BHFS Player Updates

Colin Richey continues to develop

Beantown Hoops Fall Shootout - Player Updates

- Jake Layman made his first public playing appearance since committing to Maryland earlier in the week and he looked outstanding.  The scary thing about him is that he is only just beginning to scratch the surface of his immense potential.  As Layman continues to develop, the Andre Kirilenko comparison seems to fit more.  Who knows, maybe Layman will end up being better.

- Steve Haladyna looks to have picked up an August inch and is now a barefoot 6'5..  He was his usual self all day, scoring the ball consistently in a variety of ways and heading to the glass hard on both ends.

- Colin Richey was impressive yesterday.  Word is he worked his tail off this summer and it shows.  He looks faster and his foot speed has caught up with his game.  He also looked more explosive getting up off the ground and in changing directions off the crossover or hop-step.  Once he gets into a situation where he is consistently playing with players who play at his level, any question marks on Richey will disappear.  He can really play and has a ton of room left to improve.

- Mike Carbone started the day slowly but picked it up as the day wore on and ended up having a monster second half in the Final against New Mission to help the Prep pull out the win.  When he is on his game, Carbone is a cold-blooded sniper not to leave alone on the arc.

- Greg Bridges was terrific for New Mission at the point.  Only a freshman, Bridges is a lightning quick guard with third gear speed who, in terms of ability, will be ready to go right away at the point for Cory McCarthy.  This kid has big-time athleticism, stands about 5'6, dunks with two hands with ease, and he's still just a baby physically.  It's going to be very interesting to see what happens as his body develops towards manhood.

-  Nate Andersen of New Mission certainly has the physical tools and the natural ability to be a scholarship player.  He needs to develop a plan to take with him every time he takes the floor.

- Freddy Shore was his usual left-handed slashing self for St John's Prep, attacking from the wing and looking to finish athletically at the cup.  Shore also threw down a nice lefty dunk-shot on the breakaway against in New Mission in the Final.

Player Landings coming later today.

St Johns Preps wins BHFS

Scored the ball all day for the Preppies

Hoops Season Never Ends

- The Beantown Hoops Fall Shootout went down today at Medford High School and the action did not disapoint. It came down to a Final Four of New Mission, King Philip, Acton-Boxborough, and St Johns Preps. New Mission clipped King Philip in OT and St Johns Prep beat A-B by about 15 to make it an SJP/New Mission Final, a match-up of the D1 & D2 defending Massachusetts State Champions. It was a tight one 'til the finish and in the end, it was seniors Steve Haladyna, Mike Carbone, and Freddy Shore who helped SJP pull out a 4 point win to claim the 2011 Beantown Hoops Fall Shootout Championship. 

Player Reports & Player Landings comin' later today.

One player who will be featured later is the player featured in the video clip below dropped last night by Lucas Shapiro.  CIO

Lucas Shapiro's Website

Fall Open Period Notebook #3

Back on the beat

Saturday Morning Notes

- Last night, Marquette head coach Buzz Williams dropped in for an in-home visit with Zach Auguste out in Marlborough.  Marquette is in Auguste's final four along with Florida, West Virginia, and G-Tech.

-  According to New England Hoop News, "Tony Bennett, the head coach at the University of Virginia, was on hand to observe WMA's workout and take an early look at junior point guard, Jaylen Brantley.  Brantley had an outstanding summer and has received interest from the ACC, Big East and Big 12 to name a few.  Bennett's presence on the first night shows how important Brantley is to their recruiting plans."   

View Full Article on NE Hoop News 

-  According to a tweet from Adam Finkelstein, "6-6 2012 G Alex Furness from Cushing Academy (MA) landed a scholarship offer from Assumption yesterday per his AAU coach."

Live-Fall Check-In: Opening night at NMH

Fall Open Period Begins at Northfield Mt Hermon

- Earlier tonight, numerous college coaches were on hand in Northfield, Mass to check out open-run at Northfield Mount Hermon.  Among those in attendance were Dartmouth Head Coach Paul Cormier, Brown Head Coach Jesse Ager, and assistant coaches from Vermont, Dartmouth, New Hampshire, Siena, American, Harvard, Northeastern, and Boston University.

Beantown Hoops Fall Shootout Preview

Beantown Hoops kicks off 'the hoops year'

- The Beantown Hoops Fall Shootout will take place tomorrow afternoon at Medford HS and the field is loaded with teams who will be among the best in Eastern Mass this coming season.  The Spaceship will be in attendance to keep you updated.  Let's take a look at the field for this no-nonsense one-and-done single-elimination bracket.

St Johns Prep (Danvers) - The defending Mass D1 State Champs got to be the favorite coming in.  Steve Haladayna, Mike Carbone, Freddy Shore, Isaiah Robinson, and others will begin the process of defending their crown. Curious to get a first look at freshmen guards Ben Judson and Marcos Echevvaria.

King Philip HS - Jake Layman will be the highest ranked player to play Massachusetts high school basketball in a long time.  A potential semi-final match-up of King Philip and SJP is certainly intriguing.

New Mission HS - The defending Beantown Hoops Fall Shootout Champs as well as the defending Mass D2 State Champs begin the post-Samir McDaniels era.  Curious to see how freshman guard Greg 'Mighty Mouse' Bridges fits into the New Mission equation.

Whitinsville Christian - Colin Richey looks to be a perpetual triple-double threat from the point this year.

Cardinal Spellman - Combo forward Joey Glynn could be a problem tomorrow...Watch for monster numbers.

Andover - Can Sam Dowden be a double-double machine?

St Peter Marian - Excited to get first peek at Matt Mobley.

Acton-Boxborough - Left-handed big man Kevin LaFrancis leads A-B into the post Sam Longwell-era.

Remaining Field...Hanover, Malden, Quabbin

View Full Details on ESPN Boston

Rip Van Winkle Notebook

September 9th Notes

- Went for long run yesterday mid-afternoon.  Came home with headache.  Plopped down on couch at 4:00 to nap off.  Woke up at 7:30 feelin' brand new and absolutely starvin'.  Went to fridge to find some dinner.  Made mental note that darkness comin' earlier.  Found some cold cuts and went to work on sandwich.  Sliced some tomatoes to finish job.  Alarm clock on phone went off.  Wave of deja vu swept through.  Alarm is set for 7:33am.  Not gettin' dark earlier, just another overly gray morning.  Eat sandwich for breakfast.  Tell story all day. 

- The Fall Open Recruiting Period started today and college coaches from across America began the process of checking in on recruits at high schools all over the country.  Throughout the Fall Period, which lasts from today until October 5th, the Spaceship will keep you updated on the comings and goings of college coaches visiting New England programs and players.

- According ESPN's Dave Telep, today, Providence Coach "Ed Cooley will be driving to check on recent local commit SG Ricardo Ledo and PG Kris Dunn in Connecticut, and visiting the Tilton School to check on sophomore Wayne Selden and others."

- Brewster Academy power forward Mitch McGary is currently on his official visit to Duke.

- Current TV is quickly becoming a Spaceship Favorite.  Earlier today, we watched a documentary about the "tiger body-parts" trade in China.  Crazy, crazy stuff.  Talk about differing cultural traditions.

- Northfield Mt Hermon power forward Ethan O'Day will take his official visit to the University of Vermont this weekend.

- Tonight is opening night of high school football in New England.

- Beantown Hoops Fall Shootout to go down tomorrow at Medford HS...Preview coming later tonight.

New Nerlens Noel Video

When's 'the List' gonna drop?

City League Hoops TV drops New Nerlens Noise 

- Sometime in the last 24 hours, City League Hoops TV dropped a Nerlens Noel Highlight video from the Lebron James Skills Academy in early July..  Check it out.

City League Hoops TV

September Up and Under Notebook

Buzz 'Clark Kent' Naismith

The 2011-2012 calendar begins

- Last week, Dayshon Smith ('13) of Putnam Science Academy received his first offer from Fairfield.  Today, he received his 2nd from St Peters.

- Rumors have swirled this past week that Ricky Ledo would not be returning to Notre Dame Prep this year, and today those rumors were confirmed by a number of media outlets.  Among the many reports, a tweet from Adam Zagoria read, "Ricky Ledo is no longer at Notre Dame Prep & will work on getting his GED before going to Providence at the break, multiple sources confirm."  Interesting stuff...this means that in this coming season, we could see a Providence perimeter trio of Kiwi Gardner at the point with the lefty-righty combination of Gerard Coleman and Ricky Ledo on the wings.  Who won't be watching?

- The NERR Elite 75 is less than a dozen days away...Who will be this years' breakout prospects?

- Was a tad surprised Ohio State didn't make TJ Warren's final list.

- Florida Gators Boss Billy Donovan currently has confirmed offers on the table of 8 New England players (9 until Jake Layman committed to Maryland last night)  Nerlens Noel, Zach Auguste, Jaylen Brantley, Kuran Iverson, Noah Vonleh, Chris McCullough, Mitch McGary, and TJ Warren.  Any others?

TJ Warren drops Final-Five

The North Carolina Scoring Machine

Wildcats - Wolf Pack - Tar Heels - Hoyas - Gators

- According to The Recruit Scoop, Brewster Academy's TJ Warren has recently narrowed his list of schools down to a Final-Five: Georgetown, Kentucky, Florida, North Carolina, and North Carolina St.  Heavyweight Battle.

Read Article on The Recruit Scoop

Jake Layman commits to Maryland

Headed to Terrapin Station

Let's hope the hoops uniforms stay traditional

- One of the best Grateful Dead songs and albums of all time has to be Terrapin Station.  Apparently, Jake Layman agrees, as late last night, after the Maryland football team took down Miami (FL) on ESPN, Layman committed to Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon.  The Terps got themselves a good one, as Layman's Andre Kirilenko-style game will be a perfect fit in the ACC.

Charleston Prep Academy a Fraud

A West Virginia Prep School Scam

- Earlier today, it was announced that Charleston Prep Academy in Charleston, West Virginia was being shut down by authorities for a variety of reasons, namely for being a fraud.  Check out the article at the link below.  Not a good situation at all.  They had 16 kids down there total, more than a few of them foreign students, living in a three bedroom apartment with no beds or food, and no actual school of any sort to speak of.  Unreal.

How does this effect New England you ask?  
Egi Gijkondi was among the 16 guys down there.

View Full Article on Scam

Ricky Ledo stayin' home in Friar-Town

Providence through and through

As expected, Ricky Ledo re-commits to Providence

- After abruptly cancelling a press conference last Thursday in which he was to announce his college decision, earlier today it was announced that Ricky Ledo officially committed to Providence, his hometown school. Along with Kris Dunn, Ed Cooley now has two Top 20 players in his incoming 2012 back-court.  Friartown Mania is on.

Chris Baldwin earns accolade

Springfield native headed to Hillside School

Basketball Spotlight: 2011 Most Outstanding Player

-  Over the weekend, the Basketball Spotlight hosted the JEM All Star Classic, an annual event which officially concludes the grammar school careers of some of the top rising-freshmen in the Northeast.  The event features an All-Star game at Life Center Academy in Burlington, New Jersey.  The 'North' All Stars featured two New England players in Chris Baldwin and Aaron McLean, and they helped their squad pull out a close 96-90 win over the South.  Following the game, the Basketball Spotlight Awards Ceremony took place, in which awards were given out for the game and also for 2011 in whole.  And guess what...Chris Baldwin was named the 2011 Basketball Spotlight Most Outstanding Player, quite a distinction considering that players such as Isaiah Briscoe, Karl Towns, and Nassir Marrino were were also in consideration.  Could be the start of a special career.

View full article BasketballSpotlight.com

Big Three Mania in New England

Original Big Three

Three's Company

- There will be more than a few highly-anticipated Big 3's in New England this coming season.  Among the MANY will be...

- Tilton: Wayne Selden, Georges Niang, & Nerlens Noel

- ND Prep: Steven Adams, Ricky Ledo, & Myles Davis

- New Hampton: Noah Vonleh, Zach Auguste, & Jared Terrell

- Brewster: Mitch McGary, TJ Warren, & Deonte Burton

- Hotchkiss: Austin Colbert, Kyle Washington, & Clyde Smith

- NMH: Evan Cummins, Ethan O'Day, & Peter Miller

- St Marks: Nick Stauskas, Kaleb Tarczewski, & Aaron Falzon 

- Well it's time to throw another exciting trio into the mix in the form of Bridgton Academy's Big 3 of former Providence-commit Markus Crider from Dayton, Ohio, St Johns commit Darrick Wood from Washington DC, and former Hofstra commit Malik Nichols from Brooklyn.  Curious to see how the rest of the roster rounds out but this is a heck of a start for Bridgton Boss Whit Lesure up in Maine.

Welcome to NE: Dayshon Smith

Scoochie took the 16u MVP at Rumble in the Bronx

 Putnam Science Loadin' Up

- Rice HS in NYC has long been a basketball-power that has produced players such as Felipe Lopez, Kemba Walker, Russell Robinson, and Kadeem Jack.  Sadly, in June, Rice was forced to close due to financial reasons, forcing current students to look elsewhere to complete their high school educations.  One of these students is Dayshon 'Scoochie' Smith, an exciting, free-wheelin' New York City point guard with a tight handle who runs with the New York Gauchos on the AAU circuit and will be taking his talents to Putnam Science Academy in CT.  

Scoochie's a high IQ player who knows how to run a club efficiently.  He attacks with the bounce and looks to use his court vision to create for teammates.  But what makes Smith such a dangerous back-court player is that he also has high-level scoring ability from the point, with a beautiful shooting-stroke off the catch 1-2 and the propensity to pull the trey-ball trigger in transition.  He also uses the dribble to go to the basket and will finish at the cup or look for a floater in the lane.  As he tightens up his pull-up game and gets stronger, allowing him to play through more contact, Smith's scoring ability will continue to blossom. 

In terms of his recruitment, so far, Dayshon holds an offer from Fairfield and is also receiving interest from schools such as "Syracuse, Providence, St Peters, Iona, Manhattan, and Quinnipiac."  Dayshon will enter his junior year intent on taking his game to a new level and turning the volume up on his recruitment.  At PSA, he'll team with Jonathan Joseph, Tyree Robinson, Keon Scott and Shaun Lawton to form a prospect-laden nucleus for Head Coach Tom Espinosa.

Welcome to New England: Kyle Washington

Kyle Washington - 6'8 athletic lefty with a soft-touch

Howard Pulley AAU Product

- Yet another high-profile player coming to New England is 6'8 forward Kyle Washington ('13) out of Minnesota who will be transferring to the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut.  Washington is ranked #55 by ESPN in the Class of 2013 and according to Rivals.com, he already holds offers from schools such as Marquette, Minnesota, Iowa State, and Penn State.  The addition gives Hotchkiss a tantalizing 2013 front-court combination in Austin Colbert and Washington, ESPN's #41 & #55 in the Class 2013. Combine them with a back-court of Clyde Smith and Makai Mason, and you have quite an intriguing Hotchkiss roster.

Check out the video of Kyle Washington below.

Welcome to New England: Darrick Wood

Darrick Wood is committed to Steve Lavin at St Johns

DC & Brooklyn Duo team up

- With the NCAA-eligibility problems currently going on with NIA Prep (NJ) alumni, numerous current NIA student-athletes are choosing to play it safe and are transferring elsewhere. According to Adam Zagoria, among those transferring from NIA is St John's commit Darrick Wood ('12), a 6'4 shooting guard who is headed to New England to attend Bridgeton Academy in Maine to play for Coach Whit Lesure. Wood is a trampoline artist who spent the summer playing alongside Kyle Anderson with the NJ Playaz.  He is a native of Washington DC and is ranked #104 in the Rivals.com Class of 2012 national rankings.  

Check out the City League Hoops TV 'D-Wood video' below.

Also headed to Bridgeton is 6'6 wing Malik Nichols ('12) of Brooklyn who was formerly committed to Hofstra and whose recruitment is now open.  He attended Boys & Girls HS in NYC last year and played AAU ball for the New York Metrohawks.

View Adam Zagoria Article

King of Milwaukee stays home

Marquette Bound

Deonte Burton commits to Marquette

- Earlier this evening, Brewster Academy small forward Deonte Burton ('13) of Milwaukee ended his recruitment early by committing to Marquette.  Buzz Williams and Golden Eagle Nation have themselves a hometown-hero.

Player Watch Construction Update

Player Watch Construction comin' along

- Check out the player profiles on the Player Watch pages..They are newly updated/edited and NEW player profiles are being added everyday.  Players, please let the Spaceship know if any information on your profile needs updating.  Stay tuned for updates and originals.

View Class of 2012 Player Watch   -   View Class of 2013 Player Watch

View Class of 2014 Player Watch   -   View Class of 2015 Player Watch

Program Profiles page up & runnin'

Check out some early-look rosters

- The first 27 profiles are up on the Program Profiles page and a new profile will be added every day.  Check 'em out and start to get yourself ready for the  upcoming hoops season.  Coaches...please send us additions.

View Program Profiles page

Connor Mahoney Receives 1st Offer

Pride of Hanover, MA & The Brooks School

LeMoyne Offers Mahoney Full-Ride

- There aren't many players who had a more productive Live-July than Middlesex Magic forward Connor Mahoney, who went from being primarily a NESCAC prospect to being a legitimate scholarship prospect with both D1 and D2 interest.  Today, the process of generating 'offers from interest' began as Mike Crotty announced that Mahoney has been offered a full-scholarship to LeMoyne College, a D2 school in Syracuse.  Congratulations to Mahoney on receiving his first offer.  *In addition to LeMoyne, Crotty said that Mahoney is also being recruited by schools such as "Tufts, Trinity, WPI, Babson, Middlebury, Williams, Colby, Connecticut College, Navy, Assumption, and others."

View Article on MiddlesexMagic.com

Rivals.com: Noah Vonleh #1 in USA

Class of 2014: USA #1

Rivals.com 2014 Top 25

- Earlier this afternoon, the Rivals.com Class of 2014 Top 25 was released and New England placed 3 players (2 natives and 1 import) in the rankings.  Noah Vonleh came in at #2, Chris McCullough #10, and Wayne Selden #12.  For Vonleh, the #2 ranking is his highest to date and given that the #1 player, Andrew Wiggins, is from Canada, Vonleh is the Rivals.com #1 ranked player in America.  Just the beginning for all 3 of these guys.

September Arrives -Spaceship Awakes

Ready to Rock

Hello September Notebook

- September is here and the Spaceship is out of Hibernation...Expect the flow of information to start coming at you quickly

- Yesterday morning, Ricky Ledo cancelled his college decision press conference which was scheduled for today.  The game continues.

- Cedric Kuakumensah last night dropped a five-school final list of BU, Brown, Elon, Penn, and Holy Cross.

- Incoming Putnam Science Academy point guard Dayshon Smith ('13) from New York City this week received his first D1 scholarship offer from Fairfield.

- Chris McCullough ('14) visited Arizona this week and also received offers from UConn and West Virginia.  He now holds offers from UConn, West Virginia, Arizona, St. John's, Syracuse, Rutgers, Hofstra, Temple, Florida, Providence, Iowa St and Seton Hall.

- Happy Birthday to Evan Cummins...Word is he has been an animal of late in the weight room working out with Adam Harrington.  Writing's on the wall.

- Point guard Maurice Watson from Philly yesterday committed to BU.  Another huge score for Joe Jones early in his Terrier tenure.  Both Watson and Papale were hot commodities on the recruiting trail.

Rivals.com: Class of 2013 Top 150 Released

Eric Bossi and co.

9 NE Players in Rivals Class of 2013 Top 150

- This afternoon, the Rivals.com Class of 2013 Top 150 was released and nine New England players were included, four New England Natives and five New England Imports.  Would love liked to see Rene Castro somewhere in there as well, he definitely deserves to be in there.

#3  - Nerlens Noel

#5  - Chris Thomas 
#44 - Austin Colbert
#45 - Deonte Burton 
#65 - Kuran Iverson 
#85 - Jaylen Brantley 
#89 - Dominic Woodson 
#92 - Goodluck Okonoboh 
#113 - Daquan McNeil

Welcome to New England: Austin Colbert

Native of Chesapeake, Virginia

 The CT/NJ Flip-Flop

- Over the course of the summer, 6'10 big man Mike Tobey transferred from Hotchkiss to Blair Academy (NJ) for his senior year.  If anyone was worried about how Hotchkiss was going replace Tobey (ESPN #78) down-low this season, it looks like you can stop worrying.  Earlier today, Adam Finkelstein of NERR broke the news that 6'9 athlete-supreme Austin Colbert will be transferring from St Patrick's (NJ) to the Hotchkiss School (CT) for the upcoming school year, where he will team with Clyde Smith and Makai Mason to form an intriguing inside-outside combination.  Colbert is ranked #41 in the ESPN Class of 2013 Rankings and according to Scout.com, AC is "one of the most highly recruited players in the Class of 2013."  Colbert heads to New England for his junior year with offers from Pittsburgh, Miami (FL), Seton Hall, and Xavier (Rivals.com) with interest from countless others.