Full Package Exposure League, Reynolds commits to Rice, other updates...

Illinois high school basketball fans have several great outlets to follow hoops on the web. The good Mongrel has linked Chicagohoops, Illinoisprepbullseye, Midstate Hoops, the Hoops Report blog (Hendrickson), and lots of stuff from the Sun-Times and elsewhere. However, Illinoishsbasketball.com has been coming up with some great interview clips and cranking out quality content. This recap from the Full Package Exposure League is jammed full of great stuff. http://illinoishsbasketball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1018&Itemid=130 Some of the many updates include...

* Brian Fabrizius had an extremely impressive performance. I've received a couple of emails asking about his recruiting progress and searched without coming up with much. I sent out some inquiries but haven't heard anything and the good Mongrel isn't exactly quick to call kids for questions about their recruiting without being all but invited to do so. Sorry readers, I know most of the kids like the attention but I'm not a real media member so it isn't the good Mongrel's bag in this current incarnation... However, this article catches us up with Fabrizius and mentions he's seven feet tall, runs the floor well, shoots "like a wing", and has great shot blocking instincts and is twenty pounds from being a sure fire high major kid. I still don't know who is involved but it sounds like he doesn't have many offers and is a senior so hopefully he has a good year. There are some impressive clips in their link as well. Photo on the right is from the previously linked article.
* The "Emphatic Egyptian" Abdul Nader is profiled, he has Oregon State's attention and they seem to think he's got some big time potential.
* Marin Kukoc had some big games and gets profiled really well also. He'll be a senior for Highland Park HS and should be one to watch.
* Levonte Dority, Keith Carter, and many others are profiled in depth. Its a good read!


Winchester, Kentucky big man Vinnie Zollo was rumored recently to have committed to Notre Dame. This NBE blog report confirms he had a great visit with Notre Dame but claims he has not committed and is still "wide open". http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/09/28/class-of-2011-intro-vinny-zollo/ The thorough Mongrel has seen Zollo a few times and he's a really impressive player. He gives full effort all the time, is a good passer for a big kid, and seems to be pretty solid on offense with decent range. I think he's probably 6'7 instead of the 6'8 or 6'9 you see listed, so a couple of inches could really help him because though he is a decent athlete he doesn't have the lateral game on either side of the ball to be a "3" in college. He still has two years left of high school, it will be fun to see how good this talented and likable kid can be if he keeps working at it.

Jody Demling is reporting that another former UK commitment, senior Dakota Euton is close to committing between Eastern Kentucky and Akron. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/09/dakotah-euton-to-pick-school.html

6'5 Chicago Whitney Young wing forward JR Reynolds has committed to play for Rice. Conference USA is loaded with talented coaches who are quietly compiling some quality recruits the last two or three years. Memphis won't be alone at the top for long in the not quite humble enough opinion of the Mongrel. Chicagohoops has the goods on Reynolds. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/reynoldsrice.html

Boyd out at WKU, Other Recruiting Updates

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers have quite a bit of recruiting momentum recently and have developed strong relationships with some key New Jersey recruits as well as taking advantage of an upsurge in talent in Kentucky. Unfortunately they suffered quite a recruiting loss as Terrence Boyd has been released from WKU, he was the first of their big name recruits to get the ball rolling last year. http://www.wkusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=204775582&DB_OEM_ID=5400

Austin Burgett from Avon, Indiana picked up offers from Ohio and Xavier this weekend.

A Turkish phenom is getting some attention. Enes Kanter is being called a top ten prospect in the class of 2010 and he's come out of nowhere and is working out in Chicago. He'll attend Findley Prep, no word yet on possible schools.

http://highmajorscoop.com/2009/08/turkey-phenom-in-the-states/

Ahcraf Yacoubou is a 6'4 wing in the 2011 class that has UK in his final three along with UConn and Villanova. UK is also involved with 6'1 New Zeland center Dan Barto per Zagsblog. http://www.zagsblog.com/2009/08/17/recruiting-update-jj-moore-jamail-jones-trevor-releford-achraf-yacoubou/

Flyershoops is twittering that former UK commitment and Clark County star Vinnie Zollo from the class of 2011 has a Dayton offer. Zollo is a hard working and versatile power forward at about 6'7 and plays with Indiana Elite in the summer. He is pictured above from a Courier Journal article.

Springfield Lamphier 5'10 point guard Karl Madison is close to a decision on schools. He wants to decide before his high school season starts and lists Nevada, Depaul, Northwestern, Drake, Northern Iowa, Illinois State, and Cal Poly. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/kmadison.html

And checking in with Illinois Prep Bullseye, they have some recruiting updates including offers to some kids and the lack of offers to others. Here is the link and some bullet points... http://ilprepbullseye.com/page20.html

* Reggie Smith has not been offered by Indiana University. It has been reported by a few media outlets that he has. Right now Depaul, Marquette, and USC are in the best shape with him.
* Rayvonte Rice visited Drake this weekend and they are in great shape with him but he's not in a hurry.
* Hayden Hoerdemann visited Southern Illinois and has offers from Illinois State, Evansville, and Eastern Illinois.
* Duje Dukan has offers from Loyola, Miami, Fairfield, Evansville, UW-Green Bay, and Holy Cross.

More Offers, Commitments, Visits Planned

Jody Demling of the Louisville Courier-Journal reported yesterday that Mongrel favorite Ricardo Johnson received an offer from Ohio University. He has an offer on the table from Bradley as well and is being watched by several high major programs. Johnson is a big wing and a very underrated athlete. He outplayed Vee Sanford in their much anticipated Sweet 16 match up and really gave Sanford fits on defense. Sanford is an 09 star who is committed to Georgetown. Johnson and his Covington Holmes squad went on to win the state championship and Johnson was named MVP of the tournament. (Johnson is pictured in this CJ photo) Here's a link to Demling's update yesterday, might have to scroll down to "Friday Night Nuggets". http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html

6'9 Wheaton Academy star Tim Rusthoven has verbally committed to William and Mary. He joins New Trier's Fred Helding and Bloomington North star combo guard Julian Boatner in Willam and Mary's 2010 recruiting class. The good Mongrel wasn't blogging back when William and Mary landed Boatner or you would all know him by now. He is one of the best guards in Indiana and is an absolute steal for William and Mary with the athleticism and poise to play against kids at any level in college. "Absolute steal" is about the same language used by the Bulleye to describe Rusthoven who plays for Velocity. http://ilprepbullseye.com/page32.html I'm smelling a string of tourney appearances for William and Mary early next decade. Also according to the Bullseye Jacob Williams has an offer from Loyola.

Chicagohoops is reporting Deandre McCamey has an offer from Ball State and Wayne Simon received an offer from Niagra. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/wolves1.html I'm looking forward to spending a day or two at the End of Season Showdown in Merillville toward the end of the month put on by Chicagohoops. USSSA championships in Fort Wayne are the same time so I hope to get in a day or two at each one.

Offers continue to pile up for Dekalb, Illinois 6'10 center Jordan Threloff. He now has 12 offers, including Northern Illinois, Indiana State, SIU, Detroit, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Loyola (Chicago), Illinois State, DePaul, Bradley, Drake, Ball State and Elon. http://www.daily-chronicle.com/blogs/entries/2009/07/16/50537595/index.xml

Everyone has been abuzz about the Dayton Flyers recruiting class. The Flyers are working on starting some momentum early with 2011 and have offered Vinny Zollo who is playing this summer for Indiana Elite Team Indiana. Here is an article on Zollo from a Notre Dame site detailing his visit and his approach to recruiting since he is no officially not a UK verbal. http://www.irishsportsdaily.com/recruiting/basketball/219-mature-zollo-moves-on He sounds very interested in Notre Dame as well but right now there are a lot of BCS schools who are hoping that Brian Gregory doesn't steal away another gem! I like Zollo's game. He is a pure hustle guy and when I've seen him he has been active on the glass and is a solid player. His real height might be about 6'7, but he is very well rounded at the power forward position.

Another great article on Irish Sports Daily details Irish interest in nationally ranked Ralston Turner from Alabama. Notre Dame has only been recruiting Turner since May but he sounds interested in leaving the south from the article and has an offer from Butler and several SEC schools and plans to visit Indiana. He was mentioned with Indiana quite a bit last fall but that seemed to have died down. Turner is ranked #33 on ESPN Scouts.inc top 100 list. http://www.irishsportsdaily.com/recruiting/basketball/221-turner-hears-from-notre-dame

I think my links to Wisconson Hoops on the sidebar weren't working, but here's a link to Mark Miller's blog. The first (long) entry is about an exciting team camp with several players we've been following. But scroll down to the second entry for more on offers from UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwuakee for Wally Ellenson. He joined Morris and Tokoto for a pre-game dunk show for Tom Crean and I at the Kentucky Hoopfest. Ok, ok they probably didn't know the Mongrel was crawling around the Hoops facility that day with all the coaches in the building. http://www.wissports.net/sports/hoopsb/blog/blog.aspx?f=123 The entry also discusses offers new offers from Iowa, Minnesota, and Tennessee for Tokoto. UW-Milwuakee also has an offer out to 7'1 Ben Mills for the Playground Warriors 17U squad. Mills also has offers from Indiana State, Ball State, and Loyola along with interest from Iowa and Indiana. Sweet shooting 6'8 Nick Arenz for the 15U squad also has an offer from UW-Milwuakee.

10 Most Underrated Kids in Kentucky

For this post, I'm omitting anyone I've seen on top 100 lists. Let me know if someone is on a legit top 100 list.

1. Ricardo Johnson 2010
2. George Fant 2011
3. Josh Sewell 2010
4. Ge'Lawn Guyn 2010
5. Tommy Knipp 2011
6. Elijah Pittman 2010
7. Vinnie Zollo 2011
8. Tameron Manning 2012
9. Chad Jackson 2010
10. Dakotah Euton 2010

The diligent Mongrel found Jaylen Beckham ranked #36 on ny2la's national list and dropped him from the #1 spot. Its a pay site the frugal Mongrel hasn't perused yet but this link to one of my favorite blogs had the low down. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/06/lexcath-sophomore-tabbed.html We will be linking Mr Demling as a matter of course on matters relating to the sacred Golden Triangle schools (UL, IU, and UK) who own more titles and have more coming than anybody you'll find on Tobacco Road. This ny2la was sharp as a tack to include some of the kids it did (Jeremy Holowell for example will be awesome but is a bit of a secret) so it might be worth a look. It almost made us not include Manning at #8 but at least we got workhorse forward Dakota Euton on the updated list.