Zach Price, Karl Madison, Cole Darling off the boards, more updates.

Rick Pitino appears to be on the cusp of landing one of his best recruiting classes in years with the 2011 class. Indianapolis Lawrence North stars Michael Chandler and Ryan Taylor are quite a recruiting class by themselves, but this week Pitino added another big kid in the class when Lakewood St Edwards big man Zach Price committed to Louisville on his third visit http://highmajorscoop.com/2009/09/pitino-finds-the-price-he-likes/. St Edwards has been on quite a roll producing big men recently with Price joining recent Big Ten power forwards Delvin Roe and Tom Pritchard as products from the school. In Louisville's recruiting class, Taylor is more of a small forward (I got to see how much progress he was making at that at the USSSA Nationals in July), Chandler is a true center with skills that should put him in the McDonalds All American game if he has the fire to take over games, and Zach Price is slated to be more of a power forward. Pitino is expected to have an excellent chance to add Marquis Teague at point, Wayne Blackshear at shooting guard, and perhaps even Mike Shaw at small forward in the coming days.

Springfield Laphier's Karl Madison has committed to play for Drake University. According to Brian Stinnete Drake is visiting Champaign Central's Rayvonte Rice on the first day of the contact period. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/brianstinnette603.html Madison is seen in his St Louis Eagles uniform in this scout.com photo.

Brad Brownell has landed one of the top players from the state of Michigan to add to his class of 2010. Holt HS's Cole Darling has pulled the trigger for the Wright State Raiders. http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/tracker/school?schoolId=2750&page=briefingroom&season=2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fschool%3fschoolId%3d2750%26page%3dbriefingroom%26season%3d2010


According to the above Chicagohoops link, Eastern Illinois is hosting some important visitors in the coming days as well. Jared Oldham, Ben Brackney, and jucos Lazeric Jones and Al Rapier are expected to have visits with Eastern Illinois staff. The article also mentions Chicago Hales Franciscan senior Patrick Miller had a good visit to Tennessee State this last weekend.

Macari Brooks was on campus at Louisville over the weekend and has updated his recruiting list. He says Louisville, Depaul, Xavier, and Southern Illinois are among the many schools involved. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/macaribrooks2.html

Hoosierhoopsreport.com has an outstanding update on some underclassmen in Indiana expecting important visitors now that the contact period is opening. The article discusses the thin pickings left in Indiana's 2010 class after the massive prep school defections throughout the state and puts a focus on some D1 prospects from the younger classes that might benefit from the exposure of having big crowds there looking at higher profile teammates. http://hoosierhoopsreport.com/2009/09/08/let-the-visits-begin/

Ray MacCallum Jr has a top seven which includes his dad's squad Detroit. http://blog.northstarbball.com/2009/09/09/justin-coleman-tarik-black-and-ray-mccallum-on-where-they-stand.aspx Ray Jr is a treat to watch, he's a very heady player with good athleticism and skill. He'll be a star wherever he goes. The link also updates Justin Coleman's recruiting. He is still listing Xavier, Marquette, Florida, UConn, Arkansas, and Virginia as his top six schools.



Jody Demling has an update on who Kentucky and Louisville plan on doing in-home visits with from the senior class. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/09/in-home-visits-on-tap.html


Dematha (MD) shooting guard Victor Oladipo has joined Indiana's 2010 recruiting class. Sportspress has him ranked #58
in the class and rivals and Gibbons have him ranked around 135. http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/09/07/victor-oladipo-joins-indianas-2010-class/

Late update, just got off Twitter and Dematha's high school coach is saying Jerian Grant has committed to Notre Dame also! Grant is going to play for another Dematha alumn in Coach Brey.

Shiningstarsports.com has a new feature up on Tregg Setty. He is receiving interest from Xavier, Virginia, Old Miss, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Wright State, Tennessee, and others including an offer from Southern Illinois.
http://www.shiningstarsports.blogspot.com/

Lots of rumors have been swirling recently about Kentucky facing another hit with the NCAA, although I haven't heard anything that is huge on the surface at least. UK blogger Marc maggard weighs in defending Bilel Batley from what Maggard calls "unfair" rumors about his dismisal. The mature Mongrel does not want to start sharing whispers when they are potentially harmful to people (you'll find the rare rumor mongering I participate in is pretty neutral or positive stuff), but I'll throw this defense by Maggard out there for now until more becomes known. Batley followed Kelvin Sampson from OU and was at OU during Sampson's phone scandal part one, then was at Indiana with Sampson for a year prior to phone scandal part two, then went to Memphis under Calipari for the Derek Rose saga, and had followed Cal to UK until recently at least. http://www.truebluekentucky.com/index.php/basketball/926-guest-basketball/1910-bilal-bately-and-unfair-assumptions.html

Gibbons top 150 for 2010, Other Recruiting Buzz

Before getting to veteran hoops talent scout Bob Gibbons update for his 2010 top 150 list, the Good Mongrel would like to mention some other hubub of note.

* Detroit County Day's Ray MacCallum Jr is planning on attending the Duke elite camp this weekend. He, Kyrie Irving, and Brandon Knight are Duke's primary point guard targets. MacCallum Jr is also strongly considering UCLA and Kansas among other schools. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/hoopsnews/mccallumgetsgeneticgiftandknowledgeofthegamefromfather
* Bowling Green star and Cincinnati decommitment Chase Behannon has been contacted by UK, Georgia, West Virginia, and Alabama among other schools since his mysterious and shifting decommitment. He has guardians in Cincinnati that weren't on board with the decommitment but they appeared to endorse that the Bowling Green guardian who said he had decommitted was handling his recruitment. I don't know what to say about that but here's a recruiting update from Demling that wisely avoids the confusing side of it altogether. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/08/uk-calling-on-in-state-prospect.html
* Wisconsin has sort of offered Port Washington shooting guard John Gasser. They offered a "four for five" deal where Gasser would walk on as a freshman and get a scholarship the next four years. Gasser has legit offers from so many good schools he seems unlikely to take that offer but if Vander Blue doesn't re-up with Wisconsin he may get the four for four offer he's getting from Maryland, Northwestern, and other good schools. http://www.wissports.net/sports/hoopsb/blog/blog.aspx?f=123 The "quick hitters" section also mentions a Ball State offer to 7'0 center Ben Mills. The photo of Mills above is from Livinglakecountry.com the local newspaper.
* Insidethehall twitters that 2013 Jeffersonville phenom Daryl Baker will be at Indiana University's elite camp last weekend in August.

Gibbons has his new top 150 list out for post-summer 2010. Here are some players of note for each state in the Mongrel's radius and some of the recruits playing for schools in that neighborhood...

Illinois: Jerome Richmond (UI) #18, Crandall Head (UI) #42, Myers Leonard (UI) #44, Lenzelle Smith (Ohio St) #87, Brandon Spearman (Dayton) #100, Ahmad Starks (Oregon St) #120, Anthony Johnson (Purdue) #124, Ben Brust (Iowa) #136, Alex Dragecevich (Notre Dame) #164,

Indiana: DeShawn Thomas (Ohio St) #6, Dominique Fergeson (Fla Int) #33, Eric Atkins (out of state Notre Dame commitment) #51, Justin Martin #56, Russell Byrd (MSU) #77, David Williams (out of state Indiana commitment) #107, Terone Johnson (Purdue) #110, Travis Carroll (Purdue) #144, Donnie Hale (Purdue) #168, Jesse Berry (Dayton) #175,

Kentucky: Josh Langford (out of state Louisville commitment) #67, Curtis Washington (USC) #145, Ge'lawn Guyn (Charlotte) #160,

Michigan: Keith Appling (MSU) #23, Ray MacCallum Jr #39, Evan Smotrycz (out of state Michigan commitment) #55, Trey Zeigler #63, Tim Hardaway (out of state Michigan commitment) #99, Alex Guana (MSU) #100, Jon Horford #123,

Ohio: Jarred Sullinger (Ohio St) #1, Adriean Payne #28, Jordan Seibert (Ohio St) #41, Juwan Staten (out of state Dayton commit) #47, JD Weatherspoon (Ohio St) #73, Aaron Craft #78, Cameron Wright (Pittsburgh) #125, Jordan Laytham (out of state Xavier recruit) #133,

Kentucky and Michigan squads win tournaments, more

Several teams of note made the semi-final round or more yesterday including a couple of championships worth mentioning.

* 17U Reebok Championships went to Dominique Fergeson and Ray McCallum and Team Detroit. Trey Zeigler had 16 points for the winners. They beat D-One Sports (Quincy Miller) 56-48 in the title game. (photo is Zeigler from Detroit News)

* The Ville won the Adidas Super 64 championship in the 14U division. Jody Demling has a nice rundown of some of their best players. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html When I got a chance to see them at the Kentucky Hoopfest I was pretty blown away by Daryl Hicks and Jason Hatcher. Demling said Hicks had 26 points in the championship game and Hatcher was the MVP with a boat load of rebounds. He and Hicks look about 20 years old, they're so much more mature than the other 14U players I saw. Hicks is the best player in the age group I've seen so far (2013). He has a nice three pointer to go with getting a layup whenever he wants. Hicks was also the leading scorer in the Top 150 camp held in Lexington in June for the country's top incoming freshmen. He'll play for Shelbyville. Hatcher is also pretty strong and a good athlete.

* 16U Indiana Elite/Team Indiana had to forfeit the championship game to Southern Kings Gold because they misunderstood when the game would be played if they made it that far. Jeremiah Davis and Austin Etherington continued picking up their games from many reports over the weekend.

* 16U Derek Smith All Stars lost in the final four to the Southern Kings Gold squad. Demling's link above has Remy Abel and George Fant continuing to have big months and more and more coaches trying to figure out if they are good mid major recruits or high major recruits. Demling said Fant added an Ohio offer to Western Kentucky and Oklahoma State. But those kids have a lot of good players. Elliot County's Tommy Knipp, Jordan Shanklin, Clark county's Robbie Stenzel, and Jeffersonville, Indiana's Evan Mashmeyer are all kids who can play.

* SYF Players have advanced to championship game in Center Stage event in Vegas, more on this one in the morning hopefully...

* Bloomington South made it to the final four of the Main Event. Hugh Kellenberger's Quick Hits blog has been all over this. http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/quickhits/ I also posted a link to Demling's story on them for the CJ on yesterday's tourney update.

Illinois Wolves Champs in KC, Other Tourney Updates

Hoops City Classic Completed

* The Illinois Wolves 16U squad came away from the Hoops City Classic as champions. They are one of the most talented squads in the age group nationally. Purdue, Illinois, and Wisconsin are among the many schools pursuing Chasson Randle and Nana Egwu who both made the all tourney team. Rock Island point guard Chasson Randle was MVP. http://ilprepbullseye.com/page11.html Photo is from QC Times article.

* Spiece Mokan out of Kansas City won the 15U division.

Adidas Super 64 (Vegas):

* The D1E Derek Rose Elite 17U squad is the only team from the Mongrel's radius (Ky, In, Il, Oh, MI) still active in the gold bracket. They play the Compton Magic Saturday evening to make the semi-finals.

* Indiana Elite/Team Indiana made it to the quarter-finals on the backs of a 24 point effort by Austin Etherington to beat DC Triple Assault per Mike Pegram twitters. They then beat 43 Hoops (Carr) by 1 to make the semi-finals.

* The above link from Illinois Prep Bullseye also mentions Chicago Elite sharp shooter Duje Dukan of Chicago Elite getting an offer from Loyola. Chicago Elite lost

* The Derek Smith All Stars 16U squad is in the semi-finals after beating the Michigan Mustangs. They'll meet the Southern Kings Gold squad for a chance to play in the championship at 1:00 Vegas time.

* Indiana Elite/Team Indiana 15U lost in the semi-finals against the Atlanta Celtics. Peter Jurkin had 15 points in an afternoon victory.

* Ohio Basketball Club 15U lost to Team Philly for a right to play in the semi-finals of the same bracket.

* The Ville 14U squad is playing for the championship of the 14U bracket in the morning. The Ville has Shelby County incoming freshman super star Daryl Hicks and got 25 out of Pruitt in a double overtime victory against Dream Vision earlier on Saturday.

Super Showcase (Orlando):

* Also from above Illinois Prep Bullseye link the 17U Illinois Warriors went 3-0 in pool play at the Super Showcase in Orlando. The Illinois Kings also went 2-1 in pool play and won their pool in a tie breaker.

* Rising Stars Gold won their pool and then stunned All Ohio Red in the first round of bracket play Saturday evening to eliminate Sullinger and company. I might have spoken too soon on the elimination thing, this ESPN link kind of suggests All Ohio Red has a golden parachute in this one because of the tv deal (ESPN will broadcast several games on Sunday from 5-9). I'm not sure if the writer was being presumptuous that All Ohio Red would make it or if they are carved into the schedule no matter what. http://sports.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/news/story?page=risegames/aaupreviews/4355375

Reebok Summer Championships:

* ESPN had some nice things to say about Ray McCallum Jr and Walter Pitchford from the Reebok Create and Finish. The Create and Finish Classic is just a mutated Super Pool type of arrangement and all the clubs are reseeded in the larger tournament afterward. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=4355793

* Despite having a useful web site, don't ask me to explain all the strange brackets that don't fit together in the Reebok tournament. Grand Rapids Storm is still alive (Anderson) and if they win Saturday Evening against Belmont Shores the Storm will be playing for the championship of the "A" bracket in the morning for a chance to play against another bracket champion for the "A" division championship.

Vision Sports Main Event (Vegas):

* The Main Event has been the hardest to track online as their web page is a mess, but Hugh Kellenberger of the Bloomington Herald Times has twittered that the Bloomington South High School Panthers have made it to the semi-finals in the 17U champions bracket (final 4). The Panthers are coming off an undefeated season and are led by 2010 Eric Fromm (Butler commit), 2011 Dee Davis (Xavier commit), 2011 Matt Carlino (Indiana commit), 2011 Spencer Turner, and 2012 TJ Bell who are also being pursued by high majors. Here's an update from Thursday morning, Demling did a nice story on them. http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090725/SPORTS11/907250351/It+s+been+viva++Las+Vegas+for+Bloomington+South+basketball+team

* Mac Irvin Fire went 2-1 in pool play after loss to Seattle Rotary. The Fire have other squads playing on the "Center Stage" event which I'm currently wrapping my head around and will try to find information on it in the morning. This Chicagohoops link has some breakdowns of which of the 2 17U and 1 16U squads have whom on their teams. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/firevegas.html

* Also, the thorough Mongrel is trying to keep an update on which coach is watching who and where from free sources only (sorry no scout, rivals, hoopmasters stuff on this one). Email me if you saw somebody somewhere and Il'l update it. Its an earlier post that I keep editing.
http://hoopsmongrel.blogspot.com/2009/07/who-is-your-school-watching.html