HOT RECRUITING INFORMATION FOR JANUARY 2007

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

I received an email this morning from Kevin Foley, who is the spokesperson for the 2007 Jordan Brand All-American Game, and contained in the press release were the names of the 20 players who have been invited and accepted invitations to play in this year's game, which will be played on Saturday, April 21st, at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY.  The list includes 6'5 O.J. Mayo from Huntington (H.S.) WV, 6'3 Eric Gordon from Indianapolis (North Central) IN, 6'3 Jerryd Bayless from Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ, 6'9 Kyle Singler from Medford (South Medford) OR, 6'8 Michael Beasley from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'8 Donte Green from Towson (Catholic) MD, 6'3 Derrick Rose from Chicago (Simeon) IL, 6'0 Chris Wright from Washington (St. John's) DC, 7'1 Kosta Koufas from Canton (Glenoak) OH, 6'5 Nick Calathes from Winter Park (Lake Howell) FL, 6'5 Austin Freeman from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'8 Patrick Patterson from Huntington (H.S.) WV, 6'8 Blake Griffin from Edmond (Oklahoma Christian) OK, 6'1 Corey Fisher from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'9 Chandler Parsons from Winter Park (Lake Howell) FL, 6'7 Gary Johnson from Houston (Aldine) TX, 6'4 Durrell Summers from Redford (Covenant Christian) MI, 5'8 Jai Lucas from Houston (Bellaire) TX, 6'6 Chris Wright from Trotwood (Madison) OH, 6'2 Jeffrey Jordan from Wilmette (Loyola Academy) IL.  In other words, this game will feature seven of our top 10-ranked players, 16 of our top 25-ranked players, and 18 of our top 40-ranked players nationally in the senior class nationally.  When one also remembers that Chris Wright, who is ranked #75 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is one of the best athletes in the country and has incredible upside, the only real stretch to be in the game is Jeffrey Jordan, who is ranked #455 nationally in the senior class and projects as a good mid-major player.  However, this is probably the best political pick of all time when one remembers his father was worth billions of dollars to NIKE and his name is in the title of the game.  We also think it is worth pointing out that the only two players who are currently still available are Jordan and Jai Lucas, which means this may turn out to the be the perfect opportunity for Jordan to prove that he can play against the top players in the nation and, as a result, get recruited at a higher level.  We also will be interested to see if Mayo actually ends up playing in the 2007 Jordan Brand All-American Game.  If you will recall, this is a guy who has played on the Reebok circuit all of his life and also is expected to be on the roster for the Roundball Classic, which should be announced sometime within the next month.  Remember, NCAA rules prevent college-bound student athletes from playing in more than two post-season all-stars games and, as a result, the only way that Mayo could play in the McDonald's All-American Game, Jordan Brand All-American Game, and Roundball Classic would be if he planned go play in Europe or just sit out next year and work on his game before entering the NBA Draft in the spring of 2008.  We also were glad to hear that our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio, who also is the head coach at Bayside (Cardozo) NY, won his 500th game last night against Flushing (H.S.) NY and, as a result, becomes only the third coach in P.S.A.L. (Public School Athletic League) history to have reached this plateau.  The other two were Chuch Granby, who has been coaching 38 years and has won almost 600 games at Cambria Heights (Campus Magnet) NY, and Floyd Bank, who coached at Long Island City (H.S.) NY and Jamaica (Thomas Edison) NY for 39 years in the 50's to 80's.  This also is the 26th year that Naclerio, who was the youngest head coach ever in New York City when he first got the job at age 21, has been the head coach at Cardozo High School.  And this is important, because the possibilities are almost endless with regards to breaking all kind of other records, especially if Naclerio sticks around for another 15 or 20 years.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson has confirmed that 6'6 Marshall Moses from Marshville (Forest Hills) NC, who is ranked #348 nationally in the senior class, has verbally committed to Oklahoma State.  So now the Cowboys have five players in the fold in this years recruiting class, which is tied at #39, along with Boston College, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2007 and also already includes 6'11 Ibrahima Thomas from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 6'5 James Anderson from Junction City (H.S.) AR, 6'8 Montavious Adams from Irwinton (Wilkinson County) GA, and 6'5 Nick Sidorakis from Tulsa (Jenks) OK.  And, if Moses ends up going the prep school route next year (there has been talk about him being reclassified as a junior), then he also would end up counting towards next year's recruiting class.  We also are intrigued by the rumors about University of Florida head coach Billy Donovan taking either the Miami Heat or New York Knicks job this spring.  But why would Donovan want to follow in the same footsteps and make the same mistakes that Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, who left Providence College to take the New York Knicks job in 1987 and left the University of Kentucky to take the Boston Celtics job in 1997, made earlier in his career?  Besides the University of Florida should be able to come up with whatever it takes financially to keep Donovan around, if it's just about the money.  Remember, nobody in college basketball is involved with more good young players and/or has done a better of already landing players for the Class of 2007 and Class of 2008 than the Gators.  Speaking of Florida's current recruiting class, our Texas Editor Tim Miller tells us that 6'8 Alex Tyus, who is our #2-ranked 5th Year Player, is no longer at Cincinnati (Harmony Christian) OH.  Instead, the word we're getting is that Tyus is already enrolled in school at the University of Florida and is sitting out the rest of this year.  However, for our purposes, Tyus still counts towards Florida's recruiting class, which currently is ranked #4 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2007 and also includes 6'4 Nick Calathes from Winter Park (Lake Howell) FL, 6'9 Chandler Parsons from Winter Park (Lake Howell) FL, and 6'6 Adam Allen from Milton (H.S.) FL.  HOOP SCOOP Associate Editor Patrick Stanwood was at the tripleheader last night in Durham, NC and he confirms that 6'5 O.J. Mayo from Huntington (H.S.) WV not only played in the game, but scored 19 points, although it was not one of his better efforts.  However, the real story at the HoopHall Classic is the fact that Huntington (H.S.) WV beat Lakewood (Artesia) CA, 73-66.  And, when you combine this with the fact that also last night Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ upset #1-ranked Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 66-60, the smart money is now on Huntington High School being the #1-ranked team in the nation next time Chris Lawlor comes out with his high school rankings in the USA Today.  Stanwood also notes that 6'8 Patrick Patterson had 20 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocks for Huntington (H.S.) WV, but the guy who stole the show and took home game MVP honors was 5'11 Michael Taylor from Huntington (H.S.) WV, who finished with 18 points and now appears to be an excellent sleeper for the mid-major level.  The leading scored for Artesia was 6'5 Jr Malik Story with 21 points, but 6'5 James Harden from Lakewood (Artesia) CA also chipped in with 17 points and 10 rebounds and 6'9 Soph Renardo Sydney from Lakewood (Artesia) CA finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.  Stanwood also tells us that despite the 32-point effort that was turned in by Duke-bound 6'7 Taylor King from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA beat Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 76-74, in the other big game of the evening at the HoopHall Classic in Durham, NC.  Oak Hill featured a balanced scoring attack, as 6'5 Alexander Legion and 6'8 Jr Howard Thompkins combined for 34 points and a total of four players scored in double-digits.  King was complemented by 6'3 Kamyron Brown from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, who finished with nine points, and the three sophomores - 6'9 Soph Travis Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'9 Soph David Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, and 6'8 Soph Andy Brown from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA - who combined for 30 points of their team's 74 points.  As for Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, which is currently ranked #4 in the USA Today's rankings, last night's win will probably move them up to #3, behind Huntington (H.S.) WV and Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA as well as give St. Patrick's head coach Kevin Boyle bragging rights in the state of New Jersey.  Did you know that St. Patrick has beaten St. Benedict's five consecutive times and, as a result, an intense lobbying effort is under way to get Boyle, who was ranked #8 on our list of the top high school coaches in the nation, ranked ahead of Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ head coach Danny Hurley, who was ranked #4 on that same list a year ago. 

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

I found the article that I read about 6'5 O.J. Mayo from Huntington (H.S.) WV by Pete Thamal in today's New York Times especially interesting.  He starts out saying "Mayo, a West Virginia high school senior considered the country's best guard prospect since LeBron James, has been suspended and is not expected to play tonight when Huntington High School, ranked #2 in the country by USA Today, plays #1 Artesia High School of Lakewood, CA, in the HoopHall Classic in Durham, NC."  However, the article goes on to raise the question about whether Mayo, whose people are investigating their legal options, will be reinstated and able to play in the game tonight.  All this stems from the two technical fouls that Mayo received first for taunting an opponent and then for bumping an official in the second half of a game last Friday night.  And, if Mayo is allowed to play tonight, it would send a terrible message, which is, if you're good enough and it's a big enough game, we'll just change the rules.  The way we understand it, if you're ejected from a game in West Virginia, you have to serve a two-game suspension.  In other words, it shouldn't matter whether Mayo plays or not in front of the more than 5,000 fans are expected at a tripleheader tonight at Cameron Indoor Arena.  Besides, most of the fans won't be there to see him anyway.  Remember, Duke is one of the top three schools still in the hunt for Mayo's high school teammate, 6'8 Patrick Patterson from Huntington (H.S.) WV, who is ranked #15 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and the Blue Devils already have verbal commitments from 6'3 Nolan Smith from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA and 6'7 Taylor King from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) VA, whose teams will be squaring off in the second game of the evening at 7:00 PM, right before the game between Huntington (H.S.) WV and Lakewood (Artesia) CA at 8:30 PM.  I also was amused by the comments that Thamal made about Huntington High School being a regular high school compared with "most of the teams ranked among the high school top 25 are prep or private schools.  That is what makes it so special that Huntington, a public school, is considered on the same caliber as traditional private-school powers like Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, St. Anthony in Jersey City, and Mater Dei of Southern California."  However, just like all these basketball factories, Huntington High School did just as good a job of recruiting when they landed Mayo, who previously had made stops at Ashland (Rose Hill) KY and Cincinnati (North College Hill) OH during his high school and junior high school career.  And the only schools that have ever done a better job than Huntington High School has done this year of cashing in on the star power, notoriety, and drawing power of Mayo were Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH with LeBron James and Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY with Sebastian Telfair.  We also have confirmed via our New England Editor Adam Finkelstein that 6'3 Paris Horne from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, who is a high energy slashing athletic 2-guard, has verbally committed to St. John's and via our West Coast Editor Alan Utter that 6'0 Nick Martineau from Katyville (Davis) UT, who is ranked #727 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has verbally committed to Brigham Young.  Our Mississippi Editor Lavel Johnson was at the Great Southern Showcase over the weekend in Jackson, MS and some of the results are very interesting.  An easy choice for the best team at the event was Chicago (Boys to Men A) IL, which went 3-0 over the weekend with dominating wins over Humble (Life Christian) TX, Landover (Progressive A) MD, and Philadelphia (Rise Academy) PA.  The second best team was Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA, which also went 3-0 with wins over High Point (Future Academy) NC, Humble (Life Christian) TX, and Houston (Inner City) TX. Another impressive team was Genesis (Elite) MS, which was the only team to play in four games and finished with 3-1 record with wins over Raleigh (Milestone Prep) NC, Laurinburg (Institute) NC, and Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA and a tough last day loss to Humble (Life Christian) TX.  Marietta (Covenant Christian) GA and Mendenhall (Genesis Select) MS also went 3-0, Atlanta (North Atlanta Prep) GA went 2-0, LaGrange (Sound Doctrine) GA went 2-1, Chicago (Boys to Men B) IL went 2-1, Houston (Inner City) TX went 2-1, Pickens (Prince Avenue Prep) SC went 1-1, Philadelphia (Rise Academy) PA went 1-2, Raleigh (Milestone Prep) NC went 1-2, Laurinburg (Institute) NC went 1-2, Humble (Life Christian) TX went 1-2, San Antonio (Cornerstone Christian) TX went 1-2, Landover (Progressive B) MD went 0-1, Landover (Progressive A) MD went 0-2, Houston (University Park) TX went 0-2,  Bradenton (IMG Academy B) FL went 0-2,  Bradenton (IMG Academy A) FL went 0-3, and High Point (Future Academy) NC went 0-3.  Easily the most disappointing performance was turned in by Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, which went 1-2 with losses to Mendenhall (Genesis Elite) MS and Laurinburg (Institute) NC and a tight win over Bradenton (IMG Academy) FL.  Johnson tells us that he did not see every team at the Great Southern Showcase, but the list of top players that he did see ranked in order includes 1) 6'9 Mac Koshwal from Chicago (Boys to Men) IL, 2) David Tairu from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA, 3) 6'0 Jr Jeremiah Kelley from Chicago (Boys to Men) IL, 4) 6'4 Jason Sabb from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA, 5) 6'4 Paul Hagler from Mendenhall (Genesis Elite) MS, 6) 6'1 Soph Junior Caduogan from Humble (Life Christian) TX, 7) 6'10 Tearon Hill from San Antonio (Cornerstone Christian) TX, 8) 6'7 Jr Troy Gillenwater from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 9) 6'11 Mamadou Diarra from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 10) 7'0 DeAndre Jordan from Humble (Life Christian) TX, 11) 6'4 Will Pratt from Laurinburg (Institute) NC 12) 6'9 Scotty Farrington from Humble (Life Christian) TX, 13) 6'7 Eric Frederick from San Antonio (Cornerstone Christian) TX, 14) 6'10 Claude Britton from Genesis One Elite, 15) 6'9 Sean Carter from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 16) 6'6 Jr Olu Ashalou from Humble (Life Christian) TX, 17) 6'2 Terrance Joyner from Mendenhall (Genesis One Elite) MS, 18) 5'10 Angelo Johnson from Simi Valley (Stoneridge  Prep) CA, 19) 6'9 Malcolm White from Mendenhall (Genesis Elite) MS, 20) 6'3 Ed Riss from Philadelphia (Rise Academy) PA; 21) 6'5 Tyquan Stroman from Mendenhall (Genesis Select; (22) 6'0 Jordan Brickman from San Antonio (Cornerstone Christian) TX; 23) 6'2 Lavance Pennington from Mendenhall (Genesis Select) MS, 24) 6'3 Marcus Ashton from Raleigh (Milstone Prep) NC; and 6'8 Keith Denson from Houston (University Park) TX.  Our Wisconsin/Minnesota/Iowa Editor Antonio Curro, who is the editor & publisher of the NY2LASports.com web site, also checks in with some interesting items from each of the areas that he covers.  First, in Wisconsin he tells us that 6'10 Jr Montrel Clarke from Milwaukee (Pius XI) WI, who improved the value of his stock this past summer with a couple of huge performances at the adidas Super 64 Tournament in Las Vegas, NV, will likely be heading to prep school next year.  Washington State is really turning the heat up on 6'0 Jr Kwamaine Mitchell from Whitefish Bay (Dominican) WI and Missouri State is doing the same with 6'4 Jr Marvin Fitzgerald from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI.  Schools like Wisconsin-Green Bay, Western Michigan, Oakland, Bradley, and Southern Illinois are showing the most interest in 6'8 Jr Andy Smith from Milwaukee (South Milwaukee) WI and 6'7 Soph Jamil Wilson from Racine (Horlick) IL is reported to have offers on the table from Marquette, Purdue, Illinois, Marquette, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin.  6'3 Soph Jake Thomas from Racine (St. Catherine's) WI has steadily improved his stock with excellent outside shooting this year.  "He's a solid 2-guard prospect who can stroke the three from all areas of the court and should become a solid prospect in the coming months," says Curro.  In Minnesota 6'7 Jr Armon Battle from Benilde (St Margaret's) MN is becoming a hot prospect with schools like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Marquette, Iowa State, Iowa, Illinois State, and Western Michigan showing interest.  Same goes for 6'5 Jr Carrington Tankson, who's gotten interest from Iowa State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Marquette.  Speaking of solid prospects, 6'4 Jr Cody Schilling from Ellsworth (H.S.) MN has some decent athletic ability and can flat out shoot it from anywhere on the court.  Same goes for 6'4 Jr Anthony Tucker of Minnetonka (H.S.)MN, who's a strong kid with excellent range and a gunslinger's type mentality.  No one's hotter in the state though than 6'7 Soph Rodney Williams of Cooper (H.S.) MN, who's already starting to hear from schools like Wisconsin and Kansas.  In Iowa 6'7 Nick McFarland from Davenport (North) IA, who is a big time sleeper in the Class of 2007, is getting the most interest from Wisconsin-Green Bay, Butler, and Colorado.  Keep watch on these guys as they head up what looks to be a loaded freshman class in the state:  6'9 Frosh Jordan Dykstra from Rock Valley (H.S.) IA), 6'1 Frosh Branden Stubbs from Des Moines Christian) IA, 6'4 Frosh Harrison Barnes from Ames (H.S.) IA, and 6'5 Frosh A.J. Derby from Iowa City (West) IA.  Dykstra has already verbally committed to attend Iowa State, while the other three will project somewhere at the mid-to-high major level in the coming years.  In the Washington, DC area 6'4 Jr Max Kenyi from Washington (Gonzaga) DC now has offers on the table from Marquette, James Madison, Hampton, VCU, and William & Mary.  Former Class of 2007 point guard 5'11 Travon Vann has re-classified and is transferring to Middleburg (Notre Dame) VA.  Since re-classifying he is getting serious interest from William & Mary, Ball State, George Mason, Richmond, and James Madison.  Curro also says the "word on the street is that two new seven-footers have arrived within the last 10 days from Africa at Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC.  They are supposed to be 7'3 and 7'0 and Class of 2008 prospects.  Quick side note...no one is hotter in the country right now than 6'0 Chris Wright from Washington (St. John's) DC.  Wright is averaging 28.7 ppg and has scored over 30 points in nine of his last 10 games, including 31, 33, 39, 36, 33, 36, and 30 in his past seven outings." Curro also wants us to mention the fact that NY2LA Sports will be hosting the NY2LA Sports Swish & Dish Warm-Up  in Milwaukee, WI on March 30-April 1st.  And with teams expected from Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan, this will be its first big event of the year.  Curro and others from the NY2LA Sports staff will be in attendance running and covering the event and we will give you a complete report of the event, which is open to Boys 10-Under to 17-Under teams.  NY2LA Sports will also be hosting the Generation Next Invitational on May 11-13, 2007 in Madison, WI and this tournament is open to Boys 10-Under to 14-Under  teams with "A" and "B" divisions available. 

Saturday, January 27, 2007, Sunday, January 28, 2007, & Monday, January 29, 2007

It's still a little bit early to start speculating on which teams are going to be invited to play in this year's NCAA Tournament, which will be announced on Sunday, March 11th.  But, as things stand right now, we think any team in a major conference that has already won 16 or more games is pretty safe in terms of getting into the tournament.  In other words, with about 10 regular season conferences remaining, plus games in the post season conference tournament, these teams are already well on their ways towards achieving the 20 wins that almost always is the magic number necessary to get invited to the big dance.  And, if you don't believe it, just check things out a year ago when Colorado, which at the time was 20-9, was the only team from a major conference with 20 or more wins that did not get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.  However, teams right now in major conferences with only 14 and 15 wins appear to be on the bubble and, as a result, will need to finish strong down the stretch in order to ensure that they don't get snubbed by the selection committee.  So, with things like this in mind, I went down the list conference-by-conference and came up with the 65 teams that I think would be in the field, if the NCAA Tournament were seeded today.  The Big-12 Conference with Kansas (18-3), Texas A&M (17-3), Texas (15-5), Oklahoma State (18-3), Kansas State (15-6), and Texas Tech (15-6), Big East Conference with Pittsburgh (19-3), Marquette (19-4), Georgetown (15-5), Louisville (15-6), Notre Dame (17-5), and West Virginia (16-4), and the Southeastern Conference with Florida (19-2), Kentucky (16-5), Vanderbilt (15-6), Alabama (15-5), Tennessee (14-7) Arkansas (14-7) head the list with six teams apiece; the Atlantic Coast Conference with North Carolina (19-2) Duke (18-3), Clemson (18-4), Virginia Tech (16-5), and Maryland (15-5), Pacific-10 Conference with Oregon (19-2), UCLA (18-2), Washington State (17-4), Southern Cal (16-6), and Arizona (14-5), and the Big-10 Conference with Wisconsin (21-1), Ohio State (18-3), Michigan State (17-5), Michigan (16-6), and Indiana (15-5) each would get five teams into the tournament; the Atlantic-10 Conference with George Washington (15-4), Massachusetts (15-6), and Xavier (15-6) and the Missouri Valley Conference with Southern Illinois, (17-5), Northern Iowa (15-6), and Creighton (14-7) would both get three teams in the tournament; the Colonial Athletic Association with Virginia Commonwealth (18-3) and Hofstra (16-5), Mountain West Conference with Air Force (19-3) and UNLV (18-4), and Western Athletic Conference with Nevada (19-2) and New Mexico State (17-4) would all get two teams in the tournament; and the America East Conference with Vermont (15-6), Atlantic Sun Conference with East Tennessee State (16-7), Big Sky Tournament with Weber State (14-9), Big South Tournament with Winthrop (17-4), Big West Conference with Cal State-Fullerton (16-4), Conference USA with Memphis (17-3), Horizon League with Butler (19-2), Ivy League with Pennsylvania (11-7), Metro Atlantic Conference with Loyola-Maryland (12-8), Mid-Continent Conference with Oral Roberts (15-7), Mid-American Conference with Akron (15-4), Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference with Florida A&M (12-9), Northeast Conference with Central Connecticut State (11-10), Ohio Valley Conference with Austin Peay (13-6), Patriot League with Holy Cross (16-6), Southern Conference with Davidson (18-4), Southland Conference with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (15-4), Southwestern Athletic Conference with Jackson State (12-9), Sun Belt Conference with Western Kentucky (16-7), and West Coast Conference with Gonzaga (14-7) would all get one team each into the tournament.  Teams that didn't make the cut today, but may do so if they continue to play well the rest of the season include Drexel (15-5), Central Florida (15-5), Syracuse (15-6), Florida State (15-6), Brigham Young (15-6), Marist (15-6), Missouri State (15-7), South Alabama (15-7), Bradley (15-8), Illinois (15-8), Stanford (14-5), Boston College (14-6), Purdue (14-7), Wichita State (14-8), and LSU (13-7).  We already know that Minnesota, Colorado, and Radford are schools where the coaching job will be open this spring, but other schools where the coach appears to be on the hot seat includes New Mexico (12-10 overall and 1-6 in the league), South Florida (11-11 overall and 2-6 in the league), Louisiana-Lafayette (5-17 overall and 5-17 in the league), Northern Illinois (4-15 overall and 1-6 in the league), Maryland-Eastern Shore (3-17 overall and 0-8 in the league), Denver (3-18 overall and 2-9 in the league), and Iona (0-20 overall and 0-10 in the league).  That last one is especially interesting, because the Gaels won the post season conference tournament a year ago and advanced into the NCAA Tournament where they finished with a 23-7 record.  Or to look at his another way, this may be a classic example of how sometimes you can stay in the same place to long, as prior to this season Iona head coach Jeff Ruland had an eight year 137-106 record and three trips to the NCAA Tournament.  We also think it's worth pointing out that if we had to name a National Coach-of-the-Year today, it would be an easy call for University of Wisconsin's Bo Ryan, whose team is now 21-1 and ranked #2 in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls.  However, this really should not come as that much of a surprise, because Ryan has done a great job everyplace he's been.  Did you know that Ryan not only won 353 games in 15 years at Wisconsin-Platteville, but when he won four Division III National Championships and left as the winningest coach in Division III history?  Ryan also posted a 30-27 record and left the program at Wisconsin-Milwaukee in great shape when Bruce Pearl took over as head coach six years ago and he has compiled a 133-50 at the helm of the Badgers.  Second on our list would be UCLA head coach Ben Howland, who not only has backed up last year's NCAA Final Four appearance with an impressive 18-2 start to this season, but has firmly established himself as one of the top 10 head coaches in the game today, along with Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Bob Knight, Jim Calhoun, Lute Olson, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, Billy Donovan, and Tom Izzo.  And the come back coach-of-the-year has to be Oregon's Ernie Kent, who also has to be on the short list for National Coach-of-the-Year honors.  Remember, a year ago at this time most people thought Kent would be fired at the end of the season.  But, with an added year of experience and the addition of 5'7 Tajuan Porter from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, who was ranked #175 in our Final Ranking of the Top Players in the Class of 2006, but has been one of the top freshmen in the nation this season, the Ducks are now 19-2 and ranked #9 in the latest Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls.  And making this story even more interesting is the fact that UCLA and Oregon will square off on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, CA in what promises to be one of the biggest games of the year.  As a matter of fact, the winner of the game could be one of our top four-seeded teams, along with Florida, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, if we had to seed the NCAA Tournament field right now.  Another serious candidate for National Coach-of-the-Year honors is Air Force's Jeff Bzdelik, who in just two years on the job has emerged into one of the top up-and-coming guys in the business. 

Friday, January 26, 2007

Most people in the business are already aware of the fact that Sonny Vaccaro is out at Reebok, but the real question on everybody's mind is when and where Reebok will have a camp this summer.  However, as things stand now, the only thing that Chris Rivers, who is now in charge of grassroots basketball for Reebok, is ready to tell us is that the Reebok Summer Championship will be held in Las Vegas, NV on July 22nd-26th and run by Jim Allen, who was the co-director the Big Time Tournament since its inception in 1995.  Rivers also assures us that Reebok will have just as many events as it did a year ago, but does not even confirm that there will be a camp this summer.  "We're still in the process of working out all of the details," says Rivers.  "And you and your readers will know everything by the middle of February."  In other words, there are a lot rumors out there right now, but nothing has officially been etched into stone, except for the fact that there will not be a Reebok ABCD Camp at Fairleigh Dickinson University this summer.   As for Vaccaro, the word that we're getting is that he does not plan to get back into the camp or event business.  Instead, it looks like Vaccaro will start a basketball academy in New York City and make himself available for speaking engagements, which will allow him to continue to be a thorn in the side of the NCAA.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson has confirmed that NIKE will be moving its camp to Akron, OH and it will be held on July 8th-11th and called the LeBron James U.S. Skills Academy.  Johnson also has confirmed that the playing dates for this year's NBA Players Association Camp will be June 20th-23rd and it will be held in Charlottesville, VA.  Johnson also tells us that the next Tajuan Porter, who is the 5'6 freshman that has helped transform the University of Oregon from being a middle of the road team in the league into one of the best teams in college basketball this year, may turn out to be 5'9 Jr Eric Evans from Detroit (Northwestern) MI.  We're talking about somebody who had 38 points, 10 assists, and eight steals in his team's 105-100 double overtime upset earlier this week against Detroit (Central) MI and is being recruited by schools like Xavier, Purdue, Dayton, Kansas State, Kent State, Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Toledo, Miami-OH, and Bowling Green.  It also looks like schools like Xavier, Dayton, Fordham, and Central Michigan are already involved with 6'6 Jr Shawntez Patterson, who was at Detroit (City) MI a year ago, but became eligible earlier this week at Detroit (Northwestern) MI, and IP-Ft Wayne and Morehead State are the favorites for 6'5 Darryl Miller from Detroit (Northwestern) MI.  Johnson also mentions that Michigan, Michigan State, and Arizona are already showing early interest in 6'8 Frosh Jerrell Pratt from Detroit (Northwestern) MI, who is the #3 ranked freshman in the state by Vince Baldwin in Michigan Prep Spotlight, and the top two sophomores in the state - 6'11 Soph DeShante Riley, who is ranked #30 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, 6'5 Soph Dion Sims, who is ranked #53 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, both have changed schools.  Sims has transferred from Detroit (Jesuit) MI to Orchard Lake (St. Mary's) MI, but he won't be eligible to play until the beginning of the 2007-08 academic year.  Riley, who transferred from Detroit (Cass Tech) MI to Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, became eligible to play earlier this week.  I also was intrigued by an article in today's Louisville Courier-Journal by Eric Crawford with the headline "Lots of folks wish Lofton's talents had stayed home."  Obviously he's talking about Tennessee's 6'2 Jr Chris Lofton, who is currently the leading scorer in the Southeastern Conference with 21.5 ppg and would have signed with either Louisville or Kentucky, if only they had offered.   But at the end of the summer prior to the senior year of both Lofton and 6'2 Rajon Rondo, you couldn't give either player away.  I know, because I got a list of schools from both players at the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV and within 24 hours had asked every head coach of every school mentioned by both player if they would offer a scholarship to either Lofton or Rondo, if either player wanted to commit on the spot.  And there was not taker in the bunch, as both players were wrapping up what turned out to be a mediocre spring and summer.  Did you also know that Oak Hill head coach Steve Smith wasn't even sure whether Rondo would be the answer at point guard prior to when he arrived in school in the fall of 2003?  And none of the college coaches that I talked with thought Lofton would be more than a role player at the highest level.  Providing even further evidence of what I'm talking about is the fact that on four or five different occasions I mentioned to an assistant coach at school in the Southeastern Conference that he should take another look at Lofton, because he's a great shooter and he'd fit perfectly into their system.  But each time I was told Lofton wasn't good enough or that he wasn't what they needed.  While Rondo immediately bought into Smith's system at Oak Hill and played so well during his senior year that he was named to play in the McDonald's All-American Game three years ago, Lofton still hadn't done anything to change the mind of college coaches during his senior year in high school.  "He doesn't have the foot speed necessary at his size play in our league," said one Big East assistant coach.  And we had him Lofton ranked #312 nationally in our Final Ranking of the Top Players in the Class of 2004.  So the question is did everybody miss on these two players or did things change (i.e. they improved their game, bought into the right system, found the right chemistry, and/or picked the right school, where what they did well was highlighted, instead of diminished)?  As things turned out, Rondo had two good years at the University of Kentucky and is now having a solid rookie season averaging 4.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg, and 2.4 apg with the Boston Celtics in the NBA and Lofton has the 11th highest scoring average (21.5 ppg) in college basketball this season and is one of the top five players in the Southeastern Conference.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

The next big project on my agenda is to update all of our state-by-state and area reports and we are already ready to publish our Washington, DC/Maryland/Virginia Report, which includes our ranking of the top 70 seniors, top 50 juniors, top 40 sophomores, top 36 freshmen, top 21 8th Graders, top 26 7th Graders, top 27 6th Graders, and top three 5th Graders in the two-state area all ranked in order.  We also this time have included players in the entire state of Virginia, which means that all of the great players - 6'1 Jr Brandon Jennings, 6'3 Nolan Smith, 6'8 Jr Jr Howard Thompkins, 6'10 Julian Vaughn, and 6'5 Alexander Legion - at Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA are included in our rankings, as well as our All-Area Teams, which includes the top 40 players in the area regardless of class and position.  And the person who deserves most the credit for making sure that these rankings are current and up-to-date is our Washington, DC Area Editor Dennis Marshall, who also publishes the DCMetroHoops.com web site.  We also like the fact that Marshall's only bias is the fact that his son 6'2 Frosh Kendall Marshall from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA is one of the top up-and-coming young players in the nation.  In other words, Marshall doesn't have a club team nor does he run events, which is important, because this allows him to remain unbiased and prevents him from having any hidden agendas that will effect his rankings.  Speaking of our state-by-state and area editors, we've made a number of changes and additions recently that will help us both stay more on top of recruiting and help us get reports out on a more timely basis.  I have already announced that our California Editor Alan Utter has moved up to become our West Coast Editor; our former Middle School Editor Patrick Stanwood is now an Associate Editor; Antonio Curro, who also is the editor & publisher of the NY2LASports.com, is our new Wisconsin/Minnesota/Iowa Editor; and John Riley is our new Indiana Editor.  However, I haven't told you yet that Daniel Poneman, who also publishes the Illinoishsbasketball.com web site and is one of the brightest young people in our business, is our new Illinois Editor.  I also expect to be getting updated reports in the not to distant future from our New England Editor Adam Finkelstein, New York City Editor Ron Naclerio, Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin, Florida Editor Rick Staudt, Georgia Editor Horace Neysmith, Tennessee Correspondent Andre Whitehead, Mississippi Editor Lavel Johnson, Kentucky Editor Larry Kihnley, Ohio Editor Chris Johnson, and Texas Editor Tim Miller.  As a matter of fact, I'm currently working on the Kentucky Report and I expect to have the New England Report and the Mississippi Report in hand by the end of the weekend and published by sometime next week.  Our Mississippi Editor Lavel Johnson also tells us that he will covering the Great Southern Showcase in Jackson, MS, which begins today at Christ Missionary High School with Bradenton (IMG Academy A) FL versus Marietta (Covenant Christian) GA at 1:00 PM, LaGrange (Sound Doctrine) GA versus Conover (New Horizon) NC at 2:30 PM, Pickens (Prince Avenue) SC versus Bradenton (IMG Academy B) at 4:00 PM, Atlanta  (North Atlanta Prep) GA versus High Point (Future Academy) NC at 5:30 PM, Mendenhall (Genesis Select) MS versus Raleigh (Milestone) NC at 7:00 PM, and Philadelphia (Rise Academy) PA versus Houston (University Park) TX at 8:30 PM.  Then, things will switch tomorrow to Belhaven College with Raleigh (Milestone) NC versus Marietta (Covenant Christian) GA at 8:00 AM, Atlanta (North Atlanta Prep) A versus Pickens (Prince Avenue) SC at 9:30 AM, Houston (University Park) TX versus Landover (Progressive B) MD at 11:00 AM, and Chicago (Boys to Men B) IL versus LaGrange (Sound Doctrine) GA at 12:30 PM and back to Christ Missionary High School with High Point (Future Academy) NC versus Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA at 2:00 PM, San Antonio (Cornerstone Christian) TX versus Philadelphia (Rise Academy) PA at 3:30 PM, Houston (Inner City) TX versus Landover (Progressive A) MD at 5:00 PM, Chicago (Boys to Men A) IL versus Humble (Life Christian) TX at 6:30 PM, Mendendall (Genesis Elite) MS versus Laurinburg (Institute) NC at 8:00 PM, and Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA versus Bradenton (IMG A) FL at 9:30 PM.  The schedule for Saturday, January 27th will feature games all day at Christ Missionary High School with Chicago (Boys to Men B) IL versus Landover (Progressive B) MD at 8:00 AM, Chicago (Boys to Men A) IL versus Landover (Progressive A) MD at 9:30 AM, High Point (Future Academy) NC versus Marietta (Covenant Christian) GA at 11:00 AM, Mendenhall (Genesis Select) MS versus Bradenton (IMG B) FL at 12:30 PM, Chicago (Boys to Men B) IL versus Bradenton (IMG A) FL at 2:00 PM, Landover (Progressive A) MD versus Laurinburg (Institute) NC at 3:30 PM, Philadelphia (Rise Academy) PA versus Houston (Inner City) TX at 5:00 PM, Mendenhall (Genesis Elite) MS versus Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA at 6:30 PM, Humble (Life Christian) TX versus Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA at 8:00 PM, and San Antonio (Cornerstone Christian) TX versus Chicago (Boys to Men A) IL at 9:30 PM.  And finally on Sunday, January 28th, at Christ Missionary High School it will be Houston (Inner City) TX versus Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA at Noon, Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA versus Laurinburg (Institute) NC at 1:30 PM, San Antonio (Cornerstone Christian) TX versus Mendenhall (Genesis Select) MS at 3:00 PM, and Mendenhall (Genesis Elite) MS versus Humble (Life Christian) TX at 4:30 PM. 

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The next big event that I am planning on attending will be the 2007 NIKE Extravaganza, which will be held Friday, February 2nd, and Saturday, February 3rd, at the new Athletics Complex on the campus of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, CA and I am looking forward to seeing a number of the top players on the West Coast.  And right at the top of the list is 6'3 Jr Jrue Holiday from North Hollywood (Campbell Hall) CA, who is currently ranked #17 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Remember, this is the same guy who some of our competitors have ranked as high as #2 in the junior class, but did nothing, except be an incredible athlete, to establish himself as one of the very elite players in the nation when I saw him last spring and summer.  It also will be nice to get another look at the rest of the long list of players, which includes 6'9 Kevin Love from Lake Oswego (H.S.) OR, 6'1 Jr Brandon Jennings from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'3 Nolan Smith from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'7 Taylor King from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'8 Jr Howard Thompkins from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'3 Jr Jrue Holiday from North Hollywood (Campbell Hall) CA, 6'5 Alexander Legion from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'10 Julian Vaughn from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'3 Kamyron Brown from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'4 Quentin Watkins from Compton (Dominguez) CA, 6'2 Jr Oscar Belfield from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'6 Justin Holiday from North Hollywood (Campbell Hall) CA, 6'6 Dane Suttle from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'10 Matt DeWaal from Compton (Dominguez) CA, 6'5 Julyan Stone from Goleta (Dos Pueblos) CA, 5'11 Jr Kevin Loyd from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, 6'9 Jr Joseph Muyan from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, 6'9 Soph Travis Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'9 Soph David Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'8 Soph Andy Brown from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'8 Jared Cunningham from Lake Oswego (H.S.) OR, 6'7 Soph Aaron Moore from Compton (Dominguez) CA, 7'1 Alex Jacobson from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 7'0 Jr Auri Allen from Las Vegas (Durango) NV, 6'3 Jr Jamal Trice from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'3 Jr Jarred Dubois from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'3 Jr Chris Solomon from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'10 Jr Chris Gabriel from San Juan Capistrano (J. Serra) CA, 6'9 Malcolm Campbell from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 5'10 Ja'Shon Hampton from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'3 Isaiah Jenkins from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 7'0 Jr Fernand Rwantei from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, 6'3 Jr Quinton Bailey from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, 6'6 Soph Keegan Hornbuckle from North Hollywood (Campbell Hall) CA, 6'4 Jr Zack Zaragosa from Rancho Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margaria) CA, 6'4 Frosh Tyler Lamb from Ontario (Colony) CA, 6'7 Froph Dwayne Polee from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 5'9 Jay Dee Luster from San Diego (Hoover) CA, 6'7 Jr Michael Bostic from Ontario (Colony) ON, 6'4 Jr Jordan Hill from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, 6'6 Norville Arnold from San Diego (Hoover) CA, 6'2 Marcus Shannon from San Diego (Hoover) CA, 6'2 Robert Ford from North Hollywood (Campbell Hall) CA, 6'8 Ernie Spada from Lake Oswego (H.S.) OR, 6'2 Stedman Merritt from Ontario (The Colony) CA, and 6'5 Travis Bouska from Orange (Lutheran) CA, who will be showing their wears at this event.  The schedule on Friday night will include Anaheim (Servite) CA versus Los Angeles (Daniel Murphy) CA at 4:00 PM, Rancho Santa Margarita (Santa Margarita) CA versus Los Angeles (Durango) NV at 5:30 PM, a girls game at 7:00 PM, and Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA versus Orange (Lutheran) CA at 8:30 PM and on Saturday will include Goleta (Dos Pueblos) CA versus Fountain Valley (H.S.) CA at 10:00 AM, San Juan Capistrano (J. Serra) CA versus Huntington Beach (Ocean View) CA at 11:30 PM, Ontario (Colony) CA versus San Diego (Hoover) CA at 1:00 PM, Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV versus Compton (Dominguez) CA at 2:30 PM, North Hollywood (Campbell Hall) CA versus Villa Park (H.S.) CA at 4:00 PM, Los Angeles (Westchester) CA versus Carlsbad (H.S.) CA at 5:30 PM, Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA versus Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA at 7:00 PM, and Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA versus Lake Oswego (H.S.) OR at 8:30 PM.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Back in the late 80's and throughout most of the 90's when Jim Kasberg was the Indiana Editor of the HOOP SCOOP, we were second to none when it came to covering high school basketball in the Hoosier State.  And now that we have decided to make John Riley, who comes highly recommended by former Indiana Preps Web Site publisher Matt Denison, our new Indiana Editor, we are hoping to duplicate what we were previously able to achieve back during that golden era.  If you will recall, we were among the first to start touting players like Jay Edwards, Lyndon Jones, Jerome Harmon, Rick Fox, Shawn Kemp, Sean Woods, Chandler Thompson, Greg Graham, Pat Graham, Calbert Chaney, Matt Painter, Damon Bailey, Eric Montrose, Glenn Robinson, Alan Henderson, Marlon Fleming, Charles Macon, Scott Shepherd, Sherron Wilkerson, Bryce Drew, Bonzi Wells, Duany Duany, Luke Recker, Jason Gardner, Jarred Jeffries, Sean May, and Robert Vaden.  And, if you don't know who Riley is or believe that he is up to the task, just out the sneak preview that he has provided us with, which includes his ranking of the top 25 juniors in the state and some interesting comments about each player.  First, are the rankings, which are as follows:  1) 6'3 Jr Walter Offutt from Indianapolis (Warren Central) IN, 2) 6'11 Jr Angel Garcia from East Chicago (Central) IN, 3) 6'2 Jr Cordell Passley from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, 4) 6'11 Jr Tyler Zeller from Washington (H.S.) IN, 5) 6'5 Jr Kyle Kuric from Evansville (Memorial) IN, 6) 6'3 Jr Julius Mays from Marion (H.S.) IN, 7) 6'2 Jr Logan Jones from Madison (H.S.) IN, 8) 6'6 Jr Damion Garrett from Evansville (Reitz) IN, 9) 6'8 Jr Garrett Butcher from Edgewood (H.S.) IN, 10) 6'4 Jr Brent Eaton from Northridge (H.S.) IN, 11) 6'5 Jr Braydon Hobbs from New Albany (H.S.) IN, 12) 6'1 Jr Justin Bonds from Indianapolis (Lawrence Central) IN, 13) 6'4 Jr Chase Stigall from New Castle (H.S.) IN, 14) 6'7 Jr Juluin Muvanga from Brownsburg (H.S.) IN, 15) 5'9 Jr Larry Stone from Indianapolis (Howe) IN, 16) 6'8 Jr Jarrod Jones from Michigan City (H.S.) IN, 17) 6'5 Jr Roderick Lewis from Lafayette (Central Catholic) IN, 18) 6'5 Jr Cameron Mousa from Seymour (H.S.) IN, 19) 6'2 Jr Will Hamilton from Greenfield (Central) IN, 20) 6'3 Jr Jay Edwards from Marion (H.S.) IN, 21) 6'11 Jr Chris Toler from Indianapolis (North Central) IN, 22) 6'11 Jr Zach Fields from Seymour (Jennings County) IN, 23) 5'10 Jr Corey Wickware from Indianapolis (Southport) IN, 24) 6'2 Jr Khirie Williams from Carmel (University) IN, and 25) 6'5 Jr Zavier Sanders from Kokomo (Northwestern) IN.  Second, are his comments, which begin with Walter Offutt, who he says "is slowly losing his grasp on the top 08 player in Indiana.  He does not have the explosiveness that he once had and injuries have plagued Sir Walter over the past couple of years.  Angel Garcia is a tremendous talent, but is not a dominant player at this time.  Still, he has a huge upside and college coaches can't stay away.  Cordell Passley has been physically more mature than most of the 08 players for years.  He is committed to Bruce Pearl and Tennessee and has shown signs of being able to dominate at times.  Tyler Zeller is still a work in progress, but runs the floor better than any big center in the state.  He has a nice soft touch and, in my opinion, is a better prospect than his brother Luke was at the same age.  Kyle Kuric has great size and is an excellent shooter with range up to around 23-feet.  He also has great leaping ability and the potential to be the most prolific scorer in the class.  Weakness is his defensive ability.  Julius Mays is committed to N.C. State.  Reason for the high major interest is this kid has the ability to take over a game from the point guard position.  Weakness is that he tries to do too much when surrounded by other great talent.  Logan Jones is one of the leading scorers in the state, has one of the best first steps in the nation, and loves to finish at the rim.  He also has improved his 3-point shooting this winter and is dramatically on the rise.  He has visited Dayton more than once and is very high on the Flyers.  Damion Garrett has high major ability, is very athletic, and loves to finish with authority.  His weakness is the fact he does not work that hard, but he has huge upside and some school will take the gamble.  Garrett Butcher is quickly becoming a big time name around the state after a breakout summer.  He has a very nice touch around the basket, an array of offensive post moves, and is a great position rebounder.  Brent Eaton is a great high school player and you have to love a kid with nice strength and who is an amazing shooter with great range.  His weakness is that he is not tall enough to play at the forward position and not quick enough to defend at the guard position.  Braydon Hobbs is the top passing point guard in the class.  He has amazing length and is an intriguing talent for any D-I coach to see.  He is also a nice 3-point shooter, but has one glaring weakness.  He is very thin and desperately needs to add weight.  Justin Bonds is a great athlete who plays very hard and loves to win.  He does a nice job as an offensive point guard, but is also well known for being the top defensive point guard in the Indianapolis area.  Chase Stigall is a nice athlete with tremendous range on his shot.  He is a nice talent who should have the opportunity to be a very solid mid-major player.  Juluin Muyanga is a work on progress.  He is becoming an offensive threat, but is an excellent rebounder and will be a very nice mid-major power forward/center.  Larry Stone is a tremendous talent who can penetrate and score with the best of them.  This kid is a nice player who is hard to defend.  His weakness is a lack of size and strength.  I've only seen Jarrod Jones play once and he was not impressive.  But he has a reputation as a guy with a huge upside and the ability to finish around the basket.  Roderick Lewis is a nice athlete who can slash to the basket, defend, and rebound with any 6'5 kid in the state.  He is a in-between position kind of player, but will be a nice mid-major kind of guy.  Cameron Mousa is a great 3-point shooter with unlimited range.  He is not only a 20 ppg scorer, but also is one of the leading rebounders in the state.  Needs to focus on his ball handling.  Will Hamilton is an offensive wizard who can score from anywhere on the floor.  This kid is ready to shoot when he steps off bus, but needs to continue to work on his defensive footwork.  Jay Edwards is an explosive 2-guard with nice range on his jumper.  He also has a very mid-range game and projects as a solid mid-major candidate.  Chris Toler has a nice touch out to 15-feet and gets up and down the floor pretty well.  His one glaring weakness is his lack of strength.  Zach Fields is a big lefty at 6'11, 255 pounds.  He has a soft touch, but must continue to work on his speed and conditioning.  Corey Wickware is an extremely quick point guard who is hard to keep out of the lane and has a nice mid-range pull-up jumper.  All he lacks is size.  Khirie Williams is a scoring machine who always brings high energy to floor and is also an excellent on the ball defender.  Zavier Saders is a great athlete who can clean up on the boards and is hard to keep from going to the basket with authority."

Saturday, January 20, 2007, Sunday, January 21, 2007, & Monday, January 22, 2007

Our Washington, DC/Maryland/Northern Virginia Editor Dennis Marshall tells us that 6'0 Jeff Peterson from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, who is ranked #326 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but is one of the fastest rising players in the senior class nationally, has reneged on the commitment that he made last fall to Princeton.  Yes, this is the same guy who was DeMatha's second best player when we saw him at the Academy National Invitational in Houston, TX a month ago and is now arguably in the 100-200 range nationally in the senior class.  But we still find it totally amazing that Peterson is turning down an opportunity to play for one of the best coaches (Joe Scott) at one of the best academic schools in the nation.  Instead, it looks like playing at a higher level school, where Peterson will probably end up being a good role player, instead of a big fish in small pound, is now the order of the day.  It might be different if Peterson was a marginal student and didn't expect to have much of a life after his basketball career is over.  However, in this case, if you work hard, go to school for four years, and graduate from an Ivy League school, you can pretty much right your own ticket the rest of your life.  Maybe there are extenuating circumstances that we're not aware of, but on the surface this looks like a big mistake, as well as a great lesson of what not to do, if you have no shot at ever playing in the NBA, but are a very good basketball player, a terrific student, and first-class person.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson also checks in with some recruiting information that he's recently picked up at places likes the Flying to the Hoop Tournament a week ago in Dayton, OH and, especially interesting are the top five schools (Florida, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Georgia) for 6'9 Jr Howard Thompkins from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who is ranked #6 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Florida leads for Thompkins, who apparently loved the atmosphere when he took an unofficial visit to Gainesville, FL in December for the Florida-Ohio State game.  Thompkins also is planning on visiting Michigan when the Wolverines host Ohio State on March 3rd.  North Carolina is the team to beat for 6'8 Jr Delvon Roe from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, but Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan, and Kansas are also still being mentioned for his tough hardnosed athletic power forward whois ranked #4 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Nebraska and UNLV are showing the most interest in 6'8 Tearon Hill from San Antonio (Cornerstone Christian) TX, who is ranked #51 on our List of the Top 5th Year Players, and USC, Baylor, Connecticut, Florida, and Fresno State are the leaders for 6'11 Mamadou Diarra from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, who is ranked #7 on our List of the Top 5th Year Players.  Johnson also notes that 5'10 Angelo Johnson from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, who is ranked #9 on our List of the Top 5th Year Players, but academically is still a junior, took an unofficial visit to the University of Cincinnati after the tournament and he also has schools like Arizona, Tennessee, USC, Washington, and Clemson on his list.  Auburn, USC, Fresno State, Georgetown, and Nebraska are battling it our for 7'1 Boubacar Sylla from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, who is ranked #58 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and Providence, Lamar, and Cleveland State are showing the most interest in 6'5 Mouusa Camara from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA.  The early favorites for 6'0 Soph Junior Cadougan from Humble (Christian Life) TX, who is ranked #9 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, are North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, LSU, and Michigan State and the list for 6'7 Jr Olu Ashaolu from Humble (Christian Life) TX, who is ranked #22 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, includes LSU, Arizona, Baylor, Syracuse, Washington, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Rutgers, Georgetown, and Kansas.  Among those mentioned by 6'2 Soph Aaron Robinson from Trotwood (Madison) OH, , who is ranked #296 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, includes Clemson, Dayton, Xavier, Cincinnati, Wright State, Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State.  The list for 6'9 Malcolm White from Mendenhall (Genesis One) MS, who is ranked #60 on our list of the Top 5th Year Players, but academically is still a junior, includes Mississippi State, Mississippi, Kentucky, LSU, Auburn, and Florida State.  Johnson also tells us that 6'9 Kevin Love from Lake Oswego (H.S.) OR, 6'5 O.J. Mayo from Huntington (H.S.) WV, 6'3 Jerryd Bayless from Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ, 6'9 Donte Green from Towson (Catholic) MD, 6'9 Kyle Singler from Medford (South Medford) OR, 6'8 Michael Beasley from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'3 Derrick Rose from Chicago (Simeon) IL, 6'9 Patrick Patterson from Huntington (H.S.) WV, 6'3 Nolan Smith from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, and 6'0 Johnny Flynn from Niagara Falls (H.S.) NY are the 10 players who have been named to play for the U.S.A. Basketball National Select Team in the 10th Annual NIKE Hoop Summit on April 7th at the FedExForum in Memphis, TN.  Our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio tells us that 6'4 Mike Cavataio from Fresh Meadows (St. Francis Prep) NY, who is ranked #857 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and was being recruited by schools like Northeastern, Hofstra, and Boston University, has verbally committed to St. John's.  Cavataio has a high basketball IQ, is a local kid, and is a tough hardnosed competitor who plays hard and makes things happen, which means he should be a good role player for the Red Storm, as well as a good complement to 5'8 Malik Boothe from Middle Village (Christ the King) NY, 6'8 Justin Burrell from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) NY, and 6'10 Ayodele Coker from South Kent (Prep) CT in a recruiting class that is tied at #43, along with Illinois, Maryland, and Kent State, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2007.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Two weeks ago we provided you with a preview of the Prime Time Shootout, which will be held at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, NJ on February 10th-11th.  But we have yet to mention anything about the National Prep School Invitational at the Keaney Gym at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI on February 8th-11th.  So, when our New England Editor Adam Finkelstein emailed me the schedule yesterday for the National Prep School Invitational, I was especially interested in who will be playing on the first two days, as earlier this week I made my plane reservation, which will get me into Providence, RI at 12:50 PM on Thursday, February 8th.  So, assuming that my flight is on time, I will have a shot at seeing all five games on the first day in their entirety, as the schedule on the first day will feature Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA versus Lee (Academy) ME, at 2:00 PM, Lenoir (Patterson School) NC versus Petoskey (Eldon Academy) MI at 3:30 PM, Chicago (Boys to Men) IL versus Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME at 5:00 PM, Bradenton (IMG Academy) FL versus Houston (International School) TX at 6:30 PM, and Mendenhall (Genesis One) MS versus Toronto (Academy) ON at 8:30 PM.  Then, on Friday February 9th, it will be Petoskey (Eldon Academy) MI versus Lee (Academy) ME at 9:00 AM, Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA versus Bradenton (IMG Academy) FL at 10:30 AM, Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME versus Mendenhall (Genesis One) MS at Noon, Winchendon (School) MA versus Lenoir (Patterson School) MA at 1:30 PM, Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT versus Houston (International School) TX at 3:00 PM, Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA versus Chicago (Boys to Men) IL at 4:45 PM, Worcester (Academy) MA versus Woodstock (Massanutten Military) VA at 6:30 PM, North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME versus Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA at 8:15 PM, and Humble (Christian Life) TX versus Toronto (Academy) PA at 9:45 PM.  Then, after I'm long gone to the Prime Time Shootout in Trenton, NJ, the action will continue at the National Prep School Invitational on Saturday, February 10th, with Bradenton (IMG Academy) FL versus Groton (Lawrence Academy) MA at 9:30 AM, Chicago (Boys to Men) IL versus Lenoir (Patterson School) NC at 11:00 AM, Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT versus Woodstock (Massanutten Military) VA at 12:45 PM, South Kent (Prep) CT versus Humble (Christian Life) TX at 2:30 PM, Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA versus Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA at 4:00 PM, North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME versus Northfield (Northfield-Mt. Hermon) MA at 5:30 PM, Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH versus Mendenhall (Genesis One) MS at 7:15 PM, and New Hampton (Prep) NH versus Andover (Proctor Academy) NH at 9:30 PM and on Sunday, February 11th, with Groton (Lawrence Academy) MA versus Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA at 9:30 AM, Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH versus Humble (Christian Life) TX at 11:00 AM, New Hampton (Prep) NH versus Southborough (St. Mark's) MA at 12:45 PM, Winchendon (School) MA versus Woodstock (Massanutten Military) VA at 2:30 PM, Worcester (Academy) MA versus Northfield (Northfield-Mt. Hermon) MA at 4:00 PM, and South Kent (Prep) CT versus Andover (Proctor Academy) NH at 5:30 PM.  The list of top players who will be attendance also is very impressive as it includes 6'8 Michael Beasley from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'6 Jermaine Peterson from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'1 Malcolm Grant from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'7 Jr Troy Gullenwater from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 6'11 DeAndre Jordan from Humble (Christian Life) TX, 6'9 Mac Koshwal from Chicago (Boys to Men) IL, 6'8 Jr Devin Ebanks from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, 6'10 Matthew-Bryan Amaning from South Kent (Prep) CT, 6'10 Craig Brackins from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, 6'11 Mamadou Diarra from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 5'10 Angelo Johnson from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 6'5 Jeremy Hazel from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'7 Jr Nate Miles from Humble (Christian Life) TX, 6'4 Thomas Manzano from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'0 Soph Junior Cadougan from Humble (Christian Life) TX, 6'8 Justin Burrell from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, 6'10 Papa Dia from South Kent (Prep) CT, 6'8 Jr Christian Morris from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'7 Soph Karon Johnson from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'7 Soph Alex Oriakhi from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'6 Jr Olu Ashaolu from Humble (Christian Life) TX, 6'7 Soph Jamal Coombs from Winchendon (School) MA, 7'1 Boubacar Sylla from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CT, 6'11 Ibrahima Thomas from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CT, 7'1 Clarence Holloway from Chicago (Boys to Men) IL, 6'6 Tirrell Baines from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'7 Joseph Fulce from Woodstock (Massanutten Military) VA, 6'5 Dominique Sutton from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'7 Jr Emmanuel Negedu from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, 6'8 Manual Cass from South Kent (Prep) CT, 6'3 P. Allen Stinnett from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, 6'1 Jr Darius Gabriel from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'10 Ayodele Coker from South Kent (Prep) CT, 6'1 Calvin Haynes from South Kent (Prep) CT, 6'6 Andre Hardy from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6'7 D.J. Wright from Toronto (Prep) ON, 6'2 Deonte Roberts from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'9 Marvell Waithe from Toronto (Prep) ON, 6'6 Cameron Tatum from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'7 Jerrell Williams from Northfield (Northfield-Mt. Hermon) MA, 6'7 Damien Saunders from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'8 Kodi Augustus from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'3 Delonte Taylor from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA, 6'8 Brandon Crooks from Mendendall (Genesis One) MS, 6'5 Kashief Carr from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA, 7'2 Jr James Tyler from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 5'11 Lonnie Hayes from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'8 Tyrone Nash from Northfield (Northfield-Mt. Hermon) MA, 6'5 Leon Freeman from Chicago (Boys to Men) IL, 6'2 Greg Hill from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, 6'6 An'Juan Wilderness from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'3 Darryl Ashford from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6'2 Johnny Higgins from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'1 Dogus Balbay from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, 6'5 Earl Pettis from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'6 Guy Alang-Ntang from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6'5 Robert Shannon from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'7 Andre Walker from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, 6'8 Jovan Moses from Mendenhall (Genesis One) MS, 6'6 Andre McFarland from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, 6'10 Jr Kenneth Kadji from Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL, 6'6 Mike Ringgold from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'3 Howard Little from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 6'5 Kevin Menner from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'7 Mychal Thompson from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 6'4 Rashaad Green from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, 6'3 Evann Baker from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 5'8 Tyrone Bamble from Humble (Christian Life) TX, 6'3 Paris Horne from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, 5'10 Melvin Goins from Humble (Christian Life) TX, 6'8 Trevor Charles from Mendenhall (Genesis One) MS, 6'7 Trevon Wilcher from Lee (Academy) ME, 6'4 Chris Turner from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'5 Chris Baez from Lee (Academy) ME, 6'1 Marquis Jones from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, 6'1 Brian Rudolph from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, 6'1 Mark Lyons from South Kent (Prep) CT, 6'8 Mohamed Lo from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'10 Ijala Mulitinovic from Worcester (Academy) MA, 6'1 Gary Correia from Northfield (Northfield-Mt. Hermon) MA, 7'1 Tomasz Kwiatkowski from Lee (Academy) ME, 6'1 Terrance Joyner from Mendenhall (Genesis One) MS, 6'2 Ronnie Moss from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, 5'9 Ray Sims from Chicago (Boys to Men) IL, 6'9 Djibril Koulibaly from Chicago (Boys to Men) IL, 6'8 Ousmane Lo from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'7 Darrion Pellum from Woodstock (Massanuetten Military) VA, 6'9 Mike Howlett from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6'6 Antonio Dimaria from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'7 Kenny Collins from Mendenall (Genesis One) MS, 6'4 Charles Boozer from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 6'8 Aaron Ellis from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, 6'7 Matt Glass from Northfield (Northfield-Mt. Hermon) MA, 6'0 Tyvon Williams from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, 6'3 Sesoo Ikpah from Lee (Academy) ME, 6'8 Ervin Spruil from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA, 6'2 Corey Bingham from Lee (Academy) ME, 6'8 Wayne Portolatin from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'7 Hakim McCullar from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'3 Justin Sofman from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, 6'5 Tristan Thompson from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, 6'1 Mike Walker from South Kent (Prep) CT, 5'10 Sean Crawford from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, and 6'1 Brandon Fisher from Mendenhall (Genesis One) MS. 

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin and our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio both tell us that 6'0 Jr Travon Woodall from Jersey City (St. Anthony's) NJ has verbally committed to the University of Pittsburgh.  And this is big for a number of reasons.  First, Woodall is an excellent player, as is evident by the fact that he is ranked #55 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Second, Woodall is a tough hardnosed point guard with excellent speed and quickness, good ball handling and passing skills and court vision, the ability to score in transition, and the anticipation, desire, and athleticism necessary to be an excellent defender.  Third, Woodall hails from a program that has a history of producing great point guards, as he plays for the legendary Bob Hurley, who is widely regarded as the best high school coach in the country.  Fourth, getting Woodall illustrates even further what a great hire Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon made when he picked former St. Joseph's assistant coach Mike Rice to replace Joe Lombardi, who moved on to become a Division II head coach at Indiana University-Pennsylvania last spring.  If you will recall, Pittsburgh already has used Rice's strong Philadelphia area connections to help land 6'3 Bradley Wanamaker from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA in this year's recruiting class and 6'5 Jr Nasir Robinson from Chester (H.S.) PA in next year's recruiting class.  Fifth, this is the second early verbal commitment that the Panthers have gotten this week (Robinson picked the Panthers a couple of days ago) and, as a result, Pittsburgh's recruiting class is now tied at #5, along with Georgetown, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2008.  And this comes right on the heels of their current recruiting class, which is ranked #15 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2007 and includes 6'10 Cassin Diggs from Cloud County (JC) KS, 6'7 DeJuan Blair from Pittsburgh (Schenley) PA, 6'3 Bradley Wanamaker from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA, 6'9 Gary McGhee from Anderson (Highland) IN, and 6'7 Darnell Dobson from Greenbelt (Eleanor Roosevelt) MD.  We also understand that 6'7 Jr Martez Walker from Montverde (Academy) FL, who is ranked #70 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is back on the board.  However, this does not come as much of a surprise to us, because Walker, who verbally committed to the Cardinals two years ago back when he was a freshman in high school, hasn't grown at all and, as a result, is now an undersized inside guy attempting to make the transition to the wing forward spot.  Remember, the Cardinals are already well stocked at the wing forward spot with 6'6 Soph Terrance Williams and 6'8 Frosh Earl Clark already in the program and, as things stand now, they have two scholarships currently available for either this year or next year and their immediate needs are outside shooting and somebody with quality size.  But Louisville's loss will be somebody else's gain, because Walker is a big time athlete, great kid, and hard worker, which is exactly what the doctored order for a lot of high major programs looking for a combo forward in their 2008 recruiting class.  We also have confirmed that Seton Hall has landed 6'1 Jamar Green from Baltimore City (JC) MD.  We're talking about a guy that is somewhat under the radar screen, but appears to be a prolific scoring combo guard.  So he should be an excellent complement to all of the good guards - 5'11 Frosh Eugene Harvey, 6'2 Jr Jamar Nutter, 5'11 Soph Paul Gause, and 6'4 Frosh Larry Davis - that Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzalez already has in the program, as well as another valuable addition to a recruiting class that is ranked #17 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2007 and also includes 6'5 Jermy Hazel from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 6'6 Michael Glover from Aston (American Christian) PA, 6'9 Brandon Walters from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, and 6'10 Augustine Okosun from Harcum (JC) PA.  And, when one also remembers that Seton Hall landed 5'11 Eugene Harvey from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'3 Larry Davis from Middle Village (Christ the King) NY, and 6'5 Kashif Pratt from New York (Rice) NY last spring, it's clear that Gonzalez not only hasn't lost his touch as one of the best recruiters in the business, but also has the program heading in the right direction.  It also appears that 5'11 William Eddie from Detroit (Cass Tech) MI has verbally committed to Central Michigan, which means that first-year Chippewas head coach Ernie Zeigler now has three in-state players in the fold in a recruiting class that also includes 6'5 Chase Simon from Detroit (Community) MI and 6'2 David Fox from Muskegon Heights (H.S.) MI and is tied #119, along with Northern Iowa, Lipscomb, Santa Clara, Long Beach State, Cal State-Fullerton, and Drake, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2007. 

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Our Florida Editor Rick Staudt checks in with recruiting information about some of the top available players in the Sunshine State and right at the top of the list is 6'3 Gary Clark from Montverde (Academy) FL, who is ranked #154 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and whose list includes Arkansas, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, and Mississippi.  The list for 6'10 Joseph Katuka from Montverde (Academy) FL, who is ranked #166 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, includes St. Joseph's, SMU, Auburn, Illinois, California, George Washington, N.C. State, Oklahoma State, Kentucky, and Clemson.  Among those trying to steal 6'0 Javi Gonzalez from Miami (Dr. Krop) FL, who is ranked #210 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, are Appalachian State, Campbell, Duquesne, East Tennessee State, SMU, Hofstra, and Florida Atlantic.  The list for 6'3 Ed Nixon from St. Petersburg (Lakewood) FL, who is ranked #389 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is extremely interesting, as Mississippi, George Mason, Central Florida, Jacksonville, Miami-FL, Penn State, Virginia Tech, and Dayton are all in the hunt.  The list for 6'4 Jr Dante Anderson from Gainesville (Eastside) FL, who is ranked #27 nationally in the junior class and was one of the top players to emerge last summer at the Reebok ABCD Camp in Teaneck, NJ, includes Florida, Miami-FL, Illinois, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Missouri, Mississippi, Connecticut, and Florida State.  6'0 Jr Dashon Harris from Montverde (Academy) FL, who is ranked #62 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is best friends with 6'6 Jr Martez Walker, who is already verbally committed to Louisville.  So it comes as no surprise that the Cardinals head a list for this explosive point guard that also includes Arkansas, Indiana, Virginia Tech, California, and Connecticut.  The leaders for 6'2 Jr Gabi Belardo from Montverde (Academy) FL, who is ranked #135 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, are Miami-FL, Virginia Tech, Kansas State, and Florida State.  Our Mississippi Editor Lavel Johnson tells us that 6'8 Jr Romeo Osby from Meridian (Northeast Lauderdale) MS, who is ranked #44 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has been coming on like gangbusters this winter.  "Osby can shoot the jumper out to 3-point range or can put the ball on the floor and take you to the hole," says Johnson.  "He's also very athletic and can finish extremely well, which makes him a hot commodity in the South, as schools like Kansas, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Cincinnati, Texas A&M, and Georgia Tech are all making a strong push for his services.  Our Alabama Editor Mark Komara not only agrees, but thinks that Osby could end up being one of the top five or 10-ranked players in the entire class nationally after everybody has seen him on the AAU and club team circuit this spring and summer.  "At 6'8, 235-pounds, Osby is extremely versatile," says Komara.  "He can play three different positions and can score from anywhere.  If a big guy is on him, he takes him outside and shoots over him.  If a little guy is on him, he's take him inside and posts him up.  He's also quality kid, excellent rebounder,  good defender, and has the upside and work ethic necessary to just get better and better."  Getting back to the top players in the junior class in Mississippi, Johnson still has 6'9 Jr Rashanti Harris from Columbus (New Hope) MS, who is ranked #106 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, ranked #2 on his list.  "Harris doesn't have great offensive skills yet, but he is a power player, rebounds well, attacks the rim, and finishes strong around the basket," says Johnson.  "He's also scrappy and athletic and I saw him grab 20 rebounds and block 10 shots in a game on Saturday night."  No wonder schools like Mississippi State, Mississippi, Tennessee, Memphis, Texas, Alabama, and Auburn are all in the hunt.  Third on Johnson's list is 6'5 Jr Scottie Haralson from Jackson (Provine) MS, who is ranked #443 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but is getting interest from school like Mississippi State, Mississippi, Baylor, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Tulane after he shot lights out in the Marshall County Hoop Fest in Benton, KY in early December.  "Haralson is a big bodied strong athletic 2-guard who has really improved his outside shot and shooting range," says Johnson.  "He's also the most improved player in the state and making him even more intriguing is the fact that he is a great student who is ranked #2 in his class academically."  Next on Johnson's list is 6'7 Jr Latavious Williams from Starkville (H.S.) MS, who is ranked #186 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  And it comes as no surprise that Mississippi State leads Clemson for this wiry but active 3-4 who rebounds, has nice post moves, and hits the mid-range jumper.  Rounding out Johnson's list of the top five juniors in the state is 6'10 Jr Jacoby Pittman from Madison (Central) MS, who is ranked #496 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but is getting looks from schools like Clemson, Mississippi, UTEP, Connecticut, and Oklahoma.  "Pittman hasn't played a lot until this year, but his post-up skills have really improved, he is more active than he's ever been, runs the floor extremely well for his size, and has long arms and the athleticism necessary to attract high major interest," says Johnson.  Johnson also reminds us that 6'8 Malcolm Kirkland from Madison (Central) MS, who is ranked #306 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, did not sign with UTEP during the Fall Signing Period.  The Miners are still on the list, but schools like Mississippi, Texas Christian, Southern Miss, and Jackson State are also showing a lot of interest.  Our new Wisconsin/Minnesota/Iowa Editor Antonio Curro, who is the editor & publisher of the NY2LASports.com web site, also checks in and especially interesting is the list of schools, which includes Cincinnati, Georgetown, Arizona, Marquette, USC, and Tennessee, that he provides us with for 6'0 Jr Angelo Johnson from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Ridge) CA.  Yes, this is the same guy who is being listed as a junior, but is already in his 10th semester of high school, which, for our purposes, makes him a 5th Year Player.  And making the story even more interesting is the fact that this lightning quick point guard who has drawn some Tywon Lawson comparisons this winter is ranked #9 on our List of the Top 5th Year Players and, as a result, would be arguably the top point guard available, if he didn't need another year of prep school in order to be eligible to enroll at a four-year college or university.  Curro also tells us that 6'7 Jr Armon Battle from Minneapolis (Benilde St Margaret's) MN, who scored 30 points in his team's victory last night and is one of the top junior prospects in Minnesota, is getting the most attention from Wisconsin, Marquette, Illinois State, Iowa State, Western Michigan, and Iowa and 6'4 Soph Trent Lockett from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN and 6'4 Soph Raymond Cowles from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN have both already been offered by Northern Iowa.  6'7 Jr Rick Wagner from West Allis (Hale) WI, who runs with 5'11 Jr Korie Lucious from Milwaukee (Pius X) WI and 5'11 Tyrone Gordon from Milwaukee (Pius X) WI in the D.T.A. summer program, has offers on the table from Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Albany.  Among the schools showing the most interest in 6'9 Jr L.A. Pomlee from Davenport (Central) IA, who is a long athletic power forward that plays for the Martin Brothers Select program on the summer scene, are Iowa, Iowa State, and Kansas.  Curro also tells us that the top prospect in the Class of 2011 in the state of Illinois is rumored to be 6'8 8th Grader Mike Shaw from Chicago (Visitation) IL.  "He is said to be the real deal," says Curro.  "Word is that he will play with the Illinois Fire next summer, as he is another in a long line of major prospects for Mac Irvin's program."  And, if you check out our Ranking of the Top Players Nationally in the Class of 2011, you'd find that we agree, as we have Shaw ranked #20 nationally in the class.  We also are intrigued by several tidbits that Curro has about players from the Washington, DC area.  Did you know that 6'5 Soph Maurice Creek from Oxon Hill (H.S.) MD hit nine 3-pointers and scored 36 points in a game last night?  "He's the top sophomore in the Washington, DC area and is absolutely on fire night in and night out," says Curro.  Also last night 6'4 Jr Max Kenyi from Washington (Gonzaga) DC, who already has an offer on the table from Marquette, scored 18 points in a loss to Washington (St. John's) DC.  Virginia, Clemson, Arkansas, Maryland, George Mason, Miami-FL, UNLV, and USC have already inquired about 6'11 Jr Maurice Sutton from Largo (H.S.) MD.  He's a long athletic shot blocker who runs the floor well and has a decent jump hook," says Curro.  Kansas and Marquette are now in the mix for 6'11 Jr Frank Be Eze from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, as is evident by the fact that coaches from both schools have been at practices lately. 

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

While I was in route last Friday to cover the the U.S. Elite Basketball Camp in Waco, TX, I found out that 6'2 Trevor Gaskins from Alpharetta (Chattahoochie) GA, who is ranked #206 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, had verbally committed to the University of Mississippi.  And our Georgia Editor Horace Neysmith thinks this is a great catch for the Rebels, because Gaskins is a strong physical lefty combo guard who is build like a tank, has good athleticism, and is the most underrated senior in the state.  Gaskins is also the second player in this year's recruiting class that Andy Kennedy and his staff have stolen out of the Peachtree State this year, as they also already have 6'6 Zachary Graham from Lawrenceville (Peachtree) GA, who is ranked #87 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.   They also have 6'9 Kevin Cantinol from Clearwater (H.S.) FL and 6'0 Chris Warren from Orlando (Dr. Phillips) FL in the fold, which means their recruiting class is now tied at #55, along with Marquette and Virginia, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2007.  And, if that weren't enough, Ole Miss also landed two immediate impact players last spring in 6'8 Kenny Williams from St. Petersburg (JC) FL and 6'5 Eniel Polynice from Sarasota (Booker) FL and they also recently got 6'5 Soph Justin Cerasoli eligible after sitting the past year after transferring from Seton Hall.  Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that the 6'5 Jr Nasir Robinson from Chester (H.S.) PA, who is ranked #61 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has verbally committed to the University of Pittsburgh.  Robinson is a strong athletic slashing wing forward who is attempting to make the conversion from power forward to the wing forward spot.  But this is still a good catch for the Panthers, because Robinson is both a winner and a tough hardnosed competitor with a blue collar work ethic, which makes him ideally suited to step in and complement all of the players that the Panthers have signed in this year's recruiting class.  We're talking about 6'10 Cassin Diggs from Cloud County (JC) KS, 6'7 DeJuan Blair from Pittsburgh (Schenley) PA, 6'3 Bradley Wanamaker from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA, 6'9 Gary McGhee from Anderson (Highland) IN, and 6'7 Darnell Dobson from Greenbelt (Eleanor Roosevelt) MD.  In other words, the only the position that the Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon and his staff haven't filled yet in this year's and next year's recruiting classes is point guard and they still have some time to do so, because 5'10 Soph Levance Fields, who is averaging 9.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg, and 5.2 apg, should be around for two-and-a-half more seasons.  We also understand that the University of Cincinnati has slipped into the lead for 6'6 Jermaine Peterson from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA and, assuming that this is true, it's huge for a number of reasons.  First, we're talking about the #4-ranked player on List of the Top 5th Year Players, as well as one of the most explosive players in transition that we've seen in a long time.  Second, Peterson is a tough hardnosed kid originally from Brooklyn (Boys and Girls) NY, which makes him your stereotypical Cincinnati type player.  Third, Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin won't have to wait until next year to bring in a stud to replace 6'6 Jr John Williamson year after next a power forward.   Fourth, getting Peterson helps Cronin re-establish his strong New England prep school connections.  And Peterson doesn't appear to be the only player that Cincinnati may get from this basketball factory just outside of Worcester, MA, as 6'4 Thomas Manzano from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, who is ranked #16 on our List of the Top 5th Year Players, also appears to be leaning towards the Bearcats.  And, if they pull this off, then we might be talking about Cincinnati's second consecutive top-10 ranked recruiting class, as the Bearcats already have 6'6 Jason Henry from Cincinnati (Harmony Christian) OH, 6'3 Larry Davis from Alief (Hastings) TX, and 6'5 Rashad Bishop from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ in the fold.  If you will recall, a year ago Cincinnati's recruiting class finished ranked #5 when they landed 6'10 Hernol Hall from Lon Morris (JC) TX, 6'3 Marvin Gentry from McLennan (JC) TX, 6'6 John Williamson from Cincinnati State (JC) OH, 6'2 Jamual Warren from Globe Tech (JC) NY, 6'7 Marcus Sikes from Mt. San Jacinto (JC) CA, 6'2 Tim Crowell from Midland (JC) TX, and 5'11 Deonta Vaughn from Cincinnati (Harmony Christian) OH.  And, except for Hall, they all have been important contributors so far this season.  And, if that weren't enough to convince you that Cronin hasn't lost his touch as one of the best recruiters in the nation, Cincinnati also has 6'8 Mike Williams, who transferred from Texas, waiting in the wings and 6'7 Jr Darnell Wilkes from Nashville (Pioneer Christian) TN, who is ranked #53 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, already verbally committed for next year.  We also now believe that the University of Kentucky is once again the leader for both 6'8 Patrick Patterson from Huntington (H.S.) WV and 5'8 Jai Lucas from Houston (Bellaire) TX, who are the two highest ranked seniors nationally still available.  Recently the word on the street has been that Florida and Duke were the leaders for Patterson, but we're getting reports from schools that are trying to getting involved that they're been told that they're wasting their time, because Patterson has already decided to go to Kentucky.  As for Lucas, a lot of new schools, including Iowa, Oklahoma, Indiana, and N.C. State, have been added to the list from last fall that included Kentucky, Oklahoma State, LSU, and Maryland.  But we're not sure that it means a hole heck of a lot, because Lucas' father, former University of Maryland All-American and Houston Rockets' star John Lucas, enjoys all the attention that comes with being recruited.  And, assuming that our sources on this are correct, this would be a major coup for the Wildcats, as they will suddenly have the inside player that they will need to replace 6'11 Jr Randolph Morris, who will either declare for early enter into the NBA Draft this spring or graduate in the spring of 2008, and a pure point guard to complement the two excellent young guards - 6'6 Frosh Derrick Jasper and 6'5 Frosh Jodie Meeks - that they already have in the program.  It also looks like the University of Florida is on the verge of cashing in big on the recruiting trail after winning the NCAA Championship last March.  Not only do the Gators have a recruiting class, which includes 6'4 Nick Calathes from Winter Park (Lake Howell) FL, 6'7 Alex Tyus from Cincinnati (Harmony Christian) OH, 6'9 Chandler Parsons from Winter Park (Lake Howell) FL, and 6'6 Adam Allen from Milton (H.S.) FL, that is ranked #4 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2007, but they also already have an early verbal commitment from 5'7 Jr Erving Walker from Middle Village (Christ the King) NY and they are among he favorites for 6'8 Jr Howard Thompkins from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'3 Jr J'Covan Brown from Port Arthur (Memorial) TX, 6'8 Jr Samardo Samuels from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, and 6'5 Soph Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY.  As a matter of fact, we think Florida is the team to beat for Thompkins; they are the co-favorite, along with Texas, for Brown; the are one of the top three, along with Connecticut and North Carolina, for Samuels; and they one of the top two, along with North Carolina, for Stephenson. 

Saturday, January 13, 2007, Sunday, January 14, 2007, & Monday, January 15, 2007

If you wanted to see an overwhelming number of the top 6th, 7th, and 8th Graders in the nation, then the U.S. Elite Basketball Camp in Waco, TX this past weekend was the place to be.  And, just like at I.S. 8 Tournaments in South Jamaica, NY, you needed to bring your game, instead of just your name, as HOOP SCOOP Editor & Publisher Clark Francis, HOOP SCOOP Patrick Stanwood, and HOOP SCOOP Texas Editor Tim Miller, all of whom contributed to our Final Ranking of the Top 88 Players at the camp, which can be found below, at this event, were able to make some great comparisons and, as result, now have a much better handle on the top players nationally in each class.  We start with the fact that the four way tie that previously existed among 6'2 8th Grader Matt Carlino from Tempe, AZ, 5'11 8th Grader Davontay Grace from Brooklyn, NY, 6'7 8th Grader LaBryan Nash from Dallas, TX, and 6'6 8th Grader LaQuinton Ross from Jackson, MS no longer is applicable.  Instead, the top two players nationally in this class are clearly 6'6 8th Grader Ramone Eaton from Sacramento, CA and 6'3 8th Grader Tony Wroten from Renton, WA.  And we give the edge to Eaton, because he's 6'6,, is extremely athletic, and capable of playing both inside and outside, while Wroten is more of true combo guard who can shoot the lights, has great moves and athleticism in transition, and already has excellent ball handling and passing skills.  We also thought 6'0 8th Grader Davontay Grace from Brooklyn, NY played extremely well.  But, if want you see is what you get, a lot of people question his upside.  In other words, Grace doesn't have the speed and quickness necessary to beat smaller and quicker guards off the dribble and doesn't have the lateral quickness necessary to defend anybody at a high level out on the perimeter.  However, Grace is a tremendous competitor, a physical specimen, and a beast on the boards.  So, when you combine that with the fact that he is an excellent student of the game and has a super mid-range game, then it's easy to see why we think the sky could be the limit if he has another major growth spurt.  And, if Grace doesn't grow anymore, we still may be talking about somebody who turns out to be a great football player.  We also were impressed with Ross' versatility, athleticism, and talent, but disappointed with his drive, determination and effort, as comparisons to 6'9 DerMarr Johnson of the Denver Nuggets may be in order.  If you will recall, Johnson was a multi-dimensional athlete who had all of the natural talent in the world, but was already bored when he played against players several years older than he was when he as a sophomore in high school.  Unfortunately the same thing was said about Ross over the weekend when playing against many of the top 8th Graders in the nation.  We knew Carlino wasn't go to make it, but disappointed when Nash didn't show up at the last minute, despite the fact that he lives just over a 100 miles away.  And this is important, because you're not going to win any ties when you duck the competition.  One of the other big stories at the U.S. Elite Basketball Camp involved the strong contingent of players from the state of Indiana.  Not only were all five starters - 6'6 8th Grader Chandler Thomas from Indianapolis, IN, 6'0 8th Grader Marques Teague from Indianapolis, IN, 5'3 8th Grader Alvin "P.J." Boutte from Indianapolis, IN, 67 8th Grader Isaiah Hill from Indianapolis, IN, and 6'6 8th Grader Evan Blackman from Marion, IN - from the 13-Under AAU National Championship team in attendance, but Thomas, Teague, and Boutte finished ranked #3, #4, and #5 in the 8th Grade Division; 6'1 7th Grader D'Vauntes Smith from  Indianapolis, IN and 6'0 7th Grader Michael Ramey from Indianapolis, IN finished ranked #2 and #11 in the 7th Grade Division; and 5'3 6th Grader Zavier Turner from Indianapolis, IN finished ranked #2 in the 6th Grade Division.  We also want to point out that not one player from Texas finished ranked among the top 15 8th Graders in the camp and only three players from Texas were ranked among the top 12 7th Graders in camp.  And this is important, because it really illustrates just how national in scope this camp really was.  However, the same thing can't be said about the 6th Grader Division.  But it doesn't really matter, because after getting a first-hand look at players like 5'8 6th Grader D.J. Griggs from Houston, TX, 5'9 6th Grader Andrew Harrison from Houston, TX, 5'9 6th Grader Aaron Harrison from Houston, TX, 6'2 6th Grader Kyle Wilson from Ft. Worth, TX, 5'4 6th Grader Travon Landry from San Antonio, TX, 5'10 6th Grader Lindale Marshall from Ft. Worth, TX, 4'10 6th Grader Shawn Hammler from Arlington, TX, 5'1 6th Grader T.J. Williams from Austin, TX, and 5'1 6th Grader John Gramlich from Austin, TX, it's clear the Class of 2013 is absolutely loaded in the Lone Star state.  And there is no doubt in our mind that the best 6th Grader in the nation is 5'8 6th Grader D.J. Griggs from Houston, TX, who also was clearly one of the best athletes, 3-point shooters, and most skilled players in the camp.  We also were extremely impressed with 5'3 6th Grader Zavier Turner from Indianapolis, IN, who also shot the lights out, got to the basket, and made things happen defensively with his speed, quickness, and athleticism; the Harrison's twin, who are strong, physical, athletic, and great in transition; 4'11 6th Grader Shai-Shai Matthews from Staunton, VA, who is a high energy point guard with excellent ball handling and passing skills, the ability to makes things happen in transition, and a great understanding of the gam; 6'2 6th Grader Kyle Wilson from Ft. Worth, TX, who was the best pure inside player in this age group, as he used his athleticism to block shots, rebound, and score around the basket; and 4'11 6th Grader Rashad Moody from Brooklyn, NY, who has jet-like speed and quickness, is a great passer, and has a knack for making those around him better.  Unfortunately 5'10 7th Grader J-Michal Reese from Bryan, TX was only able to attend on the first afternoon of the camp and, as a result, was long gone before we were able to see him, which explains why he is not included in our ranking of the Top 25 7th Graders in Camp.  However, it doesn't matter, because we didn't see anybody who came close to what we've seen Reese do to each of the last three years at the adidas Junior Phenom Camp.  Instead, the best 7th Grader was 5'11 7th Grader LeBrent Walker from Queens, NY, who was a total scoring machine and absolutely unstoppable in transition.  And I'm sure that this pleased our New York City Middle School Editor Michael Moore, who tried to tell me how good Walker was last fall when we updated our Ranking of the Top 7th Graders Nationally.  We also liked 6'3 7th Grader Reggie Ragland from Huntsville, AL, but we gave the nod to 6'1 7th Grader D'Vauntes Smith from Indianapolis, IN for the #2 spot in this age group, because Smith was more consistent, tougher around the basket, and better out on the perimeter.  However, we didn't see Ragland's first game when, according to Tim Miller, he was sensational.  Instead, we saw Ragland in the evening session on Saturday when he was no better than the second or third best player on his team and spent too much time playing away from the basket and in the afternoon session on Sunday when he played harder and was much more active on the boards.  We also thought 5'8 7th Grader Rasheed Sulaimon from Houston, TX and 5'11 7th Grader Cameron Harvey from Naperville, IL were much better the second time we saw them and really liked the aggressiveness of 6'1 7th Grader Dontay Payne from Queens, NY; the consistency and outside shooting that we saw from 5'9 7th Grader DeShawn Suber from Brooklyn, NY, 5'7 7th Grader Rick Roberts from Arlington, TX, and 6'0 7th Grader Michael Ramey from Indianapolis, IN; the toughness and ability to find ways to score by 6'3 7th Grader Chris Campbell from San Antonio, TX; the size and potential of 6'5 7th Grader John Crowder from Baltimore, MD; and the ball handling skills, size, and potential of 5'10 7th Grader Kyle Anderson from Fairlawn, NJ.  Are you starting to get the idea that the U.S. Elite Basketball Camp was absolutely loaded in every age group?  And, if I haven't convinced you yet, just check out our rankings of the top players in the camp from each age group.  Our List of the Top 38 8th Graders at the U.S. Elite Basketball Camp includes 1) 6'6 8th Grader Ramone Eaton from Sacramento, CA, 2) 6'3 8th Grader Tony Wroten from Renton, WA, 3) 6'6 8th Grader Chandler Thomas from Indianapolis, IN; 4) 6'0 8th Grader Marques Teague from Indianapolis, IN, 5) 5'3 8th Grader Alvin "P.J." Boutte from Indianapolis, IN, 6) 6'5 8th Grader Ronnie Stevenson from Los Angeles, CA 7) 6'6 8th Grader Damion Cain from Chino Hills, CA, 8) 5'11 8th Grader Devontay Grace from Brooklyn, NY, 9) 6'0 8th Grader Jacoby Davis from Charlotte, NC, 10) 6'6 8th Grader LaQuinton Ross from Jackson, MS, 11) 6'2 8th Grader Trevor Lacey from Huntsville, AL, 12) 6'2 8th Grader Najii Whitehead from Mt. Vernon, NY, 13) 5'10 8th Grader Marquis Rankin from Charlotte, NC, 14) 5'11 8th Grader Eric Moody from Richmond, VA, 15) 5'10 8th Grader Brandon Hayman from Atlanta, GA, 16) 6'0 8th Grader Ben Dillard from Frisco, TX, 17) 5'5 8th Grader Dwayne Brewer from Baltimore, MD, 18) 5'8 8th Grader Tavon Sledge from Spring Valley, NY, 19) 5'5 8th Grader Shai Fields from Galveston, TX; 20) 5'9 8th Grader Chris Gayot from Queens, NY, 21) 6'2 8th Grader Julian Lewis from Galveston, TX, 22) 5'10 8th Grader Marquarious Smith from Jackson, MS, 23) 6'4 8th Grader Trevor Mayon from Houston, TX, 24) 6'3 8th Grader Derrell Roberston from Jackson, MS, 25) 5'11 8th Grader Dryfus Jackson from Cedar Hills, TX, 26) 5'10 8th Grader Goree Allen from Houston, TX, 27) 6'2 8th Grader Darius Nelson from Sacramento, CA, 28) 6'0 8th Grader Zachary Garth from Houston, TX, 29) 6'5 8th Grader Kinzael Bolton from Houston, TX, 30) 5'11 8th Grader Clyde Smith from Houston, TX, 31) 67 8th Grader Isaiah Hill from Indianapolis, IN, 32) 6'3 8th Grader Dashawn Williams from Baytown, TX, 33) 5'7 8th Grader Dion Houston from Grand Prairie, TX, 34) 6'6 8th Grader Evan Blackman from Marion, IN, 35) 6'2 8th Grader Marc Brown from Mansfield, TX, 36) 6'1 8th Grader Brandon Boyd from Los Angeles, CA, 37) 6'0 8th Grader Anthony Collins from Houston, TX, and 38) 5'5 8th Grader Jarrad Bratton from Houston, TX.  Our List of the Top 25 7th Graders at the U.S. Elite Basketball Camp includes 1) 5'11 7th Grader LeBrent Walker from Queens, NY, 2) 6'1 7th Grader D'Vauntes Smith from  Indianapolis, IN, 3) 6'3 7th Grader Reggie Ragland from Huntsville, AL, 4) 6'1 7th Grader Dontay Payne from Queens, NY, 5) 5'9 7th Grader DeShawn Suber from Brooklyn, NY, 6) 5'8 7th Grader Rasheed Sulaimon from Houston, TX, 7) 5'11 7th Grader Cameron Harvey from Naperville, IL, 8) 6'3 7th Grader Chris Campbell from San Antonio, TX, 9) 6'5 7th Grader John Crowder from Baltimore, MD, 10) 5'7 7th Grader Rick Roberts from Arlington, TX, 11) 6'0 7th Grader Michael Ramey from Indianapolis, IN, 12) 5'10 7th Grader Kyle Anderson from Fairlawn, NJ, 13) 6'2 7th Grader Devon Harvey from Austin, TX 14) 5'4 7th Grader Myles Lovings from Houston, TX, 15) 6'2 7th Grader Michael Avery from Lake Sherwood, CA, 16) 6'5 7th Grader Jeremy King from Houston, TX, 17) 5'11 7th Grader Jelon Hornbeck from Arlington, TX, 18) 5'7 7th Grader Marcus Smart from Red Oak, TX, 19) 65'9 7th Grader Raymond Dorsey from Lewisville, TX, 20) 5'10 7th Grader B.J. Jenkins from Grand Prairie, TX, 21) 5'6 7th Grader Claude Person from Red Oak, TX, 22) 5'7 7th Grader Evan Cooper from Houston, TX, 23) 5'10 7th Grader Antonio Drummond from Chicago, IL, 24) 5'6 7th Grader Desmond Brown from Mansfield, TX, and 25) 5'5 7th Grader Dave Parker from Ft. Worth, TX.  Our List of the Top 25 6th Graders at the U.S. Elite Basketball Camp includes 1) 5'8 6th Grader D.J. Griggs from Houston, TX, 2) 5'3 6th Grader Zavier Turner from Indianapolis, IN, 3) 5'9 6th Grader Andrew Harrison from Houston, TX, 4) 5'9 6th Grader Aaron Harrison from Houston, TX, 5) 4'11 6th Grader Shai-Shai Matthews from Staunton, VA, 6) 6'2 6th Grader Kyle Wilson from Ft. Worth, TX, 7) 4'11 6th Grader Rashad Moody from Brooklyn, NY, 8) 5'4 6th Grader Travon Landry from San Antonio, TX, 9) 5'10 6th Grader Lindale Marshall from Ft. Worth, TX, 10) 5'5 6th Grader Lowry Stedman from Cincinnati, OH, 11) 4'10 6th Grader Shawn Hammler from Arlington, TX, 12) 5'1 6th Grader T.J. Williams from Austin, TX, 13) 5'1 6th Grader John Gramlich from Austin, TX, 14) 5'1 6th Grader Isaiah Tripp from Baltimore, MD, 15) 5'9 6th Grader Peyton Lassiter from Jackson, MS, 16) 4'11 6th Grader Jordan Smart from New York, NY, 17) 4'11 6th Grader Jackie Davis from Los Angeles, CA, 18) 4'9 6th Grader Cameron Epps from Dallas, TX, 19) 5'4 6th Grader Darrius Hubbard from Baltimore, MD, 20) 5'8 6th Grader Zach Coleman from Cedar Hill, TX, 21) 5'4 6th Grader Darryl Scales from Belleville, NJ, 22) 5'6 6th Grader Torlorf Thomas from Montgomery, AL, 23) 5'2 6th Grader Brian Cooke from Ft. Worth, TX, 24) 5'7 6th Grader Kendall Harris from Dallas, TX, and 25) 5'8 6th Grader James Banks from Portland, OR.  I also want to thank Tim Miller, who was the camp director, and Gene Epps, who provided most of the organization, for their hospitality and doing a great job of overcoming the weather problems, and most of the players for giving a great effort and their unselfish play and, as a result, making this a very enjoyable event. 

Friday, January 12, 2007

Today is a travel day for me to cover the U.S. Elite Basketball Camp in Waco, TX and there isn't much going on in the recruiting world right now and, so now seems like the perfect time to introduce Antonio Curro, who is the editor & publisher of the NY2LASports.com web site, as our new regional editor covering the state's of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa.  And I think Curro, who already has established himself as one of the foremost authorities on up-and-coming talent in this part of the country, is the perfect person for the job.  Not only does Curro write extremely well and is very knowledgeable about all of the best players, but he also runs some of the top events in the Upper Midwest, including the Swish & Dish Spring Warm-Up, which will be in Milwaukee, WI on March 30th-April 1st and will be open to teams in the 10-Under to the 17-Under age groups; the Generation Next Invitational, which will be held in Madison, WI on May 11th-13th; NY2LA Sports Invitational, which will be held in Milwaukee, WI on June 29th-July 1st; and NY2LA Sports Next Level Invitational, which will be held in Milwaukee, WI on July 5th-8th.  Curro also is way ahead of the curve when it comes to the top young players, as his Generation Next Camps, which last year featured players like 6'2 7th Grader Julius Wanyoike from Milwaukee, WI, 5'7 7th Grader Siyani Chambers from Minneapolis, MN, 5'11 7th Grader Jean Pierre Tokoto from Menomonee Falls, WI, 5'7 7th Grader Nic Stokes from Milwaukee, WI, 5'11 6th Grader Jabari Parker from Chicago, IL, 5'0 6th Grader Jarvis Garrett from Milwaukee, WI, 5'7 6th Grader Duane Wilson from Milwaukee, WI, 5'5 6th Grader Brendan Taylor from Minneapolis, MN, 5'10 6th Grader Deonte Burton from Milwaukee, WI, 6'1 6th Grader Riley Dearing from Minneapolis, MN, 5'3 5th Grader Tyus Jones from Minneapolis, MN, 4'8 5th Grader Kamali Chambers from Minneapolis, MN, and 5'5 5th Grader Kevon Looney from Milwaukee, WI, are open to 5th-8th Graders and once again should attract many of the top young players in the Midwest after he announces this year's dates in February.   On the recruiting side, Mr. Curro reports that 6'2 Dwight Buycks from Milwaukee (Bay View) WI has verbally committed to Bradley.  "He's a tough 6'3 point guard who can penetrate, rebound, and distribute the ball," says Curro.  "Memphis, Iowa State, and Nothern Iowa were also said to have shown some interest in Buycks," who is currently ranked #201 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  The addition of Buycks also is important, because Bradley's recruiting class, which also includes 6'4 DeAaron Williams from Illinois Central (JC) IL, 6'10 Anthony Thompson from Houston (Klein Forest) TX, 6'1 Sam Maniscalco from Chicago (St. Patrick) IL, and 6'9 Will Egolf from Juneau (Douglas) AK, is now tied at #30, along with New Mexico State and SMU, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2007.  However, even more important, suddenly the Braves have the best recruiting class in the league, ahead of Creighton, Wichita State, Southern Illinois, Indiana State, and Northern Iowa, all of which have recruiting classes that are ranked among the top 120 in the nation.  Getting back to Wisconsin, Curro also notes that with 5'11 Jr Korie Lucious from Milwaukee (St Pius X) WI already verbally committed to Michigan State, 6'0 Jr Kwamaine Mitchell from Whitefish Bay (Dominican) WI, 6'7 Soph Jamil Wilson from Racine (Horlick) WI, and 6'4 Frosh Flaven Davis from Milwaukee (Lutheran) WI now assume the roles as some of the most prized recruits in the state.  "Mitchell already has offers on the table from Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Northern Iowa, while schools like Bradley, Iowa State, Illinois State, Wisconsin-Green Bay, and Washington State have also shown interest.  Wilson is getting major attention from the likes of Marquette, Wisconsin, Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Arizona, Florida, Washington State, and Georgetown.  He had 36 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists in front of the Marquette coaches in attendance earlier tonight as Racine Horlick defeated Racine Case.  He's an exceptionally athletic long forward who can handle the ball, attack the rim, and simply makes an impact whenever he's on the floor.  Davis is already getting inquires from schools like Marquette, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Arizona, Michigan, and Auburn."  Speaking of Purdue and Illinois, Curro tells us that they have started to pick up on the trail of 5'10 Soph Johnnie Lacy from Milwaukee (Bay View) WI.  "He's a lightning quick point guard who can attack the rim and stroke the three from well beyond the arc.  Both he and Jamil Wilson run with the Wisconsin Playground Warriors 16-Under team, which ,along with DTA's 17-Under Team, stand to be major powerhouses on the national travel circuit this spring and summer."  Curro also notes that with the University of Wisconsin already having early verbal commitments from 6'3 Jr Jordan Taylor from Minneapolis (Benilde St. Margaret's) MN and 6'11 Jr Jarred Berggren from Princeton (H.S.) MN and Marquette having signed 6'8 Trevor Mbakwe from St. Paul (St. Bernard) MN during the Fall Signing Period, it looks like the high major schools in the Badger state are getting the pick-of-the-litter out of Minnesota.  On the Iowa front, 6'4 Jr Matt Gatens from Iowa City (H.S.) IA, who is the best junior in the state, is already verbally committed to the University of Iowa and 6'9 Frosh Jordan Dykstra from Rock Valley (H.S.) IA, who is ranked #185 nationally in the freshman class by the HOOP SCOOP, is already off the board and heading to Iowa State.  Curro also appears to have the scoop on both our Washington, DC Area Editor Dennis Marshall and our Canadian Editor Ro Russell, as he tells us that he's heard that 6'7 Jr Chris Joseph, who is originally from Canada, but is now at Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC, is emerging as one of the top junior prospects in the entire DC area.  But Curro isn't the only person that I've talked to this week who is singing the praises of Joseph, as just two days ago Clay Dade, who is the director of the Junior All-American Camp, told me the same thing.  And this is important, because Curro appears to be breaking into the DC area, as he also has rankings on his web site from this area.  And, this is important, because three of the other five players that he wants to give special mention to are from the Washington, DC area.  They are 5'4 8th Grader Charlie Bell from Milwaukee, WI, 5'11 6th Grader Jabari Parker from Chicago, IL, 6'5 Soph Maurice Creek from Oxon Hill, MD, 6'11 Jr Maurice Sutton from Largo (H.S.) MD, and 6'11 Jr Frank Ben-Eze from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA.  "Bell is the real deal and should be an impact over the next couple of years in the Milwaukee area," says Curro.  "And he has the potential to become a major prospect as time moves on.  He has excellent ball handling ability and great court awareness for a young guard prospect.  He's rumored to be heading to Milwaukee Rufus King to next year to play basketball.  Parker is going to be a major impact player if he continue to develop.  He has a Sean May-type build and handles the ball, attacks the rim, and has excellent body control and court awareness for a young prospect.  He's the son of Well known Sonny Parker of the Chicago area.  Creek is absolutely burning up the nets game in and game out for Oxon Hill.  He runs runs with the Triple Threat powerhouse program on the summer scene.  Sutton is generating a lot of buzz with the likes of Arkansas, George Mason, Miami-FL, UNLV, USC, and Maryland having shown interest in him in recent months.  He runs with the DC Blue Devils on the summer circuit.  Maryland is the heavy favorite to land Ben-Ez, who is on of the major prizes in an always loaded Washington, DC area.  Connecticut and Villanova are rumored to be interested."

Thursday, January 11, 2007

The first two days of the Republic Bank/Coca-Cola L.I.T. (Louisville Invitational Tournament) at Louisville Gardens in Louisville, KY, which I attended yesterday and the day before, was extremely disappointing for a number of reasons.  First, 6'5 Steffphan Pettigrew from Elizabethtown (H.S.) KY, who is clearly the best senior in the state, got into foul trouble early and really never got into the flow of the game last night, despite the fact he had 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 6-13 field goals, and 12-13 free throws.  Remember, this is a guy who is currently averaging 35.5 ppg and has a had a number of 40-plus point games this winter, including when I saw him back in December against Louisville (Central) KY at the King of the Bluegrass when he had 43 points and the night before when had 46 points against Fort Knox (H.S.) KY.  Second, 6'3 Chris Gowers from Louisville (Ballard) KY, who hit 5-7 3-pointers and scored 19 points, hit three straight 3-pointers to make it 9-0 early and Ballard never looked back as they proceeded to beat Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY, 89-66, in a game that really wasn't as close as the 23-point spread might indicate.  Third, Louisville (Central) KY, which really impressed us in the King of the Bluegrass a month ago, not only lost, 55-47, two nights ago against Louisville (Eastern) KY, but also was missing one of its best players in 6'5 Soph Paul Bunton, who apparently has been dismissed the team due to off the court problems.  Fourth, the teams from out in the state didn't generate much excitement, as Princeton (Caldwell) County with 6'5 Matt Fraliex, who finished with 28 points against Louisville (Doss) KY, and Elizabethtown (H.S.) KY with Pettigrew both lacked any kind of supporting cast to go with their star player; Bowling Green (Warren Central) KY versus Louisville (DeSales) KY was an ugly rematch of a game that we saw in December at the King of the Bluegrass; and Lexington (Bryan Station) KY, which beat Louisville (Manual) KY, 79-63, did not get a big effort from its best player - 6'2 Jr Shelvin Mack, who is clearly one of the better juniors in the state.  Instead, Bryan Station's attack was very balanced, as five players - 6'3 Stefan Lewis with 20 points, 6'5 Jaron Jones with 16 points, Mack with 11 points, 6'1 Courtney Embry with 10 points, and 6'3 Dacoby Burnett with 10 points - scored in double-digits and they emerged as the co-favorite, along with Louisville (Ballard) KY and Louisville (Doss) KY, to win the tournament.  Instead, the highlight for us at Republic Bank/Coca-Cola L.I.T. was getting our first look at a number of good young players, including 6'3 Soph Jacob Jenkins from Louisville (Manual) KY, who is an excellent 3-point shooter and an extremely athletic white kid that finished with 14 points against Lexington (Bryan Station) KY and clearly is one of the best sophomores in the state; 5'10 Frosh Thomas Jackson from Jeffersontown (H.S.) KY and 5'11 Frosh Richard Kennedy from Jeffersontown (H.S.) KY, who combined for only five points, but are the backcourt of the future for Chargers head coach Jeff Morrow; 6'3 Frosh Josh Sewell from Louisville (Trinity) KY, who impressed us with his poise and athleticism as he finished with five points against Louisville (Male) KY; 6'4 Soph Ridge Wilson from Louisville (Central) KY, who has only been playing basketball several weeks this season now that he is done with football, but had 10 points and eight rebounds against Louisville (Eastern) KY; and 6'1 Frosh Aaron Cosby from Louisville (Manual) KY, who is an athletic wing forward that started and finished with four points against Lexington (Bryan Station) KY.  We also must mention the fact 6'8 Jr Jeff Brooks from Louisville (Doss) KY and 6'1 Davin Anderson from Louisville (Doss) KY, who combined for 49 points against Princeton (Caldwell County) KY, formed one of the best one-two punches in the tournament; 6'5 Antiquawn Beckham from Louisville (Ballard) KY, who had 29 points, 13-17 field goals, 11 rebounds, six assists, and two steals, did a little bit of everything against Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY; 6'8 Thomas Coleman from Jeffersontown (H.S.) KY, who had 17 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocked shots, impressed us with his athleticism and ability to score around the basket, but did not convince us that he has the toughness necessary to play inside any higher than at the mid-major level; 5'9 Doug Beaumont from Louisville (Male) KY, who had 19 points and made several key shots that help his team win the game, impressed us with his ball handling and passing skills and leadership qualities against Louisville (Trinity) KY; and 6'4 Reggie Smith from Fairdale (H.S.) KY, who had 26 points against Elizabethtown (H.S.) KY, played a key role in helping shut down Pettigrew.  This sets us tomorrow's quarterfinals games with Jeffersontown (H.S.) KY versus Louisville (Doss) KY at 4:00 PM, Fairdale (H.S.) KY versus Louisville (Ballard) KY at 5:30 PM, Louisville (Eastern) KY versus Lexington (Bryan Station) KY at 7:00 PM, and Bowling Green (Warren Central) KY versus Louisville (Male) KY at 8:30 PM.  However, tomorrow afternoon I will be en route to Waco, TX, where I will see most of the top middle schools players in the nation at the U.S. Elite Basketball Camp at Baylor University.  As a matter of fact, our Texas Editor Tim Miller, who also is the guy running the camp, tells us that he expects to have three of the top-four ranked players in the Class of 2011 in 6'2 8th Grader Davontay Grace from Brooklyn, NY, 6'7 8th Grader LaBryan Nash from Dallas, TX, 6'7 8th Grader LaQuinton Ross from Jackson, MS; the top five-ranked players nationally in the Class of 2012 in 5'10 7th Grader J-Mychal Reese from Bryan, TX, 6'3 7th Grader Reggie Ragland from Huntsville, AL, 6'6 7th Grader John Crowder from Baltimore, MD, 6'1 7th Grader DiVante Smith from Indianapolis, IN, 6'2 7th Grader Winston McLeod from Brooklyn, NY; and the #1-ranked player in the Class of 2013 in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP in 5'8 6th Grader D.J. Griggs from Houston, TX.  Our West Coast Editor Alan Utter tells us that 6'4 Quentin Watkins from Compton (Dominguez) CA has verbally committed to the University of Illinois and 5'11 D.J. Gray from Sun Valley (Poly) CA has verbally committed UC-Irvine.  And, when one remembers what's left, Watkins, who as the eight highest ranked player still available in the senior class nationally, behind 6'8 Patrick Patterson from Huntington (H.S.) WV, 5'8 Jai Lucas from Houston (Bellaire) TX, 7'1 Boubacar Sylla from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 6'1 Courtney Fortson from Montgomery (Jefferson Davis) AL, 6'11 Teeng Akol from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, 6'5 Alvin Mitchell from Ft. Lauderdale (Cardinal Gibbons) FL, and 6'5 D.J. Kennedy from Pittsburgh (Schenley) PA, is a great catch for the Fighting Illini.  If you will recall, Watkins has big time athleticism, good enough ball handling and passing skills to be considered a combo guard, and the ability to beat you with both his outside shooting and explosiveness and ability to get to the basket.  In other words, Watkins should fit in perfectly with Illinois' current recruiting class, which also includes 6'3 Demetri McCamey from Westchester (St. Joseph) IL, who has the point guard skills and court savvy necessary to step in and be the point guard of the future for the Fighting Illini; 6'9 Billy Cole from Peoria (Richwoods) IL, who creates all kinds of match-up problems out on the perimeter with his size and ability to shot the lights out; and 6'10 Mike Tisdale from Riverton (H.S.) IL, who might turn out to be the hidden gem of this year's recruiting class due to the fact that he's off the beaten path and, as a result, has not been seen my most of the national scouts, including us.  Utter also thinks Gay, who is ranked #614 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is a major steal for the Anteaters due to the fact that he's putting up prolific numbers this season and is supposed to be versatile enough to play either guard spot.  Utter also tells us that North Carolina appears to be the favorite for 6'0 Jr Larry Drew from Woodland Hills (Taft) CA, but UCLA, Duke, Washington, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, and Texas are also high on his list, and Arizona, UCLA, Utah, Arizona State, Brigham Young, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, and UNLV are all in the hunt for 6'4 Jr Brandon Lavender from Mesa (Mountain View) AZ, who not only is one of the fastest rising juniors on the West Coast, but also has top 100 potential nationally. 

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

When Joe Keller started the adidas Junior Phenom Camp three-and-a-half years ago, I told him that sooner than later he would have plenty of competition.  The second major player in this area quickly became Mike Duncan, who has run the Midwest Elite Camp in Columbus, OH each of the last two summers, and now it looks like Clay Dade, who will be running the Junior All-American Camp at the Hoop Magic Sports Academy in Chantilly, VA, is getting on the act.  The inaugural Junior All-American Camp will be held August 2nd-5th and, just like the adidas Junior Phenom Camp, this camp will feature many of the top 6th, 7th, & 8th Graders in the nation.  Also like the adidas Junior Phenom Camp, the players at this camp will be selected from regional camps from around the nation.  When one also finds out that people like Mike Jones, who is the head coach at Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD; Kevin Sutton, who is the head coach at Montverde (Academy) FL; and Boo Williams, who runs the Boo Williams Summer League; will be involved, there is no doubt that the Junior All-American Camp will be top-heavy with great players from Virginia, Florida, and the Washington, DC area, as well as all up and down the East Coast.   And that appears to be one of the reasons why Dade is starting this camp.  "We want to offer players and their parents on the East Coast an alternative to bearing the cost of having to fly across the country to attend a national camp for players in these groups," says Dade.  But, at the same time, we're going to be able to attract players from all over the country from the 50 boys and girls regional camps that we will be running this spring."  For more information we encourage you to click onto their web site, which can be found at Junior All-American Camp.com.  It also looks like Dade is already off to a good start in the business, because the Maryland Boys Regional Junior All-American Camp, which also was held at the Hoop Magic Sports Academy in Chantilly, VA on Saturday, December 2nd, was loaded with top area talent.  It also featured special guest speaker, DeMatha head coach Mike Jones, who told Dade that about 80 percent of the players who attended the camp could really play.  The games and drills were extremely competitive and the fundamental stations sessions were expertly run by former Montrose Christian assistants Dave Adkins (now at DeMatha) and Josh Hutchinson (Towson University).  Also speaking at the game was George Mason assistant coach Chris Caputo and working the camp were Mark Edwards from Oxon Hill (H.S.) MD, Leroy Allen from the Mitchellville Trailblazers, David Dickerson from Hoop Kidz, Alan Stein from Elite Athletic Training Systems (EATS); and Reggie Gardner from DC Assault.  Some of the top individual performances at the Maryland Boys Regional Junior All-American Camp were turned in by 4'9 7th Grader Myles Tate from Brambleton, VA; 6'0 7th Grader Jourdan Stickler from Annapolis, MD; 5'8 7th Grader Gavin Stephenson from Columbia, MD; 5'9 6th Grader Bradley Jacks from Ft. Washington, MD; 5'3 6th Grader Jamaal Greenwood from Mitchellville, MD; 5'4 6th Grader Aaron Alexander from Woodbridge, VA; 4'9 5th Grader Terrell Allen from Upper Marlboro, MD, and 5'2 5th Grader Cinque Reynolds from Suitland, MD.  Dade also tells us that Tate is a "ball handling wizard...creates very well for others...shoots consistently from perimeter...excellent scorer and penetrator...puts tremendous pressure on a defense with his speed and quickness...superior court awareness...near perfect camp performance...playmaker...one to watch!  Strickler plays extremely hard on every play at both ends...relentless offensive rebounder...shoots a high percentage from follow-ups and finishes off of interior passes...VERY active inside...blocks shots...better than average ball handler for size....does it all...dominated at 6-foot...uses his athleticism very well...led camp in scoring...consensus most outstanding player in camp.  Stephenson is an interesting player with a broad range of abilities...high skill level...lefty who excels in transition passing ahead to open teammates or finishing himself...can handle contact and complete the play...has nice size at 5'8...big-time shooter...can score from inside and out...versatile...can play anywhere on the floor...very good defender.  Jacks was the surprise of the camp...appears to not have a good feel for the game, but does everything a big man should...Takes up space...possesses a soft touch around basket...consistent inside scorer...VERY good hands...blocks shots....ran the floor very well catching in stride on several occasions and finishing...great size for 6th grade at 5'9, 162 lbs.  Greenwood does a little bit of everything...good scorer...defender, and decent shooter.  Alexander is a good athlete...nice size for 6th grader (5'3)...sixth-grade one-on-one champ possesses an array of moves...has a natural ability to score...gifted offensive talent who has nice overall skills.  Allen is very savvy...plays older...confident...a dangerous shooter...scores well from anywhere and sets up teammates with timely passes...nice basketball IQ for young player.  Reynolds is a left-hander who plays extremely hard...very shifty...good shooter...really scores well...could be a great defender...very confident out on the floor."  Obviously it's a little early to start speculating on who will be at this camp, but Dade does tell us that he expects 4'7 6th Grader Justin Jenifer from Baltimore, MD, who he thinks is arguably the nation's #1 5th Grader, to be in attendance. 

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

The next thing on my agenda will be to attend most of the games in the opening round of the 60th Annual Republic Bank/Coca-Cola L.I.T. (Louisville Invitational Tournament) at Louisville Gardens in Louisville, KY and the line-up today will include Louisville (Central) KY versus Louisville (Eastern) KY at 3:30 PM, Jeffersontown (H.S.) KY versus Louisville (St. Xavier) KY at 5:00 PM, Louisville (Doss) KY versus Princeton (Caldwell County) KY at 6:30 PM, Louisville (DeSales) KY versus Bowling Green (Warren Central) KY at 8:30 PM and the line-up tomorrow will include Louisville (Male) KY versus Louisville (Trinity) KY at 3:30 PM, Fairdale (H.S.) KY versus Elizabethtown (H.S.) KY at 5:00 PM, Louisville (Ballard) KY versus Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY at 6:30 PM, and Louisville (Manual) KY versus Lexington (Bryan Station) KY at 8:00 PM.  And, for our purposes, this is important, because we'll get a chance to see five of the top seven-ranked seniors in the state in 6'5 Steffphan Pettigrew from Elizabethtown (H.S.) KY, 6'8 Jeff Brook from Louisville (Doss) KY, 6'5 Antiquan Beckham from Louisville (Ballard) KY, 6'9 Thomas Coleman from Jeffersontown (H.S.) KY, and 6'6 Kerry Benson from Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY in one swoop.  Unfortunately none of the top three-ranked juniors in the state - 6'7 Jr Darius Miller from Maysville (Mason County) KY, 6'6 Jr Scotty Hobson from Hopkinsville (University) KY, and 6'4 Jr Bud Mackey from Georgetown (Scott County) KY - will be playing in the L.I.T. and I will be out of town on Friday evening when Mason County and Scott County play in Georgetown, KY at 7:30 PM.  So it looks like I may have to make three separate road trips within the next month or two, because I have yet to see any one of these three juniors play this season.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that 6'6 Jason Henry has transferred from Decatur (Light of the World Christian) OH to Cincinnati (Harmony Christian) OH and has verbally committed to the University of Cincinnati.  And this is a big verbal commitment for the Bearcats, because Henry, who is ranked #11 on our List of the Top 5th Year Players, was the one of fourth highest ranked player still in available in the prep school school ranks, behind 6'6 Jermaine Peterson from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'11 Mamadou Diarra from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, and 5'10 Angelo Johnson from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA.  The addition of Henry also is important, because this moves Cincinnati's recruiting class, which also includes 6'3 Larry Davis from Alief (Hastings) TX and 6'5 Rashad Bishop from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, into a tie at #57, along with Miami-FL, UNLV, and Illinois, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2007.   However, even more important, Henry should be excellent at helping bridge the gap year after next when Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin and his staff have to replace all of the junior college players, - 6'6 Jr John Williamson, 6'8 Jr Marcus Sikes, 6'2 Jr Jamual Warren, 6'3 Jr Marvin Gentry, and 6'2 Jr Tim Crowell - that they signed last spring.  Johnson also tells us that the University of Wisconsin has gotten an early verbal commitment from 6'10 Jr Jared Berggren from Princeton (H.S.) MN, but he had no explanation as to why Ohio State played so badly in last night's National Championship game against the University of Florida.  Speaking the Gators, which won that game, 41-14, this marks the first time that a Division I school has held the National Championship titles in both football and basketball in the same season.  So now we're obviously wondering if somebody like Tennessee will be able pull off the trifecta by winning the National Championship in men's basketball, women's basketball, and college football all in the same season.  And the smart money says that the longer Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl remains at the helm of the Volunteers the more likely the chances are that this will happen.  That's also assuming that University of Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt doesn't retire anytime soon.  We also have confirmed that 6'5 Ramone Moore from Philadelphia (South Philadelphia) PA, who is ranked #336 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but also is one of the fastest rising players in the Philadelphia area, verbally committed to Temple earlier today at Noon press conference.  We're talking about a good athletic who can shoot the three, has a good mid-range game, is an excellent passer, and is very team oriented, which also makes him ideally suited to step into Owls head coach Fran Dunphy's system two years from now.  We say that because it looks like Moore, who is extremely young for his class, will likely go the prep school route next year, which means he will count with Temple's recruiting class both this year and next year.  We also have confirmed via Rubin that 6'6 Jr A.J. Rodgers from Jersey City (St. Anthony's) NJ, who is ranked #150 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has made an early verbal commitment to St. Joseph's.  And we think this is an excellent catch as well, because Rodgers is a long lanky high-energy athletic undersized inside guy who plays for the best high school coach in America. 

Saturday, January 6, 2007, Sunday, January 7, 2007, & Monday, January 8, 2007

What's going on with Louisville's 6'9 Frosh Derrick Caracter, who left the team several days before Christmas and returned to the team several days after Christmas, is the question that everybody has been asking me for the last two weeks.  And it really is a great question, because Caracter has the talent, skills, and potential to be the next Jamal Mashburn, who was the star player during Rick Pitino's early days at the University of Kentucky, or Brandon Bender, who played half a season for Pitino at Louisville before he went south during the middle of the 2001-02 season.  Part of the problem stems from the fact that the game has always been too easy for Caracter and, as a result, he's been allowed to become lazy and develop bad habits dating all the way back to his freshmen days when he was arguably the best high school player nationally in his class.  We also suspect that Caracter has needed some time to adjust to the fact that he's 50-plus pounds lighter than he was when he arrived at school last fall and he also appears to be stubborn and intent upon doing things his own way, which is another reason why the adjustment period has been a long and agonizing process.  However, Caracter does have unbelievable skills, incredible agility and mobility for somebody his size, and the potential to dominate the game inside, which is exactly what the doctor ordered if the Cardinals are going to finish in the upper half of the Big East Conference and have a chance of making the NCAA Tournament this year.  Right now Louisville is 10-5, but they have already lost to Dayton, Arizona, Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Notre Dame; they aren't a very good outside shooting team, they aren't every tough and physical inside, they don't have a high basketball IQ, they don't have good team chemistry, and they don't have a great point guard who can create scoring opportunities and help cover-up weaknesses.  In other words, about the only thing they do well is give a good effort and they do have plenty of talent, as is evident the fact that nine of Louisville's 11 scholarship players were ranked among the top 60 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP when they were high school seniors.  And, if you don't believe it, a year ago we had Caracter ranked #10, 6'2 Frosh Jerry Smith ranked #30, 6'3 Frosh Edgar Sosa ranked #34, and 6'9 Frosh Earl Clark ranked #36; two years ago we had 5'10 Soph Andre McGee ranked #34, 6'5 Soph Terrance Williams ranked #53, and 7'0 Soph Jonathan Huffman ranked #246; 6'8 Jr Juan Diego Palacios ranked #10 and 6'10 Jr Terrance Farley ranked #163; and four years we had 6'10 Jr David Padgett ranked #15 and 6'3 Sr Brandon Jenkins ranked #40 nationally.  Unfortunately Padgett Palacios, and McGee all had major injuries at different stages in their career and, in each case, has yet regain the speed and quickness that he once had.  Palacios and Padgett also don't play above the rim and aren't tough enough to get it done inside on a consistent basis in the Big East Conference, which creates a major void that Caracter must fill if this team isn't going to go South, just like it did a year ago during the stretch run.  So obviously the best short term solution is to live-and-die with Caracter inside and then this spring attempt to find several players who can step in, make an immediate impact, and provide the physical presence inside that the Cardinals have been missing against good teams thus far this season.  Their two recruits - 7'0 Clarence Holloway from Chicago (Boys to Men) IL, who is ranked #20 on our list of the Top 5th Year Players primarily due to his size and potential, and 6'9 George Goode from Raytown (South) MO, who is ranked #118 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, both will likely become impact players in time, but neither is ready to walk-in and solve Louisville's inside problems a year from now.  So, with virtually nobody left who is good enough in either the high school or prep school ranks, now might be a good time for Pitino and his staff to starting looking for quick fix in the junior college ranks or go abroad to find a foreign player capable of stepping in and making an immediate impact right away.  Some of the top junior college inside players who are still available include 6'10 Desmond Hendrix from Wabash Valley (JC) IL, 6'8 Dustin Scott from Tallahassee (JC) FL, 6'10 Jimmie Sutton from Central Florida (JC) FL, 6'8 Gary Wilkinson from Salt Lake (JC) UT, 6'8 Brandon Sampay from Howard (JC) TX, 6'10 Jimmy Allen from Cuesta (JC) CA, 7'0 Marcelo da Silva from Arizona Western (JC) AZ, 6'8 DeAndre Coleman from Belvill State (JC) AL, 6'8 Jay Brown from L.A. City (JC) CA, 6'10 Qavotstaraj Waddell from Cecil (JC) MD, 6'8 Herve Banogle from Howard (JC) TX, 6'9 Jason Francis from Southeastern Illinois (JC) IL, 6'7 Walter Battle from Labette (JC) KS, 6'7 Jairocey Simpson from Pratt (JC) KS, 6'10 Cem Dinc from Marshalltown (JC) IA, 7'0 David Collins from Missouri State-West Plains (JC) MO, and 6'10 Monquel Pegues from Cape Fear (JC) NC.  But we'd be surprised if the Cardinals go after any of these guys due to the fact that none of the junior college players (i.e. Nate Daniels, Nauka Diakite, & Prileu Davis) that Pitino signed during his first several years at Louisville panned out.  But, if Caracter doesn't step it up soon, they don't get a quick fix in the spring, and/or Padgett or Palacios don't finally live up to their press clippings from high school, it will likely be a long year-and-a-half until the Class of 2008 enrolls into school.  Remember, Louisville already has early verbal commitments from 6'3 Jr Melquan Bolding from White Plains (Archbishop Stepanic) NY, 6'7 Jr Martez Walker from Montverde (Academy) FL, and 7'0 Jr Jeff Withey from San Diego (Horizon) CA; they are among the favorites for 6'4 Jr Tyreke Evans from Aston (American Christian) PA and 6'5 Jr Sylvan Landesberg from Flushing (Holy Cross) NY; and they are in the hunt for players like 6'10 Jr Greg Monroe from Gretna (Helen Cox) LA, and 6'8 Jr Samardo Samuels from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ.  I also found it interesting recently when I read in Basketball Times that 6'8 DeAndre Thomas from Chipola (JC) FL, who was ranked #20 in the junior college ranks by Rick Ball in the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook and #7 in the junior college ranks by JucoJunction.com, was verbally committed to Indiana University.  Apparently this is another one that fell under the radar screen, because Thomas picked the Hoosiers right at the conclusion of the Fall Signing Period, but doesn't plan  to sign with the Hoosiers in the spring.  However, for our purposes this is huge, because Indiana, which already had the #1-ranked recruiting class with players like 6'3 Eric Gordon from Indianapolis (North Central) IN, 6'5 Jamarcus Ellis from Chipola (JC) FL, 6'8 Brandon McGee from Chicago (Crane) IL, 6'10 Eli Holman from Richmond (H.S.) CA, 6'4 Eshaunte Jones from Ft. Wayne (North Side) IN, and 6'4 Jordan Crawford from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, suddenly is way out in front when we check out our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2007. 

Friday, January 5, 2007

One of the premier events of the winter is always the Prime Time Shootout at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, NJ, which will be held this year on February 10th-11th, and, as always, this will offer us a great chance to see many of the top teams and players in the nation in one venue.  However, unlike in the past, this year's events will not include any games at the Sovereign Bank Arena on Friday evening.  Instead, things will tip-off at on Saturday, February 10th, at 10:30 AM with Princeton (The Hun School) NJ versus Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, followed by Fairless Hills (Pennsbury) PA versus Bryn Athyn (Academy of the New Church) PA at Noon, Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD versus Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA at 1:30 PM, Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ versus Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ at 3:00 PM, Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ versus Barrington (St. Andrews) RI at 4:30 PM, Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD versus Pittsburgh (Schenley) PA at 6:00 PM, Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ versus Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY at 7:30 PM, and Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA versus Aston (American Christian) PA at 9:00 PM.  Then, things will continue on Sunday, February 11th, with Lawrenceville (Prep) NJ versus Lenoir (Patterson School) NC at 10:30 AM, New York (Rice) NY versus Plainfield (H.S.) NJ at Noon, Middle Village (Christ the King) NY versus Harrisburg (H.S.) PA at 1:30 PM, Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY versus Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY at 3:00 PM, Niagara Falls (H.S.) NY versus Linden (H.S.) NJ at 4:30 PM, Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ versus Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA at 6:00 PM, and Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY versus Trenton (Catholic) NJ at 7:30 PM.  Obviously most of the match-ups have a lot to be desired, but the list of players who will be in attendance is nothing short of spectacular, as it includes 6'1 Jr Brandon Jennings from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'4 Jr Tyreke Evans from Aston (American Christian) PA, 6'3 Jerryd Bayless from Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ, 6'8 Michael Beasley from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'5 Soph Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'3 Nolan Smith from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'5 Austin Freeman from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'1 Corey Fisher from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'6 Jermaine Peterson from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'8 Jr Howard Thompkins from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'0 Johnny Flynn from Niagara Falls (H.S.) NY, 6'5 Jeff Robinson from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'3 Soph Dexter Strickland from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'7 DeJuan Blair from Pittsburgh (Schenley) PA, 6'8 Jr Chris Braswell from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'6 Soph Terrell Vinson from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 5'7 Jr Erving Walker from Middle Village (Christ the King) NY, 6'8 Jr Samardo Samuels from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'5 Corey Stokes from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'4 Soph Durand Scott from New York (Rice) NY, 6'1 Jr Travon Woodall from Jersey City (St. Anthony's) NJ, 6'5 Jeremy Hazel from Lenoir (The Patterson School) NC, 6'9 Julian Vaughn from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'5 Alexander Legion from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'6 Michael Glover from Aston (American Christian) PA, 6'9 Brandon Walters from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'6 Tirrell Baines from Lenoir (The Patterson School) NC, 5'8 Malik Boothe from Middle Village (Christ the King) NY, 6'4 Thomas Manzano from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'7 Rakim Sanders from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, 6'3 Bradley Wanamaker from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA, 6'9 Soph Gregory Echenique from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'2 Jr Michael Rosario from Jersey City (St. Anthony's) NJ, 6'2 Jr Darryl Bryant from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 5'11 Jr Dwan McMillan from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 5'9 Soph Lamont Jones from New York (Rice) NY, 6'3 Soph Dominique Cheek from Jersey City (St. Anthony's) NJ, 6'0 Soph Tamir Jackson from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'5 Dominique Sutton from Lenoir (The Patterson School) NC, 6'3 Jr Khalif Staten from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'0 Jeff Peterson from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'1 Jr Kemba Walker from New York (Rice) NY, 7'2 Jr James Tyler from Lenoir (The Patterson School) NC, 6'4 Soph Oscar Griffin from Aston (American Christian) PA, 6'4 Soph Dalton Pepper from Fairless Hills (Pennsbury) PA, 6'11 Teeng Akol from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, 6'5 D.J. Kennedy from Pittsburgh (Schenley) PA, 6'2 Delonte Roberts from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 5'7 Jr Desmond Wade from Linden (H.S.) NJ, 6'0 Mike Coburn from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY, 5'10 Jr Terrell Holloway from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'7 Jr Kevin Jones from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY, 6'9 Levoy Allen from Fairless Hills (Pennsbury) PA, 6'3 Jerai Grant from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 7'0 Keenan Ellis from Aston (American Christian) PA, 6'7 Damien Saunders from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'3 Adrian Bowie from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'7 Idris Hilliard from Princeton (The Hun School) NJ, 6'4 Alphonso Dawson from Harrisburg (H.S.) PA, 6'3 Jr Quincy Roberts from Harrisburg (H.S.) PA, 6'2 Miles Beatty from Jersey City (St. Anthony's) NJ, 6'5 Earl Pettis from Lenoir (The Patterson School) NC, 6'6 An'Juan Wilderness from Lenoir (The Patterson School) NC, 6'5 Ricardo Brown from Harrisburg (H.S.) PA, 6'8 Jr Devon White from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA, 6'4 Isaiah Tate from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'0 Zach Rosen from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'6 Jr Albert Rodgers from Jersey City (St. Anthony's) NJ, 6'10 Hamidu Rahman from Aston (American Christian) PA, 6'6 Cameron Tatum from Lenoir (The Patterson School) NC, 6'0 Gerald Colds from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'3 Devon Peterson from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'6 Soph Tristan Spurlock from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'5 Kevin Menner from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'6 Mike Ringgold from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'2 Johnny Higgins from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'5 Andrew Gabriel from Middle Village (Christ the King) NY, 6'4 Jr Sam Givins from Bryn Athyn (Academy of the New Church) PA, 6'4 Jr Kenny Tate from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'8 Garrett Kissell from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, 6'3 Soph Leonard Hayes from Lawrenceville (Prep) NJ, 6'8 Mohamed Lo from Lenoir (The Patterson School) NC, 6'2 Anthony Nelson from Plainfield (H.S.) NJ, 6'5 Jr Ryan Pearson from Middle Village (Christ the King) NY, 6'2 Brian Wanamaker from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA, 6'0 Jr Josh Spivey from Aston (American Christian) PA, 7'2 Marial David Dhal from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, 6'4 Jr Mark Robertson from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'3 Soph Omari Lawrence from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'5 Soph Kevin Parron from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'2 Marcus Matthews from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY, 6'2 Jr Greg Blair from Pittsburgh (Schenley) PA, 6'2 Jr DeAndre Kane from Pittsburgh (Schenley) PA, 7'0 Steven Yien from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, 6'8 Jr Dan Jennings from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY, 6'8 Soph Isaiah Armwood from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'6 Jr Dorvell Carter from New York (Rice) NY, 5'9 Doug Davis from Princeton (The Hun School) NJ, 6'3 Khalief Foster from Bryn Athyn (Academy of the New Church) PA, 6'4 Soph Sherrod Wright from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY, 6'7 Soph Dartaye Ruffin from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, 6'9 Kevin Gallagher from Fairless Hills (Pennsbury) PA, 6'0 Porter Braswell from Lawrenceville (Prep) NJ, 6'3 LeRon Williams from Harrisburg (H.S.) PA, 6'2 Dave Bullock from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, 5'9 Jr Ian Umpire from Bronx ((St Raymond's) NY, 5'10 Jamaal Bryant from Pittsburgh (Schenley) PA, 6'1 Lamar Drayton from Harrisburg (H.S.) PA, 6'4 Kairique Irick from Jersey City (St. Anthony's) NJ, 5'10 Joe Accaoui from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, 6'1 Jr Leonard Young from Bryn Athyn (Academy of the New Church) PA, 5'10 Andrew Hanson from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, and 6'2 Jr Chris Fouch from New York (Rice) NY.

Thursday, January 4, 2007

In recruiting you always look for connections.  So, when our West Coast Editor Alan Utter recently told us that UCLA had hired Clay McKnight, who is the son of legendary Mater Dei head coach Gary McKnight, as the video coordinator this fall, that got our attention with regards to the Bruins' recruitment of the of 6'9 Soph Travis Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, who ranked #17 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'9 Soph David Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, who ranked #18 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP.  However, it wasn't until today that Utter also made us aware of the fact that UCLA assistant coach Donny Daniels was the teammate of David Wear Sr, who is now an assistant coach at Mater Dei, as well as the father of Travis and David Wear, at Cal-State Fullerton during the 1975-76 season and Daniels also was Mr. Wear's coach when he became a volunteer assistant coach at Cal-State Fullerton during the 1978-79 season.  In other words, schools like Arizona, Washington, Gonzaga, North Carolina, and Duke are all in the hunt, but, with connections like this and the incredible success that UCLA has already had since the arrival of Ben Howland almost four years ago, it's going to be really tough for the Wear twins to go anywhere but UCLA.  Speaking of Howland, who we had ranked #20 in our Ranking of the Top 40 Head Coaches in the College Game Today when we last updated this list on February 16, 2006, the argument can be made that he is the fastest rising head coach in college basketball today.  As a matter of fact, if we had to update the list today, we'd put Howland, whose team is currently ranked #1 in the nation and is 13-0 on the season, in the top six head coaches in the game today, along with Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina's Roy Williams, Connecticut's Jim Calhoun, Texas Tech's Bob Knight, and Arizona's Lute Olson, who collectively have 27 NCAA Final Four appearances and 10 NCAA titles.  And making the story even more interesting is the fact that we originally thought this was going to be a rebuilding year for Howland and the Bruins, who have the #1-ranked high school senior in the nation, 6'9 Kevin Love from Lake Oswego (H.S.) OR, already signed, sealed, and delivered for next year.   As for the Wear twins and 6'8 Soph Andy Brown from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, Utter tells us that Brown was the best of three young big men at Mater Dei last week in the Orange Holiday Classic at the Hutton Center on the Chapman Campus in Orange, CA.  However, after watching David Wear, who averaged 9.2 ppg and 4.4 rpg, Travis Wear, who averaged 8.2 ppg and 4.0 rpg, and Brown, who averaged 4.8 ppg and 2.2 rpg, two weeks ago in the City Palms Classic in Ft. Myers, FL, we suspect that this is case, whereby, it really is too close to call right now, as a different player steps up and gets it done every night.  Our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio tells us that the top five for 6'5 Jr Sylvan Landesberg from Flushing (Holy Cross) NY, who is arguably the fastest rising player in the junior class nationally, are Louisville, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Seton Hall, and St. John's.  The list for 6'5 Jr Curtis Loving from New York (Wadleigh) NY, who is ranked #191 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, includes St. John's, Hofstra, Ball State, Bucknell, Temple, and Florida.  The leaders for 6'6 Jr Patrick Jackson from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY, who is ranked #210 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, are Xavier, Miami-FL, and Virginia Tech.  Among the schools showing the most interest in 6'7 Jr James Southerland from Bayside (Cardozo) NY, who is ranked #77 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, are Rutgers, Seton Hall, Syracuse, St. Joseph's, Hofstra, St. John's, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Clemson, and Miami-FL.  Our Texas Editor Tim Miller has confirmed that 6'7 Jr Nate Miles, who is ranked #36 nationally in the junior class and is already verbally committed to Connecticut, has transferred from San Antonio (Cornerstone Christian) TX to Humble (Christian Life) TX.  However, this doesn't not come as much of a surprise, because this also is the same guy who originally was at Toledo (Libbey) OH and verbally committed to Xavier as a sophomore; was supposed to enroll at Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, but then made stops at Toledo (Waite) OH and San Antonio (Cornerstone Christian) TX are year ago; and at some point in the process reclassified from being a junior to a sophomore and reneged on his verbal commitment to the Musketeers.  Jim Hicks, who is the foremost authority on high school basketball in the Houston area, as well as the editor of RCSSports.com and the RCS Sports High School Preview Magazine, which is the pre-season bible for those are interested in high school basketball in this area, provides us with some more insight about 5'11 Mitchell Fields from Houston (Inner City) TX.  Did you know that Fields was the backcourt mate of 6'1 Dewayne Reed, who signed with Auburn last spring, two years ago at Houston (Wheatley) TX?  Mitchell originally enrolled at San Jacinto (JC) TX, where he spend less than a week in school in the fall of 2005, and also spent a very brief amount of time at Texas Southern a year ago, which makes him a 6th year player, as well as a 20-year-old man who has already left two colleges and is still attempting to get his academic situation in order.  And to clear up any confusion about Houston (Inner City) TX, this is the same school that used to be Houston (Gulf Shores) TX.  As for Fields, Hicks tells us that he has jet-like speed and quickness and big time natural talent and athleticism, but hasn't proven that he has the understanding of the same and the point guard skills necessary to walk in and make an immediate impact at the high major level.  So obviously the more we find out about this one, the more interesting it gets.  So stay tuned!  Hicks also wanted us to mention that you can get a great head start on the spring and summer at the 2007 Spring Ice Breaker, which will be held March 16th-18th at Westfield High School in Spring, TX and will feature all of the top teams and players in the area in different divisions for high school teams, summer teams, and unsigned seniors.  For all the details and information, click onto RCSSports.com.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin spent a day last week at the Bay Classic in Lewes, DE and he tells us that he thinks 6'2 Jr Jrue Holiday from North Hollywood (Campbell Hall) CA is one of the better players in the junior class nationally.  However, Rubin adds that he'd ranked Holiday among the top 10 players in the nation, instead of the top five, which is where some of our competitors, who appear to be more interested in athleticism and potential than actual skill level and what a player has actually achieved against great competition, have him ranked.  And the perfect illustration of this is the fact that Rivals.com has Holiday ranked #2 in the junior class nationally, but 6'9 Kevin Love from Lake Oswego (H.S.) OR ranked no higher than #7 in the senior class nationally.  They also try and justify Love's ranking by saying that he's not an above the rim guy and he doesn't have the speed and quickness to excel at the highest level in this day and age.  But we adamantly disagree, because that's kind of like saying that Larry Bird wouldn't project as great player in the NBA today.  Sure, players are bigger, stronger, faster, and more athletic than they've ever been, but they are also less skilled and fundamentally sound, lack the work ethic, and don't have the same heart and burning desire that players did 20 or 30 years ago.  In other words, it stands to reason that, if they were matched up, teams from previous eras would feast on teams today.  However, even more important, the truly great ones should be able to transcend different eras and, as a result, we're more than happy to go against the popular consensus and predict that Love not only will be a great college player, but, when his time comes, will also evolve into a superstar in the NBA.  Remember, that Love has an incredible work ethic, extremely high basketball IQ, killer mentality, unbelievable skills, great court awareness, and the best outlet pass that we've seen since Wes Unseld.  And, if you were paying attention to the fact that the Southern Cal All-Stars, which are arguably the best club team that I've seen in my 24 years of covering the sport, were undefeated last spring and summer with Love in the line-up, it would come as no surprise if I opened up Webster's Illustrated Dictionary and found Love's picture next to the word "winner."  And making the story even more interesting is the fact the LSU's Glen Davis also falls in the same category, as neither Love nor Davis have world-class athleticism, but both are surprisingly quick, mobile, and agile for their size, they both are physical specimens around the basket, and, they also can beat you with their mid-range game and outside shooting when left open away from the basket.  Or to look at this another way, we'd rather take a chance on somebody like Love or Davis than like Tyrus Thomas, who was drafted second in the NBA Draft last June thanks primarily to his size, potential, and athleticism, or Holiday, who, according to Rubin, is not in that elite category just yet, along with the top players in the junior class nationally, like 6'1 Jr Brandon Jennings from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'4 Jr Tyreke Evans from Aston (American Christian) PA, 6'10 Jr Greg Monroe from Gretna (Helen Cox) LA, or 6'8 Jr Delvon Roe from Lakewood (St. Edwards) OH.  That doesn't mean that we don't think Thomas and Holiday will turn out to be great players in their own right.  But the elite players we've missed on over the years (i.e. Dajuan Wagner, Felipe Lopez, and Damon Bailey) have usually more than earned all of their accolades at this level.  Instead, they fall prey to things like injuries, loss of confidence, bad team chemistry, not being utilized properly, playing out of position, and/or off the court issues.  In contrast, our competition seems to be more intent upon taking a chance on anybody with enough size, athleticism, and/or potential.  A great example that comes to mind is 7'6 Neil Fingleton, who was named to the McDonald's All-American Game in the spring of 2000, but was not ranked among our top 100 seniors nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  And, before Fingleton was exposed in the spring all-star games, we took more heat for not having ranked Fingleton high enough than any other player in history.  So naturally after Fingleton missed his second dunk in the first half of the Capital Classic in Washington, DC, I went over to my good friend Brick Oettinger of PrepStars.com and the Recruiter's Handbook and asked him if he still liked Fingleton.  "Why sure," said Oettinger.  "He's 7'6."  So being the instigator that I am, I proceeded to ask Oettinger, if you took a dead guy who is 7'6 and propped his arms up, would you like him too.  And to my amazement, Oettinger simply reaffirmed his answer.  "You can't teach somebody to be 7'6."  Getting back to Holiday, Rubin also got a list of schools for this athletic wing guard who we currently have ranked #8 in the junior class nationally, if you look at our HOOP SCOOP All-American Teams, which was updated two days ago and includes our ranking of the top 100 players nationally regardless of class and position.  It includes North Carolina, UCLA, Washington, USC, Arizona, Arizona State, and Texas.  Rubin also tells us that 6'5 Jr Jarrett Mann from Middletown (H.S.) DE who is the #1-ranked junior in the state and is ranked #197 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is getting the most interest from schools like Wake Forest, Illinois, Stanford, Penn State, and Texas.  The list for 6'4 Jr Sam Givins from Bryn Athyn (Academy of the New Church) PA, who is ranked #226 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, includes St. Joseph's, Drexel, Temple, and Siena.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson also passes along something that might get your attention from Mike Duncan, who runs the Cleveland Basketball Club.  "All of the scouting services in Ohio are underrating Goins," says Duncan.  "I've seen Paul Harris since he was a freshman and I'm telling you that Rayshawn is 15-pounds less from being like Harris." Obviously Duncan is talking about 6'5 Jr Rayshawn Goins from Cleveland (Rhodes) OH, who is currently ranked #185 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Duncan tells us that schools like Georgetown, Cincinnati, Akron, Cleveland State, Dayton, Marquette, Miami-OH, Kansas State, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Charlotte, and Kent State are showing the most interest in Goins.  Duncan also provides us with recruiting information for three other players in his program, as Dayton, Penn State, Cleveland State, Michigan, Akron, Wright State, DePaul, Cincinnati, Xavier, Kent State, and Ohio University are involved with 5'8 Soph Carl "Tay-Tay" Jones from Garfield Heights (H.S.) OH; Penn State, Dayton, Cincinnati, Kansas State, Michigan, Ohio University, Michigan State, Ohio State, Akron, Wright State, Kent State, Marquette, and Xavier are all in the hunt for 6'7 Soph Mario Hines from Garfield Heights (H.S.) OH; and 6'3 Jr Devon Moore from Columbus (Northland) OH likes Dayton, Wisconsin, Michigan, Xavier, Ohio University, Miami-OH, Tennessee, West Virginia, Purdue, Pittsburgh, Akron, and Kent State.  Johnson also tells us that nothing has changed for 6'8 Jr Delvon Roe from Lakewood (St. Edwards) OH, who is ranked #4 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, as his final five still appear to be Michigan State, Ohio State, North Carolina, Michigan, and Kansas, and Xavier and Michigan lead schools like Michigan State, Notre Dame, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia for 7'1 Jr Kenny Frease from Massillon (Perry) OH, who is ranked #79 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP. 

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

The next major event that I an planning on attending will be the U.S. Elite Basketball Camp at Baylor University in Waco, TX on January 12th-14th.  And, if you are interesting in seeing an overwhelming number of the top 6th, 7th, & and 8th Graders in the nation and, as a result, getting a great head start on the future, then you need to be there as well.  Unfortunately it looks like 6'2 8th Grader Matt Carlino from Tempe, AZ may not be in attendance, but the other three players - 6'2 8th Grader Davontay Grace from Brooklyn, NY, 6'7 8th Grader LaBryan Nash from Dallas, TX, and 6'7 LaQuinton Ross from Jackson, MS - who are tied #1 in our Ranking of the Top 300 Players in the Class of 2011 (8th Graders) will get a chance to not only go head-to-head, but likely will help us settle the debate about who the #1-ranked player nationally in the class really is.  We also are looking forward to seeing 5'10 7th Grader J-Mychal Reese from Bryan, TX and 6'3 Grader Reggie Ragland from Huntsville, AL, who are tied at #1 in our Ranking of the 300 Top Players in the Class of 2012 (7th Graders); 5'8 6th Grader D.J. Griggs from Houston, TX, who we have ranked #1 nationally in his class; 6'1 7th Grader DiVante Smith from Indianapolis, IN, who we have ranked #4 nationally in his class; 6'7 8th Grader Ramone Eaton from Sacramento, CA, who we have ranked #5 nationally is his class; 6'3 8th Grader Tony Wroten from Renton, WA, who we have ranked #6 nationally in his class; 6'6 8th Grader Damion Cain from Chino Hills, CA, who we have ranked #7 nationally in his class; 5'2 6th Grader Zavier Turner from Indianapolis, IN, who we have ranked #7 nationally in his class; 6'3 8th Grader Trevor Lacy from Huntsville, AL, who we have ranked #9 nationally in his class; 5'8 8th Tavon Sledge from Spring Valley, NY, who we have ranked #10 nationally in his class; 5'8 7th Grader Rasheed Sulaimon from Houston, TX, who we have ranked #11 nationally in his class; 5'11 8th Grader Anthony Collins from Houston, TX, who we have ranked #12 nationally in his class; 5'10 7th Grader Kyle Anderson from Fairlawn, NJ; who we have ranked #12 nationally in his class; 5'6 7th Grader Ricky Roberts from Arlington, TX who we have ranked #13 nationally in his class; 6'6 8th Grader Chandler Thomas from Indianapolis, IN, who we have ranked #15 nationally in his class; 6'0 8th Grader Najee Whitehead from Mt. Vernon, NY, who we have ranked #16 nationally in his class; 6'0 8th Grader Lebrent Walker from Queens, NY, who we have ranked #16 nationally in his class; 5'5 8th Grader Alvin "P.J." Boutte from Indianapolis, IN, who we have ranked #17 nationally in his class; 5'8 6th Grader Andrew Harrison from Houston, TX; who we have ranked #19 nationally his class; 5'4 7th Grader Kevin Ferrell from Indianapolis, IN, who we have ranked #24 nationally in his class; 5'9 8th Grader Jacoby Davis from Charlotte, NC, who we have ranked #25 nationally in his class; 5'11 7th Grader B.J. Jenkins from Grand Prairie, TX, who we have ranked #25 nationally in his class; 5'8 6th Grader Aaron Harrison from Houston, TX, who we have ranked #28 nationally in his class; 5'11 8th Grader Marquis "Jerrell" Rankin from Charlotte, NC, who we have ranked #33 nationally in his class; 6'0 8th Grader Marques Teague from Indianapolis, IN, who we have ranked #34 nationally in his class; 5'2 6th Grader Will Ferguson from Herndon, VA, who we have ranked #39 nationally in his class; 5'8 8th Grader Austin McBroom from Lancaster, CA, who we have ranked #42 nationally in his class; 5'11 6th Grader Derrick Griffith from Houston, TX, who we have ranked #42 nationally in his class; 4'11 6th Grader Rashad Moody from Brooklyn, NY, who we have ranked #43 nationally in his class; 6'2 8th Grader Evan Blackman from Marion, IN, who we have ranked #45 nationally in his class; 5'11 8th Grader Eric Moody from Richmond, VA, who we have ranked #47 nationally in his class; 5'9 8th Grader Deville Smith from Jackson, MS, who we have ranked #49 nationally in his class; 6'1 7th Grader Tony Solomon from Houston, who we have ranked #50 nationally in his class; 5'4 8th Grader Dwayne Brewer from Baltimore, MD, who we have ranked #60 nationally in his class; 6'3 8th Grader Julian Lewis from Galveston, TX, who we have ranked #62 nationally in his class; 5'8 6th Grader Kendal Harris from Garland, TX, who we have ranked #63 nationally in his class; 6'3 6th Grader Kyle Hall from Ft. Worth, TX, who we have ranked #71 nationally in his class; 6'2 8th Grader Marc Brown from Mansfield, TX, who we have ranked #75 nationally in his class; 5'4 6th Grader Brian Cook from Ft. Worth, TX, who we have ranked #76 nationally in his class; 5'9 6th Grader Zach Coleman from Cedar Hill, TX, who we have ranked #86 nationally in his class; 5'8 8th Grader Myles Davis from Plainfield, NJ, who we have ranked #77 nationally in his class; 6'0 6th Grader Lyndall Marshall from Ft. Worth, TX, who we have ranked #94 nationally in his class; and 6'10 8th Grader Isaiah Hill from Indianapolis, IN, who we have ranked #110 nationally in his class.   In other words, this event will be absolutely loaded, plus it looks like there is an emphasis more on quality than quantity, as the camp will be limited to only 125 8th Graders, 75 7th Graders, and 6th Graders.  However, entry is on a first come first serve basis and it's filling up fast.  So, if you or somebody you know is interested in attending this event, you'd better get in contact soon with Tim Miller, who is the camp director, as well as the Texas Editor for the HOOP SCOOP.  You can call him at 1-(214) 587-1595, fax him at 1-(214) 670-0980, email him at uselite@gmail.com, or go to his web site at www.uselitebasketball.com.  The cost is $215 up until tomorrow (January 3rd) and $250 after tomorrow.  The camp also will feature skills training with Gannon Baker, who runs the NIKE Skills Academy and is one of the most sought after skills instructors in the world; shooting with Gary Boren, who is the shooting coach for the Dallas Mavericks; speed performance with Davis Thompson, who used to be with the St. Louis Rams; and guest speaker, Chris Walker of adidas.

Monday, January 1, 2007

Now that the holiday tournament season is over this is the perfect time to update our HOOP SCOOP All-American Teams, which includes our ranking of the top 100 players nationally regardless of class and position.  However, this list does not include our top two-ranked 5th Year players - 6'6 Billy Walker from Cincinnati (North College Hill) OH and 6'8 Davon Jefferson from Venice, CA.  If you will recall, Walker has in enrolled in college at Kansas State and already has played in four games this year for the Wildcats and, to our knowledge, Jefferson is not playing this year due to the fact that he is focusing exclusively on his academic situation in an attempt to become eligible to enroll at USC, which is where he signed during the Fall Signing Period, next fall.  We also think it's interesting to point out that there are 13 5th Year Players, 60 seniors, 18 juniors, nine sophomores, and zero freshmen included on our 20 five-man All-American Teams.  In contrast, 6'9 Soph Renardo Sidney from Lakewood (Artesia) CA and 6'5 Soph Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY were included on this list a year ago when they were just freshmen.  And this is important, because it really helps illustrates just how much better nationally the sophomore class is than the freshman class.  And the same thing can be said about the senior class, as the Class of 2007 features eight great players in 6'9 Kevin Love from Lake Oswego (H.S.) OR, 6'5 O.J. Mayo from Huntington (H.S.) WV, 6'3 Eric Gordon from Indianapolis (North Central) IN, 6'3 Jerryd Bayless from Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ, 6'9 Kyle Singler from Medford (South Medford) OR, 6'8 Michael Beasley from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'8 Donte Green from Towson (Catholic) MD, and 6'3 Derrick Rose from Chicago (Simeon) IL.  In contrast, there is a big drop-off after the top three players - 6'1 Jr Brandon Jennings from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'4 Tyreke Evans from Aston (American Christian) PA, and 6'10 Greg Monroe from Gretna (Helen Cox) LA - in the junior class, which also is not nearly as good as the senior class in terms of both overall depth and size.  Did you know that the senior class has seven players - 7'0 Cole Aldrich from Bloomington (Jefferson) MN, 7'0 Kosta Koufas from Canton (Glenoak) OH, 6'11 DeAndre Jordan from Humble (Christian Life) TX, 6'11 Anthony Randolph from Dallas (Woodrow Wilson) TX, 7'1 Solomon Alabi from Montverde (Academy) FL, 6'10 Matthew-Bryan Amaning from South Kent (Prep) CT, and 6'11 Julian Vaughn from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA - on our list who are 6'10 or bigger, while the junior class only checks in with one with 6'10 Greg Monroe from Gretna (Helen Cox) LA?  It's also noteworthy that there are a number players, including 7'0 Cole Aldrich from Bloomington (Jefferson) MN, 6'9 Chandler Parsons from Winter Park (Lake Howell) FL, 6'6 Jermaine Peterson from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'5 James Harden from Lakewood (Artesia) CA, 6'9 Craig Brackins from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, 6'1 Malcolm Grant from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'5 Jr Sylvan Landesberg from Flushing (Holy Cross) FL, 6'8 Marcus Morris from Philadelphia (Prep Charter) PA, 5'10 Angelo Johnson from Simi Valley (Stoneridge) CA, 6'6 Jason Henry from Decatur (Light of the World) GA, 6'5 Jeremy Hazel from Lenoir (Patterson School) PA, 6'5 Terrance Rodrick from Philadelphia (Rise Academy) PA, 6'6 Michael Glover from Aston (American Christian) PA, and 5'11 Mitchell Fields from Houston (Inner City) TX - who have made a dramatic jump or weren't on the list at all the last time we updated this list, which was in mid-July.  And two of the biggest surprises in our rankings will probably be the fact that we have Landesberg ranked so high and 6'2 Jr Jrue Holiday from North Hollywood (Campbell Hall) CA ranked so low.  However, Landesberg, who is on our 9th Team, which makes him one of the top seven-ranked juniors in the nation, was mediocre last spring and summer, but absolutely sensational when we saw him in the IS8 Playoffs in late October, as he carried his team all the way to the semi-finals without another Division I player on his team.  Holiday is an incredible athlete and we actually were one of the first people to start talking about how good he was going to be two years ago when he was just a freshman.  But he's never done anything when I've seen him play to make me think he is one of the top three or four juniors nationally and, as a result, we have Holiday ranked no higher than on the Eleventh Team and as the #8-ranked junior in the nation.  Remember, unlike most of our competition, we ranked players the old-fashioned way, whereby, they have to earn.  We also think it is important to point out that we haven't seen Holiday as much as somebody players, like 6'1 Jr Brandon Jennings from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who we also are lot higher on than a lot of our competition.  So it is possible that we may have Holiday ranked too low, just like we did with 6'9 Kyle Singler from Medford (South Medford) OR, who is now ranked #5 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, at this time a year ago.  But, then again, we also another have a year to get it right.  In other words, our rankings, which are a reflection of what we've seen and know about, are a cumulative process and anybody who doesn't realize the younger the player the more margin for error there is just doesn't understand the process.  I also want to point out that I have not personally seen 5'11 Mitchell Fields from Houston (Inner City) TX.  Instead, he makes the list based on the fact that our Texas Editor Tim Miller thinks Fields is better than all of the outstanding senior point guards in the state, including 5'8 Jai Lucas from Houston (Bellaire) TX, 5'11 B.J. Holmes from Alief (Hastings) TX, and 5'11 John Roberson from Plano (H.S.) TX.  However, this is one where Miller had better be right, because he's already gone on record saying that he's willing to stake all his credibility and reputation on the fact that this prolific scoring who had a 40-point game earlier this month is best point guard in the nation still available .  And it's our guess that he will be, because Miller also was the first person a year ago to tell us that 7'3 Hasheem Thabett from Houston (Cypress Community Christian) TX, who signed with the University of Connecticut last spring, not only was one of the biggest sleepers in the nation, but someday was going to play in the NBA.  In other words, when Miller tells us about players we've never heard of from the Lone Star state, we've learned to listen.