Rice coach Maurice Hicks can hardly keep track of the revolving door of high-major coaches flocking to see 6-foot-9 senior big man Kadeem Jack.
After Jack returned Friday night from an official trip to Arizona, he proceeded to lead Rice to the title at the 3rd annual SNY Invitational with back-to-back wins over Boys & Girls and Cardozo at LIU-Brooklyn.
Over the two games, Miami assistant Jorge Fernandez, Seton Hall assistant Scott Adubato, St. John’s assistant Fred Quartlebaum and Providence assistant Rodell Davis were all on hand to watch Jack.
“I tell the coaches now that every day a new big-time coach is calling for him,” Hicks said. “And I tell them that his upside is great.”
And why not?
Jack, who spent 10 years of his childhood in Trinidad & Tobago, has only been playing ball for four years, yet he has tremendous upside. He’s a natural shot-blocker and rebounder and his ability to score around the basket is still improving. If he can develop a face-up game and improve his foul shooting, look out.
“Kadeem hasn’t been playing basketball for a long time,” Hicks said. “I think it’s a great thing because you can teach him. He doesn’t have the bad habits. As soon as you tell him to do something he does it right away. He’s a kid that loves to play and I think his upside is tremendous.”
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If Jack opts to attend Arizona, he would join Westchester (Calif.) High School senior combo guard Jordin Mayes, who committed on Monday.
“Jordin always liked Arizona because he grew up watching Damon and Salim,” Darryel Mayes, Jordin’s father, told the Arizona Daily Star . “He understands a lot of guards did well at Arizona.”
Darryel played at UNLV and knows former Arizona players Damon and Salim Stoudemire.
With the addition of the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Mayes, it is unclear what is in store for Arizona’s recruiting.
The Daily Star reported that the Wildcats have just one scholarship remaining for 2010 and 2011, yet they are involved with Jack, Baltimore’s Josh Selby, New York’s Doron Lamb and Michigan’s Ray McCallum.
A source close to the Arizona program said Selby, Lamb and Jack remain the program’s “highest priorities.”
(Photo courtesy Daily News)
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finnmaccoul / February 2, 2010
Looks like Coach is looking long term. Selby, and maybe even Lamb, could be one and dones. I think we pick up Jack, and maybe BLav decides to transfer at the end of the season. That could gives us one more scholarship.
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NothingButArizona / February 2, 2010
Yea i think BLav will transfer
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NothingButArizona / February 2, 2010
AZ really needs Kadeem Jack.
And if we got Selby or Lamb too then we would be able to compete with anyone.
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Avaricious / February 2, 2010
Is Jack getting recruited by anyone actually making the NCAA Tournament? Or is this realistically the extent of it?
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LS / February 2, 2010
What was Q doing there? The only way St. John’s has a shot is if they fire everyone and hire Mo Hicks as head coach.
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NothingButArizona / February 2, 2010
Come on man, ARIZONA is been in the tourney 25 straight years about to be 26 (Now that AZ is first in the Pac-10)
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology
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JessieWildcat / February 2, 2010
AZ,
I see alot of Arizona fluff above.
So, let me set it straight.
Brucie indicated one scholarhip is open. Correct.
Arizona is looking to bring in a 4 or 5 member recruiting class.
That would leave THREE open (aka., Three NYC Amigos)
Things will surely change and more news is coming.
Look forward to YOUR updates.
ps- Some did mention that Arizona is in First place, –26.
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bigpapijugg / February 2, 2010
News flash: the leader in the PAC 10(Arizona) is still being considered a bubble team on espn along with the likes of uconn, north carolina and louisville. Its likely that Kansas gets Selby so quit getting your hopes up. That leaves Lamb who will choose between AZ and KY. You all need to get used to signing mostly prospects in the 50-100 ranking.
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RockChalkWoody / February 2, 2010
Knight to UK, Selby to KU, and Jessie back to his parents basement.
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finnmaccoul / February 3, 2010
I don’t get overly into the rankings. Wise was a 3 star recruit and we had a pretty good player a few years back who wasn’t recruited much at all..Steve Kerr. I think they both turned out OK. That’s how you build programs, not just teams. PAC 10 is down, but 21 NBA draft picks in 2 years can do that. UofA’s tough schedule gets the youngsters ready to play down the stretch. To quote The Who, “The Kids Are Alright.”
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AZhoops / February 3, 2010
And you are a fan of which team? What makes you think AZ has to stick with recruits in the 50-100 range? Sean Miller is getting in on these recruits VERY late in the game. The fact that rumors that kids like Josh Selby and Doron Lamb have AZ in their final 3-4 means its only a matter of time before we start landing these kids. Give him another year or two and we will be getting at least one 5-star recruit a year.
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AZhoops / February 3, 2010
Edit: “The fact that rumors that kids like Josh Selby and Doron Lamb have AZ in their final 3-4 means its only a matter of time before we start landing these kids.” => “The fact that kids like Josh Selby and Doron Lamb have AZ in their final 3-4 means its only a matter of time before we start landing these kids.”
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GasCan / February 3, 2010
LMFAO! I thought that finnmaccoul’s comment above regarding Steve Kerr was going to give me the biggest laugh in this thread. Well played Woody, your alright…for a Jayhawk.
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wild95cat / February 3, 2010
ITSMILLERTIME: UA just got rid of Judkins. Wise is gone. And then one more transfer…probably Lavender or Jacobson. Hell, even Shumpert can stay on as a walk-on! There’s four.
It’s a shame that Zane didn’t stick around for this season. Although he had reason. I ‘heard’ that Judkins was with Zane’s girl last year behind his back. No bueno.
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JessieWildcat / February 3, 2010
AZ,
Whatz the lates on the NYC Three Amigos?
Folks in the West say….UA wants Josh Selby ,Doron Lamb and KJ.
Mrs W. said,, “Mayes decision won’t effect her son and it shouldn’t. …..”per AZDailystar.
So, what do say to that Kansas “Gangster U”.
Wildcat are TOP2 and ‘in play”……
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joshapulco / February 3, 2010
Who is the Jessie Wildcat? I wonder if his imaginary girlfriend gets mad at all the time he spends on blog sites. Go ahead and mark it down. Selby to KU and Knight to UK.
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Avaricious / February 3, 2010
Mustafa Shakur was the highest ranked point guard in his class, but wound up not even getting drafted in 2007, after picking that retirement community in Arizona.
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ArizCats / February 3, 2010
Arizona could move lavender to an Academic scholarship or he could transfer. Judkins was told he could stay the rest of the year but would not be part of future plans at Arizona. I’m guessing this could be the case for Lavender.
Also, JessieWildcat you are an absolute embarrassment to the UofA fan base. 3 NYC amigos? stop please.
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CATintheAZ / February 3, 2010
Adam,
Thanks for keeping up with the AZ wildcats basketball scoop. I too agree with everyone here saying that Coach Miller it is admirable job recruiting Selby and Lamb this late in the game. Saying all that, what is up with Terrance Jones? Lute was recruiting this kid since 8th grade, which he was like 5’11 at the time. He had Zona at the top of his list for a minute? What happened? We need Lute to get this guy away from UCLA and Washington. Come on, these program are tumbling down hill. Jones looked like an all out stud last night on ESPN2. A left hand version of TMAC.
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CATintheAZ / February 4, 2010
Seriously, if Terrance Jones can somehow jump on board, LOOK OUT KENTUCKY. AZ Cats are in the final four next year. Selby would most certainly come to Zona if Jones commited. That would make us the deepest team in the country.
Kansas fans here like RockChalkWoody need to realize that not too many recruits want to go to Kansas based on the fact that Aldridge, Henry even Collins will be gone. What do you 5 star recruits have to look forward to when they arrive in Lawrence, playing alongside …. At Zona, it’s playing with Williams, Momo, Horne, Bejarano, Hill, Parrom, and Fogg. Everyone else on the team should be put on notice of these new recruits coming in.
If I had to guess, the recruiting scenario will turn out as such: Knight to KY, Selby to AZ, Lamb to KY, and Jones to “TBD”.
Jones needs to take an official to the best west coast bball school in the country, Arizona!
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disgrace / February 4, 2010
terrence jones was considering UA until they took a commit from rod odom. After that, jones basically said something along the lines of, it appeared arizona didnt want him and he took arizona off the list. Of course, shortly after rod odom decomitted and decided to go to vanderbilt.
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JessieWildcat / February 4, 2010
Woody..Woody.
We all know that KNIGHT rejected KU.
After Barnes did. (this one really hurts.)
And many more before…all in the 2010 recruiting season.
Like I said, KU is having a horrible recruiting season.
Josh Selby to KU….really?
This is the same KU school which has the SELF policy of
“Shut your mouth”.
Have you read the last chapter of the BOOK??
We are interesting in reading the ending.
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RockChalkWoody / February 4, 2010
Jessie, are you really trying to make everybody on this board believe that Selby is not a KU lean right now? You are dellusional, son. I can’t believe that UA fans have to put up with your crap.
CATintheAZ, your theory is a joke. I’m still laughing at this: “Kansas fans here like RockChalkWoody need to realize that not too many recruits want to go to Kansas based on the fact that Aldridge, Henry even Collins will be gone. What do you 5 star recruits have to look forward to when they arrive in Lawrence, playing alongside …. At Zona, it’s playing with Williams, Momo, Horne, Bejarano, Hill, Parrom, and Fogg.” Really? So now it’s not that we’re too loaded, but it’s because we’ll be rebuilding next year? FYI recruits love playing time & as you just pointed out there should be plenty of it. Thanks for helping make the case.
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CATintheAZ / February 4, 2010
RockChalk, my comments above were not meant to be a joke. You claim that Selby has KU in the lead, right? NOT… Reason being what I previously mentioned. Next yr. Your squad won’t win a BIG12 title let alone reach a sweet 16. That is the reason H.Barnes chose UNC. The writing is on the wall… These one and done recruits want to pull a Melo’ and win a title and be out and about to the LEAGUE. Your only Chance to get any of the guys mentioned is lamb. Knight to KY and Shelby to Zona.
Jessie Wildcat, I respect you as a UA fan but these remarks about “shut you mouth” are not necessary. We need to concentrate on getting back in touch with our Oregon prospect, Jones. If you have inside info. On this subject as you portray in some previous comments, let’s concentrate on that. Miller will take good care of Selby… Book IT!
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jhawk4 / February 4, 2010
Oh my goodness… are you being serious CATintheAZ?
that makes no sense at all, recruits like playing time, and losing Cole and Sherron (Henry still may be back yet the way he has been playing recently) will only open that up.
KU doesn’t look too shabby next year either, we have guys that will be stars someday sitting on our bench. (Elijah johnson, Thomas Robinson, Travis Releford heck, even an old Arizona guy, Jeff Withey) plus returning the morris twins, morningstar and reed. add in a few freshman and thats a solid team.
Next year, KU will not be as good as this year, but counting us out as threats for the conference title is foolish. If we hang on and win this year that makes six in a row, and believe it or not, not all of those teams had a whole lot coming back either. (see last year when we lost our entire starting 5 from 08 and still won the conference and made the sweet 16)
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RockChalkWoody / February 4, 2010
CATintheAZ, you’re embarrasing yourself with these ridiculous comments. If I were a UA fan I’d be ticked off because your lack of basketball knowledge is right there with Jessie’s and it makes you guys look bad.
You claim that KU has no shot at winning the Big 12 next year or going to the Sweet 16. Why do you guys insist on always talking about next year? Is it because if the Mildcats don’t win the PAC 10 tourney they are NIT bound?
And yes, Selby, is a KU lean. Mayes signing should tell you that Miller is nervous about getting a PG (afterall, he could’ve waited until the dust settled on Knight, Selby, and Lamb before offering Mayes–nobody else was).
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RockChalkWoody / February 4, 2010
Oh, and Jessie, I was sorry to hear about the UA SELF-imposed sanctions. The loss of a scholarship might really cut into your “Three Amigos” theory. Why don’t you think about that while you continue to run your anti-KU smack. Lute was a cheater.
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ZonaWildcat / February 5, 2010
All you see if fluff above? All I see every time you post is B.S.
I guess we are the only school that doesn’t have a scholarship limit? We only have SO MANY scholarships Jessie!
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ZonaWildcat / February 5, 2010
That’s the point Avaricious! The ranking system is complete B.S. and isn’t ALWAYS RIGHT!
We’ve had players come to Arizona that were 3 star players and they developed and contributed more than the 5 star players. Mustafa being one of those busts.
Even Jamelle Horne; he was a 5 star recruit and he hasn’t lived up to his rankings either.
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ZonaWildcat / February 5, 2010
^^^^^THIS^^^^^
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ZonaWildcat / February 5, 2010
Not really, that’s suppose to happen to the 2011 class NOT the 2010 class.
And it was a B.S. infraction. It’s not like we handed a player money (Mayo) or had another student take one of our recruits SAT because he was too stupid to get into college (Rose).
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CATintheAZ / February 5, 2010
First off, we insist talking next yr cause this is a recruiting discussion, meaning talking about the future. Second, the Mayes signing is not a desperate measure as he will likely redshirt if selby and/or Lamb signs. Not trying to bag on KU, as they are tops in the nation as of today. Though, I wouldn’t put my money on the as a final four squad this yr. Next yr as your other KU pal jhawk4 noted, talent level will be on a steep decline. We shall see how Good a job Self can do with that? Once again not bagging, just sayin’. As for UA, they already have the talent and will have the proper seasoning to make a final 4 run for yrs to come… Selby to Zona, book it!
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