Thoughts and Thoughts

Just some thoughts and observations.

Norm Roberts is right there with a number of great prospects. Oddly these are the type of players Lou C recruited years ago that made St. Johns the only legit big time program in the area.

So Oswald Cross and Kimani Young (who use to be Jones when I first met him years ago) might join the St. Johns Staff. My thoughts? If this happens WATCH OUT!!! Both these guys are great people, great teachers, great with kids, have great connections, and have a great chance of helping St. Johns make it back to where they were years ago. Trust me on this, those two guys are true winners and gentleman and role models. They get along with everyone!

I will not dignify what has been said about a person who might get a coaching job at one of the big three metro area schools. But what I will say is folks can be so mean and vicious. The person in question is outstanding and would help the school much more than the school would help him. Plus, people learn from mistakes and CAN become better people.

I wish folks only knew the back door stuff that takes place nationally with high profile colleges and high profile HS players. Talk about illegal? The payoffs at some places has been in the 6 figure range.

Saw a workout in a small town in Maryland a week or so ago. One player working out was a D1 college player. As he went through the drills with other college and high level HS kids, his college Assistant coach walked the side lines screaming at him. At the end the college Assistant took out his check book and wrote a check out to the guy running the workout. Maybe it was legal but it sure looked odd.

Lance Stephenson AKA born ready appears to have the world in his hand. Hope he does not drop it by mistake. Like the way his Dad says "We" are down to ------. I hope Lance is down to a number of schools and not letting his Dad tell him where to go. As a family they need to discuss but lance needs to decide. Unless he goes to Italy...... UMMMMMMMMM.

Bob McKillip is a great Coach and he was not about to take mess from Lance or anyone else. Think Rick Patino would have cut Lance? John Calipari? Bill Self? Bob knows Lance will not attend Davidson and even if he said he wanted to attend Bob might not be interested. I applaud him for not kissing up to Lance. But I still feel he is more comfortable with certain types of players on his roster. European players, African Players and American kids from "good Families." Players like Dell Curry's kid. Despite this he is a GREAT COACH and has been for a long time. Working at a wonderful place such as Davidson allows him to really enjoy his career. So cutting Lance Stephenson was a true no brainer.

The Rutgers intramural.....oops I mean Newark Star Ledger College Summer League is over and the winner was Rutgers. Hope it helps player development and provides good momentum heading into the 2008-2009 season.

Lots of transfer talk. Really hoped Costner would have transferred to Seton Hall. With the Keon Lawrence and Brandon Costner in the wings to go along with the talent on hand it would have been great basketball in the NYC/NJ area. Just think about it. Rutgers has some great additions who are impact college players, St. Johns is turning it around talent wise especially if they hire the two guys I wrote about earlier in this posting. and Seton Hall with what I think is underrated talent and some potentially great additions would make area hoops outstanding!

I really look forward to the Garden again selling out for St. Johns games. I look forward to 18,000 for SHU against RU at the Pru Center, and I look forward to seeing people camping out at the RAC for 3 days to get tickets for the Providence game because the other games are totally sold out. Its all possible.

Though I love the two potential hires at St. Johns. I cannot believe they are not considering Ron Necleario! That hire would make every kid a potential SJU player. I think Ron is now ready for a assistant job at a BE school.

Drove by SJU the other day. Seems Alumni Hall will have a great new look for the basketball season. My gut is the team will be better as well. I just hope the new arena will still sell those pretzels and hotdog's. Nothing fancy but real basketball based on what I remember. But again I have not watched St. Johns at Alumni hall since Mark Jackson played.

Summer is coming to an end. Looking forward to final week of 5 Star camp which hopefully will be held in NE Pa. near my home. Though me and everyone I know considered our kids Hoop Group Kids when they played, I enjoy watching the All Star game at 5 star. Last year was sort of down but hopefully this year will be better.

Did anyone know that Rob Kennedy and the Hoop group guys always looked out for disadvantaged kids from the inner city. Not basketball stars just inner city kids needing to get away. Many kids without funds have been able to attend their camps free because Rob has always been a caring good guy. Of course once a kid got to be 14or 15 with potential, he had to pay based on NCAA rules and regs. Just wanted to put that out. Most camps never give back!

Rutgers Fans. Get your tickets for the Delaware game ASAP. trust me. This game will be a sell out and the Bob Rocks. University of delaware is a GREAT SCHOOL with a great fan base when they have a good team. This season the team should be very good.

I have not had a conversation with Steve Keller in many years. No understanding why but I just want to thank him as well for all he has done for many kids, including my son, over the years. Guy has assisted and given advice to thousands. I still remember Brian Crawford introducing my 8th grade son to him and next thing I know he was on recruiting lists.

Bring back the WAR IN THE WOODS. Great Event!

This weekend is the Rucker (NYC) Championships. Lots of memories associated with this event. Think I will go to championship games Sunday. Lots of networking!