Dartmouth Recruiting

2012 NATIONAL PREP SCHOOL INVITATIONAL — DAY FOUR

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By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst

The first three days of the National Prep School Invitational were dominated by Steven Adams and his Notre Dame Prep squad. The 2012 big man from New Zealand erased any concerns after his foul-plagued showing at the Hoop Hall Classic and cemented his status as one of 2012’s top players. On Sunday it was time for another 2012 big man to steal the show and make his case for the #1 overall ranking in the senior class. With the gym buzzing and filled to a capacity that it saw at no other time all weekend the Tilton School and REDA (Ontario) took the floor at 1:30 PM. Nerlens Noel jumped center for the Tilton School sporting his trademark bright pink Nikes and his high top fade and put on the best show of the weekend.

Top Performance of the Day:

Nerlens Noel (Tilton 2012) – This was Noel’s first national appearance since announcing his intentions to graduate this year as a member of the 2012 class early Thursday morning. Providence fans packed the gym to see him as they made the cut of his seven final schools along with Kentucky, Syracuse, Connecticut, Florida, Georgetown and North Carolina. Dominance doesn’t even begin to describe the defensive effort put forth by Noel as he tallied 10 blocks to go along with countless more altered shots. It reached a point where REDA coaches could be heard screaming at their players who even attempted to challenge the big man as a shot in the lane against Noel was basically a turnover. Perhaps the most telling statistic of his dominance was on the scoreboard. Noel played the majority of the game’s first 29 minutes at which point REDA had only scored 19 points. At that time Nerlens went to the bench in a blowout victory and in the remaining 11 minutes REDA was able to put up 29 points. His defensive prowess is certainly nothing new but Sunday’s was a particularly stunning performance even by his high standards. Offensively Noel looked better than ever and as crazy as it sounds was literally playing point guard for his Tilton team during the 2nd half. He brought the ball up the floor every time and got his team into their offense sometimes breaking his man down off the dribble and other times running a play for someone else. I’m not suggesting that Noel is making a drastic position change but it was an indicator of how far along his ball handling and passing skills have come in the last year. Once only a defensive standout, Noel’s offense is catching up seemingly by the day.
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CRC CLASSIC GAME RECAP – GAME OF THE DAY (MATER DEI – GILL ST. BERNARD’S)

By Ray Mernagh

Gill St. Bernard’s 76, Mater Dei 73 OT

There were supposed to be a lot of stars on the floor in this one.

Mater Dei was ranked #8 in the country coming into the game by whomever thinks they’re qualified to rank high school teams nationally (not really sure how it’s possible with the volume of teams etc but whatever) while Gill St. Bernard’s was kind of licking their wounds from a 2-2 trip to the City of Palms (which was so excellently covered by my guy Brian Bosworth).

Well, the biggest star in this game was a big man by the name of Dominic Hoffman who will soon become a nightmare for all the coaches in the Patriot League once he arrives at Bucknell in late summer. The game was the best of the day and it really wasn’t close — Mergen Sina from St. Bernard’s coached the hell out of his team and they responded by playing harder and smarter than Mater Dei and ultimately being rewarded with a much deserved W in overtime.

Dominic Hoffman 2012 6’7 Center (Bucknell)
Hoffman might be 6’7″ but he plays 6’10″. High energy player with a motor to match. Crashes offensive boards. Runs rim-to-rim. Blocks a lot of shots with his timing and long arms. Hits 18 footer. Has post moves and counter post moves that he uses to score consistently down low. Excellent in the two man game with either Jaren Sina or Alex Mitola all night. Would Not Let His Team Lose! Finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks. Outstanding performance of the day (along with Kris Jenkins).

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CITY OF PALMS – DAY FIVE

By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst

The 2011 City of Palms Classic came to a close on Wednesday night with a wild day of hoops culminating in an all Texas title game between Prestonwood Christian and Grace Prep. Local fans, scouts, and college coaches packed the gym to the rafters and created a high intensity atmosphere for these young players. Even legendary ESPN analyst Dick Vitale stopped by to enjoy the action offering a few words to the crowd before the championship game. Prestonwood Christian turned the final into a laugher prevailing 62-42 with stud junior forward Julius Randle taking home MVP honors. While Randle led the team throughout the week, it was a freshman who carried Prestonwood on his back tonight while the big man sat for much of the game in foul trouble.

Top Performance of the Day:

Mickey Mitchell (Prestonwood Christian 2015) – After viewing Mitchell for 4 games this week I feel very comfortable saying that he is in the running for top player nationally in the 2015 class. Offensively, Mitchell does a bit of everything as a 6’7” guard including making jumpers, exploding to the rim, making high level passes, and crashing the glass. While all this is very impressive, it was Mitchell’s defensive ability that left the biggest mark. Over the course of 3 days he defended 5 star wing Shabazz Muhammad, 4 star big man Ricardo Gathers, and 5 star point guard Emmanuel Mudiay. It speaks volumes that Prestonwood’s coaching staff chose to use their freshman as the defensive stopper against this wide array of players. As long as Mitchell continues to work hard (which is basically all he talked about in a post game interview) the sky is the limit.
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HOOP GROUP SUMMER CLASSIC RECRUITING NOTES

Matt Whitfield headed down to the Hoop Group Summer Classic on Sunday at The Hoop Group headquarters in Neptune (NJ) for some ‘live’ period basketball action. He was joined by head coaches such as Mike Rice, Kevin Willard, Steve Lavin, Fran Dunphy and many more high-profile assistant coaches checking out the action yesterday.

Below Matt runs down some of the key recruiting stories from the event, including listing coaches seen watching Durand Johnson and Cecil Kirk, Ryan Arcidiacono and the PA Playaz 2012, the NY Panthers as well as some individual updates from Jordan Allen, Davontay Grace, Savon Goodman, Jared Sina, Dom Hoffman, Blaise Mbargorba, Jabarie Hinds, Chris Martin, Jamir Hanner 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 Hoop Group’s Summer Classic. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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ROBINSON SCHOOL ROUNDING OUT TALENTED ROSTER

New prep school in New Jersey will have plenty of high-major prospects next year

by JEFF BORZELLO

Although The Robinson School is still a new entry into the prep scene, head coach and founder Vincent Robinson continues to make an impact with his personnel.

Last Thursday, Robinson picked up high-major prospect Jakari McCallop and former Boston College and Fordham commit Danny Lawhorn. On Wednesday, he garnered commitments from athletic guard Mike John and former Dartmouth commit Kyle Aiken.

Robinson is confident in his ability to get The Robinson School to compete with the top prep schools in the country within a few months.

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 Vincent Robinson’s new venture as the Robinson School rounds out their roster with plenty of players getting high-major college attention, as well as any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage.

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