HOT RECRUITING INFORMATION FOR DECEMBER 2009

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Things were a lot more interesting than we expected in the first game of the day on the final day of this year's Beach Ball Classic, as Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA held the ball for seven minutes in the first half.  And this obviously was good strategy, because O'Connell enjoyed a one-point half-time lead over Lakewood (St. Edward) OH and was within striking distance in the final minute of the game.  The final score was 34-29, but Bishop O'Connell might have gotten over the hump if 6'4 Kendall Marshall had hit any of the four 3-pointers that he missed at crunch time.  And that's going to be the big key for Marshall in the future, if he wants to have any chance of making money playing professionally someday.  The best prospect for St. Edward is 6'10 Jr James "Zac" Price and he really impressed us with a powerful dunk early in the second half.  But otherwise Price was amazingly quiet, as he finished with only two points, four rebounds, 1-2 field goals, and never seemed to get into the flow of the game.  Instead, the two best players for St. Edward were 5'10 Jr Kyle Pisco, who finished with nine points and 3-6 3-pointers, and 6'10 Matt Stainbrook, who had eight points, two rebounds, 3-3 field goals, and 1-1 free throws.  Marshall finished with eight points, six rebounds, two assists, three turnovers, 4-11 field goals, and 0-4 3-pointers, but O'Connell's leading scorer was 5'10 Frosh Will Ferguson, who had 10 points, four rebounds, 4-6 field goals, 1-2 3-pointers, including the only trey that O'Connell hit in the final minutes of the game.  The balance, depth, and athleticism of Baltimore (St.  Frances) MD were clearly too much for Baltimore (Mount St. Joseph) MD in the Consolation Championship, which was not as close as the 68-55 final score might indicate.  The guy who stepped up and had the big game this time around for St. Frances was 6'3 Wayne Sparrow, who finished with 20 points, four rebounds, two assists, 7-10 field goals, and 1-2 3-pointers.  Sparrow is more of a slasher than a shooter, but he's got the length, athleticism, and potential necessary to develop into an excellent player at the University of Richmond, which was the program with which he signed in the fall.  Also stepping up and having his best of the tournament was 5'10 Jr Ronald "R.J." Williams from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, who finished with 13 points, four assists, three turnovers, two steals, and 5-6 field goals.  As a matter of fact, the legendary Howard Garfinkel was so impressed with Williams' jet-like speed and quickness, decision making, and ability to run the show that he called him the best point guard in the tournament.  Also showing some flashes, but still lacking toughness and consistency was 6'8 Jr Greg Lewis from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, who finished with 12 points, five rebounds, two blocks, and 5-7 field goals.  We also have to once again mention 6'2 Jr Sam Cassell Jr from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, who finished with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists, 2-5 field goals, 0-1 3-pointers, and 6-8 field goals and is very intriguing due to his bloodline, ability to score, and room to continue to develop.  Right now we project Cassell as an Atlantic-10 or Conference USA player,  But he might go higher, if he continues to develop at the same pace that his dad did in his final year-and-a-half of his high school career.  The best player and leading scorer for Mount St. Joseph's with 17 points, seven rebounds, zero assists, one turnover, five steals, 6-21 field goals, 1-4 3-pointers, and 4-8 free throws was 6'1 Eric Atkins.  And to illustrate our point even further about the lopsidedness of this game is the fact that St. Frances shot 23-34 (67.6%) from the field for the game versus only 20-60 (33.3%) for Mount St. Joseph's. 

In the 5th Place game 6'6 Jelan Kendrick from Marietta (Wheeler) GA solidified his spot as our #1-ranked player in the tournament with an impressive performance that included 25 points, six rebounds, two assists, four turnovers, two blocks, one steal, 11-20 field goals, and 1-1 3-pointers.  However, even more important, Kendrick was the guy primarily responsible for leading his team to a 75-65 victory.  And it would have been a lot worse, if the outside shot had been going down for 5'8 Phil Taylor, who finished with eight points, four steals, 2-9 field goals, and 1-4 3-pointers.  We also have to give 6'8 Jr Darnell Harris from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI and 6'6 Jr Elgin Cook from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI credit for bouncing back after struggling in their first two games of the tournament.  Harris had 22 points, seven rebounds, 9-15 field goals, 2-5 3-pointers, and 2-4 free throws and Cook had 15 points, four rebounds, and 6-7 free throws.  But even more important is the fact that both players took better shots, played more under control, and played more within the team concept.  On the other hand, this was not one of the more memorable performances for 5'9 Jr Chuck Lee from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, who finished with seven points, four assists, five turnovers, 3-6 field goals, and 0-1 3-pointers.  But then again, Lee was going head-to-head against Taylor, who is one of the quickest players and best point guards in the tournament.  For the second time in less than 24 hours Georgetown (Scott County) KY lost a heartbreaker in the final seconds of the game.  This time it was a 47-46 battle against Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX in the 3rd Place Game and clearly the star of the game was 6'4 Chad Jackson from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, who finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds, three steals, 8-18 field goals, and 1-2 3-pointers.  We're still not convinced that Jackson shoots it well enough, but being ranked below as one of the top five players in the tournament is probably good enough to get this slashing athletic wing to get some offers from schools in the Atlantic-10 Conference or Conference USA.  Unfortunately 6'2 Ge-Lawn Guyn from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, who finished with nine points, five rebounds, two assists, four assists, 3-15 field goals, and 0-4 3-pointers, didn't play as well as he did last night and the outside shot still wasn't going down for 6'8 Dakota Euton from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, who had nine points, three rebounds, 4-8 field goals, and 1-3 3-pointers.  However, the same also can't be said about 6'1 Tanner Milson from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, who was the leading scorer for the winning team with 19 points and 4-10 3-pointers.  Also chipping in with 12 points, six rebounds, and 3-3 field goals for Cedar Hill was 6'8 Jr Thomas Gipson. 

Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV won the game, but you have to give Decatur (Columbia) GA all the credit in the world for controlling the tempo and making the Championship Game a real dogfight.  Neither team led by more than five points throughout the first half and, believe it or not, Columbia was actually up 26-25 at the intermission.  And once again Columbia's best player was 6'5 JerShon Cobb from Decatur (Columbia) GA.  Not only was this Northwestern-bound 2-guard getting to the spot and hitting the mid-range pull-up jumper, but he also was knocking down the outside shot en route to half of his team's 26 first-half points.  The leading scorer for Bishop Gorman was 6'2 Taylor Spencer, who had nine points, three turnovers, 3-8 field goals, and 1-4 3-pointers.  However, Bishop Gorman also was only shooting 9-20 (28.6%) from beyond the arc and was getting beat bad on the boards (21-12) in the first half.  Columbia also set the tone early in the second half with a 7-2 run, but 6'3 Anson Winder from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV made big baskets at the 10:20, 8:23, and 5:21 and 5'10 Jonathan Loyd hit a big 3-pointer with 3:20 left in the game to give finally Bishop Gorman their first lead in the second half.  And their next lead came when hit a lay-up to make it 52-50 with 15.9 second left in the game.  Columbia still had a chance to win when Cobb missed a 3-pointer with 6.7 seconds left that would have put his team back up one, but then 6'3 Alex Turner got the rebound and hit a pair of free throws to ice the game.  Cobb, who finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, one assist, three turnovers, two steals, 8-16 field goals, and 1-4 3-pointers, is one of those guys who seems to get better every time we watch him.  The leading scorer for Bishop Gorman was Loyd, who finished with 17 points, three assists, four turnovers, three steals, 5-9 field goals, 3-6 3-pointers, and 4-8 free throws and took home tournament MVP honors.  We also have to give major accolades to Winder, who had the highest individual single game scoring performance in the tournament with 32 points against Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA and made a number of key shots down the stretch in the championship game, as he finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists, one steal, 6-13 field goals, and 1-4 3-pointers.  The HOOP SCOOP's ranking of the top players in the tournament based on performance are 1) 6'6 Jelan Kendrick from Marietta (Wheeler) GA, 2) 5'10 Jonathan Loyd from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, 3) 6'3 Anson Winder from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, 4) 6'5 JerShon Cobb from Decatur (Columbia) GA, 5) 6'4 Chad Jackson from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, 6) 6'2 Taylor Spencer from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, 7) 6'7 Jr Thomas Gipson from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 8) 6'2 Ge-Lawn Guyn from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, 9) 5'10 Phil Taylor from Marietta (Wheeler) GA, 10) 6'5 Jr Damien Leonard from Greenville (J.L. Mann) SC, 11) 5'10 Jr R.J. Williams from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 12) 6'3 Dante Holmes from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 13) 6'2 Eric Atkins from Baltimore (Mount St. Joseph) MD, 14) 6'2 Jr Antonio Cannon from Central (Daniel) SC, 15) 6'2 Jr Sam Cassell Jr from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 16) 6'8 Will Regan from Buffalo (Nichols) NY, 17) 6'3 Wayne Sparrow from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 18) 6'8 Jr Darnell Harris from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, 19) 6'8 Jr Greg Lewis from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 20) 5'9 Jr Chuck Lee from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, 21) 6'6 Jr Elgin Cook from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, 22) 6'1 Jr Billy Johnson from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 23) 6'1 Jr Everett Golson from Myrtle Beach (H.S.) SC, 24) 6'4 Kendall Marshall from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, and 25) 6'6 Ryley Beaumont from Baltimore (Mount St. Joseph) MD.  The All-Tournament team includes 5'10 Jonathan Loyd from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, who was also named the Most Valuable Player; 6'5 JerShon Cobb from Decatur (Columbia) GA, who also was named the Most Outstanding Player; 5'10 Jr R.J. Williams from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, who also received the Mr. Hustle Award; 6'2 Eric Atkins from Baltimore (Mount St. Joseph) MD, who also received the Sportsmanship Award; 6'6 Jr Elgin Cook from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, who also won the 3-point shooting contest; 6'6 Jelan Kendrick from Marietta (Wheeler) GA; 6'2 Taylor Spencer from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV; 6'3 Anson Winder from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV; 6'5 Jr Damien Leonard from Greenville (J.L. Mann) SC; 6'8 Will Regan from Buffalo (Nichols) NY; 6'2 Jr Antonio Cannon from Central (Daniel) SC; 6'1 Jr Everett Golson from Myrtle Beach (H.S.) SC; and 5'10 C.J. Gridine from Concord (H.S.) NC. 

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Myrtle Beach (H.S.) SC beat Myrtle Beach (Socastee) SC, 73-69, in the battle between the two local teams in the first game of the day at the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, SC.   And the big hero for Myrtle Beach was 6'1 Jr Everett Golson, who finished 26 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two turnovers, two blocks, two steals, 9-19 field goals, 2-4 3-pointers, and 6-6 field goals and scored the last four points of the game with a turnaround jumper from mid-range and a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds of the game.  However, before anybody gets too excited about Golson, it's important to know that Golson is a big time quarterback prospect who has already led his team to state championships on the gridiron.  We move onto the second game of the day, which should have been an interesting match-up between Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI beat Concord (H.S.) NC.  Unfortunately neither team seemed to be up to the task of winning this game, as Concord blew a 29-22 half-time lead and missed shots and a comedy of errors down the stretch were the order of the day until Alexander Hamilton finally was able to squeak it out with a 60-57 overtime victory.  However, we still think this very undisciplined and totally out of control bunch, which featured three highly touted juniors in 6'8 Jr Darnell Harris from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, 6'6 Jr Elgin Cook from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, and 5'9 Jr Chuck Lee from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, was the most disappointing team in the tournament.  And, believe or not, the player that we liked best on Alexander Hamilton was Lee, who was the only stabilizing force on this team.  Lee finished with 16 points, five assists, nine turnovers, two steals, 6-16 field goals, and 2-5 3-pointers.  But even more important, he did a lot better good job of handling and passing the basket, running the show, and making shots than the statistics indicate.   As we alluded to yesterday, Cook is a big time athlete, but needs strength, doesn't finish as well as he should, and was totally out of control en route to 16 points and 10 rebounds.  Harris intrigues you with his size and athleticism, but he doesn't play very hard and would rather shoot 3-pointers than get rebounds.  And on top of that, Harris got benched and, as a result, was unable to add to the zero points, zero rebounds, and 0-2 field goals that he had in the first eight minutes of the game.  The two best players for Concord were 5'10 C.J. Gridine and 6'1 Jr Jacquise Moore, but neither one of them could throw the ball in the open, as they combined for 22 points and 8-25 field goals.  Combine that with the fact that Concord's two best outside shooters - 6'1 Griffin Templeton and 5'10 Jr Will Vanderburg, who were 4-9 from beyond the arc, didn't get enough open looks and it's easy to understand why Concord gave this one away.  Buffalo (Nichols) NY redeemed itself today by jumping out to a 17-9 lead early against Marietta (Wheeler) GA, leading by five points at the intermission, surviving a 10-0 run by Wheeler to start the second half that made it 38-28, and coming back from another five-point deficit to take a one-point lead with 2:30 left in the game.  And they almost pulled off the upset when 5'8 Phil Taylor from Marietta (Wheeler) GA drove to the basket and missed a lay-up with five seconds left remaining.  However, 6'6 Jelan Kendrick was there to get the rebound for Wheeler and then he dumped it off to 6'5 Joey Jerome, who hit the game winning shot with 0.5 seconds left in the game.  The final score was 54-53 and the start of the game.  The cream also finally rose to the top in this game, as the two best players were Kendrick, who finished with 20 points 13 rebounds, four assists, five turnovers, 8-19 field goals, 1-4 3-pointers, and 3-8 free throws, and 6'8 Will Regan from Buffalo (Nichols) NY, who finished with 18 points, 15 rebounds, two assists, four turnovers, two blocks, 8-13 field goals, 0-1 3-pointers, and 2-6 free throws.  We also liked the way 6'5 Connor Vandegriff from Buffalo (Nichols) NY, who has a mid-to-low Division I future, complemented Regan inside with 11 points, seven rebounds, and 5-8 field goals.  But we were disappointed that the outside shot stopped going down for 6'2 Soph Stan Weir, who hit a pair of threes early, but finished with 14 points, four rebounds, 6-14 field goals, and 2-8 3-pointers.  We also have to give Jerome some more accolades, as in addition to hitting the game winning shot, he had 10 points, 12 rebounds, and 5-11 field goals.  The cream did not rise to the top in the next game, as the outside shot was not going down for 6'5 Jr Damien Leonard from Greenville (J.L. Mann) SC, who is ranked #17 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but finished with only 13 points, 5-13 field goals, and 2-9 3-pointers in his team's 78-53 loss to Baltimore (Mt. St. Joseph) MD.  However, Leonard did do a good job of helping set up 6'3 Jr Darrice Whitley, who finished with 14 points, five rebounds, and 6-12 field goals, prior to when the bottom fell out midway through the second half.  The best player for Mount St. Joseph was 6'1 Eric Atkins, who had 20 points, five assists, three turnovers, four steals, 7-12 field goals, 1-2 3-pointers, and 5-5 free throws and impressed us speed and quickness, ability to score, and improved point guard skills.  Mount St. Joseph also got strong performances from 6'6 Ryley Beaumont, who finished with 17 points, six rebounds, and 7-13 field goals, and 6'2 Matt Miller, who finished with 16 points, 6-13 field goals, and 4-9 3-pointers. 

The final consolation game of the day in today's Beach Ball Classic went pretty much true to form, as Central (Daniel) SC made thing interesting for a while against Baltimore (St. Frances) MD (St. Frances led by only three at the half).  But St. Frances never let Daniel get any closer than eight points down the stretch en route to a 64-52 victory.  The leading scorer and best player for St. Frances was 6'3 Dante Holmes, who finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, 8-13 field goals, and  and impressed with his strength, athleticism, and ability to play both inside.  We also liked the way 5'10 Jr Ronald "R.J." Williams from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD beat his man off the dribble, used his explosiveness to get to the basket, and tallied 14 points, four rebounds, three assists, and 4-9 field goals.  And what about the athleticism, defense, and ability to slash to the basket provided by Richmond-bound 6'3 Wayne Sparrow from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, who had 14 points, three rebounds, and 5-12 field goals?  We also have to mention that 6'2 Jr Sam Cassell Jr from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, who finished with eight points, five rebounds, two assists, 4-8 field goals, and 0-3 3-pointers, did a good job getting to his spot and pulling up to hit the mid-range jump shot.  Daniel got almost its entire offense from four players - 6'2 Jr Antonio Cannon, 6'3 DeAndre Hopkins, 6'4 Soph Shaq Lawson, and 6'2 Frosh Justin Dotson, who finished with 15, 12, 12 and 10 points apiece respectively.  Cannon, who also chipped in with 4-7 3-pointers, was arguably one of the biggest sleepers to emerge in the tournament.  Hopkins is a world-class athlete who can pass, defend, and slash to the basket.  However, his outside shot is suspect at best and football is his best sports (he's already verbally committed to Clemson to play that sport).  Lawson is your classic tweener who does all of his damage inside (he also grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots.  Dotson only shot 4-11 from the field, but he's is the best prospect on the team, as he's just oozing with talent and athleticism.  When you live by the sword, you die by the sword.  And, if you don't believe, me just ask 6'1 Tanner Milson from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, who is arguably one of the best 3-point shooters in the tournament, but was only 1-10 behind the arc in his team's 53-51 loss to Decatur (Columbia) GA in the first of two semi-finals games earlier this evening.  The UNC-Wilmington-bound Milson, who also is the Cedar Hill coach's son, did manage to finish with seven points and five assists.  But, if he had shot a normal percentage, instead of hitting only 3-15 from the field, Cedar Hill might have won the game by double-digits.  Instead, the guy who stepped up and kept Cedar Hill in the game was 6'7 Jr Thomas Gipson, who finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, 8-11 field goals, and 5-9 free throws.  However, we have question whether Gipson has the lift and athleticism necessary to be ranked any higher than where we currently have him ranked at #90 nationally in the junior class.  The best player and leading scorer for Decatur (Columbia) GA was 6'5 Jershon Cobb, who finished with 24 points, three rebounds, two assists, two turnovers, three steals, 6-11 field goals, 0-2 3-pointers, and 12-18 field goals.  However, Cobb, who is like a jack-of-all-trades, but a master of none, missed four big free throws that would have helped ice the game in the final minute of the game.  Still, he's long and athletic and has excellent graders, which makes him exactly what the doctor ordered for Northwestern, as the Wildcats attempt to increase their speed, quickness, and athleticism.  Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV was favored to win the other semi-finals game against Georgetown (Scott County) KY, but the team from the Bluegrass State jumped out to a 7-3 lead early and enjoyed a slight lead most of the first half before heading to the locker room at the intermission with the score tied at 26-all.  The best player once again for Bishop Gorman was 5'10 Jonathan Loyd, who was the only player for either team in the first half to score in double-digits with 10 points.  Loyd, who is currently ranked #217 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, also was once again knocking down both the mid-range and outside shot, making his teammates better, and speeding up the tempo of the game.  And, if he keeps playing like this, he'll be both the tournament MVP and one of the hottest point guard prospects still available in the senior class nationally.  The two players carrying Scott County were 6'4 Chad Jackson and 6'2 Ge-Lawn Guyn, as they combined for half of their team's 26 first-half points.  The second half was pretty much the same as the first until Guyn fouled out with his team up by two and 6:24 left in the game.  Then, at several minutes intervals 6'2 Taylor Spencer from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, who also had the best dunk of the tournament earlier in the second half, and 6'7 Soph Rosco Allen knocked down a pair of big 3-point shots and Loyd hit five of six free throws in the final minute to ice the game.  The final score was 61-56 and Loyd, Spencer, and Winder combined for 44 of Bishop Gorman's 61 points.  Jackson, Guyn, and 6'8 Dakota Euton did likewise for Scott County, as they combined for 40 of their team's 56 points.  Another big difference in the game was the fact that Euton had almost as many misses in this game as rivals most recent rankings (he was 5-16 from the field and 1-7 from beyond the arc).  The schedule for the final day of this year's Beach Ball Classic begins with Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA versus Lakewood (St. Edward) OH at Noon, followed by Baltimore (St. Frances) MD versus Baltimore (Mount St. Joseph) MD in the Consolation Championship Game at 1:45 PM, Marietta (Wheeler) GA versus Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI in the 5th Place Championship Game at 3:30 PM, Decatur (Columbia) GA versus Georgetown (Scott County) KY in the 3rd Place Championship Game, and Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX versus Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV in the Championship Game.   Our guess is that it will be a cake-walk for Bishop Gorman in the title game.  And to add even more insult to injury the team from Las Vegas will win it without their best player - 6'4 Soph Shabazz Muhammad, who is the #1-ranked sophomore in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP, but has not played in this tournament due to a hip injury.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Baltimore (Mount St. Joseph) MD jumped out to a 28-4 lead early, led 56-23 at half-time, and coasted to a 83-41 win against Myrtle Beach (Socastee) MD in the first consolation game of the day in the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, SC.  And making the story even less interesting is the fact that three players for Socastee were tied with six points apiece as their team's leading scorer in the game.  The best player for Mount St. Joseph was 6'2 Matt Miller, who torched Socastee with 4-5 3-pointers en route to 21 points.  We also thought Notre Dame-bound 6'1 Eric Atkins, who finished with 15 points, one assist, one turnover, four steals, and 6-9 field goals, played fairly well and 6'6 Ryley Beamount chipped in with 12 points, six rebounds, and 5-11 field goals.  The second consolation game of the day was a tail of two halves, as Lakewood (St. Edward) OH played like a well oiled, well-coached, and well disciplined team in the first half.  However, their 42-31 half-time lead slowly slipped away in the second stanza, as the cream finally rose to the top for Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, thanks primarily to the efforts of 6'3 Dante Holmes, 6'3 Wayne Sparrow, and 6'2 Jr Sam Cassell, who combined for 55 of their team's 74 points and hit 17-33 field goals and 5-8 3-pointers.  We also have to mention 5'10 Jr Ronald "R.J." Williams, who finished with eight points, six assists, four turnovers, one blocks, two steals, and 2-4 field goals.  But we're still wondering what happened to 6'8 Jr Greg Lewis, who got outplayed by 6'10 Jr James "Zac" Price from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, who finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, and 3-3 field goals, and 6'9 Matt Stainbrook from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, who finished with 19 points, 8-11 field goals, and two rebounds.  However, even more important, if Stainbrook were a stock, now would be a good time to buy due to the fact that he's one of the legitimate mid-major sleepers to emerge in this year's tournament.  Also chipping in with 14 points and 3-6 3-pointers was 5'10 Jr Kyle Pisco from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH.  However, 6'1 Soph Myles Hamilton from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH and 6'1 Jr Delbert Love from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH combined for only 13 points and were major disappointments when compared to the way they both played yesterday.  The third consolation game proved to be another ignominious for Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, as Central (Daniel) SC team pulled off a stunning 77-61 upset against what is traditionally one of the top high school programs in the nation.  Actually the game was a lot closer than the final score would indicate, as Daniel led 39-32 and the game was tied several times mid-way through the second half.  Daniel was led by 6'4 Soph Shaq Lawson, who finished with 23 points, five rebounds, 8-11 field goals, and 7-7 field goals, and 6'2 Jr Antonio Cannon, who 21 points, six rebounds, 7-10 field goals, and 6-6 free throws.  But their best prospect is 6'2 Frosh Justin Dotson.  And he more than lived up to his reputation as the best freshman in the state with his big time athleticism, energy, and ability to slash to the basket en route to 13 points, 6-9 field goals, and 1-3 3-pointers.  The only player who played well today for Bishop Connell was 6'4 Jr Jordan Burgess, who finished with 16 points, nine rebounds7-9 field goals.  However, the big story here involved 6'4 Kendall Marshall from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, who had 11 points, four rebounds, four assists, three turnovers 4-15 field goals, 1-2 3-pointers, and 2-4 free throws.  The big question that everybody keeps asking is Marshall good enough, quick enough, and does he shoot well enough to play for North Carolina?  My answer is a definite yes for several reasons.  First, Marshall has always played better when he has better players around him (i.e. the NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp last summer, where he finished ranked #3 in camp by the HOOP SCOOP).  Second, Marshall doesn't have much help and to make matters even worse, 6'7 Marcus Cannon, who was Bishop O'Connell's starting center yesterday, took his toys and went home this morning (he quit the team). 

Things got a lot more interesting in today's Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, SC when Georgetown (Scotty County) KY jumped out to 9-3 and 17-8 leads early against Marietta (Wheeler) GA, which was the favorite to win this year's tournament, in the first of three winner's bracket quarterfinals games.  The guy who set the tone early for Scott County was 6'4 Jr Tanner Shotwell, who accounted for seven of his team's first nine points and had 12 points, 5-8 field goals, and 2-3 3-pointers in the first half.  However, the momentum of the game totally changed when Wheeler went on a 9-1 run to start the second half.  At that point it was Wheeler 37-34 and 6'8 Dakota Euton from Georgetown (Scott County) KY converted a 3-point play the old-fashioned way to tie the game.  From there it was too close to call until Shotwell went in for a lay-up with 20 seconds left in the game to make it 62-60.  But then 5'8 Phil Taylor from Marietta (Wheeler) GA quickly answered with a lay-up with 17.6 seconds remaining and Wheeler got the ball back again on a steal.  But 6'3 Jr K.K. Simmons not only missed a lay-up with 13.7 seconds left, but also got called for charging and 6'4 Chad Jackson from Georgetown (Scott County) KY converted both free throws to make it 64-62.  And that turned out to be the final, as Taylor decided to go for the tie, instead of the win, and missed the lay-up that would have tied the game in the final seconds of the game.  The leading scorer of Wheeler was Taylor, who finished with 27 points, four assists, one turnover, two steals, 10-23 field goals, 3-9 3-pointers, and 4-4 field goals.  The only other player to finish in double-digits for Wheeler was 6'6 Jelan Kendrick, who had 16 points, four assists, four turnovers, 4-16 field goals, and 0-4 3-pointers.  And that last statistic is especially important, because, if Kendrick were a better 3-point shooter, we'd rank him among the top 10-20 seniors nationally.  Shotwell finished with 16 points, but it was 6'2 Ge-Lawn Guyn from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, who was their leading scorer with 17 points.   Also chipping in with 11 points, seven rebounds, one assist, one turnover, one block, one steal, and 4-7 field goals was 6'4 Chad Jackson.  It came as no surprise that Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV jumped out to a 28-12 lead early and was up 48-17 at half-time against Buffalo (Nichols) NY in the second quarterfinals game of the day.  But it was somewhat of a surprise that 6'8 Will Regan from Buffalo (Nichols) NY, who is ranked #58 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and is capable of playing in an up tempo setting such as this, was such a non-factor with only five points, four rebounds, three turnovers, 2-6 field goals, and 1-2 3-pointers.  Instead, the guy who was dominating the game was 5'9 Jonathan Loyd from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NY, who had 15 points, six assists, four turnovers, five steals, 6-9 field goals, and 3-3 3-pointers.  That last statistic is especially important, because Loyd hitting three 3-pointers and a pair of pull-up jumpers in the first half should answer any questions that the legendary Howard Garfinkel might have about his outside shooting (Garfinkel liked Loyd's strength, quickness, and ball handling and passing skills last night, but questioned his shot).  And Loyd wasn't the only one who was lighting it up from beyond the arc, as 6'3 Anson Winder, 6'2 Spencer Taylor, and 5'11 Ryan Parks combined for 6-11 field goals and accounted for 31 of Bishop Gorman's 48 points in the first half.  And really that was the big difference in the half, as Bishop Gorman was shooting 19-34 (55.9%) from the field and 9-13 (69.2%) from behind the arc.  In sharp contrast, Nichols was 6-21 (28.6%) from the field and 2-10 (20.%) from behind the arc.  In the second half Bishop Gorman coasted onto an easy 84-44 win to advance into the semi-finals.  Loyd and Spencer finished with 20 points apiece, Parks had 18 points, and Winder 11 points.  The only player on Nichols to score in double-digits was 6'5 Connor Vandegriff, who finished with 15 points, eight points, and 5-9 field goals.  And Regan was just as disappointing in the second half, as he was in the first half, as he finished with only nine points, six rebounds, 3-7 field goals, and 1-2 3-pointers.  The big difference in the impressive 64-51 win by Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX against Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI in the final quarterfinals game of the day was the shooting of 6'1 Jr Billy Johnson from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX.  Not only did he help set the tone of the game early by scoring 14 of his team's 27 points in the first half, but he also really impressed us with his soft touch en route to 27 points, 11-14 field goals, and  5-6 3-pointers.  The only other player to score in double-digits for Cedar Hill was UNC-Wilmington-bound 6'1 Tanner Milson, who chipped in with his usual array of threes (he had 3-7 treys) and finished with 11 points.  Also providing the needed bulk and muscle inside was 6'7 Jr Thomas Gipson, who finished with seven points and six rebounds, and once again turning in a solid floor game was 6'2 Oliver Wells, who finished with four points, six assists, and 1-6 field goals.  Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI was led by 6'8 Jr Darnell Harris from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, who finished with 13 points, five rebounds, 5-12 field goals, and 3-10 3-pointers, and 5'9 Jr Chuck Lee from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, who finished with 13 points, four assists, four turnovers, 6-12 field goals, and 1-4 3-pointers.  However, this team is totally undisciplined and Harris, who has never seen a shot he didn't like, and Iowa State-bound 6'6 Jr Elgin Cook from Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, who impressed us with his athleticism, but disappointed us with his tendency to play out of control, both failed to live up to their top 100 national rankings in the junior class.  Things will resume tomorrow morning with Myrtle Beach (H.S.) SC versus Myrtle Beach (Socastee) SC at 10:15 AM, followed by Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI versus Concord (H.S.) NC at Noon, Marietta (Wheeler) GA versus Buffalo (Nichols) NY at 1:45 PM, Baltimore (Mount St. Joseph) MD versus Greenville (J.L. Mann) SC at 3:30 PM, Baltimore (St. Frances) MD versus Central (Daniel) SC at 5:15 PM, Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX versus Decatur (Columbia) GA at 7:00 PM, and Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV versus Georgetown (Scott County) KY at 8:45 PM.  And it's our guess that whoever wins that last game will win the championship, which will tip-off at 7:30 PM on New Year's Eve. 

Monday, December 28, 2009

The first game of the day earlier today at the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, SC went pretty much true to form as Greenville (J.L. Mann) SC coasted to a 76-49 victory over Myrtle Beach (H.S.) SC and 6'5 Jr Damien Leonard from Greenville (J.L. Mann) SC, who with 26 points, 10 rebounds, 10-14 field goals, and 6-10 3-pointers, was clearly the best player in the game.  And, in addition to Leonard, who once again impressed us with his outside shooting and his ability to create his own shot, J.L. Mann also featured a well-balanced attack as 6'5 Brandon Boggs, 6'3 Jr Darrice Whitley, and 6'1 Devon Myrick combined for 36 points and 13-25 field goals.  And that was the big difference in the game, as J.L. Mann shot 50.9% from the field and only 50.0% from behind the arc versus only 32.2% from the field and 12.5% from 3-point land for Myrtle Beach.  The best player for Myrtle Beach was 6'1 Jr Everett Golson, who finished with 11 points, three assists, six turnovers, two steals, 4-19 field goals, 0-2 3-pointers, and 3-5 free throws.  The second game of the day was too close to call early, but it looked like a well coached and good outside shooting Lakewood (St. Edward) OH team was on the verge of taking over the game when they went up by six  points with 5:10 left in the first half.  However, at that point the momentum changed, as Marietta (Wheeler) GA, which has lost in the championship game of this tournament each of the last two years and is the favorite this time around, went on a 17-8 run to end the half.  6'1 Jr Delbert Love from St. Edward hit a 3-pointer to tie the game once again at 37-37 at the start of the second, half.  But then Wheeler went on a 7-0 run and led the rest of the way (St. Edward managed to cut the lead to one a couple of times) en route to a tough hard fought 81-75 victory.  The best player and leading scorer Wheeler was 6'6 Jelan Kendrick, who finished with 23 points, eight rebounds, two assists, five turnovers, two blocks, two steals, 9-14 field goals, 0-2 3-pointers, and 5-6 3-pointers.  And, while we really like Kendrick's athleticism and versatility, we think he needs to become a better outside shooter in order to be ranked higher than where we currently have him at #26 nationally in the senior class.  The unsung hero and they guy who broke St. Edward's back was 6'3 Jr K.K. Simmons, who came off the bench for Wheeler to score 19 points and hit 5-9 3-pointers.  Also chipping with  with 12 and 14 apiece for Wheeler were 6'5 Joey Jerome and 5'9 Phil Taylor, who are great catches for Winthrop and Florida International respectively.  We also have to mention 6'8 Soph Charles Mitchell, who finished with only four points, four rebounds, and 1-3 field goals, but did an excellent job of using his body to frustrate 6'9 Jr James "Zac" Price from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH inside.  Speaking of the Louisville-bound Price, he had eight points, eight rebounds, and 4-8 field goals.  However, he's strictly a low post player and quite honestly it looks like our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson was right on the money when he describes Price as more of a project than a finished product.  Still, we liked Price's size, athleticism, and potential and, as a result, we think he's a legitimate top 50-100 range junior nationally.  Instead, St. Edward's two best players were 6'1 Soph Myles Hamilton, who had 23 points,10 rebounds, 9-16 field goals, and 2-3 2-pointers, and 6'1 Jr Delbert Love, who had 16 points, seven rebounds, 5-17 field goals, and 4-11 3-pointers.  And this is important, because St. Edward's three best players will be back next year, which should make them one of the best high school teams in the nation a year from now.  We also were intrigued by 6'10 Matt Stainbrook from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, who currently is unranked and unsigned by the HOOP SCOOP and, as a result, is a legitimate sleeper for the mid-major level.  He's not very light on his feet, but Stainbrook does have some excellent moves around the basket, isn't afraid to compete, and we suspect that he's still growing.  The fact that Georgetown (Scott County) KY beat Baltimore (St. Frances) MD in the third game of the day was not a major upset in itself.  But the way the Cardinals rolled past the Panthers en route to an impressive 75-64 victory in a game that was not nearly as close as the score might indicate suddenly makes Scott County one of the favorites, along with Marietta (Wheeler) GA, Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, and Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI, to win the 2009 Beach Ball Classic.  Actually the game was close for a half (the half-time score was 37-32, but than Scott County outscored St. Frances 27-14 to start the second half and that was pretty much all she wrote for St. Frances.  The big gun for Scott County was 6'4 Chad Jackson, who finished with 24 points, 7-9 field goals, and surprisingly 1-1 3-pointers (the rap on Jackson is that he can't hit an outside shot).  After that it was total balance for Scott County, as 6'2 Ge-Lawn Guyn had 13 points, three assists, 5-11 field goals, and 1-1 3-pointers; 6'8 Dakota Euton had 12 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, 4-10 field goals, and 1-3 3-pointers; 6'3 Austin Flanery had 10 points, four steals, 4-7 field goals, and 1-3 3-pointers; 6'4 Jr Tanner Shotwell had nine points, three rebounds, 2-3 field goals, and 5'6 free throw; and 6'3 Soph Tamron Manning had six points, three assists, five turnovers, and 3-7 field goals.  The only bright spot for St. Frances was the fact that 6'8 Jr Greg Lewis played better here than he did last week in the Bank of America City of Palms Classic en route to a double-double that included 18 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three turnovers, five steals, 6-10 field goals, and 6'6 free throws.  But, then again, he was matched up against 6'8 Dakota Euton from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, who does not include speed, quickness, and athleticism among his virtues.  Also finishing with 16 points five assists, three turnovers, two steals, 6-12 field goals and 4-5 free throws was 5'10 Jr Ronald "R.J. Williams from Baltimore (St Frances) MD.  But most of his points came after the game was over and, as a result, he was not even close to being the same player that we saw last week when he made the All-Tournament Team in the Bank of America City of Palms Classic. 

The fourth game of the day at the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, SC was too close to call, but less than memorable, as Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX squeaked out a 56-53 win against Baltimore (Mount St. Joseph) MD, thanks primarily efforts of 6'7 Jr Thomas Gipson, who finished with 16 points, four rebounds, 6-9 field goals, and 4-6 free throws; UNC-Wilimgton-bound 6'1 Tanner Milson, who finished with 15 points, three assists, two turnovers, 6-13 field goals, and 3-8 3-pointers; and 6'2 Oliver Wells, who finished with six points, five assists, four turnovers, and 2-4 field goals..  The best player for Mount St. Joseph was Notre Dame-bound 6'1 Eric Atkins, who finished with 18 points, four assists, three steals, 7-16 field goals, 1-3 3-pointers, and 3-4 free throws.  Also chipping in with 16 points, seven rebounds, 5-13 field goals, and 2-8 3-pointers for Mt. St. Joseph's was 6'6 Ryley Beaumont.  The bad news in the next game is the fact that 6'4 Soph Shabazz Muhammad from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, who is the #1-ranked sophomore nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, was sidelined with a hip injury and did not play in his team's opening round game against Arlington (Bishop Gorman) NV.  The good news for Gorman is that they didn't need him as they broke the game open late in the first half and led 42-26 at the intermission.  And the guy who really picked up the slack for Bishop Gorman was Brigham Young-bound 6'3 Anson Winder, who had 18 points, 5-7 field goals, 2-2 3-pointers,  and 6-7 free throws in the first.  Currently Winder is unranked nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  But, if he keeps playing like this, he will be.  We're talking about a big time athlete with a high level of intensity, a beautiful looking 3-point shot, and the natural talent necessary to project in the 100-200 range nationally.  The only player who was getting anything done for Bishop O'Connell was 6'5 Jr Larry Savage, who had 12 points, four rebounds, and 5-7 field goals at the intermission.  North Carolina-bound 6'4 Kendall Marshall had only six points, three assists, three turnovers, and 3-7 field goals.  As a matter of fact, it was so bad that Marshall's father (Dennis Marshall) was so disgusted with O'Connell's performance that he left the building before halftime and did not return.  From there Bishop Gorman coasted to an easy 79-61 win and Winder was clearly the star of the game, as well as the best player of the day, with 32 points, three assists, three turnovers, three steals, 11-15 field goals, 2-2 3-pointers, and 8-10 free throws.  We also were very impressed with 5'9 Jonathan Loyd, who is a strong jet-quick athletic point guard that makes things happen in transition, and 6'2 Taylor Spencer, who is like a junk-yard dog with his knack for making things happen in transition, ability to slash to the basket, and nose for the ball.  Loyd finished with only seven points, 3-10 field goals, and 0-2 3-pointers, but did a great job of running shot with eight assists, four turnovers, and three steals.  Spencer had eight points, two steals, and 4-9 field goals.  And what about 6'7 Soph Rosco Allen,  who came off the bench to score 16 points, grab five rebounds, and hit 7-10 field goals, including 2-3 3-pointers?  And a couple of more names to write down for the future are 6 '7 Soph Ben Carter, and 6'7 Soph Ronnie Stanley.  Neither did much in this game, but you have to like Stanley's strength and athleticism.  And, once Carter gets bigger and stronger physically, you have to like his upside and potential.  The leading scorer for Bishop O'Connell ended up being 6'4 Jr Jordan Burgess, who finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, and 6-8 field goals.  Savage finished with 12 points and 5-10 field goals and Marshall had 14 points, seven assists, eight turnovers, and 7-13 field goals.  And making the story even more intriguing is the fact that Bishop O'Connell ended up shooting 24-44 (54.5%) from the field and 4-5 (80.0%) from behind the arc, but lost the game by 17 points.  The big difference being turnovers and free throw shooting as the Knights committed 21 turnovers and hit only 10-21 (47.6%) from the foul line, while Bishop Gorman shot 32-57 (56.1%) from the field and 4-7 (57.1%) from beyond the arc and only turned the ball over 13 times and hit 11-14 (78.6%) from the foul line.  Concord (H.S.) NC gave Decatur (Columbia) GA a lot more than it bargained for in the final game of the day, as well as the first of four quarterfinals games in the tournament, as they came back from a 20-12 deficit to tie the game late in the first half and trail by only five at the intermission.  However, if the outside had been going down (Concord hit only 2-10 3-pointers in the first half) for this small, but very quick and athletic excellent 3-point shooting that reminds us a lot of Sandy Hook (Elliott County) KY, they might have been able to take command of the game.  They did take one and two-point leads a number of times in the second half, but then would turn right around and shoot themselves in the foot, which always seems to allow Columbia to make a small run and retake the lead.  And this was really the story of the game, as neither team was able to gain a lot of momentum and put the other team away.  We pick things up with 8.8 second left in the game, which is when 6'7 Soph Jamal Reid from Decatur (Columbia) GA stepped to the line for a pair of free throws with his team up by two.  He missed the first one, but made the second one, which opened the door for a potential overtime.  But 5'11 Jr Will Vanderburg from Concord (H.S.) NC, who is the guy who made several big 3-pointers for Concord in the second half, missed the game tying shot and Decatur (Columbia) GA finally prevailed 64-61.  The leading scorer for Concord was 5'10 C.J. Gridine, who finished with 16 points three assists, two turnovers, two steals, 7-10 field goals, and 2-8 free throws.  However, the only two guys who could make 3-point shots for Concord were Vanderburg and 6'1 Griffin Templeton, as they combined for 5-12 treys and 17 points.  The leading scorer for Columbia was 6'3 Chris Grier, who finished with 17 points, nine rebounds, and 7-10 field goals.  Also chipping in with 12 points five rebounds, and 5-15 field goals was Northwestern-bound 6'5 Jershon Cobb.  Tomorrow's schedule begins with a consolation game between Myrtle Beach (Socastee) SC and Baltimore (Mount St. Joseph) MD at Noon, followed by more consolation games with Lakewood (St. Edward) OH versus Baltimore (St. Frances) MD at 1:45 PM and Central (Daniel) SC versus Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA at 3:30 PM and winner's bracket games with Georgetown (Scott County) KY versus Marietta (Wheeler) GA at 5:15 PM, Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV versus Buffalo (Nichols) NY at 7:00 PM, and Milwaukee (Alexander Hamilton) WI versus Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX at 8:45 PM.  

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Today is a dead day for the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, SC and, as a result, now is a good time to tie together some loose ends.  And right at the top of list is the ongoing problem of people sharing their user names and passwords to the Members Section of this web site with their friends, co-workers, and acquaintances.  I realize we're never going to totally eliminate this from happening, but making everybody change their passwords once in a while will go along way towards achieving this goal.  The last time we did this was several year ago, so it will be long overdue when I make this happen in early January.  The Division I colleges and universities for which I have a user name and password will be exempt.  But everybody else will be forced to come up with a new password, which means now is a good time to come up with something that is unique to you and that you'll be able to remember.  I also encourage anybody who foresees a problem or just wants to change their user name and/or password to call me at (502) 500-4667 or email me at hoopscooponline@msn.com within the next week or 10 days.  In other words, I'm not going to be too sympathetic to the same old people who call me after they find out that their user and password no longer work due to the fact the person they gave it to changed it on them, but forget to tell them.  Moral to the story, it's time to ante up, if you've been using somebody else's user name and password to get into the Members Section and read what's on this web site on a regular basis.  And to give people even more of an incentive to subscribe of renew their subscription at the current time, I also am planning on raising the subscription price to the web site sometime in January or February from $45 to $50 per month.  That way people who decide to subscribe for a longer period of time will receive substantial savings (i.e. subscribe for three months at a cost of $125 and get a $25 discount, subscribe for six month at a cost of $250 and get a $50 discount, and subscribe for one-year at a cost of $499 and get a $99 discount).  I also want to take a minute to thank everybody for their feedback with regards to our comments a week ago about the credibility of Greg Hicks and Tracy Pierson, who publish the BruinReportOnline.com, and their ranking of players like Jerime Anderson.  I heard from a number of UCLA fans, some people in the business and with other web sites, and even several parents of players and I am amazed at how little support that Hicks and Pierson actually have.  It's so bad that I almost feel sorry for them.  As a matter of fact, the most critical email that I received was from somebody who wrote the following:  "You're getting too caught up in the actual # ranking and ordering players.  Not everyone who is ranked highly will pan out.  Where did you have Russell Westbrook in 06?  What's the beef with Cummard?  He had an outstanding career at BYU and probably would've had an outstanding career at nearly every school he played.  Anderson may or may not be a miss - too early to tell - but the reality is each evaluator will have some misses now and then - I'm sure you have a few as well, no?"  I certainly do, but I try not to be an arrogant you know what and admit it when I find out that I'm wrong.  As for Westbrook, Hicks and then UCLA assistant coach Kerry Keating deserve a lot of credit for discovering one of the biggest sleepers to come down the pike in a long time.  With regards to Cummard, we didn't say he didn't turn out to be a good player.   But to make the argument that he was better than Arron Afflalo then and/or now is a little ridiculous.  Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis also would like to weigh in about Jamal Boykin being another major miss by Hicks and Pierson and he illustrates his point in the following email:  "While the Kansas guard play of Sherron Collins and Tyshawn Taylor helped the Jayhawks turn a close game up until the final minutes into a 84-69 sizeable victory over Cal, it was no fault of 6'7 Jamal Boykin, whose 15 points and 15 boards (12 in the first half) kept the Golden Bears in the game (Cal only trailed by one at the half after having leads for a huge chunk of the period).  Boykin was 7/13 from the field and also contributed two assists and two steals against the #1 ranked Jayhawks and statistically outplayed projected NBA lotto pick Cole Aldrich (10 points/10 boards) while playing a season-high 37 minutes.  Boykin now averages 12.7 ppg and 7.7 rpg (team best) while shooting 62% from the field (best among Cal starters) through Cal's first 10 games.  Boykin led the Golden Bears in rebounding, FG %, and "double-doubles" in 2008-09.  Boykin's talents and accomplishments while in high school have also been the subject of intense recruiting debate for the past nine years.  As his club coach during his high school days, I received much ridicule and chagrin for labeling him a high-major prospect at that time and his signing with Duke in November 2004 was scoffed at by those so called gurus in the know.   Many thought he would never see any meaningful playing time or contribute anything to a high-major program.  One of those so-called pure experts Greg Hicks (Scout.com) felt that he wasn't even worthy of being considered within the Top 10 Class of 2005 West Coast players at his power-forward position, despite his lengthy high school and club ball accomplishment.  Even though he is a fantastic young man with many admirable personal qualities, many of those same persons have still ignored his considerable college achievements while at Cal.  I think it's finally time for those who for far too long have belittled and disrespected this great young man to come forward and admit that they made a mistake and give him the credit that he deserves and has earned and restore a little bit of credibility to their own scouting reputations."  Not only do I echo that, but I have a suggestion for Hicks and Pierson.  If you want to rehabilitate your imagine, try being nice to somebody once in a while.  And don't be so arrogant.  We also have received word from our other West Coast Editor Alan Utter about 6'1 Lazeric Jones from John A. Logan (JC) IL picking UCLA over schools like Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, DePaul, Alabama, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State.  Whether Jones is just the best quick fix currently available or the ideal solution to the Bruins point guard problems remains to be seen.  However, we do know that Jones is ranked #15 in the junior college ranks by JucoJunction.com and at last report was averaging 10.7 ppg and 5.8 apg.  Jones joins 6'8 Josh Smith from Covington (Kentwood) WA and 6'5 Tyler Smith from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA in a recruiting class that is now ranked #13 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2010.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

I'm already in Myrtle Beach, SC for the first day of this year's Beach Ball Classic and earlier today the match-up were very uneven, except for the last game, which went right down to the wire when Decatur (Columbia) GA held on to beat Greenville (J.L. Mann) SC, 53-50.  However, things might have been different if 6'5 Jr Damien Leonard from Greenville (J.L. Mann) SC hadn't gotten in foul trouble early and, as a result, played only nine minutes in the first half.  Leonard did play almost the entire second half and finished with 20 points, 7-11 field goals, and 4-7 3-pointers, but J.L. Mann never seemed to be able to get over the hump and Leonard never saw the ball with his team down by three in the final seconds of the game.  Remember, Leonard, who is ranked #17 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is one of the best 3-point shooters in the country and he's never been shy about finding a way to get his own shot.  The other big gun in this game was 6'5 JerShon Cobb from Decatur (Columbia) GA, who finished with 27 points, 11-22 field goals, 1-4 3-pointers, seven turnovers, and six steals.  We also have to mention 6'7 Soph Jarmal Reid from Decatur (Columbia) GA, who was one of the best young players that we saw all day, as he did a little bit of everything finishing with eight points, 10 rebounds, four assist, and 4-7 field goals.  Also chipping in with 12 points and hitting 6-10 field goals was 6'3 Chris Grier from Decatur (Columbia) GA.  We also were impressed with the individual performance turned by Virginia-bound 6'8 Will Regan from Buffalo (Nichols School) NY, who finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds, seven blocked shots, 7-11 field goals, 1-2 3-pointers, and 7-8 free throws in his team's 79-66 win against Central (Daniel) SC.  Remember, Regan is ranked #58 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and is one of our favorite players due to the fact that he has a great combination of size, skills, versatility, work ethic, and a willingness to compete.  Regan also had plenty of help from 6'5 Connor Vandegriff, who had 10 points and 12 rebounds, and 6'2 Soph Stan Weir and 6'0 Ron Canestro, who combined for 41 points and knocked down 7-13 3-pointers.  And really that was the big difference in the game, as Nichols hit 8-15 (53.3%) from beyond the arc versus only 5-24 (20.8%) 3-pointers for Daniel.  Daniel did feature a balanced scoring attack, as 6'3 DeAndre Hopkins, 6'2 Jr Antonio Cannon, 5'10 Cedrick Smith, 6'4 Soph Shaq Lawson, and 6'2 Frosh Justin Dotson all were in the 14 to eight range.  Two other big time juniors in this year's Beach Ball Classic are 6'8 Jr Darnell Harris and 6'6 Jr Elgin Cook and they didn't disappoint in the opening round, as they led Milwaukee (Hamilton) WI to a 79-43 win against Myrtle Beach (Socastee) SC.  Cook led the way with 21 points, eight rebounds, two assists, three blocks, three steals, 5-8 field goals, and 11-13 free throws.  Harris finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists, five turnovers, 6-10 field goals, 2-5 3-pointer, and 4-4 free throws and 5'9 Jr Charles Lee also chipped in with 15 points, seven assists, three turnovers, two steals, and 7-11 field goals.  The only player in double-digits for Socastee was 5'8 Brandon Alston, who finished with 13 points, two assists, seven turnovers, 5-11 field goals, and 3-6 3-pointers.  What Concord (H.S.) NC lacks in star power, it more than made up for with speed, quickness, and athleticism, as they ran Myrtle Beach (H.S.) SC right out of the gym.  The final score was 89-54 and it was the balance and the outside shooting (they shot 56.1% from the field and 43.5% from beyond the arc for the game) for Concord that impressed us the most, as 5'10 C.J. Gridine had 18 points and 9-11 field goals; 6'1 Griffin Templeton had 16 points, 4-6 field goals, and 4-6 3-pointers; 6'1 Jr Xavier Stywall had 14 points and 7-9 field goals; 5'9 Frosh Darren Black had 12 points, 4-8 field goals, and 4-6 3-pointers; and 6'3 Jalen Cannady had eight points and 4-5 fields.  Our guess is that Concord will beat Decatur (Columbia) GA, when they square off at 8:45 PM in the final game of the day on Monday, December 28th, which would make  them the sleeper team of the tournament.  The rest of the Monday's schedule will include Myrtle Beach (H.S.) SC versus Greenville (J.L. Mann) SC in a Consolation Game at Noon and first round games with Marietta (Wheeler) GA versus Lakewood (St. Edward) OH at 1:45 PM, Baltimore (St. Frances) MD versus Georgetown (Scott County) KY at 3:30 PM, Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX versus Baltimore (Mt. St. Joseph) MD at 5:15 PM, and Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) MD versus Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV at 7:00 PM.

Friday, December 25, 2009

The ideal Christmas present for University of Louisville head coach Rick Pitino would have been a pair of early verbal commitments from 6'2 Jr Marques Teague from  Indianapolis (Pike) IN and 6'5 Jr Wayne Blackshear from Chicago (Morgan Park) IL, both of whom should be locks for the 2011 McDonald's American Game and both of whom have had the Cardinals at the top of their list for a long time.  Teague, who is ranked #3 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is still on the board.  But for Pitino the stocking was at least half full, as the #15-ranked Blackshear finally made it official for Louisville on Christmas day.  And this is big for a number of reasons.  First, Blackshear appears to be better than his current ranking, as is evident by the fact that he's been putting up prolific numbers and everybody in the Windy City is raving about how well he's been playing so far this season.  Second, Blackshear has the skills, athleticism, and talent necessary to not only walk in and start as a freshman, but also fill an obvious need at one of the wing spots.  Third, Cardinals assistant coach Steve Masiello, who was the guy primarily responsible for recruiting Blackshear, should be in line for a number of head coaching jobs (i.e. Fordham) this spring and, as a result, Louisville's window of opportunity to get this one done may close in a couple of months.  Fourth, getting a player of this caliber helps ensure that Cardinals will be able to keep in the arms race that has been going on in the state since John Calipari got the Kentucky job last spring.  Fifth, the addition of Blackshear moves Louisville's recruiting class up to #1 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2011.  If you will recall, they already have 6'10 Jr Michael Chandler from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'5 Jr Ryan Taylor from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, and 6'10 Jr James "Zac" Price from Lakewood (St. Edward) ON in the fold.   We also have confirmed that 6'5 Chris Mast from Eastern Utah (JC) UT has verbally committed to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. We're talking about an athletic 2-guard who is ranked  #143 in the junior college ranks, was the best offensive player on this team when he averaged 20.0 ppg a year ago at New Mexico (JC) NM, and was the heart-and-sole of his high school at Suitland (H.S.) MD, where he developed a reputation for being one of the hardest working players that his high school coach had ever coached.  The problem is that Mast got lot in the shuffle, because he spent most of his time playing inside.  And this is important, because the Islanders have four seniors guards in the program and they needed somebody who can step in immediately and help provide the leadership necessary to replace them.  Mast also promises to be an excellent complement to 6'5 Devon Usher from Baltimore (Digital Harbor) MD and 6'4 Darrell Edwards from Baltimore (Dunbar) MD in a recruiting class is now tied at #87, along with Santa Clara, Northern Iowa, and Fresno State, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2010.  However, even more important, the addition of Mast even further enhances Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's strong connection into the Washington, DC/Baltimore area.  Remember, Islanders assistant coaches Kevin Norris and Brian Merritt are both originally from Maryland and so is Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's entire current recruiting class.  

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Do you pick 6'3 Jr Trevor Lacey from Huntsville (Butler) AL or do you pick 6'6 Jr P.J. Hairston from Greensboro (Dudley) NC?  That's the only question that I have with regards to the selection of this year's 12-man All-Tournament for the Bank of America City of Palms Classic that concluded last night in Ft. Myers, FL.  I voted for Lacey, but Hairston appears to have been the final pick, along with 6'10 Jr Tristan Thompson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'3 Jr Myck Kabongo from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 5'7 Jr Myles Mack from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, 6'2 Brett Comer from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, 6'8 Jr Julian Royal from Alpharetta (Milton) GA, 6'3 Jr Cory Joseph from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 5'10 Jr Ronald  "R.J." Williams from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 6'5 Jamail Jones from Montverde (Academy) FL, 6'6 Fuquan Edwin from Paterson (Catholic) PA,  and 6'5 James Bell from Montverde (Academy) FL, all of whom were obvious picks for this year's All-Tournament Team.  Hairston finished strong with a 26- point second half in yesterday's game and was ranked #3 in the tournament in both scoring with 21.7 ppg and shot blocking with 2.7 bpg while playing on an injury that really seemed to slow him down and effect his shooting at times during the week.  On the other hand, Lacey finished ranked #2 in the tournament in scoring with 25.3 ppg, ranked #1 in the tournament in free throw percentage with 17-18 (94.4%) free throws, and tied for #1 in the tournament in steals with 3.0 spg.  However, Lacey had a poor shooting performance yesterday when his team was matched up against Greensboro (Dudley) NC.  And to really prove the point that we take into account a lot more than just statistics when picking the all-tournament team and ranking players is the fact that neither 6'5 Jr Aaron Brown from Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA nor 6'6 Will Sheehey from Weston (Sagemont) FL were named to the all-tournament, but both players were ranked among the top 10 players in the tournament in both scoring and rebounding.  However, Brown, who finished ranked #4 in scoring with 20.3 ppg and tied for #10 in rebounding with 7.0 rpg, was not nearly as impressive in his final two games, as he had 16 points, two rebounds, and was 7-16 from the field against Los Angeles (Westchester) CA and had 12 points, seven rebounds, and was 4-15 from the field against Baltimore (St. Frances) MD.  In the case of Sheehey, who finished ranked #9 in the tournament in scoring with 17.5 ppg and #2 in the tournament in rebounding with 8.5 rpg, I probably would have ranked him in a little higher than #22, if I had known at the time that he had pulled down 34 rebounds in four games in the tournament.  Not only does that make him one of the unsung heroes of this year's City of Palms Classic, but Indiana University head coach Tom Crean must have been happy after flying down to Ft. Myers, FL yesterday morning to watch his future player turn in a impressive 21-point/nine-rebound performance in the first game of the day.  And sometimes statistics and/or an incredible single-game performance do trump everything else.  And this was the case with 6'4 Jr Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, who turned in one of the all-time best performances in tournament history with 45 points, 15-24 field goals, and 4-7 3-pointers against Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, but was not nearly as impressive in his first two games and when his team got upset in the championship game.  Speaking of Rivers, he's hoping a third time will be charm (Winter Park head coach David Bailey informed Donnie Wilkie after the championship game last night that his team plans to make another appearance in the tournament next year), after leading his team to a 3rd Place finish in this tournament a year ago and leading his team to a 2nd Place finish this year.  However, breaking Kenny Boynton's all-time career scoring record of 406 points, which was set in 12 games in 2006, 2007, and 2008, might be easier said than done.  If you will recall, Rivers scored 120 points in four games a year ago and 115 points in four games this year, which means he would need to score 172 points next year to break Boynton's all-time tournament scoring record.  That's 43.0 ppg and only one player in the history of the tournament (in 1997 Teddy Dupay scored 143 points in three games to average 47.7 ppg) has put up those kind of numbers in a single tournament.  The leading scorers in the tournament were 1) 6'4 Jr Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL with 28.8 ppg, 2) 6'3 Jr Trevor Lacey from Huntsville (Butler) AL with 25.3 ppg, 3) 6'6 Jr P.J. Hairston from Greensboro (Dudley) NC with 21.7 ppg, 4) 6'5 Jr Aaron Brown from Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA with 20.3 ppg, 5) 6'5 Fuquan Edwin from Paterson (Catholic) PA with 20.0 ppg, 5) 6'3 Jr Myck Kabongo from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ with 20.0 ppg, 7) 6'5 Jamail Jones from Montverde (Academy) FL with 19.5 ppg, 8) 6'8 Jr Julian Royal from Alpharetta (Milton) GA with 18.5 ppg, 9) 6'6 Will Sheehey from Weston (Sagemont) FL with 17.5 ppg, 10) 6'10 Jr Tristan Thompson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV with 16.3 ppg, 11) 6'3 Jr Dai-Jon Parker from Alpharetta (Milton) GA with 15.0 ppg, 12) 6'5 James Bell from Montverde (Academy) FL with 14.3 ppg, 12) 6'2 Jordin Mayes from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA with 14.3 ppg, 12) 6'8 Jr Mike Shaw from Chicago (De La Salle) IL with 14.3 ppg, 15) 29) 5'11 Will Brown from Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA with 14.0 ppg, 15) 6'3 Corey Joseph from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV with 14.0 ppg, 17) 5'7 Jr Myles Mack from Paterson (Catholic) NJ with 13.5 ppg, 18) 6'2 Brett Comer from Winter Park (H.S.) FL with 13.3 ppg, 18) 6'3 Dante Holmes from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD with 13.3 ppg, and 18) 6'6 Mike Poole from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ with 13.3 ppg.  The leading rebounders in the tournament were 1) 6'10 Tristan Thompson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV with 10.3 rpg, 2) 6'6 Will Sheehey from Weston (Sagemont) FL with 8.5 rpg, 3) 6'9 Jr Derrick Randall from Paterson (Catholic) NJ with 8.0 rpg, 4) 6'8 Jr Greg Lewis from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD with 7.8 rpg, 4) 6'8 Jr Julian Royal from Alpharetta (Milton) GA with 7.8 rpg, 4) 6'8 Jr Mike Shaw from Chicago (De La Salle) IL with 7.8 rpg, 7) 6'8 Jr Darian Barnes from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD with 7.3 rpg, 7) 6'5 Robert Lovaglio from Winter Park (H.S.) FL with 7.3 rpg, 6'7 Soph Evan Nolte from Alpharetta (Milton) GA with 7.3 rpg, 10) 6'7 Soph Kyle Anderson from Paterson (Catholic) NJ with 7.0 rpg, 10) 6'5 Jr Aaron Brown from Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA with 7.0 rpg, 10) 6'6 Jr P.J. Hairston from Greensboro (Dudley) NC with 7.0 rpg, and 10) 6'8 Godwin Okonji from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV with 7.0 rpg.  The leading shot blockers in the tournament were 1) 6'9 Jr Derrick Randall from Paterson (Catholic) NJ with 4.8 bpg, 2) 6'10 J.P. Kambola from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ with 4.3 bpg, 3) 6'6 Jr P.J. Hairston from Greensboro (Dudley) NC with 2.7 bpg, 4) 6'7 Adam Jones from Winter Park (H.S.) FL with 2.3 bpg, 5) 6'7 Soph Kyle Anderson from Paterson (Catholic) NJ with 2.0 bpg, 5) 6'8 Eric Richardson from Huntsville (Butler) AL with 2.0 bpg, 7) 6'8 Soph Alex Foster from Chicago (De La Salle) IL with 1.8 bpg, 7) 6'8 Jr Greg Lewis from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD with 1.8 bpg, 8) 6'9 Jr Shawn Oakman from Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA with 1.8 bpg, 8) 6'6 Dwayne Polee from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA with 1.8 bpg, and 8) 6'10 Frank Snow from Weston (Sagemont) FL with 1.8 bpg.  Leading the tournament in assists were 1) 6'3 Jr Nick Johnson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV with 6.0 spg, 2) 5'10 Jeremiah Samarrippas from Bartow (H.S.) FL with 6.0 spg, 3) 6'5 Jayon James from Paterson (Catholic) NJ with 5.8 apg, 3) 5'9 Tyree Johnson from Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA with 5.8 apg, 5) 5'10 Soph Justin Pride from Huntsville (Butler) AL with 5.3 apg, 6) 6'2 Jr Shannon Scott from Alpharetta (Milton) GA with 5.3 apg, 7) 5'9 Kaleb Clyburn from Montverde (Academy) FL with 5.0 apg, 8) 5'10 Jr Ronald "R.J. Williams from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD with 4.8 apg, 9) 6'0 Jr Vinny Delucia from Weston (Sagemont) FL with 4.5 apg, and 10) 6'3 Jr Ervin Graham from Ft. Myers (H.S.) FL with 4.5 apg.  Leading the tournament in steals were 1) 6'3 Jr Nick Johnson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV with 3.0 spg, 2) 6'3 Jr Trevor Lacey from Huntsville (Butler) AL with 3.0 spg, 2) 5'10 Jeremiah Samarrippas from Bartow (H.S.) FL with 3.0 spg, 4) 6'2 Brett Comer from Winter Park (H.S.) FL with 2.8 spg, 4) 6'5 James Bell from Montverde (Academy) FL with 2.8 spg, 4) 6'3 Jr Myck Kabongo from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ with 2.8 spg. 

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Weston (Sagemont) FL beat Chicago (De La Salle) IL, 67-47, Baltimore (St Frances) MD beat Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA, 63-61, and Greensboro (Dudley) NC beat Huntsville (Butler) AL, 65-52, in the three Challenge Round Games earlier today in the Bank of America City of Palms Classic in Ft. Myers, FL.  Especially noteworthy in that last game is the fact that 6'6 Jr P.J. Hairston from Greensboro (Dudley) NC, who had been slowed by an injury earlier in the tournament, scored 25-points in the second half en route to a game high 31 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots, 12-20 field goals, and 5-11 3-pointers.  And, while Hairston was doing most of his damage in the second half, 5'9 Brennan Wyatt set the tone early with 16 points, 6-10 field goals, and 4-7 3-pointers in the first half.  Together Hairston and Wyatt combined for 9-19 treys and the outside shooting by Dudley, which hit 10-23 (43.5%) 3-pointers as a team, was the big difference in the game.  We also were impressed with the ability of 6'3 Jr Trevor Lacey from Huntsville (Butler) AL to create his own shot, but it wasn't falling today, as he finished with 26 points, six rebounds, zero assists, one turnover, three steals, 11-24 field goals, 1-7 3-pointers.  And as this athletic 2-guard went, so did the Butler team, which hit a miserable 24-66 (36.4%) from the field and 1-13 (7.7%) from beyond the arc.  The first game was supposed to feature two of the best big men in the tournament in 7'0 Fabricio DeMelo from Weston (Sagemont) FL and 6'8 Jr Mike Shaw from Chicago (De La Salle) IL.  But it looks like Shaw wasn't too interested, as he spent a lot of his time out on the perimeter shooting threes.  Shaw finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, three blocks, 7-19 field goals, and 4-10 3-pointers, but he didn't have much help as De La Salle's second best player once again was a freshman.  In contrast, Sagemont had excellent chemistry, as 6'6 Will Sheehey, who had 21 points and nine rebounds is like a jack-of-all-trades and was their best player; 7'0 Fabricio DeMelo, who had 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 7-12 field goals, was effective inside; and 6'6 Jr Rod Days with 13 points and four rebounds and 6'10 Frank Snow with two points and five rebounds were the two unsung heroes in the game as they understood their roles and did a lot of the little things that often don't show up in the box score.  It also looks like 5'10 Jr Ronald "R.J. Williams from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD picked up where he left off yesterday, as this tough hardnosed competitor with excellent speed and quickness is the guy who hit the game winning shot at the buzzer.  Williams finished with 12 points, six assists, three turnovers, two steals, 4-8 field goals, 0-1 3-pointers, and 4-4 free throws, but he also had plenty of help from out on the perimeter from 6'2 Jr Sam Cassell Jr and 6'3 Dante Holmes, who combined for 34 points and were 7-13 from beyond the arc.  The leading scorer for Penn Wood was 6'9 Jr Shawn Oakman with 18 points and 6-10 field goals.  Also chipping in with 12 points and seven rebounds for Penn Wood was 6'5 Jr Aaron Brown.  The Consolation Championship Game reminded us of a tsunami, as Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, which was unable to advance into the winner's bracket of the tournament, because several other teams in the tournament are not allowed to play them due to their state high school association rules, beat Ft. Myers (H.S.) FL, 87-41.  Findlay Prep, which shot 31-47 (66.0%) from the field and 5-12 (41.7%) from beyond the arc, also featured a very balanced scoring attack, as seven players scored between nine and 17 points.  Leading the way was 6'4 Thomas Laerke, who clearly now is one of the biggest sleepers to emerge in the tournament, with 17 points, four assists, 5-6 field goals, and 2-2 3-pointers.  Finishing with 16 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots, three steals, 6-8 field goals, and 4-7 free throws was 6'10 Jr Tristan Thompson.  And complementing Thompson inside was 6'8 Godwin Okonji with 15 points, five rebounds, and 6-6 field goals and out on the perimeter were 6'3 Jr Nick Johnson with 11 points, three assists, three steals, and 3-6 field goals; 6'3 Cory Joseph with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists, and 3-6 field goals; 6'3 Marko Petrovic with nine points, two assists, 3-8 field goals, and 0-2 3-pointers; and 6'7 Soph Winston Shephard with nine points, three rebounds, 4-5 field goals, and 1-2 3-pointers.  The two best players for the Ft. Myers were 6'3 Evin Graham and 6'1 Terran McClendon, who combined for only 22 points and 8-27 field goals.  And just as bad, as a team the Green Wave hit only 16-56 field goals and got beat on the boards 35-21.  

History was made earlier today when Los Angeles (Westchester) CA lost to Alpharetta (Milton) GA in the 5th Place Game in the Bank of America City of Palms Classic in Ft. Myers, FL.  We're talking about the fact that Westchester, which won the championship in this tournament in 2000, 2001, and 2003 and finished 5th in this tournament a year ago, had never lost two games in the same year in the Bank of America City of Palms Classic until today.  However, their 57-54 overtime loss is still pretty impressive when one remembers that Milton was ranked #8 nationally in the latest USA Today Super 25 Poll and featured three of the top players in the tournament in 6'8 Jr Julian Royal, 6'2 Jr Shannon Scott, and 6'3 Jr Dai-Jon Parker.  The best player for Milton, as well as one of the most consistent players of the tournament was Royal, who finished with 23 points, seven rebounds, 9-17 field goals, and 2-2 3-pointers.  And, although Royal wants to step out and shoot an occasional three, he does seem to know where his bread is buttered and, as a result, if Royal were a stock, now would be a good time to buy.  Scott and Parker both chipped in with 12 points apiece, but Scott's assist-to-turnover ratio (three-to-seven) was a disappointment and Parker, who hit only 1-5 3-pointers, is clearly more of a slasher than a shooter.  The only two players to reach double-digits for Westchester were 6'2 Jordin Mayes, who finished with 13 points, three assists, three turnovers, two steals, 6-12 field goals, and 1-4 3-pointers, and 6'6 Dwayne Polee, who had 12 points, four rebounds, and 6-10 field goals.  And, while neither player has lived up to expectations in this tournament, Mayes gets a pass due to the fact that he's playing out of position at the point guard spot for the Comets.  In the case of Polee, we've been waiting for several years for his skills to catch up with his big time athleticism and incredible upside and potential.  Instead, the best player in the tournament for Westchester has been 6'5 Kareem Jamar, who had only nine points and hit only 4-13 from the field and 1-6 from beyond the arc, but also had eight assists and only three turnovers in this game.  Another player on Westchester who should get Mountain West and Western Athletic Conference looks is 6'9 Reggie Murphy, who finished with eight points and six rebounds in this game and has improved leaps and bounds in the last year.  Jacksonville (Providence School) FL beat Miami (Dr. Krop) FL, 63-54, in the final Sunshine Series Game of the tournament and Florida-bound 6'9 Patric Young and Kentucky-bound 6'5 Stacy Poole, who combined for 30 points, 22 rebounds, six assists, and 12-26 field goals, more than lived up to expectations for the Providence School.  And so did 5'11 Jr Angel Rodriguez from Miami (Dr. Krop) FL, who finished with 25 points, six assists, seven turnovers, two steals, and 10-25 field goals.  Montverde (Academy) NJ jumped out to an 8-0 lead early, but Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ quickly turned things around with a 13-2 run to make it 13-10 at the end of the 1st Quarter in the Third Place Game.  And it got even worse in the 2nd Quarter, as St. Benedict's went on another 15-8 run to make it 28-18 at the half.  And the guy who was totally ripping the heart out of Montverde (Academy) FL was Texas-bound 6'3 Jr Myck Kabongo from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, who had 13 points, three assists, two steals, 4-7 field goals, 2-3 field goals, and 3-4 3-pointers.  However, even that doesn't tell the story, as Kabongo was playing great defense, creating havoc in transition, and making his teammates better with his ability to penetrate and dish.  The second half was pretty much like the first, as St. Benedict's led by 13 points at the end of the 3rd Quarter and then coasted onto a hard fought, but very impressive 64-45 victory.  Kabongo finished with 19 points, three rebounds, four assists, six turnovers, two steals, 6-9 field goals, and 4-5 3-pointers.  We also were very impressed with the 13-point/10-rebound performance by 6'6 Mike Poole and the inside play of 6'10 J.P. Kambola, who finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, five blocked shots, and 5-7 field goals.  The only player even worth mentioning for Montverde (Academy) FL is 6'5 Jamail Jones from Montverde (Academy) FL, who had 21 points, 7-16 field goals, and 4-10 3-pointers.  Paterson (Catholic) NJ jumped out to a 13-0 led in the Championship Game, but then Winter Park (H.S.) FL went on an incredible 27-4 run to make the score 27-17 with just over three minutes left in the first half.  But then the tide turned again, as Paterson Catholic regained some momentum and closed the gap to 31-26 at the half.  The leading scorer for Winter Park at the intermission was 6'4 Jr Austin Rivers with 11 points, but he also was 0-3 from beyond the arc.  The attack for Paterson Catholic was a little more balanced, as 5'7 Jr Myles Mack, 6'5 Fuquan Edwin, and 6'9 Jr Derrick Randall accounted for 20 their team's 26 points.  From there were it really was too close to call as every time Paterson Catholic would take the led Winter Park would answer.  And every time Winter Park would go up by as many as five points and appear to be on the verge of breaking the game open Paterson Catholic would make another run.  We pick things up with 3:07 left in the game when 6'5 Fuquan Edwin converted a 3-point play to put Paterson Catholic up by two.  And that was pretty much all she wrote for Winter Park, as Rivers missed several key free throws down the stretch and Paterson Catholic finally broke things open en route to an impressive 62-54 victory to win the 37th Annual Bank of America City of Palms Classic. 

For the second straight year Rivers, who had 27 points, two assists, 10-17 field goals, and 2-5 3-pointers in this year's championship game, was named the tournament MVP.  He also becomes the sixth player since I started coming to this tournament 19 years ago to win tournament MVP honors on a team that failed to win the championship.  In addition to River, who also led Winter Park (H.S.) FL to a 3rd Place finish in 2008, this list also includes Glen Davis, who led Baton Rouge (University Lab) LA to a 2nd Place finish in 2003; Chris McRae, who led Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY to a 2nd Place finish in 2000, Eddie Starks, who led Miami (Northwest Christian) FL to 2nd Place finish in 1999, co-MVP Teddy Dupay, who led Cape Coral (Mariner) FL to a 7th Place finish in 1997.  The rest of the All-Tournament Team includes 6'10 Jr Tristan Thompson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'3 Jr Myck Kabongo from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 5'7 Jr Myles Mack from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, 6'2 Brett Comer from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, 6'8 Jr Julian Royal from Alpharetta (Milton) GA, 6'3 Jr Cory Joseph from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 5'10 Jr Ronald  "R.J." Williams from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 6'5 Jamail Jones from Montverde (Academy) FL, 6'6 Fuquan Edwin from Paterson (Catholic) PA, 6'6 Jr P.J. Hairston from Greensboro (Dudley) NC, and 6'5 James Bell from Montverde (Academy) FL.  Our ranking of the 30 top players in the tournament are as follows:  1) 6'4 Jr Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, 2) 6'10 Jr Tristan Thompson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 3) 6'3 Jr Myck Kabongo from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 4) 5'7 Jr Myles Mack from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, 5) 6'2 Brett Comer from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, 6) 6'8 Jr Julian Royal from Alpharetta (Milton) GA, 7) 6'3 Jr Cory Joseph from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 8) 5'10 Jr Ronald  "R.J." Williams from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 9) 6'5 Jamail Jones from Montverde (Academy) FL, 10) 6'6 Fuquan Edwin from Paterson (Catholic) PA, 11) 6'3 Jr Trevor Lacey from Huntsville (Butler) AL, 12) 6'5 James Bell from Montverde (Academy) FL, 13) 6'6 Jr P.J. Hairston from Greensboro (Dudley) NC, 14) 6'8 Godwin Okonji from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 15) 6'3 Jr Dai-Jon Parker from Alpharetta (Milton) GA, 16) 6'5 Aaron Brown from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 17) 6'4 Thomas Laerke from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 18) 6'6 Mike Poole from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 19) 6'5 Jr Aaron Brown from Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA, 20) 6'5 Kareem Jamar from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 21) 6'3 Jr Nick Johnson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 22) 6'6 Will Sheehey from Weston (Sagemont) FL, 23) 6'2 Jr Sam Cassell from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 24) 7'0 Fabricio DeMelo from Weston (Sagemont) FL, 25) 6'9 Reggie Murphy from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 26) 6'2 Jr Shannon Scott from Alpharetta (Milton) GA, 27) 6'3 Marko Petrovic from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 28) 6'9 Jr Derrick Randall from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, 29) 5'11 Will Brown from Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA, and 30) 6'3 Jr Jabari Brown from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV.  Getting back to the Championship Game, 6'5 Fuquan Edwin led Paterson Catholic with 17 points, seven rebounds, 5-10 field goals, and 7-9 free throws.  Also chipping in with 15 points, three assists, two assists, two turnovers, two steals, 5-11 field goals, and 3-6 pointers for Paterson Catholic was 5'7 Jr Myles Mack.  The only other player two finish in double-digits for Winter Park was 6'7 Adam Jones, who had 13 points, eight rebounds, and 6-11 field goals. 

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Nothing out of the ordinary occurred in the first two games of the day in the Bank of America City of Palms Classic, as Bartow had no trouble beating Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL, 54-37, in the first Challenge Round Game of the Tournament and Ft. Myers (H.S.) FL knocked off Weston (Sagemont) FL, 54-51, in a consolation bracket semi-finals game.  And it didn't get a lot better in the other consolation bracket semi-finals game, as Henderson (Findlay Prep)  NV jumped out to 14-0 lead against Chicago (De La Salle) IL and never looked back en route to a 78-47 good old fashioned ass kicking.  And making matters even worse is the fact that the only player for De La Salle's who came strong out of the gate was 6'8 Frosh Alex Foster, who scored eight of his team's 10 first quarter points.  De La Salle's 6'8 Jr Mike Shaw did pick things up as the game wore on, but wanted no part of banging inside against the likes of 6'10 Jr Tristan Thompson and 6'8 Godwin Okonji, who combined for 29 points and 20 rebounds.  Instead, Shaw made a living driving to the basket and doing things out on the perimeter.  However, this is not exactly bad news for DePaul assistant coach Tracy Webster, who was in the house to see Shaw play today and would like nothing more than to keep this athletic power forward at home.  Remember, Shaw has all the talent in the world, but is such an underachiever right now that a lot of schools are passing on Shaw as being part of the package that also would include 6'5 Jr Wayne Blackshear from Chicago (Morgan Park) IL.  Shaw and Foster both finished with 12 points apiece.  The leading scorer for Findlay Prep was Thompson, who finished with 18 points and 8-10 field goals.  However, the player who impressed us the most for Findlay Prep was 6'3 Cory Joseph, who had 13 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, three steals, 5-9 field goals, and 1-3 3-pointers and is a prime recruiting target of Villanova, Texas, Connecticut, Minnesota, and UNLV.  We also were impressed with the outside shooting of 6'3 Marko Petrovic, who hit 5-6 3-pointers and scored 15 points for Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, and the unselfishness of 6'3 Jr Nick Johnson, who had four points, seven rebounds, eight assists, three turnovers, and 2-8 field goals for Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV.  As a matter of fact, the only disappointment for Findlay Prep was the fact that 6'4 Thomas Laerke failed to put together great back-to-back performances.  If you will recall, Laerke shot the light out yesterday, but logged only 13 minutes of playing time and finished with two points and was 0-2 from beyond the arc today.  The first 5th Place Semi-Finals Game of the day was a 71-68 thriller that saw Alpharetta (Milton) GA beat  Baltimore (St. Frances) MD in a double overtime.  And the guy who really stepped up and made the difference in the second half and in both overtimes for Milton was 6'3 Jr Dai-Jon Parker, who finished with 20 points, four rebounds, four assists, seven turnovers, and three steals.  We still question Parker's outside shooting (he was only 3-10 from beyond the arc), but he did make several big 3-pointers, which were pivotal in terms of helping Milton win the game.  We also continue to be impressed with Parker defensively and he's very good a getting to the basket and pulling up and beating you with his mid-range game.  We also once again were really impressed with 6'8 Jr Julian Royal from Alpharetta (Milton) GA, who had 20 points, five rebounds, and 9-11 field goals and has been one of the most consistent players in the tournament.  However, we're still wondering what happened to 6'2 Jr Shannon Scott was limited only had three points and 1-4 field goals and had a hard time guarding 5'10 Jr Ronald "R.J. Williams from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD.  Speaking of Williams, he turned in one of the best individual performances that we've seen thus far in the tournament and was the catalyst who provided the spark for his team throughout the entire game.  He finished with 22 points, three rebounds, assists points, seven turnovers, five steals, 8-13 field goals, 2-3 3-pointers, but his lack of size and tendency to be a little wild and out of control at times means there will probably be a day of reckoning when it comes time to get recruit at a very high level on the Division I spectrum.  We also thought 6'8 Jr Greg Lewis from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD somewhat redeemed himself with today's 13 point/rebound/6-12 field goal performance and also were once again intrigued with 6'2 Jr Sam Cassell, who had 12 points, four assists, and 4-9 field goals; 6'3 Dante Holmes, who had eight points and seven rebounds; and 6'2 Jr Eddie Tarver, who had 13 points and seven rebounds.  When one also remembers that St. Frances head coach Mark Karcher also has 6'1 Soph Daquan Cook and 6'8 Soph Josh Forney, both of whom are excellent sophomores who are solid role players on this year's team, it's easy to see why a lot of people think this will be one of the top high school teams in the nation a year from now.  Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA had a good well balanced team that featured 5'11 Will Brown, 6'5 Jr Aaron Brown, 6'9 Jr Shawn Oakman, 6'0 Jr Akil Anderson, 6'1 Dequan Pelzer, 6'8 Jr Darian Barnes, 5'9 Tyree Johnson and, as a result, they did a great job of never letting the game get away in the other 5th Place Semi-Finals Game against Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, which led by only four at the end of the 1st Quarter and by 10 at the intermission.  And at that point the only difference in the game was the outside shooting of 6'5 Kareem Jamar, who had 12 points and 4-6 treys at the intermission.  We pick things back up with a minute-and-a-half left in the game when Pelzer hit a 3-pointer to tie the game.  But that's as close as they could get as the Comets finally pulled it out, 64-62.  Jamar finished with 17 points, 6-10 field goals, and 5-9 3-pointers.  Also chipping with 16 points, four rebounds, five assists, three turnovers, five steals, 3-7 field goals was 6'2 Jordin Mayes.  And, believe it nor not, 6'6 Dwayne Polee, who in his younger days was ranked as one of the top players nationally in his class, had only 10 points, four rebounds, four blocks, and 2-7 field goals.  The best two players for Penn Wood were Brown and Brown, who combined for 34 of their team's 62 points. 

Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ jumped out to a 4-0 led early against Winter Park (H.S.) FL in the first of today's two semi-finals game at the Bank of America City of Palms Classic in Ft. Myers, FL.  But the rest of the 1st Quarter belonged to 6'4 Austin Rivers, who had 13 of his team's 20 points, and Winter Park, which was up 20-8 after the first eight minutes.  And from there it got worse, as in the next minute-and-a-half, Rivers nailed a couple of more 3-pointers.  And by the 5:25 mark left in the first half, Winter Park was on the verge of blowing St. Benedict's out, 28-12.  Both teams pretty much traded baskets the rest of the half, but at the intermission Winter Park had it's biggest lead (17 points) and Rivers, who had 22-points, 8-12 field goals, and 3-5 3-pointers, had more points than the entire St. Benedict's team.  But then the momentum shifted, as 6'3 Jr Myck Kabongo , who only had two points in the first half, suddenly got hot from beyond the arc and St. Benedict's was able to cut the lead to only seven points with a little over three minutes left in 3rd Quarter.  And it got to be as close as five at 57-52 with 6:14 left in the game.  But after that Rivers started scoring again and Winter Park coasted to another stunning upset.  If you will recall, this is the same bunch that beat three nationally ranked teams in this tournament a year ago and last night knocked off Alpharetta (Milton) GA, which was ranked #8 nationally in the most recent USA Today Super 25 Poll.  The final score was 75-60 and Rivers finished with 45 points, which ties him at #8, along with Kenny Boytnon, who had 45 points in 2006, on the list of all-time individual single-game scoring performances in the history of the tournament.  And that puts Rivers in pretty fast company, as the seven players ahead of him on this list are Kenny Boynton with 61 points in 2007, Teddy Dupay with 56 points in 1997, Clifford Rozier with 51 points in 1989, Nick Calathes with 50 points in 2005, Teddy Dupay with 49 points in 1997, Ricardo Soliver with 48 points in 2001, and Austin Rivers with 46 points in 2008.  Rivers also hit 15-25 field goals, 4-7 3-pointers, 7-11 free throws.  The only other player who finished in double-digits for Winter Park was 6'2 Brett Comer, who finished with 16 points, four assists, and four steals and no doubt solidified his spot on this year's all-tournament team after his sensation performance last night.  Kabongo led St. Benedict's with 15 points, 6-17 field goals, and 3-9 3-pointers.  Also chipping in with 11 points apiece from St. Benedict's were 6'5 Aaron Brown and 6'6 Mike Poole.  We also think it's interesting to point out that St. Benedict's murdered Winter Park on the boards 40-22, but shot only 21-64 (32.8%) from the field, 4-16 (25.0%) from 3-point land, and 14-26 (53.8%) from the free throw line.  In contrast, Winter Park's shooting percentages were 23-49 (46.9%) from the field, 5-12 (41.7%) from 3-point land, and 24-32 (75.0%) from the free throw line.  Winter Park also becomes the first in-state team since Ed Starks led Miami (Northwest Christian) FL into the title game in 1999 to play in the championship game of this tournament.  The other semi-finals game went pretty much true to form, as Montverde (Academy) FL set the tone early by controlling the tempo and leading a closely contested contest 14-11 at the end of the 1st Quarter.  Then, Paterson (Catholic) NJ went on a 5-0 run to start the 2nd Quarter and the Cougars continued to expand their lead to seven points to make it 25-18 at the intermission.  And they were doing this in light of the fact that 5'7 Jr Myles Mack, who is his team's best 3-point shooter, was only 1-5 from beyond the arc.  Still, Mack with seven points and 6'2 Jermaine Peart from Paterson (Catholic) NJ with eight points were Paterson Catholic's leading scorers.  The only player with any points to speak of at all for Montverde Academy was 6'5 James Bell with five points, 2-5 field goals, and 1-3 3-pointers.  Are you starting to get the idea that this one was ugly?  And it remained ugly until 6'9 Papa Samba Ndao hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 6:9 second left in the game to make it 45-44.  From there is was almost too wild to describe, as players on both teams missed key free throws, they called a technical foul on Montverde Academy for excessive celebrating with less than a second remaining in the game, and Paterson Catholic outscored Montverde Academy 16-4 in overtime.  And the big hero for Paterson Catholic in the overtime was Myles Mack, who accounted for nine points with a big momentum changing 3-point shot, an assist, a pair of free throws, and a lay-up.  The final score was 63-51 and Mack ended up with 21 points, five rebounds, three assists, two turnovers, three steals, 7-14 field goals, and 4-8 3-pointers.  The other big gun for Paterson Catholic was 6'6 Fuquan Edwin from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, who finished with 17 points and 7-15 field goals.  The leading scorer for Montverde Academy was James Bell with 14 points.  We also have to mention 6'5 Jamail Jones, who had 13 points, 5-13 field goals, and 3-8 3-pointers.  And two of those threes came at crunch time late in the game.  And so did 6'6 Haukur Palsson, who finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, and 3-5 field goals.  But Palsson also was one of the players who missed a big three that would have iced the game in regulation.  The schedule for tomorrow's final day in the Bank of America City of Palms Classic in Ft. Myers, FL will begin with three Challenge Round Games with Chicago (De La Salle) IL versus Weston (Sagemont) FL at 8:20 AM, Baltimore (St. Frances) MD versus Lansdowne (Penn Woods) at 10:00 AM, and Huntsville (Butler) AL versus Greensboro (Dudley) NC at 11:40 AM.  Next it will be Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV versus Ft. Myers (H.S.) FL in the Consolation Championship at 1:20 PM, followed by the 5th Place Game with Alpharetta (Milton) GA versus Los Angeles (Westchester) CA at 3:00 PM, Jacksonville (Providence School) FL versus Miami (Dr. Krop) FL in a Sunshine Series Game at 4:40 PM, Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ versus Montverde (Academy) FL in the 3rd Place Game at 7:30 PM, and Winter Park (H.S.) FL versus the Paterson (Catholic) NJ in the Championship Game at 9:30 PM.  

Monday, December 21, 2009

The most interesting thing that happened earlier today in the first two consolation games at the 37th Annual Bank of America City of Palms Classic in Ft. Myers, FL was the two 17-point performances turned in by 7'0 Fabricio DeMelo and 6'6 Will Sheehey, who accounted for 34 of their team's 56 points in Weston (Sagemont) FL's 56-44 win against Greensboro (Dudley) NC.  DeMelo finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds and impressed us with his soft hook shot and good post moves en route to 8-15 field goals.  The Indiana-bound Sheehey used his hustle, energy, athleticism, and skills to set the tone early.  But what impressed us the most about Sheehey was his versatility and nose the ball, which leads us to believe he'll be a jack-of-all-trades and a great role player for the Hoosiers.  On the other hand, the North Carolina-bound 6'6 Jr P.J. Hairston from Greensboro (H.S.) NC, who finished with 18 points, eight points, 5-19 field goals, and 3-11 3-pointers, was a major disappointment as his team lost for the second time in this tournament in three days.  The other consolation game, which featured Chicago (De La Salle) IL versus Bartow (H.S.) FL, is hardly worth writing about, as De La Salle coasted to 57-40 win and 6'8 Jr Mike Shaw from Chicago (De La Salle) IL, who finished 12 points, six rebounds, six turnovers, and 4-8 field goals, continued to head South.  If you will recall, Shaw was ranked as one of the top five or 10 players nationally in his class when he was a freshman in high school, but has never developed the toughness and consistency necessary to live up to the early hype and expectations.  Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL jumped out to a 4-0 lead early, but it was all Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV the rest of the way in the final consolation game of the day in Bank of America City of Palms Classic.  The final score was 87-50 and it was the outside shooting of 6'3 Jr Jabari Brown and 6'4 Thomas Laerke, who combined for 7-12 treys for Findlay Prep, that really broke the back of the local school.  We already know all about Brown, who is ranked #32 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.   But we had never heard of Laerke, who not only hit 4-5 3-pointers, but also impressed us with his willingness to compete, ability to defend, and deceptive athleticism.  However, after averaging 6.3 ppg a year ago on Gainesville (H.S.) FL, which won the 5-A Florida State Championship, he returned to his native Denmark and, as a result, did not play any AAU ball this past summer.  So it looks like we're talking about a legitimate sleeper.  And, if he plays like this all the time, Laerke will be a  legitimate top 100 senior nationally.  We also were impressed with 6'8 Godwin Okonji from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, who had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds and is one of the best big men in the senior class nationally that is still available.   Not living up to their press clippings in this game were 6'3 Corey Joseph, 6'10 Jr Tristan Thompson, and 6'3 Jr Nick Johnson, who combined for only 20 points and 7-16 field goals for Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV.  But in a game like this they didn't have to.  Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ won this tournament two years ago and, after the Gray Bees jumped out to a 20-11 lead early and coasted from there to a 71-52 win against Baltimore (St. Frances) MD in first quarterfinals game of the day, they appear to be on track to make it a repeat.  The guy who makes St. Benedict's go is 6'3 Jr Myck Kabongo, who finished with 19 points, three assists, five turnovers, four steals, 5-8 field goals, 2-3 3-pointers, and 7-10 free throws and more than lived up to his #10 national ranking by the HOOP SCOOP with his jet-like speed and quickness, excellent court savvy, and ability to make everybody around him better.  We also were impressed with the chemistry, toughness, and defense that we saw from all of the other starters - 6'5 Aaron Brown, 6'6 Mike Poole, 6'8 Gil Biruta, and 6'10 J.P. Kambola - on the St. Benedict's team. as they held St. Frances to only 18-57 field goals (31.6%) and 4-14 3-point shooting (28.6%).  Kambola had 10 points, six rebounds, and 5-7 field goals, but it was his seven blocked shots that will get him ranked among the top shot blockers in the tournament.  Biruta only had two points, three rebounds, and two steals, but he does a lot of the dirty work that doesn't show up in the box score and, as a result, projects as a good role player for Rutgers.  Poole had 10 points, four assists, and 5-12 field goals and impressed us with athleticism and ability to defend.  Brown finished with 17 points, five assists, 5-8 field goals, and 2-4 3-pointers, but it was his versatility and improved outside shooting (2-4 3-pointers) that made him his team's second best player, behind Kabongo.  The best player for Baltimore (St. Frances) MD was 6'3 Dante Holmes, who finished with 19 points, nine rebounds.  Also chipping in with 13 points and 3-6 3-pointers was 6'2 Jr Sam Cassell Jr, who is the son of the former NBA player and current Washington Wizards assistant coach Sam Cassell.  We also have to mention 6'8 Jr Greg Lewis from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, because this mechanical power forward who is ranked #114 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP was one of the biggest disappointments of the entire day with zero points, eight rebounds, 0-6 field goals. 

I'm still trying to figure out what happened in the second quarterfinals game of the day between Winter Park (H.S.) FL and Alpharetta (Milton) GA  in the Bank of America City of Palms Classic.  Milton appeared to be in command of the game throughout most of the first half, as 6'8 Jr Julian Royal was controlling things inside, 6'2 Jr Shannon Scott was making things happen in transition, and 6'3 Jr Dai-Jon Parker was doing a great job of denying 6'4 Jr Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL open looks out on the perimeter.  Rivers did have 16 points, but Winter Park took over the game and actually had a five-point lead with only seven seconds left in the first half, thanks primarily to the efforts of 6'2 Brett Comer, 6'7 Adam Jones, and 6'5 Robert Lovaglio.  And even more unbelievable is the fact that Rivers did not score a single point in the Third Quarter, but his team was up by eight at the end of the quarter.  Rivers did manage to score five points in the 4th Quarter, but missed several key free throws and some big shots that would made it even worse than the 73-64 final score might indicate.  And Comer, who had 22 points, eight assists, three steals, 8-12 field goals, and 2-3 3-pointers, was clearly the star of the game and the player most responsible for Winter Park's stunning upset over one of the top-ranked high school in the nation.  Also making some big shots and doing a lot of the blue collar work on the boards, was Lovaglio, who finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds, two steals, 5-8 field goals, and 2-2 3-pointers.  And Adams, who chipped in with 10 points, five rebounds, and 5-9 field goals, also stepped up and made some big baskets in the paint.  Royal led Milton with 24 points, 13 rebounds, and 10-16 field goals and was a force to be reckoned with around the basket.  Scott had 18 points, six assists, three turnovers, and two steals, but the outside shot stopped going down in the 2nd half, as he finished with only 6-20 field goals for the game.  And Parker and 6'7 Soph Evan Nolte were even worse, as they combined for only 6-25 field goals and 1-10 3-pointers and Milton made a quick exit into the 5th Place Bracket, where they will play Baltimore (St. Frances) MD at 3:30 PM tomorrow.  And prior to that game will be a Challenge Round Game with Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL versus Bartow (H.S.) FL at 10:15 AM and consolation games with Weston (Sagemont) FL versus Ft. Myers (H.S.) FL at Noon and Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV versus Chicago (De La Salle) IL at 1:45 PM.  And immediately following that game will be another 5th Place Game with Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA versus Los Angeles (Westchester) CA at 5:15 PM and semi-finals games with Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ versus Winter Park (H.S.) FL at 7:00 PM and Paterson (Catholic) NJ versus Montverde (Academy) FL at 9:30 PM.  The first half of the final quarterfinals game of the day between Los Angeles (Westchester) CA and Montverde (Academy) FL was ugly.  Westchester led 23-18, but Montverde Academy was doing a good job of keeping the Comets from getting any easy baskets and playing at an up tempo pace.  And, after hitting only 4-17 (23.5%) field goals in the first half, Montverde Academy hit its first four shots of the second half, including a pair of threes by 6'5 James Bell, to take a 29-25 lead.  By the end of the 3rd Quarter Montverde was ahead 39-31 and in control of the game.  Then, Montverde Academy sealed the deal by going on a 12-0 to start the 4th Quarter.  The final score was 62-47 and Bell, who finished with 23 points, 7-13 field goals, and 5-8 3-pointers, was clearly the best player in the game.  He was complemented by 6'5 Jamail Jones with 12 points and 10 rebounds and 6'7 Jr Steve Mondu-Missi with 10 points.  6'2 Jordin Mayes was the leading scorer for Westchester with 15 points.  However, he was also only 3-10 from the field and 1-5 from beyond the arc.  Also chipping in with 11 points, but not scoring a single point in the second half for Westchester until there was only 30 second left in the game was 6'5 Kareem Jamar. 

Saturday, December 19, 2009, & Sunday, December 20, 2009

It really is like the blind leading the blind.  We're talking about Greg Hicks and Tracy Pierson, who publish the BruinReportOnline.com, which is a web site that covers UCLA sports.  If you recall, these are the geniuses who ranked Lee Cummard over Aaron Afflalo and Quentin Thomas over Jordan Farmar, thought Jerime Anderson was a better prospect than Brandon Jennings, had Anderson ranked higher than Malcolm Lee, thought Anthony Stover was a high Division I prospect, have never given 6'2 Gary Franklin from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA and 6'8 Jr DeAndre Daniels from Woodland Hills (Taft) CA their just due, and think UCLA should offer a scholarship to 6'1 Jr Gary Bell from Kent (Kentridge) WA.  We bring this up, because earlier this week Greg Hicks wrote the following on his web site:  "One thing people need to keep in mind is that Anderson was a very good prospect.  There's a reason that every scout with a clue (not to mention numerous coaches across the country) liked him so much out of high school.  That he hasn't developed into the player that everyone thought he would be is on him and the UCLA staff.  You don't see many top prospects that are worse in their sophomore year of college than they were as high school seniors.  Whether Anderson can recover and fulfill the promise that he once showed remains to be seen."  First of all, I would like to point out that I have always maintained that Anderson was overrated and that he was never good enough to be more than a good role player for the Bruins.  Second, I have stood the test of time in the business (I've been publishing the HOOP SCOOP for almost 27 years).  I also have been the recruiting analyst for Basketball Times, which is the top monthly basketball publication in the nation, for over 20 years, am a member of the McDonald's All-American Selection Committee, and have been recognized by numerous publications, including Sports Illustrated, as one of the foremost authorities on high school basketball in the United States.  So obviously when Hicks implies that I didn't have a clue about how good Anderson was in high school, he's doesn't know what he's talking about.  As a matter of fact, after watching Anderson score nine points in the semi-finals and 16 points in the Silver Division Championship Game at the Double Pump Best of the Summer High School Boy's Basketball Tournament at Cal State Dominquez Hills in Carson, CA on July 31, 2007, I told Hicks that I thought he was right about having to watch Anderson play in his high school setting to appreciate him.  And this is important, because Anderson was a soft Orange County player who at the time would have been a good fit for a school in the Western Athletic/Mountain West Conference or the mid-major level.   In other words, the proof of the budding is in the eating, as Hicks is clearly as out to lunch with his evaluations as he is with regards to the way he perceives his peers.  Even more offensive is the fact that he tends to blame everybody but himself for the fact that Anderson has turned out to be a total bust.  We're talking about a player who is currently averaging 5.8 ppg, 3.8 apg, and 2.5 spg on a 3-7 team that has already lost games to schools like Cal State-Fullerton, Portland, and Long Beach State.  On the other hand, UCLA head coach Ben Howland has guided the Bruins to three NCAA Final Four appearances in the last four years, is recognized as one of the top 10 head coaches in the game today by the HOOP SCOOP, and is second to none in terms of X's and O's, game preparation, getting the most out of his players, and successfully putting freshmen and sophomores into the NBA.  And Hicks' peers in the business aren't the only ones that he appears to have contempt for, as he accuses his readers of being clueless idiots.  And, if you don't believe me, just check out some of this quotes about Anderson after he had three points, two rebounds, three assists, three turnovers, two steals, 1-11 field goals, 0-3 3-pointers, and 1-3 free throws in UCLA's opening season loss to Cal State-Fullerton.  "Jerime Anderson having a bad game in his first college start didn't change the fact that there are a bunch of lawyers, doctors and accountants on this board that need to be reminded they're not experts in the field of basketball.  As I said originally, know your role.  Buy your ticket, eat your nachos, and do the eight-clap."  As unbelievable as it might seem, this is what Hicks repeatedly is saying to the people who subscribe to his web site.  In sharp contrast to Hicks, I don't think this is rocket science or brain surgery.  I also never cease to be amazed at the knowledge and perspective of the avid college basketball fan.  I also believe in the importance of debate and seeking of insight of people who have different opinions.  However, Hicks and Pierson run the BruinReportOnline.com like two-bit dictators in some small South American country, whereby, they talk down to their audience and immediately erase any posting from their site that they don't like or don't agree with.  Not only do I think this is egregious, but I have a tremendous amount of respect for the knowledge and passion that the fans in our reading audience have and am often amazed at the insight and prospective that they provide to the HOOP SCOOP.  So with all this in mind, I'm going to do two things.  First, I want to hear from you about the topic at hand.  Do you argue with me or do you agree with Hicks?  Second, in the spirit of Christmas and the Holiday Season, I'm going to give a one-year subscription to the Members Section to whoever sends me the best email and 10 one-month subscriptions to the Members Section to other people who provide me with their unique prospective on this topic.  So I encourage you to email me with your comments to hoopscooponline@msn.com.  And whether you agree with me or disagree with me is irrelevant, as long as what you say is in good taste and you back up your points with facts and solid reasoning. 

Friday, December 18, 2009

Memphis (Central) TN jumped out to a 20-10 lead early against Louisville (Ballard) KY in the first game of the day at the 2009 King of the Bluegrass Holiday Classic at Fairdale High School in Fairdale, KY.  But they never seemed to be able put the game away, thanks primarily to the efforts of 6'1 Ian Chiles, who finished with 25 points, 7-17 field goals, 4-6 3-pointers, 7-8 free throws, two assists, nine turnovers, and four steals.  And, just like his older brother (Adam Chiles), Chiles has jet-like speed and quickness, is an excellent 3-point shooter, and is shaky in the classroom, which makes him prime junior college material.  We also have to mention 6'3 Keisten Jones, who chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds and appears to be an excellent catch for Bellarmine due to his "tweener" size and lack of a consistent 3-point shot.  However, in the final analysis the Bruins didn't have the size, depth, and talent necessary to beat a well-balanced and very athletic team, which featured eight players - 5'11 Masceo Harmon, 6'8 Soph Jarnell Stokes, 6'5 Tim Peete, 5'10 Soph Blake Johnson, 6'4 Soph Andre Applewhite, 6'7 Jr Cameron Clear, 6'0 Allen Farmer, and 6'5 Soph D'airirus Sorrell - who scored 13, 11, 10, nine, eight, seven, five, and four points apiece respectively.  Their best player was Harmon, who also had six steals and more than made up for his lack of size with his toughness, speed and quickness, and knack for making things happen in transition.  Their best prospect is Stokes, who is currently ranked #48 nationally in the sophomore class and has the size and potential necessary to evolve into a physical specimen and a force to be reckoned with around the basket.  Peete, who is ranked #310 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and is bound for Tulsa, impressed us with his athleticism and ability to slash to the basket.  The big story in the second game was the 21-point/20-rebound performance turned by 6'8 Jr Vinny Zollo from Winchester (Clark County) KY, who was the catalyst behind his team's 74-56 win against Huntsville (Lee) AL.  We still question whether Zollo has the speed, quickness, and athleticism and the physical attributes necessary to project as a high major recruit?  But we were very impressed with his skills, nose for the ball, willingness to compete, and ability to step out and hit the open three (he was 2-3 from behind the arc).  Zollo also had plenty of help inside from 6'7 Jr Travis Purvis from Winchester (Clark County) KY, who finished with nine points and nine rebounds, and outside, where 6'4 Jr Robbie Stenzel from Winchester (Clark County) KY finished with 21 points, 5-13 field goals, 2-6 3-pointers, and 9-10 free throws, and 6'6 Jr Jaylen Daniel from Winchester (Clark County) KY finished with 14 points, 7-10 field goals, 0 assists, and six turnovers.  We were especially intrigued with Daniel due to his size, length, athleticism, and ability to play point guard at 6'6.  But we were also disappointed with his decision making, assist-to-turnover ratio, and inability to shoot the basketball (most of his points came off drives to the basket).  And, after watching 6'6 Josh Langford from Huntsville (Lee) AL finish with 13 points, seven rebounds, 5-17 field goals, and 1-3 3-pointers, it's clear that he made a good decision when he re-opened his recruitment this fall.  If you will recall, Langford verbally committed to the University of Louisville a year-and-a-half ago, but has never developed the perimeter skills necessary to play at the big time level and, as a result, is still an undersized inside guy.  Also showing some flashes was Langford's younger brother - 6'6 Jr Devin Langford from Huntsville (Lee) AL.  But it's hard to get too excited about a guy who hit only 2-11 field goals and 0-2 3-pointers en route only four points and six rebounds.  The third game was supposed to be like a walk in the park for Fairdale (H.S) KY.  But Hindman (Knott County Central) KY had other plans as they pulled off a stunning 67-66 upset and, in the process, sent the host school into the loser's bracket.  And the big hero for Knott County Central was 6'2 Soph Zack Davis, who finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, 7-11 field goals, and 2-5 3-pointers.  But even important, Davis hit a pull-up mid-range jumper that turned out to be the game winning shot with 5.9 seconds left in the game.   Fairdale was led by 6'4 Quintrell Morris, who finished with 18 points, 17 rebounds, and five assists, and 5'11 Anthoney Claypool, who had 22 points, 7-17 field goals, and 6-15 3-pointers.  The final game of the day featured the three best players in the tournament in 6'2 Trae Golden from Powder Springs (McEachern) GA, 6'7 Elijah Pittman from Covington (Holmes) KY, and 6'4 Ricardo Johnson from Covington (Holmes) KY.  And this one was too close to call until Golden hit a pair of field goals and McEachern went on a 7-0 run to put his team up 51-44 with less than five minutes left in the game.  The final score was 59-51 and it was clear that one high major player trumped to mid-major-plus players this time around.  Golden, who is ranked #49 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and is a strong physical slashing athletic 2-guard that is already signed, sealed, and delivered to Tennessee, finished with 23 points and four rebounds.   Johnson, who is currently the #2-ranked senior in the state by the HOOP SCOOP and is an excellent athlete, a jack-of-all-trades, and a steal for Ohio University, had an off night only nine points, 2-12 field goals, and 1-5 field goals.  Pittman, who is without a doubt the fastest rising player in the state and prime junior college material due to his questionable academics, finished with 18 points and five rebounds.  However, even more important, it now looks like continues to make a strong case for being ranked as the #1-senior in the state.  This sets up tomorrow's schedule, which will feature Memphis (Central) TN versus Winchester (Clark County) KY at 4:30 PM, Hindman (Knott County Central) KY versus Louisville (Seneca) KY at 6:00 PM, Louisville (Trinity) KY versus Powder Springs (McEachern) GA at 7:30 PM, and Shelbyville (Shelby County) KY versus Louisville (Eastern) KY at 9:00 PM in winner's bracket and Louisville (Ballard) KY versus Huntsville (Lee) KY at 4:30 PM, Fairdale (H.S.) KY versus Bowling Green (Warren Central) KY at 6:00 PM, and Scottsdale (Chapparal) AZ versus Covington (Holmes) KY at 7:30 PM, and Lexington (Tates Creek) KY versus Louisville (Iroquois) KY in the Consolation Bracket. 

Thursday, December 17, 2009

It didn't take long for things to get interesting earlier today at the 2009 King of the Bluegrass Holiday Classic at Fairdale High School in Fairdale, KY, as 6'3 Frosh Darryl Hicks from Shelbyville (Scott County) KY led his team to a 79-75 overtime win against Louisville (Iroquois) KY in the opening game of the tournament.  Hicks, who promises to be the best player to come out of Shelby County since Charles Hurt led the Rockets to the 1978 Kentucky High School State Championship, had 27 points, nine rebounds, 11-18 field goals, and 2-4 3-pointers.  However, even more important, is the fact that Hicks showed maturity beyond his years, did everything within the flow of game, made the two clutch free throws that iced the game, and helped make those around him better.  And the chief beneficiary was 6'0 Cache Tomlinson, who hit seven 3-pointers, including a big one in overtime, en route to 23 points for Shelby County.  Physically and athletically Tomlinson isn't probably a Division I, but the fact that he can shoot the lights out and has a 4.0 gpa in the classroom makes us thing he won't have to pay for his college education.  We also we impressed with the ability of 6'6 Donovan Johnson from Shelbyville (Shelby County) KY, who finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds, and five steals, to get things done around the basket.  However, we question what position Johnson is going to play at the next level?  We also suspect that IUPIU assistant coach Todd Howard may have another steal on his hands after watching 6'7 Donovan Gibbs get a double-double (20 points and 12 rebounds) for Louisville (Iroquois) KY.  Gibbs is projected as a wing forward, but he's long and athletic, has a soft touch and good hands, and is extremely effective around the basket.  Instead, the guy who does most of the damage from the outside for Iroquois was 6'4 Jr Jermaine Jackson, who finished with 23 points, but was only 8-23 from the field, 4-12 from beyond the arc, and 3-5 from the line.  Louisville (Eastern) KY beat Lexington (Tates Creek) KY, 55-45, in the second first-round game of the day.  But the big story here was the 19-point performance and 3-6 3-point shooting performance that was turned in by 6'3 Jr Arman Marks.  And making Marks upside and potential even more intriguing is the fact that he's a southpaw and has big time athleticism.  In contrast, 6'3 Jr Remy Abell from Louisville (Eastern) KY, who is ranked among the top 150 juniors nationally by Rivals.com and is supposed to be his team's best player, was a major bust, as he finished with only eight points, four rebounds, 4-11 field goals, and 0-4 3-pointers.  The two best players for Lexington (Tates Creek) KY were 6'3 Jr Marcellus Barksdale, who had 12 points, nine rebounds, and 5-10 field goals, and 6'2 Ryan Fucci, who had six points, 2-14 field goals and, 0-5 3-pointers.  And Tates Creek's lack of outside shooting and inability to handle the athleticism and pressure that was provided by the Eastern players proved to be the big difference in the game.  The third game of the day was not as close as the final 62-54 score would indicate, as Louisville (Seneca) KY used its speed, quickness, athleticism, toughness, and outside shooting to send Bowling Green (Warren Central) KY into the loser's bracket.  The outside shooting was provided by 6'2 Zach McElwain from Louisville (Seneca) KY, who finished with 17 points, six assists, 6-8 field goals, and 4-5 3-pointers.  We're talking about a true combo guard, as McElwain also has good ball handling and passing skills, has excellent court savvy, and is very good at running the show.  The fact that he's also deceptively athletic makes him a legitimate sleeper for the mid-major level.  And providing the quickness and athleticism were for Seneca were 6'3 Jr Martez Harris and 6'4 Aaron Nance, who combined for 24 points, 17 rebounds, and six steals.  We're also wondering what happened to 6'7 Jr George Fant from Bowling Green (Warren Central) KY, who finished with only six points and five rebounds and was like a fish out of water against Seneca's smaller and quicker players.  The leading scorer for Warren Central was 6'4 Brett Jackson with 14 points.  But their best player was 6'2 Shamarcus Wells, who finished with 12 points, five rebounds, and 5-9 field goals.  The big attraction in the final game of the day was 6'1 Jr Zeke Chapman from Scottsdale (Chapparal) AZ, who is the son of former University of Kentucky All-American Rex Chapman.  Unfortunately Chapman didn't play due to an injury and, as a result, the door was opened for this to be like a walk-in the park for Louisville (Trinity) KY, which jumped out to a17-8 led early and never really looked back in a game that really wasn't as close as the 66-55 final score would indicate.  Trinity's best player and leading scorer was 6'5 Taylor Epley, who finished with 20 points, six rebounds, 7-12 field goals, and 2-6 3-pointers.  We also were impressed with Trinity's future, as 6'0 Soph Charles Foster and 6'5 Soph Nathan Dieudonne, both whom started and combined for nine points, four rebounds, and four steals, and 6'0 Frosh Jimmy Quick played some in the second half and finished with four points, all project as mid-to-high major recruits.  The two players who impressed us the most for Chapparal were 6'1 Jarrett Upchurch, who finished with 15 points, two assists, and three steals, and 6'0 Nick Tomsick, who knocked down five treys and also finished with 15 points.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Mitch Malone is the President and Director of Texas Bluechips Basketball and for many years he's been an important source of information for the HOOP SCOOP when it comes to high school basketball talent in the Lone Star State.  So when he stops and tells us about some of his players who he thinks have fallen under the radar screen or not getting the notoriety and attention that they deserve, we have to listen.  Malone starts with 6'6 Jr Thomas Gipson from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, who joined the Texas Bluechips last summer in time to play in the Reebok Championships and the adidas Best of Summer.  Currently we have Gipson ranked #90 nationally in the junior class, but Malone thinks Gibson could be a younger version of former University of Pittsburgh All-American DaJuan Blair, who is now getting plenty of playing time as a rookie for the San Antonio Spurs.  "Thomas can be a tenacious rebounder and can score around the basket," says Malone.  "Because of his new found motivation, his stock is really on the rise and, as a result, it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up being one of the top players in the class in the state, right up there along with LeBryan Nash and Jamal Branch."  Malone also thinks we've got 6'1 Soph Deion Houston from Duncanville (H.S.) TX ranked way too low at #208 nationally in the sophomore class.  "Deion has grown three inches and now reclassified into the Class of 2012 after moving from God's Academy to Duncanville," says Malone.  "And he's maturing into a high major point guard prospect.  He's also has a really good feel for passing the ball and knows how to run a team, as well as how to create his own shot.  Now his athleticism is starting to surface, where he's now attacking the rim and really pushing the ball into the teeth of the defense ,and showing he's strong enough to score in traffic.  Deion is now paired with Perry Jones and will be able to show first hand how much he's improved and that he's one of the top 10 point guards in the Class of 2012.  Currently Kansas, Oklahoma, Florida International, Georgia, Texas and Texas A&M have all show interest and are expected to make offers."  Malone also is really high on 6'4 Soph Uche Ofegebu from San Antonio (Warren) TX, who thinks is a great sleeper for the 50-100 range nationally.  "Uche is third Ofogebu brother to play for me," says Malone.  "John played at Texas Texas, Ike played at SMU, and both sisters are also playing college basketball as well.  So needless to say this is one athletic family to say the lease.  Uche is a physically bruising player who uses his big boned body to get to the rack, as well as shoot it from mid-range.  Right now Uche reminds me of a young Caron Butler, but he's got the potential to grow to 6'8 or 6'9, just like his older Brothers."  Malone also is really excited about all of the good young players that he has in his program, like 6'6 Frosh D.J. Miles from Meridian (H.S.) MS, 6'4 Frosh Michael Grant from Plano (H.S.) TX, and 5'6 Frosh Kaelen Malone from McKinney (Boyd) TX.  "D.J. is a force inside, because of his proficiency," says Malone.  "He shoots almost 80% from the field, has range out to 12-feet, and also is a great shot blocker with really good timing.  If he continues to grow a couple of more inches and also keeps working hard to get better, we could be talking about a top 10-ranked player nationally in his class by the time he graduates in 2013.  Michael is an absolute warrior and is the toughest kid in my program bar none.  When I say tough,  I mean Quincy Acy/Kenyon Martin tough.  Michael is consistently in attack mode on both ends of the floor.  Plus, he can finish inside against bigger players and can also step outside and shoot, which makes him really hard to defend.  It may help that his Dad is a former NFL Linebacker too.  Michael is like a cross between Billy Walker, Leon Poe, and Demarre Carroll and is best when attacking the basket from the short corner, free throw line, or from the post.   He also has only one speed.  And that's 110 mile per hour.  I have to really watch Michael's minutes because he plays so darn hard on every play, which is a great problem to have.  It also will be interesting to see whether he continues to grow over the next couple of years.  If he does grow, he'll be a true power forward.  If he doesn't grow, he'll ends up being only 6'4 or 6'5 and projecting as a wing forward.  Kaelen is a floor general who knows how to run multiple offenses, which a coach's kid should.  Kaelen is really good at setting up his teammates and understanding how to get them the ball when and where they can be the most effective.  He also has the ability to use his speed and quickness to push the ball and get to the basket.  His only drawback is that he's really small.  But he's also eight months to a year younger than most kids in his grade.  I grew four inches after high school when I went from 5'10 to 6'2, which changed everything for me.  So it wouldn't surprise me if the same thing happens with my son.   At this point schools like Baylor, Marquette, Florida International, DePaul, and Miami-FL are showing the most interest."  Some other Texas Bluechips players that Malone wants to mention are   6'6 Jr A.J. Crump from Ft. Worth (Dunbar) TX, 5'10 Jr Trey Norris from Grand Prairie (South) TX, 6'4 Frosh Devonte Pryor from Emory (H.S.) TX, 5'10 Frosh Marcus Foster from Wichita Falls (Herschi) TX, 6'3 Frosh Dalvin McDaniel from Duncanville (H.S.) TX,  5'7 Frosh Walter Munnings from Coppell (H.S.) TX, and 6'5 8th Grader Quan Shaw from Dallas (Maynard Jackson Middle School) TX.  "I also hope to be adding Mikel Parish to the Bluechips this spring," says Malone.  "Parish is a 6'0 point guard who is really talented.  We also are in hot pursuit of a 6'7 8th Grader from the Dallas area who has a lot of potential as well."

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Our Midwest Editor Antonio Curro called me yesterday and wanted me to take a look at his new and improved web site, which you can link to by clicking onto NY2LA Sports.com.  And, after doing so, I must admit that I am quite impressed.  Right at the top of the home page are links to all of Curro's upcoming events, which are the NY2LA Sports Extravaganza at Nicolet High School in Glendale, WI on January 18th; Swish 'N Dish Spring Warm-up in Milwaukee, WI on April 2nd-4th; NY2LA Sports Invitational in Milwaukee, WI on May 21st-23rd; Generation Next All-Star Camp in Milwaukee, WI in June 2009.  There also is a big picture of 6'8 Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ and a link to the new ranking of the top 100 players nationally in the Class of 2011.  And right below that are links to the Phenom Nation and 414 Hoops web sites.  The former represents the future, as it features the top freshmen and middle school players in the nation.  The latter takes care of business right in Curro's backyard, as its focus is exclusively on covering high school hoops in the nation's Cheese State.   Next to that you can do player searches in the NY2LA Sports.com database and below that are a list of recent commitments, a place to enter your email address to receive emails from NY2LA Sports.com, a link to NY2LA Sports.com's twitter page, some hot prospects, a calendar of events, an ad for one of his events, and something called the "Daily Dime," which is where you can get articles and updates on players.  And finally at the bottom of the page is where you can find NY2LA Sports.com's top 100-ranked players in the Class of 2010, Class of 2011, Class of 2012, and Class of 2013.  In case you were wondering, the top 10-ranked seniors are 1) 6'3 Brandon Knight from Ft. Lauderdale (Pine Crest) FL, 2) 6'6 Harrison Barnes from Ames (H.S.) IA, 3) 6'10 Perry Jones from Duncanville (H.S.) TX, 4) 6'8 Jared Sullinger from Columbus (Northland) OH, 5) 6'6 Will Barton from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, 6) 6'9 Tristan Thompson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 7) Josh Selby from Baltimore (Lake Clifton) MD, 8) 6'10 Adreian Payne from Dayton (Jefferson) OH, 9) 6'8 C.J. Leslie from Raleigh (Word of God) NC, and 10) 6'2 Kyrie Irving from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ and the top 10-ranked juniors are 1) 6'8 Jr Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 2) 6'4 Jr Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, 3) 6'10 Jr Rakeem Christmas from Bryn Athyn (Academy of the New Church) PA, 4) 6'9 Jr James McAdoo from Norfolk (Christian) VA, 5) 6'1 Jr Marquis Teague from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, 6) 6'9 Jr Johnny O'Bryant from Cleveland (Eastside) MS, 7) 6'5 Jr Wayne Blackshear from Chicago (Morgan Park) IL, 8) 6'4 Jr Tony Wroten from Seattle (Garfield) WA, 9) 6'5 Jr Branden Dawson from Gary (Lew Wallace) IN, and 10) 6'4 Jr Kevin Ware from Conyers (Rockdale County) GA.  NY2LA Sports.com also is set to release its 2012 and 2013 National Player Rankings on Wednesday and Thursday and, as a result, the end of the week will be the perfect time to check back and see these updated rankings.  Another thing that Curro makes note of are "the video game type numbers" that 6'5 Jr Wayne Blackshear from Chicago (Morgan Park) IL has been putting up early in the season.   "Blackshear turned in a 40-point 21-rebound effort last night to pace Morgan Park to a 7-0 record on the year," says Curro.  "He's stating his case that he is one of the prized recruits in the 2011 class."  Also on Curro's list of "Hot Prospects" is 6'5 Jr Branden Dawson from Gary (Lew Wallace) IN and he makes note of the fact that Dawson is averaging over 30.0 ppg so far this season.  "Dawson is a freakish athlete with a huge upside," says Curro.  "Another big name to keep tabs on is Willie Cauley.  This 6'10, 210-pound center had 34 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 blocks in a win over the weekend for his Spearville High School in Kansas.  He looks the part of one of the premier bigs on the rise in the country."  And don't sleep on 6'6 Roy Marshall from Milwaukee (Pulaski) WI.  "Marshall has a chance to take the country by storm the same way Justin Coleman did this past spring/summer," says Curro.  "He's been putting up big numbers and last night helped his team to another win with 29 points and 15 rebounds."  Curro also can't stop singing the praises of 6'4 Vander Blue from Madison (Memorial) WI, who jumped out of the box in big fashion with 23 points, eight rebounds, six, assists, six steals, and three blocks in his team's opening game of the season victory earlier this month.  "The McDonald's All-American candidate followed that up with a 21-point effort this past weekend and is set for a huge test on Saturday when his team faces Milwaukee King in the Converse/Eastbay Classic." says Currro.  "And don't forget the name Peter Jok.  This 6'5 freshman from Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, IA is one of the top freshmen in the country and will have the gyms filled with college coaches in the coming years.  Jok is a blend of size, athleticism, and skill and has a lethal perimeter stroke that he uses to take over the game."  Curro also makes note of the fact that NY2LA Sports.com once again will feature a loaded calendar of events during the spring and summer of 2010.  "The Swish & Dish Spring Warm-Up in recent years has featured the likes of Harrison Barnes, Evan Turner, Vander Blue, Jereme Richmond, Korie Lucious, Jamil Wilson, Adreian Payne, Trent Lockett," says Curro.  "This event is annually one of the best events in the country and it promises to be loaded once again this spring."  And following this up on the third weekend in May will be the NY2LA Sports Invitational, which has drawn Wayne Blackshear, Keith Appling, Jakarr Sampson, James "Zac" Price, and many of the other just mentioned names in recent years.  June will bring the Generation Next All-Star Camp, which offers up one of the best development and exposure camps for middle school talent in the country.  "Players like Jabari Parker, Duane Wilson Jr., Riley Dearing, Richard Freeman, Deonte Burton, Jonathan Carson, James Blackmon, Alex Dykema, Kamil Williams, and Vijay Blackmon are just a few of the names who've put it down at this camp during the last several years."  July will once again offer up a loaded schedule with the Next Level Invitational on July 6th-9th  and the Summer Jam on July 12th-15th.  These events feature all games inside a state-of-the-art facility and many of the biggest names in college basketball took in games at these events last year," says Curro.  "All the information can be found at NY2LA Sports.com.

Saturday, December 12, 2009, Sunday, December 13, 2009, & Monday, December 14, 2009

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that 6'10 Jr Peter Alexis from Wilkes-Barre (Holy Redeemer) PA has made an early verbal commitment to Penn State.  We're talking about a 6'10 post player who is ranked #207 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP and #13 in the area's junior class by Rubin.  However, that doesn't even begin to tell you how important a catch this is for the Nittany Lions, which are currently in need of a strong inside presence.  "Alexis is the consummate low post player," says Rubin.  "He has good footwork, is a good rebounder, and can score in a variety of ways around the basket." The addition of Alexis also gives Penn State head coach Ed Dechellis and his staff a good ahead start on the future with a recruiting class that is now ranked #20 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2011 and also already includes 6'0 Trey Burke from Columbus (Northland) OH.  However, even more is the fact that Alexis should provide an excellent to 6'1 Frosh Tim Frazier, 6'6 Frosh Bill Edwards, and 6'3 Taran Buie from Boalsburg (State College) PA, who promise to provide the Nittany Lions with plenty of firepower out on the perimeter in the years to come.  And last, but not least, Alexis not only is an in-state kid, but he's also the best basketball player to come out of Northeast Pennsylvania since Gerry McNamara graduated from Scranton (Bishop Hannah) PA in 2002.  Our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio tells us that late last week the University of Connecticut landed 6'7 Maurice Harkless from Forest Hills (H.S.) NY, who is ranked #112 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.   "It not what Harkless is right now, it's what he's going to be down the road," says Naclerio.  "He's got a 7'2 wing span, he's learning how to play out on the perimeter, his outside shoot is getting better, and he is still just only 16-years old.  He's also a nice kid and, once he gets stronger and fills out physically, his upside and potential are off the chart."  It also looks like the four players signed by Southeastern Louisiana during the Fall Signing Period fell under the radar screen, as only now are we finding out about 6'8 Josh Lockett from Wabash Valley (JC) IL, 5'10 Michael Harrell from Baton Rouge (Southern Lab) LA, 6'3 Jeremy Campbell from Hattiesburg (Oak Grove) MS, and 6'6 Onochie Ochie from Albany (Westover) GA all being apart of the Lions' current recruiting class.  And, after reading the school's official press release, we suspect that Ochie could turn out to be a major steal.  "Another fabulous athlete is this class with a 40-inch vertical leap, a soft 3-point touch, and terrific ball handling skills for his size," said Southeastern Louisiana head coach Jim Yarbrough.  "He can guard a number of players on the floor."  Campbell also appears to be an excellent defender and is versatile enough to play multiple positions.  Harrell is a pure point guard with the speed and quickness, ball handling and passing skills, and court savvy necessary to run a team.  Lockett is a 6'8, 245-pound blue collar power forward who has been described as the hardest working player on his junior college team.  We also have confirmed that 6'7 Soph Jalen Robinson from Columbus (Northland) OH has made an early verbal commitment to West Virginia.  Robinson is ranked #89 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but it's all the connections that make this one particularly interesting.  First, Robinson is the sixth man on a high school team that is one of the best in the country and features 6'8 Jared Sullinger from Columbus (Northland) OH, who is the #1-ranked high school player in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP.  Second, Robinson is close friends with 6'8 Soph Elijah Macon from Columbus (Marion-Franklin) OH, who is ranked #25 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP and also has already made an early verbal commitment to the Mountaineers in a recruiting class that is now ranked #2 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2012.  Third, West Virginia head coach Bobby Huggins got his start in coaching at Ohio State and, as a result, he's gone back to his old stamping grounds to get the two top-ranked sophomores in the Buckeye State.  We also find it interesting that 6'1 Lazeric Jones from John A. Logan (JC) IL has official visits planned later this month to UCLA and Wisconsin and also is considering schools like Arizona, Nevada, DePaul, Alabama, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State.  Jones, who is ranked #15 in the junior college ranks by JucoJunction.com and is currently averaging 10.7 ppg and 5.8 apg, obviously would be the quick fix that UCLA needs now that it's clear that 6'1 Jerime Anderson is a major bust at point guard from the Bruins.  And what about the fact that the University of Louisville has joined a list of schools that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Clemson, Memphis, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State in the race for 6'8 Ricardo Ratliffe from Central Florida (JC) FL, who is the #1-ranked  junior college player in the nation by JucoJunction.com?  If you will recall, the last junior college player that the Cardinals recruited was 6'7 Donta Smith from Southeastern Illinois (JC) IL.  However, Smith decided to forgo his final two years of college and entered the 2004 NBA Draft.  We've also heard reports that the Cardinals are showing interest in 6'7 D.J. Wright from Salt Lake (JC) UT, who was the MVP in the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Tournament last March in Hutchinson, KS.  Wright signed a grant-and-aid, but did not sign a binding National Letter-of-Intent with Louisiana Tech during the Fall Signing Period,  which means he may have reneged on his commitment to the Bulldogs and re-open his recruitment.  Regardless of Wright's current status, it's clear that Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino and his staff are in search of the quick fix that they appear to need to tide the Cardinals over until 6'10 Jr Michael Chandler from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'5 Jr Ryan Taylor from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, and 6'10 Jr James "Zac" Price from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, all of whom are apart of Louisville's #2-ranked recruiting class on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2011, are enrolled in school two years from now.  And, if the Cardinals can also add several more players, like 6'2 Jr Marques Teague from Indianapolis (Pike) IN and 6'5 Jr Wayne Blackshear from Chicago (Morgan Park) IL, to their 2012 recruiting class, then we might be talking about the #1-ranked recruiting class in the nation on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2011.

Friday, December 11, 2009

A week from today the Bank of America City of Palms Classic will tip-off at Bishop Verot High School in Ft. Myers, FL, and, once again, it looks like this will be the best high school basketball tournament in the nation before or after Christmas.  The tournament will begin on Friday, December 18th, with four first-round games and a Sunshine Series Game.  The Sunshine Series Game, which will feature Ft. Myers (Bishop Verot) FL versus Pembroke Pines (Flanagan) FL at 4:45 PM will immediately follow Baltimore (St. Frances) MD versus Chicago (De La Salle) IL at 3:00 PM and precede Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA versus Huntsville (Butler) AL at 6:30 PM, Ft Myers (H.S.) FL versus Paterson (Catholic) NJ at 8:15 PM, and Weston (Sagemont) FL versus Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ at 10:00 PM.  Then, the next day, Saturday, December 19th, there will be three more first-round games, a Sunshine Series Game, a Quarterfinals Game, a Consolation Game, and a National Showcase Game.  We'll deal first with the National Showcase Game, which will feature Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV versus Winter Park (H.S.) FL at 8:15 PM.  The problem is that Findlay Prep can't play two of the other participants in the field and, as a result, win, lose, or draw, Winter Park will advance into the quarterfinals and high school basketball's defending national champion will go straight into the consolation bracket.  The Consolation Game will be the first game of the day and will feature the Loser of Game #4 (Ft. Myers-Paterson Catholic) versus the Loser of Game #3 (Penn Wood-Butler) at 11:15 AM.  Next will be a pair of first round games with Greensboro (Dudley) NC versus Montverde (Academy) FL at 1:00 PM and Alpharetta (Milton) GA versus Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL at 2:45 PM.  The second Sunshines Series Game of the tournament will feature Orlando (Dr. Phillips) FL versus West Palm Beach (Summit Christian) FL at 4:30 PM.  The final first round game of the tournament will feature Los Angeles (Westchester) CA versus Bartow (H.S.) FL at 6:15 PM and the first quarterfinals game of the tournament will feature the Winner of Game #3 (Penn Wood-Butler) versus the Winner of Game #4 (Ft. Myers-Paterson Catholic) at 10:00 PM.  Sunday will be a dead day and on Monday, December 21st, there will be three more Consolation Games at Noon, 1:45 PM, and 3:30 PM and three more quarterfinals games at 5:15 PM, 7:30 PM, and 9:15 PM.  The schedule on Tuesday, December 22nd, will begin with a Challenge Round Game (pairing of winless teams to be announced) at 10:15 AM, Consolation Semi-Finals Games at Noon and 1:45 PM, Fifth-Place Semi-Finals Games at 3:30 PM and 5:15 PM, and Semi-Finals Games at 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM.  Our guess is that it will be Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ versus Alpharetta (Milton) GA in the first semi-finals game and Los Angeles (Westchester) CA versus Paterson (Catholic) NJ in the second semi-finals game.  And this is important, because we're not looking for lightning to strike twice with regards to 6'4 Jr Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, who led his team to upsets against three nationally ranked teams in this tournament a year ago.  The schedule on the final day, Wednesday, December 23rd, will begin with three Challenge Round Games at 8:20 AM, 10:00 AM, and 11:40 AM, the Consolation Championship Game at 1:20 PM, the Fifth-Place Game at 3:00 PM, a Sunshine Series Game with Jacksonville (Providence School) FL versus Miami (Dr. Krop) FL at 4:40 PM, the Third Place Game at 7:30 PM, and the Championship Game at 9:30 PM.  We predict that Los Angeles (Westchester) CA will beat Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ in the Championship Game.  And what would make this extremely interesting is the fact that neither Westchester nor St. Benedict's has lost while playing in the championship game of this tournament.  If you will recall, St. Benedict's took home the championship two years ago and Westchester  won the championship in 2000, 2001, and 2003.  Even more impressive that is the fact that Westchester, which also beat Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 68-56, in the 5th Place Game of this tournament a year ago, has only lost one game while participating four different times in the Bank of America City of Palms Classic.   In addition to featuring five teams (Findlay Prep is ranked #2, Westchester is ranked #4, Milton is ranked #8, St. Benedict's is ranked #9, and Montverde (Academy) FL is ranked #18) that are currently ranked among the USA Today's Super 25, the list of elite players is equally impressive.  This list includes 6'9 Tristan Thompson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'8 Patric Young from Jacksonville (Providence School) FL, 6'2 Corey Joseph from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'5 James Bell from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL, 6'7 Dwayne Polee from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'5 Stacey Poole from Jacksonville (Providence) FL, 6'2 Jordan Mayes from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'9 Godwin Okonji from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 7'0 Fabricio DeMelo from Westmont (Sagemont) FL, 6'6 Jamail Jones from Montverde (Academy) FL, 6'5 Fuquan Edwin from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, 6'4 Warren Sparrow from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 6'9 J.P. Kambola from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'8 Gilvysas Biruta from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'8 Papa Sambo Ndao from Montverde (Academy) FL, 6'3 Dante Holmes from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 6'4 Kareem Jamar from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'5 David Paulk from Ft. Myers (H.S.) FL, 6'6 Kyle Marshall from Pembroke Pines (Flannigan) FL, 5'10 Tyree Johnson from Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA, 6'9 Reggie Murphy from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'4 Aaron Brown from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'7 Adam Jones from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, 6'4 C.J. Steele from Huntsville (Butler) AL, 6'3 Jr Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, 6'3 Jr Trevor Lacey from Huntsville (Butler) AL, 6'2 Jr Myck Kabongo from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'5 Jr Samuel "P.J. Hairston from Greensboro (Dudley) NC, 6'2 Jr Shannon Scott from Alpharetta (Milton) GA, 6'3 Jr Dai-Jon Parker from Alpharetta (Milton) GA, 6'3 Jr Jabari Brown from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'8 Jr Julian Royal from Alpharetta (Milton) GA, 6'8 Jr Mike Shaw from Chicago (De La Salle) IL, 5'7 Jr Myles Mack from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, 6'4 Jr Nick Johnson from Henderson Findlay Prep) NV, 6'9 Jr Greg Lewis from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 6'7 Jr Derrick Randall from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, 6'8 Jr Sidiki Johnson from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'5 Jr Aaron Brown from Lansdowne (Penn Wood) PA, 6'8 Soph Winston Sheppard from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'4 Soph Kyle Anderson from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, 5'10 Soph Justin Pride from Huntsville (Butler) AL, 6'3 Soph Reginald Dillard from Greensboro (Dudley) NC, 6'3 Frosh Nigel Williams-Goss from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, and 6'7 Frosh Alex Foster from Chicago (De La Salle) IL.  Click onto City of Palms Classic for even more information on the tournament. 

Thursday, December 10, 2009

We've updated our Dates/Future Events page and near the top of the list are the Shootout at the Hall, which will be held the day after tomorrow at the University of Illinois' Assembly Hall in Champaign, IL and will feature 6'7 Jereme Richmond from Waukegan (H.S.) IL, 6'11 Meyers Leonard from Robinson (H.S.) IL, 6'7 Alex Dragicevich from Northbrook (Glenbrook North) IL, 6'3 Rayvonte Rice from Champaign (Centennial) IL, 6'7 Jeff Johnson from Champaign (Centennial) IL, 6'9 Jr Quincy Miller from Winston-Salem (Quality Education Academy) NC, 6'4 Jr Andre Henley from Carbondale (Brehm Prep) IL6'1 Jr Tracy Abrams from Chicago (Mt. Carmel) IL, 6'2 Jr Chasson Randle from Rock Island (H.S.) IL, 6'7 Jr James Siakem from Carbondale (Brehm Prep) IL, 6'2 Jr Macari Brooks from Richton Park (Rich South) IL, 5'11 Jr Andrew Jordan from Peoria (Manual) IL, 6'8 Soph Jay Simpson from Champaign (Central) IL, 5'10 Soph Antonio "Bobo" Drummond from Peoria (Central) IL, and 5'9 Soph Landis Farmer from Peoria (Manual) IL, and the National High School Hoops Festival, which will be held the day after tomorrow at Wise High School in Upper Marlboro, MD and will feature 6'4 Kendall Marshall from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'8 Josh Hairston from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'3 J.T. Terrell from Charlotte (West Charlotte) NC, 6'6 Terrance Ross from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'5 Jerian Grant from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'5 Victor Oladipo from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'7 Justin Martin from Beckley (Mountain State University Academy) WV, 5'11 Jr Quinn Cook from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'6 Jr Michael Gbinije from Richmond (Benedictine) VA, 6'8 Jr Mikael Hopkins from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'5 Soph Justin Anderson from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'2 Soph James Robinson from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, and 6'2 Soph LaBrent Walker from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD.  We also have added all of the important events (and then some) that will take place this winter, the dates for all of the Hoop Group Jam Fests, Hoop Group Elite Camps, and Double Pump Tournaments that will take place this spring and summer, and the dates for the all of the AAU National Championships ranging from 8-Under/Second Grade to the Senior Boys Division.  And especially noteworthy is the fact that for the first time in years the 14-Under/8th Grade AAU Nationals will not be held from August 1st-8th.  Instead, the dates for this year's 14-Under/8th Grade AAU Nationals are July 14th-21st, which is perfect timing when one takes into consideration that the last six days of this event will be held during the dead period for NCAA Division I college coaches.  And as long as we're talking about younger players, it also looks like the President's Day All-American Tournament in Portland, OR, which will be held on February 12th-15th, will have some major competition this year from the Beach Jam, which will be held on the same weekend in Los Angeles, CA.  The Beach Jam will be played at Westchester High School, Cal State-Dominguez Hills, and Santa Monica College and will feature Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Divisions for boys' 9-Under, 10-Under, 11-Under, 12-Under, 13-Under, and 14-Under teams.  We also have high expectations for this event, because it is being presented by NIKE, Hoop Masters, and ABA and award winning sports journalist Victoria Sun is helping organize the tournament.  For more information about the tournament contact Jerome Green at (310) 864-5892.  To register to participate in the tournament, click onto BeachJamClassic.com, or email vic32scoob@aol.com.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Earlier today I talked with John Rhodes, who is the Executive Director of the Beach Ball Classic and the Mayor of Myrtle Beach, SC, and he is excited about this year's tournament, which will tip-off on Saturday, December 26th, and conclude with the Championship Game on Thursday, December 31st.  And while this year's tournament definitely has a Mid-Atlantic, South Carolina, and Georgia flavor, the match-up that we're looking forward to the most will occur on Monday, December 28th, when 6'4 Soph Shabazz Muhammed from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV and 6'4 Kendall Marshall from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA go head-to-head in the prime time game of the evening.  We're talking about the #1-ranked sophomore (Muhammed) in America by the HOOP SCOOP versus the best pure point guard (Marshall) in the senior class nationally.  And this should be a great test for both players, as it will be interesting to see how Marshall does against Muhammed's freak-like athleticism and ability to get to the basket and put up prolific numbers and how Muhammed does against somebody with Marshall's experience, court savvy, and skill level.  However, these aren't the only guys that I'm looking forward to watching, as the list of highly touted players who will be participating in this year's tournament also includes 6'6 Jelan Kendrick from Marietta (Wheeler) GA 6'8 Will Regan from Buffalo (Nichols) NY, 6'1 Eric Atkins from Baltimore (Mt. St. Joseph's) MD, 5'8 Phil Taylor from Marietta (Wheeler) GA, 6'4 Jershon Cobb from Decatur (Columbia) GA, 5'10 Jonathan Loyd from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, 6'4 Warren Sparrow from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 6'3 Dante Holmes from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 6'4 Ge'Lawn Guyn from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, 6'4 Chad Jackson from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, 6'8 Dakota Euton from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, 6'5 Joey Jerome from Marietta (Wheeler) GA, 6'2 DeAndre Hopkins from Central (D.W. Hopkins) SC, 6'4 Jr Damien Leonard from Greenville (J.L. Mann) SC, 6'10 Jr James "Zac" Price from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, 6'5 Jr Elgin Cook from Milwaukee (Hamilton) WI, 6'7 Jr Thomas Gipson from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'9 Jr Greg Lewis from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 6'4 Jr Haki Stampley from Milwaukee (Hamilton) WI, 5'10 Jr Charlie Lee from Milwaukee (Hamilton) WI, 6'1 Jr Kiwane Crowder from Milwaukee (Hamilton) WI, 6'5 Jr Larry Savage from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 5'11 Jr Karl Cochran from Marietta (Wheeler) GA, 6'3 Jr Jalonnie Parks from Milwaukee (Hamilton) WI, 6'5 Jr Jordan Burgess from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'5 Jr Eric Allen from Milwaukee (Hamilton) WI, 5'9 Jr Ronald Williams from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, 5'10 Jr Delbert Love from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, 6'2 Jr Jarquis Moore from Concord (H.S.) NC, 6'9 Soph Charles Mitchell from Marietta (Wheeler) GA, 6'4 Soph Tamron Manning from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, 6'1 Soph Isaiah Ivey from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, 6'5 Soph Jamal Reid from Decatur (Columbia) GA, 6'6 Soph Zeldrick King from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'1 Soph Myles Hamilton from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, 6'7 Soph Roscoe Allen from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, 6'1 Soph David Barnes from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'3 Frosh Justin Dotson from Central (Daniel) SC, 6'0 Frosh Will Ferguson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'0 Frosh Elijah Brown from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, 5'7 Frosh Akil Carr from Baltimore (St. Frances) MD, and 5'7 Frosh Shai Shai Matthews from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA.  Things will tip-off at 3:30 PM on Saturday, December 26th, with Milwaukee (Hamilton) WI versus Myrtle Beach (Socastee) SC, followed by Buffalo (Nichols) NY versus Central (D.W. Daniel) SC at 5:15 PM, Concord (H.S.) NC versus Myrtle Beach (H.S.) SC at 7:00 PM, and Decatur (Columbia) SC versus Greenville (J.L. Mann) SC at 8:45 PM.  Sunday, December 27th, will be a dead day and Monday, December 28th, will be a full day with the Loser of Game #3 versus the Loser of Game #4 at Noon, Marietta (Wheeler) GA versus Lakewood (St. Edward) OH at 1:45 PM, Baltimore (St. Frances) MD versus Georgetown (Scott County) KY at 3:30 PM, Baltimore (St. Frances) MD versus Georgetown (Scott County) KY at 5:15 PM, Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV versus Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA at 7:00 PM, and the Winner of Game #3 versus the Winner of Game #4 at 8:45 PM.  The schedule on Tuesday, December 29th, will feature the other three Consolation Round Games at Noon, 1:45 PM, and 3:30 PM and the other three Quarterfinals Games at 5:15 PM, 7:00 PM, and 8:45 PM.  The schedule on Wednesday, December 30th, will feature the Loser of Game #5 versus the Loser of Game #11 at 10:15 AM, the two Fifth Place Semi-Finals Games at Noon and 1:45 PM, the two Consolation Round Semi-Finals Games at 3:30 PM and 5:15 PM, and the two Semi-Finals Games at 7:00 PM and 8:45 PM.  Our prediction is that it will be Milwaukee (Hamilton) WI versus Decatur (Columbia) GA in the first game and Marietta (Wheeler) GA versus Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA in the second game.  The schedule on Thursday, December 31st, will include the Loser of Game #12 versus the Loser of Game #13 at Noon, the Consolation Championship Game at 1:45 PM, the Fifth Place Game at 3:30 PM, the Third Place Game at 5:30 PM, and the Championship Game at 7:30 PM.  And we predict that a third time will be a charm for Marietta (Wheeler) GA, which lost to Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 72-53, a year ago and lost to Duncanville (H.S.) TX, 69-57, two years ago in the Championship Game of this tournament.  And making the story even more interesting is our prediction that Marietta (Wheeler) GA will upset Decatur (Columbia) GA, which is currently ranked #19 by Jim Halley in the most recent USA Today Super 25 Poll, in an all-Georgia Championship Game.  For even more information or to watch the 19 games in this year's tournament that will be streamed live on their web site, click onto Beach Ball Classic.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

One of the more interesting things that I've run across in a while is the ESPN All-Decade Boys Basketball Team, which was compiled by Ronnie Flores and published on Wednesday, December 2nd.  The First Five on the First Team includes 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ (Class of 2001), 6'7 Carmelo Anthony from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA (Class of 2002), 6'8 LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH (Class of 2003), 6'9 Kevin Durant from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD (Class of 2006), and 7'0 Greg Oden from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN.  The Second Five includes 6'11 Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA (Class of 2004), 6'0 Tywon Lawson from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA (Class of 2006, 6'5 O.J. Mayo from Huntington (H.S.) WV (Class of 2007), 6'9 Kevin Love from Lake Oswego (H.S.) OR (Class of 2007), and 6'4 Derrick Rose from Chicago (Simeon) IL (Class of 2007).  The Third Five includes 6'9 Darius Miles from East St Louis (H.S.) IL (Class of 2000), 6'9 Zach Randolph from Marion (H.S.) IN (Class of 2000), 6'0 Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY (Class of 2004), 6'3 Monta Ellis from Jackson (Lanier) MS (Class of 2005), and 6'2 Brandon Jennings from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA (Class of 2008.  The Second Team listed alphabetically includes 6'2 Avery Bradley from Henderson (Findlay) NV (Class of 2009), 6'3 Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL (Class of 2003), 7'1 Tyson Chandler from Compton (Dominguez) CA (Class of 2001), 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL (Class of 2001), 6'9 Derrick Favors from Atlanta (South Atlanta) GA (Class of 2009), 6'1 Raymond Felton from Latta (H.S.) SC (Class of 2002), 6'0 T.J. Ford from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX (Class of 2001), 6'5 Eric Gordon from 6'5 Indianapolis (North Central) IN (Class of 2007), 6'9 Tyler Hansbrough from Poplar Bluff (H.S.) MO (Class of 2005), 6'9 Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS (Class of 2004), 6'6 Shaun Livington from Peoria (Central) IL (Class of 2004), 6'9 Josh McRoberts from Carmel (H.S.) IN (Class of 2005), 6'9 Samardo Samuels from Newark (St. Benedict) NJ (Class of 2008), 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL (Class of 2002), and 6'8 Josh Smith from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA (Class of 2004).  First of all, Dwight Howard not being the First Team is ridiculous.  If you will recall, when Howard was a senior in high school we said he was one of three best high school players to come down the pike in the last 10 years.  The other two were Kevin Garnett and LeBron James.  And, while I have always been a big fan of both Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant, neither were as good as Brandon Jennings and Zach Randolph when they were in high school.  Remember, Randolph had about as a good month as anybody has ever had at the high school level during the spring of his senior year.  It began when he scored 28 points while leading his team to the Indiana State High School Championship on Saturday, March 25, 2000.  Three days later he proved to be unstoppable with 23 points and 15 rebounds en route to game MVP honors in the McDonalds All American Game.  Four days after that he scored 24 points and took home game MVP honors in the NIKE Hoop Summit in Indianapolis, IN.  And several weeks later he had 39 points, 24 rebounds, and four assists in the Derby Classic in Louisville, KY.  However, he still doesn't get the nod over Brandon Jennings, who would get my vote for the final spot in my top five, along with LaBron James, Dajuan Wagner, Dwight Howard, and Greg Oden.  Not only did Jennings totally dominate the AAU and club team circuit the spring and summer before his senior year, but he also is the only player in history to win back-to-back championships while playing on two different teams in the Reebok Tournaments in Las Vegas, NV.  He also led Oak Hill to the national championship as a junior and was billed by yours truly as potentially one of the top five point guards to ever player the game during the summer before his junior year.  We also think it's a no-brainer that Amare Stoudemire should be in the Second Five on the First Team, along with Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Zach Randolph, and Kevin Love.  Not only did we like Stoudemire better when he was a junior in high school than Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry, and Kwame Brown, all three of whom were drafted among the top four picks in the 2001 NBA Draft, but Stoudemire had the heart and desire and size and athleticism necessary to achieve greatness.  Three important omissions to the Second Team are 6'8 Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ (Class of 2003), 6'7 Martell Webster from Seattle (Prep) WA (Class of 2005), and 6'8 Michael Beasley from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA (Class of 2007).  But in the case of Beasley, maybe they thought he was a 5th Year Player.  "Those considered 5th-year players in their final year of high school competition were not considered," says the Editor's Note.  Did you know that Beasley actually was only in high school three years after being an 8th Grader twice and then skipping his freshman when he joined O.J. Mayo & Billy Walker in the sophomore class?   I'm also kind of surprised that Shannon Brown, Samardo Samuels, and T.J. Ford were named to the Second Team.  But I say that knowing that I take great pride in the fact that we were the only one at the time with Ford ranked among the top five players nationally in his class.  The ESPN All-Decade Boys Basketball Team can be found by clicking onto sports.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/basketball/boys/news/story?id=4686554.  Going back even further, our list of the Top Five-Ranked Players from 1990's includes 6'4 Jason Kidd from Alameda (St. Joseph-Notre Dame) MA (1992), 6'4 Randy Livingston from New Orleans (Neumann) LA (1993), 6'5 Felipe Lopez from New York (Rice) NY (1994), 6'10 Kevin Garnett from Chicago (Farragut) IL (1995), and 6'2 Stephon Marbury from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY (1995) and our list of the Top 10-Ranked Players from 1990's includes 6'9 Glenn Robinson from Gary (Roosevelt) IN (1991), 6'9 Chris Webber from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI (1991), 6'11 Rasheed Wallace from Philadelphia (Simon Gratz) PA (1993), 6'6 Jerry Stackhouse from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA (1993), and 6'7 Ron Mercer from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA (1995).  No, we didn't forget 6'6 Kobe Bryant from Ardmore (Lower Merion) PA, who edged out 6'9 Tim Thomas from Paterson (Catholic) NJ as the #1-ranked player in the Class of 19966 due primarily to the fact that Bryant played harder than Thomas.  It's just that our rankings are based entirely upon what they did in high school and, at the time, nobody thought Bryant was any better than any of the top five-ranked players the previous year in the great Class of 1995.  Our Top Five-Ranked Players from 1980's are 7'0 Patrick Ewing from Cambridge (Rindge & Latin) MA (Class of 1980), 6'5 Michael Jordan from Wilmington (Laney) NC (Class of 1981), 6'10 Alonzo Mourning from Chesapeake (Indian River) VA (Class of 1988), 6'11 Shawn Kemp from Elkhart (Concord) IN (Class of 1998), and 6'8 Billy Owens from Carlisle (H.S.) PA (Class of 1998).  And, if you don't believe Jordan should be on the list, take into account the fact that he was the best 2-guard prospect as a junior in high school that Brick Oettinger of Prep Stars.com and the Recruiter's Handbook has ever seen, he took home MVP honors at the Five-Star Basketball Camp as a senior in high school, and he held the scoring record in McDonald's All-American Game for 18 years. 

Monday, December 7, 2009

After publishing our Final Ranking of the Top 290 Recruiting Classes from the Conclusion of the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010, our Ranking of the Top Recruiting Classes by Conference from the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010, and our Different Ways to Look at Recruiting from the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010 Section on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday last week, we are now ready to start over when it comes to keeping track of all of the signings and commitments that will occur between now and the end of the Spring Signing Period.  And the first two players that we've added to our new list of Recent Commitments are 6'5 Jayvaughn Pinkston from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY, who made it official last Thursday for Villanova and 6'2 Stargell Love from Winston-Salem (Quality Education Academy) NC, who did likewise last Friday when he picked Baylor.  Love is currently ranked #234 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but our North Carolina Editor Rick Lewis and Patrick Stanwood, who is now a National Recruiting Analyst for Nothing But Net, as well as a contributor to the HOOP SCOOP, both think Love is one of the more underrated players in the country.  "Love is a strong physical athletic point guard," says Lewis.  "We are talking about a muscular 6'2 point guard with the size and quickness to play on a high major level.  He is extremely explosive and can overpower most point guards.  He also uses his athleticism to play above the rim and throw down some vicious dunks.  Or he can use his quickness to stop on a dime and knock down his deadly pull-up jumper.  This is the area where Love has improved most, as he now can knock down the 3-point shot consistently.  Love is a lock down defender and has nice intangibles.  He is a fierce competitor and hates to lose, as is evident by his tough hardnosed play."  The addition of Love moves Baylor's recruiting class, which also already includes 6'8 Perry Jones from Duncanville (H.S.) TX and 6'3 Bakari Turner from Duncanville (H.S.) TX, into a tie #21, along with Florida State, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2010.  The addition of Pinkston is big for the Wildcats for a number of reasons.  First, he is ranked #25 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and was one of the top five-ranked seniors nationally still available, along with 6'3 Brandon Knight from Ft. Lauderdale (Pine Crest) FL, 6'2 Josh Selby from Baltimore (Lake Clifton) MD, 6'5 Doron Lamb from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, and 6'8 Terrance Jones from Portland (Jefferson) OR.  Second, Pinkston is the next in a long line of players from the New York City Metropolitan area who has decided to head South and play for Wildcats head coach Jay Wright.  If you will recall, Villanova currently has four players - 6'8 Jr Corey Fisher, 6'5 Jr Corey Stokes, 6'8 Jr Antonio Pena, and 6'6 Frosh Dominic Cheek - in the program who are either from North Jersey or the New York City area and they have a list of alumni in recent years (i.e. Jason Frasor, Randy Foye, Curtis Sumpter, Allan Ray, and Mike Nardi) who also fall into this category.  Third, Pinkston is a tough hardnosed competitor who can play either forward spot.  Fourth, Pinkston is good enough to step in and challenge 6'6 Soph Taylor King, 6'8 Jr Antonio Pena, and 6'6 Frosh Dominic Cheek for playing time right away, but is not so good that he will scare off 6'8 Jr Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, who is the #1-ranked junior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP and is a prime recruiting target of the Wildcats.  Instead, we think Pinkston and Gilchrist would complement one another extremely well, as they are both versatile enough to play either forward spot.  Fifth, the addition of Pinkston moves Villanova's recruiting class, which also already includes 6'8 Markus Kennedy from Winchendon (School) MA and 6'5 James Bell from Montverde (Academy) FL, into a tie at #8, along with N.C. State and Tennessee, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2010. 

Saturday, December 5, 2009, & Sunday, December 6, 2009

The two best individual performances of the entire day were turned in by 6'5 Doron Lamb from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA and 6'0 Jr Deville Smith from Jackson (Callaway) MS in the feature game of the evening last night at the Marshall County HoopFest in Benton, KY.  Smith hit a pair of threes and scored eight of his team's first 12 points to put his team up early 12-3.  However, from that point on Lamb more than justified his #13-ranking nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP with a triple-double (26 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists).  And he could have had a lot more than that if his 3-point shot was going to down (he hit only 1-6 treys).  Lamb is best described as a tough athletic New York City 2-guard who plays hard, does everything well, and has a knack for finding a way to beat you.  Thus, explains why Lamb is a top recruiting priority for schools like Kentucky, Kansas, Connecticut, Arizona, and Miami-FL and why Wildcats head coach John Calipari and Wildcats assistant coach Orlando Antigua were both in the house last night to watch Lamb put on what will be remembered as one of the best individual performances of the entire winter.  Smith countered with 29 points and 5-9 3-pointers, but several of those treys came in the final minute of a game that was decided by 27 points and he only had four points in the second quarter when the game was slipping away.  We also thought 6'8 Roscoe Smith from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who is ranked #47 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, lived up to his reputation with an effort that included 18 points, 13 points, four blocks, and 8-16 field goals.  However, anybody who thinks this athletic inside guy is a wing forward is nuts.  What Smith does best is rebound, block shots, and score around the basket and we also like the energy level and effort that he used to totally dominate 6'7 Jeverik Nelson from Jackson (Callaway) MS inside.  Both of these guys (Smith and Nelson) need to get bigger and stronger physically inside, but Nelson, who is ranked #262 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, also has a soft tough around the basket and he did have 14 points and five rebounds, as he and Smith accounted for 43 of their team's 46 points.  We were impressed with the balanced displayed by Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, as 6'10 Tristan Thompson, 6'3 Jr Nick Johnson, 6'3 Jr Jabari Brown, 6'3 Cory Joseph had 18 points, 17 points, 16 points, and 15 points respectively in their team's 78-41 win against Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY in the final game of the evening.  However, this was still a great learning experience for a team that started a pair of freshman guards in 6'0 Frosh Jevon Thomas and 6'2 Terrance Bond and a 6'10 foreign kid - 6'10 Jr Daouda Soumaoro, who is an agile high energy shot blocking big guy with raw offensive skills, but a big upside.  Earlier in the day we were extremely disappointed with the performance turned in by 6'1 Soph Jaylen Beckham from Lexington (Catholic) KY, who we have ranked #41 nationally in the sophomore class and is supposed to be the next great player to come out of the Bluegrass State, and very impressed with the play of 6'0 Soph Desmond Dorsey from Jeffersontown (H.S.) KY, who we have ranked #154 nationally in the sophomore class.  As a matter of fact, Dorsey's 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals, 6-12 field goals, and 3-5 3-pointers was one of the top individual performances on the entire day.  However, Dorsey did get plenty of help from 5'11 Thomas Jackson from Jeffersontown (H.S.) KY, who finished with 27 points, six rebounds, 11-17 field goals, and 2-7 field goals, 5'11 Richard Kennedy from Jeffersontown (H.S.) KY, who had 13 points, nine rebounds, and four assists; and 6'2 Domonique Smith from Jeffersontown (H.S.) KY, who had 12 points and nine rebounds in their team's 82-63 win against Hopkinsville (H.S.) KY.  Beckham finished with 12 points, three rebounds, three assists, seven turnovers, two steals, 3-11 field goals, 0-2 3-pointers, and 6-8 free throws.  But even more disappointing was the fact that he didn't play with the same zest and zeal that he did when we saw him a year ago and he did not take over the game at crunch time, as his team lost a 57-53 heartbreaker.  Instead, the best player in this game was 6'6 George Fant from Bowling Green (Warren Central) KY and, after watching him finish with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 10-19 field goals, it's easy to see why Western Kentucky assistant coach Ray Harper was watching his every move.  We talking about a tweener for the high major level.   But that's great news for the Hilltoppers, as they attempt to keep this skilled four-man who runs the court, is tough on the boards, and good at defending the post from leaving home.  We also have to give 6'5 Jr Tony Kimbro from Arden (The Christ School) NC credit for being one of the best 3-point shooters in the event, as he finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, five steals, 7-10 field goals, and 3-6 3-pointers in his team's 80-62 win against Arlington (Grace Prep) TX.  However, Kimbro also may be too silky and smooth for his own good, as he never seems to play as hard as we expect and never quite lives up to the lofty expectations.  The same also can be said about 7'0 Soph Isaiah Austin from Arlington (Grace Prep) TX, who had 12 points, eight rebounds, four turnovers, two blocked shots, 5-5 field goals, and 2-2 3-pointers against Arden (The Christ School) NC.  This is a guy with good hands, an incredible wing span, and the skills necessary to play both inside and outside.  But the Ralph Sampson-like comparison is not necessary a complement, as Austin is almost fragile and he'd rather help start the offense than use his shot blocking ability to intimidate opponents inside.  We also were somewhat disappointed in 6'8 Soph Nick Banyard from Arlington (Grace Prep) TX, but liked 6'2 Soph Jelon Hornbeck from Arlington (Grace Prep) TX.  Hornbeck finished with 13 points, one assists, three steals, and 4-5 field goals and was one of the only players on this team that seemed to know his role.  Banyard is best inside, but he too likes to shoot threes (0-2) and drift too far out on the perimeter.  Unfortunately this team was missing its best player - 6'3 Jr Jamal Branch from Arlington (Grace Prep) TX, who was sidelined with an injury a week ago.  We also were somewhat surprised that Gary (Bowman Academy) IN beat Covington Holmes (H.S.) KY, 60-58, in one of the closest, but one of the least memorable games of the day.  Remember, Covington Holmes returns two of the top players in the state - 6'7 Elijah Pittman and 6'4 Ricardo Johnson - from last year's state championship team.  And, despite the fact that Pittman was like a man among boys inside with 16 points, seven rebounds, 6-10 field goals and Johnson was good out the perimeter and in transition with 14 points, six rebounds, and 6-8 field goals, clearly the best player in the game was 6'1 Tyrae Robinson from Gary (Bowman) IN, who used his speed and quickness and knack for finding a way to score to finish with 21 points, four rebounds, 7-14 field goals, and 2-4 3-pointers.  Also chipping in with 13 points and 10 rebounds was 6'4 Christopher Bond from Gary (Bowman) IN.  The only other player that really impressed us, but we have yet to mention is 6'4 Darnell Davis from Hopkinsville (H.S.) KY, who finished with 25 points, nine rebounds, and 10-13 field goals against Jeffersontown (H.S.) KY.  Right now Davis is a power forward.  But he plays hard, is good at coming off screens, and is quick enough to defend out on the perimeter, which makes him a very intriguing prospect for the right school at the mid-to-low major level. 

Friday, December 4, 2009

With the publication earlier today of our Different Ways to Look at Recruiting from the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010 Section, we now have the perfect complement to our Final Ranking of the Top 290 Recruiting Classes from the Conclusion of the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010, which was published the day before yesterday, and our Ranking of the Top Recruiting Classes by Conference from the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010, which was published yesterday exclusively in the Members Section.  And, once again, it looks like the big winner this fall is the Atlantic Coast Conference, which has four of the top 13-ranked recruiting classes when we look at teams with the Highest Talent Rating Average Per Recruit; four of the top eight-ranked recruiting classes when we look at who signed the best two players, six of the top 14-ranked recruiting classes when we look at who signed the best three players, and five of the top 16-ranked recruiting classes when we look at who signed the four best players during the last two years.  And ranked #1 and tied at #2 on that last list are North Carolina and Duke.  North Carolina also checks in at #1 when we look at which program signed the three best players, is ranked #2 when we look at who has the Highest Talent Rating Average Per Recruit, and is tied at #2 when we look at who signed the two best players.  And right on the Tar Heels heels are Duke, N.C. State, and Wake Forest.  The Blue Devils also are tied at #2 when we look at who signed the two best players and they also check in at #7 on the other two lists.  The Wolfpack are tied #5 when we look at who has the Highest Talent Rating Average Per Recruit and who signed the two best players, are tied at #4 when we look at who signed the three best players, and are tied #11 when we look at who signed the four best players during the last two years.  The Demon Deacons are ranked #13 when we look at who has the Highest Talent Rating Average Per Recruit, are tied at #5 and #4 when we look at who signed the two best and three best players, and are tied at #6 when we look at who signed the four best players during the last two years.  So obviously the arms race along Tobacco Road couldn't be any more intense.  We also think it's interesting to point out that the University of Memphis is ranked among the top five when we look at who signed the two best players, the three best players, and the four best players over the last two years.  But the Tigers are ranked no higher than #17 when we look at what teams have the Highest Talent Rating Average Per Recruit.  And this reinforces even further what we said two days ago about depth being the strength of Memphis' #1-ranked recruiting class in our Final Ranking of the Top 290 Recruiting Classes from the Conclusion of the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010.  We also think it's important to mention that Ohio State has the #1-ranked recruiting class when we look at who signed the two best players and Texas has the #1-ranked recruiting class when we look at what teams have the Highest Talent Rating Average Per Recruiting.  But the Longhorns only have one player (Tristan Thompson) in this year's recruiting class.  On the other hand, Texas had 6'3 J'Covan Brown from Port Arthur (Memorial) TX waiting the wings, 5'8 Soph Jai Lucas sitting out after transferring from the University of Florida, and a recruiting class a year ago that included 6'2 Avery Bradley from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'7 Jordan Hamilton from Compton (Dominguez) CA, and 67 Shawn Williams from Duncanville (H.S.) TX.  Moral to the story, it's always important to look at recruiting in a number of different ways, because one school's particular needs more often than not will not be the same needs of another school. 

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Two down and one to go!  That's where we stand with the publication yesterday of our Final Ranking of the Top 290 Recruiting Classes from the Conclusion of the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010 and the publication today of our Ranking of the Top Recruiting Classes by Conference from the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010.  And tomorrow we will totally wrap things up with the publication of our Different Ways to Look at Recruiting Section, which includes our ranking of the teams and conferences with the Highest Talent Rating Average Per Recruit, a list of the teams that signed best two players and the best three players, and a list of the teams that signed the best four players over a two-year period.  As for our Ranking of the Top Recruiting Classes by Conference from the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010, it's hard not to be impressed with the fact that the Atlantic Coast Conference is the clear winner with 188 points, 35 recruits, and a 5.371 talent rating average per recruit.  In other words, the ACC signed both quality and quantity in this year's recruiting class, as the average player signed by a school in this league is the equivalent of a player in the 40-70 range nationally.  If you will recall, we rank each player on each team on a 1-10 scale based primarily on where he was ranked coming out of high school or the equivalent of if he came out of junior college or was a 5th Year Player.  A top five-ranked player nationally is worth 10 points, a top 10-ranked player nationally is worth nine points, a player in the 11-40 range is worth eight points, a player in the 41-70 range is worth six points, a player in the 71-100 range is worth four points, a player in the 101-300 range is worth three points, a player in the 301-1000 range is worth two point, and any player not ranked among the top 1000 players nationally is only worth one point.  Experience at the college and improvement are also factored in and, as a result, our system is applicable not just to the top teams but to all teams on the Division I spectrum.  And just as important is the fact that once we've determined where a player is ranked our system is no longer subjective.  Unfortunately this is not the case with most our of our competition.  It also has stood the test of time.  And to put things into even better perspective with regards to just how impressive this year's Atlantic Coast Conference recruiting class really is, a quick look at our archives, which can be found by clicking onto Top Recruiting Classes, shows that only twice before during the last 12 years has a conference finished ranked #1 in our Ranking of the Top Recruiting Classes by Conference and #1 when we look at what conference had the Highest Talent Rating Average per Recruit during the Fall Signing Period.  So, while the latter is weighted more on quality, the former rewards quantity, which means that the Atlantic Coast Conference has been at a major disadvantage since the expansion of the Big East Conference from 12 to 16 teams four years ago.  We also are not surprised by the fact that falling in right behind the six high major conferences (ACC, Big East, SEC, Big-10, Big-12, and Pacific-10) in our Ranking of the Top Recruiting Classes by Conference from the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010 are the Atlantic-10 Conference and Conference USA, which are the next two conferences on the Division I Spectrum, and the Mid-American Conference, Sun Belt Conference, and the Colonial Athletic Association, which have finished in the same range in recent years.  However, we were very surprised by the fact that the Southern Conference checks in at #10 in our Ranking of the Top Recruiting Classes by Conference from the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010.  But then again, Buzz Peterson is back at Appalachian State, Charlton Young is rebuilding things at Georgia Southern, Mike Dement continues to recruit well at UNC-Greensboro, Larry Hunter is knocking on the door at Western Carolina, Bobby Cremins is getting it done at the College of Charleston, and John Shulman is keeping his share of players in his own backyard at home.  We also are disappointed that the surge in signings and commitments that we tracked last spring from schools in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference appears to be the exception to the rule, instead of a trend.  If you will recall, the Southwestern Athletic Conference had 51 recruits and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference had 30 recruits at the conclusion of last year's Spring Signing Period.  But this time around teams in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference only have five recruits and the teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference only have two recruits in the fold.  

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

If you rank recruiting classes like a lot of our competitors do, whereby, if you sign two top five or 10-ranked high school players and nothing else really matters, then you'll probably have Ohio State's recruiting class ranked #1 in the nation.  However, if you rank recruiting classes like we do, whereby, we assign each player a ranking on a 1-10 scale and then reward both quality and quantity, it's easy to see why we have the University of Memphis' recruiting class ranked #1 in our Final Ranking of the Top 290 Recruiting Classes from the Conclusion of the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010.  This class includes 6'0 Joe Jackson from Memphis (White Station) TN and 6'6 Jelan Kendrick from Marietta (Wheeler) GA, who are ranked #9 and #26 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'6 Will Barton from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, who is our #1-ranked 5th Year Player; 6'8 Tarik Black from Memphis (Ridgeway) TN and 6'4 Chris Crawford from Memphis (Sheffield) TN, both of whom can be found in the 60-100 range nationally; and 6'8 Hippolyte Tsafack from Charlottesville (The Miller School) VA and 6'0 Antonio Barton from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, both of whom can be found in the 150-250 range nationally.  In contrast, Ohio State's recruiting class features 6'8 Jared Sullinger from Columbus (Northland) OH and 6'8 Deshaun Thomas from Ft. Wayne ((Bishop Luers) IN, who are ranked #1 and #8 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'4 Jordan Sibert from Cincinnati (Princeton) OH and 6'4 Lenzelle Smith from Zion (Zion-Benton) IL, both of whom are ranked in the 50-100 range nationally; and 6'3 Aaron Craft from Findlay (Liberty Benton) OH and J.D. Weatherspoon from Columbus (Northland) OH; both of whom are ranked in the 101-150 range nationally.  In other words, it's the depth of the Tigers' class that really puts it over the top.  However, before you start to feel too sorry for the Buckeyes, remember that Sullinger, Sibert, Craft, and Weatherspoon formed the nucleus of what was clearly the best club team in the nation each of the last three years in their respective age group.  The other big winner when we look at our Final Ranking of the Top 290 Recruiting Classes from the Conclusion of the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010 is the Atlantic Coast Conference, which has five of the top 10-ranked and seven of the top 22-ranked recruiting classes.  And, when we dig a little deeper, we also find that the Atlantic Coast Conference with Wake Forest, North Carolina, Virginia, N.C. State, Duke, Florida State, and Maryland edges out the Southeastern Conference with Auburn, Tennessee, South Carolina, LSU, Florida, Arkansas and the Pacific-10 Conference with California, USC, UCLA, Oregon State, Stanford, and Washington for the most schools ranked by a conference among the top 40 recruiting classes.  The Big-12 with Oklahoma State, Missouri, Baylor, Kansas State, and Texas A&M, the Big-10 with Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan State, Purdue, and Iowa, and the Big East with Marquette, Syracuse, Villanova, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh also check in with five schools apiece ranked among our top 40 recruiting classes, which means that the top six conferences account for 34 or the top 40-ranked recruiting classes.  It also comes as no surprise that Conference USA with Memphis, Western Athletic Conference with Louisiana Tech and Idaho, Atlantic-10 Conference with Dayton, and the Sun Belt Conference with Florida International occupy five of the other six spots in the top 40.  But I don't think too many of you would have guessed that America East Conference with Boston University, which is ranked #24, would occupy the final spot among the top 40-ranked recruiting classes.  Other schools that belong to conferences on the mid-to-low major spectrum that are ranked surprisingly high in our Final Ranking of the Top 290 Recruiting Classes from the Conclusion of the Fall Signing Period for the Class of 2010 are Longwood and Kent State, which are both tied at #45; Ohio University, Central Michigan, and San Francisco, which are all tied at #49 tied; Yale at #52; Appalachian State, and Campbell, which are tied at #53 tied; Coastal Carolina, which is among those tied at #57, Morehead State and UC-Riverside which are among those tied at #62; Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Portland, which are all tied at #66; and St. Francis-NY, which is among those tied at #70; Liberty, which is among those tied at #73; William & Mary, Wright State, Georgia Southern, and Stephen F. Austin, which are among those tied at #77; Fairfield, which is among those tied at #85; Santa Clara and Northern Iowa, which are among those tied at #87; High Point, Austin Peay, Lamar, UNC-Greensboro, Western Carolina, and Stetson, which are among those tied at #90; and Drake, Long Beach State, and Butler, which are among those tied at #99.  And this is important, because, more often than not, there is a direct correlation between programs that have gotten it done on the recruiting trail and teams that win a lot of games. 

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Our Mississippi Editor Lavel Johnson was at the D/FW Metroplex Hoops Thanksgiving Hoopfest over the weekend and he tells us that the big story was the number of quality underclassmen on display at the Metro Academy of Math and Science in Arlington, TX on Friday and Saturday.  Highly rated underclassmen on display were:  6’2 Jr Jamal Branch from Arlington (Grace Prep) TX., 6’11 Soph Isaiah Austin from Arlington (Grace Prep) TX., 6’6 Soph Ricardo Gathers from LaPlace (Riverside Academy) LA., 6’8 Soph Wannah Bail from Baytown (Prep) TX., 6’4 Jr Mark Brown from Dallas (Woodrow Wilson) TX, 6’9 Jr Chris Coleman from Humble (Christian Life) TX, 6’2 Soph Jaleon Hornbeck from Arlington (Grace Prep) TX, 6’3 Soph Louis Dabney from LaPlace (Riverside Academy) LA, 6’8 Soph Nick Banyard from Arlington (Grace Prep) TX, 6’1 Jr Xavian Rimmer from Piney Woods (H.S.) MS, 6’7 Jr Kentwan Smith from Piney Woods (H.S.) MS, and 6’3 Jr Jarvis Summers from Jackson (Provine) MS.   The underclassman quality was showcased in the final game of the event with a head-to-head match-up between Austin, who finished 11 points, five rebounds, three blocks, 5-13 field goals and 2-4 free throws, and Gathers, who finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, one blocked shot, 4-13 field goals, and 6-8 free throws.  Johnson gives the slight edge to Gathers who scored almost half of his points from the stripe and attributes this to being the result of his willingness and ability to put in work in the paint.  "Gathers also showed the ability to take his man out on the floor and hit the 15-footer or put the ball on the floor and drive to the goal," says Johnson.  "Austin was more prone to play outside and shoot jumpers, as he did hit 1-3 of his attempts from beyond the arc, or take a couple of dribbles and try to rise up and take a mid-range shot.  Austin’s length does allow him to be a disruptive force on the defensive end, but he needs to gain weight and strength to become more dominant."  The game itself turned into a mismatch as Riverside coasted to a 59-34 win over Grace Prep, which was playing without star guard Jamal Branch who was injured in the fourth quarter of the previous night’s game.  Gathers early list includes LSU, Baylor, UCLA, USC, Ole Miss, Alabama, Oklahoma State, Washington and  California.  Austin said that right now his list consists of a lot of schools in the Big-12 and Big East Conferences.  "Bail looks, runs, and jumps like a high level player (we currently have him ranked #9 nationally in the sophomore class), but he actually got little done when I watched him on Saturday," says Johnson.  "He played mostly on the wing hoisting a few jumpers and a couple of runners, but was none aggressive in Baytown’s 44-35 loss to a disciplined Liberty High School in Arygle, TX."  Branch, who is ranked #12 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, played very little in Grace Prep’s Friday game due to foul trouble.  "But in the time he was on the floor you could see his quickness and strength at getting to the rim," says Johnson.  Brown, who is ranked #267 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP and has been committed to Florida State since before his freshman year, had a very good game on Friday scoring 23 points mostly on aggressive drives to the goal.  "A rangy 6’4,  Brown plays more like a forward that a guard and probably has to work on his perimeter game to thrive in the ACC," says Johnson.  "But he is definitely athletic enough to play at that level."  Hornbeck, who is ranked #105 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, and Dabney, who previously was ranked #143 nationally in the sophomore class, but was not included in our Ranking of the Top 450 Players Nationally in the Class of 2012 (Sophomores), which was published last Wednesday, are similar talents who both seem to be best at getting to the rim and finishing.  "Dabney is the better of the two," says Johnson.  "He is a pure wing, is more athletic, a bit bigger and stronger, and seems to thrive at dealing with contact and finishing in traffic.  Hornbeck showed the ability to play some point and the ability break down the defense.  Neither showed much range on the jumper."  Banyard, who is ranked #70 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, played a fair bit in Grace Prep’s Friday game, but very little in the Saturday game.  "And he did very little in either game," says Johnson.  "Likewise with Coleman."  He is ranked #94 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, but played little in Christian Life’s one game in the event and did little in the time he was in.  Johnson also points out that two interesting under the radar prospects are the Piney Woods (H.S.) MS duo of Xavian Rimmer and Kentwan Smith.  Rimmer, who is ranked #192 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP and is Johnson's stepson, was Piney Woods' leading scorer in both games and he had 27 points in Saturday’s win.  "A big bodied point guard, Rimmer did a good job handling the ball versus pressure, made a couple of threes, made his free throws, and also showed the ability to get by his man into the lane and finish in traffic, says Johnson.  "He needs to turn his motor and intensity up a few notches and play with a little more attitude, but he has the tools to possibly play at the high major level."  Smith is ranked #276 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP and he is a long armed athletic forward who can really run.  "He didn’t score much this weekend," says Johnson.  "But he did show flashes with a few finishes in the paint on dunks and drives.  Probably his most impressive play was when he ran back and blocked a fast break lay-up attempt by a Grace Prep player in the Friday game.  Smith just arrived in the United States from the Bahamas in August to attend school, so he is still adapting to the speed and strength of the American game."  Summers is ranked #209 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP and this silky point guard can shoot the jumper or get to the rim.  He had 20 points on Friday against Riverside in a 74-72 Provine win that Johnson describes as "the best game of the event." Other underclassmen who deserve a mention are 6’5 Jr Deivadas Pukis from Humble (Christian Life) TX, 6’6 Jr Ramond Jenkins from Oklahoma City (Frederick Douglas) OK, 6'6 Jr Romond Jenkins from  Oklahoma City (Frederick Douglass) OK, 6’4 Soph Michael Carey from Baytown (Prep) TX, 6’9 Soph Danrad Knowles from Baytown (Prep) TX, 6’3 Jr Dorrian Williams from Oklahoma City (Frederick Douglass) OK, 5’9 Frosh Stephon Clark from Oklahoma City (Frederick Douglass) OK, 5’11 Jr Xavier Lee from Monroe (Carrroll) LA, 6’0 Jr Jamaal Walker from Piney Woods (H.S.) MS, and 6’9 Jr Yvan Ngirabakunzi of Piney Woods (H.S.) MS.  Not to be forgotten, the best 2010 players of the weekend were 6’7 Jalen Courtney from Jackson (Provine) MS, 6’7 Ja’Darius Davis from Lufkin (H.S.) TX, 6’2 Cedric Jenkins from LaPlace (Riverside) LA, 6’8 Jason Carter from Humble (Christian Life) TX, and 6’5 William Cook from Dallas (Hillcrest) TX.  Courtney, who is ranked #153 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and has already signed with LSU, had a good weekend showing athleticism, toughness, and the ability to put in work in the paint.  "He had 22 points in the Friday win over Riverside and Gathers," says Johnson.  "He made a big difference in the second half scoring and rebounding the ball.   He also had 15 points versus Christian Life on Saturday and, although he appeared to have worn down a bit, he did make a few plays during Provine's late game push.  He also settles for a few too many jumpers, but when they are falling he’s tough to handle.  Davis is ranked #606 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and is a well built and strong physical power forward who was a major factor in the paint.  "He's not a high riser, but uses his strength to grind out space in the paint allowing him to corral numerous offensive rebounds and score around the basket," says Johnson.  "WAC and C-USA teams would do well to look at Davis.  To put it bluntly, Jenkins, who is ranked 536 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, shot the lights out when he went for 26 points on Friday against Provine.  Then for good measure he came back on Saturday and hit a few more threes and also showed he can handle it a little bit too."  Carter, who is ranked #384 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, scored 13 points in Christian Life's win over Provine.  "He worked the glass and scored in the paint well," says Johnson.  "Cook is a long armed wing who showed the ability to hit the three and finish around the rim.  Word at the event was that he has committed to a Samford."