Boyd out at WKU, Other Recruiting Updates

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers have quite a bit of recruiting momentum recently and have developed strong relationships with some key New Jersey recruits as well as taking advantage of an upsurge in talent in Kentucky. Unfortunately they suffered quite a recruiting loss as Terrence Boyd has been released from WKU, he was the first of their big name recruits to get the ball rolling last year. http://www.wkusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=204775582&DB_OEM_ID=5400

Austin Burgett from Avon, Indiana picked up offers from Ohio and Xavier this weekend.

A Turkish phenom is getting some attention. Enes Kanter is being called a top ten prospect in the class of 2010 and he's come out of nowhere and is working out in Chicago. He'll attend Findley Prep, no word yet on possible schools.

http://highmajorscoop.com/2009/08/turkey-phenom-in-the-states/

Ahcraf Yacoubou is a 6'4 wing in the 2011 class that has UK in his final three along with UConn and Villanova. UK is also involved with 6'1 New Zeland center Dan Barto per Zagsblog. http://www.zagsblog.com/2009/08/17/recruiting-update-jj-moore-jamail-jones-trevor-releford-achraf-yacoubou/

Flyershoops is twittering that former UK commitment and Clark County star Vinnie Zollo from the class of 2011 has a Dayton offer. Zollo is a hard working and versatile power forward at about 6'7 and plays with Indiana Elite in the summer. He is pictured above from a Courier Journal article.

Springfield Lamphier 5'10 point guard Karl Madison is close to a decision on schools. He wants to decide before his high school season starts and lists Nevada, Depaul, Northwestern, Drake, Northern Iowa, Illinois State, and Cal Poly. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/kmadison.html

And checking in with Illinois Prep Bullseye, they have some recruiting updates including offers to some kids and the lack of offers to others. Here is the link and some bullet points... http://ilprepbullseye.com/page20.html

* Reggie Smith has not been offered by Indiana University. It has been reported by a few media outlets that he has. Right now Depaul, Marquette, and USC are in the best shape with him.
* Rayvonte Rice visited Drake this weekend and they are in great shape with him but he's not in a hurry.
* Hayden Hoerdemann visited Southern Illinois and has offers from Illinois State, Evansville, and Eastern Illinois.
* Duje Dukan has offers from Loyola, Miami, Fairfield, Evansville, UW-Green Bay, and Holy Cross.

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.

Updates from Summer Jam, Best of Mid-West, Summer Classic

Chicago Summer Classic
Chicagohoops stock risers report with nice notes on Brandon Spearman and other Illinois talent. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/classicprofiles.html

Best of Midwest:

Daryl Baker is the 2013 wonder-kid playing for Sherron Wilkerson's 16U Team Southern Indiana. He had 30 in his early game and 27 in the nightcap which was a loss to the Spiece Indy Stars who are also playing up a level and coming off two straight 15U tournament wins. Jeremy Hollowell and Ron Patterson have been red hot on both sides of the ball, but Austin Burgett continues his hot play as well scoring in double figures in both games and getting almost double figure boards in both games. He is at least 6'7 and has a sweet three point shot and a wonderful handle and his game offensively is often compared to Robbie Hummel. Here is a video taken by the Herald Times with some clips of Baker who is interested in Indiana, UConn, and North Carolina. http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/iusp/?p=3917 Here is a monster jam by Ron Patterson who has several high major offers already including Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio State, Purdue, and Illinois. http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=cjimmersiveplayer01&videoID=1181379332

Shining Star Sports - Jackson went 1-1 on the first day of pool play losing to Spiece Select 2011 who are also playing up a year. Vance Hall had 21 for Shining Star Sports after posting a 30 point game in an earlier blowout against Fieldhouse Elite.

Spiece Select started the day 2-0 and has been getting good play from Zach Van DeWater and Kendal Griffin as well as burly 6'7 forward Tony Springmann.

Eric Gordon All-Stars had big games from Terone Johnson, Jordan Manuel, Griffen McKenzie, and Trip McFall. I love watching this group play. Johnson is one of the most underrated guys in the country because the national guys sometimes get too caught up in a kids' pro prospects. Johnson is too short to be a shooting guard NBA prospect and not quite quick enough or enough of a point to play the one at the next level but the kid is tough as nails and is a good outside shooter. He can also get to the rack and plays with a lot of strength. I watched him physically handle Dominique Fergeson and guard him effectively in their first matchup at the Adidas May Classic. Johnson is a leader and a warrior and will be one of the most productive freshmen in the country in my guess and will get better and better in college. He plays hard on defense and with purpose. Matt Painter really hit the ball out of the park with his 2010 class. I love Johnson and Carrol. I need to see more of Anthony Johnson he's been hurt when I wanted to see him this summer and last year he didn't stand out to me but he has a wonderful reputation as well. Jordan Manual is a very vocal kid and can shoot the lights out at about 6'8 but he is rail thin so I think he'd play a lot more if he ends up at a mid-major. It can be a treat to listen to him needle opposition in his deep bass voice and he can be really funnywhen picking on the fragile psyche of an opponent.

NY2LA Summer Jam

SYF Players off to a great start including Dominique Fergeson getting physical which coming off reports he was being worked as a power forward at the LeBron camp might be a really good sign. http://www.ny2lasports.com/SummerJamDay1recap.htm Speaking of Fergeson, WeareDepaul.com has a premium story in which Fergeson confirms the fact that he will leave the state of Indiana for a yet to be determined prep school. He visited DePaul with his family and still has a long list but indicated he likes the Big 12 and Big East because he wants to go pro after a year if he has a big year and they produce lottery picks according to Fergeson. http://indiana.scout.com/a.z?s=170&p=2&c=878950

Fergeson's teammate Xavier Jones from Gary has been having a good July as well. The Summer Jam is loaded with talent. This day one report has updates on 6'10 Walter Pitchford from Team Detroit, Milwuakee Spartans star Vander Blue, and Illinois Wolves 15U Jay Simpson among others. http://www.ny2lasports.com/SummerJamDay1recap.htm

Peach Jam

Here are some whispers that Sam Thompson and Oregon State might be getting cozy as well as other updates on the recruiting trail from the Bullseye. The top spot is up for debate in Illinois class of 2011 but Thompson certainly has his supporters... http://ilprepbullseye.com/page46.html Bruce Weber and an assistant, and two Depaul assistants watched every game the 16U and 17U Mac Irvin Fire played. The 17U squad went 1-3 and probably won't be playing much longer if that is any indication. They have a lot of guys who can jump, but don't seem to win many games at the 17U level. Fortunately for the Fire, recruiting media types are not known for their leaping ability and they will continue to be talked about as a super team even with several other Chicago area teams playing much better ball this summer. Bill Carmody, Tom Crean, Thad Matta, Craig Robinson, Buzz Peterson, and other coaches were on hand for at least one Mac Irvin Fire game as well. The 17U group features fast rising senior Reggie Smith who had some great reviews at the Lebron Camp last week as well as the current king of Chicago high school basketball Jereome Richmond and seven foot Meyers Leonard. Smith is one of the top unsigned guards in the 2010 class and is a 6'1 kid with great leaping ability but has quietly added some range to his game and has improved his handle and distributing skills. He is being pursued by Marquette, Indiana, and some west coast schools but might see his options increase with a few wins for the Fire.

Hoosier Shootout Day 1 Top Players:

2010:

Christian Kabongo Mt Zion Academy NC was the most dominant player I got to see on day one. He was playing with a team from Toronto called Scadding Court Ballhawks that I'm having trouble finding a roster for. He's a legit 6'5 and went coast to coast at will. He dribbles between his legs way too much but its impressive nonetheless and he pulls it off against some really quick players. He missed almost all of his deep shots but the people on hand assured me he usually hits them. He played great on defense for most of the game against one of the quickest points I saw yesterday. He took a lot of possessions off on defense too, but was extremely talented. He's the sort of guy who I'm sure will be a pro but I'm not sure if he'll make it to college. I was told he has a Nebraska offer on the table but is 19 already. He's an instant impact D1 talent if he makes it to a campus but might need reigned in a bit. He scored 30, had at least 8 assists and several steals and rebounds (and turnovers) as well.

Robert Wade from Team Nashville has to be one of the least talked about future college high major stars in the country. Here is a link I found while digging for more dirt on Wade. He was the player that all the kids from other teams gathered to watch and he kept going up strong on offensive rebounds and jamming the ball with one hand and having near misses. I didn't get to see enough of his game to get a feel for how good the little things are, but the big things are great, ask the Indiana Dawgz about him! Cincinnati and other schools were there watching and a couple of coaches were seen flipping through their $125 programs on the sidelines as they walked by. http://www.tnprephoops.com/content/view/1161/48/

Crishawn Hopkins from Indianapolis Manual was outstanding for Team Blaze but he was the only highlight for his team. He scored well over 20 of his teams 30 or so points. He is every bit of 6'0 tall but skinny, but the kid can jump out of the gym and has some range. He reportedly got a Miami (Oh) offer and did well at Miami and Indiana's elite camps recently. Coaches from Wright State, Eastern Illinois, Northern Colorado, Morehead State, and Princeton were on hand for his game against a loaded Atlanta All Stars team.

David Mason was the most impressive college prospect on the Atlanta All Stars. I haven't dug for their roster yet to see who some of his talented teammates were, but Mason was about 6'5 with good reach and had high major athleticism and some explosion to his game. This was one of the most talented teams I got to see in the 17U group yesterday and should be a tough out in the tournament. #34 was about 6'9 and played well as did #55 who was about the same size but a little bit stronger. Both looked like mid-majors or better to me.

Jeff Johnson was outstanding for the Peoria Irish 17U squad against Camp Daryl. #0 and #30 were both 6'8 forwards with nice games. I'm pretty sure Johnson was #0 so please correct me if I'm wrong. He had a shaved head and a headband and kept draining jumpers and defending well and being physical. #30 was also about the same size but more mobile and longer and made some nice plays with the ball and hustled. Let me know if you know who he was. Just found out Josh Piper was the other one. They both play for Champaign Centennial.

Eric Gaines was very impressive for Orange Crush. They had a very athletic team and the 6'4 rangy Gaines was chosen for his work on the baseline, he's quite an impressive athlete for his Hillcrest high school.

Jeff Hoskins is a 6'1 shooting guard from Kalamazoo who looked really good against the Irish for Camp Daryl. He was playing point yesterday and hustled all game long and showed off a nice 3 pointer even when well guarded. He was #10 unless the rosters have shuffled around.

Illinois Titans had some impressive athletes. I mentioned Siakhem and Ochenje from the younger class playing up with this squad and they were dominant. But the team was loaded with guys with muscles and mohawks. #32 and #23 were especially impressive physically.

Nashville Celtics Green #2 was big time as well. I'm not sure who he was, have three suspects so until I narrow it down somebody help me out. He was a 6'4ish kid who had a nice stroke, star level athleticism and had Vanderbilt and Michigan coaches among others watching he and his Nashville Celtics Green team. #1 and point guard #8 were good as well.

2011:

James Siakhem is playing up with the 17U Illinois Titans and was extremely impressive. He didn't look near the 6'7 height I'd seen him listed before but he's got to be one of the most physically imposing players in his age group. He hustled and is a special athlete. Word on him is that Depaul, Vanderbilt, and Southern Illinois have already offered. The 17U Titans had several other good athletes, check them out.

Khristian Smith from Indianapolis Pike has had a good summer. He led his Pike team to a victory at Purdue's team camp without Marques Teague and has picked up some D1 offers. If he continues to play alongside the special 2012 prospects who joined his team for the Shootout, the college coaches following them like a band of gypsies will continue to be impressed with him. He is about 6'5 with good length, athleticism, and a mature game. He plays hard on defense, cuts at the right time, and has a decent stroke. Keep an eye on him.

2012:

Emanuel Ochenje had the most potential of the 2012 kids I got to see yesterday. He is ranked #1 in the class by Chicagohoops and was playing up with the 17U Illinois Titans. He is an amazing athlete, you simply have to go see this team play if you are checking out the shootout. They have outstanding athletes at many positions and should be one of the favorites to win the tournament. When I saw them play they didn't get a challenge from the Kansas Express who were most notable for having a kid play who reminded me of Seth Rogen from Badass but kept sticking nice 12 footers off the glass nonetheless.

Ron Patterson keeps playing great ball. He plays for Broad Ripple in Indianapolis and is only about 6'2 but his arms are so long he plays with the length of a forward. He's a really impressive defender and can shoot some and make it to the hoop. Look for him to continue to improve his handle and be a star in the class of 2012.

Gary Harris from Huntington Southeast was with a new AAU team and word apparently hadn't spread beyond Bruce Weber and Tom Crean who joined the Mongrel and a few others to watch Harris go to work. Harris changes speeds well, can drive, and looks good going up for pull up jumpers. He got hurt early in the second half, I can't wait to see him again expect to see him rocket up the charts with the national guys and make the Mongrel stop talking about him. Up Tempo had a really long lanky kid who came off the bench and stroked some 3's and played really good defense that had Tom Crean walking over to the scorer's table, he was #32 but not sure yet who he was.

Austin Burgett from Avon, Indiana keeps getting better and better. He looks a legit 6'7 now and is getting stronger. He was very aggressive yesterday in front of legions of college coaches for the first time and really took over his team's second game on both ends of the floor. He's got a very nice handle and shot for a big kid.

Yogi Ferrel from Park Tudor in Indianapolis was outstanding yesterday playing against older kids. The teams the Indy Stars went up against were not offering the kind of competition he's likely to face as the tournament goes on, but he was easily the most impressive of the 2012 kids playing up with Quarles' Indy Stars. He was efficient and made great assists at times. I believe he had 20 points in the second game and was all over the glass, penetrating, and his shot keeps looking better. I also think he might have grown an inch or so since last time I saw him and his arms look a bit longer than you'd expect from a 5'9 point guard.

Jeremy Hollowell from Indianapolis was outstanding. He is about 6'6 and has a smooth 3 point stroke and was active driving to the basket as well as off the ball yesterday. He has great length and a good handle.

Raphael Davis is another outstanding prospect on that Indy Stars team. He is going to be big time in college. Right now he dominates the ball too much for a kid with a shaky handle and 3 outstanding point guards on his team and he tends to shoot the team out of rhythm from time to time. But he's got talent to burn and will be an extremely good small forward in college. What could be seen as shooting too much to some is probably a killer instinct to Matt Painter. This kid will score a ton of points in college. He might not have the handle and defensive quickness you want a shooting guard to have, but he is 6'4 with good length and I can't wait to watch him mature.

Brad Hartman, Kellon Thomas, Rhett Smith, and Larry Drew were also impressive for the 2012 Spiece Indy Stars. DeJuan Marrero was extremely impressive rebounding and getting put backs. AJ Hammons didn't play in the second half of the first game or at all in the second game presumably because of a minor injury but he looked fine. RJ Mahurin was an impressive floor general for Up Tempo.

2013:

VJ Beachum from Ft Wayne played a great game for his Spiece Indy Heat 2013 game playing up a year against Up Tempo and Gary Harris. Tom Crean and Bruce Weber got to take it in. Beachum is very long and can shoot, drive, and block shots. He's about 6'5 already and usually had the ball and didn't look outclassed against extremely underrated 2012 prospect Gary Harris. If anyone has a roster for his team I'd love to know who #9 and #12 were on his team as they have bright futures as well as #5 who appears to be a Matt Howard clone in the making.

Shootout 3 Update, I am not Stalking Bruce Weber

Poor Bruce Weber, everywhere he goes he sees the Mongrel's ugly mug. Unlike most of his rivals, Coach Weber has a top notch 2010 class lined up so he has the luxury of giving all of his attention to the younger guys. Coach Weber was front and center for the 8:00 AM game for Spiece Indy Stars 2012, then slipped away into the auxiliary gym for the 9:15 AM game between Up Tempo (Gary Harris) 2012 and the Spiece Indy Heat 2013 team who played up. Coach Weber then went to SOAS tof the 10:30 AM game of Spiece Indy heat squad with Illini target DeJuan Marrero and several other prospects of note. Later in the afternoon Weber was among the coaches at the 2012 Spiece Indy Stars second victory and again at the second victory for the Spiece Indy Heat team with Marrero, Hammons, etc. He is making it clear to the kids in the Spiece program from 2012 that they are a top priority.

In the second game for the Spiece Indy Stars, they once again won easily. Patterson, Hollowell, Burgett, and Hartman were all excellent. Austin Burgett is better every time I watch him. He's getting a little stronger and more aggressive.

The Spiece Indy Heat Quarles team was outstanding in their second game as well. They outclassed their opponents and Dequan Marrero from Merrillville, Indiana was a monster cleaning up everyone's mess. Yogi Ferrel from Park Tudor (Indianapolis) was outstanding as well. Ohio got a steal in 6'11 Ethan Jacobs who looks great, and the other big kid AJ Hammons didn't play at all in this one. He missed the second half earlier today.

More updates to come late tonight or tomorrow, hope you had a good day of hoops watching if you were out or hoop-envy if you were at home in front of the glowing box.

Hoosier Shootout Preview (Part 2)

Yesterday we discussed some of the programs who will be in Indianapolis for the Hoosier Shootout July 6-9th. See yesterday's entry for updates on the Wisconsin Playground Warriors, Georgia Stars, Team Detroit, Illinois Titans, Randolph Boys Club, Illinois Old School, Peoria Irish, Tennessee Travelers, Shining Stars, Terry Porter Elite, Birmingham Storm, and Wisconsin Force squads. Today we'll feature a few more squads and report back after seeing some of them in action on Monday (the Mongrel will be celebrating nephew Eli's 3rd birthday on the 4th).

The Alabama Terriers are sending their 17U team. Look for Luke Cothron to lead the charge for Coach Wherry's athletic squad. Cothran is a 6'8 power forward rated #37 on Scout.com's new updated 2010 rankings who is a hot name on the recruiting trail for Louisville and several SEC schools.

Eric Gordon Indy All Stars 15U squad is led by Indianapolis Tech guard Momo Cross and Morristown's Dylan Lankabel who both project as future D1 players and should be fun to watch. Cathedral's Paul Bayt is another key player for this club. Here's a link to a blog post from someone close to the Eric Gordon program who talks in more depth about Bayt and Cross and some other Indianapolis area 15U players. http://p-hoops.blogspot.com/2009/04/pitt-jam-fest-report.html

Indiana Elite One Green 16U is not the most well known Indiana Elite team in this age group, but they won the 16U division at the Adidas May Classic and have several outstanding players including the Dontray Chavis and Rontray Chavis from Princeton and Brandon Dunnaway from Corydon. Hoosierscout has some video on Dontay Chavis if you scroll down. http://www.hoosierscout.net/ The Chavis twins are among the most explosive prospects in the country in this class but high majors are worry a bit that they might be undersized as 6'5 power forwards (for now). Both are getting plenty of D1 interest already however.


Parallel 45 has a 17U team at the event. Watch for 2 2011 players who play up with the program. Dwann Anderson is a 6'4 guard from Sutton Bay who has at least a mid-major future and Garrett Mortenson is a 6'0 pg from St Ignacius.


Spiece Indy Fastbreak is a star studded Indianapolis program who are sending a 16U team. Assuming these guys aren't playing up somewhere with a 17U team they have several can't miss prospects. The best is easily Michael Chandler, a 6'11 true center who committed to Louisville as a freshman. As did his high school classmate Ryan Taylor a 6'5 power forward who is also in the 16U age group. PJ Boutte is at least a mid-major point guard and keep an eye on Kenny Enoch, a 6'2 shooting guard who improved quite a bit this school year.

Ohio Gators have a 17U team in the event. They have a trio of seniors in their program who have been drawing good reviews this spring in 6'7 Mark Frilling and 6'0 combo guards Jay Springs and Anthony Henderson.



Spiece Indy Heat has two excellent 17U teams in the event as well as a 14U team playing in the 15U division. This is arguably the strongest arm of one of the premier AAU programs in the country and as always they are loaded with talent. Recent Wright State commitment Kegan Clark is joined by Purdue commitments Donnie Hale and Travis Carrol to lead the 17U Downs team. The Quarles 17U squad has the amazing Deshawn Thomas who is the favorite for Mr Basketball in Indiana and an OSU commit. He is joined by 2011 rivals #2 player Marques Teague and some hidden gems such as Broad Ripple's 2011 6'5 rangy Steve Jamison and other stars. They will also have a 2013 team playing up a year with the 15U and a 16U team (Felding).

Team Detroit has a 16U team in action at the Shootout. Percy Gibson is a 6'8 kid from Detroit Southeastern and along with Country Day's Urban Bigham and Lee Bailey they are going to be a force to be reckoned with at the 16U age group. Watch for 6'2 Ray Lee who has been playing up a year with this team but is 2012.

Spiece Indy Stars 15U team is one of the hottest teams on the recruiting circuit in the 2012 age group. Broad Ripple's Ron Patterson already has several high major offers including Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue, Tennessee, Illinois, and Cincinnati. The Bearcats have also offered sweet shooting 6'7 forward Austin Burgett and 6'6 wing Jeremy Hollowell. Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, Ohio State, and other area schools are all over this bunch early. Also keep a watch for 5'9 point guard Kellon Thomas who has a wonderful feel for the game and has drawn interest from many of the same teams. 6'6 Rhett Smith from Sullivan who also will be mid major or high major targets before all is said and done.

Spiece Select 2011 is going to be playing up with the 17U squads. They have made deep runs in almost every tournament since the group has been together and have probably had more head to head success than any other Indiana AAU programs in the 2011 age group. They feature 6'7 Notre Dame football target Tony Springmann. He is a strong, dominant power forward and has high major suitors in both sports. Kendall Griffin and Zach Van DeWater are two big guards to watch as well.

There are too many teams and players for the out-matched Mongrel to keep up with, and when the Mongrel shows up and gets his program half of them will be replaced by other interesting players as the summer teams tend to shuffle a bit between May and July. The Mongrel will keep his eyes open and let his faithful readers (or reader perhaps) in on the low down from the event Monday night at the latest. More kids keep coming to mind but we'll have to stop the preview before the event itself begins, see you out there!

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.

10 Most Underrated Kids in Indiana

10 best D1 prospects in Indiana who the deep digging Mongrel has not seen on a top 100 list, its getting hard because old secrets like Dee Davis, Jeremy Hollowell, Ron Patterson, are gettin out and showing up already.

1) Jesse Berry 2010
2) Tony Springmann 2011
3) Austin Burgett 2012
4) Zach Van DeWater 2011
5) Edward Seay 2012
6) Gary Harris 2012
7) Justin Gant 2011
8) Kendall Griffin 2011
9) Jake Kitchell 2010
10) Xavier Jones 2010

Indiana is so deep in talent in the 2011 and 2012 classes the overwhelmed Mongrel figures there are at least a dozen kids who'll show up on top 100 lists in those classes that have yet to prove themselves to the right people, it'll be a constant update/edit task because the Hoosier state is well scouted and wonderful web sites (many are linked at the bottom of the Mongrel's home page) like Hoosier Hoops Report and the Indiana and Purdue rivals sites as well as Indiana's Scout site do spectacular jobs of covering local talent. * Edit one 6/30/09 my #1 on the list was Cody Zeller and he showed up #57 on Scout.com's top 75 list for 2011. Austin Etherington was on the list too removing him from future consideration of our 10 Snubbed Hoosiers.

There are more AAU programs in Indiana than stars in the sky and the school coaches there entertain in front of the biggest crowds in the country. The nomadic Mongrel has roots all around, but nowhere is basketball so beloved and so organized and efficient as you see in the Hoosier state. Kentucky is a good comparison but its more a religion in Kentucky and an probably more of an art in the Hoosier state. The well traveled Mongrel grew up in Rex Chapman country and had a lot of years in Damon Bailey country as well. Hoosiers love their hoops and the maters are pret near heavenly right time of year in Indiana too. And there's good basketball year round. The conflicted Mongrel included Seay and Harris in 2012 going blind for now but the wisest owls in the barn consistently say they are big time so the Mongrel is going to err on the side of caution for now.