Central Florida Recruiting

TEAM TAKEOVER POST-JULY UPDATE

Championship summer for AAU team out of DC has college recruiters buzzing about the talent in the program

It was quite a July for Team Takeover out of Washington, D.C. as they were crowned the champions of the inaugural Nike Elite Basketball League by taking home the Peach Jam championship that closed out the first leg of the July live evaluation period. They were also a final four participant in the 17-U AAU Super Showcase in Orlando at the end of July, falling to the St. Louis Eagles in a rematch of the Peach Jam finale.

The Peach Jam title, which served as the championship of Nike’s new Elite Youth Basketball League format this spring and summer, will be cherished by the Takeover program for a long time.

“It was great to win the inaugural event plus the Peach Jam has been around for 15 years and Nike teams don’t always win it,” Team Takeover President/Director Keith Stevens told Ray Mernagh this morning by phone. “Winning that title was huge for myself, the players, the families and the parents involved in our program.”

And what a program it has been. Stevens, who also serves as the coach of the champion 17-U team, started the program with a Nike sponsorship late in the summer of 2008 after moving on from the highly successful Triple Threat program. In just two years, Team Takeover has risen to the top of the AAU landscape with a program rich in talent and dedicated athletes. Counting his time with Triple Threat, Stevens and his coaching staff have been a pipeline to the Division 1-A ranks and built teams that stay together and grow through the ranks.

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ORLANDO AAU UPDATE PART VIII (BABC TAKES 16′S CROWN)

The 16-U AAU National Championship was decided in Orlando on Friday afternoon as BABC out of Boston (MA) earned a 56-53 win over All-Ohio Red on the main court of the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

All-Ohio Red held a 25-24 lead at the half with a balanced offensive attack led by Myles Hamilton with six points. For BABC it was the outside shooting of Jaylen Brantley keeping them in the contest as the 6-foot point guard connected on four three-pointers to account for all 12 of his points.

In the second half BABC began to take control as Georges Niang continued his impressive performance in Orlando this week, scoring 12 points in the quarter, helping BABC to a 42-38 lead after three quarters.

In the fourth quarter BABC held on for the win. Brantley finished with 20 points, hitting six of eight from the foul line in the second half. Niang had 17, with 14 of those in the second half. Egi Gjikondi added eight.

Leroy Hamilton led All-Ohio Red with 11 and Hamilton and Deontae Hawkins scored nine each and West Virginia-commit Jalen Robinson had eight.

The title was the 13th national championship for the BABC program and avenged a semifinal loss to All-Ohio Red in the 16-U AAU Super Showcase earlier in Orlando. The boys from the Buckeye state were the 16-U runners-up in both the Super Showcase and National Championship.

Some familiar faces took in the action of the 16-U finale. Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin along with one of his assistants as well as Providence assistant Chris Driscoll, who was a coach with the BABC program as recently as last month, were spotted. Along with Pitt assistant Pat Skerry, West Virginia assistant Larry Harrison, Marquette assistant Scott Monarch, assistant from Georgetown, UMass head coach Derek Kellogg and others.

On Saturday the 17-U AAU National Championships will continue with quarterfinal action. The remaining eight teams begin play this morning with the following match-ups:

Connecticut Basketball Club vs. St. Louis Gameface
Arkansas Wings vs. LI-Lightning (Blue)
HCYP Elite vs. Old Gold/Dream Team
CP3 All-Stars vs. Carolina Ravens

The 16-U title game marked the end of NBE’s coverage in Orlando. Alex Schwartz checks in below with some final player evaluations, including his look at Nerlens Noel, Jalen Robinson and Brice Johnson and detailed recruiting updates on Archie Goodwin, Rod Days and Demarcus Harrison. You can log-in or sign up for NBE Premium access by SUBSCRIBING (HERE) for as low as $2.08 a month with our annual introductory membership to read more of the coverage from Orlando. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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KEEP AN EYE ON IAN BAKER IN 2012 CLASS

Ian Baker Intro: Brother’s Keeper Getting Looks From All Over

By Zach Smart

Is Ian Baker his brothers’ keeper?

Baker, a rising junior at Arlington Country Day school in Jacksonville, Fla., is certainly keeping the Baker name alive and intact on the court. The cerebral combination guard, who averaged 10 points and four assists per game as a sophomore, has been actively pursued by a number of Division-I hardwood homes. One Big East school has been the front runner, with schools from the ACC and CAA looking to sell the kid from the rich basketball bloodline.

Two of Ian’s older brothers, Evann and Jeremy Baker, played for Quinnipiac in the Northeast Conference.

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GIBBONS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS FINAL RECRUITING NOTEBOOK

The Bob Gibbons’ Tournament of Champions wrapped up on Sunday evening and the event lived up to it’s well-earned reputation as one of the elite travel team events annually. Jeff Borzello was on hand for NBE and kept our readers up to date on the latest news and notes and provided evaluations on many of the top players throughout the weekend. How busy was Jeff this weekend? Well, evaluations of 41 players and recruiting updates on 35 of them can be found in the articles posted over the weekend, and linked below for your convenience. The latest recruiting scoops on Adonis Thomas, Shabazz Muhammad, Marshall Plumlee, Cody Zeller, JP Tokoto, Kaleb Tarczewski, Damien Leonard, Nick Jacobs, Adjehi Baru, Winston Shepard, Angelo Chol, Andre Drummond, Chane Behanon, Tavon Sledge, Norvel Pelle, Chasson Randle, Frank Kaminsky, Peter Jurkin, Obi Aget and many, many more that the high-major schools across the country are chasing…

Previous Gibbons Tournament of Champions Coverage:
- Gibbons TOC Day One Recruiting Notes
- Gibbons TOC Day One Recap
- Gibbons TOC Day Two Recap
- Gibbons TOC Day Three Recap
- Alex Murphy Talks Recruiting with NBE

Now we clean out the notebook with several more recruiting updates, including a Team Philly pair (Savon Goodman and Amile Jefferson) that impressed greatly this weekend, an update on Chris Hill who was with OBC this weekend and is still working to qualify for 2010, but also discussed other options for next season with NBE, as well as Daniel Dingle, Devin Brooks, Trashon Burrell, Kamari Murphy, Ge-Lawn Guyn, Jeremy Hollowell, Amir Garrett and Madison Jones in this update…

You can log-in or sign up for NBE Premium access by SUBSCRIBING (HERE) for as low as $2.08 a month with our annual introductory membership to read our final recruiting notebook fromt he TOC or any of the other TOC articles from the weekend, as well as any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage.

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SOUTHERN JAM FEST PLAYER REVIEW & RECRUITING NOTES (PART III)

BY JEFF BORZELLO

HAMPTON, Va. – The Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton, Va. is quickly becoming the place to be for AAU events in the spring. It hosted the first leg of the Nike EYBL a few weeks ago, and then hosted the Southern Jam Fest, run by the Hoop Group, this past weekend. While not as loaded as the EYBL, the Jam Fest featured several of the top AAU teams in the mid-Atlantic region, with teams also coming from various states throughout the country (and Canada). In Part I of our Review (found HERE), we took a look at some of the key players with Team Loaded, Boo Williams, Grassroots Canada and more, while in Part II of our coverage (found HERE), we broke down the always talented DC Assault program. Here is the third installment of our look at some of the top players, and their college recruitment, from the weekend with the CP3 All-Stars program as well as Westchester Hawks, Team NJABC and more.

You can log-in or sign up for NBE Premium access by SUBSCRIBING (HERE) for as low as $2.08 a month with our annual introductory membership to read more of our coverage from the 2010 Souther Jam Fest, as well as any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage.

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