I have mentioned this a couple times in the past, but no one has ever really responded about it. Memphis has A LOT of good basketball prospects in the class of '08 and '09. I saw 2 on the 2008 top 100 from 'Nooga and one from Craigmont in Memphis, but the private schools in Memphis will be putting some pretty good players into college. Elliot Williams (St. George's, 2008) is the #63 player in the nation. He's a very smart kid and amazing athlete, already got a scholarship offer to Memphis. Tennessee would be smart to offer this kid. He didn't play a lot last season, but I saw one game he had against Briarcrest in the 1st round of the regionals, they lost but he had around 32 points. Briarcrest (the school I go to and also play basketball for) has a good player in the class of '08. He isn't ranked in the top 100 and isn't in the Rivals database, but he is being recruited heavily by Tennessee. He's a 6'3" SG, great athlete, skinny, not a great shooter, but a great slasher, jumper, and a great mid-range jump shot. Now, about the kids in the Class of '09, Memphis University School has a kid that I read was #45 in the nation. About 6'6", should play SF in college. I dunno who is recruiting him but he is pretty good. He played very well against Briarcrest's Greg Hardy last season (the same Greg Hardy who committed to Ole Miss to play DE/TE). Harding's Marlon Brown was ranked around 100 last time I looked. Dunno anything about his recruitment either. Briarcrest has two excellent players in the '09 class. PG Gregg Wooten isn't in the Rivals database (ranked 56th by another site), but he is a big PG at 6'3", plays good defense, decent shooter, good penetrater, and a great 5 or 10 foot jumper. Briarcrest's other prospect is Leslie McDonald, the best of all the Memphis prospects. He will translate into a SG in college. He is playing SF/PF now, which will help him in college because he is a very skilled rebounder. He is a great shooter, great penetrater, plays very good defense, and is a very smart kid on and off the court. Rivals lists him at 6'3" 188, but he is more like 6'4" or 6'5" and about 190/195. McDonald is a freak athletically and with some strength, he could be one of the best players in the nation in 2009. Oh, and by the way, he is already rated as a 5 star player and the #11 player in 2009. I know the 3 Briarcrest players attended the Florida game last season (Tony Jones and Scott Edgar came to one of our practices and invited them, and one of the assistant coaches for us just graduated from UT). They all left impressed and they get letters from Tennessee and all the best college teams in the country. Of course, it is way too early for them to start seriously considering where to go, but by the time they graduate, having invested 3 and 4 years into these players, it could be a very good thing for the Vols.
