Connecticut Recruiting, DePaul Recruiting, Doug Ferguson, Louisville Recruiting, Marquette Recruiting, Notre Dame Recruiting, Pittsburgh Recruiting, Providence Recruiting, St. John's Recruiting, Syracuse Recruiting, USF Recruiting

NBE ‘LIVE’ FROM DESERT DUEL MEMORIAL (3:30 PM UPDATE)

Doug Ferguson has found his way Monday to Mesquite High School in Gilbert (AZ) for the Desert Duel Memorial Basketball Tournament. This tournament was created in the memory of Tom Crawford and this year’s version has a very impressive field put together by Big Shots president Jeff Schneider.

Some of the impressive tournament performers from the recent Vegas events have made it to Mesquite High School, including I-5 Elite (Center Stage Champs), Team Detroit (Reebok Summer Championship winners), Memphis Magic (Adidas Super 64 champions), Nike Team Florida (winners of Nike Main Event), Seattle Rotary, Mac Irvin Fire and top programs such as NJ Playaz, DC Assault, Atlanta Celtics, SYF Players, Illinois Wolves, Wisconsin Playground Elite and more for this two-day event.

With many tired bodies from the action in Vegas, upsets ruled the day on Monday and the final eight is quite surprising based on the teams that were in action. Read below to find out who went 2-0 on Day One and see some video of the Team Detroit backcourt duo working together…

The tournament is just a couple of hours old and a big upset has already been orchestrated by a fast-rising 2010 point guard out of South Carolina…

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TUESDAY:

4:00 PM Update:
Mac Irvin Fire 16′s fall to local Cinderella story Arizona Premiere 52-49. Micah Fetters, son of former major league baseball pitcher Mike Fetters has been impressive for the local team.

The final spot in the semi’s is still up for grabs as the Atlanta Celtics and Petersburg Elite contest was delayed because of a water cooler spill. They are about a half hour behind the other games…

3:30 PM Update:
The first two to advance to the semifinals are the Mac Irvin Fire 17′s and Nike Team Florida, who got past I-5 Elite. Stan Heath (South Florrida) and an assistant from Marquette were among the interested onlookers as Mac Irvin got past the Dallas Heroes. Strong game for Jereme Richmond and Reggie Smith knocked down key free throws to ice the game while playing with a bad ankle.

It is scorching hot in the desert…115 degrees today…WOW!
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Noon Update:
- Below, Sam Thompson out of Chicago (IL) Whitney Young and Mac Irvin Fire 16′s shows off his athleticism. Thompson, who is regarded as one of the most athletic in the class of 2011, has a list of Louisville, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio State, Purdue, Northwestern, Arizona, Oregon State, Florida, Oklahoma and Kentucky according to his coach at the Chicago Summer Classic earlier this month. He is definitely a high-flyer!

Doug has some other Desert Duel highlights at his Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/dougott36

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10:00 AM Update:
- Here are the match-ups for the quarterfinals of the winner’s bracket:

……..Mac Irvin Fire 17′s vs. Dallas Heroes
……..I-5 Elite vs. Nike Team Florida
……..Mac Irvin Fire 16′s vs. Arizona Premier
……..Petersburg Elite vs. Atlanta Celtics

Quarterfinal action starts at 1:20 PM (EDT) with two contests and then two more for 2:30 (EDT) to follow.

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MONDAY:

11:00 PM Update:
- Dominique Ferguson, a 6-foot-9 power forward out of Indianapolis (IN) Lawrence North HS is at the Duel with Team Detroit and updated his recruitment. The schools he is currently listing include Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Duke, Tennessee, Indiana and Connecticut.

- Brandan Kearney out of Detroit (MI) Southeastern HS is a 6-foot-4 shooting guard in the class of 2011 playing up with Team Detroit. The highly touted youngster has offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and is also considering interest from Tennessee, Syracuse, Miami, Oklahoma and Florida.

- One of the biggest stock boosters from ‘Vegas Week’ was Memphis Magic 6-foot-4 shooting guard Chris Crawford out of Memphis (TN) Sheffield HS. Crawford hit the winning shot to give Memphis Magic the Adidas Super 64 title on Sunday.

As for his recruitment, Crawford mentioned offers from Memphis and Tennessee and also has interest from Alabama, Baylor, UTEP and Ole Miss. Look for more schools to be in contact once July is over.

- Trey Ziegler was always considered a high-end recruit, but his play this July, specifically at the NY2LA Summer Slam and in the Reebok Summer Championships where he led Team Detroit to the tournament championship has cemented his place as an elite prospect in the class. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard out of Mount Pleasant (MI) and son of Central Michigan head coach Ernie Ziegler is considering offers from Michigan, Michigan State, UCLA, LSU, Arizona, Arizona State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Providence, Miami and Oklahoma.

Before becoming the head coach at CMU, Trey’s father served as an assistant at Pitt, where he was on the staff with Jamie Dixon, and at UCLA under Ben Howland.

- Team Detroit has a unique situation as their backcourt mates are both sons of Division 1-A head coaches. While Trey Ziegler is son of CMU’s Ernie Ziegler, Ray McCallum, the 6-foot-1 point guard out of Detroit (MI) Country Day, is the son of University of Detroit head coach Ray McCallum. The younger McCallum is currently considering offers from Dad’s program at Detroit as well as Kansas, Oklahoma, UCLA, Arizona, Miami, Notre Dame, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State and Florida.

Below see the pair work together for a dunk by Trey on the feed from McCallum…

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10:00 PM Update:
- Team Detroit and Seattle Rotary has Jerry Wainwright of DePaul, Ben Howland and his whole UCLA staff, Mark Few, Sean Miller and representatives from Providence and St. John’s watching the action.

- Marquette head coach Buzz Williams is checking in on Memphis Magic this evening, as are coaches from Memphis and North Carolina in a quick scan of the bleachers.

- Reggie Smith of Thornton (IL) High School and of Mac Irvin Fire has USC, Baylor, Marquette, Memphis, Illinois and possibly Indiana as the schools involved, according to a source with knowledge of his recruitment.

- Watching Mac Irvin’s game against the DC Assault, which was their 16-U squad, were Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, Stan Heath of South Florida, Ben Howland, Memphis assistant Rod Strickland, Sean Miller, Thad Matta and an assistant from Providence.

- the Atlanta Celtics got 21 from Ryan Harrow and 18 from Jordan McRae in a 71-68 win over the Dallas Mustangs.

- Rick Pitino spent time watching Wisconsin Playground Elite and 6-foot-6 class of 2011 forward Cimeon Bowers of Nicolet (WI). Bowers has looked better in the past.

- Mac Irvin Fire’s 16-U squad got past Full Court Athletes 61-53 behind 18 from ‘Dre Henley and 12 from Macari Brooks.

Marquette head coach Buzz Williams and assistant from Providence checked in on the action.

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3:00 PM (EDT) Update:
- Many were hoping that Seattle Rotary and Mac Irvin Fire would be meeting again tomorrow morning. While Mac Irvin took care of business in their opening win, if the two teams are going to stage a sequel to their intense and chippy contest of last week in Vegas, it will have to be in a loser’s bracket game as TMP of South Carolina knocked off Seattle Rotary 56-54.

Bruce Ellington scored 32 points for TMP as the Berkely (SC) product has continued to transition himself from a high-major football prospect into one of the hottest available point guards in the southeast in the class of 2010 this July.

TMP rallied from a 13-point defecit in the last six minutes to stun Seattle Rotary, who got 14 points from Anthony Wroten and 10 from Josh Smith.

- Mac Irvin meets DC Assault in a second round match-up here at 3 PM (PST). Big time match-ups throughout…

- The NJ Playaz are facing Texas Select and Marquette head coach Buzz Williams is watching the game. Providence and South Florida have assistants watching the action.
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