Mo Bamba, Quade Green, Nick Richards Among Recruits at Champions Classic
NEW YORK -- Mohamed Bamba, Quade Green
NEW YORK -- Mohamed Bamba, Quade Green
Villanova’s Josh Hart and Duke’s Grayson Allen highlight the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 announced Tuesday.
Several universities feature multiple players on the list: Duke (Allen, Harry Giles, and Jayson Tatum), Kansas (Devonte’ Graham, Frank Mason III, and Josh Jackson), Kentucky (Edrice Adebayo, De’Aaron Fox, and Malik Monk) and Oregon (Chris Boucher, Dillon Brooks, and Tyler Dorsey) lead the honors with three candidates apiece, while Indiana, North Carolina, Villanova, Virginia, and Xavier each have two players each on the Preseason Top 50.
The trend of recognizing outstanding freshmen continues with seven named to the list: Adebayo, Fox, and Monk of Kentucky; Jarrett Allen of Texas; Miles Bridges of Michigan State; Markelle Fultz of Washington; Giles and Tatum of Duke; Jackson of Kansas; Lauri Markkanen of Arizona; Dennis Smith, Jr. of NC State.
Bourama Sidibe will announce his college choice
NEW ROCHELLE, N.J. — When Iona beat Monmouth last March in the MAAC championship game to gain an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, Schadrac Casimir watched from his room at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.
“I was rooting for my team,” Casimir said recently in the Iona gym. “I was watching the game, I love the game, I’m a fan of the game, so I had no problem watching. I was upset I couldn’t play.”
The 5-foot-10 Casimir couldn’t play for most of last season as he underwent three surgeries on his hips and groin in a five-month span.
Now, with Iona set to open the 2016-17 season Tuesday at Florida State, Casimir will make his return to the court, hoping to lead the Gaels to another NCAA Tournament berth next March.
“Schad is back and ready to go for the opener,” Iona associate head coach Jared Grasso said. “He has made great strides the past couple of weeks.”
By CHRIS BARCA
NEW YORK –– St. John’s freshman Shamorie Ponds wasn’t about to let fellow guard Marcus LoVett hog all the attention.
After LoVett went for 19 points and seven assists in last Friday’s season opener against Bethune-Cookman, it was Ponds who opened eyes on Monday. The Brooklyn product dropped 21 points to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds and four assists, leading St. John’s to a 77-61 win over Binghamton at Carnesecca Arena. The Johnnies are now 2-0 heading into Friday’s matchup at Minnesota in the Gavitt Tip-Off Games.
“We bring the best out in each other,” said Ponds, the former Brooklyn Thomas Jefferson star. “We’re the smallest guys on the floor but we have the biggest heart and the biggest voice.”
After a solid but uninspiring eight-point performance against Bethune-Cookman, Ponds came out of the gate firing on Monday, scoring seven of the Red Storm’s first 15 points through 10 minutes.
David Beatty , the 6-foot-4 combo guard from Philadelphia (PA) Imhotep Institute, committed to South Carolina on Monday.
The No. 7 combo guard in the Class of 2017 according to 247Sports.com, Beatty also considered Indiana, Georgetown and Maryland.
“Dave is a physical big guard with good athleticism,” Imhotep coach Andre Noble said. “Winning is very important to him. He’s a very coachable, smart player. I think as he continues to improve his shooting it’s going to be very hard for guys at next level to stay in front of him. He has very good court vision, too.”
NEW YORK — It isn’t often that John Calipari swings and misses on an elite recruit.
But when it came to Miles Bridges, Calipari didn’t get his man.
The 6-foot-7 Michigan native considered Kentucky and Michigan State before choosing the Spartans last October after his close friend Cassius Winston also picked Michigan State.
“When he committed, then I basically switched over to Michigan State from Kentucky,” Bridges told Scout.com. “At first I thought Cassius was going to Michigan. When he went to Michigan State, it changed everything.
“I just started hanging with him when AAU started,” Bridges said about Winston. “But it feels like I’ve known Cassius for all my life. We connect like brothers.”
