BDN was on the scene at the Jordan-Brand Classic sponsored by Nike and we caught up to Austin Rivers for a chat. Rivers talks of coming to Duke this summer, going to China and more in this video [private] interview.
Part II coming. [/private]
It was just the other day when WRAL ran Austin Rivers comment about not disliking UNC and that he almost picked them during a lengthy interview. Little did he know they ran that statement alone. The media will set you up around here and a lesson was in store.
When introduced tonight he was met with a strong chorus of boo's from the UNC and Kentucky fans that filled the stands for the Jordan-Brand All Star game. It won't take long for young Austin to realize that UNC fans have a serious hate problem when it comes to Duke. When he sees those F-Duke shirts, gets heckled from drive by fans, my bet is he will not be so comment friendly towards a rival and he'
The bottom line is that Austin Rivers is still learning his way around in North Carolina and he will be on campus soon enough prepping for the Blue Devils trip to China where they hope to grow the incoming freshman class. Rivers started the night off with a bang, but then went cold and was often overlooked by his teammates.
That is not unusual in an All Star setting of course and he did end the game with 16 points, playing more minutes than anyone on the East squad which clipped the West by a 113-109 score. Rivers also found his teammates where his 4 assists were a team high and he pulled down six rebounds.
After the game, Rivers said he had a target on his back and you'll learn more with the coming video. Rivers will return home, rest up, eat some of Mom's home cooking and take in some Celtics games where his Dad, Glenn "Doc" Rivers is in charge. The budding star said that he'd be talking to the coaching staff as well.
The game also featured Michael Gbinije, who is 6-6, not 6-8 as some have reported of late. Like Rivers, BDN has avideo interview coming with him as well, so stay tuned. Gbinije does a lot of stuff off ball and All Star games really do not fit his game. He ended the game with 10 points, but missed a few put backs and took a couple of hard foul no calls.
Gbinije will be on the Duke campus in June and spoke with the staff just before he went to the Jordan-Brand Classic and is looking forward to feedback. He told BDN his goal was to get stronger over the summer and that was the coaches wishes as well.
In the North Carolina Regional All Star contest which proceeded the game, Marshall Plumlee got 15 minutes of play, scoring 4 points to go with 3 boards. As is customary, the guards took all the shots and he got garbage or nothing taking just 3 shots. Like Gbinije, his game is not as suited for the wide open madness.
Quinn Cook did not in the game but he is the fourth player int he incoming class with a possibility of a fifth soon. I did sit with Steve Smith, his Oak Hill coach and he had some nice things to say about the point guard. Stay tuned for more information on that and some behind the scenes happenings for BDN Premium members. So bookmark Blue Devil Nation for our hands on, in person coverage of all things Duke. Until then, check out these post game clips, where Rivers checks out his many fans and Gbinije is gett
CHARLOTTE - The last of the big high school All Star games kicked off this week as the nations top prospects headed to Charlotte for the Jordan Brand All Star Classic Game. Duke bound Austin Rivers and Michaeel Gbinije will suit up for the East team, as will UNC newbies, PJ Hairston and James McAdoo. It may be the last time you see these four guys play togeher for their next stop is at their respective schools in or around July.
You can bet that Michael Jordan will be flying about as the event celebrates it's 10th Anniversery the game takes place in his Bobcat's Arena. The game is loaded with talent with names like Michael Gilchrist, Quincy Miller, Anthony Davis, Marquis Teague and Bradley Beal to name a few.
There will also be a North Carolina regional All Star game which features future Blue Devil Marshall Plumlee and six other future ACC players and then their is the international game. Did we mention the International game? That makes three games on Saturday begginning at 3:30, capped off by a concert with J.Cole.
Tickets are still available, so get out to Charlotte and see the future of Duke and ACC Basketball in an All Star environment. You may get tickets by going to the link ad at the top right of our site. See you there!
BDN's Andrew Slater breaks down Duke Hoops commitments and prospects you can view over the next few days. For more analogies on future Blue Devils future players and their key targets, join BDN Premium for full site access as we prepare for the upcoming AAU Basketball season.
3/31
ESPNU:
Austin Rivers and Winter Park take on Boys & Girls at 6 EST
Quinn Cook and Oak Hill take on United Faith of North Carolina at 8 EST
4/1
ESPN2:
National High School Invitational Semi-final between the winners of the aforementioned games at 5:30
4/3
At the inaugural Next All-American Classic in Chicago, DeAndre Daniels will be playing on CBS College Sports at 3 PM EST.
At the inaugural All-American Championship in Houston,
Tony Parker and Robert Carter will be playing for the South team (Coached by I$aac Pitts of QEA) at 9 EST on ESPNU.
Alex Murphy and Mike Gbinije (Coached by Jason Smith of Brewster Academy) will be playing for the East team against Rasheed Sulaimon and Shabazz Muhammad for the West (Coached by Greg Wise of Yates) at 10:30 EST on ESPNU.
The holiday season is upon us and arriving with it are numerous high school basketball tournaments including the Iolani Classic in Hawaii, the City of Palms Classic in Florida, and the Chick fil A Classic in South Carolina. In this edition of High School Hoops, Blue Devil Nation keeps you updated on all the tournament action by providing links galore to game recaps, box scores and video clips. [private]
At the Iolani Classic, in Honolulu, Quinn Cook was named the tournament Most Valuable Player as Oak Hill won the tournament with a 4-0 record. He scored 22 points and dished out five assists as Oak Hill defeated Montverde 58-44 in the championship game. Here is a link to another championship game recap.
Cook led Oak Hill over Moanalua 108-33 with a 17 points 16 assists double-double performance in opening round action. Here is a video clip of the game action.
In the quarterfinals, Cook scored 31 points and dished out seven assists as Oak Hill defeated host Iolani Raiders 81-53. Oak Hill defeated Dr. Phillips, 81-51, in the semifinals.
The City of Palms Classic in Ft. Myers, Florida provided plenty of action for Duke commits and recruiting targets. Austin Rivers, Marshall Plumlee, Shabazz Muhammad, Alex Murphy and Kaleb Tarczewski were all in action at this tournament. Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski and Associate head Coach Chris Collins were present in Florida checking out the prospects.
Austin Rivers headed into this prestigious tournament looking to earn a championship as Winter Park’s previous best finish was 3rd Place. However, it wasn’t to be as Winter Park finished in 4th Place after losing to Milton, 63-62, in the semifinals, and to Mater Dei, 84-66, in the 3rd Place game.
Rivers was named to the All Tournament team after scoring 28, 42, 25 and 28 points in four games for an average of 30.75 points per game. Winter Park defeated Riverside Academy, 75-63, in the opening round and Dwyer, 76-64, in the quarterfinals.
Christ School won two games and lost two games in the tournament. Marshall Plumlee recorded 11 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks double-double in a 77-62 victory over Christ The King. In a 59-54 loss to Mater Dei, Plumlee scored nine points, while he scored five points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked six shots in a 73-61 win over Whitney Young. In their fourth tournament game, an 86-77 loss to Dwyer, Plumlee scored 12 points.
Plumlee also won the tournament dunk contest. Here is a video clip of his performance.
In games last week, Plumlee recorded two double-doubles with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and 11 points and 14 rebounds. Christ School won both games.
Shabazz Muhammad and Bishop Gorman HS played three games at the City of Palms winning once and losing twice. Muhammad scored 19 points as Bishop Gorman defeated North Port 62-48 in their opening game. Bishop Gorman lost to Dwyer, 72-63, and to Riverside Academy, 59-51. Muhammad scored 31 and 29 points, respectively, in those two losses.
St. Mark’s played two games in the Signature Series division of the City of Palms tournament. They dropped their first game, 65-41, to Academy of New Church. Kaleb Tarczewski scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Alex Murphy was held to four points. Murphy was whistled for four personal fouls so his playing time was limited to 22 minutes. In the second game, St. Mark’s defeated Westchester Country Day, 81-36. Murphy scored 18 points and Tarczewski added 13. St. Mark’s outscored Westchester 51-10 in the second half.
At the Chick fil A Classic in Blythewood, South Carolina, Benedictine struggled to a 4th Place finish in the Classic I Bracket. Benedictine went 1-2 at the tournament with Mike Gbinije scoring 18, 22 and 21 points in the three games.
In the opening round (quarterfinals), Benedictine defeated Charlotte Christian 53-41. In the semifinals, United Faith defeated Benedictine 71-61, and in the 3rd Place game, Benedictine lost to Norcross 54-43.
Moving on from the tournament action to some general links, here is a report from last week on St. Mark's teammates, and Duke recruiting targets, Alex Murphy and Kaleb Tarczewski. Scroll down to the middle of the article to find the germane verbiage.
Here is a nice article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Coach Krzyzewski's visit to observe Tony Parker, while the Las Vegas Sun has a similar article on Coach Roy Williams' watching Shabazz Muhammad.
The Chicago Tribune weighs in with this article on 2013 prospect Jabari Parker. Parker had a nine points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals stat line as Simeon routed Lew Wallace 85-38 on Thursday night. [/private]
Entering his senior season, Austin Rivers sits atop the charts of various scouting services as the top player in the country. The Florida native, and Blue Devils signee, has gotten off to a great start with his school, Winter Park. Currently Winter Park is 7-1, with one more game before the head into the City of Palms tournament where the Duke staff will be on hand to watch him. Austin is averaging 29.8 points per game while shooting an incredible 59% from the field including 47% from beyond the arc. Austin also sports a season high of 46 points against Montverde Academy. BDN got a chance to catch up with the future Duke superstar to hear his thoughts on his season, Duke and USA Basketball. Here’s what he had to say:
BDN: It’s been awhile since we last spoke and since then you inked with the Blue Devils. Can you give us some thoughts about that?
AR: It feels great just knowing where I’m going, especially a school such as Duke. I’m really excited to get there.
BDN: Being one of the top players in the country do you find others are trying to make a name for themselves against you?
AR: Oh yeah, of course. For the past couple of years people have been coming hard at me trying to make a name off of me. It makes everything more challenging and more fun to play. I think it is way more interesting to play against somebody who is coming for your spot and wants to knock you off. I enjoy it, it’s all good.
BDN: Your team, Winter Park, has had a great start to the season so far. What do you accredit this fast start to?
AR: I would say the hard work we put in before the season started. Everybody did a lot of conditioning. We ran a lot and got in the weight room and everybody was really working. I think we’re off to a great start heading into the City of Palms, and we are really confident and believe we can do well there.
BDN: You put up a big game the other night with 43 points. I also noticed you guaranteed it before the game. Did you just have a feeling going into this game?
AR: It was just really for fun. I was just talking to the camera guy and we’re just messing around. I was just saying it for fun and I actually ended up getting pretty hot and scoring 40 in three quarters. I like to have fun when I play basketball and I play better because of that.
BDN: Now you’re brother got called up this year and had a chance to play with you on the varsity team. Did he ask you for any pointers, and if so, what did you tell him?
AR: Nah, he didn’t really ask me for any pointers. The only thing I told him was just to relax and just have fun. I believe when people have fun, loosen up, and not be wound up and nervous they play better. That’s what he did and he played well.
BDN: Have you been able to watch Duke this season and what are your thoughts on the team?
AR: Yeah, I’ve watched most of the games. They look great right now. The sky is the limit for them. It’s going to be harder for them without Kyrie but I think they can still do it. They have a great team with great leaders so I think they still look good.
BDN: Have you had a chance to speak with Kyrie since his injury? Have you given him any advice?
AR: Yeah, absolutely. I’ve talked to him a couple of times just checking how he is physically and mentally. I told him to just keep his head up and keep working hard. He’s a great player so he shouldn’t have to worry about anything. It happens to certain players where they get injured but he has nothing to look down about. The great players have always come back and done just fine. You look at a player like Amar’e Stoudemire who has torn all types of ligaments and hyper-extended things, and now, if you had to choose an MVP in the NBA he would probably be it right now. I just told him to keep going and don’t worry. Injuries happen in sports and he is a great player so he’ll bounce back no problem.
BDN: Absolutely. We all wish him the best. Now flipping it around a little bit, have any of the players given you any advice on what to expect next year?
AR: They told me it’s a different level. Not just Duke but college basketball in general. They just tell me it’s a different speed in comparison to high school. You really notice it when you start practicing how much quicker, strong, and better everyone is. It’s kind of like playing in an All-Star game everyday cause everybody there is the top players.
BDN: Have you gotten a chance to speak with any of the coaches recently?
AR: Yea I have. We’ve just talked about basketball and how everything is going and how Kyrie is doing. Just basically how Duke is doing.
BDN: Switching back to high school for a second. You won a state championship last year and I’m sure this is one of your goals this year, but do you have any individual goals you’d like to accomplish in your senior year?
AR: Well our main goal right now is to win state of course, and to get invited to the National Title and hopefully win that as well. As far as individually, I see myself as Mr. Florida, Gatorade National Player of the Year as well as USA Today Player of the Year. I think I’m pretty good in regards to those I just have to keep doing what I do and I believe I should do just fine.
BDN: Good luck with those! Will you be attempting to make any trips to Duke this year if possible?
AR: Hopefully I can. My schedule is kind of crazy right now but as soon as I have time I’m going to try and make it up there. But my schedule is getting hectic now and that is really what I’m trying to concentrate on now. I still have another year to get better so that is what I’m focused on.
BDN: Heading into another direction of basketball, will you be playing for USA Basketball this year? And can you talk about your past experience with the team?
AR: Yeah, it looks like right now I’ll definitely be playing for Team USA. It is definitely a great experience playing with FIBA and getting to play against different countries. It gives you the chance to work and get better, it really is great. I’m really looking forward to that as far as this summer goes. It is a great experience getting to represent your country and put the USA across your chest.
BDN: I appreciate your time Austin and good luck with the rest of your season.
AR: Thank you very much.
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