MICHIGAN PREP REPORT
Published March 14, 2002

by Steve Bell, Michigan Editor of the HOOP SCOOP, Editor and Publisher of The Bank, & Editor of MichiganPreps.com

Bell Ranks 'Em:   The Top Prep Players in Michigan

MICHIGAN'S SENIOR & JUNIORS CLASSES EXTRAORDINARILY TOP-HEAVY

by Steve Bell, Michigan Editor of the HOOP SCOOP, Editor and Publisher of The Bank, & Editor of MichiganPreps.com

                    Michigan's senior class has some big-time star power.  6'11 Paul Davis from Rochester (H.S.) MI was having a season for the ages before breaking his ankle.  He's a do-it-all scorer, rated #1 in the country by Bob Gibbons and the best big man Michigan State has ever recruited.  Davis is one of six players from the state, along with 6'4 Ricardo Billings from Detroit (Rogers) MI to Ohio State, 6'4 Maurice Ager from Detroit (Crockett) MI to Michigan State, 6'6 Lester Abram from Pontiac (Northern) MI to Michigan, 6'7 Matt Trannon from Flint (Northern) MI to Michigan State, and 6'10 Graham Brown from Mio (Mio-Ausable) MI to Michigan, who have signed with Big-10 schools.  And that doesn't even include 6'2 Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI, one of the country's best point guards who is headed to Florida.  The state's highest rising seniors are 6'1 Calvin Wooten from Detroit (MacKenzie) MI, 6'1 Lamar Searight from Pontiac (Central) MI, and 6'8 Ryvon Coville from Detroit (Community) MI.   Wooten led the Detroit Public League in scoring.  Searight is not quite as talented as his older brother, Maurice Searight, but is a better prospect all things considered.  Coville is a steal for the University of Detroit.  He's grown nine inches since his freshman year.  He didn't play last year after transferring to Detroit (Community) MI, which isn't in the Public School League.  And that's why Coville had a low profile until this season.  But now this strong athlete has shown he can shoot nearly as well as he blocks shots. 
                    Michigan's junior class is extraordinarily top-heavy.  The Motor City may very well be the home of both the country's best junior 2-guard in 6'4 Jr Dion Harris from Detroit (Redford) MI and best junior point guard in 6'0 Jr Brandon Cotton from Detroit (St. Martin DePorres) MI.  All Harris does is win games.  In his first three varsity season's Radford has placed second, first, and third in the Detroit PSL (Public School League).  He is as productive on the defensive end as he is the offensive.  Harris plays so smooth and thinks the game so far beyond his years that some think he's slacking out there.  Like Jalen Rose once told Steve Fisher, you can't rush greatness, Coach.  It's telling that Harris makes Redford so good that 6'7 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH, who is the #1 player in the nation regardless of class, had to score his career high to beat the Huskies when Redford played in Akron, OH before Christmas.  Cotton is just a scorer, averaging  nearly 30 ppg for St. Martin DePorres just like he did all summer for The Family.  He's a strong, explosive little athlete who can score at the cup, from deep, and in between.  Look for Dion to commit to Michigan before the summer.   However, Louisvlle is going to go into Michigan and try to pull off the upset.  Michigan State is the team to beat for Cotton. 
                    But don't stop there!  6'5 Jr Olu Famutimi from Flint (Northwestern) MI has Corey Maggette like athleticism and talent.  He's had a frustrating year, though, as with Kelvin Torbert graduated, defenses have focused in on him and Northwestern doesn't have the guards to get Olu the ball if he was open, anyway.  A betting man might give equal odds to Michigan, Michigan State, Duke, and Missouri in Famutimi's recruitment.  6'4 Jr Brandon Jenkins is a lanky, smooth, smart, athletic point guard who led Detroit (Southwestern) MI to an udefeated regular season.  A year ago many national recruiting "gurus" didn't know 6'4 Maurice Ager from Detroit (Crockett) MI from Susan Ager.  All it took was a spring run for harassing phone calls and unfocused digital cameras to become a daily fixture in Ager's world.  Look for the same to happen to Jenkins.  He's so good that he has become a Michigan priority, despite the fact the Wolverines have signed a similar player - McDonald's All-American, 6'1 Daniel Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) MI - in the class just ahead of Jenkins.  And it doesn't hurt that Jenkins is a fine young man and a good student, so crucial as Michigan tries to separate itself from the amoral, at least, Fisher/Ellerbe era. 
                    Harris, Cotton, and Jenkins are from Detroit, Olu from Flint, another traditional basketball hotbed since back in the day....  But North Muskegon?  Not so much.   But that hasn't kept Tommy Amaker or Tom Izzo (twice) making the trek this winter, lake effect snow be damned, to check out 6'10 Drew Naymick.  He's a top 50 player nationally, it's just that Big-10 coaches know it before the media.  Except for here, of course.  Drew is 6'10, but has none of the negative attributes of the typical big white guy.  He can run.  He can jump.  He's not skinny.  In fact the redhead is a little bit cut and big through the shoulders.  Naymick will try to dunk anything within 10 feet of the basket.  He already holds the state career record for blocked shots.  Dude can play.  Handicap Naymick recruitment at 40% Michigan State, 35% Michigan, 25% Ohio State.  After Drew the best junior big men are 6'9 Jr Walter Waters from Detroit (Southeastern) MI, 6'8 Jr James Matthews from Detroit (Denby) MI, and 6'7 Jr Ije Nwankwo from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI.  Matthews is the best athlete of the three.  He transfered in from Verbum Dei in California and it took him awhile to adjust to Midwest basketball.   But once he did....  James is a strong athlete who can run and jump all day.   He plays ornery and with a purpose.  Waters is the most prolific, having set Southeastern's single-game scoring record with a 45-point effort and rebounding a couple triple-doubles besides.  No one will surprise the big (270 pounds) lefty for Kevin Garnett.  But when he gets the ball down low it's all over.  Missouri is the leader for Waters.  Nwankwo is a horse inside.  He doesn't jump high, but he jumps quickly.  Which means trouble with the hefty build and long arms. 
                    The Class of 2004 is a down year, which a rarity in Michigan, because there may not be any McDonald's All-Americans.  But there are some solid, top 100-type prospects.  6'6 Soph Ronald Coleman from Romulus (H.S.) MI is just solid all-around, like 6'6 Lester Abram from Pontiac (Northern) MI.  He's been a regular at Michigan games.  6'1 Soph Rick Harris from Detroit (Denby) MI sat out this season after transferring.  He told me he spent his free season working on his jump shot.  Good idea, because this strong athlete can do most everything else.  Detroit (Renaissance) has two fine wings in 6'3 Soph Joseph Crawford, the driver, and 6'4 Malik Hairston, the shooter who was MVP of last spring's 15-under state AAU tournament.  Sophomore big men to keep an eye on are 6'7 Soph Jamaal Lock from Detroit (Redford) MI, a major contributor on one of the state's best teams the last two years, 6'7 Soph Al Horford from Grand Ledge (H.S.) MI (the son of Tito Horford), 6'6 Soph Isaac Knight from Detroit (Crockett) MI, who made an impact as a rebounder and shot blocker second semester after transferring, 6'8 Soph Dan Waterstradt from Redford (Catholic Central) MI, who has excellent footwork for a young post, and 6'7 Soph Goran Sutton from Lansing (Everett) MI, a foreign exhange student.  In a rarity, the Grand Rapids area has two of the state's best sophomores.  5'9 Soph Drew Neitzel scored over 20 ppg as a freshman at Wyoming Park (H.S.) MI and as a sophomore led Park to a two-loss regular season.  He's a very talented ball-handler who just needs some size.  But 5'11 Soph Michael Redell from Rockford (H.S.) MI bested Neitzel, helping the Rams to an undefeating regular season.  Think Michael Bibby. 
                    What is striking about the 9th-graders is that there are already a lot of big boys.  And none are bigger than 6'8, 300-pound Frosh Anthony Sparks, who, fittingly enough, plays for Robert Traylor's alma mater, Detroit (Murray-Wright) MI.  Sparks was one of the most heavily recruited middle school players in recent memory and has already paid dividends with his clutch shooting in the PSL Playoffs.  Other freshmen posts who have made a varsity impact (and on good teams, no less) are 6'6 Frosh Robert Jolley from Orchard Lake (St. Mary's) CA, 6'6 Frosh Deon Ware from Detroit (Finney) MI, and 6'6 Frosh Clifford Peterson from Detroit (Denby) MI.  But there are some guards, too.  6'3 Frosh Jalon Perryman from Detroit (Rogers) MI could play almost anywhere in the state, but at Detroit (Rogers) MI he plays the same position as two future Big-10 players, 6'4 Ricardo Billings (Ohio State) and 6'2 Jr Byron Davis.  6'2 Frosh Arthur Wilson is in a similar predicament, as Pontiac (Northern) MI is one of the state's deepest programs on all three teams.  But he can play a point guard who can score and distribute.  But the best point guard is 6'2 Frosh Jarrett Smith from Westland (John Glenn) MI, who does not resemble a freshman with either his size or approach to the game.  Nor do the top two 8th Graders on our list - 6'0 Edward Tucker from Saginaw, MI and 5'9 Tajuan Parker from Detroit, MI.