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Xavier's Semaj Christon prepares for NBA draft in Indy

Dave Clark
dclark@cincinnati.com
Xavier guard Semaj Christon drives to the hoop against Marquette on Jan. 9.

Xavier guard and former Winton Woods High School star Semaj Christon is one of eight NBA hopefuls training in Indianapolis with St. Vincent Sports Performance's NBA Pre-Draft Training Program to help prepare for two months of team evaluations and scouting.

Here's SVSP's blurb about Christon from a press release:

Semaj Christon: The sophomore guard and Cincinnati native was Xavier University's leading scorer, averaging 17 points and 4.2 assists this season. He is only the second player in the team's history to reach the 1,000-point mark as a sophomore. He was named All-Big East first team and is currently ranked among late first round picks by CBS Sports college basketball writer Gary Parrish. He started training at SVSP last week.

Training with Christon in Indianapolis are Gary Harris (Michigan State), Glenn Robinson III (Michigan), Semaj Christon (Xavier), Jake Odum (Indiana State), Trevor Releford (Alabama), Eric Atkins (Notre Dame), Luke Hancock (Louisville) and Niels Giffey (UConn).

The program says it "incorporates position coaching, speed and agility development, strength training, medicine and treatment, nutritional education and planning, and performance psychology to help players elevate their preseason performance and draft status." On-court skills development is led by NBA training consultant and Nike Elite Basketball Trainer Christopher Thomas, who - according to the release - has worked with LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant.