NEPTUNE, N.J. –– After spending two days in Philly at the Reebok All-American Camp, I drove back to Manhattan Friday night in time to take my daughter Gracie out for ice cream and sleep in my own bed. Took the kids to the playground this morning, had Vietnamese lunch with the family and then braved the Jersey Shore traffic down to the Hoop Group Summer Classic. Here’s a quick notebook:
COACHES SWARM TO SEE IRVING
Think Kyrie Irving is in high demand?
Coaches from about a dozen high-majors watched the 6-foot-1 senior combo guard from Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick drop 24 points as the New Jersey Roadrunners pulled out a one-point win over Philly Pride.
Newly minted Virginia Tech commit Tyrone Garland had 21 in the loss.
Irving had this to say via his Twitter feed, which now has more than 1,000 followers: “Decent games today…can’t make any excuses just gotta learn and grow from all these experiences…it’s life.”
Kentucky had two coaches on hand, Orlando Antigua and former Knicks point guard Rod Strickland. Strickland recently told me he’s excited to work with John Wall and Eric Bledsoe next year. Could Irving be the next great Calipari point guard in the line?
Also on hand were Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech; Roshown McLeod of Indiana; Steve Wojciechowski of Duke; Kevin Murphy of Seton Hall; Doug West of Villanova; Darren Savino of Rutgers; and coaches from Texas A&M and Virginia.
Irving has a list of a dozen or so schools, but my bet is this thing comes down to Kentucky, Indiana and Texas A&M, with Duke, Virginia, Notre Dame and Seton Hall hanging around.
Memphis coach Josh Pastner was also in the house checking in on Antonio Barton, who has committed for 2010. I interviewed Josh at the Reebok Camp and will have more on him later.
DAJUAN COLEMAN A MOUNTAIN MASQUERADING AS A MAN
I got my first look today at DaJuan Coleman and my man is big. Real big.
He’s 6-8, 280 and he told me his doctor told him he would grow four more inches. If my math is right, that’ll put him at 7 feet.
Ranked No. 1 by some services in the Class of 2012, Coleman attends Jamesville-DeWitt outside Syracuse, the same high school that produced Brandon Triche, who is headed to play for Jim Boehim.
Coleman is a mobile, athletic big man who had coaches from St. John’s, Notre Dame, Rutgers and Virginia Tech checking him out today.
Asked for an early list, Coleman said: Syracuse, UConn, Ohio State, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky and “a couple more.”
Any favorites?
“Probably Syracuse,” he said.
Is Brandon recruiting you much?
“He isn’t trying to get me to go there, but it would be nice to reunite with him, though,” he added.
Sounds like the Orange have the inside track, don’t ya think?
LA SALLE LANDS SLEEPER GUARD
La Salle coach Dr. John Giannini, one of the most thoughtful and honorable men in the business, has landed a sleeper senior guard in Tristan “T.T.” Carey of Colonial Beach (Va.) High. Carey has given a verbal commitment and will enroll this fall.
“The [LaSalle] campus was sweet,” Carey told his hometown Fredericksburg.com. “In a city, you wouldn’t expect to see a campus that had grass on it, but that campus had grass on it, so that was pretty nice.”
Carey led Colonial Beach to the Group A, Division 1 state championship this past season. He scored 884 points, the third-highest single season total in Virginia High School League history.
He averaged 29. points last season and 9.6 rebounds and was the Virginia Class 1 Player of the Year. He is third all-time on the Virginia scoring list with 2,481 points behind a couple of guys you may have heard of: Moses Malone and Allen Iverson.
“T.T. will definitely be a very successful person and player at the next level,” Colonial Beach head coach Steve Swope told Fredericksburg.com. “All of us from our town wish him nothing but the best. He’s carrying the torch for us.”
Speaking of Giannini and La Salle, here’s a neat stat: four of his former players at Maine and Rowan are coaching at the Reebok event: Julian Dunkley, Tory Cavalieri and Jaycee Johnson, who played for him at Maine, and Terrence Stewart of Rowan.
FDU LANDS POINT GUARD
New Fairleigh Dickinson head coach Greg Vetrone has landed a 6-foot JUCO point guard in Mike Scott of the College of Eastern Utah.
With last year’s point guard, Cameron Tylor, academically ineligible, Scott could come in and start.
“Mike will bring stability,” Vetrone (pictured) said. “He’s a winner, a lot of experience. Every place he’s been he’s averaged three assists to one turnover. He’s a consummate point guard.
“And some times last year, when you only win seven games, you have a lot of problems. But most teams that win, you need a great point guard, someone that can take control of the game. That’s what Mike brings to the table for us.”
FDU also signed 5-11 DeShawn Dockery of Chicago, a combo guard who is the cousin of former Duke player Sean Dockery.
“He is good, a left-hander,” Vetrone said. “I’m excited about the guys coming back.”
FDU also returns the rest of the roster, including 6-10 shot blocker DeJuan Pursley, who returns after sitting out due to academic problems. Vetrone said he has a chance to start.
“My expectations are just to get the kids to play harder,” Vetrone said. “We were last in team defense last year. That’s an area that we’re going to improve on. That is a personal expectation for me as a coach, to make sure that we play much better defense and play much more competitive.”
WINCHENDON ROSTER
Funny moment I shared with Alex Schwartz of Northstar Basketball and Winchendon coach Mike Byrnes. Byrnes joked that about seven kids had listed Winchendon as their school on the Reebok rosters, but not all of them have been admitted to the school.
Here is his current roster, which includes transplants from New York schools Cardinal Hayes, Rice and Lincoln. Villanova-bound big man Markus Kennedy also told me he may end up at Winchendon, but his paperwork isn’t set yet.
Angel Nunez, Cardinal Hayes, 2011
Akeem Williams, Winchendon, 2010
Devon Saddler, Aberdeen, 2010
Michael Accoui, St. Andrews, RI, 2010,
Michael Holton Jr, Oregon, 2010
James Stukes, Rice, 2010
AJ West, Lincoln, Postgrad
Khem Birch, Canada, 2012
Eric Ferguson, Statesboro (Ga.), 2010
Marvin Dominque, Miramar, 2010
Anthony Ireland, Crosby (CT), 2010
Joey Bazzuto, Sacred Heart (CT), Postgrad
Adam Kemp, NY, 2010
PATERSON REPRESENTS
Congrats to the Paterson boys and girls basketball teams for winning gold medals at the Youth Games in Cocoa Beach, Fla.
“Rising ninth-graders Kavon Stewart of Paterson and Reggie Cameron of Hackensack were awesome,” Paterson Catholic coach Damon Wright wrote in a text.
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(Photos courtesy Irving family, Fredericksburg.com, FDU Athletics)
