COLUMBUS, Ohio – First, there’s the ultra bright lights at a big giant venue – in this case Value City Arena on the campus of THE Ohio State University.
Then there’s about 5,000 fans in attendance including college and professional scouts, celebrities and perhaps most important, your peers, the other 47 McDonald’s All-Americans.And then, if you somehow managed to get through all that noise – and the ear-bleeding music and college band – a very nice touch by the way – there is that national television thing, with the scorching hot lights, intermediate delays and innocuous sideline reporter questions.
Add it all up and how they heck can anyone possibly shoot, let alone set a lifetime best of 22 points in the 3-point shooting contest at THE 2010 McDonald’s All American Jam Fest?
“Once you start shooting you stop thinking about all the build-up,” said girls winner Maggie Lucas, a 5-foot-9 senior from Germantown Academy (Fort Washington, Pa.) who is headed to Penn State. “Everything just goes away.”
It helps that Lucas has been shooting the rock since she was 4.
The first time Josh Selby (Lake Clifton (Baltimore, Md.) dunked a basketball was in the seventh grade.
“It was during warm-ups and it kind of surprised me,” he said.{VIDEO_39e26c00-922d-4756-9451-45d74c1fb63d,floatCenter}
The following year, Selby dunked his first ball in a game. The next year he began practicing for what eventually clinched Monday’s dunk contest, a through-the-legs throw down known as the “J.R. Rider,” the former UNLV and NBA star who made the dunk famous in the 90s not long after Selby was born.
We’re guessing – only a guess – that Selby isn’t too familiar with the talented but often-troubled Rider.
“That’s his signature dunk so I can’t put my name on someone else’s signature dunk,” Selby said.
Good point. Good dunk. Good adjustment.
The 6-3 Selby – he insists he’s 6-4 – actually grew three inches in the last year, helping him sprout up the recruiting charts. He’s one of seven McDonald’s All-Americans who has yet to commit or sign to college, but reportedly is picking between Kansas, Kentucky and Arizona.
He’ll announce his choice, he said, at halftime of next month’s Jordan All-Star game in New York.
Girls 2010 3-point champion Maggie Lucas.
Photo courtesy of Henry Ray Abrams
Shelby said he was planning on throwing down a 360 two-hand jam but 6-1
Ray McCallum (
Detroit Country Day (Beverly Hills, Mich.)) stole it earlier in the competition. “I had to get the crowd back on my side,” he said.
But the most important crowd – his large immediate and extended family – made the trip from Baltimore and really helped him bring home the title.
At first, Selby said, he won it largely for his many friends back in Maryland. But ultimately he said it was for his family. Then he narrowed it even further.
“It was for my mom (Maeshon),” he said.
Isn’t it always for mom?
MORE SKILLS: The dunk contest gets the most flash and hubbub – and considering dudes like Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter, Baron Davis, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and one chica, Candace Parker has won it, deservedly so – but the shooting and skills winners are equally important.
Especially among the girls, who are known to be more skilled.
Arguably the nation’s top point guard who plays for the nation’s No. 1 team Chelsea Gray (St. Mary’s-Stockton) won the skills contest as did Keith Appling (Pershing HS, Detroit, Mich.).
Both are going to extremely topical schools, Gray to Duke and Appling to Michigan State. Both are Final squads.
“It feels great going to a place that’s having so much success,” Gray said.
The boys 3-point champ was Cory Joseph, of Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), which is playing in National High School Invitational starting Friday. “It’s been great to get back out and compete,” he said.
Joseph, also undecided on his college plans, edged Reggie Bullock (Kingston HS, N.C.) in a shootout after the duo tied in regulation with 16 points each. Joseph caught fire in overtime, matching Lucas’ total of 22.
“I didn’t think any of the boys would catch the girls, but they did,” Lucas said.
STATE AND COLLEGE PRIDE: The number of undeclared males is extremely high for McDonald’s All-Americans, who send on average 74 percent of its stars eventually to the NBA.
Others undeclared for the East are C.J. Leslie, a 6-9 forward for Word of God Christian Academy, while West players Joseph, 6-9 Terrence Jones (Jefferson HS, Portland, Ore.), 6- 4 guard Brandon Knight (Pine Crest HS, Coral Springs, Fla.), and Doron Lamb (Oak Hill Academy, Va.).
Interestingly, all 24 girls have either committed or signed letters of intent to college.
The big winners there are UConn and Duke with three McDonald All-Americans while Cal and Maryland each of have two.
Among the boys, three are going to North Carolina – 6-4 guard Kendall Marshall (Bishop O’Connell), 6-7 guard Reggie Bullock (Kinston HS, N.C.) and Harrison Barnes (Ames HS, Iowa) and two others have each picked Memphis and Ohio State.
As far as home grown, Texas schools have produced the most with five, followed by California and New York with three. Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey schools have each produced two female McDonald’s All-Americans.
The boys are absolutely balanced with Florida schools owning the most McDonald's All-Americans with three, followed by North Carolina, New York, Michigan and Nevada with two each.
