NEW ORLEANS — Basketball seems to come easy for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the hard-charging Kentucky freshman from Somerdale, N.J., who is projected as a Top 3 pick in this year’s NBA Draft.

But speaking to reporters and in front of cameras — a requirement for high-profile athletes — hasn’t always been so easy.

Gilchrist, 18, has battled a stutter for much of his life.

On Sunday, during a 14-minute session with a small group of reporters here inside the Kentucky locker room on the eve of the NCAA championship game Monday night against Kansas, Kidd-Gilchrist addressed the issue for the first time in the four years I have covered him. (more…)

Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of this story. It originlally mentioned that a St. Patrick player was considering transferring to Peddie, but that was an error. It is a another player –DeAndre Noble Haywood of Paterson Eastside  –who is considering Peddie.**

NEW ORLEANS — St. Patrick basketball coach Chris Chavannes believes his school will be open next season and that the basketball team will feature Seton Hall commit Aquille Carr.

“We sent a letter to parents, the student body and to alumni that we are going to be independent of the Archdiocese [of Newark] and we are in the process of putting that together,” Chavannes told SNY.tv Sunday in confirming a report by The Star-Ledger. “We’re very confident that we’ll be able to get that done in the near future.” (more…)

Kentucky freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, projected as the No. 3 pick in the NBA Draft by DraftExpress.com, will turn pro after this season, ESPN.com reports.

“He hopes he’ll be able to announce right after they win the NCAA championship,” one source told Chad Ford. “But even if they don’t win it all, he’s coming. He knows he’s going to be a top-5 pick. He can’t pass that up.” (more…)

LOUISVILLE,  Ky. – Derrick Gordon and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist are former teammates at St. Patrick High School and brothers for life.

Like all competitors, they put their relationship on hold for a couple of hours Thursday night when they faced off in the NCAA Tournament at the KFC Yum! Center.

But now that the game is over and No. 1 overall seed Kentucky is moving on, Gordon would like to see his friend and former teammate cut down the nets next month in New Orleans.

“One of us had to lose,” Gordon said after scoring 12 points in top-seeded Kentucky’s 81-66 rout of No. 16 Western Kentucky in a South Regional first-round game. (more…)

LOUISVILLE,  Ky. – A year ago, Andre Drummond’s current and future schools both won championships.

The 6-foot-10 Drummond was the MVP as St. Thomas More of Oakdale, Conn., won the National Prep championship in New Haven.

Drummond also watched as the home-state Huskies — the school he surprisingly enrolled in last August — made a dramatic run through the Big East and NCAA championships.

“I watched them at my house,” Drummond told SNY.tv Wednesday inside the UConn locker room here. ”I was going through my own tournament as well because I won a national championship in high school, so it was just great watching them win the whole thing.” (more…)

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has endured his share of heartbreak, but nothing seems to slow him down for long.

Not the shooting death of his father, Michael Gilchrist Sr., when he was 2. Not the death of his uncle, Darrin Kidd, from a heart attack on the day Kidd-Gilchrist signed his Letter of Intent last year with Kentucky. And not the recent hospitalization of his mother, Cindy Richardson, for an undisclosed illness.

Through it all, Kidd-Gilchrist’s big heart just keeps pumping faster and faster, stronger and stronger.

“I play my heart out,” the 6-foot-7 Kidd-Gilchrist said after putting up 24 points and 19 rebounds as No. 3 Kentucky fended off No. 4 Louisville, 69-62, Saturday at Rupp Arena. “That’s what I give, my heart.” (more…)

LEXINGTON, Ky. — With about nine minutes remaining in the first half of the North Carolina-Kentucky game Saturday, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist drove to the basket and felt a smack on the arm.

After suffering from a dislocated left shoulder, he collapsed on the floor of Rupp Arena.

Things did not look good for the former Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick star. Not at all. (more…)

LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’s not whether you’re No. 1 during the regular season that matters.

It’s whether you’re in the top spot when it’s all over.

Nobody knows that better than Kentucky freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, whose team is currently No. 1 entering Saturday’s much-hyped matchup with his former Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick teammate Dexter Strickland and No. 5 North Carolina at Rupp Arena.

Like Kentucky, Gilchrist’s St. Patrick team was undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the nation for much of last year. (more…)

Former Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick star Michael Kidd-Gilchrist appears headed for a starting spot at Kentucky.

“I would say, looking at today, he’s a starter because you have to have him start the game,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said Wednesday, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. “Can’t start the game like we did today.”

Kentucky trailed Division 3 Transylvania 11-4 before Kidd-Gilchrist went into the game at about the four minute mark and the Wildcats went on to win 97-53. He finished with 19 points (including a dunk that made SportsCenter), seven rebounds, five assists and a block.

“He was the difference in what happened,” Calipari said. “He did what I knew he would do.” (more…)

Hours before Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was to sign his National Letter of Intent to Kentucky last November, his uncle, Darrin, collapsed of a heart attack at 42.

“My sister-in-law called and said that DeAnte, his son, found him passed out,” Cindy Richardson, Michael’s mother, says in the film “Prayer For A Perfect Season,” which airs Oct. 25 at 9 p.m. on HBO.

“So we all ran around there to try to resuscitate him, and the ambulance came. They couldn’t revive him. We did CPR as best we could and we couldn’t revive him.”

Faced with this tragedy on a day that was supposed to be filled with joy, the family persevered and carried on with heavy hearts for the celebration honoring the Kentucky signing. (more…)