HOT RECRUITING INFORMATION FOR FEBRUARY 2002 

Thursday, February 28, 2002

We had heard last summer that 6'2 Soph Jamar Butler from Lima (Shawnee) OH, who is ranked as the #2 sophomore in Ohio by Chris Johnson, was a near lock for the University of Cincinnati.  Well, yesterday Butler made it official, as he picked the Bearcats over Dayton and Ohio State.   "Butler has no weaknesses in his game," says Johnson.  "He already was a great ball handler and passer who sees the court extremely well.  But during the last year he's improved his outside shooting and he's still growing.  In other words, he projects as both a 2-guard and a point guard with size."  He also has a chance to become the all-time leading scorer the history of the state, as he has already has scored 1033 points in his first two seasons and they are still counting, as his team continues to advance in the playoffs.  The only other player to reach 1000 points after his sophomore year is the legendary Jay Burson from New Concord (John Glenn) OH, who is the leaading scoring in the history of the state.   Butler's versatility also is important, because he gives the Bearcats coaching staff luxury of going after the best available backcourt players, like 6'4 Jr Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, 6'0 Jr Tauren Minor from Houston (Booker T. Washington) TX, and 5'7 Jr Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, at both one and the 2-spot in the junior class.  We also are hearing that Notre Dame is the early favorite for 6'4 Jr Colin Falls from Chicago (Loyola Academy) IL, who is one of the best 3-point shooters in the junior class nationally, and 6'9 Aaron Spears from Chicago (Dunbar) IL has made it academically.   This is especially important, because Spears is the top unsigned big man with the grades and test score necessary to get into a four-year school who is still available.   Currently his list includes Iowa, Connecticut, Louisville, and Illinois, but that list will likely get longer before it gets shorter.  It also appears that Kentucky and Illinois are now the favorites for 6'6 Kelenna Azubuike from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK.  If you will recall, Azubuike made a verbal commitment to Oklahoma last fall, but opened his recruitment back up after his older brother, who was a walk-on for the Sooners, left the team.  Providence has a commitment from 6'8 Herbert Hill from Kinston (H.S.) NC and it has been reported that 6'0 Roscoe Biggers from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC has verbally committed to Temple University.  However, our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that it's not done yet.  But when it does become official, Biggers would move Temple's recruiting class, which also includes 6'6 Mike Blackshear from Philadelphia (Simon Gratz) PA, 7'0 Keith Butler from Philadelphia (Celestial Prep) PA, and 6'7 Antywane Robinson from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, into a tie at #47, along with Wisconsin, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  Making the story even more intriguing is the fact that Biggers wouldn't count against Temple's number of scholarships in this recruiting class, because it appears he is willing to walk-on and pay his own way his first year.  In other words, the Owls appear to be the verge of landing a back-up point guard, which they need, because Nile Murry will be the only point guard in the program after Lynn Greer graduates this spring.  Rubin also tells us that 6'2 John Morris from Trinity (Camp Hill) PA, who is ranked #23 in the area by the HOOP SCOOP, has verbally committed to Old Dominion. 

Wednesday, February 27, 2002

The McDonald's All-American Team, which will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY, April 4th, was officially announced tonight at 6:00 PM EST on ESPN'S Sports Center and their weren't many surprises, as the East Squad will include 6'1 Raymond Felton from Latta (H.S.) SC, 6'1 Elijah Ingram from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, 6'4 Rashad McCants from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6'4 J.J. Redick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA, 6'7 Carmelo Anthony from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN, 6'8 Jason Fraser from Amityville (H.S.) NY, 6'8 Travis Garrison from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'10 Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC, 6'10 Torin Francis from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA, 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL, and 6'9 Eric Williams from Wake Forest (Rolesville) NC and the West Squad will include 5'11 Dee Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, 6'1 Sean Dockery from Chicago (Julian) IL, 6'2 Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI, 6'1 Daniel Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'3 Bracy Wright from The Colony (H.S.) TX, 6'5 Hassan Adams from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'7 Evan Burns from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'10 Chris Bosh from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'8 Brad Buckman from Austin (Westlake) TX, 6'10 Paul Davis from Rochester (H.S.) MI, 6'9 DeAngelo Collins from Inglewood (H.S.) CA, and 6'10 Michael Thompson from New Lenox (Providence) IL.  As a matter of fact, the only major surprise to us was that 6'1 Bryan Hopkins from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, who is ranked #8 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, didn't make the team.  Not only is Hopkins the point guard on the #1 team in the nation, but he was the HOOP SCOOP's Player-of-the-Summer after leading his team to the championship of both the NIKE Peach Jam in Augusta, GA and AAU Super Showcase in Orlando, FL, where average 29.7 ppg.  However, some of people who voted for the team obviously don't know how good Hopkins is, because he did not attend either the NIKE All-American or the adidas ABCD Camp last summer, plus he had a subpar junior year prior to coming on like gangbusters last summer.  Also suffering from not being a household name until last summer was 6'7 Antoine Wright from Groton (Lawrence Academy) MA, who established his nationally reputation at the adidas ABCD Camp and has been ranked among the top 20 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP ever since.  But just like with the SMU-bounds Hopkins, Wright doesn't have the politics on his side.  In other words, he isn't going to attend school at one of the high profile programs with a big fan base, like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, or UCLA, and he didn't play for one adidas' or NIKE's flagship AAU programs.  Instead, Wright played for the Inland, CA, signed with Texas A&M, and attends a prep school in the East.  In other words, if he'd played for the Pump-N'Run AAU team, signed with UCLA, and attended high school in Los Angeles, CA, Wright probably would have been a lock for the team.  We also thought 6'5 Rashad Anderson from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL, who is perhaps the best 3-point shooter in the class, and 6'2 Gerry McNamara from Scranton (Bishop Hannan) PA, who is ranked #18 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, were good enough to make the team.  However, with the overwhelming number of good guards in the class, we knew they were probably going to slip through the cracks.   The other major surprise is that Adams made the team.  I've always liked this slashing 2-guard who is ranked #36 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but, in our opinion, he's not even the best player in Arizona's recruiting class.  That honor goes to 6'3 Chris Rodgers from Portland (Wilson) OR, who is ranked #21 in the senior class nationally by HOOP SCOOP.  However, Adams had several advantages, like living in Los Angeles, CA and playing for a high school team that was ranked #1 in the nation during the first month of the season.  We also weren't surprised by the fact that Thompson made it, despite the fact he is ranked #47 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Remember, if you go to a school like Duke, it's going to give you an advantage, especially if you're one of the final players who is on the bubble.  As a matter of fact, Duke had four players on the team (Redick, Randolph, Dockery, Thompson) and the Blue Devils probably would have had five, if 6'10 Shelden Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK hadn't recently been suspended from his high school teams for the remainder of the season due to off-the-court problems.  And Duke wasn't the only college team that had more than one signee on the McDonald's All-American Team, as Felton, McCants, and May all will be attending North Carolina next year.  The only player who clearly shouldn't be in the game, based on our rankings is 6'10 Eric Williams from Wake Forest (Rolesville) NC.  Currently Williams doesn't rank among our top 100 nationally, but he is a physical specimen and apparently the legendary Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD head coach Morgan Wootten, who has the final say on the last four picks for the game, was so impressed with Williams at the Glaxo Wellcome Holiday Classic in Raleigh, NC in late December that he thought he should in the game.  So naturally we be interested in getting another look at Williams, who we haven't seen since last summer.  We will be interesting in seeing how do you think they did when it came to finalizing what we (the members of the selection commitee) gave them and coming up with the 25th Annual McDonald's All-American Team?  As a matter of fact, you can give it a grade on a scale from A-to-F in our "Question of the Day". 

I just got an interesting fax regarding what was written by Jeff Goodman of iHigh.Com earlier today about myself, the HOOP SCOOP's Clark Francis, spreading rumors about the possibility of a commitment by 6'6 Leonard Cooke from Old Tappan (North Regional Valley) NJ to the University of Louisville. "Word has spread that Lenny Cook has made his decision and the New York City star has given a verbal commitment to Rick Pitino and the University of Louisville," says Goodman. "But the 6'6 swingman says it's way off-base,"   Goodman goes on to quote Cooke saying, "I never said that and I haven't committed anywhere yet."  Well, I'm sure that's what Cooke told Goodman last night or earlier today, but like so many of the"rookies" in our business, Goodman obviously lacks perspective and hasn't done his homework.  Originally Cooke liked North Carolina because he thought that's where he thought his buddy Omar Cook would go to college.  However, two years ago Cook changed his mind at the last minute and, instead, signed with St. John's.  So it came as no surprise when Cooke moved the Red Storm to the top of his list.  As a matter of fact, he even told the Red Storm coaching staff that he planned to attend St. John's, if he didn't bypass college and enter his name into the NBA Draft.  In other words, Mr. Goodman, it looks like you are the one who is wrong, because Cooke, at one point or another, has already committed to two different schools (St. John's and Louisville).  And in both cases our source is so impeccable that even Goodman would know we're right if we told him where our information came from.  However, in a case like this, a good reporter cannot reveal his source or sources.  And upon further investigation our read is that Cooke told the University of Louisville coaching staff early last week that he wants to come.   But they told him Cooke they won't accept a commitment until he makes it academically.  Obviously they want to keep their options open in case they find the great point guard they've been saying they need for two months and/or not mess things up with all the great wing players they're involved with in the junior class.  So obviously we stand by what we've reported previously, which was that Cooke may have made a verbal commitment to the University of Louisville. However, we never have reported it as being official.  So with that in mind, hopefully in the future this Goodman characater will do a better job in several areas.  First, he shouldn't accuss us of spreading rumors without knowing all the facts.  Second, he should learn to read between the lines when a 19-year-old kid from Brooklyn, NY tells him what he wants him to hear.  Third, he needs to do a better job of distinguishing between something that might happen or is on the verge of happening and something that has already officially happened. 

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Earlier today we published exclusively in the Members Section our rankings of the top players in each class from 1984 to 1991, which means you can now click on National Rankings and see where we ranked all of the top players in the nation during the last 18 years.  The timing is especially important, not just because the McDonald's All-American Team will be announced tomorrow night at 6:00 PM EST on ESPN's Sports Center, but also because the Class of 1984 was the first group of players to attend the modern day version of a superstar oriented camp, like the NIKE All-American Camp or the adidas ABCD Camp.  We're talking about the AFBE Camp in Princeton, NJ, which several years later grew into the NIKE All-American Camp under the direction of Sonny Vaccaro.  That's where we got our first look at 6'10 Danny Manning from Lawrence (H.S.) KS and our second look at 6'10 Chris Washburn from Laurinburg (Institute) NC (I'd gotten to see Washburn a week earlier for the first time at Five-Star's loaded Pitt I session).  And rounding out our top five in the Class of 1984 were 6'8 John Williams from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, who was incredible in that year's McDonald's All-American in Los Angeles, CA; 6'4 Delray Brooks from Michigan City (Rogers) IN, who turned out to be a bust at Indiana, but later helped Providence get to the NCAA Final Four in 1987; and 6'2 Gary Grant from Canton (McKinley) OH, who was absolutely terrific when we saw him during the summer of 1983 at the B/C All-Star Camp.  The best player in the Class of 1985 was 6'8 Ben Wilson from Chicago (Simeon) IL, but he didn't live long enough to get ranked in our final rankings, because he was tragically killed in late November of his senior year.  Instead, our top five players that year included 7'0 Tito Horford from Houston, TX, 6'10 Danny Ferry from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'8 Ed Horton from Springfield (Lanphier) IL, 6'7 Tony Kimbro from Louisville (Seneca) KY, and 6'3 Jeff Lebo from Carlisle (H.S.) PA.  However, in the end, they too all failed to fulfill all their hype and expectations. And the same can be said about the next two classes, as our top five in the Class of 1986 featured 6'10 Scott Williams from Hacienda Heights (Wilson) CA, 6'10 Terry Mills from Romulus (H.S.) MI, 6'10 J.R. Reid from Virginia Beach (Kempersville) VA, 6'4 Rex Chapman from Owensboro (Apollo) KY, and 6'2 Rumeal Robinson and our top five in the Class of 1987 featured 6'10 LeRon Ellis from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'8 Marcus Liberty from Chicago (Martin Luther King) IL, 6'7 Brian Shorter from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'6 Larry Johnson from Dallas (Skyline) TX, and 6'6 Eric Manual from Macon (Southwest) GA.  But it doesn't get much better than the next several classes.  As a matter of fact, the great Class of 1988, which featured 6'11 Shawn Kemp from Elkhart (Concord) IN, 6'10 Alonzo Mourning from Chesapeake (Indian River) VA, 6'9 Kenny Williams from Elizabeth (Northeastern) NC, 6'8 Billy Owens from Carlisle (H.S.) PA, and 6'1 Chris Jackson from Gulfport (H.S.) MS in the top five, was one of our all-time favorites.  Our top five in 1989 was also pretty good with 6'10 Shaquille O'Neal from San Antonio (Robert Cole) TX, 6'8 Doug Edwards from Miami (Senior) FL, 6'5 Allan Houston from Louisville (Ballard) KY, 6'1 Kenny Anderson from Jamaica (Archbishop Molloy) NY, and 6'0 Bobby Hurley from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ.  The Class of 1990 featured 6'2 Damon Bailey from Bedford (North Lawrence) IN, but he was ranked no higher than top 15 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  Instead, our top five included 7'0 Eric Montross from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'10 Clifford Rozier from Bradenton (Southeast) FL, 6'8 Ed O'Bannon from Lakewood (Artesia) CA, 6'8 Jamal Mashburn from Bronx (Cardinal Hayes) NY, and 6'8 Grant Hill from Reston (South Lakes) VA.  The tallest player - 6'11 Cherokee Parks from Huntington Beach (Marina) CA - in  the Class of 1991 proved to be a bust, but four out of five with 6'10 Alan Henderson from Indianapolis (Brebeuf) IN, 6'9 Juwan Howard from Chicago (Vocational) IL, 6'9 Chris Webber from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, and 6'9 Glenn Robinson from Gary (Roosevelt) IN isn't bad.   6'4 Jason Kidd from Alameda, CA has more than lived up to his expectations, but, in the end, the other four top five players in the Class of 1992, which were 6'9 Othello Harrington from Jackson, MS, 6'6 Corliss Williamson from Russellville, AR, 6'5 Rodrick Rhodes from Jersey City, NJ, 6'5 Donta Bright from Baltimore, MD, didn't live up to the hype.   The same can be said in the Class of 1993 about 6'8 Dontonio Wingfield from Albany (Westover) GA, 6'4 Ronnie Henderson from Jackson (Murrah) MS, and 6'4 Randy Livingston from New Orleans (Newmann) LA.  However, the success that 6'11 Rasheed Wallace from Philadelphia (Simon Gratz) PA and 6'6 Jerry Stackhouse from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA have both had is enough to make up for it.  The top five players in the Class of 1994, which included 6'10 6'10 Zendon Hamilton from Floral Park (Sewanhaka) NY, 6'9 Jerod Ward from Clinton (H.S.) MS, 6'9 Antonie Walker from Chicago (Mt. Carmel) IL, 6'5 Felipe Lopez from New York (Rice) NY, and 5'8 Kareem Reed from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY also failed to live up the hype, but it doesn't get any better than the Class of 1995, which had a top five of 6'11 Kevin Garnett from Chicago (Farragut) IL, 6'1 Stephon Marbury from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'7 Ron Mercer from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA 6'9 Robert Traylor from Detroit (Murray-Wright) MI, and 6'9 Shareef Adbur-Rahim from Marrietta (H.S.) GA.  Three of the top five players - 6'6 Kobe Bryant from Ardmore (Lower Merion) PA, 6'10 Jermaine O'Neal from Columbia (Eau Claire) SC, 6'10 Tim Thomas from Paterson (Catholic) NJ - in the Class of 1996 also did well, but 6'9 Charles Hathaway from Nashville (Hillcrest) TN and 6'8 Lester Earl from Baton Rouge (Glen Oaks) LA went South.  It also was boom or bust for our top five players in the Class of 1997, as 6'9 Lamar Odom from Troy (Redemption) NY, 6'8 Tracy McGrady from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, and 6'2 Baron Davis from Santa Monica (Crossroads) CA have done extremely well in the NBA and 6'3 Anthony Perry from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ and 6'10 Chris Burgess from Irvine (Woodbridge) CA never lived to expectations in college.   The next two classes also get mixed reviews, as the top five players in the Class of 1998 were 6'8 Al Harrington from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'7 Korleone Young from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, 6'10 Rashard Lewis from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX, 6'5 Quentin Richardson from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, and 6'11 Dan Gadzuric from Byfield (Governor Dummer Academy) MA and our top five in the Class of 1999 were 6'7 Donnell Harvey from Cuthbert (Randolph Clay) GA, 6'4 Keith Bogans from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'3 Kenny Satterfield from New York (Rice) NY, 6'2 Jason Williams from Metuchen (St. Joseph's) NJ, and 6'10 Marvin Stone from Huntsville (Grissom) AL.  It may be too early tell with the top five players in the Class of 2000, which included 6'8 Zach Randolph from Marion (H.S.) IN, 6'9 Darius Miles from East St. Louis (H.S.) IL, 6'1 Chris Duhon from Slidell (Salmen) LA, 6'3 Marcus Taylor from Lansing (Waverly) MI, and 6'9 Eddie Griffin from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA, and the Class of 2001, which included 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ, 6'4 Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL, 5'11 Terrance Ford from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX, and 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, but our guess is that most of these players will turn out to be pretty good.  So now that you have some of our comments and analysis about the top five players in each class, we want to know which one of these classes you think has the best top five players and we encourage you tell us in our "Question of the Day". 

Monday, February 25, 2002

The HOOP SCOOP has confirmed that 6'2 Janovey Weatherspoon from Odessa (JC) TX, who was ranked as the #2 point guard in the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook by Rick Ball, has verbally committed to the Oklahoma State.  However, this commitment may not hold up, because, as things stand now, a scholarship offer has not been made nor has Weatherspoon been on the Cowboys' campus for an official visit.  And, according to Greg Swaim of GregSwaim.com, Weatherspoon won't be on campus for an official visit until after the season.  So what's the delay?  Apparently Weatherspoon doesn't fit the combo guard description that head coach Eddie Sutton needs, as he tries to replace 6'1 Maurice Baker, who will graduate this spring.  Oklahoma State also appears to be waiting to see if  6'0 Julian Richardson from Miami (Pace) FL, who signed with the Cowboys last fall, makes it academically.   Oklahoma State also is waiting to see what's going to happen academically with 7'0 Julius Lamptey from Oklahoma City (Northeast) OK.  So are Illinois, Georgia, Cincinnati, and Washington.  Swaim also tells us that it is now a two-horse race between Mississippi State and Oklahoma State for 6'8 Kareem Johnson from Chipola (JC) FL, plus it appears that University of Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith now has an interest in 6'6 Kelenna Azubuike from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK.   If you will recall, Azubuike committed last fall to the University of Oklahoma, but has since opened things back up.  There also is still talk about Azubuike bypassing college and going into the NBA Draft this spring.   However, that is totally ridiculous, as is evident by the fact that Azubuike is ranked no higher than #62 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  

Our Michigan Editor Steve Bell, who also is the editor and publisher of The Bank, which is a Michigan-based scouting service, and the editor of MichiganPreps.com, reminds us that we now look really good on 6'7 Mike Williams from Schoolcraft (JC) MI, who was ranked as a borderline top 100 senior in the Class of 1999 by the HOOP SCOOP.  Williams is now one of the key players on the #1-ranked junior college team in the nation and, as a result, is a primary recruiting target of schools like Texas, Auburn, and Detroit.  Obviously Detroit has the homecourt advantage, because he's right in their own backyard.  However, Auburn also has an important connection that they can use to their advantage.  If you will recall, last spring the Tigers landed 6'4 Derrick Bird from Schoolcraft (JC) MI.   We also are hearing that Missouri is now being the leader for 5'11 Ricky Clements from Southern Idaho (JC) ID and the early list for Florida, Florida State, Oklahoma, Texas, UNLV, Cincinnati, and LSU includes 5'11 Jr Taurean Minor from Houston (Washington) TX.  

Rob Matera of the All Star Sports tells us that 6'8 Tyler Best from Lafayette (Central Catholic) IN has committed to UNC-Charlotte.   This comes as a surprise to us for several reasons.  First, we didn't know that Best was still available.  If you will recall, we reported that Best had committed last fall to Eastern Kentucky and we really haven't thought much about it since.   In other words, we had no reaason to believe he had reneged on his commitment.  Second, Best isn't good enough to be more than a role player for the 49ers.  Actually this kind of reminds of  the situation with Best's older brother, Travis Best.  Remember, he was a reserve at the University of Louisville, but later transferred to Purdue due to lack of playing time, where he finished out his career as a walk-on.  Matera also tells us that 6'4 Lamar Hurd from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX has made a verbal commitment to Baylor.  This is huge, because, after seeing Hurd at the National Academy Invitational in Houston, TX after Christmas, we thought he was one of the best unsigned seniors in the nation.  This moves Baylor's recruiting class, which also includes 6'6 Terrance Thomas from Lon Morris (JC) TX, 6'4 Ellis Kidd from Seminole State (JC) OK, and 6'9 Tommy Swanson from North Crowley (JC) TX, up from #48 into a tie at #29, along with LSU and California.  And this comes on the heels of a class a year ago that included 6'9 Lawrence Roberts from Houston (Lamar) TX, 6'6 Roderick Neely from McLennan (JC) TX, 6'3 Kenny Taylor from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX, and 5'11 John Lucas from Houston (Bellaire) TX.  In other words, we don't list Baylor assistant coach Doug Ash on our list of the top assistant coaches for nothing.  Especially noteworthy is the fact that Roberts was ranked #60 in our final rankings of the Class of 2001, but Thomas, who was the #4-ranked wing forward in the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook by Rick Ball, and Hurd, who is one of the fastest rising players in the senior class nationally, are also major steals!

Saturday, February 23, 2002, and Sunday, February 24, 2002

Well, I have finally decided what to do with regards to the 10 players we know have made the McDonald's All-American Game, which will be played on Thursday, April 4th, at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY.   We aren't going to release the names, because it would be irresponsible on our part if we turned out to be wrong on a single kid.  Instead, we will take what we know and incorporate it into what we suspect and let you guess the rest.  Currently our list includes 22 players - 6'7 Carmelo Anthony from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL, 6'1 Raymond Felton from Latta (H.S.) SC, 6'10 Chris Bosh from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'8 Jason Fraser from Amityville (H.S.) NY, 6'9 DeAngelo Collins from Inglewood (H.S.) CA, 6'1 Daniel Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'3 Bracy Wright from The Colony (H.S.) TX, 6'2 Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI, 6'1 Bryan Hopkins from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'4 J.J. Redick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA, 5'11 Dee Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, 6'7 Evan Burns from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'10 Torin Francis from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA, 6'8 Brad Buckman from Austin (Westlake) TX, 6'4 Rashad McCants from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN, 6'1 Sean Dockery from Chicago (Julian) IL, 6'10 Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC, 6'8 Travis Garrison from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'1 Elijah Ingram from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, and 6'9 Eric Williams from Wake Forest (Rolesville) NC.  That's the easy part!  However, we feel like the final two spots on the team are really up for grabs.   We don't think that 6'10 Shelden Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK and 6'5 DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) TX will make it, because they were suspended from their high school team for the remainder of the season after a recent off the court incident.  We know that 6'2 Marshall Strickland from Sykesville (South Carroll) MD and 6'6 Leonard Cooke from Old Tappan (North Valley Regional) NJ weren't considered, because they are both 5th year players and, as a result, were not eligible to play for their high school team this season.  Also not considered for the team was 6'6 Denham Brown from Toronto (West Hill) ON, who is regarded as a foreign player.  We also don't believe that 6'5 Rashad Anderson from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL, 6'2 Gerry McNamara from Scranton (Bishop Hannan) PA, 6'3 Chris Rodgers from Portland (Wilson) OR, 6'8 Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK, 6'7 Greg Brunner from Charles City (H.S.) IA, 6'6 Matt Walsh from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA, 6'6 Andre Igoudada from Springfield (Lanphier) IL, 6'3 Jarrett Jack from Worcester (Academy) MA, 6'10 Michael Thompson from New Lenox (Providence) IL, 6'4 Jimmy McKinney from St. Louis (Vashon) MO, and 6'1 Allan Ray from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, will make the team for variety of reasons.  In some cases we know something, while in others we're just guessing.  In Ray's case, he's been hurt most of the season, but is healthy now, as his team gets ready to make another serious run into the playoffs.  However, in the case of 6'10 Paul Davis from Rochester (H.S.) MI, who had a tremendous senior season, but was recently sidelined with a broken leg, we suspect that he won't be included among the 24 players named to the team.  However, he may be the honorary 25th player.  In other words, we really have no idea who will be the two remaining players named to the team.  However, I would love to hear who think will be on the team.  You can email me at clark@hoopscooponline.com or call me at 502-493-0043. 

Normally we try not to watch players who are younger than freshmen in high school, but yesterday we made an expection when we saw two of the top 10 8th graders in the nation - 6'8 Greg Oden from Indianapolis, IN and 6'6 Durell Arthur from Dallas, TX - go head-to-head in the Kansas City Keys Basketball Invitational in Kansas City, MO.  Arthur only scored four points, but used his great timing and incredible athleticism to dominate on the boards and block a surprising number of shots.  He also showed an ability to step away from the basket and hit the mid-range jumper, which leads us to believe he may project as a wing forward down the road.  However, Arthur isn't even in the same class with Oden, who might just be third best 8th grader in the nation behind 6'7 Derrick Character from Scotch Plains, NJ and 7'1 Jason Bennett from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL.  We're talking about a guy with great hands, long arms, tremendous hand-eye coordination, excellent mobility, and explosive quickness.   He's also very active and has a knack for finding ways to score around the basket.   In other words, he's already advanced well beyond his age, as he has the natural talent, athleticism, and potential to follow in the footsteps of Shawn Kemp, Glenn Robinson, Alan Henderson, Zach Randolph, and Jared Jeffries and become the next great player with size in the state of Indiana.  Oden scored most of his 11 points early against Team Texas, as the Indiana Heat jumped out to a 31-12 lead.  However, thanks primarily to the outside shooting of 5'9 Jermaine Beal from De Soto TX, who finished with 12 points, Team Texas made a 25-8 run and made things interesting down the stretch.   However, the Indiana Heat, which have dominated in their age group in recent years by winning several national championships in both AAU and BCI, hung on as 5'10 Michael Conley, 6'5 Daequan Cook, 5'10 Devin Williams, 6'0 Brandon McDonald, and 6'8 Jeremy Henderson also played important roles.  Conley is a lefty combo guard who makes this team go.   Not only he is a good ball handler and passer who thrives in transition, but he has a great nose for ball, is a good rebounder for his size, and a good outside shooter.   Cook is an even better outside shooter, but this versatile athlete also has the size to play inside.  Williams and McDonald are slashers who get to the hole and create havoc on defense, while Henderson is a shot blocking athlete with long arms, good athleticism, and lots of potential.  We also have to mentioned several other 8th graders - 6'4 Alex Tyus from St. Louis (Country Day) MO, 5'10 Brance Davenport from Raine (Armstrong) LA, 5'10 Nic Wise from Houston, TX, and 5'11 Mark Meadows from Houston, TX - that NIKE's George Raveling and Don Crenshaw, both of whom also were in attendance, got to see during the course of the day. 

"Despite some published speculation this week that Cooke has committed to the University of Louisville, neither he nor his family has made an announcement." is what was written in today's Louisville Courier-Journal's College Basketball Notebook Section.  And that is accurate, because no official announcement has been forthcoming from 6'6 Leonard Cooke from Old Tappan (North Valley Regional) NJ and, as a result, we haven't added Cooke's name to our list of Recent Commitments.    However, we have reason to believe that Cooke has told the Louisville coaching staff that he wants to become a Cardinal and, as a result, we believe the headline of the article, which reads "Cooke hadn't committed to UofL," is wrong.   In other words, we stand by our source!  We also want to point out that verbal commitments sometimes occur, but for whatever reason one or both parties decide not to make it public for awhile.  In Cooke's case, he may be having a hard time telling St. John's no.  If you will recall, it has always been widely assumed that Cooke would end up playing for the Red Storm, if he makes it academically and says no to bypassing college and entering his name in the NBA Draft.  In Louisville's case, they obviously are still recruiting a number of wing players, like 6'4 Jr Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, and they may want to keep a Cooke under wraps until they have a better idea of whether Cooke is going to make it academically  They may also be trying to string Cooke along in case they are able to come up with a quality point guard who is good enough to step in and make an immediate impact next year.  Also along this line of reasoning is the fact that Cardinals coaching staff is looking at 6'2 Maurice Hampton from Russellville (H.S.) KY, who is considering walking-on at Louisville next year.  Should they decide that Hampton is good enough to fill their point guard needs, they may decide to go after the best available player they can get.  Remember, 6'10 Marvin Stone, who transferred from the University of Kentucky to the University of Louisville in early January, will count as one of the five scholarship players, along with 6'7 Francisco Garcia from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'10 Kendall Dartez from Vincennes (JC) IN, and 6'2 Taquan Dean from Neptune (H.S.) NJ.  So under the five-and-four rule, whereby, you can only sign nine players over a two-year period, they only have one more scholarship to give in this recruiting class.   So, if Hampton were good enough, he would solve this problem.  However, Hampton, who is ranked #15 in the senior class in Kentucky by the HOOP SCOOP, is not good enough nor is he the best player in the 4th Regional ahead of Kentucky-bound 5'8 Brandon Stockton from Glasgow (H.S.) KY.  I bring this up, because that's exactly what I heard from one Louisville fan who obviously hasn't seen either Stockton or Hampton play.  However, we have seen them both many times, including when Glasgow (H.S.) KY and Russellville (H.S.) KY both participated in The Inaugural "Blue Chip" Basketball Shootout at Bellarmine College in Louisville, KY on Friday, December 7th. 

Friday, February 22, 2002

This is not confirmed, but it appears that 6'6 Leonard Cooke from Old Tappan (North Valley Regional) NJ, who is ranked as the #1 5th year player in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP, has verbally committed to the University of Louisville.  On the surface this looks like it would be a great get, as it would move the Cardinals recruiting class up from #16 to #4 nationally behind Duke, Iowa State, and North Carolina.  However, we are wondering why Louisville would be wasting their time with a kid who can't shoot, likely won't predict, and likely will enter his name into next June's NBA Draft.  He also has some of Brandon Bender in him.  In other words, he's not a bad kid, but he's extremely high maintenance and he has big entourage.  He also has the potential to not only mess up Louisville's entire team chemistry next season, but he also would prohibit the Cardinals from taking the point guard they need - i.e. Ricky Clemons from Southern Idaho (JC) ID - in this recruiting class and he may interfer with their recruitment of a great wing guard in the junior class - i.e. 6'4 Jr Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, who is ranked as the #4 nationally by HOOP SCOOP behind 6'6 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH, 6'10 Jr Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX, and 6'7 Jr Luol Deng from Blairstown (Academy) NJ and ahead of 6'8 Jr Leon Powe from Oakland (Tech) CA, 6'10 Jr Kendrick Perkins from Beaumont (Ozen) TX, 6'8 Jr Travis Outlaw from Starkville (H.S.) MS, and 6'10 Jr Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS.  So, instead of getting excited about a similar version of 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL, who committed to Memphis last winter, but who never will play a minute with the Tigers, Cardinals should be getting excited about where the Cardinals stand with all the top juniors.  Actually they're involved with just about eveeybody at the top of the class, but James and Perkins will likely go pro, Duke is going to be tough to beat for Edi and Deng, and Mississippi State already appears to be a near lock for Outlaw.  However, you have to like the Cardinals chances for Brown, Powe, and Butler.  Let's start with Brown, who has Illinois, Iowa, Louisville, Kansas, and Arkansas at the top of his list.  Earlier we thought it would be tough to beat the Fightning Illinois, but Roy Schmidt of the Illinois Bulls-eye Report confirms that Illinois Warriors head coach Larry Butler and the Illinois coaching staff are on the outs and, as a result, we think the chances of Brown staying home are slim and none.  Among the other schools on Brown's list, Iowa has been their the longest and strongest, but his AAU teammate - 6'6 Andre Iguodala from Springfield (Lanphier) IL went to Arkansas and, as a result, the Razorbacks are in there a lot stronger than most people realize.  We also know that Jayhawks head coach Roy Williams was in the house last week when Brown scored 50 points.  However, we think the Cardinals will be right there in the end, because Louisville's assistants (Mick Cronin and Vince Taylor) have especially strong ties with all the right people, plus we know that Brown's father calls Rick Pitino all the time.  Powe's list is a long one, but the co-favorites are Louisville and California.  Once again the key is Cronin's long time relationship through adidas with Powe's high school coach.  The connection with Butler is Marvin Stone, who plays the same AAU coach (Mark Komara) that Stone played for when he was in high school.  Auburn, LSU, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi are also on Butler's list, but you can bet Louisville will be right there when it comes to decision time in four or five months.  And that's the key!  It doesn't matter how well Stone plays next season.  However, Stone's development during the next four or five months could prove to be one of the deciding factors in the Jackie Butler sweepstakes.  Remember, 30 of our top 100 seniors were already verbally committed by July 1st a year ago and that number will likely be even higher this summer due to the fact that juniors can take official visits for the first time ever beginning this spring.   In other words, Brown may be ready to make a decision before the Cardinals even know whether Cooke is going to be eligible and/or to the NBA. 

Thursday, February 21, 2002

It looks like this might be his last year.   No, we're not talking about the legendary Morgan Wootten at Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, who has been rumored to be on the verge of retiring for years.   Instead, we're talking about Carroll Holmes at Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC.  And, if this happens, long time Archbishop Carroll assistant coach Bill Howze should be the heir apparent.  However, several other good candidates would be Catholic University assistant coach Steve Howes and Bethesda (Georgetown Prep) MD head coach Dwayne Bryant, who played high school ball at Archbishop Carroll and college ball at Georgetown.  But we'd be surprsised if Howes got the job, despite the fact has helped his boss, Mike Lonergan, turn the program into a Division III powerhouse in recent years, because he's more of a University of Maryland guy.   Remember, Archbishop Carroll has a long tradition of sending its players to Georgetown - the latest examples being 6'9 Jr Darien Townes, who is ranked #64 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'2 Jr Robert McIver, who is ranked #70 nationally in the junior college class, both whom transferred to Archbishop Carroll after making early verbal commitments to Georgetown over a year ago.  However, McIver recently left the team and, as a result, is now looking for a new school - perhaps Gaithersburg (McGruder) MD, where he would form one of the best backcourts in the along with 6'3 Soph Isiah Swann.  Getting back to the Georgetown-Archbishop Carroll connection, did you know that the president of the school at Archbishop Carroll played high school basketball for John Thompson years ago at Washington (St. Anthony) DC?  And he may be ready to make a change, because Archbishop Carroll, which drops to 10-17 overall and 4-12 in the league, finished the regular season last night with a five-point loss to Wheaton (Good Counsel) MD.  Actually the game was closer than the final score would indicate, as Archbishop Carroll had the ball with down two with 34 seconds left.  At that point there was some pushing and shoving going on inside and the ref called a double foul, which decided the game (the possession arrow gave the ball to Good Counsel).  Making the story even more interesting is the fact that the ref who made the controversial call that cost Archbishop Carroll the game was Holmes' roommate in college at American University. 

The roster has been released for the Jordan Brand Capital Classic All-Star Game, which will be held  in Washington, DC at the MCI Center in Washington, DC on Thursday, April 11th.  Participating on the national team will be 6'7 Carmelo Anthony from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) VA, 6'10 Chris Bosh from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'4 Hassan Adams from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 5'11 Dee Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, 6'1 Bryan Hopkins from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'4 Bracy Wright from The Colony (H.S.) TX, 6'4 J.J. Redick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA, 6'7 Evan Burns from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'10 Torin Francis from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA, 6'4 Rashad McCants from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN, 6'6 Denham Brown from Toronto (Westhill) ON, 6'11 Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC, 6'8 Travis Garrison from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'7 Kennedy Winston from Pritchard (Blount) AL, 6'10 Michael Thompson from New Lenox (Providence) IL, 6'5 Andre Igoudala from Springfield (Lanphier) IL, 6'3 Jarrett Jack from Worcester (Academy) MA, 6'7 Greg Brunner from Charles City (H.S.) IA, 6'1 Jeff Horner from Mason City (H.S.) IA, 6'6 Kelanna Azubuike from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK, and 6'1 Justin Gray from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA.   There also will be a preliminary game and the doubleheader will begin at 6:30 PM with the Regional Game of United States All-Stars versus Capital All-Stars, followed by the National Game between the Red Team and White Team at 8:30 PM. 

Not only is the University of Connecticut coaching staff among the best in the nation at getting involved with a large number of players early, but they have a knack for hanging around in case something happens in the later stages of the recruiting process.  And the perfect example is 6'10 Hilton Armstrong from Peekskill (H.S.) NY, who came close to making a verbal commitment to La Salle early.  However, Peter Abraham of The Journal News tells us that Armstrong, who is having an outstanding senior season and, as a result, is one of the fastest rising players in the senior class nationally, made it official earlier this week for the Huskies.  Armstrong, who picked the Huskies over Rutgers, La Salle, and North Carolina, needs to get bigger and stronger physically, but this shot blocking athlete is a potential top 100 senior nationally.  He also is exactly what the doctor order for the Huskies, who should be set for several more years at both the point guard spot with Taliek Brown and at wing spots with 6'5 Rashad Anderson from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL and 6'6 Denham Brown from Toronto (Westhill) ON, but need additional help inside.  The addition of Armstrong and the fact that Brown is much better than we originally thought (Brown was tremendous when we saw him two weeks ago at the National Prep School Invitational in Smithfield, RI) means we have to both adjust and move up the Huskies recruiting class from #41 to #24 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  We also have finally confirmed via Greg Swaim of GregSwaim.com something we thought had happened earlier in the week.  That's right!  Iowa State does have a verbal commitment from 6'5 Jerome Harper from Indian Hills (JC) IA, who was ranked as the #5 2-guard in the junior college ranks by the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook.  So the Cyclones recruiting class does move up to #2 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  It also appears that LSU got a commitment earlier this week from 6'3 Tony Gipson from Panola (JC) FL, who is averaging 25 ppg.  This too is intriguing, because Gipson's older brother, Teddy Gipson, is a 6'4 senior at Arkansas, but the younger brother instead opted for LSU.  The younger Gipson has only played one year of junior college basketball, but is fully qualified academically and, as a result, will have three years of eligibility remaining at LSU.  Gipson's commitment also moves LSU's recruiting up from #43 to #29 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.

Wednesday, February 20, 2002

We've already mentioned a number of times that we can not divulge anything about the selection process for the McDonald's All-American Team until after the team is announced next week.  However, we are now faced with an interesting dilemma, because we have not been informed and don't expected tobe  informed who is on the team until it is officially announced on Wednesday, February 27th, at 6:00 PM EST on Sports Center on ESPN.  But via various sources we already know of nine players who have officially been informed they are on the team and with a little more investigation we probably could find out who most of the other 15 players are by this weekend.  So this raises a very interesting question.  Are we morally and ethically bound by our position on the McDonald's All-American Selection Committee not to reveal the names of the players we have independently confirmed are on the team?   Obviously we wouldn't have a problem if the people at Sports America, who are in charge of the selection process, had provided us with a list of players in advance who have made the team, but asked us to keep it confidential and off the record until the team was officially released.  However, in this case they are asking us to make a trade off.   There is no question it is an honor to be one of the members of the selection committee, but in the process, if we apply their request to independent verification of who is on the team, they have effectively prevented us from doing our job, which is to gather information and keep our readers informed about what is going on as it pertains to recruiting and basketball at the grass roots level.  It's similar to the way the media frequently has to separate their editorial and advertising departments (i.e. do you you run a story that is important to the public interest even though it may alienate one or more of your advertisers and possibly cost you adverstising revenue?).   In other words, we're talking about a question that publishers often have to deal with and an issue that is much bigger than just where does the line stop with regards to our vote in the McDonald's American Selection Process.  We're talking about the freedom of the press and the type of decision people in the media have to make everyday, as everybody from the government on down tries to manipulate and control the free flow of information for their own purposes.  In this case, we may have to decide whether our future position on the McDonald's All-American Selection Committee or keeping under wraps what we can independently verify with regards to who has been selected to the team is more important.  And that's our very important "Question of the Day".  If you were in our position, what would you do? 

Tuesday, February 19, 2002

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson was at the Beeghley Center in Youngstown, OH on Sunday to see 6'7 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH, who is the consensus #1 player in the nation regardless of class.  James had 20 points, but the  four players - 6'6 Benson Callire, 6'3 Soph Tyrae Denmark, 6'6 Shawn Simpson, and 6'3 Frosh John Brown - for Grove City (George Jr. Republic) PA stole the show, as George Jr Republic pulled off a 58-57 upset  in overtime against one of the nation's premier teams.  Throughout the game George Jr. Republic did a great job defensively, as they always had a fresh defender matched up against James.  Deserving special recognition is Denmark, who not only checked James done the stretch (James only scored eight points during the second half and overtime).   Callire also chipped in with 13 points and had several big blocks inside against James.  Thus, explains why Akron, Duquesne, and Robert Morris are showing a lot of interest in this undersized power forward who did a great job inside against St. Vincent-St. Mary.  However, it appears Callire wants to go big-time and, as a result, is waiting to see if schools like Cincinnati, Miami-FL, South Florida, and Florida State are going to offer.  Simpson, who is bound for Chipola (JC) FL, also provided support both inside and outside.  But the player who really got Johnson excited was Brown, who was his team's leading scorer with 15 points.  "This lefty with an exception crossover dribble and excellent ball handling skills has to be one of the top 15 or 20 freshmen in the nation," says Johnson.  However, we're talking about a 15-year-old freshman who is already in his second year of high school (a year ago he attended Hillcrest High School in Cincinnati, OH). 

If that weren't enough on a slow Tuesday, our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson also tells us that 6'5 Jerome Harper from Indian Hills (JC) IA may have verbally committed to the Iowa State.  However, as things stand now, that is not confirmed.  But if this does turn out to be correct, Iowa State's recruiting class, which currently is ranked #7 nationally on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date, would move back into the #2 spot behind Duke and ahead of Villanova, Florida, Michigan State, and Tennessee.  If will recall, a month ago we reported that 6'0 Brandon Brooks from Indian Hills (JC) IA had reneged on his verbal commitment to Southern Cal and, instead, had made it official for Iowa State.  But that didn't last long, as Brooks returned home to Portland, OR, reneged on Iowa State, and reaffirmed his commitment to the Trojans in late January.   Actually this makes more sense anyway, because Iowa State already got the great point guard they weere looking for when they landed 6'0 Tim Barnes from Southeastern (JC) IL, who is widely regarded as the best point guard in the junior college ranks, last fall.  They also got two of the top junior college big men in 7'1 Chris Alexander from Indian Hills (JC) IA and 6'10 Jackson Vroman from Snow (JC) UT, as well as an excellent perimeter player in 6'4 Adam Haluska from  Carroll (Community) IA, who is ranked #59 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  So if the Harper commitment holds up, the Cyclones will have landed a terrific player at every position in this recruiting class!  

We also continue to the University of Louisville has made major in-roads with both 5'11 Ricky Clemons from Southern Idaho (JC) ID, who is the best point guard still available in the junior college ranks.  However, we're not sure if they are going to pull the trigger because Clemons has some off-the-court baggage, plus they may have to wait until summer before they know whether he will be academically qualified.  We also are hearing the Cardinals mentioned with 6'6 Leonard Cooke from North Regional Valley (Old Tappan) NJ, plus they seem to be right at the top of the list for 6'4 Rashaad Carruth, who everybody expects to transfer from the University of Kentucky after the current season is over.  But in both cases we'd be very surprised.  If you will recall, Cooke, who is the #1 ranked 5th year player by the HOOP SCOOP, as well as the guy who was ranked as the #1 junior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP last spring, also is an academic question mark.  He also is one of the first players mentioned  (ready or not) any time there is a discussion about who might by-pass college and go straight into the NBA Draft next June.  Besides, Louisville doesn't need another perimeter player.  Instead, our guess is their first priority is finding a point guard and Clemons is one of the few still available who is good enough to step in and start immediately at the big time college level.  And their second priority should be quality size.  But with only one scholarship available, we expect them to wait until next year, unless they strike out on bringing in a top notch point guard.  Currently Louisville's recruiting class, which includes 6'10 Kendall Dartez from Vincennes (JC) IN, 6'7 Francisco Garcia from Winchendon (School) MA, and 6'3 Taquan Dean from Neptune (H.S.) NJ, is ranked #13 nationally, but they only have one more scholarship available under the 5-and-4 rule, because Marvin Stone, who recently transferrred from Kentucky to Louisville, counts as the 4th scholarship player in this recruiting class.  However, for our purposes Stone doesn't count, because it has always been the editorial policy of the HOOP SCOOP not to count transfers when ranking recruiting classes.  However, if Stone did count, Louisville's recruiting class would move up to the #3 spot on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  And, if they also added somebody like Clemons and Stone counted as well, their class would move into second behind Duke.   That also happens to be where the Cardinals recruiting class finished last spring with 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Louisville (Moore) KY, 6'9 Brandon Bender from Louisville (Ballard) KY, 6'5 Greg Tinch from Albany (Westover) GA, 6'5 Larry O'Bannon from Louisville (Male) KY, 6'4 Coric Riggs from Fairdale (H.S.) KY, and 6'9 Ottis George from Homestead (Berkshire) FL.  But the Cardinals have not been as good as we thought they'd be prior to the start of the season.  If you will recall, we had Louisville ranked #30 pre-season, but Hurt was lost for the season in early January with a back injury, Bender announced he would transfer in late January and is no longer with the team, and Tinch and Riggs both were academically ineligible to play this season.

Monday, February 18, 2002

Roy Schmidt of the Illinois Bulls-Eye Report tells us that the big match-up Saturday night between Maywood (Proviso East) IL and Chicago (Julian) IL in the City Suburban Showdown at Northwestern University was not nearly as bad as watching most Chicago Bulls home games this season.  As a matter of fact, it proved to be anticlimactic when compared to the first game of the evening when Chicago (Brother Rice) IL came back from a 13-point second half-time deficit to beat Schaumburg (H.S.) IL, 73-71. The best player in that game was 6'1 Rick Harrigan, who finished with 30 points, including 4-7 3-pointers, as he showed why Schmidt thinks he's one of the best long range shooters in the state of Illinois.  However, the best prospect in the game was Schaumburg's 6'1 Tony Young, who is getting recruited at every level of the Division I spectrum, as Marquette, Southern Illinois, and Chicago State are all involved in an intense recruiting battle.  Young had 19 points, but fouled out late in the game.  Statistically 6'2 Sean Dockery from Chicago (Julian) IL won the battle against 6'0 Dee Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, but Schmidt gives the advantage to Brown in a Technical Knockout.  Dockery had 37 points and four assists, but his 13-33 field goals, 2-7 3-pointers, five turnovers, and desire to continue to rack up garbage points after the game was decided illustrate Schmidt's point.  Brown, on the other hand, had 27 points, 9-18 field goals, 2-8 3-pointers, and seven assists, as he once again showed why most experts believe he is the best senior in the state of Illinois.  But that doesn't mean he's the best player in the state regardless of class.  Instead, Schmidt thinks that honor should go to either 6'3 Jr Richard McBride from Springfield (Lanphier) IL or 6'4 Jr Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL.  As a matter of fact, Shannon Brown was also the best player in the game, as he scored 32 points and hit 12-26 field goals and 3-6 3-pointers.  

Mitch Malone, the Editor and Publisher of the Texas Blue Chip Report, was one of the 17,500 people at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, TX on Saturday night for the biggest day in Texas high school history.  In the first game of the triple-header 6'3 Bracy Wright and 6'2 Deron Williams combined for 42 points, as they led The Colony (H.S.) TX to a 73-62 victory over Dallas (South Oak Cliff) TX.  The second game was a total blowout, as Ft. Worth (Dunbar) TX, which was led by 6'4 Steve Thomas and 6'2 Andre Smith, who combined for 47 points, beat Dallas (Kimball) TX, 84-56.  And the final game of the evening featured Dallas (Lincoln) TX, which entered the game 32-0 and ranked #1 in the nation in the latest USA Today poll, against Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, which entered the game 30-1 and ranked #8 nationally in the latest USA Today poll.  They can't meet again this season in the state playoffs, because Lincoln is a Class 5-A school and Cedar Hill is a class 4-A school.   So the argument can be made that this game may have been for all the marbles, as Lincoln escaped, 64-63, with their undefeated season intact.  However, Cedar Hill made things especially interesting when they switched from a match-up zone to a man-to-man with four minutes left in the game and came back from a 10 point deficit.  The deciding factor in the game, according to Malone, was 6'11 Jr Chris Bosh from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, who finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, and seven blocks.  "I've seen Bosh play better at the offensive end, but I've never seen him control a game like that defensively," says Malone. "They had him for seven blocked shots, but I thought he had more."  Currently we have Bosh ranked as the #5 senior in the nation, but Malone thinks he should be #1.  "He's may not be as big and strong physically as Amare Stoudemire, but he's more skilled, just as athletic, and two inches bigger."  The HOOP SCOOP still has 6'7 Carmelo Anthony from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, but I have to agree with Malone about Bosh being one of the two or three other serious candidates for National Player-of-the-Year in the Class of 2002, along with Anthony, Stoudemire, and 6'1 Raymond Felton from Latta (H.S.) SC.  Getting back to the Lincoln-Cedar Hill game, 6'1 Bryan Hopkins from Dallas (Lincoln) TX complemented Bosh with 15 points, while 6'1 Daniel Horton led Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX with 22 points.  

We are still waiting for our Michigan Editor Steve Bell, who also is the editor and publisher of The Bank, which is a Michigan-based scouting service, and the editor of MichiganPreps.com, to get us a Michigan Report (perhaps as soon as this weekend).  But he does have some interesting news to tide us over in the meantime.  No, he's not changed his tune on 6'4 Jr Dion Harris from Detroit (Redford) MI, who appears to be all but a lock for the University of Michigan (it's more a question of when then where for Harris).   Instead, it looks like things have changed in the sweepstakes for 6'4 Jr Brandon Jenkins from Detroit (Southeastern) MI, who previously was thought to be favoring Ohio State over Michigan, Providence, Missouri, USC, UNLV, and Michigan State.   Apparently the Wolverines coaching staff has convinced Jenkins that he will be able to play both the two and the 3-spots, along with Harris, who is ranked #5 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'6 Lester Abram from Pontiac (Northern) MI.  Michigan also landed 6'1 Daniel Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, who is ranked #9 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, last fall, so, if all this materializes as expected, the Wolverines should be loaded in the backcourt for years to come.  However, they haven't solved all their inside needs just yet.  Sure, 6'11 Chris Hunter from Gary (West Side) IN is vastly improved, 6'9 Graham Brown from Milo (H.S.) MI is a blue collar banger inside, and 6'10 Amadou Ba from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME has potential, but they still need more help inside.   And their prime target is 6'10 Jr Drew Neymock from North Muskegon (H.S.) MI, who is perhaps the fastest rising player in the state.  However, getting him may not be all that easy, because he's also at the top of Michigan State's list.  So is 6'5 Jr Olumuyiwa Famutimi from Flint (Northwestern) MI, who also is being recruited by what appears to be a Who's Who of the Top Schools in College Basketball.  We're talking about Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Florida, Cincinnati, Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, and Kentucky.

Saturday, February 16, 2002, and Sunday, February 17, 2002

Our rankings of the top coaches, which can be found by clicking on Exclusive Ranking of the Top Coaches have been completed and it should come as no surprise that the top 25 head coaches in college basketball in order are Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Louisville's Rick Pitino, Texas Tech's Bob Knight, Arizona's Lute Olson, Kansas' Roy Williams, Cincinnati's Bobby Huggins, Temple's John Chaney, Michigan State's Tom Izzo, Florida's Billy Donovan, Kentucky's Tubby Smith, Utah's Rick Majerus, Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton, Maryland's Gary Williams, Ohio State's Jim O'Brien, Connecticut's Jim Calhoun, Stanford's Mike Montgomery, Memphis' John Calipari, College of Charleston's John Kresse, Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson, Purdue's Gene Keady, Iowa State's Larry Eustachy, Virginia's Pete Gillen, Georgia's Jim Harrick, UNLV'S Charlie Spoonhour, and Holy Cross' Ralph Willard.  However, it may come as a surprise that N.C. State's Herb Sendek heads the HOOP SCOOP's List of Head Coaches Who Are In The Middle Of Their Career, But Who Have The Potential To Move Onto Our List of the Top 25 Head Coaches in the Game (prerequisite is you must have been a head coach six-to-15 years at the Division I level).  Also on this list in order behind Sendek are Villanova's Jay Wright, Alabama's Mark Gottfried, Notre Dame's Mike Brey, Wake Forest's Skip Prosser, Boston College's Al Skinner, Illinois' Bill Self, Oregon's Ernie Kent, Texas' Rick Barnes, Iowa's Steve Alford, George Mason's Jim Larranaga, USC's Henry Bibby, Phil Martelli of St. Joseph's, Charlotte's Bobby Lutz, Tennessee's Buzz Peterson, Nebraska's Barry Collier, Dayton's Oliver Purnell, Miami-FL's Perry Clark, Pennsylvania's Fran Dunphy, Pittsburgh's Ben Howland, UNC-Wilmington's Jerry Wainwright, SMU's Mike Dement, Northwestern's Bill Carmody, South Florida's Seth Greenberg, and Boston University's Dennis Wolff.  We also have an impressive list of the Top 25 Up-and Coming Head Coaches in the College Game Today (prerequisite is you must have been a head coach five years or less at the Division I level), which includes in order Gonzaga's Mark Few, Missouri's Quin Snyder, Indiana's Mike Davis, Xavier's Thadd Matta, Manhattan's Bobby Gonzalez, Hampton's Steve Merfeld,   Tulsa's John Phillips, Western Kentucky's Dennis Felton, Michigan's Tommy Amaker, Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt, Mississippi's Rod Barnes, Tennessee Tech's Jeff Lebo, Pepperdine's Paul Westphal, Minnesota's Don Monson, Iona's Jeff Ruland, Seton Hall's Louis Orr, Southern Illinois' Bruce Weber, Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Bruce Pearl, Clemson's Larry Shyatt, Kent State's Stan Heath, North Carolina's Matt Doherty, Saint Louis' Lorenzo Romar, Hartford's Larry Harrison, Ball State's Tim Buckley, and William & Mary's Rick Boyages.  While a lot of the head coaches on the first two list's are firmly entrenched, this last list will likely read like a Who's Who of Coaches Who Will Be Moving Up The Coaching Ladder This Spring.  And the same hold true for our list of the top assistants in the game today, which includes Arizona's Jay John, Kansas' Neil Dougherty, Louisville's Mick Cronin, Auburn's Mike Wilson, and Connecticut's Dave Leitao right at the top of the list.  We also have a list of the top 25 assistants at the lower Division I level.  At the top of that list are George Mason's Mike Gillian, Valparaiso's Scott Drew, Siena's Steve Seymour, William & Mary's Pat Skerry, and Drexel's Geoff Arnold.  And last, but not least, we rank the top 30 high school and/or prep school coaches.  And it may come as a surprise to some that Bob Hurley, Sr of Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ edges out the legendary Morgan Wootten of Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, who is the winningest high school coach of all-time, as well as a great ambassador for the game, and Steve Smith, who has lost a total of two games in the last two years at Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, for the top spot on this list.  As a matter of fact, our "Question of the Day" for Saturday, February 16th, was Who is the Best High School and/or Prep School Coach in the Nation.  Who would you vote for - Hurley, Wootten, Smith, Jack Curran of Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, Jere Quinn of Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, Stu Vetter of Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, Bill Ellerbee of Philadelphia (Simon Gratz) PA, Gary McKnight of Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, Gary DeCesare of Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, or Mike Byrnes of Winchendon (School) MA?

Friday, February 15, 2002

With the announcement yesterday by Gale Catlett that he is stepping down at the conclusion of the season as the head coach at West Virginia, there are now three noteworthy head coaching jobs that are officially open.  The other two are Texas Christian where Billy Tubbs will step down after an eight year run and Long Beach State where Wayne Morgan announced that he was calling it quits for personal reasons.  Also on the bubble are Pat Kennedy at DePaul, DePaul Bob Bender at Washington, Paul Graham at Washington State, Murry Bartow at UAB, Fran Fraschilla at New Mexico, Melvin Watkins at Texas A&M, Larry Shyatt at Clemson, Steve Robinson at Florida State, and even Matt Doherty at North Carolina.  Most people do think Doherty will survive.  After all, that's only fair, because he should get a chance to coach the three great freshmen - 6'1 Raymond Felton from Latta (H.S.) SC, 6'4 Rashad McCants from New Hampton (Prep) NH, and 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN - the Tar Heels landed in this recruiting class.  However, life isn't always fair and, if Larry Brown, who is the best coach in basketball at any level, were to step down as the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers and was willing to take a salary far less than what he's currently making the pros, only a fool would not be at least tempted to think about making a change.  Robinson helped himself dramatically when Florida State pulled off one of the top upsets of the entire year by beating Duke earlier this season.  However, 6th in the league, a 10-12 overall record, and a Sagarin Rating that has the Seminoles ranked #118 nationally among all Division I schools are all causes for concern.  And just like both Doherty and Robinson, we think Shyatt is one of the bright up-and-coming head coaches in the nation.  He has done a great job recruiting the last several years (i.e. Tony Stockton, Chris Hobbs, Chey Christie and Sharrod Ford) are all list among the top young players in the league) and, as a result, either Shyatt or the guy who replaces him will likely take the Tigers back into the upper echelon of the league very in the near future.  Lack of enough time to turn the program around may also turn out to be the determining factor with Watkins, who should have one the best wing duos in college basketball next year when 6'5 Bernard King is a senior and 6'7 Antonie Wright from Groton (Lawrence Academy) MA is a freshman next year.  Fraschilla is getting a lot heat from fans, politicians, and the local media and his team's Sagarin Rating isn't very impressive (they ranked #82).  However, the Lobos are 14-8 overall and their RPI Rating is in the mid-40's, which means the team's they've been playing must have an impressive strength of schedule.  UAB pulled off an impressive win a week ago against Memphis, but more recently the Blazers lost to TCU and they're attendance is way down, which is one of the sure signs a coach is in trouble.  Complicating things even further is the fact the school president, who is supposed to retire in June, is a lame duck and the athletic director knows he's treading on thin ice, if he doesn't have a darn good reason to get rid of Bartow.  Remember, Bartow's father, Gene Bartow, who was the school's first basketball coach and athletic director, still has a tremendous amount of clout with the big money people.  Nobody expected much from Washington State this year, but the Cougars are ranked #212 by Sagarin and currently have a 5-17 record in Graham's third year.   In other words, it's probably time to make a change.   And things aren't much better at the University of Washington, despite the fact the Huskies brought in a recruiting class that was ranked #20 nationally last spring.  As a result, we know think Missouri's Quin Snyder is the leading candidate for this job, although Saint Louis head coach Lorenzo Romar or Gonzaga's Mark Few bring a lot to the table.  We've already talked a lot of DePaul and Long Beach State, but we haven't said anything or heard anything lately about Texas Christian, except that Kansas assistant coach Neil Dougherty may be in line for this job.  As a matter of fact, that's who we'd hire and we wouldn't even have to see the rest of the list of candidates.  In our mind, Dougherty, who played for Mike Krzyzewski at Army and has been an assistant coach for two of Deam Smith's right hand men (Eddie Fogler at Vanderbilt and South Carolina and Roy Williams at Kansas), is one of the brightest guys in the business.  He also will be ranked as one of the top five assistant coaches in the business, along with Arizona's Jay John, Louisville's Mick Cronin, Auburn's Mike Wilson, and Connecticut's' Dave Leitao, when we come out with our official list this weekend.  Earlier N.C. State's Herb Sendek was also thought to be a candidate for Texas Christian.  If you will recall, the athletic director at TCU not only hired Sendek at Miami-OH, but is one of his closest friends.   However, Sendek obviously isn't going anywhere now, as he has shown people why we've been touting him for years as one of the top young head coaches in college basketball.  Not only is his job is secure with a impressive 18-6 record, but Sendek also has pulled off one of the biggest Cinderella stories of the year and, as a result, has to be one of the leading candidates for National Coach-of-the Year.  The West Virginia situation also is very interesting, because the obvious candidate is Cincinnati's Bobby Huggins, who is an alumnus of the school, as well as the only head coach in college basketball to win 25 or more games a season each of the last six years.  And with a 23-2 record right now, he soon will become the only head coach who has done this during the last seven consecutive seasons.  Huggins also has his team ranked #5 in the Associated Press and #2 in Sagarin.  So don't be surprised if the Mountaineers make Huggins an offer he can't refuse financially.  However, if it's all about money, Huggins will instead probably be the next head coach of the Denver Nuggets.  Remember, Huggins is tight with Bret Bearup who is tight with Denver Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke.  It also might be difficult for Huggins to leave Cincinnati, where over the last 13 years he has transformed the Bearcats program back into one of the perennial powers in college basketball, as well as become the closest thing we're going to get to a modern day Al McGuire.

Thursday, February 14, 2002

We already have 6'7 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH ranked as the #1 player in the nation regardless of class.   He also is already being heralded as the best player to ever come out of the state of Ohio, as he promises to be the first player ever to be named Mr. Basketball in the Buckeye state three straight years.  He also has already led his high school to two state titles and is expected to lead it to two more during his junior and senior years.   James also was named the best player at the adidas ABCD Camp last summer by the HOOP SCOOP and this week becomes only the third high school basketball player ever (the first two were Rick Mount in 1966 and Tom McMillen in 1970) to be on the cover of Sports Illlustrated.  So what is left for James to accomplish at the high school level?  "How about being the first junior ever named to the McDonald's All-American Team?"asks our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson.  "Unlike some high school players in the past (i.e Tyson Chandler) who were afraid their stock might drop, if they showed up and didn't play well, you can bet that James would welcome the challenge."  His presence would not only ensure a sell-out in this year's McDonald's All-American Game at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY on Thursday, April 4th, but, if he was the first player ever to be named to the McDonald's All-American Team twice, it also would give next year's game even more added significance, especially if the game was played in the Gund Arena in Cleveland, OH.  As a matter of fact, Johnson believes the chance of that happening is a near lock.  "James has no weaknesses in his game," says Johnson.   "He is an exceptional passer, great ball handler, good rebounder, and terrific defender.  He also has a great understanding of how to play team defense, can shoot the three, and makes everybody around him better.  He's also is one of the best athletes and most explosive players I've ever seen."  And apparently the NBA scouts who saw James at the Prime Time Shootout against Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA last weekend agree.  As a matter of fact, the consensus seems to be that there aren't five players in the NBA right now that they'd rather have than James.  "He does need to improve his free throw shooting, but I think that's more concentration than anything else," says Johnson.  "He just bored at this level." Speaking of being bored, Johnson thinks James will forgo playing AAU ball most of the spring and summer.  "Instead, he will likely work out with Michael Jordan and other pros in Chicago.  He'll go to the adidas camp, but anything after that is a big question mark."  Johnson also believes James would have been the #1 pick in the NBA Draft last June ahead of Kwame Brown and that he would be the #1 pick this year, if he wanted to challenge the NBA Draft rule, which prohibits high school players from entering the draft before their class graduates from high school, ahead Duke's Jason Williams.  So it should come as no surprise when we tell you that James is already being touted as perhaps the best high school player of all time.  And the people at NIKE seem to agree.  As a matter of fact, the word on the street is that NIKE has already made the decision to do whatever it takes to sign James to a multi-million dollar shoe deal.   And you can bet adidas will do whatever it takes to match the offer.  In other words, the conclusion that Dan Wetzel and Don Yaeger came to two years ago in their book, Sole Influence: Basketball Corporate Greed, and the Corruption of American Youth, may have been wrong.  We really might be talking about the next Michael Jordan!

We can't tell you who we voted for during the selection process for this year's McDonald's All-American Game, which will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY on Thursday, April 4th, until after the team's are announced on Wednesday, February 27th, on Sports Center on ESPN.   However, we can tell you who is on the selection committee:  Scott Alexander of Fox Sports South, Vince Baldwin of Prep Spotlight, Dave Bones of Cage Scope, Ron Briscoe of the Southeast Regional Basketball Report, Frank Burlison of Fox Sports, Joe Butler of Metro Index, Van Coleman of Future Stars, Bill Cronauer of B/C Scouting Service, Jack Curran of Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, Clark Francis of the HOOP SCOOP, Howard Garfinkel of Five-Star Basketball, Nate Harris of Tulsa (Booker T. Washington) OK, Sonny Hill of the Sonny Hill Basketball League, Doug Huff of Student Sports, Inc., Van Johnson of Game Plan Sports Scouting Services, Kurt Keener of Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, Tom Konchalski of the H.S.B.I. Report, Dave Krider of U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, Vito Montelli of Trumbull (St. Joseph) CT, Brick Oettinger of Prep Stars/Recruiter's Handbook, Eddie Oliver of HoopsUSA and the Prime Time Shootout, Kurt O'Neil of Elite Hoops, Joe Petrocelli from Kettering (Alter) OH, Keith Pickett of Shop n Save/KMOX Shootout, Tracy Pierson of PrepWestHoops.com, John Rhodes of Beach Ball Classic, Don Showalter from Wellman (Mid-Prairie) IA, Tim Stevens of the Raleigh News & Observer, Mike Sullivan of RivalsHoops.com, Greg Swaim of GregSwaim Basketball, Dave Telep of BlueChipHoops.com, Barry Temkin of the Chicago Tribune, and Boo Williams the Boo Williams Summer League.  In other words, that's seven legitimate national scouts who annually see all of the top high school players in the nation, nine regional scouts who see most of the top players, five high school tournament directors, six high school coaches, and six guys who we have never heard of, never seen, and/or haven't seen in years. 

Wednesday, February 13, 2002

Two weeks ago we announced a price increase to the Members Section of HOOP SCOOP Online that will take effect beginning on Friday, February 15th.  Currently the price is $30 per month, $90 for three months, $180 for six months, and $360 per year.  However, on Friday we will be raising the price to $39 per month, $115 for three months, $230 for six months, and $460 per year.   So at a savings of $9 per month, $35 for three months, $50 for six months, and $100 per year, now is the perfect time to renew your subscription before the price goes up.  You can either renew your subscription by clicking on subscribe or by calling us at 1-(502) 493-0043.  If you subscribe online, you will have to enter a new user name and password.  If you want to keep the same one, I suggest you call us.  If you want to subscribe for longer than a year, we'll also give you a special discount on a two-year subscription for only $560, which means you would save $160 before the price increase and $360 after the price increase.   Obviously we were already more expensive than most of the other recruiting internet sites and scouting services, but you do get what you pay for.  As a matter of fact, Dick "Hoops" Weiss of the New York Daily News says the HOOP SCOOP Online is the most widely read source on a daily basis by the people who count (those people in the business whose livelihood depends on  the latest and most accurate information available).  "It's an invaluable resource for anybody who wants to keep up with what's going on at the grass roots level," says Weiss.  We also are usually way out in front in terms of trends, analysis, and players rankings.   If you will recall, the HOOP SCOOP has had 6'7 Carmelo Anthony from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA ranked as the #1 senior in the nation since last summer (well ahead of all of our competition).  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson also had 6'6 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St.Mary) OH touted as the #1 player in his class a full year ahead of everybody else and we were way out in front on 6'10 Jr Kendrick Perkins from Beaumont (Ozen) TX.   Remember, we were talking about Perkins being the #2 player in the class behind James at the end of his freshman year and now it looks like most of our competition agrees.   However, we've since jumped off the bandwagon, because we think Perkins has lost some of his quickness and athleticism and is too concerned about his press clippings.  As a result, we think several other players in the junior class, like 6'7 Luol Deng from Blairstown (Academy) NJ, 6'8 Jr Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX, 6'4 Jr Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso West) IL, are now better than Perkins. 

Sources on the West Coast tell us that adidas' Sonny Vaccaro was on the Mighty 690 in San Diego, CA this morning and was not very complementary towards UCLA head coach Steve Lavin, as he expressed his clear displeasure with regards to where the UCLA program is heading, as well as the lack of development by players currently in the program.  Normally we'd just blow this off as one more UCLA fan who is pissed off.  Currently the Bruins are 16-7 overall and 8-4 in the league heading into UCLA's game tomorrow night at Pauley Pavilion against Arizona.  And as things are shaping up, tomorrow's night game might be make or break time for Lavin.  A win would move the Bruins into a tie for first place, along with Arizona and Oregon, as well as California (assuming the Golden Bears beat Washington State), Stanford (assuming The Cardinal beats Washington), and USC (assuming the Trojans beat Arizona State).  Obviously that would take all the heat off Lavin, who has a long history of shutting his critics up by pulling out a big win at crunch time.   However, a loss would move the Bruins as far back as 6th Place in the league, if all the above teams perform as expected.  And, if that happens, it could spell disaster for Lavin.  Remember, UCLA is one of adidas' flagship programs and Vaccaro is the most powerful man in basketball.  So it should come as no surprise that UCLA fans continue to talk about the possibility once again of replacing Lavin with one of the top head coaches in the business.  Two years ago Utah's Rick Majerus was at the top of the list and last year it was Rick Pitino, who at the time had just quit as head coach and president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics.  Now Majerus appears to be at the top of the list again, but we're also hearing Missouri's Quin Snyder being mentioned as a possible candidate.  And we think the timing might be right for Snyder to move.  The Tigers have dropped out of the top 25 nationally after a great start (in December they were ranked among the top five, but heading into tonight's game at Nebraska, Missouri is 17-7 on the season and 6-4 in the league).  And Snyder also apparently has problems because the billionaire's son isn't getting enough playing time.  We're talking about 6'4 Soph Josh Kroenke, who is ranked 9th on the team in both minutes played (179 minutes/9.0 minutes per game) and scoring (37 points/1.9 ppg).  If you will recall, Kroenke's father, Stan Kroenke, owns 49% of the St. Louis Rams and is the sole owner of the Denver Nuggets and his grandfather was Bud Walton, who was one of the co-founders of Wal-Mart.  However, we think the smart move for Snyder would to take the University of Washington job for several reasons.  First, he is originally from the Pacific Northwest.  If you will recall, he played high school basketball at Mercer Island (H.S.) WA for the legendary Ed Pepple.  Second, the Washington job probably will open this spring and the UCLA job won't.  Third, Snyder may have trouble recruiting in Los Angeles.  Did you know there has been some friction between certain members of the Tigers coaching staff and Dinos Trigonis, who is the coach of the Belmont Shore AAU program for which 6'8 Travon Bryant and 5'10 Wesley Stokes, both whom are sophomores at Missouri, played?  Certainly all this makes the story more interesting, but  regardless of whether Snyder stays at Missouri or ends up at Washington, UCLA, or anywhere else, he still is one of the top up-and-coming young head coaches in the business.  As a matter of fact, that was our "Question Of The Day" for February 5th and Synder finished tied for 4th, along with Gonzaga head coach Mark Few, with 11% of the vote (Marquette's Tom Crean was first with 33%, followed by Indiana's Mike Davis and Manhattan's Bobby Gonzalez, both tied with 19%).

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

We are still collecting names of assistant coaches who need to be mentioned among the guys who we think are the best in the business.  However, the one who seems to have overwhelming support is William & Mary's Pat Skerry.   As a matter of fact, Skerry is a big reason why the Tribe is one of the up-and-coming programs in the Colonial Athletic Association, as well in college basketball.  If you will recall, William & Mary landed the second best recruiting class in the league last fall when they signed 6'0 Nick D'Antoni from Myrtle Beach (Socastee) SC, 6'10 Nathan Loehrke from Mattawan (H.S.) MI, 6'9 Tom Viglianco from Huntsville (Jones) AL, and Steve Sorenson from Hudson (Western Reserve) OH and they had the third best recruiting class in the league this fall when they added 6'7 Jack Jenkins from Andover (Proctor Academy) NH from 6'0 Brett Howell from Auburn (H.S.) AL, and 6'5 Taylor Mokris from Charlotte (Providence Day) NC.  Some other assistant coaches who do a great job and, as a result, need to be strongly considered for our list include West Virginia's Drew Catlett, Saint Louis' Brad Soderberg, Miami-FL's Dwight Freeman, SMU's Jimmy Tubbs, San Jose State's Patrick Springer, Idaho's Donnie Tyndell, Austin Peay's Tony Collins, UTEP's Silvy Dominguez, Kansas State's Robbie Laing, New Orleans' Patrick Harrington, George Washington's Kevin Broadus, Drexel's Geoff Arnold, Fairleigh Dickinson's Jim Carr, Boston College's Bill Coen, Loyola-Chicago's Scott Spinelli, Arizona State's Russ Pennell, Memphis' Tony Barbee, UNC-Greensboro's Ken Dempsey, La Salle's Joe Lombardi, California's Jon Wheeler, Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, San Diego State's Brian Dutcher, Wake Forest's Jeff Battle, Pennsylvania's Dave Duke, Akron's Keith Dambrot, Princeton's Robert Burke, Nevada's Andy McClouskey, Boston University's Larry Greer, Stanford's Eric Reveno, Bowling Green's Keith Noftz, Miami-OH's Jermaine Henderson, Towson State's Rob Senderoff, Wisonsin-Milwaukee's Tony Jones, Ohio University's John Roedes, Siena's Steve Seymour, Siena's Rob Jackson, Iowa State's Bob Sundvold,  Portland's Eddie Hill, Mississippi State's Stan Jones, Kansas' Joe Holladay, Columbia's Bill Johnson, Pepperdine's Jim Nielsen, Army's Mark Sembrowich, Northeastern's Frank Martin, Montana State's Scott Carson, Cal State-Fullerton's Jason Levy, and IUPUI's Todd Howard.  We also have been getting good feedback on our "Question of the Day" from Friday, February 8th, which asks who on our list of the white assistants should be included on our top 10 overall list, and Satuday, February 9th, which asks who on our list of the black assistants should be included on our top 10 overall list.  If you will recall, we already have gone on record saying that any list of the top 10 assistant coaches in the business right now needs to include Arizona's Jay John, Kansas' Neil Dougherty, Louisville's Mick Cronin, Auburn's Mike Wilson, Villanova's Fred Hill, Ohio State's Paul Biancardi, Connecticut's Dave Leitao, and Southern California's Kurtis Townsend?  The landside winner among the 10 black assistants was Duke's Johnny Dawkins with 31% of the vote, followed by Florida's Anthony Grant with 16%, Alabama's Orlando Early with 15%,and Illinois' Norm Roberts and Syracuse's Troy Weaver, both with 12%.  The winner among white assistant coaches was Florida's John Pelphrey with 31% of the vote, followed by Michigan State's Brian Gregory with 23%, and Duke's Steve Wojciechowski, Tennessee's Kerry Keating, Oklahaoma State's Sean Sutton, and Cincinnati's Andy Kennedy, all with 8%.  So with the addition of Dawkins and Pelphrey, that gives us an even 10 names for our "Question of the Day" for today.  Who is the best assistant coach in college basketball?

The heavyweight match-up yesterday at the Prime Time Shootout in Trenton, NJ between 6'6 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH, who is the consensus #1-ranked player in the nation regardless of class, and 6'7 Carmelo Anthony from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who is the #1-ranked senior in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP, apparently lived up to the billing.  James finished with 36 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals, and one block, while Anthony had 34 points and 11 rebounds.  So who won the big match-up between arguably the top two players in the nation regardless of class?  Would you believe that consensus among people in attendance goes to Anthony?  However, the big difference in the game, as Oak Hill won 72-66, proved to be the inside play by 6'9 Sani Ibrahim from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who complemented Anthony with 16 points and 15 rebounds.  In other words, Anthony and Ibrahim, who combined for 26 rebounds, had five more rebounds than the entire St. Vincent-St. Mary's team.    The other big story at the Prime Time Shootout involved the rematch between Los Angeles (Westchester) CA and Bronx (All Hallows) NY.  Westchester squeaked out a one point victory, but the official scorer, who just happened to be Slam Dunk to the Beach Tournament Director Bobby Jacobs, missed a free throw in the first half that should have gone to All Hallows.  We understand that Chris Monter, who was broadcasting the game for BroadcastMonsters.com, pointed out the discrepancy and the All Hallows coaching staff even threated to take their team off the court.  However, the officials never took care of the problem and, as a result, unfortunately that proved to be the difference in the game.  We also understand that 5'10 Soph Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, who is the #1-ranked sophomore in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP, had 27 points and played extremely well in his team's two-point win over Rochester (McQuad Jesuit) NY.   Other than that, it was pretty much status quo, as Philadelphia (Simon Gratz) PA beat Trenton (H.S.) NJ, 53-49; Richland (St. Augustine) NJ beat Linden (H.S.) NJ, 53-51; Philadelphia (St. John Neumann) PA beat Cape May Court House (Middle Township) NJ, 50-47; Horsham (Hatboro-Horsham) NJ beat Hazlet (Raritan) NJ, 43-39; New York (Rice) NY beat Camden (Catholic) NJ, 61-37; Neptune (H.S.) NJ beat Medford (Shawnee) NJ, 66-61; in other games on Saturday and Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY beat Clifton (H.S.) NJ, 80-44; Philadelphia (Simon Gratz) PA beat Oyster Bay (St. Dominic) NY, 52-47; Middle Village (Christ the King) NY beat Lincroft (Christian Brothers) NJ, 52-50; New York (Rice) NY beat Wayne (Passaic Tech) NJ, 67-50; Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ beat Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA, 70-45; Elizabeth (H.S.) NJ beat Camden (H.S.) NJ, 76-53; and Pleasantville (H.S.) NJ beat Florence (H.S.) NJ, 48-29; on Sunday.  As for the treatment of the media by the folks running the Prime Time Shootout, our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin, who unlike a number of others in the media, did make a donation to the tournament, tells us they were much more media friendly than they've been in recent years.  So maybe the position we took several weeks ago had a positive effect.  However, our Northeast Editor Dave Schultz, who had more than his share of problems a year ago, did not attend and neither did I.   Instead, I covered the National Prep School Invitational in Smithfield, RI and Schultz stayed home.  I also feel good about the positive feedback I've gotten from everybody in the media.  Contrary to the propaganda and spin that was being producted by Eddie Oliver, who was in charge of dealing with the media, the overwhelming consensus was on our side.  However, few others had the guts to take a tough stand and do what they think was right. 

Monday, February 11, 2002

Last week we told you that the decision had already been made with regards to Long Beach State head coach Wayne Morgan being gone at the end of the season.  Well, it's now official, as Morgan announced over the weekend that he was stepping down.  We also continue to compile names for the DePaul job, which also is expected to open this spring.  At the top of the list is former Chicago Bulls head coach Tim Floyd, but Oregon head coach Ernie Kent, former Miami-FL and Washington Wizards head coach Leonard Hamilton, Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez, Western Kentucky head coach Dennis Felton, and Louisville associate head coach Mick Cronin are some of the names that have been mentioned.  Cronin's name also has been mentioned for Western Kentucky, if Felton moves onto a better job, like DePaul or Clemson.   Remember, Felton was at Clemson on the same staff with current Tigers head coach Larry Shyatt during the Rick Barnes era and Shyatt is another coach who appears to be on shaky ground.  However, we expect Shyatt to survive, because he's got great young players in the program and he's one of the bright up-and-coming head coaches in the business.  We're also hearing Florida head coach Billy Donovan's name being mentioned for the New York Knicks and former New York Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy mentioned for Manhattan, if Gonzalez moves onto a big and better job this spring.  It also appears that Alabama assistant coach T.R. Dunn would be the heavy favorite to get the UAB job, if Murry Bartow isn't able to build onto the momentum his team established last Friday when the Blazers beat Memphis by 18 points and doesn't survive. If you will recall, Dunn is one of the most popular Alabama players in the school history, originally is from Birmingham, AL, and has plenty of head coach experience on the women's side.  We also continue to hear that North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty is safe for now, despite the fact last place finish in the tough ACC is a real possibility.  However, it may not be all that much better next year, because all of Doherty's young players will need time to grow up.  Remember, with 6'1 Raymond Felton from Latta (H.S.) SC at the point, 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN at center, 6'4 Rashad McCants and 6'9 Frosh Jawad Williams at the power forward spots, and 6'2 Frosh Melvin Scott, 6'2 Soph Adam Boone, 6'6 Frosh Jackie Manual, and 6'2 Soph Brian Morrison at the 2-guard spot, the Tar Heels top eight players next year will include two juniors, three sophomores, and three freshmen.  Plus they will have no depth at all inside.  Remember, 7'0 Damion Grant from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH was worse at the same stage than 7'6 Neil Fingleton, who is transferring from North Carolina to Holy Cross, when we saw him over the weekend at the National Prep School Invitational and 6'9 Byron Sanders from Gulfport (Harrison Central) MS isn't ready to make an immediate impact in the Atlantic Coast Conference next year either.  We also know that 6'9 Brandon Bender, who is transferring Louisville, is interested in Fresno State, but he may be too high maintance even for Jerry Tarkanian.  About a week ago 5'7 Keydron Clark from New York (Rice) NY verbally committed to St. Peter's and what a steal!  Clark is really small and often has to play the 2-spot for New York Riverside Church and Rice High School, because 5'10 Jason Wingate has been the established point guard for both programs for several years.  However, Clark is still one our favorite players in the class.  Not only is he a winner who always seems to come through at crunch time, but he's lightning quick, good defensively, and an excellent ball handler and passer. 

Saturday, February 9, 2002, and Sunday, February 10, 2002

The big story at the National Prep School Invitational at Bryant College in Smithfield, RI this weekend is the emergence of 6'7 Denham Brown from Toronto (Westhill) ON into one of the premier seniors on the continent.  Brown, who also has been putting put prolific numbers in Canada (he scored 111 points and hit 16 3-pointers on Thursday night), had 32 points in the big match-up against 6'4 Rashad McCants from New Hampton (Prep) NH on Saturday morning.  And, even more important, he used his incredible athleticism, excellent size, and terrific moves to get his shot, which he made more often than not, against anybody.  As a matter of fact, we are now convinced that Brown is the best pure 3-point shooter in the senior class, just ahead of Duke-bound 6'4 J.J. Reddick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA and 6'5 Rashad Anderson from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL, who also signed with Connecticut last fall.  Who do we like better Brown, Anderson, or the North Carolina-bound McCants, who scored 42 points and played as well as we've ever seen him play in his head-to-head match-up against Brown?  Actually, it's a tough question, but in terms of long term potential, we think Brown has by far and away the most upside.  And that's saying a lot, because Anderson and McCants both are expected to make the McDonald's All-American Team later this month.  Brown isn't as skilled, but he's more athletic and naturally talented than the other two.  He also has to work for everything he gets, as his Grassroots Canada team rarely runs anything for him.  So just imagine how much he will improve once a great coach like Jim Calhoun gets ahold of him at Connecticut!  We still think McCants is an undersized power forward who will be able to make the conversion to the wing forward spot in college.  However, he really needs to grow or become a 2-guard, because, at his present height, that's the position he'll have to play in the NBA.  However, he has developed into a good stationary shooter, plus we like his intensity level, upper body strength, and athleticism.  Unfortunately North Carolina's other recruit in this tournament - 7'0 Damion Grant from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH - turned out to be a total bust, as he scored zero points and had only two rebounds against Pendleton (IMG) FL.   As a matter of fact, he was so bad that we'd actually think 7'6 Neil Fingleton, who is transferring from North Carolina to Holy Cross, is better than Grant.  Not only was he a total non-factor, but he had trouble even catching an entry pass.  However, he does pass the look test, as he has a nice frame, runs the court fairly well, and is very active.  Other scouts at the tournament also felt like 7'1 Giedrius Rinkevicius from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME  is at the same stage in his development as Grant, but we really liked this big shot blocking white kid with an incredible wing span, surprising mobility and stamina, and the ability to catch, pass, and shot when he gets the ball around the basket.  Rinkevicius had 12 points against Laurinburg (Institute) NC, but he must get physically a lot stronger and improve his free throw shooting (0-5).  However, Rinkivicius isn't the best big guy on his prep school team right now, as 6'10 Larry Turner from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, who scored 10 points against Laurinburg, provides a perfect complement with toughness and athleticism inside.  Speaking of Turner, his coach says he has committed once again to the University of Georgia, which is where he signed a year ago.   So that's good enough for us.  A guy who committed last fall, but who now is back on the board is 5'11 Darryl Hill from Milford (Academy) CT.  If you will recall, Hill picked West Virginia last fall, but now it looks like Providence might be the leader.  And that truly would be ironic, because that would be the first time that Friars assistant coach Steve DeMeo has gotten one of Ron Naclerio's players.  If you will recall, DeMeo played for Naclerio at Bayside (Cardozo) NY, which also is where Hill played high school basketball prior to going the prep school route.  We also were impressed by 6'9 Jr Lamond Hamilton from Milford (Academy) CT, who uses his big body and surprising mobility to get a lot done inside (10 points and a lot of board versus Grassroots Canada).  So were a number of the college coaches who were in attendance, but this one already appears to be over.  As a matter of fact, we understand that St. John's is already a near lock.  No, he's not as good as 6'8 Jason Fraser from Amityville (H.S.) NY, who picked Villanova over St. John's last fall, but this blue collar athlete who gets a lot done inside, is a pretty good consolation prize.  Milford Academy also featured Tennessee-bound 6'4 John Winchester and 6'8 Jr Bennett Davis, but the sleeper on this team is 6'5 Oliver Rodgers.   We're not sure what position Rodgers plays, but he scored 10 points and impressed us his ability to get to the basket, rebound, and do the dirty work.  Winchendon (School) MA, Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, and Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY were three of the most talented teams in the tournament.  We were a little big surprised by the fact that 6'10 Martin Iti only scored four points and wasn't much of a factor, but head coach Mike Byrnes indicated that Iti has it a wall and is in the process of re-grouping.  Instead, the best player for Winchendon was Louisville-bound 6'7 Francisco Garcia, who scored 14 points and impressed us with his passing, athleticism, and body control in transition and his rebounding and willingness to defense.  Also playing well for Winchendons were 6'6 DeMario Eddins, 6'5 Corey Herring, 6'2 Curtis Stinson, and 6'0 Clyde Wade, all of whom are getting underrecruited.  Eddins, who had 16 points, needs to improve his outside shooting, but, if he does, it could be all over, as we're talking about a world-class athlete with great body control and the versatility necessary to play both inside and outside.  Herring is an undersized power forward, but he's extremely effective inside, as was evident by his 23 points and numerous rebounds.  Stinson, who is a 4th year junior, thrived in transition and out on the perimeter, as he finished with 17 points, and Wade, who had 19 points, is an explosive point guard with great hops and powerful moves to the basket, which he used to finish several in-your-face dunks.   Maine Central Institute was led by 6'8 Luis Clemente and 6'2 Kenton Paulino, who combined for 31 points, but we also really liked 6'5 Kevin Massiah, 6'7 Rodney Epperson, 6'7 Jai Lewis, and 6'3 Daniel Rumph.  Rumph only scored four points, but we're talking about a point guard with size, speed and quickness, and good handling and passing skills.  Lewis has always had the body, but he's in better shape and he plays harder than he did last summer.  So we think that makes him an excellent get for George Mason.   Epperson needs strength, but he has great body control, a knack for getting to the basket, and he's a good passer.  Massiah is a silky-smooth athlete who gets his shot off the dribble, plays excellent defense, and is versatile enough to play sevral different positions.  Clemente, who signed early with Texas A&M, is an excellent athlete and he could develop into a force inside once he gets bigger and stronger.  He also isn't very not tough and doesn't seem to be confortable with the American game yet.  Paulino is an explosive 2-guard who can shoot the three and get to the hole, but we'd like him better if he was stronger physically and finished better.    Our Savior New American features one of the best young teams in the tournament in 6'8 Soph Juan Diego Tello Palacious, 6'6 Jr Oumar Sylla, 6'9 Jr Konimba Diarra, and 6'0 Jamar Wilson.   Sylla finished with 16 points against Maine Central Institute, but, even more important, is just oozing with athleticism and potential,  In other words, it looks like Valparaiso has a major steal (Sylla made an early commitment to the Crusaders last fall) and it's possible they could also end up with Palacious.  As a matter of fact, Our Savior New American School head coach Rev. Ronald Stelzer tells   us that Valparaiso not only helped Palacious get into the country, but stashed him at his school.  However, Stelzer also says Palacious, who had 11 points versus Maine Central Institute, is wide open at the present time.  In other words, he may be too good for the Crusaders to get back.  Yes, we're talking about a legitimate top 10-15 sophomore in the nation who is a physical specimen with surpringly mobility, good athleticism, excellent, passing skills, and the ability to dominate inside.  Diarra only had seven points versus Maine Central Institute, but we really like his potential, especially at the defensive end, where he uses his athleticism to rebound and block shots.   Wilson didn't play the second time we saw this team play, but we saw enough the first time to know that this athletic point guard who thrives in transition and makes his teammates better is an absolute steal for Albany.  Another excellent young team in the tournament was Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, which features two of the top juniors in New England in 6'3 Jr Abdi Lidonde and 6'7 Jr Demetris Nichols, as well as four outstanding sophomores in 6'1 Soph Emery Outland, 6'5 Soph Lamar Barrett, 6'3 Soph Nick Mattone, and 6'3 Soph Jordan Knickerbocker.  Nichols has the biggest rep, but he only had four points against Salisbury (Salisbury School) CT.  Instead, Outland and Lidonde stepped up to combine for 33 points.  They also hit four 3-pointers apiece and showed why we think they will form one of the best backcourts in the nation next year in high school basketball.  Outland, who is super smooth and really quick, makes everybody around him better, as he possesses excellent passing skills and court savvy.  Lidonde, Mattone, and Knickerbocker are all interchangeable at the wing spot and Barrett is an inside/outside guy, just like Nichols.  As a result, they both provide a nice complement to 6'8 Jr Milos Mirkovic, who lacks athleticism and quickness, but does the blue collar work around the basket.  We also were impressed with Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, which features two of the top underclassmen in New Jersey in 6'2 Jr Art Bowers and 6'9 Soph Stanley Branch, and Marion (Tabor Academy) MA with 6'10 Torin Francis, who scored 26 points versus Pendleton (IMG) FL.  Speaking of IMG, which is the new basketball factory in Florida, we saw them play three times and different players stepped up every game.  Their best player is 6'7 Jr Renaklo Balkman, but he is not one of the best juniors in Florida, which is something we'd heard previously.  Balkman, who scored 14 points versus Wolfeboro (Brewster) NH, does most of his damage inside, while 5'10 Jr Patrick Beck runs the show, 5'10 Mark Williams provides the firepower from beyond the arc, and 6'4 Lance Foreman is a white kid who makes his living slashing to the basket.   Another one of the top performances of the entire tournament was turned by 5'11 Terrance Whiters from Laurinburg (Institute) NC.  Not only is he an absolute steal for Loyola-Chicago, but Bryant College head coach Max Good was heard saying that one of the reasons why he was so successful at Maine Central Institute was because he usually had two or three jets likes Whiters, who made a living off creating havoc on defense and scoring in transition, every year.  And Good wasn't the only one who was impressed with Whiters.    As a matter of fact, Loyola-Chicago head coach Larry Farmer was in the house watching his future point guard go for 30 points against Winchendon.  Whiters also had 15 points against North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME.  We also liked Laurinburg's 6'4 Sheldon Franklin, who scored 12 points versus Winchendon and hit the game winning shot against Bridgton Academy.  He not only is excellent in transition, but has great body control, good athleticism, and deep 3-point shooting range.  Getting back to Brewster Academy, Damion Grant was the 7th best player on the team behind 6'2 Armon Gates, 6'7 Matthew Foster, 6'3 Roderick Middleton, 6'6 Jamaal Caternia, 6'8 Luke Rusco, and 6'2 Andrew Grupp.  Gates, who had 14 points against Pendleton (IMG) FL is a big time point guard who can handle, distribute, shoot the three, and go to the hole.  Foster is athletic combo forward with long arms who rebounds well and shoots the three.  However, he needs to add strength and/or developing handling skills out on the perimeter to get recruited at a high level.  Middleton is an athletic 2-guard with a good nose for the ball, is an intense competitor, and can shoot the three.  Caternia still needs to add toughness to his game, but he did score 22 points versus Pendleton (IMG) FL and he impressed with his athleticism and outside shooting.  Rusco is a blue collar white kid who does most of his damage inside.  Grupp is a role player who plays hard and can shoot the three.   Salisbury (Salibury School) CT didn't have 6'8 Jr Lawrence Carrier, who was out with an injury, but he tells us he will be back next week.  Carrier also tells us that his early list of schools includes Duke, Miami-FL, Florida, Colorado, USC, and UCLA.  We also have to mentioned 6'5 Kevin Foley from Salisbury (Salisbury School) CT, because he was one of the top competitors in the tournament.   His game is primarily inside, as he rebounds, gets to the basket, and doesn't take any prisoners.  However, Foley also shoots it well enough and is athletic enough on the perimeter to develop into a good wing forward at the mid-major level.

Friday, February 8, 2002

In the mid-to-late 80's we were ahead of our time with our annual speculation on who would be in the NCAA Tournament.  However, now trying to predict who will be in the NCAA field several weeks in advance has almost become a sport unto itself.  But to our knowledge, nobody has come out this early and predicted which 65 teams should be the NCAA field when it is seeded on the second Sunday in March. Obviously this is based on where teams stand today and one of  the determining factors is the Sagarin Ratings, which are much more reflctive of what a team has accomplished so far this season than the RPI.  Remember, the NCAA Selection Committee uses the RPI, which is flawed based on the fact that 25% of each team's rating is based on their opponent's strength of schedule (I'm still trying to figure what that has to do with anything).  Let's take a closer look, as we decide who will get invited from the conferences at the lower Division I Level.  Assuming that the best team wins each league, it will be Vermont in the America East Conference, Troy State in the Atlantic Sun Conference, Montana State in the Big Sky, Utah State in the Big West, UNC-Wilmington in the Colonial, Butler in the Horizon, Pennsylvania in the Ivy League, Manhattan in the Metro Atlantic, Vaparasio in the Mid-Contenient, Hampton in the Mid-Eastern Athletic, Southern Illinois in the Missouri Valley, Central Connecticut State in the Northeast, Tennessee Tech in the Ohio Valley, Holy Cross in the Patriot League, College of Charleston in the Southern Conference, UT-San Antonio in the Southland, Alcorn State in the Southwestern Athletic, Western Kentucky in the Sun Belt, and Gonzaga in the West Coast.  The Western Athletic Conference also only gets one team in Tulsa, while the Atlantic-10 with Xavier and Dayton, the Mountain West with Utah and Brigham Young, and the Mid-American with Kent State and Ball State, West Coast with Gonzaga and Pepperdine each get two teams apiece.  In other words, the rest of the field should be made up of teams from the top seven conferences - the ACC with Duke, Maryland, Wake Forest, N.C. State, and Virginia; SEC with Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi State, and Mississippi; Big -12 with Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Texas, and Missouri; Pacific-10 with Oregon, Arizona, Stanford, USC, UCLA, and California; Big East with Connecticut, Miaimi-FL, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, and Syracuse; Big-10 with Indiana, Ohio State,  Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota; and Conference USA with Cincinnati, Memphis, Marquette, and Charlotte.  That leaves one spot left for the bubbles teams.   Currently the highest ranked team, according to Sagarin, not already mentioned above is South Carolina at #46, followed by Georgetown at #47, Arkansas at #49, Michigan State at #53, and Wyoming at #55.  Among the bubble teams in this range that we included in the field are Ball State at #48, Iowa at #50, Minnesota at #51, and Brigham Young at #52.  Obviously all this is subject to change.  It also is subject to debate, so we will make this the "Question of the Day" for Sunday, plus or minus what happens tonight and tomorrow.  As things stand now, who should be the 65th team in the NCAA Tournament? 

Thursday, February 7, 2002

I talked with Mike Procopio, who is the tournament director for the National Prep School Invitational at Bryant College in Smithfield, RI, February 8th-10th, earlier today and he tells us the schedule is finalized for his tournament, which will tip-off tomorrow at 5:30 PM.   The biggest adjustment involves replacing Durham (Mt. Zion) NC, which has decided to pull a no-show at the last minute, with Troy (Redemption) NY.  Let's take a closer look at the entire schedule with the changes from earlier in the week in bold.   Tomorrow night, February 8th, it will be Bradenton (IMG) FL versus New Hampton (Prep) NH at 5:30 PM, Marion (Tabor Academy) MA versus Troy (Redemption) NY at 7:00 PM, Barrington (St. Andrews) RI versus Greenwich (Brunswick School) CT at 8:30 PM, and Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT versus Toronto (West Hill) ON at 10:00 PM.  On Saturday, February 9th, it will be New Hampton (Prep) NH versus Toronto (West Hill) ON at 10:00 AM, Greenwich (Brunswick School) MA versus Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC at 11:30 AM, Bradenton (IMG) FL versus Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH at 1:00 PM, Laurinburg (Institute) NC versus North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME at 2:30 PM, Worcester (Academy) MA versus Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY at 4:00 PM, Salisbury (Salisbury School) CT versus Barrington (St. Andrews) RI at 5:30 PM, Marion (Tabor Academy) MA versus Bradenton (IMG) FL at 7:00 PM, Winchendon (School) MA versus Laurinburg (Institute) NC at 8:30 PM, and Milford (Academy) CT versus Toronto (West Hill) ON at 10:00 PM.  On Sunday, February 10th, it will be Springfield (McDuffie) MA versus Toronto (West Hill) ON at 10:00 AM, Milford (Academy) CT versus Laurinburg (Institute) NC at 11:30 AM, Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT versus Bradenton (IMG) at 1:00 PM, Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME versus  Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY at 2:30 PM, Salisbury (Salisbury School) CT versus Newton (Brimmer & May) MA at 4:00 PM, Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ versus North Andover (Proctor) NH at 5:30 PM, Troy (Redemption) NY versus Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH at 1:00 PM.  Among the top players who will be in attendance are 7'0 Martin Iti from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'7 Francisco Garcia from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'4 Rashad McCants from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6'10 Torin Francis from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA, 6'3 Jarrett Jack from Worcester (Academy) MA, 6'6 Denham Brown from Toronto (West Hill) ON, 6'4 John Winchester from Milford (Academy) CT, 6'2 Kenton Paulino from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'9 Terry Licorish from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 6'5 Steve Levin from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 6'9 Akin Akingbala from Greenwich (Brunswick School) CT, 7'0 Damion Grant from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, 6'8 Luis Clemente from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'0 Darryl Hill from Milford (Academy) CT, 6'7 Jack Jenkins from North Andover (Proctor) NH, 6'6 Demario Eddin from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'7 Cortez Davis from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 5'11 Terrance Whiters from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 6'7 Daryl Pegram from Worcester (Academy) MA, 7'2 Giedrius Rinkevicius from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'7 Rodney Epperson from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'8 Craig Smith from Worcester (Academy) MA, 6'10 Amadou Ba from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, 6'6 Chris White from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, 6'6 Nicholas King from Milford (Academy) CT, 6'9 Jason Chappell from Worcester (Academy) MA, 5'8 Kenny Minor from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'0 Kyle Wade from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'2 Curtis Stinson from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'5 Corey Herring from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'2 Andres Sandoval from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'2 Tristan Martin from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 6'7 Adam Gervias from North Andover (Proctor) NH, 6'1 Lenny Jefferson from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, 6'8 Jai Lewis from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'3 Wes Waltrap from Worcester (Academy) MA, 6'5 Kevin Massiah from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 7'1 Blake Scholeberg from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'8 Jr Lawrence Carrier from Salisbury (Salisbury School) CT, 6'1 Jr Steve Hailey from Worcester (Academy) MA, 6'8 Jr Nick Stafford from Worcester (Academy) MA, 6'4 Jr Art Bowers from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'7 Jr Demetrius Nichols from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, 6'5 Jr Rashad Bilai from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'7 Jr Regis Kourdjia from Laurinburg (Institute) NC.6'9 Jr Konimba Diarra from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, 6'7 Jr Oumar Sylla from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, 6'10 Soph Juan Deigo Palacios from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, 6'8 Soph Stanley Branch from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'7 Soph Keving Palacios from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 5'10 Soph Jerrell Lewis from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 5'11 Soph Emery Outland from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, 6'6 Soph Lamar Barrett from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, and 6'3 Soph Nick Mattone from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI.  In other words, the National Prep School Invitational is absolutely loaded.  And now you know why I am using a frequent flyer ticket to get to Providence, RI tomorrow. 

Earlier today I was talking to Bobby Kortsen, who used to be an assistant basketball coach at the Brigham Young University, the director of the Dave Krider Basketball Camp, and a consultant for the adidas ABCD Camp, about his future trips to Europe this spring.  Kortsen still runs the ColumbusBasketballClub, as well as several local tournaments during the summer in Columbus, OH, but it really looks like he found his niche when he started taking teams to Europe with Bret Bearup in the mid-to-late 90's.  As a matter of fact, his team, which is made up entirely of players from the state of Ohio, is going back the Rizzi International 16-Under Tournament in Varese, Italy, March 24-April 2nd, to defend their title for second consecutive year.  Did you know that Kortsen's team won the championship two years ago when 6'6 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH was only a freshman?  They also won the championship a year ago thanks to 6'1 Chris Quinn from Dublin (Coffman) OH and a great supporting cast.  Kortsen also plans to take a team made up entirely of Ohio players to the Lissone Tournament in Milan, Italy, April 23rd-29th.  This 19-Under Tournament attracts many of the top players and teams from Europe, Asia, and Africa and, as  a result, our International Editor Chris Johnson will likely quiz Kortsen thoroughly when upon his team's return.  Kortsen also is planning on taking another 19-Under All-Star Team, which will be made up of some of the juniors and seniors in the nation, to Martigny, Switzerland, May 15th-19th.  If that weren't enough, Kortsen also put together a trip to Europe last summer for Ohio State and is planning a similar trip for Penn State this summer.  In other words, Kortsen has finally gotten away from most of the politics with regards to basketball and is now in the sports travel business.  For more information go to KortsenSportsTours.com.  

Our Texas Editor Wes Grandstaff tells us that 5'9 Jr Dez Willingham from De Soto (H.S.) TX, who is ranked is #33 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, has officially reneged on his commitment to the University of Tennessee.  If you will recall, several weeks ago Willingham verbally committed to the Volunteers, but they refused to accept his commitment.  Apparently they had told both Willingham and 6'4 Jr Dane Bradshaw from Memphis (White Station) TN, who was named the MVP at the Beach Ball Classic in late December, but who does not rank among our top 100 juniors nationally, that they planned to only sign one guard in this recruiting class.  So obviously whoever committed first would get the scholarship or so they thought.  The problem is they both made up their mind on the same day.   As a matter of fact, Bradshaw beat Willingham to the punch by only an hour.  However, after further consideration, Willingham announced several weeks later that he wanted to go to Tennessee anyway.  For Willingham this was a smart move, because he's potentially as good as anybody the Volunteers currently have in the program or have landed in the current recruiting class.  And that's saying a lot when one recalls that Tennessee upset the University of Kentucky in Knoxville, TN last night.   The problem is that Bradshaw's mother has made a big deal about it and it becomes an even more touchy situation when one remembers that good white players are at a premium and Memphis is a very important recruiting base for the Volunteers.  Our guess is that the Tennessee coaching staff was hoping that given some time, they might be able to work things out and still get both players.  However, it now appears that Willingham has changed his mind and, as a result,  Tennessee is getting serious competition from schools like Stanford and Connecticut. 

Wednesday, February 6, 2002

One of the problems with college basketball today is a lack of continuity that has been created by the number of players both at the collegiate and high school level who think they are good enough to leave early and enter the NBA Draft.  However, the trend is moving in the opposite direction in terms of coaches, as two years ago John Calipari left the pros to take the Memphis job, a year ago Rick Pitino said goodbye to the Boston Celtics and became the head coach at Louisville, and currently former Chicago Bulls head coach Tim Floyd is looking for the right college head coaching position.  As a matter of fact, the overwhelming number of great head coaches is college basketball's biggest strength.  This was especially evident in our "Question of the Day"  on January 8th when we tried to narrow our list down to only 10 candidates when we asked, "Excluding Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who is the best coach in college basketball?  So far the winner appears to be Pitino with 21% of the vote, followed by Michigan State's Tom Izzo with 18%, Kansas' Roy Williams with 11%, Texas Tech's Bobby Knight with 10%, Arizona's Lute Olson with 10%, Florida's Billy Donovan with 8%, Kentucky's Tubby Smith with 8%, Cincinnati's Bobby Huggins with 8%, Temple's John Chaney with 5%, and Maryland's Gary Williams with 2%.  In other words, Calipari, Utah's Rick Majerus, who had been sidelined with health and family problems a year ago, Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton, Ohio State's Jim O'Brien, Stanford's Mike Montgomery, Connecticut's Jim Calhoun, Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson, Virginia's Pete Gillen, Illinois' Bill Self, and Purdue's Gene Keady were also considered for the top 10 list, but didn't make it.  And that's our "Question of the Day" for today, along with Krzyzewski and the 10 coaches listed above who have already made the list, who should we added to the list in order to make our top coaches list an even dozen?  And Boston College's Al Skinner, Iowa State's Larry Eustachy, Oregon's Ernie Kent, Wake Forest's Skip Prosser, Southern Cal's Henry Bibby, Syracuse' Jim Boeheim, UNLV's Charlie Spoonhour, Fresno State's Jerry Tarkanian, Arkansas' Nolan Richardson, and Georgia's Jim Harrick all must be considered among our top 30 head coaches in college basketball.  The only problem, is that we have 31 names.  So let's make that tomorrow's "Question of the Day"?  Who should be eliminated from our list of the top 30 head coaches nationally?  But let's not stop there, as Phil Martelli of St. Joseph's, Mike Jarvis of St. John's, George Mason's Jim Larranaga, College of Charleston's John Kresse, Holy Cross' Ralph Willard, New Mexico's Fran Fraschilla, Auburn's Cliff Ellis, California's Ben Braun, Texas' Rick Barnes, Nebraska's Barry Collier, Arizona State's Rob Evans, Charlotte's Bobby Lutz, West Virginia's Gale Catlett, Baylor's Dave Bliss, Miami-FL's Perry Clark, Colorado's Ricardo Patton, Hawaii's Riley Wallace, Mississippi's Rod Barnes, South Florida's Seth Greenberg, William & Mary's Rick Boyages, Providence's Tim Welsh, Pittsburgh's Ben Howland, Dayton's Oliver Purnell, Northwestern's Bill Carmody, Virginia Commonwealth's Mack McCarthy, Louisiana Tech's Keith Richard, SMU's Mike Dement, Valparaiso's Homer Drew, and Creighton's Dana Altman all either have great futures or have already established themselves as great head coaches and,as a result, must also be considered for our top 30 list.  And how about all the great young coaches in the business, like Missouri's Quin Snyder, Villanova's Jay Wright, Alabama's Mark Gottfried, Gonzaga's Mark Few, Iowa's Steve Alford, Indiana's Mike Davis, Notre Dame's Mike Brey, Tennessee's Buzz Peterson, Manhattan's Bobby Gonzalez, Minnesota's Don Monson, N.C. State's Herb Sendek, Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt, UCLA's Steve Lavin, Marquette's Tom Crean, Seton Hall's Louie Orr, Michigan's Tommy Amaker, Hampton's Steve Merfeld, Tenneessee Tech's Jeff Lebo, Rutgers' Gary Waters', UNC-Wilmington's Jerry Wainwright, James Madison's Sherman Dillard, Iona's Jeff Ruland, Hofstra's Tom Pencora, Tulane's Shawn Finney, Southern Illinois' Bruce Weber, Saint Louis' Lorenzo Romar, Wright State's Ed Schilling, and Western Kentucky's Dennis Felton?   As a matter of fact, 10 of the coaches mentioned above were included in our "Question of the Day" for yesterday.  The question was who is the best up-and-coming young head coach in college basketball (must currently be in his first head coaching job)?  And the early returns are already in as Gonzalez and Davis are tied with 31% of the vote apiece, while Lebo has 15%, Crean, Few, and Snyder each have 8%, and nobody has voted for Merfeld, Pencora, and Ruland yet.  And what should we do with Clemson's Larry Shyatt, Florida State's Steve Robinson, and North Carolina's Matt Doherty, all of whom have tremendous futures, but whose programs currently are struggling?  Also who should be higher and who should be lower on our list?  Obviously we want your input before we publish our list of the top head coaches early next week exclusively in the Members Section.   So make sure you vote in the different categories found in our "Question of the Day" and/or feel free to email me at clark@hoopscooponline.com or call me at 502-493-0043.

The one thing that is harder than coming up with a list of the top head coaches in college basketball is putting together a list of the top assistants.  However, we do know that Arizona's Jay John, Kansas' Neil Dougherty, Louisville's Mick Cronin, Auburn's Mike Wilson, Villanova's Fred Hill, Ohio State's Paul Biancardi, Connecticut's Dave Leitao, and Southern Cal's Kurtis Townsend all have to make the top 10 list.  So let's break it down by race and take one more white kid and one more black guy.  We're not doing this because we have some quota to fill.  Instead, we're doing it this way, because about half of the 20 guys we're considering are white and the other half are black.  The list of white assistant coaches includes Memphis' Steve Roccaforte, Oregon's Scott Duncan, Florida's John Pelphrey, New Mexico's Joe Dooley, Duke's Steve Wojciechowski, Cincinnati's Andy Kennedy, Tennessee's Kerry Keating, Virginia's Tommy Herrion, Michigan State's Brian Gregory, and Oklahoma State's Sean Sutton and that's our "Question of the Day" for Friday.  Who on the list above of white assistant coaches should be included on our top 10 list, which already includes John, Dougherty, Cronin, Wilson, Hill, Biancardi, Leitao, and Townsend?  The list of black assistant coaches is equally impressive, as it includes Florida's Anthony Grant, Syracuse's Troy Weaver,  Missouri's Tony Harvey,  Alabama's Orlando Early, Illinois' Norm Roberts, Stanford's Tony Fuller, LSU's Butch Pierre, Oklahoma's Ray Lopes, DePaul's Tracy Dildy, and Colorado's Larry Gay.  And we'll make our "Question of the Day" for Saturday.  Who on the list above of black assistant coaches should be included on our top 10 list, which already includes John, Dougherty, Cronin, Wilson, Hill, Biancardi, Leitao, and Townsend?  Actually we wished we'd had 14 spots on this list, because Michigan's Charles Ramsey, DePaul's Tracy Didly, West Virginia's Chris Cheeks, and UNLV's Derek Thomas are all sensational.  Also receiving serious consideration for this list were Louisville's Vince Taylor, Notre Dame's Anthony Solomon, North Carolina's Fred Quarterbaum, Maryland's Dave Dickerson, South Florida's Clive Vaughn, N.C. State's Larry Harris, Charlotte's Kevin Nickleberry, Arizona State's Tony Benford, Vanderbilt's Jeff Jackson, Tennessee's Chris Ferguson, Florida State's Coleman Crawford, Nebraska's Reggie Rankin, Saint Louis' Cameron Dollar, Villanova's Joe Jones, Fordham's Mike Brown, and Kevin Clark and Mike Jarvis, Jr, both at St. John's.  Also receiving consideration for our list of top white assistant coaches were Syracuse's Mike Hopkins, Texas' Brian Cousins, South Florida's Dave Zimroth, Baylor's Doug Ash, UCLA's Jim Saia, Kentucky's Mike Sutton, Missouri's Lane Odom, Fordham's Shay Berry, Xavier's Sean Miller, Dayton's Ron Jirsa, Texas Tech's Pat Knight, Fresno State's John Welch, North Carolina's Doug Wojcik, Duke's Chris Collins, Providence's Steve DeMeo, Tulane's Wade O'Connor, George Mason's Mike Gillian, Illinois' Billy Gillespie, Marquette's Darrin Horn, Georgia's Jim Harrick, Jr, Purdue's Jay Price, Marquette's Tod Kowalczyk, Syracuse's Bernie Fine, Delaware's Josh Oppeinheimer, Valparaiso's Scott Drew, UNLV's Jay Spoonhour, Cleveland State's Mitch Buonaguro, Duquesne's Randy Roth, Matt Brady of St. Joseph's, and Josh Pastner and Jim Rosborough, both of whom are at Arizona.   I'm sure we're missing somebody, so don't hestitate to email me at clark@hoopscooponline.com or call me at 502-493-0043.

Tuesday, February 5, 2002

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that Indiana University has gotten a verbal commitment from 6'3 Roderick Wilmont from Miramar (H.S.) FL, who is ranked #17 in the state of Florida by the HOOP SCOOP.   As a matter of fact, our Florida Editor John Adkins thinks Wilmont is a major sleeper.  However, this still comes as a major surprise, because Indiana already has two outstanding guards in this recruiting class in 6'2 Marshall Strickland from Sykesville (South Carroll) MD and 6'3 Bracy Wright from The Colony (H.S.) TX.  So we thought the Hoosiers were primarily targeting big men, like 6'8 Kei Madison from Okaloosa-Walton (JC) FL, who committed to Mississippi State last fall, but who originally signed with Indiana as a high senior in high school and always has had a great relationship with IU head coach Mike Davis, and 6'9 Sani Ibrahim from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA.  So now Indiana's recruiting class, which already included Strickland, Wright, and 6'8 Darryl Pegram from Worcester (Academy) MA and was previously tied with Iowa at #22 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date, moves into a tie at #11, along with Southern Cal, Illinois, Cincinnati, and Purdue, nationally.  It also moves the Hoosiers class into a tie for #3 in the Big-10, along with Illinois and Purdue, behind #5-ranked Michigan State and #10-ranked Michigan. 

Monday, February 4, 2002

Roy Schmidt of the Illinois Bulls-Eye Report, told us earlier today on our radio show, which can listen to by going to HOOP SCOOP On-Radio, that University of Oregon head coach Ernie Kent is a legitimate candidate for the DePaul job if, and when, current head coach Pat Kennedy and his staff get the ax at the end of the season.  Not only is Kent originally from the state of Illinois, but he also has strong ties to a number of the coaches in the Chicago Public League, which is mandatory for any coach who gets the Blue Demons job.  Kent is extremely hot right now.  If you will recall, the Ducks were ranked #8 in the league prior to the season by the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook, but currently are one of the favorites to win the tough Pacific-10 Conference title.  Former Chicago Bulls head coach Tim Floyd appears to be the leading candidate, but Louisville associate head coach Mick Cronin might be somebody to keep an eye on, especially, if they want to hire a young guy who is on the fast track.  Sure, it might be tough for most people to make the jump from one school to another within the same league, but Cronin already did it once a year ago when he left the University of Cincinnati to join Rick Pitino's staff at Louisville.  Another job that will likely open this spring is the University of Washington and the three names we hear the most are Gonzaga head coach Mark Few, Saint Louis head coach Lorenzo Romar, and Missouri head coach Quin Snyder.  Obviously Snyder, who played high school basketball at Mercer Island (H.S.) WA, would be the first choice, but he already has built Missouri into one of the top programs in college basketball.  However, the word we get is there are some heavy contributors at the University of Washington who interested in putting together a financial package that might be difficult for Snyder to refuse.  Synder also continues to be mentioned for the UCLA job, but right now that just appears to be wishful thinking by unhappy Bruins fans.  Remember, UCLA lost last Thursday by 29 points at Oregon.  Most people suspect that Wayne Morgan is in trouble at Long Beach State, but our sources tell us that it's already been decided - Morgan and his staff will gone at the end of the season.  We also understand the 49ers want to hire somebody with West Coast ties, so apparently the early list of of possible candidates includes San Diego head coach Brad Holland, Cal State-Northridge head coach Bobby Braswell, and Cal State-Benardino head coach Larry Reynolds.  However, we like our list a lot better.  That list includes South Florida head coach Seth Greenberg, who has done all he can do at South Florida and might be smart to return to Long Beach State, where he was extremely successful; South Florida assistant coach Clive Vaughn, who previously was an assistant coach at Long Beach State and is still extremely popular with the alumni;   Duke assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski, who promies to the best in a long line of great assistants to work for Mike Krzyzewski;, Southern California assistant coach Kurtis Townsend, who is one of the best recruiters in the business; Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins, who is from Southern California and played high school basketball for Gary McKnight at Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA; UTEP assistant coach Silvey Dominguez, who was an assistant at USC and is one of the big reasons why Henry Bibby has been successful in recent years; Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA head coach Steve Smith, who runs the premier high school program in America; and Joe Harrington, who previously was the head coach at Long Beach State, Colorado, and George Mason, but who is currently is private business.

Saturday, February 2, 2002, & Sunday, February 3, 2002

It has to be the upset of the year!   We're talking about the surprising victory 84-72 victory by Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA last night against at the Pyramid at Long Beach State University.  Not only did Oak Hill enter the game ranked #1 in the latest USA Today poll, but they also had a 67-game winning streak on the line.   As a matter of fact, the last time Oak Hill had lost was two years ago in this very tournament (the NIKE Extravaganza) to Compton (Dominguez) CA.   Oak Hill also totally destroyed Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, which previously was the #1-ranked high school team in the nation, as well as the best team on the West Coast, earlier this season. Well, now it looks like that honor (#1 high school team on the West Coast) may belong to Mater Dei, as head coach Gary McKnight appears to have this young team well ahead of schedule, as well as finally injury free.  As a matter of fact, we now believe that 6'3 Jr Wesley Washington, who led Mater Dei with 25 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists, has emerged into one of the top five juniors in California, as well as a top 50 junior nationally.  And, if he improves his outside shooting, it's all over, because he's already an incredible athlete and almost unstoppable going to basket.  Washington was complemented by 6'9 Jr Harrison Schaen, who scored 14 points and impressed us with a new level of intensity that we hadn't seen since he was a freshman in high school.  Obviously Schaen is 100% recovered from injuries that had slowed him for the better part of the last year.  So he too is back on the rise.  Also combining for 26 points were 6'4 Jr Mike Strawberry and 5'11 Jr Trevante Nelson, but the other two unsung heroes for Mater Dei were 5'10 Frosh Michael Gerrity, who had nine assists and did a good job of handling Oak Hill's pressure, and McKnight, who did a marvelous job making sure his team controlled the tempo and, as a result, never allowed Oak Hill to build any momentum throughout the entire game.   However, Oak Hill also deserves some of the blame, because they didn't come to play.  As a matter of fact, they looked like they were worn out.  Maybe the had jet lag!  They also got 61 of their 72 points from only three players - 6'7 Carmelo Anthony , who finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds, but he never got any open looks from outside; 6'1 Justin Gray, who had 25 points and 3-8 3-pointers; and 6'0 Sani Ibrahim, who had 12 points and eight rebounds.   Gray and 6'1 Chadd Moore also combined for 10 turnovers, but the biggest differences in the game were the assists, as Mater Dei finished with 26 assists versus only five for Oak Hill, and field goal percentage, as Mater Dei hit 58.5% and Oak Hill hit only 42.6%.  Prior the big Mater Dei-Oak Hill match-up, St. Louis (Vashon) MO jumped out to a 36-21 half-time lead and coasted to a 70-60 victory over Long Beach (Poly) CA.  The best player for either team was Missouri-bound 6'4 Jimmy McKinney, who finished with 10 points and five assists.  However, he didn't shoot particularly well, as he finished with only 4-13 field goals and 0-4 3-pointers.   Instead, the leading scorers for Vashon were 5'9 Soph Dwayne Polk and 6'8 Nicholas Kern, who finished with 18 and 17 points apiece.  6'7 Bobby Jones stepped up Poly with 22 points, eight rebounds, and 2-4 3-pointers and 6'7 Reggie Butler does what he always does (impressed with his athleticism and dunking), but 6'7 Marcedes Lewis, who had 12 points and five boards, was not the dominate force inside that he was when we saw him last spring and summer while playing for Dinos Trigonis' Belmont Shore AAU Team.  We also were surprised by the fact that Villa Park (H.S.) CA upset Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, 66-65, in the 6:00 PM game.  And we were even more surprised by the fact that the big heroes for Villa Park were 6'8 Bruce Prather, who finished with 22 points and five rebounds, and 6'5 Jr Kyle Hogan, who had 20 points, eight rebounds, 4-8 3-pointers.   Prather, who is a top priority for Army, has a knack for finding ways to score inside, plus he doesn't shy away from physical contact they way 6'9 Jr Sean Phaler, who only had 12 points and hit only 5-13 field goals and 1-5 3-pointers, does.  Hogan is an athletic white kid who can shoot the lights out, rebounds well, and handles and passes surprisingly well for his size.  Plus, Hogan really competes, which is why we think he should be a top early recruiting priority for all the mid-major schools in Southern California.  The game between Las Vegas (Green Valley) NV and Rancho Santa Margarita (Santa Margarita) CA was also a three point game, but it was ugly, as the only player worth mentioning for either team was Cornell-bound 6'4 Lenny Collins from Rancho Santa Margarita (Santa Margarita) CA, who impressed us with his outside shooting en route to a 20-point effort.  We also have to mention two players - 6'4 Gio St. Amant, who scored 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and 6'1 Eric Lane, who finished with 16 points and three assists, from Bellflower (St. John Bosco) CA.  But otherwise there weren't any memorable performances earlier in the day.

There have been able some changes to the schedule at the National Prep School Invitational at Bryant College in Smithfield, RI, February 8th-10th, so here is the revised schedule.  On Friday, February 8th it will be Bradenton (IMG) FL versus New Hampton (Prep) NH at 5:30 PM, Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC versus Marion (Tabor Academy) MA at 7:00 PM, Barrington (St. Andrews) RI versus Greenwich (Brunswick School) CT at 8:30 PM, and Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT versus Toronto (West Hill) ON at 10:00 PM.  On Saturday, February 9th, it will be Bradenton (IMG) FL versus at team to announced at 10:00 AM, Greenwich (Brunswick School) MA versus Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC at 11:30 AM, Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH versus Toronto (West Hill) ON at 1:00 PM, Laurinburg (Institute) NC versus North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME at 2:30 PM, Worcester (Academy) MA versus Centereach (Our Savior Lutheran) NY at 4:00 PM, Solebury (Solebury Prep) CT versus Barrington (St. Andrews) RI at 5:30 PM, Marion (Tabor Academy) MA versus Bradenton (IMG) FL at 7:00 PM, at team to be announced versus Milford (Academy) CT at 8:30 PM, and Winchendon (School) MA versus Laurinburg (Institute) NC at 10:00 PM.  On Sunday, February 10th, it will be Toronto (West Hill) ON versus Centereach (Our Savior Lutheran) NY at 10:00 AM, Milford (Academy) CT versus Laurinburg (Institute) NC at 11:30 AM, Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT versus Bradenton (IMG) at 1:00 PM, Solebury (Solebury Prep) CT versus Newton (Brimmer & May) MA at 2:30 PM.  There also will be 4:00 PM and  5:30 PM games on Sunday, but the teams have not been announced yet.    However, Northfield (Northfield-Mt. Herman) MA, Springfield (McDuffie) MA, Troy Redemption, and Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME are expected to fill some of these spots, as well as the other two spots that are currently listed as open in the tournament.  Obviously we'll provide a further update in the Members Section as this information becomes available, plus we'll put together a list of all the top players who will be in attendance.  

Friday, February 1, 2002

One of the most controversial issues we've run across in a long time involves the relationship that now exists between the Prime Time Shootout and the media.  Earlier this week HoopsUSA.com Editor & Publisher Eddie Oliver, who also has taken over the positon as Media Director for the Prime Time Shootout, sent out a press release informing the media that they would have to pay to get into the event.  Then, he changed the requirement to a donation.  Apparently all this stems from the fact that the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, NJ is charging the tournament something like $20,000 per day for the use of the facility and, as a result, tournament director Jeff Hewitson and Oliver have decided to throw away whatever good will they might have received from being nice to the media.  And they especially have targeted internet web sites and recruiting people (like us) by giving priority to daily  newspapers. "If fans have to pay you to get information about the tournament from your website, that just won't work, unless of course you're willing to donate that money back to the event," says Oliver. "The biggest reason this event is different from others is the fact that Prime Time is required to pay a HUGE fee to use the arena.  Without mentioning any names, it is a fact that most other national events are allowed use of their playing facilities at no cost." Actually that's not true, as many events often change their venue annually in an attempt to get a better deal financially. Oliver goes on, "It is my opinion and I have expressed it many times, that this event like many others, is a huge promotion of Trenton and the surrounding area.   I think that fact should replace the rental fees, but none of us can tell people how to run their business. With that in mind, for those of you who are making money writing about this event, a donation to the tournament to help with expenses would be proper.  I have already happily done that with time and finances. Without trying to sound all knowing or arrogant, I think sometimes we all give ourselves far to much credit in regard to what we do. While many of our group are there to make money or just watch great basketball, Prime Time is stuck with all the expenses." And they are stuck with the profits, if they make money.  It's not my fault the economy is bad, they're paying too much for the facility, and they haven't set things up so they will be profitable in the short run. Obviously they could raise ticket prices, borrow money to get through the hard times, or simply go out of business.   But, instead, they have decided to extort money from those who help feed them in the first place.  Not only do we promote high school basketball in a number of other places, like Basketball Times and in the near future on FoxSports.com, but we're the ones who help identify the players early that people like Hewitson and Oliver to invite to their tournament. "Being factual, more often than not, what we receive is much greater than what we give.  On some web sites, etc., people never see what is written unless they have paid to get the information." We had to make a choice.  Either charge for our services or go out of business. Remember, this isn't our hobby, it's our livelihood.  And we work to make money, not to make the Prime Time Shootout richer. "Sometimes certain people get so cocky and deceptive, that they even ask that all their expenses be paid by the event for them to be there. That just isn't going to happen here and it shouldn't anywhere else!" I have been to the Prime Time Shootout each of the last two years and I have never asked for anything, except that my people be given access to the court area and treated properly.  However, a year ago they were not.  Instead, the guy who talked the fastest got the best treatment and the best seat at the press table.  That fellow is Stephen Wacaser, the former editor and publisher of Assists, Turnovers, and Loose Balls.  Wacaser is also a career criminal who is currently doing seven years hard time. "Jeff Hewitson is a super individual, who has done a great, great job in putting this event together. The talent we'll see at the Prime Time Shootout is unmatched. Some have said, if he doesn't do certain things he won't make many friends. What a ridiculous statement! Jeff and all those assisting with the event want to be friends with everyone, but we're not going around sucking up and begging for friends.  It's our job as writers to promote the event as much as possible.  Jeff and the other volunteers deserve huge respect and admiration for what they've done, not criticism from people who aren't getting their way for one reason or another." We're not being criticial of you for running or promoting an event.   We're are being criticial of you, because you have developed a high and mighty attitude.  Remember, we live in a free society and there is plenty of competition. As a result, we are well within our right to go somewhere else.  As a matter of fact, that's already the plan, as I will be going to the National Prep School Invitational at Bryant College in Smithfield, RI.  Actually I had planned to attend that event first and, then, go to Prime Time.  However, we will stay at the National Prep School Invitational all weekend and I'm sure we'll feel a lot more confortable, because Mike Procopio does have an understanding of the importance of media people being in attendance.  And he's even offered to help get us a special rate on a hotel, which is appreciated, but not expected.  Did you know that the last two years when we went to this event, we paid for our gas (we drove over a 1000 miles each way to this event), paid for our own hotel, and not only paid for all of our own food, but also paid for Procopio's food when we went out to eat one night after games?  While I think it is important to make this statement, I do owe it to our readers to still cover the Prime Time Shootout and, as a result, both Dave Schultz and Allen Rubin, who are two of our best people, both will be in attendance and we will give it the coverage it deserves.  And that brings me to our "Question of the Day," for today, which gets right to the heart of the issue of professional courtesy in our business.  Since Oliver is requiring me to make a donation and I want to be a nice guy, should I send him a $30-each donation for myself, Schultz, Rubin, and Les Kaune, who is a consultant for the HOOP SCOOP?   Maybe I also should pick up the tab for Norm Eavenson, who used to write for the HOOP SCOOP, but for years has written for All-Star Sports, Rob Matera, who also writes for All-Star Sports, Brick Oettinger of the Recruiter's Handbook and Prep Stars, and Steve Keller of the Hoop Group, all of whom I consider to be good friends.  And while I'm at, since they took such good care of Wacaser a year ago, maybe I should I throw in an extra $30 for him, even though he can't be there this year.   That would mean I'd be paying a total of $270 for nine people.  However, two can play this game and you know that I would love to deduct this amount from the bill for $460 that I plan to send to Oliver for his annual subscription to the HOOP SCOOP, which will begin effective immediately (in the past Oliver has not only gotten his access to the Members Section for free, but also was welcome to use whatever information he choose to make his web site better).  And that's my question.  Should I send Oliver a bill for the remaining balance of $190 on his subscription or should I just send him a $60 donation for Schultz and Rubin only and bill him for $460 separately?

We are still in Southern California and tomorrow we will be attending the NIKE Extravaganza at the Pyramid at Long Beach State University, which will tip-off at 8:30 AM with Glendora (H.S.) CA versus Westminster (H.S.) CA, followed by Costa Mesa (H.S.) CA versus Anaheim (Servite) CA at 10:00 AM, Brea (Brea-Olinda) CA versus Temecula (Valley) CA at 11:30 AM, Bellflower (St. John Bosco) CA versus Huntington Beach (Ocean View) CAat 1:00 PM, Corona (Centennial) CA versus La Habra (Sonora) CA at 3:00 PM, Rancho Santa Margarita (Santa Margarita) CA versus Henderson (Green Valley) NV at 4:30 PM, Villa Park (H.S.) CA versus Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA at 6:00 PM, Long Beach (Poly) CA versus St. Louis (Vashon) MO at 7:30 PM, and Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA versus Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA at 9:00 PM. Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis is also has about talked us into making the hour drive each way to the tournament at the College of the Canyon Junior College in Valencia, CA late in the morning, because we'll be able to see the top two sophomores in California - 6'4 Soph Curtis Allen from Palos Verdes (Rolling Hills) CA will play at 11:00 AM and 6'10 Soph Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Garces) CA at 3:30 AM.  The key will be to get back by 6:00 PM so we can see two of the top juniors in the area in 6'7 Jr Sean Phaler from Villa Park (H.S.) CA versus 6'0 Jr Marcus Williams from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA.  We also are looking forward to the 7:30 PM game, which will match-up two top 100 seniors in 6'4 Jimmy McKinney from St. Louis (Vashon) MO and 6'6 Bobby Jones from Long Beach (Poly) CA.  And the final game of the day at 9:00 PM will feature the #1-ranked team in the nation in Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA with the #1-ranked player in the nation with 6'7 Carmelo Anthony versus Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, which features two of the top juniors in the California in 6'9 Jr Harrison Schaen and 6'4 Jr Wesley Washington.   Trigonis also has provided us with a list of schools for a number of the top juniors in Southern California, including  Schaen, Washington, Phaler, Williams, 6'8 Jr Trevor Ariza from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'5 Jr Wendall White from Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) CA, 6'2 Jr Omar Wilkes from Los Angeles (Loyola) CA, and 6'9 Jr Ekene Ibekwe from Carson (H.S.) CA.  We still think Schaen is a done deal for Stanford, but Arizona, USC, UCLA, California, and Arizona State are also on his list.  Washington appears to be much more open, as Arizona, California, USC, UNLV, New Mexico, Fresno State, Cincinnati, Kansas, Tulsa, Washington State, San Diego State, UTEP, Wyoming, Missouri, and Oregon State are all being mentioned.  Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Kansas, California, Oregon, Vanderbilt, and Duke are all in the hunt for Phaler.  It already appears to be a two-horse race between UCLA and Arizona for Williams, but USC, Kansas, Texas, Oregon, and California also get a call.  Trigonis tells us that Ariza isn't the lock for Florida that everybody thinks it is.  However, that was the first school out of Trigonis' mouth, followed by Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, Indiana, Arizona, UCLA, USC, California, Memphis, Connecticut, Maryland, Alabama, UNLV, Texas, Kansas, and Kentucky, when he gave us a list for Ariza. "If UCLA offers, it's a done deal for White," says Trigonis.  Remember, White is the former high school teammate of current UCLA freshman Dijon Thompson.  But schools like USC, Cincinnati, UNLV, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Kansas are also recruit White just in case something unforeseen happens.  We also think UCLA has to the favorite for Wilkes, whose father, Keith Wilkes, was an All-American at UCLA during the Walton years.  However, Stanford and Pepperdine are also in the hunt for Wilkes.   USC and North Carolina lead for Ibekwe, but UCLA, California, Kansas, Providence, Kentucky, Texas, Oregon, and San Diego State are also on his list. 

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