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BASKETBULL’S FIRST EIGHT NOTES (UPDATED 9:30 PM)

BasketBull, an official Basketball Hall of Fame affiliate, has tipped off their inaugural First Eight event. The invite-only event is 1-day, 1-bracket and 1-champion and got underway this morning at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield (MA).

The event features eight of the top AAU programs in the region, and a couple from beyond (Florida Rams, Team Philly and a 16-U squad from the Netherlands), with the quck and easy schedule, college coaches are expected to make Springfield a stop on their July evaluation period agenda…and, as of this morning, they already have…

Here are some notes from throughout the day, provided by Zach Smart who is on location for NBE…

9:33 PM: Jermaine Sanders, a 6-5 off guard who will miss the services of scoring cyborg Durand Scott with Rice HS, has dieseled-up since the last time NBE saw him. He’s got the build of a Big East guard. The kid looks like he’s been on the creatine diet…He might have gotten into a fight with the New York Sports club.

The progression is evident in his play as well. He has a hand in everything, can sky for rebounds and handle the chore of guarding taller, more athletic players.

9:21 PM: Tyquan Goodlett, a 6-foot point guard from New Heights, is receiving interest from a laundry list of Big East schools, Marquette, St. John’s and Rutgers to name a few.

9:18 PM: Syracuse is loving New Heights/Rice sharpshooter Jermaine Sanders, according to coach Tiff Gibbs. Sanders’ game has also met the fancy of Villanova and Miami.

8:49 PM: An assistant from South Florida has been evaluating the talent and a Rutgers assistant is also putting in some hours in Springfield.

2:19 PM: Majok completes a traditional three-point play on a circus shot. CBC has a 15-point cushion with the second half winding down….

Majok reveals that St. John’s, Marquette, Notre Dame and Seton Hall are all in store for his services. No official visits are planned yet, but Majok likes the notion of hooping in the same conference as big bro.

1:50 PM: Majok Majok – built like a blacksmith, runs like a deer. This 6-foot-8 forward has a good basketball bloodline (big brother is at UConn and cousin is at Quinnipiac) and a knack for tearing down boards. Could emerge into a superior defender. Finished strong on several possessions. Majok’s gritty defense leads to fast breaks with the speedball brand of hoops CBC plays.

12:56 PM: Speak of him and he appears. Georgetown head coach John Thompson, known to the basketball culture as “JTIII” has just entered the building.

12:53 PM: All day, word of Nate Lubick de-committing from Georgetown hung around town.

NBE debunked the rumor, following Lubick’s game with the NE Playaz today. “I’m committed to Georgetown,” said Lubick, a big shooter who’s been working on improving his quickness and ability to defend different positions this summer.

When asked if he was considering re-opening his options, Lubick shook his head repeatedly, giving a quick “no.”

12:31 PM: Louisville-commit Josh Langford is a fundamentally sound guard in all aspects of his game. He turned heads, with Rick Pitino courtside, with his wowing athleticism and versatility. He’s also a kleptomaniac of a defender, making some steals that only rarified athletes on this level can make. He also contributed an eye-popping block and proved he could sky for boards. The 6-foot-7 southpaw from Huntsville, Ala., has already grown into a Big East body. He should be a glove-fit in Pitino’s system, one that features freakish athletes. He could be a supplement to Rhode Island sniper Mike Marra, who Pitino has netted for 2009.

Langford plays for the Florida rams 17U squad on the AAU circuit.

-James Williams, another high-octane guard who thrives in the Rams’ slash-and-burn offense. Getting a number of mid-major looks. Rutgers and Cincinnati have also expressed strong interest.

-It’s clear, sunny weather outside. But Denzel Brito was raining threes (3 straight) to trigger a New England Playaz offense in the cozy confines of the Mass Mutual Center. Brito (Stanford, Kentucky, Providence, Duke) recently played at Stanford’s summer basketball camp. He’s waiting for the Cardinal to offer, as he’s apparently fallen off the radar with the Friar coaching staff since they got a verbal commitment from Gerard Coleman. All alone at the break, Brito just vaulted his 6-2 frame in the air and threw down an emphatic two-handed dunk.

11:42 AM: a href=”http://w3.nbebasketball.com/big-east-team-pages/louisville/”>Louisville, Syracuse and Connecticut are the front-runners for ‘Fab’ Melo right now.

11:30 AM: Brief update on Nate Lubick:

Asked to comment this morning, NE Playaz head coach John Carroll stated to NBE’s Chris Dokish that, “Right now Nate is committed to Georgetown. What he does in the future is up to Nate. If you know what I’m saying. Is that a fair way to say it?”

11:13 AM: had about 2.5 hours of sleep last night, so I’m not even going to bother checking the clock (leave that to the editor at home office). It’s early here at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, though (not that early, Zach!!)…

-Fabricio de Melo, a hotly pursued product on the recruiting market, has swatted a bunch of shots and changed countless others. Melo, who’s supposedly eating up the summer slate in shark-size bites, still has some major holes in his game. Areas in need of refinement are his post up game. While the Al Jefferson understudy has been swallowing rebounds here, he needs to finish stronger and become more aggressive in terms of looking to score. The kid who arrived at Weston (Fla.) Sagement Upper School via Brazil at 7-feet, 260 plus some has induced drool from a bevy of coaches. While he’s altering the game defensively, he needs to kick the habit of fading away and forcing off-balance shots.

In other news, Andre Drummond, the towering center from Capitol Prep in Hartford, has opened up his jumpshot. He’s been working on extending it. Connecticut has been in active pursuit of the big behemoth, who lists them as his leader. Fitting as assistant coach George Blaney and Director of Basketball Operations Beau Archibald are here to see their local product.

10:17 AM: Rick Pitino of Louisville, Keno Davis of Providence, George Blaney of Connecticut and Jared Grasso of Fordham are some of the many coaches I recognized.

All coaches eyeing the Grassroots Canada-Mass Rivals 16-17U here at the Mass Mutual Center. It’s a buffet-line of them, as coaches from Siena, Penn, Miami and Florida State have all registered their presence as well.

Shamar Bennet, a 6-foot-4 guard from Toronto (Eastern Commerce HS) has a knack for snaking along the baseline and exploding to the tin…

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