March Madness Strikes in July. (AAU-link-o-rama)

Indiana being a little hoops crazy is not exactly news to observers of the sport or the state. Standing room only crowds at different venues on July 6th is a dirty pleasure for basketball fans in the middle of summer. Since coaches had no April evaluation period, face time was at a premium and has never been more anticipated and recruits wanted to see just how serious the pillow talk they'd been hearing really was (at least the good Mongrel was chomping at the bits).

And just a couple of hours away in Cincinnati the Adidas Takes 5 tipped off. A hoops pulsar exploded in Naptown and the Queen City and the bloggers, twitter, the rivals and scout team sites, and yes my friends, our good friends in the newspaper industry appear to be noticing the baby hoop ripples drifting through the galaxy. Here are a few of the first links I've come across for other people's impressions of some hoop action from today and recent activity from Rick Bolus camps as well.

Rick Bolus' 30th Blue Chip Camp was held at Georgetown College last week. Jody Demling from the Courier-Journal has an exception blog which the Mongrel has hyped before. He reported yesterday that Curtis Washington, a 6'9 forward from Elizabethtown was named camp MVP. His Derek Smith All-Stars West team was in action at the Adidas Take 5 today in front of a host of coaches. Camp runner-up is someone the Mongrel will have to track down because I hadn't heard of him. 6'7 Colt Barnhill from East Carter, Kentucky the Mongrel will be googling you within the hour. Jerian Hunt (2011) from Michigan was named top underclassman. Hoosier Hills Report loved the performances of East Central's 5'9 point guard Kevin Kidd who was in the top 30 all-star game. HHR also reports Corydon's Garrett Ross and Jennings County's 6'8 sophomore center Sam Hunt were in the second thirty all-star game. South Spencer's brilliant coach Rob Schulte had two young players in the event in freshman Josh Schulte and sophomore Tyler Harper, watch out Pocket Athletic Conference if Coach Schulte gets a few horses to run with. The Mongrel told you first...http://www.hoosierhillshoops.com/2009/07/04/blue-chip-high-potential-camp-report/ I got to take a look at Garret Ross today and love his toughness, can't wait to see him again and get a better feel for his game.

Here's a link to the Adidas It Takes 5 from an Indiana University perspective on Insidethehall, an excellent IU blog. Notice the mention of Indiana interest in Ken Kaminski (2012) that the Mongrel blogged on last week. He is not to be confused with another 2010 recruit named Kaminicki who is also a good player but not the type of athlete Kaminski is. http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/07/06/it-takes-5ive-opens-july-evaluation-period/

The Indianapolis Star has discovered Hoops recruiting with a vengeance after seeming to think it was nothing more than an annoyance for the longest time. Check out this report on the 2012 Indiana Elite/Team Indiana and 2012 Eric Gordon All Stars starting off well. North Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, and Virginia Tech were on hand to see DeVantes Smith-Rivera and company go 2-0 today and DJ Ballantine fresh off a standout performance at the Michigan Elite Camp also started off hot for Eric Gordon All-Stars who are also 2-0. http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/07/north-carolina.html Even better than this blog entry is the new web page from the Star ranking state of Indiana players to 20 by class and listing Purdue and Indiana recruits. Its a great tool, and we will revisit it in the near future and take a look at individual state rankings by different sources. You don't get the depth from a pay site like Rivals or Scout, but its free and gives you a new perspective so it will catch things those guys miss and vise versa. http://www.indystar.com/section/SPORTS0615

Another Indiana Elite player is gaining offers. Roy Williams and Billy Donovan were on hand to see Cody Zeller from Indiana Elite One (2011). Purdue, Iowa, and Butler have joined Indiana with offers for Cody. He teams with twin tower Marshall Plumlee to give Indiana Elite a dynamic front court. Zeller is more skilled with the ball and has outstanding speed and runs the floor extremely well at 6'9. He can shoot and has a nose for rebounds and appears to be on track to be an elite player in the class of 2011. Plumlee is just as elite a prospect at 6'11 with strong post fundamentals and a good motor. Both of these guys will keep getting better. Howard Kellenberger of the Hoosiertimes had this to say about Zeller. http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/iusp/?p=3859

More tomorrow after some work on the Hoosier Shootout Day One report.