Arizona Wildcats basketball: On Coach Solomon Hill, Shaq's son, more LaVar Ball
- Updated
Seen and heard at the Las Vegas Classic.
- Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Solomon Hill earned $11.2 million playing basketball last season for the New Orleans Pelicans, which suggests he might want to summer at the beach in Ibiza or on a private island somewhere.
Not inside a steamy gym working out with a bunch of teenagers. But he is.
The former UA forward has been serving as an assistant coach this month for the California Supreme club, spending a week in training camp with them and serving on a star-studded staff this week along with former NBA standouts Shaquille O’Neal and Kenyon Martin.
“I’ve been thinking about (vacationing) but I don’t think I’d put myself in position to be doing that,” Hill said. “This allows me to be with the youth and get my workouts in. I feel I’m doing a little bit of both. You get to go to Vegas, you get to work out and you get to coach the young guys.”
That’s a typical reaction from Hill, the way Gary Franklin sees it. Franklin, the director of the Cal Supreme program, has known Hill since he played for the club as a high schooler himself.
“He’s always been a great kid,” Franklin said. “He’s grown up and he’s great player but, man, he’s just a remarkable person. We’ve asked him to do a lot of different things, and he’s always done them.”
- Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
The publicity machine that is LaVar Ball barreled into Las Vegas this week with predictable impact.
That is, everyone had to watch what Ball and his youngest son, LaMelo, could do against top-rated 2018 forward Zion Williamson in a showdown at Las Vegas’ Cashman Center.
An estimated 4,000 people crammed into a courtside seating area intended for 1,500 people, a madhouse so intense that even LeBron James couldn’t get in.
James showed up shortly before the game, when CBS Sports reported 1,500 fans had already been turned away.
“We shut him down,” Adidas marketing consultant Dan Cutler told CBS Sports. “Just safety of him coming and going. … him sitting there would have been fine, it’s just getting in and out.”
The madhouse also extended online: A Facebook Live stream of the game received 800,000 views within two hours of the game’s end and that number pushed to 1.2 million with replays viewed through Thursday afternoon.
- Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Williamson had 31 points and nine rebounds to lead SC Supreme to a 104-92 win over Big Baller Brand. SC Supreme also had 20 points and eight rebounds from UA target Devon Dotson, a 2018 guard from Charlotte.
LaMelo Ball, a 15-year-old UCLA commit, had 36 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
- Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Orlando forward Nassir Little appeared to become an even higher priority target of Arizona and several other high-major teams after playing well earlier this month. Analyst Jerry Meyer of 24/7 Sports even said he catapulted into the Top 10 of the class of 2018.
But his momentum came to a temporary halt on Wednesday, when he injured his ankle while attempting a block.
“I’m done,” Little said Thursday, after watching his 1Family club lose in overtime without him. “It sucks — last tournament and unexpected last game for my AAU career. But I look at the bigger picture. There’s a lot more in store for me.”
- Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Needing two teams to fill entries in both the Fab 48 and The 8 events this week, the New Jersey Playaz found the perfect way to create an alter ego.
Their entry in The 8 is officially known as the "Playaz Basketball Club Armoni Sexton All-Stars," honoring the 15-year-old rising star from New Jersey who was shot and killed in 2015, putting an abrupt end to a promising life and basketball career.
“That was big for us” to play on a team named for him,” said Playaz guard Jahvon Quinerly, a top UA recruiting target who said he played with Sexton in seventh and eighth grades. “He was really good… and he had a great sense of humor. The basketball community misses him.”
- Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
“I’m fine with it. It’s something I’ve had to deal with my whole life.” — UA commit Shareef O’Neal, on living with talk about his Hall of Famer father, Shaquille, who is attracting crowds while helping coach Cal Supreme this week.
- Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
3,044: Number of games scheduled between the 1,244 teams in the Las Vegas Classic, the biggest of the three major Las Vegas events this week.
Solomon Hill earned $11.2 million playing basketball last season for the New Orleans Pelicans, which suggests he might want to summer at the beach in Ibiza or on a private island somewhere.
Not inside a steamy gym working out with a bunch of teenagers. But he is.
The former UA forward has been serving as an assistant coach this month for the California Supreme club, spending a week in training camp with them and serving on a star-studded staff this week along with former NBA standouts Shaquille O’Neal and Kenyon Martin.
“I’ve been thinking about (vacationing) but I don’t think I’d put myself in position to be doing that,” Hill said. “This allows me to be with the youth and get my workouts in. I feel I’m doing a little bit of both. You get to go to Vegas, you get to work out and you get to coach the young guys.”
That’s a typical reaction from Hill, the way Gary Franklin sees it. Franklin, the director of the Cal Supreme program, has known Hill since he played for the club as a high schooler himself.
“He’s always been a great kid,” Franklin said. “He’s grown up and he’s great player but, man, he’s just a remarkable person. We’ve asked him to do a lot of different things, and he’s always done them.”
The publicity machine that is LaVar Ball barreled into Las Vegas this week with predictable impact.
That is, everyone had to watch what Ball and his youngest son, LaMelo, could do against top-rated 2018 forward Zion Williamson in a showdown at Las Vegas’ Cashman Center.
An estimated 4,000 people crammed into a courtside seating area intended for 1,500 people, a madhouse so intense that even LeBron James couldn’t get in.
James showed up shortly before the game, when CBS Sports reported 1,500 fans had already been turned away.
“We shut him down,” Adidas marketing consultant Dan Cutler told CBS Sports. “Just safety of him coming and going. … him sitting there would have been fine, it’s just getting in and out.”
The madhouse also extended online: A Facebook Live stream of the game received 800,000 views within two hours of the game’s end and that number pushed to 1.2 million with replays viewed through Thursday afternoon.
Williamson had 31 points and nine rebounds to lead SC Supreme to a 104-92 win over Big Baller Brand. SC Supreme also had 20 points and eight rebounds from UA target Devon Dotson, a 2018 guard from Charlotte.
LaMelo Ball, a 15-year-old UCLA commit, had 36 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
Orlando forward Nassir Little appeared to become an even higher priority target of Arizona and several other high-major teams after playing well earlier this month. Analyst Jerry Meyer of 24/7 Sports even said he catapulted into the Top 10 of the class of 2018.
But his momentum came to a temporary halt on Wednesday, when he injured his ankle while attempting a block.
“I’m done,” Little said Thursday, after watching his 1Family club lose in overtime without him. “It sucks — last tournament and unexpected last game for my AAU career. But I look at the bigger picture. There’s a lot more in store for me.”
Needing two teams to fill entries in both the Fab 48 and The 8 events this week, the New Jersey Playaz found the perfect way to create an alter ego.
Their entry in The 8 is officially known as the "Playaz Basketball Club Armoni Sexton All-Stars," honoring the 15-year-old rising star from New Jersey who was shot and killed in 2015, putting an abrupt end to a promising life and basketball career.
“That was big for us” to play on a team named for him,” said Playaz guard Jahvon Quinerly, a top UA recruiting target who said he played with Sexton in seventh and eighth grades. “He was really good… and he had a great sense of humor. The basketball community misses him.”
“I’m fine with it. It’s something I’ve had to deal with my whole life.” — UA commit Shareef O’Neal, on living with talk about his Hall of Famer father, Shaquille, who is attracting crowds while helping coach Cal Supreme this week.
3,044: Number of games scheduled between the 1,244 teams in the Las Vegas Classic, the biggest of the three major Las Vegas events this week.
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