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SoCalHoops High School News

Arizona? Yeah. Nike Arizona H.S.
Basketball Invitational--(Feb. 23, 1999)

Arizona? Hey, this is SoCalHoops. Ok, so this is a little outside our area, but it's about basketball, and some very fine high school and college prospects whom we're sure you'll be seeing a lot of this summer here in SoCal and especially Los Angeles at tournaments like the Double Pump Best of Summer and the Slam-N-Jam NIT in July. But in the meantime, our friend Etop Udo-Ema let us know about an event which you won't want to miss if you're going to be anywhere near Arizona State on March 17-20.

That's when the Nike Arizona High School Basketball Invitational/Top 100 will take place. Here's the information that was sent to us:

"The Nike Arizona H.S. Basketball Invitational-Top100 will be held on March 17-20 at ASU's Wells Fargo Arena. Games will start at approximately 3:00 p.m. during the week and early in the morning on Saturday. MVP of last year's event, Donnell Knight, will be in attendance along with all of the other top prospects Arizona has to offer. The !DUNK! News covvered last year's tourney. Etop Udo-Ema has advised us that it was a well-run tournament that included all of the top prospects in the State. Players expected to participate this year:

Donnell Knight (6'-8" Sr. ) Corona Del Sol

John Oden (6'-8" Sr.) Carl Hayden

Tommie Smith (6'-10" Sr. ) North

Tanner Shell (6'-5" Sr. ) Mesa Mtn. View

Ricky Luenberg (6'-10" Sr.) Gilbert

Donnie Jackson (6'-6" Sr. ) Shadow Mtn.

Hakim Rasul (6'-6" Sr. ) Tucson Pueblo

John Howard (6'-4" Jr. ) Brophy Prep

Dennis Lattimore (6'-8" So.) Mesa Mtn. View

Daryl Issac (7'-0" Jr.) Peoria

Ryan Hagerty (6'-10" Jr. ) Scottsdale Saguaro

Ryan Walcott (6'-1" Jr. ) Shadow Mtn.

Austin Ainge (5'-11" So.) --that's right, it's Danny's son

Antonio Griffin (6'-7" So. )

There are still some very attractive unsigned seniors in Donnie Jackson, Ricky Luenberg and Hakim Rasul. John Howard and Darryl Issac are legitimate national top 100 prospects in the junior class, and Dennis Lattimore is arguably one of the top sophomores on the west coast, and a notional top 10 player in the class. There will be many, many more new discoveries at this event so don't miss it.

We've also been asked to advise everyone that if further info is needed on this event, Jeff Meadows is the Tournament Director, and he can be reached in Arizona at (602) 229-5121. Additionally, Etop Udo-Ema of The !DUNK! will be able to provide further info as well, and he can be reached in California at (562) 901-8592.