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Monday,
June 29, 2009
There are four ingredients necessary to make a great camp and the
Phenom 150 Camp,
which look place over the weekend in San Diego, CA, had the star power,
quality inside players, and the overall depth necessary to make this
arguably the best camp that Joe Keller, who the President and C.E.O.
of Phenom Basketball, has had in the four year's that he's been running a
camp for this age group. As a matter of fact, one of the only things that
was missing from were unselfish point guards, like 6'0 Junior Cadugon
from Humble (Christian Life) TX or 6'4 Jr Kendall Marshall from
Arlington (Bishop Connell) VA, who led their respective teams to the
championship and were ranked among the top players in the camp the last two
years at the NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp in
Charlottesville, VA. Instead, undersized 2-guards who wanted to jack up
every shot regardless of how well they were covered was clearly the order of
the day. Also missing for this year camp was 6'4 Frosh Shabazz Muhammed
from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, who was ranked #1 nationally in the Class
of 2012 when we recently published our our Ranking of the Top
500 Players Nationally in the Class of 2012 (Muhammed
was actually at the camp, but didn't play due to an injury). But it didn't
matter, because 6'5 8th Grader Brian Bridgewater from Baton Rouge, LA
simply picked up where left off last summer when he was the best player in
his age group at the Junior All-American Camp in Chantilly, VA and
was ranked #17 by the HOOP SCOOP at the AAU 14-Under Nationals
in Lake Buena Vista, FL while playing up against players a year older.
Bridgewater was like a man among boys in this camp, as he totally dominated
around the basket and probably set a record for the most electrifying dunks
that we've ever seen in one weekend. He capped all this off with 14 points
in the first half of the all-star game in the Rising Freshman Division, but
missed the rest of the game due to the fact that he had to catch a flight.
However, this time around, it didn't matter (he also missed the all-star
game a year ago at the Junior All-American Camp and, as a result, was
not the #1-ranked player in camp) because Bridgewater was just that much
better than every body else. And this is important, because, until proven
otherwise, Bridgewater has to be the best player in the Class of 2013.
Obviously Bridgewater needs to grow some more in order to insure that some
somebody doesn't pass him up down the road. But right now he has such a
great motor, such a great combination of size, skills, athleticism, and
mobility, and is so far ahead of everybody else in both the camp and the
class that it's scary. However, when Bridgewater at half-time of the
all-star game, that left the door open for 6'3 8th Grader Tyrell Robinson
from San Diego, CA and 6'3 8th Grader Tyree Robinson from San Diego,
CA to step up and steal the show. They also were named the MVP's for their
respective teams in the all-star game, as it seemed liked they took turns in
the second half making one great move after another in transition and to
create a shot from beyond the arc. Tryell finished with 22 points and also
had a pair of treys. But we gave the nod in a close call in our rankings to
Tyrell, who had 21 points and three treys, due to the fact that his team won
the game. Also leaving very little doubt about who was the best player in
the Rising Sophomore Division was 6'7 Frosh Winston Sheppard from
Sugar Land, TX, as he finished with 21 points and was so active and
versatile both around the basket and in transition that we started to hear
Kevin Garnett/Michael Gilchrist comparisons. Unfortunately Sheppard
doesn't play with this type of effort and intensity all of the time and, as
a result, we're not quite ready to start talking about him being the best
players nationally in his class. We also thought 6'0 8th Grader D.J.
Griggs from Lake Jackson, TX played so well in the all-star game that we
moved him ahead of 6'2 8th Grader Clyde Smith from Houston, TX, who
was our #1-ranked player in this age group right up until the all-star
game. We also were very impressed with the number of quality inside players
in camp, as the Rising Sophomore Division featured 12 players 6'7 Frosh
Winston Sheppard from Sugar Land, TX, 6'5 Frosh Matt Shrigley
from Encinitas, CA, 6'5 Frosh Malik Fields from Fayetteville, AR, 6'7
Frosh Romas Marcinkevicius from Avon, CT, 6'5 Frosh Rasean Simpson
from San Diego, CA, 6'5 Frosh Najeal McMillian from Milwaukee,
WI, 6'7 Frosh Adam Lacey from San Diego, CA, 6'4 Frosh George
Sherwood from Kalispell, MT, 6'6 Frosh Austin Roark from Tigeras,
NM, 6'2 Frosh Thomas Butler from San Diego, CA, 6'7 Frosh Kenny
Kaminski from Medina, OH, and 6'6 Frosh Tyler Holloway from
Tomball, TX - at the center position who were ranked among our top 50
players in camp in this age group. And the Rising Freshman Division was
even better, as there are 13 players at the center position who are ranked
among the the top 50 players in camp. This list includes 6'5 8th Grader
Brian Bridewater from Baton Rouge, LA, 6'3 8th Grader DeOsic West
from Spring, TX, 6'5 8th Grader Dylan Jones from Alameda, CA, 6'5 8th
Grader Jeremiah Turner from San Diego, CA, 6'8 8th Grader Parker
Callender from Houston, TX, 6'4 8th Grader Dwayne Foreman from
Spring Valley, NY, 6'4 8th Grader Jesse Lopez from El Paso, TX, 6'3
8th Grader Devron Kennedy from Wylie, TX, 6'4 8th Grader Rashad
Muhammad from Las Vegas, NV, 6'2 8th Grader Marcus Lee from
Antioch, CA, 6'4 8th Grader Jamal Aytes from San Diego, CA, 6'5 8th
Grader Jeffery Beverly from Richmond, TX, and 6'5 8th Grader
Steven Haney from East Lansing, MI. Now also is a good time to
point out that a lot of these players can also play out on the perimeter
and, as a result, will project as wing players down the road depending upon
how much they grow and what areas they focus on as they continue to develop
their game. However, for our purposes, these ranking are reflective of
what we saw in camp and, with only one exception, we required every team in
camp to have at least one center. But that's easy when compared to
determining what position to put a lot of the guards and perimeter players.
We also take into account at what position a player might get ranked higher
and whether he's a pass first or shoot first kind of guy when putting
together these rankings. Thus, explains why a lot of undersized guys
ended up being ranked at the 2-guard spot when they think they're a point
guard. The depth was also the best it's ever been, as the number of
bad players at the bottom of the camp were few and far between and there
were a lot of good players who didn't make the all-star game in their
respective classes. On the other end of the spectrum 6'11 Frosh Jack Taylor from Lawrenceville, NJ
had a tough week. But before you start to feel too sorry for Taylor,
remember you can't teach size and, if you're 7-feet tall and you can catch,
pass, shoot, set picks and screens, and are willing to sacrifice your body,
you have a chance to play in the NBA. Also big guys develop later than
perimeter players and, as a result, Taylor clearly was one of the guys in
the camp with the most potential. Moral to the story, hopefully Taylor will
turn a negative into a positive by going home and continuing to work hard
and develop into the good player that we know he can become. We also think
it's important to point out that there were a number of players (i.e.
Clyde Smith, Mytaah Crawford, David Travers, Bryan
Velasco, Shai Shai Matthews, Cullen Neal, Bryce Alford,
and Cameron Epps) that we've
seen at this camp and the Junior Phenom Camp in recent years who take
what they've learned and go home and getter better every year. And really
that's what all this is about, as where you're ranked and how well you play
in an event like this is a nice measuring stick to see where you're at the
time. But really what's important is continuing to work on your game, keep
getting better, and hopefully getting a college scholarship down the road.
As for the selfish chemistry killing point guards from hell who were in
camp. You know who you are and the day of reckoning is coming, if you don't
grow and/or develop more of a pass first and shoot less mentality. In
contrast, a list of the unsung heroes in camp is what comes next.
Editor's Note: The Defensive Award Winners in the Rising 9th
Grade Division (Class of 2013), The Sportsmanship Winners in the Rising 9th
Grade Division (Class of 2013,
The Defensive Award Winners in the Rising 10th Grade Division (Class
of 2012), and The
Sportsmanship Winners in the Rising 9th Grade Division (Class of 2012),
as well as all of the rankings are now available exclusively in the
Members Section. So now is the perfect time
to
subscribe.
Monday,
June 22, 2009
Clay Dade has released the list of players that he expects to be in
attendance at the
Freshmen All-American Camp
in Lexington, KY,
which will tip-off in the Joe Craft Center Practice Facility in Lexington,
KY on Thursday, June 25th, at 6:00 PM, and it includes 6'4 8th Grader
Jubril Adekoya from Tinley Park, IL, 6'7 8th Grader Agau Akoy
from Omaha, NE, 6'5 8th Grader Jamal Aytes from San Diego, CA, 6'6
8th Grader Payton Bank from Aliso Viejo, CA, 6'8 8th Grader
TreShawn Bolden from Jackson, MS, 5'8 8th Grader Marquan Botley
from Plano, TX, 5'1 8th Grader Lawrence Briggs from Chicago, IL, 6'2
8th Grade Carlos Burse from Alpharetta, GA, 6'3 8th Grader Deonte
Burton from Milwaukee, WI, 5'11 8th Grader Cliff Bussey from
Toledo, OH, 6'8 8th Grader Akil Carr from Baltimore, MD, 6'1 8th
Grader Anthony Carroll from Wauwatosa, WI, 6'6 8th Grader Taco
Charlton from Pickerington, OH, 6'6 8th Grader Christian Bradley
from Melbourne, FL, 5'7 8th Grader Stevie Clark from Oklahoma City,
OK, 6'5 8th Grader Clayton Drekalo from Orlando, FL, 6'8 8th Grader
Coger Tyrek from Raleigh, NC, 6'8 8th Grader Austin Colbert
from Chesepeake, VA, 6'1 8th Grader Markell Crawford from Memphis,
TN, 6'5 8th Grader Deontaye Curtis from Birmingham, AL, 6'3 8th
Grader Justin Dotson from Central, SC, 6'3 8th Grader Dyson
Demetrius from Covington, TN, 6'1 8th Grader Royal Ewing from
Chicago, IL, 6'6 8th Grader Tony Farmer from East Cleveland, OH, 6'5
8th Grader D.J. Fenner from Springdale, MD, 6'4 8th Grader Isaiah
Flowers from Chicago, IL, 6'6 8th Grader Jackson Forbes from
Plano, TX, 6'7 8th Grader Alex Foster from Plainfield, IL, 6'4 8th
Grader Keith Frazier from Irving, TX, 5'6 8th Grader Jarvis
Garrett from Milwaukee, WI, 6'5 8th Grader Gladden Byron from
Charlotte, NC, 5'8 8th Grader Colten Gober from Colleyville, TX, 5'9
8th Grader Grant Matthew from Los Angeles, CA, 6'6 8th Grader
Derrick Griffin from Richmond, TX, 6'8 8th Grader Tommy Hamilton
from Chicago, IL, 6'1 8th Grader Kendal Harris from Dallas, TX, 6'5
8th Grader Aaron Harrison from Richmond, TX, 6'5 8th Grader Andrew
Harrison from Richmond, TX, 6'6 8th Grader Collin Hartman from
Fishers, IN, 6'6 8th Grader Nigel Hayes from Toledo, OH, 6'3 8th
Grader Darryl Hicks from Shelbyville, KY, 6'2 8th Grader Kasey
Hill from Eustis, FL, 5'11 8th Grader Matt Hillman from
Gaithersburg, MD, 6'8 8th Grader Kuran Iverson from West Hartford,
CT, 6'5 8th Grader Arshad Jackson from Hampton, GA, 6'1 8th Grader
Tadric Jackson from Ashburn, GA, 6'3 8th Grader Alfonso Johnson
from Harvest, AL, 6'3 8th Grader Eric Johnson from Garland, TX, 6'2
8th Grader Matt Jones from DeSoto, TX, 6'4 8th Grader Ron Jones
from Augusta, GA, 6'4 8th Grader Vequan Jones from Wylie, TX, 6'6
8th Grader Will Jones from Augusta, GA, 6'3 8th Grader Dakota
Jongebloed from Powhatan, VA, 6'1 8th Grader Tyler Jordan from
Ballwin, MO, 5'10 8th Grader from Keith Marvie from Sauk Village, IL,
6'5 8th Grader Nick King from Memphis, TN, 5'11 8th Grader Travon
Landry from San Antonio, TX, 6'4 8th Grader Keith Langston from
Chicago, IL, 6'2 8th Grader Lewis Devin from Riverdale, GA, 5'8 8th
Grader Dre'Sean Looney from Memphis, TN, 6'6 8th Grader Marc
Loving from Toledo, OH, 6'0 8th Grader John Marshall from
Phoenix, AZ, 6'6 8th Grader Jordan Martin from Florissant, MO, 6'5
8th Grader Greg McClinton from Winston-Salem, NC, 6'5 8th Grader
Justin McCray from Ridgeland, MS, 6'1 8th Grader Danny McGrath
from Brentwood, TN, 6'2 8th Grader Demetrius McFadden from Columbia,
SC, 6'1 8th Grader L.J. McIntosh from Riverdale, IL, 6'5 8th Grader
Kennedy Meeks from Charlotte, NC, 6'4 8th Grader Mickey Jordan
from Dallas, TX, 6'5 8th Grader Tory Miller from Lees Summit, MO, 6'7
8th Grader Mike Mills from Canton, MO, 5'11 8th Grader Shelton
Mitchell from Waxhaw, NC, 6'3 8th Grader Rashad Muhammad from Las
Vegas, NV, 6'5 8th Grader Jordan Neff from Kennesaw, GA, 6'5 8th
Grader Austin Nichols from Collierville, TN, 6'7 8th Grader
Terrance O'Donohue from Marietta, GA, 6'4 8th Grader Maurice O'Field
from Cleveland, OH, 6'7 8th Grader Goodluck Okonoboh from Boston, MA,
6'1 8th Grader Miles Overton from Glen Mill, PA, 6'6 8th Grader
Johnny Patterson from Chicago, IL, 6'4 8th Grader Tommie Peoples
from Lithonia, GA, 6'4 8th Grader Kendall Pollard from Chicago, IL,
6'8 8th Grader Malik Price-Martin from Miami-FL, 6'3 8th Grader
Rodney Purvis from Raleigh, NC, 6'7 8th Grader Julius Randle from
McKinney, TX, 6'5 8th Grader Vinay Reddy from San Antonio, TX, 6'0
8th Grader David Robertson from Cary, NC, 6'3 8th Grader Shaheed
Robinson from Sumter, SC, 6'4 8th Grader Tyree Robinson from San
Diego, CA, 6'4 8th Grader Tyrell Robinson from San Diego, CA, 6'5 8th
Grader Zach Rogers from Tulsa, OK, 6'0 8th Grader Brett Scott
from Ft. Wayne, IN, 6'0 8th Grader Bryson Scott from Ft. Wayne, IN,
6'5 8th Grade LaDerrick Scott from Forest, MS, 5'11 8th Grader
Jaaron Simmons from Dayton, OH, 6'0 8th Grader Tre' Smith from
Simpsonville, SC, 6'0 8th Grader Jaren Sina from Lake Hopatcong, NJ,
6'4 8th Grader Jordan Swopshire from O'Fallon, MO, 6'0 8th Grader
Jahmal Taylor from Los Angeles, CA, 6'8 8th Grader Xavier Taylor
from Chicago, IL, 6'1 8th Grader Tanner Tepe from Piedmont, OK, 6'2
8th Grader Shirmane Thomas from Dallas, TX, 6'3 8th Grader Torlorf
"Tee" Thomas from Montgomery, AL, 6'6 8th Grader Malik Thompson
from Orlando, FL, 6'4 8th Grader Tarique Thompson from Raeford, NC,
5'9 8th Grader Preston Troutt from Dallas, TX, 5'7 8th Grader
Anthony Virdure from St. Louis, MO, 6'5 8th Grader Ishmael Wainwright
from Overland Park, KS, 5'10 8th Grader Manuale Watkins from
Columbia, MO, 6'6 8th Grader Seab Webster from Gurley, AL, 6'5 8th
Grader Nick Wells from Akron, OH, 6'8 8th Grader Jonathan Williams
from Memphis, TN, 6'2 8th Grader Nigel Williams-Goss from Henderson,
NV, 6'0 8th Grader Xavier Williams from San Diego, CA, 6'1 8th Grader
C.J. Wilson from Conyers, GA, 5'9 8th Grader Jordan Wilson from
Los Angeles, CA, 6'6 8th Grader Kyle Wilson from Dallas, TX, 5'9 8th
Grader Eris Winder from Las Vegas, NV, 6'5 8th Grader Allen
Winford from Jackson, MS, and 6'3 8th Grader Dontonio Wingfield
from Cincinnati, OH. Unfortunately I will not be among the scouts in
attendance at this year's
Freshmen All-American Camp.
Instead, for the
fourth consecutive year I will be covering the
Phenom Top 150 Camp,
which will be held at Alliant University in San Diego, CA on June
25th-28th. And, as always, we expect this camp to have more than its share
of the top rising freshmen (Class of 2013) and sophomores (Class of 2012) in
the nation.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The early returns are
after this morning's session at the NBA Players
Association Top 100 Camp
and our
Ranking of the Top Players, which include the players on
eight of the 10 teams in camp and exclude the players on the Cavs (Brandon
Knight, Rakeem Christmas, Roscoe Smith, LeBryan Nash,
Rodney Odom, Melvin Tabb, Tobi Oyedeji, Jerian Grant,
Lenzelle Smith, and Damontre Harris) and the Hornets (Jared
Sullinger, Joe Jackson, James Bell, Will Regan,
Markel Starks, Jordan McRae, Mychal Parker, Madracus
Wade, Dwight Powell, Russell Byrd, and Jabari Parker)
are as follows: 1) 6'8 Jr Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St.
Patrick) NJ, 2) 6'6 Jr Will Barton from Baltimore (Lake Clifton) MD,
3) 6'4 Jr Kendall Marshall from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 4)
6'9 Jr Tristan Thompson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 5) 6'5 Jr
Andre Dawkins from Chesapeake (Atlantic Shores) VA, 6) 6'1 Jr Ray
McCallum from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, 7) 6'6 Jr Harrison
Barnes from Ames (H.S.) IA, 8) 6'7 Jr Jereme Richmond from
Waukegan (H.S.) IL, 9) 5'8 Jr Phil Pressey from Dallas (Episcopal)
TX, 10) 6'11 Jr Perry Jones from Duncanville (H.S.) TX, 11) 6'4 Jr
Justin Coleman from Richmond (Henrico County) VA, and 12) 6'3 Jr Josh
Selby from Baltimore (Lake Clifton) MD. We also have broken the
players on these eight teams down by position and our list of the
Top Centers in Camp based on
performance this morning includes 1) 6'11 Jr Perry Jones from
Duncanville (H.S.) TX, 2) 6'8 Jr Jordan Latham from Baltimore (City
College) MD, 3) 7'0 Jr Fab Melo fromWeston (Sagemont) FL, 4) 6'11 Jr
Meyers Leonard from Robinson (H.S.) IL, 5) 6'8 Jr Patric Young
from Jacksonville (Paxon School) FL, 6) 6'9 Jr Adreian Payne from
Dayton (Jefferson OH, 7) 6'9 Jr James Johnson from San Diego (Morse)
CA, 8) 6'9 Soph Angelo Chol frrom San Diego (Hoover) CA, 9) 6'11 Jr
Alex Kirk from Los Alamos (H.S.) NM, and 10) 6'11 Moussa-Keita
Baye from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA. Our list of the
Top Power Forwards in Camp
based on
performance this morning includes 1) 6'8 Soph Michael Gilchrist from
Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 2) 6'9 Jr Tristan Thompson from Henderson
(Findlay Prep) NV, 3) 6'8 Jr Josh Hairston from Spotsylvania
(Courtland) VA, 4) 6'8 Jr Nate Lubick from Southborough (St. Mark's)
MA, 5) 6'9 Jr Evan Smotrycz from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6) 6'8 Jr
Devon Collier from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, 7) 6'9 Jr Michael
Cobbins from Amarillo (Palo Duro) TX, 8) 6'8 Jr Okara White from
Clearwater (H.S.) FL, 9) 6'8 Jr Jonathan Graham from Baltimore
(Calvert Hall) MD, and 10) 6'8 Jr Dominique Ferguson from
Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN. Our list of the
Top Wing Forwards in Camp
based on
performance this morning includes 1) 6'6 Jr Harrison Barnes from Ames
(H.S.) IA, 2) 6'7 Jr Jereme Richmond from Waukegan (H.S.) IL, 3) 6'7
Jr Shaquille Thomas from Beckley (Mountain State) WV, 7) 6'6 Jr
Jelan Kendrick from Atlanta (Westlake) GA, 4) 6'8 Soph LaQuinton Ross
from Jackson (Murrah) MS, 5) 6'6 Jr Michael Gbinije from Richmond
(Benedictine) VA, 6) 6'8 Jr Cameron Clark from Sherman (H.S.) TX, 8)
6'7 Jr Travis McKie from Richmond (John Marshall) VA, 9) 6'6 Jr
Desmond Simmons from Richmond (Salesiam) CA, and 10) 6'4 Jr Stacey
Poole from Jacksonville (Jackson) FL. Our list of the
2-Guards
in Camp based on performance this morning includes 1) 6'6 Jr
Will Barton from Baltimore (Lake Clifton) MD, 2) 6'5 Jr Andre
Dawkins from Chesapeake (Atlantic Shores) VA, 3) 6'4 Jr Justin
Coleman from Richmond (Henrico County) VA, 4) 6'3 Jr Josh Selby
from Baltimore (Lake Clifton) MD, 5) 6'6 Jr Reggie Bullock from
Kinston (H.S.) NC, 6) 6'3 Jr Dion Waiters from Burlington (Life
Center) NJ, 7) 6'5 Jr Doran Lamb from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA,
8) 6'6 Jr Anthony Brown from Huntington Beach (Ocean View) CA, 9) 6'3
Jr Crandall Head from Chicago (Crane) IL, and 10) 6'5 Jr Tyler
Lamb from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA. Our list of the Point Guards
in Camp based on performance this morning includes 1) 6'4 Jr
Kendall Marshall from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 2) 6'1 Jr
Ray McCallum from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, 3) 5'8 Jr Phil
Pressey from Dallas (Episcopal) TX, 4) 6'2 Jr Keith Appling from
Detroit (Pershing) MI, 5) 6'3 Jr Noah Cottrill from Beckley (Morgan
State) WV, 6) 6'2 Jr Isaiah Epps from Plainsfield (H.S.) NJ, 7) 6'0
Jr Juwan Staten from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 8) 6'3 Jr Cory
Joseph from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 9) 6'2 Jr Kyrie Irving
from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 10) 6'0 Soph Derrick Wilson from
Lakeville (Hotchkiss) CT, 11) 5'11 Jr Trevor Releford from Shawnee
Mission (Bishop Miege) KS, 12) 6'2 Jr Aaron Craft from Findlay
(Liberty-Benton) OH, 13) 6'2 Jr Ian Miller from Charlotte (United
Faith) NC, and 14) 6'2 Jr Shannon Scott from Norcross (Milton) GA.
It also should be noted that the deepest position in camp is clearly at
point guard and, although 6'4 Jr Kendall Marshall from Arlington
(Bishop O'Connell) VA didn't score a lot of points, he heads this list after
doing a great job of threading the needle with some dazzling assists.
We also were surprised by how much better 7'0 Jr Fab Melo fromWeston
(Sagemont) FL played after turning in a mediocre performance at the Bob
Gibbons Tournament of Champions. Melo impressed us with a couple
of hook shots, a pair of jumpers from the 15'-20' range, and a dunk.
We also thought 6'9 Jr Evan Smotrycz from New Hampton (Prep) NH
answered any questions that we might have about being athletic enough to get
it done against the top players in the nation. Mark him down as
perfect fit for John Beilein's system at Michigan and it wouldn't
surprise us on bit if he ended up being even better than Kevin Pittsnogle
someday. We also thought 6'11 Jr Alex Kirk from Los Alamos
(H.S.) NM more than make up for his lack of athleticism with his great
hustle, feel for the game, always being in the right place time, and high
skill level. The biggest sleeper in camp has to be 6'4 Jr
Justin Coleman from Richmond (Henrico County) VA, who shot the ball
extremely well and ended up being the second leading scorer in camp with 23
points in today's morning session. The biggest disappointment
was 6'2 Jr Kyrie Irving from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, who
didn't make a single outside shot en route to only four points in his first
game. Editor's Note: To get our expert analysis
and rankings of the top players after tonight's, tomorrow's, and Saturday's
sessions of camp now is the perfect time to
subscribe
to the Members Section.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
We've
been telling you for a long time that the next great class in high school
basketball will be the Class of 2011, which features 6'8 Soph Michael
Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'3 Soph Tony Wroten
from Seattle (Garfield) WA, 6'8 Soph LaQuinton Ross from Jackson (Murrah)
MS, 6'3 Soph Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, et al.
However, after working off-and-on for the last month on our
Ranking of the Top 500 Players
Nationally in the Class of 2012,
which was published exclusively in the Members Section earlier
today, we're starting to think the Class of 2012 also has a chance to be one
of the better classes to come down the pike in a long time. First, it has
plenty of star power. And, after leading his team to the championship in
the
15-Under Division at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions
with 35 points on 11-18 field goals and 13-20 free throws in the title game
and finishing ranked #13 overall at the Pangos All-American Camp
after scoring
10 points and hitting 5-6 field goals in the Top 25 Cream of the Crop
All-Star Game, 6'4 Frosh Shabazz Muhammad from Las Vegas (Bishop
Gorman) NV has separated himself from the rest of the pack. We also really
like 6'7 Frosh Perry Ellis from Wichita (Wichita Heights) KS, who was
the best player last summer at the 14-Under AAU Nationals, and 6'0
Frosh J'Michal Reese from Bryan (H.S.) TX, who has been one of the
top players in the class dating all the way back to when he was a rising 5th
Grader at the adidas Junior Phenom Camp. However, Reese hasn't grown
in a long time and he's no longer the favor of the day (at least until he
does something spectacular at the 17-under age level). Ellis is capable of
playing both inside and outside, although he's much better when he uses his
size and athleticism to dominant in the paint, instead of trying to play the
position he will need to play someday in the NBA, if he doesn't grow
anymore. The other two players who round out our top five are 6'5 Frosh
Justin Anderson from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, who has made
enormous strides and has learned how to play the game this past season while
playing for the legendary Stu Vetter, and 6'9 Frosh Dajuan Coleman
from Dewitt (Jamesville-Dewitt) NY, who is a physical specimen and has soft
hands, a nice touch, and surprising mobility for somebody his size. There
also is 6'8 Frosh Zach Peters from Plano (Prestonwood Christian) TX.
But he reclassified when he was an 8th Grade, which gives Peters an
advantage in terms of maturity and makes us wonder what the ceiling is on
his upside and potential. And what about 6'6 Frosh Kyle Anderson
from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, who has excellent ball handling and passing
skills and great court savvy for somebody his size and age? Our Texas
Editor Tim Miller tells us that 6'11 Frosh Isaiah Austin from
Mansfield (Arlington Grace Prep) TX is not yet a finished product, but
predicts that Austin will end up being the best player in the class. Our
Alabama Editor Mark Komara acknowledges that 6'4 Frosh Reggie
Ragland from Huntsville (Bob Jones) AL is a tweener in size and, as a
result, is more of a finished product than a guy with unlimited upside and
potential. However, Komara also points out that Ragland is like a man among
boys and is just flat out better than anybody he goes head-to-head against
when he plays in this age group. There are also people on the West Coast,
including our West Coast Editor Alan Utter, who think 6'6 Frosh
Xavier Johnson from Temecula (Chapparal) CA is as good as anybody in the
class. And, of course, there is Linzy Davis, who is telling anybody
who will listen that he has the "two best players on the planet" on his
15-Under AAU team in 6'7 Frosh Willie Clayton from Thomasville (H.S.)
GA and 6'10 Frosh Joseph Uchebo from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC.
Time will tell who pans out and who is being over hyped. But the potential
is there for a lot of players in this class to achieve greatness. Second,
this class has an overabundance of size with a list of players who are 6'8
or bigger that includes 6'9 Frosh Dajuan Coleman from Dewitt
(Jamesville-Dewitt) NY, 6'8 Frosh Zach Peters from Plano (Prestonwood
Christian) TX, 6'11 Frosh Isaiah Austin from Mayfield (Arlington
Grace Prep) TX, 6'10 Frosh Joseph Uchebo from Durham (Mt. Zion
Christian) NC, 6'10 Frosh Ishamil Douda from Miami (Choice Academy)
FL, 6'8 Frosh Wannah Bail from Houston (The Village) TX, 6'9 Frosh
Nerlens Noel from Everett (H.S.) MA, 6'9 Frosh Stefan Jankovic
from Erie (North American Academy) PA, 6'8 Frosh Nick Baynard from
Arlington (Martin) TX, 6'10 Frosh Aaron Hammonds from Carmel (H.S.)
IN, 6'8 Frosh Jack Flournoy from Mt. Hope (Oak Hill) WA, 6'9 Frosh
Jamaree Strickland from Oakland (McClymonds) CA, 6'9 Frosh Emmanuel
Ochenje from Carbondale (Brehm Prep) IL, 6'11 Frosh Jack Taylor
from Pennington (School) NJ, 6'9 Frosh Daniel Ochufu from Wettstown
(Friends) PA, 6'9 Frosh Hanner Perea from Birmingham (Central Park
Christian) AL, 6'9 Frosh Reginald Jordan from Dallas (Samuel) TX,
6'11 Frosh Robert Upshaw from Fresno (Edison) CA, 6'8 Frosh Tyler
Bergantino from Tampa (Nature Coast) FL, 6'8 Frosh Marcus Hopper
from Flushing (Holy Cross) NY, 6'8 Frosh Shaquille Claire from
Houston (The Village) TX, 6'11 Frosh David Wrighthorn from Egg Harbor
Township (Atlantic Christian) NJ, 6'8 Frosh Jermaine Morgan from
Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, 7'0 Frosh Obij Aget from Birmingham
(Central Park Christian) AL, 6'9 Frosh Jeremy King from Houston (St.
Thomas) TX, 6'8 Frosh Kyle Meyers from Alpharetta (Northview) GA,
6'10 Frosh Mohmaed Rage from Brampton (Sandalwood) ON, and 7'0 Frosh
Peter Jurkin from Charlotte (United Faith Christian) NC. In other
words, there are 28 players in this class that are 6'8 or bigger who are
ranked among the top 150 nationally. And a lot of them haven't stopped
growing yet, as they all have at least three more years of high school
remaining. Third, the class also has plenty of depth, as there are a lot
good players in the 100-200 range. We also think it's important to point
out that our Texas Editor Tim Miller thinks this is potentially the
best class ever in the Lone Star State. And our ranking illustrate his
point, as three of top 10, nine of the top 40, and 15 of the top 100-ranked
players on our list are from Texas. To find out where all of these
players are ranked this no time like the present to
subscribe
to the Members Section.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The
rosters were released yesterday for this year's
NBA Players Association Top 100
Camp,
which will be held at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA on
June 18th-20th, and it looks like Dave Telep of Scout.com, who
is now in charge of inviting the players and putting together the match-ups
for this year's camp, deserves an A+ plus for his efforts. Not only does
this promise to be the best event of the entire year, but it also might just
be the best camp that we've attended since the
NBA Players Association Top 100
Camp in
2003, which featured
6'11 Dwight Howard from
Atlanta (Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA, 6'6 Shaun Livingston
from Peoria (Central) IL, 6'8 Glen Davis from Baton Rouge
(University Lab) LA, 6'6 J.R. Smith from Newark (St.
Benedict's) NJ, 6'4 Monta Ellis from Jackson (Lanier) MS,
7'1 Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Highland) CA, 6'11
LaMarcus Aldridge from Dallas (Seogoville) TX, 6'7
Corey Brewer from Portland (H.S.) TN, 6'8 Alfred Horford
from Grand Ledge (H.S.) MI, 7'0 Randolph Morris from
Fairburn (Landmark Christian) GA, 6'9 D.J. White from
Tuscaloosa (Hillcrest) AL, 6'4 Arron Afflalo from Compton
(Centennial) CA, 6'2 Rajon Rondo from Mouth of Wilson (Oak
Hill) VA, 5'11 Kyle Lowry from Philadelphia (Cardinal
Dougerty) PA, 6'2 Jordan Farmar from Woodland Hills (Taft)
CA, 6'2 Toney Douglas from Jonesboro (H.S.) GA, 6'3
Ronald Steele from Birmingham (Carroll) AL, 6'6 Malik
Hairston from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, 6'3 Joe Crawford
from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, 6'3 Daniel Gibson from
Houston (Jones) TX,
6'6 Tasmin Mitchell from
Denham Springs (H.S.) LA, 6'1 Drew Neitzel from Wyoming
Park (H.S.) MI, 6'8 Marquise Gray from Flint (Beecher) MI,
6'11 Greg Steimsma from Randolph (H.S.) WI, 6'3
JamesOn Curry from Mebane (Eastern Alamance) NC, and 6'9
Joseph Jones from Normangee (H.S.) TX. As a matter of fact, the
only player ranked among our top 25 juniors nationally who is missing from
our list of the 101 players who are expected to be in attendance at this
year's camp is 6'8 Jr Joshua Smith from Kentwood (Kent) WA. And, if
that we're enough to illustrate our point, only two of our top seven-ranked
sophomores - 6'3 Soph Tony Wroten from Seattle (Garfield) WA and 6'3
Soph Trevor Lacey from Huntsville (Butler) AL - are missing from the
list, which is as follows:
6'6 Jr Harrison
Barnes from Ames (H.S.) IA, 6'1 Jr Kyrie Irving from Elizabeth
(St. Patrick) NJ, 6'7 Jr Jared Sullinger from Columbus (Northland)
OH, 6'3 Jr Brandon Knight from Ft. Lauderdale (Pine Crest) FL, 6'7 Jr
DeShaun Thomas from Ft. Wayne (Bishop Luers) IN, 6'8 Jr Tristan
Thompson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'2 Jr Josh Selby from
Baltimore (Lake Clifton) MD, 6'1 Jr Gary Franklin from Santa Ana
(Mater Dei) CA, 6'3 Jr Dion Waiters from Burlington (Life Center) NJ,
6'7 Jr Jereme Richmond from Waukegan (H.S.) IL, 6'1 Jr Ray
McCallum from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, 6'8 Jr Josh
Hairston from Spotsylvania (Courtland) VA, 6'5 Jr James Bell from
Montverde (Academy) FL, 6'6 Jr Will Barton from Baltimore (Lake
Clifton) MD, 6'0 Jr Joe Jackson from Memphis (White Station) TN, 6'0
Jr Ryan Harrow from Marietta (Walton) GA, 6'7 Jr Roscoe Smith
from Baltimore (Walbrook) MD, 6'3 Jr J.T. Terrell from Burlington
(Cummings) NC, 6'5 Jr Jayvaughn Pinkston from Brooklyn (Bishop
Loughlin) NY, 6'6 Jr Reggie Bullock from Kinston (H.S.) NC, 6'8 Jr
C.J. Leslie from Raleigh (Word of God) NC, 6'5 Jr Tyler Lamb from
Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'2 Jr Cory Joseph from Henderson (Findlay
Prep) NV, 6'4 Jr Trey Zeigler from Mt. Pleasant (H.S.) MI, 6'3 Jr
Doron Lamb from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'4 Jr Kendall
Marshall from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'4 Jr Andre Dawkins
from Chesapeake (Atlantic Shores Christian) VA, 6'4 Jr Jordan McRae
from Hinesville (Liberty County) GA, 6'8 Jr Adreian Payne from Dayton
(Jefferson) OH, 6'3 Jr Keith Appling from Detroit (Pershing) MI, 6'4
Jr Crandall Head from Richton Park (Rich South) IL, 6'7 Jr Justin
Martin from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'7 Jr Tobias Harris
from Brookville (Long Island Lutheran) NY, 6'9 Jr Dominique Ferguson
from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'5 Jr Jelan Kendrick from
Atlanta (Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA, 6'5 Jr Daniel Bejarano from
Phoenix (North) AZ, 6'8 Jr Nate Lubick from Southborough (St. Mark's)
MA, 6'8 Jr Will Regan from Buffalo (Nichols) NY, 6'8 Jr Terrance
Jones from Portland (Jefferson) OR, 6'8 Jr Patric Young from
Jacksonville (Paxon) FL, 6'2 Jr Trae Golden from Powder Springs (McEachern)
GA, 6'7 Jr Travis McKie from Richmond (Marshall) VA, 6'1 Jr Markel
Starks from Bethesda (Georgetown Prep) MD, 5'8 Jr Phil Pressey
from Dallas (Episcopal School of Dallas) TX, 6'7 Jr Jarrell Eddie
from Concord (Cannon School) NC, 6'8 Jr Devon Collier from Jersey
City (St. Anthony) NJ, 6'9 Jr Perry Jones from Duncanville (H.S.) TX,
6'11 Jr Evan Anderson from Eau Claire (North) WI, 6'8 Jr Markus
Kennedy from Cherry Hill (Living Faith Christian) NJ, 6'9 Jr James
Johnson from San Diego (Morse) CA, 6'8 Jr Rod Odom from Concord
(Middlesex Prep) MA, 6'9 Jr Carson Desrosiers from Lawrence (Central
Catholic) MA, 6'2 Jr Noah Cottrell from Beckley (Mountain State
University Academy) WV, 6'9 Jr Marquez "Luke" Cothron from Red
Springs (Flora MacDonald) NC, 6'1 Jr Tyler Thornton from Washington (Gonzaga)
DC, 6'7 Jr Melvin Tabb from Raleigh (Enloe) NC, 5'10 Jr Juwan
Staten from Dayton (Thurgood Marshall) OH, 6'5 Jr Jason Morris
from Lakeville (Hotchkiss) CT, 6'2 Jr Isaiah Epps from Plainfield (H.S.)
NJ, 6'8 Jr Okaro White from Clearwater (H.S.) FL, 6'5 Jr Casey
Prather from Jackson (Northside) TN, 6'7 Jr Julian Washburn from
Duncanville (H.S.) TX, 6'6 Jr Anthony Brown from Huntington Beach
(Ocean View) CA, 6'7 Jr Evan Smotrycz from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6'4
Jr Anthony Johnson from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, 6'8 Jr Tobi
Oyedeji from Houston (Bellaire) TX, 6'8 Jr Michael Cobbins from
Amarillo (Palo Duro) TX, 6'5 Jr Mychal Parker from Pantego (Terra
Ceia Christian) NC, 6'4 Jr Stacey Poole from Jacksonville (Andrew
Jackson) FL, 6'10 Jr Meyers Leonard from Robinson (H.S.) IL, 6'5 Jr
Cameron Clark from Sherman (H.S.) TX, 6'5 Jr Russell Byrd from
Ft. Wayne (Blackhawk Christian) IN, 6'4 Jr Lenzell Smith from Zion
(Zion-Benton Township) IL, 6'9 Jr Richard Solomon from Torrance
(Bishop Montgomery) CA, 6'10 Jr Dwight Powell from Bradenton
(Pendleton School) FL, 6'5 Jr Kyle Collingsworth from Provo (H.S.)
UT, 6'11 Jr Fabricio Melo from Weston (Sagemont) FL, 6'2 Jr Aaron
Craft from Findlay (Liberty-Benton) OH, 6'8 Jr Jordan Latham from
Baltimore (City College) MD, 6'5 Jr Tarik Black from Memphis
(Ridgeway) TN, 6'1 Jr Ian Miller from Charlotte (United Faith
Christian Academy) NC, 6'11 Jr Baye Moussa Keita from Mouth of Wilson
(Oak Hill) VA, 6'8 Jr C.J. Fair from Baltimore (City College) MD, 6'7
Jr Shaquille Thomas from Montclair (Academy) NJ, 6'7 Jr Desmond
Simmons from Richard (Salesian) CA, 6'10 Jr Alex Kirk from Los
Alamos (H.S.) NM, 6'8 Jr Jonathan Graham from Towson (Calvert Hall)
MD, 6'4 Jr Justin Coleman from Richmond (Henrico) VA, 6'9 Jr
Damontre Harris from Fayetteville (Trinity Christian) NC, 6'8 Soph
Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'8 Soph LaQuinton
Ross from Jackson (Murrah) MS, 6'3 Soph Austin Rivers from Winter
Park (H.S.) FL, 6'5 Soph Wayne Blackshear from Chicago (Morgan Park)
IL, 6'7 Soph Aaron Ross from Little Rock (Parkview) AR, 6'1 Soph
Myck Kabongo from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'7 Soph LaBryan Nash
from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'10 Soph Rakeem Christmas from
Philadelphia (North Catholic) PA, 6'7 Jr C.J. Barksdale from Danville
(George Washington) VA, 6'8 Soph Angelo Chol from San Diego (Hoover)
CA, 6'6 Soph Michael Gbinije from Midlothian (Christ School) VA, and
6'2 Soph Shannon Scott from Alpharetta (Milton) GA.
To find out what happens at this year's
NBA
Players Association Top 100 Camp,
as well as get the HOOP SCOOP's exclusive ranking of the top players
at the camp, now is the perfect time to
subscribe
to the Members Section.
Sunday,
May 31, 2009
I'm in
the process of putting together my summer schedule and the one important
change from recent years involves the
LeBron James Skills Academy,
which will be held once again in Akron, OH on July 5th-7th, but will be
closed to NCAA Division I college coaches. However, the camp will be open
to the media and it appears it will be business as usual with regards to
games in both the afternoon and evening all three days and, as a result, our
daily updated rankings of the top players in camp for which the HOOP
SCOOP is famous should be even more important that ever. We will
publish these rankings exclusively in the Members Section and,
by the time all of the players in camp have moved to the Wolstein Center at
Cleveland State University in Cleveland, OH for the
King City Classic,
which will be open to NCAA Division I college coaches on July 8th-9th, you
should have a pretty good idea of how things stack up in terms of who is
playing well and who is not. Our plan is to also attend the
King City Classic
on July
8th and then go to the
Reebok All-American Camp
in Philadelphia, PA on
July 9th-10th. Speaking of the
Reebok All-American Camp,
it looks like Gary DeCesare, who also recently took over as the head
basketball coach at Chicago (St. Rita) IL, is back in the grassroots
basketball business in a big way. If you will recall, prior to moving onto
the college level as an assistant at the University of Richmond and DePaul
University, DeCesare helped Sonny Vaccaro run the of the
adidas ABCD Camp
in Teaneck, NJ and ran
the successful New York Ravens club team program. And now he is the guy in
charge of running the
Reebok All-American Camp.
Upon the conclusion of the
Reebok All-American Camp,
our plan is to cover the
Big Shots Atlantic Slam II in Myrtle Beach, SC
on July 11th-12th and the NIKE Peach Jam
in North Augusta, SC on July 13th-15th. Then, I will go home for a couple
of days before traveling to Las Vegas, NV, where the GBOA
(Grassroots Basketball of America)Challenge of Champions
will be held on July 20th-22nd. And in conjunction with this 32-team
"national championship" type event, which will include top teams from NIKE,
adidas and Reebok, will be the inaugural GBOA Hall of Fame
Banquet that will honor grassroots players who
distinguished themselves at all levels of their careers. The list of
players to be honored, as selected by people like Bob Gibbons, Tom
Konchalski, Clark Francis, GBOA Board Members, and others,
includes the following players from the Class of 1994, 1995, and 1996:
Felipe Lopez, Antonie Walker, Stephon Marbury, Kobe
Bryant, Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Ron Mercer,
Kevin Garnett, Shareff Abdur-Rahim, Rafer Alston,
Raef Lefrentz, Mike Bibby, Paul Pierce, Vince Carter,
and Tim Thomas. For more information or to make a tax-deductible
donation to the GOBA
contact Gary Charles via email at
gary.charles24@yahoo.com,
via mail at 1218 Village Avenue, Baldwin,
NY 11510, or phone at 1-(917) 319-5195.
We also plan to once again cover the three big tournaments - the
Reebok Summer Championships, adidas 64 Tournament,
and Main Event
- in Las Vegas, NV on July 22nd-26th. Then, I will
spend two days at the Phoenix Desert Duel
in Phoenix, AZ on July 27th-28th and more than a week
at the AAU 17-Under Nationals and
AAU 14-Under Nationals
at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista,
FL. And finally I will turn my attention onto getting a head start on the
future with stops at the Junior Phenom Camp
in San Diego, CA on August 7th-9th and the
Elite Players Camp that will be
held at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton, VA on August 13th-16th.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The
next big event on our agenda is the
Pangos All-American Camp,
which will be held this weekend at Cabrillo High School in Long Beach, CA.
And heading what promises to be an all-star cast is 6'5 Jr Harrison
Barnes from Ames (H.S.) IA, who based on his performances earlier this
spring at the Boo Williams Invitational Tournament in Hampton, VA and
the Real Deal in the Rock in Fayetteville, AR already has a lot of
people touting him as the #1-ranked player in the Class of 2010. Our West
Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis, who also is the director of the camp,
tells us that the list of players that he expects to be in attendance at his
camp also includes 6'0 Jr Joe Jackson from Memphis (White Station)
TN, 6'2 Jr Gary Franklin from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'0 Jr
Ryan Harrow from Marietta (Walton) GA, 6'4 Jr T.J. Terrell from
Burlington (Cummings) NC, 6'3 Jr Doron Lamb from Mouth of Wilson (Oak
Hill) VA, 6'4 Jr Andre Dawkins from Chesapeake (Atlantic Shore
Christian) VA, 6'7 Jr Travis McKie from Richmond (Marshall) VA, 6'9
Jr Marquez "Luke" Cothron from Red Springs (Flora McDonald) NC, 6'8
Jr Terrance Jones from Portland (Jefferson) OR, 6'7 Jr Melvin Tabb
from Raleigh (Enloe) NC, 6'2 Jr Kendall Williams from Rancho
Cucamongo (Los Osos) CA, 6'5 Jr Mychal Parker from Pantego (Terra
Ceia Christian) NC, 6'3 Jr Pe'Shon Howard from Mouth of Wilson (Oak
Hill) VA, 6'6 Jr Shane Southwell from New York (Rice) NY, 6'3 Jr
Bacari Turner from Plano (West) TX, 6'2 Jr Tony Chennault from
Philadelphia (Neumann-Goretti) PA, 6'1 Jr Kyle Fuller from Moreno
Valley (Rancho Verde) CA, 6'4 Jr Allen Crabbe from Los Angeles
(Price) CA, 5'11 Jr Aaron Bright from Bellevue (H.S.) WA, 6'7 Jr
James Johnson from North Hollywood (Campbell Hall) CA, 6'5 Soph
Samuel "P.J." Hairston from Greensboro (Dudley) NC, 6'7 Soph C.J.
Barksdale from Danville (George Washington) VA, 6'7 Soph Ramon Eaton
from Sacramento (Sheldon) CA, 6'9 Soph Kevin Johnson from Gardena
(Serra) CA, 5'11 Soph Cezar Guerrero from City of Industry (Workman)
CA, 6'5 Soph Adonis Thomas from Memphis (Melrose) TN, 5'8 Soph
Stevie Taylor from Gahanna (Lincoln) OH, 6'8 Soph Nick Jacobs
from Atlanta (South Atlanta) GA, 6'5 Soph Darius Nelson from
Sacramento (Sheldon) CA, 5'10 Soph Jahii Carson from Phoenix
(Mountain Pointe) AZ,
6’4 Frosh Shabazz Muhammed from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman)
NV, 6’7 Frosh Winston Sheppard from Sugar Land (Hightower) TX, 6'4
Frosh Jordan Adams from Lawrenceville (Central Gwinnett) GA, and
5'10 8th
Grader Eric Cooper from Ontario, CA. The camp will begin tomorrow
with check-in, dinner, registration and distribution of gear from 2:00
PM-7:00 PM, followed by opening remarks and instruction by Dinos Trigonis
at 7:00 PM-7:15 PM, individual instruction by former New Orleans Hornets
Assistant Coach for Player Development Dave Miller from 7:15-8:30 PM,
and the first round of games from 8:30 PM-10:30 PM. Then, things will
resume on Saturday, May 30th, with breakfast, free time at the hotel, and
lunch from 8:00 AM-1:00 PM, instruction by NBA skills coach Joe Abunassar
from 1:00 PM-3:00 PM, the second round of games from 3:00 PM-5:00 PM,
dinner from 5:00 PM-6:00 PM, Recruiting Roundtable (Questions & Answers with
national scouts like Van Coleman of the Hoop Masters, Brick
Oettinger of Prep Stars, Dave Telep of scout.com,
and Clark Francis of the HOOP SCOOP) from 6:00-6:30 PM, the
third round of games at 6:30 PM-8:30 PM, and a camp party for the players at
the Westin in Long Beach, CA and a media reception at Legends Sports Bar in
Belmont Shore from 9:00 PM-Midnight. The schedule on Sunday, May 31st, will
being with breakfast from 7:30 AM-8:30 AM, the fourth round of games from
9:00 AM-10:40 AM, guest speaker EPSN's Steve Lavin from 10:40
AM-11:00 AM, announcement of All-Star Teams/Final Remarks from 11:00
AM-11:30 PM, "Cream of the Crop" Top 40 Game from 11:30-12:30 PM, "Cream of
the Crop" Top 20 Game from 12:30-1:30 PM, and departure of out-of state
campers to the airport at 1:30 PM-2:00 PM.
To find out what happens at this year's
Pangos
All-American Camp,
as well as get the HOOP SCOOP's exclusive ranking of the top players
in the tournament, now is the perfect time to
subscribe
to the Members Section.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
One of our favorite events of the entire year is the Bob
Gibbons Tournament of Champions, which will be
held this weekend in Chapel Hill, NC. And it promises to be just as good as
usual, as the list of top players that we expect to be in attendance
includes 6'1 Jr Kyrie Irving from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'8 Jr
Tristan Thompson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'3 Jr Dion
Waiters from South Kent (Prep) CT, 6'8 Jr Josh Hairston from
Spotsylvania (Central) VA, 6'6'1 Jr Ray McCollum from Birmingham
(Detroit County Day) MI, 6'6 Jr Reggie Bullock from Kinston (H.S.)
NC, 6'6 Jr Jayvaughn Pinkston from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY, 6'3
Jr Cory Joseph from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'6 Jr J.J. Moore
from Brentwood (H.S.) NY, 6'8 Jr Nate Lubick from Southborough (St.
Mark's) MA, 6'8 Jr Dominique Ferguson from Indianapolis (Lawrence
North) IN, 6'8 Jr Patric Young from Jacksonville (Paxson) FL, 6'1 Jr
Tyler Thornton from Washington (Gonzaga) DC, 6'8 Jr Markus Kennedy
from Cherry Hill (Living Faith Christian Academy) NJ, 6'4 Jr Trey
Zeigler from Mt. Pleasant (H.S.) MI, 6'11 Jr Evan Anderson from
Eau Claire (North) WI, 6'9 Jr Perry Jones from Duncanville (H.S.) TX,
5'8 Jr Daryl Traynham from from Charlotte (Vance) NC, 6'2 Jr Noel
Cottrell from Beckley (Mountain State University Academy) WV, 6'6 Jr
Terrence Ross from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, 6'2 Jr Isaiah
Epps from Plainfield (H.S.) NJ, 6'6 Jr Anthony Brown from
Huntington Beach (Ocean View) CA, 6'11 Jr Fabricio Melo from Weston (Sagemont)
FL, 6'8 Jr Alasdair John Hobekirk Fraser from Scotland, 6'7 Jr
Julian Washburn from Duncanville (H.S.) TX, 6'0 Jr K.C. Ross-Miller
from Irving (God's Academy) TX, 6'10 Jr Dwight Powell from
Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL, 6'9 Jr J.P. Kambola from Newark (St.
Benedict's) NJ, 6'2 Jr Tony Chennault from Philadelphia (Neumann-Goretti)
PA, 6'3 Jr Cameron Ayers from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA,
6'5 Jr Mychal Parker from Pantego (Terra Ceia Christian) NC, 5'9 Jr
Andre Stringer from Jackson (Forest Hills) MS, 6'1 Jr Eric Atkins
from Baltimore (Mt. St. Joseph's) MD, 5'11 Jr Dondrecous Nelson from
Jackson (Murrah) MS, 6'5 Jr Faquan Edwin from Paterson (Catholic) NJ,
6'0 Jr Harold McBride from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 5'11 Jr Devon
McMillan from Uniondale (H.S.) NY, 6'3 Jr Pe'Shon Howard from
Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'4 Jr Lenzelle Smith from Zion
(Zion-Benton Township) IL, 6'4 Jr Avery Johnson from Huntington Beach
(Ocean View) CA, 6'7 Jr Jordan Manuel from Indianapolis (Howe) IN,
6'4 Jr Rashard Parker from Starkville (H.S.) MS, 6'2 Jr Nick
Kellogg from Columbus (DeSales) OH, 6'8 Jr Jalen Courtney from
Jackson (Provine) MS, 6'5 Jr Casey Prather from Jackson (Northside)
TN, 6'9 Jr Griffin McKenzie from Cincinnati (Moeller) OH, 6'4 Jr
Stacy Poole from Jacksonville (Andrew Jackson) FL, 6'5 Jr Aaron Bowen
from Jacksonville (Wolfson) FL, 6'8 Jr Ryan Rhoomes from Bayside (Cardozo)
NY, 6'6 Jr Alex Dragicevich from Northbrook (Glenbrook North) IL, 6'8
Jr Dakota Euton from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, 6'8 Soph
Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patick) NJ, 6'8 Soph LaQuinton
Ross from Jackson (Murrah) MS, 6'1 Soph Sterling Gibbs from West
Orange (Seton Hall Prep) NJ, 6'5 Soph Rodney Hood from Meridian (H.S.)
MS, 6'0 Soph DeVille Smith from Jackson (Callaway) MS, 6'4 Soph
Kevin Ware from Conyers (Rockdale) GA, 6'5 Soph Adonis Thomas
from Memphis (Melrose) TN, 6'8 Soph Johnny O'Bryant from Cleveland
(Eastside) MS, 6'9 Soph Tyler Adams from Brandon (H.S.) MS, 6'6 Soph
Michael Ammons from Vicksburg (H.S.) MS, 6'4 Soph Trevor Cooney
from Hockessin (Sanford) DE, 6'0 Soph Naadir Tharpe from
Wolfeboro (Brewster Academy) NH, 6'7 Soph Percy Gibson from Detroit
(Southeastern) MI and 6'4 Soph Brandon Kearney from Detroit
(Southeastern) MI. Things will tip off in the 17-Under Division tomorrow
night at 6:30 PM at the Dean E. Smith Center and feature three sets of games
that will run through 11:00 PM. Then, on Saturday, May 23rd, the games in
pool play in the Dean E. Smith Center are staggered perfectly so that we
will get a chance to see two sets of 15-Under games at 8:30 AM and 4:45 PM,
two sets of 16-Under games at 9:45 PM and 2:15 PM, and four sets of 17-Under
games at 11:00 AM, 12:15 PM, 3:30 PM, and 6:00 PM. The first round of the
playoffs in both the 15-Under Division and the 16-Under Division will be at
8:00 PM and the first round of the playoffs in the 17-Under Division will be
held at 10:00 PM on Saturday night. And things should really get
interesting on Sunday morning when the Quarterfinals in the 17-Under
Division tip-off at 9:00 AM, followed by the semi-finals in the 15-Under
Division and the 16-Under Division at 10:30 AM, the semi-finals in the
17-Under Division at Noon, the Championship Game in the 15-Under Division at
2:30 PM, and the Championship Game in the 16-Under Division and the 17-Under
Division at 4:00 PM. The breakdown of pools in the 17-Under Division is as
follows: Pool A has the Chris Paul 3 All-Stars, Team Philly,
Illinois Wolves, and Colorado Chaos; Pool B has Team Final, Ohio
Basketball, Hoop Planet (GA), and Michigan Hurricanes; Pool C has
Grassroots Canada, Squires Richmond, Carolina Raptors, and Team Truth (GA);
Pool D has DC Assault, Southern Cal All-Stars, North Carolina Gators,
and Dallas Seawolves; Pool E has the New England Playaz, Hollis Price
Elite, Eric Gordon Central, and BBall Stars of America; Pool F has
the Playaz Basketball Club, Florida Elite, Westchester Hawks, and Team UBA
(NC); Pool G has NIKE Team Florida, Petersburg Elite, World Wide
Renegades, and Los Angeles Rage; Pool H has Team Detroit, Jackson MBA
Elite, Carolina Cobras, and Mike Miller M33M (TN); Pool I has New
Heights (NY), Dallas Heroes, Team Breakdown, and Rising Stars JG (IL);
Pool J has Team United NC, Wisconsin Playground Warriors, New Jersey
Roadrunners, and Net Gain Sports (MN); Pool K has Memphis Magic
Elite, Jackson Tigers, Georgia Hawks, and Team Takeover Canada; Pool L
has Jacksonville Lee Bulls, Houston Select, Carolina Flight, and New York
Panthers; Pool M has Atlantic Celtics, Memphis Stallions, Mid State
Magic (NC), and Baltimore Stars; Pool N has Brandon Bass Elite (TX),
Michigan Mustangs, Florida Rams, and Garner Road; Pool O has Team
Odom Team (CA), Team T.M.P. (SC), Juice All-Stars, Carolina Crusaders; and
Pool P has Nashville Celtics, North Carolina Force, SYF Players (IN),
and Houston Clippers. For more information and the complete schedule for
this year's Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions,
click onto
Bob
Gibbons.net.
To find out what happens at this year's
Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions,
as well as get the HOOP SCOOP's exclusive ranking of the top players
in the tournament, now is the perfect time to
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to the Members Section.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The
race among the top players for the #1-ranking still be appears to be up for
grabs, as 6'7 Jr Jared Sullinger from Columbus (Northland) OH, 6'1
Kyrie Irving from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'5 Jr Harrison Barnes
from Ames (H.S.) IA, 6'7 Jr DeShaun Thomas from Ft. Wayne (Bishop
Luers) IN, 6'8 Jr Tristan Thompson from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV,
6'2 Jr Brandon Knight from Ft. Lauderdale (Pine Crest) FL, and 6'11
Jr Jeremy Tyler from San Diego (H.S.) CA are all still in the hunt
for top spot in the Class of 2010. If we had to decide right now, we would
give the nod to Irving, who was absolutely sensational when we saw him at
the Hoop Group Pittsburgh Jam Fest and the Hoop Group Providence
Jam Fest last month. We also think a case can be made for Sullinger,
who totally dominated 6'8 Jr Joshua Smith from Kent (Kentwood) WA and
led his team to the win against the Boo Williams Summer League Team in the
semi-finals and the Illinois Warriors in the championship game a
week-and-a-half ago at the Bill Hensley Memorial Run 'N' Slam All-Star
Classic in Ft. Wayne, IN. We have not seen Barnes play yet this spring,
but the word we get is that he was absolutely sensational at both the Boo
Williams Invitational Tournament and the Real Deal in the Rock
last month. Thomas gets mentioned based on the way he played when we saw
him play last winter. But we did not get enough of a look at Thomas at the
Bill Hensley Memorial Run 'N' Slam All-Star Classic. And in the one
game that we did see him play in, Thomas took a lot of shots to finish with
31 points in what was a losing effort. We're also not sure what to think
about Thompson, who wasn't tough enough to stick it out while playing for
Danny Hurley at Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ. As for Knight, he has a
tendency to be too quick for his own good and we question whether he has the
mentality to be a pure point guard and whether he has the size necessary to
be a 2-guard at the highest level. We also continue to track a steady flow
of signings and commitments, which include 6'7 Jr Desmond Simmons
from Richmond (Salesian) CA making an early verbal commitment two days ago
to the University of Washington. Simmons is ranked #183 nationally in the
junior class, but appears to be exactly what the doctored ordered for
Huskies head coach Lorenzo Romar, who will have to replace 6'6 Jr
Quincy Pondexter at the wing forward spot after next season. "Simmons
is like a jack-of-all-trades," says our West Coast Editor Dinos Trigonis.
"He's more of a slasher than a shooter. But he plays hard, gets to the
basket, rebounds, and is an excellent defender. He's not as good as
Pondexter, but Simmons' game is similar to that of Pondexter." Simmons also
promises to be an excellent complement to 6'3 Abdul Gaddy from Tacoma
(Bellarmine) WA, 6'7 Clarence Trent from Lenoir (Patterson School)
NC, 6'9 Charlie Garcia from Riverside (JC) CA, and 6'6 C.J. Wilcox
from Pleasant Grove (H.S.) UT, all of whom are already signed, sealed,
and delivered in a recruiting class that is currently ranked #15 on our list
of the Top
Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2009.
And the best still may be yet to come, if
Romar and his staff are successful at keeping 6'8 Jr Joshua Smith
from Kent (Kentwood) WA, who is ranked #8 nationally in the junior class by
the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'4 Soph Tony Wroten from Seattle
(Franklin) WA, who is ranked #2 nationally in the sophomore class by the
HOOP SCOOP, both at home. It also looks like Quinnipiac got the outside
shooter that they were looking for in 6'4 Ryan Bogdan from
Summerville (Pinewood Prep) SC. If you will recall, the Bobcats already
have 6'7 Jamee Jackson from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ and 5'9
David Johnson from Southborough (St. Mark's) MA both in the fold and,
now that they have filled this need, Bobcats head coach Tom Moore and
his staff can turn their attention towards signing the best two players who
are still available with the two scholarships that they still have available
in this year's recruiting class. HOOP SCOOP Associate Editor
Patrick Stanwood tells us that 6'9 DeShawn Painter from Chatham (Hargrave
Military) VA, who is ranked #74 nationally in the senior class by the
HOOP SCOOP, has picked N.C. State over Maryland and 6'9 Jr Daniel
Alexander from Dripping Springs (H.S.) TX, who has ranked #137
nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, has made an early
verbal commitment to Texas A&M. Alexander is a four-man who can step out
and shoot the lights out. But he needs to get bigger and stronger
physically in order play inside and live up to the lofty expectations that
some of our competitors have created with their ranking of this young man.
The addition of Painter moves the Wolfpack's recruiting class, which also
includes 6'7 Richard Howell from Marietta (Wheeler) GA, 6'4
Lorenzo Brown from Roswell (Centennial) GA, 6'5 Scott Wood from
Marion (H.S.) IN, and 6'5 Josh Davis from Raleigh (Athens Drive) NC,
into a tie at #18, along with Miami-FL and Baylor, on our list of the Top
Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2009.
And, if the
Wolfpack really hit the jackpot and they also land 6'3 John Wall from
Raleigh (Word of God) NC, who is our #1-ranked 5th Year Player, then their
recruiting class will move up to #4 on our list of the Top
Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2009.
We also have six more junior college
signings to report, as 5'11 DeAndre Brown from Navarro (JC) TX has
picked Louisiana Tech, 6'5 Kevin Menner from Saddleback (JC) CA has
picked Cal State-Northridge, 6'2 Rashawn Polk from Guilford Technical
(JC) NC has picked Towson, 6'3 Adam Brown from Collin County (JC) TX
has picked the University of Houston, 6'7 Jeron Belin from Monroe (JC)
NY has picked St. Peter's, and 6'8 Phillip Thomas from Eastern Utah (JC)
UT has picked Portland State. Those first three are especially noteworthy,
because Brown averaged 17.4 ppg and 3.4 apg this past season and is ideally
suited to step in and run the show and complement 6'7 D.J Wright from
Salt Lake (JC) UT, 6'9 Kadeem Coleby from Humbler (Christian Life)
TX, and 6'5 Darius Reading from Tallahassee (Godby) FL in a
recruiting class that is now ranked #47 on our list of the Top
Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2009.
Menner, who is
a tough New York City kid and played high school basketball at Brooklyn
(Lincoln) NY, doesn't have a true position. But he put up ridiculous
numbers the last two years in the junior college ranks, as he scored 1,462
points and grabbed 451 rebounds while playing at Ventura (JC) CA and
Saddleback (JC) CA. Polk is more of a slasher than a shooter, but he
averaged 24.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg, and 3.7 apg this past season and is versatile
enough to play multiple positions. We also have confirmed that 6'5 Soph
Mike Moore, who averaged 12.8 ppg and 4.5 rpg this past season, is
transferring from Fordham to Hofstra. He will sit out next season and then
join 6'1
Brad Kelleher from Midland (JC) TX, 5'8, Chaz Williams
from Brooklyn (Bishop Ford) NY, 6'6 David Imes from
Winchendon (School) MA, 6'2 Yves Jules from Winchendon (School) MA,
6'7 Paul Bilbo from Oyster Bay (St. Dominic) NY, and 6'8 Halil
Kanacevic from Staten Island (Curtis) NY, all of whom are apart of a
recruiting class that is currently ranked
#42 on our list of the Top
Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2009.
Friday,
May 8, 2009
With only two of our
top 100-ranked seniors - 6'5 Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn (Lincoln)
NY and 6'9 DeShawn Painter from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA -
still available, most of the signings and commitments are coming from
players in the junior college ranks. The lone exception during the
last several days being 6'4 Tony Daniels from Roanoke (William Fleming)
VA and 6'0 Dee Goens from Atlanta (Marist) GA. The latter is
ideally suited to run the show and control the game from the point guard
position and the former averaged 17.2 ppg and shot 42.0 % from beyond the
3-point line this past season and has the versatility necessary to play
multiple positions. He picked Virginia Commonwealth and becomes the second in-state
player to have signed on the dotted line to play for the new regime this spring. The
other was 6'3 Darius Theus from Portsmouth (Norcom) VA and new VCU
head coach Shaka Smart and his staff still have one more scholarship
available in this year's recruiting class, which in all likelihood will go
to a pure point guard. It also looks like Illinois State had stolen
one in 6'7 Tony Lewis from Ellsworth (JC) IA. We're talking
about somebody who averaged 22.8 ppg and 11.5 rpg and is ranked #105 in the
junior college ranks by
JucoJunction.com.
However, what makes this such a good catch is the fact that Lewis is so
active on the boards and so good at scoring around the basket. Lewis
also promises to be a great complement to 6'9 Jackie Carmichael from South Kent
(Prep) CT, 6'4 Justin Clark from Independence (William Chrisman) MO,
6'7 Jon Ekey from Independence (William Chrisman) MO, 6'0 Terrence
Johnson from Chicago (North Lawndale) IL, 6'5 Zeke Upshaw from
Chicago (University) IL, and 6'1 Austin Hill from Southeastern
Illinois (JC) IL in a recruiting class that is now tied at #41, along with
Middle Tennessee State and Cal State-Fullerton, on our list of the Top
Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2009. We also have
confirmed that the University of Hawaii has landed the big man that they
were looking for this spring with the signing of 7'0 Douglas Kurtz from
Marshalltown (JC) IA, who is ranked #76 in the junior college ranks by
JucoJunction.com.
Kurtz only averaged 9.6 ppg and 5.8 rpg this past season, but he hit 67%
from the field and 85% from the free throw line and, like they say, you can't
teach somebody to be 7-feet and 250-pounds. The signing of
another big man in the junior college ranks that slipped under our radar
involves 6'11 Jon Kreft from Chipola (JC) FL, who is ranked #12 in
the junior college ranks by
JucoJunction.com
and was the starting center a team that finished ranked third in the
NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Tournament and was
ranked #1 in the nation for nine straight seasons during the regular season.
Kreft originally signed with Florida State in 2005 when he was a senior in
high school at Parkland (Marjory Stoneman
Douglas) FL. But his scholarship was rescinded due to the fact
that he was arrested on drug charges in May of 2006. Kreft also
verbally committed to UAB last fall, but later re-opened his recruitment,
which allowed Kreft to come full circle and once again cast his lot with the
Seminoles. He will join 6'4 Michael Snaer from Moreno Valley
(Rancho Verde) CA, who is ranked #16 nationally in the senior class by the
HOOP SCOOP, and 6'7 Terrance Shannon from Forsyth (Mary Person) GA,
who is ranked #66 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP,
in a recruiting class that is ranked #24 on our list of the Top
Recruiting Classes To-Date for the Class of 2009.
However, even more
important, the Seminoles will have even more depth than they did a year ago,
as next year's team promises to be the best team that Leonard Hamilton
has had during his 21 years as a Division I head coach. Florida
State will lose two of its top three scores in 6'2 Sr Toney Douglas
and 6'9 Sr Uche Echefu, but 7'1 Soph Solomon Alabi, 6'4 Soph
Derwin Kitchen, and 6'9 Frosh Chris Singleton were three of
the top newcomers in the league and Snaer and Kreft are expected to step in
and make the same type of immediate impact next season that the three
aforementioned player made this past year. Our Texas Editor Tim
Miller thinks 6'4 Duwan Kornegay from Ranger (JC) TX is a major
steal for Prairie View A&M. "He's a big time athlete who knows how to
defend and is a streaky outside shooter," says Miller. "And he's got
the talent necessary to walk in and be one of the best players in the league
next year." It also appears that Ole Miss head coach Andy
Kennedy got the shot blocking big man he was looking for when the Rebels
signed 6'8 DeAngelo Riley from Southwest Tennessee (JC) TN.
This is a guy who averaged 12.1 ppg, 8.0 rpg, and 2.9 bpg, which ranked him
15th in the junior college ranks this past season. And what
about 6'6 Gilbert Clavell from Collin County (JC) TX, who was the MVP
with 19 points and eight rebounds in the NJCAA (National Junior College
Athletic Association) All-Star Game a week ago in Odessa, TX, picking Sam
Houston State? We also have confirmed 6'5 Richard Thomas from
Garden City (JC) KS to North Texas, 6'5 Michael Tyler from Pratt (JC)
KS to Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 6'6 Dernado Eiland from Pratt (JC)
KS to Texas Christian, 6'1 Devon Baker from Howard (JC) TX to
Northwestern State, 6'5 Freddy Obame from Monroe (JC) NY to
Maryland-Eastern Shore, and 6'3 Devon McBride from Hutchinson (JC) KS
to South Carolina State.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
It should be one of the best events that we attend all spring and summer.
We're talking about the Bill
Hensley Memorial Run 'N' Slam All-Star Classic,
which will tip-off tomorrow night at the Spiece
Fieldhouse and numerous other sites in Ft. Wayne, IN. And the 17-Under
Division appears to be absolutely loaded as the list of top players expected
to be in attendance includes 6'7 Jr DeShaun Thomas from Ft. Wayne
(Bishop Luers) IN, 6'7 Jr Jared Sullinger from Columbus (Northland)
OH, 6'8 Jr Joshua Smith from Kent (Kentwood) WA, 6'1 Jr Ray
McCollum from Birmingham (Detroit County Day) MI, 6'6 Jr Jereme
Richmond from Waukegan (H.S.) IL, 6'4 Jr Crandall Head from
Richton Park (Rich South) IL, 6'8 Jr Adreian Payne from Dayton
(Jefferson) OH, 6'4 Jr Kendall Marshall from Arlington (Bishop
O'Connell) VA, 6'3 Keith Appling from Detroit (Pershing) MI, 6'7 Jr
Justin Martin from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'9 Jr
Dominique Ferguson from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'4 Jr
Andre Dawkins from Chesapeake (Atlantic Shores Christian) VA, 6'6 Jr
Travis McKie from Richmond (Marshall) VA, 6'11 Jr Evan Anderson
from Eau Claire (North) WI, 6'0 Jr Tony Chennault from Philadelphia
(Neumann-Goretti) PA, 6'4 Jr Anthony Johnson from Chicago (Whitney
Young) IL, 6'10 Jr Leonard Meyers from Robinson (H.S.) IL, 6'3 Jr
Jordan Siebert from Cincinnati (Princeton) OH, 6'5 Jr Russell Byrd
from Ft. Wayne (Blackhawk Christian) IN, 6'9 Jr Alex Guana from Eaton
Rapids (H.S.) MI, 6'4 Jr Lenzelle Smith from Zion (Zion-Benton
Township) IL, 6'8 Jr Donnie Hale from New Albany (H.S.) IN, 6'9 Jr
C.J. Aiken from Plymouth Meeting (Plymouth Whitemarsh) PA, 6'9 Jr
Travis Carroll from Danville (H.S.) IN, 6'11 Jr Ben Mills from
Heartland (Arrowhead) WI, 6'3 Jr Kameron Cerroni from Sussex
(Hamilton) WI, 6'3 Soph Tony Wroten from Seattle (Garfield) WA, 6'5
Soph Wayne Blackshear from Chicago (Morgan Park) IL, 6'1 Soph
Marquis Teague from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, 6'8 Soph Mike Shaw
from Chicago (De La Salle) IL, 6'8 Soph James McAdoo from Norfolk
(Christian) VA, 6'5 Soph DeAndre Henley from Chicago (De La Salle)
IL, 6'2 Soph Matt Carlino from Gilbert (Highland) AZ, 6'5 Soph
LaDontae Hinton form Lansing (Sexton) MI, 6'9 Soph Marshall Plumlee
from Arden (The Christ School) NC, 6'1 Soph Tracy Abrams from Chicago
(Mt. Carmel) IL, 6'9 Soph Amir Williams from Birmingham (Detroit
Country Day) MI, 6'8 Soph Cody Zeller from Washington (H.S.) IN, and
6'5 Frosh Justin Anderson from Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD.
The breakdown of teams in the Seniors-To-Be Division is also extremely
impressive, as Pool #1 has Team Philly, R.E.A.C.H Legends, Team CBIZ,
and Boo Williams Summer League Team; Pool #2 has the Spiece Indy
Heat-Downs, Parallel 45, Iowa Barnstormers, and Milwaukee Spartans; Pool
#3 has the King James Shooting Stars, Grand Rapids Storm-Martin, D1E
Derrick Rose All-Stars, and Terry Porter Elite; Pool #4 has
Cincinnati Royals, A-One Elite, Common Bond-Hicks, and Grand Rapids Storm-Whymer;
Pool #5 has Seattle Rotary, Spiece Indy Heat-Betts, West Michigan
Lakers, and Illinois Old School; Pool #6 has the Ohio
Gators-Billings, Pal Elite, D-Harris, Full Package Athletics; Pool #7
has the Indiana Blazers, Team Velocity Red, Wisconsin Gators Elite, and
Illinois Wolves; Pool #8 has Indiana Elite-Fox, NW Ohio,
Wisconsin-Playground Warriors, Spiece ATX; Pool #9 has Florida Elite,
ACB Hoops, All Ohio Red, and Next Generation; Pool #10 has the Eric
Gordon All-Stars, Michigan Hurricanes, Wisconson Blizzard-Kellett, and
Illinois Warriors; Pool #11 has Indiana Elite One Orange, Mustang
Ballers, Michigan Hurricanes-Grady, and Full Package Athletics-White;
Pool #12 has the Spiece NW Stars, St. Louis Eagles, Martin Brothers, and
Illinois Titans; Pool #13 has The Family, Wisconsin Blizzard Schalow,
Mac-Irvin Fire, and Waterloo Wildhawks; Pool #14 has Fieldhouse Elite
Team Indiana, Spiece Mokan, Friends of Hoop, and Mean Streets; Pool #15
has the Spiece Hoosier Hoops 2010, Camp Darryl 2010, Shining Star
Sports-McFarland, and Randolph Boys Club; and Pool #16 has Indiana
Select 2010, Michigan Mustangs, Peoria Irish, and Wisconsin Force. The
first round of games in the Seniors-To-Be Division will begin at 7:30 PM and
run until Midnight tomorrow night. Every team will also get two more games
in pool play from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturday. The first and second
round of the playoffs in the Gold Division will feature the top two teams
from pool play and will tip-off at 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM on Saturday night.
Then things should really get interesting on Sunday, May 3rd with the
quarterfinals at 9:30 AM, semi-finals at 12:30 PM, and championship at 3:30
PM. I also suspect that I will stick around to see the Gold Division
Championship games in the Juniors-To-Be Divisions and Sophomores To-Be
Divisions, both of which are scheduled to tip-off at 5:00 PM on Sunday, May
3rd. For a list of all of the teams and brackets in each age group and
other information about this year's Bill Hensley Memorial Run
'N' Slam All-Star Classic, click onto
Spiece Run N' Slam &
other Spiece Events.
We also want to mention that fact that this year's tournament will be played
in the memory of the late Bill Hensley, who for years was the driving
force behind this event and always will be remembered as one of the great
people in basketball.
Editor's Note: All of the highlights from this year's Bill
Hensley Memorial Run 'N' Slam All-Star Classic will be available
exclusively in the Members Section early next week. So
obviously now is the perfect time to
subscribe.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The
big story that everybody is talking about right now is the fact that 6'11 Jr
Jeremy Tyler from San Diego (H.S.) CA has decided to forego his final
year of high school and play professionally in Europe for the next two
years. Obviously this is important, because Tyler will become the first
player ever (ready or not) to skip his senior year of high school and play
professionally overseas. If Tyler turns out to be a smashing success, it
could be as dramatic a game changing trend as when Kevin Garnett
became the first player in almost 20 years to declare hardship for the NBA
Draft in 1995. If you will recall, Moses Malone in 1974, Darryl
Dawkins in 1975, and Bill Willoughby in 1976 were the only three
players to ever by-pass college and go straight from high school to the NBA
prior to when Garnett made the move in 1995 and Kobe Bryant followed
suit in 1996. However, if Tyler fails, it could send an important signal to
future players that playing overseas against men can be a tough life,
especially when you are an immature teenager who has yet to show that he can
consistently dominate against the top players at the high school level. I
just loved his quote in the New York Times when he said "Nowadays
people look to college for more off-the-court stuff versus being in the gym
and getting better. If you're really focused on getting better, you go play
pro somewhere. Pro guys will get you way better than playing against
college guys." You also can exposed a lot easier playing against pros and
this is a guy who should be ranked #1 in the junior class nationally, but
checks in at #5, because he's always been an underachiever, doesn't have a
great motor, and has a tendency to be very inconsistent and not live up to
the hype when playing against great players. We agree with Sonny Vaccaro
about Tyler having the potential to be a 10-year all-star, but feel like
Tyler is being set up to fail, because he's going to have a rude awakening
when he starts playing in Spain, which where he's rumored to be heading next
year. And, if you don't believe it, just ask 6'2 Brandon Jennings,
whose quotes in January apply perfectly to the subject at hand. "First
thing, if you're not mentally tough, you have no chance," says Jennings.
"Their passion here is unbelievable. If you get on a good team, you won't
be scoring 35 points. There will be ups and downs. If you're mentally
tough, you will succeed. I knew that with this team we had a chance of
winning the Euroleague and Italy." Not only is Tyler not mentally tough,
but he also is still just a baby when compared to the men that he's going to
playing against and, as a result, we think the chances of his coming back
and being the #1 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft slim and none. As a matter of
fact, we'll be surprise if Tyler even gets off the bench during his first
year. And, it looks like Vaccaro agrees, as he's quoted saying "Tyler could
shuttle between his professional team and it's development squad for
18-year-olds. So, if Tyler who turns 18 in June, struggles early against
professional men, he will be able to play and practice with the younger
team." Tyler also does not yet have the skills, footwork, and post moves
necessary to get it done at the college level, much less professionally. In
other words, this is more about his potential and making money off the kid
as fast as possible. There are probably those who will think that whoever
is advising Tyler should be arrested for child abuse. But it's also hard to
say no when Tyler may be able to command a six-figure salary based on his
size, athleticism, and potential.
Friday,
April 17, 2009
I am
already in Pittsburgh, PA to cover the
Hoop Group's Pittsburgh Jam Fest,
which will tip off later today with games beginning at 6:15 PM at the
Peterson Events Center and numerous other sites in the Pittsburgh area.
Some of the top teams and players in the East will be in attendance and
right at the top of the list is Team Final, which is fresh off a second
place finish in the 17-Under Division at the Boo Williams Invitational
Tournament last weekend and features players like 6'8 Soph Michael
Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'3 Jr Dion Waiters
from Burlington (Life Center) NJ, 6'8 Jr Markus Kennedy from Cherry
Hill (Living Faith Christian) NJ, 6'0 Jr Tyreek Duran Philadelphia
(Neumann-Goretti) PA, and 6'3 Soph Trevor Cooney from Hockessin
(Sanford) DE. Two other teams that we will be eye-balling a lot over the
weekend are the Eric Gordon All-Stars with 6'1 Jr Ray McCollum from
Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, 6'9 Jr Dominique Ferguson from
Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, and 6'1 Evan Gordon from
Indianapolis (North Central) IN, and the Playaz with 6'5 Jr Fuquan Edwin
from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, 6'7 Jr Ron Roberts from Jersey City
(St. Peter's) NJ, 6'3 Jr Cameron Ayers from Ft. Washington
(Germantown Academy) PA, 6'1 Jr Isaiah Epps from Plainfield (H.S.)
NJ, 6'3 Jr Jermaine Peart from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, and 6'6 Jr
Trevor Clemmings from Paterson (Catholic) NJ. The R.E.A.C.H. Legends
will feature 6'3 Jr Keith Appling from Detroit (Pershing) MI; the New
Jersey Roadrunners have 6'1 Jr Kyrie Irving from Elizabeth (St.
Patrick) NJ; the Baltimore Stars have 6'5 Jr Will Barton from
Baltimore (Lake Clifton) MD; the Mass Rivals have 6'8 Jr Evan Smotrycz
from New Hampton (Prep) NH and 6'9 Jr Carson Desrosiers from
Lawrence (Central Catholic) MA; the Cleveland Basketball Club has 6'2 Jr
Noah Cottrell from Beckley (Mountain State University Academy) WV, 6'2
Jr Nick Kellogg from Columbus (DeSales) OH, and 6'7 Jr Dakota
Euton from Georgetown (Scott County) KY; and New Heights will go to war
with 6'5 Jr Jayvaughn Pinkston from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NJ,
6'8 Jr Devon Collier from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, and 6'8 Jr
Ashton Pankey from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ. Speaking of Pinkston,
it looks like we have the scoop on our New York City Editor Ron Naclerio,
as we have a very reliable source who is now telling us that our top ranked
junior in NYC plans to follow in the footsteps of his former high school
teammate 6'3 Jr Doron Lamb and transfer from Brooklyn (Bishop
Loughlin) NY to Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA next year. We also will make
sure that we see 6'10 Soph Rakeem Christmas from Philadelphia (North
Catholic) PA, who is the star on Team Final's 16-Under Team, play in the
16-Under Division. Pool play will begin on Friday night and run through
4:10 PM on Saturday afternoon, which is when Consolation Round Games will
begin in the 17-Under Division. There also will be Platinum and Silver
First & Second Round Games, which feature the 32 second round finishers from
pool play throughout the rest of Saturday. But, by that time, most of our
attention will be on the playoffs in the Gold Division Playoffs, which will
feature the 32 winners from each pool. First round games will begin at 5:20
PM and 6:30 PM on Saturday night, followed by second round of the Gold
Division playoffs at 7:45 PM and 9:00 PM and the Gold Division Quarterfinals
at 11:00 AM, the Gold Division semi-finals at 1:20 PM, and the Gold
Division, Platinum Division, and Silver Division Championship Games will all
be held at 3:35 PM on Sunday afternoon. For all the brackets at the
Hoop Group's Pittsburgh Jam Fest,
as well as more information about all the events that the Hoop Group will be
running this spring and summer, we encourage you to click onto
Hoop Group.
Also noteworthy is the fact that the Hoop
Group's Pittsburgh Jam Fest is the only event
in the East where a select group of games will be broadcast live on the
internet. And making this even more important is the fact Division I
college coaches are prohibited by the NCAA from attending AAU-like
tournaments this spring. For more information click onto
MaxxAthlete.com.
And, if you want to get all the
highlights, as well as a list of the top players based on performance at the
conclusion of the Hoop Group's Pittsburgh Jam Fest,
there is no
time like the present to
subscribe to the
Members Section.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Today is a slow news
day and a travel day to Las Vegas, NV to cover the
2009 Mae Fisher Easter Classic and, as a result,
now is the perfect time to publish our New York City Editor Ron
Naclerio's updated New York City Report.
These rankings can be found exclusively in the Members Section
and
include seven all All-Metro New York Teams that feature the top 35 players
in the Metropolitan area regardless of class and position, commentary about
the trends and top players, and Naclerio's ranking of the top 150 seniors,
top 126 juniors, top 100 sophomores, top 76 freshmen, top 26 8th Graders,
top 15 7th Graders, and top two 6th Graders within the five boroughs of New
York City. We also alluded to the fact that the senior class in the
city is really down, but did not specifically point out just how much better
it would have been if the Cheese Johnson, who is the father of 6'7
Noel Johnson from Fayetteville (Fayette County) GA, hadn't moved to
Atlanta, GA a number of years ago; 6'5 Omari Lawrence and 6'5 Kevin Parrom from South Kent (Prep)
CT both had not transferred from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY to South Kent
(Prep) CT last summer; and 6'0 Lamont Jones had not left New York
(Rice) NY first for Aston (American Christian) PA and then Mouth of Wilson
(Oak Hill) VA. However, we did mention that 6'4 Jr Doran Lamb,
who transferred from Brooklyn (Bishop Loughlin) NY to Mouth of Wilson (Oak
Hill) VA nearly a year ago, is already long gone and that an alarming number
of players for the city end up in prep school. We also didn't mention
what a fertile recruiting New York City is for Division I college coach,
junior college coach, or prep school coach who is looking to steal one
during the spring signing period. In addition to 6'5 Lance
Stephenson from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, there are some other pretty good
players, like 6'2 Sean Johnson from Middle Village (Christ the King)
NY, 6'2 Russell Smith from Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, 6'3
Keith Spellman from Brooklyn (Jefferson) NY, 6'3 Isiah Stokley
from Jamaica (Edison) NY, 6'1 Ronald Baker from Bronx (Wings) NY, 6'3
Lamont Samuel from Brooklyn (Boys & Girls) NY, 6'4 Rasheem King
from Brooklyn (Xaverian) NY, 6'6 Trevon Hamlett from Brooklyn (Bishop
Loughlin) NY, and 6'5 James Stokes from New York (Rice) NY, who are
still available.
Friday,
April 3, 2009
The
two hottest topics of conversation earlier today at the NABC (National
Association of Basketball Coaches) Convention are what a logistical
disaster the cities of Detroit and Windsor, ON are for this year's NCAA
Final Four in Detroit, MI and what a surprise it was when Nevada head coach
Mark Fox got the Georgia job last night and Washington State head
coach Tony Bennett got the Virginia job earlier this week. Now don't
get us wrong. Bennett and Fox are two of the bright up-and-coming head
coaches in the business and nobody can argue with their success, as Bennett
is 69-33 in three years at Washington State and Fox is 114-43 in four years
at Nevada. However, both are geographic misfits for the jobs that they just
landed. Fox is originally from Garden City, KS; he played college
basketball at Garden City (JC) KS in 1987-89 and Eastern New Mexico in
1989-91; and was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Washington
in 1991-93, an assistant coach at Kansas State from 1994-2000, and the
associate head coach at Nevada from 2000-04 prior to taking over as head
coach when Trent Johnson left Nevada for Stanford in 2004. Bennett
played for his Dad at Wisconsin-Green Bay from 1989-92, the Charlotte
Hornets in the NBA from 1992-95, and the Sydney Kings in the Australian
Basketball League in 1997 and worked as an assistant coach for his Dad at
Wisconsin in 1999-2003 and at Washington State in 2003-06 prior to taking
over the Cougars' program when his Dad retired in 2006. So how does
Virginia hire somebody with great Midwest and West Coast ties, but lacks any
kind of East Coast résumé, except when he played professionally for three
years with the Charlotte Hornets? And how does Georgia hire somebody who is
an excellent recruiter and has all kind of ties west of the Mississippi
river, but has never recruited in the South? The answer is Dan Parker,
who is the President of the Parker Executive Search firm that serves as a
head hunter for college presidents, athletic directors, and head coaches.
And this isn't the first time that Parker has shocked the world, as two
years ago he placed Tubby Smith at Minnesota and Billy Gillespie
at Kentucky. He also was responsible for hiring Jeff Capel at
Oklahoma, Kelvin Sampson at Indiana, John Pelphrey at
Arkansas, Craig Robinson at Oregon State, Joe Scott at Denver,
Ricardo Patton at Northern Illinois, Rod Barnes at Georgia
State, Steve Sarkisian as the head football coach at the University
of Washington, and Paul Johnson as the head football coach at Georgia
Tech, as well as athletic directors at places like Notre Dame, LSU, and
Washington. In other words, 2+2 still does equal four, except when Parker
gets involved in the hiring process for an athletic director who obviously
isn't up to the task of making one of the most important decisions of his
career or already has messed on the hire and needs to salvage the
situation. Did you know that I've had a number of Division I head coaches
tell me that they would never take a job that was offered by an athletic
director who had to hire a search firm to help complete the process? The
rationale is based on the fact that this is a sign of weakness, not being in
control of the situation, and wanting to cover your you know what in case it
turns out to be a bad hire. It also stands to reason that who gets hired
has less to do with whether the coach is ideally to suited step in and take
advantage of his recruiting contacts and knowledge of what it takes to get
it done at the school and more to do with Parker's associations and what
presidents and athlete directors he knows and/or has placed at certain
schools. As for this year's NCAA Final Four, half of the people at this
year's coaches convention are staying in Canada and it takes half-and-hour
to an hour go cross the bridge and go throw customs. The other half are
located about 15 minutes West of downtown in Dearborn, MI and nobody seems
to be able to figure out the lay of land, especially when it comes to
getting around in downtown Detroit, MI, which is where the Convention
headquarters are located and tomorrow's games will be played. The fact that
the weather does not come close to equaling what it was last year in San
Antonio, TX and two years ago in Atlanta, GA and downtown Detroit has more
than lived up to its reputation as one of the most rundown and depressed
cities in America reinforces this point even further. Obviously selling
70,000-plus tickets for tomorrow and Monday's game was the most important
thing when it came to deciding that the 71st NCAA Final Four should be
played in Detroit, MI. And to put this even further into perspective, most
of the coaches that we've talked with think this is the worst set-up for the
NCAA Final Four since the one in St. Petersburg, FL in 1999 and not too far
behind the NCAA Final Fours that were played in Minneapolis, MN in 1992 and
2001. However, on the more positive side, everybody is looking forward
to the future NCAA Final Fours in Indianapolis, IN in 2010, Houston, TX in
2011, New Orleans, LA in 2012, Atlanta, GA in 2013, Dallas, TX in 2014,
Indianapolis, IN in 2015, and Houston, TX in 2016, all of which will be held
in much warmer climates and in cities that are set up much better
logistically.
Monday,
March 30, 2009
Forget about hitting a home run. Hiring Memphis's John Calipari as
the next head coach at the University of Kentucky is like hitting a grand
slam. It's like hiring Rick Pitino at the University of Kentucky in
1989 and at the University of Louisville in 2001 and the UK administration
deserves nothing less than an "A+" for moving so quickly and decisively
after University of Florida head coach Billy Donovan turned them down
last Friday. It's not official yet, but our Mid-South Editor Jim Rothman
tells us that Calipari has rejected a counter offer from the University of
Memphis, which means they are now negotiating the terms of the contract and
that press conference sooner than later is imminent. And this comes as no
surprise to us, as we've been telling you for months that Calipari is the
ideal choice for a number of reasons. First, he's one of the top head
coaches in college basketball today, as is evident by the fact that he is
ranked #5 on our List of the Top Head Coaches, behind Louisville's
Rick Pitino, North Carolina's Roy Williams, Duke's Mike
Krzyzewski, and Connecticut's Jim Calhoun, and ahead of Florida's
Billy Donovan, Michigan State's Tom Izzo, UCLA's Ben
Howland, Kansas' Bill Self, West Virginia's Bobby Huggins,
Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, et al.
Second, Calipari is second to none when it comes to building a program from
the ground up. If you will recall, Calipari inherited a team at the
University of Massachusetts that was 10-17 in 1987-88 and guided the
Minutemen all the way to the NCAA Final Four a 1996. He also took over a
program at Memphis that was 15-16 during the 1999-2000 season and
transformed it into the most successful program in college basketball during
the time last eight years. The Tigers played for the NCAA Championship a
year ago, were in the Eight Eight in both 2006 and 2007, and won 33 games
and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 in what was supposed to have been a
rebuilding year this year. Third, Calipari is the best there is a
recruiter, as is evident the fact that Memphis currently has the #2-ranked
recruiting class in the nation on our list of the
Top Recruiting
Classes To-Date for the Class of 2009. And making the story
even more interesting is the fact that 6'10 DeMarcus Cousins from
Mobile (LeFlore) AL, who is ranked #4 nationally in the senior class by the
HOOP SCOOP and verbally committed to the Tigers several weeks ago, is
free and clear to follow Calipari to Kentucky. We also suspect that 6'6
Xavier Henry from Oklahoma City (Putnam City) OK, 6'9 William Coleman
from Miami-Dade (JC) FL, 6'4 Nolan Dennis from Richland (Richland
Hills) TX and 6'6 Darnell Dodson from Miami-Dade (JC) FL, who are the
other members of Memphis' current recruiting class, will all be able to get
out of the National Letters-of-Intent that they signed with Tigers last
fall. As a matter of fact, we know that Dennis has a clause in his contract
that will make the National Letter-of-Intent null-and-void, if the coach
leaves. So we assume that this also is the case with Henry, Coleman and
Dodson, if they too decide to follow Calipari to Kentucky. And don't forget
about 6'3 John Wall from Raleigh (Word of God) NC, who is the
#1-ranked 5th Year Player in the nation and has Memphis, Baylor, N.C. State,
Kansas, Miami-FL, and Duke still on his list; 6'7 Jr C.J. Leslie from
Raleigh (Word of God) NC, who recently reneged on N.C. State and now has
Memphis right at the top of his list; and 6'8 Soph Michael Gilchrist
from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, who is the best player in the nation
regardless of class and is believed to be a near lock to play for John
Calipari. So, with 6'10 Daniel Orton from Oklahoma City (Bishop
McGuiness) OK, who signed with the Wildcats last fall; 6'8 Soph Patrick
Patterson and 6'4 Jr Jodie Meeks both likely to return, and at
least some of the players mentioned above (Cousins, Coleman, Dennis, Dodson,
and Wall) likely to follow in Calipari's footsteps, the Wildcats could
easily be the best team in the Southeastern Conference a year from now. And
the future should be even better, as Calipari plans to bring his entire
coaching staff with him. Not only are Josh Pastner and Orlando
Antigua two of the bright up-and-coming guys in the business, but
John Robic has head coaching experience at Youngstown State. And how
about the fact that it is being reported that Calipari is going to get a
contract worth over $5 million per year? Not only will that make Calipari
by-far-and-away the highest paid head coach in the history of the game
(currently Florida's Billy Donovan is the highest at $3.5 million per
year), but it will be almost double what Calipari made when he took over as
the head coach and Executive Vice-President of Basketball Operations of the
New Jersey Nets in 1996 when he got a five year contract worth $15.5
million. We also understand that Calipari is pushing UTEP head coach
Tony Barbee, who is a former assistant coach at Memphis, as his
successor. However, Sam Albano, who is a television producer in New
York City and a close friend of John Calipari, tells us that USC's
Tim Floyd will become the next head coach of the Memphis Tigers, which
means they are replacing Calipari with another one of the best recruiters
and hardest working guys in the game. Our Mid-South Editor Jim Rothman
also provides us with another great name for the Memphis job, which is
Missouri's Mike Anderson, who is currently one of the hottest guys in
the business after the Tigers advanced into the Sweet 16 of this year's NCAA
Tournament. And don't forget about the fact that Xavier head coach Sean
Miller is one of Calipari's cousins.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Look
for the official announcement to come tomorrow afternoon. We're talking
about the fact that the boosters have already put up the $6 million
necessary to buy out University of Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie
and, as a result, it's a done deal that Gillispie tenure as the boss of the
Wildcats can now be measured in hours, instead of days, weeks, months, or
years. And that should finally get a lot of the other dominos falling.
We've been hearing all week that Florida head coach Billy Donovan
definitely has interest in the Kentucky job. But we also suspect that it
will be awfully tough for Donovan to bail out on Gators athletic director
Jeremy Foley, who has really gone to bat for Donovan a number of times,
including two years ago when he took for the Orlando Magic job, but then
backed out a couple of days later and returned to Florida. If you will
recall, at the time Foley gave Donovan a six-year contract worth $3.5
million per year. So the reports about Donovan making a move earlier today
to take himself out of the running for the Kentucky job would make perfect
sense. However, we also have other sources that we deem to be reliable that
tell us that it's a done deal with regards to Donovan getting the Kentucky
job, which would also open the door for Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony
Grant to replace Donovan at Florida, Missouri head coach Mike
Anderson to get Alabama, Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton
get Georgia, Kansas State head coach Frank Martin to get Florida
State, and Kansas State associate head coach Dalonta Hill to replace
Martin as the head coach of the Wildcats. We also have other sources who
think Calipari is the #1 guy on Kentucky's list and we've heard that a
seven-year $28 million contract will be on the table. And, if this turns
out to be correct, then Hamilton will be right at the top of the list of
candidates to replace Calipari at Memphis and Martin could still end up as
the next head coach at Florida State. We also continue to hear Oklahoma
State head coach Travis Ford's name being mentioned as the most
viable option, if the Wildcats can't get either Donovan or Calipari. And
Ford, who played at the University of Kentucky during the Rick Pitino
era, has more head coaching experience than you might think. Did you know
that Ford started his coaching career at Campbellsville College, where in
three years his teams posted a 67-31 record and he was named the NAIA
Mid-South Coach-of-the-Year in 1999? Ford's teams also posted a 61-80
record during his five years at Eastern Kentucky, including a 22-9 season
and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament during his final year in 2005.
Ford also had a 62-35 record during his three years at Massachusetts and has
done an impressive job at Oklahoma State during the last year, as the
Cowboys posted a 23-12 record and beat Tennessee to advance into the second
round of this year's NCAA Tournament. Ford also has proven that he can
recruit with the best of them at both Massachusetts and Oklahoma State.
Remember, the Cowboys currently have the #4-ranked recruiting class, which
currently includes 6'4
Roger Franklin from Duncanville (H.S.) TX, 6'7 Karron Johnson
from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 5'10 Ray Penn from Richmond (Ft. Bend
Travis) TX, 6'1 Reger Dowell from Duncanville (H.S.) TX, 6'11
Torin Walker from Columbus (Northside) GA, 6'2
Fred Gulley from
Fayetteville (H.S.) AR, and 6'10 Jarred Shaw from Dallas (Carter) TX,
on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes
To-Date for the Class of 2009.
And, if Ford gets the job, you can bet that he will bring Butch Pierre,
who is ranked #9 on our list of the top assistant coaches and is clearly in
the same class as Donvan's and Calipari's top assistants. We're talking
about Florida's Larry Shyatt, who is ranked #1 on our list of the top
assistant coaches and Memphis' Josh Pastner, who is ranked #5 on our
list of the top assistant coaches. The other big story right now involves
all of the players who are reneging on their verbal commitments. Earlier
today 6'5 James Lee from Hampton (Bethel) VA backed out of his
commitment to Liberty and yesterday 6'6 Jr Chanse Creekmur from
Marshalltown (H.S.) IA backed out of his early verbal commitment to the
University of Iowa and 6'0 Lamont Jones from Mouth of Wilson (Oak
Hill) VA backed out of his commitment to Virginia Tech. And this isn't the
first time that Jones has changed his mind. If you will recall, Jones
verbally committed to Louisville when he was a sophomore in high school at
New York (Rice) NY, but then changed his mind a year ago when he was a
junior at Aston (American Christian) PA. However, Jones still has a long
way to go if he wants to break Nate Miles' record for changing his
mind and making the most stops during his career. If you will recall,
Miles, who is now at Southern Idaho (JC) ID and is the subject of potential
recruiting violations by the University of Connecticut due to his
association with an agent, originally verbally committed to Xavier when he
was a sophomore in high school. But then changed his mind and picked the
Huskies when he was a junior. However, what really puts Miles over the top
is list of high school/prep schools that are now in his rear view mirror
that includes Toledo (Waite) OH, Toledo (Libbey) OH, Mouth of Wilson (Oak
Hill) VA, Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, San Antonio (Cornerstone Christian) TX,
Humble (Christian Life) TX, Cleveland (Heritage School) TX, and Lenoir
(Patterson School) CT. In other words, we're talking about somebody who
attended eight different high schools/prep schools, has already picked two
colleges, and is now in the junior college ranks.
Friday,
March 20, 2009
It was
supposed be just 400 names. However, upon completion of our
Ranking of the Top Players
Nationally in the Class of 2011,
which was published exclusively in the Members Section
yesterday, we find that our list now includes the top 600 players in the
sophomore class nationally all ranked in order. And, with the spring and
summer just around the corner, the timing couldn't be any better as college
coaches get ready to turn the heat up on what promises to be the next great
class in high school basketball. It's also one of the more refreshing
classes to come down the pike in a long time, because a lot of the elite
players - i.e. 6'8 Soph Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St.
Patrick) NJ, 6'3 Soph Tony Wroten from Seattle (Garfield) WA, 6'3
Soph Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, and 6'3 Soph Trevor
Lacey from Huntsville (Butler) AL - appear to be well grounded, have
strong parental support, and have not been in a great big rush to make an
early verbal commitment to a four-year Division I college or
university. And, to illustrate this point even further, when we look back at
our ranking of the Top
700 Players Nationally in the Class of 2010,
which was published over 16 months ago on November 6, 2007, we find that
eight of the HOOP SCOOP's top 10-ranked sophomores and 24 of the
HOOP SCOOP's top 100-ranked sophomores were already verbally committed.
In contrast, four months further into their sophomore year, we find that
only two of the top-10 ranked sophomores - 6'3 Soph Austin Rivers
from Winter Park (H.S.) FL to Florida and 6'7 Soph Aaron Ross from
Little Rock (Parkview) AR to Arkansas - and only 10 of the top-100 ranked
sophomores - 6'3 Soph Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL to
Florida, 6'7 Soph Aaron Ross from Little Rock (Parkview) AR to
Arkansas, 6'2 Soph Jamal Branch from Atascocita (H.S.) TX to Texas
A&M, 6'1 Soph Myck Kabango from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ to Texas
6'7 Soph Chane Behanan from Cincinnati (Aiken) OH to Cincinnati, 6'2
Soph Matt Carlino from Gilbert (Highland) AZ to Indiana, 6'3 Soph
John Issac from Leesville (Pickering) LA to LSU, 6'5 Soph Ryan Taylor
from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN to Louisville, 6'10 Soph Michael
Chandler from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN to Louisville, and 6'1
Soph Tracy Abrams from Chicago (Mt. Carmel) IL to Illinois - are
already off the board. And, with the exception of Kabango and Carlino, they
all have picked a school right in their backyard or within the state where
they live. We also are extremely impressed with the depth and versatility
of the class and state's like Mississippi and South Carolina appear to be
off the hook with great talent. As a matter of fact, a quick look at our
ranking of the top 40 players in this class shows that Mississippi with 6'8
Soph LaQuinton Ross from Jackson (Murrah) MS, 6'0 Soph Marquavius
"Deville" Smith from Jackson (Callaway) MS, and 6'5 Soph Rodney Hood
from Meridian (H.S.) MS; North Carolina with 6'5 Soph P.J. Hairston
from Greensboro (Dudley) NC, 5'11 Soph Marquis "Jerrell" Rankin from
Charlotte (Vance) NC, 6'3 Soph Quddus Bello from High Point
(Westchester Academy) NC, and 6'5 Soph Tony Kimbro from Arden (The
Christ School) NC; and California with 6'9 Soph Kevin Johnson from
Garden (Serra) CA, 6'7 Soph Ramone Eaton from Sacramento (Sheldon)
CA, 6'8 Soph Angelo Chol from San Diego (Hoover) CA, and 5'11 Soph
Cezar Guerrero from City of Industry (Workman) CA all have four players
each ranked among the top 40 sophomores nationally. However, it's the star
power that really makes this a great class. Did you know that our
HOOP SCOOP All-American Teams,
which were published on
January 2nd and included the top 100 players nationally regardless of class
and position, featured four sophomores -
6'8 Soph Michael
Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'3 Soph Tony Wroten
from Seattle (Garfield) WA, 6'8 Soph LaQuinton Ross from Jackson (Murrah)
MS, and 6'3 Soph Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL - among the
top 10 players nationally? And, when we dig a little deeper, we also find
that 10 of the top 55-ranked players on this list are sophomores and 15 of
the top 100-ranked players on our list
are
sophomores. In other words, the top sophomores in the nation are every bit
as good as the top juniors and seniors are right now and they don't appear
to be nearly as jaded and corrupted by the process as their counterparts are
in the classes ahead of them.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The race for the #1 spot in our Ranking
of the Top 50 Head Coaches in the College Game Today,
which can found by exclusively in the
Members Section in our Exclusive Ranking
of the Top Coaches in the Game Today, really is
almost too close to call among the top five coaches on the list
(Louisville's Rick Pitino, North Carolina's Roy Williams,
Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Connecticut's Jim Calhoun, and
Memphis' John Calipari). However, based on the way the Cardinals are
playing right now and the fact that it looks like Louisville is the team to
beat in this year's NCAA Tournament, Pitino gets the nod. And Williams gets
the nod over Krzyzewski due to the fact that the Tar Heels, not the Blue
Devils, have been arguably the best team in both the country and the
Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area since Williams took over the North Carolina
program six years ago. And Krzyzewski gets the nod over Calhoun, despite
the fact that Calhoun owns Krzyzewski in the NCAA Final Four, due to the
fact that it's hard to beat somebody with three National Championships and
10 NCAA Final Fours on his résumé. As for Calipari, he continues to come on
like gangbusters, as no head coach in college basketball has a better record
during the last eight years than this guy. The second five with Florida's
Billy Donovan, Michigan State's Tom Izzo, UCLA's Ben
Howland, Kansas' Bill Self, and West Virginia's Bobby Huggins
is equally impressive, as the top 10 active head coaches collectively have
been to 37 NCAA Final Four's and won 11 National Championships. And, if you
add Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, who is currently ranked #11, to this
list, suddenly the number becomes 40 NCAA Final Four appearances and 12
National Championships. We also think it's interesting to point out that
only two of the top 18-ranked head coaches have not guided their teams to
the NCAA Final Four. But Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon checks in at #12
due to the fact that he already has won an average of 26.6 games per year
during his six years as a head coach and his team is one of the favorites to
win this year's NCAA Tournament and Wisconsin's Bo Ryan checks in at
#13 due to the fact he's won big every place he's been, including
UW-Platteville, where his teams won four NCAA Division III Championships in
1991, 1995, 1998, and 1999. When putting together this list, what a head
coach has accomplished over his entire career is very important, but it also
helps to be hot right now and, as a result, we really don't know what to do
with Saint Louis head coach Rick Majerus. Remember, Majerus is
second to none as a game tactician, but he has not been able to duplicate
what he did at the University of Utah during the 1990's due to off-and-on
health problems and several retirements. Add the fact that there are rumors
that Majerus might step down at the end of this season and we decided to
take him off the list. But we do so knowing that we may add him back and
rank him pretty high a year from now, if everything falls together with his
young team the way we suspect it might a year from now. We also are
extremely impressed with the amount of potential there is among the top
coaches on our list of those who are in the Middle of Their
Career and Have the Potential to Move Onto Our List of the Top 50 Head
Coaches in the Game Today. And right at the
top of the list is LSU's Trent Johnson, who stepped in and turned the
Tigers' program around in a hurry this season. Next is New Mexico's
Steve Alford, who appears to be perfectly positioned to make a major
move a year from now due to the fact he has several pros waiting in the
wings and in this year's recruiting class. It also only should be just a
matter of time before guys like Baylor's Scott Drew, Oklahoma State's
Travis Ford, Dayton's Brian Gregory, Seton Hall's Bobby
Gonzalez, and St. Mary's Randy Bennett make a major jump into our
Ranking of the Top 50 Head Coaches in the College Game Today.
Our Ranking of the Top 20 Up-and Coming Head Coaches in the
College Game Today is equally impressive, as
Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant, Purdue's Matt Painter,
Marquette's Buzz Williams, Butler's Brad Stevens, and Utah's
Jim Boylen are not only some of the bright up-and-coming stars in the
business, but their team's were all included in this year's NCAA Field of 65
that was announced earlier this week. And Providence's Keno Davis,
Nevada's Mark Fox, Miami-FL's Frank Haith, Kansas State's
Frank Martin were also knocking on the door, while Mississippi's Andy
Kennedy is waiting for next year when he'll have a healthy team and
Oregon State's Craig Robinson has done a great job of stockpiling
talent during his first season as the head coach of the Beavers. Our
Ranking of the 100 Assistant Coaches in the College Game Today
is one of the hardest things that we do all year, especially in light of the
fact that a lot of the top guys (i.e. Florida's Larry Shyatt and
Kansas' Joe Dooley aren't interested in moving, unless they can get a
really good head coaching job. As a matter of fact, only five of our top
25-ranked assistants from a year ago (Derek Kellogg, Ray McCallum,
John Groce, Jeff Meyer, and Johnny Dawkins) made a move
and, as a result, it's very difficult to do make many changes to this list.
However, we did sneak Oklahoma State's Butch Pierre, who was out of a
job when we did the list a year ago, back in at #9; we moved West Virginia's
Larry Harrison, who has previous head coaching experience at Hartford
and was too low on our list a year ago, up to #12; we moved Marquette's
Tony Benford, who played a key role in helping land the Golden Eagles'
#3-ranked recruiting; up to #14; we inserted California's Jay John,
who previously was the #1-ranked assistant coach in the nation seven years
ago when he was the University of Arizona and also has head coaching
experience at Oregon State, at #22; and we moved up Syracuse's Bernie
Fine, who has been Jim Boeheim's right hand man and has been one
of the unsung heroes in the Syracuse program for over 30 years. We also
moved Saint Louis' Porter Moser up #29, Arkansas' Tom Ostrom
up #30, Villanova's Pat Chambers up #31, Minnesota's Vince Taylor
up to #42, Central Florida's Steve DeMeo up to #46, Miami-FL's
Jorge Fernandez up to #51, Baylor's Matt Driscoll up to #52, and
we expanded the list from 70 to 100 names this year. We also took
Virginia's Bill Courtney name off the list due to the fact the
Virginia coaching staff got fired earlier this week. But we suspect
Courtney will be back on the list in a year, because he's one of the best
there is at recruiting in the Washington, DC area. And, if you don't
believe it, just ask George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga, who went
to the NCAA Final Four three years ago with a team that Courtney played a
key role in helping recruit. Our Ranking of the Top 50
Assistant Coaches at the Mid-To-Low Division I Level
features three guys (Virginia Commonwealth's Tony Pujol,
Illinois-Chicago's Tracy Dildy, and IUPUI's Todd Howard) in
the top five who in all likelihood will be the next head coach at their
respective school when their boss finally decides to make the move onto to
bigger and better things. And Long Beach State's Eric Brown and
Bowling Green's LaMonta Stone, who are the other two guys ranked in
our top five, are second to none as recruiters and, as a result, will likely
be back coaching at the big time level sooner than later. Our
Ranking of the Top 20 People Who are in an Administrative Position, like
Director of Basketball Operations, Administrative Assistant, or Video
Coordinator is the most difficult list we do
due to the fact that these guys not only are hidden behind the scenes, but
also often don't have the name recognition necessary to help advance their
career. However, we can't say that about the top three guys on our list
(Michigan's Jeff Meyer, Ohio State's Dan Peters, and
Kentucky's Alvin Brooks) all of whom have already established their
credentials while working at the highest level. Editor's Note:
To get the complete list, now is a great time to
subscribe to the Members Section.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Earlier today we published Allen Rubin's
Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Report
exclusively in the Members Section and it includes six
All-Area Teams that feature the 30 players in the Philadelphia/Eastern
Pennsylvania/South Jersey area regardless of class and position, some
interesting comments by yours truly about the top players in each class, and
Rubin's ranking of the top 487 seniors, 338 juniors, 229 sophomores, 114
freshmen, 49 8th Graders, 14 7th Graders, and 19 6th Graders. Yes, that's
1,250 names, which means that his list has fewer names than the Philadelphia
phonebook, but more than enough names to still be totally out of control.
We also found it very interesting that Rubin thinks the next great class in
his area will be the Class of 2011. And it would be even better if 6'8 Soph
Michael Gilchrist, who originally is from Somerdale, NJ, had not
decided to attend high school two years ago at Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ.
If you will recall, Gilchrist is our #1-ranked player nationally in the
sophomore class, ahead of 6'3 Soph Tony Wroten from Seattle
(Garfield) WA, 6'8 Soph LaQuinton Ross from Jackson (Murrah) MS, 6'3
Soph Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, 6'3 Soph Trevor
Lacey from Huntsville (Butler) AL, 6'5 Soph Wayne Blackshear from
Chicago (Morgan Park) IL, 6'7 Soph Aaron Ross from Little Rock
(Parkview) AR, 6'9 Soph Chris Coleman from Buffalo (Burgard) NY, 6'8
Soph Mike Shaw from Chicago (De La Salle) IL, and 6'8 Soph James
McAdoo from Norfolk (Christian) VA, who are the top 10-ranked players on
our
List of the Top Players Nationally in the Class of 2011
that will be published either late this week or early next week. Gilchrist
also gets our vote as the #1-ranked player in the nation regardless of class
after he scored 30 or more points on three of the six occasions that we saw
him play this winter. And making this even more impressive is the fact that
Gilchrist doesn't get the ball nearly as much as he should inside. Instead,
a lot of his points are hustle points, as he almost always is one of the
first players down the court on the fast break and he has a knack for being
in the right place at the right time to get the offensive rebound. He's
also a tremendous competitor, a fabulous rebounder, and is versatile enough
to play both inside and outside, which is where he was playing when he was
the best player last summer at the LeBron James Skills Academy
in Akron, OH. Gilchrist also is a first class person and an excellent
student, as is evident by the fact that has a 3.6 gpa in the classroom. He
also plays for one of the top high school coaches in the nation in Kevin
Boyle, he may grow several more inches, and is young for his class,
which means that his upside and potential are off the chart. Everybody
assumes that Memphis is the heavy favorite, but Rutgers, Connecticut,
Villanova, and Virginia make it an interesting top five. Rubin also reminds
us that Philadelphia is a city that has a history of producing great guards
and that great big men, like Wilt Chamberlain, Ray Scott,
Jim Williams, Jim Washington, Rasheed Wallace, Jay
Lawson, Marc Jackson, 6'10 Aaric Murray from Concordville
(Glen Mills) PA, and 6'9 Soph Rakeem Christmas from Philadelphia
(North Catholic) PA, are few and far between. Those last two are especially
important, because Murray, who signed with La Salle last fall and is the
best big man to come out the city in years, and Christmas, who is already a
monster inside with his ability to block shots, rebound, and score from
15-feet and in, both have an incredible amount of upside and potential due
to the fact they've both only been playing basketball for three or four
years.
Editor's Note: Now is a great time to
subscribe to the Members Section!
Not only did we publish our
Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey
Report earlier today, but our List of the Top Players Nationally in the Class of 2011
(Sophomores) and our Exclusive
Ranking of the Top Coaches in the Game Today are both due out
within the next week.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
It looks like it will be one of the final nails in the coffin of Billy
Gillispie's short and less than spectacular tenure as the head coach of
the University of Kentucky. We're talking about the Wildcats loss 90-85
earlier tonight to a University of Georgia team that lost it's coach over a
month ago when Dennis Felton got fired, is now 12-18 overall and 3-12
in the league, and has only won two road games in the league in the last two
years. And, it's not like the Wildcats didn't have anything to play for, as
a win against the Bulldogs earlier tonight and a win on Saturday at the
University of Florida probably would have assured Kentucky a spot in this
year's NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Wildcats now appear to be destined
not to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 18 years. Not
only are the fans fit to be tied, but the the feeding frenzy now includes
former University of Kentucky players, like Mike Casey, who earlier
this week called for Gillispie to be fired. In other words, it doesn't look
like it's turning out to be a very happy marriage, as the media and
Gillispie don't see eye-to-eye, the fans like him less, and the word on the
street is that Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson, who are the
two players that Gillispie has built the program around, will likely forgo
the rest of their college eligible and enter the NBA Draft this spring. And
other transfers also appear to be eminent. However, the dirty little secret
that most Wildcats' fans haven't caught onto yet is that Gillispie's
recruiting appears to be even worse. There is no question that 6'10
Daniel Orton from Oklahoma City (Bishop McGuiness) OK, who is ranked #25
nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and is a physical
specimen inside, is exactly what the doctor ordered to replace Patterson in
the middle next year. And 6'8 Jr Matt Pilgrim, who is sitting out
this year after transferring from Hampton, is good enough to step in and
fill the bill next year at power forward. However, 6'7 Jonathan Hood
from Madisonville (North Hopkins) KY, who is ranked #127 nationally in the
senior class by the HOOP SCOOP, promises to be nothing more than a
good role player, and 6'0 G.J. Vilarino from McKinney (H.S.) TX
doesn't have the strength, basketball IQ, and the point guard mentality
necessary to step in and be the quick fix the the Wildcats need at point
guard next year. Thus, explains why we have Kentucky's recruiting class
tied at #39, along with Baylor, on our list of the Top Recruiting
Classes To-Date for the Class of 2009.
In contrast, Rivals.com had Hood ranked #32 nationally in the senior
class and the Wildcats' recruiting class ranked #13 last fall and the latest
rankings for Scout.com have Hood ranked as the #8 wing forward in the
nation and their recruiting class #13 overall. And this is important,
because it's obvious that the rookies in our business don't have the
perspective necessary to know whether they're looking at the next J.P.
Blevins, Josh Carrier, or Michael Porter or the Rex
Chapman (Hood actually falls someplace in-between) and, as a result,
have clearly set the University of Kentucky coaching staff up to fail due to
the fact that they've created such unrealistic expectations. And, if you
don't believe me, just go ask all of our competitors who have been in this
business 25 or 30 years. There also are a lot of major questions about the
five early commitments that Wildcats have received from 6'9 Jr Dominique
Ferguson from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'0 Jr K.C.
Ross-Miller from Irving (God's Academy) TX, 6'8 Jr Dakota Euton
from Georgetown (Scott County) KY, 6'8 Soph Vinny Zollo from
Winchester (Clark County) KY, and 6'4 Frosh Michael Avery from Encino
(Crespi) CA. Those last three all project as mid-major players and, as a
result, it's doubtful that the next regime will honor these commitments.
Ross-Miller isn't probably as good as the original hype, but he does know
how to run a team and is good enough to step in and solve Kentucky's point
guard problems. The only problem is that Ross-Miller will arrive in
year-four of the Gillispie era and the smart money now appears to be on the
current Wildcats head coach not surviving until year-three. Ferguson has
the potential to be a great player, but right now he's not even the best
player on his high school team, as he spends too much time out on the
perimeter and is much too passive inside. So, with all this in mind,
suddenly Tubby Smith's recruiting when he was at the University of
Kentucky looks a lot better than it did at the time. Remember, Smith was
the one who recruited both Meeks and Patterson and several sources have
since confirmed that Smith received verbal commitments from both Patterson
and 5'8 Jai Lucas from Houston (Bellaire) TX, who instead signed with
Florida and this past winter transferred to the University of Texas, the
very day he decided to take the University of Minnesota job. So, unless
Gillispie can pull a rabbit out of his hat or the Wildcats can surprise
everybody and do what Georgia did a year ago in the Southeastern Conference
Tournament, the real question is who will be the next head coach at the
University of Kentucky? We would be surprised if Florida head coach
Billy Donovan takes it. But, then again, Roy Williams turned
down North Carolina and remained at Kansas for three more years prior to
becoming the head coach of the Tar Heels in the spring of 2003. We'd also
be surprised if they Tubby Smith want to come back. But right now
he's looking pretty good to Wildcats fans who have chanted his name on more
than one occasion when the home team wasn't playing well this winter in Rupp
Arena. Former Kentucky players like Oklahoma State's Travis Ford and
Arkansas' John Pelphrey or local favorite and current head coach
South Carolina Darrin Horn aren't ready to make this type of move
just yet. So the obvious choice has to be Memphis head coach John
Calipari. Not only has he guided the Tigers to the best record in
college basketball during the eight last years (224-43 with a 83.9% through
March 1st), but he also already has a pre-existing rivalry going with
Louisville's Rick Pitino and also is clearly one of the best
recruiters in the nation. Hire Calipari and 6'8 Soph Michael Gilchrist
from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, who is the best player in the nation right
now regardless of class and is believed to be a near lock for Memphis, will
be sure to follow.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The
longer it goes the more interesting the recruiting scenario becomes for 6'10
DeMarcus Cousins from Mobile (LeFlore) FL, who is ranked #4
nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and is the second
highest ranked senior still available. If you will recall, Cousins reneged
on his verbal commitment to UAB when the Blazers wouldn't let him add an
addendum last fall that would let him out of his National Letter-of-Intent
if Mike Davis left for another head coaching job this spring. The
final five for Cousins currently include Washington, N.C. State, Memphis,
Rice, and Kansas State. But, if Davis gets a head coaching job this spring,
"it could change things," says LeFlore High School head coach Otis
Hughley. "But I don't think he'd follow Davis to the University of
Alabama. Right now he needs to get away and get a fresh start." Hughley
also mentions the fact that former Sacramento Kings and New Mexico State
head coach Reggie Theus will be in the mix if he gets another head
coaching job at the high Division I college level this spring. "Theus not
only did a remarkable job of turning the New Mexico State program around in
a hurry, but he also has playing and head coaching experience at both the
college and professional levels. And that will be something we look at when
DeMarcus makes his decision." As a player, Theus was one of the stars on
Jerry Tarkanian's first NCAA Final Four team in 1977 and he is only one
of seven players in NBA history, along with John Havlicek, Oscar
Robertson, John Stockton, Gary Payton, Clyde Drexler,
and Jerry West, to score at least 19,000 points and dish out more
than 6,000 assists during his career. As a coach, Theus got a taste of what
it's like to get to the NCAA Final Four in 2005 while working as an
assistant coach at the University of Louisville for Rick Pitino and
then transformed a New Mexico State program that had gone 6-24 the year
before he arrived into a 25-9 team that won the Western Athletic Conference
Tournament and advanced into the NCAA Tournament during his second year as
head coach of the Aggies in 2006-07. Theus also had a 38-44 record as head
coach of the Sacramento Kings a year ago prior to going 6-18 and getting
fired earlier this season. And Cousins doesn't appear to be the only player
that has an interest in playing for this rising star in the coaching
profession. Did you know that Theus was recently seen by our West Coast
Editor Dinos Trigonis at the high school game between Los Angeles
(Westchester) CA and Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA on Friday, February 6th? Did
you also know that 6'6 Solomon Hill from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA did
not sign a binding National Letter-of-Intent with USC after he reneged on
the University of Arizona last fall? And making the story even more
interesting is the fact Hill, who is currently ranked #35 nationally in the
senior class by the HOOP SCOOP and is a prolific scorer, great
rebounder, and excellent passer, just like Theus was when he was a player.
Obviously for this to happen, Hill will have to renege on the Trojans. But,
if all these dominos start to fall, remember where you heard it first. We
also understand that 6'5 Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY
will make his college decision on Wednesday, April 15th, which is the first
day of the Spring Signing Period this year. The list includes
Maryland, St. John's, Kansas, UCLA, and Wake Forest. However, the smart
money is on the first two, because the Red Storm and the Terrapins appear to
have all of the right connections to get this one done. The latter is
attempting to take advantage of the contacts that
an Under
Armor representative who is an alumnus of the University of Maryland has
with Stephenson and the Lincoln program and the former is doing everything
it can to keep this top-ranked player from leaving home.
And, if St
John's head coach Norm Roberts can pull this one off, he could have
one of the most improved teams in the Big East Conference next year.
Currently the Red Storm are 13-15 overall and 4-11 in the league. But they
have 6'7 Sr Anthony Mason sitting out with a medical red-shirt this
season; 6'8 Soph Justin Burrell and 5'9 Soph Malik Boothe have
both been slowed by injuries this year; and 6'6 Rob Thomas may
eventually wake up and live up to all the hype and expectations. However,
even with Stephenson and an injury free team, the Red Storm may have a hard
time keeping up with Seton Hall next season. Did you know that the Pirates
only have one senior (Paul Gause) in the program and four excellent
players waiting in the wings in 6'11 Melyyn Oliver, who is sitting
out this year in an attempt to get his academics into order and into better
shape; 6'5 Soph Jeff Robinson, who transferred from Memphis to Seton
Hall last month; 6'8 Soph Herb Pope, who transferred from New Mexico
State to Seton Hall last fall; and 6'2 Jr Keon Lawrence, who
transferred from Missouri to Seton Hall last fall? As things stand now, the
Pirates have yet to sign anybody in this year's recruiting class. But our
New York City Editor Ron Naclerio thinks the Seton Hall will beat
Missouri and Kansas for 6'10 Jarrid Famous from Westchester (JC) NY,
who is one of the top five junior college players in the nation. And, if
he's right and Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzalez can put together
all of the right pieces in a hurry, then the Pirates could be ridiculous
next year.
Thursday,
February 19, 2009
The
rosters for the
McDonald's All-American Game
were announced yesterday and the East Squad includes 6'2 Kenny Boynton
from Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 6'5 Dominic Cheek from
Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, 6'10 DeMarcus Cousins from Mobile (LeFlore)
AL, 6'9 Derrick Favors from Atlanta (South Atlanta) GA, 6'9 Milton
Jennings from Summerville (Pinewood Prep) SC, 6'8 Ryan Kelly from
Raleigh (Ravenscroft) NC, 6'9 Alex Oriakhi from Tilton (School) NH,
6'0 Peyton Siva from Seattle (Franklin) WA, 6'5 Lance Stephenson
from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'3 Dexter Strickland from Elizabeth
(St. Patrick) NJ, 6'8 Dante Taylor from Ft. Washington (National
Christian) MD, and 6'1 Maalik Wayns from Philadelphia (Roman
Catholic) PA. The West Squad includes 6'2 Avery Bradley from
Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'3 Abdul Gaddy from Tacoma (Bellarmine)
WA, 6'8 Keith "Tiny" Gallon from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, 6'6
Xavier Henry from Oklahoma City (Putnam City) OK, 6'10 John Henson
from Tampa (Sickles) FL, 6'8 Wally Judge from Jacksonville (Arlington
Country Day) FL, 5'8 Tommy Mason-Griffin from Houston (Madison) TX,
6'11 Mason Plumlee from Arden (Christ School) NC, 6'9 Renardo
Sidney from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'4 Michael Snear from
Moreno Valley (Rancho Verde) CA, 6'10 David Wear from Santa Ana
(Mater Dei) CA, and 6'10 Travis Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA.
And, needless to say, we were shocked that 6'0 Peyton Siva from
Seattle (Franklin) WA was named to play in the game. Siva is a big time
athlete with a high energy level, the ability to both light it up from
downtown and get to the basket, and a lot natural talent. But he doesn't
make good enough decisions to be a pure point guard and he's too undersized
for the 2-guard spot at the big time college level. In other words, Piva is
an extremely talented combo guard with no real position, which explains why
he is ranked #52 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.
Other players who were named to play in the game who are not ranked among
our top 24 seniors nationally, but, at least had the right politics on their
side are 5'8 Tommy Mason-Griffin from Houston (Madison) TX, 6'11
Mason Plumlee from Arden (Christ School) NC, 6'10 David Wear from
Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, and 6'10 Travis Wear from Santa Ana (Mater
Dei) CA. Remember, the Wear twins both signed with North Carolina, they
play for the #1-ranked high school team in the nation, and they continue to
get better ever time we see them. Plumlee also has gotten a lot better, is
heading to Duke, and, like the Wear's, is a big white kid, which always
seems to be an advantage when it comes to a borderline player who trying to
make the game. Mason-Griffin is not a pure point guard, is not consistent
enough, and is too undersized. However, he is one of those guys who was
over hyped at a younger age, which explains why he made the game, despite
the fact we have him ranked no higher than #7 in the senior class in the
state, behind 6'0 Junior Cadugon from Humble (Christian Life) TX, 6'7
Erik Williams from Cypress (Cypress Springs) TX, 6'4 Roger
Franklin from Duncanville (H.S.) TX, 6'4 Nolan Dennis from North
Richland Hills (Richland) TX, 5'10 Ray Penn from Richmond (Ft. Bend
Travis) TX, and 6'7 Shawn Williams from Duncanville (H.S.) TX.
Speaking of Cadugon and Erik Williams, we stand by the fact that we have
them ranked #12 and #14 nationally in the senior class and that they are the
two best seniors in the state. Cadugon not only is the second best pure
point guard in the nation, but he also gets an A+ when it comes to helping
his team win and making his teammates better. Williams missed most of his
junior year with an injury, but, with his big time athleticism and ability
to score both inside and outside, he reinforced our belief that he is one of
the most undervalued players in the nation when we saw him last summer in
Las Vegas, NV. We also find it truly amazing that 6'3 Roberto Nelson
from Santa Barbara (H.S.) CA, who is ranked #11 nationally in the senior
class by the HOOP SCOOP, and 6'8 Joe Burton from Hemet (West
Valley) CA, who is ranked #18 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP
SCOOP, didn't even make the second ballot, which included the top 50
seniors nationally, much less the final ballot, in the voting for the
McDonald's All-American Game.
However, just like Cadugon, who plays at a prep school and is bound for
Marquette, both Nelson and Burton are winners. But they don't appear to
have the right politics on their side. Not only are they both going to
Oregon State, but Nelson has had academic issues and off-the-court problems
and Burton is an undersized center who still needs to drop weight and
improve on his conditioning. But Nelson has the athleticism, prolific
scoring ability, and natural talent to project as a good player in the NBA
someday and Burton is a beast around the basket and is similar in a lot of
ways to Ellis Myles, who turned out to be a terrific college player
for Rick Pitino at Louisville. We also were somewhat surprised by
the fact that 6'8 Wally Judge from Jacksonville (Arlington Country
Day) FL made the team in light of the fact that he has not played well this
winter. Remember, our Florida Editor Rick Staudt ranked Judge no
higher than #5 in the senior class in the state, behind 6'2 Kenny Boynton
from Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 6'10 John Henson from Tampa
(Sickles) FL, 6'8 Keith Clanton from Orlando (Christian) FL and 6'10
Kryrl Natashyzko from Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL, on the
Florida Report,
which we published in the Members Section.
And this is important, because it illustrates the fact once again that in
most cases what a player does during his senior year has very little to do
with regards to whether he will make the McDonald's
All-American Game.
However, this does give the Sunshine State three
McDonald's All-American's
in 6'2 Kenny Boynton from Plantation (American
Heritage) FL, 6'10 John Henson from Tampa (Sickles) FL, and 6'8
Wally Judge from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL. That also
ranks Florida second, behind California, which has four players in the game
in 6'9 Renardo Sidney from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'4 Michael
Snear from Moreno Valley (Rancho Verde) CA, 6'10 David Wear from
Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, and 6'10 Travis Wear from Santa Ana (Mater
Dei) CA. And yes, I did vote for Sidney, despite the fact that he is
currently ranked #39 nationally in the senior class by the HOOP SCOOP.
Remember, we've been one of Sidney's biggest critics, but we also were
hoping it would inspire him to get in shape and motivate him to take his
game to another level. Unfortunately, so far it hasn't worked. But that
doesn't mean Sidney isn't one of the best players in the class based on
share size, skills, and natural talent. We also were somewhat surprised by
the fact that 6'4 Michael Snear from Moreno Valley (Rancho Verde) CA
made the game. I voted for him and we have him ranked #16 in the nation.
But going to Florida State, instead of UCLA or Kansas, and playing AAU ball
for the Inland, instead of the Pumps, he's doesn't have any of the right
politics on his side. We also aren't entirely clear why 6'3 John Wall
from Raleigh (Word of God) NC was not on the original ballot in the
voting for the game. We suspect that has something to do with Wall being a
5th Year Player. But, just like 6'9 Alex Oriakhi from Tilton
(School) NH and 6'8 Dante Taylor from Ft. Washington (National
Christian) MD, who also are 5th Year Players and were named to play in the
game, Wall reclassified prior to his senior year, which is what we thought
the criteria was for making the game.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
With the exception of the
National Prep Alliance, which will
be held this weekend at the Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, TX, now
is the time of year when I stay home and work on National Player
Rankings and State-by-State Reports. And we're
already ready to publish Rick Staudt's Florida Report,
which is
available exclusively in the Members Section and very
eloquently gives us an idea of just how good high school basketball in the
state is right now. Not only does Staudt think that this may turn out to be
the best year ever for high school basketball in the Sunshine State, but 6'2
Kenny Boynton from Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 6'10 John
Henson from Tampa (Sickles) FL, 6'2 Jr Brandon Knight from Ft.
Lauderdale (Pine Crest) FL, and 6'2 Soph Austin Rivers from Winter
Park (H.S.) FL are four of the top 20-ranked players nationally regardless
of class. However, the fifth player on his First Team All-State Team, which
includes the top five players in the state regardless of class and position,
may come as a major surprise, as Staudt clearly has gone out on a limb by
ranking 6'8 Keith Clanton from Orlando (Christian) FL ahead of 6'8
Wally Judge from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL. "Judge has
not played nearly as well this winter as he did last summer on the AAU
circuit and Clanton is just that good," says Staudt. And making the story
even more interesting is the fact that Staudt also has 6'10 Kryrl
Natashyzko from Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL ranked ahead of Judge,
which makes him one of the best unsigned seniors still available, as well as
the only player ranked among the top eight seniors in state who is still
available. Another interesting trend is the fact that University of Florida
continues to make a living by keeping the top players in their backyard at
home. If you will recall, two years ago the Gators landed 6'5 Nick
Calathes from Winter Park (H.S.) FL and 6'8 Chandler Parsons from
Winter Park (H.S.) FL and a year ago they landed 6'10 Eloy Vargas
from Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 6'10 Kenneth Kadji from
Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL, and 6'4 Ray Shipman from Miami
(Monsignor Pace) FL. They also already have 6'2 Kenny Boynton from
Plantation (American Heritage) FL in their current recruiting class, 6'8 Jr
Patric Young from Jacksonville (Paxson) FL in next year's recruiting
class, and 6'2 Soph Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL in the
following year's recruiting class. And, the Gators may not be done yet as
they also appear to one of the favorites, along with schools like Duke,
North Carolina, Memphis, Connecticut, and Syracuse, for 6'2 Jr Brandon
Knight from Ft. Lauderdale (Pine Crest) FL, who, just like Boynton in
the senior class and Rivers in the sophomore class, is one of the top five
players in the nation in his respective class. We also plan to publish
Allen Rubin's
Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Report
and our
ranking of the Top
Players Nationally in the Class of 2011 (Sophomores)
by the end of the
month. And that second list will be the perfect complement to our
Ranking of the Top 1000 Players
Nationally in the Class of 2009 (Seniors),
which was
published on November 5th in the Members Section, and our
Ranking of the Top 750 Players
Nationally in the Class of 2010 (Juniors),
which was published on
February 3rd in the Members Section. We also plan to publish our
Ranking of the Top Players
Nationally in the Class of 2012 (Freshmen),
Ranking of the Top
Players Nationally in the Class of 2013 (8th Graders),
Ranking of the Top
Players Nationally in the Class of 2014 (7th Graders),
Ranking of the Top
Players Nationally in the Class of 2015 (6th Graders),
and as many state-by-state reports as we can work into the mix prior to
going the NCAA Final Four in Detroit, MI the first week in April. Also
noteworthy is the fact that
McDonald's All-American Team
will be officially announced tomorrow on the 2009 McDonald's All-American
Game Selection Show on ESPNU at 6:00 PM. The actual date of the
game will be Wednesday, April 1st, and it will be played at the Bank United
Center in Miami-FL and will televised live on ESPN at 8:00 PM. We can't
tell you who will be in the game, but we can guarantee that there will be
some surprises, as well as some glaring omissions. So obviously now is the
perfect time to
subscribe to the
Members Section so you will be able to
check back tomorrow
night for our analysis and insight into why certain players were named to
play in this prestigious game and others were not.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
If you're trying to figure out what events to attend this spring and summer,
the
Hoop Group,
which is second to none in terms of both organization
and running events, has a lot of options. And thanks to Mike Farrelly,
who is the Director of Hoop Group Elite, we have the complete
list broken down into various categories below. We begin with the
Hoop Group Elite Spring Top 100s,
which includes the New England Top 100 at Boston University in
Boston, MA on March 21st-22nd; Northern Virginia Top 100 at Hoop
Magic Sports Academy in Chantilly, VA on March 21st-22nd; Philadelphia
Top 100 at Widener University in Chester, PA on March 26th; Metro Top
100 at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ on March 30th-31st;
and New York Top 100 at St. John's University in Queens, NY on April
8th. The Hoop Group's Spring Junior Elite Tour will run just
prior to or right after the Hoop Group Elite Spring Top 100s,
as the New England Junior Elite
will be held at Boston University in Boston, MA on
March 20th; Northern Virginia Junior Elite will be held at the Hoop
Magic Sports Academy in Chantilly, VA on March 20th; Philadelphia Junior
Elite will be held at Germantown Academy in Ft. Washington, PA on March
27th; Metro Junior Elite will be held at Neptune, NJ on March 29th;
and New York Junior Elite will be held at St. John's University in
Queens, NY on April 9th. The AAU
Tournaments will include the Hoop
Group Jam Fest Pittsburgh at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh,
PA, which I will attend on April 17th-19th; the Hoop Group Jam Fest
Providence at Providence College in Providence, RI on April 24th-26th;
Hoop Group Jam Fest Southern at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in
Hampton, VA on May 8th-10th; Hoop Group Jam Fest Spring at the Hoop
Group Headquarters in Neptune, NJ on May 15th-17th; Summer Classic at
a location to be announced on July 11th-12th; and Hoop Group Jam Fest
West Virginia at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV on July
14th-16th. The Hoop Group Elite Pre
Summer Showcases are as follows:
Metro Pre Summer Showcase at Fairleigh Dickinson University in
Teaneck, NJ on June 20th-21st; New England Pre Summer Showcase at
Boston University in Boston, MA on June 27th-28th; and Northern Virginia
Pre Summer Showcase at the Hoop Magic Sports Academy in Chantilly, VA on
June 27th-28th. The schedule for Hoop Group Elite (formerly
Eastern Invitational) begins with Session I
at Albright College in Reading, PA on July 5th-8th followed by the
Elite Team Camp at Albright College in Reading, PA on July 9th-10th;
Session II at Albright College in Reading, PA on July 11th-14th;
Specialized Position Camp at Albright College in Reading, PA on July
15th-17th; Academic Elite at Albright College in Reading, PA on July
24th-27th; Session III at Albright College in Reading, PA on July
28th-31st, Junior Elite (grades 6th-9th) at Albright College in
Reading, PA on August 2nd-5th; and Session IV at Rutgers University
in Piscataway, NJ on August 11th-14th. And finally is the schedule for the
Hoop Group Skills Camp (formerly Pocono
Invitational),
which includes Skills Camps on July 6th-10th,
July 12th-16th, July 19th-23rd, July 26th-30th, and August 10th-14th;
Junior Elite Weekends on June 6th-7th and August 21st-22nd;
Specialized Position Weekend on June 13th-14th; Father/Son Weekends
on June 19th-21st, July 10th-12th, July 24th-26th, August 14th-16th, and
August 28th-30th; Shooting Skills Camps on June 15th-19th and August
30th-September 3rd; Point Guard Skills Camps on June 26th-28th and
July 17th-19th; Bob Hurley Skills Camps on June 28th-July 2nd and
August 16th-20th; and Kevin Boyle Skills Camp on August 23rd-27th.
For even more information about all of these events, click onto
Hoop Group.
Friday,
February 6, 2009
Earlier this week we thought the game big game this weekend between Santa
Ana (Mater Dei) CA and Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ in the NIKE
Extravaganza could very well determine the
national champion this year in high school basketball. But that was
put on hold two nights ago when Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ knocked off
Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 88-62. So, if Mater Dei emerges victorious
in tomorrow night's game, Monarch's head coach Gary McKnight and his
team should be in a perfect position to both go undefeated and win the
National Championship. However, if St. Benedict's manages to rebound
and pull off the upset, then suddenly the big game between Mouth of Wilson
(Oak Hill) VA and Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ in the Prime Time
Shootout a week from now could go a long way
towards determining this year's national champion. As things stand now
in Van Coleman's most recent national high school poll, which was
published yesterday and can found by going to
MaxxAthlete.com,
Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA is ranked #1 with a 23-0 record, followed by
2) Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA (30-0), 3) Henderson (Findlay
Prep) NV (21-0), 4) Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ (17-2), 5)
Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD (14-1), 6) Newark (St. Benedict's)
NJ (19-1), 7) Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN (16-0), 8) Birmingham
(Detroit Country Day) MI (14-0), 9) Houston (Strake Jesuit) TX
(28-0), 10) Mobile (LeFlore) AL (24-2), 11) Los Angeles
(Westchester) CA (22-1), 12) San Antonio (Madison) TX (28-1), 13)
Concord (De La Salle) CA (19-1), 14) Bloomington (South) IN
(15-0), 15) Boyd Anderson (Lauderdale Lake) FL (22-1), 16) Harvey
(Thornton) IL (18-1), 17) Compton (Dominguez) CA (19-4), 18)
Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA (18-3), 19) Oakland (McClymonds) CA
(20-1), 20) Washington (Gonzaga) DC (19-1), 21) Cincinnati
(Princeton) OH (14-1), 22) Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN
(15-2), 23) Arden (The Christ School) NC (28-2), 24) Indianapolis
(North Central) IN (15-1), 25) New York (Rice) NY (12-2), and 25)
Columbus (Northland) OH (13-1). St. Patrick is currently ranked
#9 by Jim Halley in the most recent USA Today Super 25 Rankings
and #5 in Chris Lawlor's ESPN Rise
Fab 50 Boys Rankings. But neither
of those polls have been updated since the game two nights ago between St.
Patrick and St Benedict and Donnie Wilkie tells us that St. Patrick
is a totally different team with 6'1 Jr Kyrie Irving, who transferred
from Montclair (Kimberly Academy NJ to Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ last
summer and, as a result, only recently became eligible. "I'd love to
see a rematch of the championship game in our tournament between Mater Dei
and St. Pat's," say Wilkie. "They're the best two teams in the
nation." And, if anybody knows, it's Wilkie, who not only sees more
than his share of the top high school teams in the nation, but also annually
puts together the field for the City of Palms Classic in Ft. Myers,
FL, which is widely recognized as the premier high school tournament in the
nation. Also extremely interesting is the fact that Oak Hill head
coach Steve Smith has a chance to win his seventh national
championship, according to the National Prep Poll archives, which
dates back to 1988 and includes Bronx (Tolentine) NY in 1988, Jersey City
(St. Anthony) NJ in 1989, Chicago (Martin Luther King) NY in 1990,
Philadelphia (Simon Gratz) PA in 1991, Baltimore (Dunbar) MD in 1992, Mouth
of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA in 1993, Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA in 1994, New
Orleans (St. Augustine) LA in 1995, Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ in 1996,
Peoria (Manual) IN in 1997, Frederick (St. John's at Prospect Hall) MD in
1998, Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) Va in 1999, Compton (Dominguez) CA in 2000,
Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA in 2001, Dallas (Lincoln) TX in 2002, Akron
(St. Vincent-St. Mary's) OH in 2003, Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA in 2004,
Niagara Falls (H.S.) NY in 2005, Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN in 2006,
Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA in 2007, and Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ in
2008. And, if we look at the archives for the USA Today's Super
25 poll, we also find that Oak Hill was the national champion in
2005, which means that Smith has actually already has won seven national
championships while year in-and-year out playing against one of the toughest
schedules in the nation. The only other coach on this list who has won
more than one championship is Bob Hurley of Jersey City (St.
Anthony's) NJ, who won this prestigious honor for the third time a year ago.
We also know that Stu Vetter, who is the now the head coach at
Rockville (Montrose Christian) MD, has a pair of national championships
dating back to 1986 when the USA Today ranked Oakton (Flint Hill) VA
as their #1 team and 1998 when Frederick (St. John's at Prospect Hall) MD
was the consensus #1-ranked team. Editor's Note:
Nobody covers high school basketball like the HOOP SCOOP and, if you
want to find out what happens in the NIKE
Extravaganza this weekend and the
Prime Time Shootout next weekend, obviously now is the
perfect time to
subscribe!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The
race really is too close to call among the top five players nationally in
our Ranking of the Top
750 Players Nationally in the Class of 2010,
which was published exclusively earlier today in the Members Section.
However, in the end, we gave the nod to 6'7 Jr DeShaun Thomas from
Ft. Wayne (Bishop Luers) IN, who not only is on track to break Damon
Bailey's all-time career scoring record in the state, but also has
developed much more of a scorer's mentality, as he still has the size and
strength to play inside at the high school, but also now has the perimeter
skills and ability to create his own shot necessary to be a terrific player
someday at the highest level. We also have to give serious consideration to
6'8 Jr Tristan Thompson from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'7 Jr
Jared Sullinger from Columbus (Northland) OH, 6'2 Jr Brandon Knight
from Ft. Lauderdale (Pine Crest) FL, and 6'11 Jr Jeremy Tyler from
San Diego (H.S.) CA. And, while Tyler is definitely the best prospect, he
still needs to earn it. Remember, this is the guy who was anointed by some
of our competitors as the top player nationally in his class at a very young
age, but until recently has not even come close to showing the consistency
and maturity necessary to handle the notoriety and attention that goes along
with being the top dog. Knight is an incredible athlete and has superstar
written all over him. But he needs to tone himself down a little bit at
times and make better decisions. In other words, he needs to be quick, but
not in so much of a hurry. Sullinger , who is a beast inside with his
killer demeanor, high skill level, and nose for the ball, is still arguably
the best player on the class right now. However, as a 6'7 power forward, he
also has the least amount of upside among the five players mentioned above.
Thompson is a multi-dimensional and very skilled athlete, but we'd still
like for him to be more aggressive at times. But, then again, Sullinger may
end up being the best player on the #1-ranked high school team in the
nation, if St. Benedict's knocks off Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA in the
NIKE Extravaganza this weekend in Santa Ana, CA. And, if any of
these guys stub their toe, 6'2 Jr Josh Selby from Hyattsville (DeMatha)
MD, who is ranked #6 in our
Ranking of the Top 750 Players Nationally in the Class of 2010,
is more than ready to step
up and take their place after edging out
6'5 Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'9 Derrick
Favors from Atlanta (South Atlanta) GA, 6'2 Kenny Boynton from
Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 6'11 Demarcus Cousins from Mobile
(LeFlore) AL, and 6'6 Xavier Henry from Oklahoma City (Putnam City)
OK, who are five of the consensus top six-ranked seniors in the nation, for
top player honors at the Spalding HoopHall Classic a couple of
weeks ago at Blake Arena in Springfield, MA. We also think 6'5 Jr
Harrison Barnes from Ames (H.S.) IA, who was the best player on the
first day at the LeBron James Skills Academy last summer in Akron,
OH, could end up being ranked among the top five players nationally in the
class. But we're not as sold on 6'8 Jr Josh Smith from Kent
(Kentwood) WA, whose final three appear to be UCLA, Louisville, and
Washington, as a lot of people. First of all, Smith is 6'8, not 6'10, which
is the high at which he is frequently listed. He's also more of a power guy
out of the same mold as Louisville's Samardo Samuels, and, as a
result, we have some questions about his speed, quickness, and size when
projecting him to be a great player at the highest level. The other big
story with regards to Class of 2010 is the fact that an overwhelming number
of the top players nationally are already verbally committed. This list
includes 6'7 Jr DeShaun Thomas from Ft. Wayne (Bishop Luers) IN to
Ohio State, 6'8 Jr Tristan Thompson from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ
to Texas, 6'7 Jr Jared Sullinger from Columbus (Northland) OH to Ohio
State, 6'11 Jr Jeremy Tyler from San Diego (H.S.) CA to Louisville,
6'2 Jr Josh Selby from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD to Tennessee, 6'2 Jr
Gary Franklin from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA to USC, 6'2 Jr Dion
Waiters from Burlington (Life Center) NJ to Syracuse, 6'8 Jr Josh
Hairston from Spotsylvania (Courtland) VA to Duke, 6'5 Jr James Bell
from Montverde (Academy) FL to Villanova, 6'6 Jr Jereme Richmond
from Waukegan (H.S.) IL to Illinois, 6'7 Jr Tyler Lamb from Santa Ana
(Mater Dei) CA to UCLA, 6'4 Jr J.T. Terrell from Burlington
(Cummings) NC to Wake Forest, 6'4 Jr Kendall Marshall from Arlington
(Bishop O'Connell) VA to North Carolina, 6'3 Jr Reggie Bullock from
Kinston (H.S.) NC to North Carolina, 6'3 Jr Keith Appling from
Detroit (Pershing) MI to Michigan State, 6'4 Jr Crandall Head from
Richton Park (Rich South) IL to Illinois, 6'7 Jr Justin Martin from
Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN to Louisville, and 6'2 Jr Tony Chennault
from Philadelphia (Neumann-Goretti) PA to Wake Forest. That's 18 of
30-top ranked players in the Class of 2010 who are already off the board.
And, when we dig a little deeper, we also find that nearly half of the top
100-ranked juniors nationally are already verbally committed, as we've also
tracked commitments by 6'8 Jr C.J. Leslie from Raleigh (Word of God)
NC to N.C. State, 6'9 Jr Dominique Ferguson from Indianapolis
(Lawrence North) IN to Kentucky, 6'1 Jr Markel Starks from Bethesda
(Georgetown Prep) GA to Georgetown, 6'5 Jr Daniel Bejarano from
Phoenix (North) AZ to Texas, 6'8 Jr Nate Lubick from Southborough
(St. Mark's) MA to Georgetown, 6'7 Jr Jarrell Eddie from Concord
(Cannon School) NC to Virginia Tech, 6'0 Jr K.C. Ross-Miller from
Irving (God's Academy) TX to Kentucky, 6'3 Jr Jordan Sibert from
Cincinnati (Princeton) OH to Ohio State, 6'6 Jr Josh Langford from
Huntsville (J.O. Johnson) AL to Louisville, 6'8 Jr Patric Young from
Jacksonville (Paxson) TX to Florida, 6'9 Jr Perry Jones from
Duncanville (H.S.) TX to Baylor, 6'1 Jr Noah Cottrell from Poca (H.S.)
WA to West Virginia, 6'4 Jr Jordan McRae from Hinesville (Liberty
County) GA to Tennessee, 6'11 Jr Evan Anderson from Eau Claire
(North) WI to Wisconsin, 6'7 Jr Dwayne Polee from Los Angeles
(Westchester) CA to USC, 6'4 Jr Anthony Johnson from Chicago (Whitney
Young) IL to Purdue, 6'1 Jr Tyler Thornton from Washington (Gonzaga)
DC to Duke, 5'10 Jr Juwan Staten from Dayton (Thurgood Marshall) OH
to Dayton, 6'2 Jr Isaiah Epps from Plainfield (H.S.) NJ to
Pittsburgh, 6'11 Jr Baye Moussa Keita from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill)
VA to Syracuse, 6'2 Jr Kendall Williams from Rancho Cucamonga (Los
Osos) CA to UCLA, 6'8 Jr Okaro White from Clearwater (H.S.) FL to
Florida State, 6'4 Jr Andre Dawkins from Chesapeake (Atlantic Shores
Christian) VA to Duke, 6'2 Jr Royce Woolridge from Phoenix (Sunny
Slope) AZ to Kansas, 6'0 Jr Eric Smith from Mullins (H.S.) SC to
South Carolina, 6'10 Jr Meyers Leonard from Robinson (H.S.) IL to
Illinois, 6'8 Jr Cody Larson from Sioux Falls (Roosevelt) SD to Iowa,
6'3 Jr Vander Blue from Madison (Memorial) WI to Wisconsin, and 6'5
Jr Russell Byrd from Ft. Wayne (Blackhawk Christian) IN to Michigan
State. We're talking about 47 of the top 100-ranked players being gone a
full nine months before the beginning of next year's Fall Signing Period,
which always begins on the second Wednesday in November. To find out where
all of these players are ranked, as well as get the complete list of the top
750 juniors nationally, now is the perfect time to
subscribe
to the Members Section.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
With yesterday's resignation of Mark Gottfried at the University of
Alabama, this year's coaching merry-go-round has official begun. And
already we're hearing names like UAB's Mike Davis, Missouri's Mike
Anderson, Minnesota's Tubby Smith, Xavier's Sean Miller,
and Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant being mentioned as
potential candidates to become the next head coach of the Crimson Tide.
Davis obviously makes perfect sense due to the fact that he was named the
state's Mr. Basketball as a senior in high school in 1979, played at Alabama
for both C.J. Newton and Wimp Sanderson in the early 80's, and
is still the favorite to sign 6'10 DeMarcus Cousins from Mobile (LeFlore)
AL this spring. If you will recall, UAB landed Cousins a year ago, but our
#4-ranked senior nationally recently re-opened his recruitment after the
Blazers refused to write an escape clause into his National Letter-of-Intent
in case Davis left for a another job. So now Cousins is considering schools
like Memphis, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Kansas State, Washington, and any
place else Davis gets a head coaching job this spring. Anderson also would
make perfect sense due to the fact that he had so much success at UAB prior
to taking the Tigers job three years ago and the word on the street is that
he'd like to get out Missouri, if the right SEC job opened. Smith is in the
Catbird seat, because he's making close to $2 million a year at Minnesota,
he's already turned the program around (his team is currently 17-3 in year
two), and his second top 20-ranked recruiting class is on the way with
players like 6'7 Royce White from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN, 6'7
Rodney Williams from New Hope (Robbinsdale Cooper) MN, 6'7 Trevor
Mbakwe from Miami-Dade (JC) FL, and 6'2 Justin Cobbs from
Torrance (Bishop Montgomery) CA already in the fold. But the Crimson Tide
has a lot of money, so getting Smith shouldn't be a problem if they decide
that he's their man. The same also can be said about Miller, whose team won
30 games a year ago and is back in the top 10 in the latest polls again this
year. Remember, Miller has a ridiculous buy-out, but he's not going to stay
at Xavier forever. Grant has been one of the hottest young up-and-coming
guys in the business ever since his the Rams knocked off Duke two years ago
in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and his team currently is ranked
#1 in the league with an 8-1 record. However, our Alabama Editor Mark
Komara tells us that the best choice might be former Alabama
All-American and Houston Rockets assistant coach T.R. Dunn. Dunn has
no head coaching experience at the college level, but he is one of the
highest paid assistant coaches in the NBA, was an assistant coach for the
Crimson Tide in 2001-02, and was one of the best defensive guards in the NBA
during his 14-year playing career. "Dunn embellishes everything positive
that Alabama basketball has ever stood for," says Komara. "He also would be
a great recruiter and would put the toughness that has been missing since he
left six years ago back into the program." To our knowledge the only other
head coaching job that we know for sure will be open this spring is the
University of Arizona and right now the list of potential candidates is
almost endless, as we've heard everybody from Louisville's Rick Pitino,
Memphis' John Calipari, Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, Minnesota's
Tubby Smith, Gonzaga's Mark Few, Xavier's Sean Miller,
Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant, Washington State's Tony
Bennett, Baylor's Scott Drew, UNLV's Lon Kruger, St.
Mary's Randy Bennett, San Diego's Bill Grier, and Reggie
Theus of the Sacramento Kings being mentioned as potential candidates
for the job. However, in this case, money may be a problem, as major
cut-backs in the state's university system and jealous college
administrators may prevent the school from shelling out the type of money
that the Wildcats will need to get most of the guys on their "A" list to
give this job serious consideration. Besides, the program's recruiting was
totally devastated by the timing of Lute Olson's retirement last
October and, as a result, their recruiting has been set back at least
several years. The next job that may open is the University of Oregon,
which currently is 6-14 overall and 0-8 in the league. If you will recall,
Ducks head coach Ernie Kent has been one step ahead of beating the
posse the last several years, thanks to the fact that his team's have gone
47-22 and advanced to the NCAA each of the last two years. However, this
year is a rebuilding year and, as a result, the door appears to have been
opened for the athletic director to make the move and somebody like
Gonzaga's Mark Few or Duke assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski
to get the job. And, if you don't believe that a Duke assistant coach can
get a head coaching job in the Pacific-10 Conference, the obvious precedent
is first-year Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins making the move a
year ago. And don't forget that Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski has
all the ties necessary with NIKE President Phil Knight to get this
one done. As for Few, he was born in Creswell, OR and is a graduate of the
University of Oregon, which means making the move back to Eugene, OR will be
like going home. We also think it's interesting that Oregon assistant coach
Kenny Payne, who is responsible for recruiting most of the good young
players in the Oregon program, will probably be apart of the package,
because he's one of the few assistant coaches with a multi-year deal and has
close ties to Phil Knight. From there the list of big time jobs that
may open this spring is seemingly almost endless, as N.C. State's Sidney
Lowe, Virginia's Dave Leitao, Maryland's Gary Williams,
Georgia's Dennis Felton, St. John's Norm Roberts, DePaul's
Jerry Wainwright, Seton Hall's Bobby Gonzalez, Rutgers' Fred
Hill, and Northwestern's Billy Carmody are among the names that
we're hearing are on the hot seat. Obviously that last one might surprise
you after the Wildcats recently knocked off both Minnesota and Michigan
State. But those in the know are telling us that Northwestern needs to win
at least seven league games for Carmody to keep his job. So with Indiana,
Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, and Iowa at home and Iowa,
Minnesota, Indiana, Purdue, and Ohio State on the road, the Wildcats will
have to go at least 5-6 the rest of the way, if our source is correct. One
guy who does appear to be safe is Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt, despite
the fact the Yellow Jackets are currently only 9-10 overall and 0-6 in the
league. Not only did Hewitt and his staff recently land 6'9 Derrick
Favors from Atlanta (South Atlanta) GA, but they also have the
#10-ranked recruiting class on our list of the Top Recruiting Classes
To-Date for the Class of 2009 with 6'2 Mfon Udofia from Stone
Mountain (Miller Grove) GA, 6'8 Kammeron Holsey from
Sparta (Hancock Central) GA, 6'4 Glen Rice from Marietta (Walton) GA,
and 6'6 Brian Oliver from Newcaslte (William Penn) DE also already in
the fold.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
We
knew that five of the consensus top six-ranked seniors in the nation would
be participating in the
Spalding HoopHall Classic
when we arrived in Springfield, MA three days ago and we were hoping that
6'5 Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'9 Derrick
Favors from Atlanta (South Atlanta) GA, 6'2 Kenny Boynton from
Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 6'11 Demarcus Cousins from Mobile
(LeFlore) AL, or 6'6 Xavier Henry from Oklahoma City (Putnam City) OK
would step up and make a strong case for being ranked as the #1 player in
the country. But it didn't happen, as Boynton and Cousins didn't shoot
well, Stephenson and Henry both appear to have lost a lot of their
explosiveness and athleticism, and Favors is still missing that killer
and, despite the fact that his statistics are impressive, we still expected
more if he wants to be the best player in the nation. So, as things stand
now, we are leaning towards making 6'3 Avery Bradley from Henderson
(Findlay) NV, who was not at the
Spalding HoopHall Classic,
but plays for the #2-ranked team in the nation in today's USA Today
Super 25 High School Rankings. Bradley plays incredible defense, has
tremendous athleticism and explosiveness, can play either guard spot, is a
relentless competitor and never takes a possessions a off, and continues to
get better and better every time we see him play. Another surprise is that
our #1-ranked player in the entire event was 6'2 Jr Josh Selby from
Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, who made a strong case with his 28 points and
12-15 field goals for a top-five national ranking when we publish our
updated List of the Top Players Nationally in the Class of 2010 later
this month. Selby is another guy who is really hungry and, with his skills,
strength, and athleticism, he was almost unstoppable in transition, as his
team totally crushed Philadelphia (Neumann-Goretti) PA. However, the race
for the #1-ranking at the
Spalding HoopHall Classic
was
almost too close to call between Selby and 6'9 Keith "Tiny" Gallon
from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who did a great job of stepping away
from the basket and negating Favors' size and athleticism with his 22
points, 13 rebounds, and 6-9 3-point shooting. And rounding out our top
five-ranked players at the
Spalding HoopHall Classic
in order are 3) 6'10 Travis Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, who
finished with 24 points, five rebounds, and 12-15 field goals against
Chicago (Whitney Young) IL; 4) 6'9 Derrick Favors from Atlanta (South
Atlanta) GA, who had 25 points, 17 rebounds, and 11-21 field goals against
Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA; and 5) 6'7 Jamal Coombs-McDaniel from
Tilton (School) NH, who had 33 points and nine rebounds against Lakeville
(Hotchkiss) CT. We also find it interesting that those same were the five
players named to the First Team All-Tournament. But this comes as no
surprise to us, because this was one of the best high school basketball
events I've ever covered and everything went just like clock work. In other
words, the people who run this event really are on top of their game. As
for the rest of our List of the Top 50 Players at this event, it is as
follows: 6) 6'10 David Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 7) 6'9
Alex Oriakhi from Tilton (School) NH, 8) 6'2 Jr Gary Franklin
from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 9) 6'8 Jr Devon Collier from Jersey
City (St. Anthony) NJ, 10) 6'2 Soph Derrick Wilson from Lakeville
(Hotchkiss) CT, 11) 6'11 Demarcus Cousins from Mobile (LeFlore) AL,
12) 6'9 Jr Tristan Thompson from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 13) 6'5
Lamar Patterson from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 14) 6'9 Jr Justin
Johnson from Montverde (Academy) FL, 15) 6'10 Erik Murphy from
Southborough (St. Mark's) MA, 16) 6'2 Kenny Boynton from Plantation
(American Heritage) FL, 17) 6'8 Andy Brown from Santa Ana (Mater Dei)
CA, 18) 6'3 Chris Colvin from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, 19) 6'5
Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 20) 6'0 Jr Cedrick
Lindsay from Washington (Gonzaga) DC, 21) 6'8 Chris Braswell from
Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, 22) 6'2 Vincent Council from Lenoir
(Patterson School) NC, 23) 6'8 James Padgett from Brooklyn (Lincoln)
NY, 24) 6'7 Ari Stewart from Marietta (Wheeler) GA, 25) 6'2 Tamir
Jackson from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 26) 6'2 Jr Tony Chennault
from Philadelphia (Neumann-Goretti) PA, 27) 6'5 Jr James Bell from
Montverde (Academy) FL, 28) 6'8 Richard Howell from Marietta
(Wheeler) GA, 29) 6'6 Xavier Henry from Oklahoma City (Putnam City)
OK, 30) 6'9 Jr Carson Desrosiers from Lawrence (Central Catholic) MA,
31) 6'4 Jr Anthony Johnson from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, 32) 5'5
Raymond Taylor from Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 33) 5'9 Jr
Phil Taylor from Marietta (Wheeler) GA, 34) 6'9 Rashanti Harris
from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 35) 6'5 Preye Preboye from
Winchendon (School) MA, 36) 6'5 Maurice Creek from Chatham (Hargrave
Military) VA, 37) 6'11 Hassan Whiteside from Lenoir (Patterson
School) NC, 38) 6'7 Ian Hummer from Washington (Gonzaga) DC, 39) 6'1
Yves Jules from Winchendon (School) MA, 40) 6'4 Darryl Woods
from Mobile (LeFlore) AL, 41) 6'8 Nate Lubick from Southborough (St.
Mark's) MA, 42) 6'3 Ledrick Eackles from Chatham (Hargrave Military)
VA, 43) 6'6 Jr Jason Morris from Lakeville (Hotchkiss) CA, 44) 6'3
Marcus Jordan from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL, 45) 6'11 Anthony
Jordan Henriquez from Winchendon (School) MA, 46) 6'8 Sampson Carter
from Winchendon (School) MA, 47) 6'4 Sherrod Wright from Mt.
Vernon (H.S.) NY, 48) 6'5 Andre Malone from Atlanta (South Atlanta)
GA, 49) 6'6 Naji Hibbert from Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD, and 50) 6'7
Hassan Toler from New Haven (Hillhouse) CT. Also noteworthy is how
low big name players like Demarcus Cousins, Kenny Boynton,
Lance Stephenson, and Xavier Henry are on the above list and the
fact that 6'5 Dominic Cheek from Jersey City (St. Anthony) NJ, 6'8
DeShawn Painter from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, 6'2 Jr Tyler
Thornton from Washington (Gonzaga) DC, 6'9 Andre Gillette from
Philadelphia (Neumann-Goretti) PA, and 6'3 Tahj Tate from Marietta
(Wheeler) GA didn't play well enough to make the list all. We also are
intrigued by the fact that there were seven players who scored 20 or more
points and grabbed 10 or more rebounds in their game. This list includes
6'9 Derrick Favors from Marietta (Wheeler) GA with 25 points and 17
rebounds, 6'9 Jr Justin Johnson from Montverde (Academy) FL with 24
points and 15 rebounds, 6'9 Alex Oriakhi from Tilton (School) NH with
23 points and 17 rebounds, 6'9 Jr Carson Desrosiers from Lawrence
(Central Catholic) MA with 23 points and 13 rebounds, 6'8 Keith "Tiny"
Gallon from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA with 22 points and 13
rebounds, 6'10 Erik Murphy from Southborough (St. Mark's) MA with 21
points and 13 rebounds, and 6'9 Jr Tristan Thompson from Newark (St.
Benedict's) NJ with 20 points and 13 rebounds. The only two players at the
event to score 30 or more points were 6'7 Jamal Coombs-McDaniel from
Tilton (School) NH with 33 points and 6'2 Soph Derrick Wilson from
Lakeville (Hotchkiss) CT and the only player to reach the 20-rebound plateau
was 6'10 Demarcus Cousins from Mobile (LeFlore) AL.
Editor's Note: To get all
the highlights and more insight into how we arrived at the above rankings
from our three days at the Spalding HoopHall Classic, now is
the
subscribe
to the Members Section.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Today was a slow day for recruiting information, so I turned my focus onto
updating our
Links
page, which is second to none in terms of providing you easy access to just
about all of the important basketball recruiting web sites on the internet.
In the left hand column we provide you with a list of links to most of our
competition, most of the top college basketball internet web sites,
Newspapers.com,
and all of the
College &
University Web Sites.
The second and third columns include a list of links broken down
geographically with regional and local recruiting web sites, high school
tournaments, and some of the top AAU and club teams in the nation. The
fourth column features a list of links to some of the top camps, all-star
games, tournaments, and events in the nation, as well as links to the
Official site of the
NBA,
Official site of the
NCAA,
and
Official site of the
NJCAA.
We also have added some new links including the one right at the top of the
first column to
MaxxAthlete,
which, along with the HOOP SCOOP, is your best source if you are
looking for a plethora of information. Other new links that we added
include
Hoopville,
MaxPreps.com,
FoxSports.com,
New York
Gauchos,
Capitol Hoops,
Boo Williams
AAU Basketball,
Carolina Flight,
Georgia Stars,
Marshall County Hoop
Fest,
King of the Bluegrass
Holiday Classic,
Proviso West
Holiday Tournament,
USEliteBasketball.com,
BigShots,
GenerationNextBasketball.com,
and
Adidas 5ive Classic.
We encourage you to check out each and
every one of these web sites and, even though in some cases they're our
competition, we're confident that it will continue to be obvious that we
still have the best recruiting information and player rankings available on
the internet.
We
also are interested in your in-put in terms of additional links that you
think we should add to this list and, as a result, encourage you email me at
hoopscooponline@msn.com.
Friday,
January 9, 2009
I'm
kidding when I say that there are going to be more events than there are
players some day. But it does illustrate just how out of control the
proliferation of events has become in recent years. I mention this because
I've been working on updating our
Calendar of Events,
which is available by clicking onto
Dates/Future Events.
However, I'm still far from being finished, as this
list does not yet include any of the dates for the Five-Star Basketball
Camp and it does not have most of dates for the numerous camps,
tournaments, and events that will take place under the Hoop Group
umbrella. But it does provide a great starting point, as most of the major
events that I plan to attend this winter, spring, and summer are included on
the list. We start with the Republic Bank/Coca-Cola Boys (L.I.T.)
Louisville Invitational Tournament,
which will be held next week in Louisville, KY, followed by the
Spalding Hoophall Classic at Blake Arena in
Springfield College in Springfield, MA on January 16th-19th, the
U.S. Superior Skills Camp at Texas
Christian University in Ft. Worth, TX on January 23rd-25th, the
NIKE Extravaganza
at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, CA on February
7th, the NIKE Super Six at
Fordham University in the Bronx, NY on February 13th, the Prime
Time Shootout at Sovereign Bank Arena in
Trenton, NJ on February 14th-15th, the National Prep Alliance
Invitational in Ft. Worth, TX on February
18th-22nd, the NCAA Final Four in
Detroit, MI on April 4th-6th, the Las Vegas Easter Classic
in Las Vegas, NV on April 9th-12th, the
Hoop Group Jam Fest Pittsburgh at the
University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA on April 17th-19th, the
Bill Henlsey Memorial Run-N-Slam All-Star Classic
at the Spiece Fieldhouse in Ft. Wayne, IN on May
1st-3rd, the Arizona Cactus Classic
at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ on May 8th-10th, the
Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions in
Chapel Hill, NC on May 22nd-24th, the Pangos All-American Camp
in Long Beach, CA on May 29th-31st, the
Generation Next All-Star Camp at the Al
McGuire Center in Milwaukee, WI on June 12th-14th, the NBA
Players Association Top 100 Camp in
Charlottesville, VA on June 16th-21st, the Phenom Top 150 Camp
at Alliant University in San Diego, CA on June
26th-28th, the LeBron James Skills Academy
at the University of Akron in Akron, OH
on July 6th-8th; the Reebok All-American Camp
in Philadelphia, PA on July 6th-10th, the Big Shots Atlantic
Slam II in Myrtle Beach, SC on July 11th-12th,
the NIKE Peach Jam
in South Augusta, SC on July 13th-15th, the
adidas Super 64 Tournament,
Main Event, and Reebok Summer
Championships, all of which will be held in
Las Vegas, NV on July 22nd-26th, the Phoenix Desert Duel
in Phoenix, AZ, July 27th-28th, the AAU
17-Under Nationals
at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista,
FL on July 29th-August 1st, the AAU 14-Under Nationals
at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista,
FL on August 1st-6th, and the Junior Phenon Camp
in San Diego, CA on August 7th-9th. Obviously all of
this is subject to change and other camps, tournament, and events will
attended to the list as more information becomes available. Also, if you
now about a camp, tournament, or event that you think should be included
onto this list, now is a great time to email me information at
hoopscooponline@msn.com.
Friday,
January 2, 2009
Now
that the holiday basketball tournament season is over it the perfect time to
incorporate all of the new things that we have seen during the last several
weeks and publish our
HOOP SCOOP All-American Teams,
feature our ranking of the top 100 high school players nationally regardless
of class and position. And the most striking thing about these new rankings
is the fact that the sophomore class is clearly emerging as the next great
class in high school basketball, as four of top 10-ranked players, six of
our top 30-ranked players, 10 of our top 55-ranked players, and 15 of our
top 100-ranked players are in the Class of 2011. We're talking about 6'8
Soph Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'3 Soph
Tony Wroten from Seattle (Garfinkel) WA, 6'8 Soph LaQuinton Ross
from Jackson (Murrah) MS, 6'3 Soph Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.)
FL, 6'3 Soph Trevor Lacey from Huntsville (Butler) AL, 6'5 Soph
Wayne Blackshear from Chicago (Curie) IL, 6'7 Soph LaByan Nash
from Dallas (Lincoln) TX, 6'7 Soph Chane Behanan from Cincinnati
(Aiken) OH, 6'7 Soph Aaron Ross from Little Rock (Parkview) AR, 6'8
Soph Mike Shaw from Chicago (De La Salle) IL, 6'9 Soph Rakeem
Christmas from Philadelphia (Northeast) PA, 6'1 Soph Marques Teague
from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, 6'1 Soph Myck Kabongo from Newark
(St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'5 Soph P.J. Hairston from Greensboro (Dudley)
NC, and 6'1 Soph Jamal Branch from Atascocita (H.S.) TX. And it will
be interesting to see anybody in this class someday ends up reaching the
level of Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, who were our #1 and
#2-ranked players in the Class of 2006, and whether collectively the top
players in this class turn out to be as good as our top nine-ranked players
- Kevin Love, Eric Gordon, O.J. Mayo, Michael
Beasley, Jerryd Bayless, Kyle Singler, Donte Green,
Derrick Rose, and Kosta Koufos - in the Class of 2007. Or
will this class go South, like the current senior class, which accounts for
less than half of the players on our list of 20-five mans teams, which make
up our HOOP SCOOP
All-American Teams?
The actual breakdown
includes seven 5th Year Players, 49 seniors, 29 juniors, 15 sophomores, and
zero freshmen, which means that nobody in the Class of 2012 has stepped up
yet and proven that he is ready to be a dominant force at the high school
level. However, we do think that the Class of 2012 features several
players, like 5'11 Frosh J'Michal Reese from Bryan (H.S.) TX, 6'7
Frosh Perry Ellis from Wichita (Heights) KS, and 6'6 Frosh Kyle
Anderson from Paterson (Catholic) NJ, who are destined for greatness.
We also think it is interesting to point out that we had to make some very
difficult decisions when compiling this list. Like who was going to be on
the First Team. As a matter of fact, 6'5 Lance Stephenson from
Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'9 Derrick Favors from Atlanta (South
Atlanta) GA, 6'2 Avery Bradley from Henderson (Findlay Prep) NV, 6'2
Kenny Boynton from Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 6'8 Soph
Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'6 Xavier Henry
from Oklahoma City (Putnam City) OK, 6'3 John Wall from Raleigh
(Word of God) NC, 6'3 Soph Tony Wroten from Seattle (Garfield) WA,
and 6'8 Soph LaQuinton Ross from Jackson (Murrah) MS all received
serious consideration when it came to picking the top five players in the
nation regardless of class and position. In the final analysis we decided
to go with the first five mentioned players. If you will recall, we're down
on Wall, because he takes too many possessions off and he makes lousy
decisions, which result in too many turnovers. Ross and Wroten haven't
earned it yet like Gilchrist, who was our #1-ranked player last summer at
the LeBron James Skills Academy and was named the MVP earlier this
week at the Beach Ball Classic. And we're not sure what to do about
Henry, who has amazing natural talent, skills, and versatility, but has been
slowed by injuries and, as a result, has not lived up expectations the last
several times we're seen him play. We also didn't name a MVP like we
usually do, which means that the race for top player honors is totally up
for grabs and will be determined by what happens the rest of the season and
in the post season all-star games, like the McDonald's All-American Game,
which will be played this year on Wednesday, April 1st, at the Bank United
Center in Miami, FL, and the Jordan Brand Classic, which will be
played on Saturday, April 18th, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
We also think the race is still too close to call among the top players in
the Class of 2010. And this is illustrated by the fact that we have 6'7 Jr
DeShaun Thomas from Ft. Wayne (Bishop Luers) IN, 6'6 Jr Jared
Sullinger from Columbus (Northland) OH, 6'8 Jr Tristan Thompson
from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, and 6'2 Jr Brandon Knight from Ft.
Lauderdale (Pine Crest) FL all ranked on the Third Team and 6'10 Jr
Jeremy Tyler from San Diego (H.S.) CA and 6'5 Jr Harrison Barnes
from Ames (H.S.) IA right behind them on the Fourth Team. Also noteworthy
is the fact that we have 6'9 Renardo Sidney from Los Angeles
(Fairfax) CA on the Fourth Team, despite the fact we had ranked #39
nationally when we published our list of the top 1000 seniors two months
ago. In other words, although we don't like Sidney's attitude, but he
always seems to get the better of 6'10 Jr Jeremy Tyler from San Diego
(H.S.) CA in their head-to-head match-ups. So to rank Tyler any higher
Sidney would be a little bit ridiculous. Besides, Sidney has the talent,
skills, and potential to be as good as anybody in the class, if he ever
decides to step up and want it bad enough.
Editor's Note:
To find out exactly where all of the above mentioned players ranked and to
see actually who is on the list now is the perfect time to
subscribe
to the Members Section.
Sunday,
December 28, 2008
Today
is a dead day for all of the high school basketball tournaments that we're
covering between Christmas and New Year's, but tomorrow I'll be in Raleigh,
NC for the second round of action of the
Glaxo-Smith-Kline Invitational
at
Broughton High School; Tuesday, December 30th, I'll be in Waxhaw, NC for the
second round of action
of
the
Bojangles High School Shootout
at Marvin Ridge High School; and on Wednesday, December 31st, I'll be back
in Myrtle Beach, SC for the finals of the
Beach Ball Classic
at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. The schedule for tomorrow's
Glaxo-Smith-Kline Invitational
begins with a girls game at 11:00 AM, followed by a loser's bracket
semi-finals game with Richland (North Richland Hills) TX versus Toronto
(Father Carr) ON at 12:40 PM, a loser's bracket semi-finals game with Rocky
Mount (H.S.) NC versus Huntersville (North Mecklenburg) NC at 2:20 PM, a
loser's bracket semi-finals game with Durham (Southern Lee) NC versus Apex
(Middle Creek) NC at 4:00 PM, a winner's bracket semi-finals game with
Knightdale (H.S) NC versus Roswell (Centennial) GA at 5:40 PM, a winner's
bracket semi-final game with Kinston (H.S.) NC versus Arden (The Christ
School) NC at 7:20 PM, and a winner's bracket semi-final game with Raleigh
(Word of God) NC versus Bronx (St. Raymond's) NC at 9:00 PM. Then, on
Tuesday, December 30th, there will be two 5th Place games at 11:00 AM and
12:40 PM, two 3rd Place games at 2:20 PM, and 5:40 PM, the Championship Game
in the Summit Hospitality Group Invitational at 7:20 PM, and the
Championship Game in the Shavlik Randolph Foundation Invitational at
9:00 PM.
The first round of
first action tomorrow at
the
Bojangles High School Shootout
will include Concord (H.S.) NC versus Burlington (Cummings) NC at 10:30 AM,
Forestville (Bishop McNamara) MD versus Norcross (H.S.) GA at 12:30 PM,
Memphis (White Station) TN versus Towson (Catholic) MD at 2:30 PM, Middle
Village (Christ the King) NY versus Bradenton (Pendleton School) NC at 4:30
PM, and Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA versus Charlotte (West Mecklenburg)
NC at 8:30 PM in the Marvin Ridge High School Gym and Charlotte (Myers Park)
NC versus Charlotte (Country Day School) NC at 10:00 AM, Charlotte (Latin)
NC versus Huntersville (Hopewell) NC at 6:00 PM, and Concord (Cannon School)
NC versus Charlotte (Harding) NC at 8:00 PM in the Marvin Ridge Middle
School Gym. So, by the time I've arrived on Tuesday, December 30th, things
should really be interesting as it will be the Cannon School/Harding winner
versus the Hopewell/Charlotte Latin winner at 10:30 AM, the White
Station/Towson Catholic winner versus the Bishop McNamara/Norcross winner at
2:30 PM; the Bishop O'Connell/West Mecklenburg winner versus the Christ the
King/Pendleton School winner at 6:30 PM, and the Myers Park/Country Day
winner versus the Concord/Cummings winner at 8:30 PM at Marvin Ridge High
School and the Bishop O'Connell/West Mecklenburg loser versus the Pendleton
School/Christ the King loser at Noon, the Myers Park/Country Day loser
versus the Concord/Cummings loser at 4:00 PM, the White Station/Towson
Catholic loser versus the Norcross/Bishop McNamara loser at 6:00 PM, and the
Cannon School/Harding loser versus the Hopewell/Charlotte Latin loser at
8:00 PM. Then, after I'm long gone on the final day there will be a
Local-Regional 3rd Place at 9:00 AM, a National 3rd Place Game at 1:00 PM, a
Local-Regional Championship Game at 5:15 PM, and National Boys Championship
Game at 7:15 PM at Marvin Ridge High School and a National 7th Place Game at
11:15 AM, a Local-Regional 5th Place Game at 1:00 PM, and National 5th Place
Game at 2:45 PM at Marvin Ridge Junior High School. The also will be a
Local-Regional Place Game in Gym #3 at Marvin Ridge High School at 10:00
AM. When the action resumes tomorrow at the
Beach Ball Classic
in Myrtle Beach, SC it will be Greenville (Southside) SC versus Fayetteville
(Fayette County) GA at Noon, Toronto (Pickering) ON versus Greenville (J.L.
Mann) SC at 1:45 PM, and Sandy Hook (Elliott County) KY versus Myrtle Beach
(H.S.) SC at 3:30 PM in loser's bracket games and Marietta (Wheeler) GA
versus Brooklyn (Boys & Girls) NY at 5:15 PM, Cedar Hill (H.S.) TX versus
Los Angeles (Martin Luther King) CA at 7:00 PM, and Jacksonville (Arlington
Country Day) FL versus Fairless Hills (H.S.) PA at 8:45 PM in the other
three quarterfinals games. Then, on Tuesday, December 30th, it will be
Myrtle Beach (Socastee) SC versus the Southside/Fayette County loser at
10:15 AM, Paterson Catholic versus the Arlington Country Day/Pennsbury loser
at Noon, the Wheeler/Boys & Girls loser versus the Cedar Hill/Martin Luther
King loser at 1:45 PM, Mullins (H.S.) SC versus the Southside/Fayette County
winner at 3:30 PM, the Pickering/J.L. Mann winner versus Elliott
County/Myrtle Beach winner at 5:15 PM, Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ versus the
Arlington Country Day/Pennsbury winner at 7:00 PM, and the Wheeler/Boys &
Girls winner versus the Cedar Hill/Martin Luther King winner at 8:45 PM.
And I will get back on the final day, Wednesday, December 31st, just in time
to watch the Pickering/J.L. Mann loser versus the Elliott County/Myrtle
Beach loser at Noon, the Consolation Championship at 1:45 PM, the 5th Place
Game at 3:30 PM, the 3rd Place Game at 5:30, and the Championship Game at
7:30 PM.
Editor's Note: To get our
exclusive coverage of the Beach Ball Classic
in Myrtle Beach, SC,
the
Bojangles High School Shootout
in Charlotte, NC, and the
Glaxo-Smith-Kline Invitational
in Raleigh, NC, now is the perfect time to
subscribe
to the Members Section.
Sunday,
December 21, 2008
Including the two Sunshine Series Game, we have seen a player score
20 or more points 31 times and a player finish with a double-double 13 times
during the first three days of action at the Bank of America City of
Palms Classic in Ft. Myers, FL. The former list includes 6'2
Kenny Boynton from Plantation (American Heritage) FL with 43 points
versus Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL, 6'5 Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn
(Lincoln) NY with 37 points versus Eads (Briarcrest) TN, 6'5 Jr
James Bell from Montverde (Academy) FL with 34 points versus
Deerfield Beach (Zion Lutheran) FL, 6'3 Soph Austin Rivers from
Winter Park (H.S.) FL with 30 points versus Los Angeles (Westchester)
CA, 6'8 Soph Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ with
30 points versus Raleigh (Word of God) NC, 6'2 Soph Darius Perkins
from Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL with 28 points versus Duncanville (H.S.)
FL, 6'2 Soph Derrick Gordon from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ with
27 points versus Raleigh (Word of God) NC, 5'11 Jr Rakeem Brookins
from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA with 27 points versus Santa Ana
(Mater Dei) CA, 5'11 Jr Rakeem Brookins from Philadelphia (Roman
Catholic) PA with 27 points versus Jacksonville (Arlington Country
Day) FL, 6'5 Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY with 26
points versus Marietta (Wheeler) GA, 6'3 Soph Austin Rivers from
Winter Park (H.S.) FL with 26 points versus Duncanville (H.S.) TX,
5'9 Jr Phil Taylor from Marietta (Wheeler) GA with 26 points
versus Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'6 Rodney McGruder from Jacksonville
(Arlington Country Day) FL with 25 points versus Ft. Myers (H.S.) FL,
6'7 Ari Stewart from Marietta (Wheeler) GA with 25 points
versus Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'3 Tajh Tate from Marietta (Wheeler)
GA with 24 points versus Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'0 Jr Jamison
Sterns from Duncanville (H.S.) TX with 24 points versus Ft. Myers
(Dunbar) FL, 6'5 Jr David Paulk from Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL with 24
points versus Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 6'5 Leslie McDonald
from Eads (Briarcrest) TN with 24 points versus Brooklyn
(Lincoln) NY, 6'2 Soph Darius Perkins from Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL with
23 points versus Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 6'4 Roger
Franklin from Duncanville (H.S.) TX with 23 points versus Eads (Briarcrest)
TN, 6'4 Roger Franklin from Duncanville (H.S.) TX with 21 points
versus Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL, 6'3 John Wall from Raleigh (Word of
God) NC with 21 points versus Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 5'10
Dominique O'Connor from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA with 21 points
versus Orlando (Olympia) FL, 6'1 Maalik Wayns from Philadelphia
(Roman Catholic) PA with 20 points versus Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA,
6'9 Jr C.J. Leslie from Raleigh (Word of God) NC with 20 points
versus Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 6'2 Dexter Fields from Orlando
(Olympia) FL with 20 points versus Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, 6'6
Rodney McGruder from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL with
20 points versus Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA, 6'2 Jr Jordin Mays
from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA with 20 points versus Winter
Park (H.S.) FL, 6'0 Jr Issaci Turner from Winter Park (H.S.) FL with
20 points versus Duncanville (H.S.) TX, 6'5 Jr Stacey Poole
from Jacksonville (Andrew Jackson) FL with 20 points versus North
Port (H.S.) FL, and 6'0 Jr David Joseph from Deerfield Beach (Zion
Lutheran) FL with 20 points versus Montverde (Academy) FL. Also
noteworthy is the fact that 6'5 Lance Stephenson from Brooklyn
(Lincoln) NY, 6'3 Soph Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL, 6'2
Soph Darius Perkins from Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL, 5'11 Jr Rakeem
Brookins from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA, 6'4 Roger Franklin
from Duncanville (H.S.) TX were all consistent enough to have made the above
list twice. And Rivers gets special mention, because he gets out vote as
the #1-ranked player in the tournament after the first three days, Perkins
has clearly been the best 3-point shooter in the tournament, and Brookins
has played himself into a high Division I scholarship with his athleticism,
outside shooting, defense, and refusal to let his team lose. As a matter of
fact, Brookins is one of the leading 3-point shooters in the tournament with
6-16 treys and is leading the tournament in steals with 5.0 spg. However,
our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin
is refusing to listen Rubins says he's seen Brookins play 300 times and he
doesn't make good enough decision to be a point guard and isn't big enough
to be a 2-gaurd, which means he's a mid-major player at the college level.
"He couldn't play at Temple," says Rubin. The latter list includes 6'8 Soph
Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ with 30 points
and 14 rebounds versus Raleigh (Word of God) NC, 6'5 Jr David Paulk
from Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL with 24 points and 13 rebounds versus
Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 6'6 Rodney McGruder from
Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL with 25 points and 11 rebounds
versus Ft. Myers (H.S.) FL, 6'4 Roger Franklin from Duncanville (H.S.)
TX with 21 points and 11 rebounds versus Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL, 6'7
Johnny Williams from Eads (Briarcrest) TN with 19 points and 12
rebounds versus Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'7 Noel Johnson from
Fayetteville (Fayette County) GA with 18 points and 12 rebounds
versus Orlando (Olympia) FL, 6'7 Shawn Williams from Duncanville (H.S.)
TX with 18 points and 12 rebounds versus Eads (Briarcrest) TN, 6'4
Soph Dezmine Wells from Raleigh (Word of God) NC with 18 points
and 10 rebounds versus Plantation (American Heritage) FL, 6'8 Richard
Howell from Marietta (Wheeler) GA with 16 points and 12 rebounds versus
Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'7 Jr Remi Barry from Plantation (American
Heritage) FL with 14 points and 12 rebounds versus Ft. Myers (Dunbar)
FL, 6'10 David Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA with 14 points
and 10 rebounds versus Fayetteville (Fayette County) GA, 6'7 Shawn
Williams from Duncanville (H.S.) TX with 13 points and 11 rebounds
versus Winter Park (H.S.) FL, and 6'4 Jr Robert Lovaglio from Winter
Park (H.S.) FL with 13 points and 11 rebounds versus Los Angeles
(Westchester) CA. We also think it is interesting to point out that 6'2
Kenny Boynton needs only 72 points to tie Teddy Dupay's
tournament scoring record, which was set in 1997 with 143 points in three
games (47.7 ppg). And Boynton has two more games to do in, which means he
needs to average 36.0 ppg on Monday and Tuesday. And what about the fact
that that 6'8 Soph Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ
is currently ranked #3 in scoring and is leading the tournament in
rebounding with 30.0 ppg and 14.0 rpg? And, he's not the only sophomore who
is knocking everybody's socks off, as 6'3 Soph Austin Rivers from
Winter Park (H.S.) FL 6'2 Soph Darius Perkins from Ft. Myers (Dunbar)
FL and 6'2 Soph Derrick Gordon from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ are
also ranked among the leading scorers in the tournament. As a matter of
fact, that list includes is as follows: 1) 6'5 Lance Stephenson from
Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY with 31.5 ppg, 2) 6'2 Kenny Boynton from
Plantation (American Heritage) FL with 31.0 ppg, 3) 6'8 Soph Michael
Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ with 30.0 ppg, 4) 6'3 Soph
Austin Rivers from Winter Park (H.S.) FL with 28.0 ppg, 5) 5'11 Jr
Rakeem Brookins from Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA with 27.0 ppg, 6)
6'2 Soph Derrick Gordon from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ with 27.0 ppg,
7) 5'9 Jr Phil Taylor from Marietta (Wheeler) GA with 26.0 ppg, 8)
6'2 Soph Darius Perkins from Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL with 25.5 ppg, 9)
6'7 Ari Stewart from Marietta (Wheeler) GA with 25.0 ppg, and 10) 6'3
Tajh Tate from Marietta (Wheeler) GA with 24.0 ppg. The list of the
leading rebounders in the tournament also is very interesting, as it
includes 1) 6'8 Soph Michael Gilchrist from Elizabeth (St. Patrick)
NJ with 14.0 rpg, 2) 6'8 Richard Howell from Marietta (Wheeler) GA
with 12.0 rpg, 3) 6'7 Shawn Williams from Duncanville (H.S.) TX with
9.7 rpg, 4) 6'6 Rodney McGruder from Jacksonville (Arlington Country
Day) FL with 9.5 rpg, 5) 6'4 Jr Robert Lovaglio from Winter Park (H.S.)
FL with 9.0 rpg, 5) 6'10 David Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA
with 9.0 rpg, 5) 6'10 David Wear from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA with
9.0 rpg, 8) 6'7 Noel Johnson from Fayetteville (Fayette County) GA
with 8.5 rpg, and 8) 6'7 Johnny Williams from Eads (Briarcrest) TN
with 8.5 rpg. The leader in the tournament in assists is 5'10 Martell
Buie from Orlando (Olympia) FL with 7.5 apg. But that doesn't include
the two Sunshine Series Games. If you will recall, 5'9 Jr Kaleb Clyburn
from Montverde (Academy) FL had 12 assists in the game against Deerfield
Beach (Zion Lutheran) FL and we think that also deserves special mention.
Today is an off day for high school basketball in the state of Florida, but
the action will resume tomorrow morning with Fayetteville (Fayette County)
GA versus Ft. Myers (H.S.) FL at 8:30 AM and Ft. Myers (Dunbar) FL versus
Eads (Briarcrest) TN at 10:15 AM in Challenge Round Games; Orlando (Olympia)
FL versus Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL at Noon and Duncanville (H.S.)
TX versus Plantation (American Heritage) FL at 1:45 PM in Consolation
Bracket Semi-Finals Games; Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY versus Philadelphia (Roman
Catholic) PA at 3:30 PM and Raleigh (Word of God) NC versus Los Angeles
(Westchester) CA at 5:15 PM in 5th Place Semi-Finals Games; and Santa Ana
(Mater Dei) CA versus Marietta (Wheeler) GA versus Elizabeth (St. Patrick)
NJ versus Winter Park (H.S.) FL at 9:30 PM in the Semi-Finals. Then, on
Tuesday there will be Challenge Round Games at 9:00 AM and 10:40 AM,
followed by the 5th Place Game at 12:20 PM, 3rd Place Game at 3:00 PM,
Championship Game at 5:00 PM, a Sunshine Series Game at 7:15 PM, and the
Consolation Championship at 9:00 PM.
Editor's Note: To follow all of
the action the last two at the City of Palms Classic in Ft.
Myers, as well as get our coverage of the Beach Ball Classic
in Myrtle Beach, SC,
the
Bojangles High School Shootout
in Charlotte, NC, and the
Glaxo-Smith-Kline Invitational
in Raleigh, NC, now is the perfect time to
subscribe
to the Members Section.
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