Scholastic Roundup: These Pirates land a treasure

April 16, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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It sure looks like Kevin Willard and his Seton Hall Pirates are re-loading, not rebuilding. They scored a huge win with the addition of former South Shore – and Syracuse University – star guard Kadary Richmond, one of the top available transfers of the market.

The 6-foot-5 Richmond initially committed to Syracuse after considering Seton Hall, Oregon and St. John’s. “What made me pick Seton Hall is we developed a relationship while I was in high school and although I didn’t get there out of high school there was never any love lost,” Richmond told NJ Advance Media, prior to his public announcement last week.

Richmond played for Coach Shawn Mark at South Shore in 2017-18. The Vikings posted a 26-5 record and won the Brooklyn Championship bracket of the Public School Athletic League (PSAL) Borough Playoff.

In 2018-19, the Vikings finished with a 30-4 record and Richmond averaged 16.3 points-per-game as a senior. South Shore defended its PSAL Class AA title, defeating Jefferson in the final, 71-70. Richmond had 23 points and eight rebounds in the win and was selected the most valuable player in the PSAL Class AA Tournament.

Richmond was the 2019 New York City Public School Player of the Year and was named New York State Sports Writers Association (NYSSWAA) First Team Class AA All-State.

A day after rotation players Greg Williams Jr. and Marcellus Earlington entered the transfer portal, St. John’s basketball coach Mike Anderson filled a need by landing a verbal commitment from Purdue forward Aaron Wheeler.

Wheeler has family in Queens, and his father Bill played for Bishop Loughlin alongside Mark Jackson. The 6-foot-9 junior has two years of eligibility left for the Red Storm.

Kyle Neptune, recently named head basketball coach at Fordham, attended Brooklyn Friends School where he was a member of the school’s 2003 State Champion Boys Varsity Basketball Team and scored 1,650 points in his time as a Panther – the most recorded in school’s history.

The Brooklyn native played four seasons of college basketball at Lehigh University where he served as a team captain his senior year of 2006-07. He arrived at the Rose Hill campus after eight seasons as an assistant coach at Villanova.

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Oklahoma State announced a seven-year contract extension with men’s basketball coach – and former Bishop Loughlin star – Mike Boynton. The deal will increase his compensation to $3 million annually.

The 39-year-old Boynton has a 72-58 record in four years with the Cowboys. This season they finished 21-9 and won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2009. They ended the regular season with a final Associated Press ranking of No. 11 – the program’s best finish since 2005.

At Loughlin, Boynton earned First-Team All- New York City after leading the Lions to a 24-4 record and a berth in the city semifinals. He was inducted into the Bishop Loughlin High School Athletic Hall of Fame in the spring of 2011.

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UConn Huskies sophomore guard James Bouknight is entering the 2021 NBA draft. The 6-foot-5 Brooklyn native averaged 18.7 points and 5.7 rebounds for the Huskies. He played two years of high school at LaSalle Academy in Manhattan.

Lenny Hershkovitz, who played basketball and handball at New Utrecht, sends along a note reminding that Larry Pasquale, a Lafayette High quarterback in the ‘50s was a special teams coach for the New York Jets many years.

Also, he notes Sam Rutigliano, the long-time Lafayette football coach later served as head coach for the Cleveland Browns. “That Browns team,” Hersh writes, “was owned by Utrecht grad, Art Modell.”

Jerry Donner, the former Director of Athletics at Brooklyn’s Long Island University, had some comments after reading the Spencer Ross feature in the Brooklyn Eagle at his South Florida home: “He (Spencer) is royalty among the legendary New York City Sportscasters,” he wrote in an e-mail to Scholastic Roundup.

Donner then asked: “When Marty Glickman did the High School Game of the Week, who was his sidekick?”

It was Ross, the New Utrecht grad who supplied the answer: “Vic Obeck, the Athletic Director at NYU worked with him,” Ross said. “When I inherited the job from him, Aubrey Lewis and I teamed up. I loved that guy…we became dear friends.”

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected].