BROOKLYN — The dominant theme at A-10 Media Day wasn’t Chris Mack’s Xavier team being installed as the preseason No. 1, or Xavier’s Tu Holloway and St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson leading the Preseason First Team.

No, the dominant topic was Temple’s potential move to the Big East and the ensuing dominoes that would fall.

A-10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade essentially said Temple had to do what it had to do on the football side, but that she hoped the school would remain in her league for other sports.

St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli said he couldn’t imagine the City of Brotherly Love, famously unsupportive of college football, supporting two Big East gridiron teams. (more…)

David Bruce, the former Linden (N.J.) High School standout and onetime St. Joseph’s commit, is now a redshirt freshman at Harcum (Pa.) College and getting some looks.

The 6-foot-9 forward is averaging 12.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks while shooting 59 percent from the floor. Harcum is 11-3.

“Dave will graduate this summer and have three years of eligibility to play at the next level,” Harcum coach Drew Kelly said by email. (more…)

A year ago at this time, Elijah Carter was being recruited by low- and mid-level Division 1 programs, just hoping to get a scholarship to play ball.

A year later, the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Carter is one of the hottest prospects available, as evidenced by the fact that Cincinnati, Rutgers, Oregon, Texas A&M and Charlotte wanted him to attend college this fall even though he has already said he’ll spend a prep year at Brewster (N.H. ) Academy.

“He plays like Kyrie Irving,” one Big East assistant coach said, referring to the McDonald’s All-American from Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick headed to Duke. “He’s best friends with Kyrie Irving. His game is similar to his. He’s not really a point guard. He’s more of a scoring guard but he can play the point.”

Read the full story at SNY.

(Photos courtesy Eric Harrield)

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NEW YORK — Malcolm Gilbert didn’t score a single point during Sunday’s 17-and-under Gold championship game at the Rumble in the Bronx at Fordham University.

But at 6 feet, 11 inches tall, Gilbert was a major factor in helping East Coast Elite down Andre Drummond and the Connecticut Basketball Club, 63-58, for the title.

Gilbert had five blocks on Drummond, the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2012, in the first half and six total blocks in the game. He also finished with 9 rebounds — 6 offensive, 3 defensive — before fouling out with 54 seconds remaining.

“He’s intriguing because of his upside,” East Coach Elite coach Terrell Myers said before the final. “What people don’t understand is, they see 6-11, they look at him as an offensive player. He’s not an offensive player, he’s a defensive player. (more…)

NEW YORK – If you’re holding on to your high school basketball rosters from last season, they won’t be much use once all the dust clears for next year.

After a couple of days at the Rumble in the Bronx at Fordham University, this much is clear: there is a lot of movement on the prep scene.

**Vaughn Gray, a 6-foot-5 off guard, is transferring to Newark (N.J.) St. Benedict’s Prep from Don Bosco Prep and will play for first-year coach Roshown McLeod.

“Yes, he’s going to St. Benedict’s,” said June Gray, his mother. “It was pretty much Vaughn’s decision. We wanted him to have more development and play more on a national level.” (more…)

NEW YORK – At 6-foot-9, 225 pounds Derrick Randall is an imposing figure on the AAU circuit.

The 2011 big man from Paterson Catholic will prep next year at South Kent (Conn.) alongside Kadeem Jack, Maurice Harkless and Ricardo Ledo.

“I’m looking forward to playing with all of them because it’s better competition,” Randall, 18, said Friday night at the Rumble in the Bronx at Fordham. “It gets you better. [It will] improve my game a lot and get [me] used to the college level, how they play.” (more…)

Ryan Arcidiacono drove to the hoop for a reverse layup last Friday night at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions in North Carolina when an opposing player undercut him and sent him flying to the floor.

“The kid shoved me and took my legs out and my face hit the ground pretty hard,” recalled Arcidiacono, a 16-year-old rising junior at Neshaminy (Pa.) High School. “It just hurt. It felt like I had a golf ball in my face. I had blood on my hands. It was just gushing blood.”

It was after midnight when Gene Rice, Arcidiacono’s AAU coach with the PA Playaz, took his 6-foot-4, 190-pound point guard to the Wake Forest University Medical Center where he took eight stitches in the forehead.

“The doctor said if it was his kid he wouldn’t let me play [the next day],” Arcidiacono said. (more…)

Villanova has become Guard U under head coach Jay Wright, producing a string of talented players in Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes, Dominic Cheek and Maalik Wayns.

Three of those players – Fisher, Stokes and Cheek — played at New Jersey high schools.

Now, as Wright plans for the future, he has his gaze focused on yet another talented Garden State guard.

Myles Davis, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound combo guard from Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter’s Prep, is the No. 9 shooting guard in the Class of 2011. (more…)

Ronald Roberts nearly had his heart broken when he parted ways with St. John’s.

Now he’s found a new home and he couldn’t be happier.

“Yeah, I just committed to St. Joe’s,” the 6-foot-7-205-pound Roberts said Monday night. “I called Coach [Phil] Martelli just a little while ago.”

A combo forward who averaged 19 points, 13 rebounds and 3.5 blocks at Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter’s Prep, Roberts also visited Virginia and was supposed to visit Georgia Tech in two weeks. (more…)

Kadeem Jack is headed to South Kent, a prep school in Connecticut, for a year before going on to college.

“I spoke to Kadeem Jack last [Monday] night and he gave me every indication that he will be attending South Kent next year,” South Kent coach Kelvin Jefferson said Tuesday.

Jack himself texted various Arizona media outlets with the same news.

“Felt like I needed 2 get my skills and my body and my confidence up so when I go into college I can make a much bigger impact,” Jack told Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star. (more…)