Tired and banged up after six weeks on the summer basketball circuit, Halstead High power forward Dennis Latimore was more than ready for a break in his schedule.
“It’s been a lot of fun, but a couple weeks ago I was ready to get back to Kansas,” said Latimore, a 6-foot-9, 235-pounder who played this summer for the Pump AAU team out of Los Angeles.
“The last couple weeks have not been bad at all. I’ve been relaxing and getting a lot of workouts in,” he added.
Latimore, who has Kansas, Arizona, Florida, Stanford, UCLA and Kentucky on his list of prospective colleges, started the summer by playing on the gold medal-winning team at the U.S. Olympic Festival in Colorado Springs, Colo.
He then attended the adidas camp in New Jersey and competed in various tournaments for Pump.
Teammates on the Pump team included Salim Stoudamire (who has committed to Arizona), Chris Hernandez (Stanford), Errick and Derrick Craven (USC) and Rick Rickert (looking at Arizona, Duke, Florida).
“We did OK,” Latimore said. “We lost in the quarterfinals of the Big Time in Vegas and the quarterfinals of the Best of Summer (in Carson, Calif.).”
Latimore had a productive summer and remains one of the top prospects in the country.
He’s currently set up campus visits to Stanford for Sept. 22 and Arizona for its Midnight Madness on Oct. 14. He said he’ll likely make an official visit to KU, even though he doesn’t need to see the campus.
“I’ve been there on several unofficial visits already and toured the campus,” he said, noting “Kansas, Arizona and Florida” are currently his three leaders in no particular order.
There have been rumors that Latimore may decide to play high school basketball in Arizona this year. He played in Halstead his freshman year, in Mesa, Ariz., his sophomore year, then it was back to Halstead for his junior year.
“Right now it’s Halstead unless something changes,” Latimore said.
Childress update: Josh Childress, 6-5 of Lakewood, Calif., has set up in-home visits with coaches from KU and Arizona. Childress also is considering UCLA, Stanford, UConn and North Carolina.
Doug Carr of Arizona’s Cat Tracks says Childress likely will visit Arizona for its Midnight Madness on Oct. 13. If that’s the case, three players considering KU Childress, Latimore and Portland guard Aaron Miles all will be at UA’s Late Night. Latimore’s summer teammate, Rickert, also will be in Tucson that weekend.
Sampson likes six: Jamal Sampson, 6-10 from Santa Ana, Calif., told Pac West Hoops he’s narrowed his list to Kansas, UConn, Virginia, Syracuse, UCLA and Saint Louis.
He told analyst Greg Hicks that UConn is the leader.
“They’ve been recruiting me the hardest,” Sampson said, indicating he thought the Huskies had immediate playing time available.
He will visit UConn on Sept. 15 and still is planning on visiting KU.
Meanwhile, Cedric Bozeman, 6-5 and a high school teammate of Sampson at Mater Dei High, told Pac West Hoops he’s cut his list to UCLA, Florida, Duke and perhaps UConn. At one time he too had KU on his list.
Sampson’s uncle is former Virginia standout Ralph Sampson.
Tidbits: Jason Maxiel, 6-6 from Carrollton, Texas, tells Rob Matera of All Star Report he’ll likely pick either Kentucky or Cincinnati. He said KU and Oklahoma also are interested. Also, Jamal Williams, 6-6 from Corona, Calif., says KU and Villanova have shown interest along with those who have offered scholarships New Mexico, USC, UCLA and Saint Louis.
Big Man camp: KU senior Eric Chenowith, who attended a camp in Las Vegas last week, will attend Pete Newell’s Big Man camp next week in Hawaii.
