The Good Mongrel Returns With Tricks and Treats!

Thank you for your patience as the Good Mongrel has spent time away from Hoops the last couple of weeks. The top 50 lists were a hoot and I'd love to do one for 2012 soon but I really feel underexposed to the younger kids in parts of Michigan and Ohio from that class so I wouldn't do it justice. Perhaps we can do an interactive one soon and I'll suggest some kids and have a few days for input from readers before we put it together. But it'll be even more interactive. The Mongrel sees a lot of hoops, but doesn't want to fall into the trap of pretending I see them all.

Lets take a state by state look at what's been going on in the last days before hoops gets going again.

Illinois:

Congrats to Levonte Dority who won't be cold for a long, long time after leaving high school. That is a kid understanding what is important about life, but don't forget to hit the books before the bikinis young man! Dority is joining Stan Heath's South Florida club, they are quickly building a very strong program and Dority should help. He's a dynamic scoring point guard who has a nice feel for the game as a point but can put up buckets in a hurry. We'll check in on Foreman and his other three D1 teammates as much as we can this year! Imagine playing in the best league in America but not living in the snow zone! http://ilprepbullseye.com/page9.html

Chicagohoops has been busy puting out some great previews. They put out a preview of their all CPL team which includes Ahmad Starks, Mike McCall, Wayne Blackshear, Brandon Spearman, and Jermaine Winfield. The only junior is Blackshear, the rest are seniors. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/earlyallcpl.html Chicagohoops also took a look recently at six of the top scoring seniors still unsigned for college and named Jay Harris, Hollis Hill (pictured above in a ST shot), Kyle Clevenger, Kashune McKinney, Gerald Dorsey, and Luke Labedzki. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/buckets.html

Depaul is in a major rebuilding mode after going 0-18 in the Big East last year, but they seem to be scaring UI and other area schools in recruiting. Jabari Parker, Mike Shaw, and Wayne Blackshear were just three of the several recruits who decided to spend the opening night of practice with Coach Wainright and his new dynamic coaching staff. http://ilprepbullseye.com/page39.html

Summer leagues are a great place to see how kids used that AAU time and summer to develop. The South Suburban Exposure League was a big success and several kids used it to show they have great years ahead of them. Rajhan Muhammad, Darius Draper, and Dominique Jackson were just a few of the stars who stepped forward. http://ilprepbullseye.com/page4.html

IllinoisHSBasketball.com is puting out some great stuff, here is a link to some updates from Week 6 of the Full Package Exposure League. Dig through their archives for some older stuff, its well worth it. http://illinoishsbasketball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1054&Itemid=1

Michigan:

Coach Tom Izzo has outdone himself in recruiting, he already had one of the best guards in the country lined up for 2010 in Appleton and now he is adding one of the most talented power forwards in the country in Adreian Payne. Until the last couple of days it was hard to read where Payne would end up, but he's on his way to East Lansing. West Virginia and Kentucky seemed to have a lot of momentum with Payne, but he chose the program that has been to 5 final fours in 11 years. Wise young man!

Central Michigan has been on fire! Coach Zeigler's squad has landed several top kids for 2010 and the most recent additions were a couple of big kids. Coach Buscemi at Loyola HS is seeing his 6'8 big man go big time as Jevon Harden joined recent commit 6'10 Nate VanArendonk from Grand Haven HS. Both kids had several good offers and VanArendonk joins recent commit Colin Voss and Derek Jackson for Central Michigan.

The Styles 3 Elite Showcase was one of the many good internal events going on in Michigan the last few weeks. Dwann Anderson perhaps made the biggest splash as several reports had him continuing to play his way into one of the elite prospects in the 2011 class in the country as he showed his high major athleticism and kept hitting shots. Anderson has offers from Central Michigan, Utah, and Oakland and has strong interest from Wisconsin, Michigan State, Michigan, and more. He was a star for Parallel 45 over the summer. Tommie McCune and Matt Costello were two of the other standouts.

I'll take a look around Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio in an upcoming post and perhaps lay the groundwork for a collaborative effort with you the Good Mongrel's readers for a dynamic 2012 top 50 list as well. Don't let me just put all the kids I've seen on there, I'll be looking for people to convince me I have to put on somebody I have not seen a lot of yet because its a blog and lists are always a little arbitrary at least and I couldn't do it otherwise.

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

New Offers and Recruiting buzz

The good Mongrel buzzed a bit about Hillcrest star Eric Gaines after watching him at the Hoosier Shootout. His standout play for Orange Crush continues and he picked up an offer yesterday from Kent State University. There are an awful lot of kids who could play at a high major and maybe be good but would for sure be good at mid-majors and he is one of them. He's got the athleticism and length to keep improving his already impressive game no matter what level he plays at. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/egaines.html Gaines has also been targeted by Wright State and Indiana State among others.

Ohio guard Travis Trice plays for the 2011 SYF Players and Blackandgold.com reports he has offers from Akron, Butler, Wright State, Dayton, and Cleveland State and interest from his dad's old school Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, and West Virginia. http://purdue.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=964671

Butler is also interested in Clark County Kentucky guard Robbie Stenzel who is having a great July. Demling blog (no permalink, try sidebar) says he has offers from Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State and is being watched by Butler, Wright State (Brownell was also after Gaines and Trice), West Virginia and Oklahoma State.

Tea Leaf Prediction #1, Vander Blue might be on track to wind up an Arizona Wildcat. Today a few interesting articles went up on Blue who is having an enormous week at the Summer Jam in Milwaukee. First Peegs.com (Indiana rivals site) put up an article telling of Blue's relationship with Tom Crean from Marquette and indicating he might do an official at Indiana. Since that article is a pay site (linked at the sidebar) I'll go ahead and link the article done by IndyStar reporter Jeff Rabjohns http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/07/a-point-guard-c.html which is free. But Peegs and the Star were outdone this time around by Mongrel favorite Mike Miller of Wishoops.net (linked on the sidebar). Miller has an interview with Blue's coach which indicates he is almost ready to commit and likely will do so toward the end of July after they go to Vegas (or during). He lists a few schools which are high on the radar and one of which is Arizona which has offered and happens to be reasonably proximate to a UA visit. The article mentions he likely won't do any visits this fall unless he gets offers from some of the schools who are interested but not offered which included Indiana, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and others. I think what fell through the cracks between these three stories was that Blue was offered by Marquette under Crean, and contacted when Crean got the IU job and re-upped. The assumption that the offer is fresh and being pursued seems to be unsupported by anything I've seen published at this time. And it looks to the Mongrel from the wording of the article in Wishoops.net that Blue is Zona bound unless IU, UCLA, or one of the other fine programs sniffing around jump all the way in bed with him. UCLA has been at the Summer Slam watching Branden Dawson, probably were kicking round Blue's stall as well. Tom Crean was watching Jay Harris of Illinois Old School in the same gym at the same time as a Milwaukee Spartans game, so forgive the Tea Leaf reading but double down on Arizona and Blue happening sometime in the next month.


According to bballreport Matt Painter is back in town and watching the SYF Players in Milwaukee on Tuesday and the next morning watched Illinois Wolves 15U vs NBU.


Hoopsreport.com's Coach Blevins is twittering that UK has offered a second Lamb a scholarship offer, this time Jeremy Lamb of the Georgia Stars 16U squad. Lamb also has an offer from UConn.
http://twitter.com/coachblevins

Chicagohoops is also reporting Steton Academy's Chris Oliver (2010) picked up an offer from Akron and Jacob Williams (2011) picked up an offer from coach Jim Les and Bradley.

Hoosier Shootout to Kick off July (Part 1).

The Hoosier Shootout begins at 8 AM sharp on Monday, July 6. Much of the national spotlight will be on Cincinnati this week for the Adidas Take Five tournament which is loaded. But the nearby Hoosier Shootout will draw the Mongrel out of his June cave. Every national scout worth his salt will be in Cincinnati telling the Mongrel the same news, meanwhile a deep and impressive field will be on hand in Indianapolis and the Mongrel will be there with about a million college coaches.

Indiana is a known hotbed of hoops talent and the Hoosier state will be well represented as usual with several Speice, Indiana Elite, Team Southern Indiana, and other programs well represented. Part 2 of the Mongrel's Hoosier Shootout preview will discuss some of the Indiana talent. For now, lets look at just a sample of some of the talent descending on Indianapolis with out of state plates.

Wisconsin Playground Warriors are one of the top AAU programs in the midwest and this year is no different. The 17U team is filled with D1 talent. Evan Anderson (UW), Noah Cotrill (WVU), and Kameron Cerroni (UW-GB) have committed to D1 programs and rugged Dakota Euton was committed to UK before Billy Gillespie was ousted. The Warriors boast one of the most formidable front courts on the circuit with Euton and twin 7'0 towers Anderson and Ben Mills. Mills has offers from Indiana State, Ball State, and UW-GB along with interest from Marquette, Indiana, and Minnesota.

The Warriors younger squads are strong as well. According to Wishoops.net, the two best players in the Warriors system are 2011 Quevyn Winters and JP Tokoto. Winters is a 2011 6'4 wing who has offers from Marquette and Wisconsin and is considering Purdue University and plans to attend the late August elite camp there http://www.wissports.net/sports/hoopsb/blog/blog.aspx?f=123. Tokoto has offers from Kansas, Marquette, and Wisconsin and has been spotted at the Marquette elite camp recently by the JS Online Golden Eagles blog. Both Tokoto and Winters have played up before so check your program the Warriors brought teams in all three divisions. Brett Vandenburgh is another fine 2012 player but he is listed on rosters for both the Wisconsin Playground Warriors and the Wisconsin Blazers.

Georgia Stars are yet another of the country's elite travelling teams, the Georgia Stars are sending their premier 17U team but not the rest of their fleet. The 17U team will be one of the favorites at the Shootout and have several of their own D1 players. Marcus Thornton has already committed to Clemson. According to their Rivals.com profiles, 6'7 power forward Adrian Hubbard has a Clemson offer and is looking at ACC and SEC programs, 6'0 pg Devonte White is looking at ACC and SEC programs, 6'5 Jeremy Burgess is looking at Minnesota, Indiana, Georgia and others, and 6'4 Chris Grier is looking at SEC and ACC programs as well.

Illinois Titans are only sending their 17U team, but they have two outstanding younger players who have been playing up. Watch for 2011's 6'7 power forward James Siakham or even 2012's 6'9 Emanual Ochenje who Chicagohoops has #1 in the class of 2012 in Illinois. Siakham already has offers from Depaul and Southern Illinois and Ochenje has already landed an Illinois offer.

Randolph Boys Club are sending 15, 16, and 17U teams. Look for 2010's 6'3 gritty combo guard Austin Armga and 6'0 Kevin Hurd from Portage to lead the way. Sam Mader and Avery Hinz lead the way for their 15U team but watch out for Duke Vander Galien if he makes the trip. He's been playing up 3! years with this team. They keep getting younger, but its like a car wreck and the Mongrel can't look away!!

Peoria Irish are sending 3 teams although their 16U and 17U teams will both compete at the 17U division. One of the Irish's top 17U players is James Johnson, a 6'8 forward whom Chicagohoops gave good reviews to at the Chicago Tip Off classic. The 16U team beat the Mac Irvin Fire to win the title in the same event and will compete up with the 17U teams this time around. Jordan Nelson from Lincoln and Hayden Hordeman pair up to make for a deadly shooting duo. Hordeman is a 6'3 shooting guard from Bloomington Central Catholic who has offers from Northern Illinois and Eastern Illinois and jumped on the radar screen for several Big Ten programs after his MVP performance in the Tip Off classic including Illinois, Iowa, Penn State, and Indiana.

Illinois Old School is sending four teams to the tournament. 6'1 Oswego East guard Jay Harris is ranked #53 in the class of 2010 by ESPN and he will be leading the Old School's 17U team. He teams with 6'0 point guard Hollis Hill who recently committed to UW-Milwuakee.

Other players of note: The Tennessee Travelers 17U team will feature Jalen Steele, who is a 6'2 highly recruited guard from Knoxville the Mongrel blogged about in some recent Dayton entries. The Shining Stars have five teams in the field so once again check your program, but watch for 17U point guard Chad Jackson from Scott County who claims offers from Xavier and West Virginia. The Mongrel has watched a couple of Jackson's games and likes his ability to get to the rim but he might need a little tweak or two to be a high major point guard. His shooting is ok and he's not super quick but has great length if he can be a point guard. Donovan Gibbs from Iriquois is a good point guard as well. On the 16U squad Austin Flannery can light it up from deep quickly. Terry Porter Elite has 3 teams at the event. Their most anticipated prospect might be Deonte Burton who some have called a top 20 player nationally in the class of 2013 but he'll be playing with TP Elite's 15U team. 15U Birmingham Storm made the trip but not the older teams. 6'6 JaCorey Williams is one of the players to watch for them. 17U Wisconsin Force will feature 6'1 Josh Cameron who is a fine scorer and getting mid-major looks from schools such as Akron. Waterloo's 6'6 Sam Gage is also getting mid-major interest, hearing from Old Dominion and Northern Iowa among others.

This is only a small sample of the talent at the Hoosier Shootout. The website for the tournament is http://www.hoosiershootout.com/ and the Mongrel will provide some updates from some of the most impressive talent in the building and a second part of the preview focusing on the many Indiana squads at the tourney and a few out of state teams we overlooked the first time around.