Cleveland State Recruiting

THE HOOP GROUP’S PITTSBURGH JAMFEST: DAY THREE

By Brian Batko

The Hoop Group’s Pittsburgh Jam Fest came to a close Sunday with some very intense semifinals and championship games. Many of the usual suspects who had been playing well all weekend continued to do so on Sunday but one squad of 2014 players in particular stepped its game up an extra notch and NBE has the rundown.

Caleb Martin and Cody Martin (Team Loaded NC 16U, 2014, Davie) – Even more so than the Harrison brothers in the grade above them, these two 6’6” wings have extremely similar bodies and games. In fact, at this point in their development, they play almost exactly alike. They’re both fairly slender but appear to have the frame to really add strength and muscle. In leading Team Loaded (NC) to the 16U championship on Sunday, the two uber-talented North Carolina natives showed off a nice mix of skill and athleticism and played very well off of each other. Both are good passers that like to work in the high post and on the wing slashing to the basket. They also attack the glass and are active on defense. Their jump shots are decent right now but could certainly improve. In a competitive quarterfinal game against a solid Team Work (OH) squad in the morning on Sunday, Cody finished with 14 points, a handful of rebounds, and a couple of steals while Caleb put up 19 points including a couple of threes and several boards as well.

Also like the Harrisons, Caleb and Cody are 100 percent a package deal as far as their recruitment goes. Still early for the rising juniors, they already have offers from North Carolina State, Wake Forest, and Virginia Tech and are hearing from the likes of North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Xavier, Clemson, Kansas, and Georgetown. Both said they can see themselves in the ACC but that they’d like to wait and take as much time as they can before making their decision.

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2012 NATIONAL PREP SCHOOL INVITATIONAL — DAY TWO

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By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst

The second day of the National Prep School Invitational featured nine games with tips starting bright and early at 9 AM. Things started off a bit slowly with the first couple of early morning games featuring sluggish, turnover prone play. Then at 1:30 PM everything changed when Notre Dame Prep took the floor against Canarias Basketball Academy. That’s when a 7 foot monster put his stamp on this tournament and in doing so earned top billing for the day from me.

Top Performer of the Day:

Steven Adams (Notre Dame Prep 2012) – committed to Pittsburgh – Adams was great in his team’s game on Thursday and nearly earned the top spot in my recap. He was noticeably better on Friday. Adams is a massive human being standing 7 foot, 240 pounds. Unlike most people his size though; he is an excellent athlete showing lateral quickness and powerful burst off the floor. Every time he got within five feet of the rim on Friday the back board was in jeopardy of being torn down. Adams dunks with such power whether he has time to set himself or has to go up quickly on an offensive rebound. The scary thing about the big kiwi is that he’s only scratching the surface of his massive potential. He still doesn’t understand the consistent aggression and energy that he can play with and the impact it will have on his game. Adams shows it in flashes and has incredible success every time he does but once a coach makes him realize that’s needed every play his impact will be off the charts. I don’t think I’m overstating it when I say that Steven Adams belongs in the discussion with the newly re-classified Nerlens Noel and Shabazz Muhammad for top player in the 2012 class.
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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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RECRUITING NOTEBOOK: ELITE PROGRAMS REACHING OUT TO 2013 PROSPECTS

The live July evaluation period is right around the corner. Once again NBE will be out in full force during both 10-day recruiting periods, stretching from East to West and North and South to keep up with all the recruiting information. It is always a fun process to see what college coaches are out on the recruiting trail and who they are watching.

In the meantime, the phones of top prospects in the Class fo 2013 have been ringing off the hook as colleges are permitted to contact a recruit once a month on the phone or via email. June 15th was the first day contact was allowed and programs wasted little time reaching out to prospects.

“Santa Clara called me at 12:00 on the dot,” said Tyler Ennis. “Oregon State, Santa Clara and Iowa State all did.”

Ennis is a 6-foot-3, 178-pound guard who plays on the AAU spring and summer circuit with CIA Bounce out of Canada. He attended St. Benedict’s in Newark (NJ) last season and has had a busy early summer season with trips to LA for the Pangos Camp and to the University of Virginia campus for the recent NBA Top 100 Camp. His play has drawn very good reviews and it shows in the latest list of schools that have been in contact since the 15th.
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CHICAGO BEST BUY CLASSIC SCOUTING REPORTS/SCHOOL LISTS

By Doug Ferguson

Last weekend the Joy of the Game facility in Deerfield (IL) hosted the Best Buy Chicago Classic. The 17U crown went to Terry Porter Elite and their 2013 stud Deonta Burton led the charge. NBE will have more on Burton this weekend. For today, Doug Ferguson takes a look at some of the stand out performers, including some visitors from Texas as the Texas PRO and Houston Hoopsters were must-see teams. Indiana Elite, TP Elite and others also showed well at the event…

Isaiah Austin/C/7-1/215/Texas PRO
School List: Committed to Baylor

It is hard to be at any event and where all eyes aren’t on Austin. His size/skill/athleticism combination is truly one of a kind. At one point in this event he had three possessions in a row that resulted in dunk, three-pointer, dunk (and the next possession was an assist). He runs the floor at an elite level for a seven footer and as most would guess is a world class shot blocker. There isn’t much Austin doesn’t do well and he is a seven footer to boot which makes it easy to see why many rank him number one in his class.
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Marlon Johnson/F/6-9/220/Illinois T-Wolves
School List: Unknown
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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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BATTLE OF THE BORDERS SHOWCASE RECAP – HOST GATEWAY GETS PAST AKRON POWER

by RAY MERNAGH

The final game of the event was an exciting one featuring arguably the best team in the Pittsburgh area in Gateway against Akron’s St. Vincent/St. Mary’s (I think there was a guy that took his talents there with three buddies a few years back). The remaining remnant of those glory days at St. V is the head coach Dru Joyce, who replaced Keith Dambrot when the former St. V head man moved back into college coaching at Akron as an assistant to Dan Hipsher.

Dambrot eventually became the head coach at Akron and is doing one of the best, if least talked about jobs in D-1 basketball. Former assistants of his are now currently inhabiting the head chair at VCU (Shaka Smart), and assistant positions at Ohio State (Jeff Boals) and Wisconsin (Lamont Paris).

Yes, a MAC coach has his own coaching “tree” as crazy as it sounds. And that tree would never have grown if the small Catholic school in his hometown hadn’t given him a shot at coaching again. Crazy how things work out right? Anyway, Dru Joyce is still the head man at St. V and also runs the King James AAU outfit. He lost his best player late in the summer when 5-star forward Jakarr Sampson enrolled at Brewster Prep in New Hampshire. Joyce has a lot to say about the kid’s decision at the time and in retrospect it’s difficult to see a way in what he said helped him or his program.

But hey, give the guy credit for speaking his mind I guess (and Chris Mack and Sampson’s mother for answering back pretty convincingly — some fascinating stuff).

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 membership to read more on Gateway and St. Vincent/St. Mary’s as several D-I prospects took the floor. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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BATTLE OF THE BORDERS SHOWCASE – HUNTINGTON PREP ROLLS PAST COOLIDGE

by RAY MERNAGH

This one was in doubt for about literally 45 seconds or so.

Huntington’s talent, led and orchestrated on the floor by their terrific point guard Charles Lee, swarmed Coolidge from the jump.

Negus Webster-Chan got to the rim in transition, hit a three and then caught an oop back-to-back-to-back. By the time Coolidge coach Vaughn Jones (ex-DeMatha star) got a chance to try and slow things down with a timeout it was 17-0 with barely 3 minutes gone.

And Coolidge is a decent team. They had some players, one in particular that kind of “popped” to me, but Huntington is just too deep and talented for most teams at the HS level. And the Express also get coached, which was the best thing about sitting next to head man Rob Fulford and his staff courtside. They stay on their kids every possession no matter what the score is — taking them to task when they stray from their core principles both defensively and offensively. It’s also done with a great deal of what I like to call “coach humor” — which can be described as things coaches say that would make you laugh pretty hard if you ever had the chance to hear them.

Examples: Sim Bhullar, the 7’4 junior center who recently transferred to Huntington from Kiski, watching as a guard penetrated the lane and scored on an easy layup. “Get Sim,” Fulford told a kid on his bench. As he was coming off the floor Fulford pointed to the first seat on the bench and told Bhullar to sit in it.

“How tall are you?” he asked Bhullar.

“Seven-four,” the kid responded.

“Why are you out of the game?” asked Fulford.

“I didn’t contest the shot,” said Bhullar.

“Do I need to say anything else?,” said Fulford, “contest shots!”

Bhullar went back in shortly thereafter and…contested shots!

Another highly regarded player came in, didn’t run the play that was called and then had a mental breakdown on defense. Fulford calmly called him over and said in a discussion-tone of voice “I’m trying real hard to find a reason to keep you on the floor but you keep doing things that are gonna have you sitting next to me, you got to give me a reason to play you out here.”

Jeremiah Davis, a highly-regarded guard out of Indiana who’s headed for Cincinnati, had some breakdowns as well and Fulford subbed him out. “I can’t play you if you’re gonna do that JD.” Davis went back in and stayed on task.

Stefan Jankovic, the 6’10 junior with enormous skills, got more than a few reminders to run the floor and also to get where he needed to be. Those are just afew examples.

Even Maurice Aniefiok, the strong physical senior guard, didn’t run at one point when Webster-Chan had a breakaway. Webster-Chan ended up losing the ball as he went up and it bounced off the rim. A Coolidge player ended up getting the ball after it came off. “That’s why you run Maurice! Come on man! That will kill us in a close game!” Fulford reiterated his message when Aniefiok came out of the game. “You know better than that man, you have to run.” Aniefok nodded his head.

Huntington won handily but Coolidge competed throughout.

Scouting reports are below and also look for at least three premium updates in the near future — today or tomorrow — on Jankovic, Webster-Chan and others from the event with new schools that are involved and how their recruiting process is progressing.

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 membership to read more from the Huntington/Coolidge match-up as many high-major recruits hit the floor. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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ORLANDO AAU UPDATE: PART IV

Tuesday in Orlando has the 17-U AAU National Championship pool play tip-off as well as the 17-U Super Showcase championship being settled in the Gold Bracket this evening between Each 1 Teach 1 and St. Louis Eagles. The Silver Bracket laso had their semifinals this morning with championship game slated for a little later on.

Yesterday was the Austin Rivers show as the local standout reminded all that might have forgotten, or simply did not know, that Rivers is G-O-O-D. Alex Schwartz had a very short player eval on Rivers’ semifinal performance yesterday: WOW. ‘Nuff said.

Alex Schwartz again checks in from Orlando and 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 Orlando as he runs down additional impressive performances from Monday by Chris Walker, James Robinson, Steve Mondu-Missi and Matt Costello with the latest on the recruiting front on Costello and Julian Royal, all of which is covered below in detail. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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ORLANDO AAU UPDATE: PART II

While Ray Mernagh has an early wake-up call and a long day of travel tomorrow to reach sunny Orlando for the end of the 17-U AAU Showcase and the Nationals to follow, Alex Schwartz continues to keep us up to date in the meantime.

With the 17-U Super Showcase getting in full swing Saturday, some more familiar names are in this update. Recruiting updates are found on elite 2011 PF/C Johnny O’Bryant who has a final list of nine schools under consideration, 2011 PG Angel Rodriguez has some impressive offers and a leader out of the Big 12 while productive PF George Fant updates his growing list of schools today. 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 Orlando as we also run down the performances of Nick Faust, Trey Burke, Julian Royal, Jacob Lawson and O’Bryant as well. All of which is covered below in detail. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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NIKE EYBL PEACH JAM: DAY TWO

BY JEFF BORZELLO

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. – The finals of the inaugural NIKE Elite Youth Basketball League at the NIKE Peach Jam continued on Tuesday, as the 24 teams battled to finish in the top two spots in each group, which are the only places to advance. By the end of the day, only two teams – Team Takeover DC and the Oakland Soldiers – were undefeated, but plenty of clubs were still in contention for a playoff berth. Surprisingly, the regular-season champs, the NJ Playaz, were only 2-2 through two days and are unlikely to advance. Howard Pulley and Each One Teach One, also pool winners, are both 1-3. The heated competition to finish in the top two led to a great day two of action.

There are evals of players such as Mikael Hopkins, Amir Williams, Kyle Anderson, Anthony Davis, George Fant, AJ Hammons, Jevon Thomas and more along with recruiting updates from Trey Burke, who lists a top three, Jarnell Stokes, James Robinson, Justin Anderson, Jerami Grant, Kevin Johnson, who has two leaders, and many, many more from Day Two of the Nike EYBL championship pool play.

Related article: Nike EYBL Peach Jam: Day One

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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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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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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NEW JERSEY GUARD PICKS CLEVELAND STATE

Gary Waters secures a late addition from DePaul Catholic guard Wally Sajimi

Wally Sajimi, a point guard who attended DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne (NJ) committed to Gary Waters and Cleveland State. Sajimi averaged 11.7 points and 8.4 assists a game in his senior season, despite playing with a partially torn rotator cuff, according to coach Bart Fazio.

Sajimi, a native of Teaneck (NJ) was attracted to the Cleveland State program because of the tough schedule they are always willing to tackle and the nationaly visibility they receive. Coach Waters’ feel for the point guard spot and his enthusuasm when he was recruiting Sajimi.

Schools such as Liberty, Ohio, Northeastern, as well as Providence and Cincinnati, showed interest in Sajimi during the recruiting process.

On the AAU circuit, Sajimi had played with Team Kobe (PA), Pittsburgh Storm and the Metro Hawks at various stages.

– Zach Smart contributed to this report

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