One player who has a tremendous upside in the Class of 2002 is 6-10, 215 pound center/power forward James Augustine of Lincoln-Way H.S. in New Lennox, Ill.

A long lefty insider, Augustine frustrated opponents all weekend long at the D.C. Pro Am Basketball Tournament, where he played with Mac Irvin's Illinois Fire program.

Augustine is very agile and mobile, and he flies in for offensive rebounds and stickbacks. He likes to step out on the wing and put the ball on the floor a bit and shoot the occasional three pointer, but that's not really where his future lies.

On the defensive end, Augustine used his long arms to frustrate opposing team's big men, and he did a great job of bottling up the T5T Playaz's Jason Fraser in Saturday's semifinal match.

Augustine told the Insiders Report that he has seen early interest from Illinois, Purdue, Wake Forest, Iowa State, Marquette, Indiana State and Valparaiso. He has already paid unofficial visits to Valpo and Marquette, and is currently attending team basketball camp (June 25-28) at the University of Illinois. He said he is still open on colleges.

This past season playing alongside Marquette signee Kevin Menard, Augustine averaged 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and five blocks per game. He said he has a 3.0 GPA and has achieved qualifying scores on both the SAT and ACT.

Augustine will attend the adidas ABCD Camp in New Jersey next month as well as the adidas Three Stripes Tournament in Long Island with the Fire. Later in the month, he will rejoin his regular club team, the Illinois Gold, at the AAU Nationals in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.