Jefferson and Goodman Host the Blue Devils

Two of the top forwards nationally in the junior class happen to be from Philadelphia. 6'7 combo forward Amile Jefferson attends Friends' Central and 6'6 small forward Savon Goodman attends Academy of the New Church. Both players hosted the reigning national champion Duke Blue Devils today. Today, September 9th, happens to mark the first day of the open contact period. During this period, players typically schedule in-home visits, like the ones that both Amile and Savon have today with Duke.

A Year Later

On this Labor Day, I figured I'd take a minute to thank everyone that has visited the site over the past year. The very first entry on this site was now just over a year ago, and in that year, Hawk Hill Hardwood had over 40,000 hits. For a site that primarily deals only with Saint Joseph's hoops, that's pretty impressive. So thanks to everyone that has visited over the past year. While the Hawks struggled last year on the court, better times seem to be just ahead.

In the year since I started this site, quite a bit has happened, and I have been fortunate enough to get to speak with a number of coaches, players, and parents.

Thanks to Langston Galloway's coach, Carlo Maggio for talking to the site about his star guard, and current SJU freshmen. The same thanks go out to Daryus Quarles' Paulsboro coach Byron Dixon, Pat Swilling Jr's coach Scott Thompson, and Ronald Roberts' Saint Peter's Prep coach Mike Kelly. Mike Kelly continually updated me, and therefore all readers, about Roberts' recruitment throughout last season.

On the player front, I got a chance to speak with freshman guard Langston Galloway, and his father Larry, after he signed his LOI with the Hawks back in November. After his son's spring commitment to the Hawks, I also got to interview former NFL star Pat Swilling Sr. for the site.

It has been a extraordinarily interesting year off the court for the Hawks. Chris Wilson, who spent this weekend on campus for his official visit, is currently the lone member of the 2011 recruiting class for the Hawks, joining Hofstra transfer Halil Kanacevic. The Hawks are likely to continue to recruit that class, as well as moving forward into the 2012 class.

Thanks to everyone who has visited the site over the past year. Please continue stopping by, as hopefully this is just the beginning for the site.

Chris Wilson Visiting Hawk Hill; Local Schools Have Visitors

Almost exactly a month after becoming Saint Joseph's first verbal commitment in the 2011 class, North Carolina point guard Chris Wilson will make his first visit to Hawk Hill. According to Scout.com, Wilson will be on campus this weekend, September 4th and 5th. It surprised a number of people to learn that Wilson signed with the Hawks without ever setting foot on campus. This weekend, he will get a chance to do so, and do so on an official visit. The 6'3 point guard is currently the lone member of the 2011 SJU recruiting class. Will others follow? At the moment, everything is quiet, and that is probably to be expected after the significant 2010 class the Hawks reeled in.

Temple is getting an official visit today from 6'8 senior power forward TaShawn Thomas, out of Texas. According to Eric Bossi's twitter (here) Thomas is at Temple today and will be taking an official over the weekend to Houston.

Over on the Main Line, Villanova is getting an unofficial visit today from Christ the King (NY) junior guard Omar Calhoun. According to Adam Zagoria's twitter (here) the star junior guard is at Nova today after visiting Seton Hall yesterday.

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of this site. I'll have some new, and hopefully interesting, stuff up then.

Arcidiacono Picks Up Nova Offer

Over the weekend, Neshaminy junior guard Ryan Arcidiacono picked up yet another offer. This one came from Jay Wright and the Villanova Wildcats. According to VUHoops.com, Ryan was extended the offer during an unofficial visit to the campus over the weekend. Arcidiacono shot up the rankings this summer with tremendous play on the AAU Circuit, beginning at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions. With offers from Florida, Villanova, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Temple, Saint Joseph's, and a plethora of others, Ryan will likely see his stock continue to rise this season at Neshaminy.

Yesterday, Rivals.com released their top 150 rankings for the 2012 class, and Ryan checks in at number 45. He is one of many Philadelphia-area ballers on the list. Daniel Ochefu, Amile Jefferson, and Savon Goodman all also earn spots in the top 40 nationally. It will be interesting to see if any of those four big names stay local in 2012. Temple, Villanova, and Saint Joseph's are all involved with at least one of the players, to varying degrees.

La Salle, Richmond Pick Up Players

In the past couple of days, two A10 schools picked up verbal commitments from 2011 recruits.

La Salle got a verbal from 6'11 Red Land (PA) senior Steve Zack on Thursday night. According to the linked article below, Zack picked La Salle over George Mason, Cornell, Penn and Bucknell. In the article, Zack makes an interesting comment about his high school teammate, junior Mike Zangari. Zack says, "He's actually getting looked at heavily by St. Joseph's, so me and him playing against each other at the Palestra, that would be something else." The article, by Michael Bullock of The Patriot News, is linked below.


La Salle isn't the only A10 schools to score a commitment over the weekend. 5'8 point guard Kendall Anthony committed to Richmond while on an official visit this weekend. Colgate and Witchita State were among the other schools looking at the small point guard. Despite his size, Anthony is a well-regarded floor general and a solid pickup for Richmond.

Steve Zack to La Salle

Pay Up or Shut Up

This post has nothing at all to do with basketball, but everything to do with running and operating a blog. In an article on NBC10.com today, they discuss a tax for bloggers in the city of Philadelphia. In addition to city wage tax and other taxes on profit, the city wants to tax city bloggers $300 for "the privilege of writing on the Internet." It doesn't matter if you make a few dollars (like 3 or 4 or 5) a month like I do. The city wants their cut. With all the problems this city has, stuff like this really makes you wonder.

Check out the link below. I don't even know what else to say...


Pay Up or Shut Up: Bloggers Charged $300 for Their Thoughts

August 18th Odds and Ends

-News broke yesterday, the 17th, that Saint Joseph's incoming freshman CJ Aiken got the OK from the NCAA Clearinghouse, and will be able to suit up this year for the Hawks. Aiken is generally considered the "prize recruit" in the 2010 recruiting haul for the Hawks. Over the past several months, a number of people, primarily fans of rival schools, have questioned whether Aiken would be eligible to play this coming season. Those questions have now been answered, and Aiken will bring his athleticism (on display in this video) to SJU this year.

-Last week, I wrote about rising Indiana junior Michael Ramey. Ramey is scheduled to take an unofficial visit to Saint Joseph's, but no date has been set. I was able to find out some more about Ramey yesterday from Indianapolis Star sports reporter Kyle Neddenriep. Although Kyle was uncertain as to when Michael Ramey would make his unofficial visits to SJU, Wyoming, and William and Mary, he said that he was told that Ramey's college decision could come before his upcoming basketball season began. As for his game, Neddenriep said that Ramey's "range is unlimited" and "he can shoot from anywhere." In addition to his perimeter game, Neddenriep also noted that he demonstrated an improved mid-range game this summer. He also told me that Ramey is more athletic than he is given credit for, but needs some work in becoming a better defensive player.

-ESPN released their Atlantic 10 Summer Shootaround today. Clicking here will take you to the homepage. In their team capsule on the Hawks, the folks at ESPN had this to say:


Saint Joseph's: First the bad news for the Hawks: Leading scorers Darrin Govens and Garrett Williamson have graduated. Now the good news: C.J. Aiken, Daryus Quarles and Langston Galloway (who looked at LSU, Stanford and Oklahoma State before joining his uncle, Saint Joe's assistant coach Geoff Arnold) are on campus. The freshman trio forms one of the best recruiting classes Phil Martelli has had in years and ought to help the Hawks get out of their sub-.500 blues.

In their segment on best and worst case scenarios, they had this to say:

Best case: It all depends on the incoming class. C.J. Aiken, Daryus Quarles and Langston Galloway make up the best class Phil Martelli has had since, well, you know. If all three live up to their hype, St. Joe's could vastly improve on its recent slide into 20-loss territory.

Worst case: The incoming class takes a year to congeal (as so many do), and the talented youngsters aren't good enough to make up for the loss of leading scorers Darrin Govens and Garrett Williamson. Either way, St. Joe's should improve, but if this worst case plays out, that improvement won't have anyone recalling the 2003-04 Elite Eight run anytime soon.

Not the most insightful or detailed breakdown, but it's nice to hear what the national media has to say about the Hawks. One glaring flaw in their analysis is the mention of the Hawks tremendous three-player recruiting class. If it was a three-man class, it would be a very good one. ESPN forgot to mention two incoming freshmen, Ronald Roberts and Pat Swilling Jr. To be fair, both players did sign with SJU late in the recruiting process. Still, both will be major contributors on Hawk Hill from day one, and certainly deserve a mention.