July 7, 2006

UA recruits show off at shoe camps

The July Evaluation Period is underway and Arizona's coaches are on the other side of the country watching UA's top targets. Lute Olson and Josh Pastner spent all day in Indianapolis, Indiana for the Nike All-American Camp, while Miles Simon stayed in Suwannee, Georgia, taking in the adidas Superstar Camp.

From what we understand, Olson departs Indianapolis on Friday morning for Suwannee, where he'll stay for a day and a half before heading back home. Simon will remain at the adidas camp for its entirety and Pastner is likely to spend the majority of his time, if not all of it, at Nike.

Our sources in Indianapolis saw Pastner following 2007 wing Kyle Singler when he was in action. Supposedly he also watched Alex Jacobson, Clarence Trent and Murphy Holloway, among others.

It sounds as if Trent had a big time performance on Thursday, which should solidify himself as one of Arizona's top 2008 big man prospects. While we haven't mentioned Trent's name as much lately, he's still a huge talent and someone the UA will likely continue to push for.

It's unknown whether or not Arizona is going to heavily recruit 2007 center Solomon Alabi, but Rivals.com's Justin Young says that he had an impressive performance in Indianapolis on Thursday.

"He must have found religion because he is living a basketball miracle right now," Young wrote of Alabi. "The progression the 7-footer has made in the last six month is amazing. At every setting on day one, he's showing improved skills on the offensive end. Alabi is scoring with a jump hook.

"He's running the floor and getting transition buckets. He's catching the rock better. It's starting all come around. If there was one big man that created a bigger buzz on Thursday, it was him. It's starting to all click."

There weren't any UA coaches over at ABCD, but a few top Arizona recruits were in action in Teaneck, New Jersey. New UA commit Zane Johnson impressed onlookers with 13 points and 5 rebounds in a game against 2007 stars Derrick Rose, Alex Legion and Taylor King.

Other Arizona recruits who we heard about were Brandon Jennings and J.J. Hickson. According to Rivals.com recruiting expert Jerry Meyer, Jennings had six points on 3 of 10 shooting going up against star 2007 guard Johnny Flynn. Apparently Hickson had six points and a game-high eight boards in his game.

Meyer had the following analysis of a game in which UA shooting guard targets Alex Legion and Darquavis Tucker squared off:

Tucker went for a game high 16 points, while also grabbing 6 rebounds. Legion struggled for 5 points and 2 rebounds against the stronger and more aggressive play of Tucker.

There wasn't a ton of news out of ABCD on Thursday, but GOAZCATS.com will be there starting Saturday so hopefully things pick up in Teaneck.

Over in Suwannee, there were several more UA recruits participating. We'll start with Jamelle Horne, who can solidify his name in the McDonald's All-American game with just a decent July.

Horne went against 2007 star Michael Beasley in his first game on Thursday and, from what we understand, more than held his own. It sounds as if Horne has been one of the best players at camp through two days.

Some feel that no one is playing better than 2008 combo forward Luke Babbitt. Our sources named Babbitt, Horne, Larry Drew, Jrue Holiday, Matt Simpkins, Jerime Anderson and Laval Lucas-Perry as the Arizona recruits who played well on Thursday.

We heard great things about the play of Holiday, who supposedly scored at will. Simpkins played a little bit on the wing but showed his athleticism and highlight reel ability.

Other news out adidas camp comes from the counselor pickup games, where UA sophomore Marcus Williams has apparently been as good as anyone there. Other counselors at the camp include Joakim Noah, Terrence Williams (Marcus' best friend), Darren Collison and Mario Chalmers.

GOAZCATS.com will continue its coverage of the shoe camps on Friday.





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