June 2015 | Page 8 of 20 | Zagsblog
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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Wednesday / November 27.
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Duke, Kentucky, Recruiting

"CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - NBPA Players Association Top 100 Camp at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville Virginia on June 18, 2015. (Photo by Kelly Kline/Under Armour)"

DeAndre Ayton added offers from Duke and Kentucky. (Photo by Kelly Kline/Under Armour)”

By ADAM ZAGORIA & MATT WHITFIELD

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — DeAndre Ayton, the consensus No. 1 player in the Class of 2017, has added scholarship offers from two basketball bluebloods.

“I heard from Kentucky, Duke just offered and I heard from Michigan State…yea Kentucky offered,” the 7-foot, 235-pound Ayton told Matt Whitfield at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville, Va.

“I heard from Coach [John] Calipari. He called me two days ago in the airport. He was just saying he’d love to have me at his school and he’s giving me an official offer to the University of Kentucky.”

Ayton may not have yet heard of Calipari’s goal of getting Kentucky to supply half the NBA All-Stars, but he knows they send a lot of guys to the pros.

Articles, Kentucky, USA Basketball

Briscoe USA**UPDATE: Isaiah Briscoe suffered a head injury Thursday night, and was subsequently removed from the USA U19 team. Read more here.**

In the past year, Isaiah Briscoe has won a gold medal with USA Basketball, the prestigious Nike Peach Jam title with his AAU team and the New Jersey Tournament of Champions crown with Roselle (N.J.) Catholic High School.

Now he’s looking to add another gold medal to his résumé before he heads to Kentucky next month.

The 6-foot-3 Briscoe made the final cut for the American team that will compete in the FIBA U19 World Championship beginning later this month in Crete, Greece.

The way his future head coach sees it, Briscoe will bring valuable leadership and experience to a team that is pursuing another gold medal.

“[The FIBA game] is such a different game that his physicalness will be fine,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said of Briscoe, who chose Kentucky over St. John’s and UConn last November. “Plus, he’s going to add a maturity to that team because they have a lot of young players, who had been in FIBA basketball before in the 16s and 17s but this is a different deal. I think he’s going to be fine.”

Articles, Kentucky

Mar 28, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Karl-Anthony Towns (12) and guard Aaron Harrison (2) and guard Tyler Ulis (3) jump in the air after the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the finals of the midwest regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena. Kentucky won 68-66. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Karl-Anthony Towns (12) wants to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves, John Calipari says. Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Karl-Anthony Towns is just about everybody’s choice as the No. 1 pick in next week’s NBA Draft.

And the way his former coach sees it, that would be just fine with the 7-footer from Piscataway, N.J.

“He likes Minnesota,” Kentucky’s John Calipari said Thursday on a conference call. “He said from Day 1, ‘I’ll go to Minnesota, let’s build a franchise.'”

Indeed, on the night of the Draft Lottery, Towns told me it would be a “blessing” to play for the Wolves.

“It would be a blessing and an honor to even have a chance to play for Minnesota and be able to have the chance to play for a great organization and learn from a great mentor like Kevin Garnett,” Towns said then.

Articles, Kentucky

Mar 18, 2015; Louisville, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari talks to Kentucky Wildcats guard Andrew Harrison (5) during practice before the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at KFC Yum! Center. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

John Calipari wants Kentucky to supply half of the NBA’s All-Stars. Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

John Calipari has revolutionized the college basketball game by using the one-and-done rule to benefit the Kentucky basketball program and those players who land in the NBA as a result.

So far, so good.

At the start of last season, there were 18 former Kentucky players on NBA rosters, down from 21 in the 2013-14 campaign.

So it may not be completely unrealistic for Calipari to dream of Kentucky supplying half of the players in the NBA All-Star Game not too far down the road.

“Let’s get half the All-Star Game came through here, that would be a fun thing to see,” Calipari said Thursday on a conference call where he discussed his seven former players who entered the NBA Draft, including projected No. 1 pick Karl-Anthony Towns.

Articles

d4723aa3f88416614265e468745bd8f1_400x400By MATT WHITFIELD

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — Danilo Gallinari was a Knicks fan favorite for three seasons before being traded in a three-team deal that landed the Knicks Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks made a splash drafting the Italian with the No. 8 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft and today he is likely the best Italian basketball player in the NBA, though he has been injured often over the last two years.

Now there’s another Gallinari waiting in the wings: Danilo’s 17-year-old brother Federico Gallinari.

“It’s a great thing because I have a brother that plays the sport I love, that we love, and I can ask him questions and watch his games so it could be a great thing,” the younger Gallinari, who flew 15 hours from Italy to get to the NBPA Top 100 Camp here, told SNY.tv exclusively.

Recruiting, Syracuse

"CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - NBPA Players Association Top 100 Camp at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville Virginia on June 18, 2015. (Photo by Kelly Kline/Under Armour)"

Michael Porter Jr. is now being recruited by Syracuse. (Photo by Kelly Kline/Under Armour)”

Michael Porter Jr. already has one close friend recruiting him to Virginia.

Now Matthew Moyer is working on getting him to come to Syracuse.

“I would love to see him come to Syracuse,” Moyer, a 2016 Syracuse commit, told Syracuse.com at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville, Va. “That’s another missing piece to an easy national championship. He’s a great kid. We recruit high-character guys. I just feel that he’s awesome. Awesome kid, awesome player. He’s the full package and we need that at Syracuse.”

As we previously reported last month at the Mary Kline Classic, Virginia-bound guards Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome are working on getting the 6-foot-9 junior from Columbia (MO) Father Tolton to come to Virginia.

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