Tag Archives: Austin Rivers

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Super Showcase Report Day One – Rivers, Gilchrist and others perform well

Gilchrist draws a crowd, scores 23 points
Gilchrist draws a crowd, scores 23 points

ORLANDO - The super showcase is underway and the nations top college coaches fill the gyms as a multitude of teams take to the hardwood.  The vast majority of the games are on the property of Disney Wide World of Sports.  One facility features six games going on at the same time, the other, four.  The best thing is that you can troll around the top and see all the action and clear netted partitions allows you to see scores on all the courts.

The top performance I saw today was Austin Rivers nailing seven three-pointers on his way to 30 points, leading his team to an easy win.  Each One Teach One, being a local Florida team, drew a good crowd, but all of the games were well attended.  Where else can you sit and see All Ohio Red, Team Final and Albany City Rocks in action at one time?

Speaking of Team Final, a bevy of coaches from schools like  Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, Indiana, Texas and many others turned out to see a loaded team.  Michael Gilchrist, of course, was a main attraction and he didn't disappoint, scoring in many different ways on his way to 23 points.

But who was the Duke staff watching?  Well, [private] Duke Assistant Coach Chris Collins watched Albany City Rocks in the morning game.  Collins watched CP-3 and PJ Hairston before heading out to a local high school to see Brad Beal.  In fact, he watched Beal after the Albany City game and, make no mistake, the word is that Duke is very much in the race and he will not announce early as has been reported.  In fact, Beal will likely attend the Duke Elite Camp in August.

Collins also took in Kyrie Irving twice today, but the Roadrunners struggled to a total of 39 points in their first game.  Irving scored 19 points under my watch, but I counted 6 turnovers.  It's clear to me that Kyrie Irving is a top Duke target if not the top one with concerns to point guards.

Roshown McLeod looked a little weird in Indiana Red as he stayed close to Tom Crean.  We chatted with Ro, more on that later.  Also, rumbling of Josh Selby leaning towards Kentucky seem legit, but expect to wait for things to cool down a bit.  FWIW, only Duke and Kentucky watched Irving in the game I saw, and they will be at all of his games in the coming week.

Coach Krzyzewski will roll into town on Monday after his duties with Team USA on Sunday.  Wojo should be present as well.  UNC was reperesented by Joe Halliday and everywhere you turned you rubbed elbows with coaches.  Lots of rumors floating around about Will Barton, and Austin Rivers was seen chatting with PJ Hairston.

Anyhow, just settling in and will be on the scene for the next five days.  I will chime in when time allows on the message board, but the first day is getting to know the lay of the land so to speak. [/private]

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Peach Jam Day 3 Report – Andre Dawkins tosses in 36 points, but Boo Williams falls short

Andre Dawkins had a 36 point 9 rebound effort during today's Peach Jam action - BDN Photo
Andre Dawkins had a 36 point 9 rebound effort during today's Peach Jam action - BDN Photo

Andre Dawkins torched the nets for 36 points and added 9 rebounds but his Boo Williams team was no match for talent laden Team Final.  Team Final is of course led by Michael Gilchrist, but his 13 points and 8 rebounds were not the main factor in a 101-74 victory.  Tyreak Duran and Trevor Cooney scored 52 points together and Rakeem Christmas contributed with 12 points as Team Final moved to the next round.

It is worth noting that Team Final won that game as well 92-77 over California Supreme.  Gilchrist went for 14 points and 11 boards in that game and Cooney and Christmas added 20 points apiece.  Team Final will play Team Florida in the semi finals tomorrow and will play the winner of the Albany City Rocks - All Ohio Red.

Earlier in the day, Harrison Barnes and Howard Pulley were sent packing.  Barnes had another amazing game in a standing room only audience scoring 21 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to go with 2 steals.

BDN talked with Barnes after the game [private] and you will get the lowdown as the week goes on.  Barnes will only play in two more events, none of which are on the AAU circuit.  He will attend the Nike Global Challenge and the Rumble in the Bronx in Rucker Park. Coaches watching Barnes were Wojo and Collins, Roy Williams, Billy Donovan, John Calipari, Bill Self and Johnny Dawkins.

Tobias Harris has cemented his name and will rise on all of the gurus charts.  His 27 points helped Albany to the semi finals.  Jarren Sullinger(21 points 8 boards)  and All Ohio Red sent Each One Teach on packing.  Austin Rivers had 10 points and 4 assists.  In the previous game, Rivers scored 22 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists leading his team to a win over Houston Hoops.

Finally, Brad Beal redeemed himself in a big way with a stat stuffing performance.  Beal talked with BDN for a second time after the game and mentioned that he took fouling out with 2 points hard.  Beal's impressive numbers were 29 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocked shots and 2 steals.

That's it for now, but we will have plenty more to come as the week goes on.  One last note, Chris Spatola came in and took Wojo and Collins place as the duo headed to West Virginia. [/private]

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Nike Peach Jam Day One Report – Barnes, Knight, Gilchrist

Michael Gilchrist has been called the best high school player in America as a rising junior
Michael Gilchrist has been called the best high school player in America as a rising junior

Everywhere you looked, college basketball coaches lined the walls as the Nike Peach Jam got underway on Sunday.  The first game of the day featured a Harrison Barnes led Howard Pulley team going up against Each One, Teach One, which boasts the best back court in AAU ball.  That's because Duke prospect Brandon Knight teams with Austin Rivers and the one-two punch proved too much for the undermanned Howard Pulley team.

Harrison Barnes led the way for Pulley by going for 18 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist.  Brandon Knight led all scorers with 20 points and added 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in a stellar performance.  His sidekick Austin Rivers scored 18 points [private] in one stretch to go with 3 boards and 2 steals.  The back court duo sat out the last two minutes in an 88-58 win.

Despite a sore foot, Andre Dawkins scored 13 points and grabbed 6 rebounds to help Boo Williams defeat the Arkansas Wings, 57-49.  It was easy to see that the injury did not allow him his usual explosive leaps.  Dawkins would score just 3 points in the nightcap.

In the upset of the tournament, the Georgia Stars handled mighty Team Final 74-68 as UCLA bound Jeremy Lamb scored 22 points.  The "Big Show," Michael Gilchrist had 17 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and a single assist and steal while teammate Dion Waiters added 17 himself.  Waiters can shoot a team into a game and take them out as witnessed by 6 turnovers.  It was later reported that Gilchrist suffered an injury.  In an attempt to gain an interview, his mom stepped in and took over, saying he would not talk about schools.

I then took in the first half of the 16-U St. Louis Hawks game to see 2011 stud Bradley Beal.  No disappointment here as Beal, despite not scoring in bunches, showed that he understands the game of basketball and that he is a smooth operator.  Coach Krzyzewski and Chris Collins were front and center at all of the aforementioned contests.

Team Final bounced back with Gilchrist tallying 17 points, 6 boards and 2 steals to wallop the Arkansas Wings 74-46.  This is the game in which Gilchrist suffered an injury.

Injuries!  That was the keyword for the day.  The bug then caught Harrison Barnes and Brandon Knight.  Barnes scored 28 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block, but Howard Pulley fell by 69-64 to Deshaun Thomas (27 pts, 9 reb) and Marquis Teague (14 pts, 3 reb, 4 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals) led Spiece Indiana Heat.  Late in the game, Barnes went down hard and injured three fingers on his non-shooting hand.  He returned and had trouble catching the ball; the word is he is finished for the rest of the AAU season.

The staff then took in part of the Seattle Rotary game in the nightcap, before Collins watched the aforementioned Andre Dawkins game and Krzyzewski took another look at Knight, Rivers, and company.  Rotary dropped a two-point game to All Ohio Red and Jared Sullinger.  In the battle of bigs, Sullinger 17-8 over Smith.

The best game of the evening was between Elite One and the Jackson Tigers.  Jackson built a 16-point lead early, but Elite One came back behind Brandon Knight and Austin Rivers.  Actually, Knight went out with 9:33 left in the game as he writhed in pain on the floor after injuring his foot.  He was carried off the court and the foot was iced down.  Knight had 17 points before the injury and his team had built a six point lead.

Austin Rivers then took over, hitting a three and a driving deuce on back-to-back plays as his father, David, watched.  He would go on to score 23 points and Elite One held one for the win.  Coach Krzyzewski took in the entire game and towards the end Collins came in from the Boo Williams game.

Wojo also made a late appearance.  He was allowed on the road when Chris Spatola left the Peach State Classic where he watched Quincy Miller.  BTW, Miller had a 40/20 game in the event.

I have many more notes and will go over all of the aforementioned in more detail on the message board.  One more note, Roscoe Smith did not show up for the event.  It was a tough day with injuries for Blue Devil prospects. [/private]