As if an 8-1 start to the season were not good enough for St. Xavier High School out of Cincinnati, Ohio, St. Xavier, largely behind the effort of unsigned senior Johnny Wolf, defeated O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker's North College Hill (Ohio) squad 78-63 in late December. Wolf, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound combo guard, who starts at the point for St. Xavier, has plenty of division one interest but has yet to land an offer after a sub par summer.

"Xavier, Cincinnati and Miami [Ohio] are all recruiting Johnny and want him, but they are out of scholarships and want him to walk on," said St. Xavier head coach Scott Martin. "Ball State, Bowling Green, Boston College, Seton Hall, St. Louis, Manhattan, Evansville, Jacksonville and Campbell have all been in contact over the past few weeks."

Although Mayo scored 31 points in the St. Xavier defeat, Wolf went for 22 points in front of the home crowd. Included in those points was an and-one dunk on Mayo after Wolf picked his pocket.

"I think he can play anywhere he wants," said Martin. "He's able to score off the dribble around the basket as good as any player I've seen.

"He plays the one or two, but starts at the one for us. He plays awful hard. He just needs to get stronger to get ready for college."

Doing more than just shooting the ball well for his high school team, Wolf is demonstrating the all around game that will have the scholarship offers coming.

"Johnny is a really good kid," said Martin. "He is a hard worker, and basketball is his life."

On the season, Wolf is averaging 26 points and 5 rebounds per game, and St. Xavier is ranked No. 1 in the state.