Kentucky gets commitment from 8th grader

[Da Coach]

They keep getting younger.

Scout reports that Michael Avery, a 6'4" wing player who is in the 8th grade at Ascension Lutheran School. He was offered a scholarship by Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie, and accepted.

Scout article (premium)--

http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/751721.html

http://leagueathletics.com/Page.asp?id=7223&org=KINGJAMESSHOOTINGSTARSSOUTH.COM

[tornado]

The article says Avery is looking to enroll at Culver Academy (IN) for high school,
and this is the school where Alan Huss landed and coaches basketball.
Huss, as many will recall, was last year's head coach at Decatur Christian and is an ex-Creighton ball player.


Actually, there are rumors that the kid Kentucky is really after is this "travel team" teammate of Avery's
named Tony Parker.....a 14 year old who is 6-8 and 240!! and one of the top ranked big men in the nation.

http://leagueathletics.com/Page.asp?n=6913&snid=67852105&org=kingjamesshootingstarssouth.com

[BU ICEMAN]

What is this, a May Fool's Day joke?

How young is too young? I mean, c'mon now, seriously, 8th grade? Gimme a break.

[tornado]

OK...so Gillispie decided to aim a little older...so this time he lands a virtually
unknown 1-STAR recruit who is a high school freshman.

http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/hoopsnews/zollocommitstokentucky

Anyone wanna bet the kid immediately jumps to at least 3-Stars in the next few weeks?

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=3708485

[tornado]

Gillispie offers a scholarship to yet ANOTHER virtually unknown freshman

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080513/SPORTS0203/805130388

again....what do you want to bet the kid immediately skyrockets (skyrocket ?) to at least 3-Stars from his present unlisted status?

[tornado]

Here is a perfect example of a kid who does a skyrocket, at first, as soon as he is linked to a BCS school, then again - just as soon as he signs with a BCS team.

Jeff Taylor, Jr. was a fairly obscure kid from Hobbs, NM.
He was an unknown commodity until Bob Knight offered the kid a scholarship while he was still a junior, then immediately he bursts onto the rankings as a 2-Star but well outside the Rivals 150. One of the reasons Taylor got an early offer from Texas Tech is because he is the son of an ex-Texas Tech star (Jeff Taylor, Sr.), and Taylor was spotted by Knight when he went to a Texas Tech Red Raider summer camp.

Then as he started putting up some impressive numbers as a junior, some schools had interest (although no other offers from anyone).
By the end of his junior year, and once teams like Kansas/Texas were watching him, he suddenly became at 3-STAR (even without offers from those schools, but he did have really good scoring numbers his junior year).
But he didn't play AAU ball after his junior season and spent the year in Europe playing amateur ball, so the hype died a little.

Then in his senior season came interest from several BCS schools, Texas, Vanderbilt, New Mexico, Nebraska, and even Big Ten schools...but he stayed a 3-STAR, since none of them offered except Texas and Texas Tech.

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=727324

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=782403

Then even when his high school season ended, he was still 3-STAR.

He was smart to hold out until spring of his senior season as the battle for his services got more fierce, even though statistically his senior year was no better than his junior year in high school...Kentucky came calling then Arizona...
He hadn't even been playing for over a month as his senior season ended in early March.........
a month ago...and he was still 3-STARS.

Even when the announcement was made that he picked between Vandy, Texas, Kentucky, Arizona, and Gonzaga, and made his college choice... and selected Vandy....he was still 3-STARS. (April 21)

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=799790

Then at the end of April, Rivals upgrades Taylor to 4-STAR....zooming him all the way to #53 overall from being unranked just 4 months earlier.

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=800662

The exact same thing happened with Wesley Witherspoon.

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=59264

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=53825

Sure it might have been coincidence, but the upgrades seem to follow more what he is doing with the recruiters, and not what he's doing on the court.

[tornado]

More proof, in case you need it, that just as soon as a kid signs with a top program, his ratings go up...

Tyrone Appleton....
a good juco point guard, was 3-Stars per Rivals, all through his recrutiment, and even into the spring......

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=767298

This article from April also still shows Rivals has him at 3-STARS.

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=793985

Then he commits to Kansas, and signs his LOI.......but he is still a 3-STAR PG out of junior college....but..........
within a couple weeks after he signs with Kansas, he is suddenly a 4-STAR rated PG, so why did he zoom up in the rankings, since he hasn't set foot on a basketball court since March?

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=28907

Even as recently as April 23, he was NOT listed by Rivals among the Top 35 PG's who were all 4-5 Stars, and upper crust of the 3-star group.


NEXT EXAMPLE----
Mario Little.......

Same thing.....he was 3-star for all his junior college experience, and even up to just the past couple weeks
and this link proves it..........

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=910&CID=793985

Then..he is suddenly, now, 4-STAR, even though his season stats were a bit less than most had predicted, and his late season performance contributed to Chipola getting bumped again from the NJCAA National Tournament.

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=38706

It doesn't surprise me, as I have said it, believed it, and even documented it for years, that the recruiting services simply are trying to keep up with the recruiters by tracking the kids that sign with the top programs then adjust their rankings accordingly. In other words, they let guys like Bill Self do their work for them, and they simply adjust their recuit rankings to help favor the big programs. It's no wonder a kid wants to go to a place like Kansas or Texas even just to be a back-up, instead of going to a mid-major....see Varez Ward....

http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=82484#post82484