Recruits in Action: Magic 32 tourney rerun on CSTV

CSTV will be replaying the five games of the Magic 32 HoopHall classic that took place during the MLK Weekend in January. Check local listings and the CSTV website for air times. A lot of superstar caliber talent was showcased, including Kevin Durant (TX), Taylor King (Duke) and many many more. Schools featured include Oak Hill, Patterson, Arlington Day, Rice, Montrose Christian, St Neumman Gorretti, and South Kent.

Meanwhile in the next few days, the High Definition TV channel (INHD) will be replaying three touted HS games from last year: Greg Oden's Lawrence North hosting Arlington Day, Thornton at Hoemwood-Flossmoor featuring Julian Wright (now at Kansas), and South Gw at Lanier along with the 2005 Reebok Big Time tourney. As always, check local listings.

Available Top 100 recruits (2006 class - Fans Only/CSTV ranking)

According to the Fans Only (CSTV) Top 100 rankings, the following Top 100 players (2006 class) has not pledged yet:

Davon Jefferson (2005 UNLV commit - reclassified)

Darrell Arthur

Lance Thomas

Tyler Smith (2005 TN commit - reclassified)

Ramar Smith

Jason Bennett (May be a package deal with Bob Huggins, perhaps he will be the new Pittsnogle at W.Va?)

Hamady N'Ddiaye

Now I am not sure how many of the reclassified prospects would qualify for the NBA. As long as they and their class graduated last year, and they meet the age minimum they would be eligible for the NBA draft.

I'm sure as we get closer to the 2006 NBA Draft, the websites that cover the draft will come up with a list of prep prospects that would be eligible for the NBA draft.

Thanks to YocoHoops.com

Thanks to Yocohoops.com for adding this blog to their BlogRoll.

Micah Downs to Gonzaga

http://www.yocohoops.com/story/2006/1/26/182659/730

Catching up with the latest recruiting news

The Recruiting Wars are heating up in Football with Signing Day just around the corner. But basketball recruiting has heated up, with more and more 2007 recruits pledging themselves to big name programs. On top of that, we have the expected inter-semester transfers (eg Terry Martin had enough of Bob Knight and back to Louisianna/LSU).

Details here at CSTV

Some big names have pledged, including super-guard Corey Fisher (did he pledge to a team with a four-guard offense?)

The Micah Downs sweepstakes

Following the departure of Micah Downs from Kansas for "personal reasons", I'm sure the Pacific Northwest teams are officially and unofficially wanting to get him. Gonzaga may have the easiest sell of all: "You, Mr Micah Downs, can be the next Adam Morrison!". Hard to say no to that. Assuming Mark Few wants him, and why wouldn't he? The Zags recently picked up BYU transfer David Burgess and it is a lot easier on the players where there's two of them sitting out instead of one (Apparently transferring runs in the Burgess family as his older brother transfered from Duke).

Others who could/should be interested in Micah Downs are Washington. Washington State will be harder sell, and probably Oregon since Ernie Kent may not be there by the time he gets eligible. The other Pac10 schools may jump in as well, but he will probably end up at either Gonzaga or Washington - unless they don't want him.

Duke is King in 2007?

Duke managed to edge out Villanova (!) and Gonzaga (!) for the services of SoCal super-prep Taylor King (2007). His coach mentioned North Carolina finished fourth. This was revealed at the local FSN channel and then spread through the wire.

In retrospect, his early commitment to UCLA had been a marriage of convinience for King (didn't have to worry about recruiting) and Ben Howland (just hired at UCLA, gets a splashy future commit). But after surpring people with his talent level and actually living up to expectations he decided he wanted to play somewhere more "fun".

Villanova is already receiving dividends from their NCAA run last year and the 05-06 season. This is a great sign for Jay Wright - being in the Top 3 and ahead of UNC for a SoCal prospect.

Gonzaga is also huge, as now they can sell the "Adam Morrisson" angle to potential versatile forwards (such as Taylor King).

Another interesting pattern is the cycle of Duke and North Carolina. UNC has a super 2006 class, Duke is building towards a super 2007 class. Carolina was the top team in the country in 2004-05, Duke is the top team in 2005-06. Their recruiting seems to follow the same pattern. Interesting...