NEW YORK — Three years ago, I wrote a cover story for Slam magazine on four of the best high school guards in the nation — Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Lance Stephenson.
The cover read, “Final 4 – Jennings, Holiday, Evans & Stephenson. Who’s the best guard in the country?”
Three years later, three of those four guys are in the NBA and the fourth, Stephenson, likely soon will be.
“I haven’t heard much about [Stephenson] so in that case probably when you don’t hear a lot about somebody, they probably need to stay another year or so,” Jennings said. (more…)
Here’s a video interview from ABC-WTVQ with Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God forward C.J. Leslie, who will be participating this weekend in the Dunkin Donuts Shootout National Classic at Lexington (Ky.) Catholic.
The 6-foot-9 Leslie is a friend and former teammate of current Kentucky freshman sensation John Wall and sure sounds like he might follow Wall to Bluegrass country.
“I think it’s a high interest on both parts,” Leslie said. “I’m definitely feeling Kentucky, and Kentucky is felling me. They’ve got some of the best fans around.” (more…)
John Calipari has sent back-to-back guards to the NBA lottery and is working on a third.
Is Brandon Knight next in line at Kentucky?
The 6-foot-3 Knight, the top prospect in the Class of 2010, has narrowed his list to four schools — Kentucky, Kansas, UConn and Florida — and will sign in the spring.
Considering Kentucky freshman John Wall will likely be the top pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, does it make sense that Knight will end up following in Wall’s foosteps? (more…)
NEW YORK — From his seat in Section 85 in the lower level at Madison Square Garden, Nets President Rod Thorn had a bird’s-eye view of every John Wall electrifying steal, jab step and thunderous dunk on Wednesday night.
Wall scored 19 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, including a game-winning three-point play in the final seconds, to lead No. 4 Kentucky to a captivating 64-61 come-from-behind victory over No. 14 UConn in the SEC/Big East Invitational before a crowd of 15,874 at Madison Square Garden.
Wall had six steals on the night, twice as many as UConn’s entire team.
NEW YORK — Nets President Rod Thorn is front and center here at Madison Square Garden tonight to watch the highly anticipated UConn-Kentucky game in the SEC/Big East Invitational.
Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall is projected as the No. 1 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft and the Nets (2-19) currently have the worst record in the NBA, meaning they could land the top pick if the ping pong balls fall their way.
“I hope we make the playoffs,” Thorn said with a smile. “Right now it looks like we’ll probably be in the lottery someplace.”
The Knicks (7-15), of course, have no first-round pick because they traded it and it now belongs to the Utah Jazz. They have two second-round picks.
Kentucky coach John Calipari has sent his last two point guards from his time at Memphis to the lottery, Derrick Rose and and Tyreke Evans. Rose was the NBA Rookie of the Year last season with the Chicago Bulls and Evans is having a strong rookie campaign with the Sacramento Kings. (more…)
Lance Stephenson didn’t look ‘Born Ready’ in his college debut.
The 6-foot-5 Brooklyn native started and shot 2-for-10 for 7 points in Cincinnati’s season-opening come-from-behind 69-62 victory over Prairie View A&M.
He was 0-for-3 from beyond the arc while adding 4 rebounds, 2 assist and 1 turnover in 22 minutes.
“He was a nervous wreck,” Bearcats coach Mick Cronin said. “He’ll get better. I have to make sure he isn’t putting too much pressure on himself. When we were struggling, he was the one guy getting visibly more physical. You could see his frustration and his desire to win. I have to teach him how to channel that and there is no such thing as a ten point shot. He was trying to do everything himself, which is good and bad.” (more…)
Sometime on the evening of June 24, 2010, NBA Commissioner David Stern could well utter the following words…”With the first pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, the Utah Jazz select John Wall of the University of Kentucky.”
Of course, the team that could really use Wall — just named to the Bob Cousy Award Watch List – and his transcendant abilities is the New York Knicks.
And the Knicks — off to a dreadful 1-8 start — could well earn the right to select the 6-foot-4 Wall with the top pick. Several mock drafts project Wall as the No. 1 pick next year, ahead of Derrick Favors, Ed Davis and Greg Monroe.
Kentucky freshman guard John Wall has been cleared to play by the NCAA.
The 6-foot-4 Wall must repay nearly $800 in expenses and sit the first exhibition game against Campbellsville (Nov. 2) and the first regular-season game against Morehead State (Nov. 13).
“I’m grateful to have this decision behind me. All I ever wanted was to go to school and play ball with my team,” Wall said. “This has been really hard for my mom and I want to thank her for her support during this process.” (more…)
Senior forwards C.J. Leslie of Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God Academy and Terrence Jones Portland (Ore.) Jefferson both attended Kentucky’s Blue-White scrimmage Wednesday night, according to various reports.
Leslie, the No. 4 power forward in the Class of 2010, was supposed to attend Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness last week but didn’t attend. Seton Hall is hoping to get a visit from Leslie as well, but his camp has been very quiet about his plans.
Word of God coach Erasto Hatchett told me earlier this month the 6-foot-8, 205-pound Leslie is c
Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall is facing eligibility concerns because of his relationship with his former AAU coach, Brian Clifton, according to a report.
Clifton, who coached Wall with the D-One Sports program and was with him in the summer of 2008 at the Steve Nash Skills Academy in New Jersey, was a former certified agent.
“Those are amateur issues that arose prior to their coming to our schools,” SEC Commissioner Mike Slive told Dana O’Neil and Pat Forde of ESPN.com in reference to Wall and Mississippi State freshman big man Renardo Sidney. “Those are strictly amateurism issues. As we told our people, somebody needs to determine if they are eligible. It’s not relative to you, it’s relative to them.” (more…)
“Adam Zagoria sees the story behind the daily happenings.”
~ St. Anthony Coach Bob Hurley
Zagoria covers the New York Knicks and Big East hoops for NBA.com and SNY.tv. He also appears as a Big East Basketball Insider on SNY and 1050 ESPN Radio.
He is an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, SI and Basketball Times.
NEW YORK — Three years ago, I wrote a cover story for Slam magazine on four of the best high school guards in the nation — Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Lance Stephenson.
