Courtside
Little Chute's Martin to attend St. Norbert College
by
Mark Miller,
11/19/2009
By Mark Miller
WisSports.net Editor St. Norbert College received a verbal commitment from an outstanding three-sport athlete in its own backyard this week.
Moments after watching his Green Knights defeat UW-Oshkosh in De Pere Monday night, St. Norbert coach Gary Grzesk received more good news as Little Chute senior J.J. Martin verbally committed to the emerging Midwest Conference power.
The 6-foot-3 Martin is the lone returning first-team all-conference player in the Eastern Valley Conference. He averaged 13 points, six rebounds and two assists per contest as a junior while helping the Mustangs to a 15-7 record.
Martin selected St. Norbert over interest from Beloit, Carroll, Coe, Edgewood, Lake Forest, Lakeland, Marian and UW-Stevens Point.
“J.J. is a competitive and skilled wing player whose strength is getting to the basket often times against bigger opponents,” said his father and coach, Mickey Martin. “He shot 142 free throws (making 106) last year, which shows his aggressiveness to the basket. This year, J.J. will take these skills to point guard for us to make us a more complete team.”
A versatile athlete who also excels in football and baseball, Martin maintains a 3.75 grade-point average and figures to fit in well with a St. Norbert program that finished tied for third place in the Midwest Conference last season.
“As a college player, J.J. has to improve his strength for sure and become a more consistent shooter from the perimeter,” Mickey Maritn said. “(Assistant) coach (John) Miron works hard with our players every day in our shooting drills, and J.J. is showing improvement.
“The ability to knock down the three-point shot would really make him a rock-solid player at the next level because his skill set offensively is so good. But what makes J.J. really special and makes my job easier come game time is that he has the length and athleticism to defend a variety of players, which is a huge plus when it comes match-up time.”
Attention Prep Coaches: Please send updated rosters to WisSports.net
High school coaches are reminded to send in updated varsity basketball rosters to WisSports.net.
We will be updating our roster page for each high school in the state over the new few weeks. Coaches can send updated rosters to me at
wbnews@charter.net.
Quick Hitters … Fans of prep basketball who use Twitter can follow me throughout the high school season at
http://twitter.com/wisbbyearbook ... I will be a regular visitor on Mike McGivern’s Wendy’s Varsity Blitz High School Coaches talk show on WSSP AM-1250 in Milwaukee. The show runs from 10 a.m. to noon each Saturday and is streamed at
www.SportsRadio1250.com. McGivern, the new coach at Heritage Christian, brings in coaches and players from the Milwaukee area and talks high school sports for the full two hours.
Ellenson transfers to Rice Lake; DeMarcus Phillips signs with Iowa State
by
Mark Miller,
11/16/2009
By Mark Miller
WisSports.net Editor
One of the state’s top class of 2012 prospects is heading home.
Wally Ellenson, an athletic 6-foot-4 wing guard, has withdrawn from Eau Claire Memorial and will begin classes Tuesday morning at Big Rivers Conference rival Rice Lake.
Ellenson’s three siblings, including 6-5 freshman Ellwood Ellenson, also plan to make the switch from Eau Claire to Rice Lake, according to their father, John Ellenson.
Both Wally and Ellwood Ellenson figure to gain immediate eligibility from the WIAA due to the family's permanent move from Eau Claire to Rice Lake.
Wally Ellenson and his siblings attended Rice Lake schools before moving as family to Eau Claire nearly two years ago.
“We are going back to Rice Lake and to a healthier environment for our kids and for my wife,” said John Ellenson, a guidance counselor in the Eau Claire School District. “We have a home in Rice Lake and my wife (Holly) has taught there for 16 years.
“We made a lot of sacrifices for our four kids to attend school in Eau Claire over the past year, but the move back to our home in Race Lake is just a better overall fit for our family.”
Wally Ellenson earned honorable mention all-league honors as a freshman in the Big Rivers Conference while averaging nine points and four rebounds per contest for an Old Abes squad that finished 6-15.
Currently ranked No. 3 among state sophomores by WisSports.net, Ellenson attracted the attention of collegiate recruiters over the spring and summer while playing for the highly successful Wisconsin Playground Warriors grassroots program.
Green Bay, Milwaukee and Saint Louis are among many NCAA Division I schools currently showing very strong interest in Ellenson, whose father played for both Marquette and Wisconsin in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Ellwood Ellenson is a 6-5 class of 2013 prospect who has grown several inches over the past year.
The Ellensons joins a Rice Lake program needing to replace three starters from last year’s club that went 14-9, including all-league guard and Michigan Tech recruit Alex Culy.
Senior Andy Helbstab (6-4) and Trevor Kiehl (6-0) are returning regulars for coach Kevin Orr while seniors C.J. Damaske (6-0) and Scott Spear (5-9), along with sophomore Alex Cusky (6-3) are also key returning players.
Ex-Milwaukee Washington star signs with Iowa State
Former Milwaukee Washington standout DeMarcus Phillips signed a national letter of intent Monday morning to play college basketball at Iowa State.
The 6-foot-2 Phillips earned the prestigious Mr. Basketball award in Wisconsin following his senior year at Washington in 2007-08. He averaged 22 points and eight rebounds per game as a senior while helping Washington to a 21-1 record and the Milwaukee City Conference championship.
Phillips, who played on the grassroots scene for Stay In The Game/Terry Porter Elite, is currently attending Marshalltown Community College in Marshalltown, Iowa, and will have two years of eligibility at Iowa State beginning in the 2010-11 season.
Phillips becomes the fourth player from the state to join the Iowa State men’s basketball program, which includes a pair of assistant coaches with state ties in Jeff Rutter and T.J. Otzelberger.
Milwaukee Vincent’s Diante Garrett, La Crosse Aquinas’ Scott Christopherson and Racine Horlick’s Antwon Oliver are members of this year’s squad, though it appears Oliver will redshirt during the 2009-10 season.
Phillips averaged 17.3 points per game as a freshman at Marshalltown Community College and is an athletic, scoring wing guard who can get to the basket or make mid-range jump shots.
North Dakota State extends scholarship offer to Milwaukee Lutheran's Kadima
by
Mark Miller,
11/15/2009
By Mark Miller
WisSports.net Editor
Milwaukee Lutheran senior guard Chim (T.J.) Kadima has earned a scholarship offer from North Dakota State.
The 6-foot-5 Kadima, who is currently ranked No. 14 among state seniors by WisSports.net, is a versatile backcourt player who can knock down perimeter shots or use his length and skill to get around defenders and either finish at the rim or get to the foul line.
Kadima had given the coaching staff at Iowa State a verbal commitment to play for the Cyclones in September of 2008, but he decided to re-open his recruitment last spring.
Kadima averaged 16.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in 13 games for Milwaukee Lutheran last season before missing the final nine games of the season with an injury. He earned first-team all-league honors as a junior in the North Shore Conference.
Kadima played well on the grassroots circuit in the summer and appears healthy and primed to have a huge season for Milwaukee Lutheran, which finished 11-11 under coach Jason Moesch a year ago.
Mukwonago’s Bauschek earns scholarship offer from Wayne State
Mukwonago senior guard Tyler Bauschek recently received a scholarship offer from coach Paul Combs at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska. Combs accepted the head coaching position at Wayne State College last summer after previously serving as head coach at both Lakeland College and UW-Platteville.
Bauschek (6-1) earned first-team all-league honors in the Classic Eight Conference as a junior when he averaged 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals per game while helping the Indians to a 9-12 record.
Wayne State College is a NCAA Division II school that competes in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Bauschek is also receiving strong recruiting interest from Southwest Minnesota State, another Division II school and member of the NSIC.
Bauschek expects to make a decision on where he’ll play collegiate basketball by the end of December.
Former Milwaukee prep star now attending Huntington Prep
Former Milwaukee Vincent and Wauwatosa East guard Larry Bradley is now attending Huntington Prep, a privately owned basketball academy and part of the Covenant School in Barboursville, West Virginia.
Members of the Huntington Prep varsity basketball team attend classes at Covenent School, a K-12 Christian school which is certified by the NCAA clearinghouse, but compete on the basketball court as members of Huntington Prep.
Bradley, a 6-foot-5 junior point guard, played on the varsity squad as a freshman at Milwaukee Vincent before transferring and competing for Wauwatosa East as a sophomore.
Bradley encountered some serious off-the-court problems following his sophomore season at Wauwatosa East, but appears to have a fresh start now at Huntington Prep.
Memphis Grizzilies guard O.J. Mayo and University of Kentucky star Patrick Patterson both attended Huntington Prep, which plays a national schedule against top-flight prep-school and traditional high school competition.
Quick Hitters … Former Verona standout Jason Ziemer has elected not to play basketball at UW-Stevens Point. Ziemer averaged 22.6 points per game for coach Alan Buss at Verona last season … Orfordville Parkview senior Nick Melton is receiving recruiting interest from Beloit, Carroll, La Crosse, Lawrence, St. Mary’s (Minn.), Stevens Point and Viterbo, among others.
Blue headlines group of 14 state players to sign with Division I schools
by
Mark Miller,
11/11/2009
By Mark Miller
WisSports.net Editor
National signing week began today and no less than 14 prep basketball players from Wisconsin planned to sign national letters of intent to attend NCAA Division I schools.
In addition to the 14 players headed to Division I schools, another six players from the state received scholarships to attend Division II schools.
There is no question, 2010 is an exceptionally strong year for prep basketball talent in the Badger state. A year ago, just nine players from the state received scholarships to attend Division I institutions. Two years ago, the number stood at 11.
Headlining the list of Division I recruits from the state is Madison Memorial guard Vander Blue, an ultra-athletic 6-foot-4 wing guard and top 30 national prospect who signed today with Marquette.
The University of Wisconsin also got in on the deep talent run in the state as 6-foot-11 center Evan Anderson of Eau Claire North and rapidly emerging 6-4 guard Josh Gasser of Port Washington both opted to join the Badgers.
Blue became the third player from Memorial in the past five seasons to sign with Marquette, joining 2005 Mr. Basketball award winner Wesley Matthews and 2009 Mr. Basketball winner Jeronne Maymon.
“I'm 100 percent confident in my heart that I want to play for the Golden Eagles,” Blue said during a press conference in the school library. “I’m excited to be playing in the Big East Conference against teams like UConn and Louisville and Syracuse. There is no doubt in my mind I made the right decision.”
Ranked No. 1 among state seniors by WisSports.net and one of the most highly regarded high school basketball players to come out of Wisconsin this decade, Blue endured a long and often difficult road during his recruitment.
He gave a verbal pledge to play for the hometown Badgers and coach Bo Ryan following his sophomore season, but opted to re-open his recruitment at a press conference last spring.
Over the summer and into the fall, Blue became the subject of many intense message-board threads on both Marquette and Wisconsin fan sites, stoking an already red-hot rivalry between the two schools.
But all of the speculation and wondering and questioning is behind Blue now. And, he says he is excited to finally be 100 percent focused on his basketball future, rather than dwelling on the past.
“This whole thing made me more mature,” Blue said. “I look forward to my high school season now and, hopefully, winning another state championship.”
Blue is one of the top candidates to win the coveted Mr. Basketball award in 2009-10, but he says he isn’t thinking about individual awards, but rather team success.
“If I get Mr. Basketball, that’s great,” he said. “But I’d rather have a Gold Ball than Mr. Basketball.”
Collins says he is eager to watch Blue play his final season of high school basketball and believes he’ll be even better than a year ago, when he earned first-team all-state honors from both the Associated Press and Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association.
“He had a phenomenal run at the end of the season last year and I think he’s gotten better,” Collins said. “I’ve seen it in the open gyms. He’s done an exceptional job of leading us. For us to win, he’s going to have to lead. He does things on the basketball court that are just unbelievable.”
Meanwhile, Marquette coach Buzz Williams said in a statement released by the school today he is eager to have Blue join the Golden Eagles’ program.
“We are very excited have Vander join our family,” Williams said. “So much has been said of who Vander is as a player and that is easily justifiable. What hasn’t been said enough though, is who Vander is as a person. He is a better person than he is a player, and he will fit perfectly into the culture of our program, and will be a great representative of our institution on and off the floor.”
Following is a list of players from the state who are expected to sign national letters of intent this week with Division I and II schools:
Vander Blue, 6-4, PG/WG, Madison Memorial with Marquette
Evan Anderson, 6-11, C, Eau Claire North with Wisconsin
Josh Gasser, 6-4, PG/WG, Port Washington with Wisconsin
Kameron Cerroni, 6-2, WG, Sussex Hamilton with Green Bay
Chip Rank, 6-6, WF, Cedarburg with Northern Iowa
Flavien Davis, 6-5, WF, Wisconsin Lutheran with Loyola of Chicago
Kyle Kelm, 6-8, WF/PF, Randolph with Milwaukee
Ben Mills, 7-1, C, Arrowhead with Boise State
Steve McWhorter, 6-2, PG, Racine St. Catherine’s with Indiana State
T.J. Bray, 6-4, PG/WG, Catholic Memorial with Princeton
Troy Huff, 6-3, WG, Brookfield Academy with North Dakota
Evan Richard, 6-3, WG, Cuba City with Milwaukee
Reid Koenen, 6-7, WF, The Prairie School with Texas State
Trevor Hass, 6-3, WG, New London with Augustana (DII)
Brandon Pritzl, 6-2, WG, De Pere with Hillsdale (DII)
Matt Craggs, 6-5, WF, Kimberly with Northern Michigan (DII)
Jake Schalow, 6-3, WG, Kaukauna with Bemidji State (DII)
Jordan Mach, 6-2, PG/WG, Antigo with UW-Parkside (DII)
Derek Schell, 6-1, WG, Catholic Memorial with Hillsdale (DII)
Northwestern's Tecker latest state prep standout to commit to DI school
by
Mark Miller,
11/10/2009
By Mark Miller
WisSports.net Editor
After mingling with the coaches, the current players and a few potential classmates on an official visit to South Dakota University last weekend, Maple Northwestern senior Steve Tecker knew in his heart of hearts where he wanted to play his collegiate basketball.
And so the 6-foot-4 wing guard decided to pull the trigger Monday evening and accept the basketball scholarship offered by the coaching staff at South Dakota, a NCAA Division I school located in Vermillion, South Dakota.
“After I came back from the campus, I spoke with my family and my coaches and they all agree South Dakota was a good place for me,” Tecker said. “I then called the coaches at South Dakota and told them I was committing. It’s a huge weight off my shoulders.”
Tecker had received scholarship offers from a number of NCAA Division I schools last spring, including Bucknell, Drake, Florida Gulf Coast, North Dakota State and Saint Louis.
However, his play fell off a bit in the summer after he sustained a broken foot and many of the schools that were in hot pursuit decided to look elsewhere.
South Dakota got involved with Tecker late last summer, and the coaches at the school turned up the heat in the past month after evaluating Tecker’s performance from the 2008-09 high school season.
“South Dakota watched Steve last summer, but they started to show serious interest in him the last couple of weeks after I sent them some tapes from last season,” Northwestern coach Dan Cowley said.
Ranked No. 6 among state players in the class of 2010 by WisSports.net, Tecker said the fact South Dakota coach Dave Boots offered a scholarship now instead of waiting until the spring spoke volumes about their strong interest level.
“Some schools wanted me to wait, but the coaches at South Dakota wanted me to go on an official visit now,” Tecker said. “They also wanted me to sign early, so that’s what I did.
“A big thing for me was the fact I can go in and play right away. The coaches at South Dakota felt I could compete for some major minutes as a freshman.”
Tecker joins former Racine St. Catherine’s standout Jake Thomas as a member of the successful Coyotes’ basketball program. South Dakota is currently a member of the Great West Conference, but has been accepted to the more established Summit League, beginning in 2011-12.
“Steve really enjoyed the coaching staff and the players during his visit,” Cowley said. “He also liked their style of play. I think he’s excited about the chance of competing for immediate playing time. He got to know and talk a lot with Jake Thomas during his visit and Jake had very positive things to say about the program and the school.”
A good mid-range shooter with excellent physical strength, Tecker averaged 21.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest as a junior while leading the Tigers to a 25-1 record and a spot in the WIAA Division 2 State Tournament. Tecker scored 28 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out six assists in the Tigers’ 61-58 state semifinal loss to eventual champion Wisconsin Lutheran.
Tecker and seniors Lee Brown (6-3) and Donnie Hissa (6-8) are returning starters for Northwestern, which is expected to once again dominate the Heart O’North Conference and challenge for the WIAA Division 2 state championship. Hissa recently accepted a baseball scholarship to Notre Dame.
“I’m hoping we can go down and win some games at state this year,” Tecker said. “We need to find a starting point guard, but we have players back who can score and play defense. We should be all right.”
Tecker is the 14th player from Wisconsin in the class of 2010 to accept a basketball scholarship to a Division I school. He joins …
Vander Blue of Madison Memorial (Marquette)
Evan Anderson of Eau Claire North (Wisconsin)
Josh Gasser of Port Washington (Wisconsin)
Kameron Cerroni of Sussex Hamilton (Green Bay)
Chip Rank of Cedarburg (Northern Iowa)
Flavien Davis of Wisconsin Lutheran (Loyola of Chicago)
Kyle Kelm of Randolph (Milwaukee)
Ben Mills of Arrowhead (Boise State)
Steve McWhorter of Racine St. Catherine’s (Indiana State)
T.J. Bray of Catholic Memorial (Princeton)
Troy Huff of Brookfield Academy (North Dakota)
Evan Richard of Cuba City (Milwaukee)
Reid Koenen of The Prairie School (Texas State)