Who is going JUCO

There is a nice crop of talent from Minnesota headed out to top junior colleges around the country. Led by two of the state's top ten seniors in Carrington Tankson and Tarell Clark, members of this year's juco crop should land future D-1 spots just like Jermain Davis (Iowa), PJ Hill (Ohio State) and several others did from the 2006 Minnesota high school class.

Some of the others from that 2006 class who will go D-1 include former Mankato East standout Chop Tang who has his list down to UWGB, Indiana St, or Wichita State. Then there is former Roosevelt standout Stavon Williams who averaged 15.4 points and 5.3 rebounds at San Jacinto College while shooting over 43 percent from three-point range. Stavon is down to South Alabama, Charlotte, Utah State, Evansville, and Kent State.

Minneapolis Henry product Robert Eppinger is now looking at Arkansas State, Wright State, and Murray State and then former Roseville big man James Eayrs will play at UW-Milwaukee. And former Richfield big man Xavier Crawford has finally settled on a school after playing all over the country the last four or five years. He will attend CS-Northridge.

Several coaches were contacted for this article and what we have gathered thus far is below. If somebody is missing from this list parents, players, coaches or fans can email me at bassgemrj@hotmail.com and we'll be sure to add that player or players to future stories.

WHO IS GOING JUCO?

The talented Carrington Tankson is a top ten player in state and he will be going to a top junior college next season. Carrington has narrowed his junior colleges to about four right now. Indian Hills, Southeastern (Iowa), Western Nebraska, and Midland (Texas) are those choices.

Minnetonka's Sedrick McBounds is headed to Salt Lake Junior College and then Utah State according to his coach John Hedstrom. Also expected to head out to Utah for junior college is Burnsville's Tarell Clark. Tarell Clark may or may not be at Salt Lake next year but he is likely to be in Utah for junior college. If not the talented defender will have several other options.

Bloomington Kennedy wing Carlton Starr is headed to Rochester Community College according to his high school coach and that is a very nice score for Rochester. Starr will score from all angles for the Yellowjackets as well as continue to work on his improving jumper. It's a decent bet that Starr will have a scholarship after he leaves Rochester.

The athletic Johnie Sanders of Eastview will be attending Otero Junior College in Colorado. Sanders had drawn much division two interest from schools all over the state but that will have to wait until Sanders finishes two years at Otero. He has the type of talent and athletic ability that could blossom to the division one level.

Minnesota Transition star guard Virgil Baker is looking at Minneapolis CC with coach Jay Pivec, Fergus Falls CC, and Western Nebraska CC. Baker has some other interest from community colleges and a couple division two schools may become involved.

Buffalo's Dee Broadnax has a couple options. He hasn't currently made a decision on next year but Dee has numerous JC schools that would like to have him for hoops. His other option is football. Dee has a couple division two offers on the table and possibly a division one at SDSU for the gridiron.

A pair of Maple River standouts may also be at the juco level in southern Minnesota. Dan Stauffer is going to Rochester CC or Northwestern in Orange City, IA while Logan Drager is going to Rochester CC, Riverland CC (in Austin, MN), or Northwestern in Orange City, IA.

Crosby-Ironton's Kody Bartels is thinking about playing for Central Lakes College but is still undecided. He will be going to school there. There is also a good chance that St. Cloud Apollo's Ahfed Farah will land at Central Lakes. If not there Farah will be at a juco someplace else.

St. Cloud Apollo's Kendall Smith will end up at an Iowa Juco somewhere. The 6-foot-6 Smith has about four or five options down at the top-notch level of Iowa juco basketball.

Cass Lake-Bena's Travis Huesners will make an official announcement in the near future and he will attend Fergus Falls Community College. Also thinking of playing at Fergus Falls is Bemidji's 6-foot-7 Doug Bender. Doug is undecided as of yet but he is thinking of either going to St. Scholastica or Fergus Falls CC.

Hibbing guard Georde Marchang will be attending, and playing at Hibbing Community College.

Up at Barnum Josh Earlywine is going to Mesabi Range Community and Technical College and Curtis Houle is leaning to Mesabi but is looking at some four year schools. Also from BarnumDylan Eggen is looking at going to Fon du lac Community College and these three were among the seniors that led Barnum to a 25-5 record this year.

Minneapolis Henry had a nice combination of seniors in Mandela Jackson, Jerry Sweezy, and Jerome Vaughn who are all being looked at hard by junior colleges. Don't be surprised to see at least one of them at Western Nebraska while Minneapolis is also a possible destination.

Another big prize at the juco level will be Central's Larry Brown. The 6-foot-5 athletic wing has several jucos out there chasing him down including Minneapolis CC, Western Nebraska, and several in Iowa.

St. Bernards forward John Bright is looking at Valley City State, Augsburg, and Western Nebraska C.C.

Champlin Park's 6-foot-6 forward Emeka Okafor is still undecided. He has received interest from UW-Stout, UW-River Falls, Valley City State, ND School of Science and some other D1 JUCOs. Emeka is also considering Prep School out East.