NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C./AUGUSTA, Ga./INDIANAPOLIS/MILWAUKEE/FISHERS/FORT WAYNE - Another July recruiting season is in the books and the challenge here on this web site once again lies in finding the best, most concise and most comprehensive ways to relay all we have seen in our summer travels in the past month, which included a run of days that had us covering some event somewhere 12 out of 13 days in the middle of the month and a total of 14 out of the past 18 as of Sunday night.
The month included stops at four different hotels in four different cities; one (thankfully snake-free) flight; the extended use of four different cars; and one atrocious late-night experience consuming some sort of food-like substance at a Waffle House in the company of likely meth dealers who are likely draining their own inventory on personal use.
It's the life of a coach this time of year, only far more manageable. I didn't have to drive from one Midwest city to another through the night since no commercial flight was available to get me from Point A to Point in time for an 8 a.m. tipoff. I didn't have to fly from Vegas to Orlando, crafting the trip around the absolute cluster that can be the schedule of a massive summer tournament.
It's absolute hell.
But for those who love it, it's a good kind of hell.
With all that said, here are some of the highlights of this past spring and summer recruiting periods from our personal involvement.
Bryant McIntosh's signature moment.
In AAU, kids play so many games that you only occasionally encounter that moment that can mean everything to a young man.
McIntosh, recently decommitted from Indiana State, had his moment at the adidas Invitational and rose to the occasion.
Playing in a game against ultra-talented Dream Vision, in the ample venue of Northview Middle School's main gym, in a game that multiple head coaches just happened to be planning to attend, McIntosh was amazing.
At the risk of throwing cliches at you, he put his Gordon All-Stars team on his back - he and under-recruited high school teammate Sean Sellers both - and dominated, raining mid-range pull-ups and turning a double-digit halftime deficit into a one-sided win.
Our tweet at the time read, "Here come some offers."
He got like 20 of them, probably the majority off that game alone.
If McIntosh ends up at Purdue, he can thank that game, played in front of Matt Painter.
Walked alongside 7-foot-2 Isaac Haas for just a few moments as we went outside to get out of the range of bouncing basketballs - the scourge of the video interview - and could only laugh as the poor kid was asked by every teenage girl we walked by (at least five), "How tall are you?"
Must be rough. Dude, wear a sign.
Much like Bryant McIntosh did, Mishawaka's Devin Cannady found his stage and put on a hell of a show.
The difference being that Cannady hasn't often found a national showcase opportunity the way McIntosh, with his Gordon teams, had.
Cannady plays on a lesser-known AAU team that doesn't get much more than regional exposure, so when his chance came to play Indiana Elite in front of all the coaches there to watch Jalen Coleman and Hyron Edwards, he made the most of it.
By scoring 41 points against IE, Cannady immediately made a name for himself and at the same time probably ruined my video interview with Steve McElvene because of all the screaming in the background. Yeah, that was Cannady's fault.
We have to be neutral parties here, but there is something so very satisfying about seeing a young person get the biggest opportunity of their careers, maybe their lives, and take a huge step toward making their dreams come true.
Not one, but two, journeys through rainstorms that were far more acts of a vengeful god than they were weather occurrences. Speaking of, is there anything more harrowing in this world than sneezing while driving on a packed interstate through a storm of biblical fury?
In Fishers, Caleb Swanigan put together the most dominant single day of AAU I think I've ever seen, scoring 50-some points and grabbing roughly 250 rebounds (give or take) in back-to-back games in Fishers, propelling his Spiece 15s team to the 16s championship at the Crossroads Challenge.
He is literally a grown man playing against children, which IMO makes the Class of 2016 big man a complicated evaluation for college coaches.
Not one, but two, women's restrooms inadvertently walked into. By me, if that wasn't clear.
From the National High School Basketball Coaches event in Indy, continued amazement at how a state as hoops-crazy as Kentucky can simply have no players at all, running out awful all-star teams every year, teams that shouldn't even be on the same court as the teams Indiana puts out every year.
Continued admiration for Purdue 2014 commitment Dakota Mathias' all-around game.
At Spiece in the spring, I remember being stunned how good he was that weekend, figuring he'd be just another one-trick-pony jump-shooter.
He is a hell of a jump-shooter - a guy who can make every kind of jump shot - but a better basketball player.
He always makes the right play and his teams just find ways to win. It's not a coincidence.
Mathias is tailor-made for what Purdue needs in every sense, the only problem being he can't enroll right now.
Pride in my own ability to supress laughter during an interview when a certain big man prospect suggested his academic ambitions (science or math) be directly linked to his heritage. Figure it out.
Our first extended look at Barret Benson, the Boilermaker-legacy center in the Class of 2016 who has a chance to be really, really, really good.
He is still just a puppy, but there are things there - his ability to play tall, higher than everyone else, and to react quickly at the rim as a rebounder and a shot-blocker - that a lot of high-level big men never develop.
And for the next two summers, he will be coached by one of the most challenging, labor-intensive summer programs there is, the Illinois Wolves.
Sean McDermott's burgeoning emergence into a high-major player. The shooting guard from Pendleton Heights can shoot the leather off the ball and is atypically tough for a 170-something-pound three-point specialist with bony arms.
AAU teammate Bronson Kessinger isn't far behind. He is probably only 6-foot-7, which isn't ideal for a traditional garbage-man-type power forward, but he plays his you-know-what off and is really active and violent at the rim. If he grows or develops a perimeter game enough to stretch defenses, he might be a Big Ten player.
Some reason to believe Jordan Ash is coming along nicely. For so long, the Purdue target from Chicago has been far more athlete than player, and there's no shame in that considering he is an elite athlete.
In Milwaukee, though, he shot the three very well in the games we saw, a very important sign for a 6-2 wing-type who needs improved guard skills for the next level.
More pure venom coming from the sidelines from parents and such at referees, coaches and their kids' teammates. I once told my wife I would be a good parent because I've seen too much of the worst of it not to be. It gets worse every year.
Furthermore, to the offer- and ranking-crazy parents, some perspective would be great. Whether its Duke or Dayton, UCLA or UC-San Luis Obisbo, your kid is going to college for free. You're a winner.
There is nothing wrong with "just" being good.
Clear indication the Class of 2016 is going to have some outstanding players for Purdue to recruit.
Swanigan, Benson, D.J. Wilkins, Cordell Pemsl, Nai Carlisle, Joey Brunk, C.J. Walker, Kyle Guy, Tyler Cook and all the guys I'm probably forgetting, they look like great prospects.
One placard at a tournament that shall remained unnamed that read, "Coaches Enterance." Seriously.
Clear indication that Matt Painter is guard-crazy right now.
In 2012-13 he didn't have enough of them. If he has any say-so in the matter - and he does - that will never happen again.
Purdue is on Bryant McIntosh, J.P. Macura and Ronnie Harrell and will probably take all three if it some how, some way, finds itself in position to. And that says nothing of its continued involvement with Tyler Ulis.
Clear indication that Purdue's search for a center in its 2014 class is a, for lack of a better term, wide-open field. There is no obvious "guy" and no flawless, complete possibility, it doesn't appear.
Awe in Augusta National's ability to make damn sure no one from the outside world knows there's actually a golf course behind that wall of trees and hedges. Asked the lady at the hotel where it was, then realized I'd already driven past it twice.
An incredibly human moment this past weekend in Fort Wayne when a notoriously fiery and often hysterical (in every meaning of the term) AAU coaching veteran in the state saw his short-handed 15-and-under team get handled by an older, much better team.
On his bench sat a young point guard, obviously distraught over his struggles in the game his team's two best players from the weekend before were playing elsewhere with different teams.
The coach - one who prides himself on being hard on his players for their own good - zeroed in on the teary-eyed kid and begged him to shake it off, pleading with him to keep in mind this was only one game and that his team was overwhelmed in many ways.
Maybe it was a had-to-be-there sort of thing, but as it so happened, I was practically standing in the team's huddle and it served as a reminder that these are kids learning as they go and their coaches - in many cases, these young peoples' part-time caretakers in the summer - can have such an impact for better and worse.
AAU takes a lot of crap from people who don't understand it, but just know that there are good people out there looking out for their kids and understanding the big picture.
This post was edited on 7/28 11:37 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
The month included stops at four different hotels in four different cities; one (thankfully snake-free) flight; the extended use of four different cars; and one atrocious late-night experience consuming some sort of food-like substance at a Waffle House in the company of likely meth dealers who are likely draining their own inventory on personal use.
It's the life of a coach this time of year, only far more manageable. I didn't have to drive from one Midwest city to another through the night since no commercial flight was available to get me from Point A to Point in time for an 8 a.m. tipoff. I didn't have to fly from Vegas to Orlando, crafting the trip around the absolute cluster that can be the schedule of a massive summer tournament.
It's absolute hell.
But for those who love it, it's a good kind of hell.
With all that said, here are some of the highlights of this past spring and summer recruiting periods from our personal involvement.
In AAU, kids play so many games that you only occasionally encounter that moment that can mean everything to a young man.
McIntosh, recently decommitted from Indiana State, had his moment at the adidas Invitational and rose to the occasion.
Playing in a game against ultra-talented Dream Vision, in the ample venue of Northview Middle School's main gym, in a game that multiple head coaches just happened to be planning to attend, McIntosh was amazing.
At the risk of throwing cliches at you, he put his Gordon All-Stars team on his back - he and under-recruited high school teammate Sean Sellers both - and dominated, raining mid-range pull-ups and turning a double-digit halftime deficit into a one-sided win.
Our tweet at the time read, "Here come some offers."
He got like 20 of them, probably the majority off that game alone.
If McIntosh ends up at Purdue, he can thank that game, played in front of Matt Painter.
Must be rough. Dude, wear a sign.
The difference being that Cannady hasn't often found a national showcase opportunity the way McIntosh, with his Gordon teams, had.
Cannady plays on a lesser-known AAU team that doesn't get much more than regional exposure, so when his chance came to play Indiana Elite in front of all the coaches there to watch Jalen Coleman and Hyron Edwards, he made the most of it.
By scoring 41 points against IE, Cannady immediately made a name for himself and at the same time probably ruined my video interview with Steve McElvene because of all the screaming in the background. Yeah, that was Cannady's fault.
We have to be neutral parties here, but there is something so very satisfying about seeing a young person get the biggest opportunity of their careers, maybe their lives, and take a huge step toward making their dreams come true.
He is literally a grown man playing against children, which IMO makes the Class of 2016 big man a complicated evaluation for college coaches.
At Spiece in the spring, I remember being stunned how good he was that weekend, figuring he'd be just another one-trick-pony jump-shooter.
He is a hell of a jump-shooter - a guy who can make every kind of jump shot - but a better basketball player.
He always makes the right play and his teams just find ways to win. It's not a coincidence.
Mathias is tailor-made for what Purdue needs in every sense, the only problem being he can't enroll right now.
He is still just a puppy, but there are things there - his ability to play tall, higher than everyone else, and to react quickly at the rim as a rebounder and a shot-blocker - that a lot of high-level big men never develop.
And for the next two summers, he will be coached by one of the most challenging, labor-intensive summer programs there is, the Illinois Wolves.
AAU teammate Bronson Kessinger isn't far behind. He is probably only 6-foot-7, which isn't ideal for a traditional garbage-man-type power forward, but he plays his you-know-what off and is really active and violent at the rim. If he grows or develops a perimeter game enough to stretch defenses, he might be a Big Ten player.
In Milwaukee, though, he shot the three very well in the games we saw, a very important sign for a 6-2 wing-type who needs improved guard skills for the next level.
Furthermore, to the offer- and ranking-crazy parents, some perspective would be great. Whether its Duke or Dayton, UCLA or UC-San Luis Obisbo, your kid is going to college for free. You're a winner.
There is nothing wrong with "just" being good.
Swanigan, Benson, D.J. Wilkins, Cordell Pemsl, Nai Carlisle, Joey Brunk, C.J. Walker, Kyle Guy, Tyler Cook and all the guys I'm probably forgetting, they look like great prospects.
In 2012-13 he didn't have enough of them. If he has any say-so in the matter - and he does - that will never happen again.
Purdue is on Bryant McIntosh, J.P. Macura and Ronnie Harrell and will probably take all three if it some how, some way, finds itself in position to. And that says nothing of its continued involvement with Tyler Ulis.
On his bench sat a young point guard, obviously distraught over his struggles in the game his team's two best players from the weekend before were playing elsewhere with different teams.
The coach - one who prides himself on being hard on his players for their own good - zeroed in on the teary-eyed kid and begged him to shake it off, pleading with him to keep in mind this was only one game and that his team was overwhelmed in many ways.
Maybe it was a had-to-be-there sort of thing, but as it so happened, I was practically standing in the team's huddle and it served as a reminder that these are kids learning as they go and their coaches - in many cases, these young peoples' part-time caretakers in the summer - can have such an impact for better and worse.
AAU takes a lot of crap from people who don't understand it, but just know that there are good people out there looking out for their kids and understanding the big picture.
This post was edited on 7/28 11:37 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
