Coaching News Online presents Brian Stinnette's News And Notes From High School Basketball And The College Basketball Recruiting Trail

Brian Stinnette
May 20, 2008

Sizzling-hot Class of 2011 Rock Island star Chasson Randle will be playing up an age division with the 16-U Illinois Wolves this coming weekend at the prestigious Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions in North Carolina. Randle, a 6-2 guard, and his 15-U Illinois Wolves teammate Jacob Williams, a Class of 2011 6-5 wing from Chicago St. Patrick could both find themselves playing 17-U basketball before the summer is over.
Former Hinsdale Central star Blake Saunders has decided to transfer to Ashland University. Ashland is a Division II program which competes in the always rugged Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference. This past season, Saunders, a 6-7 forward, was one of the top players as a freshman at Sonoma State in California.

The 2nd Annual Headliner Tryout Camp once again was highly successful, and once again gave players the opportunity to "earn" their way to one of the higher profile Reebok National Camps. Last year, Southern Illinois-bound Illinois Mr. Basketball Kevin Dillard of Homewood-Flossmoor was among the players who punched their ticket to the Big Camp in Philadelphia. This year, Demarius Cruz from the state of Minnesota left the gym buzzing with his strong play throughout the weekend. Cruz, a 6-0 Class of 2009 guard was the epitome of what the camp is all about. Cruz was jersey #73 for those who attended the event. Invitations will be mailed to players selected to move on to the next series of camps, and the results will be posted on www.PrepChamps.com tomorrow.

Former UCLA and Loyola University head coach Larry Farmer of the University of Hawaii is top notch!

Congratulations to former Thornton High School star Rodell Davis who is now at Providence College in the Big East Conference with new head coach Keno Davis. Davis had a strong Chicago-to-Laramie (WY) County pipeline going when he was head coach at the school, and continued his magic last year while at Drake University.

Northwestern has taken up an interest in Class of 2010 Chicago Whitney Young star Ahmad Starks. Starks, a dynamite point guard, also happens to be just as strong in the classroom as a student as he is skilled on the basketball court.

Congratulations to Velocity on their run to winning the 16-U Division this past weekend at the Windy City Classic. Velocity topped 6-7 Mike Gabriel (Chicago Lincoln Park) and the Rising Stars Blue team in the title game. Gabriel, a Class of 2010 post, is a player who not a lot of people know about, but still rates as one of the top post prospects in the 2010 class.

Jason Kemp of North Dakota State University is a real good dude.

Head coach Cedric Brown, and Lake Land College have a strong recruiting class coming in. 6-8 Doug Montgomery (Chicago Simeon), 6-7 Scottie Brown (Peoria Manual), 6-2 Wes DeGroot (Highland) and 6-6 Marcus Rouse will all be heading into the program.

Head coach Pete Norman, and Freeport-based junior college powerhouse Highland Community College once again has an impressive group of sophomores signed with Division I programs. The list includes Anthony Boyle (Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Devan Bawinkel (Iowa), Nick Daniels (Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne), Ante Dzepina (Northern Illinois), Robert Eppinger (Illinois-Chicago), Anthony Simpson (Kent State) and Ed Tucker (Toledo).........Wow!

Former Chicago Carver star LaMarr Drake of two-time NJCAA Division II National Champion Mott Community College will continue his college basketball career at the University of Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Associate Head Coach Billy Garrett continues to bring Chicago recruits down to Corpus Christi in bunches.

Lehigh is now among the programs showing strong interest in 6-10 Class of 2010 New Trier standout Fred Heldring of the 16-U Rising Stars Gold team.