WASHINGTON — Andrew Wiggins celebrated Andrew Wiggins Day in Huntington, W.V., with John Calipari, Grimace and The Hamburglar.
As seen in the above picture (which doesn’t include Calipari), Wiggins was presented with a proclamation by Huntington Mayor Steve Williams declaring it Andrew Wiggins Day.
The newly-minted Gatorade National Player of the Year also hung with Grimace and The Hamburglar.
WASHINGTON — St. John’s freshman forward JaKarr Sampson is expected to return for his sophomore season and sophomore guard D’Angelo Harrison “has intentions” to stay, a source with direct knowledge told SNY.tv.
If both players return to join last year’s core along with the additions of big man Orlando Sanchez and sharpshooter Max Hooper, St. John’s will be a very deep team in the new Big East in 2013-14.
The source said the 6-foot-8 Sampson was “99.99 percent” likely to return a year after winning Big East Rookie of the Year honors.
NEW YORK — It has been 26 years and one Syracuse championship since Keith Smart crushed the hearts of the Orange faithful with his shot in the 1987 NCAA championship game in The Superdome.
Yet the way Carmelo Anthony figures it, the Orange still owe one to the Hoosiers.
“We’re not losing to Indiana, we owe them from the Keith Smart shot anyway,” Anthony said Wednesday night after helping the Knicks to their sixth straight win by scoring 22 points in a 108-101 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Anthony and the Knicks have the night off tonight, so expect Melo to be front and center in front of a flat screen at about 9:45 p.m. when the No. 4 Orange tip off against No. 1 Indiana in an East Regional semifinal in Washington.
“Oh, without a doubt,” he said. “This is a big test for us right there. Indiana, they playing very well so this is a big test.”
NEW YORK — J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony watched the end of the Chicago Bulls’ streak-busting victory over LeBron James and the Miami Heat Wednesday night.
Because of their post-game viewing choice, the duo was a little late getting into the Knicks’ locker room.
Chicago’s 101-97 win over the Heat combined with the Knicks 108-101 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies at Madison Square Garden means the Knicks now own the NBA’s longest winning streak.
Sure, it’s only six games and not 27 like the Heat, but the Knicks won’t turn down the distinction.
After an initial report surfaced Wednesday indicating that five-star shooting guard Keith Frazier of Dallas Kimball had committed to Texas Tech, Frazier opted to push his announcement date back.
According to Reggie Rankin of ESPN.com, the 6-foot-5 Frazier will decide sometime after the April 3 McDonald’s All-American Game.
He is considering Texas Tech, SMU and Texas A&M.
“I just want to be 100 percent sure,” he told Rankin. “I only want to make this decision once.”
When the NCAA Tournament began, Rice High School had four players representing the Harlem school that closed its doors for financial reasons in 2011.
Now there is just one.
Miami senior guard Durand Scott is the last Rice alum standing now that Cincinnati’s Jermaine Sanders, Kansas State’s Shane Southwell and VCU’s Melvin Johnson are all out.
“It’s only something you dream of, you don’t necessarily think you’re going to get this point but when you put in the work over the summer and the spring you think all that work would get you to this point,” Scott, a Bronx native, said Wednesday, one day ahead of Miami (29-6) meeting Marquette (25-8) in an East Regional semifinal in Washington, D.C.
Syracuse recruit Chris McCullough won’t get to campus until 2014 and when he does, he says Jim Boeheim will be there to coach him.
The 6-foot-9 McCullough said he spoke with Boeheim “two or three weeks ago,” and the coach gave him the news.
“He said there’s a lot of rumors going around that he’s retiring but he’ll still be there when I’m there,” McCullough told SNY.tv from Brewster (N.H.) Academy, where he has one more season remaining.
Syracuse will face Indiana in the East Regional semifinals
