Tag: Michael Smith

On this day: Joe Mullaney born; Allan Ray, Michael Smith debut

On this day, former Boston Celtic guard Joe Mullaney was born, and Allan Ray and Michael Smith made their debut for the team.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, Joseph “Joe” Alexander Mullaney was born in the city of Flushing, Long Island, New York in 1924. An alumnus of the College of the Holy Cross of Worcester, Massachusetts, he was a member of the 1947 NCAA title team that also featured Bob Cousy.

Mullaney was selected 23rd in the 1949 Basketball Association of America (BAA — a precursor league to the NBA, which formed in 1950) draft. The New Yorker played just 37 games for Boston in the 1949-50 season, averaging 0.8 points and 1.4 assists per game.

Mullaney moved on to a career in the FBI before returning to the sport later in life as a coach.

Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 11

Today’s installment focuses on the 29 players who wore No. 11 over the years as of September 2023.

The Boston Celtics have more retired jerseys than any other team in the NBA, but that doesn’t mean the rest of their jerseys have little history of interest tied to them.

In fact, with 17 titles to their name and decades of competitive basketball played in them, their unretired jersey numbers pack in some of the most history not hanging from the rafters of any team in the league. To that end, we have launched our accounting of that history, with every player in every jersey worn by more than one Celtics player in the storied franchise’s history accounted for.

Today’s installment focuses on the 29 players who wore No. 11 over the years as of September 2023.

On this day: Radja, Johnson, Brown drafted; Dennis Johnson traded for

On this day, the Boston Celtics drafted Dino Radja, Joe Johnson, and Dee Brown; they also traded for Dennis Johnson.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, the 2001 NBA draft was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, and the Celtics took three players of note in the draft.

The first of the three was small forward Joe Johnson, taken with the 10th overall pick out of the University of Arkansas. The Little Rock native only had one incomplete season with the Celtics. He played in 48 total games and recorded an average of 6.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game, shooting 43% overall from the field in that stretch with the team.

In February of his inaugural season in the league, he would be dealt with Randy Brown, Milt Palacio, and draft assets to the Phoenix Suns for Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers.

On this day: Cs whiff ’97 lottery, miss Duncan; send LBJ home in ’08 with 41 from Pierce

On this day in 1997, the Boston Celtics missed the top pick of that year’s draft and with it Tim Duncan; 11 years later, they sent LBJ home in the ’08 East semis.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, the team would flop in that year’s draft lottery, ending up losing the top overall pick to the San Antonio Spurs despite having the highest odds — 36.3% — of landing the first overall pick of the 1997 NBA draft.

The whiff was one of the more impactful bits of bad draft luck experienced by the team in its worst era in terms of success in club history. The unlucky turn would end up sending generational big man talent Tim Duncan to the Spurs, with Boston drafting Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer with the third and sixth picks of that draft, respectively.

“I can tell you this,” said then-general manager M.L. Carr via the Boston Globe’s Michael Holley. “Coach (Rick) Pitino will do the right thing with the picks. He knows what he’s doing, he knows college basketball.”

The problem was that the Celtics played in the NBA.

Friday Night Notes: The Year of the Gamecock, Top 2024 recruit on the move again and more

South Carolina is on fire to start the new year.

USA TODAY High School Sports‘ Friday Night Notes is a weekly high school recruiting recap that looks at the latest news from around the country—from the Class of 2023 to ’24 and beyond.

South Carolina is on fire to start the new year. Over the last few weeks, head coach Shane Beamer has helped spearhead a recruiting surge that’s made Columbia the hottest destination in college football outside of Colorado.

The grand prize in this run has been getting the nation’s top uncommitted player to come on board. On Wednesday, top-ranked 2023 Athlete Nyckoles Harbor announced that he would attend South Carolina, dealing a blow to several other Power 5 programs in pursuit – including Michigan, Maryland and late-charging Oregon.

Harbor is just one of several blue-chip recruits that have signed on since the calendar flipped to 2023, though. Here’s who else they have picked up and where they now rank in this recruiting cycle and the next.

Woodland (SC) OT Kam Pringle

Ranked No. 46 overall and the No. 1 offensive tackle in the class of 2024, Pringle has literally been a massive (6-foot-7, 337 pounds) recruiter for the Gamecocks since committing on Jan. 22.

Here’s a look at Pringle pitching Harbor on Twitter:

Pringle had offers from 20 other schools, including Georgia, Clemson and Florida, which were the other main competitors.

Calvary Day (Ga.) TE Michael Smith

A couple days later, South Carolina also got a commitment from the No. 6 ranked tight end in the class in Smith (6-foot-4, 225 pounds). 30 other programs made Smith offers before he made his choice.

Greenville (SC) WR Mazeo Bennett

The latest recruit for Beamer and company just came in this morning when Bennett (6-foot-0, 180 pounds) announced for SC on Twitter:

Bennett is the third-ranked player in the state and is No. 31 among receivers in his class. He also had an offer from Tennessee and 22 all together, including most of the top programs in the SEC and ACC.

This all adds up to some serious momentum gained in the recruiting race. After adding Harbor, South Carolina’s recruiting class of 2023 now ranks No. 17 in the country. Their 2024 class is ranked No. 6 nationally.

Watch: Another 2024 blue chip recruit commits to South Carolina

South Carolina is off to a strong start building their 2024 recruiting class.

South Carolina is off to a strong start building their 2024 recruiting class. Earlier this week, the No. 1 ranked offensive tackle in the class, Kam Pringle announced his commitment to the Gamecocks.

Yesterday, the school added another blue chip prospect to their ranks when Calvary Day (Ga.) four-star tight end Michael Smith announced his commitment in enthusiastic fashion:

South Carolina won out over 29 other programs that made Smith an offer, including repeat national champion Georgia and Alabama.

Smith told Chad Simmons at on3 that the coaching staff communicated well with him to build their relationship.

“The communication was always there with coach Beamer and coach Wright, just building relationships… As I started praying about it, the signs started to show: random people coming up and saying, ‘Hey, I see you in the South Carolina jersey’ or ‘Hey, I could see you wearing garnet and black.’ So the signs started to build and I was like, ‘Alright, that’s why’ because it has my major. I felt comfortable. It was a family environment.”

Smith (6-foot-4, 225 pounds) is ranked No. 6 among tight ends in his class and No. 134 nationally.

The Gamecocks’ class of 2024 now ranks No. 11 in the nation.

More football recruiting stories

Four schools get commitments from 3-star recruits

Six notable recruitments since Friday night

Here are some Penn State football recruits to keep on your radar

Who are some recruits to keep an eye on for Penn State football?

We head into another offseason of Penn State football, and James Franklin continues his work on the recruiting train.

The Nittany Lions are losing some depth at key positions, and they look to build on that before next fall.

They continue to build on the positive trajectory of linebackers, bringing in a 2024 four-star in Anthony Speca earlier this week. Linebacker [autotag]Abdul Carter[/autotag] had an impressive first year with Penn State. They also brought back Curtis Jacobs, adding more experience to their youthful linebacker room.

We have spent the past few weeks looking a little bit further ahead into the 2024 class of recruits. While there are many already committed to school and others heating up for other schools, there are still plenty of other recruits to take a look at, especially for Penn State football.

Now, who are some of these recruits for Penn State football? Let’s take a closer look.

On this day: Joe Mullaney born; Allan Ray, Michael Smith debut

On this day, former Boston Celtic guard Joe Mullaney was born, and Allan Ray and Michael Smith made their debut for the team.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, Joseph “Joe” Alexander Mullaney was born in the city of Flushing, Long Island, New York in 1924.

An alumnus of the College of the Holy Cross of Worcester, Massachusetts, he was a member of the 1947 NCAA title team that also featured Bob Cousy. Mullaney was selected 23rd in the 1949 Basketball Association of America (BAA — a precursor league to the NBA, which formed in 1950) draft.

The New Yorker played just 37 games for Boston in the 1949-50 season, averaging 0.8 points and 1.4 assists per game.

Mullaney moved on to a career in the FBI before returning to the sport later in life as a coach.

Florida lands in top 8 for this 2024 4-star tight end

The Gators made the most recent cut for four-star tight end Michael Smith, but there’s still plenty of work to do before landing a commitment.

The Florida Gators were one of eight teams named by four-star Calvary Day School (Savannah, Georgia) tight end [autotag]Michael Smith[/autotag] as one of the top-eight programs still standing in his recruitment.

Smith made the announcement on Halloween with an appropriate edit to match the holiday. Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio State, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas and South Carolina are the other seven teams he’s still considering. Smith followed up his announcement with a tweet that said his recruitment was “still 100% open,” but these are the schools he’s narrowed things down to right now.

On3’s Chad Simmons caught up with Smith following the announcement to discuss each of his top eight.

“Florida was one of my favorite schools growing up. When I got the offer, that hit home a little bit because it’s my dad’s favorite team, my favorite team.”

Smith has been to Florida twice this year, once in April and again for the season opener against Utah. It’s the only school he’s visited twice so far, with Ohio State and South Carolina each getting a visit over the season as well. The On3 recruiting prediction machine favors the Gators with 37.7% odds to land Smith, but the Buckeyes (14.8%) and Gamecocks (17.3%) are not far behind.

The On3 composite ranks Smith No. 178 overall in the class of 2024 and No. 8 among tight ends. 247Sports has him a bit higher on its composite rankings at No. 152 overall and No. 6 at his position.

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Alabama extends offer to 2024 multi-sport athlete from Georgia

Alabama’s coaching staff recently extended an offer to 2024 tight end Michael Smith.

Alabama’s coaching staff has already hit the recruiting trail for prospects in the 2024 recruiting cycle. One of the prospects that recently received an offer from Alabama was tight end, Michael Smith, out of Calvary Day School in Savannah, Georgia.

Smith plays both basketball and football for his high school. He is listed at 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, according to 247Sports. As of right now, Florida holds the lead on On3’s RPM. He is favored to land with the Gators at 44.1% likelihood.

It is still early on in his recruitment, and the Tide’s track record with producing tight ends could help them in the long run. Not to mention, it is unclear as to how the tight end room will look by then. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how Alabama decides to approach Smith’s recruitment.

Roll Tide Wire takes a look at Michael Smith’s recruiting profile.