“I am a Witness”

Over the weekend I had a chance to watch one semi final game and the finals of the SJG NC Greater Pro Am Basketball League (http://ncproam.com/). As their website puts it, “The Rucker of the South was held on the campus of NCCU. As a huge college basketball fan and follower, summer basketball right up close in person was a nice change of pace to the summer schedule of…well, just let’s say work. I came away from the tournament with a few observations:

* I’m officially adopting Kinston, NC as one my cribs (what up Roc). Jerry Stackhouse on two different occasions politely let the officials know that, he was in fact from Kinston. And if you are from K-Town or ever visited, well, you get the point.
* As expected, former Tar Heels Jawad Williams, or as his biggest fan put it, J-Dub (shout out to A-Dub), Ray Felton, and Stackhouse played well.
* I’m still shaking my head at JamesOn Curry, both at his name and what he did in HS
* Felton dominated the championship game
* Courtney Fells could have been an all American at UNC, too bad he went to State
* Myles Plumlee (Duke Basketball recruit) walked every time he touched the ball
* Don’t mess with DPD, I wonder whatever happen to buddy
* I think I saw someone there with a sign that read…”Hey Ref, this tournament is not about YOU”
* And last but not least, John Wall will be the #1 Pick in next years NBA Draft…

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a top ranked basketball recruit play before he or she entered college. The last time was in 2005 when as an 8th grader, Skylar Diggins dominated guys and girls who were six years her senior. After officiating her basketball game, I reached out to a friend (what up KQ) and said she’s going to be a # 1 recruit when she graduates high school four years from now. Need I say more? http://www.hoopfeed.com/content/2009/07/16/notre-dame-signee-skylar-diggins-named-national-high-school-athlete-of-the-year-parker-and-moore-win-espys/

The same goes for John Wall. It’s a shame we (UNC-CH), NCCU, or even NC State could not snag him. I would have paid to enter any of those gyms to see him play. Instead he’s headed to Kentucky where John Calipari is as shady as those stock brokers on Wall Street (no pun intended). Nevertheless Wall will be able to do whatever he wants and like many other young athletes before him, it will be the deciding factor on how the rest of his life plays out.

But for now, I am witness.