Recruiting Tidbits

The elite camp report inspired quite a bit of emails, so here is a follow up on the Indiana camp. http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/08/30/scouting-notes-from-saturdays-elite-camp/ My mind isn't slipping, this is a different link from the last story. Inside the Hall apparently had a mole in the Indiana Elite camp who gave them a great scouting report. I think the comments on Baker, Hicks, Hulls, and Tokoto are particularly right on. Tokoto is a phenomenal prospect and seems like a better kid but the scouts will turn their lists over a dozen times before he graduates and I don't think he'll wind up being higher than Baker or Hicks for sure and probably not better than some of the other kids mentioned in that report. That's sort of like criticizing Cindi Crawford for not being quite as sexy as Bridgett Bardot though, as the Good Mongrel reported from the Kentucky Hoopfest and Hoosier Shootout, Tokoto is the real deal and will be a wonderful player. I like Ron Patterson, Ken Kaminski, and Devontes Smith-Rivera more personally, but its early and these kids will be a lot of fun to watch the next couple of years as they drift up and down the various top 100 lists. Here is an update on Hicks. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/08/hicks-had-blast-in-bloomington.html

* Here is a link to an Insidethehall.com Muncie Central guard Jeremiah Davis interview after the elite camp where he says among other things that he could commit today, tomorow, or any time in the future (not to any specific school, but it is thought that Indiana and Ohio State are sitting pretty well with him right now). Davis is ranked #40 in the country by Rivals.com. He is an outstanding talent, a very physical guard who has the athleticism and aggressiveness to be a star in college if he continues to mature as a point guard. http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/08/31/q-a-jeremiah-davis-talks-elite-camp-recruiting/

HighMajorScoop.com had a nice IPS rundown from last week we missed. http://highmajorscoop.com/2009/08/weekend-scoop-2/ Here is a cut and paste from a few of the players with some school updates. Also check out the Scott County (KY) update on their site.

*Trey Lewis, 6-foot-1,2011, Shooting Guard, Garfield Heights, Ohio holds offers from Akron, Kent, Cleveland State, Ohio University and St. Joes. He is also getting interest from Penn State, Wisconsin, Indiana, Nevada, Michigan, Alabama, West Virginia and Xavier
* Trey Burke, 5-foot-11, 2011, Point Guard, Columbus (Northland H/S), Ohio holds offers from Butler, Akron, Kent, Ohio, James Madison, Miami-Ohio and Kent State. He visited Cincinnati and Ohio over this past wee and plans on taking visits to Penn State, Dayton, Baylor, Miami-Ohio among others.
* Treavon Jackson, 6-foot-2, 2011, Wing-Guard, Westerville (South H/S), Ohio visited Akron and Miami-Ohio this weekend. Jackson holds offers from both programs as well as Cleveland State and Ohio University. Jackson is the son of former Ohio State and NBA player Jimmy Jackson.
* Adreian Payne, 6-foot-9, 2010, PF, Dayton (Jefferson H/S), Ohio is reportedly down to four programs; West Virginia, Arizona, Michigan State and Kansas. Many still feel it’s a wild card race for Payne, but sources close say WVU and MSU are neck and neck. This should be a interesting one.
* Griffin McKenzie, 6-foot-8, 2010, SF, Cincinnati (Moeller H/S), Ohio visited Northwestern this week. Griffin is down to four programs, Xavier, Wake Forest, Northwestern and Vanderbilt.
* Rob Brandenberg, 6-foot-2, 2010, SG, Gahanna (Lincoln HS), Ohio took a unofficial visit to Ohio University this weekend. His top five are VCU, Ohio University, Wright State , Akron and Marshall. (update, Brandenberg has since committed to VCU)
* Kyle Molock, 6-foot-1, 2012, PG, from Dublin (Coffman H/S), Ohio holds offers from Ohio University, Akron, Georgia State and St. Joes. He is also getting strong interest from Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Florida International, Illinois and Purdue.

Mark Miller's Courtside blog is reporting that Vander Blue is down to five schools. Arizona (you know where you've heard that one before...vbg), UCLA, Marquette, Florida, and Wisconsin are the final five. http://www.wissports.net/sports/hoopsb/blog/blog.aspx?f=123

Jim Reamer's outstanding web site Hoosierhoopsreport.com has been redone and has been cranking out some excellent material of late. Most recently they reported that 2012 5'9 Park Tudor point guard Yogi Ferrell has received an offer from Purdue to go along with the previous offers from Butler and Ohio State. Yogi is one of the Mongrel's favorite players to watch this summer, most recently I got to see him in Ft Wayne playing on the same team as Marquis Teague and he may not be the kind of NBA prospect Teague is on track to be, but he runs the team at least as well in my opinion. You have to check Yogi out, he's got pretty long arms for a smaller player and is really intense, the wide open eyes kind of make me think of a Mike Singletary who wasn't much taller than Yogi who is seen above in an Indy Star photo. Here is a link to get to know Yogi better if you haven't had the chance. http://www.indy.com/posts/college-coaches-finally-catch-highly-touted-yogi

Here is another outstanding link from Hoosierhoopsreport.com. It has a scholarship chart for the D1 colleges in Indiana. Wish we could get one of those for Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois it makes it a lot easier to figure out when your competition is going to drop off for a player after they receive another commitment. I see these on team websites all the time but they are rarely as efficient and easy to read as this one and he gets several schools together on it.
http://hoosierhoopsreport.com/2009/08/30/scholarship-grids/

Back to High Major Scoop for some more scoops, they are twittering that Notre Dame hosted Marcus Crider and Travis Trice this weekend and they expect Trey Burke soon as well. Notre Dame recruiting is picking up steam right now with visits expected soon from many wonderful players such as Ralston Turner, Jabari Brown, and Victor Oladipo.

And finally one of the Mongrel's original favorites was visiting Bradley recently. Coach Blevins from Hoopsreport.com tells it like it is when he says Ricardo Johnson is a top 150 talent. He shut down and put away Georgetown commitment Vee Sanford in the 2009 class in the Sweet 16 matchup in Kentucky's state tournament last year on his way to earning tournament MVP honors and leading Covington Holmes to the state title along with his trusty and jumpy sidekick Elijah Pittman. The good Mongrel is very high on Josh Sewell and Ge'lawn Guyn also, all three of those kids would appear in any version of a top 150 the Mongrel would be foolhardy enough to produce. I'll be weighing in soon enough on which of those three overlooked kids is the best but it is not an easy task and you will all be hearing from them next year in a big way from Miami, Charlotte, and wherever Johnson winds up. Anyway, enough editorializing here is the link. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/hoopsnews/ricardojohnsonvisitingbradley

USSSA Nationals 7/30

The Spiece Fieldhouse was home to some of the best talent in the country on Thursday and the Lucky Mongrel got to take in some of it and get lots of pictures, all of which taken about a quarter of a second after the players turned around. So it goes, but the basketball was not disappointing at all. There were ballots for the all-tourney team for the coaches and since I was denied the pleasure of a secret ballot, let me make mine publicly (with apologies to the guys i didn't get to see).

* I'll start my ballot off with 2012 Spiece Indy Star Ron Patterson (pictured on right). He was impressive as per usual. The 6'2 guard is a really dangerous scorer. He gets to the bucket on the drive and can jump up and shoot it quickly and he's usually on target. His athleticism around the basket can be really impressive. He seems to always have a few dunks or awe inspiring hang time plays and today was no different. His Spiece Indy Stars won their 10:30 bracket game 66-62 against the Fieldhouse Elite 2011 Knights. Patterson had 20 and was well on his way to another good game in the evening against Spiece Indy Heat (Felder). The Stars are playing up but still competing and winning. Jeremy Hollowell scored 11 and looked good as well.

*I'm not sure if I think he had one of the five best weeks there, but just off wow factor Marques Teague is probably gonna make my list. Teague has become a really strong leader on the floor. He makes some of the nicest plays I've seen a high school player make when he gets an angle to go to the bucket. He can take over offensively and defensively and is massively talented but might not be as consistently dominant as he could be. He has a decent looking shot, he is improving those two areas and be even better than he is already. I'll bet the high majors start recruiting him if he starts out his junior season strong. kidding, kidding... Spiece Indy Heat 2010 Betts defeated Team Southern Indiana ed 66-51. Ross, Wischmeier, Jeffersonville's AJ Adams were outstanding in defeat, and Teague was joined by an all star cast on his squad (Yogi Ferrel, DeJuan Marrero, Khristian Smith, Raphael Davis, AJ Hammons and more). I will double check on a couple of those TSI 17U names so as to avoid ridcule.

* I was just up there today so forgive me if the rest of the tournament went differently but Gary Harris was playing for a squad called Team Indiana. He is one of the 7 kids I'm calling the top prospect in the Indiana high school class of 2012 depending on day of the week. Harris is a superior athlete with long arms and is already becoming a special player. He could play point or wing, has a nice looking shot from three, and is young for his class if I remember correctly. The last time I caught him he got hurt for Up Tempo in a 15U game but was the best player on the floor. His game was at half time when I left so I don't have any stats for him. Harris, Patterson, Smith-Rivera, Hammons, and Marrero are on the rotation so far at least...vbg

* Ryan Taylor was outstanding for Spiece Indy Fastbreak and has to be on my first team ballot from today. The 2011 Lawrence North little power forward is well on his way to becoming the Louisville Cardinals wing forward. He has always been tough on the glass and fearless inside, but today I got to see him really attack the basket a lot more than I've seen off the dribble before. Taylor is handling the ball with more confidence than he was in the school year. Turner wound up with 22 points on the game. He was matched against a very impressive player Evan Cleveland wound up with 15 points and is probably was a little taller than Taylor but not quite as thick.

* Crishawn Hopkins was playing with the Blaze Select again. They had a chippy battle with Fieldhouse Elite Hoosier Boyz. Need to look up rosters, but #5 was good and competitive for the Hoosier Boyz and was probably a 6'4 kid with good length but Hopkins was in control. He elevates very high in the air when he shoots and it is a very smooth shot. He is a lot more than a leaper, the 6'0 Manual guard needs to put on some weight but he is fearless. Eastern Michigan and Ohio had coaches watching. I'll have to go with two points on my squad, put him on the first team.

* Other guys that were impressive included Yogi Ferrel was outstanding. He seems to be a little bigger but the urgent pace and intensity which he plays with is a real treat to watch. His recent Ohio State offer is well deserved. His teammate Raphael Davis looked good playing up. He had 16 points and played hard. He is always good, and consistently shows off some of his scoring prowess but today even though he was less dominant than he can be, he also did a much better job deciding when to pass the ball to a teammate and he limited the wild shots. Playing with a vocal point like Teague might be really good for the young Purdue star who looks to be 6'5 and strong. Bowman Academy's Dejuann Marrero was a treat to see as well. He controls the glass every time out and is an all effort kid with impressive ability in the paint and high major athleticism.

* Kenny Enoch scored 9 points and Evan Blackman had 14 for the Spiece Indy Fieldhouse who were eliminated 63-61.

* Travis Carrol and Donnie Hale were imposing for Spiece Indy Heat Down against Spiece Gym Rats Tolson. The Mongrel is a big fan of both players. Carrol particularly will be a very good power forward for Purdue. Unfortunately I just looked in a bit on this game and didn't get any stats.

* The NEO Ballers 16U squad were very impressive. A Michigan State assistant was on hand to see them crush the Illinois Predators. He most likely was watching Anton Grady, a 6'7 shot blocker who really got off the floor quickly. #14 Brian Burdine from Lutheran East High School is class of 2011 and is a very quick but thin 5'9 skinny point guard with amazing body control. They beat the Predators 81-41 and just terrorized them defensively. Thanks to coach Tom Coleman for getting me the updates on the roster.

* A sophomore to be Spiece Gym Rats Davis squad was in action on the adjacent court. They were led by #13 Jason Kalongi I believe who is going to be playing varsity for Bishop Leuers this year. #50 was about a 6'6 strong forward who had good form shooting to 15 feet for the Gym Rats. #52 Gregory for Fieldhouse Indy Impact was really impressive, he is about a 6'6 forward who likes to play defense with attitude. Nick Nimtz was another big kid who played well for the Impact.
* 2013 super phenom Daryl Baker scored 21 in a loss Wednesday to Team Indiana (Gary Harris). Logan Bailey (Bedford North Lawrence) added 20. This HoosierHillsHoops.com update has several other notes on Hoosier state prospects in the event. http://www.hoosierhillshoops.com/index.php

* Coaches were looking a little less bright eyed and busy tailed than they were on day one of the evaluation period a few weeks ago. IPFW Coach Dane Fife was on hand as were coaches from Evansville (straddling Spiece Indy Heat games at one point), Gardner Webb, Ball State, Michigan State, Northwestern, and others.

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.

Hoosier Shootout Day 3 report

Spiece Indy Stars 2012 is still undefeated and cruising through the tournament. They play at 8:00 AM for the championship of the division against Wisconsin Playground Warriors loaded 2012 team which I believe boasts JP Tokoto who has offers from Minnesota, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Marquette and is one of the most highly regarded sophomores to be in the country.

Team Southern Indiana 2012 went 3-1 losing Tuesday evening to Bloomington Blaze select. According to Hoosier Hills Hoops (sorry I've been calling them Hoosier Hills Report because I've been mixing their name up with HoosierHoopsReport.com) http://www.hoosierhillshoops.com/2009/07/08/hoosier-shootout-tsi-2012-nets-3-1-record-in-indy/. Max Clemens from Scottsburg and Keegan Kincaid from Switerland County were both having good tournaments.

An excellent update is once again available at Purdue's rivals site which requires a premium subscription. Spiece Indy Stars' Ron Patterson and Jeremy Hollowell have been very dominant all tournament long. I saw them a couple of times on Monday and along with Burgette and Thomas and Hartman they really looked great. According to Blackandgold.com, DeJuan Marrero and Yogi Ferrell continued their great play with double figure games in their 17U Spiece Indy Heat finals loss to Wisconsin commit Evan Anderson and Ben Mills and the Wisconsin Playground Warriors. Marrero had 14 and 11 and has offers from Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, and Valparaiso according to this blog entry from the Indy Star. http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/07/marrero-a-risin.html Ohio State is also after Ferrell and BlackandGold.com also mentions Michigan interest in Ferrel. http://purdue.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=963359 Earlier this week I got to see them a couple of times and I was blown away by how much better Ferrell looked than this spring. I can't wait to see he and Kellon Thomas lock horns next time the chance arrives, it will be a treat.

Spiece Indy Fastbreak won the 16U division with a 73-57 win over the Illinois Attack. Indianapolis Howe point guard PJ Boutte had a triple double and Louisville 2011 commit Ryan Taylor and Avon's Dominique Blackmon were in double figures as well. http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/07/wednesday-night.html

Hoosier Shootout Day 1 Top Players:

2010:

Christian Kabongo Mt Zion Academy NC was the most dominant player I got to see on day one. He was playing with a team from Toronto called Scadding Court Ballhawks that I'm having trouble finding a roster for. He's a legit 6'5 and went coast to coast at will. He dribbles between his legs way too much but its impressive nonetheless and he pulls it off against some really quick players. He missed almost all of his deep shots but the people on hand assured me he usually hits them. He played great on defense for most of the game against one of the quickest points I saw yesterday. He took a lot of possessions off on defense too, but was extremely talented. He's the sort of guy who I'm sure will be a pro but I'm not sure if he'll make it to college. I was told he has a Nebraska offer on the table but is 19 already. He's an instant impact D1 talent if he makes it to a campus but might need reigned in a bit. He scored 30, had at least 8 assists and several steals and rebounds (and turnovers) as well.

Robert Wade from Team Nashville has to be one of the least talked about future college high major stars in the country. Here is a link I found while digging for more dirt on Wade. He was the player that all the kids from other teams gathered to watch and he kept going up strong on offensive rebounds and jamming the ball with one hand and having near misses. I didn't get to see enough of his game to get a feel for how good the little things are, but the big things are great, ask the Indiana Dawgz about him! Cincinnati and other schools were there watching and a couple of coaches were seen flipping through their $125 programs on the sidelines as they walked by. http://www.tnprephoops.com/content/view/1161/48/

Crishawn Hopkins from Indianapolis Manual was outstanding for Team Blaze but he was the only highlight for his team. He scored well over 20 of his teams 30 or so points. He is every bit of 6'0 tall but skinny, but the kid can jump out of the gym and has some range. He reportedly got a Miami (Oh) offer and did well at Miami and Indiana's elite camps recently. Coaches from Wright State, Eastern Illinois, Northern Colorado, Morehead State, and Princeton were on hand for his game against a loaded Atlanta All Stars team.

David Mason was the most impressive college prospect on the Atlanta All Stars. I haven't dug for their roster yet to see who some of his talented teammates were, but Mason was about 6'5 with good reach and had high major athleticism and some explosion to his game. This was one of the most talented teams I got to see in the 17U group yesterday and should be a tough out in the tournament. #34 was about 6'9 and played well as did #55 who was about the same size but a little bit stronger. Both looked like mid-majors or better to me.

Jeff Johnson was outstanding for the Peoria Irish 17U squad against Camp Daryl. #0 and #30 were both 6'8 forwards with nice games. I'm pretty sure Johnson was #0 so please correct me if I'm wrong. He had a shaved head and a headband and kept draining jumpers and defending well and being physical. #30 was also about the same size but more mobile and longer and made some nice plays with the ball and hustled. Let me know if you know who he was. Just found out Josh Piper was the other one. They both play for Champaign Centennial.

Eric Gaines was very impressive for Orange Crush. They had a very athletic team and the 6'4 rangy Gaines was chosen for his work on the baseline, he's quite an impressive athlete for his Hillcrest high school.

Jeff Hoskins is a 6'1 shooting guard from Kalamazoo who looked really good against the Irish for Camp Daryl. He was playing point yesterday and hustled all game long and showed off a nice 3 pointer even when well guarded. He was #10 unless the rosters have shuffled around.

Illinois Titans had some impressive athletes. I mentioned Siakhem and Ochenje from the younger class playing up with this squad and they were dominant. But the team was loaded with guys with muscles and mohawks. #32 and #23 were especially impressive physically.

Nashville Celtics Green #2 was big time as well. I'm not sure who he was, have three suspects so until I narrow it down somebody help me out. He was a 6'4ish kid who had a nice stroke, star level athleticism and had Vanderbilt and Michigan coaches among others watching he and his Nashville Celtics Green team. #1 and point guard #8 were good as well.

2011:

James Siakhem is playing up with the 17U Illinois Titans and was extremely impressive. He didn't look near the 6'7 height I'd seen him listed before but he's got to be one of the most physically imposing players in his age group. He hustled and is a special athlete. Word on him is that Depaul, Vanderbilt, and Southern Illinois have already offered. The 17U Titans had several other good athletes, check them out.

Khristian Smith from Indianapolis Pike has had a good summer. He led his Pike team to a victory at Purdue's team camp without Marques Teague and has picked up some D1 offers. If he continues to play alongside the special 2012 prospects who joined his team for the Shootout, the college coaches following them like a band of gypsies will continue to be impressed with him. He is about 6'5 with good length, athleticism, and a mature game. He plays hard on defense, cuts at the right time, and has a decent stroke. Keep an eye on him.

2012:

Emanuel Ochenje had the most potential of the 2012 kids I got to see yesterday. He is ranked #1 in the class by Chicagohoops and was playing up with the 17U Illinois Titans. He is an amazing athlete, you simply have to go see this team play if you are checking out the shootout. They have outstanding athletes at many positions and should be one of the favorites to win the tournament. When I saw them play they didn't get a challenge from the Kansas Express who were most notable for having a kid play who reminded me of Seth Rogen from Badass but kept sticking nice 12 footers off the glass nonetheless.

Ron Patterson keeps playing great ball. He plays for Broad Ripple in Indianapolis and is only about 6'2 but his arms are so long he plays with the length of a forward. He's a really impressive defender and can shoot some and make it to the hoop. Look for him to continue to improve his handle and be a star in the class of 2012.

Gary Harris from Huntington Southeast was with a new AAU team and word apparently hadn't spread beyond Bruce Weber and Tom Crean who joined the Mongrel and a few others to watch Harris go to work. Harris changes speeds well, can drive, and looks good going up for pull up jumpers. He got hurt early in the second half, I can't wait to see him again expect to see him rocket up the charts with the national guys and make the Mongrel stop talking about him. Up Tempo had a really long lanky kid who came off the bench and stroked some 3's and played really good defense that had Tom Crean walking over to the scorer's table, he was #32 but not sure yet who he was.

Austin Burgett from Avon, Indiana keeps getting better and better. He looks a legit 6'7 now and is getting stronger. He was very aggressive yesterday in front of legions of college coaches for the first time and really took over his team's second game on both ends of the floor. He's got a very nice handle and shot for a big kid.

Yogi Ferrel from Park Tudor in Indianapolis was outstanding yesterday playing against older kids. The teams the Indy Stars went up against were not offering the kind of competition he's likely to face as the tournament goes on, but he was easily the most impressive of the 2012 kids playing up with Quarles' Indy Stars. He was efficient and made great assists at times. I believe he had 20 points in the second game and was all over the glass, penetrating, and his shot keeps looking better. I also think he might have grown an inch or so since last time I saw him and his arms look a bit longer than you'd expect from a 5'9 point guard.

Jeremy Hollowell from Indianapolis was outstanding. He is about 6'6 and has a smooth 3 point stroke and was active driving to the basket as well as off the ball yesterday. He has great length and a good handle.

Raphael Davis is another outstanding prospect on that Indy Stars team. He is going to be big time in college. Right now he dominates the ball too much for a kid with a shaky handle and 3 outstanding point guards on his team and he tends to shoot the team out of rhythm from time to time. But he's got talent to burn and will be an extremely good small forward in college. What could be seen as shooting too much to some is probably a killer instinct to Matt Painter. This kid will score a ton of points in college. He might not have the handle and defensive quickness you want a shooting guard to have, but he is 6'4 with good length and I can't wait to watch him mature.

Brad Hartman, Kellon Thomas, Rhett Smith, and Larry Drew were also impressive for the 2012 Spiece Indy Stars. DeJuan Marrero was extremely impressive rebounding and getting put backs. AJ Hammons didn't play in the second half of the first game or at all in the second game presumably because of a minor injury but he looked fine. RJ Mahurin was an impressive floor general for Up Tempo.

2013:

VJ Beachum from Ft Wayne played a great game for his Spiece Indy Heat 2013 game playing up a year against Up Tempo and Gary Harris. Tom Crean and Bruce Weber got to take it in. Beachum is very long and can shoot, drive, and block shots. He's about 6'5 already and usually had the ball and didn't look outclassed against extremely underrated 2012 prospect Gary Harris. If anyone has a roster for his team I'd love to know who #9 and #12 were on his team as they have bright futures as well as #5 who appears to be a Matt Howard clone in the making.

Shootout 3 Update, I am not Stalking Bruce Weber

Poor Bruce Weber, everywhere he goes he sees the Mongrel's ugly mug. Unlike most of his rivals, Coach Weber has a top notch 2010 class lined up so he has the luxury of giving all of his attention to the younger guys. Coach Weber was front and center for the 8:00 AM game for Spiece Indy Stars 2012, then slipped away into the auxiliary gym for the 9:15 AM game between Up Tempo (Gary Harris) 2012 and the Spiece Indy Heat 2013 team who played up. Coach Weber then went to SOAS tof the 10:30 AM game of Spiece Indy heat squad with Illini target DeJuan Marrero and several other prospects of note. Later in the afternoon Weber was among the coaches at the 2012 Spiece Indy Stars second victory and again at the second victory for the Spiece Indy Heat team with Marrero, Hammons, etc. He is making it clear to the kids in the Spiece program from 2012 that they are a top priority.

In the second game for the Spiece Indy Stars, they once again won easily. Patterson, Hollowell, Burgett, and Hartman were all excellent. Austin Burgett is better every time I watch him. He's getting a little stronger and more aggressive.

The Spiece Indy Heat Quarles team was outstanding in their second game as well. They outclassed their opponents and Dequan Marrero from Merrillville, Indiana was a monster cleaning up everyone's mess. Yogi Ferrel from Park Tudor (Indianapolis) was outstanding as well. Ohio got a steal in 6'11 Ethan Jacobs who looks great, and the other big kid AJ Hammons didn't play at all in this one. He missed the second half earlier today.

More updates to come late tonight or tomorrow, hope you had a good day of hoops watching if you were out or hoop-envy if you were at home in front of the glowing box.

Hoosier Shootout Update 2

Ok, back in between venues and sorry sorry Spiece Indy Stars for mislabeling you as Heat this morning (2012 anyway, I think the 13 was Heat at least for now)...

I missed the beginning of the 10:30 AM games at Sports of All Sorts so won't be able to offer stats yet. The program with all the rosters was also $125 so forgive me for using some numbers til I can double check a few things. Well, I suppose I'm a blogger and under some sort of organizational code to mess things up a little so I will jump in a little more than I should before I can look up some correct spellings.

10:30 games at SOAS first caught the Spiece Indy Heat (for real this time) Quarles team. They are a little different than last time I got to see them and some of the younger kids are playing up a year now. Purdue commit Raphael Davis, DeJuan Marrero, AJ Hammons, and Yogi Ferrel headline this group. I've been a little lukewarm on Yogi's potential as a high major player because of his size, but he continues to grow on me. The 2012 kids on the team were joined by some older kids. Brad Elam from Ben Davis handled point most of the game. I continue to be more and more impressed with Khristian Smith. He isn't the go for the jugular scorer that Raphael Davis is, but seeing them play next to each other I think Raphael can learn a lot from his game. Smith is about the same size and a good athlete and has good reach. I expect Smith to have a huge year this year for Pike. They won the recent high school summer shootout at Purdue University without Teague. Hammons didn't play at all in the second half, no word on why. Rangy combo guard Steven Jamison also handled himself well. The juniors have a year on the more hyped younger kids, and they played like it today. Bruce Weber and Tom Crean must be riding together because they were there at Arlington this morning and at SOAS later in the morning. They were joined by Mike Lewis from Eastern Illinois and coaches from Lipscomb, Drake, Southern Illinois, and other squads to watch the Indy Heat win this one 82-36 against the Runners.

Team Southern Indiana red beat Minnesota select 68-44, will have a little more on this one tomorrow after digging for some rosters.

The best player I've seen today so far is Christian Kabongo. He's the most talented certainly, I'm hearing he plays for Mt Zion Academy and he was on a team from Toronto and he is a gifted athlete and scored 30 points and had to be close to a triple double. He brought the ball up and has a great handle but goes between his legs constantly and overdoes it some. I heard he has some academic issues but has a Nebraska offer on the table, will find out more about him too.

Team Southern Indiana White beat the Wisconsin Force 60-56. More on this one later.

Over at Warren Central I was able to catch the Atlanta All-Stars dismantle Team Blaze. Team Blaze has hot 2010 recruiting name Crishawn Hopkins who reportedly has a recent offer from Miami (Oh) and was outstanding at Miami and Indiana's elite camps. He was outstanding, a gifted leaper with good range. I didn't catch his point total but he has most of the 30 or so points his team scored. Atlanta All-Stars had several impressive players which I will update later. Wright State, Princeton, North Colorado, Morehead State, and Eastern Illinois coaches were among the crowd gathered for this one.

Peoria Irish beat Camp Daryl 17U. The Irish had a couple of skilled big kids I will be getting back to you on as well.

The Illinois Titans had the most impressive athletes I've seen today as a group. Emanual Ochenje (Illinois offer) was very impressive physically but some of his older teammates were even better and almost as physically gifted. I look forward to seeing this squad again. They dismantled the Kansas Express.

Team Nashville has an extremely impressive player named Robert Wade. I was watching a different game, but I noticed a crowd gathering mostly of other players to watch the display he was pouting on. They were in a good game with the Indiana Dawgs when I left, Cincinnati and other schools had coaches on hand. More on this, you guessed it, later...

Back over at SOAS for the Spiece Select 2011 team (playing up with 2010) and Spiece Select won by 15. I didn't get to see the beginning of the game so I'll update the scores later. Coaches from Michigan and other schools were on hand for this one.

The Nashville Celtics Green had a few impressive players. They were beating the Michigan Mavericks when I left the building. The Mavericks point guard was very impressive and coaches from Vanderbilt and Michigan were on hand for the game among others.

More later, on my way to see the Spiece Indy Stars 15U team one more time at Arlington then back to Warren Central for another round of games before I retire for the evening...