Final McDonald’s All American Recap
These past couple of days have been more than I could have ever dreamed of. High school basketball has always been intriguing to me because after all, they’re still kids.
Over the course of the week, I got an up close view at the stars of tomorrow, and I was pretty surprised at what I saw, in a very positive way. Coming into this event, I only expected to get to talk to the “lower rated” prospects, because the top prospects would either be hounded by nationally known outlets such as ESPN, CBS, 247 sports, Scout, etc. or they would just be to cool for a 13 year old aspiring journalist, boy was I wrong.
For years I’ve dreamed of getting to watch players like Jayson Tatum, Josh Jackson, Terrence Ferguson, Lonzo Ball and Miles Bridges play in person, not only did I get to watch them, but I also got to interview all of them, one on one and ask them the questions I’ve been wanting to ask them for the years since I’ve been covering the class of 2016.
The first day I arrived in Chicago, I actually ran into Josh Jackson, Miles Bridges and TJ Leaf in the hotel, I would be completely lying to you If I said my body wasn’t completely shaking while asking 247’s number one player Josh Jackson my first question. But what I was surprised at is how intrigued and nice Jackson was to a 13 year old reporter that he’s never heard of. When I asked Jackson what he is looking for in a particular school before committing, he answered “I know I can’t go wrong on the court, so I’m looking for the school that will make me the best man off the court”–wow. Then, I had to ask Bridges about him calling out Braxton Key during the Oak Hill game, he immediately cracked up. I legit paused for about two seconds because I realized that I was laughing with Miles Bridges, because of something I said to him, in a one-on-one interview. Also chatted with a hometown hero Markelle Fultz and his mom about the disappointing WCAC championship I saw him come up short and how he forced himself to move past it. Also found it interesting to see who these stars surround themselves with beyond family. Had a chance to spend time with Alterique Gilbert’s trainer and former UCONN star, Robert Swain, and he’s an unbelievable and dedicated guy–really speaks to Alterique’s character.
The next day was media day, right before it started I spotted former McDonald’s alum, Duke star and current ESPN analyst Jay Williams. I explained to him who I was and after a picture he told me to tweet him so he could check out my blog. Having 1.9 million followers, I thought it was unlikely he’d find me, but it was worth a try. Media day first started the big outlets started just taking the players as far from the crowd as they could, I thought I had no shot. But one of my favorite players in the game Gonzaga signee Zach Collins was still sitting at the table so I immediately took the chance to interview him. It’s safe to say Collins was one of my most successful interviews of the week. I got really good information and he really told me everything I could’ve dreamed of, to this moment I am really appreciative of my interview with Zach. A couple minutes later I spotted Kentucky signee De’Aaron Fox, and waited my turn behind Evan Daniels of Scout (stole a couple of players from me here and there) but when I finally got to interview De’Aaron Fox, i asked him if he would ever try having a Kentucky “Fab Five”, in fact he finished the question for me while laughing, he told me he loved the idea but is scared not to live up to Michigan’s Championship game runs in March. With Media Day winding down, I still had one player on my list, ESPN’s number one player and Duke commit Jayson Tatum. I waited through 2 fairly long interviews before I got my turn but it completely worth it. My first question to Jayson was for him to describe the feeling of finally winning a state championship, he lit up and gave me full on details. But after asking a typical reporter question about Duke I could tell I was losing him. So, as my final question, I asked a non-basketball question, for those of you who don’t know, there is a song called “Jayson Tatum” from a rapper who hasn’t gained a lot of recognition in La4ss, so I had to ask Jayson what his initial reaction was when hearing the song for the first time. An ear to ear smile broke out on his face, then he took me through the story saying that he knows the rapper, but it was absolutely surreal when he heard the song on the radio while driving. Overall, media day was the best experience of my life –highlighted by talks about coaches judging shot selection with Andrew Jones, talks about rapper Lil Durk’s best projects with Dewan Huell, talks about Dad’s breaking out their dance moves with Lonzo Ball and many more.
It was Wednesday night and the game was just about to tip, but I felt like the game was just the ribbon on the best birthday present ever, I had already done so much and experienced so much. At halftime, I was just wandering around the space where the court side seats were and Jay Williams walks by and recognizes me, he says to me “You didn’t tweet at me” and I replied “Yes I did” and then he said “Probably missed it, I have about 2 million followers, but write your Twitter name on a piece of paper and come give it to me at the desk.” I immediately rip out a piece of paper from my notebook and write down my Twitter name, and walk to the TV desk. When I gave Jay Williams the paper he said “Thanks so much I’m gonna follow you” despite the weird looks he was getting from all the ESPN TV people basically saying why is this teenage boy coming up to you and handing you a paper.
After the game, I attended the press conference for the co-MVPs Josh Jackson and Frank Jackson from the west and east representative Jayson Tatum. Josh Jackson stole the hearts of the reporters when he said his pregame ritual is to “hug and kiss his mom and thank her for everything she has done for him.” After the press conference, I waited outside the East locker room for about 10 minutes before finally being able to snag Terrence Ferguson for a couple of final questions. My first question was, what is it like playing on basically an all-star team at API. He said, “It makes things a lot easier for me” laughing after, “It’s also a lot of fun playing with guys that talented, we all like to have fun.” My next question, I asked him how his dancing was part of his personal swagger and his game, he cracked up (as you can see herehttps://twitter.com/jakeinthepaint/status/715384041609027584 ) but he said he’s loves dancing and having fun so that’s just what he does and he was laughing the entire time. I think he liked the question. I finished it off by asking about his recruitment, asking what he was looking for the second time around after decommitting from Alabama, he said “I’m not gonna rush anything this time, I’m gonna take some time with my family and decide what the best place for me is.” He would have gone into greater detail if he didn’t get pulled away by the security guards to get on the bus. Walking out of the United center I knew the interview I just had was unreal and I had the message that we both had a lot of fun.
When I woke up at about 10 this morning things got even crazier. I saw I had a new Twitter follower in Jay Williams, yes Jay Williams. I also saw that he tweeted at me you can see the tweet here. (https://twitter.com/realjaywilliams/status/715544367512084480) This was absolutely crazy–Jay Williams a former Duke Basketball star and current ESPN analyst tweeted at me saying he likes what I have to say on my blog– crazy. Overall, this was a completely surreal experience for me. I would like to thank everyone that organized the McDonald’s All American Games for giving me a press credentials. This was an amazing experience and hope you liked reading all my recaps throughout the week.