sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 25,242
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- 108,858
Recruiting
Thomas Bryant, One of the Top Recruits in the Class of 2015, Keeps Syracuse at the Top of His List (PS; Waters)
Thomas Bryant, one of the highest-rated prospects in the Class of 2015, continues to keep Syracuse University at the top of his list of schools, his mother said Tuesday.
Bryant, a 6-foot-9 center from Rochester, N.Y., is rated No. 10 in his class by ESPN.com.
Bryant is being recruited by several of the top basketball programs in the country. He recently told Jeff Borzello of CBSSports.com that he would take official visits to Syracuse, Ohio State, Kansas and Missouri.
"I asked him about what schools he's interested in,'' Bryant's mother, Linda, said Tuesday. "He said, 'Mom, there's so many schools and they're all good.'
"He said Syracuse is still on the top of his list,'' Linda Bryant added. "That's what he told me.''
Linda Bryant said her son wants to take the NCAA's five allotted official campus visits.
"Syracuse is one,'' she said. "He hasn't told me the other four.''
...
College Basketball
Lessons From Peach Jam: 2015 Class is Weak, Bill Donovan is Great (sportingnews.com; DeCourcey)
Things learned last week at Nike’s EYBL Finals at the Peach Jam.
The class of 2015 stinks.
Is that too harsh? Perhaps even mean? OK, guilty as charged. It’s also true.
Look over the list of the top 10 prospects in the class. If you think signing No. 2 means you get this year’s Kevin Durant, or No. 10 is the next Tristan Thompson, you’re going to be disappointed.
Let’s put it this way: In a great class, the best 2015 player – Ben Simmons of Florida’s Montverde Academy – would be a strong No. 3. In this group, the only player who’d even challenge him for the top spot is 6-7 wing Jaylen Brown of Marietta, Ga.
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...
If the idea in cutting the shot-clock is to increase scoring, rulesmakers should remember that eight of the past nine teams to defeat Louisville in regulation required fewer than 75 points to get that job done.
I was sitting next to Mike Hopkins and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse for a game between Team Scan (featuring Cheick Diallo and Thomas Bryant) and Spiece Indy Heat (Caleb Swanigan and Deyonta Davis) and, after seeing so much zone defense played, turned to them and said, “You guys have to love this.”
Former Players
Brandon Triche on His Rome Baskeball Situation: Eurocup Opportunity Made the Difference (PS; Ditota)
Brandon Triche acknowledges it was difficult to say goodbye.
The former Syracuse University and Jamesville-DeWitt guard turned down an offer from Trento, the team he led to an Italian League championship this spring. Instead, he will play for Rome this season. Both teams will compete in Italy's highest professional basketball league - Serie A - but Rome's advantage is that it also competes in the Eurocup, which offers opportunities to compete across the continent.
"I wanted to advance my career, money-wise, but more importantly, basketball-wise," Triche said by telephone today. "I wanted to go to a place where I was going to get a lot of exposure, get better and have the best opportunity to get better.
"Rome plays in the Eurocup, which allows them to travel twice a week throughout Europe and play different teams. And I felt that was more important than going back to Trento. Even though they matched as far as pay, I thought it was better to play and travel more."
Triche's performance in the Serie A2 Gold League playoffs helped catapult Trento from essentially the Triple A of the Italian professional league to the Major Leagues: By virtue of its playoff championship, Trento moved up a division.
...
Dion Waiters Named to USA Basketball's Select Team (PS; Ditota)
Dion Waiters, the former Syracuse University shooting guard, will participate in the upcoming USA Basketball training camp as a member of the USA Select Team.
Waiters, entering his third season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, will travel to Las Vegas and train with the USA National Team July 28-31. The national team, of which SU coach Jim Boeheim is an assistant coach, is preparing for the FIBA World Cup in Spain later this summer.
Waiters also participated in last summer's USA National Team mini-camp in Las Vegas.
"Every kid," Waiters said last year during a telephone conversation, "dreams of being on the USA team growing up."
...
Tyler Ennis Will Not Accompany Team Canada on Its European Tour (PS; Ditota)
Canada Basketball revealed the roster this morning for its men's national team that will tour Europe starting Thursday.
Tyler Ennis, the former Syracuse University guard who was the 20th pick of the June NBA Draft, will not play for the national team. Ennis had been a member of Canada Basketball's U19 team that competed in the FIBA U19 World Championship last summer. He led the Canadians in scoring.
Canada basketball media relations people did not immediately explain why Ennis would not play for the team, just that he was not on the roster.
Maria-Leena Clarke, a spokesperson for Canada Basketball, said Ennis was at the team's practice today, but was simply watching the workout.
...
Other
Waiter at Update NY Restaurant Receives $1000 Tip, Told to Pay it Forward (PS; Herbert)
Dan Johnson would have loved this story...
A waiter in Upstate New York, got a very generous tip last week from a customer celebrating a birthday.
Michael Shafts told The Times-Union he was working at The Ginger Man restaurant in Albany on Wednesday night when a couple left him a $1,000 tip on a check for $113.89. A standard 15 percent gratuity would have been just $17, so the 878 percent bonus surprised Shafts.
"It was surreal. I was shaking. I couldn't feel my legs," he told the newspaper.
A photo posted by All Over Albany shows the receipt for the bill, with a note from the unidentified customer: "Pay it forward. My birthday present to me!"
According to the blog, a man was celebrating his 47th birthday with his wife and a 47-year-old bottle of amarone, an Italian wine, that they brought to the restaurant. Before leaving, his wife warned Shafts that "something insane is about to happen to you, just take it and do something good."
The Ginger Man owner Julie Byron told the Times-Union it was the biggest tip anyone had ever paid at the restaurant. The waiter added that he hugged the customer twice and tried to insist it was too much.
...
Thomas Bryant, One of the Top Recruits in the Class of 2015, Keeps Syracuse at the Top of His List (PS; Waters)
Thomas Bryant, one of the highest-rated prospects in the Class of 2015, continues to keep Syracuse University at the top of his list of schools, his mother said Tuesday.
Bryant, a 6-foot-9 center from Rochester, N.Y., is rated No. 10 in his class by ESPN.com.
Bryant is being recruited by several of the top basketball programs in the country. He recently told Jeff Borzello of CBSSports.com that he would take official visits to Syracuse, Ohio State, Kansas and Missouri.
"I asked him about what schools he's interested in,'' Bryant's mother, Linda, said Tuesday. "He said, 'Mom, there's so many schools and they're all good.'
"He said Syracuse is still on the top of his list,'' Linda Bryant added. "That's what he told me.''
Linda Bryant said her son wants to take the NCAA's five allotted official campus visits.
"Syracuse is one,'' she said. "He hasn't told me the other four.''
...
College Basketball
Lessons From Peach Jam: 2015 Class is Weak, Bill Donovan is Great (sportingnews.com; DeCourcey)
Things learned last week at Nike’s EYBL Finals at the Peach Jam.
The class of 2015 stinks.
Is that too harsh? Perhaps even mean? OK, guilty as charged. It’s also true.
Look over the list of the top 10 prospects in the class. If you think signing No. 2 means you get this year’s Kevin Durant, or No. 10 is the next Tristan Thompson, you’re going to be disappointed.
Let’s put it this way: In a great class, the best 2015 player – Ben Simmons of Florida’s Montverde Academy – would be a strong No. 3. In this group, the only player who’d even challenge him for the top spot is 6-7 wing Jaylen Brown of Marietta, Ga.
...
...
If the idea in cutting the shot-clock is to increase scoring, rulesmakers should remember that eight of the past nine teams to defeat Louisville in regulation required fewer than 75 points to get that job done.
I was sitting next to Mike Hopkins and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse for a game between Team Scan (featuring Cheick Diallo and Thomas Bryant) and Spiece Indy Heat (Caleb Swanigan and Deyonta Davis) and, after seeing so much zone defense played, turned to them and said, “You guys have to love this.”
Former Players
Brandon Triche on His Rome Baskeball Situation: Eurocup Opportunity Made the Difference (PS; Ditota)
Brandon Triche acknowledges it was difficult to say goodbye.
The former Syracuse University and Jamesville-DeWitt guard turned down an offer from Trento, the team he led to an Italian League championship this spring. Instead, he will play for Rome this season. Both teams will compete in Italy's highest professional basketball league - Serie A - but Rome's advantage is that it also competes in the Eurocup, which offers opportunities to compete across the continent.
"I wanted to advance my career, money-wise, but more importantly, basketball-wise," Triche said by telephone today. "I wanted to go to a place where I was going to get a lot of exposure, get better and have the best opportunity to get better.
"Rome plays in the Eurocup, which allows them to travel twice a week throughout Europe and play different teams. And I felt that was more important than going back to Trento. Even though they matched as far as pay, I thought it was better to play and travel more."
Triche's performance in the Serie A2 Gold League playoffs helped catapult Trento from essentially the Triple A of the Italian professional league to the Major Leagues: By virtue of its playoff championship, Trento moved up a division.
...
Dion Waiters Named to USA Basketball's Select Team (PS; Ditota)
Dion Waiters, the former Syracuse University shooting guard, will participate in the upcoming USA Basketball training camp as a member of the USA Select Team.
Waiters, entering his third season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, will travel to Las Vegas and train with the USA National Team July 28-31. The national team, of which SU coach Jim Boeheim is an assistant coach, is preparing for the FIBA World Cup in Spain later this summer.
Waiters also participated in last summer's USA National Team mini-camp in Las Vegas.
"Every kid," Waiters said last year during a telephone conversation, "dreams of being on the USA team growing up."
...
Tyler Ennis Will Not Accompany Team Canada on Its European Tour (PS; Ditota)
Canada Basketball revealed the roster this morning for its men's national team that will tour Europe starting Thursday.
Tyler Ennis, the former Syracuse University guard who was the 20th pick of the June NBA Draft, will not play for the national team. Ennis had been a member of Canada Basketball's U19 team that competed in the FIBA U19 World Championship last summer. He led the Canadians in scoring.
Canada basketball media relations people did not immediately explain why Ennis would not play for the team, just that he was not on the roster.
Maria-Leena Clarke, a spokesperson for Canada Basketball, said Ennis was at the team's practice today, but was simply watching the workout.
...
Other
Waiter at Update NY Restaurant Receives $1000 Tip, Told to Pay it Forward (PS; Herbert)
Dan Johnson would have loved this story...
A waiter in Upstate New York, got a very generous tip last week from a customer celebrating a birthday.
Michael Shafts told The Times-Union he was working at The Ginger Man restaurant in Albany on Wednesday night when a couple left him a $1,000 tip on a check for $113.89. A standard 15 percent gratuity would have been just $17, so the 878 percent bonus surprised Shafts.
"It was surreal. I was shaking. I couldn't feel my legs," he told the newspaper.
A photo posted by All Over Albany shows the receipt for the bill, with a note from the unidentified customer: "Pay it forward. My birthday present to me!"
According to the blog, a man was celebrating his 47th birthday with his wife and a 47-year-old bottle of amarone, an Italian wine, that they brought to the restaurant. Before leaving, his wife warned Shafts that "something insane is about to happen to you, just take it and do something good."
The Ginger Man owner Julie Byron told the Times-Union it was the biggest tip anyone had ever paid at the restaurant. The waiter added that he hugged the customer twice and tried to insist it was too much.
...
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