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KING CITY CLASSIC LIVE UPDATES (UPDATED AT 12:30 PM)

Anthony Jaskulski and Ray Mernagh have made the mad dash from Akron to Cleveland and positioned themselves inside the Wolstein Center on the Cleveland State campus for Nike’s King City Classic. Many of college basketball’s biggest names from the coaching, and media, ranks are in the stands as the Lebron James Skills Academy was closed to coaches, so this is their first chance to see these players in this evaluation period.

Thursday is playoff day and the championship game is underway late this morning before the camp breaks up. We will continue some live updates through the championship game as the inaugural King city Classic is coming to an end…

THURSDAY:

12:27 PM: 83-67 Memphis with 4:31 left

Uconn pressing Powell gets steal and Pressey scoops it up for 2 points

DeShaun Thomas almost takes down the rim but the ball pops out and they foul Kennedy who misses but Coleman continues his inspired play with the offensive rebound.

Phil Pressey needs to develop a consistent three-point shot

Will Barton hits both freebies

Dunk drill now as niether team is defending

95-77

Memphis wins 95-77 – 8th seed wins title.

That’s a wrap and I’m out!

12:07 PM: Quincy Miller with the sweet hesitation in the lane, then hops through the ozone layer for a jam.

Markus Kennedy runs the floor — throw it down big man

Bell blocks then runs the floor and dunks off rivers pass

Coaches Update:

Cincinnati asst Tony Stubblefield, Bob Huggins, Weber, Johnny Dawkins, Billy D, Matta, asst Chris Davis, Pat Sandle (on the road guess because Jamie Dixon is out of the country), Izzo with ex-asst Gregory and current asst DJ Stephens, Herb Sendek (representing Penn Hills Pa and Arizona State),Tubby, coach K and Wojo, JTII, Tommy Amaker and UCLA asst Scott Duncan

11:57 AM: Andre Stringer – all 5-9 of him — tries to take Payne at the rim instead of hitting two trailing teammates and is justifiably rewarded with a denial.

Johnny O’Bryant with the wing jumper.

Payne left handed jump hook; smooth looking post player.

Thomas snatches the defensive rebound.

Nick Johnson rejects Coleman at the rim to prevent the buzzer beater — great play by a great athlete.

49-45 at the half.

11:49 AM: Markus Kennedy follows Rivers miss and tips ball in over Miller

Will Barton “great defense Will Barton” gets his coach geeked.

Quincy Miller hits the three…hmmm

Rivers finishes a tough drive with his left hand.

Gerard Coleman makes a great read and pass off the drive and Youcoubou is the beneficiary knocking down the wide open J

Bradley Beal has a pretty stroke — knocks one down from the corner.

Powell is incredibly skilled but I’d like to see him inside a bit more…just saying.

Paul Pressey – magician with the left handed over the shoulder stevie wonder (blind) pass

11:42 AM: DeShaun dunks thanks to Pressey.

Then rebounds.

Pressey to Powell for dunk sweet feed.

Nick JOhnson skies for two.

Powell block. 24-24 after turnover. Rivers on the handle…misses and that turns into a Powell 3.

Will Barton crosses Powell and scores.

Will Barton is buckets.

Pressey jumps and denies the post pass after fronting Barton.

Gerard Coleman is similar to Barton, scores on slashing drive.

James Bell with nice mid-pullup.

33-32

11:36 AM: Championship game between UConn and Memphis…

Dwight Powell posts fades hits and is fouled misses layup.

Will Barton sneaks out and gets a jam 2-2.

Powell blocks Kennedy and Johnson dunks on other end

Nick Johnson with an incredible pin after sprinting from halfcourt to get there — kid is a phenomenal athlete.

DeShaun bumps his way inside for 2.

Will Barton from Austin Rivers for 3.

Steal and Will Barton punches it from his waist. 11-9.

Subs In.

Adriean Payne shoots a three (why) that hits nothing but crashes and dunks (he does that well). What a body and what an athlete.

Quincy Miller with a nice drive and pullup from nine feet – much more active today, can see the athleticism folks rave about (very quick first step).

Payne dunks.

Will Barton has a nose for the hoop — spins and gets fouled on his drive. Hits one of two.

Gerard Coleman with a nice reverse. 18-16 UConn

Barton with breakaway steal and dunk to tie it up.

WEDNESDAY:

9:19 PM: Go – Go Gadget stilts for 5-foot-5 Ahmad Starks who just laid down a breakaway slam dunk. Makes us taller people feel weak and hop-less one jam at a time.

9:11 PM: Dwight Powerll just slammed an ally-oop jam down so hard, they heard it in Canton. I think he’ll reach Sandusky the way he’s playing above the rim tonight.

9:05 PM: Fourth time I (Anthony J) have watched Pressey today – still impressed. They’ll change the head of Eisenhower to Pressey on the 10-cent piece with the way he is dropping dimes!

9:04 PM: Tobias Harris continues to score a bunch of buckets in the midrange area — he’s really long, has a quick first move, and finishes in a variety of ways.

Terrence Jones blocks a shot up top then controls it and makes a great bounce pass to Irving and follows his miss with a tip — impressive sequence for a 6-8 kid

Andre Dawkins is getting off a little bit — Okaro White just blocked Gilchrists shot (White is the king of 30 second bursts)

8:50 PM: DaJuan Coleman has every big-timer in the front row watching him and finishes strong.

Cameron Wright misses a 3 badly and then doesn’t get back as his man scores a layup.

Kyle Witjer is a solid player. A bit skinny still but he has some skills and touch for a big.

Rakeem ‘Roc’ Christmas is the best shot blocker in the country!

8:40 PM: Jelan Kendrick just banged it on Irving (maybe he’ll tweet about it), then stood over him after being called for the charge (bad call)…

Okaro White is a supreme athlete, just caught the ball at the top of its arc and straight snatched it down.

8:14 PM: Juwan Staten will be a great point guard at Dayton — just broke Ray McCullum down and dished to Trevor Cooney who finished. 104-82 Oklahoma with 53 seconds left.

8:09 PM: Teague with gorgeous no look to Alexander under the hoop — Magic-like really.

Bullock nails a 3.

Keala King get up in the sky for the putback then.

Justin Anderson announces his presence with authority on a baseline drive/jam (Bull Durham reference for the old-heads).

Trevor Cooney is pure shot.

Except when he tries it off the dribble when getting hit in the head — as he said “damn”

Tony Mitchell with the acrobatic finish.

Keala King finishes with a reverse.

81-67 Oklahoma with 9:02 to go. The game is 63 minutes old.

7:36 PM: CJ Fair streaks into the lane gets the ball and finishes violently.

Jared Sullinger’s buddy is screaming “eat Sulli eat eat” at him as he does work inside.

Daniel Alexander makes two really nice passes for buckets in a row.

Gonzo is in the house again watching the other court along with Pelphrey and Billy D.

7:27 PM: Play resumes with Oklahoma and Duke squaring off on one court to begin evening action.

Perry Jones scores in the midrange, blocks Sullinger and scores on the break. Ray Ray McCallum hits a 3. Duke up 13-7 early.

Teague with the burst to the rim for 2.

Teague vs McCallum and Sullinger vs Ellis matchups to watch with first units.

Bakari Turner is full of energy and misses at the rim after changing his shot twice in the air — he did get an impressive rebound on the defensive end preceding that though.

CJ Fair gets Tre Ziegler in the air and scores.

Alex Kirk pins Gilbert’s shot.

Ziegler finishes strong after contact. Then cleans up on the O- board and scores (GREAT REBOUND). He then dishes on the break quite nicely to Turner who gets fouled.

Dion Waiters put his head down and draws questionable foul.

Sullinger with a big time defensive rebound.

Coaches Break — front row is Mark Fox, Matta (J-Boals), ‘Ol Roy, Drew, B-Gregory, John Groce and the Brothers Miller (Sean and Arch). Down the other end is Tom Crean, Josh Pastner. Mike Montgomery and Beilein in the house too. Howland, Huggs and Frank Martin, Dwayne Stephens (MSU asst) Rick Stansbury.

Dion Waiters just took an awful shot.

Tre Ziegler (who’s Pop is in the crowd) always makes the right play.

Both bigs in the game right now Gilbert and Kirk, are having trouble finishing through bumps.

Gilbert hears me and promptly blocks a shot.

4:18 PM:
Gerard Coleman hits a 3.

Gilchrist pulls up from 23 — bottoms.

DaJuan Coleman gets a tip-in.

113-90

Johnny O’Bryant dunks again 118-93 — coaches are tired in the stands and making dinner plans on their phones.

4:05 PM: Tobias with the 3 from the top.

Crandall Head is a confident kid — that’s a good thing in this case. Heard a lot about Wayne Blackshear from folks in the Chi… and I’m waiting.

Johnny O’Bryant sends a kid flying with a skillfully executed up and under for the bucket.

Coach K in the house.

Gonzo is in the building reppin Seton Hall.

4:00 PM: Taran Buie is NOT here at the King city Classic. Buie was injured yesterday at the LJSA and went directly home. Not sure of the extent or nature of the injury.

Bob Huggins is also paying close attention to Roscoe Smith.

Anthony J agrees with Ray M that Phil Pressey is one of, if not THE, best player here. Hard to find anything wrong with his game. He’s got the entire package.

Bob Huggins has been on his phone a while…but, when McCallum, Brundage, Zeigler, Moses Morgan and Bakari Turner hit the floor, he seemed to take more of a notice.

3:53 PM: Tobias Harris just hit a nice left handed jumphook over an extended CJ Leslie

Michael Gilchrist runs the point and Kyrie Irving posts up and scores.

Tobi Oyedeji throws in a nice looking jumphook — soft.

Irving with the lefthanded bounce pass off the dribble.

Will Barton just tried to maim Gilchrist.

‘Worldwide’ Wes is chilling with the Kentucky staff after small talk with Roy.

Johnny O’Bryant flies through the lane and slams.

CJ Leslie just caught one at the top of the board and hammered it.

Reggie Smith gets on the floor to get the ball back.

Tobias scores over Leslie with a runner then complains because the ref calls him on a strip at the other end (it was all ball)

3:45 PM: Couple more recruiting notes…

Jim Calhoun was watching Roscoe Smith very closely and was taking notes as Smith played a really solid game on the offensive end, dropping shots from nearly everywhere.

Phil Pressey was talking very high about Connecticut and eyes lit up when informed he had an interested observer in Jim Calhoun watching him play…

3:30 PM: Coach Calipari, Orlando Antigua and Rod Strickland are all watching Gilchrist right now. Gilchrist’s Mom was recently quoted in a Philadelphia newspaper that Kentucky and Villanova are his two favorite schools.

3:15 PM: Recruiting Updates…

Jamail Jones – Named host of southern schools like Georgia, Georgia State, plus South Florida, Xavier, BC, Cincinnati and Marquette. Wide open right now will cut his list down to 5 or ten later this summer.

Cameron Wright named Dayton, Xavier, Notre Dame, Wisconsin among others.

2:55 PM: Rakeem Christmas will not be denied — hoop +1 (again) but his team takes the L 103-95

2:47 PM: ‘Roc’ Christmas just freaking took it from his waist and crushed Malcolm Gilbert’s dreams.

2:29 PM: Jared Sullinger and Reggie Bullock just spent the last four minutes verbally abusing Andre Dawkins and the ref just gave Dawkins a tech!

2:22 PM: Cooney with a deep 3.

St Pats Kevin Boyle is coaching hard!

Epps makes a nice dribble drive and sets Xmas up with a dunk.

Jelan Kendrick breakaway slam and they call Xmas on a goaltend that looked clean from midcourt.

Sullinger is having his way inside now.

2:14 PM: Anthony Grant has been quietly watching the action all morning with an assistant. Paul Hewitt and Trent Johnson also here. Buzz Williams hasn’t moved all morning and afternoon.

Wainwright has now moved down some to chat with Jay Wright — there’s a female reporter talking to them but she seems more interested in J-Philly than Jay-Chi.

2:10 PM: Sullinger takes a charge.

Jamail Jones nails a 3.

White denies Sullinger but he gets it back and dunks.

Teague seems to do well playing through contact and he throws a gorgeous bounce pass to Kaela King for the buzzer-beating layup.

51-49 at the half. The scoreboards are behind me so I have no idea who’s winning (like that matters).

2:04 PM: Jerry Wainwright in the house–my man!

1:57 PM: Reggie Bullock denies White at the rim.

Dawkins dunks viciously on a breakaway.

LJ Rose just made a real nice play to get his man a wide open look that goes down.

Cooney nails a 3.

Jelan Kendrick scores then Christmas dunks on the other end.

1:52 PM: Georgetown head man JTII in third row as Jared Sullinger starts things off with a block then blocks again on second possession.

Reggie Bullock hits a 3…

Sullinger beasts somebody on the off board for 2 and Teague abuses Guo for a bucket but Guo comes right back with the and1.

Cameron Wright has a nice midrange game, pulls up off the bounce really well for two.

Jay Wright joins an assistant about halfway back.

Epps hits a 3 on Juwan Staten

Staten sets up on Malcolm Gilbert nicely.

Christmas blocks a j and then a dunk attempt on consecutive possessions.

Andre Dawkins has a nice take and Kendrick converts a crazy drive.

Teague makes a nice bounce pass in traffic to sullinger and he’s fouled.

Sullinger rips Ferguson at halfcourt. G

uo gets another and1 and screams “whoooo” and some of the coaches in the first row smile.

Teague makes a sweet inside/out dribble and sticks a 13 foot pullup.

Guo draws a foul on Teague.

Teague just tried to bang one on Okaro White, who then pins Sullinger too.

1:30 PM: It is Oklahoma versus Syracuse in King City Classic action…

Oklahoma has Marquis Teague,LJ Rose, Juwan Staten, CJ Fair, Keala King, Trevor Cooney, Daniel Alexander, Malcolm Gilbert, Reggie Bullock and Jared Sullinger

Syracuse counters with Aliun Guo, Isaiah Epps, Jelan Kendrick, Andre Dawkins, Trevor Lacey, Rakeem Christmas, Jamail Jones, Cameron Wright, Dominique Ferguson, Okaro White and Brandon Dawson.

11:57 AM: Leslie continues to do work on the baseline/post, spinning and getting to the rim.

Johnny O’Bryant just flushed a miss hard to tie the game at 94.

Mike Shaw crahes for two and then gets a runout, Nova up 98-94 with 3:20 left.

Ahmad Starks just hit a nice pullup on the break then did it again from 3 and suddenly its a 103-95 lead for ‘Nova.

Roscoe hits both freebies .

Memphis has countered by putting Rivers back in. Beautiful drive and finish with the left by Shaw 107-98 Nova with 30 seconds left.

11:42 AM: Daniel Bejarano just hit a three from the corner.

Andre Stringer struggles making the decision when it involves passing. He appears to be a scoring point guard, emphasis on the scoring part.

Bejarano just sunk another 3 this one from the deep wing that had Jereme Richmond shaking his head.

Will Barton just abused somebody along the baseline before dropping in a teardrop. Y

oucoubou rebounds real well for 6-3 kid, likes to mix it up with the trees.

CJ Leslie throwing dudes shots and he has great mitts (just caught a pass that was thrown behind him at halfcourt while he was on the dead run with one hand and just kept rolling.

11:36 AM: JTIII paying close attention when Tobias Harrs handles the rock. The GTown mentor shook his head in approval when Harris threw down an and-1 jam.

11:27 AM: CJ Leslie just pinned James Johnson and then got rewarded with a screaming dunk down the other end.

11:25 AM: Quddus ‘Deuce’ Bello (name challenger for Youcoubou) just shook Austin Rivers pretty hard but missed the shot.

Markus Kennedy just crashed the boards for the putback.

Jamal Branch is really put together well — 6-5, 217 — for a 2/3 combo guy.

Bello just hurdled Branch at halfcourt!

Roscoe Smith is ballin, just hit a fadeaway after chasing down a rebound.

Mike Shaw with the 3.

Austin Rivers is not happy with his team right now “we gotta wake up man” and then he turns it over on an ill-advised wraparound. Makes up for it with a sweet bounce pass for a bucket on the next possession.

11:16 AM: Evan Smotrycz –6-9 — just hit a 3 at the halftime buzzer and we’re tied at 54

11:11 AM: Johnny O’Bryant is all over the floor and boards — he plays real hard.

11:09 AM: Ashcroft Youcoubou (best name here) just hit the floor going after a loose ball (props to him).

Austin Rivers just hit a nice rainbow 3 after a jab-step off his dribble (they were teaching that at LBJ).

Ralston Turner has made some plays and JT3 has taken up the front row with ‘Ol Roy.

CJ Leslie is getting busy.

Gerard Coleman is as well, just nailed a sweet three from the wing and then ran the floor for a layup.

Mike Shaw just denied Leslie.

Perry Ellis is playing real well.

10:56 AM: Game two on court two is Nova v Memphis.

My guy CJ Leslie just hit a nice jumphppk in front of Billy D (no doubt babysitting Austin Rivers and checking out new talent).

Markus Kennedy just got and 1 in the lane against James Johnson.

CJ Leslie goes to the rim again and gets fouled by Mike Shaw. Hits both foul shots.

Roscoe Smith just hit a nasty step-back 3.

CJ Leslie is being told “one ball, five guys” by coach.

Jamal Branch just made a great move amongst the trees to score, made a pump fake and got two guys off the ground with it.

Markus Kennedy just made a good defensive play in the post, earning praise from his coach. This game is going up and down as the score 27-18 with 14:28 left.

Kendall Marshall just made a great block and should be getting the and 1 if these refs know what there doing (they don’t as they say it wasn’t goaltending).

Will Barton just got the off rebound and put a nice 12 footer in.

10:41 AM: Dwight Powell update – Is completely open, he’s waiting for the July period to be over before he even looks at who he’s considering. See’s himself as a 3/4 combo in college, has a post game but doesn’t see himself in that role at the next level. Has really great range for a 6-10 kid, works at IMG with my boy Dan Barto. Says he’s trying to bulk up some but its hard when all he’s doing in the summer is traveling.

Will be a great get for anyone because of his size, his ability to block shots and rebound, and the fact that he can step out and hit shots (will be a huge mismatch for other bigs at the next level).

10:29 AM: Epps putting on a ballhandling show running clock, finally gets fouled and hits both shots (might be his first buckets of the day) but his team wins by a score of 89-76.

10:27 AM: Tom Crean is watching this game intently now after seeing Marquis Teague do some work on the other court in a game that has ended in a blowout.

Billy D and Rob Lanier are here now.

Pressey just shook poor Guo up like he was a bag of chicken breading. But it looks like Guo’s squad is gonna get the W as their nup 12 with a couple minutes left.

DeShaun Thomas with the and 1. IMHO he’s the better OSU recruit between him and Sullinger.

Cameron Wright continues to jump out at me with about 2-3 plays every time I watch him.

It’s a dunk clinic now as Uconn is pressing and getting beat down the floor.

Okari White is a blue collar athletic 6-8 that steps up to any challenge (although he just got pinned by Powell!).

10:14 AM: Quincy Miller is a good looking youngster that will probably grow into his body some more but he should definitely stay inside 17 feet. My man here says Duke is on him some, thinking he might grow into a Chris Bosh type but I don’t see the Kevin Durant comparisons I’ve read about in other places. They look alike but that’s about it!

10:01 AM: Trent Johnson now in the house, Bruce Weber, Ben Howland, O’l Roy Williams, Bill Self, etc.

9:59 AM: ‘Nique Ferguson just had a beautiful post move for a bucket avoiding the double team with an up and under

Epps is struggling with his J but his team is winning by 14 mostly do to the second units

9:54 AM: This Payne kid has a chance to be sooo good

Christmas’ game has come so far — you can actually see him trying new moves and putting together multiple moves like a whole world is opening up for him

9:50 AM: Jamail Jones just took it coast to coast, backed out with his dribble and nailed a three — impressive at 6-6

9:43 AM: Isaiah Epps just made a nice play with time running down hitting his man under the hoop for a bucket rt before half

9:41 AM: Rakeem Christmas just hit a face-up j from 16 – impressive/

9:40 AM: Buzz Williams is watching the action…

9:36 AM: Pitt associate head coach Tom Herrion is smartly and strategically sitting between both courts watching the action with Pat Sandle. With Jamie Dixon tied up this evaluation period with Team USA’s U-19 squad in New Zealand, Herrion is heading the Pitt delegation on the road. Coach Herrion was seen jotting down several notes after a nice-looking Malcolm Gilbert turnaround jumper.

9:30 AM: All teams here are going by school name (Nike schools of course, how fair is that subliminal?). Uconn starts out with Adrien Payne rejecting a shot and Phil Pressey picking the ball up and promptly turning it over on a lob — guess he read my update last night on top PG at LJSA.

Jim Calhoun is in the front row along with Sean Miller, Thad Matta (with my boy asst Jeff Boals) and Xavier’s new man Chris Mack.

Jay Wright is watching too.

All no doubt checking on Mr. Payne, who’s an athletic beastly mix of shotblocking, three point shooting, court running 6-9 and 215 pounds.

Paul Pressey just locked Isaiah Epps up and stripped him at half court causing Calhoun to whisper to his assistant.

Dwight Powell is 6-10 and is rebounding on the offensive boards and stroking three’s with regularity. Epps is 0-3 from deep.

Payne just beasted Rakeem Christmas on the blocks but Rakeem pays him back with a putback on the other end. Payne then beats him down the floor and gets fouled.

Nick Johnson is really athletic guard that likes to get his own offense for himself — at LBJ the ball seemed to die in his hands but he’s sharing it a bit more here.

Jelan Kendrick is trying to get going and does si by drawing a foul and hitting both ft’s.

Norm Roberts is chilling with Gary Waters and Huggs up there as well.

Brandon Dawson just got a big time offensive rebound for a 6-5 guy.

Aliun Guo is a Chinese kid thats been doing his best all week. He’s a guard and has his own translator (no not Colin Pine) but he gets frustrated/rattled with the ball pressure the American kids put on him. Dwayne Stephens from Michigan State. Okaro White is mixing it up inside and scoring on putbacks. DeShaun Thomas is gonna be a player for Ohio St.