by Alex Schwartz

I took a few hours out of my day on Wednesday to go over to Albright College for a bit of Hoop Group Elite Camp. Although I was only there for a little while, I was able to catch some quality ballers—Jaylen Beckham '12, Jarelle Resichel '11, Edison Vila '11, Russ Smith '10, Fordham-commit Joel Wright '10, Scott Eatherton '10, Jonathan Graham '10, and Jamir Hanner '10 were some of the main standouts from what I saw—and also catch up with a few players. Have a look at the school lists I collected:

Quincy Taylor '09, Wichita Collegiate (KS): LIU
                              Offers: None
                              Favorites: n/a
                              Notes- Regarding LIU, Taylor stated, "They're the one I know that's showing the most interest." He did say that the NEC school has not offered, but told me that "they are thinking about" doing so. If Taylor does not get a DI scholarship for next year, he will go the prep school route, but he is "not sure yet" as to where he would land.

Dave Coley '10, Thomas Jefferson (NY): Virginia Tech, George Mason, Auburn, Farleigh Dickinson, Kent State, Tennessee, and Oklahoma
                          Offers: Virginia Tech, George Mason, Auburn, Farleigh Dickinson, and Kent State
                          Favorites: None
                          Notes- Coley, who informed me that there are some others recruiting him that he can't think of, missed almost all of his junior season due to an injury, is doing much better now. "I'm just not finishing over the rim like I used to. I'm good though. I can still get to the rim [and my] jumpshot is getting more consistent."

Scott Eatherton '10, Hershey (PA): Stonehill (DII), St. Francis (PA), NJIT, and Quinnipiac
                                Offers: None
                                Favorites: "Stonehill and—I like them all."
                                Notes- Eatherton is coming off of a broken bone in his right hand and was playing with it wrapped up, but he let me know that he is doing better. The big man id not 100% set on a DI school, stating, "I'd like to go DI or DII."

Shawn Valentine '11, Winslow Township (NJ): Temple, La Salle, UMass, Villanova, Siena, UConn, and St. Bonaventure
                                   Offers: Temple, La Salle, and St. Bonaventure
                                   Favorites: None

Kareem Canty '11, Bishop Loughlin (NY): Pitt, George Mason, St. John's, Rutgers, and Lehigh
                              Offers: None
                              Favorite: George Mason

Scott Slade '11, Monsignor Bonner (PA): Temple, La Salle, and St. Joseph's
                          Offers: None
                          Favorites: None

Jaylen Beckham '12, Lexington Catholic (KY): Kentucky, Oklahoma State, Florida, Indiana, Baylor, Tennessee, Washington, and DePaul
                                  Offers: Washington and DePaul
                                  Favorites: "No sir, no favorites, just keeping my options open [to] whatever comes up."
                                  Notes- When I asked if Louisville was on the list, Beckham replied, "No, [Head Coach Rick Pitino] doesn't like Lexington players." Regarding the local school, UK, Beckham told me the following when I asked if it was always his dream to go there: "Yes sir, I would love to play there, but it's not the only school out there." Jaylen informed me that even if UK offered, he would not be someone who would immediately commit.

Andre Horne '12, Hodgsen Vo Tech (DE): Kentucky, Florida, Baylor, St. Joseph's, Temple, and UMass
                            Offers: None
                            Favorites: Kentucky, Florida, and St. Joseph's
                            Note- Horne is transferring into Hodgsen Vo Tech from Roman Catholic (PA), where he spent his freshman year.

Jaren Sina '13, Gill St. Bernard's (NJ): Unknown ("I've had schools come to my games, but I mostly don't even know yet.")
                         Offers: n/a
                         Favorites: n/a
                         Notes- When asked if he has a dream school, Sina answered, "Honestly, just playing Division I. [I am] . . . hoping to just get to that level." Jaren is a big name regionally, and has garnered a lot of attention, so I asked him how he has dealt with that at such a young age. "I just try to not worry about it and play ball. I just try to get better everyday." One of the honors that has come with all that was being selected to the Basketball Spotlight All-Star Classic. What did that mean to the 5'10 point guard? "It felt great. [It's the] top 24 players in the tr-state area. It feels nice." Sina is the lone class of 2013 player in the NBA East, so I inquired what that is like for him, and he responded, "It's tough because I'm the youngest guy. I'm trying to fit in. I think I'm playing pretty well, holding my own."

Some other news related to Hoop Group Elite Camp:

- Markus Kennedy '10, a 6'8 Villanova-bound power forward, needs a new school for next year, as Living Faith Academy (NJ) has closed down. After the original thought was that he would go to Penn Wood (PA), or possibly Neumman-Goretti (PA) or St. Patrick's (NJ), rumors began to surface that Kennedy was headed to Winchendon School (MA), but when I spoke to Winchendon Head Coach Mike Byrnes at the Summer Classic East, he did not list Kennedy as a part of his roster for next year. When I caught up with Coach Byrnes at Albright, he informed me that although Kennedy is not officially headed to Winchendon, he has been accepted to the school, which is a major step in the right direction. When all is said and done, look for Kennedy to end up at the NEPSAC Class A powerhouse. Markus would be part of a 14-man roster that, according to Byrnes, would also include: Angel Nunez '11, Akeem Williams '10, Delaware-commit Devon Saddler '10, Mike Accouai '10, Michael Holt, Jr. '10, Albany-pledge James Stukes '10, AJ West '10, Khem Birch '12, Eric Ferguson '10, Marvin Dominguez '10, Anthony Ireland '10, and Adam Kemp '10. All of the 2010 players besides Kennedy would be post-grads. In other Kennedy news, the big man is no longer with Team Final, and is playing with the Hunting Park Warriors, with whom he went to Las Vegas last week.

-There is a lot of great young talent at the camp. Some of the main names are as follows: Daniel Dingle '12, Andre Horne '12, Melvin Johnson '12, Jaylen Beckham '12, Ryan Arcidiacono '12, Josh Heyliger '12, Matt Banas '12, Montana Mayfield '12, Arron Goodman '12, Damien Williams '12, Dom Hoffman '12, and Jaren Sina '13.

-There weren't that many coaches there in the evening—I heard that there were more earlier on—but the DI schools that I did see in the building included Robert Morris, Temple, Quinnipiac, St. Francis (PA), St. Joseph's, Fordham, Dartmouth, Army, Manhattan, Canisius, and Farleigh Dicksinson.

Note- photo is from http://scouthoops.scout.com/