Now that UConn is no longer in the Big East Conference, the Huskies aren’t guaranteed any games at Madison Square Garden.
No regular-season games against St. John’s, no six-overtime thrillers against Syracuse in the Big East Tournament.
But coach Kevin Ollie wants his club — now in the American Athletic Conference — to take advantage of any chance it gets to play at New York’s most famous arena.
While rumors circulate that 2015 guard Malik Newman is thinking of reclassifying to 2014, he says pump the brakes.
“Reclassifying is something I haven’t been thinking about,” Newman told the Clarion-Ledger in this video series.
“If I give an opinion I think it’s highly, highly unlikely,” Larry Stamps, the director of the Jackson (MS) Tigers AAU program, told SNY.tv Tuesday. “I haven’t heard any credible sources saying that.”
The 6-foot-3 combo guard from Jackson (MS) Callaway is being recruited at the highest levels and a video series on The Clarion-Ledger Website shows him getting text messages from Kentucky’s John Calipari, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina’s Roy Williams.
Chase Jeter is racking up scholarship offers from the most prestigious programs in the nation, with Louisville and Duke the two latest elite programs to offer the 6-foot-10 2015 power forward from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman.
Louisville offered this past Saturday, while Duke offered the Saturday before that. North Carolina and Gonzaga also recently offered Jeter.
“I’ve had a few,” he told SNY.tv by phone. “It’s real fun. I’m having fun with it and taking a good chance to weigh out my options and have fun with it.”
With Louisville, assistant coach Wyking Jones offered Jeter after he came out to watch him practice.
Louisville appeared done with its 2014 recruiting class when Rick Pitino announced his four-man class on Friday.
Turns out, that wasn’t the case.
The Cardinals signed 7-foot-2 Norwegian center Matz Stockman of the Canarias Basketball Academy.
“First and foremost, we think this is a tremendous opportunity for Matz,” said Rob Orellana,
Rashad Vaughn sat courtside Sunday as Iowa State stunned No. 7 Michigan, 77-70, at Hilton Coliseum.
Iowa State fans showed out for Vaughn, too.
“The atmosphere was crazy,” Pete Kaffey, a Findlay Prep assistant and Vaughn’s mentor, told SNY.tv. “The fans all brought Fatheads [of Vaughn]. The whole time they were chanting his name. It was nice to hear.”
On the same day they ascended to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 rankings, Michigan State made a bold move on the recruiting circuit, too.
The Spartans offered 2015 Huntington (W.V.) Prep wing Montaque “Teki” Gill-Caesar, who may or may not reclass to 2014 and has been compared by some to Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins.
“They offered earlier today,” Gill-Caesar told SNY.tv. “Said they need to bring a 2 guard in.”
Michigan State will likely lose sophomore Gary Harris to the NBA Draft after this season.
Australian small forward Jonah Bolden has cut his list to six schools.
The 6-foot-9, 210-pound Henderson (NV) Findlay Prep forward Tweeted Monday night: “Such a blessing to announce the top colleges I’m considering are: USC, Louisville, SMU, Kentucky, Indiana, UCLA.”
Bolden does not have an offer from Kentucky but is still considering them
