Bowling Green has extended an offer to 6'8 2010 forward Chris Oliver. Oliver played recently for Meanstreets in a tournament but is normally with First Step. http://ilprepbullseye.com/page45.html I posted a link yesterday confirming an Akron offer for Oliver as well.According to Chicagohoops, Dekalb's Jordan Threloff received new offers from Ball State and Elon to add to his collection (Southern Illinois, Drake, Illinois State, Depaul, etc) and has drawn interest this July from Minnesota. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/jthreloff1.html This photo is from the Chronicle's Eric Sunberg.
Duje Dukan keeps getting rave reviews. He plays for Full Package Elite and is one of the best shooters in the country. The Sun-Times' Hendrickson blog says he raised his stock more than anyone else in Chicago this July. Chicago media tend to have a few favorites that get overlooked for other guys by national scouts. Dre Henley, Mike McCall, and Dukan are three guys that immediately come to mind who I consistently see treated like big time prospects by local media who have so much more exposure, but are usually overlooked by national scouts. This link to the City/Suburban Hoops Report mentions Dukan as well as other stock risers from recent AAU play including Illinois Kings standouts Sean McGonagill and Justin Phipps as well as 2011's Abdul Nader from Maine East, 2012's Nate Brooks (Whitney Young), Charles Harris of Lake Forest, and Malcolm Hill-Brey who Hendrickson says might have the best handle in the state. 2013 Whitney Young star Tommy "Big Ham" Hamilton. http://blogs.suntimes.com/hoopsreport/
On the other hand Mike Shaw and Wayne Blackshear and some of the Mac Irvin Fire guys get the opposite treatment. Here's a quote from Clark Francis and a link to where I found it. I went ahead and provided a link because I haven't found it elsewhere (but have no reason to doubt it and no editor who gets nervous about my reputation). "We're still trying to figure what's happened to 6'8 Jr Mike Shaw from Chicago (De La Salle) IL, who had only two points and three rebounds in a game and was schooled by many less talented players and 6'5 Jr Wayne Blackshear from Chicago (Morgan Park) IL, didn't even play in today's games? Remember, we're talking about two of the top 10-ranked juniors in the nation. And even worse than the undisciplined and lethargic way the Mac Irvin Fire has been playing lately is the fact that this was the only team in the tournament that didn't have a roster in the book. This isn't the Chicago Public League, where they don't have programs or rosters. It's the premier NIKE tournament of the entire year and it's kind of hard for your players to get exposure when nobody can identify them. We asked the organizers why no roster for the Fire and were told that is business as usual for these guys they never meet deadlines or submit the paperwork. The only one's the are hurting are the other player's on the team who need the exposure. " The link is to a Chicagohoops forum where the Fire are critiqued pretty harshly. It has some really incisive comments, but please keep in mind it is a message board thread where the title invites people who typically already had their mind made up to come there to criticize the Fire and their perceived under-performance this year at the 17U level. Another thread on the same forum raves about the same Mac Irvin Fire and has equally convincing praise for the talented and exciting squad from its considerable population of admirers. http://forums.chicagohoops.com/viewtopic.php?t=20769
Sometimes all a kid needs is time to turn it on, the scouts know that and anticipate it and get used to looking for kids who have a certain athleticism that is sought by the coaches they talk to. But lots of times the kids who underperformed at 16 are underperforming at 22. As Coach Bill Parcels is fond of saying, "If they don't bite as pups, they usually don't bite at all." That's where being a local media member who sees the prospects a lot more and is aware of what they look like day in and day out and how hard they work and how much pride they have in their performances, etc can have a big advantage over the national guys who are more in tune with athletic potential and you see a divide open between local and national perspective on prospects. Both sides of the coin can be important and often come together so its not an either-or situation usually, just part of the picture. And in the end, its all up to these kids. The ones getting D1 scholarship offers are almost all good enough to do well. They have to work hard and get it done.
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