Self, KU Jayhawks offer scholarship to Arkansas high school sophomore forward Pinion
Joseph Pinion, a 6-foot-6, 185-pound sophomore small forward from Morrilton (Arkansas) High School, has been offered a scholarship by Kansas, he reported on Twitter.
Pinion, who plays for the Joe Johnson Hawks during the AAU basketball season, tells Rivals.com he’s heard from KU, Arkansas, Baylor, Oklahoma, Illinois, DePaul, Tulsa Louisville, Stanford, Ohio State, Virginia Tech and others.
“Pinion has good size, is a good athlete and plays with purpose on both ends of the floor,” writes Eric Bossi of Rivals.com. “His jump shot is a major weapon. He has effortless range to well beyond the three-point line and great mechanics on said jumper.
“On top of that, he’s a pretty capable of creating off the dribble, plays with some edge to his game and is still filling out physically,” Bossi adds.
Pinion, who averaged 18.1 points and 7.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks a game his soph season, told The Star in an Twitter instant message he is “very interested” in KU.
“I want to visit Arkansas, Baylor, Oklahoma and Kansas soon if I can,” Pinion told Kevin McPherson of Hogville.net.
Of Pinion, who is not yet ranked by 247sports.com’s top 100 at this early date, McPherson writes: “He’s a fearless and effective shooter from deep three-point range and he has craft in his dribble-drive game to go with being a handful in transition. His court awareness and ability to set others up for easy scoring makes him a playmaker beyond his own offense. Pinion not only grew a couple of inches in the past 12-18 months, but he added strength and bulk that allows him to combine his ball skill with physicality that often made him a matchup nightmare for opponents during his sophomore season.”
Mashack has KU on list
Jahmai Mashack, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound junior shooting guard from Etiwanda (California) High School, has included Kansas on his latest list of schools.
Mashack, the No. 78-rated player in the recruiting Class of 2021 by Rivals.com, is being recruited by KU, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Stanford, Texas, Texas Tech, UCLA, Gonzaga, Florida State and others.
“I’ve never talked to them directly. Their assistant coach contacted my AAU coach. Of course they are a great program, but I’m focused on who is focused on me,” Mashack tells Rivals.com.
He told The Star he’d love to be recruited by KU.
“That would be great. I understand everyone is busy but I’m going to always put my head down and continue to work,” he said to The Star in an instant message.
Mashack explained his game to Zagsblog.com: “I really base my game off of being a two-way player. I want to go out there and be a hustle guy and at the same time play good defense. I can score, pass and rebound. I really feel like I’m a player that’s unselfish and willing to do anything for the team to win.”
He explained life during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic to Zagsblog.com’s Jacob Polacheck.
“I start in the morning, running two miles,” Mashack said. “Later on, about an hour or so after I run, I go out and shoot on the court that my dad got me, getting shots in from different locations.”
“Thirty minutes after that, I go in, get two balls, get some gloves and I work on my ball handling for an hour before shooting around again,” he added. “To end it off, I usually work on my body, doing pushups, pullups, dips, ab workouts and then ending the day with stretching, getting a lot more flexible.”
Embiid gives to charity
Former KU center Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers managing partners are combining to contribute $1.3 million to Penn Medicine, the NBA team has announced. The money will establish “a funding campaign for COVID-19 antibody testing of front line health care workers,” the team’s news release stated.
“During this pandemic, many doctors and nurses are working like soldiers on the front lines of a war and they need to be provided with as much armor as possible in this battle,” Embiid said. “COVID-19 antibody testing can help Philadelphia health care workers at this critical time, and we need to do everything possible to help those heroes who are putting their lives at risk to help us.”
Embiid of the Sixers recently announced plans to donate $500,000 to COVID-19 medical relief efforts, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and NBC Sports Philadelphia. Embiid has been in self-isolation since March 11 and researching the best ways to assist doctors and nurses, according to Shelburne.
Manning skips broadcast of ‘88 game
Former Kansas basketball All-American Danny Manning, the sixth-year head basketball coach at Wake Forest, did not tune into the replay of the 1988 national title game between KU and Oklahoma on Saturday. The Jayhawks’ 83-79 victory over the Sooners was shown on CBS Sports HQ.
“I did not watch that game. I’ve watched it a couple times,” Manning said Monday on WSJS radio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “I’m very comfortable with the outcome. I did not partake in watching the ‘88 championship game the last time it was shown on TV.”
Manning, who played in the NBA for 15 years, was asked his memories of guarding Tim Duncan.
Duncan, a graduate of Wake Forest who played 19 seasons for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, on Saturday was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s class of 2020.
“I couldn’t guard him. I’m not by myself in that situation,” Manning said. “I remember matching up against Tim and those talented Spurs teams and trying to make him work really hard to get a catch. And he catches the ball where he wants to, jab step, bank off the glass — or shot and fake and go past. He was a tremendous player. We’re so happy for him to go into the Hall of Fame. Obviously we’re very proud of that as Demon Deacons. He was a handful. He was something to guard out there. Not a lot of people could do it. That’s why he’s one of the best to ever lace ‘em up and play the game,” Manning added of Duncan.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 9:57 AM with the headline "Self, KU Jayhawks offer scholarship to Arkansas high school sophomore forward Pinion."
