Monday, July 8: The first day of the NCAA open evaluation period was Monday and over 300 college coaches turned out at Nike Camp, not to mention an increased media presence. The crowds at the three courts during the opening session agreed about the level of play. The most common thought among onlookers was that the rising senior class of 2003 is down in terms of overall talent. We spent three days at Nike Camp and we really enjoyed the media interview sessions this year. Nike staff was helpful and the players were very open and well-spoken. Our thoughts for the top five rising senior talents in camp were 6-7 Luol Deng (Blair Academy/Blairstown, N.J.); 6-8 Kris Humphries (Hopkins H.S./Minnetonka, Minn.); 6-2 Shannon Brown (Proviso East H.S./Maywood, Ill.); 6-7 Ndudi Ebi (Westbury Christian H.S./Houston, Texas); and 6-5 Gary Forbes (Banneker H.S./Brooklyn, N.Y.). Best underclassman? Hands down, 6-9, 286-pound rising freshman Derrick Caracter (St. Patrick H.S./Elizabeth, N.J.) is going to be special. Tuesday, it's on to New Jersey and the adidas ABCD Camp, which looks like it will be the top camp of the summer, once again.

Sunday, July 7: It's the Nike All-American Camp, and the the air-conditioning is blasting in the National Institute of Fitness and Sport Center at IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis). The players are all well-coordinated in their camp gear and well-groomed -- well, there is one player from the East Coast whose thin braids are done in the style of Pippi Longstocking or the Wendy's hamburger logo. So far, the players have been very cooperative, well mannered and relatively well-spoken in the daily media interview sessions held at the camp hotel. Not only are NBA scouts heavy in attendance (along with scouting services and internet and print media), so are a few NBA players. Yes, that was Patrick Ewing (with a cast on his right hand) sitting with former Chicago Bulls guard B.J. Armstrong (there in a scouting capacity). Ewing was in the gyme to watch his son, rising senior Patrick, Jr. (Marietta H.S./Marietta, Ga.), who played very well Sunday evening. Another former NBA player, 7-foot-6 Manute Bol was also present. One of the top players in camp, 6-foot-7 rising senior Luol Deng, during halftime of his scrimmage Sunday night, walked over to Bol and shook his hand (I don't think he was congratulating him on his recent televised beatdown of William "The Refrigerator" Perry). Obviously, Bol and Deng have known each other for a while. ... Rumor has it that the injured LeBron James is supposed to make a stop at camp on Monday. James, who has an association with shoe rival adidas, is rumored to spend two days at Nike and two days at the adidas ABCD Camp in New Jersey. What leads us to believe the rumor may be true is that James' cousin and best bud, Maverick Carter (a good collegiate player in his own right) is serving an internship at Nike this summer and he is present at the camp.

David Benezra and Mark Mayemura cover the national college basketball recruiting scene. E-mail at: hoopsusa@mindspring.com or call (818) 783-2244 or (818) 783-2212 for subscription information.