John Wall is a Baller

John Wall is the number 1 basketball prep star in the country.  He’s a 6 foot 3, 185 pound athletic guard that plays high school basketball for Word of God Christian Academy in North Carolina.

The baller has officially visited the basketball schools of the Memphis Tigers, Kansas Jayhawks and the Oregon Ducks.

However, because Baylor University hired Dwon Clifton, brother of John Wall’s AAU basketball coach, many people believe that John Wall will verbally committ to Baylor in the near future.

NCAA Basketball 09

Kevin Love, the UCLA basketball All-American has been chosen for the cover of the newly named EA SPORTS college basketball videogame NCAA Basketball 09 for Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, and the PLAYSTATION3 and PlayStation2 computer entertainment systems.

“There is more to college basketball than just the 65 team post season NCAA Tournament, and our new name reflects this,” said Peter Moore, President, EA SPORTS. “College basketball is about the entire season, focusing on the fantastic school rivalries, recruiting, home court advantage, student sections, mascots, and loud arenas. The culmination of all of this is the tournament and NCAA March Madness, but to get there it takes so much more.”

NCAA Basketball 09 is not just a new name; it introduces a new way to play college basketball that mirrors real life. A new, strategic gameplay feature challenges gamers to replicate their school’s style of play, set the tempo and win. Whether your school plays up tempo looking to push the ball in transition, runs a half-court offense that utilizes the clock and limits possessions or features a balanced attack that combines transition offense with set plays, NCAA Basketball 09 rewards the strategic gamer and emphasizes team specific styles of play.

NCAA Basketball 09 will feature Division I coaches in-game for the first time. Each coach will provide real time instruction and feedback, helping gamers control the tempo by executing their team’s offense and defense to perfection.

This year on Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3, NCAA Basketball 09 will operate on a new gameplay engine with over 1,000 new animation sequences that deliver a more responsive experience with improved ball physics and more intelligent AI. The new animation system enables gamers to apply pressure defense with new full-court presses and traps. Plus, improved AI and animations enable quicker players to get up and down the floor faster and make better decisions running the lanes and driving to the rim. Animations can be interrupted at any time, enabling you to read and respond to the action on the floor, just like real life.

Love is the first UCLA basketball player to be featured on the cover of the EA SPORTS college basketball game. A student-athlete with a 3.2 grade point average, Love was a first team All-American while leading the Bruins in scoring at 17.5 points per game and rebounding at 10.6 rebounds per game as a true freshman. Named 2008 Pac-10 Freshman and Player of the Year, Love led UCLA to the Men’s Final Four. He was the fifth pick in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies and later traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“It is quite an honor to be named cover athlete of NCAA Basketball 09,” Love said. “When you look back at some of the great players who have had this opportunity, it’s exciting to be a part of the EA SPORTS family and contribute to a game I’ve been playing for a long time.”

NCAA Basketball 09 will build upon the authenticity that epitomized the No. 1 selling NCAA March Madness franchise by capturing the emotion, intensity, and atmosphere of a real college basketball game. Feel the excitement of game night with the band playing fight songs, the student section leading the cheers and popular ESPN college basketball broadcasters Dick Vitale, Brad Nessler, and Erin Andrews providing the commentary.

The Professor Official Blog

Streetball.com recently announced that they are the official home of Grayson Boucher online.  Grayson Boucher aka “The Professor” is perhaps the most famous Streetball player in the world.  He can be seen on the And 1 Mixtape Tour, ESPN series called Streetball and now you can interact with him on Streetball.com.

Go to blog of Grayson Boucher aka “The Professor”

Mark Edwards Blog at Streetball.com

Mark Edwards aka “The Watcher” is an Official Streetball.com Team member and part of the Streetball.com family, the company announced.  Mr. Edwards is one of the most influential people in the history of Streetball.

Mr. Edwards launched the career of Hot Sauce in streetball tournaments and in the movies like Crossover.  He currently manages Grayson Boucher aka THE PROFESSOR…which by itself makes him a major force in streetball,  but,  just for record he listed just a few of the projects he’s worked on in his official blog at Streetball.

Go to Mark Edwards Official Blog at Streetball.com

Dwyane Wade Blog

I’m back for my third episode of “Inside the Mind of Dwyane Wade.” The last time I ended in Las Vegas, where we were preparing for our trip to Beijing.  There were a few stops along the way, Macau and Shanghai.

We departed around 1 a.m. on Sunday on Cathay Pacific Airlines.  It was a great plane that had seats that turned into beds.  Well at least 12 of us got those seats! When we got to our seats we all received something to sleep in let’s just say I felt like Chris Tucker in “Rush Hour.”  The flight took about 14 hours so I spent that time sleeping and catching up on DVDs.

We arrived in Macau at about 5 a.m., which by this point was Monday.  The hotel that we stayed in was amazing, the Venetian Resort, probably one of the best hotels I’ve stayed in. It had so many amenities that you never had to leave the property, even the arena we played in was at the hotel.  The basketball fans at the hotel were very excited that we were staying there and we constantly got bombarded every where we went, especially walking with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.  Now walking around by myself, maybe five people will rush me.  With them, its more like 500!  The fans chased us and we chased them just to have fun.

We did a lot of goofy things because we get real silly when we are all together. The first morning LeBron could not sleep so he woke everyone up at about 5:30 a.m. just to have breakfast at Cafe Deko.  We weren’t happy. By the end of the week we created a trend of having an early team breakfast which allowed us to continue to bond with each other.

By Saturday we were on an early flight to Shanghai.  We were only there for four days. We played two games in four days, it was like an NBA season.

We were really tired, but we made it work.  We beat Russia by 21 points — that’s when everyone started saying that USA might be beatable.  Just because we won by 21 and not 36.  The next game we played Australia and we won by nine points but it felt like we lost.  We know we didn’t play well and everyone started saying that Team USA really is beatable.  These types of games keep us humble and focused on what we need to do.

On Wednesday we headed to Beijing, a moment we have all waited for. The USA women’s team took a two hour bus ride and met us in Shanghai so that we could arrive in Beijing together, which was great. Once we got to Beijing we were met by a ton of fans all chanting the same thing: Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!

We’re staying at a hotel along with the woman’s basketball team, staff and our families. But once we got settled, one of the first things we did as a team was visit the Olympic Village. We wanted to meet and talk to some of our US swimmers, including Michael Phelps and the boxers — pretty much everyone who represents our country. People are making a big deal about us not staying in the Olympic Village and its important for us to let our fellow athletes know that we support them and want to be part of the full experience with them. So we’ve already visited the village twice in three days and will continue to go and hang out with athletes from other sports.

Last night was the opening ceremony and it was amazing. This was my second opening ceremony and the feeling did not change — it’s special taking that walk for your country. We had an opportunity to take a picture with George Bush, who was in attendance with his wife and father. He came to greet all of the US teams and took pictures with each team which was real cool. It was great to walk around and wave to the fans, especially those that were carrying USA banners. We had a great sense of pride last night.

Tomorrow we play China and it will be one of the most watched games because they are estimating that it will be over one billion viewers. The game features two of China’s favorite teams and two of China’s favorite players, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian. I think it’s a great game to start with and will just add to the Olympic excitement.

Dwyane Wade Video Blog

I’ll be back soon with an update from Beijing. Rest assured that we are focused and ready. We’re taking it one day at a time — and one game at a time.

Flying 101 Slam Dunks

Flying101 is a team of world class slam dunkers that perform dunk shows. The ballers do halftime shows and throw events including performances that can last over an hour. They can also participate in basketball, streetball and all-star games. They interact with the community, as Flying101 is not just about dunking. We can perform at venues such as schools, camps, even churches. There are a lot of core values and messages that Flying101 promotes, especially for the youth. Dunkers have a lot of influence on kids and those who look up to them. We want to make the most of that influence and use it to make the world around us better. 

Check out the video of Flying 101 Kenny Dobbs Slam Dunks.

Kobe Bryant Leads USA Basketball Team

Kobe Bryant gained the respect of Streetball this past season.  He overcame public scrutiny by working hard and proving his game on the court.  He proved he a team player, he proved that he is the best basketball player in the world and he won back our respect one game at a time.  Hands down, it was the best season of Kobe Bryant’s career.  He won the NBA MVP and led the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA Finals.

Now, Kobe Bryant is tasked with leading the USA Basketball Team to the Gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Team USA’s head coach Mike Krzyzewski said, “In Kobe we have a great player who wants to represent his country as much as anybody and he’s never had a chance. He’s like a little kid in his enthusiasm to play. Kobe’s presence here makes us more complete.”