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.

Recruiting Round-up

In case you missed it, the Louisville Courier Journal's Jody Demling did a wonderful hoops recruiting chat. He covers Kentucky high school basketball as well as recruiting for Kentucky, Louisville, and Indiana. The "golden triangle" schools own 14 NCAA titles between them and all have been in the final four this decade. So he has quite a horde of fans beating his door down and got to answer quite a few questions today. Here is the link. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/08/recruiting-live-chat.html Some highlights include...

* Marquis Teague has some mixed signals out there for all three top schools but most indicators lead to UL being his final choice.
* Says in 2010 class he thinks IU will most likely end up with Kyrie Irving and still has a chance with Victor Oladipo, Jalen Kendrick, Moses Morgan, Michael Cobbins, and Jeremy Lamb. (hoopsreport.com article linked below has Cobbins' five visits already scheduled and no IU)
* 2013 superstar Daryl Hicks has the attention of UL and UK and IU has been to several of his games already.
* Said Michael Gilchrist is supposed to make the IU elite camp this weekend.
* Said UL is expecting Rod Odom and Zach Price to visit Sep 5th and JJ Moore October 2nd and UL has a good chance at all three.
* Mentioned he really likes Rakeem Christmas (IU and OSU in his final 8).
* UK in 2010 is in good shape with CJ Leslie, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb, Josh Selby, Brandon Knight, Roscoe Smith, Cameron Clark, Tobias Harris, and Adriean Payne.
* IU in 2011 is in good shape with Marshall Plumlee, Rakeem Christmas, Jeremiah Davis, Cody Zeller, Deng Leek, Sam Thompson (Demling might be right about Leek if he recently reclassified, but last I knew Leek was 2010).
* UL and IU are expecting visits from Angel Nunez in late September.
* Cincinnati's Griffin McKenzie likes Xavier and Wake and could decide soon (not from demling but he is also considering Northwestern and Vanderbilt).
* When asked about Chane Behanon he said it was strange with the kid telling some people he was still committed and his uncle and hs coach saying he was open, but pointed out since he's letting people recruit him he's not really committed (mentioned Oklahoma State and WKU offers).
* Former UK commit Dakotah Euton is being recruited by EKU, High Point, Wofford, Coastal Carolina.
* Xavier likes Remy Abel from Eastern (Louisville).

Here are a few other tidbits the last couple of days from twitter mining...

* Duke has offered Marshall Plumlee (Bluedevilnation) and JP Tokoto (Evan Daniels).
* Dublin Coffman (Ohio) point guard Kyle Molock visited Duke, North Carolina, and Wake Forest (ONPSS).

Hoopsreport's Dustin Rumbaugh has a nice rundown on several top national targets and includes an update on Xavier Jones from Gary, Indiana. The 2010 tough as nails point guard has offers from Marquette, Indiana State, and Dayton and will be transferring to Ohio for his senior year. Also Dematha (Maryland) guard Jerrian Grant has Depaul and Notre Dame as two of his final four schools. Rumbaugh also says Macari Brooks (photo above is from a Midstatehoops.com article) will be visiting Louisville with Wayne Blackshear on September 5th. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/hoopsnews/wednesdaybuzzerbeaters
*

New Offers, Interest, Happenings in AAU world

* Northstar Blog has done some great work getting word out on several tournaments this July as well as talking to several kids and getting quotes on their interest and offers. This link has breakdown for several kids from Ohio and Kentucky as well as several kids claiming offers and interest from area schools. Its from AAU Nationals Day Three: http://blog.northstarbball.com/2009/07/29/aau-super-showcase-day-three--u17-action-gets-underway-nyarsuk--reese-stand-out.aspx Some of the updates include:

* Northland, Ohio's JD Weatherspoon has offers from Xavier, Ohio State, and Maryland and seems to favor Xavier right now. You may recall he decommitted from Xavier after Miller left.

* Ball State has offered Devonte White from Centenial, Georgia.

* Indiana has offered 2011 Team Takeover's Michael Gbinijie.

* Xavier has offered Dezmine Wells of Word of God Academy.

* Westerville South and All-Ohio Red's 2011 Travaeon Jackson has offers from Ohio, Akron, Cleveland State, and Miami. He is Jimmy Jackson's son.

* Teays Valley and All Ohio Red 2011 player Nate Anderson has offers from Ohio and Penn State.

* And here's the day four http://blog.northstarbball.com/2009/07/31/aau-super-showcase-day-four-rundown-the-miracle-of-st-patricks.aspx with offers from Notre Dame to Jerrian Grant, from Wright State to Jordan Downing, Purdue, Illinois, and Minnesota offers out to Bradley Beal as well as Beal plans to go to Purdue and Illinois camps, some praise for Indiana, Kentucky, and Louisville target Stacey Poole's defense.

* Demling has been doing a great job as well, his latest update includes Scott County's Chad Jackson getting a James Madison offer, Princeton, Indiana point guard Jalen Packer getting offers from Tennessee Chattenooga and Southern Illinois. Demling is also looking for Austin Rivers to get Indiana involved in his re-recruitment. Hoopsreport's Coach Blevins spoke with Rivers and said he's going to visit "at least" Duke and North Carolina. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/eventreports/austinriverstovisitdukeandnorthcarolina

* Another link on some Orlando Nationals tournament success for Illinois Old Gold and Rising Stars from Illinois Prep Bullseye has updates on several players recruitment including Dekalb 6'10 senior Jordan Threloff who wants to decide soon and might favor Illinois State according to the link. Brehm Prep 6'6 athlete James Siakhem has drawn Southern Illinois, Purdue, Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Dayton, and Vanderbilt coaches recently. His Illinois Titans teammate Bruce Barron has interest from Vanderbilt as well. Barron impressed me earlier this month at the Hoosier Shootout, few college level point guards play with the kind of strength and athleticism he commands at a young age. Purdue, Northern Iowa, Ohio, Illinois, and Notre Dame are also very interested in Barron. The photo above is Barron from an Endtoendscouts.com article discussing his cousin Justin Dentmon among other things. Finally, Jay Harris from Illinois Old School received an offer from Duquesne. http://ilprepbullseye.com/page33.html

* According to Demling the Derek Smith All-Stars made it to the semi-finals (final four) of the Double Pump tournament in Los Angeles and had to leave for travel arrangements. Indiana Elite (Fox) without Ge-lawn Guyn made it to the elite eight of that tournament.

* All Ohio Red beat Nike Team Florida to win the AAU National tournament in Orlando. Bowling Green's Elijah Macon had 16 points. All Ohio Red 17U are in the quarter finals in Orlando as well.

* Coach Weber, Illinois State assistant Paris Parham, and Purdue assistant Jack Ray were the only coaches present for the championship victory Mac Irvin Fire 15U team which had Jabari Parker and Travis Hamilton playing up on it. http://blogs.suntimes.com/hoopsreport/2009/07/a_whole_lot_more_from_las_vega.html

* The Illinois Wolves beat the Mac Irvin Fire 17U team yesterday in Merrillville. Chicagohoops listed the following head coaches as being in Merrillville on Thursday; Weber, Painter, Beilein, Brey, Craig Robinson, Todd Lickliter, Greg McDurmott, Travis Ford, Jim Les, Rick Majerus, Jim Molinari (W Ill), Billy Taylor (Ball St), and Kevin McKenna (In St). http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/endseason5.html The playoff teams are listed in the link but it doesn't say who is in the gold, silver, and bronze brackets. I'll update later in the day.

* GoldandBlack.com twittered that North Central shooting guard Terone Johnson had a huge game in Merrillville today finishing with 45 points! I'd be pretty surprised if Terone doesn't end up ranked in the top 50 with an expert or two after this summer.

* Mark Miller of Wishoops.net says Paul Jesperson has received an offer from Loyola and UW Green Bay and Port Wahington's John Gasser has added Maryland and Airzona State offers to his Northwestern, St Louis, Bradley, Butler, and several other existing offers.

* ESPN has a great review on Xavier Jones from Gary, Indiana from the Desert Duel.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=4365943

* Another ESPN link, former Majerus assistant Paul Biancardi really likes the Rising Stars team from Illinois and gets the dirt, all four Rising Star senior to be studs have great academics. Ohio State bound Lenzelle Smith, Iowa bound Ben Brust, Cal bound Alex Rossi, and William and Mary bound Fred Heldring all have 3.0 or higher and the link also a review of Trey Lewis from Garfield, Ohio. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=4363230

Desert Duels, Double Pumps, and more AAU action.

Double Pump Best of Summer

Several notable teams are participating in the Adidas Double Pump tournament being held in LA (the town not the bayou in case I had you craving crawfish etoufee...). Some big national names are there like I-5 Elite, Memphis Select, Louisiana Future, Playaz Basketball Club, DC Assault, I Can All-Stars, Pump N Run Elite, and many more. There will be plenty of mid-west-rust-belt-southish region teams are participating as well. Illinois Old School, Team Kentucky, D1E Derek Rose All Stars, Indiana Elite, Ohio Basketball Club, Derek Smith All STars, Reach Legends, and more.

Hoosierhillshoops is twittering that Evan Maschmeyer of Jeffersonville, Indiana had 15 in a pool victory over the West Coast All Stars. Maschmeyer is playing for the Derek Smith All Stars and is being recruited by Wright State and other solid programs. The photo is from a Courier Journal story that includes Evansville, Wisconsin, and Eastern Illinois as schools of interest for Maschmeyer as well. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/labels/Evan%20Maschmeyer.html

Buckey Prep says D1E All Stars have added Kenny Knight 2010 from Ohio along with Ryan Taylor and Michael Chandler who have also played with Spiece Indy Fastbreak squads this summer.

Desert Duel

Mac Irvin fire 16U opened with a 61-53 win against Full Court Athletes.

NBE blog has the scoop on several high profile kids including Dominique Fergeson, Trey Zeigler, Reggie Smith, and Brandon Kearney who has offers from Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State already. http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/07/27/nbe-live-from-desert-duel-memorial/

Orlando Updates

Nationals have started and Shining Stars McFarland 17U won their first pool game and Scott County combo guard Chad Jackson had 15 points. They bounced back from a tough loss to end a nice Super Showcase run to the final eight.

Meanwhile the Super Showcase is wrapped up as Team Takeover won at the 17U and 16U level according to northstarblog.

Illinois Titans won the 17U Silver Bracket. They are mostly younger kids but have several big strong athletic kids such as Ochenje and Siakhem.

Here is a link to an article from NBE blog wrapping up the Super Showcase. It has some notes on Rising Stars games, including updates on Alex Rossi and Ravonte Rice. Rice has a long list of offers from mid-majors and a couple of high majors but is catching the attention of several Big Ten schools now (Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Minnesota) among other schools. http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/07/27/sunday-at-the-aau-super-showcase/ There is also updates on Illinois and Purdue target Bradley Beal.

Look Back at Vegas (Yes the Town Turned off the Lights Sunday Night):

Hoopsreport has some updated school lists and scouting reports from Wayne Blackshear, Xavier Jones, Mike Shaw, Trey Zeigler, and several other top national prospects. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/eventreports/vivalasvegasnewsandnotes

They also have a nice rundown on Sterling Gibbs recruitment (Indiana and Depaul offers per this article) and also Bishop Daniels who is a Xavier target. Both are 2011 recruits. Gibbs is planning on doing unofficial visits to Kentucky and Indiana among others this August. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/eventreports/recruitingnewsandnotesfromreebok

More Tournaments Underway this week:

The Price Chopper gets underway Tuesday and will feature All-Iowa Attack Red, Meanstreets, Illinois Warriors, St Louis Eagles, and other fine squads.

USSSA Nationals in Fort Wayne will have a loaded field as will the End of Summer Shootout in Merrillvillle. Look for Hoopsmongrel to get some pictures and some game reports from Ft Wayne on Thursday and Merrillville on Friday.

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.

Updates from Summer Jam, Best of Mid-West, Summer Classic

Chicago Summer Classic
Chicagohoops stock risers report with nice notes on Brandon Spearman and other Illinois talent. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/classicprofiles.html

Best of Midwest:

Daryl Baker is the 2013 wonder-kid playing for Sherron Wilkerson's 16U Team Southern Indiana. He had 30 in his early game and 27 in the nightcap which was a loss to the Spiece Indy Stars who are also playing up a level and coming off two straight 15U tournament wins. Jeremy Hollowell and Ron Patterson have been red hot on both sides of the ball, but Austin Burgett continues his hot play as well scoring in double figures in both games and getting almost double figure boards in both games. He is at least 6'7 and has a sweet three point shot and a wonderful handle and his game offensively is often compared to Robbie Hummel. Here is a video taken by the Herald Times with some clips of Baker who is interested in Indiana, UConn, and North Carolina. http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/iusp/?p=3917 Here is a monster jam by Ron Patterson who has several high major offers already including Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio State, Purdue, and Illinois. http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=cjimmersiveplayer01&videoID=1181379332

Shining Star Sports - Jackson went 1-1 on the first day of pool play losing to Spiece Select 2011 who are also playing up a year. Vance Hall had 21 for Shining Star Sports after posting a 30 point game in an earlier blowout against Fieldhouse Elite.

Spiece Select started the day 2-0 and has been getting good play from Zach Van DeWater and Kendal Griffin as well as burly 6'7 forward Tony Springmann.

Eric Gordon All-Stars had big games from Terone Johnson, Jordan Manuel, Griffen McKenzie, and Trip McFall. I love watching this group play. Johnson is one of the most underrated guys in the country because the national guys sometimes get too caught up in a kids' pro prospects. Johnson is too short to be a shooting guard NBA prospect and not quite quick enough or enough of a point to play the one at the next level but the kid is tough as nails and is a good outside shooter. He can also get to the rack and plays with a lot of strength. I watched him physically handle Dominique Fergeson and guard him effectively in their first matchup at the Adidas May Classic. Johnson is a leader and a warrior and will be one of the most productive freshmen in the country in my guess and will get better and better in college. He plays hard on defense and with purpose. Matt Painter really hit the ball out of the park with his 2010 class. I love Johnson and Carrol. I need to see more of Anthony Johnson he's been hurt when I wanted to see him this summer and last year he didn't stand out to me but he has a wonderful reputation as well. Jordan Manual is a very vocal kid and can shoot the lights out at about 6'8 but he is rail thin so I think he'd play a lot more if he ends up at a mid-major. It can be a treat to listen to him needle opposition in his deep bass voice and he can be really funnywhen picking on the fragile psyche of an opponent.

NY2LA Summer Jam

SYF Players off to a great start including Dominique Fergeson getting physical which coming off reports he was being worked as a power forward at the LeBron camp might be a really good sign. http://www.ny2lasports.com/SummerJamDay1recap.htm Speaking of Fergeson, WeareDepaul.com has a premium story in which Fergeson confirms the fact that he will leave the state of Indiana for a yet to be determined prep school. He visited DePaul with his family and still has a long list but indicated he likes the Big 12 and Big East because he wants to go pro after a year if he has a big year and they produce lottery picks according to Fergeson. http://indiana.scout.com/a.z?s=170&p=2&c=878950

Fergeson's teammate Xavier Jones from Gary has been having a good July as well. The Summer Jam is loaded with talent. This day one report has updates on 6'10 Walter Pitchford from Team Detroit, Milwuakee Spartans star Vander Blue, and Illinois Wolves 15U Jay Simpson among others. http://www.ny2lasports.com/SummerJamDay1recap.htm

Peach Jam

Here are some whispers that Sam Thompson and Oregon State might be getting cozy as well as other updates on the recruiting trail from the Bullseye. The top spot is up for debate in Illinois class of 2011 but Thompson certainly has his supporters... http://ilprepbullseye.com/page46.html Bruce Weber and an assistant, and two Depaul assistants watched every game the 16U and 17U Mac Irvin Fire played. The 17U squad went 1-3 and probably won't be playing much longer if that is any indication. They have a lot of guys who can jump, but don't seem to win many games at the 17U level. Fortunately for the Fire, recruiting media types are not known for their leaping ability and they will continue to be talked about as a super team even with several other Chicago area teams playing much better ball this summer. Bill Carmody, Tom Crean, Thad Matta, Craig Robinson, Buzz Peterson, and other coaches were on hand for at least one Mac Irvin Fire game as well. The 17U group features fast rising senior Reggie Smith who had some great reviews at the Lebron Camp last week as well as the current king of Chicago high school basketball Jereome Richmond and seven foot Meyers Leonard. Smith is one of the top unsigned guards in the 2010 class and is a 6'1 kid with great leaping ability but has quietly added some range to his game and has improved his handle and distributing skills. He is being pursued by Marquette, Indiana, and some west coast schools but might see his options increase with a few wins for the Fire.

Day 3 evaluation period update...

Hoosier Shootout Updates:


Donnie Hale went for 20 and 9 in an overtime loss for Spiece Indy Heat 17U Felder. Spiece Indy Stars 15U won big. Several Illinois teams won, more notes following in an update soon.


Adidas It Takes Five Updates:

Indiana Elite (Fox) in finals of 17U winner's bracket after defeating Grassroots Canada. Butler commit Eric Fromm with a big game.

Indiana Elite Orange is in a close battle late in the game against outstanding Baltimore/DC area power Triple Threat. Matt Carlino getting great reviews. Highmajorscoop twittering that Carlino runs like a deer and Zeller, Plumlee and Justin Gant looking good.

Derek Smith All Stars 16U with suddenly hot prospects George Fant and Remy Abel beats Indiana Elite (Dee and Jeremiah Davis squad) to make it to the semi-finals of 16U division.

NY2LA Invitational Updates:

Aaron Simpson and Keith Carter having good morning games for Team NLP 15U squad. Coaches from almost every high major program in the country are on hand for 2012 probable top ten national kids Alex Foster from Chicago and Peter Jok, NY2LA's top ranked kid in the class nationally.

Here's a Day 2 report including updates on area players Marcus Crider, Xavier Jones, Alex Foster (who has an Illinois offer) and more... http://www.ny2lasports.com/NextLevelDay2recap.htm

King James Classic:

Twitter is aflutter with Marques Teague praise from his morning game which has been attended by Rick Pitino and Tom Crean among others. Jody Demling's (of Louisville Courier-Journal) twitter feed has been great, Teague says he kind of knows where he will go and will visit Louisville, Indiana, and Kentucky in August. http://twitter.com/jdemling

Other area players of note include Chicago's Reggie Smith, Indianapolis Lawrence North (for now) forward Dominique Fergeson, Ohio State commit Deshawn Thomas, Michigan and Indiana target Moses Morgan, Cleveland Benedictine's Cameron Wright, Purdue target and Gary, Indiana star Brandon Dawson, Chicago's Jermone Richmond and many others. Louisville targets Chicago stars Mike Shaw and Wayne Blackshear in the 2011 class have been touring campuses together and told Jody Demling they want to be a package deal.

This tournament is taking advantage of the rules to get the college coaches in to see the 40 or so college kids invited to the camp in action in a tournament following the camp we've been covering (loosely). They split into 8 teams and they are all stacked with talent.

Indiana Talent on display in Cincinnati and Indianapolis.

Adidas It Takes 5 is still going strong with only 8 teams left in each division set to tip off in a few hours. NBE Basketball blog as been keeping close tabs on several teams and players of interest. http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/07/07/nbe-live-evaluation-period-blog-day-ii/

One of the fastest rising prospects in Michigan is 6'9 forward Jon Horford for the Michigan Mustings. The Mustangs are still alive in the 17U division. Keith Appling has been getting great reviews as always and Jon Horford is drawing more attention. His latest list given to the NBE Blog was MSU, Florida, Alabama, Wake Forrest, and Miami. Izzo was watching intently but might be full in 2010 with Horford's teammates Guana and Appling locked up already.

Joining the Mustings in the final 8 teams at Cincinnati in the 17U field are the D1Elite (Derek Rose). Justin Martin has been playing well and is drawing attention from Xavier. Michael Chandler has had some good reveiws and the Mongrel believes he is playing with the 17U D1E right now.

The Illinois warriors will play Indiana Elite (Fox) in the 17U division. The Warriors have been extremely strong this summer and boast some of the best talent on the circuit. Dwayne Evans from Nequa Valley (Chicago burbs) has been having a good tournament for the Warriors. Indiana Elite's 17U team has the Mount Vernon Trio of Daniel Turner, DeArmond Davis, and shooter extraordinaire PJ Hubert along with Ge'Lawn Guyn, Butler commit Eric Fromm and other good players.

Two of the 16U division's final 8 teams are from Indiana as well. Indiana Elite Orange has been playing to a who is who of college coaches with Matt Carlino, Cody Zeller, and Marshall Plumlee leading the way and Indiana Elite/Team Indiana has been outstanding with Xavier commit Dee Davis and Muncie's Jeremiah Davis leading the way in final 8 of 16U division.

All-Ohio Red is the other area team still alive in the 16U field. Tom Crean has been spotted at a NJ Playaz vs Team Takeover 2:00 PM game according to the above link as well, no word on which prospects he is watching there yet.

The Derek Smith All-Stars West 16U squad has been on fire. Louisville's Remy Abel and George Fant and Chad Jackson have led the way for the Kentucky based squad which has drawn coaches from mid and high majors including Indiana and Louisville. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html Indiana was out in force to see the 16U Derek Smith All Stars for an earlier game, the 17 U Derek Smith All Stars boast among other good players 6'9 Curtis Washington who is fresh off his MVP performance at the Rick Bolus Blue Chip camp.

Indiana Elite/Team Indiana 15U is in the final of the winner's bracket against the Eric Gordon All-Stars. The EG all-stars are being led by Patrick Irving and Ronnie Johnson at guard and they will face off against Devontes Smith-Rivera and his Indiana Elite squad in the final four of the tournament.

Hoosier Shootout Developing Hoosier and Illinois Flavor

The Spiece Indy Stars 15U squad is still undefeated in the tournament and they face an excellent Atlanta Express squad in the 10:30 AM game. Austin Burgette and Jeremy Hollowell will have their hands full keeping tabs on 6'7 Denzel Council from Macon as well as 6'5 Jack Shanks. The Stars have played multiple games in front of Bruce Weber, Tom Crean, Brad Stevens, John Belien, Tubby Smith, Jack Owens, and assistants from Ohio State, Liberty, Cornell, and many other coaches.

The Spiece Indy Heat 17U Quarles squad has been unbeaten as well. 2010 Ohio commit Ethan Jacobs has been strong inside in the absence of 2012 behemoth AJ Hammons and Raphael Davis and Khristian Smith keep getting the ball to the hoop and it goes in or DeJuan Marrero is there to clean up. Point guards Steven Jamison and Brad Elam have been strong but for the Mongrel's money the best player for the Heat so far has been Yogi Ferrel the little point guard. Indianapolis Pike's Khristian Smith was outstanding on Monday at least.

Spiece Indy Heat (Felding) is without Travis Carrol but Purdue commit Donnie Hale is picking up the slack and they are still alive in the 17U division as well.

Team Southern Indiana has had a good start to the tournament. Day one updates are provided, I got to check in on a couple of their games but can't add a whole lot beyond what is in this Hoosier Hills Report blog. 6'7 Taylor Wischmeier is playing well and seeing Eastern Kentucky, Evansville, and IPFW interest.

The Chicago area is well represented in the round of 16 as well. Illinois Old Gold, Velocity Red, Illinois Titans, and Illinois Old School are all still alive.
http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/hoosier.html

Other notes:

I'm hearing SYF players combo guard Xavier Jones from Gary, Indiana is having a good start up in Milwaukee at the NY2LA tournament. I hope to have more on that this afternoon. Here is the updated brackets for the tournament. http://www.ny2lasports.com/events/NextLevelInvitational/Next_Level_Brackets-July7-1.pdf

Morning update, as expected Tom Crean and Rick Pitino are taking in Marques Teauge's first game in Cleveland.

10 Most Underrated Kids in Indiana

10 best D1 prospects in Indiana who the deep digging Mongrel has not seen on a top 100 list, its getting hard because old secrets like Dee Davis, Jeremy Hollowell, Ron Patterson, are gettin out and showing up already.

1) Jesse Berry 2010
2) Tony Springmann 2011
3) Austin Burgett 2012
4) Zach Van DeWater 2011
5) Edward Seay 2012
6) Gary Harris 2012
7) Justin Gant 2011
8) Kendall Griffin 2011
9) Jake Kitchell 2010
10) Xavier Jones 2010

Indiana is so deep in talent in the 2011 and 2012 classes the overwhelmed Mongrel figures there are at least a dozen kids who'll show up on top 100 lists in those classes that have yet to prove themselves to the right people, it'll be a constant update/edit task because the Hoosier state is well scouted and wonderful web sites (many are linked at the bottom of the Mongrel's home page) like Hoosier Hoops Report and the Indiana and Purdue rivals sites as well as Indiana's Scout site do spectacular jobs of covering local talent. * Edit one 6/30/09 my #1 on the list was Cody Zeller and he showed up #57 on Scout.com's top 75 list for 2011. Austin Etherington was on the list too removing him from future consideration of our 10 Snubbed Hoosiers.

There are more AAU programs in Indiana than stars in the sky and the school coaches there entertain in front of the biggest crowds in the country. The nomadic Mongrel has roots all around, but nowhere is basketball so beloved and so organized and efficient as you see in the Hoosier state. Kentucky is a good comparison but its more a religion in Kentucky and an probably more of an art in the Hoosier state. The well traveled Mongrel grew up in Rex Chapman country and had a lot of years in Damon Bailey country as well. Hoosiers love their hoops and the maters are pret near heavenly right time of year in Indiana too. And there's good basketball year round. The conflicted Mongrel included Seay and Harris in 2012 going blind for now but the wisest owls in the barn consistently say they are big time so the Mongrel is going to err on the side of caution for now.