Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

By Mark Miller


Wishoops.net Editor





When Jay Bryant coached against Beloit Memorial, he always came away impressed with the talent level and community interest in the Purple Knights program.





So when Bryant was informed in March about the vacant coaching position at Beloit, the 48-year-old decided to pursue a return to the high school ranks after spending the past four years as an assistant coach under Tim Buckley at Ball State in Muncie, Ind.





Bryant was named as the Purple Knights new head coach this week. He takes over for interim coach Michael Duenser, who led Beloit to a 12-9 record, including a 9-7 mark in the Big Eight Conference, during the 2005-06 season.





Duenser replaced Shane Bautch last November after Bautch suddenly resigned due to health concerns within his immediate family. Bautch spent five years as the head coach at Beloit and led the Purple Knights to the WIAA Division 1 State Tournament in 2004 and 2005.





Bryant spent eight years coaching at nearby Hononegah High School in Rockton, Ill., and his teams often played Beloit in non-league outings.





"When we played Beloit when I was at Hononegah, I saw the talent level that was at the school," Bryant said. "I always thought Beloit has tremendous athletes. I was also impressed by how important basketball was in the community. Basketball at Beloit has been pretty good through the years. People in town look forward to attending Friday night games."





Bryant will teach in the Beloit school system and says hes looking forward to building a program from the bottom up at one of Wisconsins most storied programs.





"Im looking forward to starting a program from the younger kids on up," Bryant said. "Im very excited to be heading to Beloit. The thing about being an assistant coach is youre not the boss. Im looking forward to being the boss again."





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Loyola of Chicago, Northern Colorado and Murray State are among the programs expressing an interest in Jacolby Hardiman, a rugged 6-foot-4 senior from Milwaukee Bradley Tech.





Hardiman earned first-team all-conference honors in the Milwaukee City Conference after helping coach Gary DePerrys team to a 16-6 record last season.








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Milwaukee Bay View junior Dwight Buycks played well for the Compton, California, Magic during last weekends prestigious Arizona Cactus Classic.





The 6-2 wing guard averaged 18.4 points per game in five games for the Compton Magic. He poured in 28 points in a game against Blemont Shore Vegas.





Buycks is ranked No. 5 among Wisconsin prep prospects in the class of 2007 by Wishoops.net.