Singler, Williams, Czyz and Johnson shine at SJG NC Pro Am

The SJG Greater North Carolina Pro Am is in its first year of existence and is holding the event at McDougald Gym on the campus of North Carolina Central University.  The event features players past and present from the likes of Duke, UNC and pretty much every area school you can name.

Former UNC player Jerry Stackhouse came up with the event with the help of two childhood friends.  In fact the “SJC” initials stands for the names of their Fathers.  The friends have know each other since elementary school in Kinston, N.C., thus the local flavor.  “We have four hours each Tuesday and Thursday where we are keeping some kids off the streets … adults too for that matter,” said Donyell Bryant.

Bryant acts as the commissioner, overseeing the event and making sure all runs smoothly.  “We don’t charge people a thing to come in and watch the games, thanks to our sponsors.”  He continued, “It’s a great opportunity to get kids involved.  Parents can come here at a time when their is a tough economy and spend some quality time with their children for free.”

The plans are for the event to grow and it surely will.  There was a fan friendly atmosphere during Tuesday evenings games.  If you are anywhere near the Triangle area, be sure to stop in on Thursday.  The games begin at 6:00 and last through early August every Tuesday and Thursday evening.  Groups, churches and even entire neighborhoods are invited by the promoters, so get some folks together and come see some good ballin.

Now, I am sure you want to hear about future and current Blue Devils, so here we go.  The first game of the evening pitted against.  Freshman to be, Elliot Williams and Steve Johnson played for E-Net.

Elliot was late to arrive, but it didn’t take long for his coach to get him into the game.  Williams wasted little time making his presence felt, scoring on dunks, three point shots and getting to the line.  Williams has put on a bit more size since I last saw him.  The strength of his game is the ability to beat his man off the dribble and create plays.

Williams drained a couple of threes, showed knack to make some tantalizing passes and when left free for even a second, he easily dunked the ball on slashing drives.  In fact, he was doubled as the game got into the final minutes.  Williams showed a lot of confidence and no player on the other team had an answer for him.  Williams ended the game with 22 points.

Williams teammate, Duke walk on Steve Johnson added 4 points.  Their team lost the game 65-59 to Black Magic.

The next game featured last season’s ACC Rookie of the Year, Kyle Singler and incoming freshman Olek Czyz.  Neither of these players disappointed the fans. In fact, Olek Czyz was referred to as O.C. in that there was a lot of trouble pronouncing his name.  As you may have read, his ability to get off the floor and dunk anything near the rim is a crowd pleaser.  In fact, the opposing players often cleared out in fear that they would be posterized by a photographer who might catch them on the receiving end of a dunk.

Czyz (pronounced “Chiz”) threw down five crowd pleasing dunks, many from unusual angles.  On this night, he showed a consistent outside shot from around the free throw line and drained a three.  While he certainly needs work in some areas of the game, Czyz proved that he can electrify the crowd in that he has plenty of athleticism.  More importantly, he plays hard all the time and seems to be in excellent shape.  Czyz ended the game with 22 points.

Teammate Kyle Singler like many have said has put on some size.  Some of that size is from his off season workouts, but most may be from natural maturity of his body.  In the first half, there was no doubt Kyle was the best player on the court.  He does so many things that goes unnoticed, be it playing the passing lanes, getting out on a man his teammates missed or making the pass or big play during critical moments.

Singler put the ball on the floor with ease, shot well from the outside, grabbed 11 rebounds and had 4 blocks to go with 16 points.  Not being a homer here, but the refs took him out of the game late in the second half, making three calls which drew disapproval from the 1000 plus fans in attendance.  But that was after his teams amazing comeback.

I looked up and the Barnstormers were trailing Team Noel by 11 points, just minutes later the tide turned and both Singler and Czyz played big roles in making plays, be it altering shots, grabbing boards, dunking, making a steal … you name it, they helped spark a comeback.

Kyle Singler drained a key three point dagger at the end of a 12-0 run to put his team ahead for good 58-57 at the 4:03 mark.  How good was his team’s defense?  Well, they held the opponent to just two points the rest of the way, winning 66-59 on an amazing 18-2 run to close the game.

Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Gerald Henderson were in the crowd to watch their teammates as was Chris Carrawell.  There is more coverage and details of the event on the BDN Premium Message Board.  Here is the link official link for scores, schedules and results.

Getting to know prospect Nate Lubick Class of 2010

This seasons NBAPA Camp provided me my second opportunity to see class of 2010 prospect Nate Lubick.  He showed a solid knowledge for the game and got up and down the court with ease.  He likes to float out, but is capable of banging when necessary.  His head is always in the game.

“I like to workout.  That’s pretty much my life right now,” said Lubick when asked what he liked to do.  He went on to say that he took advantage of the summer months and AAU ball.  Lubick plays for the New England Playaz, which of course has Florida commitment Erik Murphy.  They are also teammates at Southbrough High.

He will be going to Cincinnati for the Take Five Adidas event, and Augusta, South Carolina for the Peach State Classic.  Lubick will also attend the Joe Brown Memorial in New Jersey and then head to Vegas and Los Angeles to wrap it all up.

I asked him about playing with Murphy and he said it was a good experience and that the two were friends.  “My Dad is our high school coach.  It’s a little different growing up with the program and seeing guys go to D-1 school,” said Lubick.

He still has a lot of schools he is considering and stated, “I want to get a really good feel for the schools recruiting me.  I haven’t cut my list down as of yet and everybody has been really good to me.”

One of the important things for Lubick is his comfort level with people and getting to know the coach.  “It’s just got to be a good overall fit.  Education is probably the biggest thing,” said the 2010 prospect.  He continued saying Wake Forest was the only small school looking at him and that they had just gotten involved recently.

Virginia, UCLA, Michigan and Georgetown were named as being in contact the most by Lubick.  These teams appeared to be among the leaders, he then told me that he would take his five allotted official visits.

I asked him to describe his game to those who haven’t seen him play and he said, “I’m versatile.  I play the wing more in AAU, but they have me playing down low here which is fine.”  I can do a little bit of everything and try to play harder than anybody.  I try to use a high basketball IQ and try to make the play when I can.”

I then turned his attention to the fact that his Dad was the coach and asked him if it was at times difficult.  “It was a little bit the first season, but this past year was much better.  It’s a little weird to have him screaming in my face at practice and then go home and eat dinner with him,” said Lubick.

He will try out for the USA team (2009) which travels to Europe.  He said Favors, who will go out for the 2008 Team USA was the toughest player he had played against and that named  Xavier Henry as far as the NBAPA Camp was concerned.

I then asked him of his Triangle visits and whether the Dukes and UNC’s of the world had been in contact.  “Duke is definitely in it.  They are really high up there for me,” said Nate.  While Duke has not been in constant touch of late, it didn’t bother Lubick.  “Coach K is really busy with the Olympics, but I do talk to Coach Collins a lot.”  He continued, “I talked to Wojo at first and then Coach Collins took over.  He’s a real good guy, one of the best I have dealt with.  He told me that they didn’t really look at guys until they were juniors.”

He then said, “They have said that I will be a priority in their future recruiting and that they had seen a lot of me.  Coach K came to my high school to see us play.  I did talk to him and he said I needed to solidify what position I like to play.  He sees me as a wing, but likes the stuff I do inside.”

Finally, I asked him a BDN staple question, which was to give me three words to best describe him as a person.  He said, “Smart, loyal and humble,”  I said, speaking of smart, how are your grades.  “They’re very good.  St, Mark’s is one of the hardest schools there is.  I have an A and four B’s.”

Lubick showed a baby hook during the tournament and a lot of hustle.  It was clear that he has a basketball IQ and he will only get better.  There is no doubt that the big kid with a bushel of offers might be seeking on from Duke.  Time will tell on this one and he is certainly a prospect worth keeping an eye on.

Note – BDN Premium will be covering. the Peach Jam and Peach State Classic this weekend.  There will be live reports.  You can count on interviews and solid, firsthand scouting reports on Josh Smith, Andre Dawkins, Jason Morris, Jamil Wilson and of course Lubick.

BDN Premium Members have full access to our archives, a premium only messge board to talk over the latest happenings with other Duke fans and more.  We have several interviews up with prospects right now.  To become a member, go to the paypal links at the old site, located in this link.  The paypal links are in the left in the menu.  We will then send you access codes or a member ID and password.  Those who join today, will be ready for the weekends action and the best reporting you will see.

Also, we just put up our informative General Recruiting Update which gives you the most accurate look available on the true Duke prospects.

This will be the temporary new home for the Blue Devil Nation

I will be attempting to set up this site over the next month or so.  Until a premium section is set up, members can get their information on the message board which is private.  You can expect the same content as before and a few new ideas will soon take hold.  The URL will be changing to bluedevilnation.net shortly.  I will let you know when that happens.  Your patience and support is appreciated.  At this time, I am not sure if I can transfer old data or information.  I will keep you informed.  Please let Blue Devil fans know of our pending move.  Thanks again to all of you who are the Blue Devil Nation!