(Above) I had breakfast a couple of days ago with University of San Francisco Asst. Jeff Linder. We chewed the fat about hoops and Coach recounted his experience at the University of North Carolina this past month when along with his Head Coach, Rex Walters was invited along with every Carolina alum now coaching in college and the pros to The 100th Anniversary of Tar Heel Hoops. He said it was simply amazing.He saw Texas D-1 Ambassadors ex John Henson in powder blue and said he looked GREAT! Did you folks know that in the Mock NBA Draft of 2011 that Henson is projected to go # 4 overall??? Wow
While in the area, Linder visited San Antonio Reagan, San Antonio Clark and San Antonio Johnson. He then headed up I-35 and dropped into Del Valle and Austin Westlake to check in on 2010 commit Cody Doolin. He is one of the growing number of D-1 coaches nationwide who respects the Texas D-1 Ambassadors program and also who appreciates the fact that the Austin-San Antonio area is vastly under recruited. Coach Linder was previously at Midland JC (TX).
It was nice to have a little break after a long spring and summer season on the club coaching trail. I actually took a golf lesson in Phoenix and then hacked my way around some of the area's nicest courses. It's good to be back home and last night was my first night back in the gym hearing the squeak of sneakers for the Fall of 2009.
Below: 2010 PG David Eads of the Lake Travis Cavaliers is no slouch on the floor. He'll take a huge leadership role for LT this year with Jordan Jahr graduated and playing ball at the Air Force Academy. His play, while very good pales in comparison to his academics. Eads shunned a couple of D-1's who flirted with him and decided to take his 1460 SAT (out of 1600) and head off to M.I.T one of the nation's most prestigious academic institutions where he'll play ball. Eads told me he's still undecided whether to study political science, or business. Congratulatons David!
The Baby Faced Assassin, 2011 PG Deon Mitchell of Pflugerville may well be the area's most prolific scorer this year. He's shown here in his camp photo from the Marquette University Specialty Camp. He has an offer in his pocket already from the Big East powerhouse.
Below: 2010 PG Cody Doolin is my preseason pick for the Austin POY honors. The do it all guard is committed to the University of San Francisco and former Kansas PG Rex Walters. One Big XII coach compares Doolin favorably at this point in his career to former Texas Tech G Alan Voskil who is making $200K playing overseas in Poland. That's heady stuff.
Pflugerville Fall League Wednesday, September 23rd
Tonight's the night! Basketball junkies, come on out of the closet for another great year (2009-2010). This is also the one year anniversary of "Coach Max's Prep Report", which has blossomed into the premiere source of high school basketball information and publicity for players in the Austin-San Antonio area, as well as featuring kids from Louisiana & Mississippi. In one short year, we have become the focal point for players, high school coaches and college coaches to get their "fix" of the area youth and prep hoop scene.
This year, we'll expand our coverage to begin including the ladies, bring game recaps, recruiting updates and much more. I'll go into much greater detail as the season begins to unfold, but for now I'm going to point out a couple of guys who have stood out early as players to watch in 4 games I caught last night who have D-1 potential.
Pflugerville Hendrickson 2011 W 6'5" Jalen Washington
Lake Travis 2010 PG 6'1" David Eads
Pflugerville 2010 WG 6'5" Cleveland Smith
Pflugerville 2011 PG 5'10" Deon Mitchell
Pflugerville 2012 PG 5'8" T.J. Williams
Round Rock Stony Point 2010 PG 6'0" Chris Clements
Austin LBJ 2011 G 6'0" Robert Lee
Austin Westlake 2010 PG 6'2" Cody Doolin
Austin Westlake 2010 P 6'9" Gus Leeper
Austin Westlake 2010 W 6'6" Conner Kemper
There will be many more mentioned and lots of additional info as the year unfolds.
You can also follow this year on www.twitter.com/CoachMaxx
