'11 WI PF Darnell Harris

[Bernini]

Darnell Harris


#34 on the left in pic 2

Milwaukee (WI) Bay View
AAU: Running Rebels Elite

Ht: 6'7"

Statistics: 9.3 PPG

Originally Posted by NY2LASports

The 6'7" Harris is a long athletic young prospect with solid court awareness, excellent hands, and the ability to finish around the rim. The key to Darnell is that he has some big time upside and potential as he has shown flashes of his ability to finish in transition, attack the rim, and at times dominate the interior. With continued development and hard work, people can those flashes to become the norm and Mr. Harris to become the dominant player he currently has the potential to be.

Originally Posted by FullCourtPress

Long and athletic forward (in the mold of a Darius Miles-type player) runs the floor extremely well and reacts well to the ball on both ends. Skills are not fully refined yet, but he is young and has time to sharpen them in time to become a top-notch mid-to-high D-I prospect by the time he is a senior.

Rankings:
-#87 overall per HoopScoop
-#1 in Milwaukee area per NY2LASports
-#3 in Wisconsin per Mark Miller

Notes:
- Started on varsity squad as a freshman
- Teammate of fellow top 2011 prospect Elgin cook

Interest: Virginia

[OnWisconsin07]

We should get a Trevor Jorgenson up here too. Sorry, not sure how to build the profiles with all the pretty pictures or else I would do it. I can scour some info for ya though.

[OnWisconsin07]

Here is what the Illini rivals site had to say about Harris:

Darnell Harris Milwaukee Running Rebels
Here's a kid that most probably haven't heard of, but with Illinois looking for big men in the class of 2011, keep an eye on him. A 6-foot-6 athletic and long post player with some decent skills. He hit one baseline jumper on a kick out and it evoked memories of Warren Carter during his time at Illinois. His shot blocking ability was good, and defensively he had a presence. He is still a bit raw when he posts up, but that should come with time.

Link:
http://illinois.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=803347

[Bernini]

A few Darnell Harris highlights, thanks once again to Hoops Report.

The video isn't overly extensive, nevertheless you can pretty much discern he's a true post player. I'm going to re-classify him as a power forward prospect.

[Bernini]

Also transferred to Milwaukee Hamilton....which certainly couldn't hurt their chances of academically qualified, even though it's another member of the MPS.

[TroyD92]

Originally Posted by Bernini

Also transferred to Milwaukee Hamilton....which certainly couldn't hurt their chances of academically qualified, even though it's another member of the MPS.

The transfers of the 4 MBV players is being investigated may turn messy I hope not, Harris has a load of potential.

[cportbucky]

Tom Diener was officially named coach of Hamilton today. I think this might be getting messy.

[Bernini]

The way the events ended up unfolding, it is a bit suspicious and worthy of an investigation.

Officials at Hamilton could have hypothetically lured the talented Bay View quartet over with the promise they'd be coached by the legendary Tom Diener. Or it's possible Diener could have contacted them himself.

What erodes those theories though would be Diener accepting the job at Grafton in between. Would he seriously go as far as seeking a job elsewhere temporarily to throw off the scent?

More likely 4 friends/teammates who all considered themselves college prospects (some more realistically than others) decided to transfer from a crappy academic school to improve their chances at a free college education and future playing meaningful games in the sport they love. Subsequently, Diener saw an opportunity to win with an immense amount of talent and seized it by following the quartet. Nothing illegal about that.

That's my "theory" unless Diener has a reputation as a sleazeball that I'm not aware of.

[cportbucky]

Diener has no rep as far as I know, but JSOnline says that Diener decided against the Grafton job in June and accepted a teaching job at Hamilton soon after. He did not accept the coaching job until today, but the previous coach had verbally quit in May.

JS Online: NewsWatch

It may be nothing, but it is going to be something that will be looked a lot further into.

Edit to add: The reason for accepting the Hamilton job makes perfect sense, since he lives in Oak Creek and Hamilton is on the south side.

[Bernini]

OK, I wasn't following close enough to know Diener was hired at Hamilton in some capacity, long before the kids even transferred. So essentially he was their de facto coach, biding his time until he could officially succeed the previous coach. The kids followed Diener to Hamilton. That knowledge makes me more suspicious. My guess is they had to be ensured that Diener was going to be the eventual successor at Hamilton first, in order to justify the transfer. The question is who contacted who to have that information divulged.

[TroyD92]

I hope this doesnt come back I would love for Darnell Harris and Elgin Cook to get coached up by Diener, especially Harris who is apparently very raw. I would love for a class of 2011 as.

PF/C-Darnell Harris
SG-Elgin Cook
PG-Larry Bradley
poss.

PG-Marcus Alipate
SG-Spencer Turner
PF/C-Sam Thompson