News and analysis of the prep and college basketball scenes by the sports staff at The Beacon-News

Recently in Recruiting Category

Boatright liking look of Connecticut

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It would appear Ryan Boatright's recruiting trip to the University of Connecticut is going well. Check out this report from Hartford Courant sportswriter Mike Anthony, who covers the Huskies.

UConn, UNLV visits next for Boatright

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Ryan Boatright, who committed to West Virginia last week then decommitted four days later, will hit the road again this weekend. He's traveling to the University of Connecticut for an official visit.

He'll also attend the UConn football game against visiting West Virginia.

The following week, Boatright has scheduled a trip to Las Vegas for an official visit with UNLV and coach Lon Kruger.

UConn is currently under investigation by the NCAA, School officials are hoping self-imposed sanctions it took against itself a couple weeks ago after an in-house probe, will satisfy the governing body. Those measures include reducing its basketball scholarships by one for the next two years and restricting recruiting contact by its assistant coaches.

UConn coach Jim Calhoun has admitted "mistakes were made" but denies being a cheater.

Boatright back on recruiting trail

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East Aurora's Ryan Boatright and his mother Tanesha are leaving observers to come to their own conclusions when it comes to his reasons for decommitting from West Virginia.

"I will leave it as he decommitted with no other comment, that's the best route to go," Tanesha Boatright said Saturday morning when contacted by the Beacon News. "We have nothing bad to say about Coach Huggins or West Virginia and wish him and the school well."

Ryan Boatright was taking the ACT test and unavailable for comment.

It appears Boatright wants to be the only point guard recruit in the class for whichever school he chooses to attend. The 5-foot-10 senior, who is ranked 11th in the class of 2011 at the position by rivals.com, decided to decommit four days after announcing he had chosen the Mountaineers.

At the time, he said he had narrowed his choices to West Virginia and Providence College, another Big East Conference school.

The day after Boatright made his choice known, Huggins received a verbal commitment from another point guard, 6-1 Jabarie Hinds of Mt. Vernon, N.Y. Hinds, according to a blog we saw, said he was looking forward to playing alongside Boatright in the WVU backcourt at some point with one of them handling the shooting guard role.

Tanesha Boatright said her son "will be making some more visits. We do have other offers."

She said that UNLV, Oklahoma and Connecticut are among the schools still in the mix and added that Providence and coach Keno Davis are still interested. Connecticut, according to published reports, was also in the hunt for Hinds before he made his choice known.

Will 'Snoop' be in the loop?

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Now that Ryan Boatright has verbally committed to West Virginia ... who's next from the Beacon News circulation area?

Keep an eye on Boatright's teammate and best friend, Letrell "Snoop" Viser. He averaged 18 points-per-game last season and the Tomcats need a big year out of him to complement Boatright and make up for their lack of inside scoring power. Word is Central Florida may be interested. We'll keep you posted.

Boatright, "Big Mike" may not end up together

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Michael Chandler, a 6-10 post player out of Indianapolis, has joined East Aurora's Ryan Boatright the past two weekends in making official visits to West Virginia and Providence College.

Boatright and Chandler, who he calls "Big Mike," have become fast friend the past two years while playing for the Derrick Rose All-Stars, coach by the NBA player's older brother Reggie, on the AAU circuit. They played together this spring on a USA Basketball team that competed in the Albert Schweitzer Cup tourney in Germany and on a U.S. 2011 team that played in the adidasnation tournament in August in Chicago.

This weekend, Chandler is expected to make his third straight official visit, traveling south down Interstate 65 to Cincinnati to Xavier University.

Boatright announced he had verbally committed to Bob Huggins and West Virginia on Monday.

Many observers have thought Chandler and Boatright could be a package deal, but I wouldn't count on it. Chandler may want to stay closer to home, which could be very good news for Xavier.

A little football recruiting news this basketball season.

His goal before he graduated high school was to play Division 1 college football.

Now he can scratch that one off the list.

Waubonsie Valley WR/K Scott Kuehn has decided to play his college football at Illinois State.

"I feel like I can surprise some people at ISU," said Kuehn via text message last night. "It just felt like the right academic fit as well."

Kuehn said he will immediately compete for special teams spot, with a chance to play wide receiver later in the season. He hopes to kick for the Redbirds as well.

"Everybody I talked to on my visit said they think something special is going to happen with the football team and that impressed me," said Kuehn.

Illinois State is coming off a 6-5 season and plays in the Division 1-A Subdivision Missouri Valley Conference.

Q and A: Aurora Head Coach James Lancaster

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For 16 seasons, James Lancaster has been the head coach of the Aurora Spartans men's basketball team. This season, the Spartans are 10-9 overall, with a 7-5 record in conference play. Recruiting is a hot topic this time of year, and the BasketBlog caught up with Lancaster recently and asked about how things work at the Division 3 level:

Are the rules different for Division 3 schools such as Aurora compared to Division 1?

We can talk to whomever we want. We aren't talking to same kids as the top programs. We are respectful of high school season but this time of year we are evaluating them by going out 3 nights a week. We're not pushing anyone for a decision, but we like to get them to come out for a game.

How early do you start looking at high school student-athletes?

We get 15 students to visit our campus before Oct.15 (of 2009). We've identified kids their junior year. You know, the Fox Valley is a rich area. We'd like to make hay in our back yard. (Assistant coach and former Aurora Central Catholic coach) Mark Lindo is on staff now. He's got relationships in this area.

How is the talent in the area this season?

Early on thought it was going to be thin year but there really are some good players. We have not seen drop off as there are quite a few late developers. Trend we are seeing are two-sport athletes.

You spent some time this summer with Kentucky coach John Calipari. He's a either you love him or hate him guy. What was that experience like?

(He's) as good as it gets. You meet him and he's such a pleasurable guy. You hear things but what do you do? it's not just him. The sad thing for me is the game is good enough where fans don't have to think we're number one all the time. It's greed that kills us.



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Kyle Anderson.jpg

As the coach of 1A Newark high school, head basketball coach Rick Tollefson is always playing with a short deck. After all there are just 190 students that roam the hallways on a daily basis.

But this is like taking a slice out of that short deck.

The Norsemen's all-area junior Kyle Anderson has been hobbled for four weeks with a knee injury. Tollefson believes the 6-2 guard injured it in December, then aggravated it during a holiday tournament. It is doubtful he will play Friday night against Earlville.

"We're being more cautious from a long term perspective," said Tollefson. "We hope to have him back from the stretch run."

That would mean the Little Ten conference tournament, which begins Tuesday.

Anderson is Division 1 prospect, already receiving an offer from Akron University. He is being recruited by Minnesota and Marquette, along with a number of Missouri Valley Conference schools.

For now, recruiting can wait. What the Norsemen's best player needs is rest. And that's not easy this time of year.

"(Rest) is hard to come by right now," said Tolleson. "We've had to ask other players to step up."

And while Newark has won 4 of their last 5, if they have any chance of repeating as 1A state quarterfinalists, they will need the unique talents of Anderson.

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About this Archive

This page is an archive of recent entries in the Recruiting category.

Northwestern is the previous category.

Ryan Boatright blog is the next category.

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