Weekend AAU Roundup!

No Cliff Hanger This Time!

Merrillville ChicagoHoops Spring Showdown

This tournament drew some of the biggest name head coaches in the country including Tom Izzo, Tom Crean, Coach K, and others.

2014 D Rose All Star big man Cliff Alexander almost broke twitter the way he broke the backboard in a high profile game in Merillville Saturday. Here is one of the million or so links to Cliff's big dunk this weekend. Alexander had some nice reviews but struggled against Eric Gordon All Stars with Devin Davis and Darius Latham. http://ballislife.com/cliff-alexander-backboard/ The photo above is Cliff from the Ballislife website.

Here's an IndyStar blog post with some player reviews... http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2012/04/23/ten-players-who-impressed-from-nike-spring-showdown/ Bryant McIntosh, Ryan Fazekus, Jalen Coleman, Ty Wilburn, Harris Brown, PJ Thompson, Tyler Jackson, Daniel Woll, Perry Farrow and VJ Blackmon are among the kids getting nice evaluations in this link.

Twitter Raves: @NDKendrick_RR 2015 Jalen Coleman Indy Cathedral (IN) is hearing a lot from Texas and Florida recently. @IllianaAAU Maybe it's just me but I see a lot of potential D1 guards in the '15 class in both Indiana and Illinois... I think Jalen Brunson is the best.

Pitt Jam Fest

Ohio Basketball Club made a strong run in the Pitt Jam Fest 17U division this weekend, finishing as runners up to Sports U Elite. CBS Sports' Jeff Borzello noted excellent play from The Detroit Stars' Vincent Hunter and Cincinnati's own Devin Williams among other observations. http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/recruiting/blog/eye-on-college-basketball-recruiting/18785940/hoop-group-pittsburgh-jam-fest-recap

Twitter Raves: @jdemling Hoop Dreams team of Kentucky kids wins Silver Division of 16s at Pittsburgh JamFest. Heard Johnson Central's Shane Hall was a monster again.

Adidas VIP Exclusive (Vegas)

Indiana Elite's Hyron Edwards exploded for 30 points in his winning championship effort as his Indiana Elite Team Indiana captured the 15U title. Edwards received the MVP of the event. The Michigan Mustangs also had a nice run at the event behind Monte Morris. They finished 4th overall in the 17U division.

Twitter Raves: @ISURecruitLists Michigan Mustangs lose in 3rd place game at Adidas VIP Exclusive; 2013 PG Monte Morris led the Mustangs w/ 22 points.

Nike EYBL

Normally big time recruits are pursued, but Troy (MI) 6'5 wing James Young is in hot pursuit of John Calipari. Despite having MSU, Kansas, and North Carolina actively pursuing him, Young is openly fantasizing about taking his game to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. http://blogs.courier-journal.com/jodydemling/2012/04/23/top-10-prospect-wants-kentucky-interest/ Young scored 107 points in four games for The Family in Minneapolis this weekend. A rare talent like Young might not have to worry about what impressions he gives people, but I hope 99% of recruits understand that when you go out and beg UK or another high profile school to recruit you when you have legitimate offers from equal or similar programs it turns a lot of coaches off. Young is a top 15 talent nationally so he may be the exception, but if an issue comes up with UK will Tom Izzo still be willing to put in effort there? Think before you talk young men.

NY2LA Best Buy Classic

The Wisconsin Swing finished a runner up in the 17U division for the second weekend in a row. The Swing was driven largely by the excellent play of 6'11 Luke Fisher who continues to show off added skill and size since last summer.

Twitter Raves: @JBBauer612 TP Elite falls in qtrfnl to Kingdom (IA) 64-62 at #NY2LA. I've got Deonte Burton w/about 38. 17 ft jumper off 1 dribble was $. #mubb

Weekend AAU/Twitter Roundup!

Its AAU/Twitter Time Greensburg (IN) guard Sean Sellers photo is from the Indy Star.

AAU season is heating up! Good readers, feel free to share any tips with the Good Mongrel on who to watch or who to follow. Here are some tips and observations of my own.

Knoxvegas Heat is probably the biggest AAU tournament going this week, but few players of local interest are down there so I won't spend a great deal of time on it. Johnson Central HS (KY) 6'8 forward Shane Hall has been getting rave reviews down there according to Scout's man on the spot Brian Snow. His handle is @BSnowScout. Check him out, but his Scout write ups are pay only so don't blame me. According to Jody Demling @jdemling of the Louisville CJ, Indiana is always one of the first schools out of Hall's mouth. There are a ton of twitterers out there going on about the action in Knoxville, but most of the action is for players in the Southeast.

Badger City Classic has quite a few good players, including Wisconsin Swish teams, Randolph Boys Club, and others. Mark Miller @WiBBYearbook is tweeting up a storm. He has noted fine performances from Poynette's Tanner Bruchs of Randolph Boys Club, Dakota Oskey of Seymour of Wisconsin Blaze 16U, Malik Robinson (2015) and Nick Noskowiak of Sun Prairie, Dorold Thomas of Madison LaFoilette, Shareef Smith of Madison Memorial, and Branden Williams 6'6 of Milwuakee Northwest who led the Wisconsin Shooters 17U club to victory. And he's still tweeting, go check him out.

Indyball is always one of my favorite April events. Indiana is always home to a ton of excellent summer teams and most of them go head to head in this event, mixing the Adidas and Nike schools in one of the few events left that draws both. The Twitterscape is exploding with reports. The Indianapolis Star's recruiting guru Kyle Neddenreip is on top of the action @KyleNeddenriep so check him out. Also good info from several other journalists and several coaches of various levels that I will try to include by the player in question.

* Chandler White is a developed 6'2 2015 guard from Ft Wayne Carroll getting heavy interest from Michigan, Indiana, Michigan State, and Purdue according to @KyleNeddenriep He had a huge day and got mentions from @sean_morrison and others.

* Sean Sellers and Bryant McIntosh from Greensburg, Indiana have been hot for their Eric Gordon All Stars team. 24/7 writer @sean_morrison noted McIntosh's smooth stroke and retweeted Sellers saying he was just measured at 6'6 with a 6'7 wingspan.

* Franco House of Concord was drawing some great reviews. He is a very good prospect in football and basketball so we have to wait out his choice. He's a 6'5 kid who is getting basketball interest from Ball State, Bowling Green, Evansville, Mercer, Toledo, and Western Michigan according to Trevor Andershock @INBBallSource.

* Bronson Kessinger and Aaron Thomas drew nice reviews on their Spiece Indy Heat - Reamer squad according to KR Kendrick @NDKendrick. He says they are both skilled in the post.

* Andrew Dakich is a 6'2 pg from Zionsville drawing interest from Air Force, Army, Ball State, IPFW, and Western Michigan according to @Kyleneddenriep.

* Carmel HS (IN) guard Mike Volovic is drawing interest from Cornell according to @KyleNeddenriep.

* Jeremie Tyler and Perry Poindexter have drawn strong reviews for their Indyball play as well. @NDKendrick commented that Poindexter is getting stronger in his upper body but still has some work to do on his footwork and elsewhere. Every high major coach within two hundred miles of Indy is keeping an eye on Poindexter with his length and potential, but he's not always a real productive player at this point so it will be fun to see if he keeps turning heads this spring.

* Tipton senior to be Mike Crawford had a 30 point game according to @kyleneddenriep.

* Jacob Johnson is a 2014 prospect from Mooresville, IN playing with Sellers and McIntosh on the Eric Gordon All Stars. He got mentioned by several folks including Neddenriep, and others. Johnson is a 6'5 forward hearing from Butler, Indiana State, Purdue, Xavier, Evansville, and others according to Trevor Andershock @INBballSource.

* Fishers (IN) point guard Jaylon Brown had a nice game for the Martin Wolverines. Neddenriep says he is getting interest from Minnesota and Illinois recently.

* Hyron Edwards is a big time 5'10 point guard from East Chicago Central (IN) who was having a big game on Saturday. He is hearing from Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan, and Xavier according to @INBballSource.

* Eron Gordon is the youngest brother of Eric Gordon and he is already being talked about as an elite player nationally in his class. He had several highlight plays on his way to a 32 and a 20 point game on Saturday. He's a freshman to be at North Central HS.

International Play is an even better way for these kiddos to show their stuff, but the Good Mongrel will not be jet setting anytime soon for even the most loyal readers so we have to rely on the Twittersphere. Purdue 2012 recruits Jay Simpson and Raphael Davis had nice games, Davis was MVP at the Global All Star Challenge event with a 20 point game according to @GoldandBlackcom. Also, @jdemling reports Daryl Hicks and Derek Willis put up 10 apiece in another US win in Germany.