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This is a hectic time of the year for college coaches. Between their own team's games and all the high school tournaments going on, there is little time for them to feel the spirit of Christmas.
While some lucky programs are already scoping out nothing but underclassmen, most schools are still looking for size, point guards, and wing athletes; a lot of them in that order.
Thus, this is the time of the year when potential recruits who were deemed not good enough to merit interest last spring, summer, and fall, are now being looked at with a "fresh eye," so to speak. Of course, many of these recruits will be taken by the high major programs for depth more than out of need, further reducing the available stock for the mid-majors.
There is also a pool of high school players who were, and still are considered junior college bound due to academic reasons that will now have their academic progress checked closely. And, postgraduates at prep schools will now become more sought after. Throw in the junior colleges and you have a motley crew of prospects -- fraught with all kind of question marks.
One category we will not look at now are the "sleepers." Many would like to believe that in this day and age of the Internet, not to mention all the scouting services, that there are no such things as "sleepers". But with so many kids playing ball in so many places these days, there are several who still slip through the cracks, and we will feature some of those when we get to the early, early spring.
For now, here is a brief look at 15 of those interesting prospects include the following:
Julius Lamptey, 7-foot, (Northeast/Oklahoma City, Okla.): He is even bigger than Lang. Chances are good that Lamptey will stay in-state but he also has yet to qualify. A big, space-eater.
Darryl Jacobs, 6-10, (Maine Central Institute/Pittsfield, Maine): has been well scouted and recruited (most notably by Pittsburgh in the past) and is a postgraduate.
David Patten, 6-10, (El Dorado/Placentia, Calif.): Patten has been likened to former NBA great Tom Chambers by some, and is a power forward on defense and a scorer who can drive it and flush or shoot the 3. Patten is an oddity. He has his SAT and needs to get his core. He has had some heavy recruitment, but is unsure of what he wants and is wide-open.
Dakin Braddock, 6-10, (North Charleston/North Charleston, S.C.): An intriguing player. Tall and slender, Braddock is a finesse player. A program will have to invest some time and patience in him, but Braddock could be worth it.
Elliott Poole, 6-5, (Farragut/Chicago, Ill.): A strong and physical prospect. Problem is he's an undersized kid for his best position -- power forward.
J.R. Morris, 6-5, (Christian Faith Center/Creedmoor, N.C.): A top 100 talent who has not been as interested in academics as he should and has left Milwaukee for North Carolina where he is endeavoring to fix that situation.
Donald Wilson, 6-4, (Dorsey/Los Angeles, Calif.): There may not be a better athlete out there, but due to a severely sprained ankle, Wilson played virtually on one foot all summer and still played over the rim in making the All Tournament teams at both adidas events. Wilson should make his core GPA and is in the ballpark on the SAT/ACT.
Reggie Butler, 6-5, (Poly/Long Beach, Calif.): A big-time athlete, who is also working on being a full qualifier.
Antonio Lawrence, 6-4 (San Joaquine Memorial/Fresno, Calif.): While a lot of players go east or south to shore up academic deficiencies, others transfer for other reasons. For whatever reason, Lawrence decided to leave Florida and head west to Fresno, Calif. Lawrence has been a high-profile player since his first day of high school. Nobody questions his athleticism.
Greg Brown, 6-1, (Vincent/Milwaukee, Wis.): Brown is no secret and an aggressive scoring combo guard. The final outcome of his academic/test score situation will determine his immediate future home.
Jeremy Monceaux, 6-1, (Parkway Christian/Birmingham, Ala.): A very skilled point guard who is only available due to an injury that derailed his recruiting. Monceaux is fully qualified and now may be leaning towards staying in-state, although he is definitely open in his recruitment to all comers.
Jason McKinney, 5-11, (Inglewood/Inglewood, Calif.): McKinney also had surgery, although his was earlier than Monceaux. Unlike Monceaux, there is no certainty of his final academic outcome. McKinney has all the speed he needs and then some as he can change gears, shake and fly past defenders.
And of course, there are some very highly ranked and well-known players still out there such as 6'10 Sani Ibrahim (Oak Hill Academy/Mouth of Wilson, Va.). Ibrahim has the frame to impact immediately in college and the touch to go with it. There are times when he is doing too much "dancing" and not enough banging and finishing, but he is certainly a highly valued prospect.
Ibrahim has been thinking about declaring for the NBA draft out of high school for quite a while now.
There is also 6-9 DeAngelo Collins (Inglewood/Inglewood, Calif.), who has publicly said that he was going to come out for the NBA after high school. His coach has been quoted in the papers as saying that if Collins went anywhere it would likely be Fresno State. The University of Southern California has also been monitoring Collins closely for quite some time. Inglewood has a history of "getting it done," as far as its players graduating with their core and we will not bet against it happening here -- if Collins decides he wants to attend college.
Last but not least, let us not forget the top ranked player in the senior class -- 6-6 Lenny Cooke (Northern Valley Regional/Old Tappan, N.J.), who is ineligible to play this year (not due to academic reasons). Cooke is working on becoming a full qualifier, making it his option as to whether he attends college or bypasses it for the NBA draft.
David Benezra and Mark Mayemura cover the national college basketball recruiting scene at their Recruiting USA (www.recruitingusa.com) website. E-mail at: hoopsusa@mindspring.com or call (818) 783-2244 or (818) 783-2212 for subscription information.
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