HOT RECRUITING INFORMATION  

FOR THE MONTH OF JULY 2000

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

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Monday, July 31, 2000

We told you yesterday that the first week of August was going to be busy and, sure enough, 6'5 John Allen from Coatesville (H.S.) PA has a press conference scheduled for tomorrow.  Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that Allen's going to pick Seton Hall over Villanova.  Originally, we thought Seton Hall would take only one guard, but apparently they are willng to give their last available scholarship to 6'1 Ben Gordon from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY.  However, if this happens, it would be very impressive for the Pirates, because Seton Hall will be loaded for some time at the one, two, and three spots.  Remember, Darius Lane will be back for two more years, Andre Barrett and Marcus Toney-El will only be freshmen this year, and Allen is bigger and appears to be better than Gordon.   Still, Seton Hall is the heavy favorite for Gordon, because his other top choice, which was Duke, was no longer in the picture even before they got a commitment yesterday from 6'3 Daniel Ewing from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX.  All this important, because Gordon's recruitment would start over, although Connecticut and Villanova have made inquries lately, if either 6'9 Mark Konecny from Waterbury (Holy Cross) CT or 6'5 Greg Tinch from Albany (Westover) GA, both of whom are also high on the Pirates priority list, beats Gordon to the punch and commitments first to Seton Hall.  Moral to the story, if you know where you want to go school and the offer is on the table, don't fool around.  Things can change quickly in the recruiting game and it just might not be there next week.    However, if you aren't sure or are unconfortable about making your college decision, don't be pressured into doing something prematurely.  Remember, deciding on a college is one of the most important decisions most people (whether they're an athlete or not) will ever make.

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson was at Five-Star Pitt IV tonight and he tells us that 6'5 Adam Sommer from Pickerington (H.S.) OH was the MVP in the Orange-White All-Star Game with 17 points, seven rebounds, and two assists.  Sommer, who camp director Howard Garfinkel calls a miniature Mark "Mad Dog" Madsen, has received mail from schools like Bowling Green, Davidson, Eastern Michigan, and Miami-OH, but as of tonight has not had one Division I offer.  That will likely change in a hurry.  The best player at the camp was 6'10 Larry Turner from Milledgeville (Baldwin) GA, but Johnson also was impressed with 6'2 Dan Oglesby from Hammond (Hammond Hall) CT, 6'8 Nehimiah Ingram from Milledgeville (Baldwin) GA, and 6'2 Juan Manaure, who is originally from Venezuala, but was at Troy (Redemption) NY last year and will enroll at London ((H.B. Beal) ON this fall.  Johnson will provide us with all the award winners from Five-Star Pitt IV tomorrow, plus our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin will fill us in tomorrow on the highlights from Eastern Invitational III.

Portland Legends beat ARC Burbank earlier today, 68-56, in the championship game of the Las Vegas Grand Finale, but the biggest story of the day was who was in the gym to make sure that 6'2 Aaron Miles from Portland (Jefferson) OR , who was sidelined all week with an injury, knows that he is one of their prime targets.  Miles' list, which includes UCLA, Arizona, Kansas, and Duke, hasn't changed since June and the three serious contenders (UCLA, Arizona, and Kansas) all had assistant coaches at the game even though they knew he wasn't going to play.   Also in the house was Arizona head coach Lute Olson and we think the Wildcats are one the co-favorites, along with UCLA, because the word is that Miles wants to play in the Pac-10.  However, when it is all said and done, UCLA assistant coach Michael Holton, who saw every game the Legends played all week, will be very tough to beat.  Did you know that Holton played two years with the Portland Trailblazers, plus he was an assistant coach at both the University of Portland and Oregon State, before moving onto UCLA?  As a matter of fact, there isn't anyplace on earth where Holton has stronger contacts than in Portland, OR.  He's been a close friend of Miles' AAU coach Troy Berry from 15 years and he's known his high school coach just as long.  Getting back to the championship game, 6'3 Mike McGrain from Portland (Jesuit) OR, who is already getting interest from schools like Utah, Oregon State, Santa Clara, and Illinois, was clearly the best player in the game.  He finished with 29 points and beat ARC inside, outside, and at the fou line.   He was complemented by 6'3 Michael Lee from Portland (Jefferson) OR with 19 points and 6'4 Jr Chris Rodgers from Portland (Wilson) OR, who is an excellent shooter/slasher.  The leading scorer for ARC with 21 points was 6'5 Earnest Williams from Sylmar (H.S.) CA.  He did most of his damage inside, while 6'5 Casey Markovich from Burbank (Bell-Jeff) CA kept the defense honest from beyond the arc with four treys and 6'2 Alex Cabagnet from Los Angeles (Eaglesrock) CA impressed us with his point guard skills and ability to find the open man.

Saturday, July 29, 2000, and Sunday, July 30, 2000

July is always the toughest month of the year, as is evident by the fact that I've been on the road since June 30th and I've been all over the country watching high school players at many of the numerous camps and tournaments.   And it's almost over, at least for the college coaches, because the live evaluation period for recruiting ends on Monday, July 31st.  But not for me, because right now I'm in Las Vegas, NV for the Grand Finale and the next stop will be Portland, OR for the NIKE Tournament of Champions, which will be held August, 3rd-6th.  Also, the busiest week of the year for verbal commitments in the last year was the first week of August a year ago.  And it looks like that trend will continue, as we've picked up four new verbal commitments over the weekend.  The biggest is 6'3 Daniel Ewing from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX, who had a press conference earlier today and announced for Duke.  This is no surprise, because Ewing, who was ranked # 32 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP pre-summer, but who has to move up after terrific performances at the adidas ABCD Camp and the Best of the Summer Boys' High School Basketball Tournament, has always been a Duke fan.   It's also been common knowledge for the last several weeks that Ewing wanted to commit to the Blue Devils.  All they had to do was pull the trigger.  Well, it happened today and it's a perfect fit, because Ewing has a 4.0 gpa, can shoot the lights out, and is a terrific defender.  As a matter of fact, he can shut down the one, two, or the three defensively.  Which means that Houston Superstars head coach John Eurey, who has been grooming Ewing and 5'10 Terrance Ford from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX since they were in 8th grade, has one down and one to go.   Speaking of Ford, Eurey tells us that his top three schools are Texas, Georgetown, and Louisville and he warns us that it may happen very soon, like maybe the first week in August.  Getting back to the other commitments, Oregon State has gotten 6'2 J.S. Nash from Moreno Valley (H.S.) CA, 6'9 Matt Gibson from Burkburnett (H.S.) TX has picked the University of Oklahoma, and 6'2 Michael Liggons from Rome (Coosa) GA is heading to the University of Georgia.  We find the Liggons commitment especially interesting, because he didn't have a good summer while playing for the Georgia Stars club team.  However, he averaged 27.0 ppg last winter as a high school junior and is regarded by many as the best point guard in the state of Georgia.  Part of the problem this summer may stem from the fact that Liggons had to play out of position.  Actually, he's a scoring point guard, but 5'11Cornelius Mitchell from Augusta (Josey) GA was the guy who ran the show for the Georgia Stars.  But Liggons figures to see quality minutes at Georgia right away, especially if 5'9 Kenneth Brunner from Southern Idaho (JC) ID fails to materialize (we should know one way or the other in about three weeks), because the only other point guard in the entire program is 6'2 Rashad Wright from Statesboro (H.S.) GA.  And we don't think Wright's good enough to be more than a good role player in the tough SEC.  Liggons, who picked Georgia over Florida, Tennessee, and N.C. State, also is important, because he may help the Bulldogs get his teammate and buddy on the Georgia Stars - 6'10 Larry Turner from Milledgeville (Baldwin) GA, who is one of the Georgia's prime targets.  And as long as we're talking about Georgia's recruiting, the possibilities are almost endless, as 6'6 Michael Collins from Commerce (H.S.) GA, 6'5 Karl Hollingsworth from Jonesboro (Mt. Zion) GA, 6'6 Dijon Thompson from Redondo Beach (Redondo Union) CA, 6'5 Greg Tinch from Albany (Westover) GA, 6'5 Barry Elder from Madison (Morgan County) GA, 6'5 Josh Pace from Griffin (H.S.) GA, 7'0 Marcus Campbell from Albany (Westover) GA, 6'0 Jonathan Hargett from Durham (Emmanuel) GA, and 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL are all on their wish list. 

Well, our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson just missed on his prediction that Cincinnati AAU Black would win the National 17-Under AAU Junior Boys' Basketball National Championship in Orlando, FL.  Instead, the championship trophy went to the Boo Williams Summer League Team, which prevailed over Cincinnati AAU Black, 51-46, in the title game.  Tournament MVP honors went to 6'8 Elton Brown from Newport News (Warwick) VA, but he certainly didn't win it based on his performance in the championship game.  He did have 13 rebounds in the title game, but he only scored nine points and hit just 1-8 field goals, as he missed all the easy shots.  As a matter of fact, six of his nine points came off free throws, while his only field goal was a 3-pointer.  Instead, Brown took home the MVP trophy based on his play from earlier games, including the semi-finals when he had 19 points and the quarterfinals when he had 21 points.  Also not shooting well in the title game was 6'4 J.J. Redick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA, as he hit only 2-8 field goals.  Riddick and 6'8 Jason Clark from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA both finished with 12 points apiece, but the big hero of the day was 6'3 Bryan Randall from Bruton (H.S.) VA, who scored five straight points to ice the victory for Boo Williams in the final minute of the game.  The Boo Williams Summer League team had jumped out to a 15-3 lead at the end of the first quarter and they were up 22-6 late in the second quarter, but then they took the air out of the ball.   Not only did that totally destroy their momentum, but it also let Cincinnati AAU Black back into the game, as they outscored Boo Williams 9-1 to make it 23-15 at halftime.  And Cincinnati AAU made it even more interesting in the second half, as they cut it to three at the end of the third quarter and to two with a minute left.   But then Randall took over.  The leading scorer in the title game for Cincinnati AAU Black was 6'7 Matt Sylvester from Cincinnati (Moeller) OH with 15 points (12 of which came in the second half).   He was complemented by 6'5 Keith Jackson from Cincinnati (Purcell-Marion) OH with nine points and 6'8 Jordan Cornette from Cincinnati (St. Xavier) OH with eight points.  In the quarterfinals 6'1 Chris Thomas shot the lights out with six 3-pointers against Team Texas Red and that was the big reason why Bloomington Red pulled off what appeared to be a major upset.   As a matter of fact, a lot of people at the time thought Team Texas Red might win the tournament.  However, Thomas hit only 4-16 field goals, including 0-3 in the 4th quarter, in the semi-finals against Cincinnati AAU and that proved to be the difference in the game.  Boo Williams overcame a major 4th quarter comeback by NIKE Team Florida in the other semi-finals game.  NIKE Team Florida also lost 61-59 in the third place game when 6'0 Terren Wilson from Indianapolis (Warren Central) IN drove in for a layup with 3.5 seconds left to hit the game winning shot.   The leading scorer in the tournament with a 32.5 ppg average was 6'4 Clayton Hanson from Reedsburg (Area) WI.  He was followed by 6'9 Jr Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC with 30.2 ppg, 6'6 Eric Swiezynski from Wilmington (H.S.) MA with 28.6 ppg, 6'9 Jr Amarie Stoudamire from Lake Wales (H.S.) FL 25.1 ppg, 6'1 Greg Jennings from Kalamazoo (Central) MI with 25.0 ppg, 6'6 Bryan McCollough from Spencer (North Rowan) NC with 24.9 ppg, 5'9 Michael Ross from Beckley (Woodrow Wilson) WV with 24.5 ppg, 6'6 Mike Grinnon from Oyster Bay (St. Dominic) NY with 23.6 ppg, 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY with 23.0 ppg, and 6'9 Lawrence Roberts from Houston (Lamar) TX with 22.7 ppg.  The First Team All-Tournament Team included Brown, Hodge, Randolph, Redick, Stoudamire, Sylvester, Thomas, 6'2 Mitchell Bittle from Winston-Salem (R.J. Reynolds) NY, 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St Jude) AL, 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL,  6'2 Jr Jeff Horner from Mason City (H.S.) IA, 6'5 Keith Jackson from Cincinnati (Purcell-Marion) OH, 6'1 Stanley Jackson from Dunnellon (H.S.) FL, 6'8 Jr Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN, 6'8 Wayne Simien from Leavenworth (H.S.) KS, and 6'5 Marcellus Sommerville from Peoria (Central) IL.  Named to the Second Team All-Tournament team were Clark, Cornett, Hanson, McCullough, 6'6 Alan Anderson from Minneapolis (DeLaSalle) MN, 6'8 Jr Yusaf Baker from Orlando (Evans) FL, 6'5 Eddie Basden from Greenbelt (Eleanor Roosvelt) MD, 6'1 Charles Frederick from Baco Raton (Pope John Paul VI) FL, 6'3 Luther Head from Chicago (Manley) IL,6'6 Danny Horace from Cincinnati (Western Hills) OH, 6'8 Rob Kampman from Forest City (H.S.) IA, 6'7 Jason Maxiell from Carrollton (Newman Smith) TX, 6'2 Melvin Scott from Baltimore (Southern) MD, 6'9 Harvey Thomas from Durham (Emmanuel) NC, and 6'0 Clyde Wade from Memphis (Kingsbury) TN.

Friday, July 28, 2000

Most people are wondering if 6'1 Chris Thomas from Indianapolis (Pike) IN will honor the commitment that he made a month ago to Notre Dame.  Well, he told us an hour ago that there are no if's, and's, or but's about it - his commitment to the Irish is firm.  Speaking of Notre Dame, we have two very reliable sources who tell us that the new Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey will hire Clemson assistant coach Anthony Solomon.  We also look for St. Louis assistant Cameron Dollar to get the head coaching job at Albany and for University of Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith to move up assistant coach Mike Sutton and hire former Kentucky player Reggie Hanson into the on campus position. The word on the street in Washington, DC is that former University of California head coach Todd Bozeman may be in line for the job at Riverdale (Baptist) MD.  And guess who his first recruit might be?  If you said 6'7 James White from Kensington (Newport Prep) MD via York (Cripus Attucks) PA, you are right on the money.  We still haven't heard for sure if Crispus Attucks will close down their program next year, but White isn't the only player who was slated for this basketball factory in Eastern Pennsylvania who is now looking elsewhere.  Remember, 6'8 Sherrod Ford has changed his mind and is now heading to Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA. 

We reported yesterday in the Members Section that we thought Duke was out with 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL, but we didn't tell you that North Carolina is a lot stronger than most people realize.  However, in the end we still think Louisville will be tough to beat and one of the big reasons is that head coach Denny Crum has lived with Cisse and 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX, who verbally committed to the Cardinals in early June, most of the summer.  As a matter of fact, Crum wins our Most Visible Head Coach of the Summer Award, because he's been at all the major events this summer.  This is especially important for Louisville's recruiting, because it looks like the Cardinals are not only on the verge of landing their second top five ranked senior nationally in Cisse, but also because Crum spent a lot of time watching numerous young players.  All this becomes especially important, because in recent years Louisville was behind the eight ball in recruiting and, as a result, has had to scramble around and recruit only for the present.  However, now Crum has seen many of the top underclassmen and, as a result, Louisville should be way ahead of the game when it comes to recruiting in the future.  And if you don't believe it, just ask some of the freshmen and sophomores that Crum has seen this summer what it's like to have a Hall of Fame coach who has won two NCAA Championships and been to the NCAA Final Four six times watching their every move.

Things are winding down at the National 17-Under AAU Junior Boys' Basketball National Championship in Orlando, FL, as we are half way through the round of 16.  Earlier today Illinois Gold, without 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL, who was sidelined with a foot injury that he received yesterday while playing the first quarter in the big matchup against 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL, survived an overtime thriller against Philly Hoops-Airborne.  So Illinois will meet the Boo Williams Summer League Team, which beat Iowa Break Zone, in the first quarter finals game at 5:30 PM.  The second quarter finals game, which will be at 7:00 PM,  should feature All-Ohio Red against NIKE Team Florida.  Neither game is currently over, but both teams had a substantial lead early in the 4th quarter.  On the other other side of the bracket, the winners of Bloomington Red versus Team Michigan and the Kansas City 76ers versus Team Texas Red will play at 8:30 PM and the winner of Cincinnati AAU Black versus the Charlotte Aces and New York Ravens versus Martin Brothers Select (IA) will play at 10:00 PM.  We're still going to put the monkey on the back of Cincinnati AAU Black by making them the favorite, but Boo Williams Summer League Team, Team Texas Red, and Bloomington Red all have a lot of weapons.  So does the New York Ravens, which features 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY.  Not only does Hodge just get better and better every time we see him play, but he does it so deceptively.  The perfect example was night before last when the Ravens lost to Boo Williams.  Hodge had 35 points, including 11-21 and 10-10 3-pointers, and three 3-pointers, but you would never have known it without looking a the box score.  He just does everything so effortless!  Sure, Hodge needs to get bigger and stronger, but he's one of the most improved players in the nation over the last year and he's not close to being done.   As a matter of fact, we'd be surprised if he doesn't continue to grow at least another inch or two.  Remember, he was only 6'1 heading into his junior year.   Hodge, who is now the obvious choice for Player-of-the-Summer, also has a good supporting cast with 6'5 Chris McRae from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, who does most of the dirty work inside, and 6'6 Francisco Garcia from Cheshire (Academy) CT, who is tough on the boards and has surprised with his clutch 3-point shooting.  So it wouldn't be a major surprise if the Ravens picked up where they left off at the adidas Big Time Tournament and knocked off the Cincinnati AAU Black tonight.  And Hodge has to be one of the top four players in the tournament, along with Cisse, Curry, and 6'9 Jr Amare Stoudamire from Lake Wales (H.S.) FL, who was on fire, as he didn't miss a shot in the first half just a little while ago.  We were especially impressed with Stoudamire's 15-foot jumper, as well as several of his teammates, including 6'3 Bryant Marlyn from Leesburg (H.S.) FL, who is one of the athletes in the class, and 6'1 Stanley Jackson from Dunnellon (H.S.) FL, who scored 26 points and shot the lights out today.  However, neither Marlyn nor Jackson was one of the best players in the tournament.  Rounding out our top five best is 6'9 Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC, who had a 47 point game and, as a result, was by-far-and-away the leading scorer in the tournament.  We didn't think Randolph started off the summer very well at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions, but, as his confidence has continued to grow, we thought he was terrific at the NIKE All-American Camp, where we ranked him #7 at the center position, and he's been even better here.   As a result, he has to be one of the top ranked juniors in America, along with Stoudamire, 6'6 Jr Leonard Cooke from Old Tappon (H.S.) NJ, 6'2 Jr Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) IN, 6'1 Jr Chadd Moore from Huntsville (Lee) AL, and 6'9 Jr Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN.   Speaking of May, he too was terrific at NIKE, but has been even better here.  May has a huge frame, but he's also got soft hands, excellent post moves, and surprising mobility.  Plus, he'll likely grow some more, because he has a size 19 shoe.  May wouldn't give us a list of schools, because he says he hasn't started narrowing it down.  However, we know a lot of coaches who say they won't even try to recruit him, because his father is former Indiana University star Scott May.   As a result, we believe his top three schools are Indiana, Indiana, and Indiana.    Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports had 6'8 Anthony Richardson from Raleigh (Leesville Road) NC ranked #22 pre-summer, but most everybody else in the business (including us) had never heard of him prior to the NIKE All-American Camp, where he finished ranked #31 overall and #6 at his position, according to the HOOP SCOOP.  And he was ever better here, as he scored 27 points and hit five 3-pointers in the game we attended earlier in the week.   Richardson is a multi-dimensional athlete out of the DerMarr Johnson and Scottie Pippen mold.  In addition to his outside shooting, his ball handling, shot blocking, rebounding, and ability to score inside are all very impressive.   He may not have gotten enough notoriety early enough to make the prestigious McDonald's American Team next spring, but he may have shot anyway because the game will played right in his backyard.  That's right!  We're talking about a legitimate top 20 senior nationally, although many in our business still have no clue how good he is.    Another multi-dimensional athlete who most people haven't picked up on yet is 6'9 Jayson McCoy from Houston (Milby) TX.  He's primarily a perimeter player right now, because he's so thin he just gets pushed around too much inside.  However, he is a nice shot blocker, excellent ball handler, and good 3-point shooter.  He also has a soft touch, long arms, and is extremely active, which is why we think he could become a top 100 player in his class once he gets stronger and somebody teaches him how to play the game.  Yet another multi-dimensional athlete who emerged in this tournament is 6'7 Raymond Dickens from Baltimore (Douglass) MD.   Dickens is almost as skinny, but he's a lot more skilled.  Dickens also has great timing and rebounds extremely well for his size.  However, as the game wears on he also shows you his mid-range jumper, plus he helps bring the ball up the court and passes the ball surprisingly well.  And Dickens wasn't the only player who impressed us on the Oliver Rec Center Owls, which took the New York Ravens to the wire last night.    He didn't shoot it like he did at the NBA Players Association Camp, but 6'3 Melvin Scott from Baltimore (Southern) MD played great defense and was terrific in transition.  And 6'2 Jr Deshawn Lucky from Baltimore (Southern) MD, who is an excellent athlete, is a lot better than we thought.   Also moving way up in our rankings based on their performances here are 6'9 Harvey Thomas from Durham (Emmanuel) NC, 6'9 Duane Erwin from Huntsville (Lee) AL,  6'8 Sherrod Ford from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA. and 6'8 Jason Clark from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA.  We could go on and on, but it's time for us to get back to live action.

Thursday, July 27, 2000

We had reported earlier in the month that Wake Forest was the favorite for 6'9 Jamal Levy from Homestead (Berkshire) FL, who currently is ranked #28 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  Well, write it down!   We confirmed earlier today that this multi-dimensional athlete with a tremendous upside (he's only 16-years-old) has picked the Demon Deacons and he promises to be only the first in what is starting off to be an excellent recruiting class for head coach Dave Odom.  Their next commitment will likely come from 6'2 Mitchell Bittle from Winston-Salem (R.J. Reynolds) NC and they are a lot stronger than most people realize for 6'8 Jason Clark from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA.  Clark also has Virginia Tech high on his list, but the smart money is on Virginia, which is trying to package Clark and 6'8 Elton Brown from Newport News (Warwick) VA.  Can the Cavaliers get both Clark and Brown, even though they play a similar position? Their AAU coach Boo Williams thinks so.   We also still think that the Cavaliers are the leader for 7'1 DeSagana Diop from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA and, with 6'1 Keith Jenifer from York (Crispus Attucks) PA already in the fold, this could become a monster recruiting class for the Cavaliers.  Duke appears to be out on both 6'1 Ben Gordon from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY and 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL, but 6'3 Daniel Ewing from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX may be a done deal for the Blue Devils.  Apparently all they have to do is decide to pull the trigger.   We'd be surprised if the Blue Devils don't get either 6'8 David Lee from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO or 6'11 Rick Rickert from Duluth (East) MN.   However, we not ready to tell you which one, because as it stands now we believe Florida is the leader for Lee and Arizona is the leader for Rickert.  But the longer it goes, the better we like the Blue Devils chances in both cases.  Now that Duke is no longer recruiting Gordon, we think this athletic combo guard will likely pick Seton Hall and that should start a chain reaction.  Currently Seton Hall is also the favorite for 6'5 John Allen from Coatesville (H.S.) PA, but we'd be surprised if the Pirates sign two more guards in the same recruiting class.  Instead, that would mean Allen would stay home and attend Villanova, which appears to be his second choice over Rutgers.  And if that happens, Rutgers would have a better shot at getting 6'2 Ernest Turner from Sterling (Somerdale) NJ, because Seton Hall and Villanova would no longer be interested in signing a guard.  Florida State appears to be the heavy favorite for 6'1 Charles Frederick from Baton Raton (Pope John Paul VI) FL, because they're the only school that has expressed a serious interest in letting him play both football and basketball.  However, his best friend is at the University of Washington and his cousin is a football player at Auburn, so they're both on his list.  So is Miami-FL.  Georgetown, N.C. State, Maryland, Virginia, UCLA, Seton Hall, and Connecticut are all involved with 6'8 Harvey Thomas from Durham (Emmanuel) NC.  Seton Hall, Maryland, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Fresno State are the leaders for 6'2 Melvin Scott from Baltimore (Southern) MD.  The University of Washington has gotten a pair of commitments from 6'8 Anthony Washington from Seattle (Garfield) WA and 6'7 Josh Williams from Yakima (Davis) WA.   The latest list for 6'6 Najeeb Echols from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL includes DePaul, Missouri, Houston, Illinois, Iowa, Cincinnati, and UCLA.  Utah may be the leader for 6'2 Kyle Hankins from Bloomington (South) IN, but he also mentions Indiana, Marquette, Xavier, Dayton, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Ball State, UNC-Wilmington, and Valparaiso.  Virginia Tech, Seton Hall, West Virginia, Connecticut, and Seton Hall are showing the most interest in 6'6 Tyrone Salley from Durham (Emmanuel) NC.

It will likely go down as the best battle of the entire summer.  We're talking about the matchup earlier today between 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL and 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL in the 17-Under AAU Junior Boys' Basketball National Championship in Orlando, FL.  If Curry hadn't shown up, Cisse likely would have done what he did to 7'0 Tyson Chandler from Compton (Dominguez) CA at the NIKE All-American Camp two and a half weeks ago.  And just like the game at Chandler at the NIKE Camp, Cisse, who has the reputation for being the ultimate warrior, had been eagerly anticipating this game.  On the other hand, Curry, who has a reputation for not always playing hard, told several people we know before the contest that to him it was just another game.  However, very early in the game Curry found out that he was in for a challenge, as Cisse made a powerful move to the basket that resulted in an earthshattering slam dunk.  And Curry responded! He  still needs to get into better shape, but he played harder than we've seen him play all spring or summer and he used his monmouth frame to push Cisse around and dominate in the paint.   However, Cisse wasn't intimidated and he did his share of pushing back.  In the end Cisse finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks, while Curry had 16 points, four rebounds, and four blocks.  But don't let the statistics deceive you.   It was a near draw, because Cisse had plenty of help putting the double and triple team on Curry throughout the game. The bottom line is that with his incredible athleticism, quickness, and strength, Cisse is every bit as good as advertised.   That's right!  His performance at the NIKE All-American Camp was no fluke and anybody who thinks he'll just be a role player in the NBA will be in for a major surprise.  Not only was Cisse a force inside on the boards and blocking shots, but he also showed that he has the ability to shoot over somebody with Curry's size from out to about 10'.  Curry, on the other hand, needs to play like this all the time.  And if the light ever clicks on and he does, he could quickly become one of the most dominating players to ever play the game, as well as the #1 or #2 choice in the NBA draft.   However, for now he remains an enigma.  And he may even be too nice a kid.   Certainly he has both the talent and the potential to rank along with 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ, as one of the truly special players in a great class, but we still want him to continue to earn.  So we'll leave him at #6 in the class for now, behind Wagner, Cisse, 6'4  Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) FL, 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, and 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX.  Also impressing us in the Illinois Gold's 55-49 second round playoff win over Pepsi Challenge (AL) was 6'7 Marcellus Sommerville from Peoria (Central) IL and 6'9 Duane Erwin from Huntsville (Lee) AL.  Sommerville hit a number of big 3-pointers, which helped kept the defense honest against Curry.  As a matter of fact, Sommerville, who previously had strictly been a post player, has shot the lights out all summer and, as a result, has to be one of the most improved outside shooters we're seen in a long time.  Erwin has always had a reputation for being soft, but he did a great job of helping Cisse double team Curry, plus he had  several big blocks, was tough on the boards, and very aggressive at the defensive end. 

Wednesday, July 26, 2000

We've already sung the praises of 6'9 Jr Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, 6'6 Jr Kelenna Azuibuke from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK, 6'4 Jr DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, and 6'8 Jr Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK, who was terrific at the adidas Big Time Tournament, but was missing from this tournament, because he was in Columbus, OH watching his brother play baseball.   Instead, it was another rising junior - 6'6 Jr Marques Hayden from Putnam City (H.S.) OK - who stepped up and hit the game tying layup and the game winning 12-footer against New York Riverside Church in the championship game at the AAU Super Showcase in Orlando, FL yesterday afternoon.  The final score was 44-42, so it was easy to see why Hayden, who finished with 13 points, was the only player for either team to finish in double-digits.  The leading scorer for Riverside Church was 6'0 Jr Jason Wingate from New York (Rice) NY with nine points, followed by 5'11 Ted Mumford from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY with seven points and 6'3 Jr Ricardo Soliver from Bronx (All Hallows) NY and 6'7 Tremayne Singletary from Bayside (Cardozo) NY, who each had six points apiece.  Our choice for tournament MVP honors would have been Williams, because he's such a physcial presence inside.  However, Hayden took home the MVP trophy.  Also named to the all-tournament team from Athletes First were 6'4 Jr DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, 6'9Jr Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK.  The Houston Hoops with 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX and 6'4 Marcus Spears from Baton Rouge (Southern Lab) LA, Riverside Church with 6'6 Wendall Gibson from Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY and 6'3 Ricardo Soliver from Bronx (All Hallows) NY, Shreveport Bossier City with 6'5 Antonio Hudson from Grambling (Lab) LA and 6'1 Bruce Edward from Slidell (Salmen) LA, and Bray Center NIKE with 6'0 Wil Bynum from Chicago (Crane) IL and 6'7 Barry Thompson from Winchendon (School) MA also all each placed two players on the all-tournament team.  Also named to the team were 6'1Travis Diener from Fond du Lac (Goodrich) WI, 6'9 Thomas Fairley from Long Beach (H.S.) MS, 6'4 Winsome Frazier from Miami (Northwestern) FL, 6'11 David Harrison from Brentwood (Academy) TN, 6'5 Karl Hollingsworth from Jonesboro (Mt. Zion) GA, 6'8 Mike Jensen from Kent (Kentwood) WA, 6'8 David Lee from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO, 6'7 Jason Maxiell from Carrollton (Newman Smith) TX, 5'10 Jr Mario Moore from Antioch (H.S.) TN, 6'4 Earnest Shelton from Memphis (White Station) TN, 6'3 Ricky Shields from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, 6'2 Patrick Sparks from Greenville (Muhlenberg North) KY, 6'2 Jr Marshall Strickland from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'4 J.J. Sullinger from Worthington (Thomas Worthington) OH, and 6'7 Orin Thompson from Charlotte (Christian) NC.

One of the more interesting stories out there right now involves North Carolina's recruitment of wing players.  Can you believe the new coaching staff is out with 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, who our was runnerup choice for MVP honors at both the adidas ABCD Camp and the adidas Big Time Tournament?  Instead, the Tar Heels got a verbal commitment two weeks ago from 6'6 Jackie Manuel from Ft. Lauderdale (Cardinal Newman) FL and they appear to be the heavy favorite for  6'7 James White from York (Crispus Attucks) PA.  Remember, White's father has always been a Tar Heels fan and, as a result, most people in the know believe it's only a matter of time before White makes it official for North Carolina.  So why is North Carolina recruiting the heck out of 6'6 Dijon Thompson from Redondo Beach (Redondo Union) CA?  Well, at least that's what our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis, who also happens to be Thompson's club team coach, tells us.  "They're showing a strong interest," says Trigonis.  "Somebody from North Carolina calls me everyday and they're showing up at all of our games.  They even came to see us at Fairfax High School, which was why out of the way."  In addition to North Carolina, Thompson also has USC, Arizona, Connecticut, and UCLA at the top of his list, but Oregon, UNLV, Utah, Kansas, and Kentucky are also still in the hunt. 

The consensus among people in the business was that 6'6 David Holmes from Washington (Coolidge) DC via Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA would not make up enough ground academically in a single year to become eligible as a college freshman this year at Manhattan.  However, miracles do happen, as it evident by the fact that Holmes has gotten the necessary score on the SAT and, as a result, it appears that it is only a matter of time before he's eligible.  And if that happens, Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez will look like genius for taking the chance on this undersized power forward who could be one of the best players in the league the moment he puts on a uniform.   There are others that are trying to get involved, but our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio tells us that the serious contenders for 6'7 Kenny Adelake from Brooklyn (Paul Robeson) NY are Rutgers, Providence, Boston College, Rhode Island, Hofstra, Clemson, and New Mexico.  It no longer looks like 7'0 Tyson Chandler from Compton (Dominguez) CA is a lock to bypass college and go directly to the NBA out of high school.  And if that happens, UCLA is still believed to be the favorite, although Cincinnati Michigan, Arizona, and Memphis are a lot stronger than you might think.  Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Rice, Houston, USC, St. Louis, and Notre Dame are the leaders for 6'9 Emeka Okafor from Houston (Bellaire) TX.  The favorites for 6'7 Anthony Vassor from Birmingham (Woodlawn) AL are Georgia Tech, Alabama, UAB, Clemson, Virginia, Arkansas, and Mississippi State.  Miami-FL, Rutgers, Rhode Island, Iowa State, and Wisconsin are all in the hunt for 6'7 Barry Thompson from Winchendon (School) MA. Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that Arizona State has received a commitment from 6'2 Jason Braxton from Moreno Valley (Canyon Springs) CA. 

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson was at the Bobby Kortsen Summer Shootout in Columbus, OH over the weekend and the two best teams were Cincinnati AAU and Albany Westover High School.  However, neither of those teams won the tournament, as the Indy Metro's #3 pulled off a string of upsets to win the open division.  They knocked off Westover in the final.  However, Johnson believes that Cincinnati AAU would have marched through the tournament like Sherman marched through Atlanta, if they had stayed for the entire tournament.  They crushed everybody in pool play, including Albany Westover, but had to leave for Orlando, FL on Sunday for the National 17-Under AAU Tournament.  As a matter of fact, Johnson was so impressed with Mike Price's star-studded team, which features four high major Division I players in 6'7 Matt Sylvester from Cincinnati (Moeller) OH, 6'8 Jordan Cornette from Cincinnati (St. Xavier) OH, 6'8 Adam Waleskowski from Kettering (Alter) OH, and 6'5 Keith Jackson from Cincinnati (Purcell Marian) OH, that he is willing to go out on a limb and predict that Cincinnati AAU will win the National 17-Under Tournament in Orlando, FL.  We find it interesting that Cornette told Johnson that he still plans to attend Notre Dame, despite the coaching change, although that commitment is not a 100%.  In other words, if the new coaching staff at North Carolina comes calling, it could make things interesting.  Johnson also talked to Jackson and his top schools are Michigan State, Xavier, Dayton, Tennessee, Michigan, Georgia Tech, and Connecticut.  Waleskowski's likes Dayton, Xavier, Purdue, and Tennessee, which is where he had planned to make an unofficial visit on the way down to Orlando, FL.  The tournament MVP was 6'5 Michael Crawford from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, who more held his own battling Westover's 7'0 Marcus Campbell and 6'5 Greg Tinch in the championship game.   Although Campbell and Tinch are well known nationally after touring with the Atlanta Celtics, the Westover player who impressed Johnson the most was 6'5 Darryl Williams.  Johnson thinks Williams will end up being better than Tinch, because he's a deadly 3-point shooter and has better ball handling skills.  However, we may have to wait several years for that to materialize, because this Michael Cooper-play-alike will likely have to go the junior college route.  Others who impressed Johnson at the Shootout were 6'4 Ben Reed from Battle Creek (Central) MI, 6'3 Jr Chris Hartley from Noblesville (H.S.) IN, 6'3 Dave Teague from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, 6'8 Cullen McCarthy from Bridgton (Bridgton Academy) ME, 6'3 Jr Logan White from Bedford (Chanel) OH, 6'7 Corey Eyink from Maria Stein (Marion Local) OH, 6'5 Jr Alex Carmona from Troy (H.S.) OH, 6'7 Soph Ivan Harris from Springfield (North) OH, 6'5 Issian Redding from Sandusky (H.S.) OH, 6'6 Doug Scott from Reynoldsburg (H.S.) OH, 6'1 Jr Chris Quinn from Dublin (Coffman) OH, 6'2 Soph Kevin Anderson from Worthington (Thomas Worthington) OH, and 6'5 Adam Zoellner from Hamburg (H.S.) NY.

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson also attended the final day of Five-Star Pitt III on Monday and 6'5 Soph Lebron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH was the talk of the camp.  James was the first player in the history of Five-Star to play in two all-star games (the Developmental League all-star game and the NBA all-star game) on the same night.   This occurred when 6'5 Devin Green from Akron (Buchtel) OH had to leave early to go to Orlando, FL for the National 17-Under AAU Tournament. James took Green's spot on the Jazz in the NBA and, as a result, played over half the league games, which qualified him for the all-star game.  In addition, James also continued to play in all the Developmental Games.  As a result, he took home the following hardware:  Top Scorer in the Developmental League (16.6 ppg), Most Outstanding Player in the Developmental League, and the Most Promising Prospect in the entire camp.  The legandary Tom Konchalski, who has created the Developmental League for Five-Star years ago, told Johnson that James is the most talented and advanced prospect in that league since Duane Ferrell in 1981.  And that includes players like Stephon Marbury, Rasheed Wallace, Felipe Lopez, Tim Thomas, et al.  "In addition to his natural talent and skills, what separates James from all the rest is his ablitity to make his teammates better," says Johnson.  And that's why James, who also was very impressive at the adidas Big-Time Tournament (26.0 ppg), will be ranked as the #1 ranked sophomore nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  Apparently Ohio State and Cincinnati agree, because both the Buckeyes and the Bearcats have been following him around all summer.  Johnson thought the second best player in the Developmental League was 6'4 Soph Mike Sawyer-Jones from Braintree (Thayer) MA, who was named the MVP in the Orange-White Developmental All-Star Game.  Others worth mentioning are 6'5 Soph Wendell White from Redando Beach (Redondo Union) CA, 6'6 Soph Ije Nwankoo from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, 6'7 Soph Craig Cashen from Cincinnati (St. Xavier) OH, 6'6 Soph Parnell Smith from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, 5'11 Soph Michael Word from Fairburn (Creekside) GA, and 5'5 Soph Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, who was voted the top playmaker and playoff  MVP in the Developmental League.  The MVP of the NBA Orange-White All-Star Classic was 6'5 Reggie Stovell from Lakeville (Hotchkiss School) CT.  He scored 13 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the victorious Orange Team, plus he was named the Best Rebounder in the NBA.  The Most Outstanding Player in the NBA was 6'2 Melvin Scott from Baltimore (Southern) MD, the Best Defender was 6'8 Guy Sarargba from the Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, the Most Improved and the Playoff MVP was 5'11 Cymere McLain from Worcester (Holy Name) MA.

Tuesday, July 25, 2000

We've heard a lot of names for the vacant University of Kentucky assistant coaching position, but until now we haven't been comfortable even speculating on who will replace Shawn Finney, who last week became the new head coach at Tulane.  However, last night our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis threw a name at us that makes perfect sense.   Have you ever heard of Jeff Schneider?  Well, I sure have!  Schneider was an assistant coach at Bowling Green when I first met him in the mid-80's and I've known he was one of the bright young guys in the business ever since.  He later moved to Tulsa, where he worked for both J.D. Barnett and Tubby Smith,and more recently has been the head coach at Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo.  Not only has Schneider recruited well to this up and coming program in the Big West Conference, but he's done a great job of getting the Mustangs through the transition period after moving into the Division I ranks in the early 90's.  This also makes sense, because night before last we saw Tubby at the AAU Super Showcase in Orlando, FL.  We also saw Schneider here yesterday.  And that's a little surprising, because most of the players Schneider is involved with are on the West Coast.  As a result, he'd be wasting his time here, unless he was meeting with Tubby about the Kentucky job.  Also, interesting is the fact that we saw another one of Tubby's former assistants yesterday who, by the way, also has previous head coaching experience and has been rumored for the Kentucky job.  We're talking about New Mexico assistant coach Joe Dooley, who previously was an assistant coach under Smith at Georgia, as well as the head coach East Carolina.  Apparently one of the reasons that former Alabama head coach David Hobbs, who is a very close friend of Smith's, wasn't considered for the job is because Kentucky needs somebody on their staff who is young and able to relate to the players.  Being able to send emails to players and keeping track of what's being said on the internet also are becoming increasingly important.   And this brings us back to Schneider, because in this area he also appears to be well ahead of the curve.  As a matter of fact, when we saw him Las Vegas at the adidas Big Time Tournament last week, Schneider showed us his new hand held device that allows him to access the internet from anywhere. 

Finally all the head coaching positions have been filled, except for one, and Albany University doesn't seem to be in any big hurry to get that one done.   The candidates include three bright young assistant coaches - Pennsylvania's Steve Donahue, George Mason's Bill Courtney, and Saint Louis' Cameron Dollar, a successful Division III head coach - Mike Lonergen of Catholic University, and several former college coaches - George Blaney and Paul Cormier.

Last night Athletes First (OK) beat Shreveport Bossier City, 79-63, and New York Riverside Church edged out the Houston Hoops, 63-62, in the semi-finals of the AAU Super Showcase in Orlando, FL.  Despite the fact that Athletes First is missing one its best players in 6'8 Jr Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK, they still just picked off where they left off in Las Vegas, NV last week, when they shocked everybody by advancing all the way to the final four of the adidas Big Time Tournament. Picking up the slack inside was 6'9 Jr Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, who was one of the leading rebounders in the tournament, but the difference in last night's game was the outside shooting by 6'6 Jr Keleena Azibuke from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK and 6'4 Jr DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, who combined for 45 of the 79 points scored by Athletes First.  In the other game, 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX was on fire early, as he hit five 3-pointers.  However, in the second half Hurt was tired and double-teamed and, as a result, was held scoreless.  Instead, the player who proved to be especially dangerous down the stretch for the Houston Hoops was 6'4 Marcus Spears from Baton Rouge (Southern Lab) LA, who is almost impossible to stop inside, because he's so strong, physical, and mobile for somebody his size.  Spears had 23 points, as together he and Hurt accounted for 42 of the Houston Hoops 63 points.  However, that wasn't quite enough, as 6'6 Wendall Gibson from Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY and 6'3 Ricardo Soliver from Bronx (All Hallows) NY combined for 44 of Riverside Church's 63 points.  And like Hurt, Soliver shot the lights out, as he had six triples of his own, most of which came in the first half.   The scoring leaders for the tournament, which were compiled by Stephen Wacaser, the Editor of Assists, Turnover, and Loose Balls, do not include last night's semi-final games, but they do include everything else.  The leading scorer was 6'4 Earnest Shelton from Memphis (White Station) TN with 28.7 ppg.  Hurt was second with 26.7 ppg, followed by Spears with 23.3 ppg, 5'10 Will Holloman from Jacksonville (Wolfson) FL with 21.0 ppg, 6'0 Tom Femminella from Massapequa (H.S.) NY with 21.0 ppg, 6'5 Terry Hill from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ with 20.6 ppg, 6'3 Jr Bracy Wright from The Colony (H.S.) TX with 20.2 ppg, 6'4 Erick Osmundson from San Diego (St. Augustine) CA with 20.0 ppg, 6'5 Keith Langford from North Crowley (H.S.) TX with 20.0 ppg, 6'4 Vincent Grier from Charlotte (South Mecklenburg) NC with 19.4 ppg, 6'9 Jr Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC with 19.3 ppg, 6'0 Wil Bynum from Chicago (Crane) IL with 19.0 ppg, 6'3 Soph Michael Bush from Louisville (Male) KY with 18.8 ppg, 6'4 Anthony Rice from North Clayton (College Park) GA with 18.6 ppg, 6'7 Ryan Gomes from Waterbury (Wilby) CT with 18.6 ppg, 6'2 Aaron Fitzgerald from Seattle (Kennedy) WA with 18.6 ppg, 6'6 Danny Horace from Cincinnati (Western Hills) OH with 18.2 ppg, 6'6 Samuel Villegas from Lima (Senior) OH with 18.0 ppg, 6'1 Stanley Jackson from Dunnellon (H.S.) FL with 18.0 ppg, 6'7 Barry Thompson from Winchendon (School) MA with 17.4 ppg, 6'5 Solomon Forbes from Jackson (Lanier) MS with 17.0 ppg, 6'8 David Lee from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO with 16.8 ppg, 6'5 Antonio Hudson from Grambling (Lab) LA with 16.8 ppg, 6'0 Mike Lesma from York (Crispus Attucks) PA with 16.7 ppg, Azibuke with 16.7 ppg, 6'3 Jim Moore from Worcester (Holy Name) MA with 16.7 ppg, 6'5 Karl Hollingsworth from Jonesboro (Mt. Zion) GA with 16.3 ppg, 6'2 Patrick Sparks from Greenville (Muhlenberg North) KY with 16.2 ppg, 6'1 Travis Diener from Fond du Lac (Goodrich) WI with 16.2 ppg, 6'4 Winsome Frazier from Miami (Northwestern) FL with 16.2 ppg, 6'1 Jr TaQuan Dean from Neptune (H.S.) NJ with 16.0 ppg, and 6'2 Jr Marshall Strickland from Winchendon (School) MA with 15.7 ppg.

Monday, July 24, 2000

There is no doubt that one of the premier places in the nation to hold a basketball tournament is the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. FL.  We can say that first hand, because we arrived in Orlando late Saturday night and spent all day in the gym yesterday watching the AAU Super Showcase.   We also plan to stick around the next five days, because just when  the Super Showcase ends tomororw, the AAU 17-Under Junior Boys' Basketball National Championship begins.  Last night playoffs began in the Supercase and two of the players we spent a lot of time watching were 6'8 Mike Jensen from Kent (Kentwood) WA and 6'1 Travis Diener from Fond du Lac (Goodrich) WI.    Jensen was one of the biggest sleepers in the class due to the fact that he missed most of the spring and early summer due to injuries.  As a result, we has missing in action when his team played at Boo Williams and in the NIKE Bluegrass Classic in the spring.  He also didn't attend either the NIKE or adidas Camp, so the adidas Big Time Tournament was the first national exposure he got.  However, even in that tournament, most people, including us, missed seeing him, because his team got upset in the first round of the playoffs.  One person who did see Jensen was Frank Burlison, who is now the recruiting guru for Fox Sports, and ever since he's been touting Jensen as one of the top five players on the West Coast.  And in a normal year he might be.  However, this is not a normal year, because the senior class in Southern California is absolutely loaded.  So top 10 on the West Coast and in the 50 to 75 range nationally is more realistic.  Jensen, whose list of schools includes Gonzaga, Washington, Oregon, Kentucky, and North Carolina, is best described as an athletic white kid with outstanding dunking ability and an excellent shooting touch out to 3-point land.  However, he needs to not only get bigger and stronger, but also must develop more of a killer mentality.  Diener has the killer mentality, but he lacks the size and strength to pass the big time look test.  However, he passes the big time play test, which is why schools like Iowa State, Illinois, Marquette, St. Louis, Utah, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin are all in the hunt.  And don't be surprised if Indiana jumps into the mix.  As a matter of fact, IU assistant coach Pat Knight was at both of his games yesterday and the Hoosiers definitely are in need of a quality point guard.  And Diener, who reminds us of former Ohio State star Jay Burson, is like a coach on the floor.  He also can shoot the lights out and doesn't need anybody to help him get his shot, because he's got plenty of moves, as well as excellent quickness off the dribble.  He's also a winner, which was evident when he led the Wisconsin Playground Warriors to the championship in both the NIKE Bluegrass Classic in Lexington, KY on Memorial Day Weekend and the NIKE Peach Jam in Augusta, GA last week.  However, last night his team lost in the first round to Coast to Coast at the Super Showcase.  Another big first round upset was pulled off last night by Potomac Valley, which surprised the Illinois Warriors.  Earlier today the Charlotte Aces, Shreveport/Bossier City, Tennesse Travelers, New York Riverside Church, Georgia Stars, Bray Center, and Houston Hoops all advanced into the quarterfinals.  The other spot was filled by the winner of the Athletes First (OK) Potomac Valley Blue Devils game, but we did not get the results of the game.  As it stands now, the championship appears to be up for grabs, but the deepest team in the field is the Tennessee Travelers, which won easily this morning against Coast to Coast (FL) and, as a result, got a lot for rest their starters.  Speaking of the Travelers, after their game  today we got an updated list of schools from 6'11 David Harrison from Brentwood (Academy) TN.  Duke, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Colorado, Kentucky, and Louisville were the schools that he mentioned.  Harrison didn't give us a leader, but he said that Lousiville is slipping.

Baylor got a commitment yesterday afternoon from 6'4 Dandrick Jones from Dallas (Kimball) TX, who shares the point guard duties for Team Texas with 51'0 Jr Byron Hopkins from Dallas (Lincoln) TX.  Jones, who is a legitimate top 150 senior nationally, has excellent size, is super quick in transition, and has good ball handlng and passing skills.  However, Jones, Hopkins, 6'3 Jr Bracy Wright from The Colony (H.S.) TX, 6'8 Jason Maxeill from Carrollton (Neuman Smith) TX, 6'5 Keith Langford from North Crowley (H.S.) TX, et al.  were not enough to overcome 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX and the Houston Hoops earlier today in the round of 16 in the playoffs at the AAU Super Showcase in Orlando, FL.  As a matter of fact, Team Texas has never beaten the Houston Hoops, although every game is like a war and usually goes down to the wire.  As usual, Hurt shot the lights out and even our buddy Patrick Jira of the Recruiting Beat was telling us that we might be right about Hurt being ranked among our top five nationally.  So it comes as no big surprise that Hurt finished ranked among the top five in the tournament in scoring at the end of pool play yesterday with 23.0 ppg.  Ranked ahead of Hurt were at the end of pool play were 6'3 Earnest Shelton from Memphis (White Station) TN with 27.3 ppg, Wright with 25.0 ppg, and 6'4 Marcus Spears from Baton Rouge (Southern Lab) LA with 23.4 ppg.   It happened before we arrived, but Wright, who is legendary for being able to shoot the lights out, apparently did just that has he may have had the best individual performance of the entire tournament.  Among the others who have played especially well since we arrived are 6'8 David Lee from St. Louis (Chaminade) FL, 6'9 Sherrod Ford from York (Crisus Attucks) PA, 6'4 Vincent Grier from Charlotte (South Mecklenburg) NC, 6'2 Aaron Fitzgerald from Seattle (Kennedy) WA, 6'3 Ricky Shields from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, 6'8 Mike Jensen from Kent (Kentwood) WA, 6'5 Soph Michael Bush from Louisville (Male) KY, 6'9 Jr DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, 6'10 Steve Allen from Ft. Lauderdale (Dillard) FL, and 6'1 Travis Diener from Fond du Lac (Goodrich) WI.

Saturday, July 22, 2000, and Sunday, July 23, 2000

Two of the best players in camp at the adidas ABCD Camp after the first day were 6'9 Robert Little from Fairfax (Pope John Paul VI) VA and 6'1 Tony Bethel from Forestville (Bishop McNamara) MD.   They were also pretty good on the last day of camp. However, when I was at the NIKE All-American Camp during the second and third days, I suspect our staff paid more attention to reputation than to performance in camp.  Thus, explains how 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL was ranked as the #1 center in camp by the third day, but gave little effort and, as a result, dropped dramatically on the last day of camp.  It also would explains why Little dropped to #34 and Bethel dropped to #52 in our final rankings.  However, we'll fix that when we come out with our post summer top 100 rankings in August.  I guarantee you that Little will be ranked among our top 100.  He's not real quick and/or athletic, but he's a force inside with his huge frame and ability to score and dominate on the boards.  He's also come on like gangbusters since spring.  Add the fact that he's a great kid, as well as 4.0 student, and it's easy to see why his list includes Tennessee, Michigan, Kentucky, Virginia, Stanford, Virginia Tech, N.C. State, Georgia Tech, and USC.  Bethel may not make our top 100, but I'll sure consider it.   He can beat you downtown with his outside shooting, but his confidence, decision making, and ability to create for his teammates have all dramatically improved.   He tells us that Georgetown, Massachusetts, George Washington, West Virginia, Virginia, Wake Forest, and Texas are all in the hunt.  Another player whose really impressed at both the adidas Big Time Tournament and at the Best of the Summer High School Boy's Basketball Tournament at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson, CA was 6'5 Erroll Knight from Seattle (Chief Sealth) WA.  Knight is versatile enough and athletic enough to play four different positions, but he's being recruited by schools like Washington, UCLA, Kansas, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, USC, Texas, Utah, Syracuse, and Louisville as a wing guard.  UCLA, Washington, Pepperdine, Syracuse, Connecticut, and Kansas are all still in the hunt for 6'11 Mike Fey from Olympic (Capital) WA.  Some of the early favorites for 6'5 Jr Antonio Jackson from Jacksonville (Jackson) FL are Florida, Duke, North Carolina, St. John's, Connecticut, and Rutgers.  Georgia, Xavier, Clemson, Purdue, Penn State, Western Kentucky, and Eastern Kentucky make up a very interesting list for 6'9 Richard Sadler from Mt. Airy (Habersham Central) GA.  One of the biggest sleepers on the West Coast is still 6'10 Jeffrey Day from Seattle (Prep) WA.   Injuries have slowed him down this summer, but Washington, USC, San Diego State, Pepperdine, Washington State, and Portland State are all involved with Day.  He also tells us that he likes Arizona, but hasn't heard from the Wildcats yet. 

Friday, July 21, 2000

One of the most interesting things that happened earlier today at the Best of the Summer High School Boy's Basketball Tournament at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson, CA occurred during the game between the Atlanta Celtics and 2TheHoop.  In walks Arizona head coach Lute Olson with his assistant coach Jay John.  Olson went and sat behind the basket at one end of the court, while John went to the opposite end and sat directly across from Olson.  Obviously there was somebody in the game that they were really interested in, but we were curious, because nobody on either team fit the description.  Upon further reflection, we decided that it had to be 6'0 Jonathan Hargett from Durham (Emmanuel) NC.  Hargett has always had Arizona on his list, but until now we didn't know the Wildcats had any serious interest.  Remember, Hargett has always been an academic question mark, plus he had played last year at Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, which might have been the most controversial high school program in the nation during the Joel Hopkins era.  As a matter of fact, one of the our competitors erroneously reported in January that Hargett had verbally committed to the Wildcats.  However, when we tried to confirm it, we found that Arizona was not only not recruiting him, but they'd never even heard of him.   But after his brilliant performance all week at the adidas Big Time Tournament, it's hard not to know about Hargett.  As a matter of fact, he's emerged as one of the top 10 seniors in the nation.  So we asked Hargett who was on his list and the first school out of his mouth was Arizona.  He also confirmed that it's not just a one way street anymore.  Indeed, the Wildcats are showing more interest in him than just full court pressing him at this game.  The second school he mentioned was Tennessee, which also was there watching his every move.   That's also noteworthy because the Volunteers had been rumored at the adidas Big Time Tournament to be the strong leader.  Hargett also mentioned North Carolina, Georgia Tech, and Seton Hall.  Grades are still a major question, but those who have seen his transcript tell us that becoming academically qualified is within his reach, if he buckles down and does well during his senior year.  And if that happens, his list will likely get longer before it gets shorter.

It's not official yet, but we have confirmed through a very reliable source that former Blue Devils player Chris Collins will be named as the new assistant coach at Duke University.  This is especially good news for the University of Louisville, because one of the other leading candidates being mentioned for new Delaware head coach David Henderson's old job at Duke was Louisville assistant coach Vince Taylor.   Had Taylor gone back to his alma mater, it would probably have put Blue Devils in the lead for 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL, who currently ranks as the #2 senior in America by the HOOP SCOOP.  They may get him anyway, especially if the recruiting process drags on several more months.  Remember, the Blue Devils started making a strong push for Cisse at the NIKE All-American Camp and they're very tough to beat when they get a kid on campus for an official visit in the fall.    However, Taylor, who is now emerging as one of the best recruiters in the nation, has done a great job recruiting Cisse for Louisville.  As a matter of fact, Cisse's legal guardian Don Jackson told us at the NBA Players Association Camp on July 1st that Taylor is the big reason why Louisville is so high on their list.  The same also can be said about Taylor and his relationship with 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX, who has let it be know that he may have to re-think his commitment to Louisville, if Taylor were to leave for another job.    Well, now that the Duke job is being filled by Collins, that isn't likely to happen.  Speaking of Hurt, he told us at the NBA Players Association Camp that he may transfer to Louisville (Male) KY for his senior season.  If that were to happen, Louisville (Male) KY would become one of the premier high school teams in the nation next year.  However, we're now hearing that won't happen.  Instead, it looks like he will end up at Louisville (Moore) KY.  Either way, Hurt instantly would become the leading candidate for Mr. Basketball honors in the state over 6'9 Brandon Bender from Louisville (Ballard) KY, 6'9 Tony Key from Russellville (H.S.) KY, et al.  This should come as no surprise, because it's common knowledge that Hurt's parents are planning on moving back to Louisville so they can follow their son's college career.  Don't forget, Hurt's parents are originally from Lousiville and his grandmother, as well as a number of other relatives, still live in Louisville, KY.   This also would make sense if you knew that the head coach at Moore High School is somebody with strong ties to the University of Louisville.    We're talking about Larry Miller, who was regarded as one of the premier high school coaches in the nation when he was previously the head coach at Cincinnati (Woodward) OH.  More recently he hasn't had the same success at Moore, but all that could change quickly, if he gets Hurt.  

Thursday, July 20, 2000

Yesterday, we provided you with who we thought would make the 30-man all-tournament team from the adidas Big Time Tournament, but we only 21 out of 30 correct.  Let's take a closer look, because it will provide some insight into why certain players made the team and why others were left off.   The nine players we voted for who didn't make it were 6'7 Chris Williams from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'5 Martin Osmani from Miami (Champagnat) FL, 6'1 Adam Chiles from Louisville (Ballard) KY, 5'10 Jason Fontenet from Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ, 6'8 Dennis Latimore from Halstead (H.S.) KS, 6'0 Brandon Fuss-Cheatham from Beaver Falls (Blackhawk) PA, 6'9 Brandon Bender from Louisville (Ballard) KY, 6'8 Deion Dixon from Fork Union (Military) VA, and 6'3 Chey Christie from Biloxi (H.S.) MS.   Let's start with Williams and the Texas Blue Chip team, which had five excellent players in Williams, 6'9 Jr Chris Bosh from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'3 Jr Daniel Horton from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'3 Jaison Williams from Aurora (Hinkley) CO, and 6'6 Larry Freeman from Buffalo (H.S.) TX.   While Williams is a warrior inside and, as a result, dominated on the boards and around the basket, he wasn't the much better than several of his teammates.  Plus, Bosh and Horton clearly have the most potential and Freeman was at times like a highlight film with his incredible athleticism and acrobatic dunks.  So it's easy to see why nobody from this team made the cut, even though they advanced to the final 16 and played the New Orleans Jazz close in their final game.   Team Breakdown didn't get past the final 32, but they took Pump & Run to overtime, and they were one of the better teams in the tournament.  So we would have been happy if either Osmani or 6'11 Simplece N'Joya from Homestead (Berkshire) FL had made it.  However, their best player was 6'8 Jamal Levy from Homestead (Berkshire) FL, but he left early to play in an international tournament in South America.  So he didn't play the last two days.  Chiles led the Derek Smith All-Stars to the "B" Division Championship and was named MVP in that Division, so apparently that was reward enough for him.  Fontenet averaged 21.5 ppg and did a marvelous job running his team, but little guys don't seem to get a lot of respect.  Picking 6'11 Rick Rickert from Duluth (East) MN from Pump & Run was any choice, but it was tough call picking anybody else.   Actually, we originally had 6'2 Errick Craven from Torrance (Bishop Montgomery) CA, who did make the 30-man all tournament team, but I changed my mind and wenrt with Latimore after Craven had mediocre game in the quarterfinals against the Atlanta Celtics.  Fuss-Cheatham carried the Pittsburgh Jots about as far as he could (into the round of 32), but apparently that wasn't far enough.  Bender played well, but he was on the bubble anyway, so I'm not  going argue that one very much.   Which brings us Dixon and Christie, both of whom are terrific when I saw them, but apparently were not as good when other members of the selection committee saw them,   In case you were wondering, Brick Oettinger, Bob Gibbons, Dave Telep, Frank Burlison, and myself were each asked to come up with a list of 30 names for the all-tournament.  Apparently, any player   who got two or more votes automatically made the team, but what kind of politics were involved with the final player or two is anybody's guess.  Have you ever heard of 6'3 Sam Jackson from Las Vegas, NV?  Neither had we until he was named to the all-tournament.  However, this is easily explained, because he was the 4th leading scorer in the tournament with a 28.8 ppg average, plus he's a local kid.   The other eight players named to the team that we didn't vote for were 6'2 Jr Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI, 5'10 Terrance Ford from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX, 6'3 Mario Jointer from Jackson (Jim Hill) MS, 6'9 Lawrence Roberts from Houston (Lamar) TX, 6'3 Chris Hill from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'5 Barry Elder from Madison (Morgan County) GA, 6'6 Jackie Manuel from Ft. Lauderdale (Cardinal Newman) FL, and 6'2 Errick Craven from Torrance (Bishop Montgomery) CA.  We've already talked about Craven and we didn't see the Tallahassee Wildcats, which was Manuel's team.  However, if Manuel was anything like he was at adidas, it would have been a no-brainer.  If you wanted to put four players from the Atlanta Celtics on the all-tournament team, Elder is acceptable, because he did shoot well from beyond arc.   However, he was not one of the 30 best players in the tournament.  We looked at Hill, as well as two others from the Municipal Gardens team - 6'7 Andre Patterson from Los Angeles (Washington) CA and 6'5 Aaron Patterson from Indianapolis (Ben Davis) IN, but decided none of them made the cut.  Roberts was terrific on the boards and he scored 30 points when we saw him, but his team got beat early in the playoffs and we only saw him once.  As a result, we never considered him, although we do like the choice.  We didn't think Jointer belonged on the team, but he hit 3-pointers against Pump & Run.  Instead, Christie was the man when we saw the Jackson Panthers against FBS Long Beach.   I didn't vote for Ford, but I can live that one, because he almost always makes his teammates better.  However, putting Roberson on the 30-man all tournament is a real stretch.  Obviously, he made it based on his name and not his play.  Analyzing it all more carefully, if I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't have voted for Bender.  Instead, I would have replaced him with 6'6 Quemont Greer from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI, who picked up right where he left off at the adidas ABCD Camp in this tournament.   Among those who had no business on the the all-tournament team was 6'7 James White from York (Crispus Attucks) PA.  As a matter of fact, we had that discussion in the airport in Las Vegas earlier today with White's AAU coach Curtis Malone and he didn't say anything to make me change our mind, unless you pick the team based only on reputation.  And right now that's one of the biggest problems with people in our business.  Don't heart, merit, and hardwork mean anything anymore?   We actually have to go back a few years to find the best example.  Ever hear of Ralph Sampson?  He may have more in common than you think with 7'0 Tyson Chandler from Compton (Dominguez) CA, 7'0 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL, and 6'11 Kwame Brown from Brunwick (Glynn Academy) GA, all of whom are supposed to be can't miss superstars someday in the NBA.   However, each of the three also has developed a reputation for being lazy in high school and, as a result, could just as easily become the next Antoine Walker or Tim Thomas, instead of the next Kevin Garnett or Tim Duncan.  Which brings us to the point of all this.  Our rankings are also based on merit, instead of just reputation and size.  So if we had to do it right now, our top five players in the senior class nationally would be 6'2 Dujuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ, 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL, 6'4 Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX, and 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY.  And remember where you heard about Hodge being in the top five nationally first.  He's not only tremendous right now, but his upside is scary.   We may be talking about the next Tracy McGrady.  However, unlike McGrady, Hodge is a good student, so he'll get the time he needs to physically get bigger and stronger in college.  Also just missing our top five is 6'8 David Lee from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO and don't be surprised if 6'11 Rick Rickert from Duluth (East) MN and 6'0 Johnathan Hargett from Durham (Emmanuel) NC both get strong consideration for our top 10.  And they're doing it the old-fashioned way - they've earned it!  As for Curry, Brown, and Chandler, I refuse to put them in the top five until the earn.  If they prove me wrong and any of them turn out to the greatest thing since sliced bread, our credibility certainly can withstand it.  And I'll be the first person to congratulate him.  But for now, I hope I piss them off and,as a result, it translates into more effort on the court.  I doubt anything I write or say will have much influence, but actually, it's worked before with certain players, including Shawn Kemp, Harold Minor, and maybe even 6'9 Robert Whaley from Benton Harbor (H.S.) MI.   Speaking of Whaley, his shot wasn't falling in the adidas Big Time Tournament and he still has no idea how to use his manchild-like body, but at least he played harder.   Apparently he wasn't happy with the fact that we had him ranked #29 at the adidas ABCD Camp.  Maybe there is hope after all. 

Wednesday, July 19, 2000

The Atlanta Celtics now appear to be well on their way towards becoming the Team of the Summer after their impressive performance in the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV.  They beat the New York Ravens, 77-76, to take home their second title in a major tournament this summer.  This first was the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions in Chapel Hill, NC on Memorial Day Weekend.  Once again 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY had a big game with 30 points.  He was complemented by 6'4 Chris McRae from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY with 29 points.  The leading scorer for the winning Atlanta Celtics was 6'0 Johnathan Hargett from Durham (Emmanuel) NC with 21 points.  He was complemented by 6'9 Jr Sani Ibrahim from Atlanta (Mohammed) GA, who had 19 rebounds.  We'll have more later!

The New York Ravens survived yet another overtime game against Athletes First, 86-85, in the semi-finals of the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV and, as a result, will advance into the championship against the Atlanta Celtics at 7:00 PM PST.  The Celtics, which beat the New Orleans Jazz, 80-65, in the other semi-finals game this afternoon, are the heavy favorite, because physically it will be very difficult for the undersized Ravens to matchup physically with 6'5 Greg Tinch from Albany (Westover) GA, 6'6 Is'mail Muhammad from Atlanta (W.D. Mohammed) GA, 6'9 Jr Sani Ibrahim from Atlanta (W.D. Mohammed) GA, 7'0 Marcus Campbell from Albany (Westover) GA, and 6'6 Rod Whipple from Irwinton (Wilkinson County) GA, all of whom provide the Celtics power inside.  Also, the Ravens have to be tired after winning two very physical games earlier today against the Michigan Mustangs and Athletes First.  If the Ravens are to have any chance to win in the title game, 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY has to come through similar to the way he did in the semi-finals when he scored 36 points and went 6-10 from beyond the arc, including a 3-pointer to send the game into overtime.  They also have to naturalize the Celtics inside, which is something the Ravens didn't do against Athletes First, as 6'9 Jr Sheldon Williams and 6'8 Jr Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK combined for 25 rebounds.  Bookout also scored 32 points and hit 11-14 field goals and 10-14 free throws in what has to be one of the outstanding performances of the tournament.   In the other semi-finals game, Tinch, Ibrahim, and 6'0 Jonathan Hargett from Durham (Emmanuel) NC all secured spots on the all-tournament team with as they combined for 58 of the Celtics 80 points.  Ibrahim also finished with 15 rebounds.   Hargett, who hit  4-10 3-pointers continued to impress with his long distance shooting.  Tinch may not be able to hit an outside shot, but when you're 10-13, mostly off incredible dunks, and you totally shut down your man, which is something he's done throughout the entire tournament, shooting range becomes a mute point.   Apparently Seton Hall and Tennessee both agree, because they are both recruiting the heck of him.  The all-tournament team won't be announced until after the championship game, but we can tell you who we voted for on the 30 man-team.  But first let's talk about who should be the tournament MVP.  The best player in the tournament was 6'4 Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, but the Michigan Mustangs lost this morning in the semi-finals, so he won't get it.  Instead, it looks like Hargett if the Celtics win or Hodge if the Ravens win.  In particular order we also voted for Tinch, Ibrahim, Bookout, Sheldon Williams, 6'1 Maurice Williams from Jackson (Murrah) MS, 6'2 Jr Deron Williams from The Colony (H.S.) TX, 6'6 Jamaal Williams from Corona (Centennial) CA, 6'7 Chris Williams from Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX, 6'4 Chris McRae from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'11 Rick Rickert from Duluth (East) MN, 6'3 Dommanic Ingerson from Santa Barbara (H.S.) CA, 6'5 Dwayne Mitchell from New Orleans (John F. Kennedy) LA, 5'11 Jr Elijab Ingram from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, 6'5 Martin Osmani from Miami (Champagnat) FL, 6'9 Julian Sensley from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, 6'1 Adam Chiles from Louisville (Ballard) KY, 5'10 Jason Fontenet from Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ, 6'9 Wayne Simone from Leavenworth (H.S.) KS, 6'8 Andy Osborn from Longmont (H.S.) CO, 6'8 Dennis Latimore from Halstead (H.S.) KS, 6'0 Brandon Fuss-Cheatham from Beaver Falls (Blackhawk) PA, 6'9 Brandon Bender from Louisville (Ballard) KY, 6'8 Deion Dixon from Fork Union (Military) VA, 6'3 Chey Christie from Biloxi (H.S.) MS, 6'1 Jr Gerry McNamara from Scranton (Bishop Hannan) PA, 6'4 Clayton Hanson from Santa Barbara (H.S.) CA, and 6'3 Steve Sir from Griffins, Canada.  And yes, we saw every one of those players play, except McNamara, Hanson, and Sir.  However, we know what McNamara can do and his numbers were impressive enough that he had to be on the all-tournament team.  And the same holds true for Hanson and Sir, both of whom didn't play in the open Division.   Hanson had games where he scored 45 points, 44 points, and 42 points, which explains how he finished with 173 points in six games.  Obviously, this was by far and away the most points scored by anybody in the tournament.  Sir broke Ernest Turner's previous all-time adidas Big Time scoring record (32.2 ppg) with 33.3 ppg, plus he had 31 3-pointers, including two games where he combined for 19 treys.  Getting back to the all-tournament team, if by some chance the Ravens win in the championship game, 6'5 Jr Francisco Garcia from Cheshire (Academy) CT would replace Bender on our 30-man all-tournament team.  We got a vote on the all-tournament team, but we're sure there will be some minor adjustment, so we'll pass them along, along with the results from the championship game, later tonight.

Final score New York Ravens 70, Michigan Mustangs 65.   Talk about surviving and building momentum along the way.  The New York Ravens won two overtime games and then hung on to upset the Michigan Mustangs, 70-65, in the final eight of the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV in what has to be the biggest upset of the tournament.  6'4 Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, who gets our vote as the Most Outstanding Player in the Tournament, had 20 points and 6'2 Jr Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI scored 15 points, but 6'5 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'4 Chris McRae from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, and 6'5 Jr Francisco Garcia from Cheshire (Academy) CT combined for 55 points and made most of the big plays down the stretch for the Ravens.  The win by the Ravens advances Gary Decesare's team into the final four where they will face the winner of the game between the Tim Thomas Playazz and Athletes First, which is a young team from Oklahoma that features 6'9 Jr Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, 6'8 Jr Kevin Bookout from Stroud (H.S.) OK, 6'6 Keleena Azvibuke from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK, 6'4 Jr DeAngelo Alexander from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, and 6'6 Jr Marques Hayden from Oklahoma City (Putnam City) OK, all of have big-time talent and/or potential.  The Tim Thomas Playaz were down 23-12 early and trailed 37-22 just before half-time.  However, you just knew that the Playaz were going to make it interesting in the second half.  Well, they did that and more, as they took the game into overtime, thanks primarily to the efforts of 6'5 John Allen from Coatesville (H.S.) PA and 5'11 Jr Elijah Ingram from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, who made big play after big play down stretch.   However, in the end Williams and Bookout were too powerful inside and 5'9 Jonathan Bluitt from Oklahoma City (McGuinnes) OK, who is the only senior on the roster, really stepped up his game, as Athletes First won 85-78 and, as a result,  advanced to the final four.  The other two quarterfinals games, which are currently in progress feature the New Orleans Jazz against the Ft. Worth Lions and the Atlanta Celtics against Pump & Run (CA), which are the two most talented teams remaining in the tournament.  Then, at 2:20 PM PST, in the semi-finals the New York Ravens will Athletes First and at 3:40 PM PST it will be the New Orleans Jazz-Ft. Worth Lions winner versus the Atlanta Celtics-Pump & Run winner.

The player who has helped himself the most at the NIKE Peach Jam in Augusta, GA appears to be 6'4 Pierre Pierce from Westmont (H.S.) IL.   We say that not because he's not ranked high (among our top 40 nationally), but, because he was hurt and didn't play well until the last day at NIKE.   Otherwise, there have been no major surprises at the NIKE Peach Jam, except some of the upsets that we reported from pool play yesterday.  Later this afternoon the quarterfinals round will begin, as it's the Houston Hoops versus the Illinois Warriors, Boo Williams versus the Georgia Stars, Southern California All-Stars versus Tennessee Travelers, and the Playground Warriors versus New York Riverside Church.  

The University of Virginia picked up a commitment yesterday, but it wasn't the one we were expected.  If you recall, we said several days ago that we thought the Cavaliers were a lot close to getting a commitment from 7'0 DeSagana Diop from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA than most people realize.  We still stand by that statement, but the player were talking about is 6'3 Keith Jenifer from York (Cripus Attucks) PA.  Jenifer is best described as an athletic combo guard with big time talent, but without a true position at the college level.  He's too small and doesn't shoot it well enough to be a 2-guard and he doesn't make good enough decisions to be a pure point guard, although he is better with the ball in his hands than without it.  As a result, we think he initially will be the perfect role player backing up both the one and two spots at Virginia, plus he'll have the time he needs to groom himself into a point guard down the road.  In other words, it's a great fit for both parties.   Our Philadelphia Area Editor Allen Rubin also has a verbal commitment to pass along.  Temple has gotten 6'8 Glen Elliot from Jacksonville (Bolles) FL, who ranks #175 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP and is best described as a shot blocker and rebounder.  George Mason also could be on the verge of getting a verbal commitment from 5'8 Dennis Bowden from Fairfax (Pope John Paul VI) VA, who led the adidas ABCD Camp in assists a week ago.  One of the best players at the adidas Big Time Tournament yesterday was 6'2 Johnathan Hargett from Durham (Emmanual) NC and, as a result, he edges out 6'1 Maurice Williams from Jackson (Murrah) MS and 5'9 Terrance Ford from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX, as the #3 ranked point guard nationally in the class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Hargett's decision making isn't a good as Ford's, but he's bigger and stronger than either Ford or Williams, plus he shoots it better, which was especially evident by the number of NBA 3-pointers he made yesterday.  Speaking of Hargett, Tennessee may now be the school to beat for this explosive point guard.   We thought Louisville was strong with 6'11 David Harrison from Brentwood (Academy) TN, but we're hearing more and more that Vanderbilt is a lock.   And this would make sense, because Harrison's father is an assistant football coach at Vanderbilt.  It also looks like University of Kentucky assistant coach Shawn Finney will get the Tulane today and Duke assistant David Henderson will beat out Indiana University assistant coach Mike Davis for the Delaware job.  Instead, we think Davis may be the leading candidate to replace Finney at Kentucky.  And if that happens, Kentucky would instantly become the leader for 6'1 Jr Chadd Moore from Huntsville (Lee) AL, who ranks as the #2 point guard nationally by the HOOP SCOOP. Right now Auburn appears to be the heavy favorite for Moore, but Moore's like a son to Davis, who has been close to the Moore family for years.  

Tuesday, July 18, 2000

Things are starting to get interesting in the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, NV, as they're down to the round of 32 in the open division.   The Michigan Mustangs, Cleveland BBall 17's, Athletes First (OK), and the USA Players have already advanced into the round of 16 with wins this morning.   The Michigan Mustangs, which features 6'4 Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, 6'2 Jr Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI, and 6'9 Robert Whaley from Benton Harbor (H.S.) MI, are the team to beat.     However, the Mustangs have not played well and, as a result, it would not be a surprise if somebody pulls off the upsets, like maybe The USA Players, which is who they will likley meet in the next round.  As a matter of fact, last night 6'3 Dommanic Ingerson from Santa Barbara (H.S.) CA almost single-handedly knocked off the Mustangs in what was the best performance we've seen so far in the tournament.  He had 35 points, including 10 consecutive points when his team was making a come back late in the game and 14 points in the last six minutes.  He also is the second leading scorer in the entire tournament with 146 points (29.2 ppg) with a high game of 41 points versus SC Area.  However, you have to keep winning to earn tournament MVP honors and, unless something unforeseen happens and the Mustangs get beat, Torbert will be the likely choice.  He is the model of consistency, as is evident by the fact that he has shot the lights out every time we've seen him during the last three days, plus he ranks among the top dozen players in the tournament in scoring.  As a result, he's our early favorite for player of the summer honors.  Getting back to the top teams in the tournament, the Long Island Panthers, Atlanta Celtics, Pump & Run are the favorites to win the tournament.  We also think the New York Ravens, Municipal Gardens, New Orleans Jazz, Fort Worth Lions, DC Assault, Kansas City 76ers, and the USA Players all have a shot at making the final four.  Some of the biggest surprises in the tournament and/or players who have really elevated their games, include 6'8 Lawrence Roberts from Houston (Lamar) TX, 6'8 Mike Jensen from Kentwood (Covington) WA, 6'9 Wayne Simien from Leavenworth (H.S.) KS, 6'6 Kendrick Fox from Oxford (Lafayette) MS, 6'5 Francisco Garcia from Cheshire (Academy) CT, 6'4 Soph Lodrick Stewart from Seattle (Rainier Beach) WA, 6'8 Deion Dixon from Fork Union (Military) VA, 6'5 Aaron Patterson from Indianapolis (Ben Davis) IN, and 6'10 Tony Key from Russellville (H.S.) KY.   We already knew that 6'11 Rick Rickert from Duluth (East) MN was terrific after his performance at the adidas ABCD Camp, but we're starting to hear Christian Laettner comparisons.  Another player who simply reinforced what he did at the adidas Camp is 6'9 Jr Sani Ibrahim from Atlanta (W.D. Mohammed) GA.  Brandon Fuss-Cheatham, the 6'1 point guard from Beaver Falls (Black Hawk) PA, carried the Pittsburgh Jots until they were eliminated last night.  The quickest guy in the tournament is 5'10 Jason Fontenet from Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ, but his twin brother 6'1 James Fontenet from Phoenix (St Mary's) AZ shot the lights out when we saw him last night and, as a result, ranks among the top 10 in the tournament in scoring.  One of the most balanced teams in the tournament is the Ft Worth Lions, which features 6'2 Jr Deron Williams from The Colony (H.S.) TX, 6'6 Matt Williams from Temple (H.S.) TX, 6'5 Aaron Curtis from South Grand Prairie (South) TX, 6'6 Josh Jacobs from Mesquite (North) TX, and 6'4 Nick Williams from Mansfield (H.S.) TX, and 6'11 Erek Hanson from Trinity (Euless) TX.   We could go on and on, but we'll do that later exclusivley in the Members Section. 

We're slow reporting this, because we've been in the gym no-stop most of the last three days at the adidas Big Time Tournament, but Ohio Editor Chris Johnson informed us yesterday that 6'9 Josh Powell from Riverdale (H.S.) GA has committed N.C. State.  We're also hearing that N.C. State may be close to getting a verbal commitment from 7'0 Marcus Campbell from Albany (Westover) GA, but his high school coach Willie Boston doesn't confirm it.  As a matter of fact, Boston says Campbell too wide open to even give us a list.  Johnson also tells us that Gonzaga has gotten a commitment from 6'1 Josh Reisman from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) WA.  Another player we were very impressed with at the adidas Big Time Tournament yesterday was 6'3 Chey Christie from Biloxi (H.S.) MS.  He simply picked up where he left off at the NBA Players Association Camp and the NIKE All-American Camp and, as a result, will move into our top 40 nationally when we update our national top 100 senior list in August.  Christie needs to get stronger, but he shoots it better than most people think and he's got an excellent nose for the ball, which might be why he's such a good rebounder for somebody with his lack of size.  Yesterday we also talked with the mother of  7'0 Chris Jackson from Los Alamos (H.S.) NM and she says that Utah, Stanford, and Purdue are the leaders for her son, although Texas and New Mexico are also still on his list.  Our Texas Editor Wes Grandstaff called to tell us that his Team Texas team has pulled off the biggest upset in the team's history in the NIKE Peach Jam with a nine point victory over the Boo Williams' Hampton Roads AAU team earlier today by nine points.  Grandstaff also tells us that those weren't the only major upsets that have occured in Augusta, GA, as the Charlotte Royals upset Houston Hoops and the Illinois Warriors knocked off the Southern California All-Stars.

Monday, July 17, 2000

He didn't go to either the NIKE All-American Camp or the adidas ABCD Camp, so despite the fact that 6'9 Jamal Levy from Homestead (Berkshire) FL is ranked #27 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, he is still one the best kept secrets nationally in the senior class.  Right now Wake Forest is the leader, but New Mexico, Colorado, Florida State, Central Florida, and Vanderbilt are also on his list.  When we first saw this multi-dimensional athlete who can score in bunches at the the Spiece-Run'N Slam and the Bob Gibbons' Tournament of Champions he was listed as a center, but he really can play any position because he can handle, pass, shoot, and board.  Plus, he's extremely quick and athletic.  He also has grades and he tells us that he's still open.  While everybody else was at one of the two major camps, Levy was playing for the Panama's National Team in a tournament in Europe.  We're talking about a potential future NBA player here, but most people don't seem to know it yet.  Also impressing us yesterday at the adidas Big Time Tournament was 6'8 Marco Killingsworth from Durham (Emmanuel) NC.  His list of schools includes Kansas, Auburn, Florida, Alabama, UAB, and LSU.  Iowa State, Tennessee, Syracuse, Marquette, and DePaul are all involved with 6'6 Quemont Greer from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI, who was the #9 ranked played by the HOOP SCOOP at the adidas ABCD Camp, despite the fact he is an undersized power forward.  However, Greer says St. Louis and UNC-Charlotte are the leaders.  Greer's club team teammate - 6'3 Latrell Fleming from Milwaukee (Marshall) WI - says he's wideopen, but adds that Wisconsin, Iowa State, Marquette, Rutgers, Missouri, and Illinois are showing the most interest.  It appears to be a three horse race among Seton Hall, Connecticut, and Syracuse for 6'9 Mark Kornecny from Waterbury (Holy Cross) CT.  The word is that the commitment made by 6'4 Dwayne Mitchell from New Orleans (John F. Kennedy) LA to Mississippi State is not solid and, as a result, schools like Auburn, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Alabama are recruiting him like crazy.

Saturday, July 15, 2000, and Sunday, July 16, 2000

We have finished writing about the NIKE All-American Camp, so now you can get our final rankings and comments from both of the major camps in the form of a finished product.   We thought the centers, point guards, and athletic wing players at the NIKE All-American Camp were outstanding.  As a matter of fact, watching the terrific athletes, like 6'7 Andre Patterson from Los Angeles (Washington) CA, 6'4 Winsome Frazier from Miami (Northwestern) FL, and 6'6 Alan Anderson from Minneapolis (DeLaSalle) MN, all of whom finished ranked among our top 15 in camp, was one of the highlights of the camp.  Overall, the NIKE Camp had better depth than the adidas ABCD Camp, but at the top we thought they were very comparable.  If the NIKE Camp had a weakness, it was depth at the power forward and, especially, at the 2-guard spots.  However, that was one the strengths are the adidas Camp, especially at the top, as the top three players in camp -  6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'4 Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, 6'6 Jr Leonard Cooke from Old Tappon (H.S.) NJ, although Cooke was actually listed as a wing forward - all play that position.  We were impressed with the underclassmen at both camps, but we have to give adidas the edge in that department.

The HOOP SCOOP had learned that 6'6 Jackie Manuel from Ft. Lauderdale (Cardinal Newman) FL,who finished ranked #6 at the adidas ABCD Camp by the HOOP SCOOP, made a verbal commitment to University of Florida on Sunday night, July 9th, but later last week reneged.  Instead, Manuel has now verbally committed to North Carolina, which is especially interesting when you consider that new head coach Matt Doherty has only had the job a few days.  And we thought Kansas head coach Roy Williams would recruit like crazy if he had taken the North Carolina job.  Actually Doherty had been recruiting Manuel when he was at Notre Dame, but the attraction that so many players have to the Tar Heels program obviously was enough to put North Carolina over the hump very quickly.  We also are looking for North Carolina to get a commitment fairly soon from 6'7 James White from York (Cripus Attucks) PA and the word on the street is that Virginia is a lot stronger than most people realize with 7'0 DeSagana Diop from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA.  We also believe 6'5 John Allen from Coatesville (H.S.) PA will pick Seton Hall over Villanova and Rutgers and that would be especially tough on the Wildcats, because Villanova's Malik Allen is his cousin.  Did you know that growing up 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY has always been a Syracuse fan? Maryland, North Carolina, N.C. State, and Florida are also on his list, but we think the Orangemen will be very tough to beat for Hodge, who promises to be one of the best players Jim Boeheim has ever coached.   Syracuse also is going to be tough to beat on 6'8 Marcus Allen from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ.  Massachusetts appears to be a near lock for 6'3 Chris McRae from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY.   Seton Hall and Duke are the favorites for 6'1 Ben Gordon from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY.  Cincinnati head coach Bobby Huggins and Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun were both seen watching  6'4 Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI yesterday at the adidas Big Time Tournament, but so was Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo and in the end we still think the Spartans will be very tough to beat.  Speaking of the Michgan Mustangs, they're the favorite to win the adidas Big Time Tournament and their star point guard - 6'2 Jr Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI - had the Kentucky coaches watching his every move.  Did you know that Roberson is related to 6'3 Rashaad Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA?  That could turn out to be important, because Carruth verbally committed to Kentucky a week ago.  Kentucky also is still strong with 6'9 Brandon Bender from Louisville (Ballard) KY, but we think USC would be the perfect fit. 

We are now projecting Arizona as the leader for 6'11 Rick Rickert from Duluth (East) MN, who finished as the top ranked center in camp at adidas, according to the HOOP SCOOP.  We also think the Wildcats will get 6'8 Dennis Latimore from Halstead (H.S.) KS and they're making a strong push 6'3 Daniel Ewing from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX.  However, if Arizona gets 5'9 Jason Fontenet from Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ first, Kansas and Duke are also still high Ewing's on his list.   Texas now appears to be way out in front for 5'10 Terrance Ford from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX and it looks like UCLA is now the leader over Kansas for 6'1 Aaron Miles from Portland (Jefferson) OR, who was the #7 ranked player at NIKE by the HOOP SCOOP.  Speaking of the Bruins, they still have their sights on landing a Fab Five recruiting class that would include Miles and 6'5 Cedric Bozeman from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA.  However, if Miles and Bozeman continue to string the Bruins along, they may turn the heat up on both Ford and Ewing.   They also would love to have either 6'5 Josh Childress from Lakewood (Mayfair) CA or 6'6 Dijon Thompson from Redondo Beach (Redondo Union) CA, but the probably wouldn't take both, unless Bozeman went elsewhere and by some chance they still got Childress.  However, they may not take either one, if 6'7 Andre Patterson from Los Angeles (George Washington) CA picks UCLA over Michigan   Latimore and several undersized forwards - 6'6 Chuck Hayes from Modesto (Christian) CA and 6'6 Jamal Williams from Corona (Centennial) CA - are also on UCLA's priority list.  So are several big guys, like 6'11 Chad Bell from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA and 6'11 Michael Fey from Olympic (Capital) WA.  We also know that UCLA is intrigued with the potential of 6'10 Mike Stephens from Napa (H.S.) CA and they are still involved with 6'5 Josh Carrier from Bowling Green (H.S.) KY. 

Friday, July 14, 2000

Last night we attended the all-star games at the Rim Rattler All-West Camp at Lynwood High School in Lynwood, CA and we were excited to see that 6'4 Dommanic Ingerson from Santa Barbara (H.S.) CA and 6'7 Andre Patterson from Los Angeles (Washington) CA simply picked up where they left off earlier this week at the adidas ABCD and NIKE All-American Camps. However, the two leading scorers in game didn't attend either camp.  We're talking about 6'5 Floyd North from San Diego (St. Augustine) CA, who finished with at least six dunks, as well as several 3-pointers in route to a 24 point effort, and 6'5 Jr Darius Sanders from Compton (Dominguez) CA, who led all scorers with 26 points.  We also were very impressed with 6'3 Jaison Williams from Aurora (Hinkley) CO, who was at NIKE, but who impressed us more last night.   Williams can play either guard spot, but down the road he'll be exclusively a one, due to his ability to run a team and find the open man.  He also plays excellent defense and shoots it pretty well, which is why he's a legitimate sleeper for our top 100 nationally.  Right now it looks like Xavier is way out in front, but Arizona State, Colorado, Colorado State, USC, Brigham Young, and Utah also get mentioned by Williams.   Getting back to Ingerson and Patterson, they both were terrific, as they finished with 17 points apiece and made a living off dunks in transition.  Obviously not all the great players in Southern California's rising senior class will stay home and one that appears more likely to leave the most is Ingerson, who has St. John's, LSU, Georgetown, Michigan, California, and St. Louis all on his list.  Patterson needs to get stronger, but there aren't many better athletes in the class, which is why Michigan, UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan State, Duke, and North Carolina are in the hunt.   Patterson says he's still open, but also confirms that Michigan and UCLA are one-two on his list.  Also playing well and/or worth mentioning in Top 25 All-Star Game were 6'6 Antonio Griffin from Phoenix (McClintock) AZ, 6'7 Jr Jamaal Walls from Los Angeles (Crenshaw) CA, 6'7 Soph Harrison Schaen from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'6 Jr Bobby Jones from Compton   (Dominguez) CA, 6'6 Kirk Snyder from Upland (H.S.) CA, 6'10 Donald Pierre from Compton (Centennial) CA, 6'6 Soph Travone Free from Compton (Dominguez) CA, 6'8 Brian Freeney from Gilbert (Mesquite) AZ, and 6'3 Steve Moore from Compton (Dominguez) CA.   Speaking of Moore, he also played in the Top 50 Game, where he proved to be unstoppable late in the game, as he finished 23 points.   Moore is listed a senior, but actually for our purposes he'll be a 5th year player, even though it appears he's been reclassified and, as a result, may be eligible to play another year at Dominguez.   Also playing well in the Top 50 game was 6'7 Jr Marcedes Lewis from Long Beach (Poly) CA, who finished with 13 points and a lot of rebounds (no stats were available). 

We always enjoy getting the scoop on our writers and today we have the scoop on Allen Rubin, because 6'8 Tyler Reynolds from Athens (H.S.) PA, who ranks among the top 500 seniors nationally by the HOOP SCOOP and #36 in Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey  by Rubin has verbally committed to Cleveland State.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson tells us that Mike Monserez, who recently announced that he was transferring from Notre Dame, has decided to join the new coaching staff at Butler University.  Sources close to the Michigan program tell us that they are close to getting a commitment from 6'7 Andre Patterson from Los Angeles (Washington) CA, but are no longer involved with 6'9 Brandon Bender from Louisville (Ballard) KY.  This isn't that big a surprise, because the Wolverines already have one high maintainance guy already in the program in 7'0 Josh Moore.  And this becomes even more evident after Bender's comments earlier this week.  In case you hadn't heard, Bender made some negative comments about the University of Louisville and head coach Denny Crum to several reporters at the adidas ABCD Camp.  And after they appeared in print, he tried to deny what he'd said.  However, he independently told several different reporters the same thing and the word is that Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald-Leader even has Bender's comments recorded on tape.  Unfortunately, it looks like Bender will never learn.   If you will recall, this is the same guy who a year ago said he wanted the first player to go straight from high school to the NBA after his junior year of high school.   Then, after it appeared in print, he came back and said he was misquoted.  But he wasn't.   As a matter of fact, we called several people at the time at Louisville Courier-Journal and they said they would stand by the story.  It looks like Bender talks better than he plays, because he recently finished ranked #60 overall and #12 at his position, according to the HOOP SCOOP, at the adidas ABCD Camp. 

Earlier today we attended the all-star games at the David and Dana Pump's West Coast All Star Basketball Camp at Cal State Dominguez Hills, CA and, as always, there was plenty of talent.  The Best of the Best Game was loaded, as it featured a number of the top players from the adidas ABCD Camp, including 6'11 Rick Rickert from Duluth (East) MN, 6'5 Jr Antonio Lawrence from Jacksonville (Jackson) FL, 6'7 Jr Charlie Rodriguez from Fresno (Clovis West) CA, 6'9 Dennis Latimore from Halstead (H.S.) KS, 6'6 Chuck Hayes from Modesto (Christian) CA, and 6'6 Quemont Greer from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI.  We also liked the potential of   6'11 Soph David Padgett from Reno (H.S.) NV, who held his own against Rickert and impressed us with mobility and rebounding, and 6'6 Jr Nik Caner-Medley from Portland (Deering) ME, who has is an athletic white kid with long arms, a nice shooting touch, and the ability to slash to the basket.  The best point guard in the game was 6'3 Latrell Fleming from Milwaukee (Marshall) WI and one of the better 3-point shooters was 6'2 Eric Fowlkes from Milwaukee (Bay View) WI.   William Venable, the 6'3 wing guard from San Rafael (H.S.) CA, showed us a nice touch off the dribble, 6'2 Chris Hernandez from Fresno (Clovis West) CA was solid as usual, and 6'1 Derrick and Errick Craven from Torrance (Bishop Montgomery) CA both made a living off transition.  Several players worth mentioning from the Senior All-Star Game were 6'7 M'Balla Fabrice from Fresno (Washington Union) CA, 6'7 Juron Macon from East Anchorage (H.S.) AK, and 6'10 Mike Stephens from Napa (H.S.) CA.  Fabrice is a big-time athlete, but his offense is limited.   Macon played primarily inside, but we're guessing that he's best on the perimeter, because he's athletic to guard a smaller player and has a nice touch away from the basket.   Stephens is a skilled long armed big white kid with good hands and lots of potential. The best players in the Junior All-Star Game were 6'3 Jr Charles Robinson from Glendale (Nicolet) WI, 6'7 Jr Ryan Meilleur from Lakewood (Artesia) CA, 6'4 Jr Jordan Kent from Eugene (Churchill) OR, and 5'10 Jr D'Shon Cannon from Phoenix (Carl Hayden) AZ.  Robinson beats you with his hustle, athleticism, and 3-point shooting.  Meilleur needs strength, because he's best on the boards and around the basket.  Kent can play both inside or outside, because he handles it well, shoot the three, and beats bigger guys on the boards.   Cannon is a point guard with good handling and passing skills.   Remember the name - 6'7 Soph Leon Powe from Oakland (Tech) CA.  He showed us a little bit of everything in the Freshmen-Sophomores Game, as he  rebounded and went strong to the hole inside and handled the ball in the open court and showed some range on the perimeter.  Plus, Powe is a physical specimen with all kinds of athleticism, which means the sky's the limit if he works hard and continues to develop.   We also liked 6'1 Soph Devery Butler from Moreno Valley (Rancho Verde) CA, who impressed us with his ball handling, passing, savvy, and the ability to get his shot off the dribble.  He impressed us at the adidas ABCD Camp, but 6'7 Bobby Nash from Honolulu (Iolani) HI, who promises to be the next great player from Hawaii, was even better here.  We also liked 6'5 Soph Kerry Wooldridge from Oakland (Bishop O'Dowd) CA, who was tough on the boards, and 5'7 8th grader Dwain Williams from Murrieta (H.S.) CA, who was one of the quickest guys in camp.  

Thursday, July 13, 2000

We have finally gotten a chance to add the list of the statistical leaders from the adidas ABCD Camp to our report.  This can be found by clicking on adidas ABCD Camp.   We also have some very interesting insight into why certain players were ranked where they are, including the tough call for camp MVP honors between 6'6 Jr Leonard Cooke from Old Tappon (H.S.) NJ and 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY.  Also we have made some minor corrections on players, like 6'9 Jr DeAngelo Collins from Inglewood (H.S.) CA, who incorrectly was listed previously as a senior.  This is especially important for our underclassmen list.   We also have made some minor corrections to our list from the NIKE All-American Camp, but our comments about the top players in camp are not complete yet and may not be for another day or two. 

Wednesday, July 12, 2000

Can you believe that all the big name head coaches - Kansas' Roy Williams, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown, Milwaukee Bucks head coach George Karl, and South Carolina head coach Eddie Fogler - all either turned down the North Carolina job or took their name out of the running before it was offered?   Instead, the Tar Heels hired Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty, who only has one year's worth of heading coaching experience at the Division I level.  However, in that year, he proved he can win, as Notre Dame went 22-15, and he proved he can recruit, as he landed two exceellent recruiting classes.  With Troy Murphy, Matt Carroll, and David Graves all back, plus 6'9 Ryan Humphrey, who transferred to Notre Dame from the University of Oklahoma a year ago waiting in the wings, all the Irish needed was a great point guard to make the step into college basketball's elite.  And Doherty got his man this spring when 6'1 Chris Thomas from Indianapolis (Pike) IN made an early commitment to Notre Dame.  Despite reports that he may not honor his commitment because Doherty is leaving, if Thomas does sign with the Irish in the fall, whoever gets the job would be stepping into a great situation.  Already a number of names are being tossed around, including former Seton Hall head coach P.J. Carlesimo, Delaware head coach Mike Brey, Hofstra head coach Jay Wright, Oregon head coach Ernie Kent, Vanderbilt Kevin Stallings, Utah head coach Rick Majerus, Xavier head coach Skip Prosser, Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez, and Bowling Green head coach Dan Dakich.  While any one of the above mentioned coaches would be an excellent choice and all, except Majerus and Carlesimo, are on the fast track as bright young head coaches, the perfect fit would be Brey.  Not only is he a former Duke assistant, but he's an outstanding coach, excellent, recruiter, and a first class person.  Getting back to Doherty, he may not have been the first choice for the North Carolina job this time around, but he probably would have been sometime in the future.   Remember, he's only 38-years-old, and appears to be the brightest young coach in the North Carolina family.  All this became possible when Williams did not take the North Carolina job down a week ago.   Maybe that would have been the smart move, but we were glad to see Williams do what he thought would make himself happy and not worry about what everybody else wanted him to do.  And maybe the fact Kansas could be the on the verge of landing a terrific recruiting class had something to do with Williams staying.  Everybody assumes that the Jayhawks are the co-favorite, along with Arizona, for 6'9 Dennis Latimore from Halstead (H.S.) KS and they're also high on the lists of 6'8 David Lee from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO, 6'11 Jamal Sampson from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, and 6'5 Josh Childress from Lakewood (Artesia) CA.  However, the commitment that could be forthcoming very soon will likely come from 6'1 Aaron Miles from Portland (Jefferson) OR, who finished ranked #7 at the NIKE All-American Camp by the HOOP SCOOP.

Ironically, we ran into 6'10 Kei Madison from Western Nebraska (JC) NE while changing planes in Chicago this morning.  You remember him, he's the player who signed with Indiana last two years ago, but failed to make it academically and since has gone both the prep school and junior college route.  Madison tells us that he still is planning on going to Indiana after he graduates from junior college next year, but adds that if IU assistant coach Mike Davis gets the Tulane job that could change everything.  And he's not the only player who might follow Davis to Tulane.  The word we get is that several of Indiana's current players also would like to play for Davis.  If you will recall, since Davis has been at Indiana, the Hoosiers have been especially strong in the deep south when it comes to recruiting.  However, it may not be all that easy for anybody to leave Indiana.  Remember, Bob Knight already has a history of not releasing players from their National Letter-of-Intent (i.e. Lawrence Funderburke) and, if a release isn't obtained, a player would have to sit out two years, instead of just one.  And under those circumstances, it would be a surprise if anybody went anywhere. 

For the second time this spring a former high school player from New York City died tragically.  In early June Malik Sealy was killed in a car accident and day before last, former Syracuse player Conrad McRae collasped and died on his first day of practice with the Orlando Magic's summer league team.  We haven't seen McRae in years, but we remember him from his high school days as a nice guy and a good student, as well as a good basketball player.  While his death comes as a major surprise, he had experienced health problems when he fainted before a game in 1999.  As a result, his 10-day contract had been terminated.    However, it looked like everything was heading in the right direction not just basketball wise, but personally, as he was getting  married in less than two weeks.  Speaking of outstanding high school players from New York City, 5'10 Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY did not get invited to the adidas ABCD Camp until the last minute, but he certainly lived up to all the hype, as he finished ranked #43 overall in camp, as well as #11 among point guards, and #12 among underclassmen.  He didn't look to score like he does when playing against players his own age, but he drew a lot of attention with his terrific crossover dribble and outstanding ball handling and passing skills.  Telfair needs strength, but when he went head-to-head against 6'2 Jr Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI, who ranks as the #1 junior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, Roberson was impressed.   "His game is like Marbury's," says Roberson, whose game also reminds us of Stephon Marbury's at the same stage.  The only question now is how well he'll able to handle all the attention and hype?

Tuesday, July 11, 2000

Yesterday afternoon John Eurey, who is the AAU coach for the Houston Superstars, which features 6'3 Daniel Ewing from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX and 5'10 Terrance Ford from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX, told us at the adidas ABCD Camp that Ewing would probably pick the University of Kentucky sometime in the immediate future.  Well, I told him that if Ewing wants to go to Kentucky, he'd better do it right away, because 6'3 Rashard Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA is expected to make it official for the Wildcats.  Ironically, Carruth had already announced for the Wildcats at a noon press conference yesteday at the NIKE All-American Camp, but word hadn't reached us as the adidas ABCD Camp yet regarding Carruth's commitment.  It also hadn't reached University of Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith yet, so obviously he was pretty pleased when I ran into him on the way out after the afternoon session at adidas.  Carruth was ranked #30 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP heading into the summer, but he should move up at least 10 spots after a terrific performance at the NIKE All-American Camp, where he was ranked among the top five in camp in our latest rankings.  Speaking of our rankings from both camps, we are completely finished with our ranking of the top 60 players in camp from the adidas ABCD Camp, plus we've broken it down by position with the top 20 centers, 21 power forwards, 21 wing forwards, top 20 second guards, and top 24 point guards all ranked in order. We've also added a list of the top 20 underclassmen in camp.  And now that we've talked with Chris Johnson, who was responsible for our final rankings from NIKE, we have posted our ranking of the top 60 players from the NIKE All-American Camp, as well as our ranking in order of the top 21centers, top 23 power forwards, top 21 wing forwards, top 25 second guards, and 22 point guards, plus our list of the top 20 juniors.  We also will add the statistical leaders from adidas and provide insight into some of the top players, at both camps late tonight or tomorrow. 

Monday, July 10, 2000

Well, we've waited for three days for something spectacular to happen and it finally happened in the last game of the evening last night at the NIKE All-American Camp in Indianapolis, IN.  It is already a foregone conclusion that 7'0 Tyson Chandler from Compton (Dominguez) CA, who ranks #2 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, will bypass college and go directly into the NBA draft a year from now.  But right now he might be having second thoughts after his encounter with 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St Jude) AL.  Cisse not only out played Chandler, but he gave him a taste of what it will be like to play at the highest level after next season.  As a matter of fact, Cisse's domination of Chandler was so complete that was reminscent of when Donnell Harvey met Leon Smith at the adidas Big Time Tournament in two years.  If you will recall, Harvey's performance elevated him into the consensus #1 senior in the nation, while Smith hasn't been the same player since.  In this game Chandler wanted no part of playing against Cisse inside, because he was quicker, stronger physically, and a lot more aggressive.  With this performance, Cisse edges out 6'9 Jr Amare Stoudamire from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA as the #1 player in camp.  Speaking of our rankings, after two days at the NIKE All-American Camp, we are finally on top of the game in normal fashion and, as a result, our rankings are now in great shape.  You can get these rankings by clicking on NIKE All-American Camp.   They are still subject to change, as our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson hangs around tomorrow and does some fine tuning, but I'd be surprised if we make more than a few minor adjustments at each position. You also can our updated rankings after day three of the adidas ABCD Camp.   A special thanks to Chris Johnson, Dinos Trigonis, Marc Maggert, Donnie Wilkie, Mark Karram, et al. who stayed up late last night to provide us with their input.

Everybody expected 6'3 Rashard Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA to make it official for Kentucky today, but nothing has happened yet, perhaps because Carruth apparently still wants to go to Memphis and he's not worried about the potential lack of playing time.  Remember, John Calipari now has a long jam at the one and the two spots with Courtney Trask, who was named to the First Team All League Freshman Team last March; 6'5 Lou Wright from Memphis (Raleigh-Egypt) TN and 6'2 Scooter McFadgon from Memphis (Raleigh-Egypt) TN, both of whom signed with the Tigers last fall; and 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ and 6'4 Anthony Rice from North Clayton (College Park) GA, both of whom verbally committed earlier this summer.   However, when it is all said and done, we still think he's going to Kentucky.   One thing is for sure, it won't be Louisville, as apparently the Cardinals are out.   Instead, we've picked up several other commitments, including 6'2 Carlos Morbein from Miami (Christian) FL and 6'8 Johan Rivera from Miami (Christian) FL, both of whom have verbally committed to Florida International, and 6'3 Jake Muhlheisen from Lincoln (Southeast) NE, who has committed to the University of Nebraska.  We're not sure if Muhlheisen will be more than just a role player for the Cornhuskers, but Morbein and Rivera are a steal for Florida International, because they both rank in the 100-300 range nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  It also looks like a number of other players are close to making verbal commitments, including 6'9 Josh Powell from Riverdale (H.S.) GA, who likely will announce for N.C. State next week.  We also think Iowa may be a lot closer to getting a commitment from 6'5 Dennis Coutee from Jeffersonville (H.S.) IN than most people realize and Tennessee is now the heavy favorite for 6'5 Clark Williams from Liburn (Berkmar) GA. 

Some of the names we're hearing for the Tulane job are Kentucky assistant coach Shawn Finney, Long Beach State head coach Wayne Morgan, Louisiana-Lafayette head coach Jessie Evans, and Connecticut assistant coach Karl Hobbs, but the smart money appears to be on Indiana assistant coach Mike Davis.  However, the real question is who will get the North Carolina job? We know that Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown interviewed for the job yesterday and Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty interrviewed for the job on Friday.  Another possibility is George Karl of the Milwaukee Bucks, our guess is that it will be either Brown or Doherty.  Doherty would be a good choice, but hiring Brown would be like Kentucky hiring Rick Pitino.  As a matter of fact, we wrote the same thing on March 16th in both the Members and Visitors Section.  "Despite North Carolina head coach Bill Guthridge’s recent announcement that he will return next year, we have a reliable source who tells us that the Guthridge will indeed retire this spring. If that happens, the door would be open for the Tar Heels to hire Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown, who for years had been the heir apparent to replace Dean Smith.   However, Brown fell out of grace when he hired Danny Manning’s father, Ed Manning, in 1983 and, as a result, beat out the Tar Heels for the player who would eventually lead Kansas to the NCAA Championship in 1988. And if the Tar Heels hired Brown, it would be just as big as if Pitino returned to Kentucky or Calipari going to Memphis. As a matter of fact, we think Brown is the best coach in basketball at any level. He’s a tremendous teacher and there is no doubt that he’s a good recruiter when he sets his mind to it. And the cupboard isn’t exactly empty at North Carolina to begin with.    So if Brown returned to college basketball, it would be very difficult to keep North Carolina out of the NCAA Final Four for very long.  And making the entire matter even more intriguing, if Brown were to get the Tar Heels to the title game, he would become the first coach in history to coach three different schools in the NCAA Championship game.  However, that’s only part of the story. Apparently Brown, who is 59 year old, would be hired to fill the job only until current Notre Dame head coach and former North Carolina All-American Matt Doherty is ready to step in and run the show. Which might only be two or three years. All this sounds great, but one has to wonder what ever happened to Kansas head coach Roy Williams, who was supposed to be the chosen successor when Guthridge decides he’s had enough?"

Sunday, July 9, 2000

Right now our coverage of the adidas ABCD Camp is second to none, because Dave Schultz, Allen Rubin, Chris Johnson, et al. have years of experience covering superstar oriented camps and, as result, their rankings after the first two days of camp are already posted and you can get them by clicking on adidas ABCD Camp. However, several of the people who were supposed to help us cover the NIKE Camp - Larry Kihnley, whose father died; Steve Bell, who had last minute newspaper obligations in Michigan; and Patrick Jira, who is missing in action - are not here.  As a result, we are way behind with our rankings from the first day at NIKE.  As a matter of fact, I personally have only saw two-thirds of the teams in camp yesterday.  So our rankings will only include the players that I have seen.  You can get these very preliminary rankings for positions only by clicking on NIKE All-American Camp.   Later today Johnson will arrive and by tonight I will have seen every body in camp at least once and many players twice, plus we should have help from several others, including our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis, so we should be in a position to duplicate our coverage the adidas ABCD Camp before I fly back to New Jersey early tomorrow morning to cover the all-star game tomorrow night at that camp.  

Several days ago we reported that we thought Kentucky was in great shape on 6'3 Daniel Ewing from Sugar Land (Willowrridge) TX, but now we'd be surprised if he picks the Wildcats.  The reason is that it looks like we're going to totally wrong about 6'3 Rashaad Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA going to Kentucky.   As a matter of fact, we now think Carruth will pick the Wildcats and it could happen as soon as today or tomorrow.  This comes as a major shock to us, because our main source on Carruth all along was Linzy Davis, who not only is Carruth's AAU coach, but also is the person who pays his tuition at Oak Hill Academy and is one of two the people, along with his mother, with the strongest influence in his life.   Davis has always maintained that there was no way that he was going to let Carruth go to Kentucky, because is wasn't a good fit.  His reasoning was the 2-guard spot isn't open and they needed a better point guard than what they've recruited and/or is already in the program.  However, the word we're getting is that the Kentucky coaching staff has overcome this by telling him that they plan to play Keith Bogans a lot at the point guard spot in the future  They've also sold him on how bad they need outside shooting, plus Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith has been watching Carruth for years and knows all about him.  We certainly can atest to that, because I remember talking to Smith at half-time of the game when Carruth hit seven straight 3-pointers at the adidas Big-Time Tournament when he was only in 8th grade.  I told him he might be good enough for Georgia, which is where Smith was then the head coach, right now.  Certainly this is huge for Kentucky, because Carruth is the best catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter in the class, as well as the 30th ranked player nationally in the rising senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Getting back to Davis, this is not the first time that he's had a super player who has surprised a lot of folks with his decision.  If you will recall, in 1995 Sharif Abdul-Raheem was supposed to be a lock for Georgia Tech, but, instead, shocked everybody at the press conference when he announced for California.  I take a lot of pride in being accurate - and we are most of the time.  However, missing this badly is a major blow to our credibility.  Sure, I can blame Davis for not being on the money and/or I could say that things change in the recruiting process.  But the bottom line is that I blew it.   I listened to somebody who as it turns out was a bad source, instead of listening to what the kid was saying all along (that Kentucky was one of the leaders).  When you go against the status quo and a lot of people are questioning you, you had better be right.  And if  you're not, you lose a lot of credibility.  Obviously, we will take steps to prevent this from happening in the future.  

Seton Hall, Villanova, Massachusetts, Temple, Kentucky, Connecticut, and Rutgers appear to be the favorites for 6'5 John Allen from Coatesville (H.S.) PA.   Michigan is way in front for 6'9 Brandon Bender from Louisville (Ballard) KY, but USC, Texas, N.C. State, Kentucky, Louisville, Duke, Florida, Memphis, Arkansas, and Temple are also still being mentioned.  Bender's also talking about the possibility of going as part of a package, along with 6'5 Larry O'Bannon from Louisville (Male) KY.  O'Bannon's list includes Texas, N.C. State, Utah, Syracuse, Kentucky, Louisville, and Michigan.  Virginia, Duke, Maryland, Villanova, James Madison, and SMU are all near the top of the list for 6'6 Darrio Scott from Brookneal (Virginia) VA.  Rutgers, Villanova, USC, Syracuse, and Maine are involved with 6'6 Jamel Caterina from Portland (Deering) ME.  Dave Benezra, the Editor and Publisher of Recruiting USA, is already touting 6'6 Jr Bryant Markson from Monrovia (H.S.) CA as potentially the best prospect to ever play for him on his Los Angeles Rockfish AAU team.  We're not sure we're ready to go that far yet, but his early list, which includes UCLA, California, UC-Santa Barbara, Northwestern,and Kentucky, is impressive.  North Carolina, Duke Florida, Florida State, and Georgia are all in the hunt for 6'5 Derek Stribling from Winter Haven (Lake Region) FL.  Hofstra, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Iona are all showing varying degrees of interest in 6'4 Chris McRae from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY.  Zakee Boyd, the 6'5 junior wing guard from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, already likes Cincinnati, Seton Hall, Rutgers, New Mexico, Florida, and Florida State.  Princeton, Lehigh, Brown, Marshall, and Davidson are involved with 6'0 Nick D'Antoni from Myrtle Beach (Socastee) SC.   Seton Hall is the leader for 6'3 Kenny Taylor from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX, but Houston, Baylor, Oklahoma, N.C.State, Florida State, and Louisville are also on his list. Connecticut, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Florida, N.C. State, North Carolina, Duke, and Notre Dame are recruiting 6'10 Mark Konecy from Waterbury (Holy Cross) CT.

Saturday, July, 8, 2000

The results are in from the first day of the adidas ABCD Camp and the best player in camp, in what was an extremely close call, was 6'4 Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, who currently ranks #4 nationally in the rising senior class nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  Torbert edged out 6'6 Jr Leonard Cooke from New York (La Salle) NY, who finished the first day as the leading scorer (20.5 ppg) and tied as the leading rebounder (9.0 rpg) in camp.  Also ranked among our top dozen in order are 6'8 Julius Sensley from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, 6'1 Maurice Williams from Jackson (Murrah) MS, 6'7 Jr Charlie Rodriguez from Fresno (Clovis West) CA, 6'2 Jr Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI, 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'6 Jr Jackie Manuel from Ft. Lauderdale (Cardinal Newman) FL, 6'1 Ben Gordon from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY, 6'6 Quemont Greer from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI, 6'9 Jr Sani Ibrahim from Atlanta (W.D. Mohammad) GA, and 6'1 Tony Bethel from Forestville (Bishop McNamara) MD.   These ranking are based on primarily on camp performance.  To get the rest of our list of the top 40 players in camp, plus our list of the top 20 centers, top 20 power forwards, top 19 wing forwards, top 18 second guards, and top 27 point guards all ranked in order, click on adidas ABCD Camp.   Especially interesting is the fact 6'11 Kwame Brown from Brunswick (Glynn Academy) GA, who ranks #3 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP in the rising senior class, didn't make the top 40.  However, 6'11 Eddy Curry from Thornwood (South Holland) IL, who ranks #6 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, redeemed himself at least some last while playing against 6'9 Brandon Bender from Louisville (Ballard) KY.  So Curry checks in at #17.  The deepest position in camp appears to be the point guard spot, but it was not evident by watching the play, as a lot of guy over handled, didn't play any defense, and forgot to make their teammates better.  Thus, explains why a lot of the big guys in camp have looked mediocre at best.  One big man who was outstanding is 6'7 Jr Mario Boggan from Durham (Southern Durham) NC, who was the second leading scorer in camp (18.0 ppg) and the leading shooter in camp, hitting 85% of his field goals.  However, Boggan did this while playing primarily against the second unit guy, which explains why he ranks now higher than #19 in camp.  We would write more, but we have to catch a 6:40 AM fight, so we can do it all again later today at the NIKE All-American Camp in Indianapolis, IN.

Friday, July 7, 2000

The HOOP SCOOP's Pre-Summer National Rankings for the Class of 2001 are finished and just in time, as the first day of action begins later today at adidas ABCD Camp. It comes as no surprise that 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ is the #1 ranked player.  Wagner, 7'0 Tyson Chandler from Compton (Dominguez) CA, 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL, 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX, 6'6 Josh Childress, and 6'8 David Lee from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO will be at the NIKE All-American Camp, which kicks off official tomorrow.  The other six players ranked among our top dozen nationally - 6'11 Kwame Brown from Brunswick (Glynn Academy) GA, 6'4 Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL, 5'10 Terrance Ford from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX,   6'7 James White from York (Crispus Attucks) PA, and 6'1 Maurice Williams from Jackson (Murrah) MS - are at the adidas ABCD Camp and we will see them today. For our complete list of the top 1000 rising seniors, plus the best of the rest, which are listed by state, height, and alphabetical order, click on Class 2001.

Last night the 6'2 Errick Craven and 6'2 Derek Craven, both from Torrance (Bishop Montgomery) CA, told us that they did make it official by verbally committing USC the previous evening.  It looks like the University of Louisville is on the verge of getting commitments from 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL and 6'3 Rashaad Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA.  Both Cisse and Carruth are scheduled to stop in Louisville for unofficial visits after the NIKE All-American Camp is over on July 11th and we'd be surprised if the Cardinals coaching staff doesn't turn up the heat and try and get both to verbally commit before they leave town.  Obviously this will come as a surprise to many Kentucky fans who still think they're one of the leaders for Carruth.  However, we think the Wildcats will be better off in the long run, because they're a lot closer than most people realize to getting a verbal commitment from 6'3 Daniel Ewing from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX, who ranks only two spots behind Carruth at #32 on our new list of the top rising seniors nationally in the Class of 2001.   Ewing isn't as good a 3-point shooter as Carruth, but he does get his shot better off the dribble, plus he's a great kid and an excellent student.  While all that's well and good, the big reason this is so huge is that Ewing and 5'10 Terrance Ford from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX have been close friends and teammates since their junior high school days and, as a result, the possibility of a package when going to college appears to be more than just a possibility.  So it stands to reason that if Kentucky gets Ewing, the great point guard (Ford) that they've been missing won't be far behind.   And don't be surprised if this happens sooner than later.  Right now Ewing has Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, Arizona, Syracuse, Louisville, and UCLA on his list.  Ford mentions Kentucky, UCLA, Texas, USC, Connecticut, Houston, and Villanova.

The afternoon session of the adidas ABCD Camp is over and our vote for the top best player in camp goes to 6'4 Jr Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, who had 20 points and hit 4-5 from 3-point land.  Other players who were  impressive where 6'7 Jr Charlie Rodriguez from Fresno (Clovis West) CA, 6'2 Tony Bethel from Ft. Washington (Bishop McNamara) MD, 6'6 Jr Leonard Cooke from New York (La Salle) NY, 6'6 Jackie Manuel from Ft. Lauderdale (Cardinal Newman) FL, 6'1 Jr Gerry McNamara from Scranton (Bishop Hannan) PA, 6'7 Jr Mario Boggan from Durham (Southern Durham) NC, 6'5 John Allen from Coatesville (H.S.) PA, 6'8 Julian Sensley from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, and 6'6 Chuck Hayes from Modesto (Christian) CA.  Cooke, who had a double-double with 25 ppg and 10 rpg, was the leading scorer in camp.  Next was 6'7 Daren Tielsch from McKees Rocks (Montour) PA, who committed a year ago to Penn State, with 22 points.  Bethel had 21 points, followed by Torbert, Rodriguez, 6'3 Dominique Ingerson from Santa Barbara (H.S.) CA, and 6'3 Jermaine Harper from Dyke (Blue Ridge) VA with 20 apiece.  The other big story of the afternoon was the disappearance of some of the highly touted big guys in camp, like 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL, 6'11 Kwame Brown from Brunswick (Glynn Academy) GA, and 6'9 Brandon Bender from Louisville (Ballard) KY.  Don't believe it?   Well, lets take a look at the numbers.  Curry had nine points and four rebounds.  Brown had six points and three rebounds.  Bender had eight points and seven rebounds.

Thursday, July 6, 2000

We mentioned yesterday that UCLA was high on the list of 6'10 Michael Fey from Olympic (Capital) WA.  This top 70 rising senior nationally also mentions Washington, Oregon, Syracuse, Connecticut, and USC.  Kentucky, Kansas, Utah, San Francisco, and USC are the favorites for 6'8 Demarshay Johnson from Oakland (Tech) CA.  The favorites for 6'3 Jermaine Harper from Dyke (Blue Ridge) VA are California, Virginia, Villanova, Maryland, Rutgers, Georgia Tech, UNLV, and USC.  He's really an undersized power forward, but that hasn't stopped UCLA, St. Louis, USC, Syracuse, and Villanova from showing interest in 6'6 Jamal Williams from Corona (Centennial) CA.  N.C. State, Clemson, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Xavier, and Temple are the leaders for 6'7 James Smith from Virginia Beach (Cape Henry) VA.  St. Louis, South Carolina State, N.C. State, and Villanova were the first schools out the mouth of 6'3 Alexander Harper from Columbia (Keenan) SC.  6'11 Rick Rickert from Duluth (East) MN likes N.C. State, Florida, Iowa, Duke, Arizona, and Minnesota.   Marquette, UNC-Charlotte, N.C. State, and St. Louis appear to be the favorites for 6'7 Quemont Greer from Milwaukee (Vincent) WI.  Penn State, Syracuse, Villanova, St. Joseph's, Notre Dame, Duke and North Carolina are the early favorites for 6'2 Jr Gerry McNamara from Scranton (Bishop Hannan) PA, who ranks as one the top 20 juniors in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP.  One of the top five sophomores in the nation is 6'9 and growing Lawrence Carrier from  Salisbury (School) CT.   However, it looks like he will return to the West Coast to attend college, as hiis early list includes UCLA, Stanford, USC, and Arizona. 

The summer hasn't even began and it looks like Ohio State is done recruiting.   That's right!  Last night Ohio State got its third commitment in the last two weeks and, as a result, the Buckeyes are out of scholarships.   We're talking about 6'9 Terrance Dials from Youngstown (Boardman) OH and he joins 6'7 Jr Matt Sylvester from Cincinnati (Moeller) OH, who announced for the Buckeyes earlier this week, and 6'0 Brandon Fuss-Cheatham from Beaver Falls (Black Hawk) PA, who picked Ohio State over Memphis and N.C. State last week.  This means that 6'9 Jawad Williams from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, who is the consensus #1 ranked rising senior in the state of Ohio, won't be going to Ohio State.  Instead, Maryland and Cincinnati now appear to be the favorites.   Neither will 6'5 JaQuan Hart from Flint (Northern) MI, who last week appeared to be favoring the Buckeyes nor any of the other seemingly numerous players that the Buckeyes were involved with.  Obviously, the Ohio State is in the perfect position, because they can spend the summer looking at underclassmen and laying the foundation for the future. 

There is still no word on whether Kansas head coach Roy Williams is going to take the North Carolina job, but many think it's only a matter of time.   Maybe they're right, but if they are and he already knows what he's going to do, he is leaving the Jayhawks high and dry in terms of moving quicky to hire a new head coach.   Acutally, we be surprised if that's the case, because Williams is a first class guy.  Instead, we believe that he's having a very difficult time making a decision.   A guy who didn't have a difficult time deciding to leave was Tulane head coach Perry Clark, who took the Miami-FL job earlier today.   Clark is walking into a gold mine with the Hurricanes, but suddenly the question becomes who will the Green Wave hire.  Remember, it's a terrible time of the year to try and hire a coach, because the summer evaluation period for college coaches begins in less than two days.  How about McNeese State head coach Ron Everhart, who helped Clark get the Tulane program off the ground in the early 90s?  Everhart is one of the bright young coaches in the business and he's a heck of a recruiter, which is exactly what the Green Wave needs to compete against schools like Memphis, Louisville, and Cincinnati in Conference USA.

Wednesday, July 5, 2000

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin has been busy today talking to some of the players who have arrived early at the adidas ABCD Camp.   The early list of schools for 6'4 Jr Antonio Lawrence from Jacksonville (Jackson) FL includes Kentucky, St. John's, Florida, Connecticut, Florida State, and Miami-FL.  Providence, Hofstra, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Clemson, La Salle, and Boston College were mentioned by 6'8 Kenny Adeleke from Brooklyn (Paul Robeson) NY, who is ranked as the #2 rising senior in New York City behind 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY.    Cincinnati, Fresno State,Maryland, Syracuse, and Xavier are the favorites for 6'7 Omari Westley from York (Cripus Attucks) PA.  Brian Swift, who is a 5'10 point guard from Bedford (Chanel) OH, is ranked #9 in Ohio by Chris Johnson.  His list includes Cincinnati, Marquette, Southern California, Wisconsin, and UNC-Charlotte.  Any way you slice it 6'9 Soph Charles Villanueva, who plans to transfer from Elmhurst (Newtown) NY to Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ next fall, is one the top players in his class.  Actually, he's planning on repeating his sophomore year.  Then, during the 2001-2002 season he will progress normally with his class.  However, during the 2002-2003 season, he will be in his 9th semester of high school and, as a result, will not be ranked as a high school senior.   Instead, he will be ranked on our 5th year list.  His early list includes Massachusetts, Florida, Kentucky, Stanford, Syracuse, Iona, and Connecticut.

We also talked with a number of the top players at the NBA Players Association Camp on Saturday in Washington, DC and some of the things we found out were very interesting.  Right at the top of the list provided by 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL  was DePaul, which directly contradicts what our Illinois Editor G.J. King told us several weeks ago.   In case you're wondering, we changed what we'd originally written about DePaul moving into the lead after recently hiring Curry's uncle Donnie Kirksey as an assistant coach to replace Larry Harrison, who left to take the head coaching job at Hartford earlier this spring.  Instead, we called  DePaul the sleeper, which is not nearly as strong a statement, because King assured us that Curry doesn't like DePaul and, as a result, will never go there  However, it may not matter, because most people in the know think Curry will bypass college next year and enter his name into the 2001 NBA draft.  Still, it's interesting to see what college teams he likes and, in addition to DePaul, he mentioned Cincinnati, Connecticut, UCLA, and Illinois.  Georgia Tech, Rutgers, Boston College, Ohio State, Southern Cal, and Georgetown are the top schools on the list of 6'2 Jermaine Watson from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA.  One of our favorite players in camp - 6'7 Ed Nelson from Ft. Lauderdale (St. Thomas Aquinas) FL -  mentioned Ohio State, Syracuse, N.C. State, Michigan State, and Notre Dame.  LSU, Texas A&M, Texas, Cincinnati, Miami-FL, and Georgia Tech are the favorites for 6'4 Marcus Spears from Baton Rouge (Southern Lab) TX.  However, getting Spears may depend upon what school is willing to let him play both football and basketball in college.  If you will recall, Spears is also one of the top football prospects in America.  UCLA, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa State, DePaul, Marquette, Illinois, Houston, and Villanova were all mentioned by 6'7 Najeeb Echols from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, who is one of the fastest rising players in the class.  As a result, we think he'll be a terrific college player, but developing a consistent 3-pointer will ultimately determine how well he eventually does at the highest level.  Iowa State, Southern Cal, Kansas, Colorado, Colorado State, Notre Dame, and Purdue are all involved with 6'8 Patrick Sampson from Denver (George Washington) CO.  Marcus Gantt, the 6'10 physical specimen who was a reserve last year at Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA mentioned Massachusetts, La Salle, Central Florida, Rutgers, and Drexelt.  Speaking of Gantt, it looks like he will transfer to Camden (H.S.) NJ, where he will provide the inside presence that 6'2 Dajuan Wagner will need in his quest for a repeat of March's state championship run.  However, our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us that there is still a possibility that Gantt will end up back at his original school, Camden (Catholic) NJ.  Rubin also tells us that Camden already has added one new face for next year in 6'6 Jr Aaron Estrada from Woodbury (H.S.) NJ, who was ranked #15 in the area on Rubin's last report.

We've received several emails telling us that 6'2 Errick Craven and 6'2 Derek Craven, both from Torrance (Bishop Montgomery) CA, have committed to Southern California.  As a matter of fact, several of the daily newspapers, including the Los Angeles Daily News and the Los Angeles Times, have reported that the Craven's twins have verbally committed to the Trojans.   However, our Southern California Editor Dinos Trigonis talked to their mother at 4:45 PM PST and she says they have not committed.  Making the situation even more confusing is the fact that they (Errick and Derek) are telling people that they are planning on committing to USC.  So when and if they do finally pull the trigger, we think this is a perfect fit, because they both are terrific blue collar athletes, they play extremely hard, and their team usually wins. In other words, they get the most out their talent.  Speaking of the perfect fit, it looks like UCLA may get 6'0 Aaron Miles from Portland (Jefferson) OR by default.  His other schools are Kansas, Arizona, and Duke, but the Wildcats and Blue Devils are loaded at his position and the Jayhawks are expected to have a coaching change any minute now.  We think it's only a matter of time before UCLA firms up the commitment that 6'6 Cedric Bozeman from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA made last fall.  Our guess is that Bozeman just wants to be recruited some more, as well as take some visits.   Obviously, getting Bozeman would help the Bruins chances with 6'5 Josh Childress from Lakewood (Mayfair) CA and 6'11 Jamal Sampson from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, but 6'6 Dijon Thompson from Redondo Beach (Redondo Union) CA and 6'10 Michael Fey from Olympic (Capital) WA are also high on UCLA's priority list.  However, Thompson may not be as much of a lock for the Bruins as people think.  Did you know that St. John's has made him their #1 priority this summer and that Syracuse and most of the rest of the Big East are going after him hard?  Trigonis also tells us that Utah appears to be the leader over UNLV, Rutgers, Long Beach State, and Pepperdine for 6'4 Cody Pearson from Sherman Oaks (Notre Dame) CA, who is another one of the fastest rising players on the West Coast.

Tuesday, July 4, 2000

One of our competitors is standing by his recent report that Ohio State is going to get a commitment from 6'9 Terrance Dials from Youngstown (Boardman) OH.  However, if he's going to pick the Buckeyes, he better not wait too long.  Yesterday Ohio State got a commitment from 6'7 Jr Matt Sylvester from Cincinnati (Moeller) OH, who ranks #72 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, as well as #2 in the state by our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson.   This is huge, not just because Sylvester is the first top 100 player  the Buckeyes have gotten out of the state of Ohio, but also because they beat Cincinnati for a player they wanted right in their own backyard.  Sylvester picked Ohio State over Cincinnati, Xavier, Dayton, Michigan State, Utah, and N.C. State.  With the commitment by Sylvester yesterday and the commitment by 6'0 Brandon Fuss-Cheatham from Beaver Falls (Black Hawk) PA last week, Ohio State only has one scholarship left left and they appear to be the either the favorite or the co-favorite for Dials, 6'9 Jawad Williams from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, who is the consensus #1 ranked rising senior in the state of Ohio, and 6'5 JaQuan Hart from Flint (Northern) MI, who ranks among our top 25 nationally.  In other words, whoever commitments first will be Ohio State's final signee, unless another scholarship opens up during the season and, as a result, the Buckeyes sign somebody else in the spring. 

Last week we told you about all the players who we expect to end up at Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA next year, but we didn't tell you about the recruiting job that head coach Isiah Anderson has done at York (Crispus Attucks) PA.  It's common knowledge that 6'7 James White from Kensington (Newport School) MD plans to enroll at Cripus Attucks in the fall, but did you know that 6'7 Omari Westley from East Cleveland (Shaw) OH, 6'9 Gabriel Lee from Camilla (Mitchell-Baker) GA, and 6'2 Keith Jenifer from Towson (Catholic) MD are also planning on enrolling at this basketball factory in Eastern Pennsylvania in the fall.  Also, 6'8 Sherrod Ford from Brandywine (Gwynn Park) MD was planning on attending Crispus Attucks, but he has changed his mind and, instead, will attend Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA.  And the same thing could happen with White, if the situation at Cripus Attucks falls apart.  Apparently, the school administrators are mad, because Anderson has gone outside the area to recruit the best talent available and there is talk that they may disband the program.

The early verbal commitments continue to pile up at a record pace, as we've tracked verbal commitments from 36 different rising seniors.   The latest is 7'2 Wesley Morgan from Gallatin (H.S.) TN, who called us earlier today to tell us that he has committed to Mississippi State.   Morgan is not a finished product, but he's great good hands, an excellent touch, and a tremendous upside.  All he needs is strength.  He's also an excellent student (3.4 gpa and 25 ACT).  Wake Forest, Southern Illinois, South Alabama, Southern Cal, East Carolina, UNC-Wilmington, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and UT-Martin have all shown interest, but we're not sure if any of them have seen him play.   And they won't until the Steamboat Classic, which will be held at Murray State University, July 27th-30th.

We are finished with our final ranking of the top players in the Class of 2000, which includes the top 1000 graduating seniors ranked in order, plus numerous other graduating seniors who are listed by state, height, and alphabetical order. And with the completion of this list, we are officially done with the Class of 2000.  So from this point on (actually it's been for the last several days) every player in the nation moves up a grade.  In other words, juniors become seniors, sophomores become juniors, etc.  We also think it is important to point out that any player who is in his 9th semester of high school next year will be listed separately on a 5th year list that we will start keeping track of once school starts (to do so now is a waste of time, because so many players will end someplace other than were they intend to right now).  We also are planning to come out with a list of the top 1000 rising seniors, but it must be completed by Friday at noon.  If it's not done by then, it won't get done until August.  For us summer starts with a bang with the afternoon session of the adidas ABCD Camp, which tips off on Friday. And, of course, the NIKE All-American Camp tips of Saturday afternoon.  We will have updated player rankings from both camps on a daily basis, as well as expert analysis, and highlights, so plan on being on our site on a daily basis Saturday through Tuesday, as well as during the rest of the summer. 

Monday, July 3, 2000

The Michigan Mustangs beat the Illinois Fire, 74-62, in the championship game of the 2000 Bet/Pro-Am D.C. Summer Classic at George Washington University in Washington, DC last night.  But even more important, in the process, 6'2 Jr Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI, who scored 27 points and nailed a number of long range jumpers, left little doubt who is the #1 rising junior in the nation.  Roberson not only shoots the lights out, but he also has great court savvy, makes tremendous decisions and usually dominates the game from the point guard spot.  He also had plenty of help as 6'0 Ricky Morgan from Pontiac (Northern) MI chipped in with 13 points and shared the point guard responsibilities.  Taking care of business inside were 6'6 Quemont Greer from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT with 11 points and 6'8 Omari Westley from York (Crispus Attucks) PA with 14 points, but Westley also showed he can step out and hit the 18-foot jumper, which makes the value of stock rise a little more.  6'5 John Allen from Coatesville (H.S.) PA had nine points, but wasn't nearly as good as he was when we saw him in the game on Friday afternoon.  Also not playing nearly as well as he did on the first day was 7'0 Chris Alexander from Harvey (Thornton) IL.  Instead, the big guns for the Illinois Fire were 6'3 Luther Head from Chicago (Manley) IL, who hit five straight three pointers in the first half and 6'5 Staunton Peck from Winnetka (New Trier) IL, who finished with 19 points and had four triples of his own.  We also thought 6'3 Jr Sean Dockery from Chicago (Julian) IL ran the team well, but what a big difference there is between Dockery, who also gets mentioned as one of our top five juniors nationally, and Roberson.  In the Third Place game the outside shot wasn't falling for 6'7 James White from York (Crispus Attucks) PA, but he still was one of the best players in the tournament and, as a result, he was named to the five man All-Tournament Team, along with Roberson, Morgan, Alexander, and 6'3 Jr Ricardo Soliver from Bronx (All Hallows) NY.

There is no truth to the rumor that 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX is considering transferring to Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA.  At least that's what he told us on Saturday at the NBA Players Association Camp.  However, is talking about transferring to Louisville (Male) KY next year.  Remember, Hurt verbally committed the Univesrsity of Louisville about 10 days ago, plus his mother attended Male High School during the Wesley Cox and Darrell Griffith days in the early 1970's.  Also, his grandmother still lives in Louisville and there has been a lot talk about Hurt's parents both moving back to Louisville so they can follow their son's career first hand.  Speaking of Louisville, we wouldn't be surprised if the Cardinals also get verbal commitments from 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL and 6'3 Rashard Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA and in both cases it might happen very soon  The official party line is that Cisse is wide open, but our sources tell us that an official announcement might be forthcoming during or right after the conclusion of the NIKE All-American Camp.  And if that happens, it has to be Louisville.  If you will recall, Cisse's older brother signed with the Cardinals this spring and, as a result, Louisville has been the heavy favorite ever since.  And Carruth may get it over with even sooner.  Apparently the big holdup is that head coach Denny Crum has been on a fishing trip during the last week and nobody can get in touch with him.  But the fact that the Cardinals already have an early commitment from a great point guard (Hurt) and the 2-guard spot will be wide open, because Marquis Maybin will graduate after next season, makes Louisville the perfect fit.   Carruth still is telling people, including us, that Memphis is leader, but after 6'4 Anthony Rice from North Clayton (College Park) GA committed a week ago to the Tigers, the scholarship is no longer available.  As a result, Carruth's AAU coach Linzy Davis is pushing Carruth to get it done and the school appears to be pushing is Louisville.  So it looks like it's close to being a done deal, unless Carruth vetoes it, like he apparently has done with Georgia Tech, or Louisville continues to sit around and tred water.  If that happens, then all bets are off.  As a matter of fact, the longer it goes, the better Kentucky's chances are, because Carruth then may get caught up in all the hype.  Remember, Carruth plays the game well.  Why do you think he's always had Kentucky at the top of his list even though the Wildcats don't have either of the two things he's looking for - a great point and the 2-guard spot open?  Well, I'll tell you.  It gets him ranked higher by a number of recruiting gurus, plus it's gotten him a lot more publicity if he has Kentucky at the top of his list.  

Sunday, July 2, 2000

Four of the most impressive players at the NBA Players Association Camp at American University in Washington, DC yesterday were 6'0 Aaron Miles from Portland (Jefferson) OR, 6'6 Najeeb Echols from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, 6'3 Rashard Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, and 6'9 Sherrod Ford from York (Cripus Attucks) PA.  And if we tell you they were all on the same team, it easy to see why they led that team (the Trailblazers) to a 73-66 victory in the championship game.  Ford, who is prep school bound, now appears to be one of the fastest rising players in the nation.  He had 16 points in the championship, plus he did a lot of damage on the boards.  Carruth had 12 points, but even more important, appeared to take his game to another level.   Echols had 13 points and took home the award for Most Inpirational in Camp.   Miles didn't score much in the championship game, but he made everybody else better and, as a result, took home camp MVP honors.  As a matter of fact, if Miles were a stock, now would be a good time to buy.  That's right!  He was our favorite player in camp.  He doesn't do anything flashy, but he gets the job done in an efficient no-frills manner.  He also plays great defense and makes his teammates better with his exceptional passing skills and court awareness. The leading scoring in the championship game was 6'1 Maurice Williams from Jackson (Murrah) MS, who had 18 points for the Knicks.  However, he and his teammates were at a major disadvantage after 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL was sidelined with a leg injury in the semi-finals.  Speaking of Cisse, he gets our vote as the best player in camp and, as a result, reaffirmed our belief that he should rank among our top five nationally in the rising senior class ahead of 611 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL, who also was at camp, but sat out with an injury while he rested up for the adidas ABCD Camp, which will tip-off later this week.  Potentially Curry is better than Cisse, but he's doesn't always play hard enough, so our philosophy is to let him earn it.  Also missing in action were two other players ranked among our top five - 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ and 7'0 Tyson Chandler from Compton (Dominguez) CA, both of whom were no-shows at the camp.  However, the camp still had plenty of elite players, including Cisse, Williams, 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX, 6'8 David Lee from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO, 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'9 Robert Whaley from Benton (Harbor) MI, and 6'5 Josh Childress from Lakewood (Mayfair) CA.  But the big story of the of day were the players, like Miles, Carruth, 6'9 Jawad Williams from Lakewood (St. Edward) MO, 6'7 Ed Nelson from Ft. Lauderdale (St. Thomas Aquinas) FL, 6'7 Nick DeWitz from Chandler (Dobson) AZ,6'6 Michael Collins from Commerce (H.S.) GA, 6'2 Melvin Scott from Baltimore (Southern) MD, 6'4 Chey Christie from Biloxi (H.S.) MS, and 6'4 Floyd North from San Diego (St. Augustine) CA all of whom really stepped up and elevated their game.  We've already mentioned Miles, who will move onto the top 30 nationally when we publish our list of the top 1000 rising seniors, which will be just in time of the beginning summer camp season, on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.  Carruth played about as well as we've seen him play and he proved to be money from 3-point land, as he made a number of big shots, including the game winning shot in sudden death overtime during the morning session.  And even more important, Carruth showed he's improved at getting his shot off the dribble.   Williams was unstoppable in transition, but he also was hitting the outside shot and he was playing a lot harder than when we've seen him in the past.  Nelson is the ultimate blue collar player, because he gets all the garbage inside.  He's also deceptive, because he's surprisingly mobile and athletic for somebody his size, which is why we'll rank him among our top 40 nationally.  DeWitz is also surpringly athletic and is excellent at getting his shot of the dribble and/or knocking down the 3-point shot.   As a matter of fact, he nailed three from beyond arch and finished with 13 points in the championship game.   He won't rank among our top 100 nationally just yet, but he may move onto that list if he plays like this all summer.   It's no surprise that North is athletic as he is, but he also complemented DeWitz with his outside shooting in the championship game, as he finished with 12 points of his own.  We still don't think Scott makes good enough decisions, but he played great defense and scored seemingly at will both in transition and from beyond the arc.  As a result, we think he's good enough to play in ACC as an undesized 2-guard, because he's so athletic and naturally talented.  Christie needs to get bigger and stronger, but he's terrific in transition, because he's a great passer, is extremely quick off the dribble, and has great body control.   Collins is an undersized power forward, but he doesn't take any prisoners inside, as he uses his strength, athleticism, and quickness to get it done on the boards

Saturday, July 1, 2000

Most of the players we've talked with during the last 24 hours at the 2000 Bet/Pro-Am DC Summer Classic and the NBA Players Association Camp think that Kansas head coach Roy Williams is a lock to take the North Carolina job and, if they are correct, it could be an absolute recruiting bonanza for the Tar Heels.  Let's start with 6'7 James White.   With Duke and Connecticut both now out of the picture, his list includes North Carolina, Maryland, Florida, Georgia Tech, and Seton Hall.  However, the smart money is North Carolina.  As a matter of fact, White's father has always been a big North Carolina fan and, as a result, we  believe the Tar Heels have always been a near lock for this sensational athlete who is transferring from Kensington (Newport School) MD to York (Cripus Attucks) PA.  At Kansas, Williams already has been recruiting 6'8 David Lee from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO, 6'5 Cedric Bozeman from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'11 Jamal Sampson from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, and 6'5 Josh Childress from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, but their eyes all light up when they start talking about the prospect of Williams being at North Carolina.  And that goes double for Sampson, who always has had North Carolina right at the top of his list.  Sampson's other schools include Arizona, UCLA, Virginia, Connecticut, and Kansas.  Childress likes North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, Stanford, and Arizona.  Bozeman verbally committed to UCLA last fall, but he opened his recruitment back up this spring.  However, we didn't bother to even get a list, because our sources tell us he's still a done deal for UCLA.  Lee is interested in Missouri, Duke, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Kentucky, and North Carolina.  Getting back to Williams, Greg Swaim, the Editor and Publisher of Midwest Basketball, tells us that Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings and Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty are the two leading candiates for the Kansas job, if and when it opens.  Another name to throw into the mix is Fordham head coach Bob Hill.  Our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio reminds us that Hill was at Kansas during the Larry Brown era in the late 80's.   We also think Jayhawks assistant coach Neil Dougherty, who is one of the bright young assistant coaches in the business and, as a result, will likely be one of the next guys to move into a head coaching job, will get strong  consideration for the job.   Don't believe it?  Well, did you know that he not only has served as an assistant coach under two former Dean Smith assistants (both Williams at Kansas and Eddie Fogler South Carolina and Vanderbilt), but he also was a player for   Mike Krzyzewski when he was at Army?  And you can bet that people like Smith, Krzyzewski, and Williams will all  have a lot of influence if they push hard for Dougherty to get the job. 

Last night at the 2000 Bet/Pro-Am DC Summer Classic Chris Grier, the head coach for the Michigan Mustangs AAU team, told us that 6'9 Jr Paul Davis from Rochester (H.S.) MI has joined the list of players who have made early verbal commitments.  Actually, it comes as no surprise that he picked Michigan State, because he was leaning that way anyway.  But the fact that he did it a full year-and-a-half in advance of when he can sign a binding National Letter-of-Intent shows just how strong the Spartans are both in Michigan and nationally when it comes to recruiting the top players.  Davis is ranked #5 in Michigan's loaded sophomore class by  Steve Bell, as well as among the top 50 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  Speaking of the top young players in the state of Michigan, 6'2 Jr Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (Buena Vista) MI, who ranks as the #1 rising junior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, tells us that Cincinnati, Michigan State, and Syracuse are the top schools on his list, followed by Duke, Connecticut, and Kentucky.  Grier tells us that Michigan State is not the lock that everybody believes for 6'4 Jr Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, who ranks #4 in his class nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.   As a matter of fact, it looks like an all out war among Cincinnati, Connecticut, and Michigan State for Torbert's services.  Grier also mentions Duke and Syracuse for Torbert, but they appear to be a distant fourth and fifth.  Grier also tells us that Ohio State is the strong leader for 6'5 JaQuan Hart from Flint (Northern) MI, but also includes Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State on his list. 

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