elite 24 hoops classic
my trip to rucker park for the elite 24 hoops classic was an interesting one. i left the area early and made my way up to harlem, which i had never been to before. i was surprised how much different the areawas from its previous (and current) reputation. though i'm sure that there are some nasty areas, it really seemed okay.
the court itself was just a regular outdoor basketball court. the backboards were really small, and the rims were extremely soft. i'm surprised that no one got hurt. the players had nowhere to land after layups and dunks. there were photographers and others right under the baskets. at least a few times a player would go down with the fans gasping at the expectation that he might have turned an ankle or worse. the other issue was the bugs. the players and fans spent much of the night swatting them away. i have a number of mosquito bites.
the crowd was what you would expect: a regular rucker crowd. there was a lot of hooting and hollering, which tended to escalate when stephenson and evans went head-to-head in the second half. it was a lively atmosphere that surely fed the players' drive to compete. some of the notables in the crowd were lloyd "sweet pea" daniels, earl "the pearl" washington, and fat joe. jason williams (the duke one), jesse sapp (g'town), and kevin love were there. rafer "skip to my lou" alston was one of the coaches. it was definitely a vibrant atmosphere.
after waiting in line for about 2 hours, i was let in. i sat at mid-court about 3 rows up. good seats. the players did at least a half hour of layup drills prior to the game. that was way too long, as it was pretty muggy. they were delighting us with numerous great dunks.
boys, mullens can throw them down! he had the first dunk that drew some "oohs" and "aahs." i was really impressed with some of his dunks where he would take the ball from his left hand and, mid-air, go between his legs to a right-handed throwdown. wow. that was impressive. it's amazing to see a young 7-footer pull off that kind of dunk. when he shot jump shots, they were all from the top of the key or beyond. the form looks good, though he wasn't terribly accurate. he has the outside shot, though. there is plenty of flick in the wrist, and his right elbow is fully extended.
if my memory serves me correctly, he had 8 points of his team's first 14 or so. he had some nasty dunks, a nice post move, and a great dunk off a backboard alley oop. the crowd was loving him. the announcer was giving him some great props. i didn't like his court name, though. one of the guys thought that he looked like ashton kutcher. in fact, they called him ashton a few times. they then switched to "that 70s show," which stuck for the rest of the night. ehh. it would make sense if he had a throwback game. nonetheless, we heard the "that 70s show's" name a lot that night, especially early on.
bj didn't play much defense. no one did. while he would throw his body up against the posts, he didn't make a presense on the boards and didn't contend many shots. so be it. the score was, what, 169 to 165? the only time defense was played was when there would be a clear-out for, say, stephenson versus evans.
