Most of the nation's hotly pursued high school basketball 'pheenoms' have indicated their college choice, but the verdict remains out on what school might have harvested the best crop of hardwood hotshots.
Some schools 'reloaded,' needing to recruit the best possible players as a group, while others had more specific needs and found the one or two prospects who fit right into the program.
Louisville plucked the consensus top prepster when Coach Denny Crum landed 6-8 Billy Thompson of Camden, N.J.
'Billy Thompson is the only player coming out (of high school this year) who is capable of turning a program around, he's that good,' said one long-time observer of high school basketball. 'No one else is close to him.
'The kicker is that Louisville was a Final Four team this year and certainly doesn't need turning around. Put Thompson with Crum's talent and that group can be awesome -- if they fit together.'
That seems to be the big mystery -- finding the right blend of talent and personalities. Not many do it, but those who do are knocking on the NCAA Tournament door almost annually.
Often, however, the successful recruiting of a prep blue-chipper brings the NCAA knocking on the school's door. NCAA investigators may be busy this year since several top players went to lesser-known schools, a situation that often raises eyebrows.
National champion North Carolina and runner-up Georgetown appear to have added the quality players to retain their NCAA contender status. The Hoyas, however, missed the big forward Coach John Thompson sought to play next to 7-foot Patrick Ewing.
Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith came up with 6-11 Brad Daugherty of Swannanoa, N.C., 6-5 Curtis Hunter, Durham, N.C., and 6-3 Steve Hale of Jenks, Okla., all highly regarded. Daugherty, a defensive wizard, won't turn 17 until October.
Georgetown's Thompson landed 6-5 David Wingate of Baltimore, 6-1 Michael Jackson from nearby Reston, Va., and 6-1 Horace Broadnax of Turkey Creek, Fla.
In addition to Billy Thompson, most of the top two dozen or so high school players scattered themselves across the country.
While Hunter and Daugherty stayed close to home, Oklahoma got 6-8 Waymon Tisdale from nearby Tulsa and 6-3 Bruce Douglas of Quincy, Ill., stayed at home to attend Illinois.
But 7-foot Benoit Benjamin spurned home-state Louisiana State to go to Creighton, 6-9 Lloyd Moore of Clairton, Pa., is headed for Marquette, 6-9 Kerry Boagni of Gardena, Calif., will go to Kansas after first announcing he would attend UCLA and 6-9 Richard Rellford of Riviera Beach, Fla., will wade snow instead of sand next winter playing for Michigan.
Virginia must be included among the schools having good recruiting years since 7-4 Player-of-the-Year Ralph Sampson decided to pass up the NBA to play his senior season with the Cavaliers. With Sampson, the Cavaliers are a national championship contender. Without him, they would have been relegated to the second-division of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Cavalier Coach Terry Holland signed just two players 6-4 Ken Lambiotte of Woodstock, Va., and 6-9 Wingo Smith of Indiatlantic, Fla., a transfer from Brevard, Fla.
If Washington State Coach George Raveling is being paid by the mile for his recruiting effort, he's a wealthy man this summer. All seven of Raveling's recruits live at least 1,000 miles from the Cougars' Pullman, Wash., campus.
Who had the best recruiting year? It depends on which school needed what type of player, but Duke, DePaul, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Syracuse and Villanova landed some of the top prep stars.
Duke put together potentially its best group since getting Jim Sparnarkel, Mike Gminski and Gene Banks in successive years. The Blue Devils signed 6-2 Johnny Dawkins of Washington, 6-10 Bill Jackman of Grant, Neb., 6-9 Jay Bilas of Rolling Hills, Calif., 6-7 Weldon Williams of Crete, Ill., 6-9 Mark Alarie of Phoenix, Ariz., and 6-5 David Henderson, Warren County, N.C.
After Ray Meyer decided to coach another year, DePaul stayed in Chicago to land 6-11 Lamone Lampley before grabbing two Californians - 6-5 Tony Jackson of Oakland and 6-8 Kevin Holmes of Reseda. Meyer added 6-8 Marty Embry of Flint, Mich.
Indiana needed a quick ball-handling guard so Bobby Knight retraced the path to the same Anderson, Ind., high school that gave the Hoosiers Bobby Wilkerson and Ray Tolbert to land 6-2 Stewart Robinson. Knight also added a big forward and a guard in 6-8 Mike Giomi of Newark, Ohio, and 6-5 Tracy Foster of Fort Wayne, Ind.
Kentucky Coach Joe Hall ventured into Indiana, a fertile Wildcat recruiting ground, and lured still another Hoosier southward -- 6-1 Roger Harden of Valparaiso, Ind. Looking for rebounding help at forward, Hall added 6-8 Kenny Walker of Roberta, Ga., and 6-8 in-state standout Todd May of Virgie County.
Michigan added a group of bruisers capable of playing for either Bill Frieder or football Coach Bo Schembechler. Frieder grabbed off 6-8 Paul Jokisch, a high school All-America in both football and basketball from suburban Detroit and added even more beef in the 6-9 Rellford, 6-9 Robert Henderson of Lansing, Mich., 6-10 Roy Tarpley of Detroit and Boston's 6-8 Butch Wade.
Notre Dame, as it often does, journeyed coast-to-coast to recruit 6-10 Tim Kempton of Oyster Bay, N.Y., 6-8 Jim Dolan of Toms River, N.J., and 6-2 Joe Buchanan of Seattle. Digger Phelps then stayed closer to home to land a pair of Hoosiers -- 6-10 Ken Barlow of Indianapolis Cathedral and 6-4 Joe Price of Marion.
Oklahoma signed two of the top prospects in the country in Tisdale and 6-10 Aaron Coombs of National City, Calif., beating everyone in the country for Tisdale, including Georgetown.
Ohio State needed rebounders to replace Big 10 leader Clark Kellogg, who opted for the NBA. So Eldon Miller went for players with state or school connections and got 6-10 Alan Kortokrax of Delphos, Ohio, 6-10 Keith Wesson of Niles, Ohio, 6-5 Clinton Smith of Cleveland and 6-3 Matt Valci-Lucas of New Orleans, whose adopted father is former Buckeye and NBA standout Jerry Lucas.
Oregon State landed the best big man in the Northwest in 6-10 Steve Woodside of Portland and added Coombs teammate 6-8 Tyrone Miller along with Milwaukee's 6-6 Darryl Flowers.
After enjoying the play of Canadian Leo Rautins for two years, Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim decided to go prospecting north of the St. Lawrence River again. This time he brought 6-10 John Karpis and 6-7 Roger Rollocks back from Toronto.
Within the U.S., Boeheim was successful, too, getting 6-6 Rafael Addison of Jersey City, N.J., and 6-2 Earl Kelly of New Haven, Conn.
Villanova Coach Rollie Massimino has been just inches away from the Final Four the past two years so he bolstered nearly every position by getting 6-11 Chuck Everson of Brentwood, N.Y., 6-6 Dwight Wilbur of Patterson, N.J., and 6-5 Harold Pressley of Uncasville, Conn.
After luring 6-10 Wyatt Maker all the way from North Salinas, Calif., Massimino kept peace in the family by signing his 5-10 son, Randy.
Other established powers also recruited few players but found the particular skills and personalities they were seeking.
UCLA, for instance, signed only 6-1 guard Montel Hatcher of Santa Monica, Calif., but he is one of the best.
Right behind that group are a pair of Washington-area schools - George Mason and George Washington -- along with South Florida, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Mississippi State.
Joe Harrington, a former Maryland assistant, showed he learned his recruiting lessons well from Terrapin Coach Lefty Driesell by luring 6-5 Dwayne (Amazing) Grace of Bennettsville, S.C., away from Maryland, South Carolina, Clemson, North Carolina State to George Mason, located 20 miles from Washington in Fairfax, Va. He also added Grace's high school teammate, 6-7 Vincent McQueen.
George Washington, like George Mason, has taken a back seat for years to Maryland, and more recently to Georgetown. But second-year Coach Gerry Gimelstob grabbed six players, all at the positions the Colonials needed most, and had the best recruiting year in the Eastern 8, if not the entire East.
Gimelstob signed 5-11 guard Mike O'Reilly of Brooklyn to go with 6-4 Troy Webster of Orange, N.J., 6-7 Darryl Webster and 6-4 Chester Wood of Washington, 6-5 Steve Frick of Greenville, S.C., and 6-6 Craig Helms of Yorktown, Va.
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East Carolina -- 6-1 Troy Robinson, Jamestown, N.Y., Juco; 6-1 Curt Vanderhorst, Fayetteville, N.C., Byrd; 6-8 David Harris, Brooklyn Wingate.
Eastern Illinois -- 6-4 J. T. Coleman, Chicago Heights, Ill., Bloom Trail.
Eastern Kentucky -- 6-1 John DeCamillis, Louisville St. Xavier.
Evansville -- 6-8 Paul Schaefer, Edwardsville, Ill.; 6-5 Mike Massing, Evansville, Ind., Central; 6-2 John Worth, Owensboro, Ky., Daviess County; 6-7 Bobby Mukes, New Albany, Ind.; 6-2 Harold Howard, Laredo, Texas, Juco; 6-9 Bobby Wallace, Narvarro, Texas, Juco.
Florida State -- 6-8 Reggie Meadows, Pensacola, Fla., Juco; 6-6 Vince Martello, Gulf Coast, Fla., Juco.
Fresno State -- 6-10 Mark Gustin, Madera, Calif.
Furman -- 6-11 Greg Spurling, Knoxville Doyle.
George Mason -- 6-3 Rickie Wilson, Hampton, Va., Phoebus; 6-8 Rob Nieberlein, Baltimore Mt. St. Joseph's; 6-6 Dwayne Grace and 6-7 Vincent McQueen, Bennettsville, S.C.
George Washington -- 6-4 Troy Webster, Orange, N.J., Scott; 6-7 Darryl Webster, Washington Coolidge; 6-4 Chester Wood, Washington Carroll; 6-5 Steve Frick, Greenville, S.C., Eastside; 6-6 Craig Helms, Yorktown, Va., York; 5-11 Mike O'Reilly, Brooklyn Xaverian.
Georgetown -- 6-5 David Wingate, Baltimore Dunbar; 6-1 Michael Jackson, Reston, Va., South Lakes; 6-1 Horace Broadnax, Turkey Creek, Fla., Plant City.
Georgia -- 7-2 Troy Hitchcock, Columbus, O., Mifflin; 6-2 Donald Hartry, Milledgeville, Ga., Baldwin.
Georgia Tech -- 6-11 Yvon Joseph, Dade County Juco, Miami, Fla., (Port au Prince, Haiti); 6-9 John Salley, Brooklyn Canarsie; 6-10 Tim Harvey, Plainfield, N.J.; 6-7 Jack Mansell, Sharon, Pa.; 6-1 Mark Price, Enid, Okla.
Hardin-Simmons -- 6-3 Brad Underwood, McPherson, Kan.; 6-5 Kendrick Lewis, Anderson, Ind.
Hawaii -- 6-5 Andre Morgan, Anderson, Ind.
Houston -- 6-6 Andre Ervin, Brooklyn Alexander Hamilton.
Illinois -- 6-9 Scott Meents and 6-3 Bruce Douglas, Herscher, Ill.; 6-8 Efrem Winters and 6-2 Reggie Woodward, Chicago King; 6-4 Doug Altenberger, Peoria, Ill., Richwoods.
Illinois State -- 6-10 Willie Williams, Ames, Iowa, 6-7 Jim McGrath, Ottawa, Ill., Marquette.
Indiana -- 6-8 Mike Giomi, Newark, Ohio; 6-5 Tracy Foster, Ft. Wayne, Ind., Homestead; 6-2Stewart Robinson, Anderson, Ind., Madison Heights.
Indiana State -- 6-6 John Williams, Indianapolis Washington; 6-4 Myron Christian, Evansville, Ind., Bosse; 6-9 Terry Braun, Trinidad, Colo., Juco; 6-4 Jeff McCombs, Ft. Wayne, Ind., Harding; 6-3 Al Cole, Hiwassee Juco, Madisonville, Tenn. (Acworth, Ga., North Cobb).
Iona -- 6-8 Walter Berry, Bronx, N.Y.
Iowa -- 6-4 Andre Banks, Chicago Mendel; 7-0 Brad Lohaus, Phoenix Greenway; 6-7 Brian Boyles, St. Louis University H.S.
Iowa State -- 6-8 Sam Hill, Chicago Amundsen; 6-5 David Moss, Franklin Park, Ill., Leyden; 6-4 Todd Burbach, Dubuque, Iowa, Wahlert; 7-0 Brad Dudek, Duluth, Minn., East; 6-4 Ron Virgil, Chicago Providence-St. Mel.
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Jacksonville -- 6-10 Eric Lewis, Kinston, N.C.; 6-7 Ken Nadasky, Miami Killian; 6-4 Otis Smith, Jacksonville Forrest; 6-8 John Walton, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Choctawatchee; 6-1 Kenny Vaughans, Ocala, Fla., Vanguard (transfer from Wake Forest, eligible in 1983-84).
James Madison -- 6-9 Eric Esch, Bronx, N.Y., Archbishop Malloy; 6-5 Todd Banks, Bellport, N.Y.; 6-5 William Hughes, Beltsville, Md., Good Counsel; 6-6 Tracy Williams, Beaufort, N.C., East Carteret.
Kansas -- 6-6 Calvin Thompson, Kansas City, Kan., Wyandotte; 6-9 Kerry Boagni, Gardena, Calif., Serra; 6-2 Jeff Guiot, Chanute, Kan.; 6-4 Ron Kellogg, Omaha Northwest.
Kansas State -- 6-8 Alex Williams, St. Louis O'Fallon Tech; 6-1 Jonas Cody, St. Louis Vashon; 6-7 Ben Mitchell, St. Louis Christian Brothers; 6-6 Tyrone Jackson, East St. Louis, Ill., Lincoln.
Kent State -- 6-6 Steve Tindall, Dayton, Ohio, Dunbar; 6-6 Marvin Robinson, Northern Iowa Juco; 6-3 Lindell Owens, Fork Union, Va., Military Academy.
Kentucky -- 6-1 Roger Harden, Valparaiso, Ind.; 6-8 Kenny Walker, Roberta, Ga., Crawford County; 6-8 Todd May, Virgie County, Ky.
Louisiana State -- 6-9 Jerry Reynolds, transfer from Madison, Wis., Area Technical College (Brooklyn, N.Y., Alexander Hamilton); 6-6 Don Redden, Monroe, La., Ouchita; 6-4 Greg Perkins, New Orleans Bishop Amant; 6-7 Theron Cojoe, Destrehan, La.
Louisville -- 6-8 Billy Thompson, Camden, N.J.; 6-4 Jeff Hall, Fairview, Ky.; 6-2 Chris West, Louisville Manual; 6-6 Robbie Valentine, North Hardin, Ky.
Manhattan -- 6-6 Maurice Williams, Brooklyn Bishop Loughlin.
Marquette -- 6-7 Kerry Trotter, Omaha Creighton Prep; 6-9 Lloyd Moore, Clairton, Pa.; 6-7 Paul Newman, Wheelersburg, Ohio.
Marshall -- 6-4 John Amendola, Weirton, W. Va.
Maryland -- 6-10 Bryan Palmer, Glen Rock, Pa., Susquehannock; 6-7 Len Bias, Hyattsville, Md., Northwestern; 6-2 Jeff Baxter, Washington Carroll; 6-8 Ed Farmer, Glen Mills, Pa., Prep (Wilson, N.C.); 6-9 Ben Coleman, transfer from Minnesota (eligible 1982-83); 6-8 Andre Hines, transfer from Furman (eligible 1982-83).
Massachusetts -- 6-1 A. J. Wynder, Rockville Centre, N.Y., St. Agnes; 6-9 Tom Emerson, Fork Union, Va., Military Academy (Nashville, Tenn.); 6-5 Darryl Carter, Brookville, N.Y., Long Island Lutheran.
Memphis State -- 6-7 Baskerville Holmes, Memphis Westwood.
Miami (Ohio) -- 6-3 Ron Hunter, Dayton, Ohio, Chaminade Julienne; 6-6 Ron Harper, Dayton, Ohio, Kiser; 6-5 Jim Johnson, Canton, Ohio, McKinley.
Michigan -- 6-9 Robert Henderson, Lansing, Mich., Eastern; 6-10 Roy Tarpley, Detroit Cooley; 6-5 Richard Rellford, Riviera Beach, Fla., Suncoast; 6-8 Paul Jokisch, Birmingham, Mich., Brother Rice; 6-8 Butch Wade, Boston Technical.
Michigan State -- 6-5 Patrick Ford, Detroit Cass Tech; 6-2 Scott Skiles, Plymouth, Ind.
Minnesota -- 6-2 Marc Wilson, Towson, Md., Calvert Hall; 6-10 John Shasky, Birmingham, Mich., Brother Rice; 6-3 Alonzo Skanes, Chicago Dunbar; 6-6 Clifton Smith, Cleveland Adams.
Mississippi State -- 6-2 Rick Person, Columbia, Ga.; 6-4 Chauncey Robinson, Miami Jacksonville; 6-8 Jerome Batiste and 6-7 Greg Lazard, Crowley, La.
Missouri -- 6-1 Billy Roundtree, Wellsville, Mo.; 6-8 James Douglas, Butler County, Kan., Juco.
Nebraska -- 6-6 Mike Martz, Beatrice, Neb.; 6-10 Dave Hoppen, Omaha Benson.
Nevada-Las Vegas -- 6-6 Eldridge Hudson, Los Angeles Carson; 6-10 Paul Brozovich, Saddleback, Calif., Community College; 6-2 Jeff Collins, transfer from Arizona (eligible 1982-83).
Niagara -- 6-1 Reed Watts, Kent, Ohio, Roosevelt; 6-6 Leon Blaylock, Toronto, Can.
North Carolina -- 6-11 Brad Daugherty, Swannanoa, N.C., Owen; 6-5 Curtis Hunter, Durham, N.C., Southern; 6-3 Steve Hale, Jenks, Okla.
North Carolina State -- 6-3 Ernie Meyers, Bronx, N.Y., St. Nicholas Tolentine; 6-6 Walt Densmore, Tuscaloosa, Ala., Central; 6-7 Alvin Battle, Merced, Calif., Juco.
