Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Kent Trains the Top-Ranked Players in the Country


IYB Basketball Pro Skills Trainer Kent Culuko with #1 Ranked Point Guard and UCLA freshmen phenom Kyle Anderson and #5 ranked 7th grade Point Guard in the nation Atiba Taylor after their shooting workout! 

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE NEW VIDEO CLIPS PAGE TO SEE SOME OF KYLE'S WORKOUT WITH KENT!


IYB Basketball pro skills trainer Kent Culuko and Ben Allen with Top Point Guards In The Land Kyle Anderson UCLA and Atiba Taylor # 5 ranked 7th grader in country after their workout!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

UCLA's Kyle Anderson Home in NJ to Train with Kent

UCLA superstar Kyle Anderson after a hard workout today with IYB Basketball Pro-Skills trainer; Kent Culuko . Kyle flew home during his break to get some workouts in with Kent before his first college season starts!  Happy 19th Birthday Kyle! Great work Today!

IYB Pro Skills Trainers Kent Culuko and Ben Allen with UCLA superstar Kyle Anderson after today's hard workout with Kent! Kyle just returned home from a team tour with his UCLA teammates playing vs Pro teams in China!  

 UCLA super star Kyle Anderson after a hard workout with Kent today poses for a picture with Blaze Basketball Club AAU members Takaris Seales and Cedric Gaston.  Beside being a great player, Kyle is also a fine young man who always makes time to speak with and interact other member of the IYB family.

Kyle also signed and presented an autographed UCLA basketball to Kent in appreciation for all the that Kent has done through out the years, helping Kyle improve his shot and become a top level national high school player. 

Let's Go Kyle! Everyone in NJ and especially EVERYONE at IYB will be rooting for you this coming season! BEST OF LUCK!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? KENT CULUKO

Where are they now? Basketball player Kent Culuko of Mahwah
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
BY STEVE POPPER
STAFF WRITER
The Record

For Kent Culuko, most days go like this: basketball in the morning, basketball in the afternoon and a little more basketball at night.
"My wife said to me, ‘You teach basketball all day long, coach it, play in a men’s league, and then come home and put on a basketball game to watch on TV,’ " Culuko said. "She doesn’t understand. She said, ‘How do you not get tired of it?’ ’’
While his wife, Jill, may not understand, she has gotten used to the fact that their life is accompanied by the sound of a bouncing ball. Their 7-year-old son, Karson, already has put in time on the court. Jill, 8 1/2 months pregnant with the family’s second son, expects the next son to be a basketball lifer, too.
It’s how it always has been for Culuko. His father, Cliff, was a standout player, starring for Long Island University before coaching at Bergenfield High School. Kent and his younger brother, Craig, were the next in line.
"Me and my brother grew up in the gym," Kent Culuko said. "That’s what we knew."
It’s what he knew and what he’s passing on to others. Culuko starred at Mahwah High School, amassing 2,780 points — the second-highest total in Bergen County history — then moved on to James Madison University, where he etched his way into the record book. He’s still ranked among the leaders in points and three-point field goals.
He provided one of the most storied moments in school history, one that’s easily found on YouTube. He swished a last-second three-pointer to send JMU into the 1994 NCAA tournament, the school’s first berth in 11 years.
From there, his career took a bumpy road — facing the same obstacles that so many players on the fringe of the NBA also face, and then some. His dream of playing in the league was so close, but never quite in his grasp.
"I tried out with the Nets in ’96 and ’98," he recalled, having also been invited to try out for the Cleveland Cavaliers. "I knew I could play at that level, and when I didn’t make it it was a real big disappointment.
"I had veteran players on the Nets, Kevin Edwards and Michael Cage, telling me, ‘You’re going to play at this level.’ … Not that I’d be a starter, but I could have been an 11th, 12th man, a guy who could help a team."
He played professionally in Bulgaria, Germany, Finland and Argentina, clinging to his dream of making the NBA. Those dreams fell apart when he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, at Jayson Williams’ home, when the former Nets star shot and killed his limousine driver. Williams was convicted of aggravated assault.
But basketball didn’t disappear. Culuko always had worked with younger kids when he was in college and on his stops home between stints around the globe.
"I started training kids when I’d come home, local kids from Mahwah, in my driveway," he said. "It started then, and when I got out of college and played overseas, it grew and grew.
"I had to make a decision — am I going to play or do this? It started rolling and I still wanted to play. I wanted to play pro ball. I loved training the kids, but my heart was with playing. … But I grew passionate and it grew on me."
Those one-on-one lessons have expanded. He still gives lessons and trains elite players such as St. Anthony’s UCLA-bound Kyle Anderson. But he also runs camps and clinics that over the course of a year, he estimates, attract 2,000 to 3,000 kids. While he runs camps through his IYBasketball.com flagship, he also has a non-profit project (blazebasketballclub.com) that runs AAU teams. Now living with his family in Pequannock, he is searching for a permanent home for the programs.
"I rent out about five different facilities now," Culuko said. " … We need people to know where we are and they want a schedule of what’s going on for the next three months. We think the business can grow when we do that."

Friday, September 14, 2012

Kent Culuko Trains Alex Thomas, Top Ranked HS Junior.


Our very own BLAZE AAU player, Alex Thomas who also trains with Kent weekly is the #4 ranked player in state and is already receiveing scholarship offers from several Division 1 colleges.   CONGRATS ALEX!





Monday, September 10, 2012

BBC FALL ROSTERS POSTED













Rosters have been set and posted at the BBC FALL ROSTER tab located in the top menu bar.
If your name appears misspelled or if it does not appear at all please contact our blog administrator at IYBmarketing@gmail.com

Thank You

Kent

Friday, September 7, 2012

BBC ELITE AAU TRYOUTS IN ACTION!





























IYB Basketball/Blaze Basketball Club President Kent Culuko with 18 year NBA veteran Clifford Robinson at Blaze Basketball Club Tryouts ! Cliff has both his sons playing in the Blaze BC Program!






























IYB Basketball / Blaze Basketball Club Coaches and Pro Skills trainers; Kent Culuko and Ben Allen with event sponsor Sports Authority at Blaze Basketball Club FALL AAU Tryouts! Please support the sponsors that support our program.  Sports Authority has granted many discount programs to our team members for the upcoming season. Check your e-mail for discount coupons monthly.

Monday, September 3, 2012

JUSTIN WINSTON at JOHN LUCUS CAMP!



BLAZE BASKETBALL ELITE stand-out player and soon to be 7th grader Justin Winston recently attended the JOHN LUCUS FUTURE STARS CAMP in Virginia and was selected one of the Top Ten East Coast Middle School Players in the country.  Justin trains weekly with IYB's Pro-Trainers, Kent Culuko and Ben Allen.