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"Tre's had lots of action, and has narrowed down his options to UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Wilmington, Tulane & SMU.  Because of the importance of education to his mom and him both, SMU & Tulane are the clear leaders at the moment. The lure of a $250,000 education and the alumni connections of the latter two schools may be too hard to pass up.  I believe he could be a 3 time all conference player at either of these spots. He's setting up visits now and will likely head to SMU for an official in the 2nd-3rd week of September."- Coach Jeff Jones

Drye is now topping out at 6'6-6'7" but he competes so hard that he's much "bigger than that.  His handles are improved and so is his intermediate shot.  Drye does most of his damage around the hoop as he is a relentless rebounder and will dunk on anyone in traffic or out.-Coach Max Ivany

I expect Tre Drye to be a success both on and off the court.  He'll be a nice get for either of these programs.  They say SMU doesn't get enough Texas kids, but if the Mustangs and Matt Doherty can pry him away from the new staff at Tulane (45 minutes from Baton Rouge), they will quickly adopt him as a Texas at Southern Methodist University.

On Friday Derrick Rose, All-Star point guard of the Bulls, was interviewed by Raúl Barrigón of HoopsHype.

When asked about the upcoming season and his expectations of his team Rose said, "We got a new team, great young players. I think now we have a chance to go out there and try to win every game."

Rose talked about what his new coach, Tom Thibodeau, expects out of him this season. "Leadership, playing defense. That’s the main thing, to be really agressive. The city of Chicago will love him, because as long as you’re playing hard and playing agressive, they love that kind of play."

Derrick also mentioned that he worked a lot on his shooting, especially his three point shot, "I’m just working on threes. I’ll be shooting a lot of them this season, you’ll see."

"It’s gonna be good", Rose said of the Noah, Boozer combo. "Joakim is a great guy like on the weak side, rebounding, tipping the ball. They’re gonna be monsters down there. They’re really gonna help us and be a threat. It’s gonna be hard for people to go against these guys because Boozer is really big and Joakim is always jumping around, so I’d hate to play against them."

Asked if he feared the Heat, Rose said, "Fear them? No. If anything, you want to play them. As a ballplayer, you want to play against the best. I know my team is ready to play."

The Chicago Bulls are in need of one more assistant coach to add to coach Thibodeou's staff.

The Bulls have had their eyes on Terry Porter since the beginning of the summer, but they are also looking at other options. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Terry Porter, Eric Musselman and Kelvin Sampson are the finalists.

Terry Porter had his first coaching gig with the Sacramento Kings as an assistant in the 02-03 season.  In 2003, the Milwaukee Bucks hired Porter to be their head coach, but when his team failed to make the playoffs, he was released in 2005. He then found a job with the Detroit Pistons as an assistant coach in the 06-07 season, but only stayed with them for one season. Porter, once again, became a head coach, but this time for the Phoenix Suns. Sadly, he only lasted 51 games with a 28-23 record with the team. Although his career coaching record is not very good, 99-116, he can still be a good mentor to Derrick Rose.

In 2002 Eric Musselman was hired to be the head coach Golden State Warriors. He stayed with them for two years putting up a total record of 75–89. In the 02-03 season he finished second to Greg Popovich in the NBA Coach of the Year voting. In 2006, Musselman found a job with the Sacramento Kings and led the team to a 33-49 record, but he was fired 48 hours before the last game. 
 
Kelvin Sampson, currently, is the assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks and was hired by the team on May 14, 2008. Before that he was hired by the Spurs, in advisory role, on March 8, 2008. Sampson also coached at the college level for Indiana, Oklahoma, and Washington State.

The Chicago Bulls did retire Scottie Pippen’s No. 33 on Dec. 9, 2005, but they are planning to do much more.The Bulls will permanently display a bronze statue of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen inside the United Center.

Pippen was recently  inducted into Hall of Fame and the Bulls organization wanted to reward him.

“Not only is Scottie Pippen one of the greatest players to ever wear a Bulls uniform, but he’s among the best players in history of the league to play the game,” said Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. “He had a tremendous impact in bringing six world championships to Chicago and there is no better way to pay tribute to him than with a permanent statue that honors his inspirational career.”

Pippen, who won 6 championships with the Bulls, was informed of this news the same week he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“Words really can’t express my feelings,” Pippen told Bulls.com. “It’s an unbelievable honor and truly amazing. It’s something you dream of as a kid growing up, but you can never foresee those childhood fantasies becoming reality. You see statues of individuals who have done great things and made their mark on history, but as a basketball player, you never really think about arriving at this point. It’s an amazing honor for the Chicago Bulls to do this for me.”

“Rajon came to us and said he was going to withdraw from the team, that he had some family matters to attend to and some things to take care of before the NBA season. He did an outstanding job during our training, we appreciate the effort and commitment he made to our program and he completely has our support,” said Colangelo. 

According to his agent Andy Miller, Rudy Fernandez of the Blazers, no longer has interest in playing in the NBA and wants to return to Europe.

Fernandez has asked the Blazers to trade him ever since the off-season had began. The New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, and Boston Celtics were among the teams interested in trading for Fernandez, but the Blazer's were asking for too much in return. Now Fernandez's agent has said that Rudy is homesick and has no interest in playing in the NBA.

“He has indicated he would like to return to Europe to continue his basketball career,” Miller told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday. “He is more comfortable in Europe. He’d rather be in Europe than the NBA. He understands the circumstances in which he wouldn’t be coming back. I don’t see any scenario in which he’d want to be back.”

Miller also was interviewed by Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype and he said, "The impression I'm getting more and more is that he's lost interest in playing in the NBA, quite frankly," Miller said. "It's my impression that Rudy would prefer to be in Europe rather than the NBA at this point."

After hearing this news fans in Chicago are probably very upset. The Bulls were close to acquiring Fernandez, but the Blazers were asking for Taj Gibson in return, who the Bulls were not making available. Fernandez would be a great addition to the team, but now it looks more unlikely that the Bulls will trade for him after hearing that Fernandez does not wish to play for an NBA team.

According to many sources, Carmelo Anthony will not be with the Denver Nuggets past the 10-11 season. The Nuggets have offered Carmelo a three-year 65 million extension, but Melo hasn't expressed interest in signing it. Carmelo could force the Nuggets to trade him by signing the extension and then demanding a trade or refuse to sign, leaving the Nuggets to trade him or receive nothing when he becomes a free agent after this season.

It has also been reported that Carmelo would accept a trade to multiple teams, with the New York Knicks and the Orlando Magic being the preferred destinations. During his Tuesday show on ESPN Radio in New York, Michael Kay cited sources in reporting that the Knicks will offer Gallinari, a future first-round pick and Eddy Curry in a bid to acquire Carmelo Anthony from Denver.

Now the question is, do the Bulls have a chance to get Melo? From all the teams interested in Carmelo, the Bulls would probably offer the best package which would include Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, James Johnson, and maybe draft picks. Chicago would be a great place for Melo to land. Carmelo would play for a big market team and also a team that already has all the pieces set in place to compete for a championship. It would provide the Bulls with another All-Star player and it would instantly make the Bulls championship contenders.

http://es.pn/94CvVS

The camp is located on the beautiful new Concordia University campus in northwest Austin, TX.  

(Mapquest link below)
 http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Austin&state=TX&address=11400+Concordia+University+Dr&zipcode=78726-1887&country=US&latitude=30.4202&longitude=-97.84012&geocode=ADDRESS

This is a deeply personal recount of a young man's basketball and life journey.  Garland Judkins is one of my favorite players to have ever worn a Texas D-1 Ambassadors uniform.  He doesn't mind me telling it, and hopes that it's an inspiration and a guiding light for other young players.

The last year has been a humbling time in the life of young Garland Judkins.  After starting several games as a true freshman during the 2008-2009 season on an NCAA Sweet 16 Pac-10 powerhouse Arizona Wildcats team that featured two NBA Draft picks (Chase Budinger & Jordan Hill), Judkins found himself relegated to the bench in what became a frustrating season. 

Fast forward to 2009-2010 and with new Coach Sean Miller coming over from Xavier to coach the Wildcats, Judkins was optimistic that he'd get a fresh start.  However, things just never fell into place as the new staff had their own ideas as to who "their guys" were and Judkins wasn't one of them.  (This is a great lesson for young players who sign with schools where there's a high likelihood of a staff change). 

Arizona Coach Miller called me this past Christmas and communicated with me that Garland would be in a better spot elsewhere and asked me to assist him in a transfer.  We did that, and Judkins was excited about heading to UT-San Antonio and being closer to his home in suburban Houston (Angleton, TX).  It had been a tough fall for Garland though as his grandfather passed away last fall and his Pops Garland Jukins Sr. was ill, and when UTSA evaluated his transcript it had fallen below the magical 2.0 line, rendering him ineligible for D1 transfer.
To Garland's credit, he went home to Houston and began taking online courses.  The UTSA staff assumed he would not get eligible and they moved along, signing all 8 of their available scholarships.  To add to the challenges, Garland lost his beloved father in late June of this year.  After a long illness he suffered renal failure and went home to our Lord Jesus Christ leaving behind Beverly Judkins and her only son.

Garland has boundless energy on the court, and showed the same great relience off the court with all the challenges he's recently faced.  He completed several online courses over the spring and summer and once again is eligible for D1 basketball!  The next step was to head to Jerry Mullin's "Availables" event in Tulsa, OK.  Judkins was head and shoulders the best player there.  He quickly received interest from Boise State, North Texas, Cal-Riverside, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and an unnamed Big XII school who were (still are) waiting to see if one of their signees was going to get through the NCAA Clearinghouse.

A lot of history, I know.  But today Garland texted me during his official visit with his mother to the beautiful Texas A&M-Corpus Christi campus and told me he really like the environment and the coaches.  I sat in my hotel room with my son, Chip and cried tears of joy for this young man.  The world of NCAA recruiting is a tough, no holds barred business that swallows up more than it's share of kids.  I am so happy that Garland Judkins will not be one of those.

Judkins is an explosive high level athlete that can get to the rim and will mash on you when he does.  A streaky shooter, you still have to respect his perimeter game.  Judkins can defend and handles the ball well, especially when he's pushing upcourt a la Clyde "The Glide" Drexler.   I full expect Judkins to be an All Conference player in the Southland Conference.  He'll be one of  a handful of elite athlets in the SLC and should prosper playing for veteran Coach Perry Clark (prior stops at Tulane & Miami)  You can look for him to fill the shoes of recently departed Kevin Palmer as the Big Dog in Corpus Christi before his career is over.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will petition the NCAA for a hardship waiver to be able to play immediately and perhaps even to have 3 years eligibility remaining.  I had a chance to be interviewed by an NCAA investigator last summer in Kansas City.  He asked me what I thought they could do to make college basketball a better game for the kids.  Amongst the topics we touched on was getting AAU guys who are friendly with agents (along with the agents themselves) away from the kids. 

However, I feel it's more simple than that.  Just err in favor of the kids.  This is a young man that deserves his waiver.  He's endured the passing of a father & a grandfather.  He did not ask for 3 coaches in a tumultuous year when he went to Arizona.  The legendary Lute Olson absolutely loved Garland's game.  Who knows how this would have turned out if Coach Olson was still in the Head Seat with the Wildcats?

Coach Max Ivany

How does it feel to be a 4 year varsity starter, 3 times an All Region Player in the talent rich State of Texas & in your senior year to add All State Honors to your resume but STILL have no Division One offers?  Most players and families would likely panic, or perhaps even turn their backs on the pursuit of college basketball out of frustration.  Not Kerrville Tivy's Jonathan Perry!

After 100 plus games on the highest level of the circuit with the Texas D1 Ambassadors, Perry had lots of D1 nibbles but no offers at the end of this spring.  College staff changes killed sure fire opportunities at the Citadel and Army.  So, the Perry Family made the trek to Virginia this past spring and decided that Fork Union Academy with it's rigorous academic and social policies (no vehicles on campus and limited cell phone usage by the players/student body) was the place he was going to be.  He'd reclassify and look at his college opportunities after an additional year.

All this culminated on Tuesday evening when veteran Coach Tim Floyd (Chicago Bulls, USC, New Orleans Hornets etc) called the Perrys and offered Jonathan a scholarship to the defending champion UTEP Miners of Conference USA. Not only did Coach Floyd offer the scholarship he also said Jonathan would get 8-10 minutes a game as the back up point/combo guard. For good measure let's throw in Floyd's extensive resume of developing players (including a remarkable 3 who did NOT play high school ball, yet played in the pros!)  Hard to turn down, right? Wrong!
 After a day and a half of deliberation the Perrys politely refused and said they would honor Jonathan's COMMITMENT to Fork Union and legendary Coach Fletcher.  It was the right thing to do, in their way of thinking.  I've got to hand it to them, they are people of faith and are staunch in their belief of God's Plan.  I respectfully disagree, as I think it is a great opportunity BUT good people can have differing points of view.  :-)   So, on that note we wish Jonathan Perry all the best as he prepares to head off to Fork Union Academy in the next few days to pursue his educational, spiritual & hoops dreams.  You can bet he will be in somebody's D1 uniform in the 2011-2012 season.

I wanted to take a minute and thank my good friend, Ted Hutchins of Jackson, MS. Our friendship has resulted in an incresed opportunities for many Jackson area players, including but certainly not limited to 2011 WG Leantwan Luckett who rose to Top 60 in the country this year with the National Ranking Services & 2011 P Donovan Ross who is one tough hombre. Both of these players anchored the roster in this our inaugural season as the Mississippi D1 Ambassadors.


Coach Hutchins, like the rest of our organization's leaders is a professional man who works his "real job" with the Federal Government's Social Security Administration. He gives up his nights and weekends to work his passion, coaching basketball and mentoring young men. My hat's off to him and his lovely wife, Camille for their commitment to the youth of Mississippi and to the D1 Nation!


Sincere Thanks


Coach Max Ivany
D1 Nation

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The Mississippi D1 Ambassadors had a very successful run at the D1 Nationals in Orlando FL last week. They finished in the top 20 out of over 230 participating teams with a 6-3 record, losing in semifinal consolation bracket 50-49 to the Wave BBall team out of Connecticut.


The D1 Ambassadors placed 2nd in their pool with a 2-1 record; defeating the NJ Roadrunners 46-43 and Georgia Elite South 57-49, and losing to national powerhouse Boston Warriors 81-74. After losing the first game in Championship bracket play (NC Athletics 62-59), they went on a 4 game tear; beating teams such as the Queen City Prophets from Ohio 46-44, Team NLP from Illinois 59-44, NC Athletics East 56-44 and Georgia Stars 43-42.


LeAntwan Luckett led the Ambassadors in scoring with a 17 pt average, while Donovan Ross lead all rebounders with 13 per game! "Twon" had a great month of July traveling all over the United States participating in camps and tournaments such as the EYBL Nike Tournament. No one had a bigger breakout summer than Donovan Ross! He went from relatively unknown to receiving several offers from D1 colleges! He's known as the "hardest working player in MS", and that's the biggest compliment you can get with this talent rich class of 2011. The Ambassadors picked up two young men who were MAJOR contributers to the team, Quentin Watkins, 6'1 pg from Lanier High (Jackson MS) and Joshua Swan, 6'2 pg/sg from Pace Academy in Atlanta GA. Both players have D1 written all over them as they showed great offensive and defensive skills throughout the tournament. Quentin played for the Jackson Celtics this season while Joshua played with the Future Elite from GA.


A pleasant surprise came from 6'4 wing Dexter Williams out of Hawaii and 5'7 pg Sean Hutchins from Ridgeland High. After arriving late due to school committments, Sean provided a defensive spark that carried the team to the brink of medaling. After 6 years of AAU competition, Sean should have a great senior season!


Additional Mississippi D1 Ambassadors prospects that played in the AAU National Tournament:


Jerrial Dawson, 6'1 guard from traditional powerhouse Murrah High, scored 24 pts against the Boston Warriors including 6 three pointers! He's a pure shooter with range up to 25 feet.


Daniel Francis, 6'3 wing also from Murrah, a three year starter who will receive a lot of looks from the SWAC and LA schools. Very solid fundamentally with a nice baseline jumper.


2012 Corey Cox, 6'3 wing from Yazoo City High started 2 games in Nationals. Tremendous defender with nice stroke from 20 feet. Will be a MAJOR D1 recruit in the Class of 2012.


McDarion Abron, 6'10 center from Canton High, already receiving looks from UTEP, Arkansas State, Alabama State, Jackson State, Missouri State. Raw kid with HUGE upside! Can run the floor like most small forwards, good hands and lane clogger.


A J Wade, 6'3 pg from N E Lauderdale, one of the best man to man defenders in high school. Great job at ball denial, long arms make it impossible to shoot over him, and he is a good rebounder for his slim size! Receiving interest from regional D1 schools in MS and AL.


Additional Players To Watch:


Clayton Tate, 2012 6'3 guard from Terry High, terrific 3 pt shooter who has no fear of taking the big shot. Will also be a major factor next year on the AAU circuit.


Johnny Rucker, 2012 6'4 fwd from Yazoo City, plays like he's 6-9, actually was the 2nd leading rebounder on team despite limited minutes. Has a knack for getting the tough rebounds, well coached in high school.


Justin Kinsey, 6'4 fwd from Yazoo City, didn't get a lot of minutes due to foot injury suffered earlier this year, but will start for a LOADED Yazoo City team this year. Great leaper with high flying dunks.


Ted Hutchins


Head Coach


Mississippi D1 Ambassadors

I had a chance to watch a few games over the weekend during the Back to School tourney held out in Manor. 2013 F 5'8 Jonelle Smith & 2013 G 5'5 Taylor Ross, a duo form Pflugerville competed very well throughout the weekend. Ross a nice smooth 5'5 point guard has great athleticism with the ability to shoot the ball. The true sophomore worked hard defensively & stayed aggressive on the offensive side of the ball. Taylor has great ball handling and passing skills with nice quickness off the dribble. Taylor will suit up with the Pflugerville Panthers JV squad this year & should do good things.  Thanks to her dad, I got these nice photos with Taylor suiting  up with Next Level this past summer.  





2013 W 5'7 Jonelle Smith has great potential. With nice size & projected to be right at 5'11 the true sophomore will do great things in the years to come. Smith has a nice mid range shot with the ability to take you off the bounce. The young ssophomore was very aggressive at attacking the basket, and had countless hustle plays throughout the tourney.  Jonelle will also suit up with Pflugerville JV this season & should be an nice impact player for the Panthers.