Damian James is a baller.  His production is a huge reason the Longhorns earned their first-ever No. 1 ranking – even though Texas just lost two games.   The 6-foot-7 senior forward opted to stay in college this year and it has paid off in a big way. James is averaging a double-double with 17.3 points and 11 rebounds a game. He also contributes over a block and a steal per game.

Damian James

James has been good when it counted the most. In back-to-back victories against North Carolina and Michigan State in December, James averaged 24 points, 14 rebounds and 2.5 steals. More recently, he amassed 26 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks as the Longhorns narrowly avoided being upset by Texas A&M.

Renardo Sidney

Renardo Sidney is a 6-9 270 pound power forward from Los Angeles, CA.  Renardo Sidney is considered by many high school basketball analysts to be one of the top 5 basketball preps in the Class of 2009.

Renardo Sidney will be attending USC next fall and will ultimately switch from Reebok to Nike for just a year.  Many people speculate that he can become the next Lebron James.  Sidney was a 2009 McDonald’s All-American and averaged 24 points and 10.3 rebounds for Fairfax High School.

Renardo Sidney Basketball Highlights

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World B. Free

K1X had a chance to interview one of the greatest streetball and NBA legends of all-time, World B. Free. 

I know that you used to announce that you would draw a foul before you actually did it, then went to the basket and somehow got the whistle from the ref. You have to teach me that one!

(laughs) Well first of all you need a 44 inch vertical leap. And then you have to have that streetball game. So before I went to the basket I would give my defender a series of fakes and hesitation moves. If he was staying away from me I would shoot it right in his face. If he would bite on the fakes I would blow right by him. That‘s where my in between game would kick in. I could protect the basketball with my body while I was in the air.

Your Brownsville streetball roots must have helped you as well.

Right. When we played out in Brooklyn there was a pole on our basket. And you had to know how to avoid that pole. I ran into it a couple of times and I realized that up to this day that pole did not move. You had to learn how to control your body while you were in the air and when you were landing. That was definitely helpful for me.

Can you take us back to Brownsville and tell us how you grew up there and how that made you the person that you are today?

Brownsville is a world of its own, as you know. You‘ve been out there, too. It‘s a place that either made you or broke you. So either you were going to be someone or you wasn‘t.

I always followed a couple of guys that were older than me. And they didn‘t let me play basketball until I was in 11th or 12th grade. A lot of the guys who got out there were a lot younger than I was. I didn‘t have that great skills at that time but I had great elevation with my jumpshot. So the older guys would always teach me more about the game, beat me up, pound me on the court. They would treat me like a rookie and I would learn from that. And as I got better and better I started to teach that to the younger kids.

In Brownsville you had just one basket and the ball had no rills, it was bald as my head right now. And I was just in there, I just loved the game. It was great. You had to come out in the snow and rain and we did that. That‘s what it was all about.

What was the New York streetball scene in general like back then?

Back then, when you lost a basketball game that was it. It was all over. You might not play again until ten at night. The court was so crowded and everybody wanted to show their stuff. There were people coming from all over. We were in Brooklyn, so people from the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Staton Island came to Browsville, to a court that we called Sixty-Six Park back then, because that‘s where legends were made. And everyone wanted to go to that park to be somebody. They had the Rucker Pros up in Harlem but we had Sixty-Six Park.

Tell us who played in that park.

We had guys like Jim McMillan, Doc played there, too. We also had guys like Connie Hawkins, Nate “Tiny“ Archibald. We had some of the best players to ever play this game.

What other tournaments were there in the city besides Rucker and Sixty Six Park?

There was a tournament at St. Johns Recreation Centre that was big. But you could basically go to every basketball court in Brooklyn at that time and find that the court was full. It‘s not the same anymore. When you drive by the parks you won‘t see that many kids out there anymore.

What is your take on the whole commercialization of streetball? All the interest that the sport gathers from sponsors and the media these days.

The NBA and streetball are two totally different games. The players on the streetball courts have their own unique set of talents. But the level of attention they receive now helps some of them to get into the league. And that‘s a good thing.

What about your own quote “passes don‘t get paid“.

Uhh, I got that from Fred Carter. When I was a rookie he came to me ‘Rook, let me tell you something. In this league, passes don‘t get paid. Passes do not get paid.‘ And that stuck with me as soon as I stepped on the basketball court. It wasn‘t my own theory though. I got it from a veteran. There could be five guys open and he would still not pass it to you. (laughs)

How confident were you as a player?

As a player? Very confident. I knew that I could get my shot over anybody on the basketball court because of my jumping ability and I had ballhandling skills. I could go either left hand or right hand. I was very confident in my offensive game.

STATS: World B. Free

Position: Guard

Height: 6-2 Weight: 185 lbs.

Born: December 9, 1953 in Atlanta, Georgia

High School: Canarsie in Brooklyn, New York

College: Guilford College

Drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2nd round (5th pick, 23rd overall) of the 1975 NBA draft.

Career Average: 30,4 Minutes, 20,3 Points, 3,7 Assists

Best Season (1979-80): 30,2 Points, 4,2 Assists, 3,5 Rebounds, 47,4 % FG

All Star: 1979/80

2nd in the NBA in Scoring: 1978/79; 1979/80

Teams: Philadelphia 76ers (1975-78; 1986-87), San Diego Clippers (1978-80) Golden State Warriors (1980-82), Cleveland Cavaliers (1982-1986), Houston Rockets (1987-88)

Blake Griffin OU Sooners

Blake Griffin is a 6-10 Sophomore that plays for the Oklahoma Sooners.  Many college basketball anaylst predict that he will be the Player of the Year in college basketball this season.

As a freshman, Blake Griffin averaged 14.7 points per game along with 9.1 rebounds.  Here is a look back at Blake’s freshman year at OU.

A first-team All-Big 12 selection by league coaches and Associated Press … Named to the Big 12 All-Rookie Team … A first-team all-district pick by the USBWA and NABC … Scored in double figures in 21 of his last 25 games … Averaged 14.7 points, 9.1 rebounds (both team highs) and 1.8 assists in 28.4 minutes per contest while shooting a team-high .568 from the field … Ranked ninth in Big 12 in scoring, fourth in rebounding and third in field goal percentage … The last OU true frosh to average as many points and rebounds was Wayman Tisdale in 1983 … Battled knee injuries during conference play and still averaged 15.7 points and 9.7 boards … Averaged 16.9 points, 10.4 boards and 2.2 assists in his 13 full league outings … Two-time Big 12 Player of the Week (Dec. 31 and Jan. 28) and the Jan. 14 Rookie of the Week … Recorded 10 double-doubles (averaged 19.2 points and 13.9 rebounds in those games) … His last seven double-doubles came against NCAA Tournament teams (averaged 20.3 points and 14.7 boards in those seven games) … Scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in Feb. 19 overtime win vs. Baylor … Finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds in a two-point loss to Kansas State (Jan. 12) … Grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds in Feb. 16 win at Texas Tech … Missed a game following each of two separate injuries (sprained MCL in left knee five minutes into Jan. 14 game at Kansas and partial tear of medial meniscus in right knee five minutes into March 1 contest vs. Texas A&M) … Averaged team highs of 18.8 points and 9.0 rebounds in 22.0 minutes per game during OU’s four-game Labor Day weekend trip to Canada.

John Wall

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.

Stephen Curry is a Baller

Stephen Curry is the March Madness man.  He led Davidson to the Elite Eight in his Sophomore season and will return to entertain the college basketball world for at least one more year. Curry was named to the Associated Press’ All-America Second Team on March 31, 2008. He was also named the Most Outstanding Player of the Midwest Region of the 2008 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship Tournament, becoming the first player from a team not making the Final Four to do so since Juwan Howard of the University of Michigan in 1994.

Check out the video from Streetball called “The March Madness Man.”

Hugh Jones aka Baby Shack

Hugh Jones aka “Baby Shack” is a streetball legend from Washington D.C.  He is 6-3 and weighs 230 pounds and is famous for dunking on just about every baller at the Run ‘N Shoot streetball court as well as on the And 1 Mixtape Tour.  Baby Shack earned his name in junior high school because he grabbed every board that came off the glass.  He played against the AND 1 team in the final four games on the 2004 AND 1 Mix Tape Tour, making his strongest statement with a 47 point performance in the Raleigh, NC game.

Ricky Rubio

Ricky Rubio will be 18 years old on October 20, 2008.  He is a lock to be a lottery pick in the 2009 NBA Draft and has been playing in the ACB since he was 15 years old.  By now, many people know that the ACB is the second best professional basketball league in the world and has been for many years.

During the 2008 Beijing Olympic games Spain won the Silver medal and gave Team USA a run for its money in the basketball final.  Besides being in the hearts and minds of every teenage girl in Spain, Ricky Rubio is now known throughout the world as the next big International baller to be a superstar in the NBA.

Kobe is the best player in the NBA.  He was the best player in the High School basketball class of 1996 and Streetball.com has proof.  Check out the best Kobe Bryant High School basketball video ever made.

Find more Kobe Bryant videos like this on Streetball

C-Funk

C-Funk has been making hits with some of the greatest musicians around, one being the Hip-Hop icon, Chuck D.   C-Funk not only rocked the house but usually stole the show. His showmanship fused not only the newest hip-hop moves but incorporated an array of 40′s, 60′s, and 70′s dance moves. His self choreographed impassioned performances also won him opening slots on the Hit Squad Tour featuring EPMD, Das EFX, Redman, Rodney O and Joe Cooley, Naughty by Nature and Tupac.

C-Funk’s production skills, artistic vision & kinetic style landed him in commercials for the movie “Diggstown” (starring James Woods & Louis Gosset Jr.) and Public Enemy’s home video release “Fight the Power” where he even designed and created the Flavor Flav cereal box. Paris signed C-Funk to Scarface/Priority Records where he recorded “3 Dimensional Ear Pleasure” which yielded the hit single “Lime in Ya Coconut.” C-Funk’s artistic vision was the basis & storyboards for the video which garnered heavy airplay on MTV, The Box & BET, where he was asked to host several “Rap City” episodes. He produced two tracks for Paris’ “Guerrilla Funk” (Scarface) CD which became singles and videos that featured his appearance. This lead to his production of the platinum “Gamers” album by the Conscious Daughters and his appearance in the Gamers video.  You can check out C-Funk’s new album at Hyphy.com.