LINKS: Guarded-Talk Among Hoyas Fans with Anthony, Waters & Ponds Commentary

It’s hard to watch basketball continue while the Georgetown Hoyas have begun their off-season. That said, Pat Ewing and the staff have been on the recruiting trail and are still in the news regarding one prized recruit, Cole Anthony. DePaul is the only BIG EAST men’s team still playing these days and the “JTIII-is-the-leading-candidate” coaching carousel news seems to have simmered. Some folks are still living in the past and talking about Tremont Waters, especially with his visit to D.C., but others are looking forward to new-commit Galen Alexander and what his role might look like.

Here are some links:

2 years later, LSU’s Tremont Waters to finally play at Georgetown’s arena | NOLA

Waters saw the writing on the wall and asked for a release from his NLI on March 11, 2017. Georgetown coach John Thompson III was fired less than two weeks later after missing the postseason for the first time in back-to-back seasons since 1974. “The coaching staff was on edge about being fired or whatever,” Waters recalled on Thursday (March 28). “And they pretty much talked about that all season. So my parents and I, we kept noticing that they were talking about that. And then he actually got fired.”

The Biggest Mistake In Georgetown Hoops History | GlideHoyas

Tremont Waters was that guy to help turn this program around because as we can see for LSU how he makes his teammates better and how he can literally take a game over.

Tremont is truly a coach on the court. He gets it! I honestly think JT3 should still be here on the Hilltop, and I think the basketball program made a huge mistake in firing him. One of the biggest mistakes in the history of Georgetown basketball.

St. John’s star Shamorie Ponds entering 2019 NBA Draft | SNY

Junior guard Shamorie Ponds announced on his Instagram account Thursday night that he will enter the 2019 NBA Draft and hire an agent. Ponds, who played for Thomas Jefferson HS in Brooklyn, will forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility after the Red Storm reached the NCAA Tournament this season, getting knocked out in the First Four play-in game by Arizona State.

After a season of close calls, where does NC State go from here? | NEWSOBSERVER

Understandably, Keatts lost four players during or after his first season. That’s par for a coaching a transition. The loss of forward Omer Yurtseven (who transferred to Georgetown) hurt this team the most but Yurtseven’s decision to leave was mostly out of Keatts’ control. Since the start of this season, Keatts lost one player he recruited (forward Ian Steere) and one signed as a transfer (forward Sacha Killeya-Jones from Kentucky). A third he signed (Saddiq Bey) but released from his National Letter of Intent last spring, ended up as a starter for Villanova and averaged 8.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

DePaul advances to the best-of-3 CBI finals with a 92-87 win over Coastal Carolina | Chicago Tribune

The win ensures DePaul will finish with a winning record for the first time since Jerry Wainwright’s 2006-07 team went 20-14...

The Blue Demons will play the winner of Thursday’s semifinal between Loyola Marymount (22-11) and South Florida (21-13) for the CBI title. The tournament championship is decided in a best-of-three series, with the first two games next Monday and Wednesday and Game 3 scheduled for April 5 if necessary.

Paul White’s triumphant senior season at Oregon began amid 3 deaths from gun violence | OREGONLIVE

“Usually that side of Paul doesn’t come out too freely,” Paul White said. “Sometimes you might kind of catch a glimpse of him sometime here and there. I think (that) night I was all over the place. It was a huge moment for me, especially since I kind of thought about my freshman year when my best friend — I know this isn’t on the same level — but when Jahlil Okafor won the national championship and I saw how happy he was. I was thinking to myself, like man, I would love to have that moment to cut down the nets someday. (That) day was big for me personally and you saw it all over my face.”

Oregon’s Paul White, no stranger to gun violence, keeps those he has lost close in the NCAA tournament | WaPo

“I don’t believe in writing names on your shoes or writing on your wristband or anything like that,” White said. “Because if that’s the case, that’s a lot of names I’ve got to write. I don’t want to leave anyone out.”

Four-star junior Terrance Williams says two have prioritized him | 247 (Evan Daniels 1/24/2019)

...Definitely say Virginia and Stanford, those were my first two official visits. UVA, coach [Tony] Bennett he said that I was his first priority. He has been talking about offering me since my freshman year and I got it over the summer so you can tell he has been prioritizing me. Then out west was Stanford, coach [Jerod] Haase, Stanford is Stanford. Academics, basketball, basketball is a priority out there.

Have you visited both already? Yes, officially.

Will you do any others after the season? Yes, I’m trying to get to Georgetown after the season, coach Pat Ewing, hometown. North Carolina State officially and South Carolina. I had that planned but the hurricane cancelled it.

Fox Regional Sports Network sale nears conclusion as final round bids come due April 15 | FOX Business

The four bidders in the running, as of now, include Liberty Media, Major League Baseball (MLB), Sinclair Broadcast Group, and BIG3, a new basketball league created by hip-hop impresario Ice Cube, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Most of the bids hovered around $10 billion—far below the $20 billion bankers originally sought. In recent weeks, MLB has been working with the deal’s bankers at Allen & Co., to sweeten its offer, negotiating what was described as “add-ons,” or additional deals that would enhance the value of the bid, these people tell FOX Business. Sinclair, meanwhile, was discussing upping its bid to around $11 billion, thus making it the highest offer so far, these people add.

UNC Basketball: Cole Anthony doing Cole Anthony things in Atlanta | Keeping it Heel

The 6-foot-3, 183-pound Anthony scored 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while dishing out seven assists and pulling down five rebounds in leading the East squad to a 115-100 victory over the West. In doing so, he was named Most Valuable Player of the game, adding to the long list of accolades he’s collected over the past year....

Rivals recruiting analyst Corey Evans went so far as to say that Anthony would, in fact, be joining the Tar Heels, and that it was only a matter of time. To seemingly further the Tar Heels’ advantage in the Anthony recruitment, the talented point guard recently stated that the possibility of playing with current UNC freshman Coby White would not prevent him from committing to North Carolina, saying that he would “have no problem with it” and that “it would work out”.

Galen Alexander Commits to Georgetown | 247 (Aidan Curran)

Scouting Report: Alexander is an athletic wing who has a good three point shot and has shown the ability (and desire) to get to the rim. Alexander has good burst and his long legs help him get to the rim in a hurry. If he can tighten his handle, he could become a complete scorer at the Division 1 level...

Alexander’s presence on the roster next season will put a lot of pressure on Jamorko Pickett to fulfill his potential next season as a junior, and become much more consistent on both sides of the ball. There will likely be an open competition between the two in the preseason for the starting small forward spot, and it’ll be interesting to see what each player does with the opportunity.