Recruiting News: Courtesy of Ramblin Red

Just thought i would post the comment from Ramblin Red regarding Georgia Tech's 2007 recruiting class. Ramblin Red has some good insight about all of the recruiting information. I appreciate his comments, and i will post them here for all to see. In other news, looks like the Portland Trailblazers take Jarrett Jack over Sebastian Telfair with their moves in the NBA Draft. I'll have a write up later about that situation and try to get some quotes from the Blazers about Jarrett staying in Portland. Thanks again Ramblin Red, and thanks to all who support the site. Cant wait till October 15th!!

RamblinRed - Here is how i would describe the recruiting of the PG's.

Maurice Miller - IMO the most likely signee. Alot of mutual interest. Had a so so spring AAU which has kept some suitors at bay. Memphis is going hard after Derrick Rose so they haven't put much effort into Miller yet. Right now i would consider him a solid GT lean.

Chris Wright - continues to list G'town as his favorite, though GT is one of about 7 schools he mentions consistently. Not likely to make a decision anytime soon. Was at the Team USA under 18 trials that Hewitt is an asst for so they likely got some face to face time. DePaul coach Wainwright is the other asst and he is also recruiting Wright.

Tyrell Reed - interesting dynamic here. GT is sitting a strong #3 behind UNC and Kansas. If one of those two offer i expect them to be chosen ahead of GT, but both are scholarship strapped and haven't offered yet. If for some reason neither offers then GT is Reed's most likely destination.

Jamelle McMillan - His recruiting is very interesting. GT has made big strides in the last 2 months, helped not the least by the fact that Jack plays for Jamelle's dad Nate. Of course Nate is also close friends with new NC ST coach Lowe. Appears to be a 3 team race - NC ST, GT, AZ ST (Sendek) with an ACC school most likely.

McCamey - GT staff likes him but GT appears to be on the outside looking in.

Any of the first 4 could end up in ATL imo, it just depends upon how the dominoes fall.

RamblinRed

Final Cut: Team USA cuts Gani Lawal

Unfortunately Gani Lawal was the last player cut from the USA Basketball team today which was training in San Antonio, Texas. Lawal, who was the youngest player on the floor by almost a year, is a 2007 Georgia Tech recruit. 23 players arrived in San Antonio for tryouts, and Gani made the Top 13, but unfortunately they were taking 12. Lawal seemed upbeat about the whole situation.

"I went there with the mindset of learning as much as possible. I wanted to go in there and learn as much as possible about myself and the other guys in the country," Lawal said. "I was going to be happy if I made the team or not. At the end of the day, I learned a lot and now I'm gong to take what I had learned and use it to my advantage.

"It was fun. You had a chance to test your skills against the best players and the best coaches you can get. Day in and day out, you were getting better. I was loving it."

Gani said he also enjoyed playing for Coach Hewitt during tryouts. Looks like Paul was probably one of the coaches who had to decide on the final roster.

"It was fun working with him. He coached my team in one of the scrimmages we had and I worked with him in some of the shooting drills that they ran. It was good learning experience for me because I learned more about his style and how he works with his guys. The thing that struck me about him was he said he was more of a teacher before being a coach. That really made me look forward to getting there in the fall of 2007."

Good luck Gani, looking forward to seeing you in 2007.

Hewitt recruiting a slew of point guards after Javaris era

Looks like Paul Hewitt is getting busy recruiting another point guard to make up for the projected quick exit of point guard Javaris Crittenton. Most of America's top point guards have Georgia Tech on the radar. The PG's Hewitt is recruiting consist of Maurice Miller of Memphis, Tyrel Reed of Kansas, Jamelle McMillan of Seattle, Chris Wright of Washington D.C. and Demetri McCamey of Chicago. Maurice Miller seems like the logical choice to head to the flats after we get a year of Javaris. Mo has been on campus to visit the Jackets twice, and the coaching staff has been to several of his games. Memphis, Tennessee, and Vandy are the ones to beat for his services according to Rivals.com. In my opinion look for Maurice Miller to sign with Georgia Tech rather quickly. If Maurice doesnt sign with us, i would think that Chris Wright, who has shown alot of interest in the Jackets will be our point guard of the future. Either way, the Jackets are in a win-win situation with several of the nation's top Point guards for 2007. Future looks good.

Georgia Tech Recruit Gani Lawal Makes Team USA Roster' Sweet 16; Hewitt to coach

Georgia Tech signee Gani Lawal recently made the Team USA Under 18 basketball team's cut to 16. The USA Team will ironically feature Paul Hewitt as an assistant coach. Lawal was impressive in the preliminary try outs scoring 19 points 6 rebounds and 4 blocks in one game. We will know later this week whether or not Gani will make the official 12 man team that will compete in San Antonio from June 28 - July 2nd. The tough part now, is trimming the roster down to the final 12, and accoring to USA Coach Lorenzo Romar, that could be a difficult process.

"The reduction from 16 to 12 is always a difficult process, you would like to think 12 would separate themselves but that's not always the case. It's very difficult down the stretch because one or two guys always make it very hard. It's tough when you bond together over a week's time and you feel like you've become a family and now you have to ask someone to leave, that's tough, but it's a part of what needs to happen, Romar added."

Sixteen Survive USA Final 16 cut

Chris Bosh to sign long term deal with Raptors, estimated $70M - 6 Years

Well it looks former Georgia Tech one year wonder Chris Bosh is about to be a rich man at the next level. Come July 12th, the Toronto Raptors stud, and NBA All-Star will sign a 6-year deal with the Raptors that will command between 70 to 75 Million Dollars. I dont think Chris needs to worry about where his next meal will come from. Bosh's announcement came as good news to the Toronto Raptors, and Chris said he cant wait to sign the deal. Can ya blame him?

"I can't wait to sign it," Bosh said. "I know where I'll be. If I didn't, I would have to answer all those free-agent questions. It's for me and my family. I can focus on building a championship team there." Bosh averaged averaged 22.5 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.13 blocked shots this past season.

Chris Bosh to sign 6 year extension

France News: Crittenton doesnt "eye to eye" with USA basketball coach; T-Young All Tourney Team

Seems like the real reason Javaris Crittenton didnt get much playing time last week in the NIKE Junior World Championships in France, was because he did not see eye to eye with USA coach Linzy Davis. Apparently Davis was irritated by Javaris' shoot first, and pass second attitude. Nic Wise, an Arizona signee got most of the playing time and ended up making the 2nd team All Tournament Team. Seeing Javaris play in a couple of games this year, i dont get the impression that he is a shoot first point guard. I am sure Javaris has his own thoughts on the matter, but i havent read anywhere where he had any quotes saying it. It was still a victorious tournament for the USA, and Thaddeus Young made the All-Tournament team. Seems like Javaris already has some steam before the season even starts. Knowing Javaris' work ethic, he'll be ready to prove Linzy Davis was wrong. Anyway, here is some news from the Tournament.

Thaddeus Young
Stats: 15.4ppg, 8.2rpg, 2apg, 3.8spg, 23mpg.

A left hander who is extremely fluid and athletic. He can shoot, drive and loves to get out on the break. Also very creative and has an engaging personality off the court. Thad is an elite level athlete with tremendous jumping ability as well as a good shot but he needs to put on weight. Despite the need for bulk, he grabbed 8.2 rebounds per game during the tournament and scored 15.4 points

Some more news and Notes:

Final Standings

1. USA
2. Turkey
3. Lithuania
4. France
5. Croatia
6. Slovenia
7. Sweden
8. Netherlands

Nike USA Eilte Team dominated the 20th Internationnal Tournament of Douai, with a lot of great players like MVP Chase Budinger (slam dunk contest winner) and the winner of the 3pt shotout Nick Calathes.

1st All Star Team: Nick Calathes, Martynas Gecevicius, Chase Budinger, Thaddeus Young, and Robin Lopez.
2nd Team: Nic Wise, Jeff Allen, Azizcan Ozdemir, Adrien Moerman and Ludovic Vaty.

Other Notes:

French standout Nicolas Batum, who won MVP at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament, didn't receive many minutes because the coach didn't want to use him because he wanted to preserve him for the European Championships. Since Team France never played the Team USA, Batum never got a chance to test himself against Budinger and Young. Batum finished with 10ppg and 4.8 rpg.

Javaris Crittenton struggled for playing time as he fell out of favor with coach Linzy Davis due to his shoot first style. Nic Wise ended up with more PT as well as Nick Calathes. Crittenton finished with 8ppg and 3.8apg.

Team USA takes title over Turkey 105-72, Buddinger named MVP

From AZcat.com
Team USA won the title at the 2006 Douai Junior World Championship on Sunday, defeating Turkey 105-72. After 22 points and 12 rebounds, future Wildcat Chase Budinger took home tournament MVP honors.

Chase Budinger won tournament and slam dunk contest MVP awards.
After the game, Budinger participated in a slam dunk contest and defeated players from France, Lithuania and Sweden, winning the event championship. Nick Calathes won the three-point shootout after the game.

In the dunk contest, Budinger found himself in the finals against a player from France that got to the last round by dunking over three teammates. However, the French dunker missed both of his dunks to start off the final round.

Budinger had some experience in this situation, as the exact same thing happened to him at the McDonald's All-American dunk contest. In that competition, Budinger attempted some difficult dunks and missed them. This time, he was given some different advice.

"I told him," said trainer Trent Suzuki. "'Listen, make one this time.'"

For the tournament, Budinger averaged 23.8 points (1st overall), 6.8 rebounds (6th overall) and 2.2 assists (16th overall). Nic Wise had three points and three assists in the championship game and finished the tournament averaging 9.6 points (16th overall) and 5.8 assists (1st overall).

Budinger wasn't the only American with a big performance in the championship game. Stanford-bound Robin Lopez had 19 points and 20 rebounds while Thaddeus Young had 17 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and six steals and Jeff Allen scored 19 points with 11 rebounds.

The USA is the first team in tournament history to score over 100 points in every game. The closest that any team came to the Americans was 24. When you combine those statistics with the USA winning the championship and all the event's awards, it's safe to say that it was a successful tournament.

"We won every piece of hardware you could win," said Suzuki.

I will have more on the stats later. Getting stats in France apparently is pretty difficult.

Nike Junior World Championship website (France)

Final: Team USA 120 Lithuania 97 (Box) Semifinal Game Stats

European Vacation: Thad Young and Javaris Crittenton in France

Thaddeus Young and Javaris Crittenton seem like they are starting one of those special bonds even before they step foot on the basketball court at Georgia Tech. Both Georgia Tech signees are in France this week to play in the Nike Junior World Championships in Douai, France. Both Critt and Thad are part of that team trying to in the Junior World Championship. Seems like both youngsters also keep in touch quite often via text messaging. As soon as the stats are available from France, i will be sure to post them on the website. Good luck guys and have a safe trip home.

"We talk almost every day", Crittenton said. "We have that instant messaging (text) ont he sidekick. We always want to have Chemistry on and off the court. We've built alot of off court chemistry".

Here'the whole story from the AJC (Click here)

Recruiting: Class of 2008 Sylvan Landesberg

(Courtesy: Fox Sports) Sylvan Landesberg, a rising junior out of Holy Cross High School in Flushing, N.Y., is one of the better players in the 2008 class. He has the ability to drain jumpers and take over a game offensively. At 6-foot-4 he also has the size to shoot over smaller defenders. Landesberg will get plenty of exposure this spring and summer when he plays for the New York Panthers. Georgia Tech, St. John's, and Virginia Tech have been very aggressive in chasing Landesberg.

Close friends Norm Roberts of St. John's and Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech now are competing for the same top talent. Each of them has already been to visit Landesberg during the last contact period. It will be interesting to see how these close friends adjust to being recruiting foes. Hewitt was a big supporter of Roberts for the St. John's job when it opened up after Mike Jarvis left.

Jarrett Jack to have ankle surgery; Will he join Bosh in Toronto?

From Blazers.com, looks like Jarrett will go under the knife in Los Angeles this week and miss 10 weeks of action. Jarrett will make a full recovery from an ankle injury that never really healed this season (Story below courtesy of blazers.com). In more interesting news, and i know Scott posted it over on the blog is a rumor about Jarrett going to Toronto in exchange for the #4 pick in this years draft. Pretty interesting. Check out Scott's article over on www.gtsports.blogspot.com about this story.

Guard Jarrett Jack will undergo surgery to remove scar tissue and loose particles from his left ankle Friday in Los Angeles, it was announced by the team Thursday.

“Jarrett played the entire season on an ankle that he badly sprained prior to the draft last year,” said Trail Blazers General Manager John Nash. “It never healed fully and he should be physically superior this coming season as a result of this procedure.”

Recovery time is expected at 8-10 weeks, and Jack will likely not participate in the Las Vegas Summer League in early July.

Posting averages of 6.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg and 2.8 apg during the 2005-06 season, Jack became the first Portland rookie in 10 years to log 1,500-plus minutes in his inaugural NBA campaign while leading the team with 79 appearances.

* UPDATE*
Portland Trail Blazers guard Jarrett Jack underwent successful surgery to remove scar tissue and loose particles from his left ankle Friday in Los Angeles. Dr. Richard Ferkel performed the procedure. Recovery time is expected to be 8-10 weeks, and Jack will likely not participate in the Las Vegas Summer League in early July.

Commentary: Is it just a matter of time before the Knicks come calling for Hewitt?

Everyone knows the feud going on between Stephon Marbury and Larry Brown in New York. Last week ESPN reported a rumor that the New York Knicks were going to buy out the contract of the current coach Brown. It is no secret that Paul Hewitt is a "die hard" New York Knicks fan. If you dont think so, just ask BJ Elder from an article when BJ was trying out for the New York Knicks.

“Coach (Paul) Hewitt is from New York and he is a HUGE Knicks fan,” the 6-4 Elder explains with a smile. “Oh, yes, we’ve heard about what the Knicks were doing all season. We knew all about the Knicks. Maybe too much.”

Nobody is quite sure what is going to happen with Larry Brown in New York just yet, but everyone would have to imagine that Paul Hewitt will get a call to be interviewed for the job. If the Knicks buy out Brown's contract, they will reportedly have to pay him in excess of 40 million dollars. Coach Hewitt's current contract at Georgia Tech pays him a little over a million dollars a year. I would have to say if the Knicks offer, Coach could be gone. It's his dream, but it's our dream to have him stay here for a couple more years at least. It should be interesting to see how it plays out. The good news for GT fans? Larry Brown has had a horrid start at his last two stops. Be ended up bringing Philly to the Finals, and then won a title with Detroit. So if you're reading this Isiah Thomas, please keep Larry one more year, and let us give Coach to you with a National Championship trophy.