University of Toledo men’s basketball coach Gene Cross already knew Chicago Hyde Park Career Academy’s Malcolm Griffin could score.
Griffin, a 6-foot-4 guard, averaged 17 points per game this season for the Indians and led Hyde Park to its first appearance in the Public League championship game in more than 50 years. Hyde Park wound up with a 25-5 record, and a No. 12 MaxPreps ranking in Illinois.
What sold Cross, a product of Chicago’s basketball battles himself, on Griffin was his play-making skills, academics and leadership off the court. Entering his second season as head coach of Toledo’s rebuilding effort, Cross found exactly what he was looking for in Griffin.
“He is unselfish, he’s a great teammate,” Cross said. “He’s a terrific kid, a terrific young man. Really good student.”
Wednesday, Griffin signed a letter-of-intent with Toledo, choosing the Rockets over UCF before he even had a chance to make his official visit to the northwest Ohio campus.
In a week during which the late signing period for basketball recruits began, Griffin was perhaps one of the few players UCF wasn’t able to obtain. The Knights polished off what some are saying is the best recruiting class in school history, signing Whitney Young’s Marcus Jordan and Evanston’s Nik Garcia to letters-of-intent. Jordan, the son of Bulls great Michael Jordan, led Young to the Illinois Class 4A title and saw his stock rise so rapidly that Iowa of the Big Ten and Stanford of the Pac-10 offered scholarships.
Also Wednesday, Schaumburg’s Cully Payne signed a letter-of-intent with Iowa.
Toledo’s Cross recruited Jordan long before his heroics in the state tournament, and ultimately it was UCF landing Jordan and Garcia that eventually opened a pathway for Griffin to take the Toledo scholarship. At UCF, Griffin would have been competing for playing time with four other freshmen, plus former Whitney Young standout A.J. Rompza, who started last season and was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team. At Toledo, Griffin may be in a position to start right away for a team that won just seven games last season.
“I couldn’t be happier to have Malcolm in our pocket,“ Cross said.
“I wanted to go to a school where I would have the chance to play,“ Griffin told the Toledo Blade this week.
Griffin will make his official visit to Toledo this weekend.
“I really like the coaching staff there,” Griffin said.
Griffin will be one of six in Cross‘ first full recruiting class, but the only one from Chicago.
“There’s going to be so much different with this team,“ said Cross, a former assistant coach at Notre Dame and player at Illinois. “It will be a different animal.“
Griffin is a strong offensive playmaker who scored a game-high 28 points in just 13 minutes at the Chicago Classic all-star game two weeks ago. At Toledo, he’ll play on the wing but could also back up the Rockets’ starter at point guard. He averaged seven assists a game last season.
“He has great basketball instincts, he has things you can’t coach, a vision that is point guard-like,“ Cross said. “He’s a scorer, he’s a rebounded, he does things defensively.”
Will Griffin be the first in a path of Chicago-area players to choose Toledo? Cross hopes so.
“Chicago is known for great college basketball. It just has a boatload of talent. I know so many people there,” Cross said. “If you get one or two every year (from Chicago), then you put yourself in a position to be successful.”
Jordan highlights UCF recruiting class 
Marcus Jordan, Whitney Young
Photo By Kevin Yen
At UCF, Jordan is part of a recruiting class that some are calling the best in Knights history. He’ll be re-united with best friend and former Young teammate A.J. Rompza, who averaged 5.2 assists per game last season -- third-best in C-USA.
“Marcus is a young man with great character,“ UCF head coach Kirk Speraw said. “He has a great knowledge of the game and is a fierce competitor. His diverse skill set will help our team in a variety of areas.“
Jordan averaged 10 points per game and scored a game-high 19 in Young’s 69-66 win over Waukegan in the 4A title game.
Joining Jordan at UCF is Nik Garcia of Evanston, a teammate of Jordan on the Rising Stars AAU team.
“Nik is one of the best shooters in the country,” Speraw said. “He has the ability to knock down tough shots.”
Payne may be point at Iowa
Cully Payne’s long recruiting road finally wound up in Iowa this week, and it was an in-home visit from Hawkeyes coach Todd Lickiter that sealed the deal.
Payne, a 6-foot-1 guard at Schaumburg who missed the final half of this season due to a stress fracture in his vertebrae, had verbally committed to DePaul before his freshman year of high school. Then, last fall he de-committed and signed a letter-of-intent with Alabama. But when Alabama coach Mike Gottfried resigned in January, Payne wanted out of his commitment to Alabama. He obtained a release, and he’s now an Iowa Hawkeye.
“Ultimately, I ended up at a place that I’ll love to be at,” Payne said.
Payne made nearly 50 percent of his shots prior to his injury last season, averaging 21.6 points and 5.4 assists per game. Lickliter likes him at point guard.
“Cully is a true point guard, although he can play the two position as well,” Lickliter said. “He is a very effective point guard and shoots the ball well. He’s a very competitive player who plays the game at a great pace.”
Iowa has five guards on its current roster, but four of them missed time last season due to injuries. Three more guards will be incoming freshmen, including Lickliter’s son, who was a starter at Iowa City High School.
"He is such an incredible team player. He's very unselfish," said Bob
Williams, Payne's coach at Schaumburg High School.
Payne's season-ending injury was disappointing, Williams said. "He wanted
to lead our run at a state championship," Williams said.
It was only in the last month that Payne has been able to get back out on
the court to practice.
Football: Mount Carmel QB on national team
Mount Carmel quarterback Jordan Lynch, a Northern Illinois University recruit, was the only Chicago-area player named to the initial USA Football Junior National Team.
The USA team will join teams from seven other nations in the inaugural International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Junior World Championship to be played June 27 to July 5 at Canton, Ohio, home of the Football Hall of Fame. Team USA will be coached by Chuck Kyle, head coach of St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, which finished No. 2 in MaxPrep’s national rankings last fall with a 13-1 record.
Lynch, who led Mount Carmel into the semifinals of the Illinois Class 8A playoffs last fall, was one of 36 players named to the roster. Nine more spots remain to be filled. Lynch completed 75-of-125 passes for 1,221 yards and 16 touchdowns, and rushed for 848 yards and 15 TDs, last fall.
While Lynch is the only Chicago player thus far named to the team, he is actually one of two representatives from Mount Carmel, which is located in the Hyde Park area of Chicago. Head football coach Frank Lentl, a Mount Carmel alumnus, was named to Team USA as an assistant coach for the offensive line.
For more information on the IFAF Junior World Championship, go to www.usafootball.com.
Baseball: Brother Rice wins ninth straight
How powerful is Brother Rice’s offense? Wednesday, three Rice hitters (Kevin Koziol, Bobby Schuch, T.J. Bujanski) slammed home runs in a 9-3 victory over Providence in their Catholic League Blue opener. Rice has won its first nine games, and is the top-ranked team in the city.
St. Rita, which has won 12 of its first 13 games, destroyed St. Ignatius 11-1 in another Catholic League Blue game Wednesday. Scott Marinier, a Central Michigan recruit, allowed just two hits in five innings of work for his fifth straight victory. St. Rita coach Mike Zunica had the funniest line of the week following a sloppy 6-4 win over Marist in the one-day Southside Challenge event last week: “Worst 10-1 team in the state, probably.”
Huntley’s Craig Lipp won his third consecutive game, striking out eight and allowing two hits, and also hit a home run in Huntley‘s 9-0 win over Dundee-Crown.
Girls Soccer: Partipillo has winner in 2 OTs
Rolling Meadows won for the sixth time in nine games (6-2-1), when Alex Partipillo scored on a header with 5 seconds left in double overtime to beat Wheeling, 1-0.
Crysal Rohan scored three goals for Fremd (3-1-1) in a 6-1 victory over Elk Grove.
Softball: Unbeaten pitching staff
Three pitchers at Lockport have combined for an 11-0 start this spring. Dana Bowler and Allison Shimkus have each won four games. Alyssa Vorel won her third straight game Wednesday, giving up just four hits in a 2-1 victory over Lincoln-Way Central.
Paul Bowker covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com.
