A day after North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams made an appearance at the Beach Ball Classic, it was Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski turning heads inside the Myrtle Beach Convention Center on Thursday.
Krzyzewski was introduced by the public address announcer before the start of 5:15 p.m. game between Bishop Gorman (Nev.) and Lakota East (Ohio) and stayed for the following game as well.
He declined an interview request, but the NCAA’s all-time winningest Division I basketball coach was accommodating to fans who crowded around the courtside media table seeking autographs and snapping photos during breaks in play.
Krzyzewski was presumably in the house to watch Bishop Gorman standout Shabazz Muhammad, who is rated by Rivals.com and ESPNU as the top senior in the country.
Muhammad, who lists Duke as one of the six schools he’s considering, said he noticed Krzyzewski sitting courtside but tried not to let it distract him.
“Oh, absolutely. You’ve got to glance over,” Muhammad said. “You’re going to see who is in the stands or not, but I try to block them out and just play my game.”
But, he added, “It’s always a blessing having Coach K come to your game and watch you play.”
Muhammad delivered 22 points in 18 minutes in his team’s lopsided 76-38 win over Lakota East. He may not have been the only player Krzyzewski had his eye on, though, as the next game between Prestonwood Christian Academy (Texas) and Whitney Young (Ill.) also featured some of the tournament’s top uncommitted talent.
Crowd pleaser
Milton (Ga.) 6-5 senior Shaq Johnson showed why he’s a candidate to win Saturday night’s dunk contest in a 64-53 quarterfinal win over Ballard (Ky.). The 6-5 Auburn commitment had three backboard-shaking dunks, including two within 30 seconds in the first half.
He glided in from just inside the foul line on a breakaway for his first dunk, came off the baseline for a dunk following a backcourt turnover by Ballard for his second, and added a third in the second half off a nice feed from point guard Jalyn Patterson.
Johnson admits to trying to give the crowd a show with every dunk opportunity. “Every chance I get to dunk, I try [to entertain],” he said. “I try to dunk every play. I just like dunking. I like the way it feels.”
His favorite was his third dunk, “when my point guard Jalyn kicked it back to me and I dunked on a dude with one hand. I liked that one.”
He intends to be entered in the slam competition. “If we keep winning I think [coach David Boyd] will let me do it, but if we lose he won’t let me do it, I don’t think,” Johnson said.
Johnson gets his leaping ability from his father, Brian Edwards, who broke high school high jump records in Nebraska.
A coveted campus
The Milton (Ga.) basketball team has the sons of a few famous Georgia athletes on its roster. Junior guard Jazz Felton is the son of former University of Georgia men’s basketball coach Dennis Felton, and 6-6 sophomore Mo Lewis is the son of Atlanta native and former Georgia and New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis.
They live in the town and attend the school for a reason. It’s a coveted zip code, located about 30 miles north of Atlanta.
“It’s a combination of many things,” said fifth-year Milton coach David Boyd. “We have an excellent academic school – top 150 in the country; a very nice community; unbelievable state-of-the-art facilities – it’s a $74 million building and looks like a college campus; and we’re fortunate to have a good basketball program.”
The Eagles ranked in the top 15 nationally at the end of last season after their third consecutive Georgia state championship game appearance, and the team lost seven seniors who all signed scholarships. They lose three players going to Virginia, Georgia and Auburn this year.
There should be little if any decline in the coming years, because the gene pool is overflowing. Mo Lewis’ youngest son, Chris, and Felton’s younger son, Nile, are big-time players who are only in eighth grade.
Father knows best
Michael D’Antoni’s place on the Rye High (N.Y.) team gave his teammates a rare opportunity to learn from an NBA coach this summer and fall during the NBA lockout.
Both D’Antoni’s father, New York Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni, and uncle, Knicks assistant Dan D’Antoni, were around to offer insight during practices.
“Being that he was available, and being a basketball junkie, certainly I’m going to pick his brain and try to get him involved as much as I could get him involved,” Rye coach Chris DiCintio said. “And he was gracious about it. He gave as much time as he could.
“He taught the boys a lot. He taught me things after being in basketball for 15-plus years. He’s opened my eyes to certain things, and even Dan for that matter was an integral part of the summer and certainly the fall time before the lockout ended.”
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