I'm going to make it my personal crusade to try to get these two 2015 recruits to sign with Loyola.

They are both off to great starts their senior year.

Rafferty, a 6'8" power forward, just went off for 39 points on 15-18 shooting (5 for 5 on 3s) and added 11 rebounds in a victory over Notre Dame, to improve his ranked Hinsdale Central team to 5-1 for the season, their only loss to #1 ranked Stevenson.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hi ... story.html

Rafferty was also the quarterback on Hinsdale Central's football team.

Meanwhile Niego, a 6'2" combo guard, has scored 40 and 30 in his last two games to lead his Lyons Township squad to a 5-1 record, losing their opener to the same #1 Stevenson.

As I've mentioned before, Rafferty and Niego both played their AAU ball for Lockdown, run by Harrison's dad, and coached by Harrison's cousin Jim Maley, who used to be the head coach at Kenwood of the Chicago Public League and now coaches for St. Laurence of the Chicago Catholic League (and my alma mater). In his first year at Laurence, Maley has turned the program around, already winning more games at this point in the season than they did all last year.

I'm thinking that Maley is an up and coming coach, and that it wouldn't be a bad idea at all to try to get all three of them to come to Loyola next year...

Also on the Lockdown team is Joe Mooney (who plays for Notre Dame who you mentioned lost to Hinsdale Central). Mooney seems to be gaining some interest from D1 programs. Might be worth a look too.

I know there was a recruit on campus today for a visit not sure who it was though. It might have been one of them.

I didn't know Maley coached these guys during the open recruiting period.
Maley comes from a basketball family. I think his dad played at Holy Cross. Jim played on an LT team that went downstate and broke the hearts of everyone in my neighborhood when they kicked the crap out of St. Pat's in the supers. Jim played a year at Northwestern and I think he transferred to Holy Cross but I don't think he played there. I would love to see an LT guy at Loyola. The last guy we had was Kevin Muldowney. Harrison is a good kid and maybe we good get his brother, Connor who has a lot of upside, a diamond in the rough.
Rafferty could help us but being a LT man myself I can't be in the corner of a Hinsdale guy. hahahahahaha
It would be a good get for Loyola to sign these guys. However both come from families that are looking for schools that take care of their athletes when its all said and done. Quite frankly Loyola doesn't give a crap about their athletes. In fact Kelly and his cohorts believe athletes should feel an obligation to contribute back financially to the university.
It's hard for Porter to recruit this type of player with no support from the university and I'm sure Watson with his extensive Chicago connections will help tremendously.

86, you're right it's Maley, not Malloy like I said...

Maley coached for AAU LockDown, but I think he coached the younger guys, so he might have had Niego and Rafferty a year or two ago.

Last summer Mike Howland coached LockDown's 17up squad. Howland is now at Missouri State as their Director of Basketball Operations.

Rafferty had 31 points and 14 rebounds in an overtime win over New Trier yesterday.

He also just received an offer from James Madison.

Harrison Niego wears Number 5 for his Lyons Township High School team, while Matt Rafferty wears Number 32 for his Hinsdale Central squad.

Coincidentally, these are the same two numbers worn by Loyola graduating seniors Joe Crisman (5) and Christian Thomas (32), whom they would replace.

I take this as a sign from above that Harrison and Matt are destined to become Ramblers, wear 5 and 32, and carry on the proud tradition of the players that preceded them for athletic and academic success.

Saw Harrison play yesterday. My Lions beat Stagg by thirty plus. Harrison didn't play much during this blow out. He does have a nice shot and a high bb IQ. I still have not seen him play with good competition. My question is can he keep pace with a faster game. I'll have to try and see a more competitive game this season.
I did have a nice talk with Mr. Horancek. His son Jim, has a kid on the team. Jim is a great guy and played with my brother Mike, he married one of my neighbors daughters. It's nice he has a Sauganash connection.

Thanks for the scouting report, 86. I've only seen Harrison on mixtapes, and he NEVER misses! Yeah, he doesn't look like an explosive athlete, but has been highly productive in high school and on the AAU circuit, so I figure he can play in the MVC. He seems to be a prototypical Porter Moser-type player: good shooter, coachable, highly motivated, a solid citizen.

He might be best-suited as part of a point guard platoon system, sharing playing time with a quicker, more defensive-minded pg, depending on matchups and situations. In my mind's eye, I see him as a poor-man's Bill Bradley or John Paxson