HOT RECRUITING INFORMATION FOR MAY 2002

Friday, May 31, 2002

Our Texas Editor Wes Grandstaff had called University of Texas assistant coach Brian Cousins recently on a number of occasions and hadn't heard back from him, so when Grandstaff called yesterday and still couldn't reach Cousins, he asked if Cousins still worked there?  And you can bet Grandstaff was surprised when the answer was no.  Apparently Cousins resigned yesterday and plans to pursue another career.  Obviously that's too bad for University of Texas head coach Rick Barnes, because Cousins was one of the best recruiters in the business.  It's also too bad for the game, because Cousins is a class act, as well as one of the best people in the business.  So suddenly the question becomes who do you hire if you're Rick Barnes?  Your guess is a good as mine, but there are some excellent people who are currently available, like Wayne Morgan, who has the West Coast ties from his days as head coach at Long Beach State, East Coast ties from his days as an assistant coach at Syracuse, and Midwest ties from his days as an assistant coach Xavier; former University of Louisville assistant coach Pat Rafferty, who has strong Texas ties dating back to when he was the head coach at Midland (JC) TX; former East Carolina head coach Joe Dooley, who did a terrific job during the last three years at New Mexico; and former DePaul assistant coach Tracy Didly, who has tremendous contacts in Chicago, IL.  We also are still waiting to see who University of Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith is going to hire as an assistant coach to replace Mike Sutton, who got the head coaching job at Tennessee Tech in mid-April.  One person Smith won't be hiring is G.J. Smith.  Did you know that Sutton hired Smith's oldest son at Tennessee Tech?  Some of the names we've heard for the University of Kentucky assistant coaching job are former Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo head coach Jeff Schneider, Dayton assistant coach Ron Jirsa, Marquette assistant coach Darrin Horn, Tulsa assistant coach Pooh Richardson, and former Long Beach State assistant coach Reggie Warford, but this one appears to be far from done.  We also have confirmed that former Army assistant coach Robert Brickey, who played at Duke in the late '80s, has gotten an assistant coaching at position at SMU.  Speaking of Army, it looks like new head coach Jim Crews has assembled one of the best young staffs in the nation with Mark Sembrowich, who was ranked #16 among assistant coaches at the lower Division I level by the HOOP SCOOP in February; St. Anthony Crawford, who previously was at Wayne State, Akron, and Western Michigan; Chris Hollender, who played for Crews at Evansville; and Clay Nunley, who has spent the last four years working for Ed Schilling at Wright State.  We also don't believe that Iona head coach Jeff Ruland has any plans to move onto the Phoenix Suns.  If you will recall, we raised this as a possibility several weeks ago when Frank Johnson, who is one of Ruland's best friends, got the head coaching job with the Suns.  However, Ruland appears to be reinvigorated after the excellent recruiting class the Gaels finished up with this spring.   Remember, Iona's recruiting class, which includes 6'5 Steve Smith from Coffeyville (JC) KS, 6'2 Ricardo Soliver from Bronx (All Hallows) NY, 6'0 Marvin McCullough from Bronx (All Hallows) NY, 6'8 Kiril Wachsmann from Bronx (All Hallows) NY, and 6'1 Steve Burtt from New York (Rice) NY, is tied Dayton, George Washington, and Temple at #45 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  Ohio State finally filled the spot previously held by Dave Spiller, who took a leave of absence last fall and is now pursuing a career outside of basketball, earlier this week by hiring LaMont Stone, who previously was an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan and head coach at River Rouge (H.S.) MI.  Not only was Stone the high school of Buckeyes point guard Brent Darby, but he also has all the contacts necessary for the Buckeyes to keep getting players out of Michigan when Paul Biancardi gets a head coaching job next spring.  Speaking of Biancardi, he was ranked as the #6 assistant coach on list of the top assistants in the game in February.  However, since Jay John got the head coaching job at Oregon State, Neil Dougherty got the head coaching job at Texas Christian, and Dave Leitao got the head coaching job at DePaul, he's #3 on our list on our list behind Louisville's Mick Cronin and Richmond's Mike Wilson.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson also has a pair of early commitments to pass along.  Stanford has gotten 6'5 Jr Tim Morris from Smyrna (Whitfield) GA, who is ranked as high as #67 nationally by the Recruiter's Handbook, and Purdue has landed 6'7 Jr Ije Nwankwo from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, who is ranked #191 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, but who is a least 100 spots higher than that based on his performance at the NIKE Memorial Day Classic in Bloomington, IN last weekend.  

Thursday, May 30, 2002

We have now confirmed that 6'2 Soph DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA, who is ranked #13 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, has made an early verbal commitment to Duke.  If you will recall, we've been hearing rumors for the last several days that this happened on Sunday, but, according to our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis, it was officially announced today.  We also have confirmed that Duane John has transferred from Missouri to New Mexico State, but it appears that Wesley Stokes, who was considering transferring from Missouri, may not be leaving after all.  And if that happens, the Tigers will be extremely deep at the point guard spot, because 5'11 Ricky Clemons from Southern Idaho (JC) ID, who signed with Missouri this spring, was one of the top point guards in the junior college ranks last year and 6'4 Jimmy McKinney from St. Louis (Vashon) MO, who signed with Missouri last fall, showed that he can play some point guard last summer at the NIKE All-American Camp.  We also have confirmed that 6'9 Jesse Pinegar has transferred from Brigham Young to Pepperdine.  However, we suspect Pinegar will count with next year's recruiting class in terms of the 5-4 rule, whereby, you can only sign five players one year and four the next.   Remember, Pepperdine's current recruiting class, which includes 6'3 Chase Griffin from Redmond (Eastlake) WA, 6'10 Derrick Grubb from Colleyville (Heritage) TX, 6'8 Cody Horning from Longmont (H.S.) CO, 6'9 David Patten from from Placentia (El Dorado) CA, and 6'4 Marvin Lee from Riverside (Martin Luther King) CA, is ranked #57 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  We also have confirmed that 6'3 Jr Brooks McKowen from Wapse Valley (H.S.) IA, who is ranked #150 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has made an early verbal commitment to Northern Iowa.   Apparently this one slipped throught he cracks, as it happened over a month ago, but, when McKowen made the announcement, he picked Panthers over Iowa, Iowa State, and Marquette.  McKowen joins 6'2 Jr Adam Viet from Ackley (H.S.) IA and 6'0 Jr Jared Josten from Webster City (H.S.) IA, both of whom also made early verbal commitments to Northern Iowa this spring.  An early verbal commitment that won't be holding up is 6'3 Jr Robert McIver from Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC to Georgetown.  McIver, who appears to have gotten worse since getting kicked off the Archbishop Carroll High School Team last winter (he wasn't very good over the weekend when we saw him at the NIKE Memorial Day Classic), also appears to be looking for a new high school to attend.  However, at this point we have no idea where he plans to enroll next fall and, as a result, we will continue to list him at Archbishop Carroll until we hear otherwise. 

It seems that 7'5 Yao Ming from China continues to be the flavor of the day, as almost every mock draft I've seen has him going #1 in this year's NBA Draft.  I call it the "herd mentality" and it is extremely predictable.  Size is everything and it doesn't matter if you're wrong, because everybody else is going to wrong as well.  The perfect example came when the Philadelphia 76ers drafted 7'6 Shawn Bradley #2 in the NBA Draft in 1993.  Remember, we thought it was ridiculous when some of our competitors ranked Bradley as the #1 high school player in the nation based on his size and potential.  Another great example came 18 years ago when the Houston Rockets had the #1 pick and took Akeem Olajuwon.  I had no problem with that, but then I would have traded Ralph Sampson to Portland for the #2 pick and taken Michael Jordan.  However, at the time, people told me I was nuts.  "You couldn't take Jordan over Sam Bowie," is what I was told consistently.  "Bowie is 7'1!" And since that time people have tried to justify the Trailblazers taking Bowie over Jordan by saying that nobody had any idea how good Jordan would be at that point in his career.  But I never bought it, because in high school Jordan was named co-MVP at the Five-Star Basketball Camp and was the MVP in the McDonald's All-American Game.  Speaking of the McDonald's All-American Game, Jordan's 28 points in that game stood as the scoring record for 18 years.  And, if that weren't enough, Brick Oettinger of the Recruiter's Handbook and PrepStars.com still maintains in print that Jordan was the best 2-guard prospect he'd ever seen at the high school level.  In college Jordan hit the game winning shot in the NCAA Title Game against Georgetown in 1982, was named the college player-of-the-year by those who were ahead of the curve in 1983, and was the consensus college player-of-the-year in 1984.  In my book size has never trumped great players, but, even when they had a great one with size in 1995, most of the "so-called" experts and NBA scouts couldn't figure it out.   But I did when I wrote in Basketball Times that the Chicago Bulls should consider trading Scottie Pippen to whoever had the #1 pick so they could take Kevin Garnett.  "That way the Bulls would have still had the #1 player in the league when Jordan retired," was what I wrote at the time.   But what do I now?  At the time people told me I was nuts.  Now those same people tell me I look like a genius, because if Garnett was with the Bulls now, instead of the Timberwolves, they wouldn't have been one of the worse team's in the league with no end in sight since Jordan retired.  I also was the guy who said on this very web site that then Boston Celtics head coach Rick Pitino should trade up to get Dirk Nowitzki.  "We understand that Pitino loves Nowitzki, but it would be a major surprise if Nowitzki was still available when the Celtics pick at #10.  So obviously they'd have to trade up to have a shot to get him.  We also understand that Denver has interest in picking Nowitzki #3 and Vancouver is thinking about trading their #2 pick, which brings us to two very interesting questions.  Does Boston have anybody that they could trade besides Ron Mercer to get the #2 pick?  If you were Vancouver, would you trade the #2 to pick to the Celtics for Mercer?"  I wrote that on June 13, 1998, but Chris Monter of the Monter Draft News is good a barking the party line when he says today that nobody had any idea how good Nowitzki would become.  Obviously we did!  But just to keep me in line, Monter also reminds me that like everybody else, I miss one on occasion.  Perhaps the worse one is Weber State's Harold Arceneaux.  If you will recall, Arceneaux had that monster game in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, as he singlehandedly helped his team upset North Carolina in the first round in 1999.  Based on that game we thought Arceneaux was a major sleeper and were touting him as a potential lottery pick, if he came out early.  Unfortunately Arceneaux, who was never drafted, didn't have the work ethic necessary to become a great player at the highest level and has never been heard from since.  But four out of five isn't bad!  In other words, it's better to draft the best player, instead of the player with the most size.  Do you agree or disagree?  You can tell us by answering today's "Question of the Day."   If you answered the best player, I want to know how anybody can take somebody other than Dajuan Wagner #1 in this draft?  He's the only player in the draft who has a chance to be a truly special player down the road.  As a matter of fact, I think he'll be a better pro player than he was a high school or college player.  I also think people will get a chance to see what a great passer Wagner is once he's gets a chance to play with great players and isn't forced to do too much all by himself.  Wagner also is a lot tougher right now than Ming is inside.  All the pro scouts and general managers seem to be enamored with Ming's skills and outside shooting, but I want my big man to dominate inside like Shaquille O'Neal, instead of being the next Ralph Sampson.  So, if I was a NBA general manager and I had the #1 pick and I absolutely had to take a big man #1, I would go with Maryland's Chris Wilcox.  Not only is he a physical specimen with athleticism and tremendous potential, but I'm confident he'll still be in the league in five years.  With Ming I'm not so sure.  And apparently Matt Ramker, who is the selection chairman for the Hooters Holiday Shooutout in St. Petersburg, FL, and a coach of the Tallahassee Wildcats AAU team, agrees with me.  As a matter of fact, Ramker has come out with the only mock draft that doesn't just bark the party line of what NBA general managers and scouts are already saying.  In other words, Ramker has some new and fresh ideas and the one we like the best has the Houston Rockets possibly trading the #1 pick, which Ramker says will be Duke's Jason Williams, to the Los Angeles Clippers for #8 and #12 picks.   And if they do that, according to Ramker, the Rockets, ironically, would get Wilcox.  Ramker also has Wagner going #2 to the Bulls and, if that happens, it will be interesting to see if Chicago Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause can't make an even dumber move than trading Elton Brand to the Los Angeles Clippers last June for Tyson Chandler.  Our suggestion would be for Krause to trade Wagner to the New York Knicks.  Remember, the Knicks have a bunch of overpaid guards and they'd love to dump some salary.  The rest of Ramker's draft has Ming going to Golden State at #3, Duke's Michael Dunleavy going to Memphis at #4, Connecticut's Caron Butler to Denver at #5, Kansas' Drew Gooden going to Cleveland at #6, 6'8 Qyntel Woods from Northeast Mississippi (JC) MS going to New York at #7, Wilcox going to the Los Angeles Clippers at #8, Nickoloz Tskitschvili from Russia to Phoenix at #9, Indiana's Jared Jeffries to Miami at #10, Stanford's Curtis Borchardt to Washington at #11, Bostjan Nachbar from Slovenia to the Los Angeles Clippers at #12, 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL to Milwaukee at #13, Maybyner Hilario from Brazil to Indiana at #14, Western Kentucky's Chris Marcus to Houston at #15, Fresno State's Melvin Ely to Philadelphia at #16, Missouri's Kareem Rush to New Orleans at #17, Tennessee's Marcus Haislip to Orlando at #18, Virginia's Roger Mason to Utah at #19, Kentucky's Tayshaun Prince to Toronto at #20, Gonzaga's Dan Dickau to Portland at #21, Jiri Welsch from the Czech Republic to Phoenix at #22, Fatih Solak from Turkey to Detroit at #23, Duke's Carlos Boozer to New Jersey at #24, Illinois' Frank Williams to Denver at #25, David Andersen from Australia to San Antonio at #26, Fresno State's Tito Maddox to the Los Angeles Lakers at #27, and Alabama's Rod Grizzard to Sacramento at #28.

Wednesday, May 29, 2002

The word on the street is that 6'2 Soph DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA, who is ranked #13 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP, but who is better than that based on how he played over the weekend at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions, has committed to Duke.   However, we can't confirm that, even though we've heard that Nelson gave a verbal commitment to Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski on Sunday.  Apparently the Duke coaching staff didn't want Nelson to make an official announcement until July, but somehow the cat got out of the bag.  We've also heard that this won't effect Duke's recruitment of 6'6 Soph Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Central) IL, who is ranked #7 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP.   Livingston, who also has schools like Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Arizona, Fresno State, North Carolina, and Kentucky on his list, is another one of Duke's top priorities in the Class of 2004.  Speaking of Duke's top priorities in the sophomore class, we know that another one of their prime targets - 6'8 Soph Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, who is ranked #4 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP - made an unofficial visit to Duke on Friday prior to the start of the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions.  In other words, there appears to be no end in sight with regards to Duke's ability to continue to bring in the top players in the nation.  If you will recall, Duke currently has the #1-ranked recruiting class in the nation with 6'10 Shelden Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, 6'10 Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC, 6'4 J.J. Redick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA, 6'2 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, plus they already have a verbal commitment for next year's class from 6'8 Jr Kris Humphries from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN, who is ranked #7 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, they appear to be on the verge of landing 6'7 Jr Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, who is ranked #3 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and they are the favorite for 6'10 Jr Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX, who is ranked #2 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Speaking of Ebi, we asked him at the NIKE Memorial Day Classic in Bloomington, IN on Monday if it would effect his decision if Duke already had commitments from Humphries and Deng.  Not only did Ebi say no, but he added that Humphries and Deng should be the ones worried about their playing time.  In other words, Ebi seemed pretty confident, but at the same time we liked his attitude, because he wasn't trying to be a jerk about it.  He just wasn't worried about it.  Our guess is that Ebi has already decided to attend Duke, but Arizona, Texas, and Indiana are also on his list.  Other players we talked with at the NIKE Memorial Day Classic include 6'11 Jr Akini Adkins from Tallahassee (Leon) FL, 6'9 Soph Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS, 6'1 Jr T. J. Banninster from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL, 6'8 Jr Chris Richard from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL, 6'8 Jr Emmanuel Willis from Mendenhall (H.S.) MS, and 6'8 Jr Dan Coleman from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN.  Coleman said he's getting the most attention from Boston College, Marquette, Creighton, and UNLV.   Mississippi, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Miami-FL, Alabama, and Cincinnati were mentioned by Willis.  Florida State, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, and Auburn are all in the hunt for Richard.  Bannister likes Duke, Miami-FL, Georgetown, Maryland, Indiana, Alabama, but in the end Florida is going to be tough to beat on this one.   Jefferson says Alabama is the early favorite, but he also mentions Cincinnati, Duke, Kentucky, Maryland, Florida, Mississippi, and Mississippi State.  Adkins is getting the most attention from Connecticut, Alabama, N.C. State, Florida State, and Wake Forest.  We also got a list for 6'0 Soph Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, who is ranked #9 nationally in the great sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP.  It includes Cincinnati, North Carolina, Kentucky, Clemson, Miami-FL, and South Florida.  However, it already appears that Florida will be tough to beat and Florida State will be right there as well.  We also understand that Maryland and N.C. State are the co-favorites for 6'1 Jr Michael Nardi from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ and our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that Duquesne has gotten an early commitment from 6'9 Jr Sean McKeon from Radnor (Archbishop Carroll) PA.  It also appears that Delaware assistant coach Josh Oppeinheimer, who at one time was ranked among our top 50 nationally in the Class of 1987, is continuing to move up the ladder.  As a matter of fact, he'll be named as an assistant coach at DePaul tomorrow and we think this is a great move.  Not only does he have the contacts both on the West Coast and the East Coast to help the Blue Demons recruit nationally, but he's one of the bright young guys in the business, as is evident by the fact that he is currently listed among the top five assistant coaches at the lower Division I level by the HOOP SCOOP.  We also suspect it's only a matter of time before Oppeinheimer has a similar ranking among the top assistant coaches at the high Division I level. 

Tuesday, May 28, 2002

Believe it nor not, I was right when I said the semi-finals game yesterday between the Houston Hoops and the Illinois Warriors was for the championship at the NIKE Memorial Day Classic in Bloomington, IN.   That's right!  Louisiana Select, which was the winner of the other semi-finals game in the 17-Under Division, had a flight to catch, so they forfeited the championship game.  However, watching the Illinois Warriors upset the Houston Hoops was more than enough compensation, as 6'4 Jr Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL took home tournament MVP honors.  Brown also showed why he easily is one of the top five players in the junior class nationally.  Not only did he hit three tough 3-pointers early, but he scored 14 of his team's first 20 points en route to 18 points at the intermission and 35 points for the game.  And just as impressive for the Houston Hoops was 5'11 Jr Tauren Minor from Houston (Washington) TX, who also finished with 35 points.  Minor also matched Brown 3-pointer for 3-pointer (who says he can't shoot?), drove to the basket seemingly at will, and even found time to try and recruit Brown to go to Cincinnati.  In other words, Minor not only appears to be a lock for the Bearcats, but suddenly he appears to be their best recruiter.  And Minor appears to be doing a good job, because Cincinnati appears to be the co-favorite for Brown, along Illinois.  Maybe we should make that the tri-favorite, along with Michigan State, because we hear the Spartans are making a strong push, plus Kansas, Iowa, DePaul, and UNLV are also on Brown's list.  Also playing extremely well for the Houston Hoops were 6'10 Jr Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX and 6'3 Soph Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX.  However, down the stretch the fact that the Houston Hoops didn't make one substitution in their final two games may have been a factor.  Another factor may have been the fact that head coach Larry Butler and the Illinois Warriors have been in this type of situation so many times before.  So when Brown hit two free throws in the final seconds to put his team four points up, that was just the icing on the cake.  Brown was complemented by 6'3 Jr Colin Falls from Wilmette (Loyola Academy) IL, who hit a number of big 3-pointers of his own en route to 18 points, 5'8 Jr Charles Richardson from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, and 6'6 Jr Marcus Heard from Springfield (Southeast) IL.  We also were extremely impressed by 6'9 Soph Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS, who is ranked #3 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP.  At 6'9, 27 lbs., Jefferson is a man-child with surpring mobility and athleticism and he doesn't take any prisoners inside.  So naturally there will be people who will try and make the case that Jefferson should be the #1 player in the class, ahead of 5'11 Soph Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, who didn't play well in this tournament.  We also were impressed by Jefferson's team (the Jackson Tigers), which promise to be one of the best AAU teams in the nation a year from now with Jefferson, 6'3 Soph Bobby Clark from Jackson (Lanier) MS, 6'7 Soph Charles Rhodes from Jackson (Provine) MS, 6'7 Soph Charles Thomas from Jackson (Lanier) MS, and 6'0 Frosh Charlie White from Jackson (Provine) MS, all of whom have to be ranked among the top 100 nationally in their respective classes.  However, White wasn't the best freshman from Mississippi in the tournament.  Instead, that honor went to 6'2 Frosh Monte Ellis from Jackson (Lanier) MS, who is ranked #3 nationally in the freshman class by the HOOP SCOOP.   I didn't see Ellis play, but our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson did and he tells us Ellis clearly won the head-to-head battle against 6'1 Frosh Tiki Mayben from Troy (H.S.) NY, who is currently the #1 ranked freshman in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP.  And if that weren't enough, another top five freshman in the nation - 6'1 Frosh Eric Price from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD - also was extremely impressive in the 17-Under Division.  Price, along with 6'9 Soph Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'2 Soph Isaiah Swann from Rockville (Magruder) MD, and 6'8 Ryan Lambert from Germantown (Northwest) MD - led Potomac Valley to an upset over Boo Williams, which featured 6'9 Jr Darian Townes from Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC, 6'2 Mario Taybron from Dyke (Blue Ridge School) VA, and 6'3 Marquis Cooke from Sulfolk (Nansemond River) VA, in the first round of the playoffs.  However, Potomac Valley ran into a major road block in the second round when they had to face the Illinois Warriors.   Another youngster who really impressed us in the 17-Under Division was 6'7 Soph Brandon Rush from Kansas City (Westport) MO.  He hasn't developed the consistency and toughness to be as good as his two brothers (JaRon Rush and Kareem Rush) yet, but Eric Bossi of PrepStars.com tells us Rush had 21 points, 11 blocks, and 10 rebounds versus The Family.  In other words, we appear to have him ranked to low at #40 in the Class of 2004.  Speaking of The Family, we told our buddy Vince Baldwin of the Michigan Prep Spotlight that the player we were most impressed with this weekend from the state of Michigan was 6'7 Jr Ije Nwankwo from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, who currently is ranked #191 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  However, Nwankwo will be listed among our top 100 when update our national rankings again in mid-June.  We're talking about a more athletic version of 6'8 Jr Mario Boggan from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA.  We also liked 6'1 Jr Jeremy Case from McAllister (H.S.) OK, but phyiscally he's not big enough and strong enough to be more than a role player at the University of Kansas, which is where he's verbally committed.  One of the biggest disappointments in the tournament was 6'10 Jr Akini Adkins from Tallahassee (Leon) FL, but we still love his upside and potential.  Remember, Adkins is still learning the American game.  Instead, the two players who impressed us the most for the Tallahassee Wildcats were 6'0 Soph Alex Gordon from Peninsula (H.S.) FL and 6'8 Jr Chris Richard from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL.   If you will recall, we didn't like Richard's lack of intensity at the City of Palms Classic back in December, but all that has changed as he uses his size and athleticism to dominate on the boards and score inside.  Gordon, who shared the ballhandling duties with 6'1 Jr T.J. Bannister from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL, is a lights out shooter.  Add 6'3 Soph Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, who was missing in action for this tournament, to the equation and, if 6'8 Renaldo Balkman from Bradenton Pendleton School) FL is as good as they say he is (we still don't see it), then the Tallahassee Wildcats could be especially dangerous by the time summer roles around.   We also liked a lot of players in the 16-Under Division and right at the top of our list is 6'8 Derrick Character from Scotch Plains, NJ.  Not only is Character the #1-ranked 8th grader in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP, but he's a younger version of Al Jefferson and both are so big, mobile, athletic, and skilled that it wouldn't be a major surprise if they never saw a day of college and, instead, went straight to the NBA right out of high school.  However, Character's mother said that she would like to see him attend college first.  She also told us the two schools that her son likes the best are St. John's and Maryland.  And Character wasn't the only player we really liked on Riverside Church's 16-Under team.  6'1 Soph A.J. Price from Amityville (H.S.) NY has improved dramatically since we saw him Christmas time, 6'8 Frosh Terrell Biggs from Ramsey (Don Bosco Prep) NJ is a physical specimen out of the same mold as Character, and 6'7 Jonathan Mitchell from Mt. Vernon, NY is another 8th grader just oozing with potential.   We also were impressed with The Family's 16-Under team, which includes 6'6 Soph Ronald Coleman from Romulus (H.S.) MI, 6'3 Soph Joe Crawford from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, 6'7 Soph Jamal Locke from Detroit (Redford) MI, 6'6 Soph Malik Harriston from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, and 6'2 Frosh Jerrett Smith from Westland (John Glenn) MI, all of whom are ranked among the top players in their respective class in the state by our Michigan Editor Steve Bell.   And how about the Arkansas Wings with 6'7 Soph Jamal Anderson from Little Rock (Parkview) AR, 6'0 Soph Brad Jones from Marked Tree (H.S.) AR, and 6'8 Jeremy Parnell from Blytheville (Gosnell) AR, all three of whom should project as big time players?  Anderson is an active shot blocker with big time athleticism and a great nose for the ball, which makes him a force on the boards.   Jones made some big 3-pointers down the stretch in their semi-finals loss to Riverside Church, but he's best when he uses his quickness to either get to the hole or dish and creating havoc on defense.  Parnell isn't as athletic as Anderson, but he's stronger inside.  So just imagine how good Ron Crawford's team can be if they have 6'11 Soph Stephen Hill from Branson (H.S.) MO, who normally plays with the Wings, but was missing in action for this tournament, and a prolific shooter/scorer, like 6'5 Jr Vakeaton Wafer from Pineville (H.S.) LA, who plays with the Wings' 17-Under Team.  Especially impressive in the 15-Under Division were the two teams that met in the championship - the Wisconsin Playground Runnin Rebels, which featured 6'5 Frosh Breon Allen from Milwaukee (Dominican) WI, 5'9 Frosh Billy Mimis from Milwaukee (Tech) WI, and 6'5 Frosh Marcus Landry from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI, and the Hoosier Hoops, which featured 6'6 Josh McRoberts from Carmel (H.S.) IN.  Allen is a multi-dimensional athlete who is extremely active inside at this level, but he also showed he can also play on the perimeter while also playing up in the 17-Under Division.  Mims is extremely quick off the dribble and deadly 3-point shooter.  Landry is a warrior in the paint who blocks shots and dominates on the boards.  McRoberts has incredible skills and agility for somebody so young and, as a result, is almost impossible to stop at this level when he gets the ball inside. 

In addition to helping us cover the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions, our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin helped me talk to a number of the top players in the tournament and here is what we found out about their recruiting.  Wisconsin, Marquette, Tennessee, Stanford, Kansas, North Carolina, Iowa, and Arizona appear to be the finalists for 7'0 Jr Brian Butch from Appleton (West) WI.  Villanova and Arizona are the favorites for 6'4 Jr Mustafa Shukur from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA, but North Carolina, N.C. State, Georgia Tech, Florida, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Connecticut, Kansas, Temple, La Salle, and Louisville are also on his list.   The early list for 6'2 Soph Jason Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX includes Texas, Arizona, Michigan, and North Carolina.  Illinois, TCU, Oklahoma, SMU, Tennessee, and Arizona State are all pursuing 6'6 Jr David Fisher from Dallas (South Oak Cliff) TX.  Mississippi State is believed to be the favorite for 6'10 Jr Travis Outlaw from Starkville (H.S.) MS, but Memphis, USC, Alabama, Louisville, and Kentucky are also in the hunt.   It appears to be a two-horse race between Louisville and Alabama for 6'11 Jr Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS, but don't count out LSU and Ole Miss just yet.  The early list for 6'8 Soph Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL includes Alabama, Florida, Duke, North Carolina, Maryland, Mississippi, UCLA, and Arizona.   Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, N.C. State, and Texas are the leaders for 6'8 Jr Cartier Martin from Houston (Nimitz) TX.  Arkansas and Oklahoma State are believed to be the favorites for 6'6 Jr Ronnie Brewer from Fayetteville (H.S.) AR, but Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, Connecticut, and Mississippi are also mentioned.   North Carolina, Wake Forest, Arkansas, and California are the top four for 6'8 Jr Warren Scott from New Orleans (Abramson) LA.  He's listed on the roster as a sophomore, but 6'2 Jr Milton Collins from New Orleans (O.P. Walker) LA says he's a junior.  Actually this is only Collins' second year of high school, but his coach tells us that he's a grade ahead and, as a result, will graduate next year in only three years.  Collins also tells us he his favorite schools are Florida, Miami-FL, North Carolina, and Mississippi State.  It's been reported that LSU has gotten a verbal commitment from 6'7 Jr Darnell Lazare from Baton Rouge (Woodlawn) LA, but he says LSU leads Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Miami-FL, Louisiana Tech, and Louisiana-Lafyette.  The list for 6'7 Jr Glen Davis from Baton Rouge (University Lab) LA includes LSU, Tennessee, Maryland, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Florida, Florida State, Miami-FL, and Kansas.  The favorites for 6'8 Jr Brandon Bass from Baton Rouge (Capital) LA are Cincinnati, LSU, Miami-FL, Mississippi State, Indiana, and USC.  LSU, Duke, and North Carolina comprise the early list for 6'6 Frosh Tasmin Mitchell from Denham Springs (H.S.) LA.  However, Mitchell's godfather is LSU assistant coach Butch Pierre.  So guess where he's probably going to end up!  6'10 Jr Hassan Fofana from Worcester (Holy Name) MA is being recruited by Maryland, Ohio State, Wake Forest, Boston College, Purdue, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Holy Cross, Loyola-Chicago, and Kentucky.  Virginia, Maryland, Florida Connecticut, Syracuse, and Villanova were mentioned by 6'8 Jr Terrance Roberts from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ.   Seton Hall, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Villanova, and Maryland are the favorites for 6'2 Jr Jamar Nutter from West Orange (Seton Hall Prep) NJ.  6'8 Jr Will Sheridan from Hockessin (Sanford) DE has Virginia, Villanova, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Wake Forest on his list.  Villanova, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Connecticut, and Pittsburgh are the frontrunners for 6'11 Jr Darryl Watkins from Paterson (Catholic) NJ.  6'9 Jr Chris Taft from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY is being recruited by North Carolina, Duke, Maryland Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Villanova, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, and Pittsburgh.  Cincinnati and Alabama lead North Carolina, Georgetown, Clemson, and Georgia for 6'8 Jr Corey Gibbs from Stone Mountain (Redan) GA.  Prep school appears to be in his future first, but 6'6 Elijah Clarke from from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY mentions Illinois, Miami-FL, Syracuse, Connecticut, Texas, and Boston College.   Miami-FL, Providence, Connecticut, N.C. State, Illinois, and Syracuse are all in the hunt for 6'2 Jr Ramel Bradley from New York (Park West) NY.   He's a 4th year junior, but 6'8 Jr Dante Milligan from Pawling (Pawling-Trinity) NY has a 3.5 gpa and, as a result, schools like Stanford, Notre Dame, Connecticut, Providence, Virginia, and Georgetown are showing interest.  Pittsburgh is the leader over Ohio State, Tennessee, East, Carolina, and Masschusetts for 6'3 Jr Jamel Dixon from Braintree (Thayer Academy) MA.  Maryland is the strong favorite over Connecticut and Charlotte for 6'6 Jr Mike Jones from Braintree (Thayer Academy) MA.  Illinois, Connecticut, DePaul, Arkansas, Syracuse, and Ohio State are all in the hunt for 6'6 Sammy Mejia from Cornwall on the Hudson (Storm King Prep) NY.   South Carolina, Florida State, Delaware, Connecticut, Kansas State, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Massachusetts, and Providence make up what is a very interesting list for 6'3 Jr Gerald Brown from Baltimore (Douglas) MD.   Southern Cal, Pepperdine, UCLA, Duke, North Carolina, Maryland, and Arizona are all showing interest in 6'5 Jr Wendell White from Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) CA.  Connecticut, Missouri, Arizona State, USC, and Boston College were mentioned by 6'9 Jr Marcus Dove from Long Beach (Millikan) CA.  6'10 Jr Longar Longar from Rochester (John Marshall) VA likes Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Boston College, and N.C. State.  Louisville and Pittsburgh are the leaders for 6'4 Jr Brandon Jenkins from Detroit (Southeastern) MI, but Missouri and Texas are also on his list.  Duke, Louisville, Arkansas, Missouri, Michigan State, Michigan, and Cincinnati were mentioned by 6'6 Jr Olumuyiwa Famutimi from Flint (Northwestern) MI.  Michigan State, Michigan, Marquette, Texas A&M, and USC are the ones to watch for 6'7 Jr James Matthews from Detroit (Denby) MI.

Saturday, May 25, 2002, Sunday, May 26, 2002, & Monday, May 27, 2002

Sunday proved to be a big day for the Tim Thomas Playaz at Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions in Chapel Hill, NC.   That's right!  The Tim Thomas Playaz Gold beat the Southern California All-Stars, 76-57, in the championship game of the 17-Under National Division and the Tim Thomas Playaz Black beat Baltimore Select, 72-59, in the championship game of the 17-Under Select Division.  And this isn't the first time we've seen the Tim Thomas Playaz win two different divisions of the same tournament.  Remember, last fall at the Charlie Weber Tournament in College Park, MD these same two teams went home with the championship trophy in their respective divisions.  Tournament MVP honors for both divisions went to 6'7 Jr Sean Banks from Ordell (H.S.) NJ.   Also named to the all-tournament team were 6'3 Jr Art Bowers from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'8 Jr Terrance Roberts from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, 6'3 Jr Jamal Warren from Holyoke (H.S.) MA, 6'3 Jr Marcus Williams from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, 6'0 Jr Rayshawn Reed from Inglewood (H.S.) CA, 6'2 Tyler Smith from Baltimore (Douglas) MD, 6'3 Jr Gerald Brown from Baltimore (Douglas) MD, 6'10 Jr Stefan Zimmerman from Orem (Mountain View) UT, 5'11 Jr Daon Merritt from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'2 Raymond Felton from Latta (H.S.) SC, 6'2 Jr Toney Douglas from Jonesboro (H.S.) GA, 6'6 Jr LaKeith Blanks from Ft. Washington (National Christian) MD, 6'1 Jr Larry Blair from Camden (Military) SC, 6'3 Jr Anthony Harris from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, 6'6 Soph Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Central) IL, 6'8 Jr Wilfred Fameni from Amelia Court House (Amelia Academy) VA, 6'10 Soph Mohammed Tangara from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'8 Jr Tyrone Beale from Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC, 6'2 Shane Nichols from Radford (H.S.) VA, 6'5 Jr Ronnie Brewer from Fayetteville (H.S.) AR, 6'3 Jr Wesley Washington from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'6 Jr Anthony Tucker from Raleigh (Leesville Road) NC, 6'10 Jr Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, 6'9 Jr Travis Outlaw from Starkville (H.S.) MS, 6'2 Jr Jason Horton from Cedar Hill (h.S.) TX, 6'1 Soph Rajon Rondo from Louisville (Eastern) KY, and 6'6 Jr Blake Adams from Aldine (Nimitz) TX.  While Bob Gibbons does a tremendous job in terms of organizing the event and providing accurate rosters, we have to seriously question how a number of players, including 7'0 Jr Brian Butch from Appleton (West) WI, 6'3 Jr DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA, 6'4 Jr Mustafa Shakur fron Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA, 6'0 Jr Chris Paul from Clemmons (West Forsyth) NC, 6'8 Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, 6'8 Jr Brandon Bass from New Orleans (Capital) LA, 6'2 Soph Milton Collins from New Orleans (O.P. Walker) LA, 6'6 Frosh Tasmin Mitchell from Denham Springs (H.S.) LA, 6'9 Soph Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA - were left of the 28-man all-tournament.  As a matter of fact, we thought Butch, Nelson, Shakur were three of the top five players based on performance in the entire tournament.  They also finished second, fourth, and 9th in the tournament in scoring.  Speaking of the leading scorers, Blair was the leading scorer in the tournament averaging 33.0 ppg, followed by Butch with 31.7 ppg, Paul with 31.7 ppg, Nelson with 26.7 ppg, Outlaw with 26.7 ppg, Villanueva with 26.5 ppg, Zimmerman with 25.3 ppg, Douglas with 24.7 ppg, and Rondo and Shukur, who were tied with 23.7 ppg.  And Butch did it against several of the top centers in the tournament, as he scored 33 points versus 6'10 Jr Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS, who is ranked #4 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 36 points versus 6'10 Jr Hassan Fofana from Worcester (Holy Name) MA.  Butch, who is currently ranked #22 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, also convinced us that he's still way too low in our rankings.  In other words, Butch has to be a serious candidate for our top five nationally behind 6'7 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary's) OH, 6'10 Jr Ndudi Edi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX, 6'7 Jr Luol Deng from Blairstown (Academy) NJ, and 6'4 Jr Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, along with Shakur and 5'11 Jr Tauren Minor from Houston (Washington) TX.  One of the biggest disappointments of the entire tournament was 6'4 Jr Dion Harris from Detroit (Redford) MI, who currently is ranked #5 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.   Harris is best described as a slasher who uses his quickness and athleticism to get to the basket, but we question his outside shooting, toughness, and desire to play hard, which is very surprising, because our Michigan Editor Steve Bell is usually right on the money.  Also overrated on the Michigan Hurricanes, which lost two of three games in pool play, are 6'4 Jr Brandon Jenkins from Detroit (Southeastern) MI, 6'6 Jr Olu Famutimi from Flint (Northwestern) MI, and 6'9 Jr Walter Waters from Detroit (Southeastern) MI.  Jenkins is a terrific athlete and he gets to the hole with the best of them, but he's not a point guard.  Famutimi is an even better athlete, but we still question his outside shooting.  Waters isn't athletic enough, but once he gets into better shape and develops more post moves, which he will at Pittsburgh, the sky's the limit.  Another major disappointment was 6'8 Jr Brian Randle from Peoria (Woodruff) IL.   However, his teammate on the Ft. Sooy-No Limit was the second best player we saw in the entire tournament.  We're talking about Shaun Livingston, who currently is ranked #7 nationally in the sophomore class by the HOOP SCOOP.  However, that's too low!  Livingston looks like a smaller version of Tayshaun Prince, but he's really a toned-down and less flashy version of Anfernee Hardaway.   Not only is Livingston extremely skilled and very efficient with the basketball, but he's also a great ball handler and passer who makes everybody around him better often at his own expense.  He also is unstoppable when he decides to go the basket and is a better outside shooter than most people realize.  The best player in the tournament was 6'1 Raymond Felton from Latta (H.S.) SC, who was one of the few high school seniors who was allowed to play (apparently he's young for his class).  Felton not only picked up where he left off at this tournament a year ago, but once again he proved to be Mr. Clutch, as he hit a 3-point shot in the final seconds against Team Texas Elite in his team's final game in pool play.  Not only did he send the game into overtime, but he gave the Tar Heels fans in attendance more to cheer about than anything their team did all last season.  Nelson, Shakur, Horton, and 6'1 Jr Chris Paul were also sensational.  However, the only other scout who saw Nelson put on what might have been the best individual performance of the entire tournament against the Michigan Hurricanes was Tom Konchalski of the H.S.B.I. Report (maybe that's why he didn't make the all-tournament team).  Nelson, who has a 3.7 gpa, told us that his list includes Duke, Arizona, Kentucky, California, UCLA, Kansas, Cincinnati, Oregon, and North Carolina, but we think it's really a one-horse race.   Did you know that Nelson spent two-and-a-half hours on Friday with Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski while on an unofficial visit to Duke?  Nelson also went back to see Krzyzewski on Sunday and, as a result, there are rumors about a possible early verbal commitment.  Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis, who also is the coach of the Belmont Shore/H Squad, was there to pick up Nelson at the conclusion of the meeting between Krzyzewski and Nelson, but he won't confirm nor deny whether Nelson made a verbal commitment.  However, Trigonis does tell us that Krzyzewski seemed to be especially happy about whatever was discussed.  Horton finally has gotten out of the shadow of his older brother - 6'3 Daniel Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) MI - and, as a result, has taken his game to another level.  Horton also did more than hold his own against Felton and was the reason why Team Texas Elite beat Beach Ball Select.  Horton used his quickness off the dribble to drive and score almost at will, but he also used his savvy, court sense, and ball handling and passing skills make his teammates better.  Currently we have Horton ranked #21 nationally in the junior class, but, based on his performance here, he's better than that.  Paul is ranked #132 nationally on our list of the top juniors nationally, but that's at least 100 spots too low.  Not only can he shoot the lights out, but he makes excellent decisions, has great ball handling and passing skills, and a knack for finding a way to beat you.  In other words, Wake Forest has an absolute steal!  If you will recall, Paul recently picked the Demon Deacons and, as a result, head coach Skip Prosser will have to take a backseat to nobody in the always tough ACC at the point guard spot for years to come.  Shakur makes great decisions, has great handling and passing skills, rebounds well for his size, and explosive off the dribble.  Combine all that with the fact that he's 6'4 and he continues to just get better and better and it's easy to see why we think he might be top five in the class.  The only problem with that is that this is already his fourth year of high school and, as a result, Shakur will be ranked as a 5th year player by the HOOP SCOOP beginning in July.  Another 5th year player who really impresed us was 6'11 Martin Iti from Winchendon (School) MA.  As a matter of fact, he too finishes ranked among our top players in the tournament.  Let's take a closer look at the order of our top 25 players, which includes 1) Raymond Felton, 2) Shaun Livingston, 3) Brian Butch, 4) DeMarcus Nelson, 5) Mustafa Shakur, 6) Chris Paul, 7) Jason Horton, 8) Tasmin Mitchell, 9) Dwight Howard, 10) Martin Iti, 11) Mike Williams, 12) Tyler Smith; 13) Milton Collins, 14) Daon Merritt, 15) Terrance Roberts, 15) Brandon Bass, 16) Sean Banks, 17) 6'9 Jr Travis Outlaw from Starkville (H.S.) MS, 18) 6'9 Jr Chris Taft from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY, 19) Hassan Fonfana, 20) 6'4 Soph Glenn Miles from Birmingham (West End) AL, 21) 6'3 Jr Wesley Washington from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 22) Anthony Harris, 23) 6'8 Jr Warren Scott from New Orleans (Abramson) LA, 24) 6'9 Jr Todd Henley from Sanford (Lee County) NC, and 25) Olu Famutimi.  Editor's Note:  This list includes only the players we saw.  I didn't get to see a number of players, including Stefan Zimmerman, Jamal Warren, Marcus Williams, Rayshawn Reed, Toney Douglas, LaKeith Blanks, Larry Blair, Wilfred Fameni, Mohammed Tangara, Tyrone Beale, Shane Nichols, because their teams didn't play in the Dean E. Smith Center while I was there on Friday night and all day Saturday.  I also didn't get to see Charlie Villanueva, because he didn't show up until Saturday (I saw the Long Island Panthers play only once on Friday night), and 6'3 Jr JamesOn Curry from Mebane (Eastern Alliance) NC, who played priminarly in the 16-Under Division. Another Editor's Note:  Apparently Bob Gibbons agreed with our assessment above regarding the all-tournament team, because, according to our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin, 10 more players (many of who we mentioned above) have been added to the all-tournament team.  

Friday, May 24, 2002

For the last several weeks we've been working on our national players rankings and the finished product is pretty impressive.  We're talking about our list of the top 100 5th year players, top 400 seniors, top 250 juniors, top 200 sophomores, top 90 freshmen, top 50 8th graders, top 20 7th graders, top 15 6th graders, and top six 5th graders.  Not only is that over 1100 names all ranked in order within their class, but it's by far and away the most accurate list we've ever published.   And you can get it in its entirety exclusively in the Members Section of the HOOP SCOOP, which is necessary, if you are going to answer today's "Question of the Day".  "Which class do you think is the best?"  To take a look at each class, as well as our previous final national player rankings for each year dating all the way back to 1984, click on National Rankings.  Speaking of previous rankings, I'm going to ask Bob Gibbons for his permission to reprint his final rankings for the Class of 1983 and Bill Cronauer of the B/C Scouting Service for his permission to reprint his final rankings for the Class of 1977, Class of 1978, Class of 1979, Class of 1980, Class of 1981, and Class of 1982, all of which I have a copy in hand.  And I hope they both argee to let me do it, because then we'd have an archive of where the top high school players in the nation rank that would span 26 years. 

Thursday, May 23, 2002

Hampton University currently has the #34 ranked recruiting class on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date with 6'9 Bakary Konate from Cincinnati State (JC) OH, 6'7 Rodney Hughes from Owens (JC) OH, 6'3,Jeff Granger from Creedmore (Faith Christian) NC, 6'2 Dewayne Spencer from Harrisburg (Susquehanna Township) PA, 6'7 Troy Washington from Denmark (Denmark-Olar) SC, 6'11 Bruce Brown from Richmond (Henrico) VA, and 6'10 Frank Russell, 6'10, C, Fayetteville (Pine Forest) NC all in the fold.  However, another school in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference has cleaned up this spring.  We're talking about Howard University, which has landed 6'5 Bilal Russell from Fresno City (JC) CA, 6'9 Quadir Habeeb from Erie (JC) NY, and 5'7 Louis Ford from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME.  Ford is ranked 100 nationally on our list of the top 5th year players.  Habeeb, who played as a freshman year at Duquesne, is a strong low-post player at 6'9, 280 lbs and has the potential to get a double/double every night.   Russell, who is the nephew of Cassie Russell, has three years of eligibility left and is a lights out 3-point shooter (averaged 44% from beyond the arc).   If that weren't enough, 6'8 Mac Wilkinson, who transferred from the University of Louisville in December, is also waiting in the wings and will be eligible beginning second semester next year.  And they aren't done!  If you will recall, Howard University head coach Frankie Allen has already proven he's a great recruiter dating back to his days at Virginia Tech.  Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis tells us that USC appears to be making a push in the sweepstakes for Wesley Stokes, who recently announced he's transferring from Missouri.  And, if this happens, that's not good new for UCLA.   Remember, Stokes has always been a UCLA fan, but when it came time to be recruited, the Bruins weren't interested.  Stokes also is a very popular player and, as a result, this should help whichever school he picks get players in the future out of the Los Angeles, CA area.  One player who won't be following Stokes this time around is Travon Bryant, who appears to be happy and content to stay put at Missouri.   Trigonis also tells us that 6'7 Jr Ruben Boykin from Los Angeles (University) CA is a major sleeper and uses the fact that Colorado State, Wyoming Loyola-Marymount, San Diego State, Yale, and Pepperdine are all recruiting him.  And sure enough, Boykin will be playing for Trigonis this weekend at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions in Chapel Hill, NC.  However, the older Boykin may not get all that much playing time, because Trigonis' and Rick Isaacs' Belmont Shore/H-Squad, which also includes 6'8 Jr Brandon Bass from Baton Rouge (Capital) LA, 6'3 Soph DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA, 6'3 Jr Wesley Washington from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'5 Jr Wendell White from Redondo Beach (Redondo Union) CA, 6'9 Jr Harrison Schaen from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'6 Frosh Jamaal Boykin from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'3 Michael Hubbard from Bellflower (H.S.) CA, 6'7 Jr Marcus Dove from Long Beach (Millikan) CA, and 6'3 Jr Mark Bradford from Los Angeles (Fremont) CA team is absolutely loaded. 

Chris Monter of the Monter Draft News has come out with his predictions of where each player will go in the first round of the NBA Draft and they are as follows:  1) Houston will take Yao Ming from China; 2) Chicago will take Duke's Jason Williams; 3) Golden State will take Duke's Michael Dunleavy; 4) Memphis will take Connecticut's Caron Butler; 5) Denver will take Memphis' Dajuan Wagner; 6) Cleveland will take Kansas' Drew Gooden; 7) New York Knicks will take Stanford's Curtis Borchardt; 8) Los Angeles Clippers will take Nikoloz Takitishcki from Italy; 9) Phoenix will take Maryland's Chris Wilcox; 10) Miami will take Qyntel Woods from Northeast Mississippi (JC) MS; 11) Washington will take Indiana's Jared Jeffries; 12) Los Angeles Clippers will take Western Kentucky's Chris Marcus; 13) Milwaukee will take Mayerner Hilario from Brazil; 15) Houston will take Bostjan Nachbar from Slovenia; 16) Philadelphia will take Fresno State's Melvin Ely; 17) Charlotte will take Frank Williams; 18) Orlando will take 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL; 19) Utah will take Tennessee' Marcus Haislip; 20) Toronto will take Gonzaga's Dan Dickau; 21) Portland will take Giri Welsch from Czeck Republic; 22) Phoenix will take UCLA's Dan Gadzuric; 23) Detroit will take Fresno State's Tito Maddox; 24) New Jersey Nets will take Virginia's Roger Mason; 25) Denver will take Boris Niaw from France; 26) San Antonio will take Alabama's Rod Grizzard; 27) Los Angeles Lakers will take Carloz Boozer; and 28) Sacramento will take Sam Clancy.  Well, I guess I'm a lot higher on Wagner than all the NBA scouts and general managers and apparently our reader argue, as 24% of the people responding to "Question of the Day" from May 13th picked Wagner.  The question was "of you were a NBA general manager and you had the first pick in the NBA Draft and your team needed somebody good at every position, who would you pick?"  As a matter of fact, the only player who got more votes was Duke's Jason Williams, who currently has 25% of the vote.  We also find Drew Gooden going to Cleveland interesting, because that could have a direct impact on 6'7 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary's) OH, who is the #1 player in the nation regardless of class, down the road.  Did you know that Calvin Andrews, who used to be Gooden's AAU coach with the Oakland Soldiers, is now working for NBA agent Bill Duffy?  Did you also know that Duffy currently has three of the top six picks (Ming, Williams, and Gooden), according to Monter, in the draft as his clients?   This connection is very important, because Andrews likely will move to Cleveland, so he can continue to be close to Gooden and, as a result, would be perfectly positioned to line up James for Duffy a year from now. 

Our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio has no idea about the top 5th, 6th, and 7th graders in the New York Metropolitan area, so we got an assist from Stu Lash, who is the recruiting coordinator and director of scouting for the Five-Star Basketball Camp, with regards to the top young players in the area.  Lash's list of 10 of the 7th graders, which he has compiled from watching players at venues like the Five-Star Junior Camp, IS8, and UDC City Wide, in no particular order includes 5'8 Clayvon Givens from Brooklyn, NY, 5'6 Marcus Matthews from Queens, NY, 5'6 Derrick Price from Willingboro, NJ, 5'6 Malcolm Pope from New York, NY, 5'3 Dewan McMillan from Brooklyn, NY, 5'6 Jamaal Green from Brooklyn, NY, 5'8 Derek Ballard from Brooklyn, NY, 5'5 Bernie Dingle from Brooklyn, NY, 5'7 Eric Kessler from Sewell, NJ, and 5'10 Ricco Oliver from Brooklyn, NY.  The top 6th grader is 5'2 Irving Walker from Brooklyn, NY, who potentially could be the next Stephon Marbury or Sebastian Telfair.  Ten more outstanding 6th graders in no particular order are 6'0 Mike Nelson from Bronx, NY, 6'2 Ian Umpire from Bronx, NY, 5'6 Sylven Landesberger from Queens, NY, 5'7 Dorvel Carter from Bronx, NY, 5'2 Shasha Brown from Bronx, NY, 5'8 Lymel Ratliff from Brooklyn, NY, 5'5 Lamont Middleton from Bronx, NY and 5'10 Andre Avant from Brooklyn, NY, 5'10 Regulus Hoyte from Brooklyn, NY, and 5'6 Kenneth Gustus from Brooklyn, NY.  Lash's list of 10 of the top 5th graders in no particular order includes 5'7 Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn, NY, 5'6 Josh Malone from Long Island, NY, 6'2 Brian Jones from Queens, NY, 6'4 Rashaun Stores from Bronx, NY, 6'4 Troy Collins from New York, NY, 5'3 Devon McMillan from Brooklyn, NY, 5'3 Daniel McFadden from Queens, NY, 6'4 Chaz Williams from Brooklyn, NY, 5'2 Richard Williams from Queens, NY, and 5'3 Devande Cutler from Brooklyn, NY.  Lash also tells us that Five-Star's Hampden-Sydney session, June 8th-13th; Pittsburgh III session, July 15th-20th; and Honesdale II session, August 23rd-28th, should all be outstanding.  As a matter of fact, the Hampden-Sydney session promises to be their best camp ever in Virginia.  Remember, this week always draws heavily from the Washington, DC area and the sophomore and freshman classes in that area are absolutely loaded.  So it shouldn't come as a major surprise that the coaches from many of the traditional powers, like Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, Bethesda (Georgetown Prep) MD, Washington (Gonzaga) DC, Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, and Forestville (Bishop McNamara) MD, not only will be working the camp, but also bringing their players.  Pittsburgh III had three McDonald's All-American's last year in 6'8 Jason Fraser from Amityville (H.S.) NY, 6'8 Brad Buckman from Austin (Westlake) TX, 6'1 Raymond Felton from Latta (H.S.) SC, plus 6'6 Leonard Cooke from Old Tappan (North Valley Regional) NJ, 6'6 Curtis Sumpter from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY, 6'3 Jarrett Jack from Worcester (Academy) MA, 6'2 Robert Hite from Cincinnati (Winton Woods) OH, 6'6 Kennedy Winston from Pritchard (Blount) AL, 6'5 Kelenna Azubuike from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK, 6'7 Jr Omari Israel from Wheaton (Good Counsel) MD, 6'7 Lee Melchionni from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA, and 5'7 Jr Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH are all big name players.  And, if that weren't enough, the Developmental League provided us with our first opportunity to see guys like 6'3 Soph DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA, 6'4 Frosh Jamelle Cornley from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, 6'2 Soph Dwight O'Neil from Fresno (Washington Union) CA.  The fact that Pitt III once again has very little competition this year, expect for the NIKE Peach Jam in Augusta, GA, should ensure that the same caliber of talent is present that was on hand a year ago.  Not only do we expect Pitt III to get a lot of the adidas players, but NIKE teams that don't get invited to the Peach Jam will also likely send their players to this session.  A good example is might be 6'2 Soph Russell Robinson from New York (Rice) NY.  In case you didn't know, Robinson plays for the New York Gauchos and the only tournament they'll be playing in this summer is the 17-Under National AAU Tournament in Orlando, FL, which runs July 27th-31st.  Five-Star's Honesdale II session always is good, because school hasn't started in New York City yet and, as a result, they always get most of the top players from the city. 

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

We are gearing up to attend both the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions and the NIKE Memorial Day Classic in Bloomington, IN, both of which will tip-off this weekend.  We'll start at Gibbons' Tournament, which will run from 5:00 PM EST on Friday until late Sunday afternoon (the championship game is scheduled to begin at 4:00 PM).  And, as always, it looks like the field is loaded, as the National Tournament field includes Michigan Hurricanes, Houston Select, Belmont Shore, and Miami Tropics in Pool A; Beach Ball Select, North Carolina Gaters, Team Texas Elite, and Gary Payton Seattle All-Stars in Pool B; the Atlanta Celtics, Los Angeles (Rockfish, Derek Smith All-Stars, and Jackson Panthers in Pool C; Southern California All-Stars, Illinois Fire, North Carolina Red Storm, and New Jersey Celtics in Pool D; Tim Thomas Playaz Gold, Southeast Pump 'N Run, Fox Valley Skillz, and Middlesex Magic in Pool E; Alabama Ice, Kappa Magic, Tennessee Travelers, and New Orleans Jazz in Pool F; Long Island Panthers, Georgia Stars, DC Team Assault, and Topp Sports in Pool G; and Ft. Sooy No Limit, New York Ravens, Cleveland Basketball Club, and Coast-to-Coast in Pool H.  The Select Tournament Field includes Worldwide Renegades, Seattle Team Yes, Warriors Elite, and Columbus Blazers in Pool I; Baltimore Select, Mississippi Rise and Shine, Copper State All Stars (AZ), Cleveland Basketball 16 in Pool J; Atlanta Celtics Gold Fairfax Stars, Raleigh's Finest, and Seattle Team Yes 16 in Pool K; Ft. Worth Lions East Coast Eagles, Pittsburgh Jots, and Atlanta Prep Stars in Pool L; Tim Thomas Playaz Black, Raleigh Heat, Team Minnesota, and Champion Sports (UT) in Pool M; Hunting Park, Georgia Elite, Charlotte Nets, and North Greenville in Pool N; NOVA United, Texas Top Prospects, South Carolina Hoopsters, and West Virginia Mohawks in Pool O; and Springfield Heat, Central Florida Force, Team Richmond, and Ontario Wildhawks in Pool P.  The complete schedule for both of the 17-Under Divisions, as well as the 16-Under and 15-Under Divisons, can be found on Gibbons' web site at www.BobGibbons.net/secure.  As things stand now, I'll be the Bob Gibbons' Tournament of Champions, along with our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin, on Friday night and all day on Saturday.  Rubin will also be there on Sunday, but I plan to drive most of the night to Bloomington, IN and help our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson, who also will be in Bloomington on Saturday, cover the NIKE Memorial Day Classic on Sunday and Monday.  This tournament also appears to be loaded, as the 17-Under Division has the Alabama Lasers, Portland Legends, DC Blue Devils, and Louisiana Select in Pool A; Boo Williams, California Team Select, Magnolia Stars, and Albany City Rocks in Pool B; Baltimore Blue, Bloomington Black, The Family, and Team Florida in Pool C; The Illinois Warriors, Howard Pulley Blue, Charlotte Royals, and Bloomington Red in Pool D; Memphis, Tallahassee Wildcats, Arizona Stars, and Arkansas Wings in Pool E; New York Gauchos, Athletes First, Howard Pulley White, and Wisconsin Playground in Pool F; New York Riverside Church, TABA Team Illinois, Martin Brothers Select, and St. Louis Eagles in Pool G; and the Jackson Tiger, Bloomington White, Kentucky Hoop Stars, and Houston Hoops in Pool H.  The complete schedule for all three divisions (17-Under, 16-Under, and 15-Under) of the NIKE Memorial Day Classic, which is being hosted for the second consecutive year by Bob Pryor and the Bloomington AAU Program at the Bloomington SportsPlex, can be found at www.hoopsfuture.com.

We have learned that 6'8 Jr Kris Humphries from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN has a press conference scheduled for 6:00 PM tonight and we think it's safe to assume that it's going to be Duke.  This doesn't come as much of a surprise, because Humphries was at Duke recently on an official visit, plus when we talked to Humphries' father in March, all he could talk about was how great Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski and Kansas head coach Roy Williams are.  This is huge, not just because Humphries is ranked #7 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but because he's skilled enough, athletic enough, and tough enough to play both inside and outside.  He also gets the dominos to start falling.  Remember, the Blue Devils are also believed to be the heavy favorite for 6'8 Jr Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, who is the #3-ranked junior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, and they are one of the leaders, along with Texas and Arizona, for 6'10 Jr Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX, who is ranked #2 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Whether Duke can land all three of these guys is anybody's guess.  However, it wouldn't be the first the time Blue Devils have brought in several great players right on top of each other at the same position.  If you will recall, Duke signed the #1 point guard in the nation two consecutive years when they got Jason Williams from the Class of 1999 and Chris Duhon from the Class of 2000.  So suddenly the question becomes do you try and take Humphries, Deng, and Edi, all three of whom are forwards, or do you attempt to sign another quality point guard as insurance in case Duhon enters his name into the NBA Draft a year from now?  Remember, once Duhon leaves the Blue Devils will only have one point guard - 6'2 Sean Dockery from Chicago (Julian) IL - in the entire program.  Actually Duke has four scholarships available next year, but one is already promised to 6'7 Lee Melchionni from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA, who plans to walk-on and red-shirt next season, and another appears to be going to Humphries.  Obviously this also is a testament to Krzyzewski, who not only has built the best modern day program in college basketball, but who also has one of the best young coaching staffs in the business.  Did you know that Duke with Steve Wojciechowski, Johnny Dawkins, and Chris Collins and Syracuse with Mike Hopkins, Troy Weaver, and Bernie Fine were the only two programs in college basketball where all three assistant coaches on the staff were mentioned on our list of the top assistant coaches?  Getting back to the possibility of Duke getting Humphries, Deng, and Ebi, if this materializes, Duke will have landed three players who are ranked among our top 10 in nationally in the Class of 2003, a year behind a recruiting class, which included 6'10 Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, 6'10 Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC, 6'4 J.J. Redick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA, 6'10 Michael Thompson from New Lenox (Providence) IL, Dockery, and Melchionni and was easily ranked #1 in the nation.  Assuming that Humphries does announce for the Blue Devils, he will become the second player ranked among our top 10 juniors to make a verbal commitment.  Digging a little deeper, a commitment by Humphries would make it four out of our top 25, seven out of our top 50, 22 out of our top 100, 31 out of our top 200, and 35 out of our top 300 who are already off the board.   And we look for this trend to count.   As a matter of fact, we'd be surprised if 40 or more of the top 100 players in the Class of 2003 are not gone by the beginning of the summer camp season in early July.  If you will recall, 30 of our top 100 players in the Class of 2002 were gone by that time a year ago.   We have confirmed that Humphries has verbally committed to Duke and, as a result, we have a very interesting "Question of the Day."  If you were Mike Krzyzewski, would you take Humphries, Deng, and Ebi, if you could get all three of them, or would you take Humphries, either Deng or Ebi, and use the final scholarship to sign another point guard? 

It comes as no surprise that Rashaad Carruth, who is transferring from the University of Kentucky, has decided to go the University of Oklahoma.  As a matter fact, we told you that this was probably going to happen last week.  This is big for the Sooners, because it means that Sooners head coach Kelvin Sampson is bringing in two excellent wing players.  If you will recall, the Sooners signed 6'5 DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, who is ranked #33 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, last fall.  They also signed 6'8 Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK, who is ranked a #10 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, this spring and, as a result, have the potential to be as good as they were last season when they advanced all they way to the NCAA Final Four.  And that brings us to our "Question of the Day" for tomorrow.  Who should be the pre-season #1-ranked team in college basketball next season?  Our Mid-South Editor Jim Rothman tells us that 6'9 Kamua Canton from Mineral Area (JC) MO plans to walk-on at the University of Memphis next fall and that 6'7 Cortez Davis from Laurinburg (Institute) NC won't become a Tiger after all.  If you will recall, Davis verbally committed recently to Memphis, but it appears that everybody in the program has made it academically and, as a result, there isn't a scholarship available for Davis.  Instead, we understand that Davis will sign with Rutgers.  Canton, who is originally from Memphis (Hamilton) TN, has a reputation for being soft and, as a result, doesn't project as an impact player.  But he did average 10 ppg and 8 rpg and they don't have to give him a scholarship.  However, Canton isn't good enough to offset the loss of Davis, so Memphis' recruiting class drops from #33 to #40 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.   One that slipped past us is 6'7 Chudi Chinwezwe from Sugar Land (Hightower) TX, who signed with Texas Christian several weeks ago.  Chinwezwe is ranked #258 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but this is still a pretty good get when you consider what's left.  By our count, only six players who are ranked higher in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP than Chinwezwe are still available.  They are 6'5 Antonio Lawrence from San Joaquin (Memorial) CA, 6'7 Marcus White from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, 6'1 Greg Brown from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI, 6'3 Darnell Hopkins from Towson Catholic) MD, 6'4 Michael Cook from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA, and 6'6 Nick George from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD.  We also are hear that 6'2 Soph JamesON Curry from Mebane (Eastern Alamance) NC, who is ranked #6 on our list of the Top 200 Players in the Class of 2004, is already a near lock for North Carolina.  

Tuesday, May 21, 2002

We are finished with our rankings of the Top 200 Players in the Class of 2004 and there is only one thing I can say.   Boy, is this class loaded!  Not only does it have more potential than any class we've seen in recent years, but it could turn out to be as good as the Class of 1995, which produced Kevin Garnett, Stephon Marbury, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Ron Mercer, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim; the Class of 1991, which in produced Glenn Robinson, Chris Weber, Juwan Howard, Alan Henderson, Jalen Rose, Donyell Marshall, and Vashon Lenard; and great Class of 1988, which produced Alonzo Mourning, Shawn Kemp, Billy Ownens, Chris Jackson, Malik Sealy, Don MacLain, and Christian Laettner.   It also appears to have the size, depth, and overabundance of great players to potentially even rival the great Class of 1979, which included Clark Kellogg, Ralph Sampson, James Worthy, Isiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins, Sam Bowie, Sidney Green, Antoine Carr, Rodney McCray, Derrick Hord, Raymond McCoy, John Paxon, Steve Stipanovich, Melvin Turpin, Terry Cummings, Dale Ellis, and Rod Foster.   Don't believe it?  Well, 5'11 5'11 Soph Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'3 Jr Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX, 6'9 Soph Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS, 6'8 Soph Mike Williams from Camden (Wilcox Central) AL, 6'4 Soph Glenn Miles from Birmingham (West End) AL, 6'2 Soph JamesOn Curry from Mebane (Eastern Alamance) NC, 6'6 Soph Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Central) IL, 6'8 Soph Randolph Morris from Fairburn (Landmark Christian) GA, 6'0 Soph Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, and 6'6 Soph Roy Bright from Durham (Northern Durham) NC make up the 10 players in the class and, if you still think somebody in the class is better than Telfair, now is your chance to tell us via our "Question Of The Day" from Friday, May 17th.  And there isn't much of a drop off among the next 15 players - 6'5 Soph Dwayne Day from Vadalia (H.S.) GA, 6'7 Soph DayShaun Wright from Syracuse (Fowler) NY, 6'2 Soph DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA, 6'9 Soph Juan Diego Tellos Palacios from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, 6'11 Soph Greg Steinsma from Randolph (H.S.) WI, 6'7 Soph Stanley Branch from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'8 Soph D.J. White from Tuscaloosa (Hillcrest) AL, 6'10 Soph Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA, 6'9 Soph Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'7 Soph Josh Smith from Marietta (McEachern) GA, 6'1 Soph Jason Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'5 Soph Robert Vaden from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, 6'8 Soph Kaylan Grimes from Florissant (Hazelwood Central) MO, 6'10 Soph LeMarcus Aldridge from Dallas (Seogoville) TX, and 6'3 Soph John Lucky from Waterbury (Sacred Heart) CT.  In other words, 5'9 Soph Andre Allen from Memphis (East) TN, who is one of the best players to ever come out Memphis, is ranked no higher than #26 on our list and 5'10 Soph Rajon Rando from Louisville (Eastern) KY, who is arguably the best player in the state of Kentucky right now, is ranked no higher than #28 on our list.  The Class of 2004 is especially loaded in the Deep South, as Georgia has four players (Morris, Day, Howard, and Smith, all of whom play for the Atlanta Celtics) who are ranked among our top 20 players in the class, Alabama has three players (Williams, Miles, and White) who are ranked among the top 20 players in the class, Florida has one player (Washington) who is ranked among our top 10 players in the class, and Mississippi has one player (Jefferson) who is ranked among our top five players in the class.  That's nine of the top 20 players in the Class of 2004 from only four states and, if we expand on this to include the entire South, we find that Texas also has three players (Gibson, Horton, and Aldridge) who are ranked among our 25 players, North Carolina has two players (Curry and Bright) who ranked among our top 10 players, and Virginia has one player (Johnson) who is ranked among our top 20 players in the class.   In other words, 15 of the top 25 players in the Class of 2004 come from a total of seven states in the South.  Ironically, the normal basketball hotbeds like New York, NY, Chicago, IL, Detroit, MI, and Los Angeles, CA are barely even represented at the top of this class.  As a matter of fact, the only player from any of those cities to be ranked among our top 25 players in the Class of 2004 is Telfair, who has been the #1-ranked player in the class since he was in 4th grade.  Nobody from Michigan is ranked among the top 25.  The only player (Nelson) who made the list from from California is from the Northern part of the state and the same also can be said about Illinois, as the only player (Livingston) from that state to make the list is from Peoria.

Well, it looks like we were right on the money when we told you over the weekend that a verbal commitment by 6'7 Jr Bobby Perry from Durham (Hillside) NC, who is ranked #68 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, could be forthcoming sooner than later.  This is appears to be a good catch for the Wildcats, because Perry has a 3.8 gpa and he's good enough to come in and contribute right away, but not so good that they'll have to worry about replacing him right away.  Perry, who picked the Wildcats over Stanford and Wake Forest, averaged 23 ppg and 11 rpg last season, but physically he's not strong enough to play inside at the college level and he's a solid ball handler and good 3-point shooter.  In other words, he's a wing forward all the way.  Our Mid-South Editor Jim Rothman tells us that 6'6 Deywane Lee from Cordova (H.S.) TN has signed with Evansville.  Lee, who is the son of former Memphis All-American Keith Lee, is ranked #16 in the state in the senior class on the list that Rothman plans to get into our hands within the next week or two.  Rob Harrington of PrepStars.com and the Recruiter's Handbook, understand that 6'8 Jr Warren Carter from Dallas (Lake Highlands) TX, who is ranked #175 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has made an early verbal commitment to the University of Illinois.  This is the third player the Fighting Illini have landed from Texas in the last year.  If you will recall, Illinois also signed 6'2 Deron Williams from The Colony (H.S.) TX and 6'8  Kyle Wilson from Dallas (Jesuit) TX last fall.  Obviously this is due to the strong contacts that Fighting Illini assistant coach Billy Gillespie has in the Lone Star State dating back to his days as an assistant coach at Tulsa and Baylor.  Speaking of former Baylor assistant coaches, did you know that Auburn assistant coach Mike Wilson, who currently is ranked as the #2 assistant coach in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP, is about to make what appears to be a very strange move?  The word on the street is that Wilson will be named the associate head coach at the University of Richmond tomorrow.   This will be the second time that Wilson has worked for new Spiders head coach Jerry Wainwright and apparently Wilson's close friendship with Wainwright, who Wilson worked for at UNC-Wilmington, and Richmond assistant Rodney Terry, who Wilson was on the same staff with at Baylor, was the deciding factor in Wilson's decision.   One of the things that makes Wilson such an awesome recruiter is his ability to build a close rapport with the players he signs.  However, in this case the chances of 6'9 Terry Licorish from Laurinburg (Institute) NC and 6'5 Steve Leven from Laurinburg (Institute) NC getting out of their National Letters-of-Intent and following to Wilson to Richmond are slim and none.  Any way you slice it they would have to sit out a year, but it's a mute point, becuase Richmond doesn't have any scholarships available.  This also prohibits another player Wilson recruited last fall from even considering Richmond.  We're talking about Duane John, who is transferring from Missouri.  Instead, we hear that New Mexico State is close getting this one done and, if Aggies assistant coach Tony Stubblefield pulls this one off, he ought get a big raise.  Remember, John was ranked #70 nationally in the Class of 2001 by the HOOP SCOOP. 

Monday, May 20, 2002

Our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio was at the IS8 Playoffs the last four days and he provides us with a game-by-game account of what happened beginning with the first two quarterfinals games on Thursday night.  In the first game the Long Island Panthers were missing 6'9 Jr Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Academy) NJ, who was at prep school in New Jersey, and 6'1 Allan Ray from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, who was attending his prom.  However, they still survived, 59-58, against the Mustangs, thanks to a 3-pointer by 6'3 Aubin Scott from Hempstead (H.S) NY with three seconds left.  The leading scorer for the Panthers was 6'6 Curtis Sumpter from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY with 16 points.  Also chipping in with 12 points was 6'8 Jason Fraser from Amityville (H.S.) NY.  The Mustangs were led by 6'2 Elijah Muldrow from Milford (Academy) CT, who is heading to Ventura (JC) CA and 6'3 Jr Willie McCloskey from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY with 21 points apiece.  In the other game quarterfinals game on Thursday night, Rebel upset the Future Stars, which is Riverside Church's younger team.  Rebel jumped out to a 24-6 lead early, but the Future Stars came back to tie it at the half, 34-34.   Throughout most of the second half it was too close to call until Rebel pulled out a 82-76 victory in the last two minutes.  The big gun for Rebel was 5'10 C.J. Okogeri from Bayside (H.S.) NY, who hit a number of big 3-pointers en route to a 32-point effort.  Also adding 19 points was Fairleigh Dickinson-bound 6'4 Chad Timberlake from Brooklyn (New Utrecht) NY and 6'5 Amadu Fall from Brooklyn (Boys and Girls) NY, who is expected to sign with either Florida Atlantic or Lafayette, chipped in with 17 points and 16 rebounds.  The Future Stars were led by 5'11 Gary Ervin from Brooklyn (Paul Robeson) NY with 34 points (20 of which came in the first half).  And that was big difference in the game, as Ervin was the only player who came up big for the Future Stars in the first half.  Also adding 14 points for the Future Stars was 6'0 Soph A.J. Price from Amityville (H.S.) NY.  In the first quarterfinals game on Friday night Riverside Church was missing 5'7 Keydren Clark from New York (Rice) NY and 5'10 Jason Wingate from New York (Rice) NY, both whom were attending their prom.   However, it didn't matter, because 5'7 Jr Cyron Lee from Bronx (Regional) NY, who hit six three's for 18 points, got hot, as Riverside Church upset Brooklyn Bridge.  Another big key to the game was the ability of 6'5 Allen Shepherd from New York (Randolph) NY and 6'4 Jr Willie Irick from Teaneck (H.S.) NJ, who combined for 10 points, to Neutralize the bigger players for Brooklyn Bridge.  6'8 Jr Chris Taft from Brooklyn (Taft) NY did finish with 18 points and 16 rebounds, but Tom Konchalski of the H.S.B.I. Report charted certain statistics and he tells us that Taft only touched the ball 10 times via passes from his teammates.  Also chipping in with 20 points was 6'5 Elijah Clark from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, while 5'11 Soph Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, who is the #1-ranked sophomore in the nation, only hit 6-20 field goals, 2-9 3-pointers, and 5-8 free throws en route to 19 poitns, four assists, and six turnovers.   In the other quarterfinals game on Friday night S.O.N.D.A.Y. Express took control of the game in last minute and emerged with what turned out to be a 103-96 hard fought victory.  6'7 Jr Sean Banks from Oradell (Bergen Catholic) NJ and 6'4 John Winchester from Milford (Academy) CT both had 19 points, while 5'10 Daon Merritt from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY chipped in with 18 points and 5'10 Jr Japhet McNeil from Middle Village (Christ the King) NY had 16 points.  Leading the losers were 6'4 Ben Utley from Brooklyn (Boys and Girls) NY with 24 points and Boston University-bound 6'2 Shawn Wynn from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY with 22 points.  Showing up for the semi-finals games on Saturdy was Dick "Hoops" Weiss of the New York Daily News, who is widely regarded as the #1 college basketball writer in the nation, and he truly was amazed at how much talent was on display.  In the first game   S.O.N.D.A.Y. Express beat Riverside 72-70 in a game that wasn't decided until the final seconds when 6'3 Ricardo Soliver missed a desperation half-court shot as time ran out.  The leading scorer for S.O.N.D.A.Y. Express once again was Sean Banks with 15 points.  Also adding 11 points apiece were 6'5 Jr Kirk Bunn from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY and St. Peter's-bound 6'3 George Jefferson from Brooklyn (Automotive) NY-bound.  The leading scorer for Riverside Church was 5'7 Keydren Clark with 15 points.  Soliver added 14 points.  In the other semi-finals game Rebel appeared to have a shot at pulling off its second consecutive upset until Villanueva hit a 3-pointer late in the 4th quarter, which opened it up to a nine point lead.  From there the Panthers coasted to a 98-81 victory.  All five Panthers starters were in double figures, as Villanueva scored 22 points, Sumtper scored 18 scored, Fraser finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds, 6'2 Taquan Dean from Neptune (H.S.) NJ had 14 points, and Ray had 12 points.  Rebel was once again led by 5'10 C.J. Okogeri from Bayside (H.S.) NY with 21 points.  Fall added 19 points and 6'8 Brian Franklyn from Brooklyn (Boys and Girls) NY, who had 16 points, 14 rebounds, and four blocks, was impressive enough to get Weiss' attention, as he got it done against the Panthers awesome front line.  The Panthers were once again missing Villaneuva in the championship game, but that didn't stop them from jumping out to a 15-10 lead early.   Instead, what made it a close game (the Panthers were then outscored 24-7 and trailed 34-22 late in the first half) were three quick fouls by Ray and a terrific performance Banks.  However, the Panthers did manage to cut the lead to only two at half-time and Fraser, who finished with 38 points, 16 rebounds, and four blocks, came up big down the stretch, as the Panthers won their second consecutive spring IS8 Championship, 86-81.  Sumpter added 19 points, while Aubin Scott, who was the big hero in the Panthers' quarterfinals victory, had 10 points, four rebounds, and four clutch assists.  Banks, who had 18 points at half-time, led S.O.N.D.A.Y. Express with 22 points (18 in first half).  Winchester added 15 and Merritt had 11 points.  IS8 MVP honors went to Fraser.  Banks took home the Sportsmanship Award and the Special Senior Award went to Sumpter.  Named to the Third Team All Tournament Team were Taft, Muldrow, Providence-bound 6'3 Donnie McGrath from Somers (John F. Kennedy) NY, Albany-bound 6'2 Jamar Wilson from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, and ???????????.  Named to the Second Team All Tournament Team were Villaneuva, 6'5 Elijah Clark from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, Soliver, 5'10 Carl Benn from Woodmere (Lawrence-Woodmere Academy) NY, and Telfair, who got his team no further than the quarterfinals for the second year in a row.  Named to the First Team were Winchester, Sumpter, Fraser, Ray, Ervin.  The Rookie-of-the-Year was 5'8 Frosh Eugene Harvey from Brooklyn (Boys & Girls) NY and the Player-of-the-Year was 6'6 Sam Mejia from Cornwall on the Hudson (Storm King Prep) NY.  Naclerio also tells us that C.J. Okogeri, Carl Benn, and Brian Franklin could all be steals for the right low-to-mid major school looking to sign somebody late.  Ben also is academically qualified with a 2.8 gpa and 1020 SAT.  Naclerio isn't sure about Franklin's grades, but it's definitely worth a phone call to find out.  Not only did he get it done against the Panthers, but he's still only 17 years old and he's got a major upside. 

Last week we told you that the University of Cincinnati was the co-favorite, along with Illinois, for 6'4 Jr Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, who is ranked #6 nationally on our list of the Top 250 Players in the Class 2003.   However, we didn't tell you that the Bearcats appear to be on the verge of a recruiting bonanza.   Most people already know that Cincinnati is the heavy favorite for 5'11 Jr Tauren Minor from Houston (Washington) TX, who is ranked #11 nationally in the junior classs by the HOOP SCOOP.  In addition to Cincinnati assistant coach Andy Kennedy, who was hired last July and is quickly emerging into one of the top recruiters in the nation, walking in and picking up where former Bearcats assistant coach Mick Cronin left off, they have a huge advantage on this one.  Did you know that Minor and Field Williams, who will be a junior next year at Cincinnati, have been close friends since childhood?  Cincinnati also appears to be the leader for 6'8 Jr Corey Gibbs from Stone Mountain (H.S.) GA, who is tied at #100 on list of the top juniors nationally, plus they are in a lot better shape than people realize on 6'7 Jr Brandon Bass from Baton Rouge (Capital) LA, who reminds us of Kenyon Martin, who was the consensus college player-of-the-year two years ago at Cincinnati.  As a matter of fact, one of Bass' favorite players is Martin.  We also know the Bearcats are recruiting 6'3 Jr Richard McBride from Springfield (Lanphier) IL, 6'8 Jr Emmanuel Willis from Mendenhall (H.S.) MS, 6'5 Jr Vakeaton Wafer from Pineville (H.S.) LA, 6'11 Jr Shawn Taylor from Vienna (Dooley County) GA, 6'8 Jr Cartier Martin from Houston (Nimitz) TX, 6'8 Jr Warren Scott from New Orleans (Abramson) LA, 6'2 Jr Vincent Banks from Atlanta (South Atlanta) GA, 6'9 Jr Jamareo Davidson from Stone Mountain (H.S.) GA, 6'6 Jr Brandon Foust from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, 6'2 Jr Lee Humphrey from Maryville (H.S.) TN, 6'5 Jr LaKeith Banks from Ft. Washington (Ft. Washington) MD, and 6'11 Jr Akini Adkins from Tallahassee (Leon) FL.  Speaking of Banks, he's listed as a junior, but he's actually already a 5th year player and, as a result, has slipped through the cracks, just like 6'2 Tyler Smith from Baltimore (Southern) MD, 6'7 Richard Dorsey from Baltimore (Southern) MD, and 6'2 Mario Taybron from Dyke (Blue Ridge School) VA.   In other words, all these players are currently nowhere to be found on any of the list that we've published during the last week, but they all will be ranked extremely high at the conclusion of the summer camp season on next year's 5th year list.  Getting back to Cincinnati, their recruitment of Adkins is worth noting, because Adkins' legal guardian is John Adkins, who is head coach of the Tallahassee Wildcats.  If you will recall, 6'3 Tony Bobbitt from Southern Idaho (JC) ID, who signed with the Bearcats this spring, not only played for Adkins, but was largely responsible for the Tallahassee Wildcats winning the championship at the Charlie Weber Invitational Tournament several years ago.  Speaking of the Tallahassee Wildcats, Matt Ramker, who is the selection chairman for the Hooters Holiday Shooutout in St. Petersburg, FL, December 26th-30th, is now helping Adkins coach the Tallahassee Wildcats and, as a result, 6'0 Soph Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL is now playing for what now appears to be the top club team program in the state of Florida.  Ramker, who is one of the bright up-and-coming guys in the business, also has finalized the field for the 10th Annual Hooters Holiday Shootout, which includes Louisville (Male) KY, Columbia (Keenan) SC, Clio (Marlboro County) SC, Vidalia (H.S.) GA, Pittsburgh (Central Catholic) PA, Manchester (Trinity) NH, Orlando (Edgewater) FL, Eustis (H.S.) FL, Pahokee (H.S.) FL, Miami (Senior) FL, Hawthorne (H.S.) FL, Brandon (H.S.) FL, St. Petersburg (Lakewood) FL, St. Petersburg (Boca Ciega) FL, Palm Harbor (H.S.) FL, and Clearwater (Countryside) FL.  Not only will the Hooters Holiday Shootout be celebrating a decade in the business, but there is no question that Ramker has put together the best Hooters field ever.  Some of the top players who will be in attendance include Washington, 6'5 Soph Dwayne Day from Vidalia (H.S.) GA 6'9 Soph Luke Bonner from Manchester (Trinity) NH, 6'3 Jr Michael Bush from Louisville (Male) KY, 6'5 Soph Cornelius Ingram from Hawthorne (H.S.) FL, 6'10 Soph Ra'Sean Dickey from Clio (Marlboro County) SC, 6'10 Jr Wesley Green from Eustis (H.S.) FL, 6'3 Jr Jimmy Hudson from Eustis (H.S.) FL, 6'2 Soph Antonio Watson from Pahokee (H.S.) FL, 6'6 Frosh Zarronn Cann from Brandon (H.S.) FL, and 6'2 Frosh Sean Morrison from St. Petersburg (Lakewood) FL.  For more information on the tournament, click on http://www.mattramker.com.   Unfortunately 6'8 Jr Renaldo Balkman from   Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL is not included on the above list.  We say that for several reasons.  First, the word out we're getting now is that Balkman, who currently is ranked #203 nationally on our list of the top juniors nationally, is vastly improved since we saw him at the National Prep School Invitational in February.   Second, Balkman is a top recruiting priority for South Florida.  In other words, don't be surprised if Bull assistant coach Dave Zimroth, who is one of the best evaluators of talent in the business, steals another one (Balkman).   And as long as we're on the subject of assistant coaches who don't get the recognition that they deserve, did you know that UNLV assistant coach Derek Thomas has the Runnin' Rebels in the hunt for a number of the top juniors in the nation, including Minor, Brown, Bass, 6'8 Jr Trevor Ariza from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'8 Jr Leon Powe from Oakland (Tech) CA, and 6'7 Jr Ekene Ibekwe from Carson (H.S.) CA?  No, UNLV isn't the favorite for any of these guys, but Thomas is the guy who signed Larry Hughes and had 6'9 Darius Miles from East St. Louis (H.S.) IL all wrapped up when he was an assistant coach at Saint Louis.  However, Miles never materialized for the Billikens, because current UNLV head coach Charlie Spoonhour went into temporary retirement.  Another formerly underrated assistant coach, Tommy Herrion, continues to turn heads this spring with the recruiting job he's done at College of Charleston.   Two weeks ago he signed 6'4 Marcus Johnson from Tallahassee (JC) FL, last week lhe anded 6'7 Isaiah "Zeke" Johnson from Palm Beach (JC) FL, and now he has gotten 6'4 Robert Swaim, who is transferring from the University of Connecticut.  Unfortunately Herrion is out of scholarships.  If you will recall, the College of Charleston also was one of the finalists for 6'4 Mike Cook from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA and they appeared to be one of the favorites for 6'8 J.C. Mathis, who is transferring from Virginia.  Instead, it looks like Mathis will pick from among Fordham, Seton Hall, Siena, Boston University, and Rutgers.  Mathis' departure from Virginia opens up another scholarship for the Cavaliers and the most likely candidate appears to be 6'5 Shane Power, who recently announced he was transferring from Iowa State.  Power, who was the Cyclones leading scorer last year, also is considering New Mexico, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, and Mississippi State. 

Saturday, May 18, 2002, and Sunday, May 19, 2002

We had heard earlier in the week that LSU has a pair of early commitments from 6'7 Jr Regis Koundjia from Laurinburg (Institute) NC and 6'7 Jr Darnell Lazare from Baton Rouge (Woodlawn) LA, but it wasn't until yesterday afternoon that we actually confirmed that they both indeed made early verbal commitments to the Tigers.  Everybody knows that Kounjia is a major catch, but Lazare also appear to be a major steal.  As a matter of fact, a source who knows all the top players in the state tells us that Lazare is a legitmate sleeper for a our top 100 nationally.  So it appears that LSU is well on its way towards landing one of the top recruiting classes in the nation.  Remember, 6'8 Jr Brandon Bass from Baton Rouge (Capital) LA, who is ranked #10 on our list of the top juniors nationally, which will be published later tonight, is LSU's #1 recruiting priority and, as a result, you can bet it will be extremely difficult to get him out of the Tigers' backyard.  We also know that LSU is one of the favorites for 6'10 Jr Jackie Butler from McComb (H.S.) MS, who is ranked #4 on our list of the top juniors nationally.  Not only is Tigers head coach John Brady originally from McComb, MS, but his mother still lives right across the street from McComb High School.  We also know that LSU is hot on the trail of 5'11 Jr Tauren Minor from Houston (Washington) TX, 6'5 Jr Vakeaton Waffer from Pineville (H.S.) LA, and 6'8 Jr Paul Milsap from Grambling (H.S.) LA, all three of whom were extremely impressive when we saw them three weeks ago at the Houston Kingwood Classic in Houston, TX and, if they get several of these seven players, then LSU's recruiting class would be one of the best in the nation.  It also would have to move Butch Pierre even higher than he already is on our list of the top assistant coaches in the nation.  If you will recall, Pierre was ranked #25 on our list of the top assistant coaches in February, but now has moved up to #20, because Jay John, Neil Dougherty, Dave Leitao, John Pelphrey, and Ray Lopes, all of whom were ranked ahead of him, all got head coaching jobs this springs.  We also have confirmed that LSU has signed 5'11 Darrel Mitchell from   St. Martinsville (H.S.) LA and, this too is noteworthy, because Mitchell, who is tied at #100 on our list of the top senior nationally, was named the Player-of-the-Year in the state this spring.  He joins 6'6 Tim Bush from Marrero (Shaw) LA, 6'3 Tony Gipson from Panalo (JC) FL, 6'7 Mildon Ambres from Opelousas (H.S.) LA, and 6'9 Jaime Lloredo, who led Dixie (JC) UT to the National Championship and was widely regarded as one of the top two junior college players in the nation, along with 6'8 Qytnel Woods form Northeast Mississippi (JC) MS, to give LSU the #33-ranked recruiting class on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.   And, if that weren't enough, the Tigers also had 6'9 Shawnson Johnson, who sat out last year because he needed another year to get his academics in order, and Courtney Task, who transferred from Memphis, waiting in the wings.  In other words, it appears to be only a matter of time before LSU once again becomes one of the powerhouse teams, along with Kentucky, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi State, in the Southeastern Conference, which currently rivals the ACC as the top conference in college basketball.

As things stand now, 21 of the top 100 players on our list of the Top 250 Players in the Class 2003 already made early verbal commitments to four-year Division I schools.  That list includes 6'4 Jr Dion Harris from Detroit (Redford) MI to Michigan, 6'0 Jr Brandon Cotton from Detroit (St. Martin DePorres) MI to Michigan State, 6'8 Jr Kenneth Harris from Hammond (Bishop Noll) IN to Valparaiso, 6'10 Jr Stefan Zimmerman from Orem (Mountain View) UT to Utah, 6'4 Jr Wesley Washington from Mater Dei (Santa Ana) CA to California, 6'5 Jr J.R. Giddens from Oklahoma City (John Marshall) OK to Kansas, 6'3 Jr J.R. Reynolds from Roanoke (Catholic) VA to Virginia, 6'9 Jr Walter Waters from Detroit (Southeastern) MI to Pittsburgh, 6'7 Jr Regis Koundjia from Laurinburg (Institute) NC to LSU, 6'9 Jr Darian Townes from Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC to Georgetown, 6'9 Jr Mohamed Abukar from San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) CA to Georgia, 6'9 Jr Lamont Hamilton from Milford (Academy) CT to St. John's, 6'7 Jr Demetrius Nichols from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI to Syracuse, 6'3 Jr Tron Smith from Canyon Springs (Moreno Valley) CA to Arizona State, 6'2 Jr Jimmy Miles from Homewood (Christian) IL to Valparaiso, 6'8 Jr Ivan Harris from Springfield (South) OH to Ohio State, 6'6 Jr Oumar Sylla from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY to Valpariso, 6'7 Jr Darnell Lazare from Baton Rouge (Woodlawn) LA to LSU, 6'3 Jr Robert McIver from Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC to Georgetown, 6'0 Jr Ben Luber from Newtown (Council Rock) PA to Penn State, and 6'7 Jr Phil Tomlinson from Burleson (H.S.) TX to Colorado State.  And it appears to be only a matter of time before that list grows to 22, because 6'7 Jr Bobby Perry from Durham (Hillside) NC is at the University of Kentucky this weekend on an official visit and, unless something unforeseen happens, a verbal commitment should be forthcoming sooner than later.   Speaking of the the Wildcats, we also are hearing that they may sign 6'1 Greg Brown from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI, who is ranked #118 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, but who has the talent and athleticism to be ranked a lot higher, if he ever develops a true position.  If this happens, Brown would probably be a partial qualifier and, as a result, have to sit out next season.  However, he would count with the current recruiting class, which also includes 6'4 Antwain Barbour from Wabash Valley (JC) IL, 6'6 Kelenna Azubuike from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK, 5'9 Brandon Stockton from Glasgow (H.S.) KY and 6'9 Bernard Cote from Montreal (Chaplain-St. Lambert) QU, plus a pair of walk-on's in 6'1 Ravi Moss from Hopkinsville (University Heights) KY and 6'0 Preston LeMaster from Paris (Bourbon County) KY.  And, if this happens, Kentucky's recruiting class would move up from #13 to #8 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.   We also understand that 6'1 Adam Chiles from Vincennes (JC) IN, who is transferring from the University of Kentucky, is visiting Vincennes (JC) IN this weekend and 6'9 Brandon Bender, who is transferring from the University of Louisville, has enrolled at Malcolm X (JC) IL.   Bender also says that he didn't enter his name into the NBA Draft as an early entry, but somebody did.  How else would his name appear on the list, which was   released yesterday?  However, this typical of Bender.  If you will recall, he also claimed to have been misquoted when he said he wanted to be the first player to go straight to the league after his junior year of high school and when he said he wasn't interested in Louisville because former Cardinals head coach Denny Crum hadn't done a very good job recruiting him.

Friday, May 17, 2002

Earlier today the NBA announced that 55 college and high school players and 14 international players have filed as early entry candidates for NBA Draft 2002. However, by our count, there were only 54 college and high school players listed.  Let's take a close look.  The list of 39 players at four-year colleges who filed for the draft in alphabetical order includes 6'9 Brandon Bender from Louisville, 6'9 Carlos Boozer from Duke, 6'11 Curtis Borchardt from Stanford, 6'6 Caron Butler from Connecticut, 6'1 Willie Deane from Purdue, 6'4 Henry Domercant from Eastern Illinois, 6'9 Michael Dunleavy from Duke, 6'4 Kevin Gaines from Houston, 6'10 Drew Gooden from Kansas, 6'8 Rod Grizzard from Alabama, 6'10 Marcus Haislip from Tennessee, 6'5 Adam Harrington from Auburn, 6'7 Brandon Hunter from Ohio University, 6'6 Casey Jacobsen from Stanford, 6'8 Chris Jeffries from Fresno State, 6'10 Jared Jeffries from Indiana, 6'11 Muhammed Lasege from Louisville, 6'4 Tito Maddox from Fresno State, 6'5 Roger Mason from Virginia, 6'8 Chris Massie from Memphis, 6'8 Glen McGowan from Pepperdine, 6'10 Uche Nsonwu-Amadi from Wyoming, 6'11 Uche Okafor from Missouri, 6'4 William "Smush" Parker from Fordham, 6'2 Marlon Parmer from New New Mexico, 6'6 Kareem Rush from Missouri, 6'11 Jamal Sampson from California, 6'8 Julian Sensley from Fresno State, 6'3 Bobby Smith from Robert Morris, 6'8 Theron Smith from Ball State, 6'3 Marcus Taylor from Michigan State, 6'3 Terrell Taylor from Creighton, 6'3 Dajuan Wagner from Memphis, 6'2 Adrian Walton from Fordham, 6'10 Chris Wilcox from Maryland, 6'8 Troy Wiley from Rhode Island, 6'3 Frank Williams from Illinois, 6'8 George Williams from Houston, and Jason Williams from Duke.   There also are were 10 junior college players - 6'9 Rodney Bias from Shelton State (JC) AL, 6'3 Cordell Billups from Pierce JC) WA, 6'9 Lee Benson from Brown Mackie (JC) KS, 7'0 Rashid Hardwick from Eastern Oklahoma State (JC) OK, 6'8 Kei Madison from Okaloosa-Walton (JC) FL, 6'3 Eddie Shelby from Dixie (JC) UT, 6'4 Melvin Steward from Eastern New Mexico (JC) NM, 6'6 Joseph Ward from Ft. Hayes State (JC) KS, 6'8 Omar Weaver from Riverside JC) CA, and 6'8 Qyntel Woods from Northeast Mississippi (JC) MS - and five high school and/or 5th year players - 6'10 DeAngelo Collins from Inglewood (H.S.) CA, 6'6 Lenny Cooke from Flint (Central) MI, 7'2 Giedrius Rinkevicius from Bridgton (Academy) ME, 6'6 Brandon Roy from Seattle (Garfield) WA, 6'10 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL.  39+10+5=54, not 55.  The list of international players who have applied for early entry into NBA Draft 2002 includes 6'2 Jose Manuel Caldron from Fuenlabrad (Spain), 6'7 Boris Diaw from Pau Orthez (France), 6'11 Peter Fehse from SV Halle (Germany), 7'0 Andreas Gliniadakis from Panellinios (Greece), 6'9 Maybyner "Nene" Hilario from Vasco da Gama (Brazil), 6'2 Hakan Koseoglu from Darussafaka (Turkey), 6'11 Nenad Krstic from Partizan (Yugoslavia), 6'11 Zaur Pachulia from Ukler (Turkey), 6'10 Miljan Pupovic from Hemofarm Vrsac (Yugoslavia), 6'8 Mladen Sekularac from FMP Zeleznik (Yugoslavia), 6'8 Christos Tapoutos from AEK Athens (Greece), 6'11 Nikoloz Tskitishvili from Benetton Treviso (Italy), 6'6 Anderson Varejao from F.C. Barcelona (Spain), and 6'11 Agron Xiarchos from Peristeri (Greece).  We have no idea about most of the international players, but we have identified in red the college and high school players whose chances are slim and none of getting drafted in the first round.  In other words, we're talking about half of the 54 players on the list.  We also have identified in blue the 18 college and high school players who we think will go in the first round.  Add 7'5 Yao Ming from China, four college seniors - 7'1 Chris Marcus from Western Kentucky, 6'9 Tayshaun Prince from Kentucky, 6'0 Dan Dickau from Gonzaga, and 6'10 Melvin Ely from Fresno State, all of whom are expected to be first round picks, and five probable international players to the equation and we have accounted for all 28 available first round picks.  Players who have applied for early entry have the right to withdraw their names from consideration for the Draft by notifying the NBA of their decision in writing no later than Wednesday, June 19th.  That is one week prior to the NBA Draft, which will be held on Wednesday, June 26th, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. 

Thursday, May 16, 2002

Roy Schmidt of the Illinois Bulls-eye Report has the scoop on 6'6 Soph Shaun Livington from Peoria (Richwoods) IL, who will be ranked #7 on our list of the top sophomores nationally, which probably will be published this weekend.  No, Livington hasn't made an early verbal commitment to the University of Illinois.  Instead, he is transferring high schools and, as a result, will be at Peoria (Central) IL next year.  So will 6'1 Soph Brandon Lee, who also is transferring from Peoria (Manual) IL, and 5'11 Jr Dan Ruffin, who already is at Peoria (Central) IL.  In other words, Peoria Central should be one of the powerhouse teams in the the state next year.  Schmidt also tells us that Southern Illinois has signed 6'10 Levi Jones from Minneapolis (JC) MN, but there is still no word on what the new coaching staff at DePaul is doing.  One thing we do know is that 6'8 Marcus White from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, who has been given his release to transfer to another school, plans to visit Miami-FL, Seton Hall, and Texas A&M, plus Indiana, UCLA, and Houston are also being mentioned.  Houston is especially interesting, because that's where former DePaul assistant coach Tracy Didly is rumored to be heading.   However, it doesn't make much sense, because White would have to sit out two years, instead of just one, if he picks the Cougars.  Remember, most schools won't give you a release to transfer to another school within the same conference and that appears to be the case here.  We also find it kind of ironic that former DePaul athletic director Bill Bradshaw, who hired Dave Leitao, recently was fired and rumored to be the next athletic director at Temple.  However, the the official party line from Temple is one of denial.  Also announcing they are leaving recently were three players from Marquette.  Ron Howard has already announced he's transferring to Valparaiso, Kevin Menard appears to be heading to Carthage, which is a Division III powerhouse, and Odartey Blankson wants to transfer to a school in the ACC or the Big-10.  The official list for 6'4 Jr Shannon Brown from Maywood (Proviso East) IL includes Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Cincinnati, but Schmidt believes the co-favorites are the Fighting Illini and the Bearcats.  Schmidt also tells us that he thinks Illinois, Cincinnati, Tennessee, and Memphis are the favorites for 6'4 Jr Richard McBride from Springfield (Lanphier) IL. "Don't rule out Memphis," says Schmidt. "They're the school nobody seems to talk about, but believe me they're in there,."  This is especially interesting, because our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin also got a list from McBride recently and neither Memphis nor Cincinnati were mentioned.  Instead, McBride said he liked Illinois, Maryland, Oklahoma, Louisville, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgetown.  

We've been hearing the rumor since January, but our Kentucky editor Larry Kihnley thinks it's almost a done deal.   We're talking about 6'8 Jr Robbie Simpson from Louisville (Seneca) KY transferring to Louisville (Eastern) KY and, if that happens, a lot of people will be missing the boat if Eastern isn't playing in a number of major national tournaments next winter.  Remember, 6'6 Jr David Cornwell from Louisville (Eastern) KY, who is one of the top juniors in the state, transferred from Louisville (Ballard) KY to Eastern in January and 5'10 Soph Rajon Rando from Louisville (Eastern) KY is the #1 ranked sophomore in the state, ahead of Simpson and 6'10 Soph Terrance Farley from Louisville (Eastern) KY.   Speaking of the top holiday tournaments in the nation, we talked with Donnie Wilkie of the City of Palms Classic and John Rhodes of the Beach Ball Classic today and got a sneak preview of who we're going to get to see in December.  Rhodes tells us the entire field is already set for the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, SC, December 26th-30th, and, as usual, it looks like it's going to be outstanding.  It also appears to be top heavy with teams from the Northern Eastern part of the country, as Rochester (McQuad Jesuit) NY, Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, Middle Village (Chris the King) NY, Ramsey (Don Bosco) NJ, West Orange (Seton Hall Prep) NJ, Philadelphia (St. John Neumann) PA, and Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA will make up almost half of the field.  There also will be five in-state teams in Myrtle Beach (H.S.) SC, Myrtle Beach (Socastee) SC, North Augusta (H.S.) SC, St. Matthews (Calhoun County) SC, and rounding out the 16-team field will be Florence (Wilson) SC and Cleveland (St. Joseph) OH, Georgetown (Scott County) KY, Denham Springs (H.S.) LA, and Memphis White (Station) TN.  The field for the City of Palms Classic, which in recent years has been the top hot spot in the nation the week before Christmas to see the most talent, might be Wilkie's best effort to-date, although he is still deciding upon who he wants for the final spot.  The 15-teams that are in the field include Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, New York (Rice) NY, Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA, Fairburn (Creekside) GA, Monroe (Ouchita Parish) LA, Corbin (H.S.) KY, Miami (Christian) FL, Miami (Northwestern) FL, Jacksonville (Andrew Jackson) FL, Pahokee (H.S.) FL, Ft. Myers (H.S.) FL, and Ft. Myers (Lehigh) FL.  Just around the corner is the World Junior National Tournament in Douai, France this weekend and when the United States team tips off against Belgium on Friday night, they will be going to war with 6'5 DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) OK,  6'7 Marquis Hayden from Oklahoma City (Putnam City) OK, 6'10 Soph Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'2 Louis Hinnant from Brandywine (Gwynn Park) MD, 6'1 Soph Tony Douglas from Jonesboro (H.S.) GA, 6'8 Jr Warren Scott from New Orleans (Abramson) LA, 7'0 Justin Herndon from Nashville (Donelson) TN, 6'7 Jr Andrew Robinson from Thomasville (H.S.) GA, 6'0 Soph Steve Hardy from Temple Hills (Crossland) MD, and 6'3 Jr Ronald McDowell from Largo (H.S.) MD. 

New York Knicks scout Mike Malone, who previously was an assistant coach for Bobby Gonzalez at Manhattan College, was thought to be in line to replace Tommy Herrion, who recently took the head coaching job at College of the Charleston, at the University of Virginia.   However, now we're hearing that Malone wants to stay put.  Instead, we think Cavaliers head coach Pete Gillen should go hard after another New York guy - Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY head coach Gary DeCesare.  Not only is DeCesare widely regarded as one of the top high school coaches in the nation, but he has a penchant for detail, organization, and networking, plus he has all of his adidas, Five-Star, and Eastern Invitational contacts and he's close friends with Gonzalez, who used to be Gillen's top assistant at both Providence and Virginia.  Making the story even more interesting is the fact that Gonzalez is frequently compared to Rick Pitino when he was a young up-and-coming coach in the business and this would give Gonzalez the perfect opportunity to see if he's as good as Pitino at moving his guys up the coaching ladder.  Remember, DeCesare helped deliver Majestic Mapp when Gonzalez was at Virginia.  Speaking of Manhattan, did you know that 6'8 Okty Yilmaz from Turkey has signed with Jaspers and, as a result, Manhattan's four-man recruiting class, which also includes 6'5 Mike Konovelchick from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 5'10 Jason Wingate from New York (Rice) NY, and 5'8 Kenny Minor from Winchendon (School) MA moves into a tie at #61, along with Kent State and Seton Hall, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.   And, if we counted transfers with recruiting classes (we don't), Manhattan's recruiting class would move into a tie at #41, along with Vanderbilt and Wisconsin.  Remember, Peter Mulligan recently announced he was transferring from Maryland-Baltimore County to Manhattan and, ironically, Mulligan played high school basketball for DeCesare at Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY.  This means that the Jaspers are out of scholarships, which is lucky break for a lot of college recruiters.  If you will recall, J.C. Mathis announced yesterday that he's leaving Virginia, so, instead of Manhattan (he's originally from the Bronx), the smart money might be on Mathis transferring to the College of Charleston to play for the guy who recruited him to Virginia in the first place (Tommy Herrion).  We also have heard that Iona head coach Jeff Ruland may resign and take an assistant coaching job with the Phoenix Suns.  Apparently Ruland and new Phoenix Suns head coach Frank Johnson are extremely close friends.  And, if this should happen, several good candidates for the job would be Tony Chiles, who is currently an assistant coach at Iona; former Long Beach State head coach Wayne Morgan, who would love to return to the East Coast as a head coach; and Providence assistant coach Steve DeMeo, who was previously an assistant coach at Iona and a native New Yorker.  And if that happens, don't be surprised if DeMeo hires Bayside (Cardozo) NY head coach Ron Naclerio as an assistant.  Did you know that DeMeo played high school basketball for Naclerio at Cardozo and they are still extremely close friends, despite the fact Naclerio hasn't sent one of his players to Providence?

Wednesday, May 15, 2002

Everybody thinks that 6'3 Rashaad Carruth, who is transferring from the University of Kentucky, is bound for the University of Memphis, but don't be surprised if Carruth shocks everybody the same way he did two years ago when he signed with the Wildcats and, instead, picks the University of Oklahoma.   As a matter of fact, he is expected to visit Norman, OK this weekend and, our guess is that he will sign with Sooners sometime next week.  Transfers don't count when ranking recruiting class, but, assuming that Carruth does indeed pick Oklahoma, and, if we did count transfers, the Sooners recruiting class would move up from #43 to #17 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  Carruth also would put Oklahoma's class right up there among the top seven, along with Duke, North Carolina, Maryland, Villanova, Florida, and Arizona, in terms of who signed the best three recruits.  Remember, the Sooners landed 6'5 DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, who is ranked #33 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, last fall and 6'8 Kevin Bookout from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, who is ranked #33 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, this spring.  Carruth, who was a McDonald's All-American a year ago, is a great outside shooter, and, as a result, a perfect fit for the Sooners who lose their top three wing players either this year or next year.  Carruth also could be the player to be named later in the 6'6 Kelenna Azubuike from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK trade.  Actually we're just kidding about that, but it is kind of ironic that Carruth appears to be bound for Oklahoma and Azubuike, who verbally committed to the Sooners last fall, but later reneged, signed with Kentucky this spring.  And the University of Oklahoma isn't the only school in that state that has cleaned up in recruiting this year.  If you will recall, we already have Oklahoma State's recruiting class, which includes 6'2 Janovey Weatherspoon from Odessa (JC) TX, 6'4 Tony Allen from Wabash Valley (JC) IL, 6'9 Mory Correa from Pratt County (JC) KS, 6'6 Onyekachi Ibekwe from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, 6'0 Julian Richardson from Miami (Pace) FL, and 6'1 Ross Derogtias from Mansfield (H.S.) TX, ranked #7 nationally on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  Well, over the weekend Greg Swaim of GregSwaim.com told us that the Cowboys also have picked up a pair of transfers in 6'7 Joey Graham and 6'6 Steve Graham, both of whom are leaving Central Florida, because they are good enough to play at a higher level.  The Graham's, who picked the Cowboys over Oklahoma, Florida, and South Florida, would move Oklahoma State's recruiting class up #2 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date, if we counted transfers when ranking recruiting classes.  When one also recalls that the Cowboys had the #1 ranked recruiting class by the HOOP SCOOP two years ago, it is easy to see why Oklahoma State assistant coach Sean Sutton is quickly climbing the ladder on our list of the top assistant coaches in the nation.  If you will recall, Sutton was ranked #23 on that list in February and since that time four assistant coaches (Jay John to Oregon State, Neil Dougherty to Texas Christian, Dave Leitao to DePaul, and John Pelphrey to South Alabama) have moved onto become head coaches.  In other words, by the time Cowboys head coach Eddie Sutton retires, his son and top assistant coach will be one of the top five assistant coaches in the game and, as a result, in a perfect position to get the head coaching job at Oklahoma State.  We also have confirmed that Duane John is transferring from Missouri.   It's probably too early for a list of schools, but we do know that Syracuse came close to getting John the first time.  We also have confirmed that Iowa has landed 6'8 Doug Thomas from Creedmore (Faith Christian) NC and that moves the Hawkeyes recruiting class, which also includes 6'7 Greg Brunner from Charles City (H.S.) IA, 6'2 Jeff Horner from Mason City (H.S.) IA, and 6'6 Josh Rhodes from Santa Cruz (H.S.) CA, up from #32 to #19 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  Thomas also gives Hawkeyes head coach Steve Alford something he currently doesn't have in the program, which is an incredible athlete at the power forward position.  The only question now is whether Thomas will make it academically or have to sit out next year as a partial qualifier. 

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that La Salle has signed it's third recruit.  No, we're not talking about 6'7 David Bell from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, who is also leaning in that direction.  Instead, the player that Explorers head coach Billy Hahn has landed is 6'10 Lewis Fadipe from Creedmore (Faith Christian) NC.  Rubin also tells us that West Virginia had signed 5'11 Jarmon Collins from Troy (Redemption) NY and 6'6 Johannes Herber from Germany, plus he informs us that the commitment the previous regime had from 6'11 Jabbar Young from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) MD is not going to hold up.   Apparently West Virginia is going to give him his release, but we're not sure it matters, because we had been under the impression that Young wasn't going to make it academically anyway and, as a result, would end up in a junior college or prep school next year.  Rubin also tells us that Missouri-Kansas City has signed 6'8 James Williams from Eastern Oklahoma (JC) OK and, as a result, it looks like the Kangaroos are on the verge of the best recruiting class in the league behind Valparaiso.  If you will recall, Missouri-Kansas City landed 6'2 Charlie McDonald from St. Joseph (Lafayette) MO last fall and the signed two more good junior college players this spring in 6'8 Jeff Dramble from Southeast Nebraska (JC) NE and 6'1 Brandon Temple from SW Missouri-West Plains (JC) MO.  We also have taken the inquiry sign down regarding 6'7 Lavar Carter from Louisville (Male) KY going to Marshall and 6'3 Keion Kindred from Compton (Dominguez) CA going to UTEP.  In both cases there was a question earlier about whether they wanted out of their National Letter-of-Intent, but now it looks like their original commitments are going to hold up.  Speaking of the Thundering Herd, we think Greg White is one of the bright up-and-coming head coaches in the business and he has the talent in the program to back that up.  If you will recall, Ronald Blackshear was terrific for Marshall after he became eligible second semester last year and Ronny Dawn has the talent and potential to become one of the top players in the Mid-American Conference before he's though, plus they had A.W. Hamilton, who transferred from Wake Forest, and David Anderson, who transferred from Oklahoma State, sitting out last year.  When you also add Carter and Marshall's other three recruits - 6'6 Robert Strickland from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, 6'9 Renardo Dixon from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, and Mark Patton from Cabel Midland (H.S.) WV - into the equation, it is easy to see why we think this could be a dangerous team down the road.   We also have confirmed that 6'1 Earl Calloway from Atlanta (Westside) GA has signed with New Mexico State and it looks like 6'6 Brandon Polk from Wichita (North) KS and 6'9 Taj Gray from Wichita (East) KS are both heading to Redlands (JC) OK.  We also have learned that 6'8 Andy Freund from Wauwatosa (East) WI is walking-on at Marquette.  What a steal!  We're talking about a blue collar white kid who can score inside, is tough on the boards, and is ranked #175 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  Add Freud to a recruiting class that also includes 6'9 Steve Novak from Brown Deer (H.S.) WI, 6'4 Joe Chapman from Chicago Heights (Bloom Township) IL, 6'10 Chris Grimm from Brighton (H.S.) MI, and 5'11 Karon Bradley from Houston (Cypress Springs) TX and now you know why Marquette's recruiting class now checks in at #37 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.   Even more important, with all this good young talent in the program, the Golden Eagles may be even better than they were last year when they were one of the surprise teams in college basketball.  We also have confirmed that Mt. St. Mary's has landed 6'8 Kiel Butler from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, Penn State has gotten 6'8 Aaron Johnson from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, Maryland-Baltimore County has signed 6'6 John Zito from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, and the College of Charleston has gotten one of the biggest steals of the entire spring.  We're talking about 6'7 Isaiah "Zeke" Johnson, who is originally from Baltimore (Southern) MD, but has also had stops at Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, the University of New Mexico, and now Palm Beach (JC) FL.  Johnson has big time athleticism and talent, plus he can play either forward spot, which means he should provide the perfect complement to 6'4 Marcus Johnson from Tallahassee (JC) FL.  If you will recall, Johnson, who was one of the top 3-point shooters in the junor college last year, signed with College of Charleston last week.  If new Cougars head coach Tommy Herrion also lands 6'4 Mike Cook from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA, which we think is a distinct possibility, then the College of Charleston's recruiting class would move up to #70 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  In other words, with only a little over a month on the job, Herrion has already landed the eqivalent of two top 100 players (Johnson and Johnson) and one of the top five unsigned players (Cook) nationally could also soon be in the fold. 

Tuesday, May 14, 2002

Steve Keller tells us that the Hoop Group-Bob Gibbons Southern Invitational over the weekend was one not only loaded, but it had several interesting twists, like one of NIKE's elite programs (Boo Williams) squaring off against one of adidas' elite programs (Tim Thomas Playaz) in the championship game.  Boo Williams jumped out to a 20-1 lead early, as they hit their first 10 shots, 6'3 Jr J.R. Reynolds form Roanoke (Catholic) VA, 6'9 Jr Darian Townes from Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC, and 6'3 Soph Marques Cooke from Sulfolk (Nansmooth River) VA all lived up to their national reputations, and the perennial power from the Hampton Roads area coasted to a 80-66 victory in the title game.  However, the tournament MVP and a major reason why Boo Williams won the Southern Invitational for the third consecutive year was emergence of 6'2 Mario Taybron from Dyke (Blue Ridge School) VA, who is was one of the best kept secrets in the nation.  The best player in the tournament was 6'7 Jr Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, who already is ranked #3 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  But that's too low, according to Keller.  "I was in Houston two weeks ago and I saw Ndudi Ebi," says Keller.  "Deng is better and it's not even close!   He was unbelievable.  He not only put on a show, but he played a lot better than I've ever seen LeBron James play.  I'm not saying Deng is better than James, but there is no question in my mind that Deng is the #2 player in the junior class."  Also really impressing Keller were a number of other players from New Jersey, including 6'7 Jr Terrance Roberts from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ and 6'2 Jr Michael Nardi from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ.   "Nardi dominated at the point guard spot," says Keller.  He's back, he's healthy, and, as you would say, Clark, he's the best white point guard in America." Keller also was very impressed with 5'11 Gary Ervin from Brooklyn (Paul Roberson) NY and he tells us that Ervin is heading to Fitchburg (Notre Dame Prep) MA and not Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, which is what we'd previously reported.   Keller also really liked several other players in addition to Tayborn who likely will be going the prep school route next year.  We're talking about 6'2 Tyler Smith and 6'7 Richard Dorsey.  They both are from Baltimore (Frederick Douglas) MD, but next year they will be 5th year players at Colora (West Nottingham Prep) MD.  "Smith is better than Ervin right now," says Keller.   And Ervin is ranked #84 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, so that makes Smith a high major player!  Keller also thinks Dorsey is a top 100 player, plus he tells us that Tayborn is also in that range.  However, our senior rankings are done and we have plenty of time to see just how good all three of these players are during the next 12 months.  In other words, we're going to leave them off our list of the top 400 seniors, but we do so with the above footnote.  For the results of the tournament and the all-tournament team, click on www.hoopgroup.com.

The number of players who are still available on our list of the top 400 players in the Class 2002 contiunes to dwindle, as commitments and signings that had previously slipped through the cracks are now finding their way onto our list of the Recent Signings & Commitments.  Like 6'3 Chase Griffin from Redmond (Eastlake) WA becoming Pepperdine's 5th and final recruit.  If you will recall, last fall Pepperdine landed 6'10 Derrick Grubb from Colleyville (Heritage) TX and 6'8 Cody Horning from Longmont (H.S.) CO and this spring they signed 6'9 David Patten from from Placentia (El Dorado) CA and 6'4 Marvin Lee from Riverside (Martin Luther King) CA.  None of these players are ranked among our top 100 in the senior class nationally, but Grubb, Griffin, Patten, and Horning are all listed in the 101-300 range and, as a result, it should come as no surprise that Peppperdine's recruiting class moves up to #56 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  Like 6'2 Terry Pettis from Minneapolis (Patrick Henry) MN signing with Fresno State, which gives new Bulldogs head coach Ray Lopes two excellent additions this spring.   Fresno State also recently signed 6'6 Reggie Butler from Long Beach (Poly) CA.  Like 6'7 Adrian Hill from Canton (McKinley) OH, who has signed with Oakland.  He joins 6'8 Shawn Hopes from Detroit (Cass Tech) MI to give this Mid-Continent Conference team a pair of recruits who are ranked in the 300-400 range nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  Like Vanderbilt, which has signed 6'3 Adam Payton from Lawrenceville (Prep) NJ, who is ranked #370 in the senior class nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  However, our guess is that Payton may turn out to better than that, because Commodores assistant coach Jeff Jackson is one of the most astute evaluators of talent in the business.   This also moves Vanderbilt's recruiting class, which also includes 5'11 Mario Moore from Nashville (Antioch) TN, 6'11 Ted Skuchas from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA, 6'6 Bryson Kruger from Gilbert (Mesquite) TN, and 6'9 Julian Terrell from Antioch (Ezell Harding Christian) TN, up from #48 to #40 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  Like 6'7 Corey Rouse from Kinston (H.S.) NC, who has made it official for East Carolina, 6'2 Mike Parker from Hartford (Northwest Catholic) CT, who signed with Sacred Heart, and 6'2 James Parker from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA, who is a great catch for Assumption.  We also have confirmed that 6'1 David Gale from Sherman Oaks (Buckley) CA will attend prep school at Wolfeboro (Brewester Academy) CA and we are anticipating that 6'6 Nick George from Rockville (Montrose Christian) VA will sign with Virginia Commonwealth.  We also understand that 6'6 Tim Mayes from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX, who originally committed to UNC-Wilmington last fall, is following the Jerry Wainwright and his staff to the University of Richmond.  Not only is this a testament to Wainwright's coaching ability, but also to the outstanding job that assistant coach Rod Terry does building a rapport with the players he signs.  The University of Houston lost out on getting 6'4 Lamar Hurd from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX, who signed with Oregon State last night, but the Cougars have gotten an early commitment from 6'5 Jr Parker Pinkalla from Houston (Strake Jesuit) TX.  Pinkalla is not a great player, but Pinkalla promises to be an excellent role player who can shoot the lights out.  Last night our New York City Ron Naclerio told us that Arkansas was on the verge of getting 6'2 Eric Ferguson from Milford (Academy) CT.  Well, it happened to today, according to our Mid-South Editor Jim Rothman. 

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that La Salle appears to be the leader over Miami-FL, Providence, and Massachusetts for 6'7 David Bell from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, who is ranked #9 nationally on our 5th Year List and is the highest ranked 5th year player still available, assuming that 6'6 Leonard Cooke from Old Tappan (North Valley Regional) NJ enters his name into the NBA Draft and 6'11 Martin Iti from Winchendon (School) MA returns to prep school next fall.  And if this happens, La Salle's recruiting class, which also includes 6'3 Gary Neal from Towson (Calvert Hall) MD and 6'2 Jermaine Thomas from Frederick (Thomas Johnson) MD, would move up to #55 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.   Rubin also has a list for 6'4 Mike Cook from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA, who is ranked #198 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP and is one of the top five unsigned players still available, assuming that all the players ranked ahead of him, who are supposed to go to the NBA, junior college, and prep school, do as expected.  In other words, Cook would be a great catch for Providence, College of Charleston, or East Carolina.  Rubin also has a list of schools for some of the top juniors in his area, including 6'9 Jr Jason Cain from Philadelphia (Bartram) PA, 6'11 Jr Aaron Gray from Emmaus (H.S.) PA, and 6'6 Jr  Arnaud Dahi from Burlington (Life Center) NJ, as well as some national players he's seen recently at events, like 6'3 Jr Richard McBride from Springfield (Lanphier) IL, 6'4 Jr Mike Jones from Braintree (Thayer Academy) MA, 6'8 Jr Donte Milligan from Pauling (Trinity-Pauling) NY, 6'10 Jr Major Wingate from Florence (Wilson) SC, 6'6 Soph Shawn Livingston from Peoria (Richwoods) IL.  Pennsylvania, Villanova, East Carolina, and La Salle appear to be the favorites for Cain.  Gray is getting the most attention from Temple, Connecticut, Rutgers, Maryland, St. Joseph's, Providence, West Virginia, and Florida State.  Dahi likes Missouri, Connecticut, Memphis, Syracuse, Marquette, Villanova, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Colorado, La Salle, St. Joseph's, and Texas.  Illinois is the favorite for McBride, but he also has Maryland, Oklahoma, Louisville, Tennessee, Georgetown, and Cincinnati on his list.  Jones has the most interest in Maryland, Connecticut, Boston College, North Carolina, and Virginia.   Milligan is a 4th year junior, which means he'll be a 5th year player next year.   However, Milligan is good enough to serious attract interest from schools like Providence, Maryland, Connecticut, Georgia Tech, Virginia, and Stanford.  And that list will probably get longer before it gets shorter, because Milligan has a lot of talent, but is not that highly touted yet.  Wingate mentions Villanova, North Carolina, Florida, South Carolina, and Alabama.  Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Iowa, Michigan State, Arizona, Kentucky, and Indiana appear to be the early favorites for Livingston.

Monday, May 13, 2002

Last Thursday we published our final ranking of the top 200 players in the Class 2002, but since that time we've made some minor changes, plus we've added another 200 names to the list.  This is important because it gives us a guide to work with when we start finalizing our rankings of the top recruiting classes at the end of the month.  It also allows gives us a pretty good idea right now of just how few players are left unsigned and/or uncommitted in the senior class nationally.  If you exclude 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL and 6'10 DeAngelo Collins from Inglewood (H.S.) CA, both of whom have already entered their names into the NBA Draft, and 6'9 Sani Ibrahim from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who is expected to enter his name into the NBA Draft, the highest ranked played who is still available is 6'5 Antonio Lawrence from Fresno (Joaquin Memorial) CA.  Also ranked among our top 100 nationally and still available are 6'7 Marcus White from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, who signed with the Blue Demons last fall, but recently has reneged on his commitment; 6'4 Lamar Hurd from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX, who should decide soon from a list that includes Arkansas, Oregon State, and Houston; and 5'11 Gary Ervin from Brooklyn (Paul Roberson) NY and 6'3 Quincy Douby from Brooklyn (Grady) NY, both of whom are expected to attend prep school at Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT next year.  Also expected to go the prep school route are four players - 6'2 Greg Brown from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI, 6'5 Marquis Kately from San Francisco (Riordan) CA, 6'5 Elijah Clark from Brooklyn (Grady) NY, 6'4 Louis Rodriques from Miami (Shores Christian) FL - who are ranked among our second 100, plus 6'3 Curtis Stinson from Winchendon (School) MA and 6'3 Kevin Nelson from Milford (Academy) CT, both of whom are listed as seniors, are supposed to return to prep school for another year.  We also expect 6'6 Elliott Poole from Chicago (Farragut) IL to go the junior college route, which means that 6'8 Andy Freud from Wauwatosa (East) WI, 6'3 Darnell Hopkins from Towson (Catholic) MD, and 6'5 Michael Cook from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA are the only three players ranked among our second 100 who are still available.  We also have not heard anything yet with regards to  6'6 Nick George from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'3 Chase Griffin from Redmond (Eastlake) WA, 6'7 Chudi Chinwezwe from Sugar Land (Hightower) TX, 6'1 Lamar Searight from Pontiac (Central) MI, 6'8 Grant Assink from Lynden (H.S.) WA, and 6'2 Terry Pettis from Minneapolis (Patrick Henry) MN, all of whom are ranked in the 201-300 range, making a decision.  Also still available in the 201-300 range are 6'3 Keion Kindred from Compton (Dominguez) CA, who has reneged on UTEP, and 6'7 Lavar Carter from Louisville (Male) KY, who wants out of his National Letter-of-Intent with Marshall.  In other words, there are 21 players who ranked among our top 300 nationally with a destination for which we have yet to account.  Fourteen are still listed as available, six are expected to go to prep school, and one is expected to go to junior college.  However, there are a lot of players still available in the 301-400 range, including 6'9 Taj Gray from Wichita (East) KS, 6'1 Antonio Chatman from Charlestown (H.S.) MA, 6'8 Shakiem Mitchell from Brooklyn (Paul Roberson) NY, 6'1 Antwan Alexander from Indianapolis (Arlington) IN, 5'11 Darrel Mitchell from St. Martinsville (H.S.) LA, 6'6 Brandon Polk from Wichita (North) KS, 6'6 Matt Mahorn from Manchester (H.S.) CT, 5'10 Jason McKinney from Inglewood (H.S.) CA, 6'8 Jason McGriff from Palm Bay (Bayside) FL, 6'2 Robert McClain from Waterbury (Sacred Heart) CT, 6'7 Quentin Gonzales from Galveston (Ball) TX, 6'5 Mike Williams from Tampa (Plant) FL, 6'5 Keith Everage from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA , 6'7 Adrian Hill from Canton (McKinley) OH, 6'5 Issian Redding from Sandusky (H.S.) OH, 6'1 Michael Ford from Macon (Northeast) GA, 6'3 Tommy Baker from Millville (H.S.) NJ, 6'2 Mike Parker from Hartford (Northwest Catholic) CT, 6'7 Corey Rouse from Kinston (H.S.) NC, 6'1 Anthony Drejaj from West Orange (Seton Hall Prep) NJ, 6'5 Anthony Paez from Ft. Myers (Lehigh) FL, 6'5 Amadou Fall from Brooklyn (Boys & Girls) NY, 6'5 Even Patterson from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'3 Belton Rivers from Atlanta (Douglass) GA, 6'1 Troy Hailey from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'8 Tim Stoops from Ames (H.S.) IA, 6'3 Adam Payton from Lawrenceville (Prep) NJ, 6'5 Shaddean Aaron from Claremont (H.S.) CA, 6'1 Earl Miller from Hockessin (Sanford) DE, 6'3 Rian Powell from Warrenville Heights (H.S.) OH, 6'8 Ryan Meiller from Lakewood (Artesia) CA, 6'3 Wade Dunston fropm Potomac (The Bullis School) MD, 6'1 Earl Calloway from Atlanta (Westside) GA, 6'3 Steve Vinson from Lawrence (H.S.) KS, 6'4 Mike Strawberry from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'2 James Parker from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA, and Marion Pompey from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX.   Editor's Note:  Late this evening we received confirmation that 6'4 Lamar Hurd from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX, who is ranked #90 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, has signed with Oregon State.   This is significant, because this reduces the number of top 100 players available to four with two likely to go the prep school route.  It also is huge for the new coaching staff at Oregon State.  Not only does getting Hurd solve their point guard problems, but our guess is that this is a harbinger of things to come.  Remember, Beavers head coach Jay John was the #1-ranked assistant coach in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP in February and his top assistant coach Kevin Mouton, who previously was at Nebraska and Butler, is one of the top recruiters in the business.  In other words, don't be surprised if the Beavers win out in the Wesley Stokes sweepstakes as well.  If you will recall, Stokes is transferring from Missouri and Oregon State appears to be the top school on his list. 

Our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio was at the IS8 Playoffs in Jamaica, NY over the weekend and he tells us that 5'11 Soph Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY more than lived up to all the hype, as he scored 31 points, had eight assists, hit 5-10 3-pointers, including his first five from beyoind the arc, and led Brooklyn Bridge to a 107-93 victory over LPAC in the first game on Saturday morning.  Telfair was complemented by 6'6 Elijah Clark from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, who had 25 points, including 15 points in the first quarter, and 6'3 Jr Ramel Bradley from New York (Park West) NY with 23 points.   However, the leading scorer in the game was 6'6 Sam Mejia from Cornwall on the Hudson (Storm King Prep) NY, who led LPAC with 43 points, 14 rebounds, and eights assists.  In the second game The Long Island Panthers B Team missed 19 fouls shots and, as a result, fell behind 48-26 in the first half against Bedford YMCA.   However, the Panthers still managed to cut the lead to 73-70 with the 38 seconds left, before Bedford YMCA iced the game in the closing seconds and took home a 83-73 victory.  Bedford YMCA was led 6'3 Ben Utley from Brooklyn (Boys & Girls) NY, a 5th year senior who finished with 29 points, and 6'2 Shawn Wynn from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY, who finished 19 points.  The best player for the Panthers was 6'1 Soph Josh Wright from Utica (Proctor) NY, who finished with 14 points in a losing cause.  We reported on Friday that 5'7 Keydren Clark from New York (Rice) NY, who recently suffered a severely sprained ankle, would not play in the third game on Saturday.  However, Clark not only played, but he was tied as the leading scorer for Riverside Church, which knocked off Dyckman, 84-68.   Also matching Clark's 15 points for Riverside Church was 6'5 Allan Shepherd from New York (Randolph) NY, who recently signed with St. Francis- NY, while 6'1 Steve Burtt from New York (Rice) NY had 25 points and 6'10 Hilton Armstrong from Peekskill (H.S.) NY had 13 points and 15 rebounds for the losers.  In the final game on Saturday S.O.N.D.A.Y. Express beat the Gauchos, 84-59, thanks to the outside shooting of  6'4 John Winchester from Milford (Academy) CT, who finished with 23 points.  Also chipping in with 19 points and creating havoc defensively for S.O.N.D.A.Y. was 5'10 Jr Japhet McNeil from Middle Village (Christ the King) NY.  Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the day was 7'3 Jr Shagari Alleyne from New York (Rice) NY, who finished with only eight points for the Gauchos.  Instead, the best player and leading scorer for the losers was 6'8 Jr Adrian Joseph from Paramus (H.S.) NJ, who finished with 14 points.  In the first game on Sunday morning Rebel beat the Renaissance Warriors, 72-60, thanks to the efforts of 6'0 C.J. Okogeri from Bayside (H.S.) NY and 6'5 Amadou Fall from Brooklyn (Boys and Girls) NY, who combined for 31 points.  In the second game on Sunday 6'3 Sam Moise from Bronx (John F. Kennedy) NY had 21 points, Ventura (JC) CA-bound 6'2 Elijah Muldrow had 17 points, and 5'11 Marvin McCullough from Bronx (All Hallows) NY had nine points and 11 assists, as the Mustangs beat Rise Above, 65-55.  Chipping in 24 points for the losers was 6'5 Gary Jones from Brooklyn (Boys and Girls) NY.  The third game on Sunday was a 104-99 overtime thriller and, when it was all said and done, the Future Stars, which is Riverside Church's younger team, prevailed over the Queens Rim Rockers, thanks primarily to the efforts of 5'11 Gary Ervin from Brooklyn (Paul Roberson) NY and 6'3 Quincy Douby from Brooklyn (Grady) NY.  Erwin scored 34 of his 42 points in the second half and overtime, while Douby chipped in with 19 points.  The leading scorer with 21 points for Queen City Rim Rockers was 6'0 Jamar Wilson from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY.  In the final game on Sunday the Long Island Panthers A Team, which are the defending IS8 Champions, beat Real Scout, 87-81.  However, the game wasn't decided until last 15 seconds.  Real Scout was up 67-59 after three, but 6'8 Jason Fraser from Amityville (H.S.) NY, who had four blocks, and 6'9 Jr 6'9 Jr Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, who had 12 points, both stepped up big for the Panthers in 4th quarter.  Fraser finished with 26 points, 21 rebounds, and eight blocks for the game. Villanueva finished with 26 points, 6'6 Curtis Sumpter from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY had 18 points, and 6'1 Allan Ray from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY had 12 points.  The losers were led by 6'3 Curtis Stinson from Winchendon (School) MA with 26 points and much improved jump shot and 6'3 Donnie McGrath from Somers (John F. Kennedy) NY with 22 points. 

Saturday, May 11, 2002 and Sunday, May 12, 2002

I am really surprised by the feedback we've gotten from our "Question of the Day" from, Friday, May 10th, which asked whether we should include 5th year players with our nationally senior rankings or rank 5th year players separately.   Only 15% of those responding voted for ranking 5th year players separately versus 85% who voted for including them the seniors.  This is in direct contradiction to the feedback I get from most people when I ask them the very same question.  Our philosophy has been to provide you with a different way to look at players who have gotten an obvious advantage by attending an extra year of high school prior to entering college.   However, sometimes this does cause confusion.  As a matter of fact, I received several emails questioning the credibility of our rankings of the top players in the on Class 2002, which we published on Thursday, May 9th, because 6'9 Torin Francis from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA was missing from the list.  Well, Francis is technically a 5th year player.  Remember, the criteria we use is that once a player enters his 9th semester of high school, excluding summer school, he becomes a 5th year player.  And there are some players, like 6'6 Sam Mejia from Cornwall on the Hudson (Storm King Prep) NY and 6'11 Martin Iti from Winchendon (School) MA who are already in their 9th semester of high school, but who plan to return for a 6th year next year.  While the New England prep schools weren't quite as loaded this year as they have been in recent years, the number of quality 5th year players throughout the country is still truly amazing, as a dozen players - 6'6 Leonard Cooke from Old Tappan (North Valley Regional) NJ, Francis, 6'3 Jarrett Jack from Worcester (Academy) MA, 6'2 Marshall Strickland from Sykesville (South Carroll) MD, Mejia, 6'8 Mario Boggan from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, 6'7 Francisco Garcia from Winchendon (School) MA, Iti, 6'6 David Bell from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'4 John Winchester from Milford (Academy) CT, 6'4 Stanley Asumnu from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, and 6'9 Terry Licorish from Laurinburg (Institute) NC - are good enough to be ranked among the top 40 seniors nationally.  In other words, on our rating scale, which we use to determine the top recruiting classes, all of these players are worth at least eight points apiece.  If you will recall, a top five senior nationally is worth 10 points, a top 10 senior nationally is worth nine points, a senior in the 11-40 range nationally is worth eight points, a senior in the 41-70 range nationally is worth six points, a senior in the 71-100 range nationally is worth four points, a senior in the 101-300 range nationally is worth three points, a senior in the 300-1000 range nationally is worth two points, and anybody not ranked among the top 1000 players is worth only one point.  Junior college and prep school players are factored in accordingly as if they were seniors in high school today.  Digging a little deeper, 6'8 Almany Thiero from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC and 6'4 David Teague from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME both fall into the 41-70 range nationally and 6'6 Cortez Davis from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 6'1 Dan Oglesby from Hamden (Hamden Hall) CT, 6'4 Shawn Harris from Fork Union (Military) VA, 6'10 Larry Turner from North Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, 5'11 Darry Hill from Milford (Academy) CT, 6'4 Steve Leven from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 5'11 Terrance Whittier from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 6'5 Mike Konovelchik from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6'5 Vincent Grier from Raleigh (Bonner Academy) NC, 6'9 Omar Williams from Philadelphia (Celestial) PA, 6'2 Kenton Paulino from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'8 Clark Williams from Woodstock (Mount Olive Prep) GA, 6'8 Emmanuel Messy from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'10 Dakin Braddick from Raleigh (Bonner Academy) NC, 6'8 Luis Clemente from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, 6'6 Demario Eddin from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'0 Deonte Tatum from Creedmore (Faith Christian) NC, 7'0 Keith Butler from Philadelphia (Celestial Prep) PA, and 6'0 Todd Galloway from Middleburg (Notre Dame) VA all fall into the 71-100 range nationally.  In other words, there are 33 5th players who are the equivalent of a top 100 senior in high school or higher.  To get the complete list, click on 5th Year  & Prep School Rankings.

Friday, May 10, 2002

Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis is reporting that Oregon State appears to be the leader over Pepperdine, San Diego State, and Wyoming for Wesley Stokes, who is transferring from Missouri.  Trigonis also tells us that Long Beach State has no shot at getting Stokes, despite the fact he played high school basketball at Long Beach (Poly) CA.  As a matter of fact, 6'4 Cody Pearson, who is transferring from Long Beach State, may also be part of the package and it wouldn't surprise us if 6'8 Travon Bryant also follows in Stokes' footsteps.  If you will recall, two-and-a-half years ago Bryant told us that he would like to attend college with Stokes and, sure enough, seven months later Bryant signed with Missouri, which was the school that had already landed Stokes.  We also have confirmed that Oregon State is one of the finalists, along with Arkansas, for 6'4 Lamar Hurd from Cleveland (Heritage Christian) TX, who is ranked #90 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Obviously the Beavers need to get a quality point guard, but our guess is they will try and get both Stokes and Hurd.  Remember, Hurd also has the size and athleticism to play the 2-guard spot after Stokes becomes eligible a year from now.  Another program where they've gotten it done impressively this spring is Kansas State, which has landed 6'4 Jarrett Hart from Westark (JC) AR and 6'3 Tim Ellis from Southern Idaho (JC) ID.  If you will recall, Hart, who was ranked #53 nationally in the Class of 1999 by the HOOP SCOOP, was the 2-guard, along with Joe Johnson, on the great Little Rock (Central) AR team.  Hart not only was one of the best junior college players in the nation last season, but he also was one of the most skilled.  Ellis, who originally is from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA, impressed us so much when we saw him at the adidas Big Time Tournament in July of 1999 that we wrote, "Ellis might be the biggest sleeper in the nation....until today neither Brick Oettinger of the Recruiters Handbook nor myself had ever heard of this extremely talented two guard.  Ellis is a prototype wing guard who can shoot the lights out and take it to the hole against anybody.  As a matter of fact, he was so good this morning that Oettinger thinks he has twice as much potential as Michigan bound Jamal Crawford, who hails from the same school."  Add Hart and Ellis to the two players - 6'1Frank Richards from Olney Central (JC) IL and 6'7 Marques Hayden from Oklahoma City (Putnam City) OK - that Kansas State signed last fall and their recruting class moves up from #47 to #14, tied with Louisville, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date. Actually Kansas State signed three players last fall, but 6'9 Justin Johnson from Merrillville (H.S.) IN has been released from his National Letter-of-Intent and, instead, is heading to Saint Louis.   However, that hasn't stopped Kansas State from landing its second top 20 recruiting class in a row.  If you will recall, a year ago the Wildcats had the #19-ranked recruiting class by the HOOP SCOOP when they landed 6'9 Pervis Pasco from Pensacola (JC) FL, 6'6 Janerio Spurlock, 6'6, WF, Chipola (JC) FL, 6'4,Gilson DeJesus from Trinidad State (JC) CO, 6'4 Nick Williams from Mansfield (H.S.) TX, 6'6 Marcello DaBarrosa from Brazil, 6'9 Travis Canby from Fork Union (Military) VA, and 6'0 Marcus Hayes from Ovieda (H.S.) FL. Only time will tell whether Kansas State head coach Jim Woolridge will put all the pieces together like Kelvin Sampson did a year ago at Oklahoma, but there are some similarities.  Remember, last winter the Sooners were a team that had loaded up with a number of outstanding junior college players from the previous two recruiting classes, but weren't ranked among the top 20 college teams in most of the pre-season polls.

The second round of the IS8 Playoffs in Jamaica, NY tip-off tomorrow morning and our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio tells us that the amount of talent he'll be watching this weekend is absolutely incredible.   Let's start with the Brooklyn Bridge, which features 5'11 Soph Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, who is already well on his way towards becoming the best point guard ever from a city that is famous for producing great point guards; 6'9 Jr Chris Taft from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY; who is the #2-ranked junior in New York City by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'3 Jr Ramel Bradley from New York (Park West) NY; 6'6 Elijah Clark from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY; and 6'9 Skakeim Mitchell from Brooklyn (Paul Roberson) NY.  LPAC features 6'6 Sam Mejia from Cornwall on the Hudson (Storm King Prep) NY, who averaged 41 ppg during the IS8 regular season and holds the single game IS8 scoring record with 58 points, which he established in his team's last regular season game this year.  Mejia was a first team all-city selection a year ago as a high school senior at Bronx (Theodore Roosevelt) NY, but now he is a 5th year player at Storm King Prep.  However, this incredibly talented athlete who reminds Naclerio of Felipe Lopez, but with better skills, will return to prep school next year, which means college recruiters will get a chance to see just how good Mejia is this summer at places like the adidas ABCD Camp in Teaneck, NJ.  How good is Mejia?  Naclerio thinks he's really good!  As a matter of fact, during the last three years at IS8, Mejia has scored less than 30 points only twice.  Bedford YMCA has 6'2 Shawn Wynn from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY, who has signed with Boston University, and 6'3 Danny Green from Brooklyn (Poly Prep) NY, who has signed with Colgate.  The Long Island Panthers B Team, which is their younger team, has 6'8 Jr Lamont Hamilton from Milford (Academy) CT, who recently verbally committed to St. John's; 6'2 Jr Vic Fletcher from Milford (Academy) CT; 6'1 Soph Josh Wright from Utica (Proctor) NY; and 5'11 Soph Cameron Tyler from Bayside (Cardozo) NY, who is one of the top freshmen in the city.  Riverside Church has 5'10 Jason Wingate from New York (Rice) NY, who recently signed with Manhattan, and 6'3 Ricardo Soliver from Bronx (All Hallows) NY, who recently signed with Iona, but will be missing St. Peter's-bound 5'9 Keydren Clark from New York (Rice) NY, because he is sidelined with an injury.  Dyckman has 6'10 Hilton Armstrong from Peekskill (H.S.) NY, who signed with Connecticut; 5'10 Rashard Turner from Peekskill (H.S.) NY; and Iona-bound 6'1 Steve Burtt from New York (Rice) NY.  The Gauchos have 7'3 Shagari Alleyne from New York (Rice) NY, who is ranked #16 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'2 Soph Russell Robinson from New York (Rice) NY, who is the #2-ranked sophomore in New York by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'0 Soph Sundiata Gaines from Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, who is the #3-ranked sophomore in New York by the HOOP SCOOP; and 6'5 Frosh Shahee Martin from Paramus (Catholic) NJ, who is the best freshman in New Jersey.  S.O.N.D.A.Y. Express has Tennessee-bound 6'4 John Winchester from Milford (Academy) CT, 6'7 Jr Sean Banks from Oradell (Bergen Catholic) NJ, who is ranked #32 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'10 Eric Davis from Raleigh (Bonner Academy) NC, who signed with Seton Hall; 5'7 Jr Daon Merritt from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, who is the #3 ranked junior in New York City by the HOOP SCOOP; and the two excellent junior guards from Middle Village (Christ the King) NY - 6'2 Jr Mitchell Buford and 5'10 Jr Japhet McNeil.  The Rebels have 6'5 Amadou Fall, 5'11 Frosh Eugene Herring, and 6'2 Soph Carlos Collazo, all from Brooklyn (Boys & Girls) NY.  Rise Above features 6'5 Jason Richardson, who is a 5th year player from Brooklyn (Grady) NY.  The Mustangs have 6'3 Jr Louis McCloskey from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY; 6'2 Elijah Muldrow, who plans to enroll at Ventura (JC) CA in the fall; and 5'10 Marvin McCullough from Bronx (All Hallows) NY and 6'8 Kiril Wachsmann from Bronx (All Hallows) NY, both of whom signed with Iona last fall.  The Renaissance Warriors have 6'3 Jr Jermaine Thomas from New York (Norman Thomas) NY, 6'2 Vic Raspaldo from Bronx (John F. Kennedy) NY, and 6'3 Marcus Guitierrez from New York (Norman Thomas) NY.  The Future Stars, which are Riverside Church's younger team, includes 5'11 Gary Ervin from Brooklyn (Paul Roberson) NY, who is ranked #84 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'3 Quincy Douby from Brooklyn (Grady) NY, who is ranked #87 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'7 Derrick Character from Scotch Plains, NJ, who is ranked as the #1 8th grader in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'6 Jr Gary Forbes from Brooklyn (Banneker) NY, who is ranked #203 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, but who has improved so dramatically this spring that he needs to be ranked among the top 50 juniors in the nation; 6'1 Soph A.J. Price from Amityville (H.S.) NY, who is one of the top sophomore point guards in the nation; and 6'7 Frosh Terrell Biggs from Ramsey (Don Bosco Prep) NJ.  The Queens Rim Rockers have St. John's-bound 6'1 Elijah Ingram from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ; 6'6 Jr Oumar Sylla from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, who has already made an early commitment to Valparaiso; 6'9 Jr Konimba Diarra from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, 6'0 Jamar Wilson from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, who has signed with Albany; 6'8 Soph Juan Diego Tello Palacios from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY; and 6'8 Jr Regis Konunejjic from Laurinburg (Institute) NC.  The Long Island Panthers A Team features the same players - 6'8 Jason Fraser from Amityville (H.S.) NY, who is ranked #5 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'6 Curtis Sumpter from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY, who is ranked #36 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; 6'2 Taquan Dean from Neptune (H.S.) NJ, who is ranked #70 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'9 Jr Charlie Villanueva from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, who is ranked #21 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP - that won the championship at the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV and took home Team-of-the-Summer honors by the HOOP SCOOP last summer, plus they also have 6'1 Allan Ray from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, who is ranked #35 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Real Scout has 6'4 Randy Foye from Newark (East Side) NJ, who is ranked #51 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP; Providence-bound 6'3 Donnie McGrath from Sommers (John F. Kennedy) NY; 6'3 Curtis Stinson from Winchendon (School) MA, Holy Cross-bound 6'4 Kevin Hamilton from Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY; and 6'11 Martin Iti from Winchendon (School) MA, who is one of the top prep school players in the nation.  Also rumored to be attendance next week is 6'7 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary's) OH, who is the consensus #1-ranked player in the nation regardless of class.  However, Naclerio talked with Maverick Carter, who is James' best friend, within the last few days and the word is that James will not be returning to IS8 this spring.  If you will recall, James played at IS8 two weeks ago and he was a major disappointment, as he only scored two points on Saturday and 13 points on Sunday.   This is in sharp contrast to another top ranked import from the Midwest two years ago who more than lived up to his reputation with a 38-point game.  We're talking about 6'9 Darius Miles from East St. Louis (H.S.) IL.  The games begin at 9:30 AM Saturday morning with Brooklyn Bridge versus LPAC, followed by Bedford YMCA versus the Long Island Panthers B Team at 11:00 AM, Riverside Church versus Dyckman at 12:30 PM, and the Gauchos versus S.O.N.D.A.Y. Express at 2:00 PM.  The rest of the round of 16 will be played on Sunday begin at at 9:30 AM with the Rebels versus the Renaissance Warriors, followed by the Mustangs versus Rise Above at 11:00 AM, the Future Stars versus the Queens Rim Rockers at 12:30 PM, and the Long Island Panthers A Team versus Real Scout at 2:00 PM.  The winners will advance to the quarterfinals next Thursday and Friday with the Rebels-Renaisssance Warriors winner versus the Future Stars-Queens Rim Rockers winner at 6:30 PM and the Long Island Panthers A Team-Real Scout winner versus the Mustangs-Rise Above winner at 8:00 PM on Thursday night and the Riveside Church-Dyckman winner versus the Brooklyn Bridge-LPAC winner at 6:30 PM and the Long Island Panthers' Younger Team-Bedford YMCA winner versus the Gauchos-S.O.N.D.A.Y. Express winner at 8:00 PM on Friday.  The semi-finals will be held on a week from tomorrow on Saturday, May 18th, at 11:00 AM and 12:30 PM, and the championship will be on Sunday, May 19th, at 11:00 AM. 

Thursday, May 9, 2002

For the last week we've been compiling our final rankings of the Class of 2002 and today we are ready to publish our list of the top 200 seniors, which can be found by clicking on Class 2002.   Another 200 names will be added to the list over the weekend, but, as things stand now, our list includes the top 30 centers, top 45 power forwards, top 36 wing forwards, top 51 second guards, and top 38 point guards.  The fact that 6'7 Carmelo Anthony from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA is ranked as the #1 senior over 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL, 6'1 Raymond Felton from Latta (H.S.) SC, and 6'10 Chris Bosh from Dallas (Lincoln) TX should come as no surprise (we've had Anthony ranked #1 in the class since last July).   However, 6'8 Jason Fraser from Amityville (H.S.) NY being named the 5th player in our top five might be a surprise   If you will recall, Fraser was ranked no higher than #19 when we last updated our rankings of the top players in the Class of 2002, which was last August.  Also moving up considerably are 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN, 6'8 Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK, and 6'4 Rashad McCants from New Hampton (Prep) NH.  If you will recall, we had May ranked #6 as a junior, but we dropped him to #35 after a lousy spring and summer prior to his senior year.  However, now that he's in much better shape and watching him dominate in the Jordan Brand Capital Classic and play well in the McDonald's All-American Game, we think he's earn his old spot back.   Bookout wasn't named to the McDonald's All-American Team, but after watching him at the Slam Dunk to the Beach last December, I'm convinced that he's a lot better than 6'8 Brad Buckman from Austin (Westlake) TX and 6'9 Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC, both of whom were named to the McDonald's All-American Team.  Bookout, who moves up from #24 to #10 on our list, not only is a tremendous athlete and a force inside, but he is almost unstoppable when he goes to the basket with his excellent post moves and surprising mobility.  McCants, who was sensational in both the Jordan Brand Capital Classic and McDonald's All-American Game, has really improved his perimeter skills and outside shooting and, as a result, finally proved us wrong about being an undersized power forward who is trying to make a conversion to the wing forward spot.  So McCants moves up from #23 to #8 on our list.  Also making a dramatic swing since we've last updated our list is 6'9 Shelden Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, who was ranked #4 after a brilliant summer.   However, after watching Williams play five or six times during the winter, I was so disappointed that I didn't vote for Willliams on my final ballot for the McDonald's All-American Team.  As a matter of fact, each time I watched Midwest City play last winter, Williams' teammate 6'5 DeAngelo Alexander was the best player on the team.  However, Williams was sensational once again when we saw him in the Derby Classic a month ago.  So, instead of ranking Williams below Alexander, who checks in at #33 on our current list, we have Williams ranked back up among the top 10 players in the class.  Rounding out our top 10 is 6'4 J.J. Redick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA, who was the MVP for his team in the McDonald's All-American Game.  In other words, half of the players ranked among our top 10 nationally are either going to Duke (Williams and Redick) or North Carolina (Felton, May, and McCants).  And, if you go 11 deep, two more - Stoudemire and 6'9 DeAngelo Collins from Inglewood (H.S.) CA - have already announced they will by-pass college and enter their names into the NBA Draft in June.  Also landing a two players ranked among our top 25 were Connecticut with 6'5 Denham Brown from Toronto (Westhill) ON and 6'5 Rashad Anderson from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL, Syracuse with Anthony and 6'2 Gerry McNamara from Scranton (Bishop Hannan) PA, and Arizona with 6'3 Chris Rogers from Portland (Wilson) OR and 6'6 Andre Iguodala from Springfield (Lanphier) IL.  Indiana also would have been included in this list with 6'3 Bracey Wright from The Colony (H.S.) TX and 6'2 Marshall Strickland from Sykesville (South Carroll) MD, but Strickland is a 5th year player.  If you will recall, it is our editorial policy to rank 5th year players separaretly and, as a result, he will be ranked on our 5th year list, which also is due out this weekend, along with an updated list of the top players in the Class of 2003.

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

Our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis tells us that Wesley Stokes is transferring from the University of Missouri and his early list of schools includes San Diego State, Oregon State, and Long Beach State.  Trigonis also has the scoop on 6'6 Onyekachi Ibekwe from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, who is one of the best available unsigned players in the senior class nationally.  Ibekwe has signed with Oklahoma State and he moves their recruiting class, which also includes 6'2 Janovey Weatherspoon from Odessa (JC) TX, 6'4 Tony Allen from Wabash Valley (JC) IL, 6'9 Mory Correa, from Pratt County (JC) KS, 6'0 Julian Richardson from Miami (Pace) FL,  6'1 Ross Derogtias from Mansfield (H.S.) TX, up from #11 to #7 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  Ibekwe is an undersized power forward, but has good athleticism, a blue collar work ethic, and a younger brother, 6'8 Jr Ekene Ibekwe from Carson (H.S.) CA, who is ranked #68 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.   Whether this will help Oklahoma State get the younger Ibekwe next year is anybody's guess, but it can't hurt.  Roy Schmidt of the Illinois Bulls-eye Report tells us that 6'8 Marcus White from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL has asked for and been granted a release from DePaul, which means he will only have to sit out one year, instead of two, upon enrolling at another school.  White's early list of schools includes Saint Louis, Illinois, Missouri, and Houston.  Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that New Hampshire has picked up two more commitments from 6'5 Elijah Fields from Barton County (JC) KS and 6'4 Ioannis Karalis from Greece.  If you will recall, New Hampshire has already signed 6'4 Griffin Wallace from Coffeyville (JC) KS, 6'4 Brian Gibbs from Huntsville (H.S.) AL, and 5'10 Shejdie Childs from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA and, as a result, now has one of the top three recruiting classes in the America East Conference, along with Boston University and Northeastern.  Mitch Malone of the Texas Blue Chip Report tells us that 6'3 Jr Acie Law from Dallas (Kimball) TX verbally committed to Texas A&M last week and he thinks this is a major steal.  Not only can Law play either guard spot, but he reminds Malone of a poor man's Daniel Horton. "Law is not as strong nor as athletic as Horton," says Malone.  "But he's got the same type of game, plus he's four inches bigger."  Malone also is excited about 6'7 Dennis Howard from Ft. Worth (North Side) TX.  Seton Hall and Miami-FL already are showing interest, but Howard, who currently is a senior, needs a year of prep school first and, as a result, will play this summer for Malone's Texas Blue Chip team, which promises to be one of his best ever.  "Howard is a contact guy who can get to the basket and finish," says Malone.  "But he can also turn and face, so down the road he'll project as a wing forward."  Malone also has 6'7 Jr Andrew Francis from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX, who appears to be a priority for Arizona State and Baylor, and 6'6 Jr Michael Milton from Plano (H.S.) TX, who already appears to be a near lock for Stanford, at the wing spots and, of course, inside there is 6'11 Soph Lamarcus Aldridge from Dallas (Seagoville) TX, who promises to be one of the top five players in his class before he's done.  Don't believe it?  Well, Malone said the same thing a year ago at this time about 6'10 Chris Bosh from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, who is now ranked #4 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  "I sees them practice against each another all the time," says Malone.  "Sometimes Aldridge wins.  Other times it's Bosh who comes out on top.  But they are totally different players.  Aldridge gives you more of a low post presense like Tim Duncan.  And he's a better rebounder and shot blocker than Bosh, who is more like Kevin Garnett, because he can go out and do things on the perimeter."  Malone also is excited about his team's depth this summer, as he combines a nice mix of maturity and youth off the bench.  The maturity will come from 6'1 Chris Ross from San Antonio (John Jay) TX, 5'10 Mike Mitchell from San Antionio (Taft) TX, 6'5 Patrick Fields from San Antonio (John Jay) TX, and 6'8 Steve Goss from San Antonio (John Jay) TX, all of whom are expected to go the prep school route, along with Howard.  The youth will come from 6'7 Jr Xavier Wright from Taylor (H.S.) TX, 6'10 Soph Keith Darden from Ft. Washington (National Christian) MD, and 6'7 Soph Skip Thomas from Austin (Lyndon B. Johnson) TX, top 50 sophomore, all of whom have excellent futures.

I was absolutely shocked by what I found in today's USA Today sports section on pages 7-11.  I'm talking about the USA Today's ranking of the top players during the last 20 years.  Their first team included Kevin Garnett, Alonzo Mourning, Chris Webber, Vince Carter, and Kobe Bryant, who was their choice as the best high school player over the last 20 years.  Our team would include Garnett, Mourning, Glenn Robinson, Randy Livington, and Stephon Marbury.  That's right!  Kobe Bryant doesn't even make the first team, if you are basing it solely on high school performance and not how they ended up.  However, Bryant isn't even the most flagrant example.  A quick look at our list of the top players in the Class of 1995 shows that Carter was ranked no higher than #8 in the class behind Garnett, Marbury, Ron Mercer, Robert Traylor, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Derek Hood, and Wayne Turner and ahead of Terrance Roberson and Paul Pierce.  Even Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports, who has an obvious bias towards North Carolina (he's an alumnus of the school), had Carter ranked #4 in the Class of 1995 behind Mercer, Garnett, and Adbur-Rahim and ahead of Marbury, Traylor, Luther Clay, Albert White, Taymon Domzalski, and Randell Jackson.  Getting back to Bryant, he wasn't even the most talented player in his class.  Instead, the guy everybody had raved about since he was a freshman in high school was Tim Thomas.  However, Thomas lacked Bryant's heart, work ethic, and motivation and, as a result, Bryant edged out Thomas for top player honors in the Class of 1996 by default.  Actually naming Chris Webber to the first team isn't that bad a call, but once again Gibbons agrees with us, as his top five players in the Class of 1991 in order were Robinson, Webber, Juwan Howard, Cherokee Parks, and David Vaughn.  While Gibbons and I do agree on Mourning, Norm Eavenson, who works for Gibbons and used to work for us, will tell you that the best high school player he's ever seen is Billy Owens, who was ranked third in that class behind Mourning and Shawn Kemp, who also should be a legitimate candidate for the USA Today's first team.  Others who deserve first team USA Today consideration include Danny Manning, John Williams, Felipe Lopez, Zach Randolph, Dajuan Wagner, and 6'7 Jr LeBron James.   And the USA Today did the same thing on their second team, which included Manning, Jerry Stackhouse, Tracy McGrady, Jason Kidd, and Kenny Anderson.  Gibbons disagrees with us on Stackhouse (he had Stackhouse #1 we had Livingston #1), but Gibbons had Shaquille O'Neal ranked ahead of Kenny Anderson in 1989, Corliss Williamson ranked ahead of Jason Kidd in 1992, and Lamar Odom, Chris Burgess, Elton Brand, Luke Recker, and Anthony Perry ranked ahead of McGrady in 1997.  The 4-page special section also included their rankings of the top players regardless of class for this year and it was no surprise that 6'7 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary's) OH was their Player of the Year.  "He has been called 'very talented' by Michael Jordan.  'The Chosen One' by Sports Illustrated and anointed the next Michael/Kobe/Magic by drooling scoutings and coaches on every continent where basketball is played...."  However, the USA Today didn't point out that the HOOP SCOOP's Chris Johnson had been telling anybody who would listen that James was the best player in his class a full year before the rest of the world had ever heard of him.  Nor did they tell you that we coined that phrase over a decade ago when we called Glenn Robinson "The Chosen One?"  And it gets worse when we look at the USA Today's First Team, which also included 6'1 Raymond Felton from Latta (H.S.) SC, 6'7 Carmelo Anthony from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL, and 6'4 Hassan Adams from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA. "The 2002 All-USA Boys Basketball team was selected by USA Today's Christopher Lawlor in consultation with high school, analysts, writers, and coaches," is what was written at the bottom of page 11.  However, it's obvious Lawlor didn't check with any of the top gurus in the business, like myself, Gibbons, or Brick Oettinger of the Recruiters Handbook and PrepStars.com.  If he had, Lawlor might have known that ranking Adams among the top five players in the nation is totally ridiculous.  Gibbons has Adams ranked #13, Oettinger has him #25, and I have him #36.  And Adams did nothing in the post season all-star games to make us change our mind.  As a matter of fact, I'm not sure Adams is any better than the third best player in Arizona's recruiting class behind 6'3 Chris Rodgers from Portland (Wilson) OR and 6'6 Andre Iguodala from Springfield (Lanphier) IL.  He also isn't any better than the third best player in a weak senior class in California behind 6'10 DeAngelo Collins from Inglewood (H.S.) CA and 6'7 Evan Burns from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA.  The USA Today's Second Team, which featured 6'10 Chris Bosh from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'11 Paul Davis from Rochester (H.S.) MI, 6'9 Jason Fraser from Amityville (H.S.) NY, 6'1 Elijah Ingram from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, and 6'4 J.J. Redick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA wasn't so bad, but the Third Team, which includes Collins, 6'9 Travis Garrison from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, 6'3 Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI, 6'11 Jr Kendrick Perkins from Beaumont (Ozen) TX, and 5'11 Soph Sebastian Telfair from Lincoln (Brooklyn) NY, is a disaster.  After watching the McDonald's All-American Game and the Jordan Brand Capital Classic, there is no way in the world that 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN and 6'5 Rashad McCants from New Hampton (Prep) NH aren't among the top 15 players in the class nationally.  Perkins was our #2 ranked player in the Class of 2004 up until last winter, but he's become slower and less athletic and, as a result, he's ducking the competition (i.e. he did not play with his team in the Houston Kingwood Classic a-week-and-a-half ago).  So he's been replaced as the #2 junior nationally by his own teammate on the Houston Hoops AAU team - 6'10 Jr Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX.  As a matter of fact, the top three players in the nation may all be underclassmen.  We're talking about James, Ebi, and Telfair.   Add Anthony, Felton, and Stoudemire into the mix and we have a top six, which brings us to our "Question of the Day".  Who would you eliminate to round the first team out to a traditional five?  Also tell us what you thought of the USA Today's rankings in tomorrow's "Question of the Day.

Tuesday, May 7, 2002

Well, it looks like we knew what we were talking about yesterday when we told you that 6'6 Bobby Jones from Long Beach (Poly) CA was on the verge of committing to the University of Washington and 5'10 Jason Wingate from New York (Rice) NY would soon make it official for Manhattan.   In both cases, it happened today.  We also were not surprised by the fact that 6'9 Jr Mohammed Abukar from San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) CA has made an early commitment to the University of Georgia.  Previously we'd told you Abukar was down to two schools and we knew that he wanted to get it over with soon, plus he was in Athens, GA late last week on an official visit.  Currently Abukar is ranked #99 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, but he is a big time athlete with the skills and shooting range to play out on the perimeter and, as a result, we think he has the potential to make money playing the game someday.  We also have confirmed that Iona has landed its fifth and final recruit in 6'5 Steve Smith from Coffeyville (JC) KS.  Smith, who also appears to be the Gaels best recruit, moves Iona's recruiting class up to #42 nationally into a tie with Dayton, George Washington, and Temple on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date. We also have confirmed that new College of Charleston head coach Tommy Herrion has landed his first recruit in 6'4 Marcus Johnson from Tallahassee (JC) FL.  Not only did Johnson lead one of the top junior college programs in the nation in scoring with 18 ppg last season, but he also has deep shooting range, the athleticism to take you to the hole, and enough talent to get looks from schools, like South Carolina, Saint Louis, Kansas State, and UNC-Wilmington.  As a matter of fact, in the end it came down to the Gamecocks and the College of Charleston.   Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that Wake Forest has landed 6'9 Todd Hendley from Sanford (Lee County) NC and 6'1 Chris Paul from Clemons (West Forsyth) NC.  Neither Hendley nor Paul are ranked among our top 100 juniors nationally, but we wouldn't be surprised if they both end up much higher than their current #115 and #192 rankings by the HOOP SCOOP.  Remember, 6'1 Justin Gray from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA and 6'9 Eric Williams from Wake Forest (Rolesville) NC both turned out to be a lot better than we originally anticipated,  plus Demon Deacons assistant coaches Jeff Battle and Dino Gaudio are two of the most astute evaluators of talent in the business.   Johnson also tells us that UAB has landed 6'9 Gabe Kennedy from Bevil State (JC) AL, 6'6 Demario Eddin from Winchendon (School) MA, and 6'5 Richard Jones from Oklahoma City (Douglass) OK.  The signings by Kennedy and Eddin are especially noteworthy, because Kennedy was ranked as the #7 center in the junior college ranks by the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook and Eddin was good enough to sign with Arkansas a year ago.  However, Eddin, who is a big time athlete with a tremendous upside, didn't make it academically a year ago, so he returned to prep school for another year. 

Ft. Sooy-No Limit beat All Ohio Red in the Seniors-To-Be Division at the Ninth Annual Spiece Run N Slam in Ft. Wayne, IN over the weekend, but our Ohio editor Chris Johnson, who was in attendance on Saturday, tells us that the big story was the overwhelming number of young players in attendance.  At the of the list was 5'11 Soph Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, who was a late addition onto the New York Gauchos roster.  And for those of you who are still trying to find a player in the Class of 2004 who might be better than Telfair or think Telfair has plateaued or won't grow anymore, an extremely knowledgeable fan in attendance at Spiece, who has seen most of the top high school players dating back to the 1970's, tells us that Telfair is the best high school point guard he's ever seen.  Telfair, who has been ranked as the #1 player in his class since he was in 4th grade by the HOOP SCOOP, impressed everybody with his ability to totally take over the game, lock you up defensively, and make everybody around him better with his great ball handling and passing skills.  Tournament MVP honors went to 6'6 Soph Shaun Livington from Peoria (Richwoods) IL, who looks like a smaller version of Tayshaun Prince, but has the foot speed, ball handling and passing ability, and decision making to develop into a big time point guard.  He also was the best player on Ft. Sooy-No Limit, which is saying a lot, because 6'8 Jr Brian Randle from Peoria (Notre Dame) IL and 6'4 Jr Richard McBride from Springfield (Lanphier) IL are both consensus top 20 juniors nationally.  Other big name young players who stood out, included 6'2 Soph Russell Robinson from New York (Rice) NY, 6'0 Frosh Sundiata Gaines from Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, 6'3 Soph DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA, 7'0 Soph Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Garces) CA, 6'5 Frosh Jamelle Cornley from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, and 6'4 Soph Robert Vaden from Indianapolis (Cathedral) IN.  However, Johnson was just as impressed with two of Vaden's teammates - 6'6 Soph Mike McCoy from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, who had best dunk Johnson saw in the entire tournament, and 6'4 Soph Courtney Lee from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, who reminds Johnson of a young Jason Richardson with athleticism and ability to get to the basket.  But Johnson thinks the best sophomore in just might be 6'5 Soph James Hardy from Ft. Wayne (Elmhurst) IN.  He's thinner than Vaden, but he's an inch taller and a better 3-point shooter.  He also has an incredible wing span and tremendous athleticism, which is why he's already being heavily recruited by schools like Michigan State and Iowa.   Also in the 16-under Division was 6'11 Soph Greg Steimsma from Randolph (H.S.) WI, who Johnson thinks is one of the top 10 or 15 players in the sophomore class nationally.  "Steimsna reminds me of a young Joel Pryzbilla," says Johnson.  "He's a great shot blocker, passes well out of post, and would be recruited by the Duke's, North Carolina's, and Kentucky's of the world this summer, if he hadn't already made an early verbal commitment to the University of Wisconsin."   Also impressing Johnson in the Junior-To-Be Division were the two players from Flint Affiliation - 6'6 Soph Marquise Gray from Flint (Beecher) MI and 6'3 Soph Eronje Walton from Flint (Northern) MI.  Gray is ranked as the #3 power forward in sophomore class in Michgian by Vince Baldwin of the Michigan & Ohio Prep Spotlight, but Johnson projects him as a 3-man due to his athleticism, ability to step out and hit the three, and likelihood that he won't grow anymore.  Walton, who is unranked by both Baldwin and our Michigan Editor Steve Bell (which means he's a true sleeper) reminds Johnson of another great point guard who came out of Flint (Northern) MI - Mateen Cleaves.  Johnson also liked 6'2 Soph A.J. Ratliff from Indianapolis (North Central) IN.  We're talking about a great athelte, tremendous leaper, and point guard with size, if he can improve his decision making.  Johnson was very impressed with the decision-making, ball handling, and ability to shoot the lights displayed by 6'1 Soph Chris Lofton from Maysville (Mason County) KY.  "He reminds me of a black Patrick Sparks," says Johnson.  The next great point guard out of Milwaukee promises to be 5'11 Soph Dupree Fletcher from Milwaukee (Rufus King) WI.  Not only is Fletcher extremley quick, but he's a great penetrator, excellent passer, and good 3-point shooter.  And playing up in the Seniors-To-Be Division were 6'5 Frosh Martell Webster from Seattle (Prep) WA and 6'10 Soph Chester Giles from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA.  Webster plays with the poise of a senior, plus he has great 3-point shooting range, big time athleticism, and can shoot off the dribble.   In other words, he's a legitimate top 20 freshman nationally.  Webster had excellent post moves, great coordination for somebody that young, and big-time athleticism, which means he should be ranked among our top 50-100 sophomores nationally.   In addition to Livington, Telfair, Randle, and McBride, the All-Tournament team in the Seniors-To-Be Division included 6'6 Jr Justin Hawkins from Lakewood (Mayfair) CA, 6'2 Jr Mike Henderson from Waterloo (East) IA, 6'0 Jr Jimmy Goffredo from La Crescenta (Crescenta Valley) CA, 6'5 Jr Nick Brooks from Robinson (H.S.) IL, 6'3 Jr Grant Gibson from Bloomington (South) IN, 6'0 Jr Marlon Smith from Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, 6'3 Jr Elijah Meadows from Queens (C. Roberts) NY, 5'7 Jr Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, 6'7 Jr Brandon Foust from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, 6'7 Jr Justin Doellman from Union (Ryle) KY, 7'0 Jr Josh Higgins from Vandalia (Butler) OH, 6'6 Jr Parnell Smith from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, 6'5 Jr Austin Montgomery from Indianapolis (Perry Meridian) IN, 6'0 Jr Dan Ruffin from Peoria (Central) IL, 6'2 Jr Corey Johnson from Anderson (Highland) IN, 6'3 Jr Stanley Burrell from Indianapolis (Ben Davis) IN, 6'5 Jr David Kummer from Cedar Rapids (Washington) IA, 6'3 Jr Jeremy Cook from Waterloo (East) IA, 6'7 Jr Grant Stout from North Manchester (H.S.) IA, 6'9 Jr Monty St. Clair from Cincinnati (Roger Bacon) OH, 6'2 Jr T.J. Paterick from St. Augustine (Allen D. Nease) FL, 6'7 Ray Nixon from Milwaukee (Dominican) WI, 6'7 Jr Jermy Wilson from Milwaukee (Rufus King) WI, 6'3 Jr Lucas Homan from Brookfield (Central) WI, 5'11 Jr Dominique White from Urbana (H.S.) IL, 6'7 Blake Schilb from Rantoul (H.S.) IL, 6'4 Jr Rodney Edgerson from Peoria (Woodruff) IL, 6'1 Jr Sam Kleber from Urbana (H.S.) IL, 6'4 Jr Ray Williams from Urbana (H.S.) IL, and 7'1 Jr Brian Butch from Appleton (West) WI.  Not making the all-tournament team, but definitely worth comparing to Butch is 6'10 Stefan Zimmerman from Orem (Mountain View) UT, who is ranked #29 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  Johnson tells us that we have Zimmerman ranked right, but that Butch is bigger and better, which means he has to be one of the most coveted big men nationally in the class of 2003.   The New York Gauchos beat the Illinois Warriors, 68-60, in the Juniors-To-Be Division and Gaines and Robinson were named co-MVP.  All Ohio Red beat the Mid-Michigan Warriors, 66-56, in the Sophomore-To-Be Divison and Cornley took home MVP honors.  All  the final results in all three age groups of what has been described as the "best Spiece Tournament ever" can be found at http://www.indiana-basketball.com.  

Saturday, May 4, 2002, Sunday, May 5, 2002, & Monday, May 6, 2002

Anybody who thought the scandal at the University of Michigan involving gambler Ed Martin and players he gave money to during the 90's, was going to effect the current regime's recruiting obviously was mistaken.  If you will recall, last week the Wolverines got an early committment from 6'4 Jr Dion Harris from Detroit (Redford) MI, who is ranked among the top five juniors nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, as well as the #1 player in Michigan's loaded junior class, and today they have another early commitment from 6'6 Soph Ronald Coleman from Romulus (H.S.) MI, who is the #1 ranked player in the sophomore class in the state of Michigan by the HOOP SCOOP.  "Coleman isn't one of the top players in his class nationally, but he is extremely skilled and has both an inside and outside game," says our Michigan Editor Steve Bell, who also publishes The Bank, which is a Michigan-based scouting service, & is the Editor of MichiganPreps.com.  And, if that weren't enough, Bell also thinks the Wolverines will get 6'10 Jr Drew Naymick from North Muskegon (H.S.) MI, who has both the talent and potential to develop into the best big man the state has produced in a number of years, and 6'2 Frosh Jerret Smith from Westland (John Glenn) MI, who is the HOOP SCOOP's #1-ranked freshman in the state, as well as one of the top freshmen in the nation.  In other words, it appears that Michigan head coach Tommy Amaker, who has only been on the job a little over a year, already is way ahead of where he was at Seton Hall in terms of building the program, plus he already is two-thirds of the way home when it comes to signing the #1-ranked player by the HOOP SCOOP in each of the next three recruiting classes.  So, assuming Bell is right about Naymick and he joins the three big man - 6'11 Chris Hunter from Gary (West Side) IN, 6'9 Graham Brown from Milo (H.S.) MI, and 6'10 Amadou Ba from North Bridgton (Academy) ME, who of whom have the potential to develop in good players - that Michigan landed in the current recruiting class, then the'd only be one quality big man away from having all the pieces to puzzle.  Remember, Michigan also landed 6'3 Daniel Horton from from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX and 6'6 Lester Abram from Pontiac (Northern) MI in a recruiting class this year that currently is ranked #16 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  Ironically, that still isn't good enough to keep up with Michigan State, which has the #2 ranked recruiting class on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  If you will recall, last fall Spartans signed 6'10  Paul Davis from Rochester (H.S.) MI, 6'4 Maurice Ager from Detroit (Crockett) MI, 6'2 Rashi Johnson from Mott (JC) MI, and 6'7 Delco Rowley from Indianapolis (Arlington) IN; during the winter 6'7 Matt Trannon from Flint (Northern) MI, who expected to play both football and basketball in college, signed a National Letter-Of-Intent to play football for the Spartans; and last week they signed 6'10 Erazem Lorbeck from Slovenia.  And just like their in-state Big-10 rival (Michigan), the Spartans already have a verbal commitment from the #2 ranked junior in the state in 6'0 Jr Brandon Cotton from Detroit (St. Martin DePorres) MI. 

It was officially announced on Friday that three players - Rashaad Carruth, Adam Chiles, and Cory Sears - won't be back next year at the University of Kentucky.  It also was announced that Keith Bogans, who is coming off a very disappointing junior season, will follow in the footsteps of Tayshaun Prince, who decided last year at this time to return for his senior season.  We also suspect that University of Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith will return due to fact that Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown now plans to continue coaching at least for another next season.  Sure, there is the possibility that Smith could land another NBA head coaching job, but, assuming that Jason Parker has overcome whatever academic problems that he's had and 6'4 Antwain Barbour from Wabash Valley (JC) IL doesn't enter his name into the NBA Draft prior to the May 12th deadline, the pressure's back on.  In other words, the Wildcats once again should be one of the teams to beat for the 2002-2003 NCAA Championship.  Let's take a close look.  They should be much improved at point guard with an added year of experience for Cliff Hawkins and the addition of 5'9 Brandon Stockton from Glasgow (H.S.) KY.  Bogans and Barbour are interchangeable at the wing spots, Parker, Chuck Hayes, Marquis Estill, and Jules Camara provide lots of fire power inside, and Gerald Fitch, Erik Daniels, 6'6 Kelenna Azubuike from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK, and 6'8 Bernard Cote from Montreal, QU provide plenty of depth.  And providing even more depth will be 6'2 Preston LeMaster from Paris (Bourbon County) KY and 6'1 Ravi Moss from Hopkinsville (University Heights) KY, both of whom plan to walk-on next season.  The additions of LeMaster and Moss also move Kentucky's recruiting class from #16 to #13 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date right behind Tennessee and just ahead of Louisville.  However, even more important, LeMaster and Moss should help fill another very important role, whereby they are both are aware of the tremendous tradition and know what it means to play basketball at the University of Kentucky (unlike certain players on last year's team).  Add the fact that Wildcats head coach Tubby Smith is one of the top coaches in the game and the only things that may hold this team back are a lack chemistry and cohesiveness, both of which were obvious at times last season.  Another very important question that must be answered is who is going to fill the shoes of University of Kentucky assistant coach Mike Sutton, who landed the Tennessee Tech job 10 days ago?  The four names we've heard the most are Tulsa assistant coach Pooh Williamson, former Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo head coach Jeff Schneider, and Dayton assistant coach Ron Jirsa, all three of whom were with Smith when he was at the University of Tulsa ,and Marquette assistant coach Darrin Horn, who played Lexington (Tates Creek) KY and Western Kentucky.  Whether Smith will hire somebody he's previously been associated with, which has been his pattern, is anybody's guess.  However, one thing is for sure, wherever he brings in will play an instrumental role in the future success of the University of Kentucky, as the next two recruiting classes are make or break classes.

Our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio tells us that Louisville, Duquesne, Texas Texas, and St. John's are the top four schools in the hunt for 6'8 Nate Daniels from Broward (JC) FL, who was one of the top five freshmen in the junior college ranks last season.  As a matter of fact, Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino and Red Raiders head coach Bob Knight have both been to Florida this spring to see Daniels and, in both cases, he appears to be a top priority.  Naclerio also is reporting that St. Francis-NY has landed 6'4 Chris Brown from New York (Rice) NY and 6'1 Steve Burtt Jr from New York (Rice) NY has signed with Iona.  Brown, who best described as a slasher, doesn't have a true position, but that doesn't mean he's not a total steal for St. Francis-NY head coach Ron Ganulin.   Burtt Jr, whose father Steve Burtt, Sr, is the all-time leading scoring in Iona school history, joins 6'2 Ricardo Soliver from Bronx (All Hallows) NY, 6'0 Marcus McCullough from Bronx (All Hallows) NY, and 6'8 Kirik Wachsmann from Bronx (All Hallows) NY to give the Gaels #66-ranked recruiting class on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  Burtt also gives head coach Jeff Ruland four players who will make an impact on the program from the New York City area, which is a prerequisite for success for any college located in the New York Metropolitian area.   It also means that Iona is keeping up with Manhattan, which won the regular seaon Metro Atlantic Conference championship last season, already has signed 5'8 Kenny Minor from Winchendon (School) MA and 6'5 Mike Konovelschick from New Hampton (Prep) NH, appears to be on the brink of landing 5'10 Jason Wingate from New York (Rice) NY and getting 6'8 Peter Mulligan, who is transferring from Maryland-Baltimore County.  You remember Mulligan!   He's the player who can out of nowhere to have a great senior year for Gary DeCesare at Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY two years ago and the guy who set the Northeast Conference single season scoring record for a freshman in 2000-2001 with 450 points.  Our California Editor Dinos Trigonis tells us that 6'6 Bobby Jones from Long Beach (Poly) CA, who is one of the top unsigned seniors still available, was at the University of Washington over the weekend on an official visit and he thinks the Huskies are on the verge of getting this one done.  Long Beach State, Oregon State, and Boston College are the other schools on Jones' list, but we have reason to believe that he told head coach Lorenzo Romar that he plans to join what already is a pretty good recruiting class.  Remember, previous regime signed 6'6 Brandon Roy from  Seattle (Garfield) WA and 6'8 Anthony Washington from Seattle (Garfield) WA last fall and, if they add Jones, Washington's recruiting class would move up to #55 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.   It also appears that Liberty has stolen one in 6'2 Jeremy Monceaux from Birmingham (Parkway Christian) AL, who is ranked #193 by Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports on his list of the top 800 high school seniors, and Tulsa has gotten 6'8 Aliou Keita from Iowa City (Regina) IA.  Our International Editor Chris Johnson thinks Keita picking the Golden Hurricane is one of the supreme coups of the entire spring.  "Keita has an incredible wing span, plus he's 250 lbs. and very athletic," says Johnson.  As a matter of fact, Johnson tells us that one college recruiter told him that there wasn't anybody in the Big-10 last year, except for Reggie Evans, who had a better body and more athleticism than Keita.  In other words, Keita has top 100 potential in the senior class nationally, but we want him to get there the old-fashioned way (by earning it).   Hartford had 6'2 Aaron Cook from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA on campus over the weekend and when that happens they're usually tough beat.  Remember, head coach Larry Harrison and assistant coaches Chris Pompay and Al Seibert combine to form one of the best 1-2-3 punches at their level in the game today.  Xavier assistant coach Sean Miller, who is another one of the most underrated guys in the business, appears to have stolen another one in 6'7 Jr Justin Doellman from Union (Ryle) KY.  If you will recall, Xavier got a commitment earlier this spring from 6'5 Jr Rob Barker from Greensburg (H.S.) IN, who was hurt and, as a result, went unseen most of the winter.  

Friday, May 3, 2002

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that 6'7 Adam Zahn from Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) CA has signed with the University of Oregon and that 6'10 Seth Scott from Utah Valley State (JC) UT has picked Portland State.  Zahn, who is ranked #17 in the senior class in California by the HOOP SCOOP, promises to be a great role players for the Ducks.  Not only can Zahn play either forward spot, but he's a lot tougher than his older brother, Andrew Zahn, who will be a sophomore next year at Arizona.  The addition of Zahn moves Oregon's recruiting class into a tie at #48, along with Clemson, Massachusetts, Vanderbilt, and Utah.  Scott, who was ranked as the #5 power forward in the junior college ranks in the Sporting News Pre-Season Yearbook, obviously is a major steal for the new coaching staff at Portland State.  We also understand that 6'8 Jr Keith Foster from Winston-Salem (R.J. Reynolds) NC has made an early verbal commitment to East Carolina and that 6'8 Jr Bennett Davis from Milford (Academy) CT via Miami (Northwest Christian) FL is following in what already is a long line of players from Miami, FL to Northeastern.  If you will recall, Huskies assistant Frank Martin used to be the head coach at Miami (Senior) FL and, as a result, it comes as no surprise that Sylbrin Robinson and Cornelius Wright both signed with Northeastern a year ago and that 5'11 Jose Juan Barea from Miami (Christian) FL, 6'10 Gene Olinyk from Miami (Northwest Christian) FL, and 6'6 Javorie Wilson from Odessa (JC) TX, who played high school basketball at Miami (Senior) FL, all are part of Northeastern's currentl recruiting class.  We reported earlier this week on our list of Recent Signings and Commitments that Eastern Kentucky has landed 6'8 Charles Slaughter from Itawamba (JC) MS, 6'1 Mike Scott from Cecil (JC) MD, and 6'9 Sherrod Rogers from Cecil (JC) MD.  However, we didn't tell you that, along with the player the Colonels signed last fall, 6'0 Matt Witt from Tipp City (Bethel) OH, EKU head coach Travis Ford got exactly what he needed (guys who shoot) for Eastern Kentucky to be one of most improved teams in the Ohio Valley Conference next year.  Also doing well in the OVC this spring has been Morehead State, which signed 6'9 Anton Kerley from Gadsden (JC) AL and 6'5 Craig Lewis from Connors State (JC) OK yesterday and 5'10 Quinton Smith from Radcliff (North Hardin) KY today.   Kerley, who was an All-Alabama Junior College Athletic Association Tournament selection the past two years, appears to be the best of bunch.  However, Smith, who is ranked #4 in the senior class in state by the HOOP SCOOP, and Lewis, who averaged 12 ppg and 4 rpg, also figure to make an immediate impact for the Eagles next year.  Austin Peay was hoping to get 6'1 Chris Gaither from Leitchfield Grayson County) KY, but he has elected to walk-on at Temple, where he will get a scholarship when one becomes available a year from now.  Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin also tells us that St. Joseph's has gotten a pair of commitments from 6'11 Chris Colager from Globe Institute (JC) NY and 6'5 Mike Williams from Pawtucket (St. Rafael's) RI.  Williams actually signed with Vermont last fall, but didn't get admitted into school academically, so he was free and clear to go elsewhere.  Rubin also thinks St. Joseph's is also one of the early favorites, along with Maryland, Notre Dame, Stanford, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Michigan, and Florida State, for 6'10 Jr Will Bowers from Severn (Archbishop Spaulding) MD.  Lamar has landed 6'9 Jason Grant from Toronto (Francis Liberman) ON, who is ranked as the #1 power forward in Ontario.  We're talking about an excellent shot blocker with the skills and talent necessary to step in and make an immediate impact next year for Cardinals head coach Mike Deane.  As a matter of fact, Grant appears to be the best recruit anybody in the Southland Conference has landed in this recruiting class.  Grant joins 6'7 Ola Matti from Toronto (Eastern School of Commerce) ON, who ironically was the #2 ranked power forward in Ontario, and 6'1 Jonathan Burnett from Texas City (H.S.) TX, both of whom signed with Lamar last fall, and 6'3 Kevin Smith from Humble (H.S.) TX, who decided to become walk-on at Lamar this spring. 

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL will announce on Monday that he will by-pass college and enter his name into the NBA Draft.   When this happens, Stoudemire will become the second player to do so.   If you will recall, last week 6'9 DeAngelo Collins from Inglewood (H.S.) CA also made his intentions known and, just like Stoudemire, he won't be able to withdraw his name from the draft, because he has already signed with an agent.  We also expect 6'6 Leonard Cooke from Old Tappan (North Regional Valley) NJ and 6'10 Sani Ibrahim from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA to enter their names into the draft prior to the May 12th deadline.  They will join a list of players who have by-passed college and entered their named into the draft in recent years, according to Chris Monter of the Monter Draft News, that also includes Kevin Garnett in 1995; Kobe Bryant and Jeramine O'Neal, and Taj McDavid in 1996; Tracy McGrady in 1997; Al Harrington, Rashard Lewis, Korleone Young, and Ellis Richardson in 1998; Jonathan Bender and Leon Smith in 1999; Darius Miles and DeShawn Stevenson in 2000; and Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry, DeSagana Diop, Ousmaine Cisse, and Tony Key in 2001.  In our opinion only three of those players (Garnett, Bryant, and Miles) should have made the jump.  And this year you can add Stoudemire due to his family situation, financial need, poor academic, and unlimited amount of talent and potential, to the list.  As a matter of fact, we'd take take Stoudemire over any of the big men (Brown, Chandler, Curry, and Diop) that came out prematurely a year ago.  However, that doesn't mean we'd take Stoudemire among the top five picks.  Actually, we think the top two picks are a no-brainer.  If you were a NBA general manager and you needed immediate help at point guard, Jason Williams would be the obvious pick.  But, if you are drafting just based on potential and where you think the players in this draft will be five or 10 years down the road, how can you not take Dajuan Wagner?   Speaking of our #1 ranked high school player from a year ago, it appears Wagner has started a trend, whereby, the #1 senior, according to the HOOP SCOOP, goes to college for a least a year.  That's right!  Our #1-ranked senior 6'7 Carmelo Anthony from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA is not expected to enter his name into the draft, because he recently got a high enough score on the SAT to be eligible to play at Syracuse next year as a college freshman. 

The 2002 Spiece Run 'N Slam, which always is one of the premier events of the spring tips off tonight at 7:00 PM CST in Ft. Wayne, IN and some of the top players in attendance will include 7'3 Jr Shagari Alleyne from New York (Rice) NY, 6'8 Jr Chris Taft from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY, 6'0 Jr Marlon Smith from Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, 5'9 Jr Daon Merritt from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'5 Jr Rodrick Stewart from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA, 6'4 Jr Lodrick Stewart from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA, 6'3 Jr DeMarcus Nelson from Vallejo (H.S.) CA, 6'4 Jr Richard McBride from Springfield (Lanphier) IL, 6'8 Jr Brian Randle from Peoria (Notre Dame) IL, 6'6 Soph Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Richwoods) IL, 6'10 Jr Drew Naymick from North Muskegon (H.S.) MI, 6'10 Jr Stefan Zimmerman from Orem (Mountain View) UT, 6'3 Soph Gabriel Pruitt from Compton (Centennial) CA, 7'0 Soph Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Garces) CA, 6'9 Ray Nixon from Milwaukee (Wisconsin) WI, 7'0 Jr Brian Butch from Appleton (West) WI, 5'9 Jr Dewayne Polk from St. Louis (Vashon) MO, 6'0 Jr Dan Ruffin from Peoria (Central) IL, 6'6 Jr Parnell Smith from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, 6'7 Jr Adam Liddell from Waterloo (DeKalb) IN, 5'7 Jr Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, 6'7 Jr Brandon Foust from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, 6'5 Jr Robert Vaden from Indianapolis (Cathedral) IN, 6'2 Jr Kenny Love from South Bend (Adams) IN, 6'3 Jr Grant Gibson from Bloomington (South) IN, 6'9 Soph Monty St. Clair from Cincinnati (Roger Bacon) OH, 5'10 Soph Byron Eaton from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'1 Soph Chris Lofton from Mayfield (Mason County) KY, 6'0 Frosh Sundiata Gaines from Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, 6'2 Frosh Russell Robinson from New York (Rice) NY, and 6'10 Frosh Luke Zeller from Washington (H.S.) IN, plus you know that a number of players will come out of the woodwork.  The Seniors-To-Be Division includes 48 teams with the Spiece Central Stars, New York Gauchos, Illinois Downstate Warriors, and Gary Payton NIKE Select in Pool #1; the Los Angeles Rockfish, Gateway Basketball, Fox Valley Skillz, and Indiana Hoops in Pool #2; Cincinnati AAU Black, Illinois Gold Warriors, DTA Wisconsin, and No Excuses in Pool #3; Salt Lake Metro Gold, Portland Inner City Players, All-Ohio Red, and Colorado X-Press White in Pool #4; Bloomington Red, Randolph Boys Club, Cincinnati AAU Red, and Northern California Elite in Pool #5; SYF Players, Friends of Hoop Wisconsin, Colorado Chaos, and North Texas Rice Owls in Pool #6; Bloomington White, Team Texas White, West Michigan Lakers, and Midland Hawkeyes in Pool #7, Indiana Aces, Madison Spartans, Colorado X-Press Black, and Stay in the Game in Pool #8; Champions Athletic Academy, Camdenton Basketball Club, Cincinnati AAU White, and Billy Shepherd Sports in Pool #9; Kentucky Hoop Stars, Tiffany's, Ferrai, and St. Louis Gameface in Pool #10; Martin Brothers Select, Grand Rapids Storm, Long Island Roadrunners, and Evansville Basketball Club in Pool #11; and Salt Lake Metro Black, MBA Select, Ft. Sooy No Limit, and Ohio Pride in Pool #12.  The first round of the playoffs will begin at 5:00 PM CST Saturday afternoon and the 16 winners will play the top 16 teams in the tournament, all of which get a first round bye, at 8:00 PM Saturday night.  The second round winners will meet in the round of 16 at 8:00 AM Sunday morning, followed by the quarterfinals at 11:00 AM Sunday morning, the semi-finals at 2:00 PM Sunday afternoon, and the championship at 5:00 PM Sunday evening. 

Thursday, May 2, 2002

Earlier this week when 7'0 Julius Lamptey from Oklahoma City (Northeast) OK signed with the University of Georgia we moved their recruiting class up to #10 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  However, we're moving it back down to #21, tied with Missouri and Arizona State, because 6'10 John Toombs from Lincoln Trail (JC) IL, who verbally committed to the Bulldogs during the winter, has not fulfilled all the requirements necessary to play at Georgia next season and, as a result, doesn't count with their recruiting class.  And to our knowledge, Toombs is still available.  We also have confirmed that the University of Idaho has landed three more recruits in 5'10 Ronnie Smith from Dallas (South Oak Cliff) TX, 6'8 Jack May from Southern Idaho (JC) ID, and 6'8 John Tinnon from Southeastern (JC) IA and, as a result, that moves the Vandals recruting class up to #14 nationally on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  If you will recall, Idaho also landed six players - 6'8 Brian Freeny from Gilbert (Mesquite) AZ, 6'2 Delvin Spruel from Baton Rouge (JC) LA, 6'2 Dwayne Williams from Kennedy-King (JC) IL, 6'8 Dave Radlovic from London (A.B. Lucas) ON, 6'6 Keith Christmas from Gary (West Side) IN, 6'9 Yanifs Ducreay from Homestead (Berkshire) FL - last fall.   However, Radlovic enrolled in school last December, so his scholarship counts towards last year.  Also several of the players Idaho signed last fall also aren't expected to make it academically, so prep school appears to be in their future.  But for our purposes they still count, because all nine players signed a National Letter-of-Intent and, as this point, still have a shot of enrolling in school at Idaho in the fall.  In other words, Vandals head coach Leonard Perry will sort it all later.  Remember, these things usually have a way of working themselves out.  We also understand that Idaho assistant coach Donnie Tyndall, who is ranked #9 on our list of top assistant coaches at the lower Division I level, has been hired as the associate head coach at Middle Tennessee State.  Speaking of the Blue Raiders, new head coach Kermit Davis and his staff have already put together a very impressive recruiting class this spring.  We're talking about 6'8 Napolean Rhodes from Central Florida (JC) FL, 6'3 Mike Robinson from Grayson County (JC) TX, and 6'0 Keith Conner from Temple (JC) TX, plus the previous regime landed 6'8 Kyle Young from Lewisburg (Marshall County) TN last fall. 

It should come as no surprise that the University of Michigan is no longer in the hunt for 6'4 Jr Brandon Jenkins from Detroit (Southeastern) MI, who is ranked #31 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  If you will recall, earlier this week the Wolverines got an early commitment from 6'4 Jr Dion Harris from Detroit (Redford) MI, who is ranked #5 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, and last fall they signed 6'1 Daniel Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) MI, who is ranked #9 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  So naturally it makes sense that the Michigan coaching staff would want to wait a year or two before they bring in another guard.  As a matter of fact, that's was our reasoning when we predicted recently that Jenkins would instead commit to the University of Louisville.  And we stand by that prediction, although we do so cautiously, because Pittsburgh is still a serious contender.  Remember, the Panthers recently got a verbal commitment from Jenkins' high school team - 6'9 Jr Walter Waters from Detroit (Southeastern) MI.  It also appears that Texas and Missouri are making a strong push for Jenkins, so this one may be more complicated than we originally thought.  It is looking more and more like Cincinnati is going to get 5'11 Jr Taurean Minor from Houston (Washington) TX and 6'8 Jr Corey Gibbs from Atlanta (Pace) GA and, if that happens, the Bearcats will only be one player away from contending for the NCAA Championship.  Minor and 6'3 Tony Bobbit from Southern Idaho (JC) ID, who signed this spring with the Bearcats, should be sensational together in the backcourt a year from now, and you bet that Jason Maxiell and 6'6 Eric Hicks from Greensboro (Dudley) NC, who signed with Cincinnati last fall, won't be taking any prisoners inside. Our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio tells us that 6'3 Quincy Douby from Brooklyn (Grady) NY and 5'11 Gary Ervin from Brooklyn (Paul Robeson) NY both have elected to go to prep school at Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT next year and, as a result, will play for the New York Riverside Church traveling team this summer.  Speaking of New York Riverside Church, we hope all the allegations about Ernie Lorch, who has been the director of the New York Riverside Church program since 1959, in the New York media aren't true.   Riverside Church has always been regarded as the North Carolina of AAU basketball and nobody in the business has done more than Lorch to help inner city kids in need pursue the basketball dream.  An even greater tradegy will be if Lorch becomes the next poster child for all that is corrupt and wrong with AAU and club team basketball.   Naclerio also tells us that 5'11 Darryl Hill from Milford (Academy) CT has signed with St. John's.  Hill committed to West Virginia last fall, but never signed a binding National Letter-of-Intent and, as a result, is free to sign with any school this spring.  He picked St. John's over Providence and Hofstra.   Douby did sign with Hofstra last fall, but assuming he doesn't meet the necessary academic requirements to be eligible to play at a Division I school, he will be free and clear to pick any school a year from now. 

Wednesday, May 1, 2002

We told you yesterday that we thought Michigan State was going to get 6'10 Erazem Lorbeck from Slovenia and that it would likely happen any day.  Well, it happened today and, as a result, Michigan State's recruiting class, which also includes 6'10 Paul Davis from Rochester (H.S.) MI, 6'7 Matt Trannon from Flint (Northern) MI, 6'4 Maurice Ager from Detroit (Crockett) MI, 6'2 Rashi Johnson from Mott (JC) MI, and 6'7 Delco Rowley from Indianapolis (Arlington) IN, moves up from #7 to #2 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  It also puts the Spartans into a position where they should be one of the teams once again to beat in college basketball next year.  If you will recall, we went on record after Michigan State won the NCAA Championship in 2000 saying that we thought this would be the next dynasty in college basketball.  However, the train got derailed for a year after the Spartans third consecutive NCAA Final Four appearance last spring when Zach Randolph and Jason Richardson left early for the NBA.  But now head coach Tom Izzo has the horses inside again and, even if Marcus Taylor doesn't take his name out the NBA Draft later this month, Michigan State still should have all the pieces necessary to make another run at the NCAA Final Four next March.   Remember, last fall they landed Johnson, who is a good combo guard, just in case Taylor went hardship, plus they already have a verbal commitment from 6'0 Jr Brandon Cotton from Detroit (St. Martin DePorres) MI, who currently is ranked as the #3 point guard nationally in the junior class behind 6'7 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH and 6'3 Jr Mustafa Shakur from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA.  And the icing on the cake would be for the Spartans to get several more of the top juniors in the state, like 6'5 Jr Olu Famutimi from Flint (Northwestern) MI and 6'10 Jr Drew Naymick from North Muskegon (H.S.) MI, who is ranked #41 in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.   Our guess is that Naymick will pick Michigan over Michigan State and Ohio State, but if Spartans assistant coach Brian Gregory pulls this off, way may have to move him in front most the guys in front of him on our list of the top assistant coaches.  Gregory is currently ranked #9 on our list once we adjust for the fact that four of the coaches who were ranked ahead of him got head coaching jobs this spring.   Speaking of former Michigan State assistant coaches, just look at the track record of Izzo's last two assistants who have moved into head coaching jobs.  We're talking about Tom Crean, who was one of the candidates for National Coach-of-the-Year at Marquette, and Stan Heath, who guided Kent State to an Elite Eight Finish in the NCAA Tournament prior to moving on to Arkansas. 

Our International Editor Chris Johnson tells us that the University of Utah has signed 6'9 Andrew Bogut from Australia and that St. John's has landed 6'7 Grady Reynolds from Southern Union (JC) AL.  Obviously Reynolds will be called up to provide immediate help inside for the Red Storm next year, but its the commitment by Bogut that really has Johnson's attention.  Did you know that Bogut averaged 17 ppg and 7 rpg and was the best player on the Australian National Team in the Albert Schweitzer Games in Manheim, Germany a month ago?  Bogut joins 6'6 Bryant Markson from Monrovia (H.S.) CA, 6'3 Tim Drisdom from Redland (Calvary Chapel) CA, 6'5 Richard Chaney from Los Angeles (Verbum Dei) CA to move Utah's recruiting class into a tie at #46, along with Clemson, Massachusetts, and Vanderbilt, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  And Utah head coach Rick Majerus already has a great head start on next year with an early commitment from 6'11 Jr Stefan Zimmerman from Orem (Mountain View) UT, who is ranked #29 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Speaking of Zimmerman, he is one of 16 juniors ranked among our top 100 nationally who have already made a verbal commitment.  The others are 6'4 Jr Dion Harris from Detroit (Redford) MI to Michigan, 6'0 Jr Brandon Cotton from Detroit (St. Martin DePorres) MI to Michigan State, 6'8 Jr Kenneth Harris from Hammond (Bishop Noll) IN to Valparaiso, 6'4 Jr Wesley Washington from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA to California, 6'5 Jr J.R. Giddens from Oklahoma City (John Marshall) OK to Kansas, 6'3 Jr J.R. Reynolds from Roanoke (Catholic) VA to Virginia, 6'9 Jr Lamont Hamilton from Milford (Academy) CT to St. John's, 6'9 Jr Walter Waters from Detroit (Southeastern) MI to Pittsburgh, 6'9 Jr Darien Townes from Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC to Georgetown, 6'8 Jr Ivan Harris from Springfield (South) OH to Ohio State, 6'10 Jr Jermaine Bell from Virginia Beach (Coastal Christian) VA to St. John's, 6'7 Jr Demetrius Nichols from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI to Syracuse, 6'6 Jr Oumar Sylla from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY to Valparaiso, 6'0 Jr Ben Luber from Newtown (Council Rock) PA to Penn State, and 6'3 Jr Robert McIver from Washington (Archbishop Carroll) DC to Georgetown.  A year ago 30 of our top 100 were gone by July 1st and this year we think that number will be even higher.  Remember, the NCAA now allows a player to make an official visit during the spring of his junior year.  Combine that with the fact that it's more important than ever to get players onto campus when they are sophomores and juniors for unofficial visits and it is easy to see why every player mentioned above, except Sylla, has committed to a school that is either right in his own backyard or within driving distance.  And in Sylla's case, Valparaiso stashed him at Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, so it makes sense they'd get him back. 

A lot of people will tell you that 6'8 Jr Brandon Bass from Baton Rouge (Capital) LA was the biggest sleeper to emerge this spring, but we had Bass ranked #53 nationally in the junior class when we updated our list of the top players in the Class of 2003 on March 17th.  However, we have to give Mitch Malone, the Editor and Publisher of the Texas Blue Chip Report, an assist on this one.  As a matter of fact, Malone told us in March that Bass should be ranked among our top five or 10 players in the class nationally and, when it is all said and done, he probably is going to be right.  Malone also told us a year ago that 6'10 Chris Bosh from Dallas (Lincoln) TX belonged among our top five nationally and that 6'9 Ike Diagu from Garland (H.S.) TX was going to explode onto the scene last summer.  So obviously when Malone tells us that 6'11 Soph LaMarcus Aldridge from Dallas (Seagoville) TX is about to emerge as one of the top five players in the Class of 2004, we have to listen.   "Aldridge runs the floor, he turns and faces the basket, he battles inside, and he's getting stronger," says Malone.  Last week we were told that the University of Memphis had only one scholarship remaining.  So earlier this week, when we reported the Tigers had signed 6'5 Rodney Carney from Indianapolis (Northwest) IN, we assumed that head coach John Calipari and his staff were done recruiting players in the Class of 2002.  But apparently that's not case, because today the Tigers landed 6'6 Cortez Davis from Laurinburg (Institute) NC.  And with these two additions, Memphis' recruiting class, which also includes 6'8 Almamy Thiero from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC and 6'3 Jeremy Hunt from Memphis (Craigmont) TN, moves into a tie at #37, along with LSU, on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  We assume they can do this in accordance with the new rule, whereby, you can only sign five players and four the next, which was implemented last fall.  If you will recall, Memphis signed 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ, 6'8 Chris Massie from Oxnard (JC) CA, 6'4 Anthony Rice from North Clayton (College Park) GA, and 6'9 Duane Erwin from Huntsville (Lee) AL, and 6'3 Rashid Dunbar from Bayonne (Marist) NJ a year ago, plus they took 6'2 Antonio Burks from Hiwassee (JC) TN as a walk-on.  This year they signed the four players mentioned above, plus they have 6'6 Billy Richmond, who from Vanderbilt to Memphis, sitting out and 6'0 Clyde Wade from Winchendon (School) MA coming in as a walk-on.  Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that 6'6 Fredrich Ebede from Northfield (Northfield-Mt. Herman) MA has picked the University of Pennsylvania.   So has 6'8 Eric Heil, who is transferring from Lehigh to Penn.   Rubin also is reporting that 6'3 Mike Spadafora from Warminster (Archbishop Woods) PA plans to walk-on at Duquesne for a year and get a scholarship a year from now.  This is necessary, because Duquesne's recruiting class already includes five players - 6'11 Derek Ahren from Palm Beach (JC) FL, 6'9 Ronald Dukes from Lincoln Trail (JC) IL, 6'7 Elijah Palmer from Kennedy-King (JC) IL, 6'9 Bryant McCallister from West Mifflin (H.S.) PA, and 6'7 Leger Kandem from Elizabeth (Forward) PA.   The addition of Spadafora moves Duquesne's class up from #54 to #44 on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes To-Date.  We also have confirmed that Army has landed 6'8 Eric Engstrom from Mission Viejo (H.S.) CA.  However, the best recruit that new Army head coach Jim Crews landed is Mark Sembrowich, who was ranked #16 on our list of the top assistant coaches at the lower Division I level.  Sembrowich, who is one of the hardest working guys in the business, has spent the last month helping Crews recruit and make the transition.   But it wasn't until today that Sembrowich learned that he was being retained on the new staff (his old contract runs out June 30th).  In other words, chalk one up for loyalty and doing what is right on both Crews' and Sembrowich's part.  We also have learned that South Florida assistant coach Clive Vaughn will be replacing Dave Leitao, who recently got the head coaching job at DePaul, at the University of Connecticut. 

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