2009 Nike Hoops Summit USA Roster

The 12^th annual Nike Hoops Summit will take place on April 11^th at the Rose Garden in Portland, OR for the second year in a row. The game will match up some of the elite high school ball players in the USA against the top international prospect under the age of 19. This all-star game is very unique in the fact the players will be playing as representatives for the home countries. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. (PDT).

Some of the past stars in this game include Kevin Garnett (Boston Celtics), Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks), Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs), Josh Smith (Atlanta Hawks), Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City), Al Jefferson (Minnesota Timberwolves), Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls), O.J. Mayo (Memphis Grizzlies), Michael Beasley (Miami Heat), Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves), Andrea Bargnani (Toronto Raptors) and many others.

USA Junior National Select Roster:

Derrick Favors (South Atlanta, GA) (C) Georgia Tech

John Henson (Sickles, FL) (PF) UNC

DeMarcus Cousins (LeFlore, AL) (PF) Undecided

Mason Plumlee (Christ School, NC) (PF) Duke

Mike Moser (Grant, OR) (SF) UCLA

Xavier Henry (Putnam City, OK) (SG) Memphis

Avery Bradley (Findlay Prep, NV) (SG) Texas

Leslie McDonald (Briarcrest, TN) (SG) UNC

John Wall (Word of God, NC) (PG) Undecided

Abdul Gaddy (Bellarmine Prep, WA) (PG) Washington

2009 Jordan Brand All-American Rosters Announced

The Jordan Brand All-American game announced the rosters for the game held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This year’s event tripleheader will begin with an International Game at 3:30 p.m. followed by the Regional Game at 5:30 p.m., and the All-American Game at 8:00 p.m. The International and regional rosters will be announced at a later date. The All-American game will be aired on ESPN2.

The biggest surprise of the team selected was the omission of “NYC Standout” Lance Stephenson (Lincoln, NY) and “Jersey Star” Dexter Strickland (St. Patrick, NJ). Each of these players deserves to play in this game both are ranked in the top ten players in the country. There has been a rumor going around that the reason Lance Stephenson was left off of the roster has to do with him test-wearing Under Armour gear for (Lincoln, NY).

The Jordan Brand selection committee really dropped the ball on this decision leaving off the top player in New York for an All-American being held in the Madison Square Garden.

Tickets are now on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, the Madison Square Garden box office, online at ticketmaster.com or by calling 212-307-7171. For more information, please visit the official web site, www.JordanBrandClassic.com. Live webcasts of the Regional and International games, produced by the High School Basketball Network, are also available at www.JordanBrandClassic.TV.

The roster for the game includes:

John Wall (Word of God, NC) (PG) Undecided

Lamont “MoMo” Jones (Oak Hill Academy, VA) (PG) Virginia Tech

Tommy Mason-Griffin (Madison, TX) (PG) Oklahoma

Abdul Gaddy (Bellarmine Prep, MA) (PG) Washington

Kenny Boynton (American Heritage, FL) (SG) Florida

Avery Bradley (Findlay Prep, NV) (SG) Texas

Xavier Henry (Putnam City, OK) (SG) Memphis

Dominic Cheek (St. Anthony’s, NJ) (SG) Villanova

Durand Scott (Rice, NY) (SG) Miami

Royce White (Hopkins, MN) (SF) Minnesota

Jordan Hamilton (Dominguez, CA) (SF) Texas

Renardo Sidney (Fairfax, CA) (PF) Undecided

Derrick Favors (South Atlanta, GA) (PF) Georgia Tech

Mason Plumlee (Christ School, NC) (PF) Duke

John Henson (Sickles, FL) (PF) UNC

Wally Judge (Arlington Country Day, FL) (PF) Kansas State

DeMarcus Cousins (LeFlore, AL) (C) Undecided

Alex Oriakhi (Tilton School, NH) (C) UConn

Keith “Tiny” Gallon (Oak Hill Academy, VA) (C) Oklahoma

Daniel Orton (Bishop McGuiness, OK) (C) Kentucky

2008 City of Palms Classic All-Tournament Team

The 36th annual City of Palms Classic wrapped up on Tuesday, after which the all-tournament team was announced. It was no surprise that super sophomore Austin Rivers (Winter Park, FL) who has committed to Florid, was named tournament MVP. He helped lead his team to a 3rd place finish after knocking off nationally ranked Duncanville, TX and Westchester, CA.

Here is the rest of the All-Tournament Team:

Austin Rivers, Winter Park (FL)

Lance Stephenson, Lincoln (NY)

Tyler Lamb, Mater Dei (CA)

Kenny Boynton, American Heritage (FL)

Michael Gilchrist, St. Patrick’s (NJ)

Gary Franklin, Mater Dei (CA)

Richard Howell, Wheeler (GA)

Tahj Tate, Wheeler (GA)

John Wall, Word of God (NC)

Roger Franklin, Duncanville (TX)

Maalik Wayns, Roman Catholic (PA)

Jordin Mayes, Westchester (CA)

2008 City of Palms Dunk Contest

2008 City of Palms Dunk Contest

This is a clip from the slam dunk contest at City of Palms Classic. The video was provided by my boy Nils from Hoopmixtape.com who is bring all the sick footage to you.

2008 City of Palms Classic Day One Scores

The 36th annual City of Palms Classic tipped off today at Bishop Verot H.S with five opening day games. This years tournament is filled with a number highly talented teams from across the country.

Game #1 – Roman Catholic (PA) vs. Arlington Country Day (FL) 56 to 55

Leading scorers: Rakeem Brookings (Roman Catholic, PA) had a game high 27 points and Maalik Wayns added 14 points for Roman Catholic. Rodney McGruder (ACD, FL) finished with 20 points and Wally Judge totaled 12 points for ACD.

Game # 2 – Word of God (NC) vs. American Heritage (FL) 63 to 61

Leading scorers: John Wall (WOG, NC) finished with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. Dezmine Wells totaled 18 points in the win. C.J. Leslie ended with 11 points and 7 rebounds for (WOG, NC). Kenny Boynton (AH, FL) had a game high 19 points and Ray Taylor (AH, FL) chipped in 14 points in the loss.

Game # 3 – Andrew Jackson (FL) vs. North Port (FL) 76 to 58

Leading scorers: Stacey Poole Jr. (Andrew Jackson, FL) had a game high 20 points in the win. Bernard Nugent Jr. added 18 points and Marquel Wade had 14 for Andrew Jackson, FL. Shaun Noriega and Kasey Wilson scored 17 point apiece for North Port.

Game # 4 – Duncanville (TX) vs. Dunbar (FL) 83 to 62

Leading scorers: Sterns had 24 points, Franklin had 21 points and 11 boards, Williams had 16 points and Roger Dowell added 11 for Duncanville. Perkins, a sophomore point guard, stole the show for Dunbar, scoring a game-high 28 points on 10-of-20 shooting, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Simons had 10 points and six rebounds and Paulk finished with 10 points for Dunbar.

Game # 5 – Westchester (CA) vs. Fort Myers (FL) 62 to 47

Leading scorers: Jordin Mayes (Westchester, CA) had a game high 17 points and O’Conner added 14 points and seven assists. Terran McClendon (Fort Myers, FL) ended with 16 points in the loss.

Update Dominic Cheek (St. Anthony’s, NJ) Final Two

Dominic Cheek

Dominic Cheek the standout wing from St. Anthony’s, NJ has narrowed it down to Kansas and Villanova. He is still set to announce today around 6 p.m. after practice.

There has been reports that he has decided to attend Villanova next season. This would give Nova one of the best incoming recruiting classes in the country, with Maalik Wayns (Roman Catholic, PA), Isaiah Armwood (Montrose Christian, MD) and Mouphtaou Yarou (Montrose Christian, MD). They also will get Duke transfer Taylor King next season.

If this is true that means Kansas has lost out on another top prospect after Xavier Henry picked Memphis over Kansas. They will now turn there focus on Lance Stephenson (Lincoln, NY) and John Wall (Word of God, NC).

Keith “Tiny” Gallon Changing Plans Headed Back To Oak Hill

Keith “Tiny” Gallon has decided to return to Oak Hill Academy for his senior season. He had said earlier in the summer that he would be leaving Oak Hill Academy to attend Word of God Christian in Raleigh, NC. I spoke with ”Tiny” yesterday and he told me that ”he was staying and that Oak Hill was like a family.” He also added that “Coach Steve Smith is a real cool coach”.

He also updated me on his latest recruiting news saying his school list consist of Oklahoma, UCLA, CAL, USC and UNLV. Oklahoma is still the leader to land his services for next year with the others still in the mix.

He is going to be joined at (Oak Hill Academy, VA) by newcomers Doron Lamb (Bishop-Loughlin, NY) from Class of 2010 and Tommy-Mason Griffin (Madison, TX) from Class of 2009.

John Wall (Word of God Christian Academy, NC) Sets-Up Visits

John Wall the # 1 (PG) in the country has just finished up a very successful summer on the AAU circuit and has now decided to focus on recruiting setting up his official visits.

In the next couple of weeks he will visit Memphis, Kansas and Oregon on official visits with Kentucky and Baylor to setup dates in the near future. There are also a few schools who will receive un-official visits from Wall, which include N.C. State and Oklahoma State.

According to Wall’s travel team coach Brian Clifton of D-One Sports, a Sept. 12 official visit to Memphis is first on the docket followed by a Sept. 19 trip to Kansas. Then Wall will travel to Oregon on Oct. 3 and likely will be at Kentucky one week later. A date has not yet been set for the final official visit to Baylor.

After Baylor went out and hired Dwon Clifton the brother of Brian Clifton and AAU coach of John Wall everyone assumed that a verbal commitment to Baylor would follow quickly after. That has not been the case in the weeks after the hire. Only time will tell where he will end up playing his college basketball next season.

2008 Boost Mobile Elite @ Rucker Park (Box Score)

Name	High School	Position	Class	Score
Abdul Gaddy	Bellarmine Prep (Tacoma, Wash.)	PG	2009	0
Brandon Knight	Pine Crest (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)	PG	2010	12
Derrick Favors	South Atlanta (Atlanta, Ga.)	PF	2009	16
Dexter Strickland	St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.)	PG	2009	17
Dion Waiters	Life Center Academy (Burlington, N.J.)	SG	2010	8
Dominic Cheek	St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.)	SG	2009	23
Doron Lamb	Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.)	PG	2010	25
Durand Scott	Rice (New York, N.Y.)	SG	2009	15
Erik Murphy	St. Mark’s (Southborough, Mass.)	PF	2009	9
Jared Sullinger	Northland (Columbus, Ohio)	PF	2010	6
Jeremy Tyler	San Diego (San Diego, Calif.)	PF	2010	8
John Wall	Word of God (Raleigh, N.C.)	PG	2009	10
Jordan Hamilton	Dominguez (Compton, Calif.)	SF	2009	13
Josh Smith	Kentwood (Covingon, Wash.)	C	2010	11
Karron Johnson	Mount Zion Academy (Durham, N.C.)	PF	2009	4
Kenny Boynton Jr.	American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.)	SG	2009	16
Lance Stephenson	Lincoln (Brooklyn, N.Y.)	SG	2009	29
LaQuinton Ross	Word of God (Raleigh, N.C.)	SG	2011	9
Maalik Wayns	Roman Catholic (Philadelphia, Pa.)	PG	2009	10
Nolan Dennis	Richland (Richland, Texas)	SG	2009	4
Ryan Kelly	Ravenscroft (Raleigh, N.C.)	PF	2009	2
Tony Wroten Jr.	Garfield (Seattle, Wash.)	SG	2011	4
Trae Golden	McEachern (Powder Springs, Ga.)	PG	2010	5
Tristan Thompson	St. Benedict’s Prep (Newark, N.J.)	SF	2010	4

Boost Mobile Elite 24 @ Rucker Park (Lance Stephenson & John Wall Standout)

Elite 24

2008 Boost Mobile Elite 24 @ Rucker Park Recap

 

 

I was in attendance at the 3^rd annual Elite 24 game held at the famous “Rucker Park” in Harlem, NY which took place on Friday night. This game brings together 24 of the elite high school players in the country regardless of shoe affiliation to go head to head in this all-star game. On Friday night the blue squad “Skip to My Lou” earned a 135 to 121 victory over the white squad “The Goat”.

The players who were awarded the MVP’s were Lance Stephenson (Lincoln, NY) aka “Born Ready” with a game high 29pts, John Wall (Word of God, NC) aka “Ammo” aka “Make’em Fall” with 10pts & 6ast, Dominic Cheek (St. Anthony’s, NJ) aka “Peek A Boo” with 23pts, 7rebs & 3stl and Maalik Wayns (Roman Catholic, PA) aka “So Unique” with 10pts and 8ast.