Archive for May, 2012

James decommits from Illini

Published by Source on May 30th, 2012

2013 point guard Jalen James has decided to reopen his recruitment after committing to Illinois last September. Though he had previously told Rivals.com that he would stick with the Illini following the hiring of John Groce, the two sides parted ways Wednesday.

Though the guard runs with the Illinois Wolves AAU team and is a native of the state, he is playing his prep ball at La Lumiere School in LaPorte, Indiana. This past season, his first at the school, he was able to team up with future B1G players Hanner Perea, Jay Simpson and Raphael Davis.

James was influential in the recruitment of Malcolm Hill (SG, Belleville East), who is now the only member of Illinois’ current 2013 class. Hill committed to the Illini just a day after James and has recently confirmed his loyalty to the school and the new coaching staff. Hill is a rising star, currently ranked #52 nationally by Rivals.

The news comes just one day after the Illini lost new assistant coach Isaac Chew to Marquette. According to Mike Mullins, James’ AAU coach, James has already been contacted by Marquette, SMU, DePaul, Nebraska and several others. SMU hired former Illini player/coach Jerrance Howard as an assistant this off-season, as they are entering their first season under Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown. Expect to see Kansas State get involved, as their new head coach Bruce Weber is the man who James committed to in the first place.

James tweeted his support for the program shortly after the news was announced: “I wish Coach Groce And The Illini Staff The Best Of Luck In The Future!”

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Posted in Chicago HS Prospects, DePaul, Illinois, Marquette, Nebraska
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Illinois loses assistant Chew to Marquette

Published by Source on May 29th, 2012

New Illinois head coach John Groce scored big when he hired assistant coach Isaac Chew away from Missouri back in March. Unfortunately, Chew’s time in Champaign was short-lived and the coach is already on to his next destination.

Marquette head coach Buzz Williams grabbed Chew to be an assistant for him up in Milwaukee. Chew had originally turned down a spot at MU before taking the Illinois job, so it is assumed that the monetary offer was much greater this time around.

Chew was the recruiter that Groce needed to re-establish the Illini presence in the Chicago prep circuit. The Chicago-native played his high school ball at Wells and was the Chicago Public League Blue West POY in 1994. His Chicago ties will be beneficial to Williams and Marquette, as they continue to compete for the top talent in the city year after year. Williams already has a solid Chicago freshman coming to campus in Simeon big man Steve Taylor.

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Posted in Chicago HS Prospects, Illinois, Marquette
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Stanford Robinson (2013 SG) commits to Indiana

Published by Source on May 16th, 2012

Tom Crean has done a fantastic job landing top talent from within the Indiana state lines and now his recruiting success has reached beyond the heartland to the DMV. 2013 shooting guard Stanford Robinson (Paul VI – Fairfax, Virginia) made the decision to become a Hoosier on Wednesday, announcing it via his personal twitter account. He had visited the Bloomington campus the previous weekend and upon returning to the Virginia had set Friday as his decision day. Apparently he couldn’t wait to announce the news and IU’s 2013 class has grown to four prospects. Robinson chose the Hoosiers over Maryland, Rutgers, Texas and Villanova.

Robinson is a talented scorer who really only began mentioning Indiana this spring AAU season. He plays for Team Takeover out of Washington DC, alongside fellow 2013 IU target BeeJay Anya (Dematha Catholic). Tom Crean has had plenty of success in the area since arriving at Indiana, already landing current Hoosiers Maurice Creek and Victor Oladipo. The recent hiring of Towson assistant Kenny Johnson also played a huge role in this recruitment, as Johnson was a former Team Takeover/Paul VI coach that has long-lasting relationships with both Robinson and Anya. Robinson actually credits Johnson as being the reason he transferred to Paul VI High School in the first place.

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Posted in featured, Indiana
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Two B1G transfers find their new schools

Published by Source on May 15th, 2012

Two former B1G players announced where they were headed next on Tuesday. Minnesota transfer Chip Armelin tweeted that he had officially signed to play at Southern Mississippi out of Conference USA. Around the same time, former Ohio State Buckeye JD Weatherspoon announced that he would transfer within the state to a MAC school, Toledo.

Chip Armelin is originally from Louisiana and signed with the Gophers out of high school. Tubby Smith was the only power conference coach to offer Armelin, who chose Minnesota over Louisiana Tech and North Texas. In his two seasons as a Gopher, Armelin averaged 4.8 points and 1.8 rebounds in 12.5 minutes. He saw his minutes go up his sophomore year but decided to leave the program in early April. Giving up his scholarship actually cleared room for Gophers’ star Trevor Mbakwe, who was granted a 6th year of eligibility after missing a majority of the last season to an ACL tear.

The Golden Eagles of Southern Miss enter next season with a new coach, former Morehead State coach Donnie Tyndall. In his six seasons at MSU, Tyndall won two OVC tournament titles that translated to two NCAA tournament appearances. The highlight of his tenure may have been the Eagles’ first round upset of 4th seed Louisville in the 2011 Tournament, led by senior sensation Kenneth Faried (now with the Denver Nuggets).

Back on April 16, Buckeyes JD Weatherspoon and Jordan Sibert announced their intentions to leave the program. Both are Ohio-natives that came to OSU as nationally-ranked high school prospects. Weatherspoon is actually from Columbus, playing alongside Buckeye star Jared Sullinger at Northland HS. He was a late addition to Thad Matta’s impressive 2010 recruiting class, which was headlined by Sullinger and DeShaun Thomas, but he struggled to find his place in the Buckeye rotation. He averaged just 2.7 points in 6.0 minutes last season, appearing in just 10 games before being ruled academically ineligible for the rest of the year.

Last week, it was announced that Sibert was headed to the Dayton Flyers out of the Atlantic 10. Weatherspoon will also remain in the Buckeye state, heading to the up-and-coming Toledo Rockets. In just his second season, head coach Tod Kowlczyk was able to turn a 4-28 team into a 19-17 squad that finished 2nd in the MAC West. Last season was capped off by an appearance in the CIT, where the Rockets advanced to the second round. Toledo has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1980 but have made several NIT appearances since then.

 

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Posted in featured, Minnesota, Ohio State
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Terran Petteway headed to Nebraska

Published by Source on May 15th, 2012

New coach Tim Miles continues to stock up on players, this time landed Texas Tech transfer Terran Petteway. The 6’6″ wing will have three seasons of eligibility remaining after sitting out next season per NCAA rules.

Petteway, from Galveston, Texas, averaged 3.1 points in 13.1 minutes per game as a freshman at Tech. The Red Raiders had a rough year, finishing just 8-23 under new head coach Billy Gillispie. In what was certainly a frustrating year for everyone in the program, Petteway became best known for this punch he threw at Kansas guard Conner Teahan.

Miles is optimistic about Petteway’s B1G future, praising him as a “very dynamic player” and noting that he “has been well coached throughout his career and his parents are great people.” Petteway built a relationship with Coach Miles and assistant Craig Smith when they were recruiting him out of high school on behalf of Colorado State. Miles has now brought in three players in the last two months, including high school senior Sergej Vucetic and JUCO transfer Deverell Biggs.

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Posted in Nebraska
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2012 B1G/ACC Challenge Match-ups Announced

Published by Source on May 14th, 2012

The match-ups have been announced for next season’s B1G/ACC Challenge. There will be twelve games featuring all twenty-four teams in the two conferences. In what will be the 14th annual event, the B1G will attempt to win its 4th straight after losing the first 10.

ESPN’s preseason #1 Indiana Hoosiers will host the #11 North Carolina Tar Heels in one of the two headlining games of the event. The other features an up and coming #6 NC State Wolfpack team traveling to Ann Arbor to take on the #8 Michigan Wolverines in what may be an early season top-10 match-up if the preseason rankings hold. Both of those games will be on Tuesday, November 27. The following day, the headliner is surely the #5 Ohio State Buckeyes at the #15 Duke Blue Devils. Coach K’s squad will be looking for revenge after getting destroyed in Columbus this past season.

Here are all 12 match-ups:

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Posted in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
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Transfer rundown: 3 guys have new homes

Published by Source on May 12th, 2012

Several players have announced their plans to transfer since the season came to a close, and in the past week three of those guys have made their decisions. We are a bit late with the first two guys, but it was made official today that former Notre Dame guard and Northbrook, IL-native Alex Dragicevich is headed to Boston College.

- Former Illini Crandall Head will follow his old assistant coach Jerrance Howard to SMU. New Mustangs coach Larry Brown is looking to turn the program around and brought in Howard to help recruit. Head is the younger brother of Illinois star Luther Head and a native of Richton Park, Illinois. Though he was highly-touted out of high school, Head never really found his place in Champaign and appeared in just 9 games last season. He will sit out the upcoming season per NCAA rules and have two seasons of eligibility remaining after that.

- Once a top high school prospect, Jordan Sibert is now leaving the Ohio State Buckeyes for the Dayton Flyers of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Sibert averaged just 3.0 points per game as a sophomore and will head to Dayton with two seasons of eligibility remaining. Sibert was a part of Thad Matta’s blockbuster 2010 recruiting class, alongside Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft and DeShaun Thomas. Also in that class was JD Weatherspoon, who announced his plans to transfer with Sibert but has yet to find his next destination.

- As mentioned above, Notre Dame sharp-shooter Alex Dragicevich is headed to the East Coast. The Glenbrook North High School graduate will also have two years of eligibility remaining after sitting out next season with the Eagles. Dragicevich chose BC over hometown Loyola (Chicago). He averaged 6.6 points in 20.9 minutes for the Irish last season but decided to transfer because he saw himself getting less minutes in the future.

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Posted in Chicago HS Prospects, Illinois, Notre Dame, Ohio State
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LeVert a late addition for Wolverines

Published by Source on May 11th, 2012

A former Ohio University commit has made the decision to cross state lines and become a Wolverine.

2012 forward Caris LeVert (Pickering Central, OH) has committed to the University of Michigan after visiting the campus last weekend. Apparently the decision was made right after that visit, but no official announcement was made until this Friday.

LeVert, a friend of current Wolverine point guard Trey Burke, chose UM over Xavier, Dayton and Purdue. He was originally let out of his letter of intent at Ohio U after head coach John Groce left the school to take over at Illinois.

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2102 Serbian center chooses Huskers

Published by Source on May 3rd, 2012

Tim Miles has landed a late 2012 addition in Serbian center Sergej Vucetic. The big man chose Nebraska over offers from Providence, Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Rhode Island, Charlotte and Nevada.

Vucetic, who stands 7’1″ tall, is already 19 years old. He is currently attending AIM Prep in Northville, Michigan. He visited NU’s Lincoln campus on Wednesday and liked what he saw enough to give Coach Miles his verbal pledge a day later.

The center should get some minutes in his first season as he continues to develop his skills. The Huskers have a pair of senior centers in Brandon Ubel (6’10″) and Andre Almeida (6’11″) that should provide great competition in practice for Vucetic. There is always a place for a 7-footer will some skills, especially after the two centers leave in Vucetic’s second season.

Nebraska has signed three players in the class of 2012 already: high school seniors Benny Parker and Shavon Shields and JUCO prospect Deverell Biggs.

 

 

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Posted in Minnesota, Nebraska
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Ohio State lands 2012 Italian guard

Published by Source on May 2nd, 2012

Thad Matta got his first verbal commitment for the class of 2012 just under two months shy of the start of summer classes. Shooting guard Amadeo Della Valle signed with the Buckeyes Wednesday to become the sole member of the 2012 class. The Alba, Italy-native played for Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada alongside top prospects Anthony Bennett, Brandon Ashley, Dominic Artis and others.

The star-studded roster may have led to a number of schools overlooking the Italian guard, but Della Valle is a great late addition to the Ohio State roster. He committed back on April 27th following a visit to Columbus, choosing the Buckeyes over Arizona and Texas A&M.

The Buckeyes are losing quite a bit, with William Buford graduating and Jared Sullinger headed for the NBA, but they should be able to compete in the B1G once again. A pair of juniors – point guard Aaron Craft and wing DeShaun Thomas – will be a tough 1-2 punch for Matta. Della Valle is in position to earn some minutes right away, as he is one of just four scholarship guards on the OSU roster. It will be especially beneficial for the freshman to play behind a guy like Craft to help get acclimated with B1G play.

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Posted in Ohio State
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