Season Underway!

The Good Mongrel's belly is full, my blood vessels are pumping pure turkey gravy and all is right in the universe with hoops popping up all around us and December tournaments coming up soon! Lets take a quick look around, I'll try to throw together a bunch of links to games going on all around us and give some quick notes when I get to see some action myself. Hopefully I can do a couple of updates a week with more during holiday tournament season.

In Indiana the season kicked off with a bang. 4A #1 and defending state champion Bloomington South hosted #2 New Albany whose only loss last year was to the Panthers. Dee Davis (seen in this HT photo) and Matt Carlino had big games as the Panthers held on in the fourth quarter against a New Albany come back attempt. The link provided is to Hugh Kellenberger's excellent local sports blog "Quickhits" which has links to the Bloomington South/New Albany game, Bloomington North's (Julian Boatner etc) victory against Bedford North Lawrence (Alex Pritchet and company), 3A power Edgewood's (Alex Narey 23 pts 10 boards, Levi Garner) victory against South Putnam, and others including North Knox, Eastern Greene, White River Valley, and Brown County. http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/quickhits/?p=3392#more-3392

Fishers defeated an excellent Hamilton Southeastern squad. Superstar Hamilton Southeastern guard Gary Harris was extremely impressive in the low scoring game coming up with 13 points and at least five steals. He was 1 of 7 from the line and his outside shot did was not falling and he was a bit wild with the ball at times. Hamilton Southeastern had a couple of solid 6'5 forwards who showed good range as well as a more physical inside presence in 6'6 power forward Brian Gregory. Fishers has an outstanding squad with several very quick undersized guards to go with a heady point guard and a few intriguing college prospects at forward. The brightest future might be 6'9 sophomore forward John Alderman. He is still a work in progress but showed very good shot blocking instincts and solid footwork for a youngster. 6'7 European import whose name escaped me but might have been Illia (#23) is one to watch as well. He's a senior but showed really nice shooting form and solid Euro fundamentals. 6'5 wing forward (#22) Slaughter showed very impressive versatility and surprising athleticism but was in foul trouble. I'll have to catch him again as soon as possible as well as many of the guards for Fishers most notably #3 Stewart who looked great at point with a quick first step, he had at least 13 points.

Kegan Clark went for 21 for Jeffersonville as they rolled to a blowout over Evansville Bosse even without injured star Evan Maschmeyer. http://www.newsandtribune.com/sports/local_story_332235537.html

Joe Hendrickson's Hoopsreport blog in the Sun-Times had the goods on Chicago area hoops during Thanksgiving break. The St Charles East Thanksgiving Tournament was home to some great hoops including a classic between East Arora and Hales Franciscan who won 98-97 in an overtime thriller with 26 ties and lead changes. Former USC commit Ryan Boatright had a big game for East Arora while Hales Franciscan was led by Tennessee State commitment Patrick Miller. Miller was aided by 20+ point games from 6'3 Aaron Armstead (2011) and his brother 6'4 Aaric Armstead (2012). In another barn burner Iowa commitment and Mundelein star Ben Brust scored 50 head to head against Evanston's 5'11 Garret Jones who scored 51 making it the first time two players went for 50 against each other in ISA history. http://blogs.suntimes.com/hoopsreport/2009/11/thanksgiving_leftovers.html

The big effort from Jones was well timed as he picked up offers from Loyola and UW Green Bay who were in the gym to see his heroics. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/jonesuwgb.html

Notre Dame signee and 2010 star Alex Dragecevich was named MVP of the Billy Schnurr tournament at Niles West. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/dragicevich5.html

Buckeye Prep Report came through with some great recaps from the All-Ohio Slam N Jam Hoop Preview with great reads on Sullinger, Aaron Thomas, Adolphus Washington and others. http://buckeyeprep.blogspot.com/

Commitments, Visits, and School Lists Update: 8/5

6'6 Glenbrook North swingman Alex Dragecevich has had a big July for Full Package and seen his interest list and offers expand quickly. Dragecevich was second team all-state by the Sun Times last year and Chicagohoops has him ranked 12th in the class of 2010 in Illinois. He committed to Coach Mike Brey and joins point guard Eric Atkins in Notre Dame's 2010 recruiting class. Dragecevich is still a shooter first but has worked hard to be a legitimate high major wing and has developed an all around game this summer. It will be a blast seeing how he develops in South Bend and Notre Dame landed a deadly shooter. http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/08/05/notre-dame-adds-dragicevich-to-2010-class/ Notre Dame is pursuing several elite targets still in the 2010 class including Ralston Turner, Tobias Harris, Kyrie Irving, and Jerian Grant among others.

Kentucky is expecting 6'7 Long Island wing forward Tobias Harris today on campus according to RumbaughD1 on twitter. Harris is being pursued by many of the top programs in the country including Notre Dame and Syracuse among others. Syracuse just beat out Louisville and Kentucky for 7'0 Florida Rams project Fab Mello. Since he was a bit of a new arrival and a novelty I think a lot of people nationally fawned over Mello excessively. He is talented and is going to be a wonderful pro in four or five years in my opinion but I see no reason to expect anything special out of him during his one or two college years. He was outplayed by younger and less talented kids in July including 2011 Louisville commitment Michael Chandler. If you do your player rankings by who is going to be high in the draft in two years he's your guy but if you're a college basketball fan he probably shouldn't be mentioned with the other five star type of guys in my never humble enough opinion.

Avon, Indiana 2012 big man Austin Burgett received offers from Iowa and Northwestern. He already had an offer on the table from Cincinnati and his recruitment is early but he has interest from Indiana, Purdue, Butler, Louisville, and others. Burgett is already 6'7 and growing and has reliable range to the three point line to go with several post moves and a good handle. He will be a hot commodity this time next year!

Burgett's Spiece Rising Star teammate Kellon Thomas received a Butler offer according to P-hoop.blogspot.com. http://www.p-hoops.blogspot.com/ Kellon is an outstanding point guard who is being pursued by several high major programs as well. He's about 5'9 and has a nice outside shot and gets to the hole at will. He also has the kind of handle and floor vision you hope to get from a point guard. Photo is from the USSSA Nationals last week.

Here's an outstanding rundown of stock raisers and post-July awards for Illinois kids from the Hendrickson Blog in the Sun Times (hoopsreport). http://blogs.suntimes.com/hoopsreport/ He has nice comments on several 2012 Chicago area point guards, the 16U Illinois Wolves, the 17U Rising Stars team, UI recruits Leonard, Robinson, and Abrams as well as the talented 2013 trio of Parker/Hamilton/Foster who he says are not as good as Peter Jok of Des Moines! Good stuff as always from Hendrickson.

Here's a couple of links from chicagohoops. The first talks about Bolingbrook's Antwain Cox and his recent visit to Eastern Illinois. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/acox1.html The second talks about the top uncommitted point guards in Chicago in the 2010 class. Mike McCall, Levonte Dority, Jay Harris, Reggie Smith, Hoopy Jones, and Karl Madison are the ones focused in on. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/availbackcourt.html Several of these guys are going to high majors and will be among the "how did they get away" file from local schools.

Here's an Illinois Prep Bullseye link with a ton of nuggets. http://ilprepbullseye.com/page33.html They mention Evansville making Hayden Hoerdemann top priority, Peoria Irish 17U Jeff Johnson possibly favoring Eastern Kentucky, Walter Lemon from Chicago Fenger being pursued by Wright State, and Sean McGonagill being pursued by several programs. Also notice Hollis Hill and Aaron Williams drawing quite a crowd of head coaches from Bradley, Chicago State, Illinois State, Murray State and other schools after decommitting from UW Milwuakee. James Siakem was being watched by several schools including Notre Dame and Illinois while Threloff and Revonte Rice drew a big crowd including Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State, and several others.

August Commitments and Recruting Updates:

Hillcrest star shooting guard Eric Gaines committed to Gino Ford's Kent State program. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/gainesksu.html The Good Mongrel had some kind words to say about his game from the Hoosier Shootout and I believe this is a steal for the Golden Flashes. Gaines is a long athletic 6'4 wing player who can drive and plays hard on defense and is one of the most underrated kids in Illinois in my opinion.

Chicago Hoops' Brian Stinnette also has a trove of recruiting nuggets in this article http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/brianstinnette600.html Alex Dragecevich is visiting Notre Dame on Monday the 3rd. Stinnette says Brey was front and center for Dragecevich's games at the Adidas Super 64 and the End of Summer Classic and that Travis Ford flew in special to see him in the End of Summer Classic. He also mentions 2010 recruit Patrick Miller of Old Gold picking up a Tennessee State offer, updates the Mike McCall recruitment as Indiana State and St Louis head coaches watched him at Merrillville for the End of Summer Classic as well as California and Illinois State coaches and updates Nevada's pursuit of Ravonte Rice and other players.

Austin Etherington committed to Indiana University today. He is a 6'6 wing forward known for his excellent shooting stroke and big time leaping ability. He has been up and down some this summer in AAU playing with a new squad (Indiana Elite Team Indiana) and coming off micro-fracture surgery. Etherington is ranked #57 on scout.com. Fox Sports Jeff Goodman likes Etherington's game. http://community.foxsports.com/goodmanonfox/blog/2009/08/03/north_carolina_iu_bama_all_snag_commitments

While we're linking up Chicagohoops we can't leave out the link to their update on 2012 Rockford Auburn point guard Fred Van Vleet who is being recruited by Depaul and Illinois at the End of Season Showdown where the 5'11 point guard was with Prymetime. Also included is an update on 6'4 Austin Angel who plays for Rockford Boylon and is being recruited by Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/rockford.html

Switching rust belt states from Illinois to Ohio, ESPN's Paul Biancardi has some nice words about several players for the All Ohio Red program which dominated the summer circuit this year at the 17U level and had strong finishes with the younger kids too. Biancardi also has a shoutout to Chad Jackson from Scott County, Kentucky who has impressed the humble Mongrel on more than one occasion. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=4373610

Last week I mentioned the play of the NEO Ballers at the USSSA Nationals. They were outstanding and ended up winning the Division 2 bracket in the 16U age group. A Michigan State assistant was on hand to watch 6'7 athletic big man Anton Grady. Grady blocked a lot of shots and really seemed to get into the defensive dominance the Ballers were applying to the Illinois Predators when I was watching. Grady led Cleveland Central Catholic high school to the D3 state championship (Plain Dealer photo above from championship victory) and has excellent length and defensive presence. He's being recruited by Ohio State, Michigan State, Akron, Xavier, Ohio, and other fine programs. I'd read an article on Bucknuts about him after the Adidas Takes Five (unfortunately link is down) and he was playing with Friends for Life in Cincinnati. It was my first look at the NEO Ballers and I messed up a couple of the roster names on the blog post the other day but now I have it right. The kid I suspected was drawing Michigan State interest initially is named Jazel Garrett. He is a 6'0 combo guard from Akron Buchtel HS with crazy athleticism and excellent balance. He was all over the passing lanes and went in for the kill. Right now he's being recruited by Akron, Kent State, Wright State, IPFW, and Morehead State among others. I look forward to seeing these guys play again, it was my first look at them and they outclassed their opponents enough that I need to see them play some more but I was extremely impressed with my first viewing. The Lutheran East backcourt duo of Brian Burdine and Marques Coleman also impressed.

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.

AAU Tourney Update Friday

Here are a few Coach Tracking Tidbits (twitter unless otherwise mentioned):

* Setty1333 says UK watching Rakeem Christmas in Orlando.
* Dayton watching Clarkston Michigan's Matt Kaminiecki. http://dayton.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=968134
* Illinoishsbball says Oregon State watching Abdul Nader (Full Package), Jay Price also watching them (Ill asst), they also say Wainright and an assistant at a Mac Irving Fire game,

* Mike Brey all over Alex Dragecevich according to illhsbball twitters

* Ball St and Indiana St watching Iowa Barnstormers 6'11 Will Artino and others

* Rick Pitino watching JJ Moore and Quincy Miller per Demling twitter also says Crean in KC watching Teague

* Northstarbball says IPFW and Bowling Green at Ohio Prep Cavs/Showtime Ballers game

* CoachBlevins spoke to Sterling Gibbs from NYC who plans on visiting IU and UK

* rumbaughd1 says Dominique Fergeson to visit UK and AZ in August, also says Capel and Donovan watching him closely, UK, UL, and Duke watching Quincy Miller who plans on visiting UK and UL in August,

* Demling blog entry on day 1 http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html says UK and UL watching Damien Leonard, Joe Jackson says he is UK's #1 pg target, Pitino watching JJ Moore,

* The scores below show most of it, but 15U Indiana squads are fairing very well. Eric Gordon All Stars went undefeated in pool play at the Main Event, Spiece Select 2012 went undefeated in pool play in KC playing up a year, and Indiana Elite Team Indiana won their two matches yesterday (Devontes Smith-Rivera pictured above from a Courier-Journal shot).

Some Results and Scoring Numbers:

Adidas Super 64:
* 17U Chicago Elite won their final pool game, beating Bay Area Hoosiers 61-58. Dukan had 18 points.* 17U Full Package Elite beat LA Stars 74-53. Dragecevich had 28. 17U Full Package Elite beat Belmont Shores 62-47. Mikalous had 13.* 17U Detroit Stars beat Pump N Run 77 -52. Long had 18. 17U Mass Rivals beat Detroit Stars 74-49.* 17U Derek Smith All Stars West beat Los Angelas Rockfish 90-64. 17U Derek Smith All Stars lost to Gateway Bball Club 86-59.* 17U Playaz beat Michigan Mustangs 77-65. 17U Michigan Mustangs beat Dallas Mustangs Blue 70-68. Appling had 26 points.* 17U LV Prospects beat In Elite Red 87-80.* 17U Ohio Basketball Club beat Compton Magic Black 78-67. Parker had 19.* 17U Eric Gordon All Stars beat Houston Select Black 60-50. Terone Johnson had 15.* 17U Indiana Elite (fox) 74-65 over Colorado Select Blue. Guyn had 19. 17U Indiana Elite (Fox) beat IEBP All Stars 65-59. Hubert had 16.

* 16U Michigan Mustangs beat Grassroots Canada 63-58. Mustangs also beat Arizona Premier Black 61-42.* 16U DC Assault White beat Full Package (Preston) 70-60.* 16U Ohio Basketball Club beat Houston Hoops 61-54.* 16U Indiana Elite One beat Nashville Celtics 65-60. KC Pump N Run beat In Elite One 76-42.* 16U Derek Smith All Stars beat D Harris All Stars 69-65. DS All Stars beat Omaha Crusaters 64-49.* 16U Indiana Elite/Team Indiana beat Utah Pump N Run Red 68-57.* 16U Southern Kings Gold beat Aim High 79-35.* 16U Indiana Elite (Garland) beat Southern Kings Red 46-44.

* 15U Eric Gordon All Stars 65-49 over Valley Stars Pump N Run. Ingram had 21. EG All Stars then beat Utah Pump N Run 52-31. R Johnson had 10.* 15U In Elite/Team Indiana 53-30 over IEPB White. Devontes Smith-Rivera with 14. IE Team Indiana then beat Southern Kings 54-44. Smith-Rivera with 20.* 15U Ohio Basketball Club 76-52 over Idaho Select. Crays with 18. OBC over DC Assault White 65-50. Cuzzini with 26 points.

Hoops City Classic (KC):

* 17U Illinois Wolves, Spiece Indy Heat (Downs), Mean Streets, Common Bond, Spiece Indy Stars (Betts), King James Shooting Stars, and The Family are all alive in the top 20 bracket. Queen City Prophets are alive in the gold.* 16U Queen City Prophets are alive and will face Spiece Gym Rats (Matura) on Friday in gold bracket.* 16U King James Shooting Stars, NW Ohio Basketball, Illinois Wolves, Spiece Indy Heat (Felder), Spiece Indy Heat (says so on bracket, might mean stars) are also alive in the gold bracket on Friday.* 15U Derek Smith over Xplosion 46-43. Foster with 13.* 15U D Rose All Stars 59-56 over Conn Elite. Reacher with 20.* 16U Chicago Elite lost to Bay Area Hoosiers 64-34.

Reebok Summer Championships:

* Team Detroit 70 NY Panthers 52, MI Hurricanes 57-40 over Idaho Select Black, MI Hurricanes 80-74 over Wi Playground Warriors, Grand Rapids Storm 76 over Idaho Select White 52, Gr Rapids Storm 55-56 losers to IAD Select in 2 overtimes, Gr Rapids Storm (Whymer) 67-62 over Salt Lake Metro Prospects, Gr Storm (Whymer) 72-60 over Hawks, Dallas Mustangs 74-44 over Camp Daryl White, W Mich Lakers 66-40 over E Wash Elite Blue, W Mich Lakers 83-50 over Houston Cougars,

Miami Redhawks land 2 recruits.

The Redhawks have landed two key recruits for their 2010 class. The Redhawks just have 1 out-going senior and would appear to be done with recruiting in the 2010 class.

Recent visitors to Miami include Illinois sharp shooter Alex Dragecevic, Zionsville, Indiana point guard Jack Isenberger, Indianapolis Manual athletic scoring point Crishawn Hopkins, Kentucky state champion Covington Holmes star Ricardo Johnson, and many others for the elite camp. Offers were extended to a handful of players including Hopkins who put on a show at the Miami Elite camp. This put a little pressure on the current offers with only one ride available on paper and brought in the big fish for the Red Hawks.

2010 Josh Sewell was the first commitment for the Redhawks. Here is a free story from Redhawks Insider editor T Tod Mallaun. http://miamiohio.scout.com/2/876908.html Sewell is a star for Louisville, Trinity and some believe the best D1 prospect in Kentucky's class of 2010. He is a 6'5 small forward who has had a big spring this year for his loaded AAU team Shining Stars (McFarland). He will be competing in the Adidas It Takes Five event in Cincinnati on the 6th-9th with that program. Sewell is very focused on academics and has credited Miami's outstanding business school as a key part of his decision.

Miami's business school was also a big factor for point guard Quinton Rollins of Wilmington HS in Ohio. Here is another free Redhawk Insider article on Rollins. http://miamiohio.scout.com/2/876912.html

The scholarship situation might dictate that the Redhawks are done recruiting the class of 2010. They have good relationships and extended offers to the above mentioned players plus Nick Kellog of Columbus (Desales), Jordan Hicks of West Chester, Ohio (Dakota West), Greg Gainey of Dayton's Thurgood Marshall HS, and 6'9 Griffin McKenzie of Loveland (Moeller HS).

In 2011 the Redhawks have extended offers to Gahanna, Ohio's Stevie Taylor and Aaron Cosby who is transferring to a prep school in Massachusettes and will be joining the 2011 class. The good Mongrel likes Cosby's ability to score from the perimeter. You might recall Cosby originally committed to UMass as a 2nd grader (kidding) when Travis Ford was there but has long since decommitted and been making a name for himself with a recent good performance at Indiana University's elite camp.

An excellent source for Miami recruiting news is Miami Hawk Talk Basketball http://www.miamihawktalk.com/home. The grateful Mongrel will be adding them to the links often visited if for no other reason than the outstanding link section with newspaper links for most of the schools in Ohio and surrounding areas.