HOT RECRUITING INFORMATION  

FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST 2002

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 September 2001 October 2001 November 2001 December 2001 January 2002 February 2002 March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002

Saturday, August 31, 2002

The verbal commitment by 6'1 Ayinde Ubaka from Oakland (H.S.) CA to the University of California night before last brings the number of verbal commitments among players ranked among the top 100 nationally in the Class of 2003 to 58.  However, only one player - 6'8 Kris Humphries from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN to Duke - who is ranked among our top five nationally in the senior class is already verbally committed and only three players - 6'0 Chris Paul from Clemmons (West Forsyth) NC to Wake Forest and 6'5 J.R. Giddens from Oklahoma City (John Marshall) OK to Kansas - who are ranked among our top 10 seniors nationally.  But 10 of our top 20, 23 of our top 40, 34 of our top 60, 46 of our top 80, and 58 of our top 100 seniors are already gone and it's just the end of August.   In other words, it's easier to look at who is left than who is gone.  Let's start right at the top with 6'7 LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH, who is the consensus #1 player in the nation regardless of class, as well as one of the best high school basketball players ever.  Obviously he's long gone to the NBA - the only question is when he will make the official announcement.  Other top five players who are still available are 6'8 Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, 7'0 Brian Butch from Appleton (West) WI, and 6'10 Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX.  Deng has flirted with schools like Texas, Virginia, Wake Forest, Missouri, Fairfield, and George Washington, but we still think it's hard to image that he'd go anywhere, but Duke.  However, the fact that Deng hasn't pulled the trigger yet, has to be some cause for concern for the Blue Devils coaching staff.  And the same can be said for Ebi, who apparently was at Duke last weekend on an official visit, but got out of town without being overwhelmed enough to make a verbal commitment to the Blue Devils.  In other words, Arizona, Texas, and Indiana appear to have a better chance than ever in the Ebi Sweepstakes.  It still appears to be a three-horse race among Wisconsin, Arizona, and North Carolina for Butch, but we're still betting on the Badgers.  However, Butch is a prototypical Lute Olson type player and he'd be one of the final pieces to the puzzle in Matt Doherty's rebuilding effort at North Carolina.  Also still available and ranked among our top 10 are 6'5 Olu Famutini from Flint (Northwestern) MI, 6'5 Vakeaton Wafer from Ft. Worth (Paschal) TX, and 5'7 Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH.  The top three for Famutini appear to be Missouri, Arkansas, and Memphis.  Indiana is still believed to be the leader for Wafer.  Lavender, who wants to go to the same school as a package, along with 6'7 Brandon Foust from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, has Pittsburgh, Mississippi, and Oklahoma at the top of his list.  The only other players left ranked among our top 20 are 6'8 Brandon Bass from Baton Rouge (Capital) LA, 6'8 Trevor Ariza from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, and 6'10 David Padgett from Reno (H.S.) NV.  A number of schools, including Cincinnati, Connecticut, Mississippi State, DePaul, Indiana, and North Carolina, are mentioned for Bass, but we'd still be surprised if, end the end, he gets away from LSU.  Ariza's final six are Florida, Indiana, Georgia, UNLV, USC, and Oregon. We've thought all along that Stanford and Arizona would be tough to beat for Padgett.  Still available in the 21-40 range are 5'10 Aaron Brooks from Seattle (Franklin) WA, 6'5 Earl Smith from Lakewood (H.S.) NJ, 6'8 Paul Millsap from Grambling (Lab) LA, 6'8 Linas Kleiza from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'4 Thomas Gardner from Portland (Jefferson) OR, 6'8 Terrance Roberts from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, and 6'8 Ekene Ibekwe from Carson (H.S.) CA.   However, it's really a two-horse race between UCLA and Oregon for Brooks.   Smith, who appears to be need more time to get his academics in order, is supposed to be enrolling at Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ and will be reclassified as a junior.   But when we talked with him in July, Smith's list included North Carolina, Villanova, Seton Hall, Maryland, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Rutgers, and Miami-FL.  Millsap told us several weeks ago that Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Georgia, LSU, and Louisiana Tech are showing the most interest, but, when it is all said and done, we think you can write this one down for Louisiana Tech.  The smart money says Kleiza will end up in the ACC.  Gardner is getting the most interest from schools like Oregon, Kansas, Missouri, Connecticut, and Florida.  Syracuse appears to be the heavy favorite for Roberts.  Ibekwe plans to visit USC, Arizona, Kansas, Maryland, and Oklahoma State.  Still available in the 41-60 range are 5'10 Daon Merritt from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'9 Chris Taft from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY, 5'11 Tauren Minor from Houston (Washington) TX, 6'11 Longar Longar from Rochester (John Marshall) MN, 6'4 Ronnie Brewer from Fayetteville (H.S.) AR, 6'4 Gary Forbes from Brooklyn (Banneker) NY, 6'9 Harrison Schaen from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'8 Alex Weeks from Lilburn (Berkmar) GA, and 6'7 Omari Isreal from Wheaton (Good Counsel) MD.  Merritt appears to be wide open.  Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Georgia Tech are the leaders for Taft.   Cincinnati still appears to be the team you have to beat for Minor.  Longar has Kansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Cincinnati, Wyoming, Nebraska, DePaul, Indiana, and Minnesota on his list.  It's a three-horse race among Oklahoma State, Arkansas, and Kansas for 6'4 Ronnie Brewer from Fayetteville (H.S.) AR.  The last time we talked with Forbes, his list included Georgia Tech, Virginia, Connecticut, St. John's, Mississippi State, Providence, Temple, Massachusetts, Drexel, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh.  Schaen will sign with somebody in the Pac-10, most likely Stanford or USC.  Oregon State is the favorite for Weeks, but don't count out Charlotte and Syracuse.  Nothing has changed recently with Isreal, as he's getting the most attention from is getting the most attention from Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Rhode Island, and Notre Dame.  Still available in the 61-80 range are 6'9 Sean Phaler from Villa Park (H.S) CA, 6'11 Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, 6'10 Courtney Sims from Dedham (Noble & Greenough) MA, 6'3 Omar Wilkes from Los Angeles (Loyola) CA, 6'7 Brandon Foust from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, 6'2 Milton Collins from New Orleans (O.P. Walker) LA, 6'5 Bobby Nash from Honolulu (Iolani) HI, and 6'2 Jai Miller from Selma (H.S.) AL.  Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis tells us that 6'9 Sean Phaler from Villa Park (H.S.) CA will make five officials visits to UCLA, Stanford, Washington, Oregon, and Indiana.   We still think Villanova is the team you have to beat for Watkins.  Sims is a prime target for Syracuse.  Stanford and Kansas are the favorite for Wilkes.   Foust will likely follow Lavender to Pittsburgh, Mississippi, or Oklahoma.   Collins appears to be an academic question mark.  We have no idea who is involved with Nash.  Miller's list includes Alabama, Auburn, Georgia Tech, LSU, and Stanford.  Still available in the 81-100 range are 6'3 Kelvin Davis from Waterbury (Sacret Heart) CT, 6'4 Dwon Youmans from Jacksonville (Arlington County Day) FL, 6'7 Andew Francis from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX, 6'2 Art Bowers from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'8 Cartier Martin from Aldine (Nimitz) TX, 6'9 Nick Stigger from Van Nuys (Montclair Prep) CA, 6'9 Ousmane Barro from Chicago (Julian) IL, and 6'6 Justin Hawkins from Lakewood (Mayfair) CA.  Showing the most interest in Davis are N.C. State, Seton Hall, Louisville, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Boston College.   Florida and Miami-FL were the heavy favorites at one time for Youmans, but the Gators already have commitments from 6'3 Ryan Appleby from Stanwood (H.S.) WA and 6'2 Lee Humphrey from Maryville (H.S.) TN and the Hurricanes appear to have a commitment from 6'2 Greg Brown from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI and they are in the final two, along with Charlotte, for 6'2 Ramel Bradley from New York (Park West) NY.  Speaking of Brown, he plans to go the junior college route to Indian Hills (JC) IA, but hopes to pass the SAT in October and transfer to Miami-FL at the end of the fall semester.  Baylor is still the favorite for Francis, but Marquette, Houston, Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Georgia Tech have all been mentioned.  Rutgers, Seton Hall, Temple, Pittsburgh, Massachusetts, St. Joseph's, Connecticut, Kentucky, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame have all been mentioned with Bowers.  Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas State are the leaders for Martin.  USC is the favorite for Stigger.  UNLV is a lot stronger than most people realize for Barro, but when it all is said and done, don't be surprised if he goes to DePaul.  DePaul also is the co-favorite, along with Utah, for 6'7 Justin Hawkins from Lakewood (Mayfair) CA.  In other words, if you're a college recruiter and you're still trying to get involved with a number of players who are ranked among our top 100 nationally in the Class of 2003, you're probably wasting your time.  We also will mention 6'9 Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ and 6'3 Mustafa Shakur from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA, both of who are 5th year players, but who would be ranked among our top 10 nationally, if we included 5th year players with high school seniors.  The top five for Villanueva are Villanova, Illinois, Seton Hall, St. John's, and UCLA.  It really is a three-horse race for Shakur among Arizona, N.C. State, and Syracuse.  However, Temple is making a late push. 

Friday, August 30, 2002

Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis tells us that 6'1 Ayinde Ubaka from Oakland (H.S.) CA, who is ranked #57 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has verbally commitment to the University of California.  While we don't think Ubaka is as naturally gifted as 6'2 Marcus Williams from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who verbally committed last week to Connecticut and, as a result, isn't ranked quite as high (we currently have Williams ranked #50 nationally in the senior class), we do think Ubaka is more a pure point guard.   Not only does Ubaka make better decisions and have better ball handling and passing skills than Williams, but he's just as quick and athletic.  In other words, if we needed a point guard to come in and run the show, we'd take Ubaka.  However, if we needed more of a scorer and more of a combo guard, it's a no-brainer for Williams.   Yes, it's really that close between Ubaka and Williams!  But it's no longer that close when looking at our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, as the University of California has taken over the #1 spot ahead of Louisville and Mississippi State, which are currently tied at #2, and Michigan State, which checks in at #4.  If you will recall, 6'8 Leon Powe from Oakland (Tech) CA, who is ranked #16 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'3 Wesley Washington from San Ana (Mater Dei) CA, who is ranked #41 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'5 Marquis Kately from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, who is ranked #19 nationally among 5th year players by the HOOP SCOOP; and 6'6 Dominic McGuire from San Diego (Lincoln) CA, who is ranked #165 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; also have already verbally committed to the Golden Bears.  So it appears that Ben Braun and his staff have not only done a marvelous job recruiting, but they also should be able to focus exclusively on juniors, which gives them a huge head start on the future.  However, since the Golden Bears already have given out their five scholarships in this recruiting class, it stands to reason that their recruiting class may not remain ranked #1 forever.  As a matter of fact, our guess is that California's recruiting class could get passed up as soon as this weekend by the University of Louisville.  Did you know that 6'7 Nate Daniels from Broward County (JC) FL, who is one of the top five junior college players in the nation, is expected to be in Louisville, KY this weekend to make an official visit and attend the Louisville-Kentucky football game?  And, if Daniels verbally commits, which is something we expect him to do sooner than later, he would join 6'11 James Lang from Birmingham (Central Park Christian) AL, 6'10 Nouha Diakite from Barton County (JC) KS, and 6'4 Brandon Jenkins from Detroit (Southeastern) MI in Louisville's recruiting class.   And that would be more than enought to move the Cardinals back into the #1 spot on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   It also would give Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino the perfect complement out on the perimeter, along with 6'7 Francisco Garcia from Winchendon (School) MA, who signed with Louisville last fall.  Obviously Pitino, who currently is ranked #2 on our  list of the top head coaches, and Mick Cronin, who will be ranked #2 on our list of the top assistant coaches, will get most the credit for landing this recruiting class, but the guy who deserves special recognition for landing Diakite and Daniels, if he does indeed make it official for the Cardinals early next week, is Louisville assistant coach Vince Taylor.  Not only did Taylor live with both players when college coaches could be out during the month of July, but he was able to use his strong international contacts to help seal the deal with Diakite.  Another recruiting class that is on the rise belong to the University of Charlotte.  Not only do the 49ers already have 6'11 Martin Iti from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, who is ranked #4 among 5th year players by the HOOP SCOOP, but we suspect they soon will have another verbal commitment from 6'2 Ramel Bradley from New York (Park West) NY, who is ranked #118 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  When, and if, Bradley picks the 49ers, their recruiting class, which currently is tied at #23 nationally, along with Ohio State, Kansas State, and Missouri, by the HOOP SCOOP, would move up to #19, right behind LSU and Maryland and head of Duke.  Right now it looks like it's a two-horse race for Bradley between Charlotte and Miami-FL and the fact that 6'2 Marcus Barnes recently announced he is transferring from Miami-FL certainly give the Hurricanes an obvious immediate need in the backcourt.  And that fact that Bradley's good friends with 6'6 Eliiah Clark from Winchendon (School) MA, who verbally committed to Miami-FL in July also could be a huge selling point.  However, Charlotte has its own secret weapon and that's 49ers assistant coach Kevin Nickelberry, who is one of the fastest rising guys in the business.  As a matter of fact, every time we turn it around these days, it seems like Charlotte is in somebody unexpected - i.e. 6'10 Jr Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC.  Did you know that Tangara and Iti are roommates at Mt. Zion Christian? 

Tuesday, August 27, 2002, Wednesday, August 28, 2002, & Thursday, August 29, 2002

No, I haven't taken the last two days off.   Instead, after living and working in the same place for the last eight years, I decided to change locations and yesterday and today have been the primary moving days.  This will not effect your subscription, because I have not deleted everybody's subscription by a day, which is what I normally do every day, either day.   It also is important to note that my phone number, fax number, and email address have all been changed and, for your convenience, you can find the updated information at the top of most of the frequently used pages on this web site.  The phone number is (502) 500-4667.  That's (502) 500-HOOP!   Unfortunately the new fax number, which is (502) 254-2646, isn't as easy to remember.  However, the new email address, which is hoopscooponline@msn.com, probably falls someplace in between in terms of being easy.  Usually when I'm out of the loop for a day or two, all hell breaks loose in terms of verbal commitments.   However, the only important thing that has happened in the last two days involves 5'11 Vern Hamilton from Richmond (Benedictine) VA, who is ranked #86 nationally on our list of the Top 300 Players in the Class of 2003.  Hamilton picked Clemson and, like so many of the other players the Tigers have signed in recent years, he's not star, but he has the talent, leadership, and savvy necessary to be an excellent point guard in the Atlantic Coast Conference.  And making good decisions, using his excellent passing and ball handling skills, keeping you honest with his outside shooting, and playing good defense, aren't the only things for which Hamilton is known.   Did you know that Hamilton also is a heck of a quarterback on the gridiron and, if he ever wants to play professionally, that's his sport.  But as a freshman in college, Hamilton plans to focus exclusively on basketball.  He joins 6'3 Jimmy Hudson from Eustis (H.S.) FL, who is ranked in #137 on our list of Top 300 Players in the Class of 2003, and that moves Clamson's recruiting class into a tie at #27, along with Seton Hall, Boston College, Marquette, Gonzaga, Purdue, and College of Charleston, our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And the Tigers coaching staff doesn't appear to be to be done yet, as 6'10 Major Wingate from Florence (Wilson) SC also is expected to verbally commit to Clemson this fall.   As a matter of fact, Hamilton and Wingate both were on campus together at Clemson last weekend and they have known each other for several years dating back to win they first developed a friendship at the adidas ABCD Camp during the Summer of 2000.   Speaking of Clemson, I think the Tigers have both the talent and potential to be one of the surprise teams in college basketball this winter.  However, Brick Oettinger of the PrepStars.com and the Recruiters Handbook not only disagrees, but is adamant in his belief that the Tigers will once again finish in the bottom half of the wide open Atlantic Coast Conference.  How wide open is the ACC this year?  Well, Duke and Maryland obviously lost heavily both to graduation and players going hardship into the NBA Draft, but so did most of the rest of the teams in league, as only four of its top 21 scorers from last year return.  And two of the four are Clemson's Edward Scott and Chris Hobbs.   Only five of the top 13 rebounders return and two of those players Hobbs and Ray Henderson are also from Clemson.  Scott also is one of just four players returning from among the 15 players who made the first, second or third-team All-ACC.  The Tigers did lose Tony Stockman and Dwon Clifton, both of whom transferred last spring, but Clemson still returns 64 percent of its scoring, 78 percent of its rebounds, 72 percent of its assists, 90 percent of its blocked shots, and 68 percent of its playing time from a year ago.  I also look for Sharrod Ford and Chey Christie to both develop into two of the best sophomores in the league, plus the depth that Clemson head coach Larry  Shyatt has is very impressive.   As a matter of fact, with Steve Allen, Olu Babalola, Tomas Nagys, 6'7 Lamar Rice from Mott (JC) MI, 6'2 Shawan Robinson from Raleigh (Leesville Road) NC, 6'5 Ori Ichaki from Israel, and 6'5 Julian Betko from Sharon (H.S.) PA all coming off the bench, the Tigers should be able to go 12 deep.  In other words, they don't have a single McDonald's All-American on the roster, but just like the Seton Hall team that lost to Michgian in the NCAA Championship Game in 1989, top to bottom, this Clemson team has more than enough talent to make things intersting.  What do you think?   Do you agree with me, that Clemson is a sleeper that could finish among the top three in the ACC?  Or do you agree with Oettinger and think the Tigers should be picked near the bottom of the league pre-season?  Or do you want to hedge your bets and predict Clemson will be someplace in the middle?  Tell us by answering yesterday's "Question of the Day".  And as long as we're talking about this year's wide open ACC, today's "Question of the Day" asks who do you think should be the pre-season favorite to win the league? 

Monday, August 26, 2002

At some point I am going to have to draw the line in terms of the endless changes that we're making to our Revised List of the Top Recruiting Classes from the Class of 2002.  This is necessary if we ever hope to publish our conference-by-conference list of the top recruiting classes, as well as all the other different other ways we look at recruiting, like who signed the best two players, best three players, and had the best talent rating average per recruit.  If you will recall, we ran out of time prior to the start of the summer and, as a result, we're still dealing with all the late breaking changes that usually we are able to ignore this time of year, because we've been long since finished with our rankings.  The latest is 6'9 Mory Correa from Pratt County (JC) KS not being admitted into school by Oklahoma State and, instead, enrolling at Wyoming.  This causes Oklahoma State's recruiting class to drop from #8 to #17 and for Wyoming's class to move all the way up to #76 on our Revised List of the Top Recruiting Classes from the Class of 2002.  We also are checking into the rumor that Greg Swaim of  GregSwaim.com called us about tonight involving 6'1 Imari Sawyer transferring from DePaul to Iowa State.  Apparently Sawyer is already on campus and plans to enroll in school at Iowa State.  However, right now that is still unconfirmed.  But, if this is the case, we think this is the perfect fit, because Cyclones head coach Larry Euctachy has a history of getting extremely talented players like Sawyer to respond to his tough hardnosed style of coaching.  In other words, it appears to be make or break time for Sawyer!  Swaim also tells us that Oklahoma State appears to be back in the hunt for 6'3 Keion Kindred from Compton (Dominguez) CA, who plans to go the junior college route for a year at Yavapi (JC) AZ and then transfer to a four-year school next fall.  Apparently Kindred, who was ranked #278 on our final ranking of the Class of 2002, will have three years to play, because he was qualified academically to be eligible as a freshman in college this year.   Swaim tells us that the Cowboys' connection is Yavapi Junior College head coach Brooks Thompson, who is both a former Eddie Sutton player and assistant coach at Oklahoma State.  However, it will still be interesting to see how this one plays out, because Oklahoma State only has three scholarships to give in this recruiting class and they are one of the three finalists, along with Kansas and Arkansas, for 6'4 Ronnie Brewer from Fayetteville (H.S.) AR, who is ranked #47 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; they are believed to be the leader for 6'11 Steve Verwers from Weatherford (H.S.) TX, and they are also in good shape on 6'11 Nathan Lofton from Independence (JC) KS.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson confirmd that 6'4 Tom McLaughlin is transferring from Princeton to William & Mary.  If you will recall, McLaughlin was overrated as a freshman and sophomore in high school, but he's still a heck of an athlete and a smart player, which makes him a steal for the Tribe.  McLaughlin is the second player William & Mary has gotten out of Andover, MA in the last year.  If you will recall, they also signed 6'7 Jack Jenkins from Andover (Proctor Academy) MA last November and this is important, because these two players should help establish a strong pipeline into New England for years to come.  Johnson also tells us that 6'2 Blake Ahearn from St. Louis (De Smet) MO may have verbally committed to Southwest Missouri State, but for our purposes that is still unconfirmed.  However, if Ahearn picking the Bears does indeed turn out to be correct, then that's a major steal, because we're talking about an athletic white kid who has savvy, skills, outside shooting, and a #154 national ranking in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Johnson also informs us that Ohio State had 10 players on campus for unofficial visits at the Ohio State-Texas Tech football over the weekend.  The list starts with 6'8 Ivan Harris from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who is ranked #12 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and already is verbally committed to the Buckeyes, and also includes three of the top juniors in Michigan - 6'3 Jr Joe Crawford from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, 6'10 Jr Goran Sutton from Lansing (Everett) MI, and 6'8 Jr Al Horford from Grand Ledge (H.S.) MI; one of the top juniors in Indiana - 6'6 Jr James Hardy from Ft. Wayne (Elmhurst) IN; three of top six sophomores in Ohio - 6'5 Soph Jamelle Cornley from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, 6'7 Soph Ross Morin from Cincinnati (Princeton) OH, and 6'2 John Wolf from Cincinnati (St. Xavier) OH; a highly touted 5th year player who is now in prep school - 6'7 Mike Pilgram from Wolfeboro (Brewster) NH; and 6'11 Seth Gorney from Vandalia (Butler) OH.

Yesterday the Seattle Times reported that 6'5 Rodrick Stewart, who is ranked #21 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'5 Lodrick Stewart, who is ranked #61 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, both from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA, planned to sign with the University of Washington this fall, but, less than two hours before the Stewart twins' father called the local newspaper to provide quotes for the story on Saturday, Rodrick and Lodrick were doing a live interview on Fox Sports Northwest Television saying they were going to USC.  In the Seattle Times article, the father is quoted saying the Southern Cal announcement was misdirection to throw off all the media and that staying close to home was a big part of the decision.   However, last night the Stewart's all finally got onto the same page, as they were saying the choice was USC.  The father also insinuated last night that the decision was actually made on Friday.  "Nothing against the University of Washington - great people, Coach Romar is a swell guy, the program is great - but he made it kind of easy to make that decision (to play for USC) based on something that happened on Friday.  I don't want to comment on that, but the decision was easy to make after that situation."  The Seattle Times speculates that the deciding factor Mr. Stewart was talking about was the commitment the University of Washington got on Friday from 6'5 Tre Simmons from Seattle (Garfield) WA via Odessa (JC) TX.   However, our guess is that yesterday's article by Andy Katz on ESPN.com, which is has a headling that reads Allegations lead to investigation of Huskies and can be found by clicking on  http://ESPN.go.com/ncb/news/2002/0825/1422719.html, was the real result of all the confusion.  Obviously this is devastating for the Huskies coaching staff, which had made tremendous in-roads in terms of recruiting all the top young players in Washington, but huge for the Trojans, which are on the verge of becoming a perennial powerhouse on the West Coast.  Don't believe that's what's on the verge of happening?  Well, the Trojans also have 6'8 Jeff McMillan, who transferred from Fordham last spring, sitting out this year and he promises to be the perfect replacement for Sam Clancy, who was the blue collar warrior inside for the Trojans, as well as big reason why USC head coach Henry Bibby has been so successful in recent years.  And the Trojans are also among the finalists for 6'8 Trevor Ariza from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, who is ranked #15 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'8 Ekene Ibekwe from Carson (H.S.) CA, who is ranked #37 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; and 6'9 Nick Stigger from Van Nuys (Montclair Prep) CA, who is ranked #92 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  It is the editorial policy of the HOOP SCOOP not to count transfers when ranking recruiting classes, so McMillan doesn't count with USC's recruiting class.  However, the Stewart twins do and, as a result, the Trojans recruiting class currently is ranked #11 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   And if USC, which has two more scholarships to offer, gets Ariza and Ibekwe, Ariza and Stigger, or Ekene and Stigger, than their recruiting class would move right to the top of the list ahead of Louisville and Mississippi State, which are currently tied for the top spot.   Obviously this is a team effort by the Trojans coaching staff, but it also reinforces our belief that USC assistant coach Kurtis Townsend is one of the top five assistant coaches in college basketball today.  Making the story even more ironic is fact that we said on this web site that UCLA head coach Steve Lavin should have hired his good friend Kurtis Townsend to replace former UCLA assistant coach Michael Holton when he got the head coaching job at Portland a-year-and-a-half ago.  Instead, Townsend is now a major thorn in Lavin's side, as he is battling UCLA for the top players in Southern California and rivaling the Bruins for college basketball supremacy in the Los Angeles area.

Saturday, August 24, 2002, & Sunday, August 25, 2002

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that 5'10 Dru Joyce from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH has verbally committed to Akron and 6'7 Nathan Peavy from Dayton (Chaminade-Julienne) OH has verbally committed to Miami-OH.  The Joyce commitment is especially important, because Keith Dombrot has gone back to his old-stamping grounds and gotten another one of his former players.  If you will recall, Dombrot, who was the head coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary prior to returning to the college ranks a year ago, signed 6'4 Derrick Tarver from San Francisco (JC) CA, who played for Dombrot in high school at Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH, last fall and we also believe it's only a matter time until 6'6 Romeo Travis from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH follows in the same path to the University of Akron.  Joyce was ranked no higher than #70 prior to the start of the summer by Johnson, but he's grown two inches and had a great summer, as was evident by the fact he was the leading 3-point shooter at the adidas ABCD Camp in Teaneck, NJ.  Peavy, who is ranked #12 in the senior class in Ohio by Johnson, becomes the second player from Mike Price's Cincinnati AAU program to verbally commit to Miami-OH this summer.  If you will recall, earlier this summer the Redhawks also got a verbal commitment from 6'7 Eric Van Buskirk from Cincinnati (Loveland) OH and, as a result, Miami-OH now has two of the top 15 seniors in the state in fold.  This also is important, because there isn't a better AAU coach in the nation than Price, so you know both players are extremely skilled and will be well prepared when it comes time to take their game to the college level a year from now.  Johnson also tells us that 6'5 Earl Smith from Lakewood (H.S) NJ is on the verge of enrolling at Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ and being reclassified as a junior.  And, if that happens, then  St. Benedict's head coach Danny Hurley could have the best team in the state, ahead of Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ and even Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, where Hurley's father is the head coach.  Remember, the younger Hurley also has 6'7 Jr Stanley Branch, 6'2 Art Bowers, 5'11 Bashir Mason, 6'6 Keving Palacios, 6'6 Eugene Kotorobai,and 6'7 Mike Tuck, plus he may have another surprise or two up his sleeve.  

It looks like 6'2 Marcus Williams from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA has finally made it official for the University of Connecticut.  If you will recall, this was rumored to have happened a month ago.  As a matter of fact, we have reason to believe that Williams gave a verbal commitment to the Huskies coaching staff in late July, but that was contingent upon visiting Storrs, CT in August and still being comfortable with his decision.  Well, apparently Williams did finally get onto the Connecticut campus, as our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis tells us that the race for Williams has been declared official.  Obviously Connecticut assistant coach Clive Vaughn's strong West Coast contacts, dating back to his days at Long Beach State, was instrumental in getting this one done.  However, Connecticut's recruitment of Williams is a perfect illustration of how effectively the Huskies's coaching staff has recruited for year.  Actually no school in the college basketball does a better job of getting involved with a large number of players and then turning up the heat when an opportunity presents itself.  In this case, Williams' top two schools - Arizona with 6'3 Mustafa Shakur from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA and UCLA with 5'10 Aaron Brooks from Seattle (Franklin) WA - suddenly had other point guard priorities, which allowed the Huskies to sneak in the backdoor and, as a result, steal a top 50 senior nationally.  Williams also has the potential to move even higher in our rankings, because he can play either guard spot and is a prolific scorer.  He's also a terrific kid, but he has shown neither the consistency nor the toughness to be ranked among the elite players in the senior class nationally.  But our guess is that will likely change once Huskies head coach Jim Calhoun gets a hold of Williams a year from now.  Remember, Calhoun not only is one of the best coaches in college basketball today, but he also does a great job of getting the most out of his players.  Ironically, another head coach who does a remarkable job of getting the most out of his players got a verbal commitment from a combo guard named Williams today.   We're talking about Cincinnati's Bobby Huggins, as the Bearcats landed 6'4 Nick Williams from Chipola (JC) FL.  This comes as no surprise for several reasons.  First, Williams and 6'10 Robert Whaley from Barton County (JC) KS both were at Cincinnati this weekend on an official visit.  Second, Chipola Junior College head coach Ryan Cross not only has strong ties with the Cincinnati coaching staff, but he already has a history of sending players to Cincinnati - i.e. 6'8 Kareem Johnson from Chipola (JC) FL, who signed with the Bearcats this past spring.  Third, Huggins has a long history of being successful with junior college players.  And this one is pretty good!   As a matter of fact, it wouldn't be a major surprise, if Williams was ranked right there among the top junior college guards prospects in the nation this season.  Did you know that Nick Williams started 25 games last season at Kansas State and averaged 9.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg, and 2.5 apg.   He also is a big time athlete who can play either guard spot, which adds an additional twist into their recruitmentof 5'10 Taurean Minor from Houston (Washington) TX.  We also suspect that the Bearcats will get Whaley sometime in the not too distant future, but taking a commitment from this physical specimen, who isn't as skilled or in as good a shape as Danny Fortsen at the same stage, has some risk, because there are people out there who think Whaley is ready for the NBA Draft.   However, we're not in the group.  Instead, we think two years with a head coach who will push him to the limit is exactly what Whaley needs.  And, like so many guys in this day and age, it also could be worth a lot more money to him down the road.   And, if you don't believe it, just ask Antonie Walker how much money it was worth for him to play two years in college for Rick Pitino?

Friday, August 23, 2002

We've been telling you for some time that we thought 6'10 Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS was a near lock for Mississippi State.  Well, it happened last night and this is huge, because it moves the Bulldogs' recruiting class into a tie at #1, along with Louisville on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  If you will recall, the Bulldogs also already have a verbal commitments from 6'10 Travis Outlaw from Starkville (H.S.) MS, who is ranked #14 nationally on our list of Top 300 Players in the Class of 2003, and 5'11 Gary Ervin from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, who is ranked #9 nationally on our list of the Top 50 5th Year Players.  Butler currently is ranked #31 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but he has top five talent and potential.  We're talking about an agile athlete with great hands, excellent shot blocking and rebounding skills, and a soft tough around the basket.  In other words, the biggest question is how bad does he want and how hard is he willing to work?  But like most big guys from the Deep South, Butler needs to develop a killer instinct at the next level and, based on Mississippi State's track record in recent years under head coach Rick Stansbury, there no question in our mind that he will.  As a matter of fact, getting Butler is one of the final pieces to the puzzle as the Bulldogs join a very elite list teams in college basketball, like Duke, Arizona, Michigan State, Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Maryland, Cincinnati, Indiana, Connecticut, Louisville, and Kentucky, that have both the talent and the potential to collectively dominate the sport for a along time.  Don't believe it?  Well, Stansbury, who at the time was an assistant coach at the time, helped take the program the NCAA Final Four in 1996; they probably would have been knocking on the door again several year ago, if Jonathan Bender, who committed to Mississippi State, but never playerd for the Bulldogs, hadn't by-passed college and gone straight to the NBA; and five months ago they not only won the Southeastern Conference Tournament, but emerged with a 27-8 record, which was the most wins in school history.  And just about everybody is back, including 6'9 Mario Austin, who was the team's leading scorer (16.1 ppg) and leading rebounder (7.6 rpg) a year ago.  This also puts Mississippi State into the driver's seat for 6'8 Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, who is ranked #11 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Not only do Williams and Butler play for the Southeast Pump N Run Club team program, but they are extremely close friends and have even talked about going to the same school together as a package.  Obviously, if Stansbury is able to beat Alabama for Williams, it would be a major loss for Crimson Tide head coach Mark Gottfried.  Remember, we've previously reported that Alabama was a near lock for both Williams and 6'3 Jr Glenn Miles from Birmingham (West End) AL.  But this wouldn't be the first time that Stansbury has beaten Gottfried, who, like Stansbury is regarded as one of the best recruiters in the business, for a player.  If you will recall, the final two for Austin, Derrick Zimmerman, and Antonio Jackson, all of whom also ended up playing for the Bulldogs, were Alabama and Mississippi State.  And Alabama was one of the favorites for a long time, along with Louisville and LSU, in the Jackie Butler-sweepstakes.   However, the Crimson Tide has also had their share of success, as they stole Maurice Williams, who already is one of the best point guards in college basketball, out of Mississippi two years ago; they already have three big men verbally committed in the current recruiting class, which is ranked #10 on out list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, in 6'10 Akini Adkins from Tallahassee (Leon) FL, 6'9 Jemario Davidson from Stone Mountain (Redan) GA, and 6'10 Shawn Taylor from Vienna (Dooley County) GA; and four starters are back from an Alabama team that went 27-8 last season.  

Thursday, August 22, 2002

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin asked me today why La Salle isn't ranked higher in our Final Ranking of the Top 140 Recruiting Classes from the Class of 2002, which was published in early July, but since has been updated with several important additions - i.e. when the University of Florida landed 6'8 Christian Drejer from Denmark in late July.  Apparently La Salle finally landed 6'7 David Bell from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC about a month ago, but nobody bothered to pass that bit of information along to me until today.  As a matter of fact, Bell's commitment is so significant, that even am I making the change, because with 6'2 Jermaine Thomas from Frederick (Governor Thomas Johnson) MD, 6'4 Gary Neal from Towson (Calvert Hall) MD, and 6'10 Lewis Fadipe from Creedmore (Faith Christian) NC already in the fold, the Explorers recruiting class moves up to #50 on our Revised Ranking of the Top 141 Recruiting Classes from the Class of 2002.  And, if there are any more late additions, now is the time to call me or email me, because at some point this fall, I do hope to publish our final Conference-by-Conference Rankings of the Top Recruiting Classes and Different Ways to Look at Recruiting from the Class of 2002.  Speaking of late additions, did you know that St. John's got a late commitment last week from 6'2 Bruce Price from Minneapolis, MN?   Neither did we until today when Sam Albano of Redmen.com called to tip us off.   Apparently Albano also called our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio over the weekend to tip him off when it was happening, but just like Rubin, Naclerio fell asleep at the switch and forgot to pass it along.  Getting back to the different ways you can get in touch will me, I am in the process of moving, but my cell phone number, which is  (502) 500-HOOP and email address, which is hoopscooponline@msn.com, remain the same.  Actually, this is the email address I've been using for some time.   I simply got tired of all the junk mail that was being sent to the email address that has been listed on the web site for years and, as a result, stopped looking at it long ago.  Moral to the story, if you really need to reach me and it's important, call me, because I've never been much of an email person.  Our new fax number is (502) 254-2646, but it won't take effect until Tuesday. August 27th. 

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin has an updated list of of schools from 6'3 Mustafa Shakur from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA, 6'9 Josh Bonne from Colora (West Nottingham) MD, 5'8 Kashif Payne from Radnor (Archbishop Carroll) PA, 6'11 Aaron Gray from Emmaus (H.S.) PA, 6'5 Troy Roundtree from Philadelphia (Northeast) PA, 6'2 Ray Barbosa from Allentown (Allen) PA, and 6'8 Dontay Tabbs from Philadelphia (George Washington) PA, all of whom he talked with at the Sonny Hill League's Tony Samartino Future Stars Tournament over the weekend.  Shakur says he has three visits lined up to Arizona, N.C. State, and Virginia, but Georgia Tech also is making a strong push.  The word on the street is that Georgetown stashed Boone at West Nottingham, but Rutgers, St. Joseph, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee are also on his list.  Payne likes Drexel, Towson, La Salle, and Maine.  Gray is getting the most attention from Rutgers, Temple, Indiana, Marquette, West Virginia, Richmond, Florida State, and Pittsburgh.  Roundtee likes Rider, Towson, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Coppin State, Youngstown State, and Maine.   Hofstra, Drexel, Towson, James Madison, Manhattan, Rider, and St. Bonaventure are the favorites for Barbosa.  Rubin thinks Tabbs is one of the biggest sleepers in Philadelphia, but he'll need a year of prep school a year from now.  However, that isn't stopping La Salle and St. Joseph's from showing a lot of interest.  However, the biggest news that Rubin has is that 6'2 Tyler Smith from Baltimore (Frederick Douglas) MD is going to Laurinburg (Institute) NC, instead of Colora (West Nottingham Prep) MD.  And this appears to be a trend, because Smith is the second player who played on last year's state championship Frederick Douglas High School team to back out of going to Colora (West Nottingham Prep) MD.  If you will recall, in 6'8 Richard Dorsey changed his mind in July and now is supposed to be going to Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC.  And yet another player from Frederick Douglas may be going the prep school route as well.  At least that's what 6'3 Gerald Brown, who is ranked #80 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, told Rubin at the adidas ABCD Camp in July when he indicated that he was going to enroll at Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA this fall. 

Brian Merritt of the Elite Scouting Service in Baltimore, MD has a bunch of interesting tidbits to pass along and right at the top of the list is is confirmation about 6'1 Jr Eric Price remaining at Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD.  If you will recall, there was a lot of speculation about both Price and 6'2 Jr Isaiah Swann from Rockville (Margruder) MD transferring to Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA this fall.  Well, Swann did make the move, but Price, who also had been rumored to be looking at Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, has stayed at Montrose Christian, where the legendary Stu Vetter has what is potentially is best class ever with his great group of rising sophomores, which also includes 6'7 Soph Mike Freeman and 6'2 Ryan Scott, who is the son one of Vetter's greatest players ever - Dennis Scott.  And it also would not be much of surprise if Swann returns to Margruder a year from now, because he won't be 19 until after school starts at this time next year.  This is important, because Swann is already a 4th year junior and, as a result, can only play at Oak Hill one year.  However, Merritt tells us that Swann, who played football, but not basketball his freshman year, would still be eligible age-wise to play a year in Maryland.  Merritt also informs us that 6'8 Jr Rudy Gay has transferred from Baltimore (Eastern Tech) MD to Severn (Archbishop Spalding) MD, where he is expected to provide the perfect complement to 6'11 Will Bowers.  Merritt also has the scoop on 6'2 Robert McIver, who was at Stone Mountain (Redan) GA two years ago and Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC last season.   McIver is now at New Haven (Hillhouse) CT, plus the chances of his honoring his previous commitment to Georgetown now appears to be slim and none.  Merritt also reminds us of and confirms a number of other things that we already know and have reported, like 6'0 Tre Kelly and 6'2 Jr Earl Rigsby both being at Washington (Dunbar) DC, 6'7 Patrick Ewing, Jr transferring from Marietta (H.S.) GA to Ft. Washington (National Christian) MD, and 6'6 Eliiah Clark from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY enrolling in prep school at Winchendon (School) MA.   However, we still aren't sure what's going to happen with 6'8 Emmanuel Messy from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ.  If you will recall, last week we reported that Messy was going to enroll at Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, but yesterday found out that Messy won't be going to Brewster Academy after all.  However, he may find out something definitive when we finally catch up to Jason Smith, who is the head coach at Brewster Academy (currently we're playing telephone tag).   Merritt also continues to tell us that we have 6'9 Byron Joynes from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who is ranked #121 nationally in the senior class, ranked too low and is adamant about the fact that 6'10 Jr Aaron Agnew from Bellaire (H.S.) OH, who is ranked #126 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, should be ranked among the top 10 juniors nationally.  "Just wait and see," says Merritt.  "We're talking about a physical specimen out of the same mold as James Lang."  If you will recall, 6'10 James Lang from Birmingham (Central Park Christian) AL, who is now ranked #3 among 5th year players by the HOOP SCOOP, came on like gangbusters this spring and summer.  Also in strong disagreement with me is Ritchie Davis, who runs a scouting service in Wisconsin and is the director of the Fox Valley Skillz AAU program.  Davis thinks the best junior in the state is 6'11 Jr Greg Steimsma from Randolph (H.S.) WI and he's probably right based on potential.  However, after watching 5'11 Jr Dupree Fletcher from Milwaukee (Rufus King) WI almost singlehandedly lead DTA Wisconsin to a final eight finish at the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV, I'm one of Fletcher's biggest fans.  I also think he may turn out to be the Andrew Lavender of next year's class.  Remember, 5'7 Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH led All Ohio Red to the championship of the NIKE Peach Jam, a runnerup finish in the 17-Under National AAU Tournament in Orlando, FL, and a final four finish at the AAU Super Showcase in Orlando, FL, plus he was the best player in camp on Sunday, July 7th, at the NIKE All-American Camp.  Thus, explains why Lavender is now ranked #10 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  But what do I know?  Remember, I'm the guy who has 7'0 Brian Butch from Appleton (West) WI, who is Davis' star player on the Fox Valley Skillz Black Team, ranked #3 in the senior class nationally.  And I stood by firm by my ranking of Butch #3 in the class when I talked with 6'10 Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX the other night.  If you will recall, we dropped Ebi from #2 to #4 in our latest rankings and hopefully I pissed him off just enough to make him play that much harder and live up to his incredible potential. 

Wednesday, August 21, 2002

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that 6'10 Robert Whaley from Barton County (JC) KS, who is the consensus #1-ranked junior college player in the nation, and 6'4 Nick Williams from Chipola (JC) FL, who is also is one of the top junior college players in the nation, both have official visits planned this weekend at the University of Cincinnati.   However, Johnson doesn't think the Bearcats chances are very good of getting Whaley, because it's already being rumored that he will be a lottery pick in next year's NBA Draft.  Hopefully that's based on the fact that he's gotten a lot meaner and tougher inside than he was when we last saw him the summer before his senior year in high school.   If you will recall, Whaley has always been a physical specimen and had incredible natural talent, but in high school he had no idea that he was a 6'10 man-child.  And, if he still doesn't, playing for somebody like Cincinnati head coach Bob Huggins would certainly provide the toughness that he needs to make the big bucks down the road in the NBA.  As a matter of fact, two year with Huggins would be worth a lot more financially down the road than just one year.  Johnson also tells us that Ball State has recently picked up three recruits in 6'2 Julian Mills from Indianapolis (North Central) IN, 6'2 Darren Yates from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, and 6'2 Peyton Stovall from Lafayette (Jefferson) IN.  Stovall, who made official for the Cardinals two days ago, is the big prize.  Not only is he ranked #166 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, but, along with 6'8 Matt Webster from Westfield (H.S.) IN and 6'8 Justin Perry from Indianapolis (Perry Meridian) IN, he helped lead the Billy Shepherd Sports team to a final four finish at the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV a month ago.  Yates also is ranked among #291 nationally on our list of the Top 300 Players in the Class of 2003 and, as a result, Ball State's recruiting class moves up to #25 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis tells us that 6'4 Erik Crawford, who was a starter last year as a freshman on Bowling Green's 24-9 team, but who averaged only 3.7 ppg and 2.1 rpg, is transferring to Northern Iowa.  This is noteworthy, because Crawford will become eligible a year from now at the same time as 6'2 Brooks McKowen from  Fairbank (Wapsie Valley) IA, 6'0 Jared Josten from Webster City (H.S.) IA, and 6'3 Adam Viet from Ackley (AGWSR) IA, who are the three players who have already made early commitments and, as a result, count in Northern Iowa's recruiting class, which currently is ranked #20 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  We continue to hear that Oregon State is the favorite for 6'8 Alex Weeks from Lilburn (Berkmar) GA, who is ranked #54 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but Syracuse and Charlotte are starting to make it an interesting horse race.  We're also hearing that UNLV is a lot stronger for 6'2 Michael Umeh from Sugar Land (Hightower) TX, 6'9 Ousmane Barro from Chicago (Julian) IL, and 6'8 Trevor Ariza from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA than most people realize.  As a matter of fact, we think the Runnin' Rebels may get Umeh done sooner than later.  As for Barro, we think he's still one of the biggest sleepers in the senior class nationally, despite the fact that he finished ranked #21 in our rankings at the NIKE All-American Camp and is currently ranked #93 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.   Obviously the connection here is UNLV assistant coach Derek Thomas' strong Illinois contacts.  Beating schools like Florida, Indiana, Georgia, USC, and Oregon is a tougher task, but that's what UNLV head coach Charlie Spoonour has to do, if he wants to restore the program to the level it was at during the days of Jerry Tarkanian. 

Believe it or not, Temple University has only had two assistant coaches on the staff since Dean Demopoulos left to take the head coaching job at Missouri-Kansas City two years ago.  But now the third position is being listed as open and the guy they should hire is our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin.  Nobody knows more about Temple basketball than Rubin does, plus nobody has as much respect, contacts, knowledge, and historical perspective when it comes to high school basketball in the Philadelphia area.  However, the fact that Rubin doesn't have any head coaching experience, which might be something Temple needs when head coach John Chaney does retire, probably puts Rubin at a disadvantage when compared to somebody like Bill Ellerbee, who is the legendary head coach at Philadelphia (Simon Gratz) PA.  Ellerbee not only is a Philadelphia guy, but he'd be able to recruit like crazy, because he has tremendous respect from the players and the high school coaches in the area.  He's also not afraid of hard work, which is extactly what the Owls need to complement Dan Leibovitz, who is widely regarded as the one of the best recruiters in the business.  Ellerbee also would be the perfect guy to help with the transition when Chaney does retire and he may even be a candidate for the job himself.  Not only does Ellerbee have plenty of head coaching experience, but he is ranked #7 on our list of the top head coaches in the high school and prep school ranks behind Bob Hurley, Sr at Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, Morgan Wootten at Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, Steve Smith at Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, Jack Curran at Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, Jere Quinn at Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, and Stu Vetter at Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD and ahead of Gary McKnight at Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, Gary DeCesare at Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, Mike Byrnes at Winchendon (School) MA, Kevin Boyle at Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, and Dale Mabrey at Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY.   In other words, Ellerbee is in some pretty fast company.  Editor's Note:  The Philadelphia Daily News reported today that Ellerbee has retired as a teacher at Simon Gratz.  This is important, because you have to teach at a school in the Philadelphia Public School System to be a coach in the Philadelphia Public League.  

In early July we told you that it was a two-horse race between New Orleans and Florida for 5'11 Mike O'Donnell from Largo (H.S.) FL, but it looks like our guess about the Privateers getting O'Donnell was wrong.  Believe it or not, O'Donnell has made a verbal commitment to the Gators and, as a result, Florida's recruiting class moves up from #7 to #5 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  However, O'Donnell will first enroll next year at Fork Union (Military) VA and then is expected to walk-on and red-shirt for a year before he ever gets a scholarship at Florida.  Obviously the Florida coaching staff wants to put some space between O'Donnell and 6'2 Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI, who signed with Gators a year ago, and 6'3 Ryan Appleby from Stanwood (H.S.) WA and 6'2 Lee Humphrey from Maryville (H.S.) TN, both of whom made verbal commitments to the Gators this summer.  But we're not sure it really matters, because head coach Billy Donovan is one of the recruiters in the business and, as a result, Florida is always going to get the pick of the litter in terms of the top high school players in the nation - i.e. 6'0 Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, who is the #2-ranked junior in the nation, according to the HOOP SCOOP.  In other words, O'Donnell promises to be a good role player at best and, if he's comfortable with being in that position, then he's an excellent recruit.  However, if O'Donnell thinks he's just going to wait his turn and eventually be one of the key players for the Gators, he might be in for a rude awakening.  No doubt something doesn't make sense, unless the plan is to try and steer O'Donnell a year from now to South Alabama, where former Florida assistant coach John Pelphrey is the head coach.  Instead, it looks like the New Orleans coaching staff is using its strong ties in the state of Florida to recruit 6'9 Marcus Hubbard, who is transferring from Riviera Beach (R.J. Henley) FL to West Palm Beach (Palm Beach Lakes) FL, and 5'9 Randy Jones and 6'7 Louis Graham, both of whom are already at West Palm Beach (Palm Beach Lakes) FL.  And part of the reason why the Privateers have such a good chance of hitting the trifecta in terms of getting all three of these players is Lorenzo Hands, who is the head coach at Palm Beach Lakes High School.  Hands signed with Florida State as a high school senior in 1988, but New Orleans head coach Monte Towe recruited Hands when he was an assistant coach at Florida and they've remained good friends ever since.  We also have confirmed that 6'5 Vakeaton Wafer from Pineville (H.S.) LA, who is ranked #8 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is transferring to Ft. Worth (Paschal) TX.  If you will recall, Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX and Laurinburg (Institute) TX were also under consideration, but it appears that the race for Wafer has now been declared official.  Last week we reported that 6'8 Emmanuel Messy from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ had surfaced at Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH.  Well, now we're being told by Brewster Academy head coach Jason Smith that it didn't happen.  Instead, it looks like Brewster Academy has won out in the sweepstakes for 6'7 Michael Pilgram, who is now ranked #15 on our prep school list.  If you will recall, Pilgram, who originially is from Cincinnati (Purcell-Marian) OH, was ranked #5 in the state in our final rankings for the Class of 2002, but he was so impressive at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions last spring that he would be top 50 senior nationally, if he was still a high school senior.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson also confirms that 6'11 Malick Badiane from The Senegal, who is ranked #6 on our list of the Top 50 5th Year Players, has enrolled at Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA.  However, we report that with an asterisk, because Badiane needs two years of prep school in order to be eligible to play at a Division I school.  It also appears that 6'8 Tahirou Sani, originially from Mali, but who has spent the last four year's in France, will follow in the footsteps of Tony Parker and continue playing on an 18-under French club.  If you will recall, this is the legendary player who has been highly touted since he was in 8th grade, but apparently his legal guardian Jean-Pierre Ciesieski is concerned about letting Sani play in the United States, except maybe for the Georgia Elite AAU team next summer.  If you will recall, Linzy Davis, who is the director of the Georgia Elite AAU program, brings a U.S. Team to play in the World Junior National Tournament in Douai, France every year and over the years has developed a close friendship with Ciesieski.  And this is important, especially in light of what happened the last time one of Ciesieski's players played high school basketball in the United States.  We're talking about 6'8 Ousmane Cisse, who Ciesieski stashed at Montgomery (Catholic) AL when he was a sophomore in high school.  However, Don Jackson got his hooks into Cisse during the summer prior to Cisse's junior year and, like they say, the rest is history as Ciesieski lost control of his player and Jackson ended up steering Cisse straight to the NBA, afer Cisse exploded into one of the best players in the nation during the summer of 2000 when he was ranked as the #1 player at the NIKE All-American Camp by the HOOP SCOOP.  Further evidence of the strong relationship that exists between Ciesieski and Davis is illustrated by what happened with 6'10 Jr Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC and 6'8 Almany Thiero from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian NC, who signed with Memphis a year ago.   Did you know that Tangara and Thiero are the only two blue chip players that Ciesieski has allowed to come to the United States since he lost Cisse and Ciesieski sent both players to play for Davis?  And if that weren't enough, we also understand there is a chance that Davis may get 6'9 Diego Brezzo from Argentina, who scored 28 points recently on the USA Team in the Men's Junior Qualifying Tournament for South America in Venezuela, to play on the Georgia Elite Team next summer.  Not only are we talking about an aggressive athlete who is strong and long inside, but, like most foreign players, Brezzo can also step outside and beat you with his shooting and perimeter skills.  And if Sani, Brezzo, and Tangara all end up playing for Georgia Elite next summer, not only would Davis have a front line that would make most big time college head coaches envious, but you can bet that Georgia Elite won't get snubbed again from playing in the NIKE Peach Jam in Augusta, GA.  Ironically, that's exactly what happened this summer, despite the fact Georgia Elite was good enough to finish in the final four of the AAU Super Showcase in Orlando, FL a week later.   And, if NIKE still can't figure it out next summer, you can bet that Georgia Elite will be one the favorites to win the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV.   Remember, Sonny Vaccaro doesn't let opportunities like this slip away very often. 

Tuesday, August 20, 2002

The University of Minnesota missed out on getting 6'8 Kris Humphries from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN, who verbally committed to Duke in the spring; 6'2 Lawrence McKenzie from Minneapolis (Patrick Henry) MN, who verbally committed to Oklahoma in late June; and 6'8 Dan Coleman from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN, who picked Boston College in early June; but the Golden Gophers are already way ahead of the game in terms of keeping the top players in the Class of 2004 at home.  As a matter of fact, just last week they got an early commitment from 6'9 Jr Spencer Tollackson from Chaska (H.S.) MN, who is ranked #115 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and now they another verbal commitment from 6'3 Jr Miles Webb from Brooklyn Park (Center) MN.  We haven't seen Webb play and we don't know much about him, except for the fact that he plays for the same AAU team as Tollackson and is ranked among the top three juniors in the state, along with Tollackson and 6'6 Jr Steve Neal from Minneapolis (Patrick Henry) MN.  Minnesota also has 6'2 Adam Boone, who was ranked #54 nationally in the Class of 2000 upon graduation from Minnetonka (H.S.) MN, waiting in the wings, after transferring from North Carolina in the spring, and they landed 6'10 Alou Kane from Dyke (Blue Ridge School) VA, 6'2 Kris Collins from Collin County (JC) TX, and 6'7 Stanley Gaines form Chicago (Whitney Young) IL in last year's recruiting class.  So NCAA Probation obviously is something the Golden Gophers are doing an excellent job of overcoming, as they continue to build a strong supporting cast around 6'11 Rick Rickert, who was the team's leading scorer with 14.2 ppg and third leading rebounder with 5.2 rpg, as a freshman last year.  Another school that isn't using potential NCAA probation as an excuse for not getting it done is the University of Michigan.  If you will recall, the Wolverines landed 6'9 Brent Petway from Griffin (H.S.) GA, who emerged as one of the biggest sleepers on the summer at the 17-Under National AAU Tournament in Orlando, FL three weeks ago and, as a result, is now ranked #58 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  And it also looks like the Wolverines are also on the verge of getting a commitment from 6'9 Bryon Joynes from Mouth of Wilson Oak (Hill) VA.  In other words, Michigan appears to be on the verge of having the three players - 6'11 Chris Hunter from Gary (West Side) IN, Petway, and Joynes - either already in the program or in their current recruiting class who are good enough to restore the program to the national promience it enjoyed during the Steve Fisher era in the late 80's and 90's.   Sure, Joynes is currently ranked no higher than #121 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but that's because he's out of shape.  Not only is Joynes very skilled, but he reminds Oak Hill head coach Steve Smith of Mario Boggan, who played at Oak Hill prior to going to Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA a year ago and the University of Florida this fall.  Speaking of Oak Hill, Smith confirms that Joynes, who previously was at Towson (Catholic) MD; 6'8 Ivan Harris from Springfield (South) OH, who is ranked #12 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'2 Marcus Williams from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, who is ranked #50 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'3 J.R. Reynolds from Roanoke (Catholic) VA, who is ranked #53 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'8 Warren Scott from New Orleans (Abramson) LA, who is ranked #117 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'6 Dion Dacons, who was the 7th man at Oak Hill a year ago and is ranked #289 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; and 6'2 Jr Isaiah Swann from Rockville (Margruder) MD, who is ranked #34 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; are all enrolled in school and will be playing for what could be one of his best team's ever.  No, there isn't a superstar among the bunch, like Ron Mercer or Carmelo Anthony, but every player mentioned above is extremely talented, very unselfish, and plays at both ends of the court.  Smith also puts an end, once and for all, to the speculation about 6'11 Malick Badiane from The Senegal and 6'1 Soph Eric Price from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD both surfacing this year at Oak Hill.  Price apparently was the odd-man-out with all the talented guards currently in the Oak Hill program and, as a result, may end up at someplace like Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ.  As for Badiane, he is already 18-years-old and doesn't have the grades necessary to graduate from Oak Hill in only one year.  Remember, Smith tries not to take guys who are also going to need another year of prep school once they get out of Oak Hill.  Instead, it appears that Oak Hill is going to get 6'6 Jr Churchill Odia-Ehis from Nigeria, who is ranked #19 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  However, Smith tells us it's not a done deal just yet, because all the paperwork isn't complete and Odia-Ehis is still back at home The Senegal.  Without Odia-Ehis, Oak Hill would still be terrific, but with him, they almost have to be the pre-season #1-ranked team in the nation by anybody who isn't totally out to lunch.  Remember, our International Chris Johnson thinks Odia-Ehis is currently the best 18-under player on the entire continent of Africa.  This also is the guy who was named the Best Defender at Five-Star's Pitt III session.  A lot of people think he can't shoot, because he was perfectly happy to give up the basketball at the NIKE All-American Camp this summer.  As a matter of fact, he had several games at NIKE where he never scored a single point.  However, we saw him hit more than his share of 3-pointers in the Orange-White All-Star Game at Five-Star in Pittsburgh, PA and in the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV.  But what Smith likes best about Odia-Ehis is his feel for the game. "Right now he's probably more of a two or a three," says Smith.  "But down the road, I'll probably play Odia-Ehis some at point guard, as well as on the wing."  Getting back to Joynes, Maryland, Virginia, and Providence are also still on his list, but it would be a major upset if the Wolverines don't get this one done sooner than later.  Not only has Michigan done the best job recruiting Joynes, but they also have all the right connections.  Not only did Michigan head coach Tommy Amaker establish a lasting friendship with Smith when Amaker as an assistant coach at Duke, but Wolverines assistant coach Billy Schmidt was one of Smith's assistant coaches at Oak Hill Academy from 1992 to 1994, prior to moving onto Tennessee and Northwestern with Kevin O'Neill and Seton Hall and Michigan with Amaker. 

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that N.C. State also has gotten an early verbal commitment from one of the more unheralded players in the Class of 2004.  We're talking about 6'9 Jr Cedric Simmons from Shallotte (West Brunswick) NC, who is ranked #81 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but who has yet to show up on a lot of people's radar screen.  However, the big prize for the Wolfpack would be 6'3 Mustafa Shakur from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA, who was ranked #5 in the junior class nationally by the HOOP SCOOP prior to the start of the summer and is now ranked #2 on our 5th year list behind 6'9 Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ.  N.C. State and Arizona appear to be the co-favorites for Shakur and, if Wolfpack head coach Herb Sendek can pull this off, he would have one of the premier backcourts in college basketball, as well as one of the best teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference, for at least the next three years.  Johnson also looks good on his prediction earlier this month with regards to Paul Biancardi becoming the associate head coach at Ohio State.  If you will recall, right after Bruce Parkhill called it quits two week ago, Johnson told us that Biancardi would likely be moved into Parkhill's spot and Monte Mathis would likely move up from his adminstrative spot into the third assistant's spot.  Well, it looks like Johnson was two-for-two, because that's exactly what happened yesterday.  We also previously have reported that 6'5 Vakeaton Wafer from Pineville (H.S.) LA, who is ranked #8 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is on the verge of transferring to Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX.  However, we haven't told you that 6'10 Jr Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC also is considering transferring to Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX.   As a matter of fact, our Georgia Editor Linzy Davis, who runs the Georgia Elite AAU program for which Tangara plays, confirms this, plus Davis tells us that the Arizona and Charlotte are the latest schools on Tangara's list,which currently also includes North Carolina, Michigan, Memphis, Tennessee, and Georgia.   And in both cases the connections are extremely interesting.  Did you know that Tangara's roommate at Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC is none other than 6'11 Martin Iti, who already is verbally committed to the 49ers?  Did you also know that Hal Pastner, who is the director of the Houston Hoops club team program; Josh Pastner, who is the assistant coach at Arizona; and Jerome Tang, who is the head coach at Heritage Christian, are all closely connected?  Obviously the Pastner's are father and son and Tang is one of the coaches for the Houston Hoops program.  In other words, if Tangara is going to transfer to Heritage Christian, Davis needs to make sure that Tangara will continue to play for his Georgia Elite Team and not get recruited away to the Houston Hoops.  Davis also might be smart to take advantage of his relationship with Pastner to get some of the outstanding young Houston Hoops players, 6'3 Jr Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX and 5'10 Frosh Nic Wise from Katy (Cinco Rancho) TX, to play for the U.S. Team that he takes to play in the World Junior National Tournament in Douai, France every spring.  Speaking of that team, Davis tells us that he already has 5'7 Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH and 6'7 Brandon Foust from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH lined up to play in next year's game, plus he has Brookhaven head coach Bruce Howard penciled in as one of the coaches for the team.  However, the supreme coup will be for Davis to make the same move, whereby, he also gets Atlanta Celtics head coach Wallace Prather to be one of the coaches and gets 6'10 Jr Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA, 6'9 Jr Joshua Smith from Marietta (McEachern) GA, 6'8 Randolph Morris from Fairburn (Landmark Christian) GA, and 6'5 Dwayne Day from Vidalia (H.S.) GA as part of the package.  Just imagine how good Lavander would be if he had guys like Howard, Smith, Morris, Day, Tangara, and Foust to get the ball to both inside and out on the perimter?  

Saturday, August 17, 2002, Sunday, August 18, 2002, & Monday, August, 19, 2002

We finally caught up with our Mississippi Editor Lavel Johnson and he confirms that 6'9 Emmanuel Willis from Mendenhall (H.S.) MS, who is ranked #81 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, did indeed verbally commit to Mississippi on Wednesday, August 14th.  If you will recall, we predicted this would happen last Tuesday, but never followed up with any kind of confirmation.  Johnson also tells us that Ole Miss has gotten a late addition in 6'5 Patrick Fields from San Antonio (John Jay) TX, who will walk-on this year, but will receive a scholarship a year from now.  Fields, who played AAU ball this summer with Texas Blue Chip and is multi-dimensional enough to be a good role player at three different positions, including point guard, will join 6'3 Trey Pearson from South Fulton (H.S.) TN, who signed with the Rebels in the spring; 6'3 Jonathan Loe, who sat out last season at Ole Miss as a red-shirt freshman; and 6'2 Mario Jointer, who is expected to sign with Ole Miss this fall and have three years of eligibility remaining; to give the Rebels four excellent sophomore guards in the program a year from now.  If you will recall, Jointer originally signed with the Rebels out of high school, but then went the junior college route.  Last year Jointer was one of the best freshmen guards in the nation at Okaloosa-Walton (JC) FL, but now he has transferred to Northwest Mississippi (JC) MS, where he will sit out this season.  And Jointer isn't the only player who has followed this path.  Remember, three years ago 6'3 David Sanders, who orginally signed with the Rebels as a high school senior, played a year at Tallahassee (JC) FL, but then transferred to Northwest Mississippi (JC) MS, where he sat out a year and then had three years of eligibility remaining at Mississippi.  So with so many good young guards already in the Mississippi program, Johnson doesn't think it's much of a surprise that 6'3 Vincent Camper from Oxford (H.S.) MS, who is ranked #124 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, will be one that gets away.  Johnson tells us that Tulane and Fresno State are currently the leaders for Camper, who is the ultimate combo guard, because he's such a great passer, plus he's got nice size and good athleticism.  However, that could change, if the Southeastern Conference rule, which states that you have to attend the same junior college for three consecutive semesters prior to tranferring to a SEC school, messes things up with Jointer, and, if Willis reneges on Ole Miss.  Apparently Souther Miss isn't taking no for an answer and, as a result, the Golden Eagles are continuing to recruit Willis.  If that weren't enough, Johnson also confirms that it's a two-horse between Mississippi State and LSU for 6'10 Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS and he predicts that Jackson (Lanier ) MS will be a legitimate top 25 team nationally this season, if everybody who has transferred to that school gets eligible this season.  Previously we'd reported that 6'7 Jr Charles Thomas, who is ranked #89 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'3 Bobby Clark, who is ranked #100 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, both had transferred from Jackson (Calloway) MS to Jackson (Lanier) MS.  Well, now Johnson is telling us that 6'7 Charles Rhodes, who is ranked #79 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has transferred from Forest (H.S.) MS to Jackson (Lanier) MS.  In other words, Lanier has added three top 100 juniors, plus they already have 6'2 Soph Monte Ellis, who is ranked as one of the top five sophomores in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP.  Thomas, Clark, and Rhodes are also teammates, along with 6'9 Jr Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS and 5'11 Jr Charlie White from Jackson (Provine) MS, on the Jackson Tigers club team and it will be interesting to see if these three players don't get recruited again.  Currently the word on the street is that Thomas Billups, who is the head coach of Jackson Lanier and the director of the Magnolia Stars club team program, may switch shoe company affliations from NIKE to adidas.  This is important, because Billups has a history of making sure his players play for his program, which obviously is in direction competition with the Jackson Tigers. 

I got a call last night from 6'10 Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX, who is ranked #4 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, to tell me that he is still wide open in terms of his recruitment.  If you will recall, last week we cited an unnamed source who thinks the Universit of Texas may now be the team to beat for Ebi, but also pointed out that Duke, Arizona, and Indiana are all very much in the picture.  Well, we still think our source, who thinks Texas is in better shape than anybody realizes, has enough credibility to not totally disregard.  However, you can't get any better source than the player himself.  Speaking of Ebi, we've maintained since last spring that Duke was the school you had to beat for this amazing athlete with tremendous shot blocking ability, explosive speed and quickness, an incredible wing span, and the potential to be as good as anybody in the class, except for 6'7 LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH, who is the consensus #1-ranked player in the senior class nationally.  We also thought Duke was the heavy favorite for 6'7 Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, who is ranked #2 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but we're starting to wonder what's taking so long?  In other words, the longer Deng and Ebi both drag it out, the better the odds become that they'll go elsewhere.  A good example is George Washington, which is attempting to make a serious push for Deng, who is expected to be on campus for an official visit within the next few days.   Remember, George Washington head coach Karl Hobbs recruited Ajou Ajou Deng, who is Deng's older brother, to Connecticut, plus GW assistant coach Steve Pikiell has done a superb job of recruiting Deng for the Colonials.  And Deng isn't the only top 100 player that George Washington will have on campus within a week's time.  Did you know that 6'4 Andres Sandoval from Winchendon (School) MA, who is ranked #26 on our 5th year list, but who would be a top 100 senior if he counted with the Class of 2003, was at GW over the weekend and 6'2 Art Bowers from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, who is ranked #88 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, will be on campus later this week.  So obviously we weren't kidding last week when we said that 6'5 LaKeith Blanks from Ft. Washington (National Christian) MD, who is ranked #17 on our list of the Top 50 5th Year Players and has been a prime target for the Colonials for a long time, might be out of luck, if he wants to go to George Washington and doesn't pull the trigger soon.  We also have confirmed that Colorado State got a commitment recently from 7'0 Stuart Creason from Coppell (H.S.) TX.  Creason was not listed on our updated list of the Top 300 Players in the Class of 2003, but he has grown to 7-feet and was getting attention from schools like Utah, Oregon, and Illinois.  In other words, it looks like the Rams have stolen their fourth player out of Texas in less than a year.  If you will recall, last fall Colorado State signed 6'3 Michael Morris from Katy (Cinco Ranch) TX and 6'4 Shelton Johnson from Arlington (Oak Ridge) TX, who were ranked #165 and #182, respectively, nationally in our final ranking of the top players in the Class of 2002, plus they also have an early verbal commitment from 6'8 Phil Thomasson from Burleson (H.S.) TX, who is ranked #149 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  So it comes as no surprise when people tell us that Colorado State assistant coach Buzz Williams is a name we need to add to our list of top assistant coaches.  Not only is he one of the best evaluators of talent, but he appears to be one of the fastest rising guys in the business.   Another guy who is tough to say no to is Oregon assistant coach Scott Duncan.  As a matter of fact, when we reported last week that 6'8 Trevor Ariza from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, who is ranked #15 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, had narrowed his list to five (Florida, Indiana, Georgia, UNLV, and USC), Duncan got that changed in a hurry.  Ariza now plans to take an unofficial visit to USC and, as a result, the Ducks will make an in-home visit and get an official on-campus visit.  Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis also tells us that 6'7 Doug Thomas from Creedmore (Faith Christian) NC has not met the necessary academic requirements to be eligible as a freshman at the University of Iowa and, as a result, has enrolled at Southeastern Iowa (JC) IA.

Friday, August 16, 2002

How can 6'1 Jr Jason Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'8 Jr Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, 6'9 Jr Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'3 Jr Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX, 6'8 Jr D.J. White from Tucaloosa (Hillcrest) AL, 6'7 Jr Stanley Branch from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'7 Jr Roy Bright from Durham (Northern Durham) NC, and 6'8 Jr Kalen Grimes from Florissant (Hazelwood Central) MO not be ranked among the top 10 players in the junior class nationally?  That's the question I was asking myself earlier today when I published our Post Summer Ranking of the Top 280 Players in the Class of 2004.  I bring this up, because it provides just one more illustration why the next great class in high school basketball will likely be the current junior class.  If you will recall, there were almost as many underclassmen as there were seniors ranked on our top 50 players at the NIKE All-American Camp.  And the #1-ranked player by the HOOP SCOOP at the adidas ABCD Camp - 6'9 Jr Joshua Smith from Marietta (McEachern) GA, the best player at the adidas Big-Time Tournament - 6'0 Jr Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, and the best player at the NIKE Peach Jam - 6'9 Jr Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS, were all juniors.   As matter of fact, we think a strong case can be made that the junior class nationally is as good as the senior class right now.  However, there are still some important questions that must be answered before we're ready to started touting the Class of 2004 as the next great class in college basketball.  Like, will these guys fall into the same trap that many of the top current seniors have fallen into by getting too much notoriety too early, reading their press clippings, and feeling like they have nothing more to prove.  In other words, consistency, pride, and going to war every night still counts, at least in our book, if you want to be one of the top players in the nation.  Also extremely interesting is the trend, whereby, a number of the top juniors nationally have already made verbal commitments a full two years prior to when they are expected to enroll into college at a four-year school.  Already gone are 12 of our top 100 juniors, as 6'2 Jr DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA has picked Duke, 6'2 Jr JamesOn Curry from Mebane (Eastern Alamance) NC has picked North Carolina, 6'5 Jr Robert Vaden from Indianapolis (Pike) IN has picked Purdue, 6'2 Jr Jamar Butler from Lima (Shawnee) OH has picked Cincinnati, 6'6 Jr J.R. Angle from Trafalgar (Indian Creek) IN has picked Iowa, 6'11 Jr Greg Steimsma from Randolph (H.S.) WI has picked Wisconsin, 6'6 Jr Ronald Coleman from Romulus (H.S.) MI has picked Michigan, 6'5 Jr Jawann McClellan from Houston (Milby) TX has picked Arizona, 6'10 Jr Jermaine Bell from Virginia Beach (Coastal Christian) VA has picked St. John's, 6'7 Jr Marquis Gray from Flint (Beecher) MI to picked Michigan State, 7'0 Jr Roy Hibbert from North Bethesda (Georgetown Prep) MD has picked Georgetown, and 6'5 Jr Cheyenne Moore from Colora (West Nottingham Prep) MD has picked Georgetown.  And the list doesn't stop there, as 6'9 Jr Spencer Tollackson from Chaska (H.S.) MN verbally committed to Minnesota earlier this week, 5'9 Jr Drew Neitzel from Wyoming Park (H.S.) MI has picked Michigan State, 6'4 Jr Adam Williams from St. Albans (H.S.) WV has picked Kentucky, 6'2 Jr Michael Flowers from Madison (La Follette) WI has picked Wisconsin, 6'3 Jr Darryl Garrett from Detroit (Denby) MI has picked Xavier, and 6'0 Jr Enrico Tucker from San Diego (University) CA has picked San Diego.  That's 18 of our top 280 already off the board, plus several other players, including 6'3 Jr Willie Morse from State College (H.S.) PA to Penn State and 6'0 Desmond Gadis from Indianapolis (Pike) IN to Purdue, who are not ranked among our top 280 nationally, are also already verbally committed.  In other words, the trend in recent years, whereby, a school gets as many players as possible on campus for unofficial  visits when they are sophomores and freshmen, appears to be working.   However, this also can be double-edged sword, because in some cases a school may not want to take a verbal commitment from a player this early and/or may realize they made a major mistake later on, if the player doesn't develop as expected, has off-the-court problems, or somebody better comes along. 

Thursday, August 15, 2002

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson has confirmed that 6'9 Jr Spencer Tollackson from Chaska (H.S.) MN, who was ranked #12 at the center spot at the NIKE All-American Camp by the HOOP SCOOP, has made an early verbal commitment to the University of Minnesota.  This is significant for several reasons.  First, Tollackson is a home grown kid and, it's always important to get the best kids, especially early, from right in your own backyard.   Second, Tollackson is a strong physical specimen with surprisingly mobile.   "He's not a quick leaper, but he's quick around the basket," says Johnson. "He's also is an excellent rebounder and skilled around the basket."   As a matter of fact, Johnson thought Tollackson was impressive enough at the NIKE All-American Camp to get top 100 national consideration, plus he points out that Tollackson led the Minnestoa Magic to a third place in 16-Under AAU Tournament in July.  Johnson also tells us that Seton Hall is out of the hunt for 5'7 Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, who is ranked #10 nationally in the sneior class by the HOOP SCOOP.   Apparently the Pirates only have one scholarship remaining and that precludes Seton Hall head coach Louie Orr from taking Lavender and 6'7 Brandon Foust from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, who is ranked #74 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, together as a package.  If you will recall, Lavender and Foust have expressed a strong desire to go together to the same school as a package and the five schools that are on both players' lists are Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Marquette, and Clemson.  Johnson's guess is that it will be Pittsburgh and we tend to agree.   As a matter of fact, Pittsburgh head coach Ben Howland spent most of July focusing on these two players and, if he added Foust and Lavender to a recruiting class that already includes 6'9 Walter Waters from Detroit (Southeastern) MI, who is ranked #67 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, then we'd be talking about one of the top recruiting classes in the Big East.  We also would watch Pittsburgh's recruiting class move up to #5 behind Louisville, Michigan State, California, and Memphis on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And, if they also landed 6'9 Chris Taft from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY, who is ranked #43 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, then Pittsburgh's recruiting class would move into the #1 spot just ahead of Louisville.  We also continue to hear that 6'5 Vakeaton Wafer from Pineville (H.S.) LA, who is ranked #8 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is on the verge of transferring to Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX.  However, sources in Houston tell us that it hasn't happened yet.  We also are hearing that Texas may now be the leader for 6'10 Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX, who is ranked #4 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  But we're still not willing to bet against Duke, especially once they get him on campus this fall for an official visit.  And don't rule out Arizona and Indiana either.  Remember, the Wildcats have all the right connections with assistant coach Josh Pastner, whose father runs the Houston Hoops club team program, and Hoosiers head coach Mike Davis has made Ebi a top recruiting priority all spring and summer.  As a matter of fact, Davis was one of the most visible head coaches of the summer, thanks, at least in part, to Ebi.

Wednesday, August 14, 2002

When I talk about the Class of 2006 potentially being one of the great classes in the history of the game, I do so with a great deal of confidence.  Not only did I spend a good part of the first six days in August at the 14-Under Boys' Basketball AAU National Championship in Orlando, FL, but have personally seen the top 11 players - 6'9 Frosh Derrick Caracter from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'9 Frosh Vernon Macklin from Portmouth (Norcom) VA, 5'8 Frosh Demond Carter from Laplace (Reserve Christian) LA, 6'6 Frosh Durell Arthur from Dallas, TX, 5'9 Frosh Nick Wise from Katy (Cinco Rancho) TX, 6'8 Frosh Greg Oden from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'2 Frosh Ramar Smith from Detroit (Martin Luther King) MI, 6'2 Frosh Jerry Smith from Wauwatosa (East) WI, 6'6 Frosh Tracy Smith from Detroit (Martin Luther King) MI, 6'8 Frosh Curtis Kelly from New York (Rice) NY, and 6'8 Frosh Brandon Wright from Brentwood (Academy) TX - in the class all on more than one occasion.  Ironically, the highest rated player in the class that I haven't seen is 7'1 Frosh Jason Bennett from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL, who previously was ranked #2, but who drops to #12.  Obviously you're probably wondering how a player can drop 10 spots without even being seen.  First, I found out he's white.  Remember, I have a bias against big white kids who are overhyped due to their size and potential.  Second, I'm continue to hear how much potential Bennett has, but that's always followed up with how his coordination hasn't caught up with his skills yet and, as a result, he still has a long way to go before he's a finished product.  Well, more and more, my philosophy is let him earn, especially in this class.  In other words, if you want to be ranked among the top 10 in the Class of 2006 , you'd better be pretty darn good right now.  Remember, Caracter and Carter were both ranked among the top 10 players regardless of class by the HOOP SCOOP in early July at the NIKE All-American Camp; Macklin is one of the best most athletic and naturally talented freshmen I've ever seen; Arthur is an incredible multi-dimensional athlete who can beat you both inside and outside; Wise puts up ridiculous numbers, but also has a great feel for the game and knows how to keep his teammates happy; Oden has been the big man inside for the Indy Spiece Heat, which have dominated this age group for years; Smith, Smith, & Smith were catalysts for Team Detroit/B-Real and DTA-Wisconin, which were the two teams that played for the 14-Under AAU National Championship in Orlando, FL; Kelly promises to be the next great big man to come out of New York City; and Wright is a sleeper out of Tennessee.  Obviously the deeper we go (in this case 150 freshman), the more there is margin for error.  Remember, some players will grow and continue to develop, while others will plateau and get passed up.  So, if somebody you know about is not on the list, feel free to call me at (502) 500-4667.  However, don't get bent out of shape if you think we have somebody too low or not on the list at all, because we have three more years to get it right.  In other words, this is a great starting point, but some parents and coaches want to treat it like it's the final ballot for the McDonald's All-American Game. 

Verbal commitments continue to come in at a steady pace.  Our New York Editor Ron Naclerio has the scoop on Hofstra getting a verbal commitment from 6'9 Brian Sisti from Northport (H.S.) NY.  And he thinks this is a good catch for the Flying Dutchmen, because Sisti is a blue collar wide body with excellent grades.   Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that San Diego has added a transfer in 6'5 Brett Melton, plus the Toreros have gotten an early commitment from 6'0 Jr Enrico Tucker from San Diego (University) CA.  Melton is transferring from the University of Illinois and will have two years to play at San Diego after sitting out next season   Ironically, Milton is returning to the city where he had one of the finest performances of his career three years ago in the semi-finals of the NIKE Summer National Basketball Championship.  If you will recall, Melton hit eight 3-pointers and had 37 points in the Illinois Warriors incredible upset against New York Riverside Church, which at the time was undefeated as the end of the summer quickly approached.  Tucker is an athletic point guard who is ranked #19 in the junior class in California by our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis.  However, we suspect Trigonis will move Tucker up in his rankings, because he at an excellent summer and evidence of this is provided by the fact that Tucker made the Top 25 All-Star Game at the 5th Annual Full-Court Press All-West Camp in July.  We also have confirmed that Houston has landed 6'3 Lanny Smith from Sugar Land (Hightower) TX, who is ranked #274 nationally on our list of the Top 300 Players in the Class of 2003, and the College of Charleston has gotten a verbal commitment from 6'9 Jeff Horowitz from Charlotte (South Mecklenburg) NC.  Smith joins 6'4 Parker Pinkalla from Houston (Strake Jesuit) TX, who verbally committed to the University of Houston last spring.  Pinkalla is a lights out 3-point shooter and Smith has the skills necessary to play point guard at 6'3.  In other words, Cougars head head coach Ray McCallum has landed a pair of guards who should complement one another nicely in the future.  Horowitz isn't ranked among our top 300 nationally, but the list of schools - William & Mary, Middle Tennessee State, Davidson, Holy Cross, Princeton, and Pennsylvania - that were recruiting him is extremely impressive, plus N.C. State and Stanford have also started to show recent interest.  Horowitz, who also is a great student, has excellent skills and is tough on the boards, as was evident at the NIKE Peach Jam in Augusta, GA, where he finished ranked as the 5th leading rebounder in the tournament with 7.2 rpg.  Horowitz joins 6'2 David Truesdale from Dodge City (JC) KS, who verbally committed to the College of Charleston, to give the Cougars a recruiting class that is tied at #25, along with Seton Hall, Boston College, Purdue, Gonzaga, and Marquette, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  This also puts Cougars head coach Tommy Herrion in an extremely enviable position, because he only has one more scholarship available for this recruiting class.   If you will recall, last spring the Cougars signed 6'4 Marcus Johnson from Tallahassee (JC) FL and 6'7 Isaiah "Zeke" Johnson from Palm Beach (JC) FL, plus they added a transfer in 6'4 Robert Swaim, who was transferring from the University of Connecticut.  In other words, every player Herrion has landed since taking over at the College of Charleston last spring is good enough to play at an even higher level. 

Tuesday, August 13, 2002

The first day that a player in the Class of 2003 can officially sign a National Letter-of-Intent is Wednesday, November 13, 2002.   That's three months from today!  However, over half of the HOOP SCOOP's top 100 seniors nationally have already verbally committed.  Actually the number currently stands at 51 and tomorrow morning it is expected to increase to 52 when 6'8 Emmanuel Willis from Mendenhall (H.S.) MS, who is ranked #81 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, makes it official for the University of Mississippi.   Also already off the board are 12 of our top 25 and 24 of our top 50-ranked seniors.  And when you take an more in-depth look, 94 of the Top 300 Players in the Class of 2003 are already gone.   Also already gone are three of the top five, six of the top 13, and nine of the Top 50 5th Year Players.   Speaking of our updated rankings of the top seniors and 5th year players, both of which were published yesterday, we have made two minor changes.  First, we have taken 6'1 Jamual Warren from Holyoke (H.S.) MA off our 5th year list and added onto our senior list tied at #100, along with 6'7 Ije Nwankwo from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI.  Although Warren may ultimately require a 5th year of high school a year from now, the word we get is that he currently is only beginning his 7th semester of high school and, as a result, is a true high school senior.  Second, we have moved 6'8 Emmanuel Messy from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH into Warren's old spot at #31 on our 5th year list.  Obviously we will continue to make changes and make additions to our 5th year list as players we didn't know about surface this fall, but we don't plan on making any more revisions to our senior rankings until we update that list again a month from now.   Getting back to Willis, he is ideally suited for the the Rebels, because this athletic power forward who is aggressive on the boards and exciting in transition is a thoroughbred.  As a matter of fact, he reminds us of former Cincinnati All-American Kenyon Martin in many ways.  And, if his offensive skills improve,Willis has the natural talent and potential to develop into the time of player.  Willis also is the stereotypical player that Rebels head coach Rod Barnes and his staff have made a living off during the last four years.  During their tenure Ole Miss has not signed one McDonald's All-American, but they have been as good as anybody in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference, as they have advanced to the NCAA Tournament three times, the NIT Tournament once, and have finished with an impressive 86-46 overall record.

It looks like George Washington head coach Karl Hobbs is continuing to build the Colonials into a powerhouse they same way he helped do it at the University of Connecticut.  When Hobbs got the job a year ago, the first thing he did was to hire a great coaching staff, which included Kevin Broadus.   Not only does Broadus know the Washington, DC area like the back of his hand, but also reminds us of Hobbs in many ways wi