Hold’n Court: The HoopGroup Blogs

College basketball games may be over, but the all important recruiting season is in full swing. This year because of the later date of the Final 4 and a national ACT date on the 2^nd weekend in April, there are only 2 live weekends for Division 1 coaches. Here are some ramblings from the Hoop Group Jam Fest at Pitt, the best event in the country this past weekend:

*Pete Kirschner and Matt Quinn deserve kudos for the event. It is obvious to see the amount of time, energy and effort that they put into this event. They set the tone with their attention to detail, personal touch and professional manner. The results speak for themselves.

*The Peterson Center at Pitt has to be the best venue for AAU games in the country. It is a great building that sets up perfect for a tournament. It is easy to see why it is one of the best home court advantages in the country for the Pitt Panthers. The event venue will be even better next year with 3 new courts after the renovation of Fitzgerald Fieldhouse, the former home court of the Panthers.

*Once again the talented mix of East Coast teams, the best teams in the Midwest and select teams from the South and West made this event the best in the country. It only makes sense then that it attracted the most college coaches of any event. There was perfect or near perfect attendance from every team in the ACC, Big East, Big 10, A-10, CAA, MAC, Ivy, Horizon, MAAC and Patriot as well as most of the Big 12, SEC and more.

*This was the first event of ours that Maxx Athlete was involved. I think it proved to be a terrific added benefit to all of the players and coaches. Every game in the event was filmed and available on the web. Stats were available for most 17U AND Open division games. I think the whole concept of what they are doing is great, and the execution will only get better.

*While most college coaches focus on what is immediate in their recruiting needs, Open and 17U, those that focused in on the 16’s and 15’s were thoroughly impressed. Clearly, the Classes of 2010 & 2011 look very strong nationally. In the 15U gold bracket final, Ohio Basketball Club beat Boo Williams 78-68 behind a dominating game high 31 points from Chane Behanan.  The 16U division was absolutely loaded. The Playoffs on Sunday were great. DC Assault won the 16U gold bracket with a 40 foot runner at the buzzer over Grassroots Canada in the semis, and then beat All Ohio Red in the finals at the buzzer off a brilliant baseline out of bounds play. With Tyler Thornton running the show, Cedric Lindsay scoring it (25 points) and Josh Hairston (16 points) providing some interior punch, DC Assault handed All Ohio Red their 1^st loss in over a year.  As was the case throughout the event, Ohio State commitment Jared Sullinger was impressive for All Ohio Red with 18 points in the final. Thanks to Maxx Athletes, you can see these great games and more on www.hoopgroup.com .

*If you are a basketball purest, you owe it to yourself to watch Indiana Elite’s 17U team. They are extremely talented, well coached and fun to watch. They rolled in the early rounds of the playoffs and then held off scrappy Juice All-Stars in the final 83-76. Playing in front of his future college coach, Coach K, Mason Plumlee was impressive all day and finished with 19 in the championship. Colt Ryan led the way with 21, Bobby Capobianco chipped in 18 and Jordan Hulls ran the show to perfection as he had done all weekend. Curtis Loving and James Padgett led the way for Juice with 17 points each. In the Bronze bracket, Brandon Triche showed that he is fully back to form as he and Rutgers commitment, Dane Miller, led Upstate Basketball to the championship. Kudos as well to Playaz Gold and Grassroots Canada who bounced back from a loss in pool play and each won 4 straight to win the silver and steel brackets. For complete coverage of the event including scores, brackets and All-Tournament teams, visit www.hoopgroup.com/hoopgroup/hg_pittjam.php

*Brandon Triche is back…Ryan Kelly might be Tom Gugliotta…John Wall might be Derrick Rose…Best name of the weekend: Connecticut Basketball Club’s Majok Majok – quite a player too…Anyone remember the last time Tyler Thornton lost a game?…Grassroots Canada’s Tristan Thompson is scary good…Mike Marra made some 3’s from Moon Township…Team Final’s Lamar Patterson looked great at his future home…Mike Gilchrist is NEXT…Indiana Elite’s Jordan Hulls is Jared Jordan with a jump shot…Is there anyone more loveable in the basketball world than Charles “Snacks” Joseph?…Ohio is loaded in the class of 2010 and 2011…

It is hard to believe that the college basketball season is over. What a great year it was with so many storylines. I don’t know about you, but I will be going through college hoops withdrawal this weekend. Here are some of the things that jumped out at me at the Final 4:

*San Antonio is the best host city for the Final 4. The weather is great, there are plenty of downtown hotels, good restaurants and the riverwalk is awesome. I hope the NCAA is smart enough to award the next available date to San Antonio. The only other Final 4 city that even compares is New Orleans. Maybe we’ll get lucky and those will be the next 2 sites.

*I have to admit that I was rooting hard last night for the Memphis Tigers. Chuckie Martin, my former director of Eastern, is an assistant for John Calipari. With about 2 minutes left, I was all pumped up, only to have my heart ripped out. I can’t imagine how tough that was on everyone involved with the program on a daily basis. I hope they can just look back on all the many great things that they accomplished this year.

*Congratulations to Hoop Group alums Adrian Dantley and Cathy Rush on their selection to the basketball Hall of Fame. Adrian Dantley was one of my favorite players growing up for Notre Dame. He was one of the most accomplished players at the HS, college and pro levels. If they had a HOF on each level, he would be in each of them. Cathy Rush was one of the true pioneers in women’s basketball winning AIAW national championships at Immaculata. She was a partner in camps with my parents that helped introduce the women’s game across the country.  I remember being at the AIAW Final 4 when I was a kid. Wow how the women’s game has changed. Cathy was one of the reasons why.

*The coaching carousel is in full swing right now. It is crazy how disjointed some of these searches have been. I wonder if some firings are just for the sake of change. You have to wonder if some of these schools would have been better off with the coach they just fired. That certainly looks like the case right now at Providence and a few other schools.

*The announcement on Monday from the NCAA and NBA about the future of the summer period seemed to create more questions than answers. The only thing for certain is that there are a number of lawyers who will be busy with this one. Stay tuned.

What a Final 4! Four #1 seeds! Can’t wait to get to San Antonio. I am also so happy for Chuckie Martin, the fine assistant at Memphis. He becomes the first of our former full-time employees to make it to the Final 4. He is one of the rising stars in the business, and I know there are many more great things to come for him.

Speaking of former full-time Hoop Group employees, congratulations to Mike Rice and Andy Toole for their great run that included 26 wins and an NIT berth in their first year at Robert Morris. Likewise, one of the best moments for me was seeing former EIBC director, Billy Hahn, back on the sidelines for West Virginia’s Sweet 16 run.

Did you notice that there were no seniors on the recently announced All-American teams? What am I missing here? If we are to believe that the grassroots system is the ruination of the game and that college basketball is all that is good with the game, shouldn’t there be upperclassmen all over these teams? If you listen to the misguided propaganda from the NCAA, you would think that it would take years to break players of all their bad habits learned on the AAU circuit. By the time they were seniors after 4 years of being coached by these superior basketball minds and nurtured inside the infallible NCAA model, they should dominate these players fresh off the grassroots circuit. Right? Instead they are dominated by FRESHMEN! The grassroots system must be doing something right. I just wish the media would take notice of the many positives that are going on in grassroots basketball today!

Not only did Stephen Curry help put me in 1^st place in my player points pool, but he served notice to the nation that he is for real. But even more than that, he is refreshing. To see a skilled player dominate games is good for the game. He is not a physical specimen finishing plays with thunderous dunks. Instead, he kills you with his skills and his knowledge of the game. We need more Stephen Curry’s.

Congratulations to the Hurley family. Can you imagine a father and his son finishing the season ranked #1 and #2 in the country. Bob’s St Anthony Friars won the 3^rd national championship for the tiny school and their Hall of Fame coach, while Danny’s St Benedict’s team finished #2 after just 1 loss against a difficult national schedule.

How can schools like LSU, Oregon St and Indiana fire coaches during the season and still not have coaches in place? The whole college coach search process seems crazy. Can you imagine if AD’s held themselves accountable to the same standards they demand of their coaches? There certainly would be a great deal of turnover at the administrative level based on who many of these searches are screwed up.

Rutgers had the best week in the Fred Hill era. First, Mike Rosario was impressive in the McDonald’s All American game. He showed that he is one of the best pure shooters in the class. Is it me, or does he remind you of Stephen Curry? He can certainly be an impact player for the Scarlet Knights. Just as significant, they got commitments from 2 important front court players in the Class of 2009, Gregory Echenique and Austin Johnson. Echenique, a 6’9” Center for St Benedict’s, may be the highest profile Rutgers recruit in years. While Rosario was a McDonald’s All-American, he was still a bit under the radar screen when they signed him. Big Gregory is not under the radar! He had offers from Duke on down. He is the #9 prospect in the entire class according to the ESPN 150. Johnson is a skilled forward with size who made great strides this year at Blair Academy. They join high flying wing, Dane Miller (#39 in ESPN’s 150) from Rush Henrietta HS, to form a monster class for RU. Congrats to Hill and his staff, especially former EIBC director Jim Carr, for their efforts.