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6'11" Freshman Karl Towns, Jr., Photo by Andrew Slater

Phenom is an overused term in sports, but there are times when it merits use. 6’11″ freshman Karl Towns, Jr. has already helped lead St. Joseph’s Falcons of Metuchen, New Jersey to a 28-2 record and its first New Jersey state title. It’s a feat that alumni including the Lakers’ Andrew Bynum and former Duke All-American and Chicago Bull Jason Williams weren’t able to achieve during their time at the North Jersey Catholic school. After averaging a double-double in the always competitive New Jersey Catholic leagues, MaxPreps named Towns, Jr. to its freshman All-American team.

Off the court, Towns’ impact was also felt at St. Joseph’s, as Karl, a sociable and conscientious young man, took on a leadership role as the freshman student class president and has earned a reported 4.3 GPA in the classroom. When Karl, a Knicks fan, was contemplating a career in sports broadcasting, MSG Varsity, a regional cable network, sent the then fifteen year-old to interview his basketball hero, forward Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. At the halftime of a Rutgers-Seton Hall basketball game earlier in the year, Victor Cruz, the All-Pro wide receiver for the Super Bowl champion New York Giants, wanted to meet with the young phenom. An exceptional all-around athlete, the Piscataway, NJ native is a scratch golfer and, although perhaps not yet Randy Johnson, the 6’11″ freshman right-hander, who wears a size-20 sneaker, reportedly can already throw a baseball over eighty miles per hour.

On the court, “Little Karl” has benefitted from the tutelage and guidance of his father Karl Sr., a 6’5″ former tenacious rebounder for Monmouth University (still the university’s leader for rebounds in a season and game) and a successful high school coach at Piscataway Vo-Tech High School in New Jersey for the past fourteen years. His father has also coached Karl, Jr. on the AAU circuit, including for the Sports U. 16s at the Pitt Jam Fest, where the freshman was named to the All-Tournament team by HoopGroup. In order to honor the Dominican heritage of his mother, Jacqueline “Jackie” Cruz-Towns and to give his relatives a chance to watch him play competitively in person, Karl has trained with the Dominican National Team and yesterday made the senior team, which is still hoping to qualify for the Olympics in London this year.

6'11" Karl Towns of New Jersey, Photo by Andrew Slater

A rare, young American big man who is both able to play with his back to the basket and has a face-up game to beyond the three-point line, Karl came within one shot of winning the three-point shooting contest at the recent Mary Kline Classic, a charity event  in Pennington, New Jersey that included some of the best talent on the East Coast. Towns, who was one of the youngest participants, wanted to play in the event, which was able to raise over $20,000 dollars for brain cancer research, because he lost his grandfather to cancer.

Under Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Duke has developed a legacy of success with tough New Jersey high school basketball players. All four of Duke’s National Championship teams had, at least, one starter from the Garden State. NBA Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving (St. Patrick’s), the Bulls’ Luol Deng (Blair Academy), the Hornets’ Lance Thomas (St. Benedict’s), the Pacers’ Dahntay Jones (Rahway), Jason Williams (St. Joe’s), Bobby Hurley (St. Anthony’s), Roshown McLeod (St. Anthony’s), and Alaa Abdelnaby (Bloomfield) all went onto have NBA careers.

After the event, Karl Towns, Jr., an ambitious and cerebral young man with a disarming smile and a big heart, spoke with me extensively about a variety of topics.

Let’s start with the state title run.

Oh, you know, it was a big thing for us at St. Joe’s. I always told St. Joe’s that I wanted to do something that had never been done before: I was going to bring a state title to them. When we were going for the state title, we knew we had a chance to win it. We knew that we were the best team there.

At what point in the year did you get a sense that this could be the year? When did you feel that the group was really clicking?

When I first committed to the school..

Oh, really (laughs)

Yeah, you know, I did. I always have a high confidence that I know that we can do well in whatever we set our minds to. After the game in Teaneck, we lost the second game of the year. We came back and we won that third game. After that game, I just felt that we were going to gun for a state title this year. We weren’t going to wait.

Can you touch on your thoughts on two other talented guys that have passed through those same hallways, Jason Williams and Andrew Bynum?

Oh, Jason Williams is a great player and so is Andrew. I’m just trying to make my own legacy at St. Joe’s.

Sure.

Bynum is such a great player and I just wanted to use the shooting touch of Jason and put it with Bynum’s post presence and then just try to make that work.

In terms of international play, you’ve trained with the Dominican National Team. How has that unique experience gone so far?

Oh, I actually just left our practice to come to this event. It’s just a great experience and know that I’m playing for my country and playing for something that’s much bigger than me is just rewarding and puts a lot of pride in myself.

Future Blue Devil Forward Amile Jefferson, Photo by Andrew Slater/BDN

 Duke landed its second commitment of the 2012 class when Friends Central forward Amile Jefferson pledged to the Blue Devils. Jefferson, who was a McDonald’s All-American this March, will bring length, skill around the basket, a good basketball IQ, and versatility to the Duke frontline. Although the courtship was quite lengthy, it heated up this January when Coach Krzyzewski extended a scholarship offer to the cerebral big man.

6'8" Amile Jefferson, Photo by Adidas/Getty

Jefferson, who recently won his fourth consecutive Pennsylvania Independent Schools State Title for his suburban Philadelphia school, visited Duke for a third time on March 3 and 4 with his dad, Malcolm Musgrove. Jefferson has been on Duke’s radar for several years. Before his sophomore year at Friends’ Central, an academically challenging Quaker school in Wynnewood,  PA, Amile was one of two rising sophomores who attended Duke’s Elite Camp. In the autumn of his junior year, Amile watched Duke unveil its fourth National Championship banner at the Countdown to Craziness.

The forward with a seven foot wingspan also considered N.C. State, Villanova, Ohio State, Kentucky, and Temple. Amile Jefferson was recruited by Duke Coaches Mike Krzyzewski and Chris Collins. Jefferson is Duke’s first Philadelphia player since current Charlotte Bobcat Gerald Henderson suited up for the Blue Devils.

On March 28, he joined fellow Blue Devil incoming freshman Rasheed Sulaimon at the United Center in Chicago for the McDonald’s All-American game. In fourteen minutes, Jefferon tallied eight points, three rebounds, two steals, and an assist for the East team. This April, the Philadelphian scored twenty-six points and grabbed five rebounds, earning the MVP of the Derby Classic at Freedom Hall in Louisville, KY.

For the second consecutive year, Jefferson won Pennsylvania’s Gatorade Player of the Year and was named Pennsylvania’s Class AA Player of the Year. Over the course of his career with the Phoenix of Friends’ Central, alma mater of former Syracuse All-American Hakeem Warrick, Amile Jefferson scored over fifteen hundred points, grabbed over eight hundred rebounds, and swatted away nearly two hundred shots.

6’8″ Amile Jefferson averaged twenty points, ten rebounds, and three blocks this year en route to a 21-5 record for his Wynnewood, Pennsylvania school. Jefferson provides Duke with a coveted second multi-year player with long-term pro potential in the 2012 class. To this point, Jefferson, the second highest-rated senior in the class of 2012 by HoopScoop,  has largely been able to overcome having no strength regimen, but in a prior interview with me, Amile has said he’s anxious to start a college strength and conditioning program in order to make his game more college-ready.

Amile Jefferson, Photo by Andrew Slater/BDN

McDonald’s All-American voter and veteran scout Tom Konchalski of HSBI said of Amile Jefferson, “He’s a young colt who’s waiting for his body to blossom, but he has a really good feel for the game. Right now, he’s probably more of a 4/3 and, obviously, he’s going to have get stronger, but, in the ACC, it’s not as if he’s going to the Big Ten or the Big East, which is even more of a physical conference. In terms of style of play, if he were to go to Duke, that would be a good pick, but he’s still got to get stronger in order to be able to play both sides of the court. He’s a guy who has some perimeter skills..not an explosive athlete, but, when he starts to working to improve himself physically, his legs will get stronger. He will get quicker and he’ll get more lift off the ground. He’s a guy who has a good feel for the lane and the baseline. He’s almost like an old-time player around the lane. He knows how to finish without going above the rim or jumping over people. He knows how to use his body to get between the defender and the ball. He knows how to shield the ball and reverse it. He has a really good feel for the game and he’s a really good kid. He’s also a good student.”

Point Guard Joel Berry II, Photo by Andrew Slater

 “Point guards should only be judged by whether you win or lose. The rest of that stuff doesn’t matter.’’

-Mike D’Antoni

In the humid central Florida city of Apopka, a 6’1″ point guard named Joel Berry II is working on perfecting his craft. For the past few months, he’s worked with trainer Cornell Rivers, who worked with the Celtics’ Marquis Daniels, on taking his shooting to another level. Joel makes 6,000 shots per weekend. These sessions can take between four and eight hours.

This March, the sophomore point guard led his young Lake Highland Prep squad to their first state championship game. Joel scored twenty-two points in the opening half of the 4A title game against Pine Crest, but the Lake Highland Highlanders ultimately lost that game after Berry, finishing with twenty-six points, fouled out of the game with 3:07 left in the game, missing their remaining six shots of the game. After finishing with a 28-4 record and returning all of their starters, they will be early favorites to win their first state title next season and are scheduled to play in the challenging City of Palms Tournament in Ft. Myers, FL next December.

For his efforts, the always gracious Berry II became the first sophomore in Florida’s history to win the Mr. Basketball Award. Joel also was named Gatorade’s Player of the Year in Florida. Gatorade cited his championship game run, his 3.3 GPA, and his volunteer work as the reasons for the sophomore’s distinction. For the season, Joel averaged over 23 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 assists per game.

This AAU season, Berry has formed a dynamic 1-2 punch with Dakari Johnson, a 6’10″ sophomore from Brooklyn who plays at Montverde Academy for Coach Kevin Boyle. Despite the youth, the Florida based-team, Each One Teach One, has gone 8-1 through the Minneapolis and Hampton legs of the Nike EYBL. Each One Teach One is the AAU program that Duke freshman and soon-to-be NBA guard, Austin Rivers, played for.

One of his E1T1 coaches is Joel Berry, Sr. Mr. Berry was a standout multi-sport athlete in his own regard. He was an Adidas All-American football player in 1987 as well as an All-Metro Orlando performer in both track and basketball. Mr. Berry opted to pursue football at the University of Central Florida, but, unfortunately, injured his knee as a sophomore and never played football again. He’s been able to stay in good shape via a mix of strength training and the martial arts. After going back to school, Mr. Berry is scheduled to earn a Master’s degree this month from the University of Central Florida. Joel’s sister, Kourtnie, just helped lead Rollins College of Winter Park, FL to a Division II Final Four, the furthest in program history.

Nearly 6'2" Joel Berry II, Photo by Andrew Slater

Last year, playing two age groups up, Joel Berry II felt he needed to score more in order for his E1T1 team to have any chance at victory. Coaches Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Calhoun, and Billy Donovan watched the then rising sophomore play, at times, over the course of the limited July period, but he’s anxious to show the improvements in his overall game, particularly his on-the-ball defense, his improved physique and strength, which enables him to take the physicality that accompanies being a penetrating point guard, and ability to facilitate an offense.

After a recent game, Joel, who, from a personality standpoint, has managed to have the near perfect blend of being a tiger on the court and a good-natured gentleman off of it, spoke with me again after an EYBL game.

What are some things that you’ve improved on most since last year?

I’ve worked on my leadership a lot. I’m a real quiet person.

So am I.

Yeah, so I just tried to go out there and play basketball, but people had been telling me that I have to be more vocal out on the court. So, I’ve tried to work on that a lot. It’s one thing that I definitely feel like I’ve improved on. I’ve been going to a lot of leadership programs and that’s helped a lot.

That’s great. What are you hoping to show coaches this year?

I just want to show them that I can be a leader and run a team. Every time, I can’t wait to just go out there and play and help us win.

Well, I think you’ve got a much better team to work with than last year’s team. No offense to last year’s team, but you guys are older and made a great offseason acquisition by picking up the big fella, Dakari (Johnson).

Yes, sir, we’ve got a lot of size this year and it’s important that I get them the ball in spots where they can be successful with it. We’ve got a lot of players this year that can score and so it’ll take a lot of pressure off of me to score. I can just lead my team and distribute the ball. Last year, you know I needed to score a lot for us to try to win. This year, it’s been great because it feels like more we’re more of a team  out there.

Leadership is