I provided a fact about Ayo. Of the schools listed above about 8 of them at least are schools that play high level, competitive basketball. Tinley Park on there?

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I don't buy this at all. The determining factor on a kid's future is not the quality of teammates that can push him in practice. I suspect that TP gets in some bigger holiday tournaments and non-conference games with a quality prospect such as Casey.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

You provided an opinion on Ayo. The Morgan park entry on that list was Billy Garrett and the four games he played in the NBA this year on a 10-day contract in April. Simeon has had 30-35 more division one players then almost everyone on that list in last 15 years.

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Talen Horton is about to be an NBA player. Robert Smith deserves credit for that. No one. Not you or anyone else could have predicted that a few years ago.

As far as "not turning out" you'd need to clarify. There are a lot of guys that don't turn out if that's the case. Going Division 1 is a big deal.

A number of guys only went Division 1 because they were fortunate to play for Simeon. One of them was a guy my good friend recruited to Illinois State a few years ago.

No way was he a Division 1 talent. He played for Simeon and as My guy said "He guarded Derrick Rose in practice every day" Jalen Tate really wasn't a D1 talent either. Definitely not a high major kid. But he played for Simeon.

So when you say "turned out" you have to evaluate each kid individually and not just look at where they signed

He runs a good program.

When Ayo was at Westinghouse there wasn't a person in this city who would have told you he was a D1 player.

He played in the White Division. Playing against better competition for a better program did that.

We will see in 3 years if he stays at Tinley Park. I doubt it and if he does I'm certain that his stock will drop as his development as a player will suffer.

He will not practice nor play against better players. This will hurt his development.

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Yeah, that's pretty good.

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Most players in the NBA from Illinois did not play for Simeon or Morgan park. Most D1 players in Illinois do not play for Simeon or Morgan Park. Somehow they make it. Typically as the only D1 level player on their team.

But I agree he will end up out west at some year round AAU program.

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Whether he is a Division 1 player or not has nothing to do with my original point. Most players coming schools that aren't Simeon or Morgan Park is also irrelevant to my original point.

My original point pertains to him as a potential NBA prospect. That is how he needs to be evaluated. He is currently #13 in the nation. That means as it stands now he is a McDonald's All American/ NBA draft prospect.

If he goes to that school and plays there instead of at a big time program there is a great chance that he won't be in 3 years.

If you don't believe me on that then you should look no further than to the best player in Illinois from 3 years ago Kalil Whitney. I know his dad very well.

If Kalil Whitney would have remained at Solorio you can all but guarantee that he would have never been a McDonald's All American player. By transferring to play big time basketball in New Jersey he became a McDonald's/NBA prospect likely to be drafted in a year.

That is how important that stuff happens to be.

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Where did Anthony Davis play in HS?

You're talking about 1 kid. Do you have another example?

One of the reasons that no one knew about him for 3 years was because he played at Perspectives.

Guess who tried to transfer to Simeon as a Sophomore or Junior and was turned away by Robert Smith because he didn't have room for him?

More than likely because he was an unknown. That same Anthony Davis

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Max Christie is one of the top players in the class of 2021. He plays at .500 school in Rolling Meadows and is involved with USA basketball. He some how has overcome not playing at a CPS power to do this.

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You admittedly thought Talen Horton was better suited to play football when he was a Junior in High School yet you don't give Robert Smith any credit for his development? You don't see the incongruence in that particular statement. Max Christie isn't an NBA player yet either.

CPS isn't the only game in town but if you are going to argue that there are better leagues in this state than that you are lying to yourself. CPS Red South is the toughest conf in this state.

If you think that it would not better prepare the guy to be a professional basketball player you'd be lying.

Can you identify one player that the coach from Tinley Park has turned into a Professional Basketball Player?

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He will go from playing against the likes of Morgan Park, Whitney Young, and Curie to playing against South Shore International, The Latin School, Oak Lawn, and Evergreen Park and T.F. North.


Those teams are worse than your avg White Division team. He will go to college but his development as a basketball player is going to suffer tremendously.

There is nothing that he will gain as a player from playing shitty ass schedule. Absolutely nothing.

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I have no side to take here because I don't care about high school basketball but in terms of recruiting for college it is like 95% dependent on AUA and camps. High school games basically exist as a way to visit a player and for some coaches to be "seen".

I honestly don't remember a situation in which how they are performing in high school made a major difference one way or another. There are far too many variables in terms of competition and who you are playing with to make it worthwhile. The closest I've seen is actually a player who was home schooled, who now started playing well for a bigger school, and it was basically "He will be watched heavily on the AAU circuit".

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think the proof is playing in CPS has little to no bearing on whether a guy makes it after high school.

Can you identify one player Tinley Park has had who should have been a professional ball player but did not because he went to Tinley Park?

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So you predicted that Talen Horton would be a future NBA draft pick?

What about Ayo? If so when?

If you do not think that playing in the toughest conf in the state prepared them for that you're delusional.


There is a reason kids choose to play against the best competition.

If it's all relative then there's be far more kids enrolling in Tinley Park and T.F. North than there would be Simeon.


The competition and exposure you receive is why kids come.

If this kid remains at Simeon in all likelihood he appears on ESPN at some point. That's the difference in being scouted by NBA scouts and college scouts.

There is no upside to playing basketball at Tinley Park over Simeon. None whatsoever

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How is this possible not playing at Simeon or Morgan Park?

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THT is a slow undersized guard who is projected be a mid second round pick which doesn't guarantee a very long NBA career. He is living off wing span and would have been a better football prospect at DE. Thankfully for him he blew up on the AAU circuit before his senior year after leaving your guy Ayo's program.

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Is he Doug Christie's son?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

None of this answers the question.

Robert Smith has much more to do with Talen Horton's success than AAU. If it weren't for Smith developing Talen Horton as a player none of that AAU stuff would have mattered.

Ayo isn't my "guy" either. Neither is Nick Irvin. I am however confident in saying that there is no way he would be playing for Illinois had he remained at Westinghouse. I also am confident in saying that he would not be on the radar for the NBA if he'd remained at Westinghouse.

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Care to run down Rolling Meadows history of placing guys in the NBA for me?


Let's stack their glorious history of placing guys in the NBA up against Simeon's and see where we end up.


Why we are at it the word on the street is that kid is already ticketed for Whitney Young once the upcoming season is over. Guess he isn't much interested in playing C-Rate level Suburban ball after all.

Probably just trying to get around transfer eligibility rules.

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DJ Steward moves up after a great spring on AAU circuit. His transfer to Whitney Young last year did nothing to help with his recruiting.


https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/6/13/ ... al-ranking


Steward vaulted up the 247sports national rankings, landing at No. 31 and along the way became the top-ranked prospect in Illinois on the list. Rivals.com followed with its updated rankings this week and put him at No. 35. This is a far cry from where Steward was last year or even months ago on national lists.

Steward was sensational on Nike’s EYBL circuit all spring. He put up eye-popping numbers that couldn’t be ignored. Steward averaged 24.1 points a game while shooting 51 percent from the field and an impressive 40 percent from beyond the three-point line (26 of 64). He added 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists a game as well.

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Morgan Park has one player in the NBA right now and he played four games in a late season call up when the G league ended.

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Nice trick. How many does Rolling Meadows have?

How many DI or College Basketball Players has Rolling Meadows placed over the past 5 years?


How many have Simeon, MP, or WY placed?

Let's compare and contrast and see what we get?

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How many of those players were "developed" all four years by those schools. Morgan Park the number maybe zero. They are glorified AAU programs.

You do not have to go to a CPS school to play D1 or professionally. The numbers prove that.

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Show me where I said that?

Since you asked i will provide info (some for you)

Billy Garrett did all 4 years at Morgan Park.

Talen Horton Tucker did all 4 at Simeon

Charlie Moore did all 4 at MP.

Norvell all 4 at Simeon.

Ayo did 3 at MP and when he walked in he #5 in the city and by the time he left he was #1 in the state top 30 in the country. Obviously he "developed" at MP

Antonio Reeves walked in without a college scholarship offer last year and left as an All State mid major player

Contrary to your belief they aren't taking a ton of transfers. They take elite transfers. By the way every school (including your cherished Rolling Meadows) takes transfers. I'm sure their coaches have scoured the circuit since Christie has been there in the hopes of finding guys to play with him.

Check the list of kids that will all of a sudden simply start showing up over the next couple of years just to play with him.

What you fail to mention (and will never mention) is that kids leave these programs also.

Morgan Park has two top 100 kids that left their program after their freshman year. One will probably play in the McDonald's game and the other is a high major prospect.

What you also fail to mention is that a number of kids that were placed in Div 1 programs were placed there by virtue of playing for those programs.

That's one of the main reasons that they fail to make noise once they reach college. Playing at these particular schools provided kids with a profile and status that the Rolling Meadows of the world cannot.

Never discount how important it is for kids to play Div 1 ball. Never discount how important it is for kids to play high level High School basketball.

Nick Irvin didn't "steal" Ayo from Westinghouse. The kid was going to transfer anyway. They didn't need to be persuaded. Kid wanted to play big time ball and Nick Irvin provided it for him.

I know this because I know one of the schools that he was considering. This particular school and coach didn't take him because Ayo had a rep for being a headcase that had a dickhead for a father.
He wanted no part of it.

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It's funny to hear my classmate/friend Quam referred to as a dickhead. But it happens with many prospects' parents, so oh well.

This back and forth between you two has gotten odd. And to think it's about kids who chances are, will be non factors on the next level.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

The word around town was that the father leveraged his son in order to be placed on Westinghouse's Coaching staff. Once on the staff he proceeded to butt heads with the head coach and other parents as it was obvious that he favored his son.

As far as the other stuff goes I think it's just another in a long line of CPS bashing that goes on just about everywhere in fact.

Suburban schools do a lot of the same things. Downstate schools as well. The school that beat Curie for state had 3 transfers in their starting lineup and there wasn't a word said about it from any of the writers or coaches from the city. Mike took the L and moved on.

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You won't get a single argument from me on this. The IHSA and critics slanted against city programs have no use to me. It's been the expectation (met) for decades that I've seen.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

8 Days to 19-20 Hoops Season

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And Simeon now has what 4-5 guys getting good time on NBA rosters?

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.