TODAY'S HOT RECRUITING INFORMATION

Hot Recruiting Information available from previous months June 1998 July 1998 August 1998 September 1998 October 1998 November 1998 December 1998 January 1999 February 1999 March 1999 April 1999 May 1999 June 1999 July 1999 August 1999 September 1999 October 1999 November 1999 December 1999 January 2000 February 2000 March 2000 April 2000 May 2000 June 2000 July 2000 August 2000 September 2000 October 2000 November 2000 December 2000 January 2001 February 2001 March 2001 April 2001 May 2001 June 2001 July 2001 August 2001 September 2001 October 2001 November 2001 December 2001 January 2002 February 2002 March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003

Wednesday, April 30, 2003

Today is the last day that NCAA Division I coaches can be on the road for the purpose of recruiting until July 8th, but that doesn't mean we're off the road.  As a matter of fact, we will be at the Spiece Run'N Slam All Star Classic in Ft. Wayne, IN this weekend, followed by the IS8 Playoffs in Queens, NY, May 15th-18th; Five-Star Hoop Classic in Boston, MA, May 16th-18th; Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions in Chapel Hill, NC, May 23rd-25th; NIKE Memorial Day Classic in Bloomington, IN, May 24th-26th; Pangos All-American Camp in Los Angeles, CA, May 30th-June 1st; Five-Star Basketball Camp at Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden-Sydney, VA, June 11th-16th; and the NBA Players Association Camp in Richmond, VA, June 17th-21st; plus we'll provide you with in-depth coverage from all of the major events in July, like the NIKE-American Camp, adidas ABCD Camp, NIKE Peach Jam, adidas Big Time Tournament, and the 17-Under National AAU Tournament.  The Spiece Run'N Slam, which will tip-off at 7:00 PM on Friday night at the Spiece Fieldhouse in Ft.Wayne, IN, will feature 56 teams in the Seniors-To-Be Division, 40 teams in the Juniors-To-Be Division, and 28 teams in the Sophomores-To-Be Division.  And, unlike the 9th Annual Houston Kingwood Classic in Houston, TX, we will get a chance to focus a lot more on players in the 15-under Division.  As a matter of fact, the Spiece Indy Heat team won the 15-Under Division of the Kingwood Classic last weekend and we'll get a chance to see them play several times, because the playoffs in this division will be played primarily at the Spiece Fieldhouse on Saturday evening and on most of the day on Sunday.  In addition to Spiece Indy Heat, the Sophomore-To-Be Division appears to be loaded, as it promises to feature the L.A. Rockfish, Illinois Warriors, Neo Shooting Stars, All Ohio Red, NW Arkansas Raptors, Spiece Indy Heat, The Family, Ft. Wayne Select, Spirit Warriors, Spiece Central Stars, Blessed IJN Maximum, Flint Affiliation, Cincinnati AAU, Spiece Indiana Stars, NW Indiana Alliance, Rise N Shine Harvesters, Grand Rapid Storm, St. Louis Gameface, Kentucky Hoop Stars Blue, Illinois Wildcats, Utah Heat, Ft. Sooy, Gateway Basketball Club, Indy North, Long Island Roadrunners, Evansville Basketball, and Ferrari Basketball.  The Junior-To-Be Division will include the Spiece Blaze, Cincy AAU #1-Salamone, Colorado X-Press, SYF Players, Spiece Select 2005, Belmont Shore, Long Island Roadrunners, Randolph Boys Club, Indy Warriors, Martin Brothers, Cincy AAU #2-Stark, Madison Spartans-Wherry, All Ohio Red, Spiece Rim Rattlers, Fox Valley Skillz, Tiffany's, Spiece Saints, Cincy AAU #3-Hammons, Madison Spartans-Blue, West Michigan Lakers, Spiece Top Dogs, Dayton Metro, Ft. Sooy, Friends of Hoop, Indiana Crusaders, Southpoint Basketball, Cincinnati Royals, Indy Sting, Indiana Heat Red, Northwest Ohio, Stay in the Game, Grand Rapids Storm, Indy Red, MBA Select, St. Louis Gameface, Kentucky Hoops Stars Jr. Elite, Neo Shooting Stars, North Wisconsin Saints, Gateway Basketball Club, and Spirit Warriors.  The The Senior-To-Be Division will include the Spiece Top Prospects, Compton Magic, Team Illinois, The Family, Indiana Red, Martin Brothers, Phila MJC, Wisconsin Force Red, Spiece Old School, Cincinnati Wolfpack, Long Island Roadrunners, Kentucky Hoop Stars #1-Senior Elite, Cincy AAU #1-Black, DTA Team Wisconsin, Spiece Blue Demons, Inner City Players, SYF Players, Shepherd Sports, Dajuan Wagner's Rising Stars, Houston Westside All-Stars, All Ohio Red, Indiana Ice, Ft. Sooy, Florida Hoopsters, Four to One Aces, Colorado Express, Illinois Wolves, Carstar/Hurricanes, Dayton Metro, Salt Lake Metro Gold, Friends of Hoops, Kentucky Hoop Stars #2-Green, Gateway Basketball Club, Cincy AAU #2-Red, Ferrari Basketball, Fox Valley Skillz, Madison Spartans-Kingcade, Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars, St. Louis Blue, Waterloo Wildhawks, First Class, Northwest Ohio, Madison Spartans Trek, St. Louis Gameface, Ohio Pride, Randolph Boys Club, Utah Heat, West Michigan Lakers, Spiece Northwest Stars, Indy Hornets, East Bay Extreme, Full Package Athletics, Playerz GoJo, Hoosier Stars, Stay in the Game, and Grand Rapids Storm.  Obviously the Seniors-To-Be Division will give us a great head start in terms of seeing most of the top juniors in the state of Indiana, but it also will give us another chance to watch a number of the top juniors nationally, like 6'6 Jr Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Central) IL, 6'5 Jr Robert Vaden from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, 6'4 Jr Arron Afflalo from Compton (Centennial) CA, 6'7 Jr Dion Dowell from Texas City (H.S.) TX, 6'5 Jr Justin Cerasoli from Aurora (West Aurora) IL, 6'9 Jr Shaun Pruitt from Aurora (West Aurora) IL, 6'3 Jr Joe Crawford from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, 6'9 Jr Alex Thompson from Ames (H.S.) IA, 6'7 Jr James Hardy from Ft. Wayne (Elmhurts) IN, 6'6 Jr Ronald Coleman from Romulus (H.S.) MI, 6'7 Jr Malik Hairston from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, 5'11 Jr Dupree Fletcher from Milwaukee (Rufus King) WI, 6'7 Jermyl Jackson-Wilson from Milwaukee (Rufus King) WI, 6'10 Jr Aaron Agnew from Bellaire (H.S.) OH, 6'2 Jr Jaeh Thomas from Aurora (West Aurora) IL 6'7 Jr Ollie Bailey from Chicago (Farragut) IL, 6'9 Jr Carl Swanigan from Lafayette (Jefferson) IN, 5'10 Jr Alex Gordon from Pensacola (H.S.) FL, and 6'4 Jr Demetrius Green from Lexington (Catholic) KY.  For more information, including directions, a list of the teams in each pool, brackets for the playoffs, and hotel information, click on Spiece Run n' Slam All-Star Classic.

Tuesday, April 29, 2003

We've been telling you for sometime now that 6'11 Jr LeMarcus Aldridge from Dallas (Seogoville) TX was a near lock for the University of Texas and we knew that 6'0 Jr Darius Washington from Orlando (Washington) FL recently had a great visit to the University of Memphis, so neither verbal commitment came as much of a surprise yesterday.  However, that doesn't diminish the significance of either commitment, because we're talking about two of the top three juniors who have made early verbal commitments to-date.  Ironically, until yesterday the highest ranked player to have made an early commitment was 6'3 Jr Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX, so the commitment by Aldridge moves Texas' recruiting class well ahead of Michigan.  And they aren't done yet!  As a matter of fact, last night the Longhorns also received a verbal commitment from 6'10 Jr Connor Atchley from Houston (Clear Lake) TX and they are supposed to have 6'8 Jr Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL on campus for an official visit this weekend.  Aldridge has long arms, excellent skills, and amazing speed, quickness, and athleticism and, as a result, has an unlimited upside, if he ever learns to play harder.  And our guess is that he will, because he will be joining 6'9 Brad Buckman, who is a tough hardnosed competitor and one of the unsung heroes on this year's NCAA Final Four team.  In other words, Aldridge and Buckman should provide the perfect complement to one another, as Texas head coach Rick Barnes promises to have one of the best one-two inside punches in all of college basketball year after next.  Atchley, who is expected to redshirt his freshman year, is expected to eventually provide even more depth inside, but landing Williams really would be the icing on the cake.  In other words, if Williams verbally commits to the Longhorns, they not only would be tough to beat when it is all said and done in the race for the best recruiting class, but they would have three of the top players in the junior class nationally.  Remember, Gibson is currently ranked #9, Williams is currently ranked #10, and Aldridge is currently ranked #13 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, plus 6'7 Jr Dion Dowell from Texas City (H.S.) TX is a legitimate top 40 junior nationally and Atchley promises to be a good role player.  And, even if they don't get Williams, 6'6 Jr Marshall Brown from Austin (Lyndon B. Johnson) TX, who is ranked #44 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, would be a pretty good consolation prize.  Remember, we thought it was only a matter of time before Brown made a verbal commitment to the Longhorns, but, if he waits too long, he may have to walk-on, if he wants to stay home and play for the Longhorns.  In other words, Texas' recruiting right now appears to be nothing short of spectacular.  However, their chances suddenly don't appear to be as good in terms of making a repeat appearance in the NCAA Final Four next season, because the word we're getting is that Terrance Ford, who was the HOOP SCOOP's Pre-Season and Post-Season National Player-of-the-Year in college basketball this past season, is expected to announce on Friday that he is entering his name into the NBA Draft.  Washington not only becomes the first player ranked among our top five juniors nationally to have made an early verbal commitment, but he also could join a list of players that includes Dajuan Wagner, Amare Stoudemire, and Qyntel Woods, who have verbally committed and/or signed with the Tigers, but later prematurely entired their names into the NBA Draft.   Yes, Washington, who is a phenomenal athlete out of the Allen Iverson-Dajuan Wagner mold, is that good!  Another player who is potentially on the same list is 6'10 Kendrick Perkins from Beaumont (Ozen) TX, who is the top player in the Memphis' current recruiting, which currently is ranked #15 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003 and also includes 6'7 Sean Banks from Oradell (Bergen Catholic) NJ, 6'8 Ivan Lopez from Norfolk (Ryan Academy) VA, and 6'7 Keena Young from Beaumont (Ozen) TX.   However, if Perkins doesn't do something stupid, like enter his name into the NBA Draft this spring and Washington doesn't do likewise a year from now, then Memphis head coach John Calipari could be well on his way towards accomplishing his goal of building Memphis into one of the premier teams in college basketball year after next.  Remember, the Tigers are already well stocked with talented young players, including 6'5 Soph Billy Richmond, 6'4 Soph Anthony Rice, 6'9 Soph Duane Erwin, 6'8 Soph Arthur Barclay, 6'3 Frosh Jeremy Hunt, 6'7 Frosh Rodney Carney, 6'9 Frosh Almamy Thiero, and 6'0 Frosh Clyde Wade, so suddenly the Tigers can become very picky in terms of who they take in the Class of 2004.  Our guess is that they will be tough to beat for 6'8 Jr Shawn Williams from Memphis (Hamilton) TN, 6'9 Jr Jerrell Houston from Memphis (East) TN, and 5'10 Jr Andre Allen from Memphis (Booker T. Washington) TN, who are the top three juniors in their backyard, if they have the necessary scholarships available, and they will eventually win the battle for 6'9 Jr Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC.  Remember, Tangara and Thiero are both from the same part of Mali and they were best friends and roomates for two years at Mt. Zion Christian and the closeness they have can't be underestimated. 

Last week we heard that PrepStars.com was reporting that 5'9 Frosh Nic Wise from Katy (Cinco Rancho) TX, who is ranked #5 nationally in the freshman class by the HOOP SCOOP, had narrowed his list to two schools (Texas and Arizona) and that a verbal commitment would be forthcoming by the end of last week.  Well, after doing some checking of our own, it appeared that this was right on the money.  However, when I saw Rob Harrington, who is a Recruiting Analyst for both PrepStars.com and the Recruiters Handbook, at the Kingwood Classic in Houston, TX on Friday, I told him that they had jumped the gun, because absolutely nothing was going to happen until early this week.  Obviously I was giving Harrington a hard time, but they do deserve a lot of credit for being on top of this story before it broke.  After all, who would expect a freshman in high school to be making a verbal commitment.  I bring all this up, because last night Wise did indeed make a verbal commitment to the University of Arizona, which is one of the earliest verbal commitments on record.  As a matter of fact, Wise is one of only two current freshmen and sophomores to have already made a verbal commitment this early.  If you will recall, 6'8 Soph Justin Wilkerson from Greenville (H.S.) TX, who is ranked #37 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, made a verbal commitment to Texas Tech last fall.  Right now Wise is an undersized point guard, but obviously time is on his side in terms of potential to grow.  However, even if what you see is what you ultimately get, you're talking about a savvy floor general who makes his teammates better and a player who is capable of dominating the game from the point guard spot.  Wise also is an excellent defender, a good athlete, great ball handler and passer, first-class kid, and winner in the true sense of the word, which also helps explain why the Wildcats would be willing to accept a verbal commitment from him this early.  Obviously all this is due to the hard work of Arizona assistant coach Josh Pastner, who has worked his way up through the ranks at Arizona, first as a walk-on player, then in an administrative capacity, and now on the road as a full-time assistant coach.  The connection is important, because Pastner not only has strong contacts in the Houston area, but he knows Wise, 6'10 Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX, and 6'6 Jr Jawaan McClellan from Houston (Milby) TX, all of whom are already committed to the Wildcats, through his connection to the Houston Hoops AAU program, which is run by his father, Hal Pastner.  And this connection becomes even more important now that Ben Howland is the new head coach at UCLA, as it suddenly appears that the Bruins are going to be able once again to take their pick from among the top players on the West Coast. However, Pastner hasn't won all the recent recruiting battles for the top players in the Houston Hoops AAU program, as is evident by the fact that 6'3 Jr Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX recently picked the Longhorns over the Wildcats.  Instead, the credit on this one has to go to Texas assistant coach Frank Haith, who, just like Pastner, is quickly establishing himself as one of the top recruiters in the nation.  Haith also has played a major role in securing early verbal commitments from 6'11 Jr LeMarcus Aldridge from Dallas (Seogoville) TX, 6'10 Jr Connor Atchley from Houston (Clear Lake) TX, and 6'7 Jr Dion Dowell from Texas City (H.S.) TX and, as a result, landing the #1-ranked recruiting class on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2004.  In other words, the first battles have already been fought and won in what promises to be one of the most intense recruiting rivalries in college basketball for years to come.  So stay tuned!

Reggie Tisdale, the Editor and Publisher of Indiana Basketball News, tells us that 6'1 Todd Abernathy from Indianapolis (Heritage Christian) IN, who reneged on Wright State after Ed Schilling got fired earlier this spring, has signed with the University of Mississippi.  We find this extremely interesting, because Abernathy, who picked Ole Miss over Memphis and Butler, is not athletic enough nor is he talented enough to be more than a good role player in the Southeastern Conference.  In other words, if he's willing to accept his role, Abernathy could be an excellent recruit for the Rebels.  Remember, tough hardnosed white kids from Indiana who know how to play are always at a premium.  However, if Abernathy, who is ranked #10 in the state by Tisdale, expects to an impact player for the Rebels, he likely will end up following the footsteps of Jonathan Loe and Trey Pearson, both of whom transferred this spring, or it may only be a matter of time before Rebels head coach Rod Barnes gets fired. But we don't think there is much chance that will happen, despite the fact the Rebels finished with a 14-15 record this past season.  Remember, Barnes has done a marvelous job at Ole Miss while compiling a 100-61 record and a 3-3 NCAA Tournament during the last five years.  It also looks like Barnes has already more than replaced Derrick Allen, David Sanders, and Emmanuel Wade, all three of whom will graduate this spring, and Pearson, who started 24 games as a freshman last year, because Ole Miss' recruiting class, which also includes 6'9 Byron  Burnett from Southern Union (JC) AL, 6'6 Tommie Eddie from Coffeyville (JC) KS, 6'5 Marvin Moore from Southern Union (JC) AL, 6'2 Mario Jointer from Northeast Mississippi (JC) MS, 6'2 Ed Glass from Kaskaskia (JC) IL, and 6'4 Jara Doyne from Little Rock (Mills) AR, moves up to #9 on our list of the Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Jointer will probably have to go back to junior college for another year, due to a rule, whereby, a player has to attend the same junior college for three consecutive semester before he can transfer to a school in the Southeastern Conference.  But he still counts with this year's recruiting class, because it is the editorial policy of the HOOP SCOOP to count a player with the school he verbally commits to or sign with, even if we think he will go the junior college or prep school route.  And assuming that we are correct about this and Jointer reaffirms his commitment to the Rebels once again next year, then he will have counted in three different Ole Miss recruiting classes.  If you will recall, Jointer originally signed with Ole Miss two years ago as a high school senior at Jackson (Jim Hill) MS.  This also means that Mississippi won't have any room left for 6'8 Warren Scott from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who was supposed to be a lock for Mississippi, if he makes it academically.  As a matter of fact, Ole Miss currently has seven players in this recruiting class, which means Jointers isn't the only player the Rebels coaching staff will have to finesse next fall when only five players can enroll in school on scholarship.  Instead, our guess is that Scott will sign with Louisiana-Lafayette, which would means that the Ragin' Cajuns recruiting class, which also includes 5'10 Kevin Bell from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'9 Adam James from Lafayette (St. Thomas More) LA, and 6'6 Ross Mouton from Lafayette (St. Thomas More) LA, will move into a tie at #100 on our list of the Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  However, that doesn't begin to tell the story about how much improved Louisiana-Lafayette could be after going 20-10 each of the last two years.  Did you know that Ragin' Cajuns head coach Jessie Evans, who is second to none as a recruiters has 6'4 Orien Greene, who sat out this season after transferring from Florida; 6'5 Brian Hamilton, who was arguably the best player at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before transferring to Louisiana-Lafayette last fall; and 6'4 Dwayne Mitchell, who transferred from Auburn to Louisiana-Lafayette at the semester break last December, all waiting in the wings.  We also have confirmed that 6'9 Byron Joynes from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA has signed with Rutgers, which means the Scarlet Knights were able to quickly find a replacement for 7'3 Shagari Alleyne from New York (Rice) NY, who committed to Rutgers last fall, but then reneged this spring and verbally committed to Kentucky last Thursday.  In other words, Rutgers replaced one project with another project and, ironically, we think they may have gotten the better end of the deal.  Remember, we have always had questions about Alleyne's heart and toughness and, as a result, we're not sure how much better he's going to get at the big time college level.  However, Joynes is a physical specimen inside, if he ever gets into top notch shape, he develop into a monster at the college level.  This moves Rutgers' recruiting class into a tie at #43, along with Alabama, on our list of the Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003 and their recruiting class could move a lot higher, if 6'11 Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ picks Rutgers this spring.  Currently it appears to be a four-horse race for Watkins among Rutgers, Villanova, North Carolina, and Kentucky.  We also continue to hear that Florida State is the leader for 6'10 Alexander Johnson from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, but don't count out Cincinnati and Connecticut just yet.   We also have confirmed that 6'7 Kelvin Brown from Ft. Scott (JC) KS has signed with Murray State.  If you will recall, Brown, who was a top 100 senior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, originally signed with South Florida two years ago as a high school senior at Ft. Lauderdale (Dillard) FL.  However, it appears he's gotten a lot better in junior college, as is evident by the fact that he was a First Team All Region selection and a Player-of-the-Year candidate in the tough Jayhawk Conference.  This moves Murray State's recruiting class, which also includes 6'10 Preston Griffin from Murray State (JC) OK, into a tie #57, along with UAB and UCLA, on our list of the Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, despite the fact that two of the recruits signed by the previous regime - 5'11 Dwayne Foreman from Apopka (H.S.) FL and 6'3 Terrick Willoughby from Biloxi (H.S.) MS - both have been released from their scholarships and, as a result, no longer count with this recruiting class.  And new Murray State head coach Mick Cronin isn't done yet.  As matter of fact, it's our guess that he will also land the other two players that made official visits last weekend to Murray State, along with Brown.  We're talking about 6'1 Adam Chiles from Vincennes (JC) IN and 6'7 Guy Ngnardi from Louisville (Western) KY.  If you recall, Chiles didn't make it a year ago when he was a freshman at Kentucky, but he thrived in junior college this past season, as is evident by the fact that he had 48 points and was largely responsible for the only loss that Southeastern Iowa, which went 22-1 en route to the Junior College National Championship, had all season.  Ngnardi has attracted interest from a number of big time schools, like Louisville, Kentucky, Cincinnati, and Indiana, but his best days are ahead of him and, as a result, this undersized athletic power forward who has improved dramatically in the last year is ideally suited for this level.   And, if Cronin, pulls this off, his recruiting class would move into a tie with Memphis at #15 on our list of the Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Cronin also is battling Austin Peay for Trey Pearson, who is transferring for Mississippi, but, if he gets him, Pearson won't count with his recruiting class.  Remember, it is the editorial policy of the HOOP SCOOP not to include transfers when ranking recruiting classes.  But, if we did, and Murray State gets Chiles, Ngnardi, and Pearson, their recruiting class would move into a tie at #10, along with Virginia. 

Saturday, April 26, 2003, Sunday, April 27, 2003, & Monday, April 28, 2003

The New York Gauchos, which were led by 6'3 Jr Russell Robinson from New York (Rice) NY with 22 points, won easily against YOMCA Team Memphis in the championship game.  But that was not the big story over the weekend at the 9th Annual Houston Kingwood Classic in Houston, TX.   Neither was the fact that the New York Gauchos won the tournament without the help of 5'11 Jr Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'3 Jr Trammel Wooten from Mt. Vernon (Montgomery County) GA is not nearly as good as advertised, or that the tournament was so loaded that teams like the Houston Hoops and Ft. Sooy-No Limit didn't even win their pool.  Instead, the big story was 6'7 Dorell Wright from Lawndale (Leuzinger) CA, who simply picked up where he left off last weekend when we saw him the Las Vegas Easter Classic in Las Vegas, NV.  "Wright reminds us of Tracy McGrady and he's got the incredible athleticism and natural talent necessary to someday be almost as good.  Not only is he a great ball handler and passer for his size, but more often than not he brings the ball up the court, starts the offense, and makes something spectacular happen.  He's not a strong as McGrady at the same stage, but he shoots it a lot better.  In other words, Wright is a close second as the biggest sleeper in the nation, although schools like Iowa, USC, Connecticut, Florida, Rhode Island, and Boston College do know about him.  But, just like Mayes, junior college and/or prep school may be in Wright's future, unless he decides to go the baseball route.  Apparently Wright also is a heck of a pitcher and, as a result, may have a big league future."  That's what we wrote a week ago about Wright, but now it appears that Wright is a lot better than we originally thought.  While we don't want to take anything away from 6'1 Sylvester Mayes from Ft. Wayne (Wayne) IN, who was the other player we mentioned from a week ago, it now appears that Wright the biggest sleeper in the nation.  And he remains so, because, even after seeing him play this weekend at the Kingwood Classic, most of our competitors don't seem to get it!  How good is Wright?   What would you think if we told you that we're going to rank him as the #4 player, behind 6'7 LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary's) OH, 6'8 Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, and 6'3 Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL?  And, while most of our competition appears to be out to lunch on this one, the college coaches I've talked with agree with me. "Fourth in the nation might be too low," said one coach when I mentioned where I planned to rank Wright in our final rankings for the Class of 2003.  "He'll never see a day of college basketball," said another college coach.  "Better than Ricky Davis at the same stage," said yet another coach college.  Other coaches even went so far as to say that Wright is "just as good as McGrady was at the same stage" and "he is so good it's a joke."  But even that doesn't tell the entire story.  As a matter of fact, Wright is so naturally gifted that he does things at the spur of the moment better than most players can do after years of practice.  Somebody from Florida, Iowa, USC, Connecticut, and Boston College were seen at all of Wright's games, but the word we get is that DePaul may have the inside track, because Erik Harden, who is Wright's mentor and AAU coach when he plays for the Los Angeles Paladins, not only is close friend of Blue Demons assistant coach Josh Oppeinheimer, but they also coached together when Oppeinheimer was getting his start in coaching with the L.A. Rockfish club team.  And you can bet that Oppenheimer is trying to sell Wright on the fact that if he comes to DePaul, he could follow in the same footsteps of Quentin Richardson, who was named both the Frosh-of-the-Year and the Player-of-the-Year in Conference USA in his first season with the Blue Demons.  But, as things stand now, Wright will need at least one year of prep school, because it appears he's that far behind academically.  And, as a result, most people will reclassify him as a junior.  However, for our purposes, we'll continue to include Wright with the Class of 2003 and then make him our #1-ranked 5th year player next year.  Wright can shoot the lights out from downtown, is explosive to the basket, is a great passer, is a surprisingly good rebounder for his lack of size, and has a flare for the spectacular.  He also has incredible athleticism, always seem to make something positive happen, and has no idea just how good he is.   In other words, we're talking about a nice humble kid who has superstar written all over him, but has not yet been corrupted by too much attention and notoriety.  How refreshing!  This comes in sharp contrast to Telfair, who reportedly didn't show up to play this weekend, because he feels like he doesn't have anything more to prove.  Hopefully for Telfair's sake, he won't fall into the trap, whereby, he thinks he's the next LeBron James.  Sure, Telfair is the #1-ranked junior in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP, but 6-foot point guards in the NBA are a dime dozen and, if you don't believe me, just ask Marcus Taylor and Omar Cook, both of whom made the mistake of putting their names into the NBA Draft before their time had come.  But even without Telfair, the Gauchos had a terrific trio of guards in Robinson, 6'0 Jr Ronald Ramon from Bronx (All Hallows) NY, and 6'3 Jr Sunditta Gaines from Briarwood (Archbishop Malloy) NY and, despite their youth and inexperience inside, more than enough talent with 6'5 James Barnett from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'9 Frosh Curtis Kelly from New York (Rice) NY and 6'8 Soph Mike Davis from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY to win the championship.  We also have to give Gauchos head coach Julius Allen, who formerly was an assistant coach at Long Island University, credit for doing an excellent job coaching, finding the right chemistry, and helping restore the rivalry between the Gauchos and New York Riverside Church, which used to be one of the biggest rivalries at any level in basketball.  Speaking New York Riverside Church, they too were loaded, as their front line included 6'9 Frosh Derrick Caracter from Scotch Plains (H.S.) NJ, 6'8 Jr Arturo Dubois from New York (Rice) NY, 6'7 Soph Tyrell Biggs from Ramsey (Don Bosco) NJ, 6'7 Jr Dexter Gray from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY, and 6'6 Frosh Jonathan Mitchell from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY and their backcourt featured 6'2 Jr Anthony Price from Amityville (H.S.) NY, 6'0 Jr Desean Gist from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY, 5'9 Jr Herbert Allen from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY, 6'3 Jr Shanty Robinson from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY, and 6'2 Jr Keith Benjamin from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY.  However, Caracter had a thigh injury and, as a result, didn't play against YOMCA Team Memphis, which not only was good enough to knock off Riverside Church in the second round of the play-offs, but also sent tough DC Blue Devils and California Select teams packing, en route to a runnerup finish in the tournament.  YOMCA Team Memphis was led by 6'8 Jr Shawn Williams from Memphis (Hamilton) TN, 6'9 Jr Jerrell Houston from Memphis (East) TN, 5'10 Jr Andre Allen from Memphis (Booker T. Washington) TN, and 6'9 Jr Frank Holmes from Memphis (Fayette-Ware) TN.  Houston is an incredible athlete with long arms and deadly shooting range and Allen has been hyped as the next great point guard from the Mid-South since his 8th grade days, but Williams is the best player on this team.   Not only is he very skilled and athletic, but he also is versatile enough to play both inside and outside and, as a result, must be ranked among our top 50 juniors nationally.  Holmes is still raw, but's got nice size and athleticism and is active on the boards, which makes him an ideal catch for somebody in the Sun Belt Conference.  The DC Blue Devils, which were our early choice to win the tournament, featured a star-studded roster that included 6'9 Jr Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'2 Jr Isaiah Swann from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'6 Jr Cheyenne Moore from Colora (West Nottingham) MD, 6'8 Jr James Gist from Wheaton (Good Counsel) MD, 6'1 Soph Eric Price from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, 6'10 Jr Peter Prowitt from Dumfries (Potomac) VA, 6'5 Soph Marcus Ginyard from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'9 Jr Davis Nwankwo from Bethesda (Georgetown Prep) MD, 6'2 Soph Justin Castleberry from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, and 6'5 Brad Farrell from Herndon (H.S.) VA.  Johnson and Swann were two of the best players in the tournament and Moore was one of the fastest rising players in the tournament, along with 7'0 Jr Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Highland) CA, who was the key player for California Team Select, which also included 6'2 Jr Jordan Farmer from Los Angeles (Taft) CA, 6'3 Jr Gabriel Pruitt from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'5 Jr Jonathan Heard from Los Angeles (Dorsey) CA, 6'10 Soph Amir Johnson from Los Angeles (Verbum Dei) CA, 6'8 Frosh Matthew Shaw from Los Angeles (Verbum Dei) CA, and 6'0 Soph Michael Garrity from San Ana (Mater Dei) CA.  As a matter of fact, this was the best we've ever seen Swift play and we also were impressed with the quickness, athleticism, savvy, and handling skills displayed by Farmer, who is quickly becoming one of the top players in the Los Angeles area.  Also advancing into the final four of the tournament, along with the New York Gauchos, YOMCA Team Memphis, and California Team Select, was Team Texas Elite with 6'11 Jr LaMarcus Aldridge from Dallas (Seogoville) TX, 6'1 Jr Jason Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'8 Jr Rel Porter from Pittsburg (H.S.) TX, 6'8 Jr Kevin Langford from Crowley (North Crowley) TX, and 6'9 Jr Pavilius Packevicius from Arlington (Oakridge) TX.   If you rank them based only on potential, Aldridge has to be top five in the junior class nationally.  But we rank players the old-fashioned way, whereby, you have to earn it.  In other words, Aldridge is an incredible athlete, but he doesn't play hard and, as a result, is not the dominant force he should be at this level.  However, Horton does, which means he's not only the better player right now, but also one of the top four guards in the junior class nationally, along with Telfair, 6'0 Jr Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, and 6'6 Jr Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Central) IL.  We also were impressed with Porter's long arms, athleticism, rebounding, and ability to score around the basket, but we still think it's too close to call between Porter and 6'7 Jr Dion Dowell from Texas City (H.S.) TX, who led the Houston Westside All-Stars, which also featured 6'0 Jr Charlie Jones from Katy (Cinco Rancho) TX and 5'10 Jr Sean Morris from Katy (Cinco Rancho) TX, both of whom have already made early verbal commitments to Colorado State.  One of the biggest sleepers to emerge in the tournament was 6'9 Jr Devon Hardin from Newark (Memorial) CA.  UCLA, USC, Arizona, Kansas, LSU, UNLV, Utah, Washington, Oregon State, and Oregon are all in the hunt, but our guess is that the University of California will be tough to beat for this aggressive athlete who is raw offensively, but tough on the boards and at the defensive end.  And, if our guess is right, Golden Bears head coach Ben Braun will have four inside players for years to come who complement one another perfectly.  If you will recall, California landed 6'8 Leon Powe from Oakland (H.S.) CA in this year's recruiting class, plus they already have early verbal commitments from 6'11 Jr Sam Rayburn from Portland (Sunset) OR and 6'10 Jr David Ellis from Sacramento (Capital Christian) CA.  In addition to Hardin, Belmont Shore/H-Squad also featured 6'3 Jr DeMarcus Nelson from Sacramento (Sheldon) CA, 6'6 Jr Curtis Allen from Palos Verdes (Rolling Hills) CA, 6'7 Soph Rashad Austin from Claremont (H.S.) CA, and 6'6 Lorenzo Wade from Las Vegas (Cheyenne) NV.  But without a healthy Nelson, who was injured in the first round of the playoffs, Belmont Shore was unable to get past NIKE Team Florida, which included three of the best players in the tournament in 6'9 Soph Keith Brumbaugh from Deland (H.S.) FL, 6'3 Jr Jason Rich from Orlando (Dr. Phillips) FL, and 6'11 Jr Alexander Kaun from Melbourne (Florida Air Academy) FL.  Brumbaugh is an incredible athlete who is versatile enough to play both inside and outside and talented enough to be ranked among the top 10 sophomores nationally.  However, Brumbaugh does need to get bigger and stronger, plus a haircut would do wonders to help his appearance.  Rich has a great feel for the game, big-time athleticism, and a much improved 3-point shot, which means numerous college coaches were watching his every move and we were trying to figure out whether he should be ranked as high as top 30 in the junior class nationally.  Kaun is a big white foreign kid with surprising mobility, long arms, excellent skills, and enough natural talent too  be ranked among our top 50 juniors nationally.  Getting back to Wade, his list of schools Louisville, Maryland, Oklahoma, California, Tennessee, Utah, and Florida, but this big time athlete with excellent 3-point shooting range and a much tougher court demeanor than when we saw him last summer is expected to go the prep school route - most likely at Laurinburg (Institute) NC or Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA.  Team Georgia Elite, thanks to the efforts of 6'9 Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'8 Jr Robert Dozier from Lithonia (H.S.) GA, 6'7 Soph Jay Brown from Griffin (H.S.) GA, and 6'3 Jr Archie Miaway from Norcross (H.S.) GA, did manage to get the Round of 16, but the biggest disappointment of the entire tournament was 6'3 Jr Trammel Wooten from Mt. Vernon (Montgomery County) GA.  If you will recall, our Georgia Editor Linzy Davis had been touting Wooten as one of the best point guards to ever play in his program, but, instead of being one of the top 30 juniors nationally, he wasn't even one of the top 300 players in the 17-Under Division of the tournament.  In other words, Wooten, who apparently established his reputation while playing against A-level high school and weak AAU competition in Georgia, is like a race-horse that looks great when he drops in for a cheap claim, but can't cut the mustard against good competition.  Instead, Dozier, who has long arms, good hands, and nose for the ball inside, turned out to be the big surprise on this team.  Another player we were disappointed in was 6'9 Jr Ra'Sean Dickey from Bennettsville (Marlboro County) SC and, if 6'2 Jr Zam Frederick from St. Matthews (Calhoun County) SC, who was one of the best 3-point shooters in the tournament, wants to continue to be ranked among the top 50 juniors nationally, he'd better grow or develop better point guards skills.  We also got our first chance to see 6'11 Jr Steven Hill from Branson (H.S.) MO and we liked what we saw.  Sure, Hill needs to get bigger and stronger, but he has the frame to do it, plus he's very fluid, mobile, and skilled for a big white kid his size.  The Albany City Rocks didn't have all that much to go along with 6'3 Soph Tiki Mayben from Troy (H.S.) NY and 6'7 Jr Dayshawn Wright from Syracuse (Fowler) NY, but they beat the Florida Hoopsters, which featured 6'1 Jr Tauren Green from Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL, to advance into the final eight of the tournament.  The player with the biggest reputation for DTA Wisconsin is 6'0 Jr Dupree Fletcher from Milwaukee (Rufus King) WI, but the player who impressed college coaches the most was 6'7 Jermyl Jackson-Wilson from Milwaukee (Rufus King) WI.  Wilson is another guy who is a senior in high school, but now is talking about going the prep school route and, as a result, is trying to pass himself off as a junior.  However, now this relentless rebounder/athlete/competitor with grades may not have wait around another year to attend college, because schools a lot bigger than Wisconsin-Green Bay and Evansville, both of which were trying to steal him, are starting to take note.  The Dallas Mustangs featured 5'11 Soph Byron Eaton from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, but we already knew about this strong athletic point guard who reminds us Baron Davis.   Instead, the player who had us making a lot of new notes was 6'7 Soph Gary Flowers from Dallas (Roosevelt) TX.  Not only does Flowers have softs hands, a nice touch around the basket, and the ability to run the court, but he's a big time athlete who blocks shots, rebounds well, and gets it done at the defensive end.  We also have to mention the Blessed IJM Maximum team, which featured 6'7 Jr James Hardy from Ft. Wayne (Elmhurst) IN, 6'10 Frosh Ricky Sanchez from Puerto Rico, 6'10 Jr Aaron Agnew from Bellaire (H.S.) OH, 6'7 Jr Rashaun Marshall from Detroit (Southeastern) MI, 6'6 Jr Issac Knight from Detroit (Crockett) MI, and 5'8 Jr Randy Simon from Lansing (Everett) MI.  Hardy not only promises to rival 6'5 Jr Robert Vaden from Indianapolis (Cathedral) IN and 6'6 Jr J.R. Angle from Trafalgar (Indian Creek) IN for Mr. Basketball honors in Indiana a year from now, but he also might be a top 30 junior nationally.  In othe words, we're talking about a guy a multi-dimensional athlete who can play both inside and outside, because he can handle, pass, shoot, rebound, and defend both bigger and smaller players.  We didn't think 6'9 Jr Shaun Pruitt from Aurora (Aurora West) IL even came close to living up to the hype (if you will recall, Roy and Harv Schmidt had been touting Pruitt as the best junior in Illinois) and 6'6 Jr DeAaron Williams from Bartonville (Limestone) IL, who is one of the top three juniors in Illinois, was a disappointment, as well, when we saw him on Friday night.  However, Williams did manage to redeem himself on Saturday, as he impressed with his passing skills, athleticism, ability to get to the basket, and ability to take over a game.  We could go on and on, but we're out of time and you already get the idea that this tournament was absolutely loaded.  As a matter of fact, the 17-Under Division was so loaded that we never got a chance to watch any of the 16-Under, 15-Under, and 14-Under Divisions, all of which also were supposed have been nothing short of spectacular.  However, we did get a chance to see DTA Wisconsin and Team Next (New York), which were the two teams that competed for the championship in the 13-Under Division, and 5'6 7th Grader Kory Lucious from Whitefish Bay (Middle School) WI, 5'9 7th Grader Tony Moore from Madison (James C. Wright) WI, 5'11 7th Grader Tajilt Palmer from Glendale (Mapledale) WI, 5'6 7th Grader Coryonne Gaines from Madison (James C. Wright) WI, 5'0 7th Grader Erving Walker from Brooklyn (PS 308) NY, 6'0 6th Grader from Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn (Institute Collaborative) NY, 5'10 7th Grader Ashton Gibbs from Scotch Plains (Terrill) NJ, and 6'1 7th Grader Leanard McNeil from New York (Crossroads) NY, are all names to remember for the future.  As a matter of fact, Walker and Lucious might be the two best players in the nation in 7th Grade and any way you slice it, Stephenson, has to be one of the top five 6th graders in the land.   Last, but not least, a special thanks to Kingwood Classic Tournament Director Hal Pastner, who not only has developed this into one of the premier events of the entire year, but has no peers in terms of running high school tournaments and AAU-like events. 

Friday, April 25, 2003

NCAA Division I college coaches can't attend the Kingwood Classic in Houston, TX until tomorrow morning, but they will be able to purchase a packet at Westfield High School, which is the headquarters for the tournament, from 5:00 PM until Midnight tonight and, as a result, map out of the players and teams they want to see tomorrow and Sunday.  However, we plan to be there by 6:30 PM tonight, because we not only want to get a lay of the land for what promises to be the premier event of the entire spring, but we want to be in Gym #1 at Westfield High School at 7:00 PM when the tournament officially begins, because we want to see if 6'3 Jr Trammel Wooten from Mt. Vernon (Montgomery County) GA is as good as advertised.  Remember, our Georgia Editor Linzy Davis, who also is the coach of the Georgia Elite team, has not only touted Wooten as one of the best point guards he's ever had in his program, right up there with William Avery and Vonteego Cummings, but Davis has been touting Wooten as a legitimate top 30 junior nationally.  And, if Wooten lives up to the billing, we could be talking about the biggest sleeper in the nation, because nobody in our business, except for some regional scouts in Georgia, has ever seen him play.  Obviously the college coaches will be focusing on the 17-Under Division, which is expected to include 5'11 Jr Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'6 Jr Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Manual) IL, 6'6 Soph Tasmin Mitchell from Denham Springs (H.S.) LA, 6'9 Frosh Derrick Caracter from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'3 Jr Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX, 6'1 Jr Jason Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'11 Jr LeMarcus Aldridge from Dallas (Seogoville) TX, 6'9 Jr Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'3 Jr DeMarcus Nelson from Sacramento (Sheldon) CA, 6'10 Jr Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'6 Jr Jawaan McClellan from Houston (Milby) TX, 6'0 Jr A.J. Price from Amityville (H.S.) NY, 6'2 Jr Russell Robinson from New York (Rice) NY, 6'1 Jr Sundiati Gaines from Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, 6'4 Jr Arron Afflalo from Compton (Centennial) CA, 6'4 Jr Justin Cerasoli from Aurora (West Aurora) IL, 6'8 Jr Kalen Grimes from Florrisant (Hazelwood Central) MO, 6'11 Jr Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Highland) CA, 6'9 Jr Glen Davis from Baton Rouge (University) LA, 6'2 Jr Isaiah Swann from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'9 Jr Ra'Sean Dickey from Bennettsville (Marlboro County) SC,  6'3 Jr Trammel Wooten from Mt. Vernon (Montgomery County) GA, 6'7 Jr Dion Dowell from Texas City (H.S.) TX, 6'1 Soph Tiki Mayben from Troy (H.S.) NY, 6'7 Jr DayShaun Wright from Syracuse (Fowler) NY, 6'8 Jr Keith Langford from Crowley (North Crowley) TX, 6'6 Soph Jamal Boykin from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'9 Soph Amir Johnson from Los Angeles (Verbum Dei) CA, 6'11 Jr David Burgess from Irvine (Woodbridge) CA, 6'2 Jr Gabriel Pruitt from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'1 Jr Jordan Farmer from Woodland Hills (Taft) CA, 6'4 Jr Josh Shipp from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'6 Jr Marcel Jones from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'9 Jr Carl Swanagan from Lafayette (Jefferson) IN, 6'7 Jr Bil Duany from Bloomington (North) IN, 6'1 Jr Zam Frederick from St. Matthews (Calhoun County) SC, 6'5 Frosh Marques Johnson from Ft. Wayne (Snider) IN, 6'8 Jr Robert Dozier from Lithonia (H.S.) GA, 5'10 Andre Allen from Memphis (Booker T. Washington) TN, 6'7 Jr Shawne Williams from Mempis (Hamilton) TN, 6'8 Jr James Gist from Wheaton (Good Counsel) MD, 611 Sam Rayburn from Portland (Sunset) OR, and 6'8 Jr Joseph Jones form Normangee (H.S.) TX.   However, Tournanent Director Hal Pastner also has 16-Under, 15-Under, 14-Under, 13-Under, 12-Under, 11-Under, 10-Under, and 9-Under Divisions, which means he has over 300 teams that will be participating in over 850 games in 48 hours.  For more information, a list of the teams for each age group, the schedule, and the brackets, click on visionsports.com.  Speaking the participating teams, the list of teams in the 17-Under Division is incredible, as it includes 4D, ABC Hoops, Albany City Rocks, Arizona Cagers, Arizona Stars, Arkansas Angels, Arkansas Wings, Atlanta All Stars, Atlanta Prep Stars, ATX, Austin Dawgs, Beaumont Hoopsters, Belmont Shore, Big Dawgs, Blessed IJN (Maximun), CC Elite, Cedar Hill, Cincinnati Royals, Copper State All Stars, Crossover Meteors, Dallas Dirty Dozen, Dallas Fire, Dallas Hoops Select, Dallas Mustangs, DC Blue Devils, DFW Hoopsters, DTA Wisconsin, E&S Elite, Fast Break USA, First Class, Florida Hoopsters, Florida Prep Stars, Fox Valley Skillz, Ft. Bend Prospects, Ft. Sooy No Limit, Ft. Worth Lions, Galveston Hornets, Gary Cougars, Gateway Basketball Club, Georgia Stars, Georgia Warriors, Hoop Dogs, Houston Bulldogs, Houston Gold, Houston Hoops, Houston Lynx, Houston Raptors Select, Houston Select, Houston Superstars, Houston Westside Allstars, Illnois Warriors, Illinois Wolves, Indiana Red, Indian White, Jersey Cyclones, Jr EBO/EA Sports, Kansas City Keys, Kansas City Premier, Katy Ballers, Katy Tigers, KCHoopScoop.com Orangemen, KC's Mustangs, Kentucky Hoosters, Klein Kats, Long Island Roadrunners, Louisiana Dream Team, Louisiana Panthers, Louisiana Select, Louisiana Stars, Madison Spartans, Mean Streets, Memphis Bulldogs, Mid State Ballerz Elite, Milwaukee Running Rebels, Minnesota Magic, New Jersey All-Stars, New Orleans Rattlers, New York Gauchos, Nex Level, Nike Team Florida, NJ Wildcats Elite, North Texas, North Texas Rice Owls, Old Gold Chicago, Omaha Rebels, One Tough School, Platinum Starzz, Portland Elite Legends, Portland Panthers, RBS AllStars, Remnant, Rise & Shine, Riverside Church, San Antonio Flames, San Antonio Raiders, San Antonio Rohawks, San Antonio Spurs, San Antonio Wildcats, SE Texas Allstars, South Carolina Ravens, South Florida Heat, Southern California All Stars, Southern Nevada AllStars, Southpoint Shooters, Southwest Missouri Storm, Spiece Select, St. Louis Blue, St. Louis Eagles, St. Louis Gators, TA Eagles, Team Charlotte Stars, Team Georgia, Team Illinois, Team NCI Hoopstars, Team Tennessee, Texas Texas, Tennessee Travelers, Texas Ambassadors, Texas Tarheels, Texas Terps, Texas Wolverines, TUAC Warriors, Utah Vipers, Westchester Hawks, Westfield H.S., Worldwide Renegades, and YOMCA Team Memphis. 

Thursday, April 24, 2003

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Allen Rubin tells us that 6'8 Blake Crawford from Overland Park (Blue Valley North) KS, 6'4 Mike English from Kaskaskaia (JC) IL, and 6'1 Brandon Temple from White Plains (JC) MO have all signed with the University of Missouri-Kansas City, 6'9 Ardydas Lidzius from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD has made it official for St. Joseph's, and 6'10 Raphael Madera from Avon (Old Avon Farms School) CT has picked Delaware.  Rubin also is predicting that 6'4 Dustin Salisbury from Lancaster (McCaskey) PA will sign with Temple, 6'9 Jason Cain from Philadelphia (John Bartram) PA will sign with Virginia, and that 6'1 Jr Darris Nichols from Radford (H.S.) VA will verbally commit to West Virginia in the near future.  The Mountaineers are expected to beat Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and Richmond for Nichols services and, as a result, should get an excellent combo guard.  In other words, he'll challenge for playing time at the 2-guard spot, as well as provide depth for 6'0 Tyler Relph from Rochester (McQuaid Jesuit) NY at the point guard spot.  Assuming that Cain, who is tied a #100 nationally in the senior by the HOOP SCOOP, does pick the Cavaliers, then they will have the two inside players - Cain and 6'8 Donte Minter from Fork Union (Military) VA - they wanted to land in this recruiting class.  And when you also remember they signed 6'5 Gary Forbes from Brooklyn (Banneker) NY and 6'3 J.R. Reynolds from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA and they got a verbal commitment from 6'1 T.J. Bannister from Jacksonville (Arlington County Day) FL during the winter, it is easy to see why their recruiting class is now ranked #10 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Salisbury is ranked #8 in the area by Rubin, but he's talking about moving Salisbury up a couple of spots after his performance recently in the Dapper Dan Roundball in Classic in Pittsburgh, PA, where he scored 27 points, won the slam dunk contest, and took home game MVP honors.  And, if this does happen, it would move Temple's recruiting class, which now is tied at #87, along with Ohio State, includes 6'3 Mario Taybron from Norfolk (Ryan Academy) VA and 6'10 Wayne Marshall from Philadelphia (Martin Luther King) PA, into a tie at #63, along with Georgetown, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  We also have confirmed two more recruits for McNeese State in 6'5 Erkan Oguz from Baltimore (JC) MD and 6'9 Lance Hood from Southeastern Nebraska (JC) NE and, as a result, the Cowboys now have an excellent five-man recruiting class, which suddenly appears to be the best in the league.  If you will recall, we've already reported that 6'10 Darius Manciel from Arkansas-Ft. Smith (JC) AR, 6'8 Andrew Queen from Lee (JC) TX, and 6'5 Ronald Dorsey from Schoolcraft (JC) MI have all signed with McNeese State, which now is tied at #37, along with Texas A&M, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  However, the big news of the day involves 7'3 Shagari Alleyne from New York (Rice) NY, who is ranked #80 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Alleyne told us earlier today when we saw him at the practice for the Derby Classic All-Star Game in Louisville, KY that he has verbally committed to the University of Kentucky and that he will sign a National Letter-of-Intent to play for the Wildccats after he plays in the game on Saturday night and returns home early next week.  Assuming that Alleyne's commitment hold up this time (he originally verbally committed to Rutgers last fall, but recently reneged on the Scarlet Knights), this would move Kentucky's recruiting class, which also includes 6'8 Sheray Thomas from Upper Marlboro (Riverdale Baptist) MD and 6'7 Bobby Perry from Durham (Hillside) NC, into a tie at #76, along with Montana, Murray State, Seton Hall, Colorado State, Florida A&M, and Massachusetts, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And the Wildcats don't appear to be done yet.  Not only are they believed to among the leaders for 6'9 Mohamed Abukar from San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) CA and 6'10 Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, but we also have confirmed that 7'0 Darius Silinskis from Lithuania was in Lexington, KY on an official visit 10 days ago and 7'1 Ivan Chiriave from Oakville (St. Thomas Aquinas) ON has Kentucky right at the top of his list, along with schools like Michigan, Auburn, LSU, Florida, Florida State, and Miami-FL.  If two of these three players sign with the Wildcats this spring, then their recruiting class would suddenly jump all the way up to #9 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, plus it would allow the Kentucky coaching staff to be extremely picking about who they take in the future.  Remember, Kentucky also already has an early verbal commitment for next year from 6'4 Jr Adam Williams from St Albans (H.S.) WV and, as a result, they would only have two remaining scholarships available if you go by the current NCAA rule, whereby, you can only sign eight players during an two-year period (five one-year and three the next).  In other words, any thoughts that Patrick Sparks has about transferring from Western Kentucky to Kentucky might be history, unless he wants to walk-on and pay his way for a year.  And Louisville appears to be in a similar boat, because the Cardinals already have three players in the fold in this recruiting class in 6'7 Nate Daniels from Broward County (JC) FL, 6'10 Nauha Diakite from Barton County (JC) KS, and 6'4 Brandon Jenkins from Detroit (Southeastern) MI, plus they already have one verbal commitment for next year from 6'10 Jr Terrance Farley from Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY.   In other words, Louisville has a total of four scholarships left to be used (with a maximum of two this spring) in the next year and it would be a major surprise, if they didn't sign the best point guard, best wing player, and two inside players they can get.   So obviously they aren't going to do anything at the point guard spot until they see what 5'11 Jr Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, who is the #1-ranked player in the nation, is going to do.  If you will recall, it previously appeared the Louisville was a near lock for Telfair, but now it looks like a number of other schools, like Duke, UCLA, Arizona, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh are really turning up the heat.  We also have confirmed via Kevin Boyle, who is the head coach at Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ and is one of the coaches in the Derby Classic All-Star Game, that 6'10 Soph Theo Davis from Toronto (West Carr) ON, who is ranked #34 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, has already transferred and is enrolled in school at St. Patrick.  We also have heard that 6'3 O.J. Mayo, who is widely regarded as the #1 8th grader in the nation, has transferred from Ashland (Rose Hill) KY to Cincinnati (North College Hills) OH.

If Roy Williams had stayed at Kansas, an early verbal commitment from 6'8 Jr Marvin Williams from Bremerton (H.S.) WA, who is ranked #7 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, to the Jayhawks probably would have been forthcoming sooner than later.  And, while we still think both Kansas and North Carolina are high on his list, as well as UCLA, which is expected to make a strong push now that Ben Howland has the job, the smart money is on Arizona and Oregon.  In other words, we like the Ducks' chances as they go head-head with a number of the big name programs in college basketball not just because Oregon is the only school Pacific-10 school in the Northwest that has had a lot of success in recent years, but also due to the fact Williams and 6'1 Aaron Brooks from Seattle (Franklin) WA, who signed with Oregon last fall, are best friends.  We also are waiting to see which other high school players join 6'7 LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH and 6'9 Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ by putting their names into the NBA Draft.  Rumor has it that 6'8 Kris Humphries from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN has already made the decision to by-pass college and go straight to The League and our guess is that 6'11 James Lang from Birmingham (Central Park Chrisian) AL and 6'10 Kendrick Perkins from Beaumont (Ozen) TX will also make the jump, plus it appears that 6'10 Travis Outlaw from Starkville (H.S.) MS and 6'10 Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS are contemplating the jump.  That's seven potential high school/5th year players in this year's NBA Draft and the only two we'd draft in the first round are James and Lang.  But even drafting James #1 in the draft is not the total no-brainier that the mainstream media and NBA scouts seem to think it is.  Remember, this is not rocket science or brain surgery, plus our readers are very smart to begin with and, as a result, it comes as no surprise that in response to our "Question of the Day" from Tuesday, April 8th, regarding who should be the #1 pick in this year's NBA Draft, Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony has received 57% of the vote compared to James, who has gotten 38% of the vote, and Darko Milicic, who has gotten 5% of the vote.  As for the seven players mentioned above, which one do you think is the least likely to get drafted?  You can tell us by answering today's "Question of the Day".  We also have checked and confirmed that as long as each of these players don't sign with an agent, they will be eligible to pull their name out of the draft and retain their college eligibility.  Previously this was not the case, until the NCAA changed the rule several years ago.  It also appears that Louisville, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Arkansas are making a strong push for 6'8 Taj Grey from Redlands (JC) OK, who was one of only seven freshmen named to the 2003 NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball All-American Team a month ago. The only freshman named to the First Team was 6'7 Marcellus Sommerville from Southwestern Illinois (JC) IL, Grey was the only freshman named to the Second Team, 6'3 Kevin Essex from Garrett (JC) MD and 6'10 Michael Nascinmento from Arizona Western (JC) AZ were the only freshman named to the Third Team, and 6'8 E.J. Drayton from Colby (JC) KS, 6'7 Jean Felix from Bevill State (JC) AL, and 6'0 Isaac Hines from Collins County (JC) TX were the only freshmen listed as Honorable Mention.  To get the complete 2003 NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball All-American Team, click on Big Apple Sports, which is our best source for junior college information.  As a matter of fact, a quick look at their list of signings provides us with a number of new commitments like, 6'3 Randy Pulley from Barton County (JC) KS to Missouri, 6'5 DeAngelo Newsom from Northwest Wyoming (JC) WY to Southern Utah, 6'7 Ben Jacobsen from Iowa Western (JC) IA to Tennessee Tech, 6'8 Henry Rivers from Southeast Nebraska (JC) NE to Stephen F. Austin, 6'7 Chris Brown from Polk (JC) FL to Tennessee-Chattanooga, 6'0 Dorin Perkins from Southwestern Oregon (JC) OR to Santa Clara, 6'6 Tommie Eddie from Coffeyville (JC) MS to Mississippi, 6'3 JueMichael Young from Chipola (JC) FL to Louisiana Tech, 6'2 Fred Marshall from Coffeyville (JC) KS to Louisiana Tech, 6'9 Patrick Hilliman from Central Florida (JC) FL to Alabama A&M, 5'11 Zach Graber, 5'11, PG, Coffeyville (JC) KS to Arkansas-Little Rock, 6'1 Reggie Wallace from Mt. San Antonio (CA to UT-San Antonio, 6'5 Chad Fleming from Johnson (JC) KS to Georgia Southern, 6'2 Chaun Brooks from Howard (JC) TX to Drake, 6'6 Sredrick Powe from Tallahassee (JC) FL to Birminghan Southern, 6'0 Antonio Williams-Parker from San Francisco (JC) CA to Jackson State, 6'6 Wilder Auguste from Neosho (JC) KS to Sam Houston State, 6'4 Joe Thompson from Lee (JC) TX to Sam Houston State, 6'5 Michael Cuffe from Neosho (JC) KS to Middle Tennessee State, 6'0 Marqus Mitchell from State Fair (JC) MO to North Texas, 6'8 Andrew Queen from Lee (JC) TX to McNeese State, 6'5 Ronald Dorsey from Schoolcraft (JC) MI to McNeese State, 6'4 Dandrick Jones from Trinidad (JC) CO to Idaho, 6'7 Lionel Davis from Chaffey (JC) CA to Idaho, 6'4 Michael McFadden from San Jose (JC) CA to San Jose State, 6'1 Filiberto Rivera from Southeastern Iowa (JC) IA to UTEP, 6'5 Jason Williams from Kilgore (JC) TX to UTEP, 6'8 Brett Murphy from Lon Morris (JC) TX to UTEP, 6'5 Javier Mendiburu from Indiana Hills (JC) IA to Wisconsin-Green Bay, 5'11 Franco Harris from Diablo Valley (JC) CA to Boise State, 6'1 Brett Ost from Yuba (JC) CA to Cal-Riverside, 6'8 David Jobe from Diablo Valley (JC) CA to Cal-Riverside, 6'4 J.J. Montgomery from Angelina (JC) TX to Arkansas State, 6'6 Troy Slaten from Southwestern Illinois (JC) IL to Arkansas State, 6'9 Nate Lofton from Arkansas-Ft. Smith (JC) AR to Southeast Louisiana, 6'8 Schuyler Thomas from Cowley (JC) KS to Oral Roberts, 6'6 Jason Wilkins from Angelina (JC) TX to Nicholls State, 6'6 Nick Hammer from Dixie (JC) UT to Utah State, 6'7 C.J. Pigford from Lon Morris (JC) TX to Charlotte, 6'6 Terren Harbut from Dixie (JC) UT to Ohio University, 6'5 Jermaine Washington from South Plains (JC) TX to Nevada, 6'8 Jamal Hughes from Brown Mackie (JC) KS to Albany, 6'5 Kurtis Rice from McCook (JC) NE to Charleston Southern, 6'6 Ryan Heck from Southwestern Illinois (JC) IL to Troy State, 6'5 Nick Ponder from Redlands (JC) OK to Southwest Texas State, 6'6 John Millsap from Navarro (JC) TX to Southwest Texas, 6'0 Josh Naylor from Northern Oklahoma (JC) OK to Southwest Texas State, 6'3 Mike Hall from Dixie (JC) UT to Brigham Young, 6'4 Anthony Shavies from Chabot (JC) CA to Southwest Missouri State, 5'10 Sergio Sanchez from Temple (JC) TX to UT-Pan American, 6'5 Ray Castillo from Temple (JC) TX to UT-Pan American, 6'6 Torvoris Baker from Schoolcraft (JC) MI to Detroit, 6'5 LaMar Owen from Southeastern Illinois (JC) IL to Southern Illinois, 6'8 Guillaume Yango from Southern Idaho (JC) ID to Pacific, 6'2 Gary Johnson from Schoolcraft (JC) MI to Central Florida, 6'0 Ryan Davis from Southern Idaho (JC) ID to Weber State, 6'0 Christopher Gooden from Eastfield (JC) TX to Robert Morris, 6'4 Ian Morris from Indian River (JC) FL to Auburn, 6'5 Alfred Neale from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (JC) to New Mexico, 6'0 Jeff Gardner from Snow (JC) UT to Idaho State, 6'8 Nate Rede from Monterey (JC) CA to Idaho State, 6'9 Tom Frericks from Chipola (JC) FL to Saint Louis, 6'2 Jeff Martini from Sheridan (JC) WY to Southern Utah, 6'5 DeAngelo Newsom from Northwest Wyoming (JC) WY to Southern Utah, 6'7 Cameron Lollar from Northeast Nebraska (JC) NE to Louisiana-Monroe, 6'7 P.J. Mills from Trinity Valley (JC) TX to Albany, 6'2 Ed Spencer from Butler (JC) KS to UNC-Wilmington,  6'9 Michael Bell from Palm Beach (JC) FL to Florida Atlantic, 6'4 Randy Brooks from Kilgore (JC) TX to Rhode Island, 6'8 Guilherme Teichmann from South Plains (JC) TX to Tulsa, 6'9 Oswaldo Gonzalez from Jacksonville (JC) TX to Tulsa, 6'4 Mark Curry from Globe Tech (JC) NY to St. Peter's, 6'1 Jeff Vaughn from Bevill (JC) AL to South Carolina, and 6'9 Brannon Hayes from Lee (JC) TX to Southern Miss.

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson is my best source for information in the business.  Don't believe it?  Well, just today he's updated me with numerous items that have occurred recently, like 6'11 Darius Manciel from Arkansas-Ft. Smith (JC) AR to McNeese State, 6'9 Harvey Thomas from Northeast Oklahoma (JC) OK to Baylor, 6'2 Jaison Williams from Southern Idaho (JC) ID to Oklahoma, 6'8 Zach Morley from Indian Hills (JC) IA to Wisconsin, 6'9 Dramane Diarra from Cloud (JC) KS to Kansas State, 6'9 Francis Koffi from Cowley County (JC) KS to Fresno State, 6'5 Quinnel Brown from Wabash Valley (JC) IL to Auburn, 6'7 Calvin Walls from Minneapolis (Patrick Henry) MN to Wichita State, 7'0 Byrce Husak from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) IA to Saint Louis, 6'8 Anthony King from Durham (Southern Durham) NC to Miami-FL, 6'3 Detrick Slater from Waynesboro (Wayne County) MS to Mississippi State, and 6'0 Quentin Day from Kansas City (Paseo) MO to Southern Cal.  The commitment by Manciel, who was ranked as the #2 junior college center by Rick Ball in the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook, is huge, because he not only promises to be one of the best players in the Southland Conference next year, but he should be catalyst that Cowboys head coach Tic Price needs to get his team over the hump and into the NCAA Tournament.  Thomas, who played his freshman season year before last at Georgetown, after being ranked #45 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP in the Class of 2001 while at Memphis (Hamilton) TN, is a big time athlete and gifted players.  So he moves Baylor's recruiting class, which also includes 6'9 Tyrone Nelson from Hempstead (H.S.) TX, into a tie at #100, along with Notre Dame, South Florida, Long Beach State, Oklahoma State, and UTEP, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Thomas and Nelson also should provide Bears head coach Dave Bliss with plenty of depth next season to go along with 6'8 Soph Lawrence Roberts, 6'10 Jr R.T. Guinn, and 6'7 Jr Terrance Thomas, all three of whom started inside this past season.  Williams, who originally signed with Xavier as a high school senior at Aurora (West Hinckley) CO, gives the Sooners yet another guard as they attempt to replace Hollis Price, Ebi Ere, and Quannas White, who were three of the team's top four scorers this past season, in the backcourt.  If you will recall, the Sooners landed 5'7 Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, who is ranked #12 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'2 Lawrence McKenzie from Minneapolis (Patrick Henry) MN, who is ranked #33 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, last fall, but they were still looking for another combo guard to complement 6'4 DeAngelo Alexander, who will be the best returning guard in the program.  Williams also moves Oklahoma's recruiting class, which also includes 6'10 Longar Longar from Rochester (John Marshall) OK and 6'7 Brandon Foust from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, into a tie at #2, along with LSU, Maryland, and Miami-FL, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Morley was listed on the Third Team 2003 NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball All-American Team, which means he was picked as one of the top 30 junior college players in the nation and, as a result, he should provide the Badgers with an excellent complement to go along with 7'0 Brian Butch from Appleton (West) WI, who is currently ranked as the #3 senior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'2 Kammron Taylor from Minneapolis (South) MN, both of whom signed with the Badgers last fall.  This moves Wisconsin's recruiting class into a tie at #36, along with Florida and Wisconsin, and more help is already on the way, because they also already have early verbal commitments from 6'11 Jr Greg Steimsma from Randolph (H.S.) WI and 6'2 Jr Michael Flowers from Madison (La Follette) WI in the Class of 2004.  Diarra is best described as a blue collar banger, but he appears to be the last piece to the puzzle for Kansas State, as the Wildcats increase their lead with the #1-ranked recruiting class on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  If you will recall, Kansas State has already landed 5'7 Dez Willingham from De Soto (H.S.) TX, 6'8 Jeremiah Massey from Oxnard (JC) CA, 6'8 Cartier Martin from Aldine (Nimitz) TX, 6'10 Justin Williams from Kankakee (JC) IL, 6'4 Lance Harris from Columbia (Hickman) MO, and 6'10 Tyler Hughes from Olathe (North Olathe) KS.  In case you're wondering how Kansas State can have seven players in this recruiting class, they get an extra scholarship for a high graduation rate in recent years and Williams plans to walk-on and pay his own way next year, as he continues to recover from an injury that has sidelined him for most of the past season.  We're not sure how good Koffi is, because he's not listed on any of the Junior College All-American Teams that we've looked at and we've never seen him play.  But we do know that Koffi's younger brother is one of the top players in France.  We also know that Bulldogs head coach Ray Lopes will have a lot more firepower to go to war with inside next year, because he's also got 6'7 Dreike Boldin from Carl Albert (JC) OK, 7'0 Jack Marlow from Salt Lake City (JC) UT, and 6'10 Rodney Timmerman from Paso Robles (H.S.) CA in a recruiting class that is now tied with Stanford at #58 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  It looks like Auburn assistant coach Tracy Dildy has done it again.  We're talking about Dildy going back home and getting another player from Illinois to sign with the Tigers.  If you will recall, Auburn signed 6'8 Dwayne Curtis from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL and 6'5 Ron Lemelle from Western Oklahoma (JC) OK last fall, during the winter they got a verbal commitment from 6'4 Dwon Youmans from Jacksonville (Arlington County Day) FL, and more recently they added 6'4 Quin Humphrey from Stockbridge (H.S.) GA and, as a result, their recruiting class is now tied, along with Texas Christian and Arizona State, at #27 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Walls becomes the second catch for Shockers in the last week.  If you will recall, 6'8 Kyle Wilson is transferring from Illinois to Wichita State.  Husak verbally committed to Elon College last fall, but don't let that fool you, because we're talking about a 7-footer with surprising mobility, soft hands, and good post moves around the basket.  King needs to get meaner and tougher inside, but he's got a lot of potential and, as a result, moves the Hurricanes' recruiting class up to #2, ahead of LSU, Maryland, and Oklahoma, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  If you will recall, Miami-FL already has 6'9 Lenard Harden form Garden City (JC) KS, 6'6 Eliaah Clark from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'3 Vincent Banks from Atlanta (South Atlanta) GA, 6'1 Guillermo Diaz from Miami (Christian) FL, and 7'0 Yankuba Camara from Moberly (JC) MO in this recruiting class, plus they have 6'2 Greg Brown from Indian Hills (JC) IA already waiting the wings in the Class of 2004.  Slater, who is ranked as the #5 senior in the state by our Mississippi Editor Lavel Johnson, is a great fourth recruit in this recruiting class for Bulldogs head coach Rick Stansbury.  Remember, Mississippi State already has 6'10 Travis Outlaw from Starkville (H.S.) MS, 6'10 Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS, and 5'11 Gary Ervin from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA in the fold and a recruiting class that is now tied at #6 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Day originally verbally committed to Nebraska last fall, but later reneged.  Day also should probably think about reneging on USC, because, even if he was good enough, the Trojans are already well stocked in the backcourt.  Not only are the Cravens twins and Brandon Brooks expected to return for two more years, but 6'4 Rodrick Stewart from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA and 6'4 Lodrick Stewart from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA, both of whom are also part of this recruiting class, are expected to be around for the next four years.  Johnson also tells us that 6'1 Sharif Chambliss is transferring from Penn State to Wisconsin, which means that the Badgers' recruitng class would move into the top 20 our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, if we counted transfers when ranking recruiting classes, and 6'8 Tyler Best is transferring from Charlotte to Evansville.  Not only is that a great get for Purple Aces head coach Steve Merfeld, but that's where Best should have gone in the first place!

 Ro Russell of Grass Roots Basketball Canada tells us that 6'2 Antwi Atuahene from Toronto (Henry Carr) ON has signed with Rutgers and he thinks this is great fit for the Scarlet Knights, because Atuahene is a strong physical athletic point guard who can get to the hole and make those around him better.  Russell also tells us that Atuahene was the best senior in Canada this year and, as a result, it appears he will be the an excellent complement to 6'3 Quincy Douby from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, who, in our opinion, promises to be the best incoming player in the Big East next year.  This moves Rutgers' recruiting class, which currently includes Douby, Atuahene, and 6'5 Marquis Webb from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, into a tie at #56, along with Oregon on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  However, if hey also get 7'3 Shagari Alleyne from New York (Rice) NY, who verbally committed to Rutgers last fall, but more recently reneged on the Scarlet Knights, then their recruiting class would move into a tie at #34, along with Iowa and UNLV, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And we still think this will probably happen.  As a matter of fact, Alleyne recently told a source close to the HOOP SCOOP that, in the end, he probably will still pick Rutgers over Kentucky, because it's closer to home.  And, if Rutgers really hits the jackpot and gets both Alleyne and 6'11 Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ to also stay home, then their recruiting class would move up to #13 on our list of Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Obviously that would mean the program is really heading in the right direction, especially in light of the fact that most people still think that Rutgers can't recruit the top players in their own backyard.  However, Douby and Alleyne are both from New York City and Webb and Watkins are both from North Jersey.  We also are waiting to see where Western Kentucky's Patrick Sparks is going to transfer.  Our guess it that it won't be Louisville, Murray State, or Auburn, because the Hilltoppers have already made it clear they won't release him to any school that is on their schedule for the next two years.  Instead, the smart money is Georgia, which means he would be following in the footsteps of  former Western Kentucky head coach Dennis Felton, or the University of Kentucky, which doesn't have a true point guard in the program, but may have one by the time Sparks becomes eligible.  If you will recall, Kentucky is involved with a number of the top juniors in the nation, plus they are believed to be among the leaders for 6'0 Jr Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL and 6'3 Jr Trammel Wooten from Mt. Vernon (Montgomery County) GA.  However, I guarantee that the Wildcats coaching staff won't turn down a quality white player from the state.  Maybe they can even send Josh Carrier, who also has been rumored to be once again considering transferring, to Western Kentucky as the player to be named later for Sparks.  Remember, Carrier, who can shoot the lights out, is originally from Bowling Green, KY and he'd be a dynamite player in the Sun Belt Conference.  We also hear that Murray State is the leader for 6'7 Guy Ngarndi from Louisville (Western) KY, but we suspect that new Racers head coach Mick Cronin is getting a little bit nervous right now.  Did you know that Ngarndi has been telling other players in town that he plans to go Indiana, if they offer and he makes it academically?  And, if that weren't enough for Cronin to attempt to overcome, did you know that Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez, who is second to none as a recruiter, was in town yesterday to see Ngarndi in a work-out and make an in-home visit?  We also have confirmed that 6'0 Marcus Neal from Polk County (JC) FL, who was named as a 2003 NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Honorable Mention All-American last month, has signed with Nebraska.  This moves Nebraska's recruiting class, which also includes 5'10 Charles Richardson from Maywood (Proviso East) IL and 6'5 Gerald Stegall from Stone Mountain (Redan) GA, into a tie at #86, along with Loyola-Illinois, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, plus it gives Cornhuskers head coach Barry Collier not one, but two good point guards to go to war with the next two years in the tough Big-12 Conference.  Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that 6'8 Blagog Janev from Sydney, Australia has made it official for New Hampshire and he expects Pennsylvania to land 6'2 Ibby Jaaber from Heightstown (Peddie) NJ within the next several days.  The signing by Janev is especially significant, because he's good enough to be the equivalent of a player in the 100-300 range nationally and, as a result, New Hampshire's recruiting class moves into a tie at #113, along with Delaware, Maryland-Baltimore County, and Central Michigan, our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003. 

Yesterday at this time we were telling you that we thought Tom Crean would remain at Marquette and last night that speculation was reinforced by the fact that Crean announced that he had signed a new long term contract that is estimated to be worth in the neighborhood of $1.5 million per year.   So now the obvious assumption is that Crean will be a Marquette for a long time and an Associated Press press article that was written last night and updated today even talks about how Crean and his wife, Joani, spent the weekend house hunting in Milwaukee, WI.  "They can move into bigger digs now that Crean has agreed to a new contract to remain coach at Marquette, ending speculation that he was the leading contender for the Illini job."  The article also goes on to quote Marquette athletic director Bill Cords saying that the new "contract contains no escape clauses as had been speculated."  However, we're still not convinced that Crean will be at Marquette next year.  And forget about any previous speculation about University of Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith taking any one of nine NBA jobs that might open this spring.  Instead, we're talking about the fact that Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo appears to be in line for the Toronto Raptors head coaching job and, if that happens, there is no question our mind that Crean would become the next head coach of the Spartans.  Not only is Michigan State Crean's dream job, but we've heard that he's been lobbying behind the scenes for years to get the job just in case Izzo does ever leave.  The word we get is that Izzo makes $1.4 million per year, but the Raptors would pay him in the neighborhood of $15 to $20 million for five years, which more than double what he's making right now, and that Crean would get a contract worth about $2 million per year at Michigan State.  Is all this already a done deal?  No, because things sometimes have a way of changing before all the dominos can fall.  But right now the chances look pretty good that this is going to happen.  And, if does, just remember where you heard it first!  Also remember where you heard it first about Michigan State being the pre-season #1-ranked team in college basketball next year with or without Izzo as the head coach.  Not only did the Spartans make the NCAA Elite Eight after struggling due to point guard problems most of last season, but they have most of their players back, plus a recruiting class that is ranked #12 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003 and includes one of the best high school point guards in the nation in 6'0 Brandon Cotton from Detroit (St. Martin DePorres) MI, one of the top three players in the senior class nationally in 6'3 Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, and a valuable inside player in 6'10 Drew Naymick from North Muskegon (H.S.) MI.  We also told you yesterday that it looked like only a matter of time before Fordham head coach Bob Hill got bought out of  his contract and that happened late in the day yesterday as well.  In addition to the names we mentioned yesterday, we're also hearing Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez, Boston University of Dennis Wolff, former Seton Hall head coach P.J. Carlesimo, and Wagner head coach Derek Whittenburg being mentioned as potential candidates for the Fordham job.  However, we'd be surprised if Gonzalez or Wolff took the job for the simply fact, if they're patient, they both should be able to get something better.  Instead, the ideal candidate to take over at Fordham might just be Richmond head coach Gary DeCesare.  Sure, he's only had one year of college assistant coaching experience, but DeCesare's organizational skills are second to none, as is evident by the fact he's helped run the adidas ABCD Camp for years, plus he's got an incredible amount of contacts in both New York City and around the nation.  So there is no question DeCesare would be able to keep both the top players at home and recruit nationally, but he also is a proven head coach dating back to his long tenure at Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, which he built into on the premier high school programs in the nation during the last decade.  In other words, Decesare is just as qualified as the retired Morgan Wootten, who the University of Maryland missed out on hiring 16 years ago (instead they hired Bob Wade), and Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ head coach Bob Hurley Sr, who is ranked as the best high school coach in the game today by the HOOP SCOOP and in our mind was the most obvious candidate for both Seton Hall and Rutgers when they opened on seemingly numerous occasions in recent years.  DeCesare also is a New York City guy and, as a result, doesn't appear to be interested in using this as just a stepping stone to bigger and better things.  Instead, this would be the break he needs to get where he wants to go in life and he'd probably be willing to do so for less money than most of the rest of the aforementioned candidates.  Remember, Fordham had a very difficult time coming up with the money necessary to buy-out Hill, which means the job will probably only pay in the $125,000-$175,000 per year range.  Getting back to the Illinois job, we're now hearing that Creighton head coach Dana Altman is the leading candidate over Xavier head coach Thad Matta, Southern Illinois head coach Bruce Weber, and Oregon head coach Ernie Kent to to take over as boss of the Fighting Illini.  However, it appears that the folks at Creighton are going to make this one interesting, because the alumni have already raised a lot of money in an attempt to keep Altman at the helm of the Bluejays.  We also continue to hear that Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins is the heavy favorite for the St. Bonaventure job, although the list now also appears to include former Penn State head coach Jerry Dunn, Hartford head coach Larry Harrison, Delaware assistant and former Duke player Kenny Blakeney, Canisius head coach Mike MacDonald, and Montana head coach Pat Kennedy.  

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News, who is widely regarded as the #1 basketball writer in America, has told me on more than one occasion that he thinks more people in the business (the people who count) read the HOOP SCOOP on a daily basis than any other publication or web site.  And I'm starting to believe him!  As a matter of fact, it's almost embarrassing just how far ahead of the curve we really are when compared to most of the mainstream media.  It wouldn't be so bad if we had millions of dollars to work with and a staff of hundreds of people, but we're doing it with a budget of less than $100,000 a year and one in-house person (me).  We do have a great network of people contributing information to us on an on-going basis like our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson, Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin, California Editor Dinos Trigonis, New York City Editor Ron Naclerio, Georgia Editor Linzy Davis, New England Editor Wayne Simone, Mid-South Editor Jim Rothman, Alabama Editor Mark Komara, Washington, DC Editor Steve Turner, Mississippi Editor Lavel Johnson, Texas Editor Wes Grandstaff, et al., but to illustrate the point even further, the powers-that-be at places like CBS, ESPN, USA Today, and Fox probably don't even know we're alive, much less how bad we're kicking their ass when it comes to getting the scoop on a regular basis.  Don't believe it?  Well, we were the first to start hinting around about the possibility of former North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty getting fired and more recently we actually had the exact date five days before it happened (ESPN's Dick Vitale only had it the day before, but still got credit for breaking Doherty's ouster by the USA Today).  We also have been way out in front as we've been talking about the possibility of Roy Williams going from Kansas to North Carolina, Bill Self going from Illinois to Kansas, and Tom Crean going from Marquette to Illinois for some time now.  And now it appears that the USA Today agrees, as they published a list today that mentions Crean, Xavier head coach Thad Matta, former Chicago Bulls head coach Tim Floyd, and California head coach Ben Braun as the leading candidates for the Illinois job.  However, as things stand now we don't think Crean will take it for two reasons.  First, Bill Self was making $950,000 per year as head coach of the Fighting Illini, but Crean is already making more than that at Marquette (Crean's salary is reported to be $1 million dollars per year).  In other words, for similar money, Crean will likely stay put, but, if the Fighting Illini puts $1.5 million per year for five to seven years on the table, Crean will probably will jump.  Second, Crean is perfectly positioned to just sit back and see what University of Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith does.   If you will recall, Smith just signed a long term contract that is worth more than $20 million for 8 years and, as a result, most people think Smith will be the coach of the Wildcats for many years to come.  And that may be true, unless one of the nine NBA teams (Charlotte, Toronto, Atlanta, Orlando, Dallas, Denver, Memphis, Houston, and the Los Angeles Clippers) that we suspect will be hiring a new head coach this spring makes Smith,who was the unanimous National College Coach-of-the-Year, an offer he can't refuse (i.e  $5 million per year for four or five years).  Remember, Smith is one of the hottest coaches in the business at any level, plus the fact that he's black and is a players' coach should also work in his favor, especially if a NBA General Manager doesn't want to just recycle the same old NBA guys).  And while Matta, Floyd, and Braun are all excellent coaches, we think the sleeper candidate and maybe even the leader for the Illinois job is Oregon head coach Ernie Kent.  And, if Kent, who originally is from Rockford, IL, does get Illinois, that would open the door for Minnesota head coach Dan Monson to return to the Pacific Northwest.  If you will recall, Monson established himself as one of the hot young head coaches in the college basketball at Gonzaga prior to taking the Minnesota job four years ago.  However, he's not been able to build the Golden Gophers into anything more than a middle of the road program in the Big-10 Conference and it doesn't promise to get any better now that his star player - 6'11 Rick Rickert - plans to enter his name into the NBA Draft this spring.  And providing another ironic twist to the story is the fact that Monson's father, Don Monson, was the head coach at Oregon from 1983 to 1992.  Which means we're suddenly three steps ahead of the game again, as the next question is who will get the Minnesota job, if Kent moves to Illinois and Monson moves to Oregon?  How about Xavier head coach Thad Matta, Milwaukee-Wisconsin head coach Bruce Pearl, or Butler head coach Todd Lickliter, or even Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez?  We also continue to hear that Fordham head coach Bob Hill is close to accepting a buy-out and some of the potential candidates for the job include former Georgia Tech head coach Bobby Cremins, former New Mexico head coach Fran Fraschilla, former North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty, and Montana head coach Pat Kennedy, but this list reads like a Who's Who of Recycled Head Coaches.  Instead, we think they should hire somebody who would be able to recruit like crazy, like Villanova assistant coach Fred Hill, Maryland assistant coach Jimmy Pastos, Kentucky assistant coach Scott Rigot, or Richmond assistant coach Gary DeCesare.   Remember, Hill is the #1-ranked assistant coach by the HOOP SCOOP now that the two guys ahead of him got head coaching jobs, Pastos is a Northeast Catholic guy who in only two years on the road has played a major role in helping Maryland land two consecutive top six-ranked recruiting classes, Rigot has all kinds of international and junior college contacts dating back to his days as the head coach at Spartanburg Methodist (JC) SC and as an assistant coach at Hawaii, and DeCesare knows everybody in New York City dating back to his days as the head coach at Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY.  It also appears that we were correct about Dr. Tom Davis getting the Drake job and UNLV assistant coach Derek Thomas getting the Western Illinois job.   In other words, once again we were ahead of the competition, because we hinted that this was going to happen with Davis two days ago and with Thomas five days ago.

Monday, April 21, 2003

The Houston Hoops dominated the upper age groups, as they won the 17-Under and the 15-Under Divisions and finished second the 16-Under Division, and teams from Southern California dominated the younger age groups, as the South Coast Stars won the 13-Under Division, the Southern California All-Stars won the 12-Under Division, and the All-American Hoops beat the West Coast All-Stars, both of which are from Southern California, in the 11-Under Division, in what proved to be in an incredible five days of basketball at the Mae Fisher Memorial 23rd Annual Las Vegas Easter Classic this weekend in Las Vegas, NV.  Let's first take a close looker at the 17-Under Division, where, despite the fact 6'3 Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX, who is ranked as one of the top 10 juniors nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, was injured and unable to play all week, the Houston Hoops managed to survive in the semi-finals against BWBA Orange and coast to a 78-65 victory in the championship game against the Utah Bruins Gold.  Picking up the slack for the injured Gibson was 6'6 Jr Jawaan McClellan from Houston (Milby) TX, who scored 20 points and hit four 3-pointers in the championship game en route to tournament MVP honors.  McClellan currently is ranked #62 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but, based on the way he played here, that's at least 40 spots too low.  We're talking about an incredibly gifted multi-dimensional athlete with excellent 3-point shooting range, good ball handling and passing skills, and terrific rebounding skills for his size.   McClellan was complemented out on the perimeter by 6'6 Jr Matt Wheaton from Houston (Mayde Creek) TX, 6'0 Jr Rodney Foster from Houston (Mayde Creek) TX, 6'0 Jr Mario Kersee from Houston (Aldine) TX, and 6'5 Jr Jerrell Franklin from Bay City (H.S.) TX and inside by 6'6 Jr Mike Nichols from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX, 6'7 Jr Jermaine Griffin from Houston (Sterling) TX, and 6'7 Jr Kellen Hurd from Wharton (H.S.) TX, all of whom have to be ranked in the 100-500 range nationally.  Foster, who appears to be a prime target for the University of Houston, and Wheaton, who drew a lot of attention from Boston College over the weekend, combined for 30 points and connected on five 3-pointers in the championship game.  However, the big difference in the game was the Utah Bruins Gold inability to get it done inside against the Houston Hoops quickness and athleticism.  The Utah Bruins Gold did get 10 points out of 6'7 Tai Wesley from Provo (H.S.) UT, who impressed us with his strength, toughness, and surprising mobility inside for somebody his size, but nobody else seemed to be able to score from inside the arc, as the Utah Bruins finished with more 3-pointers (11) than they did regular field goals (nine) for the game.  In other words, if the Utah Bruins hadn't shot the ball well from 3-point land, it could have gotten ugly real fast.  Also advancing into the final four of the 17-Under Division were the Arizona Magic and BWBA, despite the fact that 6'8 Jr Charles Rhodes from Jackson (Lanier) MS, who was injured earlier in the week, and, as a result, was unable to play in BWBA's upset in the quarter-finals against Belmont Shore and in the semi-finals against the Utah Bruins Gold.  However, that doesn't mean that Rhodes doesn't rank among the top players in the tournament, along with his teammate - 6'3 Jr Monte Ellis from Jackson (Lanier) MS and 6'7 Jr Ty Morrison from Phoenix (Trevor Browne) AZ, 6'8 Soph Lawrence Hill from Glendale (Deer Valley) AZ, and 6'0 Soph Darren Jordan from Phoenix (Trevor Browne) AZ, who provided the inside/outside combination that helped the Arizona Magic get to the semi-finals.  Morrison does need to develop more of a shooter's mentality (right now he's more of a slasher/athlete), but when he does take an open shot, he is capable of keeping you honest from out on the perimeter.  Hill needs to get stronger and tougher inside, but he uses his quick hands, great timing, and excellent athleticism to block shots, get more than his share of rebounds, and score around the basket.  Jordan is the small quick point guard who made this team go to the tune of 27 points in the game we watched, plus we're talking about a guy with a 3.8 gpa.  But Jordan is still not as good a student as Hill, who has a 4.2 gpa while taking honors classes.  However, Jordan is a lot better student than Morrison, who still has some work to do in order to qualify academically in order to be eligible as a college freshman.  But that hasn't stopped schools like Oregon, Arizona State, Arizona, Boston College, Louisville, and Kentucky from showing interest in the top junior in the state of Arizona.  We also talked with Ellis and this top five sophomore nationally tells us that his early favorites include Alabama, North Carolina, and Connecticut.  The bigges upset in the 17-Under Division came when the Utah Bruins knocked off the Southern California All-Stars, which featured 6'4 Jr Arron Afflalo from Compton (Centennial) CA, 6'10 Jr David Burgess from Irvine (Woodbridge) CA, 6'8 Jr Chris Henry from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'2 Jr Vincent Oliver from Los Angeles (Loyola) CA, 6'7 Jr Marcel Jones from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, and 6'5 Soph Marcus Johnson from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, but we'll let them off the hook, because Afflalo played, but was slowed by an injury.  Another team with a lot of talent that got knocked off early in the 17-Under Division was Indiana Red, which featured 6'9 Jr Carl Swanagan from Lafayette (Jefferson) IN, 6'7 Jr Bil Duany from Bloomington (North) IN, and 6'5 Frosh Marques Johnson from Ft. Wayne (Snider) IN.  Not only is Johnson a 6'5 point guard, but he shoots the three, is an excellent ball handler and passer, extremely savvy for his age, and quick enough to beat most defenders off the dribble.  In other words, we're talking about one of the top 10 freshmen in the United States (and I've ready seen all the rest), as well as the best player on the Indiana Red team.  And that's saying a lot, because Swanagan and Duany both have the potential to be top 100 juniors nationally.  Duany is a carbon copy of his two older brothers (Duany and Kueth), because he's a rail thin incredible athlete with 3-point shooting range, good handling and passing skills, and a silky smooth demeanor.  Swanigan reminds us of a smaller version of 6'11 James Lang from Birmingham (Central Park Christian) AL.  Not only does he have deceptive foot speed and mobility for somebody with his mammoth size, but he's not yet a household name.  As a matter of fact, Swanagan recently moved from Utah to Lafayette, IN.  Swanigan also has soft hands and excellent moves to the basket, which means he could be the perfect complement to 6'5 Jr Robert Vaden from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, who verbally committed to Indiana when he was a freshman in high school two years ago.  And, if this were to happen right now, Swanigan would move Purdue's recruiting class into the #1 spot on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2004, plus he would probably put to rest any thoughts that Boilermakers head coach Gene Keady has about retiring any time soon.  Remember, Purdue already has a lot of good young players in the program and it's obvious that Purdue assistant coaches Jay Price and Cuonzo Martin are doing a job of ensuring that more help is on the way.  We also have to mention Belmont Shore, which featured 6'3 Jr Gabriel Pruitt from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'4 Jr Matt Thomas from Riverside (King) CA, 6'4 Soph Ed White from North Hollywood (Harvard-Westlake) CA, 6'10 Soph Jordan Wilkes from Los Angeles (Loyola) CA, and 6'6 Soph Jamal Boykin from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA.   Speaking of Boykin, he told us that he loves Arizona, but also mentioned schools like Duke, UCLA, Louisville and North Carolina.  However, even more important is the fact that he told us that his mom is 6-feet tall and that he wears a size 19-shoe.  In other words, it would be a major surprise if Boykin doesn't grow three of four more inches and, as a result, shed the tweener tag.  Therefore, when our California Editor Dinos Trigonis goes against the consensus and ranks Boykin over 6'9 Soph Amir Johnson  from Los Angeles (Verbum Dei) CA, as the #1 sophomore in California, we think it is more than justified.  Remember, Boykin has a knack for scoring around the basket, great hands, and being in the right place to get the ball when the shot is missed.  We also have talk about the senior Division, which featured 6'1 Sylvester Mayes from Ft. Wayne (Wayne) IN, 6'7 Dorell Wright from Lawndale (Leuzinger) CA, and 6'9 Mohamed Abukar from San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) CA, all three of whom are good enough to be ranked in the 15-30 range nationally, as well as are three of the top unsigned seniors nationally.  Mayes isn't ready for the NBA right now, but, otherwise, he's every bit as good as the billing.   Not only are we talking about a legitimate top 20 senior nationally, but a guy who averaged over 30 ppg during the weekend.  When we saw him, Mayes had 32 points, was lights out from outside, as he hit six 3-pointers, made some incredible passes, and used his excellent speed, quickness, and athleticism to get to the basket and create havoc defensively.  Unfortunately Mayes is as none gifted academically as he is gifted on the basketball court and, as a result, junior college is likely in his future.  So it comes as no surprise that schools like Coffeyville (JC) KS, Barton County (JC) KS, Southern Idaho (JC) ID, and Dixie (JC) UT are among those being mentioned for the biggest sleeper in the nation.  Wright reminds us of Tracy McGrady and he's got the incredible athleticism and natural talent necessary to someday be almost as good.   Not only is he a great ball handler and passer for his size, but more often than not he brings the ball up the court, starts the offense, and makes something spectacular happen.  He's not a strong as McGrady at the same stage, but he shoots it a lot better.  In other words, Wright is a close second as the biggest sleeper in the nation, although schools like Iowa, USC, Connecticut, Florida, Rhode Island, and Boston College do know about him.  But, just like Mayes, junior college and/or prep school may be in Wright's future, unless he decides to go the baseball route.  Apparently Wright also is a heck of a pitcher and, as a result, may have a big league future.   Abukar has suddenly become a prime recruiting target for schools like Louisville, Kentucky, Florida and Connecticut, as is evident by the fact that Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, Florida head coach Billy Donovan, Oregon head coach Ernie Kent, Kentucky assistant coach Scott Rigot, and Connecticut assistant coach Clive Vaughn were all in Las Vegas, NV to watch him play this weekend.  Abukar's club team coach Ollie Goulson also tells us that that Pitino, Donovan, Kent, and Kentucky's Tubby Smith will all make in-home visits this week and that San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher, Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar, Missouri head coach Quin Snyder, and Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun will all make in-home visits next week with Abukar.  Not only has Abukar really improved since we saw him last summer, as he's more athletic, handles the ball better and shoots the ball better, but he had a 42-point game and two 33-point games en route to 31 ppg, 12 rpg, and 5 bpg for the tournament.  However, Abukar needs to get a lot bigger and stronger in order to be a dominant force inside at the next level and, as a result, with his prolific scoring ability from both inside and outside, we see him more as a wing foward than a power forward down the road.  In other words, we think he's a much better fit for Florida and Connecticut than Louisville and Kentucky, which both need quality size in either this spring's or next year's recruiting class.  We also were impressed by three of Abukar's teammates - 6'6 Donald Barksdale from San Diego (Lincoln) CA, 5'8 8th Grader JayDee Luster from San Diego (Wangenheim) CA, and 6'5 Frosh Chase Budinger from La Costa (Canyon) CA.   Barkdale is a tweener, but he has good hands, is very athletic, and tough on the boards, which means he'd be a steal for the right mid-major school.  Budinger is a long lean white kid with long arms, active feet, an excellent 3-point shot, and a big time future.  Luster is small, but he's extremely quick, savvy for his age, and an an excellent ball handler and great passer, as is evident by the fact he had 15 assists in one game over the weekend.  In other words, we're probably talking about one of the top five 8th graders in the nation!  We didn't see much of the 16-Under Division, but we did see enough to know that Utah Vipers, which won the tournament, play just like Gonzaga, as 6'10 Soph Brayden Bell from American Fork (H.S.) UT, 6'4 Soph Clayton Searle from American Fork (H.S.) UT, and 6'7 Soph Shaun Green from Salt Lake City (Olympus) UT take care of business inside and 6'2   Soph Rick Shoff from American Fork (H.S.) UT, 6'1 Soph James Shoff from American Fork (H.S.) UT, 5'11 Soph Brenan Davis from American Fork (H.S.) UT, and 5'9 Soph Taylor Gleave from Salt Lake City (Brighton) UT executed flawlessly on the perimeter.  The Houston Hoops didn't get a lot of scoring production from 6'1 Soph David Devezin from Sugar Land (Clements) TX, but he set the table for 6'7 Soph Fendi Onobun from Alief (Taylor) TX, 6'6 Soph Rashad Woods from Cleveland (Heritage Chrisitan) TX, and 6'6 Soph Reginald Fuller from Sugar Land (Hightower) TX.  We also have to mention 6'9 Soph Jeremy Barr from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX, who is best described as project right now, because he's only been playing basketball for a year and he's got huge hands and feet and a mammoth-like frame.  It   didn't come as any surprise that the Houston Hoops coasted to the championship in the 15-Under Division, because 5'10 Frosh Nic Wise from Katy (Cinco Rancho) TX, who is the best point guard in the freshman class nationally, runs the show; 6'8 Frosh Darris Sante from Sugar Land (Hightower) TX and 6'4 Frosh Pierre Beasley from Houston (Westfield) TX provide the athleticism and size inside; and 6'4 Frosh Jerrod Johnson from Humble (H.S.) TX and 6'4 Frosh Justin Fields from West Columbia (Columbia) TX beat you on the perimeter.  We only saw two games in the 14-Under Division, but we were very surprised that the Portland Elite Legends won this age-group, because the Southern California All-Stars were loaded and the Houston Hoops featured two of the best 8th graders in nation in 6'5 Mike Singletary from Kingwood (Creekwood) TX and 6'6 Gary Johnson from Houston (Shotwell) TX.  Singletary, who had 24 points when saw him, uses his explosiveness and athleticism to do most of his damage in transition, while Johnson, who had 18 points in the same game, is unstoppable around the basket with his soft hands, explosive feet, rebounds skills, and efficiency when he gets the ball in the low post.   The Southern California All-Stars were led by 6'6 8th Grader Taylor King from Fountain Valley (Fulton) CA, 6'11 8th Grader Alex Jacobsen from Brea (Junior High School) CA, 5'10 8th Grader Kerte Elicaidez from Whittier (Burke) CA, 6'3 7th Grader Zack Zaragoza from Laguna Nigel, CA, and 6'2 8th Grader Gabe Apler from San Diego (Francis Parker) CA.  With King, we're talking about the best 8th grader in the nation.  Yes, I think he's better than 6'3 8th Grader O.J. Mayo from Ashland (Rose Hill) KY, who is the consensus #1-ranked 8th grader in the nation, and I am probably the only person who can make the statement, because I'm the only person in my business who has seen them both play.  King is a 6'6 white kid with extremely quick hands and feet, long arms, an excellent shooting tough, and incredible skills.  As a matter of fact, King is so advanced right now that he played up on the Southern California All-Stars loaded 17-under team, got quality playing time, and did extremely well.  Jacobson needs strength, but he's got great hands, long arms, a nice tough, good mobility, and the ability to run the court, which is pretty is pretty scary when you remember he's only 14-year-old.  And making the story even more interesting is the fact that both King and Jacobson plan to enroll at Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA next year and it's our guess that they will both push for starting spots on the varsity as freshmen.  In other words, they are both that good right now!  Elicaidez doesn't pass the look test, but this quick point guard is incredible when it comes to penetrating and dishing, making his teammates better, and finding the open man.  He also can keep you honest with his outside shot, but what we like best is the way he competes.  Zaragoza, who also is the best player on the 13-Under South Coast Team, has to be one of the top five 7th graders in the nation.   He's strong, athletic, and shoots the lights out!  Apler is more of a slasher than a shooter, but he gets mentioned because he's a tremendous competitor, excellent defender, and a tremendous student academically.  The names to remember for the Houston Hoops in the 13-Under Division are 6'3 7th Grader Corbin Ray from Houston (McMeins) TX, 5'11 7th Grader Jacoby Brown from Port Arthur, TX, and 5'11 7th Grader Michael Barbas from Houston (Cook) TX, but they were no match for the powerful Southcoast Stars, which featured Zaragoza, 6'3 7th Grader Malik Story from Pasadena (Ribet Academy) CA, 5'8 7th Grader 5'8 Brandon Jennings from Laguna (Nigel (St. Anne) CA, and 6'5 7th Grader Jamie Serna from Los Angeles (Vina Danks) CA, all four of whom should be ranked among our top 20 7th graders nationally.  After we saw the Southern California All-Stars beat the Las Vegas Lakers, 124-39, in a 12-Under Game, we told several people it was the biggest mismatch since the United States invaded Iraq.  And apparently the coaches of the Indiana Red/Hoosier Hoops agreed, as they forfeited the championship game and, instead, left for the airport over three-and-a-half hours prior to their 1:30 AM flight.   Indiana Red did have 5'6 6th Grader Rickey Washington from Indianapolis (Childs) IN, who is a tremendous 3-point shooter, an excellent athlete, and possibly one the top 10 6th graders in the nation, but Indiana Red didn't the athleticism or depth to compete against the Southern California All-Stars.  As a matter of fact, the Southern California All-Stars go 12-deep and every player on the team is a good player, as well as nice kid.  We should know, because we not only got a chance to see them all play, but we got a chance to talk with most of them right after the forfeit.   So remember the names - 6'2 6th Grader Demetrius Walker from Fontana, CA, 5'11 6th Grader Terran Carter from Los Angeles, CA, 5'9 6th Grader Rome Draper from Fontana, CA, 5'7 6th Grader Peshon Howard from Los Angeles, CA, 5'8 6th Grader Tommy Stangl from Fullerton, CA, 5'8 7th Grader Justin Hawkins from Los Angeles, CA, 5'8 Blake O'Donnell from Redland, CA, 6'4 6th Grader Xavier Whitfield from Sacramento, CA, 5'6 6th Grader Andrew Bock from Rialto, CA, 5'7 6th Grader Jordan Finn from Rancho Cucamongo, CA, 5'5 6th Grader Darius Morris from Los Angeles, CA, 5'1 6th Grader Labradford Franklin from Temecula, CA.  Walker, who had 18 points in the game we attended, deserves special mention, because he has incredible moves, athleticism, and skills for somebody his age and, as a result, is the best 6th grader in the nation.  As for the forfeited game, it's too bad, because the only reason why the Southern California All-Stars didn't play up in the 13-Under or 14-Under Division, is they wanted to face Indiana Red, which had beaten them a year ago.  However, Indiana Red apparently didn't have two of their top players from a year ago and the Southern California All-Stars are much better than they were a year ago.  Regardless, Southern California All-Stars head coach Joe Keller tells us that will play Indiana Red at any time and any place in the future.  Maybe Hal Pastner, who is the tournament director, will even put them in the same pool together next year in the Las Vegas Easter Classic.   That way Indiana Red won't be able to skip out early, if the competition looks like it's going to be too tough next time.  As for Pastner, he deserves a tremendous amount of credit for putting together an incredible event and it will be interesting to see what he does for an encore.  Actually we'll get to see first hand, because Friday morning I've got a 6:00 AM flight to Houston, TX to cover Pastner's Kingwood Classic, which not only promises to be even bigger and better, but it just might be the best event of the entire year!

The inquiry sign is now up on 6'8 Romel Beck from LA. City (JC) CA.  We knew that Beck was supposed to have made an official visit to UNLV on Friday, April 18th, but a source who at the time we thought was credible told us on Thursday night that Beck had made a verbal commitment to the Runnin' Rebels earlier that same day.  However, now we're being told that it's not over yet and, as a result, the Runnin' Rebels' recruiting class drops back down to #33 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  We still believe that Beck is the leader, but we're being told that Wyoming, Alabama, and Fresno State are also still on his list.  Another recruiting class that drops from #13 to #22 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003 is Texas Tech and the reason for this is that 6'9 Mike Travis from San Francisco (JC) CA, who committed to the Red Raiders last fall, has decided not attend Texas Tech afer all.  However, with 6'8 DeVonne Giles from Seward County (JC) KS, 6'1 Jay Jackson from Monroe (Ouachita Parish) LA, 6'4 Drew Coffman from Midland (Lee) TX, 6'6 Joseph Works from Garden City (JC) KS, and 6'6 Curtis Marshall from New Mexico Military (JC) TX it still appears that Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight has done a pretty good job of reloading, as he has landed his second top 25-ranked recruiting class in the last thrree years.  We also continue to hear that it's a two horse race between Oklahoma and Notre Dame for 6'8 Dennis Latimore, who is transferring from Arizona, but we're not willing to count out Minnesota just yet.  As a matter of fact, it was reported that Latimore had decided to attend Minnesota several weeks ago by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and you remember what happened the last time that happened and we didn't believe them.  We're talking about when 6'3 Wesley Washington from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, who reneged on California and, instead, picked Minnesota last fall.  If you will recall, our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis did everything except jump up and down and scream, as he claimed that there was no way Washington would sign with the Golden Golphers.  However, on the last day of the fall signing period that's exactly what Washington did.  We also are waiting to see what happens with 6'10 Alexander Johnson from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, who, after 6'11 James Lang from Birmingham (Central Park Christian) AL, is the best big man in high school/prep school that is still available.   Right now the final three schools appear to be Indiana, Cincinnati, and Florida State, but the word we get is that if North Carolina wanted to make a late push, he'd add the Tar Heels to his list.  However, as things stand now, it appears that Florida State has a slight edge.  And, if Johnson does pick the Seminoles, then there recruiting class would move into the #2 spot on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Remember, Florida State landed 6'5 Vakeaton Wafer from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX, 6'10 Diego Romero from Lon Morris (JC) TX, and 6'7 Antonio Griffin from  Scottsdale (JC) AZ last fall and they also still appear to have a slight chance at 6'8 Linas Kleiza from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, if something strange happens and he doesn't end up at Missouri.  And, if that does happen, then Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton would easily have the best recruiting class in the nation.  And the same can be said about Cincinnati, if Johnson picks the Bearcats.  If you will recall, last fall Cincinnati landed 6'10 Robert Whaley from Barton County (JC) KS, 6'4 Nick Williams from Chipola (JC) FL, and 6'8 Mike Pilgrim from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, plus they have 6'8 James White, who transferred to Cincinnati last fall from Florida, sitting out.   While White doesn't count with Cincinnati's class, because it is the editorial policy of the HOOP SCOOP not to count transfers when ranking recruiting classes, the Bearcats class would be ranked #1, if White did count and they got Johnson.   However, for our purposes, if they get Johnson, they would move up to #2.   Originally we weren't very high Oregon State's recruiting class, but now that 6'8 Jeff Williams from Milwaukee (La Salle) OR has elected not sign with the Beavers and he's been replaced in the recruiting class by 6'6 Kenny Hooks from Moss Pointe (H.S) MS and 6'3 Angelo Tsagarakis from Petaluma (Casa Grande) CA, suddenly this class is starting to look pretty good.  As a matter of fact, we have it tied, along with Miami-OH and Western Kentucky, at #68 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And it would be ranked even higher, if we included transfers, because 5'9 Jason Fontent has transferred from New Mexico State to Oregon State.  Obviously this was a case, whereby, Oregon State head coach head coach Jay John was able to take advantage of some of the old connections that he established when he was an assistant coach at Arizona.  Remember, John recruited Fontent at Arizona, but the Wildcats, instead, elected to take Latimore, 6'2 Salim Stoudamire from Lake Oswego (H.S.) OR, 6'0 Will Bynum from Chicago (Crane) IL, 6'9 Isaiah Fox from Santa Monica (Crossroads) CA,and Channing Frye from Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ.  Not only will Fontent give 6'4 Lamar Hurd, who was one of the top freshmen in the league last year, an excellent point guard to battle against every day next year in practice, but, year after next, he should be the ideal complement to Hurd and Hooks, as they promise to give John three of the fastest players in the league at the one, two, and three spots.  Hooks is ranked #140 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but once he gets stronger and tougher, that may turn out to be way too low.  Hooks also is an excellent catch, because he's got a 3.6 gpa and a 21 ACT and he gives Oregon State another link to the Deep South.  If you will recall, Oregon State got Hurd out of Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX a year ago.  And when John needs a zone buster, Tsagarakis, who has incredible shooting range, should be their man.  We also have confirmed that Iowa has gotten an early verbal commitment from 6'9 Alex Thompson from Ames (H.S.) IA, who is ranked as the #1 junior in the state by Van Coleman of Future Stars.  Kansas was the competion for Thompson, but when Roy Williams left for North Carolina a week ago, that made the decision easy.  Not only is Thompson a legitimate top 50 junior nationally, but we're talking about a combo forward who in a lot of ways is like former Florida All-American Mike Miller.   Thompson can shoot the three, is very skilled, and can run, jump, and is every athletic for a white kid.  Thompson joins 6'6 J.R. Angle from Trafalgar (Indian Creek) IN to give the Hawkeyes the #3-ranked recruiting class on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2004.  Speaking of who is getting the best early jump on recruiting a year from now,  it appears that the Big-10 is way ahead of the pack, as three of the top six recruiting classes on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2004, belong to Michigan, Iowa, and Purdue.

Saturday, April 19, 2003, and Sunday, April 20, 2003

It is confirmed that Illinois head coach Bill Self has already agreed in principle to become the new head coach at Kansas and, as a result, it appears that Self and his staff already could be on the verge of landing the best recruiting class in the nation.  But the two keys for this happen are for 6'9 Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, who verbally committed, but never signed a binding National Letter-of-Intent with the Fighting Illini last fall, to be willing to follow Williams to Kansas and for all of the current recruits to honor the commitments they made last to the previous regime.  If you will recall, Kansas' recruiting class, which already includes 6'5 J.R. Giddens from Oklahoma City (John Marshall) OK, 6'10 David Padgett from Reno (H.S.) NV, 6'3 Omar Wilkes from Los Angeles (Loyola) CA, and 6'1 Jeremy Case from McAlester (H.S.) OK, is currently ranked #8 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, but, with the addition of Villanueva, their recruiting class would move up to #1, ironically, just ahead of Kansas State.  On the other hand, Illinois' current recruiting class, which includes 6'9 Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, 6'3 Richard McBride from Springfield (Lanphier) IL, 6'7 Brian Randle from Peoria (Notre Dame) IL, and 6'8 Warren Carter from Dallas (Lake Highlands) TX and is ranked #5 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, would drop from to #33, if Villanueva reneges on the Fighting Illini.  And making the story even more interesting is the fact that Illinois was believed to be a near lock for 6'6 Jr Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Central) IL, who is the #4 ranked junior in America by the HOOP SCOOP.  Remember, the #1 reason why most players select a school is the head coach and, as a result, the race to get Livingston suddenly could be wide open again.  obviously Self and his staff have done a great job recruiting Livingston, but the people with influence around him still have extremely strong ties to the University of Illinois.  Not only does all this come as no surprise, but it's something we've been expecting for some time.  As a matter of fact, we've been talking about the possibility of Roy Williams going from North Carolina to Kansas, Self replacing him at Kansas, and Marquette head coach Tom Crean being the leading candidate to take over at Illinois for about a month now.  We've also mentioned Holy Cross head coach Ralph Willard as the possible successor to Crean at Marquette.  Not only has Willard built the Crusaders into one of the best teams at the low Division I level in college basketball, as is evident by the fact they have averaged over 20 wins a year and have played Kentucky, Kansas, and Marquette extremely tough in the first round of the NCAA Tournament each of the last three years, but Willard is the guy who hired Crean in the first place at Western Kentucky.   And, if Willard were to get the Marquette job, it probably would be his last job.   In other words, they could get a great coach who would likely remain in place 10 or 12 years, which is exactly what fans and the administration wan at Marquette.  Making the story even more intriguing are reports that we've gotten with regards to Willard turning down both the South Florida and Western Kentucky jobs within the last week.  The official party line is that Willard has most of his players returning and is making a lot more money than most people realize and, as a result, is happy at Holy Cross.  However, we have to wonder if Willard already knows something.  Our guess is that Crean, who is extremely popular in Milwaukee, WI, has already done some behind the scenes work to help Willard get the job.  Remember, it's not any big surprise that Crean is one of the hottest head coaches in the college basketball right now and, as a result, can pretty much write his won ticket in terms of getting one of the premier jobs in the nation this spring.  We also understand that former North Carolina assistant coach Doug Wojcik has turned down a similar position at UCLA, which leads us to believe he probably will be named as the replacement for Brian Gregory at Michigan State.  We also expect former North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty and assistant coach Fred Quartlebaum to land on their feet.  As a matter of fact, we've heard that Louisville head coach Rick Pitino may consider hiring Doherty to replace Mick Cronin, who recently got the head coaching job at Murray State.  It looks like they may bring former Iowa head coach Dr. Tom Davis out of retirement to coach at Drake, but, at 64-years-old, you have to wonder whether he'll be able to recruit.  Instead, we think Texas Tech assistant coach Pat Knight, who appears to be the leading candidate, if Davis decides not to take it, is ideally suited for the job.  Not only has he learned a tremendous amount as a coach over the years from his father, but he's done an outstanding job of recruiting.  Remember, Lubbock, TX is not the easiest place to sell, but that hasn't stopped the Red Raider from having two top 20 recruiting classes in the last three years.  We don't have an official list yet for the Western Michigan job, but some logical candidates would Pat Knight, Illinois assistant coach Norm Roberts, Oregon assistant coach Scott Duncan, Michigan assistant coach Charles Ramsey, Indiana assistant coach John Treloar, Central Michigan assistant coach Dave Grube, and Purdue assistant coach Jay Price.

Friday, April 18, 2003

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that 6'9 Lawrence Carrier from Salisbury (School) CT has signed with Massachusetts, 6'2 Zabian Dowdell from Pahokee (H.S.) FL has signed with Virginia Tech, 6'6 Antonio Porch from Denver (East) CO has signed with Denver, and 6'8 Kyle Wilson is transferring from Illinois to Wichita State.  Wilson has the strength and the body to play inside and the 3-point shooting and perimeter skills to play outside, but he lacks the athleticism to ever be more than a good role player in the Big-10 Conference.  However, now that he's transferring to Wichita State, we think this less athletic, but stronger version of former Kansas player Luke Axtell will emerge into one of the best players in the Missouri Valley Conference.  We also think Denver, which beat schools like Wyoming and Colorado State, got a steal in Porch, who is ranked #194 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and there is no question that 6'2 Zabian Dowdell from Pahokee (H.S.) FL has a huge upside to go along with his excellent outside shooting, savvy, and ball handling and passing skills.  So obviously we think this is a nice catch for new Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg, who also had been recruiting Dowdell when he was at South Florida and obviously was able to take advantage of that previous relationship.  Carrier is ranked #24 among 5th players by the HOOP SCOOP, but that's deceptive, because he's been hurt off-and-on for the last several years.  However, Carrier does have an excellent body, a lot of natural talent, good size, and the skills necessary to play both inside and outside.  So don't be surprised, if Carrier also turns out to be a lot better than just the equivalent of a top 100 high school player in college.  And, if that happens, instead of people speculating about whether  Massachusetts head coach Steve Lappas is going to get fired, they'll be once again talking about what a good coach he is.  But for that to happen, Carrier must stay healthy and dedicate himself to getting into a better shape during the off-season.  Massachusetts also signed 6'2 Art Bowers from Newark (St. Bendict's) NJ last fall and recently got a verbal commitment from 6'6 Maurice Maxwell from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA.  So, with the addition of Carrier, their recruiting class moves up to #74 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Our New England Editor Wayne Simone informs me that 6'4 Randy Burks from Kilgore (JC) TX has signed with Rhode Island and we think this is a pretty good catch for the Rams, because we're talking about a player who can shoot, score, handle, pass, and defend and is versatile enough to play the one, two, or the three spot.  Simone also tells us that the latest list for 6'6 Jr John Lucky from Waterbury (Sacred Heart) CT, who Simone thinks is one of the best players he's ever had in his Connecticut Select club team program, includes Virginia, Georgia Tech, Connecticut, Boston College, and Providence.  Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin informs us that 6'1 Jose Olivero from Fairfax (W.T. Woodson) VA has signed with Lehigh, 6'2 Trevan Jackson from Ft. Washington (Friendly) MD and 6'8 Winstonn Tabbs from Marietta (H.S.) GA have both picked Towson, and 6'6 Mark Zoller from Philadelphia (St. Joseph Prep) PA is going to Pennsylvania. Neither Jackson nor Tabbs is going to turn the Towson program around all by himself, but when added to a recruiting class that is ranked #82 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003 and also includes 6'1 Mike Green from Philadelphia (Franklin Learning Center) PA, 6'8 Holden Plack from Brooklandville (St. Paul's) MD, and 6'6 Jonathan Pease from Morganza (Chaptican) MD, it is obvious that the program has taken a giant step in the right direction.   Towson head coach Michael Hunt also has proven he can get his share of talent right in his own backyard by landing Olivero, Jackson, and Plack; has taken advantage of his Southern roots dating back to his days as an assistant coach at Georgia and Tennessee with the addition of Tabbs; and can get players in Philadelphia, PA with the pickup of Green.  Did you know that Green is a ranked #14 in the Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Area by Rubin?  We also are impressed by Pennsylvania's recruiting class, which is tied at #106 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  However, even more important is the fact that 6'8 Steve Danley from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'7 Ryan Pettinella from Rochester (McQuaid Jesuit) NY, and 6'6 Mark Zollar from Philadelphia (St. Joseph's Prep) PA, all three of whom rank in the 100-300 range nationally, should be three of the better inside players in the Ivy League for years to come.  In other words, maybe it was not such a big surprise after all when Pennsylvania head coach Fran Dunphy said no to Penn State last month.  

Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis tells us that 6'11 Jr Robert Swift has transferred from Bakersfield (Garces) CA to Bakersfield (Highland) CA and 6'2 Jr DeMarcus Nelson has transferred from Vallejo (H.S.) CA to Sacramento (Sheldon) CA and it also appears that USC assistant coach Kurtis Townsend, who is the #5-ranked assistant coach by the HOOP SCOOP, and L.A. City (JC) CA head coach Mike Miller, who has several players, like 5'10 Jerrell Blassingame and 6'8 Tyrone Riley, that he can bring with him right off the bat, are the two leading candidates to replace Cal-State Fullerton head coach Donnie Daniels, who was hired earlier today as the #1 assistant at UCLA.  Among the players that Miller won't be able to bring with him, if he gets the Cal State-Fullerton job, is 6'8 Romel Beck from L.A. City (JC) CA, who signed with UNLV today.  If you will recall, we told you that this was likely to happen several days ago.  And this is a great final recruit for UNLV assistant coach Derek Thomas, who is expected to get the Western Illinois job early next week.  As a matter of fact, this moves the Runnin' Rebels' recruiting class up to #12 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Remember, UNLV already has 6'10 Chris Adams from San Francisco (JC) CA, 6'8 Romel Beck from L.A. City (JC) CA, 6'6 Andy Hannan from Minneapolis Community (JC) MN; 6'3 John Winston from Richmond (Salesian) CA, and 6'2 Michael Umeh from Sugar Land (Hightower) TX in the fold and, as a result, it looks like UNLV head coach Charlie Spoonhour is perfectly positioned to make a strong run and go out in a blaze of glory in a couple of years.  And, if that happens, former UCLA head coach Steve Lavin, who has strong contacts with the right people in the administration at UNLV, appears to be well positioned to get the job.  Speaking of Lavin, his former top assistant Jim Saia, who has previous junior college head coaching experience and is currently looking for a job, might be the perfect person to replace Miller at L.A. City (JC) CA.  Obviously, when Lavin gets another job, Saia will be one of the first people he hires and, if he's already stocking up on good junior college players, he'd already well ahead of the game.  New UCLA head coach Ben Howland was in to see 6'10 Jr David Burgess from Irvine (Woodbridge) CA last week and Louisville's Rick Pitino will be in next week (Wednesday), but this one is still wide open, as Kansas, Florida, Utah, Brigham Young, North Carolina, Stanford, Wyoming, Colorado State, and New Mexico are all showing interest.  We also understand that Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins has been offered the St. Bonaventure job, but our source thinks he might turn it down.  Remember, Syracuse has a history of hiring from within, so all Hopkins has to do to be the heir apparent to Orangmen head coach Jim Boeheim is sit tight for the next eight or 10 years.  However, if Hopkins takes a lower level job, he obviously would be better prepared to take over at someplace like Syracuse when the time does come.  It also appears that new Columbia head coach Joe Jones is already off to a fast start, as the word on the street is that 6'0 David Gale from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, who is ranked #50 on our 5th year list, will be his first recruit.  Not only does Gale promise to be one of the better players in the Ivy League, but he's already been accepted into school academically at Columbia, because the previous regime had also made him a prime target.  We also have confirmed that 6'9 Tyler Jones from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX has verbally committed to St. John's and it appears that another future prime target for the Red Storm may be heading in the other direction.  Did you know that 6'9 Jr Derrick Caracter, who is the consensus #1-ranked freshman in the nation, has interest in transferring to Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX?  And so does 6'10 Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC.  As a matter of fact, Tangara's younger brother, who will be a freshman in high school next year, already is a done deal for Heritage Christian.  We also have confirmed that 6'10 Oluwafemi Ibikunte from New Hampton (Prep) NH has signed with Texas Christian, which seems to be a cause for concern for Greg Swaim of GregSwaim.com. Apparently Swaim thinks the Cowboys lost a good one, but we're not so sure.  Sure, Ibikunte, who is a physical specimen with excellent athleticism, passes the look test, but when we saw him last fall, he did not pass the play test, as he stood around and accomplished very little at the War on the Shore National Prep School Invitational last November.  However, Ibikunte is still a good late addition for Texas Christian, because he has a chance to develop and become a good player down the road.  So suddenly the question becomes how does Texas Christian, whose recruiting class moves up to #28 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, with the addition of Ibikunte, get one of the few players left with any size at this late date?  Our guess is that Texas Christian assistant coach Rick Calhoun used his old contacts from his days at South Carolina during the Eddie Fogler era to get his one done.  Prior to going the prep school route this year, Ibikunte attended high school at Syracuse (Hampton) SC.

Thursday, April 17, 2003

For the last several weeks the race between UNLV assistant coach Derek Thomas and former UAB head coach Murry Bartow has been too close to call, but, as we enter the homestretch, it appears that Thomas has taken a  commanding lead.  As a matter of fact, we'd be surprised if Thomas didn't get the job early next week.  And this should be a natural fit, because Thomas, who is originally from St. Louis, MO, is a tremendous recruiter and nobody has more ties in the state of Illinois than he does.  This also would position Thomas perfectly to get the Saint Louis job, if Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg doesn't get it done during the next three or four yrears.   Remember, Soderberg is an outstanding coach, but there are questions about whether he will recruit well enough to maintain the program at the same level that Charlie Spoonhour and Lorenzo Romar had taken it too in recent years.   Also don't forget the fact that Thomas was one of the leading candidates for the Saint Louis job a year ago when Soderberg took over as the helm of the Billikens.  As for Bartow, his name is being mentioned for a number of the jobs that are currently open, like East Tennessee State, Elon College, and William & Mary.  Speaking of Bartow and William & Mary, did you know that I first met Bartow when he was an assistant coach at William & Mary?  Other names that appear to be on the list to become the next head coach of the Tribe, include current assistant coach Pat Skerry, Virginia assistant coach Walt Fuller, and Notre Dame assistant coach Anthony Solomon, all three of whom rank among the fastest rising coaches in the business.  Texas Tech assistant coach Pat Knight and Creighton assistant coach Greg Grensing appear to be the leading candidates over former Iowa head coach Dr. Tom Davis, Central Florida assistant coach Kirk Sperow, and Louisville assistant coach Vince Taylor for the head coaching job at Drake.  St. Bonaventure finally got around to firing head coach Jan Van Breda Kolff, South Florida has hired Western Michigan head coach Rob McCullum, and the smart money continues to be on Illinois head coach Bill Self going to Kansas.  Not only is Self one of the hottest head coaches in college basketball today, but he previously was an assistant coach at Kansas and his parents live between Lawrence, KS and Stillwater, OK, which is important, because Self wants his kids to grow up close to where their grandparents live.  Thus, explains why Greg Swaim of GregSwaim.com has been telling us for several years now that, if either the Kansas job or the Oklahoma State job ever opens, Self would jump at either opportunity.  Instead, the question is whether the people making the hire at Kansas will be smart enough to go after Self with the same type of zest and vigor that the y used to try and keep Roy Williams.  If they don't, our guess is that Self, who already has the Fighting Illini program built into one of the premier programs in college basketball, will probably remain at Illinois.  Remember, 6'6 Jr Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Central) IL, who is the #4-ranked junior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, is believed to be a near lock to commit to Illinois sometime within the next six months, he has the #5 ranked recruiting class, which includes 6'9 Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, 6'3 Richard McBride from Springfield (Lanphier) IL, 6'7 Brian Randle from Peoria (Notre Dame) IL, and 6'8 Warren Carter from Dallas (Lake Highlands) TX, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003 ready to get on board next year, and most of his players back from a young team that proved to be a major surprise this past season.  McCullum's hire at South Florida was almost as surprising as when former South Florida head coach Seth Greenberg got the Virginia Tech job two weeks ago.  Remember, Greenberg wasn't even on the list one day and he had the job the next.  Obviously McCullum was able to take advantage of his old Florida ties.  If you will recall, McCullum was an assistant coach at the University of Florida during the Lon Kruger era.  We also believes that Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins should be a near lock for the St. Bonaventure job, especially after Syracuse won the NCAA Championship with all the great young talent, like Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara, that Hopkins helped recruit for the Orangemen.  However, the list continues to grow as Siena head coach Rob Lanier, Rutgers assistant coach Kevin Heck, Niagara head coach Joe Mihalic, Canisius head coach Mike MacDonald, and Seton Hall assistant coach Brian Nash also have all been mentioned as potential candidates to take over as head coach of the Bonnies.   We also are interested to see who new Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon hires.  At this point he's retained assistant coach Barry Rohorssen and hired former Pittsburgh player Oliver Antigua, which should give Dixon the strong ties that he will need to continue to recruit New York City.  However, he still needs to add an experienced guy who can both coach and recruit.  How about former Panthers assistant coach Reggie Warford?   Remember, Warford, who currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA and runs a security company, helped build the Pittsburgh program once and he's got ties in all over the Midwest and South dating back to his playing days at the University of Kentucky during the Joe Hall era and more recently he spent time one the West Coast as an assistant for Wayne Morgan at Long Beach State.

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Once the cat gets out of the bag, it's often impossible to put it back into the bag.  Well, that's exactly what happened when the media got wind of the fact that 6'4 Jr Arron Afflalo from Compton (Centennial) CA, who is ranked #24 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, told new UCLA head coach Ben Howland that he plans to go to UCLA two days ago.   Originally the plan was for Afflalo to wait until this summer to publicly announce his decison, but once he starting getting phone calls from the media, he decided to just go ahead and confirm his plans and, as a result, we are now counting Afflalo as UCLA's first recruit in the junior class.  Obviously this is huge for the new regime at UCLA for several reasons.  First, Afflalo is the best junior in Southern California.  Second, keeping the top players at home is critical, if UCLA wants to reemerge as one of the premier programs in college basketball.  Third, we're talking about a strong physical athlete who gets to the basket, shoots the lights out, and has good enough ball handling skills to play point guard.  Afflalo also is a terrific kid, a great student, and a relentless competitor who simply refuses to let his team lose.  And 6'2 Jr Jordan Farmer from Los Angeles (Taft) CA, who is the #7 ranked junior in the state on Dinos Trigonis' list, which I've been trying to find time to finalize for the last two weeks, may not be too far behind Afflalo in terms of making it official for the Bruins.  We also understand that 6'11 David Padgett from Reno (H.S.) NV and 6'3 Omar Wilkes from Los Angeles (Loyola) CA, both of whom signed with Kansas last fall, would like to try and get out of their National Letter-of-Intents and go to UCLA.  Did you know that Padgett's father and Howland were both assistant coaches at different times at UC-Santa Barbara and, as a result, have a lot of the same acquaintances and friends and that Wilkes' father is former UCLA All-American Keith Wilkes?  However, since both Padgett and Wilkes signed a binding National Letter-of-Intent with the Jayhawks last fall, they will have to sit out a year, if they decide not to honor their commitments to Kansas and, instead, enroll at UCLA next fall.  Remember, it says on the National Letter-of-Intent that you are signing with the member institution and not the coach.  But this does provide even further evidence of just how easy it will be for Howland and his staff to recruit at UCLA.  In other words, their biggest problem won't be getting players interested in the Bruins.  Instead, it will be picking and choosing the right ones.  We also have confirmed via our Mid-South Editor Jim Rothman and our Mississipi Editor Lavel Johnson that the University of Mississippi has landed and 6'5 Marvin Moore from Southern Union (JC) AL and 6'2 Ed Glass from Kaskaskia (JC) IL and, as a result, their recruiting class moves into a tie at #40, along with Middle Tennessee State, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  If you will recall, Ole Miss already has landed 6'9 Byron Burnett from Southern Union (JC) AL, 6'2 Mario Jointer from Northeast Mississippi (JC) MS, and 6'4 Jara Doyne from Little Rock (Mills) AR in this recruiting class, although they will likely have to wait until next year to get Jointer, due to a Southeastern Conference rule that requires recruits to have been at the same junior college for three consecutive semesters prior to transferring to an SEC school.  And that's important, because it will allow the Rebels to also take 6'8 Warren Scott from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, if he qualifies academically.  And, if that does happen, Ole Miss' recruiting class will move up to #29 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And while all these players are on the way in at Ole Miss, 6'3 Trey Pearson appears to be on the way out, as it appears he will transfer to either Austin Peay or Murray State.   Speaking of Murray State, new Racers head coach Mick Cronin has already hired Matt Grady, who was a graduate assistant coach at Louisville, and Chris Goggin, who was the video coordinator at the University of Cincinnati.  In other words, Cronin has hired two young aggressive go-getters (just like Cronin used to be), but he still hasn't decided upon who will be his #1 assistant.  The smart money is on Ryan Wolf, who is the head coach at Barton County (JC) KS, and Mike Wilson, who is a scout for the Denver Nuggets, as well as Cronin's top mentor, along with Cincinnati's Bobby Huggins and Louisville's Rick Pitino, over the years.   Ironically, a year ago Cronin and Wilson were ranked #2 and #3, respectively, on our list of the top assistant coaches in the nation.  Just imagine what recruiting would be like at Murray State, if both Cronin and Wilson were on the same staff.  The latest list for South Florida includes Butler head coach Todd Lickliter, Holy Cross head coach Ralph Willard, Maryland assistant coach Dave Dickerson, South Florida assistant coach Dave Zimroth, and Kentucky assistant coach Scott Rigot.  It also looks like former Dayton assistant coach Ron Jirsa will follow Oliver Purnell to Clemson and now that Michigan State assistant coach Mike Garland has gotten the Cleveland State job, Pittsburgh assistant coach Jamie Dixon has taken over for Ben Howland as the head coach of the Panthers, and Marquette assistant coach Darrin Horn has returned to his alma mater has the head coach, 23 head coaching jobs (Alcorn State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Chicago State, Clemson, Cleveland State, Dayton, Georgia, Georgia State, Illinois State, Jackson State, Lamar, Mt. St. Mary's, Murray State, North Carolina, Penn State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina State, Tennessee State, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Washington State, Western Kentucky, and Wright State) have already been filled this spring and 11 more (Campbell, Columbia, Drake, East Tennessee State, Elon College, High Point, Kansas, North Carolina A&T, South Florida, Western Illinois, and William & Mary) are currently open. 

Today I am flying to Las Vegas, NV to cover the Las Vegas Easter Classic, which will be held April 16th-20 and headquartered at the McDermott Center Courts on the campus of UNLV, and next week I will be flying to Houston, TX to cover the Kingwood Classic, which will be held April 25th-27th and headquarted at Westfield High School.  The tournament in Las Vegas, NV will include 270 teams playing in over 700 games during a five-day period.  However, that promises to be easy when compared to what Hal Pastner, who is the tournament director for both tournaments, has in store in Houston, TX next week.  We're talking about a field of 350 teams with over 850 games in 48 hours.  In other words, we have to be talking about the largest tournament in the shortest amount of time in history and only somebody with the incredible organizational skills that Paster has would even attempt to pull it off.  The field for the 17-Under Divison in Las Vegas, NV will include the 4D Stars, AAC Stars, ABC, Agassi Stars, Alley Cats, Alta, Arizona Cagers, Arizona Heat, Arizona Magic, Arizona Stars, Bay Area Blue Devils, Belmont Shore, Beyond Limit Athletes, Blacktop, Blueprint Ruffhouse All-Stars, Branch West, Colordo Hawks, Copper State All Stars, Emerald City Chaffey, Emerald City Pioneers, Falcons, Friends of Jefferson, Grizzlies Hoops, Houston Hoops, ICCBS, Indiana Red, Jam On It, Jim Brown I-Can Allstars, Kaysville, Las Vegas Heat, Las Vegas Rebels, Long Island Roadrunners, Moapa Valley Bluedevils, New Mexico Rattlers, One Tough School, Portland Panthers, Rebels, Salt Lake Metro Black, San Antonio Flames, San Diego All Stars, SD Cougars, South Florida Chiefs, Southern California All-Stars, Southern Nevada AllStars, Spirit of the North, Triple Threat, Utah Bruins, Utah Grizzlies, Utah Vipers, and VoTech Roadrunners.  But the 16-team senior Division I promises to attract the interest of numerous college coaches looking to steal a player this spring.  And right at the top the list will be 6'9 Mohamed Abakur from San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) CA, who reportedly was released from his National Letter-of-Intent yesterday by the Univerity of Georgia, and 6'3 Sylvester Mays from Ft. Wayne (Wayne) IN, who might be the best kept secret nationally in years.  If you will recall, two days ago we reported that UCLA, Kentucky, Florida, Louisville, Connecticut, and San Diego State were the favorites for Abakur, but you can bet that list will get longer before it gets shorter, as this athletic power forward just seems to keep getting better and better.  In other words, his ranking at #62 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP may be too low, but regardless of that fact, Abakur suddenly is the fourth best senior nationally currently available behind 6'8 Linas Kleiza from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'0 Maureece Rice from Philadelphia (Strawberry Mansion) PA, and 6'11 Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ.  Mays was a ward of the state last summer and, as a result, didn't get a chance to travel on any club teams or attend any camps, so nobody, including us got a chance to see him play.  However, the word is starting to leak out that he's tremendous and, if his game is as good as his hype, he might be the best player in the senior class nationally who is still available.  Unfortunately, one of Mays' special gifts does not appear to be in classroom and right now he's so far away from making it academically that he might need both a year of prep school and two years of junior college.  The word we get is that Southern Idaho (JC) ID may be Mays' future, but still, he is worth keeping track of for future reference.  As a matter of fact, we know one NBA scout who plans to call us on Friday to see if it's worth his time to get on the next plane in order to check out Mays first hand.  Get the idea that this guy is either one of the most overhyped guys of all time or he's pretty darn good!  In additon to the 17-Under and Senior Division's, the Las Vegas Easter Classic also will feature 16-Under, 15-Under, 14-Under, 13-Under, 12-Under, and 11-Under Divisions.  Speaking of the 12-Under Division, we are especially anxious to check out the SCA/Inland Stars, which features 6'2 Demetrius Walker from Fontana, CA, who is widely regarded as the best 6th grader in the nation, and is absolutely loaded.  While the Las Vegas Easter Classic promises to be one of the top events of the spring, it doesn't even come close to comparing to the Kingwood Classic, which will is expected to be one of the top events of the entire year.   As a matter of fact, the list of teams in the 17-Under Division is incredible, as it includes 4D, ABC Hoops, Albany City Rocks, Arizona Cagers, Arizona Stars, Arkansas Angels, Arkansas Wings, Atlanta All Stars, Atlanta Prep Stars, ATX, Austin Dawgs, Beaumont Hoopsters, Belmont Shore, Big Dawgs, Blessed IJN (Maximun), CC Elite, Cedar Hill, Cincinnati Royals, Copper State All Stars, Crossover Meteors, Dallas Dirty Dozen, Dallas Fire, Dallas Hoops Select, Dallas Mustangs, DC Blue Devils, DFW Hoopsters, DTA Wisconsin, E&S Elite, Fast Break USA, First Class, Florida Hoopsters, Florida Prep Stars, Fox Valley Skillz, Ft. Bend Prospects, Ft. Sooy No Limit, Ft. Worth Lions, Galveston Hornets, Gary Cougars, Gateway Basketball Club, Georgia Stars, Georgia Warriors, Hoop Dogs, Houston Bulldogs, Houston Gold, Houston Hoops, Houston Lynx, Houston Raptors Select, Houston Select, Houston Superstars, Houston Westside Allstars, Illnois Warriors, Illinois Wolves, Indiana Red, Indian White, Jersey Cyclones, Jr EBO/EA Sports, Kansas City Keys, Kansas City Premier, Katy Ballers, Katy Tigers, KCHoopScoop.com Orangemen, KC's Mustangs, Kentucky Hoosters, Klein Kats, Long Island Roadrunners, Louisiana Dream Team, Louisiana Panthers, Louisiana Select, Louisiana Stars, Madison Spartans, Mean Streets, Memphis Bulldogs, Mid State Ballerz Elite, Milwaukee Running Rebels, Minnesota Magic, New Jersey All-Stars, New Orleans Rattlers, New York Gauchos, Nex Level, Nike Team Florida, NJ Wildcats Elite, North Texas, North Texas Rice Owls, Old Gold Chicago, Omaha Rebels, One Tough School, Platinum Starzz, Portland Elite Legends, Portland Panthers, RBS AllStars, Remnant, Rise & Shine, Riverside Church, San Antonio Flames, San Antonio Raiders, San Antonio Rohawks, San Antonio Spurs, San Antonio Wildcats, SE Texas Allstars, South Carolina Ravens, South Florida Heat, Southern California All Stars, Southern Nevada AllStars, Southpoint Shooters, Southwest Missouri Storm, Spiece Select, St. Louis Blue, St. Louis Eagles, St. Louis Gators, TA Eagles, Team Charlotte Stars, Team Georgia, Team Illinois, Team NCI Hoopstars, Team Tennessee, Texas Texas, Tennessee Travelers, Texas Ambassadors, Texas Tarheels, Texas Terps, Texas Wolverines, TUAC Warriors, Utah Vipers, Westchester Hawks, Westfield H.S., Worldwide Renegades, and YOMCA Team Memphis.  In other words, this truly is a national tournament and, if you are anybody in basketball and you are not in Houston, TX the last weekend in April, you missed the boat.  And to top it off, Pastner has switched the headquarters this year from Kingwood High School to Westfield High School, where he has five gyms within walking distance of one another.  For more information and brackets for the Las Vegas Easter Classic, click on visionsports.com.  The brackets for the Kingwood Classic won't be made available until early next week, but they too will be made available at visionsports.com.

We finally have caught up with Bobby Jacobs, who is Executive Director of the Slam Dunk to the Beach, and he tells us that he has Montreal (Champlain St. Lambert) QU, Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, Powder Springs (McEachern) GA, Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, Tuscaloosa (Hillcrest) AL, Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA, Richland (St. Augustine) NJ, Bloomfield (Tech) NJ, New York (Rice) NY, Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, Burlington (Life Center) NJ, Bennettsville (Marlboro County) SC, Birmingham (A.H. {Parker) AL, Philadelphia (Penn Charter) PA, Provo (Tempview) UT, LaPlace (Reserve Christian) LA, and Atltanta (Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA all already signed, sealed, and under contract for this year's tournament.  Jacobs also tells us that he also is close to getting eight more teams that would make ensure that this is the best field he's ever assembled.   However, he doesn't want to release this information until it's official.  Remember, in recent year's Jacobs has let the cat out of the bag prematurely and later has lost teams due to the fact that NIKE has put pressure on the teams to attend the Academy National Invitational, which is the tournament they sponsor in Houston, TX.  But Jacobs does tell us that if everything falls right he could have even more McDonald's All-American's than the eight he had in last year's tournament.  As a matter of fact, with teams featuring 6'9 Jr Josh Smith from Powder Springs (McEachern) GA, 6'9 Jr D.J. White from Tuscaloosa (Hillcrest) AL, 6'10 Jr Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Southwest Christian) GA, 6'8 Jr Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, 6'11 Jr Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'8 Jr Juan Diego Palacios from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, and 6'5 Jr Earl Smith from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ already under contract, Jacobs is darn close to achieving this goal right now.  In addition to the seven players listed above, we also expect to see 6'7 Jr Stanley Branch from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'9 Jr Ra'Sean Dickey from Bennettsville (Marlboro County) SC, 6'2 Jr Russell Robinson from New York (Rice) NY, 5'11 Jr Sean Singletary from Philadelphia (Penn Charter) PA, 6'7 Jr Rob Kurz from Philadelphia (Penn Charter) PA, 6'2 Jr Courtney Nelson from Bloomfield (Tech) NJ, 6'7 Jr Alex Galindo from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'8 Jr Ben Nwachukwu from Richland (St. Augustine) NJ, 6'5 Soph Marcus Johnson from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'10 Soph Yomeen Coleman from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, 6'8 Soph Brian Grimes from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA, 5'8 Frosh Demond Carter from LaPlace (Reserve Christian) LA, 6'4 Soph Javeris Crittenton from Atlanta (Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA, 6'8 Frosh Curtis Kelly from New York (Rice) NY, and 5'8 Frosh Cameron Granville from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA at this year's Slam Dunk to the Beach and, as a result, Jacobs deserves an "A" for the field he's already assembled.  And that will likely become an "A+" once he finalizes things with the remaining teams he's expects to have in this year's field.  And making the tournament even better than ever is the fact that Delaware Coaches Association is discouraging teams from the state from competing at Slam Dunk to the Beach, because they don't like the way Jacobs does business.  In other words, they aren't competitive anymore in the tournament.  Remember, Jacobs takes a lot of pride in annually putting on one of the premier basketball events of the entire year and it doesn't effect his bottom line one way or the other if he doesn't have any Delaware teams.  Speaking of Delaware teams, the only team in the state that we might get up to watch play at 8:00 AM is Wilmington (Tatnall) DE, but rumor has it that their star player - 6'1 Frosh Jawan Carter from Wilmington (Tatnall) DE, who is potentially one of the best players ever to come out of the state, is thinking about transferring next year to someplace like Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA. 

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

It looks like the rumors that we've been hearing about 7'3 Shagari Alleyne from New York (Rice) NY reneging on his commitment to Rutgers are true.  As a matter of fact, Alleyne's father was voted yesterday saying that his son in no longer verbally committed to the Scarlet Knights.  If you will recall, Alleyne verbally committed to Rutgers last fall, but never signed a binding National Letter-of-Intent and, as a result, is free to change his mind and go to another school.  Our guess is that school wil be Kentucky and the fact that Alleyne has been added to the roster for the Derby Classic All-Star Basketball Game should give the Wildcats an even bigger recruiting advantage than just the fact they were on of the finalists the first time around last fall.  Speaking of the Derby Classic, which will be played on Saturday, April 26th, 6'11 Martin Iti from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'4 Rodrick Stewart from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA, 5'10 Taurean Minor from Houston (Jones) TX, 6'4 Brandon Jenkins from Detroit (Southeastern) MI, 6'3 Marcus Williams from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'8 Chris Richard from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL, 6'5 Gary Forbes from Brooklyn (Bannekar) NY, 6'1 Michael Nardi from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'9 Mohamed Abakur from San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) CA, 6'5 Sammy Mejia from Cornwall on the Hudson (Storm King Prep) NY, 6'10 Akini Akins from Tallahassee (Leon) FL, 6'5 Dameon Mason from Aurora (West Aurora) IL, 6'4 Lodrick Stewart from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA, 6'11 Grant Billmeier from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'9 Brandon Wallace from Aiken (Silver Bluff) SC, 6'8 Sherray Thomas from Upper Marlboro (Riverdale Baptist) MD, 6'8 Bobby Perry from Durham (Hillside) NC, 6'7 Reyshawn Terry from Winston-Salem (R.J. Reynolds) NC, 6'8 Patrick Ewing Jr from Ft. Washington (National Christian) MD, and 6'3 Michael Bush from Louisville (Male) KY are all scheduled to play in the game.  The game does not have a single McDonald's All-American, but it does have seven players (Iti, Rodrick Stewart, Minor, Jenkins, Williams, Richard, and Forbes) who are ranked in the 15-40 range nationally; four players (Nardi, Abakur, Mejia, and Akins) who are ranked in the 41-70 range nationally, and three players (Mason, Lodrick Stewart and Thomas) in the 71-100 range nationally.  It also has one player (Jenkins) who has signed with Louisville, one player (Ewing Jr) who has verbally committed to Indiana, and two players (Perry and Thomas) who have signed with Kentucky.  It also features five players (Iti to Charlotte, Jenkins to Louisville, Mejia to DePaul, Mason to Marquette, and Bush to Louisville for football) who have signed with Conference USA schools; seven players (Minor to LSU, Richard to Florida, Abakur to Georgia, Akins to Alabama, Wallace to South Carolina, Thomas to Kentucky, and Perry to to Kentucky) who have signed with Southeastern Conference schools; three players (Williams to Connecticut, Nardi to Villanova, and Billmeier to Seton Hall) who have signed with Big East Conference schools; two players (the Stewart twins) who have signed with Pacific-10 Conference schools; two players (Forbes and Terry) who have signed with Atlantic Coast Conference schools, and one player (Ewing Jr) who is Big-10 bound.  In other words, Alleyne is the only player in the game to-date who is still available.  But that could change, if 6'10 Major Wingate from Suwanee (North Gwinnett) GA, who has dragged thus far, doesn't get his contract signed and returned by tonight.  We also understand that 6'8 Linas Kleiza from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD is still not official for the University of Missouri and it appears to be up in the air with regards to whether 6'8 Damion Staple from Southeastern Illinois (JC) IL honors the verbal commitment he made to Western Kentucky.  As a matter of fact, we wouldn't be surprised if Staple, who was ranked as the #8 power forward by the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook, follows former Hilltoppers head coach Dennis Felton to Georgia.  Remember, the single biggest reason why a players signs with a school is the head coach and Staple is good enough to play in the Southeastern Conference.  Kleiza will probably still sign with Missouri, but he's got it on hold so he can see what happens with the phone calls that were made by the Missouri coaching staff to Virginia Military's Jason Conley's mother.  Our guess is that the NCAA will rule no harm no foul, because all the coaches at Missouri were doing is returning her phone calls and they never talked with kid until after he got his release.  However, until Kleiza becomes official for the Tigers, Missouri's recruiting class, which also includes 6'5 Thomas Gardner from Portland (Jefferson) OR, 6'9 Ousmane Konate from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, and 6'1 Spencer Laurie from Springfield (Kickapoo) MO, will be ranked #29 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And when Kleiza does finally make it official for the Missouri, their recruiting class will move back up to #6 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  It also appears that 6'5 J.R. Pinnock from Virginia Beach (Coastal Christian) VA has reneged on Wichita State, which is where he committed last fall, and, instead, will sign with George Washington tomorrow.  This not only moves George Washington's recruiting class into a tie, along with George Mason, Marquette, Manhattan, Wright State, Hawaii, Mississippi and Loyola-Illinois, at #82 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, but it gives Colonials head coach Karl Hobbs a pair of excellent wing players in this recruiting class.  Remember, George Washington signed 6'4 Ricky Lucas from Herndon (H.S.) VA last fall and Pinnock, who is one of the best athletes in the class, but, who lacks Lucas' skills, should complement one another extremely well.  George Washington also recently landed 6'10 Jaaron Green from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, which means that the Colonials have brought in back-to-back recruiting classes that are good enough make them one of the better teams in the league for years to come.  If you will recall, a year ago Hobbs and his staff signed 6'9 Omar Williams from Philadelphia (Celestial Prep) PA, 6'7 Nana Mensah-Bensu from Richland (St. Augustine) NJ, 6'11 Alex Kireyev from Shreveport (Evangel Christian) LA, 6'6 Mike Hall from Palos Heights (Shepard) IL, and 6'4 Carl Elliott from Pauling (Trinity Pauling) NY.  So with this kind of success, it comes as no surprise that new Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg wants to hire Colonials assistant coach Kevin Broadus, who knows the Washington, DC area like the back of his hand, and American University assistant coach Ryan Odom, who has incredible contacts (his father is South Carolina head coach Dave Odom and his older brother is Missouri assistant coach Lane Odom).  Apparently Greenberg wants to recruit Washington, DC, Baltimore, New York, Maryland, and Virginia extremely hard and, if he can get these two guys, he's be already half way home.   Another guy who has more than his fair share of contacts in the Washington, DC area is Hartford assistant coach Chris Pompay and, as a result, it comes as no surprise that the Hawks have landed 6'1 Rich Baker from Montrose Christian) MD.  We're not talking about a great player, but we are talking about the clue that held everything together  and made everybody better (8 apg) on one of the top five teams in the nation this past season. 

Our Georgia Editor Linzy Davis is telling us that Louisville appears to be the flavor of the day for 6'10 Jr Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, who is ranked #21 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Apparently Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino, who was in to see Tangara two days ago, made a tremendous impression on Tangara and Davis, who is Tangara's legal guardian, seems to be buying into the idea that playing for Pitino will be Tangara's best conduit to get to The League.  However, we also understand that new coaching staff at North Carolina is going to make a strong push and anytime Roy Williams comes calling, you have to listen.  Giving the Tar Heels an even bigger advantage is the fact that Davis has always had the utmost respect for the North Carolina program.  Michigan not only has been there the longest and the strongest, but Wolverines head coach Tommy Amaker, who also was in to see Tangara last week, has made Tangara their top recruiting priority, as they see him as the final piece to their puzzle.  He also would be the ideal complement to the two inside players - 6'9 Brent Petway from Griffin (H.S.) GA and 6'10 Courtney Sims from Dedham (Noble & Greenough) MA - that Michigan landed in their current recruiting class.  Memphis, which has two of Davis' former players (Almamy Thiero, who was Tangara's roommate at Mt. Zion Christian a year ago, and Anthony Rice) currently in their program, also has all the right connections and Arizona's Josh Pastner, who is only in his second year on the road, already is second to none as a recruiter.   As a matter of the fact, the Wildcats were believed to be the favorite for Tanagara prior to when Pitino came in and knocked his socks off on Sunday.  And there also is Georgetown, Ohio State, Connecticut, Georgia, and Georgia Tech, all of which also a very much in the hunt for Tangara's services.  In other words, this promises to be one of the most interesting recruiting battles of the entire year and Davis is perfectly positioned to keep us up-to-date with the entire scoop.  Davis also tells us that 6'8 Richard Dorsey from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC and 6'3 Jr Trammel Wooten from Mt. Vernon (Montgomery County) GA, who promises to be one of the biggest sleepers of the spring, both may end up at Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX next fall.  Ironically, 6'3 Vakeaton Wafer, who was one of the biggest sleepers to emerge last spring, also ended up at Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX last fall.  In other words, Heritage Christian head coach Jerome Tang appears to be one of the best recruiters in the business.  It also appears that 6'6 Andy Hannan from Minneapolis Community (JC) MN has decided to attend UNLV and 6'2 Abdi Lidonde from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, who is ranked #122 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has verbally committed to Old Dominion.  The commitment by Lidonde, who is one of the best 3-point shooters in the senior class nationally, is especially significant, because he gives the Monarchs three immediate impact players - Lidonde, 6'6 Arnaud Dahi from Burlington (Life Center) NJ and 6'8 Valdes Vasylius from Norfolk (Collegiate) VA - in this recruiting class.  Obviously UNLV assistant coach Derek Thomas is taking of advantage of his former contacts in Minnesota (he was an assistant coach for a year with the Golden Gophers) by landing Hannan, who led his team to a 25-3 record and a #2 national ranking in the junior college ranks this past season.  This moves UNLV's recruiting class, which also includes 6'10 Chris Adams from San Francisco (JC) CA, 6'3 John Winston from Richmond (Salesian) CA, and 6'2 Michael Umeh from Sugar Land (Hightower) TX, up to #33 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And the Runnin' Rebels aren't done yet, as they also appear to be close to landing 6'8 Romel Beck from L.A. City (JC) CA.  Beck is one of the top wing forwards still available in the junior college ranks, so if UNLV adds him to their current crop of recruits, then their recruiting class would move up to #9 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  However, Thomas might not be around long enough to get the raise he deserves for landing a top 10 recruiting class, because he is one of the two finalist, along with former UAB head coach Murry Bartow, for the Western Illinois job.  We also have confirmed via our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio that Tim Doyle, Tristan Smith, and Eric King have all three decided to transfer from St. John's.  However, we're not sure it really matters, because Doyle and Smith were recruited as role players and King has never lived up to his high school press clippings.   It also comes as no surprise that Jermaine Harper is transferring from Virginia to the College of Charleston.  What a steal for Cougars head coach Tommy Herrion, who originally recruited Harper to Virginia!  Did you know that 6'0 Patrick Davidson from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, who is the teammate of Duke-bound 6'8 Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ will walk-on with the Blue Devils next year, and 5'11 Nick Dials from Willard (H.S.) OH, who is ranked #19 in the senior class in Ohio by Chris Johnson, will walk-on at Ohio State next year?  This is important, because both players are good enough to be role players at the high Division I level and, as a result, Duke's recruiting class, which also includes 6'8 Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ and 6'8 Kris Humphries from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN, moves up to #17 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003 and Ohio State's recruiting class, which also includes 6'8 Ivan Harris from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, moves into a tie at #80, along with Temple, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.

Monday, April 14, 2003

Last night on our weekly radio show, which you can listen to in its entirety, by clicking onto HOOP SCOOP On-Radio, Brick Oettinger of the Recruiter's Handbook and PrepStars.com cited sources within the University of North Carolina that not only said Kansas' Roy Williams will be the next head coach of the Tar Heels, but he also gave us specifics about the terms of the contract (Williams will make about double what former North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty, whose total package was in the neighborhood of $800,000 per year, made), plus he told us that former Tar Heels assistant coach Phil Ford was part of the deal.  Remember, Ford was left out in the cold when Doherty got the job three years ago and brought his entire staff with him from Notre Dame.  In other words, it looks like Oettinger was right on the money, because at 9:30 PM tonight Williams announced at a press conference in Chapel Hill, NC that he was taking the job.  The other big coaching story involves the University of Pittsburgh, which appears to be on the verge of hiring Jamie Dixon, who is #9 on our list of the top assistant coaches in college basketball.  Dixon deserves a tremendous amount of credit for helping put together the pieces quickly for Ben Howland, who in only four years built the Pittsburgh program into one of the best in the Big East, but we find it amazing that Memphis' John Calipari, N.C. State's Herb Sendek, and Manhattan's Bobby Gonzalez, all of whom would have been tremendous candidates, and Xavier's Thad Matta and Creighton's Dana Altman, both of whom reportedly had interest in the Pittsburgh job, were never contacted.  In other words, the only two serious candidates appear to have been Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser, who turned the job down late last week, and Dixon.  We all hope Dixon is up to the task, but, if he is not able to perpetuate their recent success, there may be hell to pay, if the interim athletic director Marc Boehm, who is reportedly calling the shots, is still around three or four years from now.  It also appears that Massachusetts head coach Steve Lappas may be in trouble.   At least that's what Bill Reynolds says in today's Providence Journal. "I'm hearing UMass is real close to buying out the contract of Steve Lappas and hiring Northeastern's Ron Everhart as its new coach," says Reynolds.  Apparently Ian McCaw, who is now the athletic director at Massachusetts, hired Everhart when he was the athletic director at Northeastern.  All this comes as no surprise, because Massachusetts (11-18) is coming off its worst season since 1988-89; they've experienced major budget cuts; and there are rumors about a number of potential transfers (6'2 Mike Lasme already has announced he's leaving).  However, if Lappas doesn't survive, we'd be very surprised if McCaw has more influence when it comes to hiring the next head coach at Massachusetts than one of school's biggest donors, who also happens to be second to none in terms of helping his guys get jobs.  Obviously we're talking about Minutemen alumnus Rick Pitino and the two guys who would be right at the top of his list - Holy Cross' Ralph Willard and Manhattan's Bobby Gonzalez - both would be perfect for the job.  Speaking of Willard, he also is rumored to be one of the leading candidates for South Florida and Western Kentucky.  However, we think South Florida is a tough job for an already established head coach.  As a matter of fact, it has been a graveyard for a number of coaches who fit this description, including Lee Rose, who had been to two NCAA Final Four's at UNC-Charlotte in 1977 and Purdue in 1980 before this became his last stop as a Division I head coach.  In other words, no matter what you do at South Florida, you're never going to be any better than the 4th best team in the state behind Florida, Florida State, and Miami-FL and nobody cares much about college basketball in Tampa, FL.  Moral to the story, South Florida would be much better off with an up-and-coming assistant like current Bulls assistant coach Dave Zimroth, who knows the program and what it takes to get it done from a recruiting standpoint.  Remember, Zimroth has been recruiting the top players in the state of almost 20 years now.  Then, either Zimroth moves onto a better job in four or five years or he gets fired.  Either way, Zimroth at least would get the shot he deserves.  We do think Willard would be a great fit for Western Kentucky.  Remember, Willard posted a 81-42 record in four seasons with Hilltoppers from 1990 to 1994, including a 26-6 season and a Sweet 16 appearance in 1993.  We also hear that a number of powerful boosters are pushing for Willard to get the job at Western Kentucky, but we'd still be surprised if Hilltoppers athletic director Wood Selig hired anybody with Pitino ties.  If you will recall, Louisville exercised the $30,000 buy-out to get out of the contract when Louisville and Western Kentucky were scheduled to play this past season.  Not only did this create a storm in the media at the time, but a lot of people at Western Kentucky still reportedly have hard feelings towards Pitino.  Instead, we think Willard, who is ranked #27 nationally on our list of the top head coaches in the nation, would be the perfect guy to replace Tom Crean at Marquette.  Obviously that's assuming that Illinois head coach Bill Self replaces Williams at Kansas and Crean replaces Self at Illinois.  However, the first domino (Williams moving from Kansas to North Carolina) has already fallen.  Another name we're heard for Western Kentucky is St. Francis-PA head coach Bobby Jones, who not only is a former player at Western Kentucky, but, as an assistant coach, helped Willard build the Hilltoppers into that powerhouse team in the early 90's.  However, it appears that Jones, who has the Red Flash on the verge of replacing Wagner as the dominant team in the Northeast Conference next year, isn't interested in Western Kentucky.  Sure, St. Francis-PA was only 14-14 this past season, but Jones has the best returning player in the league in 6'4 Darshan Luckey, who was the first freshman in Northeast Conference history to lead the league in scoring (22.9 ppg), plus he has everybody else back, except for Dan Swoger, who was the starting point guard for St. Francis-PA the last two years.  Last fall St. Francis-PA signed 6'7 Chris Jones from Richmond (Huguenot) VA, who is a slasher/scorer/rebounder, but the icing on the cake for Jones would be if he can beat UNC-Wilmington, Towson, and West Virginia for 6'3 T.J. Carter from Morganza (Chopticon) MD.  And you can bet that Jones, who was voted one of the top 10 recruiters on the East Coast during the 1995-96 season by Eastern Basketball Magazine when he was an assistant coach at Pittsburgh, will attempt to sell Carter on the fact that he would be the ideal replacement Swoger when Carter makes an official visit this weekend.  We also have confirmed that William & Mary head coach Rick Boyages plans to return to Ohio State, where he will fill the void created by Buckeyes associate head coach Paul Biancardi, who recently got the head coaching job at Wright State.  At first this came as a surprise, but Boyages apparently will get a major salary increase, plus, with the head coaching experience and experience of building the program at William & Mary, he may have a shot at becoming the next head coach at Ohio State when Jim O'Brien eventually retires.  And, if William & Mary doesn't waste too much time hiring Tribe assistant coach Pat Skurry, who not only is the obvious replacement, but also is the #2-ranked assistant coach in the nation at the mid-to-low Division I level, then they should be well on their way towards landing one of the top recruiting classes in the league, along with James Madison, Hofstra, and George Mason.  If you will recall, last fall they signed 6'7 Corey Cofield from Roxbury (Latin) MA, who is expected to step in and be one of the most athletic players in the league next year, and they are believed to be among the favorites for 6'2 Marcus Hammond from Memphis (East) TN, who is ranked #171 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'3 Andre Ingram from Highland Springs (H.S.) VA, who is ranked   #215 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'4 Russell Carter from Paulsboro (H.S.) NJ, who is a legitimate top 400 senior nationally, and 6'6 Mike Milton from Plano (H.S.) TX.  We also hear that Villanova assistant coach Joe Jones, Iona assistant coach Tony Chiles, Catholic University head coach Mike Lonergan, and New York Knicks scout Mike Malone are the four finalists for the Columbia job.

Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis tells us that 6'4 Jr Arron Afflalo from Compton (Centennial) CA, who is ranked #24 nationally and is the #1-ranked junior in Southern California by the HOOP SCOOP, has told the UCLA coaching staff that he plans to become a Bruin.  However, nothing officially will be announced until this summer, which means that Afflalo technically is still on the board and, as a result, will not be listed on our list of Recent Commitments and our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2004.  Remember, unlike some of our competition it is our editorial policy to let the player make the announcement at the time and place of his chosing.  Obviously this is huge for the new coaching staff at UCLA, because it shows that in only a couple of weeks on the job the new staff get the top players in their backyard to stay home.  And it would be just as big if UCLA gets 6'9 Mohamed Abukar from San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) CA, who is ranked #62 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  If you will recall, Abukar signed with Georgia last fall, but is expected to be released from his National Letter-of-Intent by the new regime.  This means that Abukar would have to sit out one year, instead of two years.  But the smart money says that Abukar will eligible to play next year once he makes an appeal to the Southeastern Conference, which administers the National Letter-of-Intent, because it has already been established that academic fraud took place at the University during the Jim Harrick era.  Speaking of Abukar, a lot of schools are trying to get involved, but right now it appears that UCLA, Kentucky, Florida, Louisville, Connecticut, and San Diego State are the favorites.  Also don't exclude the possibility that Abukar may decide to go to Georgia after all.  Apparently new Bulldogs head coach Dennis Felton has handled the entire matter in a first class manner and still has a legitimate shot at getting Abukar.  A player that isn't currently being recruited by the Bulldogs is 6'10 Alexander Johnson from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, who is the ranked #8 on our 5th year list and is one of the top big men still available in high school/prep school.  Instead, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Indiana, Florida State, and Kentucky are the top school's on Alexander's list.  Speaking of Alexander, we understand that the rumors are true about the Southeastern Conference office discouraging schools in the league from recruiting him due to questions about his transcript.  However, this was done in an unofficial way, instead of a written directive due to potential legal problems, which explains the earlier confusion.  If Johnson elects to sign with Cincinnati this spring, that would move the Bearcats recruiting class, which already includes 6'10 Robert Whaley from Barton County (JC) KS, 6'5 Nick Williams from Chipola (JC) FL, and 6'8 Mike Pilgrim from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, up to #2 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And, if we counted transfers when ranking recruiting class, Cincinnati's recruiting class would be #1.  Remember, the Bearcats also have 6'7 James White, who transferred from Florida to Cincinnati last fall, sitting out.  If Johnson goes to Florida State, that also would give the Seminoles the #2-ranked recruiting class on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Remember, Florida State's recruiting class, which already includes 6'5 Vakeaton Wafer from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX, 6'10 Diego Romero from Lon Morris (JC) TX, and 6'7 Antonio Griffin from Scottsdale (JC) AZ, is currently ranked 10th.  If Johnson goes to Connecticut, the Huskies recruiting class, which also includes 6'2 Marcus Williams from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'9 Josh Boone from Colora (West Nottingham Prep) MD, and 6'7 Ryan Thompson from Western Nebraska (JC) NE, would move into a tie, along with Illinois, at #5 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Speaking Thompson, this lefty, who reminds those who have seen him of Tony Kucoc, just made his verbal commitment to the Huskies and and, as a result, their' recruiting class is now tied at #25, along with Michigan and Syracuse, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  If Johnson goes to Indiana, that would give the Hoosiers the inside player they need in this recruiting class, as well as the ideal complement inside to 6'9 Jr D.J. White from Tuscaloosa (Hillcrest) AL, who is expected to verbally commit to Indiana sometime this spring or summer.  And the same also would be true if Johnson committed to Kentucky, which is hoping to sign two more inside players this spring.  One that appears to have slipped right past us recently is 6'9 Emmanuel Messy from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ to Seton Hall.  Not only does this give Pirates head coach Louis Orr another big guy in this recruiting class to go along with 6'10 Grant Billmeier from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, but it shows just how strong Seton Hall is when it comes to recruiting the top players in North Jersey.  Remember, the Pirates also signed 6'2 Jamar Nutter from West Orange (Seton Hall Prep) NJ last fall, which means that their recruiting class not only has recruits from three of the top programs in the area, but  is now tied with Montana and Murray State at #70 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.

Saturday, April 12, 2003, & Sunday, April 13, 2003

The Executive Inn East/West All-Star Classic at Manual High School in Louisville, KY, which included nine games, featured most of the top high school basketball talent in the state yesterday and the best place to start is at the beginning.  The majority of players in Game #1 at 10:00 AM were 8th graders, but the three best players - 5'11 Frosh A.J. Slaughter from Shelbyville (Shelby County) KY, 6'1 Frosh Terrance Britt from Fern Creek (H.S.) KY, and 6'4 Frosh Walt Allen from London (South Laurel) KY - in the game were all freshmen.  Slaughter is a multi-dimensional athlete who can handle, pass, shoot, rebound, and block shots.  He also finished with 15 points, but for him to remain the best player in his class in the state, which in our opinion right now he is, Slaughter will have to grow at least three or four inches.  Britt, who was the leading scorer in the game with 20 points, is really small, but he's a great passer, excellent at getting the hole, and terrfic in transition.  In other words, we're probably talking about the best freshman point guard in the state.  What Allen lacks in athleticism and foot speed, he more than makes up for with his blue collar work ethic, toughness on the boards, and ability to score around the basket, which is where most of his 14 points came from.  Similar to Allen, but only in 8th grade is 6'5 James Shepherd from Louisville (North Drive Middle School) KY, who finished with 13 points and almost as many rebounds.  Other 8th graders who played well enough to be   mentioned are 5'8 LeRon Basey from Louisville (Carrithers Middle School) KY, 5'8 Scott Gentry from Hopkinsville (Christian County) KY, 6'1 Tyler Bailey from Hazard (Middle School) KY, 6'1 Robert Troutman from Mt. Washington (Bullitt East) KY, and 5'9 Doug Beaumont from Louisville (Barrett Traditional Middle School) KY.  Game #2, which exclusively featured freshmen, lacked the outside shooters that the first game had, as was evident by the 9-7 score at the end of the first quarter and 59-53 final score.  Instead, the top four players in the game - 6'7 Frosh Patrick Elliott from McKee (Jackson County) KY, 6'10 Frosh Josh Clemons from Hartford (Ohio County) KY, 6'7 Frosh Jay Ivey from Owensboro (Catholic) KY, and 6'6 Frosh Michael Jackson from Bowling Green (H.S.) KY - were all 6'6 or bigger.  Elliott only scored four points, but he clearly dominated both Clemons and Jackson on the boards.  We also liked Elliott's blue collar work ethic and outlet pass, but, unless he grows and learns to finish better, a lot of people are going to pass him up down the road.  Clemons does have a nice touch around the basket, which is where he scored all eight points, but he needs strength and toughness and, as a result, is a classic example of size equals potential.  In other words, if he's the best freshman in the state, it's lousy class.  Ivey is a wiry strong competitor with good hands, good rebounding skills, and a knack for scoring around the basket.  Jackson is like a deer learning to run, because he's extremely raw and he's got an ugly shot.  However, Jackson's upside is unlimited, because he's got big time athleticism, an incredible wing span, and natural talent.  We also liked 6'8 Frosh Brian Staed from Danville (Boyle County) KY, 6'3 Frosh Vincent Crutcher from Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY, and 6'3 Frosh Tra'h Moore from Louisville (Manual) KY.   Staed, who finished with eight points, needs to get bigger, stronger, and tougher, but he scores, rebounds, and passes well for his size.  Crutcher only had six points, but we liked his athleticism, body, and ability to play both inside and outside.   Moore needs to finish better, as was evident by the fact he only scored five points, but this slasher/athlete passes and rebounds well for his size.  The three best players in Game #3, which featured all sophomores were 5'11 Soph Jermaine Martin from Stanton (Powell County) KY, 6'7 Soph Eric Fields from London (South Laurel) KY, and 6'4 Soph Brandon Milluns from Fern Creek (H.S.) KY.  Martin impressed us with his outside shooting en route to 12 points.  Fields, who was the leading scoring in the game with 13 points, did all of his damage inside.  Milluns used his quick hands and feet to make things happen defensively and score both inside and outside.  The East Team in Game #4 was loaded, as five of the HOOP SCOOP's top 10 sophomores in the state were featured on the same team.  Bringing the house down on numerous occasions were 5'11 Soph JuJuan Spillman from Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY and 6'2 Soph Maurice Gritner from Fairdale (H.S.) KY with their earth shattering slam dunks; 6'0 Soph Zach Berry from Louisville (Trinity) KY impressed us with his court savvy, ball handling, and 3-point shooting; 6'3 Soph Ravon Lee from Louisville (Ballard) KY was a force around the basket due to his long arms, strength, and athleticism; and 6'5 Soph Wilbert Reeves from Louisville (Ballard) KY has soft hands, big time athleticism, the ability to both around the basket and out on the perimeter.  However, the three leading scorers in the game were 6'4 Soph Ricky Bodiford from Louisville (Eastern) KY with 19 points, 6'1 Soph Daniel Alcorn from Mt Washington (Bullett East) KY with 17 points, and 6'3 Soph Jordan Noble from Corbin (H.S.) KY with 16 points.  The big stories in Game #5 and Game #6 were the outside shooting by 6'4 Jr Brent Hottell from Brandenburg (Meade County) KY, who hit six 3-pointers en route to 25 points, and 5'10 Jr Johan Rivera from London (South Laurel) KY, who hit four 3-pointers en route to 20 points.  Game #7 featured the most talented player - 6'2 Jr Rajon Rondo from Louisville (Eastern) KY; the best player - 6'2 Jr Chris Lofton from Maysville (Mason County) KY; and the most intimidating player - 6'10 Jr Terrance Farley from Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY; that we saw all day.  Rondo, who scored 21 points and even hit some 3-pointers, was ideally suited for this all-star game-like format, because he is an incredible athlete and unstoppable in transition.  Lofton had 16 points, but had to take a backseat to Rondo, because he's not as good without some structure.  Speaking of Rondo and Lofton, the lists they gave us were very similar.  Rondo mentioned USC, Texas, Indiana, Georgia, Louisville, and Kentucky.  Lofton likes Louisville, Cincinnati, Kentucky, and Indiana.  Farley has 18 points, but his defense is still way ahead of his offense.  Also deserving to mentioned in this game was the biggest sleeper of the entire day in 6'7 Jr Reggie Soileau from Radcliffe (North Hardin) KY, who used his quick hands, long arms, and mid-range jumper to get more than his share of rebounds and score nine points for his team.  We also liked Soileau's high school teammate - 6'4 Jr Demetrius Guions from Radcliffe (North Hardin) KY, who finished with 12 points and impressed us with his outside shooting and athleticism; 6'8 Jr Kyle Martin from Elizabethtown (H.S.) KY, who scored all of his eight points in the low post; 6'4 Jr Harrison Morton from Lexington (Catholic) KY, who does everything well, but nothing great; and 6'6 Jr Greg Grimes from Louisville (Ballard) KY, who posted-up for 14 points and got his share of rebounds.  The 8th Game was very none eventful, but 6'3 Sherman Gully from Louisville (Ballard) KY impressed with his ability to slash and get to the basket en route to 17 points and 6'0 Carlos Williams from Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY scored most of his 14 points from beyond the arc.  Game #9 featured two of the HOOP SCOOP's top-four ranked seniors in the state in 6'8 Ross Neltner from Ft. Thomas (Highlands) KY and 6'7 Guy Ngarndi from Louisville (Western) KY, but it was 6'6 Michael Cross from Lexinton (Tates Creek) KY, who finished with 18 points, and the Pleasure Ridge Park-connection that stole the show, as 6'1 Maurice Blakey and 6'5 Donte Sweatt scored 18 and 17 points, respectively.  Ngarndi, who chipped in with 13 points, has gotten bigger and stronger since we saw him last and, as a result, is intriguing for schools like Indiana, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Ohio State, and Arizona State, all of which are on the list he gave us prior to the start of the last game.  However, he'd be a steal for Eastern Michigan, Western Kentucky, Appalachian State, Pepperdine, San Francisco, Long Beach State, Virginia Tech, IUPUI, and Murray State, all of which also were mentioned. 

Friday, April 11, 2003

Our New England Editor Wayne Simone tells us that Connecticut Select beat B.A.B.C., 64-63, in the finals of the adidas Hoop Challenge last weekend.  Connecticut Select was led by 6'6 Jr John Lucky from Waterbury (Sacred Heart) CT with 24 points and 6'6 Jr Gary Claxton from New Haven (Career) CT with 20 points and 10 rebounds.  B.A.B.C. was led by 6'7 Jr Charles Birch from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA and 5'5 Justin Dick from Cheshire (Academy) CT, who combined for 29 points in the championship game.  Obviously we're talking about four of the top juniors in New England, but right now our focus is on the Executive Inn East/West All-Star Classic tomorrow in Louisville, KY and the Boo Williams Invitational Tournament in Hampton, VA.  I will be at the Executive Inn East/West All-Star Classic, which actually is a series of all-star games ranging from 7th and 8th graders to seniors in high school, that will begin at 10:00 AM and run all day tomorrow at Louisville Manual High School.  Our Washington, DC Area Editor Steve Turner will be at the Boo Williams Invitational, which includes the Albany City Rocks, All-Ohio, Arkansas Wings, BABC, Baltimore Blue, Bloomington Red, Boo Williams, California Team Select, Charlotte Royals, D.C. Blue Devils, The Family, New York Gauchos, Georgia Elite, Georgia Stars, Houston Hoops, Howard Pulley Panthers, Illinois Warriors, Jackson Tigers, Kentucky Hoopsters, Louisiana Select, Memphis YOMCA, New Jersey All-Stars, Northern California Elite, Riverside Church, South Carolina Ravens, St. Louis Eagles, Tallahassee Wildcats, Team Florida, Team Oregon, Team Texas, and Tennessee Travelers in the 17-Under Division.  The Boo Williams Invitational begins tonight, will run all day tomorrow, and will conclude on Sunday.  However, it is not sanctioned by the state association and, as a result, college coaches can't attend.   Speaking of events that are sanctioned for college coaches, we're planning on attending the Las Vegas Easter Classic in Las Vegas, NV, April 16th-20th (the last two days are when college coaches can attend) and the Houston Kingwood Classic in Houston, TX, April 25th-27th, which likely will be the top two sanctioned events this spring.  For more information, click on VisionSports.com.  Other major events that we know college coaches can attend this spring, include John Eurey's adidas sponsored tournament, which will feature many of the top adidas sponsored teams from around the nation, April 18th-20th, in Houston, TX; the Charlie Weber Invitational, which will feature mnay of the top teams in the East, April 25th-27th, in Washington, DC; and the Pump N' Run Tournament, which was terrific when we covered it a year ago, April 25th-27th, in Las Vegas, NV.  There also appears to be a tournament in Seattle, WA, but, we don't know anything about it, so we can't promote it! 

We were not surprised when Western Kentucky head coach Dennis Felton accepted the head coaching job at Georgia yesterday nor were we surprised today when Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser said no to Pittsburgh and signed a 10-year deal with the Demon Deacons.  Remember, Felton was one of the first names we mentioned to take over as head coach of the Bulldogs a month ago and we've been scratching our head all along trying to figure out why Prosser would leave Wake Forest when he's got the program in a postion to win a National Championship two years from now without recruiting another player.  As a matter of fact, with 6'8 Soph Vytas Danelius, 6'8 Soph Jamaal Levy, 6'0 Soph Taron Downey, 6'9 Frosh Eric Williams, 6'2 Frosh Justin Gray, 6'5 Frosh Trent Strickland, and 6'6 Frosh Chris Ellis already in the program; 6'0 Chris Paul from Clemmons (West Forsyth) NC, 6'3 Jeremy Ingram from Kinston (H.S.) NC, 6'9 Todd Hendley from Sanford (Lee County) NC, and 6'11 Kyle Visser from Grand Rapids (Forest Hills Central) MI expected to enroll next fall; and an early commitment from 6'6 Jr Cameron Stanley from Raleigh (Millbrook) NC; the Demon Deacons can afford to be extremely picky with the one remaining scholarship that they have available for the Class of 2004.  So with Prosser out of the picture and Memphis head coach John Calipari and N.C. State head coach Herb Sendek both apparently not interested in the Pittsburgh job, it's our guess that Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez and Pittsburgh assistant coach Jamie Dixon will next in line.  If you will recall, Dixon, who is currently ranked #9 on out list of the top assistant coaches at the Division I level, has the support of the Pittsburgh players.  And he should, because he's done a great job of helping build the program.  However, our guess is that it will be Gonzalez, not just because he's coming off two 20-wins season at Manhattan, but, because he's one of the best recruiters in the game and he can bring the same type of energy that Rick Pitino bring can bring to a program.  We also were not surprised that Kansas athletic director Al Bohl was fired two days ago (we mentioned that we thought this would happen last week), but we were surprised at some of the things he and Kansas chancellor Robert Hemenway have said.  First, did you know that Hemenway denied firing Bohl to persuade Williams to stay at Kansas?  Well, if Hemenway didn't, he should have!  Not only is Williams one of the top five coaches in college basketball, but he's a relentless recruiter, a first-class person, and somebody who does things the right way.  Second, no matter how much Bohl didn't like Williams, he should have just kept his mouth shut.  Not only was Bohl engaged in a power struggle with a coach who has both tremendous respect and four NCAA Final Four appearances in 15 years at Kansas, but about the only negative thing that anybody can say right now about Williams is that at this stage in his career he's just like his former boss Dean Smith.  He can't win the big one.  If you will recall, North Carolina made six NCAA Final Four appearances (1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1977, and 1981) under Smith before finally winning it all 1982.  Smith also guided the Tar Heels to the Final Four in 1991, 1995, and 1997 and won his second NCAA Championship in 1993, which ranks him one behind John Wooden with 11 Final Four appearances.  Breaking Smith's and Wooden's records will be extremely difficult, but, if Williams, who currently is 52, coaches until he's 65, he's on track to have at least eight NCAA Final Four appearances, which would rank him fourth behind Wooden, Smith, and Mike Krzyzewski, several NCAA Championships, and 780 career wins, which would rank him 5th on the all-time win list behind Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp, Jim Phelan, and Bob Knight.  In other words, Williams, who has averaged 27.9 wins per season for 15 years as a head coach, is on the fast track towards becoming one of the all-time great coaches in the history of the game.  In contrast, Bohl's only future significance will be that he's the answer to a not very important triva question.   As for Williams taking taking the North Carolina job, if it was a foregone conclusion, our guess is that Williams would have done it by now.  So obviously Hemenway did make it more difficult for Williams to leave when he fired Bohl.   It also should be noted that the Jayhawks should once again be one of the best teams college basketball next year, because in addition to having everybody back, except for Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrick, Kansas also has the #6-ranked recruiting class on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  That class includes 6'5 J.R. Giddens from Oklahoma City (John Marshall) OK, 6'10 David Padgett from Reno (H.S.) NV, 6'3 Omar Wilkes from Los Angeles (Loyola) CA, and 6'1 Jeremy Case from McAlester (H.S.) OK.  Giddens has the athleticism and talent to become the next Paul Pierce, Padgett is expected to step into Collison's shoes right away, Wilkes is a silky-smooth 3-point shooter, and Case is ideally suited to provide depth at  point guard until Aaron Miles graduates in two years.  No wonder Williams is having such a tough time making up his mind!  We also were surprised when Arkansas-Little Rock head coach Porter Moser got the Illinois State job two days ago.  As a matter of fact, earlier in the day on Wednesday, we had heard that Xavier assistant coach Sean Miller was going to get the job.  And making the story even more intriguing is the fact that one of the big reasons why Miller was such at strong position was the fact that his former boss N.C. State head coach Herb Sendek did such a great job of going to bat for him.  In other words, it appears that any friction there may have been between Miller and Sendek when Miller left N.C. State to go to Xavier two years ago must have been fabricated.  And providing even further evidence of this is that fact that Miller's younger brother and former Wolfpack point guard, Arch Miller, is currently on staff at N.C. State in an administrative position.  Unfortunately Miller didn't get the Illinois State job, but it should be only a matter of time before he does move into a good mid-major job in the Midwest or Northeast.  And when he does, Miller could have one of the best coaching staffs in America at that level, if he can convince his father John Miller, who is the head coach at Beaver Falls (Black Hawk) PA, and his younger brother, who has just as bright a future as Sean does, to come work for him.  We also are intrigued by the fact that Virginia Commonwealth assistant coach Ben Betts has taken the South Carolina State job.  More often than not jobs in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference are bad for upward mobility and Betts already beat the odds once when a year ago he became an assistant at VCU.  However, now he is returning to the place where he spent seven years as an assistant coach.  We also were surprised to see that Drake head coach Kurt Kanaskie resigned earlier today after going 10-20 on the season.  We thought he would get at least one more year.  It also appears that new Dayton head coach Brian Gregory plans to hire Mo Cassara, who is the head coach at Worcester (Academy) MA, and Michigan assistant coach Billy Schmidt, who was on the same staff with Gregory when they were at Northwestern during the Kevin O'Neill era.  Also don't be surprised if Oakland University assistant coach Eric Stephan gets hired at Michigan State to replace Gregory and if Missouri assistant coach Lane Odom gets the head coaching job at High Point, which is Odom's alma mater.  And how about Ron Jirsa to Ohio State to fill the spot that opened up when Paul Biancardi left for Wright State?  Remember, Jirsa has all kinds of experience dating back to his days at Tulsa and Georgia as an assistant for Tubby Smith.  Speaking of Smith, it looks like the University of Kentucky is on the verge of taking a big step towards keeping Smith in his current position by giving him a 10-year multi-million dollar contract that will make him the highest paid head coach in the state.  And that's important when you've got Rick Pitino only 70 miles away at Louisville.

Thursday, April 10, 2003

It's been a long time since Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA head coach Steve Smith had three players still available this late, but that's the case with 6'6 Dion Deacons, 6'9 Byron Joynes, and 6'8 Warren Scott.  Obviously Joynes and Scott have the size necessary to draw a lot of interest this spring, but the guy who could turn out to be the steal of the group is Deacons.  Not only does he have a 3.8 gpa and 1100 SAT, but we're talking about the leading scorer (16.8 ppg) and leading rebounder (7.6 rpg) on Oak Hill's team this past season.  Right now Appalachian State appears to be the leader over Boston University, SMU, and East Carolina, but you can bet that Virginia Tech will make a late push for Deacons now that Seth Greenberg has the job.  Not only is Greenberg an excellent recruiter and an astute evaluator of talent, but he is smart enough to know the value of getting a player right away out of his own backyard.  No, we're not predicting that Deacons will walk-in and make an immediate impact at  Virginia Tech, but we do think he could develop into a valuable role player.  Deacons also would be the first player from Oak Hill to sign with Virginia Tech since early 80's and that might prove to be important when it comes to recruiting Oak Hill players in the future.  Iowa State, South Alabama, Virginia Commonwealth and Dayton are showing the most interest in Joynes, who is academically qualified, and Scott will likely sign with Mississippi, if he makes it academically, and Louisiana-Lafayette, if he doesn't make it academically.  Speaking of the Ragin' Cajuns, did you know that head coach Jessie Evans could have a legitimate top 20 team in college basketball next season?  Don't believe it?  Well, three of his top five players 6'11 Soph Michael Southall, 6'6 Jr Brad Boyd, and 6'4 Jr Laurie Bridges will return from a team that has gone 20-10 each of the last two years, plus he will have 6'4 Orien Greene, who sat out this season after transferring from Florida; 6'5 Brian Hamilton, who was arguably the best player at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before transferring to Louisiana-Lafayette last fall; and 6'4 Dwayne Mitchell, who transferred from Auburn to Louisiana-Lafayette at the semester break last December and, as a result, will be eligible at the same time next winter.  In other words, the transfers that Evans are getting at Louisiana-Lafayette are almost good as the recruits he used to get when he was the top assistant coach for Lute Olson at Arizona.   However, collectively this group is still won't be as talented as the group that Smith annually assembles at Oak Hill Academy.  As a matter of fact, Patrick Stanwood, who is a HOOP SCOOP Correspondent in Florida, tells us that 6'5 Jr Brandon Rush from Kansas City (Westport) MO, who is ranked #36 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is expected to enroll at Oak Hill next fall.  We also have heard that 6'9 Frosh Derrick Caracter from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'9 Jr Josh Smith from Powder Springs (McEachern) GA, 5'10 Jr Andre Allen from Memphis (Booker T. Washington) TN, 6'1 Jr Dwain Williams from Temecula (Chaparral) CA, and 6'6 Soph Tyler Smith from Pulaski (Giles County) TN are rumored to have interest in transferring to Oak Hill next year.  We also know that Kevin Boyle hasn't given up on Caracter returning to St. Patrick next year, Tyler Smith talked about transferring to Oak Hill a year ago, and several other players - 6'9 Boubacar Coly from Laurinburg (Institute) NC and 6'11 Sani Ibrahim, who is now at Southern Idaho (JC) ID - who have played for Wallace Prather and the Atlanta Celtics in recent years have also attended Oak Hill. 

Wednesday, April 9, 2003

It's not official yet, but we expect Western Kentucky's Dennis Felton to be announced as the new head coach at Georgia, Wake Forest's Skip Prosser to be announced as the new head coach at Pittsburgh, and Kansas' Roy Williams to be announced as the new head coach at North Carolina sooner than later.  And, if that weren't enough, earlier today Arkansas-Little Rock head Porter Moser was named as the new head coach at Illinois State and Michigan State assistant coach Brian Gregory got the Dayton job and yesterday former Murray State head coach Tevester Anderson took the Jackson State job.  In other words, now that everybody has returned home from the Final Four, it finally looks like a lot of the important dominos are starting to fall and, as a result, the number of coaching changes this year could be almost double what it is right now.  Already Clemson has been filled by Dayton's Oliver Purnell, Dayton has been filled by Gregory, Georgia State has been filled by Panthers assistant coach Michael Perry, Illinois State has been filled by Moser, Jackson State has been filled by Anderson, Lamar has been filled by former Oklahoma and Texas Christian head coach Billy Tubbs, Mount St. Mary's had been filled by Mountaineers assistant coach Milan Brown, Murray State has been filled by Louisville assistant coach Mick Cronin, Penn State has been filled by East Tennessee State's Ed DeChellis, Tennessee State has been filled by South Carolina State's Cy Alexander, UCLA has been filled by Pittsburgh's Ben Howland, Virginia Tech has been filled by South Florida's Seth Greenberg, Washington State has been filled by former Wisconsin head coach Dick Bennett, and Wright State has been filled by Ohio State assistant coach Paul Biancardi.  That's 14 schools that have already hired a new head coach and, as things stand now, there are 12 more jobs (Arkansas-Little Rock, Chicago State, Cleveland State, Columbia, East Tennessee State, Elon College, Georgia, North Carolina, North Carolina A&T, Pittsburgh, South Florida, and Western Illinois) that are currently open.  And assuming that Felton, Prosser, and Williams do as expected, the ripple-effect could be seemingly endless.  If Williams goes to North Carolina that would open the door for Illinois' Bill Self to take Kansas and Marquette head coach Tom Crean, former Chicago Bulls head coach Tim Floyd, or Creighton head coach Dana Altman to take Illinois.  If it's Crean, then due to the fact Gregory is already gone to Dayton, the obvious two candidates for Marquette are Golden Eagles assistant coach Darrin Horn and Wisconsin-Milwaukee head coach Bruce Pearl.  But Horn also is expected to be one of the favorites for Western Kentucky and even in this day-and-age it still may be tougher than it should be for a Catholic school (Marquette) to hire a Jewish head coach (Pearl), despite the fact that he had a 231-45 9-year record at the Division II level and in only two years at the Division I level has turned Wisconsin-Milwaukee into one of the top mid-major programs in college basketball, as was evident by the fact that they came within a lay-up of knocking off Notre Dame in the first round of this year's NCAA Tournament.  So don't be surprised, if somebody like Butler head coach Todd Lickliter ends up at Marquette.  Remember, Lickliter is one of the hottest mid-major head coaches in the country after guiding his team to upsets against Mississippi State and Louisville in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.  And, if Lickliter does move onto Marquette, or anywhere else this spring, then don't be surprised if Butler assistant coach Jeff Meyer gets the Bulldogs head coaching job.   Not only is there already an exciting precedent for moving up the top assistant at Butler, but they've been darn successful doing it on two recent previous occasions.  Remember, they hired current Xavier head coach Thad Matta after Barry Collier left for Nebraska three years ago and Lickliter two years ago when Matta left to take the Xavier job.  If Altman were to take Illinois, that would open the door for Bluejays assistant coach Greg Grensing to move into the head coaching spot at Creighton.  However, Grensing also has been mentioned for South Florida, along with Florida assistant coach Anthony Grant, South Florida assistant coach Dave Zimroth, and Connecticut assistant coach Clive Vaughn.  If Prosser moves to Pittsburgh, Richmond's Jerry Wainwright, Providence's Tim Welsh, George Mason's Jim Larranaga, Holy Cross' Ralph Willard, and Manhattan's Bobby Gonzalez all would be excellent candidates to take over at Wake Forest.  Gonzalez, Willard, and Larranaga also could be line for Providence.  Gonzalez was an assistant coach for the Friars during the Pete Gillen era, Willard is one of Rick Pitino's best friends and Pitino still has a lot of juice at Providence, and Larranaga is an alumnus of Providence.  It also appears that the top two candidates for Cleveland State are former Clemson assistant coach Darren Tillis and Michigan State assistant coach Mike Garland and, ironically, both them were recruited to Cleveland State by former Larry Shyatt, who recently resigned at Clemson.  However, if Shyatt himself were to change his mind and take the job or Garland wins out, then Tillis may be in line for North Carolina A&T.  We also believe that Siena head coach Rob Lanier and Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins would be the leading candidates, if St. Bonaventure opens. 

Tuesday, April 8, 2003

In case you were wondering, we had Kansas' Nick Collison ranked #22 and Kirk Hinrich ranked #46 nationally in our final rankings for the Class of 1999 and Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony ranked #1 and Gerry McNamara ranked #21 nationally in our final rankings for the Class of 2003.  And, after a quick check as to where our competition had each of these four players ranked, we find that we were lower than most on Collison and higher than most on Hinrick, Anthony, and McNamara.  As a matter of fact, we had Anthony ranked as the #1 player in his class a full seven months before anybody else figured it out.  Speaking of Anthony, hopefully people are starting realize just how good this guy is, especially after he scored 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished out seven assists, as he led Syracuse to its first ever NCAA Championship last night.  Not only was he named the Most Outstanding Player in the Tournament, but Anthony turned in such an outstanding performance in the Final Four that we're starting to wonder whether Anthony should be the #1 pick over 6'6 LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH and 6'10 Darko Milicic from Serbia in the NBA Draft in June.   Obviously this won't happen, due to the herd-like mentality of the NBA, whereby, if one guy is wrong, they are going to be wrong and, as a result, nobody loses their job.   However, when it's all said and done, I'm not sure that I wouldn't rather have Anthony versus the other two.  If you will recall, Anthony actually got the better of James in their head-to-head match-up at the Prime Time Shootout and he led Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA to the National Championship a year ago.  But what do I know?   I'm the guy who would have traded Ralph Sampson to Portland so I could have gotten the #2 pick and drafted Michael Jordan, instead of Sam Bowie in 1984.  And believe it or not, even today, people still try and justify taking Bowie, instead of Jordan, despite the fact there was plenty of evidence to justify going against the status quo.  Remember, Bowie was injury prone throughout his college career and to this day Jordan is the best 2-guard prospect Brick Oettinger of the Recruiters Handbook has ever seen in high school.   Jordan also was named co-MVP at the Five-Star Basketball Camp, scored 30 points (a record which stood for 15 years) and in the McDonald's All-American Game, hit the game winning shot as a freshman in New Orleans, LA when North Carolina beat Georgetown for the NCAA Championship in 1982, was named the National Player-of-the-Year by several media outlets in 1983, and was the consensus National Player-of-the-Year in 1984.  Not only should those who couldn't figure out Jordan was destined for stardom not admit it today, but maybe they also should find another line of work, because they are obviously clueless.  And so is the NCAA with its archaic rules, which will force James and Anthony to both enter their names into the NBA Draft this spring.  Just imagine what college basketball would be like next year if that didn't happen.  We would probably be talking about the two best players the college game has seen since the days of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the late 70s.  Yes, James and Anthony are that good!  However, college basketball's loss will be the NBA's gain and, as long we're talking about the draft, when was the last time three players this good were coming out in the same year?   Remember, the Washington Wizards got stuck having to take Kwame Brown as their #1 draft pick a couple of years ago.  However, a lot of people still don't seem to understand that the best player in one draft doesn't equate to the best in another draft and, as a result, getting any of one of the top three players in this year's draft is a NBA General Manager's dream come true.  With James, we're talking about the most heralded high school player of all-time who at every turn has passed all the tests with flying colors.  Anthony just turned in one of the all-time great performances in the history of the NCAA Final Four, as he led his team to the National Championship as a freshman.  Milicic is a 7-footer who reminds those who have seen him of Dirk Nowitzki, because he can handle the ball, shoot the three, play defense, and run the court with the best of them.  As a matter of fact, the word is that Milicic is as good as Nowitzki is right now.  And he'd better be, if he wants to mentioned in the same breath as Anthony and James, both of whom appear to be well on their way towards becoming two of the all-time greats in the history of the game!  If you were a NBA General Manager and you had the #1 pick in this June's draft, who would you take?   Tell us by answering today's "Question of the Day."

The Atlanta Constitution is reporting that Western Kentucky's Dennis Felton is going to be named as the next head coach at the University of Georgia.  This comes as no surprise to us, because the first person we mentioned for the job when it first looked liked Jim Harrick would not survive as the coach was Felton.  If you will recall, on Tuesday, March 11th, we said "that still might not be enough to keep Felton at Western Kentucky next year.  As a matter of fact, we've already heard that Felton is the #1 choice for the University of Georgia job and apparently they're talking someplace in the neighborhood of $750,000 per year for five to seven years."  We've also heard names like former Chicago Bulls head coach Tim Floyd, new Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell, Creigton head coach Dana Altman, St. John's head coach Mike Jarvis, former Atlanta Hawks head coach Lon Kruger, and Indiana University head coach Mike Davis being mentioned recently for the Georgia job, but it appears that the report that Sam Albano of Redmen.com gave us on Friday about Davis interviewing with the Bulldogs was false.  Obviously Davis would create all kinds of problems for himself both with Indiana fans and the administration, if he was actively seeking another job.  In other words, Davis isn't going anywhere unless they go after him.  Instead, it is our guess that Albano might have told this by somebody who wanted to help St. John's get 6'9 Tyler Jones from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX.  While we believe Albano is very much in the know, sometimes you are only as good as your source and this makes perfect sense when one remembers that St. John's appears to be the leader over Indiana, Oregon State, St. Joseph's, and Oklahoma State for Jones' services.  In other words, Albano might have been fed bad information by somebody who wanted to turn the tide in favor of St. John's and against Indiana.  But assuming that Felton does get the Georgia job, then the perfect fit to replace him at Western Kentucky would be Marquette assistant coach Darrin Horn, who not only is one of the top up-and coming guys in the business, but is a former Western Kentucky player.  Horn also played a major role in helping Tom Crean build the program at Marquette.  However, the Hilltoppers had better not wait too long, because, if Crean leaves a better job this spring, then Horn should be one of the early favorites for the Marquette job, along with Michigan State assistant coach Brian Gregory and Wisconsin-Milwaukee head coach Bruce Pearl.  It also appears that Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser is on the verge of taking the Pittsburgh job, which comes somewhat of a surprise to us.  Not only were the Deamon Deacons one of the better teams in college basketball this past season, but all the pieces appear to be in place for Wake Forest to make a serious run at a National Championship in a couple of years.  In addition to returning 6'8 Soph Vytas Danelius, 6'8 Soph Jamaal Levy, 6'0 Soph Taron Downey, 6'9 Frosh Eric Williams, 6'2 Frosh Justin Gray, 6'5 Frosh Trent Strickland, and 6'6 Frosh Chris Ellis for several more years, they also have a recruiting class that is ranked #17 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, which includes 6'0 Chris Paul from Clemmons (West Forsyth) NC, 6'3 Jeremy Ingram from Kinston (H.S.) NC, 6'9 Todd Hendley from Sanford (Lee County) NC, and 6'11 Kyle Visser from Grand Rapids (Forest Hills Central) MI.  They also have an early verbal commitment from  6'6 Jr Cameron Stanley from Raleigh (Millbrook) NC.  But maybe it's not such a surprise when one remembers that Prosser is originally from Pittsburgh, PA, the University of Pittsburgh can pay a lot more than Wake Forest, and it's rumored his wife is not happy living in Winston-Salem, NC.  If Prosser does move, you can bet that Providence head coach Tim Welsh's name will be mentioned prominently for the job, because he's from the area.  However, the guy who likely will have the inside track is Richmond head coach Jerry Wainwright.  Sure, Wainwright, who did a marvelous job at UNC-Wilmington in recent years, is doing a good job of building the program at Richmond into an Atlantic-10 power, but the big key is eight years Wainwright spent as an assistant coach Wake Forest during the Dave Odom era.  So now it appears that Richmond assistant coach Gary DeCesare has even more options, because he could become the next head coach of the Spiders, if Wainwright leaves; he could follow Wainwright to Wake Forest; he could replace new Murray State head coach Mick Cronin as an assistant at Louisville, if Rick Pitino hire him; he could become the next head coach at Manhattan, if Bobby Gonzalez moves onto Providence, if Welsh gets Wake Forest; or he could become the next head coach at Fordham, if the alumni gets the necessary money together to buy-out Bob Hill's contract.  So far that hasn't happened and, as a result, it appears that it's business as usual for the Rams coaching staff, which is hoping add a pair of junior college players and a foreign player to a recruiting class that already includes 7'2 Lulcasz Obrzut from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME.  Still, the rumors are out there and, if Hill does get the ax, then the early list for Fordham will also include Kentucky assistant coach Scott Rigot, Maryland assistant coach Jimmy Pastos, Villanova assistant coach Fred Hill, Wagner head coach Dereck Whittenburg, Boston University head coach Dennis Wolff, and Davidson head coach Bob McKillop.  We also are anxiously anticipating an announcement within the next several days about the North Carolina job.   The smart money appears to be on Kansas head coach Roy Williams, but don't rule out Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown just yet.   Apparently Brown is former North Carolina head coach Dean Smith's choice, while the chancellor and the athletic director want Williams.  So suddenly the question becomes who has the most power?  Apparently the chancellor and athletic director don't have nearly as much clout as they did three years ago when they hired Matt Doherty and, if they come up with something better this time around, there is no doubt it ultimately will cost both of them their jobs.  In other words, it might be wise to let Dean Smith win this time around.  And, if that happens, they would still have a chance to hire Williams when Brown retires in our or five years.  However, let's say that for whatever reason, neither Smith or Brown takes the job.  Would you believe that the next guy on the list doesn't appear to be Tennessee head coach Buzz Peterson or Chattanooga head coach Jeff Lebo?  Instead, the only other person that appears to have been contacted to-date about North Carolina is Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith.  There is no doubt that Smith is a great coach, but just imagine the political fall-out that would take place in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, if Smith took the North Carolina job.  Not only would Wildcat fans want to bring back lynching, but they'd probably forget all about how mad they are about Rick Pitino going from Kentucky to the Boston Celtics and then back to Louisville.  Remember, Kentucky fans think they have the best program in college basketball, so it would be a major slap in the face for their coach to move onto North Carolina, which really is the only program in college basketball that can rival Kentucky and UCLA with its storied history. 

Monday, April 7, 2003

Recent history tells us that there is no substitute for experience in the NCAA Final Four and this is especially evident once again as the two coaches (Kansas' Roy Williams and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim) who have been here a combined seven times will be playing for the National Championship tonight at the Superdome in New Orleans, LA.  In contrast, the two rookie head coaches in the Final Four (Texas' Rick Barnes and Marquette's Tom Crean) both saw their season's end on Saturday with double-digit losses in the Semi-Finals.  Obviously the match-ups, making shots, and focusing on what your team does well all are important when it comes to winning a couple of games in the NCAA Final Four, but how a coach handles the carnival type atmosphere with all the hoopla and distractions and keeping his team focused on the business at hand can be almost as important as the game itself.  Players with Final Four experience also seem to have a big advantage, because they already know what it's like to go home empty handed and, if nothing else, that's usually enough to overcome all the distractions.  Saturday's first game between Kansas and Marquette provides us of a classic illustration of what we're talking about.  Kansas played like a team on a mission as they executed their transition game to perfection and they did to Marquette exactly what Marquette did to Kentucky a week earlier in the regional finals.  The game actually reminded us the Maryland-Duke game two years ago, except the roles were reversed.  In other words, if Marquette had jumped out to a 15 or 20 point lead early, it would have been interesting to see if Kansas could have made the same type of incredible comeback that the Blue Devils made against the Terrapins.  However, with their lack of Final Four experience knew that mid-way through the first half that Marquette was done, as they went on to suffer one of the most ignominious defeats in NCAA Final Four history.  But, if Golden Eagles head coach Tom Crean and star player Dwayne Wade both return next season (Crean could take another job and Wade could go hardship into the NBA Draft this spring) and Marquette returns to the Final Four a year from now, then the smart money would be on Marquette doing exactly what Maryland did after going down to defeat in the semi-finals two years ago and then coming back to win the NCAA Championship a year ago.  The same also was true with Duke, which lost to Connecticut in the NCAA Title Game in 1999, but came back to win it 2001; Michigan State, which lost in the Semi-Finals in 1999, but came back to win the NCAA Championship in 2000; Kentucky, which lost in 1997 to Arizona in overtime in the Championship Game, but came back to win the 1998 NCAA Championship; and Duke, which lost by 30 points to UNLV in 1990, but came back to win the next two championships in 1991 and 1992.  And falling more into the Jim Boeheim category, whereby, the coach has the experience but most or all of the players are new, were Lute Olson with Arizona in 1997; Rick Pitino with Kentucky in 1996, Nolan Richardson with Arizona in 1994, Dean Smith with North Carolina in 1993, Jerry Tarkanian in 1990 with UNLV, and Larry Brown with Kansas in 1988.  In other words, only three times during the last 15 years (Steve Fisher at Michigan in 1989, Jim Harrick at UCLA in 1995, and Jim Calhoun at Connecticut in 1999) has the head coach of the winning team not previously taken a team to the Final Four.  In contrast, during the last 15 years 10 of the teams (Duke in 1990, Kansas in 1991, Michigan in 1992 and 1993, Duke in 1994, Arkansas in 1995, Syracuse in 1996, Kentucky in 1997, Duke in 1999, and Arizona in 2001) that have lost in the Championship Game have had a head coach with NCAA Final Four experience versus five (Oklahoma in 1988, Seton Hall in 1989, Utah in 1998, Florida in 2000, and Indiana in 2002) that have not.  In other words, 73% of the teams that have played in the NCAA Championship Game during the last 15 years have had a head coach who has been their before.  However, only 47% of the head coaches who have gone home after losing in the Semi-Finals on Saturday during the last 15 years had been there before (Kansas in 2002, Michigan State in 2001, North Carolina in 2000, North Carolina 1998, North Carolina in 1995, Arizona in 1994, Kentucky in 1993, Kansas 1993, Indiana in 1992, North Carolina in 1991, UNLV in 1991, Duke in 1989, Arizona in 1988, and Duke in 1998 all had head coaches with previous NCAA Final Four experience and and Oklahoma in 2002, Maryland in 2001, Wisconsin in 2000, Ohio State in 1999, Mississippi State in 1999, Stanford in 1998, North Carolina in 1997, Minnesota in 1997, Massachusetts in 1996, Mississippi State in 1996, Oklahoma State in 1995, Florida in 1994, Cincinnati in 1992, Arkansas in 1990, Georgia Tech in 1990, and Illinois in 1989 all had head coaches with no previous NCAA Final Four experience).  As four tonight's NCAA Championship Game between Kansas and Syracuse, we think it's too close to call.  Obviously, Kansas has unfinished business to attend to from a year ago, but Syracuse's zone defense is especially difficult to play against with only one day to prepare.  So we'll go with the Orangemen in an overtime thriller and maybe with a National Championship on his resume, Boeheim will finally get the respect he deserves.   Remember, this is the third time Boeheim has coached a team in the NCAA Championship Game and he's only one of eight active coaches with three or more Final Four appearances.  The others are Duke's Mike Krzyzewski with nine, Texas Tech's Bob Knight with five, Arizona's Lute Olson with five, Louisville's Rick Pitino with four, Kansas' Roy Williams with four, Michigan State's Tom Izzo with three, and San Diego State's Steve Fisher with three.  As for Williams, win or lose in tonight's NCAA Championship, it will be extremely interesting to see whether he stays at Kansas or returns home to North Carolina. 

Saturday, April 5, 2003, & Sunday, April 6, 2003

Did you know that 6'11 Jr Chester Giles from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA has made an early verbal commitment to USC?  Apparently it happened sometime ago, but an official announcement has not yet been forthcoming and, as a result, we won't move the Trojans' recruiting class into the #2 spot on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2004 until he decides to announce it publicly.  Currently we have Southern Cal's recruiting class, which also includes 7'0 Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Garces) CA and 6'4 Curtis Allen from Palos Verdes (Rolling Hills) CA, ranked #3 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2004 and this is just one more illustration of why we think USC asssitant coach Kurtis Townsend is one of the best in the business.   Sure, USC had a disappointing season this year, but Townsend has gotten it done everyplace he's been and his best effort to-date appears to be at USC.  Remember, this past season the Trojans were ranked #7-ranked in the nation, according the HOOP SCOOP's Talent Ratings; they have 6'4 Rodrick Stewart and Lodrick Stewart, both from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA, already lined up for next year; and they already are off to the races with the following year's recruiting class.  And Townsend's star could rise even further now that Ohio State assistant coach Paul Biancardi has gotten the Wright State job and Louisville assistant coach Mick Cronin has gotten the Murray State job and, if Villanova assistant coach Fred Hill gets the Manhattan job and Michigan State assistant coach Brian Gregory gets Dayton or Marquette, if Tom Crean moves to someplace like Illinois or Kentucky.  In other words, Townsend the #1-ranked assistant coach in the nation next time we update our rankings of the top assistant coaches in the nation.  This also makes things tougher for new UCLA head coach Ben Howland, because the three of the top six-ranked juniors in the state - 6'3 Jr DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA to Duke, Swift to USC, and Allen to USC - have already verbally committed and the other three - 6'4 Jr Arron Afflalo from Compton (Centennial) CA, 6'3 Jr Gabriel Pruitt from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, and 6'4 Jr Bryce Taylor from North Hollywood (Harvard-Westlake) CA - all play a similar position.  And UCLA already appears to be close to locking up Afflalo, who is both the an excellent student and the top-ranked junior in Southern California.   We also understand that Kentucky is still in the hunt for both 6'10 Alexander Johnson from North Bridgeton (Bridgton Academy) ME and 7'3 Shagari Alleyne from New York (Rice) NY.  If you will recall, we reported earlier that the Southeastern Conference had told all the schools in the league that they couldn't enroll Johnson into school due to potential problems with his transcript.  But that does not appear to be correct.  As a matter of fact, we know that Wildcats head coach Tubby Smith is planning to fly to Maine to personally recruit Johson on Wednesday, April 9th.  Alleyne verbally committed to Rutgers last fall, but never signed a binding National Letter-of-Intent.  However, he also has not reneged on Rutgers, so until officially re-opens his recruitment, we're still counting Alleyne with Rutgers.  We also continue to hear the Wildcats being mentioned for 6'11 James Lang from Birmingham (Central Park Christian) AL, 6'11 Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, and 6'9 Mohamed Abakur from San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) CA.  Lang also is considering Louisville, Alabama, and UAB, but is not expected to make it academically and, as a result, will likely by-pass college and enter his name into the NBA Draft this spring.  Watkins has narrowed his list to Kentucky, Villanova, Rutgers, and North Carolina.  Abukar signed with Georgia last fall, but is expected to be able to appeal to the Southeastern Conference, which administers the National Letter-of-Intent and, assuming he wins, he would be free to transfer to any Division I school right away.  In other words, Wildcats assistant coach Scott Rigot got a late start when he got the job last summer, but, along with his boss (Tubby Smith) and assistant coach Reggie Hanson, Kentucky appears to be more than making up for lost time as they are currently involved with every quality available big man still available in the high school and prep school ranks.  We also have confirmed that St. John's is the leader over Indiana, Oregon State, St. Joseph's, and Oklahoma State for 6'9 Tyler Jones from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX, 7'0 Greg Killings from Miami (Northwestern) FL has verbally committed to Rice, and the final six for 6'9 Jason Cain from Philadelpia (John Bartram) PA are Utah, Indiana, Virginia, Penn State, UNC-Greensboro, and Villanova.

Memphis head coach John Calipari, N.C. State head coach Herb Sendek, Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser are being mentioned as the most likely successors to Ben Howland at Pittsburgh, but our money is one Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez.  And, if we're right, don't be surprised if Gonzalez makes a strong push for 5'10 Jr Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, who is the #1-ranked junior in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP.  Obviously Gonzalez's strong New York ties will make him an instant contender in the hunt for Telfair, but the fact that 6'9 Jr Chris Taft from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY, who lives in the same housing project as Telfair in Brooklyn, NY and is one of Telfair's best friends, has already signed with Panthers also is something you know Gonzalez will attempt to build upon.  However, that might not be so easy, if Taft goes the prep school route, because everybody else will also attempt to recruit them together as a package.  Speaking Telfair, it no longer appears that he's the lock everybody thought he was for Louisville now that Cardinals assistant coach Mick Cronin has taken the Murray State job.   As a matter of fact, Duke appears to be a lot stronger than most people realize.  Did you know that Telfair has always been a Blue Devils fans?  But a scholarship offer by the Blue Devils might be contingent upon Telfair being willing to commit to playing for two years in college.  Telfair also really liked it in Southern California when he played so well in the Dream Classic in early January, plus Howland and his staff have been near the top of Telfair's list all along, which also means the door may be open for Telfair to go to UCLA.   Getting back to Cronin, how ironic is it that the day after he took the Murray State head coaching job that Dayton head coach Oliver Purnell went to Clemson?  If you will recall, Cronin grew up in Cincinnati, OH, attended the University of Cincinnati, and later became the top assistant coach for the Bearcats.   In other words, Dayton would have been a natural fit for Cronin, plus Purnell is leaving the cupboard full.  As a matter of fact, we speculated on this very possibility on January 29th.  "We also are starting to hear names like Dayton head coach Oliver Purnell and Western Kentucky head coach Dennis Felton for Clemson, if Larry Shyatt doesn't survive....If Purnell were to leave Dayton, how about Louisville assistant coach Mick Cronin as the coach to be named later for former Dayton head coach Jim O'Brien?  If you will recall, Rick Pitino hired O'Brien when he was at Kentucky and later took O'Brien with him to the Boston Celtics, where he has remained as the head coach."  As for who might replace Cronin as the top assistant coach at Louisville, we still hearing that Pitino will move assistant coach Kevin Willard into the top spot and strength coach Wiley Brown, who started for the Cardinals in the early 80s, into the #3 spot on the staff.  However, another possibility appears to be former Greg "Shoes" Vetrone, who got out of the business several years ago, but previously was regarded as one of the top recruiters in the business.  Not only does Vetrone have strong West Coast ties dating back to his days at UC-Irvine and UNLV, but he's originally from New York City, which means that he should be able to keep Pitino's strong Northeast connection alive.  Remember, Pitino's first two recruits at Louisville (Francisco Garcia and Taquan Dean) are from the Bronx, NY and Neptune, NJ.  As for Purnell taking Clemson, most people we've talked to in the business were very surprised.  Not only did Purnell have more job security as head coach of the Flyers, but Dayton, which is one of the best jobs in the Atlantic-10, appears to be a better job right now than Clemson, which is one of the toughest jobs in the Atlantic Coast Conference.  Dayton assistant coach Ron Jirsa appears to be perfectly positioned for the second time in his career to become a head coach.  If you will recall, Jirsa was Tubby Smith's top assistant coach at Georgia when Smith got the Kentucky job in 1997 and Jirsa has played a major role in recent years helping Purnell build the Flyers program into one of the powerhouse teams in the Atlantic-10 Conference.  Our guess is that this should be enough to get Jirsa the job, but we're also hearing names like Butler head coach Todd Lickliter, Michigan State assistant coach Brian Gregory, Florida assistant coach Anthony Grant, USC assistant coach Kurtis Townsend, Morehead State head coach Kyle Macy, and IUPUI head coach Ron Hunter.  It also appears that Hunter is the leading candidate for Cleveland State, although UNLV assistant coach Derek Thomas, Rutgers assistant coach Kevin Heck, and Michigan State assistant coach Mike Garland also appear to be high on the list.  Our guess is that Pittsburgh assistant coach Jamie Dixon will get Illinois State, although he could also follow Howland to UCLA or get the Pittsburgh job.  Did you know that players at Pittsburgh have endorsed him for the job?  We also are expecting Jackson State to be filled by SMU assistant coach Coleman Crawford, Mississippi State assistant coach Robert Kirby, Mississippi assistant coach Wayne Brent, or former Murray State head coach Tevester Anderson.   If Anderson gets the job, it would be the shortest retirements on record.  If you will recall, Anderson called it quits after five years at Murray State last month.  

Friday, April 4, 2003

Sam Albano of Redmen.com not only tells us that Indiana University head coach Mike Davis interviewed for the Georgia job today, but that the offer is on the table and our guess is that he will take it.  As a matter of fact, we've been telling for you for several weeks that Davis was one of the leading candidates to become the next head coach of the Bulldogs.  Obviously this would not good news for former Chicago Bulls head coach Tim Floyd, who has had Clemson on hold, because he too was hoping to become the next head coach at Georgia.  And we think he would be smart to wait a little longer, because Memphis and Illinois, both of which are ideally suited for Floyd, may open soon, if John Calipari takes the Pittsburgh job and Illinois head coach Bill Self moves onto Kansas.  Remember, Floyd is from the Deep South (Louisiana) and has roots in the Midwest after being head coach of Chicago Bulls.  Other great candidates for Memphis would be Chattanooga head coach Jeff Lebo, Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez, and Davis, if, by some chance, he doesn't take the Georgia job.  We also have confirmed that Ohio State assistant coach Paul Biancardi has taken the Wright State job and Louisville assistant coach Mick Cronin has taken the Murray State job, which means the top two assistant coaches in the nation by HOOP SCOOP have already gotten head coaching jobs.  We also wouldn't be surprised to see our #3-ranked assistant coach (Villanova's Fred Hill) get Manhattan, if Calipari decides to stay put and Bobby Gonzalez leaves Manhattan for Pittsburgh; our #4-ranked assistant coach (Michigan State's Brian Gregory) get the Marquette job, if Tom Crean gets a job that is so good that he can't turn it down, like Kentucky, if Tubby Smith were to take a pro job, or Illinois, if Self moves onto Kansas, our #9-ranked assistant coach (Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon) get the Illinois State job; and our #10-ranked assistant coach (Florida's Anthony Grant) get the South Florida job.  In other words, six of the top 10 assistant coaches, according the HOOP SCOOP, could get head coaching jobs this spring, which would be even better than a year ago when four of our top 10 assistant coaches (#1-ranked Jay John moved from Arizona, #2-ranked Neil Dougherty moved from Kansas to Texas Chrisitan; #5-ranked Dave Leitao moved from Connecticut to DePaul, and #9-ranked John Pelphrey moved from Florida to South Alabama) got head coaching jobs.  The list for East Tennesse State continues to grow, as former Virginia Commonwealth and UT-Chattanooga head coach Mack McCarthy, Tennessee assistant coaches Kerry Keating and Chris Ferguson, Maryland assistant coach Jimmy Pastos, Murray State assistant coach Jim Hatfield, East Tennessee State assistant coach Tom Conrad, Alabama assistant coach Orlando Early, and USC assistant coach Kurtis Townsend all appear to have interest in the job.  We also know that Mike Byrnes, who is the #10-ranked head coach in high school/prep school by the HOOP SCOOP, is hoping that either Calipari or Gonzalez gets the Pittsburgh job, because in the past both coaches have recruited players out of his program and, as a result, the new coach at Pittsburgh might be more inclined to stash 6'9 Chris Taft from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY at Winchendon (School) MA.   Speaking of players who may be heading to Winchendon next year, did you know that we've heard that 6'2 Jr Isaiah Swann from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'3 Jr Robert McIver from New Haven (Hillhouse) CT, 6'7 Jr Barbacar Thiem from Washington (Spingarn) DC, 6'0 Soph Eric Price from Washington (Dunbar) DC, and 6'8 Jr Jerome Hable from Bethesda (Walt Whitman) MD all appear to be interested in playing for Byrnes next year?  In other words, Winchendon recruits better than a lot of the schools in Big East.

Now that Ben Howland has made it official for UCLA, the race to become the next head coach at the University of Pittsburgh, could become very  interesting.  We had always been under the assumption the N.C. State's Herb Sendek would be the leading candidate for the job, due to his close relationship with adidas' Sonny Vaccaro.  Remember, Vaccaro, who is originally from the Pittsburgh area, is the most powerful man in basketball and, as a result, most people think he will have a lot of influence when it comes to who becomes the next head coach of the Panthers.  But the word on the street is that J. O. Stright, who runs the Pittsburg Jots Club Team program, along with John Miller, doesn't want Sendek to get the job. This important, not only because Stright is one of the most influential basketball people in Pittsburgh, PA, but also because Miller's son, Xavier assistant coach Sean Miller, bailed out on Sendek when it appeared that he was a lame-dunk coach at N.C. State two years ago.  Apparently there is a lot more to this story than we can tell you, but what is important for our purposes is there appears to be some animosity on both sides.  Instead, it appears that Memphis head coach John Calipari is the coach that everybody can agree upon.  And if this does happen, the first person Calipari will probably hire at Pittsburgh is Miller.  And this wouldn't the first time Calipari has recruited Miller.  Not only did he try and hire Miller as an assistant coach three years ago when he got the Memphis job, but Calipari signed Miller when he was a high school senior at Beaver Falls (Black Hawk) PA in 1987.  We also expect Louisville assistant coach Mick Cronin to get the Murray State job today and, as a result, people are already talking about the Racers become the Gonzaga of the Midwest.  Sure, Cronin doesn't have any head coaching experience, except on the junior varsity level at Cincinnati (Woodward) OH, but he not only has worked for two of the top head coaches in the game in Rick Pitino and Bobby Huggins, but he's been around the game all his life.  Did you know that Cronin's father was a legendary high school basketball coach in Ohio, plus he's one of the top scouts for the Atlanta Braves?  Nobody seems to know who Pitino will hire to replace Cronin at Louisville, but one name that would make sense is Louisville strength coach Wiley Brown, who not only was a player at Louisville in the early 80's, but also has paid is dues and appears to be ready to make the move into coaching.  We have confirmed that 6'4 Mamadou Diakhate from Manhasset (St. Mary's) NY recently made a verbal commitment to Eastern Kentucky and, as a result, it looks like Colonels head coach Travis Ford is not only well on his towards landing an excellent recruiting class, but also turning the program around very quickly.  The addition of Diakhate moves their recruiting class, which also includes 6'7 Michael Brock from Independence (Simon Kenton) KY, who is one of the top seniors in Kentucky, and 6'3 Brandon Moore from Huntington (Spring Valley) WV, who was named Mr. Basketball in West Virginia, into a tie at #95, along with College of Charleston and South Alabama, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   Diakhate doesn't have a true position, but he's a great leader, tremendous competitor and a physical specimen around the basket.  In other  words, he promises to be the ultimate role player for Eastern Kentucky and one of the big reasons why they were able to pull this off is that most college coaches didn't get a chances see just how good Diakhate really is due to an injury last summer that sidelined him at the adidas Big Time Tournament. And it appears that Eastern Kentucky isn't done yet, as they also are one of the favorites for one of the top inside players still available in the junior college ranks.  Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that Massachusetts has gotten a verbal commitment from 6'6 Maurice Maxwell from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA and 5'10 Kevin Green from Philadelphia (Luthern) PA has committed to Stony Brook and our New York Editor Ron Naclerio tells us that Pepperdine may have stolen one in 6'7 Yahkouba Diawara from Southern Idaho (JC) ID.  If you will recall, Diawara is the power forward that schools like DePaul, St. John's, and Connecticut were targeting, because they thought he could step in and make an immediate impact at the power forward spot.  In other words, it looks like the Waves have filled their inside needs, depsite the fact they missed out on getting 7'3 Shagari Alleyne from New York (Rice) NY and 6'8 Justin Benson from Houston (Gulf Shores) TX, who, instead, went to Rutgers and New Mexico last fall.  If you will recall, last fall the Pepperdine also landed 6'9 Jarrad Henry from Kansas City (Bishop Miege) MO, 5'10 Sean Davis from San Diego (Lincoln) CA, and 6'4 Wendall White from Redondo Beach (Redondo Union) CA and, as a result, their recruitig class moves into a tie, along with San Francisco, Xavier, and Utah, at #45 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   

Thursday, April 3, 2003

Things can happen extremely fast in this business, as is evident by what happened yesterday with South Florida head coach Seth Greenberg, who was not even a candidate for the Virginia Tech job when he woke up yesterday morning.   However, by 6:00 PM last night, Greenberg had gotten the call to see if he was interested in the job, flown to Blacksburg, VA, interviewed for, and accepted the job.  Obviously this is the perfect marriage, because Greenberg has done just about all he could do at South Florida.  Not only is Greenberg an excellent coach, as is evident by the fact that he did extremely well at Long Beach State and he's done better than any of his predecessors at the helm of the Bulls, but he's a proven recruiter, which is the first order of business if Virginia Tech wants to move into the upper part of the league.  Speaking of hiring somebody who can recruit like crazy, that also should be the top priority for South Florida and, as a result, the obvious candidates for the job are Florida assistant coach Anthony Grant, Connecticut assistant coach Clive Vaughn, South Florida assistant coach Dave Zimroth, and Creighton assistant coach Greg Grensing.  Our guess is that Grensing, who is one of the most underrated assistant coaches in the business, will stay put, because he should be the heir apparent to Creighton head coach Dana Altman when he moves to someplace like Illinois or Iowa.  Nobody recruits the state any better than Zimroth, who not only is a former high school coach in Miami, FL and an assistant coach at Florida State, but has helped Greenberg build the program.  In other words, loyolty and hard work should be mean something, but, even if doesn't at South Florida, you can bet a lot of other people will be lining up to hire Zimroth now that he's suddenly available.  Vaughn, who has stepped in and done a great job of filling Dave Leitoa's shoe with the Huskies, previously was an assistant coach under Greenberg at both South Florida and Long Beach State.  Grant is extremely low key, but that doesn't stop him from being one of the best recruiters and sharpest up-and-coming guys in the business.  A lot less low key, but equally astute is Louisville assistant coach Mick Cronin, who appears to be on the verge of getting the Murray State job.  Not only will Cronin be able to recruit like crazy, assuming he take the job, but Murray State head coach Tevester Anderson hasn't exactly left the cupboard empty.   Not only are most of the top players in program supposed to back next year, but their recruiting class, which includes 6'10 Pearson Griffin from Murray State (JC) OK, who was ranked #8 nationally among centers by Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook, is ranked #69 nationally on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   Making the story even more interesting is the fact that current Murray State assistant coach Jim Hatfield is suddenly looking for a job and there is no question that he has both the experience as a head coach at Southwestern Louisiana and Mississippi State and as a recruiter (in addition to being an assistant at Murray State, Hatfield has been an assistant coach at Kentucky on two different occasions) that somebody like Cronin will need to help make the transition from being one of the top assistant coaches into one of the top mid-major head coaches in the nation.  Also worth watching in the Ohio Valley Conference next year will be Jacksonville State, which is making the jump into that leage from the Atlantic Sun Conference after the current season.  Not only has Gamecocks head coach Mike LaPlante done a great job of improving the program each of the last three years, as they've won nine, 13, and 20 games, respectively, but, thanks primarily to efforts of assistant coach Michael White, they recently got a verbal commitment from 6'4 Jeremy Law from Shelton State (JC) AL.  Not only are we talking about a lefty 6'4 point guard, but this guy was the best junior college player in the state of Alabama this past season.  And, if that weren't enough, Jacksonville State also has 6'9 Abdou Diame, who transferred from Auburn a year ago, sitting out.  You remember Diame!  He was ranked #22 nationally in our final rankings of the Class of 2000 and a year ago was rumored to be transferring from Auburn to Virginia.  However, LaPlante, who recruited Diame to Auburn when he was an assistant coach for the Tigers, was able once again take advantage of his contacts and, as a result, he will have not one, but two, potential pros on his team next season.  Speaking of Auburn, did you know that the Tigers have a verbal commitment from 6'4 Jr Willie Frank Tolbert from Red Level (H.S.) AL?  Neither did we until yesterday.  Apparently this sleeper picked the Tigers several days ago. We're talking about a multi-dimensional athletic scorer who is a lot like Gerald Wallace, but obviously three or four inches shorter and a lot stronger in terms of build and strength.  This moves Auburn's recruiting class into a tie, along with Purdue, at #5 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2004.  If you will recall, Auburn also has an early verbal commitment from 6'2 Toney Douglas from Jonesboro (H.S.) GA.  And don't be surprised if Auburn also gets a commitment from 6'4 Quin Humphrey from Stockbridge (H.S.) GA.  Not only would that give the Tigers another perimeter player in this recruiting class, but it would move their class, which also includes 6'5 Ron Lemelle from Western Oklahoma (JC) OK, 6'4 Dwon Youmans from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL and 6'8 Dwayne Curtis from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, into a tie at #53, along with Stanford, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   We also expect 6'2 Jr Ron Steele from Birmingham (John Carroll) AL to make an early verbal commit to Alabama within the next week or two, but one of their two prime targets - 6'4 Jr Glenn Miles from Birmingham (West End) AL, who is ranked #30 nationally in the junior class, probably won't make it official for the Crimson Tide until summer.  The word we get is that Miles, who is supposed to be a lock for Alabama, wants to wait and make the annoucement at the adidas ABCD Camp in early July.  However, getting Alabama's other prime target - 6'8 Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, who is ranked #10 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, may not be so easy, as head coach Mark Gottfried and his staff will have to battle schools like Florida, Louisville, Duke, and Mississippi State for Williams' services. 

Wednesday, April 2, 2003

In a column by Rudy Martzke in today's USA Today, ESPN's Dick Vitale gets credit for being the first one to break the story about North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty's "ouster."  Apparently Vitale reported it yesterday afternoon on EPSNews.    However, it's too bad that Martzke doesn't subscribe to this web site.  If he did, he wouldn't appear to be so clueless.  As a matter of fact, I'm thinking about about calling the USA Today and demanding a retraction.  If you will recall, last Thursday we told  you that Doherty was going to get bought out of his contract and that it would probably happen on Tuesday, which was yesterday.  We also said that both Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown and Kansas head coach Roy Williams will take the job, if it is offered, and we stand by that statement, if the job is offered to Brown.  However, in the case of Williams, we're hedging.   Our sources are telling us now that the athletic director at Kansas is going to get fired right after the season if over, plus you can bet KU fans will put all kinds of pressure on Williams to once again stay up, especially if he wins the NCAA Championship.  We also were way ahead of the curve with Pittsburgh head coach Ben Howland going to UCLA.  As a matter of fact, we first mentioned Howland as a possible candidate for the UCLA job on March 4, 2002.  "Did you also know that University of Pittsburgh head coach Ben Howland was an assistant coach at UC-Santa Barbara when Gary Cunningham became the athletic director at UC-Santa Barbara in 1995?  This could become important if Cunningham, who was both a player and an assistant under John Wooden at UCLA, as well as the head coach at UCLA from 1977-79, gets the athletic director job at UCLA when Peter Dalis retires in June and, at some point, current UCLA head coach Steve Lavin gets the ax.  Remember, UCLA's sixth place league finish is the worst in school history.  Howland also is hot at Pittsburgh, plus he's one of Sonny Vaccaro's guys.  If you will recall, Vaccaro, who is widely regarded as the most powerful man in basketball, as well as the director for basketball at adidas, has publicly been extremely critical of Lavin lately."  Cummingham didn't become the athletic director, but today Howland, who already has agreed to take the job in principle, will meet with the Chancellor and sign the multi-year contract today.  We've also been talking about N.C. State head coach Herb Sendek and Manhattan Bobby Gonzalez being the leading candidates for Pittsburgh, if Howland takes UCLA for months.  If Sendek takes it, our guess is that Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson and Texas head coach Rick Barnes, both of whom are originally from North Carolina, will be offered the job, but will turn it down.  And, if that happens, the smart move might be to go after Indiana University head coach Mike Davis.  There is no question that Davis can coach and he is second to none in terms of recruiting in the Deep South.  Add the fact that the Wolfpack is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference and they have tremendous facilities, tradition, and fan support and the possibities are unlimited.  As a matter of fact, this could be almost as lethal a combination as Leonard Hamilton is at Florida State.  Remember, Florida State's recruiting class, which includes 6'5 Vakeaton Wafer from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX, 6'10 Diego Romero from Lon Morris (JC) TX, and 6'7 Antonio Griffin from Scottsdale (JC) AZ, is ranked #10 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  It also is the best class in the nation when you look at only the three best players in each recruiting class.  If Davis were to get either N.C. State or Georgia, which is another job that Davis appears to be interested in, you can bet that the first player he'll go after is 6'9 Jr D.J. White from Tuscaloosa (Hillcrest) AL, who is ranked #6 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  If you will recall, we've been telling you for nearly a year now that White is a near lock for Indiana, because his high school coach Thad Fitzpatrick and Davis are not only close friends, but they were on the same staff together at Alabama.  Another excellent option for N.C. State, if Sendek leaves, is Providence head coach Tim Welsh, which would open the door Gonzalez to take Providence.  Remember, Gonzalez used to be an assistant coach for the Friars during the Pete Gillen era.  And of course, there also is the Rick Pitino connection, which is important, because one of Pitino's best friends is the athletic director at Providence.  In other words, one way or another, it looks like Manhattan will probably open and, if it does, some of the names we're hearing to replace Gonzalez are Mike Malone, who used to be an assistant coach at Manhattan and is now a scout for the New York Knicks; Villanova assistant coach Fred Hill; Boston University head coach Dennis Wolff, Providence assistant coach Steve DeMeo; Iona assistant coach Tony Chiles; Richmond assistant coach Gary DeCesare; George Mason assistant coach Mike Gillian; and Maryland assistant coach Jimmy Pastos.  However, Chiles or Gillian, both of whom are also involved with Columbia, could be gone by then.  And so could DeCesare, if Richmond head coach Jerry Wainwright moves onto Clemson.  That's not a prediction, but Wainwright does have a lot better chance than most people realize.  It also wouldn't be a surprise if DeCesare got the head coaching job at Richmond, if Wainwright moves; if he moved into Hill's spot at Villanova, if Hills gets the Manhattan job; or becomes part of Sendek's staff at Pittsburgh.  Remember, Wildcats head coach Jay Wright almost hired DeCesare two years ago when he first got the job at Villanova and DeCesare sent Sendek the most important recruit of his career when Julius Hodge signed with N.C. State two years ago. 

We didn't expect to Marquette to beat Kentucky like they did on Saturday when we wrote about Marquette head coach Tom Crean being the likely successor to Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith, if Smith replaces Larry Brown at the helm of the Philadelphia 76ers or if he takes the Charlotte Hornets job.  However, now it looks like a pretty obvious call.  We also hear Illinois head coach Bill Self, Texas head coach Rick Barnes, and Gonzaga head coach Mark Few mentioned for Kentucky, if Smith does decide to leave.  At first we didn't think Few had any shot, but when one remembers that the new athletic director at Kentucky previously was a Oregon State, this becomes a lot more plausible.  We know that Few really wanted the UCLA job and he'd be crazy not to take the Kentucky job, if it was offered, but, otherwise, we think he will be back at Gonzaga next year.  Not only will Few have most of his top players back from a team that took Arizona to double overtime in the second round of the this year's NCAA Tournament, but Few told us at the NCAA Final Four a year ago that it's going to be tough for him to leave Gonzaga for a bigger job after he's told all his recruits that smaller is better.  Getting back to Marquette, if Crean does leave for Kentucky, Illinois, Georgia or some other big time job that opens this spring, we'd love to see Golden Eagles assistant Darrin Horn get the job.  Not only is Horn one of the bright young assistant coaches in the business, but he gets after it the same way Crean did when he was first starting out as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky during the Ralph Willard era in the early 90's.  However, if prior precedent means anything, Michigan State assistant coach Brian Gregory will get the job.  Remember, the last two head coaches Marquette has hired (Crean and Mike Deane) previously had been assistant coaches at Michigan State.  We also know that at least three people - Louisville assistant coach Mick Cronin, Florida assistant coach Donnie Jones, and Middle Tennessee State assistant coach Donnie Tyndell - have interviewed for the Murray State job and Prairie View A&M head coach Jerry Francis is the latest name we've heard for Cleveland State.   We also understand that Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron has been offered a substantial raise at to remain at the helm of the Rams and, as a result, Boston University head coach Dennis Wolff and former UCLA head coach Steve Lavin appear to be the leading candidates for Virginia Tech.  It looks like Pennsylvania head coach Fran Dunphy wasn't interested in the Penn State after all, which means that Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon is no longer the heir apparent to Dunphy at Pennylvania and Penn State assistant coach Pat Brogan, who used to be an assistant coach at Lafayette, isn't in line to return to his former school as the head coach.  Instead, East Tennessee State head coach Ed DeChellis took the Penn State job today.  This is an obvious move, because DeChellis used to be an assistant coach at Penn State and is close friends with the athletic director.  However, the big question remains - how well will he recruit?   A great place to start would be by firming up things with 6'9 Jason Cain from Philadelphia (John Bartram) PA, who reportedly has been waiting to see who gets the Penn State job.  We also understand that 6'8 Linas Kleiza from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD is ready to announce for the University of Missouri.  If you will recall, we reported recently that Kleiza had made the decision, but we never added him to our list of commitments, because he never made his intentions public.  Apparently Kleiza, who is the best unsigned player still available in the senior class nationally, was waiting to make sure that Tigers head coach Quin Snyder didn't take another head coaching job.   If you will recall, Snyder had been mentioned for UCLA.  This moves Missouri's recruiting class, which also includes 6'5 Thomas Gardner from Portland (Jefferson) OR, 6'9 Ousmane Konate from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, and 6'1 Spencer Laurie from Springfield (Kickapoo) MO, into a tie at #6, along with Arkansas and Oklahoma, our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Last week we quoted Jim Hicks of the Houston-based Recruiter's Cheat Sheet about 6'1 Carlos Hurt from Wabash Valley (JC) IL being a near lock for Texas A&M.  However, now Hicks is telling us that the Aggies have instead gotten 6'1 Bobby Leach from Neosho County (JC) KS and, as a result, they are out of scholarships.  So your guess is as good as mine as to where Hurt, who was ranked among our top 10 seniors in our final rankings in the Class of 2001, but is now damaged goods after being kicked off the Louisville team by Rick Pitino a year ago, will end up next year.  We also have a top five for 6'8 Jr Marvin Williams from Bremerton (H.S.) WA, who is ranked #7 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, which includes Oregon, Arizona, UCLA, Kansas, and North Carolina.  Ironically, one those jobs was just filled (UCLA), one just opened (North Carolina), and one may open, if Kansas head coach Roy Williams takes the North Carolina job.  Speaking of all these openings and potential openings at top level programs this spring, when was the last time UCLA, North Carolina, Kansas, Indiana, and Kentucky, which are five of the top programs in college basketball, were all open in the same year?  The answer is never.  However, if Smith takes a pro job, Indiana head coach Mike Davis finds the right job in the South, and Williams takes North Carolina, it could happen this spring.

Tuesday, April 1, 2003

The search committee to replace the legendary Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD head coach Morgan Wootten has narrowed the list to former Washington (Dunbar) DC head coach Gary Lampkins, interim Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD head coach Mike Jones, and current Potomac (Bullis) MD head coach Mike Hibbs.  But DeMatha is not the only DC area school with an opening, as Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC has reportedly forced out Carroll Holmes, who has been there for 21 years and has coached players like Lawrence Moten, Derrick Lewis, Kellii Taylor, Marvin Graves, and Charles Harrison.  The list of candidates to replace Holmes includes North Bethesda (Georgetown Prep) MD head coach Dwayne Bryant; who would keep the Georgetown connection intact at Archbishop Carroll; Catholic University assistant coach Steve Howes; Oxon Hill (H.S.) MD head coach Bill Lanier; long-time Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC assistant coach Bill Howze; and Washington (Gonzaga) DC assistant coach Steve Turner.  Speaking of the DC area, the favorites for 6'9 Jr James Gist from Wheaton (Good Counsel) MD, who is one of the juniors in the area , are Maryland and Kentucky, but his high school coach is pushing his alma mater (Providence).  Charlotte, Georgia Tech, Providence, and La Salle are expressing the most interest in 6'2 Jr Folarin Campbell from Silver Spring (Springbrook) MD and 6'5 Jr Louis Brookins from Silver Spring (Springbrook) MD has Mt. St. Mary's, American, Delaware, and Virginia Commonwealth on his list.  Previously, 6'9 Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA appeared to be a near lock for the North Carolina and we don't expect tht to change now that it appears almost certain that either Kansas head coach Roy Williams or Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown will be the next head coach of the Tar Heels.  As a matter of fact, we hear there is a press conference scheduled for 8:00 PM tonight and the word is that North Carolina will announce that is buying-out the remainder of Matt Doherty's contract.  If Williams gets the job, our guess is that former Tar Heels assistant coach Phil Ford, who currently has an administrative job within the university, will be back on the coaching staff.  And, if Brown gets the job, you can bet he will not only hire Ford, but also probably will bring current Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Dave Hanners, who is both a phenomenal coach and recruiter, with him.  Remember, Hanners and Ford were both part of the previous regimes, but were not retained when Doherty got the job three years ago and brought all his own people with him from Notre Dame.  Ironically, we think Doherty did a good job all things considered this year in terms of wins and loses.  However, he's not getting forced out based on what his team accomplished on the court.  Instead, Doherty's out because his players not like him and, in the end, it all came down to either Doherty goes or the players go.  Our guess is that Williams will get the job, but once again it might be tough for him to leave Kansas, especially if he wins the NCAA Championship six days from now.  Instead, our choice would be Brown, who not only is one of the best teachers in the game at any level, but also can deal with just about anybody (i.e. Allen Iverson).  Not only would Brown coming back to college basketball be great for the game, but our sources say he would take the job tomorrow, if it was offered.  Obviously Brown will continue to coach the Philadelphia 76ers for the rest of the season, but, if he takes the job right away, that would not only enhance North Carolina's chances of getting Johnson, but it also probably would put the Tar Heels into the driver's seat for 6'11 Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, who is the top unsigned high school senior still available.   In contrast, Williams isn't likely to make a decision until after the Jayhawks' season is over, plus there is no guarantee that Williams won't take the job and then return to Lawrence, KS only to change his mind just like he did three years ago.  In other words, I don't think you should hire somebody who stiffed you the first time when you can get the best coach in basketball.  What do you think?  Tell us by answering our "Question of the Day."  We also have confirmed that Liberty has added 6'4 Mike Battle from White Plains (Southern Maryland Christian) MD, 6'7 Leo Lightborne from Marshalltown (JC) IA, and 6'8 Doug Stewart from Stanford (Grace Christian) NC to a recruiting class that already includes 6'1 Larry Blair from Camden (Military) SC and 6'3 David Dees from Dayton (Christian) OH.  Obviously Blair, who is ranked #183 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is the prize of the class, but Battle can shoot the lights out, Lightborne rebounds well for size and scores around the basket, and Stewart is a slasher/athlete who thrives in transition.  Speaking Stewart, he might be the second best player in the class and he plans to walk-on and red-shirt his first year, which means Liberty isn't done recruiting yet.  However, as things stand now Liberty's recruiting class moves into a tie, along with James Madison, at #53 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   In other words, Battle, who scored 42 points and 31 points, respectively, earlier this year against Ft. Washington (National Christian) MD and Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY; Lightborne, who averaged 18 ppg against quality junior college competition, and Stewart, who is a major sleeper nationally, are all pretty good.