Jordan Brand Classic has Duke-UNC appeal

High-scoring guard Austin Rivers anticipates cheers and perhaps some boos when he plays in the Jordan Brand Classic at Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena at 8 p.m. on April 16.

Rivers joins Michael Gbinije as one of two Duke signees on the roster announced this afternoon for the high-profile high school all-star game. The game will have a distinct Duke-Carolina flavor, as North Carolina signees James McAdoo and P.J. Hairston also are on the roster.

“I know there’s going to be a lot of Duke people there to support me and a lot of North Carolina people hating on me,” Rivers said. “At the end of the day, it’s all good. The Duke and North Carolina fans are the best fans in basketball, in my opinion.”

High Point’s Quincy Miller, who has signed with Baylor, and Winston-Salem’s Sir’Dominic Pointer (St. John’s) will provide homegrown talent to the game, which is celebrating its 10^th anniversary.

The game began as the Capital Classic and was played three years in Washington, D.C., before being held the last six years in New York. Moving the game to Charlotte takes it to an area with strong college basketball fan support.

“The people from North Carolina are definitely going to be excited about seeing the North Carolina and Duke players,” McAdoo said. “We’re looking forward to that, showing our talents to the UNC future fans.”

The game will be televised on ESPN2. The event also will include an international game at 3:30 p.m. and a regional game at 5:30 p.m. featuring top high school players from North Carolina in an East vs. West format.

Sixteen top 17-and-under players from around the world will compete in the international game. Rosters for the international and regional games will be announced at a later date.

The main event will feature the top five players in the Class of 2011 according to ESPNU’s rankings. Winter Park, Fla., standout Rivers is ranked No. 1, followed by two Kentucky-bound players, Anthony Davis of Chicago and Michael Gilchrist of Elizabeth, N.J. Miller is No. 4, and McAdoo, a forward from Norfolk Christian in Virginia, is No. 5.

The game’s sponsor, Jordan Brand, is a division of Nike, Inc.

McAdoo will be returning to familiar territory because his sister, Kelsey McAdoo, played basketball for the Charlotte 49ers. He said he has enjoyed visiting Charlotte because of its diverse selection of restaurants and is looking forward to coming back because of Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan’s history as a former Tar Heel guard.

“Charlotte being the team that Michael Jordan owns and of course, Michael Jordan’s connection with North Carolina basketball, and with P.J. in the game also, I’m really looking forward to it,” McAdoo said.

Ken Tysiac

Tickets for the Jordan Brand Classic are now on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, the Time Warner Cable box office, online at ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

Jordan Brand Classic roster announced

Jordan Brand, a division of Nike, announced today that the following players have been selected for the Jordan Brand Classic, a high school all-star game to be played at Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena on April 16: 

ESPNU 100 Rank, Player, Name (Home/college choice)

No. 1 Austin Rivers (Winter Park, Fla./Duke)

No. 2 Anthony Davis (Chicago/Kentucky)

No. 3 Michael Gilchrist (Elizabeth, N.J./Kentucky)

No. 4 Quincy Miller (High Point/Baylor)

No. 5 James McAdoo (Norfolk, Va./North Carolina)

No. 7 Bradley Beal (St. Louis, Mo./Florida)

No. 8 Marquis Teague (Indianapolis/Kentucky)

No. 9 Myck Kabongo (Henderson, Nev./Texas)

No. 10 Adonis Thomas (Memphis/Memphis)

No. 11  Khem Birch (Fitchburg, Mass./Pittsburgh)

No. 13 P.J. Hairston (Chatham, Va./North Carolina)

No. 14 Tony Wroten Jr. (Seattle, Wash./Washington)

No. 15 Kyle Wiltjer (Portland, Ore./Kentucky)

No. 16 Rakeem Christmas (Bryn Athyn, Pa./Syracuse)

No. 18 Michael Carter-Williams (Providence, R.I./Syracuse)

No. 22 Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Greenville, Ga./Georgia)

No. 24 Jabari Brown (Oakland, Calif./Oregon)

No. 28 Michael Gbinije (Richmond, Va./Duke)

No. 29 Shannon Scott (Alpharetta, Ga./Ohio State)

No. 30 Johnny O’Bryant (Cleveland, Miss./LSU)

No. 34 Sir’Dominic Pointer (Winston-Salem/St. John’s)

No. 42 Otto Porter (Sikeston, Mo./Undecided)

The game marks the event's 10th anniverary. It starts at 8 p.m. and be televised live on ESPN2.

Pack commitment is 6-10 with deep range

North Broward (Fla.) Prep coach Scott Williams said 6-foot-10 Josip Mikulic reminds N.C. State assistant coach Monte Towe of Dwayne Schintzius, a 7-footer who played for Towe and Norm Sloan at Florida in the 1980s and later in the NBA.

Mikulic, a current high school junior who is originally from Croatia, has committed to N.C. State, Williams said.

"He's an extremely good shooter," Williams said. "He has NBA range and is very fundamentally sound for a big kid. He's a good, quality basketball player."

Williams said growing up overseas, where players are known for developing their perimeter skills, helped Mikulic hone a good 3-point stroke. Mikulic also had a late growth spurt.

"Up until two or three years ago he was a guard," Williams said. "He was 6-2, 6-3. He was a perimeter player, and he grew into that body."

Mikulic planned to commit to the first school that showed a commitment to him, and N.C. State was that school, Williams said.

"He's a very loyal kid, and I think he thought Coach [Sidney] Lowe could develop his game," Williams said. 

Ken Tysiac

Duke reels in another big 2012 commitment

Rasheed Sulaimon gave Duke its second top-20 commitment in a week in the Class of 2012 when he chose the Blue Devils after visiting campus for Wednesday's game against North Carolina.

Sulaimon, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound shooting guard from Strake Jesuit College Prep in Houston, Texas, is rated No. 19 in the class by scout.com. Earlier in the week, 6-8 forward Alex Murphy of St. Mark's School in Southborough, Mass., committed to Duke. Murphy is ranked No. 11 in the class by scout.com.

Marland Lowe, who coaches Sulaimon for the Houston Hoops club team, said Sulaimon was impressed with the atmosphere at Cameron Indoor Stadium and the academics at Duke. Lowe said Sulaimon is an excellent student who also considered Texas, Baylor, Arizona, Stanford and Harvard.

Lowe said Duke's combination of academic prestige and college basketball tradition led him to select the Blue Devils. Although Sulaimon plays shooting guard, Lowe said he can create shots for teammates and defend well enough to play point guard.

"He's a stud," Lowe said. "He's a high-volume scorer, a great defender, a great teammate, a great kid from a great family."

Sulaimon's strengths, according to Lowe, are his ability to create shots for himself and score off screens. Sulaimon also prides himself on being able to guard the ball and defend the opposing team's best player.

Ken Tysiac

Slight edge in recruiting to Roy Williams over Coach K

Since Roy Williams began coaching at North Carolina at the beginning of the 2003-04 season, the Tar Heels and Duke have met seven times.

Duke won the first three and swept the last two in the 2010 NCAA title season. In between, North Carolina won seven of nine on its way to two NCAA championships.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who’s 34-35 in his career against North Carolina, has a chance to get to .500 if Duke wins tonight.

Those are the results that really matter – the on-court wins and losses. The long-term success of both programs shows that both coaches excel at team building and game planning.

They also both have done an excellent job recruiting. Duke and North Carolina wouldn’t be winning ACC and NCAA titles if they weren’t getting good players.

In this area, though, Williams has a slight edge over Krzyzewski, according to rivals.com’s team recruiting rankings. Neither class was ranked in the top 25 by rivals.com in 2004.

Since then, North Carolina signed more highly rated classes than Duke four times in six years (2005 to 2010). Here is the breakdown:

Class    UNC rank        Duke rank
2010    4          10
2009    5          8
2008    11        27
2007    NR       8
2006    1          5
2005    9          2

Year by year, here is how those classes shaped up. In 2005, Duke signed Josh McRoberts and Greg Paulus in what was expected to be one of the nation’s top classes. But North Carolina got Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green, who helped lead the team to two Final Fours and the 2009 NCAA title.

In 2006, Brandan Wright, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington gave the Tar Heels the top-rated players at three positions. Lawson and Ellington played pivotal roles in the team’s NCAA tournament success in 2008 and 2009. But Duke signed three players – Jon Scheyer, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek – who led the Blue Devils to the 2010 title as seniors.

In 2007, Williams had a deep roster and put all his focus on one player. If you were only going to recruit one guy in the class, Kevin Love was the right guy. But he went to UCLA, and North Carolina didn’t sign anybody. Duke’s signees included Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler, who have made huge contributions the last two seasons.

In 2008, Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller led North Carolina’s class. Duke got Elliot Williams, an excellent guard who transferred after one season, and Miles Plumlee.

In 2009, Duke signed Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly and Andre Dawkins, who all have shown promise as sophomores. Similarly, John Henson and Dexter Strickland led a North Carolina class that’s solid as well.

In 2010, each school landed an outstanding player. Harrison Barnes was rated the No. 1 recruit in the nation by many, and chose North Carolina after also considering Duke. The Blue Devils signed Kyrie Irving, who might have been the best guard in the nation before a toe injury sidelined him after eight games. Reggie Bullock and Kendall Marshall gave the Tar Heels what appears to be a stronger overall class, as they have been more productive so far than Tyler Thornton and Josh Hairston for Duke.

All-Star Sports recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons agrees that North Carolina may have had a slight edge in recruiting over Duke since Williams’ arrival, but it’s not much.

“It’s so close, it’s too close to call from my observations,” Gibbons said.

Gibbons also said that Duke’s class for 2011 appears better. The spring signing period isn’t over, so it’s possible that both teams could add more players. North Carolina may look to bring in a point guard after Larry Drew II’s sudden departure.

Only Kentucky and St. John’s have stronger classes for 2011 than Duke, according to Gibbons. Guard Austin Rivers, who’s committed to the Blue Devils, generally is considered one of the top three players overall in the nation. Gibbons said North Carolina (led by forward James McAdoo) has a top-10 class for 2011.

“The point is, here are two programs that literally are going head to head in many instances for the very elite players in the nation,” Gibbons said, “and to be able to accomplish that speaks volumes for the head coaches and the tradition of their programs.”

Ken Tysiac

Alex Murphy commits to Duke for 2012

Alex Murphy, one of the most skilled forwards in the Class of 2012, has committed to Duke, St. Mark’s School (Southborough, Mass.) coach David Lubick confirmed by e-mail.

Murphy is 6-foot-8 with strong ball handling and perimeter shooting skills. He is rated the No. 9 player overall in his class by veteran All-Star Sports analyst Bob Gibbons.

"It’s really almost a seamless fit in terms of Duke’s style of play and his skill set," said ESPN recruiting analyst Dave Telep. "He is a small forward with really good size, solid ball skills, a better athlete than first glance. And I think this is a guy that can play in the lane and on the perimeter."

Telep and Gibbons both compare Murphy's skill set to that of current Duke senior forward Kyle Singler, who was the most outstanding player at the Final Four last year as the Blue Devils captured the NCAA title.

They said there is no guarantee that Murphy will develop the way Singler has, but can play small forward and power forward, just like Singler.

"He’s not as physically strong and advanced right now," Gibbons said, "but compare them at the same level as juniors in high school, I think Alex might get a little higher mark than Kyle."

Like Singler, whose father, mother and brother all have played Division I sports at Pac-10 schools, Murphy has strong family ties in basketball. His father, Jay Murphy, played for Boston College and in the NBA in the 1980s.

Alex's brother, Erik, is a sophomore forward at Florida. Their mother, Paivi, played for the Finnish national team.

 

Ken Tysiac

UNC gets linebacker commit for 2012

On the morning after national signing day today, outside linebacker Shareef Rashad called coach Butch Davis to get North Carolina's 2012 recruiting class started.

Rashad, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound outside linebacker from Episcopal High in Jacksonville, Fla., committed to the Tar Heels during the phone call.

He had visited the school unofficially last summer.

He chose North Carolina over South Carolina, Duke and Central Florida, where his brother, Washington Redskins defensive back Sha'reff Rashad, played in college.

"He's got a little genetic thing going there," Espiscopal coach David Hess said of Shakeel's abilities. "He does well out in space and he covers a lot of ground."

Rashad is a high school teammate of Class of 2012 wide receiver Erich Schneider, who already is the lone commitment in Duke's next recruiting class. Hess said Rashad was happy to get the recruiting process behind him and plans to graduate from high school and enroll early in January of 2012 and go through spring practice. 

Ken Tysiac