UWM Recruits Flowers, Johnson Send Simeon To State CrownMarch 19, 2007 MILWAUKEE - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's basketball recruits Tim Flowers and Kevin Johnson led Chicago Simeon High School to its second-straight Illinois Class AA state championship over the weekend. Both players were named to the all-tournament team as the Wolverines (33-2) won their three games at the state finals by an average of 19 points, finishing the season on a 22-game winning streak. The 6-foot-5 Flowers averaged 23 points per game in the three games in Peoria, including a 35-point, 12-rebound outburst in a title-game win over O'Fallon. The 35 points marked the third-most in an Illinois state title game. Flowers also averaged 11 rebounds per game over the three contests, drawing rave reviews from his head coach and opponents. "When you get a puzzle, you can't finish it if a piece is missing," Simeon coach Robert Smith told the Chicago Sun Times after the title game. "Tim completes our team. He completes all of them: Derrick (Rose), Kevin (Johnson), Bryant (Orange) and Brandon (Hall). Tim has been way under the radar, and he has been overshadowed. But everyone on this team knows what he means to us. During the summer, he battled against all the big names, (UCLA recruit) Kevin Love, (Duke recruit) Kyle Singler, and no one had more rebounds." "Tim Flowers was a beast," Thornton coach Troy Jackson told the Sun Times after his team lost to Simeon in the quarterfinals. "It's just amazing - he doesn't jump that high, but you just can't stop him." The 6-foot-7 Johnson did his part, too, scoring 20 points and grabbing seven rebounds in the title contest. He averaged 15.3 points per game over the three games while also adding five rebounds per contest. Johnson also scored 20 points last Tuesday in Simeon's supersectional win over St. Joseph's that sent the Wolverines to the state quarterfinals. Flowers and Johnson are two of four recruits who signed national letters of intent to attend UWM next year. Deonte Roberts of Notre Dame Prep (Mass.) and St. Paul, Minn., and Anthony Hill of Milwaukee's Bradley Tech will join Flowers and Johnson as incoming players this fall.
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