2008 USA Today All-American Teams

First Team

Samardo Samuels 6′9 (PF) (St. Benedict’s, NJ) (Louisville) Player of the Year

Brandon Jennings 6′2 (PG) (Oak Hill Academy, VA) (Arizona)

Jrue Holiday 6′4 (SG) (Campbell Hall, CA) (UCLA)

Lance Stephenson 6′5 (SF) (Lincoln, NY) Junior

B.J. Mullens 7′1 (C) (Canal Winchester, OH) (Ohio State)

DeMarcus Cousins (Leflore, AL) Class of 2009 Picks UAB

UAB gets a huge pick up from class of 2009

On Friday Coach Mike Davis landed his first major prospect since arriving at UAB in DeMarcus Cousins from the class of 2009. He is a 6′9 power forward who has the ability to take over a game with his extreme talent and NBA potential. He has been balancing around from school to school over the last year but really seems to have found a home at Leflore High School in Alabama.

Renardo Sidney (Fairfax, CA) Impressed with Arizona State

Renardo Sidney (Fairfax, CA) Class of 2009

On Saturday night Renardo Sidney took an unofficial visit to Arizona State for their game against California. Coach Herb Sendek has really shown a big interest in the junior from Fairfax High School in the recent weeks.

Renardo Sidney is considered the top prospect in the class of 2009 and has interest from almost every school in the country. The reports out of Tempe, AZ are that Sidney was very impressed with Arizona State on his visit. Freshmen guard James Harden was a teammate of Renardo Sidney last year at Artesia High School they are still pretty tight with each other.

He has seen Coach Ben Howland from UCLA start to show a lot of interest also in gaining his services. They will have to make up for some lost time since cross-town rival USC has had Renardo on their radar for some time now. He has no timetable for making a decision on his college choice. Only time will tell where he will end up playing in the future but there is no denying his tremendous talent. 

Dexter Strickland (St. Patrick, NJ) Class of 2009 Picks UNC

On Sunday afternoon Dexter Strickland picked UNC over Florida and Michigan State.

Dexter Strickland is one of the elite players in the class of 2009 and has the skill set to play either guard position at the next level. He is a 6′3 combo guard that is a smooth guard that can take over a game when needed. He is a very athletic guard that finishes strong at the rim and has nice floor vision.

This now gives UNC five committments in the past week from the class of 2009 & 2010.

Houston vs. The Nation

# 3 St. Patrick (NJ) falls to Yates (TX) 66 to 60 at Houston vs. The Nation on Saturday night.

Bojangles Shootout

St. Benedicts (NJ) continues to roll early on this season they defeated South Atlanta (GA) on Friday night 57 to 43.

On the night after his huge triple-double, Derrick Favors found himself going up against a huge front-line for St. Benedicts. He got into early foul trouble and never real seemed to get into the flow of the game.

Samardo Samuels had a big night playing on a bad ankle he was still able to get 17 points and 16 rebounds.

Greg Echenique (2009) finished with 16 points and played some tough defense against Favors. Tamir Jackson continued his steady play since the Oak Hill game finishing the night with 16 points.

Derrick Favors (South Atlanta, GA) Dominates Game with Triple-Double

Derrick Favors who is ranked by some scouting services as the # 1 player in the class of 2009 had a huge night. He helped his team to a blowout win over Jeanette, PA and finsihed the game with 42 points, 20 rebounds and 12 blocks.

BayBall Classic 26-30th @ Cape High School Lewes, DE - Players to Watch

  

2007 Bay Ball Classic - Players to watch

Kemba Walker (PG) - Rice (NY) - Uconn - Class of 2008

Kemba Walker is an extremely talented lead guard who is able to take over a game in many different aspects. He has excellent court vision and can also be a big time scoring guard when needed. He is also a great defender who has the ability to shut players down. Kemba has the ability to come in and help Uconn from the beginning on both ends of the floor.

City of Palms Classic All-Tournament Team

 City of Palms Classic All-Tournament Team

Samardo Samuels - St. Benedict’s (NJ) MVP

Greg Echenique - St. Benedict’s (NJ)

Greg Monroe - Helen Cox (LA)

Rashanti Harris - New Hope (MS)

Kenny Boynton - American Heritage (FL)

Larry Drew - Taft (CA)

Sylven Landesberg - Holy Cross (NY)

Nasir Robinson - Chester (PA)

Karon Burton - Chester (PA)

Tyler Portwood - Scott County (KY)

Matt Humphrey - Hales Franciscan (Ill)

David Paulk - Dunbar (FL)

City of Palms Classic Day 3 American Heritage, FL vs. Bishop Verot, FL

  

Game 2 - American Heritage (FL) vs. Bishop Verot (FL) 63 to 59

This game was another match up of Florida schools with the host school taking on highly talented American Heritage.

The game began with Kenny Boynton showing everyone why he is a big time scorer with his team’s first 11 points. He was making up quickly for a subpar game the day before, when he scored a season low 13 points and fouled out.

Bishop Verot used a packed in zone defense to try and slow down Florida signee Eloy Vargas early on in the game. The defense seemed to frustrate Eloy Vargas early on in the game.

Eloy Vargas is still trying to come back from an ankle injury from earlier in the season. You could tell that he was slowed a little by the ankle in this game, after such an impressive performance the night before.

The game was close in the first half with American Heritage taking a 35 to 34 lead into the half.

The scoring leaders at the half were Kenny Boynton for American Heritage with 21 points and Brennen Melvin for Bishop Verot with 14 points.

In the 2^nd half the game continued to be a back and forth contest with American Heritage still holding a 1 point lead at the end of the 3^rd quarter.

Kenny Boynton continued to put on a show on the offensive end scoring mostly from behind the arc. Eloy Vargas never seemed to be able to get into the flow of the game and was basically a non factor in the 2^nd half.

American Heritage was able to slow down Brennen Melvin in the 2^nd half holding him to 3 points on 1 of 6 from the field. Bishop Verot did however receive a big 2^nd half from Ryan Schrotenboer who scored 8 points and pulled down 8 rebounds.

In the 4^th quarter American Heritage were able to increase their lead by 3 and hold onto for a tough victory over a pesky Bishop Verot team. The final was American Heritage 63 and Bishop Verot 59.

The standout players in the game were Kenny Boynton from American Heritage who finished with a game high 35 points on 12-24 shooting and 7-16 from behind the arc. Raymond Taylor finished with 16 points and 7 assists. Eloy Vargas had 9 points and 6 rebounds. The standouts from Bishop Verot were Ryan Schrotenboer who totaled 14 points and 15 rebounds and Brennen Melvin who totaled 17 points and 5 rebounds.