BDN continues it's early season football coverage with part III of the David Cutlciffe interview from ACC Kickoff. Cutcliffe covers a varied amount of subjects in this informative installment.
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DURHAM, N.C. -Duke freshman Josh Hairston is starting to adjust to college life and the rigors of non stop basketball. Hairston has joined fellow freshman Kyrie Irving and Tyler Thornton and their team is on display at the N.C Pro Am. Hairston struggled in his first game out of the gate going against the likes of Josh Powell of the L.A. Lakers but he regrouped and bounced back with an 18 point effort in his last outing. BDN caught up to Hairtson to get his thoughts -
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AUGUSTA - Here are the leaders after four games at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam in Augusta, South Carolina. BDN Premium has live updates as they happen on the premium forum.
Scoring leaders team - Oakland Soldiers 84.2, Spiece Indy 76.3, NJ Playaz 73.0, Team Takeover 72.8
Scoring defense -Mean Streets 49.0, BABC 55.8, The Family 56.2, Mac Irvin 58.5
3 point fg pct - Oakland .513, St. Louis Eagles .511, Spiece ,495
Scoring average - Michael Williams 26.0, Jo Coleman 24.8, Omar Calhoun 24.8, Austin RIvers 24.5 then it drops to 20.0
FG percentage- Brandon Ashley .789, Antonio Wilson .679, Roquez Johnson and Joe Coleman .667
Rebound average -Anthony Davis 10.0, Dorian Smith 10.0, Levi Randolph and Brandon Ashley 9.3
High scoring games - Michael Williams 44, Tyrone Johnson40, Austin Rivers 35
Notes - Michael Williams is 47 of 52 from free throw stripe.
DURHAM, N.C. – Duke seniors Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith headline a list of 20 players named to the 2010 USA Basketball Men’s Select Team as announced by USA Basketball on Thursday. The team, featuring the top upperclassman in the NCAA, has been selected to train against the USA Basketball Men’s National Team during its upcoming July training camp in Las Vegas.
Joining Singler and Smith on the 2010 USA Basketball Select squad are: Lavoy Allen (Temple); William Buford (Ohio State); LaceDarius Dunn (Baylor); Jimmer Fredette (BYU); Scotty Hopson (Tennessee); Scoop Jardine (Syracuse); JaJuan Johnson (Purdue); Jon Leuer (Wisconsin); Shelvin Mack (Butler); Marcus Morris (Kansas); Jacob Pullen (Kansas State); John Shurna (Northwestern); Chris Singleton (Florida State); Howard Thompkins (Georgia); Mike Tisdale (Illinois); Kemba Walker (Connecticut); Chris Wright (Dayton); and Tyler Zeller (North Carolina).
Also, USA Basketball announced that serving as co-head coaches of the USA Select Team are accomplished collegiate mentors Lorenzo Romar (Washington) and Jay Wright (Villanova).
Members of the USA Select Team will converge on Las Vegas and conduct a private training session July 19 (11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. PDT), then train with the USA National Team July 20-23 (12:00-3:00 p.m. PDT). All practices will take place at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion.
“We believe bringing in a USA Basketball select team to train against the USA National Team will help our team get better prepared for the upcoming FIBA World Championship,” said Jerry Colangelo, USA Basketball chairman. “In 2007 and 2008 we brought in to the national team training camps USA select teams comprised of young, up-and-coming NBA players and that proved not only beneficial for our national team, but for those select team players who got a great training opportunity and became involved in USA Basketball’s pipeline. This will be a tremendous opportunity for these collegians to get a look at the next level.”
USA Basketball Men’s National Team, in preparation for the Aug. 28-Sept. 12 FIBA World Championship, will open its 2010 training with a July 19-24 team training camp in Las Vegas. The USA training camp will feature daily practice sessions from 12-3 p.m. (PDT) July 20-23 at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion. The USA practices are closed to the general public. The camp will culminate with the 2010 USA Basketball Showcase, a Blue-White intra-squad game that will be held on Saturday, July 24, 7 p.m. (PDT) at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV. The USA training camp will also feature daily practice sessions from 12-3 p.m. (PDT) July 20-23 at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion. Tickets are now on sale for the 2010 USA Basketball Showcase. Tickets are priced $75, $50, $35 for plaza seats and $18 and $12 for balcony and can be purchased by calling 866-388-FANS or on line at www.UNLVtickets.com.
Select Team members with prior USA Basketball experience include Mack, Shurna and Thompkins who were members of USA Basketball’s 2009 U19 World Championship Team that finished 9-0 in New Zealand to claim the gold medal. Additionally, Singler and Smith were teammates on the USA’s U18 Championship that captured gold at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship and they were again teammates on the 2007 USA Junior National Select Team that defeated am international select team in the Nike Hoop Summit. Hopson was a member of the victorious 2008 USA Junior National Select Team in the Nike Hoop Summit, while Walker was a member of the 2008 USA FIBA Americas U18 Championship Team that collected a silver medal. Johnson has USA Basketball experience through the 2009 USA Basketball Trials.
Both Romar and Wright have extensive international experience as USA Basketball coaches. Romar was head coach of the USA’s 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship Team that won gold, and an assistant coach with the 2003 USA Pan American Games and 1997 USA 22 & Under World Championship teams. Wright was head mentor for the USA’s 2007 Pan American Games Team and led the 2005 USA World University Games Team to a gold medal showing, and was an assistant with the 2000 USA World Championship for Young Men Qualifier.
Featuring players from 19 different colleges, Duke is the only institution to feature two players. The 20 Select Team players include nine who will be seniors in 2010-11 and 11 who will be juniors.
Eight collegiate conferences are represented, with the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 each listing four, while Atlantic 10, Big East and SEC each have a pair, respectively, and the Horizon and Mountain West have one player on the roster.
USA Basketball
Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA Basketball is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men's and women's basketball in the United States. As the recognized governing body for basketball in the United States by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA sponsored international basketball competitions, as well as for some national competitions. For more information about USA Basketball, visit www.usabasketball.com.
DURHAM, N.C - Three Duke Blue Devils took to the court at the N.C. Pro Am on Tuesday evening on the campus of N.C. Central University. This was the first appearance for Andre Dawkins and Ryan Kelly fresh off the national championship and the two scored 10 points apiece while their team lost by 8 points. True freshman Tyler Thornton added 8 points.
In the preceding game, Team Stackhouse held off a game Team 212 on their way to a 4 point overtime win. A packed facility saw Harrison Barnes display his various skills scoring 31 points while his teammates Reggie Bullock added 21 and 20 points. In coming freshman point guard Kendall Marshall took in the action from the sidelines as his teammates took the majority of the shots.
While the Tar Heels played the entire game, that was far from the case in the third game, the most disjointed game of the evening. Kelly was the exception, playing much of the game if for no other reason than his team had just one other guy over 6-4. Kelly looks thicker than last season and it is obvious that he has worked on gaining weight in the off season. I had Kelly at 8 rebounds unofficially.
Kelly struggled from the free throw stripe and his shot wasn't as accurate as I have seen, but he showed nice athletic moves polishing off two dunks on successive offensive possessions and moved well with the ball, always looking for open teammates. He couldn't help but wear down playing so many minutes inside.
It was quite a different story for Andre Dawkins who opened the game with a strong one handed throw down dunk and a three point shot. After starting the game, Dawkins was then benched until the fourth quarter. Here is the culprit, his team had 13 players on the bench. Yep, that's right 18 players on the team.
Of those 18 players, several off them were in way over their heads and the Team Navy coach seemingly wanted to play all of them which prevented any hope of victory or good basketball. Dawkins move better with the ball in hands and showed that he continually gets better athletically.
Then there was Tyler Thornton, who to me, was the most impressive of the group despite maybe one quarter of play. Thornton's efficiency was evident where he was 3 of 3 from the floor, dishing 3 assists. He was the best guard on the court when in the game, playing under control, looking for his teammates. In short, he played smart. All of that went to the wayside when players from the bench came in and jacked up ridiculous one on one shots which cheapened the game in terms of competitiveness.
Thornton moves well with the ball and is quicker than many realize. He is more than capable of earning a little burn in his first season at Duke despite the tremendous depth on the roster. In short, there will be a role for Thornton. One of his perceived weaknesses was his three point shot, but BDN has told you in the past that he has been working on that part of his game.
The true freshman showed the ability to catch and shoot nailing one three from the corner barely moving the net. In fact he hit both of his shots beyond the stripe.
Most of the Blue Devils will play in the event, but Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith have been working on their skills at the LeBron James Skills Academy where both college and high school players participate. The much anticipated debut of Kyrie Irving will likely come next week where he joins Kyle Singler on his team.
Interestingly, the Duke players are scattered about on the teams, while Team Stackhouse has been dubbed Team Tar Heel by the fans. N.C. State fans got a chance to see their incoming class last evening where Ryan Harrow took to the court for the first time as well.
The event continues on Thursday evening and the games start at 6:00. Admission is absolutely free, but be prepared to walk a good ways to get in due to construction which cut out an entire parking lot. Crowds have been outstanding to date and at times were approaching capacity. Once the event settles in and the players appear on a more consistent basis that crowd may well push a record.
Duke fans can only hope that they see more of their players like the efficient Tyler Thornton. And the reason fans turn out is to see the local schools kids play. My understanding is that the issue of playing time for the better players will be addressed, but in fairness, this only happened in the third contest.
Be sure to check the N.C. Pro Am out for it is good free entertainment in a friendly atmosphere.
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Despite tipoff coming 30 minutes after 12 noon, it was early lights out for Lithuania (1-1) as the USA Men’s U17 Team (2-0) ran over, around and through Lithuania Saturday and in the process collected a very impressive 102-66 victory in preliminary round play at the inaugural FIBA U17 World Championship in Hamburg, Germany.
It was the second meeting between the two squads in four days and nothing like the USA’s previous 92-79 victory over Lithuania that came in an exhibition contest held June 29 in Kaunas, Lithuania.
“We came in here with the mindset that we had played them before so we definitely knew what to expect. We came in focused as a team and all 12 guys on the team contributed,” commented 6-8 USA forward James McAdoo (Norfolk Christian H.S. / Norfolk, Va.). “We definitely all played together today. Yesterday we kind of got away from what our mindset was but we got the win, so we came in here today with good focus.”\
Balanced scoring by the Americans was underscored as all 12 players scored at least four points, the team collectively was credited with handing out 27 assists, seven players had at one assist. The U.S. shot a sizzling 56.1 percent from the field, and outrebounded Lithuania 46-36.
About the only flaw in the USA’s dominating performance Saturday was its 25 turnover, nine of which came in the last 10 minutes when the USA lead was floating between 40-50 points.
“It’s awesome,” McAdoo stated about the team’s high energy play. “I like to play up and down; I like to get up and down; I don’t like to post up as far as in the half court set. So when we’re able to get our defense cooking and were getting turnovers, we’re getting deflections, we’re getting blocked shots, that just really aids my game and you saw how that worked out today where I was able to get out on the fastbreak and get a lot of open shots and open dunks.”
Unlike the two team’s last meeting four days ago when Lithuania got out to a first quarter lead and the Americans spent the rest of the game getting back ahead and holding on to the lead, the U.S. struck quickly and with remarkable energy and precision.
Thanks to five points from Brad Beal (Chaminade College Prep H.S. / St. Louis, Mo.) and four more from McAdoo, the U.S. jumped out into the lead 11-3. With the scoreboard reading 11-6 in the USA’s favor, the Americans turned up the defensive intensity and the result was 10 consecutive points and an overall 21-7 scoring rampage over the opening quarter’s final 4:05 that left the USA fully in charge, 32-13.
At one point during the USA’s full in-your-face dominating play, Lithuania was forced into five consecutive turnovers that the U.S. converted into fastbreak points. For the afternoon, the U.S. recorded 38 points off the break.
“There were times when it seemed like they couldn’t really get into their offense, we were pressing up on them and putting a lot of ball pressure and that definitely helped,” stated McAdoo.
The USA’s energy never subsided and at halftime the U.S. lead stood at 56-31. The lead continued to balloon in the second half and the USA went on to lead by as many as 50 points before sailing in for the 102-66 victory.
McAdoo and Beal led the USA effort with 16 points each, and McAdoo added a U.S. best seven rebounds and three steals. André Drummond (St. Thomas More School / Middletown, Conn.) tallied 10 points and five boards, while Chasson Randle (Rock Island H.S. / Rock Island, Ill.) finished with 10 points on perfect 4-for-4 shooting. Quinn Cook (DeMatha H.S. / Bowie, Md.) accounted for nine points, six rebounds and game high eight assists, and Tony Wroten, Jr. (Garfield H.S. / Seattle, Wash.) contributed nine points in the win.
“Obviously we played pretty well today. Lithuania is a very good team. We had a practice game against them earlier and it was really a close game until a few minutes were left in the game. So we knew they were a good team. Our players were very well prepared mentally for this game. We started out the game with getting some turnovers and with our athletic ability and quickness; we started the game out like we wanted to,” USA U17 World Championship Team and Mid-Prairie High School (Iowa) head coach Don Showalter said. “We started off a little different with our press and I think that started the whole run for us. We have some really quick kids and when they can get their hands on balls, get deflections, that starts a run for us and I think we took them out of their offense a little but by having a full court press.”
Other Saturday results saw Argentina (1-1) handled Egypt (0-2) 98-69, while Canada (1-1) beat Australia (0-2) by a score of 76-68.
Following a day off that fittingly comes on Sunday, July 4, the USA will continue FIBA U17 World Championship preliminary play on July 5 facing China, then plays Egypt on July 6 and closes opening round play against Serbia on July 7. The top four finishing teams from each preliminary round group will advance to the July 9 medal quarterfinals, with semifinals games scheduled for July 10 and the gold and bronze medal games to be contested on July 11.
“Our focus is on China as they’re our next opponent,” said Showalter. “We know they are talented, they’re big, they’re strong, so we’re going to have to play well. Our goal is to get better every game and the teams that get better every game are the ones that are going to end up in the medal rounds.
“The nice thing is that if any of our players have a game where they’re not quite on we have players who can come in and spell them and really do well. One of the things I get asked a lot is ’how do you manage your team’s young egos, they’re all great players on their teams” and you know that’s pretty easy because they just want to win. They don’t care how it’s done, it’s not me it’s we on our team and I think they showed that today.”
Serving as assistant coaches for the 2009-10 USA Developmental National Team and 2010 USA U17 World Championship Team are Herman Harried, head coach at Lake Clifton High School (Md.), and Kevin Sutton, head coach at Montverde Academy (Fla.).
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