Tramell Weathersby is bound for Texas.

The four-year varsity player for coach Wendell Jeffries at East Aurora High School has signed to play basketball next year at Lee College, a Division I junior college just outside Houston.

"Two weekends ago they flew him down (to Baytown, Texas) for a visit," said Jeffries. "One of their assistant coaches, Marcus King, attended our Christmas Tournament and saw Tramell play and he's kept in touch."

The 6-foot-4 Weathersby started at center as a freshman for Jeffries on a team that made it to the sectional final. He played forward this past season, averaging 14 points and 6.1 rebounds to earn all-Upstate Eight Conference and Beacon News All-Area second team honors.

Lee head coach plans to play Weathersby on the wing or at shooting guard, Jeffries said.

Weathersby also had an offer to play at Parkland Junior College in Champaign.

He was just the fourth of five freshmen to ever play on the varsity at East High, preceded by Thomas Wyatt, Aaron McGhee and Tarius Dawkins and followed by Ryan Boatright.

After meeting Monday with new Holy Cross University basketball coach Milan Brown, Kaneland center David Dudzinski has decided to stay with the school reports his AAU coach, Sean Connor.
The 6-foot-9 Dudzinski will not seek to be released from his national letter of intent, signed last November.

Dudzinski was recruited to the school by Sean Kearney, the former Notre Dame assistant who was fired after going 9-22 his first season with a team that was expected to contend for the Patriot League title.

Kaneland coach Brian Johnson said Milan Brown, the new coach at Holy Cross, is flying to Illinois to speak with Kaneland High School recruit Dave Dudzinski today.

Brown was hired last week to replace Sean Kearney, the first-year coach who had signed the 6-foot-9 Dudzinski but was fired after his team went 9-22. Since then, the Knights' center has been considering whether to honor his commitment -- he signed a national letter of intent last fall -- or ask to be released to reopen his recruiting.

Sean Connor, Dudzinski's AAU coach for Team Velocity, said Brown "Brown has done an outstanding job of reaching out to Dave and making it known he wants Dave to stay with Holy Cross. The Dudzinski's have been impressed with coach Brown's caring personality and professionalism."

Aurora Central and Marmion Academy basketball teams will return to the Sears Centre Arena next season to take part in the Integrity Group's "High School Hoops Showdown" tripleheader.

The Chargers and Cadets rivalry game will be the opener in a tripleheader Jan. 22 that starts at 4:30 p.m. Marmion rallied to win the game last year and even the series between the two at 34-34. The Cadets finished the season 17-10 and ACC was 16-12.

The other two matchups are: Lockport (21-9 last year) vs. Schaumburg (17-12) at 6:30 and a rematch of this year's Neuqua Valley Sectional final with Glenbard East (27-2) taking on Benet Academy (26-4).

The Americans are going home empty-handed from the biennial Albert Schweitzer International Youth Tournament for a fifth straight time.

The United States 18-under team, including East Aurora junior Ryan Boatright, fell to the German national 17-under team 79-68 Saturday in the bronze medal game for the tournament. The Americans had dropped a semifinals decision to the 18-under German national team on Friday night.

Australia later beat the 18-under Germans 68-51 for the championship.

Boatright had 18 points Saturday and averaged 19.6 points in the tournament, which included seven games in eight days.

Here's the Stars and Stripes account of Saturday's bronze medal game.

A tired Ryan Boatright still managed to score a game-high 19 points and pull down 10 rebounds but his U.S. 18-under team dropped a 64-59 decision the 18-under Germany team and was eliminated from title contention in the Albert Schweitzer International Youth Tournament in Germany.

The Americans will meet the 17-under German team for the bronze medal on Saturday while the 18U Germans meet the Australian team for the gold.

Here's the Stars & Stripes account of the U.S. semifinal loss.

Ryan Boatright had a game-high 27 points Thursday but his United States 18-under team dropped a 79-66 decision to Australia Thursday at the Albert Schweitzer International Youth Tournament in Germany.

The good news, though, is that the American still advanced to the final four of the event, along with the Aussies, thanks to the scoring differential tiebreaker. If the U.S. had lost by 14 or more points, Spain would have advanced.

The Americans were scheduled to meet the German 18-under team on Friday. Those two met in an exhibition before the start of the tournament with the Germans winning by 10 points in overtime. The Australians will met the German 17-under team with the two winners playing Saturday for the title.

Here's a report from Stars & Stripes on the Americans' loss to Australia.

Batavia senior swingman Adam LeTourneau will play basketball for NCAA Division III North Central College next season.

A 6-foot-5 guard/forward, LeTourneau narrowed his choices to four schools, including Aurora University, Benedictine and Judson University before deciding on the Naperville school.

He averaged 6.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists for coach Jim Roberts' Bulldogs, who went 18-9 this season.

The United States 18-under team playing in the biennial international Albert Schweitzer Tournament did it again Wednesday, handing Spain its first loss 91-81 in pool play that will help determine semifinalists for the tourney.

East Aurora's Ryan Boatright (19 points) was the second leading scorer for the Americans, who play Australia Thursday night in Mannheim, Germany. If they win, they move on to the semifinals, if not, advancement could be decided on a points differential tiebreaker.

Here's the report on the game from Stars and Stripes' reporter Rusty Bryan.

They're movin' on.

Ryan Boatright scored a team-high 21 points Monday to lead the United States 18-under men's team to a 61-53 victory over Argentina in their final game of pool play in the Albert Schweitzer international youth tournament in Mannheim, Germany.

The Americans went 2-1 in pool play and advance, along with Croatia, to the medal round featuring the top eight teams in the 16-team field. Here's the Stars & Stripes story detailing the game and what lies ahead.

The U.S. plays Spain on Wednesday and Australia on Thursday. The top two teams in this pool, which includes Croatia, advance to the tourney semifinals.

Kaneland senior center David Dudzinski, who signed a national letter of intent with Holy Cross University last November, is rethinking his commitment after the school fired first-year coach Sean Kearney last week.

I would be, too.

Kearney, a nine-year assistant at Notre Dame, was hired to take over the program last summer after Ralph Willard resigned to join the staff of Rick Pitino at Louisville.

The team was expected to be among the favorites to contend for a Patriot League title but finished a disappointing 9-22.

"This was a very difficult decision. (It) is also an affirmation of how important basketball is at Holy Cross," said athletic director Richard M. Regan Jr. "At the end of the day, after assessing the results and evaluating what our prospects were for the future, we felt this was a move we had to make."

At the end of the day, how would you like to be in Dudzinski's position? Basketball may be important at the school but he has to be wondering how important loyalty is. Unless, of course, there's something Mr. Regan isn't saying.

High school recruits are often warned to make their choice based on the school because they're receiving an offer from the institution, not the coach making it. Beware, they're told, the coach may not be there for the player's four years. Still, it's hard to believe a coach will get canned after one year unless he committed a felony or lied on his resume.

Dudzinski chose between Holy Cross, Loyola (Chicago) and Austin Peay. The 6-foot-9 center is waiting to see who the school hires to replace Kearney before he makes a decision on fulfilling his comittment.

He can ask to be released from the letter of intent, but if the school refuses, he would have to sit out a year before he could play at another Division I program. That, of course, would make recruiting a real treat for the new coach, wouldn't it? The programs he's recruiting against would love that.

A source close to Dudzinski says he "is keeping his options open and will be open to speaking to (other) schools."

Good for him.

No word yet from East Aurora's Ryan Boatright on his American team's one-point loss to France on Easter Sunday. It drops the U.S. 18-under team to 1-1 in pool play of the Albert Schweitzer Tournament being played in Germany.

Boatright had 21 points in the loss, which is detailed in this story from Stars & Stripes.

Ryan Boatright and his USA 18-under teammates opened pool play in the Schweitzer Tournament in Germany on Saturday night, squeaking out a 70-69 win over Croatia.

Boatright, who finished with 12 points, scored his team's final seven after the Croatians had rallied to tie. He did, however, miss some key free throws late in the game. Here's the story from Stars and Stripes.

Keep checking here for Boatright's personal commentary on the tournament.

Ryan Boatright of the United States (left) drives to the basket against Croatia's Marko Ramljak late in the game at the Albert Schweitzer tournament in Mannheim, Germany, Saturday night. The United States beat Croatia 71-69 in its first game of the tourney.
(Stars and Stripes photo)

Ryan Boatright and the 18-under USA team open pool play in less than two hours (8 p.m. in Mannheim, Germany) against the Croatia national team. Tomorrow the Americans play France and Monday they meet Argentina before moving on to the "qualification round."

Boatright led his team with 19 points in Thursday's 76-66 overtime exhibition loss to the 18-under German team and followed it with this blog entry for the Beacon News:

"Well, I didn't even know I led the team in scoring, so that's good news. lol.

"The team is pretty good on sharing the ball and not complaining about pt (playing time). We understand it's about the gold medal and not individuals."

East Aurora's Ryan Boatright is as member of the USA Under 18 team playing in the 25th Albert Scweitzer Tournament that opens today in Mannheim, Germany. He's agreed to do a periodic blog, via email, exclusively with The-Beacon News.

The team is coached by former NBA player and Milwaukee Bucks coach, Larry Krystkowiak.

Monday:

"It was a long flight here, we were in the air for 8 hours (last Sunday). I'm dealing with the time OK, but it did throw me off.

"The coaches are cool. Coach Krystkowiak is a nice guy, very funny. I learned a lot of stuff already and had to actually study a playbook."