Cincinnati News, Cincinnati Recruiting, Connecticut News, Connecticut Recruiting, DePaul Recruiting, Louisville Recruiting, Notre Dame News, Notre Dame Recruiting, Pittsburgh News, Rutgers Recruiting, Seton Hall Recruiting, St. John's Recruiting, Syracuse Recruiting, West Virginia Recruiting

BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (7/20/2009)

Everyone seems to be re-charging their batteries for the opening of the second July evaluation period which kicks off on Wednesday. Again, NBE will be out on the road as Jeff Borzello will head to Orlando to cover the 2009 AAU Super Showcase at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex. This event is absolutely loaded with elite teams and NBE is so excited to be bringing our readers our ‘live’ coverage and updates throughout.

Also, Doug Ferguson and his travelling road show will head to Vegas this week and then to the Phoenix area to cover the AAU action taking place at the Adidas Super 64, Reebok Summer Championship and Nike Main Event in Vegas and the Desert Duel Memorial in Phoenix. Once again we will be keeping track of who the Big East coaches are watching, as well as coaches from across the country, and evaluating the top prospects and learning of their recruiting interests as well. It will be another exciting week, for sure!!!

Remember, you can follow NBE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nbeblogger

In the meantime, we look to catch up on what is happening around the Big East with a News & Notes update that covers everything from recruitins, summer leagues, roster updates, schedule updates and more…

In his summer debut in the Hartford Pro-Am league, Ater Majok Shows His Skills, but Says Little (Hartford Courtant) in regards to his future plans. Major scored 20 points, but his Sprinfield Slamm lost to All Axxess, 106-100. Majok would not discuss if he would be playing with Connecticut this season or not.

On Sunday, however, Majok broke his three-month silence on his future plans, telling the Courant that he has informed UConn coach Jim Calhoun that Majok Will Play at UConn – Definitely (Hartford Courant) in the 2009-2010 season. Majok will be eligible to join the Huskies in mid-December after the first semester. He is a long and lean 6-foot-10 and with development and experience, the sky is the limit.
——————————————————————————-

The Hartford Courant also takes a look at a couple of the incoming UConn frosh at this weekend’s Pro-Am play:

Alex Oriakhi
Jamaal Trice
——————————————————————————-

While the 2010 recruiting class of Louisville has taken a few hits over the summer, the Card fans can be very excited about 2011 pledge Michael Chandler, who is emerging as an elite prospect in his class. His early commitment is a tribue to the Cards’ staff forward-thinking as Chandler played very little on the Lawrence North (IN) varsity last season. The 6-foot-11 center will work at adding weight as the U of L commitment Hopes to Improve and Expand (Louisville Courier-Journal) before heading to college in the fall of 2011.
—————————————————————————-

After a year off from playing, it looks like Cincinnati and Miami (OH) will be back to playing regularly with a two-for-one deal going forward. UC leads the all-time series 91-53 and will play in Oxford (OH) once for every two times Miami (OH) visits Fifth Third Arena. Miami is Back on UC’s Schedule (Cincinnati Enquirer) and both sides seem happy about it.

In other UC notes of interest, here is a good article on former Bearcat guard Steve Logan as Logan Recalls His Time at UC (Cincinnati Enquirer).
———————————————————————————

With Dayton picking up a commitment from Brandon Spearman, a shooting gaurd prospect out of Simeon High School in Chicago (IL), it is another eye-opening commitment for Brian Gregory’s 2010 class with the Flyers. Spearman was also recruited by DePaul and Dayton’s 2010 Class Leads to Questions about DePaul’s Future (ChicagoNow.com) as the Blue Demons’ revamped staff with a Chicago flavor is still without a commitment for 2010.
——————————————————————————–

When JD Weatherspoon committed to Xavier quite a while back, it was a very good get for the Musketeers as NBE thought the etremely athletic 6-foot-6 forward was just scratching his basketball potential. The rising senior out of Columbus (OH) Northland withdrew his commitment to XU when Sean Miller left for Arizona. However, Chris Mack and the new staff at Xavier are still in the hunt, as well as Ohio State, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Florida, Missouri, VCU and Cincinnati. Lately, Connecticut and Oklahoma State have also become involved. However, do not expect a decision soon (although, we have seen that change often times) as Weatherspoon says ‘I’ll Be Able to Wait’ (NBC4i.com) on a decision with a busy finish to July ahead playing with the All-Ohio Red AAU superpower.
———————————————————————————-

Adam Zagoria has an excellent article on 2010 recruit Tobias Harris: Harris Impresses with Summer Play (SNY.tv).

According to his father Torrel, who is guiding his son’s recruitment, the current list of potential colleges includes: Tennessee, a href=”http://w3.nbebasketball.com/big-east-team-pages/connecticut/”>Connecticut, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Maryland, Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, Rutgers, St. John’s, Virginia, Kentucky, Louisville and West Virginia.

Memphis, Kentucky, Florida and UCLA are also trying to get involved, Mr. Harris told Zagoria for the article.

NBE saw quite a bit of Harris at the Lebron James Skills Academy, King City Classic and the Peach Jam. Harris has always been an exceptionally strong player in fundamentals and very skilled for a 6-foot-8 forward. His improvements to his body have taken his overall game up a few notches and he is clearly an elite prospect in the class of 2010.
————————————————————————————

Another elite class of 2010 prospect is St. Patrick’s (NJ) point guard Kyrie Irving and Adam Zagoria spoke recently with St. Pat’s coach Kevin Boyle on Kyrie Irving’s Schools (ZagsBlog.com) on his list. Coach Boyle listed Duke, Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, Seton Hall, Texas A&M and Georgia Tech as the programs that Irving talks the most about.
———————————————————————————-

Billy Baron, son of Rhode Island coach Jim Baron and younger brother of Jimmy Baron, the A-10’s all-time leading scorer, will do a post-grad season at Worcester Academy and be part of the Class of 2010. Baron is ‘Wide Open’ in his recruitment, according to the New England Recruiting Report and wants programs to know his is not just following the family footsteps to URI like many expect.

Baron has already drawn some early interest from places like Davidson, George Tech, Stanford, and Notre Dame, which he refers to as his dream school, according to NERR.

Speaking of the Irish, Mike Brey has hired former player Harold Swanagan as Basketball Operations Coordinator (Journal Gazette).
—————————————————————————-

One of the keys to the 2009-2010 Big East race is how well Pittsburgh is able to replace starters Levance Fields, Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs who have graduated and DeJuan Blair who entered the NBA draft after his sophomore season. To throw matters more into an uncertain mode, the only returning starter, Jermaine Dixon, suffered a broken foot playing in the Pittsburgh Summer Pro-Am basketball league and is out of action until sometime in September.

Pitt has always turned players over under Jamie Dixon and Ben Howland before him and stayed in the top half of the conference standings. If they are to do that once again, Gilbert Brown will be a key player as he looks to step out of the shadow of Sam Young on the wing. The uber-athletic Brown has been slowed by injuries in his three seasons in Pittsburgh, forcing him to redshirt in his first year. Now a junior, Pitt’s Brown Builds a Big East Body (Beaver County Times), which is what former assistant and current Robert Morris head coach says “That’s what they do at Pitt,” in hopes of being the player the Panthers can depend on this coming season.

After a strong showing this year with the U-19 USA team, which won a suprising gold medal in the FIBA world championships, Asthon Gibbs looks like another Panther taking a step forward. Gibbs took the role of team point guard for the USA team and could be in line to replace Fields for Pitt next season. After playing for coach Dixon, Gibbs Says Don’t Underestimate Pitt (ZagsBlog.com) this season.
——————————————————–

——————————————————–

Big East Football Season Ticket Links

2009 Cincinnati Bearcats Football Tickets – Season Package


2009 Connecticut Huskies Football Tickets – Season Package


2009 Louisville Cardinals Football Tickets – Season Package


2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Tickets – Season Package


2009 Pittsburgh Panthers Football Tickets – Season Package


2009 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Football Tickets – Season Package


2009 Syracuse Orange Football Tickets – Season Package


2009 South Florida Bulls Football Tickets – Season Package


2009 West Virginia Mountaineers Football Tickets – Season Package

All individual games on sale too