Scott Stewart\ESPN RISE Magazineboth videos from pointguardu.com on youtube
Prep hoops changing tradition
By Reggie Hayes
of The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel (Indiana)
December 23 2009
INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana high school basketball remains as strong as ever, but it's no longer your father's hoop dreams.
It's more like your blogger's hoop dreams.
The continual blurring of the lines between summer ball and winter ball was on perfect display Tuesday at Indianapolis Howe High School. The marquee matchup of a day's worth of games came when Detroit Country Day beat Bishop Luers 93-77 in the nightcap of the Midwest Basketball Challenge. The event was sponsored by something called Natural Talent Scouting, of course.
These teams met for two reasons: Detroit Country Day's Ray McCallum and Luers' Deshaun Thomas, two of the best prep players in the country.
And the people got their $10 worth. McCallum scored 34 points with a variety of athletic moves, court savvy and overflowing confidence. Thomas, shut down early, finished with a flurry. He scored 34, too, with 18 in the final eight minutes.
The result means nothing in official high school standings. But the game demonstrated how high school basketball knows no geographical boundaries.
I'm fine with this. The modern prep hoops landscape hardly resembles the game of my youth, when a big trip was across county lines. But it's perfect for the ESPN-addicted, online-driven generation.
“If you have a marquee player like Deshaun, everybody wants a piece of you,” Luers coach James Blackmon said. “If we get an opportunity to play these types of games, you can learn a lot from it. It's a good experience to play talented teams going back to our conference.”
Luers is the epitome of a team living in dual hoops worlds. On one hand, the Knights are traveling the local road, fighting for a Summit Athletic Conference title and prepping for what could be a third straight Class 2A state title run.
On the other hand, Luers plays four big-time games beyond its backyard. The first was Tuesday night, the next three are Jan.23 against Columbus (Ohio) Northland at Ohio State, Jan. 30 at Bowman Academy in Indianapolis and Feb. 6 at Lawrence North. The game at Ohio State is a nod to Thomas' plans to play his college basketball in Columbus. The Lawrence North game will be televised live on ESPN as part of its national prep showcase.
“It's exciting,” Luers point guard Kenny Mullen said. “Deshaun always draws attention no matter where he goes. But when we go to these places, other players step up and it opens up attention for us.”
Mullen made the most of Tuesday's game, which will be rebroadcast on WHMB on Friday night. Mullen scored 22 points and spent much of the game trying to check McCallum, which was no easy feat.
McCallum, whose father, also named Ray, was one of the greatest players in Ball State history, had a height advantage on Mullen (6-foot-1 to 5-9), and he's more advanced as a player. But he's also a year older. Fittingly enough, the two played on the same AAU team when McCallum was a freshman and Mullen an eighth-grader.
“He was a great player back then and he's much better this year,” Mullen said. “He rose to the occasion. That's what a great player has to do every game.”
Luers looked shellshocked early in the game, as Detroit Country Day bolted to a 15-2 lead in the first four minutes. Thomas was boxed in by a combination of 6-4 guard Kenny Knight and 6-10 center Amir Williams. They held him scoreless until a three-pointer late in the first quarter.
The double team continued until Thomas forced Williams into foul trouble and some breathing room appeared.
“That's every game,” Thomas said. “Putting up big numbers and playing well, I'm going to see those double and triple teams. I just have to stay focused and keep my head. Back in the day, I'd have been throwing my jersey over my head and this and that. I'm keeping my composure and using my teammates now.”
The attention on Thomas - from opponents and from the media - shows no signs of slowing. Luers has embraced the curiosity as part of the new landscape of high school hoops.
The wide-ranging schedule comes with a cost. Detroit Country Day was too deep with talent and McCallum was the best player on the court. He scored from long range, he scored in transition with some crowd-pleasing dunks and he even rose among the trees for offensive put-backs. There was never a doubt over which team was in control.
“They came out ready to play; we came out a little sluggish,” Thomas said. “Ray McCallum played to the hype, that's what he did.”
Thomas and Luers will have more chances to “play to the hype” this season. That's how the best players, and best teams, operate in today's Indiana hoops scene.
It's decidedly nontraditional, and well worth watching.
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Late start but quick end for Luers in showdown
Greg Jones, High school sports editor
journalgazette.net (Fort Wayne, IN)
Published: December 23, 2009 3:00 a.m.
INDIANAPOLIS – Bishop Luers waited and waited Tuesday for the start of the anticipated matchup against Detroit Country Day.
Then the Knights waited some more.
The game finally started almost an hour after the previous game ended.
The wait was worse for Luers as the Yellowjackets rode a quick start to a 93-77 win in the finale of the Midwest Basketball Challenge at Indianapolis Howe.
Just as in past big games against Chicago Curie and Lawrence North, the Class 2A No. 2 Knights (2-2) found themselves down quickly and by a lot.
The Yellowjackets led 18-4 midway through the first quarter.
“Getting off the long bus ride and sitting around wondering what time we were going to play was a long process of not knowing,” said Luers junior Kenny Mullen, who had 22 points. “Coming out of the gate, we should have come out a lot faster because they came out fast, and we couldn’t match their intensity.”
In the individual matchup, Country Day’s Ray McCallum Jr. and Deshaun Thomas both scored 34 points. The difference was McCallum’s points came early when the Yellowjackets (5-0) were getting off to their hot start.
Facing double and triple teams, Thomas scored 18 of his points in the fourth quarter when the game was pretty much decided.
“We came out sluggish, and they came out hyped and ready,” Thomas said. “They were ready for the game. Ray tried to play to the hype, and that’s what we did.”
Thomas, also had 11 rebounds and had to deal with 6-foot-10 Amir Williams most of the game.
“It wasn’t any kind of pressure,” Thomas said of the individual matchup against McCallum, a former AAU teammate. “I am going to see those double and triple teams. I just need to stay focused. Back in the day, I would have thrown my jersey over my head.”
McCallum made 14 of 21 shots from the field and sat out the last few minutes of the fourth. The son of Ray McCallum, Detroit Mercy head coach – and former Ball State coach and IU assistant – had the speed and athletic ability unseen by the Knights.
Country Day sealed the game with a 10-0 run in the third quarter.
“They went on a run in the third quarter before we even woke up,” Luers coach James Blackmon said. “I don’t think it is anything they did defensively; I just don’t think we matched their intensity at the beginning of the ballgame.”
McCallum had 16 points and six rebounds in the first half, while Thomas had 10 points and six rebounds.
Thomas struggled early on, missing his first three shots, and didn’t score in the opening quarter until a three-pointer with 25 seconds left.
The Ohio State recruit also had a couple of turnovers and two goaltending calls.
The Knights trimmed the margin to 31-25 in the second, but Country Day extended the lead to 47-32 by halftime.
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IPSAC/Midwest Basketball Challenge
City teams swept away
Former Hoosier prep standout returns to lead Detroit Country Day
By Kyle Neddenriep
INDYSTAR.COM
Posted: December 23, 2009
Deshaun Thomas stayed on track to break the state's all-time scoring record, but a former Hoosier prep star stole the show Tuesday night at Howe High School.
Former Bloomington North standout Ray McCallum had 34 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as Detroit Country Day defeated Fort Wayne Bishop Luers 93-77 in the finale of the five-game Michael Clarke Duncan "You Can Do Anything" IPSAC/Midwest Basketball Challenge.
"I've been looking forward to this game for a while," said McCallum, a 6-1 senior who is considering scholarship offers from Arizona, Detroit, Florida and UCLA. "I used to play with Deshaun in AAU ball, so it was fun to play against him. He's a great player and it was fun to show my game off against the best."
Thomas matched McCallum's 34 points, bringing him within 736 of Damon Bailey's career mark of 3,134. But the 6-7 Ohio State recruit scored only 10 in the first half as Country Day (5-0) built a 15-point halftime lead.
McCallum was the difference, scoring 16 points in the first half.
"Ray looked the same as I remember him," Thomas said. "He's bouncy and quick and never gets tired. They have good guard play."
McCallum moved to Detroit prior to his junior year when his father, former Indiana assistant Ray McCallum, was named coach at the University of Detroit.
Kenny Mullen added 22 points for Luers (2-2), the two-time defending Class 2A champions.
....
Gary Wallace 88, Tech 63 - LaTroy Taylor scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the second half as Class 3A No. 4 Wallace pulled away.
Highly-sought junior guard Branden Dawson added 21 points for Wallace (5-1) as Purdue coach Matt Painter watched. Dawson has scholarship offers from Georgetown, Indiana, Marquette, Ohio State, Purdue and UCLA.
To continue reading article, click here.
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Howe all-tourney team
Posted by Kyle Neddenriep
INDYSTAR.COM
December 23, 2009
Since there wasn't an "all-tournament" team announced Tuesday at Howe, I'll give you mine. We'll call it the Michael Clarke Duncan/Kyle Neddenriep "You Can Do Anything" IPSAC/Midwest Challenge team. Or not. Here goes:
First team
MVP - Ray McCallum, Detroit Country Day: The 6-1 senior guard stole the spotlight in the matchup against Fort Wayne Luers and standout Deshaun Thomas. Granted, McCallum has a better team around him than Thomas, but he played almost flawlessly in a 93-77 win. He finished with 34 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists and really controlled the game throughout. McCallum said he's considering Arizona, Detroit (where his father is the coach), Florida and UCLA. He had a couple of impressive dunks, but maybe his best play came when he scored over Thomas and drew a foul in the fourth quarter.
...
Second team
Branden Dawson, Gary Wallace: It wasn't Dawson's best shooting game, but he still finished with 21 points and 8 rebounds with Purdue coach Matt Painter watching. He scored 15 points in the first half to help put Tech away. The 6-5 guard makes it happen on the defensive end with his long reach and quickness. He had four steals in the first half.
For the complete All-tournament teams, click here.
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DCD duo share the love
By Christopher Parish
ESPN RISE(Archive)
Updated: December 21, 2009, 2:50 PM ET
Ray McCallum and Madison Williams are just a part of the elite hoops community at Detroit Country Day (Beverly Hills, Mich.).
This story appeared in the Greater Detroit edition of the December ESPN RISE Magazine.
Ray McCallum isn't shy about telling people how good Madison Williams is at basketball. And one key element is really all they need to know.
"Maddy can dunk," McCallum says. "What else can you ask for? That says it all."
It was actually a secret for a while. Only a select few of her Detroit Country Day (Beverly Hills, Mich.) teammates -- and McCallum -- knew the 6-foot-7 Williams could fly above the rim. Last year, she let girls' basketball coach Frank Orlando in on the surprise.
"One day toward the end of practice, I was kind of kidding around with her and I said, 'Madison, you can't dunk,'" Orlando recalls. "So I challenged her. I said that if she could dunk, we wouldn't run any sprints at the end of the practice. So she took the ball, jumped from the free-throw line and jammed it like a pro."
Williams didn't mind showing off her hidden talent during the closed-door practice, but she's never done it in a game.
"I've never had that urge to dunk on someone and embarrass them," she says. But McCallum is itching for her to give it a shot. "I want her to dunk more," he says. "I'm going to push her every day."
You can count on that. At Detroit Country Day, McCallum's boys' team and Williams' girls' team are extremely competitive with each other. But they're also among the most tight-knit and successful clubs in Michigan.
Rated the nation's No. 100 player in the ESPNU HoopGurlz 100, Williams is a Michigan State-bound senior center whose recruiting stock soared after a remarkable effort in last year's Class B state title game triumph -- 11 points, 11 rebounds and 11 blocks. McCallum, the son of University of Detroit head coach Ray McCallum Sr., is the nation's No. 36 recruit in the ESPNU 100 and is being courted by numerous Division I programs -- including his dad's school.
The 6-foot-2 senior point guard came to the Yellow Jackets from Bloomington North in Indiana after his father left his assistant coaching gig with the Hoosiers to accept the head coaching position at Detroit.
Williams heard plenty of hype about McCallum before he arrived, and it didn't take him long to live up to it. "When I heard we were getting this new kid, I heard about how good he was," she says. "When he got here, it was so true."
You may have noticed Williams says "we" in reference to the boys' basketball team. McCallum wasn't coming to play for the girls' team, after all. But the boys' and girls' players don't think of their respective squads as separate entities; they look at the two programs as one.
"We don't have big student crowds, but you can almost always guarantee you'll see eight or 10 kids from the boys' team at the girls' game," says boys' basketball coach Kurt Keener. "Their hopes and dreams are the same, and it's not uncommon to see them working out together."
McCallum and Williams got to know each other last season as their teams shared space in the weight room during lifting sessions and space on the court during open gyms.
"She's one of my best friends now," McCallum says. "We're all real close with the girls' team. It's a close family. They've won back-to-back state championships, so we have a respect for them. What [Williams] did in the state championship game last year was unreal."
McCallum refers to the triple-double the way many others do -- as an example of Williams' dominance. In the game, which was against Grand Rapids C.C., Williams got off to a tough start. "She actually told a reporter that she felt she was letting the team down," Orlando says. "It inspired her to raise her game to another level."
Williams says she wasn't even the best player on the floor that night and defers credit for the team's 50-40 win to former teammate and current Illinois freshman Amber Moore. But it's hard to mention Williams' abilities without referencing the game, and vice versa.
"I think she had all 11 of her blocked shots in the fourth quarter," Keener says. "Both Ray and Madison are intense, intense competitors. They just love to win. Or maybe they both hate to lose."
When McCallum arrived at Detroit Country Day, he immediately flashed that intensity in addition to his natural talent.
"It was clear right away that he would be our starter (at the point)," Keener says. "I was impressed with his ability to control the game, to run and deliver the ball without having an absolute clue what our offense was. I was blown away by his physical tools."
McCallum averaged 16.9 points and 5.3 assists per game last winter, helping the Yellow Jackets advance to the Class B state quarterfinals.
"He's just got so much athleticism," Williams says. "But he's very humble. He does what he has to do, and he doesn't talk about it."
Williams is a similarly grounded student-athlete. "She's very loyal to the school and to the team," Orlando says. "She's one of the kindest players I have coached in my 42 years here."
Williams and McCallum have a lot in common, but one way they differ is in their future goals. Williams chose Michigan State less for its basketball program and more for its academics because she hopes to become a doctor. McCallum, who had not made a college decision at press time, has a different mindset. For him, college is a stepping stone for the pros. "My goal is to make it to the NBA," he says.
But before he achieves that dream, he has two short-term goals. The first is to win a state title. The second is to get Williams to dunk in a game. And she seems to be slowly coming around to the idea.
"Maybe if I get a fast break or something, I'll do it," Williams says. "I'll do it for the crowd."
No doubt McCallum will be in the stands cheering her on.
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For more on Ray McCallum Jr, click here.
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