Coomes named as candidate at Loyola

COLLINS’ ASSISTANT COULD REPLACE FARMER

(3/31/04)

UIC assistant coach Mark Coomes was named as a candidate to become the next head coach at Loyola in a Chicago Tribune report Tuesday.

Coomes (pictured) has been with Flames coach Jimmy Collins for the past eight years at UIC and has helped the Flames to three NCAA tournament berths and an NIT berth. The Flames’ success of recent years (65-31, three postseason berths in the last three years) has made Coomes an attractive candidate.

Former DePaul coach Joey Meyer is also a top candidate to replaced the fired Larry Farmer and will reportedly have an interview in the next week.

Coomes specializes in coaching the Flames’ offensive sets, and has filled in for Collins on three occasions when Collins was sick.

He was a head coach at Southern Indiana and Wabash Valley Community College (on two occasions). He posted a record of 127-19 in four years at Wabash Valley.

He has been an assistant at New Mexico State, Illinois and Northern Illinois.

UIC’s success had a hand in the Flames’ losing assistant coach Gene Cross to DePaul two years ago. Cross is now Dave Leitao’s top assistant with the Blue Demons.

RECRUITING UPDATE

With the late signing period approaching, UIC could be a likely destination for a few players.

Two potential signees are high school seniors: Julian small forward J.J. Watson and Fenwick guard Vince Humphrey.

Watson, a 6-foot-5-inch athletic player, is versatile as shown by a triple-double of 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a Julian victory over Harlan on Jan. 22.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported last week that Watson will likely commit to UIC and sit out a year as a Prop 48.

Humphrey is a 6-foot-4 left-handed shooting guard who can score on a variety of moves to the basket and can also hit intermediate jumpers. He is also a strong player that can mix it up a little on the inside.

Humphrey is the No. 25-ranked senior in Chicago according to Brian Stinnette of ChicagoHoops.com and the No. 4-ranked uncommitted senior.

A third high school senior—point guard Ryan Holmes from Goodyear (Ariz.) Millenium—has been on UIC’s radar screen. Holmes is 6-0, 170 pounds and was leaning toward either Utah or Santa Clara. Other interested schools included Akron, Portland State, San Diego State, Princeton, Columbia, New Mexico, Colorado State, Connecticut, Stanford, UCLA, Oregon, Gonzaga, Tulsa, San Francisco, Idaho, Boise State, Northern Arizona, and Oklahoma.

Holmes is a penetrator who has averaged nearly 30 points this season. He has a career-high of 40 points against Bullhead City Mohave.

Three players who also recently declared their intent to transfer are possible targets, including Ben Rand, Chris Burras and Jerrah Young.

The Sun-Times reported this week that Rand (pictured), who played his freshman year at Iowa has decided to transfer out. He could choose from a list that includes UIC, Northern Illinois, Western Illinois, and Valparaiso.

Rand averaged 23.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game and shot 53 percent from the field as a high school senior. He was the team MVP for his last three prep years and led the Hubs to a 61-22 mark over that time.

Rand averaged 0.8 points (16 points) in 19 games, while playing just 98 minutes for coach Steve Alford’s Hawkeyes, who went 16-13.

“The roster has changed since the time I made my commitment to Coach Alford and the Iowa program,” Rand said. “I will seek to find a program where I can be a major contributor following a redshirt season.”

Burras is a 6-foot-5 forward, who played two years at Illinois State. The former Leo star averaged 4.4 points and 3.0 rebounds per contest as a sophomore with the Redbirds, who were 10-19 under coach Porter Moser.

He missed the last five games of the season for failing to comply with team guidelines.

Burras was recruited by Collins and the Flames could be an option for him. Burras considered UIC and Loyola among others before signing with the Redbirds. If he goes to a Division I school, Burras would have to sit out a year, but would keep two years of eligibility.

Young (pictured), who is leaving West Virginia after one season, is a 6-foot-6 forward who runs the floor well and is a solid rebounder. He was touted as one of Illinois’ top defenders during his senior year at St. Rita.

Young played in 21 games with three starts with the Mountaineers. He averaged 0.8 points, 1.5 rebounds, 0.4 blocks and 7.5 minutes per game. He scored a season-high six points against Georgetown and his top rebounding performance was six against Providence.

UIC is still in need of an additional post presence with just Armond Williams, Elliott Poole and Josip Petrusic coming back and 6-foot-9 Jovan Stefanov more comfortable on the perimeter.

However, the Flames haven’t been successful in recruiting one as of yet, but it’s definitely not for lack of trying.

Over the past several months, the Flames were in the running for no less than seven players from across the country who are 6-foot-6 or taller, but lost out on most of them.

Only one of the seven—Jay McFarland, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound power forward from Yavapai (Ariz.)—has not signed or committed to a Division I program.

McFarland, from Milwaukee Brown Deer High School, averaged 13 points and seven rebounds for a balanced Yavapai team and was an Honorable Mention player in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference.

However, he now has some legal troubles. McFarland was among four players dismissed from the team after being arrested during an investigation of allegations that the players harassed a female student in a dormitory.

Coach Brooks Thompson and Bob Bockrath, the school’s athletic director, dismissed the four for violating the college's student code of ethics.

UNLV, Minnesota and Utah were also interested in McFarland.

The six others UIC had interest in before losing out:

Luther Boyd, Iowa Western Community College: 6-7 power forward from Bloom High in Chicago Heights. He averaged 9.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and shot 64 percent from the field as a sophomore at Iowa Western. He is a strong and athletic player that could hit shots from the perimeter. 6-8 center Ethan Shaw, who will play at Detroit next year, was one of Boyd’s teammates. Lamar beat out UIC for his services.

Dillion Sneed, Colby (Kan.) Community College: 6-7 power forward from Gordon Tech in Chicago. Sneed’s team went 24-7 as he averaged 6.7 points and 6.0 rebounds. Nebraska and former Butler coach Barry Collier scooped him up.

Danko Barisic, The Peddie School, Hightstown, N.J.: A 7-0, 280-pound center, who averaged 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Despite visiting UIC, Barisic chose Weber State.

Scott Vandermeer, Lake Central High School, St. John, Ind: 6-11 center: Signed with Bowling Green in the fall. He also visited UIC and Weber State also offered. He played with the Illinois Warriors AAU team. He also played at Andrew in Tinley Park before transferring to Lake Central.

Brandon Hassell, Valley View High School, Germantown (Ohio): 6-9, 215-pound forward/center who signed with Wisconsin-Green Bay. He averaged 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Matt Shaw, Centralia: UIC had interest in the 6-6 forward who signed with Southern Illinois in the fall.

IN THE FOLD: Already signed is Karl White from Omaha (Neb.) Central, a member of the Omaha World Herald’s first-team All-State. The 6-foot-1-inch guard led the Metro Conference with 19.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

White was also named first-team All-Metro for the second consecutive year and scored a career-best 31 points in a 78-76 victory over Omaha Bryan on Feb. 20, 2004. He had 30 points in a 69-63 victory over Millard North on Feb. 19. He averaged 16.9 points a junior.

He was also a top contender for Nebraska’s Mr. Basketball award, which was won by Joe Roth of Omaha Westside.

Offensively, White is adept at creating his own shot and has been likened by UIC sources as a “Cedrick Banks clone.” He can also play both guard positions. He is also solid defensively as he prefers to guard the opposing team’s top scorer.

White, a sprinter on the track team, will continue to run in the spring. He was a member of the Eagles’ second-place 400-meter relay team at the Nebraska state championships last year.