D-Lee gets praise from the Prez

St. Louisan David Lee seems to be picking up new fans all the time as he continues his All-Star season with the New York Knicks.
Last Friday night, D-Lee had 31 points and 17 rebounds against the world champion Los Angeles Lakers in Madison Square Garden. He scored 16 of those 31 points in the first half.
As Lee headed to the locker room for halftime, he heard a voice in the crowd yell to him "Hey, you played well in the first half."
Lee turned around to see who gave him the compliment and too his amazement, it was former President Bill Clinton, a NYC resident who was taking in the game.
Said a stunned Lee to a local media outlet, "You should have seen my amazement. I had no idea he was supposed to be here because we weren't told. It was pretty special."
It was D-Lee's 24th double-double of the season, which currently leads the NBA.
I will be shocked if David Lee is not in the NBA All-Star game this year. Also, our sympathies to D-Lee and his family on the passing of his grandfather, Desmond Lee last week. Desi Lee was quite a basketball player at University City High during the 1930's before going to become a very successful businessman and philanthropist.

Way to go Mustafa

Former MICDS standout Mustafa Abdul-Hamid lived out the dream of every young basketball player last night.
A redshirt junior at UCLA, Mustafa hit a game-winning jumper at the buzzer to give the Bruins a 62-61 victory over Washington in historic Pauley Pavilion.
After U-Dub took the lead with its own last second shot, Mustafa took the inbounds pass, dribbled to the head of the key, gave a pump fake (a la Kobe Bryant) and sank the game-winner as time expired.
Mustafa's heroics earned him the No. 1 Play of the Night on ESPN's Sportscenter.
It could not have happened to a nicer young man. Not only is Mustafa a fine basketball player, but he is a tremendous young person as well. I was so happy to see him have that moment, I almost cried. It was wonderful to see. He has worked so hard on and off the court and in the community. It is great to see him get this kind of national attention.
After a stellar career at MICDS, Mustafa had a lot of scholarship offers. He could have even gone on to Harvard. Instead, he decided to walk on at UCLA, where he got to experience a couple of trips to the Final Four.
Although his playing time was limited, coach Ben Howland respected his efforts enough to reward Mustafa with a scholarship last year. However, a wrist injury cut his season short after two games and he took a medical redshirt.
Even when he is one the sidelines, Mustafa always manages to keep himself ready just in case he is called to duty. He hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer in the Bruins' one-point victory over Concordia.
Here's a salute to you, Mustafa. Congratulations of your game-winning shot.
Now, everyone else will be able to see how much of a fine young man you are.
Excellent.

Bills post impressive win

After three close encounters to open A-10 Conference play, it was nice to see the Billikids break out and enjoy a lopsided victory for a change.
The kids came out focused and with a lot of energy against Fordham, resulting in a 75-48 victory.
I think the sting of the OT loss in Charlotte was still on everyone's mind and the kids had to take it out on someone. It turned out to be Fordham.
Once again, it was a solid all-around team effort where everyone got a chance to share in the big victory. Key players were not pressed to play heavy minutes and hard-working, walk-on Darren Young was rewarded with some playing time for the final four minutes of the game.
Usually, in my game recaps, I like to add the picture of a player who really stood out in the game. Well, because so many players stood out on Wednesday night, I just could not single one out. That's why you see the Billiken mascot's photo.
For the first time, Coach Majuerus unveiled his new starting lineup of Willie Reed, Cody Ellis and Jon Smith up front with Kwamain Mitchell and Kyle Cassity in the backcourt.
That lineup really got a lot of things done during our two-game road swing at Duquesne and Charlotte. They really jumped on Fordham from the start as they raced to an 11-2 lead.
Things really clicked with this group. Willie was back to his bouncy, energetic self on both ends of the floor. Jon has continued his stellar play since the calendar turned to 2010. Cody stroked some long 3-pointers and moved down the lane for an emphatic two-handled slam dunk. Kwamain penetrated and scored and Kyle facilitated and defended well.
What pleased me was when Rick went to the bench, the guys kept up the intensity and production without much slippage. Brian Conklin ended up being the top scorer on the night with 15 points. He was active and physical all evening.
Fordham is really struggling right now at 2-15 and winless in the league, but they had been competitive in all of their conference games. However, seized control of the game early and never gave them a chance to build any confidence.
It was a fun evening with a lot of crowd-pleasing plays. As I mentioned, Jon and Willie were dunking all over the place and the crowd loved it.
Cody continues to get better with each game. He looked like Linas Klieza last night with his long-distance shooting range and a big-time move to the bucket which resulted in a dunk off an inbounds play. He is still trying to play himself into game shape, thus he played a team-high 29 minutes.
Jon Smith continues to emerge as a force. He finished with a near double-double with eight points and eight rebounds. The beauty about Jon is that you never have to run a play for him and he will still get those numbers because he is so active.
Jon is a great example of recruiting an extraordinary athlete with a lot of length and a big upside. A raw talent like that in the right hands (such as Rick's) makes for a very dangerous player when developed the right way. We saw it last year with Willie and now history is repeating itself. It's nice to have two athletic jumping jacks on the front line creating all kinds of havoc on the interior. And both are still babies in their development as college players. Just wait until they are grown men.
At 3-1 in the league, the Bills have put themselves in a pretty good position early on. The kids are playing some good ball right now, but what's most promising is that there is so much more room for growth in each and every one of them.
Even when I am at my most frustrated (which was the case in Charlotte), I still have to remind myself that this is a very young team that is prone to making lots of mistakes.
With that being said, I think we can all see the growth in this team and can be excited about how good they are going to be one month from now. Obviously, we cannot afford any more injuries because we've had our share this year, starting with Paul, then Jeff, Kwamain, and now Femi.
It was a nice turnout last night considering it was mid-week and we were playing a team at the bottom of the league. If the youngsters continue to play well and compete in the A-10, I am expecting to see some sellouts down the stretch.
I'm not going to lie to you. I will be disappointed if we're not packing 9-10K in the Chaifetz for games with Dayton, Xavier, Temple and Rhode Island, who are still left on the home schedule.
These formidable teams are all contenders in the league and we have them all at our house in Februrary (Temple is on March 3). St. Bonnie and Duquesne come calling as well in Feb. I hope everyone is one hand to give them a nice Billikens' welcome.
The rest of the league slate will be very tough, beginning with the GW, Richmond swing next week. Oh, it would be nice to get another road win. If that happens, we could really put ourselves in position for something interesting.
I'm looking forward to seeing it all unfold.
I know you are too.
Go Bills!

Freshmen of Influence

There is some pretty good young talent emerging in the St. Louis metro area.
I have been impressed with the performances of some of the freshmen, who have already started to make their mark in area basketball this season.
Here are a few of those talented freshmen:

Anthony Virdure, Jr. (Lutheran North): The son of former LN standout Anthony Virdure, young Anthony is a smooth 5'9" combo guard who can score and distribute the basketball. He has already emerged as the Crusaders' top offensive threat, averaging 13.4 points a game.

Hunter Reine (Roxana): A 6'7" post player, Reine has been impressive in averaging 14 points, 12 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game for the Shells. Reine has enjoyed some really dominating performances so far this season. With a 6'10" father, this young man could really grow into something special.

Malcolm Hill, Jr. (Belleville East): The son of former Normandy coach and ESTL Assumption standout Malcolm Hill, young Jr. is a nice 6'2" shooting guard who has made an impact on a veteran Lancers' team. With good size and a nice outside shooting stroke, Malcolm Jr. has been coming on strong as of late, averaging 10 points in his last four games.

Jordan Swopshire (Fort Zumwalt South): The fourth member of the talented Swopshire basketball clan, the 6'5" forward is one of the area's top youngsters with his versatile game. Young Jordan is averaging eight points and four rebounds for the Bulldogs.

Jordan Martin (Hazelwood Central): The 6'6" Martin is a talented young big who will be even more of an impact player in the future for the Hawks. However, to be starting for a team as talented as Hazelwood Central as a freshman speaks well of this versatile's young man's talent.

Keenan Minor (Cahokia): The 6'2" swingman has made an immediate impact with his outside shooting for the Comanches, who surprised many by winning the Centralia Tournament over the Christmas holidays. Minor had 12 points in the championship game.

Tyrin Williams (Riverview Gardens): The 5'10" point guard has been a real asset for an improving Rams' team with his speed and quickness at the point. Williams is averaging better than nine points a game.

Jim Barton and Nolan Berry (DeSmet): Barton is a 5'6" point guard and Berry is a 6'6" forward. Both are getting some varsity time for the Spartans and have showed some nice potential in limited varsity minutes. Barton is a floor general who can hit the open 3-pointer while Berry is a forward who has been handling himself well at the varsity level. Berry had a breakout game, scoring 23 points against DeSoto in the first round of the Ameritime Classic.

Many more youngsters will emerge and I'm sure I missed a few, but these are some of the talented young players that fans in the area will have a chance to watch develop over the next four years.
Enjoy.

McCluer's NBA Schedule

McCluer High basketball coach Erwin Claggett must have felt like a NBA coach during the past two weeks as his Comets played a challenging six games in the past nine days.
That's a rough stretch of games for any team at any level, but the Comets came away winning five of those six games.
Last week, McCluer won the championship of the D.C. Wilcutt Tournament at CBC. McCluer defeated Fort Zumwalt East on Monday, Clayton on Wednesday and CBC for the title on Friday night.
The following night, the Comets defeated Illinois Class A power Breese Central in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at the Chaifetz Arena. Just two days later, they faced Normandy in the final game of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Basketball Shootout.
McCluer led for much of the game, but the Vikings came back to win 63-60, thus handing the Comets their only loss during this six-game stretch.
On Tuesday night, McCluer rebounded with a convincing victory at Parkway West.
The leader throughout the season for McCluer has been junior standout guard Shaquille Boga (pictured), who is averaging 22 points a game. He was also the Most Valuable Player of the D.C. Wilcutt Tournament.
Claggett also made liberal use of his bench, using as many as 11 players in one game. It was an impressive showing by a talented young group of players.

MLK Basketball Events on tap today

Today, we celebrate the holiday of a great man in the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with all kinds of community activites to remember his birthday.
A big part of the MLK birthday celebration will be two basketball events, which are presented by the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation and local girls basketball coach George Merritt.
The Gateway Classic is presenting the 18th annual Martin Luther King Basketball Shootout at Normandy High's historic Viking Hall. The event will feature four games involving some of the area's top programs.
The first game is a girls' contest at noon featuring defending Class 3 state champion Cardinal Ritter against Northwest Academy.
At 2 p.m., Cardinal Ritter's boys will take on McCluer North in a rematch of the Normandy Holiday Tournament semifinal thriller, won by McCluer North at the buzzer. McCluer North is currently undefeated at 11-0, but their closest call came against Cardinal Ritter.
At 4 p.m., Soldan will take on Maplewood Richmond Heights as friends and former SLU basketball players Justin Tatum of Soldan and Corey Frazier of MRH match wits on the sidelines with their talented young teams.
In the nightcap at 6 p.m., host Normandy will take on McCluer. The Comets are finishing up a challenging week of five games in seven days. They won the D.C. Wilcutt Tournament at Kirkwood last week, then came back to defeat Illinois Class A power Bresse Central on Saturday night in the Coaches vs. Cancer event at the Chaifetz Arena. Normandy won the championship of the Denver Miller Tournament at Kirkwood last week. Both McCluer and Normandy defeated the host schools in the championship game.
Tickets are on sale for $12 at the door. See you there.

On the girls side, George Merritt has put together a nice four-game MLK event at North County Tech High in Florissant.
At noon, Gateway Tech will take on Cahokia in the opening game.
The second game of the event will feature Merritt's North County Tech team against McCluer North at 2 p.m.
The highlight matchup of the event will be at 2 p.m. when nationally-ranked powers Incarnate Word Academy and Chicago Whitney Young hook up in a much-anticipated showdown.
IWA is ranked No. 1 in St. Louis while Whitney Young is ranked No. 1 in Chicago. It should be quite a game.
In the finale, McCluer South Berkeley will take on Miller Career Academy at 4 p.m.

There will be another girls showdown in town today when Chicagoland power Oak Park Fenwick visits St. Joseph's Academy at 1:30 p.m. in another Chicago vs. St. Louis showdown.

So, there are plenty of good opportunities to get your basketball groove on today. Hope you take advantage of them on this special holiday.

Earl on the air this week

I will be at Normandy High School today calling games at the Dr. Martin Luther King Basketball Shootout on Prepcasts.com with Charlie Kennedy. We will be doing the McCluer North-Cardinal Ritter game at 2 p.m. and the McCluer-Normandy game at 6 p.m.

On Wednesday, SLU Hall of Fame play-by-play man Bob Ramsey and I will be calling the SLU-Fordham game from the Chaifetz Arena at 7 p.m. on 101-ESPN. The pre-game will be at 6:45 p.m.

On Friday night, I will be on the mic for the McCluer North-Belleville East game at the Belleville East Tournament.