UAB Recruiting

BASKETBALL RECRUITING NOTEBOOK (8/18/2010)

Many top prospects in the class of 2011 continue to work their way through the recruiting process towards their college decisions. One player doing so is Greg Lewis, a 6-foot-9 big man out of Baltimore. Lewis checked in with NBE earlier today and updated us on his recruitment, which includes leaders from the Big East and ACC and one official visit set for early September. We also caught up with a pair of 2012 prospects, Daniel Dingle of St. Raymond’s in New York City and James Robinson of DeMatha in Hyattsville (MD) for the latest in their recruitment as they will likely be hot commodities on the east coast for the 2012 class.

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 today’s jam-packed Basketball Recruiting Notebook for August 17, 2010. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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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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NIKE EYBL PEACH JAM: DAY ONE

BY JEFF BORZELLO

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. – Annually, the best event of the summer is the NIKE Peach Jam – a collection of 24 of the best NIKE-sponsored AAU teams in one spot. This year, it took on added importance, as it was the culmination of a four-event tournament that spanned three months and four cities. The top 20 teams from the Elite Youth Basketball League in Hampton, Va., Houston and Los Angeles joined four wildcard teams and headed to the Riverview Park Activities Center in North Augusta, S.C. In other words, the best event got even better. Throw in a U-16 division with 16 of the best teams in the country, and the Peach Jam continued to stand above the rest. You can visit the Nike EYBL website for schedules, scores and boxscores from all the games Here.

Below is our look at some of the opening day standouts and some detailed recruiting lists and updates from many top players of note, which included a pair of future Big East players (Michael Carter-Williams and Tyrone Johnson) going for at least 40 points in one of their two contests and Joe Coleman of Howard Pulley racking up the points and gives NBE his latest recruiting update. As usual, nobody covers an event like Jeff Borzello and your favorite school is likely covered in a recruiting update below…worth the price of admission (3.95 a month or 24.95 a year).

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 North Augusta (SC) and the Nike EYBL Peach Jam. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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JUNE 18 RECRUITING NOTEBOOK

NBE catches up with Durand Johnson, Willy Kouassi and Daquan Cook for the latest in their recruitment

The last several days NBE has brought you a series of recruiting notebooks where we updated readers on the recruitment of many of the top players in the high school class of 2012 as college coaches could officially begin recruiting them this week. Many of the top players in the class saw their phones blowing up all week as college coaches attempted to make their interest in recruiting them known.

Tonight we take a look at another 2012 prospect, Daquan Cook of Baltimore (MD), but also touch base and find out what five schools currently are in the lead for the serviced for 2011 Baltimore prospect Durand Johnson and also introduce readers to Willy Kouassi, a 6-foot-10 big man in Alabama who is certain to draw a lot of interest from college coaches in July looking to get a good look at potentially one of the better big men in the class.

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 news and notes on Johnson, Cook and Kouassi. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers and detailed below is our coverage schedule for the next month.

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