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THE BEST IN ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL RECRUITING!

17U State Tournament Packed With Talent
by Pat Benninger
April 1, 2006

Once again, the AAU 17U National Qualifier will be packed with a lot of top talent throughout the state of Illinois.

Heading the list of teams will be number one rated-Illinois Wolves, who are led by Demetri McCamey, Evan Turner, and Carlton Fay.  The Wolves are favored to win the tournament as they have the last few years on more than one level.

Be on the lookout for the Illinois Defenders who had a tremendous summer last year.  Mike Capocci and Brandon Venson are the team's headliners.  They, Illinois Wolves, and MeanStreets (led by Trey Blue, Jacob Pullen, Jelani Poston, and Isaiah Martin), will be the top teams from the south suburbs.

Nyal Koshwal and the Chicago Jaguars will be participating and are the favorite from the city of Chicago.

The Rising Stars will bring a lot of players to the table though their biggest names will include Michael "Juice" Thompson, Jeff Jordan, and Ceola Clark while Full Package will provide the talents of Robert Kreps and Zach House.  They are projected as the top two teams north of Chicago.

Team Illinois and Twin City Magic will be providing the downstate talent.  Team Illinois is led by Brandon Dunson and Eric Hobbie while Breland McKnight and Justin Dehm head the list for the Magic.

Other top teams attending include Illinois Heat, Old Gold, RBS All-Stars, Supreme Kings, Team Illinois Hawks, and Chicago Demons.  Other known 2007 talent will include Thomas Kopko, Jon Montgomery, Michael Horton, Darius Fields, Byron Pickens, Grant Monroe, Javon Coney, Tim Baines, Dan Monckton, Shannon Adams, Josh Parker, Laurence Redmond, Reggie Hamilton, Justin Bond, Mike Bellatto, Dwight McCombs, Sam Maniscalco, Jon Rice, Christian Alsing, Matt Collins, Justin Hightower, Bruce Durham, DeShawn Thompson, Jamill Harris, Morris Thompson, Brandon McGee, Darreon Ingram, D.J. Dantzler, Arsenio Mims, Larry Dumas, Logan Derrick, and Jacquez Williams.

Some of this class' unherlded talent in attendance will include Rasheed Mitchell, Dan Schouten, Raffi Mantilla, Duncan Lawson, Blake Saunders, James Massie, Landon Cox, Sean Kane, Caleb "Hotsauce" Harris, Horace Grant, Jr., Rashee Wallace, Jeff Higgins, Cory Hainlen, Donald Prichard, Antonio Lofton, Jaron Davis, Marcus King, Nick Michael, Kevin Hicks, Chuck Kempf, Kevin Jermyn, Julian Jones, and Brandon Brown.

Expect the class of 2008 to also be represented well by Jeremiah Kelly, Greg Cannon, Rob Belcore, Jeremy McCray, Aaron Garriott, Danny Farr, Peter Boehm, Deonte Lundeen, Chris Wroblewski, Gozie Umeadi, and Eric Pagsanjan.

The tournament sitre is located at the Joy of the Game Center, 158 S. Waukegan Rd, Deerfield, IL 60015.  Games will begin promptly at 8:00 AM, Saturday morning.