The song Opposite of Adults by Chiddy Bang came out when most of the kids you’ll read about were in kindergarten. Most of my Stumblin’ Alongs are about history, so this one is a bit different because it involves sports. Last night’s Iverson Classic was my first sporting event with a Press Pass so here is a recap of the game and a bit about the experience.
The ‘23 Iverson Classic Game Recap
Team Loyalty 131 - Team Honor 124
The Iverson Classic is the most competitive All-American game in the country and for good reason. The game features the top high school prospects that get coached and mentored by NBA legends. With Allen Iverson at the top of the helm, Team Loyalty was head coached by Tim Thomas, and Team Honor was head coached by Stephen Jackson. Other roundball legends that were also there to mentor were Larry Hughes, Malik Wayans, Darius Miles, and Lenny Cooke. While this next generation of hoopers has gotten to know each other through AAU and other All-American Games, the Iverson Classic is special because it is the last time most of these kids will ever play alongside one another as they head to their own respective colleges.
For the past week, the players have been coached with tough love that young guys need to hear. For example, at halftime of this game, Stephen Jackson was quoted, “All of you are stars in your own right but when you get to college you’ll have to play with other cold stars. You’re not going to be the only cold MFer. When you get to the league you’re going to have to dumb your game down to play with other stars. This is where it starts… Some of you have got to go harder. When you go to college, they’re not going to tell you what I’m telling you. They’re just going to sit your ass down on the bench and not say nothing.” (Source: @shobasketball) Those words may sound a bit harsh, but when someone like Stephen Jackson, who put in years of dedication to the game, tells a group of kids the cold-hearted truth - it works. While Team Honor ultimately would go on to lose, they stormed back in the 2nd half of this game and made it a tight one until the end. All of this is to say, The Iverson Classic isn’t your normal high school All-American game where they toss out some racks of balls and let the kids run up and down the court like it’s an AAU All-Star Game. This game means a bit more.
Justin Edwards is from the city of Brotherly Love and is committed to Kentucky. He was named the Team MVP for Team Honor.
DJ Wagner is the son of former NBAer Dajuan Wagner and grandson of “Ice Man” Milt Wagner. Dajuan Wagner Jr. is committed to Kentucky and was the Team MVP for Team Loyalty. He was born and raised in Camden, New Jersey, and he put on a show for his hometown, winning the National High School Player of the Year by the Iverson Classic.
AJ Johnson is from Castaic, California, and will be making the leap to the NBL's Next Stars program in Australia. Johnson will be the highest profile American prospect to do so since LaMelo Ball spent the ‘19-20 season Down Under on his way to becoming the No. 3 pick in the NBA draft.
Wesley Yates is from Beaumont, Texas, and will be playing for Washington. He was a 2,000-point scorer at Beaumont High School.
Mookie Cook is from Portland and he’ll be playing for Oregon. Cook is already a star in his own regard, he portrayed a younger version of NBA superstar LeBron James in the upcoming film "Shooting Stars".
Trey Parker is from Fayetteville, North Carolina, and has been playing for the Overtime Elite professional basketball league for 16 to 20-year-olds based in Georgia, Atlanta. Parker will be playing for NC State.
Kwame Evans Jr. is originally from Baltimore, Maryland, and played for Monteverde Academy in Florida. KJ Evans will be playing alongside Mookie Cook at Oregon.
Coen Carr is from Greenville, South Carolina, and will be playing at East Lansing for Michigan State. Carr will fit right in with Tom Izzo’s hard-nosed style of hoops.
@YouTheReader these were just some of the highlights for the Iverson Classic. You’ll be able to watch all the behind-the-scenes action of this game on Showtime. I look forward to watching and covering this group of the next elite basketball talent as they grow in college and some even make the NBA.
My Iverson Classic ‘23 Notes
Hoops Fan Insider picked me up in Hoboken and we headed to Kean University. We almost got a bit lost a few times because the Jersey highways around here are nuts. When we arrived at the Hardwood Arena early for the game, there were 2 lines to get in. General admission and media. I’m only Noting this because although I’ve probably heard the phrase before when entering an event, this was the first time where after hearing media I was like “Oh yeah that’s us”, it was a pretty cool feeling. When we received our media passes, we didn’t really know what the hell to do. Even when you’re a credentialed media member with a pass, there isn’t really a playbook on where you go so we headed to the court. There was fencing around the hardwood, when I say fencing I mean more like the rope you see at the Movie Theatre lines, with a security guard, who was letting other media members on the court an hour before the game. They let us in and then we just tried our best to act like we’ve been there before. Hoops fan insider had the early ‘00s camcorder rolling and I just pulled out the Pen & Paper.
JR Smith was the casually draining fadeaway 3s from 30 feet and taking pictures with fans. There was no way I was going to ask for a picture, I didn’t think that would be too professional and he was doing his own thing.
I sat down on a courtside chair just because it was easier to write. Again, I had no idea what you’re allowed to do but nobody thought anything of it so I guess it was cool. One of JR Smith’s 3s clanked its way over to me and I gave him a one-touch bounce pass as he caught it and took a fadeaway in the corner. I’m only Noting this because that might be the coolest thing I’ve ever done on a basketball court to date and if you don’t believe me, Hoops Fan Insider caught it on recording so maybe it’ll be a GIF.
Anyway, let’s get into the action…
Kentucky’s ‘23 Recruiting class of DJ Wagner, Justin Edwards, and Robert Dillingham were warming up together. Larry Hughes is in the building. He reminds me of those fun Wizards teams from when I was a kid with him and Gilbert Arenas in the backcourt with Antwan Jamison at forward. Hamidou Diallo, the ‘19 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, is in the building. Diallo now plays for the Detroit Pistons.
This was all before the game started, we were right underneath the hoop and were told we would have to leave by security because CBS needed the space for broadcasting. Luckily there was space in the media press pass zone on the opposite baseline.
Allen Iverson is rocking a Mets hat. What are we supposed to do during media timeouts? Media sure does a lot of standing, but it’s pretty cool I’m just two feet away from Showtime. I caught myself watching what they were filming on their camera because it was the clearest HD picture I’ve ever seen. Technology up close like that is crazy. One of the producers of Showtime working on the Iverson Classic documentary said that Jizzle James stood out in practice as a stud. He then found out who Jizzle James’ dad was, “Edgerrin James. When I heard that it all made sense. Jizzle is a great basketball player built like a football player.”
Shout out to World Wide Wes, everywhere we go we leave a worldwide mess. Sorry, that’s a Jay-Z lyric. The Knicks President, William Wesley was sitting next to Allen Iverson. Allen Iverson looks like he enjoys Hugo Gummy Bears, there’s a fun fact for @YouTheReader you’ll only get exclusively from Week to Week Notes first. G-Eazy is in the building. @AllThings_Hoops just came up to me and asked who I worked for. I gave him a business card and we followed each other back. “I just saw you were the only one writing in the media section and was like ‘wow somebody else writes.’” That was funny, but felt kind of true, everybody else in the arena seemed to be filming the game and I could be wrong, but it felt like I was the only one writing stuff down. Coen Carr with the crowd-pleaser dunk of the game (the one that is GIF’d above) was probably the loudest holy shrimp moment. AI sitting courtside going back and forth with the ref was hilarious to witness.
G-Eazy headed our way through the media section of the baseline. I handed him a Week to Week Notes and he just nodded. I just want this Noted because I thought that was pretty cool. I also handed the card over to the guys at Showtime and they told me to “keep riding the wave, it’s all about consistency.” Hoops Fan Insider got a picture with AJ Johnson and handed him a Week to Week Notes card. I know I probably shouldn’t mention these sorts of things and as always it’s best to expect very little in return, but my point is, if you don’t put yourself out there then you’ll never know. The game was very entertaining and if you can’t tell I thought it was very cool to see it from this perspective. @YouTheReader I didn’t take too many Notes on the players, this was the first time I’d seen any of them play so for me to try and give a scouting report would have felt fraudulent. That said, I’ll always be biased toward the ‘23 Iverson Classic Class because it is going to be awesome to watch these young men grow up and become NBA stars of the future.
Special thanks to Hoops Fan Insider for sending me this link to the Iverson Classic. I wouldn’t have signed up for Week to Week Notes’ first media credentialed event without him reaching out. It was really cool to share the Iverson Classic experience with a fellow Pirate hooper and let’s hope they let us back again next year!
April ‘23 Summary
April was a fun month. Let’s check the mighty all-encompassing Peaky Blinder calendar I got for Christmas to see what’s in store for next month…
May ‘23 Preview
@YouTheReader I read these calendar quotes like fortune cookies. So this one is uh… I don’t know… I still feel like me.
SubStack View Analytics
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Instagram “ProfessionalAnalytics”
In January, 32.4k New Yorkers during the month of at least saw the brand&logo of Week to Week Notes. In February, 47.1k New Yorkers at least saw the brand&logo of Week to Week Notes. In March, 30k New Yorkers and about 8k Bostonians at least saw the brand&logo of Week to Week Notes. In April, 38.4k New Yorkers at the very least saw the brand&logo of Week to Week Notes. That would bring the total to 147.9k New Yorkers so far in ‘23. Not bad for an odd-looking Instagram account currently hovering around 260 followers. I promise not to talk about any of this sort of followers&following stuff anymore.
Remember, 1 year ago, only about 12 people had ever heard of the name “Week to Week Notes.”
Closing Special Thanks!
Thank you to everybody for the past year! I’m not quite sure if I’ll be opening the books like this moving forward next month. We’ll see.