CAA Preseason Honors

The CAA Season kicked off this morning with their Media Day Live in which Preseason Honors were dished out. Among players honored for our local Hofstra University Pride was iLuvBBall Alum Justin Wright-Foreman being named to the Preseason All-Conference First Team. He’s our pick for Preseason Player of the Year, but maybe we’re a little bias ? LoL. Preseason POY Honors went to Joe Chealey from the College of Charleston.

Justin comes off his sophomore campaign in which we followed his meteoric scoring rise from his freshman year to led Hofstra in scoring at 18.1 ppg and giving him the largest PPG jump from year-to-year in the NCAA last season. He increased his scoring average by 16.5 ppg. Although leading the league in scoring during league play and being a two-time CAA Player of the Week, Justin was only named a second team All-CAA selection last year (again we thought first team, but of course we may be biased). We say the in jest, but of course we at iLuvBBall.com are expecting even bigger things for one of our proud (no pun intended) #iLuvBBallAlum.

Other honorees from our Hofstra Pride includes senior Rokas “Rock” Gustys named to the Preseason All-Conference Second Team. The rebounding machine, posted averages of 12.1 rebounds and 9.2 ppg last year, a year in which the injury bug caught him just a bit. Despite the injuries, he ranked fourth in the NCAA in rebounding. A healthy Rock should average a double-double in his sleep. Sophomore Eli Pemberton received Honorable Mention after a freshman campaign averaging 12.8 ppg, 3.3 rebs and 2.0 apg and earning CAA All-Rookie Team honors.

As a team, the Pride was picked to finish fourth in the conference, but we want better than that, and hope Hofstra can surprise some and bring home the CAA crown! Hofstra’s 2017 official campaign kicks off at home Nov 10th Veterans Day (observed) fittingly against Army.

You can catch the whole Preseason All-Conference Announcement from the Media Day Show here below

If you want to catch the whole Media Day Show here you go.

THE ALZHEIMER’S ALL-STAR GAME LAST GIRLS TRYOUTS ARE TODAY!!! BOYS LAST TRYOUTS DATE ANNOUNCED

TODAY ARE THE SUFFOLK GIRLS LAST TRYOUT’S AT SUSA.

Friday September  30th from 6:30pm-8:00pm @ SUSA – 114 Parkway Dr South Hauppauge, NY


THE LAST SUFFOLK BOYS TRYOUTS ARE:

Thursday, October 6, 2016 from 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM @ Amityville Memorial High School 272 Merrick Rd, Amityville, NY 11701, United States

REGISTER ONLINE TO SAVE TIME!!

 

These tryouts are open to ALL Long Island basketball players (Girls and Boys) and this event is truly the best of the Island. Only restrictions are NO MORE THAN 3 players from 1 school can be selected and you must attend at least 1 tryout to be selected to the All-Star teams.

 

 

The 2016 Alzheimer’s  All- Stars classic  proudly  announces this year’s event will be sponsored by the Rising Stars Youth Foundation. Event founder Gordon Thomas sees the partnership between the two organization as the perfect fit saying,” Rising Stars is much more than basketball .We share a common bond  in putting importance on the values and life lessons taught on and off the court  ahead of wins and losses.”

Hope to see you there and good luck!

Come out and Ball for a cause. tell them that iLuvBBall sent you!

BE THERE 1 HOUR IN ADVANCE TO REGISTER FOR TRYOUTS! OR CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE THEN PRINT AND BRING COMPLETED FORM TO TRYOUTS WITH YOU.

 

 

 

Congrats to long time iLuvBBall supporter Andre Edwards

Andre Edwards is a valuable community member and a staple in the long Island tapestry of AAU basketball. He is a personal friend to iLuvBBall.com and was instrumental in giving countless student-athletes the platform to show off their basketball powers and procuring scholarships to college. His take no shorts attitude sometimes gave people the wrong impression of Mr Edwards but those who knew him well knew that his heart was in the right place and though his experience and a alumni of the school of Hard Knox he was only trying to prepare his pupils for the harsh future that awaited them. He was never afraid of competition. In fact we welcomed and even sought out the toughest competition. The mentality behind his actions were everything we do now doesn’t matter, but what matters is what’s at the end of the finish line. And with Dre, that finish line was usually at some college. Dre was the guy that not only got you the looks from the college coaches, he took you there in his own car on his time to make sure you were taken care of. He did all all of this as a high school coach and as the founder of Team Underrated Basketball Academy. Team Underrated is one of long Island Longest running independent AAU/ Travel programs in existence today and he was doing it before any one else even thought of Travel basketball. Kudos Andre Edwards and we hope that your baby Team Underrated Basketball Academy is in good hands.

Well now we are proud to announce that our friend Andre Edwards is new Assistant Coach of the NYIT Bears Mens Basketball program in Westbury. If he puts half as much passion, dedication, and effort into his new endeavor as he has in the past we’re sure that he’ll be a very successful college coach and always a friend to the long island basketball community and iLuvBBall.com.

We’ve listed a few of Coach Dre’s past achievements below.

  • Former head coach Wyandanch High School and St John the Baptist High School
  • Won Class B Championship
  • Won Catholic League championship
  • Multiple players from his AAU program are playing D1, D2 College basketball,  and host of others playing D3, NAIA, JUCO,  and Prep.

Good Luck Coach Dre.

GUESS WHO’S GOING TO THE AAU NATIONALS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME?

Congrats to the AAU Long Island Lightning Wagner team on their great AAU season’s success so far, and even more for their 7-0 record in reaching the 2016 14U AAU Nationals Finals at Disney’s Wide world of Sports! All they do is win, win, win no matter what [DJ Khaled]! Lead by Brentwood’s 3 headed dragon, #14  Zed Key (6’6″), #7 Bryce Harris (6’2″), a man-child that makes his presense felt on both sides of the floor and game changer, and #2 Kenny Lazo (5’8″) their cool as ice point guard and floor general that remains steady through he whole game no matter who’s on the floor. But all this success wouldn’t be achievable without their great supporting cast: The 2nd big man #25 Brandon Pizzingrillo (6’5″), grabs boards and protects the paint. 3 point sniper #8 Brandon Weiss (5’5″). The gritty in your face defensive guard #23 Aaron Jaffee (5’9″). Don’t sleep on the 5’7″ 2 guard #12 Carleton (CJ) Parris who is also a 3point shooter / defensive specialist. 3 guard #32 Kieran Dorney (6’3″) another shooter with length and shooting skills to match. #21 is (5’8″) Bora Soybas crafty slasher, that can get to the basket at will. #15 Jagger Fernandez (5’9″), is another shooting specialist, and last but not least #33 Max Caspi (6’3″), a strong forward that can bang in the paint or shoot the 3, so pick your poison! This wouldn’t be possible if they weren’t lead by the lightning’s most successful head coach, which was inducted into the Lightning Hall of fame, Coach Warren Wagner who is a coach that pays attention to detail and stresses that his team is fundamentally sound and the “team” mentality. Tomorrow will be the biggest game he has ever coached as he takes his 14U team to the National Finals at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Main Court at 10:20 AM. Though not a small task we have faith that Coach Wagner and his boys won’t disappoint.  There you have it. This is our NY Lightning Wagner AAU finalist team representing Strong Island. Good luck gentlemen and hope you bring home the hardware. We’ll be watching and rooting from NY.

 

Lightning Wagner from left to right back row first:

#14 Zed Key,  #33 Max Caspi,  #25 Brandon Pizzingrillo, #32 Kieran Dorney, & #23 Aaron Jaffee

Front row: #21 Bora Soyas, #12 Carleton (CJ) Parris, #7 Bryce Harris, #15 Jagger Fernandez, #8 Brandon Weiss, & #2 Kenny Lazo

The game can be viewed in it’s entirety at 10:20Am eastern time online @ ESPN.com tomorrow.

Don’t forget to tell everyone where you hear about this first and don’t forget to register on the site for updates, news, and contest at iLuvBBall.com, and follow us on you favorite social media platforms @realiluvbball to

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