Have You Heard The One About…
TEANECK, N.J. – After a long All-Star day of top quality high school hoops in Teaneck, the finale at Reebok ABCD 2006 was only fitting. For everyone in attendance – fans, coaches, scouts, media – the underclassmen went to overtime and then the upperclassmen game was extended to five quarters. Five quarters? Anyway, Kenny Wepburn who is invited annually as the official public address announcer for all-star day and better known for his consistent work behind the microphone at Madison Square Garden, did a solid job of enthusiastically announcing “a fifth quarter will be added”, but he couldn’t have meant it. He must have been exhausted.
Some Observations
- Syracuse fans have a special treat in store for them two years from now. It’s going to be very exciting to see Johnny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris play together in unison. That’ll be a high-wire act.
- From a visual standpoint it was amazing to notice the decrease in the amount of campers as this summer’s was reduced from the usual 200-plus kids to 150 due to the restriction of 5th year players. That just goes to show how many of the best high school kids go and prep.
- The ongoing Reebok-Adidas merger had no initial affect on this summers’ camp carousel between the camps in New Jersey, Georgia, Indianapolis and Vegas. ABCD is owned by VSP basketball and is sponsored by Reebok. It would make sense that Reebok/Adidas will now jointly come together and battle Nike. Therefore, it is inevitable that at some point in the near future this merger will trickle down and affect not only the summer camp scene, but everything (recruiting, scouting, kid’s decision-making, everything you can imagine). It’s just a matter of time.
- Speaking of battles, Lance Stephenson was nowhere to be found in Teaneck. It’s surprising only because ABCD is known as the “first four letter in high school hoops” and gets only the best such as Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Lebron James. Stephenson is the best underclassman in the nation.
The Brooklyn-born player had a falling out with AAU coach Gary Charles a short while ago after Stephenson decided to play for the Juice All-Stars AAU instead of the NY Panthers, run by Charles. Charles is the Director of Coaches at (Reebok) ABCD Camp this year. Juice: Dwayne Morton, Adidas. Panthers: Charles, Reebok. Checkmate. - Once again Billy Walker (OH) dazzled the crowd, nearly surpassing his display from 2005. The hype on Renardo Sidney (MS) is legit and the rumors of him fattening up clearly have been blown way out of proportion. He seemed fine. Verdell Jones (IL) looks and plays like Ricky Torres. Flynn (NY) is smaller but has a smooth stroke like Ray Allen. Corey Stokes (NJ) put great defensive pressure on O.J. Mayo.
- Nothing short of an outstanding job by CSTV picking up coverage of the tournament’s festivities and posting the games on their website for free viewing. They have play-by-play as well on the web coming from Ralph Bednarczyk, who adds useful commentary.
