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In spot start in Atlanta, Frazier does “great” ….

Amid the shaky play from some of the more heralded and more highly projected Blazers, second-year point guard Tim Frazier showed he just might be a viable candidate to enter this team’s immediate rotation.

Frazier played all but 25 seconds in Atlanta, finishing with 12 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. He had five turnovers and made only 5-of-15 shots, but he was borderline electric at times with his penetration-and-kicks while also providing a flair with his creativity in getting teammates shots.

With [Damian] Lillard taking a proactive stance with his nagging foot pain by trying to give it rest and recovery before it worsens, it is conceivable that even when he does return the Blazers will reduce the 36 minutes a game he already plays.

Granted, it has only been one game, but Frazier on Monday showed he could be a capable option to buy Lillard some extra minutes on the bench, even if it is only in eight-to-10 minute spells over each game.

“He is probably the best play maker on the team when it comes to making plays and passing the ball,’’ Lillard said. “And he can be a pest on defense.’’

Source: For Trail Blazers, Tim Frazier emerges as potential insurance policy during loss in Atlanta

Delgreco Wilson tweet on Mike Watkins’s status this year:

@greenmanRD Mike has been declared a partial qualifier… He'll be a full-time scholarship student at PSU.. Just can't play.. Focus on books

— Delgreco Wilson (@DelgrecoWilson) November 16, 2015

This is really it, Penn State fans.

For only the second time in school history, the Nittany Lions are  recruiting at a Big Ten level. And this time, it’s stronger.

While the staff here recovers from the enormity of it all, we recommend the outstanding coverage at Black Shoe Diaries.

Check out the great coverage at BSD: College Basketball National Signing Day 2015: Penn State to Sign Best Recruiting Class in School History…Again

PennLive.com, part of a series:

Every so often, Lamar Stevens is shocked by the gaping holes he finds while driving to the basket.

The Roman Catholic forward, who plans to sign with Penn State on Wednesday, doesn’t mind slicing through them and flushing home one of his signature power dunks.

“I’ll be going down the lane, and people just move,” Stevens said with a shrug. “It makes my job easier.”

It’s hard to blame high school defenders for shying away from the 6-foot-6, 215-pound Stevens. His broad shoulders and sculpted arms match those of a Division I linebacker, but he has the speed and athleticism to be a force on the fast break.

That’s why he raked in scholarship offers from basketball powerhouses Villanova and Indiana. Coaches ogled at Stevens’ strength and fluidity in the open court and flocked to Philadelphia to watch him play for the Fighting Cahillites and Team Final, an AAU power.

But Stevens, ranked by ESPN as a four-star recruit and the 18th-best small forward in the nation, spurned programs with more storied pasts for the Nittany Lions and a chance to revitalize a program that’s gone to the Sweet 16 just once — in 2001 — since 1955.

He hopes to turn around Penn State’s program with highly touted point guard Tony Carr and gritty wing Nazeer Bostick, his AAU and high school teammates.

“I ultimately told [Villanova and Indiana] that I didn’t want to follow anybody, I wanted to start my own path,” Stevens said. “At Penn State, they believe in us.” …

Source: Roman Catholic forward Lamar Stevens wants to ‘make history’ at Penn State | PennLive.com

PennLive.com, “part of a series exploring the recruiting successes of the Penn State basketball program in Philadelphia”:

Throwing down on a 6-foot-9 police officer tends to get a teenager excited.

[Nazeer] Bostick explained the story like this: He was playing against a group of South Philadelphia cops this summer at an event called Peace Not Guns.

With dozens of spectators circling the park, the 6-foot-4 forward remembers catching a pass on the baseline and driving toward the paint, where the policeman waited near the rim.

When the lanky cop rose to try and swat Bostick’s shot, the future Penn State Nittany Lion “just took off.”

“And, I dunked on him,” Bostick said. “Everybody went crazy and ran on the court.”

Bostick’s slam over one of South Philly’s finest makes for a dynamite conversation starter, but it also illustrates the head-turning athleticism that helped him become an integral part of Penn State’s most heralded recruiting class in recent memory.

The first of three players in his class from Roman Catholic to pledge to the Lions, Bostick is ranked as the seventh-best prospect in Pennsylvania and 60^th-best small forward in the country by ESPN.

Bostick and teammates Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens, the state’s top two talents, are expected to sign with PSU on Wednesday.

Source: ‘Really athletic’ Penn State hoops commit Nazeer Bostick says he once dunked on a 6-foot-9 policeman

AuburnSports.com:

[Abdulhakim] Ado left the visit with the Tigers in his top four, along with Mississippi State, LSU and Penn State. Up next for Ado is an official visit to Mississippi State on Nov. 6-8. He’ll take an official visit to Penn State the following week (Nov. 13-15).

Basketball’s early signing period is Nov. 11-18, but Ado doesn’t plan to make his decision until the spring. That’s fine with Auburn. The Tigers will wait.

“They would like me to commit and sign with them in November, but they said it’s up to me and if I needed to take my time to make the best decision then that’s what they wanted me to do,” Ado said. “Right now I’ll probably wait (until the spring). I want to take my visits and not feel rushed.”

Rivals ranks Ado the No. 75 overall player in the 2016 class.

Source: AuburnSports.com – AU, Pearl impress Ado

Sedee Keita chooses South Carolina.

Thank you to all the coaches that recruited me. Go GameCocks pic.twitter.com/0OaMdjqbqo

— Sedee Keita (@skeita16) November 3, 2015

Jeff Rice at 247sports:

The Philadelphia native knows Nittany Lions guard Shep Garner and was an AAU teammate of Isaiah Washington and Julian Moore on WeR1.

The 6-foot-9 Keita is also quite familiar with current Penn State commitments Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens and Nazeer Bostick, all Philadelphia products, but said that familiarity wouldn’t necessarily be a factor in his decision to choose the school or any other program.

“It could be, it could not,” he said.

Source: Keita looking for strong relationships

And Sedee wrote …

https://twitter.com/skeita16/status/658387990973165568

Delgreco Wilson posted last Thursday on Temple’s Cherry and White Scout forum:

Sedee Keita will likely announce his college choice sometime next week…

Temple

PSU

South Carolina

Providence

 

Eyewitness accounts on our forum