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Heights’ Perry Ellis gets national attention

June 24, 2010 @ 2:30 p.m. by Joanna

by joanna

You know, I wrote that headline and laughed to myself. As if national attention is anything new to Ellis. Here’s a USA Today story on Ellis.

There’s lots of stories on Ellis that I don’t put up. Pretty much every college that has shown interest in him writes about him often because they’re trying to keep their fan base up to speed on a possible future player. I put this one up, though, because recently someone on the blog questioned Ellis’ skill and the attention he gets.

Again, I laughed to myself. The kid is legit.

Why else would I have walked into the Heights gym and talked to Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Bill Self, Frank Martin, Johnny Dawkins, Gregg Marshall there? All to watch Ellis.

Here’s what I think happens, and I think it happens to most of the top athletes — we get used to seeing what they can do. When the studs make a blow-your-mind move, we shrug. We’ve seen it before.

Why do I say this? Because I saw it happen to Tiffany Bias. “Eh, she had an OK game last night.” What? Did you see the spin move? The quickness of her hands to get that steal and blow past anyone else on the way to a layup?

Same thing happened to Bryce Brown. “Eh, he was OK. Did you see him fumble?” Yep, he did fumble, it’s an issue he has to correct and one he definitely improved on by his senior season. But did you see what happened when he got the ball? My goodness, he ran around and through and away from everyone else.

I see the same thing happening to Ellis. Really, not all players can do what he does. Really. Maybe you’ll realize that after he’s gone. We are fortunate in the Wichita area to have some of the best basketball players in the state. It’s exciting. But what Ellis can do is not the norm.

I’m not trying to pump up any of the kids that I mentioned — they do that all by themselves. I’m just trying to point out that you need to relish what you’re watching, enjoy it, because when it’s gone, it could be a while before we see it again.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 24th, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. and is filed under Basketball, The Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  • lost

    Oh my god please stop you make it seem like he does spin moves then sinks on people I’ve been to every one of his games and its rare he dunks much less on anybody he us 6 8 the average height in the cl is 6 0 foot if you want me to relish the layup shows and rebound fest he puts in cause he has 8 inches on people fine ill do that

  • lost

    I guess you forgot about tony Phillips jack crowder jowanza Poland dupree Lucas none were 6 8 all were better

  • Agreed

    Lol I agree he’s highly overrated. Expecially since I live in Wichita and having viewed a few of his games. The kids competition is a joke. He’s soft and if he was in Ok, Tx, NC, NY, or anywhere else he would get flat out dominated. If u don’t believe me go to Okc and check their talent. I can’t be the only one who saw Perry airball a layup on a fastbreak vs a guy from kapaun?!? Really…

  • E J

    The idiot board. This kid will do just fine. Just don’t waste your collegiate career by going to Mancrappin

  • hsbbfan

    LOST, you are totally lost. Perry dunked over 40 times in his sophomore season yes SOPHOMORE SEASON!!! He rarely dunks yea right. We are all so used to him dunking and just expect it now that it is no big deal he had 5 in just one game. In Dodge City he dunked on HUTCH and that was a DUNK that people still talk about. Maybe you are not really watching the game since you said you been to all of his games. I am glad that the college coaches think there is something worth coming to Wichita Heights for.

  • Linda

    Thanks for your take on Ellis. Not knowing he even existed, I first happened to see him play his freshman year. Perry really stood out, and my dad & I agreed this kid would be going places. It wasn’t until a few days later that I read a news story about him, and realized this was the standout we’d seen on the court a few nights before. Good luck, Perry!

  • past falcon

    Ellis is over rated the kid should be banging the boards he soft and doesn’t play hard enough. He stands out only because of his heigth….

  • big daddy

    It must be nice to pimp one of your husband’s players….homer.

  • BobChi

    I guess I take Self, Pitino, Calipari and the like’s evaluation of Ellis over that of the negative people on this message board. Seems like they may have just a little more experience evaluating talent at the top level and knowing what they want for their programs.

  • bb4life

    BobChi, agreed seems Self, Pitino, Calipari have been around long enough to know what they are wanting in a player. So, I agree with your statement over these other “want-to-be” evaluators on this message board.

  • Ron

    Any real basketball fan will see this kid has some serious game. Some of you say that he doesn’t play anyone good in the cl. That’s not how he got his high rankings. He got them in the AAU circuit playing against these athletes you all think are better than him. He averaged a double double as a sophmore for goodness sake. Post moves take time and practice to perfect. Most big men don’t develop them until college. For a kid this young to have the kind of touch that Ellis has is rare. That’s the main reason all these college coaches want him. This is just an example of not missing a good thing until it’s gone.

  • Oh,

    I think people (haters) forget that this kid has just finished his sophomore year of HS! His game will only continue developing more in the next two years. Who knows if he’s done growing physically and he will only grow better as a player in the time he has left before college. Any program would be fortunate to have an athlete of his caliber. His upside is tremendous! He’s going to open many eyes and shut many mouths before it’s over. Good Luck, Perry.

  • Chris

    OK, I’m from Houston and I’ve seen good basketball. I’ve seen guys like Gary Johnson (UT)play in high school for Aldine. I’ve seen guys like B.J. Holmes (Texas A&M) play for Hastings. I’ve seen Emeka Okafor (Bellaire HS) and T.J. Ford (Willowridge H.S). I’ve witnessed multiple times how good 09-10 National Champion Yates basketball team is and its players. All of these guys are from the Houston Area, where the competition is intense. But at the same time, all of these guys played AAU ball against some of the better players around the country and went to those camps just like Perry is doing now. I’ve only seen Perry play on tape, but the talent and fluidity is there compared to these guys I mentioned, and he’s got a junior and senior season to go. And I’m sure the Top Division 1 coaches in the country and their scouts know a little more than than we all do. One last thing, if coach Calipari is going hard after this guy as hard as he is, then all bets are off. After four years of covering University of Houston basketball I’ve seen what the talent he brings in does at the next level. Chris Douglas-Roberts, Rodney Carney, Joey Dorsey, Derrick Rose, and Tyreke Evans didn’t give anyone in Conference USA a chance four four years and all of them are in the NBA right now.

  • lost

    Ok really let’s all stop cause clearly this goes nowhere I guess ill just have to stay lost and just for the record look at the ks allstar roster no cl player is on there hell most of the kids on varsity aren’t even seniors u would have never seen that from 02 to 06

  • falcon99

    who is steve young to perry ellis?

  • PlaysomeD

    Perry is the real deal. And you shouldn’t need the other coaches comming to see him play to realize that. He is not playing against 6 ft kids in the city league either. All the good teams right now have at least one 6-6 kid that can play, some teams more than one. Actually with all the kids being looked at by division one schools in the city league right now you could make the argument that he is the best player in a league that is going to have the most kids (from one time) playing college basketball then it has had in a long time. Also the wichita kids AAU teams compete (actually win most of time) against Texas, Oklahoma, california, etc.. with no problems against these states that a couple people seem to think are basketball powerhouses. Just don’t think people realize that when they start talking like they know who these kids play against and who they don’t.

  • Football

    Lets just hope he stays in his hometown and puts on the shocker jersey…