By Roy & Harv Schmidt

One thing that has been clearly established upon the conclusion of holiday basketball tournaments in Illinois is who the leading candidates are for player of the year in the Chicago area. As of now, we think that it is a two horse race between Homewood-Flossmoor point guard Kevin Dillard and Farragut big man Michael Dunigan. If we were voting today, we would have to give the slight edge to Dillard for a number of reasons.

Before we go any further, we believe that it is important to point out that the player of the year does not automatically go to the best college prospect. There is no doubt in our mind that Dunigan is not only the best college prospect in the state, but also the player with the most NBA potential. He has proven that he is the most dominating post player in Illinois at both ends of the floor and when he plays with intensity is virtually unstoppable. However, there are a number of other factors that go into selecting a player of the year. With that being said, we are enamored with all of the things that Dillard brings to the table.

First and foremost, there is no player in the state who means more to his team's success than Dillard. The rest of the H-F team is dependent upon him and looks to him to provide leadership, which he has done in every game this season. The ultimate testament of a leader is someone who is capable of making all of his teammates better. Not only has Dillard done that, but he also has earned the respect of every opponent who has faced him.

Despite being only 6'0, Dillard has shown that he is a player who can put a team on his back and carry a team to the Promised Land. He did it earlier in the year at the Chicago Heights Thanksgiving Tournament, hitting a running floater at the buzzer to propel H-F to the championship over Bloom. He also did it in H-F's first matchup versus Whitney Young at Chicago State in early December. And even though H-F didn't win the championship, he did it again at this year's Proviso West Holiday Tournament.

In H-F's 63-61 overtime victory over Marshall in the tournament semifinals, Dillard did not have one of his better shooting performances, going 4-16 from the field. However, he went to the free throw line 24 times, which was more than the entire Marshall team and clearly controlled the game from start to finish, winding up with 27 points to go along with 6 steals and 5 assists. H-F's game-winning basket came about because the Marshall defense put all of its effort into making sure that Dillard wouldn't be the one who would beat them. As a result, it enabled 6'4 senior Dominique Harvey to go the length of the court and score an uncontested layup for the win. That is the impact that players of the year have. Dillard simply refuses to let his team lose, and with the lone exception of the championship at Proviso West, he has accomplished just that.

Dillard signed a letter of intent during the Fall signing period with Southern Illinois, and there is no question that he is a steal for the Salukis. In fact, he may be one of the biggest recruiting steals in recent memory. A huge amount of credit for that has to go to Saluki head coach Chris Lowery, who is an outstanding evaluator of talent, especially when it comes to identifying prospects at an early age. Long before any other college coach, Lowery saw what a special type of point guard Dillard is and realized that he would be a perfect fit for his system at Southern Illinois.

The final mark of a worthy player of the year candidate is someone who has the ability to lead his team to the state finals in Peoria. Not only is Dillard more than capable of doing that, but he makes H-F a serious contender for the class 4A state championship. With that being said, the final chapter could be written in March.

At the same time, Dunigan is also a player who can lead his team to Peoria and whose mere presense makes Farragut a state championship contender. Dunigan could go a long way towards changing the landscape before the end of this next weekend should he turn in dominating performances or if Farragut wins the Chicago Public League Holiday Tournament, which opens on Wednesday at Loyola's Gentile Center. Once again, time will tell.

Posted by Roy & Harv Schmidt at 08:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

As we have said numerous times, one event does not determine a player's ranking or evaluation. At the same time, when you have an event as prestigious as last weekend's Assembly Hall Shootout in Champaign, it can have a huge degree of influence with respect to either raising or lowering a player's stock. Such was the case with Rich South sophomore Crandall Head and Sterling junior Joe Bertrand.

Make no mistake about it, this past Saturday's event at the University of Illinois' Assembly Hall was an opportunity for all of the recruits who have already pledged their commitments to the Illini, as well as several underclass prospects who Illini head coach Bruce Weber and his coaching staff are targeting heavily, to perform on center stage. Not only that, but it offered all of them the chance to show that they belong--that they deserve to be mentioned among the elite prospects in the state of Illinois.

No two players enhanced their stock more at the Assembly Hall Shootout than Head and Bertrand. Head in particular had everyone in attendance buzzing, finishing with 34 points on 14-21 shooting to go along with 6 rebounds and 3 steals in a 62-60 loss to Champaign Centennial. Simply put, he did a little bit of everything. He drilled threes, converted turnovers, showed his utter explosiveness in terms of getting to the basket, and wowed the crowd with his athleticism.

Those who think that Head is now the #1 player in the class of 2010 or that he is better than his brother Luther at the same stage are getting a little carried away. We do find the resemblance between Crandall and Luther to be a striking one, as they have similar overall skill sets. While Crandall may be a better shooter than Luther was as a sophomore in high school, we still have vivid memories of Luther as a sophomore at Manley and the bottom line is that he was pretty darned good. At the present time, we do not think that Head is the #1 sophomore in Illinois, as we rank him just behind Waukegan's Jereme Richmond and Whitney Young's Anthony Johnson. However, there is no question that he has closed the gap significantly.

What adds to the excitement surrounding Crandall Head is that a future commitment to the University of Illinois is imminent and may in fact already be a done deal. The current word is that he will make a formal announcement some time in January. All the more reason to be on cloud nine if you are a charter member of the Illini Nation.

Moving to Bertrand, the Illini class of 2009 commit made quite a statement as well, as he ended up with 28 points on 11-18 shooting in Sterling's 57-51 win over Peoria Central. At the present time Bertrand clearly ranks among the top 2 or 3 prospects in the state from the 2009 class. He may have the most versatility, as he is capable of playing as many as three positions on the floor. All three of the current Illini commitments from the class of 2009 (Bertrand, Peoria Central's D.J. Richardson and Warren's Brandon Paul) have been mentioned as candidates for the point guard spot once the 2009-10 season begins. However, Bertrand may be the one who is most ready to assume that position right now.

Based on his performance in Champaign, Bertrand showed that he is a great slasher and mid-range player, as he consistently gets into the lane and can hit short floaters or dish to an open teammate. He also has the ability to drill shots from downtown and has a good feel and understanding of the game. Above everything else he is smooth. There is no question that any Illini fan who sees Bertrand for the first time will take an immediate liking to him.

While Head and Bertrand have made significant moves in our rankings and evaluations, we once again emphasize that one event doesn't automatically change things. Classic examples of this are two other players who participated in the Assembly Hall Shootout who have already committed to the Illini, those being Paul and Richmond. Although neither Paul or Richmond were as dominant as Head or Bertrand, we also don't think that either player did anything to signify that their stock has fallen. As a result, Paul and Richmond remain our top ranked players in Illinois from the classes of 2009 and 2010 respectively.

We have several thoughts on some other players who we have seen recently as well. However, we believe that we would be better served to offer those upon the conclusion of the holiday tournaments, most of which are only a week away, with the exception of those that start as early as this weekend. On that note, we wish everyone a joyous holiday season.

Posted by Roy & Harv Schmidt at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

If there is one machine in Chicago that is even more powerful than the political machine it is the never-ending hype machine that surrounds high school basketball. Sure enough, the hype artists are in full force once again, with the latest revolving around Curie's 6'4 freshman Wayne Blackshear. In fact, it has gotten so bad that we almost feel sorry for the kid.

Let us begin by saying that we think that Wayne Blackshear is going to be a very good player down the road. However, the key words are "down the road." But you can't tell that to all of the self-proclaimed internet gurus, media heads, and street people who are on personal ego trips to predict the next great player from the Windy City.

When we read all of the hype that has been thrust upon Blackshear after playing only three high school games the only thing we can do is scratch our heads. Some of the things that we have heard and read are unbelievable. Blackshear has already been compared to Corey Maggette and according to some has already made his mark as a force to be reckoned with in the Chicago Public League.

Our question to all of these people is what is your basis for making these claims? We say this because at the present time we believe that there is no basis. Having witnessed Blackshear's performance against Peoria Richwoods this past Saturday in the Chicago Public Schools Shootout , we feel that we have more than enough basis for the position we are taking. In a 48-42 loss to Richwoods, Blackshear finished with 8 points and 7 rebounds. Actually, these are not bad numbers for a freshman, but they are hardly the numbers of someone who has been projected by many as a "phenom."

Simply put, the enormous overhype that has been placed upon Blackshear is totally unfair and in our opinion downright sickening. All that it does is put additional unnecessary pressure upon Blackshear to the point of setting him up for failure. O.K.--maybe Blackshear is capable of overcoming all of this, but then again maybe he isn't. If the later happens to be the case, it will be through no fault of his own. Young players such as Blackshear are all too often victims of unlofty and unrealistic expectations to the point where the only place that they can go is down.

As talent evaluators and recruiting analysts who publish our own scouting service, we would like to believe that college coaches want to read honest and objective evaluations of prospective recruits that are free of the politics and hype that have become all too common in today's high school basketball world. From our standpoint, it does us no good to do nothing more than engage in sugercoating and constantly telling everyone how great a player is. But then again, maybe that is why we do what we do and others do what they do.

Again, don't get us wrong. We believe that Blackshear will undoubtedly project as a high major player down the road, which is why a good number of D1 schools are already knocking on his door. He is a superb athlete and at the present time we think that the strongest part of his game is his rebounding, as he is quick off his feet and has great instincts around the glass. However, anything that you want to call hype should end right there. Right now Blackshear isn't even the #1 player in the state from the class of 2011. That honor belongs to De LaSalle's 6'7 Mike Shaw, who we simply think has a greater up side than Blackshear and at the present time has better developed offensive skills.

A lot was made about Blackshear's high school debut at the Curie Shootout last month. In our minds Blackshear's debut was in no way comparable to that of Derrick Rose, who also made his varsity debut at Curie. Rose had already earned his stripes, while Blackshear still has a ways to go in that regard. Therefore, to say that Blackshear has arrived as a player because of one spectacular play is ludicrous.

The bottom line is that there are only two high school freshmen from Illinois in recent memory who proved that they were worthy of every ounce of praise thrust upon them from day one. Those two players are Simeon's Rose and Glenbrook North's Jon Scheyer. They did so by ultimately capturing the greatest prize of all--a state championship. Blackshear still has three more years after this one to accomplish that. Therefore, we are not willing to proclaim Blackshear as the next mayor of Chicago or anoint him as a basketball god. Instead, let's hold off on the coronation and the deification for now.

Posted by Roy & Harv Schmidt at 06:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

We have to admit that we never thought we would be doing a blog on St. Rita junior guard Terrance Johnson this early in the game. However, it seems that he is currently one of the most talked about players in the class of 2009 from Illinois and the subject of considerable debate when it comes to analyzing his game. Therefore, now is as good a time as any for us to offer our thoughts.

First of all, we were not at Chicago State University this past Sunday to witness Johnson's 34 point outing in St. Rita's 72-62 loss to Von Steuben. However, we were in the gym at St. Rita last Friday night to watch Johnson's performance in St. Rita's 86-84 loss to Seton Academy. Ironically enough, Johnson transferred to St. Rita from Seton Academy prior to the start of this school year.

After Johnson's effort vs. Von Steuben, others who were in attendance at Chicago State came away raving about Johnson, with some of them throwing out scouting jargon referring to him as a "high major prospect" or "ideal mid-major prospect." In our opinion, Johnson's performance vs. Seton Academy may have been just as telling (at least for now) with respect to projecting what level he is best suited for in college.

With all of this being said, we are not yet ready to become a part of the Johnson hyperbole. At the present time, we believe that Johnson is clearly a D1 prospect, although certainly not at the high major level and we even have questions as far as being a mid-major is concerned. We currently project him as being anywhere in the low to mid-major range.

There is no question that Johnson can score. In fact, that is the strongest element of his game. However, one needs to look at how he scores the majority of his points, which come mostly in transition and by getting into the lane and either hitting short pull-up jumpers or finishing with strong drives to the basket. Johnson has remarkable speed and quickness which he utilizes quite well to either score points or get to the foul line.

Now the downside. While we have seen Johnson listed at various heights, right now we believe that he is no bigger than 5'11. Not only that, but he is much more of a 2-guard as opposed to a point guard. This can be evidenced by the fact that Johnson had one assist in the Seton Academy game. We also still have to question Johnson's consistency with respect to his shooting range, as he only converted one three-pointer, shooting 1-4 from beyond the arc en route to 21 points for the game vs. Seton Academy.

Don't get us wrong--we believe that Johnson possesses enough ability in several key areas to possibly become an even better player down the road. However, we also have to go on the basis of what we see right now. We have talked to a couple of high school coaches whose teams have already played against Johnson and interestingly enough both of them pretty much concur with our current level of projection. Recruiting-wise, Johnson has been offered a scholarship by Baylor and is receiving heavy interest from Harvard and several others.

While we believe that Johnson probably does rank among the top 15-20 juniors in Illinois, that does not automatically equate with where he projects as far as a college prospect is concerned. The bottom line is that it still may be a bit too early to tell. Rarely do we talk about 5'11 underclass guards in terms of potential, as that is a tag we usually reserve for big men. However, in Johnson's case we feel that it is most applicable. Therefore, let's hold off from jumping on the bandwagon just now and see how he continues to progress.

Posted by Roy & Harv Schmidt at 02:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

Now that the Illinois High School Association has totally ruined America's Original March Madness (otherwise known as the state tournament) with the introduction of the four class system, there are no more significant in-season events than holiday tournaments. In fact, we believe they have become more important than ever, both from an evaluation and a recruiting standpoint.

Several other respected recruiting analysts have long told us that when it comes to regular season high school basketball, very little matters until the time holiday tournaments come around. We agreed with all of them then and we agree even more now.

Simply put, history has shown us that the overall quality of play is much poorer in the first month of the season leading up to the holiday tournaments. There are a number of factors that contribute to this. For one, many players have not yet hit their stride. This often tends to change right around the time that holiday tournaments begin. Also, while we would love to be able to say that every team and every individual plays hard all the time, any realist knows that is not the case. For whatever reason, many of them tend to play considerably harder and with a greater purpose come holiday tournament time. It may be that they believe that more is on the line, or perhaps they play to the level of competition.

Ah, the competition! That is something that is critical to us from an evaluation standpoint. The bottom line is that as editors and publishers of our own scouting service, we want to be able to evaluate players in environments which offer them the highest degree of competition. There is no question that all of the premier holiday tournaments in the state of Illinois offer that opportunity. Whether it be the Proviso West Holiday Tournament, the Pontiac Holiday Tournament, the Big Dipper Holiday Tournament, the Elgin Holiday Tournament, the State Farm Insurance Holiday Classic, the Pekin Holiday Tournament, the Centralia Holiday Tournament, or the Collinsville Holiday Tournament, all of them are capable of providing any true basketball junkie with either three or four days of basketball heaven at the end of the year.

While we are saying how important holiday tournaments are to scouts and talent evaluators, just imagine how valuable they are and what they mean to college coaches from a recruiting standpoint. In fact, with the exception of the July evaluation period, we will go as far as to say that holiday tournament time is the most crucial time of the year for any college recruiter.

Those who wish to dispute this need to do nothing more than examine the schedules of several college basketball programs who recruit the state of Illinois on a regular basis, something that we took the time to do before writing this blog. What do DePaul, Illinois State, Loyola, Marquette, Northern Illinois and Notre Dame all have in common? After December 22, none of them have a game scheduled until December 29. The majority of the top holiday tournaments in Illinois run from December 26-29. Northwestern, meanwhile, does not play a single game whatsoever between December 20 and January 2.

There are certainly a number of factors as to why these teams have scheduled this way, but one big reason is because all of them want to be able to see as many recruits as possible during the time of the holiday tournaments. And the period from December 26-29 makes it convenient for them to do so. Although division one college coaches cannot be in the gym on December 26, they still have three full days from December 27-29 to see a high number of potential recruits either under one roof or at locations within sufficient driving distance from one another. While all of the aforementioned programs as well as countless others will undoubtedly spend at least one day at Proviso West, many of them are certain to hit any of the other top holiday tournaments in Illinois as well.

Now that the state tournament has become totally watered down due to the expansion to four classes and many of the traditional rivalries that we have been used to seeing in March are now gone thanks to the efforts of the IHSA, the holiday tournaments are the best there is when it comes to high school basketball in Illinois. This is primarily because they are virtually the one thing (maybe the only thing) that has been able to continue in its original form and therefore remains unblemished. Unlike the state tournament, we can only hope that is something that never changes.

Posted by Roy & Harv Schmidt at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)