting to see how he develops under Meyer.