More commitments!

The recruiting period is heating up quickly with in-home visits. Covington Holmes senior Ricardo Johnson was the MVP of the Sweet 16 in Kentucky and has committed to former Buckeye assistant John Groce and his Ohio program. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/09/swete-16-mvp-makes-his-pick.html The photo on the right shows him from a Courier Journal photo (believe from Demling's blog).

Champaign Centennial had the luxury of seeing two of its stars commit to outstanding mid-major programs. Senior guard Rayvonte Rice has committed to Drake. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/rayvontedrake.html Meanwhile Eastern Kentucky has secured a commitment from Jeff Johnson, a 6'8 forward who has excellent footwork and is solid shooting the ball, I got to see him this summer for the Peoria Irish 17U squad and he was really impressive. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/johnsoneku.html

Kentucky head coach John Calipari did in-home visits with Doron Lamb, Kyrie Irving, and Tobias Harris in just one busy day this week doing in-home visits. This Zagsblog article has updates on several of Calipari's targets including Doron Lamb who they visited with tonight. The article also mentions Indiana coach Tom Crean was at Mountain State Academy to see Turkish star Enes Katner and Obij Ajet, a seven foot sophomore prospect who played with Indiana Elite Team Indiana this summer. http://www.zagsblog.com/2009/09/10/contact-period-opens-amid-recruiting-frenzy/ Ajet is an outstanding shot blocker but is very skinny which currently limits his effectiveness against some players who play with some strength underneath. But he's a wonderful athlete with unbelievable reach and he also has a very nice jump shot out to 18 feet.

Chane Behannan and George Fant did unofficials with WKU this week. http://nationalhoopsreport.blogspot.com/2009/09/fastbreak-friday-sept-11.html

Chicago Foreman star point guard Levonte Dority has cut his list to three schools. Baylor, New Mexico, and South Florida are all still in the running for the high scoring point. He was considering Marquette, Indiana, and several other schools before cutting down his list. http://ilprepbullseye.com/page9.html

As the above link to nationalhoopsreport.blogspot.com indicates, Thad Matta is hosting quite a collection of talent this weekend for the USC football game at the Horseshoe. The Buckeyes will host their top ranked 2010 recruiting class along with 2011 stars Quinn Cook, Bradley Beal, Cody Zeller, Chason Randle, Amir Williams, and several other key recruits along with star alums Greg Oden and Mike Conley. http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/09/11/quinn-cook-on-ohio-state-visit-this-weekend/

Indiana State appears close to landing a commitment from Jake Kitchell. The link has Kitchell saying he played "ok" this summer. Its a very poignant comment imo. This is a kid who led the state of Indiana in blocked shots and put up huge numbers in scoring and rebounding. Sure a 2A schedule can give a good player a chance to pad his stats but the kid wasn't just productive he was phenomenally productive. So when I first had a chance to see him this summer I expected to see the kind of skill that is required to put up such incredible numbers but he was playing with the SYF Players. They were absolutely loaded with stars such as Jesse Berry, Xavier Jones, and bigs like Dominique Ferguson, Enique Mason, and Kitchell. Kitchell was solid on the boards, played solid defense, and was among the most vocal leaders on the floor I'd seen for a big man on the summer circuit. But he didn't try to shoot much either time I got a chance to see him. He would get a rebound, and try to initiate offense on the break, communicate well with his teammates and play unselfishly. These were not qualities I expected to see out of a kid who was among the state leaders in points, rebounds, and blocked shots. If that skill is there which you have to almost assume when a kid puts up numbers, then he could be a special player with his unselfishness and leadership. I wish I'd seen enough of him to weigh in on how productive he can be against good competition, but he's got everything else and has been so productive its tempting to give him the benefit of the doubt. http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090911/SPORTS0615/909110356

The above link to the outstanding Indy Star article also has updates on Bowman Academy's sophomore sensation Dujuan Marrero as well as his less heralded senior teammate Tyrae Robinson. Marrero has offers from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Purdue, and Valparaiso. He's a 6'5 rebounding and defensive machine with a non stop motor and worth the price of admission himself. Robinson is a 6'1 guard with offers from Ball State and Dane Fife's IPFW program. Christopher Bond is a 6'4 forward for Bowman with an offer from SIU Edwardsville.

The Indy Star article also mentioned Pike senior Khristian Smith wants to decide before his senior season. So far he has offers from Drake, Evansville, Morehead State, Indiana State, and Ron Hunter's IUPUI program. Smith has the size and athleticism of a high major prospect, and he is a versatile player who looks the part of a big time player for a mid-major program imo. He played very well leading Pike to a team camp victory at Purdue this summer without the help of Marquis Teague. He also looked very good in summer play alongside Teague, Deshawn Thomas, and company. He has several wonderful college options now which may be the best fit for him, but he's the type of athlete and talent that you find among the seniors who have breakout seasons and get high major attention in the spring if he chose to ride out the process and pursue that option. Smith will be visiting Eastern Illinois this weekend.

MILive.com has another great update courtesy of Stephen Bell. Bell has some good stuff on Kalamazoo Central's 6'6 forward Darius Norman. Bell says Norman was making big plays last year but might be ready to be consistent this year. http://blog.mlive.com/highschoolbasketball/

Shiningstarsports.com has updates on many of their players. Tregg Setty and Jordan Gilbert of Mason County hosted Wright State, Vanderbilt, and Miami at an open gym. http://shiningstarsports.blogspot.com/2009/09/recruiting-update-gilbert-and-setty.html

Sealy and Newby Commit, Ohio Recruiting and Other Updates

Ohio State has offered 2011 prospect Trever Cooney who played with Team Final this summer. He previously had several offers including Notre Dame and will be attending the Duke Elite Camp. http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/08/15/pitt-ohio-state-offer-trevor-cooney-duke-interested-maurice-walker-tyler-olander-chris-martin-updates/ Mega huge Canadian import Maurice Walker is also being recruited by Kentucky and Marquette among other schools. At the Kentucky Hoopfest Walker was pretty impressive. He isn't a big stats guy but he is a legit 6'10 and wide and I was pretty impressed with how much he likes to lean on and beat down his opposition.

Here is an August 13 preview of Depaul done by NBE Basketball. http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/08/13/depaul-summer-report/ It gives an overview of what they lost and what they return and touches on what I hear everyone saying about Depaul. They hired some impressive local recruiters as assistants and are doing a great job getting involved with lots of good recruits but will kids pull the trigger on Depaul when most observers think Wainright won't survive another brutal season? Its quite a dilemma for Blue Deamon recruits.

Jeff Johnson of the loaded Champaign Centennial HS (Rayvonte Rice, Josh Piper) team played really well at the Hoosier Shootout this year in front of the Mongrel. He has soft touch in traffic and has a dependable mid-range shot and bangs for rebounds well. According to Chicagohoops he just received an offer from UI-Chicago.

AaronsUKBBBlog has twittered that Dayton area big man Adriean Payne is going to host an in-home visit with Kansas coach Bill Self on September 14th. Payne is one of the elite prospects in the country and is being recruited by several schools including Kentucky.

Several schools will be hosting Elite Camps this month including Marquette, Indiana, Purdue, and others. Some elite camps have already been held including Iowa and the CP3 elite camp. I'll try to surf twitter for some updates on who is attending from time to time. I've seen that 2010 Detroit star Ray McCallum Jr was at the CP3 camp and 2012 Indianapolis star Jeremy Hollowell is planning on attending the Marquette camp from their twitter accounts so far. Iowa hosted several elite players including 2013 top player nationally Peter Jok, all the Iowa commitments, and some really good prospects like Will Artino and others. Arkansas hosted Dre Henley and others as we have mentioned.

Lots of Louisville news out there but this is a family friendly blog so we can't dip too deeply in that well. Louisville appears to be strong with several important recruits including Marquis Teague in 2011 and JJ Moore in 2010. Moore just cut his list to 5 schools and Louisville made the cut (along with Marquette). Pitino seems to have stopped the blood letting a bit as UL had lost a couple of recruits in recent months (Justin Martin and Jeremy Tyler) along with ace recruiter Richard Pitino who defected to Florida. The Indianapolis Star's Kyle Neddenreiep says 2011 Lawrence North stars Michael Chandler and Ryan Taylor are firm commitments despite Illinois and other schools still trying to recruit Chandler. http://www.indystar.com/article/20090814/SPORTS/90814051/1004/SPORTS/LN+recruits+stay+committed+to+Pitino

According to Evan Daniels, Jabs Newby of the loaded Mountain State Academy basketball program has given a verbal commitment to Eastern Kentucky. Newby is a 6'1 guard.

High Major Scoop has a great profile on 6'3 2011 Westerville South (Columbus) wing Treavon Jackson. Jackson was on the loaded All Ohio Red 2011 team this last summer and has been a hot name in recruiting circles lately. He has offers from Ohio, Akron, Cleveland State, and Miami as well as recent interest from Wisconsin and Dayton. http://highmajorscoop.com/2009/08/the-real-jacko/

High Major Scoop also has a twitter feed and they just said Craig Sealy gave a verbal commitment to Bowling Green. Sealy is a 6'7 forward who played with C-Biz and All-Ohio Red in summer ball and goes to Brookhaven HS(Columbus).

Here is a couple of great rundowns of the top recruits in 2010 in Ohio and their recruiting picture from JJHuddle.com. http://www.jjhuddle.com/news/articles/2009/8/14/hoop-news-notes-and-nuggets-several-players-adding-schools-of-interest-transfer-updates And here is a second one from a couple of weeks ago. http://www.jjhuddle.com/news/articles/2009/7/23/ohio-hoops-recruiting-news-aau-season-nearing-an-end I'll bullet point some of the school lists on uncommitted prospects.

* Jakarr Sampson's favorite is Cincinnati but he's hearing from Michigan State, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, and Miami (Florida). Sampson played for the 2011 King James Shooting Stars. NY2LA has Sampson ranked 14th in the country, he is pictured above from the JJhuddle article.

* Devonte Beard is another 2011 prospect who plays for Akron SVSM and King James. Cincinnati is also recruiting Beard.

* Canton (Hoover) 5'10 point guard Niles Evans (2011) has an offer from Wright State where his brother plays as well as Akron.

* Columbus Northland's 2011 point guard Trey Burke is visiting Ohio this weekend and will be visiting Cincinnati, Penn State, and Baylor in the next few weeks. He's a 6'0 point who played for All Ohio Red this summer.

* Strongville wing Aaron White is another All Ohio Red player who visited Akron yesterday and will be visiting Penn State on September 5th.

Mike Pegram of Peegs.com is twittering that Marshall Plumlee and his family are visiting IU today and tomorow. I've had the chance to see quite a bit of Plumlee this summer and he's going to be really good. He's already 6'11 and is a hard worker and smart player. He doesn't do much outside of the paint right now but knows how to get open and competes well on defense. He visited Michigan last week and has visited Florida already this summer.

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.

Offers, Updates, and Link-O-Rama! July 19, 2009.

I spoke with Chris Hawkins, the Spiece Indy *STARS* 2012 coach yesterday and he said Jeremy Hollowell has decided to stay with the Spiece Indy Stars through July. Hollowell has seen his game and his offer list grow rapidly this summer and appears to be one of the highest recruited kids in the 2012 class at this point if offers are used as a barometer. He has offers from Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio State, Indiana, Iowa, and others despite not even beginning his sophomore year.


New offers keep rolling in. According to Chicagohoops Jeff Johnson of the Peoria Irish has received offers from American University and SIU-Edwardsville. He has a nice mid range shot and plays physical at 6'8, when I saw him against Camp Daryl in Indianapolis he looked like a solid mid-major to me. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/jeffjohnson2.html

A couple of nice features by the Indy Star's recruiting blog. Spiece Select 2011 teammates Kendall Griffin (scout.com photo mug-shot above) and Zach Van DeWater are both big guards with D1 attention and at least mid-major futures. I've seen the play a little although Griffin was out this spring and they are both really impressive players. Griffin is a versatile guard who can play some point or off the ball and has good length at at least 6'4. He has an offer from IPFW on the table and interest from several schools including Xavier, Purdue, Michigan, and Dayton.
http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/07/avons-kendall-g.html Here is an interview posted on P-Hoops.blogspot.com which is a wonderful site for position player rankings in Indiana from somebody who gets to see them quite a bit. http://p-hoops.blogspot.com/2009/01/one-on-one-with-kendall-griffin.html The interview is from January but has some information on Kendall's recruitment.

Van DeWater plays for Whitko and has interest from Butler, Ball State, and Indiana State among others. http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/07/vandewater-hear.html They have several D1 teammates to watch including 6'7 brute Tony Springmann who is also getting recruited at the highest levels as a tackle in football.

Albany has offered 6'2 shooting guard Blake Justice from Peebles, Ohio. He plays for CBIZ. HighMajorscoop is one of our favorite twitter links to follow during aau tournaments and they have some new content on their website including this link on Justice and some other Ohio recruiting buzz. http://highmajorscoop.com/2009/07/weekend-scoop/

Also according to the above link Bowling Green, Wright State, and James Madison have offered 2010 small forward Craig Seeley from Brookhaven, Ohio.

Back to the Indianapolis Star's Kyle Neddenreip with another blog entry, this time on the Mount Vernon trio the good Mongrel has blogged about a few times. Daniel Turner has offers from Wright State, Lipscomb, Navy, and UW-Green Bay. He's the 6'5 all hustle jack of all trades small forward. PJ Hubert is the big time shooter. He has an offer from IUPUI. DeAndre Davis is a 6'6 forward with offers from UW-Green Bay, IUPUI, and IUPFW.

The good Mongrel linked several updates of the NY2LA Summer Jam and should've updated some wrap up reports a couple of days ago but dropped the ball. Here are a few links talking up the performances of Cameron Wright, Vander Blue, Moses Morgan, Dominique Fergeson, Percy Gibson, Chasson Randle, Trey Zeigler, Branden Dawson, and several other players of interest. Here are the 17U standouts
http://www.ny2lasports.com/SummerJam17UTopPerformers.htm. And here are the 16U standouts
http://www.ny2lasports.com/SummerJam17UTopPerformers.htm. NY2LA had similar coverage of the NY2LA Invitational from the first week of July if you click on their home page the links are on the side. It didn't have as much talent as the Summer Slam but it had quite a bit of the same people.

Here is a similar rundown by ESPN Scouts.inc on the Triple S Mountain Slam last week. Western Kentucky commitment Derrick Gordon is mentioned along with Indiana target Tyrone Johnson and some updates on some mystery Canadians the good Mongrel was marvelling at in passing at the Kentucky Hoopfest. Kadeem Green was really impressive with his ability to handle the ball at 6'8 or so and the ability to drive consistently and shoot a pretty jumper. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=4338300

Are you a little depressed about not having a budget to get to Vegas or Orlando to see hoops? The frugal Mongrel's hoops budget this month is going to be limited. I'll make a trip to Merrillville to see the End of Summer Classic put on by Chicagohoops and I'm also hoping to get a chance to peek in at the USSSA Championships put on in Fort Wayne about the same time. I'll be catching much of the Reebok Championship on the web for free on Wazoosports.com. It is the best quality you'll find and they have real Kentuckians doing the play by play so you get to hear the latest gossip on the kids playing the game as well as feel like you aren't drinking alone if you're sipping a little bourbon. The video is superior to what you find elsewhere and the games are pretty random. My other pursuit will be Grassrootstv.com. It is run in cahoots with Maxxathlete.com and hoopmasters.com and I am not sure how much of it will be free and how much will require a monthly subscription. I'll foot the bill for a month if I have to, but I think last year a lot of it was free. They are doing the Las Vegas Main Event from the 22nd to the 26th and the Double Pump Best of Summer Tournament from the 27th to the 31st. You can watch replays so it is wise for the married readers to wait till the kids are in bed and the wife turns on Trueblood before checking in there. I also hear Jody Demling will be doing a lot of live blogging from Vegas so get him with questions if he is watching something you're interested in.

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.