Recruiting Tidbits

The elite camp report inspired quite a bit of emails, so here is a follow up on the Indiana camp. http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/08/30/scouting-notes-from-saturdays-elite-camp/ My mind isn't slipping, this is a different link from the last story. Inside the Hall apparently had a mole in the Indiana Elite camp who gave them a great scouting report. I think the comments on Baker, Hicks, Hulls, and Tokoto are particularly right on. Tokoto is a phenomenal prospect and seems like a better kid but the scouts will turn their lists over a dozen times before he graduates and I don't think he'll wind up being higher than Baker or Hicks for sure and probably not better than some of the other kids mentioned in that report. That's sort of like criticizing Cindi Crawford for not being quite as sexy as Bridgett Bardot though, as the Good Mongrel reported from the Kentucky Hoopfest and Hoosier Shootout, Tokoto is the real deal and will be a wonderful player. I like Ron Patterson, Ken Kaminski, and Devontes Smith-Rivera more personally, but its early and these kids will be a lot of fun to watch the next couple of years as they drift up and down the various top 100 lists. Here is an update on Hicks. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/08/hicks-had-blast-in-bloomington.html

* Here is a link to an Insidethehall.com Muncie Central guard Jeremiah Davis interview after the elite camp where he says among other things that he could commit today, tomorow, or any time in the future (not to any specific school, but it is thought that Indiana and Ohio State are sitting pretty well with him right now). Davis is ranked #40 in the country by Rivals.com. He is an outstanding talent, a very physical guard who has the athleticism and aggressiveness to be a star in college if he continues to mature as a point guard. http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/08/31/q-a-jeremiah-davis-talks-elite-camp-recruiting/

HighMajorScoop.com had a nice IPS rundown from last week we missed. http://highmajorscoop.com/2009/08/weekend-scoop-2/ Here is a cut and paste from a few of the players with some school updates. Also check out the Scott County (KY) update on their site.

*Trey Lewis, 6-foot-1,2011, Shooting Guard, Garfield Heights, Ohio holds offers from Akron, Kent, Cleveland State, Ohio University and St. Joes. He is also getting interest from Penn State, Wisconsin, Indiana, Nevada, Michigan, Alabama, West Virginia and Xavier
* Trey Burke, 5-foot-11, 2011, Point Guard, Columbus (Northland H/S), Ohio holds offers from Butler, Akron, Kent, Ohio, James Madison, Miami-Ohio and Kent State. He visited Cincinnati and Ohio over this past wee and plans on taking visits to Penn State, Dayton, Baylor, Miami-Ohio among others.
* Treavon Jackson, 6-foot-2, 2011, Wing-Guard, Westerville (South H/S), Ohio visited Akron and Miami-Ohio this weekend. Jackson holds offers from both programs as well as Cleveland State and Ohio University. Jackson is the son of former Ohio State and NBA player Jimmy Jackson.
* Adreian Payne, 6-foot-9, 2010, PF, Dayton (Jefferson H/S), Ohio is reportedly down to four programs; West Virginia, Arizona, Michigan State and Kansas. Many still feel it’s a wild card race for Payne, but sources close say WVU and MSU are neck and neck. This should be a interesting one.
* Griffin McKenzie, 6-foot-8, 2010, SF, Cincinnati (Moeller H/S), Ohio visited Northwestern this week. Griffin is down to four programs, Xavier, Wake Forest, Northwestern and Vanderbilt.
* Rob Brandenberg, 6-foot-2, 2010, SG, Gahanna (Lincoln HS), Ohio took a unofficial visit to Ohio University this weekend. His top five are VCU, Ohio University, Wright State , Akron and Marshall. (update, Brandenberg has since committed to VCU)
* Kyle Molock, 6-foot-1, 2012, PG, from Dublin (Coffman H/S), Ohio holds offers from Ohio University, Akron, Georgia State and St. Joes. He is also getting strong interest from Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Florida International, Illinois and Purdue.

Mark Miller's Courtside blog is reporting that Vander Blue is down to five schools. Arizona (you know where you've heard that one before...vbg), UCLA, Marquette, Florida, and Wisconsin are the final five. http://www.wissports.net/sports/hoopsb/blog/blog.aspx?f=123

Jim Reamer's outstanding web site Hoosierhoopsreport.com has been redone and has been cranking out some excellent material of late. Most recently they reported that 2012 5'9 Park Tudor point guard Yogi Ferrell has received an offer from Purdue to go along with the previous offers from Butler and Ohio State. Yogi is one of the Mongrel's favorite players to watch this summer, most recently I got to see him in Ft Wayne playing on the same team as Marquis Teague and he may not be the kind of NBA prospect Teague is on track to be, but he runs the team at least as well in my opinion. You have to check Yogi out, he's got pretty long arms for a smaller player and is really intense, the wide open eyes kind of make me think of a Mike Singletary who wasn't much taller than Yogi who is seen above in an Indy Star photo. Here is a link to get to know Yogi better if you haven't had the chance. http://www.indy.com/posts/college-coaches-finally-catch-highly-touted-yogi

Here is another outstanding link from Hoosierhoopsreport.com. It has a scholarship chart for the D1 colleges in Indiana. Wish we could get one of those for Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois it makes it a lot easier to figure out when your competition is going to drop off for a player after they receive another commitment. I see these on team websites all the time but they are rarely as efficient and easy to read as this one and he gets several schools together on it.
http://hoosierhoopsreport.com/2009/08/30/scholarship-grids/

Back to High Major Scoop for some more scoops, they are twittering that Notre Dame hosted Marcus Crider and Travis Trice this weekend and they expect Trey Burke soon as well. Notre Dame recruiting is picking up steam right now with visits expected soon from many wonderful players such as Ralston Turner, Jabari Brown, and Victor Oladipo.

And finally one of the Mongrel's original favorites was visiting Bradley recently. Coach Blevins from Hoopsreport.com tells it like it is when he says Ricardo Johnson is a top 150 talent. He shut down and put away Georgetown commitment Vee Sanford in the 2009 class in the Sweet 16 matchup in Kentucky's state tournament last year on his way to earning tournament MVP honors and leading Covington Holmes to the state title along with his trusty and jumpy sidekick Elijah Pittman. The good Mongrel is very high on Josh Sewell and Ge'lawn Guyn also, all three of those kids would appear in any version of a top 150 the Mongrel would be foolhardy enough to produce. I'll be weighing in soon enough on which of those three overlooked kids is the best but it is not an easy task and you will all be hearing from them next year in a big way from Miami, Charlotte, and wherever Johnson winds up. Anyway, enough editorializing here is the link. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/hoopsnews/ricardojohnsonvisitingbradley

All Ohio Red 17U Stumble, other AAU Updates 7/25.

* The summer's most dominant AAU squad just lost their final pool game in the Supershowcase in Orlando. All-Ohio Red has been an Ohio State future preview with several commits on the squad among All-Ohio Red's top players and with more targets on the roster. This morning the New Jersey Celtics upset them in bracket play. Kyrie Irving scored 22 of the Celtics' 57 points and controlled the ball most of the time against a much bigger and stronger All Ohio Red squad which has now lost 9 games in 3 years. He played yester day for the NJ Roadrunners so good luck to Indiana and Notre Dame and the other coaches chasing Irving in Orlando. Adreiene Payne and JD Weatherspoon have been priorities for the Buckeyes after they gave Cameron Wright the cold shoulder. But Wright is blowing up now that he is healthy and Payne just released a school list of Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, Michigan State, and West Virginia. Ohio State has also made a move on Griffin McKenzie who is playing with the Eric Gordon All Stars in Vegas right now. The sorrowful Mongrel was rooting for Dayton to come out ahead with Payne to end up with a top 5 class with those amazing guards and Hill but it appears not to be in the cards. http://www.daytondailynews.com/dayton-sports/university-of-dayton-flyers/ud-eliminated-from-jefferson-stars-plan-220505.html Photo of Payne is from this Dayton Daily News Article.

* Spiece Select 2011 lost a one point game to Louisiana Select in the 16U semi-finals and will begin play in nationals. They have D1 prospects up and down the roster including Kendall Griffin, Tony Springmann, Tory Nibbs, Eric Harris, and Zach Van DeWater among others. They will be sticking around in Orlando for the 16U nationals which begins today.

* We've written a little about Common Bond's two 2010 squads a few times but yesterday it was their 2011 who beat the Spiece Indy Stars 2012 squad in bracket play at the Hoops City Classic. Patterson and Hollowell had huge games in the loss for the Stars. The Stars will finish up July with the USSSA Nationals in Fort Wayne next week.

* I followed illinoishsbball and a couple of other people doing twitter updates with the Mac Irvin Fire last night and they have apparently turned it on big time. They've been criticized for having a ton of talent but coming up soft in all the big tournaments when they go national. They did lose the game, but I've seen a lot of praise for their play in Vegas. Guards Ahmad Starks and Reggie Smith had big games again. Seattle Rotary is a pretty similarly loaded team who has yet to win a big tournament and they got big performances from point guard Troy Wroten (2011) and UK prospect Josh Smith who coming into the summer was being talked about as the top kid nationally for 2010. Smith dominated Myers Leonard in the game. The 6'11 skilled Leonard is one of several Illinois commitments on the squad, Mac Irvin Fire is as much an Illinois farm team as All Ohio Red is an Ohio State farm team this summer but despite his bulking up the last few months being matched up against big mean centers like Smith or All Ohio Red's Sullinger is not his forte. Leonard has a bright future but it might translate better to college ball. Mac Irvin has lacked a go to guy in the big games, Reggie Smith coming up big down the stretch in their last two games is a great sign for them if they are to finish with a bang.

* Indiana Elite (Fox) lost 61-57 this morning to Minnesota Pump N Run at the Adidas 64. The Fox squad has Butler commit Eric Frohmm who is playing double duty with his high school team in the Main Event. Indiana Elite was led by several big games from Charlotte commit Gelawn Guyn.

* The 16U Michigan Mustangs won big over Omaha Crusaders 80-52 at the Adidas Super 64.

* Also this morning at the Adidas 64 Grandy Glaze and the 16U Ohio Basketball club lost to Virginia Assault 57-53.

* The Derek Smith All Stars with Abel and Fant won their bracket game at the Adidas 64 by a score of 59-56 over Arizona Premier Black.

* 15U action at the Adidas 64 is finishing up as some people's top player in the class Shabazz Muhammed led his Dreamvision squad over Derek Rose All Stars 78-65.

* 17U Illinois Warriors beat the Georgia Blazers in a tight one this morning in Orlando as well.

* Louisville at 16U championship in Orlando between Spiece Indy Fastbreak 2011 and Each 1 Teach 1 game per Northstar blog twitters.

* KC Hoops City Classic wrapping up today. Semi-finals are set and Common Bond 17U squad is in the semi-finals. Dominique Pointer is a 6'5 guard for Common Bond who has been turning heads. http://theshiver.com/2009/07/day-2-3-highlights-from-the-hoops-city-classic-top-24/ Be sure to check out the Marques Teague highlights as well.

* Mike Pegram of Peegs.com is twittering that Indiana and Michigan target Moses Morgan had 28 points in a win against in front of Indiana and Oklahoma assistants. Pegram also posted that Indiana Elite One 2011 (Zeller, Plumlee, Carlino, Gant) won their morning game and will face the tough DC Assault this afternoon.

* Scout.com's Evan Daniels says Mick Cronin watching JJ Moore.

* Illinoishsbball is twittering that Alex Dragecevich has picked up his third major offer in three days. Notre Dame, Xavier, and Oklahoma State have stepped up and offered the Chicago swingman.

* Culver Millitary Academy point guard Travis Britt had 10 points for Indiana Elite/Team Indiana 15U in a morning win. They play the Derek Smith All Stars 15U to advance to semi-finals of 15U Adidas Super 64.

* Spiece Indy Fieldhouse Elite lost in the championship game of the 16U Super Showcase in Orlando.

* Spiece Indy Heat 17U (Felder) with Purdue commitments Donnie Hale and Travis Carrol is in the championship game of the gold bracket at Kansas City Hoops City Classic per Goldandblack.com twitter.

* Bennie Seltzer watching Indiana Elite Team Indiana 16U win to get into the quarterfinals at 16U Adidas 64 per Demling. He said Jeremiah Davis was great.

* Pitino watching Quincy Miller in Vegas as well per Demling twitter.

* Mike Brey and Indiana, Calipari among a host of schools watching Team Final, led by Gilchrist and Christmas, against NJ Celtics in Orlando with Kyrie Irving and the rest of Gilchrist and Irving's high school teammates per Northstar blog. NJ Celtics ended up winning the game in overtime, beating Team Final and All Ohio Red in the same day. Irving went 20/20 from foul line.

* Indiana Elite One lost by 21 to DC Assault.

Ohio Uncommited Prospects Get New Interest

2010:


Griffin McKenzie has had a huge month so far in July, he claims new offers from Tennessee, Xavier, Cincinnati, Northwestern, Providence, and has had several coaches watching including Ohio State and Indiana. This Indy Star link has some updates on his recruitment. http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/07/offers-rolling.html


Cameron Wright has had a huge July as well. He had several great reviews at the LeBron Skills Academy and recently visited Indiana with his parents. He plans to visit Wisconsin and Georgia Tech with his parents before deciding. Wright was outstanding at the NY2LA Summer Jam.

Adreiene Payne might be a bit over the head of our under-hyped label, but he has continued to be a hot name on the recruiting circuit. He has had interested followers from all over the Big Ten and is being hotly pursued by his hometown Dayton Flyers who have a top 2010 recruiting class already lined up.

Peshown Howard, Queen City Prophets 6'6 Allen Payne, and Ohio State and Xavier target JD Weatherspoon are other players to keep an eye on.

2011:

Cameron Lee is a 6'3 wing for Lakota East. His dad Ralph played for Xavier. Cameron has been to Miami and Xavier's elite camps this summer. http://www.miamihawktalk.com/home/recruits/player/10351/

Isiah McCular turned some heads at the Kentucky Hoopfest. He's a 6'9 kid who is already pretty strong with decent hands and is fundamentally solid. He didn't have much trouble against 7'0 Deng Leek and Cheir Ajou in a game the Mongrel got to see.

Zach Price is a 6'10 power forward from St Edwards who visited Louisville the same day as Shaw and Blackshear. He has been having a great summer. He has interest in Ohio State and Michigan State (Roe's teammate) and has been a hot name this summer. He's another guy who'll probably wind up top 50 nationally.

Aaron Thomas is a 6'4 guard from Western Hills who had a big week at the Kentucky Hoopfest for the Queen City Prophets. He is getting recruited by Xavier, Indiana, Ohio State, and Cincinnati.

Guys to keep an eye on would be Club Ohio (Calahan)'s 6'3 Job Jennings, Jakar Sampson from Akron and King James Shooting Stars, 5'6 point guard Stevie Taylor from Strongville and Ohio Basketball Club's Aaron White a 6'7 forward, and others.


2012:


Ken Kaminski has had Tom Crean and Tom Izzo taking in Team Pride games and appears stronger than he did in May. He won't have to wait long for some big time offers to come through.

Dylan Kaufman had quite a following at the Adidas It Takes Five tournament in Cincinnati. Tom Crean and an assistant from North Carolina were on hand for his game against CBIZ in Cincinnati and according to Miami Hawk Talk he has visited Akron, Butler, Miami, and Ohio State so far. http://www.miamihawktalk.com/home/recruits/player/10351/

Jalen Robinson is a 6'7 kid from Columbus who recently received an offer from Kent State.

Other names to watch are Dublin's Kyle Molok, Brampton's Moehmad Rage, and Davon Scott.

2013:

Matt Loving is a 6'6 forward from Toledo who was a standout at the Top 150 incoming freshman camp in Lexington in June.

Let me know who needs to be added to the list of the uncommited kids.

King James Classic day 3

King James Classic:


This has been delivered crisply by the outstanding NBE Blog which focuses on the Big East but touches on several players of note to area schools. I threw down a bunch of links, but really you should just check that place out they've been going crazy last few days.


http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/07/08/lebron-james-skills-academy-day-ii/ day 2 report includes reports on Louisville and Notre Dame target Tobias Harris and Cincinnati and Kentucky target Jamail Jones http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/07/08/king-city-classic-report-ii/ has reports on Marquette and Indiana target Reggie Smith, Illinois commit Crandal Head, Trey Zeigler, Terrence Jones, and others http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/07/08/king-city-classic-report-iii/ has reports on Kentucky targets Cameron Clark and Doron lamb, Ohio St commit Deshawn Thomas, Illinois commit Meyers Leonard, Dayton big man Adreian Payne, Purdue, Illinois, and Indiana target Bradley Beal http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/07/09/king-city-classic-report-iv/ has reports on Michigan targets Ray MacCallum Jr, Moses Morgan, Trey Zeigler, and Evan Smotryz http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/07/09/king-city-classic-live-updates/ Detroit's Isiah Sykes drawing Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana interest plus mention from all day on everybody

But really, who really cares about how the prospects played? All the buzz from this camp has been about former Detroit, Michigan and Xavier guard Jordan Crawford jamming it on Lebron's head. Here's an article from InsidetheHall.com, an excellent Indiana University recruiting blog. http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/07/08/crawford-dunk-is-the-talk-of-the-interwebs/

Peegs.com's Mike Pegram has been twittering from the event. He likes Reggie Smith from Chicago a lot and says he is the best unranked senior in his opinion. http://twitter.com/peegs

And ESPN Scouts.inc analyst Reggie Rankin weighs in on Purdue commitment and underrated player Travis Carrol. He pretty much nails the positive aspects of Carroll's game in his breakdown. Dayton's Juwan Staten and Michigan targets Trey Zeigler and Moses Morgan are also discussed. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=4313002

Cincinnati Bearcats and Dayton Flyers recruiting update.

The ambitious Mongrel will try to tie a mid-major and a high-major school together in most of the target area states once a week and take a look at some of the recruiting hubub. Today we start in Ohio where all the action has been this week.

Cincinnati Bearcats

The biggest news? I'm sure you've heard, Lance "Born Exploited" Stephenson has committed to the Bearcats as hoops blogger guru Adam Zagoria suggested would happen last week. The Bearcats return almost their entire team from last year and will be a force. The Bearcats will lean on All-Big East Deonte Vaughn to run the show and have a big man to work with in Yancey Gates so the imaginary and totally pretend addition of the young Mr. Stephenson would make them a top 10 team nationally most likely.

But in the real world we all know Stephenson was not shunned by every college he looked at in recent weeks just because of a probable misdemeanor charge for allegedly groping a girl in school. Tyreke Evans can be a hot commodity after much more serious concerns last year. The real concern the colleges who took a close look at Lance had was that coaches believe he has almost no chance of ever being eligible to play college basketball. Any games he plays in will be subject to forfeit because he has so many dollars running through and over him. See the great Pat Forde's ESPN column on Stephenson from earlier this month for a rundown, but reality shows and shoe shenanigans are the most obvious but not complete set of concerns with Stephenson.

Still, its a big splash and that is what Coach Cronin probably wants. And who knows, a year of winning with ineligible kids will come back to hurt the kids who stay but you never know when you will wind up coaching one of the elite programs in the sport and out of harms way as a result (cough, cough no real life similarities will be admitted to). And Cronin is doing a masterful job of building his recently struggling program into a Big East contender without Stephenson. Vaughn and Gates will be joined by Sean Kilpatrick and the Bearcats continue to recruit top talent. The Bearcats are in good shape with Atlanta Celtics 6'8 shot blocker Brandon Mobley of Savannah, Goergia and Mongrel favorite Ricardo Johnson of Covington Holmes, KY in the 2010 class. Coach Cronin and staff continue to track in-state stud Adreian Payne as well as Ronald Ross of Indianapolis Washington and several others. One other instant impact soring guard to keep an eye on is Jesse Berry of Lafayette, Indiana who appears to favor Dayton right now.

2011 recruiting is off to a big start with Bowling Green, Kentucky import Chane Behanan locked up and other targets include point guards Marques Teague and Jeremiah Davis from Indianapolis and Tyrone Johnson of Plainfield, New Jersey as well as big man Robert Goff who is a junior college kid who just transferred and will redshirt a year moving him into the 2011 class. The Bearcats will be spending a lot of time in Bowling Green keeping tabs on Behanan but also working on George Fant who is a top priority in the class of 2011 as well. Prying Fant away from the hometown Hilltoppers will be a chore considering they are on a bit of a roll themselves.

2012 recruiting is continuing to take off with recent offers extended to Speice Indy Stars teammates Ron Patterson, Austin Burgett, and Jeremy Hollowell from Indianapolis. All in all, its a great time to be a Bearcat as long as Born Ready only rocks the boat and doesn't run it ashore.

Dayton Flyers

The Flyers are also making big waves in the recruiting world. The Flyers 2010 class should be among the nation's best once all is said and done. Hometown star Adriean Payne appears ready to wait it out to see who else he would be surrounding himself with, but he is the name floating around just beneath the surface. The Flyers are in great shape with several guards who are arguably almost as good or better, but Payne is the combination of size and athlete rarely seen in mid-major leagues and would be a huge get for the Flyers.

The 2010 class is already off to a big start with 5'11 point guard Juwan Staten already locked up. ESPN's ScoutsInc has Staten as the 43rd ranked prospect in the country. Other key targets for 2010 include Indiana's second leading scorer Jesse Berry of Laffayette, Indiana. Berry had 6 games over 40 points last season and according to Dayton Daily News staff writer Doug Harris is favoring the Flyers. http://www.daytondailynews.com/dayton-sports/university-of-dayton-flyers/flyers-going-after-guards-181266.html Look for Berry to continue to continue to blow up in July, he is an elite level scorer and has great range. The Mongrel watched him help lead SYF Players to the 17U championship at the Adidas May Classic and he looked a cut above some other talented kids on his team such as 2010 stars Jake Kitchell (Union Co) and Xavier Jones (Gary). Berry's camp has said Kentucky called to check in on him and he is supposed to visit Arizona in August so keep an eye on this situation.

The Flyers are looking to bring in several guards in this class and one of the hottest prospects they are in good shape with is Brandon Spearman from Chicago. He is a 6'3 shooting guard who has been great for the Illinois Warriors this year and is ranked #71 by rivals.com. With the exception of the Ohio Basketball Club, the Warriors have probably had the best spring on the 17U AAU circuit and Spearman has received a lion's share of that credit. The Harris article linked above claims Berry, Spearman, and Jalen Steel of Knoxville have offers and have called the Flyers their favorite. He also mentions an offer to Cameron Wright of Cleveland St Benedictine. Wright is no longer committed to Ohio State after Coach Matta looked to replace him with a higher ranked prospect. This has not deterred the Flyers or Big Ten heavyweights Wisconsin and Indiana. Wright has offers from all three and was heavily recruited by Bo Ryan before his original OSU verbal and was thought to be a natural fit to replace Vander Blue when he first opened things up. But the Flyers and Hoosiers are making strong pushes to land Wright. Wright recently made a second visit to Indiana and took his family with him per a story on Peegs.com, Indiana's excellent Rivals site. In the Harris article mentioned above, veteran hoops scout Van Coleman says Wright's "quickness and explosion in the open court make him a dangerous player." Wright will be playing this July for the King James All-Stars and will probably draw more attention as he missed most of last year with an injury and was not evaluated as heavily as some of his peers in the class.

With four graduating guards the Flyers look to reshape the future of their program by landing a few of these excellent prospects. Keep a close eye on the Flyers, they are recruiting like a Big Ten or Big East program. The Flyers have excellent prospects lined up behind these elite guards already with reported offers out to Josh Sewell of Louisville, Trinity and Jordan Manual of TC Howe in Indianapolis. Other key recruits such as Nick Kellog (Columbus, OH) and Roy Marble Jr (Southerfield, MI) have visited and the Flyers already have in-state power forward Ralph Hill verbally committed so missing out on Payne might only be a speed bump to a brighter future which is already taking shape.