Scholarship table
That Chicago class had tons of talent - Corey MagetteBobby SimmonsFrank Williams
No...and after reading many many psosts from people on this board that do...I have to say I'm MUCH better off, if this is the type of "intelligence" a degree from MU gets you. It sure is on full display I will say that.
I think you mean Lance Williams from Julian HS.Frank Williams was a point guard from Peoria Manual that went to Illinois.
Was in a Seattle brewpub last night when a guy with the thickest Chicago accent sits next to us. Turns out he went to DePaul so we naturally brought up college hoops. In particular we discussed how DePaul has completely lost out on local recruiting while MU is struggling in Chicago (his view; I suggested Buzz has a broader recruiting footprint so we are not as dependent on Chicago.) He stated that Joey Meyer pissed off the local HS hoops mafia and that was the beginning of the end for them obtaining Chicago prepsters. He also believed Kennedy did more harm than good in the same regard which led to hiring Wainwright. Anyhow, we both agreed that the epic battles between Peoria Manual and Whitney Young were some of the classics. In particular, the 1998 Whitney Young squad was epic:Quentin RichardsonDennis GatesCordell HenryWho were the others from that squad?
Pat Kennedy famously said that passing on Cordell (for King HS PG Imari Sawyer, I think) was the biggest recruiting mistake he ever made. The real change for DePaul was KG passing on High School and starting the preps to pros trend. DePaul had KG locked up but then he couldn't get the SAT score he needed and had dire financial issues at home and went pro. This caused DePaul to miss out on Eddy Curry who was also headed to DePaul but instead went right to the pros.If Curry went, DePaul's lineup would have been Eddy Curry at Center, Stephen Hunter at PG, Bobby Simmons at SF, Quentin Richardson at SG and as Kennedy said "we could have started the janitor at PG" and had a chance at a national championship. Kennedy did piss off the Chicago powers that be.
In addition to Garnett, DePaul had also suffered (pre Kennedy) when Ronnie Fields couldn't get into school and Hhoward Nathan flunked out.
While Cordell would be a very nice backup on today's team, he made Marquette a better program while he was here.
Fields and Kevin Garnett were two of the five best prep players I ever saw. And they played on the same team. A Farragut team that somehow found a way to not with the state title, by the way.
Farragut lost in the quarterfinals of the state tournament to the previously mentioned Thornton (Harvey) team. Thornton also had Tai Streets, who went on to play football at Michigan and for the 49ers. A line-up that had five Division I starters in either hoops or football. Herring ended up going to a MAC school, I believe.I saw Farragut beat Philadelphia Roman Catholic on DePaul's campus, and Fields was ridiculous. They would just get the ball to Garnett in the middle of the court to break pressure and he would just loft it up to Fields, who could jump out of the gym.
Tai Streets is the founder/leader of Mean Streets, the #2 AAU program in Chicago behind the Mac Irvin Fire.
Another great team from those days was Thornton from Harvey, they lost to Peoria Manuel a couple years in a row down state in some close games. They probably would've won it all any other years. They had Melvin Ely, Antwan Randle El, Napoleon Harris, and Eric Herring. Ely went to Fresno St. and ended up on the Clippers at one point I believe. Randle El and Harris had solid careers in the NFL. Harris just won a primary for a state senate seat. Not sure about Herring.
A great team, but I'm wondering if any HS team ever had 5 guys who ended up in the NBA.Earl Tatum played with Ray and Gus williams and Rudy Hackett and all 4 played in the NBA, but I can't recall if their was a 5th guy who reached the show.
If you open up the aperture, Tai Streets played high school basketball with Randle El, Melvin Ely, and Napoleon Harris. All went on to careers in either the NFL or NBA.