Finnish Forward Lauri Markkanen Sets Visits
Finnish power forward Lauri Markkanen has set three
Finnish power forward Lauri Markkanen has set three
NEW YORK — Gary Trent Jr. continued his busy summer this weekend by playing in the Big Strick Classic at the Gauchos Gym in The Bronx.
Trent Jr. went for 15 points Saturday night as Team USA beat Team NYC 159-137.
The 6-foot-5 2017 guard out of Apple Valley (MN) was coming off a recent unofficial visit to UCLA that followed his stint at the adidas Nations event in Long Beach.
“I went to the University and it was good, I enjoyed it,” he told SNY.tv. “It was nice, a nice atmosphere. The campus is beautiful, palm trees everywhere.”
By CHRIS RUSSELL
NEW YORK— High School basketball was at center stage in Bronx Saturday night where some of the nations top young athletes dueled it out in the Regional Game of the Big Strick Classic at Gauchos Gymnasium.
In a matchup filled with fast break action and dunks, it was team Escalade that came away victorious over team Armoni 133-117.
Despite going down in defeat, rising sophomore sensation Naz Reid, who attends Roselle Catholic, showed big improvement since the end of last spring. The 6-foot-9 power forward finished with 17 points on the night.
Despite only being a sophomore, many of the nations top schools have been recruiting him hard for his services.
By CHRIS RUSSELL
NEW YORK — In case you have been wondering how New York’s high school basketball talent would measure up against some of the nation’s best, Saturday night’s National Game at the Big Strick Classic provided an answer.
Team NYC, which featured some of the top players from the New York tri-state area, went down in defeat 159-137 to Team USA, in a game that is dedicated to the legendary street ball player John “Franchise” Strickland.
The talk of the night was none other than 2016 shooting guard Josh Jackson, who went on a tear offensively and finished with a Big Strick-record 50 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. Billy Preston, a 6-8 power forward out of Dallas, added 28 points in the win.
By JOSH NEWMAN & ADAM ZAGORIA
NEW YORK – Mohamed Bamba stands 6-foot-11, so when he isn’t somewhere he’s supposed to be, you’re going to notice.
This was the situation late Friday morning at Gauchos Gym in the Bronx where the players in Saturday night’s Big Strick Classic went through a two-hour workout, sans Bamba, in addition to St. Patrick star big man Nick Richards.
Bamba and Richards weren’t the only two players missing from practice Friday, but the reason they were absent certainly was a topic of conversation.
On the same day Big Strick held practice, Nike held what is called a Brand Activation Event at Brooklyn Bridge Park as it gets set to roll out Nike+ NYC. Part of the Brooklyn event was an EYBL showcase, which included Bamba’s PSA Cardinals and Richards’ Expressions Elite, the Albany City Rocks and New York Lightning.
NEW YORK — In the past 48 hours, Wenyen Gabriel has spoken to Kentucky coach John Calipari, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Maryland’s Mark Turgeon, UConn’s Kevin Ollie and Notre Dame’s Mike Brey.
That will happen when you’re a 6-foot-10, 195-pound forward with a ceiling as high as the Sistine Chapel.
“I spoke with Coach K [Thursday],” Gabriel, a native of the Sudan who arrived in the U.S. at the age of 3 and now lives in Manchester, N.H., said Friday at Big Strick Classic practice at the Gauchos Gym. “I talked to Calipari [Friday] morning. I talked to Coach Turgeon from Maryland [Friday] morning. I talked to Coach Brey from Notre Dame and Coach Ollie from UConn. They sent a few texts.”
Based off of his breakout summer, Gabriel, who attends Wilbraham & Monson (MA), added offers from Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and Arizona along with those from Maryland, UConn, Providence, Notre Dame, Texas, Auburn and Miami, among others.
NEW YORK — Josh Jackson will take an unofficial visit to Maryland in the next two weeks and will likely take officials to Arizona and Kansas during the school year, his mother told SNY.tv.
The 6-foot-7 Jackson attends Napa (CA) Justin-Siena and is the No. 1 shooting guard in the Class of 2016 according to 247Sports.com. He figures to be a projected lottery pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by DraftExpress.com.
“We’ll take [an unofficial] to Maryland, we’re going to try to go in between here and Elite 24 [on Aug. 22],” Apples Jones, Jackson’s mother and a Michigan native, told SNY.tv at the Big Strick Classic practice Friday afternoon at the Gauchos Gym. “We’re going to try to squeeze it in.
