KISSIMMEE, Fla. – By this time of the summer, most AAU teams are almost tired of each other after months of games and practices against the same faces.
The New York Gauchos 17s aren’t one of those teams.
The group that reached the semifinals at Summer Classic East and Hoop Group’s West Virginia Jam Fest was hardly recognizable to the unit which took the floor Sunday afternoon at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports in the AAU Super Showcase gold division.
The Bronx-based program got back Christ the King superstar and UConn commit Omar Calhoun who was at the Nike LeBron James Skills Academy in Akron, Ohio during the first 10-day live period, recent St. John’s decommit Jevon Thomas rejoined the program after a brief trip to Las Vegas with the Juice All-Stars and elite 2014 prospect Dakari Johnson is playing up with the 16s bowing out early.
“It’s hard – we haven’t had one full practice together,” Gauchos coach Dwayne Mitchell said. “
It didn’t seem to matter against Garner Road Elite (Ga.) as the Gauchos led wire-to-wire in a commanding 79-64 victory. Calhoun led the way with 24 points, holdover Amadou Sidibe of Cardinal Hayes added 18 points while Thomas had nine and was the focal point of the offense, creating openings for teammates with dribble penetration and pushing the ball whenever the opportunity presented itself.
“That’s coming off the plane – I hope he plays even better [on Monday],” Mitchell said. “He makes a big difference. He’s a high Division I player. He’s gonna help us.”
The Gauchos need a victory Monday against Dorians Pride (Mich.) to advance as they dropped their opener, 72-54, to CIA Bounce of Canada with Thomas and Johnson earlier in the day. The biggest challenge will be chemistry as they have an all-Big East caliber backcourt and several important pieces in St. Patrick guard Da’Shawn Suber, St. Raymond guard Shane Rector, John F. Kennedy forward Mohammed Ahmed and Sidibe.
“They’ve made a big difference,” Sidibe said. “If you know your role, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Hayes’ Sidibe drawing wide range of interest: Sidibe, the 6-foot-8 forward from Cardinal Hayes, is having a big July. He recently picked up a scholarship offer from Sacred Heart, to go along with offers from Drexel, Hofstra, Boston University, Quinnipiac, Fordham, Holy Cross, Manhattan, Marist, LIU in addition to Harvard, Princeton, Columbia and Penn of the Ivy League. The rising senior, known for his shot-blocking and rebounding prowess, has also picked up recent interest from Iowa State, Miami, Central Florida, Dayton, NJIT, FDU and Delaware.
Sidibe isn’t sure what route he plans to take, but does want to cut his list down to five to seven schools once the live period ends.
Notes: Long Island Lightning guard Kevin Punter of Salesian will do a postgraduate year, program director and coach Dana Dingle said, to add muscle and experience in preparation for college basketball. Monmouth, Fairfield, Manhattan and Quinnipiac are all interested, Dingle said, but have yet to offer the versatile 6-foot-3 Punter a scholarship. … In the 17U silver pool, the Riverside Hawks-Shapiro topped Garner Road-Abdullah (Ga.), 52-28, and got by GA Slam 17U (Ga.), 54-53, to go 2-0 on the day. They meet FBCG Dynamic Disciples White (Md.) at noon on Monday in the final pool play contest. The organization’s other team, Riverside Hawks-Hargraves, also went 2-0 and takes on undefeated Carolina Hawks Gold (N.C.) Monday at 10:40 a.m. … Team Buckets picked up two wins, topping Tennessee Chosen Few, 65-63, and getting by Worcester West Wolfpack (Mass.), 53-42. They take on the New Jersey Celtics Monday at noon. … The New York City Vipers, Rising Stars and Westchester Hawks all went 1-1 while the Brooklyn Ballers pulled out two wins and New York Falcons dropped both of their contests. The Riverside Hawks 14U won the Bronze championship, topping Team Charlotte (N.C.), 58-47, behind 21 points from Daquon Ervin and 11 from Xaverian’s Hakeem Slue-Brown. … The Long Island Lightning 14s dropped the copper final to Team Takeover (Washington, D.C.), 57-41.
