Recruiting - Hoops

Story here on Las Vegas summer hoops event, with mention of Coach Hewitt and some prospects we are scouting.

Trent Johnson of Stanford, Tom Amaker of Michigan, Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech, Bo Ryan of Wisconsin and Bruce Weber of Illinois are among the 100 or so on hand to watch the Ontario (Canada) Cyclones take on the Arizona Magic Blue.

Lawrence Hill, a 6-7 forward from Glendale (Ariz.) Deer Valley, who announced last month that he would sign with Stanford in November, does his best to impress his future coach.

But Johnson, Amaker, Hewitt, Ryan and Weber also have to be impressed by the 6-8 Ryan Wright, who is one of the hottest names of the last month of camp and tournament action and has scored 1,000-plus on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Wright doesn't have nearly the polish and savvy of Hill yet but is bigger, stronger and quicker off his feet. Drop Wright into a Southern California high school for the coming season and he'd be considered one of the top five seniors in the state.

The team from Delaware has a 6-9 kid from London, Eric Boateng. Duke is recruiting Boateng and so is Georgia Tech and Saint Joseph's, which is why Mike Krzyzewski, Paul Hewitt and Phil Martelli are in the gym with yours truly. I wonder if Krzyzewski, Hewitt and Martelli want quality sack time immediately after a cheeseburger and fries, too.

After watching him during an Easter tournament in Las Vegas, during the Pangos All-America Camp in Cypress in early June, during the USA Youth Festival in Colorado Springs a couple of weeks later, the Nike All-America Camp in Indianapolis two weeks ago, and now in the Nike Main Event, I almost feel like a member of Dallas Skyline High senior-to-be Calvin "C.J." Miles' family.

The 6-5 left-hander, who will try to sort out scholarship offers from Georgia Tech, Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina and Illinois and maybe a zillion other schools, is once again the best player on the court while helping Texas Team Elite cruise past Northern California Elite.

On another note, Byron Eaton has eliminated GT - he is down to Ok.St and Cincinati.