HOT RECRUITING INFORMATION  

FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST 2001

Hot Recruiting Information available for 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

Friday, August 31, 2001

The HOOP SCOOP has confirmed that 6'9 Torin Francis from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA has picked Notre Dame and this is big, because he not only provides addition athleticism inside, which is something that has alluded the Irish in the past, but he is an immediate impact player.  He also is likely to be a four-year player, because what you see might be what you get with Francis.   In other words, he doesn't have as much long term potential as some other guys, but, if what you see right now is what you get, he's perfect for head coach Mike Brey, who is in the process of turning the Irish into a perennial power in college basketball.  Francis is a 5th year player, so he isn't ranked among our top 100 seniors, but, if he was included on that list, he'd be listed among our top 30 nationally.  He also had a terrific NIKE All-American Camp.  If you will recall, we ranked him #6 overall in camp, as well as #2 in camp among centers behind 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL.  And Francis isn't the only major catch for the Irish in this recruiting class.  Remember, they landed 6'1 Chris Quinn from Dublin (Coffman) OH last spring and they got a verbal commitment from 6'8 Ricky Cornett from Homewood (Christian) IL in early August.  So suddenly Notre Dame has three players who are legitimate top 100 players nationally, which means their recruiting class is now showing up on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date behind Villanova and ahead of Illinois.  And they may move up even higher.  Remember, they only had two players - 6'1 Chris Thomas from Indianapolis (Pike) IN and 6'7 Jordan Cornette from Cincinnati (St. Xavier) OH - in last year's recruiting class.  Let's say they get 6'8 Kyle Wilson from Dallas (Jesuit) TX, who will be on campus in South Bend, IN this weekend on an official visit.  That would move Notre Dame's recruiting class up to #6 behind Iowa and ahead of Syracuse.  It also would provide Notre Dame with the perfect complement to Francis and Cornett, because Wilson is better away from the basket, as he is an excellent outside shooter and not real physical.  However, that one isn't over just yet, because Illinois is still believed to be the co-favorite.   And let's say Notre Dame pulls off a major upset and also gets 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN.  Then we'd be talking about one of the top recruiting classes in the nation, right up there along with Florida, Duke, and Memphis. 

Everybody thinks that 6'2 Marshall Strickland will be at Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA this fall, but Brian Merritt of http://www.elitehoops.com tells us that Strickland will remain at Sykes (South Carroll) MD.  And yes, he will be eligible to play this season.  Apparently the Maryland State High School Association has a rule that says you can play as long as you haven't turned 19 years-old prior to the start of the first game of the season.  As a result, Strickland will be eligible, because he won't turn 19 until after the season is over.  This also is consistent with what his parents told us this summer.  If you will recall, Strickland previously had attended Winchendon (School) MA and last season was the first time he attended a normal high school (not a basketball factory) and got to be a regular kid.  They not only seemed to like that, but left the possibility open that he would be back at South Carroll.  Merritt also tells is reporting that 5'11 Terrance Whittier from Brandywine (Gwynn Park) MD and 6'7 Mani Messy from Winchendons (School) MA are both transferring to Colora (West Nottingham) MD.   And they aren't the only ones.  Apparently there is a new head coach at West Nottingham Academy and he is bringing three players from Canada with him, including a 6'9 freshman with a big time future.  Moral to the story, it looks like we may have the emergence of another basketball factory on our hands. 

One of the many ways that Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski has influenced the game is via his former assistant coaches.  Obviously, we're talking about Mike Brey at Notre Dame, Tommy Amaker at Michigan, and Quin Snyder at Missouri.  Most people also know that David Henderson had an impressive first season last winter at Delaware and all three of Krzyzewski's current assistants - Steve Wojciechowski, Johnny Dawkins, and Chris Collins - should have equally great futures.   However, there is another former Duke assistant who you may be hearing a lot about this season.  We're talking about Tim O'Toole, who was at Duke from 1995 to 1997.  Then, O'Toole followed Amaker to Seton Hall, where he was the top assistant for a year, and the last three years he's been the head coach at Fairfield.  And this season promises to be make or break time for O'Toole, who has gone 12-15, 14-15, and 12-16 the last three years.  Sure, the pressure is on to win at least 18 or 19 games this year in the tough Metro Atlantic Conference, which should feature Fairfield, Iona, Manhattan, Niagara, Marist, and Rider all in the hunt for the league championship.  But the smart money should be on Fairfield, because O'Toole finally has all the horses necessary to be one of the surprise teams in college basketball this season.  Once again their go-to-guy will be Sam Spann, who ranked among the top 10 in the conference last year in five statistical categories (scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, steals, and blocks) and, as a result, should be one of the leading candidates for player-of-the-year honors in the conference.  However, he might not even be the best player on his team.  If you will recall, Fairfield got a late commitment last spring from 6'9 Deng Gai from Milford (Academy) CT, who was ranked as the #7 5th year player by the HOOP SCOOP, as well as among the consensus top 30 high school senior by those who included 5th year players in the senior rankings.  Sure, Gai is raw, but he also has the talent, athleticism, and potential to make a lot money playing the game someday.  Obviously the Stags coaching staff was able to take advantage of the fact that Gai is the cousin of 6'11 Ajou Ajou Deng, who transferred to Fairfield from Connecticut last winter.  And of course there is 6'10 Rob Thompson, who was one of the best freshmen in the league a year ago.  In other words, we're talking about a front line that is potentially as good as there has ever been in the history of the league.  It also could be as good as any front line in the Big East.  Jermaine Clark, a 6'5 three-year starter is missing, but 6'8 Brad Feleccia, 6'2 Kudjo Sogadzi, and Jeremy Logan provide excellent depth and 5'4 Tyquan Goode from Brooklyn (Grady) NY is exactly what the doctor ordered in terms of providing the perfect chemistry at point guard.  As a matter of fact, that's why we think Fairfield will be so good this year.  Goode isn't going to score a lot of points, but he's a great floor general, excellent defender, and he makes everybody else around him better.  Plus, he's a winner and, if you don't believe it, just ask Ernie Lorch who the glue was that helped New York Riverside Church overachieve so dramatically during the summer and fall of 2000?

Thursday, August 30, 2001

The inquiry sign is up on two commitments that we reported earlier this week and Greg Swaim of GregSwaim.com is reporting that the verbal commitment by 6'5 DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) OK to the University of Oklahoma may not mean all that much, because Alexander hasn't qualified academically nor has he even attempted to take the SAT or ACT.  So anybody who thinks that the dominos are going to start falling, like 6'8 Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK and/or 6'9 Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK both committing to Oklahoma, are jumping to premature conclusions.  At least that's what Swaim thinks.  "Several people have already jumped the gun and reported that Bookout is on the verge of committing to the Sooners," says Swaim.   "But nothing could be further from the truth.   I still think the Oklahoma is the school you have to beat, but Bookout has official visits set up Oklahoma State on September 7th, Illinois or Arkansas on September 15th, Oklahoma on September 28th, Tennessee on October 6th, and Kansas on October 13th.  And he may make the visit to Oklahoma an unofficial visit, if he also decides to make an official visit to UCLA in late October."  Speaking of UCLA, Swaim thinks the Bruins are the favorite for 6'6 Kelenna Azubuike from Tulsa (Victory) OK, who is ranked #62 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  However, Azubuike's father is still pushing him towards by-passing college and entering the NBA Draft next spring.  While we think this is totally ridiculous, at least, if we are proven to be correct, Azubuike won't have totally ruined up his life.  If you will recall, he is a great kid, as well as a straight A student.  In other words, he has an excellent chance at being successful in life whether he plays basketball or not.  Getting back to the Sooners, Alexander also had Kansas, Arkansas, and Illinois on his list, but when Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson recently hired Terry Evans, who was the head coach at Midwest City (H.S.) OK, as an administrative assistant, that pretty much sealed the deal for Alexander.  However, Swaim thinks Evans' presense on the staff at Oklahoma will have little or no effect on Williams.  "Williams is going to Duke," says Swaim.  "I'm more convinced than ever!  The only reason I think he's still taking his visits is he's a man of his word."   However, other people in the business think otherwise. "If Williams was such a lock for Duke, why hasn't he committed yet?" asks one college coach. "Something has to be holding it (a commitment) up and my guess is that's Oklahoma."  As for the other two commitments - 6'1 C.J. Watson from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV to Tennessee and 6'0 Todd Galloway from Middleburg (Notre Dame) VA to Florida State, our guess is that both are rock solid.  However, why is Watson making an official visit to Fresno State this weekend?  As for Galloway, we have a source who tells us that he called Florida State head coach Steve Robinson yesterday and told him he planned to sign with the Seminoles this fall.  There also were quotes from Galloway's high school and AAU coaches in the Tallahassee, FL newspaper today.  So in our mind it's 100% done.  However, we still had to check it out further when somebody raised the question earlier today.

Lavel Johnson, who is the Mississippi Editor for both the HOOP SCOOP and MidSouth-Hoops.Com, tells us that Ole Miss will have a pair of junior college players - 6'7 Greg Johnson from Southern Union (JC) AL and 6'7 Brandon Vincent from Okaloosa-Walton (JC) FL - on campus for official visits this weekend.  Especially intriguing is the fact that Johnson signed with Auburn a year ago, but didn't graduate from junior college last spring.  So he will be back in junior college for another year to work exclusively on his academics.  Johnson also tells us that 6'9 Theodis Tarver from Monroe (Carroll) LA is scheduled to make an official visit to Mississippi on September 15th and 6'4 Jason Forte from Bay Springs (H.S.) MS may also be in Oxford, MS this weekend on an unofficial visit.  Forte also is expected to visit Boston College on the last weekend in September, but Johnson still thinks Miami-FL is the school you have to beat.  Johnson also tells us that 6'5 Sammy Richardson from Utica (Hinds County) MS  will be at Mississippi State this weekend on his official visit, plus he has a list of schools for 6'9 Bryan Sanders from Gulfport (Harrison Central) MS.  That list includes Southern Mississippi, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, UNC-Charlotte, Tulane, Lamar, Alabama, South Alabama, and Mississippi State.  Moving a litttle further west, we still think the University of Texas is heavy favorite for 6'8 Brad Buckman from Austin (Westlake) TX.  However, Kansas, North Carolina, and UCLA are still getting mentioned.  We also think Texas and SMU are the two favorites for 6'1 Bryan Hopkins from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, who is ranked #8 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.    But we're not ruling out Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State.  Texas also is one of the top four, along with Tennessee, St. John's, and Connecticut, for 6'4 Rashad Anderson from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL and we still think the Longhorns have a shot at 6'3 Bracy Wright from The Colony (H.S.) TX.  As a matter of fact, Wright is supposed to visit Texas on September 28th.  In other words, this one continues to drag on and on and the longer it goes, the more we like the Longhorns chances.  Remember, we all expected a commitment to be forthcoming from Wright to Indiana in July.  We still think the Hoosier are the heavy favorite, but Wright also plans to visit UCLA next month.  Our guess is that Texas, which should be able to sign three players in this recruiting class, will get Buckman, the best available player (Hopkins), and the best available wing player (Anderson, Wright, or maybe Asumnu).   You remember 6'4 Stanley Asumnu from the Houston Hoops and Houston (Westbury Christian) TX.  Well, it appears that Asumnu has surfaced at Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA and the word is that he's playing pretty well.

Wednesday, August 29, 2001

We have decided to once again include 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL with the recruiting class of the University of Memphis, because he has never officially reneged on the Tigers.  Actually it's kind of like the situation with 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL last fall when he verbally committed to DePaul.  Not only did Curry's commitment put the Blue Demons recruiting class over the five scholarship limit, but everybody assumed correctly that Curry would enter his name into the NBA Draft and, as a result, would never play a minute at DePaul.  Memphis also is in a similar situation to DePaul a year ago, because the Tigers brought in five players - 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ, 6'8 Chris Massey from Oxnard (JC) CA, 6'4 Anthony Rice from North Clayton (College Park) GA, 6'2 Antonio Burks from Hiwassee (JC) TN, and 6'9 Duane Erwin from Huntsville (Lee) AL - in last year's recruiting class and already have three in the fold this year in 6'8 Qyntel Woods from Moberly (JC) MO, 6'3 Jeremy Hunt from Memphis (Craigmont) TN, and 6'8 Almamy Thiero from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC.  So as it stands to now Memphis doesn't have any other scholarships available.  However, when discussing this with our Mid-South Editor Jim Rothman this morning, we both agreed that there is an existing precedent to count Stoudemire with the class and let it all get sorted out later, just like we did with DePaul a year ago.  And if the NCAA changes the Five-and-Three rule (they are supposed to meet on it later this fall), then Memphis may sign several more players, even if Stoudemire does opt for the NB Draft next spring.   This change moves Memphis' recruiting class up from #10 to #3 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date and, when you stop and think about it, that's pretty amazing.  If you will recall, Memphis' recruiting class last spring was ranked #1 and it wasn't even close.  But unfortunately in this day-and-age all the top players seem to be on the fast track into the NBA.  So the question becomes how long can Tigers head coach John Calipari keep some of these guys?  In some cases, maybe longer than you might think.  Remember, most people thought Wagner would by-pass college and put his name into the NBA Draft last spring. 

The other major move on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date involves Xavier, which has recevied a verbal commitment from 6'0 Dedrick Finn from Newburgh (Castle) IN, who is ranked #90 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Finn joins 6'9 Randy Holbrook from Odessa (JC) TX, 6'7 Brandon Cole from Richton Park (Rich South) IL, and 6'7 Angelo Smith from Indianapolis (North Lawrence) IN to move the Muskeeters recruiting class up from #15 to #9.  And it could move up to has high as #5 behind Louisville and ahead of Iowa, if the Musketeers also land 6'2 Robert Hite from Cincinnati (Winton Woods) OH, who currently is ranked #74 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  Getting back to Finn, our Baltimore Editor Paul Bowden, who also publishes a web site, which can be found at Baltimore Select, tells us that Finn's commitment should eliminate Xavier from the list of 6'0 Todd Galloway from Middleburg (Notre Dame) VA.  "Xavier had been on him the strongest and the longest," says Bowden.  The Musketeers were the co-leader, along with Florida State, which is where he is supposed to visit the weekend of September 7th-9th.  If everything goes well on the visit, it wouldn't surprise us if Galloway picks the Seminoles sometime later in September.  However, there always is the possibility that something could happen to change his mind and open things back up.   Remember, in  we thought Galloway was a near lock for Wake Forest in late, but, then, the Demon Deacons took 6'1 Justin Gray from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA.  So obviously schools like South Carolina, Miami-FL, Mississippi State, Iowa State, Rhode Island, George Mason, and Virginia Tech are all still actively pursuing Galloway.  Bowden also tells us that Jermaine Hancock, a 6'3 combo guard from Edgewood (H.S.) MD, has verbally committed to Northeastern University.  Hancock, a 2nd Team All Metro selection last season, averaged 30 ppg, five rpg and four apg.  "Hancock was contemplating a year at Milford Academy to help his recruiting," says Bowden.  "But former Towson assistant Julius Allen grabbed Jermaine when a scholarship opened at Northeastern.  Jermaine will certainly help NE in the scoring department.  He can shoot from anywhere on the court!"  And Hancock isn't the only late addition that the Huskies will have available next season in the backcourt.  Believe it or not, Northeastern also has gotten the best player still available in the state of Texas in 6'3 Jeremy Long from Beaumont (Westbrook) TX and he will be a walk-on this year, because Huskies currently don't have any scholarships available.  Getting back to the Baltimore area, Bowden also reports that 6'9 Jai Lewis from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME will visit Robert Morris this weekend and 6'8 Denard Abraham has transferred from Reisterstown (Franklin) MD to Middleburg (Notre Dame) VA.  Bowden is now reporting that Galloway has verbally committed to Florida State and that's big for the Seminoles, because Galloway is one of the best point guards still available.  As a matter of fact, there are only four point guards in the senior class - 6'1 Bryan Hopkins from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'1 Elijah Ingram from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, 6'2 Deron Williams from The Colony (H.S.) TX, and 6'2 Johnny Gilchrist from Virginia Beach (Salem) VA - better than Galloway who are still on the board.  In other words, we'd be talking about a borderline top 100 player, if Galloway weren't a 5th year player.   Remember, we rank 5th year players separately. 

Tuesday, August 28, 2001

We have gotten a copy of memorandum that was sent from Stephen A. Mallonee, Director of Membership Services/Division I Governance Liaison for the NCAA, to the College Commissioners Association Compliance Administrator's Group, which was dated yesterday, August 27th, regarding NCAA Bylaws 13.1.8.4 and 13.13.3.  This is very important because it provides the guidelines which college coaches must adhere to this fall and it says the following:   "The purpose of this memorandum is to provide the Collegiate Commissioners Association Compliance Administrator's (CCACA) group with information regarding two recent issues that relate to the attendence of NCAA Division I men's basketball coaches at basketball activities conducted during the fall contact period (September 9th through October 5th).  As set forth in Bylaws 13.1.8.4 and 13.13.3, in the sport of men's basketball, Division I coaching staff members are restricted to evaluating only basketball activities that are a part of a prospect's normal high-school, preparatory school or two-year college season, and events that are approved, sanctioned, sponored, or conducted by the applicable state high school association, the National Federation of State High School Associations or the National Junior College Athletic Association.  The legislation was designed to increase the role of the scholastic coach in the recruiting process and to minimize the external influences outside the educational community whose influence on prospects may be motivated in part by personal gain.  Consistent with the intent of the legislation to increase the importance of the scholastic environment in the recruiting process, the NCAA membership services staff has determined that it is permissible during the 2001 fall-contact period for Division I men's basketball coaches to observe activities such as pick-up games and open gyms that are conducted at a high school or two-year college under the supervision of the high school or two-year college coach.  It is not permissible for coaches to observe unorganized activities such as pick-up games or open gyms that may occur at a location other than the high school or two-year college facility (e.g. local recreation center, playground) that are not supervised by the appropriate scholastic coach.  In addition, it should note that the legislation applies in the same manner to activities conducted outside the United States.  In that regard, it would be permissible for Division I coaches to attend a nonscholastic event conducted in a foreign country during the 2001 fall-contact period only if the country sponsors the sport of men's baskethball at the high school level and the applicable oversight authority (e.g., high school governing body) approves, sanctions, sponsors or conducts the particular activity.  Please note that inasmuch new legislation related to the men's basketball recruiting calender is pending second review by the NCAA Division I Management Council at its October meeting, the staff agreed not to record any interpretation at this time." 

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson has the scoop on 6'6 Jr LaBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH, who is the consensus #1 ranked player in the nation regardless of class.  No, James hasn't found a way to by-pass college early and enter his name into the NBA Draft next spring.  And no, James hasn't made an early verbal commitment to Ohio State, which is the school he will likely attend, if he ever does see a day of college.   Instead, it looks like James will once again play football this year for St. Vincent-St. Mary and his first game will be this Friday night.  Upon hearing this news the immediate reaction by most people seems to be that this is not the smartest move.   First, they mention the risk of a career ending injury and, then, they mention the incredible amount of money that James is destined to make someday playing basketball.   "But that's what makes LaBron such a great player," say Johnson.   "He plays sports for the competition and when somebody tells him he can't do something, that motivates him even more."  A classic example came last winter when everybody told James that there was no way St. Vincent-St. Mary was going to beat Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, which was the #1 ranked team in the nation, except by Eddie Oliver of Hoops USA, from start to finish last season.  If you will recall, James hit 13-27 field goals, including 5-10 3-pointers, en route to a 33-point effort in that game.  And two of those 3-pointers came in the final two minutes, plus he had a chance to win the game when an off-balanced 3-pointer in the final seconds bounced off the rim and Oak Hill survived, 79-78.  We've already said that "James is like Magic Johnson with a jump shot," but Johnson thinks James, who is a wide receiver and defensive back, can be another Randy Moss, if he decided to go to college and play both sports all the way through. "I'll even go a step further," says Johnson.  "If LaBron put as much emphasis on football, as he does on basketball, he has the natural talent, speed, quickness, and athleticism, and physical attributes neccessary to become the first player ever picked #1 in the draft by both the NFL and the NBA." 

The University of Tennessee has five scholarships to give and it looks like the Volunteers have gotten off to a good start with a commitment from 6'1 C.J. Watson from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, who is ranked #92 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Watson picked the Volunteers over UCLA, Fresno State, Minnesota, Oregon, and Iowa State and is ideally suited to step in and become the point guard of the future for the Volunteers.   Not only is he very athletic and extremely talented, but he is a West Coast kid, which is important for the Volunteers, because they recruit heavily in a number of different sports on the West Coast.  Watson's commitment also is important, because he was the first player the Volunteers had in for an official visit (he was in town over the weekend) and, as a result, head coach Buzz Peterson is no longer looking for a point guard.  So it makes since that they are out of the hunt for 6'1 Bryan Hopkins from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, who not only is ranked #8 in the senior class nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, but also is the #1 point guard still available.   Instead, their focus will be on getting somebody at the other four positions.  As a matter of fact, this weekend 6'4 Rashad Anderson from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL and 6'6 Eric Hicks from Greensboro (Dudley) NC will be on campus for official visits, 6'6 Derrick Byars from Memphis (Ridgeway) TN, 6'2 Robert Hite from Cincinnati (Winton Woods) OH, 6'8 Julian Terrell from Antioch (Ezell Harding Christian) TN will be in Knoxville, TN on official visits in late September, and 6'7 Brandon Bowman from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'4 Hassan Adams from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, and 6'8 Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK will be campus in October.  Speaking of Bookout, we still think Oklahoma is the team to beat, but the fact that the Volunteers are the defending national champions in track and field and the fact that Bookout wants to compete in the Olympics in the discus and shotput certainly helps their cause.

Saturday, August 25, 2001, Sunday, August 26, 2001, & Monday, August 27, 2001

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that the University of Richmond has gotten a verbal commitment from 6'10 Kevin Steenberge from Columbia (River Hill) MD and that 6'11 Ted Skuchas from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA has narrowed his list to Stanford, Kansas, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest, Penn State, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame.  Penn State, Drexel, La Salle, Massachusetts, Villanova, Siena, and Virginia are all involved with 6'4 Mike Cook from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA and 6'7 Antwayne Robinson from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA likes Stanford, Temple, Marshall, SMU, College of Charleston, and Wake Forest.  The list for 6'5 Chris Williams from Oxon Hill (H.S.) MD includes Connecticut, Temple, Boston College, Cleveland State, Richmond, George Mason, and James Madison.  Marquette, St. Joseph's, Massachuesetts, and Central Connecticut State have all shown interest in 6'4 Adam Payton from Lawrence (Prep) NJ. Nana Menseh-Bonsu, the 6'8 power forward from Richland (St. Augustine) NJ likes Virginia Tech, Towson, Providence, Massachusetts, Georgia Tech, La Salle, George Washington, and Boston College and 6'5 Kenton Alston from Steelton (Steelton-Highspire) PA is getting the most attention from Monmouth, Rider, and Canisius.   Rutgers, Florida State, Niagara, Towson, Monmouth, George Mason, and Boston University were all mentioned by 6'2 DeWayne Spencer from Harrisburg (Susquehanna Township) PA and 6'7 Lawrence Ham from Harrisburg (H.S.) PA likes Loyola-Maryland, Elon College, Drexel, High Point, and Robert Morris.   Loyola-Maryland also was mentioned, along with Towson, Wagner, Columbia, Lafayette, and Colgate, by 6'2 John Morris from Camp Hill (Trinity) PA.   Cornell, Bucknell, Central Florida, James, Madison, Columbia, and Rider are all recruiting 6'6 Zach Wyatt from Camp Hill (Trinity) PA. 

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson is reporting that 6'7 Derek Burditt from Marrero (John Ehret) LA has verbally committed to Tulane.  This should come as no surprise.  If you will recall, when Burditt reneged on his commitment to the University of California earlier this summer, he did so because he wanted to attend a school that was closer to home and, as a result, Tulane and LSU immediately became the favorites over the schools that were pursuing him, like Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Tennessee, and Texas.  Burditt didn't have a good summer, but he is still a world-class athlete with a lot of natural talent and a huge upside.  As a result, he is still ranked among our top 100 seniors nationally and has the potential to move a lot higher.  He also is the biggest name that second year Green Wave head coach Shawn Finney has signed to-date.  But our guess is that this is just the beginning, as Finney and his staff have already made major in-roads with most of the top young players in the Deep South.  Johnson also has the scoop on a pair of commitments that Bowling Green has picked from 6'4 Ron Lewis and 6'4 Raheem Moss, both from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH.  Moss was ranked #7 and Lewis was ranked #21 in the state by Johnson last spring, but Johnson tells us that both players should be ranked among his top 10 next time he updates his rankings.  Johnson thinks Lewis and Moss are a perfect complement to one another.  Moss is a better outside shooter, while Lewis is more of a slasher.  They're also both winners, as was evident a year ago when they led Brookhaven to an undefeated regular season and a final four finish in the state tournament.  Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis tells us 6'4 Hassan Adams from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA has narrowed his list to California, Arizona, UCLA, Kansas, Seton Hall, Boston College, and Oregon and 6'3 Keion Kindred from Compton (Dominguez) CA is getting attention from schools like Minnesota, UTEP, SMU, and Georgia Tech.  Our Mississippi Editor Lavel Johnson, who also is the Mississippi Editor for MidSouth-Hoops.Com, tells us that Mississippi State is now the heavy favorite for 6'3 Sammy Richardson from Utica (Hinds County) MS.  Speaking of Richardson, it appears that he has emerged as the #1 player in the state's senior class over 6'4 Jason Forte from Bay Springs (H.S.) MS and 6'9 Byron Sanders from Gulfport (Harrison Central) MS.  Miami-FL appears to be the favorite for Forte, but schools like Arkansas, Boston College, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, and Southern Mississippi have all shown varying degrees of interest as well.  Sanders is soft and he's best described as a project, but you can bet that somebody like Southern Mississippi will take a chance on him.  Remember, big kids with grades are hard to find.  One of the top sleepers in the state is 6'7 Rodrick Smith from Canton (H.S.) MS, but he is attracting interest from Mississippi, Southern Miss, Jackson State, and Murray State.  

Friday, August 24, 2001

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that Iowa State has picked up a pair of commitments from two talented big men in 6'10 Jackson Vroman from Snow (JC) UT and 7'1 Chris Alexander from Indian Hills (JC) IA.  If you will recall, at one time Alexander was ranked among our top 50 nationally in the Class of 2000, but he dropped out of our top 100, because he was more inconsistent than 6'11 Kwame Brown, who was drafted #1 in the NBA Draft in June, but was ranked no higher than tied for #10 in the class due  to his inconsistency and the lack motivation he often displayed even when playing against the top players in his class.  However, now it looks like Alexander has developed into one of the top junior college players in the nation.  You may also remember Vroman's father, 7'0 Brett Vroman, who was listed on the Louisville Courier-Journal's Super Five, along with Moses Malone, Robert Miller, Audie Matthews, and Steve Collier in 1974.  And just like his father who signed with UCLA, but later transferred to UNLV, Vroman is an excellent athlete, as is evident by his 35-inch vertical leap.  However, unlike his father, Vroman was unheralded in high school, because he didn't play at any of the major camps or tournaments and his family moved several times when he was in high school.  As a result, Vroman never got settled in long enough for most people in the business to find out about him.  Vroman picks Iowa State over Utah, Utah State, Brigham Young, and Purdue.  And when you add 6'4 Adam Haluska from Carroll (Community) IA, who is ranked #58 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, it is easy to see why the Cyclones recruiting class moves all the way up to #7 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date behind Syracuse and North Carolina and ahead of  Michigan. 

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson also reports that West Virginia has gotten a verbal commitment from 6'10 Kevin Pittsnogle from Martinsburg (H.S.) WV and, although he doesn't rank among our top 100 nationally, we think this is an excellent get for the Mountaineers.  Not only is Pittsnogle the best player to come out of West Virginia since Brett Nelson, but he is a tough hardnosed white kid with long arms, good shot blocking ability, and the skills necessary to score around the basket.  All he needs to do is get bigger and stronger, but that should come in time.  West Viriginia also has gotten 6'7 Chaz Briggs from Wabash Valley (JC) IL.  Remember, he signed with Rhode Island last spring, but he wasn't admitted into school and, as a result, appears to be the replacement for 6'9 Robert Whaley from Benton Harbor (H.S.) MI, who for a while this summer appeared to be headed to West Virginia.  However, Whaley was turned down for admission into West Virginia in late July.  We also understand that Wisconsin has gotten its second recruit this week in 6'4 Alando Tucker from Lockport (Township) IL, who picked the Badgers over Purdue, Ohio State, Illinois, Marquette, Illinois State, and Indiana State.  If you will recall, Wisconsin also got a commitment earlier this week from 6'7 Ray Nixon from Milwaukee (Dominican) WI, who is ranked #82 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.    Johnson also tells us that 6'9 David Anderson has transferred from Oklahoma State, 6'2 DeAndre Haynes from Detroit (Southeastern) MI has picked Kent over the University of Detroit, and 6'9 Bryson McKenzie from Gary (West Side) IN is head ing to the Northern Illinois.  It also appears that DePaul has gotten its second commitment from 6'7 Delonte Holland from Vincennes (JC) IN and 6'9 Randy Holbrook from Odessa (JC) TX has picked Xavier.  The Holbrook commitment is significant not just because he move Xavier's recruiting class onto our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date, but, because he is ranked among the top junior college players in the nation.  And their class, which currently is ranked #15, could move all the way up to #4 behind Louisville and ahead of Iowa, if the Musketeers also get 6'2 Robert Hite from Cincinnati (Winton Woods) OH and 6'0 Dedrick Finn from Newburgh (Castle) IN.  Currently Xavier is the leader for both Hite and Finn.  We also have confirmed that 6'2 Demetrius Hunter has transferred from Georgetown to UNLV and it looks like UNLV is currently #2 on the list of 6'5 Antwain Barbour from Wabash Valley (JC) IL behind the University of Kentucky.  Remember, Barbour's coach last year was Jay Spoonhour, who is now an assistant coach for the Runnin' Rebels.

Thursday, August 23, 2001

Boy, does it really look like we missed the boat on 6'11 Kendall Dartez from Vincennes (JC) IN.  Yesterday, which was the first time we ever mentioned Dartez's name in connection with the University of Louisville, we said we didn't think Louisville was the lock that everybody thinks they are for Dartez.  We also had Dartez, who is transferring from Lee (JC) TX to Vincennes (JC) IN, at the wrong junior college and his list of schools, which we said included Auburn, Cincinnati, LSU, and Kentucky, apparently was bogus.  Instead, according to an article in this morning's Louisville Courier-Journal, it appears the Cardinals have beaten out Connecticut, LSU, Texas, Miami-FL, and Mississippi State for Dartez's services.  That's right!  The Courier-Journal is reporting that Dartez is expected to announce publicly later this week that he plans to attend the University of Louisville.  This is huge for the Cardinals, because Dartez is the coveted big man that the Cardinals have been looking for in recent years.   Dartez established his national reputation two years ago that adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV and, as a result, was ranked as a top 30 senior nationally by Dave Telep of BlueChipHoops.com.  However, we hope that ranking was based primarily on his potential, as Dartez only averaged 8.9 ppg and 5.3 rpg last year in junior college.  We too liked Dartez, who did a great job in the championship game two years ago, especially in the second half when the game on the line against Eddie Griffin, while playing center for the New Orleans Jazz, which also featured Chris Duhon, Maurice Williams, and Dwayne Mitchell.  But when we ranked him #80 nationally in our final ranking of the Class of 2000, Dartez ranking was based on more on natural talent and athleticisim than being a finished product.  In other words, the keys for Dartez are his upside and potential and he continues to make major strides in that direction.   As a matter of fact, he currently is playing on an all-star team made up exclusively of junior college players that is touring Argentina.  This also isn't the first time we've been taken totally by surprise since Rick Pitino became the head coach at the University of Louisville last spring.  If you will recall, we also first found out about Mick Cronin becoming the associate head caoch at the University of Louisville last April by reading the Louisville Courier-Journal.  However, we had the rest of Pitino's staff pegged a full month in advance of the Courier-Journal and we were way ahead of everybody on 6'7 Francisco Garcia from Cheshire (Academy) CT, who verbally committed to Louisville in late June, and we had the scoop on 6'2 Taquan Dean from Neptune (H.S.) NJ, who committed to the Cardinals in May, as fast as anybody.  Speaking of Garcia, he won't be returning Cheshire (Academy) CT this year.  Instead, we understand he plans to enroll at Winchendon (School) MA, along with another player from New York City - 6'3 Curtis Stinson from Bronx (Regional) NY.  This is important, because Winchendon head coach Mike Byrnes is a terrific coach, so we expect Garcia, who would be ranked among our top 30 nationally, if he wasn't a 5th year player, to pick up where he left of this summer. 

One of my favorite things to do during the fall is keep track of which teams have recruited best to-date.  So with half of the top 100 seniors already verbally committed, I thought now would be a good time to begin.  You can get our list of the top 15 classes by clicking on Top Recruiting Classes To-Date and it may surprise you who is ranked #1.   Yes, Florida, which already has commitments from 6'2 Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI, 6'5 Matt Walsh from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA, 6'7 Mario Boggan from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, and 6'4 Rashid Al-Kaleen from Charlestown (H.S.) MA, edges out Duke, which already has commitments from 6'4 J.J. Redick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA, 6'2 Sean Dockery from Chicago (Julian) IL, 6'10 Michael Thompson from New Lenox (Providence) IL, and 6'7 Lee Melchionni from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA.  But obviously Duke would pass up the Gators, if the Blue Devils get both 6'9 Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK and 6'10 Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC.  However, if Duke gets only one of the two just mentioned players and Florida gets 6'10 Chris Bosh from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, then the Gators would hold onto the top spot.   We also are already including 6'11 Kendall Dartez from Vincennes (JC) IN with Louisville's recruiting class, but if that doesn't materialize as expected later this week, then Louisville's recruiting class would move down to #13 behind Michigan and ahead of Nebraska.  Memphis, which had the #1-ranked recruiting class last spring, appears to be done, because they landed five players - 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ, 6'8 Chris Massey from Oxnard (JC) CA, 6'4 Anthony Rice from North Clayton (College Park) GA, 6'2 Antonio Burks from Hiwassee (JC) TN, and 6'9 Duane Erwin from Huntsville (Lee) AL - last spring and already have three commitments - 6'8 Qyntel Woods from Moberly (JC) MO, 6'3 Jeremy Hunt from Memphis (Craigmont) TN, and 6'8 Almany Thiero from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC - in this recruiting class.  Technically they actually have four, because 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL has never officially reneged on Memphis.  So if the NCAA surprises us (in our eyes he's already professional athlete) and Stoudemire's commitment holds up, Memphis' recruiting class would move into the #3 spot behind Duke and ahead of Louisville.  And from there the possibilities are endless, depending upon who goes where this fall.  Let's say Texas gets 6'8 Brad Buckman from Austin (Westlake) TX, 6'1 Bryan Hopkins from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, and 6'5 Rashad Anderson from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL.   Then, the Longhorns' recruiting class would move up to #3 behind Florida and Duke and ahead of Louisville.  Or let's say Anderson, 6'8 Jason Fraser from Amityville (H.S.) NY and 6'1 Elijah Ingram from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ all end up St. John's, along with 6'6 Tim Doyle from Oyster Bay (St. Dominic) NY, who verbally committed to the Red Storm in July.  Then, St. John's class would move into the #2 spot ahead of Duke, at least until the Blue Devils get commitments from Williams and/or Randolph.  Or let's say Fraser goes to Villanova, along with 6'2 Allan Ray from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY and 6'6 Curtis Sumpter from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY.  Then, the Wildcats move into the #3 spot and first year head coach Jay Wright would be well on his way towards re-establishing Villanova as a powerhouse in the Big East.  Indiana's class, which already includes 6'2 Marshall Strickland from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, could move all the way up to #3, if 6'3 Bracy Wright from The Colony (H.S.) TX and 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN both pick the Hoosiers.  Oklahoma's class could be a top five class as well, if the Sooners get Williams, 6'8 Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK, and 6'5 DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) OK.  You get the idea! 

Wednesday, August 22, 2001

Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis wanted me to be sure to let everybody know that his web site has changed addresses.  It now can be found at www.fullctpress.net.   In addition to providing you information about the Fullcourt Press Scouting Service, Player Rankings, the Belmont Shore Basketball Club, Fullcourt Press All-West Camp, Dream Classic, Fullcourt Press Fall Hoops Classic, Fullcourt Press Frosh/Soph Camp, and himself, Trigonis also has a good events calender, links to other web sites, and Trigonis' Tidbits, which hopefully he'll turn into in a recruiting column.  Speaking of Trigonis and his events, two of our next stops will be at the Fullcourt Press Fall Showcase at Jordan High School in Long Beach, CA on September 9th and the Fullcourt Press Fall Hoops Classic, which is tentatively scheduled at Lynwood High School in Lynwood, CA, September 14th-16th.  For more information about either event call Trigonis at 1-(562)-223-0190.  Currently neither event is sanctioned by the state of California, but with the help of Jerry Gale, the editor and publisher of SoCalHoops, as well as one of the more astute attorney's in the Los Angeles area, and Ray Lokar, the head coach at LaPuenta (Bishop Amat) CA and the president of the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association, they are hoping to get that done and, as a result, college coaches may be able to attend.  We also want to apologize to Trigonis for not providing you with the rosters sooner for the all-star games from his Fullcourt Press All-West Camp, which were help on Friday, July 13th.  If you will recall, our lab top computer crashed on July 17th and that set us back at least a month.  The players named to the Top 30 Game were 6'5 Shaddean Aaron from Claremont (H.S.) CA, 6'2 Soph Aaron Afalo from Compton (Centennial) CA, 6'8 Jr Mohamed Abukar from San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) CA, 6'8 Ronald Allen from Lakewood (Artesia) CA, 6'8 Jr Trevor Ariza from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'6 Sterling Byrd from Compton (Centennial) CA, 6'3 Jr Vincent Camper from Oxford (H.S.) MS, 6'6 Nate Carter from San Diego (Horizon) CA, 6'8 David Chiotti from Mountain View (St. Francis) CA, 6'2 Ashanti Cook from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'6 Jr Scott Cutley from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'1 Patrick Haddan from Irvine (Woodbridge) CA, 6'6 Onye Ibekwe from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, 6'3 Keion Kindred from Compton (Dominguez) CA, 6'7 Marcedes Lewis from Long Beach (Poly) CA, 5'10 Jason McKinney from Inglewood (H.S.) CA, 6'8 Ryan Meilleur form Lakewood (Artesia) CA, 6'4 Steve Moore from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'3 Carlos Munoz from Claremont (H.S.) CA, 6'3 Jason Obazuaye from San Jose (Hill) CA, 6'2 Kenton Paulino from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'8 Jr Sean Phaler from Villa Park (H.S.) CA, 5'10 Carlos Rivers from Long Beach (Poly) CA, 6'5 Derek Stockalpher from Carlsbad (H.S.) CA, 5'11 Armando Surratt from Oakland (Tech) CA, 6'5 Porter Troupe from La Jolla (H.S.) CA, 6'7 Jamaal Walls from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, 6'3 Jr Wesley Washington from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'1 Jr Marcus Williams from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, and 6'3 Brandon Worthy from San Jose (Mt. Pleasant) CA.  The players named to the Top 60 Game were 5'9 Jr Kevin Bell from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'2 Jr Mark Bradford from Los Angeles (Fremont) CA, 5'11 Rashaun Broadus from Milani (H.S.) CA, 6'6 Wayne Chamberlain from Los Angeles (Washington) CA, 6'4 Geoffrey Clayton from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, 6'7 Seth Davis from Pasadena (Muir) CA, 6'7 Keith Edmunds from Fountain Valley (H.S.) CA, 6'3 Jamaal Hall from Pasadena (Muir) CA, 6'9 Gary Hamilton from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, 6'5 Jr Justin Hawkins from Pasadena (Muir) CA, 6'10 Ryan Hollins from Pasadena (Muir) CA, 6'5 Terrence Jones from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, 6'5 Julius Keeler from Escondido (H.S.) CA, 6'3 Saul Langster from Compton (Dominguez) CA, 6'2 Mike Mebanna from Glendora (H.S.) CA, 6'6 Tony Melum from Newport Beach (Newport Harbor) CA, 6'6 Cory McJimson from Rialto (Eisenhower) CA, 6'5 Joseph Morgan from Compton (Centennial) CA, 6'4 Anthony Nalor from Northfield (Mt. Hermon) CA, 6'4 Danny Nwaelele from Bothel (Inglemoor) WA, 6'7 Ryan Schwartz from Denver (Kennedy) CO, 5'9 Jr Deon Simpson from Claremont (H.S.) CA, 6'3 Kenneth Smith from Oakland (Tech) CA, 6'3 Giovanni St. Amant from Bellflower (St. John Bosco) CA, 5'10 Soph Enrico Tucker from San Diego (University) CA, 6'1 Chad Vakili from Costa Mesa (H.S.) CA, 6'7 Lauren Walls from Shonto (Monument Valley) AZ, 6'7 Jr Alan Wiggins from Poway (H.S.) CA, 5'11 M'Jumbe Williams from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, and 6'5 Jr Trayvon Williams from Fontana (H.S.) CA.  The players named to the Top 90 Game were 6'9 Rodrique Benson from Del Mar (Torrey Pines) CA, 6'4 Jason Burrell from Southborough (St. Mark's) MA, 6'7 Isaiah Bryant from Riverside (North) CA, 6'0 David Conte from Costa Mesa (H.S.) CA, 5'7 Jacob Crawley from Irvine (H.S.) CA, 6'9 Keilon Daniels from San Bernardino (H.S.) CA, 6'5 Jr Chris Devine from Eagle River (Clugiak) AK, 6'4 Jared Dillinger from Littleton (Dakota Ridge) CO, 6'0 Marcus Echols from Seattle (Garfield) WA, 6'3 Jr Josh Flynn-Brown from Los Angeles (Loyola) CA, 6'4 Jake Franzen from Mission Viejo (Capistrano Valley) CA, 6'4 Dominic Freeman from Long Beach (Millikan) CA, 6'2 Jamel Gay from Long Beach (Poly) CA, 5'7 Frosh Michael Gordon from Compton (Centennial) CA, 6'7 Samir Hernandez from Gardena (Serra) CA, 6'5 Jr Kyle Hogan from Villa Park (H.S.) CA, 6'5 Ryan Johnson from Rolling Hills (Peninsula) CA, 5'10 Jr Eric Lane from Bellflower (St. John Bosco) CA, 6'3 Marvin Lea from Riverside (King) CA, 6'2 Matt Llewellyn from North Hollywood (Campbell Hall) CA, 6'2 Matt McCraw from Lakewood (Mayfair) CA, 6'0 Brian McFadden from Lakewood (Mayfair) CA, 6'6 Hamadi McIntosh from Union City (Logan) CA, 6'0 Greg Nelson from Carlsbad (H.S.) CA, 6'4 Robert Neyland from La Canada (H.S.) CA, 6'8 Brice Prather from Villa Park (H.S.) CA, 6'7 Marcellus Robertson from La Habra (H.S.) CA, 5'10 Jonathan Smith from Compton (Centennial) CA, 6'4 Jr Drew Terry from Irvine (Northwood) CA, and 6'4 Jr Joshua Washington from Bay St. Louis (St. Stanislaus) MS. 

We also have yet to mention the major award winners from the three sessions of the Cape Scope/High Potential "Blue Chip" Basketball Camp at Georgetown College in Georgetown, KY from this summer.  So we will take the opportunity to do so now.  The MVP for the week from the June 24-28 Session was 6'11 Robert Summers from Gahanna (Lincoln) OH.  The Runner-Up MVP was 6'6 Bobby Bossman from Strongsville (H.S.) OH.  The Best Underclassmen was 6'8 Jr Ross Neltner from Ft. Thomas (Highlands) KY.  The Junior MVP was 5'5 8th Grader Javante Clanton from Columbus (Finland) OH.  The Junior Runner-up MVP was 6'1 Frosh Walt Rader from McKee (Jackson County) KY.  The MVP for the week from the July 8-12 Session was 6'8 Mark Surgalski from Ashland (Paul Blazer) KY.   The Runner-Up MVP was 6'4 Matthew Del Valle from Elyria (Catholic) OH.  The Best Underclassmen was 6'8 Jr Michael Rembert from Chicago (St. Rita) IL. The MVP for the week from the July 22-26 Session was 6'3 David Inabnit from Whiteland (H.S.) IN.  The Runner-Up MVP was 6'8 Steven Goff from San Antonio (John Jay) TX.  The Best Underclassmen was 6'6 Jr Brandon Ross from Columbus (Northland) OH.  For more information about the Cape Scope/High Potential "Blue Chip" Basketball Camp, click on http://www.basketball-camp.net.  We also want to tell you about the The Inaugural "Blue-Chip" Basketball Shootout, which will be held at Bellarmine College on Friday, December 7th.  The field will include Louisville (Seneca) KY versus Radcliff (North Hardin) KY at 4:30 PM, Brandenburg (Meade County) KY versus Elizabethtown (South Central) KY at 6:00 PM, New Albany (H.S.) IN versus Glasgow (H.S.) KY at 7:30 PM, and Louisville (Holy Cross) KY versus Russellville (H.S.) KY at 9:00 PM. 

Any reports that you might have heard about 6'10 Matt Haryasz from Page (H.S.) AZ making a verbal commitment to Stanford are premature.   However, we have confirmed that Haryasz, who is ranked #58 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, has been accepted by the Stanford Admissions Department, which is no surprise, because Haryasz has a 3.6 gpa and is being recruited by several Ivy League schools.   Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis also tells us that Stanford is very interested in 6'1 Patrick Haddan from Irvine (Woodbridge) CA and taking Haddan, who also is getting interest from Princeton, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Auburn, Yale, Pepperdine, Long Beach State, Richmond, Loyola-Marymount, William & Mary, Portland, Cornell, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, and American University, might be a good move for The Cardinal.  No, we don't project Haddan to be more than a good role player for head coach Mike Montgomery, but he might be the entree to getting 6'7 Jr Trevor Ariza from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA and 6'8 Jr Harrison Schaen from San Ana (Mater Dei) CA, both of whom also play for Trigonis' Belmont Shore AAU team.  As a matter of fact, we think Stanford is already the early favorite for Schaen, who is expected to make a major comeback now that he's healthy again.  If you will recall, Schaen, who was missing in action all summer, was ranked among the top five players in his class in the nation after we saw him two years ago at Trigonis' Fullcourt Press Fall Hoops Classic, but injuries and a lack of toughness appear to have held him back ever since.  Trigonis also tells us that Oregon, Minnesota, New Mexico, Portland, and Kansas State are all in the hunt for 6'2 Ashanti Cook from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA.  Getting back to Stanford, if they do get Haryasz, that would likely open the door for Auburn, which is making a strong push, to get 6'9 Bernard Cote from Montreal (Chaplain-St. Lambert) QU.  If you will recall, we reported several days ago that Stanford was also the leader for Cote.  However, our guess is that Haryasz is their first choice, because he's so much more skilled right now and his upside is tremendous.  Auburn also appears to be among the top five, along with Alabama, Georgetown, Cincinnati, and California, for 6'7 Kennedy Winston from Mobile (Blount) AL, who is ranked #31 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, and we don't believe Louisville is the lock everybody thinks they are for 6'11 Kendall Dartz from Hill (JC) TX.  As a matter of fact, in a recent column by Russ Blake, Dartz's junior college coach denied that a verbal commitment had already been forthcoming to the Cardinals.  However, he did confirm that head coach Rick Pitino and assistant coach Mick Cronin have both been down to see Dartez in July.   We also hear that Auburn is making a strong push for Dartz, plus schools like Cincinnati, LSU, and Kentucky should not be counted out. 

Tuesday, August 21, 2001

It looks like the University of Houston has another major steal on its hands, as 6'4 Cedrick Hensley from Cleveland (Heritage Chrisitan) TX has picked the Cougars.  Hensley was hurt this summer and, as a result, slipped under the radar screen in most of the post summer rankings.  But this also is the player who scored 100 points in a single game last January.  We're talking about a big time athlete and prolific 3-point shooter with top 100 talent and potential.  However, for him to realize that potential, he needs to continue to develop his skills and get good coaching at the next level.  And that's why this is such a good fit for the Cougars.   Hensley also promises to be the perfect complement to the other two outstanding guards that Houston landed last spring in 6'5 Kevin Gaines, who transferred from Michigan, and 6'2 Andre Owens, who transferred from Indiana.  Now all Cougars head coach Ray McCallum needs to do is add somebody else inside and right now the pickings are pretty slim, at least in the high school ranks, as is evident by the fact that 50 of the players ranked among our top 100 nationally in the senior class have already verbally committed.  And if you include 5th year players in your rankings, which some of our competitors (i.e. Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports), that number is closer to 60 than 50.  But let's look at it another way.  If you need a quality point guard, only six point guards who ranked among our top 100 nationally - 6'1 Bryan Hopkins from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'1 Elijah Ingram from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, 6'2 Deron Williams from The Colony (H.S.) TX, 6'2 Johnny Gilchrist from Virginia Beach (Salem) VA, 6'0 Dedrick Finn from Newburgh (Castle) IN, and 6'1 C.J. Watson from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV are still on the board.  The deepest position is the power forward spot, as 6'9 Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, and 6'10 Chris Bosh from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'8 Brad Buckman from Austin (Westlake) TX, 6'8 Jason Fraser from Amityville (H.S.) NY, 6'10 Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC, 6'7 Matt Trannon from Flint (Northern) MI, 6'7 Curtis Withers from Charlotte (West Charlotte) NC, 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN, 6'8 Travis Garrison from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'7 Marques Hayden from Oklahoma City (Putnam City) OK, 6'8 Charles Davis from Selma (Southside) AL, 6'6 Elliott Poole from Chicago (Farragut) IL, 6'8 Rashawn Freeman from Schenectady (H.S.) NY, and 6'8 Brian Feeney from Gilbert (Mesquite) AZ are all still available.  There also are surprising number of centers still available in 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL, 6'10 DeAngelo Collins from Inglewood (H.S.) CA, 6'8 Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK, 6'11 Sani Ibrahim from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'9 Ike Diagu from Garland (H.S.) TX, 6'10 Alou Kane from Dyke (Blue Ridge School) VA, 6'10 Matt Haryasz from Page (H.S.) AZ, 7'0 Julius Lamptey from Oklahoma City (Northeast) OK, 6'10 Moulaye Niang from El Cajon (Christian) CA, and 6'10 Matt Gorman from Watertown (H.S.) NY.  In other words, 24 of the 51 players left uncommitted in our top 100 are either power forwards or centers.   However, most of these guys are too far along in the recruiting process, likely academic casualities, or, as in the case of Stoudemire, Collins, and Ibrahim, likely to by-pass college next spring and enter their names into the NBA Draft.  Recruiting at the wing forward position appears to be a little more wide open, as 6'7 Evan Burns from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'7 Kennedy Winston from Mobile (Blount) AL, 6'6 Derrick Byars from Memphis (Ridgeway) TN, 6'6 Kelenna Azubuike from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK, 6'7 Andre Igoudala from Springfield (Lanphier) IL, 6'6 Brandon Roy from Seattle (Garfield) WA, 6'5 Alex Carmona from Troy (H.S.) OH, 6'5 Maurice Wade from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI, 6'7 Derek Burditt from Marrero (John Ehret) LA, 6'5 Maurice Petty from Shelby (Crest) NC, and 6'6 Bobby Jones from Compton (Dominguez) CA are all still available.  However, this position is weak at the top as only two (Burns and Winston) of these 11 players are ranked among our top 50 and Roy, Morris, Carmona, Wade, Burditt, Petty, and Jones are all in the 75-100 range. The 2-guard spot, which includes 6'3 Bracy Wright from The Colony (H.S.) TX, 6'5 Rashad Anderson from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL, 6'4 Hassan Adams from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'5 Antonio Lawrence from Fresno (San Joaquin Memorial) CA, and 6'3 Randy Foye from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'5 DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, 6'5 Denham Brown from Toronto (Westhill) ON, 6'1 Greg Brown from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI, and 6'2 Robert Hite from Cincinnati (Winton Woods) OH, is stronger at the top as Wright, Anderson, Adams, Lawrence, and Roye are all included among our top 50, but most of them are a lot further along in the recruiting process.  So who can somebody step in and steal as we enter the fall recruiting period?  At the 2-guard spot Hite was terrific at the end of the summer and Lawrence won't likely do anything until spring, which means anything can happen.  At the point guard spot Watson still appears to be wide open and Finn, is hidden down their in Southern Indiana.  Carmona, who is a relentless competitor, and Byars, who has skills, athleticism, and outside shooting, both appear to be wide open at the wing forward spot.   The only power forwards who haven't narrowed it down yet appear to be Freeman and Poole, but junior college and/or prep school may be in their future first.  At the center spot Diagu, Kane, Haryasz, and Lamptey all appear to be wide open.  

We mentioned above that 50 of our top 100 seniors have already verbally committed, but we didn't get a chance to tell you that the 50th verbal commitment came last night when 6'7 Ray Nixon from Milwaukee (Dominician) WI, who is ranked #82 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, picked the University of Wisconsin.   And looking back on it we think #82 is a conservative ranking, despite the fact that Nixon was missing in action all summer due to an injury.  So most people have no idea how good he is.  But we do, especially after watching him last spring at the Spiece Tournament in Ft. Wayne, IN, where he reminded us of Antoine Walker with his athleticism and ability to play any position on the court.  The first time we saw him at Spiece, Nixon was playing inside, as he was aggressive on the boards, blocked shots, and scored around the basket.  In the next game Nixon was playing both inside and outside, as he also impressed us with handling and passing skills and ability to hit the 3-pointer.  The third time we saw him, Nixon played almost exclusively out on the perimeter, as he was the guy bringing the ball up court and starting the offense, plus he continued to impress us with his outside shooting.  In other words, we think this is a great catch for the Badgers.  As a matter of fact, we like Nixon a lot better than 6'9 Steve Novak from Brown Deer (H.S.) WI, who is ranked #88 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP and recently verbally committted to Marquette.  Novak is one of the best outside shooters in the senior class nationally and he helped himself this summer, as he got it done against some of the best player in the nation.  But he lacks Nixon's athleticism, versatility, and upside.  We also have received word that William & Mary has gotten a verbal commitment from 6'2 Brett Howell from Auburn (H.S.) AL.  If you will recall, Howell signed last fall with Eastern Kentucky, but now he doesn't plan to enroll at EKU.   So he has been released from his National Letter-of-Intent and is free to transfer to the school of his choice, where he will be eligible beginning second semester this winter.  And Howell isn't the only player the Tribe is close to getting.    We know that 6'3 Wes Wardrop from Worcester (Academy) MA is in Williamsburg, VA right now making an unofficial visit to William & Mary and 6'7 Jack Jenkins from Andover (Proctor Academy) NH and 6'8 Daryl Pegram from Worcester (Academy) MA are also very high on their list.  The only problem is that at William & Mary only has one scholarship left and it will go to whoever commits first. 

Monday, August 20, 2001

Our Mid-South Editor Jim Rothman tells us that the Memphis Commerical-Appeal on Saturday reported that 6'8 Almany Thiero from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC has verbally committed to the University of Memphis and for all practical purposes they are correct.  However, our Georgia editor Linzy Davis, who also is Thiero's club team coach on the Georgia Elite AAU team, tells us that Thiero still may take an official visit to the University of Michigan and that Louisville is also really turning up the heat.  In other words, we're counting Thiero with Memphis's recruiting class, but we're also telling you that the possibility exits that he may change his mind.  We also have confirmed that 6'7 Marcus White from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL has verbally committed to DePaul.  This is important for the Blue Demons, because it shows that DePaul can still get the top players in their own backyard.  If you will recall, since arriving in Chicago four years ago, Kennedy has recruited like crazy in the Windy City, as he has landed Quentin Richardson, Bobby Simmons, Lance Williams, Steve Hunter, Andre Brown, Imari Sawyer, Marlon Brooks, and now White.  But his won-loss ratio hasn't come close to matching the level of talent in the program nor was DePaul one of the finalists for either of the two great point guards - 5'11 Dee Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL and 6'2 Sean Dockery from Chicago (Julian) IL - from Chicago, IL in this year's senior class.  However, we talked with DePaul head coach Pat Kennedy at the NCAA Final Four last March and he thinks his team will improve dramatically this year for two reasons.  First, he won't have a team made up of primarily of big men and point guards.  Second, he'll have a lot of good young players in the program who should help the chemistry and provide a better supporting cast.  Remember, the Blue Demons landed a recruiting class last spring that was ranked #15 nationally, despite the fact the 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL, who verbally committed to DePaul last fall, opted to go straight of out high school into the NBA Draft.  That class featured 6'8 Sam Hoskin from Schoolcraft (JC) MI and 6'7 Quemont Greer from Homestead (Berkshire) FL, both of whom are power forwards, but also are capable of playing some out on the perimeter.  It also included three wing players in 6'4 Levar Seals from Chicago (Providence-St. Mel) IL, 6'1 Marlon Brooks from Lincoln (JC) IL, and 6'4 Drake Diener from Fond du Lac (Goodrich) WI.  Seals and Brooks are both big time athletes who should provide immediate help at the 2-guard spot, and Diener, who promises to be an excellent role player, brings needed outside shooting to the table.

Our Virginia Editor Tony Squire called this morning to let us know that 6'5 Antonio Hargrove had decided to transfer from Virginia Commonwealth to Shaw University, which is a Division II school in Durham, NC.  It also is the school where the legendary Joel Hopkins is beginning his second season as the head coach and it looks like Hopkins is on the verge of assembling a team that is every bit as good as any of the teams he had at Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC.  In addition to Hargrove, who will be eligible immediately, Hopkins also will go to war this year with 6'5 Jarrett Kearse, who orginially signed with West Virginia; 6'0 J.R. Raymond, who originally signed with Oklahoma; 6'7 George Mazyck, who transferred to Shaw from Nebraska; and 6'10 Steve Bynes, who attended Compton (JC) CA.  But Hopkins says his best player is 6'4 Ronald Murray, who is originally from Philadelphia, PA.  Murray was the one of the top five scorers in the Division II ranks a year ago and already a number of NBA scouts are calling.  "Murray is one of the quickest guys I've ever seen with the ball at his size," says Hopkins.  "He also can shoot the three and is an excellent ball handler and passer.   That's why I think he will be a first round draft pick regardless of what happens this season," says Hopkins.  "But if we have a good year, I think Murray will be a lottery pick.  I also think he will be the second best player I have ever coached."  In other words, Hopkins doesn't think Murray is "as good as Tracy McGrady, but he thinks he's better than Duke's Jason Williams."  And Hopkins wanted me to be sure to quote him on that.  Sure, that seems like an incredible statement, but Hopkins reminds us that everybody thought he was crazy when he tried to tell them how good McGrady was before the cat got out of the bag at the adidas ABCD Camp during the summer of 1996.  Plus, both Williams and Murray will be playing this season in the same area.  "The big difference will be that Williams will get all kinds of attention, because he plays for the highest profile program in college basketball.  Murray, on the other hand, will get lost in the shuffle, because he's at a Division II school."  However, maybe he won't get lost so quick at Shaw, especially, if Hopkins, as expected, immediately turns the Bears into a Division II power.   And with the kind of talent Hopkins is going to have this season, maybe they should give Shaw University an automatic bid straight into the NCAA Tournament, where it would be interesting to see if they're can win a couple of games. 

We also talked today with Ro Russell, who is the co-director the Grass Roots Canada AAU team and the editor of a soon to be web site, www.hoopscanada.fan.ca, and he provides us with a recruiting update on the top three players from Canada, as well as a sneak preview of three outstanding freshmen in Canada.  Let's first start with the 6'7 Denham Brown from Toronto (Westhill) ON, who  has clearly emerged as the premier player in Canada, as well as potentially one of the best ever to come out of that country.  Russell thinks Connecticut is the leader right now ahead of Virginia, which is a strong second over Boston College, Kansas, and Rutgers.   Villanova also was among the favorites for Brown, but when they recently landed 6'6 Curtis Sumpter from Bronx (Bishop Loughlin) NY, who plays the same position, that changed.  Stanford is currently the leader for 6'9 Bernard Cote from Montreal (Chaplain-St. Lambert) QU, but Notre Dame, Kansas, Auburn, Minnesota, and Kentucky are also on his list.  But before Kentucky fans get too excited, Russell tells us the Wildcats are a long shot at best.  Apparently head coach Tubby Smith has called a couple of times and the kid really likes Tubby.  However, that's all they've done.  In contrast, Connecticut, Boston College, and Rutgers are all expected to have Brown on campus this weekend for unofficial visits.  Russell also thinks George Washington and Massachusetts are the favorites for 6'5 Aaron Hutchinson from Creedmore (Faith Christian) NC.  As for the future, Russell tells us that 6'4 Frosh Nathan Skinner from Toronto (St. Michaels) ON was the MVP at the Junior adidas ABCD Camp that was held last week in Flint, MI.  We're talking about a big time athlete who can rebound and slash to the basket.  Somebody out of the same mold as 6'5 Jr Olumuyiwa Famutini from Flint (Northwestern) MI and just like Famutini, Russell thinks Skinner will end up playing in the United States.  And that's fine with Russell, but he also makes it clear that Skinner can do a lot for basketball in Canada, if he continues to play for his Grass Roots Canada team.  Russell also raves about 6'9 Frosh Theo Davis from Toronto, ON, who he suspects will play at Toronto (Westhill) ON this season.  Davis has a size 16 shoe, has grown 12-inches in the last year, and already is surrpisingly skilled, athletic, and coordinated for somebody so big and so young.   As a result, Davis has potential superstar written all over him and already a number of big time schools, including Duke, Auburn, Kentucky, and Seton Hall, are showing early interest.  Another name to remember is 6'1 Frosh Kerchel Carter from Toronto (Henry Carr) ON.  "He has a big time future at the point guard spot," says Russell.

One of the premier events during the month of August was the Junior adidas ABCD Camp and the camp director, Chris Grier, who also is the director of the Michigan Hurricanes AAU program, provides us with the rosters from the all-star game, as well as all the major award winners.  The Red Team included 5'10 Frosh Edward Tucker from Saginaw (Arthur Hill) MI, 6'4 Frosh Jabari Currie from Detroit, MI, 6'4 Frosh Nate Skinner from Toronto (St. Michaels) ON, 6'4 Frosh Romare Trusty from Detroit (Crockett) MI, 6'11 Frosh Kenneth Gregory from Chicago, IL, 6'2 Frosh Peter Hollis from Chicago, IL, 5'8 8th Grader Tajuan Porter from Detroit (Nolan) MI, 5'10 Frosh Christen Parker from Chicago, IL, and 6'2 8th Grader James Wilson from Saginaw, MI.  The White Team included 6'1 Frosh Ronald McFoley from Detroit (Redford) MI, 6'1 Frosh Kerchel Carter from Toronto (Henry Carr) MI, 6'4 Frosh Dominque Washington from Canton, MI, 6'4 8th Grader Dante Sist from Detroit, MI, 6'9 Frosh Theo Davis from Toronto, ON, 5'9 Frosh Andre Ricks from Detroit, MI, 5'10 Frosh Daniel Greenan from Ada, MI, 5'10 8th Grader John McKinney from Saginaw, MI, and 5'7 6th Grader Anthony Crater from Flint, MI.  The MVP of the camp was Skinner, who had 28 points, four dunks, four 3-pointers, nine rebounds, and a chest to chest dunk against Gregory, who is already 6'11.  The Academic All American winner was Parker, who paid his way to camp by winning a scholarship, whereby, he had to write an essay about a corporation he would start and how he would operate it.  His corporation:  Teaching the fundamentals of basketball to young kids by the hour.  The Best Guard Upperclassman was a tie between McFoley and Tucker.  Currie took home the award as the Best Wing Upperclassman and Davis was named the Best Post Upperclassman.  Crater and Porter tied for the Best Guard Underclassmen, McKinney was the Best Wing Underclassmen, and Sist was the Best Post Underclassman.  Tucker was also the Scoring Champion for the week, while Trusty was the One-on-one champion and Porter was the 3-Point Shooting Champion.   Greenan was named Mr. Station, Wilson was named Mr. Hustle, and George was named Mr. Defense.

Believe it or not, the other Philly team won the Sonny Hill Future Stars Tournament at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, August 15th-19th.  We're talking about the Philadelphia Phoenix, which upset the Sonny Hill Seniors, 56-56, in the championship game.  Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin was there all five days and he tells us that the Phoenix were led by the 6'5 Michael Blackshear, who was named tournament MVP en route to a 19-point and 10-rebound performance in the championship game.  Omar Johnson, a 5'8 junior point guard from Philadelphia (Simon Gratz) PA, chipped in with nine points and four assists, while 6'7 Chaz Crawford from Philadelphia (Northeast) PA dominated inside with 10 rebounds and four blocks.  Leading the Sonny Hill Seniors were 6'4 Maurice Collins from Philadelphia (Simon Gratz) PA with 16 points and 10 rebounds and 6'4 Kenell Sanchez from Pennsauken (Bishop Eustace) NJ with 10 points and six rebounds.  En route to the championship the Phoenix upset the Tim Thomas Playaz with 6'1 Elijah Ingram from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ and 6'5 John Winchester, who along with his teammate, 6'9 Eric Davis, is heading to Raleigh (Bonner Academy) NC.   If you will recall, both Winchester and Davis previously were supposed to enroll at Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC this fall as 5th year players.  In the semi-finals the Phoenix upset Rasheed Wallace's Hunting Park Warriors, which featured 6'3 Jr Mustafa Shakur from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA and 6'4 Mike Cook from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA.  In other words, the Phoenix knocked off two of the final four teams (Tim Thomas and Hunting Park) from the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas and the host team (the Sonny Hill Seniors) in their final three games of the tournament.  In addition to Blackshear, Ingram, Winchester, Shakur, and Cook, the all-tournament team consisted of 6'11 Jr Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) PA, 6'2 Jr Jamar Nutter from West Orange (Seton Hall Prep) NJ, 6'3 Jr Jesse Holly from Roselle (Catholic) NJ, 6'2 Jr Ray Barbosa from Allentown (William Allen) PA, 6'4 Adam Lane from Orefield (Parkland) PA, 6'5 Dahliek Powell from Philadelphia (Roxborough) PA, 6'3 Daniel Rumph from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'6 Soph Harry Brown from Baltimore (Walbrook) MD, 6'8 Jr Richard Dorsey from Baltimore (Southern) MD, 5'9 Soph Dontaye Draper from Baltimore (Walbrook) MD, 6'8 Jaz Cowan from Baltimore (McDonough) MD, 6'4 Jr Gerald Brown from Baltimore (Douglass) MD, 6'4 Soph Charron Fisher from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA, 6'5 Jr Troy Roundtree from Philadelphia (Northeast) PA, 6'9 Jon Clark from Toronto (St. Michael's) ON, 6'7 Mike Tuck from Toronto, ON, and 6'3 Tommy Baker from Millville (H.S.) NJ, and 6'7 Manny Messy, who was at Winchendon (School) MA, but now is rumored to be heading to Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ.  The other big story of the tournament involved a quarterfinals upset by Rick Barrett's Gym Rats I over the Tim Thomas Playaz Junior Team.  Although we're not ready to compare Baker to Barrett's last great player, Ernest Turner, the principle was the same, as Baker had a 40-point effort against the Tim Thomas Playaz Juniors and was the leading scorer in the tournament with a 31.0 ppg average.

Saturday, August 18, 2001, and Sunday, August 19, 2001

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that Xavier has gotten a verbal commitment from 6'7 Brandon Cole from Richton Park (Rich South) IL, but the biggest story going right now involves 6'5 JaQuan Hart from Flint (Northern) MI, who was ranked #31 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP in our final rankings on the Class of 2001 last spring.  While this comes as no real surprise (the Buckeyes were the early leader for Hart when he was a junior and more recently the word on the street was they were the leader over Michigan State), Hart may turn out to be the best player Ohio State head coach Jim O'Brien has ever signed.  Remember, the senior class nationally a year ago was loaded, so if Hart were included in this class, he would not only be ranked among the top 10 or 15 nationally, but he also would be a near lock to make the McDonald's All-American team.     "Hart is an absolote steal for the Buckeyes," says Johnson.     "Ohio State was involved with some good wing players, but none them have the talent, skills, and athleticism of Hart, who might have been the best athlete in the state of Michigan last year."  Johnson thinks Hart may even have more NBA potential than the other great one from Flint a year ago.  He's talking about 6'4 Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI and that's a pretty strong statement, because Tolbert finished as the #2-ranked player in the Class of 2001 according to the HOOP SCOOP.  With Hart's commitment the Buckeyes will be able to focus exclusively on inside guys, like 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN, 6'8 Justin Johnson from Merrillville (H.S.) IN, 6'10 Chris Hunter from Gary (West Side) IN, 6'7 Marquis Hayden from Oklahoma City (Putnmam City) OK, 6'8 Chris Ellis from Marietta (H.S.) GA, 6'9 Bernard Cote from Montreal (St. Lambert) ON, 6'8 Julian Terrell from Antioch (Ezell Harding Christian) TN, and 6'8 Charles Bass from Crete (Crete-Monee) IL, plus the Ohio State coaching staff may find out about some good foreign big men while playing the next two weeks in Europe on a trip that begins on Monday.   Hart's commitment also will allow the Buckeyes to start concentrating on junior guards and they are hoping to keep their Michigan connection going (O'Brien landed Howard Eisley and Paul Grant when he was at Boston College and he signed Brett Darby three years for the Buckeyes), as they are already targeting  6'3 Jr Brandon Jenkins from Detroit (Southeastern) MI, 6'0 Jr Brandon Cotton from Detroit (St. Martin DePorres) MI, 6'3 Jr Byron Davis from Detroit (Rogers) MI.  The only question now is whether Hart will count with this recruiting class, because he will be a partial qualifier this season.   In other words, he will enroll in school this fall and practice with the team this winter.  However, he won't be able to play this season.  The key might be whether he signs a National Letter-of-Intent.  If he does, he be the marquee player in this year's recruiting class.  If he doesn't, he would count with last year's class, which included 6'1 Brandon Fuss-Cheatham from Beaver Falls (Black Hawk) PA, 6'7 Matt Sylvester from Cincinnati (Moeller) OH, 6'7 Clark Williams from Lilburn (Berkmar) GA, and 6'9 Terranced Dials from Youngstown (Boardman) OH and was ranked #10 nationally.  But with the addition of Hart, Ohio State's recruiting class would move all the way up to #2 behind Memphis.   Speaking of Memphis, they had a similar situation with 6'2 Antonio Burks from Hiwassee (JC) TN, who transferred to the University of Memphis at the semester break and sat out last winter.  So, as we understand it, Burks will eligible to play at Memphis this season sometime in late December and this is important, as the word we're getting out of Memphis is that Burks has been ridiculous this summer.  He also is more athletic and explosive in transition than Allen Iverson, which means Memphis should have one of the best backcourts in college basketball this season.   Remember, they also have 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ, who was the #1-ranked high school player in the nation in the Class of 2001 by the HOOP SCOOP.  However, our Memphis Editor Jim Rothman tells us that biggest surprise has been 6'8 Chris Massey from Oxnard (JC) CA.   "We're not doing any projecting with Massey," says Rothman.    "He has an NBA prototype body right now and he's good enough to make an impact in the league right now."  I guess now everybody understands why we thought Massey was the best junior college player in the nation last year and why we thought the Tigers recruiting class was so much better than everybody else's last spring.   The only question now is whether head coach John Calipari can put together the pieces quickly and find the right chemistry.   If he does, we are likely talking about a NCAA Final Four team and if that happens, remember where you heard it first!

Friday, August 17, 2001

One of the best junior college jobs in the nation is the College of Southern Idaho (JC) ID, which has had as much talent as any program in the nation during the last several years with players like 7'0 Uche Okafor, 6'4 Blandon Ferguson, 6'8 Ben Eze Ndubuis, and 6'4 Tony Bobbitt.  We bring this to your attention, because Derek Zeek, who has been the head coach at Southern Idaho the last two years, has been fired.  Speaking of junior college players, it looks like new Towson head coach Michael Hunt has stolen another one in 6'6 Keon Blanks from Carl Albert (JC) OK.  Not only is Blanks an incredible athlete, but he is expected to step in and start immediately this coming season.  So could 5'11 Jamaal Gilchrist, but he will have to sit out next year after transferring to Towson this spring from Texas A&M.   Towson also signed 6'9 Tony Dixon from Jackson (Memorial) NJ and 6'3 Calvin Dotson from Mott (JC) MI last spring and our Baltimore Editor Paul Bowden tells us that Hunt and his staff have already made major in-roads with a number of the players in the area, including 6'7 Jaz Cowan from Owings Mills (McDonogh) MD, 6'8 Jai Lewis from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'5 Renardo Dickerson from Baltimore (Southern) MD, 6'3 Wade Dunston from Potomac (Bullis School) MD, and 6'6 Dontez Dean from Seward (JC) KS.  Hunt also is using his old Georgia and Tennessee connections to get the Tigers involved with 6'5 Derrick Broom from Cartersville (Woodlawn) GA, 6'7 Steve Warner from Stone Mountain (Redan) GA, and 6'5 Winston Robinson from Knoxville (Beardean) TN, plus we hear them mentioned with 6'9 Paul Williams from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ and 6'7 Antonio McMillan from Philadelphia (Christian) PA.

The big news of the day involves 6'5 Lloyd Price, who has decided to make it official.  Yes, he is transferring from Xavier to Fairleigh Dickinson, where will have to sit out next year and then have one-year to play.   This is huge, because Price is a world-class athlete and he will used at both the wing forward and 2-guard spot, where he will make a living posting up smaller and less athletic guys all day long in the Northeast Conference.  Price also provides Fairleigh Dickinson, which also recently got a commitment from 6'4 Chad Timberlake from Brooklyn (New Utrecht) NY, with the marquee player upon which to continue to build around.  And that should be well within their grasp when one considers Fairleigh Dickinson's geographic proximity with New York City and the fact that FDU gets a lot of players they have a chance to get onto campus during the summer at the adidas ABCD Camp.  However, the big connection here appears to be assistant coach Jim Carr's prior relationship with Price, which dates back to their days at Five-Star when Carr was a coach at the camp and Price was a player.

Soon we suspect there will be a number of surprises with regards to where certain players surface in terms of junior college and/or prep school.   However, 6'11 Martin Iti from Australia stepping in as the replacement at the Winchendon (School) MA for 6'11 Sani Ibrahim, who has transferred to Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, shouldn't be one of them.  As a matter of fact, we think Winchendon head coach Mike Byrnes may have come out ahead on this deal.  If you will recall, Iti was terrific when we saw him at the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV, as he blocked shots, rebounded, ran the floor, and scored inside, as well as anybody in the tournament.  Ibrahim, on the other hand, had a terrible summer and, as a result, has dropped from #6 to #33 in the class nationally.  We also have finally confirmed that 6'8 Yusef Baker from Orlando (Evans) FL, who is ranked #66 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, has made it official for South Florida.  If you will recall, we told you last winter that we thought the Bulls were the heavy favorite to get Baker.  So the only real surprise is that it took so long.   Remember, South Florida assistant coach David Zimroth is one of the best recruiters in the nation and he usually always gets his man, especially when he is involved with an in-state kid.  South Florida also landed an excellent recruiting class last spring that included 6'5 Greg Brittian from Central Florida (JC) FL, 6'5 Kelvin Brown from Ft. Lauderdale (Dillard) FL, 6'8 Brandon Brigman from Philadelphia (St. John Neumann) PA, 6'4 Marlyn Bryant from Leesburg (H.S.) FL, 5'9 Brian Swift from Warrenville Heights (H.S.) OH, and 6'2 Larry Thompson from Fort Scott (JC) KS.  So it should be obvious that head coach Seth Greenberg has done what many other excellent coaches were unable to do at South Florida.  We talking about continuing to elevate the program to a higher and higher level, despite the fact B.B. Walden and Altron Jackson both will graduate after this season.  One that we haven't confirmed is that 6'9 Torin Francis from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA has verbally committed to Georgia Tech.   It very well indeed may be that he has told Paul Hewitt and his staff that he's coming, but nobody else seems to know about it, as Boston College, Virginia, Notre Dame, and Florida all believe they're still in the hunt. 

One of the things we did last night was update our list of links, which hopefully will make it faster and easier for you to find recruiting information on the world wide web.  We have tried to arrange it so that most of the national, state and regional recruiting, holiday tournament, club team, high school, camp and summer tournament, foreign, and newspaper web sites are in the same proximity, plus we have included the official web sites of both the NCAA and the NJCAA.  Hopefully we already have most of your favorite web sites already listed, but if there are a few we think we should add, don't hesitate to call me at 1-(502)-493-0043 or email me at clark@hoopscooponline.com.   Yes, my email is finally working again.  If you will recall, we had computer problems during the middle of July and, as a result, had to purchase a new computer while on the road.  So only now am I catching up on less important things like email.  As a matter of fact, if it is important and you want my immediate attention, it is always best to call me, because I view email more as an inconvenience than a necessity.   Getting back to our list of links, we also have permanently added a link to this page, as well as links to our pages with Early Commitments, National Rankings, Top Recruiting Classes, Area And State-By-State Reports, and Dates/Future Events.   And as long as we're talking about dates and future events, my tentative plan is to attend the Five-Star Camp in Honesdale, PA on August 27th-29th, several events on the West Coast in early September, including the FullCourt Press Fall Hoops Classic at Lynwood, CA, September, 14th-16th, the Charlie Weber Invitational at College Park, MD, September 21st-23rd at College Park, MD, and Rick Barrett's Midnight Madness in Cherry Hill, NJ on September 29th.  Unfortunately it doesn't appear that college coaches will be able to attend any of these events, because none of them are expected to be sanctioned by their state high school associations.  As a matter of fact, we know of only four events that will be sanctioned this fall and Mike Kunstadt's event, which will be held in Texas; Greg Swaim's two events, which will be held in Oklahoma City and Tulsa; and Bob Gibbons'event, which will be held in North Carolina, will have kids primarily from those states.   And that appears to be the key to getting sanctioned in a lot of states.  In other words, the NCAA is trying to put the club teams and traveling teams out of business, but it won't work.  Instead, it will probably cost them a lot of money (i.e. Charlie Weber, who reportedly plans to sue the NCAA).  Sure, college coaches won't be able to attend many of the top events this fall, like the one's we mentioned above, as well as the New York Slam Fest at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, September 7th-9th, the Five-Star Invitational Tournament at Staten Island, NY, September 14th-16th, and the adidas Hoop Challenge at Yale University in New Haven, CT, September 14th-16th, but the proliferation of events during dead periods for college coaches is one of the fast growing trends in the business.   But right now it's like the blind leading the blind, because nobody seems to have a clear idea of what is going to happen in September.  Obviously the NCAA is attempting to put a lot of these events out of business, but what they are actually doing is putting more power into the hands of the event organizers, club team coaches and scouting services.  Is this really what the NCAA wants?  And what are they going to do about the five-and-three rule, which limits the number of players a school can sign over a two-year period?  And what is going to happen to all the foreign players who are having the eligibility called into question, because they played on a team that has a player or players who are professional athletes?  And what are they going to do about the summer evaluation period next July?  In other words, there are a lot of unanswered questions that could dramatically change the landscape of college basketball for years to come just as dramatically as the evolution of the fall signing period in the early 1980's, the implementation of Prop 48 in the late 1980's, and the ever increasing restrictions and limitations on college coaches during the last 20 years have changed the recruiting process since we started covering this process in 1983. 

Thursday, August 16, 2001

We have finally found out what happened to former Kensington (Newport School) MD head coach Chris Chaney.  If you will recall, Newport School closed in June and since that time it has seemed like Chaney has dropped off the face of the earth.  Well, our buddy Tony Squire tells us that Chaney has finally surfaced as the new head coach at Laurinburg (Institute) NC and it looks like he already has loaded up with talent.  We know that's where 6'5 Steve Leven, who played for Chaney last year at Kensington (Newport School) MD, plans to make his home as a 5th year player this season and Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA head coach Steve Smith tells us 6'8 Boubacar Coly, who has came on like gangbusters this summer, is tranferring to Laurinburg Institute due to the fact that Oak Hill has too many players.  Squire also tells us that 6'10 Deante Smith from Petersburgh (H.S.) VA has will return for a 5th year and he too has been placed at Laurinburg Institute.  And this just what we know about so far.   However, Chaney still has a long way to go if he wants to equal the incredible among of talent that Smith has assembled at Oak Hill.  Believe it or not Smith is actually turning players away.  In addition to Coly, it appears that neither 6'11 Jr Malick Diame from the Senegal nor 6'11 Jr Jermaine Bell from Rochester (Franklin) NY are going to enroll that this basketball factory when school starts in a couple of weeks.  But Smith will still have more talent than most college teams, as his starting line-up will likely include 6'10 Sani Ibrahim, who has transferred from Winchendon (School) MA; 6'7 Carmelo Anthony, who has transferred from Towson (Catholic) MD; 6'1 Justin Gray and 6'3 Eric Wilkins, both of whom were at Oak Hill last year; and 6'2 Chadd Moore, who has transferred from Huntsville (Lee) AL.  Smith will also make sure that get 6'5 Richard Joyce, 6'7 Antywane Robinson, 6'9 Ian Johnson, 6'5 Jr Pierre Dacones from Statesville (H.S.) NC, and 6'7 Jr Omari Isreal all get a lot of playing time.  That's right!   Isreal, who was being  projected as the next great player to come out of the Washington, DC area has transferred from Wheaton (Good Counsel) MD to Oak Hill.  So has Dacones, who has left Statesville (H.S.) NC, where he was playing for his father.   In other words, Smith is already loading up for next year.  And the recruiting might be just as interesting, because it already promises to be a war among Virginia, Maryland, and Syracuse for Isreal's services.  As for the seniors, Anthony is already committed to Syracuse, Gray and Joyce have committed to Wake Forest, and Moore recently made it official for Cincinnati.  Which leaves Ibrahim, who is still totally wide open; Wilkins, who will likely pick from among Seton Hall, Boston College, Miami-FL, Rugter, and San Diego State; Robinson, who is attracting the most interest from Richmond, East Carolina, William & Mary, SMU, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, and Clemson; and Johnson, who has the grades necessary to attract interest from schools like William & Mary, Holy Cross, Yale, and Davidson.

It appears that 6'7 Jr Omari Isreal transferring from Wheaton (Good Counsel) MD to Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA isn't the only big transfer story in the Washington, DC area.  It already has been reported nationally that 6'1 Demetrius Hunter is leaving Georgetown and will likely transfer to either Brigham Young or Oklahoma, but outside of the DC area few people know that 6'8 Soph Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA may be following in the footsteps of his former teammate - 6'5 Jr Ricky Lucas, who transferred from Bishop O'Connell to Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD earlier this spring.  It also now appears that 5'11 Soph Eric Price from Washington (Gonzaga) DC and 6'0 Jr Earl Rigsby from Washington (Dunbar) DC both may be in line to transfer to Ft. Washington (National Christian) WA.  We also hear that 6'4 Shawn Harris, who will be a 5th year player this year at Fork Union (Military) VA, has narrowed his list to George Washington, East Carolina, and Virginia Tech.  As a matter of fact, our Virginia Editor Tony Squire tells us that Harris, along with 6'9 Allen Calloway from Virginia Beach (Coastal Christian) VA and 6'10 Deante Smith from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, will be making an unofficial visit to East Carolina this weekend.  Squire also tells us that Harris, Calloway, Smith, 6'9 Chris Copeland from Richmond (Heritage) VA and 6'4 Marcus Sailes from Verona (H.S.) VA all will likely be at Virginia Tech next weekend.  Harris is also expected to visit George Washington early next week.  Speaking of Squire, who is the director of the Squires AAU program, he is the driving force behind grassroots basketball in Central Virginia the same way Boo Williams owns the Hampton Roads area.  So we encourage anybody who is interested in basketball in this part of the nation to make a point to go to Squire's new web site, which can be found at http://www.squirebball.com.   Squire tells us that he not only plans to provide a lot of information, but his people will attempt to update it on a daily basis. 

Wednesday, August 15, 2001

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that 6'5 Derek Stockalter from Carlsbad (H.S.) CA has verbally committed to the University of San Diego.  He picks the Toreros over Utah, San Diego State, Pepperdine, Gonzaga, and Loyola-Marymount.  This comes on the heels of a commitment San Diego got from 6'2 Travis Smith from Rancho Santa Margarita (Santa Margarita) CA early in the summer and a recruiting class, which was ranked second in their league and included 6'6 Corey Belser from  Spanaway (Bethel) WA, 6'9 Nick Lewis from Phoenix (Brophy) AZ, and 6'2 Mike McGrain from Portland (Jefferson) OR, that they landed last spring.  As a result, it looks like San Diego is well on its way towards challenging Gonzaga and Pepperdine as the one of the premier teams in the West Coast Conference.  That would be doubly true if Brad Holland and his staff can land 6'10 Moulaye Niang from El Cajon (Christian) CA, 6'10 Matt Haryasz from Page (H.S.) AZ, and/or 6'1 C.J. Watson from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV.   That's right!  Niang, Haryasz, and Watson all rank among our top 100 nationally and all three are prime targets of the University of San Diego.  Get one and that would be enough to raise some eyebrows.  Get all three and it would like winning the lottery.  It also would help the Toreros keep up with the Joneses.   Remember, right down the road Steve Fisher is building a powerhouse of his own at San Diego State.  Johnson has the scoop on the University of Dayton, which has gotten a verbal commitment, lost a player, and kept another player from transferring.  The commitment comes from 6'10 James Cripe from Loveland (H.S.) OH.  The player they lost is 6'3 Shawn Higgins from Washington (Spingarn) DC, who was ranked #122 nationally in our final rankings of the Class of 2001.  Unfortunately for the Friars, Wiggins didn't make it academically.  Instead, he will enroll at Allegany (JC) PA.  The player who has decided to stay is 6'5 Sam Smith, who was originally from Worthington (Christian) OH.  Smith announced that he planned to transfer in the spring, but after he looked around at some other schools, he apparently decided that the grass wasn't greener elsewhere.  Johnson also tells us that Toledo has gotten a verbal commitment from 6'10 Allen Pinson from Hebron (Lakewood) OH and Marquette continues to recruit the Chicago area hard, as the Golden Eagles have added a commitment from 6'4 Joe Chapman from Chicago Heights (Bloom Township) IL. 

Greg Swaim had an all-star lineup when he had 6'9 Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, 6'8 Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK, 6'1 Bryan Hopkins from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'3 Deron Williams from The Colony (H.S.) TX, and 6'0 Julian Richardson from Miami (Pace) FL all on his weekly radio show, which is archived on his web site at http://www.gregswaim.com, on Monday night.  Especially interesting is the story with Richardson, who has risen from total obsurity into a national recruit based on his performance at several events this summer.  Prior to the summer Richardson was getting attention from schools like Furman, but now his list includes Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Florida State, Arkansas, and South Florida.  Swaim also believes that Richardson is a great sleeper for our top 100 nationally, as he tells us that several college coaches compare Richardson to former Oklahoma State guard Joe Atkins.  However, when we saw the Coast to Coast team at the AAU Junior Boys Basketball National Championship in Orlando, FL in late July, we thought 6'2 Stephen Cowherd from Parkland (Stoneman Douglass) FL was the best player on his team.  In other words, there is a clear difference of opinion and only time will tell on this one.  All this becomes important, because Swaim tells us that Oklahoma State is going to take whichever point guard (Richardson or Hopkins) commits first.  We also have another major difference of opinion between Swaim and our Texas Editor Wes Grandstaff, who is the director of the Team Texas AAU program.  Grandstaff believes that Texas is a strong leader for Hopkins over Tennessee, Georgia Tech, SMU, Illinois, and Oklahoma State.   Swaim on the other hand, thinks Oklahoma State is as strong as anybody with Hopkins, because the point guard spot will be wide open when Maurice Baker graduates after this season and it's not that far away from home (one of the reasons why Cincinnati has been eliminated is that Hopkins does want to go that far away from home.  Swaim also believes that Oklahoma isn't the total lock for Bookout that everybody thinks they are.  "If I had to bet on it, I'd still pick the Sooners," says Swaim.  "But he also has Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Illinois, Kansas, and UCLA on his list."  Swaim also thinks Sheldon Williams is a near lock for Duke.  As a matter of fact, Williams said Duke was still the leader on his show the other night.  Actually nothing has changed with Williams in months, as he also mentioned Illinois, North Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Michigan.  Swaim also confirms that 6'2 Nate Johnson from Penn Valley (JC) MO has finally made it official for Oklahoma State.  If you will recall, Johnson committed to the Cowboys in mid-July, but then re-opened his recruiting later in the month.  However, now it is official and apparently they plan to use Johnson to help them recruit Richardson (both players are scheduled to make official visits to Stillwater during the same weekend early next month).  We also find something that everybody (Swaim, Grandstaff, and myself) can agree upon.  We're talking about the strrong position that Illinois is in with Deron Williams.  Sure, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, and Maryland are also on Williams' list, but it looks like Fighting Illini head coach Bill Self will be tough to beat on this one.  Did you know that Self has known the kid since he was in junior high school?  Plus, Williams' mot