Zach Price, Karl Madison, Cole Darling off the boards, more updates.

Rick Pitino appears to be on the cusp of landing one of his best recruiting classes in years with the 2011 class. Indianapolis Lawrence North stars Michael Chandler and Ryan Taylor are quite a recruiting class by themselves, but this week Pitino added another big kid in the class when Lakewood St Edwards big man Zach Price committed to Louisville on his third visit http://highmajorscoop.com/2009/09/pitino-finds-the-price-he-likes/. St Edwards has been on quite a roll producing big men recently with Price joining recent Big Ten power forwards Delvin Roe and Tom Pritchard as products from the school. In Louisville's recruiting class, Taylor is more of a small forward (I got to see how much progress he was making at that at the USSSA Nationals in July), Chandler is a true center with skills that should put him in the McDonalds All American game if he has the fire to take over games, and Zach Price is slated to be more of a power forward. Pitino is expected to have an excellent chance to add Marquis Teague at point, Wayne Blackshear at shooting guard, and perhaps even Mike Shaw at small forward in the coming days.

Springfield Laphier's Karl Madison has committed to play for Drake University. According to Brian Stinnete Drake is visiting Champaign Central's Rayvonte Rice on the first day of the contact period. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/brianstinnette603.html Madison is seen in his St Louis Eagles uniform in this scout.com photo.

Brad Brownell has landed one of the top players from the state of Michigan to add to his class of 2010. Holt HS's Cole Darling has pulled the trigger for the Wright State Raiders. http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/tracker/school?schoolId=2750&page=briefingroom&season=2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fschool%3fschoolId%3d2750%26page%3dbriefingroom%26season%3d2010


According to the above Chicagohoops link, Eastern Illinois is hosting some important visitors in the coming days as well. Jared Oldham, Ben Brackney, and jucos Lazeric Jones and Al Rapier are expected to have visits with Eastern Illinois staff. The article also mentions Chicago Hales Franciscan senior Patrick Miller had a good visit to Tennessee State this last weekend.

Macari Brooks was on campus at Louisville over the weekend and has updated his recruiting list. He says Louisville, Depaul, Xavier, and Southern Illinois are among the many schools involved. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/macaribrooks2.html

Hoosierhoopsreport.com has an outstanding update on some underclassmen in Indiana expecting important visitors now that the contact period is opening. The article discusses the thin pickings left in Indiana's 2010 class after the massive prep school defections throughout the state and puts a focus on some D1 prospects from the younger classes that might benefit from the exposure of having big crowds there looking at higher profile teammates. http://hoosierhoopsreport.com/2009/09/08/let-the-visits-begin/

Ray MacCallum Jr has a top seven which includes his dad's squad Detroit. http://blog.northstarbball.com/2009/09/09/justin-coleman-tarik-black-and-ray-mccallum-on-where-they-stand.aspx Ray Jr is a treat to watch, he's a very heady player with good athleticism and skill. He'll be a star wherever he goes. The link also updates Justin Coleman's recruiting. He is still listing Xavier, Marquette, Florida, UConn, Arkansas, and Virginia as his top six schools.



Jody Demling has an update on who Kentucky and Louisville plan on doing in-home visits with from the senior class. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/09/in-home-visits-on-tap.html


Dematha (MD) shooting guard Victor Oladipo has joined Indiana's 2010 recruiting class. Sportspress has him ranked #58
in the class and rivals and Gibbons have him ranked around 135. http://www.insidethehall.com/2009/09/07/victor-oladipo-joins-indianas-2010-class/

Late update, just got off Twitter and Dematha's high school coach is saying Jerian Grant has committed to Notre Dame also! Grant is going to play for another Dematha alumn in Coach Brey.

Shiningstarsports.com has a new feature up on Tregg Setty. He is receiving interest from Xavier, Virginia, Old Miss, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Wright State, Tennessee, and others including an offer from Southern Illinois.
http://www.shiningstarsports.blogspot.com/

Lots of rumors have been swirling recently about Kentucky facing another hit with the NCAA, although I haven't heard anything that is huge on the surface at least. UK blogger Marc maggard weighs in defending Bilel Batley from what Maggard calls "unfair" rumors about his dismisal. The mature Mongrel does not want to start sharing whispers when they are potentially harmful to people (you'll find the rare rumor mongering I participate in is pretty neutral or positive stuff), but I'll throw this defense by Maggard out there for now until more becomes known. Batley followed Kelvin Sampson from OU and was at OU during Sampson's phone scandal part one, then was at Indiana with Sampson for a year prior to phone scandal part two, then went to Memphis under Calipari for the Derek Rose saga, and had followed Cal to UK until recently at least. http://www.truebluekentucky.com/index.php/basketball/926-guest-basketball/1910-bilal-bately-and-unfair-assumptions.html

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
*

Updates and Commitments: August 24

Indianapolis Lawrence North's Justin Martin (Rivals #87) will return for his senior year at Lawrence North where he averaged 11 points per game as a junior. Martin has ended his recruitment with a commitment to Xavier. Martin is a very good shooter and can be a very good defender and is a very talented kid whom the good Mongrel looks forward to seeing in the A10. The Mongrel is a few days late on this story but here is some of the praise out there for Martin. http://www.ny2lasports.com/NY2LA%20Sports%20Articles/MartintoXavier.htm

Kurt Stubbs from JJHuddle.com has several interesting things to say in his Ohio hoops recruiting rundown from the 21st. http://www.jjhuddle.com/blog/post-detail.php?p=3246

* 2011 big man Zach Price (Rivals #66) from St Edwards (Lakewood) has offers from Louisville, Miami (Fl), Michigan State, Ohio State, Wake Forest, and Wisconsin.
* Jakarr Sampson (Rivals #100) is a 6'8 small forward in the 2011 class from Akron St Vincent-St Mary's. He lists offers from Cincinnati, Xavier, Akron, and Dayton and plans visits to Ohio State and Michigan State this summer.
* Trey Burke (Rivals #105) is a point guard from Columbus Northland. He has offers from Ohio, Cleveland State, Akron, James Madison, Kent State, Butler, Miami, and Stephen F Austin and visited Cincinnati on the 21st.
* 5'7 point guard Stevie Taylor (Rivals #150) also has offers from Ohio, Akron, James Madison, Miami, and others. Taylor is one of those little guys who always comes out on top but people tend to try to temper their expectations because one day the competition will be too big, but so far he's still impossible for anyone to guard. Picture above is Taylor from 4.bp.blogspot.com.

Milwuakee Hamilton's Elgin Cook has accepted a scholarship to play for Iowa State. He is a very athletic 6'6 kid in the 2011 class. Scroll down to the second article on the blog for more. http://www.wissports.net/sports/hoopsb/blog/blog.aspx?f=123

Pittsburgh commitment Cameron Wright has a nice profile in a new article on the best players not included in the top 100 by ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=4411749

Chicagohoops has a nice piece on Ben Brackney from Lincoln HS. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/benbrackney2.html Brackney is a 6'5 shooting wing forward with offers from Eastern Illinois, Bucknell, Murray State, SIU-Edwardsville, and other schools. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/benbrackney2.html

Lots of news coming from Demling's blog as always. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html

* Chane Behanan (Rivals #95) (notice corrected and wise spelling) has received an offer from Western Kentucky.
* Marquis Teague (Rivals #2) seems to be rushing in Indiana, Purdue, and Kentucky visits before his season starts. He was on Kentucky's campus this weekend and will be at Purdue and Indiana's elite camps this coming weekend. This part is the Mongrel editorializing but the kid has all but spelled out his preference to Louisville the last couple of weeks, looks like he's trying to give a last look to all comers before pulling the trigger. Let me know if I turn out to be wrong about that one loyal readers...
* Dematha (Maryland) athlete Victor Oladipo is expected to visit Indiana September 3rd and 4th.
Carlton Brundidge praise from NBE Blog. http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/08/24/recruiting-notebook-rod-odom-carlton-brundidge-carson-desrosiers/ Michigan, Michigan State, Wake Forest, Oklahoma, Syracuse, and Providence are interested in him.

Ohio Uncommited Prospects Get New Interest

2010:


Griffin McKenzie has had a huge month so far in July, he claims new offers from Tennessee, Xavier, Cincinnati, Northwestern, Providence, and has had several coaches watching including Ohio State and Indiana. This Indy Star link has some updates on his recruitment. http://blogs.indystar.com/recruitingcentral/2009/07/offers-rolling.html


Cameron Wright has had a huge July as well. He had several great reviews at the LeBron Skills Academy and recently visited Indiana with his parents. He plans to visit Wisconsin and Georgia Tech with his parents before deciding. Wright was outstanding at the NY2LA Summer Jam.

Adreiene Payne might be a bit over the head of our under-hyped label, but he has continued to be a hot name on the recruiting circuit. He has had interested followers from all over the Big Ten and is being hotly pursued by his hometown Dayton Flyers who have a top 2010 recruiting class already lined up.

Peshown Howard, Queen City Prophets 6'6 Allen Payne, and Ohio State and Xavier target JD Weatherspoon are other players to keep an eye on.

2011:

Cameron Lee is a 6'3 wing for Lakota East. His dad Ralph played for Xavier. Cameron has been to Miami and Xavier's elite camps this summer. http://www.miamihawktalk.com/home/recruits/player/10351/

Isiah McCular turned some heads at the Kentucky Hoopfest. He's a 6'9 kid who is already pretty strong with decent hands and is fundamentally solid. He didn't have much trouble against 7'0 Deng Leek and Cheir Ajou in a game the Mongrel got to see.

Zach Price is a 6'10 power forward from St Edwards who visited Louisville the same day as Shaw and Blackshear. He has been having a great summer. He has interest in Ohio State and Michigan State (Roe's teammate) and has been a hot name this summer. He's another guy who'll probably wind up top 50 nationally.

Aaron Thomas is a 6'4 guard from Western Hills who had a big week at the Kentucky Hoopfest for the Queen City Prophets. He is getting recruited by Xavier, Indiana, Ohio State, and Cincinnati.

Guys to keep an eye on would be Club Ohio (Calahan)'s 6'3 Job Jennings, Jakar Sampson from Akron and King James Shooting Stars, 5'6 point guard Stevie Taylor from Strongville and Ohio Basketball Club's Aaron White a 6'7 forward, and others.


2012:


Ken Kaminski has had Tom Crean and Tom Izzo taking in Team Pride games and appears stronger than he did in May. He won't have to wait long for some big time offers to come through.

Dylan Kaufman had quite a following at the Adidas It Takes Five tournament in Cincinnati. Tom Crean and an assistant from North Carolina were on hand for his game against CBIZ in Cincinnati and according to Miami Hawk Talk he has visited Akron, Butler, Miami, and Ohio State so far. http://www.miamihawktalk.com/home/recruits/player/10351/

Jalen Robinson is a 6'7 kid from Columbus who recently received an offer from Kent State.

Other names to watch are Dublin's Kyle Molok, Brampton's Moehmad Rage, and Davon Scott.

2013:

Matt Loving is a 6'6 forward from Toledo who was a standout at the Top 150 incoming freshman camp in Lexington in June.

Let me know who needs to be added to the list of the uncommited kids.