Devoe Joseph picked to play for Nike Hoop Summit!!!

Canada's premier high school basketball player Devoe Joseph who is heading for the University of Minnesota next fall to play under head coach Tubby Smith has been selected to play in this prestigious contest that pits the world's best 19 and under players against a team of America's best teenagers. The world team has beaten the U.S. team twice in 10 tries and is fielding one of it's most athletic teams to date.
Joseph, who's Pickering Trojans won their 2nd straight Ontario provincial basketball title earlier this month, is no stranger to playing against tough international competition, having participated last summer in the FIBA U19 World Championships in which he averaged a very impressive 22.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 3.4 apg for team Canada.
Joseph, who possesses a great jump shot from inside or beyond the three point arc, joins a Minnesota team who many pundits believe have a top 10 recruiting class for next year. He will play alongside another highly touted Freshman named Ralph Sampson Jr., son of the former NBA star. Coach Smith's team will rely heavily on underclassmen like Joseph to carry the team until Minnesota can upgrade with more recruits to keep up in the highly competitive Big Ten Conference.
Joseph , although 6'3" will need to bulk up and build strength in college where most the players are as good of better than he is.
The game will take place on Saturday April 12th at the Rose Garden in Portland(home of the NBA's Portland Trailblazers).
Some World team alumni include Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors, Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks and Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs.
Good luck to Devoe and the World team as they take on the best American seniors in the 2008 Nike Hoop Summit.

Check out the details: DEVOE JOSEPH ON HIS WAY TO PORTLAND!!!!
(Click here)

Durham College Lords guard Anthony Batchelor becomes OCAA's All-time leading scorer!!!!

On Friday February 8th, 20008 the Durham Lords Men's basketball team's 6'2'' All-World guard Anthony Batchelor set the All-Time OCAA scoring mark in the 40 year-old league with a 28 point performance to surpass Emilio Rocca for tops on the Ontario Colleges career list. Rocca's record stood for a surprising 22 years but was broken by the Toronto native by way of Seattle, Washington where he attended high school. It was only fitting that Batchelor broke the record at the Campus Athletic Center(Oshawa) in front of the cheering home crowd fans and many family and friends(his mother flew up from Washington). He eclipsed the 1434 point tally of Rocca by draining 3 straight free throws from the charity stripe as the game was stopped to salute one of the greatest accomplishments in Durham College's athletic history.
Congrats to Mr. Batchelor who goes up against the George Brown Huskies tonight, that's Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 for a birth in the OCAA playoffs. Both teams have struggled at times this year but the winner will go on to play the defending OCAA champion Fanshawe Falcons in London, Ontario on Sunday February, 24th, 2008. Batchelor will continue to improve on his career scoring tally when he plays the Huskies tonight and he currently stands all alone at the top with an incredible 1,508 career points! Good luck to Mr. Batchelor as well as both teams in this sure to be heated battle tonight. George Brown defeated Durham earlier this season 86-69 so they have to be going into the game with some confidence. George Brown is led by the two-headed monster of Collin Whitely and Shane Rowe. While Batchelor will rely on help from Courtney Small and Evan Brown to drain some buckets if the Lords look to advance to the playoffs. Please join myself,Drew Ebanks and Ray Williams(formerly of CFRB and now an instrucor with collegeofsportsmedia.com) online at www.broadcastsports.ca tonight. Airtime is 7:50 for the pre-game festivities and 8:00 for gametime as we broadcast live from George Brown College in downtown Toronto.
Peep the video of Anthony Batchelor's special record breaking night courtesy of mediamash.ca.


Lates

Drew

Blade Runner: 25th Anniversary Edition: Release Date: December 18th, 2007!!!

One of my favourite movies of all time is BLADE RUNNER! It is scheduled for a special edition DVD...Blue Ray and HD-DVD re-release Director's cut(Dir. Ridley Scott) in less than a week. I can't wait. Blade Runner...is one of my favorite movies and is noted by many critics as one of the best Science-Fiction movies of all time...some even say better than Star Wars. It was a movie way ahead of its time...set in Los Angeles in the year 2019! It foreshadowed many problems of modern URBANIA such as overcrowding...the police state...pollution and decay...and societal disintegration etc. It is truly a classic...and stars Harrison Ford...Daryl Hannah...Edward James Olmos and the vivacious Sean Young. If you haven't seen Blade Runner by now...you are truly sleeping. Go rent tha damn thing will ya. A very DARK film with sensational cinematography...reminiscent of film noir...Blade Runner also contained mystifying and eerie music composed by VANGELIS(Chariots of Fire fame).
Originally released in 1982 this Sci-Fi Classic has stood the test of time and has since become a Cult Sensation!
Peep this:

Jimmy V Classic is underway in New York: featuring OJ Mayo and Bill Walker.

In case you're not in tune with College Basketball right now...the Jimmy V Classic basketball tournament is underway in the Big Apple...The tournament is named after the late North Carolina State coach Jimmy Valvano. The 1983 NCAA Champion head coach succumbed to cancer on April 28th, 1993 and this tournament is a tribute to the coach as well as a means to amass dollars to fight the dreaded disease. One of Valvano's greatest moments was his poignant speech at the 1993 Espy Awards. In that speech he taught people what life really means and he also wanted to stress for people to live each day like it was precious and to love and laugh each and every day. His famous words included the phrase "Don't give up. Don't ever give up!" Jimmy Valvano will forever be missed. Go to the V Foundation website for more info on the fight to cure cancer!
On to the tournament. A collection of talent that features many of the top freshmen in college basketball. OJ Mayo...Billy Walker...Derrick Rose...and Michael Beasley are some of the studs that are taking part in this once a year B-Ball showcase. These kids appear to be having fun as amateurs but make no mistake...all of these guys could have by-passed college and went straight to the pros if not for the NBA rule stipulating at least one year in college. This season is merely a pit stop on the way to fame and fortune for these elite ballers. Mayo is probably the most well known of them all. He hails from Huntington West Virginia, a place I am familiar with having visited Marshall University to watch my best friend play soccer for the Thundering Herd. Gotta be one of the best team names in college! Huntington is a small town and not really known as a hoops hotbed...but it produced the player some call the "Next Lebron". Last night Mayo's USC Trojans took on the Rose and the #2 Ranked Memphis Tigers. It was a pretty good game...close to the very end. Mayo showed flashes of why is considered the best freshmen in what Dick Vitale calls the deepest freshman class in about 30 years. He may be right. Other notable first year phenoms across the county include Kevin Love at UCLA...Jarryd Bayless at Arizona...and Eric Gordon at Indiana.
Mayo dropped 16 points in the 62-58 overtime loss to the stacked Memphis Squad that featured more experienced players like Robert Dozier...Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey. They were too much for the younger USC squad that had 3 freshmen on the court for many times during the game.
The earlier contest pitted Kansas St. against Notre Dame. State featured Beasley...a beast of a forward and Walker a sublime slasher/dunker and wingman and high school teammate of Mayo. How good is Beasley? Well he is only the nation's leading scorer
(26.7ppg) and rebounder(15rpg)...that's all!!!! He was on his way to a good one last night dropping 17 points in the first half...but the Fighting Irish decided they needed to take him out of the game by double and triple teaming him in the 2nd half and let some of the other K-State players beat them. The strategy worked as the team from South Bend won it 68-59 going away..holding the beastly Beasley to a measly 2 second half points. Two kids you probably never heard of...Luke Harangody and Kyle McAlarney did most of the damage combining for 37 points...While Harangody also hauled in 14 boards. Walker, the other blue chip prospect poured in 14 points for the losing Wildcats.
So 3 of the phenoms went down last night...too bad...because I would like to see as many games of these guys while they're in college as I can...The college game is one of pure fun and there is a greater sense of camaraderie. These guys are so good that this time next year they will probably be suiting up for some pro team in the best league in the world....the NBA.

VIDEO SPORTS REPORT: November 19th 2007

Raps lose a close one 106-100 to the Jazz. TJ Ford Offence in full effect:
22 shots...Game high 29 pts from the starting point guard! Too many times Bosh was pushed outside the paint...almost to the three point line on his post ups. C'mon Bosh Stephen Jackson is guarding you not Kevin Garnett. Not the way to win ballgames. I think the goal of Toronto's point guards should be 20 assists...forget the points because this team has enough shooters...Toronto got rid of Mike James because he was a SHOOT FIRST point guard...so TJ has to be a PASS FIRST distributor and facilitator! Jason Kapono, Andrea Bargnani and the rest of the players need to get in rhythm and that job falls to TJ and Jose Calderon.
Anthony Parker was 2 of 8 from the field finishing with a measly 5 points. As a shooting guard Parker has to be more consistent. It seems that Parker is "programmed" to shot the jump shot or 3 point shot. He can't seem to fake...drive...jab step and pump fake at all. He consistently just sits outside and bombs threes even with guys running out at him. I know Pro ballers are taught to block out the player closing out... but how bout the old fake shot...and run into the player trying to close out on you and get the foul play? Come on Mr. Parker you look like a robot out there...change it up and make yourself multi-dimensional.
Right now Parker is one-dimensional at best.
Not sure what coach Mitchell is doing with all these different starting lineups...but in my opinion he has to have a consistent rotation and stick to it...because guys seem confused...one game in...another out...One game start and another off the bench. Consistency from the head coach will help this ball team get back on track.