September Visits, Commitments, Updates...

The summer is winding down, the pig skin is being dusted off, and bikinis are still in fashion. That's right folks, September is in full force. Recruiting visits are happening all over the country, and most of the time schools try to get their top priorities on campus first so expect commitments to pick up a little starting next week. Last week one of the best uncommitted players in Ohio pulled the trigger for Xavier. Griffin McKenzie had his list down to four schools and found his future home in his own back yard. The Cincinnati star is all of 6'9 and has good reach. I haven't seen much of him since May when he was still kicking the rust off from a long recovery from a back injury so I don't have a real good feel for how good he is. When I saw him he appeared a bit mechanical but showed a nice outside shot. He had strong interest from Ohio State, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and several other high major programs.

Meanwhile a pair of Baltimore area stars are visiting high major campuses near you. 2010 star guard Jerrian Grant is visiting Mike Brey and Notre Dame this weekend, and 6'4 athlete supreme Victor Oladipo is on Indiana's campus. Its thought that Notre Dame will also have an excellent shot at both players as Oladipo has a visit scheduled for Notre Dame as well. Indiana and Notre Dame are also both expecting visits from Alabama's Ralston Turner this fall, another fine wing in the 2010 class.

The good Mongrel has been puting off a series of posts in response to emails on who is the best player in each state not to show up on the national top 100 lists and Kentucky is one of the primary culprits. 2010 stars Ricardo Johnson, Josh Sewell, and Ge'lawn Guyn are all outstanding players that in the opinion of the impressed Mongrel would be nice additions for any program in the country. Guyn ended up at Charlotte and Sewell with the Miami Redhawks but Johnson is out doing visits right now. Johnson is an outstanding athlete and has good size and strength for a guard as well. He's about 6'4 and can really defend. Johnson's first really strong offer came from Jim Les' Bradley program who has been on him from the beginning and he mentions some of the appeals of Bradley in this player bio put out by Hoopsreport.com. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/playerdiaries/ricardosdiary

According to the Louisville Courier Journal reporter Jody Demling, Aaron Thomas has picked up an offer from Indiana. Thomas is a 6'4 wing in the 2011 class from Cincinnati who drew a lot of high major attention for the Queen City Prophets in July. Demling's blog is linked on the side-bar.

Another Indiana prospect is heading to prep school. Its an epidemic which is wiping out the state's talent base in 2010. Dominique Fergeson and Justin Martin are getting all the attention, and for good reason they are outstanding high major star prospects. But Indianapolis Northwest's Ronald Ross will be joining Martin at Mountain State Academy. http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/09/ross-to-prep-sc.html Ross has an offer from Ohio. In addition to the three Indianapolis stars, Enique Mason and Xavier Jones from the SYF Players organization will be leaving the state for prep school. Jones is a very well known prospect from Gary who has offers to several strong mid-majors and some high majors as well. Mason might be a name people aren't as familiar with but that won't be the case too long. Right now he's probably projected as a lower D1 player, but the kid is very strong and coordinated and at 6'10 you just don't see many bodies out there like his. If you got to see Maurice Walker this summer from Team Breakdown (Canada) Mason looks like he's on track to be that kind of player. He needs to get a little more aggressive but he works hard on defense, uses his body against his opponent, has good hands, and can get the ball in the hoop when he tries and he has the size you can't teach. Walker is also in the 2010 class but I'm pretty sure he's 2-3 years older than Mason iirc. Big guys have the famous light that comes on and Mason is a kid who can go from nowhere to somewhere pretty quick if that happens, he's got all the parts lined up waiting for the big game to happen. I hope the move to Ohio treats him well.

Chicago area shooting forward Duje Dukan has an offer from Miami to add to his collection. Check out this free story on his visit to see the Redhawks campus. http://miamiohio.scout.com/2/894589.html Dukan is a 6'8 forward with a smooth shooting stroke and has other offers from Oregon State, New Mexico, and several mid-major programs.

Kentucky is going to host 6'8 Portland, Oregon forward Terrance Jones on September 22nd according to Zagsblog.com. http://www.zagsblog.net/

The absent-minded Mongrel missed this update on Central Michigan recruiting this year by MILive.com. http://blog.mlive.com/highschoolbasketball/ In addition to Coach Zeigler's son Trey, Central Michigan is in the running for Cole Darling, Colin Voss, Devin Long, Nate VanArendonk, and Maurice Jones.

2011 Muncie, Indiana star Jeremiah Davis is hearing from the locals how badly they want to see him wearing an Indiana uniform. Check out this interview from the Bloomington Herald Times on Davis. http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/iusp/?p=4325 When Davis first came to the good Mongrel's attention he was getting high major offers from the best programs in the country as an 8th and soon to be 9th grader. Much like fellow 2011 point guard star Marquis Teague, his teams have not performed as well as you'd hope for such an outstanding talent and smart kid at point to produce. Davis had a habit of taking too many shots and despite having all the right tools and being a good kid, he started out with a bit of a reputation for a free lancer. This summer he switched AAU teams and really handled the point well in July and regained the attention of some national scouts and more high major programs. Its unclear where he'll end up imo, I'm not real convinced the Indiana hype is going to pan out. Schools with huge fan bases like Indiana or Kentucky tend to drum up unrealistic expectations which include landing every recruit who talks them up, but many kids like to talk them up just to get their names out there. We'll see though, if Davis continues to mature on the court he's got the overall game and athleticism to continue his track to McDonald's All American status so he'd be a good get for any program who can keep him focused on running the team. Davis is pictured above from an IDS photo. I've seen him several times and love his ability on both sides of the ball, it'll be fun to see how good he can be if he keeps playing team ball.

Cincinnati Bearcats and Dayton Flyers recruiting update.

The ambitious Mongrel will try to tie a mid-major and a high-major school together in most of the target area states once a week and take a look at some of the recruiting hubub. Today we start in Ohio where all the action has been this week.

Cincinnati Bearcats

The biggest news? I'm sure you've heard, Lance "Born Exploited" Stephenson has committed to the Bearcats as hoops blogger guru Adam Zagoria suggested would happen last week. The Bearcats return almost their entire team from last year and will be a force. The Bearcats will lean on All-Big East Deonte Vaughn to run the show and have a big man to work with in Yancey Gates so the imaginary and totally pretend addition of the young Mr. Stephenson would make them a top 10 team nationally most likely.

But in the real world we all know Stephenson was not shunned by every college he looked at in recent weeks just because of a probable misdemeanor charge for allegedly groping a girl in school. Tyreke Evans can be a hot commodity after much more serious concerns last year. The real concern the colleges who took a close look at Lance had was that coaches believe he has almost no chance of ever being eligible to play college basketball. Any games he plays in will be subject to forfeit because he has so many dollars running through and over him. See the great Pat Forde's ESPN column on Stephenson from earlier this month for a rundown, but reality shows and shoe shenanigans are the most obvious but not complete set of concerns with Stephenson.

Still, its a big splash and that is what Coach Cronin probably wants. And who knows, a year of winning with ineligible kids will come back to hurt the kids who stay but you never know when you will wind up coaching one of the elite programs in the sport and out of harms way as a result (cough, cough no real life similarities will be admitted to). And Cronin is doing a masterful job of building his recently struggling program into a Big East contender without Stephenson. Vaughn and Gates will be joined by Sean Kilpatrick and the Bearcats continue to recruit top talent. The Bearcats are in good shape with Atlanta Celtics 6'8 shot blocker Brandon Mobley of Savannah, Goergia and Mongrel favorite Ricardo Johnson of Covington Holmes, KY in the 2010 class. Coach Cronin and staff continue to track in-state stud Adreian Payne as well as Ronald Ross of Indianapolis Washington and several others. One other instant impact soring guard to keep an eye on is Jesse Berry of Lafayette, Indiana who appears to favor Dayton right now.

2011 recruiting is off to a big start with Bowling Green, Kentucky import Chane Behanan locked up and other targets include point guards Marques Teague and Jeremiah Davis from Indianapolis and Tyrone Johnson of Plainfield, New Jersey as well as big man Robert Goff who is a junior college kid who just transferred and will redshirt a year moving him into the 2011 class. The Bearcats will be spending a lot of time in Bowling Green keeping tabs on Behanan but also working on George Fant who is a top priority in the class of 2011 as well. Prying Fant away from the hometown Hilltoppers will be a chore considering they are on a bit of a roll themselves.

2012 recruiting is continuing to take off with recent offers extended to Speice Indy Stars teammates Ron Patterson, Austin Burgett, and Jeremy Hollowell from Indianapolis. All in all, its a great time to be a Bearcat as long as Born Ready only rocks the boat and doesn't run it ashore.

Dayton Flyers

The Flyers are also making big waves in the recruiting world. The Flyers 2010 class should be among the nation's best once all is said and done. Hometown star Adriean Payne appears ready to wait it out to see who else he would be surrounding himself with, but he is the name floating around just beneath the surface. The Flyers are in great shape with several guards who are arguably almost as good or better, but Payne is the combination of size and athlete rarely seen in mid-major leagues and would be a huge get for the Flyers.

The 2010 class is already off to a big start with 5'11 point guard Juwan Staten already locked up. ESPN's ScoutsInc has Staten as the 43rd ranked prospect in the country. Other key targets for 2010 include Indiana's second leading scorer Jesse Berry of Laffayette, Indiana. Berry had 6 games over 40 points last season and according to Dayton Daily News staff writer Doug Harris is favoring the Flyers. http://www.daytondailynews.com/dayton-sports/university-of-dayton-flyers/flyers-going-after-guards-181266.html Look for Berry to continue to continue to blow up in July, he is an elite level scorer and has great range. The Mongrel watched him help lead SYF Players to the 17U championship at the Adidas May Classic and he looked a cut above some other talented kids on his team such as 2010 stars Jake Kitchell (Union Co) and Xavier Jones (Gary). Berry's camp has said Kentucky called to check in on him and he is supposed to visit Arizona in August so keep an eye on this situation.

The Flyers are looking to bring in several guards in this class and one of the hottest prospects they are in good shape with is Brandon Spearman from Chicago. He is a 6'3 shooting guard who has been great for the Illinois Warriors this year and is ranked #71 by rivals.com. With the exception of the Ohio Basketball Club, the Warriors have probably had the best spring on the 17U AAU circuit and Spearman has received a lion's share of that credit. The Harris article linked above claims Berry, Spearman, and Jalen Steel of Knoxville have offers and have called the Flyers their favorite. He also mentions an offer to Cameron Wright of Cleveland St Benedictine. Wright is no longer committed to Ohio State after Coach Matta looked to replace him with a higher ranked prospect. This has not deterred the Flyers or Big Ten heavyweights Wisconsin and Indiana. Wright has offers from all three and was heavily recruited by Bo Ryan before his original OSU verbal and was thought to be a natural fit to replace Vander Blue when he first opened things up. But the Flyers and Hoosiers are making strong pushes to land Wright. Wright recently made a second visit to Indiana and took his family with him per a story on Peegs.com, Indiana's excellent Rivals site. In the Harris article mentioned above, veteran hoops scout Van Coleman says Wright's "quickness and explosion in the open court make him a dangerous player." Wright will be playing this July for the King James All-Stars and will probably draw more attention as he missed most of last year with an injury and was not evaluated as heavily as some of his peers in the class.

With four graduating guards the Flyers look to reshape the future of their program by landing a few of these excellent prospects. Keep a close eye on the Flyers, they are recruiting like a Big Ten or Big East program. The Flyers have excellent prospects lined up behind these elite guards already with reported offers out to Josh Sewell of Louisville, Trinity and Jordan Manual of TC Howe in Indianapolis. Other key recruits such as Nick Kellog (Columbus, OH) and Roy Marble Jr (Southerfield, MI) have visited and the Flyers already have in-state power forward Ralph Hill verbally committed so missing out on Payne might only be a speed bump to a brighter future which is already taking shape.