EVENTS
Sportsman of the Year
Heisman Trophy
Swimsuit 2001
CENTERS
Fantasy Central
Inside Game
Video Plus
Statitudes
Your Turn
Message Boards
Email Newsletters
Golf Guide
Cities
CNNSI.com GROUP
Sports Illustrated
Life of Reilly
SI Women
SI for Kids
Press Room
TBS/TNT Sports
CNN Languages
COMMERCE
SI Customer Service
SI Media Kits
Get into College
Sports Memorabilia
TeamStore
|  |
Youngsters shine at underclass camp
Posted: Wednesday June 27, 2001 4:54 PM
While the month of June contains important events such as USA Basketball's Youth
Development Festival in Colorado Springs (where 6-6 rising junior small forward
LeBron James of the title-winning North squad and St. Vincent-St. Mary
High in Akron, Ohio, dominated play with a record 120 points in five games), the
Nike Hoop Jamboree in St. Louis and the NBA Players' Association Camp in
Washington, D.C., the biggest camps and tournaments attended by college coaches
are held in July. Among the featured events next month are the Nike All-America
Camp in Indianapolis, the adidas ABCD Camp in Teaneck, N.J., the adidas Big Time
Tournament in Las Vegas, and the AAU Junior Boys' (17-under) National
Championship in (actually near) Orlando. We will be at each of
them.
This week, however, let's focus on the June event which just ended, the Hoop
Jamboree. Although some of the participants already are ballyhooed enough to
have received an invitation to the Nike All-America Camp, others (16 this year)
earned invites to Nike's premier July event through their play at the Hoop
Jamboree. These on-the-rise high school underclassmen are the individuals we
will focus upon
herein.
Arguably, the players who enhanced their reputations the most via their
performances in St. Louis were 6-7 Minneapolis Hopkins rising junior (class of
2003) combination forward Kris Humphries, 6-5 Maywood (Ill.) Proviso East
rising junior SF Shannon Brown, and 6-8 Tuscaloosa (Ala.) Hillcrest
rising sophomore (class of 2004) PF/C D.J. White. Each had shown flashes
of exceptional ability at prior events this spring, but St. Louis was really
their coming out party. They, obviously, were among the 16 players who were
subsequently invited to the Nike All-America
Camp.
The other 13 are listed below. Note that the biggest surprises to us include
Georgia point guard Matt Causey (who didn't particularly impress us when
we watched him this spring), tiny Ohio point guard Andrew Lavender (ditto
last summer), and North Carolina combo guard Jeremy Ingram, who was
somewhat overshadowed on his strong high school team this past season by a
couple of
frontcourtmen.
6-8 St. Louis Hazelwood Central sophomore PF/C Kaylen
Grimes
5-5 Columbus (Ohio) Brookhaven junior PG Andrew
Lavender
6-7 Atlanta Holy Innocents junior PF Patrick Ewing
Jr.
6-2 Rockville (Md.) Magruder sophomore PG Isaiah
Swann
6-8 Arlington (Va.) Bishop O'Connell sophomore PF/C Brian
Johnson
6-9 Tallahassee (Fla.) University High junior PF Akini
Adkins
5-9 Memphis (Tenn.) Booker T. Washington sophomore PG Andre
Allen
6-3 Kinston (N.C.) High junior combo guard Jeremy
Ingram
5-10 Gainesville (Ga.) East Hall junior PG Matt
Causey
6-4 Atlanta Northwest Whitfield junior WG Tim
Morris
6-3 Memphis (Tenn.) White Station junior WG/PG Dane
Bradshaw
6-8 Lawrence (Kan.) Free State junior PF/C Keith
Wooden
6-0 Worcester (Mass.) Worcester Academy junior PG Steve
Hailey
Ewing, whom we observed at the Tournament of Champions Memorial Day weekend in
Chapel Hill, N.C., is definitely a chip off the old block. An agile athlete who
attacks the boards and blocks shots all over the court, he also is a smooth,
face-the-basket jump shooter who might possibly be able the make the transition
to small forward down the road. Will he set his collegiate sights on Georgetown
(his father's alma mater), or will aggressive, young Georgia Tech coach Paul
Hewitt perhaps be able to entice young Patrick to remain in his
hometown?
In case you're wondering, we still consider the top six rising juniors in the
nation to be (in order) above-mentioned LeBron James, 6-4 identical twins
Lodrick and Rodrick Stewart of Seattle Rainier Beach, 6-8 Oakland Tech PF
Leon Powe, 6-8 Starkville (Miss.) High PF Travis Outlaw (an
incredibly explosive leaper), and 6-3 Springfield (Ill.) Lanphier combo guard
Richard
McBride.
Among the rising sophomores, we particularly like 6-8 McComb (Miss.) High cC/PF
Al Jefferson and 5-11 Brooklyn (N.Y.) Lincoln PG Sebastian
Telfair, along with D.J.
White.
Will all of this change with the upcoming July events? We doubt it -- James and
the Stewarts have superstar written all over them in bold letters -- but
we promise to keep an open
mind.
Regional
notes
Once again, we'll focus on late signings, early verbal commitments from high
schoolers, and recently announced collegiate transfers of
note.
EAST
6-9 Fitchburg (Mass.) Notre Dame fifth-year senior PF Maurecio Branwell
(ranked No. 156 in the class of 2001) signed a grant-in-aid with Seton Hall
after also considering West Virginia, Drexel, Temple, Providence, Wake Forest
and
others.
6-7 Philadelphia Benjamin Franklin senior PF Jamal Nichols (unranked),
a first-team all-city choice by the Philadelphia Daily News, signed a
grant-in-aid with St. Joseph's over finalist Villanova. This past season he
averaged 14.9 points, 13.5 rebounds and 4.7 blocked shots. Nichols is the
brother of 6-9 Syracuse SF/PF signee Hakim Warrick (No. 120) of Friends Central
High in
Philadelphia.
SOUTH
South Carolina signed both 6-5 Collin County (Texas) CC rising junior SF/WG
Chris Warren (17.1 ppg) and 6-7 senior combo forward Issa Konare
(unranked), a native of Senegal who averaged 14 points, eight rebounds, three
steals and two blocked shots for deep North Bridgton (Maine) Bridgton Academy.
Warren, a two-time all-conference pick, was also courted by Wyoming, Old
Dominion, Nevada and Utah State. Konare received interest from East Carolina, UC
Irvine, Furman and
others.
Choosing Louisville over South Carolina was Homestead (Fla.) Berkshire School
senior C/PF Otis George (unranked), a native of the Caribbean island of
Dominica. George averaged just nine points and seven rebounds last season at
powerful Berkshire, but many believe he has a big upside. He'll be eligible to
play next season for Rick Pitino's
Cardinals.
A late signee for Georgia Tech is 7-0 C Luke Schenscher, the only high
school player (at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra) to ever be a
finalist for the Australian National Team. Look for him to step straight into
the Ramblin' Wreck's lineup as Alvin Jones'
successor.
Old Dominion inked 6-4 Norfolk (Va.) Granby senior wing Kiah Thomas,
Eastern District Player of the Year who averaged 13 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.7
assists as Granby captured the Group 3 state
championship.
The late Pistol Pete Maravich's son, 6-3 guard Josh Maravich, will
walk-on this fall at Louisiana State (his father's alma mater) as an untouted
freshman.
Blue-chip 6-1 Saginaw (Mich.) High rising senior PG
Anthony Roberson (ranked No. 5 in the class of 2002) verbally committed to Florida (which he unofficially visited
last week) over Duke, Michigan State and
Michigan.
With his scholarship non-renewed at N.C. State by coach Herb Sendek, 6-6
rising junior SF Damien Wilkins (11.7 ppg) has withdrawn from the NBA
draft and will transfer to either Illinois, Georgia, Seton Hall or Florida.
Wilkins' father, Gerald, and uncle Dominique have both been critical of Sendek's
coaching, particularly his use of
Damien.
Husky 6-9 junior C/PF Chucky Gilmore, who sat out last season with an
injury, is transferring from Clemson to South Carolina
State.
MIDWEST
Big-time 6-4 St. Louis Vashon rising senior combo guard Jimmy McKinney
(No. 15), who averaged 24 ppg to lead his team to the state large-school title,
has verbally committed to Missouri over St. Louis, Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas
and
others.
Extra-quick 6-0 Maywood (Ill.) Proviso East rising senior PG Daniel
"Dee" Brown (No. 33) verbally committed to Illinois (so his mother
can watch him play) over Michigan State, Michigan and Iowa
State.
6-3 sophomore combo guard Ben Johnson is transferring within the Big
Ten from Northwestern to Minnesota. He's a native of
Minneapolis.
SOUTHWEST
6-3 Cedar Hill (Texas) High rising senior combo guard Daniel Horton
(No. 30) gave a verbal commitment to Michigan during a June 23 unofficial visit
to Ann Arbor. Horton also strongly considered Florida (he attended Billy
Donovan's camp three weeks ago), Texas, Stanford, Illinois, Arizona, Missouri
and perhaps
others.
Horton's Cedar Hill teammate, 6-7 PF leaper Chris Williams (No. 67),
reportedly graduated early from high school and will attend Hill (Texas) JC in
the
fall.
6-9 PF/C Adrian Moss (No. 119), a native of Humble, Texas, and a
fifth-year prep last season at Fork Union (Va.) Fork Union Military Academy,
visited Florida June 25 and has chosen the Gators over Kentucky,
Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Colorado and others. As a senior at Humble High in
1999, he signed a national letter-of-intent with Southwest Texas State but
changed his mind when the Southwest Texas coaching staff was fired in the spring
of 2000. Only last week did Southwest Texas State release him so that he could
play next season for another Division I
school.
WEST
6-7 Santa Cruz (Calif.) High rising senior combo forward Josh Rhodes
(top 125) verbally committed to Iowa over Oregon, Massachusetts, Oklahoma,
Temple, Southern California, UCLA, Stanford and others. Some scouts believe he
will establish himself this summer as a national top-100
prospect.
Brick Oettinger is talent evaluator for the Prep Stars Recruiter's Handbook and recruiting columnist for the ACC Area Sports Journal. For more information on either publication, call 1-800-447-7667.
|
Copyright © 2001
CNN/Sports Illustrated
An AOL Time Warner Company.
All Rights Reserved.
|
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.
|
|
