by Alex Schwartz

The 2009 Southern Hoop Group Jam Fest was held this past weekend in Virginia, with most of the games being played at the Boo Williams Sportsplex—it's truly a fantastic facility—in Hampton. There were a lot of top-notch programs in attendance, including D-One Sports (NC), Boo Williams (VA), Team Final (PA), CP3 All-Stars (NC), DC Assault, and Cecil Kirk (MD), just to name a few. With all the larger number of quality programs, as well as many other established and solid ones, there were a large number of big-time prospects on hand from the classes of 2010 and 2011. I had the opportunity to catch up with a few of these kids while at the Boo Williams Sportsplex on Saturday:

DJ Irving ’10, Archbishop Carroll (PA), Youth Interlock: Temple, Mount St. Mary’s, Robert Morris, Vermont, Old Dominion, Rider, George Mason, Penn State, UPenn
                          Offers: Mount St. Mary’s and Robert Morris
                          Favorite: “I would like to go to Temple. Right now that’s my first choice out of all of them.”

Matt Lopez ’10, Washington Township (NJ), SJ Select: Siena, Penn State, La Salle, St. Joseph’s, West Virginia, George Mason, James Madison, Army, Lehigh, Oregon, SMU, Old Dominion, Delaware, Drexel, and William & Mary
                               Offers: La Salle, James Madison, Old Dominion, Delaware, Drexel, and William & Mary
                                Favorites: “Not really, I’m not really looking to make a decision [yet].”
                                Note- Although Lopez said he does not have any favorites, he did inform me that La Salle has been recruiting him the longest and the hardest and also mentioned St. Joseph’s as another team on him for a long time that is recruiting him quite hard.

Chris Coleman ’11, Mt. Zion Christian Academy (NC), Charlotte Jayhawks: UConn, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Syracuse, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Texas, and Kentucky
                                       Offers: UConn and North Carolina State
                                       Favorite: UConn
                                       Note- Coleman, who is originally from Buffalo, New York and said “Syracuse was” his dream school, let me know that there are other schools recruiting him that he just could not think of.

Quinn Cook ’11, DeMatha (MD), DC Assault: Ohio State, North Carolina, Georgetown, Indiana, Virginia Tech, and Virginia
                                 Offers: Cook was unsure, and said that he would sit down with his coach after the school year to discuss who has actually offered thus far
                                 Favorites: “None right now. I’m interested in anybody who is interested in me.”
                                 Note- Cook said he dream school is North Carolina “because of Jordan.”

Chris Santo ’11, Cherry Hill East (NJ), Nexxt Level Sports: Vermont, La Salle, St. Joseph’s, UPenn, Temple, Princeton, and Lafayette
                                 Offers: “No, not yet.”
                                 Favorite: “My favorite is probably Vermont.”
                                 Note- Santo, a big-time scorer at the high school level, let me know that he scored 754 points (he had 40+ three times) this season alone, and has 1,075 total.