Beach Ball Classic notebook: St. Francis (Ga.) takes out frustration in consolation bracket
It seems a loss in the first round of the 34th Beach Ball Classic has angered St. Francis of Alpharetta, Ga.
The Knights have been taking out their frustration on teams in the consolation bracket since.
After falling 72-50 to Sagemont High, a reigning state champion in Florida, in what was regarded as the toughest matchup in the first round, St. Francis has defeated North Little Rock (Ark.) by 26 points and Scott County (Ky.) by 28, and has put up 159 points in the process.
St. Francis (10-2) will face Northland (Ohio) in the consolation championship at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday.
“Great teams take losses like that and they bounce back, and we’re showing teams that we don’t deserve to be in this [consolation] bracket,” said Knights point guard Kobi Simmons. “We’re going to get [the consolation title], hands down. We’re not worried about that. We’re going to bounce back and finish it up.”
The Knights are stacked with as much talent as any team in the Beach Ball.
Senior 6-foot-5 shooting guard Malik Beasley is headed to Florida State, 6-7 senior wing Kaiser Gates is headed to Xavier, Simmons is a 6-5 junior who will have a selection of colleges next year. The supporting cast isn’t bad, either.
Beasley has led the Knights’ dominance in the past two games, scoring an efficient 54 points on 22-of-29 shooting.
St. Francis played in the Dec. 18-23 City of Palms tournament in Fort Myers, Fla., going 3-1 with a three-point loss to Montverde Academy (Fla.), the No. 1 team in the country, followed by a pair of wins for a fifth-place finish.
The Knights played their final City of Palms game at 3:30 p.m. last Tuesday. They took the bus ride back to the Atlanta area, enjoyed Christmas, practiced at 8:30 a.m. Friday and made the six-hour ride to Myrtle Beach for their Saturday Beach Ball opener.
“We came off back-to-back tournaments. But we’re not using that as an excuse,” Simmons said. “We just came out sluggish and drowsy in the first game and the other team took advantage of it and gave it to us.”
Because of the early loss, rather than play under the spotlight of primetime games in the winner’s bracket, the Knights had to play games at noon Monday and 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.
“It’s always fun to play in front of big crowds, but we lost and that’s what happens,” Beasley said. “We’re in the consolation bracket. We didn’t look for that. We wanted to win the tournament to show you can bounce back from the City of Palms. Most people say you can’t play good in both tournaments. So we still can prove it, and we can still bounce back. Even though we lost we can bounce back and not keep our heads down.”
Big man, big decision
Most of the top seniors in the Beach Ball Classic have signed with colleges already.
One of the most highly sought-after recruits, Bishop Gorman (Nev.) 7-foot center Stephen Zimmerman, has yet to commit.
He said Monday his finalists are Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, UNLV and Arizona.
“I think I’m going to wait for the end of the season just so I can focus on the season, since it’s my last one,” Zimmerman said. “We’ve talked to coaches about if I do know before the end of the season, talking to them about it and letting everybody know but not actually officially committing until the end of the season.”
That means he may take his decision all the way to National Signing Day, April 15, or thereafter.
Teammate and fellow big man Chase Jeter has signed with Duke. Zimmerman said other Division I signees have tried to convince him to join them at their school of choice, but he figures waiting will give him a better idea where he wants to play and with whom, since he’ll see where some of the nation’s other top players have signed.
“A lot of players have talked to me about it,” Zimmerman said. “But I’m just focusing on this season, and waiting until the end of our season and seeing where everyone else goes and stuff will help me out.”
Watchful college eyes
The work put it on the Myrtle Beach Convention Center court this may have been productive for some, as a number of college coaches were in attendance to witness and assess the talents of the players.
Most notably, University of North Carolina coach Roy Williams was in attendance Monday, scoping out commit Luke Maye of Hough (N.C.) and Jalek Felton of Mullins, who made a verbal commitment to the school Tuesday. Rival coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, whose signees Luke Kennard of Franklin (Ohio) and Chase Jeter of Bishop Gorman (Nev.) were in Tuesday’s semifinals, has been in past years but wasn’t seen this year.
“From a coaches’ standpoint they’re coming to look at players that have already signed or committed,” Beach Ball executive director John Rhodes said. “For instance, coach [Roy] Williams came to watch Luke Maye play, who is going to North Carolina. We were hoping Coach K would be here tonight to watch Luke Kennard and if he were to stay and watch Chase Jeter play, too. We hadn’t heard anything from him.”
Coaches from several schools made it to the tournament.
Assistants from Wake Forest, Arizona, IUPUI, Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, Duke and ECU were confirmed guests. CCU head coach Cliff Ellis watched signee Josh Coleman of St. Francis play Saturday.
NCAA investigator Frank Smith was also present.
Meanwhile, along with college coaches, there were six McDonalds All-American voters in attendance, assessing players.
The growing popularity of the tournament has pleased Rhodes and the tournament staff.
“This year we’ve also been able to attract more fans from out of state,” Rhodes said. “These schools, they travel very well. We’re very happy with the crowd turnout and the ballgames have been very exciting.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2014 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Beach Ball Classic notebook: St. Francis (Ga.) takes out frustration in consolation bracket."