Supermodel Gives Birth, Coach Makes Recruiting Calls

PHILADELPHIA — The high-flying, alley-ooping Florida Gulf Coast basketball team that has taken the nation by storm was actually born two years ago in a room at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.

And it came to fruition just before coach Andy Enfield’s third child, his son Marcum, was born on April 8, 2011.

Enfield had just gotten the job at Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers after serving as a Florida State assistant for five years, and he was furiously working the phones to find a few players to replace the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, and the team’s point guard who had transferred. His paperwork was spread all over the unused bed in the hospital room.

His wife, the supermodel Amanda Marcum, was about to give birth in the other bed.

Oak Hill Had 8 Players in NCAA Tournament

PHILADELPHIA — Only one man in America has coached an NCAA champion in each of the last four years.

And his name isn’t John Calipari, Bill Self or Mike Krzyzewski.

And only one man in America had players on eight different teams when this NCAA Tournament began.

And he isn’t an agent, a runner or a high-profile AAU coach.

His name is Steve Smith, and he’s the head coach at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va.

Owootoah Off the Board to Fresno State

As we reported Friday night on Twitter,

Comer’s Lob, Fieler’s Flush Completes FGCU Stunner Over Georgetown

By JOSH NEWMAN
Special to ZAGSBLOG

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giVl0rMP6tg]

PHILADELPHIA – It’s important to remember a few things in the wake of No. 15 seed Florida Gulf Coast University’s stunning 78-68 win over No. 2 seed Georgetown in a South Region second-round contest on Friday evening.

From the very outset, it was apparent that the Eagles, champions of the Atlantic Sun Conference, were ready to match the Hoyas’ athleticism and length. Additionally, the tiny school from Fort Myers, which didn’t even gain full Division I postseason eligibility until just last year, was not going back to down against the elite program from the big, bad Big East.

Finally, two key attributes helped this FGCU outfit during what can only be described as a second-half mauling of Georgetown. Dunks and swagger. The Eagles had plenty of both over the final 20 minutes and when the game was in the waning minutes, both were on display.

After Stunning Loss, Is Otto Porter Jr. NBA-Bound?

By JOSH NEWMAN
Special to ZAGSBLOG

PHILADELPHIA – Inside a secluded media interview area in the bowels of the Wells Fargo Center, Otto Porter Jr. sat on the far left side of the podium and stared into space for the better of part of four and a half minutes on Friday evening.

Describing the Georgetown sophomore small forward as despondent up there would be accurate and no one would blame him after the Hoyas became the seventh No. 2 seed all-time and the third in the last two seasons to fall to a No. 15 seed when they were manhandled in the second half of a 78-68 loss to Florida Gulf Coast University.

As Porter Jr. sat there and stared, someone from the media contingent decided to ask what most reporters in the room were thinking.

Has Otto Porter Jr., this season’s Big East Player of the Year and a projected lottery pick in June’s NBA Draft, played his final game for Georgetown?

“I haven’t made it through that process yet,” Porter Jr. said meekly.