Archives for April 2012

PORTLAND, OR – The 15^th Nike Hoop Summit is on tap for tonight  (7 o’clock PT) in the Rose Garden,

And a healthy portion of the best teen-aged male hoopsters on the planet will be on display.

Shabazz Muhammad (6-5/Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas), Kyle Anderson (6-8/St. Anthony in Jersey City) and Nerlens Noel (6-10/The Tilton School in Tilton, NH), considered by most talent evaluators to be the top three players in the Class of 2012, are part of the 10-member Team USA roster.

Ironically, two of the most high profile players on the World team are Toronto imports who play in the United States, Anthony Bennett (a 6-7, 240-pound senior at Findlay Prep in Henderson, NV) and Andrew Wiggins (a 6-7, 205-pound sophomore at Huntington Prep in Huntington, WV).

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By JAMES KERTI

The Nevada Basketball Development League tipped off its third weekend of action in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Many players from the previous two weekends were away at AAU and other events, so the field was a little narrower this time around.

With a smaller group of players, the guard play was highlighted even more than last week.

El Dorado’s Markeith Floyd has established  himself as one of the league’s best point guards. The unsigned senior has a superior outside shot off the catch and off the dribble.

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NEW ORLEANS – Ultimately, all the University of Kentucky Wildcats did during the 21 days of the NCAA Tournament – and especially Monday night in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome – was confirm what anyone who follows the sports with a balanced perspective figured for the better part of 2012:

John Calipari was coaching far and away the best collection of players in college hoops this season.

Uh, let me rephrase that:

He was coaching the best team – in every best sense of the word – in the country.

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  NEW ORLEANS

   National Title game

Kentucky 67, Kansas 59

   Why Kentucky won: because the Wildcats possessed on the most dominant low-post presences in (relative) recent college hoops history in Anthony Davis (16 points, six blocked shots, five assists and three steals) and incredibly gifted, balanced and unselfish cast around him.

The Turning Point: Tyshawn Taylor’s reverse layup (which would have cut the Kansas deficit to four points was blocked by Michael Kidd-Gilchrist; Taylor recovered the ball then turned it over with 54 seconds to go.

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NEW ORLEANS – Squads representing the East and South came out winners Sunday afternoon during the second All-American Championship games that were played at the Lakefront Arena.

Future Big East Conference players Omar Calhoun (Brooklyn, NY, Christ The King/bound for Connecticut) and Ricardo Ledo (South Kent School, CT/Providence) paced the East with 26 and 15 points, respectively, during the 84-72 victory over the West.

Calhoun, selected his team’s MVP, scored 27 of those points in the first half to push his team to a 44-28 advantage.

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