Here is volume one of the soon to be anticipated 10 hot tips from the recruiting world.
1) The Mongrel has been all over the spectacular job being done by the Dayton
Flyers in recruiting some of the best talent in the
midwest in any conference for the class of 2010. Staten, Berry, and company could be on the verge of adding Chicago's
Brandon Spearman to that haul according to the Hoops Report blog (
Hendrickson).
http://blogs.suntimes.com/hoopsreport/ Scroll down to the sub-header "Warriors Brief Appearance" and you'll see that
Hendrickson is saying word from the
Chicago Summer Classic was that
Spearman is about to join the already loaded Dayton class of 2010.
Hendrickson also talks about Purdue and Illinois targets (not to mention half the Big Ten)
Nana Egwu and
Chasson Randle as well as Louisville and Indiana targets
Mike Shaw and
Wayne Blackshear. James Siakhem, Jacob Williams, Jordan Threloff and other Chicago area players are mentioned.
2)
IPFW offered
Bloomington South's
Spencer Turner and head coach Dane Fife was on hand to watch Indiana Elite at the
Kentucky Hoopfest on more than one occasion. Turner is one of the best shooters as I have seen in the high school ranks but isn't extremely quick laterally. He has improved his
conditioning this summer from last year and is getting stronger. In the quarter-final loss to Team Takeover Turner made a key drive late in the game and hit an 8 foot floater that we have seen him bust out a few times before. He is more than just a shooter, but it is that amazingly deadly rainbow bomb that will always be his hallmark.
http://www.hoosierhillshoops.com/index.php3) The Mongrel will not often (if ever) use the word lock, but you can put this in the bank. Western Michigan is an already attractive mid-major destination. They have the finest brewery in the Midwest (Bells) and the great middle linebacker (inside linebacker in the NFL)
John Offerdahl went to school there. That is enough to get the Mongrel on board, but the Western Michigan staff also used the greatest weapon in their arsenal. They photo-shopped Taylor Swift's face on recruiting material with
Jack Isenberger from
Zionsville, Indiana.
http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/07/crunch-time-for.html Isenberger has strong interest in Wright State and Miami of Ohio but since the Taylor Swift card has never been used
unsuccessfully, the Mongrel suggests betting on the Mustangs. In fact, double down!
4) Here is a link from
IllinoisHSBasketball.com who had a very interesting blog last year but it stopped being updated for a while and it looks like Mr.
Poneman is back online. Here is a link to a story from what sounds like a killer Mac Irvin Fire vs Team STAT game which featured
Austin Rivers who is rumored to be close to a
decommitment and Illinois HS basketball also says in its twitter that Coach K and Tom
Crean and others were on hand.
http://illinoishsbasketball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=868&Itemid=1 Keep an eye on Mr Rivers. Tweet tweet.
5) The Vill 14U have an absolutely dominant incoming freshman named
Daryl Hicks who is going to
Shelbyville. He was held in check for once in the title game of the 14U bracket. There is no doubt he is an elite player in his class and he has big time athleticism and a strong mature frame and is already being watched by Indiana, Ohio State, Xavier, Michigan State, Illinois, and other Kentucky incoming freshmen such as Trinity's James Quick who looked outstanding.
http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/07/ville-falls-short-in-14s.html In the Sunday afternoon game he hit a few 3 pointers and had some unreal drives finished off with finger rolls and just couldn't be stopped. Hicks' teammate Shane
Hatcher was the leading scorer with 17.
Hatcher is a strong kid who might project as a small forward but will certainly benefit from the attention placed on his star teammate.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090712/SPORTS/907120356/1030/rss0704 Also note the game Cody
Zeller had which inspired Brian Snow to publicly apologize for not ranking
Zeller on twitter.
6) The previous
Demling article mentions the
Spiece Indy Stars 2012 win (their second consecutive tournament) over the Wisconsin Playground Warriors 72-66.
Rhett Smith had an outstanding game scoring 16 points and I always liked him but he is showing a bit more athleticism than I gave him credit for. He had a foul called on an outstanding block he had in the semi-final that really underscored he can get up. He also showed the ability to look good shooting deep. He shows potential to be a very good small forward.
Jeremy Hollowell and
Ron Patterson had another great game as well.
Hollowell had to go toe to toe with
JP Tokoto and came out on top for the second time in a week. Jody
Demling likes
Tokoto more than
Burgette, Patterson, and
Hollowell. That is a tough one to call. I think Patterson is the best player right now and
Hollowell outplayed
Tokoto head to head over the last couple of
championship games and has even more outstanding upside. But
Tokoto and
Burgette will be outstanding players too. I could defend any of the four. If
Tokoto adds some range to his game he will probably end up a
McDonalds All American and
Burgette is a wonderful forward who gets better every time out.
http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/07/spiece-team-wins-15s-title.html Demling also has nice things to say about another couple of Louisville Trinity players (
Charles Foster and
Kyle Saxon) as well as
Indianapolis stars
RJ Hunter and
Harry Willis. Patterson and
Hollowell for the Indy Stars have indicated some interest in winding up in college together and seem to be drawing non-stop attention from Bruce Weber, Mick Cronin, Tom
Crean, and other coaches this July. They made quite a stir by showing up for a couple of games wearing Ohio State shorts. Thad
Matta may have snuck in when the Mongrel wasn't watching but he seems to be the one serious suitor not following the duo like the previously mentioned group. The move is sure to be seen in the paranoid world of recruiting as indicating
OSU is out in front, it will be interesting to see if the Stars continue to draw the same crowd of pursuers the rest of July. The Mongrel suspects these two kids are just being playful, but it will be interesting to keep an eye on their recruitment.
7) The 16U players at Kentucky
Hoopfest were outstanding. There were some grumblings about 17U talent at the event but the 16U plate was full. The good Mongrel had the chance to take in outstanding
performances from Warsaw's
Nic Moore who has drawn Matt Painter to at least one high school game and had an outstanding first half in the semi-final. He is about 5'8 but can jump and has a sweet stroke. He's got all the quickness that the handful of guys his size have that make it to high majors, it will be fun to see who steps up and offers Moore. Playing alongside
Dee Davis and
Jeremiah Davis gives coaches a point guard
smorgasbord to check from. I pointed out Davis looking outstanding in a couple of other posts and he is really raising his stock this July. Kentucky and Indiana were schools to offer Davis early but there has been speculation that Kentucky wanted to take another look and bring him back to campus again and similar questions with Indiana but Davis would appear to have met those questions.
Austin Etherington and
Deng Leek had some good moments, both have a lot of potential but probably need to develop for a year or two to show what kind of players they can be.
Etherington had a couple of nice tip ins and hit a deep ball but needs to get stronger with the ball. As does Deng who is looking a bit stronger than last couple of times I saw him. He and
Cheir Ajou can really alter shots and
Ajou shows some range as well but has had his minutes limited in this tournament with a tender ankle. Some Michigan players had outstanding tournaments as well.
James Johnson had a huge game for Team Pride against IE Team Indiana and
Matt Poches from Harland HS had a big game on Sunday as well. Johnson often set up at the free throw line with his back to the basket on offense and caught the pass to initiate the offense, then showed nice decision making in finding the open man or the guy who could get to the hole. He also hit several baskets himself and had a great game. Avon's
Kendall Griffin had a couple of nice games in this tournament for
Spiece Select 2011, he shows the ability to shoot and has good size for a point guard and is shaping up to be a top sleeper in the class of 2011.
Cody Zeller and
Matt Carlino are a treat to watch for Indiana Elite Orange.
Zeller took over in his morning game and ended up with 25 points and
Carlino had a few buckets but had lots of assists and made good decisions as coaches sons are known for. 16U kids might not like me saying so, but the best player in the 16U division might have been Jeffersonville's
Daryl Baker who was playing up two years.
8) Mounds Meridian 2010 star
Hoopy Jones has picked up an offer from the Indiana State Sycamores. Jones was getting great reviews this past week for his play with the Illinois Bobcats.
http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/ijones.html9)
Indianapolis Pike junior to be
Marques Teague is calling Louisville his favorite to Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports in a blog entry yesterday.
http://community.foxsports.com/goodmanonfox/blog/2009/07/12/en_route_to_peach_jam_ Normally I don't pay a lot of attention to calling someone your favorite but a couple of days ago
Teague said he knew where he wants to go but will take visits with his Mom and combined with him saying Rick
Pitino is his favorite, expect Louisville to get the most talented guard in the class of 2011 when the July evaluation period wraps up.
10)
Branden Dawson told
GoldandBlack.
com's Brian
Neubert that Purdue is his favorite and he plans on deciding next year. Indiana is in hot pursuit and has hosted Dawson a couple of times but the school for Purdue to watch for is probably UCLA who just had Dawson in for a camp. I doubt Dawson shuttles back and forth to
Pauley Pavilion on his own dime every June so when he gets that solid UCLA offer and doesn't commit Purdue fans can breath easier. There were earlier reports that his mom wanted him to stay close to home for college. But that is kind of like a sky is blue story, you don't want the kid on your team whose mom wants him to go to school farther away from home.
