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/

New Offers, Interest, Happenings in AAU world

* Northstar Blog has done some great work getting word out on several tournaments this July as well as talking to several kids and getting quotes on their interest and offers. This link has breakdown for several kids from Ohio and Kentucky as well as several kids claiming offers and interest from area schools. Its from AAU Nationals Day Three: http://blog.northstarbball.com/2009/07/29/aau-super-showcase-day-three--u17-action-gets-underway-nyarsuk--reese-stand-out.aspx Some of the updates include:

* Northland, Ohio's JD Weatherspoon has offers from Xavier, Ohio State, and Maryland and seems to favor Xavier right now. You may recall he decommitted from Xavier after Miller left.

* Ball State has offered Devonte White from Centenial, Georgia.

* Indiana has offered 2011 Team Takeover's Michael Gbinijie.

* Xavier has offered Dezmine Wells of Word of God Academy.

* Westerville South and All-Ohio Red's 2011 Travaeon Jackson has offers from Ohio, Akron, Cleveland State, and Miami. He is Jimmy Jackson's son.

* Teays Valley and All Ohio Red 2011 player Nate Anderson has offers from Ohio and Penn State.

* And here's the day four http://blog.northstarbball.com/2009/07/31/aau-super-showcase-day-four-rundown-the-miracle-of-st-patricks.aspx with offers from Notre Dame to Jerrian Grant, from Wright State to Jordan Downing, Purdue, Illinois, and Minnesota offers out to Bradley Beal as well as Beal plans to go to Purdue and Illinois camps, some praise for Indiana, Kentucky, and Louisville target Stacey Poole's defense.

* Demling has been doing a great job as well, his latest update includes Scott County's Chad Jackson getting a James Madison offer, Princeton, Indiana point guard Jalen Packer getting offers from Tennessee Chattenooga and Southern Illinois. Demling is also looking for Austin Rivers to get Indiana involved in his re-recruitment. Hoopsreport's Coach Blevins spoke with Rivers and said he's going to visit "at least" Duke and North Carolina. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/eventreports/austinriverstovisitdukeandnorthcarolina

* Another link on some Orlando Nationals tournament success for Illinois Old Gold and Rising Stars from Illinois Prep Bullseye has updates on several players recruitment including Dekalb 6'10 senior Jordan Threloff who wants to decide soon and might favor Illinois State according to the link. Brehm Prep 6'6 athlete James Siakhem has drawn Southern Illinois, Purdue, Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Dayton, and Vanderbilt coaches recently. His Illinois Titans teammate Bruce Barron has interest from Vanderbilt as well. Barron impressed me earlier this month at the Hoosier Shootout, few college level point guards play with the kind of strength and athleticism he commands at a young age. Purdue, Northern Iowa, Ohio, Illinois, and Notre Dame are also very interested in Barron. The photo above is Barron from an Endtoendscouts.com article discussing his cousin Justin Dentmon among other things. Finally, Jay Harris from Illinois Old School received an offer from Duquesne. http://ilprepbullseye.com/page33.html

* According to Demling the Derek Smith All-Stars made it to the semi-finals (final four) of the Double Pump tournament in Los Angeles and had to leave for travel arrangements. Indiana Elite (Fox) without Ge-lawn Guyn made it to the elite eight of that tournament.

* All Ohio Red beat Nike Team Florida to win the AAU National tournament in Orlando. Bowling Green's Elijah Macon had 16 points. All Ohio Red 17U are in the quarter finals in Orlando as well.

* Coach Weber, Illinois State assistant Paris Parham, and Purdue assistant Jack Ray were the only coaches present for the championship victory Mac Irvin Fire 15U team which had Jabari Parker and Travis Hamilton playing up on it. http://blogs.suntimes.com/hoopsreport/2009/07/a_whole_lot_more_from_las_vega.html

* The Illinois Wolves beat the Mac Irvin Fire 17U team yesterday in Merrillville. Chicagohoops listed the following head coaches as being in Merrillville on Thursday; Weber, Painter, Beilein, Brey, Craig Robinson, Todd Lickliter, Greg McDurmott, Travis Ford, Jim Les, Rick Majerus, Jim Molinari (W Ill), Billy Taylor (Ball St), and Kevin McKenna (In St). http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/endseason5.html The playoff teams are listed in the link but it doesn't say who is in the gold, silver, and bronze brackets. I'll update later in the day.

* GoldandBlack.com twittered that North Central shooting guard Terone Johnson had a huge game in Merrillville today finishing with 45 points! I'd be pretty surprised if Terone doesn't end up ranked in the top 50 with an expert or two after this summer.

* Mark Miller of Wishoops.net says Paul Jesperson has received an offer from Loyola and UW Green Bay and Port Wahington's John Gasser has added Maryland and Airzona State offers to his Northwestern, St Louis, Bradley, Butler, and several other existing offers.

* ESPN has a great review on Xavier Jones from Gary, Indiana from the Desert Duel.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=4365943

* Another ESPN link, former Majerus assistant Paul Biancardi really likes the Rising Stars team from Illinois and gets the dirt, all four Rising Star senior to be studs have great academics. Ohio State bound Lenzelle Smith, Iowa bound Ben Brust, Cal bound Alex Rossi, and William and Mary bound Fred Heldring all have 3.0 or higher and the link also a review of Trey Lewis from Garfield, Ohio. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=4363230

2010 Commits Rolling In, Who is Left?

Jesse Berry committed to the Dayton Flyers today. The relieved Mongrel blogged yesterday that Berry was indeed close to doing that very thing. Since the good Mongrel is quick to laugh at himself when he guesses wrong (Ge'Lawn Guyn, cough... cough...) there is no shame in having a little relief at improving the batting average a little. The Flyers have landed a backcourt that will be the envy of many high major programs between Staten and Berry.

Cross town rival Wright State also landed a promising prospect from neighboring Indiana. Kegan Clark of Jeffersonville commited to coach Brownell according to Hoosier Hills Report.
http://www.hoosierhillshoops.com/2009/06/30/clark-off-the-board-commits-to-wright-state/#more-483 Clark was coming off a visit to Southern Illinois University and is a high level athlete who averaged 14 ppg last year for the Jeffersonville Red Devils. Clark was named to the south platoon for the Junior All-Star team and has turned heads this spring with his play for Speice Indy Heat (Downs).

Coach Lickliter landed one of the sweetest shooting guards in the country today for his Iowa Hawkeye program as well. Chicagohoops is reporting that Ben Brust has committed to the Iowa Hawkeyes. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/brust2.html Ben Brust is Chicagohoops 11th ranked prospect in Illinois and is the Mongrel's choice for top shooter in the state. Brust hoops for Rising Stars in the summer, and the Mongrel hopes to catch up with him sometime on the July circuit. As the Mongrel mentioned in an earlier blog, many Butler insiders liked their chances with Brust but the Big Ten was too much to pass up. Iowa has seen enormous turnover as Coach Lickliter reshapes the program to his image and Brust could compete for playing time early in his career if he continues to work hard.

The guards in 2010 are flying off the board quickly. Scouting guru Dave Telep said as much on his twitter account today (http://twitter.com/DaveTelep). According to Telep, of his top 25 shooting guards only 6 are on the board: Doron Lamb, Trey Zeigler, Anthony Brown, Madracus Wade, Trae Golden, and KT Harrell.

Time is starting to run out on colleges looking to fill in their 2010 class with elite level players. However, big kids often develop later and slower and the good Mongrel will be watching several 2010 prospects this July who will be getting looked at with fresh sets of eyes from coaches who haven't seen them in person for a while. Keep an eye on the following 2010 prospects to see how they preform compared to some of their more well known classmates. These are all people who high majors know about, where they end up might very well depend on how they play the next four weeks.

Michigan: Chris Anderson, Brandon Crane, Cory Petros, Jon Horford, Isiah Sykes

Indiana: Jake Kitchel, Crishawn Thomas, Xavier Jones, Enique Mason, Jordan Manual, Kennis White, Michael Harris (Gary),

Ohio: Nick Kellog, Cameron Wright, Griffin McKenzie, Storm Stanley

Kentucky: Ricardo Johnson, Elijah Pittman, Josh Sewell, Dakota Euton, Curtis Washington

Illinois: Brandon Spearman, Mike McCall, Reggie Smith, Jordan Threloff, Alex Dragecevic

The thorough Mongrel will be updating his favorite under the radar prospects left on the board in upcoming blog links. As always inform the Mongrel of his ignorance if there is someone left out. Edit #1 we took Roy Marble Jr off Michigan's list when he verballed to Iowa on Thursday.