by Alex Schwartz

I was able to stay through the semifinal games at the 2009 Triple S Harley Davidson Hoop Group Jam Fest, and I caught some good basketball action. Although DI coaches were not allowed to be out evaluating, there were still some DIII coaches in the building checking out the games. Here's a rundown of the how the championships played out in the Gold brackets of each age group:

U17 Gold Bracket: Ohio Basketball Club over God's Glory (DC)
U16 Gold Bracket: Team Takeover Canada over Crusader Nation (MD)
U15 Gold Bracket: Hoop Heaven Heat (NJ) over Hoop Dreams (KY)

In the U17 age group, God's Glory came up just short for the second straight tournament, as the DC-based team also fell in the championship of the Summer Classic East a mere four days earlier. The outstanding play of Donte Thomas '10 from Ballou (DC) throughout the tournament was not enough for Zalmico Harmon's team. Local favorite Noah Cottrill '10 from Mountain State Academy (WV) led his team to the title. Cottrill is not only from the Mountain State, but is committed to West Virginia University, where the tournament was held. Mychal Parker '10, Dakotah Euton '10, Nick Kellogg '10, and Duquesne-commit TJ McConnell '10 also played key parts in OBC's championship. In the U16 age group, Team Takeover Canada won all of its games by double-digits, except for a 70-69 victory over Team NJABC in the semifinals. The boys from up north were dominant, and Grandy Glaze '11 was hard to handle on the inside, while the team's outside shooting was fantastic. I did not get to see any of the U15 games at the event, but there were at least three potential high-major recruits on the floor in the championship game, in Jaren Sina '13 and Dominic Hoffman '12 from Hoop Heaven Heat and Jaylen Beckham '12 of Hoop Dreams.

I was able to catch up with one player on Thursday morning to get a school list.

Javon McCrea '10, Newark Senior (NY), NE Playaz: Buffalo, Boston University, UMass, Georgetown, Siena, and College of Charleston
                               Offers: Buffalo, Boston University, and UMass
                               Favorites: UMass and Georgetown
                               Notes- There had been rumors that McCrea had given a commitment to Georgetown, but he cleared that up, stating, "Yeah, that's not true." Regarding whether or not he would commit to the Hoyas if they offered, Javon told me, "Maybe, possibly."

Onto other topics, here is some other news that I collected over the past few weeks:

- According to Winchendon School (MA) Head Coach Mike Byrnes, the following players will all be a part off his team next year: Khem Birch '12, Albany-commit James Stukes '10, Angel Nunez '11, Akeem Williams '10, Delaware-commit Devon Saddler '10, AJ West '10, and others. Contrary to other reports, Stukes will not be attending South Kent (CT), and has already enrolled at Winchendon. As of now it appears that Angel Nunez will remain in the class of 2011, but there is still a chance that he will reclassify to 2012. Devon Saddler is attending Winchendon to work on improving his SAT score. Coach Byrnes has 13 players on his roster currently—11 are post grads—and has jerseys for two more, but a chunk of financial aid (note that it is not athletic scholarship money) available for just one more. According to sources, Villanova-commit Markus Kennedy '10 is transferring to Winchendon, but he is not one of the players Byrnes listed as on his roster at this time. If Kennedy does not end up at Winchendon, Penn Wood (PA) looks to be in strong position.

- Dartaye Ruffin was playing with the NE Playaz in West Virginia, and it seems that he did not qualify and will be heading to prep school. Ruffin had signed with Drexel, but if he does end up as a Dragon, it will not be until 2010.

- All-Ohio Red defeated Team Final (PA) in the championship of the Peach Jam, which many consider the best AAU tournament of the year. The other semifinalists at the event were the Albany City Rocks and Nike Team Florida (three of the four Rumble in the Bronx semifinalists made the Final Four at Peach Jam too). California Supreme, Each One Teach One (FL), Team Takeover (MD), and Louisiana Select were the other squads to advance out of pool play.

- Team NJABC knocked off Team Philly to win the Joe Brown Memorial Tournament (aka Playaz Ball). It was Team Philly's U16 squad—sans Juan'ya Green '11—that made it all the way to the finals. Team NJABC was without a number of its players, but still managed to come away with the victory, avenging a loss to the NY Panthers from just three days earlier. Team NJABC has had a great July period, as its U16 and U17 teams have went a combined 17-3.

- According to Scout, a half dozen class of 2010 players (in addition to the two decisions reported by Northstar Basketball) have taken their names off the board upon the conclusion of the first July Live Evaluation cycle: Brandon Spearman picked Dayton, RJ Slawson selected South Carolina, Matt Derenbecker went with LSU, Tom Droney committed to Davidson, Aaron Bright chose Stanford, and Zach McCabe pledged to Iowa. Look for a few more dominoes to fall over the next few days.

- Brandon Knight '10 of Pine Crest (FL) has broken a bone in his foot and will have to sit out the rest of the summer. Knight is arguably the best player in the class of 2010, and is the consensus top guard, at either spot.

- Jeff Goodman broke the news that Andre Dawkins will be enrolling at Duke a year earlier than expected as a part of the Blue Devils' class of 2009. Dawkins, a 6'3 shooting guard, apparently repeated his freshman year, and thus has done four years of high school. Dawkins has been cleared and will be eligible this season for Mike Krzyzewski and Co., who had just two players under 6'7 before the addition of Dawkins.

- One of my favorite quotes from July thus far came from St. Andrew's (RI) Head Coach Mike Hart, on the topic of Twitter. "It's continuing the decline of out society." Hart is a class-act guy, a great basketball coach, and a very funny person. Despite his opinion, you can still follow Northstar Basketball on Twitter at NorthstarBball.

Note- photo is of Noah Cottrill and is from http://scouthoops.scout.com/