News & Notes
by Alex Schwartz
- I was able to go to the Duke/Xavier game at the Izod Center over the weekend, and I came away very impressed with the Blue Devils, and very unimpressed with the Musketeers. Coach K and Co. jumped out to an 18-1 lead to open things up, led 55-24 at the half, and won by 18, going wire-to-wire. Xavier just seemed over matched, and will need to improve quite a bit if it wants to be anything more than a Sweet 16 contender. Sean Miller is a good coach, and I do expect the team to improve. Regarding specific players, Jon Scheyer, Brian Zoubek, and Kyle Singler were all great for Duke, while Terrell Holloway of Xavier looks like a future all-conference player.
- St. Anthony's (NJ) defeated Trenton Catholic (NJ) yesterday at the Hoop Group Tip-Off Classic at Seton Hall by a score of 37-36. The Iron Mikes were led by Dondre Whitmore '10, who scored 15 point, and held Villanova-bound Dominic Cheek of St. Ant's to just 13 points in the low scoring affair. The Friars were without Derrick Williams '10, Ashton Pankey '10, and Devon Collier '10, while TCA did not have Markese Tucker '10. This was a big win for St. Anthony's, as the squad only had four (Cheek, Quinnipiac-signee Jamee Jackson '09, Travis Conyers '09, and Eli Carter '10) of their main players. How good will Bob Hurley's squad be at full strength?
- In another big game at the event, Plainfield (NJ) took on Paterson Catholic (NJ) in a matchup of two of the Garden State's top seven or eight teams. The Cardinals knocked off the Cougars 73-61 behind the play of Isaiah Epps '10, one of the best junior guards in America. This was a big blow to PC, which has aspirations of a Tournament of Champions birth. Meanwhile, Plainfield showed that it has a great chance of wining Group IV and heading to the TOC itself.
- St. Patrick's (NJ) had a huge win over Word of God (NC) at the City of Palms tournament in Fort Myers, Florida on Saturday. The event, which has many of America's best teams allowed for Kevin Boyle to show that his squad is very, very good. The Celtics were without two of their three best players, Kyrie Irving '10 (transfer rules) and North Carolina-signee Dexter Strickland '09 (suspension), yet still managed to defeat WOG, which has John Wall '09 and North Carolina State-commit CJ Leslie '10. The Celtics were led by a pair of sophomores, Michael Gilchrist '11, who had 30+, and Derrick Gordon '11, who dropped 27. This was a statement win for the Celtics. In the semifinals tonight, St. Patrick's meets Florida-commit Austin Rivers '11 Winter Park (FL), while Wake Forest-bound Ari Stewart '09 and Wheeler (GA) faces North Carolina-signees David and Travis Wear and the rest of Mater Dei (CA). For more on the City of Palms, check out CJ Watson's site, Grassrootsballin.
- According to Scout, Duncanville (TX) was defeated by Florida-bound Kenny Boynton '09 American Heritage (FL) today in a consolation game at the City of Palms. This has been a disappointing year thus far for the Texas power, which was basically every site's preseason number one team. Duncanville already has four losses, including two at this big-time event (the first was to Winter Park in the quarterfinals). The team has six high-major players, three of whom are seniors and three of whom are juniors, but is struggling to meet expectations. The squad did beat Lincoln (NY) 77-57 on ESPN recently, as Northstar Basketball correctly predicted the outcome as well as Duncanville's score, but besides that Duncanville cannot be happy with how its done so far. Speaking of that game, here's my ranking of the top 10 performers, based solely off performance in that game:
1. Lance Stephenson '09, Lincoln, Uncommitted
2. Perry Jones '10, Duncanville, Baylor
3. Shawn Williams '09, Duncanville, Texas
4. Darwin "Buddha" Ellis '09, Lincoln, Uncommitted
5. Jamison Sterns '10, Duncanville, Uncommitted
6. Reger Dowell '09, Duncanville, Oklahoma State
7. Roger Franklin '09, Duncanville, Oklahoma State
8. Julian Washburn '10, Duncanville, Uncommitted
9. James Padgett '09, Lincoln, Maryland
10. Shaq Stokes '11, Lincoln, Uncommitted
- I first saw on ZagsBlog that Tobias Harris '10 of Long Island Lutheran (NY) would be out for six to eight weeks due to tearing ligaments in his ankle recently. I caught up with the talented forward on Saturday who said that he "came down on it just in a very bad position." It's unfortunate for Harris, who is a part of a talented LuHi squad along with his younger brother Tyler Harris '12 and sophomore phenom Ashcraf Yacoubou '11.
- I was able to go to the Duke/Xavier game at the Izod Center over the weekend, and I came away very impressed with the Blue Devils, and very unimpressed with the Musketeers. Coach K and Co. jumped out to an 18-1 lead to open things up, led 55-24 at the half, and won by 18, going wire-to-wire. Xavier just seemed over matched, and will need to improve quite a bit if it wants to be anything more than a Sweet 16 contender. Sean Miller is a good coach, and I do expect the team to improve. Regarding specific players, Jon Scheyer, Brian Zoubek, and Kyle Singler were all great for Duke, while Terrell Holloway of Xavier looks like a future all-conference player.
- St. Anthony's (NJ) defeated Trenton Catholic (NJ) yesterday at the Hoop Group Tip-Off Classic at Seton Hall by a score of 37-36. The Iron Mikes were led by Dondre Whitmore '10, who scored 15 point, and held Villanova-bound Dominic Cheek of St. Ant's to just 13 points in the low scoring affair. The Friars were without Derrick Williams '10, Ashton Pankey '10, and Devon Collier '10, while TCA did not have Markese Tucker '10. This was a big win for St. Anthony's, as the squad only had four (Cheek, Quinnipiac-signee Jamee Jackson '09, Travis Conyers '09, and Eli Carter '10) of their main players. How good will Bob Hurley's squad be at full strength?
- In another big game at the event, Plainfield (NJ) took on Paterson Catholic (NJ) in a matchup of two of the Garden State's top seven or eight teams. The Cardinals knocked off the Cougars 73-61 behind the play of Isaiah Epps '10, one of the best junior guards in America. This was a big blow to PC, which has aspirations of a Tournament of Champions birth. Meanwhile, Plainfield showed that it has a great chance of wining Group IV and heading to the TOC itself.
- St. Patrick's (NJ) had a huge win over Word of God (NC) at the City of Palms tournament in Fort Myers, Florida on Saturday. The event, which has many of America's best teams allowed for Kevin Boyle to show that his squad is very, very good. The Celtics were without two of their three best players, Kyrie Irving '10 (transfer rules) and North Carolina-signee Dexter Strickland '09 (suspension), yet still managed to defeat WOG, which has John Wall '09 and North Carolina State-commit CJ Leslie '10. The Celtics were led by a pair of sophomores, Michael Gilchrist '11, who had 30+, and Derrick Gordon '11, who dropped 27. This was a statement win for the Celtics. In the semifinals tonight, St. Patrick's meets Florida-commit Austin Rivers '11 Winter Park (FL), while Wake Forest-bound Ari Stewart '09 and Wheeler (GA) faces North Carolina-signees David and Travis Wear and the rest of Mater Dei (CA). For more on the City of Palms, check out CJ Watson's site, Grassrootsballin.
- According to Scout, Duncanville (TX) was defeated by Florida-bound Kenny Boynton '09 American Heritage (FL) today in a consolation game at the City of Palms. This has been a disappointing year thus far for the Texas power, which was basically every site's preseason number one team. Duncanville already has four losses, including two at this big-time event (the first was to Winter Park in the quarterfinals). The team has six high-major players, three of whom are seniors and three of whom are juniors, but is struggling to meet expectations. The squad did beat Lincoln (NY) 77-57 on ESPN recently, as Northstar Basketball correctly predicted the outcome as well as Duncanville's score, but besides that Duncanville cannot be happy with how its done so far. Speaking of that game, here's my ranking of the top 10 performers, based solely off performance in that game:
1. Lance Stephenson '09, Lincoln, Uncommitted
2. Perry Jones '10, Duncanville, Baylor
3. Shawn Williams '09, Duncanville, Texas
4. Darwin "Buddha" Ellis '09, Lincoln, Uncommitted
5. Jamison Sterns '10, Duncanville, Uncommitted
6. Reger Dowell '09, Duncanville, Oklahoma State
7. Roger Franklin '09, Duncanville, Oklahoma State
8. Julian Washburn '10, Duncanville, Uncommitted
9. James Padgett '09, Lincoln, Maryland
10. Shaq Stokes '11, Lincoln, Uncommitted
- I first saw on ZagsBlog that Tobias Harris '10 of Long Island Lutheran (NY) would be out for six to eight weeks due to tearing ligaments in his ankle recently. I caught up with the talented forward on Saturday who said that he "came down on it just in a very bad position." It's unfortunate for Harris, who is a part of a talented LuHi squad along with his younger brother Tyler Harris '12 and sophomore phenom Ashcraf Yacoubou '11.
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