Wisconsin-Milwaukee Recruiting

Mernagh: View from the Horizon/Semi’s Set

Detroit Ices Penguins
A lot of folks thought Detroit would be the team to beat in the Horizon League coming into this season. Injuries, coaching, and depth have, at times, stopped the Motown ballers from living up to their potential in the regular campaign but hey, it’s all about the post-season baybay — I changed the spelling because I want you to pronounce it that way, it’s kind of a play on words and a kind of non-shoutout to that announcer that used to coach the Titans — and this group may have righted the ship just in time. 20-13 ain’t too shabby, just not good enough for the talent on this team in this writer’s opinion, of course when you have a beast like Eli Holman and refuse to play through him, well….that’s all for another time I guess.

Detroit made shots in this one and it’s really that simple. The Titans shot 60% and then made a lot of noise postgame about sending a message to Cleveland State with their performance, especially Ray McCallum Jr. The Vikings were watching the game and they will face the Titans today in one semifinal. Like I said, the Titans are talented and maybe they’ve turned it around. They beat Jerry Slocum’s team 93-76. We’ll see how they fare against Gary Waters and Crew.

Butler Pounds Milwaukee

71-49 was the score as, guess who, Butler is back in the semifinals hoping to upset league champ Valpo on the Crusaders floor later Saturday. Khyle Marshall had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Butler lost 71-59 last week to Valpo and Brad Stevens was channeling his inner-Jim Calhoun by addressing the fact that Valpo is a very physical team. “Nobody talks about this, but they’re really physical,” Stevens said. “They grab you, they get you, they hit you. They’re tough.” Bryce Drew has to love that!

Should be a great pair of games this evening.

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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