Sunday, August 01, 1999
BASKETBALL INSIDER
Prosser's eyes on local guard
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Skip Prosser does not seem like the kind of guy you'd expect to see in shades, but he certainly could have used a pair of Ray-Bans as he squinted through the penultimate afternoon of the NCAA's summer evaluation period.
Prosser spent Friday afternoon in the thick heat of the Five-Star Camp at Robert Morris College near Pittsburgh, bouncing between two quarterfinal playoff games.
One involved 6-foot-9 Clarke Headen of Munford High in Detroit, a lean, agile forward who might develop into the sort of big man Xavier likes to employ.
The other included 6-3 Keith Jackson of Purcell Marian, an uncommonly strong shooting guard given that he's only entering his junior season.
Prosser might well have been watching other players in those games, but these two best fit the profile of what XU wants on its roster.
“With a big guy, we like them to be able to run, which cuts down on the pool,” Prosser said. Headen definitely can run. He needs to add strength, but has decent hands and finds his way to the ball.
“We want to find someone who can shoot the ball the way Darnell Williams did before he was hurt — and hopefully the way he will when he comes back,” Prosser said.
Jackson, who likely will be a target next year for the Cincinnati Bearcats and Ohio State, is still developing his perimeter game but slashes hard to the goal and does not mind contact.
Prosser said he is comfortable with what he's seen in scouting and the preliminary contacts XU has made. “You're concerned about your quantity lots of times,” Prosser said. “We don't want to be recruiting everybody, but really be recruiting nobody.”
LOGAN'S RUN: The value of college basketball experience was evident in the composition of the U.S. junior national team that won the silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Portugal.
The 1995 team was deeper in talent but most of those players were direct from high school, including Stephon Marbury and Vince Carter. That group finished seventh.
UC guard Steve Logan beat out several more highly touted players who just completed high school and went on to finish third on the team in scoring at 10.4 points per game.
He scored well despite struggling from the three-point line, hitting only 6-of-22 from the longer international distance (20 feet, 6 inches). On shots inside the line, Logan was 24-of-41 for an overall percentage of .476. He ranked second on the team in assists, one behind Missouri's Keyon Dooling, and second in steals.
More compelling evidence of the value of college ball was displayed by Logan's former high school teammate at Lakewood St. Edward, shooting guard Steve Lepore of Northwestern. He started ahead of Stanford recruit Casey Jacobson and was the top U.S. three-point shooter. Jacobson, who will be one of the top freshmen in the nation this season, struggled with his shooting touch.
RICH MAN, POOR MAN: Howard Garfinkel, who runs the Five-Star Camp, believes most of the rules the NCAA passes are designed to help make the most powerful schools more powerful.
If that's not the intent, it often is the result.
Of the changes proposed last month by the NCAA's “working group” on basketball issues, the one that could have the greatest impact on college basketball would restrict the summer recruiting period from 24 days to 14 and move 10 days of evaluation to the school year. That means it likely will be more expensive and difficult for mid- and low-major programs to scout players.
With only two weeks, most of the top players will be tied up in the Nike All-American Camp or adidas ABCD Camp and then one tournament the following week. Schools like Detroit will be pressured to either abandon or lessen their chances of grabbing a player from one of the elite-level camps in order to hit more events in that compact period of time.
“If the big events take all the days, to me you're hurting the kids that don't go to those because we're not going to be able to evaluate them,” said Detroit coach Perry Watson. “In the cities, you have many talented kids that don't get invited to those premier events.”
The shortening of the summer period is designed to cut down the influence on the recruiting process of club coaches and also the strain on both coaches and players to travel and perform for most of July. But the 24-day period made it cheaper for schools to scout and provided more opportunities for players to be evaluated as to their worthiness for Division I.
“I would hope before those things are put down in the rulebook,” Watson said, “they do hear from everybody and do something that's sensible, not just some things that look good.”
RECRUITING TRAIL: Kentucky is included among the top four schools with 5-7 point guard whiz Andre Barrett of New York's Rice High, but the Wildcats may have to make a concerted push to land Barrett if they're going to convince him to leave home. Barrett has Seton Hall at the top of his list. The Wildcats' top target remains 6-1 Chris Duhon of Slidell, La., who also is considering Duke.
• Word out of Houston is that 6-9 power forward Alton Ford of Milby High will not sign a letter of intent in November despite making a commitment this past spring to the Houston Cougars. Ford has said he's not completely disregarding other schools' interest.
• UC's top Conference USA rival at the moment, UNC Charlotte, is trying to carve out a recruiting territory in an interesting location: Cleveland. The 49ers got a commitment from 6-8 forward Tory Reed, who is attending prep school this fall. They also are among the top schools for 6-7 Omari Westley, who lists UC first.
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