Chicago prep Rose shines in summer circuit

Ballyhooed prospect in no hurry to pick college - or decide to head overseas for year of professional ball

Chicago’s Derrick Rose continues to blossom during the summer evaluation period in recruiting.

Rose, a 6-foot-4 Simeon High senior and rivals.com’s No. 3-ranked player nationally, scored 13 points, helping Mean Street Express claim a 72-52 victory over Indiana’s SYF Players in Saturday’s finals of the Nike Peach Jam Invitational in North Augusta, S.C.

Rose, who has Kansas University, Memphis, Illinois, Arizona, DePaul, Virginia and North Carolina on his list of potential colleges, ran the show effectively at the point-guard position, feeding the ball to good buddy Eric Gordon, who scored 25 points in the finale.

The 6-3 Gordon, who hails from Indianapolis, is trying to convince Rose to join him at the University of Illinois in the recruiting Class of 2007. That, however, is far from a done deal.

In Rose’s mind, it’s still early in the recruiting process.

“I’ve got an offer from every school I’d want to play for,” Rose told the Augusta Chronicle. “There’s not one (offer) I want I don’t have. It’s weird to say that.”

Rose is enjoying the recruiting process, mainly because his brothers, including Mean Streets coach Reggie Rose, are handling all the correspondence from college coaches.

Rose told the Chicago Tribune he speaks to coaches “once every three months.”

“I love it (recruiting),” he told the Trib. “Some people I’ve met say they talk to coaches and other people almost every day. And they are sick and tired of it. That’s why they commit so early, so they won’t have to talk to anybody. Man, it’s a burden off my shoulders.”

Rose goes by the nickname “Pooh” – the word “Poohdini” is scripted above a wizard figure on his left shoulder.

He will slice his college list after an AAU tournament July 22-26 in Las Vegas.

“I’m not even really thinking about college right now,” Rose told the Tribune. “I’ve just been playing. I could commit anytime. Tomorrow, whenever I feel like it. My brothers don’t tell me that much to do except keep my grades up and be careful. There’s a lot they tell me, and I pay attention to it.”

Rose, who has pondered playing in Europe a year, then entering the NBA Draft, said his mom, Brenda, who works for the board of education in his Chicago community, “preaches education. College is something we’ll think hard about.”

“We as a family feel Derrick should go to college,” Reggie said. “But we as a family also feel there’s a loophole in that rule (being a year out of high school before one can enter draft) for kids to play overseas. If a chain reaction of kids go there to get citizenship for a year and then enter the draft, we’ll have to think about that. Who wouldn’t? That’s a year overseas getting paid to play and then come back for the draft.”

“What kills me is overseas a kid can be playing in a pro league making money,” Reggie told the Chronicle. “He can go to the NBA and make millions. But a kid the same age in America has to sit and wait.”

“There’s 17-year-old kids overseas who can play pro there and then enter the draft,” Derrick Rose said. “The NBA is stopping us and not stopping them. That’s not fair.”

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Singler’s star shines: Another player who had the attention of the college coaches and media members at Peach Jam was Kyle Singler, 6-8, 210 pounds from South Medford High in Medford, Ore.

Singler, who is considering KU, Duke, Arizona, UCLA and Washington, had 29 points and 11 boards in the Portland Legends’ victory over Boo Williams.

“I’m not playing football this year, so I’m probably going to take my official visits in that time,” Singler told rivals.com, referring to September visits. “I’m looking forward to that. I’ll probably make my decision within that month or so.

As far as order of visits: “I’m definitely going back to Duke and hitting up Kansas and Arizona and possibly UCLA and Washington,” Singler said.

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Langford makes his point: Former Kansas University combo guard Keith Langford has played two games for the Seattle SuperSonics’ summer-league team at the Rocky Mountain Review in Salt Lake City.

The 6-4 Langford, who is playing point guard for the Sonics, scored 15 points off 5-of-9 shooting in an 88-74 loss to Philadelphia. He hit four of 10 free throws with four rebounds and two assists in 28 minutes.

Langford, who competed for the Fort Worth Flyers of the NBA Developmental League last season, tallied 12 points in a 73-70 loss to San Antonio. He hit three of eight shots and six of eight free throws with three rebounds and no assists in 16 minutes.

“He handled the full-court pressure defense well. He drove both right and left effectively all night long, scoring, drawing fouls and passing,” Jason Quincy of draftexpress.com reported after the first game. “He played good defense and looked like a solid backup point.”