Wearing No. 32 on his back and a white headband on his head, Josh Selby, the nation’s No. 1-rated recruit, made his Allen Fieldhouse debut Friday during Late Night in the Phog.
Selby, a 6-foot-2 point guard from Baltimore, showed during the player skits that he doesn’t shy from the spotlight. He also energized the crowd during the pre-scrimmage dunking show. In the playground-like scrimmage, Selby scored on a turn-around jumper, on a bank shot after catching a lob and on a drive to the hoop.
Selby is attending classes and is allowed to practice with the team, but has not yet been cleared by the NCAA to play in games. The previous year’s top recruit, John Wall of Kentucky, was not cleared by the NCAA until Oct. 30, 2009.
Selby was hot and cold during the scrimmage and junior guard Tyshawn Taylor and freshman guard Royce Woolridge played consistently well.
Barry Hinson, head coach Bill Self’s director of basketball operations, clearly was the MVP during the nonbasketball portion of the night’s entertainment. Hinson, former head coach at Missouri State, played the role of aging-but-spunky actress Betty White and played it convincingly.
Addressing the crowd midway through the evening, Self drew a huge ovation when he said that 2008 “was only two-and-a-half years ago, but it’s been too long. We need to cut down the nets again in 2011.”