Cincinnati Recruiting, DePaul Recruiting, Georgetown Recruiting, Louisville Recruiting, Notre Dame Recruiting, Pittsburgh Recruiting, St. John's Recruiting, West Virginia Recruiting

BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (9/24/2007)

September 24, 2007

Too many recruit updates to list them all individually, but there is something about every school in the conference, except Providence. I am not sure if Providence recruits in the fall anymore, maybe they just recruit in the spring…hmmm….

Anyway, CSTV takes a look at lists of all the avaialable talent by position and the usual suspects like Zagsblog and others also update some recruiting happenings around the conference.

Also, team previews galore as more and more sites are rolling out their 2007-2008 previews. In case you missed it, over the weekend we prviewed 15) Rutgers and 14) St. John’s at their respective team sites. Those previews joined 16) South Florida from the weekend before.

Also, Louisville’s frontcourt depth takes a slight hit as Clarence Holloway will have to wait another year to begin his college career due to a health issue. Notre Dame got in some work this Saturday and a review is available. Speaking of the Irish, is the time finally right for them to join a conference?

You can read these stories and more, by clicking READ MORE below!

Click on ‘Read More’ below to view the rest of the article.

The Louisville frontcourt will lose some of its depth this season as 7’1 frosh Clarence Holloway will miss the season. Holloway, a 7-1 center who made prep stops at Chicago Harlan, IMG in Florida and Boys to Men Academy in Chicago, will Miss the Season Following Heart Surgery (Chicago Hoops). Defects with his aorta, and his aortic valve were discovered during a physical examination last week. Holloway originally signed with Louisville out of Harlan, but academics forced him to prep an additional two seasons. At least report, Holloway was still waiting full clearance from the NCAA Clearinghouse. He is expected to make a full recovery according to ChicagoHoops.com.
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Van Coleman at CSTV.com takes a look at the top players available as we head towards the early signing period for college basketball. He breaks it down in three segments: Backcourt Players, Forwards & Centers. We have cherry picked the Big East-related items from the three stories below:

Greg Monroe : Duke was in the 9th, and that Florida is scheduled to wrap up his home visits on the 22nd. In between LSU, Kansas, Texas, USC, Kentucky, Louisville and Georgetown were expected for home visits. Next up, deciding on which five will get official visits.

John Riek-Suas: Has enrolled at Winchendon, MA School for a post graduate year which now means he’s eligible for the NBA draft next spring which won’t bode well for those who had shown interest this summer. He told CSTV.com this summer that Arizona, UConn, Georgetown, St. John’s, UNC, DePaul, Duke, Pitt, Florida, Ohio State, and Kentucky had all been showing interest.

Tyler Zeller: Was on the North Carolina campus last weekend and he will trek to Indiana over the weekend of the 21st, then head to Notre Dame on October 12th, with his final visit scheduled to Purdue on October 19th. He will then sit down with his family and make his decision.

Eloy Vargas: He has taken a number of un-official visits the latest to Florida over Labor Day, the Gators join Miami (FL), Clemson, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Virginia on his current list of possible college choices.

Terrence Jennings: Had originally committed to Maryland, but just last week decided to open his recruiting up. He has said that the Terrapins will still be one of the schools he is considering along with Kentucky, Louisville, West Virginia, California, and Oklahoma State. He hasn’t set up any timetable for visits to date.

J’Mison Morgan: Has been on the move recently heading to LSU over Labor Day, then Kansas last weekend and is headed to UCLA this weekend. He is considering Alabama, Baylor, Kentucky, and Louisville as possibilities for future visits.

Xavier Gibson: Has been recovering from a bad wrist injury over the summer. Alabama, Florida, Florida St, UNC, Georgia Tech, Cincinnati, Kansas, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia are all among the schools involved.

Chris Singleton: Really blew up this summer displaying great perimeter skills for his size. He currently has scheduled a visit to Tennessee on October 6. He’s looking at Florida State, LSU, Georgetown, UNC, South Carolina, and Kentucky as other possible campuses to visit next month.

Olek Czyz: Has really become a hot commodity this summer. He’s an explosive athlete with intriguing skills. He visited Duke last week, and is going to be on the Louisville campus this weekend. He reportedly will make his decision between those two schools next week. More on Czyz below in this update.

Marcus Morris: He and his twin brother Markieff were originally committed to Memphis, but recently decided to re-open their recruiting. The first schools mentioned by the twins include Kansas, Rutgers, St. John’s, Villanova, West Virginia, and LaSalle.

Matt Simpkins: Has already scheduled visits in the coming month to Washington and Connecticut. He says Washington has a slight edge going into visits. He is also considering potential trips to California, Florida, and USC.

Steve Tchiengang: Moved from Texas to Montverde, FL Academy this fall. Now that he’s settled in at Monteverde he has started visits. He was on the Vanderbilt campus last week, and is heading to Notre Dame this weekend. He has scheduled visits to Baylor October 2, then to Oklahoma October 19. He would like to see Georgia Tech as well so stay tuned.

Kevin Jones: Going to be on the Ohio State campus this weekend. He was at Rutgers a week ago and already met with Louisville, and has home visits scheduled with Syracuse, Marquette, Massachusetts, West Virginia, South Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Seton Hall, and St. John’s. More on Jones’ visit to Ohio State below and his upcomign visit plans.

Terrelle Pryor: This is the No. 1 player in the class for football (Top 100 Class of 2008 Football), but he says he’d like to play both in college. He recently listed a dozen schools that he’s considering with the option to play both sports in college: Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Penn State, Alabama, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Michigan State, Texas, USC.

Mookie Jones: Really blew up in the second half of July. He is skilled and an athletic scorer who has scheduled home visits with Syracuse, DePaul, Rutgers, Marquette, Michigan, Louisville, St. John’s, and West Virginia. He visited Rutgers unofficially two weeks ago, and has a campus visit scheduled in November to Syracuse.

Renaldo Woolridge: Has had some big moments this summer. No doubt he has tools to be a big scorer in college. He will be on the USC campus this weekend for an unofficial visit. He has scheduled official visits to Tennessee October 6, then he’ll trip to Georgetown on October 13. He is also considering visits to Marquette, Miami (FL), Illinois, and USC.

Murphy Holloway: Really seeing his recruiting pick up lately. He’s had home visits from Clemson, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisville, Tennessee, Miami (FL), and Florida. He will start taking campus visits once home visits are done and he and his family can sit down and decide which schools look like they fit him the best. More on his recruitment below, which includes mention of a couple close friends and a narrower focus of schools.

Wesley Witherspoon: An explosive scorer off the dribble or with the mid-range jumper. He has taken a visit to LSU earlier this month. He has had home visits from Kansas State, George Washington, and Kansas recently. He has interest from Illinois, Memphis, North Carolina, Connecticut, and Florida State. He may wait until spring to make his decision.

Tyreke Evans: Been pushing for the top spot nationally this summer. He took an unofficial visit to Connecticut last week, and will visit Louisville and Texas in October. He’s been to Villanova a number of times and would like to visit Memphis before the November signing period, but hasn’t scheduled anything yet. Will he sign early or wait until spring?

Willie Warren: Transferred to Mouth of Wilson, VA Oak Hill Academy this fall. This sweet shooting, versatile guard hasn’t reduced his list yet and had home visits scheduled with Oklahoma, Kentucky, Kansas, Texas, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Marquette. There is more on Warren below that included, reportedly, a final lost of four schools.

Sylven Landesberg: Has excellent size and the tools to be a scorer in college. He visited St. John’s back on September 8 after visiting both Virginia and Texas during the month of August. He trekked to Georgia Tech last weekend. He may be done with visits, unless he decides to look at Kentucky once his home visits end this weekend. He has a press conference set for this Thursday.

Iman Shumpert: Really blew up this spring and summer. He intrigues with his length and athleticism. He’s down to three and visited North Carolina last week, will take a trip to Georgia Tech September 29, and then Marquette October 12 before making his college choice.

Verdell Jones: Has size and length that intrigues majors. He is a little on the thin side, but still has them calling. He has tentatively scheduled a visit to Kentucky for October 12. He is hearing from Kansas, Gonzaga, Connecticut, Texas, Oregon, Illinois, Virginia and Minnesota.
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Late last week, Jody Demling of the Louisville Courier-Journal gave his recruiting blog readers A Basketball Fix which gave some Big East-relative information, including that Willie Warren has narrowed his college list to four schools: Oklahoma, Kansas, Connecticut and Cincinnati. Also, Richard Pitino was in Irmo, S.C., last week visiting Dutch Fork High standout Murphy Holloway. The 6’7 Holloway is friends with U of L commitment Samardo Samuels and target Tyreke Evans and currently has Louisville, Clemson and Florida are his leaders. Demling also led of the update with news on Olek Czyz‘s time table (next two weeks) to decide between Duke and Louiville.

One of the top players in the class of 2009, Indianapolis (Ind.) Lawrence North standout Stephan VanTreese, has trimmed his list of schools to the following: Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Kentucky, UCLA, Florida, Louisville, Wisconsin, Michigan State, North Carolina, Kansas and Wake Forest.
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No recruiting-heavy blog update at the Big East Report would be complete without a link to Zagsblog. I am sure most readers have already bookmarked Adam Zagoria’s blog by now, but in case you haven’t, he has a review of Kevin Jones’ visit to Ohio State as Jones Rates His Visit to OSU Highly and now has official visits are planned to Indiana (Oct. 12) and then likely UMass and West Virginia and will decide on a 5th later. Hopefully, according to older brother Gerard, a decision can be made in time for the November signing period.

Brian Oliver, the 6’6 junior swingman from Bear, Del., who plays for the Playaz Basketball Club, also has been a popular player this fall for Big East coaches to visit, according to Zagoria. West Virginia, Miami, Notre Dame and Georgetown have already been by William Penn and Georgia Tech will be in Monday and Jamie Dixon of Pittsburgh will follow soon afterwards.

After a strong visit to Rutgers the weekend before, the Scarlet Knights were hoping Quintrell Thomas would opt to stay close to home to play college basketball. This past weekend, the 6’8 St. Patrick power forward Thomas Enjoyed a Visit to Maryland (zagsblog) who he has strongly considered for a long time. It was his third time down to Maryland and a decision should be coming in the near future from Thomas.
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Birmingham (MI) Country Day junior center DaShonte’ Riley is one of the top prospects in the Class of 2009 and the 6’10”, 220 pound Michigan Big Man has a Favorite (i95ballerz.com) since growing up as a fan of college basketball:

“I grew up a big Hoya fan and I plan to visit them for their Midnight Madness in October”, shared Riley.

Georgetown, Michigan State, Michigan, Kansas, Memphis and Ohio State are all checking on his continued progress.
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Michael Rothstein of the Journal Gazette updates his Irish Insights blog with Men’s Basketball Practice Observations from this past weekend. Forward Steve Tchiengang from Monteverde, Fla. was one recruit taking in the action this weekend at Notre Dame.

Rothstein believes this year’s Irish team will be Tory jackson’s squad as he is the soul of the club. His backcourt mate Kyle McAlarney also looked good and Luke Harangody is diversyfing his game.
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CollegeHoopsNet.com continues their look at the 2007-2008 college hoops season with a preview of Pittsburgh at #58 in their preview of the Top 144 Teams in 144 Days.

Previously they have previewed:

#61 West Virginia
#65 Providence Friars
#92 Seton Hall
#99 Cincinnati
#107 DePaul
#131 St. John’s

It is safe to assume that CHN’s #15 and #16 teams in the Big East South Florida and Rutgers. Neither made it into their Top 144.
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Brendon Desrochers of SNY.tv.com continues his preseason look at the teams of the Big East. Recently he has profiled Notre Dame who he places 10th in his preview and West Virginia who he pegs at #9 heading into the season.

Desrochers also jumps out of order to preview Pittsburgh who he originally pegged as #5 but now looks uncertain on Pitt with Levance Fields’ future in the air. Most information we have is that it is expected that the charges will be downgraded against Fields, but Pittsburgh is still mum on his status. He was scheduled to be in court today, however, the Pitt Basketball Player’s Court Date Has been Postponed (Tribune Review) until October 2nd.

16: South Florida
15: Rutgers
14: St. John’s
13: Cincinnati
12: DePaul
11: Seton Hall

Pretty good job so far with the previews.
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CollegeHoopsUpdate.com also has their 2007-2008 Big East Basketball Preview complete with a projected order of finish and all-league and all-freshman teams.
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Every year that Notre Dame football struggles, which seems to be more of a common occurence these days, the media covering the Irish come calling for them to forget tradition and join a conference. Brian Hedger of the Gary Post-Tribune says it is Time for Notre Dame to Consider a Big Change and makes reasonable arguments on why they should. In fact, it almosts makes perfect sense and it is likely that the Big East would allow certain concessions to the Irish if they would think about this sooner, rather than later…

If the Irish continue to wait, their leverage could shrink with their mystique on the gridiron.
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