Hoops Season Wrapping Up, Tournaments and Sectionals Draw Near

The dog ate the Good Mongrel's homework for a few months, but here's some of what is goin' on with some players we've been watching and a few who have caught our attention.

Some links to Hoosier hoop stars:

Hamilton Southeastern's Gary Harris and Pike's Marquis Teague have been having big seasons. Here's a blurb from the Indy Star that mentions a tangle between the two back court standouts as well as Warren Central's 6'6 Devin Davis from the class of 2013. Keep your eyes on this one, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, Butler, Southern Illinois and others already are. http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2010/02/thursday-notes-1.html

Here's another feature on the sensational Harris who has offers from Illinois, Xavier, and IUPUI already. http://www.indystar.com/article/20100219/SPORTS0203/2190323/1361/SPORTS0615/Hamilton-SE-s-Harris-develops?GID=blZCLvwi/nen5t54w+paRPvco/+sPlwVY2B32tA4zwU%3D

And a third link from the Indy Star which has done an outstanding job covering recruiting the last six months or so. Ohio State recruit and Ft Wayne senior Deshawn Thomas has arguably been the best player in Indiana since the end of his freshman year when Eric Gordon graduated. He has a chance to break Damon Bailey's state scoring record. He has been a big name so long that I think some national guys have taken him for granted. http://www.indystar.com/article/20100113/SPORTS0615/1130352/1361/SPORTS0615/FW-Luers-Thomas-has-chance-to-pass-Bailey-for-scoring-record

Northern Indiana powers Merrillville and Valparaiso collided a few days ago with Merrillville avenging an earlier season loss to Valpo behind a big game from Jeremiah Jones. http://nwitimes.com/sports/high-school/indiana/article_133e6f91-3a2e-563d-96cc-698f55759a45.html

Illinois hoops has been heating up of late as well. Chicago city championship goes to UL recruit and 2011 star Wayne Blackshear who has had an enormous year to date. Blackshear has had several 40+ point games and hit the game winner for his Morgan Park club with 13 seconds left to beat Foreman 61-60 (photo above is from following Sun-Times YS article). http://yourseason.suntimes.com/2059786,021910-morgan-park-marshall-boys-basketball.article

The suburban championship fell to 2010 stars Duje Dukan and Glenbrook North star Alex Dragecevich. Glenbrook defeated Deerfield in this battle between smooth shooting big wings. http://yourseason.suntimes.com/boys_basketball/2059765,021910-glenbrook-north-deerfield-boys.article

Here's a recent Chicagohoops.com profile of 2011 6'8 forward Josh Piper which the Good Mongrel has raved about a time or two in the past. Yale and Ball State are two of the schools in the running for the power forward with the nice mid range jumper. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/joshpiper.html

Another fine update from Chicagohoops has Orr sophomore Jacob Williams considering Xavier, Butler, and Illinois among others. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/jacobwilliams2.html

The Bluegrass State has seen an upsurge in talent for the next couple of years and many (including most of my email friends and comments on this blog) expected defending state champion Ricardo Johnson and Scott County star Ge'lawn Guyn to duel for Mr Basketball, but the Good Mongrel warned that the honor could ultimately fall to Trinity's Josh Sewell and indeed he has had the biggest season of the trio. However, don't sleep on Shelby County and UL walk-on Elisha Justice who has had an enormous season to date. http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100209/SPORTS11/2090365/1078/SPORTS11/Elisha+Justice+preparing+to+be+a+Cardinal
Brackets are set for the state tournament in the Buckeye State. http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/boysbasketball/

Don't forget to check out this article on a great win by Benedictine (Cameron Wright and Derek Jackson) over St Vincent St Mary's (Jakar Sampson). http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/news/article/-9120140584922745048/third-quarter-is-difference-as-benedictine-boys-basketball-team-defeats-st-vincent-st-mary/

Devin Oliver continues to come up big for Kalamazoo Central as this article on their victory over Muskegon Heights indicates. http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/article/-9120141584926745044/devin-olivers-renewed-intensity-gives-kalamazoo-central-boost-in-boys-basketball-win-over-muskegon-heights/

Recruiting Round-up

In case you missed it, the Louisville Courier Journal's Jody Demling did a wonderful hoops recruiting chat. He covers Kentucky high school basketball as well as recruiting for Kentucky, Louisville, and Indiana. The "golden triangle" schools own 14 NCAA titles between them and all have been in the final four this decade. So he has quite a horde of fans beating his door down and got to answer quite a few questions today. Here is the link. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/08/recruiting-live-chat.html Some highlights include...

* Marquis Teague has some mixed signals out there for all three top schools but most indicators lead to UL being his final choice.
* Says in 2010 class he thinks IU will most likely end up with Kyrie Irving and still has a chance with Victor Oladipo, Jalen Kendrick, Moses Morgan, Michael Cobbins, and Jeremy Lamb. (hoopsreport.com article linked below has Cobbins' five visits already scheduled and no IU)
* 2013 superstar Daryl Hicks has the attention of UL and UK and IU has been to several of his games already.
* Said Michael Gilchrist is supposed to make the IU elite camp this weekend.
* Said UL is expecting Rod Odom and Zach Price to visit Sep 5th and JJ Moore October 2nd and UL has a good chance at all three.
* Mentioned he really likes Rakeem Christmas (IU and OSU in his final 8).
* UK in 2010 is in good shape with CJ Leslie, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb, Josh Selby, Brandon Knight, Roscoe Smith, Cameron Clark, Tobias Harris, and Adriean Payne.
* IU in 2011 is in good shape with Marshall Plumlee, Rakeem Christmas, Jeremiah Davis, Cody Zeller, Deng Leek, Sam Thompson (Demling might be right about Leek if he recently reclassified, but last I knew Leek was 2010).
* UL and IU are expecting visits from Angel Nunez in late September.
* Cincinnati's Griffin McKenzie likes Xavier and Wake and could decide soon (not from demling but he is also considering Northwestern and Vanderbilt).
* When asked about Chane Behanon he said it was strange with the kid telling some people he was still committed and his uncle and hs coach saying he was open, but pointed out since he's letting people recruit him he's not really committed (mentioned Oklahoma State and WKU offers).
* Former UK commit Dakotah Euton is being recruited by EKU, High Point, Wofford, Coastal Carolina.
* Xavier likes Remy Abel from Eastern (Louisville).

Here are a few other tidbits the last couple of days from twitter mining...

* Duke has offered Marshall Plumlee (Bluedevilnation) and JP Tokoto (Evan Daniels).
* Dublin Coffman (Ohio) point guard Kyle Molock visited Duke, North Carolina, and Wake Forest (ONPSS).

Hoopsreport's Dustin Rumbaugh has a nice rundown on several top national targets and includes an update on Xavier Jones from Gary, Indiana. The 2010 tough as nails point guard has offers from Marquette, Indiana State, and Dayton and will be transferring to Ohio for his senior year. Also Dematha (Maryland) guard Jerrian Grant has Depaul and Notre Dame as two of his final four schools. Rumbaugh also says Macari Brooks (photo above is from a Midstatehoops.com article) will be visiting Louisville with Wayne Blackshear on September 5th. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/hoopsnews/wednesdaybuzzerbeaters
*

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.