OK, I've heard from the fans and learned commentators, researched a few of the kids I haven't seen much of (or in some cases at all yet) and am ready to take my first stab. I've got a list of over 75 kids I'd like to include on the top 50 from my own observations or from reader comments and I had better put out the list before I get more emails about kids I've overlooked (researching a kids performances is much more time consuming than going to a gym and seeing dozens of them come to you). I'll rely on the opinions of others and the first few reports from some of the best evaluators I've linked over the summer. But I've seen plenty of most of these guys to defend the picks so here it is the 50+ best college prospects in Mongreltopia (not best pro prospects).
1. Michael Chandler - I'll go out on a limb on this one, this is a kid who didn't start and rarely had big games as a freshman for Lawrence North. But he was playing behind a 6'10 Xavier commitment, a 6'9 Louisville commitment, a 6'8 Florida International commitment, a 6'6 Louisville commitment, and a 6'7 Xavier commitment in LN's front court. He's a true center, about 6'11 now and he has shown his athleticism enough on the summer circuit to be ranked top ten nationally with Rivals and have caught other people's eye. With a little work on his game facing the basket he is going to be big time!
2. Marques Teague - Another Indianapolis prospect, Teague is usually described as farther along than his older brother. He has rare court vision and is much more of a true point than his brother. His NBA future is crystal clear. The junior is still not as good at leading his team as some other point prospects, I've seen him get outplayed a few times by less athletic kids. But he is special and is a likely lottery pick after his freshman year. Louisville and Kentucky appear to be co-leaders for him with Cincinnati, Indiana, and Purdue still in the picture.
3. Wayne Blackshear is a very athletic wing from Chicago. He made some waves with the Mac Irvin Fire this summer after being criticized quite a bit along with teammate Mike Shaw for being very talented but not backing it up on the court. But as the summer went on he had more and more good performances. He and Shaw are rumored to want to be a package deal with Louisville being the most rumored beneficiary.
4. Brandon Dawson is deserving of this recognition now, but he is one of the kids who has the most potential to slide back into the pack if he doesn't keep progressing. Dawson is the best rebounder I've seen in his class. He's a dominant force close to the basket with his long arms and spectacular athleticism. But he is very limited laterally, and only about 6'5 or 6'6 right now so if he does not continue to progress or improve his small forward skills he could be a mediocre college player. He's got a great motor and two more years of high school, so for now he gets the complete benefit of the doubt. And if I didn't give it to him, he'd tear my arms and legs off because the kid is a physical presence right now!
5. Cody Zeller is one of my favorites in the class. Most lists I see have him in the top 50 nationally but I think that might be underselling the kid. He is at least 6'9 right now and has shown a better motor and progression with his game than his brothers did. Cody is a very good ball handler, has a good perimeter shot, and is a very good passer. He has some post moves and plays tough for a skinny kid. He's skinny but looks as a sophomore the way Tyler looked a year older. Indiana and North Carolina appear to be in the best early shape with him, but Florida, Purdue, Notre Dame, Butler, Iowa, and other schools are involved.
6. James Siakam is a 6'6 beast of a power forward who blew me away this summer for the Illinois Titans. The kid has an infectious smile and a great attitude off the court and is a lot like Brandon Dawson I mentioned earlier. He's a very strong player on both sides of the ball, he's a dominant player right now. But if he doesn't grow or expand his game he could slide down the list fast next year because great 6'6 power forwards at this level usually top out as ordinary undersized power forwards at the next level. No way he or Dawson can guard an Evan Turner type on the wing in the Big Ten or another high major conference. But with 2 more years to go they get total benefit of the doubt that they will grow or expand their game. That won't fly with the senior list though.
7. Amir Williams Williams is a 6'10 center with excellent defensive instincts, good reach, and very good athleticism. He flew under the radar last year for Detroit County Day who had two other high major big men who were seniors. But it was often Williams who got noticed for having a nice motor while his teammates were criticized for a lack thereof. Williams, like Chandler is picked a lot on potential but he has the body and work ethic and has shown what he can do, its only a matter of time before he does it night in and night out.
8. Nana Egwu is another big kid with tons of potential the good Mongrel would be unwise to overlook. Egwu is 6'9 and has only been playing basketball for three years now. He teamed up with the Illinois Wolves to have arguably the most successful AAU season of any program from Illinois (the Warriors spring was better and the Fire were solid in July so argue away about that if you wish). The phrase "Egwu is still raw" seems to have been reprinted into every profile I've seen on him this summer, but that didn't slow down Matt Painter, Bo Ryan, Tom Crean, or Bruce Weber who won the Egwu sweepstakes when he announced a few days ago.
9. Sam Thompson is a 6'6 wing from Chicago with the ability to play all over the floor. He's very skinny and most of what you hear on Thompson seems to focus on his potential and what he can be, but for a kid who is talked about on potential all the time he was awfully productive this summer. Thompson has a long list of about ten schools but the good Mongrel has posted several times that the buzz around Thompson always seems to start with Oregon State.
10. Jeremiah Davis is a 6'3 combo guard from Muncie, Indiana. He has been a big name in recruiting circles since Billy Gillespie, Bruce Pearl, and Tom Crean offered him over a year ago. Davis is a very intelligent well spoken kid that fans will find easy to like. However, the knock on him was a lot like the knock on Marques Teague. They were both obviously athletically gifted but they didn't seem to have the intangibles that makes their teams successful as freshmen. I saw that in May when Davis was extremely impressive at all facets of the game except knowing when to shoot and when to look to get his teammates in rhythm. Then in July Davis looked a lot more comfortable and within himself. I need to see more, but Davis appears to have answered his questions. Michigan State and Indiana are strong with him right now.
11. Chason Randle is a 6'2 point guard from Rock Island, Illinois. He drew great reviews playing for the 16U junior team this summer and is best known for playing under control and showing leadership. He has a solid three point shot and is good at penetrating but his strongest point is probably his leadership and his intangibles. Purdue, Iowa State, and Illinois get the most buzz with him.
12. Anton Grady is a kid I admit I didn't know anything about until I stumbled across him at an AAU event. He's a high major athlete from the Cleveland area with incredible length on the wing for the NEO-Ballers. More accurately I should say I stumbled across a Michigan State assistant at an AAU event this summer. The crowds were all watching Teague/Marrero/Hopkins and I went around to some of the back courts to get some pictures and almost fell across a MSU assistant who was the only coach watching the game. It was one of those Yellowstone moments where you see a car pulled to the side of the road and you know they are watching some bear or moose so you pull over too and Grady was a stunner. This is a kid I loved when I saw him but haven't seen enough to feel real confident in my impressions because he doesn't have a huge national reputation, but after ranking him 19 I've gone through my emails and seen an AAU coach from Detroit and a mid-major assistant from an Ohio school both bring him up who are not obviously connected to him so I'm more comfortable believing my eyes on that one now.
13. Matt Carlino is a 6'2 combo guard from Bloomington South, Indiana. He was first team all state as a freshman in Arizona playing in their 5A league for a team which was ranked number one all year and lost in the championship game when Carlino suffered a broken nose and concussion but incredibly came back in the second half to get the team back in it. He is a superb defensive point guard and has impressive intangibles. He might need to dribble a little lower now that he is playing in the midwest, and I have yet to see the kind of shooting out of him that he produced as a freshman (43% from 3). Carlino is committed to Indiana.
14. Zach Price is a 6'9 power forward with good length and athleticism. He is committed to UL, thanks to the gentleman who reminded me in the comments section I thougth I edited this out earlier but it was left speculating about why he'd made so many trips to UL and not committed.vbg
15. Ryan Taylor is a 6'6 forward from Lawrence North HS in Indianapolis. He is in the midst of transitioning from a pure power forward role to a wing forward and after initially thinking he was a power forward I'm starting to see the error in my ways. Last I caught him was at the USSSA Nationals in Ft Wayne and I was very impressed with his handle. Pitino will find a place for him for sure.
16. Jakarr Sampson is a 6'7 forward for St Vincent's St Mary's who already has offers from Xavier, Akron and Dayton to go with interest from most of the Big Ten. Cincinnati was his early favorite. He ended up playing power forward for King James this summer but many consider his best college position the 3. I had a couple of advocates for Sampson insist he's easily in the top 25, so we'll let Mongreltopia speak for now and keep a close eye on his progress. NY2LA has him 14th in the country.
17. Dwann Anderson is a 6'3 kid from Sutton's Bay HS who didn't get as much publicity as some other high profile wings from Michigan but he is the best athlete of his talented in-state peers and has a good three point shot already as well. He led Parallel 45's outstanding 2010 squad last summer and had a few tournaments with Team New Jersey in July. Central Michigan and Dayton had been on him early but he is also being recruited by Michigan, Wisconsin, and Michigan State. In October he was the star of the loaded Styles 3 Elite Showcase in Midland, Michigan and appears to be a prospect exploding onto the scene.
18. Brandon Kearney is a 6'4 wing from Detroit Southeastern who committed to Michigan State. He also has offers from Ohio State (the darkhorse), Michigan, Florida, and others but has been spotted in green a lot the last few weeks. He was excellent for Team Detroit last summer. Photo above is Kearney from Detroit FP picture.
19. Dre Henley is a Chicago area kid you get a lot of polarized responses to. He's a very strong 6'5ish wing with excellent skills but not explosive athleticism so he tends to really impress some people (Hoops Report (Hendrickson) has him 2nd in the state in his class) and not register with others. Henley played for Mac Irvin Fire this summer and had great reviews from Arkansas' elite camp this summer as well.
20. Carlton Brundidge is a 6'1 kid from Southfield, MI who committed to Michigan a few weeks ago. He was good at the Izzo Shootout and has good strength. CB teamed with Amir Williams and company this summer to lead The Family's 2011 AAU team. Brundidge is best known for his three point shooting, and Belein seems to value that as highly as anyone!
21. Justin Gant has long been one of my favorites. He is a 6'8 forward for Terre Haute North who has offers from Iowa and Indiana State among others. Michigan and other Big 10 schools are recruiting him hard as well. He bounced around on 3 different AAU teams last year so you got something different from him depending on the team, but he has very surprising athleticism, works hard in the paint, can handle well for a power forward, has good passing skills, and is an exceptional kid.
22. Tommie McCune is one of the biggest named kids in Michigan. He's a 6'7 power forward who plays with more strength than you expect but not a big time athlete at power forward. His former HS teammate Draymond Green had a great freshman year for MSU and would like to see Tommie join him there, but if MSU gets a 2010 big (Horford/Payne) they may double up on another position instead of go with a 2011 big.
23. Trey Burke is someone I was reminded by two comments and someone else on email is certainly a top 25 player, so in the interactive spirit the readers have spoken. When a kid has that many advocates, its usually for a reason. Now I'll be watching him extra close though...vbg
24. Ryan Boatright is a point guard from Chicago who committed to USC as an 8th grader when they were a hot name in the recruiting world. As often happens when a young talent commits early out of state, in-state observers have left him for dead meanwhile he has been near dominant head to head against some pretty big name Chicago point guards since his decommitment.
25. Tracy Abrams is a 6'0 UI commit and an extremely quick point for Chicago Mt Carmel. He went from the D1E All Stars to the Mac Irvin Fire and had a great summer. Hoops Report has him as the #1 player in Illinois for the class.
26. Mitch McGary is a big strong 6'9 power forward with soft hands. He has been criticized for a lack of focus but the Good Mongrel gives him great marks for focusing when it counts. Other kids who had let academics slip played through July thinking they could just go to a prep school to fix his problems instead of working hard in the class room to catch up and McGary took the other road and opened books when he could've been getting his picture on web sites.
27. Austin Etherington is an Indiana commitment and a kid I have been getting some mean emails for not puting in the top 25 section on my preview so readers you have your way here. I love his three point shot and he has excellent leaping ability at 6'5ish but I worry some about his lateral movement on defense. Granted, the Hamilton Heights wing only returned from micro fracture surgery during the high school season so he might have more room to expand his athleticism.
28. Stevie Taylor is an extremely quick pure leadership point guard from Gahanna Lincoln HS who is tough to rank because he destroys everyone ranked ahead of him but he's only about 5'7 so its hard to project how good he'll be at the next level. He likes Miami and Akron among others.
29. Dee Davis is a tough 5'9 Xavier commit who is a pretty complete combo guard. He is excellent defensively and can guard the point spot and he has a solid three point shot and is best driving to the basket. He'll need to develop his distribution capabilities to be a better point but has excellent intangibles and is a winner who can finish against bigger players.
30. Mike Shaw is a talented 6'7 forward for the Mac Irvin fire from Chicago who has a bright future ahead of him. He gets very mixed reviews and is one of those kids so gifted he got ranked top ten nationally as a freshman but he gets criticized a lot for being on and off. I love his ability but not his production so I'll keep a close eye on him, if he doesn't grow there are a lot of 6'7 kids with ability so he needs to turn it on and show us those great skills consistently.
31. Chane Behanan has already gotten me in trouble for saying he is decommitted so I'll tread lightly here. The former UC commit moved from Cincinnati to Bowling Green and has been visiting schools and receiving offers since then. He was once looked at as a top 25 player in the class by some but seems to be slipping some, hopefully the move works out for him and he gets to prove himself all over again.
32. Nic Moore is an extremely strong athletic 5'8 point guard from Warsaw, Indiana who played summer with Indiana Elite. Moore has a wonderful 3 point shot, excellent leadership skills, and is a pure point with tremendous passing ability. He is being under-recruted right now in part because of the depth at point in Indiana and Illinois in this class.
33. Bruce Barron is a muscular mohawk sporting (at least for a while) rough cob of a point that I first saw this summer for the Illinois Titans. He is a tough kid who plays with passion and has seen his stock skyrocket with his summer performances. Vanderbilt, Purdue, Northern Iowa, Ohio, Illinois, and Notre Dame are interested in Barron.
34. Aaron Thomas is a 6'5 wing from Cincinnati who had a huge summer for the Queen City Prophets. He went to elite camps at Xavier, Michigan, and WVU and is being recruited by OSU, Indiana, Cincinnati, and Akron who has offered.
35. Markus Crider is a wonderful 6'6ish wing prospect from Ohio that played with the 16U SYF Players squad that was featuring some outstanding talent including McGary and Dawson from this same list. Crider can handle and get to the basket some and has potential to be higher up the list but needs to expand his range and become more aggressive on both sides of the ball. A reader was kind enough to remind me of the glaring error in not including him.
36. Vinnie Zollo is a 6'7 Clark County star and former UK commitment who played for Indiana Elite this summer and is being recruited by Notre Dame and other high major schools. This kid has a great attitude, works hard, and has wonderful passing ability mixed with good instincts around the hoop.
37. George Fant is a 6'6 bull of a power forward for Warren Central who had a huge July for the Derek Smith All Stars and has offers from Butler, WKU, Ok St, and Wright State.
38. Remy Abel is a 6'3 guard from Louisville Eastern who can put up buckets in a hurry. Jody Demling has him as the 3rd best player in Kentucky in his class.
39. Chier Ajou is a 7'o kid who came to the US in the AHOPE foundation from Sudan and is going to be playing for George Steinbrenner's favorite prep school, Culver Academy this year. Ajou is raw but has a very long wing span for his size and has a nice perimiter shot. Needs to eat more but is an intriguing prospect.
40. Macari Brooks is a 6'3 big time athlete from Rich South HS who played for the loaded Mac Irvin Fire program. He has offers from Depaul and Northern Illinois and recently made a high profile visit with Shaw and Blackshear to Louisville.
41. Patrick Lucas-Perry is a 5'11 point guard from Flint Powers Catholic who is the focus of a high stakes recruiting battle between Michigan and Michigan State. With Jeremiah Davis recently brought into the MSU recruiting picture saying he will decide before school basketball starts (most likely for MSU or Indiana), don't be surprised if Perry beats him to the punch unless he likes Michigan more.
42. Kendall Griffin is a likely football player according to many, but this Avon (IN) combo guard is surprisingly strong with the ball and an excellent passer in both sports.
43. Jacob Williams is back at Chicago St Patricks and the 6'5 explosive wing guard is being courted by most of the Big Ten. The Illinois Wolves guard might need to show some consistency before getting those offers though.
44. Travaeon Jackson is a Westerville South and All-Ohio Red 2011 star who has offers from Ohio, Akron, Cleveland State, and Miami. He is Jimmy Jackson's son.
45. Tommy Knipp is a 6'7 forward for small school Cinderella story Elliot County who made a run in Kentucky's single class tournament. He can shoot, handle, and pass so he's one to watch.
46. Treg Setty is a 6'8 forward from Mason County (KY) who was a 6'3 guard a year ago so he's drawing lots of attention for his nice outside shot and good ball skills.
47. Hayden Hoerdemann is a 6'3 off guard from Bloomington (IL) Central Catholic who exploded onto the scene this spring with a huge performance in April's Chicago City Classic and was one of the most consistently productive kids on the AAU circiut. Illinois state and Evansville have made him a priority but several B10 schools have kept in close contact.
48. Jalen Packer is a 6'3 point guard from Princeton, Indiana with outstanding athleticism and court awareness. He is being recruited by some of the best mid-major programs in the country including Butler and Southern Illinois, but with some work on the shot can take it up a notch.
49. Spencer Turner is a 6'3 Shooting guard (with a capital S) from Bloomington South HS. He has an offer from IUPUI but is being courted by Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and several others who are watching as this excellent kid works hard to increase his athleticism and add more to his game. But I capitalized Shooting for a reason, he's a stunning shooter.
50. Zach VAn DeWater is a multi-skilled off guard with good size at 6'5. He is getting some strong mid-major and some high major interest. He has a capable outside shot, can put it on the floor and get to the hole, is a willing defender, a solid athlete, and is very well coached. He'll have a big year alongside sophomore sensation point Logan Irwin at Whitko this year.
51. Steve Jamison is a kid who plays the 1,2, and 3 for Broadripple HS in Indianapolis. Jamison is a solid shooter who has great length even at 6'5 and is a very good passer. He'll need to put on weight but is getting mid-major attention and being watched by several high majors as well.
52. Nate Anderson: Teays Valley and All Ohio Red 2011 player has offers from Ohio and Penn State.
(Some of best reader suggestions I couldn't yet include) CJ Bates, Kody Chandler, Trey Barbers, TJ Buchanon,
Honorable Mention: Lots of great players not on the list: Brian Burdine, Ledonte Henton, Jordan Shanklin, Robbie Stenzel, PJ Boutte, George Marshall, Devin Hodges, Travis Trice, Aaron White, Trey Lewis, Percy Gibson, Tony Springmann, Jamie Crockett, Ryan Fucci, Marcellus Barksdale,
