Updates and Commitments: August 24

Indianapolis Lawrence North's Justin Martin (Rivals #87) will return for his senior year at Lawrence North where he averaged 11 points per game as a junior. Martin has ended his recruitment with a commitment to Xavier. Martin is a very good shooter and can be a very good defender and is a very talented kid whom the good Mongrel looks forward to seeing in the A10. The Mongrel is a few days late on this story but here is some of the praise out there for Martin. http://www.ny2lasports.com/NY2LA%20Sports%20Articles/MartintoXavier.htm

Kurt Stubbs from JJHuddle.com has several interesting things to say in his Ohio hoops recruiting rundown from the 21st. http://www.jjhuddle.com/blog/post-detail.php?p=3246

* 2011 big man Zach Price (Rivals #66) from St Edwards (Lakewood) has offers from Louisville, Miami (Fl), Michigan State, Ohio State, Wake Forest, and Wisconsin.
* Jakarr Sampson (Rivals #100) is a 6'8 small forward in the 2011 class from Akron St Vincent-St Mary's. He lists offers from Cincinnati, Xavier, Akron, and Dayton and plans visits to Ohio State and Michigan State this summer.
* Trey Burke (Rivals #105) is a point guard from Columbus Northland. He has offers from Ohio, Cleveland State, Akron, James Madison, Kent State, Butler, Miami, and Stephen F Austin and visited Cincinnati on the 21st.
* 5'7 point guard Stevie Taylor (Rivals #150) also has offers from Ohio, Akron, James Madison, Miami, and others. Taylor is one of those little guys who always comes out on top but people tend to try to temper their expectations because one day the competition will be too big, but so far he's still impossible for anyone to guard. Picture above is Taylor from 4.bp.blogspot.com.

Milwuakee Hamilton's Elgin Cook has accepted a scholarship to play for Iowa State. He is a very athletic 6'6 kid in the 2011 class. Scroll down to the second article on the blog for more. http://www.wissports.net/sports/hoopsb/blog/blog.aspx?f=123

Pittsburgh commitment Cameron Wright has a nice profile in a new article on the best players not included in the top 100 by ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=4411749

Chicagohoops has a nice piece on Ben Brackney from Lincoln HS. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/benbrackney2.html Brackney is a 6'5 shooting wing forward with offers from Eastern Illinois, Bucknell, Murray State, SIU-Edwardsville, and other schools. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/benbrackney2.html

Lots of news coming from Demling's blog as always. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html

* Chane Behanan (Rivals #95) (notice corrected and wise spelling) has received an offer from Western Kentucky.
* Marquis Teague (Rivals #2) seems to be rushing in Indiana, Purdue, and Kentucky visits before his season starts. He was on Kentucky's campus this weekend and will be at Purdue and Indiana's elite camps this coming weekend. This part is the Mongrel editorializing but the kid has all but spelled out his preference to Louisville the last couple of weeks, looks like he's trying to give a last look to all comers before pulling the trigger. Let me know if I turn out to be wrong about that one loyal readers...
* Dematha (Maryland) athlete Victor Oladipo is expected to visit Indiana September 3rd and 4th.
Carlton Brundidge praise from NBE Blog. http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/08/24/recruiting-notebook-rod-odom-carlton-brundidge-carson-desrosiers/ Michigan, Michigan State, Wake Forest, Oklahoma, Syracuse, and Providence are interested in him.

Vegas/Orlando Day 1 Rundowns

Adidas Super 64 is the easiest to find updates on partly because they have a web site that updates scores. Its great and timely. http://www.adidassuper64.com/Default.aspx The 17U scores even list top scorers. I'll list a few teams of interest to the good Mongrel's range and some scores.

Here is a link to Coach Blevins' notes on the tournament yesterday. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/eventreports/othernotesfromvegas He has nice reviews on Crishawn Hopkins, Justin Martin, Ryan Boatright, Gelawn Guyn, and other kids of note.

17U: Full Package Elite 68 (Photo above is a Sun Times shot of Dragecevich who scored 22) - KC Cowboys 57; Chicago Elite 77 - Colorado Select White 51; Chicago Elite 66 (Dority 20) - Gameday Basketball 61; Detroit Stars 87 - High Intensity 56; Gym Rats Gold 84 - SoCal All Stars White 71; California Supreme 67 - Gym Rats Black 36; Regis Raiders 70 - Gym Rats Black 50; Net Gain Sports 74 - 2D1 Basketball Academy 52; Derek Smith All Stars West 89 - Rocklin Warriors Blue 45; Pump N Run W - D1E Derek Rose All Stars forfeit; Ohio Basketball Club 76 (Parker 19) - Eric Gordon All Stars 52; Team Philly 65 (Green 18) - Michigan Mustangs 59; Indiana Elite (Fox) 51 (Guyn 16) - D Harris Superstars 40; Utah Pump N Run Red 73 - Derek Smith All Stars 68; Team Access 78 - Indiana Elite Red 47; SoCal All Stars Red 57 - Indiana Elite Red 47; Compton Magic Select 68 -Eric Gordon All Stars 63; Atlanta Celtics 83 (Harrow) - D1E Derrick Rose All Stars 76; Ohio Basketball Club 65 - Houston Select 63;

16U: Michigan Mustings 50 - NorCal All Stars 32; Full Package Elite (Preston) 69 - Mass Rivals 67; Ohio Basketball Club 79 Valley Stars Pump N Run 58; In Elite/ Team Indiana 62 - HP Elite 49; Chicago Elite 53 - Colorado Select 47; In Elite One 77 - 707 Finest 44; Derek Smith All Stars 88 - BCA All Stars 45; Aim High 78 - French Hoops Two 36; IN Elite Garlets 67 - Team Phenom 61; Chicago Elite 69 - Compton Magic 62; Gateway Basketball Club 70 - Gym Rats 32; Gym Rats late game;

15U: Eric Gordon All Stars 62 - DTA Superstars 44; Bay Area Hoosiers W - In Elite South Forfeit; Net Gain Sports 60 (Marcus Shreider 24 pts) - Urban Elite 49; D1E Derek Rose All Stars 54 (C Jones 14) - Bay Area Hoosiers 38; Texas Assault 51 - In Elite / Team In 48 (Smith Rivera 14); Oho BBall Club 65 (Mollock 17) - LA Rockfish 57; Derek Smith All Stars 74 (T Saxton 19) - LA Rockfish 50; D1E All Stars 70 (S Taylor 12) - Arizona Gym Rats Elite 60;

14U: Las Vegas Prospects 69 - Aim High 64; Ohio BBall Club 66 - Bay Area Hoosiers 37; The Ville 89 (Quick 25) - Triple Threat 25; Houston Select 6 - Aim High 51;

Main Event (Vegas): Here are some 17U updates: Illinois Mustangs 57 (Belcaster 20) - Crossover Basketball 41; Air Force Rojo 54 - Illinois Mustangs 40; Dallas Showtime Black 76 - Fieldhouse Elite Team Indiana 52; Yakima Elite 55 -Illinois Old School 44; Terry Porter Elite 78 - SA Scorpions 51; CP3 All Stars 66 - Spiece Select 57 (Sneary 15); Salt Lake Black 66 - Windy City Spartans 64 (Guyton 22); Mac Irvin Fire 69 (Mills 13/12) - Team Texas 61; King James Shooting Stars 81 - California Supreme 72; Oregon Lords 53 - Terre Haute Jammers 47; Miami Tropics 52 - Spiece Indy Heat 50 (Thomas 19); So Nevada Powerhouse 82 - Aim High 81 (Daniels 18);

Here is a Demling update although I think he changed over to different tournaments. He has nice updates on Josh Selby, Griffin McKenzie, and many others. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/07/las-vegas-day-one.html

Hoops City Updates (Kansas City) tourney got underway in afternoon. Spiece Indy Stars 2012 won 67 - 53. Ron Patterson had 19, Austin Burgett had 17, Kellon Thomas had 10, Hollowell and Rhett Smith had 9. They play again at 11:45 local time on Thursday.

Super Showcase (Orlando) is down to a final 8 at the 15U division. One matchup is the NY Gauchos vs YOMCA (Memphis club). Another squad in the final 8 is the Memphis Bearcats.

16U division: Spiece Select 2011 went 2-0 in pool play. Shining Stars (Mohman) went 0-2 including a 57-55 loss to the Boston Warriors and a 36-33 loss to the Birmingham Storm. Shining Stars (Grote) lost to MB Nation 51-34. They lost later to Team Florida Elite 73-43.


I'm not going to chase all the twitter feeds all day like yesterday afternoon, its just too time consuming with so many tournaments going on. I'll keep track of coaches out being seen and add them to the old "who is your coach watching" post and repost it in a few days when I'm caught up. I'm still good for a few edits, links, and updates though! See yesterday's entry for information on who might be twittering from each event.

July 17 Recruiting Buzz aau re-shuffling for Vegas (Fergeson, Hopkins)

The Eric Gordon All-Stars are coming off their first tournament title at the Best of the Midwest Tournament. Indianapolis North Central and Purdue bound 6'2 shooting guard Terone Johnson was MVP of the tournament and continues to display a toughness and consistency that spells great things for Matt Painter. But Johnson is not the only star on this club.

6'10 Cincinnati Moeller forward Griffin McKenzie is fully recovered from his back injury and drawing offers left and right. I posted a link on his recruiting a couple of days ago, but since then the offers keep rolling in. Ohio State has offered and Indiana's head coach Tom Crean was at two of McKenzie's games at Best of the Midwest so don't be surprised if the offers keep rolling in for McKenzie. Peegs.com's Matt Weaver spoke with him on Thursday and he said he now has offers from Xavier, Cincinnati, Northwestern, Tennessee, and Providence. http://indiana.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=965279 The article is a premium article from the excellent Indiana rivals site run by Mike Pegram. Yesterday Moeller HS coach Carl Kremer told the Cincinnati Enquirer that McKenzie now has offers from Ohio State and Vanderbilt as well. We'll be watching to see where McKenzie visits before the Eric Gordon All Stars hit Vegas later in the month.

And when they do hit vegas, they will have a significant new addition. Indianapolis Manual's Crishawn Hopkins has been playing with the Bloomington Blaze but will be playing for the Eric Gordon All Stars in Vegas. Hopkins will be a huge addition for them. He is a 6'1 skinny point guard who can jump out of the gym. I saw the Blaze Select get waxed by Atlanta All Stars a couple of weeks ago and Hopkins was the best player on the floor and scored about 25 of his teams 32 points. Hopkins also is an impressive shooter with a nice three point shot. I haven't had the chance to see him play on a team where you'd want him setting up his teammates a great deal but he has a good handle and if he has the kind of feel for the team's offense that you want out of a point its hard to see how Hopkins won't wind up playing for a high major program. He already has good offers including Miami (Oh) and interest from Virginia, Indiana, and Arizona among others. The Eric Gordon All Stars will give him that opportunity for both exposure and to show how well he can play point when he isn't the only high level player on his squad. Johnson is a strong off guard with range and McKenzie and Indianapolis Howe forward Jordan Manual are big kids who can stroke the three. If Hopkins is a point guard he should have plenty of shooters to kick the ball out to. I know he can drive, dunk, and shoot. The Mongrel will be at the edge of his seat to see if Hopkins leaves Vegas with some new attention. He's got his grades back on track and believes he will qualify as a freshman if he has a good year in the classroom. And yes, he can dunk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuhoC8C5LEw

The SYF Players will be losing Dominique Fergeson for a while at least (indystar photo of Fergeson trying to swat the Juice). http://twitter.com/Dferg23 He's going to be playing for Team Detroit in Vegas next week. SYF had a nice showing in the NY2LA Summer Jam last week. 17U Lafayette Jeff star Jesse Berry is committed to Dayton and he joins an already loaded back court with mid-major or better prospects Gary point guard Xavier Jones, East Chicago Central's Michael Harris, and Indianapolis combo guard Andre Hampton who really impressed me in May. The big kids for SYF are going to play D1 ball too. Jake Kitchell is a 6'9 forward who has offers from Oregon State and California and is being tracked by several Big Ten schools including Iowa, Minnesota, and Indiana where he attended an elite camp in June. He is a very prolific scorer and one of Indiana's leading rebounders and led the state in blocked shots. For SYF he takes a vocal leadership role and does the dirty work. It will be fun to see where he ends up. Enique Mason from Brownsburg is a 6'9 kid with a very strong developed body ready for trench warfare in college. He looked vastly improved this spring as well and really got after it on the boards and showed good hands finishing inside. With his size and coordination I expect to start hearing soon about some D1 schools knocking on his door, he should have a breakout year for Brownsburg.

But the big ticket for SYF's 17U squad this year has been Dominique Fergeson. Fergeson is a top 20 ranked prospect nationally and is being pursued by Kentucky, Arizona, Indiana, UCLA, and a virtual who is who in the college basketball world. Persistent rumors about his transferring have been brushed off as ridiculous all year by Fergeson and his father but he finally confirmed what all the Indiana coaches I talk to have been saying for a while. Fergeson will be leaving Lawrence North High School to attend prestigious Hargrave Military Academy in Massachusetts. Naturally his high school coach Jack Keefer is irate about this news. He says (publicly and yes Fergeson is a minor) Fergeson is not on track to qualify and is being used by Dye and his SYF program. http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/07/17/jack-keefer-sounds-off-on-dominique-ferguson/ This Inside the Hall article sums up some of my feelings about hearing Lawrence North's Jack Keefer sound off on Fergeson (originally a Franklin Central player) transferring away from Lawrence North on radio shows. I do not have the pleasure of knowing the coaches from SYF or Keefer himself so I will try to assume everyone has a good point here, but it is a shocker to hear a high school coach going after a player publicly like this, especially one he was getting criticized for recruiting from Franklin Central just a short while ago. And keep in mind that 09 Lawrence North big man Jeff Robinson did not get accepted into Purdue after staying eligible for Coach Keefer and playing and knowing ahead of time what he needed to get done in the class room. And 2010 Justin Martin is transferring away and like Fergeson is said to be in dire academic shape and in need of stronger academic structure to get ready to be accepted to college. And remember that 2010 6'10 center Jan Maehlen is a highly touted Lawrence North big man who plays for Dye's SYF program and is also transferring away from Lawrence North.

In other words, a pattern is forming for Lawrence North that will become downright ugly if 2011 prospects Michael Chandler and Ryan Taylor play ball all year for Lawrence North but end up not having the grades they need for college. Lets hope for a happy ending all around. Fergeson, Martin, and Maehlen can have good years and get into the schools they want to attend now that they chose stronger academic institutions (at least in Hargrave's case) that have a budget and expectations to monitor and pressure the kids into getting it done in the classroom. Hopefully Robinson fits in as well at Xavier as he thought he would at Purdue. And hopefully Chandler and Taylor lead Lawrence North to a huge season for the Wildcats and get it done in the class room vindicating Keefer's "addition by subtraction" stab. Meanwhile the Mongrel will keep an eye on the relationship between the powerful SYF Players program and Indianapolis school coaches and pass on what is fit to e-print.