Hoop Group Elite moves its July headquarters to Albright College

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 

READING, Pa. - Hoop Group Elite, the nation’s #1 exposure camp for amateur basketball players, is proud to announce the moving of its summer camps to Albright College.

The camp (formerly known as Eastern Invitational) has spent the last 28 years at The College of New Jersey, but was unable to turn down the outstanding facilities that Albright offers.

“We are excited about the move,” remarked Hoop Group President Rob Kennedy. “Between having more indoor courts, new outdoor basketball courts, air conditioned dorms and better food, the whole experience will be vastly improved for our campers.”

Hoop Group Elite offers the best instruction, competition and exposure of any camp in the country. 502 Hoop Group Elite campers received scholarships in 2008 and over 80% of campers go on to play college basketball. It is the place to be seen as over 950 college coaches and recruiting services attended in the summer of 2008. Hoop Group Alumni include Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, Amar’e Stoudemire, Vince Carter and over 100 other NBA players.

Hoop Group Elite has something for every type of player. Each Elite session is for rising 9th-12th graders who are looking to improve their skills, play against high level competition and be seen by hundreds of college coaches. Academic Elite is the best camp in the country for players that are strong academically to showcase their skills in front of coaches from the country’s top academic institutions. Junior Elite focuses on rising 6th-9th graders and gives the up and coming player an opportunity to make a name for himself. Specialized Position Camp is an intense session of instruction in Backcourt Camp, Shooting Camp or Big Man Camp. Finally, Elite Team Camp will offer the opportunity for 64 highly competitive high school programs to battle it out on the court while being evaluated by college coaches.

“We are excited to have The Hoop Group at Albright College,” remarked Albright Director of Athletics and Head Men’s Basketball Coach Rick Ferry. “This is a very good fit as our facilities match up will with their needs. They run a first class operation and will be a real asset to our college and athletic community.”

2009 Hoop Group Elite Summer Schedule

Elite Session #1: July 5-8, 2009
Elite Team Camp: July 9-10, 2009
Elite Session #2: July 11-14, 2009
Specialized Position Camp: July 15-17, 2009
Academic Elite: July 24-27, 2009
Elite Session #3: July 28-31, 2009
Junior Elite: August 2-5, 2009

For more information or to register for Hoop Group Elite, please visit www.hoopgroup.com or call 732-502-2255.

About The Hoop Group

The Hoop Group is a comprehensive basketball company dedicated to fulfilling dreams by providing student athletes, parents and coaches the best instruction, competition and exposure. It is one of the largest basketball instruction organizations in the world with fifteen separate entities that encompass over 28,000 student-athletes and 3,000 high school, collegiate, AAU and youth league coaches. The Hoop Group is committed to help make each individual player realize their full potential and develop a lifelong love of the game. The Hoop Group’s alumni list reads as a “Who’s Who” of the basketball world, including Larry Bird, Julius “Doctor J” Erving, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Bob Knight, Chuck Daly, Billy Donovan and many more. As a family owned and operated business for over four decades, The Hoop Group staff works tirelessly to insure that each event participant, coach and sponsor receives the personal attention they desire.

 Nineteen Named to the MASCAC Winter Academic Honor Roll

 Friday, April 3, 2009

ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Corporation (MASCAC) winter Academic Honor Roll, which notes academic excellence by student-athletes, contains 315 honorees as announced by Executive Director Ken Andrews.

 The Honor Roll comprises those student-athletes of sophomore class standing or higher who participated in a varsity-level sport and registered a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 (4.00 scale) or higher and completed the playing season in good standing.

 Messiah led in selections with 52 student-athletes, while Lebanon Valley was second with 35, followed by Elizabethtown at 33.  Widener was fourth with 31 student-athletes on the list. DeSales was fifth with 26 and Lycoming had 25 student-athletes. Misericordia and Albright tied for seventh with 19. Arcadia was ninth with 17, King’s was tenth with 14, and Delaware Valley had 11 followed by Alvernia and Manhattanville (7), Wilkes (6), FDU-Florham (5), and Eastern (4).

Featured on the Winter Honor Roll are MAC Swimmer of the Year honoree Chris Sheerer (Leola, PA/Conestoga Valley) and Women's Basketball First Team All-Conference selection Annie McMahon (Havertown, PA/Haverford). 

Student-athletes are selected from men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s track & field, women’s track & field, men’s swimming and women’s swimming.

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 Hall and Shaeffer Earn All-Conference Honors

ANNVILLE, Pa. - On Wednesday, the Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Corporation (MASCAC) announced the names of this year’s Commonwealth Conference All-Conference teams.

At Right:  First Team All-Conference selection Phil Hall

Earning a place on this year’s first team for the first time in his career was senior Phil Hall (Northampton, PA/Northampton).  Hall, who led the Lions in a variety of categories, ended the season ranked fourth in scoring (14.7 ppg), first in rebounding (7.8 rpg), second in blocked shots (1.31 bpg), and first in defensive rebounds (6.15 rpg) in the conference.  

Throughout the second half of the season, Hall was a force on both sides of the court.  In total the 6-foot-11 inch senior recorded six double-doubles, three of which were earned in the Lions final three contests.  He also recorded 10 or more points in 18 consecutive games, to take over as the team’s leading scorer.  His career best mark of 26 points against Brooklyn College helped the Lions to earn a spot in championship game of their New Years tournament.

A two time conference player of the week selection, Hall started all 26 games for the red and white.  The Northampton, Pa. native averaged nearly 27.3 minutes of playing time a game, and his field goal percentage 55.7 percent was a career and team high as well. 

His 204 rebounds this season was also a career best for the big man.  Hall’s team best 34 blocks ranks him tied for fifth all-time at Albright for most blocks in a single season. 

Earning second team all-conference honors was sophomore Zac Shaeffer (Lancaster, PA/Lempeter Strasburg).  This year’s selection was the first in his young career.  One of the most dominant three point shooters in the conference, Shaeffer closed out his sophomore year averaging 11.9 points per game.  His three point percentage of 42.2 percent ranked him fourth in the Commonwealth. 

At Left:  Second Team All-Conference selection Zac Shaeffer

To date, Shaeffer currently sits third all-time for most three point field goals made in a single contest with seven.  His career best mark of 30, which was recorded on January 28th, saw the sophomore guard make 6 of his 8 attempts from behind the arc.  In addition to that, he added another three field goals from the paint, and went 6-for-8 from the free throw line. 

In just his second season with the Lions, Shaeffer appeared in all 26 contests while also starting the final 16 games.  He led Albright to victory on many occasions, including the 59-57 last second victory over Lebanon Valley.   

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 Men’s Basketball Ousted by Blue Jays in Commonwealth Semi-Finals

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

READING, Pa. – A 17 point effort by junior, Mike Church propelled the Elizabethtown Blue Jays (14-11/7-5 CC) past the Lions of Albright College (17-9/8-4 CC) in the semi-final round of the Commonwealth Conference Tournament playoffs at a packed and loud Bollman Center.

Elizabethtown erased a first half deficit rather quickly in the opening minutes of the second half by going on a 12-2 run to start.

Albright was dominant in the low post for most of the contest, mostly in part to yet another double-double effort by senior center, Phil Hall (Northampton, PA/Northampton).  Hall finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds on 9 of 17 shooting from the field.  Hall was 6 for 7 in the first half, but was unable to get such easy looks in the second 20 minutes, when the Blue Jays turned up the defensive intensity.

At Left:  Senior center Phil Hall recorded his third straight double-double
in Wednesday's semi-final game against Elizabethtown College

A seesaw first half with numerous lead changes and ties ended with the Lions leading by a slim 4 point margin (37-33).  The Red and White tried many a time to pull away but the Blue Jays fought back behind a sharp-shooting Keith Fogel and a large road crowd following of fans.

Hall was perfect from the field for the first 17 minutes, totaling 12 points and including five rebounds in his first half stat line.

Andre Murphy (Philadelphia, PA/Carver) hit quite a few tough shots in the first 20 minutes as well, putting together an 8 point first half to keep the Lions pacing themselves offensively.  Murphy would finish as one of three scorers in double figures for the Lions, ending the night with 11 points.

Matt Baszika (New Zealand/South Plainfield, NJ) would prove to be the final Lion scoring in double figures, finishing with 10 points and 5 rebounds.

The Red and White owned a 19-9 first half rebounding advantage, due largely in part to the play of Justin Plummer (Upper Darby, PA/Friends Central) off the bench.  The junior had six rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass to give the Lions numerous second chances and keep them shooting at a near 60% clip.

Unable to get his shot going all game, Zac Shaeffer (Lancaster, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg), hit his first jumper of the night with 2 minutes left to play, giving the Red and White their last lead of the evening.

Elizabethtown would counter that bucket with a jumper by Bryan Harrity, which was followed by the second three-pointer of the night by Fogel, who finished with 13 points, to seal the deal for the Blue Jays with just under a minute to play.

The Lions would try to get some offensive momentum in the final minutes, but missed jumpers and a costly turnover would be all the Red and White could muster against an aggressive defense.

Elizabethtown will head to Widener, who defeated Messiah by a final of 76-61, to play for the Commonwealth Championship on Saturday at 3 p.m.

With Wednesday's loss, the Lions 2008-2009 season comes to a close.  Overall the red and white ended the year with a final record of 17-9, 8-4 in the conference.  Albright will lose Hall, Bazsika, and Mike Larkin (Patchogue, NY/Patchogue-Medford) to graduation. 

Elizabethtown College 68, Albright College 64
Box Score