February 1st Odds and Ends

Instead of putting up a number of short articles, I decided to include everything in here. The topics range from the Hawks' roster on Wednesday to Justin Crosgile's departure from the team to local high school hoops to SJU recruiting.

On his Hawk Talk radio show Monday evening, head coach Phil Martelli announced that the starting line-up tomorrow night at Richmond will have a different look. Tay Jones, Langston Galloway, Daryus Quarles, and Idris Hilliard will remain in the line-up, but freshman forward CJ Aiken will be replaced by fellow freshman Ronald Roberts. In Saturday's loss to Temple, Roberts had 17 points and 3 rebounds in 28 minutes of playing time.

News broke yesterday that Saint Joseph's sophomore Justin Crosgile is taking a "leave of absence" from the team to take care of personal issues. A link to Dick Jerardi's article can be found here . The sophomore guard from New Jersey was averaging just under 5 points per game for the Hawks. It remains to be seen when, or if, Crosgile will return to the team.

Head coach Phil Martelli spent Sunday on the road recruiting. Martelli was one of several coaches in Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh Basketball Classic. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Martelli was there along with son, and current Rutgers assistant, Jimmy Martelli. Coaches from Wisconsin, Temple, West Virginia, and Robert Morris were also in attendance according to the Post-Gazette (linked here ). Who was Martelli watching? The sophomore and junior classes in the Pittsburgh area feature a number of talented players. The biggest name in the area is 6'3 sophomore guard Geno Thorpe, who the Wisconsin coaches were on hand to watch. In the junior class, some of the bigger names playing yesterday were 6'7 forward Sheldon Jeter, 6'9 wing Devontae Watson, and 6'10 forward Barnett Harris.

Locally, Saint Joseph's Prep head coach Speedy Morris got his 600th win as a high school coach last night. The Prep throttled West Catholic 70-31 behind 23 points from junior Gene Williams and 15 points from sophomore guard Steve Vasturia. On Sunday, in the PrimeTime Shootout, Trenton Catholic defeated Friends' Central 69-61, despite 23 points from senior guard Devin Coleman. I wrote a piece on Coleman Friday that can be found here .

This Sunday, the Hakim Warrick Classic will take place at Philadelphia University. At noon, Neshaminy and Penn Wood face off. At 1:45, Saint Anthony (NJ) and Friends' Central will play. The day's final game, between Lower Merion and Shabazz(NJ), is a 3:30 tip. Those game times are from the Scholastic Play by Play website linked here . I will be on hand covering the games. Solid planning by the event organizers to have the games early in the day so everyone can make it home for the Super Bowl.