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Will he or won't he? That is the question that four lucky college coaches are awaiting the answer to in regards to where Birmingham Detroit Country Day All-American senior point guard, Ray McCallum, Jr. will decide to play his college hoops and in turn, if they will end up landing his much-coveted services. Sean Miller at Arizona, Billy Donovan at Florida, Ben Howling at UCLA, and Ray's dad's, Ray McCallum, Sr. at the University of Detroit-Mercy, are the quad of coaches jockeying to sign DCD's dazzling floor general - 21 ppg, 6 apg, 6 rpg, 3.5 stls per game so far this season.

Alright, I've waited long enough, standing idly by holding my tongue, it's time for Burney to drop some knowledge and perspective and give you prep recruiting fiends my very own prediction on what school "Big Play Ray" will end up selecting and signing with in April.

From Burney has been told from his various sources, this recruiting derby is a two team-race. Thus, you can throw out Howling at UCLA and Donovan at Florida. The street is talking and the word is that McCallum has it narrowed down to either Wildcat U at Arizona and going to play for dear old dad at UofD-Mercy at legendary Calihan Hall.

Having personally spoken to Ray about AZ back in December, I could tell he was very high on young and spunky Wildcats head coach Sean Miller. The pair related well on his visit down to 'Zona late last year and McCallum has an obvious respect for Miller's experience-factor and his skills as a "pitchman". Miller point-guarded a very good Pitt team back in the late-90s-early-80s and had tremendous success with his stable of guards in his previous coaching life at mid-major powerhouse, Xavier in Cincinnati. He is also known as a magnetic recruiter who develops solid personal relationships with the kids he coaches.

Now that said, much to my surprise and contrary to what I had anticipated earlier in the recruiting process, U-of-D-Mercy is a real contender in this recruiting race, possibly even the front runner at this point in time. I've personally spoken to more than one prep prospect being courted by McCallum, Sr.'s up and coming Titans program and they have all told me the Mercy staff is telling them the younger McCallum is 99 percent committed to signing with his pops.

If that's the case, the push to get the program back to the heights it once achieved under Perry Watson last decade and current sports broadcast icon, Dick Vitale back in the mid to late-1970s is about to get a heck of a lot stronger.  Second if McCallum actually did end up at Mercy and took the Titans to the possible success scouts equate his talent with, he could easily wind up being a local college hoops legend, enshrined in the hallowed annals of Motor City bball history along other UofD greats like Dave De Busschere, John Long, Terry Tyler, Terry Duerod, Jermaine Jackson, and Rashad Phillips. McCallum, Jr. could bring a serious jolt of electricity back to Calihan Hall and with that, most-likely an exciting buzz surrounding the Titans program not felt around here in over a decade and in reality probably dating back as late as the Vitale era when Calihan was the hottest ticket in town.

To play devil's advocate, a decision like that – McCallum, Jr. selecting UofD – would be a huge risk. He would be putting it all on the line to go help out his dad turn Mercy into a winner and in turn probably get his pops a top tier D1 job. And if it fails, if he goes there and doesn't elevate the program to the heights expected, it could be a disaster of epic proportions. He could end up falling under what I call, "The Lavell Blanchard Quandary" or more aptly titled, "Great player-Bad Program Quandary." Mark my words, if Blanchard would have gone to MSU instead of UofM a decade ago, he would be making a living in the NBA right now. He might not be a star or a starter, but he'd be in the league crafting out a role as a poor man's Shane Battier-type. But he didn't. Blanchard went to Ann Arbor got stuck with a pair of horrendous head coaches inside a highly-dysfunctional program and wound up having a forgettable but very solid college career because of his surroundings and thus never got a real chance to get drafted.

So that's what I know as of right now. And with that, I'm going tell you what I think he's going to end up doing. Personally, I think he'll wind up inking with Miller and Arizona. I don't think Ray likes the Midwest and prefers a warm weather environment to play in evidenced by his three choices not coached by his dad. Plus, as confident Ray is as a ballplayer, I don't think he wants the extreme pressure and certain immense-anticipation and expectation that would accompany the commitment. Not that he couldn't handle it, because I think he could, but I just don't think he wants it. He just wants to play without having deal with distractions, which playing for his dad at UofD would be full of.

I don't foresee this being an easy decision, but I think it's what he will do and I think its ultimately what's best for his future career. Would I be surprised if he went the other way and decided to take on the Big Enchillada and sign with Mercy? Not at all. Either way, I wish Big Play Ray the best of luck on both his college decision and all his future endeavors.

I am in serious awe of Hazel Park's inside-outside tandem of Wesley Ellis and Dakota Ogles, These two have been, as L.L. Cool J once said, "Doing it and doing it and doing it well," ever since the beginning of the season. The 10-3 Vikings are off to their best start in quite a while and sit in second place in the OAA Blue with a 6-2 conference record. On Friday night, Ellis (a prolific passer with a season-high of 16 dimes) sank the game-winner in the closing seconds of the HP's 82-80 victory over a tough-as-nails Farmington Hills Harrison team and Ogles went ITZ for the second time in two weeks, matching his season-high of 37 points. Ogles was also a beast on the boards, collecting 13 rebounds in the win.

PONTIAC- ARE U FREAKING KIDDING ME? BACK-T0-BACK 35-FOOT 3-POINT SHOTS - Juwaan Moody to tie it up and De Brian Lewis to win it at the horn - TO DOWN C-TOWN AT THE BUZZER! WOW, AREN'T HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS AWESOME!

Oak Park apparently has West Bloomfield's number this season, as the Knights boys hoop squad took down the Lakers for the second time in the 2009-2010 campaign, punking the WB in its own crib, 68-63. Jalen Crawford continued to impress the college scouts with his play by dropping a 21 point, five assist, five rebound performance on the host-Lake show. Burney has to admit, while watching Crawford as a junior last season, he didn't think much of his opportunity to play at a formidable D1 school at the next level. Upon further review however, Burney sees how very wrong he was and after seeing him play on a number of occasions this season, Burney is convinced that Crawford is a bonafide college hoopster. Don't sleep on the Knights Kenny Harper either. Harper is versatile and a "go all out, all the time" type of player that could also end up helping some form of program – whether small-time D1 or big time D2 – at the next level.

Walled Lake Central's front-court of Joe Zurbrickas and Jake Paulson are playing like modern-day high school versions of Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. Paulson tallied 22 points and 20 boards in the Vikings, 54-48 overtime win against crosstown-foe Walled Lake Western on Friday night. Denny Butcher's Vikes are 12-2.

Don't look now but Farmington's boys basketball squad is starting to round into shape and with Friday's 53-47 road win over Birmingham Groves the Falcons are riding a two-game win streak. Farmington's victory also raises its record above the .500 mark at 7-6. Jason Wilson, a two-sport star who also excels on the football field as a wide receiver and defensive back, has been coming into his own this season and put in a game-high 18 points for the winners.

And finally what about RH Adams, avoiding the letdown and triumphing over GP South by double-digits on Friday night. Adams beat a then-undefeated Seaholm squad on Tuesday and could have been prone for the fall, but came out strong against South and ran away with it thanks to Junior forward Andrew Hammett, who scored a career-high 31 points and hauled down 11 rebounds. Senior Connor Boyle, a steadying presence in the Adams backcourt these past two seasons adding 10 points and four assists, the Highlanders improve to 10-3.

I am in serious awe of Hazel Park's inside-outside tandem of Wesley Ellis and Dakota Ogles, These two have been, as L.L. Cool J once said, "Doing it and doing it and doing it well," ever since the beginning of the season. The 10-3 Vikings are off to their best start in quite a while and sit in second place in the OAA Blue with a 6-2 conference record. On Friday night, Ellis (a prolific passer with a season-high of 16 dimes) sank the game-winner in the closing seconds of the HP's 82-80 victory over a tough-as-nails Farmington Hills Harrison team and Ogles went ITZ for the second time in two weeks, matching his season-high of 37 points. Ogles was also a beast on the boards, collecting 13 rebounds in the win.

PONTIAC - ARE U FREAKING KIDDING ME? BACK-TO-BACK 35-FOOTERS - Juwaan Moody to tie and De Brian Lewis to win - TO BEAT C-TOWN IN THE FINAL 4 and a HALF SECONDS, DON"T U JUST LOVE PREP BASKETBALL!!!!!!

Oak Park apparently has West Bloomfield's number this season, as the Knights boys hoop squad took down the Lakers for the second time in the 2009-2010 campaign, punking the WB in its own crib, 68-63. Jalen Crawford continued to impress the college scouts with his play by dropping a 21 point, five assist, five rebound performance on the host-Lake show. Burney has to admit, while watching Crawford as a junior last season, he didn't think much of his opportunity to play at a formidable D1 school at the next level. Upon further review however, Burney sees how very wrong he was and after seeing him play on a number of occasions this season, Burney is convinced that Crawford is a bonafide college hoopster. Don't sleep on the Knights Kenny Harper either. Harper is versatile and a "go all out, all the time" type of player that could also end up helping some form of program – whether small-time D1 or big time D2 – at the next level.

Walled Lake Central's front-court of Joe Zurbrickas and Jake Paulson are playing like modern-day high school versions of Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. Paulson tallied 22 points and 20 boards in the Vikings, 54-48 overtime win against crosstown-foe Walled Lake Western on Friday night. Denny Butcher's Vikes are 12-2.

Don't look now but Farmington's boys basketball squad is starting to round into shape and with Friday's 53-47 road win over Birmingham Groves the Falcons are riding a two-game win streak. Farmington's victory also raises its record above the .500 mark at 7-6. Jason Wilson, a two-sport star who also excels on the football field as a wide receiver and defensive back, has been coming into his own this season and put in a game-high 18 points for the winners.

And finally what about RH Adams, avoiding the letdown and triumphing over GP South by double-digits on Friday night. Adams beat a then-undefeated Seaholm squad on Tuesday and could have been prone for the fall, but came out strong against South and ran away with it thanks to Junior forward Andrew Hammett, who scored a career-high 31 points and hauled down 11 rebounds. Senior Connor Boyle, a steadying presence in the Adams backcourt these past two seasons adding 10 points and four assists, the Highlanders improve to 10-3.

Please, don't get me started on what happened to Southfield's Maurice "Big Mo" Davenport earlier this week. Oh, alright, if you insist:

This kid got the shaft with a capital "S" in the recruiting process by those "winners" over in Ypsilanti at Eastern Michigan. Thanks a lot, Ron English and Tyrone Wheatley! Or shall I say, thanks for nothing guys and see ya at the bottom of the MAC once again over the next few years when I play my ass off and perform at the highest level for my new team, Wayne State U. The situation that development in regards to Davenport's recruiting process tells you all you need to know about the state of the EMU program. These former Wolverine "class acts", offered Davenport a scholarship back in October, which he accepted (and in turn informed all the other D1 schools that were recruiting him to stop – which they did), and then pulled it away from him in the hours leading up to signing day on Wednesday for no good reason at all.

And did Wheatley – who recruited him – or English, the Lloyd Carr-endorsed sideline general who leads the beleaguered Eagles program, have the human decency to call and inform Davenport of their decision to pull their offer off the table and leave him hanging in the wind sans parachute?. Of course not, that would have been the professional thing to do. That's how things are done at well-run, well-disciplined, classy programs – which are few and far between these days, as well as ever, for that matter. Davenport, a relentlessly-aggressive fullback-linebacker, with a heart of a champion and the will of a warrior, had to call the EMU football office himself to be informed why none of his recruiters had been returning his calls and that he no longer had a place on the Eagles 2010 roster. The EMU staff even had the audacity to tell Davenport that one of the reasons the scholarship offer was being taken away was due to him "not playing up to his capabilities." REALLY,? Cause that statement couldn't be more false.  Davenport played like a man possessed in the Bluejays run to a district title last fall and helped Southfield advance all the way to the Division Two Final Four in 2008. His leadership, effort, and playmaking were major reasons for his team's recent successes. To say there was some sort of drop off in his play, is ridiculous and downright offensive. It's obvious to me the Eagles coaching staff didn't properly complete their due diligence in regard to Davenport, fell in love with some JUCO they perceived as a better fit for their recruiting class and then used a BS excuse to blame him for the entire ordeal. What a bunch of sleaze balls!!!

 Way to go, Coach English, you've done your program and mentor, Carr, very proud. Why don't you just go kick a dog or push an old lady carrying a walker into oncoming traffic while you're at it?  All sarcasm aside, I truly hope that they way you and your program treated such a great kid like Davenport, is the exception rather than the rule and that this type of behavior isn't becoming the status quo in Ypsilanti these days. If it is the norm, than the school's AD needs to do some serious re-evaluating of whether or not they want English roaming the sidelines on their behalf in the future.

This has been a very special week for the great number of Metro Detroit student athletes who got the opportunity to sign National Letters of Intent and accept scholarships to play sports at the next level.

Although each signing is special in their own right, there are a few notable signings that I want to write a couple things about:

First off, freshly-anointed head coach Matt Mitchell's new regime at Grand Valley State got a few late-additions to its 2010 signing class in the form of a trio of gridiron gladiators from Oakland County. Justin Davis of Southfield-Lathrup, Sam Welch of Walled Lake Western and John Westfall of Milford all got in on the Laker party at the last-minute and all three are great lands for Mitchell's first incoming recruiting class. Davis is one of those multi-purpose athletes with a "high-ceiling" in the development department, a kid who will probably end up being a better college player than he was a prepster. Welch is an old fashioned gun slinger behind center and one of the most prolific passers ever in the history of prep sports in Walled Lake. Unfortunately Welch's team had a sub-par season this past fall and that probably cost him a shot at a D1 ride. Nonetheless, Welch has the chance to be a special player at the next level and Mitchell's offense is practically a perfect fit with Welch's skill set.     

Word on the street is that Devon Bailey will be joining his high school teammate, Taylor Calero (upstart Defensive End/Linebacking prospect) at Michigan State next year as a preferred walk-on. Before an injury plagued senior campaign, Bailey had several mid-major D1 schools interested in giving him full rides. In the end, however, things might turn out the best for Bailey without the initial scholarship in hand, but at a major DI school like MSU, a program that needs added depth at the running back position……er if things go well, Bailey could very well work his way onto the field and into some carries, if not a larger role all together, in the next few seasons in the EL.

It was nice to see local soccer studs Lake Orion's Derek Schrauben and RH Adams' Joey Dillon both ending up with scholarships that will allow them to keep getting their "kicks-on" in college. Schrauben, whose a major reason why the Lake Orion hoops team is doing as well as it has been doing this season, inked with Western Michigan on Wednesday morning and Dillon signed with Georgtown. Dillon helped lead the Highlanders to a magical season on the field in 2009.

Dillon's classmates at Adams Jordan Sanders, Nick Di Miro, and Matt Rea, each landed themselves with spots on college rosters next year too. Sanders and Di Miro, who I personally believe could easily be mid-major D1 offensive lineman if given the shot, penned with Saginaw Valley State and Northwood, respectively. Rea, a rugged fullback/linebacker combo, will be suiting up for the Quakers of University of Penn.

Speaking of Ivy League football, DCD's Jason Ray, a hard-playing and highly-intelligent linebacker/safety/tight end, has chose Princeton as his destination to go play college football. In his first year on the varsity hoops squad this season, Ray has been an integral reserve post player for the nationally-ranked Yellowjackets.

Injured hand and all, OLSM multi-talented playmaker, Gary Hunter, was offered and accepted a scholarship from the University of Dayton. Hunter sparked the Eaglets special teams unit as a lethal return specialist and anchored the team's secondary from his cornerback spot, in their '09 run to the state finals at Ford Field.

MADISON MAULS STERLING HEIGHTS FOR NON-CONFERENCE 'W'

 

By SCOTT M. BURNSTEIN

MADISON HEIGHTS

The scoreboard in the Madison Heights Madison gymnasium was malfunctioning on Wednesday night, in stark contrast to the Madison boys basketball team, which was functioning at the highest of levels in its non-conference showdown with a considerably taller Sterling Heights squad. Utilizing a frenetic transition game and some sticky defense, the Eagles trounced the visiting-Stallions, 72-49 and dialed up their overall record to a not so shabby 10-2.

In a game which had a scrimmage-like feel to it as a result of the defective scoreboard requiring the score to be tallied by hand with a plastic number display and time intervals to be shouted out by officials every three minutes, Madison surged in front of a physically-bigger Sterling Heights squad and never looked back.

Leading the way for the Eagles was sophomore sensation, Damon Bozeman, who put in another supreme outing for Madison on both ends of the floor by posting his sixth double-double of the season. Bozeman scored a game-high 22 points, while hauling down 11 rebounds. He also played very strong defense against a larger Stallions' front court, helping limit Sterling Heights 6-9 center Adam Ring to just six points and five rebounds.

"I just love playing the game of basketball," said Bozeman, a second year varsity letterman following the triumph. "Everything is going well for us as a team right now and we need to ride that momentum as far as we can. We can't get cocky. If we keep preparing and playing hard, we'll be okay."

Madison's mini, yet mighty backcourt of seniors R.T. Merritt and Ashton Curd, gave their opponents fits all night long too. Merritt finished with 11 points, six assists, and five steals. Curd joined Bozeman in the double-double department, by contributing 10 points, 10 dimes, and four steals.

"I can't tell you how much fun it is playing with R.T. and Ashton," Bozeman said of the two guards who routinely feed him the ball on the break so he can finish with the deuce. "They're both like big brothers to me. They've showed me the ropes these last two years. When we get in the open court together, we're dangerous. They set me up and let me make plays. I owe them a lot of credit for the kind of season I'm having."

Tevin Washington, another super sophomore forward like Bozeman, made it into double figures with 10 points and added five boards.

Going ahead 36-27 at halftime, the Eagles brought down the proverbial hammer midway through the second half, outscoring Sterling Heights 18-6 in a key stretch of the late-third and early-fourth quarter. In a sign of things to come, Madison opened the second half on an 8-0 run courtesy of two hoops apiece by Washington and Merritt.

The Stallions weren't dead yet though and made a ploy to get back into the game, responding with an 8-0 run of their own. After Julius Wade drained a 3-pointer and Ring slammed one home off a well-executed in-bounds play, Sterling Heights had the Eagles' lead trimmed down into single digits, at a score of 44-35.

Taking their opponents' scoring barrage in stride, Madison closed out the quarter in dominating fashion, running and gunning to a 52-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Back-to-back fast break baskets by Bozeman and Curd's twisting, double-pump lay-up off a steal ended the quarter's scoring onslaught. It didn't stop there, either. The Eagles kicked-off the game's final stanza with a 6-0 run that effectively took away the Stallions spirit.

Two more Bozeman buckets via the transition game made it 58-37 and Curd's floater in the lane ratcheted up the lead to 63-41 with 5:12 remaining.

Sterling Heights was led in the scoring column by Wade's 11 points. The loss moves the Stallions overall record to 5-7 on the year.

Eagles head coach, Steve Rhoads, in his first year on the job, likes the direction his team is headed in. "We play unselfish basketball and make the extra pass and that's why we're winning," he said. "We try to play quick, without hurrying, as the expression goes. There were still a little too many turnovers this game for my liking but we'll get that corrected in practice. These guys love to play the game and they play it with energy and enthusiasm. We're at a good place right now and hopefully we'll continue to get better."

A legend in local coaching circles since the 1970's, Rhoads is back on the sidelines after a 10 year absence from the head coaching ranks. Rhoads retired from his successful 30-year tenure at Berkley in 2000 after coaching such future professional athletes like Bruce Flowers (NBA-Knicks) and Aric Morris (NFL-Tennessee Titans). Brought out of retirement as an assistant coach in 2005 by ex-player, Brian Canfield, who had just taken over the program at Madison, Rhoads was on the bench for five consecutive conference championships and a district title win in 2008. Upon Canfield's departure last spring, Rhoads was hired as the Eagles new head coach and as evidenced by the current record hasn't let his team miss a beat.

"It feels good to be back," Rhoads said. "It's a different setting and a new community environment, but I embrace that. I look forward to helping bring the community and team together and keep building something special here just like we did in Berkley back in the day."