How Bob McKillop recruited players from seven countries to Davidson
McKillop began making international hoops connections as a high school coach in Long Island. And he has reaped the rewards of those relationships with this Davidson team. “How far back do you want to go?” That is how a chuckling Bob McKillop answered my request for an explanation as to how he became college basketball’s international man of mystery. As he took me on a journey back in time, it quickly became evident that this was not a story of mystery so much as history. That was the subject McKillop majored in at Hofstra, where he was named MVP of the basketball team as a senior in 1972. It is the subject he taught for five years at Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville, Long Island. It is a passion he pursues through reading, travels and insatiable curiosity. And of course, history is what McKillop’s Davidson team made in 2008, when a little-known, spindly, baby-faced guard named Stephen Curry led the Wildcats to the brink of the Final Four. Now McKillop, who is about to begin his 28th season as Davidson’s head coach, will make history of a different kind. His roster will feature players from seven different countries—the United States, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Serbia, Nigeria and Sweden. It’s hard to say for sure whether this is unprecedented, but even in this era of globalization, it is most unusual. It is also no accident. Rather, it stems from the three-plus decades McKillop has spent embracing the international game, starting long before it was cool.
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Euroleague to culminate with 2017 Final Four in Istanbul!
A world-class city that witnessed two of pro basketball's most spectacular season-ending shots ever will have the same opportunity again next spring when the 2017 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four returns to Istanbul, Turkey, Euroleague Basketball announced on Tuesday. Istanbul will host the best four EuroLeague teams from May 19 to 21 in what is sure to be a thrilling finish to a ground-breaking season, the first in European basketball history in which all the teams in the continent's premier competition are guaranteed to play each other. The 2017 Final Four will take place for the second time at the Sinan Erdem Dome, which officially opened its doors on April 16, 2010 and two years later played host to a memorable Final Four that was one of the most successful in EuroLeague history. The event will feature an expansion of a strong relationship begun at the start of this decade between Euroleague Basketbal and Turkish Airlines, which had a pivotal role in bringing the Final Four back to Turkey and will host the event, as well. As title sponsor of the competition, Turkish Airlines heads a family of Euroleague Basketball partners in Turkey to which a new member was recently added, Odeabank. The season's crowning weekend also will mark the first Final Four to be held under the 10-year joint venture between Euroleague Basketball and IMG.
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Puerto Rico Tip-Off is moving out of Puerto Rico thanks to Zika virus
Concerns from multiple college basketball programs about the threat of contracting the Zika virus has prompted an unprecedented move: ESPN is pulling its annual Puerto Rico Tip-Off out of Puerto Rico.
Instead, the exempt, made-for-TV college hoops event will be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida. ESPN made its formal announcement of the change Monday. The dates for the tournament will not change. The Tip-Off will still be held on Nov. 17, 18 and 20. The teams participating in the event: Arizona State, Clemson, Davidson, Missouri, Northern Iowa, Oklahoma, Tulane and Xavier.
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