NashCeltics

Honestly, Prather has never "slacked off" in any game I have ever seen him play in HS or in AAU. Havent had one major college coach who has come in to see him say anything other than he plays extremely hard on both ends the entire game. He is a terrific defender both sides of the ball due to his quickness, length and with shot blocking ability. He is smart enough though to not just try to swat every shot that comes in. He took 3 charges in District Finals loss which is a rare commodity. In the game vs. Milan he had 36pts, 13rebs, 8 stls and 6 blks (frankly I thought he had more blocks). I agree with yankees in that it comes down to Northside's other players. Frankly, I think Northside is the underdog in this one. Their biggest problem is protecting the ball and limiting turnovers. It usually their demise against better teams. They have several capable scorers around him on offense but again, must limit turnovers to have a chance to win this one. They have very young guards (which Dyer does too) but CJ is leader and he has plenty of experience which could go along way.

Virginia was there too. Clemson offered after the game. What region out of Memphis does this region matchup with in Substate?

Apparently, the mother is a CPA who works in Nashville, moved 30 miles so she didnt have to travel into work 60miles round trip every day. Eligible to play immediately from what I heard. I also understand they applied way back in the fall after checking into the school but wasnt admitted until recently. either way, Mrob is right, its rough over there academically so you gotta be able to work on the fly mid semester or you dont have a chance.

Not sure how to answer that question. I know the UK coaches personally and have a player going to play at UK next year (Jon Hood, top 35 nationally). Also, they are recruiting Casey Prather so I speak with them frequently. I sat with one of the assistants up at the King of the Bluegrass last weekend so I know who they are recruiting first hand and spoke with them specifically about the tourney game vs CPA. Let me clarify, its not a comment on Zeke at all. I like Zeke and think he is a good player. I just think its funny how these rumors get started about schools recruiting kids and "being close to offer" when that isnt true at all.

There is no truth to this statement about Kentucky being there to watch Zeke play. They were there to whatc the two sophs from Warren Central that CPA was playing against (Shanklin and Fant) and Jon Hood who played with us in the summer who is committed to Kentucky. Amazing how things get twisted. Zeke is a good player, not a SEC level player but would be a solid Mid Major PF somewhere.

You could very well be correct. But yes, I think he is a 3 year all-conference player in the very good MAC. Unapproved Website rated Drew as the best PF prospect signed in that conference. He is a three star player by their account.

Yes he was in my opinion. He had a lot of High Major interest. Those guys wanted to him to be 6'8 rather than 6'7 (literally, that was alot of the comments I got..."we love him, just wish he were a little taller"). Ultimately though, some football injuries took its toll on his legs in Spring and Summer and that really hurt his recruitment. However, he has gotten that spring back and is showing a great face-up game which is also a component most wanted to see.

In today's game Drew added 38pts and 22reb........."Centennial's Drew Kelly improved his tournament scoring total to 119 points with a 38 point performance. Kelly's 119 points in 3 games makes him the all-time leader in points per game averaging 39.6 points."---kING OF THE BLUEGRASS

You can follow tourney info on www.kingofthebluegrass.com

Watched Drew Kelly, 6'7 PF from Centennial (Miami (OH) commit) scored 67pts yesterday afternoon at the King of the Bluegrass Invitational in Louisville. It is one of the oldest and better HS tourneys in the Southeast. He scored 65pts in regulation and only 2 in Overtime as his team lost. He shattered the previous tournament scoring record of 52pts. 27/33 from the floor and connected on 3/4 three pointers including one with 6 seconds left to send it to overtime. The opponent was Dorsey HS from California. Very quick athletic team with a couple 6'6 interior players. It was remarkable as he scored from everywhere on the floor and did alot off the dribble. He finished with 67pts, 12 rebs and 8 assists. Other notable players in the tourney are Jon Hood (Kentucky commit, played with Nashville Celtics AAU), Peyton Siva (Louisville commit, one of best pgs in country) and Shawn Kemp Jr (Alabama commit). In Kelly's first game, he was double teamed and triple teamed the entire game playing against Shawn Kemp, Jr. team. He still managed 14pts and 11 rebs and was very efficient although didnt touch it much. Congrats to Drew on a remarkable achievement.

I agree with that. No question

Played up in Bowling Green last night. CPA lost in OT to one of KY's better programs in Warren Central. Good games for Zeke and Miller. Two Nashville Celtics AAU guys Drew Kelly and Jon Hood (KY) went at it when entennial (Drew Kelly--Miami (OH) commit) took on Jon Hood (Kentucky commit). Kelly had a huge game with 47 points and 11 rebs scoring on a variety of shots inside and out to three point range. Hood had 27pts. I figure Raleigh Egypt won but didnt see the result.

Henager is the most underrated player in the state. He wont be for long though.

joe jackson is nothing similar to John Jenkins, totally different type of players and positions. Jenkins and McDonald are the closest to compare to b/c both are shooting guards. The topic post is a Buckner vs. Jenkins which is also a tough comparison b/c of positions. Jenkins is a prolific offensive player, perhaps he best shooter in the nation but isnt great defensively. Buckner is a good scorer, good athlete and affects the games on both ends of the floor. Jenkins impact offensively is immense however. Had an SEC coach (not Vanderbilt), tell me yesterday he thinks Jenkins will score 2000pts in his career at Vandy.

First, let me say that Jenkins is a very good player, no question. Just wanted to clarify that at the NBA camp, players do only play half the game; however, his team had a couple injuries and defections so they only had 7 which gave guys on his team significantly more minutes and contributed to his scoring production. He may have led the camp anyway, I dont know but its notable. At the high school level there is no way he wont score 35+, especially with the team he is on, the competition level and the fact that he is a very good upper echelon player nationally and clearly better than anyone he is going to play in that area. "John Jenkins, SG ??“ His group resembles a M.A.S.H. unit more than a camp team. Beseeched with injuries, he and 6 others are getting heavy minutes in 48-minute camp games. He had 26 and 9. He??™s leading this deal in scoring at 17.83 per game. He doesn??™t need much room to get that jumper off and his confidence is growing" -Dave Telep, Scout.com

I dont put much if any stock on National Rankings or even local rankings for incoming Freshman. Proved time and time again to be inaccurate. I think those guys are good players but wont be able to get a true read on these kids for another year or two.

Bolivar runs it and I am sure some others do. Its typically the primary offense. Usually its used when there is an absence of a solid back to the basket post guy. It was developed for a team that didnt have a solid post and it made sense to put him opposite the ball and create more driving lanes and kick out opportunities. Packline defenses can be effective against it especially if you have good on the ball defenders to go along with it.

Wanted to pass on congratulations to all thos student athletes who are signing basketball letters of intent today. You should be proud of that accomplishment and excited about the future. A special congratulations to some of my Nashville Celtics guys who are signing Division 1 scholarship papers today in the early period: Drew Kelly, Centennial High School-----(Miami-OH) Jon Hood (KY),--------- (University of Kentucky) Drew Barham, Christian Brothers-------(Southern Illinois) Patrick Shaughnessey, Grace Baptist--------(Charleston Southern) Chase Dunn, Livingston Academy-------(TN Tech) Chris Reaves, Bolivar Central------(Austin Peay) Jordan Swing (AL)--------(Western Kentucky) Good luck to everyone around the state and to those who will sign late as well.

Hard to say on Murphy. There have been some High Majors who have mentioned they like him. If I had to guess, I think he will end up at a MM+ (upper level mid major) or maybe HM- (lower High Major) potentially...seems like Conference USA, Atlantic 10 type kid. Has a lot of talent and gets the game. Once he gets some more consistency with his jumpshot, he will be tough to handle. Prather just picked up an offer from Wake Forest. Wake signed three 5 star kids for 2008 and are creating alot of havoc in recruiting. Tubby Smith offered him as well. Current list of High Major offers are Wake, Alabama, Vandy, Virginia, Minnesota, Ole Miss in no order. Florida, Texas, Stanford, Duke, Tennessee and many others followed him this year. Be interested to see what shakes out.

Chris Reaves has an offer from Austin Peay and getting interest from some other schools including St Bonaventure from the A-10 Patrick Shaughnessy from Grace Baptist has a few D-1 offers....including Morehead St, Tn Tech and USC Upstate Gregg Wooten from Briarcrest currently has an offer from Morehead State Someone mentioned Drew Kelly earlier from Centennial. He has a ton of upper level mid major offers including but not limited to Southern Illinois, Miami (OH), Tulane, George Mason, etc....getting legit interest (meaning calls) from Stanford, Minnesota and Iowa. Drew Barham from Christian Brothers has offers from Southern Illinois, Belmont, Bucknell, Miami (OH), and several others and getting serious interest from Stanford, St Joes, Butler and Davidson

Tarik Brown will be a top 100 player in the next round of 2010 rankings.

havent heard from Memphis....their recruiting is a different animal though....basically they will go after Memphis kids and then kids from everywhere else other than TN it seems. Very national in that regard but it is surprising they havent called. Bluff is going on now, ends tomorrow.

That is accurate....also has bunch MM offers......Minnesota and Wake Forest will officially offer very soon as well

Prather did really like UNC, like alot of kids do, but he also realizes you gotta go with who is recruiting you and he realizes they got a ton of commits already. Memphis has not called. Frankly though, they recruit Memphis kids and then just go after national kids for whatever reason.

UNC has alot of commits in that 2010 class already so I dont think much will happen there but you never know. He currently holds offers from Vanderbilt, Virginia, Alabama and Ole Miss and is getting a bunch of interest from Duke, Florida, Texas, and just about everyone else.