St. John’s Coach Chris Mullin Talks to Cheick Diallo, ‘Locking Up a Date’ For Meeting
New St. John's coach Chris Mullin continues
New St. John's coach Chris Mullin continues
INDIANAPOLIS — Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor developed a friendship last year while playing together in various All-Star games, including the McDonald’s All-American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic.
With Towns now at Kentucky and Okafor at Duke, they remained in contact throughout the year via text messages.
Now both players are two wins away from an NCAA championship.
“We talk to each other on each other’s birthdays and [I’m] just always wishing him the best,” Towns, the 6-foot-11 Kentucky freshman from Piscataway, N.J., said here Friday at the Final Four. “I always send him a text message, saying, ‘Really great game.'”
INDIANAPOLIS — Kentucky’s Barry Rohrssen may face a tough decision when this college basketball season ends, but when it comes down to pizza, the man known as “Slice” prefers New York City over Lexington, Ky.
“You know what, I’m not sure if anyone other than the people who own pizzerias in Lexington dispute me on this, or even [would] be upset if I told you Yew York City,” Rohrssen said outside the Kentucky locker room on Friday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“Some of the favorite spots would be Totonno’s out in Coney Island, Patsy Grimaldi underneath the Brooklyn Bridge in my home borough. Grimaldi’s is very good. Obviously you got Lombardi’s down on Spring Street, which is the very first pizzeria in the history of the United States of America.”
INDIANAPOLIS — While Duke freshmen Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow are projected as top-5 picks in the NBA Draft, their fellow freshman Tyus Jones is widely considered a late-first-round pick.
DraftExpress.com projects Okafor at No. 2, Winslow at No. 5 and Jones at No. 26.
“[With] Tyus Jones, the further Duke goes I assume it solidifies him as somebody they may take at the back end of the first round,” one veteran NBA scout told SNY.tv. “I think he’s a second-round pick but somebody may take him at the back end of the first round.”
Asked if he saw Jones as an NBA point guard down the road, the scout said, “Oh, yeah.”
INDIANAPOLIS — Texas officially named Shaka Smart its 24th head basketball coach on Friday.
Smart will make $2.75 million his first year in what is “most likely” a six-year deal, according to Kirk Bohls of the Austin-American Statesman.
Smart has wasted no time in recruiting as he already offered Vermont Academy 2016 guard Bruce Brown.
“I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to be the head men’s basketball coach at The University of Texas,” Smart said. “I’m very appreciative of President Bill Powers and Athletics Director Steve Patterson for believing in me and giving me the chance to work with a tremendous group of young men. Coming to The University of Texas presents an opportunity to be a part of a special community. My highest priority is spending time and developing relationships with our current players, our former players and the young men who will make up the future of Texas Basketball.”
INDIANAPOLIS — New St. John’s coach Chris Mullin and assistant Matt Abdelmassih will visit Brandon Sampson on Thursday in Louisiana, his head coach confirmed to SNY.tv.
The NCAA dead period ends at noon on Thursday.
“It says that they are doing their job,” Baton Rouge (LA) Madison Prep coach Jeff Jones told SNY.tv. “Brandon was one of [three St. John’s] commits so you have to try to keep that class and significantly add to it.”
The New York Post first reported the visit on Twitter.
The 6-foot-4 Sampson out of Baton Rouge (LA) Madison Prep initially committed to former St. John’s coach Steve Lavin but reopened his commitment after Lavin’s departure.
“It was a couple thoughts because I wasn’t gonna thrust St. John’s completely out of the situation just because of the coach,” Sampson told NOLA.com. “I was still gonna evaluate the staff, and with Chris Mullin coming in, an NBA player with all that under his belt, just being on the Olympic team as you said and coming in being an (alumnus) of St. John’s, it couldn’t be a bad thing at all going in under him.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Tom Izzo is not a
