January 30, 2009     Yesterday afternoon I was standing on the sidewalk outside of the rest area at exit 168 in Virginia at 11:03 P.M. It was off of Route 64 East, headed toward Richmond from Charlottesville. It was nice out: the sky was getting blue and it was very sunny. The parking lot was fairly empty. I was on my way to see "Slamfest VIII," a one-day, 5-game boy's high school basketball event here in Richmond: the capitol of Virginia. It was going to be held at a well-known private school, Benedictine High School. Just like my experience when trying to find Benedictine High last year, I found that locating Benedictine High in person was not easy. Finally, someone who lives near there let me follow him in his car so that I could get to the (see top right and left photo) gym!     But I was here to scout individuals, not to watch or report on games. The first game, which was at 1:30 this Saturday, featured Miller School from the Charlottesville area, against Christchurch of the Tidewater area. For this game, I went to scout Miller School's highly-publicized 6-6 junior Mychael Parker (he wore jersey number 1) and 6-8 235 junior Hippolyte Tsefack (wearing number 32 in the green jersey at left below), and also Christchurch's duo of highly-talked about Michael Gbinije (a 6-5 sophomore wearing white jersey number 1 below left. He had 14 points this afternoon. He's also shown sitting on the bench directly below that photo, and standing/facing the camera during a time-out farther down the page on the right side of this article) and 6-3 combination guard James Ford . Hippolyte Tsafack of Miller School was one of the least-publicized players in today's event, of all of the 'name' players here.Mike Parker appears in the photo at left, wearing number 33 in green: he scored 16 today.     But Hippolyte Tsafack probably had the best day. Although he's not considered high school All-American material, he played like one. He was a human pogo-stick! Hippolyte Tsafack was selected as the MVP of this game at it's conclusion. He had 18 points in this game. If you notice, one year ago I wrote about how impressed I was when I saw him play last year in the Slamfest Tour at Randolph-Macon College!     In game two, which started at 3:30, Norfolk Catholic (from Norfolk, Virginia) was taking on Richmond's Henrico County High. For this game, I was here to see Henrico High School's Trey Davis. He appears in two photos in this article: both are below right. He's wearing number 5 in the white jerseys. His dad once played for the University of Richmond. Trey Davis is a powerful-looking guard or forward at 6-4 or taller, and he has ACC potential I'd say. He's a member of the Class of 2011. Trey Davis looked very good. But is he a guard, or a forward? He had 12 points and 11 boards in this contest. Norfolk Catholic itself has brilliant sophomore all-position star James McAdoo, who is a 6-7/6-8 Class of 2011, player. (James McAdoo appears in three photos in this article: he's wearing number 14 in the blue jerseys to the right, and he's facing the camera on the left side of this article.) Most fans feel that James McAdoo is eventually going to pick North Carolina or Duke. His father was there walking around with McAdoo. I suppose he could wind up going to a nearby school like Old Dominion, but it would shock me.     James McAdoo took over this game all by himself at certain times, and was a one-man show. My notes said: ' James McAdoo puts in a layup off of a teammates' miss, cutting the Henrico High lead to 19-13 with 5:56 left in the second quarter,'...' James McAdoo hits a 3-pointer to put Norfolk Catholic down by 24-16,'...'at the 2:33 mark of the first half, James McAdoo rebounds his own miss and scores, and now Norfolk Catholic trails 24-18,'...' McAdoo runs the length of the court hard, takes a pass, and dunks, making the score 25-23!'...'It's Henrico 25, Norfolk Catholic 23 at the half.'"    He kept it up right after the half-time ended. James McAdoo started off the second half by scoring Norfolk Christian's first three baskets! But in the end, it was of no use. Henrico wins 53-49. I can see why everyone wants James McAdoo. Everyone except Duke and North Carolina, of course. But make no mistake, once they offer him a scholarship, that's where he'll go. Doesn't it always happen that way? He had 21 points in this game.    Game Three: Atlantic Shores Christian High versus Deep Run. This was due to start at 4:30 P.M. Nothing of interest here. Sure, Atlantic Shores Christian High has two high school All-America caliber players: 6-3 shooting guard Andre Dawkins , who is a member of the Class of 2010 and who is headed to Duke, and Steven Ledger, a 6-5 point guard from the Class of 2010 who has made up his mind that Oklahoma is his choice. They're as good as advertised and each can point point guard or shooting guard.Steven Pledger, who wears jersey number 11, had 28 points in this game, and Andre Dawkins , who wears number 24, scored 15. But my website is devoted to players who are underclassmen who have NOT committed to colleges yet. So, we'll move on to the next game.    Game Four: DeMatha Catholic versus the most popular team of this basketball bonanza, nearby John Marshall High School. John Marshall has a Class of 2010 player who is still fair game for recruiters, and he's wide-open on colleges in my opinion. Travis McKie is his name. He's number 15 in the photo below right. He has a basketball body. But can he shoot? That is the question, one that I can't answer yet. He had a fantastic lob pass-dunk that brought the fans out of their seats. He had 21 points and 12 rebounds in this game. But at the college level that would still only get you two points. In many ways he reminds me of an ex-DeMatha player who now plays for the University of Virginia: Mamadi Diane. In the February 1 issue of "The Richmond Times-Dispatch," outstanding sportswriter Arthur Utley, wrote that the "'Slamfest VIII turned in to a coming out party for John Marshall (5-8) guard Tahir Little.'"    I had never heard of Tahur Little . Who has? So I later looked him up! Not much about him online. Actually, almost ZERO about him online. I'll have to contact the John Marshall coaching staff to find out where this mysterious player has been. DeMatha is a team that I know all high school basketball fans would like to see play in person at least once in their lifetime. DeMatha is ranked among the nation's top 20 boy's high school basketball teams. John Marshall High played them down to the wire, but lost 69-65. It's suprising how poorly high school players of this day and age shoot 3-pointers. I know that it takes a lot of time in regular practice. A player for John Marshall High that I will keep an eye on is Willie Mangum. He's 6-0 and a freshman who wears number 10. Willie Mangum didn't enter the game until there were 3.1 seconds left in the contest. No matter. He's publicized on the internet as one of the better members of the Class of 2012 in Virginia, and a player I'll be going to see next year and beyond.    As for game number 5, I had had it by then. (I hadn't slept at all the previous night: I had been up all night talking with people on the computer!) I decided not to stay to watch Courtland High. Sure they had a terrific player in 6-8 Class of 2011 Josh Hairston (he scored 25 points this afternoon) and he had admirably decided to stay at this public school rather than transfer to a private school powerhouse. Josh Hairston has already committed to a college though (Duke). Even before Josh Hairston chose Duke as his college-of-the-future, Courtland High's uniforms seemed to be almost exact replica's of Duke's. For whatever it's worth, he looks different than he did last year. With his slightly pointed beard, he looks much-older than his age, and he doesn't look anything like former Duke star Grant Hill, like he did last year. He's still is a terrific prospect, and he now looks appearance-wise like former Duke All-American Sheldon Williams. I stayed for one quarter: at the end of the first period, Benedictine was ahead of Courtland by a score of 11-10. Coming back from Richmond, I stopped at a "Sheetz," and it must have been new: it was the most spectacular "Sheetz" that I've ever been to!

January 20, 2009     I went to see Jerel Carter, a 6-2 or 6-3 combination guard from the Class of 2010 (in other words, he's in the 11th grade) play. He played for visiting Madison County (Virginia) high school. Madison County is ranked as the No. 1 Group A school in the state right now. Strasburg High School is right beside a large cemetary, which I'm sure the school has a hard time keeping students out of. Of the three classifications in Virginia, Group A has the smallest enrollment: less than 500 students.    He has unusually long arms for his height, which is something that college recruiters look for in a prospect. I see him as a mid-major prospect, but he could get even better scholarship offers. He'd have to continue to grow for that. up to Rockville, Maryland to see Jerel Carter His team started out playing terribly, and at the end of the first quarter, the score was tied 5-5. He had a free throw in the first period. He turned it on in the second quarter: with his team down 11-9, he hit a long bank shot from the left side (if you were facing that basket by standing at the half court circle).Then, he immediately hit a jump shot with a defender all over him to make it 13-11, Madison with the lead.    Soon, he hit a nothing-but-net three pointer. His team led 20-15 in a low-scoring first half, as he had 8 points. The Charlottesville Daily Progress had recently done a fine article on Jerel Carter. In the third quarter, Jerel Carter hit another three pointer and also another basket on his only two attempts of that period. He also blocked a shot, and his team started to pull away. They led 34-23 after three periods. He hit two free throws in the final quarter: his team won 51-28. What had started out being a loud home crowd was now almost silent.     Jerel Carter never stopped moving the entire game when he was on the court. On the other hand, it made him very hard to photograph with my digital camera. Haha. His stamina was excellent, which means he would make some college coach an outstanding defensive player. To my knowledge, Madison County High School, located just 30 miles north of the University of Virginia, has never produced a Division 1 basketball player, despite the fact that there are over 330 Division 1 basketball schools in America! So Jerel Carter really stands out. Where I'm from, 2 miles from the University of Virginia, it has not snowed this year. But in northwest Virginia here, it had recently snowed. That type of weather is why this is the home of sky areas. Group A schools rarely produce mid-major basketball prospects, but Jerel Carter seems to be one already. He's a player to keep track of.

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