"He's been in the bright lights his whole life."
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 28, 2019
There's no moment too big for @ShamorieP, and he intends to prove that for @StJohnsBBall come March. pic.twitter.com/EUQJbwkZRT
Oregon State to Face St. Johns in First Round of AdvoCare Invitational
The 2017 AdvoCare Invitational promises to deliver a few twists and turns, or so the snippets of the official bracket that have been released seem to promise. Not only does the AdvoCare Invitational promise thrills and spills but it just might inject drama into the college basketball betting odds for the next season.
Of course, the big news so far is the revelation that Oregon State will face St. Johns in the first round. The event will play out at the HP Field House in Orlando, and an Oregon/St Johns match is as good as any to kick things off.
The action is expected to start on the 23rd of November, with the event finally coming to a close on the 26th of the same month. It was known for a while that Southern Utah, St. Louis, and Wyoming would be the non-conference opponents facing the Beavers at the Invitational.
The addition of the Red Storm is a nice surprise. The revelation of Oregon State’s game with St. Johns in the first round came by way of a tweet from John Rothstein, a sports personality connected to CBS.
For a while now, all fans had to look forward to for the First Round was Missouri/Long Beach State, Nebraska/UFC, and West Virginia/Marist. There is still so much more that has yet to be revealed about the AdvoCare Invitational as a whole.
The sooner the full official bracket is released the better. Pundits and analysts and even betting enthusiasts are practically foaming at the mouth at the opportunity to gaze upon the second round and losers bracket match ups.
A lot of eyes are going to be on the Beavers. The sooner they forget their campaign from the previous year the better. Though, a 5-27 record is a little difficult to brush under the carpet. But the Beavers need to focus. That involves forgetting the shortcomings of yesterday and focusing on regrouping.
The Red Storm isn’t a very consistent side, they have had a lot of ups and downs and that should give their opponents added confidence going into the first match. Oregon has great memories of 2014, specifically December which saw them route DePaul and take a 90-59 victory home. That was the last time they faced a Big East team.
St. Johns will be a refreshing opponent in that regard.
The Red Storm are still looking to 3rd-year head coach Chris Mullin to help them recover from last year’s 14-19 finish. The New York school looks pretty good these days, mostly because everyone recognizes that they have been going in the right direction for a while now.
And if things being to go awry, the Red Storm know they can trust Shamorie Ponds and Marcus LoVett, a headlining duo of freshmen guards that should help the Red Storm deliver a more consistent performance.
No one understands what happened against Old Dominion and Delaware State, and it’s doubtful that St. Johns themselves understand those losses. Fortunately, their fans can still gain confidence from the victories St. Johns garnered against opponents like Syracuse and Seton Hall.
Victory will most likely go to the more consistent team once the dust settles on November 26th.
St. John’s to host top recruits at Tip-Off
This friday St. John’s will host their annual Tip-Off event that showcases the men’s and women’s basketball team. Students and fans will get a glimpse into what the team will look like this season. There will be a musical performance by Desiigner which will draw a lot of students and definitely interest the incredible amount of recruits who will be in attendance.
Our friend Zach Braziller from the NY Post did a tremendous job of assembling the list of recruits who plan to attend St. John’s Tip-Off.
Below is the complete list of recruits:
2018
F Moses Brown, Archbishop Molloy
F Boubacar Diakite, Our Savior New American (L.I.)
F Mamadou Doucoure, Our Savior New American (L.I.)
G Khalid Moore, Archbishop Molloy
G Luther Muhammad, Hudson Catholic (N.J.)
G Anthony Nelson, South Kent (Conn.)
F Naz Reid, Roselle Catholic (N.J.)
2019
G/F Precious Achiuwa, St. Benedict’s Prep (N.J.)
G Cole Anthony, Archbishop Molloy
G Bryan Antoine, The Ranney School (N.J.)
G/F Fousseyni Drame, Our Savior New American (L.I.)
G/F Hassan Drame, Our Savior New American (L.I.)
G Jalen Gaffney, the Lawrenceville School (N.J.)
G Jalen Nesmith, Cardinal Hayes
F Aidan Igiehon, Lawrence Woodmere Academy (L.I.)
G Scottie Lewis, The Ranney School (N.J.)
G Joshua Pierre-Louis, Roselle Catholic (N.J.)
G Kahlil Whitney, Roselle Catholic (N.J.)
2020
G Posh Alexander, Our Savior Lutheran
G Che Evans, Dulaney (Md.)
G Jy’are Davis, St. Benedict’s Prep (N.J.)
G Noah Farrakhan, St. Benedict’s Prep (N.J.)
F Justin Lewis, Calvert Hall College (Md.)
F Isah Muhammad, St. Benedict’s Prep (N.J.)
South Carolina Pulls Bid to Host NCAA Tournament in 2017
Earlier this month, the NCAA decided to relocate its championship games from North Carolina because of the House Bill 2 law that critics say discriminates against the LGBT community. After the announcement of the move, several cities have been trying to get the NCAA to let them host some tournament games. However, Columbia, South Carolina will not be one of the venues for the tournament in 2017 because the city does not have enough hotel rooms available to accommodate the guests that will be arriving for the tournament. Despite not being able to host any tournament games next year, college basketball predictions have South Carolina as a sleeper team this year.
On Wednesday, the University of South Carolina and the Columbia Regional Sports Council announced that they won’t submit a bid to the NCAA to host the men’s basketball tournament in 2017, citing the unavailability of hotels for the March 17-19 event.
With South Carolina out of the running, the NCAA will still try to find a city and school in the East Coast to host some tournament games. Since the first two rounds of the tournament are regional, the NCAA needs to find a central city in the East Coast capable of hosting the games on short notice.
According to reports, the games could still be held in North Carolina as it has been for years, if the governor of the state repeals the H2 Bill. Since finding a host city for the tournament is time sensitive, the Bill will have to be repealed quickly for the city to regain the games.
While there is still a chance to return the tournament to North Carolina, it is very unlikely because the governor has said on several occasions that he isn’t going to repeal the law.
South Carolina had been hoping to host the tournament because the NCAA’s moratorium on hosting championship events in the state was lifted last year after the removal of the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds.
If the state had enough hotel rooms to accommodate tournament guests, they likely would have been allowed to host the event, which would have been the first in Columbia since it was last held there in 1970.
For the state of South Carolina, it would have been the first time the NCAA tournament was held in the state since 2002, when Greenville hosted the early rounds before the NCAA ban went into effect.
Despite the disappointment of not being able to host the tournament in 2017, the state of South Carolina and USC have submitted separate bids to host the first and second rounds of the tournament in 2019 and 2022, which should give them enough time to fix the accommodation issue if the NCAA approves their bids.
The University of South Carolina has already issued a press release that hotels in the area have been reserved for the tournament dates should the city of Columbia be selected as a host.
Ray Tanner, the school’s athletic director, said the short time period before the 2017 tournament made it difficult for the city to secure available hotels to have the tournament there. He added that the city and school look forward to having the tournament there in the future.
Historic SEC Basketball League Slate Unveiled
The Southeastern Conference’s basketball league slate not only features a historic tipoff date but all eighteen games in the 2016-2017 season will be televised as a result of the SEC’s contract with ESPN. Putting aside what the college basketball lines have to say, there is something exciting about this SEC schedule.
For the very first time since Arkansas came into the SEC (before the 1991-92 season), the Razorbacks are set to open league play in December. Along with the Gators journeying to Fayetteville for the first time since the 2013-14 season, the Razorbacks will tip off with Florida in the Bud Walton Arena on the 29th of December.
The Razorbacks can look forward to a number of home and home games, contending against the likes of LSU, Vanderbilt, and Missouri, not to mention Texas A&M. They will also welcome Mississippi State.
Arkansas can look forward to making single road trips to Auburn, Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolina.
The back-to-back road tests awaiting Arkansas will begin with a trip to Tennessee on the 3rd of January. The side will also play Kentucky on the 7th of January at Rupp Arena, this after a conference-opener with the gators.
The Razorbacks’ schedule consists of four Saturday home games during league action. If all goes according to plan, then they should be hosting Missouri, LSU, Ole Miss and Georgia on the 14th of January, 21st of January, 18th of February and the 4th of March, these contests bringing the regular season to a close.
Sports enthusiasts will flood the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville between 8th and 12th in March. This is where the SEC Basketball Tournament will be held in 2017 (for the fourth time in five years).
With the Razorbacks, there is Head Coach Mike Anderson’s tactics to look forward to; Andersons is in his sixth season at the head of the team. With Arkansas, the key to their success will be three of their four top scorers who are returning for the new season. Notable names include Moses Kingsley, a SEC player of the year candidate that participated in the Nike Academy in Los Angeles this summer.
The camp brought many of the best players in the country together, giving them a chance to build their talents under the guidance of legendary Nike stars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
While Arkansas’ top three scorers are indeed something to behold, the Razorbacks are not without notable own stars. Dusty Hannah’s is one of only three players in the history of the program to score thirty points in a SEC tournament game.
Dusty will be accompanied by a complement of veteran returnees, this along with a highly touted recruiting class from which the Razorbacks can mine talent. Jaylen Barford is of particular interest.
Scoring an average of 26.2 points per game in 2015, Jaylen ended the year as the top JUCO student in the nation. Daryl Macon’s 23.9 points per game average weren’t that bad either. He was also ranked the Number 3 JUCO transfer in the class of 2016, having earned All-American honors in consecutive seasons.
There is a lot of excitement (and some anxiety)surrounding the 2017 Men’s basketball schedule.