	February 9, 2009 I went to a middle school to scout an eighth-grader today! This is just the second time I've ever gone to a middle school to scout a player. But times are changing, and players are being recruited younger and younger. The player is a 6-7 190-pound eighth-grader named Nick Gorski, and his father had been nice enough to tell me when his son's team was playing and who they were playing against. Nick Gorski's team is Swift Creek Middle School of Midlothian, Virginia (located in the Richmond, Virginia area), and they were playing in their middle school post-season tournament at home against Chester County Middle School. Nick Gorski had 14 points and 4 rebounds in this game by my stats. I counted him as being 2-5 from 3-point range. The score was 21-21 at the end of the first quarter. At the half, Swift Creek Middle School lead 37-30. Nick Gorski made three tremendous assists in a row in the second half. He made one great assist that pushed his team's edge to 41-32. Then he immediately made another great pass to give his team a 43-32 advantage. Then, he quickly made a third straight assist, that gave Swift Creek a 45-34 lead! In the second half, Nick Gorski made his best shot of the game. If you were facing the basket while standing in the center of the court, Nick Gorski was underneath the basket and moved to the left side of the rim. He put the ball back over his head as he twisted and faced toward the mid-court area. The ball spun in to the basket without him using the backboard. Great move! At the end of the third quarter, Swift Creek led 61-49. Nick Gorski was taken out of the game with 1:12 left in the fourth quarter and his team ahead 77-62. He plays all over the floor: for example, he helps bring the ball up the court against the press. He might be playing the big guard position in high school! He's more of a perimeter player than an inside player right now, partly because his teammates seem more concerned with their own scoring averages than with trying to get him the ball. So he has to go outside to get the ball if he wants to score. He looks like he could grow more. His older brother, Matt Gorski, is a 6-11 Class of 2011 player for Cosby High School in Midlothian, Virginia, who is being recruited by ACC schools! I'll have to see Nick Gorski play again. This has made me want to scout some other promising eighth-grade players in Virginia, ones who might be future ACC prospects also! If you haven't heard of Nick Gorski, he's known to college recruiters and appears on other websites. One is here. It will be interesting to see Nick Gorski and Matt Gorski both on the same high school team next year.

    February 9, 2009
    I went to a middle school to scout an eighth-grader today! This is just the second time I've ever gone to a middle school to scout a player. But times are changing, and players are being recruited younger and younger. The player is a 6-7 190-pound eighth-grader named Nick Gorski, and his father had been nice enough to tell me when his son's team was playing and who they were playing against. Nick Gorski's team is Swift Creek Middle School of Midlothian, Virginia (located in the Richmond, Virginia area), and they were playing in their middle school post-season tournament at home against Chester County Middle School. Nick Gorski had 14 points and 4 rebounds in this game by my stats. I counted him as being 2-5 from 3-point range. The score was 21-21 at the end of the first quarter. At the half, Swift Creek Middle School lead 37-30. Nick Gorski made three tremendous assists in a row in the second half. He made one great assist that pushed his team's edge to 41-32. Then he immediately made another great pass to give his team a 43-32 advantage. Then, he quickly made a third straight assist, that gave Swift Creek a 45-34 lead!

    In the second half, Nick Gorski made his best shot of the game. If you were facing the basket while standing in the center of the court, Nick Gorski was underneath the basket and moved to the left side of the rim. He put the ball back over his head as he twisted and faced toward the mid-court area. The ball spun in to the basket without him using the backboard. Great move!

    At the end of the third quarter, Swift Creek led 61-49. Nick Gorski was taken out of the game with 1:12 left in the fourth quarter and his team ahead 77-62. He plays all over the floor: for example, he helps bring the ball up the court against the press. He might be playing the big guard position in high school! He's more of a perimeter player than an inside player right now, partly because his teammates seem more concerned with their own scoring averages than with trying to get him the ball. So he has to go outside to get the ball if he wants to score.

    He looks like he could grow more. His older brother, Matt Gorski, is a 6-11 Class of 2011 player for Cosby High School in Midlothian, Virginia, who is being recruited by ACC schools! I'll have to see Nick Gorski play again. This has made me want to scout some other promising eighth-grade players in Virginia, ones who might be future ACC prospects also!     If you haven't heard of Nick Gorski, he's known to college recruiters and appears on other websites. One is here. It will be interesting to see Nick Gorski and Matt Gorski both on the same high school team next year.

	February 6, 2009 35 points. 21 rebounds. 6 blocked shots. Those were the totals in today's game for the player I came to see play. His name? LaVon Harper. He's just a high school sophomore! In other words, he's a member of the high school Class of 2011. He has two full years of high school basketball left after this one. He plays for Fuqua School of Farmville, Virginia. Farmville, Virginia is southeast of Charlottesville, Virginia, towards the North Carolina border. Longwood University is located in Farmville, Virginia. How did a player this good wind up living in a small place like Farmville, Virginia? I'll have to find out more. Fuqua School is a boarding school and students do come from all over the world to attend the school. Fuqua School was playing on the road in Richmond, Virginia against The Steward School. Both are members of the 10-school league known as "The Virginia Commonwealth Conference. The Steward School is as nice a private school as I've ever seen. Beautiful buildings. Mychael Parker (he wore jersey number 1) and 6-8 235 junior LaVon Harper is a big-time prospect. He looks like a college player, not a high school sophomore. Wow. Is he done growing? We'll have to see. Sure, he's playing against the equivalent of Group A competition, but he is more than just a big guy. He has all of the moves and a soft shooting touch. The game began at 7:46 P.M. He had his first rebound 5 seconds in to the game. He scored his team's first basket, which tied the score at 2-2. He had 11 points and 10 rebounds in a first half in which his teammates played poorly. (For the game he was 13-20 from the free-throw line. He shoots his team's technical foul shots.) Steward led 15-7 after the first period, and 25-19 at the half. His teammates seemed more concerned with playing their own game than with feeding him the ball. He literally had to get the ball himself by offensive rebounding: they weren't going to get it to him when he posted up. But LaVon Harper started to dominate the game more and more in the second half. After being down 21-11 in the first half, the Fuqua School finally took the lead at the 3:21 mark of the third quarter, when they went up 32-30. They stretched the lead to 48-35 at the end of the third period. (I was impressed that he took only one 3-point shot in this game. A player with the power and size to dominate inside has no need to shoot three-pointers: big men who want to show they can play on the perimeter in high school usually wind up being players who don't make a difference in a college team's won-loss record once they get to college!) The "Big Cat," as LaVon Harper is known, just took over. His team won 67-62. Where will he play his college ball? It's uncertain. Will he even be back for his last two years at the Fuqua School? From what I saw, I'd say "no." I've seen this before: a great big man is ignored by his teammates on offense, and has to create his own shots with offensive rebounding. My guess is that he'll play for a school like Fork Union, Hargrave Military, or Oak Hill Academy for the next two years. But it's just a guess, based on nothing whatsoever. Only time will tell! 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.

    February 6, 2009
    35 points. 21 rebounds. 6 blocked shots. Those were the totals in today's game for the player I came to see play. His name? LaVon Harper. He's just a high school sophomore! In other words, he's a member of the high school Class of 2011. He has two full years of high school basketball left after this one. He plays for Fuqua School of Farmville, Virginia. Farmville, Virginia is southeast of Charlottesville, Virginia, towards the North Carolina border. Longwood University is located in Farmville, Virginia. How did a player this good wind up living in a small place like Farmville, Virginia? I'll have to find out more. Fuqua School is a boarding school and students do come from all over the world to attend the school.

    Fuqua School was playing on the road in Richmond, Virginia against The Steward School. Both are members of the 10-school league known as "The Virginia Commonwealth Conference. The Steward School is as nice a private school as I've ever seen. Beautiful buildings. Mychael Parker (he wore jersey number 1) and 6-8 235 junior LaVon Harper is a big-time prospect. He looks like a college player, not a high school sophomore. Wow. Is he done growing? We'll have to see. Sure, he's playing against the equivalent of Group A competition, but he is more than just a big guy. He has all of the moves and a soft shooting touch. The game began at 7:46 P.M. He had his first rebound 5 seconds in to the game. He scored his team's first basket, which tied the score at 2-2. He had 11 points and 10 rebounds in a first half in which his teammates played poorly. (For the game he was 13-20 from the free-throw line. He shoots his team's technical foul shots.) Steward led 15-7 after the first period, and 25-19 at the half. His teammates seemed more concerned with playing their own game than with feeding him the ball. He literally had to get the ball himself by offensive rebounding: they weren't going to get it to him when he posted up.

    But LaVon Harper started to dominate the game more and more in the second half. After being down 21-11 in the first half, the Fuqua School finally took the lead at the 3:21 mark of the third quarter, when they went up 32-30. They stretched the lead to 48-35 at the end of the third period. (I was impressed that he took only one 3-point shot in this game. A player with the power and size to dominate inside has no need to shoot three-pointers: big men who want to show they can play on the perimeter in high school usually wind up being players who don't make a difference in a college team's won-loss record once they get to college!) The "Big Cat," as LaVon Harper is known, just took over. His team won 67-62.

    Where will he play his college ball? It's uncertain. Will he even be back for his last two years at the Fuqua School? From what I saw, I'd say "no." I've seen this before: a great big man is ignored by his teammates on offense, and has to create his own shots with offensive rebounding. My guess is that he'll play for a school like Fork Union, Hargrave Military, or Oak Hill Academy for the next two years. But it's just a guess, based on nothing whatsoever. Only time will tell! 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.

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