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By Marcus Shockley

Chris Walker (6’8″, SF/PF, 2013) isn’t a household name yet, even in recruiting circles. That will probably change in the very near future, as the current 2011 class moves on and the ever-present need for big men in the college ranks means that Chris and his fellow 2013 recruits will be even more highly sought after targets. That doesn’t mean college coaches aren’t aware of him; he’s already garnered a bevy of D1 offers and has extensive interest from major programs across the country.

Chris is mobile, a shot blocker, quick to the rim, with hops and athleticism. But he can also shoot, which makes him the type of player who can be dangerous at any level. In this installment of 7 Questions, we caught up with Chris and got the latest on his thoughts on his future college choice, and what he’s working in his game. Chris currently has several offers on the table from quite a few schools.

Note: this chat was over Twitter’s messaging system, so we were limited to how much space we could put in each message. I’ve edited this slightly in some places to reflect the entire conversation without Twitter’s abbreviation.

1. What’s your school list, and who’s offered that you are looking at?

Florida
Florida State (offer)
Alabama offer
Kentucky
Ohio State
Georgia Tech
Baylor
Tennessee (offer)
Memphis
Syracuse
Connecticut
UCF (offer)
Louiville
Texas

2. Do you have a timetable for a decision?

I’ll make a decision pretty soon or this summer [and] if I don’t by then I know my junior year!!

3. What parts of your game do you feel are the strongest?

Strongest part is me being able to dominate in transition and me being
able to take a big man out and blow past and finish, [getting an] “And 1”

4. What parts of your game are you currently working on?

I’m workin on: my foot work, my jump shot, my range, my handles, my jumping ability, my
speed, post moves, outside moves […] Gotta get right before this summer

5. Do you see yourself as a pure post player, and what position would you like to
play in college? PF, or something else?

Naw, I’m a combo forward a 3 [and] 4 in college, I don’t know yet, depends on how my body develops.

6. Do you have a favorite player who’s game you like?

High School: Love Quincy Miller’s [because] we play alike game and Austin Rivers’ game
College: Perry Jones [because] we play alike [and] Terrance [Jones] from Kentucky
NBA: Lebron, Kevin Durant

7. If you could tell people one thing they don’t know about [you], what would it be?

I would tell them I’m the youngtruth, and I’m [going to be] one and done, and I work harder than the average human being, and I am [one of] the best in [the class of] 2013.

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By Marcus Shockley

The nation’s premier All-American talent showcase for high school basketball talent will be playing its’ 2011 game in Chicago, at the famed United Center on March 30. While the game is hardly a true representation of what these players will be able to do once they land in the college ranks, making the roster is an honor, and it’s based on their body of work during their high school careers.

Chicago is a great basketball atmosphere and this should be a great game. Even though the rosters won’t be set for some time, there are some names that are likely to be locks, such as point guards Austin Rivers and Marquis Teague, power forward James McAdoo and small forward Michael Gilchrist. There is some good talent in this class, although the big men tend to be more of a power forward skill level.

One thing is certain, it’s a celebration of basketball, not just at the high school level, and many of the players who land on the Mickey D’s roster end up in the pros just a few short years later. To be perfectly fair, there are a lot of players who play in the game that do not go on to pro careers; there is a lot of focus on the fact that Lebron and Shaq played in the game and that tends to slant the memory of the game. But you can still see some of the best talent in the nation as they finish up their high school careers.

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James Blackburn covered the Overseas Evaluation Camp during the past weekend, and filed several reports regarding the players in attendance.

Here’s the first rundown of some of the players James interviewed, including a former UNC alum.


TarheelBlue.com

Marc Cambell (PG, 6’0”, 175lbs., UNC)

Marc Campbell profile

Mark did well in the ball handling and shooting drills. During the games he did a decent job of controlling the tempo of the game and his team. He has excellent court vision, but also has a problem of forcing passes and this leads to a lot of unforced turnovers. His shot was not falling during the games but he did enough to secure himself a spot during Day 2.

Mark had some interesting stories to share about himself and his days at UNC. He is actually from Italy and hopes to eventually play there, and he is currently working toward obtaining Italian citizenship.

He is going to attend a couple more exposure camps in Vegas this summer to improve his chances of playing professionally. He said the UNC coaching staff is putting together film for him to send to overseas teams. He enjoyed his 4 years at UNC where he won a national championship and “collected a ton of shoes”.

He said one of his favorite and most memorable experiences at UNC was the 100th anniversary weekend where he was able to play with Vince Carter and Antwain Jamison amongst other UNC alumni.

He also remembers Michael Jordan pulling right up through the Smith Center tunnel in a red Ferrari. (Editor’s note: It’s not clear if this is always where Michael Jordan parks at the Smith Center)

Desmond Blue ( C, 6’11”, 265 lbs., Lee University)
Desmond Blue profile

Desmond is big, strong, and physical.

He displayed good footwork and hands in the post workouts. He did a good job of throwing his weight around in the games and about brought the goal down on one dunk. He is athletic for his size and has a 10-12 ft. range on his jumper.

His main problem is his conditioning as he was easily winded from the up-temp style of the games.

Desmond says he plans on attending the Mike Hart camp in Vegas this summer, and is considering going to the IBL camp as well. The general consensus around camp was that Desmond could be a monster in the paint if he lost some more weight and got into better shape.

Brian Fisher (G, 6’3”, 185lbs., Winston-Salem State Univ.)

Brian Fisher profile

Brian only came to the camp on Saturday, so [James] did not get to see him as much as he would have liked.

He did watch him in his individual workout and Brian did well. He has deep range on his 3 ball and has good form on his jumper. He also displayed good footwork.

In his words, Brian is “trying to get across the water” after graduating from WSSU in June. He plans on attending a few other exposure clinics as well. He has been invited to ones in Myrtle Beach and in his home town Atlanta.

He is currently looking for an agent in addition to attending the exposure camps.

When asked about what he thought about Winston-Salem State going back to the CIAA and D-II NCAA, he was not pleased and thought they were taking a step back after being D-I the last 4 years.

He enjoyed his time at State and said it was worth playing the big schools such as Wake, Georgia Tech, and Oregon for the experience even though they did not win many games against the D-I competition. He said it made them better as a team and also liked the fact that it showed him what it takes to play at that level.

One of the main differences according to Brian was the basketball IQ.

Best of luck to each one of these guys in their endeavors of playing professionally.

The Jump Manual

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A shout out to ScoutsFocus.com for sending us this interview with Kadeem Jack, the 6’9″ post player that has suddenly shown up on several teams’ radar due to the lack of post players still remaining in the 2010 class.

Most notably, Kadeem talks about UNC and his recent options there. He mentions the specific coaches that he’s talked to at UNC and Kentucky, as well as his feelings regarding the schools that were recruiting him previously, which include Miami and Arizona:

Kadeem Jack update

Kadeem Jack Video

Kadeem certainly is giving the fans of the schools he’s considering a lot of great reasons to like him. He talks about trying to do intangible things like working hard, putting full effort on the court, and getting better. With so many top schools interested in him, it’s great to see that he’s grounded and comes across as a young man who understands how to put his best foot forward at all times.

This article originally appeared on ACCBasketballRecruiting.com

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No other collegiate sport has changed as drastically in the past twenty years as Division I college basketball.


Image from ESPN

Top players in college basketball now rarely last four years, and any player with serious NBA prospects is almost guaranteed to leave school early. This means that for coaches of elite programs, bringing in a monster recruiting class usually only buys you a single year, maybe two, of those players being on your roster. With almost half of Kentucky’s 2009-10 roster being built with one-and-done players, they are looking to fill in with talent in way they can, and right now that means bringing in 2010 big men.

There aren’t a ton of top 2010 prospects even available at this point, and Kentucky has a major competitor for these big men in North Carolina, who lost sophomore power forward Ed Davis to the NBA draft and then suddenly lost two more power forwards when the Wear twins transferred. Now UK and UNC are scrambling to look at any and all big man prospects still available.

Unfortunately, there is another factor for these players, which is that in most cases, these players weren’t seriously being recruited by either school until the past few weeks. Considering that all of these big men already had offers from multiple schools, they might take the new interest from elite schools as being somewhat “late to the party”.

Both coaches, John Calipari for Kentucky and Roy Williams for North Carolina, are hoping that the allure of playing for a top, nationally recognized team will appeal to these big men, and also, if a player is a mature, balanced person, may understand that neither school had roster spots until recently.

Of course, there are schools that were already recruiting these players, and they also are going to continue to make a hard push to land players they’ve been courting before the “Big Boys” came along.

A quick look at some of the players now thrust into the national recruiting spotlight:

Kadeem Jack, a 6’9″ center from New York

Papa Samba Ndao, a 6’8″ PF/C who plays for Monteverde Academy in Florida and was at one time committed to Boston College.

Kevin Noreen, a 6’10” big man who also was released from his Boston College commitment

Marcus Thornton, a 6’7″ power forward who originally committed to Clemson but was released when coach Oliver Purnell left for DePaul.

In addition to incoming freshman, there are two transfer players looking for a new home:

Justin Knox a 6’9″ senior transfer from Alabama

Elroy Vargas, a 6’9″ sophomore transfer from Florida.

The Jump Manual