TODAY'S HOT RECRUITING INFORMATION

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Monday, March 31, 2003

Since the mid-80's, the HOOP SCOOP has been second to none in terms of evaluating the top high school players in Memphis, TN.  But it wasn't until we added Andre Whitehead to our staff a year ago that we had the entire state covered like a blanket.  Whitehead not only is one of the hardest working guys in the business, but he is an excellent evaluator of talent and he has tremendous contacts in Eastern part of the state, which means he's the perfect complement to our Tennessee Editor Jim Rothman, who not only is one of the best in the business, but also the big reason why we've always been so strong in the Mid-South.  Obviously this explains why our Tennessee Report, which was published today, is second to none.  Rothman provides his expert analysis about each the top players in the state and together Whitehead and Rothman provide us with a list that includes the top 107 seniors, top 88 juniors, top 61 sophomores, and top 30 freshmen all ranked in order, which can be found by clicking on Whitehead & Rothman Rank 'Em:  The Top High School Players in Tennessee.  We also are very close to publishing our California Report; we're still waiting for our  Linzy Davis to make some final changes to his Georgia Report, and during the NCAA Final Four we expect to receive a finalized copy of the latest New York City Report from Ron Naclerio, which means that report should be published within the next two weeks.  We also have published reports from Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey, Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio earlier this year and from Washington, DC Area and North Carolina/South Carolina last fall and we plan to publish New England, Florida, Louisiana/Alabama/Mississippi, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa/Kansas/Missouri/Nebraska/Oklahoma, and Texas Reports between now and the start of the summer.  And, if that weren't enough, we also plan to attend either the Boo Williams Invitational Tournament in Hampton, VA, April 11th-13th, or the Executive Inn East/West All-Star Game in Louisville, KY, April 12th; the Las Vegas Easter Classic in Las Vegas, NV, April 17th-20th; the Kingwood Classic in Houston, TX, April 25th-27th; Spiece Run'N Slam in Ft. Wayne, IN, May 1st-3rd; the IS8 Playoffs in Jamaica, NY, May 15th-16th; Five-Star Hoop Classic in Boston, MA, May 17th-18th; Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions in Chapel Hill, NC, May 23rd-24th; the NIKE Memorial Day Classic in Bloomington, IN, May 25th-26th; Pangos All-American Camp in Los Angeles, CA, May 30th-June 1st; Five-Star Basketball Camp at Hampden-Sidney College in Hampden-Sidney, VA, June 15th-16th; and the NBA Players Association Camp in Richmond, VA, June 17th-21st.  Obviously this is subject to change, but this is just our what we have in store prior to the start of the Summer Evaluation Period in July.  In other words, while most of the people watching the NCAA Tournament are turning their attention to other things, we're getting a head start on the future.  Maybe we should even write a book.  We could call it "A Real Season Inside."  If you will recall, John Feinstein wrote "A Season Inside," which starts off with Danny Manning getting the rebound in the final seconds of the 1988 NCAA Championship Game and retraces the entire season.  The book that I may write somebody will also begin the night of the NCAA Championship, but the season I plan to focus on will begin the next day and eight months will go by before a college basketball game is played.  Instead, the focus will be on recruiting, the camps and tournaments, and the all the other behind the scenes things that annually give us such incredible insight and, as a result, allow us to start way out in front of most of our competition.  

The HOOP SCOOP has confirmed that 6'10 Justin Williams from Kankakee (JC) IL, who was ranked as the #3 Center by Rick Ball in the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook, has verbally committed to Kansas State.  Not only does this give Wildcats head coach Jim Woolridge a pair of outstanding junior college players who are capable of stepping in and filling the void that will be created by the graduation of 6'9 Sr Pervis Pasco and 6'8 Sr Matt Siebrandt this spring, but it moves Kansas State's recruiting class up to #1 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Remember, the Wildcats landed their third consecutive top 20-ranked recruiting class last fall when they signed 5'7 Dez Willingham from DeSota (H.S.) TX, 6'8 Jeremiah Massey from Oxnard (JC) CA, 6'8 Cartier Martin from Aldine (Nimitz) TX, 6'4 Lance Harris from Columbia (Hickman) MO, and 6'10 Tyler Hughes from Olathe (North Olathe) KS.  And Willingham, who is ranked #35 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, promises to be the perfect back-up to 6'2 Jr Frank Richards next year and then has the talent to emerge into one of the best point guards in the league after Richards graduates.  And the Wildcats also should be excellent out on the perimeter, as 6'3 Jr Tim Ellis, 6'4 Jr Jarrett Hart, and 6'6 Jr Janerio Spurlock all return, plus 6'8 Cartier Martin from Aldine (Nimitz) KS, who is ranked #57 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has the talent, athleticism, and outside shooting necessary to challenge for a starting spot as a freshman and 6'7 Marques Hayden, who averaged 7.0 ppg and 4.5 rpg as a freshman this year, should contribute even more inside next year.  Sure, Kansas State finished only 13-17 overall and 4-12 in the league this season, but they lost 10 of those games by eight points or less and they did this against teams in the toughest league in college basketball.  In other words, next year is put up or shut up time for the Wildcats, because their top eight players are good enough to play for almost anybody in the country and, as a result, we should be talking about one of the most improved teams in college basketball at this time a year from now.  One of the biggest sleepers to emerge in college basketball this year was Butler, which knocked off Mississippi State and Louisville in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, and it looks like this trend will likely continue, because the Bulldogs landed three players in 6'5 Nick Brooks from Robinson (H.S.) IL, 6'11 James Smalligan form Grand Rapids (East) MI, and 6'5 Brandon Crone from Frankfort (H.S.) IN last fall and now they have gotten a verbal commitment from 6'7 Brian Ligon from St. Petersburg (Lakewood) FL.  In other words, we're talking about four players who figure to make an immediate impact next year, including Brooks, who is ranked #71 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but is overlooked by most of our competitors, because he's an undersized slasher/athlete who puts up prolific numbers in transition.  Ligon also is a little on the undersized side, but we're talking about a skilled power forward who can score around the basket and is tough on the boards.   Thus, explains why Butler's recruiting class has moved into a tie at #57, along with Princeton, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   It also explains why Butler assistant coach Jeff Meyer is ranked #11 on our list of the top assistant coaches at the mid-to-low Division I level.  And just like Kansas State assistant coach Charles Baker, who has played a pivotal role in landing all the players we've mentioned above, you can bet that Meyer's star will continue to rise.

We are starting to hear Marquette head coach Tom Crean's name being mentioned for Georgia, but our guess is that he will hold out in case something better opens, like Kentucky, Illinois, or Michigan State.   Remember, Crean really likes it at Marquette and, as a result, he's not just going to take any job.  However, Crean already is extremely well connected in terms of recruiting in Illinois, we already mentioned his qualifications for Kentucky on Saturday, and he was an assistant coach at Michigan State when the Spartans won the 2000 NCAA Championship. And that's always been Crean's dream job.  The other top candidates for Georgia appear to be Indiana University head coach Mike Davis, former Chicago Bulls head coach Tim Floyd, former Atlanta Hawks head coach Lon Kruger, and Western Kentucky head coach Dennis Felton.  It appears that Floyd has turned down Clemson and, as a result, that list has started to expand, as the latest names we're hearing to replace Larry Shyatt at the helm of the Tigers are Davis, Chattanooga head coach Jeff Lebo, and Richmond head coach Jerry Wainwright.  However, we still think the smart money is on Oklahoma State assistant coach Sean Sutton.  We also hear that the NCAA is looking to alleged recruiting violations at Rhode Island that date back to the Jim Harrick era and, as a result, current Rams head coach Jim Baron suddenly is the leading candidate for the Virginia Tech job.  As a matter of fact, we hear that Barron could be named as the head coach of the Hokies as soon as tomorrow.  And, if that happens, the two obvious names for Rhode Island are Holy Cross head coach Ralph Willard and Boston University head coach Dennis Wolff.  But we think they both can do better, if they are patient.  The two leading candidates for Wright State appear to be Ohio State assistant coach Paul Biancardi and Pittsburgh assistant coach Jamie Dixon, but we're also starting to hear Winthrop head coach Gregg Marshall and North Carolina assistant coach Doug Wojcik.  We're still believe that Michigan State assistant coach Brian Gregory is the leading candidate for Illinois State, but they ultimately will do just as well, if they hire Biancardi, Dixon, or Michigan assistant coach Charles Ramsey, who now appear to be the leading candidates for job. Remember, Gregory already makes comparable money at Michigan State.  Pittsburgh head coach Ben Howland interviewed for UCLA yesterday and, by all indications, it's his job, if he wants it.  And assuming we're right, our guess is that Pittsburgh will be N.C. State head coach Herb Sendek's job if he wants it, which could cause a ripple effect, whereby, Providence head coach Tim Welch takes N.C. State and Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez takes Providence.  However, if Sendek doesn't want to return to his hometown, then Gonzalez will probably become the next head coach of the Panthers.  We're also hearing that Pennsylvania head coach Fran Dunphy is the leading candidate for Penn State and we think that would be a perfect fit.  Not only is Dunphy a great coach, but he portrays the Ivy League-like image that makes him attractive to Nittany Lion fans and he has proven he not only can recruit in the Philadelphia area, but also nationally.  Former NBA star Kareem Abdul Jabbar, former Duke All-American, and Catholic University head coach Mike Lonergan have already interviewed for the Columbia job, but Iona assistant coach Tony Chiles, Pennsylvania assistant coach Gil Jackson, George Mason assistant coach Mike Gillian, Northwestern assistant coach Paul Lee, and former Rutgers head coach Kevin Bannon are also on the list. 

Sunday, March 30, 2003

It is being reported that the University of Georgia plans to deny the requests from 6'9 Mohamed Abukar from San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) CA, who is ranked #62 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'4 Jordan Howell from Madison (Jones) AL, who is ranked #238 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, both of whom are seeking their releases from the National Letters-of-Intent that they signed with the Bulldogs last fall.  Normally this would mean that Abukar and Howell would both have to sit out two years, if they transferred to another Division I school.  However, due to the fact that Georgia head coach Jim Harrick was forced to resign amid allegations of illegal payments and academic fraud, the smart money says that when these players make an appeal to the Southeastern Conference office, which administers the National Letter-of-Intent, they will win and, as a result, be allowed to transfer to any school in the nation and be eligible to play immediately.  And making the story even more interesting is the fact that one of the schools right at the top of Abukar's list is the University of Kentucky.  And, if the Wildcats were to get Abukar and 6'11 Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, who is ranked #60 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, then we think it would be a lot more difficult for Wildcats head coach Tubby Smith to take either the Charlotte Hornets job or the Philadelphia 76ers job, if either are both are offered to him this spring.  Remember, if 6'9 Sr Marquis Estill, who was a Prop 48 casuality his first year at Kentucky, doesn't graduate on time this spring and petition for another year of eligibility, as things stand now, the tallest players the Wildcats will have in the program next year will be 6'8 Jr Erik Daniels, 6'6 Soph Chuck Hayes, 6'8 Sheray Thomas from Upper Marlboro (Riverdale Baptist) MD, and 6'7 Bobby Perry from Durham (Hillcrest) NC.  Kentucky also is still being mentioned for 6'10 Alexander Johnson from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME and 6'11 James Lang from Birmingham (Central Park Christian) AL, but we don't think the Wildcats will sign either player this spring.   The word we're getting is that the Southeastern Conference has ruled that no school in the league can take Johnson due to questions regarding his transcript.  So obviously that would eliminate both Georgia and Kentucky.  We've thought for months that Lang wouldn't make it academically and, as a result, would probably just end up putting his name into the NBA Draft this spring.  And his 15-point/10-rebound/7-8 field goal performance four days ago in the McDonald's All-American Game probably propelled him in that direction even further.  We also understand that 6'8 Dennis Latimore, who is transferring from Arizona, is planning on enrolling at the University of Minnesota.  Apparently at least part of the connection is the friendship that Latimore developed with Golden Gophers star Rick Rickert when they were both in high school and being recruited by the Arizona.  This also is worth noting, because it probably means that Rickert, who is expected to be the best player in the Big-10 Conference next year, if he doesn't go hardship into the NBA Draft this spring, will probably be back for at least another year.  Roy Schmidt of the Illinois Bulls-eye Report tells us that 6'5 Florentino Valencia from Chicago (Crane) IL, who has made a verbal commitment to the University of Toledo.  What a steal!  Sure, Valencia is a 6'5 undersized power forward, but he's one of our favorite players, because he doesn't take any prisoners inside and everytime we see him he outplays his bigger and supposedly more talented teammate - 6'8 Lorenzo Thompson, who signed last fall with DePaul.  Thus, explains why we have Valencia ranked #9 versus Thompson, who checks in at #13 in our rankings of the top seniors in the state, which can be found by clicking on Illinois Report.   Schmidt also tells us that the leading candidates for the Illinois State job appear to be Weber State head coach Joe Cravens, Pittsburgh assistant coach Jamie Dixon, Michigan State assistant coach Brian Gregory, and Brian James, who is an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards and was Chris Collins' high school coach.  Our guess is that Schmidt is pushing Gregory for the job.  We also understand that University of Florida assistant coach Donnie Jones may now be the leader for the Murray State job and that former UAB head coach Murry Bartow and UNLV assistant coach Derek Thomas are the leading candidates for the Western Illinois job.  We also believe Thomas is one of the favorites for the Cleveland State job, along with Louisville assistant coach Vince Taylor, Michigan assistant coach Charles Ramsey, Michigan State assistant coach Mike Garland, and Rutgers assistant coach Kevin Heck.  Heck's name is especially interesting, because it appears he has a connection with the athletic director at Cleveland State dating back to the Gary Waters era at Eastern Michigan and, thus, explains the strong Michigan ties in terms of who might get hired as the next head coach of the Vikings. 

Saturday, March 29, 2003

A quick look at the HOOP SCOOP's 2002-2003 Pre-Season Top 30 College Teams shows that our #1-ranked pre-season college team (Arizona), our #2-ranked pre-season college team (Oklahoma), our #3-ranked pre-season college team (Kansas), our #4-ranked pre-season college team (Michigan State), and our #5-ranked pre-season college team (Texas) are all still playing in the Elite Eight of this year's NCAA Tournament.  We also had Kentucky ranked higher than anybody, except Basketball News, which had the Wildcats ranked #9 pre-season, and we had Marquette ranked higher than anybody in our 2002-2003 Pre-Season College Team Ranking Comparison, which included the HOOP SCOOP, the Associated Press, USA Today/EPSN, the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook, Basketball Times, Street & Smith, Lindy's, the Blue Ribbon Yearbook, and Basketball News.  We did miss on Syracuse, but so did most people, as the highest the Orangemen were ranked was #26 by the Sporting News.  We also had Louisville, which was the hottest team in the nation during a month-and-a-half of the regular season, ranked #10; Connecticut, which took Texas right to the wire in the Sweet 16 last night, ranked #11; and Oklahoma State, which had one of the longest winning streaks in the nation earlier in the season and got knocked off by Syracuse in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, ranked #19; all higher than anybody else.  A quick look at the HOOP SCOOP's 2002-2003 Pre-Season College All-American Teams also shows that our pre-season National Player-of-the-Year choice was Texas' T.J. Ford.   We also look pretty good on our Sweet 16 picks that we made on this web site on Selection Sunday two weeks ago, as we got all four teams (Texas Connecticut, Michigan State, and Maryland) right in the South Regional and three of the four teams right in both Midwest Regional and the West Regional and we might have been four-for-four in both, if we hadn't gone out on a limb and picked Holy Cross to upset Marquette in the Midwest Regional and Wisconsin-Milwaukee to upset Notre Dame in the West Regional.  All four of our NCAA Final Four teams (Kentucky, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas) also are still alive, but just think about the possibilities for Marquette head coach Tom Crean, if the Golden Eagles knock off the Wildcats later today.  Up until now Crean's name hasn't been mentioned for any jobs this spring, but a good showing today might just make Crean one of the leading candidates for the Kentucky job, if Wildcats head coach Tubby Smith moves onto the NBA.  Remember, Crean, who used to be assistant coach at Western Kentucky, has roots in the Bluegrass, as is evident by the fact that his father-in-law is former Western Kentucky head football coach Jack Harbaugh, plus Crean has beaten Louisville four of the five times he's gone head-to-head against Rick Pitino.  Getting back to Smith, who was named National Coach-of-the-Year by the HOOP SCOOP earlier this week, we continue to hear his name mentioned for the Philadelphia 76ers, if Larry Brown gets the North Carolina job, but the smart money appears to be on the new franchise in Charlotte, NC.  If you will recall, Smith was raised on a small farm in rural Southern Maryland, which means that would be like going home for Smith.  However, regardless of whether Smith stays at Kentucky or takes a pro job, he obviously is the hottest coach in the business at any level in the game today.  As a matter of fact, our "Question of the Day" from Wednesday, March 19th, shows that 31% of those responding think that Smith is the best college coach in the country, ahead of Duke's Mike Krzyzewski with 22% of the vote, Louisville's Rick Pitino with 19% of the vote, and Texas Tech's Bob Knight with 11%.  However, if Brown takes the North Carolina job, he'd be my choice.  As a matter of fact, I think Brown has been the best coach in basketball at any level for a number of years now.   In other words, if Brown gets the North Carolina job, that not only would be great for the Tar Heels, but it would be great for college basketball general!

Friday, March 28, 2003

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson thinks Duquesne has hit the jackpot, because 6'4 Martin Osimani from Miami Dade (JC) FL has verbally committed to the Dukes.  Osimani played in all 28 games and averaged 1.2 ppg at the University of Utah as a freshman during the 2001-02 season, but that doesn't begin to tell the story about this point guard with size who has excelled while playing for the both the Junior National and Senior National teams in Uruguay in recent years.  Osimani, who played in high school at Hiahleah (Champagnat) FL, also was the best player on Team Breakdown, which won the Spiece Run'N-Slam in West Lafayette, IN in May of 2000 and he played high school basketball at Hialeah (Champagnat) FL.  Osimani is a strong physical athlete guard with excellent passing skills, good ball handling skills and the ability to beat his man off the dribble, which means he's tailor made to step in and not only solve Duquesne's point guard problems, but be the piece to the puzzle that Dukes head coach Danny Nee needs to turn things around after going 9-19 and 10-20 during his first two years at this Atlantic-10 school.  In other words, Osimani should provide the perfect complement to the four starters - Jimmy Tricco, Ron Dokes, Elijah Palmer, and Simplice Njoya - who are expected to return next year and, as a result, Duquesne could be one of the most improved teams in the league.  This moves Duquesne's recruiting class, which also includes 6'9 Sean McKeon from Phoenixville (H.S.) PA and 6'10 Kieron Achara from Pittsfield (Maine Central Instiute) ME, into a tie at #106, along with Lamar, Colorado, Ball State, Hampton, Chattanooga, San Diego, Georgia Southern, Bradley, Bowling Green, and La Salle, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Vince Baldwin of Michigan Prep Spotlight soon will be taking over for Steve Bell as the Michigan Editor of the HOOP SCOOP and, as a result, he provides us with a sneak preview of the way he ranks the top five juniors in the state, as well as something about the recruiting for the two players who are unsigned.  At the top of Baldwin's list is Michigan-bound 6'3 Jr Joe Crawford from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, followed in order by 6'7 Jr Malik Hairston from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, Michigan State-bound 6'7 Jr Marquise Gray from Flint (Beecher) MI, 6'8 Jr Al Horford from Grand Ledge (H.S.) MI, and Michigan-bound 6'6 Jr Ron Coleman from Romulus (H.S.) MI.  Hairston's top three schools are Ohio State, Michigan State, and Pittsburgh, but that last one could change to UCLA, if Panther head coach Ben Howland becomes the next coach of the Bruins.  Horford's list includes Ohio State, Michigan State, Xavier, Marquette, and Miami-FL.  Jim Hicks of the Recruiter's Cheat Sheet tells us that Indiana, St. John's, and Oklahoma are the favorites for 6'9 Tyler Jones from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX.  In case you've forgotten, Jones, who signed with Colorado a year ago, was ranked #242 nationally as a high school senior at Denver (Manual) CO.  So we're talking about a 5th year player who is a raw physical athlete that is tough on the boards, plays hard, and has a major upside.  Hicks also confirms the fact that 6'1 Carlos Hurt from Wabash Valley (JC) IL is a near lock for Texas A&M and, assuming that he's right, then the Aggies recruiting class, which currently is tied at #62, along with Miami-OH and Western Kentucky, and includes 6'4 LaKeith Blanks from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 6'8 Marlon Pompey from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'2 Acie Law from Dallas (Kimball) TX, and 6'4 Justin Loewe from Caldwell (H.S.) TX, would move into a tie at #28, along with Arizona State, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Lavel Johnson, who is the Mississippi Editor for both the HOOP SCOOP and MidSouth-Hoops.Com, provides us with a list for 6'9 Jr Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS, which includes Mississippi State, Alabama, Arkansas, LSU, and Florida State.  Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, and Connecticut are all showing interest in 6'3 Jr Bobby Clark from Jackson (Lanier) MS.  The early favorites for 6'6 Soph Tyler Smith from Pulaski (Giles County) TN appear to be Tennessee, Louisville, and Ohio State.   

Thursday, March 27, 2003

It looks like the inevitable finally happened to Jim Harrick, who was forced to resign today by the University of Georgia, and already, right at the top of the list, which also includes Western Kentucky head coach Dennis Felton, Boston College head coach Al Skinner, Dayton head coach Oliver Purnell, former Chicago Bulls head coach Tim Floyd, and former Atlanta Hawks head coach Lon Kruger, to replace Harrick is Indiana University head coach Mike Davis.  Not only would Davis be a much better fit in Athens, GA than he is in Bloomington, IN, but in the Southeastern Conference, he'd be able to recruit like crazy.  And if Davis left Indiana, Iowa head coach Steve Alford, who is one of the all-time favorite players in Indiana basketball history would be a perfect fit for the Hoosiers.  And if that happens, you can almost bet that several things will happen.  First, 6'6 Jr J.R. Angle from Trafalgar (Indian Creek) IN, who made an early verbal commitment to Iowa a year ago, would renege on the Hawkeyes and, instead, follow Alford to Indiana.  Second, 6'11 Soph Zuke Zeiller from Washington (H.S.) IN, who is ranked #10 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, suddenly would become a near lock for Indiana, instead of Iowa.  Did you now that Alford's father, Sam Alford, is from Washington, IN?  Third, Alford will hire former Wright State head coach Ed Schilling.  Not only have the Alford and Schilling families been close for decades, but Schilling used to be the head coach at Logansport (H.S.) IN and, as a result, he knows all the high school coaches in the state.  As a matter of fact, Schilling was able to take advantage of some of those contacts when he landed 6'8 Matt Webster from Westfield (H.S.) IN and 6'1 Todd Abernathy from Indianapolis (Heritage Christian) IN at Wright State last fall.  And, if Alford moves to Indiana, you can almost bet that Creighton head coach Dana Altman, whose dream job is Iowa, will probably become the next head coach of the Hawkeyes and either Arkansas-Little Rock head coach Porter Moser or Creighton assistant coach Greg Grensing will fill the void created by the departure of Altman at Creighton.  However, the hottest rumor we've heard today involves the University of North Carolina, which is supposed to announce next Tuesday that Tar Heels head coach Matt Dougherty will receive a $2.5 millon buy-out on the final four years of his contract and that both Kansas head coach Roy Williams and Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown will accept the job, if it is offered.  If Brown, gets the job, then it will be very interesting to see whether University of Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith takes the Philadelphia 76ers or remains with the Wildcats.  If Williams gets the North Carolina job, then the leading candidate for Kansas will likely be Illinois head coach Bill Self and you can bet his first recruit will be 6'9 Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ.  If you will recall, Villanueva verbally committed to Illinois last fall, but he never signed a National Letter-of-Intent.  We also have heard rumors about Villanueva reneging on Illinois and signing with Connecticut in the spring.  Apparently people in New York City still can't believe that Villanueva would want to go that far from home.  Another possible scenerio will be for Georgia to jump back into the Villanueva sweepstakes, if Davis gets the job and Self leaves.  Remember, Indiana finished strong in the Villanueva sweepstakes the first time around.  However, if Self stays at Illinois, we'd be surprised if Villanueva goes anywhere, except maybe the NBA.  As a matter of fact, our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio thinks that Villanueva will by-pass college and go straight to The League, if he thinks he's going to be a first round pick.  And, if Self does take another job this spring (you can bet he'll also be on top of the list for Kentucky if Smith leaves), then the obvious candidate for the University of Illinois would be former Chicago Bulls head coach Tim Floyd.  However, earlier this week Floyd interviewed for both the Penn State and Clemson jobs.  Speaking Clemson, we hear that Floyd was offered the job today, but we'd be surprised if he took it.  We also continue to hear Purnell, Felton, Maryland assistant coach Dave Dickerson, Louisiana-Lafayette head coach Jessie Evans, former North Carolina assistant coach Phil Ford,  mentioned for Clemson, but the smart money is on Oklahoma State assistant coach Sean Sutton.   Not only is Sutton widely regarded as one of the top up-and-coming guys in the business, but his father is extremely close to the athletic director Clemson.  As a matter of fact, Tigers athletic director Terry Don Phillips previously was the athletic director at Oklahoma State.  However, we do think Floyd will think long and hard about taking the Penn State job.  The word we get is that they're talking in the neighborhood of $900,000, plus incentives.  But, if Floyd decides to wait, then Pennsylvania head coach Fran Dunphy, Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron, East Tennessee State head coach Ed DeChellis, and Chattanooga head coach Jeff Lebo would be the leading candidates for Penn State.  Speaking of Lebo, we were right about him not taking Virginia Tech, as earlier this week he turned down the job.  Instead, New Mexico head coach Fran Fraschilla, Western Michigan head coach Rob McCullum, and Northeastern head coach Ron Everhart appear to be the leading candidates to replace Ricky Stokes at the helm of the Hokies.  Fraschilla already has Big East head coaching experience dating back to his days at St. John's, McCullum is tight with the athletic director, and Everhart is a former player and alumnus of the school.  We also were glad to see that Ricardo Patton is getting a four-year extension on his contract at Colorado and that former Wisconsin head coach Dick Bennett appears to be on the verge of getting the Washington State job.  Assuming that this does become official, look for Bennett's son, Wisconsin assistant coach Tony Bennett, to become his top assistant coach, as well as the heir apparent for the job.  We also hear that Michigan State assistant coach Mike Garland is now the leading candidate for Wright State, although he's in pretty fast company as three of the HOOP SCOOP's top 10 assistant coaches (Ohio State's Paul Biancardi, Louisville's Mick Cronin, and Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon) are also in the running for this job.  Biancardi also is believed to be one of the leaders, along with Michigan State assistant coach Brian Gregory, for the Illinois State job.   However, our guess is that Gregory, who is ranked #4 on our list of the top assistant coaches will turn it down, just like he did a year ago with the DePaul and Bradley jobs.  The word we get is that Illinois State only will pay $225,000 per year and Gregory is almost making that now at Michigan State.

It comes as no surprise that 6'7 LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH, who is the consensus #1-ranked high school player in the nation, as well as one of the best high school players in the history of the game, attracted a record breaking 18,728 crowd for the McDonald's All-American Game last night in Cleveland, OH and he made it look easy with a 27-point, seven-rebound, seven-assist MVP-performance.  And, if James, whose 27 points ties him for 6th behind Jonathan Bender (31 points in 1999), Michael Jordan (30 points in 1981), Eddy Curry (28 points in 2001), Paul Pierce (28 points in 1995), and Chris Webber (28 points in 1991) and along with Jerry Stackhouse (27 and 1993), and John Williams (27 points in 1983) on the game's all-time scoring list, hadn't come up emtpy (0-5 3-pointers) from beyond the arc, there is no question he would have re-written the scoring record.  But James, who also is an incredible passer and team player, had plenty of help, as 6'10 James Lang from Birmingham (Central Park Christian) AL, 6'9 Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, 5'7 Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, 6'3 Mustafa Shakur from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA, 6'9 Travis Outlaw from Starkville (H.S.) MS, and 6'0 Chris Paul from West Forsyth (Clemmons) NC all made important contributions, as the East Squad jumped out early and never looked back as they coasted to a 122-107 victory over the West Squad, which was led by 6'3 Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, 6'8 Leon Powe from Oakland (Tech) CA, 6'8 Kris Humphries from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN, and 6'6 J.R. Giddens from Oklahoma City (John Marshall) OK.   Brown, who easily was the second best player in the game, did a little bit of everything, as he scored 23 points, grabbed three rebounds, dished out three assists, hit 9-17 field goals and 2-5 3-pointers, and came up with a pair of steals.  Lang finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and was 7-8 from the field, but he also impressed us with his great hands, passing ability, and mobility for somebody his size.  Villanueva apparently was upset about playing out of position (he thinks he's a three), but he should be thankful that he had James on his team, because he was the recipient of a number of great passes that he used to bring the house down with earth shattering slam dunks.  Powe, who finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, did most of his damage inside, as he was unstoppable on the offensive boards.  Giddens not only was one of the best athletes in the game, but he was the best 3-point shooter, as he hit 3-6 trifectas en route to 16 points and seven rebounds.  Humphries didn't take any prisoners inside, as he used his athleticism, strength, and skills to score most of his 16 points.  However, 7-16 field goals and six turnovers keeps Humphries from being ranked ahead of James, Brown, Lang, Villanueva, and Powe, who were our top six players in the game.  Lavender got most of his 11 points and five assists early, but he helped set the tone of the game with several big shots and key passes.  The same also can be said about Shakur, as he scored seven of his nine points in the first half.   Paul only scored four points in the game, but 10 assists and four steals made him the unsung hero.  Outlaw also impressed us with his athleticism and highlight film-like dunks in transition.  We also need to mention 6'4 Michael Jones from Braintree (Thayer Academy) MA, who finished with 13 points, three assists, and three steals; 6'8 Brandon Bass from Baton Rouge (Capitol) LA, who apparently was much better during the week in practice, but still managed to score 14 points and block three shots in the game; and 5'10 Aaron Brooks from Seattle (Franklin) WA, who didn't shoot the ball well (2-8 field goals), but impressed us with his floor game, which included four assists and two steals.  The biggest disappointments were 6'10 Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX, 6'10 Kendrick Perkins from Beaumont (Ozen) TX, and 6'0 Brandon Cotton from Detroit (St. Martin DePorres) MI.  Ebi, who finished with 11 points and five rebounds, apparently picked up where he left off last summer when he went through the motions at the NIKE All-American Camp.  Perkins, who was a non-factor in the game, as he finished with six points and five rebounds, needs to stop talking about by-passing college and going to straight to the NBA.  Cotton is a scoring point guard, but 0-5 field goals and only one point in the game tells it all.   It was status quo for 6'4 Vakeaton Wafer from Cleveland (Heritage Chrisitan) TX, who impressed everybody with several impressive dunks and his athleticism.   However, we never got a chance to see what Wafer does best (put up prolific numbers), as he hit only 1-2 3-pointers and finished with eight points.  7'0 Brian Butch from Appleton (West) WI hit 3-4 field goals and deserves an "A" for effort, but he's not athletic enough nor big and strong enough to thrive in this type of setting.  We also have to give credit to 6'8 Ivan Harris from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who only had two points, but took care of business inside with eight rebounds.  Which brings us to 6'10 Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS, who was the only player really missing in action in the game, as he went 0-4 from the field en route to zero points and three rebounds.

We have not confirmed whether 6'8 Linas Kleiza from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, who is ranked #21 nationally in the senior class, has officially announced that he will sign with the University of Missouri this sign, but we do know that he made the decision on Tuesday and, as a result, Kleiza was supposed to have informed the other schools that were involved yesterday.  In other words, all we're waiting for is the press conference.  This not only is huge, because Kleiza is the top player in the senior class nationally who was still available, but also because it moves Missouri's recruiting class, which also includes 6'5 Thomas Gardner from Portland (Jefferson) OR, 6'9 Ousmane Konate from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, and 6'1 Spencer Laurie from Springfield (Kickapoo) MO, into a tie at #5, along with Oklahoma Arkansas, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   It also means that the Big-12 Conference, which arguably already is the best conference in college basketball today, has five of the top 13 recruiting classes, as Oklahoma and Missouri are tied at #5, Kansas is #8, Kansas State is #12, and Texas Tech is #13.  However, it doesn't do anything to help Tigers assistant coach Tony Harvey, who is already recognized as one of the best recruiters in the nation.   Instead, the credit on this one goes to assistant coach Lane Odom, as it is obvious that once again the Odom family's Lithuania connections are tough to beat.  Further evidence of this fact is provided by the fact Montrose Christian head coach Stu Vetter has a history of sending his players to Atlantic Coast Conference schools.  But, this time, schools like Virginia, Florida State, and N.C. State, were unable to take advantage of Vetter's strong ACC ties.  We also received word yesterday, while driving to Cleveland, OH to watch the McDonald's All-American Game last night, that Loyola-Illinois had received a verbal commitment from 6'8 Blake Schilb from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, who is ranked #29 nationally on our 5th year list.  And this is big for a number of reasons.  First, Schilb has been one of our favorite players since we first saw him a year ago while playing for the Ft. Sooy AAU team.  Not only does he have the body, athleticism, ability to score around the basket, and toughness on the boards necessary to get it done against bigger guys inside, but he also has the outside shooting touch and versatile necessary to develop into a wing forward down the road.  Second, Schilb had schools like Bradley, Manhattan, College of Charleston, and Southern California on hist list, but he decided to return home,  Originally Schilb is from Rantoul (H.S.) IL, which means that Loyola-Illinois continues to get stronger and stronger in terms of recruiting in their own backyard.  Third, it provides just one more illustration of why we think Ramblers assistant coach Scott Spinelli is one of the bright up-and-coming young guys in the business and, as a result, appears to be ideally suited for a mid-major head coaching job at someplace like Western Illinois or to move into an assistant coaching job at the high Division I level.  This also is reflected in the fact that Loyola-Illinois' recruiting class moves into a tie at #77, along with George Mason, Marquette, Wright State, Hawaii, and Mississippi, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   Fourth, it Loyola-Illinois into an even better position to compete with the top teams in the league like Butler, which knocked off Louisville in the second round of the NCAA last weekend; Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which had a chance to beat Notre Dame in the final second of their game in the first round of the NCAA Tournament a week ago; and Detroit, which is always one of the top teams in the league.  We also have confirmed via our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis that 6'1 Eric Lane from Bellflower (St. John Bosco) CA has verbally committed to Boise State and 5'10 Kevin Houston from San Bernardino (San Gorgonio) CA has verbally committed to Long Beach State.  Lane, who is ranked #38 in the senior class in California by Trigonis, is an excellent catch, but Houston, who is ranked #100 in the senior by Trigonis, is not good enough to move Long Beach State in the conference standings next year.  Remember, the 49ers were 4-14 in the Big West Conference and 5-22 overall this season.  The legendary Howard Garfinkel was impressed last night when we told him about the verbal commitment that 6'8 Obadiah Toppin from Globe Tech (JC) NY had made to Manhattan yesterday.  "Toppin has a nice touch, runs the court, rebounds, posts-up, faces the basket, and plays hard," says Garfinkel.  We're also talking about the 5th leading scorer in the junior college ranks and somebody who is versatile enough to do it all.  In other words, Toppin is an absolute steal at the mid-major level, plus he would be ranked among our top 100 nationally, if he was a high school senior.  Obviously this explains why schools like Wright State, Cleveland State, Fordham, Drexel, Seton Hall, and Syracuse all had shown varying degrees of interest.  Toppin's commitment moves Manhattan's recruiting class into, which also includes 6'6 Christano Johnson from Laurinburg (Scotland) NC and 6'8 Okty Yilmaz from Winchendon (School) MA, into a tie at #77, along with George Mason, Loyola-Illinois, Marquette, Wright State, Hawaii, and Mississippi, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   However, if Jaspers head coach Bobby Gonzalez moves onto a higher level school, like Pittsburgh, Providence, or Florida, then Toppin would be free to follow the coach, because he has not signed a National Letter-of-Intent. 

Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Imagine not only to having to follow in the footsteps of a legend, but then having the legend come back and coach at the program that is your biggest rival.  Well, that's exactly what happened to University of Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith two years ago.  And that's not the only adversity that Smith has had to overcome.  If you will recall, Smith got a lot of heat from Kentucky fans when he started his son, Saul Smith, during the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 seasons and a year ago was the toughest season of Smith's career, as there were numerous player suspensions, the team lacked chemistry, and they underachieved (at least by Kentucky fans' standards), as the Wildcats finished 22-10. Gone from that team are Tayshaun Prince and J.P. Blevins via graduation and Rashaad Carruth and Adam Chiles, both of whom were encouraged to transfer last spring.  Jason Parker also was forced to leave last fall and Antwain Barbour was injured prior to the start of the season, which explains why the Wildcats got off to such a slow start this season, as they lost an exhibition game to Team NIKE, to Virginia in the Maui Invitational, to Michigan State at home in early December, and Louisville on the road in late December.  However, since that 18-point loss to the Cardinals, the Wildcats have been nothing short of spectacular.  Not only did they go undefeated (16-0) during the regular season in the Southeastern Conference, but they have coasted through the Southeastern Conference Post-Season Tournament and the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.  As things stand now, Kentucky has won 25 straight games, they are 31-3 on the season, and they are the odds-on-favorite to win the NCAA Championship 12 days from now.  We're talking about a team that has developed outstanding chemistry, plays great defense, and shoots the ball surpringly well.  We're also talking about a team with only one McDonald's All-American in Keith Bogans and a talent rating that ranks #10 nationally among all Division I schools.  In other words, the Wildcats were good to start with, but they still have more than lived up to expectations, as they've emerged as perhaps the most dominant college basketball teams we've seen since the 1996 Kentucky team.  Obviously the players deserve a lot of credit for this unbelieveable turnaround, but there is no question that it wouldn't have been possible if they hadn't bought into Smith's system.  So, with all this in mind, we think it is safe to say that few coaches in college basketball history are more deserving of National Coach-of-the-Year honors than Tubby Smith does this year.  As a matter of fact, regardless of whether the Wildcats win or lose the rest of the way, Smith is the HOOP SCOOP's choice for National Coach-of-the-Year.  And, if the trend continues, it could be the unanimous (so far Smith has won every National Coach-of-the-Year award that's been given to-date and only somebody who is totally out-to-lunch or with a political agenda would pick somebody else for this prestigious honor).  And win or loss in his quest to win his second NCAA Championship during his six-year stint at the University of Kentucky, Smith appears to be well on his towards becoming on of the legendary coaches in the history of the game.  Smith not only has one NCAA Championship and the longest winning streak in college basketball in years, but no active coach today has more wins in less time than Smith does (287 wins in 12 years as a head coach).  And, if Kentucky does win the NCAA Championship, Smith would join some pretty fast company, that includes John Wooden with 10 NCAA Championships, Adolph Rupp with four NCAA Championships, Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski with three NCAA Championships, and Denny Crum, Dean Smith, Henry Iba, Ed Jucker, Branch McCracken, and Phil Woolpert with two NCAA Championships.  However, just two months ago, despite the fact that Smith's team's had overachieved during his last two years at Tulsa (1994 and 1995), both two years at Georgia (1996 and 1997), and his first year at Kentucky (1998), Smith was ranked no higher than #11 on our list of the top head coaches in the game today, behind Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino, Knight, Lute Olson, Roy Williams, Bobby Huggins, Gary Williams, Tom  Izzo, Jim Calhoun, and Billy Donovan and ahead of Rick Majerus, Eddie Sutton, Kelvin Sampson, and Jim O'Brien, when we published this list on January 8th.  Ironically, at the time, we actually thought we might take some heat for ranking Smith too high.  But now we're a little embarrassed, because this obviously was too low, as Smith gets 26% of the vote when looking at the results from our "Question of the Day" from Wednesday, March 19th, which asks who do you think is the best head coach in the game today?  That means Smith finished at the top of the list ahead of Krzyzewski and Pitino, who are tied with 22% of the vote, Knight with 11%, Olson with 9%, and Roy Williams with 4%.  And it couldn't happen to a better person.   Not only is Tubby Smith a class act, a tremendous role model, and an excellent basketball coach, but he's one of the people you'll ever meet.  And so is our choice for our National Player-of-the-Year.  They only list him at 5'10, but no player in college basketball has a bigger heart or means more to his team than T.J. Ford.  Ford, who has led the University of Texas this year in scoring (15.0 ppg), assists (7.4 apg), steals (1.7 spg), and free throw percentage (81%) and he already ranks second on the Longhorns all-time career assist list with 495, already has been named the Naismith National Player-of-the-Year and appears to be in line for a number of other major awards this spring.  While it may come as a surprise to many that a small undersized point guard would be the most dominant player in college basketball, it's no surprise to us.  Did you know that we were the only one in our business to rank Ford among the top five high school seniors two years ago and, to our knowledge, were we the only one to name Ford as the pre-season National Player of the Year this year?  What makes Ford so special is the fact that he doesn't have to score a point to dominate a game, because he's as quick as Allen Iverson, as unselfish as Jason Kidd, and as good defensively as Gary Payton.  He's also a winner in the true sense of the word.  If you will recall, this is the guy who, along with Duke's Daniel Ewing, led Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX to two National Championships in high school and the University of Texas to a 22-12 record a year ago.  However, the best may still be yet to come, as the Lornhorns have a 14-0 home record, 13-3 Big-12 Conference Record, 24-6 overall record to-date, a #1-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and appear to be well on their way towards advancing to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in school history. 

Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Our Ohio Chris Johnson tells us that 6'7 LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH edged out 6'4 Vakeaton Wafer from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX and 6'3 Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL to win the Slam Dunk Contest and 6'4 Michael Jones from Braintree (Thayer Academy) MA beat out 5'10 Aaron Brooks from Seattle (Franklin) WA to win the 3-point shooting contest, both of which were held last night in conjunction with the McDonald's All-American Game at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, OH.  Johnson also has the recruiting scoop on 6'7 Jr Ty Morrison from Phoenix (Trevor Browne) AZ, who is ranked #164 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and he informs us that 6'11 Soph Chad Bell has announced that he is transferring from New Mexico and 6'7 Soph Chuck Bailey is transferring from the University of Michigan.  Obviously Bailey sees the writing on the wall with the Wolverines, as 6'6 Frosh Lester Abram, who averaged 10.6 ppg and 4.4 rpg while playing 32.1 minutes per game this season, already is playing ahead of him, plus 6'4 Dion Harris from Detroit (Redford) MI, who is ranked #30 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and was named Mr. Basketball in Michigan last week, is expected to compete for play playing time with Abram at the 2-guard spot next year.   And, if that weren't enough, 6'6 Jr Ronald Coleman from Romulus (H.S.) MI and 6'3 Jr Joseph Crawford from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, who are the top two-ranked juniors in the state and already are verbally committed to the Wolverines, are expected to step in and play ahead of Bailey during the 2004-05 season.  Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Louisville, Arizona, and Arizona State are showing the most interest in Morrison, who is the top ranked junior in the state.  However, Johnson tells us that Morrison has been quoted as saying in one of the Phoenix newspapers that Louisville, Arizona, and Arizona State are the leaders.  And, if this is true, Arizona State could win this one by default.  Remember, Arizona only has two scholarships available in next year's recruiting class and, assuming that Louisville gets 5'11 Jr Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY and 6'5 Jr Earl "J.R." Smith from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, the Cardinals two remaining scholarships will no doubt go to inside players.  Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis has finally gotten around to telling us that 5'9 Jr Enrico Tucker from San Diego (The Bishop's) CA has reneged on his early verbal commitment to San Diego and, as a result, he becomes the third player in this class who has given his word to a school, but later taken it back.  The other two are 6'10 Jr Jermaine Bell from Virginia Beach (Coastal Christian) VA and 6'5 Cheyenne Moore from Colora (West Nottingham) MD.  Moore originally committed to Georgetown, but now the Hoyas appear to be out.  Instead, his list includes schools like Villanova, Kentucky, Virginia, Alabama, LSU, and Louisville.  Bell actually has reneged on St. John's twice, but each time he has later reaffirmed his commitment to the Red Storm.   In other words, he's like the little boy who cried wolf and, as a result, if Belll reneges again on the Red Storm, we probably won't even bother to report it.  Instead, at least according to Jerry Cornwell of http://www.StruttingWolf.com, the leader for Tucker now appears to be N.C. State.  As a matter of fact, Cornwell has quotes from Tucker's father saying "no one is more athletic" and "N.C. State is looking for some point guard help to counter the outstanding freshman play of Raymond Felton, Jarrett Jack, and future ACC baller Chris Paul."  However, we think Tucker got it right the first time, as is evident by the fact that he is ranked no higher than #21 in the state's junior class by Trigonis, who is now finished with his rankings of the top seniors and juniors in the state (his complete report hopefully will be published within the next three or four days).  In other words, the evidence indicates that Tucker was a steal for San Diego, but he'll probably be nothing more than a good role player at N.C. State.  We also have received word from our Georgia Editor Linzy Davis about 6'3 Jr Trammel Wooten from Mt. Vernon (Montgomery County) GA being even better than he originally thought.  Wooten, who ran the point for Davis' Georgia Elite Team over the weekend, has excellent passing skills, intensity at the defensive end, the ability to break you down off the dribble, and beat you with his jump shot.  Davis even goes so far as to say that Wooten could be the best point guard he's ever coached.  And that is a very strong statement when one remembers that Davis has previously had William Avery and Ricky Moore both in his program.  And, if Wooten is as good as advertised, he's probably a near lock for the University of Kentucky.  Remember, we've already reported that his top three schools are Kentucky, Kentucky, and Kentucky.  However, we'd be surprised if a scholarship offer is forthcoming prior to when the Wildcats coaching staff gets a chance to see Wooten play in the Kingwood Classic in Houston, TX, April 26th-27th.  

Monday, March 24, 2003

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that 6'1 Mike Green from Philadelphia (Franklin Learning Center) PA, who is ranked #14 in the area by the HOOP SCOOP, has verbally committed to the Towson and our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that 6'5 Justin Jonas from Douglas (H.S.) AL has decided to walk-on at Alabama, instead of getting a scholarship from someplace like Saint Louis, South Alabama, or West Virginia.  So we will count Jonas with Alabama's current recruiting class, which now moves into a tie at #35, along with Texas Christian, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  If you will recall, last fall the Crimson Tide signed 6'10 Akini Adkins from Tallahassee (Leon) FL, 6'9 Jemario Davidson from Stone Mountain (Redan) GA, and 6'10 Shawn Taylor from Perry (H.S.) GA, but the icing the cake would be if they win the sweepstakes for 6'11 James Lang from Birmingham (Central Park Christian) AL, who also still has Louisville, UAB, and Kentucky on his list.  However, our guess is that Lang will probably not make it academically and, as a result, ready or not, declare for the NBA Draft this spring.  But let's say that Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried and his staff do hit the jackpot and sign Lang in April.  This would move the Crimson's Tide's recruiting class up to #9 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, behind Florida State and ahead of Louisville and Mississippi State.  Alabama also already has a head start on landing a great recruiting class next year.  As a matter of fact, it looks like it's just a matter of time before the Crimson Tide gets an early commitment from 6'4 Jr Glenn Miles from Birmingham (West End) AL, who is ranked #30 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and they should be tough to beat for 6'8 Jr Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, who is ranked #10 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, although Florida, Louisville, Mississippi State, and Duke all promise to make this one interesting.  Another program whose recruiting class could rise dramatically this spring is Middle Tennessee State, which currently is ranked #37 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   However, if the Raiders also add 6'3 JueMichael Young from Chipola (JC) FL, who was ranked #6 among shooting guards by the Sportings News Pre-Season Yearbook, to a class that already includes 6'8 Alex Weeks from Lilburn (Berkmar) GA, 6'2 Montrell Crittendon from Newbern (Dyer County) TN, 6'8 Kenyatta Swader from Smyrna (H.S.) TN, 5'11 Bryan Smithson from Kennesaw (North Cobb) GA and 6'4 Ben Britt from Chattanooga (Red Bank) TN, then their class would move up to #16 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  We suspect that Swader will enroll at Middle Tennessee State next year as a Prop 48 casualty, which explains how head coach Kermit Davis will finesse the five scholarship limit in any one recruiting class and the limit to eight scholarships over a two-year period.  And this won't be the first player that Davis has stolen and then propped since taking over the program a year ago, as is evident by the fact that 6'8 Keith Christmas from Gary (West Side) IN currently is waiting in the wings.  This also won't be the first time that Middle Tennessee State assistant coach Donnie Tyndell has been connected with what turned out to be a great recruiting class.   Did you know that Tyndell was at Idaho a year ago, where he helped land the #15-ranked recruiting class in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP?  No wonder Tyndell is ranked as the #6 assistant coach at the mid-to-low Division I level, and, if he helps the Raiders land Young, who is expected to sign with either Middle Tennessee State or Louisiana Tech this spring, he will have to move even higher.  So it should not come as a major surprise that Tyndell is one of the names we're hearing for the Murray State job, along with Louisville assistant coach Mick Cronin, Indiana assistant coach John Treloar, Memphis assistant coach Steve Roccaforte, UAB assistant coach Scott Edgar, and Murray State assistant coach Jim Hatfield.  In other words, if Murray State decides to bring in an assistant coach who is a top notch recruiter, they can't go wrong with Tyndell; Cronin, who is ranked #2 on our list of the top assistant coaches at the high Division I level; or Roccaforte, who is ranked #8 on our list of the top assistant coaches at the high Division I level and has played a major role in Memphis' recruiting success during the John Calipari era.  And, if you want to go with somebody with proven head coaching experience, Treloar is a CBA veteran, Edgar was extremely successful at Murray State the first time around, and Hatfield re-built the program at Southwestern Louisiana and had a successful stint at Mississippi State.  Our Tennessee Correspondent Andre Whitehead was at the Tennessee High School State Tournament in Murfreesboro, TN last week and he tells us that the best player in the tournament was 6'7 Jr Corey Brewer from Portland (H.S.) TN, who is ranked #192 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but will move up dramatically next time we update our national junior rankings.  Brewer, who scored 35 points and 28 points in his two state tournament games, needs to get bigger and stronger, but we're talking about a slasher/athlete who can handle, shoot, and get to the basket.  And apparently Whitehead isn't the only person who is impressed with Brewer, who has been attracting serious interest from schools like Florida, Mississippi State, Arizona, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt.  As a matter of fact, those last three schools were all in attendance at the Tennessee State Tournament specifically to watch Brewer.  Whitehead also tells us that 6'4 Dane Bradshaw led Memphis (White Station) TN to the 3-A State Championship, 6'6 Soph Tyler Smith led Pulaski (Giles County) TN to the 2-A State Championship, 6'5 Jake Skogen led Chattanooga (Tennessee Temple) TN to the 1-A State Championship, and 6'9 Frosh Brandon Wright led Brentwood (Academy) TN to the Private School State Championship.   Whitehead was especially impressed with Wright, who more than lived up to his #12 ranking nationally in the freshman class by the HOOP SCOOP, as he was totally dominant against 7'0 Marc Gasol from Memphis (Lasanne) TN.  Also playing well at the Tennessee State Tournament and, as a result, deserving a special mention from Whitehead were 6'8 Jr Shane Williams from Memphis (Hamilton) TN, 6'6 Carlos Suggs from Memphis (Ridgeway) TN, and 6'2 Jr Justin Hare from Cleveland (Bradley Central) AL.  Our Alabama Editor Mark Komara called me today specificially to tell me about Andre Stephens from Heidelberg (H.S.) MS.  We're talking about a 6'8 athletic 14-year-old freshman who dunks everything and is supposed to be better than 6'10 Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS and 6'9 Jr Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS at the same stage.  We're also talking about a sleeper who is so well hidden that even our Mississippi Editor Lavel Johnson hasn't heard about him yet.   And we suspect the same is true with regards to Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried and Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury.   But before it's over, we'd be willing to bet that Stephens will be the next in a long line of intense recruiting battles that have been waged between these two rival Southeastern Conference coaches. 

Sunday, March 23, 2003

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that 6'4 Mike Cook from New Hampton (Prep) NH has verbally committed to East Carolina and we think this is a major steal!  Not only is Cook a tremendous scorer in terms of getting to the basket, finishing, drawing fouls, and pulling up from mid-range, but he's strong, physical, and athletic.  Sure, Cook isn't going to beat you with his outside shooting, but he has the natural talent, nose for the ball, and the Philadelphia toughness necessary to help head coach Bill Herrion's program take the next step in their quest to become one of the better teams in Conference USA.  Remember, Cook was the teammate of Mustafa Shakur at Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA and on the Hunting Park Club team, which advanced all the way to the final four at the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV two years ago.  Cook joins another player - 6'8 Keith Foster from Winston-Salem (R.J. Reynolds) NC - to give the Pirates two immediate impact players in this year's recruiting class, which moves into a tie at #114, along with Clemson, Gonzaga, Texas, Purdue, Tennessee, Kentucky, New Orleans, George Washington, Old Dominion, and Hartford, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Rubin also tells us that 6'6 Jr Roosevelt Lee, who has been reclassified and transferred from New Britain (H.S.) CT to Milford (Academy) CT and then to Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA this year, has made a complete circle, as he has returned to New Britain (H.S.) CT for the remainder of the year.  And our New England Editor Wayne Simone tells us that Lee plans to attend Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA next year.  Rubin also has the scoop on his #2-ranked freshman - 6'3 Frosh Wayne Ellington from Birdsboro (H.S.) PA.  Apparently his parents plan to move into the Philadelphia Area next year and, as a result, Ellington is expected to enroll at Merion Station (Episcopal Academy) PA, where he will team with 6'4 Frosh Gerald Henderson from Merion Station (Episcopal Academy) PA, who is the #1-ranked freshman in the area by Rubin, to form one of the best young one-two punches in the nation.  We also have confirmed that 6'8 Donte Minter from Fork Union (Military Academy) VA did indeed verbally commit to the University of Virginia.  If you will recall, we told you on Thursday that Minter was at the Virginia-Brown game that night before and that we thought a verbal commitment to the Cavaliers was eminent.  This moves Virginia's recruiting class into a tie at #18, along with Wake Forest, California, and Iowa State, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003 and, if they also get somebody like 6'9 Jason Cain from Philadelphia (John Bartram) PA, who tied at #100 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, then their recruiting class would move up to #9 behind LSU, Maryland, Miami-FL, Illinois, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Florida State and ahead of  Mississippi State, Louisville, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Arizona, Memphis, and Michigan State.  If you will recall, Cain still appears to be wide open as Virginia, Indiana, Utah, Penn State, Miami-FL, Seton Hall, UNC-Greensboro, Villanova, Temple, and Richmond are all still on his list. 

Saturday, March 22, 2003

It appears that the Maryland assistant coach Dave Dickerson and former North Carolina assistant Phil Ford are the two leading candidates to replace Larry Shyatt, who stepped down earlier this week at Clemson.  And, if Ford doesn't get the Clemson job and Tar Heels head coach Matt Doherty doesn't survive this spring, then you can bet former North Carolina head coach Dean Smith will use his influence to get Ford his old job back with the Tar Heels.  Currently Ford has an administrative job at the University of North Carolina, but we know he's itching to get back into coaching.   And one of the first things that the new head coach at Clemson will have to do is decide whether to get keep 6'10 John Reynolds, who recently verbally committed to the Tigers.  If you will recall, Clemson signed 5'11 Vern Hamilton from Richmond (Benedictine) VA and 6'3 Jimmy Hudson from Eustis (H.S.) FL last fall and, as a result, if either or both wants to transfer, then they would have to sit out a year, unless they can come up with a reason other than the head coach resigning to get out of their National Letter-of-Intent.  Remember, it says in bold print on the National Letter-of-Intent that a student-athlete is signing with the member institution and not the coach.  In other words, if the school releases a player and he transfers, he has to sit out one year.  If the school doesn't release the player and he transfers, he has to sit out two years.  However, in the case of Reynolds, who hasn't signed a binding National Letter-of-Intent, he apparently wants to honor his commitment.  But unfortunately he might not be good enough.  As a matter of fact, it's our guess that the new coach will want to use his scholarship to sign the best available player he can find this spring.  We also think Dayton head coach Oliver Purnell would be perfect for either Clemson or Georgia, but we haven't heard his name officially in connection with either job.  At least not yet!  Another ideal fit and a name we are hearing for the Georgia job is Indiana University head coach Mike Davis.  Not only would Davis be more appreciated by the fans at Georgia, but he would be able to recruit like crazy in the Deep South.  Not only does Davis have tremendous contacts with all the local AAU programs, but two of his current players (Jeffrey Newton and A.J. Moye) both played for the Atlanta Celtics and the Georgia Elite club team programs.  Whether Davis will be able to overcome all the strong ties that Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt has to the Atlanta Celtics program is subject to debate, but I guarantee you that if Davis got the Bulldogs jobs, he would at least make things interesting in the hunt for 6'9 Jr Josh Smith from Powder Springs (McEachern) GA, 6'10 Jr Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Atlanta Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA, and 6'9 Jr Randolph Morris from Fairburn (Landmark) GA, all of whom are believed to be a near lock for the Yellowjackets.  We also hear UT-Chattanooga head coach Jeff Lebo's name being mentioned for the Virginia Tech job.  However, unless the Hokies increase their budget dramatically for men's basketball, we'd be surprised if Lebo takes it.  Not only is it not currently in their budget to subscribe the HOOP SCOOP, but the word we get is that Ricky Stokes, who was fired last week, was making only $200,000 per year, while Lebo is currently gets $350,000 per year at Chattanooga.   Instead, we think think Lebo ultimately can do better, perhaps even North Carolina, if the big name candidates, like Kansas head coach Roy Williams, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown, Illinois head coach Bill Self, and Tennessee head coach Buzz Peterson don't take the Tar Heels job.  Instead, we think the Hokies would be smart to go after an assistant coach who can recruit like crazy.  So obviously Louisville assistant coach Mick Cronin, who is the #2-ranked assistant coach in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP, would be right at the top of our list.  But they probably won't be able to afford him either, unless they take some of the money they make from football and put more of an emphasis on basketball. 

Friday, March 21, 2003

Our Georgia Editor Linzy Davis tells us that Miami-FL has a major steal on their hands in 6'3 Vincent Banks from Atlanta (South Atlanta) GA.  Currently we have Banks ranked #261 nationally in the senior class, but Davis ranks Banks #1 in the senior class in the state on his updated Georgia list that we're planning on publishing next week.  Not only did Banks average 33 ppg, 7 rpg, and 5 apg this season, but he also led his team, which lost to Griffin (H.S.) GA in the Class 4-A Championship two weeks ago, to a 57-5 record during the last two years.  "I'd compare Banks to Latrell Sprewell," says Davis.  "Banks is not as big as Sprewell, but he has that smooth-sillky demeanor, incredible athleticism, good ball handling and passing skills, and tremendous scoring abililty.  He can beat you inside with his ability to get the basket and outside with his deep shooting range and he can score all day long, as is evident by the fact he scored 58 points in a game this year.  He also had several other 40-plus point games this year."  Banks, who has grown from being a 5'9 point guard into a 6'3 combo guard, has scored over 2,300 career points during his career and is expected to be named Mr. Basketball in the state of Georgia by the Atlanta Constitution on Sunday.  Schools like Arkansas, Auburn, Connecticut, Cincinnati, and N.C. State had also shown interest, but, in the end, the Hurricanes didn't really have much competition.  In other words, it looks like Banks, who is equally good at coming off a screen or creating his shot off the dribble, is that big a sleeper.  Making this even more significant is the fact that Banks' commitment moves Miami-FL's recruiting class, which also includes 6'9 Lenard Harden from Garden City (JC) KS, 6'6 Eliiah Clark from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'1 Guillermo Diaz from Miami (Christian) FL, and 7'0 Yankuba Camara from Moberly (JC) MO, into a tie at #1, along with LSU and Maryland, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And, if we included 6'2 Greg Brown from Indian Hills (JC) IA with this recruiting class, it wouldn't even be close.  However, the word we get Brown will need two years of junior college, which means he now counts with the Hurricanes recruiting class a year from now, which now is tied at #21, along with Auburn and   Wake Forest, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2004.  This also means that Brown won't be around in time to be part of what potentially could be on the biggest turnaronds in college basketball year from now, assuming that 610 Jr Darius Rice returns next season for his senior year.  Sure, the Hurricanes finished 4-12 in the league and 11-17 overall this season, but they were 3-11 in games that were decided by five points or less and they should be a lot better next year with the addition of Harden, who is one of the top power forward in the junior college ranks, inside and Banks and Diaz in the backcourt, as they are expected to challenge Armondo Surratt, Robert   Hite, and Eric Wilkins, who as freshman were three of Perry Clark's top six players this year, for playing time.  Davis also tells us that Auburn leads Dayton, Memphis, and Alabama for 6'3 Quin Humphrey from Stockbridge (H.S.) GA, plus he tells us about another sleeper - 6'3 Ulrich Mounguiala from Paris France.  We're talking about a big time athlete who down the road is ideally suited for the mid-major level.  However, before that happens, Mounguiala, who only recently arrived in the United States and is currently living in the home of Davis' sister, needs to go the junior college route.  Mounguiala does plan to play on Davis' 19-Under Georgia Elite team, which should be good, but not nearly as good as the Georgia Elite 17-Under traveling team.  Speaking of that team, Davis plans to go to war this spring and summer with a starting line-up that includes 6'3 Jr Trammell Wooten from Mt. Vernon (Montgomery County) GA at point guard, 6'4 Jr Archie Miaway from Norcross (H.S.) GA at the 2-guard, 6'9 Jr Daniel Northern from Warner Robins (Houston County) GA at the 3-spot, 6'8 Richard Dorsey from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC at power forward, and 6'11 Jr Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC at center.  Compare that with the Atlanta Celtics, which will feature a front-line that will include 6'9 Jr Josh Smith from Powder Springs (McEachern) GA, 6'10 Jr Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Atlanta Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA, and 6'9 Jr Randolph Morris from Fairburn (Landmark) GA and a backcourt that will include 6'5 Jr Dwayne Day from Mt. Vernon (Montgomery County) GA and 6'3 Jr Montavious Waters from Leesburg (Lee County) GA.  In other words, if the Atlanta Celtics and Georgia Elite square off this summer, there will be more talent on the court than when Georgia and Georgia Tech play against one another. 

Thursday, March 20, 2003

The Charlie Weber Invitational Tournament in Washington, DC, April 25th-27th, has been certified by the DC High School Federation and, as a result, is in accordance with NCAA guidelines, which means Division I college coaches can be in attendance.  Not only will this make Charlie Weber's Tournament the premier event of the entire spring in the East, but to our knowledege Washington, DC is one of only three places in the nation where college coaches can attend an event and watch players this spring.  The other two are Texas and Nevada.  For more information contact Weber by writing him at 5902 Mount Eagle Drive, Apt. 705, Alexandria, VA  22303, calling him at 1-(703) 960-0467, faxing him at 1-(703) 960-0417, emailing him at cweber1@cox.net, or going to his web site at www.charlieweberbasketball.com.  Weber also has announced the rosters the Charm City Challenge All-Star Game, which will be held at Towson University in Towson, MD, Sunday, April 13th.  Among the players scheduled to participate on the National Team are 6'10 Akini Adkins from Tallahassee (Leon) FL, 6'6 Karron Clarke from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'1 Guillermo Diaz from Miami (Christian) FL, 5'11 Gary Ervin from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'8 Patrick Ewing, Jr from Ft. Washington (National Christian) MD, 6'11 Hassan Fofana from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, 6'5 Gary Forbes from Brooklyn (Banneker) NY, 6'9 Ekene Ibekwe from Carson (H.S.) CA, 6'1 Michael Nardi from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'4 D.J. Strawberry from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'10 Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, and 6'5 Franklin Young from Tallahassee (Florida) FL.  With Clarke and Diaz both heading to Miami-FL, Young to West Virginia, and Nardi to Villanova; Ervin to Mississippi State and Adkins to Alabama; Forbes to Virginia; and Watkins to Rutgers, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Villanova; it is obvious that the team has a strong Big East, Southeastern, and Atlantic Coast favor.   However, what is really going to sell a lot of tickets is the fact that Ibekwe, Fofana, and Strawberry are all slated for the University of Maryland.  The Baltimore Team also includes a Maryland-signee - 6'11Will Bowers from Severn (Archbishop Spalding) MD, as well as 6'9 Josh Boone from Colora (Severn Archbishop Spalding) MD, 6'9 Byron Joynes from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'1 Donte Draper from Pawling (Trinity-Pawling) NY, 6'7 Matt Stevenson from Towson (Catholic) MD, 6'5 Gerald Brown from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, 6'6 Mike Popoko from McDonough (Owings Mills) MD, 6'7 Taevon Nelson from Baltimore (Lake Clifton) MD, 6'0 Laronja Owens from Annapolis (H.S.) MD, 6'2 Levi Stukes from Randallstown (H.S.) MD, 5'11 Maurice Barksdale from Towson (Calvert Hall) MD, 6'8 Lesean Edwards, and 6'7 Holden Plat.   Weber also has a tournaments scheduled at Villanova University in Philadelphia, PA, April 18th-20th; at Penn State University, June 13th-15th; at West Virginia University, July 13th-15th; and at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD, September 26th-28th.  It also appears that 6'5 Jr Cheyenne Moore from Colora (West Nottingham) MD, who is ranked #93 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has reneged on the early verbal commitment he made last spring to Georgetown.  As a matter of fact, Brian Merritt of Elite Scouting tells us that this happened two months ago, but this week was the first time we got wind of it.  Merritt also assures us that this one won't be like 6'10 Jermaine Bell from Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL, who already has verbally committed to St. John's three times and reneged twice.  Instead, Merritt says Moore is now considering schools like Villanova, Kentucky, Virginia, Alabama, LSU, and Louisville. 

This is not confirmed, but we're getting reports regarding 6'8 Donte Minter from Fork Union (Military Academy) VA, who was at the Virginia-Brown NIT game last night, making a verbal commitment to the University of Virginia.  Once we do confirm this, the Cavaliers recruiting class, which also includes 6'5 Gary Forbes from Brooklyn (Banneker) NY, 6'3 J.R. Reynolds from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, and 6'1 T.J. Bannister from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL, will move into a tie at #18, along with Wake Forest, California, and Iowa State, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And the Cavaliers aren't done yet, because we know they wanted to bring in two inside players as they attempt to try and replace Travis Watson, who will graduate this spring.  We have confirmed that 6'7 Chris Oliver from Kernersville (Glenn) NC has verbally committed to Radford, 6'10 Paulius Joneliunas from Roanoke (Catholic) VA verbally committed to South Carolina and 6'8 Dedric Spooner from Colby (JC) KS has verbally committed to Charlotte.  Obviously Gamecocks head coach Dave Odom once again has taken advantage of his strong Lithuanian contacts to get Joneliunas, who fits the stereotype of a lot of players from Eastern Europe, as he is extremely skilled, but not very athletic.  Joneliunas joins 6'8 Renaldo Balkman from Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL, 6'9 Brandon Wallace from Aiken (Silver Bluff) SC, and 6'0 Tre Kelly from Washington (Dunbar) DC to move South Carolina's recruiting class into a tie with Boston College are #38 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Spooner, who was ranked among the top 25 junior college players nationally by the Street & Smith Pre-Season Yearbook, not only will give the 49ers even more needed immediate help inside, along with 6'11 Martin Iti from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, who signed with UNCC last fall, but he also moves their recruiting class into a tie at #32, along with Virginia and Florida, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Other recent junior college verbal commitments that we have yet to report, but have confirmed via Big Apple Sports include 6'4 Steve Moore from Eastern Oklahoma (JC) OK to Arizona State, 6'1 David Warsaw from El Camino (JC) CA to Cal-State Fullerton, 6'6 Joseph Works from Garden City (JC) KS to Texas Tech, 6'6 Curtis Marshall from New Mexico Military (JC) TX to Texas Tech, 6'7 Larry Owens from Yavapai (JC) AZ to Oral Roberts, 6'4 Norman Prather from Mineral Area (JC) MO to Southeast Missouri State, 5'11 Matt Mitchell from Southern Nevada (JC) NV to South Alabama, 5'10 Ryan Miller from Shasta (JC) CA to San Jose State, 6'0 Tyree Gardner from Diablo Valley (JC) CA to San Jose State, and 6'2 Cedric Ousley from Triton (JC) IL to San Jose State.  The commitment by Moore is especially interesting, because he was ranked as the #5 shooting guard by the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook and a top 20 junior college player nationally by the Street & Smith Pre-Season Yearbook and, as a result, this moves the Sun Devils recruitng class, which also includes 6'3 Tron Smith from Moreno Valley (Canyon Spring) CA, 6'9 Keith Wooden from Lawrence (Free State) KS, 6'8 Chris Low from Tyler (Thomas Gorman) TX, and 6'8 Wilfred Famini from Amelia (Academy) VA. up to #25 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Moore also will provide Arizona State head coach Rob Evans even more firepower in the backcourt a year from now, as he should provide an excellent complement to Smith, who verbally committed last spring and signed last fall with the Sun Devils, at the 2-guard spot in this recruiting class, plus landing Moore provides just one more illustration of why we think Sun Devils assistant coach Tony Benford is one of the most astute evaluators of talent in the business.  Neither Works nor Marshall can be found ranked among the top junior college players in the nation, but they are good enough to move Texas Tech's recruiting class, which also includes 6'8 DeVonne Giles from Seward County (JC) KS, 6'9 Mike Travis from San Francisco (JC) CA, 6'1 Jay Jackson from Monroe (Ouachita Parish) LA, and 6'4 Drew Coffman from Midland (Lee) TX, up to #12 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And this is not the first time that Red Raiders head coach Bob Knight has loaded up with junior college players.  If you will recall, two years ago Knight's first recruiting class, which was ranked #13 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, at Texas Tech included 6'8 Pawel Storozynski from Dodge City (JC) KS, 6'7 Kasib Powell from Barton County (JC) KS, 6'10 Ermal Kugo from Seminole (JC) OK, 5'11 Will Chavis from Panola (JC) TX, 6'6 Nick Valdez from Northeastern (JC) CO, and 7'0 Mickey Michalec from Skitook (H.S.) OK.   And as long as we're talking about the top junior college players, did you know that the final four in the National Junior College Tournament in Hutchinson, KS will match Dixie (JC) UT versus San Jacinto (JC) TX and Southeastern Iowa (JC) IA versus Georgia Perimeter (JC) GA.  Yesterday Dixie (JC) UT beat Schoolcraft (JC) MI, 65-52, and San Jacinto (JC) TX beat Bronx-Monroe (JC) NY, 74-67, and earlier today Southeastern Iowa (JC) IA beat Southwest Tennessee (JC) TN, 86-63, and Georgia Perimeter beat Oklalooa-Walton (JC) FL, 79-69. 

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

It looks like University of Georgia head coach Jim Harrick does not plan on going quietly into the night, unless the Bulldogs give him a buy-out that is worth in the neighborhood of $2.5 million.  And, if Harrick doesn't get what he wants, he's threatening to tell the entire story, which is exactly what Georgia athletic director Vince Dooley doesn't want.  Not only does Harrick know where all the bodies are buried, but you can bet he probably helped put most of them there.  We also continue to hear that Western Kentucky head coach Dennis Felton is the leading candidate to replace Harrick after the school and Harrick finally do come to terms.  But how about Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight for the Georgia job?  Not only would Knight be the perfect guy to clean up the program, but the word on the street is that Knight is looking to move.  And now might be the perfect time, because he's probably done all he can do at Texas Tech, plus he's been a model citizen in terms of dealing with the media and the fans the last two years.  And how about Knight for UCLA?  That certainly would fall into the category of being the major surprise to UCLA fans that adidas' Sonny Vaccaro was talking about last week when he was on radio in Los Angeles, CA.  We also hear that Knight's son and top assistant, Pat Knight, is one of the leading candidates for the Wright State job and we think that would be a perfect fit.  Not only has the younger Knight done a marvelous job of dealing with both his father and his critics, including us, over the years, but he is a chip off the old block as a coach.  And that's saying a lot, because a number of former Bob Knight assistant's have done extremely well once they've become head coaches at the Division I level (i.e. Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, Mike Davis at Indiana, Dan Dakich at Bowling Green, and Dave Bliss at Baylor).  We also continue to hear Florida head coach Billy Donovan's name being mentioned for UCLA, but Donovan also appears to be one of the leading candidates for the Orlando Magic job, if Magic head coach Doc Rivers replaces Don Chaney, who may be on his way out as the head coach of the New York Knicks.  And how about former Clemson head coach Larry Shyatt to the Memphis Grizzlies as an assistant coach or a scout?  Did you know that Shyatt was an assistant coach at New Mexico from 1982 to 1988 during the Gary Colson era?  Currently Colson is the special assistant to Grizzlies General Manager Jerry West.  We also are starting to hear East Tennessee State head coach Ed DeChellis and Boston University head coach Dennis Wolff being mentioned for the Virginia Tech job.  We also hear Wolff being mentioned for Manhattan and Fordham and, if he moves, it will be interesting to see who has the most political clout at Boston University.  If you will recall, St. John's head coach Mike Jarvis and Louisville head coach Rick Pitino both got their start as Division I head coaches at Boston University.  Obviously, Jarvis will attempt to get his son, Mike Jarvis, Jr and/or Kevin Clark, both of whom are assistant coaches at St. John's the job, and Pitino will push one of his guys - probably Louisville assistant coach Vince Taylor - for the job.   Another interesting rumor involves former UCLA head coach Steve Lavin, who might be in line to replace Purdue head coach Gene Keady, if he were to retire any time soon.  However, the smart money says Keady will be around for a while and, when he finally does hang it up, Southern Illinois head coach Bruce Weber will be the leading candidate for the Boilermakers job.  Remember, Weber, who was an assistant coach at Purdue for 20 years, guided the Salukis to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament a year ago and is believed to be one of the top up-and-coming head coaches in the business.  

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

The HOOP SCOOP has confirmed that George Mason has gotten a verbal commitment from 6'8 Kevin Mickens from Allegany (JC) MD and this is big, because Mickens was one of the top junior college big men nationally still available.  Mickens, who originally is from Baltimore (Mt. St. Joseph's) MD, is ideally suited to provide the perfect complement to 6'7 Jai Lewis inside for the Patriots next year, because he's got a good build at 6'8, 230 lbs., can score inside, is a good rebounder, and is fairly athletic.  Add Mickens to George Mason's recruiting class, which already includes 6'0 Tony Skinn from Hagerstown (JC) MD and 6'8 Jesus Urbina from Amelia (Academy) VA and it is easy to see why it has moved into a tie at #77, along with Temple, Marquette, Wright State, Hawaii, and Mississippi, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  And, if you also included 5'9 Terry Reynolds, who is sitting out this year after transferring from Toledo to George Mason, their recruiting class would move up another 24 spots into a tie at #53, along with Princeton and St. John's, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   If you will recall, Reynolds played in high school at Toledo (Scott) OH, before transferring to Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA and going the prep school route at Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME.  Reynolds also was named honorable mention All-Mid American Conference as a sophomore while averaging 14.1 ppg, 4.2 apg, and 1.7 spg.   However, it is not the editorial policy of the HOOP SCOOP to count transfers when ranking recruiting classes nor is it our policy to count players who are sitting out due to an injury (i.e. 6'1 Lamar Butler, who averaged 10.4 ppg as a freshman a year ago for the Patriots).  But, if George Mason adds somebody like 6'8 Nick Stafford from Worcester (Academy) MA, who is ranked #28 on our 5th year list and is the 5th highest ranked 5th year player by the HOOP SCOOP still available, that would be the same as if we counted Reynolds with their recruiting class.  And, if George Mason does land Stafford this spring and we did include Reynolds, their recruiting class would move into a tie at #36, along with Boston College, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.   In other words, it looks like Patriots head coach Jim Larranaga is reloading and, as a result, will once again be in a position to make a run at the Colonial Athletic Association Conference title a year from now.  It also looks like George Mason assistant coach Mike Gillian, who is the #1-ranked assistant coach at the mid-to-low major level by the HOOP SCOOP, will likely get a head coaching job this spring.  As a matter of fact, he we hear that he has a lot better shot than most people realize to get Manhattan, if that job opens.  And, if this happens, Larranaga, who is one of the best in the business at developing assistant coaches, still should be in pretty good shape.  Remember, Larranaga recruits just as hard as most assistant coaches, plus he still has Bill Courtney, who is one of the most underrated guys in the business, on his staff.  Another one of the hardest working guys in the business is Larry Shyatt, who resigned as the head coach at Clemson last night.  While this may be bad news for Shyatt and Clemson in the short run, it could turn out to be great news for Cleveland State, if the athletic director is smart enough to realize that Shyatt is ideally suited for the job.  Not only is Shyatt a heck of a recruiter, an excellent coach, and one of the best people in the business, but he is originally from Cleveland, OH, plus he was an assistant coach at Cleveland State for six years.  And how about former Georgia Tech head coach Bobby Cremins for the Clemson job?  Wouldn't that be poetic justice after the way Cremins got snubbed by the Gamecocks when they instead hired Dave Odom two years ago.  If you will recall, Cremins, who is an alumnus of the University of South Carolina, took the South Carolina job in the early 90's, but then got cold feet, backed out, and remained at Georgia Tech right up until the time he got fired three years ago.  The list of candidates for the Penn State job also appears to be expanding, as the names we're hearing the most are St. Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli, UT-Chattanooga head coach Jeff Lebo, East Tennessee State head coach Ed DeChellis, Providence head coach Tim Welsh, former UCLA head coach Steve Lavin; Ohio State assistant coach Paul Biancardi, and Duke assistant coach Chris Collins.  Obviously this would be a lateral move for Welsh, but it probably would be a lot more money.  Martelli, who has done a terrific job in recent years at St. Joseph's, would give the Nittany Lions a great in when it comes to recruiting in the Philadelphia Area; Lebo, who is widely regarded as one of the bright young head coaches in the business, is originally from Carlisle (H.S.) PA; DeChellis used to be an assistant coach at Penn State and is still extremely close to the athletic director Tim Curley; Lavin, who guided the Bruins to five NCAA Sweet 16 appearances in the last seven years, suddenly needs a job; Bianardi, who is the #1-ranked assistant coach in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP, has both Midwest and East Coast ties dating back to his days at Boston College; and Collins has learned from two of the best - his father is Washington Wizards head coach Doug Collins and his boss Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.  However, we think the smart move for Penn State would be to go after Bobby Gonzalez.  Not only is Gonzalez a tremendous recruiter and a proven head coach at the mid-major level, but the energy and enthusiasm that he brings to the table reminds many of a young Rick Pitino.  But our guess is that Gonzalez can probably do better, unless the Nittany Lions decide that being middle of the road in the Big-10 year-in-and-year-out isn't good enough.  In other words, if Penn State made Gonzalez their #1 choice and offered him a five-to-seven year contract at a million dollars a year, they probably could get it done.  What do you think?  Tell us by answering today's "Question of the Day," which asks who would you hire if you were the athletic director at Penn State? 

Our New York Editor Ron Naclerio and our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis have been promising me for months that I will have updated player rankings from their areas in my hands sooner than later.  However, I don't have that problem with our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin.  As a matter of fact, right on the heels of his December 4th report, comes his revised March 18th Report, which includes his rankings of the top 642 seniors, 585 juniors, 397 sophomores, 242 freshmen, 79 8th graders, and 38 7th graders from his area.  In other words, that's almost 2000 names all listed in order by class.  This report also includes 272 names more than his last report, plus he provides us with a list of the top 18 5th players in the area, which includes 6'3 Mustafa Shakur from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA right at the top of the list.  To get this report, which includes four pages of all-area teams with the top 40 players in the area regardless of position and class, Rubin's 5th year list, and comments about the top players from each class, click on Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Report.  To get Rubin's rankings in order by class, which includes 1,983 names and 33 pages, click on Rubin Ranks Em:   The Top Players In Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylanvia/South Jersey.  We also recently published in February an updated Kentucky Report and Illinois Report, we have an updated Georgia Report in hand that we're in the process of working on right now, and we're hoping to publish Tennessee, New York and California Reports prior to the NCAA Final Four in New Orleans, LA two-and-a-half weeks from now.  As a matter of fact, we have Trigonis' list of the top 100 seniors in hand right now and his ranking of the top 25 seniors is as follows:  1) 6'8 Leon Powe from Oakland (Tech) CA, 2) 6'8 Trevor Ariza from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 3) 6'9 Ekene Obekwe from Carson (H.S.) CA, 4) 6'3 Wesley Washington from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 5) 6'2 Ayinde Ubaka from Oakland (H.S.) CA, 6) 6'9 Mohammed Abukar from Rancho Bernardo (H.S.) CA, 7) 6'7 Dorrell Wright from Lawndale (Leuzinger) CA, 8) 6'9 Sean Phaler from Villa Park (H.S.) CA, 9) 6'5 Wendell White from Redondo Union Redondo Beach) CA, 10) 6'4 Omar Wilkes from Los Angeles (Loyola) CA, 11) 6'5 Fred Washington from Torrance (Bishop Montgomery) CA, 12) 6'3 Tron Smith from Canyon Springs (Moreno Valley) CA, 13) 6'7 Marcus Dove from Long Beach (Millikan) CA, 14) 6'1 Rayshawn Reed from Inglewood (H.S.) CA, 15) 6'9 Harrison Schaen from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 16) 6'5 D.J. Strawberry from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 17) 6'7 Ruben Boykin from Los Angeles (University) CA, 18) 6'8 Marcus Slaughter from Riverside (North) CA, 19) 6'6 Justin Hawkins from Lakewood (Mayfair) CA, 20) 6'2 Mikel Watson from Oceanside (El Camino) CA, 21) 6'2 John Winston from Richmond (Salesian) CA, 22) 5'10 Kevin Bell from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 23) 7'0 Jarrod Boswell from Lakeside (El Capitan) CA, 24) 6'5 Sean Marshall from Rialto (Eisenhower) CA, and 25) 6'6 Dominic McGuire from San Diego (Lincoln) CA.  Especially noteworthy is the fact that Trigonis' ranks Wright #7 in the class which not only makes him a top 100 senior nationally, but also one of the best unsigned players still available.  Unfortunately Wright probably won't make it academically and, as a result, will likely go the junior college route.  However, the best kept secret in the country just might be 6'2 Sylvester Mays from Ft. Wayne (Wayne) IN.  "We're talking about the best player in the state of Indiana," says Reggie Tisdale of Indiana Basketball News.  "He's phenomenal, because he has 30-foot range off the dribble, an explosive drop-step, a great mid-range game, great court vision, and excellent passing skills.  His coach doesn't let him play more than 25 minutes a game, but he's had eight 40-plus point games this year.  Mays is a bigger stronger version of Dee Brown and a cross between Isiah Thomas and Tim Hardaway, because he's so explosive and he scores at will."   So if Mays is so good, why don't we know about him?  Well, there are several reasons.  First, our Indiana Editor Jim Kasberg, who used to know where all the bodies buried in the Hoosier State, has been missing in action for over a year now and I haven't found the right person yet to replace him.  Second, Mays has had a a terrible home life and, as a result, is a ward of the state, which prohibited him from playing on a club team or going to camps last spring and summer.  Mays also has serious learning disabilities and reads on a third or fourth grade level, which means he will have to go the junior college route.  "Most likely to the College of Southern Idaho," says Tisdale.  "He may have academic difficulties, but he's brilliant between the lines.  You may think I'm crazy, but there is no doubt in my mind that Mays could declare for the draft this spring and make it in "The League" next year.  He's that good!" 

Monday, March 17, 2003

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that Penn State head coach Jerry Dunn will resign as the head coach of the Nittany Lions at 7:00 PM tonight.  We also have confirmed that UCLA head coach Steve Lavin, as expected, was fired today.  It also comes as no surprise that 6'10 Alexander Johnson from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, who is ranked #8 nationally on our list of the top 5th year players, is no longer be interested in the University of Georgia.  If you will recall, Johnson signed with the Bulldogs a year ago, but when he didn't make it academically and, as a result, went the prep school route.  Johnson also no longer appears to have Oklahoma on his list, which is somewhat of a surprise, because a month or two ago we thought the Sooners were actually the leader.  Instead, Johnson has Cincinnati, Florida, and Kentucky at the top of his list, plus it also appears that Florida State is making a strong push.  All this is especially important, because Johnson is one of only two big men still available nationally at high school and/or prep school level who is good enough to step in and make an immediate impact at the big time college level next year.  The other is 6'11 Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, who is ranked #60 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and his list includes Rutgers, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Villanova.  This too is important, because the one common school on both lists is Kentucky, which is in desperate need of quality size, if they want to continue to maintain the level of greatness that they have achieved this season.  Sure, the Wildcats may get 6'9 Marquis Estill back next year, if he graduates on time and appeals for an extra year of eligibility, due to the fact he had to sit out his first season as a Prop 48 casuality, but, even if Estill does come back, the Wildcats will still have to sign a minimum of two inside players either this spring or next year.  So obviously, if the University of Kentucky wins the NCAA Championship three weeks from today and/or Wildcats head coach Tubby Smith lands both Johnson and Watkins this spring, it might be a lot harder for him to take a job in the NBA.  Remember, Smith has been rumored for numerous NBA jobs during the last three years and this spring it appear to be no different, as Smith now appears to be one of the hottest guys in the business at any level.  What do you think?  Will Smith be back at Kentucky next year or will he take the big money the pros are sure to offer and run?  Tell us by answering our "Question of the Day."  We also have confirmed that 7'0 Jr Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Garces) CA, who is ranked #56 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, did indeed verbally commit to Southern California on Saturday and 6'9 Frosh Roy Enright has officially received his release from the University of Nebraska and is planning to transfer.  The word we get from Herb Welling, who is our Nebraska Editor, as well as Enright's stepfather, is that he is wide open on schools, but the smart money appears to be on Creighton.  And we think that would be a perfect fit, because, what Enright lacks in athleticism, he more than makes up for with heart and toughness inside.  In other words, we're talking about a good old-fashioned blue collar banger.  Swift becomes the 21st player ranked among our top 100 juniors nationally to have already made an early verbal commitment, as he has followed in the footsteps of 6'3 Jr Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX to Texas, 6'2 Jr DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA to Duke, 6'2 Jr JamesOn Curry from Mebane (Eastern Alamance) NC to North Carolina, 6'11 Jr Steve Hill from Branson (H.S.) MO to Arkansas, 6'5 Jr Robert Vaden from Indianapolis (Pike) IN to Purdue, 6'9 Jr Cedric Simmons from Shallotte (West Brunswick) NC to N.C. State, 6'3 Jr Jamar Butler from Lima (Shawnee) OH to Cincinnati, 6'6 Jr J.R. Angle from Trafalgfar (Indian Creek) IN to Iowa, 6'11 Jr Greg Steimsma from Randolph (H.S.) WI to Wisconsin, 6'6 Jr Ronald Coleman from Romulus (H.S.) MI to Michigan, 6'3 Jr Joe Crawford from Detroit (Renaissance) MI to Michigan, 6'7 Jr Dion Dowell from Texas City (H.S.) TX to Texas, 6'5 Jr Jawaann McClellan from Houston (Milby) TX to Arizona, 6'5 Jr David Pendergraft from Brewster (H.S.) WI to Gonzaga, 6'10 Jr Jermaine Bell from Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL to St. John's, 6'7 Jr Marquis Gray from Flint (Beecher) MI to Michigan State, 7'0 Jr Roy Hibbert from North Bethesda (Georgetown Prep) MD to Georgetown, 6'2 Jr Toney Douglas from Jonesboro (H.S.) GA to Auburn, 6'5 Jr Cheyenne Moore from Colora (West Nottingham Prep) MD to Georgetown, and 6'9 Jr Spencer Tollackson from Chaska (H.S.) MN to Minnesota.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson also tells us that Stanford has gotten an early verbal commitment from 6'9 Jr Peter Prowitt from Fairfax (Potomac School) VA, who is ranked #257 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP and #20 in the Washington, DC Area by Steve Turner.  And this brings the number of juniors ranked nationally among our top 300 players in the Class of 2004 to 35.  If you will recall, 6'6 Jr Cameron Stanley from Raleigh (Millbrook) NC to Wake Forest, 6'4 Jr Curtis Allen from Palos Verdes (Rolling Hills) CA to Southern Cal, 6'3 Jr Miles Webb from Brooklyn Park (Park-Center) MN to Minnesota, 5'9 Jr Drew Neitzel from Wyoming Park (H.S.) MI to Michigan State, 6'4 Jr Adam Williams from St. Albans (H.S.) WV to Kentucky, 6'10 Jr Terrance Farley from Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY to Louisville, 6'2 Jr Michael Flowers from Madison (La Follette) WI to Wisconsin, 6'11 Jr Sam Rayburn from Portland (Sunset) OR to California, 6'0 Jr Charlie Jones from Katy (Cinco Rancho) TX to Colorado State, 6'1 Jr Lorenzo Keeler from Escondido (H.S.) CA to San Diego, 6'3 Jr Darryl Garrett from Detroit (Denby) MI to Xavier, 6'10 Jr David Ellis from Sacramento (Capitol Christian) CA to California, 6'0 Jr Enrico Tucker from San Diego (The Bishop's) CA to San Diego, all of whom are ranked in the 100-300 range nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, also are already off the board.  In other words, over 20% of the top 100 juniors are already verbally committed and over 10% of the top 300 are already gone.  

Saturday, March 15, 2003, & Sunday, March 16, 2003 

For the college basketball fan this truly is the best time of the year, unless your team was on the bubble and didn't make the NCAA Tournament when the tournament bracket was announced earlier today.  And the team that should be crying foul the loudest is Texas Tech, which finished with a 18-12 record and a 79.86 Sagarin Rating, which ranks #31 nationally.  The Red Raiders also finished strong in their Conference Tournament and their strength of schedule ranks 14 th nationally by Sagarin.    We also think strong cases can be made for Boston College (18-11), which ranks #45 against the 30th toughest schedule; Tennessee (17-11), which ranks #47 against the 29th toughest schedule; and Seton Hall (17-12), which ranks #56 against the 31 toughest schedule.  But that's it!  Providence (16-13), which ranks #55 against the 27th toughest schedule, has too many losses.  The same also can be said about North Carolina, which ranks #52 against the 3rd toughest schedule, and Georgia Tech, which ranks #53 against the 33rd toughest schedule.  Illinois-Chicago, which ranks #57 against the #137 toughest schedule, and UNLV, which ranks #54 against the 92nd toughest schedule, might also have been considered, if they hadn't already taken two teams from the Horizon League (Butler and Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and three teams from the Mountain West (Utah, Brigham Young, and Colorado State).  Also checking in with three teams in the tournament was the Atlantic-10 Conference with St. Joseph's, Xavier, and Dayton, while the Missouri Valley (Southern Illinois and Creighton) and West Coast (Gonzaga and San Diego) each had two apiece.  The most teams any conference had was six, as the Big-12 had Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri, and Colorado and the Southeastern Conference had Kentucky, Florida, Mississippi State, LSU, Auburn, and Alabama.  Next on the list with five apiece were the Pacific-10 with Arizona, Stanford, California, Arizona State, and Oregon and the Big-10 with Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue, Michigan State, and Indiana, followed by the Atlantic Coast Conference (Wake Forest, Duke, Maryland, and N.C. State), Big East (Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Syracuse, and Notre Dame), and Conference USA (Marquette, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Memphis) with four apiece.  The other 19 Division I Conferences - America East (Vermont), Atlantic Sun (Troy State), Big Sky (Weber State), Big South (UNC-Asheville), Big West (Utah State), Colonial Athletic Association (UNC-Wilmington), Ivy League (Pennsylvania), Metro Atlantic (Manhattan), Mid-Continent (IUPUI), Mid-American (Central Michigan), Mid-Eastern Athletic (South Carolina State), Northeast (Wagner), Ohio Valley (Austin Peay), Patriot League (Holy Cross), Southern (East Tennessee State), Southland (Sam Houston State), Southwestern Athletic (Texas Southern), Sun Belt (Western Kentucky), and Western Athletic (Tulsa) - each landed only team in the tournament.  As for predictions, we have three teams (Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas) from the Big-12 Conference in the NCAA Final Four, but we don't think anybody can beat Kentucky right now and, as a result, there is no question in our mind that we will name Wildcats head coach Tubby Smith as National Coach-of-the-Year later this week.  As for the first round, it's tough to pick many upsets, but we do like the #9 to beat the #8 seeded team three out of times (N.C. State over California, Utah over Oregon, and Gonzaga over Cincinnati).  We also like the #10 seed to win twice, as he have Auburn over St. Joseph's and Arizona State over Memphis.  In other words, we're really only going out on a limb on three first round games as we're picking #12-seeded Wisconsin-Milwaukee to beat #5-seeded Notre Dame, #14-seeded Manhattan to beat #3-seeded Syracuse, and #14-seeded Holy Cross to beat #3-seeded Marquette.  That last one is particularly interesting, because Marquette has had a history of fading fast in tournament play during the Tom Crean era and Holy Cross has played Kentucky and Kansas tough in the first round of the NCAA Tournament the last two years.  But what tips this one over the top is the fact that we don't think Crean is ready to beat his former teacher.  Remember, Crean was the top assistant coach for Ralph Willard when he was the head coach at Western Kentucky and Pittsburgh.    Speaking of Willard's days at Western Kentucky, wasn't it 10 years ago when the Hilltoppers were a giant killer in the NCAA Tournament, as they knocked off Memphis State and Seton Hall in the first and second rounds and almost beat Florida State in the Regional Semi-Finals?  We also don't see that many upsets in the second round, but we do like #5-seeded Connecticut to beat #4-seeded Stanford, #7-seeded Michigan State beat #2-seeded Florida, #6-seeded Maryland to beat #3-seeded, and #5-seeded Wisconsin to beat #4-seeded Dayton.  From there anything can happen, as Oklahoma, Louisville, Wake Forest, Oklahoma State, Texas, Connecticut, Michigan State, Maryland, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Missouri, Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, and Duke are all good enough to get hot and make a run at the NCAA Final Four in New Orleans, LA.  Remember, at this time a year ago, teams like Kentucky, Missouri, and UCLA weren't playing all that well late in the season, but caught fire in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to either the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight.  There also was a lot of talk today about the West Regional being by-far-and-away the best of the regionals.  Well, any way you slice it, that appears to be right on the money, because the top four teams (Arizona, Kansas, Duke, and Illinois) are all powerhouses, plus there is plenty of depth, as the average Sagarin Ranking per team in the West Regional is 84.458125, followed by the Midwest with a 84.284375 ranking, the East with 83.498125 ranking, and the South with a 83.286875 ranking.   We also are interested in your input via our "Question of the Day," which asks you to grade the job of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. 

HOOP SCOOP NCAA TOURNAMENT PREDICTIONS

East Regional
First Round                                             Second Round  Regional Semi-Finals         Regional Finals   NCAA Semi-Finals  Final Two  NCAA Champion
(Seed) Team (Record) (Sagarin Ranking) (Sagarin Strength of Schedule Ranking)
(1) Oklahoma (24-6) (8) (1)
                                                                Oklahoma
(16) S.C. State (20-10) (231) (320)
                                                                                                 Oklahoma
(8) California (21-8) (40) (52)
                                                                N.C. State
(9) N.C. State (18-12) (46) (51)   

                                                                                                                                            Oklahoma

(5) Mississippi State (21-9) (16) (16)
                                                                Mississippi State
(12) Butler (24-5) (35) (115)
                                                                                                 Louisville
(4) Louisville (24-6) (6) (38)
                                                                Louisville
(13) Austin Peay (20-7) (103) (182)   

                                                                                                                                                                Oklahoma

(2) Wake Forest (24-5) (9) (55)
                                                               Wake Forest
(15) East Tennessee (17-10) (132) (191)
                                                                                                 Wake Forest
(7) St. Joseph's (23-6) (20) (93)
                                                               Auburn
(10) Auburn (19-11) (43) (40)

                                                                                                                                         Wake Forest

(3) Syracuse (24-5) (12) (56)
                                                               Manhattan
(14) Manhattan (23-6) (69) (221)
                                                                                                 Oklahoma State
(6) Oklahoma State (20-9) (25) (25)
                                                               Oklahoma State
(11) Pennsylvania (22-5) (49) (190)

                                                                                                                                                                                       Oklahoma

South Regional
First Round                                             Second Round  Regional Semi-Finals         Regional Finals   NCAA Semi-Finals  Final Two  NCAA Champion
(Seed) Team (Record) (Sagarin Ranking) (Sagarin Strength of Schedule Ranking)
(1) Texas  (22-6) (5) (12)
                                                                Texas
(16) UNC-Asheville (13-16) (251) (232)
(16) Texas Southern (18-12) (257) (323)
                                                                                                 Texas
(8) LSU (21-10) (27) (63)
                                                                LSU
(9) Purdue (18-10) (34) (26)

                                                                                                                                          Texas

(5) Connecticut (21-9) (23) (50)
                                                                Connecticut
(12) Brigham Young (23-8) (28) (65)
                                                                                                Connecticut
(4) Stanford (23-8) (29) (37)
                                                                Stanford
(13) San Diego (18-11) (87) (109)

                                                                                                                                                                Texas

(2) Florida (24-7) (7) (24)
                                                               Florida
(15) Sam Houston (23-6) (138) (299)
                                                                                                 Michigan State
(7) Michigan State (19-12) (36) (18)
                                                               Michigan State
(10) Colorado (20-11) (33) (34)

                                                                                                                                          Maryland

(3) Xavier (25-5) (13) (89)
                                                               Xavier
(14) Troy State (26-5) (77) (263)
                                                                                                 Maryland
(6) Maryland (19-9) (21) (61)
                                                               Maryland
(11) UNC-Wilmington (24-6) (51) (228)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Kentucky

Midwest Regional
First Round                                             Second Round  Regional Semi-Finals         Regional Finals   NCAA Semi-Finals  Final Two  NCAA Champion
(Seed) Team (Record) (Sagarin Ranking) (Sagarin Strength of Schedule Ranking)
(1) Kentucky  (29-3) (1) (8)
                                                                Kentucky
(16) IUPUI (19-13) (162) (210)
                                                                                                 Kentucky
(8) Oregon (23-9) (30) (79)
                                                                Utah
(9) Utah (23-7) (38) (86)

                                                                                                                                               Kentucky

(5) Wisconsin (22-7) (19) (73)
                                                                Wisconsin
(12) Weber State (25-4) (59) (204)  
                                                                                                 Wisconsin
(4) Dayton (24-5) (26) (75)
                                                                Dayton
(13) Tulsa (22-9) (58) (151)

                                                                                                                                                          Kentucky

(2) Pittsburgh (26-4) (3) (80)
                                                               Pittsburgh
(15) Wagner (21-10) (174) (287)
                                                                                                 Pittsburgh
(7) Indiana (20-12) (41) (9)
                                                               Indiana
(10) Alabama (17-11) (37) (10)

                                                                                                                                          Pittsburgh

(3) Marquette (23-5) (14) (64)
                                                               Holy Cross
(14) Holy Cross (23-6) (68) (278)
                                                                                                 Missouri
(6) Missouri (21-10) (22) (4)
                                                               Missouri
(11) Southern Illinois (24-6) (50) (120)

                                                                                                                                                                                         Kentucky            

West Regional
First Round                                             Second Round  Regional Semi-Finals         Regional Finals   NCAA Semi-Finals  Final Two  NCAA Champion
(Seed) Team (Record) (Sagarin Ranking) (Sagarin Strength of Schedule Ranking)
(1) Arizona  (25-3) (2) (22)
                                                                Arizona
(16) Vermont (21-11) (158) (269)
                                                                                                 Arizona
(8) Cincinnati (17-11) (42) (32)
                                                                Gonzaga
(9) Gonzaga (23-8) (39) (103)

                                                                                                                                        Arizona

(5) Notre Dame (22-10) (17) (15)
                                                                Wisconsin-Milwaukee
(12) Wisconsin-Milwaukee (24-7) (44) (133)
                                                                                                 Illinois
(4) Illinois (24-6) (11) (69)
                                                                Illinois
(13) Western Kentucky (24-8) (160) (145)

                                                                                                                                                       Kansas

(2) Kansas (25-7) (4) (7)
                                                               Kansas
(15) Utah State (24-8) (100) (215)
                                                                                                 Kansas
(7) Memphis (23-6) (24) (88)
                                                               Arizona State
(10) Arizona State (19-11) (32) (17)

                                                                                                                                           Kansas

(3) Duke (24-6) (10) (42)
                                                               Duke
(14) Colorado State (19-13) (89) (98)
                                                                                                 Duke
(6) Creighton (29-4) (18) (154)
                                                                Creighton      
(11) Central Michigan (24-5) (48) (116)

Friday, March 14, 2003

Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis was the one who tipped us off two days ago about 6'11 Jr Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Garces) CA being on the verge of making a verbal commitment to USC and now it looks like he was right on the money.  As a matter of fact, the press conference is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM and Swift, who is ranked #56 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is expected to pick the Trojans over Arizona, Boston College, UCLA, California, Missouri, and Texas.  Trigonis also tells us that 6'9 Mohamed Abukar from San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) CA, who signed with the University of Georgia last fall, is talking about trying to get out of his National Letter-of-Intent and, if he does, Abukar, who is ranked #62 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, would be the 4th highest ranked player still available in the senior class nationally, behind 6'8 Linas Kleiza from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'0 Maureece Rice from Philadelphia (Strawberry Mansion) PA, and 6'11 Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ.  We also understand that 7'1 Bryce Husak from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) IA, who verbally committed last fall to Elon College, has been released from his National Letter-of-Intent, which means he too is suddenly available to be recruited again.   And Husak could be a steal for a lot of high Division I programs.  We're talking about a legitimate top 200 senior nationally with good skills, a nice touch, good hands, and surprising coordination for a big white his size.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson also checks in with some updates prior to the start of the Ohio High School Tournament next week in Columbus, OH.  First, Johnson tells us that 6'7 Jr Josh Duncan from Cincinnati (Moeller) OH moves up from #4 to #2 on his list of the top juniors in the state.  Xavier and Ohio State appear to be the leaders for Duncan, but Dayton and Marquette have also offered and Notre Dame and N.C. State have recently seen him play.  Second, 6'9 Jr Matt Terwilliger from Troy (H.S.) OH drops from #2 to #3.  Ohio State, Cincinnati, and Notre Dame are the top three schools for Terwilliger and Johnson thinks there is a good chance he will pull the trigger this spring, although he says the current plan is to wait until after the end of the summer to make a decision.  Third, 7'0 Jr Seth Gorney from Vandalia (Butler) OH drops from #3 to #4.  Ohio State, Dayton, Kansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Indiana, Michigan State, Iowa State, Pittsburgh, and Utah are the schools mentioned most, but Gorney's list appears to be expanding and it often changes week-to-week.  Fourth, 6'6 Jr Brandon Ivery from Columbus (Walnut Ridge) OH, who is Johnson's #5-ranked junior, was declared ineligible in February and, as a result, his main concern is improving his grades and not having to go the prep school and/or junior college route.  Fifth, 6'10, 350 lbs. Jr Aaron Agnew from Bellaire (H.S.) OH is still #6 on Johnson's list, but he tells us that Xavier is leading Florida State, Ohio State, Duquesne, and Wake Forest and that he plans this summer to attend the adidas ABCD Camp and play for the Northeast Shooting Stars, which was the team for which 6'7 LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH has played for in the past.  Sixth, Johnson's #6 ranked freshman 6'3 Frosh Chris Poellnitz has transferred from Toledo (Scott) OH to Toledo (St. John's) OH, which should make St. John's the most talented team in the state next year, as Poellnitz will join 6'1 Jr Brian Roberts, 6'6 Soph Ben Raymond, and 6'6 Soph Zach Hillesland.  Raymond is the #1-ranked sophomore, Roberts is the #10 ranked junior, and Hillesland moves up from being the #20 to the #12-ranked sophomore in the state by Johnson.  Johnson also has the latest scoop on 6'3 Jr Dan Morrissey from Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL, 6'7 Norm Plummer from Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, and 5'10 Luke Gibson from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA, all three of whom have gone the prep school route.  Morrissey, who is a 4th year junior who plays for Mike Duncan's Cleveland Basketball Club during the summer, can shoot the lights out, is very athletic, and extremely competitive, which explains why he's recently made visits to both Indiana and Ohio State.  Plummer, who is being listed as junior, but really is already in his 5th year of high school, is supposed to be developing a perimeter game.  However, we liked him at the War-to-the Shore National Prep School Invitational in Milford, DE in November, because he was so athletic in transition and aggressive and productive around the basket.  Regardless, it appears the value of his stock has risen dramatically.  Gibson is a smart point guard who is getting underrecruited at the low Division I level.  Johnson also tells us that Ohio State is expected to have one of the top recruiting classes in the nation a year from now, as the Buckeyes plan to sign two inside players, a wing player, and a point guard.  Among the players we know they are involved with include Morrissey, Duncan, Terwilliger, Gorney, Agnew, 6'8 Jr Juan Diego Palacios from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, 6'10 Jr Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'10 Jr Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Atlanta Southwest Christian) GA, 6'7 Jr Peter Prowitt from Fairfax (Potomac) VA, 5'11 Jr Dupree Fletcher from Milwaukee (Rufus King) WI, 6'0 Jr Tauren Green from Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL, 6'4 Jr Justin Cerasoli from Aurora (West Aurora) IL, 5'11 Jr Kyle Lowry from Philadelphia (Cardinal Dougherty) PA, 5'11 Jr Sean Singletary from Philadelphia (Penn Charter) PA, 6'2 Jr Rajon Rondo from Louisville (Eastern) KY, 6'3 Jr Montavious Waters from Leesburg (Lee County) GA, 6'1 Jr Rico Harris from Detroit (Denby) MI, 6'7 Jr Malik Hairston from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, and 6'9 Jr Al Horford from Grand Ledge (H.S.) MI.  Obviously the Buckeyes are extremely strong in their backyard, but we also wouldn't be surprised if they steal one or two of the players mentioned above out of Michigan.  Remember, Michigan and Michigan State are both very limited in terms of the number of scholarships they still have available in the junior class, plus Ohio State Lamonta Stone, who formerly was an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan and a state championship high school coach at River Rouge (H.S.) MI, is second to none in terms of contacts and recruiting in his old stamping grounds.  Thus, explains why the Buckeyes are the co-favorite, along with Pittsburgh, for the Hairston, who is the best junior still available in the state; right at the top of the list for Harris, who is the best point guard in the state's junior class; and right there, along with Miami-FL, Xavier, Marquette, Michigan State, and Valparaiso, for Horford, who is the best big man in the state's junior class.  Speaking of Horford, whose wing span is 7-feet, did you know that he is the son of Tito Horford, who played for the Hurricane in the 80's? 

Thursday, March 13, 2003

It looks like Matt Doherty is in big trouble at North Carolina and it's not all about wins and losses, as the Tar Heels have finished the season with a 6-10 record in conference play and a 16-14 record overall.  Normally that should be more than enough to keep your job, especially after you went 8-20 a year ago, have an entire team made up of freshmen and sophomores, and have only quality big man in the program - 6'8 Frosh Sean May, who has been sidelined with an injury most the year.   However, North Carolina fans will tell you that Doherty has taken the second winningest program in the college basketball and turned the Tar Heels into the fourth best team in the state, as is evident by the fact that North Carolina finished 6th in the league this year, behind Wake Forest, Duke, and N.C. State, which finished 1st, 2nd, and 4th in the final conference standings.  Also adding fuel to the fire is the fact that this week's ACC Area Sports Journal has a number of quotes from North Carolina players talking about their dislike for Doherty.  And, if this isn't devastating enough, it also appears that the Raleigh News and Observer is planning on publishing a similar article once the Tar Heels' season is over.  We also continue to hear the rumors about May transferring to someplace like Texas Tech, Indiana, or Louisville, Jawad Williams transferring to Ohio State, and Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants both declaring hardship for the NBA Draft this spring.  So suddenly the question becomes how can Dougherty survive?  And, if he doesn't, sources close to the North Carolina program tell us that the smart money appears to be on Kansas head coach Roy Williams or Illinois head coach Bill Self.  Apparently the chancellor doesn't want to hire Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown, although Brown does appear to be Dean Smith's first choice.  So our guess is that the #1 choice once again will be Williams, who turned down the job three years ago when Doherty got it, because he had such a close relationship with his players and athletic director Bob Frederick.  However, Frederick retired last year and the last of the players (Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich) that Williams was so close to will graduate after this season.  In other words, things have changed and, if Williams takes the North Carolina job, then, ironically, Self might be the leading candidate to replace Williams at Kansas.  As a matter of fact, Greg Swaim of GregSwaim.com has told us a number of times the two jobs that Self would leave Illinois for are Kansas and Oklahoma State.  However, if Williams says no to North Carolina again, then Self not only appears to be next in line for North Carolina, but we're told he actually has an escape clause in his contract at Illinois that would allow him to leave for North Carolina, if the job was ever offered.  We also are wondering how many more games Steve Lavin has to win in order to survive as head coach at UCLA, after today's stunning 96-89 upset against Arizona?  Remember, UCLA was 7-18 on the season prior to winning their last three games against Washington State, Washington, and Arizona, and, as a result, it's been a foregone conclusion for several months that there would be a coaching change in Westwood this spring.  But, if Lavin can win the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament Championship and four games in the NCAA Tournament, then all bets would be off, as he would be responsible for the biggest turnaround in college basketball history.  Another interesting twist to things at UCLA is the fact that adidas' Sonny Vaccaro said on a local radio show today in Los Angeles, CA that the next Bruins coach "will be a big surprise." Which means it's probably not going to be Pittsburgh's Ben Howland, who has 35% of the vote regarding this very question in our "Question of the Day" from Tuesday, March 11th.  So maybe the rumors are true about Florida head coach Billy Donovan being very interested in the UCLA job.  And, if "Billy the Kid" were to get UCLA, it would be extremely interesting to see who gets replaces Donovan at Florida.  The first name that comes to mind is South Alabama head coach John Pelphrey, who was Donovan's right hand man at Marshall for two years and at Florida for six years.  However, with a 14-14 record and only one year of head coaching experience, a lot of people may question whether Pelphrey is ready to step into what has recently become one of the top basketball jobs in America?  Instead, we're guessing it will go to somebody with a little more head coaching experience, like Manhattan's Bobby Gonzalez, who, just like Pelphrey, is one of the Pitino's guys.  Remember, Pelphrey played for Pitino at Kentucky and Pitino almost hired Gonzalez twice as an assistant coach at Kentucky.   Gonzalez not only is coming off back-to-back 20-win seasons, but the Jaspers won the Metro Atlantic Post-Season Conference Tournament earlier this week, which means Gonzalez is now tournament tested.   He's probably also the hottest mid-level assistant coach in the nation and he's second to-none as a recruiter.  Gonzalez also would be in line for Pittsburgh, if Howland does move onto UCLA or someplace like Illinois, if Self leaves, or Georgia, if they don't hire Western Kentucky head coach Dennis Felton, who appears to be the early favorite to replace Jim Harrick.  Or Gonzalez could return to Providence, if current Nittany Lions head coach Jerry Dunn gets the ax and Providence head coach Tim Welsh moves onto Penn State.  We're also hearing Duke assistant coach Chris Collins for the Penn State job, but it now appears he has the inside track for Illinois State.   If you will recall, Collins' father, Washington Wizards head coach Doug Collins, is an alumnus of the school.  Another potential candidate for both Illinois State and Penn State is Ohio State assistant coach Paul Biancardi.  Speaking Biancardi, who is the #1-ranked assistant coach in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP, we're also hearing his name being mentioned for Cleveland State, Manhattan, and Boston University, if Terriers head coach Dennis Wolff gets either the Fordham or Manhattan job.  Remember, Wolff is originally from New York City.  Dayton assistant coach Ron Jirsa is the guy most mentioned for Wright State and Louisville assistant coach Vince Taylor appears to be the favorite for the Cleveland State job, although Biancardi, UNLV assistant coach Derek Thomas, IUPUI head coach Ron Hunter, and former Louisville assistant coach Jerry Eaves also would be excellent candidates once it becomes official that Rollie Massimino is out.  We're also hearing that the leading candidate for the Virginia Tech job is Western Michigan head coach Rob Collum.  Did you know that Hokies Director of Athletics Jim Weaver, who at the time was an associate athletic director, and Collum, who then was an assistant coach, were both at the University of Florida during the Lon Kruger era?  And how about South Florida head coach Seth Greenberg as the leading candidates for the Washington State job?  And, if that happens, wouldn't University of Florida assistant coach Anthony Grant or current Bulls assistant coach Dave Zimroth be sensational at South Florida? 

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that 6'9 Jason Cain from Philadelphia (Bartram) PA, who led his team to Philadelphia Public League Championship over the weekend and is tied at #100 on our list of the top seniors nationally, likes Indiana, Utah, Virginia, Penn State, Miami-FL, Seton Hall, UNC-Greensboro, Villanova, Temple, and Richmond.  The leaders for 6'5 Zakee Boyd from Philadelpia (Lutheran) PA are Central Connecticut, Rhode Island, Hampton, and UNC-Greensboro; St. Joseph, George Washington, Massachusetts, Colorado, and St. Bonaventure are showing the most interest in 6'6 Maurice Maxwell from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA; 5'10 Kevin Green from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA likes Hartford, Florida International, Stony Brook, Southeast Louisiana, and VMI; and the list for 6'5 Duane Birden from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA includes Sacred Heart, Virginia Union, Rider, Lehigh, American University, and Delaware State.  Coppin State is hoping to get 6'0 Maureece Rice from Philadelphia (Strawberry Mansion) PA, who is ranked #59 nationally in the senior class and is the second highest player still available by the HOOP SCOOP, as a Prop 48 casualty.  However, Rubin thinks Rice will likely go the prep school route and the smart money is on Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA.  Remember, this is the kid left the adidas ABCD Camp in Teaneck, NJ early, because he was homesick.  We also have finally confirmed that 6'1 T.J. Bannister from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL has verbally committed to the University of Virginia.  If you will recall, we told you on Saturday that Bannister was making an official visit to Charlottesville, VA over the weekend and, if everything went as expected, that verbal commitment would be forthcoming almost immediately.  This moves the Cavaliers recruiting class, which also includes 6'5 Gary Forbes from Brooklyn (Banneker) NY and 6'3 J.R. Reynolds from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, into a tie at #31 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003, plus Bannister promises to be the heir apparent to the point guard spot after Todd Billet and Majestic Mapp both graduate a year from now.  We also believe that 7'0 Jr Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Garces) CA, who is ranked #56 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, is close to making an early verbal commitment to USC.  And, if this happens, the Trojans recruiting class, which already includes 6'4 Jr Curtis Allen from Palos Verdes (Rolling Hills) CA, would move up to #3 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2004.   Swift would also give head coach Henry Bibby the inside presence that he has been missing since Sam Clancy graduated a year ago.  Our Georgia Editor Linzy Davis recently told us about 6'9 Jr Daniel Northern from Warren Robbins (Houston County) GA, who he thinks is one of the biggest sleepers nationally in the junior class.  However, Davis thinks Northern is only the second biggest sleeper in the state of Georgia.  At the top of Davis' list is 6'3 Jr Tramell Wooten from Mt. Vernon (Montgomery County) GA and, just like Northern, there is an intense recruiting battle going on among the Atlanta Celtics, Georgia Stars, and Georgia Elite for Wooten's services.  Our guess is that the Atlanta Celtics will prevail, because Wooten is the cousin of 6'5 Jr Dwayne Day from Mt. Vernon (Montgomery County) GA, who is one of the four outstanding juniors on the Atlanta Celtics, along with 6'10 Jr Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Atlanta Southwest Christian) GA, 6'9 Jr Josh Smith from Powder Springs (McEachern) GA, and 6'8 Jr Randolph Morris from Fairburn (Landmark Christian) GA.  Davis thinks Wooten not only is better than Day right now, but he goes so far as to predict that Wooten will be the best point guard to come out of Georgia since William Avery.  "When I saw Wooten recently in the Class A State Finals, I knew there were two future NBA players on the court," says Davis.  "And Dwayne Day wasn't one of the them.  Instead, the two players I had in mind were Wooten and Dwight Howard."  Davis even goes so far as to rank Wooten as the #4 player in the state's loaded junior class behind Howard, Smith, and Morris and ahead of Northern and Day.  We're talking about an extremely efficient long lanky athlete with excellent 3-point shooting range and good ball handling and passing skills.  Apparently Auburn and Florida both have jumped into the hunt for Wooten after first coming into watch Day, but his top three schools are Kentucky, Kentucky, and Kentucky.  And making the story even more interesting is the fact that he has never heard a word from the Wildcats.  However, I'm sure that will change sooner than later!

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio doesn't think there is any truth to the rumor that Peter Vecsey started today in his column in the New York Post about Jason Fraser transferring from Villanova to Louisville.  However, if Fraser were to transfer from Villanova, this would make sense, because the other top two finalists on his list when he was a senior in high school were St. John's and Louisville.  If you will recall, St. John's was Fraser's favorite school, but Red Storm head coach Mike Jarvis and Fraser 's uncle didn't get along and, as a result, Fraser ended up signing with the Wildcats.  This is important, because, if Fraser were to transfer, he'd have to sit out two years, if he transferred to another Big East school.  Which means, if there was any truth to this rumor, Louisville would be the obvious.  We also checked to see if the rumors about Louisville being the leader for 6'8 Donte Minter from Fork Union (Military Academy) VA are true.  Well, they may be, but, like so many other player right now, it appears Minter 's one of the best inside guys still available, but not necessary good enough to step in and make a major impact next year at the high Division I level.  And it appears that Dave Telep of TheInsidersHoops.com agrees, as he's reported to have said that Minter, who originally signed with Appalachian State a year ago, but went the prep school when he failed to make it academically, isn't good enough to ever be a starter for the Cardinals.  Minter is not very athletic, but he is a strong physical blue collar power forward who also has attracted interest from schools like Virginia, Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Marquette, Charlotte, North Carolina, Indiana, and Kentucky.  However, we do think Louisville is near lock for 5'11 Jr Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, who is the #1-ranked junior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, and they are the strong favorite for 6'5 Jr Earl "J.R." Smith from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, who is ranked #25 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Louisville also is one the favorites, along with Kansas, DePaul, UCLA, USC, Connecticut, and Arizona, for 6'4 Jr Arron Afflalo from Compton (Centennial) CA, who is ranked #24 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and, as a result, it would be a major surprise if the Cardinals offered either 6'2 Jr Rajon Rondo from Louisville (Eastern) KY or 6'2 Jr Chris Lofton from Maysville (Mason County) KY both who are consensus top 50-100 range players nationally in the junior class.  Instead, it appears that Indiana, USC, and Kentucky are the favorites for Rondo, who set the all-time L.I.T. (Louisville Invitational Tournament) scoring record with 148 points in five games in January, and Indiana and Cincinnati are at the top of the list for Lofton, who was the MVP in the King of the Bluegrass Holiday Classic in December.  We also have confirmed that 5'9 Kevin Bridgewaters from Columbia (Adair County) KY, who is ranked #15 in the state by our Kentucky Editor Larry Kihnley, has made a verbal commitment to Western Kentucky.  Bridgewaters is small, but he's very intriguing, because he's got a 39-inch vertical jump and has been the leading scorer in the state the last two years.  This year Bridgewaters is averaging 36 ppg, which the third highest scoring average in state history behind Ervin Stepp, who set the national scoring record with 53.7 ppg during the 1979-80 season.  This moves Western Kentucky's recruiting class, which also includes 6'8 Damion Staple from Southeastern Illinois (JC) IL, 7'0 Josh Higgins from Vandalia (Butler) OH, and 6'4 Nick Hill from DuQuoin (H.S.) IL, into a tie at #61 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  It also gives Hilltoppers head coach Dennis Felton a junior college All-American (Staple) who is capable of stepping in inside and helping to replace 7'1 Chris Marcus and 6'8 David Boyden, both of whom will graduate after this season; a 7-footer (Higgins) who hopefully will develop into another Chris Marcus; a high-flying point guard (Bridgewaters) who also puts up incredible numbers; and an solid two-guard who can shoot the lights out (Hill).  However, that still might not be enough to keep Felton at Western Kentucky next year.  As a matter of fact, we've already heard that Felton is the #1 choice for the University of Georgia job and apparently they're talking someplace in the neighborhood of $750,000 per year for five to seven years.  As for current University of Georgia head coach Jim Harrick, it appears that he may be returning to Los Angeles, CA?  No, we aren't listing him as a candidate for the UCLA job, but we do think he may become an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers.  Did you know that Dennis Johnson, who is the interim head coach for the Clippers, played for Harrick at Pepperdine?  So when and if Johnson becomes the head coach of the Clippers on a permanent basis, remember where you heard it first.  As for the UCLA job, we have come up with a list of the top 10 candidates for the job and we encourage you to tell us who think will get the job by answering our "Question of the Day."

Monday, March 10, 2003

The dominos are starting to fall, as Jim Harrick is out at Georgia, Ricky Stokes is out at Virginia Tech, Paul Graham is out at Washington State, Armond Hill is out at Columbia, and Robert Wickenheiser, who is the president of the school, is out at St. Bonaventure.  And UCLA head coach Steve Lavin also would have been out today, if the Bruins hadn't beaten Washington and Washington State over the weekend and, as a result, finished 8th in the Pacific-10 Conference standings.   Instead, it looks like the ax will come down on Lavin on Friday, unless the Bruins beat Arizona in the first round of the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament on Thursday.   Ironically, Lavin is the guy who replaced Harrick when he got fired at UCLA seven years ago for lying about how many athletes he had at recruiting dinner.  This time the charges against Harrick are academic fraud and it is obvious that University of Georgia President Mike Adams is circling the wagons and putting as much distance as possible between himself and Harrick, who currently is suspended with pay.  Making the story even more interesting is the fact that University of Georgia Athletic Director Vince Dooley wanted to hire either Tennessee's Buzz Peterson or Notre Dame's Mike Brey, both of whom are legitimate guys and are on the fast track as Division I head coaches, when Harrick got the job four years.  But Adams made Dooley hire Harrick, who he knew from their days at Pepperdine when Adams was the vice president for development and Harrick was the head basketball coach.  Making the story even more tragic is the fact that Harrick, who won the NCAA Championship at UCLA in 1995 and transformed the programs at both Rhode Island and Georgia almost overnight, is a great basketball coach, as is evident by the fact that he has a 470-235 career coaching record at the Division I level.  However, when you break the rules and get caught, you have to pay the price.  And it appears the University of Georgia is going to have to pay a heavy price, as it's already been announced that the Bulldogs won't be participating this week in the Southeastern Conference Tournament or later this month in the NCAA Tournament, despite the fact they finished the regular season with a 11-5 record in the league and a 19-8 overall record.  Obviously you're innocent until proven guilty in our society, but after Tony Cole, who was kicked off the Georgia team a year ago, told EPSN two weeks ago that Harrick's son, Jim Harrick, Jr, who is an assistant coach for the Bulldogs, "paid his bills, did schoolwork, and taught a sham class on coaching," we knew Harrick's days were numbered at Georgia.  And you can bet the NCAA will make an example out the university by placing the Bulldogs on probation for years to come, but our guess is that very little will happen to Harrick.  As a matter fact, his next stop will probably be the NBA.  Maybe he can become the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks.  The job is open and he's still extremely popular among the fans in Georgia.  And how about former Atlanta Hawks head coach Lon Kruger for the University of Georgia job?  Kruger has won at every level, he's class act, he already lives in the area, and is looking for job.  One coach who isn't looking for a job is Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight.  As a matter of fact, Knight isn't even going to accept a salary this year, because he feels like his team didn't live up expectations.  Currently the Red Raiders are 6-10 in the Big-12 Conference and 16-11 overall, but that isn't good enough for Knight, who currently has 803 career wins and is fourth on the all-time win list behind Dean Smith (879) Adolph Rupp (876), and Jim Phelan (830).   Maybe Fordham head coach Bob Hill will follow in Knight's footsteps and give back his salary after going 4-23 on the season.  Can you believe that Hill, who still has six years on his contract, won't just go quietly into the night?  Speaking of the Rams, their two most recent wins came as the result of forfeits by St. Bonaventure, which won both games against Fordham, but used a player who has since been declared ineligible.  The president at St. Bonaventure is already out and head coach Jan Van Breda Kolff, assistant coach Kort Wickenheiser, who is the son of the university president, and athletic director Gothard Lane have been placed on administrative leave.  If you will recall, St. Bonaventure had to forfeit six regular season wins and has been banned from participating in the Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament and, as a result, the players decided against playing in the two remaining regular season games against Massachusetts and Dayton.  Maybe they should let 5'7 Marques Green, 6'6 Robert Cheeks, and  6'5 Patricio Prato, who were the only three players on the team who wanted play in the final two games, take over as the president, athletic director, and head coach at St. Bonaventure.  In other words, if you want to let the inmates run the asylum, at least let the ones do it who have the heart and intelligence necessary to make the proper decisions. 

Sunday, March 9, 2003

The NCAA ruled earlier this week that Marvin Stone and his former AAU coach Mark Komara had a preexisting relationship to basketball and, as a result, any extra benefits that Stone or his family may have received from Komara did not violate their amateurism rules.  However, that doesn't mean the NCAA has let up on what appears to becoming the Marvin Stone-inquisition.  The latest question involves 12 money orders that Stone is reported to have received from members of his family and one for $20 from a student at the University of Louisville.  There also was a money order $450 that was sent to a different Marvin Stone, who is a 53-year old project engineer in Atlanta.  Normally in our society you are innocent until proven guilty, but with the NCAA you are guilty until proven innocent, as was evident by the fact that for the second time in a week Stone was forced to sit out a game, while he waits for the NCAA to once again make a ruling.  Whether Stone gets to play next week in the Conference USA Tournament or the NCAA Tournament later this month is anybody's guess, but Louisville head coach Rick Pitino thinks Stone will get to play again.  "I looked through the rule book all day today and I can't see where there's a violation," said Pitino. "I'm sure the NCAA understands what they're doing.  I have great respect for them, but I believe the NCAA is there for the student-athlete.  I think he will be back.  I don't think he will sit any more games, in my estimation, because I think they understand what's right and what's wrong.  They made a ruling that wasn't right, but I still believe in their principles."  Obviously Pitino has more faith in the NCAA than we do.  As a matter of fact, we think this is a clear example that their rules and regulations are more important than the student-athletes they are supposed to govern and protect.  Not only does the Stone in Atlanta, GA have a good legal case against both Western Union and the NCAA for invasion of privacy, but Stone-the basketball player may have good legal cases for defamation of character, harassment, discrimination, and potential loss of earnings if he doesn't get to play in the NCAA Tournament.  What do you think?  Should the Stone's sue the NCAA and is the NCAA concerned about the student-athlete when his or her  welfare is conflict with their rules and regulations?  Tell us by answering today's and tomorrow's clicking on "Question of the Day."   The NCAA will tell you that they don't make the rules, they just enforce the rules.  While that is technically correct, the NCAA has total control over how they want to enforce the rules, which brings us to the very interesting question regarding what appears to be discrimination against Stone.   If Stone is guilty of something, then a majority of the student-athletes in college today are probably guilty of the same crime.  So why is the NCAA singling out Stone and why are they singling him out right now?  Our guess is that it stems from their desire to put the AAU coaches out of business and after reading the book, Sole Influence:  Basketball, Corporate Greed, and the Corruption of America's Youth, co-authored by Don Yaeger and  Dan Wetzel, that alleges that Stone got a Ford Explorer from Komara six years ago, they are going after Stone in an attempt to get Komara.  Remember, the NCAA is accountable to nobody and they have history of being a very vindictive organization.  However, in Stone's case it is ironic that instead of becoming the villain, he's become the hero.  As a matter of fact, Stone's eligibility status has become the hottest topic in town for over a week now.   In other words, people know when somebody's getting a raw deal and, as a result, no matter how many ads the NCAA buys or how much propaganda they put out about how they have the best interest of the student-athlete at heart, anybody who has followed this case knows that facts indicate otherwise.  As for Stone, he was named the Athlete of the Game after Louisville's 100-59 win against Charlotte, despite the fact he didn't get to see a second of action in the last home game of the regular season.  Stone also will probably go down in history as one of Louisville's more popular players.  Remember, a year ago when getting his release from the University of Kentucky to transfer to the University of Louisville was still in doubt, Stone was talking about walking-on and paying his own way at Louisville.  Since that time he's had to sit out a year, battle injuries and foul trouble, and work harder than he's ever worked in his life.  And he's come through it all still with a smile on his face, despite the best efforts of the NCAA, which appears to be as morally bankrupt as slave owners were before the Civil War.   Speaking of slavery, the NCAA is a multi-million dollar non-profit organization that uses "amateurism" as a means to maintain its power.  In other words, they have more money than they know what to do with, which makes it extremely tough to challenge them in court, they have a total monopoly, they don't pay taxes, and they don't pay their employees (the student-athlete).

Saturday, March 8, 2003

Did you know that 6'1 T.J. Bannister from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL is visiting the University of Virginia this weekend and, if all goes as expected, a verbal commitment to the Cavaliers could be forthcoming almost immediately?  We also have confirmed that nothing has changed with regards to the verbal commitment that was made by 6'4 Dwon Youmans from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL last fall to Auburn.  If you will recall, Youmans committed, but didn't sign with the Tigers, which always makes some people read more than there often is into the situation.  We also have checked to see who is showing the most early interest in 7'1 Frosh Jason Bennett from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL and it comes as no surprise that Florida and Florida State are the early leaders.  As a matter of fact, Bennett was at the Kentucky-Florida game in Gainesville, FL today.  We also still believe that Florida is the school you have to beat for 6'0 Jr Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, although right now it appears Memphis is making a very strong push.  If you will recall, Washington made an official visit to Memphis last weekend and the word is that he enjoyed his visit enough to make him think seriously about making a verbal commitment to the Tigers.  In other words, if something happens soon, it's going to be Memphis.  And this wouldn't be the first time that a top-five ranked junior from the state of Florida has made an early commitment to John Calipari during his three year reign Memphis.  Remember, two years ago 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL, who was the #2-ranked senior nationally behind 6'7 Carmelo Anthony from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA in our final rankings of the Class of 2003, verbally committed to Memphis during the winter of his junior year.  However, that commitment never materalized, as Stoudemire by-passed college and was drafted in the NBA Draft last spring.  Ironically, Washington could do that to, but we don't predict that he will have the same degree of success, because 6'0 combo guards in the NBA are a dime a dozen.  It also appears that 6'9 Frosh Derrick Caracter has transferred from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ to Scotch Plains (H.S.) NJ and, as a result, it appears that he may be following in the footsteps of Schea Cotton, who also was   ranked as the best freshman in the nation 10 year ago, but, after transferring from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA to Bellflower (St. John Bosco) CA early in his career, continued on what turned out to be a downward spiral.  Caracter has incredible natural talent, big time athleticism, excellent skills, a man-child like body, and is advanced well beyond his years, as is evident by the fact that he was ranked #5 at the NIKE All-American Camp last summer by the HOOP SCOOP and he was the leading rebounder and one of the best players in the City of Palms Classic in Ft. Myers, FL in December.  However, Caracter appears to be a classic example of somebody who has gotten too much fame and notoriety too soon.  Not only did his game slip dramatically after Christmas, but he was suspended from the team in January, because he failed a class, and now it appears he's throwing away the most valuable asset he had in terms of helping him deal with all the attention and pressures that go along with being the best player in his class nationally.  We're talking about St. Patrick head coach Kevin Boyle, who not only is one of the top five high school basketball coaches in the nation, but was instrumental in helping Al Harrington become the #1-ranked senior in the Class of 1998.  Caracter will not be eligible the rest of the season at Scotch Plains (H.S.) NJ, but, if he does well academically, he will join 6'6 Frosh Lance Thomas, who is averaging 15 ppg this season, to from one of the best young one-two punches in New Jersey a year from now.  If Harrington doesn't do well academically this spring at Scotch Plains, NJ, then he'll probably transfer to someplace, like Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA.  Speaking of transfers, did you know that 6'1 Jr Devon Moffatt from Clifton (H.S.) NJ has transferred to Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ?  Brian Merritt of Elite Scouting, which is based in Baltimore, MD, also tells us that 6'3 Keith Jenifer has decided to transfer from Virginia, 6'0 Soph Eric Price from Washington (Dunbar) DC will tranfer to Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, and 6'2 Jr Earl Risby from Washington (Dunbar) DC, who is a fourth year junior, will attend Laurinburg (Institute) NC next year. 

Friday, March 7, 2003

The HOOP SCOOP has confirmed that 6'8 Patrick Ewing Jr from Ft. Washington (National Christian) MD has verbally committed to Indiana University.  No, Ewing is not the dominating big man that Hoosiers needed to land in this recruiting class and, yes, we weren't all that impressed when we saw Ewing at the War on the Shore National Prep School Invitational Tournament in Milford, DE in November.  But this one is still intriguing.  Not only does Ewing have tremendous athleticism and a nice looking jumper, which needs to become more consistent, on the perimeter, but it also appears that he has some of his father's natural talent and it's possible that he could grow another three or four inches, which suddenly would make him almost as tall as his father.  As a matter of fact, the younger Ewing is still like a deer learning to run, as you always see flashes, but he never seems to be able to put the total package together.  In other words, a red-shirt year may even be necessary, as Ewing continues to get bigger and stronger, meaner and tougher, and/or develops more consistent perimeter skills.  However, this may turn out to be a major steal when we look back at it several years down the road.  This probably will preclude the Hoosiers from taking 6'7 Guy Ngarndi from Louisville (Western) KY, who is a similar type player.  Recently it appeared that Indiana had jumped into the lead over schools like Cincinnati, Kentucky, Western Kentucky, Appalachian State, and Pepperdine for Ngarndi's services and understand that Louisville head coach Rick Pitino saw Ngarndi play last Friday night.  However, we'd be surprised if the Cardinals offer him a scholarship, despite the fact Ngarndi's an excellent defender, rebounder, shot blocker and he possesses big time athleticism.  The problem is that Ngarndi doesn't have a true position - he's not big enough to play inside nor does he handle it or shoot it well enough to play outside at the high Division I level.  Which means a lot of big name schools are looking, but nobody seems to want to pull the trigger.  At least not yet.  Instead, our guess is that Louisville will turn the heat up on 6'11 James Lang from Birmingham (Central Park Christian) AL in the spring and, if that doesn't work, just sign five players in next year's recruiting class.  One we already know will be 6'10 Jr Terrance Farley from Louisville (Pleasure Ridge Park) KY.  We also continue to hear that the Cardinals are a near lock for 5'11 Jr Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, who is the #1-ranked junior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, and they now also appear to be the leader for 6'5 Jr Earl (J.R.) Smith from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, who is ranked #25 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.   We also believe that it's only a matter of time before Indiana seals the deal with 6'9 Jr D.J. White from Tuscaloosa (Hillcrest) AL, who is ranked #6 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  If you will recall, Indiana University head coach Mike Davis and White's high school coach Thad Fitzpatrick not only werer on the same coaching staff together at Alabama, but are still extremely close friends.  We also think that 6'9 Jr Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS, who is ranked #2 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, will either go to Mississippi State or by-pass college and go straight to the NBA.  The smart money is on the NBA, but just imagine how good Mississippi State's front-line could be if Tigers head coach Rick Stansbury gets Jefferson, 6'10 Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS and 6'10 Travis Outlaw from Starkville (H.S.) MS all together for a year or two.   We also think it's a foregone conclusion that 6'6 Jr Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Central) IN, who is ranked #4 in the junior class nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, will pick Illinois, and it looks like 6'4 Jr Glenn Miles from Birmingham (West End) AL, who is ranked #30 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, will verbally commit to Alabama sooner than later (we're talking days, not months).   We also would be surprised if 6'0 Jr Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, who is ranked #3 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, gets away from the University of Florida, and we've already gone on record predicting that 6'9 Jr Joshua Smith from Powder Springs (McEachern) GA, who is ranked #5 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, 6'10 Jr Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Atlanta Southwest Christian) GA, who is ranked #11 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'8 Jr Randolph Morris from Fairburn (Landmark Christian) GA, who is ranked #26 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, will all end up Georgia Tech.  Missouri appears to be the favorite for 6'1 Jr Jason Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, who is ranked #8 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; Texas leads for 6'10 Jr LeMarcus Aldridge from Dallas (Seogoville) TX, who is ranked #13 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; North Carolina is the heavy favorite for 6'9 Jr Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, who is ranked #14 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; Arizona has jumped out in front in the race for 6'10 Jr Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, who is ranked #21 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; Marquette leads for 6'9 Jr Shawn Pruitt from Aurora (West Aurora) IL, who is ranked #22 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; and DePaul is the odds-on favorite for 6'4 Jr Justin Cerasoli from Aurora (West Aurora) IL, who is ranked #33 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  You also can bet that the first player the new coaching staff at UCLA goes after will be 6'4 Jr Arron Afflalo from Compton (Centennial) CA, who is ranked #24 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and it appears to be a two-horse race between Illinois and Missouri for 6'8 Jr Kalen Grimes from Florissant (Hazelwood Central) IL, who is ranked #28 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  We also believe St. John's is the school you have to beat for 6'0 Jr A.J. Price from Amityville (H.S.) NY, who is ranked #19 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'2 Jr Russell Robinson from New York (Rice) NY, who is ranked #32 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; Alabama, Florida, and Louisville are the leaders for 6'8 Jr Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, who is ranked #10 natrionally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; and Valparaiso stashed 6'8 Jr Juan Diego Tellos Palacios from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, who is ranked #17 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, although schools like Ohio State, Pittsburgh, and Louisville are making a strong push. And don't forget the fact that 6'3 Jr Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX, who is ranked #9 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'2 Jr DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA, who is ranked #15 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'2 Jr JamesOn Curry from Mebane (Eastern Alamance) NC, who is ranked #16 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'11 Jr Steve Hill from Branson (H.S.) MO, who is ranked #23 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'5 Jr Robert Vaden from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, who is ranked #27 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'9 Jr Cedric Simmons from Shallotte (West Brunswick) NC, who is ranked #31 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'3 Jr Jamar Butler from Lima (Shawnee) NJ, who is ranked #34 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'6 Jr J.R. Angle from Trafalgar (Indian Creek) IN, who is ranked #37 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'11 Jr Greg Steimsma from Randolph (H.S.) WI, who is ranked #38 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; and 6'6 Jr Ronald Coleman from Romulus (H.S.) MI, who is ranked #40 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, all have made verbal commitments.  In other words, we have a darn good idea where 35 of the top 40 juniors will go to college a full 18-months prior to when most of them will enroll in school. 

Thursday, March 6, 2003

We were surprised this morning to see that Wright State head coach Ed Schilling had been fired yesterday.  Sure, his team was 10-18 on the season and 4-12 in the league, but help was on the way, as is evident by the fact that the Raiders recruiting class was tied at #75, along Temple, Marquette, Western Kentucky, Hawaii, and Mississippi, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  Remember, 6'8 Matt Webster from Westfield (H.S.) IN, who is ranked among our top 100 nationally, is a tough hardnosed warrior out of the Brian Cardinal mold; 6'1 Todd Abernathy from Indianapolis (Heritage Christian) IN is the quintessential mid-major point guard; and 6'6 Vladimiras Severovas from Beverly Hills (Groves) MI is one of the top wing forwards in Michigan.  However, there is no doubt that Schilling will land on his feet sooner than later.  After all, we're talking about one of the bright up-and-coming guys in the business with all kinds of experience dating back to his days as the head coach at Logansport (H.S.) IN and working the Five-Star Basketball Camp.  Did you know in 1994 Rick Pitino almost hired Schilling as an assistant coach at Kentucky?  As it turned out Pitino hired current Boston Celtics head coach Jim O'Brien, who at the time had just been fired as the head coach at Dayton.  A year later Schilling was hired as an assistant coach by John Calipari at Massachusetts and he also was one of Calipari's assistants with the New York Nets prior to taking over as the head coach at Wright State six years ago.  And it still looks like Schilling has strong connections to Pitino, as is evident by the fact that Wright State was one of the four teams, along with Louisville, Manhattan, and Eastern Kentucky, that played in the Billy Minardi Classic in Louisville, KY in December.   All this could be important, if Louisville assistant coach Mick Cronin gets a head coaching job this spring and Pitino suddenly needs to hire an assistant coach.  Speaking of Cronin, we've heard both his name and Ohio State assistant coach Paul Biancardi's name mentioned in connection with the Wright State job and this interesting for several reasons.  First, both are Ohio-guys.  Remember, Biancardi originally is from the Northeast, but, after being at Ohio State for six years, he now has strong Midwest ties.  Cronin not only was an assistant coach at Cincinnati prior to joining Pitino two years ago, but he also was born and raised in Cincinnati, OH.  Second, Biancardi and Cronin are the #1 and #2-ranked assistant coaches in the nation, which you can find by clicking on our Exclusive Ranking of the Top Coaches.  However, our guess is that both Biancardi and Cronin will hold out to see if they can get top level jobs.  If you will recall, the precedent was set a year ago when three of our top five ranked assistant coaches - Arizona assistant coach Jay John got the Oregon State job, Kansas assistant coach Neil Dougherty got the Texas Christian job, and Connecticut assistant coach Dave Leitao got the DePaul job - got head coaching jobs in major conferences.  We also have heard Biancardi's name mentioned for Penn State, Manhattan, and Cleveland State.  Speaking of Cleveland State, the athletic director fired the women's coach yesterday, so it may take a couple of more days for him to get around to firing Rollie Massimino.  We also hear Louisville assistant coach Vince Taylor and Clemson assistant coach Darren Tillis being mentioned for the Cleveland State job and we keep hearing Cronin's name mentioned for Dayton, if Flyers head coach Oliver Purnell moves up the ladder.  Did you know that we've heard Purnell's name mentioned as a possible replacement, if, by some chance, Georgeotwn head coach Craig Esherick gets the ax.  However, with a 14-12 overall record and a 6-9 record in the Big East Conference, our guess is that John Thompson still has enough clout at Georgetown to buy Esherick the time he needs to turn things around.  But let's say Purnell, who has guided to the Flyers to an impressive 21-5 record this season and, as a result, is one of the hottest head coaches in the business, does get a bigger job this spring, then, either Cronin or Dayton assistant coach Ron Jirsa would be ideally suited to get the Flyers job.  Remember, Jirsa previously was the head coach at Georgia and he's learned from two of the best (Tubby Smith at Tulsa and Georgia and Purnell at Dayton), plus he's played a very important role in terms of building the Flyers program in recent years.  We also hear that UCLA and Washington State will both open on Monday.  We think Oklahoma assistant coach Jim Shaw has the inside track to replace Cougars head coach Paul Graham, but we're also hearing Weber State head coach Joe Cravens and Eastern Washington head coach Ray Giacoletti being mentioned for Washington State.   Pittsburgh head coach Ben Howland is the heavy favorite to replace Bruins head coach Steve Lavin, but Florida head coach Billy Donovan's name keeps popping up in connection with UCLA.  Sure, Donovan would be able to recruit like crazy at UCLA and, ironically, if he did take the job, he'd get a chance to coach 6'8 Trevor Ariza from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA.   If you will recall, Florida was the heavy favorite for Ariza until UCLA lost Evan Burns last fall and they turned the heat up on Ariza.  However, we're still skeptical, because Donovan, who is one of the highest paid coaches in the college game, would probably have to take a major salary cut to go to UCLA, plus he's already built the Gators into one of the premier programs in college basketball today.  We also don't think Donovan will take the Kentucky job, if Wildcats head coach Tubby Smith moves onto the NBA after the current season.  Yes, that rumor is still out there, as the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, and Philadelphia 76ers, if Larry Brown retires or takes another job, all continue to be mentioned as possibilities.  Also interesting is the fact that if Smith does take a pro job this spring, he could become the first coach in college basketball history to win the NCAA Championship in both his first year and last year at the same school, if the Wildcats win the National Championship a month from tomorrow in New Orleans, LA. 

Wednesday, March 5, 2003

It looks like we knew what we were talking about when we told you on Saturday that Mark Komara, who runs the Southeast Pump & Run Club Team program, had a preexisting relationship with Marvin Stone and, as a result, nothing would come of the NCAA's recent investigation into whether Stone had received improper benefits that could jeopardize his college eligibility.  Well, the ruling was handed down yesterday in Stone's favor, which means he will eligible for tonight's game when Louisville plays at DePaul.  And this is crunch time for Stone, who is running out of time, if he ever wants to live up to expectations.  If you will recall, Stone was the #1-ranked junior in the nation in 1998, but he's struggled with injuries, off-court problems, et al. and has never lived up to his early reputation.   If Stone does raise his game to another level during the next several weeks, then the Cardinals could still make a serious run deep into the NCAA Tournament.  However, if Smith is not able to fill the void created last week when Ellis Myles was lost for the season and, possibly even for the rest of his career, then Louisville's chances of going very far in the post-season don't appear to be very good.  But that doesn't mean that Louisville head coach Rick Pitino still should not be one of the leading candidates for national coach-of-the-year honors.  Remember, the Cardinals had the longest winning streak in college basketball this season with 17 consecutive wins and appeared to be the hottest team in the nation just a few weeks ago in what was supposed to have been a rebuilding year.  As a matter of fact, if we had to vote today, Pitino would finish second on our list in the running for national coach-of-the-year honors behind Kentucky's Tubby Smith, who is responsible for might be one of the biggest turnarounds in college basketball history.  If you will recall, a year ago, after a season full of turmoil, suspensions, and disappointment, Smith took a lot of heat.  Smith also wasn't very popular among Kentucky fans early in the season after the Wildcats lost an exhibition game to Team NIKE and regular season games to Virginia in the Maui Invitational, Michigan State at home, and Louisville on the road.  However, since that 18-point loss to Louisville, the Wildcats have won 18-consecutive games and, as a result, are 24-3 overall and 14-0 in the Southeastern Conference as they head into tonight's game against Vanderbilt.  And Smith has done all this by finding the right chemistry, getting his players to accept their roles, and by getting them to play great defense.  Sure, the Wildcats do have the 10th best talent in college basketball, at least according to the Exclusive HOOP SCOOP Talent Ratings for all 328 Division I Teams, but that doesn't necessary equate to the Wildcats being the most dominant team in college basketball during the last two months.  With all this in mind, who do you think should be the HOOP SCOOP's National Coach-of-the-Year?  Tell us clicking on "Question of the Day."  Yes, the "Question of the Day" is back and it is ad free.  We also are very interested to see who you think has the best chance of advancing to the NCAA Final Four, along with the three favorites (Arizona, Kentucky, and Oklahoma) and we encourage you to tell us by answering tomorrow's "Question of the Day".

Last night the rosters for the Jordan Capital Classic, which will be held on Thursday, April 17th, at the MCI Center in Washington, DC, were announced and it is noteworthy that 10 of the 20 players named to play in the game were named also named to play in the McDonald's All-American Game.  The Silver Team includes five players - 6'8 Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, 6'9 Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westcbury Christian) TX, 6'3 Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, 6'0 Chris Paul from Clemmons (West Forsyth) NC, 6'5 J.R. Giddens from Oklahoma City (John Marshall) OK - who were named to the McDonald's All-American Team  and five players - 6'4 Dion Harris from Detriot (Redford) MI, 6'8 Ekene Ibekwe from Carson (H.S.) CA, 5'11 Taurean Minor from Houston (Washington) TX, 6'10 Drew Naymick from North Muskegon (H.S.) MI, and 6'10 Courtney Sims from Dedham (Noble & Greenough) MA - who are ranked in the 30-70 range nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.   The Black Team also includes five players - 6'7 LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH, 6'9 Kris Humphries from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN, 6'6 Vakeaton Wafer from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX, 5'7 Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, and 6'0 Brandon Cotton from Detroit (St. Martin DePorres) MI - who were named to the McDonald's All-American Team; three players - 5'11 Gary Ervin from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'8 Linas Kleiza from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, and 6'4 Rodrick Stewart from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA - who are ranked in the 20-25 range nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; and two players - 7'3 Shagari Alleyne from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD and 6'7 Brandon Foust from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH - who are ranked in the 80-100 range nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Except for James, who is expected to be the first player picked in the NBA Draft in June, the only player in the game who is still uncommitted in terms of his college decision is Kleiza, who is the highest ranked player in the senior class nationally by the HOOP SCOOP that is still available.  Ironically, the second highest ranked senior still available - 6'0 Maureece Rice from Philadelphia (Strawberry Mansion) PA, who is ranked #59 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP - is supposed to play on the Blue Team in the preliminary game of the Jordan Capital Classic.  Also named to this team are 6'5 Gary Forbes from Brooklyn (Banneker) NY, 7'0 Will Bowers from Severn (Archbishop Spalding) MD, 6'8 Sheray Thomas from Upper Marlboro (Riverdale Baptist) MD, 6'0 Tre Kelley from Washington (Dunbar) DC, 6'4 D.J. Strawberry from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'8 Stephen Danley from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'5 Robert "Bo" Taylor from Reston (South Lakes) V, and 6'3 Nick Grant from Alexandria (Paul VI) VA, 6'1 Trevon Jackson from Ft. Washington (Friendly) MD, 6'2 Laronja Owens from Annapolis (H.S.) MD, and 6'6 Marcus Sikes from Middleburg (Notre Dame) VA.  The White Team will include 6'8 Darian Townes from Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC, 6'5 Ricky Lucas from Herndon (H.S.) VA, 5'11 Matt Causey from Lilburn (Berkmar) GA, 6'3 Obie Nwadike from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, 6'3 DeMario Anderson from Oxon Hill (H.S.) MD, 6'6 Luke Owings from Washington (Gonzaga) DC, 6'6 Babacar Thiem from Washington (Spingarn) DC, 6'8 Patrick Ewing, Jr from Ft. Washington (National Christian) MD, 5'11 Lorenzo Miles from Washington (Gonzaga) DC, 6'1 Jose Olivero from Fairfax (W.T. Woodson) VA, 6'4 Thomas Richard from Frederick (Thomas Johnson) MD, and 6'10 Jerome Habel from Bethesda (Walt Whitman) MD.  Jackson, Owens, Sikes, Thiem, Ewing Jr, Miles, Olivero, Richard, and Habel are also all still available, but, according to NCAA rules, college coaches can only watch players in certified events on Saturday's and Sunday's in April and, as a result, they can not attend the Jordan Capital Classic this year.

Tuesday, March 4, 2003

Lavel Johnson, the Mississippi Editor for both MidSouth-Hoops.Com and the HOOP SCOOP, tells us that there are several sleepers in the senior class in his backyard who are still available and worthy of mid-to-high major attention.  He's talking about 6'7 Issac Wells from Jackson (Lanier) MS, 6'4 Currye Todd from Holly Springs (H.W. Byers) MS, and 6'8 Juan Wyatt from Fayette (Jefferson County) MS.  Wells is a little bit undersized to play inside at the high Division I level, but, if you will recall, he impressed us with athleticism, shot blocking, rebounding, and ability to score both inside and from mid-range when we saw him in December at the Marshall County Hoop Fest in Benton, KY.  Our guess is that he'll verbal commit to Mississippi, if the Rebels offer.  However, it hasn't happened yet and, as a result, he appears to be ideally suited to provide a quick fix for a high major school next year?  Is Wells an immediate impact player in Conference USA or the Southeastern Conference?  Probably not, but he is athletic enough and skilled enough to be a good career role player.   Todd is an excellent 3-point shooter, which is why schools like Ole Miss, Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, and Mississippi Valley State are all showing varying degrees of interest.  Wyatt has size, athleticism, hands, skills, and a nice body, but, like so many players in the Deep South, he needs to learn to play harder.  Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State are showing the most interest, but Wyatt is a lot better than that.  As a matter of fact, Johnson thinks Wyatt is good enough to play at Ole Miss and he ranks him 8th in the senior class in the state behind 6'10 Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS, 6'10 Travis Outlaw from Starkville (H.S.) MS, 6'8 Emmanuel Willis from Mendenhall (H.S.) MS, 6'7 Kenny Hooks from Hurley (East Central) MS, 6'3 Detrick Slater from Waynesboro (Wayne County) MS, 6'4 Vincent Camper from Oxford (H.S.) MS and Wells and ahead of 6'3 Jeffrey Webb from Jackson (Provine) MS, Todd, and 6'3 Terrick Willoughby from Biloxi (H.S.) MS.  Butler and Outlaw are both committed to Mississippi State, Willis signed with Southern Miss, Camper signed with Tulane, and Willoughby signed with Murray State, but Hooks, Slater, and Webb are also still available.  However, Mississippi State appears to be the favorite for Slater and Hooks, who visited Ole Miss recently, will probably opt for the Rebels, if they offer.  Johnson also informs us that 6'3 Jonathan Loe recently announced that he is transferring from Mississippi and it appears that several other players may follow in Loe's footsteps at the end of the season.  We also don't expect 6'3 Mario Jointer from Northeast Mississippi (JC) MS, who signed with Rebels in the fall, to materialize at Ole Miss for another year, due to the fact that the Southeastern Conference requires a junior college player to have played at the same junior college for three consecutive semesters prior to transferring to a SEC Conference school.  So the only two players that the Rebels have signed who are expected to enroll in school next fall are 6'9 Byron Burnett from Southern Union (JC) AL and 6'4 Jara Doyne from Little Rock) Mills) AR.  This means Mississippi may have as many as three more scholarships available dependant upon whether anybody else transfers this spring.  But regardless of who is coming and/or going, the one thing the Rebels need is quality size.  They probably can get 6'8 Warren Scott from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA right now, but they appear to have him on hold as well.   Instead, Mississippi head coach Rod Barnes and his staff are expected to go the junior college route this spring.  Johnson also tells us that 6'9 Jr Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS has simply picked up where he left off last summer and, as a result, is still as good as any junior in the nation.   So Jefferson obviously heads Johnson's list of the top juniors in the state, which also includes in order 6'7 Jr Charles Thomas from Jackson (Lanier) MS, 6'7 Jr Charles Rhodes from Jackson (Lanier) MS, 6'10 Jr Christian Marshall from Jackson (Wingfield) MS, 6'4 Jr Robert Clark from Jackson (Lanier) MS, 6'1 Jr Charlie White from Jackson (Lanier) MS, 6'5 Jr Henry Salter from Gulfport (H.S.) MS, 6'9 Jr Mekel Marshall from Jackson (Callaway) MS, 6'7 Jr Julian Harris from Columbus (H.S.) MS, and 6'7 Jr Bernard River from Grenada (H.S.) MS.  Johnson also is hearing Mississippi assistant coach Wayne Brent's named being mentioned for the Tennessee State job, along with UAB assistant coach Scott Edgar, Austin Peay assistant coach Tony Collins, SMU assistant coach Coleman Crawford, former UT-Chattanooga head coach Henry Dickerson, and Arkansas-Little Rock assistant coach Joe Hart.  Brent also would be a logical candidate for the Jackson State job, if Tigers head coach Andy Stoglin gets fired this spring after 16 seasons.  Jackson State, which is currently 7-9 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and 8-17 overall, is coming off a 9-19 season year ago that also included a number off-the-court problems. 

Monday, March 3, 2003

It looks like it is decision time in the sweetstakes for 6'3 Quin Humphrey from Stockbridge (H.S.) GA and, if Humphrey has his way, he will verbally commit to the University of Memphis.  However, the Tigers coaching staff doesn't appear to be ready to take his commitment and, as a result, Humphrey may end up at Auburn sooner than later.  Our Georgia Editor Linzy Davis tells us that Humphrey, who is one of the fastest rising players in the senior class nationally, as is evident by the fact that, he is averaging 31 ppg, seven rebounds, and four assists in his last nine games, wants to finalize his decision almost immediately.  We're talking about a big time athletic, a great defender, and an excellent 3-point shooter who reminds Davis of Memphis' Anthony Rice.   Davis also thinks Humphrey is a legitimate sleeper for our top 100 nationally, but it is still understandable why the Tigers coaching staff is slow to pull the trigger.   Remember, Memphis already has the #13-ranked recruiting class, which includes 6'10 Kendrick Perkins from Beaumont (Ozen) TX, 6'7 Sean Banks from Oradell (Bergan Catholic) NJ, 6'8 Ivan Lopez from Norfolk (Ryan Acacemy) VA, and 6'7 Keena Young from Beaumont (Ozen) TX, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003 and they are already loaded with good young talent on the perimeter with players like Rice, 6'5 Soph Billy Richmond, 6'3 Frosh Jeremy Hunt, and 6'3 Frosh Rodney Carney.  In other words, the smart strategy would be to hold off Humphrey as long as possible and, instead, try and land the best available inside player as insurance in case Perkins enters his name into the NBA Draft this spring.    However, Auburn appears to be forcing Memphis' hand, because the Tigers are ready to take Humphrey's commitment right now.  And complicating things even more is that fact that Merrick Horne of MidSouth-Hoops.Com is reporting that 6'0 Jr Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, who is ranked #3 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, was at the Memphis-Cincinnati game Saturday night and came away very impressed.  But let's say that Memphis does go ahead and takes the verbal commitment from Humphrey.  That would move their recruiting class up to #8 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2003.  It also would put them into a position where they would have a very strong foundation for next year, as right now nine of their top 12 players will be back.  And Memphis isn't too bad right now, as is evident by the fact that the Tigers are 11-3 in Conference USA and 20-5 overall in what was supposed to have been a rebuilding year.  No wonder Memphis head coach John Calipari's name has been mentioned with numerous jobs that might be open this spring.  If you will recall, Calipari has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Pittsburgh, UCLA, and Kansas and now we're hearing that he could be in line for Georgia, if the feeding frenzy that is going on in the media right now continues.  Another great name for the Georgia job is Manhattan head coach Bobby Gongalez, who is the hottest young up-and-coming head coach in the East.  And there already is one major precedent for a Rick Pitino guy with a Northeast background doing well in the Southeast Conference.  Remember, Billy Donovan has built the University of Florida into one of the top programs in college basketball in recent years.  Getting back to recruiting, Davis also tells us about 6'9 Jr Daniel Northern from Warren Robbins (Houston County) GA, who he thinks is one of the biggest sleepers nationally in the junior class.  Not only is Northern stashed in the middle of the state,  but he hasn't been to any national camps (i.e NIKE and/or adidas), and hasn't played on any club teams.  At least not yet.   As a matter of fact, the recruiting battle that is going on for Northern among the Atlanta Celtics, Georgia Stars, and Georgia Elite is almost as intense as the recruiting battle that will be waged by high Division I schools when it comes time for Northern to make his college decision.  Right now Auburn and LSU are the early favorites, but Alabama, Memphis, Michigan, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Georgia, and Stanford also know about him and are expressing interest.  Northern is build like Tracy McGrady was at the same stage, but he reminds Davis more of N.C. State's Josh Powell, which means we're talking about a naturally talented athlete with a good skills, an incredible wing span, and a tremendous upside.  It also looks like the off-again-on-again verbal commitment by 6'10 Jr Jermaine Bell to St. John's is back on.  Apparently Bell was at the St. John's-Duke game yesterday and prior to the game told a newspaper reporter that he does plan to honor his verbal commitment to St. John's.  We also have heard that 6'5 Jr Dave McClure from Stanford (Trinity Catholic) CT, who is ranked #72 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, wants to make a verbal commitment to Duke.  However, it appears that the Blue Devils aren't willing to take his commitment this early.  Sure, McClure is a tough hardnosed skilled white kid who would fit into their system perfectly, but, with Daniel Ewing only being a sophomore and after landing 6'10 Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, 6'4 J.J. Redick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA, 6'10 Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC; (8) Sean Dockery from Chicago (Julian) IL, 6'10 Michael Thompson from New Lenox (Providence) IL, and 6'7 Lee Melchionni from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA in last year's recruiting class; 6'8 Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ and 6'8 Kris Humphries from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN in this year's recruiting class; and 6'2 DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA already in next year's recruiting class; suddenly scholarships are at a premium.  In other words, Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff can pretty much pick and choose who they want and, as a result, there is no big hurry for them make any quick decisions.  As a matter of fact, the list of the top juniors, which includes 5'11 Jr Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'6 Jr Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Central) IL, 6'9 Jr Marvin Williams from Bremerton (H.S.) WA, 6'9 Jr Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Atlanta Southwest Christian) GA, 6'9 Jr Randolph Morris from Fairburn (Landmark Christian) GA, 6'9 Jr Josh Smith from Powder Springs (McEachern) GA, 6'1 Jr Jason Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'8 Jr Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, 6'9 Jr Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'10 Jr Mohamed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, and 6'2 Jr Brice Taylor from North Hollywood (Harvard Westlake) CA, that we know Duke is recruiting reads like a Who's Who of the Top Juniors in the Nation.

Sunday, March 2, 2003

About once a month Dave Schultz, who is the Northeast Editor of the HOOP SCOOP, sends me a package filled with newspaper articles that he knows I'll be interested in and recently was of particular interest.   It had a big picture of Ron Naclerio, who is the New York City Editor the HOOP SCOOP and the head basketball coach at Bayside (Cardozo) NY, a smaller picture of Naclerio's father, Emil Naclerio, and Martin Luther King, Jr, and letter from King addressed to Naclerio's father dated January 6, 1959.  The letter reads as follows:  Dear Dr. Naclerio:  Ever since leaving New York I have been intending to write you at least a note to express my great appreciation to you for all that you did to preserve my life.  Your skilled surgery, coupled with you genuine concern for me as a patient, combined to bring me from a very low ebb in my life to blooming health again.  Please know that I will remember your gestures of goodwill so long as the cords of memory shall lengthen.  I hope you received our gift by now.  It is simply a little way to express our gratitude to you for all that you did to ease the load of a difficult period in our lives.  With best wishes to you and yours for health and happiness in 1959.  I am.  Sincerely yours, Martin Luther King, Jr.  The article, which was published in the New York Daily News on Martin Luther King, Jr Day, recaps the events that occurred on September 20, 1958 when King, who was at a Harlem department store to autograph his book, "Stride Toward Freedom," was stabbed in the chest with the tip of a 7-inch letter opener.  The tip of the letter opener had rested on King's aorta, the arterial trunk that carries blood from the heart, so he was rushed to Harlem Hospital where Dr. Naclerio was one of three surgeons who operated on King for two-and-a-half hours and saved his life.  "Until that time, Naclerio says, his dad was just a young man striving to be the best surgeon he could be.  'He was the surgeon at Harlem Hospital, but I don't think he saw things in terms of black, white, or Chinese,' says Naclerio.  'My dad saw things in terms of good guys and bad guys,'   Meeting King, however, helped crystallize the meaning of the civil rights movement for the doctor and his young family, which included his wife, Gloria, Emil, Jr., and Ron.  Dr. Naclerio, who went on to help develop methods for inserting pacemakers and to write books on chest injuries, brought home stories of injustice and abuses he saw as he traveled the country.  He died in October in 1985."  The Daily News article, which as written by Kristie Ackert, also points out that Naclerio continues to pass along lessons learned from his father about King's work and mission to his players.  "'Sometimes, I wonder if it get through to them,' says Naclerio, and then they'll come back and say, 'wow, that's really Dr. King's words?' or their parents will come in and say how special that is.'  Or sometimes, Naclerio sees the effect the letters (the one written by King and another from his widow after he was assassinated in 1968) had on his kids years later.  Michael Blissett played for Naclerio in the late 1980's, graduating in 1988.  "He showed my that letter then and he gave me a photocopy of it - it was very special to me as a young black man growing to understand that by just doing his job Dr. Naclerio made such a difference,' says Blissett....Even though he coached Rafer Alston of the Toronto Raptors, Brian Woodward of the Texas Longhorns and Darryl Hill of St. John's, Blissett is one of the players whom Naclerio is most proud of.   Blissett is now a police officer in Brooklyn.  As Naclerio says, Blissett is 'making a difference by just doing his job.'"  Obviously he same was true with Naclerio's father when he saved King's life 44 years ago and the same is true today with Naclerio, who, just like most high school and college coaches, gives something very important back to the youth of our society everyday. 

Saturday, March 1, 2003

When the NCAA started requiring AAU coaches and camp operators to file financial disclosure forms and get background checks last summer, a number of coaches told me they had no problem with the new rules.  However, they also thought the NCAA should open up its books for everybody to see how they use the billions of dollars they get from CBS for the NCAA Tournament and whether they really have the best interest of the student-athlete at heart.  We bring this up because the last time the NCAA was investigated, the evidence that was documented in Don Yaeger's book, Undue Process:  The NCAA's Injustice For All, which was published in 1991, portrays the organization in a very negative light.  Don't believe it?  Well, the quotes on the back of the book speak for themselves.  "The State of California respectively requests the President and the Congress of the United States to pass legislation which would require the National Collegiate Athletic Association to adopt procedures to guarantee due process to member schools and their students and coaches." - Resolution passed by the California Legislature, August 1990.  "[Yaeger] has fashioned a powerful and compelling indictment of the NCAA's staff behavior, its administrative structure, and strange and indefensible rules and regulations." - Robert Bryan, former University of Florida President.  "A new book authored by Don Yaeger presents an inside look at the NCAA and how it conducts its various investigations.  I am confident in saying you will be rather amazed at what goes on with the NCAA - The Basketball Times.  "For those of you that don't believe the NCAA is a sanctimonious organization, Don Yaeger is the first person to ever investigate the NCAA.  His book is must-reading." - HOOPSCOOP.  I would be surprised if you can find this important book in your local bookstore, but you might be able to get a copy by contacting the publisher, Sagamore Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 673, Champaign, IL  61824-0673.  I bring all this up, because I have sent a copy of this book to my good friend Mark Komara, who is the director of the Huntsville, AL-based Southeast Pump and Run Club Team program.  And I'm sure Komara will probably read this book from cover-to-cover more than once, because he's been the subject of an NCAA investigation for nearly a year now.  All this is important, because the NCAA has finally gotten around to looking into allegations that were made in another book that Yaeger co-authored with Dan Wetzel, Sole Influence:  Basketball, Corporate Greed, and the Corruption of America's Youth, about Marvin Stone allegedly getting a Ford Explorer when he was in high school from Komara to play for his AAU team.   In other words, it's taken the NCAA three years to get around to asking questions about something that allegedly happened six years ago.  Obviously the NCAA is barking up the wrong tree on this one.  Did you know that Komara has know the Stone family dating back to when Stone was a baby, which means that he has had a pre-existing relationship with the both the kid and the family long before basketball ever entered the equation and, as a result, according to the NCAA's own rules, Komara can do anything he wants for both Stone and his family without jeapordizing his eligibility and/or amateur status?  The Louisville-Courier Journal also has some interesting quotes about the Komara-Stone relationship.  "Yesterday (Rick) Pitino said Stone's relationship with Komara was less player-coach than a family relationship.  'He was like a family member,' Pitino said.  'This guy has basically been like Marvin's father....I am under the honest, sincere belief that this person was not his AAU coach, this person had a relationship with him, a genuine relationship.  I only know that for the fact that this guy is not hanging around Marvin Stone because he's going to be a first-round draft pick.  We all know that's not going to be the case.  He truly loves this kid.'"  Stone's former college coach Tubby Smith also comes to Stone's defense in today's Louisville-Courier Journal.  "I'm disappointed for Marvin (Stone) and for what he's going through," says Smith, who coached Stone for 2-1/2 years.  "He doesn't deserve this."   Neither does Komara.  It's pretty obvious who the good guys and bad guys are and anybody who knows Komara knows that he is best people in the business.  Basketball is a hobby for Komara, who is a successful restuarant owner and business man.  And, unlike a lot of people in the business today, he has no interest in making money off the kids.  Instead, Komara is in it for all the right reasons.  As a matter of fact, I think so much of Komara that I made him the Alabama Editor of the HOOP SCOOP several years ago and, as a result, know what it's like to deal with him on a regular basis.  However, the NCAA won't let up and, as a result, due to the advise of attorney's representing the University of Louisville, Stone had to sit out today's game againt East Carolina.  He also may have to sit out the rest of the season, if the NCAA doesn't move swiftly to resolve this matter.  Not only is this just another classic example of the Gestapo-like tactics employed by the NCAA, whereby, the people they investigate are denied due process under the law, but it also illustrates that their stupid rules are more important than the people and institutions they are supposed to govern.  Remember, Stone is not the only one being unfairly penalized here, as this clearly is effecting an entire team that deserves a tremendous amount of credit and respect for working extremely hard and achieving great things already this season.  We also think it's ridiculous that Stone was not allowed to play for the Cardinals today and, perhaps, the rest of the season.  Remember, if Louisville has to forfeit all the games that Stone plays in this year, then Kentucky would have to forfeit all of its games during the 2-1/2 years Stone played at Kentucky.  Sure, the NCAA investigator has been known to fly in first class, rent a Lincoln Town Car, and stay at the Hyatt in order to investigate a poor inner city white or black kid because he got a free hamburger, but they aren't going to cut off their nose in order to spit their face.  In other words, perception with this bunch (the NCAA) is more important than reality and just imagine the public outcry and negative national publicity they would receive, if they made Louisville and Kentucky collectively forfeit close to 100 games during a period spanning 3-1/2 years over something as ridiculous as this.  Instead, the NCAA should be focusing on solving the real problems, like coaches buying players, street agents, academic freud, and improving graduation rates.  Unfortunately they've done very little to solve these problems in recent years, despite all the lip service they continue to pay to these very important issues.