Blogs > Pemberton's Point

Inside look at high school and Oakland University sports from Oakland Press sports writer Dave Pemberton.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Summit League recruiting

Here is a look at the recruiting classes of all the other Summit League men's basketball teams. I included transfers, which there are a lot of. Hopefully I got everybody for each team. If there is somebody I missed then the school did a good job of hiding them from me on their site.

Centenary
Brandon Harris, 6-9 230, F — transfer from Duquesne, will be eligible this season, four years eligibility
Gary Redus, 6-6, G — transfer from Marion Military Institute – 10.4 points, 2.2 assists, three years eligibility
Roman Tubner, 6-0, G — transfer from Marion Military Institute – 3.5 points, 1.9 assists, three years eligibility
Daman Starring, 6-4, 190, G — freshman from El Toro HS in Lake Forest, Calif.
Willie Woods, 6-3, 190 — freshman from Greenhill School, Dallas, Texas

IPFW
Nick Daniels, 6-2, 190, G — transfer from Highland Community College, 6 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists
Demond Dedeaux, 5-10, 160, G — freshman from O.P. Walker HS in New Orleans
Brandon Gaines, 6-4, 185, G — freshman from Boyd Anderson HS in Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. – 16.7 points, 7 rebounds
Terry Bembry, 6-7, F — freshman Bush HS in Houston, Texas
Jeremy Mixon, 6-2, G — freshman from Northwest HS in Indianapolis
John Peckinpaugh, 6-5, G — freshman from Muncie, Indiana
Trey McCorkle, 6-11, C — freshman from Danville, Illinois
Deilvez Yearby, 6-6, 205, F — transfer from Kansas State (Detroit Central HS) – two years eligibility, eligible this season
Aaron Richie, 6-7, 200, G — transfer from Central Michigan, two years eligibility, eligible this season

IUPUI
Aaron Morris, 6-6, 215, G— freshman Madison HS, Richmond, Kentucky
Anthony Williams, 6-8, 240, F – transfer from Western Community College, three years eligibility
Robert Glenn, 6-7, 195 — transfer from Wabash Valley J.C. – two years eligibility
Larry Stone, 5-9, 170 — freshman from Howe HS in Indianapolis
Alex Young, 6-5, 185 — freshman from Northwest HS in Indianapolis
Jason Smeather, 6-8, 200 — non-scholarship freshman from Greenwood, Ind.

UMKC
Trey McKinney-Jones, 6-4, 195, G — freshman from South Milwaukee HS
Femi Akinpetide, 6-6, 215, F — freshman from Monteverde Academy, Fla.
Dustin Dibble, 6-4, 190 G — freshman from Petoskey, Michigan
Latreze Mushatt, 6-5, 210, F — freshman from Saginaw Arthur Hill, Michigan
Jay Couisnard, 6-6, 190 F — transfer from Evansville, not eligible until 2009-10
Bakari Lewis, 6-1, 175, G — transfer from Nicholls State – will be eligible second semester

North Dakota State
Andy Nagel, 6-9, 245, F — freshman from Fort Dodge, Iowa
Dejuan Flowers, 6-7 — transfer from Mount San Jacinto J.C. in Calif. – 13 points, 7 rebounds, three years eligibility

Oral Roberts
Beloved Rogers, 6-2, 200, G — freshman from New Hampton Prep, N.H.
Reggie Guyton, 5-11, 175, G — transfer from College of Southern Idaho, two years eligibility, 7.3 points, 3.7 assists
Scottie Farrington, 6-7, 215, F — freshman from Christian Life Center, Texas
Tim Morton, 6-9, 268, F/C — freshman from Cornerstone Christian, Texas
Dominique Morrison, 6-6, 205, F — freshman from Raytown HS in Kansas City
Damen Bell-Holter, 6-9, 240, F/C — freshman from Ketchikan, Alaska
Kevin Ford, 6-9, 240, F — transfer from Ball State, will be eligible second semester, two years eligibility

South Dakota State
Griffin Callahan, 6-4, 200, G — freshman from Seneca, Ill.
Anthony Davis, 6-10, 240, F —transfer from Southwestern CC
James Rader, 6-7, 220, G/F — freshman from Littleton, Colo.
Brandon DeBoer, 6-6, 215, F — transfer from Jamestown College, N.D., practiced with team last season, two years eligibility

Southern Utah
Lucas Jones 6-9, 230, C – Volunteer State Community College (Tennessee) - 8.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, two years eligibility
Tyson Koehler, 6-7, 225, F — Grayson County Community College (Texas) – 9.6 points, 6.35 rebounds, three years eligibility
Cory Davis, 5-11, 175, G — New Mexico Junior College – 13.5 points, 4.1 assists, 2.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals, two years eligibility
Kemo Duncan, 6-7, 210, F — Spoon River Community College – 12.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, two years eligibility
Jake Nielson, 6-3, 200, G — Aurora, Colo. – will be freshman, originally committed to Colorado State, but went on church mission to Korea
Eules Thompson, 6-2, 170, G — Los Angeles Southwest College – 15.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, two years eligibility
Byron Byrd, 6-5, 220, forward — New Mexico Military Institute — 12. 5 points, 4.3 rebounds, two years eligibility

Western Illinois
Quenton Kirby, 6-2, 185, G — transfer from McLennan C.C. in Texas, two years eligibility
Tommie Tyler, 6-3, 190, G — freshman from Langham Creek HS in Houston, Texas

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Saturday, July 26, 2008

A look back at last year's squad

The 2008 all-county girls soccer team will run in Sunday’s paper, which gave me the great idea of seeing how the 2007 all-county team did this past season. Last season all 11 members of the all-county were seniors and all of them went on to play college soccer. Here is how each of them did:

Emily Esbrook Novi/Ohio State — Esbrook played in 22 games and had two starts for the Buckeyes, who went 12-10-1 and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season. She had three assists as a midfielder and 12 shots. Esbrook was also a OSU Scholar Athlete.

Brittany Hopkins, Rochester/Missouri — Hopkins played in 11 games before a knee injury forced her to miss the remainder of the season. She started in the midfield in two of the 11 games she played in.

Jackie Carron, Rochester/Michigan — Carron was a Big Ten All-Freshman team member. She started at defender in all 18 games for Michigan (3-9-6) last season and was a Soccer Buzz All-Great Lakes Third team selection.

Allison Drutchas, Bloomfield Hills Lahser/Davidson — She started every game except one as a freshman for Davidson, which went 14-5-1 and 8-1-1 in the Southern Conference. She was second on the team with four assists and had 13 shots.

Amanda Bowery, Rochester/Michigan — Bowery led the Wolverines with five goals and 12 points and was a Big Ten All-Freshman team selection. She started all 18 games and earned the U-M Athletic Academic Achievement award.

Stephanie Crawford, Novi/Michigan — Crawford played in 18 games as a reserve forward. She had one goal, one assist and 21 shots for the Wolverines.

Kristin Abbott, Bloomfield Hills Lahser/Spring Arbor — Abbott played in 21 games and started 19 as a freshman for the Cougars, who reached the NCCAA national championship game where they fell 3-2 to Indiana Wesleyan. She had eight goals and five assists. She was fourth on the team with 21 points and had 60 shots, including 37 on goal.

Caroline Zambricki, Bloomfield Hills Lahser/Michigan — Played in one game as a defender for the Wolverines last season.

Jenna Hill, Lake Orion/Central Michigan — Played in 16 games for the Chippewas, who went 8-10 last season. She had one assist and four shots.

Jessica Brandt, Novi/James Madison — Redshirted last season for James Madison. Brandt earned the Commissioner’s Academic Award and was a JUM Athletic Director Scholar Athlete.

Laura VanHoey, Rochester/Ohio Wesleyan — VanHoey played in nine games, starting six and compiling a record of 3-1-2. She had 26 saves and allowed six goals for the Bishops, who went 9-5-5 last season.

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Friday, July 18, 2008

OU's Vegas tournament

I just got a press release about the tournament in Las Vegas Oakland will be playing in this year. It is the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational on Nov. 28-29 at Orleans Arena. According to the release only a few hundred tickets remain on sale. For ticket information call 702-284-7777 or visit orleansarena.com

The schedule is as follows

Nov. 28
Third round (All times Pacific)
Longwood vs. Southeast Missouri, 1 p.m.
Oakland vs. Delaware State, 3:30 p.m.
West Virginia vs. Iowa, 6 p.m.
Kentucky vs. Kansas State, 9 p.m. ESPNU

Nov. 29
Championship round
Loser LU/SEMO vs. OU/DSU, 11:30 a.m.
Winner LU/SEMO vs. Winner OU/DSU, 2 p.m.
Loser WVU/Iowa vs. Loser UK/KSU, 4:30 p.m.
Winner WVU/Iowa vs. Winner UK/KSU, 7:30 p.m. ESPN2

Oakland’s opponent Delaware State went 14-16 overall and 10-6 in the MEAC. The Hornets return all their leading scorers from last season. Another interesting side note is when Oakland made the NCAA tournament and lost to North Carolina, Delaware State was at the same site as a No. 16 seed taking on Duke. If I remember correctly the Hornets made a game of it so this should be an interesting game.

I will be attending the tournament. Las Vegas and college basketball, it doesn't get much better than that. Hopefully Oakland can get some fans to make the trip.

The Grizzlies will play in two other roads games as part of the tournament, but I’m not sure which two teams are their opponents.

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Monday, July 14, 2008

A look at OU's new players

I got a chance to see some of the 2008 Oakland recruits play Monday night as part of the Oakland boys basketball summer camp. Many of the Oakland players have an open gym type scrimmage at the end of each day that the campers get a chance to watch. All six of Oakland’s recruiting class participated Monday night. I only saw them play for about 45 minutes or so, but here a few of my thoughts from the glimpses I saw.

Matt Samuels stood out the most to me. He had an explosive tip in and a break away dunk where he displayed his incredible vertical. He also looked to have a nice 3-point stroke and was pretty quick. Drew Maynard also looked pretty good. He buried a 3-pointer early and was active on the boards. Ilija Milutinovic apparently just got in a few days ago because of visa problems. He displayed some impressive ball-handling skills for a big man, bringing the ball up a few times after a rebound. He also had a couple of nice passes and low post moves. The only negative thing about Milutinovic I saw was he didn’t really get back on defense a few times and looks like he needs to get in a little better shape. The team of Samuels, Maynard, Milutinovic, Johnathon Jones and Ricky Bieszki faced off against Larry Wright, Blake Cushingberry, Jay Thames, Derick Nelson and Will Hudson with Jones’ team coming out on top. It’s hard to make any real concrete assessments of any of the players in an open gym type game, but it was fun to see some of these guys play. I would like to get out there again this week, but I’m not sure if my work schedule will allow me to.

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The final installment

My final installment of the top teams in each sport during my time at The Oakland Press. The most accurate list of its kind on the Internet I might add.

Spring sports
Baseball — 2007 Lake Orion. The Dragons won the Division 1 state title in dramatic fashion against OAA I rival Farmington. The Lake Orion team had it all: solid hitting, pitching and defense. It was close between the ’07 Lake Orion team and this year’s Brother Rice squad, but I’ll give the nod to the Dragons.

Others I considered (in no order): ’08 Birmingham Brother Rice; ’07 Farmington; ’06 Lake Orion; ’06 Clarkston

Softball — 2007 Lakeland. The Eagles went 44-0 before falling to Harper Woods Regina in the Division 1 championship game. Regina just seemed to have the Eagles’ number, eliminating them three years in a row, twice in the finals and once in the semifinals. But the ’07 Lakeland team was special. Lauren Memmer was dominant all season long and broke several state records. I was surprised to hear she is playing lacrosse now, but she was a great high school pitcher.

Other I considered (in no order): ’05 Troy; ’06 Lakeland; ’05 Lakeland; ’07 Troy; ’08 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep; ’06 Milford

Soccer — 2005 Novi. The Wildcats were dominant in 2005 going 24-0-1 on way to winning the Division 1 state title. The state title was the first of three straight for Novi. The Wildcats didn’t allow a goal the entire playoffs and dominated most of the play in all of their games. The team featured Miss Soccer winner Kristi Timar and future Miss Soccer winner Emily Esbrook, and nearly the entire team went on to play college soccer.

Other I considered: ’07 Rochester; ’06 Novi; ’07 Novi; ’06 Bloomfield Hills Lahser; ’05 Troy; ’08 Troy Athens; ’06 Detroit Country Day

Sunday, July 13, 2008

The list continues

Here are my two winter teams. I’ll have the spring teams up soon. The boys basketball one took me a little longer than the others because no team just stood out head and shoulders above the others. But I’m satisfied with my pick.

Winter sports
Boys basketball — 2007 Birmingham Detroit Country Day. The Yellowjackets played as a true team to win the Class B state championship in ’07. Country Day was talented, but didn’t have any real superstars. The loss of star Alex Legion likely brought the team together and made them a fun team to watch.

Others I considered (in no order): ’06 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, ’07 Pontiac Northern; ’08 Clarkston; ’05 Clarkston; ’05 Pontiac Northern; '07 St. Mary's

Girls basketball — 2005 Southfield-Lathrup. The ’05 Chargers went 27-1 on their way to winning the Class A state championship. Lathrup featured three Division 1 players in Timika Williams, Jerica Hughes and Brittane Russell, which are all having productive college careers. The Chargers dominated the OAA I and played well at both ends of the court.

Others I considered: ’08 Detroit Country Day; ’08 Rochester; ’06 Auburn Hills Avondale; ’08 North Farmington; ’05 Auburn Hills Avondale; ’05 Clarkston; ’06 Detroit Country Day

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

A list of my own

In the next few weeks The Oakland Press will unveil its top 10 county teams of all-time. So that gave me the great idea to unveil the greatest teams I have seen since I started covering high school sports for the paper in the winter of 2004 or as I like to call it the ‘Pemberton era.’ Well I never call it that, but I like the way it sounds.

The rules are simple: whatever I say goes since it’s my list. Just kidding. But remember fall of 2004 teams are not eligible because I was not around. Also no disrespect to bowling, cross country, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, skiing, swimming, track and field, competitive cheer, tennis, gymnastics and wrestling, but I hardly see those sports in person so my pick would be a pure guess. I will start with fall sports today and do winter and spring sports later in the week.

Feel free to tell me how wrong I am. That’s what makes lists like this fun.

Fall sports
Football — 2005 Birmingham Brother Rice team. The Warriors were a deep squad that year, which won the Division 2 championship game with its backup quarterback Andy Lentz taking most of the snaps. The same Lentz that led the baseball team to a state championship this past season. Brother Rice did lose to Orchard Lake St. Mary’s twice that year, but won when it mattered the most in a Division 2 regional title game.

Others I considered (in no order): ’05 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, ’06 Farmington Hills Harrison, ’06 Clarkston, ’07 Lake Orion, ’05 Milford, ’05 Rochester Adams

Boys soccer — 2005 Birmingham Detroit Country Day team. The Yellowjackets won their second straight Division 3 state championship. The most memorable moment of the season was senior Rob Denious scoring the game-winning goal with 12 seconds left against No. 1 Jackson Lumen Christian in regionals.

Others I considered (in no order) — ’07 Clarkston, ’05 Birmingham Brother Rice, ’05 Bloomfield Hills Lahser, ’05 Rochester, ’07 Detroit Country Day

Volleyball — 2006 Birmingham Marian team. The Mustangs won their sixth straight Catholic League championship and fell to Fraser in the Class A quarterfinals. The team was full of talented players including junior setter Claire Paszkiewicz, who unfortunately missed her senior season with a knee injury. I strongly considered the 2007 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep team because the Fighting Irish were the first county team to win a state title, but I think the ’06 Mustangs were the most talented team I have seen.

Others I considered (in no order) — ’07 fall Notre Dame Prep, ’06 Lakeland, '07 fall Birmingham Marian, ’07 winter Troy, ’05 Troy Athens

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Quick hits

— I was a little surprised to see IUPUI’s George Hill get drafted 26th overall to the Spurs in the NBA Draft. Not that I don’t think he is talented enough to be picked that high, but nobody had him projected that high. My first thought when I heard he was staying in the draft was that a team told him they would pick him in the first round, like San Antonio claims they did. He waited so long to hire an agent that I didn’t think he would leave early without some type of guarantee. But congratulations to him and IUPUI. I think he could end up being a steal from a small school for the Spurs, similar to Rodney Stuckey for the Pistons. Maybe kids from small schools will become a rage like Europeans did, lol. I will try to keep tabs how Hill does in the Summer Leagues.

— Apparently Ray McCallum Jr., the son of new Detroit Mercy coach Ray McCallum, has decided to attend Detroit Country Day. McCallum Jr. is a highly touted point guard and should improve an already ultra-talented Yellowjackets squad. Country Day already returns three seniors who have committed to Division I schools in DaShonte Riley (Georgetown), Donnavan Kirk (Miami, Fla.) and Jordan Dumars (South Florida).

— Also my co-workers Keith Dunlap and Pat Caputo are putting together a list of the greatest prep teams in Oakland County history. There will a ballot coming out next week or so, but to nominate a team E-mail sports editor jeff.kuehn@oakpress.com. I’m sure this list will spark some debates with all the great teams in the county over the years.

— One last thing. A few Oakland basketball fans have put together a new message board for the Golden Grizzlies fans. Check it out here