Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
Mitch McGary took an unofficial visit to Florida Monday and all went well.
“He enjoyed it,” his father, Tim, told SNY.tv. “He liked the campus. He said there’s a lot of beautiful women on campus.”
The 6-foot-10 McGary out of Brewster (N.H.) Academy won’t take any more visits until next month.
“Not until September,” his dad said. “We’re going back to Michigan. On the way back we’re going to North Carolina and Duke. We’re going to go to Kentucky but I don’t know when. We haven’t been able to line anything up but we want to go.”
JaMychal Green of Alabama scored a game-high 17 points and Syracuse’s Scoop Jardine added 16 points to lead Team USA to a 112-68 win over South Korea Monday in the World University Games in China.
Trevor Mbakwe of Minnesota scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Pitt’s Ashton Gibbs had 14 points and four assists and Michigan State’s Draymond Green finished with 12 points, 12 boards and four steals.
Team USA is now 3-0 entering Wednesday’s game with Finland.
“We’re an unselfish team,” Jardine said. “We don’t have too many superstars. We have a lot of good players, a lot of older players who have played in college three years and when you have a core like that, everybody knows what it takes to win games, we’ve all played in big games and that’s what it’s going to take to win the gold medal.”
Despite the drop off in high-major talent in New Jersey from 2011 to 2012, the Garden State remains full of prospects. This weekend, schools from all around the state, participated in the Summer Primetime Shootout. The teams included Roselle Catholic, Plainfield, St. Patrick, St. Benedict’s, Trenton Catholic and St. Peter’s Prep, among others. Here are some school lists and evaluations from some of the notable players who participated.
DeAndre Bembry – A 2013 forward who transferred in from North Carolina, Bembry could be the best player on St. Patrick this season with most players leaving. An athletic 6-foot-6 combo forward, Bembry is extremely aggressive. He lists, “Miami, Villanova, Penn State, Seton Hall, Charlotte and Virginia Tech.” Before the season starts, he plans to sit down with his mother and potentially setup some visits.
Jo’el Samuel – Another 2013 transfer who will play for new St. Patrick head coach Chris Chavannes, the 6-foot-9 center is still extremely raw and skinny. However, he has a good skill set for his age and size. Thus far, Radford is the only school which has come on strong for him. Former VCU assistant Mike Jones recently got the job there and will be keeping tabs on the big man.
First off, Scout.com put out its updated Class of 2012 rankings and John Calipari and Company are involved with the Top 4 players — Shabazz Muhammad, Andre Drummond, Mitch McGary and Brandon Ashley, as well as No. 9 Kaleb Tarczewski and No. 10 Anthony Bennett.
Oh, and they also have a shot at No. 12 DaJuan Coleman, No. 14 Archie Goodwin, No. 17 Alex Poythress and No. 19 Robert Parker.
Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard secured a major recruiting coup in April when he landed 6-foot-10 Kevin Johnson out of Woodland Hills (Calif.) Taft.
The California big man had been leaning toward San Diego State, but seemingly out of nowhere picked the Pirates without having made a visit.
Now Seton Hall is hoping Johnson will be academically qualified and able to help anchor a front line that will also feature returning senior big man Herb Pope and incoming forward Brandon Mobley.
“He’s finishing up summer school and he’s very excited about the upcoming school year and season, so everything’s going according to plan,” Christopher Spann, Johnson’s legal guardian, told SNY.tv by phone.
NEW YORK — Jevon Thomas may not know anything more than the rest of us.
But the onetime St. John’s commit sounds like he expects Kyle Anderson to land at St. John’s.
“Their main focus right now is Kyle,” Thomas said early Sunday morning after he and Anderson teamed up to lead Team New York over Team USA, 146-138, in the inaugural Franchise Classic at the South Bronx Jobs Corps.
“So maybe after they get Kyle, they’ll come hard at me and then maybe I’ll revisit it.”
Mitch McGary took an unofficial visit to Florida Monday and all went well.
