HOT RECRUITING INFORMATION  

FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE 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

Friday, June 30, 2000

It is being widely reported that North Carolina head coach Bill Guthridge will have a press conference later today, where he will announce his retirement.  This comes as a major surprise, because Guthridge had guided the Tar Heels to the NCAA Final Four twice since the legendary Dean Smith retired three year ago.  As a matter of fact, we know somebody who talked with Guthridge yesterday morning and Guthridge offered no hint that he was about to retire.   However, he did seem tired and worn out, according to the source, and the speculation is that Guthridge may have been forced out.  Remember, we had heard these same type rumors in early March just before everything came together and the Tar Heels made their Final Four run.  However, it's too bad, because Guthridge is one of the nicest guys in the business and not doubt a better coach than most people realize.   However, now the focus switches to who will be his replacement?  The sooner they can answer that the better, because the Summer Evaluation Period, which is the most important recruiting time of the year, just a week away.  The three obvious names are Kansas head coach Roy Williams, Milwaukee Bucks head coach George Karl, and Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown.  The timing makes it tough for Williams to leave Kansas, but think he will get first right of refusal on the job.  Karl is a terrific coach, but he doesn't fit North Carolina's image.  So we think Brown is the perfect candidate and our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin thinks that Brown would take it in a New York minute. "He'd have to take a major salary cut," says Rubin.   "But that's always been his dream job."  Brown might be the best coach of in all of basketball, but he'll probably only coach a few more years, because he's already in his early 60's.  As a result, he might be the perfect guy to walk in and win big with all the talent already in the program.  Then, it a couple of years, he could turn it over to a younger guy, like Williams or North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty.

Our New England Editor Wayne Simone thinks the three leading candidates for the Miami-FL job are South Florida head coach Seth Greenberg, Creighton head coach Dana Altman, and Kent head coach Gary Waters.  However, Patrick Jira of the Recruiting Beat has a pretty good source of his own and he tells us that Tulane head coach Perry Clark is also high on the list.  Apparently it is Greenberg's job to turn down, but he's done such a great job at South Florida that it might be tough to leave.   The big problem with that scenario is that South Florida is a place where you win and get out.  Remember, when Lamar head coach Mike Deane was at Marquette a year ago.  He had one bad season, which followed four consecutive years where he won 20-plus games, and he got fired.  The same thing can happen at South Florida, because expectations have been raised, but it will be tough to maintain it there long term.  Miami-FL is the Big East, it's located in a tropical climate, and the recruiting base in the deep South is incredible.  Add the fact that Greenberg once an assistant coach at Miami-FL, plus Leonard Hamilton left the cupboard full.  In other words, Miami-FL is one of the best jobs in the nation right now and it's a no-brainer, Greenberg would be the perfect fit. 

Thursday, June 29, 2000

Our Illinois Editor G.J. King does not confirm the commitment by 6'4 Jr Levar Seals from Chicago (Providence-St. Mel) IL to Siena College, but we have other sources who tell us that Seals has told new Saints head coach Louie Orr that he plans to follow his former high school coach Billy Garrett to this mid-major power in the Metro Atlantic Conference.   Obviously, Garrett, who was recently hired by Orr as an assistant coach, is the connection.  And what a connection, because we're talking about a high-flying athlete who ranks #36 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, as well as #4 in the strong junior class in Illinois.  The Seals commitment brings the total number of early commitments by players ranked among our top 100 nationally in the junior class to 22, which is incredible.  And if you think the recruiting process has been speeded up now, just think how much more it will be speeded up if they don't let college coaches out on the road during the summer.  Right now we're talking about almost a quarter of the top players in the class are already gone, but if the college coaches can't go out in the future, our guess is that number would double to about 50.  And with more early commitments, more mistakes will be made and, as a result, more players than ever will end up reneging on their commitments.  The first player to go back on his word this year appears to be 6'4 Jr Keith Langford from North Crowley (H.S.) TX, who committed to Ole Miss last week.  However, now he's saying that he didn't verbally commit to the Rebels, even though we had two excellent sources who at the time say he did. 

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson has a major scoop.  That's right!  Valparaiso has gotten the early jump on schools like Indiana, Purdue, and Notre Dame and, as a result has one of the earliest commitments on record from 6'9 Frosh Kenneth Harris from Hammond (Bishop Noll) IN.  Normally this would be that big a deal, but Harris is 6'9 and he's ranked as the #2 freshmen in Indiana by Jim Kasberg.  Obviously there is a lot of margin for error here, because Harris has three years to change his mind, but Johnson talked with Harris yesterday and he points out that he's a local kid who likes the family-like atmosphere and coaching staff at Valparaiso enough to go ahead and get it done.  This brings to four the total of players in the Class of 2002 and beyond who have already made early verbal commitments.  If you will recall, in mid-April 6'9 Soph Roy Enright from Omaha (Burke) NE made an early commitment to Nebraska, last summer 6'3 Soph Jeff Horner from Mason City (H.S.) IA picked Iowa, and last fall 6'5 Soph Adam Haluska from Carroll (Community) IA announced early for Iowa State.

Well, the summer starts tomorrow, as we will be traveling to Washington, DC for the Pro Am Tournament, which will be held at the University of the District of Columbia tomorrow and George Washington University on Saturday and Sunday, and the NBA Players' Association Camp at American University, which will be open to the media on Saturday.  So it's a good thing that we're done with our New York City and Ohio Prep Reports.  You can get Ron Naclerio's Report by New York City, plus you can get his 21 pages of player rankings, which include the top 474 seniors, top 327 juniors, top 220 sophomores, top 110 freshmen, top 33 8th graders, and top 20 7th graders all ranked in order, by clicking on Naclerio Ranks 'Em:  The Top Prep Players in New York City.  That's 1185 names, if you also include a player Naclerio mentions in his article - 6'1 Jr Ben Gordon from Mount Vernon (H.S.) NY, who would rank as the #2 junior in New York City behind 6'6 Jr Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, if he didn't live just outside of the city limits.  You also can get Chris Johnson's Report by clicking on Ohio and you can get his  player rankings, which includes the top 125 seniors, top 103 juniors, top 70 sophomores, top 56 freshmen, and top five 8th graders in the Buckeye state, by clicking on Johnson Ranks 'Em:  The Top Prep Players in Ohio.  Especially noteworthy is the fact that a couple of stars of the future - 5'10 8th Grader Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Ann Sullivan) NY ranks among the top 15 players in New York City regardless of class and 6'5 Jr LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH ranks among the top 10 players in Ohio regardless of class - are already ranked higher than  most of the players two and three years older than they are.  Telfair is ranked as the #1 8th grader in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP.   James checks in ranked among our top five freshmen nationally. 

Wednesday, June 28, 2000

We have confirmed that 6'0 Jr Brandon Fuss-Cheatham from Beaver Falls (Black Hawk) PA has made a verbal commitment to Ohio State.  This is big for a number of reasons, but, first and foremost, it shows that the Buckeyes coaching staff can go head-to-head with the big boys for a national recruit and win early.  That's right!  Jim O'Brien and his staff beat Memphis and N.C. State, both of which had a major connection with this excellent point guard who ranks among our top 30 nationally.  If you will recall, Fuss-Cheatham's high school and AAU coach, John Miller, is related to new Memphis head coach John Calipari.  As a matter of fact, Fuss-Cheatham was in Memphis last weekend on an unofficial visit.  And Miller's kids are both at N.C. State.  His older son, Sean Miller, who is an assistant coach for the Wolfpack, is widely regarded as one of the bright young coaches in the business.  His younger son, Arch Miller, is an excellent point guard who should blossom once he overcomes injuries that have plagued him for several years.  Actually, Fuss-Cheatham reminds us of the Miller's in many ways.  He's not as good a 3-point shooter, but he's deadly from mid-range, plus he's bigger and stronger.  But even more important, he's like a coach on the floor and the ball is like an extension of his hand.  He should provide the perfect complement to Brent Darby at point guard for the Buckeyes in the future, but even more important, he is the first early commitment that O'Brien has gotten from a big time player since he arrived at Ohio State three years ago.  Remember, it took Jim O'Brien and his staff seven years to lay the recruiting foundation and get to that point when they were at Boston College.  However, in the end O'Brien, Paul Biancardi, Dave Spillar really had it going at Boston College, as they had a number of players, including Mike Bradley, Elton Tyler, Allen Allenspach, Sean Conley, and Jon DePina, all verbally commited early.  However, all that never materialized, because the University refused to give O'Brien the support he needed. Well, they've done the same thing in less than half the time at Ohio State, as Spillar and Biancardi have done an outstanding job of cultivating the high school and AAU coaches in Ohio, Michigan and all over the Midwest and, as a result, are now ready to battle the premier programs in the nation, like Cincinnati, Michigan State, and Michigan, for the top players in their backyard.  As a matter of fact, we wouldn't be surprised if the Buckeyes get a commitment from another one of the top players in the area in 6'9 Jr Terrance Dails from Youngstown (Boardman) OH, who ranks # 81 nationally, as well as #4 in Ohio by the HOOP SCOOP, fairly soon.  However, despite several reports to the contrary, Dails has done anything yet, as Xavier, Penn State, Pittsburgh, and Michigan State are all still in the hunt.  Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson compares Dails physically to Elton Brand, but adds he needs to get tougher and more aggressive inside.  With Fuss-Cheatham now in the fold, you can bet the Buckeyes will turn up the heat even more on Dails, as well as 6'9 Jr Jawad   Williams from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH, who is the #1 ranked player in Ohio by Johnson regardless of class.  Right now it appears to be a three horse race for Williams among Ohio State, Cincinnati, and Maryland, but in the end, it will be very tough for him to say no to the Buckeyes. 

Already 20 of the top 100 juniors have made early verbal commitments to college, but the school that appears to have the biggest jump on recruiting for next year is Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA.  Head coach Steve Smith is already getting 6'5 Jr Souleymane Aw, who promises to be the next great player to emerge in that program from the The Senegal, and appears to be close to locking up 6'9 Soph Amare Stoudemire from Lake Wales (H.S.) FL via Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, and 6'3 Jr Billy Edelin from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD.  There also is a possibility that 6'2 Jr Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX could end up at this basketball factory in Western Virginia and if, everything falls into place, this would be hands down Smith's most talented team ever.   Remember, the front line will be anchored by 7'1 Jr De Sagana Diop, who ranks among our top 10 juniors nationally, and 6'3 Jr Rashaad Carruth, who is one of the best 3-point shooters in the class, will provide instant offense on the perimeter.  Aw is a world-class athlete will all kinds of natural ability and potential.  Stoudemire is one of the premier big men in the sophomore class and he's improved dramatically this spring.  Edelin is a terrific combo guard, as well as the top junior in the Washington, DC area.  Hurt, who verbally committed to Louisville last week, is a scoring point guard, as well as one of the top 10 juniors nationally in what is a loaded class.  Also recently transferring from Durham (Immanuel Christian) NC to Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD was 6'8 Jr Thomas Harvey.   Apparently the legendary Joel Hopkins isn't taking over at Immanuel Christian after all.  Instead, it looks like he will become the head coach at Shaw University, which is a Division II school in Raleigh, NC.  As a  result, it will be interesting to see if 6'1 Jr Johnathan Hargett, who is one of the top point guards nationally in the junior class, remains at Immanuel Christian or transfers to another school.  Getting back to Harvey, he will give Montrose Christian head coach Stu Vetter a great tandem of his own inside, as he'll join 6'8 Jr Levi Watkins, who is an excellent blue collar power forward. 

Tuesday, June 27, 2000

A week ago we thought we were done with our rankings of the top recruiting classes.  However, there were several major omissions that we can not let go uncorrected.  First, we knew that 6'7 Reggie Evans from Coffeyville (JC) KS, who was one of the top power forwards in the junior college ranks last winter, had signed with Iowa.  But it was not reported on the national signings list that is released by the NCAA and we missed it when going back through our list of commitments.  This is very important, because it moves Iowa's recruiting class up into the #4 position nationally, as well as the #1 spot in the Big-10.  This also effects where the Hawkeyes are ranked in a number categories in our Different Ways to Look at Recruiting.  As a matter of fact, the Hawkeyes move into the top 10 on our list of who signed the best two players, best three players, and best four players over a two year period.  Oklahoma got a commitment from 6'0 Blake Johnston from Midland (H.S.) TX, who ranks someplace in the 500-1000 range nationally by most scouting services.  Normally this would be no big deal, but it moves Oklahoma's recruiting class into a tie with Oklahoma State, both of which signed seven players and have a cumulative total of 38 points.  Obviously we don't want to have a tie for the #1 recruiting class, especially between two rivals from the same state, so we went back and decided that 6'5 Bernard Kidd from Dallas (Madison) TX would be the tie breaker.  He's the only player on either team who is on the borderline of getting an additional point.  As a matter of fact, we had Kidd ranked in the 40-70 range last fall, but decided to drop him, because not everybody agrees that he's a top 100 player.   And we're not done yet, because the two additional points for Johnston and one additional point for Kidd, move the Big-12 Conference into a tie with the Big East Conference, both of which have a cumulative total of 241 points.  But the Big East signed 53 players versus the Big-12, which landed 56 players.  So the Big East would get the nod anyway, because their talent rating average per recruit is higher (4.6 for the Big East versus 4.3 for the Big-12).  However, we decided to add 6'11 Kasters Cipruss from Latvia to Rutgers list of signings.  Cipruss didn't sign a National Letter-of-Intent with the Scarlet Knights, but he did commit to the school last week.  This moves the Big East back into at least a small four point lead over the Big-12, but I still want to point out that it is well within our margin of error.  If you see that we have other major omissions, please feel free to call or email me, but the key word here is major, because even making the changes mentioned above took over an hour and a half due to the fact that we had to change a number of different lists with regards to each team.  You can see exactly how things stack up now, by clicking on Final Ranking of the Top 150 Recruiting Classes from the Class of 2000,  Ranking of the Top Recruiting Classes by Conference, and Different Ways to Look at Recruiting from the1999-2000 Spring Signing Period.  We also have added some new names to our list of National Commitments, but these names will not be incorporated into any of the above mentioned list and, as a result, will fall into the area of late or unreported signings.  We also are keeping track of early commitments for the Class of 2001 and beyond, which you can get by clicking on Recent Commitments, and the latest name we've added to the list is 6'4 Jr Anthony Rice from North Clayton (College Park) GA, who did officially announce for Memphis yesterday. 

Monday, June 26, 2000

When 6'2 Jr Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX picked Louisville over Arizona last week, the Wildcats still came up with a pretty good consolation prize.  That's right!  6'2 Jr Salim Stoudamire from Lake Owego (H.S.) OR, who ranks among our top 30 juniors nationally, waited no time making it offical for the University of Arizona.  He joins 6'10 Jr Channing Frey from Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ, who committed earlier this spring, to give the Wildcats a great head start on the 2000-2001 recruiting year, as well as one of the best recruiting classes to-date for next season.  Not only does he rank as one of the top big guys on the West Coast, but he is expected to explode this summer when all the national scouts get to see him for the first time.  If that weren't enough, Arizona also will likely get Frey's high school teammate -5'10 Jr Jason Fontenet from Phoenix (St. Mary's) AZ.  However, despite earlier reports, that one is not official yet.  With the Stoudamire commitment, the total number of early commitments that we have tracked now is at 34 and there may be more on the way.  As a matter of fact, 6'4 Jr Anthony Rice from North Clayton (College Park) GA, who was at Memphis on an unofficial visit over the weekend, may make it official for the Tigers as soon as today.  Right now the only holdup appears to be that he wants to talk with his coach before going public with his decision.  In other words, this is not only a major scoop, but it also means that Tigers head coach John Calipari is in a very enviable position, according to our Mid-South Editor Jim Rothman.   "The local players could string along the previous coaching staffs and there wasn't anything they could do about," says Rothman.  But now Calipari make the top local players, like 6'3 Jr Earnest Shelton from Memphis (White Station) TN, who is the top player regardless of class in Memphis, aware that they are the #1 priority, but if they take too long to make up their mind, Memphis already has somebody just as good or better who wants to come.  That was 6'3 Rashaad Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, but with Rice's commitment it wouldn't make much sense for Carruth to come, too.  Rice has exploded ahead of Carruth this spring and 6'2 Jr Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ may also be seeing some time at the 2-spot.   Remember, Memphis' current point guard Courtney Trask was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team last season and the Tigers appear to be in the final two, along with Ohio State, for 6'0 Jr Brandon Fuss-Cheatham from Beaver Falls (Blackhawk) PA, who also was in Memphis on an unofficial visit over the weekend.   And of course, there are 6'5 Lou Wright and 6'2 Scooter McFadgon, both from Memphis (Raleigh-Egypt) TN, who count in the current recruiting class.  Suddenly it becomes a numbers game for Carruth.  In other words, if he wanted to go to Memphis, he should have gotten it done before now.   Instead, Georgia Tech, Florida, Villanova, and Louisville appear to be the most likely choices for Carruth.  However, he continues to mention Kentucky, although we'd be surprised if that happens, unless he wants to wait until next spring to see if Keith Bogans goes hardship into the NBA draft and if the Wildcats finally get a great point guard.  Georgia Tech is the obviously no-brainer choice, but for some reason Carruth has not be real receptive to the new coachig staff.  Florida and Villanova are late entries and it would be a surprise, if Alabama also makes a strong push.   However, our guess is that it might be Louisville, because Carruth, who is still widely regarded as the best catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter in the class, needs a scoring point guard who can penetrate and dish, like 6'2 Jr Carlos Hurt from Aliek (Aliek-Elsik) TX.  Moral to the story, if you know where you want to go, get it done early, because the top players are already grabbing up many of the available positions at the top schools.

Saturday, June 24, 2000, and Sunday, June 25, 2000

The big reason we had to get our recruiting rankings out of the way earlier this week is because we are so far behind on state-by-state reports and now, right before the summer camp season starts, is the perfect opportunity to catch up.   Yesterday we finalized our Michigan Report and today we are publishing our Illinois Prep Report, which is especially interesting because we touch on a controversial area that many of our competitors are afraid to write about.    Your also can get our complete list of player ranking, including our complete list of the top 177 seniors, top 114 juniors, top 40 sophomores, top 17 freshmen, and top seven eighth graders, by clicking on The HOOP SCOOP Ranks 'Em: Ranking the Top Prep Players in Illinois.  Also, if you're interesting in either Michigan or Illinois, you won't want to miss our Question of the Day, which provides you with the opportunity to vote for the top player regardless of class in both states.

Friday, June 23, 2000

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin tells us the big rumor is that 6'2 Jr Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ is moving to Memphis this weekend.  However, Rubin is skeptical and we are reporting this as unconfirmed. So take it as such!  Among the things that Rubin has confirmed are Tony Dobbins transferring from Virginia Tech to Richmond, Richmond assistant coach Phil Seymour moving to Providence to replace King Rice, and 6'2 Mike Wild from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA making a very late commitment to Elon College.  However, the big news of the day is that 6'3 Jr Billy Edelin from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD has decided upon a college quicker than he's decided upon a high school for next year.   Write it down!  Edelin has verbally committed to Syracuse and new Orangewave assistant coach Troy Weaver deserves much of the credit, because he's known Edelin and the family for most of his life and obviously was able to take advantage of the relationship.  Remember, Weaver started the Team Assault program in Washington, DC, along with Curtis Malone, but several years ago moved onto the college ranks at Pittsburgh, New Mexico, and now Syracuse.  Our New York City Editor Ron Naclario also thinks Syracuse is the heavy favorite, along with Villanova, for 6'8 Marcus Austin from Elziabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, but adds that DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall, and Virginia Tech are also still in the picture.

Finally, it looks like 6'4 Jr Anthony Rice from North Clayton (College Park) GA has been invited to the NIKE All-American Camp, which is a good thing, because he might be the fastest rising 2-guard in the senior class nationally.  As a matter of fact, Rice has moved ahead of 6'3 Jr Rashaad Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, because he's better off the dribble and he wants it more.  So it should come as no surprise that a number of schools who were previously recruiting Carruth have backed off and are now all over Rice.  At the top of the list are Louisville and Memphis, which brings us to another very interesting fact.  Did you know that Rice is making an unofficial visit to Memphis this weekend?   This is important, because Carruth wants to follow 6'2 Jr Dajuan Wagner and 6'7 Arthur Barclay, both from Camden (H.S.) NJ to Memphis, and I guarantee the Tigers aren't going to take them both.  Right now Rice is attracting interest from all over the place, but among the schools showing the most interest in this athletic deep shooting 2-guard are N.C. State, Villanova, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Memphis, Missouri, Mississippi State, Alabama, Tennessee, Syracuse, Arizona, Miami-FL, Pittsburgh, and UCLA.  Carruth's list still includes Memphis, Georgia Tech, and Kentucky, but the late entry now appears to be Florida.  Getting back to who hasn't been inviited to one of the superstar oriented camps yet, can you believe that neither 6'6 Jr Josh Pace from Griffin (H.S.) GA, who ranks among the top 30 juniors nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, nor 6'10 Soph Alexander Johnson from Albany (Dougherty) GA, who ranks among the top 10 sophomores nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, have not been invited to the NIKE All-American Camp. This is especially strange, because both play for NIKE AAU Teams.  We're talking about two future pros - are you listening Sonny Vacarro?  As long as we're talking about Johnson, it appears that one of the early leaders is the University of Louisville.  This is important, because it appears that the Cardinals coaching staff is laying a foundation with young players far beyond just this recruiting class.   Apparently the connection is Louisville's strength coach Wiley Brown, who is from Southern Georgia and, as result, has all kinds of contacts in the area.   Thus, explains why several teams from Albany, including Dougherty, were at Louisville's team camp several weeks ago and why the Cardinals we be a major factor in his recruitment.

I firmly believe that area of the nation that produces the best basketball talent year in and year out stretches across Northern Illinois east into Northern Indiana and Michigan.  And right now it might be tough for any state in the nation to beat Michigan, which features a legitimate National Player-of-the-Year candidate in every high school class.   In the senior class we're talking about 6'3 Marcus Taylor from Lansing (Waverly) MI, who ranks #5 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  The junior class features 6'4 Jr Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, who ranks #4 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  Our #1 ranked player in the nationally sophomore class is 6'2 Soph Anthony Roberson from Saginaw (H.S.) MI and ranked  #3 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP in the freshman class is 6'3 Frosh Dionne Harris from Detroit (Redfor) MI.  All this is important, because our Michigan Editor Steve Bell's latest report has been published exclusively in the Members Section and he tells us that the graduating senior class in Michigan was one of the best ever.  However, the junior class also looks pretty good with Torbert, 6'9 Jr Robert Whaley from Benton Harbor (H.S.) MI, 6'5 Jr JaQuan Hart from Flint (Northern) MI, 6'10 Jr Jeff Ferguson from Benton Harbor (H.S.) MI, and 6'0 Jr Ricky Morgan from Pontiac (Northern) MI and the sophomore class looks even better with Roberson, 6'4 Soph Ricardo Billings from Detroit (Rogers) MI, 6'5 Soph Lester Abrams from Pontiac (Northern) MI, and 6'7 Soph Matt Trannon from Flint (Northern) MI, all of whom rank among our top 15 nationally.    However, it's the freshman class that looks like it's going to be sensational.  For all the details, click on Michigan Report and click on Bell Ranks 'Em: The Top Prep Players in Michigan to get his 10-page list ranking the top players in order in each class. 

Thursday, June 22, 2000

The popular consensus seems to be that 6'11 Jr Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL will bypass college and enter his name into the NBA next spring.  However, DePaul University may be the sleeper if Curry decides to go to college for a year or two.  Remember, blood is thicker than water and the word is that new Blue Demons assistant coach Donnie Kirksey is Curry's uncle.  Kirksey was hired into the #3 position on the staff and Brian Kennedy moved into one of the recruiting positions, along with Tracy Dildy, when Larry Harrison recently got the head coaching job at Hartford.  Curry could be as good as anybody in the class, but he doesn't rank any higher than #6 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, because he doesn't always play hard.  He also appears to be ducking the competition that he could potentially face this summer at the NIKE-American Camp, which is expected to have most of the top big guys in the class, including 7'0 Jr Tyson Chandler from Compton (Dominiguez) CA, 6'11Jr Kwame Brown from Glynn (Academy) GA, 6'9 Jr Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL, and 6'11 Jr David Harrison from Brentwood (Academy) TN.  Instead, Curry plans to attend the adidas ABCD Camp.   Curry doesn't have an official list, but North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan, Cincinnati, Kansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisville, Syracuse, and Memphis all have to be mentioned.

Most people don't realize what a tough business covering basketball recruiting always been, but with yesterday's article in the Seattle Times about the hardships facing Rivals.com, it seems like a good time to address the subject.  First let's talk about the article, which informs us that "Rivals.com's Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Heckman abruptly left the company he founded two years ago."  It also points out "the company had a little over $1 million in sales in 1999, but it lost $21.4 million."  Also especially interesting is that "in January, it had about $9.6 million in cash, and Softbank chipped in $34.5 million in February to keep it afloat.  With the employee count, now at about 180, and other development expenses rising, it had hoped to raise the needed capital in the stock market.  But the window for IPO's of consumer  Internet companies has all but shut, at least for now."  And Rivals isn't the only company that covers recruiting on the internet that has faced tough times recently. Greg Shemitz, who published Big East Briefs, which for years was widely regarded as one of the best publications available, recently went out of business and we had a very tough winter, but have since adjusted.  This may come as surprise, but we hope that Rivals survives, because competition is good for everybody.  That's right!  They have made us do our job better and that means the real winner is you, the consumer.  Also, it is especially satisfying whenever somebody tells me that we have by far and away the best recruiting web site on the internet.  Actually I hear that a lot, which leads me to believe that Rivals made a major mistake when they approached and tried to hire just about every in the business, except us.  They also tried to monopolize the market and tell everybody that paid web sites would soon be a thing of the past.  Well, they were not only wrong, but the first time in 17 years it looks like we're going to make a decent profit this year.  However, unlike many of the Johnny-Come-Latelies in the business, our first love is basketball, not the bottom line.  It's easy to do chat-rooms and make phone calls to recruits, but you've got to be a basketball junkie to survive in this business.  If getting rich is your only goal, my recommendation is get into another line of work.  I'll be the first to tell you that it hasn't always been easy, but standing the test of time, treating people as fair as possible, and being at most of the major events are major keys to our success.  The rest should take care of itself, as I figure we'll probably be doing the same thing that we are today in 20 years - covering recruiting and talking about player.  However, I wonder what a lot of our "so-called" competition will be doing in 20 years?   Which bring us to our Question of the Day.   Does it come as a surprise to you that it's as hard as it is to make it long term in the business of covering basketball recruiting?

Wednesday, June 21, 2000

We have confirmed that 6'2 Jr Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX, who ranks #7 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, made a verbal commitment to the University of Louisville earlier this evening.   This is huge, because Hurt is the highest rated player to sign with the University of Louisville since 1985 when they landed Tony Kimbo;1982 when the signed Billy Thompson, who was ranked as the consensus #1 player in the nation; and 1978 when they landed Scooter McCray, who was ranked as one of the top three players in his class nationally.  Hurt, who best described as a scoring point guard, could have the same kind of impact that Darrell Griffith had when he signed with the University of Louisville in 1976.  Not just because he is good enough to lead the Cardinals to the NCAA Championship, like Griffith did in 1980, but, because Louisville's recruiting in recent years has not been good enough to keep them among the elite team's in college basketball.  Speaking of Griffith, Hurt's mother was a senior at Louisville (Male) KY when Griffith and Bobby Turner were sophomores.  If that's not a strong enough connection, she also was at Male when the Bulldogs won the state championship in 1973 with another Louisville All-American Wesley Cox.   While the parents, both of whom were instrumental in the decision, are both originally from Louisville, the deciding factor appears to have been the grandmother, who still lives in Louisville and has always been a Cardinals fan.  This also is big for Louisville, because they took a big gamble and didn't do what was necessary to get 6'2 Jr Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ, who is the only point guard in the junior class nationally ranked ahead of Hurt.  Remember, it was always Wagner's dream to follow in his father's footsteps, but the Cardinals coaching staff didn't pursue his teammate 6'7 Arthur Barclay from Camden (H.S.) NJ and didn't hire his father, Milt Wagner, both of whom have ended up at Memphis.  If Louisville had lost both Wagner and Hurt, it might have been the final nail in Denny Crum's coffin.  However, now Crum is off the hook even if the Cardinals have a bad season next year, because Louisville, which finished second on number of players last spring, appears to be in position to have a banner recruiting year this fall.   Not only are they the heavy favorite for 6'9 Jr Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL, but they are in a perfect position to get 6'5 Jr Dennis Coutee from Jeffersonville (H.S.) IN and they appear to be in a lot better shape than most people realize for 6'11 Jr David Harrison from Brentwood (Academy) TN.  If you will recall, Cisse's older brother 6'8 Daoude Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL signed with Louisville this spring.  That's very important, because the brothers are very close.  Coutee is best best friends with 5'11 Bryant Northern from Jeffersonville (H.S.) IN, who this spring decided to walk-on at Louisville next season.  Harrison has already been to Louisville unofficially twice, including two weeks ago when he participated in a team camp.  Apparently the big connection is former Louisville player Wiley Brown, who is currently a strength coach for the Cardinals. 

Boy, is our Mississippi Editor Lavel Johnson good.   That's right!  Johnson has beaten our Texas editor Wes Grandstaff, who is the director of the Team Texas AAU team, on a commitment by one of his kids.   We're talking about 6'4 Jr Keith Langford from North Crowley (H.S.) TX, who verbally committed to Ole Miss immediately following his unofficial visit to Oxford, MS on Monday.  Langford, who was a high priority for the University of Texas, is an athletic 2-guard with a great feel for the game and top 50 talent.  This comes on the heels of Mississippi's top 10 recruiting class this spring and is just another reason why we think Rebels are quietly emerging as one of the fastest rising programs in college basketball.  And they aren't done yet, because we also believe they are the heavy favorite for 6'0 Jr Donald Perry from Tallulah (McCall) LA, who emerged as a top 100 junior nationally after a strong performance at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions.  Johnson also tells us that 5'9 James Thomas from Jackson (Lanier) MS has been incorrectly counted with Texas Christian's recruiting class in our recent rankings.  Instead, Johnson tells us that Thomas, who recently passed the SAT and, as a result, will be eligible to play next year, plans to enroll at Troy State.   In his place, we will insert 6'11 Darius Manciel from Detroit (Pershing) MI, who recently committed to Texas Christian, but nobody bothered to tell us until today when we started working on Stephen Bell's Michigan Report.

Tuesday, June 20, 2000

Late last week we told you that we thought the Missouri-Kansas City job was Dean Demopoulos' to turn down.  Well, it looks like we were right, because he was announced as the new head coach at Missouri-Kansas City yesterday.  Demopoulos, who was an assistant coach under John Chaney at Temple for 17 years, is best known for getting the sleeper nobody else knew about.  One of the best examples was Eddie Jones, who turned about to be one of the biggest steals of all time.  That's right!  When Demopouos first saw Jones play, Florida International and Central Florida were the only other schools recruiting him.  As a matter of fact, Demopoulos got tipped off about Jones by reading the HOOP SCOOP.  This is also important, because it means Demopoulos isn't a lock to replace Chaney when he finally retires.  Certainly, he'll be on the list, but so will current Temple assistant coach Nate Blackwell, Coppin State head coach Ron "Fang" Mitchell, and Hofstra head coach Jay Wright.  We also told you late last week that Tulsa assistant coach Norm Roberts and UT-San Antonio head coach Tim Carter were the leading candidates for the Tulsa job.  Fortunately we also had Appalachian State head coach Buzz Peterson, and Kentucky assistant coach Shawn Finney on the list.   We say fortunately, because Peterson got the job today and we think that's the perfect marriage.  Peterson is one of the top young guys in the business and when former Tulsa head coach Bill Self recently left for Illinois, he left the cupboard full.  Not only does is most of the nucleus back from a team that advanced all the way to the NCAA Final Eight three months ago, but he also inherits a recruiting class that features on the top junior college big guys in the nation in 6'10 Ermal Kuqo from Ft. Scott (JC) KS, as well as a talented two guard in 6'3 Jason Parker from Tulsa (Memorial) OK and 6'11 J.T. Ivie from Mt. Airy (Habersham Central) GA, who has a tremendous upside.  However, Parker may not be 100% done for Tulsa now, because he never signed a binding National Letter-of-Intent and, as a result, could transfer to another school without sitting out a year.  This is possible, because Parker's father is a professor at Tulsa and he was smart enough not to sign, despite the fact the Hurricanes were short on scholarships.  Obviously, he wasn't worried about it, because, as is the case with most schools, kids get to attend school for free when their father is an employee.

No news is good news for the University of Louisville in the sweepstakes for 6'2 Jr Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX, who took an unofficial visit the University of Arizona over the weekend. As a matter of fact, the longer it goes, the more we think it favors Louisville, because Arizona head coach Lute Olson is at his best when a player is on campus for a visit.  We'd also be surprised if the Wildcats take more than one guard in this recruiting class.  The other guard we're talking about is 6'2 Jr Salim Stoudamire from Lake Oswego (H.S.) OR and our sources tell us that he's a near lock for Arizona, but he's not ready to pull the trigger just yet.  Remember, one in the hand is worth two in the bush and it wouldn't be the first time a player who wanted to go to Arizona got left holding the bag.  One of the most classic examples was Ricky Anderson, who ended up at Arizona anyway, but who had to wait until the next spring to actually get everything worked out.   Another example was Tommy Davis, who called the basketball office and wanted to commit on the spot.  However, he wasn't their first choice, so they called Miles Simon and told him it is now or never.  Obviously, Simon said yes and he went on to help Arizona win the NCAA Championship in 1997. Arizona will be pushing the fact that Olson recently signed a new five-year contract and the Wildcats will be in a position to win the NCAA Championship again during each of the next several years with the nucleus that is already in place.  And having recently hired Hurt's highly regarded AAU coach Josh Pastner as a graduate assistant may also be another feather in Arizona's cap.  Louisville will be selling head coach Denny Crum's six NCAA Final Four appearances and two National Championships, the fact that his grandmother lives in Louisville and his parents are from Louisville, and that he can step in and be the man immediately at Louisville.  However, Louisville also may have something else to sell.  Apparently the rumors about Louisville building a new state-of-the-art basketball arena right next to their two-year-old football stadium are true.  Louisville currently has a long term lease at Freedom Hall, but Tom Jurich is one of the sharpest athletic directors in the business and the timing couldn't be any better, as the Cardinals appears to be the heavy favorite for 6'8 Jr Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL, who ranks as one top five players in the junior class nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, and they are the co-favorite along with Arizona for Hurt, who ranks #7 in the junior class nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.

Rutgers recruiting class is currently ranked #47 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP and that's where it's going to stay, despite the fact the Scarlet Knights have added a late signee in 6'11 Kastars Cipruss from Latvia.  No, we don't have anything against Rutgers.  As a matter of fact, we have a lot of respect for their entire coaching staff, plus we think they've done a great job recruiting this year, as is evident by their talent rating average per recruit, which ranks #16 nationally.   However, we are completely finished with our 79 page Recruiting Wrapup from the Spring Signing Period, which includes our page-28 list of National Commitments, our 12-page Final Ranking of the Top 150 Recruiting Classes from the Class of 2000, our 25-page Ranking of the Top Recruiting Classes by Conference, and our 14-page Different Ways to Look at Recruiting from the1999-2000 Spring Signing Period, and even small changes are now very time consuming.  If you are discouraged, because we're missing somebody, please feel free to email or call me when a commitment occurs in the future.  This way our running list will be better than ever and I'd rather have 20 emails and/or phone calls than miss a commitment.  Speaking of early commitments for the Class of 2001 and beyond, which you can get by clicking on Recent Commitments, that list now stands at 30. The latest comes from our Illinois Editor G.J. King, who tells us that Indiana State has gotten 6'7 Jr Jake Sams from Mt. Zion (H.S.) IL.  Getting back to Cipruss, he has the talent and skills step in and start immediately next year for Rutgers.  As a result, we believe he is the equivalent of a top 100 player nationally.  That's huge, because those four additional points would move the Rutgers recruiting class up from 48 nationally into the #30 position, right behind Clemson and just ahead of Louisville.  However, their talent rating average per recruit would drop from 5.7 to 5.3 and, as a result, Rutgers ranking would drop in this category from #16 into a tie for #21 with UNC-Charlotte.  

Monday, June 19, 2000

When ranking recruiting classes, we start off with the traditional approach, whereby, we assign each player on every team a ranking on a 1-10 scale.  So obviously whoever signs the most good players wins.  Right?   Wrong say many of our competitors.  Instead, they claim to rank recruiting classes based on who best filled their needs and signed the best group of  recruit.   If this were true, every one of these guys would be talking about Michigan State's recruiting class being the best class they've ever seen.  The only problem is that Michigan State's class only has two players - 6'8 Zach Randolph from Marion (H.S.) IN and 6'3 Marcus Taylor from Lansing (Waverly) MI.   But that's all they need!  Taylor may lack the experience of the graduated Mateen Cleaves at point guard, but he is much more of a prolific scorer, plus his decision making and understanding of the game are surpassed by few at his age.  He also ranks among our top five nationally in the senior class, which means he gets a perfect 10 on our rating scale.  Randolph, who best described as unstoppable force and physcial specimen inside, was the MVP in every all-star game he played in this spring and, as a result, is now the clear #1 player in the senior class nationally.  He also is the first player since Kobe Bryant and Tim Thomas to break the scale and receive 12 points.  As a result, Michigan State's talent rating average is 11.0 on a 1-10 scale.  The Spartans are also way ahead of Connecticut on our chart which shows who signed the best two players and ranks #3, behind Connecticut and Seton Hall and ahead of Michigan State and Missouri, on our chart that shows who signed the three best players, despite the fact the Spartans are a man short.  Michigan State also finishes in a tie with Duke for the highest talent rating for the top four recruits from this year and last year combined.  This list is especially interesting, because it reads like a Who's Who of the elite teams and/or teams that are about to join that group in college basketball today, as Connecticut, Cincinnati, Seton Hall, North Carolina, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Virginia round out the top 10 in order.   We find it especially interesting that Cincinnati is on this list, because players who are no longer in school, like DerMarr Johnson, who declared hardship for the NBA draft this spring, don't count in this ranking.  As a matter of fact, the Bearcats lost four starters, including Johnson and the consensus college player-of-the-year Kenyon Martin.  However, a quick look at our chart listing each top 100 player signed by conference shows that Cincinnati signed the two top ranked players in Conference USA in 6'3 Immanuel McElroy from Tyler (JC) TX and 6'7 Antwan Jones from Tallahassee (JC) FL, plus another Bearcats signee - 6'8 Jamaal Davis from Barton County (JC) KS - also is one of the the 11 players in signed by schools in the league who are worth eight points or more.  However, that's not good enough for Conference USA to beat out either the Big East or the Big-12 Conference in terms of the most top 100 players signed.  For all the rankings contained in this 16 page report, click on Different Ways to Look at Recruiting from the1999-2000 Spring Signing Period.

Saturday, June 17, 2000, and Sunday, June 18, 2000

We are finished with our Rankings of the Top Recruiting Classes by Conference from the 1999-2000 Spring Signing Period and the Big East edges out Big-12 for the #1 ranking.  Actually it's too close to call, as the Big East finished with 241 points versus the Big-12, which had 238 points.  To arrive at these totals, we assign every player on each team a rating on a 1-10 scale.  A top five player nationally is worth 10 points, a top 10 player nationally is worth nine points, a player in the 11-40 range nationally is worth eight points, a player in the 41-70 range nationally is worth six points, a player in the 71-100 range nationally is worth four points, a player in the 101-300 range nationally is worth three points, a player in the 300-1000 range nationally is worth two points, and anybody not ranked among the top 1000 gets only one point.  Also, junior college players, foreign players, and 5th year players are factored in as if they were a high school senior.  So as you can see three points means it's really a numerical tie.  In other words, the difference is as small as only one player ranked in the 101-300 range or three players who weren't ranked among our top 1000.  While we believe our list is 98% accurate, there are still a few players who have not yet made up their minds with regards to their college decision, plus some commitments have not yet been reported properly and others have simply fallen through the cracks.   However, as we said on Friday, we are done with making player additions.  But are still making minor adjustments and corrections and will be doing so for another 24 hours, as we finalize our Different Ways to Look at Recruiting Classes.  Getting back to our Rankings of the Top Recruiting Classes by Conference from the 1999-2000 Spring Signing Period, Conference USA ranks #3, after the Big East and Big-12, with 221 points.  Next is the Southeastern Conference, followed by the Atlantic-10, Big-10, the Mountain West, Atlantic Coast, Pacific-10, and Western Athletic.   The second 20 in order are the Missouri Valley, Northeast, Colonial, Big West, Mid-American, Mid-Continent, Southern, Metro Atlantic, American East, and Trans American Athletic.  The bottom dozen conferences in order in recruiting are the Southland, Midwestern Collegiate, Ohio Valley, Sun Belt, West Coast, Big Sky, Patriot League, Ivy League, Big South, Independents, Mid-Eastern Athletic, and the Southwestern Athletic.  You can get all this by clicking on conference-by-conference.

Friday, June 16, 2000

We have continue to get late additions to our National Signing List and, as a result, we have made two major changes in the last 24 hours.    First, Fresno State, which previously was unranked among our top 150 nationally, moves into the #35 spot.  Their big prize is 6'11 Mustafa Rahmen-Elsayyad from Limestone (Washington College) TN, who was previously listed as a top 60 nationally junior.  However, the word we get is that he will enroll at Fresno State and sit out next year while he continues to meet the necessary requirements to become eligible under NCAA standards.  Apparently, Fresno State assistant coach Danny Tarkanian did a great job recruiting him, plus the religous factor, similiar to when Shareef Abdur-Rahim surprised everybody when he picked the University of California in 1995, played a major part in the decision.  Fresno State also landed 6'6 Hassen Basneer, who is from the same hometown as Rahmen-Elsayyad in The Sudan, plus they got three junior college players in 6'4 Treyvon Hubbard from Contra Costa (JC) CA, 6'8 Terri Miller from Fresno City (JC) CA, and 6'3 Damon Jackson from Sequoias (JC) CA.  The other major change is the two additions for the University of Massachusetts, which are 5'11 Anthony Anderson from Lynn (English) MA and 6'6 Jarrett Kearse from Philadelphia Community (JC) PA. Neither is the equivalent of a top 100 senior nationally, but they both are pretty darn close and, as a result, Massachusetts' recruiting class moves from 49 into a tie with Brigham Young at #20.  UMass also would have gotten 6'9 Taurance Johnson from Glassboro (Faith Christian) NJ, if he had the number of core classes necessary to graduate from high school this year.  Instead, he will be a 5th year player next year and, as a result, will likely sign with Massachusetts in the fall.  Remember, head coach James "Bruiser" Flint is originally from Philadelphia, so it should be no surprise that he has the connections necessary to get this one done.  However, let's for a moment pretend that Johnson does count with Massachusetts recruiting class this year.  If that were the case, instead of being ranked #20 nationally, the Minutemen would be ranked #5 right behind Cincinnati and ahead of Seton Hall and Missouri.  Obviously, the big prize for Massachusetts was 6'7 Jackie Rogers from Barton County (JC) KS, who ranks as one of the top junior college players in the nation, but 6'4 Jameel Pugh from Sacramento (Grant) CA also is ranked among our top 100 nationally and Anderson, Kearse, and 6'5 Raheim Lamb from Boston (Enlish) MA are all legitimate top 150 guys.  The class also has depth, because 6'6 Willie Jenkins from Memphis (Fairley) TN was one of the fastest rising players in Memphis last year and, as a result, even got some late looks by the new staff at the University of Memphis.     Another late addition is 6'5 Jernovis Draughn from Potomac (H.S.) VA, who recently signed with American University.  However, that's it!    If we don't know about it now, it's simply too late.  Accuracy is important, but have to draw the line someplace, because I have only two weeks before I are scheduled to hit the road for 47 consecutive days this summer.  Our travels will begin with the NBA Players Association Camp and the Pro Am Tournament, which will include New York Riverside Church, DC Assault, and the Michigan Mustangs.   Both events will be held in Washington, DC over the weekend of June 30-July 2nd.   Next, I will attend some summer league games and/or take a day or two off for the July 4th in New York City.   Plus, I'll also be getting ready for the adidas ABCD Camp in Teaneck, NJ and NIKE All-American Camp in Indianapolis, IN.   I'll begin on July 6th and July 7th at adidas.  Then, I'll go to NIKE on July 8th and 9th and come back to adidas for the all-star game on July 10th.    Next, will be a stop at the Kentucky Prep Festival on July 11th.    Then, it will be on to Los Angeles, CA for Dinos Trigonis' Rim Rattler West Coast Camp at Lynwood, CA, as well as Dana and David Pump's Camp at Cal State-Dominguez Hills, CA, July 12th-14th.  After that I'll be Las Vegas for the adidas Big Time Tournament, followed by another stop in Los Angeles for the Pump's Best of the West Tournament on July 20th-21st.    July 22nd will be a travel day, followed by six days in Orlando, FL, where I will attend the NIKE Super Showcase and the 17-Under National AAU Tournament.    Then, it will be back to Las Vegas, NV for the Grand Finale, July 29th-31st.  Then, I'll remain in Las Vegas, where I'll spend a couple of days working on our post-summer player rankings and summer awards, followed by a stop in Portland, OR for the NIKE Tournament of Champions, August 3rd-6th.  After that, I hope to get a little vacation time on the West Coast between August 7th-15th, but that may be hard if last August was any indication of things to come.  Remember, early August last summer was the busiest time for commitments in the entire last 12 months.  Obviously, we'll provide you with some of the highlights in the Visitors Section, but nobody will be able to compete with us terms of our comprehensive coverage of events and recruiting information during the next two months.  Don't forget we've been doing this for 17 years now and we do have it down to a science.  So now is one of the best times of the year to renew your subscription to the Members Section. The cost is $25 per month, $65 for three months, $125 for six months, or $250 per year.   Speaking of subscribing the Members Section, did you know that only one school (Brigham Young) represented among our top 30 recruiting classes doesn't subscribe to the Members Section?    Did you also know that every school to play in the NCAA Final Four the last five years subscribes to the Members Section?  As a matter of fact, Dick "Hoops" Weiss, who writes for the New York Daily News and is widely regarded as the #1 basketball writer in America, recently gave us one of the best compliments we possibly could have receieved.  He said that among the people who count, in other words people in the business, more people read our web site on a daily basis for recruiting information, rankings, and other sight than any other publication in the nation.  No doubt his check is in the mail!

We mentioned above that 6'11 Mustafa Rahmen-Elsayyad from Limestone (Washington College) TN had committed to Fresno State, but he won't be the only one who isn't back at Washington College next year.   As a matter of fact, the school will likely close this summer and, as a result, head coach Keith Allsep is currently looking for a job.  Allsep will be a steal for whoever hires him, because he is not only one of the bright young guys in the business, but also he's a terrific recruiter with all kinds of ties in internationally, as well as in the District of Columbia area and all over the South, especially in Georgia.  He would be a natural for the Hiwassee (JC) TN job, but we hear he also is in line for the Rhode Island assistant coaching position that recently opened when Mike Wilson took a similiar position at Auburn.   Speaking of Rhode Island, the other assistant coaching spot is also open, but we hear that's already a done deal.  Write it down!  Head coach Jerry Degregorio is going to hire Tom Abatemarco.  As a matter of fact, we already hear that Abatemarco is leaving in Rhode Island.  Not only is this a great move from a recruiting stand point, but it also is good, because Abatemarco has plenty of head coaching experience.  If you will recall, Abatemarco was previously the head man at Lamar, Drake, and Sacramento State.  The list for Miami-FL continues to grow, but we hear that South Florida head coach Seth Greenberg may have the inside track.  And what a recruiting advantage that would be locally if Greenberg had his top assistant Dave Zimroth, who is widely regarded as one of the top recruiters in the nation, at Miami-FL. Remember, Zimroth is from Miami, FL and was hired by both Pat Kennedy at Florida State and Greenberg at South Florida in order to take advantage of his tremendous ties in South Florida.  However, that may not happen, because Zimroth also would be the perfect hire for the Bulls.   If you recall, in the past South Florida has been a graveyard for great coaches, but Greenberg has turned this into a pretty good job and hiring Zimroth would ensure that things continue on their present course.  Tulsa assistant coach Norm Roberts, UT-San Antonio head coach Tim Carter, Appalachian State head coach Buzz Peterson, and Kentucky assistant coach Shawn Finney are the four finalists for the the Tulsa job, but apparently Roberts and Carter have the inside track. Earlier we thought University of Illinois assistant coach Derek Thomas was a lock for the Missouri-Kansas City job, but now we're hearing that it's Temple assistant coach Dean Demopoulos' job to turn down.  This also is especially interesting, because if Demopoulos were a lock to replace head coach John Chaney when he retires, you would think he wouldn't be trying to move right now.   Speaking of replacing legends, we still think Iowa State head coach Larry Eustacy is a near lock to replace Denny Crum when the time comes.  As a matter of fact, a good friend of ours who used to live in Louisville, KY ran into Eustacy last weekend at the NBA Players Camp in Chicago, IL.   Apparently Eustacy wanted to know all about the University of Louisville, as well as the quality of life and the city.  All this makes sense, because Eustacy has been close friends with Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich since childhood and apparently that friendship has stood the test of time, as is evident by the fact that he was in Jurich's wedding a number of years ago. All this is important, because Eustacy was the basketball coach Utah State during the same time period that John L. Smith was the football coach for the Aggies.  Remember, Jurich hired Smith three years ago as the head football coach at Louisville and you can bet that one of the reasons why Jurich knew Smith so well was because of his long standing friendship with Eustacy.

A number of the top players in the nation are making unofficial visits before the beginning of the summer live evaluation period, including 6'8 Jr David Lee from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO, who was at the University of Missouri earlier in the week and will be at Duke this weekend.  Also at Missouri earlier this week were 6'9 Jr Robert Whaley from Benton Harbor (H.S.) MI and 6'11 Jr Jeff Ferguson from Benton Harbor (H.S.) MI, both of whom verbally committed while on the visit.  And this weekend 6'2 Carlos Hurt from Alief (Alief-Elsik) TX will be at the University of Arizona.  As a matter of fact, where Hurt will go to college was our Question of the Day earlier this week and 45% of those responding thought he would pick Arizona.  Which means University of Louisville fans should be nervous this weekend, because Wildcats head coach Lute Olson is known for turning up the heat and getting the commitment while the recruit is on campus.  Obviously, Louisville is the other co-favorite, as 33% of those responding thought Hurt would pick the Cardinals.   If you will recall, Hurt's grandmother lives in Louisville, KY and his mother is not only from Louisville, KY, but she attended Louisville (Male) KY during the Westley Cox and Darrell Griffith-Bobby Turner days.  How important is getting Hurt for head coach Denny Crum?  Well, one of the reasons Louisville let 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ slip away is because they liked their chances with Hurt, plus they think he is more likely to play a year or two of college basketball before declaring hardship for the NBA draft.   Getting Hurt early (he's supposed to announce his decision on the last day of the NIKE All-American Camp, which is July 10th) would give the Louisville coaching staff a lot to sell when recruiting other potential recruits the rest of the summer and fall.   However, if Hurt were to verbally commit to Arizona this weekend or pick the Wildcats on July 10th, it would be another major blow to the Cardinals rebuilding efforts.   We want to emphasize the word another, because it was all set up for Louisville to get Wagner and 6'3 Jr Rashaad Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA.  But they let 6'7 Jr Arthur Barclay from Camden (H.S.) NJ slip away when John Calipari got the Memphis job in early March.  Remember, Wagner has said for years that he wanted to follow Barclay to college, which indeed has happened, because made an early verbal commitment to Memphis two weeks ago, and for over a year Carruth said he wants to attend the same school, along with Barclay and Wagner, which is why Memphis is currently the co-leader, along with Georgia Tech. 

Thursday, June 15, 2000

Oklahoma State head coach Eddie Sutton has already taken two teams - Arkansas in 1978 and Oklahoma State in 1995 - to the NCAA Final Four and just this past March he had his Cowboys in the NCAA Final Eight again.  However, the best still may be yet to come, because the final returns are in and Oklahoma State has just finished with the #1 recruiting class in the nation, according the the HOOP SCOOP.    The class doesn't feature any McDonald's All-American's, but 6'3 Maurice Baker from Dixie (JC) UT was one of the top point guards in the Junior College ranks last winter and 6'8 Ivan McFarlan from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX is one of the fastest rising players nationally in the senior class nationally and in many ways is similar to former Maryland All-American Joe Smith.  If that weren't enough, 6'5 Melvin Sanders from Seward County (JC) KS exploded on the junior college scene late last season, but most scouts still haven't figured out how good he is.  Sanders is also a world class athlete, as is 6'6 Terrance Crawford from Oklahoma City (Bishop McGinnes) OK, who is a consensus top 70 senior nationally.  Also ranked among our top 100 nationally is 6'10 Jack Marlow from Tulsa (Union) OK.  Not only is Marlow a physical specimen, but with hard work and Sutton's first rate coaching, he has the potential to develop into another Bryant "Big Country" Reeves. Adding even more depth to the class are 6'4 Bernard Kidd from Dallas (Madison) TX and 6'8 David Anderson from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA.  Kidd is ranked on a number of top 100 lists, but we're being conservative on this one, because we've never seen him.    However, the word is that he's very athletic and especially deadly outside when his outside shot is falling.   Apparently he's very streaky and, as a result, needs to develop more consistency on his shot.  Anderson, who has some athleticism and is good on the boards, should develop into an excellent blue collar player, which is important for any championship caliber team.  Finishing second behind Oklahoma State is the team that won the NCAA Championship just 15 months ago. That's right!  The University of Connecticut edges out Oklahoma for the #2 spot, because the Huskies signed one fewer players, but finished in numerical tie with the Sooners after we assigned each player a ranking on a 1-10 scale and then added up all the points.  Cincinnati, which went the junior college route to fill the voids created when DerMarr Johnson decided to go hardship into the NBA draft and 6'5 Jerome Harper from Columbia (Keenan) SC was arrested for assault and, as a result, his scholarship was withdrawn.  Rounding out our top five are Seton Hall and Missour, which finished in a tie.  St. John's dropped from #1 in the fall to #7 when 6'9 Darius Miles from East St. Louis (Lincoln) IL decided to opt to the NBA this spring.   New Mexico, Fordham, and North Carolina round out our top 10, but it doesn't stop there, as we go 150 deep.  To get the complete list, click on Final Ranking of the Top 150 Recruiting Classes from the Class of 2000.

Wednesday, June 14, 2000

One of the rumors going around right now is that 6'9 Alton Ford from Houston (Milby) TX, who signed with the University of Houston last fall, and 6'9 Darius Rice from Jackson (Lanier) MS, who signed with Miami-FL, both are going to get out of their National Letters-of-Intent due the fact that the head coaches who signed them have recently departed.  However, it's not that easy!  As a matter of fact, it clearly states in bold print on the National Letter-of-Intent that the student-athlete is signing with the member institution and, as result, is bound to the letter even if the coach leaves.  But still there is a lot of confusion, because many seem to think when a school releases a player, it opens the door for that player to go to another school.  However, unless there is some extenuating circumstance, like the father of the recruit getting another coaching job (i.e. Allan Houston following his father Wade Houston to Tennessee or Saul Smith going to Kentucky after his father Tubby Smith replaced Rick Pitino) or some legal issue arises, whereby, the school refuses to honor the National Letter-of-Intent (i.e. Mike Southall's drug problems this spring), the player is legal bound to the school.  A player can get out of the National Letter-of-Intent if he doesn't make it academically, but if that's the case, the player has to sit out one-year anyway.  In other words, if a player signs with a school and makes it academically, but later decides to transfer, he has to sit out one year if the school releases him and two years if the school doesn't release him.   Remember, Lawrence Funderburke decided to transfer from Indiana to Ohio State and had to sit out two years, because Bob Knight wouldn't release him.  Many think he had to sit out two years, because the Big-10 Conference requires any player who transfers to another school in the league to sit out two years, instead of the usual one.  That's true, but in Funderburke's case, it didn't matter, because he was going to have to sit out two years regardless.  The only exception is when the case is appealed to the people in Birmingham, AL who administer the National Letter-of-Intent.  And there is no precedent that we know of, whereby, anybody has ever gotten out of the National Letter-of-Intent just because the coach left.   As a matter of fact, the rule is in place for that very reason.  Which brings us to our Question of the Day. Do you think this rule is fair, especially in light of the fact that the overwhelming #1 reason why a player signs with a school is because of the head coach? 

Tuesday, June 13, 2000

For what was supposed to be a slow day in the middle of June, this has turned out to have been a busy day for verbal commitments.  That's right  We have confirmed that 6'9 Jr Robert Whaley and 6'11 Jeff Ferguson, both from Benton Harbor (H.S.) MI have committed to the University of Missouri.  Whaley has top five potential in the junior class nationally due to his man-child body, but he currently only ranks #13 in the class nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, because he has been a major disappointment for the last year.  However, if the light ever clicks on and he overcomes his some of his personal problems, the sky is the limit.  Ferguson currently rank among our top 70 juniors nationally, but he has the potential to move way a lot higher.  Both of these commitments come as no surprise, because Whaley and Ferguson both live with the parents of Missouri assistant coach Tony Harvey.   As a matter of fact, Harvey's parents are Whaley's legal guardians.   So with these two early commitments, the Tigers move into the lead over Memphis, which already has a commitment from 6'2 Jr Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ, and Notre Dame, which recently got early commitments from 6'1 Jr Chris Thomas from Indianapolis (Pike) IN and 6'8 Jr Jordan Cornette from Cincinnati (St. Xavier) OH for the early lead in the race for the #1 ranked recruiting class for the Class of 2001.  Also, it was announced today that 6'9 Jair Veldhuis from Tamalpais (Mill Valley) CA has picked Villanova.  Veldhuis just misses being ranked among our top 300 nationally, but he is one of the only big guys still available with grades.  As a result, we look for him to provide solid relief inside next year for 6'11 Mike Bradley, who sat out this past year after transferring to Villanova from Kentucky.  We haven't confirmed that 6'3 Ryan Walcott from Phoenix (Shadow Mountain) AZ has made a late commitment to UCLA, but our source on this is usually pretty good.  Walcott, who is the cousin of former Arizona star Mike Bibby, also doesn't rank among our top 300 nationally, but he will provide the Bruins will quality depth at point guard. 

Monday, June 12, 2000

Well, it looks like we need to add another name to our list of Early Commitments.  That's right!  Purdue University has gotten 6'2 Jr Brandon McKnight from South Bend (La Salle) IN, who was ranked #208 last fall by Jim Kasberg, but who has the potential to move into our top 100 nationally with a good showing this summer.  Not only is McKnight one of the fastest rising players in the state, but he also was a top priority for the Boilermakers.  As a matter of fact, nobody has done a better job of taking players like McKnight over the years and developing them than head coach Gene Keady.  A great example is Brian Cardinal, who was has always been a great blue collar player, but after four years with Keady, Cardinal was one of the best players in the Big-10 Conference last year.  Speaking of Keady and Boilermakers, can you believe that Purdue wasn't listed as one of the five best jobs in the Big-10 in our Question of the Day on Saturday?  However, this is not a knock on Purdue or Keady.   Instead, it is a testament to the great job that Keady and Boilermakers have done of the years, as they finish at the top or near the top of the Big-10 year after year.   The reason this question arose was because former Tulsa head coach Bill Self took the Illinois job on Friday.  With the talent that Illinois has, plus a great recruiting base in Chicago and no other high Division I school in the state south of Chicago, it's hard not to believe that Illinois is one of the top 10 or 15 jobs in America.  Indiana didn't count on the list, because it has to be a top five job, despite the fact that Bob Knight has been an underachiever in recent years.  Michigan State has to be there, because Tom Izzo guided the Spartans into the NCAA Final Four two consecutive years, plus they won the NCAA Championship in March.  Not only that, but the Spartans could be on the verge of becoming college basketball's next dynasty, because 6'8 Zach Randolph from Marion (H.S.) IN and 6'3 Marcus Taylor from Lansing (Waverly) MI both rank among our top five high school seniors nationally and, as result, should step in and make a tremendous impact next year.  However, no matter how good a job Michigan State is, many will tell you that the University of Michigan is a better job, because it's the state school, plus it has one of the best fan bases in the nation.  Obviously, Ohio State with its incredible fan base throughout the entire state of Ohio, a great coach in Jim O'Brien, and a NCAA Final Four appearance a year ago, has to be on the list.   Which leaves Purdue and Iowa vying for 6th spot in the Big-10.  We gave the nod to Iowa for two reasons:  1) Steve Alford has been recruiting like crazy since he's been there; and 2) it's the state school in state with no major professional sports teams.  However, it's really almost too close to call and, as a result, Purdue is probably one of the top 20 coaching jobs in the nation.  Also, not too far behind are Minnesota and Wisconsin, which means there are nine great jobs in the league.  Obviously, this makes it tough on Penn State and Northwestern, but Nittany Lions head coach Jerry Dunn and Wildcats head coach Kevin O'Neill have their programs heading in the right direction.   In other words, with the addition of Self last week, the Big-10 no doubt features the best collection of head coaches at the Division I level in the nation.  Don't believe it?   Well, Izzo, O'Brien, and Wisconsin's Dick Bennett have all been to the NCAA Final Four in the last 15 months, Alford is one the verge of doing great things at Iowa, Self was in the NCAA Final Eight at Tulsa in March, Minnesota head coach Dan Monson was in the NCAA Final Eight a year ago with Gonzaga, Knight has won three NCAA Championships, and we've already talked about how Keady usually finishes near the top of the league without as much talent as some of these other guys.  That leaves Brian Ellerbe, who hasn't finished rebuilding yet at Michigan; Dunn, who has proved to be an outstanding coach at Penn State in recent years; and O'Neill, who did great things at Marquette and left the cupboard full at Tennessee when he left three years ago to take what might be the toughest big time job in all of basketball at Northwestern.

Now that it's common knowledge that the Washington Wizards have paid the $1 million necessary to buy Miami-FL head coach Leonard Hamilton out of his contract, it is time to start speculating on who will take over for the Hurricanes.   Among the names we've heard are Hofstra head coach Jay Wright, Connecticut assistant coach Karl Hobbs, South Florida head coach Seth Greenberg, and Dayton head coach Oliver Purnell.  However, our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson thinks that former NBA player and coach Rick Barry, who is an alumnus of Miami-FL, would be the best choice.  As a matter of fact, that's our Question of the Day.  Who would you hire? "He's be great teacher of the fundamentals," says Johnson.  "Plus, with his name, he'd be able to recruit like crazy."  Johnson also has the scoop on who William & Mary is hiring.   Actually, the scoop is more like when, because most people expect Ohio State associate head coach Rick Boyages to get the job.  If you will recall, Buckeyes head coach Jim O'Brien is very tight with the athletic director at William & Mary.  "The press conference is scheduled for Wednesday morning," says Johnson.  Johnson also tells us that Boyages will likely hire Ohio State video coordinator Jamie Kachmarik as one of his two full-time assistant coaches.  We still expect Illinois assistant coach Derek Thomas will get the Missouri-Kansas City job, but it's not done yet, as Oklahoma assistant coach Ray Lopes and Temple assistant coach Dean Demopoulos are still on the short list. 

Saturday, June 10, 2000, and Sunday, June 11, 2000

We've been slow to update the last four or five days, because we've been getting ready to come out with our rankings of the top recruiting classes nationally, as well as rankings conference-by-conference.  And as usual, we will also provide you with all kinds of other interesting ways to look at recruiting, like which schools signed the best two players, best three players, and had the best talent rating average per recruit.   We also will look at what conferences signed the most top 100 players and see who did the best over the last two years.  However, to do all this we have to first go through the tedious process of making sure we have all the recruits listed from each school.  Finally, we're done with that part and this list, which is the currently the most accurate that you will find anywhere, can accessed exclusively in the Members Section by clicking on National Commitments.  Also important is the fact that each player has been assigned a number on a scale of 1-10, which tells you how good we think each player is in the recruiting class.  A top five player nationally is worth 10 points, a top 10 player nationally gets nine points, a player ranked 11-40 nationally gets eight points, a player ranked 41-70 gets six points, a player ranked 71-100 gets four points, anybody in the 101-300 range gets three points, anybody in the 301-1000 range gets to points, and if you're not ranked among our top 1000 nationally, you get only one point.  We also have started our list of early commitments for the Class of 2001 and beyond, which you can get by clicking on Recent Commitments.  Especially interesting is the fact that with the commitments by 6'2 Jr Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ and 6'1 Jr Maurice Williams from Jackson (Murrah) MS, both within the last two weeks, three our top 10 ranked juniors are already gone.   Also, three sophomores - 6'9 Soph Roy Enright from Omaha (Burke) NE, who announced for Nebraska in April, 6'3 Soph Jeff Horner from Mason City (H.S.) IA, who committed to Iowa last summer, and 6'5 Soph Adam Haluska from Carroll (Community) IA, who committed to Iowa State last fall, have made early commitments.  Iowa with Horner and 6'4 Jr Pierre Pierce from Westmont (H.S.) IL, Iowa State with Haluska and 6'9 Jr Adam Schaper from Wheatfield (Kankakee Valley) IN, and Notre Dame with 6'8 Jr Jordan Cornette from Cincinnati (St. Xavier) OH and 6'1 Jr Chris Thomas from Indianapolis (Pike) IN each have two of the 26 early commitments that we've tracked thus far.  And you can bet there will be a lot more.  As a matter of fact, the recruiting process has been speeded up so much that busiest time in the last year for commitments by top level players was the first week in August.  Remember, that's when 6'9 Eddie Griffin from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA and 5'8 Andre Barrett from New York (Rice) NY both picked Seton Hall, 6'7 Gerald Wallace from Childersburg (H.S.) AL and 6'9 Mario Austin from York (Sumpter County) AL both announced for Alabama, and 6'6 Caron Butler from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME picked Connecticut. 

Friday, June 9, 2000

Boy, does it look like we were really wrong yesterday in our speculation about Oregon head coach Ernie Kent being in line for the Illinois job.  Instead, it looks like Tulsa head coach Bill Self will be named the head coach this afternoon.  At least that's what our New England Editor Wayne Simone told us and his track record regarding Illinois has been second to none.  Remember, he's the one who tipped us off about former Illinois head coach Lon Kruger taking the Atlanta Hawks job.  So now the question becomes who gets the Tulsa job, which has to be the best mid-major job in America.   This is the program that has served as a stepping stone for Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson, Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith, and Florida State head coach Steve Robinson.  However, Self has truly taken the program to another level, as the Golden Hurricanes advanced to the NCAA Final Eight in March.  Certainly a lot of lower level head coaches and numerous top level assistants will be looked at for the job, but hopefully one of Self's assistant current coaches - Billy Gillispie, John Phillips, and Norman Roberts - will become the next head coach at Tulsa.  The only question is which one should they hire?  All are very qualified and all have played a major part in helping build the program to where it is today.  Getting back to Self taking Illinois, if this does indeed happen, it's a great move.  Not is Self one of the hottest young guys in the business, but he would be number uno on our list today if we had to hire a coach at a top program in college basketball today.  Not only is he a great coach and excellent recruiter, but he's also a first class person, a great ambassador for game, and a tremendous role model, which is something the game needs more of today. 

Thursday, June 8, 2000

It looks like University of Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson is going to turn down the University of Illinois job.  Many think he is waiting for Lute Olson to retire at Arizona, because that's his dream job and he has close ties with Wildcats athletic director Jim Livengood.   However, it he may be in for a long wait, because Olson just signed a new five year contract and he appears to be going stronger than ever.  Getting back to the Illinois job, our sources tell us that the new leader to replace the departed Lon Kruger is University of Oregon head coach Ernie Kent.  This may come as a surprise to many, but not for those who read the Members Section of the HOOP SCOOP every day.  That's right!   Our New England Editor Wayne Simone first mentioned Kent's name in connection with the Illinois job two weeks ago.  Kent has Illinois ties, because he was born and raised in Rockford, IL, but more important he has done a tremendous job in only three years at Oregon and, as a result, is regarded by many as one of the rising stars in the business.  And if Kent leaves, Oregon is the ideal place for a number of Pac-10 assistants, including Oregon assistant coach Scott Duncan, who is one of the sharp young guys in the business; UCLA's Michael Holton, who was previously an assistant coach at Oregon State; and Arizona assistant Jay John, who has already been involved with a number of jobs this spring, including Oregon State.   However, it wouldn't surprise us if Louisiana-Lafayette head coach Jessie Evans emerged as the leading candidate.  If you will recall, Evans spent plenty of time as an assistant coach in the Pacific-10 at Arizona before leaving for Lafayette, LA three years ago.   Evans also is recognized as one of the best recruiters in the nation and he's turned the Ragin' Cajuns around in a hurry, as was evident by their strong finish last season, as well as a NCAA appearance three months ago.

One of the best things we've seen in a long time is the latest edition of the Monter Draft News, which is published by one of the best people in the business, Chris Monter.  It's great reference material, because he identifies each team's needs and provides the draft order in a quick and conceise manner.  However, a lot of people do that.  It's pages 3-14 that impress the heck out of us, because he provides a bio on each player, along with stats and comments that are well worth reading.  He also provides interesting insight into the alarming trend of underclassmen entering the draft in recent years, provides his list of the top 100 prospects in the draft,  includes a mock draft, recaps past performances from the NCAA Tournament and recent NBA camps, plus a lot more.  In case you are wondering, Monter not only has Kenyon Martin ranked as the best player in the draft, but he also projects Martin first in his mock draft, followed by Stromile Swift, Marcus Fizer, Chris Mihm, Joel Przybilla, Mike Miller, Darius Miles, Iakovos Tsakalidis, Jerome Moiso, and Courtney Alexander.  Monter has a number of different things you can order ranging from fax or email updates before and after the draft for as little as $5 to a one-year subscription to his publication, which includes all five issues throughout the year for only $45.  For more information, we encourage you to call 1-800-NBA-DRAFT, fax (612) 469-6787, or write to Monter Draft News, P.O. Box 214, Dept U, Lakeville, MN  55044. 

Wednesday, June 7, 2000

It looks like Miami-FL head coach Leonard Hamilton now appears to be the leading candidate for the Washington Wizards job, but don't write it down until it happens.  Remember, several weeks ago everybody thought St. John's head coach Mike Jarvis was a done deal for the Wizards job and a month ago we all thought Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo would take the Atlanta Hawks job.  We've also had heard rumors about Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith going to the Hawks dating all the way back to late December.  However, with the exception of former Illinois head coach Lon Kruger, who did take the Hawks job, all the great head coaches in college basketball have turned down more money and, as a result, elected to stayed put.  That's why we're cautious about predicting whether Hamilton will bolt to the NBA.  Hamilton learned how to run a program from one of the best at the University of Kentucky during the Joe B. Hall days and ever since has been outworking everybody as he slowly climbed his way to the top, first at Oklahoma State and then at Miami-FL in recent years.  Hamilton signed a multi-million dollar long term contract with the Hurricanes in April and shocked the world when he landed 6'9 Darius Rice from Jackson (Lanier) MS, who ranks as one of the top dozen player player nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.  He already appears to be well on his way towards building Miami-FL into one of the premier programs in college basketball and the icing on the cake would be 6'11 Jr DeSagana Diop from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who listed the Hurricanes at the top of his list when we recently talked to him recently at the Bob Gibbons' Tournament of Champions.  As a matter of fact, the word on the street is that Miami-FL placed him at Oak Hill and, as a result, it would be a major surprise if Diop went anywhere else.  However, if Hamilton takes the Wizards job, suddenly Diop's recruitment would be wide open again.   We also are still waiting to see whether University of Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson will take the Illinois job.  The word we get is that he's been offered the job, but has asked for a few days to think about it.  If you are Sampson, do you take you take Illinois right now or stay put and wait for Lute Olson to retire at Arizona? 

It came as no surprise today when the University of Kentucky announced that they were revoking the scholarship of 6'10 Mike Southall from West Salem (H.S.) WI, who was recently arrested for drugs.  This is important, because this means that suddenly Southall is recruitable again by any school that is willing to take a chance on him.  And take a chance is the correct phrase, because Southall may be doing some prison time, especially after being arrested again within the last week for being in violation of his 10:00 PM court appointed curfew.  How could that be you ask?  Well, in early August when we were compiling our top 100 post-summer rankings, several people, including the usually very reliable Chris Johnson told me not to miss on Southall.  His list of schools included Kentucky, Ohio State, Illinois, Utah, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, and Marquette, but as it turns out nobody had seen him play, including Johnson.  The hype continued, because he signed with the University of Kentucky and one scouting service even went so far so to say that Southall has more potential than Marvin Stone and, as a result, may end up ranked among the top 20 nationally.  So naturally I was shocked when I saw Southall for the first time in the Derby Classic a month ago in Louisville, KY.   He was not only the second worse player in the game, but he was a total non-factor.   He didn't score, rebound, react, or move very well.  As a result, he will not be ranked among our top 300 nationally in the senior class.  Fortunately this doesn't happen often, because during the last 17 years I have seen 98% of the consensus top 100 high school seniors from any given year.  This particularly frustrating, because normally we make a living identifying the overhyped big guy.  A great example was 7'6 Neil Fingleton from Worcester (Holy Name) MA, who was named to the McDonald's All-American Team, but was not ranked among our top 100 nationally.  In the months prior to the McDonald's Game I got numerous phone calls and emails about how I was missing on Fingleton.  While Fingleton is 7'6 and he does have potential, it isn't fair to put that kind of pressure of him.  Right now he should not be ranked among our top 200 nationally and, as a result, had no business being in either the McDonald's All-American Game or the NIKE Hoop Summit.  As a matter of fact, he was booed in both.  However, with hard work and excellent coaching at North Carolina, he may develop.  And that's one of the biggest problems with rankings today.   Everybody wants to rank guys just based on potential, but nobody wants to let a kid earn it.  Hopefully Fingleton and Southall will prove us wrong someday, but big guys with potential are going to have to earn it before they make our top 100 nationally.

Tuesday, June 6, 2000

Late last week the University of Alabama got a huge early commitment from 6'1 Jr Maurice Williams from Jackson (Murrah) MS, who is ranked as the #1 junior in Mississippi, as the #10 junior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.   Alabama also was in the final two of Williams' AAU teammate - 6'4 Jr Dwayne Mitchell from New Orleans (John F. Kennedy) LA, but this time it looks like the Crimson Tide is going to finish second.  Instead, the HOOP SCOOP has confirmed that Mitchell, who ranks #6 in the Deep South, as well as among our top 50 nationally, will announce for Mississippi State later today.  Mitchell is an explosive athlete and excellent outside shooter, plus he has a major upsside, which is why we think the value of his stock will continue to rise this summer.  Also, interesting is the fact that Alabama and Mississippi State continue to go head-to-head on players.   So with the commitment by Mitchell the score now reads Mississippi State four and Alabama two for big name players they were both heavily involved with in the last year.   Remember, Alabama got a commitment from 6'9 Mario Austin from York (Sumpter County) AL last August, but then he reneged and signed with Mississippi State on the first day of the fall signing period in November.  Mississippi State also beat Alabama for Derrick Zimmerman and Antonio Jackson a year ago, but Alabama landed 6'7 Gerald Wallace from Childersburg (H.S.) AL last fall and Williams last week.  Obviosuly this is turning into one of the biggest recruiting rivalries in college basketball and no doubt Bulldogs head coach Rick Stansbury and Crimson Tide head coach Mark Gottfried are still two of the best recruiters in the business. 

Our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin has learned that University of Albany head coach Scott Hicks will be named the new head coach at Loyola-Maryland this afternoon at 4:00 PM.  Late last week we told you that we thought University of Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson would be named as the new head coach at the University of Illinois.  Well, now it looks like the word is out, as other media sources are predicting the same thing.  We also look good on our prediction about former Indiana University assistant coach Ron Felling adding to the already volatile situation at Indiana University.   That's right!  Felling has filed a lawsuit against head coach Bob Knight, as well as the University.  Felling alleges that Knight physically attacked him the day after the Indiana-Notre Dame game, which was in early December.   The school is being sued for "negligence, negligent supervision, and age discrimination."  We don't have this confirmed, but it looks like Illinois assistant coach Derek Thomas won't be following Lon Kruger to the Atlanta Hawks.  Instead, it looks like he's gotten the coaching job at Missouri-Kansas City.

Monday, June 5, 2000

We find it amazing that 77% of the people responding to our Question of the Day from Monday, May 30th, thought that Indiana University head coach Bob Knight didn't hurt himself in his television interview a week ago on ESPN.  How many people do you know who could go on national television and contradict their boss?  But that's exactly what Knight did!   Don't believe it?  Well, their memory does not correspondent with regards to their meeting at the President's house and, as a matter of fact, that was our Question of the Day for Thursday, June 2nd.  Of those responding, 26% said that IU President Myles Brand told the truth when he said Knight was apologetic and contrite when they met at his house the night before recommending to the trustees that Knight be given one last chance.  If that is correct, Knight lied a week ago in the interview with Roy Firestone and Digger Phelps when he said he didn't apologize for his actions and that he went to Brand's house only to work things out.  However, 73% of the people believe Knight was telling the truth, and if that is correct, Brand should held accountable, because he told the trustees that Knight had apologized and was willing to do whatever was necessary to keep his job.  You'd think that two men (Knight and Brand) as smart as this would get their ducks in a row before they got caught telling a different story on national television.  Well, this isn't the first time Knight has gotten caught lying.  Remember, nothing happened was the initial response when former Indiana University player Neil Reed claimed that Knight had choked him in practice three years ago.  Then, the videotape came out and obviously something did happen.  But that's not the only thing that Reed alleged.    Remember, he also said that Knight threw President Brand out of practice, but Brand says such an incident never occurred.  To this day nobody has been able to substantiate that claim, but Brand had better hope there isn't another videotape vindicating Reed.   Further evidence of both Brand and the university's credibility problem was revealed with our Question of the Day from May 1st.  "When Indiana University found no evidence several months ago that Knight had abused Reed or any other player during the last 29 years, what was the most likely scenario?"  Of those responding, 28% said they (IU) did not talk to any of the players who have since come forward and provided evidence to the contrary; 26% said they (IU) did talk to the players, but the players lied; and 44% said they did talk to the players and they told the truth, but those doing the investigation decided to lie, coverup, and/or ignore the evidence.  Talk about a credibility problem!  Knight has said that he saw the videotape twice immediately after the fact and he didn't think that he choked Reed, which brings us to our Question of the Day for today.  Should any coach at any level in any sport be allowed to keep his job if it can be proven that he so much as put his hand on a player's neck?  And can you believe that Firestone went into the interview with Knight without ever having seen the videotape of Knight choking Reed?    No wonder Knight thinks reporters and journalists are such idiots.   Especially amusing are the Knight defenders trying to defend the indefensible.   "He's a great role model and he graduates his players."  Well, if you call somebody who bunches, kicks shoves, chokes, and mentality and physically abuses his players a great role, then I hope you get the help you obviously need sooner than later.  Take good kids from good backgrounds and you're probably going to graduate most of the those players.  However, I wonder why they don't include transfers when talking about Knight's graduation rate.  After all, a number of players who left, like Chris Lawson, Lawrence Funderburke, and Jason Collier, went onto to do outstandingly well at other universities.  And what about the players who were tough kids from troubled backgrounds, like Jay Edwards and Sherron Wilkerson?  Knight didn't do any better than Jerry Tarkanian does with players who are academic risks.  As a matter of fact, Tarkanian is the one who should be commended, because 25% of his players graduated when he was at UNLV.  That's amazing when you consider the backgrounds and the academic problems that his players faced!  Getting back to Knight, there was a letter to the editor last week in the USA Today by a former referee claiming that what Knight has done is no worse than most of other coaches.  Well, if that's true, they ought to do away with the sport, because people who do the things that Knight has done have no business being around young people.  Knight should be fired!  Brand should be fired!   And if the trustees don't have the guts to do it, our hunch is they are going to look even worse down the road.  Why?  Because the word on the street is that IU Athletic Director Clarence Doninger, who is an honorable person, is going to talk when he retires, which everybody knows will be very soon.  And then there is former IU assistant coach Ron Felling, who for many years was one of Knight's most loyal supporters.  Some think he'll sue.  Others think he'll write a book.  But our suggestion is that he'll go on 60-Minutes.  Yes, the story yet to be told will likely attract that much interest.  Remember, three weeks ago when Brand announced that Knight would get one more chance, it made the front page of every major newspaper in the United States. 

Could Cincinnati, not Michigan State, actually be the leader for 6'4 Jr Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, who ranks #4 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP.  Well, that's what Mike DeCoursey is reporting in the Cincinnati Enquirer.  DeCoursey quotes Torbert's AAU coach Chris Grier saying "they (Cincinnati) are doing very very well.  I would say they are closing in on being pretty much the leader.  DerMarr Johnson goes there, plays one year, and is going to be a first round pick.  That's what Kelvin is looking for.  He wants to go somewhere he go and excel right away.  He wants to get in, do his damage, and go about his business."  DeCoursey also says that Torbert will make an unofficial to Cincinnati in June.  However, we still think Michigan State has to be the favorite over schools like Cincinnati, Missouri, Connecticut, and Ohio State.  It still hasn't been officially announced, but our Georgia Editor Linzy Davis has a very credible source who tells him that 6'2 Jr Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ, who ranks as the #1 junior in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP, has verbally committed to Memphis.  Suddenly, this also becomes important for 6'3 Jr Rashaad Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, because Carruth still very much wants to play with Wagner and 6'7 Jr Arthur Barclay from Camden (H.S.) NJ in college.  Also, it appears that Tigers head coach John Calipari has done a great selling job, because it now looks like Memphis and Georgia Tech are the co-leaders.  Kentucky also is still being mentioned prominently and now we know why.   And it's not because he want to play go to the same college with his buddy 6'1 Cliff Hawkins from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, which is what has been widely reported.  However, we promised to keep this under wraps for a while, so we'll just have to save it for a rainy day.

Saturday, June 3, 2000, and Sunday, June 4, 2000

The junior class in Kentucky is the best class we've seen in years in the Bluegrass state, as is evident by the fact that all five of the HOOP SCOOP's top ranked players - 6'9 Jr Brandon Bender from Louisville (Ballard) KY, 6'10 Jr Tony Key from Russellville (H.S.) KY, 6'5 Jr Larry O'Bannon from Louisville (Male) KY, 6'1 Jr Adam Chiles from Louisville (Ballard) Ky, and 6'2 Jr Patrick Sparks from Greenville (Muhlenberg North) KY - in the state are juniors.  The class appears to be have everything including quality size from Bender and Key; tremendous athleticism from O'Bannon, Chiles, and 6'3 Coric Riggs from Fairdale (H.S.) KY; great outside shooting from Sparks, 6'5 Jr Josh Carrier from Bowling Green (H.S.) KY, 6'2 Jr Ronny Dawn from Newport (Central Catholic) KY, and 6'4 Jr Brett Jones from Paducah (Tilghman) KY; and guy who can do a little bit of everything in 6'3 Jr Ben Bowling from Hazard (Perry County Central) KY.  You can get all this in our updated Kentucky Prep Report and you can get our rankings of the top players in each class, including the top 74 seniors, 51 juniors, 29 sophomores, and 14 freshmen, ranked in order by clicking on Kihnley Ranks 'Em: The Top Prep Players in Kentucky.