Las Vegas Day Two: Reebok Summer Championships and Selby Steals The Show

The launching of Coach Calipari’s website along with KSR Hollywood Squares inspired me to drop a little coin on an internet connection in my hotel room for the day. There still hasn’t been any wireless at any of the events so I apologize for any delays in posting but its kinda out of my hands.

Day two started off with an early morning match featuring the Baltimore Assault which includes Josh Selby and Roscoe Smith on their roster. Selby has definitely been the big story in Vegas so far, both for his great play and his recent decommitment from Tennessee. Duke had their entire staff at the Baltimore Assault game and Kentucky did as well. Calipari showed up in a great pair of linen pants and a shirt that looked way out of my price range. His loafers looked like they were bought in Florence (Italy, not Kentucky), making me think that the entire outfit had to be in celebration of his website launch. Bill Self, Trent Johnson and Gary Williams were a few of the other head men in attendance.

Later in the day I moved over to the Reebok site where Dominique Ferguson had Billy Donovan and Jeff Capel playing the “Look at me! I’m closer to the front row than that coach” game. It progressed to the point where both coaches were sitting in the media chairs, five feet in front of the stands and inches from the court.

In a limited amount of time, with many of UK’s targets playing on the same teams, I was able to see a lot of kids play and talk to a few of them after their games. Here’s the report from day two:

Dominique Ferguson

Scouting: This was one of the most impressive outings I have seen from Ferguson, even though he didn’t score a ton. Ray McCallum running the point may have had something to do with it, but I think the coach of Team Detroit yelling for Ferg to getting busy in the paint was the biggest factor. Ferguson fought hard in the post area and finished off a couple of nice moves with his back to the basket. He trailed the pack on a fast break and was able to step into a three point shot that he knocked down. Ferguson is always at his best when he plays aggressively, keeps his composure and doesn’t just camp out on the perimeter. Good NCAA coaching will maximize his talents and use his body to his advantage.

Recruiting: Dominique has still yet to cut his list at all and is actually still adding some interest from coaches. He doesn’t know when the decision time will come and says that he still wants to take a few unofficial visits before working on official visits. Arizona and Florida are two schools he is seriously considering for the official visit list. He mentioned that he has been talking with Ray McCallum, his new AAU running mate, about Arizona and Florida a lot. Arizona gives them the ability “to come right in a shine.” Duke is still coming at him hard and he noticed the entire staff watching his games at the tournament. He hopes to squeeze a Duke unofficial visit in there too. Dominique has to leave for Hargrave, where he’s attending school next year, in Virginia around August 23rd and the UK staff has been trying to get him in for an unofficial visit before he leaves. The offer is still on the table from UK and he added, “they still tell me I’m their #1 recruit for my position.” He’s looking for a good guard to play with at the next level and also immediate playing time, and may wait to see where some of the top guards, including Ray, end up before he decides on his final destination. Next year, Dominique hopes to work on his strength and thinks that Hargrave will help him remain disciplined and focused on basketball.

Sterling Gibbs

Scouting: In the game I watched, Sterling wasn’t able to be much of a factor. What he did show is that he is blazingly quick and can change directions in the blink of an eye. He has a little of Joe Jackson’s small speediness in him but didn’t penetrate as effectively as Jackson is able to. He has the tools to be a nice driving point guard, so I’m going to have to see a little more out of him before I give my final assessment.

Recruiting: With a few different kids UK is showing interest in playing in the early afternoon matchup between the NY Panthers and Team Detroit, I really have to say that I appreciate Brett Blevins help in getting some info from Sterling. Sterling plans on taking unofficial visits to Indiana, Duke, Maryland, Kentucky, Pitt and Villanova during the summer. He doesn’t have any set dates yet and will squeeze the visits in where he can. Sterling would like to major in sports medicine and that may play a factor in his decision. Although he does hold quite a few offers, UK has yet to give Sterling that option.

Joe Jackson

Scouting: Speaking of Joe, I just wanted to add a little bit of what I saw out of him at the Adidas Super 64 on Wednesday. Joe was Joe and just blew by everyone on his way to the cup. I haven’t seen a point guard who can keep up with him yet. Despite going 110 mph to the rim, he is still able to finish easily and showed his athleticism on a breakaway dunk where his feet looked to be 7ft off the ground.

Recruiting: Joe speaks about his recruitment as if nothing has changed but from the UK side of things, I noticed that the staff didn’t miss a game of Joe’s and made their presence very visible. This tells you that despite the tons of other point guards in the class that like UK, Joe is still a target that the staff is keeping an eye on and letting Joe know their eyes are on him.

Brandan Kearney

Scouting: Brandan plays on Team Detroit with Dominique Ferguson, Ray McCallum and Trey Zeigler and that trio really stole the show on Thursday. Brandan was still able to go 2 for 3 from behind the arc and also showed a little “razzle dazzle” by spinning in the lane and putting the ball on the glass for the finish.

Recruiting: Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Syracuse, Tennessee and Florida are the schools that he listed off the top of his head. Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State have all offered and are the schools that are on him the hardest. Guard success and getting guards to the league is something that Brandan looks at when weighing his options. Michigan State, Syracuse, Kentucky, Florida and Ohio State are some of the schools that stick out to him in that area. The interest level he is feeling from Kentucky, who has yet to offer, is “medium to high interest” right now but, from his end, he feels that they are “right in the top.” He added, “once I start getting in touch with them a lot, they’d be in my top 5.” He is going to take an unofficial visit to UK during the summer but the date isn’t set yet. Brandan plans on making his decision before his senior year of high school.

Ray McCallum

Scouting: Ray really pushed the pace in his game on Thursday, leading his team to victory. He is so smart with the ball and dished out a ton of dimes. His distribution was only outshined by his composure on the court. He was intentionally hit with a forearm while fighting for a ball on the floor and when the opportunity arose for him to try to finish off a break away for a contested layin with his nemesis on the very next play, Ray smartly passed it up and instead dished it outside for an open three pointer that was knocked down by his teammate. That style of play, especially in the AAU setting is always impressive and I know the many head coaches watching, including Ray’s dad, Sean Miller, Billy Donovan, Thad Matta, and Coach K, had to notice.

Recruiting: Ray has seen a lot of interest from Arizona lately and noted that during an unofficial visit there he was able to see pictures of the point guards that the school has produced. He also spoke glowingly of the staff and their history with teaching the point guard position. Kentucky is all but out of the picture with Ray at this point. He told me that they haven’t really been in contact much recently.

Keaton Miles & LeBryan Nash

Scouting: Miles & Nash (fighting the urge for Crosby Stills & Nash reference…not working…fighting harder…ok…I’m past it) are both on the Dallas Mustangs AAU team. Miles has a massive wingspan and knocked down a long three but, other than that, he didn’t really do much. It wasn’t that he was ineffective, just not involved, so my full assessment on him may have to wait until another showing. Nash, on the other hand, was very involved and did most of the scoring for his team. Nash has a quick first step and an incredibly well developed body. He showed his athleticism when getting to the lane and finishing strong but he has issues when ties to finish too softly. His left hand finishes might also need a little work but he has a great skill set and scored tons in the game I watched. When finishing after you blow by every one is your only problem, you’re doing pretty good.

Quincy Miller

Scouting: Quincy was really going hard down low on Thursday. He uses his length to his advantage but will have to add a little more muscle if he wants to continue banging. The jump shot looks nice, even though it wasn’t falling. He doesn’t mind bouncing out to the perimeter (which kid doesn’t) and was slashing into the lane numerous times. He wasn’t extremely quick on his feet though and didn’t blow by a lot of kids on Thursday and was most effective when working out of the post area. Quincy was a defensive monster though, chalking up numerous blocks and even blocking 3 or 4 shots in a row during one melee.

Recruiting: Duke, Wake, Kentucky, Kansas, Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are some of the schools that Quincy listed. Everyone on that list has offered. All the ACC schools have been on him hard along with South Carolina and Baylor. He also said that Duke has been on him a lot, he noticed that Coach K has been at every one of his games since they offered, and he has visited their campus “about four times.” Quincy wants to be an anesthesiologist and noted Duke’s strong medical school. On Kentucky, he really likes the offense and said “Calipari lets his players play.” Coach Cal is in contact with his uncle “quite a bit” and Quincy feels like the interest is pretty high at this point. He will visit both Kentucky and Louisville around the same time during the summer, as soon as he can squeeze it into his schedule.

Josh Selby

Scouting: I said in the live blog that Selby had been the most impressive talent at the tourney so far and I meant it. With Cal, Self, Donovan and many others watching, Selby scored in all kinds of ways. He finished hard with contact and had some major hang time on a floater in the lane. During the second half he got hot from behind the arc and even knocked down a leaning three, adjusting his shot in midair to get around a hand in his face. Selby is an electrifying athlete but also has good court vision and is prone to snap off quick accurate passes. All in all, I loved his performance and fans will love his showy style on the court.

Recruiting: Many strong sources are saying that Josh Selby to UK is all but written in stone but that isn’t the picture that his mother, Maeshon Witherspoon, was trying to convey on Thursday. Witherspoon said, “We’re going to really take our time and really do our research this time around. We’re not rushing. This is like a baby that is overdue.” Josh added, “We’re open to all schools.” Although the family may be open to talking to all schools, the amount of major coaches watching Josh is something that they do notice. Witherspoon said, “It’s hard not to get excited when you see the elite of the elite coaches.” On the World Wide Wes rumors, she said, “I’ve met the man twice. Let me clear that up, I’ve met him twice,” and continued, “I didn’t know who he was, never knew anything about him or heard about the man.” Wes did talk to her a bit in Ohio but she said, “The only thing that he has ever given me advice on is ‘Get your kid a track coach’.” Wes’ advice was based on track coaches keeping kids from getting injured during play. Other than that, Witherspoon made the message clear that Wes will not and did not have an effect on Josh’s decision making processes. Josh said that the decision to decommit is something that he has been thinking about “for about three months.” The pressure to commit is something that he definitely felt the first time around and is a situation that made him feel that if he didn’t commit, he might miss out. I think the story may be a little different this time around, as many major D-1 schools are going to be treating him like a king, vying for his services. Josh is looking for the “perfect fit” and said, “it’s going to take a long time before I commit again. I’m going to look at a lot of schools, I don’t have a list yet.” The family is planning on taking their time this go around because, according to his mother, “Outside of getting married, this is the biggest decision that Josh is going to have to make for the rest of his life.”

Roscoe Smith

Scouting: Duke’s entire staff was on hand to watch Roscoe who had one of his better performances that I’ve witnessed. When he steps into his jumper and doesn’t get too flashy, he can really heat up. Roscoe is a really impressive athlete and hung in the air on an alley oop dunk that, although missed, showed that he really has some jump in his game. Roscoe has a lot of god-given ability that any coach would love to get his hands on.

Tomorrow is one of the shorter days as I move on to the kids playing at the Center Stage event. It is still jam packed with talent including a Josh Smith and Tony Wroten noon game, followed by the kids on the Mac Irvin Fire squad. Expect a couple more in-depth pieces on the recruiting processes for Josh Selby and Dominique Ferguson. Also, you can expect more tweets tomorrow with recruiting information and reports from the kids’ games. Follow along here.