Thanksgiving Tournament Leftovers

November 29, 2009

10:30 P.M. CST

As always, there was plenty of talent on display at Thanksgiving tournaments throughout the state of Illinois to kick off the high school basketball season.  Once again Illinois Prep Bulls-eye was on hand to cover all of the top tournaments in the Chicago area.  For those who may still be hungry after a weekend of turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie or whatever else was on one's dinner table, the following provides a synopsis of the highlights that we witnessed on the court during this past week along with some other tidbits, which is more than enough to whet any prep hoops junkie's appetite.  

Best Game

It undoubtedly was the matchup at the Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament at St. Charles East High School in St. Charles, IL between Hales Franciscan and East Aurora.  This game was back-and-forth throughout and had all the intensity of a state tournament contest.  In the end, Hales prevailed in overtime by a score of 98-97, with 6'4 class of 2011 wing forward Aaron Armstead hitting a three-pointer at the buzzer in the extra session to win it.  Not only that, but all of the marquee players from both teams stepped up to the plate and turned in outstanding performances, making it a thoroughly entertaining battle to watch.

How Good Is Ryan Boatright?

Simply put, the 5'11 point guard from East Aurora High School in Aurora, IL can be as good as he wants to be and he proved it at St. Charles.  Against Hales, Boatright finished with 28 points and 9 rebounds.  Right now he is playing his best basketball since he has been at East Aurora.  Yes, he can score in bunches, is lightning quick and can get to the basket at will.  But what is most telling is that Boatright has matured greatly over the course of the last year and has truly become a leader on the floor.  As talented as he is, in the past Boatright would often lose his composure in crunch time during key stretches of games.  That is no longer the case.  In fact, Boatright's decision-making is better than ever, as is his defense.   He is playing hard from start to finish and making teammates better, most notably 6'1 class of 2011 shooting guard Snoop Viser (love the name!).  When he plays at this level, there is no question that Boatright ranks with any of the elite point guards in Illinois from the class of 2011.  Now that his recruitment is wide-open after decommitting from USC, look for more schools to get involved and we would not be surprised to see offers starting to come in soon. 

Stock-Raisers 

• Aaron Armstead      6'4     2011   WF/2G      Chicago (Hales Franciscan)
• Aaric Armstead        6'5     2012   WF            Chicago (Hales Franciscan)
• Julius Brown             5'9     2011   PG            Country Club Hills (Hillcrest)
• Courtney Jones        6'5     2010   WF            Flossmoor (Homewood-Flossmoor)

We were well aware of the ability of the Armstead brothers prior to the start of the season.  However, as it turns out both of them are even better than we thought.  In fact, they are hands down Hales Franciscan's two best college prospects.  They were both absolutely clutch in the victory over East Aurora.  Not only did Aaron hit the game-winning trifecta, but he also hit the shot at the end of regulation which forced the overtime.  He has great offensive versatility which makes him equally effective at either the 2 or the 3.  In addition to being able to consistently drill shots from beyond the 3-point arc, he can also put the ball on the floor, slash to the basket, gets out on the break and is a strong finisher.  Aaric may actually have the greater up side.  That is because besides having most all of the same skills as Aaron, he is an inch taller and also has more of a post presence.  There is no question that Aaron ranks among the top prospects in Illinois from the class of 2011, while Aaric is one of the tops in the class of 2012.

Brown has always possessed tremendous quickness and scoring ability, but is playing much more under control, has greatly improved his decision-making and as a result is finally starting to look like a pure point guard.  This was clearly evident when we watched him at the Chicago Heights Classic in a lopsided win over Rich East.  He is a big reason why as of now Hillcrest looks like the premier team in Chicago's south suburbs.   We believe that he could prove to be an ideal mid-major recruit. 

Jones gets lost in the shuffle with the glut of outstanding players that H-F has in the 2012 class, but he can play.  In fact, right now he is actually H-F's go-to-guy offensively.  Despite being on the tweener side, he absolutely works his tail off.  He crashes the boards, is outstanding in the open court and is a consistent mid-range scorer.  We believe that that he is a must for any D2 school, proving that yes, small college recruits can also be stock-raisers!

Choosing The Right Level

That is exactly what 6'0 shooting guard Patrick Miller from Hales Franciscan and 6'4 point guard Eric Gaines from Hillcrest succeeded in doing when they signed with Tennessee State and Kent State respectively.  Miller can undoubtedly put points on the board, as he lit up East Aurora for 35 points at St. Charles.  However, he is another guard who is a scorer first and foremost and while he can handle the ball, he lacks overall point guard skills.  While that combination definitely doesn't work at the high major level, it is capable of working wonders in the Ohio Valley. 

Gaines is an absolute steal for Kent State.  He has the ideal combination of size, ballhandling skills and athleticism to be a successful point guard in the MAC.  And moreover, he simply does what it takes to win games.  While he is streaky from the perimeter, his shooting range is more than good enough for the mid-major level considering everything else that he brings to the table.

Small College Gems

If there is such a thing as the perfect small college guard, then we saw two this past week in 5'10 Joe Latulip from Prospect High School in Mt. Prospect, IL and 6'0 Mark Bentley from Downers South High School in Downers Grove, IL.  Latulip was absolutely terrific in engineering Prospect's 50-49 upset victory over St. Patrick to win the championship at the St. Patrick Thanksgiving Tournament.  He finished with 24 points including five three-pointers en route to being named tournament MVP.  Bentley was impressive when we watched him versus Proviso East at St. Charles, finishing with 12 points including three trifectas in a 60-58 loss.  His numbers don't really tell the full story in terms of how valuable he is to the Downers South offense.

Both Latulip and Bentley are capable of playing either guard spot at the small school level because they are outstanding 3-point shooters and while they won't wow anybody at the point, they are smart and heady, great passers and simply don't turn the ball over.  And they are both outstanding academically as well.  We are huge fans of each one's game.

Another player who played well at the Dan McGovern Classic at St. Rita High School who we believe is an ideal small college prospect is 6'4 shooting guard Aric Dickerson from Lincoln Park High School in Chicago, who we wrote about in a previous entry (http://ilprepbullseye.com/page23.html).

Williams And Darby

There is no question that St. Patrick's offense revolves around 6'5 class of 2011 shooting guard Jacob Williams and 6'5 class of 2011 forward Kortney Darby.  Both played well when we watched them versus Prospect, but at the same time there are still some things that they need to continue working on.  We believe that Williams is right on the fringe of being a high major prospect.  He is a good shooter with 3-point range, is highly athletic, and is an outstanding open court defender due to his length.  He needs to get considerably stronger and improve his handle to the point where he can consistently take defenders off the dribble.

Darby continues to show improvement offensively, as he has expanded his shooting range and can now step out and knock down shots from beyond the arc with accuracy.  He is also a workhorse inside, as he pounds the glass and is a consistent scorer from anywhere in the paint area.  However, Darby tends to play in spurts and he needs to work on being able to put a complete game together.  He has already drawn mid-major recruiting attention from Fairfield, Loyola-Chicago and Bradley.

Another 2012 Prospect To Keep An Eye On

We are talking about 6'5 forward Trashaun Carroll from Proviso East High School in Maywood, IL, who was his team's leading scorer in their victory over Downers South, as he finished with 23 points and also grabbed 9 rebounds.  Carroll is a tweener but he is a pretty darned good one.  He does most of his scoring damage around the basket, is strong on the boards and his mid-range game is quite effective.  Yet another prospect from the 2012 class in Illinois that is worth monitoring closely.

A Model Of Consistency

That would be 6'10 center Jordan Threloff from DeKalb High School in DeKalb, IL.  Threloff is one of the few true post players in Illinois from the 2010 class and is capable of putting up a double-double on any given night.  He didn't quite do that when we watched him on the opening night of the Hoops For Healing Tournament at Naperville North High School but as usual he was effective, scoring 20 points on 7-11 shooting to go along with 7 rebounds and 6 blocks.  Moreover, he controlled the paint as he so often does.  As we have previously stated, Threloff is a tremendous get for head coach Tim Jankovich and Illinois State University.

Who Would Have Thought?...

That St. Joseph would finish in seventh place at the Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament.  Granted the field at St. Charles was loaded, but that is almost unheard of!  At the present time it appears as if there are some major chemistry issues with this team and we were especially surprised at how uninspired a lot of their players looked.  As he has done so many times in the past, it may be up to head coach Gene Pingatore to work some magic in order to right the ship.

Recruiting Myth Of The Week

Actually, it is probably the recruiting myth of the year to this point--that 6'5 class of 2011 forward Wayne Blackshear from Morgan Park High School in Chicago and 6'7 class of 2011 forward Mike Shaw from De LaSalle Institute in Chicago are DEFINITELY a package deal.  As we have already stated repeatedly, just because both Blackshear and Shaw are saying that doesn't automatically make it so but yet too many others seem to forget that.  We are sure that the head coaches of those schools that are recruiting Blackshear and/or Shaw will have something to say about it depending on the number of scholarships that they have available.  That is what will ultimately decide whether or not an actual package deal happens.  Coinciding with this myth is the belief that Blackshear will NEVER go to a certain school despite the fact that they remain on his list. 

The Hype Machine Lives On

And probably always will due to the fact that certain other analysts have personal agendas a mile long and rank players based on nothing more than politics, most notably depending on how strong their relationship is with the player's family, high school coach or AAU coach.  We saw two classic examples of that this past week with players who are both highly ranked by one analyst in the class of 2012, one of whom has already offered up a D1 commitment.  One player didn't even get off the pine when we watched his team play, while the other received very limited minutes.  And we wonder once again why so many high school players these days end up getting big-headed and think that they are ten times better than they really are.  Just one more reason why we encourage everyone to keep it here for the best coverage of Illinois high school basketball, as we give it to you straight!

Continue to check in with Illinois Prep Bulls-eye for all of the latest as it pertains to high school basketball and recruiting in Illinois.