Akron Recruiting

CITY OF PALMS REPORT — DAY FOUR

By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst

Each day at the City of Palms Classic seems to be more intense than the last. Today started off slowly with a mostly empty gym but it slowly filled up as the night wore and the semifinal matchups approached. When it was time for the tip of Montverde Academy and Grace Prep in the 1st semifinal there wasn’t an empty seat in the building. Through a delay when a power outage sapped the scoreboard, constant breaks to wipe up an increasingly slippery court, and a wildly overheated Florida gym, high level basketball remained the focus. A select group of players stood a cut above the rest and they are outlined below.

Top Performance of the Day:

Julius Randle (Prestonwood Christian 2013) – In the final game of the night with a chance to play for the title on the line Randle was brilliant. He tallied 31 points and 15 rebounds on 12 of 18 shooting while facing consistent double and triple teams in the post. Randle’s game has evolved as his skills have developed and while he still makes his living down low he showed the ability tonight to lead the break and facilitate offense for others from the perimeter. His shooting range now extends to the college 3 point line and he can comfortably handle the ball enough to help his guards break the press. Offensively, Randle has very few holes in his game but on the other side of the ball he does still need work. He has a tendency to sulk after a turnover and then miss a defensive assignment because he hasn’t let the play go. While not uncommon for a young player, stars of Randle’s caliber are held to a higher standard. If cleared up, there is nothing standing in his way from overtaking Jabari Parker as 2013’s top prospect.
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Mernagh’s M-M Minute: 2 for 32 in MAC vs Summit Battle

South Dakota State beat Western Michigan earlier today 82-76 in a game that saw WMU’s 6’10″ sophomore center Matt Stainbrook go for 32 points. The Jackrabbits had no answer for “Big Stain” a lefty with a variety of post moves (although they all usually end up going over his right shoulder) and a soft touch who torched SDSU on 14-16 shooting from the floor and 4-5 from the free throw line.

Meanwhile, the victorious Jackrabbits got 32 points of their own from the splendid junior point guard Nate Wolters (who lit up the Broncos last year in Kalamazoo for 28 in a losing effort).

Both Stainbrook, a lightly recruited big man out of Ohio who’s at WMU because a former assistant talked head coach Steve Hawkins into watching him late in the recruiting period, and Wolters are players for college fans to keep an eye on as the season progresses and their teams compete for conference titles.

We didn’t get much of a chance to write about Akron’s beatdown of Mississippi State the other night. The Zips, led by Quincy Diggs on offense and Zeke Marshall on defense, controlled the SEC group for the full 40 minutes before winning by ten. Akron coach Keith Dambrot was kind enough to join us following the win for our new podcast called “The Experience” which will be available online tomorrow (keep your eye out for it).

Myself and Lauren Kirschman will be doing the podcast throughout the season and hope to bring you interesting discussions that you won’t get anywhere else.

The second podcast has been scheduled for tomorrow morning with a coach who has a Final Four on his record. I’ll also be checking out Wisconsin Green Bay vs Duquesne tomorrow afternoon before driving up the block to catch Pitt vs Rider in the evening (Robert Morris drilled Rider by 26 last night). Green Bay features a really talented sophomore big in 7’1″ Alec Brown, while the Dukes have a sophomore star of their own in TJ McConnell.

Watched Wright State and Ohio State Friday night in a game that the Buckeyes won handily. Not sure if Ohio State is a top-3 team as of yet. They have three really good players and a lot of inexperienced parts, but those three players (Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft and William Buford) are special, just not sure this team is as good as Thad Matta’s previous team that featured David Lighty and had Dallas Lauderdale backing up Sullinger. Time will tell.

Wright State will be up and down all year but they have a really strong first year core of Reggie Arceneaux, Tavares Sledge and Kendall Griffin. Arceneaux is a 5’8″ jet who battled Craft and Shannon Scott all night long. Sledge is a 6’9″ athlete with a body who’s capable of defending and rebounding at a high level already (I think he had 8 in 16 minutes vs OSU) while Griffin will be a steady 2/3 for the Raiders for the next four years. Sophomore big man AJ Pacher has vastly improved his game as well. Wright State has Cole Darling and Matt Vest out with injuries right now and needs their two first-year junior guards (Julius Mays and John Balwigaire) to play well if they want to compete and win games. One thing that’s different about Wright State’s team from last years squad is that Arceneaux is the only Raider who can break his man down off the dribble consistently, while last year’s team had two real creative guys off the bounce in Vaughn Duggins and N’Gai Evans.

’13 CLEVELAND – BENEDICTINE BIG MAN MARK WILLIAMS LOOKS AHEAD TO BIG SEASON

Those that have watched Mark Williams of Cleveland (OH)’s Benedictine High School and the TNBA East AAU program over the last year have described him as an ‘old-school’ big man. The 6-foot-8, 245-lb big man prospect in the Class of 2013 is not looking to play on the wing, face-up and shoot three-pointers. Instead he plans to go on the low block, fight for position and finish in the paint. He uses his strength and size to carve out space on the boards and to defend in the paint.

Williams drew a lot of interest from college coaches in the summer because of those traits. The willingness to play inside and bring that toughness attracted many programs to take an interest in him. His recruiting has slowed a bit this fall because of injuries, but expect many schools to be checking him ou this season.

“Many colleges didn’t come out this fall because I was injured,” Williamssaid when asked about visits from colleges this fall. “I had a slight fracture in my right shin.”

Still, the list of schools actively recruiting Williams that he is considering is an impressive list with Cincinnati, Indiana, Indiana State, Akron, Kent State, Robert Morris, George Mason, Xavier, West Virginia, Florida State, Central Florida, Ohio, Minnesota, Iowa, Virginia Tech, Northwestern and Northern Illinois all getting a mention from Williams. The list spans many conferences and levels of Division 1-A basketball, a point he noted when he talked about the possibility of playing outside what we currently know as the BCS conferences.

“Kent State by far…made me understand that you dont have to go to a big conference to play top notch basketball,” Williams said.

Williams, who hopes to work on his athleticism this season as he progresses as a player and has a goal of winning a state title at Benedictine, currently has no favorites, but has an impressive offer list to choose from.

“No favorites just yet,” said Williams, “but Indiana, Ohio, Kent State, Robert Morris, George Mason, Central Florida [and] Toledo [have offered].”

When it comes time for a decision, Williams will likely keep it simple, looking at “location and just a family atmosphere” as factors likely to play the biggest role in his decision.

NBE will certainly keep an eye on Mark Williams this season and the developments in his recruitment. The ‘old-school’ Class of 2013 big man will definitely be one to watch in the next year as he becomes more of a priority for college recruiters.

2011 ORLANDO AAU NOTEBOOK (PART I): SELDEN, WILBEKIN, HAYES STANDOUT

By Alex Schwartz

The second July live evaluation period kicked off on Friday and the place to be over the 10-day period looks to be Orlando (FL). With AAU Super Showcases along with AAU National Championships being at the top age groups the action will be heating up like much of the summer weather our nation is currently seeing. In this first notebook, NBE chats with elite 2014 prospect Wayne Selden about his recruitment and covers the play and recruitment of Nigel Hayes, Mitchell Wilbekin while also getting a look at Marial Shayok, Che Bop and Jeremy Miller as well with the younger age groups taking center stage first. Read on below for the details…

Wayne Selden said he has offers from Kentucky, Boston College, Connecticut, West Virginia and Pittsburgh. He has interest from Ohio State, Arizona and Providence. He noted, “A lot more other schools in the Big East, ACC.”
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LEBRON JAMES SKILLS ACADEMY RECRUITING FOCUS: GARY HARRIS & TERRY ROZIER

By Lauren Kirschman

College coaches were allowed at the Lebron James Skills Academy on Thursday for the first time and the turnout was as expected. A who’s who of college coaches were in the stands at the University of Akron’s James A. Rhodes Arena and they were not disappointed as the level of play at the camp has been very high. NBE is finishing up its coverage of the camp this morning and then will be on our way to the next stop on the evaluation trail. After yesterday’s afternoon session we had the opporunity to speak with Gary Harris (’12) and Terry Rozier (’12) as both have been putting in some impressive work this week. Both players have certainly helped their recruiting stock and will likely see an increased level of interest on the trail as they finish out the month and begin to work through the recruiting process.

Rozier lets NBE in on who his leaders are while Harris tells NBE he is continuing to be recruited for football as well as hoops…

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SPIECE RUN ‘N SLAM SCOUTING REPORTS & RECRUITING NOTES

by DOUG FERGUSON

Hanner Parea: F (Indiana Elite)/6-8/200
Committed to Indiana
There is nobody in the Class of 2012 who has the athletic gifts that Parrea does. He has fans holding their breath at what he will do next. It doesn’t show in his numbers at times however due to his lack of fundamentals. His is frequently outrebounded by more fundamentally sound opponents due to lack of boxing out.
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Dejuan Marrero: F (Spiece Indy Heat)/6-5/220
School List: Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Marquette, Michigan, Minnesota
On the exact opposite end of the spectrum is Marrero who was possibly the best technically sound rebounder in the gym. He could stand to have a tad more touch around the basket which is where he should stay offensively.
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Marcus Paige: G (All-Iowa Attack)/6-0/160
Committed to North Carolina
Can’t help but draw comparisons to current Tar Heel point man Kendall Marshall. Paige is a little more athletically gifted than Marshall while he is not quite as crafty with the ball.
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NY2LASPORTS.COM SUMMER JAM: DAY ONE

by RAY MERNAGH

The NY2LA Sports Summer Jam‘s first day was very solid, that is until the finale took it to an elite category.

Antonio Curro might be the best matchmaker since Don King and he filled the day with some mouth-watering contests. But it was one of the final games of the day, Dream Vision (CA) vs Franchize All-Stars (TX) on Court 5 at Homestead High, that brought back memories of the heydays of Sonny V’s ABCD Camp in New Jersey.

The game included several elite talents but in the end it was a kid named Muhammad (Shabazz or just “Bazz” to his teammates) who was crowned the champ — at least for Monday night. The game started out with Franchize jumping to a quick lead behind the scoring of the exquisite 2011 guard D’Angelo Harrison. Harrison had his mojo working and mates like Anthony Norris (a three) and Derail Green (ditto) and Micheal Carey tapped into Harrison’s vibe and rode it all the way until the halftime buzzer. Harrison finished strong through contact on one drive for the and one and then flipped the script and hit a trailing teammate with a sick over the shoulder pass. Carey ended the half for Franchize by finishing a strong drive for a 39-29 Franchize lead.

Franchize kept the lead for the first several minutes of the second half and then Evan Rocqamore, an “old school” guard in the words of Curro, gave Dream Vision a lift with his play from the point guard spot. Rocqamore seemed to realize that for his squad to get back in it they would have to get Shabazz Muhammad some looks…and that’s exactly what they started doing. Shabazz hit a 3 from the corner and while that sounds simple I’m not sure anyone can imagine how gorgeous Muhammad’s J is when he’s got it going. I was sitting right in line with the side of the basket and either saw the ball coming at me or could follow it as Shabazz released it with his back to me (depending on what corner he was releasing from)…and it’s really simply a work of art. Usually I use words like pull or jack to describe three-point shots, but Shabazz Muhammad simply releases his. Right around this same time Winston Shepard, who’d been good the whole game, started imposing his will on D and on the glass and the result was three or four and one’s for the 2012 forward from Vegas. After Anthony Norris and Evan Rocqamore hit back to back jacks (see) Shepard failed to convert one of those and 1′s and the score was 61-60 Franchize.

That’s when all hell broke loose in the forms of Shabazz and Harrison.

Minutes later Muhammad’s release from the corner was true and the game was knotted at 65.

But Harrison, while on a dead sprint and dribbling, pulled up on a dime and nailed an 18-footer and then stole the inbounds pass and scored to make it 69-65 Franchize.

Shabazz…yep you guessed it…corner 3 to cut the lead to one.

Harrison…yep…71-68 Franchize.

‘Bazz, I kid you not, 3 from the corner, 71-71.

Harrison, panting, puts his head down and careens across halfcourt on the bounce but Rocqamore’s D forces a turnover and the result is a Muhammad bucket plus a foul. Muhammad misses the free throw and Dream Vision is up 73-71. After Franchize fails to convert Rocqamore finishes through contact (the slap on his skin was audible at the top of the gym) and Dream Vision goes up 75-71.

Harrison is such a great player that the refs sometimes give him calls that he seels them, and he does just that from behind thae arc sending Rocqamore running and grabbing his head. Harrison makes 2-3 to cut it to 75-73. Franchize is forced to foul Rocqamore, who hits 1-2 but Shepard again is Winston-on-the-spot with a steal. Dream Vision pulls it out again, Rocqamore is fouled and makes both and the game ends 78-73 for Dream Vision.

Incredible game filled with enormous talent, which also captured the attention of head coaches such as Rick Pitino, Lorenzo Romar, Frank Martin and Mark Fox sitting courtside. Shabazz Muhammad finished with 35 while D’Angelo Harrison had 33 for the losers.

Classic game closes out a really good day of basketball. 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 more of our coverage on the top performers from Day One of the NY2LASports.com Summer Jam and recruiting updates from the likes of Perry Ellis, Angelo Chol, Nick Jacobs, Deonte Burton, Shonn Miller, Hayden Hoerdemann and more. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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KING JAMES SUMMER SHOWCASE STANDOUT PLAYERS

RAY MERNAGH

In between the Adidas Invitational in Indianapolis (IN) and the NY2LASports.com Summer Jam just outside of Milwaukee (WI), NBE made a stop at the King James Summer Showcase which was being held in and around Chicago (IL) this past weekend. Most of the top 17-U teams competed at the Fieldhouse is Waukegan (IL) and that is where NBE found a spot to watch the action Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. Below we detail the performances (and update the recruitment) of some of the event’s top players, including Zach Price, JaKarr Sampson, Percy Gibson, Ryan Boatright, Michael Chandler, Nyles Evans, TJ Buchanan, Paxton Strub, Shelby Moats, Jonah Travis and Kendall Griffin.

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 the coverage from Waukegan and the 2010 King James Summer Showcase below. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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ADIDAS INVITATIONAL PLAYER EVALUATIONS & RECRUITING UPDATES (PART B)

by RAY MERNAGH

The Adidas Invitational threatened to turn into the New Heights Invitational — that will happen when a team full of tough, NYC-area ballers takes out a juggernaut full of “high-major” prospects like New Heights did to Indiana Elite/Team Indiana in the quarterfinals early Thursday morning. New Heights then repeated the performance in the semifinals, where it fought back from a double digit deficit to defeat the New England Playaz. Alas, the run ended in the final when New Heights lost to the LeBryan Nash-led Dallas Mustangs 69-58. It was an impressive run by a New Heights squad not expected to challenge for the title this week and plenty of college coaches were here to witness it.

Earlier in our Adidas Invitational Day One Standouts article we went into (long) detail on the impressive performance of Shabazz Muhammad, who was the talk of the event Tuesday and plenty of top coaches were watching his EVERY move, as well as our thoughts and updates on Wannah Bail, Cody Zeller, Gabe York, recent UC-verbal Ge-Lawn Guyn and more that stood out on Tuesday and in Part A of the Final Adidas Invitational Player Evals & Recruiting Notes the past two days (wed/Thurs) of action we looked at Winston Shepard, Lebryan Nash, Jermaine Sanders, Jeremiah Davis, Kenny Kaminsky and more…

To wrap up our coverage we spend time this afternoon taking a look at some new faces to NBE, like Dylan Ennis, BJ Van Loo and some familiar ones like Naadir Tharpe, Alex Murphy and some additional looks of the players of the Dallas Mustangs and New Heights as those teams went all the way to the ‘chip. Also a note or two on favorites like Quincy Miller and Yogi Ferrell can be found as well.

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 Indianapolis and the Adidas Invitational. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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ALL-OHIO RED BACKCOURT GETTING HIGH MAJOR ATTENTION

Trey Burke and Stevie Taylor are seeing plenty of college recruiting attention

by RAY MERNAGH

Stevie Taylor is a pure point guard out of Lincoln High School in Gahanna (OH) who has played AAU for All-Ohio Red this spring. He will run a team with precision and share the ball while hitting deep three’s and runners off the bounce. Taylor can play at any level because his instinct for the game combined with his craftiness and speed is a rare mix for a point guard so young in the class of 2011.

Entering the spring AAU circuit it looked like local MAC schools such as Ohio and Akron had the inside edge of his recruitment, but as word of his strong spring on the court has spread and another 2011 PG has backed out of a commitment with one of his early suitors, Taylor has been seeing more attention of late.

All-Ohio Red is the defending champs of just about everything on the AAU circuit and Trey Burke told NBE they were playing with a chip on their shoulder this season. With a fraction of the expectations of last year, All-Ohio Red came to the wire in many close games during the Nike EYBL’s three legs this spring. Crunch time could have been known as ‘Burke time’ in Los Angeles as the 6-foot-1 guard out of Columbus (OH) Northland came through on multiple occasions down the stretch taking his team from middle of the pack to a Peach Jam berth. Burke told NBE in April he was open to new suitors and has since backed off his commitment from Penn State and new schools are calling and interested…

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 on Taylor and Burke as the interest in both is heating up with a variety of schools, as well as any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage.

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