As longtime admirers of Jay, we’ve been ecstatic about his efforts as CEO of Rising Stars, a program that mentors youths to help them succeed in education and in life. We were honored to be in attendance for a star-studded night that saw a group of good people gather together to support a friend and his dream of helping others.

The guest list – which included Knicks guard Chris Duhon; Giants Michael Strahan, David Diehl and Jesse Palmer; former Yankees pitcher and current MLB.com commentator Jeff Nelson; and longtime Vermont coach (and outstanding master of ceremonies) Tom Brennan – were all united for a common goal: to help Jay with a mission he deeply cares about.

“I was very fortunate to have my mother and father – my father worked for AT&T and American Express for a long time, my mother was involved with education for 20-plus years – and they instilled those values in me from a young age,” Jason told the crowd. “I wanted to be something different. Being here tonight, and being surrounded by all you guys, really makes me feel good, because you guys can all help make a difference.”

Strahan, a friend of Jason’s and a supporter of the program, brought the house down as usual, unable to resist taking a shot at his basketball-playing counterparts.

“You know one thing I noticed taking pictures out there,” Strahan told the group, “we have Chris and Jason out there… the football players are taller than the basketball players! [Laughter] That’s funny to me, I’m sorry!”

Joking aside, Strahan was excited to support Jay’s endeavors. He didn’t become a Super Bowl champion – and a truly terrific person – on his own, something he’s completely mindful of.

“We’re not the product of ourselves. We’re not the product of just waking up and saying, ‘We’re great.’ We’re the product of belief of someone else in us,” Strahan said. “If it’s your spouse, if it’s your kid, if it’s your parent – someone believes in you. You represent something. That right there, in itself, is why we are blessed. Because we have those people who stood behind us, who pushed us, who guided us, even when they didn’t know they were doing it.”

The evidence was right in front of us, as several successful graduates of the program took the microphone to detail their experiences, discussing how Rising Stars allowed them to work with people who encouraged them to be their best.

One of the foremost influences for Jason was his mother, Althea, who has always reminded me of my own mother with her energy and positivity. I’ve known Althea for about a decade, dating back to when she called a Duke radio show I hosted the night Jay was a guest to make sure he was doing his homework. We all had a good laugh – except for Jay, who blushed like there was no tomorrow – but it was obvious that even from New Jersey, Althea was actively reminding her son to remain on the right path for success.

Althea, who serves as the National Director of Public Relations for Rising Stars, reminded the crowd that though the money raised was extremely helpful, it’s just as important to take an active role in children’s lives.

“I’m asking each one of you to look into your hearts, to look into your souls,” Althea said. “I thank you for your contributions to this beautiful dinner – it wouldn’t have been anything without you – but it’s so much more. If you care with your heart for an organization that is willing to reach out and really make a difference, to look into the eyes of a child and tell them, ‘You can.’ Not ‘You cannot.’

“Tonight means an awful lot to me. I saw faces I haven’t seen in a while. It’s just about what we can do, and I’m asking you tonight: It’s more than just coming out. It’s about being involved.”

Her point was well taken. We spend so much time thinking about our own situations, our own concerns. And yet there are so many younger people in the world that could benefit not just from a gift of money, but from the type of guidance we’ve received from our parents, our teachers and others who inspired and supported us along the way. In that spirit, I let Althea know that I planned to find time to take a more active role with the organization’s programs in the coming months.

I’ve always known Jason to be a caring and thoughtful person, but he has a perspective that not many people possess. He’s always been grounded, but the accident that cut Jay’s playing career short after his first year in the NBA cemented how the people in his life had helped give him opportunities to reach his goals and become the person he is today – someone who’s made it his life’s mission to help other people.

Maybe the accident, as terrible as it was, was a blessing in disguise in that Jason truly figured out who he was, and it’s so much more than just a basketball player.

His ultimate goal is to build a charter school in Harlem, and I’ve never known Jason to be someone who falls short at anything in life, and he doesn’t take a single day for granted.

“You know, my dream turned out to be something different [from basketball],” Jason said. “But I’m still here today. I didn’t have to be here. I could have passed away at the age of 21 years old, seven years ago.

“Every day I wake up, I have a smile on my face. I was in a hospital bed for a year and a half, pretty much not being able to move. I was pretty fortunate to have my mom who was helping me, my dad who was helping me… I had family around.

“And if we can build that same kind of environment for my kids, that’s what life is all about.”

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If you’d like more information on how you can get involved with Jay Williams’ Rising Stars Foundation, visit their site: http://www.jaywillrisingstars.org/

Please visit www.jaywillrisingstars.com for more information on how you can get involved!

When a player is “tired,” I expect to see shots being missed short, resulting in generally sub-par field goal percentages as the season progresses.  So, how are Jon Scheyer’s shooting percentages holding up?  Let’s take a look…

A few interesting notes:

• Over the last 1/3 of the season (11 games), Jon has shot below his season average on 2-point FG’s on 8 occasions; however,
• he has also shot above his season average on 3-point FG’s 6 times in the same period.
• Disturbingly, he has shot below his season average on both 2-point and 3-point FGs in his last three consecutive outings.

This “tired” debate has undoubtedly arisen because Jon’s 2FG% is substantially worse over the last 1/3 of the season.  If his 3FG% continues to slide as well, this argument will gain additional merit; however, the “tired” label cannot be justified if his 3pt shot starts falling again.

So I ask again: Is Jon Scheyer tiring?

The jury is still out.

I felt terrible for Gordon, bound for Western Kentucky, who was put in a very difficult situation. Nationally televised Primetime Shootout game, down 1 to the preeminent high school program in the country, all eyes on you. It’s a very tough spot for a high school kid, and his nerves showed as he short-armed the first free throw and then had no chance on the second, disappointing a capacity crowd eager for overtime and leaving him crestfallen.

His teammates wouldn’t let Gordon feel he completely let them down, as they were quick to console him. But it probably wasn’t that easy for him to get to sleep tonight. Luckily, tomorrow is another day – and another game, against No. 29 Rice in Trenton.

Before the inauspicious finish, the fans at Kean University were treated to wonderful theater, as the play on the court matched the college atmosphere and setting.

This was the fourth time I’ve seen brilliant St. Patrick’s lead guard Kyrie Irving live, and he was easily the most explosive I’ve seen him. Irving has been compared to Jay Williams, and I really saw that tonight with his ability to score inside and out. His creativity on the break means he can get to the rim whenever he wants, and when he’s able to fully square up from long distance he won’t even graze the rim, as evidenced by two huge threes down the stretch. His vision allowed him to feed the post effectively and set up teammates on the break.

If I have one criticism of Irving’s game on Friday, it’s that he was actually too unselfish, dishing it to Gordon, who was fatefully fouled, with plenty of time left on the final play. Even Kyrie’s father told me he would have been better off taking it himself, but it’s difficult to find fault in the way Irving played. And he did, after all, set up a teammate with the chance to shoot for the victory.

St. Pat’s forward Michael Gilchrist – No. 1 ESPNU Junior – didn’t have a very impressive first half, and though he was scoring inside on nice feeds from Irving in the second half, we didn’t realize just how impressive he was until we looked at the scoreboard and he had 24 points. He matched Irving with 28, and it became apparent that he simply makes the game look effortless enough that you don’t realize the impact he’s having.

Gilchrist got brilliant position all night and finished well after contact, even dunking over 7-foot-1 Latvian mountain-with-feet Martins Abele. Gilchrist’s jumper also was effective; though there was a slight hitch to it, it goes in. It was pointed out to me by St. Pat’s aficionado Ryan Biddulph that Gilchrist is forced to play inside to suit St. Patrick’s needs, but he has impressive slashing ability that he routinely shows in summer leagues.

Forward Chase Plummer has caught my eye in a few games, but this was easily the best he’s played, as he rose to the occasion with 15 points. Biddulph’s father, Keith, tells us that Plummer wanted to play at Princeton, where his brother is a student, but he didn’t quite have the grades, so he’ll play at Maryland-Baltimore County next year. They’re getting a solid player who seems to turn it up when the heat is on.

As for Oak Hill, which is always a treat to see live, we were most impressed by the outstanding play of forward Roscoe Smith (ESPNU No. 29 senior), who demonstrated a solid outside shot, outstanding athleticism, shot blocking ability and plenty of passion for the game. SportsAngle architect Terry Rains of TruthBegins thought he’d be a perfect player for UConn, and he’s right, but with Duke still in need of both a small forward and more athleticism next season, I can’t help but wish as an alum (in hindsight) that they hadn’t been so invested in Harrison Barnes so they could have pursued Smith more closely.

Undecided guard Doron Lamb was also solid, though unspectacular to us, and I rather liked Maryland-bound guard Pe’Shon Howard. His jump shot was decent, he’s solidly built and had great passion to win. That said, Irving made him look like he was moving in slow motion.

Back to St. Pat’s: I’ve seen Irving after games look despondent – even after wins – as he’s particularly hard on himself when he doesn’t live up to his own lofty expectations. But he was relaxed after the game, joking with friends and fans in the hallway outside. St. Patrick’s played the most decorated program in the country to a standstill; just because the final result wasn’t positive doesn’t mean it wasn’t a positive experience. And though Boyle is reportedly furious his team won’t get to play in the states, they obviously have bigger fish to fry nationally.

As for the self-maligned Gordon, we ran into him on the way to our car, complimented his overall game and told him to keep his head up, and the smile he offered in return told us he’d surely be able to do just that.

Duke Pulse respondents are anticipating a successful season with ALL respondents predicting between 25-34 wins, culminating in a 2, 3, or 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.  Interestingly, no one predicted more than 34 wins or a #1 seed in the NCAAT.

Additionally, no one felt that Duke is currently the best positioned team to win it all.  Respondents currently overwhelmingly favor the Kansas Jayhawks to win the title, with John Wall and the Kentucky Wildcats a distant second.

While no one believes Duke is best-positioned to take the championship, many respondents do feel Kyle Singler is in a great position to earn 1st Team All-American honors.

Additionally, survey respondents feel pretty confident about the team’s ability to takedown UNC at least once this year, but only half think the team has what it takes to win the ACC regular season.  That said, a bit over half are anticipating an ACC Tournament championship.  In the NCAAs, respondents are expecting Duke to build upon their recent tournament experiences in order to move beyond the Sweet 16.

And now onto a particularly timely question with Harrison Barnes’s highly anticipating college decision on Friday looming large in everyone’s mind.  How confident are respondents in Duke’s ability to land the following recruits?  Regarding Barnes, 69% feel that Duke will indeed sign the overall #1 prospect in the country – let’s keep our fingers crossed…

Looking forward even further, we asked survey participants to estimate the likelihood for the below players to declare for the NBA draft following the 2009-2010 season.  Interestingly, fans are just as confident that Kyle Singler will leave Duke as they are that Harrison Barnes will matriculate.  That said, other than Singler, respondents seem assured that Duke will retain the bulk of its non-graduating roster next season.

Stay tuned for future editions of the The Duke Pulse survey throughout the season.  As more results come in, it will be increasingly interesting to see how real-world events, namely on-the-court performance and off-the-court recruiting ruminations, impact respondent predictions.

Be sure to fully complete the survey.  Results will be summarized and posted periodically throughout the season as interesting trends emerge. Note that individual responses will not be made public without prior consent.

For better or for worse, the amount of access fans have has truly changed in big-time college basketball recruiting, and social media is a major reason why. In the past, high school stars were relatively shadowy figures. We rarely got to see them play, much less know very much about them before they showed up to be big little men on campus as freshmen.

But now? We’ve seen them play on YouTube, though it’s tough to draw conclusions since we likely only see the best the kid has, set to lousy hip-hop. We’ve read fervently on Twitter as they post important facts about their lives, like what cereal they prefer, when they’re studying for biology tests, and what songs they think are most noteworthy. We watch them make off-color jokes on a live stream and egg them on with a comment board. As always, progress is a double-edged sword. On the upside, it is empowering to be able to know ever more about the 16-year-old saviors of our favorite college basketball teams.

But on the downside, while the Lunatic Fringe formerly had to wait until the kid was out on the floor to let them know what they think of their mother and sister, they now have nearly direct access from adolescence. The meteoric rise of Twitter has given everyone with a computer and a fair amount of vitriol the ability to directly address young players who choose to use the 140-character juggernaut. With Facebook, they have room to be even more explicit. In the past, rabid – literally – fans had to resort to team message boards to spout their unhealthy disapproval of, well, everything. Unless recruits had a morbid fascination that I think only applies to the fans themselves, they didn’t subject themselves to reading it. But now you have situations such as that of Mr. Kyrie Irving, a top-flight point guard from New Jersey by way of St. Patrick’s in Elizabeth, who alienated tons of dozens of fans for the sole reason that he didn’t want to matriculate at their schools. Irving committed to Duke University on Thursday and is regarded as potentially the school’s best point guard prospect ever, very high praise indeed.  Never mind that Irving was limited to just one school and went with the one where he felt most comfortable. Picking a situation that didn’t correspond with the best interests of certain passionate Kentucky and Indiana fans made for a very distasteful backlash.

Irving runs a Twitter account which was followed by around 3,000 people, with likely most of them supporters of the schools which were recruiting him. I think he enjoyed the attention that he was getting – what high school kid wouldn’t? – and he almost certainly benefited in the selection process from hearing the selling points from fans of the schools he considered. He was also able to communicate with potential future teammates. But he saw the ugly side when he removed Indiana from his short list – leading him to respond… twice – and then when he “spurned” Kentucky to pick Duke. At both times, he was subjected to being called names that would make anyone’s mother blush. And they were able to send them directly to Irving with no filters to speak of. Irving, for his own part, used Twitter to help make his day in the sun a little brighter. From all accounts, he was likely certain he would attend Duke after his official visit several weeks ago. But he indicated that he would use Twitter to announce his choice, drumming up copious followers. He used the site to detail his subsequent official visits and demonstrate what appears to be a fantastic work ethic. He eventually chose to announce his destination with a news conference on ESPNU, which is fine – his hard work dictated that as a reward. Reports surfaced from time to time that called him a lock for Duke – correctly – and Irving actually took back his ability to make the announcement on his own by denouncing on Twitter that he had committed to Duke. Semantics dictate that Kyrie is technically accurate true, as he officially didn’t commit until his ESPNU presser.

So that’s the advantage. Twitter afforded the young man the ability to attract attention that he normally would not have been able to garner, and let him control his own announcement. In the past, a couple dozen hardcore aficionados would have heard of him. Now? At least 3,000, and then however many more watched his commitment conference. And make no mistake, every time he said something on his site, people overanalyzed it to death. The disadvantage is the unfettered access that allowed fans to voice their displeasure directly to him in quite colorful terms, even leading him at times to attempt to provide a lesson in morals to them. To Irving’s credit, he did not seem that adversely affected by the interaction. Now I can’t determine whether the positives of having the forum to self-promote outweighs the perils of letting idiots have a crack at you. But there’s no looking back. The days of word of mouth, and seeing a recruit for the first time when he steps on campus, are over. And though the enhanced access we experience is all in the name of progress, one has to think that just maybe, we were better off in a simpler time when we didn’t have the power to practically reach out and touch a recruit. Was it perhaps more satisfying learning about a player once he actually gets to campus? It just might turn out to be true that knowing everything isn’t the best thing.

Traditionally, Duke has not often participated in the annual brouhaha formerly known as Midnight Madness; however, this year marks a new tune for the program as Duke has decided to enter the yearly fray with its own customized kickoff celebration called Countdown to Craziness.

Overall, the staff did a wonderful job putting together a fun-filled event.  Highlights from the night included the annual Blue-White game featuring two special Duke legends — Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley — as guest coaches, theatrical player introductions by legendary announcer Michael Buffer, a high-flying dunk contest, and performances from the Duke University Improv.

Visit www.countdowntocraziness.com for a full video recap of the night’s festivities!

Enter Andre Dawkins.

Dawkins is an acclaimed 5-star recruit that had already committed to Duke, expecting to matriculate for the 2010-2011 season. However, with a plethora of minutes available at the guard position, Andre Dawkins finds himself in position to capitalize on having already fulfilled his high school graduation recruitments.

This is an amazing turn of events for the Devils in the upcoming season.  While Duke is by no means deep in the backcourt now, the addition of a first-rate player at the guard position will go a long ways towards solidifying the backcourt rotation and helping Scheyer’s prognostications come true.