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Shawnee — St. Louis Eagles shooting guard Ben McLemore brought the basketball behind his head and prepared to attempt one of his epic one-handed dunks in the closing minutes of an 81-73 KC Prep Invitational victory over Tennessee’s Travellers on Thursday at Okun Fieldhouse.
“I was trying to get another,” McLemore, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound senior blue-chipper said with a smile.
He was referring to “another” dunk sure to rock the summer basketball circuit — like the one he put down in Tuesday’s Under 17 AAU Super Showcase final against Each 1/Teach 1 in Orlando, Fla.
That dunk — he hit the baseline and finished with his right hand — was so special it ranked as ESPN’s Top Ten Play of the Day on Tuesday night’s SportsCenter.
This one? McLemore was hacked so hard by a Tennessee Traveler he never made it to the goal.
“Yes, I got to see it on TV, the same day. It was nice. It was payback because I’ve had dunks on me,” McLemore, Rivals.com’s No. 21-ranked player in the Class of 2011, said of Tuesday’s gem.
“Yes sir,” he added, asked if it was the top individual moment in his young hoops career. “I’ve never seen one of my dunks make ESPN. Just making ESPN is exciting.”
McLemore — he has a recruiting list of KU, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas State, Purdue, Tennessee and others — had three dunks, as well as a soft tip-in of a lob pass en route to 21 points in the Eagles’ victory Thursday.
“It was one of the best dunks I’ve seen so far,” Eagles’ coach Erwin Claggett said of Tuesday’s masterpiece.
“They (Eagles players) were excited about it, but they were still thinking about the game. We fought real hard to get to the championship game and didn’t get it done (in 78-60 loss in Super Showcase final). They were down about that, but excited about the dunk.”
McLemore — he’s enrolled at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., for his senior year following the closing of his previous school, St. Louis Eskridge High — is the second-highest rated player on the Eagles’ roster. Brad Beal, a 6-3 guard from St. Louis Chaminade High, who has committed to Florida, is No. 6 overall.
Beal scored 17 points versus the Travellers after totaling 30 to McLemore’s 12 earlier in the day in a 62-60 win against Brandon Bass AAU.
“They are two guys who play the game the right way,” Claggett said. “When they are open, they pass it. If they’ve got the opportunity to take their shot, they take it. When you’ve got kids like that, that don’t have any egos or hidden agendas and they just want to win and play together and play the right way, it’s easy.”
McLemore still is getting used to playing the perimeter. He manned the post last season at his tiny St. Louis high school.
“He is having to make some adjustments now playing the level of basketball he’s been playing in the summer,” Claggett said. “Once he figures that out, playing hard every play and not taking plays off and being consistent, the sky is the limit for him.”
McLemore is definitely enthused about being able to roam all over the court instead of just the paint.
“I used to play center when I was little and stuff,” he said. “When I started growing up, I was like, ‘I am not a center. I’m a guard. I’m supposed to be out there on the wing with other guards.’ I’m learning a lot.”
He exhibits a soft touch on deep jumpers as well as free throws.
“I’ve been practicing every day with my coach and after practice with my coach,” McLemore said. “I’ll go (to gym) over the weekend and shoot free throws.”
McLemore will be headed to Oak Hill Academy in late August to begin the 2010-11 school year. He isn’t sure if he’ll announce his college choice before starting school.
“I have not made my decision yet,” said McLemore, who several times this summer has listed KU as his leader. On Thursday he did not designate a leader, however.
“Me and my mom are going to sit down and talk about it, take it all in. Kansas is one of the schools I love the most,” he said.
Beal rumors continue
Rumors on the AAU circuit persist that Eagles guard Beal may ultimately decommit from Florida. He’s said this summer that he remains committed to coach Billy Donovan’s Gators. Donovan has been a fixture at Eagles games during the July evaluation period. ... KU coach Bill Self and assistant Danny Manning watched games of McLemore and Wichita Heights forward Perry Ellis on Thursday. Ellis topped the 20-point mark in a Pray and Play Players game Thursday night despite some sore knees. Memphis coach Josh Pastner and Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel were on hand as well as assistants from Kansas State, Stanford, Kentucky and other schools.
Former Jayhawk Henry still unsigned August 25, 2010
Gameday returning to Allen Fieldhouse August 25, 2010
C.J. Henry, Chase Buford leave KU basketball team August 18, 2010
Julian Wright headed to Toronto August 11, 2010
Selby not yet cleared by NCAA August 5, 2010
Comments
JayhawkRock (anonymous) says…
One thing KU fans should know is that KU will get an elite wing no matter what in the 2011 class. Im not sure which one Self is favoring at this point but we are sitting so well with McLemore, Brown, and Jakarr Sampson. We will get at least one of these guys.
If we get Jabari Brown theres a good chance we get Josiah Turner as well so I would think thats lingering in the back of Self's head.
kushaw (anonymous) says…
One thing to note if you get to watch the video is that KU is recruiting Jeff Lacey pretty hard at the moment as well.
jayhawkster33 (anonymous) replies…
Trevor Lacey
kushaw (anonymous) replies…
i guess he would be instead of the boxer.
kwahyajjj (anonymous) says…
What no Ben McLemore on Tap?
mvjayhawk (anonymous) says…
Beal and McLemore at one point during their junior years, were strong candidates as a package deal. But if Beal sticks with Florida, that won't happen.
He'd have to decommit sometime soon.....there will be no reason to pursue him....unless his former teammate really has the influence.
Puggy (anonymous) says…
"Just making ESPN is exciting."
Come to KU and there will be no shortage of ESPN coverage.
phillyh3 (anonymous) says…
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5415548
Jaminrawk (anonymous) says…
It's funny, because I thought Beal would eventually decommit. He was highly rated, but flew up the charts lately and that usually leads to players looking around some more. One nice thing was that he publically stated that he picked Florida right ahead of KU. If he does decommit, you would think KU has a good shot at him. Of course, I'm sure UNC, Duke, UK and others will blow his home phone up too.
radiohawk (anonymous) says…
"Dunking" is an overrated skill.
BigHawkBill (anonymous) replies…
Dunking in traffic shows the ability to out jump players, physical and mental toughness to battle opponents, as well as precise timing. These are all underrated skills.
orbiter (anonymous) replies…
if you don't see the value of dunking you didn't watch our Title year team.
stravinsky (anonymous) says…
I'd definitely decommit from Florida if I was Beal. After their back-to-back titles, Florida really has been a second-rate team. They don't have the tradition (other than those) to commit based on that alone, and the performance since those titles seems to indicate that those were both sort of a fluke (I mean that in that it's surprising Florida was able to put that team together, not in that its surprising they were able to win with it) and that their title teams had a very, very special group of players which were much more responsible than their coaching for their success.
Will he commit to KU? Who knows. But I could definitely see him leaving. We've seen the ability of certain... 'coaches' to get into people's heads after they commit.
Great to hear good things about McLemore, it sounds like he's very much the kind of player we'd love to have at KU. I'm all for getting some guys with ups -- it would be great to get into some of the high-flying alley-oop game that we had more of in 08.
DutchMo (anonymous) says…
Dunking is not an overated skill, how many times have you stood up and cheered for an awesome slam dunk? It does alot to energize the crowd and is part of the intangibles you don't see in the stat book.
OakvilleJHawk (anonymous) says…
Bradley Beal.....David Lee, a Chaminade and Florida alum as well as his Chaminade coach who is a former Gator as well, I think, pressured Beal for a long time to go to Florida. But maybe he is seeing the light because he truly likes Kansas....a lot!!!
I would consider Florida coach Billy Donovan as " John Calipari Lite"!! Just slimy enough to make your program smell bad but not slimy enough to get you really, really sick!!
WilburNether (anonymous) says…
What a great commentary on the negative influence that ESPN has had on basketball skills in this country.
ralster (anonymous) says…
I think the "skills" thing takes care of itself out on the hardwood. After all, ego and manhood are part of every sport--if you cant get to the rim for that spectacular finish because of a defensive presence denying you the ball, or a RussRob locking you up 1 on 1, then you learn pretty quick to keep moving on offense, coming off screens, and finding the cutters (team sport...). You might also learn to play D to become a complete player. Case in point: Brandon Rush. (much better skillset when he left KU...he listened, learned, and improved his way into the Lottery--hope he keeps the pedal down on his development and mental aggression, as that's really all he needs now).