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Shoe camp ups and downs
Posted: Tuesday July 17, 2001 11:59 AM
Updated: Tuesday August 07, 2001 6:27 PM
As a follow-up to last week's lists of the most impressive prospects at the Nike All-America Camp in Indianapolis and the adidas ABCD Camp in Teaneck, N.J., we'll identify below the high school seniors (class of 2002, including fifth-year preps) whose play at those events was most surprising to us. Both those who proved to be better than previously advertised and those who failed to perform up to their pre-camp reputations are listed.
Pleasant surprises at Nike
6-9 Grand Island (Neb.) High PF/SF Wes Wilkinson (committed to Nebraska)
6-4 Columbus (Ohio) Brookhaven WG/SF Ron Lewis
6-4 Kensington (Md.) The Newport School WF Steve LeVen
6-5 Greensboro (N.C.) Dudley SF/PF Eric Hicks
6-3 Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy WG/PG Eric Wilkins
6-8 Mio (Mich.) Mio-Ausable PF/C Graham Brown (committed to Michigan)
6-8 Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas PF Rashard Sullivan
6-10 Tacoma (Wash.) Woodrow Wilson C Kevin Field
6-9 Gulfport (Miss.) Harrison Central C/PF Byron Sanders
6-9 Modesto (Calif.) Modesto Christian C David Paris
6-8 Redondo Beach (Calif.) Redondo Union PF Adam Zahn
Disappointments at Nike
6-9 Lafayette (Ind.) Central Catholic PF Tyler Best (No. 97 in the class)
6-6 Pontiac (Mich.) Northern SF/WG Lester Abram (No. 35 and committed to Michigan)
6-2 Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy PG Justin Gray (No. 48)
6-3 Houston (Texas) Heritage Christian Academy WG/SF Cedric Hensley
6-6 Tulsa (Okla.) Victory Christian SF/WG Kelenna Azubuike (No. 21)
Pleasant surprises at adidas
6-5 Carroll (Iowa) High SF/WG Adam Haluska (committed to Iowa State)
6-9 Garland (Texas) High C/PF Ike Diogu
6-4 Fork Union (Va.) Fork Union Military Academy SF/WG Shawn Harris
6-8 Lawrence (Mass.) Lawrence Academy SF Antoine Wright
6-3 Somers (N.Y.) John F. Kennedy PG/WG Donnie McGrath (committed to Providence)
6-0 Middleburg (Va.) Notre Dame Academy PG Todd Galloway
6-7 Fort Washington (Pa.) Germantown Academy SF/PF Lee Melchionni (No. 80 and committed to Duke)
6-5 Shelby (N.C.) Crest SF/WG Maurice Petty
6-7 Portland (Maine) Deering SF/PF Nik Caner-Medley
6-9 Brown Deer (Wis.) High SF/PF Steve Novak
6-8 Austin (Texas) Westlake PF/C Brad Buckman
6-4 Seattle Garfield WG Marcelus Kemp
Disappointments at adidas
5-10 Glasgow (Ky.) High PG Brandon Stockton (No. 57 and committed to Kentucky)
6-9 Watertown (N.Y.) High PF/C Matt Gorman (No. 99)
6-2 Cincinnati Winton Woods WG/PG Robert Hite (No. 50)
6-11 Winchendon (Mass.) Winchendon School or Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy C/PF Sani Ibrahim (No. 6)
Regional nuggets
The many recent verbal commitments, one decommitment, and a couple of college transfers are listed below, region by region.
EAST
6-1 Bronx (N.Y.) St. Raymond's rising senior WG/PG Allan Ray (No. 38) committed to Villanova over Memphis, Seton Hall, Miami (Fla.) and N.C. State. He averaged 11 points and four assists as a junior.
6-1 Winchendon (Mass.) Winchendon School rising senior PG/WG Marshall Strickland (No. 49) committed to Indiana over Tennessee and Wake Forest. He averaged 30.5 points and 4.3 assists last season for Sikesville (Md.) South Carroll.
6-7 Cheshire (Conn.) Cheshire Academy rising senior SF Francisco Garcia (No. 66) committed to Louisville over Miami (Fla.). He averaged 24 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in 2000-01 for Cheshire Academy, which is deemphasizing basketball, so he may transfer this fall.
6-4 Charlestown (Mass.) High rising senior WG Rashid Al-Kaleem committed to Florida over Ohio State, Connecticut, Boston College and Temple. He averaged 21 points and 8.6 rebounds last season as Charlestown won its second consecutive state title.
6-7 fifth-year SF Cortez Davis (No. 69), a Maryland native who played last season for North Bridgton (Maine) Bridgton Academy and will attend either Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy, New Hampton (N.H.) New Hampton School or Laurinburg (N.C.) Laurinburg Institute this fall, rescinded his early verbal commitment to Maryland. Assuming he qualifies academically, he'll choose from among the Terrapins, Miami (Fla.), Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, Villanova and Florida State.
SOUTH
6-2 Raleigh (N.C.) Leesville Road rising senior WG/PG Shawan Robinson (No. 100) committed to Clemson over Tennessee, Xavier, Wake Forest and others.
6-9, 286-pound Wake Forest (N.C.) Wake Forest-Rolesville rising senior C Eric Williams (No. 40) committed to Wake Forest over N.C. State and Clemson. He averaged 22 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots as a junior for 23-5 Wake Forest-Rolesville.
6-5 Raleigh (N.C.) Bonner Academy rising senior WG/PG Vincent Grier committed to hometown Charlotte over interest from Clemson, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Florida State, Virginia Tech, East Carolina and others. He averaged 26 points, eight assists, four rebounds and two steals last season.
6-5 Creedmoor (N.C.) Christian Faith Center rising senior SF/WG J.R. Morris (No. 71), who hails from Milwaukee, announced for Illinois over UNLV, Maryland, Virginia, Marquette, Wisconsin, N.C. State and Auburn. Reportedly, however, the Fighting Illini will sign him only if he qualifies academically for freshman eligibility, and if they have an available scholarship at the time.
6-4 Memphis (Tenn.) Craigmont rising senior WG/PG Jeremy Hunt committed to Memphis .
6-6 rising junior SF Damien Wilkins, who averaged 11.7 points and 5.8 rebounds as a touted sophomore starter at N.C. State, is transferring to Georgia, after also considering Illinois, Seton Hall and Florida as potential destinations. After entering and then withdrawing from the 2001 NBA draft, Wilkins was forced to transfer when Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek did not renew Damien's scholarship, apparently due to public criticism of Sendek by Wilkins' father (ex-NBA WG Gerald Wilkins) and uncle (future Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins).
MIDWEST
6-2 Chicago Julian rising senior PG Sean Dockery (No. 8) committed to Duke over Illinois, Michigan State and Michigan. Last season he averaged 23 points, 10 assists, four rebounds and four steals as 22-10 Julian reached the quarterfinals of the city tournament.
6-9 Evansville (Ind.) Mater Dei rising senior PF/SF Matt Kiefer committed to Purdue over Indiana, Evansville and others. The Boilermakers also gained an extremely early verbal commitment from 6-5 Indianapolis Cathedral rising sophomore SF Robert (Darth) Vaden, who stars for the 15-under Indiana Panthers spring/summer team.
6-7 Indianapolis Lawrence North rising senior PF Angelo Smith committed to Xavier over Butler, Indiana State and others.
6-0 Maywood (Ill.) Proviso East rising senior PG Daniel (Dee) Brown (No. 33) committed to Illinois over Michigan State, Michigan and Iowa State.
6-10 Brighton (Mich.) High rising senior C Chris Grimm committed to Marquette over interest from Michigan State, Ohio State and others.
6-3 St. Louis Vashon rising senior WG/PG Jimmy McKinney (No. 15) committed to Missouri over St. Louis, Illinois, Arkansas, Tennessee, Cincinnati, St. John's, Minnesota and Oklahoma. Last season he averaged 23.4 points, 4.2 assists and 4.0 rebounds as 27-1 Vashon won the Class 4-A state championship.
SOUTHWEST
6-3 Cedar Hill (Texas) High rising senior PG/WG Daniel Horton (No. 30) committed to Michigan over Florida and Texas. As a junior he averaged 25 points, four rebounds and four assists.
6-8 rising junior PF David Anderson is transferring from Oklahoma State to Marshall.
6-3 The Colony (Texas) High rising senior WG/SF Bracey Wright (No. 10) is expected to publicly commit any day to Indiana over Kentucky, Iowa and others.
WEST
6-5 SF/WG Lodrick Stewart and 6-4 WG Rodrick Stewart, twins and rising juniors at Seattle Rainier Beach, indicated at the adidas ABCD Camp that they expect to commit soon to North Carolina over Duke, Washington and others. Lodrick averaged 17 points per game as a sophomore, while Rodrick averaged 16 points and eight rebounds.
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.
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