More on Grant Vermeer

It's not news that Bellarmine's Grant Vermeer is heading to the Naval Academy next year but Cal Hi Sports Bay Area's Robert Braunstein has an informative article up on Vermeer.

Vermeer to Annapolis

John Murphy has the news of Bellarmine shooting guard Grant Vermeer committing to Navy. A great choice by a great young man.

Vermeer lands initial offer

Grant Vermeer, the sharp-shooting Bellarmine Prep guard tweeted: "Just got offered by Navy!!!!!!!"

Vermeer back posting

Bellarmine backcourter Grant "Boo" Vermeer is back posting at his blog and has an entertaining article on how his squad fared in the Dougherty Valley tournament over the weekend.

Columbia basketball fans will also find Grant's latest very interesting.

Bellarmine over St. Francis

Grant "Boo" Vermeer writes about a successful Senior Night for Bellarmine Prep as the Bells took down St. Francis. Note that he doesn't even mention his 26 points (four treys) -- this young man epitomizes class.

Grant "Boo" Vermeer with more hoops posts

Grant Vermeer is back with a trio of posts: in order, here, here and here. 

What an educational series these are, providing insight that simply doesn't appear anywhere else. You'll gain insight by reading the entries at Vermeer's blog and that's the greatest compliment that can be offered.

Grant Vermeer is back with more

You're in luck as Grant "Boo" Vermeer has two more posts up at his blog.

This one, complete with photos, covers the Bellarmine - host Archbishop Mitty matchup in which Vermeer led all scorers with 20 points but the Bells lost in overtime.

His second post covers a 51-50 win against Sacred Heart Cathedral and Vermeer features a number of his teammates.

Simply put, Vermeer is doing it on and off the court.

An update on Grant Vermeer's blog

2013 backcourter Grant "Boo" Vermeer has another entry at his Bellarmine College Prep basketball blog.

That introduction is actually bland-itis at its worst because Vermeer scored 38 points -- nearly half of the Bells' total -- in a recent win over Burlingame.

Read about the game and enjoy the anecdotes Vermeer supplies plus the photos -- go here for the new post and do bookmark his site.

Grant Vermeer blogging this season

Bellarmine College Prep junior Grant (Boo) Vermeer is blogging this season, providing insight into what the season is like for a player in one of the toughest leagues in northern California.

Here is his initial post, coming in November.

Grant has seven entries so far in December, blogging about various subjects including the games and tournaments involving the Bells.

So bookmark him and enjoy.

Do take a look.

Bellarmine routs Homestead

Bellarmine College Preparatory had no trouble with Homestead High by the tune of 60-20. Junior backcourter Grant Vermeer paced the Bells with 20 points.

Grant Vermeet tweeting away

Bellarmine guard Grant Vermeer has been tweeting away and we congratulate him for using the medium to pass along information rather than the too-often cryptic messages that require some code cracking in order to comprehend. Follow this young man.

The young man with a plan: Grant (Boo) Vermeer

Like many others, 2013 Bellarmine backcourter Grant (Boo) Vermeer has ambitious ideas for after college, accordingly so for someone garnering the attention of schools like Harvard, MIT, Cal Tech and the like. But despite his relative youth, he could already be making a living just by advising his fellow high school student-athletes on a game plan for garnering an athletic scholarship.

Vermeer's approach is one of preparation and execution on and off the court  and it is already paying personal dividends. To borrow an on-court phrase, he's got game in the department of making-yourself-known-to-recruiters.

With the assistance of Tim Burke of Live Recruit Academic, he built a recruiting web page. Vermeer, who carries a 4.0+ grade point average, then mapped out a spring and summer raise-your-recognition strategy, writing letters and sending them out to colleges that have captured HIS interest.

Those included such academic heavyweights as MIT, Amherst and Williams back on the east coast. Plus, he attended a summer basketball camp at Harvard where he was noticed by the Harvard Assistant Coach Yanni Hufnagel who stays in touch. Vermeer has also enjoyed communications with Yale, Bucknell, Tulane, Army, USF, USD, Catholic, Rice and others.

He has enjoyed informative unofficial visits at MIT, Amherst, Cal Tech, Occidental and Pomona College and this public relations go-around will have an emphasis on Bay Area schools.

So who is Vermeer and what are his particulars?

His early hoops interest was sparked by his father and also his older brother Kyle. The latter played basketball at Bellarmine (and is now attending Stanford) and turned down an offer to play at MIT in order to attend Stanford where he plays on the Club Basketball level.

Vermeer explained, "I love the team aspect of basketball , the sense of family away from family, being like brothers. Plus, the constant uptempo with something always happening. It's always intense unlike football where there are 30 seconds between plays."

Speaking of the gridiron, Vermeer was a quarterback on the Bellarmine varsity. "I got pulled up to the varsity during my sophomore season." His playing time included major minutes in the Bells' loss to Palo Alto in the Central Coast CIF playoffs.

But basketball has won out.

"Football was great, I loved it a ton," Vermeer offered, "but I've grown up loving basketball and want to play it in college."

So now his focus in on the court.

He played on Coach Scot Alexander's High Intensity basketball club until Alexander moved over this season to the girls side of the equation in order to coach his daughter Cymia, a freshman at East Side Prep.

It was recommended that Vermeer join up with the D’Angelo Zamora’s Oakland Kings. The Kings are coached by Darnell McCulloch who grew up in Oakland and played college ball in the mid-1970s for Jerry Tarkanian when the latter ran the Fresno State program.

How did that work out?

Coming into the spring and summer as primarily a catch-and-shoot long distance marksman, Vermeer shot well while developing his dribble-drive prowess. He and teammate JoJo Zamora (Serra High) earned Co-Most Valuable Player Honors in an Easter tournament in Las Vegas in which the Kings won their division. One Vermeer highlight was a contest in which he buried seven treys.

So now it's back to Bellarmine and Coach Patrick Schneider's program. The Bells went 16-12, 8-7 last season in the very competitive West Catholic Athletic League and Vermeer is thinking positively. "We're going to be young with five or six juniors will be playing a lot of minutes but I like to think optimistically." He noted that fellow guard Blair Mendy will be someone to watch. But so will Vermeer who sank 40% of his three-point attempts last season and led the team in scoring many games as a sophomore starter.

Another aspect of his young life that connects to his familial sense on the court is that the Vermeer family have been foster parents to seven children throughout the years. "I love helping out with the kids," he said. "In fact, three came over for breakfast on Sunday and we were able to catch up."

Yes, don't be surprised if a Grant Vermeer LLC entity sometime in the future. It's likely to have something to do with kids and college recruiting but you can bet it will be consummately actualized.

Here is a just-under-six-minute video of Vermeer in the 2010 season.

Checking in on the Oakland Kings

We didn't know Oakland had become a monarchy but the Oakland Kings zipping through the competition recently in Vegas is a royal accomplishment.

OAKLAND KINGS BASKETBALL

Kings win Las Vegas Easter Shootout – Zamora and Vermeer named MVPs

The Oakland Kings won the 16U elite division of the Las Vegas Easter Shootout April 23, 2011 in Las Vegas. The Kings went undefeated (6-0) over two days of play facing elite AAU travel teams from Arizona, Utah and Nevada. The Kings defeated the Las Vegas Prospects, a fully sponsored Adidas squad and a nationally ranked travel team, in the final game to take the championship. The tournament win earned the Kings a national ranking at #21. 

JoJo Zamora and Grant Vermeer were named Tournament Co-MVPs. Each had outstanding overall tournaments but they distinguished themselves with extraordinary shooting beyond the arc. Both had games in which they made seven treys respectively. Zamora is a 5-foot-9 extremely quick backcourter out of Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo. Vermeer is a versatile 6-foot-1 guard who plays for Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose during the high school season. Both are sophomores (class of 2013) with huge upsides.

Jo'saf Zamora

Grant Vermeer

The Oakland Kings, with a roster made up of mostly underclassmen from some of the finest high school basketball teams in the Bay Area, are one of the best AAU basketball teams in Northern California. They are coached by former Fresno State standout and professional basketball player Darnell McCulloch.