Ashton Pankey, a 6-8 senior forward from St. Anthony who signed with Maryland, will miss the remainder of the season with a stress fracture in his left leg.
“It’s unfortunate but I’m [going] to still show my support for my team and work out my upper body till my leg gets better,” Pankey wrote by text.
St. Anthony will face St. Peter’s Prep Saturday at the Dan Finn Classic before heading up to the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass. to face Los Angeles (Calif.) Westchester Monday on ESPNU.
“They don’t feel that the bone is healing properly so it might be much more of a long-term thing and we feel bad for him,” St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley said of Pankey. “At this point right now it doesn’t look good for his return during the season.”
St. Anthony has played thusfar without both Pankey and 6-8 Oregon State-bound forward Devon Collier, out because of academic issues.
But Collier is due back at practice Friday and is scheduled to play Monday.
A year ago, he also made his debut at the Hoophall Classic, putting up 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 58-50 win over Xavier Henry and Putnam City (Okla.).
“If we get Devon back, we have a third scorer,” Hurley said. “So between [Richmond-bound forward] Derrick [Williams] and [St. Bonaventure-bound guard] Elijah Carter and Devon, all of a sudden we’re much more dangerous offensively and it takes a lot of pressure off of Derrick.”
HURLEY SAYS HE WON’T COACH COLLEGE
I’m working on a big St. Anthony/Hurley story for Rivals but wanted to throw this nugget out there.
Hurley’s name is routinely floated for various college coaching jobs, including several in the area.
Yet he says he’ll never leave St. Anthony. He has 967 wins and needs 33 for 1,000.
“Right now there’s no job in the United States that I would take. The Nets , there’s no job I would take. I’m very happy working with the kids,” he said.
(And he’s still not in the Naismith Hall of Fame? What a joke. To quote Tom Konchalski: “If he’s not in it, it’s a Hall of Shame.”)
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thomason44 / January 14, 2010
Recruiting travelling all-star teams and then winning what is a glorified 3 team state tournament, a 1 team state tournament before St Pats and Paterson C came on the scene does not even come close to justifying entrance into the Hall of Fame. Hurley is a bully and chronic whiner who has yet to prove he can coach when the playing field is level.
The way local and national writers slurp and fawn over the guy is comical!
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Adam Zagoria / January 15, 2010
All teams need talent to win.
The point is this man has remained in Jersey City — when he easily could’ve taken about 100 college jobs — and made the difference in the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of young men whose lives would’ve gone in less pleasant directions had it not been for him.
Read the book, see the documentary. Talk to Mike Rosario, Jio Fontan and the countless others who’ve lives have been changed by Bob Hurley. Do your homework.
Adam Z.
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Adam Zagoria / January 15, 2010
All teams need talent to win.
The point is this man has remained in Jersey City — when he easily could’ve taken about 100 college jobs — and made the difference in the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of young men whose lives would’ve gone in less pleasant directions had it not been for him.
Read the book, see the documentary. Talk to Mike Rosario, Jio Fontan and the countless others whose lives have been changed by Bob Hurley. Do your homework.
Adam Z.
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thomason44 / January 15, 2010
Never said the guy hasn’t made a difference in people’s lives. Frankly I assume he has but I don’t know it nor do I care about it. We’re not talking about character-building, the conversation pertained to inclusion in the Naismtih Hall of Fame.
There is no need to do homework with this guy, the case is very simple. You either think he is one of the game’s all-time winners, or you think he is one of the great cheaters in the history of the state like I do, and neither one of us would be wrong.
As for the public whining, it has been so blatant that it is undeniable.
This guy had the gall to go on record attacking St. Pat’s recruiting and taking transfers when that was exactly how he builti his dynasty.
In the Wojnaroswki book, he laments the fact that Oak Hill was a basketball factory that had a new team every year…while he coaches a basketball factory…and his own son opens us a basketball factory as if it were a small business.
I have no animus towards the guy, but being that I have no desire to rub elbows with him I can paint a very accurate picture of this situation. Bottom line, this guy has done nothing to even merit consideration for the basketball hall of fame. Never has, never will. It’s about the factory workers, not the foreman!
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chilltown / January 16, 2010
No Thomason44
You don’t know him nor how the St. Anthony dynasty came into existence…See I’m one of the old school Jersey City guys from the early 80s and can remember when St. Anthony’s practiced at Sacred Heart Grammar school in the 70s. SA was build with Jersey City talent! and I, unlike you, know Bob Hurley’s character….now I don’t always agree with him but I certainly have a better appreciation for him now than I did when I was 16 years old! Today, HS BBall has become something different than it was in the 80s…the internet bloggers and commentators hype players without REAL merit…I have respect for Kevin Boyle as well as many of the other high profile coaches but KB and many other HS and college coaches have been greatly influence by Bob Hurley. You don’t know the history but repeat the internet gossip as truth…I’m don’t care to debate you because because there is no merit in your comments.
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