Over the next month, The Post will bring you into the world of Cardinal Hayes/Team SCAN point guard Shavar Newkirk as he travels from Reading, Pa., to Springfield Mass., Augusta, Ga. and Las Vegas during the live recruiting period. One of the city’s top floor generals for nationally ranked Team SCAN, the 5-foot-11 Newkirk is looking to add to an already impressive AAU season. This is entry No. 3 of 4, as told to The Post’s Zach Braziller, which will appear over the next four weeks. The last entry is slated for July 30.
It was a crazy environment. We knew we were the underdogs going into [Nike] Peach Jam. A lot of people didn’t think we were going to get out of our pool; it was kind of shocking [we went undefeated in pool play].
When we played Southern Stampede (Ga.), everyone was looking forward to us losing. The whole gym was against us; all we had was us. Every time we scored there was a booing noise. Whenever the other team scored, the whole gym went bananas.
It was a good experience. I’ve never been to Peach Jam. It was different. It was serious — you could tell it was a business atmosphere.
I think stepped up [my play] when my team needed me. My team played good. We didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, we just played team basketball. We did everything correctly, we just lost.
We knew we weren’t going to win forever, we were going to lose, but when we did lose, we talked about why we lost, the changes we need to make for the next time we play so it won’t happen again.
The last time we lost was Spring Fling [to Albany City Rocks] and we didn’t like that feeling. The last time we want to lose is in Peach Jam.
Right now we’re stronger than ever. We’re not the No. 1 team, we’re going to Vegas wanting to end the season with a bang. Hopefully when we win [Fab 48] in [Las] Vegas, if we do win in Vegas, we’ll be No. 1.
There were a lot of big games, North Carolina, Kentucky, Louisville, Wake Forest, Penn State, Indiana, Miami.
I [think] [I] was the talk of the gym. Everybody wanted to know who I was because I’ve been playing well. They got to find out. They saw I can play with the big names, and they liked my game, and hopefully they still follow me.
Check back with Shavar Newkirk for his final diary entry July 30.