NEW YORK — Within the past couple of years, the Big Apple has lost both the Boost Mobile Elite 24 game and the Jordan Brand Classic.
They didn’t quite up and move in the middle of the night like the Baltimore Colts, but they did depart for safer havens.
The Boost Mobile left Rucker Park for Venice Beach, Calif., and the Jordan game bolted for North Carolina while Madison Square Garden undergoes renovation.
NEW YORK — Isaiah Whitehead skipped the early portion of the AAU circuit and worked out with Lincoln High School coach Tiny Morton.
He feels it paid off as he was named Co-MVP of the Hoop Group Future All-American Camp earlier this month.
“[I got] a lot better. I definitely got stronger, [worked on my] ball-handling and jump shot,” Whitehead said Friday in Harlem during practice for The Franchise Classic.
NEW YORK –– UCLA could land a monster recruiting class if everyone who visited this past week were to commit.
During one day this week, the Bruins hosted Shabazz Muhammad, Kyle Anderson, Shaq Goodwin and 2012 commit Jordan Adams.
Adams, a 6-foot-5 small forward from Oak Hill Academy who is Goodwin’s teammate with the Atlanta Celtics, and Dominic Artis, a 5-11 point guard from Findlay Prep, have already pledged to the Bruins.
NEW YORK — Archie Goodwin is slowly winnowing his list.
The 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Little Rock, Ark., is now considering eight schools after he had initially trimmed it to 10.
During Friday’s practice for Saturday’s Franchise Classic in Harlem, Goodwin told SNY.tv he’s now looking at Arkansas, Baylor, Georgetown, Kentucky, Kansas, Memphis, Missouri and UConn.
“I cut Florida [and] Louisville, and Missouri is still in there, so you could say it’s eight,” Goodwin, who scored a game-high 23 points Sunday to help Team USA Midwest win the Nike Global Challenge, said Friday afternoon. “I basically just cut Florida and Louisville.”
Steven Adams will be eligible for the 2012 NBA Draft.
But the 7-footer will spend next year at Notre Dame Prep after graduating from Scots College in New Zealand before heading to Pittsburgh for the 2012-13 season.
“He’s coming to our school,” Notre Dame Prep coach Ryan Hurd told SNY.tv by phone. “We’re excited to have him here next year.”
Hurd hasn’t seen Adams play in person, but he’s watched enough on tape to know that he’s getting a future pro.
It isn’t often that a highly-ranked basketball player eliminates Duke from his list.
But that’s exactly what Perry Ellis did in naming his new set of top four schools.
After a family meeting Thursday night, the 6-foot-8, 220-pound Ellis, the Rivals No. 8 power forward in the Class of 2012 out of Wichita (Ks.) Heights, now lists Kentucky, Kansas State, Kansas and Wichita State.
UC Santa Barbara rising senior Orlando Johnson, who overcame the death of six relatives before he was a teenager, has been selected to represent the USA as a flag bearer for Friday’s Opening Ceremony of the 2011 World University Games.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Johnson, whose mother, Vicki Renée Johnson, passed away when he was 1. “I was proud to make the USA Basketball team and to play for my country, and now to carry the flag and lead the U.S. delegation feels very special. I feel very honored.”
After the death of his mother, his grandmother took Orlando in. Then, when he was six, four of his relatives died in a house fire. Following the death of his grandmother at age 11, his two older brothers put their lives on hold to raise him.
“I just hope I don’t fall,” joked Johnson.
