The Hoosier Shootout begins at 8 AM sharp on Monday, July 6. Much of the national spotlight will be on Cincinnati this week for the Adidas Take Five tournament which is loaded. But the nearby Hoosier Shootout will draw the Mongrel out of his June cave. Every national scout worth his salt will be in Cincinnati telling the Mongrel the same news, meanwhile a deep and impressive field will be on hand in Indianapolis and the Mongrel will be there with about a million college coaches.
Indiana is a known hotbed of hoops talent and the Hoosier state will be well represented as usual with several Speice, Indiana Elite, Team Southern Indiana, and other programs well represented. Part 2 of the Mongrel's Hoosier Shootout preview will discuss some of the Indiana talent. For now, lets look at just a sample of some of the talent descending on Indianapolis with out of state plates.
Wisconsin Playground Warriors are one of the top AAU programs in the midwest and this year is no different. The 17U team is filled with D1 talent. Evan Anderson (UW), Noah Cotrill (WVU), and Kameron Cerroni (UW-GB) have committed to D1 programs and rugged Dakota Euton was committed to UK before Billy Gillespie was ousted. The Warriors boast one of the most formidable front courts on the circuit with Euton and twin 7'0 towers Anderson and Ben Mills. Mills has offers from Indiana State, Ball State, and UW-GB along with interest from Marquette, Indiana, and Minnesota.
The Warriors younger squads are strong as well. According to Wishoops.net, the two best players in the Warriors system are 2011 Quevyn Winters and JP Tokoto. Winters is a 2011 6'4 wing who has offers from Marquette and Wisconsin and is considering Purdue University and plans to attend the late August elite camp there http://www.wissports.net/sports/hoopsb/blog/blog.aspx?f=123. Tokoto has offers from Kansas, Marquette, and Wisconsin and has been spotted at the Marquette elite camp recently by the JS Online Golden Eagles blog. Both Tokoto and Winters have played up before so check your program the Warriors brought teams in all three divisions. Brett Vandenburgh is another fine 2012 player but he is listed on rosters for both the Wisconsin Playground Warriors and the Wisconsin Blazers.
Georgia Stars are yet another of the country's elite travelling teams, the Georgia Stars are sending their premier 17U team but not the rest of their fleet. The 17U team will be one of the favorites at the Shootout and have several of their own D1 players. Marcus Thornton has already committed to Clemson. According to their Rivals.com profiles, 6'7 power forward Adrian Hubbard has a Clemson offer and is looking at ACC and SEC programs, 6'0 pg Devonte White is looking at ACC and SEC programs, 6'5 Jeremy Burgess is looking at Minnesota, Indiana, Georgia and others, and 6'4 Chris Grier is looking at SEC and ACC programs as well.
Illinois Titans are only sending their 17U team, but they have two outstanding younger players who have been playing up. Watch for 2011's 6'7 power forward James Siakham or even 2012's 6'9 Emanual Ochenje who Chicagohoops has #1 in the class of 2012 in Illinois. Siakham already has offers from Depaul and Southern Illinois and Ochenje has already landed an Illinois offer.
Randolph Boys Club are sending 15, 16, and 17U teams. Look for 2010's 6'3 gritty combo guard Austin Armga and 6'0 Kevin Hurd from Portage to lead the way. Sam Mader and Avery Hinz lead the way for their 15U team but watch out for Duke Vander Galien if he makes the trip. He's been playing up 3! years with this team. They keep getting younger, but its like a car wreck and the Mongrel can't look away!!
Peoria Irish are sending 3 teams although their 16U and 17U teams will both compete at the 17U division. One of the Irish's top 17U players is James Johnson, a 6'8 forward whom Chicagohoops gave good reviews to at the Chicago Tip Off classic. The 16U team beat the Mac Irvin Fire to win the title in the same event and will compete up with the 17U teams this time around. Jordan Nelson from Lincoln and Hayden Hordeman pair up to make for a deadly shooting duo. Hordeman is a 6'3 shooting guard from Bloomington Central Catholic who has offers from Northern Illinois and Eastern Illinois and jumped on the radar screen for several Big Ten programs after his MVP performance in the Tip Off classic including Illinois, Iowa, Penn State, and Indiana.
Illinois Old School is sending four teams to the tournament. 6'1 Oswego East guard Jay Harris is ranked #53 in the class of 2010 by ESPN and he will be leading the Old School's 17U team. He teams with 6'0 point guard Hollis Hill who recently committed to UW-Milwuakee.
Other players of note: The Tennessee Travelers 17U team will feature Jalen Steele, who is a 6'2 highly recruited guard from Knoxville the Mongrel blogged about in some recent Dayton entries. The Shining Stars have five teams in the field so once again check your program, but watch for 17U point guard Chad Jackson from Scott County who claims offers from Xavier and West Virginia. The Mongrel has watched a couple of Jackson's games and likes his ability to get to the rim but he might need a little tweak or two to be a high major point guard. His shooting is ok and he's not super quick but has great length if he can be a point guard. Donovan Gibbs from Iriquois is a good point guard as well. On the 16U squad Austin Flannery can light it up from deep quickly. Terry Porter Elite has 3 teams at the event. Their most anticipated prospect might be Deonte Burton who some have called a top 20 player nationally in the class of 2013 but he'll be playing with TP Elite's 15U team. 15U Birmingham Storm made the trip but not the older teams. 6'6 JaCorey Williams is one of the players to watch for them. 17U Wisconsin Force will feature 6'1 Josh Cameron who is a fine scorer and getting mid-major looks from schools such as Akron. Waterloo's 6'6 Sam Gage is also getting mid-major interest, hearing from Old Dominion and Northern Iowa among others.
This is only a small sample of the talent at the Hoosier Shootout. The website for the tournament is http://www.hoosiershootout.com/ and the Mongrel will provide some updates from some of the most impressive talent in the building and a second part of the preview focusing on the many Indiana squads at the tourney and a few out of state teams we overlooked the first time around.
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