Here is some information on our recruitment of Ray, per Monter - it looks like Vince Taylor has a personal connection with the family, as Taylor's brother in law is Stu Jackson who knows Ray Sr. very well from their days at UW together.
Ray McCallum, a 6-foot-1 point guard from Detroit Country Day, is one of the country's top playmakers. McCallum comes from a basketball family. His father, Ray, is the head coach at Detroit after stints at his alma mater Ball State and Houston and recent assistant jobs at Oklahoma and Indiana. Minnesota has gotten involved and is hoping that a long-time relationship with the family could pay off.
Ray McCallum transferred to Country Day after his father became the head coach at Detroit. He joined a team that was ranked #7 by USA Today before losing to Flint Powers Catholic 85-81 in the MHSAA Class B quarterfinals at Flint Central, despite 30 points from McCallum who went 14 of 18 from the field. They had beaten Powers Catholic 71-63 in the regular season.
The two teams have had a big rivalry the past two years with Detroit Country Day winning in the regular season, only to be upset in the playoffs the past two years.
Flint Powers Catholic upset the then No. 1-ranked Yellowjackets 48-35 in the Michigan High School Athletic Association boys basketball Class B quarterfinals last year after having beat them 45-42 in the regular season.
McCallum is expected to carry more of the offensive load this upcoming season with the graduation losses of Jordan Dumars, whose father Joe was a NBA standout and is at Central Florida, DaShonte Riley, who had gotten some Minnesota interest and is headed to Syracuse, Donnavan Kirk, who will play at Miami of Florida and Bennie Fowler, who will play football at Michigan State.
McCallum and junior big man Amir Williams will led the Yellowjackets, who are coached by legendary head man Kurt Keener, who coached former standouts such as Chris Webber. He averaged 16.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.
McCallum is hearing from many of the country's top programs such as Detroit, Duke, Kansas, Louisville, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas and UCLA.
McCallum helped lead Team Detroit to the Reebok Summer nationals titles last month as he scored eleven points and dished seven assists in their 56-48 win over D-One.
Minnesota watched McCallum in Las Vegas and Phoenix are hoping to get into the mix for the talented point guard. Minnesota assistant coach Vince Taylor is hoping that a relationship with the family will help the Gophers' cause.
Taylor's brother-in-law, Stu Jackson, was the head coach oat Wisconsin from 1992-94 and Ray McCallum was an assistant.
Titan fans are hoping that the talented point guard will play for his father and join sister Brittany Rae, who will be a sophomore this season.
http://minnesota.scout.com/2/884890.html
Go Gophers!!
