ACC and Tech recruits dominate McDonald's All-American at the Garden

Posted 8:34AM on Friday 5th April 2002 ( 23 years ago )

NEW YORK - The McDonald's All-American games provided great news for ACC men's basketball fans and those who root for Connecticut's women's program. J.J. Redick, a member of Duke's heralded recruiting class, scored 26 points, and Rashad McCants, part of North Carolina's strong freshman class, added 22 to lead the East to the most-lopsided victory ever in the 25th annual boys game, 138-107 on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. Redick, who was 10-for-15 from the field, including 5-for-6 on 3-pointers, and had four assists was chosen the MVP, while McCants was 9-for-12 from the field and grabbed six rebounds. Duke and North Carolina were the only schools represented by more than one recruit. The Blue Devils, who were ranked No. 1 for most of the season as they tried to defend the title, had four players - Redick of Roanoke, Va.; Shavlik Randolph of Raleigh, N.C.; Sean Dockery of Chicago; and Michael Thompson of New Lenox, Ill. The Tar Heels, coming off the worst season in school history, had three players: McCants, of New Hampton, N.H.; Raymond Felton of Latta, S.C.; and Sean May, of Bloomington, Ind., the son of former Indiana star Scott May. Redick said the future ACC opponents had fun this week in New York. "There was some friendly trash-talking, nothing serious," Redick said. "The Duke guys know Carolina will be back again and they know Duke will be good again next year. The rivalry resumes next year." The first-ever McDonald's girls game featured the five-person class that will try and follow the four starters who graduated after leading Connecticut to an undefeated season and its second national championship in three years. Ann Strother of Highlands Ranch, Colo., led the West to the 94-85 victory with 21 points and was selected co-MVP. The boys' silver anniversary game was played before a crowd of 16,505 and was never close as the East was ahead by at least 19 points throughout the second half. The first McDonald's game was played in 1978 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Rudy Woods, who went on to play at Texas A&M and in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks, was the first MVP after grabbing 16 rebounds for the West. Last year's game was played at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium and Eddy Curry, one of the four high school players who were lottery picks in the NBA draft, was the MVP with 28 points and eight rebounds for the East. The only players seriously considering the jump this year are 6-foot-10 Amare Stoudemire of Orlando, Fla., and 6-10 DeAngelo Collins of Inglewood, Calif. "I'm still undecided," said Collins, who had 15 points and six rebounds for the West. "I'll go home, evaluate the situation, think about it and then make my decision. I'm still undecided about what college or the pros." Stoudemire had 10 points and seven rebounds for the East. "My decision will be based on whether or not I will be a Top 10 pick in the NBA," he said. "If not, I will go to Memphis University." Carmelo Anthony, who played at Virginia's Oak Hill Academy and who will play at Syracuse, added 19 points for the East, while Jason Fraser of Amityville, N.Y., who will play at Villanova, had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Bracey Wright of The Colony, Texas, who will play at Indiana, had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the West, while Dallas' Chris Bosh, who will attend Georgia Tech, added 14 points. The East led 70-44 at halftime and the West twice got within 19, but Redick hit consecutive 3-pointers after the second time to make it 87-62 with 4:44 left in the third quarter. "In the third quarter, I was in such a zone and for it to happen here was great," Redick said. The biggest lead was 35 points. The previous widest margin of victory was 30 points in 1985 when the East prevailed 128-98 at Dallas with MVP Walker Lambiotte, who played at Northwestern, getting 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting. The other Connecticut recruits in the girls game were Strother's West teammate Willmet Crockett of Harbor City, Calif., who had six points and 11 rebounds; and East players Nicole Wolff of Walpole, Mass., who had five points and four rebounds; Barbara Turner of Cleveland, who had 15 points; and Gillian Goring, a 6-7 center from Waterloo, Iowa, who didn't make her final decision to attend UConn until this week and had six points and three rebounds. "Now that I've had a chance to hang around with these girls, I know I made the right decision," said Goring, who said she will sign the letter of intent on Wednesday. "I can't wait for all of us to be teammates." Shanna Zolman of Syracuse, Ind., had 21 points, five assists and seven steals for the East and was selected co-MVP. She is headed to Tennessee. "The only way I can put this into words is that it's great being part of history, a pioneer of women's basketball at something of this stature," Zolman said. "I don't think any of this will sink in until down the road."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/4/196451

ACC and Tech recruits dominate McDonald&#39;s All-American at the Garden

ACC and Tech recruits dominate McDonald's All-American at the Garden