NEW YORK — Hamidou Diallo knows that the reputation of New York City basketball is down.
That narrative has spun through multiple stories across the past several years.
But the 6-foot-6 Queens, N.Y., native is not buying it — and he plans on using Saturday night’s Under Armour Elite 24 Game (ESPNU, 7:30) to remind basketball fans just what New York has produced.
“People say New York City basketball is down, but you can see out here that that’s false,” Diallo, who helped the NY Rens reach the quarterfinals of the Peach Jam on the Nike EYBL circuit, told me on Friday at the Gauchos Gym. “I’m definitely looking to show out for the crowd, for my hometown. This could possibly be the last time I’m playing in the city so I’m definitely looking to show out and put on for the city.”
Nick Richards, a 6-11 big man from Brooklyn who normally plays with Expressions Elite on the Nike circuit, also crossed over to Under Armour for this game so he could rep his hometown. The game will be played in Brooklyn.
“I wanted to represent my hometown New York,” Richards said. “I just wanted to play in a different event, a different environment.”
All told, eight of the 24 players in the game come from New York and New Jersey, and that doesn’t include Delaware native Trevon Duval, who played some high school ball at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark and is now seeking another prep stop.
Aside from Diallo (Putnam Science Academy) and Richards (St. Patrick’s), New York will be represented by Moses Brown of Queens (Archbishop Molloy), Isaiah Washington of Harlem (St. Raymond’s) and Sid Wilson of The Bronx (Brewster Academy).
The New Jersey contingent includes three players from the Sports U U16 team that won an Under Armour Association championship this summer — Naz Reid, Louis King and Jahvon Quinerly. Reid plays for Roselle Catholic, while Quinerly and King attend Hudson Catholic.
(Scottie Lewis and Bryan Antoine of New Jersey-based Team Rio and the Ranney School also participated in the Dunk and Three-Point contests, respectively.)
Several other New York stars, most notably Mohamed Bamba, Quade Green and Brandon Randolph of the Peach Jam finalist PSA Cardinals, are absent from the game. Bamba and Green opted to play with the Nike team that will take on the Bahamian National Team Saturday in the Bahamas.
The 6-1 Washington was a late invite to the game and found out he was in on Thursday after dropping 46 points in Dyckman Park.
“I felt like I should’ve been in in the first place,” he said. “They were just sleeping on me in the beginning but I gotta put on a show [Saturday] and make ’em regret it.”
Reid, King and Quinerly will try to show out for New Jersey — and Quinerly believes New York and New Jersey “is the best basketball in the country, high school and AAU.”
“We got a bunch of guys who are talented, high-major players,” he added.
Quinerly impressed ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla and the 50 credentialed NBA personnel with his play on Thursday against Duval, arguably the biggest name in the game.
“I had to get my nerves out Thursday, once I got my nerves out I was fine,” Quinerly said. “I felt like I performed well in front of them [NBA scouts] and hopefully they’re thinking good things of me.”
Added King of the New York/New Jersey contingent in the game: “It’s an honor. I want to give a shout out to Under Armour for having us here. To come out, we’re playing with top players in the country, it’s an honor.”
“It shows that we work hard and we earn what’s given to us.”
