Rock Chalk Stephenson?
Lance “Born Ready” Stephenson plans to be at the University of Kansas this weekend for the Jayhawk Invitational.
Stephenson will be playing with Derrick Favors and the Atlanta Celtics travel team, and Stephenson will then stay an extra day to tour the campus. Favors and Stephenson are considered two of the best, if not the two best, players in the Class of 2009.
“Obviously those two guys playing together, those are two potential lottery picks in the future,” said L.J. Goolsby, an assistant with the tournament. “Anytime you have those guys playing together, the entertainment factor alone should be big. That obviously is going to bring a lot of attention to the tournament. I’m sure it will bring a large crowd gathering.”
“I think for the people that’s watching it and for avid basketball fans, it ‘ll be great,” added Hulio Smith of the Atlanta Celtics. “You’re talking about the best wing prospect and the best post prospect in the 2009 Class. Lance played with us last year in Portland in the Rose City Showcase, and we were able to win a championship out there. Lance and Derrick kind of ran through the field up there. It was just phenomenal. He blended right in with my guys.”
A first-team USA Today All-American, the 6-foot-5 Stephenson recently visited UCLA while in Los Angeles for an event. He has also visited Indiana, Louisville, Arkansas and Seton Hall and plans to see Memphis, North Carolina, and Georgetown, among others.
“I’m just looking for a good college, a good coach and good players surrouding me,” Stephenson said Monday night after a showing of the Adam Yauch documentary “Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot” at the Tribeca Film Festival in Manhattan. ” Yauch (below left) is a former member of the Beastie Boys.
The film stars several prep and college players, including Stephenson, Memphis commit Tyreke Evans, Arizona-bound guard Brandon Jennings, Duke freshman Kyle Singler and future NBA lottery picks Donte Greene, Kevin Love, Jerryd Bayless and Michael Beasley.
Stephenson will also attend the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions in Chapel Hill, N.C. May 23-25.
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| Lance Stephenson on Keith Spellman |
Stephenson is a member of the adidas Nations U.S. National Team for 2009 and he will participate in workouts with that group in Los Angeles June 13-15 before heading off to Dakar, Senegal for the adidas Nations Africa Regional Camp June 18-23. St. Patrick of Elizabeth junior guard Dexter Strickland ,who has committed to North Carolina, and uncommitted junior wing Dominic Cheek of St. Anthony of Jersey City are also on the adidas Nations team.
The whirlwind tour continues in July. Stephenson will also try out for the U.S. U18 National Team at Georgetown July 1-4.
The training camp for that event then runs from July 4-10, also at Georgetown.
“Hopefully, while we’re down there (at Georgetown), we can talk to some of the coaches,” Lance Stephenson Sr. said.
If Stephenson makes the team, he would participate in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Formosa, Argentina July 14-18. He and Strickland would also miss the LeBron James US Skills Academy, to be held in Akron, Ohio July 5-9.
Don Showalter of the USA Basketball Men’s Junior Development Committee said about 40 players, including Stephenson and Strickland, have been invited to try out for the team and that about 10 or 11 will make the squad.
Stephenson and Strickland will be competing against rising college freshman and some players who completed their freshman year of college.
“(Stephenson) is certainly as gifted as any underclassmen there,” Showalter said. “Obviously, those kids (Stephenson and Strickland) are really good and it’s going be a great experience for them playing with
older kids.”
FOR MORE ON KANSAS
**Read about the Morris Twins and what they will bring to Kansas next season.
**Read about Tyshawn Taylor’s visit to the Kansas campus last week.
