Howard Little-MVP

[Dane Pound]

Playing against some pretty good talent in his all-star game.

 

 

 

Illinois, Butler recruits lead North to 102-91 victory in IBCA big-school game

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, June 25, 2006

 

BY LONNIE SCHWINDENHAMMER

 

OF THE JOURNAL STAR

 

BLOOMINGTON - The North had too much for the South in the Class AA boys Illinois Basketball Coaches Association all-star game on Saturday.

The North used a 10-point run in the early going to break away, and held off a late comeback bid by the South in a 102-91 victory at Shirk Center on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University.

 

Butler-bound guard Will Veasley of Freeport and Billy Rush of Dolton Thornridge each had breakaway dunks in the run that put the North up 17-8.

 

Illinois recruit Brian Carlwell, a 6-foot-11, first-team all-state center from Maywood Proviso East got six of his 12 points during the first nine minutes. He got a workout from East Peoria's Zach Ott, a 6-7 post headed to Millikin.

 

"He had about 100 pounds on me and he was complaining that I was leaning on him," Ott said. "I figured we would be matched up on one another. I wasn't going to back down."

 

Metamora's Blake Mishler, headed to East Tennessee State, came off the South bench to score on two nifty moves to the basket and on a breakaway dunk that kept the South in the game at 28-18.

 

Schaumburg product Jake Pancratz drained three 3-pointers during a four-minute stretch that was part of an 18-4 burst by the North.

 

Veasley's driving basket capped a six-point run that put the North up 46-22.

 

Mishler finished with five field goals and 10 points.

 

"Their second group came out on fire," Mishler said. "We fought back, but they just had too much."

 

A Carlwell dunk, off an assist from Martez Hawkins of Rockford Boylan gave the North a 26-point lead early in the second half.

 

The South chipped away, and got as close as 92-82 on a basket by team MVP Howard Little of Olympia Fields Rich Central.

 

Pancratz sank his sixth 3-pointer and Carlwell threw down his third dunk to keep the North in control.

 

"I shot it pretty well tonight," Pancratz said. "We were just having fun."

 

Pancratz and Cody Yelder of Oak Lawn Richards each scored 20 to lead the North. They shared team MVP honors.

 

"They just had too much athleticism for us," Mishler said.

 

The North finished with 10 3-pointers, and had five players with at least five rebounds to lead a 52-47 advantage.

 

Tyler Wallenfang of Washington scored nine for the South.

 

Lonnie Schwindenhammer can be reached at 686-3214 or lchwindenhammer@pjstar.com

[alum73]

I wish it had said Albany bound Howard Little.

[GODANESGO]

I wish it had said Albany bound Howard Little.

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Haha, I said the exact same thing after I read it.

 

I guess GREAT (DANE) minds think alike. Ok, that was corny..lol.

[Patch]

More on Howard Little, Little ranked 39th in Hoopscoops top 50 playing at the prestigioue NIKE Peach Jam. His team lost in the Semi Finals.

 

Our ranking of the top 50 players at the NIKE Peach Jam prior to the start of the championship game are as follows: 1) 6'3 Eric Gordon from Indianapolis (North Central) IN, 2) 6'9 Kyle Singler from Medford (South Medford) OR, 3) 6'3 Derrick Rose from Chicago (Simeon) IL, 4) 6'9 Gani Lawal from Norcross (H.S.) GA, 5) 6'4 Jr Tyreke Evans from Aston (American Christian) PA, 6) 6'5 Nick Calathes from Winter Park (Lake Howell) FL, 7) 6'8 Blake Griffin from Edmund (Oklahoma Christian) OK, 8) 6'9 Patrick Patterson from Huntington (H.S.) WV, 9) 6'3 E'twaun Moore from East Chicago (Central) IL, 10) 6'5 Durrell Summers from Dearborn (Covenant) MI, 11) 6'9 Chandler Parsons from Winter Park (Lake Howell) FL, 12) 6'8 Scott Martin from Valparaiso (H.S.) IN, 13) 6'6 Soph Xavier Henry from Oklahoma City (Putnam City) OK, 14) 6'7 Gary Johnson from Houston (Aldine) TX, 15) 6'5 Tim Flowers from Chicago (Simeon) IL, 16) 5'9 Jai Lucas from Houston (Bellaire) TX, 17) 6'6 Jermaine Peterson from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 18) 6'1 Kalin Lucas from Orchard Lake (St. Mary's) MI, 19) 6'9 Matthew Bryan Amaning from South Kent (Prep) CT, 20) 6'4 Jr Willie Warren from Ft. Worth (North Crowley) TX, 21) 6'8 Jr Ed Davis from Mechanicsville (Hanover) VA, 22) 5'8 Aaron Johnson from Chicago (Hubbard) IL, 23) 5'8 Isaiah Thomas from Tacoma (Curtis) WA, 24) 6'5 Dorenzo Hudson from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, 25) 6'2 Jr Frankie Sullivan from Uniontown (R.C. Hatch) AL, 26) 6'6 Corperryale Harris from Detroit (Redford) MI, 27) 6'8 Jr Devin Ebanks from Lenoir (Patterson School) NC, 28) 6'0 Eduardo Javi Gonzalez from Miami (Dr. Krop) FL, 29) 6'6 Mike Singletary from Houston (Kingwood) TX, 30) 6'4 Malcolm Delaney from Towson (Catholic) MD, 31) 6'3 Jamelle McMillan from Seattle (O'Dea) WA, 32) 6'8 Robbie Hummel from Valparaiso (H.S.) IN, 33) 6'6 Cameron Tatum from Tucker (H.S.) GA, 34) 6'0 Chris Wright from Washington (St. John's) DC, 35) 6'2 Greg Hill from Merrillville (H.S.) IN, 36) 6'1 Jacob Pullen from Maywood (Proviso East) IL, 37) 6'6 Jeff Robinson from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 38) 6'7 James Anderson from Junction City (H.S.) AR, 39) 6'3 Howard Little from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 40) 6'6 Lance Storrs from Decatur (Columbia) GA, 41) 6'4 Jordan Crawford from Detroit (CMA) MI, 42) 5'10 Soph Tommy Griffin from Houston (Madison) TX, 43) 6'4 Jr Paul Williams from Detroit (Renassiance) MI, 44) 6'10 Jr Xavier Gibson from Dothan (Northview) AL, 45) 6'4 Jr Nick Williams from Mobile (LeFlore) AL, 46) 6'8 Brandon McGee from Chicago (Crane) IL, 47) 6'1 Angelo Johnson from Simi Valley (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 48) 6'4 Marcus Britt from Forrest City (H.S.) AR, 49) 6'6 Mario Wright from Birmingham (Minor) AL, and 50) 6'9 Jerry Hampton from Memphis (Booker T. Washington) TN.

[slickwilly]

For some reason Scout and Rivals don't have any info on Howard Little so I thought I would look at the guys ranked right before and after him to get an idea of what caliber of player he is. I took a look at the 2 guys ranked right ahead of him and the 2 guys right after him. Here is how Scout and Rivals had them rated:

 

#37) Jeff Robinson - 4 stars on Scout, 3 stars on Rivals - Committed to Memphis

 

#38) James Anderson - 4 stars on Scout, 4 stars on Rivals - Offers from Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Oklahoma and Kansas

 

#39) Howard Little - no info on either Scout or Rivals - Verbal to Albany

 

#40) Lance Storrs - 3 stars on Scout, 3 stars on Rivals - Committed to Georgia Tech

 

#41) Jordan Crawford - 3 stars on Scout, not listed on Rivals - Offer from Xavier

 

I know the ratings don't really mean that much, but it seems like he is in some pretty good company.

Edited July 18, 2006 by slickwilly

[slickwilly]

You can check out his stats for the NIKE Peach Jam here:

 

http://www.nikeedge.com/pj-stats/17u_stats.php

 

 

Illinois Warriors

#25 Little, Howard

Edited July 18, 2006 by slickwilly

[Clickclack]

You can check out his stats for the NIKE Peach Jam here:

 

http://www.nikeedge.com/pj-stats/17u_stats.php

 

 

Illinois Warriors 

#25 Little, Howard

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I’m so high on this guy, I’m just hoping he stays low and no one better comes knocking on his door. As of right now he has only made a verbal so he can change his mind at any point. Hopefully he will stay committed to us, ultimately I think it will come down to how well we do this season. If we can get another NCAA berth he will be excited to come here and be a part of something great. Otherwise our league doesn’t have that much to offer especially the down year we had last year. Can you imagine this guy and Ambrose? Might be the best beckcourt we ever had.

[Patch]

bosiydid - you forgot Lance James who ranked 212 nationally on Prep Stars, he should be competing for time at the PG.

[Dane Pound]

You can check out his stats for the NIKE Peach Jam here:

 

http://www.nikeedge.com/pj-stats/17u_stats.php

 

 

Illinois Warriors 

#25 Little, Howard

15399[/snapback]

 

I’m so high on this guy, I’m just hoping he stays low and no one better comes knocking on his door. As of right now he has only made a verbal so he can change his mind at any point. Hopefully he will stay committed to us, ultimately I think it will come down to how well we do this season. If we can get another NCAA berth he will be excited to come here and be a part of something great. Otherwise our league doesn’t have that much to offer especially the down year we had last year. Can you imagine this guy and Ambrose?

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I think when a player verbals the other coaches are supposed to back off with their recruiting. I'm sure it doesn't always happen but it's supposed to.

 

I'm not sure how much next season would influence Little because he would sign an LOI in November. Probably the biggest factor is seeing how good the rest of the recruiting class is. I'm sure recruits can look this stuff up as well as we can. If Little looks at how good James and Ambrose are supposed to be (if he hasn't seen them in AAU already) he'll knew how good this team can be while he's here. I can't imagine how good the three of them will be together.

[Clickclack]

bosiydid - you forgot Lance James who ranked 212 nationally on Prep Stars, he should be competing for time at the PG.

15401[/snapback]

 

Patch,

 

Good point! Good thing I got my season tickets for this season, since I have a feelings tickets are going to be in short supply from this point on. Especially next year and after that, perhaps not this season but with another great season and another NCAA berth they will be at a premium. I wouldn't be surprised if we avaraged like 3500+ fans this season.

[Clickclack]

DanePound,

 

Not to mention with a Gifford who will be a soph and Yocum. I am a relitivelly new fan so I don’t know how sad it was to be a UA fan 3 or 4 years ago. But right now certainly is a good time to jump on the bandwagon.

Edited July 18, 2006 by bosiydid

[slickwilly]

 

I’m so high on this guy, I’m just hoping he stays low and no one better comes knocking on his door. As of right now he has only made a verbal so he can change his mind at any point. Hopefully he will stay committed to us, ultimately I think it will come down to how well we do this season. If we can get another NCAA berth he will be excited to come here and be a part of something great. Otherwise our league doesn’t have that much to offer especially the down year we had last year. Can you imagine this guy and Ambrose? Might be the best beckcourt we ever had.

15400[/snapback]

 

I agree that making the NCAA tournament again this year would be big in keeping Little. Another factor where I think Albany has already helped themselves is bringing in other talented players. I think bringing in guys like Ambrose and James can only help influence Little that this is an up and coming program.

 

Plus don't forget this quote from Coach Will Brown on his website:

 

"We already have a commitment from a wing player from Chicago. We will have two more scholarships available and would like to bring in a pure point guard and a perimeter player that can really score the ball!"

 

I think we can assume the wing player from Chicago is Little. The way I read it Brown seems pretty confident he will live up to his verbal commitment.

 

The pure PG sounds like James and the perimeter player that can score sounds like Ambrose.

[UAalum72]

The quote from Brown, that he's looking for more perimeters, wings, and PGs, shows how confident he is with the frontcourt players we have now. Looking two years out and he's not even thinking about another big.

 

Bosiydid, there were benefits to being a fan 4 years ago - I have to resign myself to not getting any more Mild Wally coupons or teeshirts for threepointers in our new crowds, It used to be easy to get three or four a year

[B9j2j6s]

The quote from Brown, that he's looking for more perimeters, wings, and PGs, shows how confident he is with the frontcourt players we  have now. Looking two years out and he's not even thinking about another big.

 

Bosiydid, there were benefits to being a fan  4 years ago - I have to resign myself to not getting any more Mild Wally coupons or teeshirts for threepointers in our new crowds, It used to be easy to get three or four a year 

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For a person who lived through those four long years of building I to will miss how easy it was to get a free t-shirt on the three pointers, I have around 3 or 4 over the past 5 years and they are all great gym shirts.

 

I guess that is the price you pay as a fan for your teams success.

Edited July 19, 2006 by B9j2j6s

[olddog71]

Back then I had free rein to the bathroom. No, I am a male, but I could guarantee free access to the urinal at any time in the game without the prospect of waiting in line - now another casualty of our success.

 

Seriously, even though we were losing - even at home - most of the time, it was exciting just to know that we were actually now playing Division I teams after the promises that we would be going D I that had been made years beforehand. It was already a different style of game that I had been used to seeing. Players were now more athletic and showing greater skill. It wasn't such a bad times, but I'm glad to see where we are now. I'll trade it for the bathroom waits.