Organizational History:

Established in 1985, the Howard Pulley Basketball Program represents one of the premier basketball and academic programs in the country. This year represents the 19th consecutive year of providing opportunities for a diverse group of deserving youth. The vast majority of our young men have gone on to achieve personal success, either as a result of their academic achievement or professional aspirations.

The Howard Pulley Basketball Program is considered one of the top summer programs in the nation. It has a strong reputation for sending numerous kids to top Division 1, 2 & 3 colleges throughout the county on athletic scholarships. Some of the schools include Duke, North Carolina, Minnesota, Kansas, Wisconsin, Boston College, Oklahoma, Iowa State, Utah, UCONN, plus many others, large and small. Our alumni have also have been drafted by, played for, or are playing in the NBA for the LA Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Program Highlights:

For the limited population size of the State of Minnesota and the Metro area of Minneapolis & St. Paul, the Pulley Program has developed an inordinate number of very high profile basketball players. When most people think about high school basketball hotbeds, they think of Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, etc. Until recently, they have not included Minnesota in that illustrious group. That has all changed.

Since 1998, there have been 14 former Pulley Panthers that have been named freshman of the Year in their college's basketball conference, plus another 4 that made the all-freshman team. Many have had other honors bestowed upon them as well. The player and his honors are:

1998 - Khalid ElAmin of UCONN: Big East Freshman of the Year. During his career Khalid was also named All-American, NBA All Rookie Team, McDonald All American and Minnesota Mr. Basketball

1998 - Jeff Boschee of Kansas: Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Jeff started at point-guard for the Jayhawks for 4 years.

1999 - Troy Bell of Boston College: Big East Freshman of the Year. During Troy's college career he was also chosen All Big East 3 times, two-time Big East Player of the Year, two-time All American and he is the all-time leading scorer in BC history. Troy was also a 2003 NBA First Round Draft Choice and plays of the Memphis Grizzlies.

1999 - Darius Lane of Seton Hall: All Big East Freshman Team. Darius was a 3-year starter for Seton Hall and he was named Minnesota Mr. Basketball. He now plays professionally in Spain.   

2000 - Jake Sullivan of Iowa State: Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Jake was also named All Big 12 and he was Iowa States leading scorer during his career.

2000 - Nick Jacobson of Utah: Mountain West Freshman of the Year. During his career, Nick was Utah's leading scorer and he was also named All Mountain West and Mountain West Tournament MVP.

2003 - Rick Rickert of Minnesota: Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Rick was also named to the 2002-2003 Pre-Season Playboy All-American Team, he was named First-Team All- Big 10 and he was a second-round draft pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2003 NBA Draft. Rick was also a Minnesota Mr. Basketball.

2004 - Kris Humphries of Minnesota: Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Kris was also named National Freshman of the Year, First-Team All Big Ten, First-Team Freshman All-American, All-American and he was the first freshman to ever lead the Big Ten in scoring and rebounding. Kris was also named a Dick Vitale Diaper Dandy and he was a Minnesota Mr. Basketball. Following his freshman year at Minnesota, Kris entered the NBA draft and was a lottery pick of the Utah Jazz.

2004 - Bruce Price of Tennessee State: Ohio Valley Freshman of the Year. Bruce was named the OVC Freshman of the Week a record 6-times and he was the only freshman named to the All-Conference team. Bruce led the conference in 3-Point shots made and he was a conference leader in 5 offensive categories. He was also named a Dick Vitale Diaper Dandy.

2005 - Eric Coleman of Northern Iowa: Missouri Valley Freshman of the Year. Eric averaged 11 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest and was among the league leaders in field goal shooting at 57.4 percent. Eric helped UNI to a 21-win regular season and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

2005 - Dan Coleman of Minnesota: All Big-Ten Freshman Team. Dan was the only freshman starter for the Gopher's and was third on the team in scoring at 8.6 points per game and he averaged 3.8 rebounds and shot .432 from the field. Dan helped the Gopher's to a 20-win regular season and a trip to the NCAA tournament.

2006 - Brandon Rush of Kansas: Brandon Rush is the first freshman in Big-12 history to be named to First Team All Conference and he was also named Freshman of the Year. Brandon was the top scoring freshman in the conference with 15.1 points per game, and also ranked seventh with 6.6 rebounds per game. He is the fourth Kansas player to surpass 400 points (408) in his freshman season.

2006 - Jadee Jones of Furman: Jadee Jones was named to the Southern Confernce's All-Freshman team where he ranked second in the SoCon among freshman in scoring during league games averaging 7.5 points per game. The 6-foot-2 guard, who averaged 6.9 points per game for the season, ranks fourth in the SoCon in three-point field goal percentage at 41.2% (42-102).

2006 - Joe Krabbenhoft of Wisconsin: Joe Krabbenhoft is the second Wisconsin Badger to be named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team. He averaged 18.7 minutes and 5.1 rebounds in Big Ten games, second-best among league freshmen. He was also among the freshmen leaders in assists (third), free throws made (fourth) and scoring (eighth) during league play.

2007 – Jamar Diggs of Wayne State: Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Co-Newcomer (freshman) of the Year. Jamar averaged 10.3 points; scored in double figures fifteen times, with a season high of 21 points and led the Wildcats in scoring three times during the season. Diggs finished eleventh in the conference in free-throw percentage with a 77% mark from the charity stripe.

2007 – Matt Janning of Northeastern: Colonial Athletic Association Freshman of the Year. Matt also was named to the All-Rookie team and made 29-starts for the Huskies. Janning scored in double figures in 13 of his final 15 games and ended the season with an 11.8 average which led all CAA freshmen. He was tenth in the conference with 54 three-pointers and dished out a team-high 89 assists and averaged 4.5 rebounds. In addition to his conference accolades, Matt was also named to the Collegehoops.net High-Major All-Freshman Team and collegeinsider.com Freshmen Mid-Major All-American.

2007 – Romain Martin of Eastern Illinois: Ohio Valley Conference Co-Freshman of the Year. Romain who started 23-games, ranked seventh overall in conference scoring with a 14.8 average and was the number-one OVC free-throw shooter at 86.7%. Martin was one of just twenty-three freshman nationally to lead their teams in scoring and was named freshman of the week 5-times and was also named to the OVC All-Newcomer team.

2007 – Cameron Rundles of Montana: Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year. Cameron led all conference freshman in scoring with an average of 8.2 points per game; assists 2.13 and three-point percentage of 48.1 percent. Rundles started 24 of Montana’s 32 games and he average 18.3 points per game over his final four games and is the first Grizzly to win the coveted freshman honor since 1989.