Kimani Young won’t be at Gauchos Gym on Saturday night when the top players from New York City and New Jersey honor the memory of his deceased wife with two all-star basketball games comprising the Sharette Dixon Classic.
Young, the former director of local AAU powerhouse New Heights and an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota, isn’t allowed at the showcase because of NCAA recruiting restrictions. But he would be proud of where the event has gone since he started it four years ago.
The area’s top players will be in attendance, including Lincoln star Isaiah Whitehead, who has committed to Seton Hall, St. Joseph’s recruit Shavar Newkirk of Cardinal Hayes, uncommitted junior Cheick Diallo of Our Savior New American on Long Island, and point guard Isaiah Briscoe of Roselle Catholic (N.J.).
“We’re trying to take the torch and run with it a little bit,” event organizer Chris Alesi said. “It would certainly be great if he could attend and celebrate the event, but at the same time he’s a high-major coach and restrictions for recruiting are pretty cut and dry.”
Alesi said Young plans to approach the NCAA in the next few years about possibly receiving special dispensation to attend, but as a newcomer to the college coaching ranks, Young doesn’t want to push the envelope just yet.
Sept. 9 through Nov. 10 is a recruiting period, and during such periods, “live evaluations” are limited to regularly scheduled contests, tournaments and practices “involving prospective student-athletes enrolled only at the institution where the regular scholastic activities occur.”
This event falls outside that rubric. The Classic begins with an underclassmen game at 6 p.m., featuring Christ the King sophomore Rawle Alkins, Long Island Lutheran sophomore Devonte Green, Our Savior New American’s Kassoum Yakwe and St. Peter’s Prep’s Amarveer Singh, followed by the upperclassmen game at 8 p.m.
Unlike most all-star games, this one is not merely about athletic achievements. The Sharette Dixon Academic Excellence Awards will be given to the players from each team who have maintained a cumulative 3.5 average or better, a nod to Dixon’s passion in life as an educator.
Dixon, who passed away March 23, 2009 from cardiac arrest following a bout with pneumonia, was an English professor at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn and was particularly interested in African-American literature. She attended California State University at Fresno, where she was a McNair Scholar and earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English.
The proceeds from the event goes to a family education fund to support her and Young’s children, Kamaal (11), Khaliq (9) and Salimah (7).
“The biggest thing is it was initially to keep her memory alive and honor her,” Alesi said. “Eventually, we want to keep growing the game and expanding it in the hopes that in eight, nine years, his kids can possibly play in it someday.”
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Point guard Aaren Edmead of Deer Park, L.I., committed to Wagner College on Tuesday. The talented floor general was previously committed to Massachusetts-Lowell before opening up his recruitment.
Highly rated junior forward Jessie Govan, who transferred from St. Mary’s of Manhasset to Wings Academy last week, will visit Connecticut for First Night — UConn’s Midnight Madness event — Friday night and will see Seton Hall on Saturday.
New Jersey forward Marial Shayok of Blair Academy picked Marquette on Thursday night over Providence and Virginia.
Briscoe, the heavily recruited junior point guard of Roselle Catholic, will attend St. John’s Midnight Madness on Friday.
Brooklyn Collegiate junior guard Jahlil Tripp landed his second scholarship offer, from Quinnipiac, on Wednesday.
St. John’s offered Brewster Academy (N.H.) guard Donovan Mitchell a scholarship, joining the likes of Connecticut, Providence, Cincinnati and Maryland, among others, in pursuit of the Connecticut product.