Recruiting News From NIKE Peach Jam And Beyond
July 17, 2008
11:00 A.M. CST
The following is all of the pertinent recruiting information that we obtained while in attendance at the NIKE Peach Jam in North Augusta, SC. Included is news not only on players who attended Peach Jam, but others as well.
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Loyola-Chicago head coach Jim Whitesell watched every game that 5'9 point guard D.J. Cooper played at Peach Jam and there is no question that Cooper is right at the top of the Ramblers' wish list. Toledo head coach Gene Cross also watched Cooper intently as did Baylor head coach Scott Drew and assistant coach Mark Morefield, Kent State assistant coach Armon Gates and Illinois State assistant coach Rob Judson. After a solid performance at Peach Jam, there is no question that Cooper's recruiting is picking up steam. One school that we fully expect to get involved by the end of the July evaluation period and is showing a high level of interest in Cooper is California. The Golden Bears are coveting a point guard in the 2009 class, and assistant coach Jay John made it a point to watch Cooper in action at Peach Jam.
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After proving himself to be a high major caliber player at Peach Jam, there is no doubt in our mind that 6'2 guard Marcus Jordan from Whitney Young High School in Chicago will begin to attract numerous scholarship offers. Rice and Iowa State are among the schools that like Jordan a lot and both had assistant coaches who watched him repeatedly at Peach Jam. Kansas head coach Bill Self and Memphis assistant coach Josh Pastner were also showing more than just passing interest, and as the line goes, "we aren't saying, we are just saying!"
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6'2 guard Darius Smith from Marshall High School in Chicago is the #1 recruiting priority for Bradley and head coach Jim Les, who was on hand to watch all of Smith's games at Peach Jam. DePaul head coach Jerry Wainwright also followed Smith closely, as did Marquette head coach Buzz Williams, Baylor, Loyola-Chicago, Illinois State and Kent State. All of these schools have offered Smith a scholarship. Smith continues to receive interest from Indiana, Iowa and others as well.
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6'4 guard Drew Crawford from Naperville Central High School in Naperville, IL turned in a most solid performance at Peach Jam and when you combine that with the fact that he is an elite student who conducts himself with the utmost class off the court, there is no question that his recruiting options are going to expand immediately. Drake, Rice, Loyola-Chicago and Illinois State are all in heavy pursuit and were front and center for all of Crawford's games at Peach Jam. He is also being recruited by several Ivy League schools.
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Northwestern and Oklahoma State are working overtime in their efforts to land 6'3 guard David Brown from Hononegah High School in Rockton, IL, as evidenced by the fact by the fact that Cowboy head coach Travis Ford and Wildcat head coach Bill Carmody, as well as assistant coaches Chris Ferguson(Oklahoma State) and Tavaras Hardy (Northwestern) all watched Brown repeatedly throughout the course of Peach Jam. DePaul, Loyola-Chicago, Illinois State, Western Michigan, Baylor and Cincinnati also followed Brown intently at Peach Jam and all are in active pursuit. Brown started out slowly, as we think he was caught up in the excitement of the event, but came on strong towards the end.
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6'6 guard Nik Garcia from Evanston Township High School in Evanston, IL drew extensive looks from both Alabama and Wake Forest, who are both among his frontrunners. Providence head coach Keno Davis and assistant Rodell Davis were also on hand to watch Garcia and as a result the Friars recently offered Garcia a scholarship. Crimson Tide head coach Mark Gottfried and assistant coach Jeff Dunlap watched all of the Rising Stars Gold's games while at Peach Jam, as in addition to Garcia the team also features 6'0 guard and Crimson Tide commit Cully Payne from Schaumburg High School in Schaumburg, IL.
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The 16-Under Illinois Warriors squad attracted a huge Big Ten contigent to all of their games, with Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin all being among the schools represented. While most of the attention was on 6'2 class of 2010 guard Anthony Johnson from Whitney Young High School in Chicago, assistant coaches such as Jerrance Howard, Tavaras Hardy, Rick Ray, Howard Moore and Saul Smith were also paying close attention to a number of other 2010 prospects on the Warriors, including 5'8 guard Ahmad Starks from Whitney Young High School in Chicago, 6'2 Vander Blue from Memorial High School in Madison, WI (committed to Wisconsin), 6'3 guard Brandon Spearman from Simeon High School in Chicago and 6'5 forward Dwayne Evans from Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, IL.
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Iowa State assistant coach Daniyal Robinson works as hard as any D1 assistant coach out there on the recruiting trail and has the Cyclones well-positioned with several top prospects in Illinois from all classes. The class of 2009 prospects that Robinson was watching closely included Marcus Jordan, Darius Smith and David Brown. In the class of 2010, the Cyclones have already offered Anthony Johnson and are about to also extend an offer to Brandon Spearman as well.
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West Virginia is making a strong push in the Chicago area, led by Larry Harrison, who is simply one of the best recruiters among assistant coaches in all of college basketball. Harrison already has the Mountaineers involved with David Brown, who he and head coach Bob Huggins were on hand to watch at Peach Jam, as well as class of 2010 shooting guard Alex Dragicevich from Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, IL. We expect West Virginia to be mentioned with a lot more players from the state of Illinois in the near future as well.
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6'2 shooting guard Jeremy Jones from Simeon High School in Chicago, who shot the ball extremely well at Peach Jam, is a top recruiting priority for both Chicago State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
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Recruiting News From Beyond
... After "blowing up" this month at both the Adidas It Takes 5ve Classic in Cincinnati and the Chicago Summer Classic in Deerfield, IL, 6'4 Matt Vogrich from Lake Forest High School in Lake Forest, IL, who competes on the traveling team circuit with Full Package Athletics, has now added scholarship offers from Northwestern, Georgia Tech, Colorado and Oregon State. This is in addition to previous offers from St. Louis and Miami-Ohio. Vogrich is also receiving a high level of interest from Michigan, UCLA, Notre Dame and Stanford.
... Look for Notre Dame to become involved with 6'3 class of 2010 prospect Lenzelle Smith from Zion-Benton High School in Zion, IL, as Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey and his staff are showing a high level of interest after Smith turned in an outstanding performance at the Reebok All-American Camp in Philadelphia.
Continue to check in with Illinois Prep Bulls-eye for all of the latest as it pertains to recruiting and high school basketball in Illinois.
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