Tag Archives: Ryan Kelly

[private]Christ School advanced to the Glaxo Smith Kline Invitational Shavlik Randolph Foundation Championship by defeating Kinston 76-59. They will face Word of God tonight just after 9:00 in what should be an exciting match up. Ravenscroft will also take place in the championship game of the Summit Hospitality bracket against Centennial.

"Our half time adjustments were great and our defense confused them a little bit. It's hard to keep these guys up for five games in a row. Jackson and Plumlee ... I can't say enough about what they do for this team and we just have to get up for tomorrow night," said the Greenies Coach Gaines.

Christ School shot 61.7% from the field over a pesky Kinston team. The Greenies were led by South Carolina commitment Lakeem Jackson who tallied 18 points and 4 rebounds. He spent much of the night guarding UNC commitment Reggie Bullock who scored 17 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.

"For two years Lakeem has guarded the other guy's stars. We told him you have to guard Reggie Bullock. He (Jackson) takes such pride in his defense. Reggie made some great shots in the first half, but by in large Lakeem did a great job on him," said Gaines.

Duke bound Mason Plumlee was a force in the paint where he scored 15 points to go with 13 rebounds. Plumlee known for his uncanny passing skills for a big man dished out 7 assists.

"If this kid is not an All American, you've got to be kidding me. It's not going to be because he scores 25 points a night. Tonight we had him for 8 assists. He just produces in the big games for us. I would like to see him post up a little more and part of my barking at him was to get him to do that. But again, the kids a superstar," said Gaines when asked of Plumlee.

Plumlee was 7 of 10 from the field, two of those misses were three point shots. Plumlee is a shoo-in for the all tournament team and his field goal percentage has to be among the best at the event.

When asked of his passing ability for a big man, Plumlee told the Blue Devil Nation, "When you have good shooters like we do, you want to get them the ball. I've been watching the game since I was younger and a lot of my favorite players were great passers.

The Greenies pulled away late in the game after throwing a variety of defenses at Kinston. They must now prepare for Word of God, an athletic team which will press and push the ball.

Word of God of course, is led by the nation's top uncommitted prospect in John Wall. While their game wasn't pretty on the eyes due to numerous turnovers, they held St. Raymond to 30% shooting in a decisive 63-43 win.

"I think the biggest thing for us tonight was our defense. We gave up 10 points in the first quarter and 6 in the second. We had a little bit of a let down in the third, but came back strong in the fourth," said Word of God Coach Levi Beckwith.

Wall showed off his ability to get from end to end faster than any player in the high school ranks. He scored 14 points on 40% shooting from the field. He was 6 of 7 from the free throw stripe and dished out 4 assists.

"I'm just trying to be the leader I'm supposed to be and prepare for college," Wall told the Blue Devil Nation in a post game interview.

Another impressive stat line for Wall was his 9 rebounds which is a testament to his active feet. But his top stat was his 5 blocks, where two were on the same possession where he also started the break for an easy basket.

"We've watched them (Christ School) play the last two nights and Coach will give us our game plan. If we follow his game plan we win, if we do something outside his game plan we struggle to win. We will go home and rest tonight and we'll go over the game plan. It's going to be a tough game but we might come out with the win," stated Wall on his next opponent.

Coach Beckwith added, "We are going to need to make sure we did the same thing we did down low tonight which is number one make sure we're down there. Obviously we want to use our speed, but they have speed as well. We are going to do what we do just like they do. Their coach is probably sitting back when we are going to trap them half court - we are doing the same thing."

Ryan Kelly will lead Ravenscroft against Centennial in the first game this evening. Centennial is led by N.C. State commitment Lorenzo Brown. Another Pack commitment of interest is C.J. Leslie who plays for Word of God.

Once again, Broughton High School was filled to capacity and people were turned away in droves outside the venue. Duke Assistant Coach Nate James took in the action for the Blue Devils.

Blue Devil Nation Premium our subscription service has an exclusive one on one interview with John Wall and much more from last evening alone. Why not check out the hardest working premium site around and judge for yourself where you get the best basketball coverage to add to your fan experience. If you are a member of another site, once you check us out, you'll likely see the difference.[/private]

Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting News

Kelly and Ravenscroft head to the Glaxo Championship game

December 29, 2008 Mark Watson

[private]Ravenscroft won their third consecutive game by disposing of Panther Creek 77-53. The Ravens put on a shooting clinic for much of the game ending up 73.5% from the field and a whopping 77.8% from the three point stripe.

The Ravens lost their first two games of the season during the Chic-Fil-A Invitational before winning their final contest of the event. Those losses did not settle with Coach Billerman and his

Kelly thunders to the hole against Panther Creek - copyright BDN Premium

team and thus far they've played with a chip on their shoulder in the continuing Glaxo Invitational in Raleigh, North Carolina.

"This is the type of basketball I think we can play. We started the game against their trapping defense hitting some wide open shots. We held them to four offensive rebounds and if we can do that every day, we'll be hard to beat," said Billerman shortly after the contest. The Ravenscroft Coach continued, "In my nine years it may have been the best game Ravenscroft has played."

Part of the resurgence can be attributed to their go-to player, Ryan Kelly. The Duke commitment scored a game high 30 points going 11 of 14 from the field to go with his 5 rebounds and two assists.

Kelly was 11 of 11 before missing a three point shot to break the streak.

"We got good shots early on and the whole team was knocking them down," said Kelly. "We were pushing the ball real well today and shooting as good as we did from three is pretty amazing."

Luke Davis also asserted himself with 20 points, while Panther Creek was led by Auburn commitment Earnest Ross with 29 points. "We are a good passing team when Luke has his energy. A lot of people don't know that he has been really sick. At Chic-Fil-A in South Carolina he wasn't himself but I thought you saw a pretty complete player today who was able to penetrate past their guards and allow others to score," said Billerman.

Ravenscroft now has a chance to win their bracket championship on Tuesday evening and carry that momentum into the rest of the season. "It means a lot to Ravenscroft. Playing for a Glaxo Championship is something we'll talk about over the break and we'll give our hardest effort in order to do that."

Kelly later told BDN, "We wanted to come in here and show some people something. It's important because a huge chunk of the City of Raleigh is coming out to watch these games and they want to see a championship game between two good teams and we are happy to be one of them."

The Ravens will play the winner of the Centennial-Knightdale game which will be played at 5:40 today. The championship game will start at 7:20 on Tuesday. In the other bracket, tonight's Christ School-Kinston winner plays in the nightcap versus the winner of Word of God or St. Raymonds.

For an in depth one on one interview with Ryan Kelly, join Blue Devil Nation Premium and get complete inside access. There are already premium articles and interviews up with Plumlee and John Wall. Members also have access to our message board where we will be blogging live from the event. For some of the best recruiting and inside new available, join today and see what you are missing.[/private]

BDN Premium Articles, Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting News

Glaxo Premium Report – Wall talks recruiting and Kelly his teams victory

December 27, 2008 Mark Watson

The Blue Devil Nation was on the scene for the 37th Annual Tournament where we caught all of the action in a sold out venue. We talked with John Wall about the recruiting process and where he stands. BDNP talked to Duke commitment Ryan Kelly as well. The following is an in depth report laced with plenty of details and full of scouting reports, interviews, pictures and behind the scenes chatter. We will continue our live blog of the event on the Premium Message Board this afternoon. It's a great time to join Blue Devil Nation Premium. Details for membership are in the menu just under our name. [private]

Word of God - When Word of God players arrived in the media room, John Wall, CJ Leslie and Bishop Daniels joked about with each other about missed finger rolls or dunks. While the three got along well together off the court, there were time when some of the Word of God players seemed to take their shots when they got them for fear of not getting enough shots.

John Wall - Word of God is very athletic and the crowd really got into their game. But all of their players seemed to want to make the showboat play. Wall would show off his ball skills in an almost taunting manner when guarded one on one. There was one short, stocky kid which got a five second call on Wall after his showboating. That's a call he'll talk about to his family about one day when Wall is in the NBA.

In reality, his team is giving the crowd what they want and they run the court non stop, but did play a zone this evening which is uncharacteristic of their team. Quite simply, WOG plays on emotion and their talent allows them to try and do things other teams wish they could.

Wall showed the ability to make amazing dunks from any and every angle. His leaping ability is something to behold, especially considering he gets up so quickly. He can make up ground like no other guard in the country and came floating through the air effortlessly for two blocks and a third which was called a foul.

Wall is a streaky outside shooter. He would nail a couple and then miss one badly. His strength is going to the hole and he actually needed the ball in his hands more in order to create on the break. His half court PG skills need work, but he is a motor guy who will be a star on any level.

ESPN is doing a documentary on Wall and a piece for an upcoming ESPNU show. The camera seems to follow Wall everywhere in an almost comical fashion, be it in the

Not even the Fire Marshall could get in to see Wall on Friday night

stands before the game or close enough to see sweat glands at work in the team huddle.

Much has been made of past attitudes and problems with Wall. His coach had this to say, "One of the things that people don't see is the strides that these guys has made as young men. If you were to interview people that knew these guys years ago, they would tell you what they have developed most is not their game, but their character.

My Q & A with John Wall - (Keep in mind there is limited time during this event and I fired off as many questions as I could which was pretty much half the questions asked total)

Somebody is going to bring up recruiting and where you are in the process, can you speak of that? There was a TV camera on you quite a bit. Is this the continuation of the documentary they were filming since the last time I talked to you in person at the Peach Jam.

"I'm not sure, really. I think that's ESPN," said Wall who then turned to his coach asking, "Is that ESPN 360 ... I think?"

When will you trim your list?

"I think I will do it when I take two or three more visits. When I take my last couple of visits that's when I will try to trim my list down and make a decision in April."

Are any of those visits set or in the near future?

"I've got to take one to Miami and Baylor and then I've got to take one more after that."

... and your list consists of?

"Kansas, Memphis, Baylor, Miami, N.C. State, Duke and Oregon."

Rising Star Bishop Daniels- Daniels was a sharp witted youngster witha big smile and seemed mature beyond his years. When asked about playing with Leslie and Wall. "Man they treat me like a little kid. They treat me like the baby. (room laughing) It's fun playing with them. I go at them hard because they go at me hard. They try to hurt me in practice (Jokingly), but it's different with two superstars on the court. I'm trying to show what I can do on the courts too." I then asked him to tell me something nobody knows about John Wall and CJ Leslie as both players put their faces in their hands. "CJ is a clown and Johns a clown too. They like to have fun, more fun than anybody I know." Once in the hallway, I asked Bishop where he thought Wall might be leaning. "It depends on which day it is. He changes back and forth all the time."

Ryan Kelly -Kelly continued his perimeter play often handling the ball out front in his teams opening night win. Kelly scored 21 points grabbed 4 boards and had 3 blocks. Ravenscroft defeated Apex 71-56 and the opponent had nothing to combat the size of the Ravens.

Kelly flushed three dunks and handled the ball well. When he did take the ball in low, it allowed him to kick back out to teammates for open shots. Kelly still needs a little work on his three point stroke, but his movement is smooth. Again, I am impressed by his length when challenged defensively. He easily mad up ground against shorter players. He will be in action again this evening.

Ravenscroft teammate Matt Wilson who is heading to UNC-Wilmington had a solid game where he tallied 18 points. FWIW, the official stats seem to need an extra stat person for they indeed differ from what many of us are keeping.

Former Duke player and Ravenscroft coach Kevin Billermans comments -

Opening statement - "Our guards made some threes early which opened the game up for us and our defensive pressure allowed us to open it up to twenty points."

He wanted folks to know his team has not been healthy- "One of the things that people don't understand is that Madison is coming off a sprained ankle and has not been able to practice for an extended period of time. Luke Davis our PG had streped throat down in South Carolina and did not have the energy he normally had. When those two guys are healthy they created plays where Matt and Ryan can finish."

I asked about how he was using Ryan and that it seemed different from last year -We wanted to feature Matt (Wilson) more in the post this year. Most teams don't have two big men. With Ryan, he's so skilled and can create shots for himself Matt and our perimeter players.

Q and A with Kelly-

Did this game help your team get back on track after dropping one of three games in the Chic-Fil-A tournament?

"Yeah, definitely! We began to get into a little bit of rhythm once now that this tournament has begun. Obviously we didn't do as well as we would have like down at the Chic-Fil-A tournament. But we finished with a win there and started off with one here and hopefully that can translate as we continue into the tournament."

I asked Kelly if having Chris Collins and his Father Doug in the stands got him more pumped up -

"I go out in every game prepared to play as hard as I can. It's great to see that the coaches are supporting me, but I play the same with every game - the same emotion.

Chris Collins and Doug Collins - It's always great to see these two basketball

Kelly, Collins and Collins/copyright BDN Premium

purists together. They were going over X's and O's during the game and ESPN was sure to get a shot of them. Kelly stopped over to talk with them after I talked with him. Once a player is committed coaches are allowed to talk with their kids.

I will be covering the event today and will have a live blog going on the message board for members. Mason Plumlee plays this evening followed by Ryan Kelly. [/private]

Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting News

Glaxo Invitational Day One – Kelly, Wall lead teams to win

December 27, 2008 Mark Watson

[private]The ghost of former Raleigh Broughton player, "Pistol" Pete Maravich would have loved to play in his former gym on Friday night. The reason was there was a standing room only crowd so big that a horde of people were turned away outside.

The reason for the huge gathering of basketball fans was the 37th Glaxo Smith-Kline Holiday

Duke commitment Ryan Kelly and former Duke player Kevin Billerman pose after last nights victory

Invitational. Day One saw Duke commitment Ryan Kelly lead Ravenscroft to a 71-56 victory over Apex.

Kelly tallied 21 points and added 4 rebounds and 3 blocked shots according to the official stat sheet. Kelly displayed a wide variety of moves.

"We definitely began to get in a little bit of rhythm as we get into this tournament in Glaxo and didn't do as well as we had liked to down at Chic-Fil-A (Invitational). But we finished with a win there and started out with a win here," said Kelly after the game.

In the nightcap, John Wall displayed his incredible athleticism as his Word of God team advanced with a 67-41 blowout against Rocky Mount. Wall finished the game with 16 points, 3 blocks and 2 assists. He had three resounding dunks in the contest which brought the crowd to its feet.

Word of God will not play again until Monday evening and Ravenscroft takes to the court again tonight at 9:15. Preceding that game, Mason Plumlee and Christ School open with their first contest in the tournament.

Duke Assistant Coach Chris Collins and his Father Doug were there to take in the event. Raleigh Police were called in to help handle the crowd outside where a line stretched for more than 100 yards two and three deep.

For complete and unmatched coverage, consider joining Blue Devil Nation Premium. There you will find quotes from Kelly and Wall and analysis of the event that few fans were able to see. You can also read our live blog from the event on the members only message board. BDN will continue to report the results of the games in our free section as well, so check back in this evening.[/private]

Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting News

High School Hoops Edition No. 5

December 19, 2008 Bob Green

[private]It is the time of year for Hoilday Tournaments with the City of Palms Classic and the Chick-fil-A Classic both involving players committed to or being pursued by Duke.

At the City of Palms, John Wall scored 15 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out nine assists as Word of God defeated American Heritage 63-61. Wall also had two blocks and three steals. On Saturday afternoon, Word of God will face off against St. Patrick's and UNC commitment Dexter Strickland.

On Saturday afternoon, at the Chick-fil-A, the much awaited Ravenscroft and Christ School game will take place. Both schools feature a player who has signed with Duke: Ryan Kelly for Ravenscroft and Mason Plumlee for Christ School. The winner of this game has a potential second round game against Miller School which is led by Marshawn Powell and Mychal Parker. Of course, Miller School has to take care of business and win their first game. Here is the tournament bracket.

In other games earlier this week:

On Tuesday night, Christ School scored 31 unanswered points including the last 21 points of the first half in a 96-52 win over Asheville Christian. Mason Plumlee scored 14 points in the game. Plumlee scored 13 points on Thursday as the Greenies defeated Greenville SC High School 88-41. This game featured a 25 point Christ School run including the last 16 points of the first half.

Brandon Knight scored 40 points as Pine Crest defeated North Broward Prep 84-52. Knight made five three point baskets and dished out 10 assists in the game.

Harrison Barnes scored 19 points, all in the first half, as Ames defeated Cedar Falls 77-40.

Josh Smith dropped 30 points on Jefferson as Kentwood won 66-43.

Andre Dawkins scored 17 points as Atlantic Shores pummeled Green Run 78-41.[/private]

BDN Premium Articles, Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting News

Q & A with Duke commitment Ryan Kelly

December 15, 2008 Mark Watson

In our latest interview, Ryan Kelly covered many interesting subjects. Among those subjects were, John Wall's recruitment, Cameron Indoor Stadium, his upcoming game versus Christ School and Mason Plumlee, Coach K and his progression as a player.

It was a big win, beating Greensboro Day who came into the game 10-0 ...

It was a big step for us as a team. Our first seven games were ... I don;t want to say they were pre season but that was a big step in our schedule to come out with a win as we go into Christmas tournaments.

You were a bit off from the outside tonight, but you took it inside in the second half ...

Yes (acknowledged)

Is that something you did on your own?

You've got to find where you can score with the ball. For me the shots weren't hitting early on outside and in the second half I took it inside and after some success there I moved outside a game. The versatility of my game ... that's something I've worked on as I continue to be able to knock those shots down consistently I'll get better.

Coach Billerman said he talks to the Duke coaches once a week. Have you been or do you stay in contact with the Duke staff? [private]

Yeah, I will talk to them after the games. I'll let them know about my season and talk of how theirs is going. They're doing pretty well ... it was a tough loss (Michigan).

What are your goals for the rest of the season?

Well, one is to win a state championship and we are going to try as hard as we can to win every game. But we are going to try and win a state championship and hopefully in these Christmas tournaments, we'll come out with some championships there. We need to keep out confidence up.

Talking about state champions, there is a team you might run into that you play on the 20th (December) in Christ School. Of course, you will be going up against Mason Plumlee which will be a big thrill for Duke fans. Are you looking forward to the match up?

Yeah. I can't wait, they're considered the best team in 3-A. Hopefully some will consider us to be right there too. They are obviously a heck of a team and we need to show some people something. We have the ability to do that, so I'm looking forward to it. Obviously Mason is a great player and I look forward to matching up against him and his team. So, I can't wait.

Is there a lot of pressure off of you now that you have committed to Duke? Is it cool that you're a Blue Devil and are you glad the process is over?

Yeah, it's really cool. The pressure is off and I don't have people wondering where I will be. At the same time there is pressure to succeed. I need to keep getting better to play at Duke as any high school senior needs to play over at Duke.

Has the staff told you to work on any part of your game?

Yeah ... continue to work on my defense. Tonight I had a big man, but they want me to be able to guard smaller guys out front a guy smaller, a guard. That's what Kyle Singler does well. To continue to get stronger. I need to obviously get stronger in the weight room, but to get stronger with rebounding. I think it's important to keep getting better with what you are good at. You can't just level off.

So, it's safe to say you feel comfortable in most every aspect of the game?

Yes sir.

You came out on defense and looked really good in doing so. You play defense really well out front for your size. I was surprised to see how you blanketed some of those guys out front.

I continue to work on it and lateral quickness is something that doesn't come very natural for me. A lot of that comes in thee weight room and working on zig zag drills in practice and we work pretty hard on that. We held them to 40 points and they're an 80 point per game team. So, we did a pretty good job.

You've played with John Wall before in the AAU circuit and heads up during the season. He's a kid Duke is recruiting real hard. Do you ever talk to him or put a bug in his ear?

I haven't talked to him in a little while. I was planning on going to see him, but I have talked to him in a little while. Obviously. he's a heck of a player. He made summer ball so much better for me. He's a great guy and a good athlete and I wish the best for him where he goes.

It's safe to say that you would want to play with him?

Yeah, for sure.

I guess in the end he'll be a tough get ...

He's got a decision to make like I had to make and it's not easy. He's taking his time which is really great for him.

Do you ever talk to some of the prospects who have committed?

I'm focusing a lot on what I'm doing here. Obviously, I ha a lot of time to talk to Mason. That was with USA Basketball. I'm looking forward to playing against him. They are undefeated to, so I will see how it is going for him. I know they are all great guys and I'm looking forward to seeing him there. I get over to Duke as much as I can. It's ... the bright lights come on when you go to Cameron Indoor Stadium whether it's Duke or you are playing for somebody else. You have top get as comfortable as you can there and going in as much as you can is the best way to do that.

What do you think about Coach K?

Aw, I can't wait. He's a great coach, one of the best ever.

Do you want to play in the NBA?

Sure, it's my goal. I think any basketball player should have that goal.

I appreciate your time and we'll see you agains as the season goes on.

Okay! Thanks for coming.

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