Texas prep Myles Turner turning heads

By Gary Bedore     Apr 30, 2013

The most-watched player at the 2013 Jayhawk Invitational led his Texas Select team to the tourney’s 17-and-under title last weekend in Olathe.

Myles Turner, a 6-foot-11, 225-pound junior from Trinity High in Euless, Texas, who has Kansas University on his list of schools, scored 10 points in Sunday’s 47-35 title victory over the Illinois Wolves. Scouts from KU, Baylor, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M and many others flocked to New Century Fieldhouse for Texas Select’s games.

“Honestly, I didn’t get to see much of him,” said KC Run GMC coach L.J. Goolsby, busy coaching his own squad, which fell in the quarterfinals. “I saw him last week in Minneapolis (Minn.). He’s improved his skill set (since last summer), runs the floor well, has great size, is very active, most definitely (a highly-rated prospect).”

Turner is ranked No. 78 nationally by Rivals.com.

“I’m still in the process of getting to know the coaching staff at Kansas,” Turner told jayhawkslant.com. “Pretty much every Big 12 school, with the exception of West Virginia and Iowa State, has offered me. I’m looking for a family relationship with the coaching staff and my teammates. Distance isn’t really a factor. Wherever I can thrive and develop is where I really want to go.”

The Run GMC 17-and-under team has a top prospect in Dominique Collier, a 6-1 junior point guard from Denver East, who is ranked No. 61 nationally in the Class of 2014. Also on the squad is 6-3 Free State High junior Khadre Lane and Creighton commit Ezra Talbert, 6-6 junior from Olathe East.

The Run GMC 16s, which placed second, attracted a batch of scouts to watch the likes of Jimmy Whitt, a 6-foot sophomore point guard from Columbia (Mo.) Hickman High, and Kevin Puryear, a 6-7 sophomore power forward from Blue Springs (Mo.) South.

“Jimmy is a long, lengthy guard who can score,” Goolsby said. “He gives a combo flavor at the guard spot, has a good mid-range game and is a good defender. He’s a good athlete.”

Creighton and Wichita State have reportedly offered scholarships, while other schools, such as KU and Missouri, have taken notice.

Of Puryear, Goolsby said: “He’s skilled, aggressive. He can step out and knock down shots. He plays really hard.”

He’s a target of Creighton, which is after several KC-area players, with KU, Missouri and Oklahoma observing him closely of late.

The Run GMC 17 team also has Drew Lock, a 6-3 sophomore shooting guard from Lee’s Summit (Mo.) High, who has a football scholarship offer from Missouri.

Package possibility: ESPN’s Dave Telep writes that four top juniors have talked of playing together in college

Telep writes: “If you’ve been following my notebook all winter, you know about the potential package of No. 1 junior Jahlil Okafor (6-10, junior, Chicago’s Whitney Young) and No. 2 junior Tyus Jones (6-1, Apple Valley, Minn., High) playing for the same college. Justise Winslow, a fellow top-10 recruit in 2014 (6-5 small forward Houston’s St. John High), has been mentioned as a possible third member. But now, how about a quartet? On a phone call this week a college coach told me that Jones is recruiting No. 8 junior Cliff Alexander (6-8 forward Chicago’s Curie High) to join the crew. ‘Tyus is the ring leader. They all want to play with him,’ the coach said.”

KU has been mentioned as a possibility for each of the four, though Alexander told Rivals.com that Kentucky, Michigan State and Illinois are his leaders.

Offers?: Rivals.com reports that KU has offered Elijah Thomas, 6-10 sophomore from Dallas’ Prime Prep Academy. He’s ranked No. 10 in the Class of 2015. Rivals says KU also has offered Jared Terrell, 6-4 junior from Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., who is ranked No. 57; and Abdul-Malik Abu, 6-7 junior from Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H., who is ranked No. 50.

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