HOT RECRUITING INFORMATION  

FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY 2002

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

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