Confirming its nonpareil regard among the basketball cognoscenti, the bleachers at Proviso West (Hillside, Illinois) high school were filled Thursday not only with the usual compliment of encyclopedically knowledgeable fans but lieutenants from some of the nation’s best programs. In what was typically robust Big Ten representation, Iowa’s Joel Cornette, Bill Carmody and Mitch Henderson from Northwestern, and one of Bo Ryan’s red and white clad operatives were among the clipboard wielders.
While the day two match-ups were more lopsided than usual, all attendees were treated to the kind of elite individual and team performances that make Proviso West an eternal fertile delta for fans and recruiters alike. The tournament’s deep fields and charged atmosphere are just the kind of crucible that tell prospective coaches a lot about a player’s fitness for the next level.
The history of the tournament is rife with performances that have elevated players from under the radar to real deal status. The tournament is a lazy coach’s dream. Show up at Proviso every year and one can find enough good players to jumpstart a program. And in other cases (i.e. Marcus Liberty, Levertis Robinson, Kevin Garnett, Ronnie Fields, Jon Scheyer) the tournament has raised already identified superstars to the level of the mythic.
Bill Carmody Meet Mike DiNunno
Von Steuben’s Mike DiNunno, a player Hoopraker identified at last year’s tournament as a jewel in the rough, laid down a game that confirmed our high opinion of his rightness for top flight Division I basketball. Playing all thirty-two minutes chin to chin with Chris Lowery’s point guard of the future, Kevin Dillard of Homewood-Flossmoor, DiNunno was the best player on the floor. Having added what appeared to be two inches and fifteen pounds of muscle to his frame, DiNunno is going to make Northern Illinois’ Ricardo Patton a very happy ballcoach.
DiNunno has the game and perhaps more importantly, the demeanor, heart, and smarts of a player who belongs in a major conference. When you add a 4.0 grade point average to his dossier, it becomes painfully clear which Big Ten program should’ve been involved in his recruitment long before yesterday when it was a foregone conclusion.
It’s hard not to appreciate a player who scores 30 points against Dillard who, along with 2008 Purdue signee, Decatur’s Lewis Jackson, is considered the state’s best point guard. His lightning quick release and deep range (7 of 15 3-pt. FG) on his jumpshot, superb off the dribble penetration, and the kind of passing ability that had the Proviso crowd whistling appreciatively at more than one interval are not a subtle skill set. And he has the kind of composure and moxie that had him responding to Dillard’s flagrant fouls, physical defense, and verbal gamesmanship with one big play after another.
On a team lacking a single productive frontcourt player and his backcourt mates mired in off nights, DiNunno was the only reason his Panthers maintained any competitiveness with Homewood-Flossmoor, an athletically loaded team that entered the game as the Chicagoland’s number two ranked squad.
Given this summer’s coaching transition at Northern Illinois from Rob Judson to Patton, even suitors who failed to recognize DiNunno on the first pass had another shot at him. Perhaps the two-time losers in the DiNunno recruitment were scared off by what was, until this season, a skinny, sub-six frame. But as players like Butler’s A.J. Graves, Cornell’s Adam Gore, and Michael Thompson at Northwestern are proving every night, size is far from the complete picture of a ballplayer.
And, as it is with those of heart and work ethic, DiNunno logged many summer hours in the weight room and the practice court. His body and game have grown. It’s a solid bet this trend will continue.
.
And Then There Was Alex
One hopes that Carmody and his staff, now that they’ve located Proviso West and countless other dunce-proof recruiting bonanzas on the Illinois map, won’t be missing out on the next wave of good fits for the program. One of them is Glenbrook North sophomore Alex Dragicevich. While it is too early to bully him into a verbal, one would hope Northwestern is involved with this 6’4†shooting guard.
The kid has a mature, multi-dimensional game and the kind of frame that looks destined to add three to four inches. It’s not hard to imagine him as a Coble clone by his senior year. Furthermore, he will be the beneficiary of four years of good high school coaching thanks to Dave Weber, brother of Bruce.
The Beavers And The Hare
Marshall senior Ryan Hare, a recent decommit from Jay John’s Oregon State Beavers, is yet another Chicago public league player who can do almost anything he wants on the scoring end of things. And like his former teammate Mike Stovall, he won’t be doing any of it in Beaverton. A troubling indication of the degree to which high school coaches, among others, can exert meddling influence on a player’s initial choice of college, Hare and Stovall’s recants do not reflect well on Lamont Bryant. Perhaps it is this issue that contributed to Bryant’s firing this summer.
Whatever the case, Hare has taken the torch from Stovall and Patrick Beverley as recent Marshall players whose collegiate upside is considerable. Hare has a strong, 6’4†big guard body and reliable all-around game that recalls Shannon Brown. He posted a 27 point, 9 rebound, 4 assist line that was as lethal as it appeared effortless. There is no doubt Hare is among the best of the state’s available seniors.
Other Big Ten Targets
Other players making themselves conspicuous for the recruiters in attendance were Whitney Young junior Chris Colvin whose Big Ten suitors include Illinois and Iowa, Young sophomore Anthony Johnson, and the St. Joseph guard tandem of junior Diamond Taylor and sophomore DeAndre McCamey, brother of Demetri.
