Marques Bolden is honored for being selected to the Jordan Brand Classic (Photo: Jordan Brand Classic)
Marques Bolden is eager for his first trip to New York. That it includes playing in the Jordan Brand Classic is even better.
“Getting a chance to play in Brooklyn and obviously, I’ve never been there. And then playing in an NBA arena like the Barclays Center, that’s a big deal,” he said. “It’s a great feeling to be playing in the Jordan Brand Classic.”
Clipping will be illegal anywhere on the field in high school football after the rules committee for the National Federation of State High School Associations removed the rule that allowed clipping in the free-blocking zone.
Blocking in the back or the back of the leg had been allowed in the zone, which is the rectangular area extending laterally four yards either side of the spot of the snap and three yards behind each line of scrimmage.
“The NFHS Football Rules Committee’s action this year on making clipping illegal in the free-blocking zone once again reinforces its continued effort to minimize risk within the game,” Bob Colgate, director of sports and sports medicine at the NFHS and staff liaison for football, said in a statement.
Two other changes announced Wednesday involve equipment.
Tooth and mouth protectors that are completely clear or completely white will now be allowed. There were no changes in the requirements of the function of the equipment, just the color.
Also, according to the NFHS, football gloves are now required to meet either the new Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) specifications or the existing National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) test standard at the time of manufacture.
Vincent Cole was named to the 4A all-state team by the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association on Wednesday afternoon. On Wednesday, Cole posted a SportsCenter-worthy highlight.
The 6-5 junior small forward for James Island Charter (Charleston) took the pass and then downed this athletic one-handed jam.
Cole finished with 23 points in James Island Charter’s 60-50 victory against North Augusta. James Island moves to the second round of the AAAA playoffs.
Jenkins guard Whitney Creech reacts after she scored 71 pounts against Paintsville in overtime to become the all-time scorer in Kentucky at 4, 957 on Feb. 2 (John Flavell, Special to the Courier-Journal)
Creech added another big night to her ledger on Wednesday in a rare basketball doubleheader. Her Jenkins (Ky.) team played two games against Cordia (Hazard).
Creech, a Western Kentucky signee, finished a total of 93 points on the night — 41 in the opener and 52 in the nightcap. Cordia returned to action with these games after forfeiting its last three, according to the KHSAA scoreboard.
The final scores were 112-21 and 86-7. As pointed out by our colleague Jason Frakes at the Louisville Courier-Journal, Creech could have had way more.
Creech was coming off a 59-point performance on her Senior Night on Saturday with her future coach, Michelle Clark-Heard, in the stands.
Markell Johnson is not just a showman on the court. Johnson has some flair in his social media game too.
Johnson, a junior point guard for East Technical in Cleveland, is ranked as the No. 2 player in the state of Ohio for the Class of 2017 and recently received an offer from Ohio State.
In a game this week, Johnson threw down a vicious dunk in which he went between the legs. But before he was ready to post the video, he told his Twitter followers that he needed 50 retweets.
50 Retweets and I'll post that between the legs ‼️😂
SPASH senior Sam Hauser has helped the Panthers enjoy a marvelous run over the past three-plus years. (Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin file photo)
The matchup: No. 14 Stevens Point Area (Wis.) at D.C. Everest (Schofield, Wis.) at 8:30 p.m. ET in a Wisconsin Valley Conference game.
Stevens Point player(s) to watch: Trevor Anderson and Sam Hauser are once-in-a-lifetime players for the storied program. Anderson, a 6-2 guard who will attend Wisconsin Green Bay, set the school career scoring record earlier this season and has eclipsed more than 2,000 points. He is averaging 25.4 points per game in league games. Hauser, a 6-7 forward heading to Marquette, is a scorer and a rebounder who would have the school’s career scoring record were it not for his teammate. He is averaging 18.5 points and 8.8 rebounds. Anderson is the No. 1 scorer in the Wisconsin Valley Conference and Hauser is the No. 2 scorer and top rebounder. The team has eight seniors overall who are about to finish an unprecedented run of success. The group has only lost one conference game in four years.
D.C. Everest player(s) to watch: First, kudos on the nickname. The Everest Evergreens rolls off the tongue. Jacob Gebert, a 6-4 senior, is the leading scorer at 15.7 points per game in league games and Riley Peterson, a 6-foot junior guard, also averages in double figures at 11.2 points per game. Gebert also averages 5.2 rebounds per game.
SPASH’s Trev Anderson looks to pass after driving the baseline against Eau Claire North last season.
What to expect: The defending state Division I champions seem to have all the talent required to repeat for the first time in school history, but Stevens Point still has some regular season business to attend to before the postseason begins. A year ago, Stevens Point went 27-1 and beat three-time defending champion Germantown in the final for the school’s first state title since 1994. This year’s team has continued that dominance with wins by substantial margins and has already clinched its fourth consecutive conference title. Everest is coming off a 51-46 overtime victory against Wausau East.
Shareef O’Neal is a 6-9 sophomore at the Windward School in Los Angeles with offers already in hand from USC, UCLA and many others. He also is the son of Shaquille O’Neal.
Shareef is not the same type of massive physical presence inside as a his dad and has said he wants to make his own name. But he’d be foolish not to rely on the wealth of experience that his dad can offer.
“My dad has given me long talks about how I don’t have to play if I don’t want to. It’s my choice,” he said. “He’s not forcing me to play.
“For the longest time, I thought I had to play basketball just because basketball is a family thing. He says I don’t have to play for anybody. As long as I’m making my family happy, then I’m doing the right thing. I don’t have to go out there and play for what the press is going to say, what the scouts are going to say or what the crowd is going to say.”
Shareef is featured in the well-done video above from Home Team Hoops with interviews and highlights. It’s worth your time.
Top high schools players are not just convincing each other which colleges to attend. It seems to have spilled over into which of the top major All-American games.
A pair of second-generation Florida stars from exchanged tweets Thursday night when Patrick Surtain Jr. announced that had been invited to the 2018 U.S. Army All American Bowl. Surtain plays for American Heritage in Plantation, where he is coached by his father, a three-time Pro Bowler in an NFL career with the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs.
His tweet was met with a reply from Al Blades Jr., saying that Surtain would be playing in the Under Armour All-American Game with him where they could be coached by Deion Sanders, who has regularly worked with players at the game.
Blades, a sophomore at the University School in Fort Lauderdale, recently committed to Miami, the school where his late father starred. Al Blades Sr. was killed in 2003 in a car accident.
@SurtainJr nah you gone play with me in that UA game @DeionSanders let him know he need to be coach by the best not 2nd best 😎
DeAndre Ayton from Hillcrest Prep in Arizona is ranked as the No. 1 player in the Class of 2017, but coach Kyle Weaver says that distinction sells the 7-1 star short.
Weaver says Ayton is not just the best player in his class.
“Any class, hands down,” Weaver said recently. “He’s a presence on defense and a bigger presence on offense. You don’t see a lot of 7-1’s who can stretch out and shoot 3s. And you don’t find bigs who defend like that. He’s not just an offensive monster, but a defensive monster.”
Weaver also believes that Ayton is that “LeBron James-type kid,” who can attract top-50 national recruits to Hillcrest, as the program hopes to grow into a national powerhouse.
See the video above from our friends at Courtside Films to see what Weaver is talking about in terms of Ayton’s range of skills.
Defending Alabama state champion G.W. Carver (Montgomery) edged Northview (Dothan) 59-49 on Thursday in the South Region semifinals and will play city rival Park Crossing for the regional championship on Tuesday.
But the win wasn’t all good news. Midway through the third quarter, big man Carleton Williams was ejected after punching Northview’s Charles Asouzo. The two dived for a loose ball and were tangled on the floor, which led to the altercation. It was quickly resolved, but the status of the 6-foot-8 senior is unknown for the next game.
“I’m not justifying it. Any punch is not right,” coach James “JJ” Jackson said. “But we’ll look at it, and kind of roll off what the (AHSAA) says about it. We’re going to go with (whatever punishment the AHSAA decides). We’ll be doing some in-house stuff also. What that might be, we don’t know yet.”
Blanock suddenly lost feeling in his legs two years ago. Doctors took an aggressive approach with surgery, 14 rounds of chemotherapy, 31 radiation treatments and more chemo, according to WPXI. His cancer had gone into remission last winter, but doctors determined in December that the cancer had returned and was now terminal. A month later, Luke proposed to Natalie Britvich.
The football programs at Muscle Shoals and John Carroll (Birmingham) were banned from the 2016 postseason by the Alabama High School Athletic Association, and a Muscle Shoals assistant coach and two John Carroll coaches were prohibited from coaching at any AHSAA members schools for one year, according to AL.com.
The state association said both schools self-reported the violations and were placed on restrictive probation, which means no postseason games. The identity of the players was not disclosed, but the players have been deemed permanently ineligible at John Carroll.
In terms of history, Muscle Shoals has made the playoffs in each of the last seven years, won 11 or more games four times and played in the 2013 Class 5A title game, according to AL.com. Carroll was 0-10 last year and has not been to the playoffs.
The Muscle Shoals case seems to center around a transfer of Wilson all-state junior defensive lineman Last month, he told the Florence Daily Times that Balentine, the Muscle Shoals defensive coordinator, and coach/athletic director Scott Basden “convinved” him to transfer. Morgan said he and his father got an apartment within the Muscle Shoals school district two weeks later.
In a statement, Muscle Shoals disputed some of the facts in the report, but acknowledged “errors” were made. Basden was not disciplined by the AHSAA.
Bam Adebayo from High Point Christian (N.C.) is 6-9, 230 and is ranked as the No. 4 player in the Class of 2016 by ESPN.
The Kentucky signee will get to show out at the McDonald’s and Jordan Brand Classic All American events, but here is a pretty sweet monster dunk on the dunk from Friday night, shot from a high angle.
High Point Christian (24-5) beat Greensboro Day 51-50 and will play in its first North Carolina state title game in school history.
Pelham wrestler Hasaan Hawthorne is unbeaten this season and won the Alabama 6A state title at 145 pounds.
That would be impressive enough, but then consider that Hawthorne is a double amputee who was born without tibias.
Hawthorne, a senior, outpointed Southside-Gadsden’s Landon Thompson in the title match Saturday in Huntsville to run his record to 37-0. He was named the state championship meet’s Most Valuable Wrestler in 6A.
Thompson (53-3) had a 1-0 lead in the first period, but Hawthorne outscored him 6-2 in the final two periods.
Hawthorne’s fibulas formed without muscles and nerves, which led to two amputations — the first before he was three months old and the second two years ago — and left Hawthorne with nothing below his knees. He walks on man-made limbs attached to his “nubs”, and wrestles with nothing below the remnants of his lower limbs.
Hawthorne had a torn labrum and the second amputation as a sophomore. He bounced back to finish third last year in the state meet before claiming the championship this year.
He has gone through approximately 20 sets of prosthetics over the years — including snapping them while sliding into second base in a baseball game — and stands close to 6-5 when wearing them.
Before the state meet, Hawthorne said, “I don’t think I’ve made a name for myself on the national level yet… I still feel like I have unfinished business to do.”
With this piece of business finished, he’s going to strive for more.
“I plan to go to nationals and then in college,” he told AL.com Saturday, “but I don’t know where yet.”
The Oregon-bound Hunter has been fighting a cold for a few weeks. He settled into fifth and was struggling through the final 400 meters, according to MileSplit.com, but still was good enough for a national record.
He smartly opted not to run in the race against top-seeded professional runners and the pace was more to his liking in the race with lower-seeded pros. Johnny Gregorek won the race with a time of 3:56.57.
Also at the Millrose Games, Lake Braddock (Burke, Va.) junior Kate Murphy ran the fastest indoor mile in the United States by a high schooler this year. Murphy ran the New Balance Mile in 4:41.84 to beat the field by more than eight seconds. That snapped the meet record of 4:46.06 set by Caroline Alcorta.
Marcel Reed has had a few days an elementary school kid could only dream about.
All-Pro cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie stopped by Oak Hill, his school in Nashville, to have lunch with him Friday. Then Saturday, NFL MVP Cam Newton and Rodgers-Cromartie watched Marcel’s youth basketball game.
Marcel hanging with NFL MVP Cam Newton before his game today, Cam was impressed with his Skilz pic.twitter.com/GSxyHQNoD4
Marcel is the youngest of Tennessee State football coach Rod Reed’s four children.
Rodgers-Cromartie, now with the New York Giants, is back on the Tennessee State campus using the weight room for offseason workouts. Rodgers-Cromartie and Newton became friends when Rodgers-Cromartie played at TSU (2005-08) with Newton’s brother Cecil, who was an offensive lineman.
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie taking time out of his day to have lunch with Marcel At Oak Hill pic.twitter.com/BDRN0g4QSn
Friday, Newton was spotted partying in Nashville, dancing and smoking cigars in videos that made the rounds on social media. Newton apparently attended the All Black Affair birthday celebration for Robert “Black Rob” Higgins, a local event promoter and night club owner.
Saturday night, Newton attended the Tennessee State basketball game.
The athletic director at Northeast Ohio College Prep, whose girls basketball team got national attention for a 107-point loss and the class it showed afterward, has been removed from his duties, according to multiple reports.
Gilmour Academy (Gates Mills, Ohio) beat NEO 108-1 in a girls sectional semifinal basketball game Wednesday night. The game got national attention, including from USA TODAY High School Sports. Gilmour coach Bob Buetel said the team did not run the score up and did everything it could to respect the game and the opponent. Northeast released a statement saying the school “is extremely proud of the comraderie and sportsmanship that our team displayed during and after the game.”
However, school administrators clearly were not happy with the result and the attention and it cost Justin Shullick his job. USA TODAY High School Sports reached Shullick on Thursday morning after the game. He said he was “running to a meeting” and would call when the meeting was over. He never returned the call.
In a statement released to Fox 8 in Cleveland and cleveland.com, the school, “We strive to assure that our athletic program is as successful as our academic model. … We took steps that would move our athletic program in a new direction. While we cannot discuss any personnel matters, we felt it was necessary to embark upon a different path regarding our athletic department. We are always seeking additional support that will enhance our athletic programming and offer opportunities for our scholars to be successful not only with their academics, but also with their athletic interests.”
Northeast Ohio Prep has been in existence as a school for five years and this is the third season for girls basketball. The roster had eight players, most freshmen. The team finished 1-12.
“These girls played with their heart. They didn’t play with an attitude; they didn’t give up; they kept encouraging each other on the floor. … The freshmen now are already talking that we are going to learn a lot from this game and they are going to come back.”
Kristen Spolyar of Lebanon High set the Indiana record for most points in a single season with 1,031 during Lebanon’s 59-42 loss in the Class 3A semistate on Saturday.
The Butler-bound Spolyar scored 32 points to finish with 1,031 for the season and ended her career with 2,880 points, third in Indiana state history.
The Super Saturday Showcase in Dallas featured some great action with Advanced Prep International (Dallas) facing Forth Worth Dunbar in the nightcap. API continued its winning ways with an 81-60 victory.
