More Commitments and Recruiting Buzz.

* The good Mongrel has served fair warning that Crishawn Hopkins was close to committing to Butler, and today Hoosier Hoops Report has confirmed he committed to the Butler Bulldogs. http://hoosierhoopsreport.com/

* The above link to Hoosier Hoops Report also has a story on TC Howe (Indianapolis) senior 6'8 small forward Jordan Manual as well as sophomore 5'7 point guard PJ Boutte both committing to Ray McCallum and University of Detroit. Here's a little more from the Indy Star's recruiting blog. http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/08/howe-duo-decide.html Boutte is pictured above in an Indy Star photo.

* Detroit has also offered 6'5 wing Kyle Clevenger of Urbana HS. http://midstatehoops.com/v5/2009/08/07/clevenger-picking-up-offers/

* Another Midstate Hoops article with mention of Culver Military Academy's (Indiana) Travis Britt drawing recruiting interest from Dayton, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, and Drake. http://midstatehoops.com/v5/2009/08/07/culvers-travis-britt-very-happy-with-summer-basketball/

* Another move the good Mongrel warned about went down. Cameron Wright committed to Pittsburgh. Wright had been recruited heavily by Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan State, Cleveland State, and other programs after being given the cold shoulder from Thad Matta who needed a ride for Adriene Payne. Payne recently cut OSU from his list. OSU is thought to be in good shape with Xavier decommitment JD Weatherspoon to fill that ride. http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/08/10/pitt-adds-cameron-wright-to-2010-class/

* While on the subject of decommitments, 2012 superstar Chase Behanon recently moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky from Cincinnati. This last week he has attended new hometown Western Kentucky University's elite camp and decommitted from Cincinnati. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/08/doors-open-for-behanan.html Cincinnati will still be considered. Apparently there is poor communication from Behannon's Bowling Green camp to his family in Cincinnati as there are disputed opinions on his decommitment. http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/08/11/chane-behanan-rayvonte-rice-updates/

* The last NBE blot link in the Behannon blurb mentions Ravonte Rice will be visiting Drake on Wednesday.

* The Xavier Muskateers accepted a commitment from Jay Canty. http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=blog05&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3afdda4dab-ab39-43a7-8ba8-36da2f75a889Post%3a585f6ebb-be07-42a3-b03a-7dd0cb31be4a&sid=sitelife.cincinnati.com

* Bowling Green picked up a commitment from Cameron Black, a 6'9 kid from Roosevelt HS in Kent. http://highmajorscoop.com/2009/08/bowling-green-adds-black-to-list/

* Another High Major Scoop artricle, this time Rob Brandenburg update. Brandenburg is a 6'2 shooting guard from Gahanna, Ohio. He played with the Mustang Ballerz in the summer. According to the link, he is a 2010 prospect who is going to be taking visits this fall to his school list which includes Butler, Akron, Wright State, and Loyola. http://highmajorscoop.com/2009/08/1-word-rob/

Tourney/Recruiting Updates and Link-O-Rama 7/16

Eric Gordon All-Stars won the Best of the Midwest tournament and Purdue commitment Terone Johnson won MVP as he continues turning heads this July. Here is a Monday notebook on the tournament from Hoosier Hills Report, I will recap the tournament's later action in other updates. http://www.hoosierhillshoops.com/index.php

Jorddan Myrick of the West Michigan Lakers got an offer from Ernie Zeigler's Central Michigan program. http://www.westmiallstar.com/tag/grand-rapids-storm/

According to Coach Chris Hawkins the Spiece Indy Stars 2012 players continue to get new offers after winning the Kentucky Hoopfest, Hoosier Shootout, and making the finals in the 16U division at Best of the Midwest. Sullivan's Rhett Smith was offered by Deleware and 6'6 Indianapolis wing Jeremy Hollowell received offers from Illinois and Xavier. Photo is from GoldandBlack.com's Brian Neubert 7/8/09.

Club Ohio Purple and Indiana Elite Team Indiana were in the semi-finals of the gold division at the 15U AAU nationals in Clarksville.

Hoop Dreams is in the 15U semi-finals in the West Virginia Mountain Jam according to Jody Demling. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html Scott County's Tameron Manning and Jaylen Beckham are playing for them.

NYC point guard Sterling Gibbs plans on taking August unofficials to five schools and decide this summer. Two of the schools are Kentucky and Indiana. Kentucky target Doron Lamb is also close to a decision and wants to visit Oklahoma and Kansas before deciding in the next couple of weeks per Zagsblog. http://www.zagsblog.com/2009/07/15/sterling-gibbs-may-decide-this-summer-team-njabc-wins-joe-brown-memorial-tournament/#more-19245

Tom Crean released his travel list on Twitter and we can deduce he was in Clarksville likely watching Indiana Elite's Devontes Smith-Rivera and company during their run to the semi-finals in the loaded 15U national tournament. Other Indiana targets at the event include SYF Players (they played their last game at 12 on Tuesday right before a 1:15 Indiana Elite). SYF's Edward Seay and Smith-Rivera are along with Ron Patterson, DeJuan Marrero, and probably Jeremy Hollowell top Indiana targets for 2012.

Alex Jesswain from Marquettehoops.com was twittering from the NY2LA Summer Jam and was clearly blown away with performances from Cleveland's Cameron Wright and Gary's Xavier Jones. Here is a link to his recap from last week's NY2LA Invitational, and we look forward to updating this article if he recaps the Summer Jam. http://marquette.scout.com/2/878421.html

Players getting buzz from this event include Vander Blue, Flavien Davis, Moses Morgan, Branden Dawson, Jay Harris, John Gasser, Jalen Kendrick, Dominique Fergeson, and many many others. If not for being run at the same time as the Peach Jam this event would likely jump out as one of the most loaded of the year. Team Detroit won the 17U bracket but look for some wrap ups from this event coming soon.

Here is a link to a wonderful article by the Indianapolis Star's Nedenmeier.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20090715/SPORTS0615/907150326/1361/SPORTS0615/Shorter+prospects+try+to+measure+up He strikes a blow for the little man. He updates the recruiting picture of Yogi Ferrel (Butler offer), Kellon Thomas, Nic Moore, Michigan target DJ Ballantine, Ronnie Johnson, and PJ Boutte. These kids are sooo good in the Mongrel's opinion that a small growth spurt between now and next year will put any of them with high major offers. Some of them will make it anyway.

Hoosier Shootout Day 3 report

Spiece Indy Stars 2012 is still undefeated and cruising through the tournament. They play at 8:00 AM for the championship of the division against Wisconsin Playground Warriors loaded 2012 team which I believe boasts JP Tokoto who has offers from Minnesota, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Marquette and is one of the most highly regarded sophomores to be in the country.

Team Southern Indiana 2012 went 3-1 losing Tuesday evening to Bloomington Blaze select. According to Hoosier Hills Hoops (sorry I've been calling them Hoosier Hills Report because I've been mixing their name up with HoosierHoopsReport.com) http://www.hoosierhillshoops.com/2009/07/08/hoosier-shootout-tsi-2012-nets-3-1-record-in-indy/. Max Clemens from Scottsburg and Keegan Kincaid from Switerland County were both having good tournaments.

An excellent update is once again available at Purdue's rivals site which requires a premium subscription. Spiece Indy Stars' Ron Patterson and Jeremy Hollowell have been very dominant all tournament long. I saw them a couple of times on Monday and along with Burgette and Thomas and Hartman they really looked great. According to Blackandgold.com, DeJuan Marrero and Yogi Ferrell continued their great play with double figure games in their 17U Spiece Indy Heat finals loss to Wisconsin commit Evan Anderson and Ben Mills and the Wisconsin Playground Warriors. Marrero had 14 and 11 and has offers from Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, and Valparaiso according to this blog entry from the Indy Star. http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/07/marrero-a-risin.html Ohio State is also after Ferrell and BlackandGold.com also mentions Michigan interest in Ferrel. http://purdue.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=963359 Earlier this week I got to see them a couple of times and I was blown away by how much better Ferrell looked than this spring. I can't wait to see he and Kellon Thomas lock horns next time the chance arrives, it will be a treat.

Spiece Indy Fastbreak won the 16U division with a 73-57 win over the Illinois Attack. Indianapolis Howe point guard PJ Boutte had a triple double and Louisville 2011 commit Ryan Taylor and Avon's Dominique Blackmon were in double figures as well. http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/07/wednesday-night.html

Hoosier Shootout Preview (Part 2)

Yesterday we discussed some of the programs who will be in Indianapolis for the Hoosier Shootout July 6-9th. See yesterday's entry for updates on the Wisconsin Playground Warriors, Georgia Stars, Team Detroit, Illinois Titans, Randolph Boys Club, Illinois Old School, Peoria Irish, Tennessee Travelers, Shining Stars, Terry Porter Elite, Birmingham Storm, and Wisconsin Force squads. Today we'll feature a few more squads and report back after seeing some of them in action on Monday (the Mongrel will be celebrating nephew Eli's 3rd birthday on the 4th).

The Alabama Terriers are sending their 17U team. Look for Luke Cothron to lead the charge for Coach Wherry's athletic squad. Cothran is a 6'8 power forward rated #37 on Scout.com's new updated 2010 rankings who is a hot name on the recruiting trail for Louisville and several SEC schools.

Eric Gordon Indy All Stars 15U squad is led by Indianapolis Tech guard Momo Cross and Morristown's Dylan Lankabel who both project as future D1 players and should be fun to watch. Cathedral's Paul Bayt is another key player for this club. Here's a link to a blog post from someone close to the Eric Gordon program who talks in more depth about Bayt and Cross and some other Indianapolis area 15U players. http://p-hoops.blogspot.com/2009/04/pitt-jam-fest-report.html

Indiana Elite One Green 16U is not the most well known Indiana Elite team in this age group, but they won the 16U division at the Adidas May Classic and have several outstanding players including the Dontray Chavis and Rontray Chavis from Princeton and Brandon Dunnaway from Corydon. Hoosierscout has some video on Dontay Chavis if you scroll down. http://www.hoosierscout.net/ The Chavis twins are among the most explosive prospects in the country in this class but high majors are worry a bit that they might be undersized as 6'5 power forwards (for now). Both are getting plenty of D1 interest already however.


Parallel 45 has a 17U team at the event. Watch for 2 2011 players who play up with the program. Dwann Anderson is a 6'4 guard from Sutton Bay who has at least a mid-major future and Garrett Mortenson is a 6'0 pg from St Ignacius.


Spiece Indy Fastbreak is a star studded Indianapolis program who are sending a 16U team. Assuming these guys aren't playing up somewhere with a 17U team they have several can't miss prospects. The best is easily Michael Chandler, a 6'11 true center who committed to Louisville as a freshman. As did his high school classmate Ryan Taylor a 6'5 power forward who is also in the 16U age group. PJ Boutte is at least a mid-major point guard and keep an eye on Kenny Enoch, a 6'2 shooting guard who improved quite a bit this school year.

Ohio Gators have a 17U team in the event. They have a trio of seniors in their program who have been drawing good reviews this spring in 6'7 Mark Frilling and 6'0 combo guards Jay Springs and Anthony Henderson.



Spiece Indy Heat has two excellent 17U teams in the event as well as a 14U team playing in the 15U division. This is arguably the strongest arm of one of the premier AAU programs in the country and as always they are loaded with talent. Recent Wright State commitment Kegan Clark is joined by Purdue commitments Donnie Hale and Travis Carrol to lead the 17U Downs team. The Quarles 17U squad has the amazing Deshawn Thomas who is the favorite for Mr Basketball in Indiana and an OSU commit. He is joined by 2011 rivals #2 player Marques Teague and some hidden gems such as Broad Ripple's 2011 6'5 rangy Steve Jamison and other stars. They will also have a 2013 team playing up a year with the 15U and a 16U team (Felding).

Team Detroit has a 16U team in action at the Shootout. Percy Gibson is a 6'8 kid from Detroit Southeastern and along with Country Day's Urban Bigham and Lee Bailey they are going to be a force to be reckoned with at the 16U age group. Watch for 6'2 Ray Lee who has been playing up a year with this team but is 2012.

Spiece Indy Stars 15U team is one of the hottest teams on the recruiting circuit in the 2012 age group. Broad Ripple's Ron Patterson already has several high major offers including Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue, Tennessee, Illinois, and Cincinnati. The Bearcats have also offered sweet shooting 6'7 forward Austin Burgett and 6'6 wing Jeremy Hollowell. Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, Ohio State, and other area schools are all over this bunch early. Also keep a watch for 5'9 point guard Kellon Thomas who has a wonderful feel for the game and has drawn interest from many of the same teams. 6'6 Rhett Smith from Sullivan who also will be mid major or high major targets before all is said and done.

Spiece Select 2011 is going to be playing up with the 17U squads. They have made deep runs in almost every tournament since the group has been together and have probably had more head to head success than any other Indiana AAU programs in the 2011 age group. They feature 6'7 Notre Dame football target Tony Springmann. He is a strong, dominant power forward and has high major suitors in both sports. Kendall Griffin and Zach Van DeWater are two big guards to watch as well.

There are too many teams and players for the out-matched Mongrel to keep up with, and when the Mongrel shows up and gets his program half of them will be replaced by other interesting players as the summer teams tend to shuffle a bit between May and July. The Mongrel will keep his eyes open and let his faithful readers (or reader perhaps) in on the low down from the event Monday night at the latest. More kids keep coming to mind but we'll have to stop the preview before the event itself begins, see you out there!